This is a reasonably good, though dry, effort at examining the life of the mellifluous-voiced British actor, James Mason. The book is paced well and there is a fair amount of information on most of his movies. However, there is a lack of information on Mason's personal life, especially regarding his unusual first marriage to the ascerbic Pamela Mason.

Though Pamela Mason was a loud-mouthed and shrewish adulteress, she was also extremely witty and interesting in her own right. Anyone who recalls her appearences on L.A. TV shows from the 60's and 70's will still chuckle at her endless tirades, usually ending with the predictable sentence, "James was so dull."

This book actually provides convincing evidence that James *was* boring. Mason comes off as depressed, rigid, indecisive and inrodinately unhappy. He makes many poor choices and instead of getting over them and getting on with his life, he broods about the negative consequences of his actions. For example, he moves to Hollywood and instantly detests California and American life, yet he inexplicably continues to live in the States for another 15 years. Hello, James... what was the problem?

It is never explained why James stayed with Pamela for so many years, even when he was miserable in her presence and unhappy living in America. When he finally does divorce her, he ends up shilling out millions in alimony and making a succession of wretched movies in order to pay off Pamela.

Ultimately, the real tragedy is that a man as intelligent, urbane and handsome as James Mason (not to mention his stupendous voice!) handled his career in such a haphazard way. He was a marvelous screen actor, but wasted his talent in many potboilers. This book doesn't really explain these poor choices and doesn't reveal enough about Mason's private life.

I really enjoyed this biography by Sheridan Morley on James Mason. It is really good, and tells much about his life, but more about his career. It's a very good read though, and you will learn about him from it. It's well written and really is an interesting read for any fan of James Mason.

I was somewhat disappointed with this book. Only the first half of the book deals specifically with the law of Moses and its relation to Christ. While doing so, I often thought Poythress was finding symbolism where none existed.

The second half of the book deal with modern society. That is, how does the Law of Moses affect us today? How should it affect our 21st century laws? He also includes a critique of modern prisons (which he rightly sees as complete failures), a critique of theonomy and a lengthy discussion of what Jesus meant with he said he came to fulfill the law.

This book is good but not great. If you are looking for an easy introduction this is a good place to start.

In this book, Poythress does a nice job of introducing the reader to the study of typology in the Old Testament (as it relates to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ), while at the same time refraining from "seeing" Christ where there is no real type. If you've ever wondered how the tabernacle, the law, or the promised land (as well as many other topics) stand in relation to the work of Jesus as Messiah, this book is for you.

"44 Dublin Made Me", was the first book written Peter Sheridan. Mr. Sheridan is also a noted playwright, and director of such films as, "My Left Foot" and "The Boxer". When I commented on his first work I felt it settled itself between the sadness that often accompanies Irish Memoirs with the traditional healthy dose of humor. This second book, "47 Roses", is not devoid of humor, but the topic that is shared is almost incompatible with humor, and certainly overwhelms the few lighter moments that are described.

The number in the title not only describes the flowers that play a role in the book, but much more significantly the number of years a woman from England remained devoted to a man she could never marry. It was not only that the author's father was married that kept them apart, but also, and to a lesser extent, differences that unfortunately remain so prominent between Ireland and England. Intolerance was much stronger in the first half on the 20th Century, so the idea of an English Protestant and an Irish Catholic as husband and wife was dicey, especially for an Irishman whose family history was prominent in the more extreme groups of Ireland. To balance the difficulties, the English side of the family included a former member of The Black And Tans, who will remain notorious for much of Ireland no matter how many years may pass.

Anna was the wife in Ireland and Doris was the woman in England. Both of these women had a claim on the affections of this man Peter, and he clearly had feelings that ran very deep for both of them. For 30 years Doris was a part of the author's family, through visits and even watching the children when Anna and Peter vacationed. The ultimatum that finally separated Peter and Doris was to last 17 years until his death, and then it would continue with the son trying to piece together the mystery of this extremely unusual relationship that spanned the Irish Sea.

The feelings of both women and their actions are at times hard to fathom. Why would Doris wait for a man for 47 years, going so far as to convert to Catholicism so as to not be separated after they left their life on this world? This same woman who would come to lay flowers at Peter's grave without having seen him for the better part of 2 decades, and upon arriving in Dublin would walk 10 miles at the age of 75 to pay her respects. This same woman who had one child requested that Peter give her away at her wedding and at the same time invited Anna to attend. The questions and suspicions this request raised, the answers offered, presumptions confirmed or denied.

This is an interesting story to read, it is also devoid of the clichés that would reasonably be expected. The author seems to be in the greatest pain, not because of what may or may not have happened, but due to his feelings about his conduct as he tries to piece together 47 years of family mystery.

This is a remarkably personal story, and because it is, often is almost uncomfortable to read. I don't know whether the story could have been related in a different manner, and my perception may be different from others.

Este libro es una recopilación de hechos, por medio de artículos periodisticos (publicados en La Jornada, Proceso, y Letras Libres) del conflicto generado en 1999 con respecto de las cuotas en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), a raíz de la propuesta del entonces rector Barnés. Sheridan se tomó la molestia de incorporar además artículos previos al conflicto de las cuotas (tambien aparecidos en Vuelta), en donde habla de la compleja problemática de la UNAM, derivada, según el, del gigantismo universitario, la "UNAMegalomanía" como bien tuvo a definir Gabriel Zaid, el centralismo gubernamental, la burocratización universitaria, y más recientemente, de sus infinitos usos políticos, por parte de partidos políticos (PRI, PAN, el antiguo Partido Comunista, el PRD), sindicatos (AAPAUNAM, STUNAM), y asociaciones o grupos estudiantiles, y cualquier combinación de estos tres. Sheridan nos habla desde su punto de vista de académico, de quien no tiene ningún provecho que sacarle a lo que escribe, que no persigue su placita en un instituto (pues la ha conseguido por sus propios méritos), ni mucho menos como director de alguna dependencia universitaria o gubernamental, o una diputación, senaduría o gubernatura alguna. Habla como un maestro (malpagado, amargado tal vez) más de la facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

Para quienes tuvimos que seguir a la distancia, paso a paso, el conflicto suscitado en 1999, leer a Sheridan fue siempre una invitación a la paciencia, al sentido común (el menos común de los sentidos), al buen uso de la lógica. No es de olvidarse "el gesto de Lizette", cuando una estudiante universitaria le da una bandera roja a Barnés diciendole que si la abre, entonces habrá huelga, y que si no la abre, también, como tampoco los llamados a diálogo de los miembros del CGH...con la boca vendada. Y un sinnúmero de situaciones absurdas, violentas, y destructoras de la universidad nacional.

Habrá quien se moleste de su evidente sorna, su manera tan sarcástica de referirse a sus interlocutores, aunque más que a ellos, a sus acciones. Sheridan parte de la premisa fundamental que dice que la mejor defensa que se puede hacer de una universidad es la que se hace a través de la academia (la única que de manera consciente y ordenada puede cambiar la realidad), aunque suene a perogrullada, pero no resulta serlo, a la vista de los que sucede a diario en la UNAM.

No solamente incluye sus artículos, que en ocasiones devienen en verdaderos soliloquios (del hombre irritado que ve desde una loma como los mercenarios políticos de uno y otro signo acaban con lo cultivado, lo que lleva tiempo, constancia y amor por la camiseta universitaria), sino también incluye algunos desencuentros epistolares, aunque no todos, y al final transcribe una entrevista que se le hizo con motivo de la [siempre aplazada] reforma universitaria por venir (hoy en junio 2002). Esta es tal vez la parte mas interesante del libro, pues el mismo autor se enfrenta a su mundo idealizado, a esa universidad presidida por académicos de méritos y nadie más que éstos, sin sindicato de haraganes o lamezuelas, sin tiendas UNAM, con institutos independientes y eficientes, y facultades con bajo indice de deserción, y se da cuenta de su propia impotencia para cambiar radicalmente el panorama universitario unamita y mexicano en general, asume su inocencia, pero valerosamente, defiende sus propias verdades. Al lector le queda la duda entre creerle o no a Sheridan, discutir como buen universitario, o dejar que la UNAM, o cualquier otra universidad pública latinoamericana, por falta de memoria, o de sentido común, sea nuevamente víctima de la politización excesiva.

Finalmente, creo que el gran valor de este libro fue el de ir a contracorriente de la noción de que los ensayos periodísticos son como rayas en el agua.

God bless Marge Shultz for shedding some light on the glamorous Ann Sheridan, a woman who had great talent to match her great sex appeal. This book tells you everything about Ann's upbringing, films(King's Row), television work (Pistols & Petticoats), and love life. My only complaints are the price($65.00), and the lack of pictures (A women as beautiful as Ann was warrents several pictures in a book about her!!!!). But overall Good Buy!!!

After reading the many cooking tips and recipes, I fell in lovewith this book. The results were exactly like my first generationgrandmothers cooking long ago. If you want authentic this is the book to follow.

My husband and I stayed at the Inn in 1993. We bought this cookbook after sampling the "Welcome to Snowvillage Inn" chocolate chip cookies that were placed in our room in a little basket. They were WONDERFUL, as was all of the food we dined on during our stay. This continues to be one of my favorite cookbooks including the recipe for Potato Leek Soup and Kate's Last Minute Artichoke Spread (EASY!) and the Tomato Cognac Soup.
It's a great and delicious reminder of the terrific stay at Snowvillage Inn!

Sartre wrote volume one of Critique of Dialectical Reason (CDR) between 1957 & 1960, & it was published in France in 1960. The first English edition appeared in 1976. A second, unfinished volume appeared posthumously in 1982.

CDR was a massive attempt to describe the minutiae of human interaction & Sartre's last major philosophical work. Its thesis statement can be drawn from its thematic antecedent, Search for Method: cultural order is irreducible to natural order.

Rhetoric professor Michael McGee (1989) said that CDR was lost in the avant garde reconstruction of Foucault, Lacan, & Gilles DeLeuze. In CDR, life was an endless occasion of totalizations, detotalizations, & retotalizatons on a field of scarcity. We called the temporalization of events "history."

On the other hand, structuralists & their scholarly progeny forever looked for an objective entity called "context" with which to examine their subjects. Sartre insisted that even "context" was reducible to further concerted human effort, which he called "praxis."

Because of the scant attention that CDR has got from professional scholars (except for McGee), it holds a truly grand secret, which is that it was more or less the weapon with which orthodox psychiatric medicine was challenged in the 1960s by R.D. Laing et al. Laing synopsized CDR in 1964's Reason & Violence; terms & elements in CDR fairly drip from Sanity, Madness & Family & The Politics of Experience.

Rebel French psychiatrist Frantz Fanon (1961) used Sartre's quite original ideas of the pledged group & the terror of the brotherhood to show how violent revolution by oppressed peoples would produce a cultural catharsis & a healthy nationalism.

I know of no other original study, treatise, or even novel that uses the themes & concepts of CDR. A CDR-oriented examination of, say, American domestic relations proceedings might be a worthy endeavor.

Frank J. Finamore has pieced together a rather enjoyable read. His selection of authors could only be outdone with the inclusion of a few others(such as Robert Louis Stevenson("Markeim" would have worked well here)and Lovecraft), but what might have worked even better for this collection would be a progression of stories through the ages. Most of these tales are from authors who lived in the 1800's, which in itself is a pleasure to read tales written in a time less centered on foul language and gory depictions. However, Mr. Finamore, in his introduction, advises that as we near(ed) the millenium, society's fascination with the devil may have an impact on us individually. To back this up, he provides us with tales of devilish deals sealed within the jaws of rats, the devil in the guise of a minstrel and a gambler, and bargains gone awry. Some of the stories I had never read before(such as the re-telling of the legend of Kathleen O'Shea), but most were old favorites, such as the infamous "The Devil and Daniel Webster", in which a patriot abuses old Scratch so badly you almost feel sorry for him. The best thing about this collection is that it brings together some old favorites, and adds a few to the list. Most compilations, however, progress(see any of the Greenberg/Weinberg collections), while this one starts classicly great and stays that way. The only disapointment is in the introduction, where you think that maybe Mr. Finamore was trying to assemble a classroom ready tome and not a study on the literary fascination with the devil. Then again, any collection that includes Caballero's "The Devil's Mother-In-Law", in which we see a demon fearing something more than every married man on earth has feared for centuries, has to be good.

I know of only five volumes in the Sheridan series, and was surprised to find that this one is in print in large print format. I had thought them all to be out of print entirely. I have the five in paperback, and found them to be uniformly good reading. Do yourself a favor and become acquainted with them.