North America Books

Wow! This book places you right there, there in the desert. You can feel the heat, see the the old west as it was and what it has become. Wilcox seems to take you on a trip without you ever leaving your seat. This books makes you want to pack up your vehicle and head to the desert. But don't leave home without the book, you'll get lost in that vast sea of sand without it. Read this book and you'll enjoy what the California desert really has to offer. Water, water,water, please!

This well written book is a "must have" for those who enjoy exploring the desert. The authors personable writing style, trip routes, and historical information make this a good book. But, the authors illustrated love of the desert and it's solitude and beauty make this a fantastic book. Those who love exploring the desert will treasure this book. I have a hundred or so books about the deserts, and this one is in the top three. When I need to relax from the days work load, I open this book; I'm taken from my office into the desert; My office chair becomes the front seat of my jeep, desert breeze in my face, while ghosts of yesterday's jackass miners abound.

Guidebooks are a particular fascination of mine. Where to go, what to see, and how to get there, all form the basis of many a road trip. Desert Dancing, a new book devoted to the California desert country, goes beyond being a simple A to B guidebook. Len Wilcox has put together a volume of information that takes you along as he explores the region. In a friendly, and enjoyable manner Len writes of his personal adventures off-roading in the rugged reaches of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, as well as Death Valley. It is obvious Len is one of the new generation of Rainbow Chasers - those who ventured West in search of gold. However, it is not the gold of the 49'ers Len is seeking, it is the gold that lies in the history of the people and places of the Desert lands. Subtitled, Exploring the Land, the People, the Legends of the California Deserts, Desert Dancing introduces not just the wonders of the desert, but some of the people who make the small towns and wide spots more interesting than any city in the world. Desert Dancing reads like the journal of a friend, who, in a highly readable style, shares with you a wonderful trip. Excellent research, combined with an in-person familiarity of the subject at hand, makes this a necessary volume for anyone considering a trip into the desert, or for the armchair explorer who wants to gain a sense of what the desert is all about.

This little book/dictionary has a brief and succinct account on almost every main event, person, court case, legislation, etc. It even conveniently includes a copy of the US constitution at the end. If you are looking for a quick reference or maybe something to refresh your memory, then this book is perfect for you. However, if you are looking for an in depth analysis on various historical events, people, etc. then I wouldn't recommend this book.

Dictionary of American History, Michael Martin & Leonard Gelber

The authors attempted to provide a reference to events of American history such as economics, finance, labor, law, social welfare, literature, industry, science, religion, commerce, and foreign policy while not skipping political and military events. They carefully selected and edited this range of materials for the widest audience. Biographical items provide the essentials, as determined by the authors' judgments. They used 714 pages in this 1978 edition. You will be rewarded by any random search of the entries. There is an amazing number of facts that will educate and entertain the casual reader, and provide a starting point for more research. [One miscalculation was to list the ERA as Article XXVII.]

"Gas Industry" tells of the use of gas for lighting since 1806 in Newport RI. Baltimore in 1816 became the first city lighted by gas. Boston in 1822, New York in 1823, Philadelphia in 1837, the Capitol in 1847. "Income Tax" tells of its progressive features. It first exempted ordinary people (who earned less than $600 in 1861). By the 20th century most states had income tax laws to raise revenue. "Tenant Farmers" tells how the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1937 provided loans for the purchase of family farms. "Tenement Laws" improved the fire and health hazards of housing with new standards for plumbing, fireproofing, ventilation, and light. Old law tenements still existed in the 1930s until Federal laws allowed their replacement by low rent housing. "Granger Laws" were state laws that regulated railroads, grain elevators, and storage warehouses for the benefit of the midwest farmers. After these laws were declared unconstitutional in 1886 by a Supreme Court influenced by the railroads, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. Further amendments affected other industries. "Fair trade laws" allowed manufacturers to fix retail prices for their products for every retailer. In 1951 the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional any state law that affected interstate commerce.

"McCulloch vs. Maryland" was the 1819 Supreme Court decision that Congress could not be limited in its power if the end was legitimate and the means used were appropriate. The "Glass-Steagall Act" created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, restricted Federal Reserve Bank credit from speculation, and banks from dealing in foreign securities and as securities underwriters. [Its modification in the early 1990s allowed Investment Banks to use a perfectly legal form of "pump and dump" to swindle investors in the High Tech stock bubble of the late 1990s.] "Drake, Edwin Laurentine" drilled the first oil well in western Pennsylvania in 1859. The "Social Security Act" of 1935 provided for compulsory savings for wage earners to provide an annuity upon retirement. [Their figure of a "3%" deduction and monetary figures are long out of date.] "Wyoming" produces cattle, coal, oil, wool, and timber. In 1869 it allowed woman suffrage in national elections, and elected the first woman governor in 1925. It was called the "Equality State". "Palmer Raids" arrested and imprisoned thousands of aliens without a legal trial. Accused of violating the Constitution, A. Mitchell Palmer did not win higher political office. The "Yazoo Land Frauds" occurred when the Georgia legislature was bribed to give 35 million acres to a company for $500,000. This was declared unconstitutional and led to a long legal battle.

I'm a French studient and I'm studying English at University. The University library had it and I find it very instructive so I recommand it to the other students.

Wonderful illustrations, words that speak to the heart and soul. This is a great book for all ages. My 20 month old son loves the pictures and the sing-song rhythmn of the words, my 82 year old father loves the spirit of the book. We have the paperback in our sons library, and the hardback on our family library for future generations... Walk in peace, ...

I can't decide who enjoys this book more? Me or the kids. Beautifully written and illustrated. A must have for all nature lovers with children (or without).

This book is the best children's story to read to your kids on a fresh, April morning. It is a poetic journey through the natural world just as Spring begins. The illustrations are breathtaking, bold, and seem to flow off the page into your hand as you turn from one awesome scene to the next. The words, few but powerful, bring the reader through a meditation on the earth's beauty as seen through the eyes of an Oneida woman.

This is a marvellous compendium of useful facts about the world's largest theme park. I found it highly illuminating - it has profoundly altered the way I percieve Walt Disney World and its manifold attractions. Since I first tried it a few years ago, I've been using this book to guide my various trips to Disney World ever since.

I had a great vacation with this book

Since the choices in the field of Disney-related guides are vast, I was amazed that one should rise so far to the top of the class. The work is informative and wittily written. Fenster's humor will keep you rolling and his completeness smokes the competition. This ought to be the bible for any family or individual planning a Central Florida vacation. A really fabulous resource which directed my family's vacation and will do so again.

I fought with my husband as to whom was going to get to read "The Dragon In the Lake first!"
It is an exciting book about pre-columbian finds in a lake called Rock Lake in Wisconsin. The author, Eschborn walks you through a process of discovery making the book a real page turner!
Not only is it exciting, it is informative and superbly written.
I couldn't put it down! This book would make an excellent movie.
After reading it, As a diver I am now compelled to visit this Lake and attempt to do some cold water diving with my husband, a Dive Instructor.

This is an indepth research work on Rock Lake Wiscinson that is easy for the layman to read and understand. It is clear that Archie Eschborn has a passion for the preservation of this major site and it is equally clear that he has identified his major antagonist in his goal to attain this preservation. The work is a chronicle of his adventure and you can sense his dedication as you turn the pages. If you have an interest in the history of Wisconsin and have respect for the culture of the earliest inhabitants of this area, this is a MUST READ!!!! It debunks the pre-concevied notions of the "powers that be" and ends with an interesting turn of events. The book will impress you with Archie's depth of knowledge of Rock Lake.

I've just finished The Dragon in the Lake, the story of the "structures" under and near Rock Lake, Wisconsin. This story has fascinated me ever since acquiring property on Rock Lake about nine years ago. Having read Frank Joseph's books: "The Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake" and "Atlantis in Wisconsin"as well as hearing and meeting Dr. James Scherz, this book by Archie Eschborn is the best explanation yet of the ancient structures which lie beneath Rock Lake. It is very readable, understandable, and "connects the dots" for me. Finally, we are presented with actual evidence that other works have lacked regarding Rock Lake's ties with Mesoamerica, the early Aztecs, and the archeological history of an ancient Pre-Columbian era.

Now, it becomes the job of the Wisconsin Historical Society to follow the evidence where it leads and PROTECT Rock Lake as the archeological wonder that it is. To do any less is a travesty.

Mr. Eschborn has written a remarkable, concise and accurate book which, for me, takes the guesswork out of understanding. It is with the greatest privledge that I highly recommend reading The Dragon in the Lake as one of the most fascinating reads ofmy lifetime. It's magnificent.

Kay Nightingale

Visionary Mohawk medicine woman, Ohky Simine Forest's first book is a comprehensive and poetic reporting of long misunderstood ways of the Red Lodge of indigenous peoples. Had Europeans come to this continent as gracious guests, these are mysteries of the matriarchal Mohawk society that could have been shared with them. Herself an initiate in Mohawk, Mayan and Mongolian shamanism, Forest reveals the spiritual matrix which these cultures share and embeds it in a contemporary, real world political urgency. Synthesizing these core spiritual beliefs and practices, Forest offers compelling evidence that the view from the Red Lodge is what the world requires for individual and collective restoration to well being. The Red Lodge ways also provide, in the Medicine Wheel, an earth-derived map to self-governance that modern people are questing for in many guises. She teaches that the Medicine Wheel equips us to relate to planet and self in ways that are nearly inseparable, self-supporting and without which no sane system for enduring societal governance can arise. How do we build, nurture and sustain community? The matriarchs of the Mohawk have been doing it since antiquity and through perils most of us will never face. Forest, a Mohawk matriarch with a vision lives among the Maya people with this community building governance backed by the spiritual backbone of shamanism. Forest has little patience with hit and run shamanic wannabes and the extraction of "techniques" from their cultural matrix which leads, she observes, to further soul and societal illness. In this book she reveals with surprising candor, depth, and her characteristic humor, the world into which the shaman walks with expanding perception and deepening experience. It's no cake walk and Forest's book is unflinching in its descriptions of the challenges and dangers of this work. For instance, trotting out a Power Animal "technique" or forming a relationship with the incorrect Power Animal can have debilitating effects on personal energy and health. It is a sacred relationship born of the waters of the Red Lodge, she cautions, not a one size fits all concept that can be extracted safely from its matrix and doled out casually in workshops. Forest both describes and elucidates the interwoven meanings of the Medicine Wheel, dream body work, lucid dreaming. power animal allies, earth burial ceremony, vision questing, journeying in the nine Mayan underworlds and the thirteen Mayan upperworlds as well as giving a comprehensive recounting of native prophecies and their considerable energetic, economic and political significance for our modern times. This is a text to which those who study or practice shamanic work will refer again and again.

This book is one of the most serious, dense, and challenging of its kind in a genre saturated with slim, superficial volumes. The wisdom is clearly ancient and rich, and is carefully measured out for the reader. The teachings are not easily absorbed (by this North American, at least), but are excellent if you are looking for a deeper, truer understanding of shamanic traditions. Highly recommended.

Dreaming The Council Ways is a beautiful, complex work of synthesis and rebirth. Author Ohky Simine Forest weaves together spiritual training disciplines and practices from several cultures, including Mohawk, Mayan, Mongolian, and others. An added feature is her beautiful fold-out full color art work on several points of teaching. These are truly lovely, deserving extra attention. Forest patiently and warmly encourages the reader to respectfully explore beginning from their own racial perspective(s) and not to expect quick fix New Age short cuts or other cultural appropriation practices to yield valid, lasting insight or growth. Material on matriarchal traditions will interest students of feminine perspectives. Forest is not a comfortable read. That is not her way or her goal. She opens and hopes for a deeper spiritual connection with the reader, sharing information on dreaming, medicine wheel practices, interpreting power animal guides, and vision quests. She seeks the larger view, the convergence of spiritual paths. She challenges and teaches, reflecting the responsibility to heal back to each individual (where it belongs). As with all worthwhile experiences, more will be gained from giving more. That also applies to reading and understanding her book. Dreaming the Council Ways is accessible to nonNative readers, but it will yield more to the better, more thoughtful effort to understand with respect.

I have never seen my husband so entralled by a book before. I can never get him to sit down for 5 seconds but on Christmas morning, he forgot the rest of his gifts and sat and read this book! I was amazed! It contains history with great pictures and facts and he was actually enjoying himself while reading it!
I highly recommend this book for any person interested in ducks, duck stamps or duck hunting.

This book is beautiful, interesting, and a pleasure to read. I don't hunt, collect stamps or wildlife art, but this is a great book. I am truly enjoying it. I especially like the section on conservation, which details the history of water fowl degradation and protection in the United States.

This is an incredible book for anyone who is interested in ducks, stamps, history, art, conservation, collectables, or Americana. There's the history of duck stamps as it relates to the entire conservation movement. There are interviews with famous people who are themselves duck stamp collectors and avid conservationists. There are beautiful photographs and artwork of past and present duck stamps, as well as other honorable mentions in the annual duck stamp contests. This book is just chock full of information and illustrations. The author has done a great job of wholistically researching the topic into every tangent of related interests. It is the ultimate coffee table book since there is something to interest just about anyone. You'll find that you meant to just browse through it, when before you know it you've read a whole chapter!

This book is based on a diary which the author began in 1927, when she was 15 and a farm girl in North Dakota, and covers the years from 1927 ro 1937. She worked very hard and lived in grinding poverty. She went to college and then taught school and fended off marriage proposals, and never in the book says a good word for the man she married--who was courting her thru the last years she was keeping her diary. This I found to be quite a book, unpretentious as it holds itself out to be. A most moving account of a time and place one seldom hears about. I recommend it unreservedly.

I absolutely adored this book. It was powerful for me because it gave me an honest, often humorous, but vivid account of a reality I craved knowing more about...the depression years in the Great Plains states. I think I know more about my mother, who grew up a poor tenant farmer's daughter, just a little better. I look forward passing it on to others, and even using it as a wonderful book to read to some of my older friends.

Wonderful narrative of a difficult time in America. Such perspective of events from close to home. I recommend this to anyone who appreciates history unrevised and truthful.
T. Addison

A tale of simple believing and self forgiveness. By letting go of the anger, including the ego and pride, Eagle Boy coupled the powerful believing in friendships and trusting in the inner spirit within all true hearts, a transformation of healing can take place in our inner mind and body, within our families, whithin our communities, within the nation and around the world. Imagine and conceive the resulting peace that cannot be robbed from us, no matter the events of the world. Great retelling of this legend, that combines the best in many cultures and beliefs. Perfect for these very times.

Sharing, kindness and friendship are the main themes in this wonderful Native American folktale. Readers will become aware of the true bonds that can develop between humans and animals. That is an invaluable lesson that will help deepen appreciation for nature.

"Eagle Boy: A Pacific Northwest Native Tale" is retold by Richard Lee Vaughan with illustrations by Lee Christiansen. Together they tell the story of a Native American boy called Eagle Boy by the people of his village. Eagle Boy is scolded by the villagers because he shares his food with the eagles. But when his village faces a food shortage, Eagle Boy's kinship with the winged predators becomes important for everybody.

"Eagle Boy" is a story of ostracism, love, magical transformation, and a mystical human-animal connection. Eagle Boy is a memorable hero. The illustrations are truly marvelous: they are rich with warm colors, and make dramatic use of light and shadow. The book opens with a stunning picture of eagles fishing by the seashore, and contains many other great images. Recommended.

I just receieved this book the other day and I must say I am very impressed by it. The introduction by Marijo Moore says it all--what this book is about. " To eat the fire of truth is to taste the blood of our existence." Such a beautiful line. Also in this book are great stories and testimonies by Charles Eastman, Steve Russell, Vine Deloria Jr, Joseph Dandurand, also a fabulous poem by Marijo Moore herself "Atop Polacca on First Mesa."
Also some great pieces by Susan Shown Harjo, Linda Hogan, and a slew of other amazing writers.
With a great title and great chapter titles this book is a great follow up to GENOCIDE OF THE MIND. This book should be read in classrooms all across the U.S. It is a burning reminder that the Indian voice is still not heard, but we will continue to start the fires, and make your blood boil.

JW

To tell the story, the real story, who better then the current generation of Native American writers. With Marijo Moore as a contributor and editor of Eating Fire, Tasting Blood she has gathered the essays and poems of her peers to tell us what we were never told in school.

With specific references to tribal nations like the Conoy, that are gone but not forgotten and accounts of massacres like Sand Creek and Wounded Knee, these writers bring us up to date and put forth the message that there was a holocaust here too, it just gets no recognition in books or on film.

This anthology hopes to change all of that. With the details brought front and center there is no turning away from what was covered up, taken and not returned, and is still being perpetrated on the survivors. To balance these accounts Moore has included tales of children going back home to learn where they came from, and poems that tantalize the mind and make the spirit soar.

The accomplishment of bringing the likes of Paula Gunn Allen, Vine Deloria, Jr., and Eduardo Galeano in one volume is to say the least, incredible. Read it and learn about the trail, still being walked today.

This book is important in many ways, as the other reviewers have described. I just wanted to mention that the article by David Seals titled "Nicaragua: What's Ward Churchill Got Against You?" was pretty pathetic. It included juvenile insults like calling Churchill "Lurch," which is the same crude name that right-wingers directed toward John Kerry.
No one knows all the details of Churchill's experiences in Nicaragua. But we can all learn many things from his books on FBI counter intelligence programs, the Native American holocaust, the horrible boarding schools Native kids were subjected to, current day ecocidal assaults from mining, timber and massive hydroelectric projects, and many other important topics.
Ward doesn't get it all right, Ward has "issues," - as we all do.
But Churchill has made many important contributions, including having the courage to speak some uncomfortable truths regarding the blowback of September 11.

Regarding the "scandal" over Ward's heritage, I'd just say even Europeans have tribal roots. Unlike Ward, most Europeans do not have a grandfather who is buried in a traditional Indian buriel ground (so, one could understand the roots of Ward's own assumptions about his ancestry). And unlike Ward, most of us have not spent countless hours writing, speaking and teaching about indigenous holocausts - past and present.
Seals' effort to degrade Churchill ultimately speaks more poorly of Seals himself.

In addition to this book, I'd recommend anything by Winona LaDuke and the DVD "Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action" produced by the Katahdin Foundation.