Product Description
Horace (65-8 B.C.) is one of the most important and brilliant poets of the Augustan Age of Latin literature whose influence on European literature is unparalleled. Steeped in allusion to contemporary affairs, Horace's verse is best read in terms of his changing relationship to the public sphere. While the Odes are subtle and allusive, the Epodes are robust and coarse in their celebrations of sex and tirades against political leaders. This edition also includes the Secular Hymn and Suetonius's "Life of Horace." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The more notes the better
Okay - so Horace is notoriously allusive, each line packed with meaning.What that calls for, it would seem, is a translation with as many pages of notes as of text, if not more, and a line-by-line gloss in the back.

West in his Oxford World's Classic gives better annotation than most (the Penguin or Modern Library edition), but still could stand to do a lot more.One suspects he wants people to buy his expanded editions of the Odes.

The translations, as poetry, will not knock you off your feet, but they do better than the looser Michie versions at letting you know what Horace more or less wrote.(I find Michie's unrhymed versions very fine as poetry, but the rhymed ones are too glib to bear.)And West's aren't quite as soporific as Shepard's versions in Penguin.

Basically, it seems, I need to learn Latin.And if any of you eager reviewers knows a good English-language commentary on the Odes, don't keep it a secret.

"Soothing Verse, Remarkably Translated"
After the defeat of Brutus at Phillipi in 42 BC, Horace was allotted the time to devote himself to poetry at his newly granted Sabine estate under the patronage of Gaius Maecenas, a reputed "scion of Etruscan kings."During this time, Horace's literary genius was able to flourish in the Sabine countryside, while he remained in dutiful correspondence with a brilliant circle of poets, including the great Virgil.These poems, collected here in David West's translation of Horace's "Odes and Epodes," are some of the most charming, warm, lovable, and humorous works to be found among the Roman poets of the Augustan Age, even though they may be equally full of both piercing sarcasm and fierce invective.In the Epodes Horace brings forth, through his unprecedented use of the Greek iambic meter in Latin form, the praise due to his patron Maecenas, the mild reflections upon the pastoral life, the pangs of love and war, and the personal sorrows of the defeat suffered at Phillipi.In the Odes, Horace moves on from the iambic meter to the early Greek genre of lyric poetry such as may be found in the works of poets like Alchaeus and Sappho.Furthermore, in the Odes, Horace muses upon friendship and relations with women, offers hymns to the gods and honor to Augustus, and at the same time reveals the typical Epicurean's "love for the moment."With the addition of Suetonius' brief but very important "Life of Horace" and the noble "Secular Hymn" dedicated to the dignity of the Augustus' new state, David West's translation will be a welcoming edition for everyone.

"...a monument more lasting than bronze..."
[This review refers to the Oxford World's Classics
edition of Horace's THE COMPLETE ODES AND EPODES,
and the "Secular Hymn" -- "Translated with an Introduction
and Notes by David West."]

It is always wise, if funds permit, to purchase more
than one edition (translation) of some of these classic
works.To read several translations that are well done
is like experiencing the same piece of classical music
so well interpreted but with different style, flair, and
felicity by different orchestras and conductors.
The Oxford World's Classics series are excellent for
their formatting, the scholarship, and the wonderful
Explanatory Notes at the back which give such helpful
context and understanding.
You know that you are in the company of an interesting
translator (as well as the company of Horace, the poet,
himself) when you read something like this in the
"Introduction":
"Those who know Horace well, find that of all dead
writers there is none who is a closer friend, who speaks
more usefully in easy and in difficult times, and none
whom they would more happily sit down to drink with.
* * * We have seen glimpses of [Horace's] humour and
studied his tactical deftness as a client poet.His
poetry is steeped also in the affairs of the day.He
is interested in those he addresses and sensitive and
affectionate towards his friends.He has an eye for
metaphor and a taste for the surreal. * * * The sound
is unique, setting against elaborate, fixed metres the
music of powerful speech.The complexity of the
structure of many of the poems amazes with subtle
transitions, astonishing leaps of sense, and rich
modulations of feeling.The elusvieness of Horace is
familiar."
-- David West."Introduction."
-------
But it is in the "Translator's Note" that the real
insight and sensitivity of this translator come out.
For he says of Horace: "The odes of Horaace are among
the densest lyric poems ever written.The allusions
are rich and subtle, and the tone is so iridescent
that readers can never be quite sure of it, and find
endless pleasure in disagreeing with each other about
it. Translation of poetry is always impossible but
translation of Horace's odes is inconceivable."
-- David West."Translator's Note."
-------
But very fortunately for us, David West proceeded
with his translation quest anyway.And he has given
us some very fine experiences with Horace, even if
they are in English.Here is a part of West's
translation of Ode XXIX from Book III:
Fortune enjoys her cruel business and
persists in playing her proud game,
transferring her fickle honours,
favouring now me, now another.

I praise her while she stays.If she
shakes out
her swift wings, I return what she gave,
wrap myself
in my virtue, and look for honest Poverty,
the bride that brings no dowry.

Immensely satisfying, memorable, haunting...

Enjoyed this book.
This book was a revelation to me.I don't have any backgroundin Latin but have always enjoyed reading literature, especially poetry.No one had told me what an influence Horace had on the English and French poetry thatI have always enjoyed!I kept recognizing things that later writer copiedand imitated from him, because he is so lovely.He also is a great poetfor a thinking person to read.Mature and interesting. The translationsseemed to be good.I had a friend who reads Latin listen to a few and shesaid they were very accurate.When she read the original aloud to me, theysounded much more lovely than the English.But I suppose that is normal. ... Read more

Product Description

Will their friendship ever be the same?

Horace, Morris, and Dolores have been best friends forever. They do everything together -- from sailing the seven sewers to climbing Mount Ever-Rust. But one day Horace and Morris join the Mega-Mice (no girls allowed), and Dolores joins the Cheese Puffs (no boys allowed). Is this the end? Or will Horace and Morris but mostly Dolores find a way to save the day -- and their friendship? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Three Mice, Not Blind
Horace, Morris, and mostly Delores is a read aloud book.The mice are inseparable until they boys start a club.This creates at problem that is finally solved.Children of all ages will delight at the illustrations.

Well worth the purchase.
This book is very well worth the purchase.It has a degree of clever humor within the pictures that is sure to entertain adults as well as the slightly older children that might read it.It also, more importantly, has a wonderful message that will be good for any young reader within the age group for which this book is intended.Wonderful illustrations.All in all, a great book for kids (though probably better for a younger age group, as it is fairly short).

happy kid
she loves this book and the way it give children the idea that ANYONE can be friends!

Review By Mary Lamphier
This book Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores is a great book about friendship! It's about 3 mice who are best of friends. Horace, Morris, and Dolores who experience a big problem when they came to a BOYS ONLY CLUB and poor Dolores wasn't a boy so she wasn't invited! So Dolores sadly kicked stones around and sat around thinking. Then Dolores finally made a GIRLS ONLY CLUB. One day the girls got bored and Dolores stepped up and suggested to go for a hike "ewww gross booooo noway!" screamed all the girls! Then the boys started getting bored and then left to go on a hike and met up with Dolores. If you read this fantastic extraordainary book by James Howe you'll love the morral. This book is defenatly a kindergarden-second grade book.

great book great service
This is a fantastic book and it came speedily in great shape to my door. ... Read more

Product Description

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65–8 BCE) was born at Venusia, son of a freedman clerk who had him well educated at Rome and Athens. Horace supported the ill-fated killers of Caesar, lost his property, became a secretary in the Treasury, and began to write poetry. Maecenas, lover of literature, to whom Virgil and Varius introduced Horace in 39, became his friend and made him largely independent by giving him a farm. After 30 Horace knew and aided with his pen the emperor Augustus, who after Virgil's death in 19 engaged him to celebrate imperial affairs in poetry. Horace refused to become Augustus's private secretary and died a few months after Maecenas. Both lyric (in various metres) and other work (in hexameters) was spread over the period 40–10 or 9 BCE. It is Roman in spirit, Greek in technique.

In the two books of Satires Horace is a moderate social critic and commentator; the two books of Epistles are more intimate and polished, the second book being literary criticism as is also the Ars Poetica. The Epodes in various (mostly iambic) metres are akin to the 'discourses' (as Horace called his satires and epistles) but also look towards the famous Odes, in four books, in the old Greek lyric metres used with much skill. Some are national odes about public affairs; some are pleasant poems of love and wine; some are moral letters; all have a rare perfection. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the Odes and Epodes is in volume number 33.

Customer Reviews (2)

review Horace?
No one can be that presumptuous! All one can review is the translator, who is a little bit loose. I prefer translators that are more literal. But then, as Robert Frost said, poetry is that thing that gets lost in translation, if you know enough Latin, the original text can be appreciated in full. And Horace is one who gives you plenty of quotations, if you wish to impress your friends. In just the few pages of Ars Poetica, you have in medias res, laudatur temporis acti, quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus... Thanks to the translator for telling us that morbus regius was jaundice and that it was considered contagious, like scabies. Can you imagine? It took another 2,000 years to figure out that jaundice is caused by a (contagious) hepatatis virus.

Great!
Though this is not necessarily a book for the idle poetry reader, I loved this completely. If you enjoy reading the work of the ancient poets and writers, this is perfect. Since it has the original Latin text on the facing page to the translation, it is possible to see how the syntax and lines fit together to make the beautiful, if a bit idiosyncratic, poetry of Horace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good for introductory students
Garrison's layout of the text is fairly well done so that the text is easily able to be read.The commentary is, generally, useful.There are a few typos or mistakes in it, but the commentary will prove valuable to the intro student.There is sufficient aide for grammatical question and enough cultural explanations to make the book useful.Sometimes Garrison makes references to more modern works, which is less useful, yet still available.If you are a serious reader, you likely know more suitable sources already.Otherwise, for the casual reader or student who is attempting to augment proficiency, this book is useful.Fortunately, Garrison (Ode 1,11) does not fall into common convention to misaddress 'carpe diem' as sieze the day rather than the proper 'pluck the day' in the proper context.

A good text for the casual reader
Garrison's edition is well suited to the recreational reader of Latin andthe non-scholar.His notes, as always, are very helpful and cover most ofthe gramatical and textual questions that are likely to arise for theundergraduate or secondary reader.This book, however, would havebenefited from a vocabulary and a slightly larger print size for the text. A good book, but not as good as Garrison's Catullus. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of the Life Among the Mountaineers (
I read this book for the first time about 15 years ago.
This large print version is extra nice --- easy to read.
I highly recommend this book for an early view of the folks in the Great Smoky Mountains, and the hardships they faced with a resolve that grew out of their Scotch-Irish heritage. Kephart lived several years in the wildest, most primitive conditions in an abandoned cabin while he gathered information for this book. ... Read more

Product Description

The poetry of Horace (born 65 BCE) is richly varied, its focus moving between public and private concerns, urban and rural settings, Stoic and Epicurean thought. Here is a new Loeb Classical Library edition of the great Roman poet's Odes and Epodes, a fluid translation facing the Latin text.

Horace took pride in being the first Roman to write a body of lyric poetry. For models he turned to Greek lyric, especially to the poetry of Alcaeus, Sappho, and Pindar; but his poems are set in a Roman context. His four books of odes cover a wide range of moods and topics. Some are public poems, upholding the traditional values of courage, loyalty, and piety; and there are hymns to the gods. But most of the odes are on private themes: chiding or advising friends; speaking about love and amorous situations, often amusingly. Horace's seventeen epodes, which he called iambi, were also an innovation for Roman literature. Like the odes they were inspired by a Greek model: the seventh-century iambic poetry of Archilochus. Love and political concerns are frequent themes; here the tone is generally that of satirical lampoons. "In his language he is triumphantly adventurous," Quintilian said of Horace; this new translation reflects his different voices.

Customer Reviews (1)

Horace Odes and Epodes
Very readable translation of Horace, good reading for a winter evening.The famous phrase carpe diem (seize the day or pluck the day) is from one of Horace's odes, in this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

A good read for secondary school personnel
Even though the book was written in 1984, many of the dilemmas faced in the American high school haven't changed.Students still need more stimulation from teachers and curriculum.This book highlights some of the main themes that can be seen in most high schools even today.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into the teaching profession.A student in an introductory education class would be a good audience.This would give them a picture of high school from a non-student glance, which they often won't encounter until several semesters into their undergraduate career.This way they have a better idea of what to expect when they complete a practicum or student teaching experience.

Veteran teachers would also benefit from reading this book.It is easy to get caught up in curriculum and forget that there are teenagers in the room.Their needs are often forgotten.This book is a good reminder of "the other side of the story".This book was a good reminder of what is really going on in high school classrooms.

Anyone who works in a school, but may not have been in a classroom for a while should also read this book.Again, it is a good reminder of what teachers and students are experiencing on a daily basis.

This is a book that I will keep and p

How Far Can You Up The Ante?
Since the other reviewers won't tell you what Horace's compromise is, I will. Every high school teacher sooner or later comes to the place where the most important career decision has to be made. Put in the positive sense, the question is: how far are you willing to live for your ideals, i.e., truly educate your students, and keep your standards at the highest levels, in other words, standards you are comfortable with? Put in the negative: how far can you continue to hold respectable standards for student achievement and still survive on the job?Today's high school presents an enormously challenging environment. Very simply, adminstrators and students wield entirely too much power in the classroom, power which has been taken from the teacher.It's not for no reason at all that every pedagogic training institution shows its prospective teachers "The Crucible" (By the way, the term is "classroom hell" - and regardless of what they say, teaching pundit advice aside, it comes to most every teacher - the only difference being in degree).
Walter Annenberg, a media mogul whose controversial dealings made him one of the richest men in the world (he purchased the last Van Gogh ever auctioned), in the late 1980's, funded the education department at Brown University with the largest grant ever awarded to an academic institution in America.Say what you will about Ted Sizer. He succeeded where most academics fail miserably.He procured enough money to research education for many, many lifetimes. The first fruits of this research are embodied in the trilogy which begins with Horace's Compromise.
I think Annenberg was probably somewhat disappointed. Like many aged, reactionary richies, he attributed most of our nation's woes to our troubled educational system - and this putative disaster - the source of all evil - on bad, incompetent teaching, particularly in our public high schools. In fact, this very sentiment was echoed by controversial retired fed chief, Alan Greenspan, in his recent memoir, THE AGE OF TURBULANCE.
I do not agree with these assessments.In some instances, the teacher may be at fault - and certainly the ills of the schools of Victorian England as graphically depicted in the tormented pages of the most influential educational reformer in history - Charles Dickens - may be laid at the feet of bad teachers. And they were.But the day when the teacher had the last word in either discipline or curriculum, or almost anything else, are long gone - as far gone, in fact, as the brutal alma maters of David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. The bulk of the onus for the solution to today's problems resides with administrators and, frankly, overworked and underpaid parents, who are often treated with a measure of the disrespect experienced by many teachers in the classroom.
But, as a explanation of the dilemmas of teaching, I believe Horace's Compromise does better than it's critics claim.As to the solutions, how much better is the standard of success is a bit fuzzier. Sizer is a synthetic thinker - and his solutions come from many sources. Most importantly, he harks back to Rousseau's idea, as expressed in Emile, that student buy-in should be the central dynamic in teaching - and every teacher should advantage it.Well . . . unfortunately the diversity of classroom participation is much like Forrest Gump's mother's proverbial box of chocolates - especially in lower income communities. Catering to diversity, as has been the battle cry of virtually every attempt at educational reform over the past three decades, may not provide the classroom solution. Should we cast the Classical Canon and The Art of Memory to the winds in favor of student designed curricula?I think not. For better or worse, we learn in school the value of the cultural inheritance, what value there is in it. I guess that's why they call me Old School. But then, I'm only one reader.The fact is that we never can and never will be able get around the fact that learning entails pain.I don't feel that Sizer ever adequately comes to terms with this reality.But what does emerge, perhaps unwittingly, from his work, is the understanding that the burden of proof for the success or failure of the learning process, resides not with the teacher, but with the student.For that truth, we ought to recognize that Sizer has more than earned his money.See also: Edward B. Fiske, SMART KIDS, SMART SCHOOLS.

The classic on High School reform
This first of Sizer's Horace trilogy is a must read for those interented in high school reform. Based on years fo field research Sizer, through his composite teacher, describes how even the best intentiioned teachers are handcuffed in trying to meet all their studetns needs in our current educatinal system, even in the best of our comprehensive high schools. He analyzes the shortcomings and closes with a blueprint for restructuring. His later books take that blueprint into more detail. The writing is engaging and persuasive.

horace's compromise
I thought this book was very intresting.I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about teaching high school.I did not get a lot out of the book as a whole, but there were many independent points that stuck out. I liked the way the book challenged the system.

horaces compromise
I am a college student majoring in education.I chose to read the book Horace's Compromise for my education class.I thought the book was very knowledgeable, but it was hard to read.Sometimes the sentences went onforever, and I had to read them more than once.I didn't get much out ofthe book as a whole, but I found certian parts to be intresting.Overallit was a good book, and i would recommend it to anyone who is planning toteach high school. ... Read more

Product Description
Best friends Horace, Morris, and Dolores do everything together. So when they try out for the chorus and Dolores (who sings notes no one has ever heard before) doesn't get in, she feels hurt and angry and -- not like Dolores at all -- sorry for herself. But mostly she feels lonely, with her friends too busy rehearsing to have time to share adventures with her. So Dolores does what she does best and takes matters into her own hands. But can she prove to Moustro Provolone that there's a place for every kind of voice in the chorus? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Lovely story
This story is so much more than one about a little girl who doesn't get into the chorus when her best friend does.

Horace, Morris and Dolores love to sing and they all try out for the chorus. Morris and Horace are in the chorus, but Dolores is not. Moustro Provolone tells Dolores that she just doesn't have an ear for music. Dolores writes Moustro Provolone a letter and he reconsiders.

There are plenty of things to discuss with a child. Feelings that Dolores has after her friends get in and she doesn't. She is hurt, angry and resentful. And feels lonely. Dolores is persistent in pursuing a goal she loves. Her friends support her and are true friends. Many of the situations are ones little kids into and they can learn from Dolores.

Clever and Sweet
I love this book, but better than me liking it, by daughter likes it and asks for it at bedtime most nights.I highly recommend the book as its a clever read and for its appeal to a kid's sensibilites too.

Horace and Morris Join the Chorus
This was a great Because it shows that avery one is good at something. Becuase Horace can sing high notes and Morris can sing low notes. But there friend Dolores just sings notes that no one had ever heard before. So he gets cut from the chorus because and just cant sing at all. so he writes a letter to teachers. Saying he loves to sing. Then the teacher reades it and its a peom so he lets Dolores sing it in the concert.

The Singing Trio
Horace and Morris are two talented singers.Dolores decides to for the three of them to join the school chorus.Now, the only problem is, is that Dolores can't really sing that well.Horace sings the high notes, Morris sings the low notes, and Dolores just sings off key.
After trying out in front of Moustro Provolone, Horace and Morris make the "team", but Dolores gets cut.Dolores starts feeling sad for herself, but pulls through and thinks up a way to get into the chorus.After writing a letter to Moustro Provolone, he realizes her true talent, and invites her to help him.

Horace, Morris, and Dolores in a Chorus Cause Such Tzurris
A nice rhymed lesson that there is a place for everyone in a chorus, after the cheesy Moustro gets convinced.Horace and Morris sing well, Boris and Chloris listen fine, but Dolores, well Dolores is another story. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Pretty bad!
This book was apparently scanned from an earlier edition. It has no illustrations (about half the information value of the book) or chapter breaks, but does have numerous typos. The pagination is radically different from the original, so neither the table of contents nor the index are of much use at all. For the price, the publisher should have done a much better job. Save your money and apply it to a better edition.

incomplete book
this reprinting is incomplete,there are no illustrations,which should make up a good part of this book.

I missed the pictures in this book,
Why weren't the pictures included in this book ? I have camped all my life (71 years)& was so excited to have some really old fashioned ideas, but was disappointed the pictures were not included. Guess i didn't read the details of this printing. :-(

Collector's item
This book was written by Horace Kephart, who was featured in the recent National Parks special as one of the people instrumental in establishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
I bought the book for my husband, a Boy Scout leader and avid camper. He found that it had information he hadn't seen before, such as obscure knots and recipes for game.
Mr. Kephart wrote the book to try to interest others in the outdoor life. It is well worth a look, whether for practical use or as a historical curiosity.

A THROWBACK
As a practical guide this is a very good book, but it serves just as well as a history book. Most people panic when the electricity goes down for a few hours. This book goes back to a time not that long ago when most people were handy and knew how to survive with basic shelter and food.
It's sad in a way that America was once a nation of independent and self-reliant people. Work that is considered gruelling or even punishment was once just part of everyday life. This book goes back to that time on some level. Most of us aren't going to trek through the woods for months at a time but I think it's important to have some basic woodcraft and survival skills no matter who you are and what you do. A good book to have and enjoyable to read. Also, if you get the book try some of the camp cooking recipes...they are quite good. ... Read more

Product Description
A narrative of adventure in the southern Appalachians and a study of life about the mountaineers. Horace Kephart is the man most responsible for the existence of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park spanning the North Carolina and Tennessee border. Using his numerous journals, he wrote of first-hand observations of the mountains and people during his 10 years of travels through the Appalachians. 6x9 trade paper, 548 pages. Includes foreword by Ralph Roberts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Great version of a classic
I was really happy to be able to get a copy of Our Southern Higlanders for my library. I had read it via books.google.com but it is so good I wanted one for the shelf.

The new edition is easy to read, the pictures are adequate reproductions, and the forward really adds to the book

Our Southern Highlanders: A narrative adventure in the southern appalachians and a study of life among the mountaineers
Great read.A classic tale for the anyone interested in life in the appalachians.

Horace Kephart and the Back of Beyond
In the second chapter of his work,"Our Southern Highlanders: a Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life among the Mountaineers" (1913, 1922), Horace Kephart wrote ofsome of the forces which had impelled him to leave his materially comfortable earlier life to live in primitive conditions in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina.Kephart wrote:

"When I went south into the mountains I was seeking a Back of Beyond.This for more reasons than one.With an inborn taste for the wild and romantic, I yearned for a strange land and a people that had the charm of originality.Again, I had a passion for early American history; and, in Far Appalachia, it seemed that I might realize the past in the present, seeing with my own eyes what life must have been to my pioneer ancestors a century or two ago. Besides, I wanted to enjoy a free life in the open air, the thrill of exploring new ground, the joys of the chase, and the man's game of matching my woodcraft against the forces of nature, with no help from servants or hired guides."

Kephart (1862 - 1931) sought the "Back of Beyond" to begin a new life.Born in Pennsylvania, educated at Yale,and trained as a librarian, Kephart had enjoyed a distinguished career as a scholar of the American West at the St. Louis Mercantile, Library. With the pressure of his job, an impending separation from his wife and six children, and increased problems with drinking, Kephart left his position and his family in 1903. He also suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1904, after a stay with his parents, Kephart moved alone to a small abandoned cabin in the Tennessee Mountains, which he describes as"far up under the lee of those Smoky Mountains that I had learned so little about.On the edge of this settlement, scant two miles from the post-office of Medlin, there was a copper mine, long disused on account of litigation, and I got permission to occupy one of its abandoned cabins." Kephart lived in the mountains and among mountaineers for three years. He continued to explore the mountains and study their people through the publication of both editions of "Our Southern Highlanders" and beyond.

As the first quotation above shows, Kephart was looking for a simple life free of the pressures of consumerism and career that he had encountered in St. Louis. His was a romantic quest.He sought independence, and self-sufficiency. He sought to be neither the servant nor the master of any other person. He wanted a life which included wildness and danger, as opposed to the conformity that he found in city life.He wanted to life with a minimum of material possessions and to enjoy nature, the woods, and the hunt. In many respects, Kephart's quest was part of what became a traditional American vision that started with Henry David Thoreau and his "Walden".But Kephart also wanted to get to know and write about the Appalachian mountain people he found.In many respects, Kephart's study of the mountaineers mirrored the qualities that Kephart came to admire and the way of life that Kephart tried to find for himself.As I have suggested, Kephart intended his book to be read in this manner.

"Our Southern Highlanders" is a passionate, personal portrayal of a people Kephart believed that their fellow Americans had long neglected and little understood.He portrays the rugged existence of isolated mountaineers in clearings eking out a subsistence living from farming with little knowledge, in most cases, of the world beyond their hollows. The traits Kephart emphasizes throughout in the mountaineers is their independence, freedom, and ability to make do with little.

It is a romantic study, but Kephart insisted that it was also an accurate one. In the Preface to the Revised edition he wrote: "No one book can give a complete survey of mountain life in all its aspects.Much must be left out.I have chosen to write about those features that seemed to me most picturesque.The narrative is to be taken literally.There is not a line of fiction or exaggeration in it".

In detailed chapters, Kephart portrays the geography and topography of the Great Smoky Mountains.Some of the chapters describe his own experiences, such as camping and hunting expeditions, in remote dangerous parts of the highlands,while others describe the history of the mountain people, their farming, family life, and dialect.The business of moonshining gets a great deal of attention, from the perspective of the mountaineers themselves. Kephart emphasizes the violent character of the region, with its lengthy history of blood feuds, tolerance of murder, and attempts to minimize the impact of the judicial system. While critical of the mountaineers in many ways, Kephart obviously loves them and their cherished independence.He makes the reader care about them as well.

Kephart's book has been criticized. He exaggerated the degree of isolation of his mountaineers. He tended to focus on the most back country part of the population and minimized the farmers in the lower regions who had prospered and adopted many of the traits of rural Americans elsewhere. Much of the criticism may be accurate, but I believe it misses the point.The book offers a romantic vision of a people with an undeniably distinct and harsh way of life.It celebrates the diversity of American experience in the portrayal of a group of people who were, and proudly so, outside the mainstream.The book is better read as a highly personal, insightful work than is a work of rigorous scholarship.It combines a picture of the particularized life of the mountaineers with Kephart's own ideals together with longstanding aspects of the American dream of independence and freedom."Our Southern Highlanders" is a moving and classic American book.

Robin Friedman

As represented
Product was in great condition and a good buy. Well packaged and shipped in a timely manner.

Bad Binding
This is a paperback book. It is a thick paperback book (@460 pages).I paid a decent amount for it ($18.50)but wanted to read it after I saw the author (Horace Kephart) highlighted on the recent Ken Burns' special on national parks.

The book arrived in very good condition so my quarrel is not with the shipment of the book. At my first attempt at opening, however, the "glue" or binding simply broke leaving the bottom part of the book disengaged from the binding.If I do not handle it with extreme care, the pages will fall out.I know not to break a book's back but this is simply very poor quality binding by the Land of the Sky publishers.This will make reading it difficult and will be an easy first give away for recycling.Too bad. ... Read more

Product Description
Something is amiss in quiet little Blootinville. Someone has replaced all the food with Chef Nibble's disgusting ultrachemical Snoodles and Cheaze. To make matters worse, a roving band of second graders calling themselves the Nibblettes have immobilized the town with their goopy gravy snack cup bombs. This looks like a job for the Cupcaked Crusader! But Horace is out of his little sister Melody's superpower cupcakes, and she's nowhere to be found! Can Horace whip up a batch in time, or will the rampaging second graders gravy-nate all of Blootinville. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Compelling reading.
Fiction doesn't get any more noir than Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.It's a gangster tale told by a gangster.And not just any gangster at that.
Ralph Cotter is evil incarnate.He's an amoral criminal who kills in cold blood.But unlike most other murdering thugs, Cotter is a cultured, educated man.His Phi Beta Kappa key is probably the last thing he ever came by honestly. To make everyone aware of his intellectual superiority, he freely uses five dollar vocabulary words and regularly makes obscure references to the classics.
Following a harrowing escape from a prison work farm, Cotter shacks up with a slutty gun moll named Holiday.It doesn't take him long to find corrupt police officials he can blackmail into doing his bidding.And his charming demeanor allows him to become romantically involved with the obscenely wealthy daughter of an ex-governor.
Is the plot of Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye a believable one?Of course not. I doubt it was meant to be.This is an allegorical novel. A fairy tale for adults, if you will.The novel's strength lies in its ability to convey certain truths about human fallability through the very detailed and astute introspection of the repugnant but fascinating narrator.
Both Cotter and the book itself have an overpowering audacity that makes for very compelling reading.Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is an original work of crime fiction that embraces the noir tradition and takes it to a whole new level.Highly recommended.

He's Bad All Over
This is a first-rate gangster book told in the first person from the perspective of Ralph Cotter, a thoroughly evil man. It's a terrific example of noir fiction. It's violent, gritty and tough, exploring the dark underbelly of a corrupt city.

Beginning with a prison breakout and re-establishment back into his life of crime, Ralph proves to be a violent, self-centred man. His life revolves around making money, and if that means robbery and murder is involved, then so be it. He is joined by Holiday, a jealous, suspicious and spiteful gangster's moll of low-morals who is prepared to sleep with any man who walks through her door, and Jinx, a small time crook happy to hang on to the coattails of Ralph's criminal genius. They are all a group of criminals who are anything but reliable, willing to rat each other out for any price.

The unnamed city in which the book is set is filled with corruption, from the criminals themselves to the crooked cops who police it. The grab for money is intense and morals are non-existent.

As with all noir stories, there are no good or nice characters, most of them are pretty repugnant people, and there is no chance of even a remotely happy ending.

Slam tough noir
Here's a 1948 hardboiled novel that almost reads like it could have been written yesterday.Not quite, but almost.It's the real McCoy, not a fake.The words are hard as nails--occasionally dipped in acid and that makes this all the more what it's spozed to be.

Take a con who's Ivy League educated and has warped aspirations of making himself as corrupt as possible.Yeah, do that, and at the same time, let him keep his three-dollar words to throw in when he feels like it, when he wants to prove--to himself, mostly--that he's a hell of a lot more educated than the guys he 'admires': Alvin Karpis, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger.It's a potent mix, and McCoy does it up just right.The language is not stupid; it's perfect, reflecting the main character (Ralph Cotter)'s twisted psyche.Everything's from his point of view.

You got your shysters, your corrupt cops, your wicked women.Oh yeah, you got 'em, all right, but when they're in the picture, the dialogue snaps like a wet Coney Island towel wielded by a wiseguy.

You wanna good read that reminds you of American knowhow--as in I know how to push your buttons, buddy?I know how to give you a story that tells you about the things Americans think about, but don't talk about.

This is it.This is an egg whose shell you can't break.That's how hardboiled this is.

The toughest and most bitter gangster novel ever written
Horace McCoy's Ralph Cotter character is a remarkable exception in U.S. gangster novel history. Unlike Donald Henderson Clarke's Louis Beretti, William Burnett's Little Caesar, Armitage Trail's Tony "Scarface" Camonte, or also James Cagney in the movie "The Public Enemy", who are ill bred gangsters created by the system, moving in big cities they know by heart and surrounded with people they've been knowing since their childhood, who kill only to eliminate the competition, Ralph Cotter - or whatever his name is, we'll see that Cotter is not his real one - is an individual, educationed one, a gangster of his own, with his own hates and fears, escaping from a prison farm and coming in a city he doesn't know - and which is never named -, getting involved with dangerous people he doesn't know.
But he's smart, gutted and above all, totally immoral and in spite of all he manages to dominate his world, using generalized corruption and blackmailing to do what he wants, turning the situation up side down, for his own benefit.

But even a guy like him can't do anything againt the system. When he meets Margaret Dobson he doesn't know he just entered a world of lies and compromising. After a while Margaret presents him as her husband to her millionaire, overpowerful father, who doesn't like it at all. When he's gone Margaret says they have to go and get married at once. Of course Ralph - who meanwhile took the name of Paul Murphy - doesn't want to get married but she uses some verbal threatening to force him, he can't do anything. He refuses the money for annulment of the marriage, in order to get rid of her and not be chased. But by doing this he doesn't do anything but seduce Margaret and her father, who finally chase him. The Dobson family gives Margaret to him for a million dollars. What Cotter has to say doesn't count and he's really forced to live with a girl he doesn't like, for the rest of his life. His old demons and fears - quite heavily described by the writer - help him to understand his desperate situation: he's now a robot, commanded by the Dobson family; he lost his ability to make a choice. He runs away from Margaret. But just before she took his gun away...

Again McCoy succeeds in describing our society as it is, merciless and immoral, where the middle-class man looses all his dignity when he faces the big ones and their many forms of greed. Like in "They shoot Horses, don't they?", where Gloria Beatty smiles as Robert Syverten is about to shoot her, Ralph Cotter wishes he could laugh as Holiday Tokowanda, his tough girlfriend who just showed him up as the murderer of her brother, kills him. He knows he's not a man any longer: when the bullets hit him, he doesn't feel anything. McCoy's message is clear: in a world like this, the best ending for his main characters is death.

"Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is a cursed, splendid, terrible masterpiece that is highly, unfairly underrated and misunderstood, produced by one of the best and most neglected writers in U.S. literary history. Most people don't know or don't want to know but it's a precursory, very important novel, annoucing some important other ones, published later, with the same kind of violent plot and furious main characters, using violence to take revenge for the society which rejected them: Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange", Jim Thompson's "The Killer inside me", "Pop. 1280" and also "Child of Rage", William Styron's "The Confessions of Nat Turner"...

The toughest and most bitter gangster novel ever written
Horace McCoy's Ralph Cotter character is a remarkable exception in U.S. gangster novel history. Unlike Donald Henderson Clarke's Louis Beretti, William Burnett's Little Caesar, Armitage Trail's Tony "Scarface" Camonte, or also James Cagney in the movie "The Public Enemy", who are ill bred gangsters created by the system, moving in big cities they know by heart and surrounded with people they've been knowing since their childhood, who kill only to eliminate the competition, Ralph Cotter - or whatever his name is, we'll see that Cotter is not his real one - is an individual, educationed one, a gangster of his own, with his own hates and fears, escaping from a prison farm and coming in a city he doesn't know - and which is never named -, getting involved with dangerous people he doesn't know.
But he's smart, gutted and above all, totally immoral and in spite of all he manages to dominate his world, using generalized corruption and blackmailing to do what he wants, turning the situation up side down, for his own benefit.

But even a guy like him can't do anything againt the system. When he meets Margaret Dobson he doesn't know he just entered a world of lies and compromising. After a while Margaret presents him as her husband to her millionaire, overpowerful father, who doesn't like it at all. When he's gone Margaret says they have to go and get married at once. Of course Ralph - who meanwhile took the name of Paul Murphy - doesn't want to get married but she uses some verbal threatening to force him, he can't do anything. He refuses the money for annulment of the marriage, in order to get rid of her and not be chased. But by doing this he doesn't do anything but seduce Margaret and her father, who finally chase him. The Dobson family gives Margaret to him for a million dollars. What Cotter has to say doesn't count and he's really forced to live with a girl he doesn't like, for the rest of his life. His old demons and fears - quite heavily described by the writer - help him to understand his desperate situation: he's now a robot, commanded by the Dobson family; he lost his ability to make a choice. He runs away from Margaret. But just before she took his gun away...

Again McCoy succeeds in describing our society as it is, merciless and immoral, where the middle-class man looses all his dignity when he faces the big ones and their many forms of greed. Like in "They shoot Horses, don't they?", where Gloria Beatty smiles as Robert Syverten is about to shoot her, Ralph Cotter wishes he could laugh as Holiday Tokowanda, his tough girlfriend who just showed him up as the murderer of her brother, kills him. He knows he's not a man any longer: when the bullets hit him, he doesn't feel anything. McCoy's message is clear: in a world like this, the best ending for his main characters is death.

"Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is a cursed, splendid, terrible masterpiece that is highly, unfairly underrated and misunderstood, produced by one of the best and most neglected writers in U.S. literary history. Most people don't know or don't want to know but it's a precursory, very important novel, annoucing some important other ones, published later, with the same kind of violent plot and furious main characters, using violence to take revenge for the society which rejected them: Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange", Jim Thompson's "The Killer inside me", "Pop. 1280" and also "Child of Rage", William Styron's "The Confessions of Nat Turner"... ... Read more

Product Description
Since the late 1970s, Theodore Sizer has studied and worked among hundreds of American high schools. His research was first published in 1984 in HORACE'S COMPROMISE. Sizer now proposes a process of redesign which respects the best of the rich traditions of secondary schooling while doing far more to educate our youth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

changing lives
as a framework for understanding the coallition of essential schools (a type of restructuring which changes the school into a place that works for students, not against them) this book is amazing.looking at the flaws of america's public school system, this book is one that offers suggestions for change in a way that anyone can understand.horace, a characiture of many teachers, leads the way for his high school to be the best it can be.a must read for anyone who is interested in education.

Horace's School: Redesigning the/an American High School
As a product of American schools, a history major, and a fan of both institutional revisionism and reform, I picked up Horace's School looking for new ideas.Here are a few thoughts of what I read.I believe Dr.Sizer does a fine job presenting his argument for the decentralization ofschool power and for his Coalition of Essential Schools.Likewise, hetakes the care and time to present the counter arguments and concerns thatmight arise during a very real and difficult reform process.

At thesame time, I left the book with some serious questions and concerns.IfHorace's School, as presented in the book, is not every school, how can itbe subtitled the redesign of THE American high school?Considering thisframework, the book lacks serious discussion or concern for the issues ofrace, class and gender that infuse less 'privileged' schools- ones thatstruggle even for basic funding equity and public notice.Horace'sSchool is a worthwhile read.The questions just keep coming. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the artist for young readers. Author/artist Mike Venezia provides cartoon-style illustrations to complement his easy-to-read text and full-colorreproductions of the masters artwork.Series Features Perfect for art appreciation studies Excellent preparation for a museum trip Photo captions include where famous historical works of art can be viewed Publisher: Scholastic Library Publishing Author: Mike Venezia Format: 32 pages, library binding ISBN: 9780531185278 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Horace Pippin (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
This is a wonderful series of books on famous artists.I am an elementary school art teacher and I use these books whenever I can.They are well written, funny, easy to read, and the students REMEMBER the information!! ... Read more

Product Description
Horace Silver is one of the last giants remaining from the incredible flowering and creative extension of bebop music that became known as "hard bop" in the 1950s. This freewheeling autobiography of the great composer, pianist, and bandleader takes us from his childhood in Norwalk, Connecticut, through his rise to fame as a musician in New York, to his comfortable life "after the road" in California. During that time, Silver composed an impressive repertoire of tunes that have become standards and recorded a number of classic albums. Well-seasoned with anecdotes about the music, the musicians, and the milieu in which he worked and prospered, Silver's narrative--like his music--is earthy, vernacular, and intimate. His stories resonate with lessons learned from hearing and playing alongside such legends as Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. His irrepressible sense of humor combined with his distinctive spirituality make his account both entertaining and inspiring. Most importantly, Silver's unique take on the music and the people who play it opens a window onto the creative process of jazz and the social and cultural worlds in which it flourishes.
Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty also describes Silver's spiritual awakening in the late 1970s. This transformation found its expression in the electronic and vocal music of the three-part work called The United States of Mind and eventually led the musician to start his own record label, Silveto. Silver details the economic forces that eventually persuaded him to put Silveto to rest and to return to the studios of major jazz recording labels like Columbia, Impulse, and Verve, where he continued expanding his catalogue of new compositions and recordings that are at least as impressive as his earlier work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Disappointing
I was really looking forward to starting this book. I have quite a few of Horace's albums and really like them and was looking forward to reading about his long career.

Disappointingly, I have to agree with one of the other reviewers that there is a lot of listing of personnel in bands for no other reason than listing them. Very rarely do we get any kind of critique or analysis of any aspect of his life. It reads as if Phil Pastras simply transcribed audio tapes of Horace recounting anecdotes and did no more than ensure that the anecdotes were in chronological order. After the first 100 pages I found it to be very repetitive/formulaic - a brief description of a gig/album session, listing of the personnel, Horace is grateful for the life he has.

No offence to Horace, but if I have to read one more time about how he 'married Lady Music' and how music is his life...

A squandered opportunity, this was a chance to pass something of real substance on to the younger generations from someone who truly forged a unique path/sound in a crowded artform.

I was thinking about getting his book on small combo playing but, based on this, I am worried that I'll regret buying it. I think I'll wait for the moment.

Sorry Horace.

Lacks substance
After seeing Horace perform live many years ago, and listening to his early recordings, I looked forward to reading his insights, and maybe gaining a clue into what made his music magical. I found no insight, but came to realize that to become any better at my own piano playing I would just have to continue practicing. maybe that was all I should have expected to discern from reading this ever so short story.

I'm glad he wrote it !
I have been a fan of Horace Silver for many years and I am grateful that he took the time and effort to share the story of his life with us.

The tone of the book is personal. It is not a jazz history or an analysis of his compositions. It's like he is as happy to have you read it as you are in reading it.

I learned much about the man. His appreciation for his friends and for his own life is inspirational. That he has had a very long career as a jazz musician and manged to stay away from drugs when so many of his associates were complete addicts is a point to be admired. The scope of his work is beyond what I had imagined.

If you are a fan of Horace and his music you will enjoy reading his viewpoint of his own life.

Still Living Jazz Great's Autobiography
Horace Silver is one of the few surviving masters from the golden years of jazz. He tells us about growing up in Connecticut, coming to NYC in the early 1950's when it seemed that there were jazz clubs everywhere. He provides the reader with valuable insights into his piano playing and composing talent. His first big time experience was with Stan Getz. Then with Coleman Hawkins, Lou Donaldson and on to Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. He played with Lester Young and Miles Davis. Then he started with his famous quintets which featured Kenny Dorham,Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins and later on Donald Byrd,Art Farmer,Clifford Jordan,Louis Smith,Junior Cook,Blue Mitchell, Carmell Jones and Joe Henderson. I very much enjoyed his perspective on the illustrious past and the many stories related in this book. Well worthwhile read for any jazz enthusiast. An excellent discography is included.

It's About Time
I don't think I can say much about Horace that hasn't already been said other than he is my primary musical influence. I love his compositions and I love his approach to the piano. I consider him as a "father of funk" as well as hard bop. I was so happy that someone got a chance to speak with Horace in depth before he leaves us. I already deeply regret that I will most likely never get a chance to see him perform live.I highly recommend his autobiography to any true fan. ... Read more

Product Description
First published pseudonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto purported to be a translation of an Italian story of the time of the crusades.In it Walpole attempted, as he declared in the Preface to the Second Edition, "to blend the two kinds of romance: the ancient and the modern."Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favorite among his numerous works.The novel is reprinted here from a text of 1798, the last that Walpole himself prepared for the press. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

"Since I Cannot Give You My Son, I Offer You Myself..."
First published in 1764, Horace Walpole's dark and melodramatic novel is widely considered the very first Gothic novel, containing within its pages all the familiar (and by today's standards, clichéd) elements of the genre. Expect a spooky old castle, an ancient prophecy, dark portends, women that faint often and with little cause, a dysfunctional family whose members can't decide whether to love or hate each other, haunted portraits, secret tunnels and trapdoors, manic tyrants, endangered virgins, ghostly visages, and young heroes that put honor before reason, and whose obsession with virtue prevents them from doing anything particularly helpful. It's vintage Gothic: intense emotions running wild, thrill-seeking in the reader's pursuit of the supernatural horror, and a heavy, foreboding atmosphere.

The story was first purported to be a translation of an Italian document dated 1529 which in turn was a transcription of an older story that took place some time during the crusades. Walpole later amended this in a later preface, admitting that he wrote the story himself (in fact, his inspiration came from a dream in which he glimpsed a gigantic armored hand on a stairwell) and that his intentions were in blending the ancient and modern forms of Romance: "in the former all was imagination and improbability: in the latter, nature is always intended to be copied. Invention has not been wanting, but the great resources of fancy have been damned up, by strict adherence to common life. But if in the latter species Nature has cramped imagination, she did but take her revenge, having been totally excluded from old romances. The author of the following pages thought it possible to reconcile the two kinds."

Whether Wadpole was successful in this endeavor is incidental. The importance of "The Castle of Otranto" is that in this mingling of old and new, the Gothic genre was born.

Prince Manfred of Otranto has a faithful wife, a beautiful daughter, and a sickly son, yet as is often the way with tyrants, he is dissatisfied. His son is about to marry Princess Isabella, daughter of the Marquis of Vincenza, but on the day of the wedding Conrad is killed in mysterious circumstances. Actually, make that "bizarre" circumstances: he's been crushed under a giant helmet that seems to have fallen out of nowhere.

Cutting his losses, Manfred arrests a young man for the murder of his son, and decides to divorce his wife Hippolita and marry Isabella himself, a proposition that horrifies the girl who was to become his daughter-in-law. Isabella makes her escape into the shadowed catacombs of the palace, Hippolita and Matilda fret about their future, and the servants live in terror of the apparitions appearing throughout the castle: the oversized arms and legs of an armored giant (who is somehow finding a way to hide whenever anyone's back is turned).

It's difficult to really assess this book. It many ways it is totally outdated in terms of story and character, and is really only valuable for its historical significance. Although I could not say I "enjoyed" reading it, I nevertheless found it "entertaining," as odd as that distinction may seem. When it comes to the characters' emotions, there's a lot of telling rather than showing, and many of the main cast is thoroughly insipid, frustrating and unsympathetic (even those who are meant to be the heroes).

For example, Theodore is our male lead, who makes catastrophic mistakes throughout the story (usually due to an inability to keep his mouth shut) and who eventually makes the decision to be miserable for the rest of his life, desiring only to "forever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul." If a character is depressed, it's probably because they're in love; which is how Theodore experiences his ardor toward Matilda (even though I'm not entirely sure how he tells her apart from Isabella). All the women are submissive, delicate martyrs, who consider it an honor to be walked all over by their male counterparts, and sigh with angelic resignation in the face of mistreatment. Comic relief comes in the form of the shrewd and wily servants, who seem to be well-aware of how ridiculous their masters and mistresses are.

And some of the dialogue is downright hysterical, such as: "My dearest, gracious lord, what is it you see? Why do you fix your eyeballs thus?" Obviously, it's very easy to make fun of the Gothic genre (Jane Austen herself did it in Northanger Abbey) simply because it relies so much on melodrama. Despite the negative connotations, melodrama *can* be done well, and despite my heckling, Walpole pulls it off...for the most part. But don't just think it's 21st century cynicism casting its shadow over the literary past, even many of Walpole's contemporary critics dismissed "The Castle of Otranto" as an absurdity.

An absurdity it may well be, but keeping in mind the author's intentions and its place within the Gothic canon, Walpole's efforts are worthy of attention. This is not the heights of Gothic literature, but it is the forefather of the genre, and for that reason alone it has value.

Oxford World Classics edition
I have to agree with the consensus of reviewers here:If you are looking for an excellent Gothic novel to read, this one is not it.If you are studying the history of Gothic literature and aesthetics, this novel is fundamental.

I want to recommend highly the introduction by E.J. Clery to the Oxford World Classics edition.Clery provides a survey of the various ways of interpreting the novel, and amply explains the novel's strengths and weaknesses in the context of the different interpretations.With this approach, the reader finds ways of making sense of the peculiar novel within the context of its time and its author's possible intentions.

Powerful whimsy
This review refers to the Oxford World's Classics edition, edited by WS Lewis, with a 26-page introduction and eight pages of endnotes by EJ Clery. There is a select bibliography and a chronology of the author, Horace Walpole. Importantly, the book includes both the first and second editions' title-pages and prefaces.

The first edition, "The Castle of Otranto: A Story, translated by William Marshal", was published in December 1764 (but marked 1765 on the title-page). It's preface tried - and succeeded for awhile - to give the impression that the tale had been "found in the library of an ancient catholic family in the north of England" and had been "printed at Naples ... in the year 1529. ... The style is the purest Italian."

The style was instead the purest Walpole and he quickly confessed; so that in the rapidly-issued second edition of 1765 (the book was an immediate hit), the revised preface became, as EJ Clery makes clear, "a manifesto for a new type of writing", and the title-page was amended to "The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story".

The inclusion of the adjective into the story's title is fundamental to the book's reputation as being the well-spring of much (all?) that followed in subsequent western literature that effected to underscore its credentials with a Gothic - or Gothick - motif. One could argue that that includes 90% of western literature (as much Thomas Pynchon as Stephen King), but this is going too far; for as Walpole himself makes plain in his second preface, his work was an attempt to marry imagination with nature, fantasy with reality, and that he had progenitors in the essay: "That great master of nature, Shakespeare, was the model I copied."

The story itself - a tale of lordly tyranny, supernatural horror, and family feuding that would have interested Shakespeare himself in its dramatic possibilities - is told over five chapters, barely one hundred pages in total, and so can be read in a few hours. As the excellent introduction relates, Walpole himself thought the story a piece of whimsy, and did not attempt to savagely repudiate the criticisms raised about both the style of writing and about the narrative itself. He was aware of the novella's power, however, in creating a new species of romance.

The work today is as much read for its historic relevance than for its terror and sublime effects, but both of these aspects recommend it.

Probably better in its day


This book, like Pamela for feminist literary history, is important due to the fact that it was the first gothic novel ever written. The voice is a good one for the story, deep, reverant, dramatic; the writing is of excellent breed as well. With that said, however, so much has been ripped-off from this novel, and into novels that we've already read, that the story itself comes off as a bit cliche, not to mention ridiculous. Although the hyperbole of the novel is based off sybolic intentions, the best that one can say about this piece is that it lit a torch for future great novels--not that it's so much a great novel on its own two feet. Worty of reading if you care about the history of novels in general, but if you're looking for a great gothic novel this shouldn't be a first choice.

Walpole's Castle: More Historical Then Entertaining
When Horace Walpole published THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO in 1794, his reading public was unprepared for what was to them a floodtide of unrestrained emotion.It had only been recently that the concept of "sensibility" in writing had been in vogue. In novels of this type (later popularized by Austen) the protagonist, usually a well-born female, would be subject to a non-stop series of emotional excesses like fainting, weeping, and otherwise losing all restraint. And lying behind this relatively recent vogue of sensibility lay a much longer tradition of its polar opposite: the damming of all feeling in favor of a carefully controlled harmony between man and nature. With THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO, this harmony cracked into innumerable pieces that manifested themselves into what was soon to become staples of the genre: unexplained supernatural phenomenon, dark and dank castles that hinted at the equally dark and dank recesses of the human psyche, and a series of images that exploded into a cacophony of sound and sight.

The story is slight both in plot and theme. The evil Manfred, the usurping ruler of Otranto, plans to marry his weakened son solely to ward off a prophecy that suggests that unless he has male heirs, he will be deposed. Just before the nuptuals between his son and Manfred's choice for him, Isabella, a colossal helmet comes crashing down, crusahing his son to pieces. This tragedy does not deter Manfred as he then plans to marry the lovely Isabella himself. Isabella, aided by the peasant Theodore, helps Isabella escape. Theodore is captured, but the ghost of the previous owner of Otranto, Alonso appears and incredibly blasts his own castle to pieces, leaving Isabella to marry Theodore. Even for a nonsense story, the plot does not hold water. Further, the writing style is inexplicably formal, with all events, both mundane and preternatural, narrated in a pseudo-classic manner that fits in well enough in the Augustan mode but seems ill-suited to this new genre of emotional excess.Still, THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO is significant in that for those who care to learn the where and the how of the horror genre, then Walpole's innovative surge of novelistic emotion is a good place to begin. ... Read more

Product Description

Horace, a leopard, is the adopted son of tiger parents. Every night, at bedtime, Mama tells him how he came to be their child. But Horace always falls asleep before the story ends. As Horace grows older, he begins to wonder whether he belongs -- really belongs -- with his adopted family. He runs away. When Mama and Papa find him, Horace is glad. And that night, as he goes to sleep, he provides his very own ending to the story he has heard so often. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Loved it!
We are very satisfied with this book and recommend it for adoptive and non adoptive families. It is a story about love!

Helpful conversation starter
Although I was initially hesitant about this book because of the "chosen child" language (Horace is told that he was chosen as an infant), I went ahead and read this with my daughter. It proved to be a breakthrough for us. We have talked about her story with her as long as we've known her, but she never shared with me her feelings about us looking different than each other. Reading this together has opened new avenues of discussing her past and has helped her process feelings and thoughts about her place in our family.

I agree with another reviewer that the use of the word "lost" in relation to the birth family is not ideal, but that also proved to be helpful in launching a conversation about the possible reasons for my daughter's relinquishment and gives me ocassion to assure her that it was and is not her fault.

I find now that my daughter is old enough to express more clearly her thoughts and feelings about having been adopted, books with less-than-ideal adoption language actually help us have some really good conversations. I'd rather her hear that language and those ideas about adoption with me than from others.

Adoption book accessible to even the toddler set
Horace is delightful.It is very simply written and simply and beautifully illustrated.Yet, it's deep.It introduces themes that are central to many, many adoptees' experience in a simple, straight-forward, and even loving way:a sense of loss, feeling different, and the need to understand who they are before/during/beyond their adopted family.Horace's parents are consistently loving and accepting.They tell Horace the truth; they seem to understand his struggle and need to search for something; and they are there loving & accepting him the whole time.The image of the little leopard trying to connect his spots into stripes touched me deeply.I read some of the negative reviews---everyone has a different opinion---but for me, at least, those very negatives were some of the most positive aspects of this gentle, truthful, reassuring read.Thank you.

Best of the adoption books I've read this month.
Holly Keller, Horace (Morrow, 1991)

Horace is another of the adoption books that's been on my plate recently, and of the batch I've read over the last month or so, I'd have to say this one's the best by a pretty wide margin. The title character is a leopard who's been adopted by a family of tigers, and after a birthday party where he's overwhelmed by the number of stripes surrounding him, he decides to go out into the world and find a place where people look like him.

Oddly, despite the fact that I really liked this, I wanted to see more of it; Keller sets up the situation in such a way that there are a pretty sizable number of neuroses that could crop up towards the end, and seeing how Horace and his family reacted to those could have made for an interesting book (though it would quickly grow much larger than your typical kids' picture book), but what's here is good for what it is-- a reassuring look at the choice adoptive parents make in choosing kids that don't look like them. Good stuff. I'm hoping for a sequel. ****

A great adoption book
This is the adoption book that most touched our adopted daughter. It addresses the issue of not physically looking like parents.Now in her twenties she still reads it like a favorite poem.We routinely purchase it as a "new baby" gift for children adopted by friends. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The Cupcaked Crusader is facing his toughest challenge yet: a school camping trip! Not only is Horace Splattly mistakenly put in the kindergartner's cabin, but his brilliant little sister Melody wants to use his superpowers to find the rare and valuable Blootinite.But when someone-or something-kidnaps all the teachers from the camp, Horace thinks he knows the villains behind the wicked plot-the legendary Clownosauruses. But can our pint-sized, pastry-loving superhero succeed in tracking the elusive monsters? Will he catch the culprit behind the teachers' mysterious disappearance? And just what is a Clownosuarus anyway? ... Read more

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Griffin, an openly gay African American pastoral theologican and seminary professor, offers new approaches to understanding scripture and homosexuality through pastoal theology and black liberation theology.He provides a historical overview and crticial analysis of the black church and its current engagement with lesbian and gay Christians, and shares ways in which black churches can learn to reach out and confront all types of oppression no just race--in order to do the work of the black community.The book received a 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Love knows no color
"Their Own Receive Them Not" is a fascinating work by African-American gay seminarian Horace Griffin. Griffin makes the compelling argument that African-American LGBT people face discrimination because African-American sexuality has been demonized. Griffin recounts the story of Barbara Jordan, one of the first African-Americans to serve in the Senate, whose life partner was marginalized at her funeral. It's a sad irony when current RNC head Michael Steele rails against same-sex partner benefits. After all, interracial marriage was once demonized.

"Their Own Receive Them Not" explores the usual arguments against homosexuality, African culture, and how African-American LGBT deal with the stigma against them. One of the book's weaknesses is that it isn't lengthy enough. It attempts to plumb the depths.

On a side note, I was unable to find this book through Amazon's search engine, even when I used the title and author name. I had to use Google. Any theories?

The Black Church Had It Coming!
Professor Horace L. Griffin, a seminarian and priest as well as an openly Gay Black man, yanks the covers off of Black Christian bigotry in this hard-hitting book.It is nothing less than an indictment of the Black church.I strongly recommend it, and I hope Oprah Winfrey will choose to showcase it as an Oprah's Book Club selection.It could cause a sensation greater than JL King's controversial book about closeted Black men, "On The Down Low."Nothing better could happen! ... Read more