New Hampshire Books

Freda gets to the very heart of suburbia with well-written quirky characters everyone can relate to. I may be from Florida, but I can definitely relate to what happened up in New Hampshire... over-development threatens everyone. I'm wondering where the sequel is, or at least another novel from the author. Note to Freda: Make your next book longer- I hated to come to the end of "Suburban Guerillas"!

While the setting is a suburban town in New Hampshire, the issues of fidelity, parenthood, identity, marriage, aging, and finding one's place in this world are germain to our every day existence; to be a suburban guerilla is to challenge the rolling pastures and strip malls of our psyche as much as those of our towns

Hurly is a small New England town, populated by small lives. But wait, there's more to life than mowed lawns, summer sun- sets, and ice cream. Just when you begin to see your own life as planned, predictable, and very common, like those in Hurly, Joe Freda and his gang of characters will teach you to peek beneath the rock to find the courageous, passionate, foolish, frustrated and loving nature that must be suburban life across America today. There's something for everyone to identify with, laugh at, and cheer for in this book. And happily, the characters of both sexes are drawn with a clear eye, simple lines, and surprising detail. Suburban Guerillas will sneak up on you and grab a piece of your heart. Read it. Keep it. Save it for your kids, because this is a snapshot of the life so many imagine and really do live today.

A wonderfully written tale. Joseph Freda has a great affection for his characters, despite their human failings. The nominal subject is the economic boom and bust cycle of southern New Hampshire in the 80's, but the real story is the lives and relationships of the people living through the disruption of their small town. Covers a broad range of experience, including the search for adventure in ordinary life and unexpected occurences of humor.

Nineteenth century American travellers waxed enthusiastic or properly melancholic amidst the ruins of Europe. Writers such as Henry James often contrasted the youth and vigor (and innocence) of America with old, tired Europe. None of them could have imagined that less than a century later, the busy New England mills that turned out huge quantities of shoes, textiles, and useful products of all kinds would be silent, weed-strewn ruins. When I look around at cities like Salem, Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, and Brockton, Mass., at Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire, at a dozen small towns in Maine, I realize that I grew up during the fall of a whole civilization. I saw the tail end of it. Today so many of those thriving factories and mills have been razed to the ground, turned into condos or specialty shops, or even, into museums of industrial history.

AMOSKEAG is the story of one textile mill, once the largest in the world, along the banks of the Merrimack River in New Hampshire. The story is told through 37 interviews after an introduction of thirty-odd pages. The effect is most immediate: you feel as if you had lived the whole experience, grown up around these people. The reader is taken through the lives of management to the world of work---the varieties of tasks and social interactions to be found within the giant factory. Then we get an idea of family life, how the factory permeated every aspect of existence, and finally of the strikes, shutdowns and rising costs that eventually drove the mill out of existence (or rather, the whole textile industry to other states and countries). The text is punctuated by numerous black and white photographs which add to the atmosphere of "bygone days" that emanates from the whole book. If you are looking for a book on industrial history or early 20th century New England, you must read this one, it's unforgettable.

The story of Amoskeag is the story of a society...a story of a different time...a way of life that used to be. This book travels through the 1800's and the 1900's telling the tale of a factory, and the people who passed through it.
The highlights of the book occur when the factory workers are interviewed. The characters and stories they create are so funny and so real...you get such a feel for how their lives were. I laughed so many times.
The only parts I found boring were when the terms of factory making were being discussed. It was important to know to put what the workers were saying into context, but I found it boring.
Overall, the book was a gem. I am now very interested in a time period that before I thought was useless and boring. I would reccomend this book to anyone.

You'll enjoy this book even if you're not particularly interested in Manchester, NH, or mill towns, as long as you want to hear people talk about their lives.

This is a good window into life in a "factory-city" along the Merrimack River from its start in the early 1800s through the 1970s. Each chapter is an interview. You get the story through the words and memories of those who live it. Mill workers and their families talk about the founding of the town, their arrival as immigrants seeking good jobs, what their work lives were like, the strike, and the eventual shutdown of the mills. A good read.

This author excellently portrays a young couple's beginnings & life adventures as the first pioneers to their area in the wilds of New Hampshire (as well as early American Township/village life in the 1700's) - and does it with a realism that places you in their lives.

This is one of our favorite books for reading every year or so. The kind that a family can read together & come away with a deep impression of honor & love & commitment. Of going on when times are rough & life hands out more than one expects.

It also portrays the personal challenge & core values of simple living, cut out with one's own two hands.

You will discover in it the 'Salt of the Earth' type of human beings that made our nation great. It is an excellent read for children & teens as a historical reference & character influence.

You will forget the sleeze of television & mass media for a while, & wonder why you tolerated it in the first place by the time you are finished.

This is one of the most intriging books ever written about the hardships of pioneer life in the northern US. It is written in such a manner that it captures your attention right away and makes it almost impossible to put down. Imagine building your own home with nothing but an ax to cut the trees, debark them, notch them and measure with. No boards, so the floor is dirt, the door is made of hides and your nearest neighbor, if your lucky, is only 20 miles away! No roads or paths to follow. Just the sun and the top of a mountain on a clear day to find your way around. This story is about two young people Whit and Melissa who meet and marry in the town of Kettleford NH now Bedford NH and travel by birch bark canoe north to become the first settlers in the town of Tamworth NH. Too poor to purchase a piece of land in a settled township, they are forced to go north where Whit has to roam the wilderness in order to stake out 100 acres of land that will provide for their needs and then clear it and build his house within so much time in order to keep it and claim his cow that he will get for a bonus. If you ever wondered how the states were settled and what life was like when the wilderness was uninhabited, then this book is a must read. In fact, like no other book, I have read this one 5 times over the years. It never fails to intrigue me. I only wish there was a sequel to it.

This book, written in 1942, is the story of the settling of the North Country of New Hampshire. The mountain mentioned in the title is Mount Chicorua. It's the story of Whit and Melissa. Two young lovers from Kettleford Township (modern Bedford, New Hampshire), and continues up the Merrimac River to what's now Chicorua, New Hampshire. It goes from the 1750s to the 1770s and the American Revolution. It's a good book and I highly recommend it.

Sweet revenge. Those foolish young men at Dartmouth thought they'd haze the newly arrived coeds because as Dartmouth men, they were superior. Well, Barreca balances the ledger in this book--and big time. Those men are unmasked as nothing more than boys who think that by acting smart they were really smart. Think again. Barreca has seen through masculine insecurity and has shown us what a really smart, sensitive, and observing woman can make out of a difficult situation. This is a snappy, funny, really surprising and charming book. Give a copy away to that young woman heading off to college. She'll love it.

from my mom who went to school in the seventies. i love it. it's really honest. not so much has changed because i still feel weird around people who have a lot more money or who i think are smarter than me. (or is that than smarter than i?)the author deals with all this stuff but in a funny way.

that they don't want you to see? A must-read for anybody who went to college in the '70s or early 80s, and for any girl who feels she isn't welcome in Boyland even today. Short and sassy.

This book was a gift and the person receiving it has realy loved it.

"Best Loop Hikes" is a great resources for hikers of all levels. Many books have been written about hikes in Maine and New Hampshire, but I haven't read one before which focuses specifically on the White Mountains and the Maine Coast. I was pleasantly surprised when the book I pre-ordered from Amazon came in before the April 2006 published released date. The book will especially appeal to those who also enjoy wildlife: each hike describes local flora and fauna, with a particular emphasis on native birds. The author also plugs local land trusts, the conservation organizations that preserve local parcels of land, maintaining them so that hikers and others can enjoy their trails. There is also historical information provided for many of the surrounding areas. This is an excellent resource for both avid hikers and the more casual walker.

Summers are short and precious here in Maine and any outdoor enthusiast, especially with kids in tow, knows that finding a loop hike for the whole family - one that can be done in single day - can be a challenge. This guide makes it easy to find that trail.

This book not only gives you the low down on the trails themselves, but the natural history, wildlife and geological insights that add dimension and interest to even the familiar trail.

Stuff this one in your backpack and leave the rest of the guides at home.

Amazing how what can often be the most important and gives us the best lessons can be considered to be the mundane-this book immortalizes the everyday and its lessons that too many of us take for granted. This book speaks-it's real, it's honest and that is a hell of a statememt.
Highly recommended.

Poverty, living on the streets, drug use, alcoholism, sex, laughter, poetry, a disposable god, a muse called Shokya Candalla -- this book has everything! E.K. Willey's prose is a new and bright light in the world of writing. No matter the tragic self-contradictory world he exploits, his humor is indeed its saving grace. If you don't mind a little cussing here and there, and a little dose of vulgarity mixed in with your common sense, then I implore you to read this book. If you're lucky enough to have friends, you'll be imploring them to do the same.

I have literally been in search of this book for years, and didn't even realize this till I was halfway through it. I've studied self-help books, religions, Yoga, acupressure, herbs and all sorts of means to improve my life, but when I read CUSS!, it came clear to me that my efforts were far too forced; that my very efforts to reach the goal were precisely what kept me from it. That goal being, simply, peace. But CUSS! is not just one of the greatest self-help books in disguise, it's a magnificent story to boot. Written in American slang, E.K. Willey takes us to the streets of America, as well as the mountains, canyons, caves, and deserts. A 12 year search for God, or at least a girlfriend. A crash course on American Zen, Shokya Candalla style, whom he considers to be his "true self". Throw one disposable god in for good measure - called the goc (the god of circumstance) - and now you have one of the most original books on the market today. I'm praying to God right now that this E.K. Willey is with us for many years, because if he is, methinks we're all in for a big surprise.

THERE WAS ALOT OF INFORMATION IN THE BOOK THAT WASNT IN THE TRIA

Boy oh boy, Pam Smart can tell one lie, back it up with another, and not miss a beat or blink an eye...but such is common for those who have no conscience.

This book can serve as a cautionary tale in many respects: A) there are reasons laws are in place to prevent incidences of statutory rape, no sex between "adults" and children, and no sex between educators and pupils...B) if you are so unhappy in your marriage, for the love of God, please leave rather than take an innocent life!!! No amount of insurance money will wash that spot off of your hands, lady McPamBeth.

It sickens me that Gregg Smart was robbed of his chance to have actual happiness, to have the kids he dreamed of having, to even experience another beautiful sunset or holiday with his family...yet Pam is on televison constantly...wanting to "expose the truth" to the story. Oh well, at least she is doing the broadcasts from prison and not in the free world.

I will say this, she is quite humorous in that she constantly contradicts herself and DOES NOT EVEN REALIZE IT. reach wayyy into that cluebag, Pam, and don't hit your head on the bottom. Me thinks she doth protest too much...

I couldn't put the book down. Ken Englade never disappoints me.

Pam Wojas was a rock groupie who refused to grow up and enter adulthood when her (late) husband Gregg did. She was hanging around with high school kids and going places with them socially. She's having an affair with a 15 year old kid!

Justice was done. Only "Pame" and her small circle of followers believe the lies she continues to tell about that night in 1990 when an innocent man was killed for no other reason than the spoiled brat he married was tired of him.

Although light reading, the text serves as a functional guide; lean and concise requiring the reader to become involved in cross reference.

One of a fantastic series of 4 chuck full of informational volumes dedicated to a particular geographic area. A must for any rock hound weather you travel or just live in the geographic area of the volume. If you can afford it, get all 4 regional volumes. Start with your area. The location information brake down of the minerals to be found in each state counties is so valuable you can't do with out it. Saves time, eliminate barren hunting grounds and it's so detailed as to where and how you find the minerals. This is just one of a fact full accurate guide series you'll want to have in your rock library. Don't settle for an older printing, this one is reprinted and has been updated.

This book looks like it's going to be a GREAT asset in my mineral hunting! I like the way it's set up, by state and then by county within the state. It lists the various sites, tells what has been found at each site and (by a code explained in the front of the book) where in each site the minerals were (in a field, in a mine, in the water, etc.). There are directions of varying degrees to each site. That's the one thing I'd quibble about -- some of the directions aren't that precise. But I understand that some of these sites are private lands, or not completely documented, and he can't come out and say, "Go fifty feet past the blue house, down a ravine, and to your left." In general, the directions seem good enough to get you close, and after that it's up to you.

He lists the rocks and minerals found at each site and gives some information about the quality at most places, including size of crystals found, color (and quality of color), and so on.

My only regret? I don't know if I'll have time to visit each site he has listed! So many rocks, so little time........

The author of Going to Heaven is a life-long Episcopalian who is part of the Diocese of New Hampshire, so she is able to offer a lot of additional details about the process of electing Gene in this fascinating book. But what I loved most about the book is that it's not a salacious account of some flash-in-the-pan controversy; instead, it's the spiritual biography of a thought-provoking, deeply prayerful bishop.

It is particularly interesting to see how a person as unassuming and grounded as +Gene steps into his new high profile role. In the numerous direct quotes from him, taken from his interviews with the author, he stresses that he didn't see himself in either side's depictions of him -- he sees himself neither as the devil conservatives paint him as, nor the angel he has become to progressives.

I suspect the controversy over +Gene's election and consecration would be much less sharp if people on all sides were aware of who he is and what his agenda is. (Nine-tenths of that agenda is just being a good bishop for the Diocese of New Hampshire and dealing with the day-to-day needs of his flock.) This new biography is a great step toward clarifying precisely who he is and what he stands for, and I'm grateful to its author for bringing it to light.

As soon as I finished reading Elizabeth Adams' biography, Going to Heaven: The Life and Election of Bishop Gene Robinson, I gave thanks. As a lifelong supporter of human rights, a clergy wife and committed Episcopalian, I was grateful that the biography taught me so much. It taught me more about Bishop Robinson, the man, than all of the news coverage, feature articles and specials that have swirled into the popular press since the announcement of his election. It taught me about Gene Robinson, the gay man, and all that that meant for this individual. It taught me about Gene Robinson, the reluctant poster child for gay rights, and the history of the gay rights movement in the states and in the world. It taught me about Gene Robinson, the committed clergyman, and the inner workings of the church I call mine. I gave thanks, believing that Adams wrote the book with people like me in mind.

Now that I have had time to think more deeply about Adam's biography, something that her writing and approach encourage, I have another perspective. This book is also written for the many people honestly struggling with the issue of gay rights and all that means. I remember well the summer of 2003 and the small knots of committed Christians who gathered after mass despite the suspension of coffee hour to talk about Gene, gay rights and the powerful sermons my husband delivered. I remember their struggles, their confusion, their desire to know more, to go more deeply, to do and think the "right" thing. Adams' biography is for them. She gives them much to think about. She helps them see the bigger picture. She holds their hands as they get to know a not-so-perfect creation of God, the world he occupied and the church he serves. In the end, her biography talks about the power of love, not such a bad message in a time of strife.

"Going to Heaven" is less a biography or life of its subject, the first openly-Gay bishop in the history of Christendom, than it is a fine piece of journalism describing the death-grip of heterosexist patriarchy. The book's audiences include LGBT Christians of any denomination, those interested in the dynamics of church schism, and ordinary Episcopal laypeople who wonder what the heck is happening to their beloved Anglican Communion.

Ms. Adams makes clear that the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire is much more a symbol of schism than its cause. The wheels were set in motion long before anyone outside the diocese ever heard of the man. She traces the breakups within Anglicanism to the fall of the British Empire and the end of the Cold War, which left a shadowy, right-wing think tank called the Institute for Religion and Democracy, formerly aimed at destabilizing the Soviet Union, with nothing to do. So, like most such institutions, it simply traded missions and started focusing on liberal churches instead, lest they start influencing U.S. foreign policy toward such nightmares as world peace and justice for the poor.

The poor bishop ends up caught in the crossfire. Born to landless farmers in rural Kentucky, raised in fundamentalist simplicity, attracted to piety, music, books and boys, he somehow lands a scholarship at the (Episcopal) University of the South, and from there his future is set in motion. He is introduced to a whole different world of liturgy, scholarship, gentility and faded wealth, which accomodates his own gifts of energy and open gregariousness. He goes to seminary, gets ordained and happily married, has two daughters; but inevitably he must confront his own inner nature. With the help of his gracious wife, he does so successfully; the day of their divorce, they dissolve their wedding vows in church and take communion together.

He works long, hard and well as a bishop's assistant, and at some point meets the man of his dreams. Who this partner is is never quite made clear here, nor is Canon Robinson's ex-wife interviewed. Both those omissions weaken the book somewhat and keep it from being a complete biography. Privacy is respected a bit too much; some quotations fail of attribution and certain villains of the piece (other churchmen) are allowed to scamper away. But this reveals the author's real purpose: solid, insightful and original reporting on the hidden drama of church politics. There she seldom disappoints.

The book is greatly enhanced by scores of photographs by Jonathan Sa'adah showing the bishop, his lover Mark and ex-wife Boo, their daughters, various church personalities, even Sir Elton John.

What we are left with is a humble priest who has grown into the job of diocesan bishop and international symbol. In extensive, self-disclosive interviews, he shows himself to be just the sort of open personalty by whom some people come to know Christ. That he is the object of others' scorn, derision and death threats says everything we need to know about his enemies' willingness to use Gene Robinson for their own purposes.

I hope that Ms. Adams will go on from here to produce another book about the Anglicans' schisms, which continue to unfold in worldwide headlines. She already has the background and covers its complexity with clarity and insight here. The issues now go beyond Gene Robinson and the Episcopal Church; there is much to discover about the secret promoters of division, in the United States, England, Nigeria and elsewhere. A good place to start is in Falls Church, Virginia, where a breakaway megachurch is populated by conservative Baptists and Methodists in high positions in the current U.S. government.

By the time former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold spoke out against the invasion of Iraq and consecrated Gene Robinson, the Institute for Religion and Democracy had long since been cutting the ground out from under them.++

I'd like to read a review of this book but can't seem to find one. Can anyone help me? Thanks.

Reading this book was like watching A Hard Day's Night and recognizing the launching of an era. I have read all of Budd Hopkins' books, which are quite enjoyable and/or upsetting. Now I have discovered the granddaddy of all alien abductee regressive hypnosis transcibed sessions books.

Fuller gives the reader the necessary background information, then offers the original (edited for relevancy) transcripts from the psychiatriist's files. What a great thing it is that these sessions were tape recorded. The Hills weren't the first to be taken, but they were the first to go public, although unwillingly.

It is amusing in hindsight to read the doctor's repeated attempts to get Barney to admit that the entire encounter was a dream - if not his dream, then surely Betty's, which he somehow absorbed. Barney wants so much to believe that it was, but under hypnosis, he can only call it as he sees it.

The Interrupted Journey is a classic of UFO-related literature. It will remain fringe material so long as the UFO reality is under wraps, but when the buggers are finally outed, this book will go mainstream and become required reading.

The very first written testimony about an encouter between human beings and alien civilisation can be found in the bible (the anciant testament is very rich in details if read and interpreted in a logical way and not in the "spriritual-traditional" way). The second written testimony, and the last one so far, is the "interrupted journey". The "interrupted journey" is according to me much more than a book. It's a real testimony which goes beyond the common question "do you believe in UFO", because a UFO is "just" an unidentified object and it doesn't say much. In the Betty and Barney Hill's case, it goes far beyond the "simple" unidentified flying object. There is a real encouter and a conversation between a human being and a civilisation which is obviously NOT from our world, which is obviously NOT from our planet. And it means A LOT. During her conversation with the alien crew "boss",she was told while she was staring at the map, that some planets (or stars) where regularly,frequently or occasionaly visited by them. It also seems that commercial exchanges between alien civilisations themselves are quite common. How about us, habitants of the planet earth, what do we represent for those civilisations? I haven't heard so far that we're making trade with extra-terrestrials. But it doesn't mean that they have no interest in our planet. We could even easily suppose that alien civilisations have visited us thousands of times and not only during this century but for many,many centuries.........and probably more. In conclusion, if we admitt that our planet have been visited for ages by aliens like the ones of "the interrupted journey", then we may ask ourselves "In which ways the alien intervention in the history of the Manhood has influenced our believes and in which way the alien intervention will influence the future of the Mankind".