North America Books

I don't need to tell the story, enough has been well done of that.
But, I want to say I truly enjoyed reading Ms Styles' second book. It was as much fun as "Crossing Burning Bridges" but in a different way.
The research she did opened my eyes to another era of events in our country. Some rather mean ones. But in all the book was warm and I LOVED every minute of it. Only again, I didn't want to keep reading because I knew it would finally end. Can't wait for her next book.

In the mountains and skies beats a heart of one warrior. A Lakota warrior left to live without his sacred lands and family. This is his story of despair, hope, love, and eventual discovery of the true warrior/man left inside of him.

During the 1880s...

The Lakota warrior, Snake Catcher, is honor bound by a dying request from his brother, Hail Maker to return something to Paradise Valley Ranch. It is through his travels and subsequently meeting Susan Paradise, whose parents have left her the ranch that this story begins to unfold with drama, realisms, and heart-warming romance. Won't you travel through this warrior's story as Snake Catcher tells the history of his people, while falling under the spell of Susan?

Snakes in Paha Sapa is by authoress Cyndie M. Styles. This is a subject near and dear to this reader's heart: the plight of the People. Here is a novel steeped in true-life events with fictional romance blended in making it a wonderful and heartfelt reading experience. Styles truly wields a pen coated in a profusions of great writing and wonderful foresight. This new author's voice is outstanding! This is the type of historical romance that the reading audience in general can enjoy. It is devoid of profane language and sex scenes, while giving the readers background on the lives of the Lakota people.

Susan has an open and unselfish heart, yet she is like a velvet glove concealing an iron fist. Susan treats Snake Catcher with the respect and dignitary befitting any human being, whether they are white, black, or an Indian. Her friendly personality will endear her immediately to the readers. When Susan looks at Snake Catcher she see a man with a big heart, willing to learn and grow, but he is also afraid of the White man, and what they have done to him and his people. Can Susan's gentle soul change Snake Catcher's opinions? Can two diversely different individuals find happiness in the harsh lands of the White man?

Snakes in Paha Sapa is writing from the heart by author Cyndie M. Styles. It is romantic, thought provoking, lovingly detailed, and extremely well written. This reviewer found this novel to be profoundly refreshing and engaging to read! The ending of this story marvelously completes this tale of love between a Lakota warrior and a White woman, and how their lives play out.

Reviewed by © Janalee Ruschhaupt, 2006
Courtesy of Love Romances www.loveromances.com

More than a Western...more than a romance. This story of the native Americans' struggle for their rights living in this land is fully outlined in this book. It takes you to a simpler time but also a time that is harder to survive in. This story is very adventurous and has tons of "on the edge of your seat" reading. There are many subtle humorous moments as well. This is a heart-warming story of all the residents at the ranch and how each of them have their own stories of struggles. This story begins with true Lakota honor. I was indeed entertained and learned much about the Lakota culture.

If you're like me, you might need a little bit of background on the title of Cyndie M. Styles' second novel, Snakes in Paha Sapa. Paha Sapa is the Lakota name for the Black Hills (located in South Dakota and Wyoming), which probably clues you in on the identity of the referenced snakes - they are of the white snake variety that spread westward across America in great numbers during the middle and late 19th century. The novel follows the rather extraordinary life of a Lakota warrior whose fight to reclaim the sacred lands of his people takes on new dimensions as his worldview is shifted by a remarkable white woman rancher.

Snake-Catcher was a great warrior, second only to his older brother. When that brother is ambushed and killed - and great numbers of Lakota tribesmen slaughtered - at the hands of white men, Snake-Catcher's world changes forever. Confined to a reservation, he watches helplessly as the American government reneges on its promises and allows prospectors to settle in Paha Sapa in pursuit of the gold discovered there. Having lost his entire family and his people's cherished lands, he has nothing left but the promise he made to his dying brother - to take a book belonging to that beloved brother to a lady named Susan Paradise in Sundance. When he is finally able to get permission to leave the reservation temporarily, he heads westward to Paradise Valley Ranch as fast as he can. Not surprisingly, he encounters trouble along the way, but the circumstances end up giving him a most enlightening perspective on white society in the wake of his arrival at Susan's ranch. He learns things he never knew about his brother, and he finds unexpected allies in Susan and her band of ranch hands and helpers (a mix of white, Indian, and Mexican cultures). Susan vows to join his campaign to reclaim Paha Sapa for his people, a legal campaign aided by another Lakota educated among the whites.

Susan has her own problems as an independent woman running her own ranch, and Snake-Catcher joins her battles just as she joined his. As you might expect, romance enters the picture eventually, which proves unsettling to both the Lakota warrior as well as the white woman, but theirs is a formidable teamship seemingly ordained by fate to work together for the good of others. Over the course of the novel, many years pass, ushering in a number of brand new elements to the lives of all those at Paradise Valley Ranch. It gives the novel something of an epic quality. Several times, I expected a plot point to be worked out in the end, only to see it resolved much earlier to make way for further turning points in the story. It all comes together beautifully to tell a most endearing tale of human drama.

Snakes in Paha Sapa is a most impressive second novel. In terms of subject matter, it is much different from Styles' earlier Crossing Burning Bridges, yet it retains the author's wonderfully flowing writing style, truly proves her standing as a natural storyteller, and amplifies the bedrock of very real emotions she manages to instill in virtually all of her characters. This is also a very educational novel for those of us who have never really explored the plight of Native Americans deprived of their land by a treacherous and sometimes exceedingly harsh American government. With its formidable mix of historical fiction, Western, and romance, Snakes in Paha Sapa makes for a wonderful, genre-crossing read.

This was the first western fiction book I have read, and I was hooked right from the start--not the "Cowoys and Indians" story I assumed it would be. I found myself reading long past bedtime, and I came to know and love the characters to the extent that I missed them by story's end. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Styles in the future.

Even better than Walks the Fire (which was great), Soaring Eagle is a spellbinding story of God's grace and human need. You have to stay with this one until the end. Everything comes together as pieces of a puzzle. Beautiful!

When I left off with Whitson's first book in this series "Walks the Fire" I was hoping book 2 would be as good. I was not disappointed. It was even more exciting! Jessie King is dead, LisBeth her daughter has just lost her husband in the Indian war, and now she seeks some meaning to life. In mourning, she finds she is too bitter to accept the faith of her mother. Soaring Eagle is fighting a battle of the cultures. He is an Indian who is forced to act like a white man. He refuses their God. Jim Callaway is a career soldier who had seen and done such horrendous things that he deserts the army, running, and ends up in Lincoln, Nebraska near LisBeth and smithy, Joseph. David Braddock is introduced in this book and as rich as he is, he cannot convince LisBeth to end her mourning and court him. So many changes in the town's people occur, the most outstanding being when the daughter of the town gossip accepts the call to an Indian mission school. There she meets Soaring Eagle and Carrie, a little white girl who is the only one who can reach into the heart and soul of Soaring Eagle. Soaring Eagle wears the gold cross which Jessie, his dead white stepmother wore, and a locket with the pictures of his mother and an unidentified woman...his sister whom he has never seen? LizBeth has nightmares about an Indian riding the plains with HER husband's locket around his neck. The interaction of LizBeth and Soaring Eagle is spell-binding and puts the reader heading straight into book 3, Red Bird.

I LOVED Walks The Fire, and so I rushed out to get Soaring Eagle, and I'm really glad I did. I liked it ever better than the first book in the series! I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the third book, Red Bird, and can't wait to get my hands on it either. Whitson is one of the best, if not the best, Christian Historical Fiction authors out there!

I never expected Soaring Eagle to be better than Walks the Fire, but it was! I was totally caught up in the physical and spiritual journey of Soaring Eagle. His struggle to admit his connection to not only white people, but also to Christians, was enthralling. To add even more drama, Whitson has Soaring Eagle interact with Lisbeth's husband in a secondary plotline that will keep you spellbound. Normally I am not an emotional person, and I was actually sobbing out loud by the time that I read the last word of Soaring Eagle. I am a prolific reader of Christian fiction, and Whitson far outclasses her more well-known counterpart Lori Wick. The Prairie Winds and Keepsake Legacies series are likewise far above anything that I have read by Oke, Wick, Glover, or Peart (and I have read them all). My only complaint is that Whitson is not writing them fast enough!

First of all, if you haven't read "Walks The Fire", you really need to read that first or you will be lost with "Soaring Eagle".

Soaring Eagle, the adopted son of Jesse "Walks The Fire" King and half sister of Jesse's daughter Lisbeth, discovers that in a battle with the White man he has killed his sister's husband. This story follows Soaring Eagle and Lisbeth in their journey to forgiveness; Soaring Eagle and Lisbeth each discover the faith of Walks The Fire, and Lisbeth learns to love again.

Once I began this book I absolutely HAD to finish it, reading it in meetings, at work, even in the bathroom. This one has everything -- tragedy, action, romance -- you'll love it!

I never thought I would ever find such a book that I would ever not put down..This book kept me involved like I never been involved before. I loved this book from beginning to end. Also the artwork from Ms. Boyd's mother Silversong is just breathtaking to me. I laughed and cried and cried some more. I have owned my copy for 3 years now. I also have read this book 4 times since I have owned it. This book is part of my favorite possessions and will cherish it forever. Also when my daughters are old enough I will read it to them or have them read it themselves for the simple fact is the strength, pain, love, and sense of woman and family in this book are just absolutely breathtaking. I really recommend this book to anyone with a heart and the heart of a woman...I like to thank Ms. Boyd for writing her family's story. I never will forget it and although this may not be my family story, I will pass this onto my girls and onto their girls so they can see that women can have the strength to go through anything and that love conquers all and that the SPIRIT MOVES through all of us.....

This book is a clear work of literature where the reality of growing up Indian in 6 Generations is laid out before the world. It is a hard life but one where the women make a difference in the lives of their children and grandchildren. Their choices were often made for them until the past 2 generations. It is a powerful and moving story the should be read by all.

This book does have an epic quality about it... Also, it is the type of book that calls to and connects with the spiritual side of all of us regardless of our individual culture, race or gender. Ms. Boyd's gift is bringing a beautiful narrative quality to the experiences shared by her Mother, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother as well as her own. As the challenges and hardships are recounted it seems incredible that the harshness experienced was so recent, relatively speaking. In a time before domestic-violence laws (as recently as 20 - 30 years ago) options were few and overcoming such oppressive treatment seemed to be as much an act of faith as of will. This is a story that's important to all, not just to these lovely Lawson women.

I am buying several copies to distribute to the women in my life. This is the best book I have ever read and I just happened upon it. It has changed my life, I am a better person for reading it. I love it, cant say enough about it, Loree Byrd is so talented, I would read anything by her.

Loree Boyd has done more than merely written a great book. She has demonstrated the pride, strength and respect so characteristic of Metis/Native people in Canada. As a Metis/Ojibway person myself, I found this story, based on Loree's family history, to be moving and inspirational. I laughed, I cried, and I smiled thoughout reading this book. Loree's personal story extends beyond the words of this book; touching the lives of many Metis and Native families throughout Canada. Knowing and recognizing the similarities of my own Metis/Native family history made reading "Spirit Moves" all the more bittersweat. This book should be read in every household in Canada- Metis, Native, and white! Mii-gwetch Loree for your courage, your pride and your story! In Spirit, James Fortier

I purchased this cookbook so I could cook something for a Native American presentation in my sociology college course. This book is great because it has lots of pictures and info about where the recipe came from or something else interesting about it. I haven't cooked anything from it yet, but I look foward to using the recipes for everyday cooking in adition to my presentation.

This is a "must have" cookbook if you'd like to prepare authentic Native American food. The ingredients are easy to find in any well stocked grocery store, and the recipes are not difficult. No "weird" ethnic foods here- just good meals made with what's available. The historical background for the foods of different tribes is an interesting read. The photographs and drawings are absolutely beautiful- those alone are good reasons to purchase this book!

i loved the book it gives you many different ideas to make things out of the ordinary

The photography is unbelievable and the recipes work! The book gives us a palatable way to enjoy the true native american way of cooking. I would highly reccomend this book to everyone that loves to experience the enjoyment of cooking new recepies and the even greater enjoyment of eating what they have re-created. A great book for all ages and ethnic backrounds. Good food and lots of it!

Great recipes...I orignally bought a copy of this book in 1994 and have tried virtually every recipe in the book. I subsequently purchased a copy in 2006 as a gift for a family member. I asked my family to consider a new tradition in 2006; replacing the standard Christmas dinner with a "Native Harvest" the outcome was brilliant. Consequently my entire family agreed to embrace this concept and pass it along to the children. We found inspiration in the recipes from this truly amazing cook book and an opportunity to honor our ancesters and Native American culture as a whole.

This tome covers corn "ear" to toe. I love the sassy tone and contrarian viewpoints.

I must admit, I am actually a beet person (well, root vegetables generally) and bought this book to get ammo to goof on my corn enthusiast friends. But how the worm has turned! Corn and human history are inextricably linked, a bonding of nurture and social evolution. This book lays down the facts.

I guess in retrospect my "hubris" about beets was misguided and wrong. I now think the lesson I learned, whether it pertains to vegetables, politics, music or whatever, is that YOU SHOULD NEVER UNDERESTIMATE DIFFERENT OPINIONS. It's too easy to do, and is an easy way to miss out on fundamental truths.

In that sense, this book transcends it's core audience of corn folk (cornies?) and teaches a much deeper lesson if you are not really interested in corn - that well disciplined research into unfamiliar topics can instruct and delight the receptive reader.

Read it, enjoy and reflect.

Food historian Betty Fussell's survey of corn history blends folklore, anthropology, botany and social and art history to provide a lively blend of anecdotes and facts about world corn, from its influence on war and ritual uses in the Inca and Aztec worlds to its use as a key ingredient in different cultures' cuisines. The Story Of Corn isn't a cookbook; it's a specialized food history which will appeal across many different lines, from students of anthropology and sociology to culinary enthusiasts and history buffs.

Everything you want to know about corn is found in this book. And I mean everything. We see corn growing in fields everyday but do we actually stop and think about it? Do we pull over to the side of the road and LOOK at it? It's amazing how corn has been around longer than anyone will know. This book covers an overwhelming amount of detail. If you don't find it interesting you're just not a corn person. In fact, the only thing it doesn't answer is why I threw up over a bad cob one time. I don't throw up.

I love corn. Whether it's cobbed, creamed, breaded, or popped. This book is non-stop corn!

My mom borrowed two of the Olga da Polga books for me from the library when I was a little nine-year-old girl with her very first pet, not surprisingly, a guinea pig. I instantly fell in love with the bragging Olga, who loves to tell tall tales and considers herself quite a celebrity. If only her animal friends would agree with her! We searched in vain to find any purchasable copies in the series for many years. Words can't explain how much I enjoyed these books as a little girl . . . and still do!

I'm so pleased that the books are back in print (there are several titles, but it's best to read them in order). If you have never read these books, you're in for a treat, whether you're young or old. For those not familiar with Olga da Polga's inventor, Michael Bond also wrote the Paddington Bear novels. His love of animals is evident in both series, as is his wit.

This is the story of a guinea pig named Olga, told from her perspective. From it you learn what a guinea pig likes. How they want their beds to be made, their fur combed, how to pick them up and all of the other aspects of the day-to-day care of a guinea pig. She is also a bit of a scamp, escaping, starting incredible rumors among the animals, and sometimes being pompous and self-centered. In many ways she is a typical pet.
A combination of being an engaging tale about a lovable small pet and her thoughts on her treatment, this is a book that will help teach young children how to care for small pets. The gentleness that is required and to understand that they are creatures with feelings that need to be considered. I recommend this book for the child approximately nine years old.

This book is a charming story about a sassy, clever, adventurous guinea pig with a style all her own. Bond is imaginative, insightful and succintly well written. Olga is self possesed, somewhat mischievous and weaves a web of characters around her into a colorful tapestry of her own creation. I'm sure by the end you'll agree that her ventures end all too soon.

Olga da Polga was read to me at bedtime by my parents when I was about five. 25+ years later, I still remember Olga's antics and stories. As a child, I even went so far as to name my guinea pig "Olga da Polga". A super book for youngsters!

Olga da Polga is a wonderful book from the creator of Paddington the Bear. It begins at the pet shop where Olga dreams of the world outside, and moves to her "house on legs" in the Sawdust family's garden. Along the way we meet the family she belongs to, her friends from their garden, and are entertained by both the tales about Olga, and the ones she creates for her friends. It's a low-key but charming book for those who love animals, and find humor in the little things they do. Children who favor the WWF,Yugio and Power Rangers will probably find the stories a bit tame, but my seven-year old son enjoyed the series of Olga books as much as I did when I was his age.

I have loved this book for years. Hugh Nibley was not only a brilliant man, a great scholar, and a dedicated teacher; he also had the gift of being able to cut past all the endless intellectual distractions to focus on what is important. When I first read this book, frankly, I was blown away. There was so much richness about the temple that I did not know. However, more than all that are the essays and talks on what the implications of all this are for the way should live our life here with regard to what comes hereafter.

A temple is the House of the Lord and God uses it to teach, enrich, and endow the lives of his children. Brother Nibley is right that the temple is a scale model of the universe. It shows not only our place and purpose, but sets us on the correct path through teaching, covenants, and ordinances. Temples make eternity understandable and unite all ages of time in one eternal present with our Father. In this book we not only see what was restored with the Church through revelation, the author also shows us echoes (not sources) of the true teachings in ancient and pagan temples and ceremonies.

There are a wide range of essays on various aspects of the theme of the temple and the cosmos (the everything). In one of them, Brother Nibley even talks about science fiction and the gospel! It is full of interesting illustrations.

Hugh Nibley enriched my own appreciation of the temple through the essays and talks collected in this wonderful book. If you are interested in what he had to say on this important gospel topic, I recommend it to you. The author makes so many great points of so many details that are easy to miss that you will never be able to look at the temple the same way again. And opening your vision to seeing the world anew is what a great teacher does.

I'm no scholar, but I foind this book to be very readable and extremely stimulating. Nibley's thought is astounding. While a couple of his statements on science are now a tad dated, the thought itself is as sound as ever. The coverage of the essays in this volume is astounding--you name it. Nibley's thought is very helpful to all who wish to supplement faith with intellect

Nibley's work on Temples, ancient and modern, are incredible. Many of the articles in this book were previously unpublished works. Others are from firesides and addresses at BYU and other places. All are generally aimed towards the LDS audience.

Scholars have, in the last 10 years, expanded on many of Nibley's proposed ideas. Scholars, LDS and non-LDS, have found similar conclusions as Nibley has proposed and have expanded on them (as one example on Nibley's "One Eternal Round" see Mircea Eliade "The Myth of the Eternal Return" (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954) for more on "parallelism" see John M. Lundquist's "The Temple: Meetingplace of Heaven and Earth" and it's respective bibliography). Many students of temples of the ancient world would find few qualms with the conclusions expressed by Hugh Nibley as they relate to the temple.

This book is mostly directed toward the LDS audience. Despite this it may be informative to the beginning non-LDS student of the temple (especially as seen by the LDS mind). Other books may be suggested but many of the conlcusions would be the same.

This book is amazing. Nibley's grasp of the subject matter is truly astounding. While it is true that Nibley is a mormon apologist, this work is not skewed like many of his other works. This is his best effort. Whether you are mormon or not this book brings up a lot of intersting similarities with almost every ancient religion and their temple type. Zoroastrian fire temples being the most notable exception. a pure joy to read.

Nibley does not go into depth concerning mormon temple ceremonies but many of the things he discuss will still be easily understood by the non-mormon reader. In addition, a large portion of the book is devoted to the actual structure of the temple as a microcosm of the universe. Also of note is his discusion of sacred vestments through the ages.

Often the scholarly become so involved in proving their thesis that they lose sight of where they are going. In other words they can't see the forest for the trees! Such is the case with Nibley's Temple and Cosmos. Although very informative and well documented, in his zeal to justify the existence of Mormon temples by showing many amazing similarities to temples and temple rituals of the past, he fails to notice that nearly all of his examples are from pagan cultures. Nibley proves well that the origin of Mormon temples is paganism. While the Mormon Church claims its origins stem from ancient Hebrew culture, any real evidence supporting such a claim is conspicuously absent from Nibley's book. ...Go figure!

The Ten Grandmothers, required reading for a course in anthropology, inspired a lifelong interest in and appreciation of Plains Indian culture. It is romantic without romanticism, sentimental without bathos, realistic and uplifting.

I stumbled on this book years ago, and I joyfully re-read it each year. It is a wonderful, engrossing look at a long-ago time, beautifully captured through the words of Spear Woman, Hunting Horse, and their families and friends.

Although not a novel, it sure reads like one!

My favorite parts? The chapter where Spear Girl and Hunting Horse elope, the poignant journey of Apiatan and the piece where the grandmother and granddaughter go to visit the buffalo. Truly a wonderful read!

This should be required reading for anybody interested in Indian culture, lifestyles, history. Heck, for anybody who's a student of human nature.

i loved this book. as did everyone in my family. i borrowed this book from my mom three years ago to check it out and i ended up keeping it and reading it all the time. as a matter-of-fact, i'm currently re-reading it.

for me, this was a great look into the past and at the old ways. it proved to me that the Kiowa are some of the strongest people on the plains. and i am proud to be one.

Having grown up in Kiowa/Comanche country for all my child and adolescent life and having been immersed in the attendant legends, though from a white perspective, I began to research Southern Plains Indian culture much later in life. During my early investigations I came upon Alice Marriott's "The Ten Grandmothers". This was the book I was looking for but didn't know it. Other research had served up books "about" the Kiowas. This was as close to a book "by" the Kiowas as could be expected given that the Kiowas had no written language. Ms. Marriott has done a superb job of not only recording these stories of the old ways, but has let the Kiowa voice come through loud and clear. As you read these stories you feel yourself sitting around the fire in an 1800s Kiowa camp listening to these stories being told first hand.

One of my favorite chapters was about the day the children made a play camp and built a defensive earthen berm and ditch (I believe the Kiowas were about the only plains tribe to employ such a defensive tactic). Later that night White Bear began blowing his "liberated" cavalry bugle as he led the victorious raiding party back to camp. The women in the camp, awakened and thinking they were under attack by the cavalry, began tearing down the camp as the men mounted and rode out to meet the enemy and cover the escape of the women and children. Not knowing about the children's ditch, both incoming and outgoing parties of mounted warriors careened into this obstacle in the darkness. Those within earshot of the melee were in a panic thinking their worst fears were being visited upon them. The next day, a rule was announced by White Bear that, while play camps are good, children were not to make play camps with ditches; only the men could make ditches.

We owe Ms. Marriott a huge debt of gratitude for preserving these treasures that might otherwise have been lost.

This is an absolutely superb book. It's the story of the Kiowa people, a native American tribe of the southwestern plains & Wichita Mountains, told from the point of view of individual Kiowas. The "Ten Grandmothers" are sacred bundles with special powers which are important to the spiritualism of the Kiowa.

The stories in this book are marvelously crafted, and full of life and sensation, and they spread new light on old ways. The chapters feel mythological, yet they help the reader to understand the shared culture behind the daily life of the Kiowa people.

This book was first published in 1945, when there yet remained some very old people who remembered the old-time buffalo days. Historically, the book reads very true. The events of each chapter are fixed within historical times-lines which appear in the back of the book.

The author, a woman, has gifted us with wonderful portrayals of the life experience of female Native Americans. So often, women's roles and labors go unmentioned in other accounts of the old days. Alice Marriot wrote an account of the Kiowa that includes the experiences and interactions of people of both genders.

Notable chapters include one in which a young woman of seventeen - about to be forced by her relatives to marry a man she doesn't care for - runs off during the annual Sun Dance with a young man her own age. The exacting ritual of the Sun Dance is interspersed with the tribulations of this personal love story.

Later, when their first baby is small, Spear Woman struggles unsuccessfully to fulfill all her home-making responsilibities. Her unhappiness leads to conflict between the couple, until eventually, he realizes that she has too much work to do and needs female help and companionship. Such a moving story, for people of any era.

And the author brings us forward in time with the Kiowa tribe, from nomadic life into settled agriculture. And, by knowing what has gone before, the reader can perceive how their shared cultural history and mythology has colored and formed the Kiowa response to this sweeping change in lifestyle.

I can't recommend this stunning book highly enough. What a good read. Definitely a remarkable book for those interested in Native American culture. Do read it if you are interested in the old ways of the plains tribes. An excellent book.

This is a must have for anyone interested in learning more about the traditions and cultures of Native Americans. Thoroughly researched, well written, beautiful color photos, respectful.

This book is very well researched, and it makes one want to spend time traveling and learning more about Native American culture.

This book is worthwhile for readers new to Arizona as well as for those who may already live there.

I lived in Arizona for 28 years and traveled to many of the sites in the book, yet I still discovered a lot of new things reading it. I particularly enjoyed the sidebar stories about people, places and events that presented anecdotes and little-known facts about Indian Arizona.

In fact, in reading the book, I actually became a little nostalgic for many of the prehistoric sites I personally visited and explored over the years. This includes a moving experience that I had while visiting the Heard Museum In Phoenix.

One final note, the writing style is very clear and easy to read.

When you launch your own discovery of Arizona's Indian cultures..., I suggest you begin by reading a comprehensive new book, "Traveling Indian Arizona," by Anne O'Brien... Anne is an experienced hand in the Southwest, working with museums in Denver, Flagstaff, and Phoenix. She has assembled something much more than an instructive travel book; this is a small encyclopedia of the many native peoples that continue their customs, and their arts and crafts, in Arizona. The many color photographs and the essays by elders and by anthropologists provide an additional dimension. --Richard Sims, PhD, Director, Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, AZ

This is a very well written guide for anyone traveling through the Southwest. The author provides excellent historical information as well as suggestions for routes, places to stay and nearby places of interest. On a recent trip to Canyon de Chelly, we used the book to plan our route, stops along the way, and as a reference for the history of the area. The author obviously feels strong ties to the native people of the Southwest..

"Unearthing Gotham" is the story of historical archaeology in the city of New York. Historical archaelogy is the archaeological study of eras that might also have written documentation - so what can digging around in old privies tell us that the paper trail does not?

Cantwell and Wall prove the answer is "an almost infinite amount." From a painstaking analysis of shards of pottery found in various privies, for example, we learn how the world changes for women when New York became too big to walk (they no longer lived above the shop, so to speak). In landfill in lower Manhattan, the charred ghost of a ship that sunk in the harbor in the 17th-century tells us something about trade back then. Most touchingly, the discovery and excavation of the old African Burial Grounds tells us something about the lives of the enslaved (did you know that over 20% of the residents of colonial Manhattan were enslaved? I didn't; I learned it from this book).

The book is extremely well-designed, liberally illustrated with photos of digs, but also old maps and engravings. If you have lived or walked New York, it will inspire you to look at the city in a new way - the ground you tred on still bears the marks of centuries past.

By the way, the authors have also brought out a book of walking tours based on their discoveries - next time I'm in town I'm tucking it under my arm and having a good look around at the vestiges of the 17th-19th centuries presented here.

New York, like no other city in the world, is a city of spectacular heights and many books have been written about the buildings that rise to the skies. How many people, however, think about what lies beneath the vast weight of edifices and human life that exists above the ground? In this compelling and instructive book, Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall have a given us a lesson not only about the artifacts and remains that have lain dormant for centuries but also in the history that surrounds their burial and ultimate exposure.

In a time-line fashion (11,000 years before present to today) the authors reconstruct a picture of what life might have been like during these times. Lest one think the unearthings are limited to Manhattan, they are not. All five boroughs are represented. There were moments during the reading of this book that I wanted the authors to spend more time recounting the actual excavations to which they refer, but in the end their historical perspective is the link that saves the day. Without it, their offerings would be no more than a field trip.

My future trips around the city will be made with a new awareness as I ask myself, "I wonder what lies beneath....". It is a question we all can ask.

This is the very best book one could have if he is interested in the early history of New York City and the area immediately surrounding it. The coverage of Native Americans is especially strong, fascinating from beginning to end. The authors know their subject thoroughly, write beautifully, and have given us an exciting, scholarly work that will be a classic for some time to come.

This book was good but I must admit it was extremely repetitive and very over written. Facts that could've taken 1 sentence to reveal took pages. More like a long essay then a book. But still very good.

As a long-time student of and writer about old New York, this book held so many surprises for me that I felt like a college freshman again. For so many years I had read about the Native Americans who occupied this city, but the illustrations, maps and photos that accompany this complex narrative give it new, more vivid life for me. The experiences of the Dutch, African-Americans and British that followed are given a face, so to speak, by the detailed, but lively, narration. The graphics, especially of the extreme southern tip of Manhattan, are generous, clear, and highly educational for newcomers to and veterans of this history. (By the way, as a Brooklynite, I want to kiss the authors for covering all five boroughs, and not just focusing on Manhattan, as do most histories of NYC.) This is a book that can be enjoyed on so many levels. It is a great introduction to a relatively--and undeservedly--obscure subject.