Gulf South Books

Last year, I went down to Houma, Louisiana, to help with hurricane relief. Entering bayou country was a US experience like none other I've seen. I came back and read this book. Tidwell's reporting paints a detailed picture of a unique American life fading every day into history. Wetlands the size of Manhattan are disappearing daily. Tidwell vividly explains why that matters as much as the preservation of the Amazon Rainforest or ANWR -- both environmentally and culturally.

The language, food, family life and environment are all captured dead on in this book. Often, it is a depressing read, especially when you remember that this book pre-dates hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There also is very little here about New Orleans, which I appreciated. If you can look past the bright white light of New Orleans, you'll see that Southern Louisiana is so much more than party beads and booze.

Sitting in a Plantation-Roker chair, on a wrap- around pourch ten-ft. off the groung below, gentile motion and the incoming sea-breeze's off the Gulf Coast at the edge of Biloxi Beach,Mississippi. Looking across the blue water of the bay so far till it touches the sky, framed in silhouette, the ever moving of fishermen and their shrimp-boats and small skiff-sails, darting back-n-forth. The Ole-House is post-war period 1800's southern design, with quarters in the back yard, and a rear entrance for delivery's. Our Bedroom is just behind me through a screen shuttered door's, with the orignal guillotine window's next to a Bolster- canopy bed. Full private bath to the side claw foot tub and pedistal sink's, window looking to our west onto the courtyard below and limbs extend up from the three-hundred yr. old oak tree...Aug.10,2004;Just-a-memory now!!! Thank's,Sully 08'.

Thank you for your quick shipping. I needed it right away and it came.

I flew through the book in about 2 hours. The author offers no real depth into the causes of the problems related to the sinking eroding bayou country. This is mostly a personal uninteresting account of travels through the area. If you want accurate well researched information related to the Mississippi and it's flood plain and delta, read Rising Tide by John Barry.

This book is a must read for all politicians, Louisianians, environmentalists, engineers and concerned citizens. The author does an exceptional job in portraying the life of families inhabiting Louisiana's coastline and the devastating impact the leveeing of the Mississippi river has had not only on the people who earn a living fishing these waters, but the devastation of this ecologically fragile zone. The loss of land to the ocean is staggering! The solutions are simple to implement (let the mississippi overflow its banks) but phenomenally costly. Do read this book and come to Louisiana to see a vanishing world.

I remember some of the media coverage about Camille but Bechtel takes the reader inside the storm for a thrilling, if harrowing, ride. I confess I was ignorant of the damage in Virginia and I certainly did not put Woodstock and Camille together before reading this book. For disaster junkies like me, this is a MUST for your top shelf. For anyone interested in those reacting to a disaster, this book introduces you to some unforgettable people. And, for anyone living on the Gulf Coast, it should be required reading. Every week.

review posted in the American Geographical Society newsletter, "Ubique":

The past as prologue: The story of Hurricane Camille, which until recently defined the apex of tropical energy and fearsomeness, as told by Stefan Bechtel in ROAR OF THE HEAVENS.
During the summer of 1969, nature opened her Pandora's box and released Camille. She perhaps took her first steps as a tropical wave of energy out of the Ethiopian Highlands, made a lazy parabolic arc through the southern Atlantic, then hit the cauldron of warm sea air in the Caribbean.
Bechtel follows nimbly on her heels and issues moment-by-moment reports. He provides a skilful, basic understanding of hurricane science -- readers walk away with a firm grasp of orographic effects, the nature of the tropopause and the fluid mechanics of storm surges -- as well as a "disaster culture" that spurs people to take the storm head on, a culture of cataclysmic ignorance.
What drives that point home is the vivid reconstruction of what it was like to be in the storm, fashioned out of interviews with a few principle actors and dozens of bit players. The storm made landfall to the east of New Orleans with winds that at times approached 200 mph and carrying a storm surge three stories in height. Survivors talk of darkness and howling, being raked by flying glass, having their clothes stripped off. Entire communities were obliterated, while farther to the north, the Woodstock Music Festival was being pelted by rain from all the atmospheric disturbance.
Bechtel relates how then the storm started to disintegrate as it moved up the Mississippi Valley, falling off the radar, only to gather itself once more, dropping biblical rains -- perhaps thirty inches in a nightlong deluge -- on a confined area in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Once again, Bechtel's storytelling power takes on a terrifying clarity. Scores would die as towns were scoured clean away, the rain so heavy it was nearly impossible to simply breathe. A mountainside sloughed off, writes Bechtel, leaving the eerie "smell of deep time."
Camille was a meterological event of the first order. So is Bechtel's recreation.

Being from Nelson County and having lived in Nelson County during the fate of Camille in 1969 - this is a GREAT BOOK!!! My, how it bought back the memories of that time in a 'story' fashion, I couldn't put it down and I was there during Camille. I wish there had been more pictures that others reading this book could truly understand how devastated our county was and why the good folks from Nelson would cringe at the site of a continuous rain fall for a couple of days and schools would close for years to come. However the author did an excellent job in describing just how bad it was without pictures. We still talk about that time and 'where we were', and remember the families and friends that were lost to 'A LADY CALLED CAMILLE' because there was no warning or opportunity to get to higher grounds.
Thank you Stefan Bechtel helping others to understand what a hurricane can do to a town, community and people for years to come.

I was on my way to a Poetry Festival on a Friday, and
I started reading Roar of the Heavens Thursday night.
Instead of getting rested for the Festival, I was up
until 1:30 am, When I arrived, and pitched my tent, and
got to the Festival grounds, I immediately sat down and
started reading the book. Instead of strolling the village,
breaking into a discussion on Craft with a Poet, I sat
down and kept reading. Friday night was freezing cold,
and I kept reading. In the cold, I kept thinking about
the fascinating dynamics of the structure of a Hurricane,
and Warren Raines freezing as he clung to tree branches.
On Saturday, during a readings break, I climbed into my
car, and finished the book. Finally, I could stop thinking
about what happened to Mary Anne, Buzz, etc, and etc, and
starting absorbing some POETRY. Saturday night it was
raining, and I was terrified driving to the campground,
and hearing the rain on the roof of my tent, and it was
pouring Sunday morning, and I wondered if having been
isolated from Weather forecasts, something was coming of
which I was unaware. And thought of the unidentified bodies
perhaps hiking the trails as Camille roared through.
What a riveting read, and the adrenaline is still pumping!
The scientific explanation of the mechanics of a Hurricane
were so clearly described, and fascinating. And the interweaving
of what was happening in the country and world, with
the life and death dramas of those trying to survive
Camille really put things in time and place that connects
the reader intimately to the events. And the families and people
were so real; their pain and suffering, and the incredible
devastation. I know I was thinking about going to college
that summer, at that's all I remember. I remember going
to Mardi Gras in 1972 and seeing the steps going to no where
on the Coast, Biloxi. And I used to drive Rt. 29 going to
Conn. from N.C. in the seventies. Congratulations on writing
such an intense and absorbing, and well researched book.

The afterward and epilogue of this book resonate very closely with observations made by author Jill Fredston in her book "Snowstruck." Humanity seems to have an enormous capacity to forget disaster and to overestimate it's ability to tame nature. News media covering natural disasters regularly describe them as "unprecedented," a patently inaccurate description which has more to do with our collective memory than with reality.

Stefan Bechtel has done good research and assembled a wealth of first hand narratives and scientific explanation. I appreciated the reflections in his aftermath, epilogue and afterword.

In fact, my only criticism of the book is that it becomes rather repetitive at times, grasping for new superlatives and heaping disaster upon disaster and sorrow upon sorrow. Interspersing more analysis between some of the narrative accounts would have suited my reading tastes better, but that takes nothing away from the fact that this is well done book about a truly horrific natural disaster that most Americans probably have no knowledge of.

While no one book is perfect, this revised edition has a lot going for it. It has interesting chapters on Florida's climate and different plant communities, e.g. seaside, interior sections, etc. Then it gives an excellen t and concise description of plants, e.g. DAHOON HOLLY (Ilex cassine)with a GOOD COLOR PHOTO. I have one in my backyard. It gives all the relevant information in a clear and concise way: height, light, bloom,etc. Habitat was extremely helpful, i.e. usually found near streams and swamps. I started making sure it got more water! It is on my shelf next to "Florida Landscaping Plants Revised Edition" by Watkins and Sheehan, and between the two, I think I can usually find some helpful information.

As a fairly new resident of Florida I look forward to Robert Haehle's NGA email each month, with his great advise & tips. This book is a "must have" for anyone new to tropical gardening, as well as, the Southern natives. The information & beautiful photos are especially helpful in identifying what is in my yard & what I would like to add.

I am the co-author of "Native Florida Plants". The new revised edition was printed in early 2004. The new book is not listed on www.amazon.com I think the problem may be the different ISBN number. The new ISBN number is 1-58979-051-0. The book is available from National Books Network at 1-800-462-6420. We hope to see our book on www.amazon.com very soon. This is a great site to get new and used books. I am a customer. Robert Haehle

Great book. Shows many pictures of native plants, trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, etc.
Also talks about how they grow, best areas, etc.
While this book will show you all the native plants in Florida, it does not touch (of course) on plants that WILL grow in Flrodai, of which would be an even bigger book.
Still very useful & will stay on my shelf for many years.

Native Florida Plants is NOT out of print! A new, updated edition was published early this year, and includes additional plants, an updated source list, and a list of family names. Hope it appears on Amazon's website ASAP. (I am the co-author.)

I can't tell you how touched I am by Cholene Espinoza's inspirational story about rebuilding what Katrina washed away. Her clarity, honesty, and sincerity are compelling, humbling and vivid. While I was reading this amazing story, I felt I was on the site myself and that I personally got to know the people she writes about; I could feel their suffering and their hope. Ms. Espinoza gives the readers a wonderful gift by opening our eyes, our hearts, our pocketbooks, and our tool chests to get in there and give whatever help we can, wherever the need exists. I admire her strength to spread this necessary message; it will help so many people. Thank you, Cholene, for your courage to share your experience with us.

In the days immediately following the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina two women decide they cannot sit by and wait for others to help those devastated by the storm. A few days later they left their home in New York for Memphis where they rented a van, loaded it with supplies and took off for Mississippi where they planned to distribute their desperately needed cargo.

This could be an ordinary story about two women (or men) who deliver a truck load of supplies to those left after any disaster. But these are not two ordinary women, and this is not an ordinary story. The author, Cholene Espinosa, a former U-2 spy plane pilot now a United Airlines pilot, had been scheduled to fly on September 11, 2001 on United flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco for her next assignment. United 93 we will recall is the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania as passengers fought its hijackers. Fortunately, Cholene's assignment and flight had been rescheduled. Ellen Ratner, Cholene's partner, is a regular commentator on Fox News and a White House correspondent.

The reader will be held captive while learning why Cholene and Ellen chose DeLisle, Mississippi as their destination, reading about the remarkable people in this small Mississippi town and the difficulties to be encountered in what one would think would be a simple and easy mission. This is a story of courage not only of the people in DeLisle but also of Cholene and Ellen in meeting the challenges they faced. The author bravely shares intimate events in her and Ellen's lives that prepared, and indeed, compelled them to undertake this mission. The reader will be drawn into the lives of the people in DeLisle and the future they are struggling to make for themselves and their children.

This is a gripping story that will bring the reader into the lives of hurricane survivors and those giving of their lives to help the victims recover. This is a book that will unite you with the people of DeLisle and the two exceptional women who could not sit by and let others do the job they felt compelled to undertake.

I read the "Storm" in one sitting. Everyone needs to read this book to remember what one person can do and the incredible human spirit that rebuilds a town and oneself. If you need inspiration that one can rebuild oneself, meet challenges, find a better life, question one's preconceptions - this is the book for you! If you have given up all hope, this book will give hope back to you - for yourself, for the world. I can't recommend it more.

We all have seen the news - we saw the unbelievable destruction that Mother Nature bestowed upon the Gulf. We saw the raw emotion - and sometimes lack of - on the the faces of the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who called the Gulf home. Many of us jumped in to help - mostly by writing a check, or sending donations. And, some of us did nothing. For those of us who stood back not knowing what to do, here's our chance.

Cholene Espinoza - Pilot, Air Force Academy graduate, Reporter, and ultimately, Humanitarian - chronicles her unbelievable mission to the Gulf Coast in the book "Through the Eye of the Storm". Cholene was able to round up supplies and manpower to head ultimately to Delisle, Mississippi to see what could be done. The mission that Cholene was on may have started out to help others, but she comes to realize that she is ultimately the one being helped. Cholene discusses in her book the inward battles that she faces regarding her faith and her country. Ultimately, Cholene's spirit and soul are renewed by the strength in the people that she meets along the way.

So, now you must be wondering where we come in - after such an amazing mission, how in the world can we help? You may be saying to yourself "I don't have the strength that Cholene demonstrated" or "I have nothing to give". Well, it is so simple. Buy the book. Save the money you would have spent on a couple Latte's this week. Pack your lunch for 2 days. ALL, and I mean ALL proceeds are going to help build and support a community center that is going to be built in Harrison County, Mississippi. There are 5 acres of land that will be developed to help the children in the area get their GED, job training, and other skills that they so desperately need to help get them through not only the rebuilding of their community, but real life skills that they may otherwise not get. The community needs this center. The children need a safe place to go that gives them the room to grow and be nurtured.

Any mom out there who was watching the coverage of Katrina on tv, wishing they could do more, here is your chance. Not all of us have the guts that Cholene and Ellen did to rent a truck, fill it with goods and drive down to the middle of a disaster zone. But we can all thank God they did. And we can all open our wallets and buy this book. Besides the fact that it is a great read, all the profits go to build a community center for the children hit the hardest in the gulf. Surely, you all can swing less than $15 for this. This is a call to action! Order it now and do your part to rebuild hope for these kids. Even though it still is not enough. It is the least we can do. You will read just how horrific it was for the people in the gulf. And how quickly we have forgotten. So tonight when you cozy up in your bed with your laptop think of all the children still living in shelters, homeless, and they will be that way for a very long time coming. Together we can at least give them a place they can go visit to play some ball, use the computer, and socialize in a clean, decent environment. Have a heart. Hit that order button.

It was very knowledgeable. Told about most of the activities going on in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

A full update of this guidebook, previously called the Adventure Guide to Florida's West Coast. This book takes in all the cities, towns, nature preserves, wilderness areas and sandy beaches that grace the Sunshine State's western shore. Covers Tampa Bay to Naples and Everglades National Park to Sanibel Island. Canoeing the Everglades, hiking on Gasparilla Island, exploring the history of Tampa's Ybor City - it's all here! Plus it has good town and regional maps.

"These useful guides are highly recommended... " Library Journal "[Adventure Guides] direct you away from the theme parks and into the great outdoors... the information on trekking routes, canoeing, wildlife refuges - even golf courses - is well researched." The Sunday Telegraph "...intended for the adventure-minded travelers with special affection for the outdoors and nature. Each Adventure Guide packs in outdoor-oriented activities set in different regions. There's something for nearly everyone." Midwest Book Review

"This second edition of Walton's comprehensive guide... is a must for visitors." Bon Voyage

Chelle Koster Walton's third edition of Tampa Bay & Florida's West Coastis out, and it updates all the basics on accommodations, restaurants, natural areas and historic sites alike. This adventure-oriented guide outlines the best in inland and water trips, includes museums and shopping, and provides an outdoor focus and budget-minded focus which will appeal to trip planners.

A full update of this popular guidebook, previously called the Adventure Guide to Florida's West Coast. This book takes in all the cities, towns, nature preserves, wilderness areas and sandy beaches that grace the Sunshine State's western shore. Covers Tampa Bay to Naples and Everglades National Park to Sanibel Island. Canoeing the Everglades, hiking on Gasparilla Island, exploring the history of Tampa's Ybor City - it's all here!

First, this book is chocked full of Bruce Roberts' beautiful photographs of the lighthouses in this region. The photographs are nothing less than SPECTACULAR! Combined with the revised and updated information on each makes this regional lighthouse guide a requirement you won't want to be without whether you're visiting the region or a life-long resident. The text contains full, rich descriptions of each lighthouse, too.

I have many lighthouse books and all of Bruce Roberts' and Ray Jones' regional guides. I've read them all and used most of them while traveling. I've found them to be first rate, an excellent choice for people who want everything lighthouse between two covers. A joy to look at and informative to read.

There are directions and other info for finding and visiting lighthouses. They do not always show all lights for a given area. The photos are all color. I own 3 of these books. There are not many other guide books out there so if you are looking for guide books these are good to have. Since there are so many books in this series I thought I'd help people find them easier. This is the series.
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American Lighthouses
California Lighthouses
Eastern Great Lakes Lighthouses - I own this one
Western Great Lakes Lighthouses - I own this one
Southeastern Lighthouses - I own this one
Southern Lighthouses
New England Lighthouses
Mid Atlantic Lighthouses
Gulf Coast Lighthouses

Bruce Roberts and Ray Jones produce the best lighthouse travel guides available. This one is no exception.

This is a very comprehensive collection of information about the lighthouses along the gulf coast. The photos are wonderful, the historical facts interesting and layout beautiful. And it includes directions to all the pictured lighthouses.

There aren't that many books about Gulf Coast Lighthouses, especially the Western Gulf. This book covers all the lights that are still standing, gives a picture and directions to each one, as well as a short history. It also has some good history in the introductions to each section, and general maps. It isn't an encyclopedia, but a very nice coverage of its subject. I think it belongs in the library of anyone interested in Gulf Coast Lighthouses.

I grew up in So. California, so I've been fishing and diving the Pacific for many years. Now I live in Mexico and fish/dive the Gulf of California. I have never found a better field guide for these waters. I keep a copy on my boat and use it constantly.

The full-color illustrations are excellent and the descriptions are precise and accurate. It is laid out logically and is very easy to use. I've settled many arguments and won many bets on the docks with this book.

As a volunteer for the new Long Beach (CA) Aquarium of the Pacific, I needed to quickly learn about fishes of the Pacific coast and how to identify them. This book exactly suits my needs. It is interesting and informative, without being too technical. The color illustrations are beautiful. This is the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about Pacific coast fishes.

Fishes of the Pacific Coast is an excellent reference guide with beautiful full color illustrations of approximately 450 fish. I truly appreciated the inclusion of the fish of the upper Sea of Cortez. Small ecological and historical blurbs are fascinating. The handbook size makes it a must have on your diving or fishing boat.

I do a lot of fishing and own quite a few books on fish. I also keep a life-time fish list, a list of every species of fish I have ever caught that I was able to correctly ID. I have found Fishes of the Pacific Coast by Gar Goodson in particular to be very useful for ID purposes, but I also find it to be very good writing, highly interesting, and full of information that most other fish ID books usually lack. For example, he tells you here if a fish is considered good eating, or not. He tells you where they are found, in how deep of water, locals, tidbits of history about the fish, and also what they eat.
I recently bought two new books on fish, one about fish of the Gulf of Mexico and another on fish of the Atlantic Ocean and looking them over I kept finding things missing; I suddenly realized how much better this book of Goodson's is.
The many illustrations by the artist Phillip J. Weisgerber are all excellent and every single one of them is in color. I am a writer myself, author of some 5 published books now,... and I appreciate books that are put together with care, appreciate writing that is fun and interesting and highly informative. Fishes of the Pacific Coast is an inexpensive book and a darn good one. If you fish in the Pacific you'll want to own this book and will find that having it, and bringing it along on fishing trips will add a great deal to your pleasure. Also, I would certainly recommend this book as a present for anyone who is interested in nature,in fish, in fishing. A marvelous book and one of my favorites for sure!

"Lew," as he was known to me, Sgt Leptien, did an outstanding job puting this book together. Everything that was wrote was real, and accually gave me a few 'flashbacks' to somethings I once forgot. My family appriciates the book very much, since it was the best way for them to know what we did. Good Job Lew! Road Hunter 16

I thought this was a great book. It did a good job of making the experience real to the reader. You get a real sense of how things are over there for the soldiers and what they are going through.

Being in Iraq with James and being a part of one of the Roadhunter Teams, James does a very good job of telling how life in Iraq was for us. This book gives a first hand view of the good we encountered and the "pain in the butt" moments. It also shares the moments when we all wish we could be home with our loved ones.

You can almost hear the water hitting the rocks of the Caney Fork River as you look at the photography of Howard Baker and John Netherton. The seasons may change but the canyon walls stand guard over this beautiful 10000 wilderness area on the Cumberland Plateau near Chattanooga, Tenn. Profits from the sale of the book go to the Bridgestone/Firestone Centenial Trust for maintenance of the area.

John Netherton was magnificent - and at his peak in this book. What a loss to photographers everywhere when he passed. This book, however, is a fitting epitaph. This is a beautiful piece of work.

You can almost hear the water hitting the rocks of the Caney Fork River as you look at the photography of Howard Baker and John Netherton. The seasons may change but the canyon walls stand guard over this beautiful 10000 wilderness area on the Cumberland Plateau near Chattanooga, Tenn. Profits from the sale of the book go to the Bridgestone/Firestone Centenial Trust for maintenance of the area.

In The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast, Gregory Dew reveals forty very special spots to fish along the Gulf Shores, Alabama, to Apalachicola, Florida. Also included for the angler is a wealth of sound advice on rigging an outfit, basic angling techniques, special fishing techniques, picking a prime location (considering tides, currents, wind, water, and geography), fish species and habitats, even local recipes! The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast is enhanced further with a chapter dedicated to resource websites, addresses, telephone numbers, tackle shops, and selected fishing charters. If you are planning a fishing trip anywhere along this spectacular Gulf of Mexico shoreline, begin with browsing through Gregory Dew's The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast!

I am from the midwest and had only engaged in freshwater fishing so it was breaking unfamiliar ground (or water) when my Florida vacation was to include fishing in beautiful St. Joe's Bay. I had no idea what kind of fish were there let alone how to catch them. I purchased Gregory Dew's book, "The Barefoot Fisherman Guide To The Emerald Coast from Gulf Shores Alabama To Apalachicola, Florida" and was not disappointed. The book was easy to read, packed with information and ultimately helped me to catch some fish. The book discusses the proper tackle, rigs, angling techniques in the first chapter. The second chapter is dedicated to picking a prime location. Chapters 3 and 4 were of great interest to me and I read them in detail. Chapter three covers the entire coast from Gulf Shores, Alabama to Apalachicola, Florida and highlights some of the hotspots there. I was delighted to see that one section was dedicated to St. Joseph's bay. Chapter 4 contained great information on the species of fish one might catch and how to fish for them. He also included a rating for edibility. He rated each species of fish on a scale of 1-10 for how good they are to eat. We found his scale to be accurate with the species we caught. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss recipes and gives some Fishing Links for more information. The ultimate measure of the books effectiveness was catching fish. I caught one Speckled Trout that was a keeper and a 23 inch Red Fish (Red Drum). The book helped make my vacation more enjoyable and makes me want to return for more "Barefoot Fishing".