To the surprise and amazement of most Americans, the events of November 1999 in Seattle came like a lightning bolt out of nowhere. Since the electronic media had done little to inform the average TV viewer of what the World Trade Organization (WTO) was, or what they would be trying to accomplish in their convention in Seattle, no one understood or appreciated the collection of concerns, misgivings, and grievances the protestors were there to use in way of ammunition for making the WTO stand up and take notice. Within a few days, we were all holding our breath.

Not since the heady days of the 1960s, or on a smaller scale, the No-Nukes movement of the late 1970s had such passion, conviction, or energy been thrust into the equation of public politics than was done over that short period of time in Seattle. And here to give us a up-close and personal description as well as a cogent interpretation of those days of confrontation is author Janet Thomas, who, by taking a participant-observer role, attempts to describe, from inside the ranks of the protestors, who they are and why they are confronting the WTO and the forces of economic globalization it represents.

This is a hardly an objective, dispassionate, or even look at the events that transpired over the spate of several days in and around Seattle . Yet in its urgency, passion, and position-taking the reader comes to understand, at least from the myriad of organizations participating in the demonstrations, the reasons for their activities. Given the media's proclivities to dismissing any such protest as the work of mindless anarchists or social, political, and economic trouble-makers, this more introspective approach is a breath of fresh air. Thomas describes the reasoning of the protestors in terms of their concerns for the social, economic, and political costs associated with globalism. As happened with Chicago in 1968, the forces of the organized society seem to all accrue to those in power such as the WWTO, and the citizens are left to explain their actions and their motives between the margins, since the media is seemingly uninterested in their politics or their issues. All the media wanted to concentrate on was the violence, which makes great TV, and requires little explanation.

Thus, by giving voice to the myriad of different organizations involved in the demonstrations, Thomas helps the reader to understand their motives in performing such acts of civil disobedience as well as the issues themselves much better. In this she performs a yeoman service to the general public, who certainly needs to understand the particulars of the issues much better if they are to ever appreciate the terrible danger organizations like the WTO potentially represent. Anyone interested in the ways in which economic globalism works, and the ways in which we each can act to constrain, block, or modify their efforts to encroach on our liberties should read this interesting and well-written book. Enjoy!

Informative detail of just what the agenda of the Seattle and later, the Ottawa protestors wish to accomplish. The TV news doesn't tell us about WTO rules supercedeing laws enacted in Massachusetts. The TV news does not tell the story of the prison-factories in El Salvador. The TV news avoids telling us about the man that makes $104,000 per hour while his Haitian workers make 13 cents per hour. Janet Thomas does. And she also tells us why the TV news skips the real story, because it is controlled by the same people.

While the TV news avoids the story of thousands of peaceful demonstrators attempting to make sure sovereignty and democracy survive the WTO, it concentrates on a handful of violent demonstrators who get out of hand. Janet Thomas tells the story straight.

The truth is hard to take when you realize you are part of a system that does not serve the basic needs of so many around the globe. This book seeks to go beyond the media's focus on a small number of anarchistic acts in Seattle's WTO week. It both reveals and explores in depth the real issues at the base of this 50,000 person protest. Thomas' approach is both scholarly and undogmatic. Individual sketches serve to break down denial in readers such as myself, readers who start out not really wanting to hear the truth. The bonus: at the end, you are not left feeling hopeless. Thomas has compiled a rich and extensive list of resources to further research the information and ideas expressed in her book. If you are interested in learning about world economic justice, read this book.

This book (and it's companion volume) are highly appropriate for families, children of most ages and for less than highly active adults.

Thoroughly Recommended!

We bought this book when my son was 3 and my daughter was still catching a ride in the backpack. We needed easy but nice hikes and boy did we find them. It gives good accurate directions and realistic difficulty rating. A big plus if you are hiking with toddlers. My kids are now 6 and 4 and is still our favorite hike book. You won't be disappointed and you will find a ton of hikes that are close to home yet you feel miles away.

This book will give possibilities for varying degrees of difficulty hikes and day spots to visit. The best resource I have ever found.

I bought this book last year for my then 3-yr-old and it was the first book that he absolutely loved. He still consistently chooses this one for a bed-time story. Why? Maybe it's the easy cadence and repetition of the words which allow him to "read" certain parts. Maybe it's the exceptional illustrations that keep us looking even a year later (see how many cat images you can find in the house). And he still laughs at the joke at the end. (I, too, like another reviewer, like the fact that a person of color takes the starring role, yet his race is irrelevant to the storyline. "He was a big man, he was a strong man" but there's no mention of the obvious fact that he's also a black man.)

My 5 year old daughter has just learned to read and adores this story. She loves the repetition of "He was a big man, he was a strong man" and the pictures greatly complement the text. She and I loved the ending the best. A great scary read aloud that your children will want to hear over and over throughout the years.

This is a wonderful book! It's great to see people of color in a book that doesn't really have anything to do with race! Kids will be scared out of their socks but there is a great lesson in these pages. This is a wonderful buy for children between the ages of 4 and 10.

This book is packed with information that will help you if you've never bought a home, or have done so a dozen or more times. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, should read Chapter 3 on selecting an Agent... If you are buying, selling, thinking of a career in Real Estate, or are already an Agent!

For many people like me, the home buying process is alien, confusing, and full of pitfalls. What I needed was a guide to help me quickly and effectively understand the entire process, along with the plethora of associated considerations.

David Rathgeber's home buying book gave me almost everything I needed to quickly make sense of the home buying process. He introduced me to all the major issues and considerations that I was about to face. Not only did he clearly address the most pertinent issues, but he also concisely provided abundant advice on each aspect of home buying, to include difficult issues such as understanding the emotional and psychological aspects that both the buyer and seller face. In this book, David even helps the reader understand how to get the appropriate professional help at the right time. This is done in a constructive manner that demonstrates to the reader that he is only one part of a team that is focused on making the home buying process successful.

Along with David's personal help in purchasing a home, this book provides almost everything that a home buyer needs, especially if the buyer is completely new to the home buying process. It is actually quite comforting to read this book in that David teaches the home buyer how to develop a healthy respect for all the participants no matter what their role may be. Toward this end, David articulates the human aspect of a stressful process that often can appear to be impersonal.

We have read both of Dave's books and he is certainly knowledgable in real estate. Dave also has helped us in the buying process, and all has run smoothly. We consider Dave a professional in all aspects of real estate. The book is filled with data that we did not truly know about concerning the market.

Most of us who enjoy nature have relied upon "bird books" or other guides to the species at one time or another as we inquire about our surroundings. These dull but thorough reference books often make their topics LESS interesting, quelling the interests that they're supposed to serve. We look up our bird, animal or plant and then move on having learned little more than its Latin name. Ugh.

This book shines like a beacon to future nature writers as it uses every description as the basis for a prosaic mini-essay; rewarding curiosity with enlightenment, fascination and delight. Imagine a reference book so enticing to read that you can't stop reading with just one description. Instead, the object of your curiosity serves as a mere starting point in the book; the first page of what often becomes a genuine sit-down-and-read-it experience.

If every nature writer put this much love into their topics, the trails would be overrun with enthusiastic hikers. Here's hoping that the author visits your neck of the woods soon, and provides you with the same exuberant writing he's given us here in the Pacific Northwest.

I also have ordered this as a gift for several this year, including the revised edition for myself. Definitely not just a reference book but a great read also. I actually read the whole book,rather than just saving for information on specifics, when I got my first copy years ago.

A Second edition of a classic. Mathews created a field guide that is a must have for every PNW adventurer. As a park ranger I find myself reaching for it daily to answer questions. The writing is suberb and one finds oneself reading it by the fire on a cold winter day just because. I give this book as a gift more than any other item.

Here's just three sample reviews of this fine text and outstanding 2by3' map... "Following his book, The Story The Soldier's Wouldn't Tell, about sex during the Civil War, Tom Lowry focuses here on a ... small area of central Washington, DC during the Civil War. Close to the heart of government lay this hot bed of vice and prostitution, catering largely to the military. Fascinating reading." John Bancroft, M.D., Director, Kinsey Institute, Indiana University "With this book on the bordellos of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, Lowry has presented insights into a previously neglected aspect of the great conflict, which touched not only active-duty soldiers but also long-retired veterans. The usual description of 1861-1865 Washington portrays muddy roads, confusion, and men hurrying along the streets. Now we know where ... some of them were going!" Jack D. Welsh, M.D., Author of Medical Histories of Union Generals "A concise, open-minded, and lucid look at the vice district of Mr. Lincoln's City, where even the pressure of war could not change the hierarchies of power and the ordering of class, of race, and of gender. This is a scholar's illuminating look at the difficult questions about America's future which emerged in those sin-sodden streets. Future studies of this neglected subject will have a difficult time matching Dr. Tom Lowry's compassion, coherence, and class." Benedict R. Maryniak, President, Buffalo Civil War Round Tabl

A concise, open-minded, and lucid look at the vice district of Mr. Lincoln's City, where even the pressure of war could not change the hierarchies of power and the ordering of class, of race, and of gender. This is a scholar's illuminating look at the difficult questions about America's future which emerged in those sin-sodded streets. Future studies of this neglected subject will have a difficult time matching Dr. Tom Lowry's compassion, coherence, and class. Benedict R. Maryniak, President, Buffalo, Civil War Round Tabl

Tom Lowry has done it again! With this book on the Bordellos of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, he has presented insights into a previously neglected aspect of the great conflict, which touched not only active-duty soldiers but also long-retired veterans. The usual description of 1861-1865 Washington portrays muddy roads, confusion, and men hurrying along the streets. Now we know where at least some of them were going! This book will interest not only Civil War buffs, but also present-day Washingtonians interested in the past of their city. An excellent map shows the location of more than sixty houses of ill-fame, and tables contain official U.S. Government ratings of their quality. Every Civil War enthusiast headed for our nation's capital must pack a copy of this book, along with the usual contemporary guides. Jack D. Welsh, M.D., Author of Medical Histories of Union Generals

This book gave me a great description of the routes to some of the most scenic and captivating peaks in Washington. I especially liked the way he gave other options to chose from if you didn't like the route he chose. The only problem I had was a very minor one, I felt he could have added several more Olympic peaks like the bailey range, stone, and some lesser known (which means less crowded) peaks like McCartney or Warrior. Other than that this book is a must have for everyone from a scrambler to a technical mountaineer looking to climb the Highest peaks of Washington

Smoot bills his book as a "Selected Climbs" for the rest of us. I'm not quite sure I buy that, but I do think this book deserves a spot on the shelf nestled in between "Selected Climbs" and Beckey.

Compared to Goldman's "75 Scrambles", it is noticably better in some respects: it covers a wider range of climbing (all the way from class 2 to easy class 5); it covers a wider variety of climbing (more snow routes); and it does a better job at providing and describing options beyond just the most popular route.

I think the book is great because it combines
routes from 4 different books.
3 of Beckeys,one the Guide to the Olympics.
It shows the approch roads, trails, every thing on the same page.
I don't have to figure out which Face or route to do
he has already picked the best routes.
There is a lot of climbs that I have wanted to do
but haven't done them because I wasn't sure about the
trails or logging roads in the area.
Now I can do them.
A lot of the climbs seem to be easy on the technical side.
I like that, Now I don't need a partner just
take off on the spur of the moment and go climb something.
There are also some good moderate climbs for a
weekend party of climbers.
I think he has made a good choice of mountains,
the "must do" ones for Alpine climbers.
They are cool looking and in scenic areas.
Some thing for everyone except the hard core rock jock.
The best thing about the book is the author has done
all the home work, you don't have to wade
through a bunch of stuff. Just Climb

They say write about what you know...LeMonds knows the soul of the past and modern logger and writes with as unpretentious style as I've seen in a long time. He uses the language (always loggers...never lumberjacks) and shares with the reader the language and techniques of everything from falling, bucking, setting chokers, to trucking the logs. Furthermore, he does it based upon the real-life experiences of his family. You learn how they used to rig a spar tree and what went through the climbers mind as he accomplished this task 150-200 feet in the air. LeMonds also shares the future of forestry (hand-seeding, herbicides, fertilizer & thinning) to move the life span of high-productive crops like Douglas Firs from hundreds of years to perhaps as little as 35 years as well as what the modern equipment does now and probably into the future.. Perhaps you might find the short chronology of the work history of each of his family members in the logging business too detailed but it's more than worth the wonderful stories and perspectives that go with them. LeMonds acknowledges the scars on the landscape of the past but also the enduring scars on these tremendous men who contributed so much to this Country's development of the 20th century. I don't think one could ask for a more balanced view of this industry and have it written with such class. This is the best book I ever expect to read about this subject, which is so dear to my heart having been raised in a nearly identical community in Southern Oregon. Today I ordered a second copy to send to a dear friend still working in the woods.

James Lemonds peels away the Bunyonesque macho image that has been falsely hung on the loggers of the Northwest and shown them as they are; broken down, disabled and discarded by the industry that exacted a terrible toll on both the workers and the forests.
Anyone wanting to research the human cost the industry extracted should start with this book. Death and disabilty rates beyond the range of nightmares were considered standard and acceptable, simply because the carnage took place outside the public view.
The hard work, honest efforts and caring that the workers brought to the job were repaid with lack of respect and now, lowering wages, no job security and disdain from the general public.
As bad as it is in Lemonds description, the list at the end of the book does not include all the co-workers of any current or former loggers that I have talked to who have read this book, nor co-workers of mine, who were killed on the job. The toll suffered by the workforce was at least equal to that suffered by the forests.
Lemonds tells the story in an even-handed, personal way through his extended family and community. This is a must-read book by any student of Northwest culture of the past century.

Logging in America's Northwest, an industry and occupation which arouses strong passions and polarizing viewpoints.

Jim LeMonds, though not neglecting the emotional and substantive areas of contention, focuses primarily on the human contribution and in some cases sacrifices of the loggers themselves.

This book should be read by anyone with even the vaguest interest in forest management and environmental issues. Although he is from a logging family, I feel that the author has been exceedingly fair in his description of todays industry and what the future holds for this industry and more importantly for logging communities.

To me the efforts and accomplishments of the people featured in this book, and the many thousands like them, are what has made our country great. It is ironic that their contibutions and in some cases sacrifices have not received the recognition that they are rightfully due.

Buy this book, regardless of your political viewpoint on the logging industry, and celebrate the spirit that has enabled all of us to enjoy the many privledges of being Americans.

Once I picked up this book, I could barely put it down. I finished it that night. David Kohrman brings what would normally be a dull subject manner to life with interesting details and a captivating style of writing. I am eagerly awaiting his next work.

The Book-Cadillac Hotel and the Statler Hilton are two of the most magnificant buildings in Detroit, with it's amazing collection of 1910s and 1920s architecture. DK's excellent book describes in great detail the history of these two landmarks, and updates us on their current sad conditions with brilliant photography. I cannot say enough about the B-C, please check out ... after reading this book, and join the Friends of the Book Cadillac, to assure that the proposed Marriott-led rennovations occur so we can enjoy that landmark for years to come.

What a stimluating walk through time. David George Kohramn visits the history, past and present, of the Detroit Statler and Book Cadillac Hotels. The book is jammed with rare photos I have never seen. His deep research is evident in his concise, but detailed writing. This is a must have for any history buff and individual concerned with the preservation of our past. Thank you David, for an exciting adventure!