North America Books

This is probly the best non-fiction book I've ever read. it's packed with information and the illustraitions are beautiful. In the back of the book, there's a "glossary of owls" with short essays of a few types of owls, containing their size, call, latin name, what they eat, etc. This book is definitly a must-have.

The pictures are amazing and they have a page for many of the different owls. Each picture is filled with detail and the author gives lots of information. If you have a research project due on owls this is the book to get.

This is a great, easy to understand, thorough book on North American Owls. I have worked rehabilitating owls and in doing educational programs with non-releaseable owls for five years. I'm using this book as an educational tool, I have bought copies to share with other wildlife rehabilitators. If you love owls and want to learn more about them, this is a great source of knowledge, the art work is beautiful the text covers just about everything that a person could think to ask. Dianna Sue Bryant

I got some strange looks while reading this book on the subway, because I was laughing out loud. The writing is so smart and funny. It really rings true. I can think of examples of every bird/boy in the book. I am going to buy a copy of this book for all of my single friends! I love it.

Girls: If you're like me, "normal" dating guides leave you feeling nauseous. This tongue-in-cheek guide finally treats dating (or "mating") with the levity it deserves. Wonder which bird you're nesting with? Want to seek out your dream bird in his natural habitat? Whether you're dating or in a serious relationship, finding out which bird you're naturally attracted to--or identifying the one you're with--will help you avoid ruffled feathers. After reading "Boys of a Feather," I discovered that I'm continually pursuing a swan but what I really should be after is an eagle. Now when I meet a guy I can't help but try and determine which species of bird he is, which if you think about it, makes the whole process that much more fun. It's kind of like picturing your date in his Calvins. Whether or not you subscribe to Amy and Meg's theory, this book is a hoot.

This book is a sensational read. Very indepth, very interesting and easy to understand. Amy did a fabulous job on this and I want my copy signed. This is a nationally known writer and reporter for a very distinguished publication and I can see she used all of her learned skills to make this book well worth buying.

Man, I love anything with crazy visions in the sky - particularly the first chapter of the Biblical book Ezekiel - but the vision in this book is a neat thing to read about too. I just don't get why the buffalo was referenced at the end. Must be a Native American custom to end all stories with some mentioning of a buffalo.

I'm sorry to say I still like non-sacred dogs more than sacred dogs, but I have a very good reason for doing so. Sacred dogs are much more expensive.

I loved this book when I was little, and I still love it now. It's great to see that it's still around. It's a wonderful story with even better illustrations for children and adults.

Children and adults will enjoy the colorful illustrations and tale of how the Native Americans acquired the horse. Lovely!

It has been over ten years already since this anthology was first published, but the writings, photos, art, and interviews contained within it are still as stimulating, inspiring and necessary as when Behar's beautifully edited book first came out. Despite what was hoped for in the mid-90's, relations between Cuba and the United States have worsened and it seems that the possibility for dialogue between the two countries has narrowed even further. But at least we have the dialogue that Behar has so elegantly revealed in this volume.
Bridges to Cuba presents a diversity of perspectives in an attempt to piece back together the fragments of what politics and exile have divided. An excellent interview with poet Nancy Morejon succinctly summarizes this project. Morejon says, "the miracle that we could hold a conversation. That we could confront each other. Without imposing exile as a precondition, and without us imposing the precondition of being revolutionary islanders... it was only through [Cuban] culture that we could establish those links, recognize each other" (134).
The conversations are physical, between Cubans on the island and exiled Cubans, as well as intertextual. Fundamentally, however, this book converses with the reader, challenging his or her notions of the Cuba that resides in the popular imagination. Until the embargo is lifted, this book is the closest the average American reader can get to Cuba.

I had the pleasure of being a student of Ms. Behar and she is a wonderful woman. It's no surprise that her book is as informative and exciting as the class. I only wish I had asked her to sign it...

Bridges to Cuba is a collection of art, poetry, personal essays, and fiction written by Cubans on both sides of the straits of Florida.

A magnificent attempt to bring together all who are Cuban by birth, to share the complexities of what it has been like to be separated these many years. The submissions in this book capture magnificently the diversity of experiences, thoughts, emotions and conflicts caused by the separation of Cubans from each other, and for many, from the land of their birth. Having been born in Cuba and having lived in the U.S. for the last forty years, the contributions in this book spoke personally to me in a way that nothing I have ever read before has done. But the beauty of this book and the gift Behar has given, is to present the challenges and emotional depth of separation that all us feel in our lives. Each contribution gives us a different perspective, a unique view of the subject, and a deeper understanding of what it is like to be separated from that and those which we love.

Ruth, thank you.

This book really does fill a void in the market. Most books on the history of Christian worship are excessively simple or excessively complex. Occasionally an educated lay person will ask me for a book that they can understand (without a divinity degree) but that goes beyond the simple "altar guild" books one might use as an absolute introduction. I am very pleased that Professor White is able to maintain the middle ground.

White does an excellent job tracking several spiritual themes through the various Christian epochs. He compares things as what was the process of becomming a Christian and other themes that most consider timeless, but instead shows the changing in what was considered normative from the early church, patristic period, medieval ages, enlightenment period and modern Christianity. I have read many many books on worship, and this one is definately worth reading and White's analysis is honest, reasonable and very informative.

This history book breaks the molds of stereotype. The format is simple: 1) worship of the New Testament Era 2) worship of the early Christian centuries 3) worship of the middle ages 4) worship of the reformation period 5) worship of modern times, and 6) worship of the future.

What causes me to give this book a 5-star rating is its honesty. Most books of this nature try to plug a certain perspective at the risk of almost becoming dishonest. This book simply lays it out. If you become uncomfortable learning that your style of worship is not as universal as you would like, or that your theology hasn't always been central to Christian practice, so be it.

I found myself challenged by the questions I began asking. This is the kind of book I like.

This was an excellent book! It is a vivid, comprehensive and sweeping biography of a most important and influential man of the early American West. At the age of twenty four, Thomas Fitzpatrick started out with Ashley's expedition of 1823 as a fur trapper going up the Missouri River. The following year he discovered South Pass, then was part owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. After the fur trade declined, he guided the first wagon train west over the Oregon Trail, then acted as guide to Fremont, Kearny and Abert on their expeditions. Later,he was appointed as an Indian Agent for the government and in this position he was most significant in facilitating relations with the Plains Indians. Leroy Hafen's writing is to be commended. He was an excellent author/historian. This is an easy book to read, and there is so much history to this remarkable man, Thomas Fitzpatrick.

This book is the result of a historian's dissertation on this little known now, but once well-known figure in the expansion of the west. Fitzpatrick discovered the Southern Pass, mentored Kit Carson, and is buried in the Congressional Cemetary in Washington DC. I'm not a fan of historical novels, or much of a student of history. But, this book described the way of life of the great western explorers of the 19th century in fascinating detail. Chock full of facts that I never learned in school history, this book sheds light on a poorly represented but important part of US history by tracing Fitzpatrick's life as reconstructed from historical documents and interviews with surviving ancestors. I highly recommend this book.

Most historians of the fur trade period of the old West regard Thomas Fitzpatrick as perhaps the greatest of all the Mountain Men, certainly among the top three or four along with Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger, or perhaps Joseph Walker or Kit Carson. Hafen thinks of him as almost a god and writes glowingly of his exploits and character.

Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland (quite a few Mountain Men came from Irish or Scots-Irish descent) in 1799. He came to America by the age of 17 and was a member of Ashley's first venture up the Missouri in 1823. As a trapper he led parties into every region of the Rocky Mountain west, returning frequently at the end of the trapping season to St. Louis with that year's catch, only to return again a short time later with the supply trains for the designated rendezvous. He was owner for a while of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which he later sold to the American Fur Company. When the fur trade fell victim to a change in hat styles, Fitzpatrick became a guide for emigrant wagon trains and in the trade that existed along the Santa Fe Trail. He injured his hand (so the story goes, Fitzpatrick never gave a full account himself) in an encounter with the Blackfeet in 1836, and it was by the name Broken Hand that the Indians ever after called him. In 1843 he was guide with Fremont on his second expedition to Oregon and California, and guided Kearny to Socorro, NM, at the beginning of the Mexican War the following year. He became Indian Agent for the Central Plains tribes and organized many councils with them (including the famous Ft. Laramie council of 1851). He died in Washington, DC, there on Indian affairs business, in 1854.

Leroy Hafen was one of the greatest of the "old school" historical writers of the old West. He was an "on sight" researcher, tramping the same ground his subjects did, seeing what they saw. His footnotes, which often identify locations of vague references found in trapper journals or clarify and correct old diary entries, are often as fascinating as the text itself. He is a thorough and careful historian; nothing gets by him without the greatest of scrutiny. His admiration for Fitzpatrick comes through loud and clear: he calls him "an epic figure - unique and incomparable." Hafen is out of the old school of narrative historians (Parkman and Lossing come to mind), and he is a joy to read. History is never so enjoyable as in the hands of these writers. It's an excellent book, informative and entertaining. Highly recommended.

Don't be fooled by the first part of the title; for this book is really about Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto. Pritchett studies Brownsville in details, but never forgets to see the bigger picture, which should be of interest for any historian or social scientist. Pritchett is very good at giving you the facts, the analysis and the feelings as well. This book is not just about a ghetto in Brooklyn, it is indeed about urban change and inequality.

As someone who lived not far from Brownsville in the 1950s and early '60s, I can say this is an exceptionally accurate book. It is well-written and is the best attempt I've seen yet at explaining the phenomenon of the changing urban neighborhood. Not only does Pritchett provide many well-reserached, well-thought-out answers but, just as important, he raises insightful, penetrating questions. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American urban history, particularly as it relates to New York City.

New Yorkers see constant small changes in their city, and the cumulative effect of those changes can remake the character and composition of a neighborhood almost overnight. That is what happened in Brownsville during the late 1950s and early 1960s. What had been an entirely Jewish neighborhood of sidewalk synagogues and old-world customs became an entirely black and Latino neighborhood. Pritchett captures that period of change and the various players -- community activists, business interests, government agencies and politicians -- masterfully. He tells a poignant story of idealistic neighborhood leaders who fought for integrated public housing to meet the needs of their community and were instead given massive projects built to house the city's poor who had been displaced by urban renewal. This is a great book for anyone interested in New York or urban history generally.

Kenner's book is an excellent narrative which chronicles the actual experiences of the buffalo soldiers and the white officers who served with them. The book is a pleasure to read because it goes beyond the dates and battles, opting instead to recreate their foibles and shortcomings as well as their valor and heroism. It takes a true historian to give the rest of us glimpses into such humanity.

Kenner's book is an excellent narrative which chronicles the actual experiences of the buffalo soldiers and the white officers who served with them. The book is a pleasure to read because it goes beyond the dates and battles, opting instead to recreate their foibles and shortcomings as well as their valor and heroism. It takes a true historian to give the rest of us glimpses into such humanity.

This is an incredible social history placed on the backdrop of the west. When most people think of racial issues in the American west, they think about White settlers vs. Indians on the warpath. Dr. Kenner's book presents a different picture of the West. His book focuses on the world of white calvary officers and their "colored" soldiers. Dr. Kenner talks about issues from the fighting skill of these often forgotten African-American soldiers to interracial dating to homosexuality. This is an incredible story, that no serious historian of the west should ignore.

He is a favorite from many approaches: Native American folklore, attractive art, great read-aloud choices.

Mr. Goble is to be applauded for his engaging stories and fine, impressive illustrations. All children should own at least one of his books. I think my daughter likes Buffalo Woman best because the child, who is the main character, saves the day.

A young hunter, waiting at a stream, sees his prey, a buffalo, slowly approaching for a drink and tightens his arrow against his bow. To his surprise, now he sees nothing but a beautiful woman and "he knew at once that he loved her."

She tells him she comes from Buffalo Nation and they she was sent because he had always had good feelings for her people being a good and kind man. "My people wish that the love we have for each be an example to both our peoples to follow."

They marry and have a son, Calf Boy, but the hunter's people are cruel to his wife and child. So they run away and turn back into their true form, buffalo. The man loves them more than anything and chases after them. He finally finds them (after they'd escaped him several times) and his son, Calf Boy, gives him some "tips" [this is what makes the story in my opinion] to help save his father from the buffalo and unite, not just his family but the entire herd and the hunters that hunt them. [Another interesting part of the story.]

I think there's a strong underlying message in this story, not just for us to respect and protect animals but to respect and love each other. "Mitakuye oyasin--We are all related." o8E
Soar!

I am a faithful listen of Don Imus' show "Imus In The Morning". One morning he was talking about this book and how much his son Wyatt loved it. He started telling the story, but just stopped short of the end. I was so intrigued I ordered one up!

The book, although for a child, teaches a valuable lesson about relationships and how strong their bonds can be. I don't have children, but think should be required reading for our youth. I'm 33 years old (at the time of this revies) and I practice some of the ideals revealed in this innocent children's book.

Visiting California with one book is no easy task but Eyewitness does a very good job of creating a book that can be used easily. With so much to do the regionalization of California in this book is one of its most useful aspects. Although I wish they would break it into northern and southern California if you are going to be visiting the state this is a great place to start looking.

I like Eyewitness travel guides, even if I usually complement them with other, more "wordy" ones. This one, like all the other ones I own, is a good, relatively short (but heavy!) guide very helpful to give you good hints about what to see over an area as large as California. The nice pictures are always a big plus.

On the minus side, you will find only a few words about 95% of the locations described in this guide, so if you are looking for something deeper, of if you like historical anecdotes about the places you visit, this guide is not ideal. Another minus is the relatively scant number of hotels and restaurants listed in the guide, surely a result of the large area covered. Also, the information you are given on restaurants is almost invariably composed of 20 words or so. So, if good food is important on your trips, this guide is again not ideal. From the perspective of both real content and good food advice, I think the "Moon" handbooks are vastly superior to the Eyewitness guides. However, the few and B&W pictures in the Moon series will sometimes make even great places sound or look dull.

Again on the plus side, the maps are useful.

Overall, this a good guide to use as a starting point to plan a trip, but if you really care about what you see, you will probably have to buy other material too, and I would suggest looking for a Moon guide to have an ideal combination.

I am never the type of hard working traveller who would dig into lengthy travel books to find out everything. I found this book very useful for me. It's all in color (so, it's a pleasure to read, though that makes it heavy), and it has great maps which highlights all attractions in addition to detailed maps in the end of the book. That keeps me focus on what I want in a very easy way, instead of searching for where that particular attraction is.

I went to San Francisco, and places as far as 3 hours driving to north, and 4 hours driving to south. For San Francisco part, this book even included different architecture style, which greatly enhanced my experience. As for others, most of the places they describe, they include pictures also. This helps me to know what to expect.

Though I don't like it to be so heavy, it's my favorite among my collection.