I gave this book to 25 family members and friends for Christmas and I have received most wonderful comments from everyone. They praise the photography and the text. One person wrote that she could "see" the grandparents walking down the path to the beach with their grandchildren. If you know someone who has ever summered in the Great Lakes in their own summer home or in a rented cottage this book is a must. It does capture the essence of cottage living in this area.

The Great Lakes Cottage Book is a specialty title recommended for those who love cottages and Minnesota. The authors present fine photos and recollections of Great Lakes cottages and scenes, focussing on subjects which reveal the cottage experience. The result is a coffee table book celebrating a special place and structure.

Ed Wargin's photographs capture the emotions of these much loved cottages with a sesitivity and beauty that few others could accomplish. His use of natural light is extraordinary and gives a warmth that reflects the feelings that abound in these cottages.

When you add Kathy-jo's unique ability to convey loving sentiments in short essays, this becomes an heirloom book. I will never again hear the screen door slam, or sit in on a rainy day or do any of the other normal activities in a cottage without remembering Kathy-jo's essay about that activity and how she captured emotions that I have had but never before seen expressed so beautifully. Thank you Ed and Kathy-jo for seeing into our hearts.

Very well written book with lots of good hikes. Great when you are looking for someplace new to walk. Descriptions are clear and accurate. I haven't gotten lost yet!

If you are poor with directions like me, this is an excellent book. I bought it in anticipation of the upcoming hiking season, vowing (YET AGAIN) I was going to hike with my kids this Spring. I found the book informative, to the point, and very easy to follow. I never realized what wonderful treasures we had available to us in the greater Cleveland area. What a great read!

Well, found this most interesting, as I thought I'd find new paths and new directions and that is just what happened. Startled to find things indicated or new things about paths and hikes I was familiar with, already took these and then a new bit of information about them. Unexpected, but nice. Very good style, very personable - voice of the author - easy to read, follow, and enjoy, which I very much have. Helpful and to the point. Like it much. Easy to follow directions, paths, maps, and found it a pleasure to read and use. Half the time I keep it in my car. Real pleased, and have already told any number of friends about it. Thanks.

Now in a thoroughly updated and revised sixth edition, Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Western Region continues to be the definitive guide for outdoor enthusiasts seeking to enjoy a land of beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Veteran travel writer and outdoorsman Robert Beymer provides details on 27 entry points in the western part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and includes important information on the length of time needed to complete each trip, distances and difficulty of each trip, number of lakes, rivers and portages encountered; and the maps required. Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Western Region is enhanced with a four-color pullout map and is a "must" for canoeists, anglers, vacationers, and hunters seeking to enjoy what this unique and remarkable country have to offer.

This is a great book to start your plans for a trip into the Boundary Waters. There are suggested routes for every entry point in the western region and whether you use the suggested route or not it's a great place to start!

I have canoe camped in the BWCA since 1971 and have found previous editions of this guide essential for my trip planning. This well-written, newly-revised edition is even better. It contains the latest information on obtaining a permit for entry into the area as well as general information regarding the destructive storm that swept through the BWCA on July 4, 1999. The 2000 edition is slightly larger in size and with bigger print is easier to read. It is also about 70 pages longer than the previous book. The author has changed the format of the route numbers to better correspond to the entry points, making it easier to relate the two. There are updated photos throughout the book and some route recommendations have been changed. This edition is full of information to make your trip planning into the western region of the BWCA easy. It allows you to choose routes based on your physical ability (easy to rugged), fishing desires (it lists type of fish in 185 western region lakes), scenery (waterfalls, pictographs), time constraints (suggested routes for over 50 2-8 day trips), etc. It tells you how to reach each entry point and one of my favorite statistics, the popularity rank of each entry point (I like to find solitude as quickly as possible). This is trip planning guide, and does not provide detailed camping "how to" information, although the author refers you to reliable books on this subject. I recommend it and am planning to purchase the revised eastern region edition as soon as it is available.

I grew up in the Maxwell street area during the 50's and worked there on Sundays for some of the street vendors. Some of the best memories of my life are from the area, the sounds, sights, and energy of the many diverse cultures of the area. This book is a photographic document of the area taken from the 1800's to today. Many of these photographs are probably rare and are presented in good reproduction quality. If you are familiar with the area they will transport you back and allow you to re-experience this wonderful place. This book is a bargain...

Spectacular real photographs depicting historical times in Chicago. Authors quite sensative and dedicated to preservation as revealed in their writings.

A wonderful reflection of days gone by and fond memories prevail in those that remember life during those days in Chicago.

"Chicago's Maxwell Street" is a crucial document offering a window into the vibrant and colorful world of Chicago's legendary Maxwell Street Market. For more than a century Maxwell Street introduced ethnic groups to urban America and to each other. Thousands crammed its cluttered streets to stroll amid pushcarts, tables, stages, and stalls piled high with life's necessities. Prices were negotiable and atmosphere dear. It survived over a century's worth of predictions of its imminent demise only to be razed in the 1990s by the city and the University of Illinois-Chicago to make room for athletic fields and condos. But it lives on in these images which capture its essence in beautiful detail.

The authors present a rich and varied collection of images, the culmination of intensive research. The book is obviously a necessity for Chicago history buffs, but will also be of great interest to those with an interest in immigrant and ethnic history, in urban life and the look and feel of cities, in urban policy and Chicago-style politics, blues fans, and fans of grassroots American culture. Friends of Maxwell Street will find much to jog their memories (my favorite images are of blues greats Frank Scott, Johnnie Mae Dunson, and the late, great Jimmie Lee Robinson), but will also make new discoveries. Those of us who were not lucky enough to experience Maxwell Street in all of it's vibrant, grungy glory will get a taste of a world now wiped off the face of the map. And those who have never heard of Maxwell Street will get a vivid introduction to a place of crucial importance in American history. This is a tremendously important, thoroughly researched, and wonderful book.

This book is a good source for midwest-specific plantings and landscape ideas. I found I didn't have to look up the growing zones of plants I found interesting, wondering "Would this plant grow well around here?"

I also enjoy the overall friendly tone of the text. Some other books of this type that I own are written in a stuffy, almost highbrow manner.

The only thing I would have liked to have seen more of in this book is more actual photographs of the landscapes. There are many photos of the featured plants, but the book relies heavily on artwork for the landscape design images.

This book is a tremendous resource for landscaping in the midwest. It provides great ideas for landscaping for different seasons, conditions, and locations. Most of the recommended varieties of plants are easy to find at your local nursery which has always been a problem with other books I have used. The pictures and drawings really provide extreme value when trying to picture how plants will look together. It has already given me enumerous great ideas and suggestions.

A big problem I've had with gardening books is that they so often cover areas with different climates (such as the wet Pacific Northwest) than that which I have to face here in the American Midwest. This book, however, has shown itself to be an excellent resource!

It starts out with a portfolio of 23 designs, giving the reader excellent advice on appearance and what plants to use, complete with color pictures, and a sample graph paper design. After that, it has step-by-step instructions (again with great color illustrations) on building projects, such as sidewalks, walls, patios and so much more. The final part of the book is a series of plant profiles that looks at garden plants and their needs.

So, just to make everything perfectly clear, I loved this book, and highly recommend it to every gardener in the American Midwest!

You'll be charmed by the North Star memories these 2 ladies evoke of their lives in Minnesota in the '50's. How I had forgotten the polio epidemic, the love-affair with Elvis most of us had, the local swimming holes, and the scrap books I kept but now can't find. I laughed, I cried, and I sent in my own submission to their upcoming Vol. II because I too was introduced to my first theatrical performance at the high school gym when basketball nets served to hold spot lights and the velvet curtain was strung between them. Their writing even captures the speech patterns I wanted to lose, but my Minnesota accent still gives me away. Their guest writers capture memories that my family holds dear--the local church pageant, the one-room schoolhouse that educated most of my family, and the centennial parade with its primite floats and antique cars that stole our hearts and made us yearn for those by-gone years of the simple life, valued time with family, and Christian values that are never appreciated till later in life. This is a fun read, one that all Midwesterners can identify with and appreciate.

One story, "Toyota City", is worth the price of all of the "Minnesota Memories" books. Joan and her fellow writers take us back to our childhood and memories of friends and relatives. Even though I am from North Dakota, these collections of stories ring true to the stories we were told when visiting the "Home Place" in Minnesota. Never been to Minnesota? Read the books and find people as they really are. People like you and me or like we wish we were. Fill your wagon with real stories of real people as you join Joan and friends in a journey to the real Minnesota. We were privileged to have Joan visit our home. She is as delightful as her books and her time with us is now one of our very own "Minnesota Memories."

Readers of this book write and say, "Send me another; I want to give it for Christmas to my relatives who already have every refrigerator magnet and walleye shot glass from Mall of America." Tell newcomers or those who have retired from Minnesota winters and relocated in Florida that this is one book they should share with anyone who still holds the North Star State dear to their hearts. It's a gem!

...
The best of autobiographical works are those that convey, in the telling of one life story, larger truths than those we experience as individuals. To accomplish this feat with seeming effortlessness, as Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has done with Red Dirt, is to create not only a valuable historical record, but a literary work that is a pleasure to read. Employing the finest storytelling skills, Dunbar-Ortiz lovingly recollects her youth in Oklahoma and the family dynamics she experienced "growing up Okie" during the mid-20th-century. In the process, she touches upon a host of social issues--among them racism, sexism, and economic disparity--that have plagued the U.S. since its earliest days. Perhaps most importantly, she offers one resounding voice from among a vast population--namely, the white underclass--that consistently has been underrepresented in historical texts, and misrepresented in popular culture. Exploding the notion of 'poor white trash,' Dunbar-Ortiz offers three-dimensional alternative as she reconstructs through her personal memoir the history and struggles of the frontier settler class and its descendants. As we move into the next century, Red Dirt is a text of vital significance to our collective humanity

if you like books about the old way of living,you will love this book. it brings back memories of my childhood...

I grew up in central Oklahoma and can identify with many of the themes Ms. Dunbar-Ortiz writes about in Red Dirt. I think anyone who is on a journey of self-discovery or is attempting to reconcile his or her past will enjoy this book as much as I did. I rarely read literature about Oklahoma that makes me proud to be an "Okie" - this book does just that.

Ohio is not the most hospitable place for gardening. With cold winters and hot often dry summers, gardening can be a balancing act. This book is a terrific guide for selecting and cultivating plants in this area. This book has helped me improve my black thumb to almost green. Recommended for all Ohio and surrounding areas.

If your grandma were an expert gardener, this is like having all her advice right in one place. I have used this inexpensive, thorough gardening book much more than my expensive hardcover gardening books. This book is great for a novice gardener, and also for more experienced gardeners. He gives a full 2-pages for each plant, telling where to plant, when to trim, when to plant, varieties/cultivars, and much more. He answers pretty much any question you could have about a certain plant. I take this with me when I'm shopping for my plants, because he tells you lots more than the plant tag will. I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone who likes to garden! Too bad he doesn't cover vegetables or herbs, though.

Very readable and useful book. Tells you when to plant, where, and how, along with maintenance and other information about add'l species and cultivars. Tells you the type of sun needed and advantages of the plant, and zone where it belongs.

I could wish that the pictures were a little more close up, and listed with the flowers so you don't have to keep flipping to the middle section - but this is quibbling. Highly recommended.

There are some who think it's weird to tour cemeteries. They're missing the serene tribute to a city's history -- graveyards are neighborhoods and time capsules; art museums and in some cases the final repositories of enduring secrets.

Hucke and Bielski serve as knowledgeable and respectful tour guides for some of the most impressively landscaped, richly historical acres within and adjacent to the city's urban sprawl. It's a field trip through bold headlines and unsung achievements represented by a carved catalog of famous -- and infamous (at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery, mob boss Sam Giancana's mausoleum is padlocked) -- names.

The book follows Lake Claremont's practical design of dividing interesting sites by sections of the city map. I know from firsthand experience that you can spend the whole day in the Metro North area touring renowned Graceland Cemetery (Chicago's second oldest burial ground, final home to many whose surnames -- Field, Getty, Palmer, Kinzie, Kimball, Goodman, Sears, Armour, and Pullman to drop just a few -- are synonymous with Chicago's growth); or Rosehill, within whose 350 acres lie bicycle king Ignaz Schwinn, water magnates Otis Ward Hinkley and George Schmitt, shoe guru Milton Florsheim, "merchandising arch-enemies" Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Warren Sears, and 14-year old Bobby Franks, murdered in 1924 by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.

Hucke and Bielski devote much-deserved attention to the artistic aspect of grave markers and cemetery architecture across a span of more than a century's worth of changing styles. Additional highlights: more unusual burials (attorney Clarence Darrow's ashes scattered in Jackson Park; musician Steve Goodman's cremains under home plate in his beloved Wrigley Field); a nod to necropolises in outlying areas, and a partial directory of Chicagoland cemeteries. This unusual guide is unusually enlightening on many levels fundamental to Chicago's identity.

This well-written and informative book is a must-have for anyone who is interested in Chicago history, cemeteries, or architecture. I read it cover to cover and often refer back to it for various reasons.
From the grave of Al Capone to the graves of lesser-known Chicagoans, this book seems to cover it all.
Great photos, fascinating stories!

Informative and to the point! I just wish they had the actually cemetery data included! Great for us "dark" people or anyone else interested in cemetery analysis!