Charles Williams Books

This item was in great condition and is just the book I was hoping it would be. Very very useful for Shakespeare study.

If you are a reader, actor or spectator of Shakespeare you must have this book. It is an indispensable guide to the speech and hidden meanings of Shakespeare's words. I especially stress the hidden meanings aspect of the glossary--- a feature you may not find in a footnoted version of the play. This glossary also allows for a fast reference to finding a word in any Shakespeare play. A word will have the meaning and examples of the when it is used in a play. This comes in handy when trying to locate a quotation or a scene. The binding is sturdy and the book is easy to carry and reference to. There is no reason not to have this book if you love Shakespeare. If nothing else it is also fun to just peruse!

This is a good dictionary for Shakespears terms. I was proven wrong when I thought I would never find many of the words I found. I would recommend it.

Any student, reader, or lover of Shakespeare should have this. Every odd term or word in his plays and poems appears here as well as more ordinary words that had a different meaning then or in that context, complete with a sample quotation from the source. The definitions are clear and short, and the layout is the same as it would be with any dictionary. No reading of Shakespeare is complete without an understanding of his words and their often double or triple meanings; this book helps make that understanding possible.

The Onions Glossary is incomplete and out of date. For real help on the words in Shakespeare, the Lexicon or "Shakespeare's Words" (by the Crystals) is far, far superior.

This is an interesting and important document from a group who have had considerable influence on education policy. My largest disagreement is the emphasis on external testing rather than classroom assessment. Good art and music teachers both teach and assess creativty. There is no external test for this ability; whose importance is emphasized in the report.

The proposals of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce are an insidious seduction to the implementation of Marxism, both in theory and in practice. The report, entitled TOUGH CHOICE OR TOUGH TIMES throws only two possibilities our way: Either we resign ourselves to "continued decline in wages with very long working hours," or we completely revamp or entire educational system by adopting "internationally benchmarked standards for educating [our] students and [our] workers."

At one time, the purpose of education was to accumulate knowledge, and to gain an understanding of the world around us. Not anymore. Now the purpose of education in the United States is exactly the same as the purpose of education in Marxist regimes: to supply a government-orchestrated workforce that is designed by the State and for the State. Our children are no longer our children; they are now designated by the State as "global citizens." The goal of education is to ensure that each citizen lives his life in total submission to the State. Here are some excerpts from the report:

"Our first step is creating a set of Board Examinations... ...Students who score well enough will be guaranteed the right to go to their community college to begin a program leading to a two-year technical degree or a two-year program designed to enable the student to transfer later into a four-year state college... ...assuming they do well enough on their second set of Board exams, they can go off to a selective college or university..."

"Many of our teachers are superb. But we have for a long time gotten better teachers than we deserved because of the limited opportunities for women and minorities in our workforce. Those opportunities are far wider now, and we are left with the reality that we are now recruiting more and more of our teachers from the bottom third of the high school students going to college than is wise. To succeed, we must recruit many more from the top third."

Do you see the racism and gender bias here? Now we have to revamp the system. (This will also ensure that the elite of our new Marxist society will be socially engineered by those presently in power.) Read on:

"We would have teachers employed by the state, not the local districts, on a statewide salary schedule... ...The current policies regarding teacher education would be scrapped. The state would create a new Teacher Development Agency charged with recruiting, training, and certifying teachers. The state would launch national recruiting campaigns, allocate slots for training the needed number of teachers... ...then the task will be to create instructional materials fashioned in the same spirit and train our teachers to use the standards, assessments, syllabi, and materials as well as possible..."

The State will decide what jobs will be available and then train only a select number of people to fill those jobs. Freedom of choice is a thing of the past. The State is self-serving and has a conflict of interest when it comes to education. Here is a perfect example: Have you ever wondered why our literacy rates are so low in the U.S.? Here is the reason according to this report:

"The governance, organizational, and management scheme of American schools was created in the early years of the 20th century to match the industrial organization of the time. It was no doubt appropriate for an era when most work required relatively low literacy levels...and efficiency of a rather mechanical sort was the highest value of the system."

So the "dumbing down" of American students was part of a management scheme. Now we are supposed to trust these same managers with a new management scheme. Schools would no longer be owned by the local school district. Instead, the local districts would be responsible for connecting the schools to "a wide range of social services," like psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, etc. Our kids are all sick, you know. And guess what is in store for disadvantaged kids:

"The additional funds for serving schools with high concentrations of disadvantaged students will make it possible for those schools to stay open from early in the morning until late at night, offering a wide range of supportive services to the students and their families. They will have the funds needed to screen and diagnose their students.... ...and the state Teacher Development Agencies will be charged with making a special effort to recruit first-rate teachers for our minority children who look like them and can connect with these children."

The report previously implied that minority teachers were inferior. Now we will assign these "first-rate" teachers to minority kids. And what about the option of private education? It looks like that will be abolished at the first opportunity:

"A system that pursues the wrong goals more efficiently is not a system this country needs. ...No organization could operate a school that was not affiliated with a helping organization of the state, unless the school was itself such an organization."

This report also proposes that the State invest in high-quality education for three and four year olds. Let's get these kids away from from the influence of their parents at the earliest possible time.

Whenever we hear the words "educational reform," this is what the educators are talking about. It is reform that envisions a peaceful overthrow of our present way of life by educational means, in favor of a Marxist regime run by the ruling elite--the high priests of education. Education today is all about training the workforce that will serve the elite of tomorrow.

One of the best, if not the best book I have seen on the state of education in the USA. It should be a wake-up call to educators and parents, grandparents, and anyone who is interested in the continued growth of our country. Clear, concise, and well written by well respected people in the field of education and commerce. If you want to know the real reason the job market is in such a state, and where our schools are headed, read this. I do research on these issues and this is the best so far.

Citing Winston Churchill, who said America always did the right thing after it had exhausted all the alternatives, the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce calls for a complete overhaul of American education.

Unlike the Commission Report in 1990, which recommended that we improve our high technology skills and accept as inevitable the movement of low-skill jobs to global competitors, the current Commission draws our attention to the fact that we are losing high-skill jobs to global competitors as well. Such losses are projected to grow geometrically if we fail to act with an integrated whole system response.

The Commission recommends a major overhaul of American education to include how we define needs, develop curriculum, attract and retain world class teachers, focus scarce resources, assess stakeholders, and finance public education. All familiar words, I know, but the devil or angel, if you will, is in the details. Let's look at some of the most important.

Noting the poor scores made by U.S. students on international tests and the prospect that we will lose our leadership position in fields that require exemplary abilities in mathematical reasoning; scientific concepts; writing; creativity and innovation; self-discipline and organization; and teamwork, the Commission calls for regional economic development authorities. These authorities would be responsible for coordinating with existing institutions to develop goals and strategies that would serve as guides for local decisions and channel resources where initiatives contributed to the achievement of such goals and strategies.

The Commission calls for significant changes in school governance. School boards and districts would find their role focused on policy making, facilitation of educational networks, operation of support service centers, reporting, and writing performance contracts with those who operate the schools. Schools would be operated by independent contractors and would have complete discretion to determine spending, staffing, calendar, organization and management ---- all subject to the same safety, curriculum, and testing standards as other schools. States would recruit and train teachers; build standard curriculum and assessment agencies; investigate, review and approve networks; contract for special services; and develop statewide schools to serve gifted children.

Teachers would be employed and licensed by the state. Their compensation would shift from current practices, which are back-loaded to emphasize pensions and defined health care benefits, to one which is front-loaded to emphasize cash compensation. Under a front-loaded approach, pay for beginning teachers would be $45,000. Competent academic-year teachers could receive $95,000 and competent calendar-year teachers as high as $110,000. In addition, incentive pay would be paid to teachers willing to teach in remote areas, tough urban areas, and in fields with labor shortages like math, science, language, and special education. The objective of all these changes is to recruit, develop, and retain individuals who had graduated from the top third of their high school graduation classes.

To discover where much of the money is coming from to pay for these changes, you have to examine their recommendation in the area of assessment. Essentially, the Commission wants to shift American education from a system that is time-based to one that is based on merit, using Board Examinations to control progression. They would allow high school students to sit for the initial board examinations at the end of their sophomore year. If they score well enough, they will be allowed to begin a two-year technical training program or to enter a four-year degree program. Those who scored less well would remain to prepare for the second board examination which, when passed, would allow them to attend a state college or university. Neither progression would permit remediation at the next highest level. In short, no one would be allowed to progress unless they are ready and no one would be held back based on a scheme that honors time more than it does competence. The Commission expects this progression scheme to save $67 billion.

In addition to teacher compensation, the Commission would spend part of the savings on high-quality, universal early childhood education for three and four year olds. Supplemental funding would be made available to help schools with high concentrations of disadvantaged students, e.g. screening and diagnosis, tutoring; community involvement, etc. School financing would be a state, rather than a local matter. And the state would use a uniform funding formula that emphasizes equity over equality. New Federal money would be sought to fund interest-bearing Personal Competitiveness Accounts. These accounts would be funded by the Federal government with a $500 deposit at birth and annual contributions made to age 16. The fund would accept tax-free contributions from employers, states, and individuals. From these funds, individuals could draw to improve their education and skills as adults.

Reactions from the educational establishment have been mixed. Predictably, all favor high-quality universal education for three and four year olds and for injections of more money into the educational system. No one, however, wants to support recommendations that would require substantial changes for their membership. The National Education Association (NEA) doesn't want to support the shift in compensation because their current membership favors back-loaded systems. Neither the NEA nor the National School Boards Association wants to give up local funding and operation of schools. Finally, the National Association for College Admission Counseling cautions against using Board Examinations if they are built on the foundation of European models.

All stakeholders need to realize that the situation has deteriorated to such a point that anything less than a major transformation of American education risks being characterized as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. As the Commission emphasizes, this is not a set of recommendations to be cherry-picked. Instead, they require a thoughtful, soul searching reflection and authentic dialogue to meet the challenges that are quickly coming into view.

This book by the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce is well written in clear terms with summaries and simple graphics. It is a must read for anyone interested in the future of the US economy. The Commission points out the risks of our poor pre-university education to the US economy. India and China are now competing with the US in the high skilled labor market (not just low skilled) and at lower wages. With the Internet, many jobs can be done anywhere, and companies will hire the best at the lowest cost (Indian engineers make $7500 annually with the same qualifications as US engineers who make $45,000).

The Commission describes how US universities continue to be the best in the world, but grade schools and high schools have fallen behind. In the 20th century the US pioneered universal education, and received an influx of talent, from scientists fleeing Germany before World War II to a more recent influx of Asian students, who stayed and worked here. But now, other countries have passed us in pre-university education and many foreign students are going back to their own countries after graduating.

"A Nation at Risk" came out in 1983, saying "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre education performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war." The Tough Choices Commission points out that since then we've had a more than doubling of spending on education (inflation adjusted) with only modest improvement. The Commission concludes that the main improvement, standards testing, turns out to be misguided because it is multiple choice, not essay, and thus doesn't teach the creative, out of the box thinking needed for the US to maintain its lead. Multiple choice tests are by definition "in the box" tests.

"A Nation at Risk" proposals in 1983 for merit pay for teachers were resisted, and teachers continue to come from the bottom 1/3 of University graduates. The Commission proposes merit pay for new teachers, with an opt-in choice for existing teachers, combined with higher salaries made possible by eliminating pensions and using 401Ks instead, like other professions. Other proposals include universal pre-school, school choice with funding following students, less bureaucracy and more independence for individual schools, adult education coordinated with the business community, and inter-city schools and supporting social services being coordinated under one person, such as the mayor. Finally, partial funding can be found by reducing the number of students in the last 2 years of high school by allowing board testing at the 10th grade, with those passing going to community college then a university, directly to trade school, or directly to work.

I have separately read that having funding follow the student to encourage competition among schools has been implemented successfully at the city level in San Francisco. The Commission shows that if pensions and vacation time are included, current teacher salaries are actually somewhat competitive. But talented young people prefer money now, and don't know that they would stay in teaching long enough to earn a pension. Thus, pension money could be moved to up front salary and portable 401Ks, with existing teachers having the option of opting in or staying with their pensions.

The proposal to coordinate social services with schooling to help the disadvantaged, such as by putting all under a mayor has been done in New York recently, with great success. By providing programs for kids until 5 PM, and help to their families, the disadvantages of a poor home situation can be addressed. The US economy is healthy because of the waves of immigration it has had over the past 15 years, and we can't afford not to train those immigrants so our business have a talented labor pool to draw on.

The board exams proposed at the end of the 10th grade will provide badly needed motivation to students, since they can get out of school earlier if they work harder, rather than marking time.

To cut bureaucracy, the commission proposed principals be given free reign on how to spend the money they get (which is based on the number of students). Also, school boards would not run schools, but would contract with others (such as private companies, groups of teachers, etc.). The school boards would then become performance contract managers.

Finally, the report proposes training of people in the workforce, since these people will be the largest part of our workforce for some time, and will need more advanced and creative skills.

This analysis provides extensive excerpts, which is good for preparing theory analysis class, however, if the analysis would be provided by the composer, or have the pieces grouped according to their nature / harmonic structure, then the book would be even more beneficial and convenient to many amateurs as well.

When I read the table of contents, I was very very happy to see that this book includes women composers. My theory book from last year did not include any women composers and that made me mad, so I was excited to see Hildegard of Bingen and Ruth Crawford Seeger among others included in this book.

This anthology has a reasonably good selection of classical music works for students. The one thing I noticed regularly throughout, however, is the poor quality of some of the printing which makes some of the scores illegible. Often, the original score has been reduced in size to fit the anthology's page format, thereby reducing the graphic details to the point where they cannot be deciphered even with magnifying glasses.

Of course, every piece of music can be analyzed and discussed. The problem for the teacher is to find pieces that will yield useful principles for students to learn through their early studies in form, harmony, and voice leading. Ideally, the pieces will be representative of the music of their period and of the principles under discussion. It really does the student no good to study a piece that is unique in the way it handles the principle being studied. On the other hand, the student must be able to discover the form, or harmonic example, or voice leading with the skills they are developing. So, the selection cannot be too sophisticated for its audience nor should the piece yield its treasure too easily. The student should have to work a bit in order to develop their analytic abilities.

This collection of pieces for study has been around for quite awhile with some alterations in its various editions. This is the sixth edition and remains a great collection. The pieces are from all periods from ancient to modern, there are pieces in all genres and ensemble types. Certainly, any teacher will likely supplement what is provided here with their own preferred pieces to illustrate certain points, but there is so much valuable stuff here that it will likely provide source material for several classes over a the years of undergraduate study. Burkhart also provides helpful notes and insightful questions at the head of pieces to help the student in thinking about that piece.

While I want to complement the publisher on the clarity of printing, and the vast majority of it is very good, I do wish that the few places where the bars for the sixteenth, thirty-second, and sixty-fourth notes run together that they were more careful to make them clear as well. Yes, this is not a performing edition and it is still clear what the music is, it is still disconcerting for musicians to try to read such blurry music. Can you imagine an anthology of, say, American poetry, being acceptable if the text were smeared just because it was kind of legible? But this is a smallish (but serious) point.

This anthology would be perfectly useable for someone studying form, harmony, and voice leading on their own, as well.

Fine anthology that has earned its place in the curriculum.

The examples and pieces selected are wonderful and cover a vast cross-section of music and I was very excited to see that there are several full orchestral scores included. It is well-organized and neat and overall is clear and concise. However, I was very disappointed that there is really no actual analysis or even much prompting of the music in the book itself. You are expected to do all of the analysis yourself, which is a good exersize, but I was hoping for more professional and technical insight. It is basically just a book with a lot of sheet music. The footnotes for each piece are helpful in that they provide other resources that provide full analysis, but for the price, I was expecting this book to do just that! It is also spiral bound, so again, I don't understand the price.

Really a fantastic read -- you'll get to see another side of William Bligh than of that of the first novel, Mutiny on the Bounty. This one, too, is a real page turner!

Men Against the Sea is the fictionalized second book in the Bounty Trilogy. Mutiny on the Bounty recounts the tale of the voyage of the H.M.S. Bounty from England to Tahiti and a little way back, the mutiny, and the subsequent events that affect those of the Bounty's crew who remain on Tahiti. When last seen in that book, Captain William Bligh is cast adrift far from land in a small vessel overladen with 18 other loyal men and about 7 to 8 inches of freeboard above a flat sea. Practically speaking, their chances are slim.

Men Against the Sea begins with the mutiny and describes what happens to Captain Bligh and those he commands as they make their way eventually to the Dutch settlement of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. Along the way, Captain Bligh and his men traverse around 3,600 miles in their fragile vessel while suffering many horrors including attacks from the native people, lack of sleep, storms, bailing for their lives, cold, thirst, too much sun, and hunger. The authors make a good decision in choosing to have the ship's surgeon serve as the narrator of this saga. This perspective made it possible for the book to include his physical descriptions of the deprivations of the Bounty's abandoned crew to help make the story more compelling. In the true spirit of a story about English tars, there is a considerable discussion of how the starvation the men experienced affected their intestinal tracts.

Captain Bligh comes across very poorly in Mutiny on the Bounty. The opposite occurs in Men Against the Sea. His leadership is one of the great accomplishments of seamanship of all time. Throughout the troubled voyage to the first landing at the Dutch settlement on Timor, Captain Bligh only lost one man. Captain Bligh also comes across as a brave, worthy, and dedicated sailor who is more than willing to share the deprivations of his men. In one stretch, he mans the tiller for 36 straight hours despite being exhausted. At the same time, even the most querulous of the crew usually keep their silence.

But the men are only human after all. Someone steals two pounds of pork. Another shipmate sent to capture birds is overcome by the need to eat them, and spoils the hunting for everyone. In their weakened state, they miss many wonderful chances for food. When they reach civilization and begin to recover from their privations, complaining quickly returns.

My test of how well written such an adventure tale is that I often felt like I was in the boat struggling with them. The main weakness of the book is that it skips many days on end, when the circumstances were at their most dire such as during unending days of storms. By doing this, the reader is denied the chance to have the full horror of the crossing bear down more strongly.

Most of the weaknesses of Mutiny on the Bounty are overcome in Men Against the Sea. So if you found that work unappealing, give this one a chance. It has many of the qualities of great survival and adventure books.

After you finish this remarkable tale, I suggest you think about the ways that adversity brings out the best in you. How can you do as well when times and circumstance are not adverse?

Squarely face the challenge, with confidence that success will follow!

It was a hot summer day, and I was in the mood for a sea story. I luckily picked up MEN AGAINST THE SEA and quickly became engrossed. Where the prequel, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, was a story of a mutiny, this one was one of the best men against the elements stories ever penned. We see a very different Captain Bligh, whose temper still flares up from time to time, but who this time is successful in managing a small crew of men in an open boat over 3,000 miles from the site of the mutiny to Timor, which is today part of Indonesia.

Fletcher Christian and his mutineers allow Bligh and his loyalists no guns, three cutlasses, a small medical kit, and a pitiful store of water and victuals. Their boat must skirt all inhabited islands because they had no gifts to give to the natives -- which in the islands at that time meant that they were risking attack every time. Their water supply came from rainstorms and occasional landings for food. They had no gear for fishing. All they had to go on were Bligh's knowledge and guts.

I actually prefer this book to MUTINY and now eagerly look forward to seeing if PITCAIRN'S ISLAND, the third volume in the trilogy, is as good.

I imagine the original publishers of this book had a look of incredulity on their faces when first pitched the idea for this book - put 19 men in a boat so small that they cannot move around in it, and have them sail the south Pacific for 43 days. That it was a true story no doubt helped, and that it was a companion story to the obviously interesting plot of The Mutiny on the Bounty would also have contributed to getting the go-ahead. The result is much like Tom Hanks's film Castaway - the very nature of the problem coupled with the delivery of the story makes this a riveting story. At ~200 pages, it doesn't wear out its welcome, and tells its story with the simplicity and narrative force such a tale requires.

There is really little else to say about this book, except to point out that, while it is the middle story of a trilogy, it probably can be read stand-alone or out of order of the other two. In terms of timing, it splits off from the story in "Mutiny on the Bounty," and ends sooner, so there are no real "spoilers" in the second book. I think it is, overall, a better-written story than the first. It is not as rich and detailed in presenting British sea life at the end of the 18th century, but it does bring forth the sheer magnitude of the achievement of these sailors against all odds, travelling such a great distance in an open vessel with scant supplies.

I actually picked up Men Against the Sea expecting a mundane but entertaining sea story. It started off innocently enough until the unlucky crew was sentenced to their watery fate. Then the book suddenly plunged into turbo mode. Now, for an authour to write such a long book about the adventures of 18 men on one small boat and not skip a beat is remarkable.
Captain Bligh establishes his presence on the vessel with an iron grip. His leadership skills and confidence are quite extrodinary as he takes control of boat. One cannot help but feel for the crew as they struggle against all odds. Men Against the Sea is one of those stories that swipes the reader right of their comfy couch and throws them head-first into the raging ocean. The writers describe the hunger and thirst of the men so convicingly that I actually had to grab a bite myself or starve with them! The storms and squalls are believably violent and the Island natives frightfully savage.
It is really a great adventure story. The book manages to surpass its predecessor, Mutiny on the Bounty, by leaps and bounds. From rationing food barely sufficient for one man amongst 18 hungry seamen, too eating raw fish, the crew, lead by their relentless captain, are determined to survive. You will no doubt find yourself cheering at their victories and subsequently mourning their defeats.
What makes the read even more enjoyable is the realization that it is basically a true story. Man against Nature! Trully a book not easily forgotten. It has been 4 years since I read the book and it is still imprinted in by mind.

Read it for yourself. Such books makes being an avid reader so much fun!

This book is a great tool for those scientists interested in palaeopathology. It is updated and certainly helpful.

The books is great! I haven't read through it entirely, but I recommend it to any fledgling forensic scientist. It is an excellent starting point when doing research on dismemberment cases.

This textbook has been disappointing in a number of ways. Most importantly, it is very poorly and sparsely illustrated. This is a subject that cries out for photographic imagery and high quality illustration. As an author myself, I realize that illustrations and photographs add a layer of difficulty in manuscript preparation, but without them, you end up with a dry and difficult subject that becomes almost unintelligible. In this book the authors discuss various angles, dimensions, ratios, relationships, and measurements in sometimes vague and ambiguous terms that were nearly meaningless. With illustrations or diagrams, they would have been understandable. Even when we do see illustrations, they often look like amateurish drawings made by authors with limited illustration skills. There are some quality illustrations and photographs, but not enough.

Some of the terminology was simply not explained at all, as though the reader was expected to be already familiar with things like "Carabelli's cusp" or "rocker jaw." Again, not illustrated, and not explained. In other places we are shown a skull of a black individual as illustrating certain identifiable variations allowing forensic experts to differentiate between races. This particular skull appears literally prehistoric. It is missing half its dentition and some of the outer table of the skull. Could the authors not find an a more representative and more intact black person's skull?

Another thing I found particularly annoying, and something that seemed to be common in the various chapters from different authors, is that they frequently referred the reader elsewhere for explanations. Often, these were references to their own work which had been published elsewhere. When I spend more than $100 for a textbook, I expect explication, not showboating. A textbook explains a topic. It is not simply a guide to existing scientific literature.

In the end, a major portion of this material is simply not accessible or easily understandable to persons who are not already quite familiar with this field. As a physician and forensic epidemiologist I am quite familiar with human anatomy. But what is the "suprapubic angle" and how, specifically, is it measured? What about the "vental arc"? These are not common anatomical terms. A simple illustration would have cleared this up nicely.

This is probably one of the best textbooks available on identifying human remains. I have found it to be fascinating reading plus I recently had the honor to meet Dr. Reichs. She most graciously took the time to autograph my copy of the book although she did mention that was the first time anyone had asked her to do so.

This book does not contain a full overview of forensic anthropology, as a result it can't be used as an introduction text. However, it deals in depth with certain topics in forensic anthropology, which makes it perfect for advanced students in this field.

I finally got hold of a dog-eared copy of this in half-readable condition, and it's a real gripper. The Dennis Hopper film adaptation is almost totally faithful to the novel ( and the women are perfectly cast), but somehow he doesn"t quite hit it the William's does. the police interrogation is a heart-stopper, and the ending, well, forget about it, I though Jimmy Thompson had the copyright on those!

Much underappreciated Gold Medal writer Charles Williams'1953 The Hot Spot (originally published as Hell Hath No Fury) is a tightly-wound, taut and entertaining example of 50's noir at its best. One sees why master John D. MacDonald mentioned only Williams when asked to name writers of his generation who had been undeservedly neglected. If the glum melancholy of noir suits your taste, this 50's work is well worth finding and reading. Other recommended works by Williams:The Big Bite, Aground, Dead Calm and Scorpion Reef.

I finally got hold of a dog-eared copy of this in half-readable condition, and it's a real gripper. The Dennis Hopper film adaptation is almost totally faithful to the novel ( and the women are perfectly cast), but somehow he doesn"t quite hit it the way William's does. The police interrogation is a heart-stopper, and the ending, well, forget about it, I thought Jimmy Thompson held the copyright!

The Hot Spot is narrated by Harry Madox a rootless drifter who arrives in town one steamy summer day. He takes a job as a used car salesman. But why go to the trouble of working for a living when the town's bank is so poorly guarded?

You see, Harry is not above stealing and he's not above having an affair with his boss' tramp of a wife. But when he falls in love with an innocent young girl he makes himself vulnerable and sets himself up for a precipitous descent into a world of inescapable torment.

The Hot Spot is a well plotted, engaging tale that has a very smooth narrative flow. Charles Williams has written this novel using a style of prose that is richly detailed and remarkably descriptive. And he unashamedly structures the story around a main character who is largely unsympathetic. Harry Madox is a thief and what one would generally refer to as a lowlife. Ironically, it is the one decent aspect of his persona, his genuine love for another human being that does him in.

This is a powerful and moving book that is hard to put down. Do yourself a favor and read it.

Harry Madox isn't a bad man, but he has an unfortunate habit of submitting to temptation. And whether that means carrying on with the boss's wife, robbing a bank or killing a man, well, sometimes you've just got no choice but to do it. As a result of his impulsiveness, Madox leaves himself open to blackmail threats from more than one person.

Madox has recently arrived in a small town and has just started working as a car salesman. Life is quiet, but quiet just isn't interesting enough for Harry. By chance, opportunities to get him into trouble seem to keep falling straight into his lap. Before he knows it, he is planning a bank robbery, is fooling around with a married woman, and is falling in love with a beautiful, sweet girl who may be hiding a dark secret.

From early on in the book, the mood of the story is on a knife-edge with plenty of fast thinking and decisive action required on Madox's part. It's an entertaining hardboiled pot boiler with tension piling in on itself until you just know that something's got to give. I found it to be a great fast read packed with plenty of action, softened occasionally with just a little romance.

This book was a difficult read. Not because of the subject matter, but because the author drones on and on about the backgrounds of each and every character in this book. Too much unnecessary information that really didn't add to the essence of the book.

Ned Snelgrove, the subject of this book, is quite interesting and it would have been helpful to learn more about him...his childhood, his background, interviews with peers, etc...

Overall, I rate this book below average due to the too much info induced yawn factor.

M.W. Phelps has created a masterpiece in this must read. He has taken the road less traveled and he has gone where few writers dare to tred. Directly into the dark and devious mind of a lust serial killer. In his upclose and personal interviews with Ned Snelgrove, he has been privy to, and played the power control mind game, that comes with the turf of trying to sort out fact from fiction when communicating with an extremely manipulative and intelligent serial killer.

John Kelly
President of S.T.A.L.K., Inc (SYSTEM TO APPREHEND SERIAL KILLERS)

M. William Phelps stays true to his writing. This book kept me interested and I look forward to his next.

Once you start this book you can not put it down.
This is an excellent book by an excellent writer. This is an example of how all true crime books should be written. Look out Ann Rule you've got some competetion!!!

M. William Phelps continues to spin true horror stories with intense and precise decorum. Mr. Phelps has a way of not only telling a story, but his style will engross you from one page to the next. I like that the books he writes are not only fact driven, but his own research and interviews goes beyond the headlines.

If you are looking for a "page turner", look no further than "I'll Be Watching You", a fascinating look into the mind of a lost soul that even the Devil himself rejected. What Mr. Phelps has accomplished with this book is amazing. He crawls into the depths of a killers mind and exposes him as not only as pure evil, but also as someone who could be living right next door to any of us.

Read this book, it will change the way you look at that creep down the street or in your office. They are among us and that is the scary part.

Italian author, winner of the Novel Prize in 1934, Luigi Pirandello is better known for his plays, forerunners of the theatre of the absurd. In this novel, the main character Mattia Pascal faces an economic downfall and a marriage without love. He decides to escape from this situation and in a stroke of luck wins a fortune in Monte Carlo. He takes a new identity, gains total freedom, shams death but the ghosts of his past existence, and the discovery of true love will spoil his new life.
The plot is neatly constructed and the dialogues between Mattia Pascal and some of the characters are enlightening, expressing Pirandello's philosophical outlook on life as well as reflecting biographical elements. The author is concerned with the ambiguity of truth and reality, the problem of identity and illusion. For him self-identity only exists in relation to others, as much as man is a social creature, unfortunately bound to social conventions. Man creates his own reality and lives in a world of illusions, always bound one way or the other to the past. The resulting paradox is that illusion may often become more real than reality!
Mattia Pascal is unable to cope with his total freedom which strucks him as being shapeless and aimless. Only the love he feels for Adriana will help him brake away from his suffocating mask. Upon returning to his former town he finds his wife has remarried and he is destined to become the shadow of a dead man.
Pirandello held a pessimistic outlook on life, believeing that his time was one of distress and darkeness (early 20th century), democracy was nothing more than tyranny disguised as freedom, and philosophical speculations nothing more than a product of our imagination.
"When death comes perpetual night will great us after the misty daylight of our illusion, or rather, we will be left to the mercy of Being, which will only have shattered the vain forms of our reasoning."

Okay, so that may sound awfully obvious, but my goodness! Of course it's not funny! It's not supposed to be funny! When is Pirandello ever funny? If anything, he may be ironic, but he is never slapstick and certainly wrote nothing to be considered "a lark." The author of the article in Publisher's Weekly ought to be taken out and shot in the most General Dreedle sense of the term. Il Fu Mattia Pascal is anything but a beach read and if you were disappointed in it because it was not cheap entertainment, your disappointment is probably due to the misinformation you received from a review as miscomprehending as that of Publisher's Weekly. Il Fu is an examination of the modern treatment of identity. It is an existential examination of society's abandonment of those who seek to live an "authentic" life. It is a piece of LITERATURE, not a DaVinci Code or a Mary Higgins Clark mystery. These may be enjoyable books, but for a different reason. Read Pirandello with expectation that you will be made to think, to question, and you will not be disappointed.

This book is very sad...it tells the story of a man who can't cope whit life's responsibilities and whit himself. A strange accident causes him to be believed dead, and he thinks he can assume a new identitiy and take on a new life. But he can't escape himself, and his new life shall be as unsatisfying and full of disillusions as the first. The clou of the book is the tragic melancholy of the seance...when he himself is evoked as his own spirit.Existentially spooky!

I would definetely recommend this novel. I enjoyed it very much. It helped me to come in contact with my innerself, and it made me think of things that i had never given any thought to before.

This novel is about the identity of the individual, and the possibilities and limits of self-reinvention. By failing to transform himself into someone else, Mattia Pascal remains the same person, but radically changed from his experience. Oh, but it's not so complicated. Mattia Pascal is a good-for nothing- junior who, along with his also-spoiled brother, lose the fortune inherited from their father. Besides losing his fortune, Mattia is forced to make a disastrous marriage. And then, along comes a big and most unexpected chance to run away and become someone else. I won't spoil anything. Just read it and you will find an amazing story. Pirandello's writing is easy. The introduction to the real knot of the story is a little long, but it is absolutely necessary to situate the plot, and moreover, it is very funny. Pirandello's style fluctuates between irreverent and outrageous irony, and melancholic reflections on fate, identity and man's place in the world. Far from being boring, it has extremely funny moments of dark humor (check his confrontations with his mother-in-law). So, it is an extremely recommendable book, because it is intelligent humor with a reflection on life. If you really get to love the story, as I did, you'll end up asking to yourself: "Who the hell am I?".

i was somewhat putoff by the title of this book but after adapting to the 19th century prose, i was blown away by discovering a book to put by melville , hawthorne or henry james. Even the language took on a contemporary flavor . DeForests picture of American democracy has an eerie back to the future relevancy. The authors book length meditation on the human condition is sad and lonely in a uniquely American way. I am amazed that a vast academic industry has neglected promoting this masterpiece.

Written shortly after the end of the Civil War this novel covers all of the bases -- politics, battles, social issues, and personal relationships -- affected by the war. It does this with a depth not usually seen in Civil War novels and particularly those written in the 20th century. De Forest does not insult the reader's intelligence and his characters are not just stereotypes but have real flesh and blood. (Well, except maybe for the heroine!) If you enjoy this book try A Fool's Errand for a good novel about Reconstruction also written shortly after the end of the Civil War.

I appreciate the favorable comments made by all of the reviewers. For the record, however, in response to Peter George: my note on Stonewall Jackson accurately observes that the Confederate forces under his command repulsed the Union army at the first Bull Run and forced their retreat to Washington. I elsewhere add (chapter V, note 14) that J. E. Johnston commanded all Confederate forces in the battle. Peter Bridges also seems to object that my notes are too detailed, even "demeaning" to "educated Penguin readers," yet that my note re. Bailie Jarvie is not detailed enough. I can only reply that my notes are intended to aid precisely those undergraduates who require them, not the pedants who are perfectly entitled to ignore them.

This is perhaps the best novel with the worst title ever written. Set during the Civil War, the novel depicts the war in all its sordidness: the blunders, the incompetence, the poor leadership. Miss Ravenel is a Southerner who falls in love with a Union captain and gradually sheds her rebel coat for the Northern cause. De Forest's realism is admirable, his writing ability even more so. It's hard to think of a better novel about the Civil War than this one, the first to treat the war realistically. This is truly a minor American masterpiece and should be much better known.

Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty may have a cumbersome title, but it is an enjoyable read. It tells the story of Lillie Ravenel who with her father are exiled from Louisiana at the beginning of the Civil War. Lillie is an ardent Confederate, but her father's loyalist sympathies force them to take refuge in New England. In the fictional city of New Boston, they meet two men who both fall in love with Lillie. These men fight for Lillie at the same time as fighting for the Union. It is through these relationships and through her experiences on returning to occupied Louisiana that Lillie's gradual conversion occurs.

John De Forest's novel is part romance and part war story. These strands of the story are interweaved well and are fascinating for the insight they give into life in the 1860s. The romance is at times quite conventional with Lillie constantly blushing and occasionally swooning, but the story also contains unusual elements for a 19th century novel. The story includes a woman seeking an affair with a married man, a man keeping an apartment for his mistress and a Union officer conquering not only a Southern town, but also two of the women in it.

The battle scenes are well told and are clearly based on De Forest's experiences during the war. He is not afraid to show the consequences of battle, describing soldiers horribly mutilated with rotting wounds. The actual battle scenes are quite few in number and are mainly skirmishes. The only large-scale engagement in which the characters are involved is Port Hudson. This is a pity for with De Forest's writing skill, it would have been interesting if he had been involved in and given an account of one of the really great battles. Nevertheless he provides a detailed account of army life during the Civil War showing the bureaucracy and boredom, the frustration and pettiness, the bravery and the cowardice. His account is extremely one-sided and he has scarcely a good word to say about the Confederacy, but this adds to the fascination of the novel, for it gives the reader first-hand insight into the attitude of a Union veteran towards his beaten enemy and why it was that he fought against the South.

The Penguin edition of the novel has a good introduction with some helpful information about De Forest and the reception of his novel. It also has many useful notes especially those which translate phrases written in French and Latin. However it must be said that a lot of these notes are superfluous for most readers, e.g. explaining what the Mason Dixon Line is, or what the dodo was, and some of the notes are mistaken such as the statement that Stonewall Jackson commanded the Confederate forces at first Manassas.

This book is informative with good use of photos, which I expect in a book of this type. What else you get, is a really well written and entertaining book as well.

The author is humorous and also a blacksmith among other things. He talks about doing things in the old ways with the help of modern contraptions where they will actually help.

If you are interested in American History or primitive skills (not to mention building with stone) you should read this. It may even help make you a better person.

This book was better than I expected. I was hoping for color photographs, but it has B&W only. Doesn't get into a lot of details, but covers quite a few topics on the subject of stone masonry. I agree with previous review. Would have been great if the section on Mortaring Stone could have been more detailed. All in all, a good starting book to refer to.

This book seems to have a bit of everything that has to do with traditional stone masonry. It shows how to build different types of buildings and objects. Pictures are only in Black and White. If your looking for a full colour glossy paged book on stone architecture this is not for you.

Chuck will keep you smiling as your read his books. They contain plenty of humorous stories while they display the stone arts. There are better guides but you should read as many as possible: you'll need it.

Stone work is the hardest task you'll probably ever do in your life. If your project is big, it seems to never end and you'll doubt you'll ever finish. One rock can take 2 hours to lay whereas if all goes well, you can lay 5 in an hour. So, if you are interested in stone work, I'd advise to start small on the first few projects. This book is a good guide to helping you along the way.

An excellent introduction for anyone who is interested in learning more about stone work and masonry.

I enjoyed the book for the breadth of coverage, and for the anecdotal stories. It is one thing to be told safety tips and procedures, but the lesson is much more effective with a good story. I had hoped for a more comprehensive discussion of the tools used, how to use them, and how to shape the stone. However, lack of this does not detract from the usefulness of the book. The closest I have come to stonework was moving stones around for landscaping, but now if I were armed with a set of stonework tools, I would be tempted to try something more complex.