5 comments about Cybill Disobedience.

1. Since this book was published in 2000 and there are 70 reviews before mine, I have that "dead last" feeling, but the book is worth a review regardless of the timing.
   
   I enjoyed Cybill in "The Last Picture Show", "Taxi Driver" and "The Heartbreak Kid" and if she could have maintained that level of film art, she could have been an all time great. Unfortunately, three good films does not add-up to a distinguished career, unless you're James Dean.
   
   I never watch episodic television shows, so I have never seen the shows
   "Moonlighting" or "Cybill", so I didn't find that last portion of the book that interesting, but I was amused and stunned by all the big egos and pathos in the television business. I'd never want to work there.
   
   About the book itself: I am a fan of biographies and autobiographies, and most seem to be pretty well researched, with a lot of specifics and detail. Cybill's book is done in a much more light and breezy style, as if she were talking directly to the reader in a conversational manner. That's fine, but personally I prefer a book that has an appendix in the back with more factual insight. For instance, Cybill talks about a potential or possible fling with Robert DeNiro while making "Taxi Driver", but there is no mention in the book, that he was either married to or already involved with Diahnne Abbott who played the concession girl in "Taxi Driver". That would have provided new information to most people and would have rounded-out the story.
   
   And that sums up my impression of the book: What is there is fine, but I wish there had been more substance and information to go along with the hi-jinks.
   



2. I love Cybill and her outspoken nature. But there's not a lot of introspection here, considering that it's a memoir. Too many chapters are devoted to early life, and not enough to Moonlighting. (Seems as though this may have been edited to death, at no fault to Cybill, but readers cannot be sure.) Also, the book is severely lacking in "dirt."
   
   Perhaps this 2000 release was a bit premature. If you listened to her commentaries for the Moonlighting dvd release in 2005, it sounds as though some significant personal growth occurred in the interim.
   
   I want a tome from Cybill, a complete autobiography. I want her complete honesty and nervy ways, her regrets, if any, her triumphs, her mature, honest perspectives on the Moonlighting turbulence. In the commentary, she admitted to Glen Gordon Caron, "What was my problem?" And they all have admitted to being too young, immature, and just plain inexperienced enough to enjoy the time together. No one doubts that the double standard existed back then, as it still does now, but...haven't her actions and outspokenness changed things? And if not, then she should shout it out loud.
   
   Cybill is nervy enough to get real personal. And while I'm not looking for intimate details recounting sexcapades, again, how about some introspection regarding her major love affairs and marriages? What about her intimate thoughts on motherhood? Does she think things have really changed for women since the advent of feminism? Who were her feminist role models, then and now? How does she walk the difficult lines between being sexy, funny, gorgeous, intelligent and fierce?
   
   Cybill is a woman who could still be quite relevant to this world. She'll never be tired, she'll never be over, I always want to hear her thoughts and opinions, whether I agree with them or not.
   
   Here's hoping she reads this and comes out with something truly personal, honest, introspective and healing. All-encompassing.



3. I think Cybil Shepherd is a talented actress; I enjoyed "Moonlighting" and "Cybil" a lot, and there are parts of this book that are entertaining. However, it's also a good example of the typical self-serving "it's about me" Hollywood mentality. She'd have been wiser to focus more on her career than her bedroom escapades. If nothing else, she should have considered the example she has set for her children. Does she really want her daughters to sleep around and cheat in order to find self worth and then write a tell-all book later? Does she want her son to be the same sort of self-absorbed, insensitive, arrogant man that she (by her own admission) always seems to end up with? Admittedly that may not be applicable at this point, her children are grown, but I think it's sad that an attractive woman would feel it necessary to be promiscuous or to consistently choose to be in unhealthy, one-sided relationships to establish her identity, and it's sadder still that she seems to not regret or have learned anything from it, and in fact brags about it in some places.
   
   All in all it's well written, and I did enjoy the parts where she talks about what she learned about the movie industry from Peter Bogdonavich and the stories about Orson Welles. It would have been a better book if she'd stuck to that sort of information. I do agree with the idea that the movie industry (and business world in general) tends to be male-dominated, but it's hard for me not to believe that at least some of the difficulties she faced were the result of her own self-absorbed attitude. There is a price to pay for just doing whatever you want without considering the consequences.
   
   An okay read if you like gossipy material.



4. I wanted to read this book mainly to see what Cybill would say about Bruce Willis and Moonlighting, one of my all-time favorite shows, and although I was left wanting more, she does give a few interesting tidbits about them. But even if she hadn't this would still be a page turner.
   
   Most references to Cybill Shepherd by the media over the years have been negative. I just wanted to hear her side of her story for a change and I have no problem with this so-called 'B-list' actor making a few bucks in the process.
   
   While I don't approve of or agree with everything Cybill says she's done or believes in, this little book is a small interesting slice of history and a record of how things work behind the scenes of the modeling and acting professions. The message I got is 'proceed with extreme caution - or better yet choose another career.'
   
   Also, my belief that Hollywood culture is depraved in general remains unshaken after reading this. And you certainly can't blame it all on Cybill Shepherd.
   
   Even so, I appreciate what I believe is Cybill's candor about herself, the people she's met and her experiences which is written with a witty humor and a verbal style I appreciate.



5. I don't know what compelled me to check this out from the library since I didn't really know who Cybill Shepherd was, but she kept me reading with her honesty and `dang-it-it's-true' breed of self-flattery. In this autobiography, the star of the '80's TV hit Moonlighting (when she mentioned Moonlighting, I was finally like, "Oh, I know who she is...") candidly talks about the cut-throat world of Hollywood, tells about how Hef, of Playboy fame, stole images from her nude scene and improperly published them, talks about an affair with Elvis (who "charmed" her by telling her in one of his pill-popping hazes about the time a doctor gave him an injection directly into the pupil of his eye!!!!!) and throws caution to the wind and dodges claims of skankhood by talking about a seemingly unending series of affairs with scores of married and unmarried men, from her beauty queen teen years in Memphis, well into her fifties. Shepherd name-drops and that's the making of this book since it's most interesting when the focus is not on her. She tells about having Orson Welles as a long-term house guest, about how she introduced Elvis to certain amorous technique, tells of clashes with Bruce Willis, whose ego was a match for her own, and provides tell-all revelations about some of the biggest stars in the movie business during the 1970's. Shepherd is also doggedly committed to certain feminist causes and gives ink to her views on them. This book is definitely a celebrity stroking her ego, but it's not dull or preachy and since it can be read in about two hours, it's not a bad way to spend a free afternoon.

5 comments about Fences.

1. Originally read this in college and now jumped at the chance to re-read it before going to see it on Broadway with Denzel Washington.



2. "Fences" (1987) is part of August Wilson's ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle, set in the 1950's. I have never seen one of his plays performed so I am at a distinct disadvantage in being able to judge this or other Wilson plays. On Broadway this play starred the bigger-than-life actor James Earl Jones as Troy Maxson, a bigger-than-life character. He's an unsympathetic man, an ex-con, a garbage collector who gets himself promoted to a driver; he's faithless to his loving and faithful wife; he's a blowhard, a taker, and ungiving (coldblooded) to his son Cory. He always thought he could have been a professional athlete which may be one of his pipe-dreams. His son wants to play ball, and scouts are interested in him, but Troy is too selfish to give the boy a chance.
   He has taken advantage of his brother Gabriel who wears a steel plate. Troy took part of the brother's compensation in order to buy his own house. And though not playing with a full deck, Gabriel is a Wilsonian prophetic character of a kind seen in his other plays. Troy is so full of himself that there's no room there for others. His son, Lyons, by a previous marriage is looking for handouts, and when he does offer to pay back borrowed money Troy, the ornery one, refuses to accept it.
   In some ways it is akin to a tragedy, almost like Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," but the play doesn't quite reach the real eloquence or heightened language to take it into the realm of Miller's universal drama. Rose's long final speech to her son Cory about her husband Troy reaches dramatic and eloquent heights that, I think, are worthy of our best playwrights.
   The protagonist is not heroic, nor was Willy Loman, but Loman's plight was framed in a larger dramatic context than the man himself and seemed to say something more holistic about the American dream and experience.
   Wilson is painting a picture here of one specific man and of his particular family, not attempting larger implications or universal metaphors.
   Wilson was a born story-teller who used details and incidents tellingly. His milieu was the Afro-American experience, the American black man in a white world. Flashes of humor enliven his plays. Troy talks a lot about death: Wilson does not shy away from serious topics. Troy battles Mr. Death by trying to fence him out. Troy's son defied his father just as Troy defied his father. But at the end Cory sings his father's song. This is a play that merits more than one reading.



3. The first couple of paragraphs of this review have been used as introduction to other August Wilson Century Cycle plays as well.
   
   Okay, blame it on the recently departed Studs Terkel and his damn interview books. I had just been reading his "The Spectator", a compilation of some of his interviews of various authors, actors and other celebrities from his long-running Chicago radio program when I came across an interview that he had with the playwright under review here, August Wilson. Of course, that interview dealt with things near and dear to their hearts on the cultural front and mine as well. Our mutual love of the blues, our concerns about the history and fate of black people and the other oppressed of capitalist society and our need to express ourselves politically in the best way we can. For Studs it was the incessant interviews, for me it is incessant political activity and for the late August Wilson it was his incessant devotion to his century cycle of ten plays that covered a range of black experiences over the 20th century.
   
   Strangely, although I was familiar with the name of the playwright August Wilson and was aware that he had produced a number of plays that were performed at a college-sponsored repertory theater here in Boston I had not seen or read his plays prior to reading the Terkel interview. Naturally when I read there that one of the plays being discussed was entitled "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" about the legendary female blues singer from the 1920's I ran out to get a copy of the play. That play has been reviewed elsewhere in this space but as is my habit when I read an author who "speaks" to me I grab everything I can by him or her to see where they are going with the work. This is doubly true in the case of Brother Wilson as his work is purposefully structured as an integrated cycle, and as an intensive dramatic look at the black historical experience of the 20th century that has driven a lot of my own above-mentioned political activism.
   
   The action of this play takes place in the mid-1950's in a black neighborhood in Pittsburgh (Wilson's home town) as do most of the plays in the cycle. This is the sixth play in the cycle and the first to reflect that notion that some profound changes were in the offing for black people, not all of them good and not all for the better. Both these facts are important in understanding the tensions of the play. Although Wilson's plays are almost exclusively centered in black life as it is lived in the neighborhood the various trials and tribulations of blacks elsewhere are woven into his story line. The white world, for the most part, except as represented by amorphous outside forces that have the access and control of the resources that blacks need to survive and break out of racial isolation are on the sidelines here. And that is as it should be in these plays on the black experience. Moreover, this truly reflects how it has been (and how it still is, notwithstanding the Obamaid) in that outer world.
   
   I labelled this entry with the headline "Better Days Are Coming?" purposefully including the question mark. Surely, some progress toward the goal of racial equality, if not nearly enough, has been made over the last half century since the time period of this play. That is not the question. The real question is posed by the main character, Troy Maxton, who in his time was something of an exceptional baseball player, but who "came too early" to have it change the fortunes of his life. His reply: "ain't nothing should have ever been too early". Wilson hits the nail on the head here. After that remark nothing else really needs to be said.
   
   Wilson's conceptual framework, as I have mentioned previously in a review of his "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", is impeccable. Placing the scene in 1950's Pittsburgh permits him to give a bird's eye view of that great migration of blacks out of the South in the post-World War II period at a time when they are shaking off those old subservient southern roots. Wilson is also able to succinctly draw in the questions of white racism (obliquely here), black self-help (as in building that damn fence) , black hatred of whites, black self-hatred, black illusion (that the `lifting' of the white boats was going to end, for blacks, the seemingly permanent Great Depression), black pride (through the link with past black historical figures and with the then current hero, Jackie Robinson, although Troy has some cutting remarks on the status of that figure), the influence of the black church (good or bad), black folk wisdom (as portrayed by Jim Bono, who is more grounded in his memories of his southern roots than the others) and, in the end, the rage just below the surface of black existence (as portrayed here by Troy's brother Gabriel's, a character who epitomizes one of the tragic aspects of black male existence) resulting from a world that not was not made by the characters in this play but took no notice of their long suppressed rage that turned in on itself.
   
   Unlike some of the earlier play, however, there is a little ray of hope in the character of Troy's son (by his wife Rose) Cory whose struggle for his own identity with his father and the world is a sub-theme here. As always, if you get a chance go see this play but, please, at least read it. Read the whole cycle.



4. Fences is a fantastic play by August Wilson. It expresses very real emotions and language, and it is an enjoyable read.



5. My daughter had to read this book as an English class assignment and at times would ask for my input- I had never read any of August Wilson's work -I read the book so that I'd be able to discuss the book with her. I'm really glad I did but a bit sad that I'd just gotten around to Mr. Wilson's work. I enjoyed this book and will make it a point to read others.

5 comments about Theatre: Brief Version (Theatre (Brief Edition)).

1. The seller described the book as having "water damage." Well that's what most of it was as it came in with water wrinkles over the cover and most of the book. However it was still usable and readable. The only problem I had with this experience was that the estimated time was 22 days, which didn't end up being true but was a worry as I needed the book within a week. I asked the seller if this was true and the seller responded that it might be. I've never had a problem with USPS with funky arrival dates so it was quite frustrating having to wait to see if the book would indeed arrive in 22 days.
   
   Overall the experience was a little stressful but the book arrived in exactly the way the seller described it: wrinkly, wet but still manageable.



2. This is a good textbook for Introduction to Theatre college students. I used this book a million years ago when I took this class in college. I have been using it for my college students today. It is competent and thorough. However, it is too advanced for an introductory text. It uses far too much 'lingo' that the average person does not understand. It's as if Professor Cohen has forgotten what it is like to be a REAL beginniner in theatre. Not knowing the most basic terms more experienced people take for granted.
   All that aside, the publisher is playing games with this title. The publisher releases a "new" edition of this text every few years, ostensibly "updating" it and with "exciting" new pictures. Then rearranging chapters for a more "coherent narrative." (my quotes, not theirs).
   This is a gimmick to force students to buy the newest edition and to keep the revenue stream strong for their shareholders. Shocking and disgraceful. I will be changing textbooks next semester. I recommend you do the same. Find a publisher that respects students and teachers first.



3. This was a great textbook and easy to read and follow. What I liked most about this text is the current playwrights, and screenplays that were discussed in this book. To read about it and then be able to see some of these screenplays was amazing.



4. very fast delivery, I bought it and then got it within a week. The book was in the condition that it stated in the text. Overall I am very satisfied with the book and purchase.



5. I received the book pictured. Other students have complained about not getting the book detailed or pictured but this buyer delivered exactly what I ordered.

5 comments about Public Speaking (8th Edition).

1. Received book in a timely manner, condition of book was good and as described and priced reasonably!



2. It was in the condition that the seller told me that it was going to be in when I received it.



3. nice condition i only wish you'd have mentioned somewhere that this was a binder copy and that you would have dusted it off before you mailed it to me...but other wise it was fine



4. She was very quick to email me back when I emailed her. The book was in Great condition and arrived very Quickly. She was very sweet and worked with me. I reccomend her to any and everyone!! Thanks for all your help!!



5. Over all the purchases is satisfy , the quality of the books is good and the delivery is on time.

5 comments about No Exit and Three Other Plays.

1. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) is extremely difficult to approach, for his reputation rests heavily upon the work BEING AND NOTHINGNESS: AN ESSAY ON PHENOMENOLOGICAL ONTOLOGY--an extremely complex work that many regard as the single greatest work of 20th Century philosophy and which is largely beyond the grasp of everyone but the most gifted philosophers themselves. Fortunately for the rest of us, Sartre translated his vision of the world into more accessible forms. Although his novel NAUSEA is widely known, he is more likely to be known for his plays--and for one in particular, the celebrated NO EXIT. This collection includes that play (in French titled HUIS CLOS), THE FLIES (LES MOUCHES), DIRTY HANDS (LES MAINS SALES) and THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE (LA PUTAIN RESPECTUEUSE.) Each of these plays in some way revolve around ideas of self-determination, freedom of choice, and responsibility to one's self, addressing issues that are at the heart of French existentialism.
   
   Unlike many European dramatists of his era, Sartre was not an absurdist author per se, and while his plays sometimes make use of an unexpected premise, they are generally naturalistic in tone. NO EXIT, first played in 1944, is easily the most famous: a man and two women, none of them of any great moral or intellectual worth, are led into a small room. It gradually transpires that they are dead--and that they are completely incompatible. This is hell: humans determined to impose their wills and ideas and visions upon unwilling others, working without ceasing to undercut each other in a vain effort to gain individual advantage. Written in a single act and requiring about ninety minutes to perform, it is easily one of the most intense plays ever seen on stage, a combination of intellectual and emotional ferocity beyond easy description. It is truly one of the great masterpieces of western drama.
   
   The other titles are less well known to English-speaking audiences. Of them THE FLIES is the most widely performed. Pre-dating NO EXIT by a year, it is a full-length drama based on the ancient Greek ORESTIA, in which Orestes returns to his home--but unlike the original he has no intention of avenging his father's murder until he realizes that he can freely elect to do so as long as he freely embraces the consequences of his actions. As in most of Sartre's works, much of the play revolves around the necessity of the individual to define himself for himself, and often in rejection of the manipulative status quo, and the play possesses tremendous theatrical sweep. The characters are elegantly and powerfully redrawn from the Greek revenge tragedy, and the overall play itself has the power of its ritualistic orgins.
   
   DIRTY HANDS debuted in 1948 and proved extremely controversial, albeit for reasons that Sartre himself may not have foreseen. In general terms, it is the story of a World War II communist party worker who, on party orders, commits murder and who is afterward shocked to find how utterly meaningless his act has been--ideas and issues that are very typical of Sartre's work. But the play's story pitted one faction of the communist party against another, questioned how effectively any person could define themselves within a political system, and in doing so thoroughly outraged half the nation. Almost three decades had to pass before it was once more performed in France. This said, it is easily the most problematic of the four plays; it seems unduly long, unduly dry, a bit awkward in construction, and very obvious in its statements.
   
   Like NO EXIT, THE 1946 THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE is a one act, and although it does not rise to same artistic level as NO EXIT or THE FLIES it has unique sting nonetheless. The play, somewhat surprisingly, is set in a small town in the deep south of the United States, where a newly arrived prostitute finds herself caught up a drunken murder that gives rise to a double killing calculated to cover up the first crime. Again, issues of self-determination arise, but on this occasion with an unexpected twist: the central character, the prostitute, is a woman of no particular intelligence. She is just smart enough to know that she has been duped and manipulated, but not smart enough to sort out the implications and ramifications of her situation as it unfolds. The play has an undeniable power, but Sartre is writing outside his direct knowledge here, and although technically accurate, his portrait of southern racism does not ring entirely true.
   
   Whenever I review plays I like to note that plays are not really written to be read. They are intended to be seen and heard on the stage, and many readers find it difficult to envision how a particular script will play out before an audience. The fact that each of these four plays has considerable philosophical depth may add to the difficulties involved. NO EXIT is a masterpiece, no doubt about it, and I think most people will find it highly readable--and I think most people will find THE FLIES not far behind. THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE is flawed, and it may leave some readers wondering at the point, but it is short and worth the effort. DIRTY HANDS is probably best left to those who are more interested in Sartre's overall work than those who just want to read a good play. Recommended overall, and given five stars on the basis of NO EXIT and THE FLIES, with RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE rated at four stars and DIRTY HANDS at three.
   
   GFT, Amazon Reviewer



2. Sartre's play, "No Exit," has a well-known premise--Garcin, Inez, and Estelle are an eternal triangle, captive in a small drawing room of hell, an endless merry-go-round of mutual torture for their sins. Another premise can be read, the major premise, actually--there is hope even in hell (contrary to Dante's epigram and Sartre's minor premise). And if there is hope in hell, there is even more hope for those who have not yet arrived.
   
   The key to this interpretation is Joseph Garcin. He stands apart from Inez and Estelle who are both complicit in murder/suicide. Garcin is no murderer but a self-accused coward, a deserter in time of war. Cruelty to his wife is the ostensible reason for his damnation, but Garcin is troubled by that not at all, "I have no regrets." He is extremely troubled by his reputation as coward, among his living colleagues, among his present, eternal companions.
   
   Garcin is obsessive in his need for vindication. He is totally a "being-for-others," to use Sartre's own terminology from "Being and Nothingness." He defines himself exclusively as he is seen by others. He is Kafka's Joseph K. ("The Trial") in the next phase of existence. Garcin would do better to emulate either of Joseph Heller's characters, Yossarian or Orr ("Catch 22"), or to take the meaning of Hillel's, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?"
   
   Estelle in life would talk to others while watching herself in the mirror, "seeing myself as the others saw me," in an echo of wee Rabbie Burns. To escape his hell Garcin must see himself _not_ as others see him. There are no mirrors in the drawing room to distract him. This may be an inkling of a way out, encouragement from the landlords. For Garcin's prospects "no exit" may be too pessimistic, the original "huis clos" possibly more apt.



3. Sartre explores and "projects" some of his deepest existential themes (freedom, consciousness, and acting in bad faith) through this short play, written immediately after his magnum opus "Being and Nothingness." The plot centers around three people (Garcin, Inez and Estelle) all condemned to serve out their sentences in hell together. Mostly due to their own self-hatred and embarrassment for having ended up in hell in the first place, they predictably all hate each other, but nevertheless proceed trying to convince each other (and themselves) that they are worthy individuals, unjustly condemned to their stations in Sartre's metaphorical hell.
   
   In Sartre's view, apparently this tableau of struggling with "bad faith" in hell is just a mirror image of what goes on outside it; as in both cases humans are continually acting towards one another in mutual "bad faith." Almost as a psychological imperative, they are always busy "fronting each other off;" pretending not to know that they are as much moral criminals and criminals of conscience as they are "real criminals:" all of whom got exactly what they deserved. But as the plot unfolds, we discover that they all also are indeed "real criminals," justly sentenced.
   
   Despite this, in each case they shrink not only from the reality of their crimes and from the reasons why they ended up in hell, but more importantly, they also shrink from the primary responsibility of their own freedom, and from who they are and to their humanity. As a result, the reader gets to see that these criminals are not condemned to hell just for their moral crimes, but also for crimes of conscience: their cowardice and "bad faith" as human beings. In this, they see their cowardice through the eyes of their cellmates, their eternal torturers.
   
   The tension of the play is created by and is centered on the interplay of the dialogues between different dyadic pairings of the couples. In each, they all struggle in their own idiosyncratic way to some how convince themselves and their respective partners (using the partner as mirrors), that they are better than the reality they each "fail to own up to." In short, they are all trying to "end run" their own "bad faith" creating a "false reality" by using their cellmates as a positively distorted reflection of themselves. In this very act, they lose the right to construct an authentic reality and an authentic self.
   
   The question the play begs: is how, writ large, do human beings deal with the "bad faith" of their own existence, and its corresponding failure to create a reality where the authentic self can thrive. That is how can they still come out on the other side of their conscience with their humanity and self-image authentically intact, as mature, responsible and heroic human beings?
   
   Sartre, with his own experience as a captured prisoner of war in France during WW-II intruding into the play as an important backdrop in the subtext (While under Nazi torture, Sartre admitted to seriously considering betraying France), assures us that there is no clear answer to this question, and thus no safe exit out of his metaphorical jail into a pristine and heroic world where the problem of "bad faith" is either an easy decision, or does not exist at all. The challenges presented by "bad faith" it seems are in our hands, completely independent of the domain of our humanity: Wherever he goes, "Bad faith" is destined to shadow man's existence.
   
   Three stars



4. No Exit and Three Other Plays
   An enjoyable & easy way to get into Sartre's Existentialism. "No Exit":3 people locked in a hotel room forever;Hell as other people:the last lines indicate how we can survive. "The Flies": The Electra story reformed; one can revolt against Fate and choose ones Destiny. "Dirty Hands":a free-thinker tries to find his own answer to the conflicts and pressures of others who have him caught up in their own political/moral/ethical prejudices;what price to stand alone? "The Respectful Prostitute": Power, racism and manipulation in 1950's Deep South USA;a naive/courageous prostitue escapes problems in New York to find herself at the centre of local racial bigotry and state encouraged murder;her decision could save or destroy all of those involved.



5. the book is in decent condition it does look very worn on the cover but the text is very clean

5 comments about Theatre: The Lively Art.

1. I was very pleased with how well this book had been taken care of. Thanks! :-)



2. Received book extremely fast, excellent communication with seller. Good condition. Very pleased. Thank you!



3. This theatre book was available in my bookstore at school but cost over $120. I got it here, brand new for under $100 and it's the correct edition I was looking for. Great shipping time and I will always order from Amazon!



4. wrong edition! wastse of money! false advertisment!
   
   I didnt even get everything that it said it brought!



5. I particularly liked this text's descriptions of theater. The next is in depth and short at the same time, and talks about a lot of different aspects of theater that may be unknown to regular or theater majors

5 comments about Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays.

1. A must read for playwrights and readers of plays. I don't know what I would have done without it.



2. This book was an eye-opener for me. My sister-in-law, who teaches theater and directs many plays, recommended it. It's intended for directors, to show them how to analyze play scripts--backwards and forwards. I would recommend it to playwrights, readers of plays, and theater audiences. And especially to Shakespeare fans. The author does a brilliant analysis of Hamlet (as an example), showing how Shakespeare builds up suspense and keeps the play moving--action, action, action--by means of scenes that are often cut as unnecessary.



3. I've been acting for ten years and got my first directing assignment. I know a lot about directing from having been directed, but this book was a great guide for script analysis with the big picture in mind, not just one character. The show was a success and the actors still like me.



4. It seems like reading would require no specific techniques, that they would come naturally to one and go without saying, even when the task is more specified, as in the reading of plays. But Ball breaks down this seemingly natural sense into its component elements and explains them in easily digestible, well-paced segments, and to examine these elements does much in the way of re-learning and thus refining and fine-tuning one's seemingly natural reading skill. This skill can be taken and applied in various ways (as Ball describes in the introduction), some of which are immeasurably improved by the complex understanding that posessing these refined elements provides; the reading a play to produce it, for example, or the writing of one yourself can be tremendously improved if one is constantly aware of what they are doing, why they're doing it, and what about their actions are correct, lacking, unnecessary or obtrusive. Without having a defined sense of the tools contained within this book, these tasks would be much more difficult, complicated, vague and roundabout, thus slowing, weakening or perhaps ruining the final product. Pair this skill set with application to texts such as plays, which are made all the more difficult by the fact that the playwright thinks in terms more of making their production work when produced for an audience and less of making their script read and be easily graspable completely on the page, and this manual becomes immeasurably more useful on a basic and elemental level.



5. This book would serve a Script Analysis class very well. I plan to use it for mine in the fall. It also is reader friendly enough to serve an actor/director/designer wanting a different perspective, perhaps, on a script; or could be a different way of explaining what we were generally taught as undergrads.

5 comments about The Laramie Project.

1. I picked this script up already having known to some extent the story of Matthew Shepard and was interested in reading this play. I quickly fell in love with the style in which it was written; this usage of "moments" driven by quotations from real people is strikingly poignant and very unique. Its delivery is relatively unbiased and gives some insight as to the person that Matthew was and the tragedy that took place.
   The play itself is deeply moving altogether and a very relevant piece today. I recommend this masterpiece to anyone whether or not they know who Matthew was, and whether or not they are in or are involved in the LGBTQI community. I highly recommend also seeing a performance of the show if possible; it's incredible.



2. I bought this book here on Amazon just as something interesting to read between classes. Little did I know that I would open it the day I got it and finish it before the next night. This is a great play, and the fact that it is based off of true events and dialogues make it that much more intriguing. I must say however, this tale of a life cut short left me somewhat heartbroken-because it is painfully real. I could completely relate to this play and I already have multiple friends and acquaintances asking to borrow it. I recommend this to anyone and everyone (above the age of 15) and I hope this story continues to speak to the nation and inspire change and consideration to everyone who touches it's cover.



3. This is an extremely powerful, moving and gripping piece of theatre. I read it only knowing the basic concept of the play and was moved to tears several times in the piece. It is well written and craftfully compiled - allowing "the truth" to unfold in its own natural way. I purchased this play to read as a potential piece to produce for a college theatre group and it definitely left me in favor!



4. The book arrived in less than a week from when I ordered it, and appears to be new though I ordered a "used book"!



5. About 10 years ago. Matthew Shepard was tortured and killed outside of Laramie, Wyoming. His killers, motivated by greed and hate, tied him to a fence on the lonely prairie, beat him, stole his shoes and wallet, and left him to die.
   
   Shepard was found by a bicyclist the next day, but died shortly after in a hospital. In announcing his death, his parents stated ""Go home, give your kids a hug, and don't let a day go by without telling them that you love them."
   
   Four weeks after the death of Matthew Shepard, nine members of the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and started collecting interviews with members of the community. They collected over 200 interviews in a 18 month period. The result? The Laramie Project, a powerful play on hate, tolerance, forgiveness, and religion.
   
   This book is the screenplay. I've seen the play performed twice, once in Honolulu and once in Utah. Reading the screenplay wasn't as powerful as experiencing the performance, but it was powerful nonetheless. You are numbed as you "hear", in their own words, people point fingers, make accusations, and try to find meaning in this event.
   
   "I did hear from Matthew about forty-eight hours before his attack. And he told me that he had joined the gay and lesbian group on campus, and that he said he was enjoying it, you know, he was getting ready for Pride Week and whatnot. I mean, he was totally stoked about school - yeah, he was really happy about being there" (p. 20).
   
   "There is a proclamation that came out on the family. A family is defined as one woman and one man and children. That's a family. That's about as clear as you can state it. There's no sexual deviation in the Mormon Church. No - no leniency. We just think it's out-of-bounds" (p. 25).
   
   "If you had a hundred customers like him it'd be the - the most perfect bar I've ever been in. Okay? And nothing to do with sexual orientation. Um, absolute mannerisms. Manners. Politeness, intelligence" (p. 29).
   
   So now it is 2008, not 1998. What has changed? Could this type of crime still happen today? Would the community respond to this event in the same way?
   
   This 112 page paperback is highly recommended.

2 comments about Public Speaking: An Audience-Centered Approach (7th Edition).

1. When I purchased this book, it came brand new, in a shrinkwrap with a Speech Preparation Workbook by Cynthia Brown El. Upon opening it in class, I found that the book had no binding at all, and the cover itself was just cardboard placed on top to make it presentable. Once I discovered this, it was too late to return it. The bookstore wouldn't take it back, even in the mint condition I had it in (given that that the teacher rarely ever asked us to use the $70 books, it became a lovely predicament).
   
   So, I'm writing this review to warn you; purchase this book only if you believe you're getting your money's worth - because you may never get it back.



2. The book itself is fine, but if you are buying this for a course that requires use of Myspeechlab, please be aware that it does not include an access code. You'll have to shell out an extra $64 for one on the Myspeechlab site. My bookstore's cost of $105 for both doesn't seem like a bad deal after all....

5 comments about Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

1. Received the book in good time, however, it was not the edition I was under the impression I was supposed to receive. I have contacted the seller several times, but have not gotten a response with my latest e-mail. I am very frustrated and am considering filing a claim with Amazon regarding this seller.



2. This book could do with some revising. The important terms are not bold, but italic. Headings only loosely describe what you are learning. There are no "key terms" type boxes, or review questions at the end except for some touchy-feely discussion questions.
   
   If your professor is using the test bank for the book, be forewarned that you will have to dig for the key concepts in each chapter.
   
   Earth to Katherine Miller, no one in their right mind is going to read your book cover-to-cover because they want to. Any study skills class will enlighten you to how students actually cover textbook material.



3. I am NOT really reviewing the content of this book, so please don't say this review wasn't helpful.
   
   I just want to say that there are international versions of this textbook, which is the same, that can be bought on other websites (a certain auction website). I got mine for about $32 (not a hardcover) with no shipping fee.
   
   But in terms of the content of this book, it has been pretty straight forward and easy to understand so far (I haven't finished my organizational communications course).



4. A good buy from Amazon. The book is in good shape yet has some highlighting inside that I sometimes find annoying.



5. This book lists theory after theory after theory, with hardly any examples in the text to explain, or at least break up the monotony. If you can avoid getting this book, you will be a happier and more knowledgeable person (since you can probably find something else that explains things better).