South America Books

A wonderfull book. full of elocuent ideas about almost everything in the world. A MUST-TO-READ book written for all ages. A book without past and a lot of future... so many people ignore this book because of their lack of information! I live in the same city as the author lived plenty of his life, although he was Spanish. Im proud of him!

Having spent my childhood and a few special years of my adult life living in the Blue Ridge Mountain, I can honestly say there a few places more beautiful than the Southern Highlands of Appalachia.

Jerry Greer's book captures this region from a variety of areas and seasons. From Janes Bald to Mount Rodgers, his camera captures the essence of this very wonderful place.

Living now in Oklahoma and so very far from my mountains, it is a small comfort to have this volume on the shelf and in an instant return me home.

So if you are in exile like myself or planning a trip to visit, grab a copy of this book and share in the wonder of mountains so beautiful they make your heart skip a beat.

Appalachian Trail Guide to Central Virginia is a good general guide which consist of a 4 X 6 inches packable book and three maps in a waterproof bag. The maps are double-sided and give adequate detail of the covered areas. The book starts out with general information which I found fairly basic. Most of this info was of little value to me, but a green hiker might find it useful.The actual meat of the trail descriptions is very good, giving mile by mile directions as to what to expect and where to turn. An interesting feature of this book is the small horizon sketches which show different mountain peaks and valley with their names. I don't think I have every seen this done before, but I can't wait to see if it will actual help me locate and identify the surrounding landscape. This is a series of books so the complete collection (11 books)would weigh down a thru hiker. For the weekend ender or week long hiker, this book and maps should be worth it's weight in his pack.

Eliot Porter's beautiful photographs of wildflowers, trees, and mountain streams are an interesting juxtaposition to the often caustic prose of Edward Abbey, who writes the main body of the text, and Harry Caudill, who writes the epilogue. This book is Abbey at his best, showing that he can write well about a landscape other than the American southwest. He describes the landscape of the Southern Appalachians in their stark reality: the billboards and phony saloons of industrial tourism, the abandoned stores and churches, the paved roads catering to the rich and sedentary, the forsaken Cherokees. His story is a truthful and compassionate account of the tragedies of the region, as well as a powerful argument that capitalism has failed. This is not the place to start with Abbey--"Desert Solitaire" or "Abbey's Road" would be a better choice--but for those who are already familiar with him, this book will not be a disappointment.

The key statement upon which Dr. Albert Amao's significant book rests is found near the end of his preface, ". . . it is imperative for people to become aware . . . and be prepared mentally and spiritually for the new waves of higher vibration that will enhance human consciousness to a higher level."

Certainly we are aware of enormous planetary changes, not only environmental but social, political, and spiritual. One does not have to be a "new ager" to feel the resonance. The awareness Mr. Amao alludes to goes right to the root of the human psyche, for his research and presentation create a new vision of transformation for humanity and for the planet. The evidence shown for re-emerging truths in ancient myths and legends which have been sublimated for millenia replaces our fear with enlightened trust.

He has done a great service to the Western world and particularly to his South American heritage by clearly uniting the ancient secret doctrines of the Tibetan Himalayas with that of the Peruvian Andes. His book is full of information useful to seekers of the Ancient Mystery Religions as well as to those already familiar with these esoteric schools. His revelatory premises linking the weakening Tibetan tradition to the growth of the Andean Brotherhood offer pertinent and important knowledge for the flowering of the Aquarian Age and all it promises.

I was one of the most comprehensive books of its kind. Well researched and documented. Best of all was the detailed tips on how to get to the more remote sites. Most of the information can be found in various other places but she has one of the best compilations I have seen.
Great Book!

Creek Indian History is one of the best books we have read. It is very informative. We have learned more from this book about our heritage and traditions than we thought possible. Just learning that the dead were buried under the floor of the home was fasinating. It's a book everyone wanting to know about the Creek Indians should read.

The collapse of the Clovis paradigm has meant, among a great deal of other things,a re-evaluation of lowland tropical American archaeology. This is an invaluable and comprehensive guide to the field, which provides judicious analysis of recent research as well as very useful intellectual histories of debates. The very extensive bibliography is especially useful. My own interests are in the environmental history of the Amazon, and I found the chapters by Erickson, Bray, Pearsall and Piperno especially helpful. My only criticism is one of omission: I think a contextualising chapter putting the developments in lowland South American archaeology in a wider continental and hemispheric context would have been useful, especially since one of the most interesting implications of recent developments elsewhere is not the uniqueness of the lowlands, but the parallels between the South American lowlands and similar environments elsewhere in the Americas, such as the mound complexes and drained fields of the Mississippi valley. Nevertheless, a fitting and appropriate memorial to Donald Lathrap. David Cleary Harvard University

When I began this book, on one of my professors' recommendation, I wasn't sure where the authors would be going. Part of my confusion stemmed from the issues of how to define "traditions", since there's several definitions in vogue among archaeologists and historians.

After reading it, I can only say, "Well done!" The authors are participants in a symposium on the topic created by Timothy Pauketat, with these papers modified for publication. Each chapter considers the ways in which "tradition" has been defined by the cultures of the American Southeast, including Native American cultures from the historic, back to the late Archaic, as well as African-American slaves and European colonists in the area. The writers argue very convincingly that resistance to domination and control by other cultures has been present in this area for millenia; furthermore, they demonstrate quite well how the patterns observable in the historic and archaeological record of this region may apply to other cultures worldwide.

Very interesting and enjoyable, and highly recommended, particularly for any scholars or students considering issues of ethnicity, identity, power, and resistance.

A very pleasent book. Very positive. Good for kids in primary grades. It shows Argentina from beautiful Buenos Aires, to Tierra Del Fuego, the southernmost city in the world. It is a "easy to read" book, with plenty of pictures that will take you on a trip around the country. It shows Argentina's cowboys, food, dance, water falls and more. It makes it easy to picture the country's location on the globe by using simple explanations as the meaning of the word "hemisphere". Children will easily understand why the seasons are opposit from the Northen hemisphere.