South America Books

I was amazed at how helpful a guidebook can be! Having this book, made my trip to the Gulf South so much more enjoyable and meaningful. Not only does Ms. Bultman obviously know and understand this part of the country, but her enormously entertaining writting make the book a joy to read. I enjoyed the book so much that I am continueing to read it even after I returned home!

I picked up the new Compass American Guide: Gulf South to plan a trip to a warmer climate. Outside the snow was blowing, but I was swept up in the fun and informative narrative by Ms. Bultman and associates. I definately plan a Mardi Gras visit to New Orleans for next year, and D. Fran Morley's "Confessions of a Fairhope Transplant" made me want to pack up and move to her charming little town tomorrow! For now I'll have to settle for a visit but the hard part will be chosing a spot. Natchez and the River Road? Cajun country? Fairhope? From a practical point of view, the book's restaurant and hotel/motel listings are quite complete, and I love the fact that it really tells it like it is in regard to places NOT to visit. The Compass Guides are called "insider's guides," and that's really true here. It's like getting great tips from old friends who know a place inside and out.

Not only does this book contain an immense amount of information about the gorgeous and fascinating state of Nevada---but it is all presented in a personable, idiosyncratic, witty and winning style. As with most guidebooks, you'll probably be interested in reading only those sections relevant to a planned trip. But the book is so informative and fun, you might find yourself---as I did---reading sections about areas in Nevada you have no plans to visit. Highly recommended.

Amusing and useful, well-laid out with honest reviews of both wilderness areas and the glitter gulches--I have used this book for several trips to Nevada and it is indespensible

Emory Thomas has long been one of my favorite Civil War historians and he has another winner with this book. By Thomas' own account, this book is an extended essay, while his later work, The Confederate Nation, was his more broad, lengthy study of the Confederacy. Still, this book has great merit, especially for being an easy to read synopsis of the Confederate revolution. As the previous reviewer stated, that means that the Confederacy was founded by revolutionaries, but also that the Confederacy went through an internal revolution during the Civil War. Thomas points out, as few other historians have, that the things the Confederacy fought for ended up being lost during the war years. Also, the "fire-eaters" (aka, the revolutionaries) who for so many years wanted secession and ultimately got it, were often shut out of the new Confederacy that they helped form. Thomas points out in the end that many of the revolutions that occurred in the South during the war (economics, industry, politics, social hierarchy, etc.) were actually lost post-Reconstruction.

This book is a great introduction to the topic of the Confederacy, but don't pick up this book for military analysis or even in-depth political analysis. Instead, if you wish to read about secession, the founding of the Confederacy, and the transformation of the antebellum South then pick up this book. I, for one, highly recommend it.

There are a lot of things I like about this book and almost nothing I dislike. I think the strongest feature of this book is that it presents the reader with a reasonable historical middle ground for reflecting on the Confederacy, a ground that lay somewhere between the two more extreme views (the Confederacy as an evil racist nation and the Confederacy as a pure and glorified "Lost Cause"). One of the last paragraphs of the book I think best illustrates the position of its author:

"The challenge here is to be honest to the Confederate past. Honesty requires that myths and historical apology be put to rest, along with many of the negative clichés about the Confederate South. To be honest to the Confederate experience requires that we accept its revolutionary aspects and rethink many outworn judgments of its positive and negative accomplishments." (p. 138)

The purpose of this book is to show that the Confederacy not only enacted an external revolution (in terms of its war with the Union), but that it also experienced a very significant internal revolution. Thomas does a great job in this short book of explaining what things within Southern society were revolutionized and in what ways. Examples of areas of Southern life that went through profound change include the economy, the aristocracy, industrialization and the prominence of agriculture, gender roles, the psychology of individualism and romanticism, and of course slavery.

This book is well written and Thomas makes his subject very accessible to the reader. This book would probably be out of reach for the average high school student, but is certainly appropriate for any college-age person. My only point of disagreement with Thomas was his categorization of the Confederate revolution as essentially conservative, which I think is a hugely debatable point. However, since the point is so contestable the disagreement does not affect my opinion of this work. Five stars for a great book from a qualified author.

This is a wonderful purchase for anyone interested in the African influence in Latin America.

Gleaton's work is gorgeous. These photos are treasures for anyone who calls the Americas home. What's he working on now? Can't wait for the next Gleaton collection!

This book was superbly written by Seth Bramson. It is a five star book which I highly recommend. This book captures valuable historic photographs with precise detailed information educating us about the history, architecture, and important people of Coral Gables years ago.

this book also shows me a lot of old photos of the miami areas around old coral gables.

Cornbread Nation 1 was edited by John Edgerton and includes fifty-one original features and selections previously published in magazines and journals, all celebrating Southern people, places, traditions, and foods. It was published in association with Southern Foodways Alliance, a group of foodies who "celebrate, teach, preserve, and promote the diverse food cultures of the American South."

There are now four collections of essays thus the "1" in the title-- the "annual" has appeared four times over six years. The other collections are Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue, Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South, and Cornbread Nation 4: The Best of Southern Food Writing.

This volume is organized by "People," "Times," "Things" and "Places", but it's much more fun to pick and choose your dishes much as you would at a buffet in Northern Virginia -- nothing prevents you from having dessert before the soup, for example.

As Edgerton writes: "Individually, the selections in these pages can stand alone; they need no shoring up from us. Collectively, they buttress our conviction that nothing else the South has to offer to the nation and the world--with the possible exception of its music--is more eternally satisfying, heartwarming, reconciling, and memorable than its food. Our dishes and beverages express our faith, our good humor, our binding ties, our eternal joys and sorrows, our readiness for whatever awaits us."

A few of my favorites: Rick Bragg's "Dinner Rites," Thanksgiving meal in Alabama with cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese ("a vegetable in the South.") "I eat until it hurts, and my brother Sam will grin at me, because he lives here, works at the cotton mill, and can eat it all the time."

Fred Chappell on "ice" tea: "I am one southerner who detests that dirty water the color of oak-leaf tannin."

Kathleen Purvis teaches that pig liver, head parts, and cornmeal spiced with pepper and sage is called "livermush" (possibly brought south from Philadelphia by German immigrants).

This collection sets a very high and enjoyable standard for the entire Cornbread series.

Robert C. Ross 2008
Robert C. Ross 2008

I truly could not put this book down. My daughter gave this book to me for my birthday last fall. When I looked at the title, I was alittle skeptical. As soon as I started reading the book I was completely absorbed. If you want to know about Southern cooking or the Southern people this book is for you. What a fun book.

this is by far and away best english language book on Costa Rican politics.

this book is the finest book on CR political economy in print.

This is the most significant book written about the South in the last 10 years. Aiken focuses on what he and others sometimes call the "shadow" areas of the Sunbelt -- the Mississippi Delta, Alabama's Black Belt, the lower southern Piedmont of Georgia. Progress came to Atlanta and Birmingham, but it passed over large swaths of the countryside where cotton had been king and poor people, mainly blacks, had been the workforce.

These areas are little understood, either by people who live in them or those who live elsewhere. Aiken, through scholarship and insight, explains how these regions evolved and why their lingering problems still confound politicians, social planners and a world of good intentions.

Aiken's examination of the restructuring of settlement in the cotton plantation South from the Civil War to contemporary times captures the complexities of this region's transformation. In three sections he establishes the post Civil War fragmentation of the plantation as tenancy dominates the region, the twentieth century exodus, and finally the contemporary pattern reflecting the changing social and economic structure of the region. Examining the postcolonial explanation for these changes, he opts for a more realistic combination of Faulknerian human failings and failures. Winner of the J B Jackson prize from the Association of American Georgraphers, this book is the culmination of a mature scholar's life work.

Editors Simon Evans, Sarah Carter, and Bill Yeo successfully collaborate to assemble a compendium of truly informative and insightful essays in Cowboys, Ranchers and the Cattle Business: Cross-Border Perspectives On Ranching History. From Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov's "Does the Border Matter?: Cattle Ranching and the 49th Parallel" to Simon M. Evan's Tenderfoot to Rider: Learning 'Cowboying' on the Canadian Ranching Frontier during the 1800s", to Lorain Lounsberry's "Wild West Shows and the Canadian West", the contributors bring their unique perspectives and researches to bear in a series thoroughly accessible, "reader friendly", illuminating, highly recommended perspectives and histories of the ranching business on both sides of the longest, unguarded border in North America from the days of the independent wild frontier down to the present "agribusiness" and global economy environments.

Cowboys, Ranchers And The Cattle Business will appeal to any student of American ranching and Western history, covering the work of cowboys and ranchers from early to modern times and providing different, cross-border perspectives on ranching history. The focus contrasts Canadian and American ranching history and developments and provides some intriguing facts in the process of comparing the two countries for differences and similarities.

In Crack in America, Reinerman and Levine have brought together a wealth of facts and expertise. The authors' chapters are well-written, and hardhitting. Their arguments are carefully composed, and the authors present sensible alternative models. The editors and their contributors have obviously spent time and effort researching the medical, legal and social components of drugs in America and elsewhere. Reinerman, Levine, and their contributors - Loren Siegel and Ira Glasser from the ACLU, Troy Duster, Ethan Nadelman from the Lindesmith Center, Marsha Rosenbaum and Sheigla Murphy, et al, are informed by a sense of social context - the issues of class, race, the economy and popular culture. They are sharp-minded thinkers and writers, who obviously should be involved in the creation of our nation's drug policies. The answers aren't easy, but if we are going to start anywhere we first need to ask the right questions. Levine's and Reinman's book poses substantial questions and issues that must be addressed if we plan to be a more inclusive society, and not a culture that marginalizes and demonizes people in trouble.

I'm telling you this book is really enlightening and shocking. You won't find a better laid argument against our nation's drug policies. Must Read!