North America Books

One of the best books I have ever read. Its a childrens book, but hey, "If not, why not??" You will love it I promise.

As an adult I hesitated to purchase this "juvenile" book but the description was enticing. This isn't just a book for juveniles. Rockwood describes a young girl's journey into adulthood in a time period & setting we seldom give any thought. Wonderfully told, this story gives a good sense of the native world view and the terrible destruction wrought on Cherokee society by European diseases. Even though filled with foreboding the story is heartwarming and inspiring.

A wonderful heartbreaking story of native americans in the 16th century. A book that will touch your heart and tear at your soul. It's the untold side of the Europeans coming to settle America. It is about their ruthlessness twards the native Americans. It made me feel horrible about what my ancestors did to the native americans. We choose to ignore this side of history because we knew what we were doing was and is wrong but we did it anyway. In short we are ashamed of what we did which we should be but instead of saying we were sorry we lied and said untrue things about the native Americans already living here when we came. You can't discover something if people are already living there. I for one am ashmed of who I am and what my ancestors did to the native Americans. It is a wonderful story that tells the untold sisde of history which had been chosen to be ignored untill now. I give it five stars!!!!

This is the first book I read, and it started my love affair with books. I was 11 when my mom bought it for me, after reading it 15 time the book finally fell apart. Now I'm looking for a copy to buy for my daughter. Plus, I'd love to read it again.

I profoundly disagree with a previous reviewer. It is a MISTAKE to judge a fifteen-century man by present standards. This is very important. Time and again, we see politically-correct people make moral judgments on people who died centuries ago. Morally, people should be judged primarily by the standards of their own time. To do otherwise, suggests very little personal insight.

For most of human history people took exactly what they could. We disapprove of this now although I strongly suspect that the impulse is only sublimated. We now commit robbery via our legal system and other institutions. In centuries to come, the politically correct will look on us as immoral barbarians.

So, I don't think it proper to judge Columbus, or any other historical figure, by present day standards. I do think it legitimate to judge him by the standards of his own time. Although a great pilot and pretty good captain, he was a poor administrator and had difficulty hanging onto his coveted title of "Admiral of the Ocean Blue." He, no doubt, like all of us, have plenty of other moral failings, but it is wrong to judge him for what would become the greatest land-grab of history.

Did his drive, determination and brilliance cause incalculable human grief? Yes. But by the standards of his own time, he was a hero. Did his actions jump start the fabulous European civilizations of the Americas? Again, yes. But Columbus couldn't have known this, either, so perhaps he shouldn't be given excessive credit.

I think his log is an invaluabe asset to those of us who would know what the explorer was thinking even as he was attempting discovery. It's amusing how he attempts to identify this or that tree as valuable. It's clearly a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. He needs to justify his sovereigns' investment in what, by Spanish standards, was an extremely expensive endeavor. He couldn't recognize that he had discovered the most valuable prize in the world.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

A lot of great adventurers came back to write a book--Marco Polo, Julius Caeser, William Bligh, Neil Armstrong (well, with the help of Life Magazine). People seem to be the same throughout history. They'll go off on a great adventure, come home, and write a book about it. While Columbus' book (his log) as well as his body, evidently, are currently lost, this book sure seems realistic. It was a lot of fun trying to duplicate his voyage with modern charts to see if I could figure out his first landfall and any sailor will have fun doing the same since Columbus discovered the sailing routes still used.
I thought Columbus portrayed himself as an adventurer out for the discovery of gold and working for the king and queen who hired him, but what's so surprising about that? He was trying to substantiate the worth of his first trip and to convince Ferdinand and Isabella to send him again wasn't he?

Fuson translated (and reconstructed where necessary) the logs of Columbus. Loaded with pictures, maps and explanatory comments this work gives us a look at the famous explorer in his own words. I'd guess this is the best and closest one could get to a primary source for Columbus's journals. This would be a great resource for teachers and students who cover the Discovery. Too bad it's out of print

....and very easy to read. The English translation is very clear and put together from sources other than Las Casas, whose facts weren't always straight. For some reason the paragraphs are all center-justified and taper out oddly. Various theories about Columbus's landfall are discussed.

The one flaw is the introductory pieces that whitewash the man himself. Made out to be a bold, great hero, he was in actuality a gold-obsessed sailor, a poor mariner, a perpetual whiner whose crew could barely stand him, an intolerant European who assumed every land he touched belong to his King back in Spain, and of course the initiator of the slavery system in Espanola. His men built the first fortress in the so-called New World, and they brought several Native captives back to Spain. Fortunately, some of these events are mentioned in the Log itself.

I cannot say enough about the value of this book to me. I just finished it today and wish it had been MY first book in the subject. My topic of interest is 1832 and the settlement of West Tennessee. I have had scant real knowledge of the era or the place, but long harbored a yearning to know the actual facts as well as sentiment, national and local, of the early days of my home in Alabama and my adult home in West Tennessee. I have skirted the topic of the "Old Southwest," land grants, what effect statehood in Tennessee (1796)--the sixteenth state--had on anything, how were roads built and mail transferred. Now I'm getting closer to the subject and am very glad to know that time better...and be justly grateful.

I kinda sorta knew some of this story of settlement, so selected the topic of West Tennessee settlement for a creative writing project. And was it a winning subject!

Wallace is an accomplished writer with scores of books. It seems he has dedicated himself to the Indian topic; he is also an anthropologist. His short book portrays the essential characteristics of the colonial presidents and the Indians, then brings us up through Jackson's two administrations and the Indian Removal Act of Congress, 1830. The final chapter dips into all the other eastern tribal history and includes briefly 20th century changes with the Indians.

Other fine books of research have more recently been brought forward, specifically my other favorite, Waselkov, Gregory A., "A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813-1814." But Wallace's book, had I read it first, would have plugged me into the era from the start of my research and oriented my knowledge of history, inadequate though it has been. His mastery of style allowed me to read fluently and fast, and touched my heart, too, even to Old Hickory, whom we see by his actions as a compassionate man (sometimes) who had some really tough assignments, to say the least.

I look forward to reading other of Mr. Wallace's volumes. I also wholeheartedly recommend the book to good juvenile readers.

Robin S. Davis
Memphis, Tennessee

Simply the best work available on Indian Removal, in my opinion. It is highly regarded among academic historians. Wallace did a tremendous job of writing clearly and making the plight of the Indians understandable to anyone. It is short, it is lucid, it is interesting reading. Plus, it is balanced. This is not a work that treats Indians as childlike, passive victims, but it does convey the injustice and unnecessary hardships to which they were subjected. It also does not portray the government and non-Indian Americans simply as aggressors. It's an important work for understanding what happened to the tribes. It won't take a lot of your time, so do yourself a favor and read it.

Few events in American history are as shameful as the removal of the Indians from the American Southeast in the 1830s. Despite prior treaties and remarkable success in assimilating American culture, the tribes in the region - Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles - were driven west by the voracious demand of Americans for land. In this book, Anthony Wallace provides a survey of the development of federal policy towards the tribes in the early 19th century and its impact upon them.

For much of the early 19th century, Indian policy was mired in a conflict between people advocating Indian "reform" (who saw Indians as capable of being taught the ways of white civilization) and proponents of a policy of removing Indians from land slated for settlement. The election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828 decided this conflict. A westerner with a reputation as an Indian fighter, Jackson sided with removal advocates, endorsing a bill that made removal to lands west of the Mississippi River federal policy.

Though supporters of removal argued that the policy was necessary given the unredeemable savagery of the Indians, as Wallace points out, the success of the tribes in the region undermined this justification. More dependent on agriculture than other tribes, the Indians of the Southeast had an easier time adapting to American cultural standards than their counterparts in other regions, with some tribal members even owning slaves. This didn't save them from removal however, and the Cherokees discovered just how hollow the promise of assimilation was when Jackson ignored a Supreme Court ruling that rejected Georgia's claim of state sovereignty over the Indians, thus depriving the tribes of the only hope of protection from expulsion. The result was the "Trail of Tears," the forced migration to Indian Territory that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Indians.

Wallace provides a summary of Jackson's Indian policy that is both balanced and readable. His coverage of white attitudes, which runs across the spectrum from the hostility of settlers to the sympathy of white missionaries, is refreshingly nuanced. His coverage of the Indians is equally good, and he pulls no punches in demonstrating the extent to which the tribal leadership was complicit in removal. Readers seeking to learn more about the "Trail of Tears" and the policies that brought it about would do well to start with this book.

An Indian activist or just an amature historian, everyone should read this book. Though short, it gives an excellent narrative of the removal of Indians and their trama from the East by the American government. This book is amazingly well written and is for both students (like myself who read it in a class) or for casual readers. Please concider this book to find out more about the emerging stories of what really happened to Native Americans.

I am a big fan of Douglas Richardson. I have his prior book in this series, 'Plantagenet Ancestry'. Since I discovered that I was a direct descendent of Geoffrey Plantagenet, I am related to almost everyone in that entire book, and its a big book! In researching this book, I found out that I am also related to many Magna Charta signers. I have only had time to lightly peruse "Magna Charta Ancestry" but have already discovered many connections to my existing data. Douglas Richardson is a thorough researcher, I trust his efforts because his source citations are impeccable, and he readily states instances where there may be doubt. Since I have traced most of my direct family lines to Colonial America, Mr. Richardson's books are a great way to extend those lines back to Europe. When I do find conflicting information from material gathered from other sources, Douglas Richardson is invariably right, he is extremely careful in his research. All genealogies contain errors, but Mr. Richardson's books contain very few! I can hardly wait for the other books in this series!

Magna Carta Ancestry: .... is excellent -- very readable in material and format. I'm delighted to have it and thank those who made it available. I highly recommend it.

In 2004, Richardson, a highly regarded specialist in royal and peerage genealogy with numerous published articles to his credit, brought out the first volume in a planned series -- _Plantagenet Ancestry,_ which tracked the descents of some 190 immigrants to the North American colonies from the Plantagenet monarchs of England, and which weighed in at 945 pages. This second installment is 150 pages thicker, and there are at least two more volumes in development, on descents from early feudal barons, and from the Emperor Charlemagne.

Any high school graduate knows the term "Magna Carta" (the "Great Charter") but most have probably only a hazy understanding of its key role as the foundation of the English legislative system (and therefore of our own), and that it established the principle that even the king, the highest authority in the land, was subject to the law. The baronial party that forced King John to sign the document in 1215 didn't trust him to live up to the limitations and conditions it laid down, and so they elected from among their own number twenty-five barons to monitor and enforce compliance. Of these twenty-five Sureties, seventeen had descendants past four generations; of those, there were two father-son pairs (Richard and Gilbert de Clare, earls of Hertford, and Roger and Hugh Bigod, earls of Norfolk), leaving fifteen distinct families that were ancestral to 238 17th century North American colonists. As with the first volume, the author's careful organization of a large mass of complex data makes this a comparatively easy book to use, either for ready-reference or for extended reading. All descendant families are organized alphabetically, numbered generationally from the Magna Carta Surety, with emphasis on patrilineal descents. This is not a listing of all descendants in each generation; grandchildren without descendants themselves, for instance, are excluded. Citation of sources -- mostly the original sources -- is very extensive and the bibliography runs to nearly 100 large-size pages.

With such a wide-ranging project, with so many sources being perused, one might hope for new discoveries, and there are many included in the book. Some, of course are minor corrections, but at least a dozen are noteworthy, especially as they affect the Bohun, de Verdun, Grey, Hastings, Pole, FitzMaurice, and Mowbray families.

As with _Plantagenet Ancestry,_ after borrowing it for review, I bought a copy of this one for myself and I shall be waiting eagerly for subsequent volumes in the series.

In my opinion Douglas Richarson has provided a well researched book. It will be a main source of reference for years to come.
I was hoping to see more "new lines", but I guess the reality is there just is not that many lines out there that have not been researched. The $100.00 US price tag was well worth spending. L.R. Anderson,

I really enjoyed Nelson's book and found it helpful in my research on the Koyukon people. This is ed in specifics. Nelson presents a sensitive and unbiased ethnography that is well written and enjoyable to read.

Nelson's work is so absolutely excellent. His sentence and paragraph structure are so easy to flow with that I think he could make just about anything interesting. Often anthropologies are dry or are just this side of being believable....as is the case in some books about adventures among far-flung populations. Nelson is so thorough in his describing of myth, language and native understandings which engage the reader's imagination. He's an incredible writer-just as good as those fiction writers who are touted as being great artists in the New York Times Book Review that comes out with the Sunday edition. His writings are well grounded and there is nothing New Age or simplistic in his portrayals of the natural world or indigenous peoples in this case. I find his realism refreshingly accurate and precise when alot of what appears on his same subjects are vague emotional tomes that can be finished in an afternoon and promptly forgotten. If his name appears as author on any written work, read it!!

A fresh direction for anthropological study that is from the "inside." The author lives "among" the people and learns from them, taking pains to distinguish the influence of "western" cultural values. The relationship between this "outsider" and the people who recieve him among them should be the model for all such explorations.

As an anthropologist trained in Alaska, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand something more of what they see in Alaska than they can get from a tour guide. It will enhance your sensitivity to the power and mystery of Alaska and you'll see more than you would have if you hadn't read it.

This is a long book, but well worth the time dedicated to reading it, especially if one is interested in understanding the real causes behind the adoption of mass slavery by Christian Nations as a basis for the economic development of the Americas. Mr. Blackburn is writing about an emotionally charged issue but never falls into the trap of emotion and sentiment. Quite the contrary: in the best tradition of historic studies, he seeks to explain and understand; as the author tells us it would have been theoretically possible to build the plantation economies of the new world upon free labour - but how much more convenient for the European colonizers to use an available (African) pool of slave labour right across the ocean. This was reinforced by the fact that not enough whites were willing to emigrate to the Americas in order to work under the harsh conditions predominant in the plantations.

Ideology also came to the rescue of the European nations; from the 15th to the 18th centuries the churches - either Catholic or Protestant - chose to legitimize black (as opposed to Indian) slavery with complicated, Bible-based theological arguments. That helped monarchs and colonizers maintain a clear conscience while enslaving millions; and Mr. Blackburn underlines the key distinction between ancient world slavery, as practised for instance by the Romans, and its modern era "Christian" version. While the former was intimately connected to the capture of POWs and was rarely perpetuated throughout the generations (manumission being a widespread practice), the latter - being a system geared for economic exploitation - was generally hostile to manumission and condemned for centuries a race QUA race to the horrors of enslavement (something that never happened in the ancient world).

This book should be mandatory reading for European" intellectuals": it would help them put in perspective the achievements of the civilisation they so much admire.

The rise of the modern world is beset by a contradiction: even as the institutions of a new freedom were emerging in a core area the cancer of slavery began to recur its periphery. We should conclude that we have a laboratory study of the nature of economic man in relation to the genuine self-consciousness able to create a new culture, and determined to be finished with the curse of history. This book contains some graphic portraiture of this faultline in modernity, and opens with a gripping depiction of the slavers arriving in the ancient Congo.
Superb work.

"The Making of New World Slavery" by Robin Blackburn. This is an incredibly rich book and for the casual reader, very academic on first glance, but it contains a superbly well researched and written examination of the early roots of chattel slavery which anyone studying the Caribbean or the development of the colonial Atlantic Community should read.

This is not a book you are likely to sit down to and read cover to cover on a long winter's night, but I find myself reading sections and then putting it down, then going back to study some facet or another, and noone would be wasting money to have it in their library if they have any serious interest in understanding Slavery, the "development" of the Americas,or the world we share in the Americas today. As the other reviews have so well stated, this work is delightfully free of ideology or cant and integrates a wealth of information on the subject. We can only hope that future work on the History of the Americas will be done with such impartiality.

This book although by by a writer from the left is a well researched well-written survey of slavery. Without emotion it explains how slavery, something which had practically ceased to exist following the collapse of the Roman World was re-created to provide labour in colonies of the new world.

It describes the setting up of the trade occurred and how it operated in practice. The brutality, the mechanics of how slaves were obtained how they were sold, what they did as slaves.

The absence of passion makes the book an even more powerful indictment of the institution of slavery. It describes how in most of the colonies slaves were over time worked to death. In Brazil, the usual life expectancy was seven years.

The book is challenging as it raises questions about the origin of our societies and seriously challenges the notions that European Society was either civilized or Christian.

In searching for that illusive "something", I came upon this book. Its stories and lessons have made a profound impact on my life and how I view the world. As a Mohawk, I have deep respect and admiration for the way Henry has honored Bill Eagle Feather. The sharing of the amazing experiences and teachings is done in such a way that anyone can grasp the meaning and depth and power of the Lakota ways.

The faith of the Native peoples is captured here, and if you are looking for something to touch you and change your direction, this could be the book. Aho Mitake Oyasin.

"The author's memoirs of the Lakota ceremonies are brilliantly vivid and downright fascinating. I cringed as they were making flesh sacrifices and discovered that I was rubbing my chest after reading how the Sacred Tree would not allow him to break free during his first Sun Dance, even though he had only been lightly pierced. Eagle Feather's explanation for this sent chill bumps down my spine."
-RAMBLES pub. March 13, 2004
written by Alicia Karen Elkins

The Man Who Knew the Medicine: The Teachings of Bill Eagle Feather A wonderful truth. A story of discovery and of the path of the red road. Henry Niese weaves a wonderful panorama of his life, seen through the eyes of experience as taught to him by Bill Eagle Father. This is a MUST have book, to pull out again and again throughout life. Each time I pick it up, I learn something new. I love this man, and this book.

The Man Who Knew The Medicine: The Teachings Of Bill Eagle Feather by Henry Niese (who has participated in more than one hundred Native American ceremonies, including dancing in thirty-seven Sun Dances) showcases the Lakota shaman Bill Schweigman Eagle Feather who in the 1960s defied a U.S. government ban on Native American religious practice and performed the Sun Dance ritual with public piercings and continued on as a Sun Dance chief and instructor in the Lakota way of life until his death in 1980. Niese first met Bill Eagle Feather during a Seat Lodge ceremony preceding a Sun Dance on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in 1975 and now carries on the work and legacy of Bill Eagle Feather by performing healings and giving seminars and workshops on medicinal plans and Native American healing practices. The Man Who Knew Medicine is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to Native American Studies collections, and an invaluable contribution to Alternative Medicine reading lists as well.

It's a testament to the writer's humility that this book is not a how to in the Ways of The Lakota. More honestly it is a loving and skilled tribute to Bill Eagle Feather. I cried through much of this book..everything so vivid and real. I only wish it had been twice as long.

It has rarely been my experience that a picture is worth a thousand words -- the best pictures often elicit no words at all. Maps, however, are different -- these, when well done, I would gladly substitute for the best prose. And those in Mapping Boston are absolutely superb, giving greater clarity to a wide range of topics than words ever could.

Boston, of all cities, must give historical cartographers fits -- the city's boundaries have changed so greatly over time as to render historical comparison a great challenge. But Mapping Boston succeeds wonderfully in helping the reader to understand the city's gradual evolution from peninsula to metropolis. The growth of the city, the changes in population and land utilization, Boston's shifting ethnic and economic face are all elucidated colorfully and clearly. The bottom line is that the lover of Boston history will revel in this volume; indeed, I expect most every resident of the area will derive considerable pleasure from it.

For those who do, I would also recommend Diana Muir's Reflections in Bullough's Pond, which does for the region around Boston what Mapping Boston does for the city itself: places it in context, gives it color, brings it to life.

This book is simply gorgeous in design and exceptional in content. I can recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in the history of Boston or in the evolution of maps of North America.

Collects in one place excellent plates of all the great historical maps of Boston, as well as some rarities. Ranks up there as one of the necessities for anyone with a passion for Boston's topographical history.

This book beautifully portray's Boston's physical past, present and future through maps and photographs. The book does an excellent job showing how streets and shorelines through the years match to the present topography (a huge interest of mine when exploring the city). This book is for you if you love history and maps of Boston and New England. VERY WELL DONE!

This is a pretty good field guide. There is a lot of information on alot of species. I wish there were pictures of every species, but in many cases the descriptions are good enough.

I would recommend this book as a companion to "A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast Fishes : North America (Peterson Field Guides)"

This book is very useful in every facet of salt water fishing, from fish physiology and habits to tackle selection. A must for every salt water fisherman.

This book is equally as good as "McClane's Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America."

This book has been a constant companion on nearly all of my fishing trips, regardless of location. I am currently on my second copy- the first was worn out from repeated use ! When a question arises about habitat,water preference, etc., we whip out the ole' McClanes to settle the argument.The pictures offer a true rendition of the fish which aides in rapid identification.The descriptions give vital information, while remaining brief enough to allow the book to function as a true "field" guide.I highly recommend this book to any angler or saltwater fish enthusiasts in need of a pocket guide.

McClane's saltwater fish identification guide is a must for every angler -- sunburned beginner or salty old pro -- who casts a line into our bays and oceans. The most outstanding among this guide's many strengths are its clear, concise writing in the description of each fish, and the strikingly life-like, full-color artistic renditions of most of the fish. The fish are organized by family; so where there are related species on the Atlantic and Pacific sides (e.g., among sea bass), the book does jump somewhat to and fro. However, with its thorough index and vivid illustrations, any saltwater angler should be able to locate that "mystery fish" in McClane's within less than a minute. This book accompanied me on every fishing trip in my years of angling in South Florida and the Keys; and many an unknown fish was revealed through McClane's pages. With this book, the difference between sheepshead and spadefish (for example) is obvious -- in feeding habits, location, water preferences and any characteristic of appearance. Whether you catch a Spanish mackeral, ladyfish, jack crevalle or even the ugly (but tasty!) guitarfish, McClanes can teach you all the important information about it, quickly. It's the perfect size for the tacklebox; but be sure to put it in a freezer bag to keep it dry.

Eileen Power studies the Middle Ages, not from an abstract historical point of view but from simple and real people and what we can know about them. I particularly like her study of Marco Polo, from his notes and diaries, which gives us a materialistic and realistic vision of what they saw of the world, and not what we want to see of what they saw. I also loved Madame Eglentyne, a prioress taken from Chaucer but at once identified to one particular prioress through real life archives and descriptions. A very interesting and useful book to enable us to capture the density of everyday life in the Middle Ages.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Eileen Power's Medieval People sets out to study the Middle Ages not from the viewpoint of an Historical abstraction, but rather from that of the people who lived during the age. It is an account of six individuals who lived during the MA's; Bodo, a Frankish Peasant; Marco Polo, the famous Venetian merchant; Madame Eglentyne, prioress of Chaucer; an anonymous middle-class Parisian housewife; and two English merchants, one engaged in the wool trade and the other a clothier in Essex. The author has illustrated various aspects of social life of the era by drawing on such sources as account books, diaries, letters, records, and wills. She starts the work with a previously unpublished essay entitled "The Precursors," which describes the barbarian conquest of Rome. In this, she describes the lives of three men, Ausonius, Sidonius and Fortunatus and uses them to foreshadow the life that would re-emerge in the Middle Ages.
She starts by imagining a day in the life of the Peasant Bodo, in the time of Charlemagne. From her study of primarily economic documents from the Middle Ages of this time, she not only extrapolates but truly brings to life Bodo and his wife Ermentrude. From there, she goes on to the better documented life of Marco Polo, and also describes how he served as an inspiration for Columbus. Madam Eglentyne is next. Here, Power humorously details the inner workings of a gossipy nunnery and how Eglentyne would have gone about her life as an aristocratic women of God. She next details the life of a middle class Parisian housewife by studying the contents of the Menagier's Wife and validating many of it's points by citing other documents. She concludes by detailing the lives of the two Thomases; Betson and Paycocke of Coggeshall. Both are merchants and provide a chance for Power to really show off her grasp of medieval economics as well as an ability to compile disparate correspondences into a story of a life. This is a rare scholarly work that truly entertains while being read. One of the best books I've ever read.

This book is the catharsis of all books. Very good to read. It is a book that will allow you to read it in any position at any place where you can see the pages and words. Excellent.

Wonderful scholarship in a most readable written style. Goes beyond institutions to discover real people of the "middle" ages.