North America Books

Stunning in every way; beautiful heartfelt poetry, glorious colourful native american indian style artworks. Definately a collectable book, a coffee table book, or a book to contemplate in your own peaceful moments. Loved it's unique wisdom.

Not only is the poetry very appropriate and full of wisdom of the Elders, etc., but the images by Howell are some of the best pieces of art I've seen depicting the culture and heritage of the Native Americans. This is one of my author/poets of all time. Very well done!

This is a "to the point" review. This book is beautiful - in every way. It relaxes me after a dificult day, or when I need to come back to "Spiritual reality". I'm so sorry it isn't being published any longer - along with several other books by the same author & illistrator. the only one I have is "Spirit Walker"; dreaming I owned all the rest as well.

this is the best book of poetry that i have read. I am 15 years old and i have read this book many times. i got it from my grandma when i was little. reading this book helped me though my fathers death in sept. my fav poem is three sisters. i think that people should read this book. now i am tring to get my mom to get me her first book.

Like Dancing Moons, Spirit Walker is a set of jewel like reflections on what matters most, written with the sensitivity and sentiment of Native American wisdom which captured Nancy Wood some time ago. This book is not just for young adults as it is classified; it most certainly is for anyone who wants to hear the rhythms of the world a little more clearly. A great book to supplement one's morning meditations, prayers, etc. The paintings by Frank Howell are spellbinding. This is a rare gift for those who need to slow down, to listen, to heal.

I really got a lot from this book. I learned about the emotions and the walk around the Rainbow Medicine Wheel and I will always be on the look out for King Coytee, Thanks Jeff Long

This author's work is now a part of my counseling office. As a natural healer I had been looking for something to use in my daily practice. Wolf Moondance's ceremonies have changed many lives. Some of my patients now use her work with their whole family. I now center my entire office around her work, and strongly recommend that you buy her books and get on the road happiness. The books are a successful and truthful way to create harmony in the lives of everyone. All it takes is buying the books. Keep them coming!!!!!!!!!

Wow, this author is outstanding. I recommend these books to EVERYONE!! Now you can go to her homepage at wolfmoondanceauthor.com --I strongly suggest that you buy all 4 (yes, a new book is now out) of this author's work!! THANKS for the great writing!!

Wolf Moondance must be congratulated!! She is the author of 3 books that promote change and healthy attitudes in a difficult world. Her stories are interwoven with an exciting blend of lessons, ceremonies, and a beautiful guidance story. These books are a must to anyone wanting to create a more fulfilling life. My only hope is that her next book comes out soon!! Thanks, Wolf Moondance!! Your work is excellent.

Wow, what a great author. I would suggest these writings to everyone. There are many things to be learned Wolf Moondance. After reading all three of this author's books, I could honestly say that they have changed my life. I have now chosen to walk the red road towards my complete wholeness. I hope that this author delivers many more of these fantastic guides for becoming a more complete person. GOOD WORK WOLF MOONDANCE!!!!

I refer to this book on a nearly daily basis, and it is a must for any serious baseball fan. If you're in a fantasy, roto or sim league, you need to have this book.

Don't miss it.

When's the new one coming out?

John Sickels does a tremendous job. The book is well organized, well written, thorough, and doesn't cloud the joy and anticipation of baseball. The best of the STATS books, and always on my 'must-buy' list every year.

there is no better, more accurate source for minor league future stars and role players available at any price. John Sickels is the best!! He spends his winters watching baseball, and he spends his summers also watching baseball. he talks to coaches, managers, players and scouts. his seven skill approach is the most accurate forum for determining future success. I learned the importance of strike-zone judgement, and noone can convince me it's not the single most important factor in determining future success. My roti-team is stocked with Sickels reccommendations. Eric Chavez, Gabe Kapler, and Matt Clement for starters. it's easy to say now, what great players they will be, but John told me FIRST!!!

I'm writing this because Sickels deserves it. After years of roto info overload I now prepare for Draft Day with only three books: Sporting News Baseball Register (so i can see the statistical history of every player on the 40-man rosters), and the masterpieces from Benson and Sickels. The key in a competitive league is all timing, and Olkin gives you a better feel for WHEN a player will bloom than anyone else. John, thanks for helping me win 5 out of 6 league titles in the last two years. But I'm worried now that my competitors will start noticing your book at my side...

If you're a serious fan like me, especially if you do fantasy baseball, purchase this book. It is the most comprehensive text on the top prospects in baseball and a must have!

I constantly refer back to it throughout the baseball season.

Martin Prechtel is perhaps the most capable of sacred story telling of today's authors. His respect for the power of language is immense and this book where he is retelling an ancient Mayan myth as it parallels his own experience is stunning in its capacity to illuminate todays world in all its contrasts. It is the third in an autobiographical trilogy. However, if you have not yet read the first two, don't worry, it stands completely on its own. This book was previously released under the title "The Toe Bone and the Tooth".

You wouldn't think it possible to say "this is Martin Prechtel's best book yet" because they are all so exceptional. If you are interested in current Mayan culture, indigenous peoples, love, life, Central American politics... this book is a tour de force. Martin Prechtel is one of the most truly amazing, talented, gifted, wise, insightful people you might ever hope to meet. On top of this, he is an extraordinarily gifted writer. Buy the book. Buy them all.

It might help readers to know that this book and "The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun" are written to be read aloud. When you do this the prose has a rhythm that is part of the meaning of the book.

"In much wisdom is much grief" says the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, "and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow." There is much wisdom, grief, knowledge, sorrow, and finally joy in Martin Prechtel's new book. You don't have to read his previous three, *Secrets of the Talking Jaguar,* *Long Life, Honey in the Heart,* and *The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun* to understand and appreciate the message of *The Toe Bone and the Tooth* - but it helps.

This is a story about keeping the Great Story alive - "An Ancient Mayan Story Relived in Modern Times: Leaving Home to Come Home."

It starts out with Martin's return to Guatamala in 1992 after many years in exile from his adopted country, where his village of Santiago Atitlan had been destroyed and 1800 of his friends and villagers slaughtered by American-backed death squads in the 1980s. He was picked up at the airport by three teenage boys (who had been small children when the devastation took place) and smuggled back to the village under a truckload of Mayan squashes. Along the way, the boys were eager to hear the story of the Toe Bone and Tooth that had been outlawed (as well as their language) by the various and many invaders of their country. Landmarks of the Story were everywhere (much as Australian Dreamtime stories are dependent on the land for the telling).

Martin was welcomed in Santiago Atitlan as the Shaman and healer that he was for many years. He had had a Mayan wife and three sons there (one son died) and his little family had barely escaped with their lives.

The ancient story of the Toe Bone and Tooth is inserted here - the Story of a mortal, Raggedy Boy, who fell in love with the Water Goddess, the story of her death after bearing him two corn children and being forgotten when her husband returned to the mortal world. When he did remember her through dreams, he had to re-member her, gathering her bones with the help of Coyote (who had the toe bone and tooth) and descending into the underworld to retrieve her heart. He was helped by an old magical couple. Re-membered, she became an ordinary woman and he became an ordinary man, and from them, all humans are descended.

The next few chapters chronicle the story of Martin's first arrival in Santiago Atitlan - how he'd been lost in a blizzard in his American homeland of Northern New Mexico in his youth, and how he was saved by a mare named Morningstar and an old Spanish lady who cured him of an almost fatal fever with bear grease and herbs. During his convalescence, he had 11 dreams of Santiago Atitlan and Nicolas Chiviliu Tacaxoy, who was to become his teacher, friend and mentor and who had called him through dreams for three years before he finally arrived in the village. Says Prechtel, "Though I was blond and born far away, we were the old and young generation of throwbacks from other times and layers of existence in which a humble dynasty of people in service to the remembrance of the Dismembered Goddess was continued from century to century."

Another chapter tells of Martin's defense of a young Mayan seminary student, Gaspar Culan, who was accused of worshipping idols because he had participated in an ancient Mayan sacred ceremony involving Holy Boy, whom the Catholic Church had branded as a devil but is actually a Christ figure. Martin (who speaks English, Spanish, and Mayan fluently) was to be Gaspar's advocate. Holy Boy had been called a Jew by the Church. Martin pointed out that they had dubbed the deity a Jew (and a devil) because Jews were at least considered to be human and therefore were subject to the 16th Century Inquisition. Mayans hadn't been considered people before that, so if their God was a Jew, the Inquisition could persecute and prosecute them. Martin won his case, and Culan was ordained as the first Mayan Catholic priest.

Several chapters are devoted to the Prechtel family's nothing-short-of-miraculous escape from Guatamala. Martin's teacher had ordered Martin to stay alive at all costs so that he might carry the seed of the story to the U.S. and preserve it for the Mayans whose history and culture had been outlawed.

When Martin got back to the U.S. and his old homeland in New Mexico, he and his family lived in poverty and difficulties for several years, but in Santa Fe he met a homeless couple who were like the old couple in the Story. Here, the narrative goes into the third person as the old couple tell Martin's story and do for him what he had done for countless people in his life - re-membered him for the holy amnesiacs (all of us). Martin's story mirrors the Great Story - "the story of ordinary people, extraordinarily in love and the story of the struggle of what it takes to be graced with such love is the story from which all humans are descended."

The author dedicates this book to the "deer-eyed daughter of the mountain, the mother of the great diversity" and to "all those peoples, plants and animals who have been and continue to be forcibly uprooted, rerouted, relocated, corralled, cut, branded, burnt out, burned down, burnt up, crushed, eradicated or driven from their homes in infinite diasporas of all types, to live where they may be unwelcome, while still trying to keep alive their seed capsules of cultural memory in hopes to regrow a home again. May their descendants be carved by the inherited grief of their ancestral loss to become feeders of what is holy in the ground, dedicated to something bigger than their need for justice and the pursuit of revenge."

This is a fantastic, exciting but true story, and in my opinion, this is a life-changing book. Read it!

TV, more than any other medium, has become America's storyteller. Sometimes that's not so bad; other times it presents shallow and false values to impressionable minds. When I'm hungry for ultimate truths, I've often found it best to go to other cultures and borrow their stories. One of the very, very best is "Stealing Benefacio's Roses." Within this story you will find your heart and be surprised at how strong and lovely it is. You will find your soul and come to know your true self. It's a story that works on the surface level of "Once upon a time . . ." yet also touches the deeper realms of mythology, spirituality, psychology, history and the many varieties of love. The writing is superb. Here's a quote: "Onto the floor I dropped to sleep, drifting on the tossing sea of my aching heart in a little canoe of Gustavo's friendship, into dreams filled with the unkillable perfume of Benefacio's roses." To understand and savor the last five words, buy the book and enjoy the revelations. This is the one you will keep to reread over time.

I have heard that Assata is the aunt of famous rapper, Tupac Shakur. Is this true? Is their any mention of Tupac in her books???

A collection of mostly interviews conducted over a number of years, the voices of Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Assata Shakur speak loud & proud while revealing the roles of a variety of government agencies in destroying the Black Power movement.

Originally published in 1993, the topics covered include the Black Panther Party, (Philadelphia) MOVE, the Black Liberation Army and the racism in the American judicial system. Particularly interesting is the BPP chronology and a collection of FBI documents that explain in government-speak the targeting of individuals/organizations.

These are important accounts that challenge and ultimately debunks mainstream media coverage of individuals & events that will continue to have significance when one researches the real history of the Black Power movement.

This book gives a insight of the most famous victim of The F.B.I's cointelpro next to Geronimo Pratt. This book shows that 19 years of Prison has not dulled Dhoruba's committment to Revolutionary Struggle. The excerpts by Mumia abu Jamal and Assata Shakur are very helpful.

After spending about two decades in America's penal system for a crime he did not commit Dhoruba bin Wahad gives us his too brief insights into America and it's relationship with Blacks. Interms of clearity perhaps only matched by Chomsky.

The other two writers [Jamal and Shakur] one on death row, the other exiled in Cuba also peel back the illusions of justice for all citzens in America. A vivid account of what it is to have the most powerful country in the world trying to destroy you for standing up for justice.Also a great general history lesson.

Book should be part of a mandatory reading list in public schools for all students black and white.

This book gives a insight of the most famous victim of The F.B.I's cointelpro next to Geronimo Pratt. This book shows that 19 years of Prison has not dulled Dhoruba's committment to Revolutionary Struggle. The excerpts by Mumia abu Jamal and Assata Shakur are very helpful.

In large measure, this book is the history of Louis Riel, a Metis leader, and his efforts to gain recognition and independence for the Metis people. Since the ethnic group usually called Metis was closely tied to Riel, the book is also a partial history of that group.

Metis is a French word that can be translated as "mixed blood." In a narrow sense, one might think of the Metis as the offspring from intermarriage between the French and Indians (mostly Cree) of eastern Canada during the early days of the fur trade. In a practical sense, the group must be broadened to include at least Chippewa, English, and Scot parentage. In the context of the twentieth century, an even broader definition is used. However, some combination of white and Indian linage is usually a prerequisite.

This book is a classic by a legendary author of Montana history. Joseph Kinsey Howard (1906-1951) is also known for another classic, "Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome," a book considered for decades as the definitive history of Montana. Howard spent much of his short life in an area of Montana that has a significant Metis population. He understood the Metis, respected them, and spent years preparing to write "Strange Empire."

The original publication was in 1952. More recent issues include an introduction by Nicholas C. P. Vrooman, Director of the Institute for Metis Studies at the College of Great Falls, Montana. This introduction is a magnificent addition.

The Metis were primarily a product of the fur trade. Their language was a hybrid of French and Indian; definitely not English. Most of the Metis communities remained in close contact with the local Indian tribes. Many of these mixed blood people were drawn to the Red River which flows north from the present states of Minnesota and North Dakota into Canada and on to Hudson Bay.

Louis Riel had trained for priesthood, but hadn't become a priest. Despite occasional self-doubt, Riel had many characteristics of leadership. He was literate and a good speaker and, more importantly, was fluent in English. The Metis attempted to establish their own nation in the Red River Valley. Howard beautifully summarizes the Metis situation: "This conflict between the Metis and the Canadian government was not only a battle over native and Euro-American claims, but also an age-old fight between Catholicism and Protestantism, English and French, English and Irish, and English and American causes." Louis Riel and the Red River Metis faced the Canadian forces with little loss of life on either side. Some people feel that the decision of whether the United States or Canada would rule what is now central and western Canada hung in the balance. The Metis won many of their goals but came under Canadian rule. One result is that the Red River part of Canada became the province of Manitoba in 1870. However, for his part in the "rebellion," Canada exiled Riel for five years and he went to the United States.

The Metis were buffalo hunters but were significantly different from Indians. They dressed differently. Many combined their hunting with agriculture. They had their own language. They had their own culture, a melding of the cultures from which they came. They were much more efficient at commercial buffalo hunting than were the Indians. Their background in the fur trade meant that they had the weapons, hunting experience, and trading expertise needed. Synonymous with the Metis is the Red River cart. Pulled by draft animals, it had high wheels and could carry several hundred pounds. With these carts, the Metis could transport the hides, pemmican, and dried meat of many buffalo to market locations. Twice yearly, the Metis gathered in a large force to go to the buffalo herds.

As the buffalo herds dwindled, the Metis went further west for their hunts. As a result, Metis communities developed in the Turtle Mountain area of North Dakota, the Milk River country of Montana, and Saskatchewan in Canada. Later, communities developed near Lewistown and Great Falls, Montana, (note that most of these locations were undeveloped, and probably unnamed, when the Metis first arrived). Louis Riel moved westward also and became a teacher at a mission in the area of Great Falls.

In Saskatchewan, the Metis were experiencing problems dealing with the Canadian government; problems very similar to what they had experienced in the Red River country. In 1884, the Canadian Metis appealed to Riel to serve as their leader and negotiator. Riel answered the call. Ultimately, an armed conflict evolved with the Canadian military and Mounties facing the Metis and their Indian allies. This time the Metis were crushed. Louis Riel was tried and hung.

There is disagreement concerning Riel's role in Saskatchewan. Some people feel he became insane, some dispute that opinion. He felt that God guided him and when a disagreement arose with the Catholic priests, he attempted to separate the Metis from the Catholic Church. The Metis uprising in Saskatchewan was probably doomed from the beginning, but Riel made things worse by his indecision between peaceful negotiations and the use of force.

In 1982, an amendment to the Canadian constitution gave the Metis aboriginal rights. In the United States, the Metis do not have a legal relationship with the government and do not have a reservation or enjoy other rights granted to Native Americans. In each recent session of the U.S. Congress, there have been bills concerning what is often termed Montana's Landless Indians. Many of this group are Metis.

This book reads almost like a novel. It is well researched. Every book published since "Strange Empire" and containing a mention of the Metis, references Howard's book. A comprehensive and modern history of the Metis is needed but at the moment, this reviewer is unaware of anything near as useful as "Strange Empire."

The amazing story of the Metis people whose French ancestors first colonized and controlled most of North America. Louis Riel should have been a National Hero for all Canadians since without him most of the land west of Ontario would have fallen in US hands.

This book is riveting and should be required reading for history majors.

The genesis story of the Metis in North America, this book describes the evolution of the 'New Nation' and its place in continental history. Arising from the Fur Trade a new race of people, the Mixed-bloods, being descendents of Celtic Orkney and Highland Scot and Celtic Normandy and Brittany French fathers and predominantly Algonkian Cree and Chippewa mothers, create a new native North American identity. The Metis struggle to maintain their place as true descendents of aboriginal lineage while expressing the finer elements of their European paternal heritage. A finely crafted narrative of the attempt to affirm the cultural, economic, and political equity of the Metis, and all aboriginal peoples during the reconfiguration of the continent, Strange Empire is a powerful, dramitic, and epic telling of the most significant 'missing link' in our understanding of how the North American continent came to be.

A century ago, North America almost had a fourth nation, Assiniboia. That would-be nation's leader, a poet, religious zealot and one-time schoolteacher named Louis Riel, once was considered a traitor ro Canada but now is being revered and "rehabilitated" as one of the founders of the Dominion of Canada. Riel was "drafted" as leader of the Metis, "mixed blood" children of the fur trade, when Canada was reneging on its promises to these people who carried on the cultures of both European and indigenous ancentry. (Today, Celtic and French folklorists visit Metis in Western Canada and Montana to record unblemished versions of tradition folk music long dead in their original mother countries.) Howard, a legend in Montana journalism and history himself, penned his masterpiece in "Strange Empire." He gets down to the basics of the struggle for Western North America and some of the more haunting passages deal with the pyschlogical effects of such white man's diseases as smallpox and alchohol and their role in subjugating the natives a century or so ago. Riel was hanged for his insurgence, but had he been more decisive in battle, the maps -- and language patterns -- of much of North America would be much different.

First I would like to thank Amazon for making this fine book so easy to obtain. There are countless thousands of descendants of these, strong, courageous people that now live throughout the world. my son among them, being on a temporary assigment in Turkey. Many thousands more know little of the history of our people. This book should have a particular appeal to these folk. Perhaps by the reading of Mr. Howards book some will be induced to further study and research. It is a benifit to all that seek the true history of our country. These folk were a monolithic type, what happened to one could be an indicator of what happened to the society in the whole. My families have ties to several of those mentioned in this book. As an example, my grandfather was the first cousin to the wife of Louis Riel. My great grandmother was the god child of, Marie Anne Gaboury, the first white woman in the northwest. My fathers mother was baptized by, Father Lestanc. These people are mentioned in this well written book. Thank you, Melvin Beaudry Lynnwood, Washington.

This book is a wonderful and insightful read. An incredible example of what can happen when cosmic forces intervene in ones life.

The Tahchee chronicles is a book that appeals to readers on many levels and contains important historical information as well as spiritual insight. It is fascinating to read about the author's spiritual quest and the reader is drawn into that story as well as the story of the earliest of civilizations on this planet. Anyone wishing to understand the connections between modern humanity and ancient civilizations can gain valuable insight, not only in the realm of historical narrative, but into the deeper aspects of the interconnectedness of the universe.

This book is for those readers who love to explore and learn about our very ancient history and the wonderful influence of our Native people upon the culture of the human race. It follows the fine tradition set by other great and similar books such as those written by Ken Carey called, THE RETURN OF THE BIRD TRIBES ,THE STARSEED TRANSMISSIONS and THE VISION and the book by Frank Waters called THE BOOK OF THE HOPI. There are actually two stories intertwined in this book. One is the epic journey of the Cherokee Nation going back some 40,000 years as seen through the eyes and recollections of its great spiritual Guardian called Tahchee. The other story and yet equally fascinating is the personal spiritual journey of discovery for the author Tom Smith. The book is the kind that you cannot put down until you have read every chapter and gleaned every bit of wisdom and experience from such a profound experience and journey. You cannot be but moved, by the story of a group of awe-inspiring souls who came from the stars to this planet long ago on a journey of service on behalf of the Great Spirit that we are all part of. The book is easy to read and to understand, unlike some other similar books which tend to talk down to the reader.The book will alter our past beliefs about of how and when some of the Native people came to North and South America . A wonderful and absolutely fascinating book of ancient history, spiritual discovery and a magnificient journey of a great Nation and a very humble author.

This book is a new age masterpiece. I read it last week and could not put it down. New information about reincarnation, as well as inconcievable prehistoric concepts. Keep your eye on this book. It is destined to be a classic.

This book is for those readers who love to explore and learn about our very ancient history and the wonderful influence of our Native people upon the culture of the human race. It follows the fine tradition set by other great and similar books such as those written by Ken Carey called, THE RETURN OF THE BIRD TRIBES ,THE STARSEED TRANSMISSIONS and THE VISION and the book by Frank Waters called THE BOOK OF THE HOPI. There are actually two stories intertwined in this book. One is the epic journey of the Cherokee Nation going back some 40,000 years as seen through the eyes and recollections of its great spiritual Guardian called Tahchee. The other story and yet equally fascinating is the personal spiritual journey of discovery for the author Tom Smith. The book is the kind that you cannot put down until you have read every chapter and gleaned every bit of wisdom and experience from such a profound experience and journey. You cannot be but moved, by the story of a group of awe-inspiring souls who came from the stars to this planet long ago on a journey of service on behalf of the Great Spirit that we are all part of. The book is easy to read and to understand, unlike some other similar books which tend to talk down to the reader.The book will alter our past beliefs about of how and when some of the Native people came to North and South America . A wonderful and absolutely fascinating book of ancient history, spiritual discovery and a magnificient journey of a great Nation and a very humble author.

As Christian Potholm's former student, I've seen first-hand his enthusiasm for Maine politics and his depth of knowledge on the subject. Therefore, I was not surprised to find This Splendid Game to be a wonderfully entertaining account of politics in the Pine Tree State and a must-read for anyone with an interest in Maine's political history. Potholm captures the importance of the campaign effort and proves that the outcomes of political races are never preordained. He shows that while a candidate's personal qualities are a factor in being elected, it is the "ebb and flow" of the campaign that inevitably distinguishes victory from defeat.

Having been personally involved in many of the campaigns discussed in this book, Potholm skillfully provides an insider's perspective while remaining balanced and objective in his analysis. He avoids the partisan sentiments that dominate so much of today's commentary, and in turn provides a refreshing and honest look at politics in the state.

There is no doubt that one would be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive assessment of Maine politics. Potholm acknowledges every person who has ran for major political office in the state in the last five decades, and provides biographical information for some of Maine's past and present political titans. However, his scholarly interest is clearly directed more toward the inner-workings of the campaign effort, as well as the many staffers, pollsters, consultants, journalists, and others that make politics so exciting to watch and be a part of.

From the story behind William Cohen's 600-mile walk across the 2nd Congressional District to the strategy behind both James Longley and Angus King's electoral success as Independents, This Splendid Game is truly a splendid read, one that undoubtedly fills a literary void in Maine and honors the countless men and women who have participated in the state's political process over the years.

With this feat to add to his ever-growing list of achievements, Christian Potholm has made yet another indelible impact on the academic discourse in the state and further solidified his reputation as the professor of Maine politics.

Do you ever wonder how Maine Government reached its current size and scope?

Perhaps you have a historical interest in the strategies and unique abilities of the winners and losers of high political office in Maine over the last 60 years.

Or maybe you're curious about the decisions and influences of the key people behind the political leaders of our time- from Margaret Chase Smith and Ed Muskie to Angus King.

Whether you're a student of politics or just wondered how our government has evolved to where we are today, you will find Bowdoin College's Dr. Christian P. Potholm's new book This Splendid Game answer these questions and more from his intellectual and first hand account of the people and policies which have created the Maine we know today.

From the rise of Margaret Chase Smith by virtue her strategy of a "personal campaign organization" over the traditional political party campaign; to the "Muskie Revolution" in the 1950's where he deployed television for the first time in Maine elections combined with "retail politics" which converged to toppled the reign of Republican Party dominance.

Chris Potholm's insight and wit enables the reader to wade past the tedious attention he paid to dates and election results percentages, which well serve the researcher of Maine politics and those of us with a curious eye about the people and issues that has defined and branded Maine.

His success in interviewing candidates, their family and advisors enabled him to paint a vivid picture of our political leaders. Here is a glimpse. He traces Ken Curtis' victory from the jaws defeat in the 1960's and the baker's son Bill Cohen's rise to the rank of United States Secretary of Defense beginning with an arduous 600 mile walk across Maine's 2nd Congressional District in 1972 resulting in the reemergence of the Republican Party.

No account of Maine political history would be complete without an understanding of how the referendum process has enabled special interest groups to get their proposed law decided by the public and not their legislature. Here Dr. Potholm takes you inside the dynamics of why referendums are so different from candidate elections. His political science and keen instincts show you how; the Maine Yankee Power Plant earned the support of Maine voters and remained open.

Potholm proves his theory that Angus King duplicated the dynamics and savvy of Jim Longley's amazing election as Governor in the 1970's worked again in the 1990's when King upset the two-party system to be elected Maine's second Independent Governor.

Finally, Dr. Potholm weaves together the realities of how the press, political insiders and scientific polling determined the eventual outcome of most all races long before Election Day. Along the way he rightly acknowledges the courage and integrity of the men and women who at the end of the long election season did not have the sweet pleasure of giving a victory speech. For the scholar and the casual observer of political dynamics alike, reading This Splendid Game is time well invested.

Philip Harriman is a former Town Councilor and State Senator. He actively participated in many of the elections covered and for 25 years has operated a financial services business in Portland Maine.

In the first chapter of Chris Potholm's latest book, he opines, "Lecturing on the important figures and campaigns over the years [in Maine], I often wished I had a single book to assign, one that would put the past fifty years of accomplishment and failures in some common perspective."

Well, Potholm has answered his wish with the publication of This Splendid Game. If there was one feeling that I had to put aside while reading the book it was that I should be making notes on the chapters as there was surely going to be a test in the near future.

Politics has always been an interest of mine and Maine politics has been a consuming one for a part of my life as I served eight years in municipal government as a city councilman and mayor and was elected to two terms as Chair of the Maine Republican State Committee following my municipal service. I have been active in several gubernatorial campaigns in varying capacities as well as most of Bill Cohen's many campaigns going back to the time when we were both mayors of our respective cities.

The book that Pothom has produced is an analysis of what he deems to be the seminal elections of each decade since 1940 and in it he also weaves through the years the lessons that were learned or not learned by those that were invoved in "this splendid game.

If you were any kind of a player during those decades, you are most likely mentioned in the book. In fact the book reminded me of many people whose names had dimmed in my memory and also revealed to me that people I had known growing up were involved in Maine politics in ways I did not know, If you are from Oregon, some of the details of the past might make your eyes tend to close from time to time, but if you are from here or have been here "from away" for some time, you will find it interesting to realize how much you have forgotten.

From the 1970's on, Potholm brings a special perspective to the matters he writes about as he was in the middle of all of it in one capacity or another.However, this is not a chatty, tell-all about Maine politics. It is an analysis and a chronicle of a system in the poltical microcosim of Maine. That a state with Maine small population has harbored and nurtured some of the larger political names in US history remains a mystery to me, but it is a fact. Margaret Chase Smith, Edmund Sixtus Muskie, William Cohen and George Mitchell are clearly in the elite section of such people. But their stories and the stories of other elections have hundreds of names invoved in that melange of political activity. In stirring and disecting the melange, Potholm has no peer.

If you lived through those times you will enjoy a studious analysis of what you thought you already knew. If politics is something you are considering, this is required reading. No matter your reason for reading this book, you will be the wiser for it and I'm pretty sure there will be no test.

Potholm's Splendid Game

Although our lives are governed by politics, few understand how the political game is played and even fewer participate as an active player.
There is one man in Maine who understands and plays the game better than any other: Bowdoin College professor, Dr. Christian Potholm, a nationally recognized pollster and strategist whose campaign won/lost record is the envy of all who aspire to political office and participate in our electoral system.
In Maine, Potholm has dominated what he calls "This Splendid Game," since he managed Bill Cohen's first Congressional campaign in 1972. Few venture into a major political campaign without making a pilgrimage to Potholm's office in the Bowdoin Tower.
Potholm's new book, "This Splendid Game," is a fascinating and informative tour through all of Maine's major elections and campaigns from the 1940s to the 1990s. The professor has been working on this book for ten years and his final product is impressive. Published by Lexington Books of Lanham, Maryland, these 241 pages describe the election results of all major races in each decade, and then focuses on what Potholm calls the "seminal election" - the most critical and defining - in each decade.
I must disclose that the button collection on the book's cover is mine. Look carefully and you will spot a smiling "Smith" button in the middle of the collection. And it was my privilege to work on several of Potholm's seminal election campaigns in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Potholm offers amazing insight into these campaigns and wins my admiration for being able to step outside campaigns in which he participated to present objective and illuminative analyses of these campaigns. He does this well.
In the introduction, Potholm asks, "Over the last 50 years, what were the sea changes in Maine political processes? What changed over time in terms of how to run and win a campaign? What are the enduring patterns and trends? Why did some candidates succeed and others fail? What techniques were introduced when and what impacts did they have?"
And then he answers all of these questions and more. While other books have focused on the political leaders, none has looked with such scrutiny at the campaigns that elected those leaders.
I learned a lot from this book. I did not realize, for example, that Republicans were so slow to grasp the power of television and that my friend Jim Erwin lost the governor's race in 1970 "in large part because he did not make use of it."
Did you know that Angus King and Jim Longley won with identical coalitions of Franco American voters and small town Republicans?
The Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel win Potholm's praise, while other larger daily newspapers are criticized for poor campaign news coverage and an "interventionist endorsement style and a rush to assist one candidate over a need to inform the public as to the actual state of affairs."
"The Sun Journal, Central Maine (Morning) Sentinel, and Kennebec Journal seem to routinely do a better job at keeping their editorial comment separate from their reporting arm and their endorsements seem to be more balanced than their larger rivals," writes Potholm.
Potholm's premise is that the outcomes of the major elections that shaped Maine's political system and government were determined not by the candidates, but by the campaigns. And he effectively proves his case.
In these pages you will learn about how Maine's dominant politicians succeeded - but you will also learn about the smaller - but vitally important - roles played by others, including one of my favorite unsung political leaders, Judge Frank Coffin.
I found the description of Margaret Chase Smith's 1948 U.S. Senate race to be particularly captivating - and the account of how Smith won four congressional elections in one 6-month period.
The special sections describing the reasons the seminal campaigns were victorious, and the impacts of those campaigns on Maine politics, make this book particularly valuable.
It is when Potholm turns to referenda that the professor offers insightful lessons that campaigns pay big bucks to learn today. His analysis of the 1980 anti-nuclear referenda includes his ten ballot measure rules and an explanation of why Franco Americans and women who work in the home are Maine's key swing voters.
There is so much fascinating material in this book that I can't begin to do it justice in this short column.
I have purchased several copies of "This Splendid Game" for the leaders of an upcoming referendum, because no one should enter the Maine political arena without the lifetime of knowledge and experience provided in this book by Maine's foremost political guru.
And all citizens should read the book to understand how their votes are influenced by political campaigns - and why they should be paying attention to and participating in this splendid game that rules their lives.

As many Mainers know, Bowdoin College Professor Chris Potholm is Maine's premier political pollster and campaign strategy guru. He has been an insider in some of the state's biggest and most important political battles and is regularly quoted by the press on Maine issues. Naturally, this book will be especially interesting to people who are into Maine history and politics -- but it's not just for Mainers. It provides a lot of basic political insights that will be interesting and useful to anyone who's involved or interested in candidate or ballot measure campaigns. Each chapter reviews the reasons why a particular campaign succeeded or failed, providing excellent lessons that apply to campaigns in any state. The chapter about the referendum campaign on the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant is probably the best analysis of a ballot measaure campaign that I've ever read. As a professional political consultant and a former Mainer, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

This book has been a life saver for planning and planting a successful beautiful garden. The fundamentals (zones, light requirements, etc.) are well-explained. I was dissatisfied with the plans a landscaper drew up and ended up doing it myself with the help of this book. Couldn't have done it without this book! Highly recommended!

I am an avid gardener, although I am an amateur at it. I like detail, but not the kind that requires brain surgery for you to figure out what the authors are trying to say.

This book is very easy to read, but chock full of interesting "street savvy" information, along with formal knowledge about garden. This book has loads of detail, but it is written extremely well -- very down-to-earth and informal -- and the information doesn't overwhelm you all at once. You can jump in, look up whatever you need in the index and then jump out without being overwhelmed. On the other hand, if you want to find out every cotton picking thing about something, this is also a way to obtain in-depth information.

I use this book daily during 'gardening season'! It has easy directions, clear diagrams, and extensive dictionaries of annuals, trees, shrubs, ground covers, etc. This book is also tree-mendously helpful in identifying problems in the garden - i.e., disease, bugs, etc. Each chapter also has a calendar of 'things to do' each month depending on where you live. It's a great wedding or house warming gift, too

This is the best gardening book in print. It covers trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, house plants. It is loaded with how-tos. It is by my side from January (planning stage) to the fall. Unbelievably helpful for any stage gardener.

This is the book for people like myself who look at their yard and cringe in disgust."I know something is wrong w/it but where do I start???"This book helped me to understand,maintain and design a landscape.It has easy step-by-step illustrations for just about any gardening activity as well as when is the best time to do it!!It makes it so easy you don't have to think about it,just get your hands dirty...So if you want to plan and design a landscape for your yard and don't know where to start or if your a seasoned gardener you will enjoy many of the practical suggestions.Believe me,this book takes all the guesswork out of gardening.5 stars w/out a doubt.

Wow! Another book that tells of the dread and horrors that the Civil War brought to the civilians, and it is done as perfectly as one could ever hope. It is written in a lively manner and was very hard to put down. Based totally on facts, using diary and journal accounts, the writer brings the reader right in to the middle of the Maryland conflict, from the trepidation the citizens felt weeks before the battle at Sharpsburg/Antietam as the Rebs entered their border state, through the battle itself, and finally how they dealt with the after affects of the worst one day battle ever fought on American soil.
We here in the 21st century cannot fathom what our ancestors went through - what they felt...the aptly titled "Too Afraid to Cry" will give the reader at least a tiny idea of what life was like for the folks living in Maryland in the early Fall of 1862.
Wow is right!

Seldom do we get a chance to read about civilians and their stories through out the Antietam Campaign. This book gives us a great look at just what the hardships Maryland civilians had to endure. Authors Kathleen Ernst and Ted Alexander have asembled an interesting book that features Confederate and Union early concentrations, skirmishes and battles around the Sharpsburg and Frederick areas that bring to life civilian response. Popular families such as the Prys, Pipers and Millers living in the area of Sharpsburg during the battle are covered along with many others that explain the ordeals and horrors these families faced while war was at their doorstep. Interesting and facinating the text explains the unknown hardships that civilians had to face while battles took place and how also many tried to survive after the bloody engagements. One can not just read about the battle and get a full perspective on the campaign without considering reading about the civilians and I highly recommend this book! 5 STARS!

The book gives insight into a side of the war which is rarely covered - how towns and civilians survived and lived during the war. In short, this is a "must read" for civlian and military reenactors hoping to hone their first person impressions.

Even the well read student or scholar of the Civil War can develop a slanted impression of the War in reading the bulk of the literature which concentrates on stategic and tactical details and the trials and hardships of the military personnel who fought it. In reading this very well written book of the experiences of the Western Maryland civilians who endured the conflict in this theater of the war, one gains a perspective of how total the horror of this war was for those who not only had to live through the actual battles, but remained to deal with the death and suffering in which they found themselves engulfed. These hardships (physical, emotional and economic) were endured repeatedly and for years after the actual battles and occupations.

I consider this a must read for any serious Civil War enthusiast.

The foreword notes that the Sharpsburg area was the first organized American community to suffer both from combat and the sustained presence of two opposing armies. The combat was, of course, the September 1862 battle of Antietam, well known as the bloodiest day in American history. Ernst says that her book is one of stories. In so doing she observes the trend to explain history through the eyes of common people, rather than those of the generals, presidents, kings and other eminencies who have fueled traditional historical narrative. Ernst has dug deep into the letters, diaries, I-was-there personal accounts and oral histories of the days immediately before and after Antietam, as well as during the carnage itself. Ample photographs give human form to the names encountered throughout the book. The result is a smoothly written work blending the military and civilian dimensions of Lee's invasion of Maryland that, on a golden September day, etched into national memory names such as the Dunker Church, the Cornfield, the Sunken Road and Burnside's Bridge. Some of these stories illuminate dark subjects. Ernst's discussion of slavery in Frederick and Washington Counties reminds us that it was more prevalent in Western Maryland than we realize-the 1860 census recorded over 4600 slaves in the area. That there were then still three slave-selling sites in Hagerstown suggests that this region was populated by more than unionist German immigrants who opposed slavery. Ernst might have cited the definitive work on 19th century Maryland slavery, Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground. The devastating psychological and economic impacts of the Antietam campaign on civilians are powerfully told through anecdote. The words of Allen Sparrow and Alexander Root convey their terror during the fighting in the passes of South Mountain, which preceded Antietam by several days. Ernst's vivid account of this battle sets the stage for the following days (including the tale of the soldier who shared a blanket with a comrade, only to learn at sunrise that he'd slept with a corpse). Maps showing topography and troop movements would have been helpful. The eighth chapter concludes movingly with accounts of area civilians coping with a landscape that had changed dramatically in the preceding two weeks. Their short-term travails included suspicious federal troops on the lookout for renegade rebels and anyone thought to be helping them; longer-term, of course, these folks faced years of rebuilding and, in some cases, economic ruin because of the battle. The last two chapters venture beyond the Antietam campaign. Lacking the depth of the first eight, they summarize the impact of the Confederate 1863 Gettysburg and 1864 Monocacy campaigns on the region. Chapter nine begins in 1863 with federal conscription in the region and Lee's move through the area on his way to Gettysburg, where the battle is touched upon through the eyes of several locals. Post-Gettysburg skirmishes in the area are mentioned, followed by the rebel retreat. Jubal Early's move through the area in July 1864, en route to his raid on Washington, concludes the chapter. The treatment of these latter campaigns seems a cursory afterthought given the compelling details surrounding Antietam that comprise the book's theme. Ernst returns to slavery in her last chapter. She describes the impact of the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns on the "peculiar institution," and local reaction to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. She relates how free blacks and slaves were recruited into the Union army. Harrowing extracts from the diary of Otho Nesbitt, a Clear Spring slaveowner and unionist, tell of kidnapped blacks taken south by retreating rebels. Though the Confederates are known to have done this at times (as in 1863, in Chambersburg, PA), Ernst has unearthed a compelling eyewitness account of black abductions by rebels during their three major sojourns into Maryland during the Civil War. Her account also prompts us to remember that pro-union did not always mean anti-slavery. Letters and diaries describe the unrelenting efforts of families rebuilding homes, farms and lives shattered by battle. Men return from soldiering to farm again; a few were lucky enough to marry the sweethearts they'd left behind. Plowers of fields unearth the bones of the dead, and legend claims that bloodstains in field and hearth mysteriously reappear for years. Poignant reunions of veterans and civilians include the account of Kate Rudy visiting the newly elected Rutherford B. Hayes, whose injured shoulder at South Mountain her family had nursed. To Afraid to Cry is poorly referenced in places. Ernst throughout cites secondary works that themselves cite original sources, but her notes frequently provide only the former. Worse are references improperly cited. On page 194, for example, the author refers to the relief civilians felt following the departure of the union army, and gives as her source pages 244-45 of an unpublished dissertation by Duncan. But those pages in Duncan do not contain that information. The same page mistakenly attributes Duncan's prose to that of an 1862 New York Times reporter. And Landscape Turned Red, perhaps the definitive work on Antietam, is improperly assigned a quotation-"the whole country forlorn and desolate" does not appear on page 34 of that book, as Ernst's page 194 says it does. Another problem appears on pages 45 and 50, where the author quotes William Owen of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans. She cites as her sources not Owen himself but The Gleam of Bayonets-while listing Owen in her own bibliography (albeit with incorrect title, publisher and publication year). There are also inconsistencies in the treatment of misspellings inside original quotations-on page 23 the author corrects the misspelling of "privilege," yet on page 45 she lets stand the misspelling, "permiscus." Kathleen Ernst has knit a splendid archival tapestry that enriches our grasp of the seamy underside of war-the suffering of everyday people caught in the crosshairs of America's bloodiest day. Many stories of Maryland's pivotal role in the Civil War await telling, and Too Afraid To Cry shows us how captivating they are coming straight from the mouths of Marylanders.