Park University Books

Mysticism: Experience, Repsonse and Empowerment may yet found a new paradigm for the study of mystical phenomena. The author, J.B Hollenback, offers a masterful review of previous theoretical approaches with a radical new understanding of mystical practice and experience. Hollenback combines a sensitivity to the role of cultural context in shaping mystical experience with an unbiased approach to the claims of mystical practioners. Thus, he avoids psychologistic reductionism and is willing to seriously consider phenomena such as astral projetion and telepathy and examine how they actually work. His thesis: Concentration, often charged with affect, leads to an empowerment of conciousness which enables the mystic to attain abilities not accessible to ordinary states of mind. This focus on the question of power brings mysticism into the forefront of contemporary discussions of power, such as James Hillman's Kinds of Power. Hollenback displays exceptional openness to the mystical practices of tribal cultures, and one of his case studies deals with a Native American Shaman. The openness, innovative claims, erudition and conceptual clarity of this book make it a "must" for students of mysticism and comparative religion. For further discussion and critique, see my review in The Journal of Religion, 78 (4) 1998, pp. 593-601.

Hollenback spends most of his book dedicated to the premise that the mystical experience is culturally and historically conditioned. What Hollenback never takes into account are the ideas of German anthropologist Adolf Bastian. Bastian recognized that throughout the mythologies and religious systems of the world, the same images, the same themes are constantly recurring, appearing everywhere. He called these "Elementary Ideas," Elementargedanken. But he recognized also that wherever they occurred, they appeared in different costumes with different applications and different interpretations. He called these provincial differences "Folk Ideas," or "Ethnic Ideas"-Volkgedanken. Now this is a very important distinction. It divides our subject into two quite different departments. Historians and ethnologists are interested in the differences, and one can study the mythologies and the philosophies of the world with an accent on these differences. On the other hand, the problem emerges of the Elementary Ideas. Why are they everywhere? This is a psychological problem, and it's a problem that separates us in our discussion of comparative forms from the whole research having to do with differences.

Hollenback, a historian, spends most of his time analyzing the ethic ideas, and ignoring the elementary aspect of the mystical experience. Put simply, he is interested in plot and ignores theme. Furthermore, Hollenback associates mysticism with persons who are clearly not mystics, namely Moses, Augustine, who is a conservative fundamentalist if there ever was one, and St. Francis of Assisi and St. Theresa of Avila who were contemplatives. He further confuses the mystical experience (elementary idea) with the relating of the mystical experience (ethnic idea).

In completion, this is a very poorly written and conceived book which amounts to a 600 page waste of time.

I was in Yellowstone in July and found this book. I was very excited because I have ready everything Lee Whittlesey has written and enjoyed it a immensely. This book, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The title and inside dust jacket make it sound like stories from early days in Yellowstone from indian legends, fur trappers, horse and buggy tour guides and campfire stories. What a fun read!! NOT!! This is a dry boring book telling of how stories came to be in Yellowstone. It reads like an encyclopedia. The fun stories I thought I was going to be reading about are small one paragraph clips with the history and background taking up the majority of the chapter. Boring!!

What a disappointment. If you want a book on facts and little on storytelling then this is the book for you. Shame on the author and publishers for portraying this book as something it certainly it not. What a waste of $28.00.

Yellowstone National Park historian Lee H. Whittlesey presents Storytelling in Yellowstone: Horse and Buggy Tour Guides, the culmination of years of research into folk tales, legends, and some fascinating true stories told by stagecoach-driving tour guides who used to be a staple of Yellowstone National Park prior to 1920. From unique accounts of contact with reclusive Native American tribes, to tall tales and humorous exaggerations, to comments on the portrayal of Yellowstone in early photos and movies, Storytelling in Yellowstone is a treasury sure to appeal to scholars and lay readers alike. Storytelling in Yellowstone consists partly of the stories themselves, though a preponderance of the text is methodically devoted to probing the tales' history, usage, and veracity. Occasional black-and-white photographs round out this seminal contribution to American folk tale literature.

This a an excellent compilation of the history and beauty of Yosemite and it's art. Amy Scott is a bright voice in the art world. I highly recommend it.

The problem that many Yosemite, Bridgeport, Bishop and Mono Lake Paiutes have with this book is that many of the Yosemite Indians are misidentified tribally. Before the book was published some of our Paiute historians contacted the Autry and Amy Scott with documentation concerning the ancestry of important Mono Lake Paiute people. We adivsed the Autry and gave them the Charlie family's 1928 California Indian Applications. Instead of identifying them correctly they went with Craig Bates book Tradition and Innovation as the source of the Indian ancestry in the Yosemite area. The problem with using Craig D. Bates book, Tradition and Innovation, is that it is full of errors. The book, in the Yosemite American Indian biography section, has Young Charlie as a son of a "Yosemite Miwok chief". In know as a fact this is incorrect. I know many of the Charlies and they are NOT Yosemite Miwoks, but full blooded Paiutes. We Paiutes who are descendant of the Charlie family would like to know where is the original source that states that Young Charlie was a the son of a Yosemite Miwok chief. Every piece of documentation, probates, land sales and 1928 California Indian Applications of the whole family the Charlies are documented as full blooded Mono Lake Paiutes. Daisy Mallory was a full blooded Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute, yet her baskets are not identified on page 109. The George Wharton photo of woman sitting with a gambling tray, page 95, is not identified. She is a Paiute. Helen Coats grandmother is not Lucy Telles, her mother Hazel, was an orphan adopted by Lucy Telles. Where and when was it identified that was a "Miwok family" by Martin Mason Hazeltine on page 93. Who identified it and when was ever noted that this grouping was a Miwok family? No one should ever use Tradition and Innovation as reference material for any type of genealogy of the Yosemite Indians because many of the Yosemite Indians in that book have incorrect tribal identification or they are implied. All of Young Charlie's and his families tribal governmental documentation states they were Mono Lake Paiutes and NOT Miwoks. We have done an extensive family research and there is no evidence that before the non-profit Southern Seirra Miwuks went federal recognition there is any proof that Young Charlie was a ever a son of a Miwok chief. Edwin Charles is not from the same family as the Charlies.

I had typed quilt into the search and this title was among those listed. Being from NY I was curious and asked for more info. At the top of the Table of Contents is the phrase "piecing the quilt" - followed by chapters that I thought were quilt block names. Although there is beautiful photography thru out the book and in hard cover version - it would make a great coffee table book - I had thought I was ordering a book featuring quilt block patterns about the Adirondacks!

The National Park Service's (NPS) 1918 statement of policy says that "in the construction of roads, trails, buildings and other improvements, particular attention must be devoted always to the harmonizing of these improvements with the landscape" (123). Linda Flint McLelland's Building the National Parks explains how this was done in the early days of the NPS. Over and over again, the book reminds readers that such improvements, especially those in the Civilian Conservation Corps era, were built so that the landscape was not injured and so they would, as much as they could, blend in to the natural environment.

The volume's explanation of the early construction of campgrounds is one of the more interesting examples of how early NPS landscaping attempted to lessen the impact on the environment. Plant pathologist E.P. Meinecke, known as the father of the modern campground, discovered that human activity caused a myriad of ecological problems and therefore applied his understanding of plant ecology to campground planning and design (279). Meinecke chose campground sites by type of soil, density of vegetation and then "divided up into individual campsites of legitimate sizes, each one offering approximately as much privacy, shade, and other advantages as the other (278). Environmentally conscious readers will hopefully think twice before camping somewhere outside an established campground.

The book presents facts and statistics well, but doesn't tell an engaging story. For instance, the volume lists the overall park visitation statistics from 1914 to 1918, which demonstrates a significant rise, but never offers any analysis on why those numbers augmented. Many journalism professors tell their students to "show, don't tell." McLelland's text tells, but doesn't show. Many pages feel like an organized list of particulars in paragraph form, offering little or no analysis. The pictures and their accompanying captions tell the best story. When investigating landscapes and landscape elements, visual presentation shows more and leaves a more lasting impression than any page of text.

Building the National Parks' title is somewhat misleading. The book also discusses landscaping in numerous state parks across the country. "Building Yosemite and Other Selected National Parks" would not be a far-fetched title as McLelland chronicles nearly every landscape decision at Yosemite and doesn't give other deserving national parks equal share. Perhaps 1916-1940 should be placed in the title after "construction," since that period is the book's focus. The last chapter covers the history of landscaping since 1940 and proves itself as a fascinating portion of the volume, explaining that the "naturalistic harmonies" in NPS landscape design once strictly adhered to have been thrown by the wayside with emphasis on functionality and safety rather than aesthetics (462-467). It goes to show that the period of 1916-1940 was truly the golden age of the national parks.

This text is fine, but I found out that the 10th ed. & 10th ed. revised are EXACTLY the same - they even have the same page numbers. So, if you have the option to use a used, regular 10th ed., I would definitely go with that.

Edmund Kirby Smith remains one of the most neglected of the important figures of the Civil War era. Best known for his command of the Trans-Mississippi Department from 1863 until the close of the war, Kirby Smith found himself acting with military, civil and economic authority after the Union essentially divided the Confederacy in two. He was an important figure and yet his tale is perhaps better told in studies of his administration rather than in a biography.

Joseph Parks gives a solid if not particularly compelling account of Kirby Smith's career. Kirby Smith, a Floridian, served under Joseph Johnston at the First Battle of Bull Run and was seriously wounded. After recovering from the wound, Kirby Smith commanded Confederate forces in East Tennessee and showed some tactical ability in the invasion of Kentucky which culminated in the battle of Perryville. During that campaign, Kirby Smith feuded with Braxton Bragg who commanded the main wing of the Confederate invasion. Kirby Smith would later command the Trans Mississippi region and, while there were some successes such as the Red River campaign, all in all Kirby Smith was content on the defensive, much in the style of his mentor Johnston. Parks offers little on Kirby Smith's post war career which is fairly odd since Kirby Smith taught at the University of the South, an institution that Parks was affiliated with.

This is all well and good. However, the chief problem with the book is Parks' lack of interest in Kirby Smith's roles in politics and economics. Kirby Smith's role in the Confederacy was not simply that of a general. He was the highest ranking Confederate offical west of the river and was isolated after the fall of Vicksburg in 1863. For almost two years, Kirby Smith dealt with economic problems (such as trade), morale problems as Southerners lost hope in the cause, Indian raids, the continuing struggles of the French in Mexico and political problems, as the Confederate government and the states clashed. Parks does not offer much in the way of insight to these problems that vexed Kirby Smith and prefers to focus more on military matters. Kirby Smith simply did not have that many chances on the battle field and the spheres he occupied were very different than most other Confederate commanders.

Furthermore, Parks seems a bit too willing to give his subject the benefit of the doubt at all times such as his feud with Bragg. While this was not particularly odd (Bragg quarreled with a host of Confederate commanders), Kirby Smith simply can not be as blameless as Parks portrays him. Richard Taylor, for one, would also have severe problems with Kirby Smith later on in the war during the Trans Mississippi command. At the same time, the view espoused by the late Thomas Connelly of Kirby Smith as a young man deluded by a messianic complex seems equally flawed as well.

For basic information on Kirby Smith, take a look at Parks though be warned the book is very dated. For the importance of Kirby Smith and his role in the greater story of the Confederacy, take a look at Robert Kerby's study "Kirby Smith's Confederacy." While not offering much in the way of biographical information, Kerby's book seems a bit nearer the mark in capturing Kirby Smith than either Parks or Connelly did, showing a young man with some talents overwhelmed by a task that was simply beyond his, or anyone else's, abilities. For Smith's feud with Taylor, Jeffery Prushankin's "Crisis in Command" is solid.

As for Parks, while he does give some of the basics of Kirby Smith's life, he really fails to capture just how important his subject was in the story of the Confederacy. If Kirby Smith is ever going to rise out of obscurity, it will not be on his military record but on how an untrained military leader found himself trying to maintain some sense of order as he tried to hold together a collapsing economy, society and political system. It's an interesting tale and one that deserves to be told. Too bad Parks simply could not see the bigger picture.

The book "Guided with a Steady Hand" is recommended reading for those historians interested in the history of Mother Neff State Park, Texas. It provides input into the general role of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the "New Deal" era, but contains little relavent material for areas outside of Texas. This book makes for easy reading and is loaded with information about the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., and the daily life of one particular CCC camp. However, for those readers who have no interest in the history of state parks in Texas, this book is of little value.

This book tells the human story of the Central Brooks Range in Alaska, the core of which makes up Gates of the Arctic National Park. It combines a fairly dry narrative with a remarkable number of historic photographs from various collections around the country. It includes some *historic* maps but, annoyingly, never gives us a modern map of the region at a useful scale. As a result, the geographic relations between many settlements (some of which no longer exist) remain unclear.

The first chapters of book tell the story of pre-contact Alaskan natives and the European explorers who first met them. The narrative here is dry, and presented without context.

Brown is clearly most interested in the material in the middle chapters, when Euro-Americans and Native Alaskans make fuller contact and begin to live and work together. Now the facts become a real narrative, and Brown begins to tell the story of Alaska in a wider context.

The final chapters briefly cover the years since statehood, culminating in creation of the national park. Brown focuses on what Natives have lost from this process, which makes their participation in the process a bit mysterious. I would have liked to see more coverage of national park management and challenges (given my other interests) but this received only a couple of pages.

Overall, the text of this book only gets two stars from me. In contrast, the historic photographs are first rate - - if that's what you're looking for, you'll enjoy the book. All the photos are in black and white, of course. I would have appreciated a series of color plates in the middle of the book in order to show the full beauty of the region.

A fine introduction to historic preservation as well as to the byzantine workings of the National Park Service. The early chapters (not including the first) are more interesting and less bogged down in nonessential detail. Toward the end, the author has a tendency to bury the reader in bureaucratic wranglings and the comings and goings of NPS personnel. Even so, the sections on the early interpretation of the site, the development of Franklin Court, and the epilogue--almost a summary--are well worth reading to anyone interested in historic preservation and interpretation.