Boston

David Mamet can definitely write about women and for women as demonstrated by his play "Boston Marriage."

The play's underlying story concerns two turn of the century women who have lived together in Boston in a "Boston Marriage" (a term that refers to a long term female couple usually involved both emotionally and physically). The couple live on the fringes of fashionable society, a world that they both care for deeply despite their unorthodox behavior. One woman, Anna, has recently taken on a wealthy lover to support their luxurious lifestle. The other, Claire, has recently become infatuated with a young woman (perhaps in retaliation for Anna taking a lover) and wants Anna to help her in her assignation. Meanwhile, both women delight in abusing their parlor maid, Catherine, whose name or nationality they never bother to remember.

Mamet's play sparkles because of its tart, crisp dialogue and brisk pacing. These women delight in tortuting each other, their lovers, their friends, and of course, their maid. Mamet neatly delineates the tremendous importance of class structure at this time: the women's snobbishness towards their immigrant help is absolutely appalling. Both women clearly crave acceptance by good society while at the same time flouting its rules.

I would recommend "Boston Marriage" to those who enjoy Mamet, female-driven books and theater, and modern plays.

For all the actress who have been waiting for great female characters from writer David Mamet, the wait is over! This is a lovely fantasy about a scandalous, tawdry lesbian couple circa 1900. Think Les Liaisons Dangereuses meets the women in Satre's No Exit. The dialogue is wonderfully paced, intensely comic, and astonishingly inventive.

Mamet seems to reinvent and reinvigorate his writing with this play. This is the playwright in a playful and endearing mood, writing about comically vicious and self-centered women who nevertheless win our hearts.

The plays seems to be reversing the classical notion of the nineteenth century rake (a womanizing man- often cast as the hero in historical romances). This time it is the women who are sexually controlling, on the hunt for new flesh, cavalier with romantic feelings, and casually selfish about creature pleasures.

There are lots of great two or three women scenes in this for actors' and directors' class work and showcase pieces. 90% of the play is a duologue between two women, with a maid who pops in and out.

Anyone who enjoys learning about Boston's past, and the history of it's nationally-recognized police Department in particular, will want to own this fun, engaging, and fact-filled book. Using over 120 pages of rare and unusual photographs, it documents BPD's colorful past all the way from its earliest beginnings in the 1600's, right up to today. There are pictures of many of the people and places that figured prominently in the Department's early days back in the 1800's, as well as entire chapters on technology, specialized units, and the impact of the 1919 Police Strike. Makes a great gift!

For the police man or woman in your life, this is a great gift and a nice stroll down memory lane for native Bostonians. Informative and engaging, the facts are nicely woven in with a narrative that keeps you turning the pages. The photos are particularly well researched and thoughtfully chosen. A wonderful piece of work from an author who clearly has spent her career preserving and communicating the history of this famous (and infamous)organization.

This is a great book for Boston Terrier fans and fanatics. Detailed text and photos of the breed from the first "official" Boston, through the evolutions to today's breed standard. While not for someone seeking information on how to care for a Boston Terrier, this is a great breed history for those "hard core" Boston-lovers!

This book gives a wonderful history of the Boston Terrier. As a pure American breed, the author traces it's origin, it's rise to fame as a wonderful pet and companion, and it's life in the media spotlight. I had no idea how famous they once were. The photos and drawings that are included are exceptional and really bring the book to life.

This is quite a good map, and as someone who's lived in Boston for nearly three years, I find myself glad to have it more than I'd care to admit. However, purchasers should note that there are significant portions of metro Boston that are not covered by this map, (Cambridge, Allston, Brighton, Brookline, East Boston, for starters) and that to have a guide to most of the city you will need more maps or a larger one.

This is a great map of Downtown, though, and provides plenty of detail for those walking the Freedom Trail, trying to find anything in the Copley maze of hotels, etc.

If you are trying to find your way around Boston then this is the map for you! It's laminated so it can take a beating, hold up in the rain, and...my favorite part...you can use a dry erase marker to map your route from one place to the next. How cool is that! Also, Boston is pretty congested and some maps don't do a good job of breaking things down so you can see what's where. This map gives a clear picture of Boston with streets and landmarks clearly marked. The colors help too.

I enjoyed this book. The stories were unpredictable, the characters tragic and interesting. Each story had a concrete thread that tied it to at least one other story. Some connections between stories were compelling, while others, it seemed to me, were more tangential, sometimes too stretched to claim a serious underpinning. It is very possible I missed some underlying associations that others will appreciate more.

I read The Bostons in one gulp and just entered fully into the stories; it was totally mind blowing. The details are so amazing and vivid, the characters are really colorful and sordidly loveable, and I really love the way the plots interconnect - it was like a really awesome soap opera, and I just kept waiting to see what characters would pop up and to find out what they are doing now... and their lives are just all so full of intrigue, scandal, and clinging to the last remnants of their fallen nobility - it's just really great.

A collection of papers from the Boston Consulting Group from the past four years. They have not dated which is nice.

Occasionally reads a little like a BCG presentation so can be a bit dry - but the CONTENT is great.

Has chapters of related material ie. REAL brand management for the 21st century; dealing with e-commerce effectively and strategically without wasting money.

Nice big picture stuff but with meat - you could actually use the material to kick start some thinking in your company.

Good stuff!

The essays in this book were originally published over the last 10 years and present many coordinated perspectives on key consumer issues. In some consumer products and service companies, the functional silos argue over what to do and reach internal compromises that ignore providing customers, purchasers, and consumers with what they want. You would have to work in a dozen companies over a number of years to capture all of the useful observations in these essays. I found the work to be solid except for an emphasis on overly coordinating brand activities within a sector, and perhaps a little too much of a focus on the financial value of all this.

The sections cover Operating Efficiency, Retailing, Marketing and Selling, the Consumer, the Brand, E-Commerce, Global Markets, and Staying Ahead. I thought that the best sections were the first four.

My favorite essays were:

Don't Get Trapped in the Skills Gap;

Make in a Week What You Sell in a Week;

Price by Design;

The Power of Direct Store Delivery;

Inner Cities Are the Next Retailing Frontier;

Levels of the Game in Frequency Marketing;

The Research Advantage;

Winning a Segment-of-One at a Time;

Customer Retention;

One Size Doesn't Fit All;

Total Brand Management;

Winning on the Net;

Meeting the Local Challenge in China;

The Paradox of Success.

Whenever we address basic consumer issues, we should all be sure to remember the bad experiences we have every day: The line that doesn't move for 15 minutes; the person who cannot help you; the endless telephone menus; on-line help menus that don't help; and out of stocks. And that's before we get to rude and annoying service. It is easy to forget how bad things are. I recently went to a seminar where the panelists discussed how they spent their time waiting for slow Web pages to load.

If you are in a consumer products or services company, at least one of these essays will immediately improve your business. Only you will know which one!

Go beyond hitting budgets to building purchases and experiences that consumers look forward to!

Fodor's Boston Citypack is a compact guide small enough to easily fit into a breast pocket. Despite its small size it is packed with concise and practical information about Boston and environs. It contains sample tour days with clear directions as well as a fold-out map inside the back cover. Recommendations for hotels, historical sites, and restaurants are brief and to the point. I found it an easy read and helpful companion as I walked the Freedom Trail and rode the public transportation. Well worth the price.

This book is packed with loads of information, yet it is still slim enough to carry with you. Great sections that include the Top 25 Sites To See in Boston, How to Organize Your Time (aroudn things like rush-hour traffic, etc.) ... as well as the other standard tourist book fare: hotels, restaurants, and shopping. All of this and a large map of the whole city (and the surrounding areas). Wonderful resource.

The history provides a complete account of life in Hyde Park. The stories of residents really brings the past to the present!

Nancy "Grammy" Hannan has another winner in Compendium of Hyde Park History. As President-for-Life of the Hyde Park Historical Society, Hannan has an in-depth understanding of Hyde Park and its quirky inhabitants.

Excellent work, you can see the progress in her work, from her earlier times and on. This is an accurate portrayal of homelesness in New York. The pictures were breathtaking. Overall a very interesting and informative work of art.

This is a beautiful book which portrays the reality of homelessness in NYC in remarkably moving portraits, and the personal words and stories of the featured homeless themselves. It is a book that is at times a portrayal of perseverance and hope while revealing both the struggles and harsh reality of pain and suffering and reasons some people have found themselves homeless, while at the same time capturing what beauty is present in their lives. It is an eye opening reminder for those of us who are more fortunate in the world. A remarkable work to be apprechiated by lovers of sociology,photography, portraiture and photojournalism as well as those who have an interest in simply capturing a glimpse of others' world that most are fortunate enough to never otherwise experience. Regarding one reviewer's comment it is a FAMILY book, I would use discretion in sharing parts of this with children, as some of the content of the personal stories is more suitable for teenagers and adults. I do think however think the photos can be shared with younger children to introduce awareness of povery and compassion for others, as well as an apprechiation of the beauty and joy ALL people can experience, regardless of economic circumstance. There is great value in fostering undertanding and compassion without pity, which I feel this unique work wonderfully does.

The fine black and white photography of Edward Weston is featured in this oversized book and is one of those books to viewed over and over.The book also has an extremely satisfying text that highlights some of the phases of his career. The essays lend insight into the man. Of particular interest was the indication that Weston saw his photographic art in the same light as some of the famous Mexican artists of the time like, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and others. He strived to have his art looked at in the same light as those in other mediums. He was drawn to these artists, their culture and their works. The after effects of the Mexican revolution, transformed into a cultural renaissance was his palette. Also discussed was his mingling with artists of his times and his reciprocal affect on fellow photographic artist Tina Mondotti. Weston saw and recognized the art in the everyday lives of the the people, heightened during festivals, especially of a religious nature. He particualrly liked the pulquerias. He also was intrigued by the folk art created by common artisans and captured these elements with his lens. Although the book is not limited to his Mexican phase, I found this part of particular interest. There are also paintings that were done by his contemporaries with parallels drawn to his work. His nudes are an exquisite honor to the female body and all it's wonderful curves. There are plenty of nudes featured as this must have been one of his favortie subjects. The early works are featured but his later works are amazing. After 1927 his sojourn to California and his studies of natural forms at the beach and in the sand dunes resulted in some phenomenal images. Also his ability to see erotic imagery in fruit forms is inspiring. If you like the visual arts you will love the works of this master photographer. A great gift book for the camera buff in your life.

The show for which this book is the catalog was at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston during May of 2000. As a graduate student at Boston University studying photography I found this book to be wonderful - it is beautifully printed, and the scholarship that went into the text and editing really offer insight and context for Weston's photography. He is most well known for works like the one which appears on the cover, but the book includes earlier and later works, and discuss how they relate to the famous ones. Weston was active in the first part of the 20th century, and most of the works in this show were taken in California and Mexico. His photography is beautiful and rich and this book would help novice and connoisseur alike appreciate it more.