Specific Places Books

It seems that we hear a lot about the Jewish communities in North American and Europe, but we are less familiar with the Jewish Communities of Africa, the Middle East, Caucusus, Central Asia, India and China. These are some of the oldest Jewish communities in the world so they deserve attention.

Blady has compiled a history and study of these communities. First Blady offers some general information on the country and then focuses on the Jewish community in that country. The communities Blady focuses on are Yemen, Iran, Crimea, Kurdistan, Georgia, Afghanistan, Daghestan, Uzbekistan, India, China, Morocco, LIbya, Tunisia and Ethiopia.

I have bought many, many history books from Amazon.com and this is definitely one of the best and most interesting of them all. There are Jews and there are Jews. I grew up in Malaysia (where there are no Jews) thinking that the modern-day Jewish people is a Semitic Middle Eastern looking people since they all originated from Israel.

Then I thought that Jews were in fact all whites after finding out that many white American celebrities were Jewish. Later on, I discovered that there were actually two Jewish "peoples" : the Eastern European variety (i.e. Ashkenazim) and the Spanish/Mediteranean looking variety (i.e. Sephardim).

But after buying and reading this book, I now know that there is no such thing as a Jewish race (in the anthropological sense of the word). The concept of a "Jewish race" as perpetuated by Hitler and other anti-semities had truly fooled people like myself and others who grew up knowing little about Jews.

As Jews became dispersed by persecution and massacres they brought along Judaism with them to almost every corner of the known world. Not all went to Europe to become the ancestors of the Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Many settled in North Africa, the Middle East and Persia, Africa (i.e. Ethiopia)...and even travelled as far as India and China. In all these places, these Jews accepted proselytes/converts and married local women, who added their genetic material (and customs) into those isolated Jewish communities ......so much so that these Chinese, Indian, Ethiopian, Persian, Afghan, Kurdish, Tat, Yemeni, Beber, Bukharan and Georgian Jews become physically indistinguishable from their Gentile neighbours and had very similar customs. In all these places, as the Gentiles became converts to Judaism, they and their descendants became an integral part of the Jewish people. Similaly, the authors inform that a great many Jews in North Africa, Persia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan and Yemen after the Islamic conquests converted to Islam (sometimes by force). No doubt they become absorbed by and contributed their genes to the aforesaid Muslim communities/peoples.

Also, I thought that were only two Jewish kingdoms in history (i.e. Israel and Judah from the Bible). In fact, when Judaism spread with the Jewish dispersion, a number of peoples and kingdoms embraced Judaism. Jewish kingoms in fact existed at one point in time from Berber North Africa in the West to Kurdistan and Western India in the East; and from Khazaria (modern day Russia/Ukraine) in the North to Yemen and Ethiopia in the South. Most of these kingdoms were small except for the Khazar Empire.

The authors definitely deserve more than 5 stars for their research and the compilation of these facts into this truly intriguing book.

This is an excellent book on the 17 "Oriental" Jewish communities in Asia and Africa, namely those of Kurdistan, Crimea, Georgia, Daghestan, Bukhara, Afghanistan, China, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Ethiopia as well as the two communities each in India, Yemen and Persia. As this book is confined only to exotic communities, the larger 'mainstream' and better-known Jewish communities such as the Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Greek-speaking Romaniotes and even the Mizrachim are outside the purview of this book. The terms 'Sephardim' and 'Mizrachim' in this book are used in a technical sense and as such refer only to the Ladino-speaking Jews of Spanish origin and the Arabic speaking Jews of Iraq and Egypt respectively.

The author describes in great detail the physical appearance, customs, religious practices, social status, common occupations of the members of each Jewish community as well as the relationship with and the treatment by their gentile neighbours. The Jews of these exotic communities are very similar in physical appearance, cuisine, lifestyle, customs, and even in language (which is normally a variant of the local language mixed with Hebrew words) with the indigenous peoples who they live among, which challenges the concept of Jews as a race. For example, the Jews of Kaifeng, Malabaris and Beta Israel are physically indistinguishable from the Chinese, Indians and Ethiopians respectively. Even the Krimchaks of Crimea are Caucasians with Mongoloid features not unlike their Crimean Tatar neighbours. This shows that intermarriages between Jews and the locals as well as conversions to Judaism must have been substantial at one point.

Eleven of the Seventeen Jewish communities live in a Muslim milieu. Unlike most books written by Western apologists of Islam, this book describes the persecution and decimation of the Jews by their Muslim rulers/conquerors. On the eve of the Muslim conquests, the Jews must have formed a very substantial part of the population in North Africa and West Asia. In Persia for example, they once numbered in the millions. Jewish Berber tribes such as the Jerava Berbers under El Kahina in Morrocco and the Ureshfani under Fanana in Libya played a prominent role in fighting the Muslim invaders. After the conquests, thousands of Jews were killed and even more escaped annihilation by embracing Islam. This book briefly mentions that many of the ancestors of the Muslim Pathans (the main ethnic element of the Taliban), Tats, Kurds (who played a prominent role in the 1895 and 1915 Turkish-orchestrated Armenian massacres), Yemenis (Osama bin Laden and a fair few of the Al-Qaeda members are of Yemeni origin) and the various Berber groups in North Africa (many of them are now supporters of Islamic fundamentalist movements) were of the Jewish faith.

The Jewish remnants who remained in the Islamic lands during the medieval period were subjected to all kinds of indignities, abuses and not to mention institutionalized contempt. Many a times they were on the brink of extinction. Under Islam, Jews were made to do the most humiliating and repugnant tasks in society. A Jew was not allowed to defend himself when attacked by Muslims and almost all Muslims who murdered Jews went unpunished. The Jew was never out in the street with his wife because he could not intervene on her behalf if she was assaulted. During times of religious violence, everything a Jew owns is snatched from him, his children taken away and he himself would be killed or auctioned off. Sometimes, the Jews were lucky. They were given the choice of converting to Islam and many did while secretly practicing Judaism. The numbers of forced converts to Islam must have been considerable, as there were at least 20,000 Meshedi New Muslims [cum]Crypto-Jews (whose ancestors "converted" generations ago) of Iran who openly returned to the Jewish faith in more recent years after fleeing Iran.

Islamic history is revisionist and subjected to propaganda. On one hand Islam institutionalizes the discrimination of Christians and Jews for rejecting Muhamad as a prophet of God but on the other hand claimed that they were never persecuted. It is like the anti-Semitic Neo-Nazis who say "did 6 million Jews really died" whilst working towards the destruction of the Jewish people. I hope that there would be more such books which give a fair and objective account of the history of the Jews living under Islam. More often than not, Western writers while emphasizing the expulsion of the Sephardim from Spain and the massacres perpetrated by the Crusaders in medieval Germany and the Cossacks in Ukraine, give a distorted account of how Jews lived happily under Islam. What is intentionally concealed is the fact that the religion in which the great Spanish-Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, was compelled to convert to was Islam and not Christianity and that Sabbetai Zevi (the "Jewish Messiah"), a Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire was forced to accept Islam on the pain of death and commissioned to evangelize the Jews for Islam.

This book is a must buy for all those who are interested not only in the history of the Jewish diaspora but also if they are interested in exotic cultures in hidden corners of the world.

As a Jew of Maghrebi (North-West African) and Andulusi descent, many aspects of the contents of this book do not come as a surprise. Especially since I have been in Israel and Ethiopia and could myself be classified as an exotic Jew. Ken Blady's book goes into a great amount detail about the various communities, from many different perspectives. This is the type of book that needs to be taught in every Yeshiva because there are many Jews, even from the regions mentioned in the book, who don't know the history of the Jewish communities from North Africa, East Africa, Yemen, Persia, India, China, etc. I have had this book for several years, and it continues to be a good source of information.

What is enlightening about the book is that many of the stories in out about these communities are being lost in the sands of time, because of the changing of dynamics of the Jewish world, now that there is a state of Israel. I would recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in Jewish history. It is especially important because several of the communities in the book i.e. the Persian/Babylonian/Yemeni/Maghrebi Jewish communities are the oldest Jewish communities outside of the land of Israel.

The New Amsterdam Theatre is amazing. It has been given a new life. This book tells that story. It brings us back to Old New York when there used to be over fifty theatres!! It is a shame that we've let them be destroyed. But this book gives the story of a theatre and a peek into a past that deserves to be remembered.

This is the most beautiful book I own. I had been to the New Amsterdam in its most painful days. At this time I saw Mondo Cane and would not sit down it was such a flea bag theatre. It was a historical sight...Ziegfeld Folies et al. I really felt sad as I stood there feeling the greatness that had passed; at the time I felt... forever. Disney has brought the theatre and the feeling back. I witnessed this with my viewing of LION KING. What I felt had been lost forever can be seen in this wonderful book. The pictures before and after make one feel that nothing is impossible. The beauty that had decayed and looked irreversable has been accomplished and this book, and this theatre stand as testaments to what can be accomplished. Anyone who has walked into a theatre and felt the past rekindle will love to read this inspiring book. This book shows the cycle of a wonderful theatre and all that it was and lost and then saved. It symbolizes the rise and fall of 42nd Street as well as one beautiful theatre. This book will for once and for all show what a thetare can be and fall to and rise above. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in Theatres anywhere and what they should symbolize to all of us.

This book offers an excellent overview of the New Amsterdam Theater from the beginning through the recent renovation with discussions of the architecture of the building, the decorative artwork and of course a history of shows that have played at the theater from the beginning.

Do you know a theater buff who deserves the perfect gift this holiday season? Disney's Hyperion has just released the ideal book for anyone who loves the theater: The New Amsterdam: The Biography of a Broadway Theatre.

The book is as striking as New York's famed and recently refurbished New Amsterdam Theatre. Opening from the center to reveal the main stage framed by delicate murals and art nouveau decorations, the book is brimming with pictures. It begins with decades old photographs and sketches that depict the grace and splendor of the theater when it opened in 1903 and concludes with before-and-after pictures demonstrating the care and effort that went into the building's restoration.

This book does not simply tell the story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of the Broadway landmark, it recounts the history of American theater as it passed over the stage of the New Amsterdam. From the Ziegfeld Follies to Fred Astaire to Jack Benny to Disney's recent staging of King David, the New Amsterdam welcomed America's most famous and talented performers. The New Amsterdam: The Biography of a Broadway Theatre makes this history come alive with photos of movie posters, actors, sets, and costumes.

Disney is to be commended for committing their resources to the painstaking and comprehensive restoration project that has saved the New Amsterdam from its undeserved fate as a forgotten and abandoned relic from Broadway's' glamourous past. They can also be congratulated for offering this remarkable book that preserves and shares 94 years of America's artistic heritage.

I gave this book to my sister because her dream is to go to New York and she was extremely happy with it.

The book contains beautiful pictures from many different years (the book includes many black-and-white photos) and many different places and gives a very good overview of how fantastic New York is.

I've never been in New York, but once I'll go there, maybe together with my sister?

A thick, 744 page book presenting the flavor of the world's premier city. Though the title suggests a visual year it is more a selection of photos arranged round themes: sports, travel, markets, the weather, construction, entertainment, civic events, personalities etc. Each gets a few pages with some images going back to the nineteenth century though most are from the thirties onward.

I thought the selection was quite impressive, there is something for every New Yorker here. Some of the names of the fifty-one photographers in the index will be familiar to readers of the Times. Neal Bonenzi, Sam Falk, Vincent Laforet and Ernie Sisto get the largest showing. Two of Laforet's are particularly stunning: his night time Manhattan skyline from July four 2005 with the sky alight with fireworks and the amazing shot from January thirteen, 2001 looking down on two workman repairing a colored light at the top of the radio mast on the Empire State (I was always curious about this photo because neither of these guys are wearing hard hats). An unfortunate omission, perhaps, is any work by Weegee. He brilliantly captured the lives of the working class over the years but his photos only appeared in the down-market tabloids.

The landscape format of the book works perfectly, the photos (with some in color) are either one to a page or one to a spread, and all have comprehensive captions. This is a fascinating book, dip into it anytime to remind you of the rhythm of the city.

*I wonder if the publishers will do similar versions using the photo libraries of other great metro papers like the San Francisco 'Chronicle', Chicago 'Tribune' or the Washington 'Post'?

Nice book, not very expensive, mixing old and news photographs of subjects
about New York.
A good journalistic panorama.

This is just an amazing collection of fascinating photographs from the archives of the New York Times. Gay Talese offers a brief introduction, but the stars of the production are the incredible photographs drawn from the turn of the 20th century to the present, one for each day of the year--with some in color. There is no table of contents; it is best to just start thumbing at random. Common topics are: personalities; buildings; neighborhoods; music performances; subways; bridges; contruction; weather; immigrants; sports; and politicians. Each picture is captioned and has a short write-up, often a brief excerpt from the NYT story where it originally appeared. Some fotos I found especially moving: returning World War I troops marching past the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1919; early shots of the lower East Side; LBJ and John Glenn in a tickertape parade; JFK visiting the city; plus a 15 page collage of sunsets, morning with fog, and sunrises. The common theme is people living and interacting in the city. Beautifully printed by Abrams, there is an index to the pictures and photographers. I can't think of another book that so artfully conveys the essence of NYC as completely as this inexpensive volume.

This book is one of the best I have ever read. It truly shows what a special place Tiger Stadium will always be. An excellent narrative and pictoral work of art. This is the best book I have read concerning stadiums and their history. Truly a great book to pass down to future generations. I highly recommend this to anyone who has a passing or a diehard interest in sports or historical buildings. EXCELLENT READING. CUDOS TO EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH THIS PROJECT.

Anyone looking for an accurate account on the history of Tiger Stadium and the personalities that played there need to buy this book. It's a must-buy for any Tiger fan and I am anxiously awaiting Bak's new book "The Corner". My only (slight) complaint I have with this book concerns the Detroit Lions. They are included but the personalities aren't fleshed out as well as they are with the Tigers.

There are many photographs of the many incarnations that this site has gone through in this book. But unlike many sports-related books, there is considerable detail to history, baseball and of course the stadium itself. Edited by two professors from Wayne State University, this book is a through retrospective on the history of Detroit and baseball in general.

A terrific book all about the history of "The Corner" of Michigan and Trumbull, home of Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Many great stories about all the events that happened there over the past 100+ years (baseball and otherwise). It's a baseball related book of course, but the stadium is the real star here! Hundreds of photos also, many obscure. Great research, and great reading too! The New Tiger Stadium will open in the year 2000, and unfortunately, the fate of the old Tiger Stadium hangs in the balance. Hopefully this piece of serious baseball history will be preserved, but Detroit has a long history of demolishing its history, so time will tell... hopefully it will be saved. It's a wonderfully intimate place to see a ball game, and would make a great place for summer outdoor concerts, celebrity baseball games, etc. Detroit had enough sense to preserve the Fox Theater, maybe that sense will carry over to preserve this "Michigan Historical Site" as well.

I grew up with Susie and the Swope Family. Susie went through some incredibly tough times during her bout with cancer. She remains a strong and beautiful spirit today because of the love she experienced from her family and friends. If you have ever experienced the loss of a loved one--this book is a MUST READ!

"Thank you Mollie. Everything you share (in your book) is so real and true. I could feel Susie hugging me again. Words are never enough but your love was...and is! Bless you." Bernie Siegel, M.D., Author of "Love, Medicine & Miracles"

Mollie Swope has written a book about transition. The learning process that we go through when we are forced to let go of someone dear...and the realization that we gain in knowing that nothing is ever lost...or gone, it has only changed form. This book is a celebration of Mollie's daughter, Susie, and a journey beyond the physical...into the realm of Love. This is a book about life and the life beyond the physical life. It is a healing tool, very inspirational.

Mollie shared their families intimate story of the trials and tribulations of their personal fight against Susie's cancer. Through this process, a deep understanding of life's purpose and meaning emerges...a meaning that goes way beyond the physical. A relationship that began at birth...continues today as a legacy from the other side. This is a very inspirational book, that I would highly recommend to anyone.

Mollie Swope's "You Were Here Today" is reassuring that we are not alone in our experience of a life making the transition to the beyond. This book is a wealth of information on what happens when a loved one leaves us for the LIGHT and returns to us to lift our spirits. As I read the chapters it became clear to me of the great love between Mollie and her daughter Susie. It has been said that love transcends and it does!!!! Thank you Mollie and Susie for teaching such valuable lessons of strength, courage, wisdom and gentle peace. Sheila Jack Crabill

Exceedingly well written, concise, interesting, perhaps life-changing, this book makes the science seem less complex and easier to comprehend. A great study companion for my human physiology course, a major aid to my exam scores. Highly recommended for serious or casual studies, or even anyone with interest in the human body at all. I would even read this on my free time; in fact, Im going to go explore the unassigned chapters...

Excellent as an introductory text. Everything is thoroughly explained and the software provided is a great studying tool as well.

Great book to read for better understanding of human body functions. There are good and colorful illustrations in it. Through the guided illustrations and simplified physiological explanations, it makes easier to connect the function of one part of the body to the other.
Well I made good grade on my exam in anatomy and physiology anyhow ... so I can say that this book helped me a lot.

Paul Gobel books are favorites of mine. The Grandchildren ask for them to be read every visit. When I purchased a tipi we were inspired by Mr Gobel's excellent books to create a traditional design with personal meaning.
This book arrived in time for our initial use of the tipi and brought greater meaning to the experience of putting up the tipi and living in it for a week of Camp Grandma. We are looking forward to "furnishing" the tipi next summer.

Filled with insights and great respect for this horse culture. I passed a copy on to a friend of Mongolian descent who took it to Mongolia where it was received with great interest and reverence. The artwork and symbolism should be tremendously helpful to future generations of young tribal members and descendants as the memories fade ever further.

Paul Goble's TIPI: HOME OF THE NOMADIC BUFFALO HUNTERS blends traditional insights into tipi construction and development with a retelling of old-timers stories and a blending in of art to make for a fine survey of construction techniques, decorations, cultural meaning, and more. TIPI includes over a hundred color illustrations and drawings and makes for a vivid, outstanding survey of the spiritual and culture meaning of the Native American structure.

Although published in 1986, this remains a very informative book on the Vikings and their presence in North America. Wahlgren was a professor of Scandinavian languages, so he adds a very interesting linguistic layer, and uses many Old Norse words to bolster his arguements. He has included a great deal of archaeological evidence to explain the Viking way of life in Greenland and Newfoundland., and also information from the Icelandic sagas regarding Leif Eiriksson's and others' voyages.

Wahlgren explains very well some of the hoaxes and misinterpretations of "evidence" of the Vikings in numerous areas of North America. He delves into the controversy over the Kensington Stone (a stone with a runic inscription found in Minnesota), and with his linguistic background expertly debunks it.

I particularly enjoy Wahlgren's very readable style, full of cute little asides, while remaining scholarly. His personality and wit really shine through.

I read this book really quickly, I couldn't put it down. Wahlgren's idea is interesting and he backs it up well, with lots of interesting history and anecdotes. I'd like to see some arguments against it before believing he's right, but he makes a convincing argument. I enjoyed the book and hope to read more by him. Worth reading for anyone interested in Viking and old North American history.

A very well written, well illustrated, and fascinating recounting of Norse overseas activities in the Atlantic. After reaching and settling Iceland in the late 800s and Greenland in the late 900s, on several occasions recently settled Greenlanders indulged their exploratory and settlement urges and sailed for American shores, which Leif Eriksson had found and named Vinland ("Wineland") at his southern reach in about the year 1000.

Erik Wahlgren, a former professor of Scandinavian languages at UCLA, vividly describes the Viking background and the developing Norse culture, of which the Icelandic sagas became, many believe, the first truly notable body of literature in any Germanic language. As penetrating depictions of life, especially the better family sagas still have power to fascinate the modern reader. (This book's title can be a bit misleading since the Iceland and Greenland settlers were not "Vikings," i.e. sea raiders, but settled farmers and stockmen.) After describing the two saga versions of the Vinland story, in an interim chapter the author effectively debunks Minnesota's Kensington Stone as a hoax (the subject of an earlier Wahlgren work) as well as discussing other dubious claims. The rest of the book focuses chiefly on the Vinland ventures.

But just where WAS Vinland? Was it at the northern end of Newfoundland, the ruins Helge Ingstad and his wife Anne Stine Ingstad uncovered and painstakingly excavated in the 1960s while finding a number of undoubted Norse artifacts? Although the Ingstad claim has has been accepted by many, Wahlgren thinks not. "Ingstad's dilemma stems from his natural preference for a thoroughly identified Old Norse habitation site over a theoretical one that has not been physically confirmed." . . . "The reconstructed Norse houses at L'Anse aux Meadows represents a first-class achievement in modern archeology, and a major enrichment of our geographical and historical knowledge." . . . "The Ingstad find stands on its own merits and needs no crutch. By the same token, it is not Vinland." Drawing on geographical, botanical, cultural and linguistic evidence, the author thinks it might have been built and used for a short time by other voyagers of which we have no extant record (the saga literature is very family selective and much of it has been lost over the centuries.) Or even -- in a tentative hunch Wahlgren throws out -- that it might just possibly have been Karlsefni's "Straumfjord" of Erik's Saga.

The author then makes a very plausible case for Leif's Vinland or land of grapes having been in the Maine-New Brunswick coastal border area, which is better left to the interested reader to judge for oneself after considering the cases for locations others have put forth. Wahlgren's theory is intriguing and definitely in the running. A previous reviewer thought his arguments convincing but reasonably expressed a desire to see opposing arguments. One can get a good idea of other major contentions by reading Ingstad and Carl Sauer (see my other reviews by clicking on the above link).

These are by no means all of the Norse activities that Wahlgren discusses interestingly, lucidly and often wittily, including evidence of visits to the High Arctic -- fully as distant a voyage from the primary Greenland settlement area as Norway itself and even more difficult and hazardous. Too, there is definite record of one small ship with seventeen Greenlanders aboard being storm-blown from Markland (Labrador) to Iceland at the late date of 1347 and intimations of periodic visits to those North American shores to secure much-needed timber, "although not one in a hundred of these voyages had the slightest chance of being recorded." Wahlgren's final chapter contains a short but riveting account of what is known of the demise of the Norse Greenland settlements, after existing for half a millennium. For those who wish to get a visceral "feel" of life there, a recent and magnificent piece of historical fiction based on virtually all that is known of that time and place, and written in saga style, is Jane Smiley's "The Greenlanders" (see the Amazon reviews).

I bought this for someone out of state, and found myself reluctant to let go of it. The people who appear in it are not the usual dull crew (i.e., Walt Disney), but folks like Harry Bridges and Emperor Norton, Ina Coolbrith and Dashiell Hammett. The prints reproduced in it are of excellent quality, from fruit-crate labels to bits of Diego Rivera murals. Instead of chattering endlessly about Hollywood, there's an entry on live theater in Los Angeles (the Mark Taper), San Francisco (the Mime Troupe) and the Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista. The slightly raunchy doggerel of the gold rush is a nice touch, and the author knows that the name California came from the Spanish novel of chivalry owned by Don Quijote, Las Sergas de Esplandian. And it's even spelled right - what a pleasant surprise! This little book is is a splendid introduction to California's richness

Years ago, when preparing for my 50-state road trip I'd purchased a load of travel guides to help plan what to see in each state, which satisfied me until I stumbled upon the first ART OF STATE book in Iowa and quickly purchased all the other states available. This curious book series made all other travel books pale by comparison. Deceptively small, slim, lightweight and light read, these books pack a punch of meaningful, inspirational information. Beautifully designed and written, they are thoroughly engaging and a joy to read--like finding an ancestor's scrapbook or diary in the attic and reading a fascinating family heritage while peering over images of a buried past. Each author must be a native or a deliberate transplant, for they tell each state's story lovingly, with a deep appreciation of the state--and not just its good features, but the blemishes, too, described evenhandedly. Photographs of architecture, landscapes paintings, crafts and memorabilia complement the words. Each book presents the state's history, climate, landscape, traditions, symbols, recipes, must-see destinations and a statewide calendar of events. I've purchased all the books in the series (20 of the 50 states as of 2007). If your budget won't allow you to buy all 20, at least buy two: one of your home state and one of your adopted state. You'll be amazed at what you'll discover.

I apologize for raving so much about THE ART OF STATE series, but it was such a find for me, like discovering a diamond in a sea of glass. I can't help but gush.

Now, about the California edition. Each book in the series has a wallpaper designed inside cover: a background color, unique to the state, dotted with a state motif. I always try to guess what the wallpaper will be before opening the book. Sometimes I correctly guess the motif, but rarely the background color. California, I'm sorry to say, is my least favorite: it looks like pajamas a 7-year old boy would wear in the 195os. That little boy blue color, dotted with brown grizzly bears. (My husband loves the wallpaper, so it could be a gender-biased thing.) That was my only disappointment. The rest of the book entertains, informs and enlightens as the others. Read about the early settlers from Native Americans, to Spanish missionaries (and their El Camino Real a road linking 21 missions), to the guitar-plucking Mexican Rancheros and lastly the ragtag group of Americans who overthrew the Mexican government and for three weeks became an independent Republic, with a grizzly bear flag (thus the motif on the book). Read about the gold rush, the mining camps, the various architectural movements, the importance of oranges, railroads, and irrigation. Read about the artists, the music, the many Expositions, innovations and various political experiments. Find out how California got its name from a fictional Queen and how early maps indicated it as an island. Don't miss the gold, silver and silver screen discoveries. From the various mountain ranges to the 1,000-mile coastline (40% open to the public--more than any other American state allotment percentage-wise), and the lakes, deserts and forests. An amazing state. As potato king Luther Burbank exclaimed: "as far as nature is concerned . . . I cannot describe it! I almost have to cry for joy..." That's California. That's this book. I barely touched on all its marvelous content.

Years ago, when preparing for my three-year 50-state road trip I'd purchased a load of travel guides to help plan what to see in each state, and was fairly satisfied until I stumbled upon my first ART OF STATE book in Iowa. This unique book made all other travel books pale by comparison. Although small and slim the books throughout this series are packed with meaningful information. Beautifully designed and written, they are thoroughly engaging and a joy to read--like finding an ancestor's scrapbook or diary in the attic and reading a fascinating family heritage while viewing images of a buried past. Each author in the ART OF STATE series must be a native or a deliberate transplant, for each state story is lovingly told with a deep appreciation of the state--and not just its good features, but the blemishes, too, described evenhandedly and complemented by photographs of architecture, landscapes paintings, crafts and memorabilia. Each book presents the state's history, climate, landscape, traditions, symbols, recipes, must-see destinations as well as a statewide calendar of events. I've since purchased all the books in the series (20 of the 50 states as of 2008). If your budget won't allow you to buy all 20, at least buy two: one of your home state and one of your adopted state. You'll be amazed at what you'll discover.

I apologize for raving so much about THE ART OF STATE series, but it was such a find for me, like discovering a diamond in a sea of glass. I can't help but gush.

Each book's frontispiece has a wallpaper design: a background color, unique to the state, dotted with a state motif. I've begun playing a game with each new book I purchase in this series trying to guess what the wallpaper motif will be before opening the boo. Sometimes I correctly guess the motif, but rarely the background color. For New Mexico, it's bright red chili peppers dotting a Yucatan yellow background. Sweet.

Now, about the New Mexico edition ... On the dark side, New Mexico served as the hideout for two killers: Billy the Kid and the atom bomb. But that's the only shadow on this sun drenched land. Read about the various Pueblo, Mexican, Spanish and American influences in this state of fabulous landscapes, luscious cuisine, turquoise jewelry, and clay art, architecture and crafts. The vast desert vast terrain and limitless sky not only attracted artists, but aliens, too, in the town of Roswell, where aliens landed and a museum marks the spot. The fabulous land of mountains, deserts, mesas and pine forests attracted writers and artists to Taos and Santa Fe which became celebrated artist colonies, by accident. In the 19th century two traveling artists broke a wagon wheel en route to California and stayed in the glorious state, founding artist societies in each town. Famed New York artist Georgia O'Keeffe spent the second half of her 90 years painting the doom of the New Mexican desert bones, abandoning her typical bold blooms. Writer D.H. Lawrence said: "I think New Mexico is the greatest experience from the outside world that I ever had. It certainly changed me forever. Curious as it may sound New Mexico liberated me from the present era of civilization..." No wonder the state nickname is "Land of Enchantment."

I loved the book. I have lived in N.M. for 27 years and find this book the best short history thru Art I have ever seen. It has everything you would want down to the UFO's.