Indiana Books

I think this book is a very good book,in that it is a counter to the typical "price guide" arrowhead books, this book does not go that route, and discusses the lithics in more of a professional manner, and is more for people who are interested in the cultures, and the lithics and not in what something is worth. The only critique I have is that the book trys to cover too large an area...i would prefer one that is aimed at specific states (even though the boundaries lap over state lines), and would prefer the author to stick with established nomenclature as to lumping points into various categories. I think the book is headed in the right direction but needs improvements.

excellant point type guide to arrowheads of the southwest. Much information on the cultures that made them and on how they were made.

This is an essential reference. Noel Justice has done an amazing job of gathering the references and synthesizing a very complex and diverse array of "spear and arrow points" in this volume. I can also recommend "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of California and the Great Basin". Well worth the rather high price.

Carol Guess's second novel, "Switch", is the story of a small-town diner and the lives - public and secret - that intertwine within its walls. The narration shifts among several women, but the main character is a waitress named Caddie, whose lover, Jo, has left her. Her friends are sympathetic, but Caddie takes little comfort in their condolences because none of them know that Jo is a woman. When the diner hires a new waitress, Caddie must confront her feelings for the new girl and accept her own sexuality.

"Switch" is a story of womanhood and sexuality, and learning to accept them both in yourself, whatever their form. But it is so much deeper, more involved, and more delightful than its synopsis. The prose is distinctive and profound; the novel's voice is so unusual and incisive you will find yourself thinking in the characters' words even after you've finished reading. The characters are bizarre but utterly human and believable; Guess has found a way to make the impossible plausible. The story exists in a realm of intuition where feeling is being, where reality is flexible. It is a realm that absorbs the reader and leaves an imprint on the mind. This is a book you will not want to reach the end of, and a read you will never forget.

The novel revolves around a diner in the small town of Cartwheel, Indiana. Caddie, a waitress at the diner, had a very public affair with Jo, a worker at a local factory, until Jo just left her. No one outside of the lovers knows the true texture of their love affair because Jo never let on that he was really a woman. Selena, another waitress, has a secret of her own, as does almost everyone connected with the diner. "Switch" is an addictive novel of secrets, desires, and the sensual aspects of everyday life. The characters spring from the pages and take on lives outside the story. And by the time the final pages are reached, the reader wants to become a regular at the diner so as not to miss any moment in these characters' lives. Truly masterful storytelling.

If you enjoyed Seeing Dell, you won't be able to put down Carol Guess' latest work of art, "Switch". If you have yet to read either book, BUY BOTH!

Ms. Guess shows amazing insight into the human mind. Her characters are real, alive, and quite intriguing. And the story of each character is told in their own words, in both books.

The story takes place in the small town of Cartwright, Indiana just outside of the Ms. Guess' own hometown. The story is centered on Caddie, a youngish woman who makes her living as a waitress in a small, privately owned diner.

Caddie tells the story of her dearest love, Jo, who left her one day with barely a note of explanation. Through Caddie we learn about Jo's true identity. Caddie is the only resident of Cartwright who knows Jo's secret body, and real name. The man everyone knows as Jo, or Joseph, is actually Josephine. A woman who left her true identity on the bus that took her to Cartwright, Indiana.

Through! out the book Caddie struggles with her desire to tell the truth of her own sexuality and the fear of what that admission might bring to her life. She suffers in silence for years with no one else who she can relate to, although we soon find, that there are many people in Cartwright who share her burden of guilt, because their love also takes them from the acceptable boundaries of society.

As each character adds their own narrative to the story, we learn each have their secrets from each other. Ultimately, each of these secrets surround love or passion and how they have lived their lives to ensure their hidden loves go forward unaltered.

"Switch" shows the true complexity and depth of human desire and need. Its standing testimony to the fact that everyone, male, female, in any class stratification, of any sexual orientation, will do what they need in order to protect what is valued in their lives, and do so happily, in a world less accepting of their differ! ences. All in the name of love.

This book was delightful! , fascinating, and captivated my attention for hours on end. It will stand on my book case for many years to come, and will be read again and again. Cheers to Ms. Guess!

(If you are interested in seeing more reviews, please email me for the URL to my home page!)

I think everyone should read this book. It only serves to make us realise how lucky we are and how we, especially in the West, can have nothing to complain about. The sufferings of the various women who in some cases had to fell trees in -50 degrees centigrade for 600grms of bread a day is inspirational. At some points I felt that I was ready fictional accounts as I found it hard to believe that mans inhumanity to man, or in this case, woman could be so mind numbingly awful - and for what.....truly terrifying. Exceptional read you will not be able to put it down and the strength of character of the women will stay with you long after you have finished the book.

Full of interesting characters, cruel soldiers, vicious fellow prisoners. The physical desolation and emotional desperation these women experienced during their respective prison sentences is unforgettable! This book should be required reading for anyone interested in modern-day tragedies.

This book is, without doubt, shocking, shaming, horrifying and representative of the utter degradation of the Stalin regime but equally, it is filled with courage, strength of spirit, endurance and compassion for one's fellow human beings. A collection of memoirs of women imprisoned in Stalin's purges, reading this is like having a series of intimate conversations with women caught up in something so evil and wicked it defies imagination.

I found myself wondering about the Russian psyche, the nature of communism, the parameters of dictatorship and the increasing obsession today's governments have with political correctness. There are scarcely words to describe the future an ordinary, well-educated, Moscow career girl could face for telling a slight joke, having vengeful neighbours, marrying the wrong man, being the child of the wrong parents or, indeed, doing nothing wrong at all. This stuff makes Orwell's 1984 look like The Simpsons and Kafka like Harry Potter. So unjust and farcical were the bases on which these women were incarcerated in prisons and camps no different than those created by Hitler and the Nazis, that you feel the victims and, indeed, the whole of the USSR was caught up in an indescribable nightmare. Truly, I don't have words to describe how sick and devastated I felt on completing this book. Read it and weep. This truly was Armageddon.

Alan Garinger's book is spell binding. His story telling is reviting -- as a writer his presence is "invisible" as he draws the reader into the story. This tale is as historically accurate as it is compelling. We bought this book for our grandchildren and ended up reading it ourselves. We liked it so much we bought multiple copies for the grandkids, assorted friends and one to keep!

"Torch in the Darkness" targets "middle readers" but is an exhilerating trip through history for youth and adults alike. The sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of Renaissance Bavaria are so graphically depicted that one cannot help but accompany Dieter, the poor boy who struggles up from filthy poverty to make his dream come true. The characters are well-rounded; the countryside and cities come alive in the mind's eye. Claire Ewart's color paintings are a gorgeous complement to Garinger's elegant writing. That this gripping story is based on a real artifact in Nurnberg, where the reader might hope to go one day and actually see it, is an added delight. Two thumbs WAY up!

Great book! Taught me a lot that I did not know. I purchased this book for my kids and found myself finishing it before they did. Fantastic, authentic detail in the everyday life of the 1500's. Most books of this type gloss over what it was like to live in this era, Alan goes into great detail and gives children (and adults!) such a vivid picture that you can see, hear, taste and smell everything that Dieter does! When an author is able to grab you and put you into the subject's shoes...he is a master at his craft! Highly recommended, from a mother and two kids, 7 & 11! I am disappointed in Amazon not having this book available..it is December and I wanted to purchase another copy for our schools' library.

Charles Major's 1908 Uncle Tom Andy Bill is one of my all time favorite books. It is also the favorite book of my fourth graders at the Odessa Christian School. My Uncle Albert Potter used to read this exciting adventure book when I was in seventh-grade in 1960 at the Cass-Union Elementary School in Southern Indiana not far from where the adventure was said to take place. It is filled with cliff hanging excitement and tender love. I recommend first reading his equally exciting 1908 book Bears of Blue River. Donald Potter, Odessa, TX

I was an avid reader as a boy growing up in central-Ohio and this was one of my favorite books. I would rank it right up there with Treasure Island. I believe the copy I had belonged to my great grandfater and it was old and falling apart when I read it the first of many many times. I don't know what happened to that old book; I suspect it was trashed at some point when I was out traipsing through the woods and I can't count the times since that I have wished that I had that book to read. Due at least in part to the reading of that book I am fascinated by caverns, the outdoors, and the early frontier days when Ohio and Indiana were the wild west.

This book was one of my favorite books as a young boy growing up in Indiana. A great adventure story taking place during pioneer days in southern Indiana.

Having been born in Floyd County, Indiana, I often wondered what role Indiana, being a border state, played
during the unfortunate period of civil war in America. This
treatise so eloquently presented, answered many of the questions I often asked myself before I was able to sink deeply into this discourse. Thank you Pam Peters, for I now know many of my ancestors aligned themselves with good and fought diligently on the side of freedom and against the evils of human bondage. And, were able to accomplish much, despite the transgressions and oppression that were visited upon them.

This book contains extensive and thorough research to back up and debunk certain claims about the Underground Railroad in Indiana. This is a fascinating look at what happened right along the border of the North and the South. The author does a good job of revealing the truths often imbedded in the legends regarding the Underground Railroad.

Armed guards are stationed at ferry terminals on both shores of the wide river, carefully inspecting the travel documents of selected persons, insensitive to the fear and humiliation they inflict on these targets of their scrutiny. A scenario from a modern totalitarian government in the years just prior to the fall of Communism in Europe? Hardly. The ferry terminals are in Louisville, Kentucky and New Albany, Indiana, and the time frame is just prior to and including the American Civil War. With honesty, precision and determination, Pamela Peters presents her readers with a glimpse of what it must have been like to be a slave in a Southern state who had the hope of freedom and the means to attain it: The Underground Railroad

Peters paints a brutally frank picture of the stark realities that faced slaves who attempted to cross the Ohio River into a "free" state like Indiana. Degradation and vilification did not cease on the other shore. Humiliating legislation denied both runaways and free blacks the rights and privileges enjoyed by the white majority, forced them to live in isolated designated areas, required them to register as aliens and even to pay a bond against the likelihood that they might lack gainful employment. She makes it quite clear that crossing over into "free" territory could not be the final goal for runaway slaves. For complete security, the destination had to be Canada, since federal law permitted owners of escaped slaves to arrest and detain them anywhere in the United States.

With painstaking precision, the author documents her findings. She employs every available resource, from gravestones to courthouse records to personal interviews with descendents. In addition to correcting the mistaken popular view that there was freedom and security for runaways in the North, Peters also demonstrates the complicity of most of the mainstream churches in the odious institution that was slavery. As if that were not enough, perhaps one of her most significant contributions is the clear and compelling evidence that the Underground Railroad's conductors were not mostly well-intentioned white folks. Rather, those who risked so much to bring freedom to others in this unique clandestine network were free and recently-freed African-Americans , as well as other runaway slaves. After Pamela Peters, the popular textbook version of the Underground Railroad's conductors being principled, church-going white people is no longer tenable.

Gotta have it. If you are at all interested in the origins of all the photocopier art passsed around from desk to desk and generation to generation...

White-collar frustration gets white-hot in this hilarious look into the minds of America's hardest working jokers. Water-cooler not included.

This book is a MUST HAVE for the office worker who enjoys handing out XEROX copies of great humor. Not only is this book extremely funny, it has captured an "almost lost history" of American folklore. Nowhere else can you get the ultimate source of good humor, that has detailed explainations of what and how each joke (or story) have come to being. Good information to educate the younger generation who don't quite understand the true humor of the past. Get a copy of this genuine relic of great writings of people like you and me. A modest collection of pamphlets, cartoons, stories, limmericks, "Top Ten", racial, religious, nationality, poems. etc... some of which you may have seen passed around the office at one time or another. Probably the best "bathroom book" you'll ever get your hands on.

Great story about a Russian family living through the rough times of the Depression years in Roby, Indiana. Once you pick it up, you will not put it down! Full of laughs and tears.

A wonderfully personal account of life in the depression years as seen through the eyes of a child in a family of Russian immigrants living on a farm at the edge of a garbage dump in a town called Lilly, Indiana. Lilly is the fictional name given to what was actually Roby, Indian--a town whose last remnant, the tavern, was being torn down just as the book was released.

It takes a while to get into it, but once you're there, you won't be able to put 1234 5th Ave. down.

Aaltje is a simple but clever girl whose unflagging faith in herself helps her overcome all of life's difficulties. And her life certainly has plenty of difficulties! The early death of her parents, the callous treatment of her siblings, innumerable dangerous childbirths, and a grueling trip across the country - not to mention a faithless husband. Through it all, Aaltje never forgets who she is, and never lets anyone or anything dull her spirit.

This book is so rich in plot and character that it is easy to get lost in it. Once I'd gotten to know Aaltje and her travails, I didn't want to put it down! I especially liked the way Aaltje's husband, Richard, was portrayed: he is a quite subtle and ultimately likable character, who is more weak and thoughtless than truly bad, and whose soul is ultimately redeemed by his unwavering love for Aaltje.

Though occasionally naive, Aaltje's strong will, pure heart, and fascinating life story will undoubtedly endear her to readers.

Aaltje is a poor dutch girl living in the early nineteenth century who has to learn to navigate her way through life after her parents die and her siblings abandon her. While working as a maid she manages to catch the eye of her former playmate and the son of the lady of the house. From there her life is nothing but complicated. Not only must she learn to function as the wife of a wealthy man in high society, raise her family and please her husband, but she also must face traveling from New Jersey to Indiana under the harshest of conditions. Even when her husband doesn't act like he should, Aaltje stands by him and learns what life can really be like.
This a great story for women, outlining the life of one of the author's actual ancestors, who had to survive the life of a pioneer, all the while juggling her religion, her children, dysfunctional relatives and a roving husband. A wonderful book that sheds light on the strength and desire to survive of the early American woman.

This book is a collection of abstracts as published in the Methodist "Western Christian Advocate" 1834-1850. It is a rather specific reference book for use in family or church history research for midwestern states.

It is a very useful tool for those connected to the Methodist Church during the years 1834-1850.

This book is a must have for those who are researching their families with ties to the Methodist faith.
It is a huge hard cover book, fully indexed by name and by city/state. From midwest to the eastern states, it is truly a great resource.