Road Books

Full disclosure time: I am a friend of the author and I helped her and encouraged her to pursue the book project. None the less, I have read the book, and being as objective as I can, I find it engaging and really well realized. Ms. Root has no agenda and no subtext; the book honestly presents the results of exploring an interesting group of people. While being exposed to sociological aspects of women and car culture, one is more interested in the individual women profiled in the book. The photography is excellent, and the reproduction generally quite good. Ms. Root's portrait skills are amply demonstrated in image after image where real personality comes through plainly, confirmed and supported by the text. This is superior to many 'theme' photography books, and a wonderful antidote to those that treat women as only decorations for cars. As a man I enjoyed it; I imagine some young women will be inspired by it.

It may have started when women got the vote, but when women form adoring, nutty and intimate relationships with their true liberator (their CAR!) you're really seeing freedom in action. Women at the Wheel is a love story and an exhilarating ride.

The stories in this book are well written and highlight the strength and creativity that all women posses. I love the way the cars reflect all the best qualities of their owners, especially the when the cars are used to achieve a higher level of freedom. Overall, this is a very inspiring book.

This book is fabulous. It's peculiar that women still tend to be overlooked as "car people," as I had no problem coming up with a half dozen car-centric female friends and family members to give this book to for birthdays and holidays. From the friend who takes pride at keeping her '81 Corolla limping along, to the retired Mom of my closest friend who bought a snazzy new Honda as a retirement present for herself to my own Mom who is a car-buying-research goddess. All have thoroughly enjoyed this book (as have the Y-chromosomed who've read it)!

Highly recommended, well-written, and top-notch photographs.

The Delorme atlases/gazetteers are valuable references especially if you are traveling the back roads. Compared to a regular road map, there is much more detail to find your way just about anywhere in the atlas coverage area. If you need a lot of detail, you can then purchase topographic maps. Special features are also noted. Get one of these for any state where you plan to explore off the beaten trail. I already have atlases for five states, and the collection will surely grow in coming years.

DeLorme has done it again! Stellar mapping and attention to detail make this a grand publication. Two thumbs up!

This was very well made, for an atlas. The format and legend was easy to understand, and it certainly helped my not so great navigational skills.

This atlas is a great book to have on hand while driving through Wyoming, especially via the backroads. It's a must-have for any traveler and resident.

Among the educated of the half of the planet that lives in China and India, the name of Xuan-Zang is very well known. The records of his journey from China through India and back provide a great deal of insight into the culture along his route at the time, as well as the state of Buddhism. The texts he brought back had a strong influence on the development of Buddhism in China. This is an excellent book. I visited many of the Buddhist sites in India and found Xuan-Zang's descriptions to still be of use to the pilgrim today. If you're interested in the history of the silk road and central asia, this book will be of use to you also.

Since the destruction of the famous Buddhas at Bamiyan, Afghanistan in March 2001, the importance of this book has rocketted from its original publication.

Xuanzang wrote some eyewitness accounts of these gigantic statues around 630AD, and this book is an important starting point to finding out more about these monuments and what they originally looked like.

This is not an academic book but more a detailed compilation of events connected with a personage with whom the author has obviously felt a close connection. The text is well sectioned with good maps and useful information, notes and an extensive bibliography that makes the work substantive (e.g., it highlights the wider territory of ostriches in the past). Xuanzang becomes a portal through which we view the art and history of a predominantly Buddhist India before she entered a chaotic phase to re-emerge as a Mughal and Hindu civilisation later.

There is staggering insight into the mentality of the Chinese and Kings at the time and the art they bestowed on the world. The importance of the Chinese civilisation is highlighted at a time when Europe was in the grip of the dark ages.

The book contains minor errors, could have been more critical and Xuanzang's feet on the cover need alteration. Leaving this aside, there is a stunning picture from Bamiyan and we can see what was lost as well as related paintings and statues which are quite exquisite (at least one of them lost from the Kabul museum since the destructive episode recently).

A book worth treasuring as written by a professional, well travelled and strong minded author (and she found the time).

XuanZang's story has got to be one of humanity's most amazing adventures of discovery. I had heard brief references to him in various books about Buddhism, but when I read this book I was just amazed at what a prodigy he was. The amazing synchronicities that helped him on his travels really bespeak a divine providence.

I just wish there were longer direct quotes from his original book, so you could get a feel for his own writing. Also wish there was more discussion of his own spiritual journey or experience with the abbot of the Nalanda university, and the Yogacara/Vasubandhu philosophy.

Great pictures of Nalanda ruins. The story of Nalanda is really interesting in itself and the book gives you a good feel for what was happening there at its height.

All in all makes you want to read XuanZang's original book.

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By all means read this book if you are interested in the history of the Silk Road.

However there is a significant omission in this book. Xuanzang embarked on this epic journey because he wanted to learn Buddhism from the original source. But if you think you'll be able to learn much about 7th century Buddhism from this book, think again. Of course there are tid-bits and small blurbs about Buddhist ideas but it is more an expedient to advance the story rather than an effort to explain. This book is basically a travelogue, not a book of ideas.

Of course researching the various schools and thoughts of 7th century Buddhism would have been difficult and explaining it to the layperson without being confusing or boring would have also been difficult. But still I feel that writing a book on Xuanzang without attempting to explain the Buddhism of that era is incomplete.

Despite the above reservation, I still give it 4 stars because the rest of the book is quite well done.

By Colin MacKellar.

Until someone writes a better book this will remain the TZ owner's bible. I have just about read the print off the pages of the chapters on the production TZ 250 / 350's and the TZ 750 !!

Here we have a wealth of information for the TZ obsessed with excellent photos, and a brilliant text filled with pretty good (though far from complete) detail of the bikes concerned. At the back there is a great technical specifications list second to none.

I have learnt a hell of a lot from this offering and although it has a number of "holes" obvious to a die-hard enthusiast it is still a remarkably good starting point for someone becoming interested in old Yamaha 2 stroke production roadracers.

It was published by The Crowood Press and is now out of print after initial runs totaling around 3,000 copies. Expensive, but well worth the money.

Greg Bennett
www.tz350.com

This is an excellent book on the history of Yamaha in GP road racing! I don't think i have ever seen such a comprehensive and detailed account of EVERY aspect and step along the way in the development of Yamaha's 2-stroke racing programs.

Follow every design change from year to year, through the 1990's. This is a great book with no equal. Full of many photos and lots of interesting history, it is without a doubt one of my favorite Motorcycle related books!

This is an excellent book about motorcycle racing during the last 40 years. It is very well researched, accurate and will provide plenty of information to seasoned racing enthusiasts as well as new-comers to the sport. Definitely a must have. O. Rossi /Kaohsiung /Taiwan

This has to be one of the most comprehensive books on Yamaha racing. A few errors have been found in the book, but for the most part it is very well researched and chocked full of great pictures of some of the best riders in the sport. Past, Present and future. If you are into two-strokes, there is no better book.

The "great river" is the Mississippi River that provides the western border of Wisconsin. This 250 mile stretch of the river showcases spectacular scenery. Beginning in the north at Prescott, and continuing down to Potosi in the south, there is a superb highway running down along side which is called the "Great River Road". Norm Rogers and Chris Dinesen Rogers have collaborated to produce for the traveler or vacationer traveling along this highway system a highly recommended and very portable compendium of 101 suggestions of things to do and see. Designed with one specific suggestion per page, each entry also includes a specific and relevant fact. If you are planning a day-trip or an extended weekend along Wisconsin's share of the Great River Road, then begin planning your itinerary by browsing through the pages of Norm and Chris Rogers' 101 Things To Do On The Wisconsin Great River Road!

For the past several years, Chris and I have traveled the Great River Road in Wisconsin, and while doing so, looked for the perfect travel guide. Everything we found seemed to be self-serving, paid advertisements, so we decided to write our own. "101 Things To Do" is a list of fun things that can be enjoyed by the entire family. It turned out to be the best little book. Even after driving the Road a dozen times, it still keeps us busy. I would recommend this book to anyone.

A delightful travel companion with interesting suggestions and fun trivia! Definitely leads you down the "road less traveled" with great results!

Having ancestral connections with the Holston River and Cumberland Gap areas of Tennessee and Kentucky, I was particularly interested in this book. Lawlor has done her typically good job of historical accuracy. This is a good trade book to use to supplement a middle school curriculum, and I recommend it as such.
I was delighted with the examples of superstitions peculiar to the people of the time period. The language and expressions were also meaningful as I have heard my older relatives use the same expressions.
What I find annoying in each of the American Sisters books is the constant sibling conflicts. While I know, of course, that these exists, it seems Lawlor works overtime to make the conflicts a part of the story, when usually they add nothing to the plot or storyline.
Overall, this book is an easy read and informative.

Unlike the title may suggest to some, this is a book for all genders. I am proud to be a man, and it was good for me.

This book, fourth in the AMERICAN SISTERS, was almost as good as the first book, WEST ALONG THE WAGON ROAD, was even better than the second book, A TITANIC JOURNEY ACROSS THE SEA, and was as good as the third, VOYAGE TO A FREE LAND. This title was about eleven-year-old Elizabeth Poage, her parents, her two little brothers, Robert and Joseph, who are five and three, and her younger sister Martha, who is nine, and their journey along the Wilderness Road from Tennessee to Kentucky in September of 1775. At the begining of the journey, Martha and Elizabeth can't seem to get along, but when Martha gets lost in the dark and endless forest, Elizabeth realizes just how much her little sister means to her, and determines to find her before it is too late. I love the AMERICAN SISTERS series and can't wait to read the next book, CROSSING THE COLORADO ROCKIES.

This book, fourth in the AMERICAN SISTERS, was almost as good as the first book, WEST ALONG THE WAGON ROAD, was even better than the second book, A TITANIC JOURNEY ACROSS THE SEA, and was as good as the third, VOYAGE TO A FREE LAND. This title was about eleven-year-old Elizabeth Poage, her parents, her two little brothers, Robert and Joseph, who are five and three, and her younger sister Martha, who is nine, and their journey along the Wilderness Road from Tennessee to Kentucky in September of 1775. At the begining of the journey, Martha and Elizabeth can't seem to get along, but when Martha gets lost in the dark and endles forrest, Elizabeth realizes just how much her little sister means to her, and determines to find her before it is too late. I love the AMERICAN SISTERS series and can't wait to read the next book, CROSSING THE COLORADO ROCKIES

After 36 years of walking with the Lord, this book has shined a light on just how far along I am! (or not). Mumford has always had wonderful teaching and insight (the kind that you always remember and actually changes your life) but I think this is his best.

This book explains the issues, the problems, and most important the cure. In my own personal journey on the Agape Road, I only wish that I had the knowledge, insight and wisdom that this book offers twenty years ago. This is a must read bood for every christian who yearns for a closer and personal relationship with God the Father and His son Jesus Christ.

This book gets to the essence of the gospel. It exposes the dead works and brings the believer into His glorious rest. It sorts through the issues bringing you to what matters the most,
that one thing that rules every other desire.

Dr. Allen Wilson

The idea of life as a journey has been always a fascinating concept.....after all being at crossroads of life forces you to make choices in your life...sometimes good...sometimes bad... But this book which explores the American journey with such intensity gives also life journey its special meaning. It made me realise that our journey continuously imposes on us this tough dilemma of where you are heading in your life or where your life is heading you....

If we are the cities and cities are us - the roads to our cities and their streets become borderless and paved with the power of human dreams and desires, connecting us with each other in the search for the ultimate meaning for our lives - our freedom in making choices in our journey for better life...

"All Roads Lead to the American City" certainly deserves its special place ...and not only because of its relevance to American studies - but also because of its contribution to human journey...no matter where you are....and where you are heading in your life.

The exhilarating journey of the United States on the road crisscrossing the heart of the city to the suburban outskirt can now be fully experienced in Peter Swirski's recent work -- All Roads Lead to the American City. Bringing together five inter-linking and inter-cultural essays by scholars from different disciplines, Swirski has once again triumphed over an indispensable read for all walks of life. The collection starts with Priscilla Roberts' detailed account of the socio-historical and political factors that contribute to what she terms a "perennial ambivalence" of the Americans and the city. This is followed by Gina Marchetti who in chapter two illustrates the Asian American search of identity in the land of plenty by examining Renee Tajima-Peñas documentary My America... or, Honk if You Love Buddha (1997). The central chapter written by Swirski himself brings the readers to the mean street of the exciting hardboiled era and the hustle-bustle of today's high-rise through Ed McBain's police procedurals, which vividly personify the city as femme-fatale. In chapter four, Earle Waugh explores the road with the notion of betterment initially driven by moral and religious concern, then by that of the state and the public, which reflects "the decay of a corporate manifest destiny" (95-96). Last but not least, William Kyle in the concluding chapter studies the growth of metropolises and the future of urbs Americana by looking at the interplay between the constant peopling, demographic growth and pattern, as well as the socio-political structuring and policies in the nation. As Professor Christine Bold remarks, "This collection of papers contains tons of valuable information and much lively writing. Its strengths are its accesibility, its juxtaposition of materials, and its historical sweep," All Roads is likely to become a core textbook in every classroom where American Studies is taught. Given so much scholarship has been dedicated to globalization leading from the American City, All Roads Lead to the American City is indeed a highly original thesis. With its literary flair as well as its historical and sociological vision, Swirski's collection proves unfailingly to be a rewarding read for just about everyone!

"I think the book is very informative. I have no previous knowledge of American history, and I think the book is very useful for anyone wishing to know more about American history as it provides not only a broad overview, but also details of particular periods. To me, the details keep the book interesting." This is how my first-year Arts student, Karen Chan, at the University of Hong Kong comments on All Roads Lead to the American City, which is currently used as a textbook for the first-year introductory course on American Studies.

As an English teacher at the University of Hong Kong, I have quite a number of Arts students having a genuine interest in American Studies. If you are interested in American Literature, do you think you should only work on disciplinary studies of the subject? Is it adequate to watch some Hollywood movies or read crime novels and say that you have a good mastery of contemporary American culture? Tapping the insights of "the entire spectrum of the humanities and social sciences to evaluate the transformations currently underway" (p.4), any students or knowledge seekers can just follow Swirski's slim single tightly-knitted collection to find the answers as it puts Urbs Americana under the microscope. With this indispensable reader in hand, you can reach for core interdisciplinary analyses a la American Studies.


All Roads Lead to the American City is another magnificent offering from Peter Swirski, who is Associate Professor in American Literature and heads American Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Swirski is an exceptional talented writer who has written nine books in American Literature and Culture and has contributed more than fifty articles in various places. Swirski's works have been highly praised by numerous scholars and literary critics. Once again, All Roads Lead to the American City is an amazing collection that readers should not miss.


"Cities, for the most part, are America", and are "crisscrossed by tendrils of traffic-bearing arteries", writes Swirski (p.1). The metaphors of the road and the city are intensely revealed throughout the whole collection. With important contributors from interdisciplinary areas of American Studies (History, Film, Religion, and Geography, plus Swirski's own chapter on literature of the city), Swirski's collection comprises five intercultural essays with rich and lively content about American culture. Taken as a whole, readers will first follow the steps of a historian, Priscilla Roberts, to explore the socio-historical and political factors that contribute to the `perennial amibvalence' of the rise of cities and urban culture in America. Next comes a further elaboration of the metaphor of the road by a film scholar, Gina Marchetti, who uses works of a popular `road movie' filmmaker, Renee TajimaPeñas, to portray a personal search of identity through the eyes of an Asian American. Swirski himself, in the central chapter, invites readers to explore the New York City by a vivid and fascinating discussion of Ed McBain's police procedurals to argue for the crucial role of crime literature in "nobrow aesthetics", as Swirski calls it. The last two chapters are a literary-cultural examination of the dreams about the America's literature of the road by a literary and religious comparativist, Earle Waugh, and a vivid insight into the latest development of Urbs Americana from William John Kyle.

As the guests complimented in the Book Launch at the University of Hong Kong, All Roads Lead to the American City has the potential of becoming a great and influential textbook for any students, teachers, or general knowledge seekers. Its impact should not be underestimated.

I once owned a restored, 1948 Allis Model B tractor. Long live the "Orange"!!
This book is a very useful reference for the antique tractor collector, restorer, and enthusiast. It does not include information on later model Allis-Chalmers (A-C) products, i.e., it only covers tractors produced during the first half century (1914 thru 1963) of company operation. This pocket sized reference book includes detailed model specifications, product serial numbers and dates, model history comments, and some black and white photographs and drawings.
I have been really pleased with this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in antique Allis-Chalmers tractors and crawlers.
As I have researched antique tractors from other manufacturers, I have been very disappointed to discover that a detailed data book, like this one, does not exist for other antique tractor companies.

Absolutely great package! I couldn't believe how much info the author backed in this small, glove-box size book! He should do more. The info is very thorough, and were details were not available, the author indicated, rather than simply make it up (laugh maybe, but this has been a problem with lots of tractor books out there!). you can trust this one. Been in the tractor hobby for many years, and this is the most useful book on AC I have seen to date.

If you're looking for something to carry in your back pocket or in the glove box for those tractor auctions and collector gatherings and other shows, this is the perfect book. It has all the tractors and the first serial number of each year and model and the last serial number made.

This guide by far is the absolute best novel to use for a reference about Louisiana's River Road. It starts just past New Orleans from the East Bank and goes upriver, crosses at Baton Rouge and then continues back downriver to New Orleans marking points along the way by mile markers. This book will tell you where you will find every plantation, every creole housee - every single place that is or remotely historical in nature. This book is NOT to be left behind when exploring Louisiana's magical River Road.

This revised and expanded version of Sternberg's previous work makes for fascinating reading for both visitors and Louisiana natives. It is not only a wonderful guidebook, but concise glimpse of the history of the Great River Road. For more from this author I suggest "Winding Through Time" which is her study of the history and influence of Bayou Manchac.

Describing details along both River Roads (one on each bank) from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, this is a great read. From Colonial to Antebellum to the Refineries populating the area now, its a very interesting and informative book. Including both straightforward history about various plantations and local people as well as colorful local stories, it's a great read. I only wish someone would write a guide like this for the area stretching north from Baton Rouge to Natchez to make it dovetail with Persac's map, around which much of the book revolves.