Nevada Books

This book fills a void in the history of the state of Nevada. But the author spends much time blind to the factors that devealop the state as a whole and their impact on Nevada's hispanics, and rather focuses on how the hispanics were just sufferers of white majority's whims. Nevada has a rich history of many races (Including many Chinese) and the facts presented in the book are befitting of Nevada's Hispanics. But the writing is choppy at best, and a second edition is sorely needed. The book seems as if it was very rushed towards it's finishing pages.

I read the 2nd Edition, Revised, of this book and the account of Nevada from 1860 to 1900 was exciting because Nevada was a weird and exciting place during those years. but I did not find the account of 20th century Nevada too interesting, even tho the book devotes full attention to the political history of the state, which I would ordinarily have thought would guarantee my finding this a good book. For a really good state history, read History of North Dakota, by Elwyn B. Robinson. I found that state history (I am not from either Nev. or ND) unputdownable.

Provides forms to copy and use or a way to get them on disk. Would be better to just include a CD in the book jacket. Probably set up to get you mailing address for future spam.

The City is grand. The book does an adequate job in describings sites and getting you around town. Was it the best book? It worked well for us although we were looking for more definitive 'must see's.

If you are looking for a guidebook that packs in lots of information alongside a ton of color pictures, this would be the one. It has an extensive history section and details the features of all of the major hotels and attractions. Take note that it is produced by the Discovery Channel, because it reads much like the channel's documentaries. That is the guide's downfall. While it is tall on info, it is horrible short on critique. It does not rate the hotels, restaurants, or attractions. If you want a really helpful guidebook, with lots of tips and advice, check out "The Unofficial Guide". The Insight Guide is a good secondary guidebook through which to read up on general Las Vegas info. Just don't make this one the first or only guide you buy about the city if you really want some insight.

MAHOGANY'S REVELATION by Nevada York is one woman's quest to find the truth. A friend of hers, Dawn, who is searching for the son she gave up for adoption six years ago, questions her beliefs in Christianity, and Mahogany goes on a search to find the real story. A young Jewish man who finds Mahogany attractive, and his minister, the pastor of the Calvary Fellowship Church, aid her by explaining Biblical prophecy.

Meanwhile, a major terrorist attack on Washington D. C. changes the world. An earthquake in Israel destroys the mosque that stands on the site of Solomon's temple. The President of the United States is contemplating a nuclear strike on Syria, whom he believes responsible for the gas attack that killed 7,000 Americans, and an Arab cardinal, David Ibraham, is elected Pope in Rome. Some people in powerful positions feel that the Biblical prophesies regarding the end times and the coming of Christ are imminent and they are eager to help bring it about more quickly.

MAHOGANY'S REVELATION is an interesting and quick read. I do wish that more in-depth information about the real issues between the Palestinians and the Israelis had been explored, if it was going to be mentioned at all, rather than just the spouting of the widely accepted fundamentalist view that the Palestinians must be driven out to fulfill Biblical prophesy. As a Christian, I am sure God is capable of taking care of His own prophesy without the aid of mankind. Also, there was an instance where the new Pope is going to be chosen and the man, David Ibraham, is described as a Muslim in one place and the next, he is a Christian. While I understand that the man was not who he said he was, that was confusing. All in all, the drama made the book worth reading.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

The Tahoe map coverage is a little disappointing as only major trails in the immediate vicinity of the lake are included. However, the Point Reyes map is fairly extensive and includes trails throughout the better part of southern Marin county. Trails have a difficulty rating and a highlighted trail demarcation that were helpful but not as straight forward to understand as they could be.

The twenty-six main photos in this book are part four of Judy Natal's ongoing study of language and landscape. I thought these (and an additional seven) provide a rather slim reason for the book and as the title implies it is a neon sign A to Z which means that the photos are mostly tightly cropped to reveal each relevant letter so there are very few overall shots of this scrapyard. Fortunately a few photos just show one letter so they achieve their purpose easily. The photos do seem rather subdued in their color especially when compared to those appearing in Laura Domela's `Neon Boneyard' book. Domela also goes for close-ups but gets much more exciting compositions and really vibrant colors, a sort of daylight version of what these signs used to look during their working life.

Apart from the photos I found the book a rather conservative production: the use of roman numerals for the first few pages, the twenty-six photos all face a blank page, the captions in the back are just lettered PLATE A, B, C etc with no reference on the relevant photo spread (in fact the captions in the book have three styles: as roman numbers, as letters and after the twenty-six plates as straight page numbers) the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS take three pages (are readers really interested in all this back-slapping) plus another page for ABOUT THE BOOK which includes thanks to the Icelandic printer for doing what he is paid to do.

Daylight images of scrapped neon I think work better in Domela's photos rather than the ones in 'Neon Boneyard Las Vegas A-Z'.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

It is helpful in identifying birds in the region; however, calling it a "book" is not accurate.

Let's concede at the outset that Gilman Ostrander's 1966 history of Nevada is a well-documented and oft-times nuanced book.

Unfortunately, his own prejudices against Nevada (and the Great Compromise contained in the U.S. Constitution) leave him chattering nonsense on more than one occasion.

Ostrander seems to believe that the frontier economy of the American West (as counterposed to the earlier agrarian trans-Appalachian frontier) must be characterized as "capitalist authoritarianism." It sounds nicer than "fascism," I suppose, but after flinging such phrases Ostrander never follows up with any analysis to backup or explain such a charge.

Hard to believe a San Franciscan trained at UC Berkeley and Reed could be such a social prude on divorce and gambling. I think he was mad because he believed that Lake Tahoe was being destroyed by Nevada. But that Lake is still here, and to the extent it remains imperilled one might credit that danger as much to the Golden State as to the Silver State.

Whether or not the US Senate should have been created or not - Ostrander is agin' it - it's hard to hang an indictment of the Great Compromise on a cartoonish rereading of the history of Nevada as he has attempted in this book.

It's also a shame some of Ostrander's successors remember the extreme characterizations in this book while forgetting the nuanced hedging that Ostrander includes out of his inherent intellectual honesty - for example regarding the character of such men as H.M. Yerington and George Wingfield.

I don't think this book is so much bad as buffoonish, and I think Ostrander conducted his scholarly investigations with some integrity. Perhaps if he had refrained from carelessly tossing so many stinkbombs, he could have done some useful teaching.