West Virginia Books

If you've ever wondered whether there's a book inside of you, then you should read "The Life Writing Class." I had the good fortune of beginning to read it when I was struggling to write my own book and finishing it after I had the opportunity to enroll in one of John Patrick Grace's Life Writing classes. So I have viewed the process from the inside and the outside, and it's a remarkable thing to behold. The book gives the reader a sampling of the stories waiting to be told by people from all walks of life. In the class, I have seen such people come in with ideas of the stories they want to tell and receive the direction they need to get those stories into print. That first Life Writing class, which produced this book, has led to the publication of five other books with more on the way. One member of the class I was in already has a book in the hands of a publisher and scheduled to be in print in a matter of months. The rest of us are working on ours with a new sense of purpose. Some of us still meet on our own on a weekly basis to give each other support. Not everyone will have a chance to be a member of a Life Writing class, but reading this book will give you a better idea of what's possible.

"The Life Writing Class" is a must read for anyone passionate about personal histories and autobiographies. It would be particularly helpful for someone looking for a jump-start in writing a retrospective of their own. Edited by a masterful writing coach, the book left me feeling as though I'd made 20 new friends.

This book is incredibly inspiring, especially if you're considering writing your own life story. Each of these 26 short pieces takes a unique approach to the task: honoring a distant ancestor/poet, a Christmas Eve that holds the last perfect moment for a family soon torn apart, a funeral procession through the streets of Chicago that rekindles boyhood memories. We see a piece of ourselves in each tale and are stimulated by the different solutions to the puzzle of autobiography: where to start, how to proceed.

The Life Writing Class is also lovingly illustrated with black and white photographs of paintings held in the collection of The Huntington Museum of Art. Clearly reproduced, achingly beautiful, they are the perfect visual metaphor for a book of autobiographical prose: not the light itself, but a reflection of the light. The Life Writing Class is a class act in content, design, and impact. It makes you want to write.

MOVING MOUNTAINS IS A SMART ENCOUNTER WITH THE TRUTH...AND THE TRUTH HURTS. I WAS AMAZED BY 2 ACTS OF PERSEVERANCE AROUND THIS BOOK. THE FIRST BEING TRISH BRAGG AND HER PERSONAL DRILLING DOWN TO THE CORE OF WHAT SAVES A COMMUNITY AND ITS PEOPLE AND SECOND, OF THE AUTHOR, PENNY LOEB, AND HER DRIVE TO STAY WITH A STORY IN THE SMALLEST OF TOWNS WHERE YOU HAD TO WONDER IF ANYONE WOULD REALLY CARE. I DID, JOE LOVETT DID AND TRISH GAVE ME A GREATER APPRECIATION OF THE POWER OF ONE, THE POWER OF A FEW AND THE THE AMERICAN WAY...FIGHTING FOR WHAT IS RIGHT AGAINST THE ODDS. I AM SURE THERE IS A METAPHOR IN SAVING THE COMMUNITIES WELL WATER...I AM JUST GLAD THE TOWNSPEOPLE STILL HAVE WATER TO DRINK. THATS A LESSON FOR US ALL.

The title says it all... "MOVING MOUNTAINS"! It is one thing to be there and share the experience, but it is another to be able to write about it. This is such a wonderful book...the author paints such a vivid picture! I was actually able to capture the heart-felt emotion and put myself within it as though I were there. It is so true when we say that there is strength in numbers, but it was the faith, prayers, and courage of Trish and her community that brought forth justice. I would love to see a movie develop from all of this... it would be a BEST SELLER! If you love to read a book of great quality, buy this one... I promise you wonn't be disappointed. Keep up the good work Penny!!!

Time and again when reading Moving Mountains, I found myself exclaiming, "They can't do that!" The "they" in this case being either the state regulators and politicians that we like to assume are acting in our best interests, or the 300-pound gorilla in West Virginia, King Coal.

By the end of this epic living history, you find yourself wondering if it was really written in the United States, with our cherished principles of rule of law and every man equal, or if Penny Loeb wandered into a Third World country and forgot to tell us. But no - it's all true. Until you see the complete evisceration of the land that is mountaintop removal mining, or see and hear firsthand the wanton abuses of King Coal on the land and the people, it's hard to believe that some of the things in this book actually happened.

But they did (and still are). Loeb relates them in vivid and most excruciating detail, by telling the stories of a small handful of West Virginians who had finally had enough of King Coal's daily abuses, affronts to their dignity and assaults on their health, homes and families. If she has a fault, it is that she tries to be too fair to all sides, which dilutes the power of the opposing viewpoints; and her drive to be all-inclusive of all the individuals and groups involved in the fight against King Coal and for social justice of necessity leaves out or minimizes the roles of some key players (the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition is a good example of the latter).

Moving Mountains is both a gripping, deeply person narrative about the underdog going up against the corporate behemoth, and a cautionary tale about what our nation's insatiable hunger for energy is doing to one state, West Virginia, which truly is becoming America's Energy Sacrifice Zone.

I am a resident of Nevada and read a lot of history. Recently I have read a lot of books on Nevada history, and I must say this is one of the best. Thoroughly researched and footnoted, it covers almost every aspect of Virginia City history, yet is eminently readable. Some history books are too dry and dusty, and you have to plow through them (or give up), but Mr. James' book holds your interest from beginning to end. If you are interested in the history of VC, this is the one to buy!

Mr. James cuts through all of the legends that have grown up around Virginia City and its fabled Comstock Lode to give us a truly outstanding and eminently readable history. He draws together primary and secondary sources, demographic analysis and archaeology to give the reader a broad, yet surprisingly detailed understanding of the Comstock from its humble beginnings, through bonanza and borrasca, and right up to the present day. Highly recommended!!

Thoroughly enjoyed reading each chapter of Mr.James' book. I would suggest it for anyone having an interest in the old West, the mining periods, and personnae of the same, and perhaps just as importantly to gain some insightful information behind the storefornt facades and adits of Virginia City. The author has provided much background behind the legends, pulled down to earth other "legends" and truly given this "tourist site" it's legitmate and historical due. I am anxious to visit the Lake Tahoe area once again and take that little jaunt over the hill to visit a now-less-mysterious Virginia City.

A great read! McLaughlin captures his reader immediately and holds on throughout each story. I especially enjoy the way he writes about the strength of the women in the old west. He has an obvious respect for their trials and accomplishments. Refreshing! I lent my copy to a coworker who took it on her family vacation to read aloud during long rides in the car. She said the entire family enjoyed it (husband and 2 kids - aged 10 and 15) and they're looking forward to reading Volume II on their next trip.

A collection of true tales of the people who made the Sierra Mountains of California so interesting in the last 200 years. McLaughlin has chosen his tales well and shows great skill in crafting them so they are fun to read and informative to boot.

We bought both books after hearing Mark McLaughlin lecture at an Elderhostel in Lake Tahoe. They are short, factual stories brimming with historical information presented in extremely interesting manner. They are as fascinating to read as he is in his lectures and we highly recommend them.

If you are going whitewater boating in the Southeast and you want to buy just one book, then this is it. Monte Smith describes all the best whitewater in the southern Appalachians and he soe a great job of it. The descriptions are both amusing and informative. His TRIP scale is extremely useful, although it defies any brief description here.

I do have a criticism or two. First, Monte makes too many references to his other books. Second, Monte is a little full of himself. The envelope has been pushed far since his hey (sp?) day, and there are many more skilled and significant paddlers out there today. Despite those criticisms, the fact is that Southeastern Whitewater is now THE definitive regional whitewater guidebook for the southeast. There are more comprehensive state guidebooks (Benner's Carolina Whitewater or Corbett's Virginia White Water) but Monte Smith's book covers all the best whitewater in the whole region.

As an intermediate paddler I consider this book almost my bible. The TRIP scale is immensely useful for selecting trips and pre-evaluating what are suitable trips depending on my skills and that of the company I am with. I have found Monte's characterization and ratings of the rapids right on which is rare (example. Benner's Carolina book is excellent but the Tuckaseegee gorge is no class 2/3 river like the Nantahala is). The writing is superb and amusing, each section contains a wealth of information on nearby alternate trips, gradient statistics, length, gauge, etc. along with Monte's comments and injected personality which I found entertaining. The book has a wealth of rapid pictures too which I usually can't find with the exception of W. Nealy's maps and cartoons. Using this book I have been able to plot which rivers I need to become proficient on first. Next to checking the water levels, this is my primary source for plotting an itinerary up to Appalachia.

Southeastern Whitewater describes fifty of the best whitewater paddling trips in the Southern Appalachians, ranging from the Little River Canyon to Big Sandy Creek and located in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. It won't replace Carolina Whitewater, Northern Georgia Canoeing, or other detailed state or watershed-specific books because it doesn't include everything (for example only the Cartecay and Lower Conasauga represent Georgia). On the other hand, it covers the entire southern Appalachians, so no matter where you are in the area this one book will describe something nearby to paddle. Only quality whitewater streams are included, so if it's in the book it's worthwhile doing. None of the trips in the book are appropriate for unaccompanied beginning paddlers. The average difficulty is Class III (IV) (similar to the Big South Fork, Nolichucky, or Ocoee) and about a third of the trips are more difficult than the Ocoee. Finally, Smith only included streams that he had paddled multiple times and knew well, so the detailed trip descriptions are outstanding. Many chapters have at least one full-page action picture of open-boaters doing a signature rapid (for example Julie Keller and Francis Cheung are featured in Entrance Rapid and Diamond Splitter).

In addition to 50 detailed trip descriptions, Southeastern Whitewater introduces the Trip Relational Information Profile (TRIP) rating scale, an elegantly robust new way of comparing rivers on both specific and global dimensions of difficulty. The TRIP scale incorporates and normalizes nine dimensions of stream difficulty, "weights" them, and derives an overall difficulty rating. The nine dimensions include; Difficulty of Rapids, Volume x Gradient Interaction, Average Gradient, Streambed Morphology, Continuousness of Rapids, Maximum Gradient, Total Gradient, Inaccessibility, and Reputation. The 26 pages in Chapter 2 explain the TRIP scales. One-hundred is the average for each item; a 10 point difference is about half again as hard and a 20 point difference is about twice as hard. For example, many of us quickly work-up to the Nantahala (77 overall TRIP points) and become comfortable after doing it several times our first summer of paddling. Indeed, it is common to move right up to the Chattooga Section III (86 points). It's a lot tougher than the Nanty (10 pts or about half again as difficult), but it's usually within range except for the Bull. So... is Section IV a logical progression?. Section IV has an overall TRIP rating of 116, 30 points more than Section III. Whoa!! It's more than twice as hard. Definitely time to reconsider. The lower Tellico (96 TRIP pts) and Ocoee (104 TRIP pts) are more logical areas to become acquainted with first.

More excellent scholarship from all the "usual suspects." The only name I didn't know from the Contents list was Olga Markova, and although her piece was specialized from a Russian perspective, I still found it highly interesting. For the rest, required reading for any serious student of Tolkien. All the articles are well written and mostly free of the liberal arts academic jargon that in my humble opinion cripples so much of university-published literary studies today. I especially enjoyed "Tolkien's Prose Style" by Michael Drout, "Identifying England's Lonnrot," by Anne Petty, and "Do the Atlantis Story," by Verlyn Flieger.

The volume is costly, but when you have it in your hands you will see why. It is beautifully printed and bound, and probably because is a university publication the press run isn't large, thus the expensive per-book price. Still and all, any serious student of Tolkien will want to own this work, and likely the others in the series that come afterwards.

This book is a collection of studies by several different authors on various aspects of Tolkien's work. It covers territory beyond The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. For full appreciation of this collection, a knowledge of The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers (found in Sauron's Defeat) from the History of Middle-earth series are necessary, at the very least. Familiarity with the terminology of grammar and linguistics is helpful. There are references to King Lear, Sir Orfeo, and the Finnish Kalevala. Non English quotations are well glossed. This book is for the serious student of Tolkien's writing style. In spite of its challenges, I found it fascinating and finished all except the Sir Orfeo chapter on the day that I received the book. The 4 star rating reflects the degree to which this is a specialist's book.

In a collection of this quality, it would be difficult to single out even a few of the "best" essays. Just about all of them would be "best" essays in any collection, and to find them all here in one place makes the debut issue of "Tolkien Studies" indispensable.

A few of my own particlar favorites from this issue are the contributions by Tom Shippey, Verlyn Flieger, Anne Petty, Michael Drout, and Mark Hooker. I also really enjoyed Thomas Honegger's and Dale Nelson's short source studies. And in a class all by itself, we have Carl Hostetter's presentation of Tolkien's own edition of the Middle English "Sir Orfeo", a text almost impossible to get hold of prior to its publication in Tolkien Studies. In my view, the volume is worth its cover price for this alone. But when you consider what else you're getting, the price becomes downright economical.

Under The Shade of the Trees is a refreshing look at the background and ultimate creation of one of America's Heros! Not often does history reveal the circumstances behind the man, however in this case you not only get to know Thomas Jackson but even get a chance to relate to his upbringing. Easy to read and and an obvious understanding for historical facts Norman puts a fine touch to a complicated man! Even if you are not a history buff you'll enjoy this one! Well done!

THIS BOOK CONTAINS SO MUCH NEW INFORMATION THAT I HAVE DEVELOPED A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT JACKSON AS AN HISTORICAL FIGURE. IT IS VERY WELL WRITTEN AND OFFERS A SMOOTHNESS THAT IS VERY COMFORTING, ESPECIALLY FOR HISTORICAL INFORMATION...WHICH IS NORMALLY DRY AND ROUGH . THIS BOOK ISNT....YOU'LL BE SUPRISED. I CANT WAIT FOR MR NORMAN'S NEXT EFFORT.

During the Civil War, General Robert E. Lee bemoaned the loss of his "right arm," the famous General Thomas Jackson of Virginia/West Virginia. "Stonewall" Jackson had come upon the scene following a meteoric rise in leadership in the Confederate Army. While many books of Stonewall's generalship exist, little has been written about his youth. Now, a native West Virginian from the Jackson's Mill locale explains how young Tom survived despite being orphaned and shy. Drawing upon Jackson's official biography, his early letters, the archives of the West Virginia Cultural Center, and Jackson's Mill sources, Dennis Norman has reconstructed Jackson's juvenile days. Stonewall and his boyhood friends played under the shady sugar maple trees. The book title, however, is in reference to the general's last words to "...cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees." Jackson's Mill was also like that. Young Stonewall fished, raced horses, performed mill site chores, and planned for his future. His unique life style was already showing and his opportunities only around the corner. Norman details Jackson's first political involvement, his trip to the Ohio River,and how a possible second place score in a West Point exam did not count him out for the appointment. Author Norman treats his own admiration for Jackson with the respect of a researcher, and yet presents an easy reading, interesting true story.

This guidebook to wild flowers in North Carolina has about 500 species illustrated, each with a description and a small photograph of the flower and plant. The guide deserves high marks for the number of species included and the scholarship which went into describing each by location, blooming date, and other information. Brief tidbits concerning medicinal uses, edibiity, and folklore of the plant are included in many descriptions. Indexed are both scientific and common names of each plant.

However, the guide is nearly worthless for the field identification of flowers. There needs to be some sort of key or pattern to help with identification. There seems no rhyme nor reason I can discern with the order in which the flowers are described. It would be a lot better if the flowers were grouped by blooming date and color, e.g. yellow flowers that appear in May should be together as should purple flowers blooming in September.

So, if you want to go into your backyard and identify what is blooming there you will need a field guide, not this book.

Smallchief

Excellent reference book for use in describing flowers growing in North Carolina at certain times of year.

This is a good book to bring along on day hikes. Clear photos and identifying information. It is not about gardening wildflowers.

History students are urged to seek primary sources to discover the excitement of digging for clues to the past. Editor Karen Zeinert's skillful weaving together of the journals and letters of members of the Donner party tells their chilling story from their festive departure from Illinois in April, 1846 through the decisions that led to their tragic 6 month winter in the Sierra Nevadas. Students reading to discover if the tales of cannibalism are true will be equally fascinated by descriptions of a buffal

Although this book contributes little or no previously-unknown information regarding the westward journey and arduous winter in the mountains endured by the members of the Donner Party, it does present the facts in a straightforward and easily-read manner and provides a basic chronology of events. Young readers with a desire to learn about one of American history's most incredible stories of courage and strength will find this a quick read--and, hopefully, will be encouraged to read more about the Donner Party and American historical events. The language found in the source documents, regrettably, has been edited severely--to the point of grammatical accuracy! (I enjoy seeing for myself the horrendous spelling and grammatical mistakes which lend an air of authenticity to many of the other studies of the Donner Party.) The reader should understand that James Reed is shown in a more favorable light than he is in many other Donner books, no doubt, due to the fact that his daughter was the author. Several interesting photographs and illustrations are included, which enhance the appeal of the book. I would certainly recommend "Across the Plains..." to middle school students. I hope it would motivate them to pursue the topic further; the story of the Donner Party is one of the most fascinating in our country's history.

A wonderful guide to places to see & things to do when you want to hop to a nearby area but aren't familiar with it. Takes you off the beaten path to discover interesting-curious-historical places not mentioned on the chamber websites. Offers succinct descriptions to evaluate the fit such a visit is for you and your family.

Incredibly handy for those times when you decide on Saturday that you want to do "something different" this weekend, but have not a clue what are your options. Divided into activities appropriate for each season, the book suggests a wide range of trips around the area, from historic exploring to art appreciation to communing with nature. I had an old version of this book that I lent out and lost, and I loved it so much I'm buying another copy!