North America Books


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North America Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

North America
And the Wolf Finally Came: The Decline and Fall of the American Steel Industry (Pih Series in Social and Labor History)
Published in Paperback by University of Pittsburgh Press (1988-07-06)
Author: John Hoerr
List price: $25.95
New price: $17.99
Used price: $4.95

Average review score:

... and it ate voraciously and completely, like an avenging angel.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-14
This is a detailed and heartbreaking story of the failure and collapse of the American steel industry. Sometimes the details are more than one needs to know, but this book will serve as an excellent case history on the underlying reasons for the transfer of the "rust-belt" jobs overseas, and now America's reliance of foreigners to produce the goods we use, in return for pieces of paper (Bonds) giving them claims on American wealth.

Mr. Hoerr tries to write a dispassionate history, but it is difficult in the face of such monumental stupidity and greed. "A vibrant forty-six mile stretch of river valley, providing primary jobs for over thirty-five thousand steel employees... would be devastated and expunged from economic memory in less than five years." "After that, the opportunities are limitless... from here to there where McDonald's needs someone to serve the one-trillionth burger." (p12-13).

The author was a reporter during this period, and apportions blame to both the steel company management and the unions, but clearly reserves his primary animus for management. They saw labor as an undifferentiated mass of dumb "hunkies", the pejorative term for people of Slavic origins, who only needed to take orders. That attitude was repaid, as Mr. Hoerr says: "I have known only two major corporations that actually engendered feelings of hatred among their employees, GM and US Steel." (p206) Management eventually acquiesced to the form, but not the substance of labor participation by forming "Labor-Management Participation Teams," but usually ignored their recommendations. There was also a willful neglect in spending the capital to modernize the operations - USX finally proposed building the first continuous caster plant in the Mon Valley in 1986! - at the very end. (p550) Instead it infuriated the labor force by spending its capital in buying Marathon Oil.

The author had access, and draws telling portraits of the principal actors involved, from the USW's I.W. Abel, Lloyd McBride, Lynn Williams, Bernard Kleiman and Edmund Ayoub. On the management side there was David M. Roderick, Thomas Graham and David Hoag.

I worked in US Steel's Homestead Works for two summers during my college years - '65 and '66. At the time I thought this work was the most "real", and those mills would be eternal - America would always need steel, and would obviously need to produce it. Fortunately the avenging angel passed me by, as I decided this work was not for me. Once again another "wolf" has finally come to America - this time high (and higher still) gas prices, which will force more economic dislocations that prudent planning could have avoided. Will American society be able to organize its economy prudently, to truly meet the real needs of its citizens, and minimize massive dislocations? This book is an excellent story of previous follies - can we learn from them?

Final closing: LTV
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-30
Coke works at Hazelwood closing chapter on demise on steel in entire region. Read also: Homestead, with new forward by author, best one-town summary

Sad, true, and cautionary
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-13
I read this years ago, and I thought it was an excellent analysis of the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh, filled with compelling tales of individual people.

The books feels like a Greek tragedy, in which the protagonists are doomed to a slow slide towards the edge of a cliff. Institutionalized conflict overcomes the efforts of people from both labor and maangement to halt, or at least slow the inevitable slide.

For people who think that the current dot.com crash is a serious downturn, this book offers a very good counter-perspective. When an area loses 100K jobs in 10 years, and whole towns essentially close, that's a *real* downturn.

On the other hand, there's always hope. Pittsburgh has bounced back, and has a much more diversified economy. The last time I visited, I could see the sky, which was more difficult in the steel days. To grasp those days, either see the early Tom Cruise movie "All The Right Moves", or for depth, read this book.

good book
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 1999-07-20
This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn about what went wrong in this basic industry. Not only a study of the collapse of the steel industry in the Mon Valley, the book is also a study of the pain of postindustrialization that swept the country in the 1980's. Esentially, the author is writing about a national trend, but focuses on the Pittsburgh area, which is really a microcosm. It is also a good look at what happens when unions and management can't get their acts together.

Thank you!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-04
My dad - who died a couple of years ago - published this book. He was very proud of it, and I think he would have been very pleased to see that Amazon customers are responding to it favorably.

North America
The Angry Moon
Published in Paperback by Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap) (1981-09)
Author: William Sleator
List price: $4.95
Used price: $71.75

Average review score:

20+ years later still well loved
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-04
I was maybe five when my dad read this book to me and now, 25 years later, I can still remember the wonder it instilled. If I had $50 to spare I would buy one of these old copies in a heart beat. As it is I can only implore any one in a position to reprint it to do so. You will not be disappointed: it may not seem like much to adults but to children this book is captivating. I can attest to the fact that this is a book a child will never forget.

For anyone searching: this is the one. An easily irritated moon carries off a child and her friend (brother maybe), Lupin, goes on a quest through dark primeval forests of the pacific northwest to save her. From a five year olds perspective this story is epic. I think the thing that stands out the most are the illustrations: dark blues and bright orange, two tiny little kids in a vast, malevolent world.

Good message, suspense and fun!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-16
Found an old hard copy at the library. It was so old that I figured if they still had it after all these years, it must be good! Took it home and the kids and us all loved it. They have changed the way they look at the moon, a new found respect for it's power! We have a number of Native American story books, I especially like the way they tend to incorporate elders as the members with the greatest power. Too many contemporary stories make grandparents out as less valuable. Truly a classic - now off to hunt down my own copy to own.

Caldecott Honor Book filled with wonder
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-27
An amazing picture book by William Sleator (known for HOUSE OF STAIRS and other dark pieces of science fiction) and illustrated by Blair Lent (Caledecott winner for A FUNNY LITTLE WOMAN). It follows a young indian boy through an incredible journey to the moon to rescue his beloved. The artwork is resonant and meaningful and the story compelling. Lots of transformations and magical switcheroos make it satisfying for children of all ages. It is a shame this book is out of print. It needs to be brought back!!

One of my favorites
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-19
This was one of my favorite books as a child. I wish they would put it back in print in hardcover so I could get copies for my friends' children.

wonderful for children
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1998-07-31
A young Tlingit boy goes in search of his friend whom the Angry Moon had kidnapped. He meets friends along the way who help him. It's a Native American "Jack in the Beanstalk" story. The art work is lovely, very worth it if you can find a copy. Great for teaching values about having good manners and finding friends in unlikely places.

North America
Ants of North America: A Guide to the Genera
Published in Paperback by University of California Press (2007-11-02)
Authors: Brian L. Fisher and Stefan P. Cover
List price: $34.95
New price: $27.11
Used price: $20.50

Average review score:

An instant classic
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-12-08
This book fills a long-empty niche. There is a century-long collection of wonderful ant taxonomy books and books on ant biology and natural history. However many of the technical references are either out-of-date or too dense for all but the most serious myrmecologists. And many of the references are not as richly illustrated as Fisher and Cover's book. The keys in "Ants of North America" are fairly easy to dive into even without an advanced biology degree. When stuck, the glossary and index are useful. The only minor suggestion/criticism, book does not lay flat when open, making it difficult to read while working at a microscope.

Useful and beautiful new ant guide is here!
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-12
"Ants of North America: A Guide to the Genera" by Brian Fisher and Stefan Cover is quite simply the best identification guide (down to the genus level) available for these fascinating insects.

Combining straightforward identification keys that contain excellent line drawings of pertinent ant features with April Nobile's detailed automontage pictures, this publication functions both as a "working book" and a page-by-page display of the true beauty and diversity of these ants.

The alphabetical method of ordering the genera descriptions is also to be saluted. As the subfamily level gets re-shuffled over the years, the alphabet stays the same, and so provides a user-friendly way to thumb through the genera.

All of the genus listings contain both a head-on and lateral picture of the ant, along with diagnostic remarks and brief distribution and ecological information.

This book belongs on the bookshelf and lab workbench of every myrmecologist, and certainly any ecologist that works within the conservation field performing biodiversity surveys. It has been said that you cannot begin to understand the species you are trying to preserve if you cannot identify them, and so this book will allow any ecologist with basic entomology skills the ability to identify, as E.O. Wilson describes ants, the "little things that run the world."

Wonderful Handbook For Ant Genera
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-23
This book provides a wonderful doorway into the art of ant identification. The keys are well tested and current. The photographs of a representative ant from each genus are stunning. The lists of North American genera and species are very useful as is the list of literature for identifying species. I wish I had had this book 30 years ago when I first started learning to identify ants! This is a must have book for everyone who studies North American ants. It should also be in the libraries of all field stations and any institution of higher learning that teaches classes in the natural sciences.

The most helpful book on ants I have come across
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-31
I am a myrmecologist, and this is definitely the most helpful (and portable) ant key I have come across.

It is full of excellent illustrations and intuitive couplets, but aving said that, this book deals only with genera found in the USA, not whole North America.

The first part of the book is the dichotomous key, whereas the second part describes each genus in detail (ecology, morphological characteristics, the most recent literature dealing with that genus, etc.)

The authors have even managed to squeeze in a couple of (ant) jokes and funny anecdotes into this part of the text.
The last part of the book contains the list of all known species in North America.

The authors have made one mistake that I am aware of, and that is on page 111, where they state that genus Monomorium has 11 antennal segmnents while they actually have 12.

A Great Guide to the Life Underfoot!
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-24
Ants are one of the groups of organisms that I found fascinating from an early age. I finally settled on spiders, but ants were always in the back of my mind on the numerous field trips on which I went to pursue my eight-legged quarry. However, guides to ants were few and far between and when I was given a copy of Creighton's "The Ants of North America" I was almost as confused as I was before. While the illustrations were good, the descriptions and keys were a bit difficult and of course even by the time I was given the book, it was quite dated.

We have long needed a book such as Brian Fisher and Stefan Cover have produced in "Ants of North America: A Guide to the Genera". Among other things the photos of actual specimens are a great help in determining the genera (and in some cases sub-genera) that anyone might encounter in a backyard or in the wild. The keys are both very good and well illustrated. A good hand lens will be sufficient with many, but the size of some requires a good binocular dissecting microscope (one reason that ants are less popular than butterflies, dragonflies or even moths). Still both professional entomologists and serious amateurs will find this book very useful as a first step in the identification of the ant fauna.

Because I am a professional biologist and an entomologist I found that, although I do not know the authors, I do know at least six of the people listed in the acknowledgements - such is the small size of the entomological community.

I recommend this book highly and only wish that something like it was available when I was becoming interested in the tiny life around us.

North America
Archaeological survey of selected preserves within the Iowa State Preserves System
Published in Unknown Binding by Midwestern Archaeological Research Center (1991)
Author: David J Halpin
List price:

Average review score:

And the truth is??
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-15
My father told me that no Irishman lets the truth stand in the way of a good story. Who knows what of history is true in any culture. This book recognizes it and makes it an excellent blend and easy reading.

Irish History as My Grandfather Told to Me As a Wee Boy!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-17
Seumus MacManus is a great story teller in the finest of the shanachie tradtion. This is history through story telling. Most is factual, but the folklore is weaved into the telling of the tale. The descriptions of the life and work of Daniel O'Connell are priceless. As a boy, growing up, I was never certain of what was real and what was fanciful about my Irish heritage. But, isn't that much of the charm of the Irish? I highly recommend this book to the reader who wants to be entertained and disdains dry history books. This is a fun read and a wonderful way to learn of the surprising and incredibly interesting history of an amazing people. I also recommend a new book by Frank Delaney, Ireland, published in 2004. Read it and you will understand why I prefer my history learning to include people like the Shanachies who passed on the oral traditions. But, if you really want to learn about the Irish, go to Ireland, and let the people tell you of their history and culture. I learned more in 16 days in Ireland than anything I have ever read. It is a proud culture of wonderful people. It is important for the reader to know that this was published in 1921 and reflects the attitudes of that time in Ireland.

A partisan romp through history
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-08
A classic work of Irish-American partisan history. This was the Irish history taught at our grandparents knee and stories both whispered and shouted at many an auld shebeen. Unfortunately, much of it is highly exagerated and based more upon cultural politics than verifiable history. There is no doubt that the history of the English occupation has been long and cruel, but that in and of itself does not make all things Irish angelic. According to the poet MacManus, Ireland before 1169 was an idylic wonderland inhabited by saints and scholars and noble warriors. Do not misunderstand: I love this book. I retell these tales to any and all who will listen. But it is not history as much as folklore. His dedication to his deceased bride- the poet Ethna Carberry- is touching and sad, but gets obsessive as she is mentioned in almost every chapter. My old copy - 1921- contains blank pages in the back with the instructions to paste the newsclippings about the Treaty there. This book is perhaps one of the last places one can find the stories of Fin MacCool, St. Patrick, Owen Roe O'Neil, Patrick Sarfield and the Fenians all in one volume, and each capter ws writen by different experts (and Nationalists).

A precise and detailed history of the Irish people.
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-20
The gentle nature of the Irish people is greatly emphasized in this book. The ideas of democracy were practiced in ancient Ireland, according to MacManus. Women were treated as equals in a time when they were but chattle in other areas of the world. The desire to aquire knowledge is clearly evident in the way the scholars of celtic culture were respected and looked to for direction. I was amazed by the Englishmen that participated in the destruction of Irish culture. In particular, Sir Walter Raleigh and the masacre of the Spanish soldiers that came to assist the rebellion of the English invasion of Ireland. That is a part of history not taught in American schools today. We were taught that Raleigh was an heroic man. This book opened my eyes to the true barbarian he was. These are only a few of the details that shocked and interested me about my heritage. I am still reading and anticipate the aditional information I to come.

Thanks for some insight
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 1999-05-07
Genocide has recently become an issue again in current events. The Yugoslavians are having at the Albanians. Africans have and are decimating Africans. Germans have reduced Jewish and Roman Catholic numbers efficiently and effectively. Spanish, French, Scandanavian and English swacked the native Americans and their cultures from Alaska to the southern most end of South America. It's an old story. The English are not alone in their chapters. In fact, they still pompously and righteously perpetuate their own form of genocide at the hands of the native Irish, as they have with South Africans and Indians.

Seumas MacManus allows this to be perfectly clear, not as a biased self appointed judge, but as a historian making available in print information previously unavailable to me and others of Irish descent who have lost their roots because they've been hacked away from them by shame.

It seems once again unjust that a work which salutes the dignity, power and grace of a people is left to die its own death and is no longer published. I was looking for a copy to purchase so I could leave it for my children and their children. I know of no shenachies to continue the tales. Another positive cultural influence destroyed by the insecure British. Just think of what could have been if the British weren't so afraid of the people they didn't understand and therefor massacred and worked with them toward their mutual benefit. We'll never know.

North America
Aunt Sarah: Woman of the Dawnland
Published in Unknown Binding by Dawnland Publications (1994)
Author: Trudy Ann Parker
List price:

Average review score:

Aunt Sarah Woman of the Dawnland
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-28
Wonderful history of the native Indians of the Connecticut River Valley and their ancestors from Canada. As you read each chapter, the author provides you with a visual view of the life of her family and those who played a part in their lifetime. You are left with a great respect for your environment and the care that all of us need to take with it or we may loose it. Ms Parker causes you to pause and smell the sweetgrass, listen to the crunch of snow under your feet and appreciate every living thing for the part each plays in our existence. A thoroughly enjoyable book!

Aunt Sarah Woman of the Dawnland
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-28
Wonderful history of the native Indians of the Connecticut River Valley and their ancestors from Canada. As you read each chapter, the author provides you with a visual view of the life of her family and those who played a part in their lifetime. You are left with a great respect for your environment and the care that all of us need to take with it or we may loose it. Ms Parker causes you to pause and smell the sweetgrass, listen to the crunch of snow under your feet and appreciate every living thing for the part each plays in our existence. A thoroughly enjoyable book!

A truly inspiring and uplifting book about an amazing woman.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-28
Aunt Sarah Woman of the Dawnland was a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to read a book that will give you the opportunity to learn and be amazed at the same time. This book tells the life story of Sarah, a Native American Healing Woman and the 108 years that she lived. The author really put her heart and soul in writing this book. I don't want to reveal too much. I just want to say this is a must read book!

Aunt Sarah Woman of the Dawnland
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-28
Wonderful history of the native Indians of the Connecticut River Valley and their ancestors from Canada. As you read each chapter, the author provides you with a visual view of the life of her family and those who played a part in their lifetime. You are left with a great respect for your environment and the care that all of us need to take with it or we may loose it. Ms Parker causes you to pause and smell the sweetgrass, listen to the crunch of snow under your feet and appreciate every living thing for the part each plays in our existence. A thoroughly enjoyable book!

A spritual, entertaining account of priceless history.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-09-16
I was at the Big E in Springfield last year (1998) and I saw a Native American woman that I was compelled to speak with. Her story started coming out at the beginning of the conversation and continues with me to this day. In between I read this book and it was inspiring and yet historical. It was nice to read something about Native Americans that was positive; something that showed their love and devotion to their families; something that talked about their culture; something that spoke about their spirit; something that spoke about the early settlers from their perspective..... I could go on an on. If you want a book that you won't be able to put down -- this is it. If you liked Angela's Ashes and the other McCourt books, you will love this. If you are a Native American you will finally be proud. If you are a human, you will relate to this story. It can have a profound effect on your life.

North America
The Awakening of Red Feather
Published in Paperback by Medicine Bear Publishing (1996-03)
Author: Jonathon Ray Spinney
List price: $12.95
New price: $5.24
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $12.95

Average review score:

a quick read and worth your time...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-05-03
I like reading about other people's experiences in the spirtual realm. This is a good book about following your inner intuitions and getting back in touch with the root matters of life. A bit depressing at times, supporting at others, this book makes for a great read to add to your spiritual repretoir.

amazingly real
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-22
Spirituality lived in real life; the way this man literally follows his dream was so inspiring my husband and I set out on a journey of our own especially to meet the writer.

amazingly real
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-22
Spirituality lived in real life; the way this man literally follows his dream was so inspiring my husband and I set out on a journey of our own especially to meet the writer.

Wonderful mystical ! He truly follows his dream.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1998-04-22
I could not put the book down. He had a spiritual repeative dream an he followed it across the country. You must read the book, I don't want to give anything away. Very spiritual. I want to know where the Totem is , Jonathon .

An epic journey of faith, revelation and transformation!
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-09
Transcending time, space and material reality, this author takes a giant leap of faith by following his divine visions and dreams to fulfill an ancient Hopi prophecy. His nearly 10 year journey takes him through a series of spiritual awakenings and mystical revelations that compel the author to carve an enormous totem pole which must then be transported from his home in Maine, to an unknown location in Arizona.

This book stirs not only the longing to believe in guidance from a higher source, but also the awakening to the understanding of a greater purpose that we are here to serve. From the mystical to the practical, Jonathon shares his emotions, pain, doubts and fears. An ordinary man (an artist and a carpenter) with an extraordinary gift of vision, he ultimately helps us to understand the power of our spiritual connection to one another and to other frequencies of existence within our universe. Never again will I feel afraid to trust in the divine! This book has answered so many questions about the meaning of life and the discovery of true bliss. A must read for anyone who wishes to rise above the fear and control consciousness of planet earth, to reconnect with the essence of the divine.

North America
Bermuda A World Apart: An island and its people
Published in Hardcover by Imagenes Pr (1996-10)
Author:
List price: $37.50
New price: $35.00
Used price: $13.95
Collectible price: $96.01

Average review score:

Beautiful Memento
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-13
The photos are beautiful, the content is fascinating. I bought this book after visiting Bermuda and realize how much I missed. It's not really a travel book, more like a love story (with Bermuda).

Absolutely superb
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-02
Having travelled to Bermuda many times over the past twenty years (and I lived there for a time as well), I have to say this is the finest and most complete "coffee-table" book on the island that I have ever seen. It is large-format, filled with superb color photographs (including a lot of aerial shots as well as some archival photographs of Bermuda in the mid-20th century). The text gives you a concise, intelligent overview of Bermuda's history. I've given a number of copies to friends who love the island. The jacket blurb says the author was once a Peace Corps Volunteer, and it shows ... this is a real in-depth portrait, not just "post-cardy" superficial coverage. I have several other books on Bermuda, but this one is in a class by itself.

A "Bermudaful" book.
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 1999-12-06
This elegant photography book provides a thoughtful and perceptive portrait of a genteel world all of its own. It makes one think that to escape modern life, the place to go is Bermuda. There is a wide variety among the hundred fifty or so photographs, from close-ups of people to scenic panoramas, all in rich, lush colors. The beach scenes and sunsets are breathtaking. A bonus is the extensive historical background presented in an easy to absorb reader-friendly style. Particularly interesting are the stories of how Bermuda found itself squeezed between England and the Thirteen Colonies during the Revolutionary War and between North and South in the American Civil War. The author reveals that there were no cars on Bermuda until the 1940s and describes the more recent transformation of the island into a corporate center, "the Switzerland of the Atlantic." The care and craftsmanship that went into the creation of this work is obvious. This is literally a "Bermudaful" book. And do not forget to catch the sweetheart on page 17!

Magnificent!
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-10
Extraordinary photography, combined with intelligent, concise, even poetic text. I am English, but I have lived in Boston for many years. Bermuda is perhaps my favorite island--for its civility, its quiet beauty, a little touch of England in the middle of the Atlantic. This book captures Bermuda as I have seen no other book do ... perhaps because it focusses on the small things: the tiny flower known as Bermudiana, the young schoolgirl gazing deep into the camera ... The picture captions are concise, but packed with information; the author chooses and rations his words carefully! There's also, for those who want it, a complete text which conveys the history of the island. A small quibble: there's no information about hotels, restaurants, etc. However, this is not a guidebook, but rather a coffee-table "documentary" book, and in that department it is incomparable.

Great book!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-28
When I went to Bermuda for the first time recently, I wanted to leaarn more about this lovely island. Labrucherie's book provides exactly what I wanted - a readable and fairly comprehensive history of the island, as well as many beautiful pictures. Just perfect!

North America
Best Places Alaska (Alaska Best Places, 2nd Edition)
Published in Paperback by Sasquatch Books (2000-02)
Author: Nan Elliot
List price: $21.95
New price: $21.73
Used price: $0.47

Average review score:

A highly recommended "take along" tote.
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-03
Best Places Alaska is an outstanding travel guide that features only the 'best' restaurants, lodgings, and destinations in Alaska, including guides and outfitters in its lists of recommendations for particular Alaskan regions. An excellent, involving survey of Alaska's best places, Best Places Alaska is a recommended take-along tote.

Definitely worth carrying along on the trip
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-11
We used this book every day - and usually more than once. It is filled with great suggestions and recommendations. We found a few entries "outdated," but that can be expected. The suggestions for which shops to visit in small and large cities I found to be particularly helpful. Best book I have ever bought for travel.

Fantastic guidebook with great reviews and stories
Helpful Votes: 18 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-04
A fantastic guidebook describing some of the off beat places in Alaska. If you want the true Alaskan experience, get this book. It contains over 200 restaurant and lodging reviews and stories of the 'best' places in Alaska. One of the three must travel books (Milepost, Discovering Denali, and Best Places Alaska) if you are going to the Last Frontier.

A "Read Before You Go" Book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-14
When planning our Alaska vacation to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary, we bought this for them to read (since they don't use the internet). They read it with regards to all the stops on our itinerary for the cruise/land package we were taking and found it tremendously helpful!

A Great Guide for A Great Land
Helpful Votes: 60 out of 61 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-20
I have to admit. I went to Alaska alone without a guidebook. But I had a great time anyway! When I came home, I decided to go back again, but this time with a guidebook. After going through many of the guides, we choose this one, because it was written by people who live and work in Alaska. It's full of practical tips ("Bears and Humans), offbeat trivia ("Chicken"), and subtle information ("Eskimo Etiquette"). From small towns way up north, to the rugged beauty of the Kenai Peninsula, and to the urban fun of Anchorage, this guide covers it all. Read this, and you'll be calling the airlines to book your flight the next week!

North America
Black Looks: Race and Representation
Published in Paperback by South End Press (1999-07-01)
Author: bell hooks
List price: $15.00
New price: $10.99
Used price: $8.44
Collectible price: $15.00

Average review score:

Bell Hooks is a Gifted Thinker
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-25
The cover of this book caught my attention at the library, so I just had to check it out. I must say, Bell Hooks's ideas and opinions are right on the money. She mentions issues such as black male masculinity, feminism, and racism and breaks them down very well. She's not the average traditional black feminist. She's not afraid to talk bad about white folks (like Madonna) and she's brave enough to use the word "white supremacy"; not in a militant way, but more reserved. It's easy to tell she's a liberal, but she's not restricted to traditional left-wing philosophy because of her strong Afro-centric view-points. This is a must read for all Black people, especially Black women who hardly have any intellectual role-model to look up to.

fabulous first full encounter with bell hooks
Helpful Votes: 16 out of 18 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-06
Until now I have only read excerpts from bell hooks' works. Then I recently saw a C-Span program in which bell hooks led a discussion with a college audience. Reminded of the intriguing excerpts I had read, I chose Black Looks as my first full encounter with this intriguing woman's thoughts.

I did not examine the readers' comments on Black Looks until completing the book, but I too would like to take the opportunity to give the book my whole-hearted endorsement for everyone's perusal.

Unlike the reader who began a review highlighting his leftist political affiliation and interracial marriage/family, I DO believe that this book was intended for that individual reader, as it was intended for me, a white female -- and for all men and women of all colors, backgrounds, and sexual orientations. One's skin color, (marriage) partner, children, class status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, and gender, among many other characteristics, do not determine one's dedication to overcoming the racist, heterosexist, capitalist patriarchy. Indeed, I think that this idea is a theme running throughout Black Looks, as evidenced in bell hooks' essays on Clarence Thomas and Madonna.

I do not find incivility in bell hooks' thoughtful expressions and critiques. Rather, I find a much-needed naming of the incivilities that happen to people in this world, due to various "-ism"s and those who espouse them.

Complaints of "bias" or "slant" in bell hooks' essays and other works seem nonsensical to me, when I recall that no human being's thoughts, feelings, and perspective are "objective." Moreover, "objectivity" is not a quality that one desires in cultural criticism, which functions to set forth an alternative point of view that is so often silenced. An individual who feels the need for "objectivity" in Black Looks might seriously question whether any book, television program, song, or other form of media is "objective," including those forms of communication that comprise mass media.

I think that an individual who can accept that this book is for him/her can also begin to look at mass media with a more critical gaze, an activity that is sorely needed after the hours of unquestioning consumption of TV/movies that fills the evenings and weekends of many Americans.

HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE THE 14TH CENTURY
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-07
THIS BOOK IS ANOTHER MANDATORY READING FOR ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN THE EXCHANGE OF CULTURES OF THE INDIGENOUS OF TURTLE ISLAND AND THE AFRICAN, WHICH HAS BEEN GOING ON BEFORE THAT THUG COLUMBUS CAME OVER HERE.

Powerfully Moving
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-25
I'm biracial . . . my father is white and my mother is black, Latina, and Asian. hooks makes us look deeply and critically at the linkages of race, class, gender, and sexuality in ways that are painfully honest and moving. Oppression is never an easy topic. As she has stated, reading hooks' work should make us feel angry, sad, & uncomfortable. Finally, an intellectual who goes beyond the "taken-for-granted" simplistic non-analysis and makes us THINK DEEPLY! This book is a classic!

"Breathtakingly Amazing"
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-08
The book speaks for itself. There aren't enough adjectives in the english language to describe the dynamics of this book. I don't have anything more to say,except 'READ IT.'

North America
The Book of Ceremonies: A Native Way of Honoring and Living the Sacred
Published in Paperback by New World Library (2005-04-10)
Author: Gabriel Horn
List price: $14.95
New price: $4.00
Used price: $3.48

Average review score:

Sacred and Mysterious Connections
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-07
The essays and poems in this collection, which would make a good gift book, are meaningful, and the American Indian tone is meditative and enriching. Even the cover, in dark colors and smooth to the hand, encourages contemplation.

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-30
This book is a beautiful collection of stories and references to ceremonies, a good addition to any library of books on native ways or shamanism. It is not a "cookbook" of rituals or ceremonies, but a book that honors the beliefs and energies behind the ceremonies as important.

Kinship with all beings
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-06
The primal wisdom that emanates from these ancient teachings lifts up the spiritual practice of reverence-one that is often lacking in modern times. Horn demonstrates a kind of radical amazement, a deep feeling tinged with both awe and wonder as he sees the sacred in all things. These ceremonies touch the heart because they arise out of a felt sense of participation in the universe, a kinship with all beings and with matter.

Ceremonial Richness
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-06
Anyone wanting ceremonial richness in their own lives will cherish this book and will feel emboldened to start where they are right now-even in the middle of a city, far from the kind of natural surroundings available to the ancients. "It is the spirit of the ceremony that is most important," reassures a grandmother. This is treasure to own and consult, a treasure to give.-SA

A beautiful book to be treasured and shared.
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2001-03-03
The Book Of Ceremonies is an intensely sensitive, reverent collection of Native American sacred songs, poems, stories, observations, and ceremonies. It's prayerful tone is beautifully underlined by the delicate, perfect black and white art work by the author's son, Carises Horn. Drawing from a variety of sources, The Book Of Ceremonies unifies and presents thoughts on Preparing, Greeting and Gratitude, Love, Marriage and Divorce, Birth and Death, Dreams and Visions, and Seasons and Healing. An additional list of recommended reading includes Native Heart: An American Indian Odyssey by Gabriel Horn, and other selected books by Kent Nerburn, Jason Gardner, and Loree Boyd. The Book Of Ceremonies is a beautiful book to be treasured and shared.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer


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