Pennsylvania Books

This is a terrific reference for anyone interested in getting more out of the poetry of Thomas Gray. Richard Bentley's wonderful illustrations come to life in the elegant and moving writing of Loftus Jestin. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

This book was a wonderful and interesting mix of subjects and material. The author wove together family history, mining industry history and anthracite mining techniques onto a wonderfully personal scene which kept the pages turning.

Appalachian Summer is the third of Marcia Bonta's season chronicles of the natural life that populates the mountain in central Pennsylvania that she and her family call home. As with all her books, Appalachian Summer is a bounty of historical and scientific facts about nature. The first in her seasonal series, Appalachian Spring, duly reports the natural life unfolding from winter. In the second, Appalachian Fall, her daily journal also picks up a sinister subplot as an unethical lumberer threatens the mountain and local wildlife. In this new volume, the Bontas have taken back the land ravaged from timbering and the natural observations haromonize with more personal notes about family events. An appreciation of the fragility of life shadows the family's happiness though when the search for a missing child and her abductor moves onto their land. Bonta never forgets, however, that her mission in sharing her journal is to bring the reader up close to the wonders of nature and this she does in clear prose that tinkles with the exotic names of the plant and animal life that share our planet but are infrequently observed or respected. I regret there is only one season left for her to profile. When I read Bonta's books, I not only learn more about nature, I learn more about humankind.

I loved this book.It was history with a personal feel to it.
Plus I live in the area and it was fun reading about places that you have seen.Also to read about the apple trees and how the seeds got around from other states and countries.

Menocal's now classic (and still controversial) book is well worth the trouble of finding a copy (I waited 6 weeks for mine). She uncovers a hidden thread of influence on Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch (and thus our Western Heritage) that most scholars would have preferred lay forgotten.

Yes, Virginia, there really wasn't a "Renaissance." Instead, European authors tapped into the great watershed of Islamic culture and borrowed the best of it, recasting it for a Christian audience.

Michael Kucher
University of Washington, Tacoma

Once I was an undergrad in archaeology at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and of course, this book was at the top of the must-read book list handed by Dr Kevin Greene himself. As a lecturer, he was always extremely approacheable and helpful, and so was his book! If you are an undergraduate student in archaeology at university, or simply interested in the subject, this book is a must read; it will get you started with the subject, and get you going a loooong way!

The United States led invasion of Iraq has provoked a great variety of reactions from around the globe. But what was the true reason behind these reactions - are they really looking out for their country's best interests, or is it something far more petty? "Architects of Delusion: Europe, America, and the Iraq War" is an examination of these responses with a focus on the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Germany. The results that Serfaty presents are intriguing and somewhat discomforting. "Architects of Delusion: Europe, America, and the Iraq War" is a must have for any student of current events and for community library international studies shelves.

This book is thirty years old, but that is its only serious shortfall. It ranges across the entire city, showing not only stand-out buildings but also samples of the city's context. The book ventures unabashedly into north and south Philly, showing typical row house blocks and neighborhood landmarks. The sharp critical tone and frank approach to the city's urban landscape are commendable, especially since not a single guide to the city since this one has touched these topics. If you want a guide to the entire city, not just the tourist highlights, this is the one you need. A comparative lack of photographs is my only other complaint about the book. Well worth having.

Anyone who has experienced a Benno Janssen designed property understands the beauty, majesty and uniqueness of his style. His use of the natural resources of Western Pennsylvania and a style of combining high roofs and archways create an Eastern European look. He is truely one of our country's greatest architects. I recommend this book for anyone who appreciates great architecture, especially when it utilizes the surrounding landscape.

Aristophanes was a ribald playwright whose raucous plays were brilliantly brought to life by Alfred Corn, RHW Dillard, XJ Kennedy, and Campbell McGrath. In the first play of the series of four plays, Wasps, satirizes the jury-for-pay system, prevalent in Athens during the war with Sparta. Athens was populated with older men, veterans of the wars with Persia, and were particularly noted for the severity of their judgments. In the play, Philocleon is being kept prisoner in his own home by his son, Bdelycleon, in an attempt to prevent the father from going to the courthouse to pronounce sentence on a criminal before even hearing the evidence. Bdelycleon uses a clever argument to convince his father to stay home and serve as judge and jury over household matters. His first case was trying the pet dog for stealing food and not sharing it with the cat.

Lysistrata is a hilarious play about Athenian women who team up with the women of Sparta and Thebes to force the men to make peace. Written during the Peloponnesian War, Aristophanes, like his play, Peace, takes a strong anti-war stance (...) .

In Frogs, Aristophanes hits upon the theme of a lack of good playwrights in Athens. Written after the death of Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles, the hero of the comedy, Dionysus (god of arts, among other things) wants to bring back Euripides from Hades. He pretends to be Hercules (who had gone to Hades to capture Cerberus, the guard dog of Hades) and runs into all kinds of trouble. He eventually referees a crazy debate between Euripides and Aescylus, to determine who the best playwright is.

Finally, in The Sexual Congress, we have an uproarious comedy about the women of Athens disguising themselves as men and stocking the General Assembly. Praxagora, as the leader of the women, proposes that the affairs of the city be turned over to the women. The women won the day and instituted a utopian society not to different from Plato's Republic, but this one went way overboard. Written after the war with Sparta, Athens was beset with corruption and low morale at the time.

The four plays in Aristophanes, 2 span the gamut from Old Comedy to New Comedy. The former was characterized by vulgar and slapstick humor with a Chorus used to interact with the audience. As comedy evolved the Chorus played less a role and there was a softening of the ribald humor so characteristic of Old Comedy.

To make the plays more readable and understandable without losing any of the humor of the plays the translators often made references to Twentieth Century phrases instead of the original Greek phrases. This might be annoying to the scholar but makes these plays eminently enjoyable to the general reader.