Theodora: Empress of Byzantium

Book Description

Theodora of Byzantium, rising from the lowest ranks of Byzantine society, became one of the most important and powerful women in history. In this gripping biography, Theodora's full story is revealed for the first time, according her a well-deserved place in the pantheon of great women.

Theodora's meager beginnings as the daughter of a bear-keeper could not have foretold her astonishing future as the wife of Justinian, the powerful ruler of the Byzantine empire. An actress at the time who was chastised for her scandalous performances, she eventually caught the attention of the young Justinian, who was no doubt charmed as much by her beauty as by her cunning.

Justinian and Theodora ruled the empire together from their rich and bustling seat of power in Constantinople, making decisions regarding the fate of their kingdom that would reverberate for centuries to come. Time and time again, Theodora's wisdom and counsel to the emperor saved Justinian's empire and assured their place in history.

Hailed by European reviewers as "Book of the Year" upon its publication in Italian, Paolo Cesaretti's book gives a balanced portrait of an intriguing figure who, in the face of those who tried to defame her, rose from the ranks of the poor to build an empire at the side of her ambitious husband.

Paolo Cesaretti, a professor of Byzantine studies, teaches at University of Chieti, Italy. In addition to many books on a variety of subjects related to Byzantine art and history, he regularly contributes to important Italian publications including Corriere della Sera.

Customer Reviews:

Theodora and Justinian.......2004-10-25

I give this author a lot of credit for attempting this biography of Theodora, wife of Emperor Justinian of Byzantium. The credit is surely due because there are, unfortunatley, not a lot of information sources about Theodora, and the most complete source is Procopious's "Secret History", which can in no way be considered a glowing tale of her life. It's quite a salacious read, and perhaps gives one a somewhat distorted view of Theodora, and her upbringing. The auhtor of this work attempts a delicate balance between the "anti" sources, and the other reports of the reign of Justinian and his consort. The result is a book that has many nuances, but appears as fair as possible given the sources and the pasage of time since these events occured in world history. Often the author is driven to psychological speculation over why actions were taken or not taken, and he can't be faulted for his approach, given the situation. Anyone attempting to adequately reconstruct ancient events without proper historical help is going to have this problem, and I feel the author has done as well as can be expected. The book is a good view into the Justinian court, and the life of the Byzantine Empire of the time.

Empress of the Dusk ; a life of Theodora of Byzantium

Average customer rating:

Empress of the Dusk ; a life of Theodora of Byzantium

Manufacturer: Reynal & Hitchcock
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQ32W6

Average customer rating:

Excellent book...

Theodora, Empress of Byzantium
Charles Diehl
Manufacturer: F. Ungar Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book..........1999-08-29

...it didn't lose my interest = it wasn't boring. Sure, it's short, but the author manages to fill it with facts. Too bad this one's out of print. I had a really hard time finding a biography on this fascinating woman, so when I picked this up I thought it wouldn't be great (hey, I got tired searching for an hour). I was wrong. If you need to do schoolwork on the Byzantine era, particularly the reign of Justinian I, then pick this one up.

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Theodora: Empress of Byzantium
Charles Diehl; Translated By Samuel R. Rosenbaum
Manufacturer: FREDRICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SSQSIM

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Empress of the Dusk: A Life of Theodora of Byzantium
John W Theodora of Byzantium) Vandercook
Manufacturer: Reynal & Hitchcock
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K5SASY

Crowned courtesan;: The tale of Theodora, empress of Byzantium,

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Crowned courtesan;: The tale of Theodora, empress of Byzantium,
Marcel Brion
Manufacturer: J. Long
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Theodora Empress of Byzantium
Cesaretti Paolo
Manufacturer: Mark Magowan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UF3GHO

Amazon.com

Had Dan Gable played baseball or basketball instead of wrestled, not only would ad campaigns have been built around him, but also a wing in the hall of fame. Gable, a true athletic icon, dominated his sport--a virtually obscure one by American standards--as no one has before or since. An Olympic champion, Gable was virtually unbeatable. As a coach, he's been dauntingly invincible. His Iowa Hawkeyes have won 10 straight national championships--15 altogether--and every Big 10 title in the sport since Gable took over the program in the mid-1970s. A Season on the Mat is the engrossing narrative of Iowa's 1996-97 Cinderella season, Gable's finale as coach, and the intriguing hold wrestling has on its participants. Still, Gable is the clear star here. With drama and pathos, author Nolan Zavoral profiles him as a fiercely driven and competitive man, wracked by physical and emotional pain as he grapples with the life-altering decisions that he knows it's time to make.

Book Description

For twenty-one years, Dan Gable's Iowa Hawkeyes dominated wrestling to an extent rarely seen in any sport: twenty-one consecutive Big 10 titles and fifteen national championships. In A Season on the Mat, award-winning reporter Nolan Zavoral explores Iowa's storied wrestling program and Gable's record of excellence in an unprecedented, intimate look at the man and his methods during his final season as a head coach.

A Season on the Mat chronicles the dramatic 1996-97 season, in which Gable led his team -- far from his most talented -- to a record-breaking performance at the national championship, at which it scored the most points in collegiate wrestling history. Zavoral takes the reader behind the scenes into the stifling heat of the wrestling room, where young men from places like Rock Falls, Illinois, or Philip, South Dakota, sacrifice everything they have just to be a part of the Hawkeye program.

From his difficult upbringing, interrupted by the tragedy of his sister's brutal murder, through the single defeat that haunts him to this day, to the ups and downs of his phenomenal coaching career, Gable has come to symbolize to many all that is special about this demanding, elemental sport. Part biography, part chronicle, part portrait of this unique subculture, A Season on the Mat is the best and most thorough look at one of the most important and most overlooked figures in American athletics.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book!!!.......2007-05-15

This is an excellent review of many of the details that only a coach and his wrestlers see and feel everyday. I definately think anyone who is a fan, parent, coach or participant of wrestling, and especially college wrestling should read this great book.

Not a wrestler, barely a fan..........2007-03-16

...but you can't help but be taken in by the story of Dan Gable. The lessons that he preaches, and embodies, go way beyond the mat--perserverance, hard work, dedication, and perhaps most importantly, leading by example.

For that reason, I enjoyed the book, and got through it pretty quickly. I would have no reservations about recommending this book based on that alone.

But, I'll admit, it gets bogged down quite a bit as it becomes a point-by-point recap of the season. Starts to feel like the same things over and over again. I'll agree with other posters who say that it may have lacked some of the intensity and emotion that it could have had. For that, I would recommend "Four days to Glory." An awesome book on high-school wrestling that seems to be to do a better job of making you feel the drama of what wrestlers go through and why they do what they do.

I'd say buy both of these books for a pretty complete picture of Iowa wrestling "from cradle to grave." The afterword in the paperback version of "A season on the mat" does a good job of bringing closure to both books (hard to explain, but you'll see what I mean).

"Simply the best".......2002-05-09

"A Season on the Mat" is simply the best book about the greatest wrestler and coach ever to grace the the mat. You will lose yourself as you read about Gable's struggles in pursuing yet another NCAA title. Read about how Gable sucked up the pain for one final season and set an example for the 1996 Hawks. Buying this book is the best way a fan can remember DG's final year on the sidelines.

Good, not great.......2001-11-08

As an ex-wrestler turned journalist (and someone who has interviewed Dan Gable), Zavoral's book is a decent look into Gable and the Iowa program. However, the writer at times tries to be bigger than his subject(s) using silly similies(describing Lincoln McIlravy's wrestling style as a man probing an ear or corn) and far flung analogies. The book also lacks logic in some areas, but does a good job of explaining the nuances of amateur wrestling to the uninitiated -- which is no easy task. Typos are also pretty prevalent, but that's the editor's job to catch it.

Great Read.......2001-05-23

This book is a must for the hardcore wrestling fan. I am not a fan, but was won over by the dedication and intensity it takes to excel. Gable is a complex man, but he loved his kids and pushed them to do their best. I would have loved to compete for him.

Book Description

The mummy came to life in the 1940s out of Universal Pictures' need to produce quick turnaround, low budget "B" movies. Universal produced The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse (originally The Mummy's Return) and thus created a popular franchise that is still supported today by a following of loyal fans. (Universal was prompted to produce a remake of its Mummy films in 1999.)

This book is devoted entirely to Universal's Mummy movies of the 1940s. It reveals lost action and dialogue by analyzing scenes that were edited out days before The Mummy's Hand was released to theaters, treats readers to other dialogue that was filmed and then cut down to almost nothing before being included in the films, and compares and contrasts the original story of The Mummy's Return to the final shooting script of what was later renamed The Mummy's Curse. Each of the films has its own chapter, and chapters are also devoted to the actors who played the heroes, heroines, high priests, victims, and mummies in the films, and to the filmmakers who brought the mummies to life.

Customer Reviews:

A well written book for Universal "Monster Films" fans.......2006-08-15

Great book with portions of the various scripts from each of the 4 films sequel films, detailing changes made during shooting.

Buy this title in conjunction with MagicImage's THE MUMMY'S CURSE (if you can still find it for a reasonable price. Most of the MagicImage books are now collectors items and sell for outrageous amounts on the internet. I still can't find a copy of THE MUMMY for less than $100.)

I took off one star only because I would have loved Thomas to begin with Boris Karloff's original MUMMY which-in my opinion and most fans agree, is the best.

Granted, most of the people buying this title will have seen the Karloff film, but it would nice to start at the "beginning" so to speak and go from there on to the sequels. A minor gripe !

Highly recommend this book; an enjoyable, well written, and informative read.

The Legend of Kharis.......2003-02-06

When I was ten years old I saw "The Mummy's Curse" in my hometown theater in New Jersey. It was a Saturday afternoon and during the 1940's every child in town attended the Saturday Afternoon Matinee. I have never forgotten that movie, nor any of the other "B" pictures that graced the screen so long ago.

I have a collection of all of the "Mummy" movies on videotape, and although I have many books on the movies of the "golden age", this is the first movie book which actually gives us the scenes and dialogue as they was originally written for each of the four films that were produced in the 1940s.

The book is well-written. Of particular interest to me was the section covering the actors and actresses who portrayed the heroes, heroines, high priests, and victims. These actors and actresses were in many "B" movies, especially the 12 or 15 chapter movie serials of the era.

The most famous "mummy" of all time was Boris Karloff, who was in the precursor of the mummy films, aptly called "The Mummy."
However, the collection of the four films covered in Mr. Feramisco's book, "The Mummy Unwrapped," had Tom Tyler as the first actor to portray the mummy in "The Mummy's Hand". (Mr. Tyler then became Captain Marvel in one of the many movie serials of the 40s) as well as a star in the many Westerns produced.

With the second film, "The Mummy's Tomb," a young Lon Chaney, Jr. took over the role. He was the son of the famous Lon Chaney of silent films. It was his destiny to become Kharis (the mummy) in the last two films of the series as well, "The Mummy's Ghost" and "The Mummy's Curse".

Mr. Feramisco's book is well written. It is particularly enjoyable to be able to read the scripts as they were originally meant to be, and then see how the dialogue and action were purged, or in some cases, eliminated altogether, to produce a sharp, clean and fast-moving final movie.

I loved the whole book, but was especially attracted to the section on the heroes, heroines, high priests, and victims. It was such fun to read about these actors and actresses, their beginnings and their later movie roles, especially since I grew up seeing these actors in so many other movies.

Those of us, who enjoyed seeing these films on the big screen in the forties, will certainly enjoy this wonderful book. It will certainly bring back some scary memories for those of us that were ten years old when we were introduced to "The Mummy!"

I was introduced to my mummy film, "The Mummy's Curse," about the time I was ten years old. Mr. Feramisco encountered Kharis when he was ten years old, and my granddaughter, last week, voiced her desire to see my film collection on the "Mummy."

There was a space in my bookcase, just waiting for Mr. Feramisco's fine book. I can't say how much I have enjoyed reading it.

A Must Have For Horror Enthusiasts and Classic Film Buffs.......2002-06-27

The mummy came to life in the 1940s out of Universal Pictures' need to produce quick turnaround, low budget "B" movies. Universal produced "The Mummy's Hand", "The Mummy's Tomb", "The Mummy's Ghost", and "The Mummy's Curse", and thus created a popular franchise that is still supported today by a following of loyal fans. (Universal was prompted to produce a remake of its "Mummy" films in 1999 with Brendan Frasier.)

This book is devoted entirely to Universal's "Mummy" movies of the 1940s. It reveals lost action and dialogue by analyzing scenes that were edited out days before "The Mummy's Hand" was released to theaters, treats readers to other dialogue that was filmed and then cut down to almost nothing before being included in the films, and compares and contrasts the original story of "The Mummy's Return" to the final shooting script of what was later renamed "The Mummy's Curse". Each of the films has its own chapter, and chapters are also devoted to the actors who played the heroes, heroines, high priests, victims, and mummies in the films, and to the filmmakers who brought the mummies to life.

The book's foreward is written by Peggy Moran-Koster, the feisty heroine and only living actor from "The Mummy's Hand".

Universal horror enthusiast Thomas M. Feramisco is a prize winning script writer and copywriter. He lives in Thousand Oaks, California.

The Mummy Unwrapped: Scenes Left on Universal's Cutting Room Floor
Average customer rating:
The Mummy Unwrapped: Scenes Left on Universal's Cutting Room Floor
Thomas M. Feramosco
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0786437340

Connecting Art to Mathematics: Activities for the Right Brain
Average customer rating:

Money well spent.

Parent from MD

Creative approach to math

Got It.

A Conceptual Approach to Math +

Connecting Art to Mathematics: Activities for the Right Brain
Hal Torrance
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Logic & Brain Teasers | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1411603168

Customer Reviews:

Money well spent........2004-06-04

This book has lots of interesting art activities which relate to math. Some of the activities are worth doing over again. Hope there will be a part2/book2 on this one!

Parent from MD.......2004-02-23

I was looking for something 'academic' to do with kids over Spring vacation. This book really has some interesting art activities.

Creative approach to math.......2004-01-09

A very creative learning/teaching method for a subject most can never think about without a little teeth grinding. This relaxes your jaw.

Got It........2004-01-08

Activities in this book appeal to the creative, intuitive individual, but are applicable to all students. The book provides a different approach to math for the traditional teacher and student. Give it a try; I believe that you will be pleased with the results.

A Conceptual Approach to Math +.......2004-01-07

This book is not a school 'workbook'. Math concepts are taught with art activites. Well pleased with this fresh air approach for math instruction. Useful section on teaching approaches included. Very Fine!!!

Amazon.com

Despite their shared preference for keeping a low profile, Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton, his former employer, gained notoriety in the aftermath of the war in Iraq thanks to a series of lucrative government contracts awarded to Halliburton, for which they never had to bid. Business journalist Dan Briody sheds light on the history of the company and demonstrates how its present-day relationship with influential politicians is not anomalous but part of a time-honored yet ethically suspect tradition of doing business. Briody introduces Erle Halliburton, who was born into poverty but found great financial success with innovative oil well technology. And while Halliburton avoided getting close to elected officials or pursuing government contracts, the Brown brothers of Texas-based Brown & Root made the nurturing of "pet politicians" a top priority as they grew their construction business into one of the most powerful in the nation. The Halliburton Agenda details the mutually beneficial relationship the Browns shared with an up and coming Lyndon Johnson as money and influence flowed freely between the two. Halliburton acquired Brown & Root in 1962 and with it, Briody contends, plenty of questionable business practices that continue to this day. Dick Cheney looms ominously on the book's cover but he doesn't appear much in the book until fairly late in the Halliburton story. Still, because Cheney's early-1990s' appointment to the job of CEO (after no private sector experience) and departure to be Vice President in 2000 coincided with an upsurge in Halliburton revenues and controversies, there's plenty of material to examine. While many have questioned what sway corporations have in the George W. Bush administration, Briody's extended look at Halliburton's corporate culture and history provides enlightening perspective. --John Moe

Book Description

The author of the bestseller The Iron Triangle untangles a web of political back scratching in one of the world's most powerful companies
Halliburton-a Texas oil-field company Dick Cheney ran before he became Vice President-has courted controversy for the better part of the twentieth century, but only recently has it received intense media scrutiny. In The Halliburton Agenda, Halliburton and its subsidiaries form the foundation of a fascinating story of influence peddling and behind-the-scenes political maneuvering that has only increased in momentum over the last decade-culminating in a firestorm of problems arising as soon as Cheney took office.
This intriguing book shows readers where Halliburton has been doing business and with whom-topping the list so far are Iran, Iraq, and Libya. It also reveals how this juggernaut of a corporation has engaged in a cycle of profits that begins by selling products and services to potential terrorist states, contracting with the federal government during times of war against those states, then gaining valuable rebuilding contracts to help repair those states. It will also show how a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, has become an indispensable part of the U.S. military, so much so that the two are indistinguishable at times.
Halliburton is one of the first American companies to recognize the importance of aligning itself with powerful politicians, heavily contributing to campaigns, then cashing in on lucrative government contracts. Engaging and informative, The Halliburton Agenda carefully explores the arc of the company's success, its use of political affiliation, and the scope of its international business.

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Customer Reviews:

Passable........2007-07-11

Actually, there was nothing particularly shocking. The scandal of Halliburton's involvement in Iraq is pretty obvious, and the author adds no information about that. I would guess the more scandalous aspects will come out in the future. When it is clear that we went to war solely so that Halliburton could have the pipeline work, then I'll be mildly perturbed, but not surprised. There must after all have been some real reason.

If one is looking for dirt on Cheney, there really isn't much. He is completely overshadowed in this book by LBJ, Herman Brown, Alvin Wirtz and others, and actually, Robert Caro's books on LBJ are much more enthralling accounts of all that. Still, it's fun to read about these tough Texas mothers with their whiskey and bags full of hundred dollar bills. In fact, now that I think about it I highly recommend all of Caro's books about LBJ.

Coming back to this one, it kind of fizzles out. Halliburton and Brown & Root have interesting histories. People who naively suppose that modern day public officials are honest and that their words are related to their motives in any way may be alarmed, but I would guess that most people reading this book in the first place aren't expecting a tale gleaming with moral gems. And Cheney as a rogue is a humorless dud. The most surprising thing I learned about him was that he had his first heart attack at 37!

The Halliburton Agenda.......2006-11-03

It was a good read. Pretty scary stuff. As far as Chaney goes, the only thing that would have been more of a surprise would have been that he was identified as one of the founding members of the Log Cabin Republicans but for someone who spends so much time at undisclosed locations, stranger things could happen.

Bud Brown

Very poor.......2006-07-12

I actually enjoyed his book about Carlyle and it's the reason I bought this book. But there should have been another 300 pages. It did a pretty good job of describing the origins of Halliburton and Brown and Root and described the relationship both Brown and Root and later the combined company had with Lyndon Johnson. But it's other political relationships of the time were not fleshed out, and only briefly mentioned. Basically anything about the companies histories after the late 1950s was brief and I felt shortchanged once I got to this part of the book. (3/4 of the way into it) The change of name to Kellog, Brown and Root was not mentioned, nor were contracts such as Guantanomo or the base on Diego Garcia which sounds to me like it could have warranted quite some ink. Also Kellog, Brown and Root's bankruptcy was glossed over leaving me wondering what the story is on this. The asbestos issue was only briefly mentioned, and Cheney's attempts to reduce these losses by changing the laws wasn't mentioned at all. Information about the companies contracts in Iraq is almost non-existant and the reputed contracts the Company did with countries in Cheney's era under US sanctions (ie Iran) by diverting the contracts via it's overseas subsidiaries gets not even a fraction of a page.

Basically if you after information on these companies after 1962 you're better off researching it on the internet.

A corporate history powered by political fuel.......2006-05-08

Author Dan Briody has written a book that goes beyond pundit finger-pointing over the controversial "no-bid" contracts relationship between Halliburton and Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a serious examination of the high-octane blend of profit and politics that fuels the Bush administration's agenda. Briody begins with an extensive history of two Texas companies, Halliburton and Brown & Root (now KBR). He deftly portrays how they made their fortunes despite Great Depression hardships, World War II and political intrigues aplenty. Briody pulls no punches while maintaining a reportorial (if not totally objective) tone, although people who hold different political views might argue with his opinions and conclusions. We recommend this saga to anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the ongoing tryst between corporate America and its politicians. While this book is not presented as a smoking gun, it portrays insider politics that smolder like an oil fire you can't quite extinguish, leaving sort of an ugly haze.

Mixed Emotions: Too Short and Surprisingly it Features LBJ.......2005-11-30

Did I get the wrong book from Amazon.com? The book is advertised to be a book about Cheney and Halliburton - it is about Halliburton but not Cheney. For example, pictures of Cheney appear on both the front and back covers of the book jacket. But that is very misleading. The book is not about Cheney per se; there are in fact only a dozen or so pages dealing with Cheney near the end of the book and he plays only a minor role; he finally appears on page 191 of the 237 added seemingly as an afterthought. Surprisingly, the dominant politician in the book is the former president and Texas native Lyndon Baines Johnson or LBJ. By my estimate and it is confirmed by looking at the index, LBJ takes up three times as much space in the book as Cheney, and furthermore he plays a much more important role in setting any "agenda" at Brown & Root - a subsidiary of Halliburton. Even though the book even if falsely promoted it is still an interesting read about two old US companies and their eventual merger; but at just 237 pages long in medium font is not a 5 star effort, just 3.5 stars, maybe only 3 stars at best.

The first company described is the oil well services company Halliburton started in approximately 1920 by Erle Halliburton in Oklahoma. Erle Halliburton died in 1957 leaving a successful and financially strong and independent business enterprise as his legacy. The second company is Brown & Root (B & R) that developed from being a Texas road construction company that was started around 1917 to become a major defense contractor. The business grew through political connections and after many decades B & R had become the largest engineering and construction company in the USA, boosted by the Vietnam war effort, and fed by a series of domestic and foreign construction and defense contracts stretching around the globe.

The book tells (very briefly) how these companies developed, merged in 1962 with R & B being bought by Halliburton, and how they became a major defense contractor. It also contains many side stories such as the influence of the rising political star LBJ in Texas, dam construction, back room operators such as A.J.Wirtz, political intrigue, the milking of Roosevelt's New Deal money, navy boat building, the fall of Leland Olds who was a bureaucrat blocking their expansion, the Johnson Space Center contract, Vietnam contracts, the LOGCAP contract, the Dresser merger, Henry Waxman's congressional charges against Halliburton and the sole sourcing, etc. Cheney appears near the end of the book and I did learn that Cheney flunked out of Yale and was arrested twice for DWI in his youth. There are a number of insights and comments on the current contracts to Halliburton. But since Halliburton had the LOGCAP contract before Cheney, it seems to me that Cheney played no more a dramatic role - I suspect - than any other good CEO or "rainmaker" might have played at Halliburton to boost its revenues.

As a book I would say it rates just 3 or 4 stars since as the author acknowledges that he uses and number of existing books such as "Erle P. Halliburton: Genius with Cement" and other publications, and most of the book is about the older history - as I said Cheney does not even appear until page 191 out of 237. So even when he appears the information is scant. Having said that it is clear the author has done extensive research, he has a nice reference section for further reading, he brings the story together, but overall it seems like a short collection of historical facts and tidbits. As it stands, it is more of a "gateway" book or introduction and it would have been a 5 star book if it was about 400-500 pages long and was more complete. But some of the references and 40 pages of notes at the back are worth a follow up read.

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