Anthropology grabbed me early and it has never let go. Why do people behave so differently from one another ? Why are they so similar too ? What would I have been if I had been born in Afghanistan instead of in Boston ? What would my life have looked like if I were an Australian Aborigine ? Why would I think what I think ? These and a myriad other questions intrigue me like no others. Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist, often strikes the theme of "I want to be somebody else, therefore I am." This resonates very well with me. Finally, though, you can only be whatever you are. Travelling, working abroad, making friends among different peoples---these help you answer some of those questions, but only in part. Reading ethnographies, village studies, autobiographies, or novels can also provide some answers. When such books are excellent, you plunge into somebody else's world and emerge changed---you have almost known what it is to be somebody else. When those books are about lives that began many decades before yours, you open a corridor to the past, as well.

Ronald Blythe's AKENFIELD is one of the best ethnographies that I have ever read, and I have read a lot. It certainly does not fit the academic mold and perhaps never figured in many anthropology course reading lists. More's the pity. Blythe, from East Anglia in England, wrote this beautiful, penetrating study of an East Anglia village in the 1960s. It is constructed almost entirely as narratives by the inhabitants, ranging from WW I veterans to housewives, young farm laborers to schoolteachers. Bellringers, blacksmiths, and the vet--the list of characters is comprehensive. Blythe gives description when needed and added a short, almost lyrical introduction, but has worked the interviews into a seamless whole. Arguments could be made that AKENFIELD is more social history than anthropology, but this is a barren field to sow. As the years go by, all anthropology turns into social history, as the world changes and leaves memories of what used to be. I would say that this book is one of the handful that inspired me to write anthropology, that encouraged me to avoid the jargon-strewn wastelands of academic strivings. I have never been able to reach the heights of AKENFIELD, but it has stayed with me for thirty years. Who could give this book enough stars ?

Ronald Blythe's Akenfield is a book about the past. And approaching the past always involves both sadness and exhilaration. The latter because, rightly or wrongly, we see ourselves in the past, feel at home there, and know the pleasure of its kinship; the former because we know the past is irretrievably lost, its faces vanished, its words and songs and experiences, its life and laughter, its sharp pain and flashes of joy irredeemably gone.

This is the experience of the reader in Akenfield. And this is the book's blessing. Even after thirty years, Blythe's book about the people who live in a small rural village in Suffolk, who told him candidly and completely the history of their lives and their village, restores to us a world we still know, but barely. It reminds us of an England that--along with single-family farms, hedgerows, village pubs, and rural silence--has seen its time pass, and its depth and flavor lost.

But neither the book nor the people whose lives are captured in its pages should be romanticized. That would be injustice. Akenfield is peopled by characters from farrier to farm student, from ploughman to pig farmer, from saddler to schoolmaster, who without adornment or pretension tell the stories of their lives, of its bitterness and struggle, along with its victories and unexpected moments of pleasure. We hear the voices of the nurse, the schoolteacher, the poet, the wheelwright. We hear the magistrate, the apple-picker, and the gravedigger.

These are the voices--and the lives--of the generations that came before us. Voices of the Great War and after, of the growing middle class between the wars, of the incursion into rural existence of electricity, the telephone, the main road to Ipswich and then London, of the Second World War and the soldiers' return. They are familiar, they are friendly. They are also heartrending, and the lives they tell--particularly of conditions in agrarian English society in the early 20th century--can be appalling.

Yet this is also a magical work, a work of art--one invaluable to any ethnographer but transcending ethnography or anthropology because of its simple humanity. The book's preface refers in passing to the Domesday Book of 1086; and, because Blythe insists on remaining a recorder instead of an author--because he transcribes the words of others instead of describing what they say--he has created consciously or not a documentary history of life and society at the end of our last millennium as similarly important as we received from the Normans at its beginning.

Akenfield is a remarkable, enduring achievement; it surely stands as one of the finest examples in English history of the living, breathing spirit of late 19th- and early 20th-century culture.

If one has a photographic book of the Hamptons, it must be Ken Miller's, The Hamptons, Long Island's East End. The collection of photographs represent the overall feeling of this beautiful area. Wonderful pics with a unique perspective I could'nt be more pleased by my purchase.

My husband's grandmother gave this book to me and I hesitated to read it. But when I did, I was drawn into the house. Starting with the second book of the series rather than the first actually made me into one of the characters of the book because I was new to the house. The house knew secrets that I thought would somehow be revealed to the occupants over time, but the house was silent. Each generation lived, echoing the generations before but never knowing the root of all they did. The story goes on just as life. A person is born. And the end of their story is that they die. And the world goes on. Each chapter is the story of an individual who comes to the house and becomes a part of its history, told in the first person. You love some characters and you hate others. And the house sees all and is silent. The end of the book you find, is just the end of another life. And you realize that the world continues and other stories will go onward. Reading The Town House, you realize that the stories in The House at Old Vine are going full circle in this tragic and comic thing we call life. Justice is not always found. Secrets are not always told. And the world lives with those results. You'll feel a part of these people's lives and realize that, even centuries ago, humans are just as human as you and I. And humans will go onward. My offspring will have offspring who will have offspring and my life will be forgotten, but the consequences of my life will likely follow themselves to the next generation.

Ffiona Swabey's "The Medieval Gentlewoman" is a terrific book for anyone interested in what life was like for the gentry in late 14th/early 15th century England. Her book is written based on household accounts and records from Acton Manor, the estate of Dame Alice Bryene, a widow in her 50s in the period the book covers. Ms. Swabey analyzes the data from the household accounts to give us a vivid picture of Dame Alice's life and the world in which she lived and conducted business. Despite the fact that it is heavy with primary documentation, this book is not at all dry. Ms. Swabey manages to tell us a story while retaining the accuracy that we historical reenactors desire.

This is an excellent book that describes the investigation into one of the most famous sites in English archaeology. The Sutton Hoo ship burial is Englands' King Tut. The book goes into great detail about the original and subsequent investigations of the burial area in eastern England.

If you are a casual reader interested in a quick read about archaeological investigations, this book may not be for you. The book goes into great detail about the construction of the site, the artifacts and how they were put back together in the laboratory. If you are interested in such things, you will be richly rewarded by this book.

I would especially recommend reading this book before you visit the British Museum in London, where the rich artifacts from this site are housed. That way you will have an even greater appreciation for this site and the artifacts on display.

This three volume set is the premier publication on this archeological find. The authors systematically describe the process of the dig, the recovery and reconstruction of almost all of the material from the burial, plus a significant amount of cultural analysis. Highly recommended

The easy reading style of Dahl is at its best in the Mildenhall treasure, when fast development mixed with a human element are concerned. He allows the user to empathise with characters and feel the disapointment not only of the good but also those of more dubious character. He gives an insight into peoples lives which should not be possible in such a short space. A very good read, to see the darker side of human character and the way in which naivity is often ruthlessly exploited, however despite this the book is kept light and readable with vivid images and interesting content, a worthwhile read.

I've read this book snd LOVED it. It's about a worker on a rich mans farm who finds something hard in the ground and it turns out to be TREASER! The man forgets about it after digging it up and a year later his boss (the man who kept the treaser) was cought by one of his freinds. The man who found it becomes rich and is poor no more.
This true story can show that any ordinary person can find a treaser.

One might argue that this book about the greatest treasure ever found in the British Isles is itself a rare find. Roald Dahl was able to interview Gordon Butcher, the man who originally found the Roman silver on his land, no small feat since Butcher had become suspicious of writers and journalists after being cheated out of a fortune that should have been his. The account, mostly in Butcher's own words, of the discovery is absolutely entrancing and Dahl has the wisdom to keep the story tight and lean, while preserving the details about Butcher and that memorable day when his life changed forever.
I have had a hard time finding true historical accounts which I can share with my entire family and which will hold the interest of both children and adults. With pictures on nearly every page (by the inimitable Ralph Steadman) and vivid writing which makes history come alive, this one fits the bill.

During my research for information on the the Civil War unit, 112th NY Vol. Inf. This book was suggested to me by a Park Historian. This book provides a lot of information on the Suffolk Siege, all in one central location. I would highly suggest it to any one needing information on both Union and Confederate operations during this period.

If you want to know about the Suffolk campaign, this is the book to read. Well researched and documented, it covers in detail, a campaign that has been overlooked, even neglected by history due to the actions around Chancellorsville. It also dispels another myth about General Longstreet being slow to respond in returning to General Lee. Historians have overlooked this campaign and have consistently described it as another failure on General Longstreet's attempt at independent command. Mr. Cormier has done an excellent job in explaining the facts as well as the actions of a very important and necessary action durning the war between the states.

A Room with a View is what a romantic novel should be: light and fun, entertaining and sweet- I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Especially touching was old Mr. Emerson's conversation with Lucy towards the end. And none of the reviewers mentioned the subtle humor in this book! This book was funny! As for those of you who gave this wonderful book a poor review you must be young and/or you are an avid reader of literary geniuses such as Danielle Steele. Watch some more TV you people and stay aware from criticising great books you did not understand!

I have long been a fan of Jane Austen and have become so spoiled by her wonderful writing and complex yet perfect sentences that I seldom find anything enjoyable by comparison. However, "A Room with a View" was one of the most wonderful non-Austen books I have ever read. I laughed out loud many times at the way Forster worded things, especially the chapter titles (eg. "How Ms. Bartlett's Boiler was so Tiresome"). At the beginning, he seemed to be making fun of his characters - at their simple-mindedness and lack of depth - but then he commenced to transform them (mainly Lucy) and make them into wonderfully admirable people. It seemed that justice was served to Cecil when he served as the means through which Lucy and George were finally united. I enjoyed every minute of this book but would recommend it only to those who would appreciate it and who would be reading it by choice.

This book is still a classic. The fact that this book can still be entertaining nearly a hundred years after it's conception is testament enough to it's quality. It's the story of Lucy, struggling to find a comfortable place in adulthood, struggling to understand herself, struggling with the jarring influences of the unhappy people that surround her. And then she meets Mr. Emerson and his son George. Mr. Emerson is an old man who is disliked among the society folk because his kindness is more genuine than tactful. And his son George, raised free of all the prejudices and narrow-mindedness that plague nearly all the people he meets, is depressed because the universe doesn't seem to fit.

Learning to love a pair like the Emersons would seem to be easy for Lucy, but that is the struggle of this whole novel, how she creates such a muddle out of a simple thing and ends up, for the first time in her life, to begin to see clearly.

Forster finds a nice balance in this novel - engaging plot, unique and well-developed characters, and a fair dose of philosophy to lighten the burdens of your mind (all good philosophy should lighten your mind instead of weighing it down).

I would recommend this book on the simple fact that Mr. Emerson is, in many of his traits, the type of human being we should all strive to become(good-hearted, thought-provoking, devoted to expanding his mind instead of narrowing it, welcoming to all, poetic and deep). That alone recommends it. This may not be Forster's best, but it's one of them, and is more than worth the time (I finished it in three days, awfully fast, hungry for more when it was done).

Things have never gone well for Frances and Blair with their stepmother Clio. Their father seems happy, but they feel shut out. Many people had reasons to dislike Clio in the exclusive upscale Long Island town where the Fair Lawn Country Club is the mecca for the rich. When Clio dies during a tennis tournament there are many suspects. Frances puts her job as a lawyer on the line when she investigates Clio's murder over the wishes of her boss. The case develops into a voyage of personal discovery as she uncovers the true lives beneath the facades of the rich neighbors. Frances comes to a new understanding of the patterns of love in her family and in her own relationships. Uncovering the killer brings Frances even more revalations about her own character. The author shows how many faceted our motives and characters are. As Nancy Geary shows us, we rarely understand what drives other people fully, even our own families.

I enjoyed Misfortune and thought it was so wonderfully written with a host of exciting characters.
Cleo Pratt was an obnoxious woman who was not liked by many in South Hampton, Long Island. She did not hide her racial prejudice or the pride she seemed to exhibit to those not as wealthy as she was. She was selfish and thought only about her comforts and her husband's.
It is no wonder when she is found dead in the powder room at the Fair Lawn Country Club, it becomes an extremely difficult task trying to seek out her murderer, for Cleo Pratt has made so many enemies for herself.
You will meet Beverly Winters whom she gossiped about after her husband's suicide; Henry Lewis a surgeon whom she was instrumental in blocking from becoming a member of the Country Club because of his race ; her stepdaughters Blair and Frances whom she treated like second class citizens when they were in her habitation; a partner in their firm Pratt Capital who she wants to squeeze out, and many many more of the high society you will encounter.
Be prepared to have at least a day to two for this page turner. When all is revealed you will see how well written and how cleverly concealed is the murderer ... Happy reading! I loved it!

Nutface
May30th, 2002

I have almost two separate reviews of this book. The first is of interest to all the mystery readers...this is a good mystery, reads fast and almost any of the suspects could have been the murderer.The author did a good job of making the suspects the sympathetic characters.Although at the end, maybe some readers would have felt a little sympathy for the victim which leads me to my second review. I had a stepmother like Clio. Over the years, I have tried to explain this person to others, and no one could or would believe that this woman existed.They always assummed I was just the jealous stepdaughter. Well, Ms. Geary,(the author), must have been a fly on the wall during my life. My stepmother was like Clio except my story did not have such a satisfying ending. So Ms. Geary, wherever you are, I hope Clio is a figment of your imagination because I hate to think you experienced first hand what my sisters and I did, and of course are still dealing with everyday. People don't realize how damaging emotional abuse can be, and how alone children can feel when they can't reach out for help. Even though this is a mystery, I can see myself rereading this book, just for the emotional expressions of the grown stepchildren. So now you understand why I have given this two separate reviews, one that interests the regular readers, and another for those who have had a Clio in their lives.