Virginia Books

While living in the Bay Area of California we were lucky enough to have a radio station that rebroadcast Canada's CBC radio station. "The Shepherd" read by Alan Maitland was a special on Christmas Eve for a number of years and we made sure to tune in each year. Living now in an area we cannot receive the broadcast we have bought the disk and now have our own tradition playing it for ourselves and friends on Christmas Eve. Makes a wonderful gift and stocking stuffer. Recommended highly.

In Canada people start calling the CBC in early December to ask when they will broadcast the story, "The Shepherd" read on the radio by the late Alan Maitland. I suspect that much of Canada was quiet the last half hour when they just played it on Radio One.
It is a tense & beautiful spirit/ghost story about a young RAF pilot lost over the North Sea on Xmas Eve.
I highly recommend it for its expert narration, as an event for the whole family to listen to, ages 10 & up, & as just a darn good story.

The rest of the stories, each w/a bit of irony or a bittersweet taste, are well done, too.

This is a great book on Black folklore and stories that we have all heard down through the years. I would recommend every African American read it if they haven't already. This is a great book!

Devotees of the study of dirty jokes and poems as literature may be familiar with my other reviews of texts by Gershon Legman, Roger Abrahams, Vance Randolph and the performances of the legendary Rudy Ray Moore in Amazon's resources. This book is one of the limited number of other fine resources in the area. Dance not only lists a large number of jokes, stories and songs, but also recites different variants of the same general themes, demonstrating the mutational effects of time and distance. Like Randolph's Pissing in the Snow, this one seems to be written with the expense-conscious general market in mind and is very fairly priced for the excellent material collected. I recommend it unqualifiedly. It would be a fine Kwanza gift.

A dream come true to have a set of book with simultaneous information on surgical pathology and cytopathology. It is indeed very helpful when you are studying any topic of surgical pathology with side be side information on cytopathology. The quality of pictures are very good.The material in the book is excellent. I believe that this book should be on the bench f pathologists like us living in small towns and practising surgical pathology and cytopathology individually .

A dream come true to have a set of book with simultaneous information on surgical pathology and cytopathology. It is indeed very helpful when you are studying any topic of surgical pathology with side be side information on cytopathology. The quality of pictures are very good.The material in the book is excellent. I believe that this book should be on the bench f pathologists like us living in small towns and practising surgical pathology and cytopathology individually .

A resource for early English/American geneological research. Great asset, opened a new chapter for us.

The Book "Sir Robert Bell and His Early Virginia Colony Descendants" is a most throughly researched tome. It is a well written history of this clan of Bells. There are dozens of interesting Maps, Charts, and Photos that augment the history. The time line, "Bell Britain-American History, 1520-1790", is helpful relating a time in history with various Bells on both continents. This book has already helped answer a number of questions I have had in my research, and I'm sure it will be of further use in the months to come. I highly recommend the book for those researching with lineage to Sir Robert Bell.

You don't have to be from St. Louis to appreciate this excellent book. Not only does this book bring back great high school memories, but it gives a wonderful historical view of how these high schools evolved.

So, Where'd You Go to High School? is a wonderful and thought provoking book. It focuses not only on the historical significance of High Schools in St. Louis, but also gives information on each and every school. I highly recommend this book to anyone from St. Louis or anyone that is interested in high school history and education.

Baumler is an interpretive historian for the Montana Historical Society, and she brings her professional credentials and storytelling ability to create what has become a very popular book here in Montana. Baumler travels around the state, and people tell her their stories, which she takes further through historical research. The sites covered in "Spirit Tailings" include:

Virginia City: Tollhouse ruins in Meadow Valley; Boot Hill and Hillside Cemeteries; House on Cover Street; Elling House; Bonanza House and Bonanza Inn; Episcopal Church; Lightning Splitter (house); Bennett House Country Inn; Gohn House.

Nevada City (only a few miles from Virginia City): Cabin #5; Nevada City Hotel

Butte: The underground mines; Anaconda Hill; Speculator Mine/Granite Mountain shaft; Quartz Street Fire Station (now Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives); Metals Bank Building; Butte-Silver Bow County Courthouse and Jail; Forsythe house; Maury house; Dumas Hotel/Brothel; East 2nd Street house

Helena: Grassy slope near Public Library (story of John Denn); Robinson Park/Sixth Ward Old Catholic Cemetery; Mamie's Bells (Cathedral; Resurrection Cemetery; Zastrow House; Lenox Addition house; Pioneer Cabin and Reeder's Alley; 10th Avenue rowhouse; Grandstreet Theater; Tatem House; Montana Club and Rathskeller; and even Baumler's own home in Helena has had paranormal happenings!

A great collection of Montana stories, not to be missed!

Spirit Tailings recounts tales of hauntings in three of Montana's mining towns. The author, a historical researcher, has done considerable investigation into the background of the hauntings. Not content with legend, she has sought out present-day witnesses wherever possible, and also recounts her own eerie experiences in some of the buildings. Well-written and at times absolutely chilling!

A great addition to the Campaigns of the Civil War series, and proof that there is always something fresh to say about any historical subject. I especially liked the essay concerning Lee's personnel moves in the wake of The Wilderness; it's becoming increasingly politically incorrect to praise Marse Robert. Also, the essay on the fighting at the Bloody Angle is a wonderful piece of microhistory. The maps are excellent. As with the rest of the series, a must- read for the hardened Civil War student.

Gallagher hits homeruns with this wonderful series of books on the critical campaigns of the CW. Not a continuous retelling but Gallagher and company get into specifics of the campaign through separate essays that allow greater detail on controversies, personnel, mistakes, and many subjects that prior to this were limited in detail. An example is Krick the Younger's detailed essay on the little known battle of Yellow Tavern that cost Jeb Steuart his life. The other essays all offer new detail and great insight. I was particularly fascinated by Gallagher's own essay on Lee's grappling with command erosion through the loss of Longstreet, Ewell's collapse and Hill's physical erosion. Show's Lee as a great commander much like a coach that loses star players but still manages a great game. All the essays are excellent by Matter, Reardon, Blair, Rhea and Carmichael but Krick senior's feature on the Mule Shoe exhibits great detail on one of the most horrid portions of any battle of the CW involving endless hours of close up fighting in the salient. The fighting involves trench warfare, attacking and shooting from just a few feet apart, hand to hand combat, continuous rain and a continuing of a struggle with death that seemed to have no end. After you read Krick's Mule Shoe, you recognize how the war changed dramatically from Bull Run to an incredible desperate struggle of all out war. Read closely Krick senior's dig at Longstreet who was not present after being shot down in the wilderness. Krick, a legendary critic of Longstreet, cannot leave him alone even in his absence.

This is a wonderful, almost true, story about a baby whale that got separated from his pod in Puget Sound waters. It has an appealing story line and illustrations that will delight children. I bought this book for two of my grandchildren.

This is really a wonderful children's book for kids from a year old on up. My two kids regularly pick this up off the shelf, my youngest loves the beautiful watercolor artwork, my oldest loves the silly sea otters.

It's really got a great story to it as well, and although it is slightly longer than most, my kids always want me to read it the whole way through. Thank you Naomi, for writing such a wonderful story.

Seeing an old building torn down is like losing a friend to me. This books is like a family photo album of the dead and gone that you never knew but with lots of great historical information. If it's obscure St. Louise history your looking for, look no further. I am a trasplant to St. Louis and reading this book is like hooking up with a local whose in the know. Not only do you get the history and a photo of each building but you also get St. Louis' own history as well. I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of whether you have a connection to St. Louis or not. I will read and re-read this one again and again.

For native St. Louisans with a taste for history, this is a pictorial marvel. The photographs and accompanying stories of early St. Louis landmarks are fascinating. The book clearly takes the reader from the earliest days of the city, thru its glory days, and finally, to the remaining examples of those days.

For decades Diane Rademacher has diligently sought remnants from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. She has traveled thousands of miles and interviewed hundreds of people. Rademacher sought not the collectible souvenirs from the Fair but rather relics from the Fair itself -- the buildings (or parts of buildings), the sculpture, the exhibits.

Now she shares her findings in _Still Shining: Discovering Lost Treasures from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair_. This volume is much more than a where-they-are-now report, however. Rademacher's introduction provides excellent background information on the Fair. In addition, she tells not only where remnants are today but also how they got there. In some cases this history even precedes an item's exhibition at the Fair.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition generated a lot of salvage. The Chicago House Wrecking Company, which was awarded the contract for the Fair's demolition, published a catalog in which a number of items were offered for sale: "one hundred million linear feet of lumber, 'enough to build outright over ten (10) cities with a population each of 5,000 inhabitants,' new steel roofing, doors, windows, sills, pipe with fittings, stoves, office equipment, and construction materials of all types. . . . Three hundred and fifty thousand incandescent lamps were offered at 16 cents if new and 6 cents if used."

Rademacher's focus, however, is on unique items: the 56-foot statue of Vulcan that stands atop Red Mountain overlooking Birmingham, Alabama; the world's largest pipe organ (now several times larger than it was at the Fair) in the Lord & Taylor department store in downtown Philadelphia; the Connecticut pavilion that is now a stately residence in Lafayette, Indiana. In all, Rademacher cites about sixty treasures in fifteen states plus the District of Columbia.

_Still Shining_ is enhanced by nearly 250 photos -- past and present, interior and exterior, panoramic and detailed. These bring the treasures to life for the reader. In addition to listing the discussed items by state, Rademacher includes an index and an extensive bibliography. Thus it is easy to find desired information.

_Still Shining_ is an excellent volume to help you celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. It is likely to inspire you to look for connections to the Fair in your own community.

If you have any interest in the St. Louis World's Fair, I highly recommend this book. The author has clearly done a tremendous amount of research. It is absolutely amazing the one-of-a-kind items she has tracked down from this amazing Fair.