We are new kayakers, in our fifties, and have our own kayaks. We read this book cover to cover before setting out on our first expedition. The book not only details each trip with clear maps, but also tells you when to launch according to the tides, what to look for in weather reports, parking and prices, and clear maps. Since we are new, this information made us feel prepared and safe. The authors' natural history and beautifully illustrated birds and marine life helped us identify what we were seeing. Our first trip to Barnstable Harbor was a delight! We knew when and where to put in and how long a trip it would be. We tasted Sea Pickle, walked on the dunes and were prepared to watch out for motor boats. We identified egrets and saw a great blue heron. This is a great guide, not only for paddling, but as a nature guide as well. We keep it in our waterproof bag with the binoculars they recommend having on board. It also has a wonderful resource appendix for shopping or getting more information. This book is worth the low cost investment.

We bought this book as a gift for a host who hasn't been to New England. It is superb on almost all counts. It contains our favorite artists and favorite places and covers a wide range of history in the process. As an introduction to New England, it does a wonderful job of giving a feel for the region, and could be improved only by a little more attention to urban life--but that is small criticism. Although I am not an art historian, I do feel that the book reflects the range of art and artists that I have seen in galeries around New England. It is a great alternative to coffee-table books of photographs, and has the added benefit of being small enough to fit easily in a suitcase. I'm going to buy one for myself, too, so that I can read the introduction at my leisure and enjoy the pictures regularly.

James Ransome's wonderful illustrations make this Eve Bunting book a delight! A great read-aloud for my fourth grade class, we have become "peepers" at school, and have created an autumn leaf tree display in our classroom. Now, my students join the other peepers in "Ooh's and Aah's".

This is a sensation! After residing in Pennsylvania for 34 years, the photography and layout in the calendar brought back so many memories of places I had tucked away in my mind. I am now a resident of Virginia, but I will never forget the beauty of my life in the Keystone State! Thank you!

It's 1846 and you find yourself in Concord, Massachusetts. Who's there? And what's it like to live there? Those questions and more are answered by Paul Brooks in this fine book. He uses a humanities approach to uncover the history of culture, politics, education, literacy, and women's lives in this one particular area of New England. And you won't run into just the usual familiar families -- the Emersons, Hawthornes, Thoreaus, and Alcotts -- but will learn of other folks of Concord as well: farmer George Minott, lawyer Samuel Hoar, doctor Josiah Bartlett, and constable Sam Staples, to name a few. One chapter is devoted entirely to the operation of Brook Farm, a utopian community founded by Dr. George Ripley that was beginning to struggle by the year in question. Photos of key people and period illustrations augment the very readable text. If you like pre-Civil War American history or are enamored with any of the authors mentioned above, pick this title up at the nearest used bookstore. You won't be disappointed.

General Nelson A. Miles wrote a detailed, history- filled accounts of the Red River Wars and other Indian battles. Illustrations by F. Remington were a big surprise to me, as it was of a direct relative, William F. Schmalsle, Indian Scout, Guide, and Courier. The rescue of the German Sisters is a heartfelt experience. The reader will feel like one is living in the Old West, with all the joys, adventures, and tribulations that the characters experienced. The references in the back offer one further insight into the past. As Miles was involved in other battles besides those with the Indians, the history buff will find a lot of references in the back of the book which will result in many hours of pleasurable research and reading. The General Miles history trail may lead you to a long lost relative, as I found out, with numerous sources of information. So try reading the General Miles books from your library and if you like, order them from Amazon and take them home, or take them camping in the woods and plains, visit the historical places mentioned.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Picnics in New England. It made me feel as if I were actually in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, wherever. I loved the paintings, and I especially enjoyed the authors original and witty way of presenting the recipes.

As the author, I wanted to take the opportunity to describe the contents of The Pioneer Valley Reader. The Pioneer Valley is the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts. Its rich history and distinct culture is told through 100 prose and poetry selections. Read such Pioneer Valley writers as Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, Henry James, Leo Durocher, Timothy Leary, Pulitzer Prize winners Tracy Kidder and Madeleine Blais, John McPhee, Larry O'Brien, Joseph Brodsky, Calvin Coolidge, and Frederick Douglass. This book is a key to understanding the "Heartland" of New England.

It would hardly be proper for me to write a true review of "A Pious Bacchanal," but perhaps a few personal words will suffice. As editor and widow of the author, Daniel Orth Bell, Ph.D., I was involved with every aspect of the book's creation, from title page to index. Daniel, myself and our daughter Katie lived and breathed the wonderful drawings of Mr. Beardsley and Mr. Flaxman for over a decade. In fact, at the age of five, the works of these fascinating, if eccentric, British geniuses were probably as familiar to Katie as the characters of "Sesame Street". But though the manuscript itself was nearly done, the tragic death of my husband at the age of 41 left many details incomplete. As a tribute to Daniel's indomitable spirit, I vowed to finish what he could not, and with Katie's help, the book went to press at last. Never before linked by any art historian, Flaxman and Beardsley are compared with skill and empathy. The health problems and deep spiritual questions these artists faced are examined in depth, and Beardsley scholars in particular will derive a plethora of new insights from "A Pious Bacchanal". In every sense of the phrase, this book was a labor of love, and it is my fondest hope that readers across the world will give it the acclaim it truly deserves. Thank you!

Erik Seeman has mined deeply in the sources to produce an account of lay spirituality in early New England. The book should appeal to readers with these interests: early New England communities, the history of religion in America, or the fundaments of individual spirituality.

My favorite section of the book tells the story of John Barnard, the carpenter. Barnard, through his spiritual diaries, opens a world quite alien to many contemporary Americans, a world in which the spiritual struggle takes precedence over all other tasks in life. Barnard is an extraordinary ordinary person, an early American with a mission, for which he took responsibility, a man quite existential.

The author is quite careful not to speculate past the evidence, but it is provocative to think that Barnard, who died in 1732, was of an age to have been the grandparent of an American Revolutionary soldier. These soldiers sang, going into battle:

"Let tyrants shake their iron rod

And Slav'ry clank her galling chains;

We fear them not, we trust in God,

New England's God forever reigns.

Declaration of interest: the reviewer is the garndfather of the author's two beautiful daughters.