Pennsylvania Books

The single best source on rosary history in English. The author is a professor of German at Southern Illinois University, and it shows: her research is meticulous, she cites all her sources so you can check them out for yourself, and her presentation is lively and readable.

Other books on rosary history deal mostly with the prayers, and are written to inspire people to pray. This book is actually a history of the practice of praying the rosary, including where and when it originated, how it spread, and how it fitted into the everyday lives of medieval people.

This book goes into impressive depth on devotional history, rosary and rosary-related literature, and the origin and growth of rosary guilds. My only disappointment is a mild one: it doesn't say much of anything about the actual beads -- what they are made of, where they came from, how people made or acquired their rosaries or paternosters. But that wasn't the author's purpose, nor is it her area of expertise, so it's quite forgivable. Maybe someone else will write THAT book someday.

As you will see if you go to the Paternoster-Row website and Paternosters blog, this book is my first recommendation to anyone interested in the history of rosary and paternoster beads -- there is an immense amount of valuable information here.

This book is a wonderful, well written literary documentation on the history and development of the Rosary. This beautiful devotion of the Catholic Church has had a long, colorful and somewhat complicated cultural evolution. It didn't always exist as it does today. The author, Anne Winston-Allen, has done an excellent scholarly investigation into the history and development of the Rosary. The book is easy to read and understand and I recommend it very highly to anyone who is interested in learning about this lovely, holy devotion.

This is a book about the history of the Rosary, and how its practice changed from the earliest cycles of prayers, to the Rosary we know today. If you are looking for inspirational reading, or a book to help you in your Rosary devotions, I suggest you try Caryll Houselander's "The Essential Rosary" instead.

"Stories of the Rose" discusses various possible ancestors of the modern Rosary, as well as having amptly documented references to early writings about the Rosary. Included in this book is a wide ranging discussion of the reasons why the Rosary gained in poularity at specific times in history.

A well documented book, especially on the politics and religious upheavals that surrounded the development of the Rosary, it is none the less a bit on the dry side, and would have benefitted from a better narrative format. It can be difficult to follow unless you are passingly familiar with Catholic Church history.

Recommended especially for those with an interest in history, or for those re-enactors who might really want to know what form of prayer beads were in use in the 15th century.

I got more than I bargained for in this book. As the public was being isolated more and more by clerical power the rosary offered the common folk a way to participate in the liturgy. The author addresses, especially, the plight of women & how the rosary enabled them to participate in the male dominant religious & government structure of the time. Primarily this is done through the rosary confraternities. Quite a grassroots effort for its day. This particular empowerment is nicely laid out throughout the book, without falling over the Feminist cliff. The book is heavily footnoted but since it is finely targeted to Germany most of the references are in German.

I highly recommend this book for those wanting to get a historical perspective of this powerful prayer & the controversies that always swirled around it.

While Mary Ellen Mark and husband,Martin Bell,were filming
their haunting masterpiece,Streetwise,in 1983,Mary Ellen was
also busy taking their snap-shots...and what a worthwhile effort
this was!
Anyone who viewed the film will recognize each photograph of
the runaways of Seattle found in Mark`s same-titled book.
The Streetwise kids lived in a sad world of uncertainty,many
having fled from their abusive homes.They searched for love and
happiness in a place which offered neither.
Mary Ellen developed a kin-ship with many of her young subjects
including Dewayne and Lulu.Dewayne hanged himself in 1984,and
Lulu died in a fight with a man in 1985.Mary Ellen has dedicated
this book in their memories.
Like every other work that she has ever published,this book
is definitely a keep-sake.I highly recommend it to everyone
who is interested in the documentary film and in Mary Ellen Mark.

While Mary Ellen Mark and husband,Martin Bell,were filming
their haunting masterpiece,Streetwise,in 1983,Mary Ellen was
also busy taking their snap-shots...and what a worthwhile effort
this was!
Anyone who viewed the film will recognize each photograph of
the runaways of Seattle found in Mark`s same-titled book.
The Streetwise kids lived in a sad world of uncertainty,many
having fled from their abusive homes.They searched for love and
happiness in a place which offered neither.
Mary Ellen developed a kin-ship with many of her young subjects
including Dewayne and Lulu.Dewayne hanged himself in 1984,and
Lulu died in a fight with a man in 1985.Mary Ellen has dedicated
this book in their memories.
Like every other work that she has ever published,this book
is definitely a keep-sake.I highly recommend it to everyone
who is interested in the documentary film and in Mary Ellen Mark.
Jeffrey Bryan
White Oak,NC

Good book, but there are not nearly as many pictures as one would hope for. Lots of "intro" pages with interesting background details (and some nearly blank pages as well), followed by a relatively short (but admittedly stunning) collection of photos, many or most of which are not in the film or taken from the film. The last third of the book is taken up by a script transcription from the movie -- Why? Why? What a waste, when I wanted to see more of Mary Ellen Mark's amazing work. If I wanted the film, I would watch the film. Who in their right mind wants to *read* the film?

Also, it's not a complaint but this book appears to be very difficult to find -- long out of print and expensive. I'll give the book four stars for the sheer incredible art of Mary Ellen Mark's black and white photographs. As a book (particularly at the prices often asked) it leaves a good deal to be desired.

While Mary Ellen Mark and husband,Martin Bell,were filming
their haunting masterpiece,Streetwise,in 1983,Mary Ellen was
also busy taking snap-shots of the runaways...and what a worthwhile effort this was!
Anyone who viewed the film will recognize most of the photographs of the Seattle runaways found in the same-titled book.
The Streetwise kids lived in a sad world of uncertainty.Many had fled from abusive homes.
Mary Ellen developed a closeness with many of her young subjects,including Dewayne and Lulu.Dewayne hanged himself in 1984,and Lulu died in a fight with a man in 1985.Mary Ellen has dedicated her book in their memories.
Like every other work that she has ever created,this book is a keep-sake.I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the film documentary and in the author`s work.
Jeffrey Bryan,White Oak,NC

Taking Rosie's Arm is the riveting story of 27 year old Taylor Thomas and her journey from emotional defeat to a profound sense of personal joy to her self and those she comes to love. When Taylor finds herself embroiled with the consequences of bad decisions and family members with problems even greater than her own, she becomes involved with 79 year old Rosie MacIntosh. The two women form a friendship to help Carolyn (a middle-aged woman debilitated by disease and depression) and the in the process Taylor learns invaluable lessons of compassion, wisdom, and love. Very highly recommended reading, Taking Rosie's Arm is a superbly crafted novel from first page to last!

Such a heart warming and realistic story about a person who truely cares about an elderly women that has so much to offer her in her life. Left such a strong impact that should make women and men alike appreciciate the strength and wisdom of the real women in their lifes that can and do make a positive influence on them and can make us all appreciate what really matters in life. Real life, a little drama and one you just can't put down. Made you want to to see it as movie on a Sunday night in front of a fire.

There are far too few books for young woman where a clear and meaningful message rings true to the heart. Taylor's short time with elderly Rosie offers an opportunity to fulfill a dream for both. Taylor's troubles grow smaller when she begins to focus on her goals. Rosie, with patience and wit, brings out the best in Taylor. Together they are a remarkable team and reveal how love and compassion can turn the most difficult situations into rewarding experiences. A perfect summer day read and one that you will want to share with your daughters, sisters and dearest friends. A.C. Cooney

We should all have a Rosie in our life. Once I started reading Taking Rosie's Arm, I couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to everyone; I wish Oprah would have it on her list so more people would know about it.

Big Ben: 27-4 as a starter (2004-2005 seasons)---only losses (3 of which were injury-related): Patriots, 2004 AFC Championship game (if Plax holds on to sure TD pass, we are only down 7 with about 7+ minutes to go in that game; Ben did some good things and was battling thumb and toe injuries) and also in 2005 (if Randle El doesn't get `cute' and lateral that pass to Ward, we probably win; again, Ben did some good things), as well as the Bengals in 2005 (Ben has beaten Carson Palmer's Bengals 3 times: twice in 2004 and big-time in the AFC Wild-Card game in 2005; Ben had 3 TD passes in this lone defeat and was battling a thumb injury) and Indy in 2005 (as we know, he got revenge in the AFC Divisional Playoff game; Ben threw a TD pass to Ward in this Monday night defeat and was coming off an injury-induced layoff).

Ben's FIRST NFL game: 2004 Pre-season at Ford Field vs. the Lions...last game of 2005 season: 2/5/06 at FORD FIELD, SUPER BOWL XL VICTORY!!!


So Ben didn't play a superb game in Super Bowl XL and there was some controversy...

--Super Bowl IX, 1/12/75: Steelers win 16-6 over the Vikings---Future Hall-of-Famer Terry Bradshaw is only 9 for 14 for 96 yards...BEN WAS 9 FOR 21 FOR 123 YARDS...Bradshaw threw a lone TD...BEN RAN FOR A LONE TD... Future Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton's numbers were putrid: 11 for 26 for 102 yards, 3 interceptions, NO TD's! We were only winning 2-0 going into the third quarter (on a safety); a boring game. The Steelers wore their white shirts and Terry had a beard (the other 3 Super Bowls: black-and-gold shirts, Terry clean shaven)...WE WORE OUR WHITE SHIRTS IN XL AND BEN HAD A BEARD...the game turned on a VERY controversial "fumble-that-wasn't" by the Steelers Larry Brown: the Steelers left the field dejected, the Vikings were in prime territory...then the officials ruled Brown was down before the ball came loose (no way!!!!!)...and the rest is history;

--Super Bowl X, 1/18/76: Steelers win 21-17 over the Cowboys---Future Hall-of-Famer Roger Staubach almost pulled out another miracle comeback...Swann's great falling-to-the-ground acrobatic catch led to no points (!);

--Super Bowl XIII, 1/21/79: Steelers win 35-31 over the Cowboys---the Cowboys' Jackie Smith drops a SURE TD pass that would have tied the game AND our go-ahead TD was aided by a very controversial tripping penalty that cost Dallas 33 yards: Lynn Swann fell over Benny Barnes's ankles and, as Bradshaw has admitted, it shouldn't have been a flag...we were ahead 35-17 at one point...Staubach almost brought them back (35-31);

--GAME BEFORE SUPERBOWL XIV: AFC Championship game vs. the Oilers, 1/6/80: Steelers win 27-13---late in the third quarter, officials ruled that Oilers receiver Mike Renfro did not have possession of what appeared to be a game-tying TD (WRONG!!!! He was in bounds; bad, bad call)...and the rest is history...

---Super Bowl XIV, 1/20/80: Steelers win 31-19 over the Rams---Bradshaw threw 3 INTERCEPTIONS and we were losing for most of the game...until Lambert saved our butts by intercepting QB Vince Ferragamo's pass...and the rest is history
(Steelers in the 1970's: regular season---99-44-1; playoffs: 14-4)

NON-STEELER SUPER BOWL "LUCK"---
Super Bowl XXV, 1/27/91: Giants defeat Bills BECAUSE SCOTT NORWOOD BARELY MISSES A RELATIVELY EASY FIELD GOAL, one of the biggest blown plays ever!;
All 3 of the Patriots victories were by exactly 3 points...and the Eagles really blew it with poor clock management (sound familiar?)!;
Super Bowl XXXIV, 1/30/00: Rams defeat Titans, 23-16--- The Rams' Mike Jones tackled Kevin Dyson at the 1-yard line as time expired. Dyson would have tied the game; Super Bowl V, 1/17/71: Colts beat Cowboys, 16-13, via a field goal... Dallas' Chuck Howley, who picked off two passes, became the first defensive player and the first player from a losing team to be named MVP.



The Steelers have been in the Super Bowl in the 1970's. 1980's, 1990's, and in the new millennium (2000's)---
IX (1975), X (1976), XIII (1979), XIV (played in 1980), XXX (played in 1996), XL (2006)

Big Ben---ONLY QB to ever go to Championship game his first two years; youngest to win the Super Bowl (Steelers: first 6th seed to go/ win; only team to beat #1, #2, and #3 seeds on the road and win; three-way tie for most Super Bowl victories: 5, along with Dallas and San Francisco; tied for second with most Super Bowl appearances: 6, along with Denver [who have `only' won 2])...comparison to other Hall-of-Fame and/or outstanding QBs---
Jim Kelly: 0 for 4; never won a Super Bowl;
Fran Tarkenton: 0 for 4; never won a Super Bowl;
Dan Marino: 0 for 1; never won a Super Bowl;
Kenny Anderson: 0 for 1; never won a Super Bowl
Len Dawson: won one Super Bowl (and lost one, as well);
Johnny Unitas: won one Super Bowl (and lost one, as well);
Joe Theismann: won one Super Bowl (and lost one, as well);
Brett Favre: won one Super Bowl (and lost one, as well);
Kurt Warner: won one Super Bowl (and lost one, as well);
Ken Stabler: won one Super Bowl
Joe Namath: won one Super Bowl;
Phil Simms: won one Super Bowl;
Steve Young: won one Super Bowl;
Also: John Elway: after FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE LEAGUE, won two...after losing 3 very badly!

BEST run in sports history (as confirmed by a Congressional resolution!): won 8 in a row---
Bears (who had an 8-game winning streak), Vikings on the road (who had a 6 game winning streak...and Cowher NEVER won in a dome stadium before!), Browns on the road, and Detroit on 1/1/06 (where, unbeknownst to us at the time, we were headed for 2/5/06!); Bengals on the road (#3 seed, previously beat us), Colts on the road (#1 seed, league's best record, heavily favored, dome stadium, previously beat us; the Fumble, the Tackle, and the Miss), Broncos on the road (#2 seed, favored, 10-0 at home)...and the #1 NFC seeded Seahawks "on the road" in another dome, Detroit's Ford Field (where Big Ben started his NFL career vs. the Lions in the 2004 pre-season!!!)

YOU HAVE TO GET THE TWO-DVD SET "STEELERS: THE COMPLETE HISTORY" (2005; NFL Films), 1933-2004 (too bad they didn't wait a year haha!)---the main feature is 2 hours and 20 minutes long and covers 1933 up to and including Beg Ben's 2004 season; incredible. All the `lean years' (1930's-1960's; 1980's) are covered, NOT just the "glory seasons"---Kordell, Brister, Malone, Stoudt, Hanratty, etc. etc. etc. The bonus feautures are awesome, ESPECIALLY the 45-minute Jerome Bettis special-VERY IRONIC!! You will see Tommy Maddox with the Bus when they were both Rams in 1995...excellent miked-on-the-field comments, often funny, by Bus, Ward, and Cowher...Jan. 2005 AFC lowlights, Hines Ward crying, Jerome's reaction, and the tantalizing hint that Super Bowl XL wil be played in Jerome's hometown of Detroit...which makes what they did in 2005/2006 VERY story book! Also: the Bill Cowher, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, Myron Cope, Dick Hoak, and Bill Saul segments/ specials are very entertaining, as is the Super Bowl XIII feature..get this...as well as the SUPER BOWL XL DVD---2005 season highlights included, as well as the 2006 playoffs!

The author has a fast paced style in which he covers topics quickly and includes events and observations not strictly limited to the 79 Steelers. Not much depth on most subjects, however the Steelers poor drafting after the 74 bonanza is covered well (the 79 first round pick, Greg Hawthorne, had to resort to wearing pantyhose to avoid leg injuries later in his career w/Patriots, Wexell didn't metnion this). I like his writing style, covering so many players and topics make this a great book to reread in a couple of years.
Offensive lineman Steve Courson died when a tree fell on him in Nov 2005, his struggles with steriods-caused heart failure is mentioned here.
Chuck Noll's poor overall handling of Bradshaw is briefly mentioned, has been speculated they might have squeezed out one more Super Bowl win if Noll had been more responsive to the clinically depressed Bradshaw (his depression discussed in book). During the last half of the 80s Bradshaw said if he had been treated better he would not have retired after 83. Was surprised Lambert and others smoked.
Homeless, punch-drunk from football-related injuries to the head and dead from heart attack in his early 50s, Mike Webster,the workaholic center, barely mentioned. Defensive lineman Steve Furness also dead from a heart attack in his early 50s after being fired (and blacklisted?) by current Steeler Head Coach Cowher back in 94.
Even casual football fans, esp. in their 50s, will delight in this needed book.

The Steelers made their Curtain call on the NFL in 1979, and Jim Wexell's impressive, fast-moving chronicle of that season recalls the anecdotes (L.C. Greenwood's disdain for weight-lifting among the more interesting) while delivering a healthy amount of background on players you've long since forgotten about. Strengths are the candid interviews with the anonymous faces who ran the hugely successful drafts of the early 70s, explaining how they found guys like Stallworth and missed guys like Montana and Marino. Also, the quick-read vignette format is a big plus. Many players and coaches tell it like it was, but some obviously have been interviewed many times before and offer little here beyond cliched coachspeak. Weekly accounts of the games could be a bit beefier. But because it's such a fast read and contains so much background on long-forgotten role players, it belongs on the coffee table of anyone who lived and died with this team every Sunday in the '70s. Merits a 4.5-star rating, rounding up here.

Tales from the behind the Steel Curtain is a must read for Steelers fans who still bask in the glory of the 1970s as well younger fans who are interested in learning how the dynasty was built. Jim Wexell's book is written in short stories that makes it easy to read and thoroughly traces the 1979 season - the team's fourth Super Bowl title in an amazing six-year stretch - and the years prior. Some nuggets are how some Steelers scouts believed receiver Frank Lewis was better than Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, but was too shy to tell quarterback Terry Bradshaw to throw him the ball. Steelers coach Chuck Noll wanted to draft Stallworth - a small-college no name whom the team's scouts uncovered - in the first round of the 1974 draft, a draft landed the Steelers four Hall of Famers. It also focuses on the many unique personalities of the team's number of colorful characters, including Dwight White, L.C. Greenwood, Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, etc. It's truly a book that will put a smile on the face of any Steelers fan.

This book is a must have for anyone who is pursuing the art of making teapots. It addresses so many things you wouldn't even think of. For example the author discusses what makes a teapot pour properly, methods for making lids that don't fall off while pouring, what forms keep the tea hot longest, and many other helpful tips. Also, it isn't a tough read. Each section showcases work from various artists with different methods of creating each peice of a teapot. I find this book very engaging and informative. It is a must have for any potter who plans to make teapots on a regular or semi-regular basis. If you are a person who enjoys tea, you may also like this book as it would demonstrate what you should look for in a teapot as well.

As a potter who make lots of teapots, I bought The Teapot Book and read it with great interest. The tips, illustrations and photos are a great help to me in improving the skills needed to make teapots. This book should be an inspiration to any potter aspiring to make excellent teapots. It will also be of interest to all potters and collectors as well. The book has diagrams, and beautiful full color photos of a teapot being assembled. There are contributions of glazes and tips by various European and American potters. The photo gallery of teapots and short anecdotes about the teapot and potter exhibits a cross sections of many styles of teapots from handmade to thrown. A very well written book.

Having only just received the teapot book and scanning it I definitely like what I see. It looks to me like there is some very nicely laid out step by step explanations for making different forms and great tips on putting the infamous teapot together. Cheers, Cheryl

I have been doing ceramics for five years, and specialize in teapots. This book has helped me immensely, including design and techniques. I highly recommend it.

They Say There Was a War collects fifty detailed, personal narratives of men and women who served in the United States military in all different services and theaters during World War II. The individuals tapped to tell their stories in their own words range from a survivor of the Bataan Death March to one who worked on building the Thai-Burma Railway. From bloody battles to harrowing conditions of poor hygiene to the threat of starvation and much more, They Say There Was a War gives a vivid impression of precisely what everyday life on all aspects of the battle front was like. Printed on high quality paper and illustrated with occasional black-and-white photographs, They Say There Was a War is an utterly invaluable primary source emphatically recommended for college and library collections.

This book is filled with the stories of men who served during WWII. The editors have effectively used the Veterans own words to show what the country was like before, during, and since WWII through the eyes of those who were there. The arc of the veterans' lives mirrors that of our history.

As "The Greatest Generation" falls to the "silent artillery of time," this book is a wonderful document for bringing them, and the era that they lived through, to life.

I Recommend that you read, "They Say There Was a War."

this is an awsome book. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but two of my uncles are in it.
WWII is one of the most interesting things I've learned about in school.

This is a combination of stories as told by the men who lived them. No heros or generals just the everyday service man who got the job done. You can relate better to stories like this becasue people like you lived it. My hat is off to those American Heros who helped to give us what we have today - Freedom.

What a treat - to finally have this treasure-trove of Tinicum Township history. As a newer resident of the township, I'm eager for this type of historical information. Photos are great, text - succinct. Great job! Great book!

Over 200 old photos with captions identifying individuals pictured and accompanied by well-research historical context. Great! Any genealogists or family historian would be thrilled to come across a book such as this covering the locale in which their forebears had resided. It serves as a model to be emulated by other local groups wanting to preserve a historical record their township's past.

This will be a great travel guide next time I explore Bucks County. What
fun to travel the back roads of Tinicum in search of places illustrated in
the book--including the airport with historic bi-planes flying!

What a great book. The pictures were just fabulous. It truly takes you back to a time when there was the real meaning of family and hard work. It was wonderful to see so much about this little town I grew up in. Buy many copies and give them to your friends and family. Here's a chance to show your kids and grandkids what life was like "back when".

I can't believe people are selling these used for more than the cost of it new. Penn State University Press has it for less than any of these used books and it is brand new. What's going on here?

This is a collection of valuable Mahayana Sutras translated from the Chinese edited by Garma Chang. It is topically arranged in the contents such as Pure Land, Emptiness, On Maya, etc. There is also a helpful index and glossary that make referring to Chinese-Sanskrit words easy.

Anyone studying the field of Chinese Buddhism and Mahayanist scriptures will appreciate this book!

Garma Chang's translation of the Thousand Songs of milarepa is also a spectacular product .

- Art Gregory

The translations in this compendium are a vast storehouse of Mahayana literature. It is hard enough to find singularly gathered amounts of Mahayana scriptues in one place and this title puts them in one book readily accessable in practice and study. Mahayana has had a problem in the past of their scriptures being accessable in one place and/or translated in English. Chang grants an easily open translations which can appeal to any level of Mahayanist and Buddhist in general.

The sectioning of the scriptures into topcis such as emptiness, consciousness, pure land, etc. is an incredibly friendly and helpful approach to systemizing the scriptures by their inner topics of teaching focus. None have done this yet in translations of Mahayana.

Anyone interested in the detailed and well expounded Mahayana scriptures should have this title as their key source for you wil not find such a gathering in any current publications but this one. Another key point, many Buddhist find it difficult to find/join a local sangha but this title grants any level of Buddhist an entrance into the mystery and wonder of Buddhism when locality doesn't permit. These translations cover many of the diffcult and yet foundational philosophies, so all levels of practitioners can use this title as a key practice manual on learning about the Buddhist Path.

I highly recommend this to every level of Buddhist practitioner. I myself am a Buddhist priest of the Order of the Red Lotus and this title is one of our key practice manuals because of its depths and width of English sutras.

The 9 sutras under section II titled as Emptiness are really good. It is a "must read" for anyone interested in Mahayana. The sutras clearly indicate the pathless path. It is a valuable guide for the Mahayana meditation. Mr.Chang has done a neat translation keeping the flavour of the original theme intact. Those who are already familiar with the Mahayana "viewless view" are sure to immensly benefit from these sutras.

Vizcaya is one of the great Gilded Age estates, build by an heir to a huge fortune, who had no family or children, so he devoted all his time and wealth to this palace on Biscayne Bay..and if you've ever layed eyes on this pile you can appreciate it was money well spent. This book is the best resourse I've seen on Viscaya; the text is scholarly and extremely well researched. The images are very well realized, and frankly in a book like this, great images are a must, because you can't imagine a place like this, unless you can actually see it, no description, no matter how articulate can do this place justice. If you have any interest in great residental architecture, or the history of south Florida or just appreciate great books, then I can't imagine you not loving this book.

In my opinion, Witold Rybczynski is the best observer of architecture writing today. Laurie Olin is in the same class as an observer of landscape architecture. The chance to read the two of them writing about this estate is an unusual treat. This is the kind of book somebody might give you and although the cover is attractive, you give a small inward sigh, knowing you will never read it. Not with this book. The writing is simply vastly better than books like this usually are. If you are at all interested in the design process either in landscape or residential architecture you will not be disappointed in this book.

And if you like this book, check out the two books I have linked to which are classics.The Perfect House: A Journey with Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio Across the Open Field: Essays Drawn from English Landscapes (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture)

This book by two architects that is the story of Vizcaya, the James Deering Estate built in the early twentieth century in Miami as the lavish and sumptuous expression of the great wealth of its tractor-manufacturer owner, is an exceptionally first-class literary production from every point of view that could have a bearing on its subject. Written in the technically precise phraseologies appropriate to architecture and interior decoration, its prose is free of and stands above the contamination that abounds in the otherwise usual debasement of modern literature, and it is illustrated with a landslide of stunningly magnificent photography in both color and black-and-white. But something else with which it is illustrated is what recommended this book to me. I am neither an architect nor an interior decorator, nor has the stuff of those callings ever engaged much of my attention, but as soon as my eye fell on the watercolors painted of Vizcaya by John Singer Sargent when he was a guest of Deering's there in 1917, while I turned the leaves of a friend's copy of the book, I knew immediately as one with a profound attachment to watercolor painting that I must own this book for myself. For although I have held perhaps a hundred Sargent watercolors in my hands in the Metropolitan, Brooklyn and Boston Museums, and seen many more besides in other books, I had never before seen these, as they have lain quietly in private collections without ever being published to my knowledge until now, and they are among the finest examples of Sargent's amazing wizardry in this medium, which defies belief that a human being could have painted them. And the rest of the book is a plus even for one not particularly attracted to matters of residential design or interior décor, for it is a record of an era of refinement, gentility and taste, a belle époque in American history that is gone.

An impressive architectural achievement of the Gilded Age when country manors and their gardens were a conspicuous documentation of personal wealth and power by their owners, the Miami estate of Vizcaya was the equal to such famous contemporary structures as the Bilmore and the San Simeon. The collaborative work of Witold Rybczynski (Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor of Urbanism, University of Pennsylvania) and Laurie Olin (Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania), Vizcaya: An American Villa And Its Makers" is the complete story of how this magnificent building came to be constructed, landscaped, and utilized as a 180-acre estate on Biscayne Bay complete with lagoons, canals, citrus groves, a farm village, a yacht harbor, and a 40-room Baroque mansion. Enhanced with a wealth of seventy color and 96 b/w illustrations, "Vizcaya" is an informed and informative body of impeccable scholarship presenting a seminal study that is very strongly recommended as an addition to professional, academic, and community library American Architectural History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Charlotte's older brother Jim is in the services for world war two. Charlett wants to help but she doesnt know how. when she finds a old bottle cap on the street she gets her hole school to help with the metal drive. When they finally get two old classrooms full of metal it all disappears Charlotte is shure it was stolen her new friend Pete wants to get more metal to show the thief they won't stand for it. When Robbie [Charlotte's brother]breaks his hand and can't work in the mill while Charlotte helping he sees a big pile of metal across the river he gets Charlotte to help get it. But this is thair metal how did it get here? Charlotte, Robbie, and Pete stay in a boat over night for two nights before they found the thief. Who is it and why did they do it. Find out when you read Voices On Wisper Bend.

This history mystery takes place in 1942. America has joined the fighting in World War II and the normal patterns of everyday life have been disrupted. Charlotte's brother is in the Navy, her mother is working in a local factory, and her father and his tugboat are very busy hauling freight on the Monongahela River. Charlotte has started a drive at her school to collect scrap metal. Before they can send their scrap to the local mill, however, it disappears.

This is another very good story for kids. The mystery isn't quite as compelling as some of the others in this series, but that is made up for by its depiction of the difficulties of wartime life. How much families missed sons who had gone off to fight, the anxiety felt even by the children when the "brown car" that carries notification that somebody has been killed is seen in the neighborhood, and the unfair suspicions aimed at people from different ethnic backgrounds. Young girls will also be able to identify with Charlotte, the main character, as she struggles to overcome a deep personal fear and help her younger brother at a critical moment in the story.

Girls in the 9 to 12 age group will enjoy this book and benefit from its lessons, both historical and personal, at the same time. My daughter did. Definitely recommended.

Charlotte and her brother Robbie are collecting metal for a scrap drive. The year is 1942 and the United States is fighting in World War II. Charlotte's "Ma" goes to work at a mill. Charlotte has to take care of Robbie and herself while "Ma" is at work and they have many adventures. You'll enjoy reading about what they do. I enjoyed the book because the descriptions about the War were very good.

This book is very good, a lot of quality like any American Girl book. Please remember that this is not a book about one of the AG Doll characters, but a new girl. The story is easy to follow and has a very surprising ending. How Charlotte overcomes her worst fear to help her brother is a really good point. I also liked how she seemed very close to her brother fighting in WWII for the Navy and was really concerned for him. A good read for girls (or boys, too) ages 10-12. Good capturing of the time period, and the "Peek into the Past" is cool.