Kansas Books

I think the prairie is the most fascinating ecosystem on earth. The prairie evokes nostalgic feelings for the west and the settling of our nation. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in preserving prairies, understanding prairie biology, and even in making prairie parks for people to visit. Konza Prairie is located in the Flint Hills of Kansas, some of the best remaining native tallgrass prairie in the nation. Dr. Reichman tells the story of Konza Prairie, and prairies in general, in interesting detail for both the novice and the serious biologist. I liked the book so much, that when my family and I visited the Midwest recently, we made a special trip to see the Konza Prairie. If you have an interest in prairies, don't miss this book.

This is one of my favorite books... if you like Christopher Moore or Hunter S. Thompson check this book out. I grew up in So. Cal and Mr. Meltzer's tales ring true... Punk rock hero, 80's survivor... You'll laugh out loud and read it over and over again!

This is an outstanding coffee table book for folks who appreciate or want to know more about the history and what is happening to the Tall Grass Prairie. Having worked with landowners and producers in the Flint Hills of Kansas (last large area of the tall grass prairie), I recommend the book and the video it supports (Last Stand of the Tall Grass Prairie). The Tall Grass Prairie is a vanishing resourse form lack of proper management and fragmentation (urban sprawl).

This book has been a team effort. Maxie Dunnam, John Maxwell, Elmer Towns, and James Earl Massey. The aughor Dale Galloway, is Professor of Biblical Preaching and church leadership at Asbury Theological Seminary. Such chapters as Power of Vision, Visionary Church INtegrity, and How to be a Christlike Servant Leader make this a great book.

Eve Paludan is a busy woman: writer, photographer, editor, web designer, and artist. Just check out her CV on her MySpace page. It's a hefty list of accomplishments of which anyone should be proud of. She should also be quite proud of a lil Ebook she's written and made available through Lulu called Letters from David.

Thanks to email and the rising price of stamps, I've often wondered if the art of letter writing is dead. We've even given it the sluggish nickname "Snail Mail," adopting our eager fascination with having things so immediate thanks to our ever growing lack of patience. And yet the ending highlight of each of my workdays is coming home and checking the mailbox.

On birthdays as a child, my eyes bulged with excitement over bright colored envelopes addressed to me with a funny Hallmark card and a crisp one dollar bill on the inside. My mother, with her "chicken scratch" cursive, penned letters on notepad paper to me while I was in college. Christmas cards with a quick signature still adorn my doorway in December. What would we have to say without sentiments printed by the greeting card company? Eve Paludan's book says plenty.

Here's the blurb from her Lulu page, which also happens to be the first paragraph of the story:

"Claire Mead didn't have her husband anymore, her children lived abroad, her income was shrinking and she hadn't shaved her legs all winter. She hadn't had recreational sex with herself, or laughed, truly laughed, for months. She was going broke and still cried much too easily since David, a.k.a. "The Saint," had died, but suddenly, she realized she had something she had never once had before in her life -- her freedom."

You have to admire the preservation of someone's old journal or diary found behind glass in a museum somewhere for you to learn history or study their penmanship, or perhaps it's passed down from generation to generation amongst family members. I tried for years to keep a journal of my personal thoughts, but writing it down went down the drain once I learned to type. Literature and Theatre has celebrated the power of the written word for a long time. I immediately think of James Patterson's recent book about letters, and a play I saw once called "Love Letters." It was just two chairs on the stage, back to back, with a guy and a girl sitting there and recalling letters they'd written to each other. They were miles apart now in life, but their letters always brought them back together. It was so powerful and captivating.

Eve Paludan's book is NOT another collection of letters allowing us that glimpse into someone else's life for a while. Yes, Dear _____, letters in italic are placed throughout the manuscript, but it is what comes between them that makes up the essence of her story. Her central character, Clare Mead, is a widow with a son away at war and a daughter in Paris, but she's determined not to let loneliness be an illness. She refuses to succumb to it and is trying to adapt to the new emptiness in her life - this freedom. She seeks out the advice of other women like her, but soon ends up in a bit of an odd situation with her husband's best friend, Tucker, who was also responsible for his death. A tornado is coming and the two end up taking cover in her basement, and begin to reminisce of the old days and the way it could have been.

Secrets begin to unravel as you discover Tucker was once her lover and they had a child together, but their roads in life went in opposite directions. Tucker beats himself up over the death of his friend, while Clare refuses to mourn anymore. Together, they relive the memories they shared with David, a best friend and a husband. Just as you think Tucker and Clare's time together is building to the climactic arrival of the tornado, no weather alarm will prepare you for the secrets that are revealed in the letter than begins the next chapter! It's a letter from David, Clare's husband, which Tucker had been saving to give to her at a later time.

My only criticism of the story comes into play in the letters themselves. Although Paludan has used them sparingly to push the story forward, be warned that they are heavy in content that is crucial to the plot and backbone of her characters. Therefore, they can seem a bit melodramatic and even soap opera-ish at times, but they do not distract from the overall point the author wants to make.

Letters from David turned out to be a "whirl wind" of a story that I totally was not expecting. At first, based on the author's previous work, I predicted a much heavier romance and cliche collection of predictable love letters. Not so! The story continues to build with David, the son, writing to his half sister in Paris. Although their story is told completely in letters, reading it as if you were a person in another room over hearing a conversation is quite intriguing. Paludan has written a magnificent tale of love and loss which anyone can enjoy. So, grab a box of tissues and your high school yearbooks, because this book will take you down a path off memory lane where you never expected to go!

This popular title extolling the virtues of Kansas tourist sites and above all Kansas wheat is now in a second printing. The book is designed as a tourist souvenir promoting the state, the people and the foods. IThe book features many delicious recipes using flour. Since wheat is the major crop of Kansas, many of these excellent recipes have been developed by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Manhattan, Kansas.

Illustrations used are from 1885 and 1878 publications and they give a quaint charming accent to the book. Many of the ethnic groups of Kansas are featured. Linda Hubalek grew up in Kansas and is a noted author.

This "stocking stuffer" book makes a wonderful gift!

If you want to know why, where and how Fritz Heider is the "father" of Attributional Theory in Social Psychology, you must to read this book. Heider writes in first person. He tell us all about his vocational orientation in Psychology. Please, read this book and tell for everybody why Heider build the Attibutional Theory.

I just finished reading the book "Life With Ol' Mike: Wit & Wisdom on Life, Love and Happiness," a compilation of Eagle columns written by the late Mike Oatman. The first thing I thought of after finishing the book was how sorry I am I didn't get to know him when he was alive.

What a wise man he was -- and what a treasure he left for all of us to share. The way Ol' Mike puts life into words is an absolute gift from God. I urge you to read this book, and buy some extra copies for those you care about most. Profits from book sales go to the American Cancer Society. I promise you that you'll never look at life the same way again. Thank God for Ol' Mike!

DAWSON GRIMSLEY
Wichita

Anyone who is thinking about adopting a child or already has done so really should read this clearly written, engaging study of the history of adoption in the United States. Berebitsky's book is history that is relevant to our lives today and to the problems so many of us have confronted as we have explored how adoption relates to the so-called "real" biological family. To put it simply, the author shows that the issues and problems that adoptive parents face today are hardly new, but have a long and rich history. The best example of how the past illuminates the present is what Berebitsky discovers about the many unmarried women living before 1920 and who adopted children even though they either had no husband or were living with a female partner. Such women were not only accepted as mothers, they were encouraged to adopt such children. At a time when people believed that women's natures suited them to rear children, even women without a man in the house were sufficient as mothers. Beginning in the 1920s, though, single women fell out of favor as adoptive parents. That was when child "experts" and social critics began worrying that women without the tempering hand of a husband might "smother" their children with excessive affection or that mature unmarried women were really lesbians who would pass their deviance on to their children. What Berebitsky's work shows, then, is that there really is no such thing as a "real" or "natural" family that the rest of us must measure ourselves or our domestic arrangements against. In the recent past there were real alternatives to the "natural" family of married mother and father. Any adoptive parents today, as well as single women and gay or lesbian couples who are creating their own families through adoption will find plenty of evidence here to show that the unnatural or deviant ones are those who say there is only one kind of real family.

A definite "must read" for Christian women. Sharon Norris Elliot is an amazingly refreshing author! I have several (over ten) Christian books stacked on my nightstand I've been trying to read, but each lost my attention for one reason or another. "Living a Milk & Honey Life" didn't even make it to the nightstand-I couldn't put it down. Elliot has an honest, transparent approach, while remaining Scripturally sound. She actually made it easy to look inward for the wrong appetites; which she called leeks and onions from Egypt (the world). And then she challenged me to move and live in the "Promised-Land" (God's will) through seeking to have the right appetite-one she refers to as a "milk and honey appetite." This book is full of wise counsel, great stories and an incredibly satisfying amount of what I really needed-encouragement. I will definitely reread this one-it's a keeper!
-Donna Fitzpatrick Monterey, CA