This book is a "must" for any person who loves, or will love, Bloomington, Indiana.

Bloomington, one of the premier communities in the United States, is a place that one visits and ends up staying because of its unmatched standard of living.

Offering the finest blend of small town ambiance and big city resources, Bloomington is home to Indiana University, which makes the community an oasis of sophistication in a traditional midwestern setting.

Located in the beautiful wooded, rolling hills of southern Indiana, the city, home to 65,000 Hoosiers, many who have left the hustle of large coastal cities to seek a higher quality of living, is a crown jewel of midwest communities.

The book captures all that is wonderful about Bloomington with stunning photographs and interesting, insightful text. Included are sections on the city's history, arts, sports, entertainment, businesses, educational institutions, economy, and volunteer activities.

Bloomington - A Contemporary Portrait, presented in quality large "coffee table" format, offers the perfect gift or purchase for the thousands of people who have a special place in their heart for Bloomington.

You won't be disappointed!

The 1985 movie was great, but Brewster's methods are far more diverse and humorous in the book. Notable highlights:

-Brewster befriends a pair of muggers by insisting they steal everything, even the $300 they overlooked in his right pocket.

-He hosts a luxury cruise for 50 to Europe, and the guests stage a mutiny to curb Brewster's inexplicable generosity.

-An Arab sheik tries to steal Brewster's fiance in Egypt, but is shot in the head while absconding.

A possible detractor: the book has far more dramatic content than the movie. This is not simply a comedic vehicle. It is thoroughly absorbing, nevertheless.

Buried in Quilts is one of those wonderful new breed of mysteries that allows you to see inside another world, in this case a small town in Indiana, and inside other people, too. It's not just about a murder, or quilts, the town or the people; the book is a wonderful quilt itself, weaving all the separate pieces into a marvelous whole. I think what I liked best is that the clues to the murder were right there for everyone to see. I don't know a thing about quilting and when the book reached its conclusion I found myself saying, "I should have figured that out!" There was a twist that caught me fair and square. I recommend this book very highly!

Cynthia Loucks has hit the nail on the head in describing what it's like in nursing homes across the country. I've been visiting residents in nursing homes for 17 years and the stories and situations haven't changed much during that time. You see the exhausted and short tempered employees who don't take the time to really listen, or even bother to get to know the needs and wants of residents. I constantly hear from residents about belongings being "misplaced." Nothing broke my heart more than a resident telling me that one day she had $15 in her purse and the next day is was gone or, worse yet, when a resident told me that "someone" had come in while she was sleeping and stole an unopened package of Depends which her family has to supply for her at serious bucks per package. I nodded in agreement when I read every chapter and felt validated when I read Ms. Loucks' description of "running the gauntlet" when she entered the facility to visit her mother. That is a description that I'd been using for years to describe how it felt to have to walk passed wall to wall "parked and abandoned" residents who call out for help, grab my hand, or think that I'm an employee. I've learned over the years that most of these people just need a little time and attention. Sometimes a hug, a hand on the shoulder or just eye to eye contact with a smile will do wonders for them. Ten seconds of my time just may have made someone's day. The book is fabulous even if the subject matter is alarming, frustrating, and depressing. With more and more people living longer lives, "Boomers" are going to have to wake up and realize that we are going to have to do our part to make the issue of end of life care a top priority or else end up in the same deplorable conditions as our parents and grandparents. I cannot begin to fathom the kinds of decisions the Gen Xers will be making to decide what happens to me when I'm old. One's twilight years shouldn't be spent in hell on earth, but that's exactly the way it is for far too many of our "greatest generation." As far as I'm concerned, this is the most shameful tragedy in the United States.

This book shows the breadth and scope of meanings that are carved into wooden chains by Indiana craftsmen. Folklorist Simon Bronner begins his study with a simple question: Why would anyone spend hours and hours carving out wooden chains? The answers that he finds show that simple questions often have complex answers. Bronner provides a glimpse into the souls of the carvers as he reveals the significant aspects of the aesthetic and emotional dimensions of life history that are crafted into the art of the carvers.

Betsy and I enjoyed creating this book because it gave us an opportunity to introduce visitors and residents to places that make Indianapolis special. Strolling, shopping, or sightseeing, visitors will be guided to those places that gave them the richest flavors the city has to offer.

The book is divided into thirteen chapters, including Where To Stay, Shopping, and Nightlife, making it easy for readers to pinpoint the topic they are searching for. Entries are short and fact-packed, and the book includes plenty of pictures and fun facts about the city.

We are particularly pleased that a portion of the books profits go to the Indianapolis Parks Foundation. Helen O'Guinn

Like the other books in this series, a reader gets what he/she expects--plus something more. In this case, a tense, engaging mystery, coupled with plenty of midwestern enthusiasm for basketball and a detective that is, by turns, a hopeless curmudgeon and a sauve "leading man." I really, really like this book and the rest of the Deets Shanahan stories!

This is a great book that reflects the excitment of this cooking school in the middle of Main Street Indiana. I purchased two! Marie has focused on easy yet elegant time-tested recipes that will soon be a staple in your home.

Crawfordsville, Athens of Indiana

Karen Zach, Montgomery County Indiana Historian has put together a
worthy book for her first foray into "real" publication. Karen is not
new to the people who research history in Montgomery County.

Karen, who is a teacher, and an enormous asset to the Community, is
well known among Historians, and Genealogists. Karen has been
coordinating the USGenWeb Project web page for the County for
some time, she is also a past President of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, Dorothy Q Chapter, and maintains that website
as well. Karen is Ambassador of much of the history and genealogy
in the County, and her close support of Crawfordsville's District
Library, and its extensive resources, is highly commendable.

Karen is to be commended for her efforts to get copious amounts of
data out to the public. In that spirit she took on the project of
composing a Crawfordsville history for the "Making of America"
series.

The Making of America series is a nationwide project of local
histories, and using vintage photos, and excerpts from many local
sources, Karen has done an excellent job for the community of
Crawfordsville.

For more than 150 years Crawfordsville has been a central place for
the cutting edge of culture in western Indiana.
From being the place where many generals of the Civil War began the
recruiting for that conflict, and the literary endeavors of General Lew
Wallace and others, to the influence and confluence of the railroads
and the General Land Office on the people of the entire region, she
touches all of these. The developments of Basketball as a sport, and
the archetectural impact of Crawfordsville, are also key points.

Karen leads us from the earliest days of the County, to the
modern-post September 11, 2001- era.
One part of the history leads us right into the next in a continuous
tapestry of what makes this City uniquely Hoosier. Wabash College,
an early institute of higher education, was a drawing point for the
great minds, and the environment of Crawfordsville must have been
ripe, rich, and sweet, because many inventions sprang from it, great
works of literature and art abound, and it seems that everyone has
something to add to the general progress of the region and
especially Montgomery County.

Taken as a place of history, and as an undeniable place IN history,
Crawfordsville is and was the "Athens of Indiana". Perhaps it is the
Athens of the whole USA.

Crawfordsville, Athens of Indiana,
Copyright © 2003, Karen Bazzani Zach
Arcadia Publishing,
Tempus Publishing, 2 Cumberland Street, Charleston, South Carolina,
USA. 29401

Library of Congress Catalog Card #2002116806

ISBN: 0738524174

Marlis Day has once again managed to spin a fascinating "true" mystery with a homespun tale of a rural schoolteacher's life and quest. I found the mystery involved with the schoolmaster to be filled with plenty of twists and turns, but my very favorite part of Marlis's book was the fabric of the lives of her characters. I began to envy the quiet, country life, the quirky characters with names like "Cactus" and "Roxie" and the simple joys of being a teacher at home in the country for the summer. Marlis cannot write another book fast enough for me.