You will, I believe, be fascinated by the side-by-side comparisons of photographs taken in 1923 and 1991, and the remarkable degree of change or lack of change in many of them over the span of 68 years. If you have run the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, or hiked it extensively, you will undoubtedly recognize many of the river and rock features that are depicted in this relatively slim volume (167 pages). A favorite of mine is plate 17, Nankoweap Ruins, taken high above the river. This must be one of the most photographed scenes in the Grand Canyon below the rim, and I know that many river runners have their own shot of this same down-river vista in their personal photo albums. There are 45 sets of photographs in the book, and each set comes with a description of the shot, any significant changes that may have occurred, and other information useful for appreciating the photographs.

The authors achieved a nice balance between text and photos, and provided informative historical summaries of both Grand Canyon river running and the 1923 Birdseye Expedition that produced the original photos. Of possible interest to reader/photographers are overhead maps of locations of all of the shots. With the maps yet more "rephotography" can take place in coming years.

If you love the Grand Canyon, especially at river level, I think you'll love this book.

More Patti Page's "Old Cape Cod" than a collection of recipes, The Cape Cod Wampanoag Cookbook is a wonderful concoction of good reading and favorite meals simplified. Essays are interspersed with mouth-watering and heart-warming dinners, soups, chowders, and breads. A history of the cranberry bogs winds its way through one chapter, carefully following the transition from a time when native children crawled on hands and knees to pick cranberries by hand to the modern method of wet harvesting the bogs. A childhood spent as an Indian guide for hunting and fishing expeditions is well documented in charming narratives spinkled through the book. Earl Mills' voice comes throgh in stories which are divided according to the four seasons, telling readers how his people lived according to the land.
The owner and cook of a popular Cape Cod restaurant for close to thirty years, Mills is Chief Flying Eagle of the Mashpee Wampanoags and former athletic director of the Falmouth , MA public schools. Breen, who has captured his spirit as well as a native respect for Mother Earth, has also captured Cape Cod at its best. Her thoughts on Thanksgiving are worth the price of this little gem of a book.
I read the book cover to cover and then bought it for every one on my Christmas list. Readers, eaters and cooks alike will cherish this delightful gem!

Cape Hatteras: America's Lighthouse is a treasure to all of us who love what is arguably the most famous lighthouse in the world. The authors should be commended for writing not only a fascinating look into the past and future of this great beacon, but also a damn fine tale of passion, perseverance, intrigue, romance, grand schemes, utter calamities, and vast heroism.

This is an important bit of American history but it is not a dry text. This book is a real page-turner, one that will illuminate your mind as surely as the Hatteras lighthouse on a frightening, dark sea. Like the mariners which once depended on the light to skirt a dangerous coast, after you finish reading this book, you will be grateful for the experience.

It would be foolish to give a book that won three prestigious professional awards (the Bancroft, Turner, and Parkman prizes) all in one year anything less than five stars, but the stars I have given this book can only hint at its remarkable contents. Captives and Cousins is based on prodigious research in original sources, and the research is wedded to a compelling and innovative analysis.
Brooks is not the first historian to show that the practice of taking captives and subjecting them to involuntary servitude was widespread in the American Southwest, but I don't think that anyone else has demonstrated so convincingly how deep and wide the cycle of capture and slavery was. Virtually all of the peoples who lived in and around New Mexico in the three centuries following the Spanish entrada (Native Americans and Europeans alike) took captives and engaged to one degree or another in the slave trade. Indians preyed on Spanish and Mexicans, and on themselves, and the Spanish and Mexicans returned the favor. To a degree, even Americans played a role in the trade after they became the controlling force in the region. They offered rewards for the return of captives and thus provided incentives for further captures. Brooks shows that the system of capture and slavery contributed in significant ways to the political, economic, and cultural development of the Southwest, providing a ready source of labor (and wives), knitting disparate peoples into webs of kinship (some biological, some adoptive, some deriving from Catholic godparenthood), helping to equalize wealth, and provoking endless cycles of revenge and retaliation. The system (a kind of "war of all against all") had its own logic, though the logic was crude and in many respects cruel.
Brooks does not saddle Europeans with all of the blame for the system. He makes it clear that capture and enslavement were practiced before the Spanish first arrived in the Southwest. But they participated in it and added refinements derived from their own Iberian traditions. In one sense, the book helps to challenge the myth of Indians as indigenous peoples "operating within subsistence-and-exchange economies that produced little intergroup conflict." Conflict there was, and in spades.
Brooks is an academic, and the book is addressed primarily to his fellow academics. General readers will find the text too dense for easy reading. I found some parts of the book slow going, but I persisted and, in the end, was glad I did. Captives and Cousins not only informed me; it made me think.

First, a disclaimer: I am a fellow member of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports staff with Mike Eisenbath, the book's author. Second, a disclaimer of the disclaimer: Anyone who knows me knows that I have never hesistated to criticize a fellow staff member. On to the review: Here are five good reasons ANY baseball fan would enjoy this book: (1) It's a terrific reference book. Even if you hate the Cardinals (I think they call those people Cub fans or something like that), you have to admit that the Cardinals have been a big part of baseball history with their numerous pennant winning teams and many great Hall of Famers. (2) If you are a Cardinal fan, the book will bring back a lot of pleasant memories and a few unpleasant ones. (I've learned NOT to mention the 1968 or 1985 World Series around rabid Cardinal fans.) (3) The 200 player profiles alone are worth the price of the book. In this chapter you can recall the exploits of such Cardinal greats as Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Roger Freed. (4) If baseball trivia is your thing, you can pick up all kinds of good stuff browsing and reading this book. (5) If you want to impress your friends with what a great baseball expert you are, you can memorize this book in your spare time and impress your friends. You can't go wrong buying this book.

This clearly-written, amply-illustrated work is sure to satisfy any cargo ship enthusiast. Although the photos are all black and white, Lesstrang captivates the reader from the beginning by relating fascinating facts and amazing tales by the boat-load.

After having bought Adkins' "Appalachian Trail: A Visitor's Companion," I thought I would give his guide to walking the Caribbean a try. Thoroughly researched, the book directed me to some of the best walks and hikes I've ever had. Using it, my vacation became an exploration of isolated and uncrowded beaches, desert landscapes, wet rain forests and steaming volcanoes. As examples: on Dominica, I caught a glimpse of the endangered Sisserou parrot, on Saba I followed century-old step trails and in the British Virgin Islands walked completely around an island without seeing another person. If you are unsure of venturing out on your own, local guide companies are identified. For those who want less of an adventure or who only have a few hours (such as cruise ship passengers), Adkins has included walking tours of the historic port towns and botanical gardens. He even directs you to beaches where you and everyone else is permitted to enjoy the sun sans clothing. As far as I know, this is the only book dedicated exclusively to walking and hiking the islands.

This book has reproduced on quaity paper (the type used for photographic reproductions) some of the best maps of America made bwetween 1500-1800. A good introductory section reviews the history of cartography and provides examples of various aspects of early maps. Very enjoyable and interesting.

This is an excellent book written by some of the leading authorities on NAFTA and GATT (Including Ralph Nader). Each "chapter" written by a different person is short and to the point. You can read as much or as little as you want, without feeling the need to finish the chapter. This book WILL make you sweat with anger at points. It is an excellent read.

I'm the type of person who gets excited to read at about a subject and then fills a shelf full of half read books. I have become very interested in Mass Transit and Urban Development as of late. I was worried that this book would end up getting a the short end of my attention span because of it's outwardly bland appearance. However, I read the book in three sittings, which is a record for me. Cudahy gives a fascinating account of horse drawn street cars, cable cars, electric trolleys, subways, buses and several other curiosities that don't usually get discussed. It is short, to the point, and interesting.