Dante's Inferno

Chronicle Books. Chronicle Books, $22.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-4213-6

With 68 7 1/2"" x 11"" b&w engravings that include helicopters, parking lots, shwarma stands, strip malls, chain-link fences, concrete stairs and skyscrapers, Dante's Inferno is brought into the present by illustrator Sandow Brik, and into English by Brik and Marcus Sanders, a contributing editor to Surfline.com. Their sophisticated Valley-speak (""the ghosts approached us, all totally deadpan, with zero emotion"") may not be for everyone, but it is in synch with Dante's vernacular masterpiece.

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