ecl@ahutb.UUCP (e.c.leeper) (04/08/85)
THE CASE OF THE REVOLUTIONIST'S DAUGHTER by Lewis S. Feuer
Prometheus Books, 1983, $14.95(?).
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
If Prometheus Books is not a vanity publisher, I'll be very surprised--
this novel is merely a means for the author to give the reader a lot of
socialist and anti-socialist argument, while name-dropping well-known
historical figures throughout (the subtitle is "Sherlock Holmes Meets Karl
Marx"). (Additional support for the vanity press theory comes from the fact
that no price is printed in the book--the $14.95 is based on the Strand
Bookstore's pencilled-in price.)
The case is no case at all: Marx's daughter is "missing," as Engels
describes it when he comes to engage Holmes, but everyone (including the
reader) knows from the very beginning where she is. Holmes spends a lot of
time meeting Shaw and other Fabians, and discussing Ibsen's plays, but since
he doesn't have anything to do in terms of investigation or deduction, the
reader soon wonders what he's doing there at all.
I'd say avoid this one, but the only people who are likely to even run
across this book are the completists (like myself) who will buy it no matter
*how* bad it is.
Evelyn C. Leeper
...ihnp4!ahutb!eclmrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) (04/11/85)
In article <644@ahutb.UUCP> ecl@ahutb.UUCP writes: > > If Prometheus Books is not a vanity publisher, I'll be very surprised.... Prometheus Books is not a vanity publisher, though it is something close: an ideological publisher. Specializing in humanist, iconoclastic, atheistic, philosophical, scientific materialist, and other non-mass-market subjects. They are closely associated with Humanist organizations and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. They have an excellent free catalog. It is a real eye opener to see how much is available to support agnostics and atheists, including books explaining these viewpoints for children. -- Mike Huybensz ...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh