Idaho Books

A fantastic story; we need more of these type books that remind us of what type of cloth these ancestors of our were made of. Too bad that the prejudices of the time destroyed the actual recording of this voyage, and kudos to those who recreated it from the remaining evidence.

Bittersweet: that's the first word that comes to my mind after reading Helga Estby's story.

I disagree with other reviewers who think Linda Lawrence Hunt's writing is lackluster or that this is just half a story. Given the tiny amount of information she had to start with, I think she did a fabulous job weaving historical events into Helga's story. I stayed up late reading this--it was impossible to put down!

Helga Estby was an incredible woman by any measure. The fact that she had the COURAGE to go against her family's and the Norwegian community's concerns in an era of Victorian propriety (1896) in order to try to save her family farm/home from forclosure by walking across the country to try to win a wager, is heroic. And she DID it, with her eldest daughter, Clara. They walked from Spokane, WA to New York City. She did it in the hopes of saving her family financially, and also with the fervent wish that the family would not be separated because of financial concerns.

She had quite an adventure, being on foot with her daughter: they were only allowed $5 each, they didn't bring a change of clothes, they only had a satchel each carrying a pistol, pepper spray gun, and notebook and pen to record their journey. They weren't allowed to beg, but had to work for their room and board. They weren't allowed to take the train, but were allowed to ride "free" on someone's wagon, if offered. They were supposed to visit the capitals of the states they visited, and get signatures from mayors and governors. And in between, they were followed by wild animals, wild men, and wild weather.

They were also supposed to model the new women's fashion garment as stipulation for their journey on foot: a shorter skirt, as opposed to the floor-length Victorian dresses of the day. A woman showing her ankles in those days was running the risk of ridicule and shame from society. In short, they were supposed to show that women were NOT so fragile, physically or mentally, as society would believe!

One of the highlights of their trip was being right in the middle of a presidential election, which had echos of this year's election: one younger candidate exhorting change, and the other older candidate touting his experience. Helga and Clara were fortunate to enjoy the company of the wife of the younger (he was on the campaign trail in the east), and an hour meeting with the elder candidate.

The bitter part is that things did not turn out as she had hoped. What was more heartbreaking is that she lost two children to diptheria while she was away, and her family could not forgive her for her absence in such dire times, most notably her elder children. Because of their deep and bitter resentment, her story was silenced for many decades. That was their way of keeping family "peace." Helga originally gave birth 10 times; she had left seven children behind with her husband, who was unable to work for a time because of an injury. One child had died shortly before she headed east.

The sweet part of the story was that Helga kept her dignity throughout her trip and afterwards. She still managed to enjoy the things she liked, including becoming more active in civic affairs, after she returned from her walk across America. During her journey, she had become aware of women's issues: their rights, the ability to vote or not, and their ability to voice their concerns more freely in other parts of the nation. She also had ample opportunity to observe how far people's kindness--or cruelty, could extend.

Hunt gives a fascinating look into the factors that contribute to silencing a family story at the conclusion of the book. In that chapter she wrote: "Every country needs individuals who refuse to be silenced when breaking out of unhealthy cultural norms, despite the criticism." What a fitting tribute to the memory of Helga Estby!

Anyone who appreciates, history, culture, politics, feminism, and adventure would enjoy Helga Estby's story. Her early pioneer days raising small children in a sod house with her husband on the Minnesota prairie demanded a kind of adventuresome spirit on her part to survive. This book is engaging, clearly written, short, and has lots of pictures to stir your imagination.

I borrowed this book from the library and have since bought two copies of it for gifting. It's a great book for any feminista, budding or evolved. I especially like that I could see any of my friends liking it -- men and women. History buffs, pyschotherapists, bakers -- they're all friends of mine, and two will be getting this book. Hunt does a very nice job of filling in where documentation falls short, and I wish that was a bit more clear. (True to her academic roots, however, Hunt does use footnotes.) The thing I like best about this book is that it is easily understood as an historical account, but considers the socio-economic factors as well as social values that shaped decisions made by Helga Estby. Really fascinating.

For anyone who loves to read and is interested in Women's history, this book is for you! Trust me; you will not be able to put the book down.

I found it in a little used bookshop and was afraid additional copies to share might be scarce. I'm pleased to find it is still available for purchase here on Amazon.

the more humble among us."

Aptly sums up thirty-six year old Norwegian immigrant Helen Estby's 1886 walk with her eighteen year old daughter, Clara, 3500 miles across America. The trek was attempted for financial reasons, its completion with certain stipulations and within a seven-month time span would result in a $10,000 windfall for the cash strapped family. Unfortunately, due to negative feelings about the journey, during which Mrs. Estby left the care of her eight younger children in the hands of her husband, most of the information about it was not only not saved, but was intentionally destroyed by her descendants. Surmounting obstacles like difficult terrain, inclement weather, bad guys and a lack of money (the contract did not allow them to solicit donations) and the judgmental feelings of the many at the time who felt their behavior was in appropriate, the Estbys showed their detractors that they had the right stuff. The problem with the story, frankly, is a lack of firsthand information, which would have made its telling more personal and compelling: an okay story about a fantastic feat. Good companion reads: Tomboy Bride by Harriet Fish Backus, Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels, In a Far Country by John Taliaferro and Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 by Stephen E. Ambrose.

This book has fine dieting advice (small portions, lots of veggies and complex carbs), and is a fun read. That being said, the recipes are not as advertised. Use the recipes and advice in this book for inspiration, and then find recipes to USE elsewhere.

I put this book out for a garage sale recently, because after reading it once, I found no reason to keep it. I have other Japanese cookbooks that have the same recipes. I have other books that give more information about Japanese culture and culinary history. The book is mostly self-promotion with very few recipes.

This book is full of great history, advice and delicious recipes that are easy to make. Its worth checking out.

I have no ties with Japan whatsoever; I am a fully Western, European American. I started to read this a couple of weeks ago, only getting halfway through and then deciding that even though it sounded great, it was too intensive for me to focus on right now: shopping for the unfamiliar ingredients and trying to cook foods that are totally new to me was a daunting prospect.

But as the week went on, I kept thinking about all the flavors she described in such luscious detail and I couldn't get them out of my head. So I decided to dive on in. I finished the book and went shopping -- at an Asian Market, an organic foods market and the local grocery store -- and was able to find everything I needed.

I am a pretty experienced cook so decided to go ahead and try the full-out dinner meal of soup, rice and three other dishes. Wow, what a project! As I was making it, the kitchen looked like a tornado had hit it, and it took me 2 hours to make the meal. I usually only work that hard for a meal on Thanksgiving day! And as I saw each dish take shape, I really didn't know what to expect as far as taste was concerned; I was very skeptical (not least because I have never been a big fan of seafood or tofu).

But when my husband and I finally sat down to eat, I was pleasantly surprised to find that each dish was extremely good and the overall experience was wonderful, like dining at a high-end gourmet restaurant. And we had that lingering 'cleansed' feeling afterward that only comes from eating really good, hearty, simple, healthful food. We were both hooked! (See the picture I took of the meal in the customer images section of this product page!)

Next time, he's going to help me make the meal so hopefully it won't take so long. And since it's just the two of us I probably don't need to do that many dishes each time and I can halve the recipes.

I don't think I will go so far as to switch to Japanese cooking as my main type, but it has definitely widened my pool of food options and also has motivated me to stick with much more healthy recipes of any origin.

Besides the fact that the food is as good as the author claims, I really liked that the book also described Japanese history and culture; it was a very interesting read just for those reasons too.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. On the one hand it's interesting to read her comments on her own experiences having changed cultures and lived in both Japan and the USA. On the other hand, the entire book can be summed up as: eat more rice and fish, preferably with Japanese seasonings.

So if your just looking for some light reading on the musings of a Japanese woman living abroad, you'll enjoy this. But don't expect any magic secrets here on weight loss.

Though if you have no clue what constitutes Japanese seasonings, I suppose some of her lists might be of additional value to you.

For the everyday traveller, I find the Lonley Planet guides as good as anything else on the market. This book is no exception. Covers all topics I require for basic travel information in a foreign country, maps, accommodation options, itinerary suggestions. I look foward to our few days at Yellowstone.

A book published in April 2008 should not have reviews dated no later than 2007. This makes no sense.

Before my Yellowstone trip, I had purchased many books and maps and visited websites-you know the drill. This book helped with many insider tips-when talking with other visitors, they had consistently asked me how I knew these things, and I told them-the Lonely Planet guide. Even two park rangers wanted to know how I knew these lesser known tips-and they were impressed with the information. My favorites: how to get the best view of the Grand Prismatic pool (I'm not going to give that one away) and how to avoid bears on trails-which I'll let out of the bag-sing show tunes! Yes that sounds ridiculous-but when I saw a bear about 150 ft ahead of me on a trail and started singing Ethel Merman, well, bears are smart enough not to stick around for the encore!

Maybe it's because the author admits that he ventured off to complete this project only a couple days after getting married, leaving his bride behind. Perhaps a publishing deadline loomed large. I'm not sure what Lonely Planet's excuse is, but this book is the most thrown together, unhelpful guide I've ever seen in their repertoire! I've appreciated their "secret" tips and organized guides for many of my world adventures, and this one is just way below par. Abyssmal on any scale.

I did tons better researching on the internet on my own, which might be the best approach to these parks anyway, so that you're sure to get up to date information. This guide doesn't even mention the great guest ranch outside the park at which I snagged six nights a few months before my visit, how to make sure that you get tickets for special ranger-led, half-day back-country adventure hikes with 15 person limits, or that there are boat and kayak rentals/tours in Yellowstone from concessionaires.

The book literally gives you a headache, trying to figure out how to make sense of the vast amount of listings presented. A menage of maps and thrown-together tidbits are pretty meaningless without the necessary organization to figure out an orderly travel plan. It would have been a lot better if the book took you around each of Yellowstone's loops and through Grand Teton in a more logical format.

I alos found much of the information to be grossly outdated and inaccurate, and so many basic outdoor activities weren't explored in depth, and no real useful information or how-tos were given. I was thoroughly disappointed with my selection. With the vast amount of knowledge that I've accumulated through my own research, I could certainly re-write this guide myself!

If it's your first time in Yellow Stone or the Grand Tetons this'll be your bible .. the hikes listed in both places are well presented and with the maps included will help you plan you time in this wonderful part of the world .. The information on where you are likely to spot animals is really useful - Elk, Bison, Moose and Bear ... all accurate! The highlights and intineraries suggested helped with planning the trip .. but in addition to the traditional 'must sees' the book also suggests some wonderful off the beaten track experiences as well. Has info on where to stay and eat ..I stayed outside the park and would recommend either Teton Village or Jackson Hole as a good base with lots of top class accomodation. For European travellers Jackson Hole was the only place that I could get a mobile phone signal!

This book really helped with wonderful reviews of even the smallest city or area. Much interesting information about some areas was an added bonus. It helped to find restuarants and hotels. I would recoment it to anyone going thru Idaho. I have Moon Handbooks from several states and they are all always helpful.

We're driving from Denver to Glacier National Park this summer, and wanted to drive back through Idaho to see some new things on the way back home. I bought this book because it is packed with information and didn't have the usual Fodor's structure. The author, Don Root, has a lot of experience travelling in the state, and does a good job of sharing what makes him excited about Idaho. Particularly useful, to me, was the description of the off-the-beaten-path attractions. As with all travel books, it does a good job providing phone numbers, web sites, etc., to help you plan your trip.

After reading some of the reviews on this book, I decided to reread The Idaho Handbook. The book that I read was quite a bit different than some of the reviews.

While the author's position on land-use is well documented throughout the book, I would hardly classify those views as extreme. Quite a few of the Idahoans that I talked with in the two weeks that I spent in Idaho last summer expressed real concerns regarding land-use throughout the state.

When I am looking for a tour book, I want something more than the AAA travel books. The book contains a significant amount of the history of the state. The book also contains all of the usuals for a tour book - an objective analysis of the lodging and food options in many small towns. This is very important as some parts of the state, the options are somewhat limited.

In addition, he covers the major (and many of the minor) attractions in the state. A number of these attractions were not found in other books.

I enjoy the Moon Guides a whole lot more than other guides. Their strength is that that they are written by people who spend a lot of time travelling throughout the state rather than the tourist areas. For example, Deke Castleman's Nevada Handbook dedicated 10-15% of the book on the Las Vegas area.

Idaho may not be everyone's idea of a "hot potato" destination. But if you want a clever, concise guide to a wonderful state -- this is it. Check out "Rural Bar Etiquette" on p. 78 for a sample of Root's humor.

This is not your average dry guide (Although Root's sense of humor is indeed dry!) You will find instead detailed descriptions and opinions(some very funny) which can help you decide the places that might be of special interest to you. It is one of the best guide books I have ever read.

This book provided lots of helpful information during our exploration of the state. It provided maps, accommodations, restaurant that suits our budget, scenic places, and a bit of history about the state; its climate and its people. It covers all sides of Idaho: Southwest, South Central, The High Country, North Central and the Panhandle. We stayed in BOY-see, not BOY-zee and certainly not the French "bwah-zay! As you could see, the author added humor to this guide. As suggested, we jogged the serene tree-lined Boise River Greenbelt, biked at the pristine Boise Front, explore the Grove--the largest park near downtown, and clicked our cameras away to capture the scenic mountains. As we strolled down the cosmopolitan area, we knew exactly where to eat, where to go for amusement, and where to withdraw money. We had fun. We also explored the beautiful city of Eagle--a place that took our breaths away. Our next stop? Coeur D'Alene. And we're taking our tour guide with us: The Moon Handbooks.Cold Eyes

A continuation of the story of three immigrants who arrived to view the Statue of Liberty together and went their separate ways. This one, a colleen with the Irish brouge and lift in her words which was almost musical, the accent so appealing as were her physical looks. She proved to be a strong woman with many problems caused by loving the wrong man. She ended up at a "den of iniquity" quite by chance and found that late hours come with the territory.

We are born to look the way we'll look as we age. Mary was an orphan who followed her intended husband and her brother to America to start a new life. Instead, she found "bitterness in cold company." The quest for money can make people do strange things. Time, however, can do what words cannot. Dreams help, too.

The sheriff was a practical man, the sort who lived by the rules and hard facts and reality. The lady of his dreams had a secret and made sure that no one was privy to her "sin" of long ago. She was in his arms, where she belonged. A woman should have a special supper on the night she received a proposal of marriage and all it entails, roots plus obligations, family and a real home. Her guilt kept her unwed until she learned the truth the hard way and almost lost her life in the mine.

There was mutual animosity with the mine owner and she couldn't change the past but could her future. The "crime" she ran from didn't have the consequences she feared and ran from. The ending was worth some of the trivial day-to-day happenings. Waiting to be rescued from the silver mine, she started humming a melody; she couldn't remember the words or even the title, just the tune. Mark whistles; on the Greyhound, I also hummed to blot out an offensive cell phone conversation. "Get behind me Satan," to the enemy. Another miracle as happens in all of Robin Hatcher's and answer to a prayer.

I picked up this book because it had Robin Lee Hatcher's name on it. I'd been very impressed by her story in Leisure Books "A Frontier Christmas" romance anthology, so I thought I would give her full-length novels a try. Please note that this review is for the original mass market paperback printing by Harper Collins in 1998, and not for the revised inspirational romance edition.

While the plot of this book was fairly interesting, my problem was with the characters. They felt very flat. Mary is a loving mother who would do anything for her son. She has fallen on hard times, and is running from an incident in her past that could ruin her life. Carson a tortured man who is trying to get past the hurt he suffered as the unwanted child of a prostitute. This could have been interesting, except that the author never probed the characters any deeper than these initial descriptions. I wanted to know what really made them tick. I wanted to know why they should fall in love with each other. The author didn't show me.

After the interesting beginning, the plot began to slow down until it was dragging. I had to keep bargaining with myself to keep reading this. I kept saying, 'well, I'll just read until page 100 and see if it picks up'. Then 'I'll just read until page 150 and see if it picks up then'. Then 'I'll just read until page 200' etc, etc. A good book shouldn't made a reader do this. A good book should have you zooming through it so fast that you're surprised (and sad) that it's over already.

I finally gave up on this, wanting to move on to something better. It seems that this author can write excellent novellas, but not entertaining full-length novels. This is the second of her full-length novels that I've tried, and as both were disappointing, I don't think that there will be a third.

As a reader of Christian Fiction I found this book to have immoral, sexual content. I had stop reading it.

I couldn't disagree more with the reader who said she struggled to finish and finally gave up. When I finished this book I immediately went to amazon to order the other two books in the series. I wanted more of Hatcher. She gave me what I always look for in a novel. Good people who are human and struggle with the same types of sins that I do and evil people who either repent or pay the price.

I read only Christian novels and this is an excellent example. I look forward to more books by Robin Lee Hatcher. She's great.

Horribly inaccurate. Numerous anchors and rap stations not where described. On the positive side if you like moderate (5.7-10) X routes mr. colderone describes many in detail. These are routes he couldn't find any info on so he soloed them and gave himself credit for the FA. I think the only purpose of this book is to line his pockets and inflame his already giant ego.

What some people mistake for innacuracies is actually accurate information about previous inaccurately recorded information about the City of Rocks. Inaccurate information has been in print for so long that people have assumed it to be the truth. Calderone's guide is not without errors, but it is THE most accurate and up-to-date guide ever written to the area. Calderone gets a lot of flack for his bold first ascents and the people who die attempting to repeat them. I don't neccessarily agree with his staunch tactics, but climbers shouldn't be at odds with his environmental stance or confusing these issues with his writing. You won't be dissapointed with this guide!

The pictures, the comments, and the information in this book is top notch. The amount of information that is wrong in this book is minimal, and the same amount of wrong information can be found in all the other guide books for this area. I have climbed in the City of Rocks area for 5 years now, and this is definately a must have book for those new to the area, or exploring new sections of the area. As with any other guide book, the information is passed down from word of mouth most of the time, no focused group could ever hope to research the amount of information in this book. The pictures in here are awesome, and give the reader a much better idea what features to look for when hunting for a climb.

This book is very controversial due to the nature of the area. The Reserve management clearly has some personal issue with the author of this guide. I could care less about that, personally. Two other "comprehensive" guidebooks preceded Calderone's guide. Forkash's guide had several errors on every single page of the guide, from start to finish. Enough said. Bingham's guide was reasonably accurate, but was incomplete, difficult to understand, and contained no photographs, historical background, or geological information. The 10-page history section and clear photographs of 95% of the developed routes in the Reserve put this book on par with the best rock climbing guidebooks ever written to an area.

I've spent over 200 days climbing at the City of Rocks. I don't know if that qualifies me as an expert, but I do know a thing or two about climbing there. In all that time I've found one error in this book. A photo was reversed to an area that isn't even shown in any other guidebook (because nobody climbs there). I am a very discriminating and detail-oriented person, so that is pretty amazing. I happen to know a few of the old timers who climbed here before Forkash or Bingham. They are dumbfounded as to how calderone found out such things, but concur with his first ascent information. Amazing research! I don't know Calderone personally, but I saw him free-soloing routes on the Clamshell one day while I was climbing on the Lost Arrow. The guy is for real! As far as tact goes, the author doesn't get very high marks. You can tell the book is written from the heart. The guy is honest, if not a bit lacking in tact. Maybe he is full of himself, but I really don't care. To call this book "Top Notch" would not just be giving the author the break he probably deserves from the harsh sport climbing community. It is the truth.

This is another hollow novel by a boring author. I was gifted Girl Anatomy but perused through this one day at my local library, for the hell of it, figuring if Miss Bloom had a second novel out, she must have grown as a writer.
Boy was I wrong. I started reading and found same old story, tired, shallow, narcissistic.
I am shocked when I read like 4 or 5 stars as her average on here. This book is worst than the first one. Stay away from it. Read literary fiction, folks, because while it may not have the fun girl power allusions of single modern culture, it is actual substance and good language

Rebecca: contractions are YOUR FRIEND. Study them! Use them! Love them! You won't be sorry! See? 'won't be'! There's an example! You can do it!

laying on the nightstand was a dog eared copy of "Girl Anatomy" by Rebecca Bloom that my girlfriend left behind one day - with an initial fear of emasculation put aside - i was curious of the chick lit genre and began to read - - to my surprise i never put it down and have since become a devoted fan of anything Rebecca Bloom writes - - with her latest novel "Tangled up in Daydreams" - i identified with the main character Molly and her search for independence and personal growth told through tales chalk full of description and characters that felt honest and familiar - - making this a truly cathartic read for myself - - - i anxiously await book number three...

I loved Tangled Up in Daydreams and strongly recommend this book to anyone who craves a little girl power... or a break from their own troubles. It is an intensely moving story about a woman trying to come to terms with the reality that her journal writing, rock star boyfriend is not the flawless hero she had fantasized about as a little girl. The story is told primarily from the perspective of the main character Molly, who is an LA hipster with a creative flare and a wonderful ability to reflect on both her blessings and her burdens. The crisp descriptions of Los Angeles and Sun Valley, Idaho add a unique flare and capture the moment superbly.

Rebecca, you need a new editor. Pervail? It's PREVAIL. And "Should I stay or should I go now?" That was not the Who. I have never read a book with such jarring writing-- are we in the past or the present? Please pick one.

That aside, the story is pretty bad, too. Is Molly a tough LA girl or a wussy mama's girl from Idaho? Make up your mind, Molly. By the end of the book, I still don't like you or your loser boyfriend.

That said, I still had to read the whole thing, because I had to know what happened at the end. I guess that's why this book gets two stars instead of one for readability.

I absoloutely loved this book!!! It's by far my favorite christian romance book. Katie was an inspiring character and you couldn't help but love Benjie. Though it was a little predictable, it's still a great read. I highly recommend it!!

This book took awhile to get going, and when it did, it didn't last long, because once Ben and Katie married (in haste, I may add, but one has to take the time period in which this was set into consideration), it went downhill from there. So, even though I understand why Katie married Ben (for different reasons, at least at first, from why he married her), I think they should have had an understanding that they would wait until they were both in it for the right reasons before they slept together, the result of which almost ended their marriage (not in divorce, because that just wasn't done back then, but in separation). I liked Ben up until he found out she was with child, then all of a sudden, he wanted her to lose and move back home to Homestead, give up her career, everything. I really think he trapped her into marrying him, not intentionally, but then, she didn't have to say yes, either, though her reputation would have been ruined.

Anyway, I found Ben to be a selfish man (though he genuinely did love Katie, it was with a selfish love he loved her, because he kept trying to make what he wanted what she wanted). I think Katie should have put off a husband and children, or at least children, to pursue her career, like many women do today--get it out of her system first--and then work on building their families.

Of course, Ben wanted to get married and have children right then, but I believe both parties should wait until both parties are ready. That's the problem with many people today. They think nothing of bringing a child into the world, but the decision not to have a child is considered colossal.

I think Ben and Katie would have been better off remaining friends. She should have stayed single and lived in Washington, which had become her home, and if Ben couldn't fall in love with Charlotte, he could have kept looking. I mean, what's the rush? This book made it sound like just because you were in love, that was reason enough to get married. Then, if Katie ever grew tired of Washington and wanted to settle down and hadn't already married a Senator or something, and Ben was still single (or widowed) and living in Homestead, then they could have married.

I did enjoy Ms. Hatcher's use of scripture to show that God would be in favor of woman's suffrage, even if she did cherry pick, for, for every verse that's puts women equal with men, there's at least one more that doesn't, but Christian publishers don't want to publish a fiction novel that even mentions the less savory parts of the Bible instead of the happy, feel-good parts, and that's understandable. I think doing so would take away from the spirit of the book. Sometimes it's good to be a Pollyanna.

This book showed the positive side of feminism, but also how getting married can keep a woman from not pursuing, but accomplishing other interests (though not in Katie's case--her dream was just put on hold for a decade).

Overall, this book was decently written, but Katie's newspaper column and candidacy speech came across as generic. She said the right things, and with passion, but there was just something lacking in them that kept them from being truly inspirational and enlightening.

The best thing about this book was that it was about true feminism--not the kind of feminism National Organization of Women (NOW) puts out. All they care about is abortion. Now, women can dress like hookers and have to hold out their own chair.

Anyway, the worst thing I can say about this book is the nickname Benjie. It reminded me of the dog.

If that's the worst I can say, it wasn't that bad. Katie is likeable, but forgettable.

This was a HARD book to finish.
I never expected "Catching Katie" to be a literary masterpiece, yet somehow I still ended up utterly disappointed. This was my first Robin Lee Hatcher book, and I have to say, I am not motivated to read any of her others.

The largest and most obvious offense that this novel commits is the horrible cliché dialogue and narration - I literally groaned ALOUD several times per chapter at how cheesy and just plain ridiculous the writing was. I was SHOCKED to discover that with such aweful writing, Hatcher had once been the president of the Romance Writers of America!

The characters are so one-dimensional that they are downright unlikable - EVERY wholesome historical novel has the exact same characters! Their personalities and interactions were so predictable that I practically could have read this book with my eyes closed.

One redeeming quality about this book is the historical detail - the author did her homework on the Women's suffrage and American culture in the early 20th century. However, many times her narration begins to smack of a textbook passage - the detail is a bit too obvious for my liking.

One other positive thing I have to say about the novel is that the plot is slightly more original and has more twists than you might first suspect. It keeps you reading - but just barely.

Overall, I would not recommend this book. Do yourself a favor and go find something more intelligent, enjoyable, and flawlessly beautiful - I recommend books by Deeanne Gist and Liz Curtis Higgs.

I'd never read anything by Hatcher before, but "Catching Katie" makes me want to read all her novels. Hatcher's style is easygoing, and moves along while it still gives details. Unlike some genre novelists, she could be called a "good" writer, as well as someone who knows how to tell a good tale.

There's nothing very deep about this novel; it's a tale of a woman fighting her heart, and trying to balance career with love. But it's the perfect novel to read when you just want to get away from the world for a while.

For many years, one-time president of Romance Writers of America Robin Lee Hatcher wrote bestselling romance novels, including KISS ME, KATIE, about a young Idahoan fighting for a woman's right to vote. While Hatcher had accepted Christ in 1976, in the early 1990s she began to walk closer with Jesus, and she began reading inspirational fiction. She realized that she wanted to write novels that fit her new ideals and that some of her previous books could be tailored to fit her new writing model. Thus, her latest book, CATCHING KATIE, is her fifth "redeemed" one (Hatcher's term), an update of KISS ME, KATIE that incorporates a strong faith story into its romance.

Katie Jones is a graduate of Vassar College and has spent several years in Washington, D.C. lobbying on behalf of women's suffrage. She decides to move back home to Idaho, a state that had granted women suffrage in the late 19th century, in order to build momentum there --- and perhaps a platform for her own ambitions, although she's not completely aware of them as she rattles into the town of Homestead in her newfangled Model T Ford, nicknamed "Susan B" after Katie's hero.

What she is aware of is her burning desire to accomplish her goal of universal suffrage, and she doesn't consider what anyone else will think as she begins to do so. Her dear childhood friend, Ben Rafferty, is now the editor of the Homestead Herald, and Katie immediately "applies" to write a column about the subject closest to her heart. However, before she knows what's happening, that subject of her heart has changed --- it's become Ben. His former engagement broken off, it seems there's nothing to stand in the way of the childhood sweethearts getting married. In fact, they do (I won't spoil why, or how), but that doesn't solve the real dilemma for Katie, which is how to reconcile her feminist principles with marriage.

Hatcher tackles this subject head-on, by providing insight into the history of women's rights and by grounding Katie in a solid, no-nonsense pioneer Christian spirituality. Pioneer tradition had to acknowledge women as powerful and equal, because the work of building towns like Homestead couldn't have been done without them. It's small wonder that Idaho had early women's suffrage, and it's small wonder that Katie has no qualms about being seen as equal to men before marriage.

Of course, given the opinions of so many around her and given the culture of her era, Katie finds that once she and Ben are married in the eyes of God and man, she has a much more difficult time understanding herself. Fortunately, Hatcher helps the reader understand all sides of the issue, and grounds the conclusion in Scriptural as well as historical terms (for example, she demonstrates that many serious Christian women were also serious suffragettes; the movement was not filled with atheists and agnostics).

While Hatcher herself clearly believes that Christian marriage is about mutual submission and not about male dominance, she also clearly believes in the primacy of her relationship with Jesus Christ. Even readers who disagree with her views on men and women will find this tale of a bubbly young lady growing into womanhood a delightful and fresh take on the historical romance.

--- Reviewed by Bethanne Kelly Patrick

In the summer of 1910, wildfires in the Northern Rockies spread across millions of acres; the soot darkened the skies of New England and even drifted as far as the ice of Greenland. Seventy-eight firefighters died fighting the "Big Blowup" along the Montana-Idaho border. Nationally recognized fire historian Stephen J. Pyne presents Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910, which tells of this tremendous catastrophe and how it forever changed America's policies for responding to forest fires. Accessible to scholars and lay readers alike, Year of the Fires is a welcome addition to American history shelves and highly recommended - especially considering that the lessons of the past remain just as relevant in "fire-prone" parts of the nation today.

Although some of the other reviewers disagree, Pyne has done a fantastic job of pulling together many diverse strands of primary materials to make a compelling narrative. Not only does Pyne tell the stories of individual firefighters on the line, but he interweaves larger political and environmental issues as well. Really, this is a model work as far as coordinating the "big picture" with the details. Readers of this work will learn about bureaucratic infighting in the early 1900's, competing forestry theories, the physics of how fires actually work, as well as slices of social history here and there. Pyne's greatest weakness in this book is that he tends to be too wordy and a bit too flamboyant with imagery. If you can overlook that and can see the big picture Pyne is painting, the book will draw you in.

This book could be some much more readable with, perhaps, an editor and another draft. The author has to juggle a lot of details - historical, political, social, biographical and statistical - but does so in an ungraceful confusing manner. The writing at times is distractingly florid. I compare this to Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas that handles a wealth of period detail with grace and a simplicity and directness of language that sweeps you along. I was very disappointed given the natural drama of the story.

The story of the great fires of 1910 that raged along the northern tier of the country from Washington to the Great Lakes, but especially the Big Blowup that occurred along the Montana-Idaho border that claimed over 70 firefighters in two days in late August. Heroes, cowards, and fools all appeared during those two days before the fierce winds that made containment difficult abated. Ed Pulaski saved a large crew from destruction by his actions. But Baudette and Spooner, both in Minnesota, were destroyed in only 20 minutes.

The country didn't really have a forest fire plan, in most cases just allowing fires to burn themselves out. But these fires, which destroyed so much property, forced officials to make big changes, among them the creation of the Forest Service.

A debate raged over whether fires should be fought head-on or by employing light burning to prevent devastating fires from erupting. (Pyne is weakest in dealing with these debates and doesn't make the issues or outcome clear.) In some ways the debate still continues, especially now that so many homes and communities have been built on forest lands.

A pretty interesting book, though Pyne's writing style is not very compelling.

I found this book through a newspaper review and eagerly bought it. I was very disappointed. It is overly academic, dull, poorly organized and excessively wordy. As a journalist, I understand the powers of brevity and clarity, but the author does not. Even the organization, by month, leaves a lot to be desired as the author still skips between months. The political background becomes so laborious that it is impossible to follow a chain of events or personalities. I would definitely skip reading this book, even though I forced my way through all of it, hoping that it would get better. It did not.

Let's dispel a few myths, some circulating hereabouts, about Fleisher's valuable book, which is getting much-deserved attention, but is of course not without its flaws:

Fleisher is not alone in advocating that a mass rape followed the massacre. In point of fact, Brigham Madsen, the primary historian of the Bear River massacre, also believes a mass rape ensued. That Madsen is a lapsed Mormon generally isn't taken as evidence that he's biased, and of course shouldn't be take as evidence that he's biased.

Only one-third of Fleisher's book deals directly with the history of the massacre as such, and related historical events. There are some factual errors therein, none of which invalidate her thesis or her analysis.

Fleisher is hardly the first to discuss rape in a military context. The gold standard here, and a book that Fleisher makes ample use of, is Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. More recently, Maria Bevacqua has added a volume to this ongoing discussion. (Yes, Bevacqua blurbs Fleisher's book.) Rape continues to be a serious social problem, as we all know, and what Fleisher terms "genocidal rape" is happening right now, for instance, in Darfur.

Fleisher's primary target in her book is the *telling* of history, and how social realities invariably end up influencing such tellings. One of those social realities is gender, another is race, another is class, and so forth. Fleisher's interviews with the women who are arguing for and against a National Historic Site -- both of whom, incidentally, are Mormon (like so many others with whom she speaks), and both of whom Fleisher treats with the utmost journalistic respect -- comprise one practical (and contemporary) dimension of this situation. Her more theoretical point is not simply that historians are not "objective" -- a number of reviewers have incorrectly accused her of mounting such an argument -- her point is that objectivity and accuracy and truth and the like are invariably a function of the historian's perspective, and as such, we might need to understand how such perspectives are inflected by those social realities, above. Sure, there might be some things we can all agree upon, accuracy-wise -- we tend to treat facts as relatively stable entities (even if they're often proved not to be so stable) -- but here's a case in which we can't even agree on whether a mass rape took place (and we have a documented eyewitness account). So our stubborn pursuit of a fixed truth often blinds us to other possible truths, as Fleisher argues, which isn't to say we don't ultimately have to reckon with same.

And which leads us to the final portion of Fleisher's book, where she does a good deal of historical unearthing and (cultural) analysis to unpack the role that white women have played in Native affairs. All by way of casting her *own* work under increasingly harsh light, in order finally to draw some conclusions about history, about the telling of history, and about our public responsibility in addressing and participating in such tellings.

Drivel? I think not. And that kind of hatchet-job rhetoric is probably something that itself needs to be examined as a social reality now, given the preponderance of such hatchet jobs floating around in these spaces.

Serious students of the Bear River Massacre would find their time better spent reading some of the better researched and sourced materials available elsewhere. The banter surrounding the modern-day controversy is barely entertaining and hardly reaches the level of local Preston and Sho-Ban reservation gossip. It is evident that the author had little of substance to write, therefore a poorly-researched diatribe against mormons and a sad attempt to validate the battlefield rape tale, was her only way to get this trash published. Even the Southwest Shoshoni deny the rape accounts, yet this author so desparately wants it to be true that she goes to great lengths to substantiate this fairy tale with leading questions and wild fantasies-- obviously intended to titiliate the weak-minded. This is indeed a good first-hand look at what white-apologist, feminine revisionist history looks like. This book does nothing for history or for native americans. Sexist and bigoted baloney.

As a student persuing a Ph.D in American Indian History, I was not impressed with this book. Fleisher goes into long detail about her own experiences while writing her book, and what little "history" she does relate is easily found on the internet. The sources she uses are secondary and tertiary sources at best. If you want to learn about the Shoshoni and the Bear River massacre, I suggest one of Brigham D. Madsen's books; The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, or Encounter with the Northwestern Shoshoni at Bear River in 1863: Battle or Massacre.

Fleisher's strategy is threefold: first, a sweeping survey and synthesis of histories and historical materials. This is less the work of an historian than of an accomplished prose stylist and original social thinker. (Historian Brigham D. Madsen's "The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre" (U of Utah P, 1985) provides the cornerstone for Fleisher's efforts here.) Readers will leave this first narration with a firm grasp of those historical contingencies that have complicated scholarly and public reception of the Bear River massacre and rape. In particular, Fleisher untangles the complex interweaving of Mormon and Shoshone (and Civil War) histories to illustrate how the blur of incontestable facts and competing fictions becomes crucial to the relatively muted reception (until now) of this seminal event. Next, in a startling move, Fleisher recommences her narrative to explore the circumstances that led her to embark on this intellectual journey. This second movement entails both an autobiographical account of the author's academic trappings -- and liabilities attending thereto -- as well as a journalistic archive of efforts underway to commemorate Bear River as a National Historic Site. In a provocative third movement, Fleisher then musters the resolve to scrutinize her own historical authority, asking why she feels compelled to insert herself into Shoshone and Mormon histories, being neither Shoshone nor Mormon. This leads to an astute reflection on the terms of her "busybody" historiography, including a review, at once graceful and witty, both of more popular 19th- and 20th-century representations and of the authorizing role of the historian as a teller of historical tales.

Ultimately this is a book of subjects, then, and of subjects often subjected to neglect. Despite the fact that the book is expertly researched -- clearly the product of years of work -- and includes an excellent bibliography and index, Fleisher's controversial decision not to employ footnotes (save for a sly, solitary footnote explaining her rationale!) will doubtless raise the ire of more fastidious scholars, while pleasing those of us who would sacrifice such notation for an enhanced measure of readability. Even more, the absence of footnotes -- and this is Fleisher's carefully measured ethical point -- forces readers to confront rather directly the question of accuracy, and whether historians' customary prerogative, their tacit claim to objectivity, does not in fact smooth out those rough edges of reality that a more bracingly essayistic (and autobiographical) approach can productively foreground. But as Fleisher's effort is one of recuperation, if not redemption -- public redemption, or the redemption of public consciousness -- her challenge to accuracy and authenticity cedes, at least in theory, the very authority she must wield in order to make a convincing argument. At any rate, if Fleisher's book occasions a debate about such matters, this will be owing less to any particularly novel textual maneuver or documentation controversy than to the sheer conviction bodied forth throughout, which conviction brings with it an insistence on critical reflexivity of the sort one finds in the writings of Robert Coles.

If this is a flawed book, it is no less for that a remarkable book, a necessary book, and a book that goes a long way toward demonstrating why history is never a done deal, and how the interpretive endeavor can be, at its postmodern best, the stuff of social reckoning.

Sometimes a little distance gives an author the ability to see a subject clearly-the historical distance, for example, necessary to see how past events predict contemporary consequences, how war is always brutal and dirties both its victims and victors no matter how many yellow ribbons we hang around it-and I couldn't help but be reminded of this while reading Fleisher's analysis of the Bear River rape and massacre at the same time that stories of American soldiers "abuse" of Iraqi prisoners were coming to light.

At its heart, this book is about the making of history itself: that is, how an event generates competing explanations that clash, and are either accepted as truth, alter each other, or fall out of memory. It is about how "truth" is made. Specifically, Fleisher focuses on the massacre of one Shoshoni village by U.S. troops, or rather she focuses on the competing agendas feuding over how this one event should be remembered today. Though there is some disagreement on some details (such as the body count), there isn't much disagreement on the essential fact that on that day U.S. soldiers murdered a village of Shoshoni Native Americans, committing rapes and other atrocities in the course of wiping out survivors. Like others historians, Fleisher assembles all the historical evidence: details, for example, like the fact that the attack was planned to take place at dawn when the village would be asleep and people could be killed in their tents, during the winter when the Shoshoni would all be gathered together, while the snow was deep so women and children couldn't run away. Unlike most historians, she questions how historians themselves remember this event, examining their methods, their own political agendas, wondering for example, why some cast the massacre as a military victory instead of an act of genocide.

But what makes this book remarkable, and distinguishes it from the conservative historians who have written about the event before her, is that she portrays the event not as some dusty artifact, but as an ongoing story that involves us all. For we all are involved: how we remember this story, or not, determines "what happened" that day and will contribute to what can happen tomorrow. Like an investigative journalist she interviews living descendants of the original massacre, both Native Americans and the white ranchers who still live on the land. Most remarkably she includes herself as part of the problem/solution with this story (sort of as the voice of the common man) and shows how all of us, ordinary American citizens, have a stake in how the event is remembered. Should the park service erect a memorial commemorating the brave actions of our men in uniform in a military victory against Indian warriors? Should the rapes that were committed be erased? Should no marker be erected? Or should we remind ourselves that war is brutal? That even our side commits atrocities, especially when expediency is at stake? That is, she asks if by white-washing history we make it easy for history to repeat itself, e.g. go to war lightly, convinced we will be remembered as virtuous no matter what we do?

I had no particular interest in Native American history before reading this book. But afterwards I realized that that was equivalent to saying I had no particular interest in my own history as an American, and by implication no particular interest in why my country behaves as it does today. The Bear River Massacre and the Making of History should be required reading for everyone, but especially for anyone who thinks they are patriotic. An important book.