R A L P H
The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities

Volume XI, Number 4 --- Winter, 1995 - 1996

THE LATEST RALPH This will lead to you the newest issue of our magazine.
HELP US SURVIVEFor $10 a year, you get our love, our thanks,
and the knowledge that we will be around
to haunt you and yours in the future.

NEW BOOKS New titles that have been sent to us within the last fortnight,
including books on ants, how to make money in stocks
and curing rheumatoid arthritis the natural way.

REVIEWS A Portrait of Lost Tibet By Rosemary Jones Tung "100 lashes is not considered severe for a misdemeanor.
For thievery, armed brigandage, or murder, the penalty is
loss of one or both hands or legs, which are cut above the knee."
Who Goes First By Lawrence K. Altman "Doctors and researchers chowing down on staphylococci-infected
sponge cake, plugging diseased mosquitoes into their arms,
nibbling on scabs like potato chips..."

Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia By Dennis Covington "If there's a witchcraft spirit in the church,
it could zap your anointing and you'd be left
cold turkey with a serpent in your hand."
Ellis Island: A Pictorial History By Barbara Benton "It was designed primarily to provide
extra-cheap labor for the nascent factories and industries
of turn-of-the-century America..."

Serengeti: Natural Order on the African Plain By Mitsuaki lwago "Gazelles eviscerated before our eyes by wild dogs,
lions feasting on the skulls of baby zebras
hyenas being quite piggy over the bloody guts
of some wildebeest...Burp."

BRIEF REVIEWS AIDS, Russian Art, Untamed Alaska,
PR, Psychotherapy, Pesticides, Earth

ARTICLES The Partial Vapor Pressure of Khometz "Unlike snooty khometz, matzo just sits there,
mild, plain, and flat, wishing only to be of help."

Sand Dancing in Rio Our intrepid reporter gets whipped by a long broad braid broad on a long broad beach at Rio

Doggie Being the tail of one who gives his master a fit and comes down with fleabitus and Barkinson's Disease

Hugh Madeline Paul Three real tales from a Rhode Island psychiatrist who cares (and knows how to write).
Cousin Hans "I think on him, my young friend, getting beaten so very much, with that heavy, black, shiny black belt."

READINGS Saints, whisky priests, mystics, Buddha, Smelly dogs, the dead, and slaves.

POETRY Keats as a midget, burlap bags (bunching and clicking),
fly love poems, "Your lovely hair, Margarette,"
and "Lifestyles of the Blind and Paralyzed."

ARCHIVES
Previous Issues of RALPH

T H E F A C T S Submitting Books The best way to get books to RALPH for review. Submitting Reviews Suggestions for would-be reviewers --- and payment schedule. History RALPH didn't spring full-blown from the brows of the gods: We've been around (in different guises) for over twenty-five years. The Fessenden Fund Other activities of RALPH's godparents, including Mho & Mho Works

Ralph R. Doister, Editor-In-Chief Post Office Box 16719
San Diego CA 92176 poo@cts.com

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R A L P H The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities

R A L P H
The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities