THE COLUMBIA BOOK OF CHINESE POETRY : From Early Times to the Thirteenth Century. Translated and Edited by BURTON WATSON. 385 pp. (Translations from the Oriental Classics). New York : Columbia University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-231-05682-6 (hbk.)

Burton Watson has always struck me as an eminently civilized scholar and as a fine translator. Unlike certain others, he wears his scholarship lightly, and doesn't overburden the text with extraneous matter. His many translations from Chinese and Japanese Literature are of uniformly high quality, and are well worth having as they are books one often wants to returns to.

The present anthology has always been one of my favorite books. In contrast to the more recent mammoth anthologies of Victor Mair (1335 pages) and John Minford (1176 pages), Watson's, at a mere 385 pages, is a far more modest and manageable proposition.

Unlike the Mair and Minford, it can be held easily in the hand while reading, and it is printed in a large clear font on spacious pages in which the lines have room to breathe. Modest in size it is also modest in presentation. Selections are preceded by only the briefest of introductions, and footnotes have been kept to an absolute minimum.

In his brief but extremely well-written and informative Introduction, Watson tells us that : "The present anthology is intended to give a representative selection of Chinese poetry in the 'shih' form from the first two thousand years of China's long literary history ... as well as outstanding works in the 'fu' and 'tz'u' forms and a few other works such as the 'Li Sao' or 'Encountering Sorrow' that are unique in form" (p.13).

His book includes selections from 'The Book of Odes,' 'The Ch'u Tzu,' Early Songs, Poems in Rhyme-Prose Form, Poems of the Han and Wei, T'ao Yuan-ming, Wang Wei, Li Po, Tu Fu, Han Yu, Po Chu-i, Han Shan, Su T'ung-po, Lu Yu, and much else besides.

Here, as an example of his superb style, is his translation of Liu Tsung-yuan's 'River Snow' (with my obliques added to indicate line breaks) :

"From a thousand hills, bird flights have vanished; / on ten thousand paths, human traces wiped out : / lone boat, an old man in straw cape and hat, / fishing alone in the cold river snow" (p.282).

The truth of Burton Watson's statement that the "Chinese poetic world is one that is remarkably easy to enter.... Even works that are many centuries removed from us in time come across with a freshness and immediacy that is often quite miraculous" (p.3) is very much in evidence here.

Anyone who would like to get a good idea of what Chinese poetry is all about, and to actually enjoy the experience of finding out, should certainly consider the present anthology. Anthologies such as those of Mair and Minford are all very well in their way and can serve as useful references, but they are hardly books that one can sit down and read with pleasure from beginning to end.

Watson's, however, is just such a book, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who would like to begin exploring some of the richest and most interesting poetry in the world.

If you want to find out what a tremendous event was all about--famine, pestilence, war--read the poems written about it. Ever since Homer, or the book of Judges, war poems have been written to tell us what happened, to whom, why. Richard Marius's fine selection, with his introduction to it, opens today's reader to the Civil War's horror, pathos, loss, and the emotions which are easy to forget, or worse still, to romanticize. It's a broad selection, from "John Brown's Body" and "Dixie" to today's meditations, in Derek Walcott's "Arkansas Testament," on the legacy of hostility toward blacks, North and South: the Civil War, to Walcott, is still to be won. Meanwhile a selection of photographs brings those terrible four years even closer. Even at a remove of 140 years, this collection of poems allows us to be moved by them and the passions which still haunt all of us.

This year by year chronology of news, music, books, and people is fun to read. Pick your high school years to find out what happened to form the you of today. Need to know the top tune of 1951 to jazz up a scene in your novel? This book has that, and many more facts to keep one's dialogue in the right era.

The original 1986 publication is now available in a popular-priced, handy paperback edition. Many movie fans are familiar with the Columbia comedy shorts of The Three Stooges, but many of Hollywood's most popular comedians (Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon, etc.) also appeared in Columbia's two-reel comedies. The studio's quarter-century of short-subject production is accurately and completely chronicled by the authors. Their scholarship is exemplary, especially in the filmographies. The writing is intelligent and absorbing, and there are dozens of rare photographs. The book can be enjoyed and consulted any number of times.

How have Americans transformed their environment, and how have political systems handled conflicts over resources and conservation issues over the decades? Columbia Guide To American Environmental History is the only major reference to explore these themes, and deserves a place on the shelf of any college-level library with a strong collection in environmental issues and political intervention.

Collaboratively written by Theda Perdue (professor of history, University of North Carolina) and Michael D. Green (professor of American studies, University of North Carolina), The Columbia Guide To American Indians Of The Southeast is the first in a seven-volume reference series on the history and culture of Native Americans. This fine volume is divided into four major parts: Part 1 provides an overview of cultures, history, and key points of controversy; Part 2 is an alphabetically arranged compact encyclopedia of individuals, places, major treaties and more; Part 3 is a chronology of major events; and Part 4 includes bibliographies, museums, Internet sites, addresses of tribes and much more for the fascinated reader to further his or her wisdom. A solid, heavily researched, reliable reference, fun to browse through, and superb for looking up facts, figures, and history about Native Americans of the Southeast, The Columbia Guide To American Indians Of The Southeast is a welcome, invaluable, scholarly addition to Native American studies reading lists and reference collections.

Niewyk and Nicosia have given us an indispensible addition to the vast literature on the Holocaust. Due to legally required Holocaust education in some states, many people whose specialty is not Holocaust studies are required to teach about the Holocaust. The biggest worry in this is the serious possibility of the Holocaust being presented in a way that is kitschy, usually with no more important lesson than Santayana's trite witticism about repeating history. What *The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust* provides is a wonderful overview of the Holocaust especially designed for non-experts. While the text is concise and readable, the best parts of the book are outside the normal text. Niewyk and Nicosia provide several sections that make this book ideal for beginners in Holocaust studies and educators that must teach about the Holocaust: biographies of many important individuals, "location" biographies of the major death camps, ghettos and other important sites (such as Babi Yar), and an enormous annotated bibliography of books, music, museums, documentaries and movies, and internet sites. While there is not much here for the established scholar (though even they may find the extensive bibliography useful), for beginning students and especially for educators, there is no better source to have by your side when studying, discussing or teaching the Holocaust.

este libro es excelente no solo para los que quieren encontrar una consulta rapida, sino para el inicio de un estudio profundo de literatura.esta bien, hay que admitir que no es ciento por ciento completo y que en la parte de literatura caribena, excluye a algunos, pero es un buen comienzo para este libro, ojala que en ediciones subsiguientes se siga ampliando la parte que toca mas a latinoamerica.

LUIS MENDEZ crazzyteacher@hotmail.com

Covers an amazing amount of material from the time the earth first started coallescing from space dust all the way through to the 1970's (the edition I have was published then, I'm not sure if it's been updated). The structure is perfect for categorizing political and cultural events to capture the essence of what was happening at a given point in time. It's designed to jump in and out of chapters (very good index, chapter headings, timlines, short sections). Each chapter is written by experts on that time, so you get the sense that you're always hearing from an expert, although each chapter "reads" a little differently.

I've been taking it with me traveling for the last 15 years to Japan, Russia, Greece, Italy, Germany. It's a great way to read about what was happening as I've travelled to historical sites.

All of the Altitude Superguide Books are awesome. Very informative and easy to read. I'm trying to find out if they write for travel books for the US. Best guidebook I've seen.