West Virginia Books

This is a "real" guide. It has been carefully compiled and includes all the information which any water-borne visitor will need to know when visiting the Windward Islands., These are (in the order they appear in the book); Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Bequia (pronounced Beckway), Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau, Tobago Cays, Palm Island, Union Island, PSV and Petite Martinique, Grenada, Carriacou, and, of course, each of the passages between these enchanting islands.

In an informative introduction, which gets anyone who is sitting in a cold house during an American or European harsh winter (like I am!) wanting to reach for the phone and book a flight, we learn something about the local land and the customs of the people who live there. There are also a number of helpful suggestions on any topic from "what to bring" to sunburn - and it's all useful stuff, even for the seasoned traveller.

Then it's on to the cruising information with notes on weather and navigation as well as more general information about scuba diving, flora, fauna and even the flags of the different countries visited. From now on we get down to cases in the order of march already mentioned.

Telling people how they should navigate their boat is a very responsible undertaking. Forget to include that, otherwise well known, underwater obstacle and you can guarantee at least 3 boats will have hit the darned thing within the first 24 hours of your book being published. This book, however, is a professional work and I doubt any yacht or other small boat travelling to and from these small islands will be without a copy.

NM

If you are planning a trip to the carribeans (Grenadines/Windward Islands) - this is your #1 reference. Excellent! Very complete, in colors, pictures...

I used this book more than the charts. The information is up-to-date and accurate. Don't go sailing with out it.

J. Lemke

Doyle's info was very good and the color arial photos and mini charts are very usefull. The book is 9 inches by 6 inches and has 400 pages, however if you were to remove the advertizments and touristy photos you would probably end up with about 275 pages of usefull info.

This is one of my favorite travel guides, ever, period. Even though this book is aimed at sailors, it has plenty of helpful information for land travelers too. Plus it has a lot of information I've never found in another travel guide. The best example is this. One beautiful night as we sat on our terrace enjoying the 180 degree view of the southern skies, I turned to my travel partner and said, "Did you print off those star charts so we can identify the southern cross?" His response. "Uh oh, I never got around to that."

The next day we looked all over the Island of Bequia for a star chart. We were laughed out of stores, some of which even catered to sailors. At one point I suggested maybe the Sailors Guide we have back at the villa will have a star chart. We agreed it was not likely but hot and tired, we decided to go back and see. We get back, look, and sure enough there it is - a star chart of the southern skies along with a date and time table for determining where everything should be and when. Oh my goodness. We had a chart all along. Thank you Sailors Guide!!

We used that star chart every night for the rest of the week and had a blast locating and identifying all the constellations we could see. It was fascinating watching the southern cross gradually rotate around the point in the sky where the south axis of the earth intersects with the southern sky. Ah, the pace of life on Bequia and the joy of a guide book that delivers way more than expected.

This was an interesting read. O'Rouke shows room for improvement in her book. Some parts of this book were predictable to me but she appears to be a novice writer. However, the idea of women wearing pink sheets was a wonderful idea that puts extra character into the story. I would say this is an easy read but not one who is looking for a light-hearted read.

Erin O'Rourke has created a novel worthy of nail-biting, emotional rollercoaster exhaust. She pushes ones compassion to the limit and then leaves you with your head in your hands wondering how you missed it. Wonderful. Her characters are vivid, unique and stained with humor, poignant and quite remarkable long after you finish the book. Cheers to Erin, this book is worth 6 stars.

O'Rourke is a genious! My older cousin (a friend of the author) passed a copy to me. I almost felt myself drawn into the group...one of the girls, and as such, felt I was in peril for how the plot turned. This is not a read for the weak-hearted.

Eunice

was amazing. i was unable to put it down. certainly has some great twists to it. very unexpected! loved it!

Every woman should read this book. Men, too, if you want to understand the female psyche. "Seeing Pink" is fresh, vivid writing with distinct characterizations. As a writer, I admire (envy) the voice of this new author. You'll be pulled into the lives of these five women, living every moment with them, and you'll find yourself relating to the path each has walked. It's gratifying to find a new writer like Erin O'Rourke whose star should shine brighter than some of the names we see over and over today.

I found this book disappointing. The author failed to use the colloquial terms of the time and the ghost stories really weren't ghost stories. They were actually stories told by relatives which were very shallow and not well described or developed. An easy read....about 15 minutes....to easy.

This book is set in the mountains of West Virginia in the early 1930's. The book describes how rural the comunity is and how poor this particular family was. This family has unexplained events happen to them; like one of the stories tells how a man has a premonition of his own death. There are sayings, old wives tales and superstitions throughout the book. The book also includes information on things you should say or things you should do if you see a spirit. Many interesting mountain beliefs. Also the book has pictures included of this family. You feel you get to know this family. There are directions to the places where these strange occurances happened. I enjoyed reading this book. I recommend it to anyone who likes to read about superstitons or true stories.

This book tells some riveting information on life of a West Virginia family. True stories of their life experiences with ghosts and the superstitions that were born. This book took me back into time. A great read. Something that every library must have!

I thought the stories in this book would make good campfire stories. I liked the fact that these events really happened. I think we all have a ghost story or two. I found the saying and superstitions neat. A short read, but enjoyable.

Since I am from WV. and heard stories at My Dad'd knee I certainlly loved this book. I bring back many fond memories before TV. I certainlly enjoyed her rendition of the tales she wove so well in her book.
Thanks Diana, for making lots of memories come alive.

Mary Lee Settle has the gift of making a character come to life with just a snippet of dialogue or description. The title character, Addie, is Ms. Settle's grandmother. She is a beautiful, very religious girl of simple country stock. Terribly abused by her first husband, she is hiding from him in a tree, when Jesus comes to her and tells her that she doesn't have a lick of sense and hasn't she ever heard of divorce! She finally does leave her husband for the wealthiest bachelor in town, a member of the landed gentry. As a divorced woman she is the scandal of the town and is never accepted by her new husband's family. Addie preseveres but like most of us never has an entirely easy life. Her story is just the starting point for this very engaging memoir about a Southern family.

As one who has written several family histories, I am intrigued with the idea of writing autobiography and putting it into the family history by beginning a generation or so before birth of the subject. This makes for a firm foundational picture of what the subject is born into and must learn to live with. Mary Lee Settle did a masterful job of showing the conditioning that goes into survival in a West Virginia family based on the marriage of lower caste Addie, her grandmother, to upper caste Preston, her grandfather. It is a clear, telling picture of growing up in the grey area of the depression years.

Addie is the story that the author unearthed as she researched the life of her grandmother. Untangling fact from legend and downright lies, Ms. Settle tells the story of a woman trapped in an abusive marrage at the age of 15, who Jesus told to get divourse as she hid in a tree. Addie lived in Kanawha County W.Va.the story of her life, loves and defeats blended with the social history of the times and the coal fields of the region. The author writes with a wonderful use of the language that is tinged with a taste of the South. This is the sort of book we all would love to write about one of our grandmothers.

What a gift Ms. Settle has! I could smell the wash on the line and dream in the back porch hammock. How wonderfully she evokes childhood with our oh so literal evaluations of the mysterious adults. To paraphrase e.e. cummings,--down we forget as up we grow--.but not so with Ms. Settle. The author draws sharply defined characters except for her own mother, interestinly enough. I sense a lot of unresolved feelings where her own mother is concerned; she's angry but tries to be fair. Addie, the grandmother, is in bright relief in contrast to the sharp and shadowy mother. Addie's self-righteous neighbor snorted over the misbehavior of a certain attractive young women. Addie's response: "I guess if you're not pretty, you're not tempted." says volumes.

This was a very special personal find for me. I can't wait to read other books written by Ms. Settle. An excellent writer, researcher, storyteller. I know Cedar Grove well, the town where Miss Addie lived. The history, for anyone in the Kanawha Valley, alone is worth checking out this book. But I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading a story that flows so well that you can't wait to read the next page. The account of history, the personal relationships, the writer's command of the written word...not one line was wasted... and it makes one think about their own grandparents and those before them. I loved the book. I will definitely read Ms. Settle's eariler books.

Phyllis A. Whitney beautifully tells the story of Lacey Elliot's misfourtunes. The story is a keep you on the edge of your seat kind of book. I recommend it highly if you love to read mysteries and/or suspense books.

The characterization and richly detailed settings make me feel as if I too am a part of their lives, taken on their journey. For a time I leave my confines, leap into the pages and share in their joys, fears, tragedies

A Review by Liz

Lacey Elliot has lived in Charlottesville, Virginia all her life. Her mother is recovering from breast cancer surgery and has never told Lacey anything about her Father. Lacey becomes curious about her family, which had only been, to her knowledge, her mother. Her mother receives and urgent letter that she can't handle so she asks Lacey to read it to her. To help out a mystery her mother isn't strong enough to solve, Lacey goes on a journey to her hometown she never knew of and starts finding interesting surprises about her family. Lacey has to deal throughout the story with being accused, protecting her mom and finding out the truth about what happened to her father.

This story is very hard to keep up with. I really liked the way the author ties in the history of Virginia(the civil war), her relatives of that time, with the present. When Lacey meets her Great-Great-Grandmother, she tells her about all her past relatives that had lived in the house is lives in now. She tells their stories and as the book progresses, their pasts tie into her present. Her great-great-grandmother is very controlling and always seems to only tell Lacey what she wants to and sometimes chooses to leave important information out. Lacey's relationship with her mother also makes it seem like no one wants to let her in on her family's past and history. Her mother says, "I'm only trying to protect you" but doesn't realize how important it is to lacey to know about her family. When Lacey leaves Charlottesville to seek for answers, she learns many things about her mother that she didn't know which made Lacey feel more alone, thinking she doesn't even know her own mother. This story has bits and pieces of the Civil War and provides you with a bit of history along the way with a wonderful mystery. You never want to put the book down because surprising things just keep happening to keep the story alive.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy a good mystery and who would like to know a little about the history of Virginia. It reads pretty easy but it really makes you think.

This book is about a young woman named Lacey Elliot whose mother Amelia tells her nothing about her father or family any of the time while she is growing up. She is now twenty- nine years old and her mother just had surgery for cancer. They receive a letter in the mail that says it is very urgent that Amelia comes home and it is signed by her Aunt Vinnie. When Lacey reads this she is happy to discover she has other family members. Her mother is too weak to go home; which is Harpers Ferry, Virginia. So Lacey returns and gets to discover somethings she wanted to know and things she didn't. I really enjoyed this novel. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was. The author could have made it a little more challenging though by not making it so obvious. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a little mystery.

DAUGHTER OF THE STARS is the story of Lacey Elliot, and her search for answers about a family she knows nothing about. Her mother Amelia is recovering from cancer surgery when she receives a letter that Lacey intercepts. The letter is from a relative, Vinnie, who is the sister of Amelia's deceased mother Ida. From this letter, Lacey's search for her roots begins. She travels to Harper's Ferry where Vinnie and other family members reside, and soon Lacey finds out the many secrets that her mother kept all those years.

The main secret is a possible murder, the unsolved murder or disappearance of Lacey's father Brad. No one seems to know what really happened. Was he really murdered? Or did he just disappear without a trace? His involvement with Amelia's sister Ardra was what caused the disappearance, but no one wants to talk about it.

Lacey gets deeper and deeper involved, befriending a family friend and historian, Ryan, whom she falls in love with. Between the two of them they unravel the secrets that lie at Harper's Ferry.

I enjoyed this story a lot, but had a big problem with all the characters. I didnt' like any of them, except for the outsider Ryan. All the characters were either too uncaring, or too soft (no backbone) and I couldn't sympathiZe with any one, including the main character. The storyline however is what kept me reading, because I really DID want to know who killed Brad!

In this West Indian version of Rumpelstiltskin, Queen Quashiba marries the rich and powerful Big King, but must produce three rooms full of gold cloth after a year and a day or be locked away forever and a year. How will she ever accomplish such a supernatural feat?

The book is richly illustrated with vibrant colors and the words are pleasing to read silently or aloud. Both Virginia Hamiltion and the Dillons prove to be masters of their respective crafts and together produce a winning combination in their version of this classic tale.

Crazy James

WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Quashiba finds herself in a precarious situation. Due to a slight untruth told by her mother to a visiting king, the young lady is forced to marry to king with the promise that she can weave fine golden cloth.

Though she is attended by handmaidens and receives her every want, her new husband demands that she come through with her mother?s promise after they are married one year and a day.

The time arrives and the girl knows not what to do. A little man with a wooden leg, a tail and wearing striped trousers magically appears one evening. He offers to help her make the fabric but with a price for his assistance: she has three nights and three chances per night to guess his name; if she doesn?t, she will be his tiny companion?forever.

After two days of successfully presenting the golden thread to her spouse, as well of two days of unsuccessfully guessing the little man?s name, the Quashiba feels impending doom. However, during dinner, her husband tells of his unusual encounter with a little man named "Lit'manhn Bittyun."

Quashiba is relieved and that evening when the little man comes, she toys with him with two fake names, finally announcing his real name.

The sprite storms off and is never seen again.

Knowledgeable readers will automatically see the similarity between this tale and the European ?Rumplestiltskin?. The book's illustrations are vivid and thought-provoking, making this book a KO for the primary classroom, combining fantasy, familial relationships, and effective use of dialect/language.

The late Hamilton has scored another winner that will embellish the home as well as the classroom.

In this West Indian version of Rumpelstiltskin, Queen Quashiba marries the rich and powerful Big King, but must produce three rooms full of gold cloth after a year and a day or be locked away forever and a year. How will she ever accomplish such a supernatural feat?

The book is richly illustrated with vibrant colors and the words are pleasing to read silently or aloud. Both Virginia Hamiltion and the Dillons prove to be masters of their respective crafts and together produce a winning combination in their version of this classic tale.

Crazy James

What a beautiful book! Beautiful language, beautiful pictures. Even my 3-year-old son, who usually just likes books about trucks, wanted me to read it over and over. I like it better than the German version (Rumplestilskin); Quashiba acts much more like a real person here.

Whatever Virginia Hamilton, Leo & Diane Dillon touch turn to gold! Hamilton's creative use of language and dialect give this retelling of the Rumplestiltskin story a sense of freshness and fun. The rich illustrations and the whimsical portrayal of the Lit'mahn character complement the text beautifully. As a read-aloud, the experience is delightful for both the reader and the audience.

Incredibly poetic prose. The way Currey writes, the book flows gently but insistently along like a slow country stream. It's a very in depth look at the life and times of a musician. I found myself turning the pages as if I was reading some kind of action/thriller novel. Currey never pushes the story, and it seems as if it all simply unfolds. Great read, and interesting view of the hard life of a musician.

Musicians' lives don't always make the transition into the written word gracefully in either biography or fiction--maybe because the story of getting from one gig to the next isn't all that enthralling.

"Lost Highway" tells the tale of bluegrass musician Sapper Reeves, who in a vintage Chrysler rides the 1940's backroads of West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee with his compadres, the other two 'Still Creek Boys'. Though he's a wizard with the banjo, his band can't catch a break and seems destined for obscurity.

Richard Currey is a truly fine writer, excelling in detailing the epiphanies of Sapper's small town life. For example, there is a wonderful scene in which Sapper awakens one night as a winter blizzard is moving in, and goes to rouse his son so that they might together savor the beauty of the snowfall in the quiet, resting town.

All of the book, in fact, seems to exist in a protective bubble of nostalgia. Scene after scene is as perfectly drawn as the period piece illustrations that Gary Kelley designs for "Rolling Stone."

The romance of Sapper's life is the same as that of a minor league baseball player who never made the big leagues. It's the beauty of an obscure dream. Sapper's life is so compressed and idyllic that subplots about his marital problems and his son's eventual misadventure in Vietnam do not resound enough to provide a real conflict. Without real tension, the book is a pleasant cul de sac, a visit to the past and the magic hollow where music originates --- light years beyond what Robert Waller could do, but lacking the gravitas of a major novel.

Three-and-a-half stars.

Currey returns to print! I've loved all of his work, and he's been silent too long. Just ordered the new version of Lost Highway and it looks great! Online rumors are that this version includes some new material that was cut from the original book. At last, Currey gets his voice out from under the big publishers.

Don't overlook this master of prose. Pushcart and O. Henry winner, Currey's voice is a powerful force in the world of literature.

I've enjoyed much of Richard Currey's work, with Wars of Heaven being my favorite. I read the hardback of Lost Highway, but I'm looking forward to receiving my Vandalia Press edition. I'm a true West Virginian girl at heart, but Currey's work is more than Geographically-centered fiction - it speaks to all hearts everywhere. You can hear the music of the Still Creek Boys in his words, and the haunting discord of family unrest is the top and base notes.

I bought this book in paperback in a used book store a number of years ago and read it, thought it was great. When I found in in hardback later, I bought it again because I liked it so much I wanted to own it in hardback. It was one of those rare books that makes me say "That's why I want to be a writer." I said to myself at the time I was going to write the author a letter and tell him how much I liked it, but I never did. So this review is sort of saying it. Good job. A quiet, but very moving book. I read his two Viet Nam books later and thought they were also good. He should be more recognized than he is. I have him on my shelf of favorite modern authors along with Andre Dubus, Russell Banks, James Alan McPherson, Richard Ford (Rock Springs) and Richard Yates.

Cynthia Rylant is a mostly children's book author, but she also writes some young adult novels. Their short and written in poems- similar to Sonya Sones, except the content of the books are extremely different. This book is about Ludie, obviously, and it just takes us through her life. Things that are important to her, things that happen, and just what she believes in. It's kind of hard to explain, actually, but this book is really short and interesting, but not for those who are looking for a fluffy and light teen novel.

With a straightforward title and a simple, unassuming format, LUDIE'S LIFE by Cynthia Rylant would appear to be the story of an Appalachian woman. The narrative poetry should help the reader flow along effortlessly inside the days of an Alabama girl who marries and becomes a mother raising a family in the coal camps of West Virginia. The petite size of Rylant's book (5"X 7 ¼") and the concise length (112 pages) could make for a smooth, convenient read. But the life of Ludie in the hands of Rylant is anything but smooth, simple and unassuming. It's compelling, heartbreakingly honest and haunting.

As a West Virginia native, Rylant draws deeply on her roots and family connections to portray the life of an individual woman. A unique setting, the coal camps of West Virginia, provide a stark, work-till-you-die background to the comings and goings that make up a family grown against the backdrop of towering mountains.

While the mountains provide, they also seclude, and mountain people tend to be self sufficient because they learn early on how difficult the mountains can make life. Groceries, funerals, church and hospitals are always a challenge because of the mountains. Rylant explains how emotionally dangerous seeing the ocean can be to someone living in the mountains.

"The ocean went on too far
for Ludie,
who preferred seeing only the next ridge
out her kitchen window,
where trees grew whose names she knew
and a creek flowed,
small enough."

Rylant's depiction of Ludie as she experiences a plethora of events in marriage, children and life is stark and clean. This is exactly how Ludie liked her coal camp house built by the mine owners and set in identical rows at the base of the mountain. Ludie's house and life were simply furnished and regularly sanitized.

Ludie's life is shared with the reader through her thoughts about this relative or that neighbor. Rylant writes as if she has been granted express permission to record Ludie's sometimes-harsh opinions and melancholy remembrances. Rylant turns a fictional character's voice into such a realistic pathos that the reader can feel like an unwelcome voyeur addicted to seeking the sordid intricacies of Ludie's existence. While Ludie lives a good woman's life, her own sense of reality leads her to think unkind things about everyone and everything, from children to church.

Ludie lived a long life full of the "...joy, laughter, heartache, and loss..." that accompanies any life. There are more moments of painful reality than hilarity, but Rylant turns country humor with effortless grace. When speaking of her daughter finding religion after growing up refusing it, Ludie says, "Imagine the strain on that marriage. An ex-junkie from the Bronx and a born-again Christian hillbilly. It didn't last. He moved out, found a reasonable woman and remarried." Rylant has always been a master of irony and doesn't overuse the tactic in LUDIE'S LIFE, but inserts it when the reader least expects it. The effect is more realism, as if Ludie is sitting across the old kitchen table telling you a story and adding her own wry comments along the way.

Rylant writes of one woman, but thousands and thousands have lived Ludie's life and will identify some of their own histories woven into the rich fabric of this book. Some will shout hooray, some will sob, and some will stoically close the book and lay it aside knowing that the real truth of their lives has been rendered in black and white for the entire world to know. LUDIE'S LIFE is a brilliant contribution to the growing collection of Appalachian literature that tells the story as honestly and purely as life in the mountains has always been and always will be.

--- Reviewed by Joy Held

Luide is an old woman now. This short poem book takes up back through her life. It starts with her childhood. Then we learn all about her marriage and her kids. After kids come grandkids and relationships with the neighbor's. Ludie lives a great life but some times she wonders just what it would like if things would have turned out different.


It was a quick read that gave you a look into the past.



Teens or young adults should enjoy this book. Some of the themes such as sex and other relationships that dealt with in the book are too over young children's heads.

Life poems--this is a powerful narrative that takes Ludie from little girl to old lady. This book is not a poem as most know poems, but a novel written in short spurts of maybe 2 or 5 or 8 words.

Growing up poor--hungry in her stepmother's uncaring life--Ludie learns to take care of herself at a young age, marrying very young because she needed a way out. She and Rupe raised six children, and were separated only when he died from the affects of mining in his late 70s.

Ludie didn't fear much--except loneliness--and knew in her 90s she could soon join her sister, granddaughter and Rupe--and would be lonely no more.

As I read, I noted so many lines worth rereading--or worth thinking about again and again, like ...

-- Ludie did not doubt that she was worthy of life, God's child, and necessary.
-- What happens when someone who is old and still sees out of the same eyes?
-- (A switch) ... was only a twig from a tree, after all. It wasn't personal, it wasn't vicious, the way words can be. ... she never tore her children down that way.
-- Ludie had made soldiers and teachers and nurses for the world (her children).
-- Ludie had seen too much of life to waste any time telling others how to live.

That final quote is my most favorite--I think.

Having never read anything by this Newbery Medalists author, I will now. This is not a book I would have selected--but now that I have been so moved by the messages in it, I am telling everyone about it.

Her storytelling is first rate, her imagery powerful, her pictures of people we know or wish we did--all add up to Ludie's Life.

Cynthia Ryland has written more than 100 books, including the poetry collection Boris; the Newbery-winning novel Missing May; and Appalachia: The voices of Sleeping Birds, which received the Boston Glob-Horn Book Award. Rylant lives in Portland, Oregon, but returned to her home state of West Virginia for this story.

Armchair Interviews says: Powerful read that will haunt you with its message of love, hope, birth, death--and all of life that lies in between.

This small, but poignant volume speaks to the power of understatement, celebrating the long life of a woman who survives poverty, disappointments and hardship, carving out a niche of home and family that that is distinctly American in flavor. Born in Alabama, but spending most of her years in West Virginia, Ludie comes of age with America, her aspirations simple, marriage, home, family, hard work and peace of mind. Deprived of a mother as a young girl, Ludie is uncomfortable in her father's home with a new stepmother:

"Ludie's life was happy and sad...
There was no thought
to what work
she might do in her life...
Not when you're stealing food
off your own supper table."

Lack haunts Ludie; she never forgets the humiliation of stealing scraps from the dinner table, avoiding those who live in excess, content in the company of her husband, a West Virginia coal miner, and her six children. The stages of life follow, one after another, the changes in society reflected in Ludie's family, her children and grandchildren reflecting a century defined by the assassination of a president, an unpopular war and a fragmenting family structure. Yet this woman remains steady and resolute, a predictable rock to the family that returns to her. She never once sees the awesome beauty of the ocean, although her children do: "No mountain child ever finds words for an ocean", her resistance prompted by a history of poverty:

"The ocean is free
a luxury everyone can afford,
but Ludie learned early on
that there is a price for everything."

Ludie moves quietly through the years, never asking much beyond what she and her husband can provide, an uneventful yet proud passage, adapting, caring for the children who call her "mother" instead of "mama". A godly woman with the core values of a simple existence, Ludie is the American woman of the 20th century, before the great cultural upheaval that would so define the second half of the century:

"Ludie had seen too much of life
to waste any time
telling others how to live."

She passes quietly one day "in a small narrow bed in a nursing home" at the age of ninety-five, her legacy the grieving children and grandchildren who found comfort in the stolid presence of a woman in tune with her century. Luan Gaines/2006.

The title of the book promises a history of the 1861 Western Virginia Campaign. This little covered campaign propelled McClellan to command of the Union armies and pushed Robert E. Lee into obscurity. Only Jefferson Davis' faith in Lee rescued him from build fortifications along the Atlantic coast. Politically important, West Virginia succeeded from the Confederacy and became a state due to Union success. The infighting between Wise and Floyd provide a look into how poorly the CSA command functioned and how two petty people could bring everything to a halt.

The author attempts to cover all of this and provide unlimited human-interest stories too. He fails, as one part of the story elbows another out of the way, while tripping over a third part. This is not a poorly written book. The problem is origination and discipline. No story is completed and human-interest keeps interrupting. A major problem is maps! In the Illustrations section are three useless maps. First, they are in the wrong place, second the two dealing with battles have to little detail, lastly if you have not looked at the illustrations you will not know they are there.

This is the second book I have read on this campaign. I have not improved my knowledge or understanding by reading it.

The author's bio says he's had a 20-year career as an archaeologist and historical interpreter. It should also say he's an extraordinary storyteller.

This book is just terrific: brisk narrative pace, interesting characters, colorful anecdotes. It deals simultaneously with the Civil War's initial clash of arms in the mountains of western Virginia, and the political machinations that surrounded the birth of West Virginia and its entry into the Union as the 35th state.

Western Virginia is the place where Generals McClellan and Lee make their Civil War debuts. It is from these mountains that McClellen emerges as the Young Napoleon, hailed as the Union's savior. McClellen's prodigious organizational skills are clearly evident; for example, he pioneers the use of the telegraph in battlefield communications -- one of a dozen Civil War "firsts" the author cites. But the tendencies that would later cost McClellen his command and sully his reputation in military history already begin to rear their heads: exaggeration of enemy troop strength; battlefield timidity ("he sat there with indecision stamped on every line of his countenance"); a haughty, supercilious manner.

In contrast to McClellan, Lee limps out of western Virginia with his reputation greatly diminished -- undermined by uncooperative mountain weather, poor timing and internecine fueds between political generals that precluded battlefield coordination. It was during the bleak days in western Virginia that Lee grew a white beard, and earned the derisive sobriquet, "Granny Lee."

The western Virginia campaign often receives short shrift in Civil War histories, overshadowed by the larger, bloodier engagements that followed. "Rebels at the Gate" fills the void and does so with an engaging, well-paced narrative. This book is sure to delight anyone interested in the American Civil War.

Written by an archaeologist and historical interpreter of twenty years' experience, Rebels At The Gate: Lee And Mcclellan On The Front Line Of A Nation Divided is a study and evocative presentation of the earliest days of the American Civil War. Presenting a portrait of the fundamental issues and charasmatic personalities so strong that the result was a nation polarized. When Virginia Unionists formed the new state of West Virginia to sustain President Lincoln's war effort and block Confederate control of the territory and a key point of access to the North, Union and Confederate troops led by George McClellan and Robert E. Lee respectively were pit in a severe campaign that set the stage for the long years of bloodshed to come. A gripping and involving narrative of a turbulent time in American history.

Clayton R. Newell covered the same ground as Mr. Lesser some years ago in his classic "Lee vs. McClellan" but what Mr. Lesser has done in "Rebels at the Gate" is take a fine portrait of the bitter, brother versus brother fighting in the hills of West Virginia and turned it into a landscape. He writes movingly of the Rebel General Garnett, who upon taking the West Virginia assignment to stop the Union forces knew he would die there; of little Josie Gordon, the 18 year son of a Union major, who enlisted in the Union Army much against the wishes of his father, and would be found dead on the battlefield by his heartbroken father.

He also writes of spies, of bushwackers like the deadly Nancy Hart, a little spitfire who killed a Union jailer taking her photo, of the various West Virginia politicians who clamored to 'secede' themselves from the Confederacy, and the figures of history, - Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan, Robert E. Lee, and the sarcastic "bitter" (Ambrose) Bierce, whose Civil War experience, which began in West Virginia, had a profound impact on his future writings.

As a previous reviewer has noted, Lesser has a storyteller's gift, but he also knows his history. A worthy work to place alongside the Newell book, if you can still get a copy.

This is an excellent book. Detailed enough to be useful and interesting but not dry, fast paced, it is a well written chronological account of an early period of the war and the many interesting people involved. The author clearly draws the links between actions taken during this period and later in the war. This is more than just another book on the Civil War. Mr. Lesser explains clearly, without bogging down in minutiae, how the political and military circumstances influenced West Virginia's formation.

A long time resident of West Virginia and western Virginia (the Shenandoah valley) and a sometime student of the American Civil War, I happily learned much that I didn't know about some of my favorite places and historical figures. Intrigued, I read this book straight through.

Excellent book with tons of waterfalls. Would prefer having more color photos (some don't have photos at all), but if you're a photographer you can make your own!

Highly recommended for waterfall lovers in the VA and WV region.

Will enjoy planing a trip there to photograph the waterfalls

This is a superb book on Waterfalls especially in West Virginia which has the greatest secret treasure of Waterfalls(over 200) in the country!!This is a great book with beautiful photography!!

This is a very great book to the waterfalls in these to states. I am only 13 and love waterfalls. I have been to only about 20-30 in this book but will go to more. I would also suggest Yellowstone Watewrfalls and Their discovery, Waterfalls of the mid-atlantic states and Michigan Waterfalls. I own all THree and find them very usefull Evan though Yellowstone is a 1,000+ mile drive from Maryland!

I use with book in conjunction with the SNP maps of hiking trails and waterfalls,
and do use the Gazetteer that is referenced.
Directions and trail description are right on, more informative
than what the park service gives you.
I have hiked many of the Waterfalls referenced, and would never
have found some without this Book & Gazetteer.(outside of parks)
I have purchased other books about Waterfalls in VA, and this
is by far the best.
Note-to-self (and others): I just hiked the Rose River Falls
loop that includes the Dark Hollow Falls, in SNP, this past
weekend, 1) "all trailheads that start on SkyLine Drive go downhill",
that means hiking back UP 2) Recommend hiking the loop
in a ClockWise Direction, as when you are hiking back UP the
other side of the loop, you have a beautiful view of the Rose
River and Hogcamp Branch and the many, many cascades of water
over the rocks,as it distracts you from the long hike back up to the parking area. Literally about a mile along the water.