Product Description
A film screenplay of Miller's classic play recounts the hysteria that gripped Salem, Massachusetts, during the seventeenth-century witch trials, accompanied by an introduction by Arthur Miller and an essay by the director of the up-coming feature film.Movie tie-in. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Chilling and emotional
This film manages to be chilling and haunting without being classified as such a film. The subject is one of immortal controversy, of a religion that has been debated about from the beginning of time: witchcraft. Women weremistakenly burnt, being accused of practicing witchcraft, which in realityis a more peaceful and earth-rejoicing religion than most others, thoughmost people wouldn't have you aware of that. Women were stripped, hanged,burnt and mamed in front of all the village people. I myself have read muchon the religion and that contributed all the more to my disturbance butpure enjoyment in watching this film. One of the times I watched it Istarted crying. It's so sad the trials and hysteria that took place. Thepeople who were under the illusion they were doing God's work, when reallythey were killing innocent people. Sad. The film has a tremendous script,solid directing and excellent, spooky acting. A great thanks to the cameraangles in contributing to the overall haunting feeling of this film. Achilling and emotional experience. ... Read more

Product Description
Christopher Bigsby explores all of Arthur Miller's work, including plays, poetry, fiction and prose, in this comprehensive study. Using previously unpublished and unknown material, including conversations with Miller, Bigsby paints a compelling picture of how Miller's works were influenced by, and created in the light of, events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. ... Read more

Product Description
A story about America in its pre-civil rights struggle, and how the brutal murder of an innocent Chicago boy forced the country to face its own ugliness.The impact of Emmett Till's brutal murder is told from the perspective of his neighborhood friends and who he was before he became an unwilling symbol of the horror of racial hatred. His courageous mother, Mrs. Mamie (Till) Bradley, exhibited her strength and sense of justice when she refused to allow her son's casket to be closed for the funeral. The truth of what happened to her son was not only etched on his bloated and broken face but on the conscience of the country's psyche. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Another Side to a Galvanizing Historical Moment
Mr. Arthur Miller is a personal friend of mine and for as long as I have known him he has been telling me this story of his connnection to Emmett Till and how it has affected his life. So to now see it in a book for public consumption is really a beautiful thing. His perspective is a very unique one but this book also shows the many other parts that contributed to the Civil Rights Movement that isn't being taught in school. This book should be required reading in every public high school in America. Our children need to know who came before them so they can appreciate what they have now. Thank you Arthur Miller.

Memories form my own childhood.
This book included the ugliness and the beauty of growing up poor to middle class and black in America. It reminded me of the burden placed upon black people to carry your race.
Most black parents that I knew said the same thing to there children, Don't embrassed your people, meaning black people. Thanks Art Miller I truly enjoyed your Journey to Chatham.

Excellent book for young and old alike
This book puts a personal perspective on an event that touched many and helped spark a movement. Set in a time and place in which all the children in the neighborhood "belonged to" all the adults in the neighborhood, the story illustrates the way the sense of innocent safety Black children in Chicago enjoyed was robbed from them when Emmett "Bo" Till was murdered. Documenting a community founded on love and trust, the story indicts the community based on hatred and fear that allowed Emmett to be killed and his murderers to go free. Simple and beautiful in its language, the book speaks appropriately to children as clearly as to adults. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the way an individual, a family, a neighborhood, and a whole people were affected by that single, horrible event.

I laughed through tears
This writer, who evidently grew up at a very interesting time. Tells a story about America. An America that I was unfamiliar with.I forgot that the people, and the neighborhood were Black. This is an All-American story that all Americans should read.We can all be stronger and better if we heed the words of the author.

A story that must be read
An important and insightful book, that take the reader to a new place of compassion and agony.It's more than a story of Emmett Till's death but a honest reflection of a part of our disonorable history.More than a good read it's a necessary read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Thought provoking title story
"The Misfits" is reason enough to read this collection.Feeling themselves apart from a materialistic society whose norms they cannot live by, three men who want to be free from the pretenses and profiteering ofAmerican business make a living, ironically, by capturing wild horses.Thecharacter portrayals are brief but entirely compelling--Guido has lost awife in childbirth and refuses to work as a pilot for an airline, despitethe financial remuneration.47 year old Gay feels a connectedness with allthose on the range, yet cannot connect well with anyone in particular.Theyoung Perce struggles with the morality of capturing the wild horses andprovokes Gay's jealousy with his vitality, ability, and the attention Percereceives from Gay's girlfriend.Poetic descriptions of the westernlandscape also contribute to a fascinating story with many interconnectingelements and ironies.The representations of women may seem offensive atfirst, but Miller seems to be pointing to a psychological portrait of menon the open range and does not champion or support the men's beliefs aboutwomen so much as he uses them to reveal the men's weaknesses through them.A must read, even for those who have no interest in "Western"stories. ... Read more

Product Description
Two early plays by 'the greatest American dramatist of our age' (Evening Standard) The Golden Years is an historical tragedy about Montezuema's destruction at the hands of Cortez. Unable to convert the Aztecs, Cortez assumes the role of barbarian, ravager of a civilization, while Montezuma - as Miller noted - 'convinced himself that the strange white creatures who came out of the ocean were fated to be his masters and at the same time apotheosize him to godhood now that he had, as he believed, led his Aztecs to the conquest of all the known world'. Written in 1940 The Golden Years remained unperformed for many years. It was presented as a radio play by BBC Radio 3 in 1987.The Man Who Had All The Luck was first staged in 1944. In this fable about human freedom and individual responsibility the hero, David Beeves, acts out an ironic reversal of Job's plight. Plagued by the contrast between his own success and the failures of those around him, he tries to make sense of his good fortune. In doing so, David poignantly confronts the question of the justice of fate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

So Much to Say, So Little Said
In "The American Clock", Arthur Miller attempts to construct a panorama of the effect of the stock market crash in 1929,while recreating the plight of the people involved in the Great Depression.Regrettably, Miller tried to say too much about this historical period in too short of a performance.

The shifting scenes makes for a confusing storyline.While the story mainly follows one family, the scenes shift to financial barons and farmers at varying times without a clean break in the scene. This may be more palatable in a theatrical performance than in the book.In such a short story, it seems that we hardly got to know the characters.This story would seem to be an ideal prequel to "All My Sons", yet the story was not engaging.Miller had the right idea, but the wrong design.

There is a reason that small town theatre groups and major theatre companies do not often attempt this show.It lacks many of the characterstics that make Arthur Miller's work great.In his defense, Arthur Miller could not be expected to write a work as phenomenal as "Death of a Salesman" every time.

A Great Play About America
I actually worked on this play a few years ago and it is an incredibly powerful and moving story of America during the Great Depression.It begins just before the crash and takes the audience through the tough yearsof unemployment and poverty.The play concentrates on one family andfollows them throughout the year also stopping to look at other people inother parts of the world who are all affected by this tragedy.It is areally good play and I highly reccomend reading it! ... Read more

Product Description
Jules Verne (1828-1905) was the first author to popularize the literary genre of science fiction. Written in 1898 and part of the author's famous series Voyages Extraordinaires, The Mighty Orinoco tells the story of a young man's search for his father along the then-uncharted Orinoco River of Venezuela. The text contains all the ingredients of a classic Verne scientific-adventure tale: exploration and discovery, humor and drama, dastardly villains and intrepid heroes, and a host of near-fatal encounters with crocodiles, jungle fever, Indians and outlaws -- all set in a wonderfully exotic locale. The Mighty Orinoco also includes a unique twist that will appeal to feminists -- readers will need to discover it for themselves. This Wesleyan edition features notes, and a critical introduction by renowned Verne scholar Walter James Miller, as well as reproductions of the illustrations from the original French edition.

CONTRIBUTORS: Walter James Miller, Stanford Luce, Arthur B. Evans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The First English Edition
"The Mighty Orinoco" is the third Jules Verne book in the Early Classics of Science Fiction series, and the sixth book overall.The series is impressive, and this edition is no exception.The novel was first published as "Le Superbe Orénoque" in "Magasin" from January 1st through December 15th of 1898, and is the 45th of his scientific fiction stories.As with all the Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne builds an adventure story off of a solid scientific base.For this book, Verne used Jean Chaffanjon's account of his real life journeys from his book "L'Orénoque et le Caura".Where that account leaves off, Verne is forced to invent, but for the vast majority of the story, Verne's descriptions of the river, rapids, flora, fauna, and human communities were all extremely accurate.

It is easy for us today to not think of this novel as science fiction (or scientific fiction as Verne called it); however, in the days before satellites and space ships taking pictures of the Earth, matters of geography were definitely of scientific interest.While Verne endeavored to create a solid scientific basis for this story, there is much more to it then simply the search for the origin of the river.In addition to the search for the source of the river by M. Miguel, M. Felipe, and M. Varinas, there is a parallel story of the search by Jean Kermor and Sergeant Martial, who claim to be an uncle and nephew, searching for Colonel de Kermor who is supposed to be the father of Jean.

Sergeant Martial tries to keep Jean and himself separate from the other travelers, but as they are following the same path for different reasons, there is no choice but for the groups to interact.Along the way they find Jacqus Helloch and Germain Paterne, and now the main characters are together for most of the journey.Verne does have some twists in the story, but unlike today's writers, he provides so many clues as to what these twists are, that the reader is well ahead of the characters.Still, it would not be fair to include any spoilers here, and so I will refrain from going into any further details of the story.

One of the interesting themes which Verne touches on in this book is race and racism.At times, the reader has to forgive what appear to be racist comments in the text.On the other hand, Verne does have a significant number of characters from the "lesser" races in positions of unusual authority.One has to wonder if Verne isn't well ahead of his time in showing that the racist stereotypes are false.

The novel is divided into two sections.The first section introduces most of the major characters, and they are together.It ends when the group reaches San Fernando, and with the revelation of one of the big secrets.The second section takes us the rest of the way, and in addition to the story lines which have already been mentioned, the story line of a group of outlaws and renegade Indians interweaves with the other story lines more and more.

The pace of this story will feel slow, especially when compared with modern fiction.The book runs 370 pages, and those who don't like all the detail with which Verne fills the chapters will probably not care for it much.On the other hand, those who have read and enjoyed other Verne stories should enjoy this one.This is the first English edition of this book, translated by Stanford L. Luce.As with the other books in the Early Classics of Science Fiction, there is some supporting material as well.There is a short, but informative, introduction written by Walter James Miller, Professor of English at New York University.Professor Miller also provides some excellent notes for the story.There is bibliography of Jules Verne's works, and a short biography of Verne by Editor Arthur B. Evans.

Good--just be patient
I am glad I took the time to read this book. It gets good torward the middle, with the best being the last few chapters. At first, the plot is a little hard to figure out, but like I said, it all falls together nicely.Personally, I like reading stories with good endings.

Uninteresting, unexciting, and predictable
Two separate groups of travelers arrange passage up the Orinoco River of Venezuala but end up traveling mostly together.The first group is 3 mapmakers who argue constantly over the actual origin of the Orinoco and which are it's tributaries.The second group, a young man and his older companion, are much more mysterious about their objectives.They'll say only that they are seeking a certain man who is said to have gone up the same river many years before.This man they are seeking turns out to be the father of the young man, and the young man turns out to actually be... well, that's a poorly kept secret of the story.Along the way they face dangerous rapids and unfriendly savages, as well as treasonous porters.

While I was hoping for an old-fashioned adventure, I was rather bored by the story.To make it worse, the secrets and surprises were pretty obvious, and there just wasn't much excitement. While I found "The Mysterious Island" to be very interesting in spite of a generally slow pace, this book was just plain slow.This is a book probably best enjoyed by rabid Verne fans.

A Fascinating Jules Verne Adventure Discovered
From the 1870s, and for a quarter century, every new Verne novel had been issued in translation.Abruptly, in 1898, American and British publishers broke this tradition with The Mighty Orinoco (Le Superbe Orénoque), now available for the first time in English over a century later from Wesleyan University Press.
Why did the publishers of Verne's time reject this book, and nearly every one thereafter, although one or two Verne books had appeared annually under his byline in France until 1910, five years after his death?Since 1880, Verne stories had been mainstays of Boys Own Paper in England.American publishers came to rely more and more on utilizing the English translations, rather than commissioning fresh ones for use in the United States.Hence, by the 1890s, the anticipated taste of the British market came to govern what appeared in English translations on either side of the Atlantic.
The lack of a translation of The Mighty Orinoco has also been a factor in the conventional perception of Verne as a writer unable to place women in strong roles. The hero of The Mighty Orinoco is a 22-year-old woman undertakes a search for the father she has never known, whom she learns may have disappeared along the South American river that forms the book's title.To travel incognito, she dresses as a 17 year old boy, Jean, accompanied by one of her father's former military aides, Martial (whose name signifies his background).This is not simply the conventional story for youth of a girl proving courageous when faced with sudden danger.Instead it is a premeditated adoption of a new gender, a complete violation of the standard sex roles.
Along the way, she and Martial meet two naturalists, also exploring the river, and join forces.One of them, Jacques, cannot account for the attraction he feels toward Jean, deeper than what can be accounted for by male friendship.For his part, Martial is frustrated at his inability to shield Jeanne from this potential future lover.Only when rescuing Jean from drowning does Jacques discover her secret, and at that point their emotions can follow a normal heterosexual development.
Jean/Jeanne herself ultimately makes a similar transformation; for the search of her father, she had passed as a man, but once it is no longer necessary, she assumes feminine garb, which she had even brought with her.As noted in the critical commentary by the dean of American Verne scholars, Walter James Miller, Jacques remains attracted to the masculine side of Jeanne's nature, revealing Verne's insight into the dual aspects of masculinity and femininity present in individuals of either gender.As Germain exclaims of Jeanne, "Charming as a lad, and charming as a lass!It's true-I don't understand it at all!" (354)And on the return journey, calling again on those who knew them on the way out, Jacques has to explain how he married Jean!
It is easy to see why such a premise, as readily comprehensible as it may be to older readers, would be precluded when Boys Own Paper was such a crucial outlet.And that fact, unfortunately, denied for English-language readers one of Verne's best late colonial adventures.
Verne's journey involves a perilous passage, through steadily greater natural dangers, climaxing in abduction by bandits.However, their destination reveals not the heart of darkness, but one of light and civilization.Jeanne's father has become a priest and head of a utopian community, named Juana for Jeanne.He combines the best aspects of both a man of faith and one who insures the defense of the city, and the forces of righteousness defeat the bandits.
Verne well knew that his readers would quickly guess Jeanne's "secret," so he added mystery as the story unfolds, by initial withholding some of the motivations for her trip.Only in a fragmentary way are aspects of her past filled in, with the end jumping ahead to switch point of view entirely with her father's discover of his daughter and his rescue of her (he had thought she had died as a child).As Miller notes, the development and interweaving of the five plot "strands is a lesson in plotting." (374)In this way the reversal and recognition on which the novel relies remains fresh and vivid.The book is well-paced, with a perfect balance of varied and intriguing characters.
In typical manner for the genre, Verne reveals conflicting attitudes toward race and imperialism.There is a consciousness of racial difference, among Indians, Spaniards, and those of mixed blood (again, hardly likely to be approved of as reading for the Boys Own audience), but there are also no racist assumptions based on this background.Similarly, Verne sees typical benefits of "civilization," that is, white civilization, in the usual manner offered through missionary work, health, improvements in agriculture, and the like.The hope for the country's future is an Indian boy who has been educated at the mission, but who lost his father to the bandits, evoking parallels with Jeanne. The only true villain is the Spanish bandit Jorres, who, in another echo of Jeanne, is revealed to actually be the outlaw Alfaniz.Humor is derived from a trio of quarrelsome European explorers, true idiot savants, who are perpetually unable to agree on the river's tributaries.
Fortunately, again Wesleyan University Press's ongoing series of the Early Classics of Science Fiction, which will include a number of previously untranslated Verne books, has included all the original engravings, reproduced in an even higher quality than their previous Verne volumes, The Invasion of the Sea and The Mysterious Island.Pioneering Verne scholar Stanford Luce, who wrote the first American doctoral dissertation on Verne, provides a highly readable translation. ... Read more

Product Description
Miller and Middle America features eleven essays by some of the world's leading Arthur Miller scholars on the playwright's contribution to the literary life of the United States. The essays explore Miller's role as a playwright in relation to American society, both celebrating the land and its heritage, while cautioning the country and its people. The collection provides an examination of Miller's depiction of various roles and professions, such as doctors and carpenters, as well as institutions, such as marriage. Other topics addressed include the language of Middle America, the changing landscape of the country, and even Middle-American political correctness. Finally, the volume offers an examination of Miller's use of memory and reality in his plays to explore and assign meaning to self and society. ... Read more

Product Description
Initially dependent on her baby blanket for security, Janie uses it less and less until she discovers a bluebird needs it more than she does. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

we need this book!
this book is such a cute book, with cute pictures-and when i was a girl i readthis book and identified with jane- i wish it would be re- released in softcover!

Jane's Blanket
When I was a little girl, this was my absolute favorite book.My mother had to read it all the time. My mother gave it away and I kept pressing for her to get it back for me. My mother ended up buying it from a used book store and I know she paid quite a bit for it. I treasure this book and I always loved the pen and ink drawings too. I had a teddy bear that ended up in the same condition as Jane's blanket, and that's where I identified with the story. I had a hard time parting with that old bear.Now I have the book and read it to my two sons who also love it. It is a true feeling of attachment to a comfort item as a child and stays with you always in your heart. Iam so happy to have this book again.

Jane's Blanket
I remember this book SO fondly growing up. It was read to me for years and by me for years afterward. I had a pink blanket, too. I grew out of mine as well(sniff). When I had two girls of my own, I searched and searched for this book. Our local out-of-print bookstore told me it was rare and could go for several hundred dollars. This prompted me to bug my mom until she dug up my slightly battered, but complete copy from childhood. I read it to my girls, but wouldn't sell it for the world. Someday I'll have grandchildren. It's THAT good!

Jane's Blanket
I remember this book SO fondly growing up. It was read to me for years and by me for years afterward. I had a pink blanket, too. I grew out of mine as well(sniff). When I had two girls of my own, I searched and searched for this book. Our local out-of-print bookstore told me it was rare and could go for several hundred dollars. This prompted me to bug my mom until she dug up my slightly battered, but complete copy from childhood. I read it to my girls, but wouldn't sell it for the world. Someday I'll have grandchildren. It's THAT good!

Wonderful book on growing up!
Jane's blanket was pink, and soft, and warm, and she loved it. When she was a baby, she would not play in her playpen without having the pinkblanket there too, and she went to sleep every night touching it. Even whenshe got bigger and had her own bed, she would not go to sleep without her"bata". But as Jane got bigger and bigger, the blanket gotsmaller and smaller, until finally it was only a torn piece of cloth. Janestill loved her blanket, but now it was so small and torn she didn't knowwhat to do with it, until one fine spring morning a bluebird on herwindowsill made her glad she was so big and didn't need her blanketanymore.

This story is the world-renowned playwright's only workfor children. His warmth and affectionate understanding of a child'sprolonged need for a beloved object is charmingly reflected by drawings intwo colors, black and pink, by Emily McCully. ... Read more

Product Description
'Letts Literature Guides for GCSE' help readers get to grips with the novels, poetry and plays most commonly studied for GCSE coursework and exams. This guide covers Miller's 'The Crucible'. ... Read more

Product Description
Arthur Miller clearly enjoys militantly civil conversation. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Miller in interview is his willingness to answer question after question with grace and substance, with a sense of social commitment and metaphysical curiosity.

These interviews complement the plays and his more formal and well-known theater essays, revealing his dramatic and aesthetic theories, his concern with language and structure, his awareness of the inner reality of his characters and how these concerns broaden to highlight universal social and metaphysical issues. Miller in conversation provides a unique insight into both the dramatic works and the man behind those works.

Through forty years of the best of Miller interviews, similar concerns surface, but with one crucial difference: the actor/audience barrier is minimized, and the listener is left with the delightful prospect of engaging Miller, not through Willy Loman or Kate Keller, or through critics "interpreting" the plays, but through the very person who reinvented so much of contemporary drama. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

From Miller's Own Mouth
This is a very helpful source for gaining Miller's biographical insights and perspectives.A handful of interviews are documented word-for-word, and they shed light on many topics, including the motivations behind Miller's plays, his own critiques of his works, and events of his life that shaped his person and his work. ... Read more