New Hampshire Books

Yes, the story is excellent, if I do so say myself, but I don't recommend that anyone buy the iUniverse / Author's Guild edition. The photos didn't hold up well in the reproduction, and instead of "bleeding" off the edge of the paper they're set with a one-inch margin, so what was a 7x10 inch book comes out to magazine size.

Far better to buy a second-hand copy of the New Hampshire Publishing hardcover or softcover editor.

-- Dan Ford

I own this book in hardcover and I think it is great that it is available again in paperback. The author hikes through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and across into Maine. But more than a journal of his mini-expedition this is a glancing history of the Whites. Excellent! But the politically correct should take heed because the year is 1975 and the author among other things is a (gasp!) cigarette smoker. Let's hope that he has since reformed!

Good photographs taken along the way. Highly recommended.

This book has nice essays really, about the different regions of New hampshire. It won't replace a tour guide, but it gives you more of a feel about the people and places of the state. It is very well written and a nice book o read while relaxing This may give you more an an idea of where you may want to go than just a list of Inns and attractions.

This book is a very well written, easy to understand book. I live in NH and found this book to be quite handy in finding the out of the way locations that might not be found otherwise. This book is clearly written and very easy to understand. The directions are easy to follow and pretty accurate. All around great book to have if you want to see very nice areas of NH.

Very engaging reading about foreign students lives prior to their education here. It's a revealing look at what they brought with them in life experience compared to what they saw in the average American student. They contend with the clash between the beliefs and values of their upbringing and the shallow nature of the sheltered American student. A very well written, thoughful response to the blending of their prior experience, their expectations of study in the U.S. and the self discovery that results.

Enlighteningly refreshing look at American and specifically Ivy Legue culture. International students reflect on their lives abroad and their experiences in Dartmouth College and the surrounding New England community. The students and alumni that have contributed their short autobiographies to this compilation contemplate their diverse backgrounds and grapple with the American culture, to which they are compelled. Some of the stories are hilarious. Some are heartbreaking. But all are profound. The students take good aim at social and philosophical questions imposed by their new community and search for their identities in a place that canonizes monotony and conformity. This book can not be put down until it's finished.

So, I didn't read this book. I was fortunate enough to have had Dennis Littky as my principal in 1972-1975, prior to the time period of the story in this book. "Doc" was probably the most amazing educator that I've ever come across, and both of my parents are educators. What he did that was so amazing is to bring life into school! It was a hands-on approach to learning, and a lust for learning, that I can tell you is most rare!

So, I will be buying this book because I want to re-live those experiences, and learn from Doc all over again!

How previously successful principal Littky retired to a cabin in the Appalachian mountains and was persuaded to help revitalize failing Thayer High School, Winchester, N-H. He did well, but not everyone in town was happy; then the drama started. A fascinating account of one man trying to put into practice many of Ted Sizer's progressive ideas (see Horace's Compromise, Horace's School and Horace's Hope) and the resistance he ran into.

I couldn't put it down. Littky decided to take the challenge and try to put his ideas into practice. He was accused by some of using the school and its students as guinea-pigs for his "grand experiment" in psychological manipulation, his grab for power. Many disagreed with his ideas and his vision; some were persuaded, some were not, even after seeing what he had done with the school. People disagreed with what the "evidence" showed, or even what it was!

Susan Kammeraad-Campbell does a great job of taking us behind the scenes and observing how Littky went about convincing both turned-off students and cynical staff members to stay on, tune in and get involved. The task was monumental, and many had failed before him. Did Littky succeed? Many would say he did, but not all would agree.

Littky seems to have a gift for making learning and teaching fun. But it's not all about pedagogy or classroom techniques: it's also about building the right environment, both physically and emotionally. How does one set about practically breaking down the artificial walls erected between school "subjects"? How does one persuade teachers to go along with this plan and actually make it work? How does one set standards that require meaningful learning, and not just measure the amount of hours spent in school? And how does one persuade teachers and parents to support this venture? Well, here's the story of how Littky set about it. It also tells what happened when people disagreed with what he was doing, who disagreed with his "liberal ideas", people both in and out of the school. The story is an excellent reminder of just how much cooperation is required to make a school a success.

Although the book is obviously sympathetic to Littky, Susan Kammeraad-Campbell does try to get into the heads of those who opposed him. However, it seems she was not able to spend as much time with them or persuade them to talk to her to the extent that Littky and his supporters were, and they don't come out of the story very well. Campbell tries to answer the question, can a successful school story like Thayer's sustain itself after Littky leaves? Or is it always a matter of personalities? The afterwords by Campbell and by Littky himself try to answer these questions, but inevitably it seems Littky's personality was a powerful and vital ingredient in the mix.

As a postscript, here's a quote from Sizer's book "Horace's Hope": "During 1983, while I was writing Horace's Compromise, I accepted a number of speaking engagements with school people to test my ideas and the directions in which they might lead me. At the conclusion of one such gathering in Massachusetts, I was confronted by a smiling, balding, red-bearded, plaid-shirt-wearing character who bluntly said, 'You talk about it. We do it. You better get your butt up to my school.' He was Dennis Littky. I went to his school..." Thayer Junior/Senior High School was the first to join Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools.

I was skeptical when I started this novel because I have never been a fan of short stories, but this opened my eyes to a new kind of literary genius. Christopher Brookhouse doesn't spell everything out for his audience; there is enough room for the reader to create their own visual and intrepretation for each story.
I thought this was an amazing collection of characters, themes, irony, and motifs.

"Fog" by Christopher Brookhouse is a collection of stories, all set in the fictional New England community of Jeffrey. The stories each stand alone, but the characters and themes, as well as the locales, are all interwoven more like a novel than a collection of short pieces. Interwoven as well are the motifs of lonely isolation and a kind of brooding, shadow eroticism.

Personally, after finishing each story, I was convinced that it was the best in the collection! Overall, a splendid achievement by Brookhouse.

This indispensable and comprehensive reference work is offered in a convenient one-volume form. It contains extensive biographical and genealogical data on every family established in Maine and New Hampshire before 1699. Listed are the births, marriages, and deaths of the settlers through the third generation, and sometimes into the fourth. Also included are data on places of origin, residences, wills and deeds, court cases, and highlights of lives and careers.

This dictionary is a thorough introduction to the complete genealogies of the ME./N.H. regions because of the detailed lists provided and totally researched. This will save you a lot of time and give you an excellent working knowledge of the area. The topo is historically accurate. This book is well researched and easy to understand. Colonial Families are well represented and many family names, links, and historical synopsis are provided. It's brief and to the point as any good dictionary should be!

With all the drama and soap opera theatrics of the Clinton years, its hard to remember just how unusual and downright bizarre the 1988 Presidential election was. Though it didn't feature any serious attempts at impeachment or Wag the Dog style bombings, 1988 was still the year that saw, briefly, the possibility that both parties would nominate preachers for President, the Willie Horton ads (which have been called "racist" so many times that people tend to forget the fact that the only was they became an issue was because Gov. Dukakis saw no problem with allowing a known dangerous felon to have an unsupervised weekend outside of prison), Dan Quayle, and most strangely, the theory that the pairing of robotic Michael Dukakis and blandly corrupt Lloyd Bentsen would somehow lead to memories of Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Yeah, it was a strange year from the beginning, as this book clearly proves.

As opposed to other campaign histories, Grass Roots covers only one pivotal event in the campaign -- the New Hamsphire primary (which, even if it wasn't admitted at the time, pretty much sealed the nominations of both Bush and Dukakis). As well, instead of concentrating on all the behind-the-scenes strategizing, Grass Roots focuses on the citizen/activists who spent a year crisscrossing New Hampshire in an effort to bring their candidates to victory. Its a nice change from most campaign histories. Instead of supplying analysis of why certain campaigns failed, author Dayton Duncan instead shows us the gritty details that goes into the campaigns at the ground level and one comes away with both an appreciation of the massive effort it takes to run a succesful political campaign and a better feel for what makes for victory and what dooms a cause for defeat.

Duncan concentrates his narrative on a few individuals such as Doug Kidd, a former directionless man whose devotion to the Rev. Pat Robertson's campaign becomes rather touching and inspirational even if Robertson, himself, hardly strikes one as Presidential. We meet Al Rubega, a down-to-earth conservative whose frustration with the stillborn campaign of Jack Kemp reaches truly tragic heights. On the Democratic side, Dan Burnham faces the agony of watching Bruce Babbitt crash and burn as a result of the candidate's lack of charisma while veteran activist Andi Johnson helplessly watches as both Gary Hart and Joe Biden self-destruct in scandal before finally hooking up with the far more honest but just as doomed Paul Simon. Along with these stories, we get insightful views of various Presidential long-shots doing their best to make a name for themselves -- Duncan's account of a day in the life of Republican Pete Du Pont and his attempts to campaign as a common man (let's just say that juggling is involved) are especially funny and strangely sad. All in all, it makes for inspiring reading as both a political history and an account of human drama.

Duncan, it should be said, is admirably upfront about his own political leanings. He is a Democrat and, after the primary, even worked as a press secretary to the Dukakis campaign. So, what is amazing, is that this partisan has managed to write a truly nonbiased account of one of the most partisan presidential elections in recent history. As opposed to so-called objective journalists (Jack Germond and Jules Whitcover, I'm looking in your direction), Duncan treats all the candidates and their campaigns fairly and, even when writing about the Republicans that he surely disagrees with, Duncan never resorts to easy stereotypes. Everyone is allowed to present their case and everyone is treated with respect. What a concept!

Every post-election year, it seems that we are flooded with books that claim to give an inside account of the previous election and usually they dissapoint by either engaging in the pompous rhetoric of Teddy White's later books or the surly partisan grumpiness that seems to have afflicted Germond and Whitcover (who always seemed to be saying, "How could the rest of you vote differently from us!?") Duncan's book, however, reminds us why so many people have devoted their lives to politics. It reminds us that politics -- even today -- can still be an exhilirating way for a citizen to make his voice heard. And for that -- as well as giving as a wonderful record of really weird election -- he is to be commended and his book treasured.

Andi Johnson of Cheshire County, New Hampshire will tell you that NH takes their presidential politics seriously. You will find well educated voters and activists as they work hard to let people know their candidate can beat the other guy best. Dayton follows several local activists during the First in the Nation primary in Cheshire County, NH. You will learn what makes them tick and why they feel they are going to win: who's it gonna be: Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) or former Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis against George Bush or Pat Robertson...? Enjoy a good read and learn history in the making.

The Hair of Harold Roux is a lost classic. I had to recall it from the Library Annex. The last time my copy was in reading hands was 1983. William's novel explores both misspent youth and middle age in this novel about a novelist which could have easily descended into the uninteresting or banal. But Williams pulls it off, partly through the vibrant portraits of the virginal Mary and the randy Naomi, in the novel-within-a-novel. Here, ugly characterizations of women and minorities may be one reason for the relative obscurity of this work. But there is no authorial commitment to these views: it is a work of fantasy within a work of fantasy and safe from endorsement. All in all, the novel illustrates how time can reduce men and women as mirrors reflecting their memories.

Thomas Williams has written a brilliant book that everyone should read--The Hair of Harold Roux. It is probably the finest of all Williams' novels. Written as a novel-within-a-novel, both stores involve the reader. It's one of my favorite books.

I couldn't believe the amount of detail found here; anything I've ever wanted to know about New Hampshire, I now know. The book is full of not only geographical information, but a lot of history to go along with every site/hotel mentioned! Truly gives you a taste of what you're seeing, and gives your trip a lasting impact.

This book is a very comprehensive guide to NH. I reccomend this book to not only new visitors to NH, but seasoned regulars as well. Lantos seems to have gathered an immense amount of information, I can only hope that he will continue to write further guide books.

I liked this story because it took place in New Hampshire and I live in NH. I've never read a book that takes place in NH so i was curious to see how it was going to be. It was a tender love story that i thoroughly enjoyed and would read the book again.

Can her devoted love conque his fierce independence?? Brock Canfield is a fiery, self-willed man, determined to have his own way. Stephanie too is determiend - to have Brock. His staunch independence hurts her. He wants to travel, to move from one glamorous city to the next, and to have his woman waiting when he picks up the phone. She wants a settled home and a loving husband who does not disappear to distant lands whenever business calls. She loves him - but can she accept his terms??