This destined-to-be classic deserves--nay, commands--an honored place on the bookshelves of any scholar or devotee of the American academy, village life, urban evolution, and U.S. history or politics. Masterfully illustrated with insightful analyses of time and place, this work represents an amalgam of the best in word and picture. I cannot recommend this work too highly: it should be REQUIRED READING for all who live in, move to, or merely dream of 'the Southern Part of Heaven'.

P. A. Neenan, Ph.D.

I'm a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I think this book is really wonderful. It gives an interesting perspective on one of our nation's most fascinating college campuses and its surrounding town. Take a chance and give this interesting read a try.

This cookbook has terrific family recipes with ingredients that are likely to be in your cupboard, plus wonderful stories about the generations of "granny's" family. It's as much fun to read as to cook from, and I've tried and liked many of the recipes already!

North Carolina Crimes is the most important reference book in my arsenal of law enforcement materials. NC Crimes is very easy to read and follow, and is the authority when it comes to assessing elements of crimes in North Carolina. I highly recommend NC Crimes to anyone working in the Criminal Justice field, or studying criminal law in North Carolina. I use NC Crimes every day, and find it to be an invaluable resource.

Percy was never terribly anxious to talk about himself, so it was a joy to read Tolson's well-researched account after devouring all of Percy's books. Where Percy has left only hints, Tolson delves more deeply to uncover Percy's troubled childhood which was redeemed in his teenage years by his Uncle Will, author of Lanterns on the Levee. If you read Walker Percy, you undoubtedly find you want to know more and more about the enigmatic genius. Tolson's biography of him fills in a lot of gaps.

I was quite pleased when this biography came out because I had been a fan of Dr. Percy for many years. I'd read through his fiction and nonfiction several times, including various interviews, literary criticism, and minutiae -- in short, anything connected with Percy. Had I pursued that course, I very likely would have written a dissertation on Percy.

So I was even happier to discover that Mr. Tolson did a fine job with his subject. He examines the books in the context of Percy's life and in a way that is friendly without becoming overly academic. Percy was a private man who didn't have much use for biographies or biographers. Fortunately, Tolson respected his wishes by neither prying too much nor engaging in the sort of amateur psychologizing which is all too common in modern pathography. He proves a sensitive reader and biographer.

Having said that, there's a strain in Percy's life and work that most biographers and critics have missed. They correctly indicate the significance of alcohol and suicide in the illustrious Percy lineage. But they examine that significance only in a metaphysical way rather than a physical (biological) way, that is, in a psychological way rather than a psychiatric way. Why did Dr. Percy never seek psychotherapy or some kind of medical treatment for his clinical depression? What sorts of things might have interfered with that search?

I found Pilgrim in the Ruins to be an enjoyable look at Dr. Percy and his work. It is well-grounded in southern history, Percy's family history, the works themselves and how they fit into the larger currents of American literature. Even the reader who is a stranger to Percy will find much to appreciate here.

This book is one of the finest I have ever read. I don't say that lightly; I have read my share of books and devoured anything written by or about Percy.

Tolson is worthy of the novelist whose life he portrays. He writes beautifully and takes the reader through the many periods of Percy's life. The biography is particulalry strong with the formative influences that shaped the novelist's life and world view-- the suicides, the depressions, both the "Old" and "New" South, his Uncle Will, Shelby Foote, modern America, religion, race, etc.

The book impacted me more than any other I have read, and I would not be the same person today without it. There can be no finer praise for a work; 5 stars seems so insufficient.

How fortunate we are Percy had Tolson as a biographer.

Going to the chapel is four romance stories of finding love, and marriage from four of the best romance writers of today. All of the stories were really good.

Going to the Chapel is a wonderful collection of fourshort stories that are delightful eay reads./perfect to put in your bag to read while on the beach, teaveling, or for your lunch break.You will get hooked. Each story is unique and shows the great talents of all four women. It will make you want to say IDO!!Whiel the stories are fairy tale/Cinederalla there are lessons to be learned.Its just enough fantsasy with enough reality to make them womenderfu.You wil eb temepted to read the last page of eachs tory to see what happens-but dont read put on your seat belt and enjoy the summer!!

This book is composed by four of the best African-American authors. After reading this book, I felt like sitting outside and waiting for my prince to come by. I highly recommend this novel. If you believe in love, believe that this is an excellent book.

Ok, so in parts you can definitely tell this book was written in the 50's. However most of it is still extremely valid, and extremely useful. I would not hesitate to reccomend it, a very good read for interpreters or interpreters in training.

It's a decent, reasonable somewhat giddy book on interpreting the natural world. It is also practically required that National Park Service ranger's follow Tilden's principles for interpretation. So if you ever want to be a National Park Service Ranger, it'd be great to have this under your belt!

This book is basic for interpretation

This book is definitely full of useful information, and it IS the only one of its kind for the Triangle. Still, the fact that they sell advertising in the book really makes you wonder: how objective is it? Also, the text is relentlessly positive, forcing prospective Triangle residents with valid questions--e.g. What parts of town are dangerous? What restaurants should I avoid at any cost?--to search elsewhere for answers. Problem is, this is the only book of its kind. Useful but more than a little frustrating.

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My wife and I will be relocating to the Triangle and managed to find a copy of this book. It has information about everything from restaraunts, to living arrangements, day trips, and more. If you will be heading to this area to live or just visit, this book is packed with ideas and things to see and do.

We relocated to Durham recently and find this book a great resource. Without it it would be difficult to locate great attractions or learn about the area.

Anyone who lived through the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement in the early '60s or wants to know what it was like -- or who remembers (or wonders) about the rules college women had to endure (and college men didn't), will enjoy this lively, lighthearted novel that is also full of timely issues. Beryl Rosinsky thinks she's going to escape her civil-rights-activist mother when she runs away to college in the South, but instead she's forced to come to terms with exactly the kinds of prejudices and biases her mother is fighting.

Ellyn Bache serves up an interesting tale of relationships and identity in The Activist's Daughter. Living in bustling, Kennedy-era Washington, D.C., the Rosinsky family would appear to blend in well with their surroundings, if not for father Leonard's despondance over his reputation and career being destroyed after the McCarthy trials and mother Leah's determination to single-handedly help every worthy civil rights cause in the nation. Embarassed and angered by her mother's attention toward other people (and lack thereof toward her own family), seventeen-year-old Beryl wishes to break altogether from the activist's shadow. The best answer appears to be enrolling in an out-of-state college--North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which in 1963 was more likely a different country.

The Activist's Daughter is straightforward storytelling and a good recommendation for teenage readers interested in segregation and the Civil Rights Era. Though I would have liked to have seen more interaction between Beryl and her mother (who disappears mid-story and seems to pop up when convenient), Bache compensates for this strong conflict by keeping Leah in spirit, as seen in Beryl as watch her grow. Anyone frustrated with what television season has to offer in terms of "strong women" should pick us this book instead.

After I read this book the first time, I donated it to a local nature center library. But a part of it stayed with me, and I found myself thinking about it and occasionally sharing it with others. So when I saw another copy of this volume in a used bookstore, I scooped it up for myself. I stood there and thumbed through the pages until I found it -- Chapter 10, "Flying Squirrels: Phantoms of the Night," the story of a young flying squirrel named Hepsey. John Terres had the opportunity to keep Hepsey almost like a pet for most of her life. While that kind of arrangement is generally not a good one for human or for wild creature (and would easily have been fodder for a 1960s Disney film), Terres learned quite a bit about squirrels that a more formal study might not have revealed. He wondered about her nut-hiding talent, for example. So he put 100 hickory nuts out on a table and left the house. When he came back, each nut was hidden somewhere -- in a shirt pocket, in a shoe, etc. He put another 100 nuts out that same night, and they disappeared as well. Based on Hepsey's behavior, Terres projected that a typical squirrel could probably store 10,000-12,000 nuts in one winter season. A fascinating tidbit of information like that sticks in your head. But the fun of it all is in his narration of the escapade and of other Hepsey happenings. That chapter is arresting enough to warrant reading aloud during a nature center program.

Terres' ruminations and nature observations are based on his rambles through the North Carolina landscape. "How Vultures Find Their Prey" is another interesting test (by sight or by smell?) that you will remember. But it's Hepsey who will capture your imagination.

Terres, who was editor-in-chief at Audubon, spent a decade wandering the Mason Farm Biological Reserve in Chapel Hill, NC. The former farm was donated to the University of North Carolina to allow students to observe the wildlife there. Terres, likewise, set out to chronicle the life he found there, hiding in blinds, perching in tree stands, etc.. & he offers a wonderful account of his observations.

He describes each of the seasons & then gives detailed descriptions of the lives and habits of some of the farms residents: flying squirrels, turkey vultures, wild turkeys, cottontail rabbits, and the like. He came to know some of these creatures individually, including a heroic black turkey and his own pet flying squirrel. He endows them with personality and character and, like him, we start rooting for them in their struggles to survive.

GRADE: B+