Mozart: Don Giovanni: Zurich Opera conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Puccini: La Boheme: San Francisco Opera conducted by Tiziano Severini and featuring Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni.
Berg: Wozzeck: Frankfurt Opera conducted by Sylvain Cambreling.

"In its current form, Section 215 seriously undermines the First Amendment-protected activities of authors and publishers, booksellers and librarians, and indeed everyone who reads. Free speech rights are seriously weakened when a government agent can look over your shoulder at what you're reading. If the government needs this power to prevent acts of terrorism, we need the watchful eye of the courts to prevent abuse of that power. Passage of the Freedom to Read Protection Act will bring judicial oversight back into the process."

William R. Davie (broadcasting), University of Louisiana, and James R. Upshaw (broadcasting), University of Oregon), wrote Principles of Electronic Media (Allyn & Bacon).

Robert H. Frank (economics), Cornell University, and Ben Bernanke (economics), Princeton University, wrote the second edition of Principles of Microeconomics (McGraw-Hill Irwin).

Phillip K. Pelliteri (medicine), D.O. Penn State Geisinger Health System, and Thomas V. McCaffrey (medicine), wrote Endocrine Surgery of the Head and Neck ( Singular).

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McGraw el-hi sales in doldrums

NEW YORK, May 16, 2003 -- Explaining a 1.6 percent decline in el-hi revenue in the first quarter, McGraw-Hill said it scored gains in reading and math and in secondary social studies -- but the gains did not offset soft supplemental sales. Comparisons are difficult because coloring and activity books were discontinued between the first quarter this year and the first quarter last year. McGraw acknowledged state funding problems: Kentucky has postponed this year's elementary math adoption. Also, the Texas Legislature is debating the level of funding for the upcoming adoptions. On the upside: Thirty states have received $541 million in Reading First grants from the U.S. Department of Education, which McGraw said should fuel growth in 2003.

Ammash arrest seen as politicized

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, May 15, 2003 -- Iraqi scholar Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash has been detained the U.S. military for retribution for her studies on the effect of uranium-depleted weapons used by the United States, according to the editor of a book in which her dissertation appears. "The fact that she has spoken out about these issues makes her far more vulnerable to a politicized treatment," Anthony Arnove, editor of Iraq Under Siege, told the Chronicle of Higher Education. "I think she was targeted because she was identified as part of the Ba'ath Party power structure and she is a scientist," he said, "and based on that alone she is being considered guilty before any evidence is presented about her ties to Iraq's alleged biological-weapons program." Ammash's U.S. publisher, South End, has called for her immediate release.

SOUTH END ANTHOLOGY Ammash was Number 53 -- and the only woman -- on the U.S. military's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. EARLIER ARTICLE Publisher demands Iraqi author released

McGuffey longevity winners tabbed

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, May 14, 2003 -- Three textbooks, one in its 11th edition, have been won McGuffey awards from Text and Academic Authors Association Inc. for excellence and longevity in the marketplace. The winners are Gary A. Thibodeau and Kevin T. Patton's Structure and Function of the Body, in its 11th edition from Mosby; D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn's Diversty in Families, in its sixth edition from Allyn & Bacon; and Andrew Tanenbaum's Computer Networks, in its fourth edition from Prentice Hall. Criteria include being in print 15 years. The award bears the name of pioneer U.S. educator-author William Holmes McGuffey.

HONORS EITZEN & ZINN TANEN- BAUM THIBODEAU & PATTON

British group buys BertelsmannSpringer

GÜTERSLOH, Germany, May 14, 2003 -- German media giant Bertelsmann closed the deal to sell its BertelsmannSpringer science and trade publishing unit to the British investment forms Cinven and Candover. The $1.2 billion purchase will make Cinven and Candover a force in science publishing. Already they own the former KAP science publishing unit of Wolter Kluwer, which was purchased last year. With Springer, Cinven and Candover add 70 companies that produce 700 trade magazines and 4,000 new books a year. Still pending: Whether Candover and Cinven also will acquire BertelsmannSpringer's units in France, which, although substantial, are less than 5 percent of Springer's business.

BERTELSMANN SPRINGER EARLIER ARTICLE Sources: Bertelsmann favors Cinven, Candover

Fortune lauds Amazon's Bezos

NEW YORK, May 14, 2003 -- The founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, who has drawn criticism from poublishes and authors for pushing used books on the Amazon site, made of the cover of Fortune magazine as "one of the great CEOs of his generation." Said Fortune: While most of American business is still sputtering, Amazon's revenues, at $4 billion, are growing by more than 20 percent a year." The magazine offered this comparison: Operating profit margin, at 5 percent in fourth quarter, beat that of most retailers, and approached Wal-Mart's 6 percent. "Amazon is generating so much cash -- $135 million last year, rising to an estimated $300 million this year -- that it just paid off 12 percent of its $2.3 billion debt," the magazine said. On used books, the magazine quoted Bezos: "Giving people the choice to buy new and used side by side is good for customers. Give them the choice. They're not going to hurt themselves with that choice. The data we have tell us that customers who buy used books from us go on to buy more new books than they have ever bought before. They may not want to plunk down $25 for a brand-new author they've never tried. This lets them experiment."

AMAZON EARLIER ARTICLE ASJA cuts web tie to Amazon

Publisher demands Iraqi author released

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, May 13, 2003 -- Academic publisher South End Press demanded that the U.S. military release Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, one of its authors, whom U.S. military forces have arrested on claims that she was a key in Iraq's alleged biological-weapons program. South End Press published Ammash's research paper, "Toxic Pollution, the Gulf War, and Sanctions," in the 2002 anthology Iraq Under Siege. Alexander Dwinell, South End co-publisher, accused the U.S. government of political persecution: "The U.S. government is trying to silence Dr. Ammash's outspoken criticism of the U.S. role in causing cancers and other illnesses in Iraq through its own use of biologically hazardous weapons such as radioactive depleted uranium." She has campaigned and written extensively about rising cancer rates among Iraqi children and the purported links between those rates and depleted uranium used by American troops during the Persian Gulf war of 1991. She was Number 53 -- and the only woman -- on the U.S. military's list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.

SOUTH END ANTHOLOGY Ammash is a former dean at the University of Baghdad. She was the most senior woman in Saddam Hussein's ruling Ba'ath Party. She earned her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Missouri.

Research: Digital content helps learning

TORONTO, Ontario, May 13, 2003 -- The Mobile Learning Consortium, an alliance of colleges and publishing and technology companies, found that digital content helped first-year college accounting students to learn accounting. Three-hundred students from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Seneca College in Ontario were provided wireless iPAQ handheld computers to use digitized introductory accounting materials. There were two control groups, one without wireless capabilities and one with laptops. "Having wireless access and the addition of digital resources is what really made a difference," said Cindy Hazell, academic vice president at Seneca. Shirley Holloway, academic vice president at NAIT, said: "It is clear that the future of learning organizations is inextricably linked to the possibilities inherent in new learning technologies, wireless capabilities and curriculum designed to excite the student and enhance faculty effectiveness." Among findings: The effectiveness of a wireless curriculum is dependent on the reliability of technology. Handheld computers may be more effective in certain disciplines than others. Students benefit from multiple training approaches to familiarizing them with the technology device. COMPLETE REPORT

MOBILE LEARNING CONSOR- TIUM Avaya Bell Mobility Blackboard Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Hewlett- Packard McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill Ryerson Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Seneca College

Vivian Antonangeli, who ran her own consulting company, was named sales director at Riverdeep's new Learning Company books division. John Pavlik (mass communication), Rutgers University and Columbia University, and Shawn McIntosh (mass communication), Iona College, wrote Converging Media: An Introduction to Mass Communication (Allyn & Bacon). Sadanand Singh (reading), San Diego State University, wrote the third edition of Phonetics: Principles and Practices (Singular). Gary Thibodeau (biology), University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and Kevin Patton (life sciences), St. Charles Community College, wrote the fifth edition of Anatomy and Physiology (Mosby). Patton wrote the accompanying laboratory manual.

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Sanders about Patriot Act: We didn't know

NEW YORK, May 12, 2003 -- Vermont Congressman Bernie Sanders said many of his colleagues had no idea that the USA Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorism, would allow law enforcement officials to pry into library and bookstore records. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Sanders said: "Few who voted for the Patriot Act -- I did not-- knew that among its provisions was one that gave FBI agents the authority to engage in fishing expeditions to see what Americans read." Sanders, a Vermont independent, is sponsoring legislation to curtail the unprecedented "fishing" powers. Said Sanders: "Although it does not mention bookstores or libraries specifically, the sweeping legislation gives the FBI the power to seize all of the circulation, purchasing and other records of library users and bookstore customers on no stronger a claim than an FBI official's statement that they are part of a terrorism investigation. Surely the powers the government needs to fight terrorism can be subject to more meaningful checks and balances than that, especially when the right to read without government intrusion is at stake."

FREE INQUIRY SANDERS EARLIER ARTICLE Book groups tackle USA Patriot Act

IBM exposé, cancer books win awards

NEW YORK, May 11, 2003 -- The authors of two outstanding nonfiction books and eight magazine articles have received national awards for excellence from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Edwin Black won the general non-fiction award for IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation, published by Three Rivers Press. Sarah Wernick won the Roth health and medical award for Lung Cancer: Myths, Facts and Choices, written with Claudia I. Henschke and Peggy McCarthy, published by Norton.

HONORS EDWIN BLACK SARAH WERNICK

Journals' self-censorship under attack

Pearson college, school sales OK

LONDON, May 10, 2003 -- Diversified media company Pearson reported its educational publishing business is in line with expectations. In a report to shareholders, Pearson said that profits at its education division, which accounts for more than half its sales, are expected to benefit from reduced Internet and corporate training losses, lower integration costs, and growth in school and college publishing. The school publishing area, said Pearson, is expected to grow ahead of the market in the year ahead. The company said that some state purchases may be deferred into the second half of the year. Pearson's higher-ed business, it added, made a good start to the year and has continued to grow ahead of the market. There are problems at Pearson's London Financial Times, where advertising remained depressed, due now to uncertainties about the Iraq war,

PEARSON

Bertelsmann: Sales fell 8.6 percent to $4,4 billion in the first quarter, compared to a year earliuer. The company blamed "the tougher market situation in the U.S., along with the weakness of the U.S. dollar." Earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation were $66 million.

McGraw-Hill: Sales grew 1.9 percent to $846.5 million in the first quarter, compared to a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations grew 33.5 percent to $38.2 million. Higher Education, Professional and International Group revenue grew by 2.9 percent to $149.3 million. School Education Group revenue declined 6.3 percent. The company said gains in reading and math and early success in the secondary social studies market could not offset soft supplemental sales.

Thomson: Sales fell 1 percent to $1.67 billion in the first quarter, compared to a year earlier. Earnings before standard deductions, including taxes and interests, rose 18 percent to $265 million, which the company credited to new operating efficiencies and lower stock appreciation rights costs. The text unit's sales slipped 3 percent to $385 million, but the company said it expects a better second half.

McGraw offers instant feedback to profs

NEW YORK, May 9, 2003 -- Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill Higher will offer the eInstruction Corporation system to allow professors who adopt McGraw textbooks to have immediate electronic feedback on student comprehension in the classroom, the company said. The system is built around a hand-held device that enables students to respond electronically to questions or quizzes, McGraw said. Instructors can modify instruction on the spot. Student responses can be maintained within the instructor's grade book, an eInstruction grade book or posted on a web site that supports the course. More than 250,000 eInstruction response pads have already been successfully deployed in the U.S. education market place,said Ed Stanford, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

MCGRAW- HILL HIGHER EDUCATION

Pearson, Edexcel update exam processing

LONDON, May 8, 2003 -- Educational publisher Pearson and British exam firm Edexcel announced an agreement to modernize examination marking and processing in Britain. A new jointly owned organization, London Qualifications, will take responsibility for all Edexcel's existing courses and qualifications. The plan calls for a technology-based approach to marking and processing examinations over the next five years.

PEARSON EDEXCEL

Teri James Bellis (audiology) wrote the second edition of Assessment & Management of Central Auditory Processing Disorders in the Educational Setting: From Science to Practice (Singular). Bradley R. Schiller (economics), American University, wrote the ninth edition of The Economy Today (McGraw-Hill Irwin). Lauralee Sherwood (physiology),West Virginia University, wrote the fifth edition of Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems (Brooks/Cole). Lara Starr, licensing and marketing manager for Cedco Publishing, was named associate marketing manager at Riverdeep's new Learning Company books division.

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Report: Bertelsmann favors Cinven, Candover

GÜTERSLOH, Germany, May 7, 2003 --Two British private-equity firms, Cinven and Candover, are in final negotiations to buy media conglomerate Bertelsmann's scientific and trade publishing unit Springer, sources said. The price: $1.15 billion. Passed by were bids by a group comprised of CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone, and another group of Taylor & Francis and Apax Partners.

BERTELSMANN SPRINGER EARLIER ARTICLE Bertelsmann whittles Springer suitors to three

Bill would revoke presidential records gag

Library chief: Democracy depends on us

Authoring leader diagnosed with cancer

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, May 6, 2003 -- A prolific author whose works include textbooks on authoring, Frank Silverman, has canceled workshops scheduled in coming months after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Silverman had been scheduled at a workshop May 15 in Winona, Minnesota. Silverman, president of the former Textbook Authors Assocation, has been an energetic contributor to the Society of Academic Authors site since its founding in 2002. His works include Publishing for Tenure and Beyond (Praeger, 1999) and Authoring Books and Materials for Students, Academics and Professionals (Praeger, 1998).

SILVERMAN RECENT SA2 COLUMNS HOW TO'S AUTHOR- ING VOICES