This is an excellent review of the history surrounding the burning of the British revenue schooner, the HMS Gaspee in Rhode Island waters in June of 1772. This incident was of great importance to the American Colonies in that the British attempts in finding the culprits were frustrated by a union of spirit amongst the Colonists not to cooperate with the investigation. This led directly to the formation of the Committees of Correspondence, and furthered the Revolutionary ideas for independence.

Originally written for the Providence Gazette in 1845 by William Staples. Forward by Richard Deasy, Professor of History, Providence College.

Those interested in colonial New England biography would do well to pay close attention to the title of this slim volume. This book is relatively long on early New England Baptist theology and practice, and the politics of securing Rhode Island's charter of 1663, but very short on John Clarke and his times. Consequently there is little here for the non-professional historical reader and even less on material culture. The book has the feel of something unfinished, not surprising when one learns that the author died before he completed it. There are no illustrations, although a portrait believed to be of Clarke exists. William Dyre's role in revoking Coddington's patent of 1651 and obtaining a new patent with Clarke in 1652 goes without mention. The footnote for the quote in the chapter 2 title is missing. Some descriptions seem outright silly, such as that Coddington's house in Newport was large and Clarke's must have been much smaller. The flaws are not hard to notice. It is difficult to write the biography of a second-tier figure of early New England when so little documentation remains, but the author could have done much more. This is the history of religion and politics, but not of John Clarke.

Rhode Island in the Colonial Wars has a brief history of the King George's War (1740-1748) and the Old French & Indian War (1755-1762). A majority of the book consists of lists of Rhode Island men who served in these two conflicts. The book has limited notations for each soldier/sailor listing units and period served. This book would be useful for genealogists searching for information about early Rhode Island military men.

I wouldn't bother spending money on this book. It reads too much like a brochure. The author spent the majority of her time talking about the Innkeepers and not the Inns. Not only that, but she didn't rate the Inns, so it was hard to tell which Inns were good and which were bad. I wound up returning this book and purchasing "The Unofficial Guide to Bed and Breakfasts in New England" by Lea Lane. It's a much better book. The author visited each Inn personally and then gave a thorough review. She also rated the Inns. She did not accept any payment from the Inns for inclusion in the book which meant she was able to write an unbiased review.

The author seemed to devote far too much of each review on describing the innkeepers rather than the inn itself. Although the information about the innkeepers may be interesting, it does not help me choose which inn to stay at. So instead of devoting 40% of the review on the innkeepers, I would much rather have the inn described in more detail so that I can make an informed decision. Frustrated by the lack of detail, I returned this book for a refund.

An amazing resource with everything you could ever need to know about B&Bs in New England. It includes everything from the most basic like the amenities to the most specific such as what they serve for breakfast and which dog or cat in residence will climb up in bed with you if given the chance. My fiance and I wanted to have our wedding in either Vermont or New Hampshire at the height of foliage season and with this book we were able to narrow our choices down from our home in New York by the number of rooms, location, and other important things we had to take into consideration. Bernice Chesler made the search for our dream location so much easier! Thank you!

The book over all was interesting yet it talked too much of the characters I felt no suspense or thrill throughout the book, I feel it didn't get to the main points in the book

The illustrations are by a well-known marine artist.
The taxonomy is decades out of date; many of the names are NO LONGER VALID. The list of species is incomplete by >100% and many of the included species are no more than guesses.
The illustrations are really suitable only for high school or lower college undergraduate general biology or marine biology courses. They are useless if an accurate identification of marine phytolankton is needed. I would never pay more than $ for this, except for the nice line drawings by John Lutes. 5/03

I did not like the book becase it was not exciting. The book was not funny.

I was decidedly unimpressed with this novel. The characters are not real people, but cartoons. Living in Rhode Island I had hoped to see more of the character of the state come through-- since so much effort is made to difine the setting as RI-- but was disappointed there as well. The writing was fair to good. Some images and some dialogue were impressive, but overall the book is mediocre.

This book also recommends The Vermont Inn in Killington, which was infested with fruit flies. When I tried to check out one day earlier, the innkeeper refused to credit my deposit, and I am taking it up with the credit card companies, as well as writing to all the guidebooks about the lousy service.

I am complaining to the guidebook to see if they will update their review.

Robert

My husband used this book to plan a romantic getaway for our wedding anniversary in New England. From this book's description, a place named the 'Water's Edge Inn' sounded like the perfect option. However we arrived to find it a horrid place with tacky decor in the common buildings and were given a dark room with stained bedspread, a tiny window overlooking the parking lot, tacky old furniture, and decor last updated in about 1958.

As with any travel book, the author may only place ads for those that pay for them. However, I am deeply disappointed with how completely misleading the descriptions were.