If you fish the catskills, this book is a must. I have never seen such a great mixture of photographs and text in a fly fishing book. The books takes you through all the rivers, then presents the region's historic people, their fly tying, and their rods and reels.

This is by far the most interesting book I have ever read about fishing in the Catskills. Fly Fishing in America pretty much started there and this book explains in great detail everything there is to know about the History of Fly Fishing. Beautiful pictures on every page only add to the value of this book. Coming from someone who never takes the time to read through a 240 page book, I could not put in down. This happened during fishing season.

As I opened the package that contained my copy of Land of Little Rivers I expected a great book. I had read Mac FrancisÕs earlier book, Catskill Rivers, twice. Within minutes I realized the word "great" was wholly insufficient to describe this exquisite volume. At first I was caught by the, near mystical beauty of Enrico FerorelliÕs photographs--by themselves, more than worth the price of the book! But it is Mac FrancisÕs words that captured my heart and imagination completely. They carried me along, hour after hour, through this absorbing, beautifully told story of the birthplace of American fly fishing.

The author ends his introduction, trying to define the almost supernatural power inherent in the Catskill fly-fishing tradition, with these words: "I believe it is this power -- call it passion, dedication, commitment, vision, love, or what you will -- that has inspired the myriad fly fishers who in small ways and large have created, fought for, and extended a great sporting tradition in a hallowed land, and I respect the honor of presenting them, their feats, and their little rivers in these pages."

With this book, Mac Francis does more than simply honor a great tradition; he and Land of Little Rivers become a part of it.

Well written and informative. This is not only a trail guide but informs the reader of the history of the area

This is a first-rate guide to hiking the Catskills. The author's detailed desciptions, plus maps, leave nothing to the imagination and give you the info you need to enjoy the terrain to the max.

I was going on a hike with some friends into the Catskills and they recommended this book. They were right on to tell me about this. I really liked the detail and the maps. It made more out of the hiking than I usually get. It is well written and easy to use. I think it would be a good book for anyone going to the Catskills.

A unique tale about the hippie collective of artists and video experimenters who gave birth to pirate broadcasting in the U.S. "Videofreex" is a story layered with the usual melange of counterculture sex and drugs but takes the unexpected twist of having sobering encounters with cultural icons from the 60's and 70's ranging from the Hell's Angels and the Black Panther Party to network newscasters like Mike Wallace. Parry Teasdale offers a behind the scenes view into a movement that would change the look and content of television forever. His distinctive style, unyielding social conscience and need for intellectual expression was not simply a statement but a way a life.

This is countercultural history of a high order, written by an elegant prose stylist who was also a participant. An excellent volume overall. -- Edward J. Renehan, Jr.

Videofreex's subtitle is "America's First Pirate TV Station and the Catskills Collective That Turned It On" a phrase that better describes the intriguing slice of counter-cultural history documented in this book. The author, Parry Teasdale, along with his wife Carol Vontobel, were among the dozen or so core members of Videofreex, and so this is very much an insider's tale. And what a tale it is!

Teasdale met David Cort, the elder statesman of the collective-to-be, while making documentary video using that era's 1/2" VTR format, at the original Woodstock. This event was not so much a music festival as a defining moment for the ethics and sensibility of this particular generation. Some of the Videofreex guys and gals taped at the demonstrations surrounding the infamous "Chicago Seven" trial in '69, and also interviewed Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who shortly later turned up dead, a prominent victim of police brutality. Freex had tapes rolling at the huge anti-Vietnam-War May Day rally in DC in '71, where they caught the short-haired government agent provocateurs starting the violence. According to Teasdale, their motivation wasnot so much documentary as precautionary: to distribute accurate information to the protesting side via a portable closed-circuit video setup, to balance the network news' establishment-biased coverage.

Some of the Videofreex's equipment came from CBS's budget, via a wanna-be producer with a dream about how to fill the slot being vacated by the cancellation of "The Smothers Brothers Show" (for being. "too controversial"). His vision was a "60 Minutes"-style video mix of documentary and live music, and he bankrolled a pilot called "Subject to Change" that his bosses viewed and summarily booted out the door, along with its creators. Another of Videofreex's black boxes, a modulator, was an outright gift from Abbie Hoffman of Steal This Book fame, who had in mind jamming the regularly scheduled network broadcasts in New York City with his own version of the news, and became annoyed upon learning that the item he bought didn't have enough power to do the job.

The gear and its collective of operators eventually skipped town and turned up in Lanesville, New York to take advantage of grant money earmarked for video produced upstate. There they invented community-based TV more than a decade before cable, using techniques--like call-ins, hand-held cameras, and jump cuts--that have become so commomplace as to be unremarkable today, but were then revolutionary. How Videofreex felt their way through this process of using technical equipment to create community and art is the theme explored in these pages.

Teasdale describes it all with wit and the wisdom that hindsight brings. The book has its limitations. Out of a collective vision, it's only one person's opinion, and displays Teasdale's particular biases and interests, especially his fascination with the idea of FBI investigations. It also displays the obvious inadequacy of being a print piece about a visual medium. Though snapshots and drawings lifted from some of the collective's publications try to address this, it's a significant problem in an age where multimedia presentation on a CD-ROM could contain not only Teasdale's descriptions, but input from all the Freex, as well as clips from the videos themselves, arranged hyperlink-wise.

Especially for those who have come after the hippie generation, it's necessary to be reminded--by a spokesman from a group engaged in creating counter-cultural reality--that you can't trust everything that comes to you so easily through the media: a lot of the stuff arrives twisted and co-opted in order to pass censors. But as he did in his youth, Parry Teasdale continues to make the most of the technology available to him in the moment, to let folks know directly about news that isn't necessarily "fit" in the establishment's eyes. It's definitely worth reading.

Recollection of times spent with my family were brought back to life. Having married into the Siegel family that owned several hotels in the Swan Lake area, including the Commodore and the hotel my inlaws sold to the Dinnersteins; and the author having worked at the Commodore brought back many years of my youth. There is nothing so gratifying as to have someone write of part of your life, and this is What Mr. Brown has done. To go back even further, I remember playing with a small four piece "orchestra" at a place in Monticello, called Skliars - that was 64 years ago. What wonderful memories!.

I was born and raised in the Catskills, grew up on a chicken farm, and worked in resort hotels during my teens. I always thought this was a very special experience, and now Phil Brown's book brings it back with wonderful detail and confirms my feelings about how special it all was. This book is not only about Catskills culture; it is also about Catskills economics, and explains quite vividly how hard people worked to make the Catskills experience enjoyable for those who came for the summer.

Steve Gross and Sue Daley have been dazzling the oft-oversaturated "coffee table" book market since their unusual and eclectic book OLD HOUSES was published more than a decade ago.

Unlike many photographic books of this genre--or photographers for that matter--Gross + Daley look for the unusual, the misplaced, the forgotten, even the sublime. Their photographic style, while crisp, is voyeuristic without being intrusive. Rarely styling their photographs, they allow the interiors or exteriors to speak in their own evocative voices.

As with their previous books, CATSKILLS COUNTRY STYLE is infused with a variety of architectural styles and unusual homes, even little-known museums and undeliberate vintage set-pieces. And, as in their other books, the houses they select are styled by their talented, often capricious, owners or the benign patterning of neglect and wear and age. This photographic team always embrace the off-beat or the discarded, forgotten time-encapsulated gems which fall away from "back road" America.

If you do not live in the Catskills or have no intention of going there, it doesn't matter. If you like unusual houses and their interiors or have always desired a place in the country, this book will delight, inspire and captivate.

With an apt, well-written introduction by Francine Prose and excellent captions--instead of text-heavy chapters--which keep the focus on the photography.

A visual feast! Check out OLD HOUSES, too, as well as Gross + Daley's other recently published book, SANTA FE COUNTRY STYLE, and AT HOME WITH PAST. All books have a similar aesthetic and approach and you will not be disappointed.

This book through the use of superb photograhy and simple but informative captions conveys the love the owners have for these homes in the country. From the ornate victorian to the simple country style cottage of a beekeeper this book is a pleasure to own and display.

In 1998 and 1999, I spent many of my free weekends in the Catskill Mountains (not too far from where I live), frantically climbing the 35 peaks required for membership in the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club.

As I did, I became more and more interested in the story behind the mystical woods I had become so irrevocably attached to. I learned of this book. I could not find it, but everyone said it was the book to read, referenced in any other book about the region I could find.

Finally I did (not through amazon, but what the hell ...).

I could not put it down - what I had traipsed through came alive on the page, yet many years ago in time.

But you needn't have earned this appreciation to enjoy this book.

Evers, still going strong in his late nineties as the Town of Woodstock historian (I talked to him on the phone once) draws on his extensive training in folklore to make these mountains, America's first wilderness, come alive not just through the lives and works of its rich and powerful but most importantly in the voices of the humble people of the region - the farmers and settlers who in many cases left little to show for their efforts but their names on some feature of land somewhere.

Nor is he dry ... events, whether legendary or factual, that took place centuries ago, like Peter Delabigarre's first recorded ascent of what is now known as Kaaterskill High Peak, or the Anti-Rent War's bloody climax, are related as freshly as if Evers were an eyewitness.

His history also avoids any inadvertent tendency to center on one area and pass it off for the whole Catskill region. He tells the stories of Woodstock well but when he needs to go to Delaware or Sullivan counties, he does, without a hint of ignorance.

And his love for the region ... in his words one can, if one has been there, place oneself amidst the fragrant balsam fir of a high summit, a place like a dream one can always return to no matter the weather or season; athwart a rippling tributary, its clear, trout-friendly waters headed for the taps of New York City, the water John Burroughs said you could live on for a few days. If you haven't experienced those things, he'll make you want to.

So many of these stories - Burroughs' trampings, the construction of Ashokan reservoir, the framing of the Hardenburgh patent, Guyot's surveys - are alone worth the price of admission. You may know them already, but you'll learn so much more.

My only complaint would be the last chapter, an attempt to bring the story into the late 1970s with the Temporary Commission. While this is long on facts, it betrays haste in keeping the book up to date. It lacks the semi-mythical yet assured quality of the rest of the narrative.

But, if your pulse quickens at the mention of placenames like Phoenicia, West Kill, Neversink or Shinhopple; if you have ever braved the spruce ramparts of Rocky Mountain or trudged through snow in waders to cast the Junction Pool's first fly of the season, you will find your ample knowledge of the Catskills amplified a thousandfold.

I purchased this book in 1973 for my Father, who was born and raised in Kingston, New York.

Evers' book is a masterpiece-a popularized history of the Catskills, from the days of the Hardenburgh Patent(early 1700s) up to the time of Woodstock(1969 and immediately after). It is a history which presents the facts, but never loses touch with the human dimension.

It is also serious enough to present the facts as hemlock trees, quarries and other resources were successively pillaged without the slightest concern for the future. This was the world of my Father's childhood and that of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

It is a wonderful book and generously illustrated. It helped both my Father and I to develop a coherent picture of our family past. We were able to bridge the gaps between disconnected names, places and events.

I must give this book my highest personal recommendation.

Return to Stony Clove again. This time Eileen Charbonneau centers around a young girl who searches for her kidnapped friend. The friend is a free black woman who is captured and returned to a life of slavery. Young Lily Woods begins the hunt to rescue her friend. A touching story for all races to show how the underground railroad helped save many.

***Teachers should pay close attention to this one. Perhaps some should consider making it a required read sometime during the school year.***

This book brings the Woods trilogy to a close--one which the reader is reluctant to see! Lily Woods is 15 when she is forced to confront harsh issues diving the country in 1851. When slavecatchers arrive in the community, Lily learns that her family has been involved in the Underground Railroad. Lily decides to risk her own safety in order to help, only to find herself in the middle of a riverboat wreck. Charbonneau deftly adds a touch of the supernatural to this engrossing tale. Honor to the Hills was recently chosen for the prestigious "Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies" list, compiled by The Children's Book Council and the National Council for the Social Studies

I live in NM and will move to upstate NY some day. My son and wife have a home in Windham, and I want to explore all the area and, hopefully, sometime meet Ms. Katz.

Have taken watercolor - I like her method of combining it with other media.

Judy Katz has written a stirring fieldbook to some of the most beautiful areas of the Hudson River Valley. As though she were uncovering a lost Arcadia only three hours from Manhattan, Judy takes us by anecote and picture to a series of her favorite nooks and vistas. Judy's words have been compared to Whitman's, evidencing a colloquial simplicity and grace. Her artwork is similarly simple and elegant, with a paucity of embellishment and a clean, representational line. Those who know her work already love this book -- those who do not yet, will.

ms. blumberg's book transported me back in time to a place that may have remained a hazy memory. her writing was so vivid tha i could half close my eyes and be back on that country road hitch-hiking (it was okay in the 40's} between hotels.

laced with the humor of the time, the book is a grabber. i also found myself a little teary at times, not from sadness, but rather from sweet memories. however, i found my self reading more and more slowly as i approached the end. i really wanted more.

This book takes the reader back to the heyday of the Catskill resort era. The author attacks the cliches about the Catskills, providing her spin on this great era in the resort industry. What makes this book a truly fun read is the humor. This book brought me back to a place that was special to me.

This exuberant oral history of what Jewish comedians used to call the Borscht Belt re-creates a world now gone--a New York State vacation haven in the middle decades of this century primarily to New York City Jews. The Frommers, who collaborated on The Games of the 23rd Olympiad, have transcribed reminiscences of owners, executives, workers, entertainers and guests of establishments like Grossinger's, the Concord and the Nevele, which lured visitors as diverse as Nelson Rockefeller and an Indian maharajah and served as a proving ground for the developing talents of Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Neil Sedaka, Tony Martin and even opera star Robert Merrill. Besides stories of life in glamorous hotels, the coauthors recount adventures in the more modest bungalow colonies and smaller spots among the 500 resorts that populated the area. A wealth of ethnic jokes and photos also fill this unqualified treat.

In their heyday in the 1940s and '50s, the Catskills, in New York's Sullivan and Ulster counties, were less a place than a state of mind, according to the Frommers. In their wonderful collection of reminiscences by those who worked and played the mountains, anyone who ever vacationed there will find something between nostalgia and heartburn - or, perhaps, just hunger for borscht, the red-beet soup that became a staple at the region's most famous resort, Grossinger's.

This oversize book is full of photos and graphics of the Catskills. It has good information on the entertainment aspect and on the workings and development of the big hotels. There are abundant quotes from the many Catskills entertainers, staff, owners, and guests that the Frommers interviewed. It Happened in the Catskills is a fun book to travel the Mountains with