The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume Two

Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: I'm not a huge fan of Medieval literature, and perhaps this book is to blame. I think I've been spoiled by the Norton and Bevington anthologies I've used in other classes, because this was truly a let-down. If you're a prof looking for a good book to use for class, have your students spend the extra twenty-spot and get a Norton.

Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: I'm not a huge fan of Medieval literature, and perhaps this book is to blame. I think I've been spoiled by the Norton and Bevington anthologies I've used in other classes, because this was truly a let-down. If you're a prof looking for a good book to use for class, have your students spend the extra twenty-spot and get a Norton.

Rating:
Summary: dont get me started
Review: otherwise its a great collection of texts. 3 books too.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent anthology with many uses
Review: This is an excellent anthology, with generous selections, lively introductions, and beautifully reproduced color plates. Though published on "bible paper," there is very little bleed-through. It is an splendid alternative to the Norton Anthology, not only for its ample contexts sections and for its loving attention to both canonical and new writers (especially women writers of the Renaissance), but also for its favoring of complete works--More's Utopia, Sidney's Apology, etc. I've been using IB this semester, and though there are, as the (I think excessively) negative reviewer notes below, occasional errors, these are not unusual in massive endeavors. An old game in the 1950s used to be to send grad students in search of errors and typos in the standard literary critical books of the day. I'm sure these will be cleaned up. For now the book works especially well for "survey" courses and for upper-level, specialized courses, when supplemented by another paperback or two, or course packets.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent anthology with many uses
Review: This is an excellent anthology, with generous selections, lively introductions, and beautifully reproduced color plates. Though published on "bible paper," there is very little bleed-through. It is an splendid alternative to the Norton Anthology, not only for its ample contexts sections and for its loving attention to both canonical and new writers (especially women writers of the Renaissance), but also for its favoring of complete works--More's Utopia, Sidney's Apology, etc. I've been using IB this semester, and though there are, as the (I think excessively) negative reviewer notes below, occasional errors, these are not unusual in massive endeavors. An old game in the 1950s used to be to send grad students in search of errors and typos in the standard literary critical books of the day. I'm sure these will be cleaned up. For now the book works especially well for "survey" courses and for upper-level, specialized courses, when supplemented by another paperback or two, or course packets.