The first 50 pages of this book were quite entertaining. But the remaining 150 pages were mediocre. Their trip through Latin America consisted mostly of getting drunk and picking up prostitutes. One bright note: It was interesting to learn of the difficulties the author encountered as he crossed from one border to another. However, I was expecting more from this book and was kinda disappointed.

i loved the story line of the book. 3 guys with nothing better to do than get in a hearse and travel to rio. the encounters they had on the way were very funny to read about. i finished the book quickly because i kept wanting to find out what would happen next. i reccomend it to anyone who just wants some entertainment out of a book.

This book is about a man and his hearse, bound for Rio. Armed with plenty of alcohol and one sausage, he and two friends encounter everything from drunken prostitutes to corrupt politicians. Reading this is a must for any hearse enthusiast!!

Overall, I found this book somewhat difficult to use. My focus on my first visit to New Orleans was the French Quarter and I found the maps to be very lacking. The cross streets were not listed on part of the map, so we actually had to locate another map at the hotel to take with us. We visited several of the places not recommended in the book (like the flea market in the French Quarter), and if you are looking for typical "tourist" type items, then this is by far the cheapest and best place to shop! I would definitely recommend purhasing another book in addition to this one to get someone elses perspective on the French Quarter.

I thought this was a really great book--I only wish it was longer!

The section on Mardi Gras (especially the author's personal memoir of being on a float) was particularly excellent, showing how you could enjoy the celebration in your own way--either nice, naughty, or nasty, which should include everyone on the spectrum from families with young children to raunchy college students.

The walking tour section was also really good. It was nice to have a "guided tour" through the Garden District and Esplanade Ridge, which many tourists may not get around to doing, but you should.

I also really liked the after-dark entries. I got a feeling the author really knew what she was talking about when it comes to music (which is what you're supposed to do in NO, right?).

All in all, I thought this was great. Try it. You'll like it.

I looked at a number of guides to New Orleans before selecting Frommer's 2002 New Orleans to help me with my trip. Frommer's was my favorite. It provides detailed, accurate and reliable information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, shopping, and various other topics. Frommer's was by far the most comprehensive guide I saw for most topics. I was particularly pleased with the down-to-earth discussion of attractions: museums, parks, bars, public places, etc. The maps were also excellent: a good map (in reality, several good maps) is a necessity for getting around New Orleans and making the most of the city. Frommer's guide provides better than average maps and good information on attractions that will help ensure you're making the most of your time. As a bonus, the attractions are marked on many maps near the parts of the book where they're discussed, and when you see how New Orleans streets are laid out, you'll understand how useful that is!

I was disappointed in the guide's coverage of restaurants, though. I thought they detailed relatively few restaurants, and found their descriptions and ratings fairly weak. My sister, who lives in New Orleans, took us to several "locals" places that were at least as good as the highly rated restaurants in the guide. The lesson is: don't be afraid to experiment. If you need to rely on a restaurant guide, choose another. Better yet, ask some locals. My personal favorite was NOLA (get the duck!). The Palace Café gets a strong recommendation, and if you're in the French Quarter and want a casual lunch, try Central Grocery for great mufalletas. Café du Mond (coffee and beignets) was a must for me, and I didn't find it disappointing.

With the exception of eateries, I relied much on Frommer's guide when planning my trip, and also when we were there. I found the guide's advice to be reliable and concise. It offered great descriptions of attractions, and helped us find several which were perfect for kids (we traveled with our 2-year-old). In particular, we found Audubon Park, The Audubon Zoo, and City Park fantastic for kids and adults alike. Moreover, the guide's information typically matched the things the locals told us.

Frommer's will help you get the most out of New Orleans, but equally important is a willingness to try new things and be adventurous. The French Quarter is great, but you'll likely find things you like a lot more in other parts of the city. Frommer's does an excellent job of laying out the material in a format that you can either read through, or easily use as a reference guide. Either way, it should help you find most of what you're looking for. I can unconditionally recommend it, both because it was the best guide I found before I headed to New Orleans, and because it proved its worth when I was actually there. It definitely added significantly to our enjoyment of the trip.

First off, before you even think about buying this book, understand that is a socioeconomic study of the maritime profession from 1700 to 1750. The book was written by a Marxist who has succumbed to Hollywood's romantic characterization of the Pirate as a misunderstood individual who only wanted his unalienable rights which were withheld by the running dog lackeys of the capitalist pigs who ran the shipping business and the Navy. Even if he had to murder people to get it.

If you want a semi-legitimate justification of piracy, you may find enough here to keep you happy. Most of the study is a legitmate presentation of maritime economics and the danger of the trade in the early part of the 18th century. Yes, most ship owners and captains were capitalist pigs who would man a ship with a minimum crew and pray they lost no crew members to the many dangers that were common to shipping at that time. Not the least of which was piracy.

His arguements begin to fall down when he describes the commraderie and equalitarian brotherhood that pervailed on board a pirate ship. He intimates that slaves captured were treated as equals. (there is documentation to indicate otherwise including the sinking of a pirate ship which the crew members escaped, but the captured slaves were allowed to drown.

If you are reading this for the economic history of the shipping industry or for information of the quaint Naval custom of impressing their crew (both the Americans and British were known for grabbing able bodied saling men off the docks and encouraging them to join - they'd untie them when they were far enough out to sea) then this book is excellent.

If you are looking for information on a typical sailor's life, I'd suggest "Before the Mast" in conjuntion with this. But if you are looking for real information on pirates and piracy, This book does not provide much. there is is more accurate information regarding piracy in "Under the Black Flag" with a more varied discussion of the possible causes of the choice of piracy, backed by statements taken from court records of the time.

I would not recommend Between the Devel and the Deep Blue Sea as a history to most people as the author is attributing many modern sociological and psychological causes to historical events about which we have only in some cases, the account books for reference.

This text is interesting and engaging, but Rediker's bias ruins the credibility of his arguments. Rediker is a Marxist historian and therefore provides an extremely slanted view of seafaring men. His thesis is centered on the seaman as a member of the working class, and his struggle to rise in a capitalist system. One example of how his bias has clouded his analysis is in his discussion of alcoholism. Rediker assumes that the resort to alcohol is caused by alienation- this draws obvious parallels to Marx's own work focussed on the alienation of the workers (200). A particularly appalling example of his bias is when Rediker discusses the cruel treatment of seaman by their masters. Rediker then asserts that "when Karl Marx noted that the modern wage labor system could not have emerged without the bloody assistance of the lash, he may well have had the early modern shipping industry in mind" (213 n19). Clearly there is no basis for this statement save his personal beliefs.

Rediker is hardly the only man to notice - though he is one of only a very few to have written on the topic at length - that the Anglo-American Maritime world of the early to mid 18th Century was a socio-political hotbed of burgeoning revolution. To criticize the author for being a Marxist is absurd - the era about which he is writing, and the sailors and specific cultural events of that era, were socialist themselves, though they wouldn't have had the insight to realize it at the time.

Political scientists and economists should find this book of even more interest than historians, as many of the same events in the rise of Capitalism as Rediker writes about are now coming full circle and repeating themselves, with NAFTA and GATT creating the same social conditions that led to widespread - and often remarkably effective (in the case of piracy) - rebellion between 1700 and 1750. As Rediker points out, our very word "strike," in its labor union connotation, originated with merchant mariners striking sail on their ships and halting the movement of their cargoes.

Rediker is a remarkably thorough researcher, backing his thesis with the best possible sources and representing both the Capitalist and Labor points of view from contemporaneous documents. His masterful rendering of the world of "Jack Tar," an average mariner of the age, ably demonstrates that the social upheaval witnessed during the Golden Age of Piracy was an inevitability - as was its eventual downfall. Rediker is not a Marxist apologist, as his critics claim, but a keen and competent observer of statistical trends and social events, which he elucidates with extreme precision. He is less advancing any kind of argument, than simply putting the merchant marine world of three centuries ago into clear focus, and to some degree comparing and contrasting it with our modern landscape.

This is a truly fascinating book, as much for its brilliantly vivid portraiture of the age as for the validity of its social and economic arguments. It would make an excellent textbook for political science, economics, or sociology classes.

The unstated thesis of Walter Lefeber's book is that an expansionist foreign policy was a conspiracy that "the great and the good" fostered on an unsuspecting American public. Apparently there was this rather unfortunate tendency that arose after the Civil War toward emprire building and that there was an almost "illuminati" type approach by the "wise men" of American foreign policy to see that an empire was obtained.

The problem with this line of thought is that it bears very little relation to the truth. Empire building was not quite the new thing that Lefeber makes it out to be, rather these sentiments should be viewed as a continuation of manfest destiny. Once the US took the continent from the French and Spanish, eyes turned elsewhere. This was not quite the 40 year process that Lefeber makes it out to be. It was much more complex than that.

The other problem is that Lefeber, with his conspiracy approach to foreign affairs, seems to miss that the people who were apparently working together to build this overseas empire, did not really like each other that much. Theodore Roosevelt did not much care for the Adams brothers Henry and Brooks (though they were distantly related) who in turn thought him insane.

I cannot quarrel with Lefeber's scholarship and would recommend reading this book but with the proviso that at times he appears to be viewing American foreign policy as one vast conspiracy which simply is not true.

While the American Revolution and the Civil War are both extremely important periods in the history of the United States, the tendency of many teachers to overemphasize these two eras leads to a peculiar gap in American knowledge, especially when concerning America's period of economic and landed expansion. As Walter LaFeber impresses upon us from the very preface of his book, these formative years are some of the most important in the history of the United States; the opinions and policies shaped through the crises of the late 19th century impacted not only the foreign relations of the time, but created the base from which America's current foreign policy grows and shows many of the reasons for our prominent place upon the global stage.

The basic premise of LaFeber's argument is that all roots of American expansion and imperialism in the 19th century are economically based. There are many observable reasons for this economic instability, but the most important argument is that as a result of expanded production and an agricultural and industrial surplus, American companies needed new markets in order to survive. Yet as American converted from intense agricultural cultivation to industrialization, it became increasingly obvious to policymakers and intellectuals alike that due to the hard competition in existing European industrial markets, expansion into unexplored world markets was now essential for America's economic survival. According to LaFeber, the importance of these new foreign markets, especially in Latin America and Asia, becomes the driving force in all foreign policy decisions, forcing Americans, in a sense of self-preservation, from her self-imposed seclusion into participating in global politics.

Because this book as a whole is extremely well written and fairly impartial, it is very jarring to note the few times that the author does descend into either idealization or vilification. For instance, when explaining the ultimate reasons for the Spanish-American War, it is interesting to notice however the extreme lengths to which this author does his best to vindicate President William McKinley from the popular opinion of spinelessness. In contrast to the carefully accurate (if to a small degree, pro-American) description of the most of the policymakers involved, many times President McKinley is described in glowing terms that seem out of odds from the rest of the book's candid views. Terms such as "superb" and "uncommon" are used quite frequently to describe both the President and his actions; at every turn LaFeber is trying too hard to convince us of McKinley's political mastery and his decidedly controlling role in the declaration of war upon the Spanish (instead of blaming the whole affair upon McKinley's spinelessness and the pressure of the public and the press), and this becomes bothersome after the first few pages.

As the author is a man in a field of men, it is also bit disappointing but perhaps not surprising that Walter LaFeber's book focuses entirely upon the influential men of the time period. Indeed, through the entire book, there are only four women mentioned: Mrs. Gresham, the wife of Walter Quintin Gresham II, Julia Ward Howe, an author named along with Mark Twain and James Russell Lowell, the Queen Regent of Spain, Mariá Cristina, and the Queen Liliuokalani, ruler of Hawaii from 1891-95. At most, these influential women, and especially the Queens, were given only a couple lines on a few pages--nothing compared to the incredible depth of analysis presented on the influential men of the day. Despite the admittedly small numbers of significant women in the state and federal governments during this time period, it would be encouraging for someone as respected as Walter LaFeber to realize the importance of women in history--as 50 percent of the population, these women have had a considerable impact upon the shaping of ages and deserve more than just a few sentences.

Moreover, throughout this 400 odd page book, the reader is overwhelmed by evidence and quotations--footnotes can and have taken up all but a paragraph of space on the top, and even the "selected" bibliography is 8 pages long. While showing the exhaustiveness of LaFeber's research and quite impressive in its scope, this obvious exploration into every little detail is definitely overwhelming in the text and for those of us not students of history, it is extremely overwhelming at times, necessitating many readings and in some places simply obscuring the point that the author is laboring to make. This is extremely sad, because LaFeber has something very important to say and it should not be ignored, especially by the general public, who, despite most New York Time's reviewers, are not all intellectuals and may have some difficulty with the oftentimes superfluous detail.

Despite these and a few other flaws this book as a whole is thoroughly researched, skillfully laid out and clearly written, roughly succeeding in its attempt to explain an exceedingly complex subject in such a way that all the interconnections between countries and their policies are comprehensible even to a novice. As America becomes ever more present in global politics, and as America's current foreign policy and especially our tendency to concern ourselves in other nation's business can in some part be traced to the world economic ties that were formulated during America's Age of Expansion, this book is important for all Americans to read as we struggle to understand both our country's actions and its proper place among the world powers.

This book, written almost forty years ago, offers an important, fact-filled overview of a very important era in American history, one that is largely forgotten today. The New Empire does a more than credible job of filling in the huge gaps in our collective history of 1865-1898, and it turns out that something indeed happened between Reconstruction and the Spanish-American War. First, LaFeber provides a worthy overview of American expansion in these years. Next, he describes the development of expansionist ideas by examining critical policy makers and pundits such as Fredrick Jackson Turner, Henry Adams, and Alfred Thayer Mahan. Finally, he delves into the history of events and policy decisions chronologically. While his information on the 1870s and 1880s is good, it mostly serves as a springboard for his assessment of expansion and commercial imperialism in the 1890s. The final decade of the nineteenth century is a crucial time in American history. Wracked with the Panic of 1893 and the terrible depression of the following years, America first stepped out on to the world stage, largely in an effort to protect the very viability of the nation from labor unrest and anarchy. LaFeber describes all of the international issues the U.S. addressed in this era: revolutions in Latin America (and America's steadfast enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine), the strong push by both businesses and/or government for foreign markets, the question of annexation of Hawaii, the Philippines, and Cuba., and the fluid relations between America and the European powers. The depression of the 1890s convinced many influential men that America could not survive economically without developing new commercial frontiers in which to unload its surplus agriculture and, in particular, manufactures. Antiannexationist voices were muted by the late 1890s; the only debate was one of annexation vs the establishment of protectorate status to the likes of Hawaii and the Philippines.

LaFeber contends that economic issues largely explain the development of America's new imperial policy. This is argued most forcefully in his investigation of the origins of the Spanish-American War. The most important economic issues at the time were the Cuban revolution, the dangers of losing access to Chinese markets due to the machinations of countries such as Germany and Russia, the establishment of defensively important outposts in the Far East, and the construction of an isthmian canal in Latin America. He does a wonderful job of describing the wavering opinions of policy makers and businessmen in the 1890s and of America's reorganization of political alliances with the European powers, Russia, and Japan. He makes a forceful argument for his economic explanation of the war with Spain in 1898. McKinley was not alone in trying to avoid war, but he and many other leaders came to realize that America could not compete economically without establishing foreign markets and that stability and guaranteed access to such markets would require annexation of strategic areas and the development of a strong navy with which to secure and maintain access to foreign ports.

This book is a wonderful source of information on American foreign policy from 1865 to 1898. It is rather easy to point to the Spanish-American War as the herald of America's transformation from isolationism to globalism, but LaFeber proves that the U.S. began to aggressively pursue a policy of commercial imperialism in the mid-1890s. This is not an all-inclusive history, however. It can be argued that LaFeber relies too intently on economics in his description of America's evolving foreign policy. This is true to some extent, but he does not dismiss other factors in choosing to concentrate on economics. All in all, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly. It is enlightening to penetrate the veil of these forgotten years to see how a progression of events in and outside America set the stage for America's ardent stride into the role of global and commercial superpower. Those who begin their stories of American commercial and diplomatic expansion with the Spanish-American War and the introduction of the Open Door Notes would do well to read The New Empire and follow the true beginnings of the national transformation back into the 1890s.

What I do not like about the book is that it focusses a little too much on the political history of the town rather than on the people who made up the population. A little time was spent on the initial Chinese American population, but more time could have been spent on those and other immigrant cultures that have historically made up the city.

Even so, it's still worth the effort. It is a fun read, and, though dated, it still kept me laughing unexpectedly over and over again.

I just loved this book. It was required to read for a History class. I couldn't put the book down. I read it in a weekend. I learned so much about Seattle, and the wild characters that help to create and establish Seattle. I never knew such people help to built Seattle.

Now I know The history behind the street names in seattle, and more about the history in Seattle that I would have never had know.

I'd love to read more books that this authors has written.

This is the consensus choice among local historians and writers for the best history of Seattle's founding, and it deserves to be. Morgan's portraits of pioneers like Doc Maynard and Arthur Denny are exhilirating and informative, and the book reads like a collection of excellent short stories rather than a dry recollection. If you are familiar with Seattle, this will change the way you look at Pioneer Square and the waterfront, but a knowledge of the city is not necessary to enjoy these stories of a city's establishment and maturation.

There is a lot of information within the book and plenty of images. I personally feel that it could with colour images, however, there are many black and white photographs and illustrations for each chapter. I would recommend this text for all Mesoamerican students and enthusiasts alike.

As a new-comer to Mayan history, I enjoyed the writing in this book. Coe gives a broad description of this complex history while not getting bogged down in extraneous details. The pictures are valuable, especially the city scape pictures and the conditions which the sites were found in modern times. As a previous reviewer recommended, Read Chapter 8 and 9 after reading chapter 3. This might fill in some gaps and clarify some of the middle chapters. Overall, a good start to Maya history and culture

Overall, I found Coe's book to be informative and full of all the necessary facts. At the same time it kept my attention with the beautiful color pictures and descriptions of sites and artifacts. This book will give the reader an overview and introduction to the Maya area while incorporating the latest findings. This makes a great general reference book as well as a good read. The only suggestion I have is that the final three chapters on religion and every-day life come before the in-depth discussion of sites.

I read several of the individual newspaper articles originally written by these journalists and was hooked on the story. When I bought the book I was not disappointed. The photography is marvelous and I love the anthology of the different writers. Each journalist and photographer brought their own perspective and "eye" to the project. I definitely recommend this one, but not necessarily as a preparation to hike the AT. It does a better job convincing you that you want to make the hike.

I especially found the full page picture (near the beginning of the book) of the three little Chandler girls catching frogs to be very inspirational. If little ones like that can be out there hiking the trail, I sure can get out there and do some! Very nice "coffee table" type book to own.

I guess having my picture in this book makes me biased. Regardless of the authors' backgrounds, this book captures many of the truly unique stories on the AT and covers topics normally not found in other thru-hiking books. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book.

I purchased this book from the front seat of Big Rays cab in the Big Easy . He is a wild driver but his book is right on . It is a good start ,lots of "Local Tips" ,and if you also ask locals who are friendly and helpful you will have a great time and will stay out of trouble . Ann Rice fans stay out of the graveyards at night!

The author is also a cab driver in New Orleans (and has his own web page), and he really knows his stuff. It's obvious that he had to constrain his enthusiasm and knowledge to conform to the "Idiot's Guide" editorial format. Vast compilation of street smarts and long-time resident information is contained in this book. I used it before the trip, and brought the mini Rough Guide on the trip, and had a great-and-safe time. This is a city that you don't even want to look lost in, so use these two books and you'll be fine.

i went to new orleans last spring break with five friends, and we used this book as our primary guide to the city. it helped us pick a fantastic (and fantastically inexpensive) hotel and some really great things to do. we ended up having the time of our lives. this book is so helpful and well-organized! if it could help a bunch of clueless kids plan a great trip, it could be great for anyone.

Tallant's book is informative for those new to the topic of voodoo and/or Marie Laveau. However, much of the information in this book is included in his novel The Voodoo Queen, which is far more interesting. Read that instead!

I really don't understand the negative reviews of this book at all. Even Anne Rice recommends it and what better recommendation about voodoo history in New Orleans can you get than Anne Rice!?! Yes, the story is old, but it's a fantastic look of the smaller details of a hidden culture. I love New Orleans, and Tallant's book is well researched. Why do you think it's been reprinted since the 1940s. That's staying power, people. The history of Marie Lavaeu is worth the money. This is not a book to tell you how to practice voodoo or to give you a romanticized version of the religion. This is a book which tells the evolution of a special society within a very special city. Now excuse me while I go fetch another praline! Buy it. It's a great read. [From a person who knows and loves New Orleans and hoodoo too!]

Any book you see on Voodoo today, is either talking about Santeria or Haitian Voodou. Even the "New Orleans Voodoo Tarot" is mostly Voodoo from OUTSIDE of New Orleans. Here you will find the most mature research on Marie Laveau, which is worth the modest price of this book, alone. But you also get history that you will not find anywhere else. Tales of an entire lineage of conjure men and root doctors, the real heart of Louisiana Hoodoo. This book introduces you to men like Doctor Koku, Rooster, Papa Melon, Don Pedro and many others. If you want to see both sides of the New Orleans Voodoo coin, this is the only book that pulls back all the curtains of it's history.

Jeez! I hated this book! I could not stay focussed or even remember what happened because it was soooo boring! It's the worst book I ever read! I had to read it for school, that's the only reason I did read it. Now, I have a test on the book, and I'm probably going to do bad, because I don't know what happened! It was just way to boring for me and I hated it so much that i couldn't remember anything that happened. NOW IM GONNA FAIL CUZ THIS STUPID BOOK!

Overall, I was not satisfied with Grab Hands and Run. When I picked it up, I was interested to be reading about the lives of immigrants from El Salvador, as I had never found much on that subject or any other South American country for that matter. However, I was disappointed. The writing, I thought, was too flat.Although I felt for the characters (and would find it hard for any priveledged American or person not to), there was no third dimention to them. They were always the "good guys," and there's nothing wrong with that except that no three people can constantly be good without having another side to them. I do not mean that Paloma had to have a dark, hateful spirit deep within her that wanted to drop her children's hands and save herself. I simply mean that the human character is more complex than Frances Temple portrays it. At the end, I did not feel any rapture or uplifting of spirit; rather, I felt that, despite the many trials the family went through, it was no great accomplishment. I would have liked to see another side to the characters developed, and a deeper probing of the immigrant and human's soul. Where does their determination come from? Do they ever feel regret that they left El Salvador. Don't they miss anything? With this subject matter, there has to be more explored

This book is great! I think you can learn a lot from a book like
this because some people think coming here is easy but you find
out it's not.Grab Hands and Run is good because it gives lots of
details so it's easy to picture the story in your mind. I think the author
did a good job by writting this story because it teaches about the lessons in life and how families have to stick together no matter how hard or difficult the problem is.