Peter Books

This is a must buy book for all Bahai's. When I first bought it I couldn't put it down. The missing link in any library. The information is accurate and concise. It would take you years to compile this information. Don't wait, get one as soon as possible. You will be overjoyed at the vast information included in this book. Should have had this book 30 yrs. ago.

This is an extremely useful and handy reference book for students of comparative religion, the Baha'i Faith, Middle Eastern studies, Islamic studies, etc. The categories are excellent, the research excellent, and the topics are written extremely well. In addition to fine historical biograhies, this brief book covers a diverse array to topics associated with the history, theology, ethical and moral stances related to the Baha'i Faith. Contemporary issues, social and historical issues, theological controveries, all are in this book as well as the nature of Baha'i administration, social organization, scriptural descriptions, relations with other religions, etc. It is an excellent book and useful to academics and students of the Baha'i Faith. Objective and informative, respectful and accurate, and briefly written this book stands as a good beginning for a series of volumes on the Baha'i Faith. I strongly recommend it to everyone.

I have been impressed by the clarity and eloquence of the short essays under such difficult to describe topics as "the soul." The references to primary works where the reader can find more information are accurate and easy to use, although the Encyclopedia itself does an admirable job of answering most of the questions I've had. It is richly illustrated, with an easy to read type.

Over the past year, for a project I've read a wide variety of encyclopedias on religious movements, religious issues, and religions in general. Out of more than 20, Smith's encyclopedia is certainly the best. Unlike some volumes of the "Concise Encyclopedia of X" series, Smith has reasonably detailed entries, ranging from a paragraph to several pages. The articles themselves are very clear and well-written, with suggestions for further reading. The articles cover an enormous range of personalities, doctrine, and history of Baha'i. Fascinating.

This Encyclopedia covers a HUGE variety of topics. History of the faith, central characters, daily life practices, stances on topics from abortion to burial practices.

For most, Charles Dickens is the only source we've encountered regarding the awful human misery of the early industrial revolution. However, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx reported on it, too. Indeed, most of their criticisms were far more applicable to the raw capitalism of contemporary England than their native Germany.

Engels stayed in Manchester, the premier industrial city of the time, during the early 1840's to research his book. And he produced a devastating indictment of the truly miserable and life-threatening living conditions he found. Unlike Marx, Engels had a pronounced flair for writing; he makes it a fascinating, eye-opening journey back through time.

The topics he includes cover: struggling labor movements, the denigrating effects of immigration on domestic workers (due to competing subsistence-cost labor), the ignorance and crippling of child workers, the sexual exploitation of women workers, the displacement of male heads of household by lower-cost and more pliant women/children, the unbelievable filth and subhuman housing conditions workers endured, the dangerous and unhealthy working conditions of miners/factory workers, rampant substance abuse, doping of children by babysitters, the total lack of legal redress for the poor, the displacement of labor by machinery, and the role of unbridled competition in perpetrating economic distress.

While we all know communism has failed, its rise was due to these very real and serious problems, some of which remain with many Western workers today. And most of these conditions do very much persist in emerging economies right now. So, even though the book is well over 150 years old it is still highly valid!

The main fault of course with Marx/Engels' communist philosophy is that ALL humans are greedy and lazy - it's just that the clever ones (whether they originate from 'bourgeous' or 'working' classes) will always exploit the others. And it doesn't matter whether the system is capitalist or communist - those at the top will always exploit those below for personal advantage. Probably the best response has been the progressive social reform in Western nations over the last 100 years. (Revolutions and dictatorships usually only lead to mass murder.)

This chilling book is the real-life Oliver Twist exposed.I think Fredrick Engels wrote this book,in part to clear his conscious.And largely, to shed light on the fetid ,wretched underbelly of the 19th century industrial-age society.The nameless toilers working ten to twelve hour shifts,in a factory operation they had no vote or control over.Marx and Engels had many valid arguments for improving the workers lives.Did their end-results justify their means of social revolution? Engels would be amazed at the former textile towns,like Manchester,absorbing the large influx of Asians,Moslims and Africans today.It is still being debated,whether history has proven Engels & Marx right.This book is still a historical classic,thats presumptive findings give the modern reader,reason to pause. So,look all around you. -A Great Book !

Fabuous book. Engels wrote this when he was only 24- and what a tour de force.

The work is detailed, beautifully observed and elegantly written. Despite the depressing nature of the subject matter, the tone is always possible about a better world beyond the evils of capitalism.

Unfortunately 150 years after this masterpiece was written things dont seen to have gotten better under capitalism. Rather, the old evils of poverty, infectious diseases, starvation have been replaced by the modern evils of capitalism: obesity, alienation, mass materialism, depression, plunging fertility and marriage rates and so on...

Engels was the engine behind Karl Marx, one that gave him all the support he could, so to permit Marx to dedicate himself almost completely to the completion of his works. Judging himself many degrees bellow Marx in terms of intelect, Engels nonetheless is capable of writting a book such as this which describes all the impoverishment of the working class in the beginning of the industrialization in England, being helped by some well porputed factories labor fiscalization agents who allowed Engels to flip trough their reports. Strong terms like "the dark satanic mills" describe fully what were the working conditions of the time in a so rich country as England. An historical document lest no one forget what can happen again if the free hand of capitalism is allowed to run free of any barriers.

Friedrich Engels' classic "The Condition of the Working Class in England" was written when he was only twenty-four, and had but recently abandoned his Calvinist upbringing for a more critical, socialist, point of view. Yet this book reads as if it were written by an experienced political commentator or a radical sociologist, without actually at any point becoming melodramatic or dense.

Engels' main purpose is to confront the bourgeoisie with the reality of their mode of production and to contrast this with the rhetoric of "free choice" and "civil liberties", as well as the capitalist apologia of the political economists of his day, in particular Andrew Ure. With great insight into both the causes and effects of the capitalist system, Engels catalogues the endless want, filth, despair and misery experienced by millions of labourers every day in 19th century England. He pays attention to housing, to factory safety, to unionism, to the physical condition of the workers, to alcoholism, the state of the Irish underclass, to prostitution and disease; in short, all the ills attendant on industrialization.

What gives this book such power is that Engels on the one hand proceeds in an analytical manner, making use above all of sources from the bourgeoisie itself and from Parliamentary reports, in explaining the functioning of the capitalist system and the competition between capitalists and between labourers. On the other hand, he writes in a particularly readable manner and at no point bores the reader with the mere summing-up of statistics. On the contrary, every analytical truth is accompanied by a vivid description, taken from Engels' excursions into working-class neighbourhoods, of the terrible state of humanity that the economic laws of capitalism cause for a great number of people.

For those interested in political economy, it may come as a surprise to see how much of the functioning of capitalism Engels already understood at such an early point in the development of theory. This gives the lie to the many theorists who would later claim that it was Marx only who worked on economics and that Engels was a mere epigone; this book should be a vindication of Engels. His later sketches of the political economy and of the historical development of capitalism would lay the foundation for both the Communist Manifesto and Marx' economic works. But the core insights that would create the modern theory of socialism are for the first time fully expressed here, and in a most appealing and shockingly effective manner.

In other words, an absolute must read for every person of intelligence.

John O'Hara wrote "A Rage to Live". Author Peter Wood lived the rage. It fueled his left hook to the finals of the New York Golden Gloves and is just as potent in his first-person prose, making his memoir, "Confessions of a Fighter, " a corrosive, unsparing, compelling read - a 213-page primal scream.

Mr. Wood is a muscular storyteller.

What Wood's books are screaming for is the prequel, revealing more about how he, exploding with anger, jumped into the ring to wrestle with phantoms, real and imagined. Confessions of a Fighter asks the yet unanswered question, "what drove this guy to the ring for redemption?"

Told with compassion and honest insight, such stories need a telling in this time of so much legitimate anger at leaders who are plundering time and resources that need be put to addressing the environmental catastrophe that is in process. The planet needs the care from us just as we need it from each other, if we are to survive. In the personal struggle for survival can be the roadmap for collective survival.

The powerlessness that so many of us feel in not seeing done what must be done is anger-making squared. A more extensive Wood narrative of his youth would be a microcosmic tale of similar frustration and futility, shedding greater light on what drove him to slam fists into the bodies of brothers. However violent, ironically it stands as an act of hope, a desire to break through. It is both a cautionary tale and a story of redemption, as the earlier books bear out. A would-be great trilogy, for sure.

Read the Wood books in print already with a broad eye toward a universality that embraces larger and very contemporary challenges from which none of us can escape. A ring we must all step into is beckoning. Come on, Wood, where's the prequel?

This is a great book about mood and atmosphere, a book for boxing junkies and spectators, a book about smelly gyms and tense suburban dining rooms, a great read for anyone who has suffered the ups and downs of adolescence and ached for the wonderful release of revenge. The prose is exacting and unexpected - witness the mood that liberates the author on the brink of the first round, when " [the bell rang and]..the icy snowball in the pit of my stomach burst and my mind floated away serenely, like a butterfly." Muhammad Ali's rhymes have been downgraded accordingly. The characters are drawn but never overdrawn. The fight preparations and realities are elaborated in painstaking detail. The reader learns the psychology of the boxers as well as their physical and tactical weaknesses and strengths. The protagonist is all but unique - not from "Hell's Kitchen" but from the seemingly well-protected middle class world of Robert Redford's "Ordinary People." This book surprises continuously, never allowing the reader to settle in comfortably, just like a good fight.

I enjoyed your book as it took me back 35 years to Buffano's gym, you had me fooled Pete, I thought you were a tough Jersey City street kid, well you fought like one anyway. Your book reminded me of being a part of the boxing family;it's funny how boxers can beat each other up, but at the same time share a brotherly bond. In your book you spoke of praying for yourself and your opponent, that it would be a good fight for the fans and that neither would get hurt. I prayed the same prayer before each of my fights. God always came through.
Keep punching,
Willy Capuano

Confessions of a Fighter: Battling Through the Golden Gloves is the autobiography of boxer Peter Wood, from his turbulent home life amid a stepfather who verbally abuses him and half-siblings who compound his misery, to his decision to literally start training to fight back in a crumbling local gym, to his astonishing ascent to the finals of the New York Golden Gloves Championships in 1971. A visceral, tell-it-like-it-is view of the rigors of training, the heart-stopping fear of losing a fight, and the moment of truth and clarity experienced before tens of thousands of riled-up spectators, Confessions of a Fighter is an absorbing read from cover to cover. Especially recommended for boxing fans, and also for anyone contemplating the long, hard, and painful road to fighting championships for themselves.

This is the most clearly written book I could find on dust collection. The author makes it very clear that dust is dangerous to your long term health and then concisly states through pictures and words how to help you make woodworking a life long experience. I highly recommend this as a first and maybe only book on dust collection.

When someone asks you a riddle, it is complex in trying to find an answer. Once you find it, or someone gives it to you, it seems so obvious, you may blurt out, "I knew that" Well that is what the author has done with every aspect of controlling dust in the workshop. This guy knows it so well, that he has reduced it to simplicity. No guesswork in his approach. He states it, and that is the end of it. It is a highly recommended read. No nonsense, simply put, this is the way to put the best dust collection system together.
Here is what I decided to do, after reading the book. Although the author recommends a cyclone dust collector, I am purchasing the JDS Dust Force, with the 1 micron kit, (be sure and get the optional 1 micron kit) and a Woodstock International separator. The price of doing it that way is one third of the cost of the a cyclone unit. Home made units can be made, and he points the way on how to do it, but I would prefer to not have to build one, since I have enough projects to do already. His penchant for the cyclone unit, is that chunks of wood, or even worse metal, won't be dancing off of the fan blade, which could cause a spark. The only thing that arrives at the cyclone filter is a little powder. Additoinally their isn't any vacuum loss with a cyclone, due to resistance. Well the JDS Dust force delivers more air at 1200 CFM, so the small amount of resistance created by the Wookstock International pre separator is of no consquence. Additoinally it prevents anything other than fine powder getting near the fan blade and filter as well.
Since the popular Oneida 2HP cyclone unit only gives you 1100, and their 1.5HP is rated for 750 as I recall, and at three times the cost.
This book gets into everything you need to know, to set up a complete system. In addition to the book, I noticed at the Onieda-air.com site, they had a sample room layout, with the proper pipe sizes etc. Proper sizing and layout, will give you the right amount of performance, and in proportion for the varying needs of different types of tools.
I guess I am getting a little wordy. Buy the book. It will save you way more than the purchase price in your quest for the dust free shop.

I like this book because for one the photos are very clear and in color. All too often woodworking books come with drawn pictures or black and white photos, which I hate. One of the best things I like about this book is Rick Peters shows you how to make simple dust collection hookup for each of your machines. I already made 2, which work great. The only thing I disagree with is the fact he tells you not to use PVC for your ducting. I live in a humid climate so static electricity is the least of my worries. This topic has been debated to death, and I guess Rick is on one side of the debate, but PVC is so much easier to work with and more readily available. Plus it is [less expensive]. All in all this is a fine book.

This book could save you life. Dust can be very dangerous. This book will more than pay for it's self when you decide to collect that dust instead of breathing it. The book is aimed a small commercial or home workshop. My family joked and laughed at me for buying a book about dust. After looking over the book, my son said it is interesting, and he was glad i bought it. I am just about finished with the instalation of a dust collection system in my shop. I used a lot of great input from this book. Peters recommends metal pipe over PVC. I have a friend who has a nice PVC system, and will be replacing the PVC with metal. In the past I had a large commercial DC system that worked very well. I expect this smaller system will work well too.

I ordered this book before setting up my 1000 sq/ft shop. It really cleared up a lot of things. I was considering buying 2 of the popular (Jet or Delta) bag collectors... one for each end of my shop.

However, after reading the book, I decided this would be a cheaper way to go, but not a better way. I ended up buying a cyclone unit and using all metal ductwork. More expensive, but safer and much more efficient.

Having re-read this volume after a ten-year hiatus, I would heartily subscribe to the five previous reviews. There are no "gaps" in Fr.Rohrbach's step-by-step instruction for meditation ("mental prayer"). The language is "classic" college-level sentence structure and logical lead-ins.
"Mental prayer," writes St.Teresa, " is nothing other than an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation WITH HIM BY WHOM WE KNOW OURSELVES TO BE LOVED." (emphasis mine)
With the clear guidance of Fr.Rohrback's book, the reader is sure not to be cheated of THAT KIND of friendship and conversation offered by Teresa. But it presupposes the same determination and perseverence which she herself had to learn in her quest for the Beloved.
As an aside, I need to connect this book with another (see Amazon.com reviews): He And i, by Gabrielle Bossis. I believe this volume is pure gift to our hectic, distractive, fast-paced age, just as Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ was in a vastly slower age. He And i delivers, ON EACH PAGE, through "the joy of hearing My Voice", that experience of intimate friendship (and invitation for conversation) which, I believe, Teresa is talking about, and which Fr.Rohrback so carefully, methodically, serenely, and thoroughly spells out.
My wife and I have "lived from" He And i for ten years, rendering Fr.Rohrbach's step-by-step menu perhaps OVERLY explanatory. However, for the beginner, or for the more scholarly and methodical minded, Conversation With Christ is a sure bet. Each and every path to communion with Christ is an eternal treasure begun in time. Fr. Rohrbach's is no exception.

Superb, practical, deep, non-fanatical. Opens vistas unimagined.
Christian meditation and prayer at its finest, not always begging for things, but adoring, knowing, becoming one with Christ.
Ends the dryness of the spiritual life.
And it is not hard either.

An explanation for everyone of St. Teresa of Avila's teaching about personal prayer, especially the prayer of meditation, which she calls the "royal highway to Heaven." Though a mystic, St. Teresa was an eminently practical person, and that quality imbues her approach to prayer - and this book. Filled with saintly wisdom. Easy to understand. Highly recommended by Fr. Dubay, author of "Fire Within".

As a lay Carmelite, I think this book really gives you an accurate idea of how to meditate well on Christ and shows the basics of meaningful prayer with Jesus. I was really impressed with the various methods and examples given. I would highly recommend this book to postulants of the third order and those like myself, who truly wish to deepen their conversation with Christ.
Well written and excellent tips... truly a classic!

I was a young high schooler, being drawn by God into a life of greater awareness of God's love for me. This was my first "manual" in what the author calls meditation, but which would classically be called mental prayer or more simply, prayer.

This volume grounded me. It helped me to move from a self-centered mysticism into a human being blessed to find his life re-immersed daily in the life of Jesus Christ. The "Conversation with Christ" that one is drawn into through the teachings of Teresa of Avila leads to frequent repentance, regular returning to the Lord, ongoing petition to be more and more available for the uses Jesus has for us, even into old age.

The conversation never ends. Of course, it looks so different to me now than it did as a teenage. The secret is to never stop talking to Jesus, except when he invites you to.

I have bought the new edition. It is the same as the 1956 edition except for a 1980 preface. I read it now as a primer on ways to talk to others about prayer.

While in graduate school in Australia I happened in a pub (which is not extraordinary in itself) and got to talking with the bar-tender. It turns out that he was a student at the Univ. of Queensland too and was getting his MA in German. I told him how much I enjoyed Nietzche, who was the focus of his thesis, and eventually we got around to Eckermann's Coversations. I told him it was one of the best books that I had ever read: so quaint and yet probing. The reader sits in the drawing room and hears the most extrodinary discussions. In this way it reminds me of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. It is so civilized that it is almost nostalgic--but far too potent for that due to the genuis involved (Eckermann's mind ain't to shabby either). The newly made friend expressed amazement that an English major happened on this book; he said that I had been the only person outside the German dept that he had met that had ever read the book, or even heard of it (and this in a much more literate country than here). This is truely a shame we agreed. Ease-drop on a better time when scholars were gentleman, and in search of the truth not some PC BS, and were enamored with ideas. Goethe's Maxims is also highly recommended--as Faust and his other better known works. A Western classic, like the subject.

Here Goethe shares his opinions on drama, poetry, music, painting, philosophy, and prominent figures of the day.

What makes this book so much better than a mere interview is that instead of getting a load of useless answers in response to imbecilic questions, we get impromptu pearls of wisdom, straight from the master, interspersed among stretches of his daily life.

Eckermann is a master biographer here, because he's close enough to the subject to elicit candor, but not so close that he is oblivious to the subject's flaws. Furthermore, he was adept enough to get the old man to speak at length with almost no questioning at all!

I won't say any more, because words just can't do it justice.

I love Goethe's creative works and his scientific theories, but most of all I love this book. I travel with it, look in it for advice and conversation. As an artist Goethe was incomparable; as a scientist he was curious, alive, observant, questioning -- but as a man who lived a life with a conscious intention to make his life a work of his own mind and heart he is the master and that master is found in the pages of this book. When I need a wise friend, I turn here and find, beside the wisdom, a silly person who thought spectacles were an affectation, an attempt on the part of someone to be something he was not. . .

For those who do not know anything about Goethe at all, 'Conversations' may not be a good place to start - but for those who are a little familiar with Goethe, 'Conversations of Goethe' makes for fascinating reading.

Very rarely do we have the life of a genius so well and closely documented. This book is not a record of formal interviews; it is a record by Eckermann, Goethe's good friend, who took the trouble to write down the great man's words almost every day, it seems. The book reads like a diary of Eckermann's, filled with Goethe - there is one entry for almost every day for a few weeks, then a break, and so on.

Eckermann seems to have written down almost everything he remembered from his conversations - and some of what Goethe said here may be edifyong, some not so much; but all of it is significant for one trying to get an insight into Goethe's mind - how it worked, how he thought, how he did things - right from the grand projects down to the simple pleasures.

One comes away from this book with an "insiders glimpse" of the Goethe's mind and world - and that really helps when reading his works.

The idea of Goethe as the complete, the perfect man, the universal genius - sticks with the reader years after reading this book. We live in an age when the really good things do not matter; Goethe reminds us of all the things that can, and do matter - and those things that can refresh, change, and enliven.

Nietzsche called this "the greatest book in German there is".

J.P. Eckermann meets J.W. von Goethe, while the Great Poet is in his 70's thought still spry in mind and producing some of the world's greatest poems (West-Eastern Divan) and, of course, Part II of Faust. Eckermann is to Goethe as Boswell was to Dr. Johnson. He chronicles his conversations with the German sage, who in these wondrous pages, reveals his mind-blowing, jaw-dropping multi-disciplinary genius...the likes of which has not been known since his death...and the lack of which may be leading us all to ruin.

It is a delightful book, which unfortunately due to our provincial focus on all things in English, has very limited popular appeal. Nevertheless, I encourage any with an interest in a grander time when men discussed, without ridicule art, architecture, drama, and les belles lettres, to read Eckermann's conversations with Goethe. After learning from Eckermann about this great man, you may consider the motto, that I often invoke...What Would Goethe Do?

Yes, Bowen is a racounteur, saving the history of the Metis, sharing passion for the land, and telling a taut mystery. Then is the account of one of his daughter's thirteen little children taking down the imported FBI man -- then proposing to him. But also the confrontation of ecologists and those at peace with the land with which they try to earn a living. Du Pre says, "The wrong ones get killed."

Read the series for all the above reasons.

The Montana mysterys are going to keep you guesing all through
the books. Cruzatte and Maria is probly the most fun to read.
When you read one of Peter Bowens books you will be hooked!
I just wish they were all on audio!

Peter Bowen has been writing his tales of Gabriel Du Pre, a Metis Indian, master fiddler, detective and righter-of-wrongs extraordinaire for some time now. Du Pre, his mate, Madelaine and his many dear friends in Toussaint, Montana have acquired a loyal following during that time. Bowen's new book, "Cruzatte and Maria" is his finest yet, and will greatly please all readers, new and old.

When Du Pre's old friend in the FBI, Harvey Wallace, asks him to look into a series of disappearances in the White Cliffs area of the Missouri River Gabriel is troubled and refuses to become involved. Residents of that area, mostly ranchers, have been under continuous attack by environmentalists and encroachment by yuppie wilderness seekers. Du Pre understands the ranchers' struggle and senses an underlying, irresolvable tragedy.

Unfortunately, Du Pre's is unable to maintain his distance. His daughter Maria has returned to Toussaint with her boyfriend to help with the making of a television special on the Lewis and Clark voyage. Maria is descended on both sides from the four Metis Indians that accompanied the adventurers and Gabriel is dragged into the production as a consultant and advisor. Naturally, the movie is to be filmed on the banks of the Missouri, in the same location as the disappearances. Gabriel smells a set up, but concedes gracefully (actually he curses a lot) and undertakes both missions. As the story progresses Du Pre's worst fears and greatest hopes are realized. Metis life and history, politics, Hollywood and the rancher's struggle for recognition and independence mix together in a heady, sometimes disquieting, stew.

Bowen is an absolute wizard with characters. Not only Du Pre, but many other characters come brilliantly to life, even in the short space of this novel. Bart, Du Pre's billionaire friend and Benetsee, the mad/wise holy man who drives Du Pre crazy with riddles stand out. A new and special character is Pallas, one of Du Pre's eleven grandchildren. She will totally charm the reader with her seven-going-on-thirty attitude and her sharp, accurate tongue. The ranchers, members of the movie company and countless bit players are all unforgettably painted.

Perhaps the best thing about Bowen's writing is his insight into the Metis Indians. They are a tribe mostly forgotten to American and Canadian history, who played a great part in the fur trade in Canada and Montana. As a multi-tribal mixture of indigenous, French and Scottish blood they have had great difficulty gaining recognition as an independent culture. The are strong folk, with a rich musical tradition and an indomitable spirit. Bowen's Metis are people of great character, wry, fun loving, and deeply respectful of their people, their friends and the land they live on. Bowen captures their language and dry sarcastic wit perfectly. The reader will leave "Cruzatte and Maria" delighted to have spent time with these remarkable people.

Du Pre's daughter Maria comes home from school with her boyfriend Ben who is the assistant director on the movie being made on Lewis & Clark. Maria asks Du Pre to be the historical consultant on the set and Du Pre reluctantly agrees. Harvey Weasel Fat asks Du Pre to check into the disappearances of several people at the White Cliffs area of the Missouri River. These two tasks come together and make for murder.

The local residents don't like newcomers and somebody is making sure that strangers don't stay. Two environmental journalists are found in the river and it doesn't look like it was an accident. Du Pre must find out who is doing the killing before anybody else gets hurt.

Peter Bowen does an excellent job bringing out the local customs and mannerisms of the Metis people. Du Pre is an offbeat but thoroughly engaging sleuth. Makes you maybe want visit for a while.

"Cruzatte and Maria" is basically a replay of Bowen's earlier "Wolf, No Wolf," where the noble ranchers are pitted against the eco-ninnies, and in this book, the Yuppies who putter up and down the far reaches of the Missouri in their canoes and stinkboats. The local residents defend their rural stretch of the Missouri against all intruders, and shoot a couple of guys who were actually writing a pro-rancher, anti-ecoNazi book. This is where Harvey Weasel Fat Wallace, the Blackfeet FBI guy calls on Du Pré to find the murderer.

Another FBI guy, Ripper sums up the plot:

"These people out here have had it, basically, with the twentieth century, and who can blame them? But potting passing canoe paddlers is, and I must make this perfectly clear, like the late Tricky Dick, not going to be the protest of choice. It's illegal. It's also wrong."

Everyone leans on Du Pré in this book, including his daughter Maria. She persuades him to help a group of filmmakers (her boyfriend is the assistant director) who are shooting a documentary about the Lewis and Clark expedition. As it happens, Maria and her father are Métis descendants of the fiddler, Cruzatte who was a member of that famous 1805 expedition.

Even Du Pré's long-term mistress Madeleine gets into the act, and tricks her man into trying on glasses:

"`Du Pré,' said Madelaine, `I think you maybe got eyes like a hawk, see things far away, up close you got eyes like a pocket gopher.'

"Du Pré grunted.

"`Put a bead on that ...needle,' said Madelaine.

"Du Pré picked up a bead, poked the needle at it, and missed.

"...'Okay, Du Pré,' said Madelaine. `You try these on, yes.'"

Madelaine whips out a bag of dime-store reading glasses and Du Pré is made to realize that he hasn't seen her face or her beadwork in years. The dialogue in this book is up to Bowen's best standards, and I love these scenes between long-time friends. The author telegraphs just enough information to give us readers a warm, fuzzy sense of involvement.

The scenes I don't like usually take place in a bar, where the ranchers gather to literally and metaphorically bash guitar-playing, expensively-attired Yuppies, eco-Nazis, and film-makers. Too much drinking. Too much smoking. Too much high cholesterol. Too much violence. Bad for sensitive Yuppie stomachs like mine. Don't read this book if you have the flu.

Otherwise, read it. "Cruzatte and Maria" is the latest in Bowen's excellent, tough-love series of not-so-hard-to-figure-out mysteries.

Thanks for the quick shipping! The book is in perfect condition as described.

A great read filled with colorful illustrations & all the usual excitement you'd expect to find in a troll adventure. Of course, there is also a beautiful princess to be rescued. I don't know why Amazon lists the reading level as "baby, pre-school"!!! No baby or pre-schooler would sit through the first page. Maybe the illustrations would interest that group, but the amount of reading is far too lengthy. As a "read alone" book, I would say it is best suited for grades 3 and up.

As someone who is trying to cultivate a love of literature AND a lengthy attention span in my homeschooled children, I *did* purchase this for my pre-schooler and he sat happily through the entire book (3 evenings worth of reading for us). The d'Aulaire illustrations were, as always, engaging, soft, and encouraging to the child's imagination. Detailed without taking over the telling of the tales. Basically, it covered all of my criteria to be purchased: well written and if it has illustrations they need to be worthy of the story and worth looking at.

The down side to this book is that it is in some ways a long treatise on trolls that happens to include some stories as examples. This means that your child ends the book having been exposed to a lot of the folk beliefs of Scandinavian trolls, with a limited number of stories, and that it doesn't simple cut-off points for bedtime reading. On the other hand, it means it is a book worth revisiting as a child grows older; in our case so our children will be versed in the folklore and belief of their ancestors. A simpler bedtime book with lovely woodblock illustrations would be Lise Lunge-Larsen's "The Troll with No Heart in His Body." It is a collection of the stories with very brief intros that can be included or omitted according to the moment (at bedtime with my pre-schooler I tend to leave them out; when reading during the day I am more likely to include them).

I'm not really suggesting one book over the other. In a search for either cultural literacy or multiculturalism, both have their place and are both well told, well illustrated and will add to your child's imaginative landscape.

My grandsons loved this book. The illustrations are beautiful and the tales are quaint. We will be certain to treasure this book for years.

This was one of my favorite books as a child. I checked it out of the library over and over . The pictures just seem to come to life, the stories are enchanting. A must have for troll collectors. I purchased a copy at long last! Thanks Amazon

I read this book voraciously from start to finish when I was in 7th grade and have never forgotten it. It illustrates how important it is to have faith in a dream and to go after what you want even when everyone tells you it's impossible. And if you've ever dearly loved a pet, this is the story for you.

Momo, a young Tibetian girl, yearns to own a Lhasa Apso, but an expensive pedigree dog like that is beyond her family's meager budget. Undaunted, Momo hopes and prays for one to come her way, certain that it will. Her faith and tenacity pay off when a traveling merchant presents her with an adorable Lhasa puppy, whom Momo promptly names Pempa. All is perfect in Momo's world until the day Pempa is stolen by thieves on their way to India. You will learn a lot about that part of the world as Momo tirelessly treks through Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and finally India to retrieve her beloved pooch.

She stumbles into a lot of interesting characters along the way, making this story an even more enjoyable read.

Like another reviewer, I read this book in junior high and never forgot it. I remember trying to make hot buttered tea, as the heroine drinks it all the time; I found it undrinkable. My granddaughter has a Lhasa Apso now and I've been trying to find the book - 7th grade was 45 years ago and I'd forgotten the title. Thanks to many online searches using: dog, Tibet, girl, childrens' book etc. here it is and I'm ordering it for her today.

I thought that this book was great because it shows what an amazing relationship a child and a dog can have. It also is so very detailed and descriptive, that at some parts I almost thought I was reading a book of poetry. Momo stands up for herself and proves she can.
Beautifully written. Great Characters.

This book is a wonderful story&it is especially won-
derful to read in this the 50th anniversary of the achievment of
the summit of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary&Tenzing Norgay.
Momo showed courage as she made her way out of Tibet&down to In-
dia.I also loved the way it introduced another culture&religion.

I Loved this book to death. I fell in love with it. I don't think that it could've been writen any better then it was. I feel into the book, and I didn't want to come out. Even though the ending was upsetting, because I felt he should go back to indians, I realized that that was his home, that was where he needed to be. This book could've been writen about any person changing, and nowing they belonged. Everyone has a place they just need to find it. Jim Keath didn't now who he was, he always felt like somebody else, he needed to belong, and to change. He changed, and he realized he needed to stay for Dan'l. It's an awesome book that'd I recomend to any one.

I shall add little to the other reviewers of this extraordinarily fine account of the history of Indian (particularly North Indian) music and how it was introduced to Western ears and influenced modern popular and classical musics. I will instead say that having myself lived that history--being exposed in 1955 to the first LP recording of Indian Music and watched Ali Akbar Khan on CBS Sunday's Omnibus, having been among the first to purchase the World Pacific and Prestige recordings of Indian musicians, having attended numerous concerts of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, Bismillah Khan, Jasraj, Shivkumar Sharma and other Indian masters, and having become a Friend of the Ali Akbar College of Music, where I met John Handy, Terry Riley, and Ravi Shankar, as well as having followed the influences and explorations of Indian modes and rhythms in classical music and rock as a Bay Area academic hippie--I can attest that this book is amazingly well researched, comprehensive, and gets it right. Indeed, through the many insightful interviews, we go well beyond the mechanics and structures of musical infusion across cultures into the realm of spirit, humanistic motivation, and metaphysics. For instance, Mickey Hart's interview expands and details his own previous accounts of his and the Grateful Dead's musical transformation by interactions with Shankar Ghosh, Alla Rakha, and Zakir Hussain (a two-way street for the latter). Other useful interviews are with (from the classical world) Philip Glass, Zubin Mehta, Terry Riley; (from the Indian tradition) Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Anoushka Shankar, Tanmoy Bose, George Ruckert, Shubhenra Rao; (from jazz and rock) David Crosby, John McLaughlin, Cheb i Sabbah. But the interviews are only spice to the meat of the text, which explains the uniqueness and detail format of Indian music, supported by a glossary, and the origins and construction of the various instruments. When our world is plagued by fear and misunderstanding of other cultures, music arrives as a source for common ground. This book demonstrates its power and its promise.

Musician and author Peter Lavezzoli presents The Dawn Of Indian Music In The West: Bhairavi, a history of the recent yet amazing infusion of East Indian classical music into western culture. Though Indian music was largely unheard of until 1955, when Ali Akbar Khan issues an LP called "Music of India: Morning and Evening Ragas", its appeal steadily gained ground, to the extent that Indian and Western disciplines began to borrow concepts from one another to aid in composition and training. When "Music of India" was re-released as a compact disc in 1995, it won a Grammy. The Dawn of Indian Music in the West follows the influence and impact of Indian classical music in extensive detail, meticulously researched and presented especially for intermediate to advanced music scholars and theorists. Highly recommended especially for college library and music reference shelves.

Among the many thought-provoking quotes in Peter Lavezzoli's new book is this one from tabla player Tanmoy Bose. "If you talk to any music lover in the West, they know more about [Indian music] than Indians ... they have a thirst for it, and they are very critical in the West for that reason." At first, I was tempted to reply that these Western fans are so enthusiastic because they (we) are such a small minority. In India, interest in Indian classical music runs the gamut from devotion to mild interest. There is, for example, a sense of national pride that makes Indians feel they ought to like classical music even if they don't. In the West, you are either a devoted fan or completely ignorant on the subject, and it often seems to us that all the devoted fans are gathered in the Bay Area. However, Lavezzoli paints a significantly different picture, arguing quite convincingly that Indian music has deeply influenced both American and European music for over half a century.

Peter Lavezzoli's first book, "The King of All, Sir Duke," took a controversial approach to biography. He devoted relatively little space to Duke Ellington, the book's ostensible subject matter, and instead wrote about Ellington's influence on other prominent musicians (including Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, and George Clinton). His newest book, "The Dawn of Indian Music in the West: Bhairavi," follows a similar format, but it is not a story of one musician's impact on other musicians. It is the story of the influences of one entire musical culture on another, and the tracing of those influences from connection to connection is the perfect format. Lavezzoli's goal is to document every aspect of that impact with interviews and historical summaries. The result is a long and engrossing read, full of remarkable anecdotes and thoughtful discussions with some of the most important creative people in many different Indian and Western musical domains.

About a fifth of this book will probably produce a sense of déjà vu for regular readers of this magazine. There are detailed interviews with many local artists, including Cheb i Sabbah, Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Terry Riley, George Ruckert, and Mickey Hart. If you know little or nothing about these people and their music, you get all the introduction you need. But no matter how much you may think you know, Lavezzoli has new information for you. Those of us who live in the Bay Area know that there are lots of Americans and Europeans who have carefully studied Indian music. But Lavezzoli shows us who was first, where they did it, and how things developed from there.

The book is subtitled "Bhairavi" because the first significant musical contact between Indian and Western classical music was a recording of that raga in 1955 by Ali Akbar Khan. Bhairavi is also a morning raga traditionally played to close a concert that has gone on past midnight, so Lavezzoli also uses the word as an allusion to the "dawn" of Indian music. This recording was the first 33 rpm long-playing record of Indian classical music. Prior to this, the only recordings of Indian music were 78 rpm records, which had poor sound quality and lasted five minutes or less. This was also the first performance of Indian classical music in the West, except for an unrecorded concert at Columbia University by Inayat Khan. (It is a tribute to Lavezzoli's thoroughness that what little is known about that Columbia concert is in this book.) The Bhairavi recording included a verbal introduction by Yehudi Menuhin, who had discovered Indian music while touring India. Menuhin's endorsement helped to convince his colleagues that this music was a serious disciplined art form, not an exotic ethnic curiosity. Lavezzoli has some interesting parallels between the harsh pedagogic methods used by both Indian gurus and Western conservatories, which justified labeling both traditions as "classical."

There were, however, parallel influences occurring in rock and jazz, spearheaded by George Harrison and John Coltrane respectively, who were both great admirers of Ravi Shankar. Rock and jazz musicians were attracted not only by the complex use of rhythms and microtones, but also by the freedom to improvise, and by altered states of spiritual consciousness. These musicians usually associated altered states with drugs, creating a controversy that endures to this day. For most Westerners during the 1960s, Ravi Shankar's sitar was the soundtrack for drug experiences. This was a serious misunderstanding: Shankar did compose scores for psychedelic movies like Chappaqua, but he also insisted that his audiences not use drugs. Lavezzoli asks almost all of his interviewees about drugs, and discovers a spectrum of opinions that reveal another great contribution of Indian music to the West.

Western music had fragmented into two conflicting elements: the emotional drug-tinged intensity of improvised jazz and rock, and the tightly controlled intellectual discipline of European classical music. Because Indian music had never separated emotion and thought, it could show Westerners how to reunite them. It challenged rock musicians to acquire discipline, enabled jazz musicians to see their improvisation as a spiritual practice, and reminded European classical musicians that music is not just marks on paper, but is played by a musician, and heard with the ears. Sometimes Western musicians tried to capture the mood of Indian music with little awareness of technical details. Other times, they took Indian techniques and reworked them to create very different moods. But Lavezzoli shows us that all forms of Western music now have a healthier relationship to each other, and to the rest of the world because of the Indian influence. Perhaps in the new millennium, there may even be Westerners who will be great virtuosos of Indian music. Will this music then still be Indian, and will its players still be Westerners?

This historical study is full of detailed information about a disparate collection of the most inventive musicians of the 20th century, all drawn together by the thread of a fascination with India. The book gives equal attention to legends like John Coltrane, and more marginal avant-garde figures like Don Cherry, John Mayer (of Indo-Jazz Fusions), and John Handy. It also refers to rock stars like David Crosby, and contemporary classical composers like Philip Glass. Each musician's biography is woven into the text, so the entire book (nearly 500 pages) gives you an intense impression of the deep spirituality of this generation of musicians.

Peter Lavezzoli is a very astute critic of the key albums of this movement, and I learned a lot from his detailed discussion of Duke Ellington's "Far East Suite," Coltrane's "India," and Don Cherry's "Mu." When reading this book, you really feel you are being guided by someone with a highly developed intuitive feel for integrity and truth in music, as he himself is a musician who is concerned, as he admits, with "the connection between musical and spiritual expression."

In this book, historical narratives are interspersed with interviews with the leading musicians in Western and Indian music, such as Terry Riley and Shujaat Khan. These interviews are not your average magazine interviews, however, as the central concern of Lavezzoli is always wisdom, and his questions are always subtle and searching. If you glanced at this book, you might be put off by the way the text is crammed on the page, the lack of margins and smallness of type making it seem somehow a hurried book or not carefully thought out, but do not be deceived by bad design--this book is a true labour of love. It will inspire all musicians to take their work on to the next level, and it will inspire all record collectors to rush out and get hold of Alice Coltrane's "World Galaxy."

This is a fantastic book for many reasons; Peter Lavezzoli has done an amazing amount of research, delivering a lovingly written treasure trove of well-rounded details that will interest music enthusiasts from many different schools and tastes. Fascinating connections are drawn from the histories and influences of Indian music on rock, jazz, western classical and more. Included are vivid chapters on the pivotal history of Allauddin Khan, teacher of Ravi Shankar and the father and teacher of Ali Akbar Khan; Yehudi Menuhin's discovery and presentation of Indian music to western audiences (he is pictured with Ravi Shankar on the cover); the fabulous chapter on George Harrison; and a powerful section on John Coltrane, to name just a few personal favorites, with numerous connections to Ravi Shankar, who is widely referenced and featured (in too great a depth to summarize in a brief review).

A good portion of the book features the musicians and associates themselves having their say through remarkable interviews with Ali Akbar Khan, Mary Johnson Khan, Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Jim Keltner, Terry Riley, Cheb i Sabbah, Zubin Mehta, Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar, Tanmoy Bose, John McLaughlin, Bill Laswell, Shujaat Khan, George Ruckert, Shubhendra Rao, Suskia Rao-de Haas, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Philip Glass. The author asks good questions and gets rich answers, making for a highly enjoyable reading experience.

This is a book I can spend hours re-reading. I've learned enormous amounts about a wide variety of music forms within each chapter. Readers with virtually any level of music interest will find something of value here. A real stunner! Highly recommended.