Virginia Books

During several summer vactions on Virginia's eastern shore, I've enjoyed researching and piecing together information about this special peninsula. I purchased "Off 13" in a local museum during this summer's vacation and spent a day devouring it. I now consider this my key quick reference book to one of my favorite places. Off 13 provides succinct and accurate guidance for exploring off the shore's beaten path. It also provides fascinating appetizer bits of history for an 'oldcomer'. Simply a wonderful book. It can be purchased at the Cape Charles Museum off 184 in Cape Charles, VA.

But I ask a favor... please don't tell too many people about this wonderous world off the 'mainland.'

Kirk Mariner's book "Off 13 - The Eastern Shore of Virginia Guidebook" offers a highly informative and entertaining guide to an overlooked but tranquil peninsula bounded by the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, not far from the Nation's Capital. Many people know of Chincoteague but may not be aware that the rest of the Virginia eastern shore is well worth exploring. "Off 13" is full of interesting anecdotes and historical information about the area and its many little towns as well as useful and practical information for travellers.

Take this guidebook with you to Colonial Williamsburg, and it's almost like having a private tour guide showing you the high-points, and saving you wasted time getting around.

Buy it as a souvenir, and you'll have the perfect refresher of all that you've seen, with some in-depth information about the buildings and people of the town.

It's important to know that Colonial Williamsburg is, indeed, a living CITY, and there is more than can be seen in one day. The Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg is a valuable tool for that visit.

If you are planning a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, this is the book to have! It includes detailed drawings of each building, shop, tavern, and official hotels in the historic area. This book tells about each point of interest and ticket options. If you want to read up about the historic area before or after your trip, buy this book you won't regret it

This is one of the most useful guides I've ever read. Virginia was host to nearly 1/3rd of all Civil War engagements, and this guide covers them all like a mini-history of the war. Unlike travel books that are organized geographically, this guide organizes them chronologically. Each campaign is prefaced by a detailed overview, followed by concise (from 1 to 4 pages, depending on the battle's importance) but engrossing descriptions of the individual engagements. These descriptions make this a great book to browse through when you're not in the car. Most sites' summaries touch on their condition--whether they're threatened by development (as too many are) and whether they're in private hands or protected by the park service.

But the maps are where this book really stands out. Each battle features a very clear map designating army positions and historical roads, as well as historical markers (the author also wrote the /A Guidebook to Virginia's Historical Markers/), parking, and visitors' centers. Best of all, though, many battles are illustrated with paintings or photographs of the sites, and the point-of-view of these pictures is marked on each map!

If you are familiar with either or both of the two editions of the excellent "Civil War Battlefield Guide", then you should add "The Official Virginia Civil War Guide" to your collection. This book has the advantage than in focusing on about 1/3rd as much of the war, it can do so in far greater depth.

Many small conflicts that don't receive more than a mention in the other guides are prominently and competently presented here. This makes the work a handy reference tool and an interesting read in its own right.

The layout is an improvement over the previously mentioned guides in several ways. Not only is there increased depth, but tactical maps are included for every event covered--rather than just the major ones. In addition, simple campaign maps are also included (something missing in many battle monographs even.) One weakness is that the tactical maps are not overlaid onto topographical maps, so in cases where the guides both have maps the general work is preferable in most instances.

The information on visitor centers, directions, and interesting background is very helpful as well. Also of note, the introduction states that all royalties from the book will go towards preservation efforts in Virginia.

One can only hope that similar works will be produced for other regions. This guide sets a fine standard for others to follow.

I read this book 25 years ago and it is still the best study skills book out there. Every high schooler headed to college should own a copy.

One of the first (if not THE first) appearances of this title, Ms. Voeks' work is concise yet commanding. With a soundly expressed point of view, she offers in this slim volume a much greater reward to her readers than can be found in subsequent, and more emptily-massive, publications with the same or similar title. In it's brief, yet kindly, tell-it-like-it-is manner, her book will be a welcomed -and valued- gift to any young person about to leave "the nest".

While the projects involve time and effort, the end results are beautiful quilted wall hangings that depict the stories of our childhood. These are beautiful artist-quality products that you can recreate for your home. I found the instructions, patterns and illustrations to be very direct and informative.

This is a very hard book to find but it's worth the money. Bonnie Kaster is a master applique artist and has done a fine job with these patterns. I have over 200 quilting books and this one is still THE ONE I choose to show people. If you can't get the book, at least check out Bonnie's other patterns from Sweet Memories. They are equally as stunning.

Full disclosure: Stephen Ausband is my cousin. Having said that, I give you my objective assurance that this book is a small masterpiece.

Outdoors Year Round is in the literary tradition of Izaak Walton and Thoreau, and in spite of its brevity and its stated quotidian purpose, compares favorably to the modern masters of writing about the outdoors - Stegner, McPhee, Peter Matthiessen, Norman Maclean. According to the Introduction, Outdoors Year Round is "for people who need to get outside during every month." That's true: Outdoors Year Round is a practical guidebook of the kind that hunters and anglers along coastal Virginia and North Carolina might carry in the glove compartment or the tackle box. But it's a great deal more, too. Ausband is an altogether accomplished writer, and his setting - the maritime forests and wetlands of the mid-Atlantic U.S. - remains one of the most beautiful and diverse expanses of temperate coastline in the world. The book covers the year in twelve chapters, "January" through "December." Into the local, topical month-by-month where-when-and-how, he has woven closely observed vignettes about hunting and fishing, and a series of moving and humane reflections on the relationship between the natural world and nature-loving hunters and anglers.

In particular, I want to recommend Outdoors Year Round to people who dislike or disapprove of hunting and fishing. The purpose of the book is not at all to address such concerns, and I don't necessarily think that reading this book will change anyone's mind; but I do think people who blanch at the idea of hunting or fishing will find it instructive to consider the love of nature that informs Ausband's text, and the active stewardship of wildlife and habitat practiced by the men and women who populate the pages of his book - the hunting and fishing guides, the proprietors of the bait shops and hunting lodges, and the hunters and anglers themselves.

Dr. Stephen Ausband, a professor at Averett University, is an avid outdoors man who has written a book on
fishing and hunting in costal Virginia and North Carolina. I found the book to informative, entertaining and easy
to read.

Ms. Virginia White's book about Hungary is indeed a valuable edition to the genre, and I congratulate her for this volume and her splendid life.

Virginia White tells two equally engrossing tales in her fascinating new book: that of Hungary as it makes a difficult transition from Communism to western style capitalism and her own personal story full of adventures, mishaps, warmth, wisdom and humor. As a "senior" Peace Corps teacher in Hungary in the early 90s, White was well-positioned to observe the unprecedented turn-around in that country, and her insights into the politics, economics, and society of the time are right on the mark. But it is her talent as an observer of everyday details and her fascinating interactions with her new neighbors, friends, and students that make this book so hard to put down. One looks forward to reading the further adventures of someone who is far from being "over the hill."

The southern states east of the Mississippi were in a territory that was for a long time under Spanish or Indian jurisdiction. By law, only persons issued passports were allowed to enter the southeastern territories, and so the passport records have the largest body of data relating to the pioneers to the Southeastern United States.

Dorothy W. Potter spent eight years doing research in the records of the War Department, the State Department, the archives of the individual states, as well as records of the Spanish and the British in West Florida. So she has assembled a complete collection of the passports and travel documents issued to individuals and families going to the Mississippi Valley area from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Never again can genealogists complain that research in the Old South is hampered by lack of a comprehensive source book, for in this one outstanding reference work there is now a huge and invaluable body of source material at their disposal. No wonder this book was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Tennessee Historical Commission!

"...This is one of the finest reference books we have ever seen."--Winston De Ville, Alexandria (LA) Daily Town Talk

"...Mrs. Potter has made a major contribution to genealogical research in the southern states."--Charles F. Bryan, Jr., Tennessee Historical Quarterly

"May I take a moment of your time to tell you how impressed I am with your Passports of Southeastern Pioneers. It is a model work of genealogical scholarship...."--Letter to the author from Elizabeth Shown Mills

This book was well writing, with many unknown facts on the movement of American families caming to the Southern states. It is a shame that it is out of print.

for my personal favorite of the Sigrid Harald mystery series by Margaret Maron.

Maron makes some quantum leaps with this book...unravels the ongoing tension between MacKinnon and Anne Harald, giving Sigrid some insight, at last, into the career of her father, a detective in the same NYC division that she is now with.

She also perfects telling her tale from several points of view, the most interesting of which is Detective Sergeant Jarvis Vaughn, an interesting potential future partner for Harald.

Lastly, the dual mysteries and deaths in the novel, hit close to home, as someone is killing cops and police dept. civilians. Who the killer is, kept me guessing until it was revealed in the last chapter.

Oscar Nauman plays only a bit part here, and Maron also fades out Tillie, to some extent. The danger to Harald's life, as the murderer is revealed is well drawn and the action scene is memorable.

Past Imperfect showcases all Maron's skills and successfully fills in several gaps in Harald's life. Truly a fine novel, that will hopefully be available in a reprinted version in the near future.

I don't understand why several of the BEST books in the Sigrid Harald series are out of print. For my money, this series is even better than the Deborah Knott series, though I like them both enormously.

To make matters worse, because Sigrid's character changes so dramatically (but believably) during the series, it's imperative that the books be read in order. And "Past Imperfect" includes some critical developments in Sigrid's life.

I regret that I gave away the copy I'd bought used, as my sister is now eager to read it. Given the difficulty in finding copies, and the prices for the used copies, it appears I'm not the only one who wants this book back in print. If you come across a copy - grab it and read it.

I heard about the book and read it with great interest,and passed it on to my son,who was age 19 at the time. We both enjoyed it,and moved on to other interests. The next year, my son traveled by auto to Alaska(from Virginia) and upon his return,he said to me,"Dad, this is a beautiful country,but you can't see it very well from a car. Why don't we go on a bicycle adventure from Richmond to Toronto like that father and son did in "Pedaling Northward" . At the time I was 48 and son was 20, and we were targeting the following summer. I looked him in the eye,and said, "Sounds like a good idea to me." We did it in 12 days inclusive, and 10 days of cycling. We followed the same course as the author until Elmira,NY at which point we headed northwest toward Buffalo and Niagara. We stopped along the way to talk with people Lind had met ,and learned from his mistakes. We were luckier with the weather...it was cool and dry. I recommend the book as a guide for any father and son who want to enjoy the beauty of this country, the power of bonding, and who want to create a memory that will last a lifetime.

This book made me wish my knees were not so creaky. In this time of point-to-point travel (skipping everything in between) it is wonderful to be on the land with this father and son as they make their way north. Their adventures and misadventures have the immediacy of real-life experience. I recommend it to arm chair travellers and bike-seat travellers alike! It is suitable for young adult readers as well as adults. My children loved the audio version!