Anyone looking for information on primative burials in the southwest knows how hard this information is to come by. I was glad to see an actual archaeological dig written up so well. The pictures are equally interesting in showing positions of the bodies and possibly the significance of such. Although the dig site is in New Mexico and occupied in the 1300's it was especially interesting to see that in one burial, there was a "cache" of points that were of Texas origin AND from the Archaic time frame. The book also includes tons of charts and graphs for the very serious archaeologists out there.

This is the definitive book about common use of Amazonian herbs for healing.

The book describes appx. 50 easy-to-find-over-the-internet herbs that have long traditional histories of healing.

Each herb is described carefully and carries a chart showing what ailments it is used for in different cultures worldwide.

There are useful chapters of herbs to use by ailment, descriptions of the ailments, traditional herb MIXTURES for different common problems.

The research cited in the book is well documented and there is a nice amount of human interest background as well.

If you are curious or interested in the ancient wisdom of plant healing from the Amazon this is definitely a book to have.

great book in first person telling a story of a time and place that is little known in american history. she writes with great skill, and houmor abounds as she takes you on a trip down the river with her familey and actor friends. here comes the showboat is a great read for the whole familey.

The wonderful photographs in this book put a human face on the history of uptate New York. A delightful read.

This book is the best book in Sweet Valley High! If you read this one, you must read the 1st and 3rd!! This is a heart-wrencher!! Have some Tissuses near by!!!

Imagine the thrill that touches a person at the first Springtime sighting of wild poppies in bloom. If the blossoms are gold, then it's a distinctively California experience, evoking a strong sense of place and of natural wonder. I felt something of the same qualities of delight and surprise when I read Shirley Ewart's Highly Respectable Families: The Cornish of Grass Valley California 1854 - 1954, newly released by Comstock Bonanza Press. In her words the Cornish migration and assimilation into Nevada County, California, assumes the energy of a natural force.

At the center of this ramble through local social history is a tuft of eight family stories - actually a whole meadow - that exemplify the values of the immigrants from the southwestern-most corner of the United Kingdom who came to America to find opportunity for themselves and their children. Here is a vivid and highly readable account of 100 years of nearly constant emigration from Cornwall to California. In telling the stories Shirley enumerates the values that made these families both respected and successful - self-reliance, devotion to family and church, ethnic identity, faith in self-improvement, scorn of liquor, impassive acceptance of hard work and danger, love of music. She explains how these families, who were the arms and hands of industry in the mine, and the voices and faces of faith in the church, earned the respect of the wider community. In a new land they brought an old world culture to full flower.

The vitality of the book comes from the stories themselves, accounts of representative families, such as the Henwoods, the Bennallacks, the Tremenwans and others, all of which turn on intimate moments of decision and self-revelation. The book tells the story of the George family and of Harold J. George, who was offered a cornet if he would learn to play it and who went on to conduct the fabled Grass Valley Cornish Carol Choir for half a century and to bring music to children in the Grass Valley schools. It relates the love story of Jim and Alberta Rowe (grandfather of our Cornish Cousin Winnifred Rowe Cannon) who reportedly never exchanged a cross word in sixty years of marriage, and who were determined that their son would never be "a mucker in a mine." It tells of Mary Anne Mitchell, a young widow and mother scraping by in Cornwall, who had a proposal of marriage from a Cornishmen in America she knew primarily through his letters. She considered the offer and prayed and in the end it was thinking of the future of her two children that turned the balance. In recounting these stories Shirley had the help of Harold T. George, whose name also appears on the book.

Shirley, who spent much of her childhood in St. Ives, Cornwall, and knows first-hand the hardship of immigration and the miseries of homesickness, brought a rare understanding to this work. She was never turned down for an interview, which says as much about her empathy as it does about the generosity of the families she met. She collected these stories over two decades and relates them with sympathy and skill. All of us who are part of the Cornish community owe her a debt of gratitude for preserving and relating these intimate accounts and we are indebted to her publisher for presenting them in such an appealing volume.

This book is not only great to use, it's terrific and fun to read. It is so complete and includes great maps that are easy to understand and use. We like having the bota nical names of plants as well as common names presented. The writers know their stuff. We highly recommend this book. It's well worth the price.

This book is not written in a particularly sprightly style and yet I found it a work fascinating in the extreme. It starts at the very beginning , and I am sorry it only goes up to 1966. The chapter on the Non-Partisan League (1915-1923) was the most interesting. And Bill Langer had a fascinating career, the account of which was made more attention-holding for me because I used to go to the Senate gallery when I was going to law school in Washington and listen to his orations. Unforgettable, since unique. This is a great and memorable book.

The McFie family were active in the history of Mesilla Valley, New Mexico. In 1903, Maude Elizabeth McFie (Bloom) as a senior at New Mexico A&M, and for her regional history drew from original interviews with the men and women who settled in the Dona Ana Bend Colony Grant (and the other grants in the Valley), members of the Missouri Volunteers who marched south through the Valley to El Paso in order to participate in the Battle of Brazito, the California Column which arrived in the Mesilla Valley during the Civil War and remained to settle. Edited by Lansing B. Bloom with annotations by Jo Tice bloom, A History Of The Mesilla Valley, 1903 is a small gem of regional history made available for a new generations of readers. It is as engaging as it is informative, and would aptly serve as a model for similar histories for other parts of the American southwest.

"Homestead Year" is like the description above, only more so. Judith gets into great detail about bee screens so that her guests won't be stung by some rather agressive bees, the duck house, even her "end of season" homstead tour map. It is not so detailed as to be technical.

Ted, her husband, is the rather reluctant helper, balancing his professorial duties with helping Judith with aspects of her project. He also is a dandy spaghetti sauce maker! Other members of her family are featured in stories scattered here and there through the book like glimpses through a house window.

Easy to read in a chronological manner, "Homestead Year" is a wonderful book for both country and city folk, especially on those winter nights when gardening is not far from one's mind.

Fantastic work from a very varied author!