Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Egypt; Drama / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A play about ancients that makes us think about our own time

This is no love story. The wise and manipulative sixteen year old Cleopatra, one of two claimants to the throne of Egypt, tries to outmaneuver Caesar, the over fifty year old Roman general who had grasped control of her country, who is also wise, and who understands Cleopatra's subtlety, her desire to wrest political control over Egypt from her ten year old brother/husband Ptolemy.

How could Shaw portray people who lived in a different culture close to two thousand years ago? Shaw tells us that despite the passing of so many centuries, people do not really change. Thus he can portray the people in his comedy and their reactions as if they were living today. Thus, also, in reverse, he is able to show the folly of the English people of his own age in his portrayal of the ancients. At the outset of the play, for example, the Egyptians speak of themselves as if they are the descendants of the gods. Is this any different than humanity today, who also act as if they are the greatest beings of creation and that they can do to the world as they see fit.

Cleopatra is depicted as a kittenish, childish, immature, frightened, young girl who is also afraid of her servants and who wants to hide from the Romans. Caesar is shown as a seasoned warrior, afraid of nothing, yet with a sense of humor, a womanizer who is fascinated and charmed by the kittenish Cleopatra.

Funny, smart, and original
This work is an excellent and pragmatic look at Caesar's and Cleopatra's relationship, character, and motives. Caesar is portrayed as a wise and benevolent ruler who understands the value of clemency. Cleopatra, on the other hand, engages in a different form of politics. She is less forgiving and wise in the art of manipulation. Putting these two together brings their character traits to the forefront.
Another thing we are able to take away from all of this is that people never change. Civilization and technical advances do not make people any better or smarter than their early ancestors. Regardless of how far we think we have come, we will always say and do and chase after the same things as those who came before us.
George Bernard Shaw created numerous masterpieces over the span of his writing career. He has the distinction of being the only person to ever be awarded both an Oscar and the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was a very humble and conscientious man, a political activist and a vegetarian. His conscientiousness shows in his work by his inability to write meaningless fluff at a time when fluff dominated the stage. His trademark is his classic use of ample humor in dramas with serious subject matter. It takes a special kind of genius to be able to pull that off as flawlessly as he did.

Reading Shaw's works are a genuine treat...
This is a wonderful, and much more likely, interpretation of Cleopatra's romantic involvement with Caesar. Most writers are tempted to turn it into a great love affair, but Shaw reveals a clever and ambitious Cleopatra whose reasons for sinking her claws into Caesar are entirely political. As much as I'm a sucker for a good romance, I found this tale of sly and loveless manipulation to be much more intriguing.
This story takes place when Caesar has occupied Egypt. Cleopatra wants to steal the throne out from under her brother and realizes that Caesar has the power to give it to her. The lengths she goes to in order to gain Caesar's favor or even stand in his presence are zany. She even goes so far as to roll herself up in a carpet that's to be delivered to him.

Shaw is my favorite of the Victorian playwrights. His works were revolutionary in many ways. Use of humor was rare and exceptional for playwrights during that era, but Shaw was not afraid to make audiences laugh. He also tackled serious moral, political, and social issues in his plays at a time when sappy dramas were all the rage. He was truly bold and innovative and greatly contributed to dramatic art. He had an amazing gift, the ability to make people think while simultaneously making them laugh.

Reading Shaw's works are a genuine treat. All of his plays are fabulous. His characters are memorable, and his humor is brilliant.
This is a wonderful book, charming, significant, and insightful. I can't recommend it enough.

A high-stakes game of chess!
I can't resist any chance I can get to peek into the mind of a genius, and Shaw was a true genius. This story was delightful and brilliant.

This was great. Instead of a love affair, we get a high-stakes game of chess with Cleopatra making calculated moves to secure the throne of Egypt, but her opponent, Caesar, excels at the game as well. Shrewd takes on Wise in this excellent battle of wits, giving us a refreshingly original story that portrays Cleopatra as a crafty politician seeking power rather than a romantic siren interested in an affair of the heart.

This story was smart and funny. I loved it and wanted more when it was over. I'll have to buy another one of his books. I just love his style.

Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

This is a fine edition of the delightful Shaw play. Shaw's Caesar is a man of self-doubt and good humor, a vivid counterpoint to the haughty, aristocratic Caesar of Shakespeare.
... Read more

Product Description
In Mrs. Warren's Profession, Arms and the Man, Candida, and Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw satirizes society, military heroism, marriage, and the pursuit of man by woman. From a social, literary, and theatrical standpoint, these four plays are among the foremost dramas of the age-as intellectually stimulating as they are humorous. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Plays by George Bernard Shaw
I bought this book because I wanted to read 'Mrs. Warren's Profession'.I've an actress in the family and she is playing the part of Vivie, Mrs. Warren's daughter.

I was unfamiliar with the play, and was interested in reading it.I found it amazing that for the era in which it was written, it proselytized that a woman could be happier in a career she liked than being married!

The play is well worth reading, giving an insight into how people lived and behaved at that time.

There are four plays in the book: Arms and the Man, Candida, Man and Superman, and Mrs Warren's Profession.The plays are different, all are interesting.

I recommend it.It's a paperback and easy to carry around.

G.B. Shaw collection
Plays: Man & Superman; Candida; Arms & the Man; Mrs Warren's Profession [Signet Classics]

Well worth the purchase and just what I needed.

The best of GBS
This should be required reading just for the "Don Juan in Hell" act of Man and Superman --an excerpt"Your friends are all the dullest dogs I know. They are not beautiful: they are only decorated. They are not clean: they are only shaved and starched. They are not dignified: they are only fashionably dressed. They are not educated: they are only college passmen. They are not religious: they are only pewrenters. They are not moral: they are only conventional. They are not virtuous: they are only cowardly...."

One of my science teachers recited this famous speech in the lab one day, just to show off, and I started appreciating Shaw. Funny thing is that of all the playwrights, GBS is the best just to read. Except for Pygmalion and maybe Arms and the Man, most of Shaw's plays are too "talky" to stage well, but read like short stories. If you haven't read them, you are in for a treat.

A Good Shaw Overview
This would be an excellent collection to have for anyone looking for a taste of Shaw's basic philosophies about socialism--and of course, a good way of finding out how his writing suits you.

Some thought provokingsocial statements are made in all four plays, though some of the prefacesmight be more informative about the author than the plays themselves. Greatwitticisms and depsite the sometimes heavy philosophy, the reading is lightand quick. The last play, Man And Superman, perhaps his most significantplay in terms of philosophy, pure and simple, would be fun reading but thesocialist's handbook given at the end would definitely not be everyone'scup of tea, unless they're philosophy students. This can be skipped withoutspoiling the play though, which contains some of the most excellentdialogue I've come across in a play with philosophical overtones.

AllOscar Wilde and Chesterton lovers would appreciate the epigrams and thewitty one-liners. If for nothing else, Shaw is worth reading for his lovelystyle of execution, the flowing conversations and some uncanny insight. ... Read more

Product Description
Plays Pleasant (1898) comprises four comedies intended to amuse audiences but also to provoke them. Arms and the Man, set in the Balkan mountains, satirizes the romantic view ofwar and military heroism. Candida presents the complicated relationship between a vicar, his wife, and her young admirer. You Never Can Tell is a light, witty look at an aging suffragette and her family. The Man of Destiny features Napoleon Bonaparte at odds with English mores. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Predictable comedies
I don't find George Bernard Shaw as entertaining as I'm supposed to. I have no doubt that his work was very forward-thinking and funny at the time, and I know that he is an important playwright. I'm also sure that in the hands of the right director any of these plays would be fantastic. However, I felt like all of the stories in this collection contained the same gimmicks. You could tell where the play was going in the first couple scenes. I guess my favorite of them all was Candida. It had the most unexpected plotline, and I felt like it wasn't trying to be anything. ... Read more

Product Description
A lucid and entertaining explanation of socialism and capitalism. Shaw at his best, and still relevant. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

one of the twentieth century's greatest...
"The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism" was published in 1927, when George Bernard Shaw was at the very pinnacle of his success as a playwright. (He had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for "St Joan" two years earlier.)

It purported to be a political primer for the "intelligent woman" who knew little or nothing of politics. This literary device of addressing an imaginary, ignorant audience allowed Shaw to start from the beginning. Clear your mind of all preconceptions, he said, and let us first look at the facts. What are the conditions under which the mass of mankind lives in the industrialized world? What is "politics"? What is the real meaning of the words "capitalism" and "socialism" and "communism"? What is the present state of society if examined without any of these labels? Why is it like this?

Having cleared the ground, Shaw then addressed that most fundamental of all social questions, the question to which his entire adult life had been devoted. How is the wealth of the world to be divided up?

Shaw was (to put it mildly) a committed socialist. And The Guide pulled no punches in asserting that socialism is the only sane answer to that question. However, he played scrupulously fair in his presentation of the facts. He described with absolute clarity the causes, conditions and present (1927) state of private property, political parties, banking, revolutions, facism, the stock market, credit, the national debt, universal adult suffrage, investment, strikes and poverty.

In short, the primary value of this extraordinary work was its conceptual clarity. Whether or not readers shared Shaw's opinions, merely by reading the book they could not help but greatly - and usefully - increase their understanding of their world.

The question for modern readers, seventy-five years later, is whether The Guide can help us to understand the modern world.

The answer is Yes.

As a test, borrow a copy of the book and read the chapter entitled "Banking". Just that one chapter. If you do not understand at least twice as much about what a bank is, and does, than you did before, then you need not bother with anything else in the book and you can return it with thanks. Otherwise, as a clincher, read the chapter entitled "Revolutions". I will be very surprised if you do not then buy your own copy.

That said, there are a couple of traps. Firstly, Shaw's English is now somewhat dated. He often uses very much longer sentences, with more subordinate clauses, than we commonly do today. This is ultimately helpful in conveying his meaning, but not immediately so to the modern reader. The Guide is therefore somewhat wearing to read for any length of time. It is not an easy book to skim.

Secondly, since Shaw does have a definite polemical intention (he wants us to become socialists), and since few writers have ever been more skilful at delivering a message while appearing not to, the reader has to be permanently on guard against taking Shaw's statements as facts. He is expert at the art of covertly leading readers to his own conclusions. The effort required to resist all this is also rather exhausting.

These shortcomings aside, and they are significant, The Guide stands as one of the great literary political works of the twentieth century. It is also one of the few genuinely hopeful contributions to the discipline we now call sociology. This reflects neither an earlier, cheerier worldview (in 1927 in England there was every reason to despair), nor a utopian naïveté (Shaw had a clearer sense than most of the horrors of which mankind is capable). No, the sense of hope that suffuses The Guide derives from Shaw's own inextinguishable, strangely realistic generosity of spirit.

In comparing Shaw with his famous fellow-socialist author H.G.Wells, C.P.Snow commented that "Shaw was a kinder, but colder man". He was. And both his kindness and his coldness inform The Guide: matchless detachment, combined with the utmost charity and reasonableness.

"The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism" was George Bernard Shaw's political magnum opus. He had spent much of the previous forty years writing about politics and society, often in the guise of drama, musical criticism or "prefaces" to his published plays. And he continued to do so for the remainder of his life, the last major political work appearing only a few years before his death in 1950.

But this book is It. "The Intelligent Woman's Guide" summarizes all his thinking, all his reading, all his public speaking, all his experience, all his hopes and all his fears for the future. It is the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to the betterment of mankind by political means. In his twenty more years of work - including "The Apple Cart", "Too True to be Good", and "Everybody's Political What's What" - Shaw never wrote anything as good again. There was nothing more he needed to say.

from the very first page
this guy shaw looks at a seemingly complicated matter the most convincing way i have ever encountered. from the very first page this is fascinating business written with clarity and in an easy-to-understand way.
read this book - it will explain much of the world we live in!
and in addition it will give you an excellent idea of how to approach any problem from a very practical and day-to-day point of view.

Probably more relevent now than ever!
Absolute genius. Shaw gives a understandable and accurate explantion of socialism and capitalism. It seems particularly revelvant in today's societal struggles with class, race, and politics. A book everyone who isinterested in social justice should read. ... Read more

Product Description
Eric Bentley's graceful look at George Bernard Shaw was first published over 50 years ago, and time has only strengthened the conviction of his ideas and arguments about Shaw. When it arrived in the late 1940's, this book was hailed by the great poet William Carlos Williams as "the best treatise on contemporary manners I think I have ever read. I was fascinated and rewarded in the depths of my soul." Even Shaw himself described the book as "the best critical description of my public activities I have yet come across." ... Read more

Product Description
An audio book of the classic George Bernard Shaw story featuring the voices of Sir Michael Redgrave, Sir Michael Hordern and Lynn Redgrave. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (64)

A Good Adaptation of a Classic Play
Pygmalion is one of several volumes in the Treasury of Illustrated Classics.The books in this series are adaptations of great works of literature and are designed for younger readers.Though written for children, adults will enjoy this version of George Bernard Shaw's classic play, Pygmalion.

In ancient Greek mythology Pygmalion was a sculptor who ruled as king of the island of Cyprus.Disappointed with the wicked women of his day, he carved a beautiful ivory statue of a woman and fell in love with it.In answer to his prayer, Aphrodite made the statue a living woman, Galatea.Pygmalion married her, and they had a son, Paphos.

In 1912 George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion, a play with some similarities to the ancient Greek myth.Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, seeks to change a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, into a duchess and win a bet in the process.Thus begins a strained relationship between two members of the upper and lower classes of England.Shaw's support of social reform and disdain for class distinctions is evident in this story.As previously mentioned, this book is designed for younger readers, but adults will find it to be a well-written adaptation of a classic play about English society.The book concludes with a brief biographical profile of George Bernard Shaw.

A brilliant satire on the British class system!
I strongly recommend this book. It's a brilliant satire on the British class system. In this classic play George Bernard Shaw shocked audiences by turning a Cockney flower girl into a lady who could pass for a royal by merely being trained to speak with an upper class accent and taught good manners. At the time the idea of girl like the character Eliza being able to be pass herself off as a royal, was unthinkable. There was a very strong "us and them" mentality between the classes. They may as well have been from different planets; that's how large the divide was.

This was truly a bold and scandalous idea that Shaw had brought to life. He dared to deem the only difference between the classes to be environment and education rather that blood and breeding.

George Bernard Shaw created numerous masterpieces over the span of his writing career. He has the distinction of being the only person to ever be awarded both an Oscar and the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was a very humble and conscientious man, a political activist and a vegetarian. His conscientiousness shows in his work by his inability to write meaningless fluff at a time when fluff dominated the stage. His trademark is his classic use of ample humor in dramas with serious subject matter. It takes a special kind of genius to be able to pull that off as flawlessly as he did.
This book is excellent. It's as thought provoking as it is entertaining. There are times when you can't help laughing out loud. You'll be better for reading it. His works just have that effect - they both enrich and uplift you.

This is the best and most famous of Shaw's works.
This is the best and most famous of Shaw's works. I could read it over and over again. The characters are vibrant, the banter is brilliant, and the plot is excellent. Shaw takes on the class system, and the results are side splitting hilarious.

Eliza Doolittle is my favorite character. She's wonderfully outrageous. The words that came out of her mouth really shocked audiences back in the day. It's wonderful to see this duckling turn into a swan without losing any of her fire. Her transformation is an amazing thing to behold, and her headstrong stunts and the times when she suddenly reverts back to her Cockney accent and lingo are hilarious.

Shaw is my favorite of the Victorian playwrights. His works were revolutionary in many ways. Use of humor was rare and exceptional for playwrights during that era, but Shaw was not afraid to make audiences laugh. He also tackled serious moral, political, and social issues in his plays at a time when sappy dramas were all the rage. He was truly bold and innovative and greatly contributed to dramatic art. He had an amazing gift, the ability to make people think while simultaneously making them laugh.

Reading Shaw's works are a genuine treat. All of his plays are fabulous. His characters are memorable, and his humor is brilliant.
This is a wonderful story, charming, significant, and insightful. I can't recommend it enough.

All kinds of hilarity!
What happens when you pull a girl out of the gutter and make it your goal to teach her how to act like a princess? All kinds of hilarity!

This story was smart and funny. I loved it and wanted more when it was over. I'll have to buy another one of Shaw's books. I just love his style. I can't resist any chance I can get to peek into the mind of a genius, and Shaw was a true genius. This story was delightful and brilliant. Eliza is unforgettable. She's intelligent, fiery, and stubborn and makes Higgins earn every cent of the money wagered in his bet that he can transform her into a lady. This is an absolutely charming story. I highly recommend it.

Higgins:"Oh, I can't be bothered with young women....Besides, theyre all idiots."
Oh my!I love it!G.B. Shaw's character Henry Higgins is disdainful, petulant and impetuous.Simultaneously he's admirable and even a man to be envied!Disdainful because of his complete lack of proper manners, total lack of tact and disgraceful way in which he devalues a young woman for his professional experiments; enviable because in his lack of tact he pretty much says whatever's on his mind, not being burdened with what might be better left unsaid; what is socially acceptable.And honestly, I'm sure we've all had those days where we'd just like to "pull a Higgins" and tell the world what we really think!The difference is he does it, but most of us don't.

I know this wasn't written as a comedy, but this play really has some very funny scenes.I could go through and point out numerous exchanges in dialogue between Eliza and Higgins that are just a riot; Higgins and his overly honest opinions and Eliza as she calls him to task towards the end of the play for the manner in which she has been treated.Indeed, I'm sure analytical essays and social discourses could be written, and probably have been, on the relationships in this play.

This play really should be read with some level of cerebral engagement by the reader; the reader is well served to read it with sincerity and thought, to make an effort to be engaged and to pick-up the subtleties and moral points presented by Shaw.Though we're nearly 100 years removed from when this play was first released, Shaw presents some social commentary and moral points that are still very relevant and spot-on today.Unfortunately, I think some readers today will completely miss the points Shaw seeks to bring to fore.

Finally, the play on language and classes is perfect for the English setting.A question as to whether those themes might play well outside of England is answered by the global success and longevity of the play.Class systems and divisions of socioeconomic status, whether based on language, race, religion, etc, are global and universal.An audience most anywhere will understand the underlying themes that Shaw presents in Pygmalion even though the use of language and accents may be uniquely English.This play continues to be a favorite of audiences even after a century (it plays in my town next week at the local summer outdoor theater). ... Read more

Product Description
In "Man and Superman," George Bernard Shaw really outdid himself. Not only did he turn up with a Don Juan play in our modern day and age, which is full of cynicism, and doesn't give in to 'medieval' codes of behaviour, but he even manages to turn around the table. In "Man and Superman," the hunter becomes the hunted, forced to flee from his pursued/pursuer. George Bernard Shaw includes in this play an ingenious conversation between the original 15th century characters, which not only explains about Don Juan's philosophy, but shines a new light upon our own lives, here and today. No wonder Shaw was called the "English Nietzsche". Though Nietzsche was an aristocrat and Shaw a socialist, both cherished the dream of the superman and looked forward to the day when he would be realized. Both also were characterized by their mordant wit and intellectual cynicism in which "Man and Superman" abounds. Shaw manages to compress a number of disparate themes into a relatively taut dramatic format, even throwing in a scene in which Don Juan, the Devil and a gang of anarchist brigands make an appearance. The central event of the plot involves the wealthy Tanner, a member of the "Idle Rich Class" making himself subservient to the Life Force and seeking the perfect woman to marry, who would guarantee him a very special offspring, his ideal, the superman himself. The most delightful part, however, is the "Revolutionist's Handbook" at the end, which contains Shaw's most scandalous anti-Establishment jibes. For instance, "Do not do unto others as you would them do unto you. They might not have the same taste." ... Read more

Product Description

This is an electronic edition of the complete book complemented by author biography. This book features the table of contents linked to every chapter and act. The book was designed for optimal navigation on the Kindle, PDA, Smartphone, and other electronic readers. It is formatted to display on all electronic devices including the Kindle, Smartphones and other Mobile Devices with a small display.

Customer Reviews (1)

great ebook
Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

Getting Married satirizes the status of marriage in Shaw's days. Very good ebook.

... Read more

Product Description

An idealistic professor transforms an unsophisticated Cockney girl into a refined young lady in this classic drama set in turn-of-the-century London.

This Enriched Classic Edition includes:

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Better than the movie!
The original is much better than the popular version. My opinion. Except the music was fun in the movie... The details of what happens next, was great. Prof. Higgins was not a man to ever wed. This changed the whole experience.

Incredible Wit and Social Commentary: A Great Play With Importance Today
George Bernard Shaw uses of wit and insight into England's 1800s arrogant class system to show class is not bred, but made, and the highest class of people see no class at all, being humble enough to know we are equals. Shaw's "Pygmalion" was not written just to add to his wallet with its publication, but to influence society, much the same as Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield" have.

As fun as the musical, "My Fair Lady" is, read Shaw's take on this old Greek myth.

From the plot of whether or not a pauper can made a princess to the subplot of love and true romance, the story is intertwined with memorable characters, delightful banter and intriguing thoughts.

Shaw's understanding of English's accents and how these separated the masses (do they still?) causes me in America to wonder if my Chicago-istic pronunciations affect how I am seen. What about African-American accents, or the New England accents? Does a Kentucky girl's accent come across as higher or lower class than her Alabama neighbors? How do I see others? Am I as affected?

Drop down a little cash, sneak this book into a larger order, and read, "Pygmalion." Review Edith Hamilton's book on mythology, discover who Shaw refers to (as in Galatea and Pygmalion, a fascinating story in its own right).

I fully recommend "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw.

Anthony Trendl
http://HungarianBookstore.com

GREAT
This book is very useful and interesting. One can learn a lesson from the story as well. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

The Philanderer - An Unpleasant Play
The plays of Bernard Shaw span many years and cover many topics. They force us to critically view how success in the world is judged. They demonstrate how any of us may unknowingly be an accomplice to or a participant in activities to which we stringently object on a moral basis. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection presents a cross-section of Shaw's most important theater work—Mrs. Warren's Profession, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, and Pygmalion. Each play is fully annotated.

"Contexts and Criticism" features all-new material on the author and his work, from traditional critical readings to more theorized approaches, among them essays on Shaw's Fabianism and his alleged feminism. Contributors include Leon Hugo, Sally Peters, Tracy C. Davis, John A. Bertolini, Stanley Weintraub, and J. Ellen Gainor.
A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.

About the series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good for the reference shelf.
I bought the book to be able to read the actual text of "Mrs. Warren's Profession", which I had just seen. The texts of three other Shaw classics (Maj. B., Pyg., & Arms) were a fine dividend, hence my comment that the book is a good addition to the reference shelf. However, the accompanying materials were of decidedly mixed value. Shaw's notes, as usual, made good reading, and the quotes from contemporary performance reviews, especially for Mrs. Warren, were quite colorful. The rest of the articles, which I suppose are samples of Literary Criticism, made me glad I chose Physics as a profession. They were dull, turgid, and dry - academic Englishat its worst. I bogged down early. Of course, they are now decades old; fashions may have changed.

Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was a master playwright. This little book contains but a sampling of his complete opus, but it is a good place to start for appreciating the man and his ideas. Disagree with him at your own peril; it is a sword-fight always whether you do or don't. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a collection of the plays of George Bernard Shaw that includes "The Millionairess", "Too True to be Good" and "The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles". ... Read more

Product Description
As a Fabian and lifelong socialist, Shaw believed that economic inequality was a poison destroying every aspect of our lives. Family affections and relations between the sexes were perverted by it. From Parliament to eduction our institutions were "corrupted at the root by pecuniary interest". Idealism, integrity and piecemeal attempts at political reform were all futile in the face of the gross injustice built into our economic system. And because a capitalist economy could never function smoothly, private property was not merely a form of robbery, but robbery with violence. Published in 1928 when Shaw was 72, this book draws on decades of political activity and remains one of his brilliant exercises in propoganda. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

satire against imperial culture
Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

This is a fascinating, fast-paced comedy with dark undertones about a bankrupt society. It is set in the late nineteenth - early twentieth century, but the issues turn out to be very contemporary: the question of capitalism, security vs. adventure, gender roles. I recommend it!

Antebellum world
It is the world before World War I.There were revolutionary ideas on paper.Power and culture were in separate compartments.Civilian response to war was irrational.The death of saloon passengers, the Lusitania sinking, was deemed a greater tragedy than Gallipoli.

The setting for the play is Sussex.Hesione Hushabye is one of the daughters of Captain Shotover.Lady Utterwood, Ariadne, is Mrs. Hushabye's sister.Ellie Dunn, a visitor, arrives and encounters Captain Shotover and Lady Utterwood.

It is a disordered house.Sister does not recognize sister.Father does not recognize daughter.Guests are not expected, the bell doesn't work.One of the sisters is Bohemian, the other is not.

Boss Mangan seeks to marry Ellie.This is a deplorable plan in Mrs. Hushabye's view.Mangan confesses to Ellie that he ruined her father in business.It turns out that Ellie is inclined to marry Mangan even if he engaged in sharp practices in regard to her father's business.

Mangan doesn't really have money and other things are not waht they seem.People shouldn't be deceived by appearances.

This is clever stuff.

Be careful with this edition...
Merely a warning about the Dover Thrift Edition of "Heartbreak House": Practically every page has omitted apostrophes and/or added spaces wit hin wor ds. For me, it quickly became tiresome.

(Of course it's possible - though unlikely - that I just got a bad copy from a one-time printing glitch. Your call.)

"He is not dead: He is only asleep"
Bernard Shaw's 1919 play, "Heartbreak House," is a bitterly angry black comedy - a satire against a British imperial culture in the first two decades of the 20th century that gave rise to the excesses of the first World War, and which could (and would) do a lot worse if given the chance.Consciously drawing on a healthy and proud tradition of Irish satirists, including Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde, Shaw brings us into a declining English country house, which seems to be run by no one in particular for a party of apocalyptic (in)significance.The house is home to the Shotover family, the eighty-eight year old patriarch Captain Shotover, his daughter, Hesione Hushabye, and her husband Hector.Over the course of three acts, Shaw explores the 'fascinating' qualities and inhabitants of the boat-like house, and its broader implications as a kind of ship of state.

The play opens as a young woman, Ellie Dunn, arrives at the house, ostensibly the guest of Hesione.With no one to greet her, and her bags left on the front porch of the house, Ellie finds her way into the boat-like drawing room, where she meets the indefatigable Nurse Guinness, and the inscrutable Captain Shotover, who is in the midst of his latest plan to usefully dispose of the hoard of dynamite he keeps in the garden.Gradually, the party fills out as Hesione, Hector, Lady Utterword (nee Shotover), Randall Utterword (the melancholy brother-in-law), Mazzini Dunn (soldier of freedom and Ellie's father), and Boss Mangan (capitalist and Ellie's intended) arrive at this bizarre house.Hesione plans to break off Ellie's engagement to the much older Mangan, and free her to follow the course of romance, while Utterwood and Hector variously pursue their sister-in-law.Of course, Shaw does not let his characters, nor his audience, off with a simple comedy of manners.

Shaw uses the play to expose the play of civilization, in which we all have a part, but with much more comic viciousness than Wilde, and with (possibly) more brute directness than Swift.The most explicit butt of Shaw's circuitous and rapid-fire dialogues is Mangan, whose gruff capitalist demeanor and pursuit of money and reputation is ultimately the guidepost of society as Shaw envisions it.As the lowest common denominator, Mangan's crudity reflects upwards at the socially climbing Ellie, the egregious nonchalance of Hesione, and the almost intentional insanity of Captain Shotover.Shaw implies that if Mangan and his ilk are running the show, then everyone who is not working to change it is complicit in its depredations.Listless bohemians, like Hesione and Hector, give the lie to their apparent graces, in an effort to maintain sanity in the midst of their perpetual confinement with each other.Lady Utterword's complaisance belies her loveless existence, and Mazzini Dunn's servility is the mark of an idealist who has given up his ideals in favor of subsistence.Is the refinement we everyday pretend to, nothing more than a thin veneer for the animal instincts that, if broached, would expose us as Swiftian Yahoos, as Shaw implies in his Preface, or as mere children, left in charge of ever more dangerous means of annihilating everyone and everything?

The tool of satire, in the hands of a master like Shaw, compels us to examine our own lives, and the ways we live them.Does Shaw call us to action, or merely to honest self-reflection?Either way, even at this late date, nearly a century later, we are still living in "Heartbreak House" - and Shaw's challenge to us is more urgent than ever. Ultimately, Shaw's message is that we are not dead yet - only asleep; can we awaken before it is too late?If we are monstrous enough to blow up the preacher's house, in the early 20th century or the early 21st, then each of us must be our own Savior - a notion which should be as empowering as it is horrifying.

The absurd serving utopia
Bernard Shaw is a great playwright. In this particular play he exposes the shortcomings of English upper classes. They only think of mariage, business, politics, but England is in fact a drunken skipper, a skipper on which every sailor and even the captain are drunk with rum and unable to see the danger coming up and to deal with it. So the skipper is condemned to break on the rocks. England in the same way is condemned to break on the rocks because no one, in the upper classes, thinks beyond their interest. This catastrophe coming up is shown by some kind of supernatural explosion at the end of the play and the members of these upper classes admire the event as being beautiful and they are totally unable to cope. The picture given by Shaw of England is particularly pessimistic. Their is no future and no hope for that country. Along the way he discusses important issues such as the liberation of women within their enslavement and their power is nothing but hypnotism or drowning men in a sea of words and charm. The only sane man in the play is the captain, with an allusion to Whitman, « Captain my captain », who sees the catastrophes coming and is unable to convince his own daughters or their husbands and friends that they have to control the boat if they don't want it to capsize. But does he really want to convince them ?

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU ... Read more

Product Description
1913. Most of Shaw's early plays were either banned by the censor or refused production. He began the practice of writing the challenging, mocking, eloquent prefaces to his plays, which were sometimes longer than the play itself. In 1925 he won the Nobel prize. The Unsocial Socialist is one of Shaw's last satires and was the inspiration for the play, Smash. The book begins: In the dusk of an October evening, a sensible looking woman of forty came out through an oaken door to a broad landing on the first floor of an old English country-house. A braid of her hair had fallen forward as if she had been stooping over book or pen; and she stood for a moment to smooth it, and to gaze contemplatively-not in the least sentimentally-through the tall, narrow window. The sun was setting, but its glories were at the other side of the house; for this window looked eastward, where the landscape of sheepwalks and pasture land was sobering at the approach of darkness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Dated
This reads like an infomercial for socialism.It's setting in England when it was an undeveloped country is a reminder of how far we have come since then and how little socialism has changed.

Put this one on top of your reading list
As the previous reviewer has noted this book is hard to put down. I was most impressed with the author's ability to successfully create a colorful (as in inflection-filled) and thus dynamic commentary. As to the somewhat transparent but, as highlited in the title, central topic, socialism, I feel this book has equally shown the positive and the negative consequences of its application all the while keeping true to its satire.

An Unsocial Socialist
Shaw's last, and in my opinion, best satire, An Unsocial Socialist is awonderful book that is sadly not well known.The plot is pulls you in andthe book spawned an equally great play, "Smash".I couldn't putit down until I finished it. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
The beloved classic (also published as Pygmalion) by George Bernard Shaw. A quintessential Cinderella rags-to-riches tale. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

book order
Ordered book on 8/22 and it was received 8/26. Fast shipping and book was exactly as described. Will order from seller again.

a great book...
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw was a great read. The action is realistic and the character's dialoug dynamic. The story is about a poor flower girl and how two men place a bet on her. One says that she could pass as duchess if she is taught proper manners, speech, and dress while the other think she can not. This book is filled with many funny moments and tense times. :)

terrible service
I ordered the book a month ago and never got it. I will never order from this again. Completely horrible. Think twice before you order anything again

Really interesting !
This is probably the best edition of one of the best plays ever written ! A very interesting play criticizing society, and showing the link between language and social status. I really love it ! Just read it. It really is an underrated play.

Pygmalion Rocks!
T. Cook writes:A true "diamond in the rough," Pygmalion is one of the cleverest and underrated plays written.Shaw conveys the faulty class system of Europe through the memorable Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle.Eliza, a cockney girl from the poor part of London, has trademark accent and original sounds, like "Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo."Despite her poor living conditions, she is able to retain her honor and good character.She often repeats "I'm a good girl, I am."This shows that she is not willing to sell her own body and sacrifice her integrity in order to get by.Henry Higgins, in comparison, is on the higher end of the class scale.His ability to replicate any sound and to place a man within any part of London demonstrates his expertise in his field.He uses vulgar words, however, like "bloody," "devil," and "damned."He is also oblivious to his faults such as his anger and foul language. The differences in characterization show the problems with the class system; the high moral characters are in the lower class while vulgar characters are found in the high class.
While the general population is not as familiar with Pygmalion as it is with My Fair Lady, Pygmalion is superior to its movie counterpart. First, Eliza's strong accent is more evident in the play due to the strange spelling of words; the confusion of the reader in deciphering these words mirror the Londoners' confusion in listening to Eliza.Second, Rex Harrison does not fully convey the volatile nature of Higgins; Higgins in Pygmalion is capable of going from happy to furious within one line and Harrison's emotions are similar to that of a wall.

I highly recommend Pygmalion because it is a classic that is enjoyable to read and better crafted than its more famous movie adaptation.
... Read more

Product Description
Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG- On the 15th June 1903, in the early forenoon, a medical student, surname Redpenny, Christian name unknown and of no importance, sits at work in a doctor's consulting-room. He devils for the doctor by answering his letters, acting as his domestic laboratory assistant, and making himself indispensable generally, in return for unspecified advantages involved by intimate intercourse with a leader of his profession, and amounting to an informal apprenticeship and a temporary affiliation. Redpenny is not proud, and will do anything he is asked without reservation of his personal dignity if he is asked in a fellow-creaturely way. He is a wide-open-eyed, ready, credulous, friendly, hasty youth, with his hair and clothes in reluctant transition from the untidy boy to the tidy doctor.Redpenny is interrupted by the entrance of an old serving-woman who has never known the cares, the preoccupations, the responsibilities, jealousies, and anxieties of personal beauty. She has the complexion of a never-washed gypsy, incurable by any detergent; and she has, not a regular beard and moustaches, which could at least be trimmed and waxed into a masculine presentableness, but a whole crop of small beards and moustaches, mostly springing from moles all over her face. She carries a duster and toddles about meddle-somely, spying out dust so diligently that whilst she is flicking off one speck she is already looking elsewhere for another. In conversation she has the same trick, hardly ever looking at the person she is addressing except when she is excited. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A humorous take on serious ethical issues
This is a humorous take on the serious issue of a doctor being forced to choose between patients in a life or death situation. In this case the doctor must choose between a friend and a rival with his personal feelings playing havoc with him. This is Shaw's comedic way of bringing up the issue of doctors being made to play God when medicine is in short supply, and he compels us to think about how those decisions are made.
Shaw pokes fun at his cast of characters who mirror people in real life. He raises valid questions about medical ethics while making you laugh at the inanity of it all. This is a wonderful masterpiece, funny, relevant, and great food for thought.
George Bernard Shaw created numerous masterpieces over the span of his writing career. He has the distinction of being the only person to ever be awarded both an Oscar and the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was a very humble and conscientious man, a political activist and a vegetarian. His conscientiousness shows in his work by his inability to write meaningless fluff at a time when fluff dominated the stage. His trademark is his classic use of ample humor in dramas with serious subject matter. It takes a special kind of genius to be able to pull that off as flawlessly as he did.

Brilliant and Raises Serious Questions..
In this excellent story a doctor finds himself personally and ethically conflicted when he must decide whom he will give the only cure to, a poor medical colleague who is a good man or a brilliant artist who is an unpleasant individual and whose wife the doctor is in love with.
The characters in this tale are amazingly well conceived, the premise is most intriguing, and the dialogue is very witty.
This is a brilliant work that examines serious issues that occurred, and still occur, in the medical field. The theme of the play raises the question of what happens when life-saving treatments are so scarce or expensive that only some people can have them while others must go without. In those cases who should decide who gets treated and for what reasons?

Shaw is my favorite of the Victorian playwrights. His works were revolutionary in many ways. Use of humor was rare and exceptional for playwrights during that era, but Shaw was not afraid to make audiences laugh. He also tackled serious moral, political, and social issues in his plays at a time when sappy dramas were all the rage. He was truly bold and innovative and greatly contributed to dramatic art. He had an amazing gift, the ability to make people think while simultaneously making them laugh.

Reading Shaw's works are a genuine treat. All of his plays are fabulous. His characters are memorable, and his humor is brilliant.

Delightful and brilliant!
Sometimes I forget that doctors are just as susceptible to allowing their feelings to get in the way of doing their job as anyone else. This was a great story about a doctor struggling with the feelings he had for the people in his care and how it affected his decision regarding their treatment.

I thought the way that Shaw characterized the medical staff was hilarious, and the dilemma he put the doctor in was very intriguing. I couldn't wait to find out who he chose and was tempted to skip ahead to see.

This story was smart and funny. I loved it and wanted more when it was over. I'll have to buy another one of his books. I just love his style.

I can't resist any chance I can get to peek into the mind of a genius, and Shaw was a true genius. This story was delightful and brilliant.

the Doctor's Dilemma
THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA is one of Shaw's most biting critical commentaries...this time on doctors.Shaw hated doctors, as a result of a botched operation on his foot, so here he portrays them as a group ofignorant, bull-headed windbags.All, that is, except for one doctor, whohas actually found a cure for tuberculosis.The "dilemma" in thetitle is whether to use the cure on a talented young painter who is a moraland ethical sleazebag, or on an upstanding middle-aged physician who is agood soul, albeit a boring and relatively mundane one.All this iscomplicated by the fact that the doctor is in love with the painter's wife!The biggest problem with the play is that it has lost some of its impetusin the last century.Antibiotics can now cure tuberculosis, and themedical profession is far more restricted in its use of"experimental" treatments than it was then.However, Shaw's witand invective is still poignant even at the end of the twentieth century. A must-read for Bernard Shaw enthusiasts.... ... Read more