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Microsoft��� Office Document Designer: Your Easy-to-Use Toolkit and Complete How-To Source for Professional-Quality Documents (Bpg-Other)
$29.99
The book is well-written and describes the installation and use of the toolkit enclosed on the accompanying CD/ROM. The toolkit is good and fills a needed niche for those who want to produce complex and polished documents without understanding how Word works "under the covers". If this is what I wanted, I would give it either four or five stars.

What this book does not do is talk in depth about how Word actually works and how to either take advantage of that or work around it (like the fact that you can't really "lock" styles). My impression from reading web reviews prior to purchase, was that the book did this. My bad; it really doesn't.

14KT 2MM Diamond Cut Hoop Earrings
$40.00
14 Karat Yellow Gold 2 Milimeter Diamond Cut Hoop Earrings. Style #8592

Map of the battle-field of Perryville, Ky., October 8th 1862. Compiled from the records and other sources by J. B. Work, 52d Ohio Vol. Inf. (Civil War Map Reprint measured in inches 28 x 36)
$20.00
High quality reproduction of an historic map from the Civil War Map Collection from the Library of Congress. Authentic map that was hand drawn during or soon after the Civil War depicting important historical events and battles. These are High Quality Prints offered by Blackstone Lithographs.

Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources (Penguin Classics)
$16.00
I am very fond of Penguin Classics, which combine a primary text with a thorough scholarly background. Sometimes I read part of the supplementary material, or none at all, or I read parts of it at my leisure later. In the case of this book, I read it in its entirety, from cover to cover.

Alfred was an extraordinary character. He had lifelong health problems of an unknown nature, yet was a proven and tenacious warrior. He reorganized his country's system of defense, and even designed a new type of ship to combat the Vikings (the details of which are tantalizingly unknown to us), yet he was also deeply interested in religious and literary matters, and fostered a renewal of learning and literacy in his kingdom.

When he took the throne, in 871, he was 23 years old, and the internal and international situation was deeply troublesome. Most of the petty Saxon and Angle kingdoms had "made peace" with the Vikings, a euphemistic term for paying them money in exchange for being left unmolested by the Viking armies. At the time of Alfred's ascension to the throne, in fact, a Viking army was more or less living year-round in Wessex. After a period of battling for survival, Alfred patiently gathered his strength for several years, finally uniting under his rule all English territories outside of the Viking Danelaw.

This book has more than 40 pages of introductory material, dealing with the historical background of Alfred's reign, including a portrait of his biographer Asser, as well as the numerous maps and genealogical tables one has come to expect from Penguin. The volume also includes extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which are relevant to King Alfred, as well as from various charters, wills, and laws promulgated by him.

Of particular interest are the excerpts from the writings of King Alfred; he commissioned translations of works he considered of particular interest or importance, and many of these translations were made by Alfred himself. In many cases, the translations were more like commentaries, and an analysis of Alfred's interpretation of various works sheds an interesting light on the kinds of concerns (political, literary, and theological) he had. One fact which comes shining through, for example, is that he viewed his kingship as a personal and moral responsibility and approached it with great seriousness.

Readers interested in Dark Age or English history should find this edition indispensable, but I think that anyone would enjoy and benefit from reading about the life and deeds of the admirable King Alfred.