Oklahoma Books

I have bought about eight copies of this wonderful cookbook to give to friends after buying one for myself. It contains beautiful photos of the Oklahoma governor's mansion and delectable food made from recipes served at the mansion. It makes a wonderful gift because as well as having recipes you'll use over and over, you also get an Oklahoma history review. It's delightful to look through even if you never use it as a cookbook.

Excellent international service, book delivered in just over a week to UK and in pristine condition. Great service

A well written diary from the Trans-Mississippi theater of operations. This is one of the few Civil War diaries from that area. It is written by a recent German immigrant to Nebraska and covers the period of his three year enlistment, 1862 - 1865. The story covers relatively little actual fighting. When Mr. Scherneckau was wounded (in the leg) it is because he was accidentally shot by one of his fellow soldiers. Instead it covers life in the Army consisting mostly of futile marches, guard duty, converting from an infantry unit to cavalry, putting up with Army life, almost as though the country was at peace.

Mr. Scherneckau originally wrote the diary in German, his native tongue. It is clear that he was a well educated man, but little is known of his background and education.

The diary has been translated and brought up to date with modern English style and wording as well as ancillary materials such as newspaper accounts of the time. This makes it a lot easier to read than the approach taken by other editor/translators.

Written by an anthropologist who tells Maria's story through short stories as told to her by Maria. This book begins with Maria's accounting of pueblo life during her childhood. You learn of her life with her artistic, but alcoholic, husband Julian. An interesting accounting of their work which earned world acclaim for the unique pottery they produced. This book is a window to a time long forgotten and into the soul of a creative artist. The community spirit of the pueblo is well described and inspiring. You can't put this down once you begin. It's a great read!

Mat Snacks by Jack Spates is a great book, my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Hohman read it to the class and I loved the stories. I think about the stories every day and if you read this awesome book you would too!

Matt Field, a middling actor down on his luck, sickly, rejected twice by two different women when he proposed marriage, decided in 1839 to take a trip to Santa Fe with one of the trading caravans headed to that city from Independence, Missouri. Accompanied by a few friends, he steamboated from St. Louis to Independence, where in July he joined a small (18 men) caravan and set out across the plains. Going through Council Grove on to Bent's Fort, he continued over Raton Pass after which he left the main caravan and followed a trail to Taos and then down to Santa Fe. Thoroughly enjoying his stay in Santa Fe, but fearing a winter crossing of the plains, he left the capital late in September, took the Cimarron Cutoff, and made it back to Independence by the last day in October.

Fortunately for posterity, Field kept a journal of his trip, which is included here; he was also later hired by the New Orleans Picayune to write a number of articles based on his travels and experiences (they also are included here and make up the main portion of the book). A budding poet as well as an actor, Field turned his outward-bound journal into a long epic poem (the return leg remained in typical diary form). Though his poetic skills are not very good, this poem remains a unique document in the annals of western literature. The newspaper articles are another matter; they are superbly written and fascinating to read. The articles were meant to entertain readers, and hearsay and embellishment abound, but their bases are in fact and in what Field experienced. Everything seemed to be worthy of his attention and subsequent relating, from sights along the trail to humorous anecdotes related to him by others he met along the way. There is the obligatory grizzly bear story and thunderstorm-on-the-prairie story, but also more personal items such as a funeral in Taos and a wedding in Santa Fe. The articles ran for two years in the Picayune and as they still do today must have brought much enthusiasm to their first readers. The trade along the Santa Fe Trail was in decline by 1839, and to have Field's first-hand impressions of what it was like then is remarkable. It's among the half-dozen most important original works regarding the trail and the trade and the people who were involved with both, and it's a delight to read. Highly recommended.

This book was written by my great uncle. I never knew him, as he died in 1974 and I was born in 1971. I have the original copies of his books as well as many of his original paintings. This is a great read even given my personal bias. Have fun reading a great book!

He was a poet primarily, part of a brilliant pre-war class at UC Berkeley,and his real name was Frederick Faust. As Faust he made a small name for himself in the middle of a tumultuous period for American poetry, but it wasn't until a dime-novel pulp publisher literally locked him in an office for four hours, with a precis for a plot no more than a few sentences long, that he became a fiction writer--for he stepped out of that room with a novel of 74,000 words and a contract to write twenty more. And a new name, Max Brand, one of dozens of pseudonyms he came up with to disguise his own production. People thought there were a hundred Western writers, but really, Faust was nearly all of them. The aging Zane Grey was no competition, for after a flow start "Max Brand" wound up writing what Robert Easton claims was 30,000,000 million words--so many manuscripts that publishers kept bringing out new ones for 30 years after his death!

Faust died at D-Day, of all places, a true American war hero, and he even gave up his claim to medical treatment, urging the docs to treat other soldiers with wounds worse than his own.

He created Dr. Kildare, once a famous icon of the movies and TV, now not so widely known, but wait till the DVD revolution catches up with Kildare (and his gruff old boss with the kindly heart, Dr. Gillespie). I've heard that the MGM series will be released within the next 18 months, the 60s TV show with Richard Chamberlain too! I can't wait because those shows were always worth staying up late for. And such unusual guest stars, everyone from Basil Rathbone to Fred Astaire, Angie Dickinson to Valli.

Easton was a contemporary of Brand and knows his story inside out. He does his best to strip the obfuscations from his Byronic hero's life, and to show how, after all, he might have been a trying husband to loyal, prim Dorothy, with his demands for continual intercourse and claiming the right to have sex with other women, while she was forced to balance the budget and keep a nice home for him. The book came out in 1970, and has a few pruderies typical of the period, but not many. It was a great time for University of Oklahome Press, they just couldn't put out a bad book, and several of the books advertised on the back jacket as "Also of Interest" remain of interest today--Louis Mertins' invaluable record of Robert Frost's "table talk" (really his walking talk); Bruce Kellner's early biography of Carl Van Vechten, still the best account of that puzzling man; and Born In a Bookshop, the memoirs of Vincent Starrett, okay, this last one all charm and no substance. But still a fine roll call, no?

Wilson effectively blends a number of theorectical threads to create a moving and powerful image of Maya ethnicity in the late 20th century.

Holy man Pipe Bearer, a member of the southern people, starts having visions of a special horse that seems to be wearing a medicine hat on his head. When the special horse with the medicine hat top is born, Pipe Bearer realizes that he has a quest to accomplish. He does not know where he must go or what his mission is. He tosses the stones and learns that he must head north with medicine hat horse accompanying him. His wife Otter Woman joins him on his quest. They travel north under the guise of being traders, the only group of people who can safely journey among the various tribes.

For the first few days of their trek, nothing eventful occurs though they meet many people. Things dramatically change when an out of control prairie fire occurs. Pipe Bearer and Otter Woman manage to save themselves and help another couple fleeing the fire, Lone Walker and his wife Plum Flower. The foursome becomes friends and travels together in search of completing the unknown quest, knowing that more adventure awaits them before their journey is completed.

MEDICINE HAT is an exciting, insightful novel whose authenticity will thrill fans of Indian tales and historical fiction. The characters (primary and secondary) seem to be so life like and the trip so genuine, readers will believe they are along for the ride. This novel is not an action-packed, save the world thriller. Instead Don Coldsmith has painted a brilliant and charming story of Indian mysticism during the nineteenth century.

Harriet Klausner