North America Books

Kirsten on the Trail continues the story of a nine-year-old Swedish girl who's family has come to live on the frontier in 1854. Kirsten has a secret Indian friend, Singing Bird. But while they are visiting, her little brother Peter sees them. Peter promises not to tell anyone, but blurts it out to Kirsten's mother. Kirsten is forbidden to play with Singing Bird. But Peter runs off and gets lost. When Singing Bird saves Peter by helping Kirsten find him, Kirsten's mother agrees that Singing Bird is a good friend.

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Kirsten Larson, a nine-year-old girl from Sweden, whose family has moved to frontier Minnesota of 1854. In this book, Kirsten's American Indian friend, Singing Bird, returns. Almost immediately disaster strikes, when Kirsten's secret friendship is discovered, and her mother orders Kirsten to never see Singing Bird again. However, when Kirsten's brother Peter gets lost in the woods, Kirsten turns to a friend who can help when others can't. It proves a chance for the whole family to learn a lesson.

As an added bonus, this book contains a chapter on the Sioux Indians, and instructions on making a charm bag. I never ceased to be amazed at the quality of the American Girls books. With wonderful illustration, the book tells a great story that teaches a valuable lesson. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a young daughter. My daughter and I both love these books!

[For those parents interested in reading historical fiction about Swedish immigrants, please consider reading The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg.]

Kirsten on the Trail is a good story for early readers and children who can hold their attention to a twenty minute story.

This is the tale of frontier life and the interaction of a pioneer girl and her indian friend of the same age. Theirs is a secrete relationship -- history has told their parents to be wary of each other and they are forbidden to play together.

The disappearance of Kirsten's younger brother and his rescue by Kirsten's indian friend allows the parents of the pioneer girl to accept the the innate goodness of a child from a different culture. This book introduces pioneer life, the clash of indian and pioneer cultures and the acceptance of difference to young readers. Its a story my kids like.

If you or your child has already read the American Girls book "Kirsten Learns a Lesson", you know that Kirsten has befriended an Indian girl named Singing Bird. In that story, Kirsten was ordered not to play with Singing bird any longer. Singing Bird leaves. In this new short story, which forst appeared in American Girl magazine, Singing Bird is back. Kirsten wants to see her, but cannot break her rules. Can she and Singing Bird meet again and keep their friendship a secret or will everything fall apart? Kirsten learns another lesson in this great book for little girls.

This book was a wonderful source of information for me to learn more about a ceremony that I'd been through countless times. The Sweatlodge is a powerful ritual on many different levels & this book sheds some light on that, especially for those of us not brought up in the Lakota culture.

This book was very well done. Many people who are looking for information on what to expect from sweatlodges in general will benefit from this book. The author gives a good amount of information about the history and the many different styles of the inipi ceremony. I personally have been in many different inipi (sweatlodge) ceremonies and found that there are different styles but there are a lot of common things as well. This book is well written and well worth the read. The author sticks to just the plains indians style of lodges and does not go to compare with the many different styles of sweatlodges around the country and around the world. I liked that he kept his information consistant and from the people who wanted to share it first hand. There were quite a few people who shared information that might take a lifetime of looking to find.

Not only the most throughout chronicle of the sweat lodge ritual, but also one of the best books on contemporary Lakhota religion. Good work!

I read through this book in one day. I couldn't put the book down except to make a coffee. Excellent reading.

As someone who creates languages for fun, I've read a lot of linguistics books, searching for ideas and inspiration. Recently, I became interested in polysynthesis, but could find no detailed information on it. Then I found this book. The first three hundred pages are full of unique linguistic features. Polysynthesis is covered in great detail, as is almost every rare grammatical structure. The sheer scope of this book is tremendous. Mithun claims to include every attested North American language, and I believe her. Also, the extensive references (almost 150 pages) make it easy to locate information on specific languages (like full grammars, phonologies, et cetera). Highly recommended to anyone interested in linguistics, and a must-read for any conlanger.

People who are interested in unusual languages, like myself, probably have some familiarity with Marc Okrand's Klingon, created to be the speech of an alien race. This artificial language throws in some less than common sounds, and creates a somewhat unusual syntax, and attempts to sell the result as the speech of an alien race.

A few minutes with this book will suggest to the reader who takes an interest in these things that Klingon is a profound failure. Here we have a record of people here on Earth who have created alternative linguistic structures that are even more unfamiliar to English speakers. This book will open your mind to the astonishing variety of ways human verbal communication can be categorised and organised. We have languages with no clear distinction between nouns and verbs, and languages that can give tense and conditionality to adjectives. We have languages that use different pronouns for a 'we' that includes the person being addressed, and a 'we' that excludes that person.

For a reader with interests in these matters, this will be a fascinating, if somewhat dry, read. Your joy at being introduced to this fascinating variety will be tempered, though, by the ever-present elegiac note in these pages. Literally hundreds of these tongues are still spoken only by a handful of aging people; hundreds more have gone silent.

Marianne Mithun is *the* expert on Native American languages. This book is an excellent resource for grad students, undergrads, professors, and anyone else interested in the languages of the Americas. Mithun describes in detail language phenomena and language families, and includes an extensive bibliography in case you can't find what you're looking for in this book.

This book is chock full of linguistic information about the many diverse Amerindian languages and has an excellent bibliography. My only regret is that it includes almost nothing on Amerindian sociolinguistics. It would probably be difficult and dry reading for people not already interested in linguistics; most of the book is fairly technical.

I owned this book for three years, and after only recently picking it up to read it, I realized what I was missing out on during that time. This is a fresh and descriptive analysis of the young Virginia generation before, during, and after the war. As one who has read dozens of books on the Civil War, it was this one more than any other that best explains how and why Virginians formed their fundamental opinions of their native state, the Southern region, and Northern industrialism during the antebellum period. Through their viewpoint that Virginia's reputation and standing in the Union was diminished during the period prior to the war, it becomes clear that the war gave these young Virginians an opportunity to improve the status of their commonwealth while cementing their place among men in their state. Though one often gets the perception through Carmichael's writing that these were overzealous, egotistical young men, their conduct in the war brings to fruition their importance in the New South.

Carmichael's writing is interesting and well-detailed with a wide variety of excellent material from both primary and secondary sources. His inclusion of statistics on the members of the last generation provides ample insight into the professions, religious affiliation, and other important data on the members of the last generation. Even more than "For Cause and Comrades" by James McPherson, this book will expose why a reluctant Virginia joined the Confederacy and explains clearly how the young Virginia generation almost pushed the South to ultimate victory.

Like most readers of history, the significant figures of the Civil War have taken on almost mythic proportions. Some times they seem almost to be gods stepped down from Mt. Olympus. In The Last Generation, Peter Carmichael manages to shed new light onto the lives, interests, and beliefs of many of the young Virginians that were so caught up in the cause of the day and in the process makes them human once more.

I found The Last Generation to be full of information that is new...at least to me. I've done my share of reading about the major characters involved in the Civil War, on both sides. Yet Carmichael seems to provide the reader with new insights on almost every page.

I also found the tables in the appendix to be full of useful and eye opening facts. Trust me, they're worth the time it takes to study them. Finally, I spent more time than usual studying the notes provided by Carmichael, a compliment of the first order.

For the casual or serious Civil War buff, The Last Generation will be a memorable read.

In his book, "The Last Generation," Peter Carmichael explores the psyche, values, goals and visions of the young caucasian men of Virginia who came into adulthood just as our nation descended into the Civil War. Born to privilege in the 1830s and early 1840s, these men were in colleges and schools across Virginia and the nation when the crisis of secession reached its apex in 1860 and 1861. Once the war started, they served as junior officers in the Army of Northern Virginia, leading their peers into combat and fighting alongside them.

The book is a generational study and an examination of Confederate nationalism in the young Virginians. Carmichael first takes us through the 1850s, a time when young Virginians worried about the future of their state and their place in it. They watched as the North increasingly distanced itself from Virginia through industrialization and internal improvements. They feared that Virginia, the home state of four of the first five U.S. presidents, was becoming moribund under the leadership of its elders, "old fogies" who lived on past glories of events such as the American Revolution and who encouraged unthinking opposition to change even at the expense of educational and economic reform.

At the same time, the young Virginians had to find a way to reconcile slavery, the system upon which they depended for their wealth and social standing, with the free labor system of the North. Some of the strongest points in Carmichael's book delineate how these men did just this. Their belief that slavery was sanctioned by the Bible as necessary because God had created races to be inherently unequal, coupled with their belief that Southerners were God's chosen people, sustained many young soldiers throughout the war. Even as it became clear in 1864 and 1865 that the war would be lost, Carmichael cites examples that show these men could not distinguish between their religious beliefs and political nationalism. To the end, many young Virginians believed that God would not allow the North to be victorious. Young Virginians sincerely believed that theirs was a unique Christian society trying to survive in a godless world. The book is careful to point out that young Virginians gave considerable thought to secession and do not fit the traditional stereotype of secondary scholars who say young Southerners were drawn to the flame of secession like boys playing with fire.

The book looks at the leadership style of young Virginians once the war started. Examples are cited of how they maintained order and discipline in the ranks, what they thought of battle and death, and how they maintained their morale through defeats. Some colorful anecdotes are also included in "The Last Generation": Jeb Stuart's thoughts on women while he was a cadet in West Point, NY; the president of Washington College and his comical attempt to control the secession frenzy sweeping his campus; the notion of body building by young Virginians in college as a way to "muscularize" and "masculinize" their Christianity.

In the final chapter of the book, Carmichael examines the fate of various members of the Last Generation who managed to survive the war. He explains how they adjusted to Reconstruction. The romanticized, "Moonlight and Magnolias" view of some ex-Confederates is contrasted with those who wished Virginia to take a new role of leadership and have the economy of the state resemble more closely that of the North.

This book contributes greatly to the discussion of why some Southerners fought the war- a question which will probably always be debated. Through diligent research and thorough explanation, Carmichael presents a new picture of a generation of Southerners of the Civil War era. His book takes into account many factors that made "The Last Generation" distinct from their Northern counterparts and from the older Virginians who preceded them. It is an important book on dispelling stereotypes of the young Confederates and in understanding the complexity of the South as a whole.

In this fascinating book, author and historian Professor Peter S. Carmichael takes a generational look a particular group of American men who fought in the Civil War, selecting 121 men who had been born in Virginia between 1830 and 1842. These men were mostly highly educated, from the slave holding class, and formed the junior officer core of the Virginia military units. These men were part of the last generation to grow up in Virginia with slavery, and the story of their journey of life is one little studied, until now.

As a fan of the works of Messrs Strauss and Howe ("Generations" and "The Fourth Turning"), I was intrigued to see another book that looked at American history with an eye to generations. The book is eminently readable, and is quite fascinating. The author does an excellent job of telling the story of the "last generation," bringing them and their experiences alive. I was interested to watch the "last generation" move through the 1850s fostering a inter-generational conflict, assume capable and pragmatic managerial control of the armies their elders led, and then move into leadership positions after the War.

In relation to the Strauss and Howe generational theory, this book focuses on a part of the Gilded Generation. Overall, I thought that the book complemented it very well, showing that side of the generation that lost the war.

So, let me just say that this is a fascinating look at a generation that lived during a fascinating time in American history, one that will captivate anyone who is interested in generations, the American Civil War, or just plain history. I loved this book and highly recommend it to you.

David Fleishhacker uses his personal experience in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan as a framework to teach us about that country's history, topography, and culture. His sense of humor and his affection for the people of Afghanistan make this a fun book to read, but Fleishhacker also has a strong message--urging everyone to gain more knowledge and understanding of other cultures and places in the world. A wonderful book!

Three cheers for David Fleishhacker, a wonderful writer! And, three cheers for the Peace Corps! Far more than a collection of reminiscences, this little book contains the sort of philosophy, based on history and experience, that should be the underpinning of our foreign policy everywhere. I devoured it at one sitting and only wished he had written more. Clear, funny, honest and tender, this book should be required reading for our entire State Department, the Military Establishment, the "Lords of Poverty" (international aid/relief organizations)and literally every American involved in overseas activity. For that matter, it should be required reading in every high school and board room in the country. Great stuff.

David Fleishhacker's "Lessons from Afghanistan" is based on the author's experiences in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960's. This brief account is, however, more than just a memoir of a vistor who was in Afghanistan forty years ago. Fleishhacker deftly connects his experiences with current events. Unlike many of the "instant experts" whose views on Afghanistan appear daily in the media, this book gives one a feel for what the country is really like. This slim book is a good way to get a sense of the country as experienced by someone who was there and who had an opportunity to observe the way average people live their lives.

This is a most entertaining and enjoyable book to read about a part of the world which is virtually unknown to most Americans. It is well written and contains many anecdotes and amusing incidents relating to the author's personal experience in the Peace Corps in Kabul and Mazar-I-Sharif in the 60's. Beyond that, however, it provides comment which should be food for thought for anyone who wishes to follow or who seeks to implement American foreign policy in the future. The comments on basic issues faced in Afghanistan are timeless and universal in nature and provide much food for thought.

I hope this is one of many books just like this one! Heart-warming stories, you'll wish you'd known the person first-hand. I'm actually buying copies of this book for various friends that think the only history they need to know is on the History Channel!

Well-written.

Each story is engaging and interesting. The stories are about urban and rural life. The most wonderful aspect of these acccounts are how much in common we have as human beings and immigrants. The same struggles and hardships are experienced regardless of ethnicity, an eye opening read.

This book should be more widely available. I find it full of the kind of detail about peoples' lives (in this case, immigrants to the United States) that are cogent, relevant, and delivered with considerable charm and lack of artifice. Everyone to whom I have given a copy of this book has raved about it.

I'm not one of the sort of people who falls often for heart warming. I'm too bitter, too jaded... too educated to be able to gush openly about kindly regard for many things. This book, though, deserves that kind of praise.

As you could gather from the blurbs from magazines, this is a hundred year old book that seeks to illustrate the lives of typical, everyday (not to say uninteresting) Americans. The book is short; it's stories are realistic. Thus, it gives great insight into our collective 'ancestry': a voice to the long-dead.

I'm inclined to think that every time I mentally want to destroy America, in this book, again, could be found renewed hope and exploration. In this book one can find the stories of Lithuanians who set out to cross the ocean, of free black women finding for the first time life in a segregated south, of Greek pushcart workers who end up with $50,000 in the bank. More or less, these are the voices that give our community continuity.... and, well, I'm starting to ramble and make little sense....

Just read the book....

This book is a must read for children to get a proper perspective of history. Public school textbooks will not reflect our Christian roots. Parents should read the regular version. My 9 year old granddaughter says this is her favorite book.

Great and educational book. My son loved it and he does not care to read. This is a must for all out there.

This is a good book for Christian homeschooling moms. I bought it for my daughter, who is homeschooling her children.

Like the adult book of the same title, The Light and the Glory for Children examines evidence for America's Christian roots. The authors reveal a past that is not at all smooth. The challenges of settling this land and building a new nation are shown in their harsh reality. Equally, the faith that strengthened the people for these challenges is presented as inspiration for tomorrow's citizens and leaders. Review questions in the back of the book helped my children explore their own values and beliefs about their country. There could be no better way to raise responsible citizens than to have them investigate our Christian heritage through this book.

I found this at my local library and I will end up buying it. This was a wonderful book--"Mr. Mick" presented a detailed and warm history of his experiences teaching on reservations throughout the country. I learned a lot about our local tribes in Arizona as well as in other places. When I was finished with this book, I was a little sad because I wanted to learn how his teaching journey continued. A family member is planning to become a high school teacher, and I am going to get this book for her as an inspiration on how to be a good teacher.

I highly recommend this book for those who want to learn about NDN cultures and those who are thinking about going into the teaching field (he provides examples of good and bad teachers...I hope the bad teachers have left the profession!)

Mick Fedullo should be commended for his long-standing efforts in teaching creative writing to Native American students. From his own account in Light of the Feather, he has been successful in connecting with Indian students and providing a vehicle with which they can express themselves and communicate their feelings and ideas regarding their lives, culture, past, and present.

As someone who has taught and lived on a reservation for four years, I'm in awe of how he was able to work his way into the many reservation communities as he did and be accepted as such. This is no easy accomplishment.

He does point out a sad reality regarding teachers on reservation schools, that there are some who really don't belong there because of an inability or unwillingness to get to know and respect the Indians. Yes, prejudice still exists on reservations, even in 2005. Add to this teacher incompetence, and it is no wonder that Indian schools perform where they do in relation to the rest of the nation.

What Fedullo doesn't do in this book is offer suggestions or point the finger (or nose and chin) in other directions that need to be addressed. Schools do need to improve, but so do families in the Indian communities. And all of these changes need to occur swiftly and sincerely, or else many more Indian children are going to continue to be disenfranchised by the system in place and life in general. I firmly beleive that Native Americans are the most precious group of people in the United States, and that positive measures need to occur for their people and their future to remain intact.

I do look forward to Fedullo's next installment. Light of the Feather was published in 1992 and so much has changed since then. I'm aware that he is still living and working in Montana and am curious to see how he perceives the culture of Native Americans has changed, especially since the invasion of the internet and all the other modern trappings of accessibility into reservation life.

For anyone wanting to have an insider's view of Native American life read Mick Fedullo's "Light of the Feather". The author tries to clearly explain life within the communities and tries to debunk myths. This book is an excellent overview of why self-determination should continue in the world today. It also provides readers with insights that they otherwise would not have the opportunity to see.

Mick Fedullo's Light of the Feather displays his child-like wonderment of the Indian world as he goes from reservation to reservation teaching students writing and language skills. The openness and acceptance of tribal cultures he expresses help Indian students trust him as he strives to discover more about them. Fedullo values the tribal customs of each group and becomes a better teacher by becoming closely involved with every student. As he travels throughout the southwest and up to Montana, Fedullo learns more about Indian people and helps to bridge the gap between white and non-white people. I highly recommend this book for teachers, students, Indians and non-Indians.

My family is planning a trip to the North Carolina coast to visit the various lighthouses. We find this book very helpful in planning that trip. Gives lot of details on each of the lighthouses listed.

This is a good, concise, accurate book. I took it with my on my travels to see the lighthouses in North Carolina. As I traveled, it was helpful in finding each lighthouse and reading about the history. It was also helpful in finding one particular lighthouse which was in a very remote location. Thanks. I recommend it highly.

I really enjoyed this book. The content was well-researched and presented in an organized manner. I found the subject matter very interesting without being boring. It also made me want to take a few weeks off of work to explore the coastline. I had no idea that there were so many historical lighthouses in this one area. It was also obvious that the author loves her work. The details as welll as added points of interest make this a very well rounded book. I highly recommend it! I am also looking forward to her next release.

I love the book! It has tons of never before seen historical images of Carolinas beacons, plus eight pages of color images. It is factual, but not dry. The author has presented the history and current condition of each of the mentioned beacons in an informative and interesting way. I live along North Carolina's coast and I never knew about a couple of our beacons. I like the maps and directions that show right where each beacon can be found. I also like the Points of Interest section at the end of each chapter that reveal other historic sites and tours that are near to the lighthouses.

The story was excellent, bring out the various viewpoints of Native Americans today on problems from mascots and powwows to land grabs and poverty on the reservations. One of the best portions of the book was when the players on the team, all Native Americans, "corrected" the mascot's outfit. The characters were believeable. While reading the book, I could say, "I know someone like that" on almost every character, even the broken-down rodeo rider. The climate of Oklahoma was described well also, from the stifling humidity of eastern Oklahoma to the tornadoes of the central area.
Unfortunately, the softball games themselves had so many inaccuracies it took away from the story. There are no "2nd base" coaches, and getting hit by a pitch in fast-pitch entitles you to 1st base.
Even so, I enjoyed the read and the discussion of issues in the Native community.

This easy to read page turner was one of the most enjoyable books I have read recently. Mihesuah is an excellent writer and every character is brought to life in a memorable way. With each Shrike game I was sitting on the edge of my seat hoping for a win. In addition to a wonderful storyline, The Lightning Shrikes is an excellent example of American Indian fiction. The book provides insights into current problems facing Indians today in an easy manner. Non-Indian readers will find these issues easy to swallow and might even learn something new. As an Indian reader, I was even challenged in the way I perceive other Indians. Thanks Devon for a fun and exciting read. I can't wait for the Shrikes second season!

Mihesuah, as usual, hits it out of the park, so to speak, with The Lightning Shrikes. This novel is remarkable in that it manages to be both a page turner, and a highly effective investigation of a plethora of issues germaine to Indian country. Mihesuah, a Choctaw academician, proves herself to have quite a gift for fiction, in addition to her formidable talents as a scholar. She manages to present many complicated topics and misperceptions in such a way that someone either misinformed or underinformed would finish this book significantly enlightened, without feeling beat up. Aside from political value, the characters are realistic and endearing, and the story engrossing - it's one of those books where you actually want a sequel!

Devon Mihesuah's "The Lightening Shrikes" breaks Native American stereotypes and allows the reader to have fun doing it. In a world where Native American literary fiction that is actually written by Native American authors too often tells only the tale of a reluctant Native American hero or heroine struggling in a seemingly un-winnable battle against impossible odds, Mihesuah hits a home run with a story that incorporates modern American Indian protagonists who are finally allowed to achieve and enjoy their success. After reading this highly enjoyable story of a cohesive team of players from a diverse set of tribal cultures coming together in a powerful and effective show of solidarity and sportsmanship, it causes one to wonder why someone didn't write a story like this sooner. All of that, and the "Indian mascots" issue is dealt with in a way that causes it to finally turn out (at least for the Lightning Shrikes) the way that it should, for a change. Mihesuah entertains, informs and raises consciousness about Native American issues all at the same time-a powerful triple play that will keep you turning the pages and wanting more. I highly recommend "The Lightning Shrikes" for anyone who is looking for a good read. It could also be a great way for the newcomer to Native American issues to find out nearly everything you might have wanted to know about Native American stereotypes and why Indian mascots are offensive, but were afraid to ask, but have fun while doing it. I am looking forward to more fiction by Devon Mihesuah.