Ideal for planing your trip to New England area. You will have several routs to explore this part of the country. Tips, Maps and Photographs that give you a very good picture of your trip. This will help you to don't miss any of the important places of the road.

Any one interested in creating an education system that is child centered, flexible and interesting should read this book.
The Met, a public highschool in Providence, RI., is the focus of a 2 year study by the author that culminated in this book. This is a special place where real learning takes place and children are valued for their interests and their individualism.
It almost makes me want to go back to highschool or atleast move to Providence so that my children can go there. Thank you to the author, eliot Levine, and to everyone associated at the Met for being brave enough to go against the tide and create a school that will hopefully be the model for all schools in the future.

My father is an excellent author.

This is a excellent book. Bought after recently buying a kayak. New to kayaking. The book made me want to go to the local lake right then and there. Very descriptive of ponds and lakes with maps. Wish it had a few more entrys. Although I do agree with the authors selection process.

This is a lovely piece of travel writing about the Island of Rhodes by a master observer of both the human character and the land- and seascapes with which Greece and its islands always delight us. It is a richly sensuous account of Durrell's years in the British civil service just after the end of WWII and just before the island is handed back to Greece. The eye is feted with descriptions of fields, hills, oranges and lemons, and flowers of every form and color. Sounds range from the rhythm of the sea (alternately savage and soothing) to Greek folk songs to sparkling conversation with Brit expatriates (including Gideon the half-sighted wonder). The author even offers a neat summation of a Greek picnic in tems of smells: petrol, garlic, wine and goat. Intermingled with these delicious attacks on the senses there is the play of light over the island as the sun moves across the sky and its rays are filtered through sea mist, mythology and the grim reality of having to rebuild a nation and an island after Nazi cruelty has left it a shambles. Like it or not, the reader is filled in on some mildly interesting points in the author's understanding of ancient history and the medieval Knights of St. John, who came into possession of the island for a time. The last section is about an enormous cookout in honor of a saint at whose shrine miracles have been know to occur, even raising the dead. It is a stroke of irony that during the festivities a young child is run over by a truck and dies the following day despite the best efforts of Mills, a good hearted but overextended British doctor. All in all, this is a delightful book, highly recommendable for those who enjoy travel writing. But Durrell is no Rebecca West, and this is not an example of the best Durrell. But it isn't bad Durrell, either.

I always think of Rhode Island as the first of the second-generation of American colonies. Every American history textbook dutifully explains about the first permanent establishments in the United States at Jamestown, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay. As often as not, the history books will also explain how Roger Williams, who immigrated with his family to Massachusetts Bay fled from the colony five years later when facing deportation for his views. Williams founded a settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay and named it Providence. Eventually with the settlement of Portsmouth founded by Anne Hutchinson's group and William Coddington's group at Newport there was the creation of another English colony in New England. However, the lesson that the Puritans, who fled religious persecution in England, failed to practice what they preached in the New World was rather obvious and made an impression as did the unique identity of Rhode Island in colonial history.

Andrew A. Kling's book on "Rhode Island" for "The Thirteen Colonies" series is another outstanding look at one of the "lesser" colonies that get brief mention in your standard American history textbook. The introduction establishes how "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" was founded by the desire for political and religious freedom, before providing the standard five chapters for this series: (1) Beginnings covers both the discovery of the region by European explorers as well as the native tribes who were living there when Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson established settlements; (2) A "Lively Experiment" details the various charters that governed the colony and the conflict known as King Philip's War between the settlers and the Wampanoag and Narragnsett tribes; (3) Daily Life in the Growing Colony covers how education was often linked to religious doctrine in Rhode island, seasonal chores, and the colony's role in the Triangle Trade; (4) First in Freedom: Rhode Island and the Revolution starts with the general colonial reaction to the Sugar Act and then discusses what specifically happened in the colony, such as the "Gaspee" Incident, General Nathan Greene who hailed from the colony, and the Battle of Rhode Island; and (5) To Ratify or Not to Ratify? begins with the debate over becoming a state and the changes in the Rhode Island economy.

Kling ends the book in the same spirit as it began, noting that the statue on top of the new state capitol building was the "Independent Man" representing all of the people, rather than Roger Williams, Thomas Dorr, Samuel Slater, or another major figure in the state's history. This series does an excellent job of exploring the history of each colony, working in primary and secondary source quotations, along with a time line, historic illustrations, annotated bibliographies, and an index. As always, the less you know about a particular colony from your American history textbook, the more you will pick up from these books. Of course, that seems obvious, but more importantly Kling provides a clear conception of Rhode Island as a colony distinct from all the others. For young students assigned to research Rhode Island, Roger Williams, or other subjects associated with the colony, this book is the ideal place to start.

This is a great book! Every time I am stumped on a local history question I can turn to this book and find the answer painlessly. As a guide to restaurants and attractions it just can't be beat. I recommend this book to locals and visitors as a great reference source.

This book is great because it contains tons of photos spanning the complete history of Crescent Park in Riverside, Rhode Island. It has become a treasured heirloom because most of my family (McCuskers, Phillips, and Martin's) grew up working at the park. Even though I wasn't around during the parks hayday, having been born in the mid-1970's, stories about the park still fascinate me to this day.

This is a great book if you are doing a report. I highly recomend it. Very informative. Interesting

I've had the pleasure of knowing Howard Stone since I was a kid and there is no one more devoted to Bike Riding in Rhode Island. If you are a Rhode Islander and are taking up Biking or are a Biker moving to our area, this one is really worth picking up.

Scott P. Morin, WebMaster, [e-mail]