ERA Reviews

I enjoyed the majority of this book, and Marcella certainly has some personal recollections to relate. It is easy reading and enjoyable.

Marcella Rabwin has appeared in several documentaries on the making of Gone With the Wind and the late Jean Harlow. I was always impressed with her intelligence and honesty. In the two documentaries on Jean Harlow,I could tell she liked the young actress and Marcella had a keen memory of the those things about Jean Harlow that revealed her inner self. "Yes,Mr.Selznick" is a series of vignettes of those great stars whom Marcella knew. These are her keen observances of them.They are, for the most part, short chapters, but what wonderful chapters they are! The author is an honest woman but never vindictive. These are her own recollections and that makes this book a gem of a read! Read her impressions about Harlow and Lombard, Dietrich and Garbo, W.C.Fields, Charles Boyer,Lucille Ball, Irene Mayer Selznick, and others. The great stars are shown as people. Some were vain. Some were eccentric. Some were delightful. Some were complex. So what if there were some factual errors in the chapter on Harlow! What is important is what Miss Rabwin remembers about personalities. This is not a mammoth autobiography by any means. It is a gift from Selznick's Assistant (NOT to be confused with secretary). Marcella was far more important than a secretary. And this book is a wonderful gift. I really felt as if I was having coffee and pastries with the author and she was telling me about her days in Hollywood. She tells it as she saw it and anyone looking for mud slinging, look elsewhere. Marcella Rabwin is above that sort of style. The author has class,brains, integrity,and style. It is not a big work; but that does not lessen its importance. I'd keep this one in mind for anyone who likes sitting outside a cafe sharing the memories with a delightful lady of all the stars she knew in Hollywood. May I emphasize having coffee with a delightful lady? She was and this book is her fine gift. I am so glad to have it. I am certain you will agree. I thank you Miss Rabwin!

The author happens to be my mother and I am incredibly prejudiced. I have to admit that reading it for the first time gave me a wonderful insight as to the truly incredible life of my mother and the people with whom she came in contact. Some of the stories I knew, others were new to me. It is fun, light reading and is 100% the truth from my mothers heart. I, as her son, truly hope that those of you who read it get a sense of my wonderful mother and her very full life. Though she is gone from us, she remains very alive and influential in all the lives that she touched. Trust me, she was one hell of lady ! Sincerely, Mark J Rabwin(mrabwin@hotmail.com)

The author concentrates on events in the year 1857 to illustrate how America got from there to the Civil war. Featuring such landmark events as the Dred Scott decision of the supreme court, the ineptness of the Buchanan administration, and the financial panic, Stampp attempts to show how this year was a turning point in our history. The problem is that he attempts to do so in a vacuum, ignoring events that went before and after, so that the view is somewhat distorted. All the same, it shows many events that are unfamiliar to the reader and enlightens on how we entered, and could have avoided, a major internal conflict only four years later.

America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink by Kenneth M. Stampp is a work on how the nation was in 1857, a pivotal year, where sectional conflict spun out of control. The Civil War is just four years in the distance and the mood of the nation is of unrest and there are forces that are plummeting the nation toward disaster.

James Buchanan, the President at the time, throws his support on the wrong side of the Kansas Statehood issue, in New York City there are bank closures, unemployment starts to skyrocket, and the Supreme Court, in a fit of judicial activism, hands down the Dred Scott decision. We see the proslavery and antislavery groups taking a more serious attempt to win favor with the Congress. The Mormon Utah Teritory can't have Brigham Young as their governor.

All this turmoil splits the Democratic party in two. Stephen Douglas splits the party against James Buchanan, repudiating and humiliating the president, which further devastated the Democrats, forcing the Untied States closer to the Civil War. This book is interesting and told with a flowing and well documented prose that is narrated with clarity.

I found that once you start the book, the author takes you to this unsettling year and makes you believe that you are actually there. With political frauds and urban gangs making the experience real, the author brings us to a time, in the nation's history, where William Walker can conquer Nicaragua and make in a slave state. This book opens ones eyes to the era where crime and corruption were attempting to take the country and rebellion wasn't far behind.

This is a good read to the prelude of events leading upto one of the Civil War and we get to see the country's mindset, something very hard to project, but the author seems to convey it quite well.

Kenneth Stampp, one of the country's most distinguished historians, focuses on the pivotal year of 1857. The new president comes into office as a reconciliation Democrat, pledged to unite the country, with his party in firm control of Congress. Many predict that the new Republican Party will wither away in the calmer times ahead. Instead of that, events in Kansas, the Dredd Scott case, the panic of 1857, and struggle within the Democratic Party between Northerners, Unionists and Fire Eaters (proto-Secessionists) wreck the party and leave the Republicans with a clear road to the White House. The President's rigid response and limited point of view leave his party in ruins. The future seems to belong to the radical Republicans and the Disunionist South.

The book is quite well written, and flows like a suspense novel, even though you know how it will end. I read most of "1857" in one sitting, eager to see what would happen next. "Nation on the Brink" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the year which it appeared,but lost out in a very strong field.

Another reviewer complained that Stampp centered his argument on 1857 and neglected things which came before. That is the focus of the book, which is not an introduction to U.S. history. I don't believe that too much background is required, but David Potter's "Impending Crisis" is a good book if you want to study the 15 years before the war, and would provide a good companion to "Nation on the Brink".

Finally, it should be noted that Stampp is reluctant to draw conclusions, spending most of his time reporting the events of the year-- perfect for people who know a little about the era.

This is a book by a Christian for other Christians and non-Christians may cringe at some of the content. Whilst I applaud the author's general intention and his broad approach, the arrogance of traditional Christianity still shines through. Johnston spends much of the book trying to convince us of the need for the 'inculturation' of Christianity, to make it more acceptable to the East so that it may grow and become better established there. What he does not state explicitly (but is clearly implied) is why Asia will benefit from this when it already has its own rich religious traditions, the very things that Johnston praises and says Christianity must learn from! Perhaps the East is better of with Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, etc. and the Christian churches would be better employed putting their own houses in order in the West.

That said, Johnston is courageously critical of many aspects of the Catholic Church's activities and he emphasises the importance of mysticism, noting that it is only at the level of the heart that real religious union can occur. This needs to be stated but is of course 'old hat', having been repeated by every saint and sage worth his/her salt for thousands of years: Johnston refers to Ramakrishna and Vivekananda in particular but does not develop their essential teachings despite the fact that the harmony of religions was the centre-piece of Ramakrishna's extraordinary life. Johnston is clearly very knowledgeable about Buddhism but I felt that more attention to Vedanta and Yoga would have produced a better argued book.

However, Johnston does make wonderfully clear the importance of meditation and prayer compared with theology and ritual. Indeed, having read the book, I am left with the strong impression that the major cause of the divisions that Johnston seeks to overcome is the nature of traditional religion itself and that only by transcending it can true love, peace and harmony be found in this world. Religions are just the pathways, spirituality is the goal: perhaps this is what Johnston really wants to tell us - but does not dare......... and anyone who has read the Vatican's declaration "Dominus Jesus " of four months ago will understand why!

This is my first encounter with William Johnston, and I am not a Catholic--those readers more familiar with Johnston's views and more Catholic in persuasion will want to keep that in mind when reading my review. This book does an excellent job in tracing the decline of the Western church and envisioning its rebirth through dialogue with Eastern religions. I agree with much that Johnston has to say. He is obviously a loving and courageous spiritual leader with a prophetic message for the future of Christianity. In spite of his bold criticisms of the Catholic church, however, I was somewhat put off by his constant need to qualify his statements, apparently to avoid sounding too "unorthodox." Johnston seems oblivious to the condescension of the Pope's statement that "members of other religions...receive salvation through Jesus Christ, even while they do not recognize or acknowledge him as their Savior." While this point of view is certainly more inclusive than that of the past, it still arrogantly insists on the superiority of Christianity. A more objective observer would be quick to point out that members of other religions do not receive "salvation" through Jesus Christ at all--they receive "salvation" through their own religious systems. As long as Christianity insists on the "uniqueness" of the "Christ event," it will never achieve the harmony with world religions that Johnston longs for and the survival of the planet depends on. It is time for Christians to recognize that, like all religions, Christianity is just one path among many paths of equal value. In spite of Johnston's bias, this is a valuable book; and I recommend it highly to all those interested in Christian mysticism and the survival of Christianity in the third millennium.

Each new book by the Belfast-born Jesuit, William Johnston, manages somehow to be different from his others. The latest, his eleventh, looks into the future and proclaims the glories that will be...as soon as the West opens itself to Eastern spirituality. But this time no instruction on techniques is offered, no mention made of his earlier ubiquitous exhortations about sitting and breathing and the grass growing green. He simply, and urgently, summons the whole human race to enter The Void...and aim for divinization!

If other works drew heavily on Carl Jung or Bernard Lonergan, this one's stock-in-trade is the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Yet, far from mellowing with time, the author is scathing, outlandish even, in his criticism of the church establishment: he cites suggestions elsewhere that the Pope move out of the Vatican and live at the gates of Rome; he echoes calls for an end to the system of papal nunciatures, and he argues for complete Church decentralisation.

"Arise, My Love..." is served in neat slices: the 17 chapters sub-divide under headings and the entire work comes in three parts:The New Consciousness:The New Mysticism and the Great Conversion. The style is amiable, lucid, companionable. Its meat amounts to food for intriguing thought.

Johnston announces the collapse of the old European church and the birth of a new global Christianity. Intensely mystical, ushering in a new springtime of the human spirit, this will look to Asia for guidance - borrowing breathing, posture, and mind control techniques as well as the chakras in its quest for enlightenment. It will learn from the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Tao Te Ching, the I Ching, the Buddhist Sutras and the Islamic teachings. Christianity is about to unwrap the paradigm created 2000 years ago, when three wise men crossed the desert bearing gifts from the east.

Involving married people in factories, businesses, classrooms or kitchens, concerned with peace, justice, ecology, violence and racism, this dialogue between Asian thought and the Christian tradition will have "incalculable repercussions" for the world. For, guided by spiritual giants of the east, people will learn how to transform themselves, how to go beyond rational consciousness and enter "the cloud of unknowing".

This silent place in the human psyche has no truck with reasoning, thinking, words and signs. It cannot be reached by scholarship. It exacts a price, viz. the dark night of the soul. This ends eventually, when a very powerful energy surges into consciousness from the void, turning sorrow into a joy nothing can take away. "The true self that lay sleeping at the centre of one's being is born with great joy. A new life begins. Now one sees God in all things and all things in God. Whereas previously one saw God through creatures, now one sees creatures through God".

For all that, the consciousness of the West remains valid and not to be traded away. The author firmly inveighs against "conversion". Each faith must stick with its own scriptures, commitment and path. However much all religions, have in common, they are yet "the same but different". Enlightenments too are "the same but different". Authentic Buddhist experience needs the dharma, authentic Jewish experience the Torah, authentic Islamic experience the Qur'an and authentic Christian experience the gospels. "Teilhard de Chardin found in the Christian tradition the wisdom he sought....We human beings cannot reject our past...Dialogue, yes; imitation, no".

Accepting this - that there are many religions and religious experiences but only one goal - is a major challenge for the third millennium. "Now we realise that no one religion has all the answers. Each religion has its unique message. The same spirit is at work in the heart of all men and women and in the scriptures and traditions of all authentic religions. We learn from one another. Indeed we at last realise that we need one another".

The other huge challenge will be church unity - between Christians east and west. The author forthrightly warns that a highly centralised, institutionalised, legalistic, political church that tries to control Asia from outside will surely fail. Likewise, an approach to the scriptures that "tells about the rind without helping them savor the sweet and delicious fruit" will not wash with religious Asians. Nor will they be impressed by "a wordy philosophy and theology" that indulges in extensive reasoning.

Instead, as Asian Christians get in touch with their traditional religions, they will create their own theology, liturgy, monasticism, and spirituality. "It is a question of seeing more deeply into the New Testament and the Christian tradition, finding therein aspects of the Jesus that the West has failed to see". In the process, Johnston asserts, the universal church will be enormously enriched. The book ends on a note of huge optimism, a confident prediction: "The marriage between East and West may well be stormy. But the marriage will be consummated, and it will bear much fruit".

A stimulating read!

I read this book hoping for a much needed clarion call for a return to tradition, a la Rene Guenon and Fritjof Schuon, et al. I was somewhat dissappointed. Anyway:

The good. In this book, Huston Smith a professor of religion presents a series of essays about overcoming the post-modern (or as it's now spelled "postmodern") worldview and re-establishing metaphysics with an emphasis on transcendence. He presents a unique Weltanschauung based upon the world's major religions and a return to traditionalist thought. In this much, I agree with him. His version of perennialism, the primordial philosophy, is far better than the nonsense that passes for philosophy under the guise of post-modernism (postmodernism).

The bad. The problem is that Smith seems to think that all the evils of the West can be attributed to that universal bugbear science, and its growing infiltration into the humanities and philosophy. He is correct in that science is the guiding principle (dare I say, religion) of our times. However, the problem is that he takes this anti-scientism to an absurd extreme. Saying that science (and it's practical application in technology) is the sole cause of the loss of transcendence within our worldview is about as goofy as saying that it can be blamed on "mixing with inferior races". For instance, while the Darwinian theory certainly has problem areas and is ultimately rooted (in perhaps suspect) philosophical assumptions, his dismissal of it strikes me as incredibly facile. At the risk psychologizing things, and thereby engaging in a veiled argumentum ad hominem, I believe his problem with science might best be explained as a personal dislike attributable to working as a professor of religion and philosophy at MIT, a school devoted almost entirely to science and engineering. Perhaps a little bitterness at his colleagues crept in here. Sorry for that.

The ugly. Finally, it's a minor point, but good heavens. Someone needs to tell this guy that outside of the snooty confines of academia no one gives a care about whether you refer to them as "humans", "man", "woman", "womyn", or whatever. Chiding G. K. Chesterton (a conservative Catholic writer) for not being politically correct and referring to humanity in the masculine form "man" is about as ridiculous as someone saying Hitler's _Mein Kampf_ is "marred by an anti-Jewish bias". Sorry for that, but these things need to be said folks. It gets annoying.

The book is a collection of speeches and journal articles written by Huston Smith over the last few decades. From previous experience, I know that Professor Smith has a penchant for presenting complex topics in a readily accessible form. While I like this about his writing, I feel that he does not describe these terms in all of their complexity. The essays are polemical in nature and focus on Professor Smith's desire to revive metaphysics especially ontology and redirect modern epistemology away from control and towards awareness. As important as these topics are, I felt that Professor Smith avoided the social and political nature of any type of knowledge. Since I believe that this is one of post-modernism's thorniest critiques, time and space must be given to the real-time consequences of imposition of his hierarchic ontology. On the other hand, as a person of faith, this collect of essays challenges my worldview and forces me to consider how I have made space for a transcendent reality within the West's naturalistic worldview.

An interesting proposition for moving past the darkly romantic, knee-jerk rebellion that post-modernistic thought inspires in society.

If enthusiasm is any measure this book should be a great success. Archibald brings a sense of immediacy to the subject of dinosaur extinction that transcends the academic nature of much of the material he presents. Anyone interested in the extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous will find a wealth of material regarding the fossil evidence here. The book serves as a counterbalance to the popular vision of the dinosaurs vanishing in a meteorite-induced cataclysm, and gives us an entirely different view of the lethal events that these giants might have faced. Unfortunately, the book also has some serious flaws. Despite his zeal for the subject, Archibald is not a good storyteller, and his attention meanders erratically, making for a difficult read. More serious for this reader was a persistent impression that in trying to slay the dragons of meteorite-impact extinction theories Archibald has lost objectivity and bends interpretations to support his ideas even if the evidence is tenuous. He has an irritating habit of building up an argument (usually against some line supporting extinction caused by meteorite impact) and then adding a few lines describing serious contrary evidence at the end, and admitting that maybe his original argument was not correct. The information he offers seems to suggest that extinction of the dinosaurs was gradual, but there are enough examples of bias and typical persuasive sales techniques in the book to prevent me from trusting the author. He is too much a partisan, and it shows in the exaggerated statements that are found throughout the book. His assessment that meteorite impact effects would be equally devastating for all terrestrial forms of life is far to simplistic for serious consideration, and his assertion that the mobile dinosaurs would suffer preferentially from habitat segmentation is unconvincing. I would recommend this book for the information and the ideas it presents and as a good survey of current thought among paleontologists concerning Cretaceous extinctions.

I think that this book is important to any discussion of dinosaur extinction and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, because of the breadth of fossil information the author uses to evaluate the possible causes of the extinctions that mark this era. An important feature is the discussion of the limits of the data available from the fossil record.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I did not find it a particularly easy read. This is probably due to the author trying to present a complex picture while maintaining scientific rigour and without injecting unstated opinion. Robert Bakker or Steven Jay Gould may be easier to read, but they are trying to sell a particular view in each of thier writings. Dr. Archibald states his opinions clearly, but bends over backwards to fairly present alternative theories.

I give it high ratings for content, but the dry, technical style may put off some readers.

The best book on the market concerning the fossil record at the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) Boundary! In this excellently written book, Archibald clearly points out the misconceptions, myths and truths concerning the K/T extinction, and though the book is technical in nature, it is the technical aspects of the fossil record that are typically overlooked by other books and articles promoting the asteroid that "killed the dinosaurs." The fossil record needs to be looked at - critically. And Archibald excels in that. Moreover, he approaches the subject with an open mind. If conclusions can't be made from the evidence, he doesn't make them. That cannot be said of others who support the impact theory without considering what the fossil record actually "says" about the extinction. If one seriously considers Archibald's arguments, one has no choice but to question the validity of the impact as a "selective" killer at the end of the Cretaceous. This book is a must read for those who think the riddle has been solved. It hasn't.

Carl Becker once unknown to me became the bane of an entire class of students as we explored in horrifying depth how Becker writes about the 18th and 19th centuries. In this book you are subjected to a historian who tries to catalogue philosophy and the philosophers of the 18th century in a poor blend of factual history and intepreted philosophy. The book is laced with so much cynicism that it becomes hard to scry which sections Becker stands behind and which he pokes fun at. After the unfortunate ordeal of reading this book you will see that Becker had a loss of faith at some point in his life and feels that everything around him is now meaningless, therefore he turns to the past to seek new meaning and redemption of his now useless life. What we find instead is a convoluted text which seems to be hailed as wonderful by religious zealots for its admonishments of science, philosophy, and history as empty in the grand scheme of the world. He contradicts himself so often that only after you pore over his text can you even decide what he supports. My opinion: skip the book and bash your head into the wall. You will get about as much satisfaction.

Carl Becker's work is a classic in the field whether or not one agrees with his thesis. He contends that the French Enlightenment thinkers tried unsuccessfully to distance themselves from the religious mileaux from which they came. Looking back from a vantage point nearly 150 years later, it is clear that while their ideas were advanced, the "utopia" they sought to establish was closer to the thinkers of the Reformation period 300 years earlier than to thinkers of the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. Any serious student of this period should at least scan this author's work as all subsequent scholarship has had to stake a stand for or against his position - thus to understand scholarship in the past 20 years - read this book.

I was prompted to write this review to give some balance to what a previous review stated. I encountered this book, for the first time, as an undergraduate in a history course. I was forever grateful to the professor for requiring its reading, and grateful to the author for his insightful and important work. I think this book should be mandatory reading in any history course emcompassing the period, and any course that looks to understand the genesis of the ideologies that permeate our period. I think the previous reviewer was very incorrect in her understanding of the issues and facts brought out by the book. I think the professor was serving his class, and profession, well by requiring the book. The book gives indispensable insights into the mind, and characters of the period. The thinking of that period still heavily influences contemporary American, European, and now global, political and social thought. Most readers will be very gratified having read the book, to see where their own thinking has been influenced and formed. The book is both scholarly and readable. There are great insights made that should not me be missed.

Bauer is no Shelby Foote and this book no elegant synthesis of art and history. It remains a serviceable addition to the history buff's library, however, with its detailed accounts of the politics and battles of this little known conflict. Through Bauer we can appreciate men such as the unsung Commodore David Conner, the brash Commodore Robert Stockton, the easy-going, slovenly Zachary Taylor, the brilliant Winfield Scott. Civil War buffs will want this volume to appreciate how this conflict shaped the tactics and personalities of the next great confrontation in American history.

Bauer has done a great job here. It might be a little spare on the personalities, but for those who know nothing about this war, and there are multitudes, this is a good start.

The only thing I disagree with is Bauer's notion that the United States had nothing to fear from foriegn expansion into the near empty land which was claimed by Mexico. Republican Government had few friends in 1846 and we should put ourselves in the shoes of Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, and James K. Polk when we think of this era. They believed, and probably correctly, that the worst threat to the survival of the U.S. was to continue to try and exist with such a huge open territory on our borders. All that would be needed would be a foreign power with a thirst for empire on our borders and we might cease to exist. Men who thought this way were not imperialists, they were filled with fear for the survival of their decendants. Mexico was not governing much less defending the territories necessary for American survival and something needed to be done about it and fast. I don't recall any of the great Americans of this era ever using the term "manifest destiny." (Bauer doesn't say that either. Revisionists use this newspaper term.) More like manifest survival. This opinion shouldn't of mine shouldn't keep readers from enjoying this book, though. Wonderful job Dr. Bauer!

This is the best of the Mexican War books I have read. The only critical comment I would have is that the actors sometimes get confused as Bauer tries to put their experience in this war in a context with the War Between the States. His careful scholarship, though, shows how closely PBS came with its mini-series and where they failed. Few books, I think, give such insight into the role of fashion in historical research, which, by itself, is valuable to us amateurs. It is the last book on this subject of which I am aware which has not taken political correctness into account and so his critical attitude towards the Mexican government and that country's ruling classes might provide food for thought for some.

Rabbi Dosick apparently believes that the way to help people become more spiritual is by using the self-help mode: do this exercise, think these thoughts, Know God Loves You, et cetera. Thoughtful analyses of the doubts that hinder all too many people from becoming spiritual won't be found in this gung-ho manifesto filled with trite one-sentence paragraphs. The book might work for someone who's already a believer and doesn't need much of a push to become more spiritual. But if you're troubled by questions about God's existence and purpose and you need well-thought-out answers, look elsewhere.

Soul Judaism: Dancing With God Into A New Era is a "reader friendly" introduction and exploration of Jewish spiritual as we enter a new era. Rabbi Wayne Dosick provides a vision of Judaism's coming new age and a guide to making everyday life sacred, thus connected personally and intimately with the divine. Soul Judaism offers a kind of "do-it-yourself" approach to spiritual living through simple exercises and suggestions for enriching daily life, drawing upon Jewish meditation, mysticism, and the ancient tradition of Kabbalah for a modern time. Soul Judaism is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to the growing library of information on achieving spirituality through Judaic concepts and principles.

I normally don't participate much in the online world, but I was moved to when I came across the thoughtless review listed for Wayne Dosick's book.

I have given it to three friends already. When a friend told me about the review on Amazon, I was compelled to rebut it. Rabbi Dosick's book is thoughful and well-written and designed for the person who want to broaden themselves spiritually through their everyday lives.

I found it especially meaningful as someone who had never really had a strong grasp on my Jewish heritage having grown up in a home where it was not discussed.

It has opened many new doors to my thinking and inspired me to rediscover my heritage in even greater depth.

I would highly recommend it even to non-Jews, and especially people like myself from a mixed faith tradition where religion wasn't discussed because the truths it bring to light are applicable to everyone.

Please don't allow one naysayer with an agenda who clearly hasn't read the book to keep you away from a book that you may not ever read cover to cover, but one which you will pick up a thousand times once you have it.

This book was used for a history of music class that I took at an Ivy League school. The reason it was chosen is that it is the most comprehensive work on the swing era in jazz. However, the book has a huge flaw: although there are tons of scores and technical details as well as personal accounts and anecdotes (to suit all types of readers), the author leaves his pronounced bias on everything. He is very passionate about swing music, it is obvious, but many of his descriptions and comparisons are practically worthless to the student of music. It sounds as if he was getting intoxicated by his own play with words.

I can't figure out who would be the ideal reader -- besides Schuller himself. Musicians would probably be annoyed by the author's strong and poorly supported opinions that fill the pages. People with no musical backgrounds would dislike it because it is too technical in many places (you lose a lot if you can't read notes and don't understand the lingo). The only redeeming quality is the sheer scope of the book, so it may be useful to a student taking a survey course on jazz/swing. Even in the last case, you will be frustrated by the lack of organization. You won't be able to figure out where a certain band played/originated (or it will take you an hour to find out) but he'll tell you how the glissando at the end of the third chorus of their most obscure song was more loaded with energy than Paganini's works combined.

In a nutshell: very comprehensive and yet very biased presentation of swing.

As far as I know it, this is the most comprehensive book on swing music available. Gunther Schuller is interested in music, not life histories, so biographical information on musicians is scarce. The music, on the other hand, is described and analyzed thoroughly, with great originality and enthousiasm, including information on cross-links, influences, analyses of arrangements, song structures and solos.
I don't believe anyone will read this book from the beginning to the end: each chapter is about a separate artist, and an overall history is lacking. Moreover, one really needs to be able to listen to the described music to enjoy the book, but this is also its strong point: one becomes really eager to listen to the jazz described, often with 'new ears' provided by the author. As a reference book and as a tool to explore jazz between 1930 and 1945 with, "the swing era" is unsurpassed.

This work gives a thorough look at the bands, and their members, who played during the swing era. It explains how they formed, what influences earlier and contemporary bands had on their playing and how the changing of individual members altered their style.

It gives many specific musical examples (some in written form for the first time). It traces the evolution of jazz into the be-bop form. It gives some biographies of outstanding individuals.

All in all, this work is an important reference tool for anyone who wishes to understand how music changes with the times. Thoroughly recommended (but not if you just want a light read).

Some time ago I paid 45.00 euros of my legitimate earnings for this book written by a retired Special Agent of the FBI. Mr Duff, I must admit, opted for a non-routine approach, and lacking any documentary sources, but most of all, any desire to research in archives, decided to use Oleg Tsarev, former KGB spy and present time SVR desinformation specialist, as a primary source of his inspiration. So the book is cooked chiefly from pieces, provided by Tsarev in his interviews with Dan Mulvenna and the author, spiced by quotations from Alexander Orlov and other former Soviet intelligence officers and agents.

Starting to read as usual from the Index and Bibliography, I found William Duff's reference to eight "Archival and Official Records". This is one of the most extraordinary parts of the book, as in the Austrian State Archive, for example, the author found only one source on Maly, titled Austrian-Hungarian Last War 1914-1918, published in 1938, by which date the Great Soviet Illegal was shot in Moscow's prison by his NKVD colleagues. Duff's British Archival Sources include three references: PRO, Soviet Diplomatic Representation files 1937-38; City of London Map and Street Guide 1938; City of London Telephone Directories 1936-38. Similarly poor are his US sources. Instead of the Soviet archives, former FBI Special Agent decided to rely fully and completely on Tsarev's word and his two books, which since their appearance in the West had been considered among professionals as KGB-sponsored desinformation.

Sir, could it be possible that recent literary exercises of your former agents Duff, Gazur & Co. are the results of your education imposed on them? We already know that this may be pretty dangerous both in the field of operations and on the literary front, as blind and duped own warriors bring more harm than enemies. Ten years ago Pete Bagley wrote an article titled "Bane of Counterintelligence: Our Penchant for Self-Deception" and this was a remarkable and timely warning, unfortunately, not heard.

The most outrageous part of Duff's book is the so-called Serial 21 of Section 3 titled "Home to New Jerusalem", where the author phantasises about the last days of Theodor Maly. Whenever I read sentences like 'he looked straight ahead at a grey-white wall as an NKVD officer stood silently behind him. There appeared on the wall a vision of a mountain top shrouded in fog. Slowly the mist dissipated and the ramparts of New Jerusalem appeared... The first shot from the TT eight-shot automatic struck Maly in the back of the neck... A sudden realization to came him (sic): "Those who have known the decadence of Capitalism must be sacrificed for the good of the coming generation of Socialist man..." The second shot hit Maly just below the right ear and all went black...' (p.184), I think of Mikhail Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita", where Bezdomny asks Woland, 'Have you ever, by any chance, been in a hospital for the mentally ill?', for which he receives a reply: 'Name a place I have not been to! It is a pity, though, that I have never cared to inquire about schizophrenia. So you will have to ask professors yourself.'(Ch.I) It is a very good advice to follow.

Tovarishch Guver, do not do favours to the enemies of your country, therefore, do not permit your staff to write books. They should better catch spies and terrorists. Yours sincerely.

There's never too much of a good thing ...or ,is it? If we, proverbially, let by-gones be by-gones , we we will keep on repeating the mistakes of the past.Extremelly well -researched book,very stylish,thorough and readable.As long as we will need the Humint which is not online , which is not free and which is not in English , we will need them- " all time greats , illegals".P.S. Arnold Deutsch has recruited not seventeen , but thirty nine agents . And , yes, some of them have not to this day been identified.But that's another story.

Will by-gones ever be by-gones ? I don't think so . Golden era of illegals has been thrown into a temporary disarray by all the recent global changes and developments . The structure of that type of intelligence service will have to be upgraded , but the concept itself will remain the same . There is never too much of a good thing . Or...is it ?