I had the pleasure of listening to this author lecture to in class during my senior year of college. Having the opportunity to discuss this book with the author made Slave Counterpoint come to life. Slave Counterpoint makes the topic of Antebellum slavery captivating for those interested in learning about the early days of slavery in the Cheasapeake Bay region. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has a sharp curiosity about early colonial history and wishes to be engaged in an honest account of events(I would recommend reading this book a couple of chapeter at a time).

I had to read this book for my History of Slavery class, thought by the author. Dr. Morgan gave excellent insight in addition to his book. I would suggust this book to anyone for anytype of reading, pleasure and required.

I have read no better detailed study than this book. Long but worth it due to the rich detail.

From the hung jury at the opening that releases Buck Price for the second time to the final rendering of "mountain justice," The Sound of Distant Thunder takes command with Appalachian authenticity. The voice is true, the justice horrifying, the perpetrator a real surprise. There is a pattern here; it's good, down to earth writing. If you like a read that rings true to human nature, The Sound of Distant Thunder is for you.

This book is a success as a love story and a suspense novel. It's greatest success is as an appalachian novel. Specifically the characters are very well drawn mountain people. Highly enjoyable book.

One will soon understand why The Sound of Distant Thunder won the 1999 Book of the Year Award of the Appalachian Writers Association. It's an honest book about folks who live in the hills and coves of Western North Carolina. Sharyn McCrumb's books tell about the mountains in a fair and straightforward way, and so does this book. You will find The Sound of Distant Thunder an excellent read.

This was a text in a Stone Age Nomadics course I took. She is right on the money. Tom Brown's Field Guide to edible plants is longer, however, hers is the best book of its type.

The big problem with cooking with wild foods is that they are seasonal, and we eat all year long. The solution is to be found in this book. It shows how to preserve edible wild foods no matter where you live. This is one of the most empowering books I have ever read. There is no doomsday. Look down and eat up! Good companion to her Lawn Food Cook Book.

This creative research was actually a way of life for this author. She is a wonderful expert in the field of common plants and she also gives us an insight into the benefits of understanding the health and joy, that each living organism has to offer us. God gave everyone the abundance to share in this knowledge and I feel blessed to have come across one, who felt compelled to live it.

Dr. Blaustein's book is destined to become a standard reference for teachers and students of History, English, American and Ethnic Studies. The author simplifies the complex connections between Appalachian and Scotish traditions. He concludes that despite the pressures from dominant cultures, traditions are as tough as thistles and briers to destroy. Dr. Blaustein applies folklore and oral history techniques to prove that cultural revitalization movements have helped empower people who are oppressed by outside colonial forces. This book is a strong reminder of the power of poetry and music to reinforce and regenerate ethnic identity.

This comparison between the marginalized peoples of Scotland and Appalachia deserves a wider reading than it's likely going to receive. Its theme transcends the treatment of these two groups by "mainstream cultures" and shows how marginalized people in general use their creative skills to rise above discrimination and shame. Blaustein is both a part of the Appalachian culture, having lived in East Tennessee since 1970, and yet removed from it as well, having grown up in Brooklyn. His years in Brooklyn helped him understand the Appalachian mindset, because, as he writes, "the Borough of Brooklyn is to the City of New York what Appalachia is to the United States--marginal, subordinate, and popularly portrayed as uncouth." This book describes the rise of the Appalachian studies movement in the region's colleges and universities and chronicles the growth of Scottish heritage celebrations in the United States, through excerpts from a personal interview with Waynesville, North Carolina, ballad singer and activisit Flora MacDonald Gammon, a driving force behind the annual Highland Games, held on Grandfather Mountain in Western North Carolina. A particularly powerful chapter recounts instances of "colonialism" among public school teachers who derided pupils for usages such as "hit" instead of "it." Blaustein strongly reinforces the notion that dialect is unrelated to intelligence. With the deplorable proposal by CBS to create a hillbilly reality series, this book is especially timely for those who seek to understand, rather than mock, the Appalachian mountain people and their rich and complex culture.

I got to look at this book when I was a student in Dr. Blaustein's class. He is excellent and he is really passionate about his information.

Currently out of print, but worth looking for. This book is a must for all interested in Seagrove, NC pottery. Well written and easy to understand by both beginners and experienced collectors. Book includes family histories and history of the region. It gives insight on the personalities of the local potters, those that are still with us and those that have passed on. If you are interested in collecting Seagrove pottery, this book is an absolute must for your collection.

This is by far the best reference for one of the hottest "new" collectibles on the antique/vintage market. I treasure my copy! If you can find one: BUY IT!!! Be able to identify Southern Pottery easily with this book.

Great photos! Fantastic info on each pottery family! A must have reference for the Southern Pottery Collector!

This book is both a history and catalog of pottery made in the Seagrove, North Carolina area. It catalogs almost all known examples and is a must for anyone interested in Eastern North Carolina pottery.

I did the Annapurna Circuit trek (Around Annapurna) last September with this book. I was my bible.
The book has very good chapters about Nepal in general, Kathmandu and Pokhara but it's strength lies in the trail maps and text.
The maps are very very detailed (you can't get lost...), they indicate where is the next steep climbing and how much time does it takes to the next village. In the text you can find recommendations for eating and lodging (that never miss...).
The book covers all the popular treks in the Annapurna region but also offer side treks for more adventrous trekkers.

The bottom line : Worth every Penny!

This guide is all you need for the Annapurna. Beats the pants off Lonely Planet. Great maps, highlights, places to stay, etc.; small and lightweight; good gear list for preparing, info on when to go; bits on Kathmandu and Pokhara. We hiked the entire circuit and used Bryn several times each day.

I found the information in the book was great help. The maps together with the estimated timings were particularly helpful in deciding the route to take.

In addition to the treks Bryn Thomas also gives useful information on places to stay.

We used the book when treking from Jomsom to Pokhara and it was invaluable.

The pictures of the cold arctic climate and wildlife work well with my kids as a summertime bedtime story book.

The pictures are really great. Kind of a panorama of Audobon animals

I just bought this book last week for a bedtime story book for my 7-year old. He has requested it again every night since. The pictures have really caught his imagination. They are nice and detailed but a bit repetitive for me. But my boy loves them and that's what matters. I wish I could buy more books that make this big an impression.

Vanity in Washington by Peggy vanHulsteyn, published in December 2000, couldn't have been more purr-fectly timed. Yes, it was making its way to booksellers just as gift-givers were making up their minds about what to get the cat-lovers in their lives. But it was the embattled race for the White House that made anything with a Washington, D.C. dateline in demand...

VanHulsteyn's cat Vanity provides both the inspiration and the voice. Vanity's trials and tribulations of touring a particular city are from the feline's unique perspective. Through Vanity's travels, we humans get a tour of our Nation's Capital's hot/top spots. One of my favorites is when Vanity coughs up a fur ball in the cab when the fare seems excessively high because the driver didn't understand English and took them needlessly out of their way. She also pokes fun at bureauCATS and fat cats and other political animals...

Vanity in Washington is light-hearted, and vanHulsteyn's humor makes this a fun and funny read...Its 112 pages make it an easy one- or two- sitting reading for the cat-lover in your life -- you or someone you know. Susan Bard Hall, Pet Times

This delightful book is my choice of a gift for every one of my cat-loving friends. Van Hulsteyn knows cats, their idiosyncracies, their foibles, and their lovingly inattentive ways. Cat owners will readily see their own pet in Vanity and her antics. Upon receiving the book as a gift from me, my friend in Seattle, a 3-cat owner, e-mailed, "I can really relate to her description of Vanity getting into her suitcase that's open on the bed....Just what mine do before I go on a trip. They camp out in it and leave cat hair all over whatever I have already packed!"

And cat owner or not, everyone will spot their favorite bureaucrat in the Washington characters van Hulsteyn deftly delivers, along with enough cat puns to keep them in puurrspective. Her eye for distinctive details, as well as the charming illustrations, enhanced my pleasure as I chuckled through her droll descriptions of Vanity facing the frustrations we all deal with daily, from weather-challenged traffic to rude parking attendants to power-hungry "friends." Few of today's manners, mores and tastes escape her sharp wit.

I had met Vanity in van Hulsteyn's first book about her, "Diary of a Santa Fe Cat," and was pleased to find I could continue my acquaintance with this witty kitty--and have a second round of gifts that please my friends so thoroughly!

"Vanity in Washington" is just the prescription to laugh our way out of our recent national political quagmire. (Shall we at least all agree we could use a good laugh about Washington?) Imagine "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" with a feline cast. No, it's more sophisticated, more light-hearted than that. OK. Imagine "Auntie Mame" as a cat. That's closer to the level of hilarity. Readers will be "amewsed " (this book is chock-full of cat puns) no matter which political party has their support.

"Vanity in Washington" offers up a charming view of our nation's capitol through the eyes of an adventurous calico named Vanity (thus the title) recounting her attempts to navigate the metro, take in an Orioles home game, attend a formal state dinner, and become the Czar of Snooze as the new director of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Inertia). It's a timeless send up of bureaucracy and a great gift for those who accept that cats already run the world and we humans are just here to open cans. Recommended.

"Eva Padlyat lived in a village on Ungava Bay in northern Canada. She was Inuit, and ever since she could remember she had walked with her mother on the bottom of the sea. It was something the people of her village did in winter when they wanted mussels to eat. Today, something very special was going to happen. Today, for the very first time in her life, Eva would walk on the bottom of the sea alone..." So begins Jan Andrews' tale of a young girl's first trip alone through the thick winter ice. In painstaking and intriguing detail she describes Eva's adventure; cutting a hole in the ice at low tide, descending to the dark ocean floor below, lighting candles to illuminate the sea bed, collecting mussels, and exploring this beautiful hidden world..... Ms Andrews' engaging tale, filled with history, mystery, drama, and suspense captures the imagination, and is rich in imagery and magic. Illustrator, Ian Wallace's quiet, dreamy artwork, in soft, textured tones, pulls the reader beneath the ice and right into the story. Perfect for youngsters 5-9, Very Last First Time is a fascinating and evocative experience that shouldn't be missed, and works well as part of a unit introducing the Inuit culture and way of life, or as a stand-alone for story time.

The possibility of gathering mussels under the ice at low tide was absolutely amazing to me. I had never heard of such a thing or imagined it. What a wonderful world we live in! Andrews writes of young Eva's solo walk on the bottom of the sea and she does an intriguing job of it.

The illustrator,Wallace,enriches and expands the written story through his detailed pictures of the village and native life on Ungava Bay.

I hope Andrews & Wallace collaborate again and soon!

This is one of the best books for young girls that I have come across. A young Inuit girl is sent under the ice at low tide to collect muscles for the family.. this time by herself. She gets distracted, the candles burn out leaving her in darkness just as she starts to hear the water returning. What an adventure. I buy this book as a gift whenever I need a present for a beginner reader girl.

Volcanoes are among the most interesting, awesome, and dangerous of geological phenomena. The also form many of the highest mountains we know-Olympus Mons on Mars, Mauna Kea, Popocatepetl, Kilimanjaro and many others on Earth. In spite of this, the average person has only an imprecise idea of what volcanos are and how they work. Duffield's fine book comes to the rescue.

The book addresses specifically volcanoes to be found in northern Arizona, so includes many pages of road logs intended for the resident or visitor to the area, pleasant excursions whose purpose is to illustrate a wealth of volcanic features. The rest of the book, however, is invaluable to anyone interested in learning more about volcanoes anywhere. Even though Duffield is a professional volcanologist of considerable repute, he uses clear language pleasantly free of technical jargon and aimed at the non-specialist. The many illustrations are lucid and well done, and the wonderful photographs by Michael Collier are a splendid asset.

The person interested in learning about volcanoes won't go wrong with this fine book.

This book is a wonderful introduction to the San Francisco volcanic field, which created the high country around Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona. Duffield writes in a clear, direct style that's a pleasure to read. The book grew out of a long series of talks and lectures he's given around the Flagstaff - Grand Canyon area -- he quotes a fifth-grader who wrote a thank-you note for "being interesting and not boring," which is a nice capsule review of _Volcanoes_.

Although he's writing for a general audience, geologists who aren't intimately familiar with Northen Arizona will learn of some neat new discoveries -- such as the remarkable similarity between the Mt. St. Helens blowout and the Peaks' long-puzzling Inner Basin (p. 25). And that recent lava-dams on the Colorado River (near present-day Lava Falls) made lakes in Grand Canyon nearly half a mile deep!

And anyone with working eyes will be pleased with Michael Collier's splendid aerial photos -- if you're new to Collier, you will want to seek out his beautiful, large-format _Arizona : A View from Above_, which might be the best book of artistic air photos yet published (and which, sadly, is out of print).

This book covers it all. Accessible text describes in a concise, but not condescending manner, the history of volcanoes in the northern Arizona and Flagstaff area. Excellent, even striking photography. Fine maps and drawings accent the text. This book is suitable reading material for professionals, college students and tourists alike. And an indispensable reference when traveling and sightseeing around Flagstaff, Arizona.

Most people don't realize that Flagstaff is situated near these barely dormant volcanoes which last erupted less than 800 years ago! Highly recommended!