"Our Elders Lived It" is Deborah Davis Jackson's investigation of the nature of American Indian identity in the urban setting of "Riverton," an anonymous town in the Upper Great Lakes region of the U.S. After introducing the reader to the socio-economic history of the town, Jackson delves into the issu of urban Native American identity as it relates to home reservations, American Indian institutions, family ties, economic opportunities and limitations, age, and the time of immigration to Riverton. Jackson's work eloquently reveal the multi-dimensional nature of ethnic identy though multiple interviews with member of, or people with ties to, the Riverton Native American community. Jackson's findings are broadly relevant, and we recommend this book to anyone interested in issues of ethnic identity.

Deborah Davis Jackson's "Our Elders Lived It" is a book that describes the struggle in determining the ethnic identity of Native Americans in the urban setting. Jackson tackles the question of what factors contribute to ones identity head on. She interweaves historical events and personal accounts to produce a tightly knit and interesting perspective. Jackson's intense style of writing allows readers to have an unexpected emotional attachment. We recommend this book to those who are involved in cultural anthropology, sociology, students, and those who are facing the challenge of determining their own ethnic identity.

Jackson tackles the dynamic interaction of the complex components of identity in OUR ELDERS LIVED IT. She starts by reconstructing the relationship between the rural and urban-born Anishinaabe people through interviews, focusing on the level of continuity between generations which is a significant aspect of cultural identity. She also addresses the fact that different economic and social opportunities created different ways for people to express their identities. She draws a picture of how different social contexts reflect different levels of desire in individuals to incorporate and manifest "Indianness" in their lives. She does well to show the continuum of Indian identity--that there is more than one way to embrace Native culture and identity. Jackson, through her work on the Anishinaabe touches on larger on larger American societal issues such as marginalized or poor communities, the separation between blue and white collar workers and their respective cultures, and Indians and non-Indians. This text would be useful for anyone interested in the components of culture and identity. It flows well and keeps the reader's attention by switching from history to analyses to first hand interviews.

This books does have lots of decent info on the subject, and I learned a lot from reading it. However, the only photos of the fly patterns in the book are on the back cover, and leave a lot to be desired. I have been told that the 2nd Edition has much better photos and tying instructions for the fly (egg) patterns in the book. If I had known in advance, I would have purchased the 2nd edition for a few more dollars!

The [money] you spend on this book will be your single best investment (aside from spending time on the stream gaining firsthand experience) you make. Easy to understand and turn into working knowledge for the flyfisherman new to this fishery.

John Nagy's book is perfect for the steelhead angler living in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Steelhead in Lake Erie are different from other populations of Great Lake's steelhead, because of the shale creeks and rivers.

John Nagy over the years has developed specialized leaders, custom built rods, and proper drifting presentations for these waters. The book goes in detail on weather and stream conditions, steelhead behavior, strategies, and maps of tributaries of Lake Erie. The book also has pictures of the most popular flies used for steelhead. I started fishing for steelhead two years and John Nagy's book has turned me from a frustrated newbie to a stream savvy steelheader. I would strongly recommend this book.

I am an original Cockette, my name was Big Daryl. Since New York, I have gone by Kreemah Ritz. The Cockettes called Bambi Lake Johnny Mincer, because he was always trying to mince in on the Cockette action. He could neither sing or dance or deliver lines or look good in a costume, just a few of the criteria to join the Cockettes. His book is full of lies, but most people slandered in the book could care less and are ignoring the fact. I just think the public should know the other side of the coin, and file this book under "Fantasy". Contact me at cockettes2000@yahoo.com for further comment.

Loved it. Best of all is Bambi's own story, which is compelling. A must-read for anyone with gender confusion!

An engaging narrative that makes it difficult for the reader to put down. The fantastic quality of this book is not just the history and the story..but how much the author's voice, wit, wisdome and beauty, comes across..loud and clear..it is like having a 200 page conversation with Bambi in your boudoire..telling you all about the glam, the glitz, dish, and the juice of her fabulous life.
Ultimately, it is a book that shows how to be true to oneself with dignity and a sense of humor.- in other words Unsinkable to circumstance and time.....a la the Unsinkable Ms Lake...

David G. Brown's "White Hurricane" is yet another in the recent flood of books depicting historical weather releated disasters. Indeed, the 1913 storm of the book's title is so little remembered that I had never heard of it prior to reading the book, despite growing up in the Great Lakes region. Brown obviously did a copius amount of research and does a fine job describing the history of Great Lakes shipping and demonstrating the risks that sailors face when the "gales of November" start howling.

The 1913 Great Lakes storm was unusual both for its intensity and because it raged over the lakes for almost a full week rather than just a couple of days. As a result, it claimed a dozen ships and nearly 250 lives. Dozens of other ships barely escaped and the first hand accounts of the sailors who survived the tempest make for chilling reading.

The book's main drawback, however, is that it lacks a single compelling central event as a focus for its narrative. Brown gamely switches back and forth between accounts of each individual ship as the storm progresses. Unfortunately, there are far too many ships and sailors for the reader to keep easy track of and eventually all the accounts begin to sound the same. On the plus side, the book provides several helpful maps as well as a generous helping of photographs, mostly of the ships that were lost.

Overall, an informative if not highly readable account of a largely forgotten weather disaster.

Hate to admit it, since I live along Lake Erie, but I never heard of this storm until someone bought this book for me. It is really excellent. The author picks a certain day, certain time, and writes about what is happening with which ship, etc., at that particular time, and sometimes it was a little hard for me to keep track of which ship he was writing about. However, he really makes you understand and feel what it would have been like being on one of the ships breaking up or getting stranded in the terrible storm. This would be an excellent movie! I recommend this book to anyone interested in the weather, the Great Lakes, or boating/shipping in general.

As a Coastie recently stationed on the USCGC ACACIA out of Charlevoix, MI. I found this book to be very helpful in my learning about the Great Lakes geographically, meteorilogically, historically. If you are at all interested in Great Lakes lore then you will thoroughly enjoy this book as well as learn a few things you may not have known, such as why lake storms are different from those on the sea.

I promise you haven't read THIS one before. There's a hint of "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil" in the rich authenticity of Armstrong's descriptions of the Finger Lakes setting, but blend that with lots of high-tension action and some truly unforgettable characters (especially "Barn") and you have a book that's above the bar for its genre(s).

Adorably romantic, frightening, spooky and suspenseful. It's a fun read that keeps you turning the pages. I fell in love with the characters.

J.F. Armstrongs book The Asexuals answers this question in a slam bang mystery/fantasy that takes you through the heart of the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

From the first page where we meet Jimi Raid ,the ower of the Jimi Miami detective agency, to the climatic finish we're taken on a whirlwind tour of murder, sex, and drugs.

The Asexuals is a Must Read for anyone who loves a great page turner. I couldn't put it down!

I have a Ph.D. in oceanography and have taught it in colleges. I was looking at this book for clues on writing oceanography for kids. I didn't read every word but in my skimming I found two pretty bad errors. The book says gives theocean off Chile as an example of a region with very little life (WRONG! there's upwelling of nutrient-rich water there and it's an example of a region with a lot of life) and that chemosynthetic bacteria at hydrothermal vents make oxygen (NO! it's energy). The book is fun but for readers who don't know a lot of oceanography, beware.

Bill Nye The Science Guy has a winner, again. This one is the Big Blue Ocean. There are twelve easy to do experiments for children to do. How big is the ocean? That is the first question. It is answered very informatively, then it is followed by a great experiment to cement the concept for hands on learners. The whole book is formatted the same way with informational side bars added. Good third and fourth grade material.

If your kids (and you!) love Bill Nye on TV, they'll also enjoy him in print form. Here Bill is up to his usual antics--but it's all serious science. This fun and accurate introduction to a number of aquatic concepts is likely to "hook" kids--so be prepared to follow this book up with one that goes into more depth!

While browsing in one of London's classic book stores, I purchased this thin book as a gag gift for a friend addicted to buying books back in Los Angeles.

My friend never received it. I kept it. You can't let such an odd, funny, and unique book leave your hands. Each page provides insight into strange obsessions and peculiar beliefs that have grabbed writers. Some celebrate taboo lifestyles (The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution; Scalping in America) while others document extreme optimism ( You Can Make a Stradivarius Violin, Thirty-six Reasons for Believing in Everlasting Punishment) and lots of dry British humor (Books in Bottles: The Curious in Literature, and a blank book of 400 pages titled What Women Know About Men.)

An instant classic for book collectors and bookstore owners.

This is one of those books which is especially good for those unmentionable moments when you can do little more than stare at the bathroom door. Ash and Lake present their amazing collection of odd (and often unintendedly perverse) book titles like "Suggestive Thoughts for Busy Workers", "The Potatoes of Bolivia", "Who's Who in Barbed Wire", "Play with your own marbles", "Making it in leather", and "Scouts in Bondage".

I bought this book because of its cover which featured a lady who appeared to be from the fifties holding two toads, upside down, one in each hand. It was apparently the front cover for a book about making profits from raising frogs. The rest of the book is simply about weird and wonderful books. Whether they have unintentionally amusing titles, such as "Penetrating Wagner's Ring", unbelievable prosaic titles such as "A study of Liverpudlian water cocks, 1932-1955" or ridiculous authors' names, one of which included something like "D'Bang-D'Crashes" (I'm using my memory here so these may not be exactly correct) it is a very funny book. I work in London, and the London Underground is a very staid place. But I read it while I was commuting and could not help laughing out loud at some of the entries. I got some very strange looks from fellow commuters until I passed the book to one of them. Then they started laughing out loud too. Even if you can't get a copy for me, could you hunt down who ever I loaned it to and force them to return it to me?

If you want my advice, take the first chapter of this book very lightly. Get the background information on the Prespa Albanian community in southern Macedonia and how they have emigrated to North America, Australia and parts of western Europe, but unless you're an extremely serious student of anthropology, skip the array of references to Foucault, Bourdieu, and other "heavies". You don't need them. They're in there to show intellectual dexterity and because when you write a Ph.D thesis you do need stuff like that. I dreaded reaching Chapter 8, entitled "Emergent Subjectivities" thinking it would be more jargon and barely-relevant theories. When I got there, I was happy and relieved to find that it was about "cultural change in a new environment" and well worth reading. That is what I would say about this whole book. It is a really excellent ethnography in the modern style. Sugarman takes weddings and the songs performed at them and reads the whole as a "text" in which Prespa Albanians are saying something to themselves about life, about their 'world view'. Their identity is learned, maintained, and even transformed through the medium of song. While many authors claim that they are going to present such a "text" in their studies, many fall short. I felt that Sugarman succeeds. There are a number of useful photographs, the texts and notes of many songs, and a CD. Some tracks of the CD are like amateur wedding videos, but illustrative nonetheless. A few can be listened to with pleasure by anyone with a love of Balkan music.

Prespa Albanian social life conforms to strict patterns, a web of mutual obligations not tossed aside lightly. Your status depends on how you fulfill your social obligations. Until recently, visiting and gregarious behavior dominated social life. Weddings were the crown jewels in this pattern, so Prespa behavior at weddings presented meaningful patterns in their most intense form. The "order" or arrangement of behavior found there---in greeting, seating, food served, dress, modest (female) or exuberant (male) attitudes, rituals undertaken, and most especially, the singing of a vast repertoire of songs in polyphonic mode---establishes social identity. "Honorable behavior on the part of all household members is the precondition for membership in the moral community". [p.197] This is hardly unique to the Balkans, but Sugarman examines the central identities of Prespa life---patrilineal household, gender, generations, plus kin and friends---and how the underlying core values of honor and moral order are connected to music. She links the whole system to ideas of honor found throughout the eastern Mediterranean. ENGENDERING SONG is thus a work of ethnomusicology that strongly connects intellectual traditions of mainstream anthropology with the realm of a specific musical culture. By the time Sugarman writes that singing has "served the community as an activity that integrates and embodies their various understandings of 'honor' perhaps more succinctly than any other." [p.225] that "to participate in wedding singing is to engage in a process of 'engendering'" [p.253] and "singing is for Prespare the discourse par excellence of patriarchy." [p.282] we fully understand what she is talking about. In diaspora, economic status has begun to replace honor as the basis of social relations. The process is laid out very clearly.

ENGENDERING SONG presents an extremely thorough, convincing picture of a particular community. While the detail may be far more than you want to know, I recommend you read it not only for any love of Albanian culture, but as an example of an excellent study in ethnomusicology.

Interesting book on a small community. This book is well written and moves well. This is not for a person just wanting to breeze through some basic information about Albanians. For a person interested in research about the balkans and looking for greater detail this book is a good buy.

Being an Albanian from the Prespa Area I was amazed to see the such a detailed book on such a small community had been written.

This book explains every bit of our traditions and customs that our community lives with, But mainly our Weddings which are a very very complex events.

I would like to thank Jane C Sugarman strongly on a great peice of work done which included years of research, On behalf of all the prespa community in Australia ,Thank You Very Much

This seemed like a mediocre reference to me. I returned it a day after recieving it in the mail. Perhaps it is more appropriate for the more eastern Great Lakes. Minnesota streams were mentioned on only two pages.

Very informative book on fly fishing for salmon and trout in the Great Lakes and why and how it is different from salmon fishing in the northwest. Full of useful information and innovative techniques. If you want to catch more salmon or steelhead in the Great Lakes' tributaries, this is must reading. For more info on Great Lakes slamon fishing go to www.TimesFlyN.com.

I bought this book to improve my luck on the St. Joe River. I loved it , cover to cover. Flies for the fish, not for display or to store in another flybox. This is a guide to practical, easily tied fish getters and how to present them. I felt included as I read about the rivers I have fished here in the midwest. The author gives a clear, common sense explanation covering tackle from rods to tippets. I enjoyed his stories which put me back on streams I had fished long ago. I'm hooked!

Great for the 1st time visitor to beautiful P.V. Accurate, detailed descriptions of hotels, sites, excellent restaurant suggestions and very accurate with prices. Seems to give unbiased opinions of places to see, how to get there, what to expect (which is important). Seemed to know P.V. and surrounding area(s) very well. Went to a couple of great restaurants (no crowd, great food, friendly service) and enjoyed excellent, unforgetable meals at both places due to book recommendation. Would certainly not hesitate to use another book in this series when travelling to other parts of Mexico !!!

After looking through innumerable Mexico guidebooks, we found this to be the most helpful. Highly recommended for those going off the well-beaten path of loco gringos.

This book is very helpful for the first time travler to PV. The suggestions in the book assist the traveler in making sure he/she get the most out of the vacation. I would recomend.