For those of you who want to have direct information, I strongly suggest reading this series. I borrowed and read five other books about Miss Mason's techniques but felt that I really needed to have the original. This series has not been disappointing. I will use this as reference material for many years to come and am so glad that I have been able to read through these books for myself. Please do not be fooled by the titles in the series and skip over any. The first one was especially useful. This is a MUST READ for ALL Homeschoolers.

This six volume set is certainly not light reading, but it's well worth your time. Miss Mason was a widely read educator in Victorian England. She gathered ideas from many sources, and shared her conclusions on education with her readers. Her books are deep and thought provoking. She discusses everything from the proper amount of fresh air, to the development of good habits, the training of the will, the formation of character, to what sort of books contribute to a truly educated person. She also explains why to teach certain subjects as well as how. She is passionate about encouraging the natural love of learning in children. I do not agree with everything Miss Mason has to say, but I cannot recommend her more highly as wonderful reading for the serious home educator.

Well for those of you homeschoolers who have heard the name Charlotte Mason, this is it! This is her complete works written by Charlotte Mason herself. For those of you not familiar with this method of teaching and learning I will explain a little. A very basic definition is that she suggests a narrative method of learning. For just one exmple, a child reads a history lesson. The child then repeats back to you in his own words, what they have read. This assures comprehension of the material read. For those of you with reluctant writers, or younger children, this is great! Of course older children can write down what they have learned & experienced. She suggests studying the classics verus dry textbooks for learning. Similiar to that of a unit study approach. If you want the true Charlotte Mason method, this is all the material you will ever need.

THIS BOOK IS A GREAT SUMMER READ. IT KEEPS THE READER ON THE EDGE OF HIS SEAT.

This book is refreshing. It doesn't need a lot of violence to keep you entertained. It flows really well and keeps you guessing. The characters are believable as well.

I truly enjoyed reading about Amanda and her adventures. I hope everyone will experience the same level of suspense I felt when I read "Deadly Demise."

In Empire and Revolution, eminent Mexican historian John Mason Hart unravels a process in which a vanguard U.S. financial elite in pursuit of empire initially penetrated Mexico by financially supporting Porfirio Diaz's successful revolt against the democratically elected government of Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. Once in power, Diaz offered a friendly and stable regime predisposed to unfettered foreign, particularly U. S., investments which developed Mexico's infrastructure that inevitably led to its monopolistic control. This, in turn, allowed a select group of capitalists to acquire land and resources, in vast quantities unknown until now (nearly 70% of the border and the littoral), only to lose most of their acquisitions as a result of the Mexican Revolution. Hart continues on into the post-revolutionary period by detailing the process in which U. S. capital re-penetrated Mexico once the embers of revolutionary nationalism and social activism cooled and transformed into more pragmatic economic development, and traces it to the present interdependent relationship under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In essence this study offers the reader insight of how Mexico became the first third-world nation that the United States encountered and how it served as a model for guiding U. S. latter-day third-world hegemonic impulses.

While sweeping in scope, Hart's book provides more than just an abstract look at U. S. capital. This work is about individuals-replete with detailed portrayals of the key financial elite, both bankers and industrialists, and civil-war era generals who first pried open the door for U. S. capital investment in Mexico as well as the U. S. "colonists" that followed in their wake. Hart also sheds light into U. S. political and military might that helped buttress these financial elite's imperial pretensions-one key military intervention in Veracruz help tip the scales to Carranza during the Mexican Revolution. Although irascibly nationalistic, Carranza was more acceptable to the U. S. financial and political powers than were Villa or Zapata. Besides covering the political and military aspects of this imperial juggernaut, Hart provides insight into the implications of U. S. economic hegemony in Mexico and the resulting social and cultural interactions. Hart's description of cultural clashes and misunderstandings that occurred throughout this longue durée and the slow transformation into social, cultural, political and economic accommodations lends weight to the concept of an interrelated, albeit diffuse, cultural space that author Joel Garreau and others have christened MexAmerica.

Based on copious primary sources (some recently declassified) from widely dispersed archives and twelve years of research, Empire and Revolution is a seminal work from which future historians of Mexico and U. S. relations will need to begin their inquiry. This is a book that also should be read by all State Department types and businessmen dealing with Mexico and NAFTA-related issues. However, this book is not only for the specialists but also for all others interested in our neighbor to the South who desire to understand how interrelated our histories have been and will continue to be. This is an indispensable book.

This is a seminal work and the best book on Mexican history that I have ever read. Sweeping in scope, John Mason Hart provides an intimate portrayal of American bankers, industrialists, and settlers in the shaping of America's rising influence in Mexico from the Civil War to the present interdependent relationship under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In addition to covering the vast economic, political, and military forces that shaped Mexico and the United States, Hart integrates the cultural and demographic shifts that have reshaped life on both sides of a quickly disappearing border. This is a must read not only for scholars, but anyone interested in American and Mexican history, as well as a major interpretive work on how the United States became a global empire. Mexico serves as the definitve laboratory for American foreign policy and the impusles that forged America's relationship to the "third world." This is an essential book for understanding not only the past, but also the future of North America.

John Mason Hart's Empire and Revolution directs our attention to the role of Americans in Mexico in an entirely new way by emphasizing the diverse ways in which Americans have affected that country and the third world. He demonstrates the importance of financiers in opening our relations with Mexico and the ensuing development of industry, timber, mining, oil, agricultural, ranching and settlement. In the modern era he goes beneath the surface to explain the nature of the drug trade, tourism, and the border economy. He also posits Mexico as a model for understanding relations between the United States and the third world by demonstrating that Mexico was our first and most profound relationship with that part of humanity. Moreover, the narrative style, at times, flows like Walt Whitman's as the reader is given images of American expansion, not just in its westward movement, but south into Mexico. This is the best book on the role of the United States in the third world that I have read.

This book is an excellent source on understanding American Political Philosophy. I wish this book can be sent to every congressmen and senator in Washington DC....they could use a healthy dose of this book.

Free Government in the Making is replete with all the writings of thinkers and politicians who helped shape modern democracy. Beginning with Locke, and carrying through to the 1980's, it is an excellent compilation of what has come to be known as American political thought. Mason has contained a wealth of political theory in one book. It has helped me through two years of college-I wish I had it for high school as well. A must have book for anyone pursuing American History or Government.

If you've been truly curious as to what the American forefathers thought or hoped for in the American political process, I would highly recommend this book. Although I am not a native of the United States, this book gave me an objective evaluation of how the great American democratic experiment came to being. This book should be required reading for all students of American history.

Quintessential Jackie! Hilarious! A must-have in a Jewish humor library. May I also recommend a nifty, gezunta book I received as a gift and fell in love with? "A Little joy, A Little Oy" -- if Jackie's a main course Joy, Oy is one amazing antipasto.

Lillian & Joe Moses

Only a meshuggener would not find this book entertaining and informative. Then again, probably only meshuggeners would want to READ shtick like this. Too bad Jackie didn't record this for the blind and the goyim; LISTENING to his spiel would just make this so much more of a mecheieha. If only that gantseh macher Webster had had Jackie as his editor -- oy!

This is a smart little book of 93 Yiddish words and expressions that are defined, illuminated, and used-in-a-sentence by comic and philosopher Mason. In his Introduction, a thoughtful essay on Yiddish, he asserts that although he born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1934, he grew up in a one hundred percent Yiddish-speaking world ("I didn't know that anybody in this country spoke English until I was old enough to go to the movies.") His family moved back to New York before he was five.

This little book contains a wealth of Masonisms. Jackie Mason used to have run-ins with censors and others. He reserves the right to be both self-deprecating and insulting. Jews, gentiles, politics, marriage, family, ethnicity, money, power, and God himself - all are up for grabs. There are a lot of funny stories. In addition, he has an understanding of the Yiddish language that he is happy to share. (Harry Truman was haimish - accessible, natural - FDR was not. Colorful explanation is provided.) He offers a theory of chicken soup that links it -successfully - to most of the world's cuisines. He is never dull. Mason: "It seems that in English that you have to prove that you're not emotional in order to have class." He posits his sociolinguistic theory (which you've heard if you've seen or heard his stage show) that the more emotional the speech - content and structure - the more "low class" the speaker. He defends emotionality. He loves Yiddish, and in fact the language (black English, specifically) of any people engaged in a battle of wits to survive.

A funny and endearing book.

This is one of the finest books I have read about Alaska. This is a spare, unsentimental portrait of what life in Alaska is really like--both beautiful and harsh. This is not a book that romanticizes homesteading or the poverty of these homesteaders' lives; instead they come alive through the Brice's crystaline prose and her use of defining detail. Here is real life--people struggling to make lives for themselves in a country that is neither easy nor forgiving. The stark, black and white photographs that accompany the book add a beautiful and moving element. If you want to know what life on the frontier can really be like, read this book.

The author presents a thoughtful and thought provoking look at an oft misunderstood concept: homesteading in the wilds of Alaska. The reader is held in awe at the tenacity of these latter day pioneers who have chosen a lifestyle far removed from the experience of most of us in the lower forty-eight.

Intimate but respectful study of a unique breed of modern day pioneers in one of the last really remote places in America. Well done glimpse into a world of determination and dreams that most can only imagine.

As Siskel and Ebert would have said, 2 thumbs up. It's a great book to learn about the "shores" of Alaska. WTG Dr.Mason

2 thumbs up....... A book worth it's wait in gold, its a must for readers who want to learn the truth about the "shores" of Alaska.........WTG Dr. Mason

2 thumbs up....... A book worth its wait in gold, its a must for readers who want to learn the truth about the "shores" of Alaska.........

Jen Green's introduction to the life and work of Michelangelo is at something of a disadvantage compared to other volumes in the Famous Artists series because he was both a painter and a sculptor, although there is also a spread on his work as an architect as well. Ultimately Green focuses more on Michelangelo as a sculptor, looking at his Bacchus, Pieta, and David works before looking at the painting of the Sistine Chapel (the reproductions of these paintings unfortunately predate the remarkable restoration efforts). Ironically, in terms of explaining Michelangelo's distinct style, Green has much more success dealing with the painter than the sculptor. The political climate of the time is also dealt with, since perhaps no other artist in history worked at the whim of patrons and popes more than Michelangelo.

The strength of the Famous Artists series remains its emphasis on allowing young readers to experiment with the techniques of particular artists through the use of hands-on projects (e.g., proportion, composition, carving in relief) as well as by providing preliminary sketches and materials to show the artistic process at work. Each two-page spread features an illustration of the artist's home or environment, the continuing story of the Michelangelo's life, details and examples of the his work at that particular time, and a feature on the artist's technique with practical projects to try. Often there are enlargements of key parts of the work and there is always a symbol indicating the size of the work relative to a human being. As a general rule, these are excellent books for providing readers, young and old alike, with a basic art appreciation introduction to the world's greatest artists.

Hughes gives a lot of info in a short book, and paints a very well balanced idea of Michelangelo the man. I felt bad for
Buonaratti after reading this. He truly was a miserable man, yet his committment to his art was never diminished for a moment. In the end the story of his life is inspiring and humbling. Inspiring because it proves what man can acheive, humbling in the sacrifices that were made in order to fulfill his destiny as one of the great geniuses to have ever lived.

Firstly, I was thoughroughly impressed by the quality of this little book. The layout of the pages, the quality of the paper, everything. I'm glad to report that the content matches its presentation: Very clean, clear text featuring an unbiased look at Michelangelo's life. The book often cites former biographers (specifically Vasari and Condivi) and more often than not, it tries to find the right history. Very good illustrations of his more famous artwork as well as some drawings. Excellent!

54 pages of exceptional poetry from four of the best poets in the small press scene today. Neeli Cherkovski, Bradley Mason Hamlin, Gerald Nicosa, & A.D. Winans. If you are a fan of excellent, raw & unpretentious writing, this is for you. If you like flowery pretentious verse then this is not the book for you. Every poem in this collection is hard-hitting. Having read many of these poets in many other publications, it always amazes me how they hit a home run EVERY TIME. The spirit of the small press is alive and well between these pages. EXCELLENT!!!

Only a very few human beings can write poetry well, write it as only the champs know how. With the passing of Charles Bukowski, as readers, we must look for the other wayward children of the Apocalypse. You won't find them in the mainstream publishing venues. It just ain't gonna happen. The fat cats have always played it safe and they always will. The small presses are the last vanguard of truth in a world gone mad. Off The Tongues Of Sinners is a key example that there is life remaining in the slim world of poetics. You get Neeli Cherkovski (Bukowski biographer), Bradley Mason Hamlin (creator of the metaphysical crime series: Alcoholman), Gerald Nicosia (Jack Kerouac biographer), and A.D. Winans (Second Coming publisher). A good team, a good mix, well worth the price of admission.

WOW! A TRULY EPIC COLLECTION OF POEMS BY SOME GREAT WRITERS.
NEELI CHERKOVSKI, ONE OF BUKOWSKI'S BEST FRIENDS. AUTHOR OF BUKOWSKI AND FERLINGHETTI BIOGRAPHIES. NEELI TURNS OUT A HANDFUL OF STUNNING POEMS. A.D. WINANS, PUBLISHER OF 2ND COMING, A SAN FRANCISCO BORN AND BRED WRITER, SMALL PRESS HERO AND CHAMPION OF THE UNDERDOG. GERALD NICOSIA, AUTHOR OF MEMORY BABE THE DEFINITIVE KEROUAC BIOGRAPHY. ALSO A SECTION FROM BRADLEY MASON HAMLIN, NEW CUTTING EDGE MISFIT LIT. A GREAT BOOK LOADED WITH EXCELLENT POETRY FROM OF AMERICA'S BEST SMALL PRESS LEGENDS.

I had been thinking about using Charlotte Mason's methods with my own children, but wasn't sure if it was really what I wanted to do. This tape gave me all the information I needed to make an informed decision.

I've always wanted to attend one of Levison's in-person all day workshops, but she's never been in my local area. But now, thanks to this great tape, I feel like I've actually been to see her speak. Not only is this tape absolutely PACKED with information about practically applying Charlotte Mason's educational methods in the home, Ms. Levison is also extremely funny! I guess I didn't expect that aspect of the tape. She's a great public speaker and excellent teacher. If you order this tape, you'll soon find that you'll be sorry you didn't order ALL of Levison's other tapes, too. Which reminds me, I think I'll go place an order for her "Language Arts for (Almost) Free" tape. These audio workshops are definitely worth the money.

If you've ever wished for a warm, friendly, funny Mom to take you by the hand and walk you through the Charlotte Mason method, here's the answer to your wish! I've personally seen Levison speak in-person at several homeschooling conferences over the years, and I still found that I enjoyed listening to her audio workshops. She packs so much information into each class she teaches ... and she's definitely one of the most gifted public speakers I've had the pleasure of hearing. This is an audio workshop you'll listen to again and again.