Park Books

Hansa: The True Story Of An Asian Elephant Baby is a remarkable picturebook for young readers about a baby elephant born in the Woodland Park Zoo. Children will learn that Hansa was 235 pounds when born and by her first birthday had gained almost 800 pounds! Filled cover to cover with true facts about elephants and splendid color photographs from the Woodland Park Zoo, Hansa is very highly recommended for young people who want to learn more about this wondrous, exotic animal species.

Even though this book is really written for older children, my 17-month-old son loves it too! We don't read the words to him, but he loves to look at the pictures and make elephant sounds. As he gets older, I'm sure he'll appreciate the information more, and my husband and I find it very interesting too.

The book is very well written and the pictures are great. I highly recommend it for all ages, especially if you have an elephant fan of your own at home!

Aaron Siskind is one of America's finest photographers and this wonderful book, shamefully out of print, shows his documentary images of residents of the real Harlem in the 1930's. If you are familiar only with Siskind's abstract photographs, these will come as something of a shock. They are beautiful, simple, elegant and filled to bursting with the pride of the people who are the subjects of Siskind's work.

The book contains images from three separate photo projects that Siskind undertook in the 30's for The New York Photo League. They were collected and exhibited by the Smithsonian (National Museum of American Art) in Washington, D.C. in 1991.

The beautifully written (almost poetic) foreword is by artist/photographer/film maker/writer/etc. Gordon Parks and is worth the cost of the book alone. There is also a well-written introduction to the photographer and his work by Marcia Battle and, most impressive is an oral history of eight of the people Siskind was immortalizing, done for the Federal Writers Project, worthy of Studs Terkel.

But it's the photographs that will stay with you: a nattily dressed old man, obviously a performer, waiting backstage for his cue to go on; a young girl, sitting on a milk can instead of a chair, eating a meal with her young mom in their kitchen under the freshly washed laundry which has been hung to dry; Jones Barber Shop (Haircut: 25 cents)comfortably sharing a brownstone on West 132nd Street with the Young Students Interdenominational Minister's Alliance right next door to May's And Johnson's Beauty School; a nude, black dancer performing for white patrons only; the proud owner of Our Own Community Grocery and Delicatessen (Milk 6 cents, Bacon 10 cents) posing in the sun in front of his shop. Every image takes us back to a specific time with very specific people. And in every image Siskind's art is very evident.

This book should not only be put back into print, it should be required in our schools. This is American history beautifully and movingly rendered. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Aaron Siskind is one of America's finest photographers and this wonderful book, shamefully out of print, shows his documentary images of residents of the real Harlem in the 1930's. If you are familiar only with Siskind's abstract photographs, these will come as something of a shock. They are beautiful, simple, elegant and filled to bursting with the pride of the people who are the subjects of Siskind's work.

The book contains images from three separate photo projects that Siskind undertook in the 30's for The New York Photo League. They were collected and exhibited by the Smithsonian (National Museum of American Art) in Washington, D.C. in 1991.

The beautifully written (almost poetic) foreword is by artist/photographer/film maker/writer/etc. Gordon Parks and is worth the cost of the book alone. There is also a well-written introduction to the photographer and his work by Marcia Battle and, most impressive is an oral history of eight of the people Siskind was immortalizing, done for the Federal Writers Project, worthy of Studs Terkel.

But it's the photographs that will stay with you: a nattily dressed old man, obviously a performer, waiting backstage for his cue to go on; a young girl, sitting on a milk can instead of a chair, eating a meal with her young mom in their kitchen under the freshly washed laundry which has been hung to dry; Jones Barber Shop (Haircut: 25 cents)comfortably sharing a brownstone on West 132nd Street with the Young Students Interdenominational Minister's Alliance right next door to May's And Johnson's Beauty School; a nude, black dancer performing for white patrons only; the proud owner of Our Own Community Grocery and Delicatessen (Milk 6 cents, Bacon 10 cents) posing in the sun in front of his shop. Every image takes us back to a specific time with very specific people. And in every image Siskind's art is very evident.

This book should not only be put back into print, it should be required in our schools. This is American history beautifully and movingly rendered. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Another win for RL Stine and his new series. My son and all his friends love these books. They are cool and funny. He can read one in less than a day and they usually have over 100 pages and my son is 8. So they must be entertaining to hold his attention to read in less than a day.

My daughter loves these books. She has read each one. She likes them so much she comes to tell me all about each one. I don't think I have to read them because the amount she tells me there can't be anything left to read.

My husband is from Wyoming. I got this guide to find new things to do when visiting the in-laws. There were sights and activities around his home town that he and his sister had never been to. The recommendations for food and lodging were very good. Some of the businesses are no longer but that is a risk for any printed guide. I was very happy with this guide.

Hidden Wyoming appears in its third edition to provide selective recommendations and reviews of lodgings, sightseeing, and special dining experiences throughout the state. A "user friendly" and recommended pick for destination-bound travelers.

Laurence Parent is a talented and prolific Texas nature photographer whose hiking and camping guides are a staple both on my bookshelf and in my backpack.

In Hiking Big Bend, Parent's keen eye is turned towards one of Texas' largest and most rugged parks, ensuring even the smallest of details, if worthy of note, is shared with readers. A borrowed copy of Hiking Big Bend came with me on a week-long camping trip to the park in October 2001, and upon my return home I purchased my own copy. Though lacking photos, the text serves dual roles as a trail by trail hiking guide and written "memory book", chock full of details about the parks history, geology, wildlife and natural phenomena.

Couple this text with the National Park Service's three-booklet guide to the park's hiking trails, paved roadways and unpaved/offroad trails and you will be set to plan and enjoy your travels in Big Bend National Park.

Big Bend National Park boasts one of the finest hikes in the world: the 12.6 mile loop from the Basin to the South Rim and back again. At the South Rim, elevation 7,300, the views of the Chihuahua desert go on forever with hardly a sign that the species Homo Sapiens exists. At this elevation in the Chisos mountains the vegetation is more reminiscent of the Rocky Mountains than of the desert. There is a thrill too in the signs forbidding children from hiking because of the danger from mountain lions.

This book describes 44 hikes from .2 to 19 miles long in Big Bend National Park and three in neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park. The two parks are remote and immense, totalling together more than 1,500 square miles. The description of each hike includes a map, directions about how to get to the trail head, elevations, difficulty, and hiking traffic, which is light to non existent for most trails. This is lonely country away from a very few public facilities. Water is not available on most hikes in this desert area.

This is a well-written and illustrated trail guide book which is well worth your investment if you plan to visit and hike Big Bend.

Smallchief

This wonderful book is "a must," not just for hikers but also for nature lovers. More than an accurate and detailed guide, the book affords readers lush visual imagery through the descriptions of a skilled writer who, without doubt, loves the trails he treads.

I have been enjoying canoeing, kayaking, and camping in Missouri all my life, but every page of this book told me something I didn't know about my favorite state. This book is guaranteed to make the reader start making trip plans. This is a great gift book because it is a catalyst to further adventure.

After many years of hiking and studying the Grand Canyon, this text was a true delight and an eye-opener. The explanations of the geology associated with each step down the different trails really brings to life the geological history of the Canyon. The book provided new insight on trails that I have been over many times before and has added to my appreciation and understanding of the Canyon. Many thanks to the authors!

I highly recommend this book even if one has no present intention of hiking in the Grand Canyon (though I have to say that, after reading it, I now find it imperative to go there in the very near future). The Introduction and Appendices of this book together comprise the most informative, concise and accessible introduction to a science subject (Geology in this case) I have ever had the pleasure to read. The authors actually make events of the last 4600 million years (!) jump off the page as if they were part of a live action series!

It is rare to find a book which transcends its specific topic as this one does. Even my nine-year old was fascinated by the vivid descriptions of the forming of the major features of the North American landscape, the formation and break-up of Rodinia, Pangea, etc., and the many, many layers of history present (and not present!) in the fantastic artwork the Colo. River has carved for all to experience first hand.

I have not "road-tested" this book for its specific hiking information. However, I can certainly certainly recommend the book based on its geological and earth history content alone.

This book is so inspiring and delivers an indepth peek into the promises of a realtionship with a loving Groom and adoring Bride.
It embraces every fiber of your being and is breath takingly beautiful as the author details every special event. A must read for Christians and Judites as well. I would like for everyone I know to read this book and experience the warm glow of the Ruach HaKodesh. It has helped me to become more dedicated to my relationship with Him in my daily walk.

Finally, I am able to understand the difficult sayings and traditions of Judaism and of Jesus (Yeshua) from reading this book. The parallel between the Hebrew wedding customs and Scriptures fulfilled by Jesus were amazing and such an eye-opener! Every believer who thinks they "qualify" as the bride of Christ should read this book. It prepares you for a deeper relationship for our Heavenly Bridegroom.

These hotels still play their original roles and remain ideal stopovers for celebrating the charm, folklore, rugged settings and history that typify the Rocky Mountains of North America. It is possible to be guest in a hotel that once welcomed such frontier characters as Buffalo Bill Cody, Poker Alice, WildBill Hickok or Calamity Jane.

This is a historical approach to 27 hotels that remain ideal stopovers for celebrating the charm, folklore, rugged settings and history that typify the Rocky Mountains of North America. Included are phone numbers and addresses. Today it is possible to be a guest in a hotel that once welcomed Buffalo Bill Cody, Poker Alice, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and many other frontier characters.

March 18th is the 137th Anniversary of the Paris Commune. All honor to the men and women who fought to the death to defend this first beacon of working class revolution.

When one studies the history of the Paris Commune of 1871 one learns something new from it even though from the perspective of revolutionary strategy the Communards made virtually every mistake in the book. This book by a participant and survivor of the Commune has historically been the starting point for any pro-Commune analysis. The original English translation by Eleanor Marx, daughter of Karl Marx, has given the imprimatur of the Marx family to that view. Although this is heavy reading and requires at least some familiarity with this period of history, the leftist politics of the time and its place in working class history thoughtful students will be justly rewarded.

Through a close study of the Paris Commune one learn its lessons and measure it against the experience acquired by later revolutionary struggles and above all by later revolutions, not only the successful Russian Revolution of October 1917 but the failed German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Chinese and Spanish revolutions in the immediate aftermath of World War I. More contemporaneously we have the experiences of the partial victories of the later Chinese, Cuban and Vietnamese revolutions. I have detailed these lessons of the Commune in other reviews in this space. Check those reviews out.

Notwithstanding the contradictory nature of these later experiences, as if to show that history is not always totally a history of horrors against the fate of the masses we honor the Paris Commune as a beacon of the coming world proletarian revolution. It is just for that reason that Karl Marx fought tooth and nail in the First International to defend it against the rage of capitalist Europe. It is one of our peaks. The Commune also presented in embryo the first post-1848 Revolution instance of what was later characterized by Lenin at the beginning of World War I as the crisis of revolutionary leadership of the international labor movement. So this question that after Lenin's death preoccupied Trotsky for much of the later part of his life really has a much longer lineage that I had previously recognized. Unfortunately, as we are too painfully aware that question is still to be resolved. Therefore, even at this great remove, it is necessary to learn the lessons of that experience in facing today's crisis of leadership in the international labor movement.

As a final thought, I note that in the preface to this edition that the editors have given their own view about the lessons to be learned from the experience of the Paris Commune. Although virtually every page of Lissagaray's account drips with examples of the necessity of a vanguard party the editors' view negates that necessity. While we can argue until hell freezes over, and should, about the form that a future socialist state will take one would think that there should be no dispute on that necessity at this late date in history. In any case read this important work (including the above-mentioned provocative preface) as it tells the tale of an important part of our working class history.

This book is regarded by Marxists as the official history of the Paris Commune. The author, Lissagaray, participated in the Paris Commune and fought on the barricades although, in his own words, he was "neither member, nor officer, nor functionary of the Commune".

Following the fall of the Commune, Lissagaray was one of the lucky ones who escaped the massacre and he spent the next 6 years writing his "History of the Paris Commune." In exile in England, Lissagaray became part of Karl Marx's inner circle. The English edition of "History of the Paris Commune" was translated into English by Karl Marx's daughter, Eleanor Marx, and Karl Marx himself expanded and corrected some of the analysis for the English edition.

(Interestingly enough, although Karl Marx approved of Lissagaray's historical work, he strongly disapproved of Lissagaray personally, and was greatly distressed when his daughter Eleanor became engaged to Lissagaray. Among other books, "Karl Marx: A Life" by Francis Wheen provides a fascinating look at the intense drama this doomed engagement caused the Marx family.)

It is for this reason that the publisher's introduction recommends that for full effect this book be read in combination with Karl Marx's "The Civil War in France". However, having read "The Civil War in France", I think I can safely say that the reading of one is not essential to the understanding of the other by any means, although it is interesting to see occasionally some of the exact same phrases in both books.

I do recommend, however, that Lissagaray's work not be read as an introduction to the Paris Commune. It was written only 6 years after its fall, and as a contemporary history assumes the reader is familiar with many of the names and events in the book, and is seeking only a greater analysis of what happened.

The ideal reader of this book is already familiar with at least the basics of the Paris Commune and its place in history. Some knowledge of the geography of Paris is a plus (although I was able to struggle through without any). The ideal reader is also interested in both military and social history. He or she wants to know exactly what ideological issues divided the members of the Paris Commune as well as what order the barricades fell during the Versailles invasion.

This is not a light read, but for the historically minded willing to put in the effort to engage it, it will yield a wonderful treasure of knowledge that will take the reader directly into the meetings of the Communard government and also right into the thick of the street fighting. It is hard to find a more detailed work on the Paris Commune, and Lissagaray even goes so far as to explore in detail the short lived Communard uprising that rose up in French provinces at the same time, a subject usually neglected by contemporary histories.

The lessons to be drawn from the book are numerous, and the book is just as heavy with analysis as with details. The reader learns very quickly that in Lissagaray's vocabulary being called a "leftist" or a "liberal" is not a compliment. Right from the September 4th republican revolution, where Lissagaray begins his history, he shows how the left had no courage at all, and the men who claimed to represent the Paris working people (Louis Blanc, Leon Gambetta) consistently betrayed them. This theme is carried throughout the book, and Lissagaray demonstrates again and again how the left not only abandoned the people, but also the bourgeois liberal representatives in Versailles actively supported many of that government's atrocities.

However if the bourgeois left is crucified in Lissagaray's writings, the radicals and representatives of the Paris Commune do not always come off better. Although an obvious partisan of the Paris Commune, Lissagarary's purpose in writing was not to enshrine the members of the Paris Commune in revolutionary saint hood, but provide an unflinching look at where they erred. As Lissagaray writes in his introduction, "The child has the right to know the reason of the paternal defeats, the Socialist party the campaign of its flag in all countries. He who tells the people revolutionary legends, he who amuses them with sensational stories, is as criminal as the geographer who would draw up false charts for navigators."

Some members of the Paris Commune are criticized more than others. Most of Lissagaray's venom is directed against Felix Pyat and Gustave Cluseret. Felix Pyat is shown as a loudmouth who is more concerned with scoring points against his political rivals inside the Paris Commune than protecting the revolution against Versailles. In fact Lissagaray lays the blame for most of the divisions among the Communards at the feet of Pyat. At one point in the book, another member of the Commune tells Pyat, "You are the evil genius of this revolution."

Cluseret, charged with the defence of the Commune, is portrayed as being incredibly arrogant and criminally negligible, and personally responsible for many of Versailles early victories.

Other members of the commune are treated with much more respect, (although no one completely escapes criticism). Charles Delescluze emerges as one of the heroes of the commune, and his heroic death on the barricades is reported with great reverence and apparently even witnessed by Lissagaray himself.

The great tragedy of this book, also emphasized again and again by Lissagaray, is that the Paris Commune did not have to fail. If the Commune leaders had been able to better defend Paris, or if the Commune uprisings in the provinces had been better organized, the revolution could have succeeded. It was not for lack of popular support, either in Paris or in the provinces, that the revolution failed, but as a result of first the leftists betraying the people, and secondly the radical leaders bungling the task.

The last third of the book is dedicated to the fall of the commune, the mass execution of the communards, the kangaroo trials of the survivors, and the fate of the exiles in New Caledonia. The vicious cruelty of the bourgeoisie displayed here in these chapters almost has to be read in its entirety to be appreciated. Lissagaray shows very clearly how little the life of the working poor is worth, and contrasts the moderation and humaneness of the Commune with the massacres sanctioned by Versailles. The Commune did execute 62 hostages, but this was an act of desperate mob fury not sanctioned by the Commune government. The Versailles government engaged in a planned systematic massacre of the proletariat of Paris. Lissagaray also demonstrates how the priests and nuns of Paris approved and aided in this massacre.