Specific Places Books

Presidents don't just drop off the face of the earth when their term ends! "Homes and Libraries of the Presidents" takes a look at the homes, libraries, and other endeavors of the presidents. In a newly revised third addition, Homes and Libraries of the Presidents" contains new information that is promoted as less than a week old when the book went to press. A must for anyone looking for the most up to date information possible on the post-administration lives of the presidents, "Homes and Libraries of the Presidents" is highly recommended for community library reference shelves.

I didn't read the entire book, and most people I would guess also wouldn't read it cover to cover. This book is more like a travel guide to the burial sites, libraries, and birth homes of the presidents. I was interested in the book to see if there were any presidential sites near me (there are only 2), so the usefulness of this book was limited by the fact that I cannot visit 99% of the places discussed. For each of the presidents the author gives a brief snapshot of the person. There is about 1-2 pages devoted to each of the `lesser known' presidents and about 5-10 pages for the likes of Washington, Lincoln, etc. You are also given travel information - city/street maps to locate the places (which aren't very helpful), and museum hours, admissions, etc. The best part of the book were the color photos of the presidents' homes and the US map that shows the distribution of the presidential monuments. I'm not really sure I even get the purpose of this book - it doesn't offer any information that is new or interesting. I wouldn't recommend this book because all of the information it contains can be found with far better accuracy and depth on the Internet; via the museum or library websites you would get much more background information about the President you need information on with up-to-date info on hours, admissions, etc. *This review is for the 1995 edition*

I initially purchased a copy of this book as a Christmas present for a family member with interests in both wine and architecture. These are two subjects I know little about but, despite this, I was so taken with Wineries with Style that I went back and ordered a copy for myself! It's a fascinating book with stunning pictures, well written and beautifully produced. It certainly boosts the culture rating of my coffee table and I would recommend it as welcome and unusual addition to any home's bookshelves. Well done, Mr. Richards!

There are a few books popping up on this subject and I found this one disappointing. The best photograph appears on the cover but the wineries included inside lean to the more traditional. If you are looking for a coffee-table book, I would suggest Wine By Design which has more extensive photographs, site plans, and drawings.

I had ordered about 3 other books before this one and when I read the description I guess I missed the fact that this is ONLY the Student Workbook. Probably my fault for not reading carefully but I'd suggest putting "Student Workbook" into the title somewhere.
Now it looks like I need to buy the 40$ book that goes along with this.

I found this book to be a helpful resource for the classroom, teaching digital video. It really helps on the literacy side of the class, with lots of student worksheets, projects, questions and reading material. I found it lacking in actual "how to's" so will have to have a supplemental book.

The book is dated (1988), so I bet some things have changed over the past 18 years. I won't know until I visit Newfoundland this summer. Still a good read for anyone interested in the area.

I found this book while staying at a B&B in Newfoundland, and it was such a wonderful read that I had to run out and buy a copy to take home with me. With wonderful insights into the people of Newfoundland the authors use powerful images and the words of the Newfoundlanders themselves to tell the stories of the place. Alternately powerful and fun, this book is a must for anyone wishing to understand the lives of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and their place in history and Canada.

This text reads rather like an expanded lecture. Language is precise where it needs to be: I don't see "arm" used where "upper extremity" is intended.

I believe the May 2 reviewer may be dealing with a much older edition or otherwise confused. The connection of HPV to cervical cancer is clearly indicated in this edition, and was present in the second edition as well. In the second edition herpesviruses were also mentioned as "having been implicated as a cause of cervical cancer", and that phrase has been dropped from the third edition. I think the phrasing was probably reasonable at the time the second edition was in preparation.

I would never go so far as to say any text is error-free. However, when I think I've found mistakes in here it's more likely to turn out that the folks at Terminologica Anatomica have changed something underneath me - like moving the macula densa from the distal convoluted tubule to the ascending limb of the loop of Henle.

It's a text book. It gives you the basics for your class and you have to purchase it anyway. I've had better bio books, but I've also had worse, way worse. It's not too short. I think it's alright.

The author of this text book repeatedly falls into prose trying to make the subject matter more entertaining. Unfortunately, I found this rather distracting considering it is a text book. I was also shocked to find incorrect information in this 2004 reviewed text book, e.g. it claims that a Herpes Virus is the causative agent of cervical cancer, which is plain out wrong (it is HPV). Lucky me, I already have a degree in the medical field and know this kind of information, but I feel sorry for students who use this as primary source for their education. I was also disappointed that this text book has no contact information listed for improvement suggestions. Every good text book I purchased so far had either e-mail or regular mail contact information where one could address concerns to - this one does not. I sent the publishing company a letter about the faulty content, but have not heard back from them.

Caution: there is not a paperback version of this textbook available!

The Amazon page for the Anatomy and Physiology text shows a link to a paperback version available for about $35 dollars, but it is not a paperback version of the textbook! Instead you'll receive the study guide - this is an error with Amazon's page for this book.

The study guide does appear to be a good one, with practice tests and review points to help prepare for exams. I'll probably keep it now that I have it, but I still had to fork out $100+ for the actual textbook!

No "Nigger" has been on the US map for fifty years, and most instances of "Squaw" and "Jap" were eliminated shortly thereafter, but we still have the occasional "Wop" or "Chink". You may not even know what a toponym is (it is simply a name for a place), but cartographers not only use toponyms, they try to get them right, and they don't mean to offend anyone, but sometimes they do. The offense isn't always ethnic; it might be international or personal or salacious. You might think that toponymy (the study of toponyms) would be a fairly dull academic endeavor, and surely this is the case most of the time. However, _From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame_ (University of Chicago Press), professor of geography Mark Monmonier shows just how contentious map naming and renaming can be. The book is an academic reflection on problems humans make for themselves in their busy name-finding (and name-calling) efforts, but with its illustrations of problems in naming, it is also a greatly amusing book.

It is hard to blame the original mapmakers. People attached names like Nigger Pond, Chinks Peak, or Squaw River because that is the way settlers talked. Then the mapmakers and surveyors came in, and "conscientiously but uncritically recorded local usage." The U.S. Board on Geographic Names handles requests to change objectionable names. In 1963, every cartographic instance of "nigger" was eliminated. Thus, "Niggerhead Point" which had appeared on a map of Port Bay in upstate New York could not stand. The solution for 1963 was to substitute the then current replacement term so that the feature became "Negrohead Point". Monmonier writes, "In the early 1960s, Negro had not yet acquired the distaste that led to its sequential replacement among more ethnically sensitive speakers, if not on maps, by _black_, _African American_, and _people of color_." It remains "Negrohead Point" on federal maps, but local New York agencies have simplified the issue, thankfully not changing it to "People of Color-Head Point" but to "Graves Point", perhaps because of a cemetery there. Sometimes the renaming is not that simple. The use of "squaw" is "the thorniest issue in applied toponymy." While there are those who say the term only means a Native American woman, many have argued that it is an ugly synonym for vagina which is then applied to women. There has been a proposal for another blanket change, from "Squaw" to "Moose", so that Maine now has a Moose Bosom. At least it still has a bosom. There are many other instances of naming naughtiness here. In Oregon is Whorehouse Meadows, a bawdy toponym that did record the historic instance of a field bordello. The Bureau of Land Management changed its maps to the silly name "Naughty Girl Meadows", but residents and historians agree that the original name is best.

There are serious issues in Monmonier's book. A chapter covers the knotty problems, for instance, of toponyms in disputed areas like Cyprus or around Israel. There are implications to mapping that can cost millions; when Microsoft released Windows 95, it used a time-zone map that omitted disputed provinces claimed by India, which thereupon refused to allow Windows 95 to be imported. (Microsoft has subsequently established a Geopolitical Product Strategy Team to cover cartographic pitfalls.) But it is in less consequential details that the book is the most amusing. Who would have thought, for instance, than canny mapmakers would deliberately place nonexistent streets on their maps and give them names, just to see who copied their work in violation of copyright? Then there was the Finnish family in Paska, Ontario, who objected that their town (named for the word "shallow" in Cree) sounded too much like the Finnish word for excrement, and got the name changed. Every two years a bill to keep "Mount McKinley", rather than the local and native "Denali", for the Alaskan peak is submitted by an Ohio Congressman who is a fan of the Ohio-born President McKinley and who knows that the Board of Geographic Names cannot change a name if the matter is also being considered by Congress. There is even a section on how features on the Moon and planets are named, and how for $54 you can get a parchment certificate that shows that a particular star has been named for you, although such names have exactly zero support from the official celestial namers, the International Astronomical Union. This is a delightful book about a serious and amusing subject that few readers will have ever before encountered.

The best thing about this book seems to be its amusing title. It stars out very technical with `map terms' and things that would only interest serious cartographers- which I am not. It is very unfortunate, because this book could have been a really interesting narrative on American history and its conscience.

Though there are a few interesting examples of words used to describe places or geographic anomalies, the story is quite flat. One read-through of the back cover is all that is needed to know that once in the US there were many places that took the name of `nipple', `jap', `nigger' and `squaw' which he says is translated loosely to mean `whore' in many Indian languages. But the background information on these is lacking and the reasons for change are boring.

The author obviously knows his subject, and likes to use numbers and facts to support his case, but do we really need to know what number of `japs' were on a certain State Dept map? The answer is obviously no. It suffices to say that there were any at all, that is is unacceptable. The most interesting parts of the book were the sections discussing naming places in space (like on the moon) and on the sea floor. But this too was thin and just didn't tell much.

Much of the book is very repetitive and keeps brining up the few shocking examples of place names as mentioned above. But these spares examples quickly became tiresome and are not enough to base an entire book on! I was really looking forward to finding out new information, but was thoroughly bored and sorry I bought the book. This subject- as this author has attacked it- should have been a journal article and not a book.

This is all really unfortunate, because this book could have been so much more. It reads more like a report by the United States Board on Geographical Names. A simple list of current names and all its derivations- historical and linguistic would have been preferred, as it would have saved the time of reading a text with no depth. I think all the positive reviews of the book are misplaced and based on the title and a quick scan of the book. Because as soon as the shock of some of the place names wears off the text shows it true dull colors.

This book was written by a flagellant. Reading it is a painful experience.

In travels through faerie sanctuaries and other exotic lands, I've enjoyed the company of many unusual personalities. One of the most memorable is Tobias Schneebaum. Reading his latest book, Secret Places, has increased my sense of awe at the uniqueness of this man.

Toby's fame results largely from a brief encounter (an unpleasantly personal encounter) with cannibalism in the 1950s. His free-wheeling explorations of the Amazon region, searching for a life more meaningful than accumulating money and possessions, led to an extended visit with the little-known Akarama tribe. Toby bonded strongly with the indigenous tribal men, who had little or no experience of modern culture. He found himself embraced as a temporary memory of the tribe, and was included both in headhunting expeditions and same-sex celebrations of body and spirit. On one occasion, a traditional ceremony culminated in eating the heart of a captured warrior from a neighboring tribe; it would have been impolite (and probably dangerous) to decline.

His first book chronicling these and other adventures, Keep The River On Your Right, was published in 1969, and the book soon became a cult classic. Schneebaum became a rather unlikely, and somewhat notorious, celebrity. (Recently, the story has been retold and updated in a fascinating documentary film of the same name, now available on DVD and video - highly recommended.)
Toby's latest book, Secret Places, is one of a series of gay and Lesbian autobiographies from the University of Wisconsin Press. About half the book consists of detailed and fascinating stories of Toby's adventures with the Asmat people of New Guinea. It is probably no coincidence that he describes Asmat stories and myths as "not following any particular pattern. They do not have a beginning; they do not have an ending." My perception may be colored by the way I met the author a few years ago at a dinner party in New York, but to me, the book reads like a transcribed dinner conversation. Unlike any other autobiography I've read, the style is remarkably non-linear. For example, details are often repeated from prior pages as if brand new, as they might be in casual conversation. I found this loose approach unusual, and most enjoyable.

Jumping forward and backward in time and space, incorporating stories of his religious Jewish childhood, of New York friends succumbing to mid-80s AIDS, of aboriginal lovers in faraway lands, of missionaries bringing permanent change to ancient cultures, Toby regales the reader with episodes of his remarkable life. He is struck by the similarity between Catholic communion - eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ - and ritual cannibalism - eating the body and drinking the blood of conquered warriors. He chronicles a multinational company's bull-in-china-shop destruction of untouched wilderness among the Asmat, in an oblivious attempt to drill oil where only water exists. And he mourns the inevitable shift in artistic style among Asmat woodcarvers, from subtle hand-tooled techniques passed down from uncountable generations, to pretty but "soulless" items more easily sold to tourists for easy packing in their luggage or shipping home as excess baggage.
Toby's book is a small but generous gift, offering a glimpse into cultures and climes few will ever experience (and none will experience in the state of preservation that still existed at the time of his youth). It is thrilling to read about Toby's apparently fearless adventures, to enjoy them vicariously through his memoirs. Don't miss this book, and if you ever get the chance to hang out and chat with 80-something Tobias Schneebaum, it will be time well spent.

Reviewed By Mountaine in
White Crane Journal
A Journal on Gay Spirituality

This book is a quick, interesting read for a grade-school kid, but it's coverage of both the history of Mesa Verde and the Anasazi people who lived there is shallow and sheds little light on the subject. Few of the assertations in the book (for example, that the male members of the community built the cliff dwellings and that the kivas were used for ceremonial purposes) are backed up with any documentation or reasoning. The photos are just average in quality, and the reader finishes the book not knowing much more about the cliff dwellers than when she started. Even kids want more info than this!

In her book "Brazil", Jan Rocha itemizes a good selection of interesting and important national problems but then bogs down in anachronistic ideology. I purchased the book as an introduction to the country of Brazil and as a guidepost into more detailed topics, as well as to see Oxfam's perspective on these various issues. The book does well in summarizing familiar problems such as authoritatian politics and the minority landed oligarchy as well as obscure ones such as attempts to relate a gatherers' economy of babassu nut collection to the twenty-first political economy.
Problems within the book emerge when it tries to discuss these issues using a vocabulary somewhat related to 1960's Marxism. The "good guys" are the workers and aboriginal peoples who are shamelessly exploited by the "bad guys",the government-oligarchy
coalition. The middle class is curiously omitted suggesting the inuendo that perhaps it does not exist at all. For example after mentionning the government policy of rapid industrialization starting in the 1950's the book seems to imply that it was done without a domestic market.
No one denies that terrible attrocities have taken place in Brazil but this carping on negatives of the past fails to achieve a constructive purpose. The book mentions that the government set up a National Institute for Colonisation and Land Reform which has power to confiscate holdings of unproductive lands for redistribution (a very interesting idea for a developping country) but then it does not explain why it has seldom been used or even if it still exists.
Perhaps the last chapter on Carnival (holiday) is the best one. In this one case the book changes tack and identifies a positive role of Carnival by involving people of various factions within national culture. If other chapters were as good, it would be a highly recommendable book but as it stands it limits itself to identifying national issues and then presents a somewhat anachronistic ideological polemic for those who might appreciate it.

Black militia Captains, and Lieutenants, the growth of a black middle class, interracial marriages, the first licensed black physician, racially integrated balls all occurred under Spanish rule in New Orleans according to this interesting work. However, the author also makes clear that this was still a racist society in which only black people could be held in bondage. Yet, taken as a whole, the book asserts that the Spanish regime was less evil than the preceding French rule and the antebellum American regime which followed. The author includes substantial original sources for her assertions. Well worth the money.


Richard Ivo Kress
Silver Spring, Maryland

The study of Louisiana history has often been regarded by some as a parallel to a famous Cajun dish - Gumbo. Gumbo is a massive mixture of many seemingly unrelated ingredients and spices that are thrown together in one pot. Once cooked, this Louisiana dish simply cannot be beat. This parallel to Louisiana history is especially true when one examines the libre (free black) population in and around New Orleans from 1769 to 1803.

To understand the libre plight, one must consider the efforts of the French, Spanish, and United States established governments in Louisiana in the 18th and early 19th centuries and the roles each played in the lives of the libres. In her book "Bounded Lives, Bounded Places," Kimberly Hangar asserts that although these libres were considered free, they often found themselves contained within the confines of the fixed caste systems of the French and Spanish.

During the Spanish era (1763-1800), the number of free blacks in New Orleans increased, and with this increase a group identity developed as libres began to push against the confines of the caste system. This identity was based upon "phenotype (mixed race), occupation, family networks, military service, religious and leisure activities, and political expression." And, it was an identity which left them in between two extremes; not a slave, yet not quite free.

This book wil make you snore. unless you need the statistic of free blacks, and black slaves being freed in New Orleans during Spanish rule, this book is little more than a complete waste of you time.

The central theme of Bounded Lives, Bounded Places is the genesis and rise of the free people of color (i.e. non-slaves, or libres), their place in the society of colonial New Orleans in the mid to late 18th century and the manner in which they bettered themselves and their lot. Throughout Kim Hanger's work, the lives, struggles and aspirations of these unique gens de couleur libres (free people of color) are explored, as well as the institutions that played a role in their ascension to an unparalleled class stratum that was truly unique for its time.

The organization of the book is methodical, concise and logically ordered. Following the introduction, chapter one discusses how libres understood freedom, what it meant for them and their kin, and the methods by which they could obtain it. In chapter two, Hanger demonstrates how, through work and property accumulation, libres negotiated themselves into secure positions in various areas of the social hierarchy. The concept of family values and how kinship helped or hindered libres' chances of success are explored in chapter three. In chapter four, the reader learns how military service propelled libres to achieve and enhance their status as a powerful group. Chapter five examines ways in which libres interacted with whites and slaves and how those relationships reinforced libre identity.

The author's tome provides specific and detailed information about a topic that seems to have been largely neglected. In no small measure, Hanger reinforces her assertions with ample statistics and analysis, making her book a laborious read at times. It will be readily apparent to the layman reader that her target audience for the book is the researcher and historian. Nonetheless, there is a need for such works that serve the interests of academics, and the keen reader and amateur historian can still garner a plethora of information on the subject.

The contemporary reader may find it difficult to comprehend colonial era notions of slavery, manumission, self-manumission and the owning of slaves by former slaves. Despite of the sensitivity of the material, the author does not deviate from the core mission of the book: documenting and supporting her research with examples (as any credible historian should), while resisting the modern day urge to opine on the ethics of slavery, or parrot politically correct judgments and sound bites. Instead, Hanger manages to bring back to life a number of principal individuals, like the pardo libre (free brown-skinned) Pedro Bailey whose outspoken manner on the issue of libre equality (or the lack thereof) caused him a great deal of trouble with the Spanish government.

The concept of the libre merits additional analysis. Although they were not necessarily on equal footing with whites, libres were nonetheless liberated. That freedom caused them to unify into a single group within a three-tiered social order, with white Europeans above and slaves below. Consequently, colonial New Orleans's free black population found themselves in an untenable position: attempting to assert their status as free people to the dominant white bourgeoisie while simultaneously maintaining a necessary and distinctive delineation from the slave class. These pressures came together from opposite ends, invariably creating tight internal cohesions that reinforced the unique libre identity. A notable example of this was the libre militia. More than just a military institution whose mission was to protect the Spanish crown's interests, it also served as an extensive and exclusive social web wherein officers would inter-marry into families of colleagues, stand in as godparents for children of other officers, and even assist their brothers in arms with loans and financial guarantees.

Hanger contends that the notion of a person's race could be malleable depending upon the situation. The problematic issue of conjugal relationships between white Europeans and libres illustrates a prime case of such racial adaptability. While religious and societal leaders discouraged such mixed unions, a libre woman might secure the sacrament of holy matrimony to a wealthy white European if she herself was sufficiently white. It is apparent through such exceptions that in colonial Louisiana, one's racial identity could alter, depending on circumstances. This racial "hedging" offered some libres a powerful card in the racial deck: if your pigmentation was light enough, you could ascend higher into the social stratum and distance yourself even further from darker skinned libres. Such thinking obviously transformed the concept of race into a chameleon-like quality that could be used by certain libres to enhance their status and insure prosperity for themselves and their progeny.

Overall, Hanger's work provides a solid study of the life of libres under Spain's colonial Louisiana. Diligent students of Louisiana's rich history will find that it gives a unique and objective examination of a fascinating group of people whose existence was a juxtapositional collage of bondage and freedom, despair and hope, failure and ambition, and probably most significant of all, irony.