Geography Books

Bullaty and Lomeo began photographing as a team over 50 years ago when they first met in a dark room in New York City. Sonja Bullaty had come to America, a refugee from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Angelo Lomeo grew up as a first generation American in Hell's Kitchen. It was love at first sight and their mutual love of photography is chronicled in this book. America, America speaks to their love of the country while at the same time stands as a statement of over 50 years of working as a team in a very competitive business. Their selective collection of photographs welcome the eye of the observer to join in a journey across this beautiful country and captures the essence of the place as few photography books have ever done. It is more than pretty pictures. This book is a story of love: love of country, love of work, and the enduring love of two people who continue to capture images on film and turn them into works of art. In this new age of digitial imagery manipulation, it is nice to know that we can still step softly into the new millennium knowing that there are still purists out there who photograph for the simple joy of capturing a beautiful moment in perfect light. America,America makes a perfect gift for anyone you love!

The Lomeo's photo book follows the usual format for this kind of publication, thematic chapters titled From sea to shining sea, Rural life, The open road, Vanishing America etc, etc and I have recently reviewed a similarly predictable book, `USA' by Jordi Miralles, this had nine hundred plus photos, which turned out to be just too much, though it was a very reasonably priced paperback. Fortunately `America America' has fewer and much better images.

This is not a photo book with a point of view about America like Robert Frank's `The Americans' or Joel Sternfield's `American Prospects' rather it captures the surface look of the Nation in stunning, technically correct, well composed images and this is the reason I like it. I wanted a well printed and designed book showing a visual America in dazzling color.

If you are a great picture lover and a big fan of U.S.A., like me, you gotta have this book! It has a lot of information about the country, divided by regions, with a lot of two-page panoramas, beautiful landscapes, cities and architecture. From the moment you open this book, you won't stop reading it. And by turning the pages, you'll find the essence of America!

This book is great for people of all ages. If you have ever wanted a book to show the diversity of America while showing how the states all work as a whole, then this book is for you. There are beautiful pictures, histories, overviews of different cities and maps to locate where things are. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love of this country!

A great read on why we need to work to protect the wilderness we have now. It is such a small part of our public lands. Not for preservation but for use, study, admiration and protection for future Americans.

American Wilderness is a great textbook to study the history of US wilderness idea. This book provides a great supporting response to William Cronon's criticism on the modern wilderness idea of America; the insightful articles reveal that Americans have contructed their own wilderness idealism with religious, political, economic, and cultural tools. Despite of the American distinct feature in viewing nature (preservation of wilderness), the idea of preservation was spred to other countries as if it is a universial consensus. If Cronon's criticism mainly focuses on the domestic relationship between urban areas and untouched wilderness, this book reveals the troubles of American wilderness idea in the international context. In the end, Michael Lewis (somewhat indirectly and arguably) suggests Aldo Leopold's Land Ethics as the alternative solution. The whole book has a great logic and is highly recommended to any readers who have knowledges in wilderness conservation-preservation.

This is one of the classics of American environmental history, sitting on the high shelf with Stilgoe's "Common Landscapes of America", Pyne's "Fire in America", Cronon's "Changes in the Land" and "Nature's Metropolis", and Reisner's "Cadillac Desert".

Williams does a masterful job of pulling together social and economic sources (including much primary material) to present a wholly original view of American history. For thousands of years people have shaped the forests of North America, and in subtle ways the forests have shaped us. However, forest history has long been hidden behind the curtain of political events that constitute the official record of "history", aided by the amazing shortness of human memory. Williams brings forest history (and environmental history in general) back into the light with a lucid account of forest history at the scale of the whole nation.

He dusts off long-forgotten sets of nineteenth and twentieth century statistics, and summarizes them in easily comprehended graphs and maps to make the point that the forest resource played an important role in population expansion across North America, in the evolution of our governmental structure, and in development of modern technologies. To the forest ecologist, he says 'Much of the forest you are looking at today is simply an artifact of human intervention in the past'.

Like all works which attempt to convey a long view of history, A&TF becomes a bit vague as it approaches modern day. The owls vs. jobs controversy of the Pacific Northwest is not mentioned, nor are the regrowth of eastern forests and exurban sprawl given the space they deserve. Nevertheless, the accounts of events in the 17th - mid-20th century are excellent, and highly relevant considering we are still dealing with their aftermath.

Many old pictures tell you the truth. A lot of tables include information of the past. foresters must own this book.

Over the past two weeks I have been reading the book America's vietnam war by Elizabeth Becker. This book not only talks about the war that our country has been involved in but also Vietnam's past and how the country became how it is today. Also this book goes way back to when the Chinese invaded and how some of their culture is still in the Vietnamese lifestyle. The Vietnamese soldiers really wanted to defend their country as they have so many times. While the south as you learn in the book felt that they were fighting America's war and often did not fight too strongly or simply refused to fight. Even though the south vietnamese were being payed 10 times the amount that the NVA, or North Vietnamese Army recieved the North had so much more determination. And that was all it took to win against America and it's allies. This book is a great history lesson of vietnam and surrounding countries slightly and one great book to read.

I teach an AmCiv course at the college level on the literature of the Vietnam War, often to students who don't know much about the war and the period. So I am constantly on the lookout for a good, concise general history of the war, written without a political ax to grind. This is it. It won't win the Pulitzer Prize in history, but it won't take you six months to read either. It covers all the essential bases in a readable fashion. I was happy to find it.

I recomend this book for those people who would like to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict. The analisys is very racional and doesn't tends to any of the sides. Is very easy to get the ideas; the explanation, based in maps, is very clear and objective. The only misteak about it is the updating. The book's review reaches until 1993. Is known that the peace process is always moving towards an end. The inclusion of some information, like Oslo Agreement and the murder of Isaac Rabin would enrich the book.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a fiercely debated topic with numerous accusations constantly being thrown back and forth. For someone just beginning to study the Arab-Israeli conflict, it can be overwhelming. This book is a collection of maps drafted by a professional cartographer to show the real dimensions of treaties, ceasefires, boycotts, and other historical moments in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Would you like to know exactly which land the Oslo Agreements included?

Would you like to know which parts of the Middle East belonged to biblical Israel?

Would you like to know which parts of Britain's Palestine Mandate they forbid Jews to dwell or buy land on?

This resource can answer all those question and more graphically showing you the exact boundaries of, countries involved in, and other important aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I particularly found this resource helpful in disputing allegations by people that "such-and such a percentage" of the land was to be given up in a treaty such as the original U.N. plan for Palestine or under the Oslo Agreements. After showing my fellow debater the actual maps, the arguments were ended since I was in possession of hard fact thanks to this fine reference book.

Sir Martin Gilbert is a well-acclaimed British scholar, who has written numerous titles in the Historical Atlas series, extensively written about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and was also officially appointed to write the biography of Sir Winston Churchill.

I have reviewed the 1984 Fourth Edition, but several editions have since come out with updated information and additional maps to reflect more recent developments. I recommend getting the most recent edition available.

I highly recommend this outstanding resource for anyone studying the Arab-Israeli conflict, whether pro-Arab or pro-Israeli.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Tired of the beginner stuff? This is the best book ESRI has ever published outside of the texts provided for those expensive training sessions (I wish they made their training manuals available for sale...oh well!). There are good script examples and a good data set to use for training on the CD provided. I didn't know squat about AML until I picked up this book. Although ESRI is moving towards a COM based language in ArcGIS, they didn't get rid of AML and there are some tasks in GIS that are more suited for a scripting language like AML. Now, if they would only come out with a decent manual for MapObjects....

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Art Myth and Ritual sets out an elegant yet convincing theory regarding the nature of the early Chinese state and the technological, ideological and social foundations on which it rested. By combining archaeology, classical studies and anthropology, Prof. Chang (who is regarded as the international dean of Chinese archaeology by scholars on both sides of the Taiwan strait as well as in Europe and North America) provides his readers with a dynamic view of ancient Chinese statecraft and the religious ideas that made it possible.

This book remains the single most concise statement of Chang's theoretical contribution to the archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age. It is also simply written, well-illustrated and an excellent beginning point for the serious student of Chinese archaeology.

With Chang's magnum opus: "The Archaeology of Ancient China" sadly out of print (at time of writing), readers must make do with this volume to get a sense of his scope of vision, analytical depth and anthropological insight.

As one of K.C.s final generation of students, I must admit to a certain bias. However, it is my professional and personal opinion that this book is still one of the best works on Chinese archaeology in any language.

This is the most succinct statement of the late K.C. Chang's views of early Chinese civilization. Many of his opinions are controversial--for example, his view of shamanism in ancient China and his interpretation of the characteristic decorations on bronze vessels--but they are creative, original, and have influenced an entire generation of historians. Once you read his brief and incisive discussion of the resources necessary to produce a bronze vessel, from mining the ore to casting the piece, your appreciation of these artifacts will never be the same again. This kind of book is rare and admirable: concise, well written, and brimming with provocative ideas.

Before I bought a book about roman history I have visually searched through at least 20 books, and this is book of my choice.
I think this is a great book, it has lots of detailed and precise information about roman history. This book has a simple to understand, and easy to navigate layout, which is helps a lot. I like roman history time line, this book has a great photographs, illustrations, and precise artist's renderings. I'm using this book as a reference book for matte paintings that I create, in roman empire times.
Great book to buy!

Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome is an eye-catching summary of ancient Roman geography, history, and visual splendor. Illustrated with full-color photographs of Roman artifacts, architecture, and maps - including reconstructed maps of the city as it must have once stood - grace this amazing reference cover to cover. Since it is a historical atlas, the main focus is on geography and maps, but references to all aspects of Roman culture and its impact on subsequent civilizations abound. The text is accessible for lay readers and spells out the course of Roman history from its rise to its increasingly inevitable fall due to incompetent emperors, a self-serving bureaucracy, and a border far larger than its armies could protect. Highly recommended for library and personal history collections.

Eastern European history fascinates me and I have always felt the need for more maps as I read various books. It was with that need in mind that I ordered this book. The book that arrived was so much more! This book is a wonderfully clear presentation of 20th century eastern Europe.

This atlas has well written, thoughtful, and comfortably readable text. The authors' own interest in and kowledge of the history is evident. (Not everyone can write about historical demographics with enthusiasm.) The overall organization is chronological. Information is both global (focused on the entire Eastern European area as countries inter-relate over the years) and country by country (rather like snap-shots of individual countries at different times). The maps are black and white (same in hard and soft bound) but contain a lot of information, details, details!...right down to the battle lines on certain dates. There are so many maps and charts that printing in color would probably make the book incredibly pricey.