Park University Books

Ever feel that you let the enthusiasm of a review persuade you to purchase something for the wrong reason? Well I did. Like many of you who will visit this amazing site, I was looking for a book that would help me explore it. This book WILL NOT help you plan your trip nor will you want to pack it with you when you go. What it will do is help you write a term paper on Chaco Canyon. Things I want to know when I read about an area are when to go, how long each area should take and strategies to get the best views and pictures. I figured this information would be intermixed with detailed descriptions on the sites history which would elevate it above a typical travel guide. Wrong. It is as far removed from a travel guide as a book can get. Is this the books fault? No probably not. I should have taken the "Encylopedic Guide" reference more literal. However, all those glowing reviews made me feel I was missing something. I was not. I found out just as much about the sites when I visited the on-site museum and read the much shorter official site book (Chaco - A Cultural Legacy). I also found Sandra Hickman's - Hiking the Southwests Canyon Country, to be a better travel companion then this book. Want to know where the petroglyphs are or how to get to New Alto? Not happening with this book. Want a multi page explanation of masonary styles or find out what Uto-Aztecan is? Then this is your book.

The Puebloan culture at Chaco Canyon reached its height between AD 1050 and 1120. In addition to constructing greathouses, kivas, tools and pottery, the people also had to solve the problems of living in a harsh environment. For example, they developed intricate systems of controlling water through canals, dams, gates, and gridded gardens.

This book is an excellent reference that lists subjects alphabetically, with brief decriptions (usually not more than one half to one page in length) for each entry. However, I will echo another reviewer's comment that this is not a useful book to take with you when walking among the ruins of Chaco Canyon National Park. I also did not find it as useful when approaching it as an 'introduction' to the culture. It is useful however if you're reading another book about Chaco Canyon or you're already familar with the culture and you want to look up what a Herradura is or to identify what the Rabbit Ruin is and where it's located. There are black-and-white photos and pen-and-ink drawings displayed throughout the book, and there are also maps of topographic and hydrologic features of the area.

My only disappointment is that it was touted on the back cover as 'The Beginner's Salvation' but I never got the beginner's 'big picture' when reading the book's introduction. I would've preferred an overview that addressed the subject in this sequence: reasons the Puebloans began moving and settling into the area, what did early aspects of the culture look like, what main conflicts/issues did they have to resolve along the way and how, what did later aspects of the culture look like, and what were some possible reasons why they left. Instead, I had to wade through a lot to piece this together and there are still a few pieces missing. An overview followed by the introductory chapters would've been more effective. Overall though, as a reference, this book has some great information.

Also, a travel note if you're plannning to visit Chaco Canyon... To get to the park, you have to take a 20-mile long desolate dirt road. I would recommend not taking a regular car or RV out there. When I was there in September, we were just leaving the park as it started to rain. I soon felt fortunate that we had rented an SUV because the road very quickly turned into a thick muck.

This incredibly detailed and cross-referenced "handbook" is also a fine "literary work"that will delight anyone from novice to active archaeologist. Vivian's lifelong professional involvement with Chaco and Hilpert's facile expertise for public information clarity have made a perfect merger of technical information and spellbinding narrative. Add in wonderful illustrations (many of Vivian's photos and drawings) and time lines and charts, and you have everything one needs to understand, and better yet, REMEMBER AND TRACE, up-to-date info on Chaco. This really goes into the heart of the entire realm of SW PreHistory even beyond Chaco culture. As an active "amateur", I use the gloriously wide margins to record notes from all the good references the book provides on Chaco. Others of less intense interest in Chaco have found gift copies especially rewarding: my son's wife has seen only Mesa Verde, yet she found that this book explained general Anasazi life "at last" in a clear and direct manner; my sister fell in love with the Hopi culture on a visit to the 3 Mesas, and she now feels informed "about the whole idea of the Prehistory of the area" (Hopi and Zuni have their own topics in the book); and my 94 yr old Aunt was here in the 50's and loves SW PreHistory -- but now is quite blind -- so her daughter reads from this handbook to UPDATE her on the whole info range and latest Theory base of the Anasazi/Chaco world. She says the narrative is SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND that she can "build the pictures in her mind". We have been given a fine gift from Vivian and Hilpert. AND CHECK OUT VIVIAN'S LATEST BOOK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. It includes -- for young people and adults-- a charming personal history on Gwinn Vivian.

Someone's pointed out that this isn't a guide to help you explore Chaco. That's true. This is a book you should probably read before you go there, or even contemplate going there.

Visiting Chaco and other ancient ruin sites in the Southwest is an adventure. If you'd like to see these ruins innocent of any understanding of what you are looking at, of the people who built them, of what's known, believed, speculated about concerning their mysteries, don't buy this book. You'll still enjoy seeing it, but you'll do so with approximately the same level of comprehension as the thousands of others who visit there every year.

This book won't give you a thorough knowledge of Chaco or the Chacoan Culture. No book will. No 100 books will. The fact is we only know a lot about those people when compared to knowing absolutely nothing about them.

But if you want to know what's known and believed about pre-columbians in New Mexico, this is a good place to begin.

Chaco Canyon, site of one of the most remarkable civilizations in North America prior to the European invasion, has long been the subject of speculation, fantasy and intense scientific exploration and study.

The mystery of its origins may never be unraveled, which is perhaps the enduring lure of the Chaco Phenomenon. Visit the ruins of an English castle, or a coastal monastery destroyed by Vikings, and the origins and fate are readily available. At Chaco, the Great Houses built from about 850 AD to 11 AD were the highest stone structures built in the Americas until at least the 18th century.

For Navajos and New Agers, like the English of 850 AD when called on to explain Roman ruins, the structures were built by gods. The reality is more prosaic, Chaco was built by the ancestors of today's pueblo Indians. The mystery is "Why ?"

The Chaco Handbook doesn't attempt to solve the mystery. Instead, it provides a concise handbook of Chacoan studies, illustrated with more than 100 maps, drawings and photos, plus definitions of 250 of the common terms relating to more than a century of exploration and investigations. On the basis of my personal visits beginning in the 1960s, it is the best single volume introduction available to explain Chaco.

It's up-to-date, covering some of the latest original and provocative work by longtime professionals such as Thomas Windes and Steve Lekson. It also mildly debunks the sensationalism of Christy Turner who caused a brief flurry of revulsion with his suggestion it was an ancient pueblo cannibalism center.

It's a handy reference for anyone who has visited, an invaluable resource for anyone who plans to visit and a perfect introduction even for those unable to visit. Instead of the usual detailed archaeological minutiae, "The Chaco Handbook" is ideal for average readers. Written by two consummate experts with decades of professional experience, it is an excellent introduction to visiting and thinking about Chaco.

After reading this book, dozens of other books are available which range from professional reports and analysis of excavated sites to esoteric speculation that varies from Aztec warlords to visitors from outer space. Once again, based on personal experience, this book is the next best thing to living there for several months.

Care for some speculation ? Chaco was abandoned after 1100 AD when the Southwest was hit by a decades-long drought; I've studied quality reports of Chaco groundwater which is laced with high levels of natural pollution that can cause mental retardation. The decline roughly coincides with the introduction of the Kachina religion, still a vital part of Zuni and Hopi societies -- two good reasons to start over someplace else.

When we consider why people do things -- such as build Chaco in the first place, or abandon it after 250 years -- we're looking at some fundamental ideas about the origins and fate of societies. Why migrate to Chaco and build Great Houses ? Look at it this way -- Why should Europeans migrate to America and build a Great Society ? Chaco is a metaphor for our world.

This is the fun of studying and speculating about Chaco, a rich and materialistic society that offered far more than a marginal or subsistence life. The Chaco Phenomenon was a vast construction project lasting hundreds of years, with a profound impact on the regional ecology. It leaves the enduring question, "What inspired these Pueblo Ancestors to such greatness ?"

Granted, this book doesn't delve into such idle and sometimes amusing speculation. But, it offers a concise and comprehensive background for those who ponder such issues, and I recommend it as the best introduction available. It's part of the charm of studying Chaco, the temptation (by amateurs at least) to combine facts with "What if ?" speculation.

"The Chaco Handbook" is the best introduction you will get.

I give the book high marks for the research that apparently went into the book. There were a number of references cited in the book that were new to me. Maybe that was enough to earn it 4 stars, but like another reviewer I found the presentation to be a bit disjointed and uneven.

Mr. Honan previously wrote a biography on Shakespeare, so it appears he was careful to avoid discrediting Stratfordian doctrine, or contradicitng what was prevously written, which may account for some of the inconsistency. I feel the book would have been much more effective if the focus remained on Marlowe, and had not attempted to explore a possible relationship between the two men.

Park Honan (Emeritus Professor at the School of English, University of Leeds) presents Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy, an in-depth biography of the famous literary figure. Chapters cover Marlowe's childhood, his street fighting, his alleged atheism, a thorough examination of the circumstances that led to Marlowe's murder, and much more. A handful of black-and-white illustrations intersperse this involved, heavily researched and meticulously presented true-life story. Also highly recommended are Honan's previous biographies, most notably the acclaimed "Shakespeare, A Life".

This book seems to have been written mainly for an audience of professional Marlowe scholars. General readers will find it frustrating and confusing. His writing often wanders all over the place. For example, in reference to Marlowe's activities as spy, Honan writes, "He involved himself in some duplicity, if not in faithlessness and treachery, with regard to fellow scholars at Cambridge" (109), suggesting that Marlowe may have betrayed some of his fellow students with Catholic sympathies. But the point is frustratingly dropped until some 44 pages later, when Honan observes that "we cannot be certain that he betrayed Corpus [i.e. Cambridge University] men, or lured them as a provocateur" (153), seemingly contradicting his earlier point. Because his writing tends to wander, the story of Marlowe's life is hard to follow in Honan's account. Important contexts, such as espionage under Queen Elizabeth, and patronage, are not well-explained. Honan assumes that readers already have a detailed knowledge of these subjects.

An account like this necessarily involves substantial speculation, since the documentary evidence is quite spotty. Readers need to know exactly what the historical evidence is, and where speculation begins. Honan's discussion of the documentary evidence is quite uneven. In some places he gives a detailed account, but in many other places, he simply leaves this essential information out. As a result, the reader is often wondering about the historical basis for Honan's account. He often fails to distinguish fact from speculation.

One useful feature is an appendix which reproduces some important historical documents including the so-called Baines libel and coroner's inquest of Marlowe's death.

'The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus' was perhaps Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece. The hero endeavors to save his soul and trick the devil; his devil, Methostophilis, was no match for Faust who had been tormented with 10,000 hells -- after he had seen "the face of God and tasted the eternal joys of heaven." If we find succor in hate, "neglect reconciliation," 'we shall always carry hell about with us.' Faust had boasted that "a sound magician is a mighty god."

Marlowe was no atheist as believed during his short life, but he did believe in Merlin's magic. His patron, Tom Walsingham, was a former spy who dabbled with magical spirits, (not alcohol, though he did have a brewery. 'Dido (Queen of Carthage)' was the play in which Dido's love is like Petrarch's, which Marlowe is said to have inherited. It is limitless; Marlowe portrays the intensity of her desires and playfulness, In his poetic treatise, she expressed herself with "a valid new logic" as she extolls the virtues of the winds and the seas. Marlowe, nicknamed Kit Marloe at Cambridge, was not a romantic, but a "questing realist." Personally, he was excitable, vulnerable and inconsistent.

'Tamburlaine' was written in blank verse using Marlowe's 'pathos' and much hyperbole. His views on history, society and social violence began to evolve as he showed the feelings, attitudes, motivation and behavior of humans from a religious aspect. He evokes four or five different religions in this play. In it, his hero was compared to Christ. "In dramatizing faith, desire, and our other attributes in their ambiguity, Marlowe belongs to us." For six months in 1594, the year after he was murdered, revivals of these two parts were played out before audiences as large as two thousand. Every foreign locale in his plays had a relation to England.

He had just completed 'Hero and Leander' in 1593 before he was arrested as a spy and met his untimely death. He had portrayed the "gap between his well-disciplined life of art and thought and the loose and easy exuberance of his talk." His mentor was partial to speaking Latin, which he called 'the music of the spheres.' Born in February, 1564, he was only twenty-nine when he died in May, 1593. His memory lingers on.

A book best for people with some prior understanding of Marlowe's works and the era in which he lived. In regard to the spying done, most casual readers will be lost in the confusing cross currents of British politics, heavily influenced by religious factors, of the late 1500s. And the fact is much of Marlowe's life is lost to documented history. In a pleasing style, Professor Park Honan fills the lacunae with his informed guesses and conjectures.

Dozens of photographs, drawings, maps, and a comprehensive index make this an excellent guide to the battle of Shiloh.

In addition to actual military reports, the editors provide explanatory information that helps clarify the reports.

With input from the National Park Service, this handbook is an excellent tourbook for the visitor to Shiloh Battlefield Park, and a fine way for the reader at home to come to appreciate the importance of Shiloh.

It is well-organized, with listings of the forces involved, a recapitulation of casualties broken down by brigade AND division, and a comprehensive index to track down specifics.

I feel that Jay Luvass didnt describe this battle in the best way he could. Being a Social Studies teacher, i feel i know alot about this battle and many of the details. I have also read many other books on this battle. I enjoy studying and reading up on this battle and i think that Jay could have done a much better job on portraying the main idea. If your not looking to learn all that much, then its and ok book but definitley do not read it for historical information.

The Shiloh battlefield guide is the fifth of many Civil War guidebooks and maintained the standard started in the Gettysburg guide. The book covers the first big battles of the American Civil War and a Battlefield Park that is the closest to the veteran's vision of "their" battle park. Shiloh is a confusing battle with a story that is being rethought by the experts; this is not a battle history as such. My recommendation is to read Cunningham's book "Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862" before visiting the field. This is best of the very few guidebooks on the battle and is an option to employing a guide or purchasing a park driving tour.
The series format is directions to a point on the field, orientation, a general lesson on what happened in your view, followed by first person accounts of the action. These guides are designed using the general staff training concept of a Staff Ride. This is when a class is taken to a historic location, discuss what happened and see how the terrain influences the event. Staff Rides are designed to be intensive "on the ground" training coupled with physical observation in the hopes students will gain experience for later use.
I am not saying this to frighten you away from this guide but to tell you this is not a walk about and look at the monuments type of guide. This guide will have several pages devoted to the action at this point. It may contain a critique of the local commander's actions with possible alternates.
My experience is that reading the book prior to my visit works best. This allows me more time observing the field and less time reading the book. Of the tour options, a professional guide is usually the best but most expensive choice. The park driving tour is the best choice for a quick trip through the field to get the kids passport stamp. This book is the best choice for a serious student of the battle looking for a detailed explanation.

This is the second battlefield guide in the Army War College series that I have used on a tour. I found it an indispensible aide to understanding how the battle unfolded.

The guide arranges the stops on the tour in a logical manner, and the selected descriptions of the battle by participants do an excellent job describing the combat. I highly recommend this guide to anyone touring the field.

I recommend that you use it in conjunction with the Trailhead Grpahics map of the battlefield, to ensure you have an accurate understanding of the terrain.

I have bought several of the guides in the U.S. Army War College Guide series printed by the University Press of Kansas, and have never been disappointed--until now. Living only a two-hour drive away from Shiloh, I have been to that battlefield too many times to count, and have in that time become very well acquainted with it and the surrounding area. I decided to give this book a try, mainly in the hope that it would reveal something to me at the battlefield that I didn't previously know about. I will repeat that I was disappointed, especially considering the high standard I had learned to hold this series of battlefield guides to.

First of all, there are gaps in the authors' coverage of the battlefield. In other words, they skip important parts of the battlefield while giving other parts plenty. I was also saddened to find out that the authors don't cover sites off the actual battlefield that have to do with pre- or post-battle events, such as the site of the Confederate council-of-war on April 5 or the location of Fallen Timbers, where Nathan Bedford Forrest fought a brilliant rear-guard action after the battle was over. This book would have been much better if the coverage had been widened to sites other than those located within the park itself.

Secondly, I feel as though the authors did not describe each tour stop very well. They would describe what was happening in the general area, but woudln't put that into the context of where you are then standing. For example, most tour guides would say something like the following: "From where you are now standing, Adams' brigade (randomnly picking names here) attacked in the field to your left. At the same time, Shaver's brigade attacked to your right." If the authors had done this, the book would have been much better.

For those who wish to see only sites within the park boundaries, and not see all the important sites associated with the battle outside the park, this would be a good, not great, battlefield guide. For those, like me, who are very adamant about touring the lesser know sites, this guide will be disappointing. I may even be a little too generous in giving it two stars

If you have an open and inquisitive mind, no matter what your political outlook, you will enjoy this exploration of western America and our relationship with this unique landscape. Solnit weaves discussions about the settlement of the west by Euro-Americans, native American rights, nuclear testing, and other critical issues, with ruminations about H.D. Thoreau, John Muir, country music, landscape painters, and other intriguing topics. This is an excellent book about an important subject that will delight you if you let it.

Solnit's juxtaposition of the insidious nuclear poisoning of Nevada to the making of Yosemite National Park (that she shows has been "loved to death" since it was first discovered by whites more than 150 years ago)makes this book a must for all environmentalists. Solnit deals directly with themes of conquest and redemption in historic efforts to both tame and use these lands. Readers gain specific understanding about two places that are, after all, national icons. However, the deeper themes so well-developed in this book are being played out no less dramtically all across the country.

If people would really read the TRUE history of Yosemite Indians they would find something interesting. First the Miwoks in the area were friends and workers for James Savage and Charles Webber, the founder of Stockton. The Miwoks had a working relationship with both white men and they dug gold for them. The real Indians of Yosemite were Mono Paiutes who tried to fight off the invasion, and not Miwoks. They were allied with the white invaders and they called James Savage "White father". I am a descendent of the original Indians of Yosemite and there is a problem. The defintion "Some of them are killers" for Yosemite was fabricated in 1978 and is not the original meaning of Yosemite. The real meaning was "The Killers" or "The Grizzlies" because the Miwoks were afraid of the Ahwahnees. It was Chief Bautista and Russio, who were helping the Mariposa Battalion, who coined that term "Yosemite" for the Indians in Yosemite Valley which they were afraid to enter. It is because the Miwoks were once enemies of Chief Tenaya and the Ahwahnees. 30 years Yosemite National Park Service hired a person named Craig Bates who was married to a Miwok woman and had a 1/2 Miwok son who created that new defintion. So it is increble that ONE person changed the meaning and defintion of one of the most important and well known parks in the whold world...and no one noticed. The Miwoks were actually the scouts and guides for James Savage and the Mariposa Battalion, but you would not know it because the information was controlled by the "Indian expert" at Yosemite, which causes wrong information to be written...like the actual defintion of Yosemite. For the real story read Lafayette H. Bunnell's Discovery of the Yosemite to find out the truth.

This book is classic eco paganistic 1/2 truths and full tripe. Solnit carries on a dreamy and irresponsible massive 'feel good' opinion piece about the handfull of people harmed by our successfull development of our deffensive nuclear weapons. The author fails to note that our development and limited use of our weapons saved millions of lives.
If you are currently a eco pagan, here is more for your religion. If you want a full account of the history of our deffensive development of nuecs, don't waste your time reading this novel. However, if you want further insight into the basis that drives our planet's new pagan eco religion, then this book will help you to understanding their factualy fictionist journey into politics.

Wow, take a moment to read the other reviews of this book.

I picked this book up off a bargain table, and months later happened to take it with me when I was visiting Yosemite without knowing 1/2 the book was about Yosemite. That was kind of a thrill.

Solnit's historical and writing skills, her ability to build a world stage of activity and its interconnectedness with her narrative are extraordinary.

As a landscape artist and photographer, I find this book to be a great resource. Understanding the history of Yosemite is frankly consciousness shifting.

As the other reviewer says, nuclear weapons are our oyster.

Indians, big bangs, Central Park, Fremont and the Heart of Darkness. How about that.

This book was an interesting series of "challenges and stories" of what it's like in the "Johnny Molloy world" of experiences in the Smokie. It IS NOT a guide book, but rather a sharing of thoughts and ideas about the events on camping excursions as they relate to personal experience. Johnny "paints a picture" which is hard to not see, and brings you into the wilderness with him. I repeatedly found myself wanting to pick up the book and "share" in another experience with the writer. This is probably mostly about my wanting to be there, but not making that physical choice. Reading the book took me back to where I enjoy being. The physical struggling, sometimes touched on, was particularly interesting, as when we are up against our limits (a frequent theme in the stories), is when we learn the most about ourselves. It was an interesting "read"! Highly recommended.

This book shares the essence of the outdoor experience of the Great Smoky Mountains. I only wish it was longer and had more pictures. You can easily follow the authors' footsteps.. directions included.

Johnny Molloy's Trial by Trail tells you what it's really like in the backcountry of the Smokies. If you're green, read Trial by Trail and find out what and what not to do. If you're experienced, read these exciting, fast-reading real life stories and remember when you were just as cold, lost, exhilarated or serene. This ain't no preachy guidebook, its a grainy portrait of life on the trail. After reading the first story, you'll be itching to pack up and hit the trail. Johnny Molloy knows what he's talking about, so read, learn, then go for it!

Anyone who buys this book expecting a guide to the Great Smoky Mountains will be dissapointed. However, if you want to read a great collection of stories, stories that make you feel as if your on the trail, this is the book for you. Johnny Molloy probably knows as much about the how-to part of camping as anyone, spending over a hundred nights a year in the backcountry. But again, this book isn't a how to guide. This book is about his experiences in the Smokies. And it's more than just a diary. It makes you feel as if your are on the trail with him. Anyone who loves to camp, for more than just purposes of taking a vacation, will enjoy this book.

I ordered this book under the misconception that it was a guide to trails in the park. The title, I feel, is misleading. This book is actually a collection of essays about the author's experiences hiking the park.

How can I trust the advice of someone who doesn't even know the correct name for his subject. Forget it.

Cactuses is now generally accepted as correct. Cacti is the older version of the plural form for cactus. Definitely a modern book.

Clean clear presentation, photos well done.

This book is just what the non-botanist needs to identify and enjoy the "cactuses" of Big Bend NP. It is concise, accurate, and beautifully illustrated with photos taken within the park in natural habitats,...not in artificial greenhouse settings as with other cactus books. And, yes, in today's American English, cactuses is entirely proper.

The Gates was too cool. As with all art, it is subjective. One person might consider junk, is anothers treasure. The Gates was a sight to see. We went on a trip to NY to see them. TOO COOL! The book is great.

What these men do is not art, it is junk. Real art is Picasso, Renoir, Rodin, Ansel Adams etc... Since this is not art,logically any book about "the gates" is a waste of money. Anybody who thinks that what this book shows is art should look up the word pretentious.

The Central Park Gates Project will be remembered as the first great public art installation of the 21st century. Christo's gift to New York City was immersive, democratic and profoundly spiritual. If you want to understand the thought, passion and effort that went into this masterpiece, then this is the book for you.

This book depicts a project began by the authors circa 1979.
The presentation contains many full-color pictures i.e.
The Wrapped Coast of Sydney, Australia. The Wrapped Coast is
a spectacular presentation of a rock formation set in contrast
to the sea and sky. The work has a presentation by Da Vinci
in Milan and a panorama of umbrellas called the "Japan Gates".
The volume is well worth the price for art and world culture
enthusiasts.

Does a fair job on the basics, but too much east-coast liberal attitude. The bad cattle, bad dams, people building houses.
Another case of lock up the west and keep it a playground for the coasts.

Robert Fillmore is most gifted in his abilites to cogently describe the unique geology that yields this region's unsurmounted depth and beauty.

No one, geologist or casual traveller, should enter Utah without this compelling guide.

Being a Geology major learning under Professor Fillmore, his book helped me many times in my research. Not only does he do a great job describing the geology of southern Utah, but his enthusiasm for the area shines through in his writing. Fillmore also has a knack describing very technical processes in ways which anyone can understand.

The first chapter in his book consists of basic principles of geology. This covers most of the forces behind the deposition of the various formations in Utah. These include the geologic rock cycle, basic igneous and sedimentary classifications, rock deformation, monoclines/anticlines/synclines, and the geologic time scale.

The second part consists of a chronological description of the geology of southern Utah, starting from the Pennsylvanian (about 12,500 million years ago) and running all the way to the Quaternary (present). This is the part which comes in really useful for research, because not only does Fillmore write in very easy to understand language, but he also cites all of his sources, mostly from scientific papers, in an easy to look up GSA format.

The third part comes in handy for the tourist and fossil hounds out there! Once you are familiar with the geology of Southern Utah, Fillmore takes you through a mile-by-mile tour, pointing out various rock outcrops and explaining what caused them to form. This is a wealth of knowledge which can make any drive through southern utah an educational experience for the whole family.

This book is a must have for anyone wanting to know about the geology of southern Utah. The material within is very well researched by a college professor of geology, who has a love for the area he is writing about.

---
Christoph

fillmore spends the first 2/3's of the book discussing, via geologic time periods, the formations laid down in so. utah, and the conditions which created the formations - it is wonderfully written for the layperson to the non-professional but very interested geologist - the final third is dedicated to describing roadside geology starting from east of capital reef and traveling to just west of zion - overall an excellent book and definitely worth the read for anyone interested in understanding more about the beautiful areas that are so. utah

Margaret Lynn Brown has written a fine first book about the Smokies, a park in which I have hiked almost annually for the better part of thirty years. The history of the area is familiar to me, but I was still fascinated by the details of such topics as "The Road to Nowhere," the wild boar controversy, the introduction of horseback riding, and other choices about wildness ratified by the National Park Service. The author writes well enough, and the illustrations have been well chosen.

Like many revised dissertations, this book includes too many quotations, especially pedestrian ones from park service personnel whom the author has interviewed. Brown is also a "tongue clucker" who treats people of the past as if they should have known better than say, to feed bears or clear-cut old growth forest. Nor do I believe that the greatest threat to the environment is "unregulated industrial capitalism," a notion that some concentrated thoughts about the environmental disaster of sub-Saharan Africa might disabuse. At least Brown and I agree on the crassness of contemporary tourism in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

This book is a wonderful review of the history and management of Great Smokies National Park.

The author brings to life the dirty details of the heroic political triumphs and failures associated with the park. As well as, the ecological changes that swept the Appalachian mountians and the new challenges still faced. In addition, she drives home the social cost inherent in the changes that have occured in the Smoky Mt. region.

Her book sheds light on the key poltical, ecological and social issues facing the park today.

If you are looking for a book that paints a "quaint" picture of Appalachia, don't look here. If on the other hand you want a book that will make you think about the complex interactions of ecology, human relationships and politcal struggles, read on!

Margaret Lynn Brown's "The Wild East" is an important contribution to the field of environmental history. The author seems to know the region where the Great Smoky Mountains is in, well. She traces the history of the Smokies and of the people living there. She analyzes how the Smokies came to be under the federal government's jurisdiction and how the landscape was changed profoundly.

What I find most interesting is the attempt by a superintendent's effort to preserve the mountains as pristine as possible but he came up with some strong objections by surrounding residents who were concern about bringing money in to the region. Also, surrounding towns began to flourish as attractions like Ripley Believe it or Not and even Dollywood became the focus of tourists going to the Smokies to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It's almost ironic that there is such drastic difference between the Smokies, where wilderness is preserve and the very commericialized towns surrounding the mountains.

M.L. Brown's The Wild East: A Biography of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the amazing story of the centerpiece of eastern wilderness. Introducing herself and her work with a refreshing and highly personal account, Brown immediately enlightens the reader as to her motivations. What proceeds is a history that is so meticulously researched that the wildness of the park seems almost suburban, making The Wild East simultaneously fascinating and slightly disappointing. But pathos is bound to ensue after the mythical GSMNP is taken off of its pedestal, and Brown delivers a heavy dose of reality by focusing on prior land use within the park, the contradictions of park management, and the nebulous concept of 'wilderness'. The result is an accurate account of the park's creation that de-shrouds it of some of its wild mystery, an effect that might not be enjoyed by every reader.

In Brown's defense, she had few complete histories of the park to update and examine (outside of D.S. Pierce's The Great Smokies), and the litany of personal accounts, newspaper articles, and other histories that she unearths make for a tremendous piece of scholarship. Brown leaves no stone unturned in describing the opportunism of the Tennesseans and consternation of the North Carolineans, and she fully reviews both sides of every major argument that enveloped the park to the present. Of particular interest is her focus on making the history of park and area residents seem less like 'hillbillies' and more like average Americans of a century ago, with many personal accounts of day-to-day Appalachian life.

But missing in her attempt to please everybody is a sense of the rancor and vitriol that must have surrounded the park's formation, guided by a healthy dose of eccentricity from all of the wonderful folk who gave a hand in helping of hindering the park's will to survive. Her most flagrant omission is an unbiased discussion Horace Kephart and his contributions to both regional anthropology and the park's development; Kephart is only mentioned in passing. For a park with such a dynamic history, one might wish for a more dynamic story, with a greater sense of the conflict and character that makes the Great Smoky Mountains the centerpiece of eastern wilderness.

Again, a good portion of the park was settled, and thus its status as 'wilderness' is a matter of debate. To this end Brown inexplicably addresses eminent environmental historian William Cronon on the topic of wilderness in her conclusion, which is a departure from her storyline and should have been omitted. Had she debated wilderness directly throughout the book her conclusion would not be so disjoint.

An argument that Brown does develop is the issue of land management both within and around the park, with a focus on the Gatlinburg area and conflict surrounding park managers and policies. Her bear management discussion is particularly strong, as is the history of contrasting land development on the North Carolina and Tennessee sides of the park and park management of Cades' Cove.

In short, despite its shortcomings, The Wild East is a necessary read for all GSMNP enthusiasts. Brown's honest history might make the park lose some of its luster, but will also surely create new leagues fans for the dynamic GSMNP.

I found that the book was directed more toward complete novices. The book was overly detailed for a person with even limited experience. The book also addressed specific types and brand names of equipment that the author used, while only brielfy touching on other options available. A novice wishing to follow the equipment recommendations to the letter should be aware that his choices were also very expensive, particularly for people who may only make one trip a summer. I much preferred Cliff Jacobson's "Boundary Waters, Canoe Camping with Style". Jacobson offers route recommendations, excellent illustrations, recipes and a miriad of equipment choices. He also provides a list of manufacturers in the appendix.

Furtman has vast experience in the canoe country of northern Minnesota and southern Canada. Through his writing he empowers the reader to make wise choices with regards to trip planing, packing, camping, canoeing and cooking. The book is well worth reading for anyone contemplating a trip to Canoe Country in the future. It even makes great reading for those of us who have experienced this great adventure. I found myself saying, "why didn't I think of that", time and time again.

Having read lots of other books on this subject, I have to say that this title is the only one that meshes with my experience. His recommendations are absolutely on the money due to a paring away of hype surrounding the gear you should use when canoe camping. A great book for the novice canoe-camper and one with opinions which happen to be borne out by the experience of others.