This is a wonderful book for the garment sewer who wants to work with African fabrics. You learn about the characteristics of a variety of African fabrics, how to recognize true mudcloth, fancy prints vs. wax prints etc. and how and where to buy them in and outside Africa. -Plus you learn technical tips on how to sew these fabrics, and the book is full of pictures of clothing that incorporates them. The book has staying power. It even includes patterns in the back.

African Fabrics provides crafts people with fourteen original projects which use African fabrics to create tunics, place mats, pillows, shawls and other items. Discussions of mudcloth, fancy prints, Kuba cloth and Kente cloth, among others, provide a unique and excellent introduction to African fabrics as a whole, making this more than just a crafts guide. A wide audience will find it important for both its historical overview of African fabrics and its artistic/crafts attractions.

Asante Sane - Danke Schon - Merci Beaucoup - Muchos Gracias: A world of THANKS for a book that meets the inspirational needs of the contemporary multiculturalist who loves stylish fashion wear, unique interior design and simple creative construction. The beautiful illustrations were quite fascinating and they served as great enhancement to the book's well written information and neat instruction. From the front cover to the back cover and all of the pages in between, author Ronke Luke-Boone takes the reader on an exciting journey that is richly infused with lessons in history, geography, fabric preservation, nifty sewing techniques, super shopping resources and much, much more. Most valuable for me is the instruction she provides for working with the popular mud cloth, Kubba cloth and Kente. Unfortunately, these hand crafted textiles defy the sewing logic that is normally associated with that of the symmetrically printed machine woven fabrics. One must be taught how to reinforce these ethnic textiles correctly and how to lay the patterns properly to prevent the completed garment from taking on a life of its own while it is being worn. Ms. Luke-Boone provided a corrective experience for me in this regard. Previously, I had not had the desired success in working with these fabrics, so I had set them aside. Reading through the book several times was the much needed source of motivation that guided me to complete two Kubba cloth pillows and a beautiful mosaic swing coat, pieced with mud cloth, denim, Korhogo, calvary twill and tea-dyed linen burlap,just as she instructed. At last, no more quality control issues with these fabrics. I recommend this publication to any one from any culture who has basic sewing skills and a great flair for exotic styling.

Winner of the Pinnacle Book Award, A Heart Traced In Sand: Reflections On A Daughter's Struggle For Life by Steven Boone is a personal memoir and candid reflection of a father's love for his daughter. This is the story of Steven's Boone's teenage daughter Naomi in the last two years of her young life which would prematurely end from cancer. Touching and heartfelt in his faith in God's care and as a living testimony to the human spirit, Steven Boone's A Heart Traced in Sand is emotionally moving in its shared revelation, and is especially recommended reading for anyone having to deal with chemotherapy and faith within lives of themselves, their families, and their friends.

A Heart Traced in Sand is a personnal and intimate account of a father's unconditional love for his daughter and their journey together through the valley of the shadow of death.
Author Steven Boone pulls out his artist's palette and paints an amazing landscape of hard choices, heart breaking emotion, hope, fear, courage, faith and transcendence.
This book, about the loss of a daughter in the bud of her young life, carries with it an uncanny strength. The reader turns the last page feeling honored to have been privy to such intimacy and caring in this important experience of transition. This book is more than a story about loss and grieving, it is a gift of the cherishing of LIFE itself!

Prepare to have a piece of your heart taken and broken open as you travel with a father, Steven, and his daughter, Naomi, on her journey to the next life. A beautiful, compelling composition of human emotions as viewed through the eyes of a loving parent and spiritually- directed artist. Poignantly translated into words which will penetrate your heart and soul. You will own a piece of Naomi's spirit and energy after you read her story of courage and faith. Her time on this earth was short, but her message of love lives eternally.

Our 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 year old daughters really enjoy this book. I love it so much that I give it to friends who have toddlers or preschoolers.

The messages are so sweet and the words are appealing to young children. Nothing scary, just pure tenderness and comfort. It's a collection of one page stories, (each with a different theme) that interest young children - growing, blankets, rain, falling asleep, bath time, dreams, favorite toys etc. The format allows for good conversations to arise with your child.

Great book for short attention spans. The illustrations capture the attention of infants, and the messages are simple and sweet. Highly recommend for new (and experienced) parents who would like to read to their children at very young ages.

Jack W. Boone has told seventeen widely varying--but quietly gripping--stories. He avoids such tempting tools of telling as profanity, wild sex, bizarre settings and weird people. But his stories make wonderful reading when you're by yourself, with time for reflections. Suggestion: to get the flavor of Boone, start with "Laura"--last in the book. You'll find you can't avoid reading the rest!

---Easy to read. Hard to forget. The author touched a nerve with his characters. I loved them all.--- A. Goss. Atlanta

A stunning example of the old time stories with no obscenities. A rare sight these days.--- John Adams, Teacher

Stories that will touch your heart. He did it eloquently. You'll never forget them.---A. Morrison, Editor

One of those wonderful books to read in front of a fire on a cold winter evening. It will bring back great memories to the elderly and entertain the young. There is something for all ages in it.---Mary Ellen Smith, Editor

What a delight to find a book with clean dialogue that expresses such a beautiful message.---Eddie Thompson, Columnist

Just plain, old fashioned, good stories. This one is a jewel.---Thelma Rains, Book Reviewer

Once I started reading The Presidents' Doctor, I found it difficult to put the book down. What especially intrigued me were the insights into the personal sides of Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover as seen by Dr. Joel Boone, who served as a White House physician during their administrations. Despite their prominence, the three Presidents had individual and family joys, sorrows and challenges just as everyone else.

As I read Mr. Heller's descriptions, I pictured myself in the shoes of Dr. Boone and his family. Imagine meeting, providing medical care to and socializing with key national (and in some cases international) leaders and then at the end of the day returning to "regular" home life and routines.

The book captures the spirit of the times it covers. As an example, the reader can easily imagine the scene of President Harding and his entourage on their meandering, transcontinental train trip followed by an ocean voyage to Alaska and then a last train trip down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco where Harding met his untimely death. Indeed, in our current era of ever-faster communication, it is hard to conceive of a President running the nation without the benefit of airplanes, televisions, computers, fax machines, cell phones, etc. Yet, despite the lack of these conveniences, the leaders of the time somehow were able to manage the country.

In summary, I highly recommend The Presidents' Doctor for an absorbing and personalized account of three Presidential administrations and life in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century through the perspective of the extremely dedicated and talented White House physician, Dr. Joel Boone.

If this book were a novel it would be a great read.. It is lively, has fascinating characters, and colorful background.

As a novel, however, it would have one fatal problem. As my English professor used to say, it would lack "an aura of verisimilitude". To put it in plain English, "You wouldn't believe it!".

However, it's not a novel. It is a well researched and thoroughly documented LIVE history book. It describes an absolutely incredible man, who performed absolutely incredible feats in his admirable life.

A few examples:

Joel Boone was a medical doctor. He was awarded a congressional medal of honor, the nation's highest award for bravery, while he was serving as a doctor! There are few enough medal of honor winners, but did you ever hear of a doctor - a non-combatant - winning one? Now you have.

In his early days he led and commanded troops in combat, even though his commission was as a medical officer.

He served several U.S. presidents and their families as their doctor.

Any one of these by itself is interesting and unusual. Taken all together they are unheard of - until now.

The book has a tremendous advantage over a novel. Since it reports on a real person, who really did these astonishing things, you have to believe they really happened. Poetic license would never get you this far. This is a book you don't want to miss.

Milton F. Heller,Jr. tells the story of his father-in-law with grace and lucidity. Admiral Boone came out of Pennsylania, along with his wife, to carve a nitch in history. His career spanned 50 years, a youthful Medal of Honor, serving as doctor to three first families, to director of Vetrans Administration. This slim volume is just what the doctor ordered for all americans who love their heroes. Great Christmas gift.

I read this book when I was in high school, and it changed the way I interact with animals, and my outlook on life. I couldn't find it until I looked for it on Amazon.com. 25 years later, it still inspires me the way it did then. Now I'm excited to share it with everyone I meet. It teaches the unconditional love of animals for the humans who are willing to share their lives with them and learn from them. Everyone should read Letters to Strongheart.

I bought this book many years ago and it has been my very favorite book ever since. I love animals. I believe all sentient life is interrelated and the feeling of love and belonging is the greatest emotion possible. I would like more information about the author. I also have Kinship with All Life.

I love this book! It is written for younger children to help them learn to be thankful for all that they have...not the "I want more" to be happy, but be happy for what you do have. It also teaches children to open their eyes to what they do have...sight, sun, fresh air etc... This book is for younger children, but as an educator of middle school aged children, I would also give this book to someone of that age who often feels the world owes them something, and doesn't often take the time to be thankful for what they have. This book would also be appropriate for a child of any age that is feeling sorry for him/herself, or one who is depressed in many ways, to lift their sights and spirits. I think this book could also be used as a spring board for family discussions around the dinner table...what are YOU thankful for?

Debby Boone creates a delightful addition to her series of children's books with "Counting Blessings". The subject of the book is obvious: recognizing the good things in each of our lives. What isn't so obvious is the type of blessings she highlights for the younger readers: the simple, ordinary things in Life to which children will be able to relate easily. The reading level of this book appears lower than that of Debby's earlier books. There certainly is less text to read, so this book may appeal to even younger readers. The book is illustrated by Gabriel Ferrer, Boone's husband. His style in this book is less fanciful than earlier books. The blocks of color in the backgrounds are bold, and the characters are less realistic. Together, Boone and Ferrer have created another excellent book to add to any child's library.

When he died in 1891, historian Draper left unfinished this massive biography of legendary Kentucky frontier hero Daniel Boone (1734-1820). Now Belue, who teaches history at Murray State University in Kentucky, has transcribed and annotated Draper's rambling manuscript, whose florid, hagiographic prose should not deter readers from some real merits. First, Draper, an indefatigable researcher, drew upon thousands of documents as well as interviews with white, Native American and black frontier dwellers to re-create Boone's colorful exploits, including his blazing of a trail through the Cumberland Gap; his construction of Boonesborough, the first permanent settlement in the "Far West"; and his dramatic rescue of his daughter Jemima and two other girls from Indians. Second, Draper's tome is a treasure trove of early Americana, covering Indian-Anglo wars and relations, the fur trade, the British presence and trans-Appalachian life, flora, and fauna. Third, the 76 period drawings, engravings, photographs and maps offer revealing glimpses of both whites and Native Americans. And finally, Belue's entertaining and informative chapter notes diligently correct Draper's romanticization, offering instead a lifelong wanderer from home and family, a failed land speculator, an adventurer who watched his son tortured to death by Cherokees but who still sought accomodation with the Indians. Regrettably, Draper's text breaks off in 1778, but a chronology, epilogue, and appendix sketch Boone's later exploits.--Publishers Weekly, September 14, 1998

I simply cannot tell you how critically important this latest offering is from Ted Franklin Belue. For close to 150 years, ninety percent of everything you've ever read in regard to the longhunter and the frontier Cumberland and Ohio valley experience was documented via information contained inside this book! Except...you couldn't just simply read it until our friend from Kentucky's Murray State University (the famous author and historian) Mr. Ted Franklin Belue, got his hands on it....Draper always intended to transform this incredible wealth of primary and secondary documentation into a book, but it never happened....Well, thanks to the Herculean efforts of Belue, we common folk now have unlimited access to "the entire motherlode"! Draper's THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE....There is much never-before-published information on Boone, his lifestyle and those who were associated with him. But this is just the tip of the iceberg!....There is a great deal more information on Boone's contemporaries and the world around them....Basically all the legitimate reliable documentation we have on the classic Virginia/Carolina longhunter came from and is contained within this book!....No longer need we be content with the little scraps and quotes. At last (thanks to Ted Franklin Belue) we now have "the source": Draper's THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE. Handsomely hardbound with a beautiful dust jacket, the huge 600 page book is filled with all sorts of appendices, early maps, and period and contemporary illustrations--never before published photographs from the Dresslar and Grant collections. The book literall overflows with numerous first-person narratives and biographies of frontier notables, including the entire diary of Dr. Thomas Walker's monumental 1750 exploration of Kentucky. Folks, if you have an association with the 18th century frontier and you'd like to become infinitely more knowledgeable about the people who actually lived there and what actually happened in those places and times through their own telling--you need this book. Now that this gem is available to the public, I can't imagine anyone who considers himself a serious student of the 18th century West not owing a copy of Draper's THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE.--John Curry

In 1856, the eminent historian, Lyman C. Draper, temporarily laid aside the 800 handwritten page biography of Daniel Boone that he had just recently completed. So far, Draper had documented the famous American frontiersman's life only through the year, 1778, and he fully intended to renew the project one day to cover the forty-two additional years of Boone's life. But that day never came, Draper went to his grave in 1891, and his unfinished manuscript was filed away and largely forgotten in the collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. One day in 1990, Ted Franklin Belue, a history professor at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, was studying Draper's manuscript on microfilm. Here, according to Belue's own words, was a national treasure, "known only to a few, filled with tales of Boone, frontier lore, Long Hunters, Indians, wild exploits, hunters' skills, genealogical data, descriptions of native flora and fauna, miscellaneous Americana, trans-Appalachian history, and much more." It took Belue eight years to transcribe, edit, and annotate the monumental manuscript. The result is an equally monumental book. More than 600 fact-filled pages tell the story of Boone from his birth in Pennsylvania in 1734 to his residence forty-four years later in Kentucky. Draper's original biography is much enhanced by Belue's interesting preface, his own extensive notes which shed a great deal of additional information on Boone in light of modern-day research, a chronology of Boone's life, a fine selection of period illustrations and maps, and an index. The Life of Daniel Boone is a book that anyone interested in America's "first West" will read with relish and appreciation. It is a testimonial to a man whose name-even today, nearly two hundred years after his death-is one of the country's most recognizable. But, beyond its tribute to Boone, the volume presents a gold mine of information about everyday life on the trans-Appalachian frontier, the mores and lifestyles of the region's first Anglo settlers, and a number of mini-biographical sketches about some of the key players of the times. --James A. Crutchfield

I'm taking an on-line college course, and this is this textbook. It's full of up-to-date information that relates well to today's business world. An excellent introduction book to the fascinating world of business.

It is very helpful and interesting.

Best book written ever in the field of business. Ideal for any students either majoring or non majoring in business and acctg.