Hill Books

Here is a standout presentation of the ins and outs of contemporary Spanish. Examples of idiomatic usage are generously supplied, but fine points do not get in the way of the basics. Altogether an exemplary text--well-orgnized, lucid, and thorough.

When a Spanish teacher reccommended this book to me, I was reluctant to purchase yet another grammar book. However, this book is extremely detailed and is great for the advanced student. It is more than any college textbook. Keep in mind it is a book of explanations and not a book of exercises, but it does answer a lot of questions that an advanced undergraduate, or first-year grad student has.

If you are beyond the beginners level, then this is the equivalent to a Grammar bible. everything you need is in this book. Contrary to the opinion of a previous reviewer, I HIGHLY recommend that any SERIOUS student read this book in its entirety. I did it and probably will do so again.

This book about Spanish grammar is very comprehensive, but I don't recommend it to beginners. This book is aimed at advanced students. The explanations are a bit technical, but the author provides "real world" examples on how each piece of grammar is used. When I say "real wordl," I refer to the newspaper articles or the speeches the author cites.

I especially like the chapter on the subjunctive. This book provides an entire chapter to it, very important. Although, I don't like how the information is organized.

For beginning Spanish students, I don't recommend this book at all. It is too advanced. I recommend "Side by Side English & Spanish Grammar." I used it when I started studying Spanish, and it taught me a great deal of Spanish grammar.

Brandon Simpson

If you were stuck on a desert island teaching Spanish for the next year, this would be the one book to have with you. There is no close second. Even if you are not the geeky, I-love-grammar type, this is the kind of book that you open to check one little detail and 45 minutes later you find yourself still poring over other bits of information. The authors' style is completely professional, but unlike so many other volumes of Spanish grammar they manage to keep explanations interesting and clear.

I bought this book after reading the rave reviews here, but I was somewhat deceived by it.

I think that some the deception stems out of the fact that I already owned a book by E. Pantley ( Kid Cooperation, which I recommend) and I found the author repeating itself in this book.

Also, I do not like the title, which I find lousy .

Moreover, unlike Kid Cooperation, this book places issues in alphabetical order so that you can browse through them, and does not dwell much into details ( psychological insights etc) . This can be great if you already know the basics of healthy parenting, but in the hands of the average parent, many of the hints could actually do more harm than good.
I don't like that much the "user's manual " style and I did like Pantley before reading this book more than I do now.

I've come to believe that before facing parenting issues and "misbehavior" most parents should work it out with THEIR own issues. Books like this may deceive into thinking that parenting is a matter of knowing the "right tricks" instead of a matter of attitude... Actually it is both, but the right attitude comes first, and without it the tools provided by this book will not work consistently.

I still give 3 stars to this book because it actually has some good hints and ideas ( although almost all of them, plus interesting insights on parental issues/behavior, can be found in Kid Cooperation). It can be useful as a reminder or a quick fix for those parents who are already "perfect" most of the time.

I got this book for my granddaughter when she was pregnant. She has read and referred to this book so much, it's showing signs of wear and tear. She loves this book. Her husband has read it too. They find it very informative and a great guide for first-time parents.

I loved the ideas this book suggests. I've been dealing with my daughter's tantrums due to the new baby, and this book has been extremely helpful. It not only gives me ideas on how to calm my daughter down, but it also shows me how to calm myself down. I think every parent knows what I'm talking about.

"Perfect Parenting" is not about being a perfect parent. As a mom of two, I've come to realize we do the best we can with what we've got, and there's no such thing as perfect. Elizabeth Pantley's book is a solid guide that offers a nurturing hand in moments of distress or cluelessness. She's a mom of four. And she REALLY knows her stuff!

I found the book especially helpful in dealing with issues of lying or rough behavior. Kudos to Elizabeth for another job well done.

~Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of DIARY OF A MOTHER and SAHM I AM: TALES OF A STAY-AT-HOME MOM IN EUROPE.

This is a great handy book to keep around to pick up a few tips anytime you have an issue with your kids and you don't know what to do. Once you look up your topic you get various options -- one of which is bound to work. The A to Z format makes it a snap to find what you're looking for. Includes typical stuff like sibling fights and dawdling to more unusual like won't eat vegetables or doesn't like her hair being washed and shoplifting and being a poor sport and even typical but weird things like nose picking. I keep it on the counter and use it often.

Excellent book. Have read two other sales books and this is my favorite. Gives information beyond the basics and doesnt rely on just saying motivational statments, gives real world advice. If you read and implement the ideas you are guarenteed to be more productive. 1st choice.

This is one of the best Sales books I have read! Simply outstanding - the go-to guide for complex sales. We use it routinely at our company to close business.

Solution Selling is the first book that exposed me to the world of complex, intangible and solution (vs. product) selling.

I had wanted to title this review as "The Idiot's Guide to Selling Solutions" BUT found that even though the instructions in the book literally takes a novice in sales through the process of selling complex solutions in a very straightforward manner, there STILL needs to be some thinking required by the sales person to profit from the knowledge within.

Solution Selling is the comprehensive guide for novice to learn the ropes, and a good reference book for seasoned sales pros as well. It is also a useful tool for sales managers to manage the pipelines of their teams too!

Great approach to selling, but must focuses on long sale cycle and does not pertain to all selling

Over the decades I've had the chance to work with the author at an early high tech company where he led the internal sales training classes. Later he become a consultant training some of today's largest high tech sales organizations in the world. Mike's always had tough, high standards. His ability to create a repeatable process to selling intangible products to complex organizations has led many of his pupils to excel. Many of them are now SVPs of Sales or CEOs and would be names you recognize.

But, as another reviewer says, you have to use the methodology. Reading the book is just the start.

I first bought this book when I was just learning how to cook, and found myself often a little overwhelmed. I had expected it to be a little more accessible for the beginner, but it definitely requires at least an intermediate level of cooking technique. Sadly, the book sat gathering dust on my shelf for a couple of years, until I finally threw it out--but now I've become more advanced in my cooking skills and I need to buy it again! It really has everything--appetizing recipes from every part of Asia, including India, and provides a very thorough grounding in the techniques and ingredients of that part of the world. I regret throwing my copy away! Even before I could attempt any of the recipes, I used to page hungrily through the book dreaming about making the fantastic-looking dishes contained within. Definitely a must-have for intermediate-level cooks with a love for Asian cuisine!

This was the first Asian cookbook that we purchased more than twenty years ago and I have yet to find one with the extraordinary variety of this one. I was only slightly above a novice level cook and had few problems with any but the most complex recipes. Differences in ingredient names were sometimes problematic in the days before internet search engines but now it is a matter of moments to look up any ingredient listed.

I saw some mention of novice cooks staying away from this book and I must respectfully disagree; this is a must have for anyone remotely interested in learning Asian cooking.

Our 1985 copy is held together by packing tape and the residue of a thousand splattered sauces but it is still the single most frequently referred to cookbook in our library.

I was told about this book in 1976 from English friends living in Indonesia. They swore it was the real thing. We had lived in Sri Lanka in the early 60's and I was desperate to learn some of the dishes (I only had our cook's shorthand recipes and my mother's recollections). I not only learned how to cook from Charmaine (and Julia Child) but over the years saw almost every ingredient finally show up in our San Francisco area. I had the privilege of having a correspondence with Ms. Solomon in the last few years and was able to thank her for opening my eyes and my stomach to heavenly cooking. I have given this book to practically everyone in my family and close friends. It is THE classic Asian cooking source with REAL authentic dishes.
Thanks Charmaine.

Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook is an excellent collection of recipes covering India & Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia & Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Korea, and Japan.

Though by no means comprehensive, the author does try to cover the basic recipes, regional favorites, and offers a variety of curries, noodle dishes, even desserts to satisfy the most picky cook. Some of the recipes here are not really that easy to try out as they require some obscure spices that are hard to find here in the US, but most recipes call for readily available ingredients [thanks to the mushrooming Asian supermarts here].

I would highly recommend this cookbook for those who would like to experiment with different types of dishes offered by the various countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Far East.

I got this book after seeing a couple of "Charmaines" at friends' houses. This book has an astonishing range, starting in India/Pakistan and heading all the way to Japan, including pretty much everything in between, including the Phillipines and Malay/Indonesia.

Things I did not like : in order to cover all countries, she of course could not go into a huge amount of depth in all countries ... I would have liked to see more Thai recipes for example. Another thing was that many recipes seemed to be difficult, one can't fault the book on this though, I suppose that's what happens when you cook authentic. I have tried a couple of the more adventurous ones and they came out fantastic, so if you have the time, well worth the effort.

Things I *did* like : the glossary in the back totally rocks! I am an American living in the Netherlands and I regularly travel to Switzerland for work, and here in the Netherlands (and in Switzerland) I get my ingredients at a number of different stores, some chinese, some japanese, many european, and some indonesian. The glossary has the spelling of each ingredient in as many as ten different languages, so it doesn't matter what store you go to, you can find your shrimp paste as kapi or as trassi ... Also there are some very good recipes from countries that I otherwise never would have tried ... one of the burmese curries is really great, and the korean recipes I have tried rock too.

There is also lots of information on how to cook the things right ... what order to add the ingredients, how long to cook the coconut milk before adding the spice paste in order to get the right consistency ...

Bottom line: excellent reference work on ingredients and techniques : wide range of excellent recipes, many of which you would not easily find elsewhere; not for casual cook who wants to make a quick, easy meal ... but detailed enough for an adventurous beginner to find his/her way. Recommended!!!

If you are a relatively new and inexperienced reader of American history, especially of the 20th century, this is the one book you should read as a foundation. The book's contents are accurate, the style is readable and entertaining, the perspective is unusually unbiased compared to current history writers. It's what a good history book should be.

Most compelling to me as someone born in the 1950s is the incredible sense of context the book delivers. Born after World War II, I was living through events in the 1960s and 1970s that seemed crazy until I read this book and found how much of that present flowed out of the past described in Manchester's book. For a young reader of today (circa 2000), the book still provides a strong foundation for current events. While history doesn't repeat itself, as Mark Twain is alleged to have noted, history rhymes. With this book, younger or inexperienced readers will begin to hear the rhymes and perhaps draw the reasons for why things are happening as they are today.

This is one of the best history books I've read in a 50 year reading life (so far!). It is impeccable in its scholarship, but accessible and enjoyable in its style. Everyone living today should read this book. It would give us a common ground to disagree from!

The Glory and the Dream is a two volume set of over 1600 pages. Mr. Manchester calls it a narrative history of America. It covers the years from 1932 to 1972. And I mean "covers". There are 37 chapters, almost one for each year.
These two volumes, as with all history books, contain a wealth of information, but Mr. Manchester's books seem to contain more information, if that is possible, than other history books. He is overwhelming.
Every time I pick up one of his books I end up re-reading the whole thing. And for some reason the man's style is always able to keep my interest. His feelings and intensity come through and not necessarily with his prejudices attached. He is just a good writer, plain and simple.
This set begins in the year 1932 with the Bonus Army marching on Washington D.C. It is a fascinating and tragic tale.
The year 1932 was "rock bottom" for America and the Great Depression.
When I picked up this first volume I thought it was the most radical thing that I had ever read. I thought that the book contained every corruptible thing about America that had ever been written. But now I realize it is, more or less, plain old American History. Since that time I have read more and more corruptible things.
I think reading William Manchester's account of things is what set me off on reading history.
William was a marine and served in the Pacific in W.W.II. He refused to become an officer - which has to say something for his character.
His style makes reading a learning history a pleasure.

This is the book I recommend to people who say that they hate History as a subject. When I was reading Manchester's account in the beginning of the book about the Bonus Marchers in 1932, I could feel the heat and humidity of pre-war and un-airconditioned Washington D.C. And Manchester conveyed the suffering of these veterans and their desperation in clear and concise language. I don't think that any historian has written about the Depression in as moving and compelling a manner as he does. And this is only the begining of the book. There's more great passages in his description of the home front during WWII. He recounts forgotten stories such as the "I want to go home" riots by GI's at the end of the war in Europe.

I disagree with one earlier reviewer who thought that a weakness in the book was Manchester's alleged liberal bias. In fact, his account of the Alger Hiss affair is unabashed in showing Hiss's guilt and in highlighting Nixon's diligence in pursuing the truth.

I completely wore out the copy I bought back in 1980. I first read it in the hospital when I was recovering from elective surgery. I was so ensconsed in it that I finished it during my three day stay.

William Manchester (1922-2004) provides a highly readable look at the USA from 1932-1972. This gripping narrative is written in the style of general history, yet readers come away with a profuond understanding of the times and events. The narrative begins with the nation in the depths of the Great Depression, with millions hungry, homeless, riding the rails, and looking for jobs that didn't exist. Enter Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, which greatly improved conditions. Then what followed was the Second World War, the post war boom, McCarthyism, Civil Rights, Vietnam, etc. The author does more than merely describe events and major personalities; he captures the feel of the various decades, looking at social conventions and changing mores over this 40-year period. Manchester even includes vignettes of major figures like Walter Reuther, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, etc. This is a superbly readable and slightly liberal two-volume narrative about the USA from the Depression to the end of Vietnam.

William Manchester bookends this sprawling, epic US history with two protests in the heart of Washington. He opens in 1930 at the rise of the Great Depression, with veterans across from the White House coldly shunned by President Herbert Hoover when asking for advance relief from the Great Depression, then brutally attacked by troops and national guardsmen led by Douglas MacArthur. He concludes with President Richard Nixon's second inaugural in 1973 at Watergate's rising, Vietnam demonstrators audible blocks away amidst calls for national unity and self-reliance.

In between, across 1300 pages, (excluding index and exhaustive bibliography) "The Glory and the Dream" chronicles the American Century's meatiest, most eventful years (1932-72). Manchester details a diary for and about what he called the "swing generation" but whom ex-NBC-TV anchorman Tom Brokaw (who cited Manchester as an influence) christened "the Greatest Generation."

These men and women endured and thrived through what, against Manchester's narrative, seemed (except for the relatively tranquil late 1950s) a non-stop whirlwind of hardship. Painting in broad strokes by economic numbers Manchester reveals compelling pictures of the Depression, bank and crop failures, Franklin Roosevelt's election and the New Deal, World War II, and the Korean and Cold Wars. He also includes near month by month chronicles and analysis on America's roots and involvement in the Vietnam War and Watergate, which takes up most of the book's final third. And of course, he addresses the still-shocking days of rage, murder, and decaying social fabric in the late 1960s.

Manchester's storytelling is expertly paced, foreshadowing careers of 20th century icons like Nixon, JFK, Marilyn Monroe and even the Edsel. He traces their steps to the national stage and devotes personal "Portrait of An American" sections to many (including Dr. Benjamin Spock, Edward R Murrow, and Ralph Nader). He does this deftly balancing international, social, and economic views of day to day life, worked, and socialized, even addressing political and social extremists (50s beatniks, 60s hippies, John Birchers). Isolationist vs. internationalist foreign policy views, themes as recent as last month's Iraq election, pops up throughout the book; virulent opposition to FDR's war mobilization leads to the opposition to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Vietnam's civil war slowly creeps across several administrations beginning with Dwight Eisenhower's, reaching the heart of American experience as the decade and book close.

Anyone knowing or having lived through part of the last half-century can reference America's seismic events at a high level. To Manchester's credit he reached deeper into the causes behind pop culture and historical touchstones like Nixon's "Checkers" speech, 1968's Vietnam My Lai massacre, the oft-overlooked 1936 hurricane crushing New England (and ineffective warnings against it), and Japan's 1937 sinking of the USS Panay which foreshadowed Pearl Harbor. He draws dimensional character studies amidst the era's scandals (the fall of Eisenhower right hand man Sherman Adams as one example). He allows you to understand personalities and issues behind history's strongest feuds: President Harry Truman against union leader John Lewis (or MacArthur, or Joseph McCarthy...), between Southern governors and other leadership against Dr. Martin Luther King, the Freedom Riders, the Kennedy administration, and finally against the Black Panthers' vicious 1960s anarchy. Finally, he chronicles the "silent majority" generation gap between Nixon/Agnew's divisive, reactionary leadership team and a generation's angry youth.

Before his death last year, Manchester wrote whole volumes on major figures included here (Winston Churchill, MacArthur, JFK). But given the relatively short time each is presented (except for FDR, who dominates the book's first half ), Manchester masterfully retells individual personal style, social time, major accomplishments, blunders, and closure to their lives and histories. "The Glory and the Dream" is filled with protests after violent counter protests (which Manchester respects even when he does not agree), well-drawn, memorable characters more remarkable for being real life characters, and insightful side comments on issues like the role of the vice-presidency and American tolerance of dissent.

At its publication, Manchester himself called "The Glory and the Dream" the culmination of his career, and for once it was not hyperbole. Anyone wishing to understand American character must start here; "The Glory and the Dream" is the finest history-based book I've ever read, and one of the finest in any genre.
Absolutely essential.

After having 3 children, I've read lots and lots of children's books, some over and over. This is by far, the best and my personal favorite. It is written as a poem, and has a funny surprise ending! You and your kids will love it.

All three of my boys (3, 7 & 9.5) really enjoyed this book. It magically appeared on our dining room table on Xmas Eve 2007. We read it together more than once and all gave it glowing reviews!

This is a marvelous story that tells of one Christmas tree that is far too much for just one person. The tree is trimmed, and shared, and trimmed, and shared, and trimmed, and shared until far more people than Mr. Willoby alone, along with many animal families, have a bit of the tree to add beauty to their Christmas festivities! The rhyming text makes it a fun story to read aloud to children!

I always buy a Christmas-themed picture book for my children to read to them on Christmas Eve before bedtime. I got this one for my eight-year-old who is reading on a sixth grade level. Turns out we are never too old or too advanced to enjoy a good picture book. She loved the predictability of the story, and so did my six-year-old.

This has always been my favorite Christmas Book (just edging out "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by a glowing-red nose!). I'm happy to say that I own an original first printing of both books, but it's "Willowby" that I continue to purchase, year after year, for my friends and their children.

The charm of this story lies in the "one person's discards are another person's treasures" category. The oversufficient tree that old man Willowby brings into his mansion is snipped on top to clear his cathedral ceiling, and every recipient into whose hands the pruned remnant falls must perform the same whittling fix to adapt the orphaned fir to his own, progressively more spartan, hovel. Passing from maidservant to gardener to a scavenging bear and other various critters, after smaller and smaller sprigs make the rounds throughout the countryside near Willowby's estate, the last one eventually ends up with a family of mice who just happen to live in Mr. Willowby's wall! Thus, one huge tree is inadvertently able to make everyone's Christmas a bit brighter! Joy to the world!

Robert Barry's verses are easily read, and are exquisitely enhanced by the accompanying artwork -- especially the portrayal of the Benjamin Rabbit family. Too cute! While "Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree" is no doubt a children's story, at Christmas aren't we really ALL children? And what better way to enjoy one's Yuletide holiday than with a delightful, uplifting tale where everyone wins?

Forgive me if my review runs a bit on the sappy side, but I grew up with Calvin and Hobbes, and I sometimes think they are among the best friends I've ever had. Bill Watterson's comic is gentle, sincere, and magical. At its core it is an examination of what it means to be human, and the value of friendship. Watterson's philosophy of the comic strip was that it should be based around characters rather than gags; we should feel as though we know the protagonists as real people, rather than as interchangeable vehicles for jokes. That comes through on every page, even from the very beginning. Calvin's world has a cast you can probably count on two hands, but every character (except possibly Moe, the bully) has at least a hint of fully-rounded personality. Watterson's world is one of simple pleasures shared with good company.

As with any comic strip, the first collection is rather crude in pretty much every aspect--the drawings, the humor, the personalities--but as a prototype for what would come later, it is not without its own charms. Even at this stage I would hardly call Calvin and Hobbes a forgettable, generic strip. It still has heart and a sense of profundity, even if Watterson had not yet figured out the most effective way to illustrate these things in his strip. It's interesting to see the origin of Hobbes (even if this version was discarded later), the genesis of Calvin's relationship with Susie (the love-hate romance, which will later be toned down, is at the forefront here), the first appearance of Spaceman Spiff, the introduction of a then-unnamed Rosalyn, and so forth. Also, early Calvin and Hobbes are somehow a bit more adorable here than their later incarnations, but you didn't hear that from me.

In an age of disposable comics, Calvin and Hobbes is one of the few childhood experiences of my life that I can actually appreciate more with age. I would not find it an exaggeration to say that Watterson's perspective of life heavily shaped my own, as I find myself much less concerned with superficiality and the plastic culture of Hollywood than many of my reality-TV-addicted, Nike-sporting, iPod-blasting peers, and more appreciative of the little things in life that we tend to take for granted. All Calvin needs to be content is a good friend and a search for adventure, and even as I grow, kicking and screaming, into adulthood, I find I can still relate.

I ordered this item and received it within a week. Very good timing.

I love this book!When my friend got a Calvin and Hobbes book, I did'nt really like it because it was not in color. But once I got this book I loved it! I colored in the ilistrations so now I don't have ANY problems with this book! I want to collect all of the Calvin and Hobbes books, but right now I only have 4. I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes funny books. They are so good my dad reads them! Other good Calvin and Hobbes books are Revenge of the Baby-Sat,Scientific Progress Goes Boink, and Attack of the Deranged Muntant Killer Monster Snow Goons. Well, I guess that's it. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

This is a funny book about a kid named Calvin and his stuffed tiger named
Hobbes. They do funny stuff and they have adventures. Calvin is a funny six year old. Hobbes is a smart tiger! YOU NEED TO READ IT!

This is the second of three little books, published in the UK, that contain the exact material of the very first Calvin and Hobbes book. I bought this book thinking it had something new in it, but I didn't realize it contained the same material as a book I already had.

It's probably a better investment just to go ahead and buy the first Calvin and Hobbes book (titled Calvin and Hobbes). Everybody loves C&H; who doesn't know a little boy somewhere "just like Calvin"?

I found this book well organized and written as a first reader. The concepts were introduced in a carefully thought out fashion with progression from easy to difficult.

I studied French for two years back in High School. It has been over 40 years since I have had any contact with French. This book is excellent for someone with a small amount of knowledge of the French language and is trying to rebuild their reading skills. There is a small dictionary in the back which helps with some of the words.

This book is laid out in such a way that you progress with each chapter. It is divided into three sections. The first section is simple french dialogue; the second section covers French figures in history and the third section has four short stories from well known french authors (Alphonse Daudet, Emile Zola, Andre Theuriet and Guy de Maupassant)

If you are looking for pronunciation assistance, this is not the book you want. If you are simply wanting to ease your way back into reading French. I highly recommend it.

With very little French (what I got from a phrasebook on holiday for a couple of weeks), I bought this book and started reading it on the train to work. It was great. It has a good lexicon in the back, and as you progress most new words appear in the margin with a translation. It still takes effort, but is a great way to get your vocab and reading up and running. I am now reading it again, as my French improves, and it is still improving my vocab and comprehension.

It has been the best book I have had as a beginner learning French.

I am middle aged, poor at languages, and attempting to learn French. I have completed 50 hours of lessons that have mainly focussed on learning language fragments. With this book, everything started to click into place for me.

The book is in three sections, each progressively more difficult. I tried to read the whole book in one go and found the first section very accessible, the second section less so, and the third section impenetrable. It is a well graded book. The stories are engaging and designed to teach bits of French culture and history in addition to the French language. I have started reading the book a second time, and this time I am picking up more of nuances of the language. I will continue to use this book to supplement my formal learning, and when I am finished with it I know that my skills will have developed significantly.

Like others, I have found it annoying that not all the difficult words are included in the glossary/dictionary at the back. However, this book has helped me so much that I am willing to forgive this small point (that can be overcome with an accompanying dictionary) and give five stars.

Being a native speaker , I always have trouble finding a reader for my students that is without mistakes...This is it! Not only is it fun because of the topics but it is 100% accurate...what a thrill!

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.

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.