University of Nevada Books

I'm never sure what to make of Nevada's outdoor opportunities. On the one hand the state has some spectacular scenery. I think Red Rock Canyon is the best Vegas has to offer for hiking and sight seeing. I also like exploring (spring time only) the Lake Mead Recreation Area. Mt. Charleston offers fine mountain hiking and Great Basin National Park is a real gem in the national park system. On the other hand, I also like being able to drive an ordinary car to trailheads, and it is here that Nevada presents obstacles not found in my home state of California. A significant percentage of the hikes Mike White describes in this book require a high clearance vehicle just to get to the trailhead. On top of that, in many cases trails are not maintained. Fortunately White provides very detailed route descriptions, an absolute necessity when attempting Boundary Peak and several lesser known hikes in the state.

On the whole this is a good book. It is not intended to be comprehensive, but is rather a selection of what the author thinks are the best walks in the state. The Ruby Mountains receive a lot of attention, as does Nevada's half of the Lake Tahoe region. I was pleased to see that Cathedral Rocks State Park also received a nice write-up. Sharp pictures and decent location and hike maps will help those who want to further explore the Silver State. But in the final analysis, for many casual dayhikers (I am often in that category and my wife always is) the rigors of getting to the trailhead will discourage attempting many of these trips. What Nevada needs is an outdoors book along the lines of 'California Hiking' by Steinstra and Brown. Such a book would be far more comprehensive than this one and list hikes for all levels of walkers. It would also provide more opportunities for those whose sense of adventure does not include replacing the transmission pan on their vehicle after, or worse yet during, a trip to the mountains. But if you are willing to risk it, this book is for you. It offers high adventure without the crowds found in other western states.

I picked this book up at the Basque Cultural Center in Boise, ID. I had developed an interest in this European minority from my periodic studies of Spain, the Spanish Civil War, and the Basques's schizophrenic support of the Republican side. Their language that knows no connection to any other language, their stoic personalities, their ability to spend months alone sheepherding in remote locations, the continuing efforts of a few extremists to keep the issue of Basque Independance alive; all this and more makes the Basques an interesting subject. What would a sampling of short stories by authors of this interesting culture be like. Well, probably what you'd get from a sampling of Iowa writers or Oklahoma writers; some good stories and some mediocre stories.

I did not come away with a feeling that I had gained a lot of insight into the Basque mind. There were some stories that added some Basque flavor and one in particular ("Like the Waters that Release their Dead") that I thought was a brilliant retrospective of the Spanish Civil War's effects on Spain. Some of the stories were fantasy-like imaginations of what things might have been. Others left the imagination to ourselves. There was an unusual but interesting love story from the Spanish Civil War titled "Black as Coal". My favorite was a brief, two-page story entitled "Maria and Jose" that gives a refreshing look at love. There are many memorable stories in this volumne. They were better than I had expected but I tend to follow authors rather than anthologies. I'm glad I read this book and as for discovering the Basque mystique, well, I also picked up "A Basque History of the World" in Boise. I'll settle for that to be the illumination of the Basques. I'll settle for "An Anthology of Basque Short Stories" to be what it is; a good (not great) book.

to have the opportunity to study around Dr. Dodd at Kansas State University, and hear her speak about her own work from time to time. This new book of hers is mighty fabulous! Dr. Dodd's use of sound, and her careful attention to what makes a poem cohesive as a whole really creates a memorable experience for the reader. The imagery is lovely, and well executed. Though I am but a student of poetry, I judge Dodd's work in a category unto itself-- one definitely worth reading and passing on.

My favorite poem in particular from this collection is "Parietal."

Originally written in 1904, these tales weave together the lives of the son of homesteaders and a Paiute Indian, the Basket Woman. The stories are straightforward enough, and often incorporate Paiute tales; the author was respectful of Paiute culture and her local environment, so these stories rarely offend our modern sensibilities. Still, these aren't going to grab every kid's attention, and would be best recommended for a quiet, thoughtful reader with an interest in Native American culture at the turn of the century.

(Re)evaluating Nature especially in the new millenium is a new trend in thinking about the landscape. Misrach initiates this conversation with this early book about the changing face of the American West that has been transformed into a bombed-out wasteland. Somewhat beautiful? Yes, I thin kso. He approaches the subject sarcastically serious with a proposal to turn this highly violent landscape into America's newest national park, one which I would be the first visitor. His photographs instigate new questions in landscape photography and the new definition of "beauty" in all visual studies. A must for any artist/architect/planner. There is a new landscape. Misrach has found it.

I am currently in the start-up of a new casino. It is a new jurisdiction with a wealth of inexperience. The book plays a very practicle role in this setting and would probably be used best as a reference. The other side of the book serves as a basis for discussion among those people "in the know".

It is always nice in an opening to have someone walk around asking the right questions, making you think of the "small things". This book does just that(save for walking around).

I have not read all the chapters, but what I have read I would recommend.

When I was a graduate student in anthropology several decades ago, Levi-Strauss was close to God and structuralism was the most modern method yet created to perceive other societies. My fellow students and I dreamed of being able to apply structuralist principles to the societies we would research. Some of us did, others did not. Yet the fascination with discovering ýunderlying organizational principlesý in any society still tickles all these years later. The anthropological world in general has moved on. I still have a sneaking admiration for somebody, like Sandra Ott, who could, in a relatively brief period of field work, uncover and document structural patterns in a society and language far from her own. One question, I believe, that young anthropologists of today might pose is, having discovered those principles, what do you do with them ? Culture, or just human life, is so complex, so diverse. Motivations are so multilayered. Is this the best method of description possible ? Especially since the society in question, one of the most isolated of French Basque villages in Soule departement along the Spanish border, has no doubt changed greatly in the 23 years between her research and when I read the book. Are those principles still operational ?

THE CIRCLE OF MOUNTAINS is a carefully-written, no, painstakingly-written volume which reveals an ethnographer of great skill. Although I would by no means recommend it to a casual reader, it is good anthropology. Like many lesser books of its type, it is full of incredible ethnographic detail, thickly studded with Basque terms and phrases, which will be useful only to Basques or to people who study them professionally. These terms also persuade readers that Ott knew her stuff, a definite plus for her academic supervisors, not so pleasant for others. Teachers of anthropology, if they are looking for a structuralist work, may find THE CIRCLE OF MOUNTAINS just the thing. If anthropology, structural or not, is the art of description and if capturing descriptions of disappearing worlds is important, then Ottýs book is praiseworthy. Aldikatzia and üngürü, two Basque principles of social organization, found in many different contexts in the village society, are neatly defined and described. Aldikatzia or serial replacement ýorders relationships and roles within systemsý while üngürü or rotation ýis a principle by means of which systems are orderedý. The former is visible to all, the latter is more abstract. The village itself is seen as a circle, neighborly relations similary circular. In addition, there is a marvelous parallel drawn between conception and birth of children and the making of cheese. The Basques saw their special cheeses, made in the mountain huts by male shepherds while they cared for their flocks in the high pastures in summer, as similar in a wide variety of ways to the babies produced by women in the village below. The shepherds were inordinately proud of these mountain cheeses, which were strictly differentiated from cheeses made in the home proper. Rennet curdled milk to form a cheese, they thought, just as human semen ýcurdledý red blood to form an infant. The cheese maker up in the mountains was even called the ýhousewifeý at the times when he made cheese. The analogy is continued in far greater detail. The men recreate the female reproductive role up in the shepherding huts, and re-enact the birth process by making cheeses. It is a reversal of roles, not unknown in other parts of the world, though the cheese/baby analogy was a first for me.

Douglassý book on Basques, ýDeath in Murelagaý will not satisfy many readers, even dedicated anthropologists. Kurlanskyýs ýA Basque History of the Worldý is readable, but lightweight and diffuse. Perhaps for those seeking knowlege about the Basques, Ottýs book, in the tradition of Goldilocks, is ýjust rightý, though it may prove too detailed and narrowly-focussed for general readers. 4 stars for anthropology, 3 stars for readability.

This book takes a close look at a long neglected area of both Civilian Conservation Corp history and Arizona history. Moore's effort will be of interest to anyone seeking a scholarly but down-to-earth account of CCC work in the western United States. (By "scholarly," I mean that Moore's work includes footnotes, a useful bibliography, and index, which should make it a boon to other researchers of the CCC. By "down-to-earth," I mean that Moore's book isn't written in some long-lost scholarly vernacular that only college professors can decipher. To me, it's historical storytelling at its best.)

Moore knows his subject and he knows the region, delving deeply into individual camp histories and providing intimate glimpses into the lives of the men who lived and worked in those camps. The illustrations - rarely, if ever seen elsewhere - are an asset in their own right. If you study New Deal-related subjects, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

This is a worthwhile statewide history of the CCC that should appeal to both the leisure reader and the scholarly researcher. Anyone who's undertaken to research just a single CCC camp knows what a daunting job that can be; imagine researching CCC work across an entire state! Utilizing a range of source material Kolvet and Ford detail CCC work under every technical service that operated in Nevada from 1933 to 1942. Of particular interest is the camp listing at the rear of the book, which lists Nevada's CCC camps in groups by designation: Division of Grazing (DG), Bureau of Reclamation (BR), Biological Survey/Fish & Wildlife Service (BF/FWS), National and State Park (NP/SP), Navy (M), Forest Service (F) and Soil Conservation Service (SCS or PE or P for camps on private lands or for work done for a private entity). Often long on statistical data, this book is nevertheless a must-have for any CCC or New Deal library, as it includes the personal memories of men who will not be around to tell their story too much longer.

This collection of Norman Clyde short topics from the 1920's and 1930's captures, in Clyde's refreshingly unassuming style, the very essence of life in the Siera Nevada- through the eyes of the man who spent more of his life there, made more first ascents, and knew the high country better than any man before or since. While modestly illustrated by modern standards, the work covers many aspects of the region which can not be found elsewhere. A must-have for all who have felt the almost spiritual draw of this rugged and beautiful mountain range.