North America Books

This huge book, published in stunning quality (here meaning basic binding and materials quality as well as quality of photos), covers an enormous range of tribes and artifact types. It focuses most on the 18th and 19th centuries, though you will find references and photos on items ranging from ancient to modern. I like the blend of the topical and regional approaches the author takes. I was particularly happy about the coverage of beaded artifacts. This is a keeper and works equally well as a casual coffee table picture book or serious study material. If there is a shortcoming, it is that I was hoping for more coverage of Eastern woodland tribes.

My initial copy arrived from Amazon with a torn dust cover and broken binding. Amazon shipped a replacement immediately. In spite of the problems with the first copy, I can still comment on the quality of the book. The paper is high-quality, the binding is based on well-sewn signatures, the end cover papers are sufficiently heavy for a book of this size, and the reproduction quality of the photographs is just superb.

My brother-in-law has the exact same title book,his book has over 600 pages! I ordered the book thinking that I would get a similar copy at a great price. I did not realize that I was purchasing an condensed version. The information in the book, although somewhat sparse is good. Thank you.

A few years back I signed up for a class in silversmithing which soon became addictive. In addition to that interest, I have always been interested in primitive art such as that of the American Indians, the cave drawings, Australian Aboriginal art or spiritual drawings. These forms of spirituality and art or of art are very powerful. I have chosen to concentrate my silversmithing designs toward the designs I see from these primitive peoples. The book, North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment has proven to be very helpful toward that aim. In addition to that, it's just plain good reading.

This book is a must-have for anyone serious about studying Native American cultures. It is a fun read, while still being absolutely crammed with information. It's clear the author put in a lot of time and work to master her subject. Not to mention, the artwork featured in the book is beautiful. I love to breeze through it when I've had a hard day, just to feel my spirits lift looking at such amazing works of art. You will learn so much and enjoy the journey enormously.

This gorgeous book is indeed indispensable, especially if "read" visually. Unfortunately, quite a few of the tribal attributions for historic objects (information given to the author by museums) are wrong. Given the scope of this project, Dubin had little choice but to take often out-dated info at face value rather than do her own research. However, readers should keep this caveat in mind when using this work as a reference.

Having recently moved out of NYC after a LONG time living there, reading this book makes me want to move back right now! I wish I knew about all these cool places while I was living close by.
This book highlights a lot of little-known and interesting places all over the city that are easily accessible on public transportation. The wide range of places means that anyone can find something of interest. It is organized by location, so the visitor can plan on doing several things with one trip and gives great directions on how to get there and what to expect. A little bit of the history of each place rounds out the vivid descriptions, so I felt like I was actually visiting the places just by reading. What a great and out of the ordinary guide-book!

Indeed, this travel book is truly unique. Blending fascinating information with humor, mild expletives, and Yiddish phrases, Ms. Reisman creates a relaxed writing style that is as appealing as the colorful cover is eye-catching. The perspective traveler wants to peruse the book from cover to cover as if it were a novel, and not just a catalog of destinations, in order to discover what she has to say. The reader is simultaneously enlightened and entertained. Whoever dreamed that guidebooks could be so much fun?!

Living less than two hours outside of NYC, I often make day trips with friends and family to explore the city. This book is such a great guide to finding new and exciting things to see. There really is something for everyone to enjoy. Not only does the book cover oddities and historical sites, but also neighborhood finds such as shops and eateries. There is no doubt that New York is a colorful place to explore and the big tourist sites are what draw the crowds. But, for someone who loves the city and wants to experience new sites this book delivers. It is also cleverly written and the author clearly conveys her love of the city. I found myself laughing out loud at her descriptions of people and places and I can't wait to visit some of the sites on my next trip.

If you're in NYC & want to avoid the crowds at the major sites, or even if you're a native New Yorker, you may want to pick up this book to discover unique museums, eateries and historical sites. You will find many unsung attractions in each of the boroughs. The book conveniently directs you how to reach your destination by public transit, broken up into sections of the city. Details on the sites include the offerings at the gift shop, if any, and nearby restaurants to lure you in after your visit.
The author's personality & preferences shine through in the writing. I counted no less than 5 times the use of the word 'ginormous' to describe certain attributes. This tome cannot be all-inclusive due to the sheer number of obscure sites, but it does run the gamut, covering most anything you can think of. From Edgar Allan Poe's cottage to the Masonic Hall to the Steinway Piano Factory to the Coney Island Museum, you can find something to interest almost anyone.

OFF THE BEATEN (SUBWAY) TRACK by Suzanne Reisman is the kind of book I wish was available in the early 70s when I carried my wife to New York.

We bought a book called something like NYC ON $15 A DAY. OFF THE BEATEN TRACK is much better. There are plenty of museums and attractions on every subject in the Big Apple, but I think most first time visitors consider most places either on 5th Avenue or Off 5th Avenue. If it is in the Off 5th Avenue category, then it might be too hard to find.

Ms Reisman gives you excellent directions, by street or by subway.

The places visited are presented in almanac style, kind of. It gets right to the meat of the matter, and gives you a good descriptive run-down of just what the museum or attraction is trying to do. But not without throwing in her excellent wit.

And for no extra charge, if there is an eatery with character near the attraction described you will get a run-down on it too and maybe even some advice on what to order or what not to order. The eateries are highlighted in a shaded gray and has some kind of symbol that looks like two shoes doing the two-step.

The book is designed to easily find things. They are divided into different segments, such as Lower Manhattan, Middle Manhattan, the Bronx, etc. And on top of that you have an index. If you wanted to check out the Forts, go to the index and look up Forts. She made it as easy as it can be to find places, the next step would be she met you with a cab as you stepped out of your hotel, and she asked you, "Where you folks from? Whacha wanna see?"

I think it is a great tour guide book.

This book was great i wouldn't have read it if it werent for my 6th grade teacher. When i first got the book i thought it was an other horrible book i had to read for school. When i first started to read it it didnt interest me at all but i had to read it so n e way so i did the book got a lot better. All my classmates agree it was a great book.

i probably never would have found out about this book, but that's my picture on the cover so i guess it was fate. this is possibly the best book i've ever read. i really enjoyed it. the way its written with two people's perspectives really makes for an exciting story. its quite informative of the lives of the indians, but in a sense, has also a modern twist to it in jenny's telling of the story. if you haven't read it, you definitely should because it's simply wonderful.

THE PLACE AT THE EDGE OF THE EARTH masterfully combines mystery, time travel, Indian history, and suspense. Bebe Faas Rice skillfully weaves the factual information about the Indian schools into her well-plotted story.

This is a book to be treasured by children (of all ages) and their
parents. Like all great books, it is a "keeper", one to read and
reread and share with family and friends.

The Place at the Edge of the Earth by Bebe Faas Rice

Scrupulously researched, this book is a fascinating dramatized account of a young Lakota boy who is forced, along with other Indian children, to attend a boarding school in the late 1800s for the purpose of assimilation into white society. The story follows Jonah Flying Cloud on his frightening trip to the school in Pennsylvania where his hair is cut (a sign of mourning with his people), his Indian clothes taken from him, and he's made to wear scratchy long underwear, thick woolen uniforms, and shoes that hurt his feet. His days are scheduled by bells and bugles, and he's marched to meals and classes where he's taught to speak the white man's language. He's even taken to church and told he'll burn in a fiery pit forever if he doesn't accept the white man's god. Jonah Flying Cloud dies, brokenhearted, at the school and is trapped between the place of his earthly life and "the land above the clouds, where the eagles fly."

Jonah Flying Cloud's first-person narrative unfolds in alternating chapters with present-day Jenny Muldoon's story. Jenny moves with her mother and new stepfather to military quarters at Fort Sayers, which once housed the Indian school. When she finds out that her new home was once the school infirmary, the stage is set for her to meet the spirit of Jonah Flying Cloud who needs her help to be released from his dark half-world so that he can join his family and tribe members in the afterworld.

Both stories keep the reader moving quickly through the pages. In an interesting subplot, Jenny helps a friend, the son of the commanding general at Fort Sayers, stand up to his father and get help for his alcoholic mother. At the end, Jenny is finally able to figure out how to help her Indian friend. The novel ends with a final, poignant scene between Jenny and Jonah Flying Cloud.

This book a must for anyone interested in learning about the Indian schools. Its compelling story is sure to capture the interest and imagination of readers of all ages. Highly recommended!

This is a beautifully written and important book. It will give all readers, young and
old, a better knowledge, understanding, appreciation and sympathy for the Indian
children about whom the author writes with such deep feeling. Rice has managed to
balance the stories of the two main characters--the young Indian boy, Jonah Flying
Cloud, who died over a hundred years ago and the modern day young girl, Jenny
Muldoon--with exceptional skill as the two young people "meet" in a time warp and

gradually become sensitive of one another's feelings.
This is a well-told, smoothly flowing tale, a real page turner. Rice has a knack for
perfectly capturing the way young people talk, how they respond to one another and to
adults. Once again, balance comes into play in the way the author weaves flashes of
humor into the central, serious story line.
Though I hated to have the book end, my spirit soared at the conclusion, which
deserves to be read and reread several times. It's truly beautiful.
The Author's Note, where Rice speaks of writing this book "from the heart"
should not be missed. I wouldn't be surprised if The Place At The Edge Of The Earth
garners several awards, both for its writing craft and the importance of its subject.

Wonderful workings of writing the whole truth. A must have, must read, must distribute widely!

This book is about the relationship between the United States and the Sioux Nation from the signing of the 1851 Ft. Laramie treaty up to the present. The book centers around the efforts of the Wounded Knee Survivors Assoc. and their attorney Mario Gonzalez to obtain a formal apology from the U.S. government for the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and the establishment of a National Tribal park at the massacre site. This book includes:

*Gonzalez' diary entries from 1989-1992--an excellent window to see firsthand how contemporary tribal governments work and how Native Americans on reservations interact with each other on a daily basis.

*Commentary (called chronicles)by Elizabeth Cooke-Lynn explaining events described in the diary entries including Gonzalez' efforts in stopping the payment of $100 million claims commission for the Black Hills in 1980, and his efforst in Europe from 1981 to 1984 to get the World Court to issue an advisory opinion on the illegal confiscation of the Black Hills.

*Appendices that include a complete chronology of Sioux land claims from the signing of the 1851 treaty up to the present--a must for anyone interested in Indian land claims.

*Excellent footnotes with valuable information found no where else including information about Chief Crazy Horse's family members contained in the probate records of Chief Crazy Horse's father.

This book is FASCINATING and should appeal to everyone! IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING IN EVERY NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES CLASS!

what elizabeth and mario have done is to create a work that will stand for the test of time! my favorite part of the whole book was when Elizabeth proudly states THAT NATIVE AMERICAN, ABORGIONAL, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ARE NOT CITIZENS OF THE WHITE MAN'S NATION ! FOR EXAMPLE A PERSON WHO LIVES IN THE DINE NATION IS NOT A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE THEY NEVER ASKED FOR NOR DID WANT TO BE CITZENS OF THIS PATHETIC NATION! THEY ARE CITIZENS IN THEIR TRIBE AND NATION NOT OF THE PATHETIC UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR THE WORLD FOR THAT MATTER! READ THIS BOOK TO LEARN THE REAL HISTORY OF WOUNDED KNEE AND ABOUT A PEOPLE WHO ARE CHANGING HISTORY EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Wonderful workings of writing the whole truth. A must have, must read, must distribute widely!

What first strikes this reader is the very frank and engrossing personal narrative, as well as the description of the on-going political struggle of the Sioux in their battle for the return of the Black Hills in South Dakota. The diary entries of lawyer Mario Gonzales and the commentaries of Elizabeth Cook-Lynn gave me an opportunity to re-think important events in Sioux and American history over the past century (including Custer and the Little Big Horn, the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, and others). The authors also show very clearly how these linked histories continue to influence the actions of individuals (white or Indian) and governments today. Cook-Lynn is especially deft at evaluating the political, economic,and racial motivations of the various stakeholders, from the factions within different Sioux tribes, the governors and congressmen, federal agencies, to the white landowners. The centerpiece of the book is the fight by the Sioux for the return of the Black Hills (preserved for the tribes by treaty in 1868), as well as the related fight for a monument to the Sioux massacred by government troups at Wounded Knee. But as the story unfolds, it became a means for me to understand the treaty rights and sovereign rights of not just the Sioux but other Indian nations in this country. Gonzales relates details of the legal battles and community struggles, and shows an amazing persistence and courage in his pursuit of justice for the Sioux. I hope that other readers come away from this book with as strong a sense as I did: of our need to resolve these ethical and legal dilemmas by recognition of Indian treaty rights and sovereignty. I'm grateful to the authors for their frank discussions of the real difficulties inherent in this task, and for outlining the rewards to all of us if they succeed.

The pleasurable "Q Road" provides the reader with a genuine experience of rural Michigan coupled with characters who have grown from this place, whose lives are a reflection of their landscape.

The story, centered on an irascible, oft-cussing brute of a girl (Rachel) and her relationship with an ageing farmer (George), allows the reader to become engrossed in a landscape rife with contrast. The primary arc of the novel encompasses a few years from the late 1990's. Aside from the quirky and delightful love story between Rachel and George, as well as a few other minor arcs concerning the loveably flawed residents of Greenland Township in Kalamazoo County, the novel is a study on the friction between people with fundamentally different views on how their landscape should be shaped.

Rachel, along with her mother Margo, live off the land, hunting and skinning their meals with ease, as one with the natural environment as possible. George is caught in between. As a farmer he maintains an intimate relationship with the land while at the same time experiencing the near futility of his occupation with the constant pressures of money and labor. Then, with an assortment of characters, the rural/urban divide is examined through the clashes between wealthy developers, a middle class fleeing the city, and those who (like the Potawatomi in another arc of flashback skillfully threaded through the narrative) are forced to respond to the invasion.
A terrific, fast read. Highly recomended for anyone who loves the beautifully rugged ladscape of the nothern Mid-West.

This first novel begins with the image of wooly-bear caterpillars crossing a rural road. If this doesn't seem auspicious, read on. I found Q Road to be a generous surprise and I don't say this easily. The depiction of the extinquishing of a goldfinch's life is beautiful and perfect and right,though I fought it all the way. The depictions of the people and their sudden realizations are equally stunning. What it is to believe in God, what it is to love another person, to gasp even for air: all these are given to us by this young author. This is a monster, a wondrous, beautiful book.

Campbell's book revolves around a quirky cast of characters in rural Michigan: foul-mouthed, child-bride Rachel, her husband George, and her best friend, asthmatic, 12-year-old David, to name a few. The story itself is not particularly remarkable, but Campbell's writing makes you want to not miss a moment.

Rifle-toting Rachel, abandoned by her distant, fur-trapping mother, marries the much older George Harland, a down-on-his-luck farmer, because she wants his land. She grows to love him in her own weird, tacit way. She also loves David, who becomes even more devoted to the mysterious Rachel after his near-death experience in a burning barn. There are some more neighborhood characters thrown into the mix, but you get to know these three the best. There wasn't so much in the way of a plot, it was really just a simple story, beautifully written, about loving the place you live and the people who live there, about getting lost, even in familiar territory, and finding your way back with the help of family and friends.

Q Road is not for the faint of heart. Author Bonnie Jo Campbell takes you down a Michigan side-road to a rough-hewn world of brutally flawed characters. No sparkling wits, no dreamy introverts here; rather these misshapen and misfortuned people struggle through each and every day. Cantankerous and eccentric, they are driven to alienate kin and neighbors alike. Victims of violent acts of their past, broken marriages, rural recession and self-abuse, they gain pleasure from the misery of others.

Around them caterpillars are splattered under the wheels of cars, crows munch the remains of road-kill squirrels and cats devour birds, all in a landscape haunted by the death-march of the indigenous Potawatomi Indians. Out of this harsh reality, Campbell builds a story of grittiness, purpose and great humor that is suddenly jarred by a tragedy. An act of carelessness not malice, it threatens to overwhelm the community and break their spirit.

In Campbell's competent hands, there is no hysterical reaction and no desperation, just people digging deeper and accepting less. Q Road becomes a road to recovery. No giant steps, no minor miracles, just a poignant reminder that the human spirit needs just small kindnesses to prevail.

Bonnie Jo Campbell has, rightly, been described as a fresh new voice in American literature. This, her first novel, should be the launching point for a distinguished career.

As carefully stitched together as a patchwork quilt, with colorful squares made of quirky characters, the inhabitants of Greenland Township, Michigan, are bound by the commonality of their daily labor and innate love of their farmland. This is the heartland of America, land that has sustained generation after generation. But as much as a failing farm economy, suburbia encroaches upon this pastoral existence, and city people are willing to tolerate only so much discomfort in their newly constructed rural environment. Once sprawled across the countryside, secure from city confines, the old families are slowly replaced by pre-fab housing developments.

Q Road's three main protagonists are strikingly different people, each with particular idiosyncrasies, forming their own core family: father, child-bride, and son, love filling the solitary loneliness so long entrenched in their hearts. The spirited 17-year-old Rachel, a new bride who has married for the security of owning land, smashes through life with no guidance or socialization, save that of her own invention. George Harland, her middle-age-plus husband, is a sixth-generation farmer who knows only that his days are suddenly more bearable with Rachel sharing their backbreaking work and love-drenched nights. George cannot imagine life without Rachel.

When twelve-year-old David is drawn to the Harlands, it is for George's fatherly protection and Rachel's pure female strength, his own mother ever more distant and self-involved. On a clear day when trouble hovers in the air, David is the catalyst for catastrophe, his one breach of judgment forever changing the landscape of their future. For the three of them, life will never be the same again.

The Darwinian inevitability of nature vs. progress lurks around the perimeter of Greenland Township and Campbell skillfully portrays the hardships and realities of farming, as even the vigorous landscape becomes a vital player in the drama. Campbell's reality is hard-edged and she never shies away from its blunt and often brutal surfaces. Yet the eccentric characters of Q Road fit snugly into the environment, their own edges sharpened early by experience.

Q Road is like an Alice Hoffman novel with sharp teeth and a rapacious appetite. At the same time, the peculiar township inhabitants have many of the intransigent qualities of Carolyn Chute's Beans of Egypt, Maine. Sprinkled with quirky individuals, neighborhood malcontents and busybodies, Q Road is overflowing with the many faces of humanity, as they reach bravely toward their better selves. Luan Gaines/2003.

This is a great book. A really insightful, inspiring, honest and empowering account of somebody who cares about the planet, its people and its food.
I've shown my friends this book as it traveled with me. If I could I'd borrow you mine. Just get it!

This book provides lots of good info on what's really going on in the food supply, as well as suggestions on getting good food.
It also made me feel better knowing that there are lots of other people who care about the quality of our food.

"What is for supper?" is a short question with a long history of many answers. "Why is it for supper?" is more recently and less frequently asked. One long answer is The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, a fresh evaluation of how the other half of America eats, that is, the other half of one-percent.

Sandor Ellix Katz, author also of Wild Fermentations, examines our food choices, challenging us as would a moral philosopher, and inspiring us as might a romantic poet. But unlike poetry and philosophy, his texts are thoroughly researched and extensively footnoted. Scholarly without being stuffy, he ponders the social, political, ethical and environmental consequences of the foods we choose to eat, of the foods we choose not to eat, and of even our very acts of choosing. Food for thought about food.

Each chapter offers a wholesome essay that can be read independently of the others. Though inexpensive for a book of nearly 400 pages, its binding is especially durable. If separated physically from the whole, the leaves of each chapter stay bound together. This reviewer speaks from experience, having extracted entire chapters in this manner to distribute among friends.

Such portability is an appealing feature precisely because the topics are so diverse that few readers could possibly find the entire book relevant to their lives. Chapters such as these: Seed saving as political statement. Seeking and drinking raw cow's milk as acts of civil disobedience. The corporate takeover of natural foods, and the USDA makeover of organic foods. Whole food as healer, and processed food as killer. Medicinal herbs, including marijuana, as not just alternatives to pharmaceuticals, but their very basis. Pure and free water as birthright, now imperiled by pollution and privatization. Gardening as a means of reclaiming Eden. Vegetarianism as an act of compassion in contrast to carnivorous cruelty.

Vegetarians will be especially sensitive to and maybe even appreciative of the author's discussion of vegetarianism. Katz, a lapsed vegetarian, weighs the significance of life as a vegetarian among omnivores. The reasons for his own vegetarian apostasy are especially edifying. The chapter "Vegetarian Ethics and Humane Meat" begins almost with a confession: "I love meat. The smell of it cooking can fill me with desire.... At the same time, everything I see, hear, or read about standard commercial factory farming and slaughtering fills me with disgust." Whether filled with desire or with disgust, the author writes with humility and clarity. And charity. He continues: "I hold great respect for the ideals that people seek to put into practice through vegetarianism."

Katz acknowledges that vegetarians will brand "humane meat" a contradiction of adjective with noun, yet he nobly and duly presents the gist of vegetarian ethics and effectively distills into a few pages what we'd expect from an entire book.

This emerging moral vocabulary is one whose etymologies can be attributed to vegetarian evangelists and animal liberationists. Their shouts of protest and their cries of lamentation have been heard. Many meat eaters grown uneasy with their own complicity now seek the lesser of several evils. Michael Pollan, the eloquent author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, too deserves credit for expanding this lexicon.

Pollan, however, is less forthright about his own omnivorism than is Katz. Instead, Pollan applies his considerable intelligence merely to rationalize and bolster his considerable decadence. For Pollan, meat's taste trumps its waste. Rather than renounce meat as a superfluity, he chooses to denounce its cruelty. So thanks to Pollan and to his readers whom he has rallied to the cause, many herds of open-pasture cows and many flocks of free-range hens are now being spared the horrors of the feedlot and the factory farm. But that is small comfort to the cows and the hens still prodded on their death march to the slaughterhouse.

Pollan hunted a feral pig to write about it. Katz slaughtered a farm-raised pig to eat it. For Katz, writing is an afterthought to eating, as when he describes in necessary detail the physical difficulties of slaughtering a pig or a chicken. And Katz's book, in contrast to Pollan's, is one of few about food in which narrative use of the first person is welcomed and warranted. This is because Katz's life experiences and his resulting perspectives both are so very unique.

For instance, Katz expresses disillusionment with the pharmaceutical industry, yet he admits to his dependence upon their pills and potions for treatment of his AIDS. He even chronicles the long struggle of his unsuccessful attempt to survive and function without those pills and potions. Such candor about being poz is rare, and a testament to the author's integrity. Let's hope that Katz copes well with AIDS, and that he lives a long and healthy life, long enough to complete his third book, and fourth and fifth and sixth.

- Mark Mathew Braunstein [[ the reviewer is the author of Sprout Garden and of Radical Vegetarianism ]]

I loved reading this book and feeling like a radical because of my food choices! Sandor Ellix Katz writes well and has great stories relating to food. This is a great book for those interested in healthy fermented foods and local, seasonal eating.

Katz has a charming style of writing - frank, yet humble and highly readable. His book "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" is a well-documented compilation of the issues we face with regard to our food, and an account of those individuals and groups who are making positive steps toward curbing an erosion of culture and nutrition. If you only read one book about food and activism, this should be the one - I wish I could afford to give a copy to everyone I know.

Along with "Wild Fermentation" Katz's books are both inspiring non-manifestos, and practical guides to revolutionary living. Katz has quickly become one of my favorite authors and persons.

This is unquestionably the best written book of its type that I have read. It's about time somebody took the time to write a book as a teaching vehicle using a light, humorous approach. I've a huge library of books on the subject, but this one has become my favorite. I fully intend to recommend it to others interested in the subject My advice to the author: don't stop now, write more !!!

This is really a great book!! It's very informative and easy and fun to read.This book gave me all the information I needed to visit the rock art and ruins sites I did while I was in Utah.It gives you directions,the type of hike to get there,when to go,photography tips and other useful comments.It also has lots of nice pictures,some in color and some in black and white.It's one of the best books I've read on visiting these sites in the Southwest.

IF MY HOUSE WERE ON FIRE THIS IS ONE OF THE FIRST BOOKS I'D SAVE! IT IS FUNNY, CREATIVE, PRACTICAL, AND VERY WELL ORGANIZED. EXPERIENCED HIKERS, BEGINNING HIKERS, OR ARM CHAIR TRAVLERS - YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK - AND IT JUST MIGHT GET YOU OUT OF YOUR ARMCHAIR.

Rock Art And Ruins For Beginners And Old Guys is a travel and field guide to more than forty major Native American prehistoric rock art sites as well as fifty other ruins and attractions that can teach even the most urbanized city slicker the basics of prehistoric rock art in the West, including where to find it, as well as how to hike, camp, and cook while making the journey. From the equipment needed on the trail to the type of vehicles that are best to drive, Rock Art and Ruins for Beginners has it all - along with descriptions and directions for many ancient, fascinating rock art sites. If you are planning on viewing rock art in the American West, begin by reading Albert School's Rock Art Ruins For Beginners And Old Guys!

With a sence of humor Mr. Scholl does a great job of educating others about rock art.

In an introduction chapter he discusses what rock art is and types of rock art. He discusses what rock art means and refers you to other well written books. He also provides lists of emergency equipment, camping equipment and more that you should consider taking as you begin looking at rock art.

In the next chapters he tells where to go to see rock art. He also instructs the reader about the expected behavior, tours to take, and more.

There are directions for taking pictures of rock art and explanations of clothes to wear, weather, and even a few recipes for crockpot cooking... so you can cook while you are looking and come home to a nice meal. Great!

This is a very exciting book. It made me want to jump out of my seat and go looking. The pictures are nice. His enthusiasm is catching and the format is easy to understand. Well worth the money.

Enjoy

Hannah Breece was an amazing woman--strong, independent, and driven by her desire to help the people of Alaska during the early 1900s. This book is well-written, interesting, and informative. If you love reading about early Alaska, you will love this book! You might also check out a new release, When the Water Runs: Growing Up With Alaska.

When the Water Runs: Growing Up with Alaska

This book is a great read. I was swept along by this story of a single woman working in the Alaskan back country. She takes a matter-of-fact approach to all sorts of alarming situations (e.g. being buried in a snowdrift and having a bear and her cub wandering about outside her tent).

A great adventure story. Fascinating snapshots of turn of the century Alaska. Many of the most interesting parts of this book are those which talk about Alaska's relationship with Russia, particularly the power of the Czar and the Russian Orthodox church. Reading about this, Alaska seems more like a colony than a part of Russia. Maybe the Alaska America purchased wasn't Russia's to sell.

The book presents attitudes as they were without varnishing or apology. Some are decidedly racist. Hannah definitely saw her job as 'civilizing' the natives (nobody seems to have asked them if they wanted to be civilized). She talks about communities who lived underground - this was dying out as the US government didn't approve - the story of colonization the world over...

An excellent story with plenty of meat. Hannah Breece is a woman both of her time and ahead of her time. This book, although covering the early 1900's, really tells of a time when the balance and control of Alaska was switching from Russian influenced culture to American influenced culture. It is interesting to see that what was "correct" then is now "incorrect" and reminds the reader that values and judgements are culturally bound.

The action of the book takes place over most of the major regions of the state including the gulf coast, the interior and the southeast.

Jane Jacobs the editor did an excellent job of organizing and illuminating Hannah Breece's story. Without her careful introductions the story would have not had quite the same postive impact.

This book is largely alone in covering the topic of teaching in the early 1900's. For those of you interested in the early history of teaching in English in Alaska then this is your book.

In 1904, Hannah Breece (1859-1940), was recruited by the Department of the Interior to teach in Alaska. Alaska at that time was quite different than today. Preferring to work in poorer, more backward areas, she saw a side of Alaska that does not normally appear in the history books. This is Hannah stories, as told by her, and edited by Jane Jacobs.

This is a really great story. I found its depiction of life in 1904+ Alaska to be quite enthralling; Hannah certainly found her way into many fascinating adventures. The book shows life in 1904+ Alaska, as lived by the common people, including dealing with wild animals, sled dogs, fish famines, earthquakes, racism at many levels, and so much more.

All I can say is that Hannah Breece must have been a formidable woman. I have never said this before of a book, but I actually felt honored to be able to look in at Hannah's life. I highly recommend this book!

I fell in love with Alaska as described by Hannah Breece. She told an amazing story of a time that is long gone. She also showed great restraint in not "telling tales" on those who were her contemporaries. Her niece, Jane Jacobs, who compiled and edited her memoirs, fills in the "gaps," after Miss Breece's personal story is complete. I recommend this book to lovers of history, Alaskan history, early American history, education history and those with a romantic notion of how the "good old days," really were.

John Lewis Gaddis is probably the foremost historian of the Cold War.

Strategies of Containment provides a complete basic overview of the subject of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. It is specifically a history of the U.S.'s containment policy toward the Soviet Union and the Communist-bloc and its evolution over time.

It begins with U.S. diplomat George Kennan's famous memomorandum or "long telegram" from the Soviet Union which provided the guide for interpreting the intentions of the Soviet that was used by the State Department and the Executive Branch in formulating U.S. foreign policy towards the Soviet Union and the Communist-bloc nations - especially during the early stages of the Cold War. If a U.S. foreign service officer or other U.S. official wanted to understand the Soviet Union's foreign policy or history and the considerations which would impact the Soviet leadership's behavior - he or she was directed to read it.

The initial assessment by Kennan and his subsequent use of the term "containment" in a Foreign Affairs magazine for the first time, was controversial and volumes have been written on what he meant.

His approach basically was to advise against a wholesale reordering of the world order based on U.S. values which would cause consternation in the Soviet leadership and trigger Soviet defensive diplomatic (and potentially more drastic measures) in opposing the new international framework.

Kennan wanted diversity in the international system, to allow the Soviet Union to participate within it, and not undermine or be alienated from it, and thus transformed by it over time. The history of the Soviet Union's participation in the UN and its institutions confirms his analysis.

Kennan initially argued for a particularist approach as opposed to a universalist approach. He also argued for strong point as opposed to wide-scale perimeter opposition to expanding Soviet spheres of influence.

Kennan's writings set the stage for an interpretation of Soviet behavior and intentions. He studied Soviet and Russian history and knew that the Soviet Union would seek to build buffer zones between it and any potential adversary. The Napolean invasion, Germany's invasion, etc. as well as the Crimean War, and the Russo-Japanes War of 1905, and the U.S. and European intervention in the Russian civil war, all shaped the Soviet leadership's thinking.

Kennan wanted to restore a balance of power at the interface between the East and West in the European theater as well as in Asia, but without contesting every Soviet move for influence along its borders and without alienating the Soviet Union from the new international order.

Truman subsequently instituted a policy review process that led to NSC-68 which expressly stated that the U.S. policy was to promote U.S. values of freedom and human dignity. Containment then moved into the shape of a perimeter-type defensive strategy in which Soviet moves on its periphery for political and military influence was to be contested.

The book then describes U.S. national security policy and how U.S. containment evolved over time into Eisenhower's "New Look" policy in which no further Soviet expansion of its power into other nations was to be uncontested and then later into "flexible response" under Kennedy and Johnson and then detente under Kissinger.

The book is an excellent introduction to the Cold War, the U.S. policy of containment and its evolution.

This book show us the strategies of Containment in the Cold War Era; an important beginning had been made with the Truman Doctrine and the Containment thesis, which established a defensive position holding back Soviet expansionism.
In 1947 the US had an exclusive monopoly on the ultimate weapon, the atomic weapon, and this monopoly should be used -the bomb "makes politically possible....the domination of the world by a single sufficiently large state". The architect of containment was George Frost Kennan, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.
He later wrote standard histories of the relations between Russia and the Western powers. The NSC-68, the most important of all Cold War documents, was "a plan of military rearment and development is at present going forward". It's the central document of the Cold War that transformed containment into a global crusade. Approved by Harry Truman in April 1950, it still lacked Congressional funding and support, and Truman was too weak a president to push it throught in the absence of a major crisis.
It would have been interesting if the author of the book had also used an approach from the Soviet point of view, as well as one in the West and the United States. In addition, Henry Kissinger has been widely studied and detailed, but it seems that is not mentioned in the book the figure of the first Secretary of State of the Nixon presidency, William Rodgers.

Strategies of Containment, by John Lewis Gaddis, is a description of the evolving strategy of containment that was the basis of US policy toward the Soviet Union from 1946 through 1989. Gaddis traces the concept of containment from its inception by George F. Kennan through the modifications applied by five administrations and assesses the strengths, weaknesses, and effectiveness of each version. This book is more than another chronology of the cold war; it provides deep insights into strategic thinking and is essential reading for any serious student of the cold war. Here's a brief summary:

Kennan's Original Doctrine of Containment

* Identify and defend vital interests based on the centers of industrial strength - Britain, Western Europe, Japan -don't try to defend the entire world.
* Use all instruments of power: economic, diplomatic, political, and cultural power as well as military power. Rebuilding the economic vitality of the above areas is a high priority.
* Seek to divide the communist world. Our primary adversary is the Soviet Union. Other communist countries, if not actively supporting Soviet policy, may be led to serve as quasi-allies by depriving the Soviets of their support.
* General war with the Soviets is unlikely, so we can afford to take risks. We can limit our defense spending and not try to defend the world. A point defense of our vital interests is probably adequate.
* Define threats in light of US vital interests, not in terms of Soviet capabilities

Truman and NSC-68

* The policies articulated in NSC-68 moved toward a perimeter defense covering the entire world rather than a point defense of vital interests.
* Primary emphasis was switched to military power and to the entire spectrum of war
* US interests were redefined in response to perceived threats (anything that is threatened must be an interest).
* US strategy became based on a symmetric response to threats - responding in the same time, place, and with the same means as the adversary (e.g., the Korean War).

Eisenhower, Dulles, and the New Look

* Eisenhower's guiding philosophy was that defense is not just defeating the enemy - it is the preservation of our economic and political systems.
* Spending too much on defense could destroy these systems by leading to either inflation or the imposition of autocratic controls. He reduced the defense budget by 33% from Truman's last year and held it at about that level for eight years.
* Alliances relied on allies for ground forces with the US providing Air and Naval support.
* The nuclear threat became the cornerstone of deterrence across the spectrum of conflict - with goal of avoiding war - in belief that any war was all too likely to escalate to nuclear.
* Asymmetric response to threats - response need not be in same place or using same methods as Soviet threat
* Anti-colonial Conundrum: The communists are fomenting wars of national liberation while the US is trying to rebuild Europe (the colonial powers). If the US backs decolonization, it undermines the European allies it is trying to rebuild. If the US backs the colonial powers, it loses any chance of support from the colonies. The Soviets really put us in a no-win position on this issue.

Kennedy, Johnson, and Flexible Response

* Kennedy and Johnson return to NSC-68 reasoning by lowering threat of nuclear response and replaced it with flexible response, requiring a direct, symmetric response to threats - a respond in same time and place using the same means.
* These administrations applied a circular logic: Threats create interests which demand responses which require capabilities even where no interest previously had been identified. This was articulated in the "bear any burden, pay any price" rhetoric.
* This strategy necessitated greater reliance on military response versus economic, political, etc which increased demands on the defense budget.
* Kennedy abandoned Eisenhower's commitment to a balanced budget and relied on Keynesian fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. Spending was predicated on the potential of the economy rather than its actual performance. Lack of budgetary constraints led to inability to prioritize, to distinguish the essential from the peripheral, the feasible from the infeasible which encouraged more "bear any burden, pay and price' reasoning because it wasn't real money.
* Flexible response led to graduated escalation in Viet Nam which became "never enough to defeat the enemy, just enough to prolong the war". Stakes were repeatedly raised to prevent the humiliation of a defeat but this only made the eventual defeat more humiliating.
* Calibrated escalation yielded the initiative to the enemy - allowed him to define the terms of conflict. Deterrence can be made effective only if the adversary can be made to doubt that he can retain control of the situation. Taking the nuclear option away encouraged adversaries to call our bluff.

Nixon, Kissinger and Détente

* Nixon and Kissinger moved the US government from a bi-polar to a multi-polar world view by positing the existence of five significant power centers: US, USSR, Western Europe, China, and Japan. They recognized that these five power centers were far from equal. Only the US and USSR were superpowers able to exert substantial influence via military, economic, political, or diplomatic means. This strategy was a return to the balance of power envisioned by Kennan.
* In the military arena, they focused on sufficiency rather than superiority over the Soviet Union and sought to persuade Brezhnev that a similar policy would be in his country's best interest as well. Sufficiency won the logical argument over superiority because the latter invariably provoked the other side into matching every military advance, producing and endless and unwinnable arms race.
* Conceptually, Kissinger and Nixon changed the country's strategic definition of US interests and threats to those interests. For most of the interval between Kennan and Nixon-Kissinger, the US strategic view had started with the USSR, its capabilities and intentions, then identified the impact these capabilities could have. These impacts became viewed as threats and US interests were defined as anything thus threatened. Nixon and Kissinger reversed the logical flow, much as Kennan did, starting with the identification of US interests, independent of any adversary. They then identified as an adversary an entity with capability and intent to harm these interests.
* Again returning to Kennan's approach, Nixon-Kissinger sought to use negotiations to influence Soviet behavior. They took a long-term approach to negotiations, discarding the tendency of previous administrations from Roosevelt on to use negotiations and agreements with the Soviets for domestic political purposes. They discarded the approach of seeking agreements on specific areas where they could be reached and adopted a strategy of linkage - maintaining that Soviet unwillingness to negotiate in good faith on military and strategic issues of importance to the US would result in US refusal to accommodate Soviet desires for economic and trade relations and recognition of the post war division of Europe.
* The next step in the Nixon-Kissinger strategy was to seek an accommodation with China to reduce US-Chinese tensions and, thereby, free China to take a more assertive stance in its own dealings with the USSR. This was a return to Kennan's goal of dividing communism and redefined our prime enemy as the Soviet Union

Reagan

Reagan continued the return to Kennan's original concept of containment:
* Adopt an asymmetric strategy - don't let the enemy determine the time, place, and terms of conflict
* Apply economic, political, diplomatic, and moral power more than military power. A prime example was his Berlin speech: "Mr. Gorbachev! Tear down this wall!" He put the Soviets in the same kind of no-win position that they had inflicted on Eisenhower over colonialism in the 1950s by setting the Eastern Europeans at odds with the Kremlin.
* He recognized that Soviet system was bankrupt financially, intellectually, morally and turned up the pressure until it collapsed.
* Reagan was also lucky. Kennan had hoped to transform the Soviet Union with the help of a new generation of Russian leaders. Gorbachev turned out to be the leader Kennan had hoped for. He and Reagan together ended the cold war and transformed the Soviet Union from a totalitarian system to one that might have evolved into a more liberal one had the 1991 coup d'état not destroyed it first.

Now in a revised edition, Strategies Of Containment: A Critical Appraisal Of American National Security Policy During The Cold War is a revised and expanded edition of Bancroft Prize winner and Cold War expert John Lewis Gaddis' classic on understanding the history of containment as a policy, its role in bringing the Cold War to an end, and its possible value or pitfalls in the future. Originally published during the Regan presidency when the Soviet Union was still a superpower, Strategies Of Containment includes a greatly expanded chapter on Reagan, Gorbachev, and the completion of containment, as well as a new epilogue. A welcome scrutiny of history with the advantage of post-Cold War hindsight.

This book is still useful even 20 years after publication. Gaddis view US policy toward the USSR as a pendulum that swings between"symmetrical" and "asymmetrical" approaches. The periods are split into: Kennan's original containment, NSC-68, Eisenhower's "New Look", JFK and Nixon's détente. There is a coda covering Carter, but it is less helpful.

The symmetrical approach confronts the USSR wherever the USSR chooses to probe. In this approach, wherever the Soviets seek to advance is, by their very actions, a US interest. In contrast, the asymmetrical view seeks to identify those areas that are inherently vital US interests and protect those.

The first seeks to build a fence (containment) around the Soviets. The second approach builds its fences around US interests and lets the USSR do what it wants - within reason - elsewhere. Heck, why let them do that? The answer is "means." Gaddis stresses the point that US means are not unlimited. The US must balance means and ends and this leads to the pendulum swings.

The reasons I do not give the book the last star are: It does not cover the Carter-Reagan-Bush era and Smith over draws the magnitude of the swings. The book makes it sound like there were tremendous differences between the various administrations and does not pay enough attention to the essential consistency of US Cold War strategy. Smith acknowledges this in a retrospective on his own book available at the Hoover Institute web site.

After reading Earl G. Graves's bitter autobiography, I fully expected John H. Johnson's manuscript for success to be riddled with distain. I was pleasantly surprised however to find that Johnson; through such works as, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, and How to Win Friends..., by Dale Carnegie, made a fortune turning social negatives into profitable and professional positives. Having met eight U. S. Presidents along the way, Johnson's autobiography is a refreshing treatise on determination. It should be noted that much of Johnson's success came about before integration, when the African American community lived by the, "it takes a village," mentality. The nurturing he was provided during the early years provided for a favorable turn of events ultimately guiding him; not without the requisite obstacles, toward a life of success. John H. Johnson's, `Succeeding Against the Odds,' is a testament to the spoils of desire, determination, delayed gratification and a strong belief in ones self. Bravo Mr. Johnson, well done! I issue this glowing review however with a caveat; there are a few grammatical errors; thus, my conservative rating, nevertheless, this was a fun read.

I bought this Book way back in 1992.I always Admired Mr.John H.Johnson for all that He overcame&also for providing Ebony&Jet into my early childhood all the to the present. what He overcame&what He Accomplsihed is truly incredible. He created magazines that spoke&gave Black America a Fair shake at the Newsstand&also showed our world in a up-lifting light. John H.Johnson is a true Pioneer who trail-blazed so much for the better.RIP&this is a Must have Book.

I could definitely related to Mr.Johnson's story. It is inspiring, insightful, and truly a guide to those of us on the often obstacle laden road to success.

Never allow your personal feelings or emotions to close the doors of oppourtunities. Where the is a will there truly is a way. His story is remarkable and his book enables you to understand that yours is too.

Think and Grow Rich...

This book uplifted the self esteem of me and many other African Americans. It was the story of a black man raised in rural Arkansas who had a dream. He figured out at an early age that African Americans wanted to know about what was happening in their community. There where only so many if any stories about us in Life Magazine. And if they did publish something about us it was negative. Why couldn't African Americans have a magazine of their own? One that told stories, positive stories about our lives, our heroes, and our history. This book gave me hope to know that even a lower middle class, African American boy from the Bronx like myself could grow up and strive for greatness amongst our people and the rest of society. John H. Johnson's publications are over 50 years old now and are still giving us stories that uplift our minds, bodies and spirits. Reading this book is not only a joy and a honor but it should be required reading for all African Americans and focal point of reading for all others.

In his book, Johnson states "There is an advantage in every disadvantage, and a gift in every problem" and "I believe that the greater the handicap the greater the triumph." By this he means to say that disadvantage creates opportunities and forces one to do more with less. He believed that disadvantages were "...challenges to be overcome and not facts to be accepted." A disadvantage provides a challenge that, with the proper motivation and mindset, forces one to try a little harder and work a little smarter.

Two distinct disadvantages that Johnson cites are early in his life: 1) Arkansas City (his birthplace) did not provide a high school education for African Americans, and 2) The economic depression stemming from the Great Depression. These two disadvantages, when taken together, provided a sort of "critical mass" that propelled Johnson on the trajectory that is his story -- his move to Chicago and subsequent business endeavors.

The fact that the disadvantages cited above were realized so early in life is worth note. There is a scientific discipline known as "Chaos Theory" that, among other precepts, states that the time evolution of a series of interrelated complex events is extremely sensitive to the system's initial condition. The analogy that may be drawn to Johnson's life is this: had he not moved to Chicago due to his ambition and his Mother's tremendous sacrifices for her son's education, it would have become increasingly difficult for Johnson to have succeeded to the extent he did, as chronicled in his autobiography.

This statement is supported by the many references he makes in the book about the seemingly random events that led to his success as a businessman; Johnson states, "I'm scared someone with pinch me and wake me up." Thus, it seems that the many disadvantages the author faced throughout life, most notably (in his words) early in life, created an advantage, which led him to great wealth and notoriety.