Vermont Books

I've worked for years in the extensive gardens of children's book author/illustrator Tomie dePaola (26 FAIRMOUNT AVENUE and other books). This book has helped me appreciate what I do and has helped me "see" the value and the beauty in plants and shrubs and colors, etc., that I never before saw or understood. It's a wonderful book.

Never did I expect to be so conflicted about why I love a book. This one has it all. Such a beautifully written love story about a garden and the shared lives of two people who have a vision and the courage to create a truly great landscape. The sheer volume of information about specific plants and how they are used are invaluable to me. To have all this knowledge presented in such a beautifully written book is such a gift. I've already read it twice. I've had my copy of this book for two years now and it wouldn't surprise me if I picked it up for a fresh reading sometime this winter.

I read this book during the winter and couldn't wait for Spring to get going. You're in the saddle from the first tour to the last. I have ridden on two of the tours, one in North Hero and one in Stowe area, and the rides were deja vu...perfect directions and perfect suggestions. The simple route maps are outstanding. I'll be out there again this year with my dog-eared copy of 25 rides in Vermont keeping me company. I highly recommended this book to any serious or seriously casual rider.

This book serves as unique guide to some of the finest restaurants in Northern Vermont as well as a collection of delicious recipes. Each chapter includes information on the dining establishment (restaurant, inn or bed & breakfast) will a complete easy-to-follow menu. Even better, the recipes include local Vermont ingredients like VT maple syrup or Fiddlehead Ferns!

The photographs contained in this volume capture a remarkable slice of time in an isolated community on the cusp of change. The pure artistry of these candid shots and the skillful ability of Rebecca Lepkoff, an outsider, to place herself and her camera so unobtrusively before her subjects were remarkable. Rebecca is not present in her photographs: only her subjects, clear, rough-hewn, and strong. These images celebrate the commonplace with freshness and authenticity, frozen in time yet profoundly alive in their moment and, through Rebecca's skill, uncannily alive in our time as well.

The accompanying essay by Nearing scholar Greg Joly places the people, the community and the photographs in historical context. Joly ties the people to place; the rugged character of the land is reflected in the character of the folks who settled in this isolated environment.

This book is interesting on many levels: the artistry of the photographs; the historic association of the "intentional communities" of radicals and others who migrated to the isolation of this Vermont valley; and recognition of the hardscrabble locals who had lived subsistence lifestyles in this rocky landscape for generations.

I found the atlas to be very accurate, easy to read and most of all a great deal for the price. I used it extensively on my New England vacation and highly recommend it to anyone who plans to visit the New England states.

In Vermont there is an enormous amount of time spent writing about Ethan Allen. He may have been an originator but it was people like the Story family who settled the wilderness and women like Ann Story who held the families together. Ann Story was a patriot at the same time she was a widow raising a family and homesteading.

Mr. Hahn avoids the pitfalls inherent in historical novels and has woven a good story with reliable fact. His book helps provide a balanced perspective of what it took to build a home in the wilderness and celebrates a American Revolutionary patriot - Ann Story.

One of the most useful and interesting publishing phenomena of the past decade has been the appearance of a number of collections of Civil War diaries and letters written not by famous names but by the line officers and common soldiers who actually fought the war--and who suffered the diseases, quibbles and boredom of camp life in the often-long intervals between battles. I found this particular book especially insightful on both the details of military life and the ambience of the war years. The letters themselves are marvelous--even in their mundane concerns. This truly is a slice of "real life" that a standard history text can't offer (the book reminds me of the wonderful collections of courts-martial, reports and papers assembled by Dr. Thomas Lowry, who is consistently one of our most interesting Civil War historians). Credited as the book's "editor," Eric Ward has actually done far more than simply getting the narrative into shape for publication (a tough enough job by itself). Ward has set the book off superbly, and his interlocutions to place Benedict's jottings in context are masterful in their accuracy, succinctness and insight. For those seriously interested in Civil War studies, or simply for a reader anxious to enter that bygone world for the first time, this book is an excellent choice. Very well done!

My husband and I are avid road cyclists, and we found this book to be a perfect guide for our recent vacation in Vermont. Rides are in all geographic locations across the state. The author features great rides with extremely clear directions, as well as tourist-focused descriptions for each of the towns that he takes you through. The rides are incredibly scenic, and the information on places to tour and eat along the way were invaluable to us. The only very minor complaint I have is that the charm of a few of the listed attractions are sometimes a little too enthusiastically stated - although all information was factually accurate. Make sure that you're getting the latest (2006) edition!

This was an excellent book. Very absorbing. I read it in a few days and was curled up on the sofa with the book so much that my husband finally said, "What ARE you reading? You never put it down."

I've read many books about the Great Famine and about Irish immigration to America. I liked the fact that Mary Lee Dunn's book followed a specific group of Irish evictees not only to the shores of America but through their lives in their places of immigration, particularly Rutland, Vermont.

It is a good companion book to "The End of Hidden Ireland" by Robert Scally. Dunn's research and observations offer alternatives to some of Scally's views, opening up the floor for discussion and further exploration of the immigrant experience.

I think it really is a significant contribution to an historical area that has gained in interest since the opening of the Famine Museum.

This book is a collection of short essays on a variety of topics relating to Vermont nature. It is organized chronologically, so that the reader can follow the phenomena as they become prominent during the course of the year, from winter through late fall. Topics include winter birds, maple sap, dandelions, cattails, centipedes and millipedes, lichens, and many others. The book is illustrated with black-and-white drawings and includes an index.

The book is geared towards readers who are just getting started with an interest in nature. Nevertheless, the essays are informative enough to provide some new facts for more experienced readers as well. The brevity of the articles can be frustrating at times, though--just as Lawrence has piqued our interest, she closes, and we must pursue the topic further on our own.