those starting to hike or who want ideas of where to go. Having done all but 3 of the hikes in this book,I would recomend it. Erik gives clear directions and his rating system of easy to hard is very accurate. The book is pocket size and weighs little, with good refernces on time, maps and seasons. His North Cascade Dayhike book is also helpful to daytrippers.

We had little or no time to plan our short trip to the Olympic Peninsula, but we knew that the area is best enjoyed by walking into the forests, the mountains, or the beaches. This book includes descriptions of 29 hikes that do not require overnight stays, organized geographically. While there is no single map pointing out the locations of all the hikes, each geographical section has one, so it is not too difficult to find something nearby. There is also an ordered list of the hikes, from easiest (the .2 mile Madison Creek Falls hike, with minimal elevation gain) to most difficult (the Mount Zion hike, 3.5 miles with a 1340 foot gain).

We took six of the hikes listed and found the descriptions to be accurate. It was well worth the (relatively low) price.

The enchiladas, especially, were great, which they should be since it took one chef, two drunken sous chefs, and one person sitting on a stool shouting instructions about 2 solid hours to make them. But it was worth it.

I am not a cook, but after reviewing this book, i really want to be, not to mention that the recipes left me salivating. It may not be a book for the complete beginner but with some enthusiasm, the recipes in this book are very do-able. The side essays written by kathy casey are funny and informative and both authors clearly try to make the recipes understandable and do-able for the home kitchen. I am smitten with my kitchen and the tasty treats i can make in it. Thanks to Kathy Casey and Cynthia Nims for their tempting inspirations!

Story's first guidebook in the 'Bicycling America's National Parks' series (California) is an excellent all-around cycling guide (and general guidebook) for the Golden State. It's concise, thorough, and balanced, presented in personable, witty language. He includes a variety of road and mountain bike routes for virtually every riding level. His lodging, shopping, and especially dining suggestions are first rate. It includes almost all the information a would-be tourist (as I was) needs for a bicycling trip to CA. Story also throws in some nice tidbits about natural and cultural history of each park, as well as description of fauna and flora (plants and animals), and worthwhile less-known attractions.

This guide from Story features most of the same attributes as his previous guide. He includes a variety of rides that highlight the nearly infinite geographical and ecological diversity of Oregon and Washington. Once again, he includes abundant, but concise information and recommendations related to lodging and related travel info, presented in personable language (though he's not as consisently funny). As before, he provides a nice natural and historical background, serving to not just describe, but introduce the reader to each park (or recreational area).

There is one minor shortcoming, relative to Story's National Parks/California book. That guide contained abundant supplemental information related to dining and other special attractions within or near each park. While this guidebook has some info. of that nature, it seems much more sparse. This might be because many trails in Oregon and Washington are in fairly rural areas far from any major (or even minor) population center. This considered, this guidebook still doesn't seem as complete as his California edition, which provided that reader with virtually everything we'd need to plan our trip. This isn't to say this guide is poor, it just doesn't quite match up to the standards of Story's previous guide. Once again, it would be helpful if Story included a general map of each park (this was the only minor problem I had with his CA edition).

Even if it doesn't quite measure up to Story's California guide, Oregon/Washington is still far superior to most other cycling guidebooks available (even allowing for it's uniqueness). It's an indespensible tool for anyone planning a cycling trip to or near the national parks/recreational areas of Oregon and Washington. It's a perfect starting point, though you might want to research the areas more before heading out.

I purchased this book after reading a glowing review of it from the San Francisco Chronicle. I'm very glad I purchased it. This latest addition to the Bicycling America's National Parks series is informative, helpful, and truly captures the ambience of the different national parks it covers. It's not just national parks, but national recreation areas, and national monuments too, and you really get a sense of where the great bicycling opportunities are in places that also have national-caliber scenery and attractions. After reading the book, I'm definitely planning on using it for a Hells Canyon National Recreation Area trip later this summer. The chapters on Crater Lake, Olympic National Park, and Mount Saint Helens totally appealed to me, cause I've been to those places and wondered about biking there. The author does a great job of showing that the myth that you can't ride offroad in national parks is just that-- a myth. (All the rides are legal, though some do take place just outside park boundaries.) The book presents everything you need to know in a clear, often funny way. The pictures are great too. That's about all I ask from a guidebook.

. . .of an outstanding series.

In "Advise and Consent", Allen Drury brought us into the inner workings of the US Senate. In "A Shade of Difference" he brought us into the inner workings of the United Nations. He continued his excellent "Advise and Consent" series with a book that touched upon the overwhelming power of the media to form and force public opinion, and did so in a context (that of a violently divided Presidential nominating convention) which resonates true today.

When Mr. Drury was writing, his main fear was the communist threat. His books need to be read and understood in that context. However, don't think for a moment that his books are not timely today. Take a look at the political and journalistic situation surrounding the 2000 Presidential election, and one can easily see how insightful Mr. Drury was. (20 years in the newspaper business did him some good!)

I'm sorry that we have lost Mr. Drury -- I would have enjoyed his take on recent events in the US.

At first glance one might look at this tale of a bitterly divided political convention centered around America's Cold War commitment in a Third World country, and the ensuing violence as a conservative's reaction to the 1968 Democratic Convention. But what makes this novel so remarkable is that it was written nearly two years *before* the spectacle of Chicago in 1968. Drury's blatant political conservatism has often caused his works to be sadly overlooked for their prescience and insights into American society given the prevailing bias of critics, but "Capable Of Honor", like the rest of the "Advise And Consent" is a masterpiece of political novels.

I can't buy a book for a cad package, without knowing what version it's for!

After years of searching, and being frustrated with Dassault training materials, Design Technology has finally broke the mold from traditional training manuals. These manuals are intuitive and easy to follow. I use them on a daily basis as a design reference guide. I wish I had these years ago! They are worth the investment and I'm encouraging my company to use them as a training resource.

In the midst of the first annual Armistice parade in Centralia, WA on November 11, 1919, four soldiers were slain on the streets of their hometown by members of the Industrial Workers of the World, a labor union dedicated to organizing all facets of production workers into "one big union." The chaos and vigilante efforts which immediately followed the shootings resulted in the gruesome lynching of a union man believed to be responsible for the seemingly unprovoked attack and a severe imprisonment sentenced to virtually every union man in the region, regardless of culpability. Significantly, the shootings in Centralia and the struggle to gain clarity on the situation during the aftermath have been largely ignored in American history. Dismissed as a brutal clash rife with misunderstanding on both sides of the labor versus management issue, many historians have elected not to pursue the complex issues surrounding the movement gone tragically awry.

Yet Tom Copeland does a magnificent job in bringing these tragic events back to the forefront of consciousness in his biography rife with historical analysis. Copeland reprises the events from the unique perspective of attorney Elmer Smith, virtually the only lawyer in the timber industry region who was willing to champion the working class and the disenfranchised over the deep pockets of big business.

Other historical works have deliberated on the actions of both the Legionnaires and the I.W.W., or "Wobblies," on that fateful November day. Though outraged sentiment at the time demanded harsh punishments against the Wobblies, it would later be revealed that a trial laden with manipulated testimony and enforced by the intimidating presence of the U.S. Army only masked the fact that, in this instance, the Legionnaires had provoked the attack. Copeland's book, however, is the first to isolate the actions of Elmer Smith, a lawyer who not only counseled the Wobblies prior to the November attack, but who advised them that they were well within their rights to defend themselves and their I.W.W. hall against mounting aggressions from the Legionnaires and who was jailed for nearly 6 months pending trial for soliciting this (quite legal) advice to the Wobblies.

This book should be read for a number of reasons. It is, of course, particularly insightful for those of us who live in the Northwest region and within spitting distance of where the most tumultuous labor disputes in American history took place. More than that, though, it is a sobering lesson in how the wheels of government really turn for those Americans not wealthy enough to grease the axles. It is a demonstration of how the U.S. Constitution can become a suspended after-thought when the concerns of Big Business are at hand. The book also illuminates a rather ghastly period of Americana in the World War One era that many have thought best forgotten: the mighty decimating the weak; the rampant xenophobia which dictated public and business policy; the patriotic jingoism which overruled any dissent in American foreign policy. Copeland's book mostly succeeds on a humanitarian level, though, in his portrayal of plain Elmer Smith as a man of integrity, ignited by his passion for social reform and at all times gifted with an overwhelming sense of morality and human decency. It's not by coincidence that others joked of him: "What's more frightening than a working man with brains? A lawyer with a heart."

Copeland is every bit as strong in pointing out the flaw in Smith's character along side his strengths. In his zeal for supporting the Wobblies both before 1919 and in the decade after when he worked tireless for their release from prison, Smith's family suffered enormously. They were instantly social pariahs to the community of Centralia, WA and their needs were often secondary to Smith's concerns for the union. Smith's family barely scraped by financially after he was disbarred by the State of Washington and were left devastated after Smith, ignoring his own deteriorating health, died at the age of 42 from a series of bleeding ulcers. In all, Copeland does a tremendous job gathering the sentiments of Smith's surviving family and molding a 3-dimensional portrait of a human being, warts and all.

I read a review recently of the Academy Award winning documentary, "One Day in September" which chronicles the kidnapping and assassination of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. "Why should the film have been made and why should it be shown?" the Washington Post asked. "Because the world must not be allowed to forget, no matter how much it would like to." The same could be said of the tragedy in Centralia, which sadly, seems to have totally been forgotten in a truly deliberate fashion.

Social movements depend not on a few charismatic leaders, but on the efforts of countless people whose names will never be remembered in our history books. The tendency, however, is to treat movements as the result of nearly superhuman individuals who alone create structural change. In this interpretation, the average citizens' duty is simply to do nothing but wait for a leader to lead them to the promised land. The cumulative effect of such history is the disempowerment of individuals, who learn to see history as something that "happens" to them, not as something that they can help create.

Tom Copeland's book, through the telling of Elmer Smith's story, reminds us of this truth. The progress that has been made during the past century in securing stonger rights for workers is due not to a few huge individuals, but to the Elmer Smiths of the country, whose daily and usually unrewarded sacrifices created a real gain for wage earners. We can never know the stories of all who gave up their comfortable lives to work in the labor movement, or how many suffered dearly for it. But Copeland has recovered one such individual, whose story is both an inspiration to activists and a sobering reminder of the ease with which our government can redefine human rights when dealing with dissidents.

As Copeland concludes, "By fanning the fire of discontent during his lifetime, he (Smith) helped keep the flame of justice alive for generations." This book is a reminder that all progress is due to those who question conventional wisdom and refuse to consent to a system which conflicts with their conscience. It also forces us to ask a crucial question: what are we doing today to fan the fire of discontent?

If you are a Grays Harborite of past or present and have an interest in World War II, this is definitely a book for you. The book also has some fascinating revelations about the curious interactions that occur when military culture collides with civilian culture. Though happily there was no foreign occupation as such, our Pacific beaches were taken over by the gentle and the wild - a crazy assortment of young men from all across the U.S.A. As the author poignantly observes, many were indulging in what simple pleasures remained before going off to war and possible oblivion.

Kathy Hogan was an extraordinarily talented woman and her gift for writing as revealed in "The Kitchen Critic" suggests she could have done great things. She balances a city-bred sophistication with a storytelling talent honed by a keen ear for dialog and an eagle eye for local color which, for those who know the Harbor, is basic gray. (But what a splendid gray it is!) Cohassett Beach Chronicles is truly an endearing collection of homefront yarns, whether about rationing, billeting troops or topics as perennial as weather and wildlife.

But despite her intellect and breeding, Hogan was not a woman ahead of her time. She is at her best when writing about the funny folks in the neighborhood and their uniformed guests. She can be forgiven for her mumblings about Eleanor Roosevelt's activism (which echo many of the criticisms towards Hillary Clinton), but it is embarrassing to read her racist ramblings about Japanese and Japanese-Americans. She shows us the pervasiveness of hatred and ignorance of Japan at that time, even among those citizens you'd think would have known better. Granted, few readers of the Grays Harbor Post who had boys fighting in the South Pacific could be bothered with the notion that Japan has a highly developed civilization, but it is a fact and a plain fact at that. Only writers with true pluck would have acknowledged it in those days.

The editors provide the reader with a marginal chronology for each month of the war. Occasionally Hogan's racism is parroted even here, though I want to think this is more a sin of carelessness than design. For example, the entry for November 1942 reads: "U.S. air force bombs Japs daily on Aleutian Kiska." Many will agree that "Jap" these days is a racial epithet regardless of how conveniently short it might be. "Japanese" is the term to use now. I am an ex-Harborite and have been living in Japan for almost 20 years now. There is a great deal of affection for things American here and I have spent the happiest years of life in this country. The war is long over. In this borderless age the thoughtless use of "Jap" is more inappropriate than ever.

My other beef with this book is that photos don't have captions (and photo acknowledgements at the back of the book aren't all that helpful). Yes, some of the pictures are pretty obvious and require no explanation. And yes, a picture may be worth a thousand words. But Hogan wrote for a newspaper, after all. When have newspaper photos not had captions?

But these are minor complaints. Despite the one problem with the chronologies, the editors did well by providing them. A useful glossary is also included which tells the book's reader what few of Hogan's original newspaper readers needed to have explained - such as who Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink was (an opera singer who was "a mountain of a woman," says the glossary). The fine illustrations by Lucy Hart render the essence of Grays Harbor flora and fauna and put a lump in this expatriate's throat.

All in all, this is a fun read - and an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of the Pacific Northwest, particularly where that history coincides with one long and bloody nightmare that consumed the world six short decades ago.

Remarkable for almost entirely ignoring the ongoing war, focusing instead almost exclusively on local doings (from Westport to Grayland). Her gently self-deprecating accounts of her various Victory Garden fiascos are alone worth the price of the book. I spent my childhood in Aberdeen in the '50s (from 5 to 13) and may even have met Kathy Hogan (her face, in the one picture in the book that shows it, is hauntingly familiar).

I used this book as part of a unit when I was student teaching and the children were enraptured with the theme of preservation. Perfect for the classroom setting, but don't underestimate the joy it'll bring the frog-lover in your family.

I first researched this project after reading newspaper accounts and was glad to see this story come into book form. It well illustrates the efforts of these determined students and even made the NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children list in 1992. It's a good example of a community service project for students and and teachers.

I thoroughly enjoyed the pitch-black humor of this book, which flips a verbal bird at everything from mental healthcare professionals to white trash to the arrogant wealthy. At times, the snarky attitude verges on overwhelming, but read in several moderately sized portions rather than wolfed down in one sitting, The Concrete Sky is as pitilessly/pleasurably sharp-tongued as Robert Schimmel's stand-up routines or Gore Vidal on one of his more misanthropic days. The noir-tinted plot keeps fingers turning pages fast, but it's Moore's singularly pissy narrative voice that leaves the deeper papercuts...on your brain.

The author is the child Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker never had together. I haven't read anything this witty in years. THE CONCRETE SKY made me laugh, it made me mad, it made me think, it got under my skin. I was rooting for Chad and Jonathan and I wanted to slap them both too. I couldn't put this one down. It made me late for work because I stayed up late reading. This is a debut novel? What's he going to write next?

I thought that this book was fun to read--incorporating Godly wisdom with modern time dating relationships. Although some of the ideas were a little "cheesy," this book offers sound advice as well as a better alternative to dating: courtship. This book gives singles of today a grounding when they pursue others as possible soulmates.

I found this book, to be whole more helpful then the book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. After, reading the book I realized that their are still Christians out there that are not complete radicals.

I thought that the authors comments on someones readiness to date were right on. The test in the book on someone's readiness to date I also found to be helpful, so you know that your reasons for dating are proper.

About the best thing, that I found in this book, was the ideas it gives for someone going out on date on what to do on the date.

Another, book that I also found helpful was, I Gave Dating A Chance, if you want to do some additional reading on the subject.