Park University Books

This book felt like a trip back in time. It is well researched with great photographs and wonderful first person accounts. Highly recommended.

Asbury Park's Glory Days: The Story of An American Resort gave me a glimpse of what Asbury Park was and hopefully can be again. The history was fascinating and very complete. The illustrations also gave me a good feel as to the Asbury of the past and what was then a thriving city. The book was a bit choppy having to go back and forth between text and illustrations but was worth the trouble. When I visit Asbury Park today, I see hope and revival and tremendous possibilities for a new and exciting and vibrant city.

This book is "must reading" for those fortunate enough to have experienced some of "Asbury Park's Glory Days."
The book refreshes old memories, restores lost ones and fills in the missing pieces.
Don't wait until it is out of print and no longer available!

Pike has combined a tremendous amount of archival material together with her insights and writing talent to create a charming, memorable book about the history of Asbury Park. The city by the sea is much more than the resting place of the Morro Castle and "Asbury Park's Glory Days" doesn't miss a beat. The book is full of surprises -- We know that Bruce Springtime got his start there, but Bud Abbot? Or that Tiny Tim had a "gay-friendly tearoom" there?
Sidebars from old newspapers are priceless: "...While Asbury park is fighting over the best means of advertising the town that it may live and flourish, Long Branch is looking for a hole in which to crawl and die to escape funeral expenses." (1890)
"Glory Days" includes stories of the old hotels, the vacationers who visited them, and the locals who serviced them; beauty contests, baby parades, architecture, Lorenzo Harris' spectacular sand sculpture... and the Stone Pony. "Glory Days" is a cornucopia of photos, stories and memoralbia in a beautifully designed format. It's a must for any shore lover.
Margaret T. Buchholz, author of "Great Storms of the Jersey Shore", "Shore Chronicles" and "New Jersey Shipwrecks: 350 years in the Graveyard of the Atlantic."

Freelance writer and photographer Helen-Chantal Pike has seen her work featured in many top publications: her interest in history and photography melds perfectly in her Asbury Park's Glory Days: The Story Of An American Resort. While recent years have not been good to Asbury Park, New Jersey, with many of the boardwalk thrill rides, exciting movie premiers, and resort attractions fallen into disarray, victims of political corruption, Asbury Park's Glory Days re-creates the region's heyday between 1890 and 1980, adding insights into the area's boom and recession cycles and explaining how these cycles linked to Asbury Park's attractions. Packed with vintage photos throughout, any New Jersey resident or fan will find Asbury Park's Glory Days to provide them with an intriguing glimpse of a colorful past.

This book has an excellent history of BGLOS. While it was not exactly what I was looking for, I was looking for something more basic (ie, these are the organinations, these are their colors, etc) I'm glad that I picked this book as it's given me a more complete understanding.

This book is the resourceful literature on BGLO's and beyond ever written. It explores ancient significances and practices that, until now, were "secret!" It's a little more pricey than the rest, but DAMN, ITS WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! If im lying, IM DEAD!

Good book for what its worth.

Not necessarily original in its approach nor is the writing spectacular in quality, but a worthy effort. However, the reviews given thus far ring slightly cult-like thus making the subject text be even more like propaganda.

Take for example a text authored by a Liberterian touting the triumphs and general good points of a political administration/era and its policies. Then, display positive reviews from other like-minded indiviguals. Right or wrong they believe in their world view, tactics and 'cultural' norms. No one would accept however that they give an unbiased opinion of the book and its subject matter. It is believed that the reviews presented thus far on this text are in the same vein. Biased and lacking the true objectivity that history/sociology/anthropology/the social sciences demand.

Speaking as a member of Omega Psi Phi (SP88), I know that my group is not perfect and neither are the others. This text presents an overall history that focuses on the positive for the most part without equally addressing what needs to be done to keep these organizations relevant, safe and non-elitist.

Also, the claim that "Africa" has been preserved and perpetuated in the rituals, public accounts, and service projects of BGLOs is a little far fetched. Yes, we can draw similarities to any 'tribal' group's rituals. The same things that are reported to be of African tradition can be found in the traditions of Native American groups in North and South America. Ask any real African (especially a scholar/ professor of African History from any of the various countries of West Africa) about your group's rituals and the possible relationship to "Mother Africa" and they will most likely laugh as these groups have been approximating at best or truly making it up at the worst as they go along post Emancipation Proclamation. But this can be further studied and confirmed at a good University Library or even at a facility like Moorland Spingarn reading room at Howard University.

If you are thinking of joining (pledging is illegal in BGLOs!)

1. Read this book, but make sure you also:

2. Learn and get your intended group's history directly from the National Offices of these great groups. Member's as well.

3. Intake is the law of the land. M.I.P.(Membership Intake Process. 'Skating' is a term of the past. Pledging, hazing and the like are all illegal [Note-I pledged under and above ground and hard. No one has to anymore. Anyone who tells you different is weak and a traitor to the rules/laws and spirit of the BGLO]. Each hazing incident places our organizations in jeopardy as each incident is a potential law suit. So, if hazed:

"Hazing" refers to any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person's willingness to participate. Go to stophazing.org for more.

Then sue our groups(they are worth millions ???,$$$,$$$.00) until the lesson is learned and all members and chapters conduct themselves with honor and live up to their potential.

4. Read the following to receive a more objective, perhaps not complete picture of BGLOs:

Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities by Walter M. Kimbrough

Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities (African American Studies) by Ricky L. Jones

Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing, and Binge Drinking (Library Binding)
by Hank Nuwer

I plan to write a more in depth review at a later date but I must mention immediately how very impressed I was with "African American Fraternities And Sororities: The Legacy And The Vision." This is a hardcover book that I plan to keep in my family for years to come. The authors did great research for the book and it's very detailed. I'm pleased and impressed. One day I will write much more, but being that it's summer I am very busy. I did want to share with the world just how great I think this book is. It's worth every penny and then some.

Dorrie Williams-Wheeler
Webmaster SororitySister. net
Author of Be My Sorority Sister

This is the most extensive work I have ever read on Black Greek-Letter Organizations. There are other works out there, but this book has managed to capture the true essence of us and our significance. The contributors to this book touched on just about every topic imaginable, so to me, anyone from old-school greeks, to new-school ones can relate. The authors do an exceptional job of tracing the origins of BGLOs back to Africa with the customs, rituals, dances, etc. They also do a remarkable job explaining what issues were facing not only BGLO's, but black people in general at the time. There was some information in the book I already knew, but there was so much more that I never knew existed, and seeing it for the first time is indeed a blessing. There was so much knowledge gained from this book from start to finish, for one, because the authors did their research, and because they touched on issues rarely touched. It shows much of an influence BGLOs have and will continue to have in the future.

Mr. Vogel has created a readable and informative book. The introductory chapters are a comprehensive overview of economics, leisure time, and media, and may be worth the discounted price of the book on their own.

My complaint is that the section on The Music Industry is not up to date. It is a treatise on the Recorded Music industry only, and neglects the live music concert industry.

His coverage of live popular music entertainment is literally one paragraph. The live concert industry is now one of the main revenue sources for musical artists, in addition to licensing. The concert industry generates over $10 Billion in revenues from live music performance tickets alone. Live Nation and AEG Live dominate. Madonna signed with Live Nation and not a traditional record label because this is now the focal point of the music industry. Contrary to Mr. Vogel's outdated assertion, recorded music is now often a promotional tool used to get fans to buy concert tickets. This has been the case for nearly a decade.

This book provides a thorough explanation of the business models of most of the media and entertainment industries - music, radio, TV, even casinos and theme parks. There is both a historical perspective and a presentation of the current state. Most of this information is not available in print or on the net elsewhere.

For example, there's a flowchart that explains royalties in the music industry that explained in one glance what would normally require personal discussions with five or ten people to uncover.

There is also information on valuation models and accounting treatments of the industries studied.

Some reviewers called this book dry - but I think the writing is compact, objective, and informative. Also, there are extensive footnotes and references to other sources.

Academic rigor, an analyst's objectivity and practicality, and an underlying enthusiasm for the subject - excellent.

A very clear explanation of the history, issues, rationale and economic flows of the entertainment industry. The book includes a comprehensive list of sources of information as well as details the sources for every bit of information it provides. This is very useful as it familiarizes the reader with the gathering of information in relation with the industry and the relative authority of the sources.

Then I'd recommend this book. It wouldn't be that bad if it were to exclude devoting a lot of time to basic principles of Macro and Microeconomics. If I wanted to study Macro or Microconomics, then I would have just bought a textbook on that subject. The author seems more inclined to impress us with his knowledge of economics in general than to focus on the entertainment industry. Very dry book.

Author and entertainment industry analyst Harold L. Vogel sheds valuable light on the growing importance of fun in the American economy. His book shows surprising versatility, sometimes reading like an economics textbook, and other times providing an engaging and easily readable overview of the entertainment business. Vogel provides exhaustive sources and an authoritative perspective, linking the entertainment industry's technology-driven increase in productivity to the public's increased expenditures on music, movies, sports, games, theme parks and other forms of entertainment. The relatively modest attention he pays to the performing arts reflects their unfortunate status as a poor stepchild we find this book's breadth and depth impressive, and strongly recommends it to analysts, scholars and students who seek a clear picture of the economic role of entertainment.

I bought this as a Father's Day gift for the father who has everything and is a Terp fanatic! He loved it, read it in one day and shared it with his other Gary groupies.

If you enjoy stories on overcoming the odds to be a champion, this is up your alley.
There are always inside stories that make some of these triumphs improbable. Family tragedies, tough strategic decisions and Juan Dixon's determination are the key ingrediants in this turtle's march to basketball prowess. Fear the Turtle!

A well written book by a true insider. The author knows more about this team than anyone. I highly recommend it to "true" Maryland fans.

I'm an extremely big Maryland sports fan - season tickets, final four, etc.

When I heard about this book, I had an idealistic hope that the book would be very detailed and interesting- Barr was the beat writer, the books title ('the inside story') , and because it took so long to come out (why wasnt it out before xmas?). i assumed it would have a ton that we didnt already read in the papers, saw on tv during the games, talked about on message board, etc.

but it didnt. It was just a summary. A great story but Maryland fans have heard it already.

I didnt really learn anything new from the book. it was very short (about 190 pages) , and i finished it in less than 2 hours probably.

There werent a ton of factual errors but the ones that were in were blatant and annoying. For instance, he says that Maryland lost to Arizona in the NCAAs the year after Steve Francis left, but any casual Maryland can tell you that is mistaken.

The question is - is Josh Barr just trying to make some money off Maryland's successful season? You decide.

This is a great book. I'm not even a big Maryland fan, and I found the whole story riveting. Josh Barr is an excellent reporter who was able to get all sorts of insider details that other reporters couldn't. He clearly knew the coaches and the players really well, but he also doesn't pull any punches. The road to a national championship is always a tough one, but it's amazing what this team had to go through along the way. The book really reinforces what an incredible player and leader Juan Dixon was. Lots of stories I had never heard before.

great book for outdoor enthusiasts. bet you find something you can relate to and some you realize you overlooked

I really enjoy Sigurd Olson's writings. They have a downright old-style home feel. It brings you back to days of innocence and days of wonder. He tells of days growing up and experiencing nature and what it has to offer through his lifetime encounters. Incredibly, Sigurd is a highly educated ecologist with vast amounts of knowledge who can give just the right amount of details without overdoing it...it still leaves that sense of "just enjoy what nature has to offer" yet still keeping enough real world information in there. He doesn't flaunt the fact he is a leading naturalist, we just find this out through his love of nature in his writings. I have all of his books and could give practically all of them an equal praise. Grab some of them, read on and enjoy the trip.

Noted conservationist Sigurd F. Olson wrote this collection of essays about his years canoeing, snowshoeing, skiing and fishing the Wilderness areas of Superior National Forest and the Quetico of Canada.

The essays are organized according to the four seasons. Olson has an almost metaphysical relationship with the animals that live in the wilderness: red squirrels, loons, otters, even field mice are fellow travelers.

Olson canoes and portages scores of miles to listen to the loons sing on Lac La Croix. He searches hundreds of lakes, looking for the perfect wilderness area, unspoiled by civilization. And he finds it! Saganaga, "a symbol of the primitive, perfect and untouched." Later, he hears that a road has come to Saganaga and he ventures back to see what's been done to it. It seems the same until he rounds a bend and is confronted with a modern lodge. He's conflicted; he wants human companionship but he doesn't want to lose his "singing wilderness."

In another essay, he tells of "flying in" to one of the lakes, rather than spending days canoeing and portaging to get there. He feels disoriented and can't really appreciate the experience. He hasn't put in enough effort; he doesn't deserve it. And he never does this again.

Olson is a sentimental, nostalgic man. He tells of catching trout for his grandmother, whom he credits with instilling a love of nature. While fishing on the Manitou, he is confronted with an eighty-year-old trout fisherman who's come to his favorite fishing spot for one last time.

Olson also limns essays that show the brutality of nature. In "The Storm" we see white-throated sparrows, Killdeers, purple finches, chickadees, and robins returning to the wilderness area after a long and brutal winter. Olson is marveling at their music until snow begins the fall and the temperature plummets. Thousands of confused birds freeze to death.

Admittedly, there is some clunky writing in the SINGING WILDERNESS; one gets the impression that Olson is writing from memory in a lot of instances. Also, at times he doesn't tell you where he is: he refers to the "lake" as if we should know which one of the thousands in the Superior/Quetico wilderness he's referring to. There's also a dearth of people. Often, he refers to "we" but the person or persons he's with are invisible.

That said, I think everyone would benefit from reading these essays. I couldn't help but wonder how many people know this place exists. These days the area is called the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. No motor boats allowed; no ATVs allowed! Everyone should see it at least once in his/her lifetime.

This book is my favorite! It describes all the feelings common to those who have visited canoe country and will never forget it. Sigurd Olson's writing is so clear and descriptive, you'll feel like you're in the Boundary Waters every time you pick it up. Everyone who has visited the Boundary Waters or ever plans on doing so, not to mention all the other nature lovers out there, should read this book. I don't know how many times I've read it and it seems to get better every time.

Originally published in 1956, this classic still speaks to nature lovers today, and it deserves to share the same shelf with Thoreau, Muir, and Beston. Olson's essays convey the spirit and sense of place in what is now known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area -- Superior National Forest in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. North country life is special, and Olson obviously loved living there. He writes with delight of seeing Northern Lights, portaging canoes, cross country skiing, hearing the echoes of loons calling, and witnessing the occasional mouse tobogganing off a tent roof. Though the chapters are organized by seasons and begin with Spring, it is the essence of cold and snow and winter that carries the reader through the book. Best to be read by a warm fireplace with a light snow falling outside and a mug of hot chocolate nearby.

On a more personal level, Webb in part follows up on themes in Richard West Sellars' "Nature in the National Parks," which and whom she references here.

But, that's in the later part of the book. After a brief childhood bio, she discusses her legwork in getting the NPS's vast National Park and Preserve system establshed in Alaska, and with the preservation rules it has. Foreshadowing some later parts of the book, she also describes her initiation to bureaucratic politicking. She also talks about being one of the first women to have a real position in the NPS, and how that may have played a role in some of her early NPS and interagency interactions.

From there, she describes her march up the ranks, with lessons learned along the way, both about general NPS management and organization, and about being a woman marching up the ranks.

At this point, her life intertwines with well-known NPS historian Robert Utley, whome she eventually marries.

Then, she gets her first superintendency, at LBJ National Historic Park.

From there comes a definite jump to the assistant superintendency at Grand Teton.

And, having to deal with a major National Park full of employees grinding axes, carrying bucketsful of grievances, and using federal employee grievance processes for either political payback or to milk the system of money.

During five years at Grand Teton, she sees the politicization of the NPS increase under the Clinton Admin just as much as under Reagan or Bush I. Al Gore's "Reinventing Government" is described as a disaster for the Service, and then comes Gingrich's government shutdown.

And, as part of this, she confirms Sellars' diatribe that the NPS is still recreational tourism first, with wildlife biology trailing sadly behind, although the two disagree on the causes of that.

She finishes by observing the start of conservative intransigence over both bison and snowmobiles in Grand Teton and neighboring Yellowstone, coupled with other, NPS-wide abominations such as the push for more commercialization, cell phone towers, etc., much of this on Clinton's watch too.

The last three grafs above are the "depressing and infuriating" of my title. Sellars was somewhat depressing on first read, but he didn't cover NPS politicking to any great degree.

This book makes me seriously want to not renew my Parks Pass in a year.

I've never before considered the complexities of providing the National Park experiences I have often enjoyed. Not a simple choice of careers. No easy answers.

Jackson Hole and Teton have captivated me for years. Never guessed the intrigue behind my simple enjoyment of nature.

I really enjoyed this book, even though I am not involved with any of these careers and have never been as enthralled with history as the author. Her enthusiasm and commitment is contagious.

Surprisingly, it kept me turning pages not unlike my staple escapist mystery novels.

Humor, humility, candor, brashness, irony, frustration, pride, hope, persistence, idealism, pragmatism, insecurity, confidence, tactlessness, and diplomacy....it's there. Interesting mix of the subjective and objective made the material more personal and interesting to me.

Found additional insight into environmental, political and social issues always of interest.

Apparently, women's challenges in the 70's & 80's were similar across many different career paths.

Melody Webb was a pioneering female in the National Park Service during the latter decades of the 20th century; woman superintendents and upper-level managers are now commonplace in that agency, but they definitely were not then. Her memoir deserves a wide readership on that account alone. But this is not a women's lib story. It is an insider's frank, critical, and also interesting account of office politics in an organization we seldom associate with offices or politics. Better yet, Webb is an engaging writer, who does not take herself too seriously, and whose native sense of humor comes through on every page. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the parks or the Park Service, in the changing places of women in recent decades, and above all for anybody who simply loves a good read about interesting people doing interesting jobs in the most interesting places in the world. Five stars, and six if they had 'em.

Melody Webb's book offers two messages: one, we are loving our national parks to death, and two, women have a role in managing them. She tells about her experiences as a public historian and as supervisor in several national parks with the purpose of elevating awareness of how management practices and use by visitors threaten these national treasures. While involved in work previously assigned to men, she never wavers from a feminine introspection and awareness of the impact of her personality and temperament on her professional life. She proves that a woman can succeed in roles traditionally assigned to men. This book is a must-read for young women who dream of entering professions once thought of as being open only to men.

Melody Webb's years in the National Park Service certainly was an adventure. Imagine spending your summer canoeing down Alaska's Yukon River in search of abandoned gold rush camps with a virtual stranger as your guide or backpacking alone up the steep and treacherous Chilkoot Trail, battling hypothermia in the icy winds of the summit. As a park superintendent, how would you handle politicians, irate ranchers, active environmental groups, diseased elk and buffalo, re-introduction of the wolf to Yellowstone National Park, or a grizzly bear attack on a popular hiking trail? Melody Webb has experienced all that and more in her twenty-five-year career in the National Park Service and presents an articulate, informative, and well-paced account of her adventures in the great outdoors.

I haven't started this book yet, but I have been coming to this area for over 30 years and have had my own place here for five years. I love the area and the pull of this place makes you want to know more about the people who first came here. It can be a rough place even now but to those who were here in the 30's and before, I give my sincere admiration.

This book was written about a pioneering woman named Etta Koch who lived in Big Bend and West Texas most of her adult life. Written by her and her daughter from diaries and faded memories, the book describes the West Texas life after World War II.

Unfortunately, the book contains mostly mundane anecdotes about day-to-day frontier life. While a little of this is essential, you never really get an understanding for the land and culture in Big Bend. Just when you encounter a poignant passage about say, flooding arroyos, it's interrupted by an immediate unrelated occurrence such as "I stopped to scratch an itch" or "Betsy started fidgeting in her seat".

Absent were the author's opinions such as "Big Bend could really use more protection/residents/industry/whatever". Instead you're given, "I'm afraid to have my kids wade in the water hole". It was frustrating.

I could imagine myself walking alongside them as they went through some of their experiences. A great read!

This book was a delightful walk through the past. It was a very enjoyable read and a wonderful opportunity to understand and appreciate life in the Big Bend during the 1940's. It was refreshing to read about the experiences of a family as average as my own,living in such unique circumstances. Their struggles and triumphs give a special insight into the lives of those who pioneered West Texas.

This book is a great read about the conditions in the Big Bend region of West Texas. Full of anecdotes and stories, the book is entertaining and amusing, as well as historical. I enjoyed the book enough to give it as a gift.

Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run, Shiloh are places we won't ever forget. On these battlefields, where streams ran red with blood, the United States was truly born. Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies of the Western Hemisphere turned these small towns, little known streams and obscure corners of American countryside into names we will always remember.

The cost in American life was greater than that for all other American wars combined, from colonial times through the wars against terrorism. Antietam was the bloodiest, and yet more fatalities on both sides occurred at Shiloh, Tennessee, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. My sons and I made many trips to both places to pay respect to our soldiers who died protecting the right to be where we were and who we were. At a Confederate Decoration Day celebration, on Jefferson Davis' birthday, one of the re-enactors told me that Nathan Bedford Forrest was his hero. I took a photo of the hero in action he had on his horse carrier. He was shocked when I told him that Amazon had removed my review about the Forrest book which was all made-up with all truth absent. He said to me, "You mean we still have censorship in the United States." A local Confederate, Dr. William Johnson Worsham, was honored for his service to our country; his war memoirs, "The Old 19th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, CSA" were published in 1902. A special commemoration and dedicated monument in the Old Gray Cemetery. On the Seal of the Confederacy are these words: "Deo Vindice", God is our Vindicator. I also took pictures of the different flags displayed on June 3.

Extraordinary leaders and incompetent tyrants served on both sides. Their power to fascinate, inspire, or exasperate remains undimmed. These men -- heros and fools -- toiled in a typhoon of broader forces. Grasping this dynamic relationship among the battlefield, the home front, and the diplomatic front is absolutely essential if you want to understand the American Civil War.

Shiloh is by far one of the best battlefields to visit. Scouts all over Tennessee travel to Shiloh to camp out and study history at the place where it happened. Living history is better understood and absorbed if you are standing on the very spot where important actions took place.

Over the years I have grown weary of reading accounts of Civil War battles that never provide any information on what happened to the battlefield after the battle is over. Apprently most military authors must assume that every reader knows the field either became a park or a parking lot in later years and they ignore the subject completely, not even touching on it in an epilouge. That's why I love this book. It shows the Shiloh battlefield continuing to live as the parchment upon which the battle was written. This post-war account of the field contains almost as many quirky characters as held command in the fight. Some of the stories are amusing, some are appalling such as the former officer who continually insisted that an artificial lake be placed in the park to make it more picturesqe... he never could understand that the lake would be non-historical and cover the scene of heavy fighting. Happily, the park administrators politely resisted his requests until he finally passed away.

What a novel approach to one of the Civil War's greatest battlefields and parks! When I first picked the book up off the seller's shelf to flip through it, I thought that it would be a boring rehash of the battle, crunch of numbers, and numbing facts on the park's creation. Never-the-less, I went home and ordered a copy from Amazon. When it arrived, boy, did I discover my preconceived ideas were wrong! I started reading it and never put it down until I was finished. Smith did a superb job of writing what could have been a difficult subject and held my attention throughout. I'll never walk a park again without thinking of the tremendous effort that went into creating it. OK, Mr. Smith, I know your love for Shiloh, and that you enjoy your job there, but you've left me yearning for another volume on Chickamauga, and perhaps another on some of the smaller parks like Stones River that fell short in their creation, and those like Franklin who never made it. The illustrations topped off the superbly handled story. Hat's off to the author, and to the men who made the park possible. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed in this book!

This short book tells the story of Shiloh National Military Park from the aftermath of the battle until its transfer from the jurisdiction of the War Department to the National Park Service in 1933. Smith's enthusiasm for the park shines through this revised dissertation, even though his prose is usually more serviceable than exciting.

Attempts to relate the early administrative history of the park to current discussions about historical interpretation--probably only the flotsam of the book's academic origins--are unnecessary because anachronistic. But Smith hits his stride when he begins to discuss his protagonist, David W. Reed (1841-1916), the "Father of Shiloh National Military Park," to whose memory he dedicates the volume.

For those interested in the development of American military parks, there are three important lessons to be gleaned from Smith's book: 1. The federal government was, at least on occasion, capable of dealing prudently and fairly with private landowners when acquiring park property--although it must be admitted that the area around Pittsburg Landing was an economic backwater. (53) 2. Not surprisingly, the winners of a battle tend to be more enthusiastic about commemorating it than the losers. (78) 3. An intelligent and gifted administrator such as Reed, early on the scene, can shape interpretation in such a way as to make full revision almost impossible. For instance, all Civil War buffs know something about the importance of Shiloh's "Hornets' Nest," "Sunken Road," and "Bloody Pond," but these iconic locations now seem to have been as much a creation of Reed's historical imagination as battle reality. (69)

Being married to a Civil War enthusiast can have a down side; my wife calls it "visiting dirt" whenever we stop at battlefields. For the enthusiast, a battlefield can be one of the best places on earth as you see more than words can convey; gain understanding of the what, why and how of the action. You can connect with the men; hear the guns while seeing their view of the battle. Talk to someone who has walked Pickett's Charge, climbed Missionary Ridge or stood looking toward The Sunken Road and you will feel their connection to that event. Each National Military Park is unique and the experience of one is not the same as another. Shiloh, in majestic isolation, is the park closest to what the veterans wanted to tell us about their service. This book is the story not of the battle but of saving the battlefield and determining how that story would be told.

In December 1894 Congress passed an act to "establish a national military park at the battlefield of Shiloh", with a budget of $75,000. This was in response to pressure from veterans who wanted their battle commemorated. From 1862 to 1894, only a military cemetery was in the area. Except for the cemetery, the battlefield had returned to farmland. Whenever a body was found, the cemetery would come out to remove the remains for burial.

This book, details how a small group of men converted several thousand acres of land, thousands of personal accounts and the Official Records into the park we have today. It is great fun to read about this effort and the writing is crisp and easy to follow. The author tells a good story, keeping our attention while generating interest. The amount of detail this small book is amazing as we work through land purchases, mapping the battlefield, placing units amid the chaos of battle while trying to find a place to live and work. It took a strong person to do this and we were blessed with a series of them, each making a unique and necessary contribution to the park.

Monumentation produced a new set of problems as regiments fought the official interpretation preferring their memories. Shiloh went through a series of "battles" with veteran's groups, state lobbies and the War Department that lasted for years. Lastly, the author gives us a glimpse of the emerging question on the Hornet's Nest complete with historical background.

While this is a small book, it is well worth the money. I have gained a real understanding of what was required to build the National Military Parks and will carry that with me each time I visit one.

Grand Staircase - Escalante is an exceedingly beautiful area that
has basically no developed trails. This guide boock offers a wide
range of medium to challenging outings. The routes are
well chosen, the descriptions fabulously accurate, and the
characterization of the difficulties appropriate.
Reading the descriptions will wet your appetite, the detail
and accuracy of the book will keep you out of trouble and so
ensure that you can enjoy the beauty of this special place.

I enjoyed this book much better than Canyoneering 1 and 2 (which are still OK to good). Everything a guidebook should be.

A much needed trail guide, but I'm concerned that those who use this book will end up trampling the fragile Escalante terrain. I tried following a couple of his routes (quite accurate), but I'm afraid after a few years these will be trodden sand pits. The maps have a lot to be desired, but that's why we bring topos', right?

Oh My God. Having delved into this book in preparation for an upcoming week in the Escalante, I am bowled over by the breadth and depth of this phenomenal book. Amazing. This covers in fine detail backcountry travel routes in the very large and very wild Escalante area. Does not even compare to any other guide I have ever seen. There is such a depth of detail... Plus Steve's enthusiasm for the southlands exudes from the text.

This is an extraordinary book. Emphasis is on longer adventures, but there are also good day trips. Folks looking for placid strolls down well developed trails should probably look elsewhere. Not only are there few developed trails in the Escalante, but they are not described here.

If you have not used a Steve Allen guidebook before, they are indispensable in Canyon Country. His love of these places is evident in the care with which he writes. Steve has been hiking the Colorado Plateau for over 15 years now extensively and much of that time was spent researching this guidebook for the Escalante area. You won't find routes listed in here that were only hiked a single time, they were hiked, reworked, and double-checked many times. Canyoneering is hard core, and the routes into and out of the canyons are areas to easily get lost in. Good directions and good maps are a must. Steve's books also have lots of interesting tid bits on local and natural history. Check out Canyoneering I and II if you like this one.

Among Austen devotees, Pride and Prejudice is usually regarded as being her best work, but I admit that I think a little differently. While of course P&P is one of the great works of literature and certainly deserves its place in the Western canon, I am inclined to think that Mansfield Park, which in my mind is rivalled only by Persuasion, is just as deserving of that title.

There are quite a few people that seem to think that Fanny and Edmund are much too dull to make a good hero and heroine, but I would beg to differ. Fanny is to me a very real character and not as woodenly perfect as she is sometimes made out to be- she can become angry, jealous and even occasionally depressed and the fact that she does not have the freedom to vent these negative emotions doesn't mean that she doesn't have the capacity or wish to. I have also heard it said that she doesn't have the courage to stand up for herself, but I would point out that she did so at the time that it was really important, even though it would have been much easier to go along with what her relations felt was best instead.

Edmund also should be given the credit that he deserves- it is true that he spends much of the novel under the delusion of his love interest being what she really never was, but when he finally understands it, his anger at himself for not recognising it sooner and his strong desire to make amends for it was enough to make me immediately forgive him for his past mistakes.

Many of the other characters also deserve some notice as well- Fanny's brother William is one of my very favorites in any Austen novel, and her horrible aunt Mrs. Norris is arguably one of her cruelest villains. Really, I can't think of any weak links- every character is deliniated in a strinking and lifelike way, and none seem to be one-dimensional, even when they are minor and not integral to the main story.

In closing, I would point out that while a reader in the mood for something "light, bright and sparkling" might not really appreciate Mansfield Park as much, anyone in need of a good, solid and fascinating novel should not pass it up.

After having read (and loved) Jane Austen's more famous novels EMMA and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, I found MANSFIELD PARK a true delight. Fanny Price is taken in by her wealthy aunt and uncle as charity to her more lowly-married mother, and is raised with her cousins with the idea she needs refinement and education to become as good a woman as her lesser social standing will allow. Fanny is nervous and self-effacing, struggling with her new situation until her cousin Edmund makes her feel more at home. Gradually, she feels like a part of the family, although the nagging sense of unworthiness always asserts itself. As cousins marry and suitors appear, as scandals arise and emotions become known, Fanny finds herself in the equivalent of a Victorian soap opera.

Fanny is undoubtedly one of Austen's less assertive characters, although she does mature into a woman who knows what she wants and will accept no less. I loved Fanny and her honesty, the little girl who fears the stars in her eyes and still manages to grow up into a respectable - and respected - woman. Her complexities are subtle and understated, making the reader work at times to understand her motivation, although anyone who has felt like an outcast even once, or anyone who respects honesty, will identify with her. In true Austen fashion, the observations are witty, with pointed social analysis and cynicism dressed up in sly humor. Fanny's aunts in particular are skewered, but no one, not even Fanny, is spared.

Readers picking up this novel for the sheer delight of it will find it difficult to put down, as its language is accessible and free-flowing. Students and book club members who must pay closer attention to themes and other literary issues may want to consider the role social standing and money play; the evolution of Fanny's character (and whether she is sympathetic); the techniques Austen uses to evoke humor; and the courtship protocol for Victorian England and how the characters both work within, and violate, the social rules.

I highly recommend this book for teenagers and adults alike, especially those whose literary tastes run toward the classics.

Jane Austen describes Mansfield park to have happened in the first two decades of 1800's. The uniqueness in the novel is the fact that Jane remains consistently and continuously truthful to the story. The story is about Fanny Price, the heroine, who happens to be Lord & Lady Bertram's niece. Fanny's parents are on the lower end of the economy, and therefore Fanny gets taken in by her uncle and aunt at the age of 10. Over the years of Fanny's stay at Mansfield Estate, she becomes more open, intellectual, virtuous and graceful. She grows into a beautiful woman who is genuinely liked by everybody. Like any great story, Mansfield Park has a good guy (Edmund & Sir Thomas Bertram), a bad guy (Mrs. Norris), the temptress (Mary Crawford) and the trickster (Henry Crawford).

Over the years, Fanny falls in love with Edmund (her first cousin) who reminds her of the comfort she received by her biological brother - William. Whether or not Fanny and Edmund will end up together is the constant question that keeps the novel engaging. In terms of the love complex of the novel, it is more like an open-ended square than a triangle. Henry loves Fanny, who loves Edmund, who loves Mary Crawford. Other than the obvious incestuous implication in Fanny affection towards Edmund and Edmund's obsession w/ Fanny's disposition - the novel is socially very truthful to the materialism of then England. Jane throws in a harsh comparison between Fanny's mother and aunt's households towards the last part of the novel when Fanny returns to her family for a few months. Jane also draws contrasts between Mansfield and London cultures by showing changes in personalities of Mary & Henry Crawford.

Fanny practices about Edmund, what Jane says in Emma - "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

The protagonist of Mansfield Park, Fanny Price, was one very near and dear Jane Austen's heart, but did not win a great deal of favor with the reading public. Fanny seemingly emulates the standards of moral feminine behavior for the time period, and unlike other Austen heroines, is not obviously spunky. However, her spunk is evident in her intelligence and unwillingness to sacrifice her principles in any circumstance, even circumstances that would elevate her into high society. I can see why Mansfield Park was Austen's favorite novel. There is an illusion of decorum on the surface, like all her work, but the undercurrent in this particular work is much darker than her other novels. The West Indian slave trade, sexual jealousy, infidelity, and the question of human worth all pervade the novel and instill the reader with the sense of discomfort that Fanny feels throughout. My only critique is the ending, a rather cursory tying up of the intricate story that does not match the complexity of the novel's body. A first rate novel, though, for those who want to take the time to unravel Austen's meaning and give Fanny Price a deeper look.

Mansfield Park has it all. Of course it has Austin's dexterous English, but it also has the social commentary of class and gender which we also expect from her. It has all the feel of a retrospective, and it is remarkable in the extreme that Austin saw her own world with eyes so very like our own. If the quintessence of the creative writer's craft is the development and maintenance of tension, then this is the quintessential Austin novel, and possibly her best. We ache for Fanny when she is transported from her home as a young girl and fails to find either comfort or happiness in the manor house of her aunt and uncle. We are as edgy as the characters themselves as they mount a home theatrical production which places in relief each of their deficiencies, and foretells the guileless decency of our young protagonist. Our nerves are as knotted as hers when the scheming and fabulously wealthy Crawford stalks her, brandishing matrimony as a weapon. And even as we are turning the final dozen pages, the faulty judgment of Fanny's love interest, her cousin Edmond, instills lingering doubts as to whether a satisfying outcome is achievable. Let me provide a preview of Austin's delicious language and the underlying tension it conveys: "The evening passed with external smoothness, though almost every mind was ruffled, and the music which Sir Thomas called for from his daughters helped to conceal the want of real harmony." And here Austin portrays the controlling male mindset in dealing with their female marionettes: "In thus sending her away, Sir Thomas perhaps might not be thinking merely of her health...he might mean to recommend her as a wife by showing her persuadableness." And just how depraved is Mr. Crawford? "Curiosity and vanity were both engaged, and the temptation of immediate pleasure was too strong for a mind unused to make any sacrifice to right...he could not bear to be thrown off by the woman whose smiles had been so wholly at his command; he must exert himself to subdue so proud a display of resentment; it was anger on Fanny's account [for rebuffing him]; he must get the better of it, and make Mrs. Rushworth Maria Bertram [her maiden name] again in her treatment of himself." In Mansfield Park, we have pure evil in a position of commanding power, pitted against a powerless angel. And one by one, the angel's natural allies line up against her. There are a hundred paths to disaster, and only one to the sweetest victory.