David Weber

"I really love the piano trio,” says Aki Takase, with a passion that mirrors her playing. “But not the old idea, where the pianist is king, and the bassist and the drummer are just sidemen. We are equal.

Kem Weber (1889—1960), a well-known mid-century architect, was part of the distinctive West Coast modernism movement that helped shaped the relaxed California lifestyle. He influenced California style during the mid-twentieth century with buildings architecture, interior designs and furniture, including his famed Air Line chair, which is part of many museum furniture collections. As chief designer for the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank in 1939, Kem Weber also designed the specialized animation furniture that went into the then new studio complex.

Virtuosity, brightness, brio: Karl Maria von Weber's concertos always raise an electrifying enthusiasm. But Weber was also a poet, full of lyricism, an imaginative painter, an innovator. This disc, presented by three renowned artists whose paths have crossed whilst playing on the world's greatest stages (Nicolas Baldeyrou, David Guerrier and Thomas Bloch), pays homage to the two aspects of this key romantic composer; very much worth rediscovering.

Until recently little of Simmel's work was available in translation and certain key texts were unknown outside Germany. David Frisby, the eminent Simmel scholar, provides not only an introduction to the major sociological writings of this important figure, but also an argument for a reconsideration of his work. The author outlines the cultural and historical context in which Simmel worked; reviews Simmel's most important writings; and examines his legacy to sociology by illuminating his links with Weber's theories and his influential relationship with Marxism. Simmel, a central figure in the development of modern sociology, and a contemporary of Weber and Durkheim, was one of the first to identify sociology as a separate discipline. His ideas influenced Weber, the Chicago School, and many later sociologists. His introduction of a number of basic concepts to sociology, such as exchange, interaction and differentiation, attest to his intellectual stature and the far-reaching significance of his work.

In this worthy sequel to the well-received 1632 (2000), about a small West Virginia coal-mining town transported back in time to the Germany of the Thirty Years War, original author Flint and coauthor Weber resist the temptation to use modern technology to impose a Pax Americana, instead allowing their transportees just enough high tech to prevail if they can win allies like Sweden's King Gustavus Adolphus. Most of the current book deals with coalition building, as the visitors from the future attempt to remake their new world into one safe for democracy despite opposition from such as Cardinal Richelieu. History books from a now-hypothetical future and antibiotics prove to be more potent than their limited supply of modern firearms, but the most powerful weapons of the new "United States" are its ideas, which now infect the millions of Germans ground under the heels of their princes. Ordinary Germans develop a new faith in themselves and their future when the Americans show them that they can do anything, even fly. Flint, a former union organizer, is particularly skilled at showing how the new converts can make even the "old Americans" uncomfortable in their zeal to achieve the blessings of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," while Weber helps smooth out characters who were stereotypes in the first book. This is a thoughtful and exciting look at just how powerful are the ideals we sometimes take for granted, and is highly recommended as a reminder of how we can look to others when at our best. (Aug.) FYI: Weber is also the coauthor with Steve White of The Shiva Option (Forecasts, Jan. 28), while Flint is also the coauthor with David Drake of The Tyrant (Forecasts, Mar. 25).