I just finished "Notorious Woman: the Celebrated Case of Myra Clarke Gaines," which uses a New Orleans inheritance case that dragged on for decades (an American Bleak House) to examine the constraints placed on women in 19th century America, and also has some interesting info on the collision between Spanish, French and American legal systems in early Louisiana, and then there's a fascinating hitch in the case when the Civil War forces US Supreme Court justices from the South to decide whether to stay or resign and go home to the Confederacy.... I like books that show how much messier American history is than the version we got in school textbooks. Now I'm almost finished with Mahfouz's "Akhenaten," which was finally in at the library. Very interesting but I liked his Cairo Triology even more, for the more involved character development, and it keeps making me want to break down and order Lucille Morrison's "The Lost Queen of Egypt," about Akhenaten's daughter, which I read in grade school. It's out of print and I haven't seen it for less than about $90 as a used book. << "It's like Dr. Laura for people with bachelor degrees. Car Talk has more intellectual content.">> Now he's dissing Car Talk as well? I'd like to see how well he does on the Puzzlers! (I do find Fresh Air kind of annoying sometimes, even when the guests are interesting.) Parry