Rhode Island Books

A perfectly nice book, which should have been a good deal larger, but is currently being sold at 20 per cent off at Borders. Further, the editor, Stan Patey, has already put out a better book in 1996: The Coast of New England: A Pictorial Tour.

Those interested in colonial New England biography would do well to pay close attention to the title of this slim volume. This book is relatively long on early New England Baptist theology and practice, and the politics of securing Rhode Island's charter of 1663, but very short on John Clarke and his times. Consequently there is little here for the non-professional historical reader and even less on material culture. The book has the feel of something unfinished, not surprising when one learns that the author died before he completed it. There are no illustrations, although a portrait believed to be of Clarke exists. William Dyre's role in revoking Coddington's patent of 1651 and obtaining a new patent with Clarke in 1652 goes without mention. The footnote for the quote in the chapter 2 title is missing. Some descriptions seem outright silly, such as that Coddington's house in Newport was large and Clarke's must have been much smaller. The flaws are not hard to notice. It is difficult to write the biography of a second-tier figure of early New England when so little documentation remains, but the author could have done much more. This is the history of religion and politics, but not of John Clarke.

Book has lots of good information gathered from varying sources. But the author and editors took no time whatsoever to check their findings, and correct inconsistencies. The book, unfortunately, contains a large portion of copy and paste of documents gathered from churches, organizations, etc. There is no background checking done to see which document is correct and to fix errors. On one page you may read that an event took place in a particular year, and then a few pages later the same event is noted with a different date. Just a few examples:

1. Page 100 reads "In 1961....proposed establishment of a monument in honor of the Martyr's of the Armenian Genocide of 1915". Then page 139 reads "In June of 1971....proposed that the three churches in Providence undertake construction of a Martyr's Memorial".

2. Page 101, again in regards to the Martyrs Memorial, reads "formal dedication took place on Sunday, April 24, 1979." Then on page 141 it reads "On April 27, 1975....a dedication march took place."

Additionally, the writing where it is copied and pasted from external sources (i.e. church documents) is at times difficult to follow and not in chronological order. It is the job of an author to investigate sources and put down the gathered knowledge in a refined manner; not to simply copy and paste documents and constitute whole chapters out of them.

The outdoor emphasis in Rhode Island is definitely on the waterborne charms of Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. However, even in a state as small as Rhode Island, there are worthwhile scenic walks and rambles for the tourist and active local. Ken Weber's "More Walks & Rambles in Rhode Island" provides a menu of interesting strolls, walks, and rambles. Locales include forests, ponds, and the ocean frontage around the state. A few of the walks feature items of historical interest. All take in the surprising beauty of the land in the Ocean State. Although out of print, this book is still worth tracking down.

Rhode Island in the Colonial Wars has a brief history of the King George's War (1740-1748) and the Old French & Indian War (1755-1762). A majority of the book consists of lists of Rhode Island men who served in these two conflicts. The book has limited notations for each soldier/sailor listing units and period served. This book would be useful for genealogists searching for information about early Rhode Island military men.

While there is a definite need for a book discussing the Rhode Island nightclub tragedy, this book isn't it. It is poorly written and events at the Station nightclub are mixed with dull personal stories from the author's background. The item should be referred to as a 'booklet' and not a book as it is a small and thin 45 minute read. I am sorry I wasted my money.

First of all this book is very short. I read it in a night. You'll read it in an hour. And it is a hard read. Not because of the subject matter but because of how it's written.
The writer writes about his experiences the night of the fire as well as the experiences of about a dozen others. He jumps from character to character in literally every paragraph. I often found myself not knowing who he was talking about. Most of what he wrote seems like hearsay, or stories that would poorly researched. He doesn't put enough emotion or detail into any of their stories. And throughout all of this confusion he throws in bits and pieces of an experience he had in the military, which should have been it's own story and really had no relation to any of the experiences in this book.
Having been their the night of the fire, my heart goes out to anyone who was affected by this tragedy, including this author and all his many friends and acquaintences mentioned. However I can not recommend this book for anyone looking for insight into what it was like that terrible evening.

I was delighted to receive your "Just Voices They Are Not" manuscript. I don't normally have this much to say about a submission, but in consideration of the time and effort you spent preparing, and sending me the finished materials all the way from Rhode Island, I feel I should elaborate on my findings.
You have a great deal of talent as a writer. Actually, to be perfectly honest, my assistant read your work first and insisted that I take a look at it. Your sense of timing and story te1ling ability are well above average. Being a writer myself, I understand the time and energy you have put into this work. I, personally, feel that all the effort is worth the reward, but you have to make up your mind as well. It's not a situation where you say, `I think I might want to do this'. You have to be certain before you take off, and be prepared to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to accomplish your goal, otherwise you're wasting everybody's time.
I am grateful that you have afforded us this opportunity to see your work, and I wish you the best of success with your current and future writing endeavors.
PS: It appears that you have put a great deal of effort into this work.. .and you have every right to be proud of it.
Copies before the final edit are available. 500 copies were ran before the final edit.Collectors Items. 20 left.

This book really applies personalities to the names of the victims.

I don't know where to begin with this one, but I have read better stories from first graders. The story is very difficult to follow for several reasons; poor sentence structure, run-on sentences, poor organizations, lack of focus, poor linkage of past and present, poor spelling and punctuation, and, and, and.......... Didn't the author even make use of an editor??? As a health care professional, I feel the need to at least let the reading audience know that there is no such word as "intibation." What the author means is "intubation," the insertion of a breathing tube into a patient's airway. And this is just one example of the many "little" annoyances within this tale of woe.
The author states that he is afflicted with ADHD. Boy, oh boy, is that obvious when one attempts this read. The author is all over the map. He tries to use the technique of flashback to go back and forth between his time in the military, and the night of the station. To this reader, it just stank of a poor attempt to emulate themes such as "Apocolypse Now", or perhaps a China Beach episode. However, this author's attempt failed miserably.
All in all, the coverage of the events of "the station fire" were very spotty, disorganized and left this reader wondering, "where's the beef?" This could have been a wonderfully covered story, but it left much to be desired. The story basically ends with a listing of obituaries, verbatim from newspaper coverage. Tell us something we don't know. Dig a little deeper. Become a journalist and uncover the human drama. Take the story further. Interview survivors, etc., etc.
Sorry I couldn't be more positive, but the best thing about the book is that proceeds will be donated to a charity.

I read the other reviews and was shocked by what happened to those people. We spent two weeks in New England last summer and booked all our reservations from this wonderful resource. Every place we stayed was exactly like it was described in the book. An example of some of the inns we used were The Inns At Mill Fallls (wonderful and top knotch in every detail),The Dan'l Webster Inn (the dining room was excellent and service was also fabulous),Nauset House (a great value, interesting guests and a breakfast to remember), The Rangeley Inn (wonderful small communtiy, beautifully decorated and delicious food). We would use this resource again.

My husband used this book to plan a romantic getaway for our wedding anniversary in New England. From this book's description, a place named the 'Water's Edge Inn' sounded like the perfect option. However we arrived to find it a horrid place with tacky decor in the common buildings and were given a dark room with stained bedspread, a tiny window overlooking the parking lot, tacky old furniture, and decor last updated in about 1958.

As with any travel book, the author may only place ads for those that pay for them. However, I am deeply disappointed with how completely misleading the descriptions were.

This book also recommends The Vermont Inn in Killington, which was infested with fruit flies. When I tried to check out one day earlier, the innkeeper refused to credit my deposit, and I am taking it up with the credit card companies, as well as writing to all the guidebooks about the lousy service.

I am complaining to the guidebook to see if they will update their review.

Robert

This is just a question: why is the price for this book $63.63? Let me know if it was just a typo, please.

This guide really did become our bible on our recent trip to the Dodecanese...we found ourselves saying over and over 'well, the guide says...' and, 'check in the guide book.' Nearly all the restaurant and lodging suggestions were right on, and the maps were sufficient for what you need. If you want to do a vacation just in the Dodecanese, I highly recommend this book!! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that it is a bit outdated by now, with prices still in drachmas.

Nanami Shiono writes popular history in Japanese. Her "East Mediterranean Trilogy" presents three major events in the clash between the Ottomans and the West -- the battle for Constantinople in 1453, the siege and fall of Rhodes in 1522, and the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

THE SIEGE OF RHODES is the second of the trilogy. Its subject is the gargantuan invasion of the island of Rhodes by the Ottomans or Turks under Sultan Suleiman I (almost 200,000 strong) to rid the eastern Mediterranean of the last outpost of Christian Crusaders, the Knights of the Order of St. John (about 600 knights supported by a few thousand mercenaries and civilians). But the book also includes much about the Knights of St. John as a religious knightly order, the "state-of-the-art" fortress and ancillary facilities they constructed on Rhodes, medieval and siege warfare, Sixteenth-Century European politics, and a handful of historical personalities.

The book is relatively short, and it is quite readable. Indeed, it is very much "popular history," so much so that it might be summarily dismissed by Western readers accustomed to certain standards of scholarly history-writing (for example, srictures against lengthy verbatim conversations and the presentation of the subjective thoughts and feelings of historical figures -- two narrative devices quite common to this book). But, aside from the "populistic" narrative devices, the history of THE SIEGE OF RHODES is sound; there is no equally readable and/or focused "scholarly" account currently on the market; and certainly sound popular history is preferable to ignorance.

Although I have not traveled abroad extensively, I did have the good fortune to go to Rhodes once. My brief visit would have been enhanced had this book been available and had I read it.

This book, and it's 2 companion volumes, are very simplistic accounts of pivotal moments in renaissance mediterrean history.

As history they are very limited. There are no notes, no bibliographies, no idexes and very limited maps.

Worse, for books purporting to be history, their writing style is juvenile and contrived, more suited to maybe a sixth grade class room than adult history. The books are marred by made up conversations and situations, to perhaps illustrate history, but certainly nothing that was found in whatever research the author might have done.

I can't really see how this writer is the most loved historian in Japan, based on these books. Perhaps the translator has simplified the language and ideas, who knows.

So, if you have a grade school or junior high child who wanted an introduction to these events, they might be useful, but for adult reading they should be bypassed.

All in all, very disappointing efforts for someone who claims to be a historian.

The book over all was interesting yet it talked too much of the characters I felt no suspense or thrill throughout the book, I feel it didn't get to the main points in the book

The book over all was interesting yet it talked too much of the characters I felt no suspense or thrill throughout the book, I feel it didn't get to the main points in the book