Maharajas' Jewels

Book Description

The fascinating stories of Indian princes and their jewelry and precious stones are brought together in this sumptuously illustrated narrative tracing the rise and fall of India's leading royal houses through the dramatic fortunes of their crown jewels.

Famed since antiquity as a supreme source of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, the Indian subcontinent afforded untold symbols of power and prestige to its many kings. From the sixteenth century forward, these stone were sought with unscrupulous avidity by the crowned heads of Europe, but even the rapacity of the British Empire failed to devour all of India's treasures. In the twentieth century, in a final flowering of regal splendor, many maharajas traveled to the West to have their jewels reset by the most prestigious jewelers of Paris, London, and Rome. It is this encounter between Indian princely magnificence and the best of European jewelry design that forms the book's centerpiece.

The authors offer a fresh, vigorous text drawing on original material from a wide range of government and private archives, and featuring many hitherto unpublished pictures alongside more familiar ones. From Sanskrit dramatists extolling the riches of India to the finest of modern Europe's jewelers crossing Asia in search of royal clients, a broad gamut of real voices and resplendent images brings to life the story of India's royal gems.

Customer Reviews:

ICE OF INDIA.......2006-03-06

India has always been famous for her amazing jewels, be it structures like the Taj Mahal or amazing Maharajas stones. This book is exquisite, the images are vivid and crisp and the text scholarly. It is just amazing to see these jewels, you just cannot imagine this sort of wealth. When I think of jewels of India I always think of Louis XIV's French Blue, that came from a Maharaja and now is known as the Hope Diamond, it is simply spectacular, it's a shame it was recut after it was stolen during the French Revolution, but it is still one of the most beautiful diamond's in the world. If you have any interest in beautiful jewelery or Indian history in general then you will love this book.

A Wonderfully made book.......2001-12-28

I had bought the book "Maharaja's Jewels" by Katherine Prior and John Adamson and I must say that it was truly a wonderful book. For those who have interest in Jewels, Indian history, Royalty, Photography and I think for any one it will be a great experience to read it.

The Authors have brought out the richness of the land in an excellent presentation. The quality of the book in terms of the content, pictures, presentation, the collection of the jewels shown and the history behind them is very well presented.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and certainly recommend to any one with interest in such a book. it should be in any interested person's collection.

This book IS a jewel!.......2001-03-01

Amazing. I spent outside my budget to get this book and it's worth every cent.

A lavish examination of maharaja jewelry.......2001-01-16

Maharajahs' Jewels provides an oversized, lavish examination of maharaja jewelry, considering the history behind royal jewelry making in India and the conditions under which some of the most famous jewelry pieces were manufactured. The stories of the Indian princes and their jewelry will appeal to any interested in Indian history in general and jewelry-making in particular.

AN EXTRAORDINARY LOOK AT AN EPOCH OF LUXURY.......2001-01-12

Forget those diamonds that are supposed to be a girl's best friend - they're mere baubles compared to the opulent jewels that covered India's maharajas from turban tips to beringed fingers. Their palaces needed no artificial light as rooms shone with the brilliance of thousands of precious gems.

"Too much" was not in the vocabulary of these rulers as to many possessing and adorning themselves with fabulous jewelry was their raison d'etre. "The Maharaja of Baroda owned five long strands of perfectly matched, pigeon-sized, cream-colored pearls," which he wore in a bib-like drape. Rubies from Burma, emeralds from Brazil, Golconda diamonds and Kashmir sapphires were the decorations of the day.

Some 300 eye-popping photos in this sumptuous folio-size volume attest to princely extravagance, and to the artistry of great jewelers such as Cartier and Boucheron whom the royals commissioned to set their gems. The accompanying text is rich with insights for all who are fascinated by once princely India and enjoy jewels of unparalleled beauty.

Book Description

Naughty Imogen likes to watch. When her boyfriend Christian is out at work she spends her evenings spying on the neighbors through binoculars and viewing her secret porn collection. Most of all, though, she likes to go online and pretend to be Christian while she chats up men on a Manchester gay dating site. But when her latest virtual beau and borderline obsession Dark Knight asks for a photograph, her voyeuristic games become complicated. Suddenly Christian is being drawn into her sleazy thrills without his knowledge. Imogen's getting more eye candy than she ever dreamed of, but at what price?

Customer Reviews:

'Peep Show' Rocks.......2007-04-06

I stayed up late, very late, to finish 'Peep Show'. Though I've never considered myself any kind of voyeur this book caught and held me from start to finish. I've been wondering today, as a reader and as a writer, why I found it so irresistible. The answer lies in the voice of the narrator, Imogene, and the love between her and her equally kinky boyfriend, Christian. My my, what that boy won't do for his woman. In fact, it's his willingness to please her that may be their undoing. Now, this is a Black Lace book, so what are the chances that we are left with a broken hearted heroine? Imogene, without Christian, would be devastated forever. Still, I worried right along with her when it looked like she might have lost her beautiful boy to the Dark Knight. Imogene is not your usual Black Lace heroine. She dresses in tracksuits or jeans and wields a mighty strap-on. Other that that we are given no physical description at all. Fitting, since she is a voyeur. I have to laugh at the Amazon reviewer, an American, who had trouble with the English vernacular; the narrator's voice is terrific. The twisty turny plot (as Imogene might say) evolves naturally from Imogene's unnatural desire to watch. Which leads me to the sex. Whether it's male/male or male/female or even male to female/male it's hot. For more, maybe you'd best just buy the book and enjoy the show.

Obscure Subject Matter Done Well.......2005-09-16

I bought this book purely because it's one of the very, very few I've seen that deal with a particular kink of mine, of loving male-male action although I'm a girl. Even in a time where the freakiest S&M stuff is it's own niche market, I have trouble finding something as simple as a little male homoeroticism and bisexuality. MMF threesome themes are definitely hot, and in a pinch, gay erotica hits the spot, but it's gratifying to see a Black Lace title that specifically caters to this interest, since they've done almost everything else. So thanks, Mathilde Madden, for writing on this subject!

That said, I want to give you my honest opinion of the book. When I first started it, I was a little disappointed. Imogene was not a terribly sympathetic character. I couldn't see any deep relationship between her and Christian, her voyeurism wasn't subtle-sexy but downright obsessive (high-powered binoculars?), and her gay male fetish leaned more towards S&M than anything else, which is a turnoff for me.
But as I kept reading, I was hooked. I started to really put myself in Imogene's lucky little shoes. Her character fleshed out and the plot thickened beautifully. I don't want to give the story away, but when she sees the thing she's been fearing most, well, I gasped along right with her. Though it started slow and kind of wobbly, the story was absolutely wondrous.

My complaints are only a few. Imogene is English, so, as an American, I've got to put up with 'knickers' and 'fish and chips' and British spellings (they just love to tuck 'u' into anything, don't they?) but it's not too terrible. There's some grammar problems and misspellings, which bug me, but they really are few and far between. The sex scenes were HOT. Imogene giving Christian the best sex of his life, hearing about how they met, some male-male trysts she spies on, well they're delicious. Unfortunately, a lot of the sexiness is on the page, being talked about, but not engaged, if you know what I mean. Or a couple of fade-to-blacks, or, in Imogene's case, she has to stop spying for a few moments. But overall, the book was very erotic. And the character of Lorne bugged me a little. I wanted something to happen, anything, but in the end, nothing did, and it was quite disappointing. Also, the book was very open-ended. What will happen in the future to the four characters, after all they've been through? The book doesn't give a hint, which is quite frustrating. It almost ended a tad abruptly, for me.

But don't let these complaints fool you. That's just the editor in me. The book was fabulous and definitely worth buying.

Not up to Black Lace standards.......2005-08-02

While the quality of this book's writing is the usual Black Lace breezy and fun standard, the overall descriptions of the most erotic scenes are either too brief, too boring or are by the numbers at best. Most Black Lace novels are sually filled with torrid sex, this one has that, but just not in abundance or originality. An okay read, but Black Lace has better to offer.

Hot little specialty erotica for the voyeur in you .... .......2005-07-08

Very aptly named .... we follow a young Imogen in her daily routine as she strives to spice up her kink sex life of peeping in on men and their 'supposedly' most private self pleasuring moments and, of course those moments when they are 'entertaining' boyfriends ...

She certainly does love the male action and never has her binoculars far from reach... the fact that she had a boyfriend with very very non-hterosexual wants and desires .... makes this a perfect couple for the kink they enjoy ... and yes there's nothing wrong with that ...

OK so I gave this baby a five star thumbs up but it certainly is not the kind of book that I would normally buy or read .... course eroticism is in the eye of the beholder ... and ... if you are into it this book sure is great ....

Smart, dangerous and sexy........2005-06-01

With its instantly likeable heroine and many delicious supporting characters, I found "Peep Show" smart, dangerous and sexy. There's a layering of voyeurism that made me squirm a bit - in a very good way, mind you - and Mathilde Madden always manages to make even the most guilty-pleasure, squirm-inducing setup turn hot. In the past, I've read some (a lot) of erotica purely for the smut and have learned ignore things like bad writing, weak plot, etc, but I was *very* happy to discover I didn't have to do that with "Peep Show" -- Madden kept me turning the page with a strong, engaging voice, and a constantly exciting plot.

Highly recommended, especially if one, like Imogen, likes nothing more than watching sexy guys (and the odd gal - especially a hot drag king like Lorne) get into sexy situations.

Average customer rating:

Peep Show

Manufacturer: Dewi Lewis Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1899235248

Book Description

Peep Show was photographed in the red light districts of Paris. This is a world of shadows-of life on the margins-revealed through glimpses that are both provocative and symbolic. Voluptuously curtained neon-lit doorways, with their strategic gaps and seductive folds, become symbolic of the sex act. Footprints, shadows, and patches of light provide further visual clues as even the clientele become half-seen, anonymous markers of this voyeuristic process.

One of London's sought-after style photographers, Vicky Wetherill's work features widely in magazines. Peep Show was exhibited in London during summer 2002 before touring the U.K. and Europe.

Average customer rating:

Peepshows: A Visual History
Richard Balzer
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810963493

Peep-Machine Pin-Ups: 1940s-1950s Mutoscope Art

Average customer rating:

Nice but inadequate

Peep-Machine Pin-Ups: 1940s-1950s Mutoscope Art
Don Preziosi , and Tina Skinner
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764325116

Customer Reviews:

Nice but inadequate.......2007-03-27

If you are looking to view the authors' collection of 230 Mutoscope Pin-Up cards, nicely reproduced, this is the book for you. If you want more information, look elsewhere.
There is a cursory history of Mutoscope cards and brief biographies of 4 artists represented, but that's it. No information on how many were made (386); over what period of time (1940-1954); how they were grouped (10 sets of 32 or 64 cards with 2 extras). It would have been nice to have a complete checklist and information on how to identify the various sets. Instead of being ordered by year or set, the authors put them alphabetically according to the cute quotes on the cards: from "A Clothes Call" to "You're The Top". There are Internet references, but you could have done that anyway, right? I am waiting for the complete reference guide. Anyone step up?

Average customer rating:

From Peep Show to Palace
David Robinson
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0231103387

Book Description

Film critic David Robinson chronicles the early use of film as vaudeville sideshow; as sheer spectacle of moving images precluding any notion of plot development or drama; and as a fledgling dramatic effort, ranging from prizefights to Passion plays. He also takes readers to the nickelodeon theaters, and replete with more than 150 drawings and photographs, shows how the earliest devices of cinematic prehistory--machines with colorful names like the Phantascope and the Wheel of Life--led to the technology of filmmaking we know today.

Average customer rating:

PEEP-SHOW MAN
Padraic Colum
Manufacturer: Macmillan Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GP7E62

Average customer rating:

A Pin to See the Peepshow
A gifted author misuses her talents to further an agenda.
One of my favourite novels

A Pin to See the Peep Show
F. Tennyson Jesse
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312611803

Customer Reviews:

A Pin to See the Peepshow.......2004-04-30

The novel may soften the representation of the murder in the Thompson-Bywaters case it was based on but otherwise closely tracks Young's Notable British Trials account. Young too thought Mrs. Thompson innocent. What the novel most brilliantly does is show how its protagonist is executed not for murder but adultery and not so much even for adultery as for being a middle class adulteress, upper class adultery being quietly fashionable, and lower class unnoticed. Tennyson shows her character as a human sacrifice to the hypocrisies of the class system.

A gifted author misuses her talents to further an agenda........1998-03-23

It is always a pity when an accomplished artist prostitutes a great talent in the furtherance of a dubious cause.

Miss Jesse was a well-known and gifted writer. She was also an opponent of the death penalty. Her novel is based upon the murder, in London in 1922, of Percy Thompson, for which his wife Edith Thompson and her lover Freddie Bywaters were hanged. The case aroused immense controversy at the time, and has continued to do so ever since. Death Penalty opponents have maintained that Edith Thompson was wrongfully executed - her conviction was based in large part on her letters, which appeared to be inciting Bywaters to murder Thompson.

It is not this reviewer's purpose to discuss the propriety of Capital Punishment, or Edith Thompson's guilt. Miss Jesse and all those who oppose hanging, and who believe her letters were nothing but a silly fantasy, are perfectly entitled to hold their views and to argue them as passionately as they wish.

But what a reputable author ought not to do is to falsify facts to further an agenda. The reader is told explicitly that A Pin To See The Peepshow is based on the Thompson-Bywaters murder. What the reader is not told, and will not know unless he or she is familiar with the case, is that while 'Leonard Carr' hits the husband on the head, in a moment of drunken fury, with a wrench he happens to have in his coat pocket, and the unfortunate man falls and strikes his head fatally on a kerbstone, the real-life Bywaters lay in wait for his victim and killed him with two savage stab wounds, inflicted with a dagger that he later attempted to dispose of. Thus not only is the tragic 'Julia' hanged for a crime she never intended, but the crime itself is hardly more than an accident. Bywaters leapt out of the shadows and struck down his victim in silence - 'Leonard' kills his man after a stand-up argument.

By blurring the fact of premeditation and thus raising questions of criminal intent that in reality never existed, Miss Jesse enlists the reader's sympathy dishonestly. If this is how the courts function, we are invited to infer, then we should not entrust them with the power of life and death!

Needless to say, there is more to the issue of Capital Punishment than the rightness or otherwise of one single verdict. But readers should be aware that in this particular instance they are being hoodwinked.

One of my favourite novels.......1998-01-10

This book is based on a celebrated scandal in England -- the Thompson-Bywaters murder. It is one of my favourite novels. Jesse creates early on a mood of brooding sexual danger without any overt sexual references at all. How this leads Julia to destroy her life makes a gripping and sad book.

Average customer rating:

AS WE WERE - A Victorian Peep Show
E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q7BIUS

Average customer rating:

As We Were - A Victorian Peep Show
E. F. Benson
Manufacturer: Benson Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1406753114

Average customer rating:

Unparalled memoirs of Victorian and Edwardian England

As We Were : A Victorian Peep-Show
E. F.; T.J. Binyon (introduction) Benson
Manufacturer: Hogarth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0701205881

Customer Reviews:

Unparalled memoirs of Victorian and Edwardian England.......2002-01-22

The author of Mapp and Lucia roves back to the days of pincushions and paperweights, of Floral Lotto and soulful renditions of "The Lost Chord". He starts with a picture of Queen Victoria and then unfolds the oddities of his own family and their social circle. Gladstone packs a sponge bag, Tennyson talks of braces, Whistler challenges Moore to a duel, and so on. E. F. Benson (1867-1940) was one of six eccentric children of the Archbishop of Canterbury and wrote almost 100 books. The book includes an introduction by T.J. Binyon.

Average customer rating:

GREAT FUN!

Fun, But No Film Bible

Idiosyncratic Movie Guide Creatively Organized But Take Time to Appreciate

Great Book from an Amazing Store

Disappointing

The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide
The Staff and Friends of Scarecrow
Manufacturer: Sasquatch Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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VideoHound's Cult Flicks & Trash Pics

The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies: Films from the Fringes of Cinema

DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on Dvd

Never Coming to A Theater Near You

DVD Delirium: The International Guide to Weird And Wonderful Films on DVD: Redux

ASIN: 1570614156

Book Description

Scarecrow is to video stores as The Elliott Bay Book Co. is to bookstores: independent, iconoclastic, and obsessed. With more than 60,000 titles in a single outlet, it's a paradise frequented by serious movie lovers — including Bernardo Bertolucci, John Woo, and Quentin Tarantino — and staffed by movie freaks. Loaded with a deep appreciation and understanding of movies, these fanatics have assembled one of the most eclectic movie lists to date. This is a unique list of essential, cool, funny, laughable, important, fluffy, outrageous, you-just-gotta-see videos for anyone interested in the art (both high and low) of moviemaking. Featuring reviews of nearly 4,000 films, organized by category and genre, this book easily satisfies every reader's personal penchant. Includes the best of the best and the worst of the worst in biker flicks, documentaries, foreign films, psychotronics, action, experimental, kids, film noir, murder mysteries, gay and lesbian, music, anime, and more.

Customer Reviews:

GREAT FUN!.......2007-08-23

I bought this book about two months ago and I've kept it close by ever since. It never claims to be a complete guide to every movie ever made (there are plenty of those around). Dip in on any page and you'll still be reading 20 minutes later. Frustrating? Sometimes. Opinionated? Quite often. It's all part of the fun! It's like walking into the world's greatest video store (go figure!)where you'll fall in love with some of the staff's recommendations and occasionally howl in anguish at some of them too. Pretty much like what happens when I talk movies with the other movie geeks at work! That's how this book should be taken, a bunch of people who really love movies (pretty good qualifications as far as I'm concerned) who want to let you know about a huge bunch of movies they like (or hate). I guarantee dozens of new discoveries that slipped by when reading the other guides. So by all means buy the "complete" guides (and see if you agree with all THEIR reviews) and get this one too. Read them often and above all watch movies!! Oh and by the way, Mimi Noyes ROCKS!

Fun, But No Film Bible.......2006-01-12

This book is fun to pick through as a light read, but I would never consider it as my authoritative film guide. It's too loosely (and often confusingly) organized, and too many key films are missing. The employees of Scarecrow Video in Seattle have basically reviewed only what they wanted to review, and they've written in a very conversational style. This makes for some entertaining entries, especially in those cases where they've published two reviews that completely disagree with one another. However, I'd go with Halliwell or Golden Movie Retriever for a comprehensive reference on movies. Those guides are more complete, easier to use, and written by people a tad more qualified than simply working at a video store.

Idiosyncratic Movie Guide Creatively Organized But Take Time to Appreciate.......2005-11-03

There is something comforting about having a big paperback volume of movie information at your fingertips whether it comes from Leonard Maltin, Roger Ebert or any number of video guides that line the movie book section of Borders. I used to pore through a tattered of Danny Peary's "A Guide for the Film Fanatic" last published in 1986 because I prefer a more eclectic viewpoint. This volume is a bold attempt at something unique based on what must be quite an impressive video emporium in Seattle, Scarecrow Video, which holds over 70,000 titles in a single store.

The book itself contains capsule reviews of nearly 4,000 of those films organized primarily by genre and category such as famous directors. It's a great concept but somewhat challenging to use if you are not prepared to absorb the whole of the book. While I like the idea of such an informed volume, the usability of the book feels compromised when you are relegated to the index for an alphabetical listing to look for a film of interest. As with any such movie guide, each entry includes the film's running time, director, a brief cast list, and usually a combination of a plot summary and an appraisal by one of the book's contributors. This brings up the book's other shortcoming, the lack of a singular perspective that Maltin, Ebert or even Peary provided in favor of an editorial staff of 67 reviewers. Consequently, there is a variable quality to the entries - some feel trivial and truncated, others reflect more meandering viewpoints.

On the upside, there are numerous essays on topics as diverse as anime, Roman Polanski's work, early film music and prolific sex filmmaker Joe Sarno. There are also fun lists such as "Most Depressing Movies" and "Movies You'd Have to Be Kind of an Asshole to Hate". There are even sections for sexploitation, TV series and gay cinema. In the right light and if you have more than a few minutes to kill, this guide can be quite fun, but beware if you are looking for a film to rent fast.

Great Book from an Amazing Store.......2005-09-20

Fantastic, obscure, wildly entertaining...the only complaint i have is that not all the films in the store are reviewed in here...

Disappointing.......2005-07-17

I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately I am disappointed with it. The layout of reviews makes it difficult to find the reviews you want. Almost 100% of the movies receive a positive review. Plus, any movie with a negative review is immediately followed by an opposing positive review. In addition to these problem, the book also includes television shows?! - Still, for the Amazon price it might be worth a brief look...But mine will be going into the trash can.

Average customer rating:
Wordless Rhetoric: Musical Form and the Metaphor of the Oration (Studies in the History of Music)
Mark Evan Bonds
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0674956028

Average customer rating:

A good solid adventure

A very good adventure, but bring a cleric or three

Good product - great price

Lookin' fer adventure splittin' some stinkin' orc's heads?

Sons of Gruumsh (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms 4th-Level Adventure
Christopher Perkins
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Twilight Tomb (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Adventure)

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City of Splendors: Waterdeep (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Supplement)

Mysteries of the Moonsea (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Supplement)

ASIN: 0786936983
Release Date: 2005-09-15

Book Description

The first full-length Forgotten Realms adventure in three years!
This adventure showcases the classic high fantasy for which the Forgotten Realms setting is known. Sons of Gruumsh features an epic quest to prevent war between the orcs of Thar and the cities of the Moonsea. Though set in the Forgotten Realms, Dungeon Masters can place this adventure anywhere in the Realms, or easily adapt it for their own D&D® campaigns. This adventure features encounters written to facilitate the use of D&D Miniatures and is designed for 4th-level characters.

Customer Reviews:

A good solid adventure.......2007-06-10

Although this was the first adventure written for the Forgotten Realms, I read it second after The Twilight Tower and boy am I glad that I did! This adventure is much better written than Twilight Tower. Additionally, the plot and story-line are superior and the addition of a plot twist at the end makes this a very good adventure.

However, there is a downside. Like most of the published adventures, Sons of Gruumsh tends towards the overly dangerous. Most of the encounters are reasonably low level - a host of different Orcs. However, its the frequency that will probably kill a party rather than any particular encounter. As a previous reviewer mentioned, you NEED a cleric for this one. Potential GM's would be wise to offer their PC's chances to rest, especially as the party gets towards the end.

The nastiest encounter will occur just after the PC's have fought their way through a horde of guards and other Orc brutes and if played right, the Orog Warlord and his two lieutenants would be able to cream a standard 4th Level party that was slightly weakened.

The best part of this adventure though is the ending. Well-after the characters have defeated the bad guys, taken the treasure and rescued the nobles, the author offers GMs a nice plot twist - which could be quite deadly if the characters aren't quick thinkers - however, the rewards for completing the main part of the adventure are (funnily enough) suitable for getting themselves out of this encounter with minimal amount of fuss. During the adventure, GM's are offered a chance to warn characters about the twist, my advice is don't take it!

Overall, it deserves its four stars. If the author had done a little more work on the part covering investigations in Melvaunt then it would have deserved five stars.

Enjoy.

A very good adventure, but bring a cleric or three.......2006-08-21

I just ran my group through Sons of Gruumsh, and it was a very good couple of sessions. The module includes a lot of good detail, interesting foes, and tactical information which is very helpful when running the large-scale combat involved.

The only caution is the difficulty for 4th-5th level characters. A cleric or two in the party is an absolute must, and IMHO a wand of CLW or a slew of healing potions will probably be required to survive the quantity and quality of foes involved.

Good product - great price.......2006-07-10

The adventure is a pretty good one. There is plenty of information. The most impressive part was the cost. There was a lot of reward for the price

Lookin' fer adventure splittin' some stinkin' orc's heads?.......2006-03-26

Quite fun an adventure, not too long not too short

Customer Reviews:

Exhaustive (and a little exhausting).......2006-05-27

I have no idea who Joseph Udelson is - his only other published work is a biography of British author Israel Zangwill - or what got him interested in the highly technical and convoluted beginnings of American television. But he managed to unearth a rich mine of obscure and arcane history in this densely written little paperback.

His main qualification is obvious: the completeness of a compulsive and tireless scholar, who finds an untouched or neglected story and proceeds to explore it from every possible angle. The Great Television Race is tough reading for any but the most curious TV historian - but that reader will find plenty of information available nowhere else, and hopefully be spurred on to further research and discovery in what is still a largely unexplored sub-specialty in media studies.

In his drive for completeness, Udelson inevitably uncovers gems that make an otherwise dry narrative come alive. He quotes, in its entirety, the hourly station identification of the Boston Television Station W1XAV, which encouraged enthusiasts in 1930 to write for free TV literature, or even come and be televised in person!

Happily, Udelson also seems unaware of the prevailing wisdom that TV was strictly a laboratory affair before it found its mass audience. This allows him to explore early attempts at program planning, the machinations of the radio industry, and the growing regulatory power of the federal government. The purely technical histories won't tell you that third party TV sets went on sale in New York in 1938, a year before RCA intended the public to look in on its experiments; Udelson does, although perhaps inevitably, there is no follow-up. (RCA, in response, simply went off the air.)

If anyone ever gets the idea to write another (and hopefully better) popular history of pre-TV along the lines of Michael Ritchie's Please Stand By, The Great Television Race is an ideal place to begin.

Good.......2000-03-30

This was a great book which expanded my knowledge of the T.V. production and industry. I highly recommend it for research purposes.

The Great Television Race: A History of the Television Industry, 1925-1941

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The Great Television Race: A History of the Television Industry, 1925-1941
Joseph H. Udelson
Manufacturer: University of Alabama
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NIP8JW

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