Washington University Books

I have returned to Vietnam many times...I speak the language and have known about the atrocities that occured after April 30, 1975. I have read and re-read this work and I compare it to another great book...Decent Interval by Frank Snepp. The stories are unique yet the same, reeking of betrayal and abandonment by a "friend".
The author reveals arduous research and the ability to place these anecdotes onto paper without losing emotion and perhaps color. As a previous reviewer has stated...better late than never. My congradulations and thanks to the author.
I would give this book more stars if possible.
I am the author of ...Eye of the Tiger and Thoughts Etched in Jade.

In this book, Dr. McKelvey wrote a detailed and intimate account of the South Vietnamese military officers' fates after the end of the Vietnam War.

The message is troublesome but not surprising: the military personnel were rounded into re-education camps and suffered untold tragedies from humiliation, torture, mental degradation to physical impoverishment within a communist prison system. The majority of the officers were jailed from ten to fifteen years; one officer was detained for a total of 22 years.

While 70,000 former political inmates and their families were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. through the ODP (Orderly Departure Program), many more are still living on the fringes of the Vietnamese communist society. A former major drives a pedicab for a living. In this McKelvey's book, we heard the voices of a doctor, a tailor, a politician, an engineer, a spy, a pilot, and a teacher. They all endured "grueling and unforgiving ordeals that only the strongest would have survived." Family members were ostracized for being related to the political prisoners; their wives suffered uncounted financial, emotional, physical hardships, their children barred from a decent education.

The book is one of the few that deal with the long-term psychological effects of the incarceration on the inmates and the sufferings of their relatives.

The author concludes that: 1) War does not end when peace treaties are signed because the negative rippling effects of war and destruction affect many generations to come. 2) The U.S. should be very careful about intervening militarily in any part of the World. 3) The U.S., if it does go to war, cannot simply abandon friends and allies to the mercies of common enemies.

McKelvey, a Marine veteran of Vietnam, penned a marvelous oral history of former reeducation camp survivors. The Introduction is personal and touching. The book contains four major sections dealing with interviews with former prisoners: a doctor, an engineer, a tailor, a pilot and a spy. Families of prisoners give their stories of carrying on while their loved ones were in captivity.

The author probes deeply into the postwar lives of these former public servants and officers of South Vietnam. From the initial reporting date in June 1975 until their release, the interviewees recall the brutal details of the camps, their captors and the communist indoctrination--basically hard labor and starvation. "Reeducation" is a misnomer.

Nixon and Kissinger's "Peace with Honor" never materialized. Ford took care of the refugees in the U.S. but didn't/couldn't intervene. Carter, well...he was busy with pardoning draft dodgers and Iran. The U.N. and Amnesty International finally took notice in 1979 when it was too late for the majority of those who had perished.

I give this book four stars only because it reeks of academia, its format of Q&A rather than an arcing narrative. It should be included in every Vietnam class, especially those professors and students who care to learn about America's defeated and abandoned allies.

I am a student from Vietnam and now studying in the U.S. I chanced to read this book in our university library. Thanks the AUTHOR for an insightful book.

In fact, my family background was 'clean' in the eyes of our government because my parents were not involved in any military service for the former government. But I have friends whose family situations were exactly the same as those portrayed in the book. I must say those are incredible human sufferings, and not only for one generation. I am glad some of those stories are now heard, perhaps a bit late but still, better than never.

Here's a life-time lesson for me (and perhaps some others): no matter how and what communists tell you, don't hastily believe them. Just look at what and how they do, and you'll see it for yourself. For many of them, human dignity and lives are trivial and cheap.

Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest

I have owned this book for several years now, and having applied the information Russell has provided here, I have found it truly helped us develop a wonderful little piece of habitat for our wild friends.
I highly recommend this book. Follow what works for your landscape situation, and as your gardens develop, so will the list of wildlife that make your property its permanent home

We live in Southern California so I was a bit dubious how useful this book would be. Happily, it still has much to offer for anyone wishing to wildscape. There's plenty of general advice re. food/water/nesting sites etc. and good plans for bird houses and bat houses. There's a nice chapter on attracting hummingbirds and butterflies, and plenty about creating and maintaining water features (a huge attraction for wildlife in hot areas like ours).

You will need to cross reference the plant lists against what's native for your area, and find your own local native plant nurseries, but there's still lots of great advice here for wildlife gardeners that can be adapted to almost any region.

Trish

Link, Russell, Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1999, 320p.

Soft cover, perfect binding, acid free paper, 8.5 X 11.

The book is divided into 5 parts 1) Wildlife Habitat Design and Maintenance 2) Pacific Northwest Wildlife in the Landscape 3) Special Features for Wildlife Landscapes 4) Coexisting with Wildlife 5) Appendices

Volume has good index , bibliographic references and is clearly printed.

Over one third of the book is in the Appendices, they are excellent, perhaps its best `part'.

A) Pacific Northwest Habitats B) Wildlife Plants Lists, Tables, and Maps C) Landscape and Wildlife Information for Specific Plants D) Construction Plans for Nest Boxes and Bird Feeders E) Resources (in my opinion, very important)

Content:

Well written, educationally enhanced by wonderful illustrations, good examples and step-by-step procedures. Quality, abet small, section of color photos of wildlife identification and descriptions. Includes description of habitat construction from apartment balcony to acreage. Also discusses ponds, dust paths, nest boxes and nest structures, feeders with detailed tables, brush piles, snags, hedgerows, bird watching, problems with wildlife and responsible pet ownership.

Book can be read as text or used as a reference resource. The publication is a must for any land steward or wildlife enthusiast. An excellent purchase as a gift for yourself or fellow enthusiast. Available in bookstores or if you order from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife you receive a copy autographed by Russell.

This is my 4th or 5th purchase of this wonderful book. I have given all my copies away and need another for myself. It has great resources on the plants birds, insects and animals use for food, cover, etc. We made our voilet green swallow nest boxes from the plans in the book. We've watched new swallows peek out and take their first flight every year since we put them up.

We live in the foothills of Mt. Hood and it took me a few months after moving here to realize I shouldn't bring the invasive plants I used in town to the mountains. And I realized I could have turned my city home into a wildlife haven. The book is a great resources for all city, suburb or rural locales in the PNW.

It's just a wonderful book!

La commemoration du bi-centenaire de la vente de la Louisane a pris fin, celle de l'expédition transcontinentale du Corps of Discovery (1804-1806) bat son plein, comme on peut facilement l'imaginer. Après la monumentale publication de la Nebraska University Press, édition « definitive » de l'intégralité des journaux de Meriwether Lewis et William Clark (sept volumes de la plume des deux capitaines, quatre volumes constitués des journaux parallèles de Gass, Floyd, Ordway, Whitehouse, plus l'herbarium et un atlas...treize volumes donc depuis 1983, le tout coordonné par Gary E. Moulton...), voici Lewis and Clark Trail Maps, A Cartographic Reconstruction. En trois tomes grand format, Martin Plamondon II met splendidement à profit ses doubles compétences de spécialiste de l'expédition et de cartographe chevronné. Ce qui nous vaut un travail exceptionnel, tant au niveau de son utilité scientifique et historique (et ce sur une multitude de plans...) qu'en ce qui concerne sa capacité à ré-alimenter le rêve. Les amateurs savent ce rêve là, qui semble devoir vous quitter un jour pour revenir un autre, parfois bien plus tard, toujours en un coin du vieux Missouri, quelque part entre la rivière Dubois (Wood River depuis longtemps) et les white cliffs au delà de la Roche Jaune, ou plus loin , dans les montagnes ou en vue du grand océan. En trois volumes donc, c'est l'intégralité du périple qui est cartographiée, jour après jour, à raison d'environ quatre centimètre pour un mile.Chaque campement, chaque particularité topologique référenciée dans les journaux, chaque rencontre...tout est là. Plamondon a effectué ici ce que Clark n'avait finalement pu réaliser : une véritable reconstruction géographique de l'expédition. Au delà de son rigoureux argument historico-géographique, l'ouvrage présente sur chaque page l'état actuel des lieux, en regard de ce que voyaient et expérimentaient les membres de l'expédition : le Missouri a bougé, son cours n'a cessé de changer ( déjà Lewis et Clark ne le reconnaissaient parfois plus entre le voyage aller et le voyage retours...), il est parfois noyé sous les retenues d'eau ( Fort Peck, pour n'en citer qu'une...). Bref, le pays a changé. On le savait, pour sûr. Là, on peut le voir maintenant, on peut le voir avant, surtout avant. Comme on l'imaginait, mais en fait comme on ne l'avait jamais vu. A suivre et resuivre, les Moulton d'un côté, ces trois atlas de l'autre. Bon rêve.

With this volume, Martin Plamondon has created a wonderful resource, fulfilling a dream of William Clark. Once you see this volume, you will wonder how you ever got along without it as a companion when reading the journals. The feature of showing dual footprints of riverbeds now and then is fascinating and the list of identified campsites is truly useful for following progress of the Corps of Discovery. Martin's love of, and dedication to this "little" project of his shows clearly throughout the volume. I can't wait for volumes 2 and 3 to complete the trail.

What an immense and high quality work! I never saw a comparable one. There are the maps, and in the maps quotations of the diaries of the explorers. You can exactly follow the route in word and maps. And underled the reconstructed maps you can see side for side a modern map, who allows to find your way today. The size of the maps is perfect, also the clear print. Everyone, who is interested in the Lewis and Clark expedition needs this books (vol I and II edited) and for a fruitful scientific work it is simply a must.
I can only say: Excellent and congratulations.

Everyone with any interest in Lewis and Clark shoul own this book, and the companion Volume 2.

I find it so much more interesting to read "The Journals of Lewis and Clark" (Moulton Edition) or Stephen Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" with these books at my side. To be able to pore over them and see where the Corps of Discovery was is great fun.

Last year I taught a class on Explorers for 6th to 8th graders and we ended the year with five weeks of Lewis and Clark. They were fascinated by these maps and spent lots of time with them.

This book was a wonderful find. I read it in two days on a business trip and found the writing style enjoyable, the research accurate and detailed while not at all overbearing, and the information very interesting. There are still very little details of the Lincoln's day to day activities at the Soldier's Home. None of the Lincoln's kept diaries and official documentation of purchases, visitors, and happenings were very casual compared to the entourage and details which follow a modern day president on vacation. But the author uncovered letters and diaries of the soldiers and visitors who were around the Lincoln's at this time and from these sources has discovered a wealth of information. The book parallels each of the decisive war time decisions made by Lincoln, and shows how his daily commute to the Soldiers Home from the White House and back, and the relaxing time spent with his family during summer nights and weekends, helped to shape some of his actions and achievements.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about Lincoln the person, with an interest in his politics and Civil War presidency. This book is a wonderful addition to the new writings on the Sixteenth President.

This book provides new information about Lincoln and his family, which is highly unusual for someone as researched as Lincoln. Based on letters and recollections of the people who saw him there, this book gives a picture of Lincoln in robe and slippers away from the chaos of the war time White House. A definate addition to what is known about Lincoln.

This is a well written book and very timely as action is being taken to renovate the Lincoln Cottage. I reside on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home where the cottage is located and know the value of the cottage in our history. The facility is now known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington. The cottage has always been known as the Anderson Cottage.

In each of the years he served as President of the United
States (minus the 11 southern states which seceded launching the Civil War!) President Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary and family would journey to the Soldiers Retirement Home about 4 miles from the White House. Son Robert would visit on his trips home from Harvard. Youngest Lincoln son Tad enjoyed the Soldiers' Home where he had a menagerie of pets; got to know the guard troops from Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio stationed there. Wife Mary was often vacationing in New England or shopping in New York.
In this atmosphere Lincoln enjoyed the camaraderie of soldiers; received visitors and enjoyed the company of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton living in a nearby cottage.
It was in this location that the President agonized over his decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation; decided to fire
George B. McClellan and help plan the 1864 presidential campaign.
Every day Lincoln would ride a horse to the White House surrounded by mounted cavalryman. His wife Mary fell from her carriage in July, 1863 while traveling to the home. She was seriously injured .
Pinsker tells us of plots against Lincoln's life. He may have even been fired upon by an unknown assassin according to a soldier who reported this incident in his postwar memoirs.
Matthew Pinsker has written an outstanding book adding to our knowledge of the heretofore little known Lincoln residence at the Soldiers Home. The Home is now a National Landmark and is being renovated and opened for the public. One can imagine how awed poet Walt Whitman was as he saw Lincoln on his daily ride from the White House to the Soldiers Home.
Pinsker draws on a vast array of first person accounts, letters,memoirs and can be complimented on adding to our knowledge of the Lincoln presidency.
The book is well illustated with maps and is an outstanding addition to anyone interested in the Civil War and the Lincoln presidency. Well recommended!

"No more cherry blossoms" is a brutal dive into the tangled hearts of a select but varied group of Asian American characters, from sisters returning home after the internment to a 1919-Hawaiian potter's apprentice to a Hollywood-obsessed mother-daughter team of actors.

This collection of plays crosses decades & perspectives--each one exploring a specific Asian American experience/theme (post-internment, the civil rights movement, asian fetishism/objectification)--but in each play Gotanda tunnels through overarching broad, political climates to unearth the most intimate and beating core of the character and her individual challenges and questions.

Each of these plays has been and should be staged again and again, as their relevance lies in the human themes and not within any specific timeframe or ethnic affiliation (I know that's probably obvious to most). But these plays are also plays to be read on the page; reading the book cover-to-cover is an absorbing experience, and you feel almost pummeled by the end (or at least I did). In experiencing this particular book, I was reminded that reading a play is an entirely different experience from watching one. In reading a play, you are able to imagine the setting and the possibilities, to see these plays and the intent of the playwright, before they are shaped and changed by a director's eye and an actor's interpretation.

"What I try to do," says Gotanda in the book's preface, "is get up each day and give my body the chance to speak. In whatever format, language, medium it chooses." The plays of "no more cherry blossoms" live out this approach: each play speaks in its own unique voice and moves to its own distinct rhythm. The reader can hear the everpresent musical clamor in The Wind Cries Mary, see the cinematics of Ballad of Yachiyo-it's clear from the varied composition and structure of each piece that the playwright's professional/creative background encompasses film, music, and poetry as well as theater.

At times, you might find yourself yearning for more self-determination in the women characters in particular, but the complex relationships and dynamics throughout generate an insistent energy that makes these plays resonate regardless. "No more cherry blossoms" is an arresting and powerful volume, one that, after reading, will work its way into your consciousness, and whose themes and questions will surface again and again. These stories stay with you.

As an Asian American man, I've been familiar with Philip Kan Gotanda's work that centers primarily around the Asian American male in plays such as "Yankee Dog You Die." Knowing his work in this way made me curious to see how a man, who writes so well about men, would choose to write about women. And not just any women, Asian American women.
"No More Cherry Blossoms" spans decades from 1919 Hawaii in the aching "Ballad of Yachiyo," to the post World War II release of Japanese American internees in the beautiful "Sisters Matsumoto," and even to 1968 in the play "Wind Cries Mary."
The breadth is evident but what is truly exciting is the voice that Mr. Gotanda gives to each of his female characters. Each has something specific to say and no matter how different their actions or their attitudes, they are always honest, uncompromising and because of this, surprising.
The title itself, "No More Cherry Blossoms," breaks the long perpetuated stereotypes of Asian women as submissive, demure, and delicate. Each play successfully presents Asian women that are far more complex than any cherry blossom stereotype. It is an interesting choice that Mr. Gotanda chooses to end this collection of plays, about Asian American women, with a modern white male's "how-to" discourse on getting them into bed in the final play, "Got Rice?" It seems Mr. Gotanda is saying that as far as things may have come, we still have a long way to go.

There is remarkable breadth to this collection. Not only do the four plays span the 20th century of Japanese-American experience, but they range widely in style and tone as well. From the quiet, bittersweet beauty of "Ballad of Yachiyo" to the rock n' roll defiance of "The Wind Cries Mary," Gotanda's plays showcase heroines who search for identity in vastly different social climates, and with vastly different voices. The collection will move you at times with its lyricism, surprise you at times with its wit, but always engage you because of the unapologetic honesty of the author. Avoiding melodrama at every turn, Gotanda crafts characters who lust for something more than they are prescribed. In doing so, this truly gifted playwright at once honors a culture's experience while creating works that are universal in appeal.

This rich collection of works by one of our country's foremost playwrights reveals an incredibe breadth of vision. From the achingly poignant, exquisitely lyrical "Ballad of Yachiyo"; to the elegant, Chekhovian "Sisters Matsumoto"; to the ruthless honesty of "The Wind Cries Mary;" to the boldly political diatribe of "White Manifesto;" Gotanda continually surprises us with his uncanny ability to paint the truth of human experience with candor, wit and grace. His compact language, solid command of form, and daring willingness to articulate the uncomfortable realities of social engagement -across the lines of gender, race and class-- truly set him apart among contemporary playwrights. This is a must-have collection for any serious theater person, and one that will surely lead to many more productions for this already widely-produced playwright.

Award-winning poet Nance Van Winckel presents No Starling, a brief yet evocative selection of poems utilizing a variety of rhythms and soundscapes. Subtly community-building in its reminders of human responsibilities for each other and the world at large, No Starling touches upon spiritual and political issues alike, singing aloud in a crystal clear voice that deserves to be heard. "Leastways": The ship had a bar, listing. A porthole / awash. Loyal drinkers swearing they'd seen / the giant squid. Sheer genius, they said, / to survive the millennia, the depths. // I blinked into that window at only / my face... all splash and dissolve. // Days under the white sails, over / cruel swells. Days taken / like aspirin. Hard little fact / of the body: if it goes down, / I go. And the bar raised. The bar / tilted. A tentacles here-on portends / a hereafter. I hang on. Rain clouds / pretend to take the lead.

No Starling is the fifth book of Van Winckel's poems I've read over the years (Bad Girl, with Hawk, The Dirt, After A Spell, Beside Ourselves) and is a dazzling demonstration of her mature poetic skills.
Take, for instance, the poem "Passing Through the Shadows of Great Buildings": "The beggar in plaid blankets wanted to kiss my hand / when it lowered the shiny franc. His eyes sleepy, pleading. // How long would I stand there considering...the metal / warming, the light waning. My hand dangling...." Compressed, potent, telling. Just two couplets!
Like in her fiction (Quake, Curtain Creek Farm), in No Starling Van Winckel interweaves and propels multiple narratives from poem to poem, chapter to chapter. The epigraph to her book reads, in part: "My coming, / my going -- / Two simple happenings / that got entangled." Van Winckel weaves her way through these "entanglements" of life using myth and parable, folktale and dream to inform her poems' elucidations, indictments, portents.
Moreover, in these times of political shapeshifting, of national chauvinism/denial, Van Winckel's poems like "The Rattled Hymn of the Republic" and "Let Us Remind You You Are Still Under Oath" seem especially pertinent . They are brave and unflinching. They speak truth.
Finally, though, no matter the poem, it's Van Winckel's imaginative leaps (and the heights to which those leaps rise) that amaze and awe. From the likes of the primordial love-poem "White Bridges, White Mistresses" to the heart-wrenching "Winter Cow," you can't believe what you just read - where you began, where you ended -- so you re-read. And again and again, No Starling rewards you.

Nance Van Winckel splits literary and existential hairs with the confidence of a master. Her poetry teases fear and denial with equal insouciance. I was captive, once I began reading, as the poems pulled me each to the next with growing delight. Her ability to distill the humor from the macabre, the everyday from the awful and the transcendent from the everyday is delivered with incredible control and, though it may sound strange to note, with humility. This poet's voice doesn't boom, it whispers and shimmers and runs like a river through so many aspects of this earthly life: the personal, the literary, the ways of nature and politics. And yet, as she dances in darkness, the effect of reading Nance Van Winckel is one of inspiration, for she comes back, again and again, to the power of work, of observation, of showing up. She never shirks from the job, as in the poem "Waking, Working" where she describes the visceral call of unfinished business: "Already then there was this idea/ of work. The body moving like a scythe/ over its broad gold day."

All of Nance Van Winckel's books of poetry demonstrate her unique blend of keen, precise wording and insight mixed with vibrant imaginative leaps (balancing artfully, as Stevens would say, imagination and reason). But if you only purchase one poetry collection this year, buy Van Winckel's latest, No Starling, which is a truly breathtaking book. The collection begins with the poem "Slate," where the speaker is hauling a dead body named "Nance" to be dumped in a quarry. This kind of premise--surreal, edgy, with slivers of humor--is characteristic Van Winckel, complete with her usual dead-on images, impeccable sonics, and profound revelations. Where she shows her particular genius is how she can stretch a poem to absurdist limits, yet deftly reel it back to a warm, universal conclusion, as in "The Winter Cow." The poem begins with a cow standing in a frozen field with all four of its hooves sawed off (it's not explained why), and moves to a boy arriving to very tenderly milk her; the boy hums while doing so, as he fears he can't sing without weeping. Here's the final stanza:

The body is a great boat that knows the way
through iced blue distances. Gravity's small hands
tug at the hull. You get in
and you close your eyes, and you go.

There are so many exquisite moments like this one in the book, I couldn't possibly list them all. Clearly, Van Winckel has paid serious attention to structure, as themes reverberate from section to section. For instance, "water" and "shore" are both used metaphorically (though differently) in the closings of two of my favorites, "Mister" and "Verlaine in Prison." Death is another theme, found mainly in a fine cluster of poems in section one. No matter what the theme, though, Van Winckel's verbal dexterity and wisdom abound throughout.

Suffice it to say, I read this book from start to finish in one sitting because I couldn't wait to see--from page to page, line to line--how Van Winckel would dazzle me next. There seems to me not one wrong move or weak moment in the entire book. No Starling is simply stunning.

This book is a "must-read" for all Native Hawaiians as well as a serious student of the Hawaiian culture. Priceless!!!

Everything and anything is excellent that comes from Mary Kawena Pukui...a major keeper of the culture and this book belongs in all libraries of those who study Hawaiian culture and society.

For anyone interested in learning about the poetry and eloquence that is the Hawaiian language, you have to buy this book. The book "Olelo No'eau (which means wise sayings) illustrates the ways in which Hawaiians used examples of what they observed in their everyday surroundings to express themselves. Each of the wise sayings covers a wide variety of topics including family, relationships, battle, life, and honor. Mary Kawena Puku'i has long been an avid perpetuator of the Hawaiian culture and I am very pleased to have this publication to share with others.

There exists no better introduction to the beauty and poetry of the Hawaiian language. Mary Kawena Pukui is the soul of old Hawai'i and posessed the intellect and ear to capture it. Certainly an informative read, this book also gives you the chance to turn your cliche ridden speech to exotic rhythms and poetry. A hui ho

I don't have much to add to what other reviewers have written. But I want to give the thumbs-up for this book. It should be on the shelf of everyone who wants to read/translate/understand Classical Chinese literature.

I have been studying the Classical Chinese language for one year now and have been suffering through several inadequate grammar references. This wonderful book is the first comprehensive treatment of the grammar of the ancient form of Chinese used by the great philosophers like Confucius and Mencius. It uses modern grammar terminology and examples from the Classics to systematize this very complex language. Bravo.. Mr. Pulleyblank. You have strided through a field in which many have feared to tred! Anthony Barbieri-Low Harvard University Regional Studies:East Asia Program

In the _Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar_, Pulleyblank provides a much-needed, well, "outline" of the grammar of the Chinese classics. My favorite aspect of this book is its extensive examples, which help the reader of classic texts bridge the gap between the orderly world of grammar books and the always-disorderly world of actual texts.

Of course, one can always wish for more, e.g., I might hope for more on the usages of the various "prepositional" particles. Nevertheless, this is by far the best book of this sort I have seen (in a number of years of working with classical Chinese), and a vital aid to the student of classical Chinese.

First off, the more I use this book the more I like it. Despite a few "flaws" it is a book full of useful and subtle knowledge on Classical Chinese grammar and anyone serious about Classical Chinese would do well to own a copy. Despite a few short comings (discussed below) it is the most complete Classical Chinese grammar book available in English. Its emphasis is on the high classical period from Confucius (551 - 479 BCE) to the founding of the Qin dynasty (221 BCE).

This book assumes the reader already knows some Classical Chinese and has a very good grasp of grammatical and linguistic terminology. Examples: 1)...this is done by inserting a resumptive pronoun shi2... 2) Both the subject and a postverbal element may be topicalized in a locative phrase with yu4 nominalized by zhi1. 3) Other modal notions are expressed by adverbial or adnominal particles.

(Those new to Classical Chinese should consider: Classical Chinese : A Basic Reader in Three Volumes, ISBN: 0691118310, which compliments Michael Fuller's: An Introduction to Literary Chinese, ISBN: 0674017269, as these two books have some readings in common. In appendix A of Fuller's book there is a very nice grammar summary and it discusses some of Pulleyblank's perspectives. The grammar summary in Fuller's book is much simplier than in Pulleyblank's, but is a bit more abstract in its approach compared to what is covered in the above three volume reader. Also, Fuller's appendix D contains a very useful glossary of the most important function words. Ideally one would eventually want all these books. Note, Fuller's book doesn't give the pinyin for the actual text being analyzed, he only supplies the pinyin in his vocabulary lists, which for some reason are not always complete. Also, unlike the above three volume reader, Fuller does not provide the reader with a complete translation of the text being analyzed. Fuller's book covers texts from beginning level to advanced level and is definitely recommended. [If one is going to invest the hundreds, if not thousands of hours, required to learn Classical Chinese then one should get all the books that can help.])

Since this book is an outline organized by grammatical and linguistic concepts and written more for the scholar, it is not, in my opinion, organized in a way that is optimal for translating. Since almost everybody learns Classical Chinese by reading sections from the classics, it would be helpful, but likely contrary to the philosophy and aim of the book, if the most common grammatical patterns were summarized into one or two chapters and the full and varied usage of each individual grammatical particle were listed in one place. Sometimes when translating a difficult passage I have to look in three or four places to make sure I have covered all possible uses of one given grammatical particle. In time one remembers all the possible patterns, but it would be easier if the book was organized differently or at least had additional material, even at the expense of redundancy.

The index is very complete, useful and well done. Almost all the characters discussed have both their grammatical usage and meaning given in the index.

There are close to six hundred short examples eloquently translated. The examples are given in both modern pinyin (always with tone marks) and in Traditional (Complex) Characters in a very readable font. It is clear that Edward Pulleyblank is a gifted writer and translator with a fine aesthetic sense. Though the reader should be aware that on occasion his translations for reasons of context (usually not given) or for better idiomatic English slightly deviate from the original Chinese. (On occasion in his examples he adds in words that are not in the original Chinese and are not required for good English, but that none the less improve the translation; in these cases he really should put his additions in square brackets.) In my humble opinion he strikes a consummate balance between the need for literal faithfulness and the need to achieve good sounding and readable English. Most translators have difficulty achieving this balance; they either are too literal and thus sound horrid or are so idiomatic or loose as to be unfaithful to the individual characters and grammatical structure.

Unfortunately, the meaning of most characters in the translated examples are not given, typically only the meaning of the grammatical character being discussed is given, which makes reconstructing the translation more time consuming. A glossary at the end would enhance this book even more: both a glossary of all the characters used in all the examples and a glossary of grammar terminology.

Most of the examples are from Mencius (Mengzi) and some from other classics such as the Shiji. There are a few Daoist quotes from Zhuanzi. There are no examples from ancient medical texts such as the Nei jing, Mai jing, Shang han lun or Nan jing. Only a few minor examples of poetry usage (such as from the Shijing or Book of Odes). Neither are there any examples from the Dao de jing. This I think creates a bias, the statements of fact in this book don't always fully apply to the Dao de jing (too poetic), nor do they always fully apply to medical texts such as the Nei jing, Mai jing, Shang han lun or Nan jing as these books are too specialized.

There are the occasional confusing usage rules and "omissions." Example omissions: the conjunction yin1=because; the locatives nei4=in[side] and wai4=out[side] and their usage with verbs. Though these omissions are likely due to the book's focus on philosophical and historical texts. Despite a few minor short comings it is a very useful book and is highly recommended. It is definitely far more a scholarly study than a grammar textbook, yet for tricky grammar questions it is the book I often consult first.

Both the vocabulary and the grammar of Classical Chinese can differ in the ancient medical classics as compared to the more commonly studied historical texts---even if they were authored in the same historical time period. For understanding ancient medical texts see Appendix II in Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage by Mitchell, Feng Ye and Wiseman. In addition, see Chinese Medical Characters by Wiseman, Yeuhauan, Zhang and Helme (editor), and Chinese Medical Chinese: Grammar and Vocabulary by Wiseman and Feng Ye. In addition, books by the German scholar Paul Unschuld should be considered. However, his native language is German, not English, and thus he has some unusual word choices, which, in my opinion, detract from his books. Also, his knowledge of Chinese Medicine is theoretical and academic, which limits his understanding.

A few pages (2 or 3) are highlighted, and other than that it's basically brand new!

I got my items in about three days and it was just what I was expecting

I am a graduate teaching assistant at Old Dominion University and we use this book extensively as a reference for muscles and blood vessels. The drawings are very accurate and the text is easy to read and flows well from a dissector's viewpoint. In addition, there are simplified "road-map" type sketches to aid in understanding the branching patterns of the major blood vessels. This "catlas" has proven to be quite indispensable for our purposes.

An excellent companion guide for laboratory exercises. The sketches and drawings were able to add much more detail than many other manuals which had photos. I found it invaluable.

What a fantastic view into what it was like to be a poineer and what it was like during the formation of western Washington State. I'm from the east side of the state and enjoy our state history but to see an overall picture of what it was like by someone living through it was just a fantastic experience. Much more interesting that just learning "facts" about the history of Washington and the early settlers.

Great book - even if you're not interested in the state itself!

An excerpt from this amazing book:
"While adoring the various brilliant tints of (October foilage)we are reminded "that we all do fade like the leaf." A more perfect simile could hardly be given. For a time "we flourish like the green bay tree," and then comes adversity, trials and griefs that sear and beautify the soul, as the strong blasts and chilly frosts bring out the beautiful tints of the leaves, making "old age" as glorious as the autumn season of the year." p 81

scence Phoebe is my Great grandmother it gave me a background on my history alone! this is a great book!

"A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home" provides an outstanding window into the life and times of the American migration westward. Through the eyes of Phoebe Goodell Judson, one lives the trials of the Oregon trail, the challenges of pioneering, and a powerful perspective on the American mind during the last half of the 19th Century. 20 years old and 7 months pregnant, Phoebe begins the 7 month treck from Ohio to Vancouver, Washington. Through her diaries, she chronicles the life changing experiences of exploration and community building that did so much to shape the American culture. One only wishes that she had kept additional records and thoughts as the reader is left wishing that there was more. First person story-telling at it's best, be prepared to go looking for maps of Washington and the Oregon Trail.