One Saturday afternoon about five years ago in Washington, DC, I wandered into the gallery of Kathleen Ewing and spent hours looking at the pictures of the photographers she represents. Prominent among them was A. Aubrey Bodine and his magnificent images of the people of the Chesapeake Bay. I'd never heard of Bodine but was completely captured by his pictures of the water and the people who live and work on it. Many of his pictures intrigued me because they look so much like stage settings with actors posed for the pleasure of the camera. But Bodine was also a portrait photographer, and one of great skill. This book, with beautifully reproduced photographs, an appreciation & biography by Ewing and a remembrance by Harold A. Williams who worked with Bodine on the "Baltimore Sun," will surely bring a new and appreciative audience for Bodine. One cannot help but be impressed with the fog rolling in on a Baltimore dock over two sleeping dogs in 1947, naked boys diving into the Patapsco River in a 1933 photograph which pays obvious homage to Thomas Eakins, or with the 1955 portrait of H.L. Mencken, among many, many others. Highly Recommended.

I first saw the A. Aubrey Bodine book at the headquarters of the National Press Photographers Association in Durham, NC. Ken Cooke, director of photography for the Fayetteville Observer, and I were visiting with Charlie Cooper, the NPPA director. We decided to visit Charlie on our way back from Washington where we were coordinating a photo exhibit on Desert Storm at the Smithsonian. During our talk, Charlie picked up on a comment I made about timing, feeling, and heart coinciding with release of the shutter--classic Cartier Bresson "decisive moment" I guess. Anyway, Charlie then took me into the NPPA library where he showed me a book of someone's work he knew defined our discussion. It was the book "A. Aubrey Bodine : Baltimore Pictorialist, 1906-1970."

As NPPA director, Charlie has known and worked with many great photographers and Bodine was one of them. Ken also became very excited having known Bodine from years of working in photojourn! alism and having a sincere appreciation for Bodine's work. I, as the younger man, had never heard of Bodine until that day, but I will always be grateful to Charlie Cooper for introducing me to this book. To me, Bodine defines seeing the day-to-day world with heart and moment as I believe very few photographers today achieve. He is not well known, but his work is something to cherish. I feel very fortunate to have a copy (Charlie was kind enough to send me one). It is a book that every student of photography and community photojournalism should see, feel, and own.

These tapes are perfect for anyone who wants to see the NYC sites at their own pace. The tour guide is fantastic - she knows the most interesting facts and stories that make the city come alive. I've been to NYC many times, but never have I really appreciated all the city has to offer. I just hope Ms. Hertel makes tapes for other cities.

Having been born and raised in NYC, I thought I knew all there was to know about NY. But these tapes proved me wrong. The author has really done her homework. She gives a wealth of information about the history, architecture, etc. of what you are looking at. You can take the tours at your own pace and the author gives you little tips about where to have a snack, lunch, etc. You just stop your cassete and she meets you at the next stop on the little map that accompanies each walking tour. The tapes are incredibly easy to follow and the maps are a nice touch that ensure you're on the right path. The tapes are beautifully done. Her diction is perfect and the sound quality of the tapes is amazing. I loved the music that is used to cue you to stop your cassette and proceed to the next stop, etc. and the song that appears at the end of each tour. All in all, I would say that these tapes are a great buy !

Now in a newly revised and significantly expanded edition, Back Roads Bicycling In Bucks County, Pa. by Catherine D. Kerr offers more than forty scenic bike path and country road routes throughout Bucks county, Pennsylvania upon which avid cyclers can enjoy their hobby. Maps, landmarks, notes and points of interest, all presented in easy-to-read and easy-to-follow format make Back Roads Bicycling in Bucks County, Pa. a perfect guide for its quaint locale. Also highly recommended for avid cyclists are three other titles from Freewheeling Press: Mountain Biking In New Jersey (0971461635...), The Back Roads Bike Book (0965273318, ...), and Bike Journal (0965273342...)

Wonderfully done maps and detailed cue sheets guide you on the less traveled roads of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The "sampler" cue sheet is my favorite. This book is great if your going to spend a beautiful fall weekend in Bucks County. Most of the rides are less than 20 miles in length, which is ideal for the casual cyclist. Includes bike shop and rental information as well as places to dine.

of course anyone who lives in new york city can tell you where the white horse and cedar tavern are, but do they all know that where sam goody now stands on sixth avenue and ninth street is the very same place that the cafeteria kerouac wrote about extensively in visions of cody once stood?

this book is filled with a lot of well-known and plenty of not so well known places where various members of the beat generation ate, performed, lived, got drunk in, or otherwise played out their lives. the tours are broken down by area and there are clear directions to help you find where you're going (even if the place no longer exists). each tour also begins with a street map of the area covered and clearly numbered destinations, which was very helpful, although i did wish that the book had also come with an overview map of all manhattan and destinations so that i could more easily combine tours or skip around to places of interest if i didn't want to follow a complete tour.

each stopping place in the tour book includes a paragraph or two on why the place is important to beat history and who/what occured there. although the title of the book claims that new york was "jack kerouac's city," the tours really include many of the other important beat figures as well as a few others that were influenced by the beat movement, such as bob dylan.

this is a great way for beat aficionados visiting new york to get a taste of the city, and a fun way for locals to spend an afternoon or two discovering new spots and seeing familiar places in a new light.

It would be next to impossible to find these places on your own. Even more impossible to learn as much about each of the sites as is presented in this guide. Each tour follows a logical route and there are plenty of stops that you probably never would have thought of--eg. Serpico's apartment, the former site of Thomas Wolfe's East 8th St. apartment. Using this guide is a great way to see the Village, East and West. And the insight will keep you reading even as you're moving to the next stop. Take your time. Spread the tours over a couple of afternoons. And linger for a while in Washington Square.

A great companion to this book is "The Beat Generation in New York." I wouldn't recommend carrying this heavy book around with you, but after you've finished the tours, open the book to look at the pictures taken at many of the places you've just visited.

We just came back from NYC and went on one of the walking tours in this book--guided by the author Eric Wakin (Ethnic Eating Tour of Chinatown and Little Italy). Mr Wakin took us into Chinatown and discussed how the area is a living, breathing, working neighborhood, filled with shops, pushcarts, and restaurants that cater to the neighborhood's residents. We then walked into Little Italy and noticed how the neighborhoo is nothing but restaurants designed to attract tourists. Quite a contrast. Mr Wakin discussed how the neighborhoods have changed over the centuries as the older, more established immigrants move out and new immigrants (often of a different ethnic background) come in. The author was knowledgeable about his facts and history and the the different food tidbits were a real treat!

Whether you are a native New Yorker or a tourist visiting New York City for the first time, you need to pick up a copy of The Big Onion Guide To New York City.

Big Onion has established itself as the leading walking tour company in New York City for over 10 years. And for good reason. Their guides are American history graduate students who know and love the city.

Big Onion's first guide book is loaded with interesting facts and stories about the city's history. Their easy-to-follow self-guided tours will delight tourists exploring the city's streets and enlighten even native New Yorkers who think they know everything about their hometown.

I'm constantly using this book as a reference book to look up facts about New York history. In my opinion, two of the best tours are the Lower East Side, with its tales of immigrant life, and Central Park, which the book calls New York's "greatest public space." There is even a driving tour (which I haven't tried yet) for those who want to explore New York's "outer boroughs."

The book is concise, well-written and always informative. It's a must-have for anyone interested in New York City history.

The photographs in this book vividly capture a very unique period of the Brooklyn Bridge as it was being restored in the late 1980's. The use of black and white photography, together with the unusually decorated subject matter, namely the Brooklyn Bridge draped in safety nets, make for a visually stimulating combination.

One of a kind photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge as it has never been seen before, mysteriously draped in safety nets. A a real treat for the eye.

When I landed in LA, it took me a good 3 months to find a series of haunts, owing simply to the sheer size of the place. This book breaks it down by neighborhood, "scene," and type of venue, so that the only other guide you need is a Thomas guide (the ubiquitous, highly detailed road map that occupies the back seat of every car in Southern California). Great insider info, seedy backstories, and a dead-on dissection of the various scenes make this a great introduction to America's most puzzling megalopolis. Fodors would be hard pressed to top this.

Great book, especially for the young and young at heart. Unlike most other city guides I see this one really appears to be written by insiders who genuinely seem to know what they're talking about. Useful for both visitors to the city as well as people who are already in LA. The book is well structured with separate sections on eating out, nightlife, shopping, culture & arts, lodgings and many more. If you want to know where the current "in" places are and the real inside information on LA then this is the guide for you.

This walking tour has so much information that I never knew. It's nice and convenient and I've really enjoyed it a lot. I've seen books on Coney Island but none of them have as much information as this little walking tour.

This is the best description of Coney Island that I've ever seen. It's historical and yet current. The maps and information are so interesting and it has great pictures. The walking tour is very clearly described. I lived in Coney Island for years but I never really knew the history of it. I think it's a marvelous reference item for anyone. Obviously it was written by someone with a love and a lot of knowledge of Coney Island.

A companion book to the award-winning PBS series "Cruising American Waterways," The Erie Canal by Debbie Daino Stack (PBS Project Coordinator for the "Cruising American Waterways" television series) and Captain Ronald S. Marquisee (Producer of "Cruising America's Waterways"), is a quality travelogue showcasing the history and beauty of the famous Erie Canal, a still active waterway used for recreation, flood control, irrigation, and power generation. Lavish color photographs of this historic canal fill The Erie Canal from cover to cover, and the insightful text offers a wealth of cultural lore. A superbly gorgeous coffee-table book and enhanced with a foreword by Andrew Cuomo, The Erie Canal is a true pleasure to read and enjoy and highly recommended for armchair travelers and community library American History collections.

This book is filled with color photographs that capture the beauty and historic charm of this waterway. The text is comprehensive -- touching on everything from history to Canal utilization. It let's you see what all of New York's canals have to offer - as a boater, cruise ship tourist, or automotive traveller. The Canals are fully functional and waiting for tourists. This book let's you understand the "New York State Canal System" and all that it has to offer. As the text points out... (rough quote)...if we had not inherited this legacy resource; costs, environmental concerns, and political considerations would not allow its construction today. This is a superior book on the world's most famous canal.

Chris Brown truely has a grasp on what a boater in the Northeast is looking for. I found that the information about the ports of call were particularly helpful for those not familiar with these areas. Highly recommended for those traveling in the Northeast.

I found this book a must have for my cruise this spring. It's jam-packed with information, from the depth of water to a complete list of marinas and their amenities. I am surprised that a book that is so packed with critical information could also be so easy to understand and fun. The many photos, maps and stories make this book a pleasure to read. I'm glad I purchased this book a month before my trip. I kept it on my night stand, and by reading a little bit each night, it made for a better vacation. The references throughout the book, like tips for clearing customs, what not to miss, and tourist information listings, alone were worth the price of the book to me. As a novice boater. I also appreciated the chapter on marina etiquette.