Pennsylvania Books

This book by Richter which won the National Book Award in 1961 remains for me THE masterpiece of modern American literature.

Elegaic in its scope, Richter in Waters of Kronos captures the nostalgic malaise of the dwindling Eisenhower years as the American Spirit fails to come to terms with the realization that our rural Americanness of closely knit families, hidden local secrets, and apple pie abundance had been forfeited under the swelling waters of Modern Time -- those backed-up waters created by the dams of the Tennessee valley and the creation of the interstate highway system. In raising this awareness in the novella-like dreams of a man affected by the stroke of insight, Richter juxaposes the era of headless horsemen and settling pilgrims with the impersonal modern existentialism that arbitrarily guards the cemetaries of our memories.

If there is any book of American literature that should be mandatory reading, this is the one.

I am currently reading, as I get to them, the winners of the National Book Award which I haven't yet read. This book won the 1961 award and I found it an eerily moving book, which really caught me up after I read for a bit. It tells of John Donner revisiting his boyhood home, and while fantastic it has none of the things I so often find irritatin in "fantasy" books. I was powerfully affected by this great simple story.

The Waters of Kronos is a haunting novel about memory, loss, nostalgia, and the pitfalls of hope. The very premise, so promisingly delivered, bears fruit in unexpected ways: John Donner imagines that his inner unease is from the distance between him and his long dead father. In his feverish imagination he sees his father menacingly approaching his sick bed, but then realizes he was wrong. His father was not the subject of his life long fear: it was existence itself. The very physical fact of living, with its accumulated disappointments and losses, its fears and anxieties, is the real source of anxiety. And it is inescapable: neither a retreat into fantasy nor a recreation of the past into art can alleviate it. In the end, this masterfully written novella comes to grips with this unsettling fact: people must live with life as it is given.

In this haunting, often beautiful novel, Conrad Richter writes of the journey of John Donner, who goes back to the town where he was born, hoping to find the meaning of a deep malaise. If he can only return to the past, he feels he might be free. But the quest seems futile. The town he seeks lies at the bottom of a great modern dam made by the River Kronos.


How he is drawn back through the waters of Kronos, Time, into the past forms the narrative of John Donner's classic journey. He finds himself in his own clear, light-filled world of youth at a moment of double crisis in the lives of his richly varied family, the Donners, Morgans, and Scarletts. But they are still young. John Donner is an old man. When he tries to re-enter the old intimate family relationships, he is rejected as a stranger, even by the boy-he-was as they stand face to face. Only his mother, from whom he holds himself until the last, cannot fail him, he thinks. Surely she will know him and receive him into the old heretofore never failing love.

Great book well written arrived on time in new condition

I bought the book for my boyfriend, he is a Penn State alum. So far he has really enjoyed the book. It was a great purchase.

There has perhaps never been a college football coach more associated with a single university than Joe Paterno is with Penn State. Of course, it only makes sense since JoePa has been coaching at the University for over 50 years including 40 years as the team's head coach. "What it Means to be a Nittany Lion" is a player's and coach's retrospective on playing and coaching at the school. It traces Penn State's rich history of national championships and All-American players, decade-by-decade, sharing fond recollections and stories by some of their greatest players ever.

As a Michigan fan, I have always had tremendous respect for Paterno and Penn State. They do things the right way with class and integrity, just like Michigan. You never hear about scandals there like you do at so many other universities where winning is placed above everything else. Each decade presents some of its most notable players such as Rosey Grier, sharing their stories in their own words. Grier, perhaps best known as a member of the Los Angeles Rams "Fearsome Foursome" actually went to Penn State to compete in Track and Field and was an All-American Shot-putter in 1954.

It was in the 190's when Penn State started to develop its reputation as Linebacker U with players like Jack Ham, Greg Buttle, and Matt Millen but they also produced great offensive talent such as RB Lydell Mitchell. While we all see the loveable, affable, old gentlemen, it's quite evident in reading these players stories that playing for Paterno was no picnic. Former receiver O.J. McDuffie even relates going home in tears once as a freshman because the coaches had been so tough on him. McDuffie persevered and became only the second Penn State receiver to earn first team All-American status in 1992.

I especially enjoyed reading all the players talking about how they were recruited and ended up at Penn State. So many of them talk about the values and integrity that Paterno had and how academics were stressed as much, if not more than athletics. One of the most uplifting stories is that of Adam Taliaferro. Taliaferro, a defensive back, broke a vertebrae in his neck making a tackle in 2000. Doctors gave him slim chance of ever walking again, yet a year later, Adam was cheered by over a 100,000 fans as he jogged onto the field.

Whether you are a Penn State fan or not, after reading this book, you will definitely know what it means to be a Nittany Lion.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This is great book on Penn State's greatest players. Each player tells a story of what means to be a Nittany Lion. I love this book! It is for die-hard Nittany Lions fans or any college football fans! We Are...Penn State!

Though this book was written for academic purposes and shows corresponding literary telltales, it is quite accessible and has several outstanding features. The best thing about the book is that the author did not just do an academic survey--she immersed herself in the Bay Area Wiccan culture, and presents first-hand descriptions of what she discovered. Her description of public rituals in the New Reformed Order of the Golden Dawn, Reclaiming, and at least one other tradition, are informative to those who wonder but do not know what Wiccan religious rites look like. In addition, she provides insight into how and why the people she interviewed were drawn to Wicca, thus complementing the observations of visible Craft with some inward explanation.

*Must Have, Double Bag!* is old school comic fandom's term for things that a fan _cannot_ live without--and have any fanboy or fangirl cred in the eyes of her or his fan peers.

And a perfect, to-the-point description of this book.

Written by a Gardnerian and Reclaiming practitioner who also happens to be a skillful folklorist and anthropologist, Magliocco is presently an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge.

Witching Culture is thoughtful, insightful, fruitful, grounded, and, maybe, provocative.

Witching Culture is well-crafted and a joy to read.

Witching Culture is one of the best ethnographies that I've read in a long time.

Magliocco manages to accentuate the participation in her participant-observations, but sustain a vibrant and keen postmodern theoretical analysis at the same time. She takes the reader *there* to a living experience of an alternative culture.

She addresses a broad range of topics shaping and challenging Neo-Paganism,especially Craft in the San Francisco Bay Area, from how magic is envisioned as a working relationship with world and deities to ritual art and artistry to Neo-Pagan shopping habits to identity construction and cultural borrowing, and more.

Like the Neo-Pagan bricoleurs she discusses, she takes advantage of theories and insights borrowed from a number of disciplines and discourses, putting the mix to good, understanding use.

Magliocco considers Neo-Pagan culture to be oppositional to dominant culture, postmodern in its world view at a time when the dominant modern culture offers little beyond materiality, consumerism, alienation, oppression, and spiritual--
if not economic--impoverishment. She traces some roots of this oppositionality to sources in the Romantic and European nationalist movements. And provides a good account of Neo-Paganism's cultural creativity in shaping magical ritual, even
political action, from these sources, among others.

Her approach to the creative and enculturating role that song plays in today's Neo-Paganism alone makes the book worthwhile.

Witching Culture is a *Must Have, Double Bag!* book that all of us should be proud to add to our libraries.

Note: I am Sabina's friend, and the *Pitch* in the book. All I can assure you is--as an old-school comic guy--if the book sucked, I'd say so. Far from it--Witching Culture shines bright!

Sabina Magliocco's "Witching Culture" is quite possibly the most significant volume on Contemporary Pagan Culture to have been written in several years. Magliocco, author of an earlier volume on Neo-Pagan Art and Altars, has filled in several gaps left by Ronald Hutton and Sarah Pike, authors of important recent works in their own right.

The real strength of Magliocco's approach lies in her combined historical and folkloric approaches to cultural formation. Nods to other theoretical approaches are made, especially in her discussion of Paganism as a culturally oppositional discourse (James Scott, Todorov, Gramsci) but for the most part her own theoretical approaches are interwoven with her content so as to produce a seamless integration.

As I noted, her attention to the categories of the Other, both as conceived from Christian heritage and the Enlightenment's 'God of Reason,' are set up as the early framework of the book, along with valuable summations of early Hermeticism, medieval ritual magic, Renaissance Humanism, and 19th C. Romanticism to show the contributions of each era to contemporary Paganism. In this she avoids Hutton's obsession with the British 19th century and yet misses much of Hutton's focus on cunning-folk and those more vernacular traditions. Magliocco's work is more concerned with those who wrote on those traditions, and how those writings (Leland, Murray, Gardner) were used as a crucible to create contemporary Paganism.

Excellent portions of the book also focus on energy, magic, naming and ritual, as well as the historical and folkloric contributions to the formations of these much-used categories by contemporary Pagans. In addition, this is the first volume I am aware of to treat music and song in such depth. Two main aspects of song are treated--ritual uses (echoing her earlier scholarly articles on the subject with Holly Tannen) and educational uses--that is, teaching modes of thought and interpretation common to Pagans. While these are not the only important functions of Pagan song, these are the most important aspects for her work, for she concentrates on community identity and maintenance. Partly because of her concern with boundary formation and maintenance, her work engages little with New Age religiosity, and instead concentrates on flash points such as cultural appropriation issues with indigenous peoples, especially Amerindians. Again, given the existing literature, this is a plus, rather than a minus.

If there are drawbacks to her work, they are similar to other important works in the field. Most of the book concentrates on Wicca, witchcraft, Feri, Reclaiming and New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn (NROOGD), all closely connected with dominant structures in the Eastern part of the U.S. Other facets of contemporary Paganism, such as Druidry, Pagan Vodoun, Church of All Worlds, and Asatru/Vanatru, draw significantly less attention. But as these are numerically proportionately less of the wider community, their comparative marginalization is understandable in a study like this.

This is an excellent examination and introduction to the study of the Wicccan culture. Combining personal tales with more traditional folklore techniques and commentary she crafts a compelling exploration of many of the questions that those who are not primarily interested in belief systems per se are interested in. If you want to have insight into what Wiccans are interested in and how they relate this is the book.

If I have any criticism it is that she tends to narrow her focus to a few specific traditions. I was left wondering the changes that might be seen as the population of Wiccans changes from a tradition or coven centered to that of the more eclectic solitary population, and how are the "traditionalists" reacting to the changes.

This however is an easily overlooked concern as she covers the her topic well and with obvious relish as well as with the eye of the trained observer.

Very Well Done.

Journalist Jim Corrigan presents The 48th Pennsylvania In The Battle Of The Crater: A Regiment Of Coal Miners Who Tunneled Under The Enemy, the true story of a battle of the American Civil War. When Grant attempted to claim the Confederate railway nexus of Petersburg, Virginia, the resulting stalemate should have been broken by Union commander General Ambrose Burnside's plan to allow the 48th Pennsylvania, a regiment from the mining town of Pottsville, to tunnel under Confederate entrenchments and apply explosives. Yet bickering among the Union leadership, and superb cooperation among the Confederate leadership, led to the Union's downfall at Petersburg and cost an opportunity to bring an early end to the war. The 48th Pennsylvania In The Battle Of The Crater examines the details of this historic conflict with black-and-white photographs, a list of forces in the Battle of the Crater, a table of casualties, a list of soldiers decorated for gallantry, and a wealth of research and detailed notes supporting the meticulous accounting of details. An index rounds out this scholarly and welcome addition to Civil War and military history shelves.

The 48th Pennsylvania in the Battle of the Crater is an interesting, engaging and well-written book. Author Jim Corrigan tells the story in a clear and easy to understand manner. I didn't know much about the Battle of the Crater when I started the book, but my interest never waned. Corrigan keeps you turning the pages with a well-paced style. I enjoyed the background he provided about the major characters, his "big picture" view of the battle, and his presentation of the controversies related to the battle. Additionally, his maps are well done and a valuable aid to readers, particularly those who may not be familiar with the Battle of the Crater. I believe this book will appeal to Civil War aficionados as well as those with a casual interest in this time period. I highly recommend it.

Students of the American Civil War are well aware that General Ulysses Grant called the battle of the Crater the "saddest affair" he had witnessed during the war. On that July day in 1864, Union hopes for a breakthrough at Petersburg dissipated with a bungled and tragic attack on the Confederate lines that had been torn apart with the explosion of some 8,000 pounds of explosives. The battle was the culmination of one of, if not the, most daring and remarkable exploits of the war's eastern theatre: the tunneling under the Confederate lines by a regiment of Pennsylvania troops recruited from Schuylkill County and composed largely of coal miners.
With the 48th Pennsylvania in the Battle of Crater, author Jim Corrigan paints a thoroughly engaging and very fair portrait of the events that led up to the battle and the battle itself. The work is well-balanced in portraying both the Union and Confederate side. Corrigan has done a great job in telling of the remarkable feat performed by the 48th PA in the face of great disadvantage and has made sense of all the complicated military, social, and political factors that occured both before and during the battle.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn more about the war in the East and about the 48th Pennsylvania Regiment. This book is an excellent work of history told in a clear and easily understandable manner, despite the many complexities involved in the tunneling and in the battle. Very well-done.

Yes, this IS one of the great Andrew Wyeth books. Everyone interested in this great American artist will love it. This was my first Wyeth book. It was on my shelf for a long time, and I knew I liked his work. After my retirement in 2001, I began painting with watercolors and looked around for some work I liked for inspiration and found only Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth. Later, I was fortunate to see the Helga show in Omaha and found out how amazing Wyeth really is. I spent hours looking at these paintings trying to figure out how he was able to balance areas of color that looked almost poured on next to areas of almost photographic detail. I have read that that's what they call drybrush technique. Well, maybe so, but I call it sheer genius. As with all Wyeth reproductions in books, this one is good, but after you have seen the actual paintings, they are but pale shadows. Nevertheless, I love this book. It is the next best thing to being near a museum where you can see the originals. Wyeth is indeed an inspiration.

For well over 25 years I have examined and reviewed countless paintings of the Wyeth family (N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, & Jamie Wyeth) who are all phenomenal painters. But the quality of the Compositions, the details of the clothing, nature and the human figure are an amazing spectacle when you review this book of Andrew's work. What an amazing technician he is.

Whether you're an art collector, painter or art critic you will admit that this book contains some of the most intriguing and interesting art.

Andrew Wyeth is a master at creating depth in each picture. The justaposition of figure to landscape or figure to interior items seems to be a heighted sense of "knowing" in Andrew's work. This book helped me to conclude that Andrew Wyeth is a genius who is in full command of his materials. If you think Steven Spielberg is a great film producer than it won't be hard for you to conclude that Andrew Wyeth is also a great painter.

The details in the picture "Farm Road" are excellent. Helga's hair is detailed as if painted with a laser while the leather strap from the bag she is carrying appears worn like real leather. The muted colors of green, brown and reddish tones in the coat and the rich transparency of light emanating from her cheek are amazingly done with subtlety and richness you will appreciate.

My degree in Accounting allows me to be able to count the hundreds of amazing things that are going on in each work while my degree in Art allows me to appreciate the quality of the brush work and the transparency range in each painting.

I don't mean that Helga was his lover. Still, the artist has an intense experience of his model, and Helga was his model for 15 years.

This is an outstanding book in lots of ways. The subject matter is beyond belief, and the reproductions are good. The visual content is organized well: major pieces are chronological, and sketches and studies are gouped with the pieces they support. I find it very helpful to see the sketches, and see all the variations that Wyeth tried before committing to a more dmanding piece. Those groups of drawings are drawing lessons themselves, in how to explore a visual idea. The text is a bit thin, and says nearly nothing about Helga herself - not a flaw in the book, so much as a step short of what it could have been.

Most of all, the pictures are simply lovely. Helga was a very handsome woman, in her 50s in the lastest of these pictures. Not 'pretty' maybe, but very beautiful - at least, she is presented as very beautiful, and very real. Some of the nudes studies show her arms crossed, oddly compressing her natural curves. That just makes the pictures more genuine for me, showing her as she is, not made up to some anatomical ideal.

Explanatory text could have been more explanatory, but that's OK. The large majority of the book is just the pictures themselves, and I don't mind being alone with them.

//wiredweird

Book is a great history of the Lake Ariel area. Nice photos and it would make a great Father's Day or Grandparent's Day gift for someone who grew up in the Lake Ariel area. That said, I took my copy (purchased from Amazon.com) to a book signing event held in Salem Township's new Library and Mr. Reed (author) would not sign it. His reason was because it came from Amazon, not a local seller (hint hint Amazon). Well, the cost at Amazon was about 1/2 of what they sell it for locally. I would still recommend you buy the book online, his signature is not worth the difference!

This book is about the small town where I grew up! It was the next best thing to Mayberry that you could find! Great photo's and info - it was a true walk down memory lane! Thank you to the author for taking the time to do such an awesome job on a small town with a lot of history!

This is a great book. I have lived in this area all my life and I learned so much from this book I did not know. Cudos to Kurt Reed and his team for writing this very informative book.

Now in a newly revised and significantly expanded edition, Back Roads Bicycling In Bucks County, Pa. by Catherine D. Kerr offers more than forty scenic bike path and country road routes throughout Bucks county, Pennsylvania upon which avid cyclers can enjoy their hobby. Maps, landmarks, notes and points of interest, all presented in easy-to-read and easy-to-follow format make Back Roads Bicycling in Bucks County, Pa. a perfect guide for its quaint locale. Also highly recommended for avid cyclists are three other titles from Freewheeling Press: Mountain Biking In New Jersey (0971461635...), The Back Roads Bike Book (0965273318, ...), and Bike Journal (0965273342...)

Wonderfully done maps and detailed cue sheets guide you on the less traveled roads of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The "sampler" cue sheet is my favorite. This book is great if your going to spend a beautiful fall weekend in Bucks County. Most of the rides are less than 20 miles in length, which is ideal for the casual cyclist. Includes bike shop and rental information as well as places to dine.

Wonderfully done maps and detailed cue sheets guide you on the less traveled roads of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The "sampler" cue sheet is my favorite. This book is great if your going to spend a beautiful fall weekend in Bucks County. Most of the rides are less than 20 miles in length, which is ideal for the casual cyclist. Includes bike shop and rental information as well as places to dine.

This is a great book for someone looking to get into camping and looking for good spots to go. Very useful information that I found accurate and helpful.

Especially liked the information on which campgrounds are dog friendly.
Would hate to get to a campground and find out Rover wasn't welcome.

This is the book to have if you are interested in Pa state campground camping w/o a trailer or RV.

This entire series (The Best in Tent Camping....) is excellent.

The Best of Amish Cooking: Traditional and Contemporary Recipes Adapted from the Kitchens and Pantries of Old Order Amish Cooks

ANNOTATION
Traditional and contemporary recipes adapted from the kitchens and pantries of Amish cooks are highlighted. The author has spent years researching the foods, and has interviewed Amish women and dipped into their and recipe boxes. Color plates.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
This beautiful book by a New York Times bestselling author who is also a leading expert on Amish cooking highlights traditional and contemporary recipes adapted from the kitchens and pantries of Amish cooks.

Phyllis Pellman Good has spent years researching these foods. She has interviewed Amish grandmothers and dipped into old books, diaries, and recipe boxes.

The dishes she selected are ones that were and continue to be popular in eastern Pennsylvania, usually in the Lancaster area. According to Good, they reflect the fruitfulness of Amish fields and gardens, as well as the group's emphasis on family and community.

Color photos set the mood. Wonderful descriptions and introductions prepare the setting. And delicious, savory recipes fill this book with some of the best food you'll find anywhere.

SYNOPSIS
From the Backcover

Main Selection--Better Homes and Gardens Cook Books Club

This beautiful book by a leading expert on Amish cooking highlights traditional and contemporary recipes adapted from the kitchens and pantries of Amish cooks.

Phyllis Pellman Good has spent years researching these foods. She has interviewed Amish grandmothers and dipped into old books, diaries, and recipe boxes.

The dishes she selected are ones that were and continue to be popular in eastern Pennsylvania, usually in the Lancaster area. According to Good, they reflect the fruitfulness of Amish fields and gardens, as well as the group's emphasis on family and community.

Color photos set the mood. Wonderful descriptions and introductions prepare the setting. And delicious, savory recipes fill this book with some of the best food you'll find anywhere.

"Nobody cooks quite like the Amish! Phyllis Pellman Good sets out to show how anyone can do it in The Best of Amish Cooking." --South Bend Tribune

"Author Phyllis Pellman Good spent years researching for this exceptional book, gathering recipes from Amish grandmothers, diaries, old books, and recipe collections in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area. Recipes are delicious, hearty, wholesome, and in tune with the seasons. Descriptions of the Amish lifestyle make for a good read." --The Cookbook Collector

"This beautiful book by a leading expert on Amish cooking highlights traditional and contemporary recipes adapted from the kitchens and pantries of Amish cooks." --Country Almanac

"Good explains how recipes, foods, and cooking styles figured into the Amish households. Directions are short and to the point, and the photos are charming." --Booklist

Today Phyllis spends much of her time as a book editor. She also edits Festival Quarterly, a magazine exploring the art, faith, and culture of Mennonite peoples. She is the author of the book, A Mennonite Woman's Life, co-editor of the book Perils of Professionalism, and co-author with her husband, Merle, of 20 Most Asked Questions about the Amish and Mennonites.

Together she and Merle are executive directors of The People's Place, The Old Country Store, and several galleries and related shops in Intercourse, Pennsylvania.

Phyllis received her B.A. and M.A. in English from New York University.

The Goods are parents of two daughters and members of the East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church.

My neighbor has cooked with some of these recipes for years (she is 76). She was so happy to find these recipes written so that she can give them to her daughter, grand daughters and great grand daughters. The author is an excellant authority on Amish cooking.

I love this cook book! It's just full of recipes for that wonderful Amish food, and the thing I really love about it is that for the most part, the ingredients are items you probably already have in your kitchen, as opposed to some of the "coffee table" cookbooks you have to travel to France in order to get the ingredients they call for. I wouldn't be without this one, and I've just finished ordering it as a gift. Get this one, you'll love it.

What a great book! It's both fun and educational. Being from Pennsylvania, I especially had a great time reading it. It's inspired me to get in the car and visit some off the beaten path places. Great design! It's more than a travel guide, it's great photos and fun stories. I highly recommend it. Well worth the $.

Even if you never visit any of these museums, this is a fun look at some exceptional places in PA. The author truly captures the enthusiasm of those who want to share their passions for the off-beat or unique with others. The photographs capture the spirit of the museums as well, and really add to the reader's enjoyment.

As a proud Pennsylvanian, I love this book! How did *I* not know about a Shoe Museum? (my first stop!) Also, I never knew we had a Jimmy Stewart Museum! This book is an excellent road trip companion! Educational, funny and user friendly! Gas up, pick up your traveling companion, crank up the tunes, highlight your stops, and hit the road! Learn more about Pennsylvania's whimsical past, present and future!