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.The Crucible (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Arthur Miller

March 25, 2003
Okay, so all sorts of historical details are altered for the sake of character drama, but so what? It does not change the fact that this is one heck of a great play that offers it all: romance, betrayal, psychology, murder, and more, all set in a sleepy little Puritan town obsessed with witches that has become the victim of the "games" of a few young girls.

While I would hardly recommend it to someone going for deep facts of the Salem Witch Trials, this still draws on historical characters and does an excellent job of portraying them as real people. You feel for them, even the ones you hate.

"The Crucible" is well-named as the pot that heats everything up, and Miller takes minor events and shows how they become the ... Read More:
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.Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: William Shakespeare

July 01, 2003
shakespeare has done it again... and thanks to amazon i was allowed to fully enjoy this great masterpiece
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.A Raisin in the Sun
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Lorraine Hansberry

November 29, 2004
Lorraine Hansberry's famous play offers raw and realistic drama. The story examines conflicts and dreams within an African American family from Chicago's South Side in the 1950's, plus the effects of racism. The family includes Walter and Ruth Younger, his widowed mother Lena, son Travis, and sister Beneatha. Walter is a hard-working chauffeur who dreams of buying a liqour store before he loses his money to a con artist. Beneatha is an ambitious college student newly attracted to the back-to-Africa philosophy of her Nigerian friend, while Lena and Ruth dream of escaping their slum and buying a house in a better area. That latter dream becomes reality via the life insurance from Lena's late husband. Lena purchases a house in a better area, at which point ... Read More:
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.Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Arthur Miller

October 06, 1998
This classic play by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) examines human failure, high expectations, and the dark side of the American Dream. Willie Loman is an aging salesman whose figures have fallen to the point where he no longer makes a real living. Not only is his job in jeopardy; so is his family and self-worth. Loman reacts by deluding himself, living in the past, and by holding his sons to unrealistic expectations. Miller does a superb job in presenting a broken man sliding downwards. Such occurs in the sordid race of materialism and corporate success - one that leaves many broken souls in its path. Willie needs to face reality, and mend himself and his struggling family (and his family should help him too), but Miller's powerful script doesn't go there. Instead ... Read More:
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.Romeo and Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library)
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: William Shakespeare

January 01, 2004
Innocent love is the most pure... and the sight of those who are in that beautiful whirlwind of its hypnotic clutches is a sight to behold.

Is it true? "Is youth wasted on the young."

Sometimes, sometimes not.

Romeo and Juliet is the most known western love story of all time.

Why?

This is not an easy question to answer, however, personally, I would never go back to those extremes of pure love; that game playing, jealousy, love-making so innocent,(wonderful) and the relationship inevitably ending in tragedy.

What makes this 500 year old love story one of a kind is its "truth", that we are essentially envious beings, and pure love is something we all either unconsciously or consciously yearn for...and attempt ... Read More:
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.August: Osage County
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Tracy Letts

February 01, 2008
By far one of the best plays I've read in a long time, maybe even since my love affair with 'Angels in America.' Bitingly funny and horribly tragic, I've yet to find one disappointed fellow reader of Letts' masterpiece.
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.Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library)
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: William Shakespeare

July 01, 2003
not thhe book i expected to receive, took too long to get. within allotted time but not the service i've come to expect from amazon. i order several books a month, not impressed with this seller.
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.Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Samuel Beckett

January 18, 1994
If the author was trying to effect in the reader the pain of interminable, open-ended waiting in line with no insight as to when the line might move, with no other diversions, he succeeded. I found this book excruciating to read. Imagine the dull rambling--desalinated of anything whatsoever interesting--of two nondescript nobodies with nothing to say. That pretty much sums it up. Once one gets that, then some nuances come in to play. First, it is funny at times. The author manages to insert some subtle plays on words; irony; playful symbolism. These are not pointed to with a neon sign, but have to be watched for--no sleeping here! The insertion of the rich man and his human 'horse' pulling a cart was truly demented. While there may be a few ways to take this work, I'll stick with re-interpreting the phrase ... Read More:
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.The Crucible (Penguin Plays)
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Arthur Miller

October 28, 1976
Arthur Miller's Crucible is an eloquent rebuttal of the Red Scare and the McCarthyism of the time period in which this work was written. But it does not bear the mark of brilliance. Straightforward and simple in both its story and language, The Crucible is an effective albeit unremarkable work on the Salem witch trials.

Both the plot and the characters perform the necessary tasks, but are also basic. Trying to describe the plot and characters, my mind immediately wanders to some more curious topic. The story is typical. Evil is in the form of those prosecuting innocent men and women, falsely accusing others in the hope of acquiring land. Good comes in the form of those who resist. John Proctor plays a protagonist, with supporting protagonists, Abigail a sort of seductress, and the court fills in the role ... Read More:
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.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
City Travel Guides > Books > Drama
by: Tom Stoppard

January 21, 1994
I read the book first (I ALWAYS read the book first) and I was puzzled. Where was the wit? The Shakespearian sense of humor is certainly not always mine to say the least, but I'm not used to feeling as if I simply missed the boat entirely. I suppose my overall reaction would have to be a resounding "Hunh?" (Perhaps "Ho hunh!?")
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