Wagner Books

Just about anything written by Jacques Barzun ought to be read, and Darwin, Marx, and Wagner is no exception. Barzun is not so much unique as he is hoary - a man born in 1907 who could study the 19th century as fairly recent history. Barzun does a magnificent job of getting to the crux of the ideas behind these great events/documents of history. He strips away the common assumptions about groundbreaking work on the part of Darwin and Marx, and shows how they built extensively on the work of predecessors. Comments which deride Barzun as a conservative or hopelessly mired in the past completely misunderstand the purpose of his writing, or the his grasp of the subject. Of particular value are the final chapters after each thinker, summarizing their legacy, and where things stood after them. Barzun is the voice of experience, reason, and history.

Jacques Barzun's book was first published first in 1941, which is almost the moment the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis came into being and made the expression of Darwin doubts or criticism such as are manifest here virtually impossible in a university humanist. And yet sixty years later, at a time when Ernst Mayr, one of the original 'synthesizers' can unrepentantly produce his "What Evolution Is", Barzun's critique reads as insultingly fresh as the day it was written, with a putdownish suggestion that Darwin wasn't too swift. The Darwin propaganda machine has almost made thinking obtuse here, and Creationist red-herrings can be as reprehensible. The Darwin debate has left everyone befuddled, and this essay on Darwin (and Marx), agree or not, shows a clarity that is unusual.
His work seems out of place now for a man who was prominent in a major university, but if one reads Bowler's The Eclipse of Darwinism, describing the waning of Darwinism at the turn of the century, it will perhaps evoke the perspective that Barzun still reflects in this book. (In fact, the same can be said of the Marx essay, which reflects the Marx debate, perspectives almost forgotten after the Bolshevik revolution). In fact, even by the late 1860's Darwin himself knew he was in trouble with natural selection.
It is noteworthy how little science Barzun discusses, which makes the book suspect for some, or certainly open to challenge. But in reality it bespeaks a certain clarity that has been lost, and which was clearly present in the decades of the appearance of Darwin's book, when even many of Darwin's supporters, even Huxley, realized they had a hypothesis to deal with, not a certain dogma.
The quote below is as cogent for the current Darwin debate as it was originally. Note how little anything changes.

"Some obviously feared that ifnatural selection were discarded evolution would be endangered. They thought the twotheories inseparable and foresaw a rebirth of superstition. But dropping natural selectionleaves the evidence for evolution untouched. It was not even a question of droppingnatural selection, for natural selection is an observed fact. It was a question of seeing--as Darwin came to see--that selection occurs after the useful change has come into being... "

I picked up "Darwin, Marx, Wagner" at a used book store while in the middle of Barzun's latest tome "Dawn to Decadence." In "Darwin" a much younger Barzun argues with passion against the arrogant materialism prevalent at the turn of the century. "Nature is a sieve, and it works"--this is Barzun's pithy summary of Darwin, Marx and Wagner. For Darwin the sieve is kill-or-be-killed survival of the fittest, and "it works": humanity is the pinnacle of evolution (and not just the human species, but the most powerful of humanity). For Marx the sieve is an inevitable class struggle, which "works" when it produces a utopia for the working class. For Wagner the sieve will sift out all previous art forms in favor of his own pure self-important music drama. Read this book and consider the philosophical implications of realistic materialism and its cruel might-makes-right vision of progress--in science, politics and art.

"The attack on Marx is so crude and uninformed that one suspects that the author did not even read some of Marx's basic writings, and the use of ....Michael Bakunin as a source for Marx's character is questionable at best."

- Bakunin and Marx were quite alike and this is most likely that which underpins their discord - in other words, it was not so much Marxism contra Anarchism, but rather a conflict between the cults of personality that were Marx and Bakunin. If you've read works by both authors you probably would have understood why Barzun renders the two analogous - perhaps your attack on Barzun is so "crude and uninformed that one suspects that the [reviewer] did not even read some of Marx's [and Bakunin's] writings.."

Before reading this book, I loved Darwin, disliked Marx and hated Wagner (how could you not!). After this book, nothings changed except that I actually found myself defending all three against Barzun's onslaught.

This book can read two ways. First as a biographical synopsis of the three writers and their cultural backdrop, and second, as an outdated diatribe. The reader should ignore Barzun's polemic (?) and read it as a history. This, of course, is Barzun's strength and he does not fail to meet high expectations.

The polemic is of course outdated. The whine over materialism taking the magic and mystery out of life has been rehashed too many times. He is especially hard on Darwin, who he seems to think can be blamed for Herbert Spencer.

Read the book anyway. Not only is the writing superb, the point of view is interesting and if anything it will challenge you. Though not an easy one, it's terser than most authors could do given the subjects.

I have to say I really enjoyed this awesome book. I would have given it a five star but, I really did not care for the random art changes. Now don't get me wrong the art is beautiful, but I think that some of it was definitley better than others. Take for instance the fantastic four issue. At first I absolutley hated the artwork. Then as I got further down the story I started to really enjoy it. It is now one of my favorites. The doctor strange art is just plain weird though. I have to say that The Man-Thing issue is one of my favorites. The art is hauntingly beautiful. Now call me weird but, I feel strange when I look that beast in the eye. All in all I love this book! Pick it up!!!

Every story in this collection was penned by Brian Michael Bendis, but you'd never know that unless you read the credits--the storytelling styles vary wildly, based upon the characters and artist that Bendis is working with. The best story here is a three-parter introducing the Ultimate Punisher, illustrated by the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz. A few other usually solid artists turn in less-than-inspiring work. There's some quippy dialogue (overdone in an annoyingly self-referential Fantastic Four story), but if you're looking for an introduction to Marvel's Ultimate Universe, pick up Mark Miller's The Ultimates.

While some of the stories are amusing, the style is highly varied and in some cases extremely annoying. There is little consistency between the collected comics, and the only theme is that most of them portray spider-man as a whining kid. There are better collections to spend your money on.

You guys remember the classic MARVEL TEAM-UP series, right? Which had Spidey bumping into other characters in the Marvel Universe? Well, this is the Ultimate reincarnation of that title. ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP - Ultimate Collection is a trade which reprints the entire 16 issue run, as well as ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN SUPER SPECIAL. In it, the 16-year-old Ultimate version of Spider-Man encounters other characters in the Ultimate Universe, most of whom make their debut in this series and most of whom are more experienced than Peter Parker in the cowl & cape gig.

The stories are all by Brian Michael Bendis, one of the busiest writers in comic books. And, mostly, the stories are good, although there are inconsistencies which crop up. Certainly, Bendis's ear for funny dialogue comes thru intact. But each story arc gets its own artist, and therein lies the main flaw. I guess it's true that, as important as the writer is to the comic book, it's still very much a visually driven medium, thereby making the artist just as key and, plenty of times, even more key than the writer. What we get in this collection is a mishmash of artwork that is sometimes terrific and sometimes very shaky. And, yep, my enjoyment of each story depended in large part on the quality of the illustration. Artists Bill Sienkiewicz, Terry Moore, and Rick Mays turn in great stuff, and I love John Totleben's interpretation of Spidey. Sadly, Ted McKeever, Jim Mahfood and Mike Allred put a damper on the wallcrawler's respective team-ups with Dr. Strange, the FF, and Iron Man.

The inaugural issue co-stars probably the next most popular Marvel character (after Spidey), as the webhead lends a helping hand to a Wolverine being hunted by Sabertooth and shifty government agents. Spidey gets a first-hand exposure to the anti-mutant hysteria sweeping the nation, to the extent that he begins to wonder if he actually is a mutant. Matt Wagner, who created, wrote and drew MAGE and GRENDEL, provides serviceable artwork, but has been better. Word to the wise, the best Ultimate Spidey/Wolverine team-up took place in the Ultimate Spider-Man monthly title, where Peter and Logan unwittingly switch bodies.

The best story arc in this collection? That would be the terrific 3-parter starring Punisher and Daredevil (issues #6-8), with Spidey relegated to a supporting role. A violent, noirish crime thriller, with the last two parts being narrated from Daredevil's point of view, these gritty vigilantes (and Spidey) are brought to vivid life by Bill Sienkiewicz's fabulous stylish artwork. Not too far behind is Peter Parker and his school chums' encounter with the X-Men in the mall. No costumes, no fights. No villains. Just some frank and discerning dialogue going on, about what it's like to be a mutant. Another story arc I dig is Spidey's run-in with Shang Chi, son of Fu Manchu and Master of the Martial Arts. See what happens when Spidey offers to pay Shang Chi for kung fu lessons. Loved the cover with Shang Chi in a classic Bruce Lee pose.

Unlike the mainstream Marvel Universe (sometimes referred to as Earth-616), the Ultimate Universe is still fairly new, having launched with the publication of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. So, plenty of the characters here, while being revamped versions of superheroes from the mainstream Marvel universe, appear for the first time in ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP. The re-imagined and inexperienced Doctor Strange, for example, turns out to be the second mystical Dr. Strange and the son of Clea. It's an interesting tale, but is severely undermined by Ted McKeever's weird, cartoony, near abstract visuals.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN SUPER SPECIAL is pretty much the coda to the series. It features quick glimpses of Blade and Elektra, as well as a horde of other guest stars. In this one, Peter has second thoughts about continuing his crimefighting career and seeks out other superheroes for advice. This issue showcases an all-star cast of artists. Unfortunately, this only serves as a microcosm of this anthology, as the art varies from excellent to cringe-worthy.

For the quibblers, there's some stuff here which might not be canon to the Ultimate Universe. Off the top of my head: Ultimate Iron Man's red and gold armor is too reminiscent of that of the Earth-616 Iron Man. And I could've sworn the Ultimate Hulk was gray, not green. But the most glaring continuity glitch is probably the introduction of the Fantastic Four, who resemble the Earth-616 FF, rather than the much younger Fantastic Four who would get their own Ultimate title.

So, that's it. Basically, ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP is/was a decent series. And if you can get past the sometimes spotty artwork, then it's more than decent. If you like Brian Michael Bendis's storytelling, then I'm sure you're already checking out his ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN series, which is the best Spidey monthly going on currently. There's a reason it's the flagship title of the Ultimate Universe. And, hey, in that series, Spidey is still running into other superheroes.

This is a fun collection of the full run of Brian Michael Bendis' version of the Spidey spin-off book, "Marvel Team Up." Like its 1970s predecessor, this version of MTU often keeps things on the lighter side, with Spidey teaming up with various Marvel heros, often with anticlimactic or mildly embarrassing results. If you enjoy Bendis' work on "Ultimate Spider-Man," then you really should pick this up as well -- it dovetails nicely with the story arcs on that more conventional series.

Some readers may be put off by the artwork in some issues. Each story arc is illustrated by a different artist, and some of the artists, such as Alex Maleev, et al, get pretty "out there" on their stories. Still, I enjoyed the whole book and found it fun and entertaining. If you're looking for a nice, light read, this book is definitely recommended. (ReadThatAgain book reviews)

Review the book or the man?

No doubt in my friends mind, he has excellent qualities as a sincere man of God. My friend has known him in the past from Fuller University.

But, what am I reviewing here? The book I dare say.

The Book offered some insightful thoughts and his personal beliefs as he tells. It was thought provoking and an interesting read.

This book is a Great General overview of the role of the Apostle in Today's Church. I recommend it to anyone that wants to begin learning about the office of Apostle as a first read.

This is a very informative book on how we "do church" is changing in the 21st Century. It takes us back to what God originally intended and gives us a good look at the gifts He bestowed on His Body to do the work that He began and He will finish on the Day of His Return. C Peter Wagner is a radical, no nonsence, Christian leader who tells it like it is and does so with love. He explains clearly the new apostolic movement that is sweeping across the world and upsetting the old religious boxes we have put the Body of Christ and God in for so long. If you are looking for a book about what an apostle does and how he/she relates to the Body at large and what the new face of the Church of Jesus Christ is going to look like then I would recommend you check this book out. Easy read too.

Anyone interested in New Apostolic Reformation and current apostolic movement would certainly read everything C. Peter Wagner writes on apostles. This book is no exception, however after reading everything Wagner wrote on the subject before I have found no new information in this book. At first sight it seemed to me more like compilation of ideas and thoughts from previous books published both by Regal Books and Wagner Publications, so if you have read already books such Apostles and Prophets, Churchquake, The Spheres of Authority, Apostles in the City, Changing Church and Revival!, you probably will find no reason to buy this book unless you would like to have a summary version of Wagner's teaching on apostles.

However, his teaching also evolves and goes to a new dimensions, so while in his early work on the subject he was merely defending the existence of apostles today, now he creates new broad teachings based more on relevation than Scripture. I find this less appealing than earlier way of research and writtings Wagner did. Well, he is still one of my favourite authors, but Churchquake remains my favourite book on apostles Wagner wrote.

I have read a number of books on the apostolic. Each has some good and most have some bad. I personally am watchful about the religious spirit manifesting here having seen it before in CPW's books. It seems that some well meaning folks want to control and define who is and who is not an apostle by their own little mix of Bible verses. Apostles are ordained By Jesus Christ Himself or they are likely not apostles at all. Pastors are the biggest danger to a young apostle. Pastors, for the most part, live in a divided house and will resist change and truth in order to maintain their own little kingdom or power base. 'Protecting' the sheep has little or nothing to do with it, if they did the pastor's would be crying out to God something like this. "Oh God send us your APOSTLES AND PROPHETS OUR CITIES ARE DYING." But they don't! Why? Because they are proud, controlling or luke warm and themselves near death etc.
Young apostles stand. If you know that you know you have heard from God then use your authority and move the mountains of religion that the KING of Glory may once again come back in to His house.
Do NOT let another minister rob you of your crown. They can and will.
Love never fails,
JE

I suppose I'm being a little unfair to write a three-star review of this volume, seeing as I only collect Griswold and only purchased this book for that section alone. A person shouldn't berate a screwdriver, for instance, because it makes a poor hammer, and when you get right down to it, the red book is primarely a Wagner price guide, not a Griswold one. But still, in their zeal to write a second guide with a low percentage of repeats from the first, the authors have presented a Griswold section that feels more like a collection of leftover snippets from the blue book than like an independant guide of its own. One of its most serious flaws in my opinion is its lack of complete price lists for referenced series. The authors show a picture of an unlabled p/n 755 size 8 skillet, for instance (and then incorrectly attribute it to the Iron Mountain series in the caption,) but they neglect to give any pricing information for the size 9 and size 7 skillets in the same series. In the blue book, whenever they showed one size, they were pretty consistant with listing pricing for all sizes of that type. Here, they mostly just price exactly what is pictured. Being partial to the non-Griswold logo products, I'm glad that they included more pictures of Best Made, or Merit, or Good Health products, but I wish that they had included more price ranges on those products, rather than only pricing the size that they show in that particular picture. For instance, a picture of a #10 Merit skillet is shown without giving any pricing for #s 3-9 of the same series. (Ironically enough on that note, even though Merit and Puritan skillets have the same p/n and are essentially identical skillets, his price for the Merit #10 is only about 60% of his blue book price for the same Puritan skillet. That, I don't understand - it indicates that Merit and Puritan skillets don't share common prices, but fails to fill the rift in with a complete Merit price range.) Another issue with the Griswold section is that many of the pictures shown are cast aluminum products -- again, while it's true that they aren't duplicates from the blue book, they aren't necessarily what I was expecting to compose about a third or half of the material in a Griswold price guide. I might have liked to have seen more pricing information on pre-1957 small logo cast iron, too. I realize a lot of collectors avoid it, but it's nice to know how much less it's worth than its large logo elder siblings. And, a little more editing of captions would have been nice. Here and there they call something by the wrong name (for instance, a skillet cover is called a skillet, and so on.)

Maybe I'm just being picky, or maybe I was expecting too much Griswold information from a book that was published primarely as a Wagner price guide. But, speaking for the Griswold portion only, I was hoping for something a little more useful. What I got just felt like a loose grouping of everything that was left over from the first time out. It felt like the "deleted scenes" section on some DVD movies. I was expecting an out-and-out sequal.

Having said that, what I've glanced at of the Wagner portion looks good. I don't collect Wagner, so it doesn't really interest me. The same is true for the other non-Griswold brands covered in this book: I can't really rate them, because I haven't really tried to use them. Overall, I'd say that this is probably an excellent guide for Wagner collectors, and an interesting if not entirely useful guide for Griswold collectors such as myself.

Both this book and the "blue" book mislead readers by listing "price values" that are blatently low,-on the very uncommon items listed, even though the pricing errors were brought to both author's attention years ago. Many revisions later, they remain for the most part unchanged.
Shame on them.

If you like collections of photos, this book is great ... Hollow.

Unlike steve (ca) review, this book is considered the second book that all cast iron collectors must have. While some discrepancy on some values in the book may be present, values on most items are completely accurate. It is unfortunate that the other review destroys the credibility of this fine book. The "RED" book is the most complete and accurate book on the market for Wagner Ware collectors. This book and the "BLUE" book should be in every serious cast iron collector's resource library.

This is the second book you should buy if you have any interest in collecting classic American cast iron goods. Collectors call this the "Red Book". The first book, "The Book of Griswold & Wagner", is called the "Blue Book", although it looks kind of turquoise to me, and is by the same authors. This edition, with a copyright of 2001, is getting a little out of date for catalog values, but still is a good indicator of relative value. It covers Wagner, Griswold, Martin, Lodge, Vollrath, and Excelsior. There is little duplication between the Red and Blue books, but together they are just a treasure chest of good clear photogrpahs and information that is not available anywhere else. The author is active in the major collecting societies and solicits information, including photographs and corrections, as each edition is prepared. (As an aside, it's hard to comprehend how someone could be critical of a book full of pictures and descriptions of collectable iron.)

It is really unfair to be critical of the catalogs values in such a work. They are useful in determining relative value and rarity, but the current marketplace must looked at to get the best indicators of value.

lovecraft's story here is my personal favorite. derleth's is a good one. in addition chambers have his Yellow king here, his masterpiece. Bierce is here, though i'm not a fan of him, his stories have an interesting concept. brennan's story is not that great, but i was amused. wagner's story contains a very well written opening, but the concept turns out to be poor. between 3 and 4 stars, i'd say. i have to agree that the last part of the anthology, with this mysterious race or whatever, shouldn't been here. hastur turned out to be an entertaining concept.

Chaosium starts an attempt to make the works of HP Lovecraft and his followers accessible to fans who haven't subscribed to the esoteric fanzines. The series ranges between general anthologies of mythos stories, works by a single author and studies of certain aspects of the mythos. This book is of the 3rd variety and gives us the history of Hastur. We get works by Lovecraft, Derleth, Chambers and others while tracing the concept of Hastur in the stories. This is an excellent way to get introduced to the classic horror of Chambers King in Yellow. These eerie works are best in short doses as given here. Couple that with a Lovecraft classic and a story by Will Murray (the hardest working man in pulp these days) and you've got yourself a feast of great horror stories. This book is also a good intro to horror fans who haven't discovered Lovecraft yet. Yes, it's like a private eye fan who doesn't know Hammett, but they both exist.

This was the first of Chaosium's collections of out-of-print Mythos tales, and can hardly be expected to be as refined as later editions. The most useful aspects of the Hastur Cycle are the exploration of the evolution of the concept of Hastur and the major stories about the Mi-go. Of course, I agree with everyone here that the two concepts should not have been joined.

The two Chambers tales, "The yellow Sign" and "the Repairer of Reputations" are both excellent, as well as "the Return of Hastur". Some of the Mi-go tales are pretty good, but clearly the best is "The Whisperer in the Darkness", which can be found elsewhere. Otherwise, it all seemed pretty derivative. I would look for the stories separately.

THE HASTUR CYCLE was a very entertaining book of frightening short stories. Some of the stories didn't make sense to me(this may be because I'm just a teenager), but most of them were good. I enjoyed this book immensely, especially Lovecraft's short story "THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS." The book was pretty good.

After playing the D20 adventure, "Death in Freeport," my interest was piqued in the Unspeakable One and the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. As it turns out, both were inspired by Hastur and the Yellow Sign. So I decided to go to the source and read the original stories that helped craft the mythology of the Great Old One known as Hastur and his crazy book, "The King in Yellow."

Briefly, Hastur is both a place and a being. He/it is loosely connected to the cities of Carcosa, Yhtill, and Alar. Hastur and Alar are divided in a battle of succession. Yhtill is a city of the past, while Carcosa is a haunted city of the future. All of the cities are near Lake Hali. The cities are on a planet near the star Aldebaran in the Hyades, a planet with two moons and two suns. The inhabitants may be black or white (sources disagree).

What they all agree on is that the Phantom of Truth appears during the siege between the two cities. The Phantom wears a mask and tells everyone else to wear a mask to avoid the appearance of the King in Yellow, who will ultimately usurp all royal successors thereafter.

So everyone wears a mask, including the jaded and bitter Queen Camilla, her clueless daughter Cassilda, and her two sons Thale and Uoht. The plan is that by wearing masks, everyone will be saved from the King in Yellow's inevitable appearance. But the King in Yellow easily thwarts the Phantom of Truth, and he thereafter declares that everyone must wear a mask as well as the yellow sign, a squiggly three-armed symbol.

Sometimes Hastur is described as the King in Yellow, sometimes he's described as the Phantom of Truth, and sometimes he looks an awful lot like Cthulhu.

Oh yeah, someone transcribed all of this down into a play. If you read it or watch it, you go mad. Or you slowly get drawn into the play. Or the characters from the play come after you. It's complicated.

The Second Edition of the Hastur Cycle contains 14 different stories, all of them collected by Robert M. Price into one volume. They are loosely connected by the mythology of Hastur. I'll try to elaborate on each story and make sense of it all...without going mad.

"Haita the Shepherd" and "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" are both by Ambrose Bierce, he of the "Devil's Dictionary." In "Haita the Shepherd", a shepherd struggles in a relentless pursuit of a beautiful woman, who turns out to be an ideal. It's a bittersweet commentary on life. In "Inhabitant," we discover that Bierce invented the Sixth Sense plot twist before M. Night Shyamalan. They're both short and neither are particularly riveting to a modern audience.

HASTUR: In "Haita," Hastur is a benevolent deity of shepherds that Haita prays to. Occasionally, Hastur does nice things for Haita. But he doesn't have much of a role. In "Inhabitant," we have...well, an inhabitant of the city of Carcosa. He refers to Hali as a person, not a lake.

Robert W. Chambers wrote the next two stories, "The Repairer of Reputations" and "The Yellow Sign." In "Repairer," the play known as The King in Yellow appears for the first time. It establishes the subsequent madness that ensues by any who read The King in Yellow, as evidenced by the narrator of "The Repairer of Reputations." What's not immediately clear is that this story takes place in the future, where suicide chambers are government sanctioned. The future twist muddles the story a bit, as the setting isn't relevant to the plot. But it keeps you guessing. "Yellow," on the other hand, is just an out-and-out creep fest, with a zombie who keeps muttering, "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" Good stuff, dramatic endings, and in both cases the characters aren't yammering about the horrors they witnessed from the safety of the afterword, a trait all too often found in Lovecraft and his imitators.

HASTUR: These two stories lay the foundation that reading the King in Yellow drives you bonkers. They both hint at what happens in the first act of the play, which involves the Phantom of Truth. And this, unfortunately, is where we learn about the hearse-driver zombie. He will be rammed into just about every story afterwards, even where he doesn't belong. But that's not Chambers' fault.

"The River of Night's Dreaming," by Karl Edward Wagner, is a decidedly modern take on the King in Yellow mythos. It's scarier than the others, but a little less creative in forcing the main character (a young woman who has escaped prison) into the story itself, in a sort of Gothica/Misery movie scenario. One character refers to "The King in Yellow" as "vintage porno," and that's an adequate description of this story. I felt a little dirty after reading it.

HASTUR: Unlike the other stories in this volume, "River" makes no attempt to expand or include the King in Yellow. Instead, it focuses on repressed Victorian desires. Which is a bit of an assumption in the first place that anything in the King in Yellow has to do with the Victorian-era.

That brings us to "More Light" by James Blish, the crown jewel of the collection. As a story, it's not very entertaining. It's basically a guy reading "The King in Yellow" on a dare. It also establishes a trope that gets old fast: the narrator refers to Lovecraft's writings as if they were real. Oh, the irony!

HASTUR: This is the mother of all Hastur resources. It gives us almost the entire play of The King in Yellow. The story itself is bland, but the narrative of the play is fantastic and incorporates all the elements from the other stories. One thing that does get a bit silly is the insistence by authors of including EVERY bit of trivia about the Hastur mythos. The undead hearse driver from "The Yellow Sign" isn't just in the story, he's the Phantom of Truth. In "The Yellow Sign" someone remarks that the hearse driver's finger broke off (a consequence of being a zombie) and sure enough, it's mentioned in the play. If anything, the play is almost too thorough. But we'll take it, as Blish manages to put the various quotes together into a cohesive whole that is rather freaky.

The Hastur Cycle begins to stray with "The Novel of the Black Seal" by Arthur Machen. It's nearly unreadable, because of the stilted Victorian prose. Suffice it to say that the story involves the "little people" and their worship of the Yellow Sign, but takes such a long time to get there that you no longer care about the ending.

HASTUR: None. Price posits that this story served as the inspiration for "The Whisperer in the Darkness" by H.P. Lovecraft. Which is a bit of a tangent, as "Whisperer" has almost nothing to do with Hastur.

"Whisperer in the Darkness" is one of those stories that would actually be more entertaining if it were updated. Most of it takes place between two characters exchanging letters, with one of the authors continually updating his pen pal. It would play much better as an email exchange. It's even a little creepy, given that it deals with intelligent lobster fungi called Mi-Go.

HASTUR: Lovecraft's sole contribution mentions the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign and Hastur in passing. Supposedly, "there is a whole secret cult of evil men...devoted to the purpose of tracking [the Mi-Go] down and injuring them on behalf of monstrous powers from other dimensions." Presumably those monstrous powers are Hastur.

Unfortunately, Price now takes the connection of Mi-Go and goes crazy with it, spiraling off into a series of short stories that are focused on them instead of Hastur. So we have "Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley," by Richard A. Lupoff, which is essentially a sequel to "Whisperer." It's followed by two short stories about humans visiting the home planet of the Mi-Go, called Yuggoth (or, as we call it, "Pluto"). They're fast reads but are wasted space for anyone who wants to learn more about Hastur.

We finally get back to Hastur with "The Return of Hastur" by August Derleth. Reading this, I discovered a few things: 1) Derleth's narrative leaves much to be desired, and 2) he apparently thinks a Godzilla vs. King Kong type fight between Hastur and Cthulhu makes for scary stuff. It really, really doesn't.

HASTUR: Derleth helps lay the groundwork for the Unspeakable Oath, gives Hastur the title "He Who is Not to be Named," demonstrates what happens to the Chosen of Hastur, and (sadly) tries to make Hastur the half-brother of Cthulhu; like we need some big family tree of ancient horrors to make it all make sense. Bless Derleth's heart, he does try hard.

"The Feaster from Afar" turns Hastur into a flying boogeyman. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it contains the noteworthy death of a character. As opposed to a character safely talking about how he narrowly escaped mind-rending horror (but is all too eager to tell us about it).

HASTUR: Hastur sounds a lot like Cthulhu: all tentacles with a taste for brains.

"Tatters of the King" by Lin Carter contains all kinds of interesting tidbits about Hastur. It's actually three fragments, including a poem titled "Litany to Hastur," a "Carcosa Story about Hali" and "The King in Yellow" in verse.

HASTUR: Carter connects Byakhee to Hastur in "Tatters." Then we follow Hali (the guy, not the lake, harkening back to Bierce) as a necromancer trying to undo the curse of the undead in Carcosa. Hastur is the Thing in the Lake (he apparently sleeps in it), and the citizens practice human sacrifice to him. The verse is noteworthy for Price's intrusion as editor...he actually ADDS verse to the parts that are missing from Carter, who in turn took it from Blish. I thought editors were supposed to edit, not write...and certainly not provide completely new verse into someone else's work. But I digress.

Ultimately, The Hastur Cycle is an important but flawed survey of Hastur mythology. It's much less about Hastur than it is about Price's personal tastes on what stories influenced Lovecraft...as if the entire mythology's importance hinges upon Lovecraft's slim contribution. What's missing are other stories by Chambers, such as "The Mask" and the "The Court of the Dragon." Also missing are John Tynes' contributions, which have become part of the Hastur mythology mostly through Chaosium's support.

Did I mention it contains the majority of "The King in Yellow?" Read it, if you dare...

An excellent position, helping to review rapidly your own competences as well as helping to create your didactical programm for a ECG Presentation.

Given that electrocardiography is a difficult subject to begin to understand, Wagner has continued the excellent work of Dr. Marriott by updating and expanding on the classic text.

This book starts with a great foundation, but sadly does very little beyond that. This edition, like the 9th, does provide useful material, even if it is recycled. But, it does little to capture the attention of the reader and hold it throughout the text. Readers of 8th and earlier editions will be disappointed at the readability. Beginners might be better served by passing over this text and trying to bribe someone into selling their 8th edition. The last by Marriott himself, standing the test of time!

Unfortunately we lost Dr. Merroitt. G. Wagner has stepped up and authored the ninth edition of Practical electrocardiography. The book hits the basics - THere are a plethorea of books addressing the basics. Historically I would turn to Marriott (or Leo Schameroff - no longer in print) for help with the in depth analysis. The 9th edition falls short - giving narrative examples and referrencing non existent ecg strips - This book is missing several examples of ECG tracings and is a sad tribute to a great electrocardiographer, may he rest in peace.

Recenty I have gotten this.This is easy to understand ! But I have just found many misprints, particulary there are cases that descriptions may be inconsistent with figures. I hope that these inconsistency would have been corrected in tenth edition.

The most thorough, most complete treatise concerning this master of German Opera I have ever encountered.

Let's begin by saying that this is a very difficult book, dense in style and at times obscure in its arguments. Stewart Spencer deserves high praise for his lucid translation.

What this book most emphatically is NOT is a biography. Rather, it is a set of semi-philosophical musings on the themes of Wagner's music dramas. There is NO narrative, and readers ignorant of the track of Wagner's career will be lost. Koehler is hung-up on Wagner's relation with his step-father and his sisters. Moreover, in this account Cosima is an ogre fresh from the pages of the Brothers Grimm at their nastiest. Koehler's Wagner is glad to die at age 69 just to get away from her. This Wagner is also a Freudian's wet dream, with speculations that range from the interesting to the absurd.

It is NOT a good first--or even second--book on Wagner. For biography try Ronald Taylor; for philosophy read Bryan Magee's exceptionally fine "Wagner and Philosophy" (American title: "The Tristan Chord").

What this book IS is that it's much better than some of the crap Koehler has previously published. (For a book-length pathology of "post hoc ergo propter hoc" give his "Wagner's Hitler" a perusal. His logical fallacies will have you rolling with laughter out of your chair.) I am glad I read this book, difficult as it was. I learned a lot--or at least was exposed to some thought-provoking ideas.

In sum, I'd recommend this book only to die-hard Wagnerians fairly well steeped in the literature already.

Joachim Kohler has made a career out of writing intellectually dishonest, crass books on both Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche, and while I expected more of the same here, this weighty tome actually possesses some merit.

As far as reliable biography goes, Kohler's book is more responsible than Gutman's Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music (but, again, that's not saying all that much), and Kohler does present some interesting analysis regarding Wagner's phobias, dreams and obsessions. The problem that arises here, though, is one that plagues all such psycho-biographies; that is Kohler's conclusions are purely subjective & cannot be conclusively proven.

Some of the reviewers here have made the remark that this is more of a philosophy book than a biography, and this is entirely correct. If one has little desire to wade through the theorizing of Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Schelling, Hegel and Kant, then that person would be much better served in reading either Watson's or Millington's bios on Wagner. But if you are interested in seeing the philosophical backbone of Wagner's work, Kohler's book can be stimulating. I think Kohler is correct in discerning Schelling's influence in Wagner's thought, as well as his emphasis on Hegel's ideas on Wagner. Kohler is incorrect, in my opinion, in stating that Schopenhauer's thought had virtually no impact on Wagner. While it's true that Wagner's most "Schopenhauerian" work, Tristan und Isolde, is just as much in debt to Feuerbach, Schopenhauer's negation of the individual consciousness and the primacy of the Will are indeed pervasive presences in the opera. Wagner's Meistersinger & Parsifal are even more patently Schopenhauerian.

Kohler's views on Der Ring are also interesting, but again, those views are entirely subjective, and one can easily argue against them.

Having discussed the book's merits, there are also some major flaws. Nietzsche & King Ludwig are both portrayed as hapless victims of Wagner's megalomania, and Liszt is portrayed as an artist whom Wagner shamelessly [...] and blatantly copied. There is no doubt that Nietzsche & Ludwig were both psychologically wounded by Wagner (the man was quite a pill, after all), but neither men were utter victims, and both profited from their association with Wagner, and said as much. In regards to Liszt, Wagner was definitely influenced by him, but by the time of Die Walkure, Wagner had far surpassed his mentor.

Kohler addresses Wagner's notorious anti-Semitism, and it must be said, Kohler's murky analysis of Wagner's worst vice is almost as murky as Wagner's anti-Semitism. There are much more responsible (and clearer) examinations of Wagner's ugly hatred in the books The Darker Side of Genius, The Tristan Chord, and Ring of Myths. I recommend reading these first, and then coming back to this book.

Finally, we have Cosima. I never liked her, and it's easy to agree with Kohler's assessment of her as a self-righteous, manipulative woman. But I think it's also fair to say that she adored her husband (a quick glance through her diaries will prove that), and Kohler is off the beam in stating that their relationship was based primarily on fear.

Anyway, if you have the time and patience, this is a worthy read, but if you aren't inclined to wade through 700 pages of subjective psycho-biography and philosophical meanderings, then I would stick with a more manageable volume. In any event, I'm off to listen to Act II of Tristan.

I found the German idealistic readings of the Ring insufferably pompous. They left me with a feeling of utter disgust both with Wagner's mistake at having gotten involved with the whole thing in the first place and with Kohler, for taking it's philosophical pretensions so seriously, with nary a single intelligent comment re the MUSIC. HOWEVER, the devastating critique of the oft-mentioned (not least by W) Wagner/Schopenhauer connection, and the much-deserved and well-documented trashing of Cosima make the book very worthwhile in spite of the aforementioned.

Joachim Koehler, at his best, writes well. So well, that it's a pity his book is marred by a NATIONAL ENQUIRER type of prurience, by wild unconvincing generalizations, and by an almost complete absence of interest in Wagner's actual music - which is, after all, the reason why Wagner matters today.

Having discussed the present volume's virtues and failings at 2,000-word length in the February 14, 2005 AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, I shall simply say here: this should've been the one-volume Wagner biography that all Wagnerians were longing for, but it isn't. Best to stick with the Wagnerological surveys of Bryan Magee, Rudolph Sabor, Deryck Cooke, and (more recently) Milton Bremer for greater insight than Koehler offers. The really hard-core Wagnerian will also want, within handy reach, Ernest Newman's four-volume account.

Ah yes, for years I have longed to penetrate Wagner's ring, and this book finally showed me how. I have now penetrated *very* deeply, and it certainly is a good feeling. As with any profound penetration (especially relating to the ring!) it was a little difficult at first, but with a little perseverance I was able to get really lost inside the incredible ring. I don't know how Wagner himself would feel if he were alive today, having his long-impregnable ring so thoroughly penetrated, but I have a feeling the old devil might be satisfied that his monumental ring finally got the treatment it deserves.

Never have I seen 'The Ring' better penetrated. I have read several books on this subject and I have to say that this is the definitive guide. Although long gone, Wagner's Ring will forever remain in memory, due in no small part to this text. It's a book you can definitely get stuck into!

Joe Reaney

FOOTNOTE: Little confused as to why there is a Klingon on the front cover.

As a young lad more comfortable "shaking my booty" at a big club, I concede that I'm a bit tight when it comes to the fine points of opera. Fortunately my worldly wife has given me a foot up, and together I'm proud that we've managed to lick a few of the tougher ones. Alas, this bloated tome of intellectual guff does little to spread Willy Wagner's Ringsicle (as my wife affectionately calls it) to a wider audience. And I had such big hopes that it would explode the famous preconceptions of the Ring as being accessible only to stiffs and boffins!

I have been invited to the opera by Di Gaetani on previous occasions, and I can still feel how generous his endowment is to the Arts. There's no doubt that his love of the piece flows liberally through the book as he lets the authors show off their insides and analyses. Editorially, however, the strained effort to connect their diverging perspectives leaves me only with a meandering mess: and wurst, a blown opportunity to crack the ADD generation. For instance, while out watching the spectacle with my wife I tried and failed to insert myself into the action using this guide as a kind of "theatrical lubricant". As a seasoned goer (to the opera), my missus quickly relieved herself of any responsibility, but I had to pull the plug early, leaving deflated -- thanks to this bumf! Although I couldn't put my finger on any particular offending article in this collection, the rub is that my head was sore from trying to absorb the highbrow material. At least comfort comes from knowing that I can get through the end of Tristan and Isolde without losing my bottle.

I have to say I disagree with the reviews thus far. Having always been a big fan of the Ring, I felt this little escapade was a bit lacking in stimulation. For such an emotional work, this felt way too mechanical; I just didn't feel any of the romance, and quite frankly, it left a bad taste in my mouth. It was way too difficult to get into, for starters. There are just so many problems with the layout; it tries to do something the writer just wasn't flexible enough to convey and it made everything sort of painful and... just work instead of leisure. It's a very claustrophic and tight read, bogged down with way too many little technical details, and there just wasn't any rhythm to it at all; it just sort of jumps around all over the place. As if the opera itself wasn't long enough, it took me forever to get anything out of "Penetrating Wagner's Ring" and it felt like I was doing all the work and that the author hadn't put much effort into it. I was the most disappointed with the ending, though. It just sort of fizzled and there was no climax at all! In the end I ended up tossing it off the bed and watching "The Whole Nine Yards" which destroys Wagner's Ring any day.

All in all, I give it two out of five stars. I stuck it out til the very end, meaning there were at least some qualities about it I found endearing; if it was totally worthless I would have just quit half-way through. I think if Wagner was alive today he would be sorely disappointed with what people are doing to his Ring.

Until recently, Wagner's ring has been difficult for most of us to penetrate. Access to his darkest area has traditionally been restricted to those lucky few capable of maintaining strong, determined strokes of scholarly investigation.

Happily, DiGaetani provides everyone - including the most intellectually well-endowed amongst us - with the tools needed to effortlessly prize apart Wagner's ring and plunder its forbidden contents. DiGaetani's main thrust shows that perseverance and a firm-hand are all that is needed to enter Wagner.

Oiled with this literary lubricant, you will find yourself repeatedly sliding deep into Wagner's ring until a satisfying climax is reached.

I greatly enjoyed Anne Wagner's work in Three Artists (Three Women). Not only did she write an exceptional Introduction for her work - something rare in my opinion - but she isn't afraid to tackle the idea that one of her subjects, Eva Hesse, might not have been such a commodity had she lived. Wagner doesn't insult the artist or offend the reader in her discourse about Hesse's semi-martyrdom. Instead she very matter-of-factly outlines reasons for considering that the sculptor might have been less novel. She is sharp but candid:

It is her (un)timely death that has meant that she has survived to play a special cultural role: forever under thirty-five, she answers a hunger for youthful tragic death. She is the `dead girl'...Much of the writing about the artist cannot resist taking advantage of the free mileage it gets from Hesse's early death. When it is harnessed to her troubled life, so called, an irresistible package results. (197)

Wagner's strong suit is her skill at assisting the reader to build an understanding of feminism, art and the history of women as artists. She draws on three rather conventional (in the academic sense) artists when one might prefer to see her focus on feminist artists who are a little more out of the ordinary - Shirin Neshat comes to mind. In all, however, the work is quite a valuable cornerstone for art study and her presentation of the subject of women as artists/artists as women and the discussion about the mutual exclusivity that has historically accompanied those two constructs is insightful.

I picked up this book after seeing the Hesse retrospective in San Francisco. Although it provides a lot of useful background, the reading the art are somehow too pat. I guess it is a problem to always refer to the artist's life, however fascinating, to explain their work? And the 'feminist' framework did seem forced -- the photos were very suggestive but the author seemed afraid to really go for it. Why is so much academic writing afraid to make a strong argument or provocative, unexpected analysis?

Wagner presents 3 kay artists but her analysis is thin -- after 200+ pages, we get to the conclusion that "altho gender doesn't entirely determine our lives, it does inflect them..." or something like that. Seems to be totally unaware of feminist work on modernism in other fields (ie lit, film) and never questions the whole "marriage" (heterosexuality) framework she sets up. As a trade press book, it'd be fine, but as a university press book -- seems thin, uninformed.

One is reluctant to criticize the reviews of other customers, yet the two reviews prior to mine attempt to force upon Wagner's book both an historical framework and a point of view that are outside of her intended goal. If one reads the book for what it is, one finds a work of analytical insight, scholarship, humanity, and understanding of historical context. Enjoy it, savor it, reflect upon it!

Everyone who reviewed it seemed to love this overview of the careers of 3 artists: Krasner, Hesse. It's a fun read, with great photos, but I wish art historians would start to see there's more to the sixties than Hesse: what about Agnes Martin, Lee Bontecou, Yoko Ono, Alison Knowles, and all the rest??

Wagner wants to be a good feminist, but ultimately, her approach is surprisingly traditional: canonical figures, marriage plot, sticks to the US, the known and alrady successful. Wants to avoid being "radical" or disturbing at all costs.

This contains a few errors here and there although nothing big. It's worth maybe $6 or $8, not the $10 I paid for it. This is reasonably useful if you're writing a paper on the book and are the type to get lost in the story and miss some of the larger picture. Otherwise, not really.

This book is much different from previous Kingsolver books such as The Bean Trees. However, it is enjoyable and more inventive. The use of different voices is surprisingly easy to follow and gives the story multiple perspectives. The first part of the book is slow, painful, and a bit dogmatic. The father's character is so over the top, he is hard to take. But HANG ON, the second half picks up and the characters become more real.

Wagner-Martin's guide to The Poisonwood Bible was a disappointment. I had read the novel and I bought Wagner-Martin's book hoping to catch points that I had missed and get a better understanding of the book. Wagner-Martin did bring out some parts of the novel that I had missed and for that I am grateful. But she also got some parts of the book absolutely wrong. Most importantly, she mis-identified the village witch doctor and the person who put a snake in the chicken house which killed the youngest daughter. The fact Wagner-Martin gets confused over the plot seriously undermines her ability to guide any reader through an absolutely wonderful novel.

This is a neat book! It starts out with a chapter about Barbara Kingsolver, quite chatty and very interesting. And then there is a much longer chapter about the Poisonwood Bible, which is one of my favourites. This chapter is quite deep and occasionally too 'academic', but most of it is clear and it has made me think about the book. I'm now reading the novel again, and I'm enjoying it even more. The book finishes with three short chapters about how people liked the novel when it came out, and about how it did so well. All of which is interesting in its own way, too. I'm going to read more of Kingsolver's novels now.

If you enjoy thinking about books, and seeing things that you didn't really know were there, and if you loved the Poisonwood Bible, I can recommend this book. The author did a good job!