Pennsylvania Books

This book is still available from Heritagebooks.com. It is NOT out of print!

Detecting Texts is a wonderful resource for those interested in the metaphysical detective story. It contains some of the most insightful essays I have ever read on the subject. The essays in this book provided me with excellent raw materials for my essays and ideas. Thank you to all the contributors for providing such innovative ideas on a relatively new literary genre.

Great weekend read! Lighthearted, easy reading

T. Anthony Perry has written another outstanding book. He is an academic of the highest caliber, and this book is the best in its field.

Also available in a hardcover edition (1932236376, $25.00), Dickens And The Social Order evaluates four of Dickens' early novels - Nicholas Nickelby, Barnaby Rudge, American Notes, and Martin Chuzzlewit - and derives from them Dickens' social philosophy. Presenting the affirmation that Dickens in fact held a surprisingly traditional wordview, as a champion of authority, customs, and accepted mannerly behavior, Dickens And The Social Order progressively reveals Dickens as a solid pragmatist, who considered practical realities first and utopian dreams in a far lesser light than others would claim. Astutely written and solidly argued, Dickens And The Social Order is a welcome addition to classical literary criticism shelves.

Do not be misled by the title. This is more a detailed encyclopedia of glass than a simple dictionary, with many in depth articles covering the history, art and technology of glass working.

All forms of glass craft are represented, including blowing, lamp work, stained glass, etching and engraving. Raw materials, chemicals, tools and techniques for industrial and artistic uses are described.

Styles & important historical pieces are also covered. The book is well illustrated with b/w photos & diagrams. Two sections of color plates showcase some beautiful & unusual artistic pieces in a wide variety of techniques.

Lists of periodicals, suppliers, societies, schools and museums provide a great source for further information. This is a complete and essential reference for anyone interested in glass.

This new work put out under the auspices of the British Museum has what it takes to become THE standard desk reference on the Ancient Near East. Entries are clear and concise (the longest run to two and a half columns). Also, they are good about letting the reader know which archaeological and historical issues are still matters of dispute (in other words, there seems to be no faking of certainty). Although there are no color plates, almost every page has a well-chosen and informative photograph or illustration. Maps and charts are simple and easy to absorb. The editors and their staff get major points for the quality and extent of their cross-referencing and indexing. It's very easy to spend hours following all the interesting leads and connections from one article to another. Many alphabatized reference works don't even bother with an index ("The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization" is an example of a work that desperately needs one); but, as anyone who has to do quick look-ups on the fly knows, an index is a great asset in any single-volume desk reference work.

Information the publisher should have given to Amazon.com: (1) The definition of the Ancient Near East the editors follow is the one used by the British Museum: Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatola, the Caucasus, the Levant and Arabia; (2) The chronological range covered by the entries stretches from 1.5 million years ago to the fall of Babylon to the Persian Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C. [Yes, dates are identified as "B.C.", not "B.C.E."]; (3) Besides information about the ANE that you'd expect to find, this dictionary includes information on the discoverers as well--the people and institutions who made significant contributions to ANE studies. (Although I'm not qualified to judge, I suspect the Brits are over-represented.)

Things I would like to see added in subsequent editions: (1) A general introduction that give the reader some context and background; (2) A timeline that relates what was happening in the ANE to the growth of civilization in Egypt. (I accept the need to limit discussion of Egypt in the individual entries, but would have appreciated a schematic that gave me a workable overview. Don't the Assyriologists ever talk to the Egyptologists at the British Museum?)

Overall an excellent work! I'm glad to own a copy.

I have never been so affected by a book than this. I had to heal myself after reading it. Years after, I write this review while battling the gruesome images described in this account of violence. Chapter after chapter I was tempted to put it down, away, bury it, whatever as it is truly difficult to stomach. Yet in the end, the hope of humanity is triumphantly related in this harrowing book. A master piece of journalism.

This is a fascinating, well-written book; you don't have to know anything about archaeolgy to appreciate it - and I don't even live in Philadelphia!

This book is a wealth of information for any genealogist trying to date a photo taken in Pennsylvania from the years 1839-1900. The information is concise and to the point and literally within minutes I was able to date 2 photographs based on the photographers name stamp to the year 1890. Ries and Ruby have done an excellent job researching photographers from the 18th and 19th century who worked in the state of Pennsylvania. I have previously purchased "Dating Old Photographs 1840-1929" and "Uncovering Your Ancestry through Family Photographs" and this book blows the previous two out of the water!!