This book was great for a recent trip to NY. It is so compact, it fits right in your purse so you don't have to feel like the obvious tourista. The recommended sites were very helpful, but the map was invaluable, we used it constantly as we walked the city. The only thing you'll need to research on your own (the book is a couple of years old), is what's on Broadway and the "in" places to dine.

I found this book really helpful on my recent trip to NYC for a job interview. I had never been to the BIG APPLE and was really anxious and nervous about my trip. I didn't know where to stay, where to eat and how to see as much of the city as I could in a very limited amount of time. And, this book helped me out on all three on those concerns. I found it to be very well thought out, easy to follow and full of wonderful information. The lodging section was exceptional and I was able to find a great place to stay (The Wellington Hotel) that was in my price range and location all because of the helpful "Citypack." I think that any traveler would find it helpful and should really consider investing the money in a great resource book like this. I highly recommend it.

Found this a good quick reference to choose which of the "usual" tourist sites to see in New York. Found it to be very handy - it fit in my purse, and the maps were particularly useful. IT's tips and suggestions on what to see were also useful.

This book provides accurate technical information about many Maine trails -- distance, difficulty, altitude, location of water, etc. I successfully used the guide to plan several hikes in Baxter State Park. The fold-out maps provided in the pocket-part are worth the price of the book. My complaints are these: (1) the book needs to be updated more frequently, and (2) it really needs a few well-placed photographs of the more challenging trails. For example, although I inferred the Dudley Trail up Mt. Katahdin was steep (based on the altitude and distance information provided), the book does nothing to convey the visceral impact of the view from Pamola Peak down to Chimney Pond Lake. It's dizzying in a way that makes you want to use your entrails for rope. And, that's something you don't want to discover from the summit.

Like other AMC hiking guides in this series (AMC White Mountain Guide, for example), the book includes detailed trail descriptions and top-notch maps. However, be aware that although this guide claims to include "nearly 200 peaks," it does not include every little mountain in Maine (a very big state). Most notably, Acadia National Park is omitted from this book.

Finally, the maps, although excellent, are paper, not tyvek.

This book is an exellent guide to anyone hiking in Maine. It details many trails, from long backpacking trips to short nature walks. Included with the guide are maps that are a valuable resource when hiking in the Maine wilderness. The only downside to the bguide is that it is only published every few years, and trails on private land sometimes change over time. Other than that it is a very detailed, complete guide to hiking in Maine

This book means well, but...the
journal is only secondarily about medicine and primarily about the
endless self-preoccupation of its author. The degree to which the
actual writing of the journal occupies the journal itself is
symptomatic: "here I am again, sitting at this keyboard, writing
my thoughts about sitting at this keyboard writing my thoughts."
What makes the narrative interesting is that the author's Catholicism,
while shallow and unreflective, is in a way authentic: he really does
want to experience life as a pilgrimage and draw on the bottomless
resources of the Church in doing so. But he never realizes that the
whole point of spirituality is to "lose the self," so
religion is for him just another form of self-absorbed
navel-gazing. One longs for a stretch of even 3 pages where the
author, let alone the reader, gets outside his mind enough to actually
see Belfast, Maine and the practice of medicine in a rural
community. The narrative is also utterly humorless. One does get a
glimpse or two of primary care medicine as practiced in remote
sections of the country, and for that the book is valuable. It may
also be that David Loxterkamp, with the passage of time, will learn
how to get outside his own head and to write about the world out
there. He is technically a good writer, and with a little
self-detachment and some humor -- is that something that can be
implanted after age 40? -- might someday add to the narrow shelf of
medical autobiography that actually tells the reader something about
what it feels like to practice medicine.

I enjoyed this book a good deal, particularly Loxterkamp's attention to God and faith and the notion of ministering. I admire Loxterkamp's bravery for so much soul-searching over a year of his practice. This is a book to savor for those interested in rural medicine or family medicine. I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because I found his writing a bit labored. It's slow-going reading. It's also very much about him, him, him. A good contrast is to read Verghese's In My Own Country. Loxterkamp lacks Verghese's fluid style and attention to others. Despite his efforts to humanize, Loxterkamp presents fairly 2-dimensional portraits of his patients. This book is really more of an interior meditation, albeit a very good one.

I had some spare time and was browsing through Amazon when I ran across this book. I have owned the hardcopy book for several years, I had purchased it after reading an article in "Life" magazine about Dr. Loxtercamp in which this book had been noted. I found the book most interesting and found myself walking through the area of Maine he practices as he went about journalling his days and his times & thoughts of his personal family time.

I found the man and his story most inspiring. Alot of people in today's medicine either are in the field for the money or find themselves disallusioned with the field because of all the insurance buracracy. I find those people who are in their field because that is where they truly want to be and for the want of helping others to be a rare find.

I could also follow along Dr. Loxtercamp's views and journeys of a small town doctor from working in the medical area. He tells his story compassionately and the reader can feel his humanity for others.

Over the past couple of years, I had looked forward for another publication and writing for Dr. Loxtercamp but sadly never ran across progression of this book. I found myself wanting to know more about how his journey has progressed along in the small town medical practice.

A highly suggested read.

I very much enjoyed this book. The author did a wonderful job bringing this period of our country to life. The story spans the period when Dutch and English settlers entered into the reality of the Narraganset indians. It is a touching story of a man named Rain from God from his youth, to the coming of the white man, to God calling his name. Beautifully written.

This book is extremely educational, exciting and enjoyable. The back of the book has the historical facts and there is an index to help were needed with some of the Indian words and items of there everyday life. I have friends that are of Indian descent and this is an easy book for me to recommend to them. It is also a powerful ministry tool. For Christians or historians, or anyone that likes a good adventure book. This series is it. Volume 2 is "Ransom" and Volume 3 is "Longshot".

This book was indeed well researched and wonderfully written. The author's many hours of laborious research clearly shows through his talented manipulation of the written word. Especially engaging is the first person account, told by a Native American...the readers get a fascinating insight into the mind and thought processes of the Native American. This work is not only exciting, but intellectually stimulating. A must read for anyone who is interested in historical fiction.

This book was an easy read with characters that were very realistic. It did, however, seem to lack something and I really could never get excited to turn the pages. I was ready for the book to end and was a bit let down with the abrupt ending. It was like, "what happened?" '

A realistic story, charming and enjoyable light reading, but lacking something. I was quite disappointed.

Robinson is a fine writer, with a spare, edgy style, and tells a good story. Two sisters and their husbands, lovers, and children share the rental of a Maine beach cottage and get to know each other better...or worse. The main character, an aimless, about-to-be-divorced photographer with a small son, lives with and off her lover, a tense and unlikable lawyer. Her sister married the man she saw ---and fell in love with first--- when she was a teenager. The sisters' relationship is strained (do they really know each other?), but the end of the summer offers hope for a new understanding. The sister's husband is affable, but the main character's lover is problematic. He wants to marry her, and she seems to come around to accepting, but can it be anything but a mistake? Open-ended, almost-tragic climax resolves little of the tensions between the protagonists, though, and leaves the reader hanging and wondering what's next.

This book is only good for overall knowledge of small towns in Vermont; every little town gets a small paragraph's worth of description. It is not very helpful if you are looking to visit and need more practical information such as where to stay, where to eat, and things to do. While it does list some lodging and restaurants, it is by no means comprehensive and you're left to do most of the leg work yourself. This book, in my opinion, was a waste of my money - I had to buy two more Vermont books to get the information I was looking for. Even the town descriptions are too short to be really helpful. This is more of an "Overview of the Splendor of Vermont" book.

I'd lived in Vermont for ten years before buying this book (for my mom's visit). It is an impressive presentation of the character of our state. True, it's short on the often ephemeral details you'll need for a trip (the restaurants, the hotels). But in a day when most of that's available on the web anyway. What you get instead is a thoughtful description of how the reigonal differences emerged--a level of detail mostly ignored by the standard descriptions.

Well-written and full of wonderful photos. Also full of quirky little facts and insider info. If you are looking for a good book to educate you on the best state in the union (I hope to move there in the next couple of years), then this it. You won't be disappointed. It blew away every other guide I looked at (and there are quite a few out there). As far as I'm concerned, Compass American Guides sets a new standard.

I bought this book because my stay in Boston would be short and i wanted the latest info. I found a lot of the infomation supplied not correct. The boston computer-museum has been closed since june 1999, but the 2000 version of this book still knows it. Entry-prices and telephone-numbers are often wrong. Prices on accomodations are way off, and the people who wrote this seem to focus at expensive locations, lower budget accommodations are hardly mentioned. The included map has no clear markings for subway-stations which makes it ill-usable. The book contains no structured historical information on Boston, I know, it's the information people tend to skip, but for a foreigner with little knowledge of american history it is very handy when you can look up what the Boston Tea Party is. On the whole I did not like this book. The layout and photo's are good, but the info is out of date, despite the 2000 in the title. Travelers on a stricter budget should not read this book, because budget choises like greyhound busses, bycycling and hostels are not mentioned or are given bad remarks.

This was an excellent guide for deciding which places to visit in and around Boston during our stay. The walking guides he suggested were especially helpful. I found Frommer to be very honest about the places he reviewed, and the most charming places we visted were off the beaten tourist track and we would not have found them without the help of this book. I recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Boston.

I just returned from an extended weekend in Boston because I'm considering moving there in a couple of years but had never spent significant amounts of time there, so I bought this book because I couldn't find the current Fodor's Gold Guide, which is the usual travel guide that I purchase when I visit new places. LET ME TELL YOU HOW GREAT THIS GUIDE WAS! So much more user friendly than the Fodor's!! My favorite part is the chapter on Boston Strolls, where Frommer's has selected four different walking tours that you can do on your own with suggested stops. That was GREAT! On top of that, the chapters on dining and lodging were most helpful in planning the trip and there were also throughout the book little interesting blurbs of information about Boston, like what movies have recently been filmed in Boston and other tips and tricks that you need to know to navigate Boston. I took the book everywhere!! The maps are great and helpful too. If you're planning a trip to Boston, BUY IT!

Having lived in four countries now I found this book to be very helpful. It avoided the US tendency towards far too much information which shows great discipline by the authors in achieving this as the needs of the newly arrived vary tremendously, and it is a large US city.

It is a handy companion size and is easily referred to giving need to know information which is a brilliant support tool in the early stages of a move. It delivered what I expected and was really the lynchpin of a successful, happy move here to Boston.

When we moved to the States we found this book practical and informative in it's content. The fact that quotes were used from other expats made you feel "yes, other people have done this, met the same seemingly trivial difficulties and survived" . It was not overwhelming in the information it gave and pointed you in the right direction if you needed to find out more.

I am not an international newcomer. I recently moved to Boston from Seattle to attend graduate school. Nevertheless, "International Newcomer's Guide to Boston" by Karen Rudick, Anne Copeland and Helenann Wright provided both the practical and the essential information that any newcomer to the Boston area would require.

The book is brimming with the answers to those common sense questions that newcomers almost always have. Topics include driving a car in Boston, accessing utilities and Boston's weather. For international newcomers, this book is a comprehensive orientation to living in the United States, in addition to the insightful Boston area information.

In sum, this is a practical guide that is written in clear, concise language and is a "must-buy" for anyone arriving in Boston from other countries or distant regions in the United States.

Francis Jennings' Invasion of America is still usefull reading, but... In the half of 70s' it was almost revolutionary work, and many (not only) historians looked at this as at nearly sacred text. But I think, that Jennings „adversary's" - i. e. Vaughan's - New England Frontier is more balanced view of Puritan - Indian relations in the 17th century.
Jennings book is divided into two different parts. First is thematical (and I think better), and second chronological. Author tries to apply the research done in the first part to the 17th century New England (second part). Jennings offers many interesting ideas, often highly provocative. He shows, for example, how the contention between single New England colonies (especially between Massachusetts and Connecticutt) influenced their Indian policy.
Book has two weak points, of which the second is essential. 1) Jennings' approach, especially in the second part, is not ethnohistorical, although he (in the first chapter) praises this historical subdiscipline. He focuses almost exclusivelly on Puritan policy toward Indians, and largely omits Indian actions. 2) He looks at Puritans from the perspective of 70s' of the 20th century through the eyes of a radical (left-wing ?) intelectual. So he finds nearly all Puritan actions toward Indians as bad. Their only goal was to conquer Indians and their land. They were real imperialists. He absolutely excludes the possibility, that Puritan actions could have been motivated by sincere conviction, for example, that they are just trying to help Indians (missions) or to protect themself (Pequot war; actions toward Narragansett and Eastern Niantic tribes in the 40s'and 50s'). I think, that this too much revisionst and sceptical approach is wrong. Historian should look at actions of his „heroes" through the perspective of time they were living.
In spite of above said, I think this is still an important book (not only) on New England history in the 17th century.

A brilliantly-written, well-researched and incredibly impassioned telling of the European conquest of North Eastern America. My only complaint would be that after around 300 pages, the author's anti-european/pro-indian sentiments become a little wearing.

It seems to be a standard orthodoxy these days that 'colonialism' was a bad thing, and that, possibly, European settlers didn't acquire the continent without a spot of realpolitic, but in the mid-70's, when this book was written, it probably opened a few eyebrows. The accounts of just how quickly the pilgrim fathers took to aggressive expansionism against local tribes certainly made *my* stiff upper lip twitch a little.

Francis Jennings' first book, The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest was path breaking when released in 1975, a book of "angry, forceful prose [that] still touches readers a quarter century after its publication," according to his 2001 obituary in the newsletter of the American Organization of Historians. In fact, Jennings himself was known for his "irrepressible" devotion to debunking the myths of Native American history of the colonial period, particularly the works of Francis Parkman. As his eulogizer Frederick Hoxie notes, Jennings early on insisted that "America began not with "discovery" but invasion," a belief which set "himself apart from those who viewed the fate of the continent's indigenous people as somehow inevitable or natural." The polemical The Invasion of America was the first in what Jennings called his "Covenant Chain Trilogy," with The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire (1984) and Empire of Fortune (1988) finishing the set. As Hoxie states, The Invasion of America (and most of Jennings' other writings) was a "frontal attack on the generations of scholars who, he argued, had internalized the racist language of the seventeenth century and overlooked the violence and brutality of European settlement." As another reviewer writes, "this is a strong, angry book," the prose of which is characterized by "the author's controlled outrage at what happened and at the misconceptions, distortions, and even lies he sees in the treatment of the period by other historians."

I found this book to be very difficult to get "into". The characters were not interesting, the descriptions were overkill and the author treated the Chinese culture quite stereotypically, especially in her dialogue sections. I was disappointed with the book and only finished it because my library book group was reading it. It definitely was not worth the time.

Certainly Chief Inspector Wexford is "out of his bailiwick" in this Ruth Rendell suspense! In "Speaker of Mandarin," the erstwhile police detective finds himself in China, enjoying the sights. So much so that some sights keep recurring! Even after he returns home to his routine of solving murders in Kingsmarkham! Following the trip to China, one of Wexford's fellow travelers is murdered. And Rendell & Company are off and running. This series, certainly one of the best in the police procedural genre, always provides the reader with plenty of suspense, intrigue, intelligence, and great characterization. In his investigation, Wexford finds that there's more to this group of travelers than meets the ey, much like an Oriental puzzle box: until you press the exact button, it remains a mystery. Through Wexford's skill, ably assisted by Mike Burden with a little help from Wexford's wife Dora, the puzzle--and murderer--is soon revealed. Rendell is true to form here,

although finding her in China is a bit surprising! Nevertheless, Rendell fans will applaud and new readers will be impressed! (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

I have read all the Wexford books and this one has stayed with me.
I think about it often as it made a huge impact on me when I read it. The characters are complex and there is an almost mystical quality about it. This book along with "Semisola" are my favorite Wexford stories.