Author: Alexandre Dumas File Type: mobi From School Library JournalGrade 6 Up-With swelling musical background, the clash of swordplay, and the occasional thump of a head being cut off, the St. Charles Players bring back the feeling of radio theater in their rendition of the classic tale by Alexandre Dumas. The players voices emit every nuance required to let listeners experience the swashbuckling deeds of the famous heroic threesome and the boy called DArtagnan who wants to join their ranks. When the young man arrives in Paris with the wish to enlist with the Kings Musketeers, he finds himself challenged to three duels in his first afternoon in the city by men who turn out to be Porthos, Aramis, and Athos-the Three Musketeers. Instead of fighting against them, the twists of fate have DArtagnan battling for them against the evil Cardinal Richelieus guards. After demonstrating his worth with a sword, DArtagnan proves more of his mettle by journeying to England to foil a plot to embarrass Frances Queen Anne, the former Anne of Austria. DArtagnan saves his queen but loses the woman he loves, so he seeks vengeance and, in turn, instills himself firmly in the ranks of the Musketeers. The flavor of the original is evident even though this abridged version includes only highlights in its retelling.Joanne K. Hammond, Chambersburg Area Middle School, PA 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalA perennial favorite, this work continues to hold appeal for adventure lovers. Full of intrigue, swordplay, and revenge, it is the story of dArtagnan, a young nobleman who travels to Paris in hopes of joining the Musketeers, a group of swashbuckling adventurers who serve King Louis XIII. His wit and fighting ability make dArtagnan a welcome addition to their ranks, and together the four young men work to foil the Kings evil rival, Cardinal Richelieu. Despite the period setting and constant violence, the story captures and sustains the listeners interest as the Musketeers vanquish the villains. Michael York reads superbly, his rich baritone voice giving each role convincing clarity. The audio format is particularly suited to the tale. The production quality is excellent. Recommended for general collections.- Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book apartment of the captain of the musketeers, congratulating himself with all his heart at having so narrowly escaped the end of this strange quarrel. CHAPTER III. THE AUDIENCE. M. De Treville was at the moment in rather an ill-humour nevertheless, he saluted the young man politely, who bowed to the very ground, and he smiled on receiving his compliment, the Bearnese accent of which recalled to him at the same time his youth and his country, a double remembrance, which makes a man smile at all ages. But stepping towards the antechamber, and making a sign to dArtagnan with his hand, as if to ask his permission to finish with others before he began with him, he called three times, with a louder voice at each time, so that he went through all the tones between the imperative accent and the angry accent. Athos ! Porthos ! Aramis ! The two musketeers, with whom we have already made acquaintance, and who answered to the last two of these three names, immediately quitted the group of which they formed a part, and advanced towards the cabinet, the door of which closed after them as soon as they had entered. Their appearance, although it was not quite at ease, excited by its carelessness, at once full of dignity and submission, the admiration of DArtagnan, who beheld in these two men demi-gods, and in their leader an Olympian Jupiter, armed with all his thunders. When the two musketeers had entered, when the door was closed behind them, when the buzzing murmur of the antechamber, to which the summons which had been made had doubtless furnished fresh aliment, had recommenced when M. de TreVille had three or four times paced in silence, and with a frowning brow, the whole length of his cabinet, passing each time before Porthos and Aramis, who were as upright and sil...

Author: Oscar Sanchez-Sibony File Type: pdf Was the Soviet Union a superpower? Red Globalization is a significant rereading of the Cold War as an economic struggle shaped by the global economy. Oscar Sanchez-Sibony challenges the idea that the Soviet Union represented a parallel socio-economic construct to the liberal world economy. Instead he shows that the USSR, a middle-income country more often than not at the mercy of global economic forces, tracked the same path as other countries in the world, moving from 1930s autarky to the globalizing processes of the postwar period. In examining the constraints and opportunities afforded the Soviets in their engagement of the capitalist world, he questions the very foundations of the Cold War narrative as a contest between superpowers in a bipolar world. Far from an economic force in the world, the Soviets managed only to become dependent providers of energy to the rich world, and second-best partners to the global South. **