I happened to come across this book while actually in Koror, Palau (Koror was the capital of the Nan'yo, the Japanese governing body for Micronesia) during a vacation and read it while I was there. In general, it is worth reading if you are are a student of Japan's occupation policies of southeast asian countries during the war. It is very detailed but could have focused more on military strategy, but the book is not really about that, its about how Japan built up, governed, then lost its colonies in Micronesia-- colonies which would most likely be in a much better economic state than there are in now, arguably, if the Japanese were still there running things.

Soaring Gulls and Bowing Trees is the definite study of Goat Island from both geological and historical perspectives. It is
also meant to increase the public's awareness of this ecologically important point of land lying between the American
and Horseshoe Falls. Although it is at times written in somewhat
technical language, it still manages to beguile the reader by its sheer descriptive power. I highly recommend it for both
prospective tourists, as well as students of American history.

Anne-Marie MacDonald's "Fall on Your Knees" is one of the most compelling and amazing books I've read in my life!

The author weaves a fascinating tale of a wildly dysfunctional Cape Breton family whose life takes so many twists and turns it seems at once highly improbable and completely believable. She accomplishes this with highly-developed characters whose neuroses dig ever-widening holes in the fabric of their quirky and often likable personalities. One reads this book and questions whether so many human extremes can exist in one household, however one realizes that these extremes exist in all of us and would be released if all possible consequences were buried by an onslaught of emotion. Pandora's Box anyone?

My favorite aspect of this book is by far MacDonald's narrative style. If anyone is looking for a companion to the college writing staple "Elements of Style" please turn around and seek "perfection" elsewhere. However, if you would like to be lured into a hallucinatory trance by the chantings of a tribal storyteller, than pick up this book. MacDonald does not create the story. The characters and events were merely floating around in the air and she wrapped her words around them. She floats in and out of each character's mind, deftly passing from 3rd person to 1st person without a worry that the reader will get lost because the reader knows the characters so well it is impossible to do so. The characters' stream-of-conscience thoughts run from concrete to abstract and back leaving the reader to fill in the blanks with their own imaginations. Not to mention that when the author feels like throwing in snatch of a poem or song, she does so. The effect? It's like going to a one-person show and watching an actor effortlessly improvise for hours without ever leaving you in the cold.

So, if you're looking for the qualities of a sweeping epic drama mixed with the unpredictable writing style of a post-modern play, I definetly recommend.

(some spoilers here... be careful!)
I've been meaning to write about this book for some time, but I keep putting it out of my mind. In fact, that's how it was reading it. When I had it in my hands I was insatiable, sucking down the wordsmithing of the author, enjoying the way she presents and re-presents ideas in different lights and voices. Amazingly good writing. It's a rare thing.
But the content is ... depressing. Contemptable. Predictable, even. The central family is so tragic that it is actually funny at times. And then I feel embarrassed for laughing. The father is a pedophile. The mother is one of the most sympathetic characters I've ever seen. Then Frances, the filthy woman-child, becomes the center. But not quite... Lily is a beautifully drawn character, as are all the girls. Oh, and Rose. I could love Rose. Who wouldn't? so many artfully done views of the characters! Ya love 'em, ya hate 'em. But when I would put the book down it was days before I could pick it up again.
I have to compare it with Grapes of Wrath, the way it moves between generations. There are no surprises in this book, just layers of misery. And that's not a criticism, rather an observation about this book. I think some readers were looking for some great discovery, only to find that they already knew what was going on.
I was surprised when the weight was somehow lightened at the end. Like the disgruntled debutante finding peace at her 20 year highschool reunion, when the son shows up with the family tree there is a kind of warm nostalgia... Makes you wish you could hear the piano stylings of Daddy Rose...

In her debut novel, Canadian author MacDonald lures readers with her amazing insight into the human soul and its darkest secrets. She visits the town of New Waterford, Cape Breton, an island near Nova Scotia.

Near the turn of the twentieth century, ambitious young piano tuner James Piper meets thirteen-year-old Materia Mahmoud. Against the wishes of her Catholic Lebanese parents, the two marry, Materia is disowned, and they set up housekeeping in a house her father had built for them. Previously pampered Materia finds difficulty adjusting to married life, even more so after she becomes pregnant. It seems as if her only friend is neighbor Mrs. Luvovitz, the wife of the Jewish town butcher. With the birth of Kathleen, Materia encounters feelings of guilt for her inability to bond with her daughter, the joy of James' life.

As their marriage continues unhappily, Materia gives birth to two other thriving children, Mercedes and Frances. Though she does her best to mother them, part of Materia is missing, as James grows increasingly disgruntled with her. And while the years roll by, the Piper family seems to face more tragedy than triumph as life continues on with more births, deaths, and purposeful self-destruction.

Ms. MacDonald hooks her readers with the resonance of her characters, explored in such a way as to expose their various layers. With every character, there are many faces, none all good or evil, each providing a different face to the world. And the combination of religions, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, is creatively meshed with the every day world of the times, often to justify actions taken or not taken. This is definitely a read not to be missed, whose characters will fill the heart and soul for a long time to come.

For more recent information on this topic, the Pocono Record recently did a 3-day, multi part story on this topic. Sunday,Monday & Tuesday, August 12,13, and 14, 2001.

You can also read it online at www.poconorecord.com You can probably view it in the archives section or by doing searches on the archives there. Just search on items like Tocks Island or just Tocks, PEEC, Honeymoon Haven, dam, etc.. and you'll get the recent stories and other stories they've done on this topic.

The paper interviews both those whose families owned homes in the area, the people who rented those homes later, squatters, and other nearby locals. It also goes over what was originally planned (the dam and the surrounding park) and what happened later (the park and 209 becoming a 35mph road, leasing land and homes, PEEC environmental camp, etc.) Very worth reading if you're interested in this topic.

I don't know what stirred this topic in the paper recently. My husband and I stumbled upon it by chance, on the way home from my brother's wedding. We'd stopped in Sunday to ask a ranger at the Rec Area if they had a book or anything on the topic, and he happened to have a copy of the Sunday paper & a book with a chapter on the topic, which he kindly let us read while we were there.

This topic has touched many people's lives. It's good to see there's some info out there for those of us who are interested, but also to keep the history alive and those people's memories around..and to explain what happened to places you can't find anymore.

As a new resident of northern New Jersey I have heard many tales from long time residents regarding the land acquisition for the Tocks Island Dam. When I first found this book I expected a 'story' about what has occured over the last 100+ years in this area, and intead I found an extreme example of the government's ability to waste money.

This was a very extensive explanation of the Tocks Island Dam project as well as the development of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. It went into great detail regarding the rise and fall of, and the details of this project.

This book is not for everyone to read and it requires alot of concentration to read, however I enjoyed it thoroughly. I wish I had kept notes throughout to total how much money has been spent on a dam that has yet to be and hopefully will not be built. The countryside is beautiful as a National Recreation Area and a project such as the Tocks Island Dam would be devastating to the whole surrounding area. This valley should be kept as a treasure for generations to enjoy.

Okay, this book isn't for everyone. The price alone tells you that. But if you are a policy maker or an environmentalist interested in a success story, it could be a great investment. It is the tale of how one river remained damless, despite an authorized Army Corps of Engineers project. I liked the book because I am a canoer who has paddled the Delaware and a river activist who can use lots of tips.

The author, Richard Albert, provides an insider's perspective. Most recently, he was a supervising engineer and basin planner for the Delaware River Basin Commission. He's been involved in river studies for three decades.

The Delaware is a fairly small river, draining only four-tenths of one percent of the continental U.S. Yet almost ten percent of the nation's population relies on its basin for water, and Delaware Bay is within a day's drive of about 40 percent of the entire U.S. population. Various groups have wanted dams on the Delaware to provide water, electrical power and flood control. As Albert explains, no dams have been built because New York City, New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware could never fully agree on a project. At the top end of the river, New York City wants to protect its drinking water supply, which is based on huge reservoirs near the headwaters of the Delaware in upstate New York. At the bottom end, fishermen and others want to assure clean, regular water flow, something that could be diminished by one or more dams. In between, there are many opinions about the potential impact of one or more dams on the river.

Albert provides a long historical perspective, beginning in the colonial era, when navigation was the primary use of the river. States along the river agreed to prohibit dams, and this perspective ruled until the early twentieth century. Water supply, hydrological power, flood control and recreation became important issues in the twentieth century, and Albert gives them detailed treatment.

His description of the 1960s and 1970s includes some bizarre twists to the story. Two examples stand out for me. First, there's eutrophication. That's the overproduction of algae and plants caused by too much phosphorus or nitrogen in water. It stinks, too. Environmental studies suggested that the large number of poultry farms upstream of the proposed Tock's Island Dam would turn the new reservoir into "one gigantic cesspool." I call this segment of the story, "How Chicken Poop Saved the Delaware." Second, the whole land acquisition process went sour. The Corps of Engineers began acquiring land for a huge National Recreation Area above and below the Delaware Water Gap in 1964. By 1970 the project was still on hold, and "hippy" squatters began settling on the new public lands. Local residents were already concerned about the impact of tens of thousands of visitors on their roads, water supply, power supply, etc., and they were none too happy to see Haight-Ashbury move its act into rural New Jersey. In the end, unpaid local activists played an important role in helping to achieve the 1982 "Good Faith Agreement" among the mayor of New York and the governors of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Everyone agreed to leave the river free-running until after the year 2000 - and then reconsider the dam as a water supply source.

A friend and I canoed from Port Jervis, New York to the Delaware Water Gap in August 1999, and we camped right where the dam was proposed. Those who want to enjoy the Delaware as a free-flowing river after 2001 might want to pick up a copy of this book.

The book over all was interesting yet it talked too much of the characters I felt no suspense or thrill throughout the book, I feel it didn't get to the main points in the book