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Rating: 
Summary: Wish they would just reprint "Heavenly Discourse."
Review: "Heavenly Discourse," by C. E. S. Wood, would rate six or seven stars. To my utter disbelief, it is out of print. The good news is that "Wood Works" includes four of these hysterically funny satires. They build slowly, like a Bob Newhart monologue, and this short excerpt does not do them justice:"BILLY SUNDAY: Why, there is Herman Morgenstern. I sent him to hell. He kept a family beer garden on Fourth Avenue... JESUS: I liked him. He was a gentle, charitable soul. BILLY SUNDAY: But he kept a beer saloon. JESUS: I lived with publicans and sinners. BILLY SUNDAY: And there is Margaret Hartwell. She had an illegitimate child. She sold her body. She was a harlot. I sent her to hell. How did she get here? JESUS: I liked her. The one with her is Mary Magdalen." The bad news is that "Wood Works" is a comprehensive overview of Wood's oeuvre, and while a lot of it is nice to have if you're already a Wood ! fan, it does become clear why "Heavenly Discourse" is his best-known work. The introduction and commentary give about the right amount of background on C. E. S. Wood. It's a nice book. But I hope someone gets around to reprinting all of "Heavenly Discourse."
Rating:
Summary: Still of interest in relation to the global capitalism.
Review: In the middle of the fifties I found a pocket edition of 'Heavenly Discourse' in a bookshop in Stockholm, Sweden and found it fascinating and hilarious. I lost the book and the name of its author. No one of all the Internets Search engines were able to find this title. Amazing! Finally I found a copy of the first edition (1926) at the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam. But this precious edition will not be lended. I think after more than 70 years a translation into Dutch would be worthwhile. Why not a new reprint of the 1st edition? = Jacques de Reus, Amstelveen. Netherlands
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