Ohio Books

This is an awesome set for those who want to learn about Ohio birds, their sounds and basic behaviors and details of their nests and habitats. I used these in my classroom for the first time this year and they greatly added to the fun and joy for the students and myself. The book companion Field Guide Book provides beautiful photos and information.

This book is an excellent read. It is a must read for all cultures

This book captures the struggles of some of the real heroes of the anti-apartheid movement, the black lawyers of South Africa. From those who went from the cells of Robben Island to corporate boardrooms, to those who stood side by side with Nelson Mandela in court and now are judges, these amazing individuals used their smarts and savvy to tear down a corrupt system. These courageous individuals often used the very laws the apartheid government had devised to argue that the system was fundamentally corrupt. Although Professor Broun primarily let's his subjects tell their stories, using an oral history approach to their lives, the commentary he adds allows the reader to understand the background of these men and women and how they fit into the South African legal system. As an added bonus, the book contains a message from Nelson Mandela, South Africa's most famous lawyer. A must read for anyone interested in South Africa and for anyone who needs evidence that lawyers aren't always the bad guys.

First, though I live close to where the author is a professor, I've never met him and I have no stake in the success of this book.

I found this to be a superbly readable overview of the history and use of blank verse, from its inception by Henry Howard in 1540 to its practitioners of the present day. Much of the story of blank verse involves its modification over time: iambic feet substituted with trochees or anapests; lines with shortened or added feet; the use of enjambment. Don't know what any of that means? Don't worry, it's explained. If you do know what that means, don't worry-- the explanations are not ponderous.

What I like about this book is its balance between commentary, theory, and examples. It's not often I completely read a book on poetic technique in a matter of days. I usually lose interest somewhere in the middle. But this book held my interest as it reminded me of many poets I had heard of but hadn't gotten around to checking out, as well as it introduced me to several poets I have never heard of whose examples were intriguing. In the back of the book is a source list for verse references which I found helpful in finding these poets' works on Amazon. In particular, I'm looking forward to receiving books by Turner Cassity, Roy Fuller, Sidney Keyes, and E. J. Pratt.

The author's style was informative without being dryly academic. It was a pleasure to read. If he has any preferences for the kind of blank verse he finds most satisfactory, he doesn't club the reader over the head trying to prove his opinion is right. I suspect he favors trochaic substitutions over anapestic, and truncated lines over lengthened ones, but he expresses himself in such a balanced way that I'm ready to admit I may be wrong in my suspicions.

I think this is a suitable book for either the poetic novice/apprentice or the journeyman poet. Even if one's primary interest is not in blank verse, even if one's preference is not for metered poetry at all, one can gain an insight into the craft by this examination of what is available and what is given up by embracing or dismissing metered poetry.

I definitely recommend this to anyone serious about being a poet. At this time I prefer it over Alfred Corn's "The Poem's Heartbeat" (my previous favorite), Mary Oliver's "Rules for the Dance", Timothy Steele's "all the fun's in how you say a thing", Derek Attridge's "Poetic Rhythm", or William Baer's "Writing Metrical Poetry". Nothing necessarily wrong with those books-- I just found this one more engaging.

This is a fabulously funny book, and I can't wait to read it. Just kidding.

No, seriously funny. And moving. A writer of unique talent and vision.

This is a beautiful collection of stories. The writing is luminous and witty. Each story is carefully crafted and stands up on its own, but when you read them all together, you really get a sense of this author's originality and her quirky and careful worldview. An unforgettable set of characters and stories!

If you're looking for good ghost stories, with the ring of authenticity and the flavor of Wisconsin, this is a great book. The stories work well out loud. They're good ghost stories, not violent or bloody, but suspenseful and mysterious. There's also a good section at the end on telling stories, as well as notes on where the stories come from.

I bought this book because I understood that a few of my ancestors were quoted in it; as a genealogist, I look for every mention of my ancestors possible! But this book brought home the staggering (to me, I never said I was smart) fact that not all conflict between settlers and Native Americans took place on the plains. Many, many conflicts took place right here in the midwest, in Ohio, Michigan, etc. And this book provides an excellent description of the people and events of this period of settlement. It adds a dimension to my research, and is an fascinating study.

My wife and I were given a copy of this pretty little book as a gift several years ago. We like it as much for the beautiful paintings and drawings (done by the author) as for the large amount of information it contains. The paintings are typically full page, colors well reproduced, and size large enough to show accurate details of the flower parts. These are really works of art.

This book doesn't cover all wildflowers, but does a great job helping us to identify and enjoy spring/early summer wildflowers in the northeast.

Judging by the Amazon ranking of sales of the book, it isn't particularly well known. That's understandable, given that it was published by a university press (Ohio University) 24 years ago. But in my opinion, it's one of those little gems to keep and pass on to your children. The price is very reasonable for a good quality hardcover book with this kind of content.

In a foreword to the book, the Director of the Denver Botanic Gardens refers to its "soundly scientific base". Sounds good to me. I'm not a botanist (I'm a retired engineer), but I do like the amount of information giveen on each plant. I especially like being given the origin of every one of those funny-sounding quasi-Latin names, along with pronunciation aids.

Because the written information is always on page facing the (usually) full page illustration of each flower, I don't have to thumb through the book looking for the picture. I do find myself having to refer often to the glossary of botanical terms at the back of the book, but that's relatively easy to do, and a fair price to pay for the extra information in the descriptions.

Boss Cox's Cincinnati: Urban Politics In The Progressive Era is a scholarly and meticulously researched examination of late nineteenth century big city politics as exemplified by the political structures of Cincinnati, Ohio under George B. Cox's political machine. Zane Miller (Charles Phelps Taft Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Cincinnati) carefully explores both the nature and the significance of "bossism" and how it and municipal reform were both essential components of the political system in a the time of labor and ethnic unrest, election violence, rising crime rates, political innovation, and civic achievement. Boss Cox's Cincinnati is a highly recommended addition to political science reference collections and reading lists.