.... himself from which their influence is progressively shut out. While fortunately, most parents do not have a Jeffrey Dahmer to raise, too many have seen their children succumb to drugs, alcohol, crime despite their very best and, often frantic, efforts to intervene. "It is a portrayal of parental dread... the terrible sense that your child has slipped beyond your grasp, that your little boy is spinning in the void, swirling in the maelstrom, lost, lost, lost." Lionel seems to be fairly straightforward in recognising the negative influences in Jeff's life. No family is perfect. Jeff's mother had various physical ailments and appeared to be high strung, coming from ....

.... book is amazingly accurate. Marco Polo was born in the city-republic of Venice in 1254. His father and uncles were merchants who traveled to distant lands to trade. In 1269 Marco's father, Nicolo`, and his uncle Maffeo returned to Venice after being away many years. On a trading expedition they had traveled overland as far as Cathay (China). Kublai Khan, the great Mongol emperor of China, asked them to return with teachers and missionaries for his people. So they set out again in 1271, and this time they took Marco. From Venice the Polos sailed to Acre, in Palestine. There two monks, missionaries to China, joined them. Fearing the hard journey ahead, however, ....

.... classical training. He studied with Reverend Mr. Maury, a classical scholar, for two years and in 1760 he attended William and Mary College. After graduating from William and Mary in 1762, Jefferson studied law for five years under George Wythe. In January of 1772, he married Martha Wayles Skelton and established a residence at Monticello. When they moved to Monticello, only a small one room building was completed. Jefferson was thirty when he began his political career. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgess in 1769, where his first action was an unsuccessful bill allowing owners to free their slaves. The impending crisis in British-Colonial relations overshadow ....

.... in Vienna until 1913, he lived first on an orphan's pension, later on small earnings from pictures he drew. He read voraciously, developing anti-Jewish and antidemocratic convictions. In World War I (1914-1918), Hitler, by then in Munich, volunteered for service in the Bavarian army. He proved a dedicated, courageous soldier, but was never promoted beyond private first class because his superiors thought him lacking in leadership qualities! After Germany's defeat in 1918 he returned to Munich, remaining in the army until 1920. His commander made him an education officer, with the mandate to immunize his charges against pacifist and democratic ideas. In September 1919 he jo ....

.... Nevertheless, Robert was soon improvising, and even composing a set of dances for the piano. Robert's musical talent was recognized by his father. He bought an expensive Streicher grand piano for his son, and soon four-handed arrangements of the classics were heard in the Schumann home. With a friend named Friedrich Piltzing, another pupil of Kuntzch's, Robert started to explore Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. As a child, Schumann took part in several concerts at the Zwickau Lyceum. He once played Moscheles' Alexander March variations, which demanded considerable dexterity. At the public Lyceum Robert was active as both pianist and public speaker. When he was fourteen, ....

.... to his parent's discipline. His parents were Christians, but they didn't really focus on teaching him the Word. They wanted to teach him other stuff. Tom ended up playing high school football, which led to his love for pro football. He ended up coaching for the Dallas Cowboys. He led them to many playoffs and Super Bowls. He was a great coach for them. After he had been coach for twenty-nine years there was a controversial firing. It was a controversy because the great things that he was doing for the Cowboys. Jerry Jones, coach of a Florida college team, had plans for buying the team. After he bought it, he fired Tom Landry. The firing happened on Februar ....

.... had a harsh bout with the disease because there was no modern medicine to aid in the recovery. In 1941 during the World War he was very excited about joining the military. Ironically, the illness that had almost killed him, saved him from going to war. Most of his classmates that joined the service had been killed over-seas and abroad. For college Lee chose Lehigh University for its engineering program, although he wanted to go to Purdue, he did not get a scholarship. Lehigh University was one of the sights that Ford Motor Company used to recruit new employees. He was able to secure a place in the Ford training program, it was difficult for him to get admission but he s ....

.... family, Baraka attended Rutgers University then transferred to receive his degree from Howard University. Baraka served in the military for three years before settling in Greenwich Village in New York, at the heart of the Beat scene. Baraka began writing seriously and with first wife, Hettie Cohen, founded the influential Beat literary journal, Yugen. Baraka then grew in notority when he won the Obie, awarded by the Village Voice newspaper, an off-Broadway award, for his play, Dutchman. With his new found reputation, Baraka opened the Black Arts Repertory School in 1964. The institution became one of the most influential theatre/schools within the BAM and brought ....