Bentley Reviews

Hard to find the parts because it has lots of drawings, not pictures.Not for the beginner.It doesn't explain in detail.It always says to bring the car to service center, instead of showing you how to do it yourself.

This manual covers everything and gives excellent attention to routine service. Unlike some manuals, it is focussed on the BMW 3 series and gives very little 'general' advice. It also gives useful tips about obtaining speciality tools. The general explanations at the front of the manual are indispensible. On the down side, the drawings and photographs leave something to be desired. There are too few of them and they are quite confusing. There are no comprehensive pictures pointing out the key features and the text does not fill in the gaps. Compared directly with Haynes, this manual covers far more, has better electrical schematics and the entire book is devoted to one car. On the other hand, the explanations are not as clear and the diagrams and photographs are terrible. Overall, it is good value and coupled with a more basic and more graphic manual it is very helpful.

This big, expansive book just about covers everything for an E36 BMW this side of a factory service manual... However, there are some details that are missing (or that I can't find): like adjusting the throttle/accelerator linkage, and replacing the trim at the base of the windshield/engine compartment... Also, like the other service manuals, the indices aren't very detailed... I have the Chilton's and Haynes service manuals as well, but the Bentley's is definitely the best... But I would recommend owning all three service manuals to compare procedures (a "second opinion") and just in case a procedure is not covered by one of the other manuals...

While I agree with the other one-star review here that this book is not worth reading, what astonishes me is that the reviewer considers Bentley's book "a very scholarly history" when there is nothing scholarly about it. Bentley's narcissistic introduction and glamour shot on the book jacket reveal this to be little more than a vanity project. While the book has some usefulness in terms of providing details that aren't often found in dance histories about these women's lives, Bentley's purple prose makes it difficult to discern which details are accurate and which fell victim to her embellishment. A pastiche of factual but sensational details and farfetched comparisons and conclusions regarding the psychological and cultural implications of Salome, this book bears little resemblance to real contemporary dance scholarship. If it did, she would have engaged in the ongoing discussion of gaze theory and its advantages and disadvantages when applied to dance. OR, she would have discussed more deftly the role of exotic imagery in the age of late imperialism by way of Said's concept of orientalism and other subsequent postcolonial theory. OR, she would have utilized poststructuralist theory and considered how such acts of exhibitionism as striptease actually maintained dominant power structures. Instead, she falls victim to free associations that to some readers may appear like a kind of truth, but really are not. In one passage, Bentley ruminates on the significance of the veil, jumping from one culture and religion to another as if the symbolic and social meanings of "the veil" are universal: "In Eastern harems, women are veiled like nuns, while their bodies are receptacles for male desire. Veils conceal but are penetrable. Opaque, translucent, and diaphanous, they allow light to be filtered through the threads, building illusion while implying truth. They allow for fantasy and mystery and suggest the ultimate veiling-a naked woman still conceals the darkness where life begins. The hymen veils the womb, the womb veils the origin of life itself." The conflation of the veil and the woman below it with the hymen and the womb deploys the same kind of rhetoric 1970s feminist theory was guilty of, which essentialized "woman" as an archetype of fertility and sensuality. And sure, why not jump from Salome to nun to harem girl? Yeah, that's all the same thing. By the way, I thought we all learned in fifth grade science class that materials were either opaque, transparent, OR translucent. Something cannot be both opaque AND translucent. There's either light filtering through, or there's not, Ms. Bentley. So, yes, as you can see, Bentley's book has put me in a very cranky mood, precisely because on both a scholarly AND a writerly level, IT'S JUST PLAIN BAD.

By the way, one of the reviewers seemed impressed that Bentley's book was published by such a prestigious press as Yale U P. Look, if you want to read good and cutting edge dance scholarship, Yale is not the way to go. Check out the presses at Wesleyan, Routledge, or the University of California.

Also, a good general hint for discerning whether a text is "scholarly" or not--if the author continually refers to her subjects by their first names (i.e. "Maud" instead of "Allen"), chances are, it's not all that scholarly.

Sorry to dissent, but Toni Bentley's ode to undressing leaves me, well, chilly. Her opening chapter is risque, but don't be misled. All you will read in the following chapters is a very scholarly history of a particular type of dancer, the striptease artiste. The only nudity you will see is one undraped mammelle. The book is dull, the opening chapter a tasteless come on. Ms. Bentley's investigation into nudity, both first hand and vicarious, is by her own admission an attempt to overcome a lifetime's inhibitions and her own innate modesty. It is a mistaken attempt. Ms. Bentley has gone downhill since her days as a Balanchine dancer, and has lowered her artistic standards considerably.

Oscar Wilde is responsible for striptease. Well, not directly, perhaps, but there is a surprising connection drawn in _Sisters of Salome_ (Yale University Press) by Toni Bentley, an examination of four women who interpreted Salome around the turn of the last century. Wilde took his story from legend (not the Bible story), and invented the famous "Dance of the Seven Veils" for his French play _Salome_. It initiated the craze for "Salomania" and there was even a school for Salomes that churned out dancers to go into the variety halls. Bentley's introduction inserts herself into the history of striptease, and she gives a good account of ending her career as a ballerina and going onto the stage (just once?) as a stripper. She felt power; "... there was no victimization on either side of these footlights." It was a revelatory experience: "I was unmasked and, for a miraculous minute, thrilled in my body, unafraid of my life. I was in - for me - Paradise."

Her research into how striptease originated centered on four women who had initially interpreted to the theatrical Salome. Maudie Durant was the sister of a serial killer, and escaped to Europe and to the stage as Maud Allan as a way to free herself from disgrace. She became "the least dressed dancer of our time," and she then portrayed Salome in 1906. She became involved in a ridiculous trial which she lost in large part because it was shown that she knew what a clitoris was. Ida Rubenstein was the child of Russian aristocrats, and the only Salome here who had few worries about money. She liked expensive, self-aggrandizing shows and ended up derided for her vanity. She did, however, sponsor artists of real ability; Ravel composed _Bolero_ for her. Everyone knows the name of the spy Mata Hari, but everyone knows wrong. She performed all over Europe, and took lovers; she had a special weakness for those in uniform. As a result, she did take money for spying, but didn't do any. She was framed and executed in France in 1917. With Colette, perhaps Bentley is guilty of over-application of her theme, because Colette never played Salome, although she did once perform on the same billing as Mata Hari. Unlike the other three women profiled here, Colette had a genuinely happy and long life. She graduated from virgin bride to lesbian, to happily married housewife, although she did seduce a former husband's son. She used her success in scandals, including her stage nakedness, to become an author whose fiction and memoirs have inspired far more readers than just Bentley.

This is a book of a peculiar history, not only of four dancers, but of one period of the dance itself. None of them were very good dancers, but nakedness and scandal made up for that. All four reinvented themselves and used the Salome role for gains in power and money, although such gains were mostly temporary. None had a conventional life or marriage, and perhaps there is some sort of lesson in the sad ends most of them experienced. Bentley has not forced any didacticism from the four stories and her own. Her research and bibliography are good, and she has a light and amused way of telling the stories, full of detail. "Why did these women dance naked?" she asks, and the answers she gives, far from simple, but satisfying while undoubtedly incomplete, are wise and fun to read.

I've been waiting for this manual for a long time. Bentley's excellent VW manuals have been very high on the quality list for quite some time so I was excited to get this manual. Overall it is a great and is a must for the DIY mechanic who needs to know more about their car and can't afford the factory workshop manuals and I think that for the majority of individuals who won't be dropping engines and trannies this will sufice. My gripes are small. No detail on a lot of misc body stuff. The transmission section mentions both the 915 and later G50 transmissions but only shows how to dismantle and repair the 915. Heater and ventilation information is sparse (as always) at best.

I was surprised at how they did keep up with much of the Porsche tech bulletins that have come out during these model years as well as just the overall presentation. Very nice.

Ken

This sure beats the orange covered "other" service manual and the $900 factory service manual in price. There are a lot of missing details like where to charge the A/C, rebuilding your Targa top (intricate locking mechanism details missing). Yes it shows breakdown of parts diagrams but some diagrams lack supporting text. This book is BIG and it is well worth the...you spend. A nice thing I read in the beginning was a disclaimer stating that it may have errors or lack of info but the publisher is more than open to accept any ammendments from it's readers and that they were meticulous about providing the MOST ACCURATE data they could find. This is why you SHOULD HAVE this book because WE the people can make it better! It IS a "must-have" book if you are serious about maintaining your own 84-89 911 Carrera.

The Porsche 911 Carrera Service Manual by Bentley Publishing is a MUST HAVE book for your automotive library. I bought my first Porsche a year ago, a rather worn '85 Cabriolet. One of the first "repair" purchases I made was $800+ worth of official Porsche repair manuals (the 11-volume set that Porsche provides its mechanics). I now wish that I had waited. Even after only two days of owning the Bentley Manual, I can already tell it will be the most dog-eared and grease-smeared of the lot!

It has 10 main sections, the first one being an overview: General Data & Maintenance; Engine; Engine Management, Exhaust, & Engine Electrical; Transmission; Suspension, Brakes, & Steering; Body - Assembly; Body - Components & Accessories; Body - Trim, Seats; Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning; and Electrical System. Each section has several subsections, and in typical German style they are all number coded. Each subsection starts with a general description of what it covers and includes a simple picture guide for any special tools that may be needed in that category (extremely helpful to me as a novice). For example, Section 201 Fuel Supply recommends three special tools: 1) a fuel hose pinch clamp; 2) a fuel pressure gauge; and 3) an automotive digital mulitmeter. The subsections also have straightforward, no-nonsense written steps, which are complemented by literally dozens of pictures. The pictures are simply amazing: very clear, and where needed, highlighted with arrows or alphanumeric characters. (Even Mr. Magoo could find his way through this!) Plus, there is plenty of room for you to add your own notes in the margin, if you so desire.

The book is not perfect, though. I am in need of information on carpet/floorboard repair and dashboard gauge repair (odometer, speedometer, etc.), and neither is in this book. In the grand scheme of things, however, these are small.

One final note... while this appears to be written for those who already own a 911, it can be equally helpful to anyone who is in the market to purchase one. Most savvy Porsche buyers will demand a pre-purchase inspection anyway, so the prospective buyer may just want to consider this as part of that expense. Yet, this book is not an expense, but rather an investment that will continue to provide dividends for a long time to come.

If you consider fixing your car yourself, this book is not going to help you. Well, I should have known... it covers the 6-cylinder, 8-cylinder and the diesel engine, which means that the book would have to be at least 3 times as thick to be any good. So if you are curious to know how things work in your car, but plan on having your repairs done at a shop, this book is great. But then, why would you even bother reading about it? I still wonder who could get any use out of this book... Any ideas?

This book was widely anticipated and loaded with high expectations among the 124 (E-class chassis) community. I pre-ordered a copy months in advance. Why? The factory shop manual on CD is very difficult to use. A Haynes manual is only published in Europe, and covers only European models. This means there is effectively no aftermarket shop manual for these cars, where many other MB models have one available. I think we were all expecting a "Bentley Grade" shop manual (and all that this entails), like the stellar ones produced for BMWs and Audis. What we got was essentially an enhanced owner's manual, or a buyer's guide.
If you just bought a 124, this book makes for a good orientation.
If you are considering buying a 124, this is an excellent buyer's guide.
If you want to actually fix something yourself, forget it!
The Haynes manual from the UK is still the best bet for an aftermarket workshop manual. (ISBN: 1859602533)
Anything really serious requires the factory CDs.

Some claim this book to be no more than a coffee table book, with others stating it gives maginally more information than a standard factory issued driver's handbook. Yes, it goes much further than a driver's handbook and, armed with a quality after-market workshop manual (Haynes or similar), there's very little you won't know about your Mercedes E-Class W124 series. Don't rely on this book alone if you're thinking of doing major work on your vehicle. I recommend the book if you want to use it as a supplement to the driver's handbook and workshop manual.

If I didn't know any better, I could swear that this book and the previous (A Fine Boy for Killing) were written by two different people ... the first one rattles along at a great pace, but alas not this... It has taken me weeks to get through it, whereas I devoured 'Fine Boy for Killing' in a couple of days.
There are several seemingly disconnected threads running in parallel in this story. Ostensibly about Will Bentley joining a press tender, we gather that this is not the crux of the matter; the disappearance of 2 men and his uncle's hints at 'trade' lead one to understand that smuggling is the hidden agenda.
However, the story takes its own good time getting there; I found this lack of progress to be disturbing, and combined with the stilted delivery, was almost persuaded several times to give it up as a bad job. But some quality kept dragging me back; maybe it was the hanging tale of the girl selling her teeth and the judge's wife who was to be the recipient; perhaps the fate of the 'spies'; maybe the underlying good story - for sure it was not the flow of the tale.
The style is not my cup of tea, but then I don't care for Steven King either... ***

Read my review of "A Fine Boy for Killing," as the comments
all apply to this work as well. This is the second novel in the William Bentley naval fiction series, though on an entirely
different tack. As in the first novel of the series, Jan Needle has presented us with a dark, brooding, (sometimes revolting) mystery. The setting is mid-18th century England. The land and sea settings are drafted with excellent visual imagery. The protagonist is still William Bentley, albeit now a somewhat older (but not too worldly) midshipman. His uncle, a sadistic cynical Captain lurks in the wings, occasionally sticking his oar in to terrify and ensnare William in his disreputable schemes. Were (and are) people really like this? Unfortunately, yes, they are our fellow man. "We have met the enemy, and they is us...."

Definitely not in the style of the lightweight fantasy "Hornblower" series. As intellectual as Patrick O'Brien, but without the niceguys and heroics. If you like historical novels which require some gray matter, and which contain a strong element of psychological drama, this is your sea biscuit. Like O'Brien and David Donachie, a great find for those who enjoy a cut above the average, "grapple and board" type of naval novel. Prepare to be horrified at times, like when you read about the sale of Cicely's entire mouthful of teeth! If you like the genre, you will like this book. Full of the socio-cultural backdrop of 18th century England. Not too much dialect, so one can comprehend the characters' language. Highly readable, though one has to pay close attention--not a skim read. Don't bring it to the beach--this is for bedtime after your spouse has fallen asleep.

Of course the first book in every series tends to win the toss-up, but this second book is so unlike the first it does not disappoint. Good writer, interesting subjects. Jan Needle will eventually be as collectable as Woodman, Lambdin, Pope or Donachie, (probably not the tremendously popular god of sea novels Patrick O'Brien though), once he becomes more widely known. I bought the second book in the series when I got half-way through his first. Since Donachie is not as prolific as we would hope, and Pope and O'Brien are now deceased, Needle is all the more welcome. Hope he doesn't return to children's books and screenplays!

This is the continuing story of William Bentley and his ongoing process of personal disillusion and embitterment.

Set in the early 19th century, The Wicked Trade is about smuggling, press gangs, and really nasty amateur dentistry. It's an outstanding book, though not a perfect one, and is not for the weak of stomach.

I characterized Needle's writing in his previous book, A Fine Boy for Killing, as a blunt instrument. Here, he's refined it to a stiletto. Dialogue in particular shines, even evoking Shakespeare in its rhythmic qualities. His action scenes are still a little static and there's too much exposition -- one annoying habit he's picked up is to add an expositional paragraph before an action sequence, wrecking the suspense by telling the reader what's going to happen.

For the most part, characters are strong, vivid and well drawn. I particularly appreciate Needle's ability to create female characters who, while believable for the period, are individuals.

The plot, while exciting, doesn't have the gripping quality of the first book in the series. I think the author tries to do too much. Perhaps focusing on either the press or the smuggling, with the dental horrors as a subplot, would have been stronger. More detail on either of those would have been appreciated. As it is, there are fascinating themes here, but I felt the lack of a dramatic climax, and there are times when the plot bogs down. Readers should be warned that some of the teeth scenes are beyond disgusting.

The finale is ambiguous, leaving the door open for, I hope, a third installment.

I would recommend this collection to anyone interested in modern drama. Focus particularly on Henry IV. The play in itself is incredibly bizarre upon the first reading. Upon later readings, however, deeper meanings arise. A worthy read.

After reading these plays, I can understand why Pirandello won the Nobel Prize. All of the plays deal with illusion and reality in ways that contemporary writers still struggle with. Both Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Each in His Own Way play with the idea that the audience willfuly suspends reality in order to watch a play (or a movie for that matter). He plays with the idea that what something appears to be is as important, if not more important, that what it really is. Again, illusion versus reality. Although all of the plays were interesting,and entertaining, the two standouts were "Six Characters...," and "It is So! (If You Think So)." The former deals with an acting troupe that is approached by six characters who have been conceived by a writer, but not fully realized. The Characters attempt to get the manager of the troupe to write their script, and thus give them artistic life. "It is So..." deals with the nature of how we know what we know, and how we decide what to believe in terms of what is real and what is not.

The only problem with this collection of plays (and the only reason that I didn't give it five stars) is that in the introduction to "Six Characters..." the editor discusses "Six Characters in Search of an Author," "Each in His own Way," and "tonight We Improvise," as a trilogy. He takes the time to discuss the relationship between these plays, and yet "Tonight We Improvise" is omitted from the collection. Thus, we are left with only the first two plays of the trilogy. What makes it worse is that they are both excellent plays (making me wish I didn't have to scrounge up another book to get the third). Other than that, this is an outstanding collection. Eric Bentley (the editor) writes an informative introduction to Pirandello, and adds Pirandello's own thoughts on "Six Characters...," as well as biographical information on the playwrite, in the appendix. I would recomend this for people who are, or aren't familiar with the work of Luigi Pirandello. It's definitely worth the read.

The book touches upon certain investment subjects such as TA FA and news reaction in very limited detail which in my opinion could be a serious disadvantage to the newcomer with naive knowledge gained from the book. The book should of stuck to giving an overview of what is on offer on the Internet It should definately of included a chapter to the risks associated with investing online. I think the reference made to Momentum investments is also not correct.

A well organized book about US online investment services. But I would like a more extensive coverage of mutual fund and european investment services, maybe it will show up in the 2.edition?

I like the combination of this book and "Common Sense on Mutual Funds" by mr. Bogle, they are complementary!

This book shows the beginning online investing the different tools and services which are available on the graphically rich information superhighway. The book is well organized, there are a lot of pictures and a lot of website addresses.

I got 'The Collection' by Bentley Little as a present from my parents, who thought I would like it because Stephen King's quote was featured on the cover. For the most part, I enjoyed it.

I got several other novels from the library to read on vacation. One of them was University. Although I read the fantastic 'Mailman' novel after it, this made me decide to drop Bentley Little for a long time.

There's waaaaaay to much sex and waaaaay to much violence for me. Bentley Little has shown he's not above doing sex and violence in his novels, but this is ridicilous.

Most of its unrelated, too in that it does nothing to advance the plot, and if an editor were to snip it out it would not make a difference. My best guess is Bentley Little wanted to show how the school's twisted power has influenced the staff and students, but could he possibly do it without tons of explicit material? Could he show how sick one antagonist is without having a needless scene in which he licks milk from his mother's breast? Is a rapist janitor who has no development that does nothing to further the plot really neccessary?

Guess not.

This book has so far given even more credence to my belief that Bentley Little just doesn't have any shame, he likes the shock value that's for sure. Some of the reviews before mine have been pretty damn ignorant, slammming the graphic violence and the character development, and I just can't figure out what the hell these people were looking for! If you look to a book to bring new, profound meaning to your life you need to get out more, maybe socialize some, it is ok to not read sometimes. Picking up a book and trying to analyze while you read is extremely boring and takes away from the experience and let me just say that graphic violence, unabashed, does have its place in horror fiction. There is something about the things that do evil without any remorse, without any emotion at all. Evil for evil's sake should always pop up in the so called "fresh faces" of horror. You can't think deep all the time, treading through that water takes too much energy. Every once in a while you just need a no brainer that just gives you a kick in the pants, a little sense of the what ifs, and sets you back on your way. I doubt this book will change the course of horror fiction, it certainly isn't subtle in any respect, but you never know. I just can't help thinking that the people who said the intensity of the violence was degrading to the story never saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or maybe they don't think an educational establishment would ever be possesive of an evil entity. Aaah, those lucky Catholic school kids, so naive. Bottom line, if you have any liking of Bentley Little's works and it doesn't take you long to get through books (as in you can read) you should probably check this out. If not for the little instances of guilt certain scenes will stir within you, for thinking those dirty thoughts.

I've read all the reviews for this book, and I don't think there's a single one that gives it three or four stars: everybody either loves it or hates it.

The people who hated it talk about how they thought the violence was too graphic, there was a lack of subtlety, or the characters were too shallow. All true, to an extent. And the very notion of defeating supernatural demons with high explosives, though comforting, is awfully unimaginative.

However, those complaints don't diminish the sheer power this book has. Its horror is so strong that some people are put off by it (hence many of the negative reviews). Bentley is brilliant at slowly moving from the real-life horrors of modern teen apathy and violence to the darker and more brutal paranormal stuff later in the book. I've never seen someone who captures the terror of violence as well as Little does.

I am a college student, and what scared me the most about this book was its plausibility. That's right. At my school, violent incidents have been on a steady upswing. Crimes have been getting more frequent, and much sicker and more brutal. The most frightening factor of University is just how closely its first few chapters mirror real life.

Anybody who would recommend this as a history book is completely unaware of the true history. Brecht may have been using dramatic license or he may have had an axe to grind with the Catholic Church. Either way, this is NOT an accurate historical account. Any person who would suggest it as such is guilty of what Brecht and revisionists accuse the Church of doing: suppressing the truth to further their personal agenda.

Bertolt Brecht, Galileo (Grove Press, 1952)

Publishers who put out "literature" (perhaps I should capitalize the L) have felt it necessary for the past half-century or so to include long-winded dissections of the texts as a part of their editions. No mind is paid, seemingly, to whether these long-winded dissections contain major plot spoilers (they almost always do). Add Eric Bentley's interminable preface to the Grove Press edition of Brecht's Galileo to the list. Perhaps Grove assumes anyone reading the thing will either have already read the play or will be so turned off by Belntley's wooden prose style that they won't read far enough to get to the spoilers. My advice: go the second route. And book publishers, if you're putting essays in your editions, PLEASE put them AFTER the actual text, so the novice reader of a given work will be able to approach it without the coloring of another reader's analysis.

Bentley spends forty-odd pages discussing the historical inaccuracies of Brecht's Galileo and the two extant versions of the text (though Bentley says both are presented in the Grive edition, this is not the case; from his comments, I gather this is the second version of the play, completed after WW2 [the first was completed in 1937]). Bentley goes on forever about the socialist qualities of Galileo, and whether the scientist makes a worthy Marxist hero, both in the reader's eyes and in Brecht's. Whether anyone outside those writing a paper for a Marxist lit class would care doesn't seem to have crossed his mind. Brecht is one of the few authors who is capable of taking a political statement and couching it in such writing as to make the statement itself visible only to those looking for it; Galileo's Marxism, or lack of same, doesn't hit the reader in the face with a dead herring (or a dropped pebble, as 'twere) throughout the text. Commendable, especially for as fervent a Marxist as was Brecht. Here is a man who never let the message overtake the medium, and scads of modern authors could do with repeated readings of this text to get a handle on what it is they're doing wrong.

Bentley aside, the play itself is certainly worth the reader's time. Galileo is presented from the time of his first findings with which Mother Church took offense until twenty years after his recantation. While the play mainly focuses on Galileo and how his own views toward his work affect him and those around him, we're not allowed to go away without understanding how those views also affected the Italian society around him; as with all things, the subversion to be found in Galileo's discovery that the Earth revolves around the Sun instead of vice-versa seeps into the public mind, much to the Church's dismay. But at its heart, the play is about the man himself and those around him. Galileo himself, historically accurate or not, is a convincing character, and his family, friends, and supporters are also very well-drawn (with the arguable exception of his daughter, who never seems to really flesh out and become a believable human being; her actions and reactions are predictable and wooden). Whatever the message underlying, and whether the reader agrees with it or not, Galileo is first and foremost a decent piece of drama. Leave Bentley's preface until after you've drawn your own conclusions. ** 1/2 (**** for the play, zero for Bentley's comments)

So maybe it's not completely accurate. I just read this book for a class I have to take. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It wasn't the dry, boring piece of literature I had expected. It's really a book to read - maybe not multiple times, but at least once. It has an important message, and is presented in a reasonably interesting way.

This books tells the amazing story of the notorious House Unamerican Activities Committee, 1938 to l968, and tells it in a highly dramatic way -- presenting the reader with the actual dialogues that took place in the committee room. It is a tale of folks you have heard of, but never seen in this light before -- among the names are Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Gary Cooper, Paul Robeson, Jerome Robbins, Zero Mostel, Elia Kazan...,and on and on. A rogues' gallery? Well,judge for yourself which guys are the rogues and which the heroes (if any)...In any event, the book is a terrific read.

A fascinating book--we're talking transcripts of the sessions before the HUAC. You'll discover who sang for the committee (and how loudly; some of the famous people who caved before the committee will suprise you), and those who ran it in riotous circles. The best reads: Zero Mostel, Pete Seeger, and Tom Hayden. Original history, without the filters. (The index, however, is terrible.) A must have.

This book is intended to show how bad those mean old anti communists were and how noble and heroic the communists were. Except. By showing us the communists themselves, by letting us read their actual words, it is impossible come away with out feeling intense revulsion. These people were unpleasant liars at best, Evil at worst. They condemn themselves. Why anyone thought that printing transcripts of their testimony would help the liberal cause is beyond me. Communism can only be defended if things like facts and morality are not allowed to cloud the issue. The book is a valuable resource for the anticommunist cause. Not what the liberals intended. But their myopia is all encompasing. Inexplicable.