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This book has awesome revelations about healing. We bought a number of them so we can share them with people who are seeking truth about healing from the Lord. I'd recommend this highly!!

Healing is still happening today. This book will explain what Jesus meant for us to have in our health.

This book is all you need, beyond the bible, if you are seriously interested in divine healing. It should be noted that this book is written by someone who was very successful in the healing ministry,
as distinct from those who merely theorize. This is an excellent book!

An old book with update from author's son. There is so much to enjoy in this book. I will reread it often.

Definitely a book worth reading. For those who doubt that God still heals today, well that's sad for one thing, but this is a book that can help inspire you to get past those doubts, of course along with the Bible also.

Never got this book yet,,,please don't charge me for it.

thanks,
c. gusic

I really love sanaya's books, they leave you with a warm feeling and an inner knowing. This book was very good but i wish there were more excersizes like her other books ie spiritual growth.

This is another excellent book but all of Romans books tend to repeat themselves. Still I have 4 or 5 of her books and underline and go back and re-read things during my devotional times. No major changes in my life have been necessarily produced through her books but they are comforting words that would be absolutely wonderful if they really did work.

Can't figure out why certain things are happening to or not working for you? You could possibly find the answer in here. "If any area of your life is not working, one of your beliefs in that area needs to be changed" -from the book.

Many universal laws and principles are covered in this book. ie: Energy and how to sense and work with it, love, forgiveness, pain, how your imagination is a very important tool, (and the way it works with your subconcious is pretty amazing.) Each chapter ends with a 'Playsheet' which is very helpful, and gives you excercises to think about and try for yourself.

Besides the abundance of information, another nice thing about this is, while it's great to start at the beginning and read through, you can open this up randomly and read something beneficial.

This is an 'Orin' book, which means evidently the book is channeled from this entity through Sanaya Roman. I've only read a few books that claimed to be 'channeled', and I don't have a problem with it especially when the information is geared towards helping people to make positive life changes. There are lots of ways to grow and learn from reading this book and applying the new knowledge.

I initially read Personal Power through Awareness about a year and a half ago. I was COMPLETELY amazed. It felt as if this book had been written specifically for me. The adage, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear is absolutely true. Sanaya Roman's book encapsulated my entire stuggle for the first 35+ years of my life. I so desperately wanted to be the good son, the perfect minister, ideal Christian, husband, friend, employee, etc. I wanted to please everyone, but the one who matters most.....me. This book was momunental in helping me reclaim myself and getting in touch with my energy. I even quote the following reference in my own book. "Being alone, sitting quietly, allowing yourself to rest physically, emotionally, and mentally will give you an increasingly clear sense of self. In those still times you are not playing out any role or any identity, and your soul can speak to you more clearly. You have the clearest sense of your own energy when you are not around others, when you are alone." I just finished reading this book again and even after five times through it, I still walk away with something new, timely, pertinent, and extremely helpful. I have no doubt whatsoever that you will do the same.

There are so many words to decribe Emotions. It was turly an enjoyable read. I like reading novels that make you think. Joi the main female character could be anyone. I loved the passion that Michael brought back into her life, but at the same time, I could see that the passion she had with Michael, it was the type of passion she once shared with Phillip (her husband) and long to rekindle. Emotions lefted you thinking that us married folks with some years under our belts, can still have passion, but just like anything worth having, it takes work. Yes Joi had fellings for Michael, but not only did she love her husband, she was deeply in love with her husband as well. It takes a strong couple, and a strong MAN to deal with what happened and get through it. I might be the only reader that was happy whit the ending.

Timm, I miss your writing. More importantly, I miss your friendship.

Fran

.........and self-discovery. Emotions by Timmothy McCann is a lesson on "things happen for a reason." Why do certain folks come into our life when they do?

Both Joi Weston, actress in the autumn of her acting career, and Michael Brockmier, an author in a musician's body trying (seemingly unsuccessfully) to live up to other's expectations, are two people who are instantly drawn to each other upon first site. Joi, however, is "happily married"....at least so she proclaims. Nonetheless, the chemistry is so strong, these individuals come together inspite of it all.

While Brockmier is in NYC dealing with the perils of the publishing industry, Joi is down in Florida trying to determine how to obtain some of her true passions as she aproaches 40 yrs. old. Can she be content as the wife of a politician (which is not too far from being an actress)....or, is L.A. calling her name to pick up on her acting career?

What I liked about this book is how the author was so vivid in his descriptions that it was more like watching a movie instead of reading a book. I also thought it was special to read about someone who was in her 40's; her thought processes, fears and dreams.

Inspite of all the pain, sorrow and soul-searching decisions Joi (which rhymes with star) has to deal with, you see a woman who realizes that no matter what age, we are always evolving.

This story tells us that sometimes we learn more from our adversities than we do our successes. This was a smooth, thought provoking read. One that's great for book club discussion, complete with a readers guide at the end. Check it out!

This brother knows how to keep you in suspense. I truly enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were great. The story line was great. It was just a wonderful book. The ending was not very realistic in by book but who cares. It is afterall just a book. I always enjoy reading Mr. McCann's novels. He never leaves you with a dull moment. Keep them coming and go out and purchase this book.

How Do You Say Good Bye To A Friend?

For seven years I have written professionally and for seven years you have shared with me your likes, and dislikes about my words. Sometimes I was able to move you... some times I was able to touch you... some times I may have even confused the hell out of you. But it was my endeavor to at all times make you think.

I have written my last sentence. And when I say that's hard to type as a man who once declared "I write for the same reason I breathe," it's true. Why? The industry is changing and I have not willfully changed with it. While reviewing a contract for a 5th and 6th novel, it became apparent to me that if I signed it-I would be signing away apart of my soul and if you have read me you know I would never do such a thing.

When I wrote UNTIL... it was written from the heart. It was a story I wanted to hear so I wrote it and the same holds true from each subsequent novel.

No, everyone did not love my work... but then again every one does not even love the Bible so this I understand. But for the readers out there who felt cut off when the site was closed down. For the readers out there we felt shunned when they could no longer e mail me their thoughts. For the fellow novelist out there that felt I walked away from friendships, I apologize. Please charge it to my head and not my heart because you will never know how much it means to look at AMAZON and see a note posted by readers from all over the world. To my author friends I felt like a divorced spouse... who's friends all are married. I trust you will understand.

Remember how you felt when you found out there was no Santa? That's how I felt when I decided to move forward in my life. I mean... my 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9th novels were outlined. I wanted to tell you these stories and I now I will only have them in the attic for my kids to read.

Speaking of kids. They are now 12 and 13 and as a single dad my days are numbered so I decided that it was time to enjoy the moments I still have with them.

But at the end of the day I was just a brother telling stories. You honored me by reading them as you honor me by reading this letter. For this I will forever be grateful.

In closing my first novel posed the question, "have you ever seen someone for the first time and just knew how much you missed them?" After writing this letter to you... after a seven year love affair, after having my heart broken by conditions beyond my control, after apart of me having drawn its last breath, I now understand....

Until...

Timm

I personally have not read these books, but I have been purchasing them for my niece for special gifts, for her. After I gave her the first three books she said she really enjoyed them, because she likes horses alot. Then when I gave her a few more she was very excited because she didn't realize there were more in the series. In March I will have given her through book 10, so there are still more to come for her. I enjoy giving the gift of reading to children.

In 5th grade my AG reading teacher told me about the Heartland seires I used to not like to read but these books hve changed my mined!I am on #15 but Every New Day is my absolut favorite Heartland book! I love the new charachters and the new setting!! I loved the way Huten (amys moms freind) works with his horses and helps with Murcery I wish I could Give it thousands of stars!!!!!( I will Be sooooo Sad when I Have read them all but im looking faward to the nw series Chesnut Hill!)

This book is Very Good. In the book Amy takes a horse mucerey that once loved to jump but now he refuses even the tinyest jumps. When Amy can not figure out the problem she takes mucrurey to a guy (Huten) that once new Amy's mom. Amy had seen the man work his own horse and she thought they had a very speical bond. Once Amy is there it is almost time to leave and her and Huten haven't worked with mucerey one bit, instead Huten takes amy out on walkes and talkes about stuff. Read this book to find out if what happens. I would recomend this book to any horse lover(like me). I Really LOVED it.

This book is so cool. Whenever Amy and Ty are alone together, I just want to be with them!

go out and read it NOW!!!!!! This was my all time fav tied with new beginnings. amy goes 2 the appilachians with mercury, a horse that wont jump. the reason amy takes him is because she wonders if the ppl there could help mercury. when amy gets there, huten, a native american friend of her mom (,and a wise horse healer), doesnt seem 2 do anything 2 mercury. instead he helps her understand with strange sayings. but wat huten says is really true. go out and buy it NOW!!!! :) peace out,
a huge heartland fan

I thought this book offered some different ways in the effort to learn more about myself. The exercises are thought provoking and easy to do and provide a good insight into my own thoughts, habits and self. I don't think it is ground breaking or the answer to the million dollar question "Who am I?" but it does offer exercises to learn more about self and I think it is an excellent read and book.

Wishcraft is divided into 2 parts: the wishing part and the 'crafting' part. The premise of the book is that you cannot get what you want unless you have done the wishing you need. So the first part of the book takes you through a series of exercises designed to get you to dream your wildest dreams about your life and what it could be. It is both powerful and freeing to do this. Barbara Sher also gives you ways to distinguish between 'real' dreams (the ones you really truly want) and fantasies (things you just think you want).

Once you have some clear ideas about what your dreams are, the second part of the book gives you great approaches to achieving them. One of the most fantastic aspects of this section is the focus on the problems list. barbara says that your list of problems are like gold. in the beginning i did not realize what she meant but once you have clearly articulated what problems you have then you can start attacking them one at a time. So the problems lead you to the dream.

Don't get me wrong, this book will require you to work hard but the exercises are great and her writing is fantastic. Having a dream (or 20 perhaps) is something I had forgotten about as I make my way through a busy and complex life. Now I feel like I am taking control of where I am going with the aid of her wisdom and direction.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to make life changes, career shifts, or just wants more from their lives.

This was Barbara Sher's first book, but until now I'd only read (and loved) her follow-up books. I've read alot of other books on positive affirmations and projecting to the Universe what you want and was stunned to see that this "oldie, but goody" was really one of the most simple and straight-forward approaches to that concept.

Even if you've read lots of other self-help books, this classic is still one everyone should read.

I got the 1979 copy of this book about 4 years ago on a recommendation from a therapist who saw that I was drifting along with no real goals. I had tried college twice before (by this time I was in my late 30's) and each time quit because I didn't know what I wanted to do or to be. The "college career center" was no help whatsoever. The test I took there had me taking courses for industrial engineering, which I had zero interest in, but I figured maybe the test saw some hidden talent that I didn't know I had. Wrong. I started reading this book and doing the exercises and slowly discovered what it was that I wanted to be....an interior designer! I would have never thought of it in a million years without this book changing my way of thinking. I felt like it was a huge revelation! It was a relief to finally know, at the age of 38, what it was that I wanted to do! I started college again and had to quit after a year and a half due to a pay cut at my job. The old me, the pre-Wishcraft-reading me, would have just given up right then. Actually, I DID freak out for about a week. But the new me sat down and brainstormed like in the book and thought long and hard about what needed to be done to be able to stay in school and follow my dream. I'm happy to say that I only took a year off of school and am actually now in a better school. I've also been so inspired by the other reviews for this book. I have recommended this book to friends and will always keep my copy no matter where I go in life.

Growing up Asian without knowing I was an ADD scanner, I really struggled with "why am I so different?!" Reading Wishcraft in college was my first and best ray of hope towards creating a life I love, finding ways to learn and live that really work for me, and also coming to appreciate all of who I am.

In 8th grade, I thought that I had No Talent whatsoever and had no idea "what to do with my life", now I'm amazed at all the talents that keep showing up now that I know how to find what works for me!

I currently love teaching voice lessons 5 days a week, performing with my Global Jazz band, and I'm creating my first full 2-hour musical theater production with a Persian Iranian jazz singer friend of mine called "Memories & Media Myths of Iran & North Korea" -- for which we received a Minnesota State Arts Board / National Endowment for the Arts grant!

THANK YOU BARBARA!

Why do people start businesses? Why doesn't the high failure rate dampen their enthusiasm? "The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By" is an examination of modern entrepreneurship and what makes it all tick. Taking a good, long look at the reality of it all, "The Illusion of Entrepreneurship : The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By" takes into account the industries that are popular for start up, how they are financed, the characteristics of an entrepreneur, and strategies for new businesses to survive when they first start. Scholarly written and researched, "The Illusion of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By" is highly recommended for any community library collection with an interest in economics and business, and should be required reading for any aspiring entrepreneur.

I was drawn to this book when Dr. Shane gave us a quiz about the FACTS of entrepreneurship. Believe it or not, although many of us might have thought we were savvy in entrepreneurship, we got almost none of the questions correct. After that, I placed a pre-order for this book and waited for months before this book was first in print and available. It was quite a worthwhile.

What we got wrong? If you read the book you will understand why many of us got them wrong. His data (much of them from public sources) basically strikes you like this:
* Can you believe the most entrepreneurial state in the US is not California, nor Massachusetts, but Vermont?
* Can you believe U.S. is not the most entrepreneurial country in the word, but instead three times less entrepreneurial than the top country? (The book uses various measures of entrepreneurial activities)
...
This long list of debuted myths are summarized in the end of each chapter.

Most important, each chapter explains WHY the myths turn out to be wrong. Without these explanations, the book would become simply a stack of striking facts that you found hard to believe. What makes this book highly insightful and convincing is that the author not only points out what is the truth based on reliable data, but also tells us why the surprising truth makes sense.

Certainly, to buy in his points, you need to first buy in how the author defines entrepreneurship--starting a new (for-profit) organization, including self-employment, etc. This is a fair definition in the research on entrepreneurship.

If you teach entrepreneurship or related courses, the book will be a perfect tool for you to draw students' interest. Students become more involved and learn more when their stereotype mental model is challenged with a sound reason.

One more thing to note: The author has a notable merit across his writings: clear, and easy to follow. This book is of no exception. You can easily grab what he wants to say in this book even when you read it when traveling on a plane or before going to bed.

This is an OUTSTANDING book that should be very useful to entrepreneurs, researchers and policy makers.

The author is one of the most respected scholars in entrepreneurship. He uses a lot of research papers and industry reports to present the facts and bust the "myths" about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.

The book has ten chapters with a total of 67 busted myths. Chapters 2 and 7 should be very useful to entrepreneurs. Chapter 2 tells us that industry selection matters in starting a business. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs select industries that they know better and in which it is easy to start businesses. Further, most entrepreneurs don't select the most profitable industries but instead pick industries with the highest firm failure rates. Chapter 7 tells us that success depends on more important factors than entrepreneur personality or psychological traits.

The book raises some serious questions about conventional wisdoms. Here are two examples:

Concerning the typical entrepreneur, "The characteristics that make people more likely to start businesses aren't all desirable; people are more likely to go into business for themselves if they are unemployed, work part-time, have changed jobs often, and make less money. The typical entrepreneur earns less money than he would have earned had he worked for someone else and has worse job benefits."

Concerning government policy to promote entrepreneurship, "We have no evidence that in the absence of government intervention, people were creating too few businesses or that without government action the wrong firms would get started or financed. Moreover, we have no evidence that creating additional new companies is a good thing. ... there is ample evidence that when governments intervene to encourage the creation of new businesses, they stimulate people to start new companies disproportionately in competitive industries with lower barriers to entry and high rates of failure."

I find the book interesting and entertaining. It is well-written and easy-to-follow, without unnecessary academic jargons. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who is serious about entrepreneurship.

I took two major lessons, and provide a suggestion, from Scott Shane's "Illusions of Entrepreneurship":

First, "Start your business for the right reasons," is a key issue that Shane notes, and it's an issue that can help ground potential entrepreneurs in reality. This book provides a portrait of entrepreneurs that is refreshing to read, noting that the romanticized view of being an entrepreneur is something much different than the "as is" state. People who are good "craftsmen", even in an unglamorous field, will feel good about going it alone after reading his book.

Second, I suggest that this book comes at an important time in our nation's business history. With the concerns about how innovative and entrepreneurial we are as a nation, and what that may mean to our future economic development, this book helps de-bunk stultifying myths about pursuing an entrepreneurial career. That can only help us.

Third, my suggestion: Not only will people who want to be entrepreneurs benefit from the objective analysis in this book, but policy-makers would do well to be steeped in the reality of entrepreneurism presented here. Maybe they will think about how to clear a road for new enterprise formation versus bureaucratically impede business success.

For those familiar with Scott Shane's academic articles, this book does offer a comforting familiarity to Scott Shane's straight-to-the-point and easy-to-read writing style. He wrote this book with the customers in mind and truly he wants to give us the essential truth in a simple way, not simpler. I find that very refreshing.

Going into the content, indeed he busted many prominent myths for which the word 'facts' probably more appropriate. I am tempted to go into the details and list the many important myths proven to be counterintuitive, but the task is easier said than done for every single busted myth is so mind-changing. I will be quick to say that this book is a must for any party interested in entrepreneurship-related activities. Making comments before reading this book could make one look naive. To me, that is high praise for Scott Shane and this book.

Welcome to Mason County, where even the census takers were baffled when they came to a town where blacks looked white. Isabel is the main character in this story. Every one calls her Belly in Mason County. That all changes when a series of events after her childhood friend Teeny got pregnant, led her to Jamison county to stay with her Aunt Rachel. She takes piano lessons from a woman name Ophelia that calls her Isabel, shows her what a real lady is, wins over her heart, and also the heart of Uncle Avery, Aunt Rachel's husband. This causes a lot of problems in Belly's life and causes her to learn a lot life's lessons pretty early. This book was written very beautifully and opened my heart back up to my childhood. I won't tell the rest of the story but all of the characters were endearing and I'll never forget them.

Revisit childhood and relive it in a marvelous way! I felt that I grew up with Belly during the tale of "Miss Ophelia". After reading how her family interacted with each other, their personalities and histories, I felt like I knew them. I laughed out loud at their antics and conversations. You probably will too!

The book seems to start off a little slow in the beginning, but don't let that fool you. This is one to savor. It takes time to get to know this family and watch Isabel (Belly) come of age. While there were events that many of us could relate to, this book lacked the over-the-top, crazy drama that can be found in some other books about childhood family experiences. How refreshing! Belly actually had a good childhood! It was joy to read about. She also had some tough issues to deal with, and this kept the book grounded in reality.

Belly spent part of an important summer taking piano lessons from Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia left a powerful influence on Belly, and their time together was a "defining moment" in Belly's life. The way the author described their interaction and other aspects of Belly's life before and after was beautiful. I could picture everything, but the writing style wasn't too wordy. The style was very natural, and the characters seemed so authentic.

I took my time reading this book and looked forward to reading it every time I picked it up. I felt so contented while reading it and satisfied even after I'd finished it. I highly recommend this book. Reading it is time well spent.

This story is sooooo wonderfully written and told. This is one hot summer that readers will surely enjoy. The summer heat is not just in temperature, the heat also rises from the pages in the form of anger and passion.

This story of young Isabel (Belly) is very endearing. Each summer, Belly visits with her aunt and uncle in rural Virginia. She learns lessons that are never taught in summer school. When Miss Ophelia teaches Belly to play the piano, she also teaches her life lessons about love, friendship, responsibility, and accountability.

Though she appears to be very quiet, Miss Ophelia has deep passions about music and love which she eventually shares with others. You will enjoy the music as well as those who play it!

this book was an excellent read. it captured the whole time era and gracefuly put it into words. the author of this book seems to draw the reader into being a part of the novel. she gives you the sense of being there as a bystander, watching and understanding Belly's life that summer. i love the plot, the use of words and the key message. of friendship. i hope this isn't the last piece of work by this author. i highly recommend this book. you'll never want to put it down, and will continuosly find yourself hoping that it never ends.

This book hit me where the heart is!!! The characters: Belly, Willie, Miss Janie, Miss Rachel, Mama, Uncle Avery, Miss Pheenie, And of course, the lovely and dearest of all, Miss Ophelia. When I first got into the book,( first quarter of the book),It primarily focused on teen pregnancy and the main character (Belly's) best friend, Teenie getting sent away to get "rid of her problem", which hurt Isabel Anderson/Walker.
The way the book portrays Miss Opelia, and her warm and kind personality was so well-written, that in the end, I cried, thinking about the True love that could never be, between...
Oh!!!!! Youre just going to have to read the book and see why most of these people(including myself, of course) rated this book 5 stars.

The book is fantastic. Have a very long introduction to give you a better understanding of the food as a part of middle east culture. Although have very little photos (I personally like photos on cooking books), this book is full of great ideas. I think I will buy soon CLaudia Roden's Jewish cookbook.

I was amazed when I received this book. I had been searching tirelessly for a cookbook which would fulfill a demanding goal: how to satisfy the picky palate of a Jewish man raised in Israel but born of Moroccan parents. I had tried a variety of regional cooking styles, but finally this cookbook was it. As I began reading the recipes out loud to my boyfriend, I swear I could see the saliva forming at the corners of his mouth. He all but ripped the cookbook from my hands! Thank you Claudia Roden for also including the historical background information as to how to prepare recipes the traditional way, in addition to the modern short-cuts. Both will come in handy as I, a traditional Southern cook from South Carolina, learn a whole new world of cuisine.

This is the all time best. I just bought this latest, updated edition because I've worn out the one I've had for over 25 years! This book is my go-to reference for Middle Eastern food and culinary traditions. You can't go wrong with this. The bonus is that Ms. Roden includes several variations of particular dishes, and explains procedures very lucidly. I learned how to make many dishes using this book. I also gave a copy to my culinarily-talented nephew, who needed a cookbook that would give him all the basics of Middle eastern cuisine--food he'd experienced and grown up with, but hadn't really seen made at home.

Very well researched. Wonderful tales and fables mixed in, adding context to the recipes -- and sometimes conversation for the dinner table!

I especially appreciated the "variations" that follow most recipes, which allow for one to adjust according to the family palate.

Beautiful photographs.

Thank you, Claudia Roden!

After my gourmet food writer friend's recommendation, purchased this for a quality food fan husband as a gift. This book contains thorough recipes of Middle Eastern with history and original names. Some inserts of beautiful photos, as well (which is more restaurant ready than home ready). Can use out of this every day. Strongly recommended.

Here is a cookbook for people that like to eat well but do not have the time for long lengthy recipes. I have made several dishes in this book , they are delicious and simple. It is refreshing to use a cookbook that produces such flavorful meals without hours of labor and just a few ingredients.

The best cookbook author....easy and delicious recipes that are not too fussy or time consuming and are always fabulous. A must have. Dorick

New food Fast offers reader a vast amount of detailed recipes and easy to use foods to make quick and tasty meals for the whole family.Great photos to help with the cooking process.

I'm very happy with my purchase there. I would recommend this vendor. Thanks.

I love this cookbook! Great photos, great, varied recipes, and not dumbed down as with some seemingly "international" cookbooks (which recommend subbing soy sauce for fish sauce and the like). I've liked everything I've made from this one, and while I often take longer than the author suggests, it's because I'm slow on prep. I still consider this a "quick cook" cookbook, and one of the best.

Playwright Peter Shaffer is an exceptional dramatist. His characters are unforgettable, and each one is dealing with a psychological struggle. In "Amadeus," Shaffer examines seventeenth century Vienna and the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rival, court composer Antonio Salieri. This play shatters the view of Mozart as an innocent child prodigy, and instead paints a picture of a childish, scatologically minded, yet ultimately tormented musical genius. Trapped by the financial demands that are placed upon him, and the demands of a domineering father, Mozart strives to make his music and to be excepted.
The main focus of the play is upon Salieri, whom the audience sees as a sweetmeat loving, conniving schemer who is appalled by Mozart's new ideas and manner. However, Salieri is not one demensional. He is a sympathetic character, who wrestles with his conscience. Feeling betrayed by a god who shows favoritism, he recounts his desire to make music that will provide him with unsurpassable fame. However, his music is ordinary when compared with Mozart's genius, and Salieri is fully aware of this whereas ordinary citizens of Vienna are not. Vowing revenge, Salieri decides to lash out at Mozart: "God's Flute," therefore providing an opportunity for a terrifying confrontation in which Mozart is driven into madness and early death. Everyone can relate to the character of Salieri because we have all felt betrayed when our own specific talents were regarded as inferior to someone else's.
Shaffer introduces us to two tortured individuals who are nevertheless sympathetic and unforgettable. Please give this play a chance.

When I was younger, I almost never reread anything. My hunger was so voracious that I gobbled up a book and then rapaciously moved on to the next. But as I've aged, I read less frantically, returning again and again to a few works that especially move me. At the top of the list of such works are the plays of Peter Shaffer. And at the top of that list is his masterpiece "Amadeus."

What I find remarkable about Shaffer's "Amadeus" isn't so much the title character, Mozart, as the character who becomes Mozart's nemesis, Antonio Salieri. Salieri is one of the great tragic figures in literature. He's an individual who appears to genuinely love musical beauty, and who genuinely wants to dedicate his life to it. (In an early scene, for example, he makes a deal with God. "Signore," he begs, "let me be your flute, your mouthpiece. Let me produce absolute beauty. In return, I'll be your slave.") But Salieri is also a hopeless mediocrity. He knows good music when he hears it, but he's simply unable to create it himself. His compositions are acceptable, and sometimes even pleasing to the ear. But when compared with the music of Mozart, they reveal themselves for what they are: technically proficient, but utterly uninspired. The awareness of his own mediocrity, coupled with his absolute yearning for beauty and his life-destroying jealousy of/admiration for Mozart, is the heart of the play. (Milos Forman's 1984 cinematic production of the play unfortunately rewrites the script to put Mozart rather than Salieri centerstage, thereby missing the whole point.)

When one thinks about it--and I believe that this is what makes Shaffer's play so poignant and profound--Salieri is everyperson. Let's face it: most of us are mediocre. We fall somewhere in that great middle zone of "average." We'll never be able to create artworks that express the yearning for beauty that even the dimmest of us occasionally feel.

As if that's not bad enough, the world, as Shaffer demonstrates in his play, is unforgiving of mediocrity when it comes to art. One can work like a demon, as Salieri does, but it's genius that the world wants, genius that the world demands, and genius that the world rewards. Moreover, the creative genius is allowed anything by the admiring world--in fact, the world expects its geniuses to walk to the beat of a countercultural drummer. The mediocre artist, however, is allowed no latitude whatsoever in personal lifestyle.

The paradox of this situation, as well as the horrible burden of mediocrity felt by artists like Salieri (and the rest of us), is the tragic message of "Amadeus." When Salieri at play's end tells us, in his decrepitude and madness, that we can pray to him when we feel the sting of our own shortcomings and he will bless us, most of us ought to shiver. For, after all, we don't want our mediocrity blessed, do we? And yet the tragedy of the human condition is that, blessed or not, it's what we are. And so Shaffer leaves us with this question: how do we overcome our Salieri-like resentment and frustration at not being able to create beauty long enough simply to appreciate beauty when we encounter it?

The best part of the book is the introduction, which tells of the changes made to the script over the years, based on on-going research by the author. I saw the movie and the play, then bought the script in order to compare the different renderings of this amazing story.

Peter Shaffer's award-winning and highly popular play AMADEUS is in many ways a morality play but seen through the eyes of a complicated postmodern villain. The play is called AMADEUS but the chief character of the story is Antonio Salieri. Salieri is the Court Composer for Emperor Joseph II of Austria during the end of the 18th Century. He is held in esteem not only by the Emperor and Court, but by the masses as well. Then Amadeus Mozart makes his way to the Austrian Court at Salzburg and Salieri recognizes in the young man a musical genius superior to anything musical he has ever heard. He becomes enraged with bitter jealousy. Feeling that God has abandoned him and given the talent that he has trained to develop and possess his entire life, Salieri declares a war against God that he will fight on the battleground that is Amadeus Mozart.

AMADEUS is a fantastic play. Author Peter Shaffer has revised the play several times since its first performance in 1979 and this version of the show (written twenty years later in 1999) is in my opinion the best because it is the one that portrays Salieri more than just an evil man, but as a human being that the audience and readers can relate to and actually understand somewhat. A must see play that anyone who enjoys theatre should be familiar with.

Like a newspaper article, theatre has to convey its story with an economy of words.

In this way, great playwriting is a rare skill much like land the penny toss at the carnival and Shaffer is that rare playwriter who accomplishes his task so seemingly effortlessly.

Deftly, Shaffer tosses his Amadeus and Saliere together and in so doing plays each against their type rendering his Amadeus into the simple squeezebox which provides the background for the languid single note of Saliere's mournful jealousy.

What's so amazing is that in telling us the story of Amadeus' art, Shaffer shares important insights about his own. Don't have too many or too few notes but just the right number. Don't be so flashy in being good that people concentrate on the flashiness instead of the point.

And don't become so engrossed in your art that you lose sight of the ultimate ends it was meant to service in the first place.

Whether we are each more Amadeus or more Saliere we can connect with this play.