North America Books

I am hoping that this book will encourage victims of rape to come forward no matter how intimidating it may seem. It is important particularly in the black communities to come forward after being victimized by sexual abuse. Someone very close to me was sexually assaulted several years ago and never went forward. In fact, she has attempted to move on with her life as if nothing ever happened. It cannot be an easy thing to be violated and try to forget about it. This book is important for those who have suffered from rape, family member of rape victims, friends of victims, or spouses. This book is the first step toward healing and is a guide for those afraid to come forward. Buy this book, it is worth every penny.

It is incredibly powerful and intense. The end of each chapter, where Pierce-Baker responds to the survivors draws the stories together in a meaningful way. Also, this is the first book I have ever seen that gives voice to the men who support survivors of sexual violence. I read it in two days, despite work and classes, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the effects of sexual violence.

This is a wonderful, well-written, honest book. I especially appreciated the author's inclusion of the voices of young people and of adults who were raped when they were young. Most rape in the US happens to people under the age of 25, so these voices need to be heard! I am strongly recommending this book to everyone I know who works against sexual assault. The author's openness about her own experience over time is very helpful and moving. She indicates that some parts were written years before other parts. There were places where I wanted to insist "don't blame yourself for that, the rapists are responsible for the fact that you and your family are dealing with this." This books adds greatly to our understanding of the long term impact of sexual assault.

This is one of the most important books I have read in my struggle to recover from the harrowing effects of rape. I have found several books on this topic, but this is the first that addresses my specific needs as a Black woman trying to heal from sexual violence. Charlotte Pierce-Baker and her fellow witnesses are people of immense courage who offer hope and strength to other survivors and their loved ones everywhere. I highly recommend this book to all members of the Black community. It's fluidly written, carefully structured and filled with painful truths and hard-earned wisdom about individual and communal healing. If you want to share your own story of survival and healing or to discuss this book, please join me in one of these online forums: Black Survivors of Sexual Assault Forum (Delphi) and Black Rape Survivors (Yahoo). Feel free to contact me for more information.

This book has helped me in ways too numerous to count. I have purchased copies for friends and recommended it highly to others. As African-American women we have the dual burden of sexual and racial violation. Our African-American men are suppose to protect us - not rape us! White men and society has been raping us for years and justifying it. Charlotte Pierce-Baker and the other survivors have laid the foundation of healing. From each of the stories I found Strength. I learned that I was not 'going crazy.' I learned that this inner turmoil of racial responsiblity, societial perceptions and the deeply embedded history of rape toward African American Women was not an uncommon pandemonium of thoughts. I listened and felt the pain and suffering. I discovered that the death of my former self 'REALLY DID HAPPEN' and this new Woman I have become must once again discover her strength. My strength. As my 1 year anniversary approaches, I am re-experiencing the symptoms. Yes, I am dealing with this unbearable pain, once again. But the worst part is over, because I survived! Loud and clear. I SURVIVED!

Also recommended: Can I get a Witness, Black Women and Depression; Yesterday, I Cried; Too Blessed to be Stressed; After the Silence;

Long overdue, this comprehensive description of an effective proven teaching approach warrants the attention of all interested in education today - authored by one of Canada's most experienced teachers of Direct Instruction.

For those students that are failing to accomplish the skill levels required to occupy a productive role in modern society, Michael Moloney has solutions. He describes these solutions in some depth, and gives you directions where to go to get help. He also describes why these solutions are not available in public school systems. Maybe we can change the school system in time, but meanwhile you may need to get direct help for your loved ones who are not being served in the present system. Unfortunately you have to forsake your tax dollars and find something in the private sector, but the productivity of your loved ones is at stake. All of this is detailed in the book, Teach Your Children Well.

Long overview, this comprehensive description of an effective proven teaching approach warrants the attention of all interested in education today - authored by one of Canada's most experienced teachers of Direct Instruction.

Finally, an up to date documentaion of the research that proves the parallel shortcomings of the public education system in both Canada and the United States, AND the little known proven methods of reform. Parents learn that their children are failing because of the ineffective classroom methods used, not their child's 'learning disabilities'. More, parents are assured that their children CAN learn to read fluently given proper instruction and practice time. Research proves there is a better way and I thank Michael Maloney for compiling that truth into a book that will bring hope and help to the parents and children who know the despair of failing to learn.

It is hard to imagine how such a large segment of our society with such an important task could have strayed so far from its central purpose. Our schools are failing our children to an alarming degree. In the major city in which I live, in nineteen of ninety schools second graders score below the 25th percentile in reading comprehension. Forty-two of the ninety score below the 35th percentile. How do you spell "disaster?" We have a good superintendent who had been on the job for two years, and has done some courageous things to stem the tide. But it might be too late. Providing some hope, the superintendent has looked closely at one of the programs Michael Maloney advocates for in this book, Direct Instruction, and has included it as one of three programs schools have to choose as their reading program. Alas, only ten schools out of ninety chose Direct Instruction. The overwhelming majority chose a somewhat nebulously defined literature approach to reading--whole language all over again, which has gotten the second graders to the achievement I noted above. Where are the credentials of these programs, besides monumental failure as in California? Why are teachers allowed to use faulty tools for learning? Where are the child advocates? This book names a few, and that is why all teachers should read it. Maloney describes educational powerhouses based on strong research that proves without a doubt that the programs work. Take Direct Instruction. It is crafted so carefully that only teacher faulty implementation can cause learning to misfire. Many criticize DI as too restrictive. We wouldn't send a heart surgeon into an operation without an explicit script to follow, with rules and experience to dictate just how to proceed in a particular case. Is a pilot unable to function with detailed checklists, mandatory procedures, exhaustive training for situations that may never occur? But we will send a teacher into a classroom with the most meager of tools, scanty directions and a "wing-it, don't measure it" attitude. Can we expect anything else but a nation at risk? The programs and techniques Maloney describes share the theme, "learning is behavior change." If not all of the programs are based entirely on behavioral technology or applied behavior analysis, they include and are compatible with behavioral principals. Just as Skinner reminded groups of psychologists of the error of their ways, even as they were awarding him their highest honors, behavior analysis varies with the educational mainstream. Even seven years of data which provided clear evidence that Direct Instruction taught children much more effectively than the eight other paradigms studied, could not turn the heads of the educational zeitgeist. Programs proven to retard the academic growth of young children were funded more readily than Direct Instruction. If children had an adequate lobby, they wouldn't be so easily taken advantage of. It is hard to understand what is happening in education without invoking the concept of an evil empire calling the shots. Proficiency tests and charter schools indicate that the public may finally get serious about education reform. When they do, they will find themselves ready to align with the programs in Maloney's report. Precision Teaching, a much under-noticed technique, could solve the testing disputes. Based on timing correct and incorrect responding, it removes all ambiguity from testing. That should have happened when Chester Finn noted that in every state in the union over half the children scored above the fiftieth percentile on standardized tests. In Ohio, the state decided to reduce the required score on the fourth grade proficiency test, because so many fourth graders were failing the test. It was also revealed that the standard for passing was based on nothing in particular anyway. Back to Precision Teaching. Building fluency in skills has been ignored by education and training, when it is the most powerful concept to ever be introduced by Skinnerian behaviorism. Ogden Lindsley seized this notion of his mentor, Skinner, and honed it into a sophisticated technique for building learning and measuring it explicitly. We can easily observe the rate at which third graders can compute various kinds of math problems. We can average the score of thousands of them, if that suits. Then all we have to do is give your favorite third grader a page of similar problems, tell her to "go", and see how many she can do. Why do we have to order sacred test booklets, enflame the fears of the most confident students, send the tests off to the sponsor and get back data that are of limited use, since they are based on mysterious "norms." Again, we seem to have lost the student in the shuffle. The more we can keep the student's actual behavior in focus, the better off we are. That is Maloney's message. Teach Your Children Well was written by a man who has done it himself. We should listen to him WELL

John Poole keeps doing it. Doing what you may ask?

He keeps providing our military leaders, of all ranks, excellent books on how to train and develop U.S. forces to deal with threats today and in the future that understand 4th Generation Warfare. I like Tequila Junction because I agree totally with John, that the biggest threat to the U.S. right now is just across our Southern border. Not from the state of Mexico itself, but from the non-state groups, the drug cartels that are starting to dismantle the state of Mexico and are pouring violence across our borders. And as the political leadership of Mexico (not all), but most continue to put self before service, and remain corrupt, the masses will continue to turn toward these groups to provide them a way to live. This, coupled with our own political leaders failing to secure our border, now seven years after 9/11 due to back channel political deals with the government of Mexico, has become the biggest threat to our nation.

But, as John has done in his other excellent books, he outlines the problem, but recommends a workable solution. It will just take leaders of character to implement it. I think so highly of John's books that I made his Last Hundred Yards one of my two main text books when I taught ROTC at Georgetown University (the other one was the Maneuver Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind). I also have pushed all his other books to my multitude of contacts as recommended mandatory reading for their students. In recent visits I have seen his books on the shelves and in the hands of instructors and students at the U.S. Army Infantry School, Military Intelligence School, and in ROTC programs,as well as the United States Military Academy at West Point (all of which are using my book Raising the Bar to teach adaptability).

Keep it up John,
Don

In his latest study, "Tequila Junction", H. John Poole draws together his previous scholarship on 4GW to redirect attention away from Islamic terrorists. As he rightly notes in the opening pages of this latest work, the overwhelming focus on Islamic terrorists and the Middle East has given other powers an opportunity to work in relative security, right in America's own backyard.

H. John Poole's works are remarkable for being forward-looking and counter to the military status-quo in strategic and tactical thinking. This book is no exception. After presenting a well-researched case for the influence of a foreign power in Central and South America, Poole goes on to explain why our conventional "heavy firepower" model would be useless for countering the threat. Never one to present a problem without a solution, Poole then goes on to provide a framework for strategic approaches to 4GW warfare in Latin America, and also several tactical prescriptions. In the chapters of "Tequila Junction" are several low-cost, high-payoff solutions for tactical insertion, exfiltration, tactical intelligence gathering, and community integration and defense.

What is perhaps most useful about the book, however, are not his specific recommendations, but his constant call to strip away overwhelming hierarchal control and give power to the warrior on the ground. Poole has confidence that the common American fighting man--and woman--with the proper training and enough radius of control can win our wars with less cost in blood and treasure. He has ample historical evidence to support his case. Poole's book will no doubt raise some hackles among the traditional military establishment, who are wedded to the doctrines of strict command and control and overwhelming force. Those who disagree with Poole should note that he has consistently been ahead of the curve in predicting the future of 4GW warfare and our military response. "Tequlia Junction" is a sound addition to an already impressive body of scholarship.

LTC Poole was written another stellar book concerning the subtle workings of the Chinese & muslim extremist groups operating in Central & South America. The Chinese are fighting a war against the US "by other means" & in this manner hide behind a smokescreen of narco-gangs such as MS-13 & other drug cartels using their drug sales as a self-supporting mechanism to fund their activities within the continent.
While all eyes & intelligence resources are looking to the East and wondering what will happen in Iraq & Afghanistan now that President-elect Obama is taking office, Chinese intelligence is developing contacts & networks to support anti-American activities in the future. The Chinese plant seeds & understand that they must give them time to grow strong, so as to make it difficult to up-root them later. The Chinese also understand to stay under the radar to the US intelligence community. In this they have done an outstanding job & the tree of insurgency grows.
Only tactics discussed in Poole's new book can the US government hope to prevent the establishment of a threat to the south of it's border.

According to LTC Poole, the way to combat the insurgency in South America is utilizing a police methodology of community policing & getting the local civilian population to understand that the gangs & insurgents will only cause them grief & suffering. Give the local residents the means & support necessary to fend off a smart adversary. Fending off the Chinese & muslim extremist threat at this point does not necessarily mean weapons procurement & killing. As Poole quoted Ghandi in Part Two, "Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary." However I beg to differ with Ghandi since the US was born out of the American Revolution, which was not act of non-violence but bloody resistence to tyranny!
Also an American icon by the name of Al Capone was quoted as saying, "You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than just a kind word." The 4th Generation Counterinsurgency tactics explained by LTC Poole work & work very effectively but keep the big stick around just in case.

Outstanding book...promotes out-of-the-box thinking and reframes developing threats. It addresses a number of issues our government is not paying much attention to:

-issues pertaining to homeland security- Poole explains how migration, uncontrolled illegal immigration, contributes to the destruction of a nation-state. The United States is facing this problem now but our government is almost doing nothing about it.

-addresses how illicit activities related to illegal immigration create a market for narco-trafficking which feeds terrorist financing... making the war on terrorism a self licking ice cream cone in favor of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas (a Shi'i Iranian backed terrorist group and Palestinian backed Sunni terrorist group).

-the activities create exploitable venues for nation-states which desire to diminish/manage United States influence, China being one example...Russia and Iran a possible second. The subversion of society provides competitive nation-states and means to wage war against the United States via nonmilitary means. This is the essence of fourth generation warfare... leveraging society, subverting societies, in order to achieve victory while undermining US technological military superiority. The state is unable to maintain its territorial integrity and eventually begins to wither away.

John is saying the emperor is naked

I just finished reading the latest book by John Poole, "Tequila Junction 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency." The book is outstanding. I could not put it down. It's not a novel, but if your interest or responsibility is security, it reads like one. Tequila Junction is, a lesson on current world events including intelligence gathered on non-Muslim threats to America from Central and South America and their links to China. The first part of the book discusses this intelligence and the possibility of politically oriented and drug funded threats to the United States. Yes back to drugs funding political oriented cartels, gangs or maras (MS13, M18 and others) as well as terrorist groups all cooperating in this effort. Poole talks of the United states narrow focus on Al-Qaeda has had its attention diverted from this part of the world. "Latin America provides the perfect example of what can happen from to narrow a focus. Because so little al-Qaeda activity there, U.S. leaders have all but ignored a potential catastrophe at their doorstep. In a place where the two biggest threats to personal freedom combine (drugs and revolution), they have settled for another of their patented "top-down" solutions. Such a solution will have little chance where the source of the problem has yet to be determined." A reader can easily see based on Americas past and current craving for drugs where the implications at home to security and the law enforcement community are obvious if these threats are allowed to go undisputed.

In the second part of the book, Poole describes the unconventional tactics necessary, the military will need in counterinsurgency efforts. These unconventional methods are indirect and involve methods related to police problem solving and indirect conflict. Poole describes 4GW methods of recognizing the gangs and maras as part of the solution-that it is more important to "convert ones foe than to kill him." He talks about, "wars of the future must be won by some other way than expert snipers and pinpoint bombing. The name of the game is no longer to kill as many foes as possible, but rather to sway the allegiance of as many as possible." This is related to law enforcement methods utilized today that are paramount to forming community partnerships and winning community members over in an effort to curtail crime and solve crime problems here at home. Poole discusses these links between law enforcement and military efforts in a way that is easy to understand.

In the latter parts of the book Poole describes methods to use and how to implement these methods effectively. He talks of leadership and the importance of front line personnel being able to think and make decisions on their own based on the overall mission of winning foes over. The book in its appendix titled "Bottom-up Training" describes better training methods to prepare those whose job it is to solve these serious problems at home and abroad.

Those in Law Enforcement and Homeland Security should read this book. The implications from abroad have in the past and currently effect the climate on the streets here at home. Understanding yourself and the adversary are key to success, our efforts will be greatly enhanced by the information contained in this outstanding resource Tequila Junction.

This book could easily have been a bore--yet another detailed legal explication of a Supreme Court case you know you should be interested in, but aren't, because you can't follow the jargon. But in Epps' hands an amazing story comes to life. This is serious constitutional law, with enormous consequences for our country, and it reads like a novel. Anyone concerned with religion and free expression should read it. Or you could just read it because it's a great read!

The very first part of the essential, very first amendment to our Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This ringing phrase, so seemingly simple and obvious, has been the focus of an enormous amount of controversy and clarification. It is a great legacy, but what does it really mean? We are still struggling to find out. In _To an Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial_ (St. Martin's Press) by Garrett Epps we learn how one of the latest struggles is turning out. It is a fine book to show in detail how a specific constitutional decision came to be made.

On one side of the story was Al Smith. Smith was born into the Klamath tribe, but was pulled out of it to go to Catholic boarding school. Rather late in his life he was introduced to sweat lodges and Native American religion. He was also introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous, and eventually became a respected counselor, speaker, and organizer of treatment centers for alcohol and drug abuse. As he traveled to different reservations to set up recovery programs, he came across peyote religion. It seemed to give some of his clients spiritual strength, and they seemed to do better in overcoming substance abuse if they participated in its religious ceremonies. He began to consider participating in peyote religion. He was told that taking peyote at a ceremony would violate the rules of the treatment center in which he worked, and so he did so. He was thereupon fired, and he filed for unemployment compensation. That filing set the stage for a subsequent battle within the Supreme Court and beyond.

On the other side was Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer. He had tried in his political offices in Oregon to mend fences with the tribes of his region. He was, however, very worried about the dangers of drug abuse, and so he felt he was doing the right thing in trying to squelch community acceptance of drugs, ceremonial or not. He approached the Supreme Court proceedings with the mantra, "Drugs are bad. Slippery slope." Not only was peyote illegal, but it was used in a minority religion; if it were allowed, then surely someone would be asking to use other drugs for religious purposes. But he did reflect sadly to his legal team, "How did we get to be the Indian bashers?"

Epps is not only a journalist and lawyer, but also a novelist. His ability to describe personalities and anecdotes serves him well, for although this is a legal story, the human stories within it are what make it live. He has used process of the legal arguments as a springboard for an examination of many connected subjects: the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; the story of Alcoholics Anonymous; the tale of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the Oregon town that was taken over by his devotees; the saga of the Road Man who is the ceremonial leader of the peyote religion. These set pieces are fascinating, and strengthen the main story. It is disconcerting that there is no pat final resolution, but Epps writes, "The law of religious freedom remains unsettled." Thus may it ever be.

This book is one of the best looks at a Supreme Court case in quite some time. Examining Oregon v. Smith, one of the most important yet unheralded legal battles of our time, Epps' book plumbs the depths Indian rights, religious freedom and states rights in a manor which devestates the intellectual pretensions of Court conservatives such as Justice Scalia. The only quible one can have with the book it that it has too much detail on Oregon Attorney General Frohnmeyer. Other than that minor matter, this is a top rate book. Of additional note, the book provides an exceptionaly concise yet comprehensive overview of the Rajhneesh cult afair in Oregon, relying to good effect on the journalism of Oregon Magazine's Win McCormack.

I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this book, and I found it astonishingly good. I had loved Epps's work as a novelist (his "Shad Treatment" is one of the best first novels I know) and I had always wondered if he could apply his writerly powers to non-fiction, as well. "To an Unknown God" draws on all the creative gifts that fans of Epps's earlier books will remember. He takes an important Supreme Court case about religious freedom (he's now a law professor) and tells the story through the remarkable personalities who were involved in the case: Al Smith, the Native American member of a peyote cult who was the plaintiff, and David Frohnmeyer, the all-American Republican wunderkind attorney general of Oregon, who argued that peyote use wasn't protected as an exercise of religious freedom. Epps deconstructs these billboard identities to provide a rich and very moving account of the real people and the heartbreaking pressures that shaped their actions in this legal case. This is a rare book--taking the sometimes dry subject of law and filling it with life. I hope it's a promise of more books to come from Epps, who is a vastly talented writer.

Epps' book is one of the best in recent memory to explore a Supreme Court case. Examining the case of Oregon v. Smith, Epps deploys his skills as both a journalist and a novelist to plumb the depths of Indian rights, religious freedom and states rights. The only quibble one can have is that the book spends too much time on the minutae of Oregon Attorney General Frohnmeyer's life. Other than that minor matter, this is an elegantly told tale. As an aside, Epps presents a concise yet complete recouncting of the Rajhneesh cult saga of the '80's, relying to good effect of the work of Oregon Magazine Editor-in-Chief Win McCormack.

This book isn't just about making bows. It has a great section on making bow strings from primative materials or modern ones. Includes design of stings, types, features. Great to learn to make a string for that bow you just made.

This book is written by several experts and is essentially a compilation of individual articles, each of which is outstanding in the detail of the direction given. However, for a person seeking to make a particular bow, all 3 books of the series are needed and there is not an orderly progression. Just count on buying all three, reading them all, making decisions based on what you've learned, and then picking chapters to help you as you go along.

Great book this has all of the details of making a good bow and more. I am very pleased with its content and recomend all three volumes.

This volume is very explicative and not lost any details of his points. All the volumes makes a great help, and even a single powerfull source of information, to anyone who want to make the finest traditional bows, i recomend !

If someone need to know all regarding archery and bow-making has to buy all these 3 volumes. Here you can find a huge quantity of informations and suggestions regarding it.
The books are also improved with a lot of imagines.
Andreas from Italy

I picked this book up for a little bit of light reading when I visited the Grand Canyon last week. It is a "teen" reader, but I found it really enjoyable. It's an easy read like a "Harry Potter" novel. It's a definite page turner.

I enjoyed the novel because it explores the questions to why the Native Americans who lived in the cliff dwellings of Walnut Canyon left and where they may have gone. Shortly after finishing this novel, I visited Mesa Verde National Park and explored the Balcony house. The ranger's talk explored many of the same theories that the book's story is based upon.

A few years ago my mom got me this book for my birthday, and I thought I'd try it out. It turned out to be the best book I have ever read, and I am not exagerating! I have read it every year since I got it, and I strongly suggest you read it, and realize what I'm talking about. The adventure and suspense is great, as well as the dialogue and strong characters you will want to meet. Take my word for it, once you pick it up, you'll never want to put it down!

The book I've read is called the "Walker of Time". The reading level is not too hard and not too easy. I would recommend this book to the people who like reading adventure books. As you read through this book, it gives you a good atmosphere and you will feel like you are in the story. This story is based on time travelling. The main character is called Walker or Wayma in Hopi language. Walker had to travel and confront dangerous situation. He had to travel to find out about the time travelling. As he travels through in the story, he finds new companies. Such as when Walker was blackout because of the thunderstorm and when he woke up the first thing he saw was this white American called Tag. After that he met flute maiden and more like white rabbit and the eagle. This story is like "Wizard Of Oz" because as he travel he met new friends.This book is kind of a gentle, flowing of ideas.After all, if you are a real adventure book reader, you should get a copy of "Walker of Time".

My dad bought this book for me a few years ago and I didn't think i would like it but i tried it out anyway. it was the best book ever. i lent it out to so many people that i never got it back but everyone who read it loved it.

I have just read a book called walker of time and it was amazing.
I would recommend it for people aged from 10 to 50.

It is about a Hopi indian boy called Walker who travels back in time 600 years. While he is travelling back in time a young white boy manages to get zapped back as well. Walker knows he's been sent back for a reason, but what??

It is half an adventure and half a sad story.

I honor the author Susanne Blake in her sharing her story of her paths beginning. She graciously allows the reader to travel with her down her path and share her experiences. I highly recommend this enlightened book to anyone who is awakening to thier path, who realizes coincendences are more then mere chance. I for one am waiting anxiously for her next book ! Love and Light Susanne..... hugs !

Susanne has enabled us to be an audience to a true story of healing, recovery and hope. "When Spirit Speaks" shows us that the life of miracles and peace are here for all of us.... if we only reach out and believe. As one of the characters in this book I know first hand that a Spirit-filled life is available to us all......

We all search for meaning and wholeness. In "When Spirit Speaks" Susanne Blake explains how we can find balance as we learn the lessons we need in order to become whole. Encouraging us to be ourselves and go forward without fear, Susanne's openness and honesty shine through as she describes her involvement in Native American beliefs and rituals. Through the telling or her personal story she enables us to focus on the truths of our own spiritual journey.

"When Spirit Speaks" is a joy to read and offers insight into how we too can draw on spiritual forces to help us with our lives.

Few accounts meld mystical and practical aspects of one woman's life as does this courageous journal. The author's journey through Christianity and Native American Spirituality reveals that these worlds do co-exist peacefully and beautifully. This is a freeing and self-affirming message to one denied cultural and racial knowledge and pride while living in the dominant society.

This is one of those books that I started reading years ago, and set aside - not because I didn't like it, but because I got distracted. It surfaced recently and I finished it in only a few days. The story in this book pulls no punches. The author portrays herself as a real, fallable woman on a path of connection with Spirit. The experiences and wisdom shared in this book came to me just at the time I most needed to read them. Spirit spoke to me through this book.

This very fine history of North America covers 10,000 or so years of exploration and settlement all in one volume. It is written in a clear, concise prose, and although it is loaded with facts and anecdotes it is never dry. Morgan starts out by describing the peopling of North America via the Bering land bridge. Then he moves into the stories of the European explorers and early settlers, and how they deal with the Native Americans. After many hardships and failures, the Spanish end up with permanent settlements in the south, the French in the north and the English on the Atlantic Coast. Morgan then describes the emergence of the Americans and how they eventually dominate the continent and displace Europeans and Native Americans alike.

I highly recommend this if you enjoy American history.

Beginning with the passage of people across the Bering Strait, Wilderness at Dawn : The Settling of the North American Continent takes us through the westward expansion of the United States. Carefull attention is given to the Spanish, French and British influences on the American way of life. An excellent and concise reference for anyone interested in North American History. Easy to read, and full of real life history

Breathtaking approach to a well known subject. History from the people's viewpoint. No dull dates, battles, generals, presidents; but living, breathing stories by and of the most unique and most common. Must also read Shovel of Stars, the sequel (also 10)

Ted Morgan's "Wilderness at Dawn" is one of the best of a crop of North American colonial histories published since 1990. Rather than a comprehensive history, it is a series of incidents that add up to a very readable whole. Morgan begins with pre-Columbian history and goes on to relate the experiences of the Spanish, French, Dutch, and various flavors of English colonies. One of my favorite stories is how the godly Pilgrims found themselves neighbors to a riotous colony led by one Thomas Morton. Before Miles Standish put their rivals out of business, Morton's drunken crew traded guns and booze to the Indians in exchange for beaver pelts and sexual favors. Anyone who believes history is boring has not read Ted Morgan's and other recent works about the American colonies. The last section of this book addresses the problems of post-Revolutionary War colonization, including chapters about the appalling dangers of trans-Appalachian settlement and about how the Old Northwest was surveyed.

Reading these first person accounts of day-to-day and moment-to-moment life in pre-Colonial America gave me such an appreciation for what our predecessors went through to make our country the great one it is today. This is the book our children should read in their American history classes. Exceptionally well-written, with a "you are there" feel to it. Makes me want to learn more about the young George Washington after reading about his escape from the center of the freezing river. Well-written, entertaining and informative. I'm lapsing into cliches, but this book is a MUST READ. Just brilliant. You'll admire the everyday people who built our country one day at a time, and never tire of reading about their adventures. I hated to see it end, so thank God there's a sequel!

The 50 States Fandex cards were in excellent condition and arrived quickly. I have a 4 year old who is learning so much from them.

We bought this as a gift for our soon-to-be first grader. We have been traveling a lot this summer and the fandex is a fun, easy way for our daughter to look at the states we have been through. Concise and easily manipulable for little people.

This was the perfect start-of-school present for my 5th grader. her teacher loved it too and everyone wanted to borrow it. The state reports were a snap.

My kids find the Fandex format easy to use, and the information on them accessible. We have several, and they're fun for all of us to use together.

I like the fact that each state has a map, as well as pertinent info: Admitted to the Union; if and when Seceded from the Union; if and when Readmitted to the Union; Nickname; Motto; Capital; Bird; and Flower. There are also several paragraphs of pertinent information about each state, with some history and a description of the character and things, which make it unique.

The only quibble I have about these decks is that sometimes when they're completely fanned out, the edges of the illustrations get caught up in each other, making it hard to close them properly. But other than that, they're cute, informative, and a nice format for kids.

As a curriculum developer, I am constantly on the lookout for educational products that will enhance textbook study. I must say that the Fandex Family Field Guide 50 States far exceeded my expectations! Having enjoyed history and geography in school, I was surprised by how much I learned while reviewing this guide. It is full of interesting facts and tidbits about each state while also presenting important information that students should know.

Each card has a topographical map of the state and lists when it was admitted into the union, nickname, capital, motto, bird, flower, and has a small picture of the flag. The topographical maps are detailed enough to be able to get a grasp on how far it is from San Francisco to Los Angeles, CA, for example, and important national parks and monuments are also included. A small outline map on the back of each card shows the state in relation to the continental U.S. Information on each state's industry is included in the text.

Overall, I was impressed by the amount of information presented in such an interesting format. Students who enjoy history and geography will find 50 States particularly interesting, but the unique format will engage even more reluctant students.

Not much to say really--a great book about a very great man. For those who think the struggle for racial equality began in 1954 this book will widden their historical hisorical horizons. But what it shows to me above all are the heroic possibilities of ordinary people in the US "Nate Shaw" or others like Hosea Hudson and later Fannie Lou Hamer--I wish somehow people in other parts of the world could read this book because they would realize there is a hidden America, an America not represented by our dreary and belicose politicians or our narcotic talking heads or worse our "official" historians" I can think of very few other books about American history that EVERONE MUST READ.

Nate Shaw was the father of my Uncle Oscar Turner's best friend. His real name was Nate Cobb and the family of the son, Lorraine, is prominent in the Middletown, Ohio ghetto.

The author has done a masterful job of illustrating how greatness was thrust upon him. Nate never set out to become a hero, only to protect his own dignity and provide for his children.

I do not believe that there is a better book for teaching about the lies of 20th century sharecroppers. Theirs is an overlooked legacy.

I am hoping that by entering a review here, I can see other reviews that I can use to write a book review on this title. Its due tomorrow! Yikes!

This is a timeless classic, and not just among memoirs, because the subject was a great American---a man who "had no get-back in him." Nate Shaw (real name Ned Cobb) had an amazing memory, and also an acute understanding of the post-Civil War rural South. The rhythm of the seasons, work routines, knowledge of livestock, nature and people too, combine for a profound view of a vanished America. (If you want to really know about mules, Ned's the man.) But Ned didn't just observe, he worked with the Alabama Sharecroppers' Union and defended powerless friends, serving 12 years in prison for his pains. This activism sets him apart from Kas Maine, a South African sharecropper to whom he's been compared in recent years. The earthy dialect wears out some readers, but otherwise "All God's Dangers" is compelling from start to end. Writers from Wendell Berry to Pete Daniel praise both man and book, while John Beecher's "In Egypt Land" is a moving poetic rendition of Ned's story. R. Kelley, "Hammer & Hoe" vividly recreates 1930s Alabama; on Kas Maine, see C. Van Onselen, "The Seed Is Mine." But Ned tells about his world far better than the others. In living, then narrating, a life of great struggle lived with great dignity, Ned Cobb performed a signal service---for all of us. We are in your debt!

In the middle of Rosengarten's book, truly a masterpiece of oral history memoir making, Nate Shaw says "all God's dangers ain't a white man." This would seem truly a remarkable thing for a black man who spent over a decade in an Alabama prison to say, but as a farmer growing cotton in Alabama during the first half of the twentieth century it quickly makes sense once he explains it. Shaw's story of his chaffing under his good for nothing father's roof; his growing prosperity as share cropper and than as a yeoman farmer; his hucksterism when dealing with violent and hostile whites attempting to cheat him; the defense of fellow small farmers that got him thrown in jail during the Great Depression; and his takes on the science of farming, race relations, the American class system and his own life experiences show Shaw to be a master story teller and Rosengarten and master interviewer. The combination of these two was absolute dynamite.