West Virginia Books

The authors practice all the arts of yellow journalism. Present are scare tactics, lots of loaded words and phrases, and accurate but scary facts that are out of context and unrelated to the questions the book is supposed to be about. For instance, that fluorine gas is lethal is has nothing to do with the concerns the book is meant to be about. This is just as stupid as suggesting table salt is bad for you because chlorine gas was used in WWI for killing troops in the trenches.

And there are subtle but apparently intentional inconsistencies that seem to be alarming. Consider the cover photographs with a picture of a non-stick coated cooking pan next to the word "Lethal" in large and contrasting colors. Yet buried toward the end of the early chapter a brief statement that they are not the cause of alarm.

The tactics used in the book are just plain sophomoric and dilute and detract from the seriousness of potential problem. They certainly skewed my opinion about the trustworthiness of the materials presented. There are legitimate public questions about the presence of perfluorinated materials loose in our environment that need answering. This book is worth reading if you've never heard of PFOA or C8, but don't stop reading with this book.

-Not what I expected ..Not enough written text..But some pictures I'd not seen Pretty Good what there was of it...

It's unfortunate that my home state--a state with such a rich cultural history and some fascinating facts and stories could be condensed into such a dry, boring, uninformative book. Most of the things about WV that I was excited to read about weren't even in there. I read a review somewhere that stated it contained "everything there is to know about West Virginia" -- HARDLY! The nepotism and intellectual inbreeding of the state is clearly evident in what was added and what was not added to this "encyclopedia." What is missing is the down in the dirt, REAL history of the state. I'm not sure if they were trying to cast West Virginia in some kind of whitewashed light, or if they are just that naive, but the editors have done us a serious disservice in trying to contain such a wild, beautiful state in this pathetic volume. The only reason I gave it two stars is that it is about my favorite subject, even if it is skewed.

I love all things Fiesta, but this book is terrible. My main complaint is the "quality" of the photographs. They are so grainy-- sort of clear but fuzzy at the same time. And the color is way off. I mistook several pictures of gray Fiestaware for lilac at first glance! So forget about his "comparison" of the greens because it will not help you. What gets me is that any crap digital camera would have done a better job but from the reflections in the dishes it looks like he had a professional shoot the pictures. By the way, I also completely ignored the text (even though it is in LARGE print), since the Huxfords' book and the HLCCA's book cover everything. The bottom line: don't waste your time or money.

First off Fiesta is beautiful, but the photographs in this book are terrible!!! Not one photograph shows an accurate depiction of the subject. Many photographs seem blurred or fuzzy.
Pass this by and get "Fiesta, Harlequin, and Kitchen Kraft Dinnerwares" by The Homer Laughlin China Collectors Association. You will not ne disappointed....unless you purchase Warman's book.

This book is helpful because it contains very general information about Cuba. However, the manner in which the info is presented is questionable since the author's sensitivity about world cultures is limited. The author's perception about Cuban culture, and more specifically subjects like Santeria, seem more indoctrinating to the debilitating effects that stereotypes produce. On page 71, the author writes, "Santeria appeals to many people because it does not have the strict moral sanctions that Catholicism does".
If we are to appreciate and understand a foreign culture like Santeria (from an American perspective), we should judge it on its own terms and not on the borrowings of another culture.
Strict moral sanctions manifest itself in very different ways in Santeria. This and other aspects about Cuba have arisen from a different historical experience, something that the author is highly unaware of.
On Cuba and related subjects, I recommend that people interested in such subjects look elsewhere.

The book is simplistic and much more about the author. There are lots of spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. I did not find the author's life story interesting. It was a boring, pedistrian book,

With no description to go by, I had to assume that the title described the book. Received it, and instead of information about West Virginia SONGS, like the title says, it is a book of poetry - totally not what I wanted. Not a "song" in the book!
Amazon - it would sure have helped me to at least have the one word description of "Poetry" put with this listing!

Somebody please explain to me why college professors are buying into this ridiculous internet hoax, and passing it off as something that actually happened. Earth to Black America: Willie Lynch never existed. Ever. Period. End of story.

I have found a few inaccuracies with some of the statistics and data in this book. I'm not sure if anyone edited the writing before it was published because there are whole sections that really have nothing to do with the topics.