1 comments about Media Effects Research: A Basic Overview (with InfoTrac®) (Wadsworth Series in Mass Communication and Journalism).

1. This is a good book on media effects. It is easy to read and gives a good general background on the subject. It is appropriate as an undergraduate text.

5 comments about Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater.

1. The concept sounded great....funny stoties about productions, like film outtakes. We get the stories, but not the funny. The author blandly recites the details, with no real humor - I could count on one hand the ones that made me chuckle. Very disappointing...



2. This book is a must for anyone who loves the theater, and is a fun read for anybody. Most of the anecdotes are quite amusing. The 'mishaps' are each told in a brief, 2-page-or-less missive, so it is perfect for when you want a book handy to pick up whenever you need a quick laugh.



3. A disappointing number of errors appear thoughout this book. Two that immediately come to mind are: 1) Book states that Sarah Jessica Parker was in the revival of the musical ANNIE. Not so. Parker was in the original production, 2) The showstopping song from CATS is listed as "Memories". The title is "Memory".
   
   I also found it to be rather expensive as it's a paperback.



4. Funny and at times cringe-worthy through tears of laughter. A must for theatre geeks everywhere!



5. A funny and fascinating look at just how wrong things can go onstage. A must-read for anybody with an interest in theater or acting -- or just having some yuks at the expense of master and not-so-masterful thespians. Should be handed out as required reading for those who dare to tread the boards wearing less than full body armor.

4 comments about The Trojan Women (Plays for Performance).

1. Edith Hamilton, in The Greek Way, says that "Euripides is the saddest of the poets" and that "no poet's ear has ever been so sensitively attuned as his to the still, sad music of humanity." The Trojan Women, a heart-rending read, certainly supports these opinions.

   Written in Athens in 415 B.C. in the throes of the ruinous Peloponnesian War, the play was a condemnatory response to the recent Athenian atrocities against the neutral Greek island of Melos. After taking the island, the Athenians executed all the men and enslaved the women and children. It was an end of innocence of sorts for the city that had long considered itself the world's citadel of what we now call civilization and culture. In criticizing it, Euripides reached back to the central event of the Greek epic heritage, the legendary victory over Troy, for his setting and characters.

   The resulting tragedy opens in the aftermath of the slaughter of the Trojan men, with Troy in flames and the women being divvied up as slaves to the conquering Greeks. Euripides is unflinching in his depiction of the inhumanities visited upon the vanquished. King Priam's daughter, Cassandra, is raped by Agamemnon, king of the Greeks. His other daughter Polyxena is cruelly murdered. In one of the most moving scenes in all of literature, his grandson Astyanax, a young child and the only surviving heir to the Trojan throne, is taken from his mother Andromache's grieving embrace and thrown to his death from the highest wall of the city. In fact, the only pity and decency presented among the Greeks is found in the Greek messenger Talthybius, who cleans the body of Astyanax and brings it to his grandmother Hecuba after Andromache's pleading to bury him is denied as she is taken away to her fate as a Greek slave.

   Many have read this work as a blanket indictment of war. I read it as a misanthropic perspective on human nature, with its glimmers of what we call humanity intersticed between the harsh reality of our cruelty, hatred and violence, a reality set free within the lawless terrain of war. Those with a rosy view of our genetic inheritance should generally be given fair warning before engaging the works of Euripides, and The Trojan Women is no different. That said, whatever one's views of our species, this is one of its finer artifacts and it deserves a wide reading despite the passage of over 2,400 years.




2. About 416 B.C. the island of Melos refused to aid Athens in the war against Sparta. The Athenians then slaughtered the men and enslaved the women and children, an atrocity never before inflicted on one Greek city-state by another. As preparations were made for the ruinous expedition against Syracuse, Euripides wrote "The Trojan Women," as a plea for peace. Consequently there is a strong rhetorical dimension to the play, which prophesies that a Greek force would sail across the sea after violating victims and meet with disaster. However, there the play also has a strong literary consideration in that the four Trojan Women--Hecuba, Queen of Troy; Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priestess of Apollo; Andromache, widow of Hector; and Helen--all appear in the final chapter of Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," mourning over the corpse of Hector, retrieved by his father Priam from the camp of the Acheans. Whenever I have use "The Trojan Women" in class I have always used at least that last chapter of Homer to set up the play.

   As with his last play "Iphigenia at Aulis," which tells of the events right before the Achean army left for Troy, "The Trojan Women" reflects the cynicism of Euripides. Of all the Achean leaders we hear about in Homer, only Menelaus, husband of Helen, appears. He appears, ready to slay Helen for having abandoned him to run off to Troy with Paris, but we see his anger melt before her beauty and soothing tones. In this play the Greeks do more than enslave women: they have already slain a young girl as a sacrifice to the ghost of Achilles and they take Astyanax, the son of Hector, out of the arms of his mother so that he can be thrown from the walls of Troy. Even the herald of the Greeks, Talthybius, cannot stomach the policies of his people. The play also reminds us that Helen was a most unpopular figure amongst the ancient Greeks, and there is no satisfaction in her saving her life (Note: you might want to check out Isocrates's "Encomium on Helen," an exhibition speech in which he shows off his talent by defending the hated woman). The idea that all of these men died just so that she could be returned to the side of her husband is an utter mockery of the dead. This translation by Nicholas Rudall focuses on the performance of "The Trojan Women," but it is certainly useful for those interested in the historical or literary aspects of the play as well. Another interesting analogy is to use this play in conjunction with "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes, so that students can compare and contrast an anti-war comedy and drama.




3. Nicholas Rudall's Euripides' The Trojan Women: Plays For Performance provides a new translation of a literary classic of pathos and war, capturing the classical drama in a new form designed as a play for performing to modern audiences. An outstanding literary work Euripides' The Trojan Women is highly recommended for any studying Euripides.

   Diane C. Donovan Reviewer




4. Having seen a staged production of this text at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, DC, I am looking forward to reading the text in detail. In the theater, this was a powerful, painful confrontation of the effects of war on the victims -- the women and children. No heroes, no vainglorious praise of war. Just the horrors of surviving and loss. Troy becomes every war-devastated landscape. The parallels to Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, etc., etc. were not to be denied.

   Rudell is able to bridge the centuries and make Troy contemporary. The language is both elevated (in the style of classic tragedy) and immediate in its emotional impact.

5 comments about Paul Newman: A Life in Pictures.

1. Very well done. Many interesting photographs, large - and cover his entire career, very young and older... Text on his life, including his childhood is very well done, interesting, and enlightening. If you like Paul Newman, you will be very happy with this book.
   
   Cindy Mueller
   Chicago, IL



2. As a Actor, Family Man , CEO of Newman's Own Products .Mr. Paul Newman is a real professional and a remarkable person. This book captures him in all these and more of his great and quiet moments. The pictures are worth there weight in having this book. Paul Newman loves water can be seen threw some of his films. this book will make you view all of his films. A real man for all seasons.



3. Being that my husband and I are huge Paul Newman fans made this book a real family treasure. We've enjoyed his films over the years and seeing him on these pages brings back many fond memmories. I only wished that more of his photographs in character had been made available. Paul's various character roles were all so exciting like; Juan Carrasco, "Fast" Eddie Felson, and Ben Quick just to name a few. This edition was well worth the money and will be enjoyed for years to come.



4. As overseas pickups from France's Editions PHYB, the 'Life In Pictures' series make decent enough coffee table books though much of their success as a project truly depends on the subject at hand. By creating a compendium of photographs taken by various sources throughout one's early days and public career, the books are only as interesting as the photographic subjects they chronicle. For the Newman book, the chronology covers his early days in acting school, his famed long-term marriage to actress Joanne Woodward, starring roles in films like Hud, Paris Blues, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy, Winning and The Sting, to his passion as a race car driver and team owner at the 24 hours of LeMans, Daytona and the Long Beach Grand Prix. While Newman's sense of family, career highlights and philanthropic strains come though in the main, the whole history is rather shortchanged with a scant eight-page biography supplemented by selected quotes scattered throughout the book. While clearly meant to be a picture book, the images appear inconsistent and random (i.e. for the film for which he finally won the Oscar for Best Actor, Marty Scorsese's 'The Color of Money,' Newman is only represented in the book by the movie's one-sheet poster) and thus fail to paint nearly a compelling enough portrait of what is generally regarded as one of America's most revered actors. PHYB is coming with a similar 'Life in Pictures' edition this fall on Marilyn Monroe (also to be distributed by Chronicle in the US). One would expect that this kind of light-on-copy, heavy-on-pics treatment would be more well suited to that subject indeed.



5. I have been a Paul Newman fan forever. It was a delight to see such candid photos in his book. He is a true gentleman and at 82 years young is still one of the most handsomest men in Hollywood. I admire both Paul and his wife Joanne Woodward for their accomplishmemnts not only in the acting world but in the real world as well. I wish they would have included some Hole in the Wall photos and his other charitable ventures but other than that the photos of this great man are wonderful.

1 comments about The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki.

1. This book explores the wonderful techniques of Tadashi Suzuki, who often works hand in hand with Anne Bogart. The book is a spiritual and magical take on acting, concentrating on the actor's body and mind rather than his/her lines and blocking. It is a refreshing and challenging technique that is beautifully and simply explained in this book. Complete with pictures of the artist himself, the book is a wonderful way to get your feet wet in the Suzuki/Bogart technique.

3 comments about Complete Handbook of Indoor and Outdoor Games and Activities for Young Children.

1. 
   This is a great book for practical indoor and outdoor activities. It is clear that Dr. Jean is a very creative teacher who presents many great ideas based on her experiences.



2. I am always looking for those quick ideas that require little prep and will kill time but is still fun and educational. THIS IS THE BOOK



3. Jean Feldman gives many great ideas for all curriculum areas in this handbook. There are interesting activities for math, language, science and art centers along with easy group games with emphasis on having fun rather than competition. This book even contains fun recipes children can prepare with little help and ideas for special celebrations. These ideas are divided into convenient categories which makes finding the "right" activity a breeze. This is a must-have handbook for early childhood educators!

2 comments about Fellini On Fellini.

1. At first I didn't understand as to why I couldn't put this novel down. I won't lie there is a 40 page slightly confusing introduction by Fellini that jumps back and forth from different periods down memory lane. However it's exactly that which makes you realize these words are Fellini's and only his. We get his insight into basically every film he ever made just with the introduction; and then he gives us the dish on how they all came to be. I have read a few of these "on" books and this is the first that truly interested me. Fellini was a genius and saw the world in a way we could only try to understand through his films. Thankfully to those resposible for trascribing all of his writings and materials this book will also help.



2. There is no better way to get into the mindset of Fellini than through his own words. This unassuming book is full of the director's thoughts and motivations. From behind the scene anectdotes to descriptions of scenes never filmed this is an excellent place to start learning about the movie world's best director ever!

No comments about Experiencing the Art of Theatre: A Concise Introduction (Wadsworth Series in Theatre).

5 comments about Margot Fonteyn: A Life.

1. Daneman, Meredith 2004 Margot Fonteyn. Viking, New York ISBN-10: 0670843709 ISBN-13 978-0670843701
   
   The dancer as a spy? One of the mysteries of Margot Fonteyn is her association and almost certain minor activities as an agent. This book hints at such (page numbers are taken from hardcover edition). First there is her association with Graham Greene, a known British agent during WWII; in an apparent inconsistency on page 265 she is said to be his lover, while on pages 279-280 he is merely said to enamored of her. On page 279 the author mentions Greene's love letters to Margot.
   
   
   By 1959, when Greene has become at least on the surface an admirer of Castro, Margot finds herself with Castro named first president Manuel Urrutia Lleó's wife, Esperanza LIaguno, who (according to the author p. 352 and 366) was ransacking the wardrobes of deposed dictator Batista's wife (Martha Fernández de Batista).
   
   
   At present admirers of Castro will not allow Grahame Greene's 1958 novel "Our man in Havana" (which most oddly predicts the 1962 presence of nuclear missiles in Cuba) to be mentioned in Wikipedia's Cuban section about authors who wrote on Cuba. These admirers of the communist dictator furiously erase each insertion of any reference to Greene and his work, giving one pause and setting one to wonder at the rationale behind this odd and extreme measure of zeal. Ernest Hemingway yes! Graham Greene No!
   
   
   Through the book runs a continual thread of the open and clandestine politics of the geo-strategic country of Panama tied to her and her husband Robert "Tito" Arias. However, the clincher is Margot's role in the defection of Russian Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev (e.g. pp. 383, 386-396 and others).
   
   The Castro government has allowed mention of some of Fontyn's activities to help impose blockade on UK weapon shipments to Cuba in late 1958 and in the Castro organized invasion of Panama by Cuban partisans of her husband Roberto Arias in 1959 (1). It was during the preparations for this invasion that the above mentioned wardrobe looting was observed by the famous ballet dancer.
   
   One day, when the British Intelligence's secret files for this period are released, perhaps we will know the whole story.
   
   [...]



2. I was very disappointed in this book about the great Margot. Was it really necessary to put in all the salacious details of her sex life in order to give us a picture of her career and life? I think a little more restraint on the part of the author was definitely in order. I wanted to learn more about the ballerina's career on stage, not especially about what she did in bed and what her sexual prowess was. I agree with the lady who said she would not recommend this book to her daughter, the budding ballerina as I thought the 'so-called' sex information on La Fontaine was tasteless and over the top.



3. I was iniciated ten years ago by the two daugthers of my wife, who have practiced ballet all their lives, in the knowlege of ballet. Before I just did not understand it, and even today know little about it. This biography, however, is beautifully written, very well researched, with a great sensitivity and it has been beautiful for me to know from the inside this life of "the most famous ballerina of the world", a life very different from a point of view and at the same time so near to our own lives.
   
   My life has been enhanced after this lecture. Now I understand a thousand times better ballet and I love it. Thanks to Meredith Daneman for her great work.



4. I enjoyed the book because Margot lead a fascinating life. And I didn't know about the end of her career and life. But I believe most readers choosing to read about Margot are not interested in her sex life. Particularly not interested in lewd statements of her prowess from any past lovers. I would have loved to recommend it to my daughter because Margot is a wonderful role model, but the sexual references make it inappropriate and I would instead recommend her Autobiography.



5. I so agree with the reviewer who said the author was lucky in her subject ... the four stars are for Margot, not Daneman. Margot's life is the history of ballet outside Russia and neither her life nor herself could fail to be fascinating. Wonderful to read all that history in one place. BUT ...
   
   Oh god, do we really need all this sleazy speculation? Most of the book is devoted to who did with who and how. According to the author, everyone did everything with everybody. This based on the slightest whiff of a rumour from any source. Instead of real descriptions about the Fonteyn/Nureyev partnership, she goes on and on and on (pages and pages, seriously) about every form of physical contact that may have occurred between them and agonizes about whether actual "penetration" (that's really a quote) occurred. According to her it's a tragedy that we will never know because they both took the secret to their graves. Actually they both categorically denied it all their lives.
   
   Fonteyn also gets a blast because when she wrote some filler in a book about Pavlova, acting as a presenter of Pavlova's own notes (NOT a biographer) she didn't tell everyone the rumour that Pavlova was (gasp) possibly illegitemite and (gasp gasp) possibly half Jewish. All Pavlova said was that her father had died when she was two and according to this author, Margot ought to have jumped right in there with the rumours and was negligent not doing so. This is a person I would never care to meet and spending 580 pages with her seriously detracts from the pleasure of spending 580 pages with Margot. Especially since, like most people who write books this long, she excelled in Creative Writing 101 and seriously needs an editor for her flowery passages.
   
   So -5 for her and + 5 for Margot equals +4, Margot being worth a lot more.

5 comments about Martha Graham: A Dancer's Life.

1. It's a great book, I read it for my book report book, and i just absolutely loved it! It's great for kids over 9+. It teaches you the whole life story, and some people she worked with, including Liza Minnely, and Madonna. And her whole family, to her dad, mom, sisters, to her nanny, look inside this book for another persons life, that you just get lost in, when i read it, i thought i was there.
   Hope Ya Read It!!!!!
   Thanks.



2. This book is a beautiful, concise study of her life. Studying Martha Graham's life is an awakening experience. Reading Graham's memoir "Blood Memory" simultaneously provides a beautiful counterpoint, knowing the subject will not observe herself in the same way as her biographer.

   I dance away from this book with a definite appreciation for Graham's brilliance in creativity and willingness to navigate the many rough patches she encountered AND give such a gift to humanity at the same time.

   The numbers of influential people she touched is amazing and enlightening.

   I suggest this book for any creative thinker: there are applications for all of us.




3. Martha Graham: A Dancers Life by Russell Freedman, the full-length biography of Martha Graham, takes a deep look into Martha and the peole around her. She was a dancer, teacher, and choreographer who changed the world. Her life began in Pittsburg where she was born in 1894. The book also tells about the lives of her dancers, students, close friends, and lovers. The biography goes into great detail up until the day she died in 1991.
   I liked this book because of all the details it gives about her life and the way it tells about all the heroic things she did. I would recommend this book to dancers and people who enjoy the things Martha did in her 97 years of life.



4. I bought this book after reading an interesting article about Martha Graham in the New Yorker about a year ago. I was attracted to the book by the beautiful photography, in evidence on the cover (and throughout the book, as I soon learned). However, I was interested in reading about Martha's "demons" and character flaws, as well as her relationships and focus on archetypal figures in dance. Unfortunately, this book is a pretty happy-go-lucky, bland account of her life. In fact, it's so bland that I would have given it three stars if the pictures in it were not so beautiful and well-suited to the descriptions given in the text.



5. This is a wonderful book and story. Being a dancer myself, I am very inspired. You'll enjoy Martha's "positive" attitude and wit throughout this story of the growth of a piece of history. Please, read this book, I recommend it!