West Virginia Books

I began collecting Blenko glass shortly before I bought Ms. Pina's book earlier this year. I refer to it often when I am searching internet auctions. Initially it helped me determine whether a price was in line with the fair market value. Lately I have been using it to determine to my own satisfaction whether an unmarked piece truely is Blenko. The pictures are very good quality. The only drawback to the book is that is it woefully short on text. It would have been beneficial if the book contained some in depth discussion of Blenko craftmanship and how to distinguish their products from the other WV glassmakers, especially since they all had a tendancy to copy one another.

The book does have some interesting pictures/postcards and the write-ups are well done. But I was hoping there'd be more pictures showing everyday life in and around the city throughout the years. I guess these are scenes that wouldn't be found on postcards though so I can't blame the author.

Knowing so little about East Africa, I learned much from this book. However, the style was pedestrian, and the book has not been updated since its original publication in 1994.

Well, I went ahead and bought this book despite my reservations. I am not exactly sorry I did, as I find the information useful, but only in combination with other reference books. The line drawings of the designs are alright. The patterns are organized alphabetically, which is great if you know the name of the pattern you are looking for...I don't. However, I think that with time, it will be a valuable resource. Definately not for the novice collector.

Really helpful when you are wanting a quick reference. The website has all the same information too.

I first read this book while I was at school, years ago. It's a reprint of various news/journal articles on inventions of the Victorian era. Lots of illustrations of improbable and otherwise inventions are presented - including the engravings of the NY pneumatic subway which decorates the walls of the average Subway sandwich outlet. The only complaint I have is that it's a bit light-on in terms of length. Still, it's worth a look. I bought it after having remembered it from years, so check it out.

In this book about Harper's Ferry where I took my boys and nephews on a historical outing some years ago, we learn about John Wilkes Booth, the young actor appearing there to entertain the Rebel troops with his juggling act. He was a Southern sympathizer, but most of all he wanted fame and fortune like his older actor brother. Many books have been written about John Wilkes Booth's participation in the Lincoln death. It is sad that so much blame was put on his shoulders.

This is a lovely little town and has been preserved to look as it did in John Brown's days minus the weapons supply house which went up in a boom. Booth was there in 1863 and fell in love with the surroundings. I have seen this special place in a few movies since my boys and I were there. It is a distinctly different place from any other. Once you've been there, you will never forget every little detail. It is that historical and meaninful in this country's war zone. I have been interested in Lincoln's assassination for over twenty years, mainly because they hanged Mary Surrat, the first woman to be officially killed in this manner. It was at her boardinghouse where the conspirators met to discuss and plan killing Lincoln and others in his Cabinet.

John Wilkes Booth, from a prominent acting family, was a Confederacy sympathizer. But that in itself does not make him guilty. He was denied his right to a trial. Most of the South were more than a little upset when Lincoln was inaugurated for the second time. They refused to accept him as "our" President. We had Jefferson Davis whose daughter married Zachary Taylor's daughter. I don't believe old Zach was a Rebel. "Killing Lincoln' as a one-man theatrical presentation, written by Amy Russell, originally premiered in Toronto, Canada. I emphatized with the young actor (who I thought was an old man, as he is such a good actor) who said, "I enjoyed playing off you." I told him the reason he held my complete attention was due to the fact that I had read so much about Lincoln and also sympathized with Booth's reasoning.

Lincoln as it so happens was a Shakespeare fan and enjoyed going to Ford's Theatre. John Wilkes Booth (Brutus) as one of the most promising young Shakespearean actors of his day. Booth considered Lincoln an "American Caesar." He is sometimes called Booth "American Brutus," the title of another Booth book I have reviewed.

He was a very handsome man and, even though he broke his leg in the leap to the stage (instead of running down the back stairs), he eluded capture with the help of a Dr. Mudd for twelve days. He was not given a chance to tell his side and the complex, misleading reasons he did what he did. That took fortitude! He did not act alone! That's a major issue. He was cornered in that barn like an animal and burned (at the stake) by the vigilante cowards. He was never close to Lincoln as Brutus was to Jesus so the title is deceiving. He was merely a misinformed player who ended up "on his own" after the dasdardly deed. He deserves better than to be called a devil. To some, he was an avenging angel.

This book covers a lot of territory and hikes, and it gives good directions on how to get to the hikes and how to follow the trail, but I was disappointed. Although it's 258 pages long, it does not provide a whole lot of background information on what you are going to see on the hike--just where to turn left or right, etc. How about what I'm going to see other that just say "there is an overlook?" What kind of overlook? What am I going to see? There are quick mentions of a few plants and animals that may be seen, but certainly no background on them to help me identify them or know about their natural history. Very little, if any, mention of human history is provided.

The contents shows 70 hikes, but as you look through the book you find multiple hikes in several areas that could have been identified as just one longer hike. In all it identifies 46 sites to take hikes in.

It is a nice book to direct you to some good hikes in WV, but don't expect much more than that.

John Peale Bishop was a minor poet and author of the 1920s and 1930s. He knew Fitzgerald and met Hemingway, but didn't make that much of an impact himself. This biography gives you a view of the world of the time and some sense of what it was like to live then and try to make a living by writing.

The real interest for me is that John Bishop was my grandfather. I was named after him. Since he died young, I never met him. There weren't many family stories, either. This book thus has a special value to me that it probably won't to others.

This is a great collection of selected maps from history -- my favorite is the one of a skinny North America, with the Pacific Ocean right on the other side of the Appalachains. The title is somewhat misleading, since the book is mostly a compilation of the maps that were published well before the Lewis and Clark expedition. The descriptions of each map are brief, and the author often references other maps that aren't included in the book; I find myself really wanting to see one depiction of the world or another that's described but not presented. Overall this is a pretty cool book, though, especially if you've never seen some of these old maps.