This book is very accurate and shows many examples for proof of statements. The authors didnot jump to conclusions for the sake of links to famous people or events. I found this to be a great guide for the novice researcher because it emphisises caution on assumptions. Tells you straight out if there wasn't enough proof for them to be positive but listed the information in case proof comes later It is easy to read and follow though the many generations. There are enough interesting tales, writings, wills etc to cause you to forget your original purpose and to begin to read as if it were a history book. Which may or maynot be a good thing.

The problem I see as the owner of both books Volumn 1 and 2 is that the index is in the 2nd book and you seem to be offering only the 1st book and this will leave researchers lost who don't know who is in which geneation, exact dates of birth, locations and which given name applies to your relative (some of which are repeated by every sibling in the family when naming their own children and on and on for generations). I suggest you make the 2nd book available to your customers too. It contains wills, property titles, lots of later date relatives witness to legal events and much more. The 2 books are of equal value to a genealogy researcher.

A wonderful and mandatory book for any Mexican War enthusiast. The best article is from one of the two Mexican historians, Miguel A. Gonzalez Quiroga. He examines the humanity on both sides. Mostly ignoring whose fault the war was, he writes a beautiful eulogy of the dead of both sides. Wonderful! The worst article was the other historian from Mexico, Josefina Zoraida Vazguez. She beats a dead horse. Her argument has been argued by American historians since the 60's. However, Sam Haynes's article on relations between the US, Mexico, and Britain is superb. It not only discusses the almost inevitable conflict with Britain and the US prior to the fighting at the Rio Grande, but also points out the why the British were not coming in to help Mexico. Another superb article was by Michael Roth's article on Journalism in the war. Roth's work is a must for those interested in the cultural side of the American soldiers experience in Mexico. Overall and excellent collection of work.

This book first came to my notice on the public library shelf, but I was so impressed after reading it, I had to have it and purchased it on line through Amazon. This is an extremly informative book, for both beginner (such as myself) and advanced fisherman. It tells you where to go and what time of year is best for that spot, also what flies are best suited for what is in that particular river. It sure beats trial and error. I especially like the lists of trout fly patterns and fly shops. There is also a list of guide services which I hope to utilize in the future.

From the three quotes with which she begins her book, throughout the anecdotes and letter passages she uses to bring the story to life, to the final tribute to Maymont employees in her conclusion, Elizabeth O'Leary has put together a book that appeals on several different levels.

Taken on the surface, it's a day-to-day picture of what made life run smoothly in a grand home of the Gilded Age. Pretty fascinating stuff, for us today with our instantly-gratifying microwaves, prepared foods, washing machines and dryers!

One level down, it's a microcosm of a society. In this level, the reader gets to meet the individuals who peopled that society, and O'Leary helps us understand where they're coming from by taking us back to Civil War times and before. We get to see their world relatively dispassionately, through the eyes of, alternately, upper-crust folks like the Dooleys and the African-Americans who worked as domestics.

Finally, this book is a quiet tribute to a quiet, newly-freed generation of folk who earned their living through hard work, passed on solid values to their children and, ultimately, helped "shape the American experience for generations to come." The reader quickly begins to feel the respect the author gained for Maymont employees during her conversations with their descendants.

I liked the way O'Leary put this together -- a sociological study brought to life skillfully with snippets of stories that engross.

[...]
Thankfully, The Girls is not one of those books. The main character, Joe Nash, is a first-time novelist with one success under his belt and a crumbling marriage. Looking both for inspiration for his next book and escape from his distant, spiteful wife, he finds himself walking into the only strip club in town. In doing so, he dips his toe into a cold, menacing ocean of trouble, to find himself quickly tugged under by forces beyond his control.

The characters in the book are well fleshed-out and believable, each with their own limitations and imperfections. Nash is smart enough to know he should stay away, and weak enough to create justifications for returning. His friend, Lieutenant Duffy, hides his own secrets behind his gruff manor and dour ideology.

The story unfolds like a shot of espresso on a rickety roller coaster, and before you know it, you're plummeting with Nash into a tailspin of thugs, prostitutes, corrupt clergy and sensationalists.

Hopefully we haven't seen the last of Joe Nash. Like a good roller coaster, his story left me waiting in line for the next ride.

P.C. Richmond's book GOLD is a great book for all armchair sailors and also for general readers. The locale is the Mediterranean where the author uses local knowledge of the islands and coves along the Italian and Spanish coasts to spin a totally engaging plot. The book is a real page-turner that readers will find exciting right to the last page. The well-drawn characters move the story along using dialog that has just the right pitch for the circumstances and place. This is by far the best present-day sea-yarn we've come across in a long time.

This line-by-line commentary by a classical scholar is written for non-specialists. It is keyed to the popular translation by R. Lattimore, used in many college courses. Jones points to special features of the poem (such as "ring composition"), explains place names and other obscure phrases, and suggests interpretations of various scenes. There is a wealth of information here. Rather than summarizing the poem (like Monarch notes and other shortcuts around the reading process), this commentary is designed to make your reading deeper and more historical.

"Into Africa, Intercultural Insights" by Richmond and Gestrin was recommended to me by an American teaching in sub-Saharan Africa. I read it in preparation for my own sojourn to Africa University in Zimbabwe. The authors paint a splendid view of pan-African culture and also point out, as much as possible in 250 fast-reading pages, some of the cultural differences within specific areas. The greater value, however, is not the well-written, snap-shot glimpse of African culture, but the differences to be seen by those of us who are products of North American social norms.

"Into Africa" is more than just a way to prevent social gaffs. It provides understanding of otherwise-frustrating experiences, an appreciation of African social roots, and, above all else, an understanding of ones own social/cultural background.

Reading "Into Africa" is as essential to the Africa-bound traveler as getting all those nasty vaccination jabs ... and a lot more pleasant.

At the end of "Iphigenia at Aulius," when the virgin daughter of Agamemnon is about to sacrificed offstage to appease the goddess Artemis, as the fatal blow is struck the young girl disappears and a stage appears in its place. Thus, at the last minute, Euripides refrains from suggesting a goddess demanded a human sacrifice. But what happened to the young girl? The dramatist provides his answer in "Iphigenia in Tauris" Artemis saved Iphigenia and brought her to the temple of the goddess in Tauris (which is in Thrace, although others take this to mean the Crimea). Meanwhile, her brother Orestes, still trying to appease the Furies for his crime of matricide, is ordered by the god Apollo to bring the statue of Artemis from Tauris to Athens. However, the Taurians have the quaint habit of sacrificing strangers to the goddess (so much for the goddess disdaining human sacrifice). Once again, Euripides is showing his disdain for Apollo; at first consideration you might think Apollo is setting up the reconciliation of brother and sister, but since it is up to the goddess Athena to help the pair, and Orestes's friend Pylades, to escape, the clearly implication is that Apollo wants Orestes dead.

"Iphigenia in Taurus" ("Iphigeneia en Taurois," which is also translated as "Iphigenia among the Taurians") is really more of a tragicomedy than a traditional Greek tragedy. Basically it consists of a key scene of recognition ("anagnorisis") and a clever escape by the main characters. The recognition scene between Orestes and Iphigenia is well done, and so atypical in that there is joy in the "anagnorisis" rather than pain or death (cf. "Oedipus the King"). "Iphigenia in Tauris" takes place after the Orestia trilogy by Aeschylus (Athena refers to the events of the final play), and one of the more interesting elements of this play is the idea that Orestes had been hallucinating when he was seeing the Furies pursuing him. This is a rather rational explanation for his behavior following the murder of Clytemnestra and Aegithus.

I was rather surprised to discover that Euripides wrote "Iphigenia in Tauris" in 413 BC, which was years before "Iphigenia at Aulis" was first performed in 406. I had naturally assumed that Euripides was following the character's chronology, but apparently this is not the case. My preference has always been for the latter play, but this is based on my interest in how Euripides foreshadows the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles that serves as the opening conflict of Homer's epic poem, "The Iliad." This also speaks to the fact that to successfully teach and/or really appreciate this play, you simply have to understand the entire background of the characters, both in terms of "Iphigenia at Aulis" and "The Orestia." Certainly this can be done in the classroom through summaries of these plays, but it most assuredly has to be done.

It book is a down-to-earth book. Through experiences Gary Richmond has gone through, he manages to relate it to the Christian Life. God has everything planned out for us, and He shows some of it through what we observe in nature. For example, he uses the birth of a giraffe to illustrate the trials we face in life.

It is a good book for evangelising to animal lovers. It's not a book which starts condemning sinners, but rather, showing the goodness of God in a sutle way, through animals. Good book for both Christian and non-Christian.