New Hampshire Books

The Shakers inventoried their communities in two-dimensional drawings. These were not the works of trained artists or draftsmen, but are examples of the works of the cultural tradition that brought us such useful items as the circular saw. In our world, where we hurry from one activity to the next, it is helpful to have an insight into another way of life, where hurry-sickness had not caught hold. The illustrations are beautiful. Mr. Emlen's commentary is scholarly and, at the same time, readable.

Insightful, clear, and well-structured analysis of Shaker Art. The author presents the information alongside beautiful Shaker images. A must-read for a good backround in Shaker art, and in my opinion, the definitive work on the subject.

This is a jewel of a book. The photographs, beautifullyreproduced, show daily life in South Carolina during the Civil War. You see soldiers at rest in front of their tents, sailors on ships, slaves on plantations. The pictures and the graceful explanatory captions make history come alive in a poignant and moving way. It's extraordinary that such a meticulously researched book is ... [inexpensive].

A wonderful book - full of remarkable photographs accompanined by vivid and intriguing text. Moore's camera captures the complexities of the Civil War admirably and also explores aspects of the war frequently overlooked by other sources. A surprisingly enjoyable read.

If you want to learn about the art of pewtering from a master craftsman, this is the book for you. If you're looking for ways to raise a large, talented, responsible family, you'll want to read these tales. If you want a book filled with interesting stories about a plethora of subjects, all warmly told with humor and intelligence, here's a book to try. Raymond Gibson has written a charming memoir about his double life as a Congregational minister in the winter and a pewter craftsman in the summers, where his children learn a craft that will help them all earn money for college, while spending valuable time together with this master story teller. This book is a must for the thoughtful person's library. You will love it.

This is the story of how a family can work together and create a business that takes on a life of its own. The creation of pewter items has a very long history. It has been used in many countries, and is still done today. This is the story of Ray Gibson and how he discovered that the passion that he has for living and his family could have an outlet in creating art. He was very lucky to find good teachers who were willing to share their knowledge and part of their soul with him. In return he shares this with his family and friends and customers. Ray is a talented author who is able to convey the excitement and sometimes the torture of having an artistic soul. He is able to explain the path of a developing artist/craftsman. It is also nice to hear of a family that was able to stay together and work on common interests. The development of craftsmanship brings with it the obligation to meet high standards, and these standards are applicable to "normal life" also. The story is charmingly told, the book was hard to put down, and it did convey some of the technical knowledge of the craft, but it is not a do-it-yourself book (unless the topic is how to lead a blessed life).

I feel lucky to have found this, and at such a great price! The book was perfect, and the arrival time more than prompt.

Among other things I do, I sell fossils and minerals part time, and at an agricultural fair this past summer, my friend Gary lent me his copy of this book. I can not tell you what a pleasure it has been reading this work. The book covers from earliest geological times through the 1700's. Michael Caduto has done an excellent job of outlining all facets of NH history as best it can be reconstructed without benefit of written cultural history. If I could, I would give this book 5 stars for a fascinating read, 5 stars for creating a believable description of what life was like for our native peoples, and 5 stars for the resource information at the back of the book, which includes listings of NH museums, native language pronunciation, wildlife present during the times described, and so on. Thank you Gary for a great read, and, even more, thank you Michael, for all your extensive research on the subject.

It may seem unusual to some that a recovered alcoholic, A.A. enthusiast, and Alcoholics Anonymous Historian would enthuse over this book. But that's because so few have realized the rich religious background in Vermont from which A.A. ideas sprang. The soil was everywhere--in Manchester, East Dorset, St. Johnsbury, Montpelier, Burlington, and more.
And it was seeded by the evangelistic YMCA lay leaders of the period about which the author wrote. It was seeded by Vermont Congregational leaders. It was seeded by the United Christian Endeavor Society. It was seeded by the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, the East Congregational Church of East Dorset, and the Manchester Congregational Church. Also by the unusual philanthropists and religious leaders who led the way to the Great Awakening of 1875 where the whole community of ST. Johnsbury was transformed and 1700 among a population of 5000 were converted. The St. Johnsbury Academy and The Burr and Burton Academy furnished daily chapel, Bible study, church attendance, and YMCA outreach. And the leaders had among them Governors Horace and Erastus Fairbanks as well as a dozen other Fairbanks family notables such as Thaddeus, Joseph, Henry, Franklin, Edward, and more through the years. They donated the YMCA building, the famous Athenaeum, the Fairbanks Museum, the North Congregational Church, and St. Johnsbury Academy buildings. What's all this about? Well William Griffith Wilson learned about the Bible, conversions, prayer meetings, and church in Vermont. Robert Holbrook Smith, M.D. learned these Christian principles and practices and more from his family and his church's Christian Endeavor activity. Now a library as been established at the Wilson House premises in East Dorset where the relevant A.A. roots history items--some 30,000 have been lodged. And in St. Johnsbury at the North Congregational Church a Dr. Bob Core Library with a somewhat smaller largesse is now available for recovery people, the public, clergy, physicians, historians, scholars, and others. There are three recent books that lay the picture out in a way hitherto unknown. See Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Real Twelve Step History: Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book As a Youngster in Vermont; The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator's Role in A.A.; Real Twelve Step Fellowship History. Only recently has extensive research been conducted in Vermont to discover the facts, documents, and history that inexorably found their way into the early A.A. Christian fellowship which Green Mountain academy boys fashioned as they founded A.A. on June 10, 1935 in Akron, Ohio.

I like what Searls has done here. He gives an excellent analysis into what has shaped the modern Vermonter's psyche by exposing the dichotomy between the agrarian/rural vs. urban. The author does this by examining Vermont during one of America's most significant eras - post Civil War and pre WWI. In doing so, Searls has authored an interesting book that is a "must read" for all of those with even a passing interest in Vermont history. Indeed, all Vermonters should read this book.

For over a decade I spent many summers here as well as numerous weekend camping trips. I was both a camper and a staff member. I was also a cub scout, boy scout and an explorer scout when I attened this camp. Wah-Tut-Ca was a great camping spot for men and women alike, all can fall in love with its charm.

It was great seeing the history of a place I love, it was also nice to see that it lives on. I greatly enjoyed the pictures of many of my friends and fellow staff members. There was so many people that I knew I had to look close to see that my photo was not in any of the pictures. Unfortunaly I was not, but I am sure I was close by when many of them were taken.

To think of how many stories Wah-Tut-Ca has. Starting with the ones documented here, to the many each of us has close to our hearts such as Shawn ridding on the roof of "the beast" down powerline road, to the scout leader who was afraid of the sound of the loons the first night she ever heard them shriek. Or the week long bike trip Wah-Tut-Ca hosted where explorer scouts biked 100 miles around Wah-Tut-Ca. Or the many OA ordeals held for new members. Or the time a whole pot of meatballs went rollong down the hill during a winter trip... Oh the sleading on the main road. Yahooo.... The fun. The water. The freinds. The food.

As you can see this book is a great start to bring back your own memeroies of Wah-Tut-Ca. Plus it has some history of Northwood and if you live in the area you may appreciate the book for its local history. If you ever spent time at this fine camp, I recomend the book.

I bought this book as a gift for my daughter-in-law who grew up near the setting of this book. It is about the Boy Scout Camp, but has some interesting facts about Northwood Lake as well. While I have not read the whole thing, I did skim through it and am sure that anyone who has an interest in Northwood Lake or in the Boy Scout Camping program would find it interesting.

This is a very important book. It is very well organized and shows the entire spectrum of this treasured corner of NH. From geologic history through the Paleo Indians, and up to Fort Number 4, we learn the background of this region. When it gets to Thoreau climbing and staying around the summit for a while, we are camping out with him. Later visitors show us all aspects of this important mountain and lead us through the eras that follow. The mill period with its inherent waterpower and young girls coming from the farms into these buildings is an important cultural aspect of NH's development. When the group that put this book together features the North Country's background and authentic aura in its next edition, I want my brother Tom Eastman and his expertise on the skiing history of the White Mountains included as well as they constructed and edited this book. I made sure I bought it for him as a Christmas present.

The sense and importance of "place" so present in all Howard Mansfield's work goes a step further in Where the Mountain Stands Alone. A compilation of stories, essays, historical documents, illustration and accounts by locals, this book allows the reader to embark on a journey not only through the history of Mount Monadnock, but through the hearts and souls of the people whose lives in the shadow of the mountain are as important as the mountain itself. Much like the mountain, the people are often mysterious, hard on the surface yet soft in nature, inspired and misunderstood. In this wonderful compilation the reader is invited to dive in and experience the Monadnock region as never before. From its history, through numerous failed economical enterprises, all the way to the present times, the mountain has remained the same. So are the people, towns and villages spread around its base. Unchanged, yet evolving, never giving up and always trying to swim up the stream. From quarries and stone walls, to barns, mills and farms, the region is rich in history and human perseverance, inspiring many great writers and artist, both past and present and Mr. Mansfield did an amazing job to capture it all in this exceptionally well made book.

This delightful book about a small town on the Maine coast was published in England in 1984. Only now was it brought across the Atlantic. Why the delay? Maybe because it is not your normal routine American mystery with a middle aged detective who hasn't slept in weeks , forgot to eat for days on end, but gets soused every day. Here we find sheriff Jenkins who believes in educating people by overlooking minor infractions. But where is the borderline to major mayhem? And there is his redneck deputy Wilbur Cox who loves to beat up his wife and anybody in his path. Where is his borderline? Add three delicious young women renting a cottage for the summer; what is their game? Not to forget assorted political heavies; do they have any borderline at all?

The answers will surprise you in this tightly written worthwhile book.

WOW! Make sure you can pull your chaise lounge & this summer-reading treat into some shade--you'll need to get out of that hot sun because of the heat in the tightly coiled plot of Widow's Walk.

Andrew Coburn's writing is taut. Tense. The language is crisp, tearing right along the perforated line. His characters are so close, they pluck, poke and puncture.

Paul Jenkins, Boar Bluff's chief of police, is someone we think we know, but don't. His sergeant, Wilbur Cox, brawn and bloat, is a man we never want to know, but do.

The three summering visitors, Joan Weiss, Laura Kimball and Pamela Comeau, ice-sculpture beautiful, shimmer in the reflection of the bloodied East Coast waters, and are witness to Boar Bluff's underbelly as the summer days melt into night and reveal secrets, savvy and slayings.

Among the cast of characters who give spring to the coil is the man-child Bud Brown who is "a mistake in his mother's life;" and Skelly, the manly woman who runs the Mobile station whose mother's mantra, when Skelly was but a bit of a kid, was "leave 'em be, Ralph...just leave 'em be" (but Skelly's father didn't let 'em be) and who later sought safety in the grown-up body Mother Nature gave her to hide in; then there's Hazel Cox whose strength lies covered up like a dormant volcano. And the coils heat up in this sunny New Hampshire town.

Andrew Coburn's Widow's Walk is not a plot with character. It is characters with plot, and those characters--complex, ironic and layered--irk, beckon and repel. They pluck at you. Poke at you. Punctuate the summer days so real that you feel like you are a caught, sweating Peeping Tom.

But you can move to the shade... I'd highly recommed this sizzler!

The Appalachian Mountain Club's latest hiking maps of the White Mountains of New Hampshire include this 1:40000 scale edition covering the ridgelines East and West of Interstate 93 near Franconia Notch, along with the Pemigewasset Wilderness area and the high ground North and South of the Kancamagus Highway as far East as Mount Passaconway.

The superbly detailed maps provide terrain relief, locations of established trails, and distances along major trail segments. The back of the map has inset closeups of Franconia Notch State Park and of Waterville Valley. The maps are in color on waterproof and tear-resistant paper, and are perfectly sized to be shoved into the side pocket of a pair of hiking pants. They are meant to be used in conjunction with the detailed trail descriptions found in the AMC White Mountain Guide, now in its 28th edition.

This map and the others published by AMC are absolutely essential for safe and purposeful hiking in the spectacular White Mountains and are very highly recommended to hikers of every level of ability.

Part of the Appalachian Mountain Club's White Mountain Trail Maps series, this particular map covers the Presidential Range in northern New Hampshire. One side of the map displays the area south of Route 2, including the Great Gulf, Mts Madison through Washington, and the area south and east of Mt. Jackson. An inset provides detail on the plateau around the top of Mt. Washington. The back of the map provides a close-up look at the northern Presidentials, including the myriad of trails that run down from the ridge between Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Madison down to Route 2.

The map is printed in color at 1:42240 scale for the large map and at 1:20000 or better for the two insets. The map sheet is waterproof, tear-resistant, and just the right size to be stuffed into a pocket or rucksack. The detail is excellent, including distances on major trail segements. This map is intended to be used with the detail trail descriptions in the AMC White Mountain Guide 28th edition.

This map is absolutely essential to safe and purposeful hiking in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, where weathers conditions can take away visibility and reduce hikers to careful route-finding by map and compass. It is very highly recommended to hikes and other visitors to the Presidential Range.