North America Books

Unfortunately I cannot locate a copy of this text for myself, and I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I'm a soon-to-be graduate student and a current resource management employee for the Franklin County Metro Parks (Ohio), and would greatly value this addition to my library. If anyone has valuable information, please contact me at feric25@hotmail.com. Thank you.

I am a graduate student who is using the book as a resource for my thesis. I have found the information to be clear and concise. Often there are areas where it is hard for someone to identify an organism and these authors are clear in stating when there may be some controversy. I have also found the listing of resources used by the authors quite valuable. They have done an excellent search through the scientific literature for their information. Both authors are well known in the field of odonate research and have earned the position.

It is hard to compare "Damselflies of North America" with any other work on the subject because there simply are none! That said, it is a real pleasure to see the only book in its field be also one that would shine as the best if there were hundreds of similar books. I only wish such a book was available for some other arthropod taxa!

Damselflies have generally taken second place to their generally larger and faster flying relatives, the dragonflies. Thus this book fills a very real gap in the literature.

With the color photos and detailed descriptions and keys this book will be the standard for many years to come. All odontologists who have some interest in the damselflies should own a copy!

Natural spirit-filled poetry accompanied by stunning colourful artworks.
I hear the book is out of print so I would recommend getting a copy on Amazon as it is a collectable to pass down with meaning in your family.
If you have interest, respect, or intregue like the Native American Indian culture for nature, spirit, the earth, and heartfelt connections to all, then this is a beautiful book that you will appreciate. A special find.

I first read Nancy Wood's Dancing Moons after visiting Santa Fe and seeing Frank Howell's gallery. The words and thoughts that Wood has shared with the reader are thoughtful and energising. I find myself going back to her writings for guidance often,for myself and to share with friends and loved ones. I am appreciative of the emotions she has shared with us. Her talents as an expressive writer are world class.

I have never quite understood why Nancy Wood's poetry collections are classified as "young adult". Her deep wisdom and clarity are more likely to be more fully appreciated by adults. This is a wonderful gift book for transitions times: graduations, marriage, death of a loved one, etc. Her poems are liking looking deep into a Medicine Lake where one sees the very fabric of life and all the its intricate connections. Frank Howell's paintings will fill you with awe and haunt your dreams.

Several months ago I purchased this book and introduced myself to the excellent writing style of Richard S. Wheeler, a critically acclaimed Western writer who certainly deserves a wider following. Barnaby Skye is one of the most compelling figures in modern Western writing and a fair depiction of the legendary Mountain Men of the early Nineteenth Century. Their kind has long since vanished from the earth, but Wheeler takes you right into their lifestyle and makes his readers feel we are along for the adventure. His depiction of legendary Mountain Man Jim Beckwourth rings true. Skye's Crow wife, Victoria, is a wonderful character -- and the plot is fast-paced and exciting. This book, like almost any book by Wheeler, is hard to put down once underway.

Once again Richard Wheeler thrusts us into the turbulant world of Mountain man, Barnaby Skye and his two Indian wives, Victoria and Mary only this time the story takes a more familiar twist. All's not well in the Skye household and change for the worse and better is afoot.
Victoria has had enough and leaves the morose Skye and like the other books in this series that's only the beginning of an epic adventure.
There's enough action and adventure for any man while offering something substantial for the ladies as well. This book's about salvaging their lives and expectations and finding some scarred redemption in the hard fought process.
Wheeler tells a good story. You won't be disappointed.

Richard Wheeler, who has created some of the most memorable characters in all the literature of the American West, has outdone himself--and everybody else--with Barnaby Skye, Rocky Mountain trapper, guide and adventurer and late of His Majesty's Royal Navy. In Skye, Wheeler has outdone Frederick Manfred and Vardis Fisher and giving us a mountain man to remember. There are a dozen novels in the Skye series--beginning with SUN RIVER in 1989--so the reader who has yet to discover this Horatio Hornblower of the early West has an enviable treat in store. And, thankfully, DARK PASSAGE is not the last in the series.

I loved this book when I was young, and I still really appreciate how it presents Kit Fox's world in a way that seems so honest- the charecters really seem like people we would know instead of culturally different charecters. Its one of the few kids books about native americans that I (an anthropologist to boot) can re-read without cringing, which is pretty high praise for any children's book!

Kit Fox visits a horse her tribe took from the snake indians(their enemy) in the mornings before everyone's awake. When she is found out she isnt allowed to visit the horse again. Then, when their enemy threatens to ambush her tribe, Kit Fox must race against time to get help.

Kit, a young Blackfoot girl, feels like she can't do anything because of the social taboos the tribe has for young women. When warriors bring back a horse, the first of its kind the tribe has ever had, driven by her curiosity she secretly visits the horse with the help of her friend and eventually learns how to ride it. Caught in the act she is banned from visiting the horse much less riding it. But when the tribe is in danger it is up to her to ride for help and defy all the rules.

Logging in America's Northwest, an industry and occupation which arouses strong passions and polarizing viewpoints.

Jim LeMonds, though not neglecting the emotional and substantive areas of contention, focuses primarily on the human contribution and in some cases sacrifices of the loggers themselves.

This book should be read by anyone with even the vaguest interest in forest management and environmental issues. Although he is from a logging family, I feel that the author has been exceedingly fair in his description of todays industry and what the future holds for this industry and more importantly for logging communities.

To me the efforts and accomplishments of the people featured in this book, and the many thousands like them, are what has made our country great. It is ironic that their contibutions and in some cases sacrifices have not received the recognition that they are rightfully due.

Buy this book, regardless of your political viewpoint on the logging industry, and celebrate the spirit that has enabled all of us to enjoy the many privledges of being Americans.

They say write about what you know...LeMonds knows the soul of the past and modern logger and writes with as unpretentious style as I've seen in a long time. He uses the language (always loggers...never lumberjacks) and shares with the reader the language and techniques of everything from falling, bucking, setting chokers, to trucking the logs. Furthermore, he does it based upon the real-life experiences of his family. You learn how they used to rig a spar tree and what went through the climbers mind as he accomplished this task 150-200 feet in the air. LeMonds also shares the future of forestry (hand-seeding, herbicides, fertilizer & thinning) to move the life span of high-productive crops like Douglas Firs from hundreds of years to perhaps as little as 35 years as well as what the modern equipment does now and probably into the future.. Perhaps you might find the short chronology of the work history of each of his family members in the logging business too detailed but it's more than worth the wonderful stories and perspectives that go with them. LeMonds acknowledges the scars on the landscape of the past but also the enduring scars on these tremendous men who contributed so much to this Country's development of the 20th century. I don't think one could ask for a more balanced view of this industry and have it written with such class. This is the best book I ever expect to read about this subject, which is so dear to my heart having been raised in a nearly identical community in Southern Oregon. Today I ordered a second copy to send to a dear friend still working in the woods.

James Lemonds peels away the Bunyonesque macho image that has been falsely hung on the loggers of the Northwest and shown them as they are; broken down, disabled and discarded by the industry that exacted a terrible toll on both the workers and the forests.
Anyone wanting to research the human cost the industry extracted should start with this book. Death and disabilty rates beyond the range of nightmares were considered standard and acceptable, simply because the carnage took place outside the public view.
The hard work, honest efforts and caring that the workers brought to the job were repaid with lack of respect and now, lowering wages, no job security and disdain from the general public.
As bad as it is in Lemonds description, the list at the end of the book does not include all the co-workers of any current or former loggers that I have talked to who have read this book, nor co-workers of mine, who were killed on the job. The toll suffered by the workforce was at least equal to that suffered by the forests.
Lemonds tells the story in an even-handed, personal way through his extended family and community. This is a must-read book by any student of Northwest culture of the past century.

Captain John Gregory Bourke (June 23, 1843-June 8, 1896): 3rd U.S. Calvary, Civil War veteran, graduate of West Point, staff officer to General George Crook for 16 years, writer, diarist, ethnologist, holder of the Civil War medal and Medal of Honor, and later Indian War medal, now buried in Arlington National Cemetery with wife, Mary. What a life he packed into those short 52 years of life!

If any primary sources should see print, it is the written diary that John Gregory Bourke kept throughout his life. We owe a true vote of 'thanks' to Mr. Robinson for taking on this venture.

Though Captain Bourke published many works during his army years his diary, far as I know, has never seen the light-of-day in book form. John Bourke, General Crook's 'Dr. Watson', was himself an ethnologist, a military historian, as well as writer. To the Sioux (Lakota) he was known as "Ink Man" and later to the Apaches he was known as "Paper Medicine Man". He was both an "accurate reporter of Indian custom and ritual".

Eventually he was invited to work with the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology and his interest in tribal welfare did some damage to his long army career. Many readers will remember two of his better known works: ON THE BORDER WITH CROOK, and AN APACHE CAMPAIGN IN THE SIERRA MADRE. Faithful to General George Crook, to whom he had served 16 years in field or post as staff officer, Bourke's writings offer an historical chronicle of their joint military campaigns. In 1986 Joseph C. Porter wrote a fine biography of Captain John Gregory Bourke entitled PAPER MEDICINE MAN.

At the time of this review, 3 volumes of the important historical diaries have been published by Mr. Robinson and University of North Texas Press. May this noble, worthy effort be blessed with much success; what a boon for any reader interested in plains history and the Indian War campaigns of the 19th century.

Semper Fi.

Historians of the Apache and Sioux wars have long used the diaries of Lieutenant (later Captain) John Gregory Bourke but until Charles Robinson came along they have been available only at the West Point library, or in microfilm copies at a few university libraries. Bourke maintained a through and careful journal and frequently included the text of offical cables and reports. This is not a great diary from a literary point of view, but Bourke's gradually developing understanding of the Indians he was putting on reservations reflects what was going on in the collective mind of America itself. Before Bourke died he had become one of the proto-anthropologists who recorded the beliefs and customs of Indians who were fast forgetting their own culture. The present volume -- third in the series -- is notable for an extended account of the killing of Crazy Horse in 1877, an unnecessary blunder for which General George Crook, Bourke's hero in both sense of the word, was largely responsible. Bourke does what he can to defend his commander, including many distortions and a few outright lies. This account must be read with care and frequent reference to other accounts by Oglalas interviewed by Eleanor Hinman and Mari Sandoz, and by Billy Garnett, the ubiquitous interpreter, then only 22--years-old; Jesse Lee and Henry Lemly. But Bourke's sensitivity on the point only highlights the importance of his diary; he was in the thick of events, had the character to shed prejudices along the way, and did serious work in preserving knowledge of Indians as they were in the last third of the 19th century. Robinson is the author of many books of frontier military history, including a biography of Crook. His annotations of the Bourke diaries are thorough and reliable. No interested person or serious library should be without these books. Reviewed by Thomas Powers.

Edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson (history instructor at South Texas Community College and a fellow of the Texas State Historical Association), The Diaries Of John Gregory Bourke: Volume Two: July 29, 1876-April 7, 1878 is the next published installment of the personal journals of John Gregory Bourke who served as cavalry lieutenant in Arizona from 1872 up to the evening before his death in 1896. A noted ethnologist who wrote extensive descriptions of Native American tribal life and customs that he observed first hand, he illustrated his diaries with both sketches and photographs. This second published volume opens as General Crook prepares for the expedition that would lead to his infamous and devastating Horse Meat March. The diary faithfully recounts the manifold hardships the troops and their officers endured. The diary then continues with the story of the Powder River Expedition and culminates in Bourke's eyewitness description of Colonel Ranald MacKenzie's destruction of the main Cheyenne camp in what become known as the Dull Knife Fight. With the main hostile chiefs either surrendering or forced into exile in Canada, field operations came to a close and Bourke finishes this second volume of his memoirs with a retrospective of his service in Tucson, Arizona. Enhanced for the modern reader with extensive annotations and a biographical appendix on Indians, civilians, and military personnel named in the diaries, this outstanding series continues to be a seminal and strongly recommended contribution to American Frontier History and Native American Studies reference collections and supplementary reading lists.

This little book/dictionary has a brief and succinct account on almost every main event, person, court case, legislation, etc. It even conveniently includes a copy of the US constitution at the end. If you are looking for a quick reference or maybe something to refresh your memory, then this book is perfect for you. However, if you are looking for an in depth analysis on various historical events, people, etc. then I wouldn't recommend this book.

Dictionary of American History, Michael Martin & Leonard Gelber

The authors attempted to provide a reference to events of American history such as economics, finance, labor, law, social welfare, literature, industry, science, religion, commerce, and foreign policy while not skipping political and military events. They carefully selected and edited this range of materials for the widest audience. Biographical items provide the essentials, as determined by the authors' judgments. They used 714 pages in this 1978 edition. You will be rewarded by any random search of the entries. There is an amazing number of facts that will educate and entertain the casual reader, and provide a starting point for more research. [One miscalculation was to list the ERA as Article XXVII.]

"Gas Industry" tells of the use of gas for lighting since 1806 in Newport RI. Baltimore in 1816 became the first city lighted by gas. Boston in 1822, New York in 1823, Philadelphia in 1837, the Capitol in 1847. "Income Tax" tells of its progressive features. It first exempted ordinary people (who earned less than $600 in 1861). By the 20th century most states had income tax laws to raise revenue. "Tenant Farmers" tells how the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1937 provided loans for the purchase of family farms. "Tenement Laws" improved the fire and health hazards of housing with new standards for plumbing, fireproofing, ventilation, and light. Old law tenements still existed in the 1930s until Federal laws allowed their replacement by low rent housing. "Granger Laws" were state laws that regulated railroads, grain elevators, and storage warehouses for the benefit of the midwest farmers. After these laws were declared unconstitutional in 1886 by a Supreme Court influenced by the railroads, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. Further amendments affected other industries. "Fair trade laws" allowed manufacturers to fix retail prices for their products for every retailer. In 1951 the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional any state law that affected interstate commerce.

"McCulloch vs. Maryland" was the 1819 Supreme Court decision that Congress could not be limited in its power if the end was legitimate and the means used were appropriate. The "Glass-Steagall Act" created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, restricted Federal Reserve Bank credit from speculation, and banks from dealing in foreign securities and as securities underwriters. [Its modification in the early 1990s allowed Investment Banks to use a perfectly legal form of "pump and dump" to swindle investors in the High Tech stock bubble of the late 1990s.] "Drake, Edwin Laurentine" drilled the first oil well in western Pennsylvania in 1859. The "Social Security Act" of 1935 provided for compulsory savings for wage earners to provide an annuity upon retirement. [Their figure of a "3%" deduction and monetary figures are long out of date.] "Wyoming" produces cattle, coal, oil, wool, and timber. In 1869 it allowed woman suffrage in national elections, and elected the first woman governor in 1925. It was called the "Equality State". "Palmer Raids" arrested and imprisoned thousands of aliens without a legal trial. Accused of violating the Constitution, A. Mitchell Palmer did not win higher political office. The "Yazoo Land Frauds" occurred when the Georgia legislature was bribed to give 35 million acres to a company for $500,000. This was declared unconstitutional and led to a long legal battle.

I'm a French studient and I'm studying English at University. The University library had it and I find it very instructive so I recommand it to the other students.

Wonderful illustrations, words that speak to the heart and soul. This is a great book for all ages. My 20 month old son loves the pictures and the sing-song rhythmn of the words, my 82 year old father loves the spirit of the book. We have the paperback in our sons library, and the hardback on our family library for future generations... Walk in peace, ...

I can't decide who enjoys this book more? Me or the kids. Beautifully written and illustrated. A must have for all nature lovers with children (or without).

This book is the best children's story to read to your kids on a fresh, April morning. It is a poetic journey through the natural world just as Spring begins. The illustrations are breathtaking, bold, and seem to flow off the page into your hand as you turn from one awesome scene to the next. The words, few but powerful, bring the reader through a meditation on the earth's beauty as seen through the eyes of an Oneida woman.

I fought with my husband as to whom was going to get to read "The Dragon In the Lake first!"
It is an exciting book about pre-columbian finds in a lake called Rock Lake in Wisconsin. The author, Eschborn walks you through a process of discovery making the book a real page turner!
Not only is it exciting, it is informative and superbly written.
I couldn't put it down! This book would make an excellent movie.
After reading it, As a diver I am now compelled to visit this Lake and attempt to do some cold water diving with my husband, a Dive Instructor.

This is an indepth research work on Rock Lake Wiscinson that is easy for the layman to read and understand. It is clear that Archie Eschborn has a passion for the preservation of this major site and it is equally clear that he has identified his major antagonist in his goal to attain this preservation. The work is a chronicle of his adventure and you can sense his dedication as you turn the pages. If you have an interest in the history of Wisconsin and have respect for the culture of the earliest inhabitants of this area, this is a MUST READ!!!! It debunks the pre-concevied notions of the "powers that be" and ends with an interesting turn of events. The book will impress you with Archie's depth of knowledge of Rock Lake.

I've just finished The Dragon in the Lake, the story of the "structures" under and near Rock Lake, Wisconsin. This story has fascinated me ever since acquiring property on Rock Lake about nine years ago. Having read Frank Joseph's books: "The Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake" and "Atlantis in Wisconsin"as well as hearing and meeting Dr. James Scherz, this book by Archie Eschborn is the best explanation yet of the ancient structures which lie beneath Rock Lake. It is very readable, understandable, and "connects the dots" for me. Finally, we are presented with actual evidence that other works have lacked regarding Rock Lake's ties with Mesoamerica, the early Aztecs, and the archeological history of an ancient Pre-Columbian era.

Now, it becomes the job of the Wisconsin Historical Society to follow the evidence where it leads and PROTECT Rock Lake as the archeological wonder that it is. To do any less is a travesty.

Mr. Eschborn has written a remarkable, concise and accurate book which, for me, takes the guesswork out of understanding. It is with the greatest privledge that I highly recommend reading The Dragon in the Lake as one of the most fascinating reads ofmy lifetime. It's magnificent.

Kay Nightingale

Visionary Mohawk medicine woman, Ohky Simine Forest's first book is a comprehensive and poetic reporting of long misunderstood ways of the Red Lodge of indigenous peoples. Had Europeans come to this continent as gracious guests, these are mysteries of the matriarchal Mohawk society that could have been shared with them. Herself an initiate in Mohawk, Mayan and Mongolian shamanism, Forest reveals the spiritual matrix which these cultures share and embeds it in a contemporary, real world political urgency. Synthesizing these core spiritual beliefs and practices, Forest offers compelling evidence that the view from the Red Lodge is what the world requires for individual and collective restoration to well being. The Red Lodge ways also provide, in the Medicine Wheel, an earth-derived map to self-governance that modern people are questing for in many guises. She teaches that the Medicine Wheel equips us to relate to planet and self in ways that are nearly inseparable, self-supporting and without which no sane system for enduring societal governance can arise. How do we build, nurture and sustain community? The matriarchs of the Mohawk have been doing it since antiquity and through perils most of us will never face. Forest, a Mohawk matriarch with a vision lives among the Maya people with this community building governance backed by the spiritual backbone of shamanism. Forest has little patience with hit and run shamanic wannabes and the extraction of "techniques" from their cultural matrix which leads, she observes, to further soul and societal illness. In this book she reveals with surprising candor, depth, and her characteristic humor, the world into which the shaman walks with expanding perception and deepening experience. It's no cake walk and Forest's book is unflinching in its descriptions of the challenges and dangers of this work. For instance, trotting out a Power Animal "technique" or forming a relationship with the incorrect Power Animal can have debilitating effects on personal energy and health. It is a sacred relationship born of the waters of the Red Lodge, she cautions, not a one size fits all concept that can be extracted safely from its matrix and doled out casually in workshops. Forest both describes and elucidates the interwoven meanings of the Medicine Wheel, dream body work, lucid dreaming. power animal allies, earth burial ceremony, vision questing, journeying in the nine Mayan underworlds and the thirteen Mayan upperworlds as well as giving a comprehensive recounting of native prophecies and their considerable energetic, economic and political significance for our modern times. This is a text to which those who study or practice shamanic work will refer again and again.

This book is one of the most serious, dense, and challenging of its kind in a genre saturated with slim, superficial volumes. The wisdom is clearly ancient and rich, and is carefully measured out for the reader. The teachings are not easily absorbed (by this North American, at least), but are excellent if you are looking for a deeper, truer understanding of shamanic traditions. Highly recommended.

Dreaming The Council Ways is a beautiful, complex work of synthesis and rebirth. Author Ohky Simine Forest weaves together spiritual training disciplines and practices from several cultures, including Mohawk, Mayan, Mongolian, and others. An added feature is her beautiful fold-out full color art work on several points of teaching. These are truly lovely, deserving extra attention. Forest patiently and warmly encourages the reader to respectfully explore beginning from their own racial perspective(s) and not to expect quick fix New Age short cuts or other cultural appropriation practices to yield valid, lasting insight or growth. Material on matriarchal traditions will interest students of feminine perspectives. Forest is not a comfortable read. That is not her way or her goal. She opens and hopes for a deeper spiritual connection with the reader, sharing information on dreaming, medicine wheel practices, interpreting power animal guides, and vision quests. She seeks the larger view, the convergence of spiritual paths. She challenges and teaches, reflecting the responsibility to heal back to each individual (where it belongs). As with all worthwhile experiences, more will be gained from giving more. That also applies to reading and understanding her book. Dreaming the Council Ways is accessible to nonNative readers, but it will yield more to the better, more thoughtful effort to understand with respect.