Louisiana Books

Excellent, absorbing book for anyone who wants real-life experiences of those who lived through WWII. Slightly disappointed that a brief update on the participants was not given in all cases (family information and careers after the war). I wanted to read so much more and wish the writer could choose people from other cities in the United States (large and small). Highly recommend it.

War Stories: Remembering World War II

This is an excellent book. One of the best WWII books I've ever read, and I've read a lot of them! Each chapter is the story of an individual (real) person from New Orleans... each chapter provides a brief recollection of the impact of the war on that individual. The stories range from the memories of an artillery soldier recalling storming the beaches on D-Day to a Jewish child ousted from their farmhouse in rural Poland forced into hiding. War impacts us all, even those not on the front lines... this books tells those stories. A book about bravery, camaraderie, patriotism, and human nature. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This collection of eyewitness accounts of the years between 1939 and 1945 manages to personalize the years between 1939 and 1945 war as no history book could. Using experiences of people from all walks of life (most of whom were teenagers or in their twenties during the war), the author has managed to skillfully craft a very readable and poignant collection. Recurring themes of courage, resilience, love and family carry the reader through the war from start to finish.

Purchased this for my father. He met Mark Dunkelman years ago while he was writing another book. My father is a big war buff, especially of the 154th Infantry, as his ancestors fought. Thanks Mark for another great book. You really do your research for these!

I've known Mark for twenty or so years and know when he publishes an article or book it will be a well polished,honest, accurate item. This book is another example of a true artist and his lifes work--Studying the 154th N.Y.V.I

If you love the story of the common man more than what the Generals were up to, then this is your next Civil War book. This volume remembers that the true cost of war is tapped from the lifes-blood of its participants in the ranks. When a soldier dies in battle it is always a violent death. Something nobody deserves. Let alone a young person on the very threshold of life.

I am fortunate enough to be related to one of the Soldiers immortalized in Dunkelmans book. I am proud of his finished product and feel he has at last made Captain Crosby's story known to those who wish to read it. If I had a writers talent I could not have written a better sum of the Captains life. Thanks Mark.

Thanks for these very human tales told with love, compassion and complete understanding. My guess is these tales are as close as any of us will ever get to seeing the real humans beings who fought that war against slavery. These "Lincolns men".

Buy it,read it,and mostly, learn from it.

There are no stories of generals and strategy here. The author has crafted a well written book that reminds us of the personal side of the war and of the heroism of the individual soldiers of the 154th infantry. In fact this is representative of any unit. This is nuts and bolts history at its best. This book is excellant and deserves a wide readership.

This work is a must read for anyone interested in southern history, or in demagougery in the U.S., or in southern politics! The author does an excellent job -- in a very interesting and readable narrative -- of truly capturing the colorful Eugene Talmadge, four times elected Governor of Georgia! He captures the real Gene, from Talmadge's red suspenders, to his plants at political rallies, to his outlandish, dogmatic ways -- such as the time he caused the Univ. of Ga. to lose its accreditation. As a teacher and historian, this book is one of the very best I have ever read!

AN outstanding literary piece. I would highly reccomend it for all especailly children. Eugene Talmadge's life, as expresses in this book was spent in th ebetterment of the ordinary working people of our nation.

A sweeping, incisive, colorful view of the life and times of the man in red galluses, Eugene Talmadge, famous for his slogan, "The poor Georgia dirt farmer ain't got but three friends who never let him down: God, Sears Roebuck, and Ol' Gene."

I cried when I leafed through this book. I doubted that WS would deliver an authentic New Orleans cookbook (they might try to change stuff), but I purchased it from WS anyway to support the hurricane victims. What I received was an awesome "food pictorial." Beautiful shots of the wonderful and authentic recipes, but also beautiful photos of the restaurants, markets, streets and people I miss.

The opening paragraphs and sidebars that accompany the recipes are thoughtfully written and insightful. This book does an artful job of presenting recipes that draw on all of the cultures that make up New Orleans' cuisine. The recipes range from simple to sublime. As with all WS books, the recipes are well-written. The seafood gumbo recipe is excellent. I've shared it with family and it will be the one I use for my Christmas gumbo.

I lived and worked in the city for a while and this book makes the good memories rush back. I commend WS on the excellent research and other efforts that went into producing such a stellar book.

Like the other reviewers, I, too, cried into the pages of this beautiful book. Gone are the kind, smiling waitstaff who waited on us in the French Quarter restaurants. Scattered over the face of America. No homes, no place to work. We will never see some of the beloved chefs who, like everyone else, are scattered. New Orleans will never, ever be the same. This incredible book is living testament to the glory of a glorious city. She welcomed me and let me stay a while. Now the pages of this book are stuck together with tears. This book is a national treasure.

My husband and I fell in love with this book. We go to New Orleans each year for a mini-vacation with the kids. We are originally from south Louisiana and we enjoy the people, the culture, and especially the food. This book reminds us of our trips and the photos depict the true New Orleans the way it was before Katrina. We wanted to save our memories and that is why we bought this book. Also, we have frequented several of the restaurants mentioned and we love to cook and try out new recipies.

This is a really good cookbook, with relatively easy recipes and easy to find ingredients (at least if you live in Louisiana!) I have created some dishes out of the book and the end product came out great. This is not a fake New Orleans cookbook. The author is obviously a true cajun.

While living for nearly a decade on the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf Coasts, I developed a deep love for Cajun cooking. Jude Theriot defines many unique Cajun cooking terms and gives an intersting history of the Cajun quisine. This makes his fine book both an entertaining read, as well as a very useful recipe book. I recommend this book very highly!

I have over a dozen books on hiking in New Hampshire (my favorite state and place to climb) but this has to be one of the few that really gets detailed on the trail's good points and bad ones and what to watch for.
The trails are varied, some long and more of 'getting there' attitude and some short but very scenic. The authors really let you know about spots to stop at and why and other neat things to watch for.
I have done at least 12 of the 50 and plan on all if I am able in this short life, lol. No complaints about the descriptions. Also very pleased with the accurate info on parking and directions to the trailhead, which is confusing in some other books.
This is the second book to the 50 Hikes series for New Hampshire, both are unbelievable and invaluable in their information. This one takes us from Barrett Mountain in Southern NH (which by the way is impossible to find informative hiking information on)through the Whites and even one in the Far North. There are quite a few essential 4,000 footers in here, so don't miss out!

Tracy Talley~@

I found this book to be extremely helpful. It makes planning a hiking agenda easy. Great maps and detailed overviews. This book gives you the confidence to allow you to explore more of New Hampshire. No matter which trail you decide to take on...you will know what to expect. Even gives guides to "rainy day" hikes. The only drawback is that you will want to pack it with you!

I loved this book, a collection of short essays that discuss the meaning of race and class in the aftermath of Katrina. I study American Studies at University and have become engrossed in African America, and Katrina is the defining event of recent times for race relations and "the color line".

This book does not simply argue that the U.S is some racist hell and point blame at the federal government, rather it eloquently outlines the arguments both for and against the theory that race caused the situation in New Orleans post-hurricane devastation.

Some writers conclude that racism had everything to do with it, others point out that the blame game itself and the lack of black America's responsibility for its own destiny were to blame. Some blame Mayor Nagin and the new middle class black America for not doing enough, others point to the legacy of slavery and the inability of New Orleans to save itself. Some argue that as all the low lying areas of the city were cheaper places to live and thus liable to storm surge, its a legacy of poverty that caused such disaster for the 98% African-American areas of New Orleans East, St.Bernard and the Lower Ninth Ward.

Whatever your view, remember that all these writers are black and all arguments are put forward in an intelligent and thought provoking manner.

Recommended not just for those wishing to understand Katrina, but anyone who wants to look at race relations in America and the sociological and psychological legacy of the old south. An excellent read i recommend to anyone.

I lived in New Orleans 18 years and have relocated since Katrina. My fellow law professors have done an excellent job exposing the reality of New Orleans before and after the storm. I recommend this collection of thoughtful essays to anyone who wants a candid look at how race is relevant even when it shouldn't be. All Americans should be outraged and continue to seek justice for our fellow citizens.

This revised and expanded version of Sternberg's previous work makes for fascinating reading for both visitors and Louisiana natives. It is not only a wonderful guidebook, but concise glimpse of the history of the Great River Road. For more from this author I suggest "Winding Through Time" which is her study of the history and influence of Bayou Manchac.

Describing details along both River Roads (one on each bank) from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, this is a great read. From Colonial to Antebellum to the Refineries populating the area now, its a very interesting and informative book. Including both straightforward history about various plantations and local people as well as colorful local stories, it's a great read. I only wish someone would write a guide like this for the area stretching north from Baton Rouge to Natchez to make it dovetail with Persac's map, around which much of the book revolves.

One of poetry's elemental functions is to discover and preserve national identity. If you want to find out about the Greeks, you read Homer. If you want to find out about the English, you read Chaucer or Shakespeare. If you want to find out about the Americans, you read Whitman or William Carlos Williams. If you want to find out about the Poles, you read Milosz or Szymborska.

And if you want to find out about Polish Americans?

Then I would suggest that you read Linda Nemec Foster's Amber Necklace of Gdansk. At its heart is Foster's desire to discover what it means to be Polish American at the beginning of the 21st century and the difficulty of discovering this.

She asks all of the hard questions that the best of Polish-American writers and thinkers ask: What did the immigrants lose by coming here, what did they gain, what was Poland like then, what is Poland like now, what is America like, can we understand our immigrant forbearers' motives for coming to America, can we understand what they left behind, can we ever find the Poland they left behind, is the Poland of the present even remotely like the Poland they left behind? And finally she addresses the hardest question: Can any of those questions be answered?

Ms. Foster is relentless in pursuing her answers. She's like an archeologist with a deep understanding of psychology and cultural studies searching for the essential bones of her Polish-American identity. And like a scientist she brings tremendous coherence to the search. Her book, like the best contemporary poetry, has an internal order that makes it seem almost like you are reading a memoir or a highly narrative journal. Each of the book's four sections moves us closer to her conclusions with directness and urgency: the first section deals with her growing up in an immigrant neighborhood in the US, the second describes her journey to Poland, the third talks of what she found in Poland, and the last centers on how her quest effected her.

What she comes to discover, as all Polish Americans who have made the journey back to Poland discover, is how little and yet how much she is connected with her Polish past.

As Polish Americans, Foster seems to be saying, we stand eternally on this side of the border between America and Poland, and we can only cross it in our dreams. This may not be enough, but it is all we can hope for.

The thin thread of memory and misinformation that often connects many Americans to their immigrant ancestors becomes the rope that pulls the reader into Linda Nemec Foster's powerful poems about looking back. In language that is at once sensitive and utterly unsentimental, these poems dig into the past to retrieve the details through which readers can relive the poet's discoveries as she travels in Poland, filtering the experience through her memories of an American childhood in which the motherland was a distant history evident only the the curious behavior of family and neighbors who were closer to it. Even in the most prose-like of the poems, Foster's feel for language and its poetic nuances is evident in every phrase. The most marvelous thing about the book, however, is that it is easy to read. Don't miss Amber Necklace from Gdansk because you think it's from a university press and might be too esoteric. Anyone who has ever given serious thought to the question "Where did I come from?" will love these poems.

This was a great book! I was especially impressed with the interview they did concerning what would happen to New Orleans if the levees broke. (This was written pre-Katrina.)

Definately a great book for yourself or for a gift.

This is not only a very beautiful coffee table book on Louisiana's wetlands, its wildlife, and people; but it couldn't have come at a more critical time. The chapter entitled "America's Atlantis" on New Orleans predicts exactly what happened to this great American city. If you've ever wanted to know more about not just our vanishing coastline, but also about Louisiana's unique culture, this is THE book!