Having searched for a first hand account of what it was like to attempt to farm during the dust bowl I was very pleased to find this work. Svobida provides a year by year account of his attempts to do that and I enjoyed learning from his trials and tribulations. The book is unique, as to this point, it is the only work I've found that gives the details of how farmers attempted to prevail during the dust bowl years. Increased an already high admiration for those who lived in and trhough the dust bowl.

Fawn Island is a place where crows serve as alarm clocks, white-throated sparrows leave the tracks of their songs upon the even hush, and chickadees help a woodsman learn to whistle. The island is also a gateway to the sprawling Voyageurs National Park. An accomplished author, Douglas Wood takes the reader into the heart of the deep North Woods with his text (illustrated by his own artwork) that evokes the charm and adventure to be found in the quite of the pine-clad shores, as well as the neighborliness, and independence of those who live in this remarkable place. Fawn Island is enthusiastically recommended, entertaining, and occasionally inspiring reading for naturalists, armchair travelers, and anyone else who enjoys experiencing the what a wilderness retreat in the North Country has to offer.

While this book would be leisure reading to only the most dedicated UN or FDR follower, it is one of the best books I could find for a report on the subject. The book is quite thorough and the different aspects the authors discussed gave me a greater understanding of the process. Many of the decisions made prior to the creation of the UN were delicate with the opposing desires of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. This book explains how Roosevelt contributed along with other factors that affected his moves including early influences from Wilson's League of Nations. Although this book would not be for everybody, it is a must read for those with a genuine intrest--or a school report--on this subject.

From the back of the book:

"I have read and studies many books on the Gospel of Mark (and written some, too), but I have never come across anything that illuminated Mark in the way that Dr. Geyer's study has done. His approach is to ask the question, 'What would a first- or second-century person in the Hellenistic world make of the incidents that Mark has strung together in his book?' ... I am confident that Dr. Geyer's research will have a permanent effect on the study of Mark, and that this will be wholly beneficial."

John C. Fenton, former principal of Lichfield Theological College and Saint Chad's College, Durham, and retired canon of Christ Church, Oxford.

"For Geyer, the lack of an ending for the Gospel of Mark is not a literary mistake, but the story of a crucifixion, a horrible, frightening death, that leaves the reader with no solution ... Citing an incredible mass of parallels in Greco-Roman literature, Geyer clarifies the literary function of the Anomalous Frightful in the ancient world. He then shows how it serves as the basis for those stories found in Mark 4:35-6:53 ... For the most part Jesus encounters these conflicts, the Anomalous Frightful, with a contextual, not a permanent, solution ... Geyer's research has serious theological importance."

Graydon F. Snyder, dean and professor emeritus, Bethany Theological Seminary, and professor emeritus, Chicago Theological Seminary

Speaking as one who was prosecuted and sent away for a trumped up regulatory crime, I regret that I did not have access to Doug Hill's book during my traumatic experience. It would have made it somewhat more manageable, if not slightly easier. During one of life's most difficult times, there are few resources to draw on and those who have not been through it have no idea how horrible being prosecuted is. The system is broken, and over 2 million people are incarcerated in America, most for non-violent crimes. 25% of the worlds prison population is incarcerated in a country with less than 5% of the world's population. The more people understand about what's going on, the better chances are that we can restore sanity to America. This book provides a road map to those who get targeted. Very useful and important.

Learn about a family near a Costa Rican rain forest!
I read this excellent bilingual English and Spanish book to my
K-7 Spanish students for Earth Day! The photos make the story come alive! Readers will get a great idea for a birthday present which his or her friend will always remember!

Pratt, Bruner, and Dickinson have produced a superb field guide completely covering all the islands of the tropical Pacific from Hawai'i west through Micronesia. This is a true field guide: it gives the field marks of every species, notes problems in identification with special emphasis on distinguishing similar species, and wastes no space on matters not related to identification. (The exception is that Pratt, a significant ornithologist as well as an expert in identification, summarizes controversies in classification whre appropriate.)

The text is organized by order and family, not by region, so the flycatchers of Tahiti appear next to the flycatchers of Palau rather than near other Tahitian birds. But the illustrations are grouped by region: Samoan land birds appear together, regardless of relationships. This greatly facilitates use in the field.

The illustrations are paintings, not photographs, which allows the authors to show similar birds in identical poses as well as eliminating the accidental marks which appear in even the best photographs and can confuse the user.

The authors have chosen to include the extinct birds of the region as well as the living ones. This puts a certain amount of "deadwood" on the illustration pages, which may be detrimental. But, considering that more than one "extinct" bird has been found after being missing for nearly a hundred years, it is probably worth the minor inconvenience.

I have used the book extensively in Hawai'i and believe it to be the best guide Hawai'i's birds. I would not consider being without it anywhere in its area of coverage.

This is a great book, especially helpful if you are trying to learn how do do historical research. The author, himself a well-respected film historian, reviews several established formats (eg. economic history, social history, technological history) then offers a guide for those trying to do this sort of work. Especially useful for the film instructor or graduate student.

This series of books is always outstanding for the bunch of pictures it contents. But the text equals the image, there's a lot of research for each movie De Niro's done -critic-guru Pauline Kael's comments among others-, and a few insights on the flaws of some of his movies, that may give you the right impression that this author knows some things about craftsmanship.

Historians have shown that fish has always played a great part in Egyptian life. This book explores in detail the importance of fish, its economic, artistic and religious significance as well as fishing tools, methods and techniques. It also describes and illustrated 20 types of fish known to the Ancient Egyptians. This is an excellent book for archeologists to identify fish bones.