The woman who first brought the issue of spousal abuse to the forefront in Canada presents her memoirs in this interesting, informative, entertaining and often humorous book. Margaret Mitchell is a social activist who pioneered community development in Vancouver, was a courageous feminist MP for Vancouver East, and an international adventuress. Her book is a testament to the struggles and achievements of women MPs, and chronicles her life's adventures and work. As an NDP Member of Parliament, Margaret Mitchell inspired generations of women with her public stand against 'wife beating' with her vocal support for women's equality. She spent 14 years in the House of Commons advocating for affordable housing, multiculturalism, and the rights of poor people. Ms Mitchell worked tirelessly on issues that are alive today, including redress for the Chinese Head Tax, and childcare. The Margaret Mitchell Fund for Women, which Ms Mitchell established after her retirement, continues to support women's self-help projects and scholarships. Proceeds of book sales will also accrue to the fund. Prior to entering political life, Margaret Mitchell pioneered community development in Vancouver, helping people to organise and improve life in the city's poorer neighbourhoods. Many organisations she worked with to achieve greater citizen participation are still active today in one form or another and Ms Mitchell acknowledges the many people who participated with her in these endeavours. "No Laughing Matter" is an engaging story that will have broad public appeal and will be of particular interest to those whose lives Ms Mitchell has touched during her time as a community advocate, politician and friend. It will also interest those involved in political science, women's studies and local history.

Theatrical scene design is one of the most beautiful, varied, and lively art forms. Yet there are relatively few books on the subject, and almost none for a general audience that combine expansive scholarship with lavish design. Making the Scene offers an unprecedented survey of the evolving context, theory, and practice of scene design from ancient Greek times to the present, coauthored by the world's best-known authority on the subject and enhanced by three hundred full-color illustrations.

Individual chapters of the book focus on Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe (including liturgical drama, street pageants, festival outdoor drama, Spanish religious drama, and royal entries), the Italian Renaissance, eighteenth-century Europe, Classicism to Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism, Modernism, and contemporary scene design. Making the Scene's authors review everything from the effects of social status on theatre design to the sea changes between Classicism, Romanticism, and Naturalism and the influence of perspective-based thought. Particularly intriguing is their rediscovery of lost tricks and techniques, from the classical deus ex machina and special effects in coliseums to medieval roving stage wagons and the floating ships of the Renaissance to the computerized practices of today's theatres. Such ingenious techniques, interwoven with the sweeping beauty of scene design through the ages, combine with the keen scholarship of Oscar Brockett and Margaret Mitchell to create a book as involving as the art it showcases.