Collaboratively compiled, edited, and notated by Gregory A. Waselkov (Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Archaeological Studies, University of South Alabama) and Kathryn E. Holland Brand (Associate Professor of History, Auburn University), William Bartram On The Southeastern Indians is comprised of the writings and observations first published in 1791 by William Bartram regarding flora, fauna, and the Native American Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokee that he encountered while touring the American Southeast. This scholarly edition is enhanced for contemporary readers with illustrations, notes, a bibliography, an index, and an informative chapter devoted to the significance of William Bartram's writings in anthropological studies of 18th century southeastern Native American cultures. William Bartram On The Southeastern Indians is a core addition to personal, professional, and academic Native American Studies collections and supplemental reading lists.

The book is a collection of writings assembled by Professor Thomas John Hudak. It features articles penned by the most prominent authority on Tai language and linguistics, the late Professor William J. Gedney. It is 155 pages in length and covers several interesting areas, to include "Siamese Riddles, Problems in Translating Traditional Thai Poetry, and Siamese Verse Forms in Historical Perspective." As with all Professor Gedney's writings, this collection is exhaustively well-researched. The information provided is quite illuminating, in particular concerning the history of Thai verse forms and the Sanskrit influence on the origin of some of them. Knowledge of the Thai language and basic components of Thai literature is presupposed by the writer, and for those with an interest in Thai literature this book is a "must have."

As a lover of photography books, and pictures of exotic locales, I bought this volume based on the glowing recommendations of the other reviewers from Amazon.com. The buyer should know most of the images were taken in India, and so if one is expecting a good mix of images from various places in southeast Asia, he is not going to find them in this book. Nevertheless there is a good balance of pictures of people (i.e., portraits), people going on with the business of their lives (working, playing, begging), and a few stunning city landscapes (I wish there were more of these).
The book is not cheap-there are not really that many pages (one image per page)- and although the quality of the paper and the pictures is good, it is not superb. I have owned better. Overall, for those readers who love looking at beautiful pictures, or those who can relate to pictures of people and places in Asia, this book is worthwhile buying.

Not to be missed by anyone; this book has inspired travelers, myself among them, to seek out the impossibly fantastical colors, people and architecture of the southeast buried in its pages. This book has stolen the breath away from every single person who has ever picked it up off my coffee table. It was a gift that I will never forget that also changed my perception of the gift giver forever -- an incredible surprise to have enjoyed it as I have, a thoughtful present for anyone with an imagination. Give this book to someone you love and wish to inspire.

This must be the photography publication of the millennium. Until I picked up South Southeast, there was not one single photography book that evoked this deep impression in me everytime I turned a page. Not only does Steve McCurry's photography draw the reader into the world he witnessed and captured so beautifully, the massive full page pictures transports the colour and essence of life from the region before your very eyes. You really must see for yourself to appreciate this absolutely excellent work. My only criticism is why did he wait so long to share this with us.

We purchased this book to plan our honeymoon mainly because of the 5 star reviews we read on this site. While the author does provide a lot of information on the different islands in the South Pacific, and some great food recommendations, nothing about this book sets it apart from the other guide books we brought along to Tahiti. In short, compared to other tour books we've fallen in love with, this book is average.

This is one of three books we used on our trip in November of 1998. The best part of this book is the detailed reviews of all of the eating establishments. There are a ton of restaurant reviews, and they are very detailed. We found the recommendations to be pretty accurate. The do it yourself tours and adventures are not as detailed in this book as in the Lonely Planet book. We also found some useful stuff in the moon book that was in neither of these. If you're more of an adventurous type, I would recommend getting the Lonely Planet book as well. The combination of two or three of these books would make the perfect guide. You can read all about our trip and how we used these two books in my travel report on DiveAtlas.com. I Moon and Lonely Planet books came out with new editions after we returned.

Jan Prince's Tahiti & French Polynesia Guide was a great resource to have with us on our trip to French Polynesia. The restaurant and tour references were the most up to date and accurate of the three guidebooks that we took along. We used this book 90% of the time. It was very evident that the book was written by someone that lived in the area. We followed some of the hints on places to see and things to do that were not mentioned in the other guidebooks that we brought along, and could only be known by someone intimate with the area.

This is a very complete and well-done introduction to the Thai language. (Says someone who has been working at this, off and on, for more than ten years.)

Here are a few tips if you want to learn this language. Get a book called "How to Learn Any Language," by Barry J. Farber. It's a quick and enjoyable read. Then simply follow his advice with regards to Thai. If you follow his advice, you will quickly realize that you need a lot of language-learning materials right away. (I would postpone the newspaper exercise until you have learned the Thai script, of course!)

Second -- and this really threw me when I discovered it. The "notoriously difficult" consonant "poo plaa" is simply the French "p." (!!) Just as "too tao" is the French "t." If you know French, take advantage of this! These are NOT hard sounds to make.

chook dii na khrap!

I'm studying this book now. This book and the tape set are valuable tools for anyone trying to learn Thai. The book is well organized, and the tapes teach you the tonal pronounciation. I don't believe anyone can learn Thai by reading any book as the tonal nature of the language requires you to listen to the spoken words. Happy learning and happy trvaling to the Land of Smiles.

My husband and I tried several Thai language courses, but found each one of them lacking in the "flow" of learning. This course offers instruction in speaking, grammar, and writing. Each lesson gives you the right amount of information to keep you challenged, but not overwhelmed. The word choices in the vocabulary and sentence exercises allow you to quickly expand your speaking ability. -- It is evident that the writer has extensive experience in teaching Thai to foreigners. -- For true beginners to Thai, the accompanying tapes are also useful. These can be ordered using the form in the back of the book.

... the tape set for this book is poorly conceived - you will be hard pressed to learn Thai from it. There is no repetition of phrases, there is no vocabulary building, there is merely a narrator reading the Thai translations quickly (no guidance is provided by saying things slowly so the listener can learn the intricacies of Thai tonal pronunciation).

Thai for Lovers - Is a simple & clever little manual for both speakers of Thai and English! It is both Unique, Concise and "To The Point!" in matters involving amorous interpersonal relationships crossing cultural lines.

My only comment to authors "Nit" and Jack Ajee, would be to improve upon their "winner" by increasing it's dialogue content and eliminating the illustrations, in favor of "downsizing" Thai for Lovers into a shirt pocket-sized, handier version.

I give the authors a generous five stars -- for having the "hang" to finally publish something based on "reality!" rather than "Political Correctness" -- Bravo! "Nit & Jack"

Capt. "Archie" Hall, (a.k.a. "Nicolas Merriweather")
Author -- "Apsara Jet"

I found this book to be very helpful and also a lot of fun. It looks like Ajaan Benjawan is singlehandedly causing a revolution in the number and quality of books available to the Thai student. After all, if you work through all five of her books and study well, you may well be ready to just move on to stuff which is entirely Thai and made by and for Thai people. (My current teacher just gave me a copy of the collected short stories of Kukrit Pramoj, and I might even be able to read it!)

Rumor says that a dictionary is coming, in time for Christmas! I wonder what will be next!

I enjoyed this yarn with its description of the retreat from SE Asia at the beginning of the 2nd World War and the heart renching impact this had for all concerned.

I felt the descriptions and characterisations were pretty good. This is a subject which has given rise to a small literature in English. Two other novels are "Surrender" (I don't recall the author) an excellent story about the escape by boat from the Philippines to Australia of two children and a US serviceman and Alistair MacLean's "South To Java Head".

I felt the characterisation of the emotional pain felt by the crew of the elderly destroyer as she left Manila was well captured. I can't help but think that the retired Rear Admiral, who co-authored the work with his son was writing from personal experience, as a young officer dealing with a crew who had emotional commitments in Manila.

One also gets the impression from the description of the ship, its escape and actions that the authors have personal knowledge of the type.

This kind of well researched detail in a novel always gives it a sense of realism and immediacy.

Having lived and worked in South East Asia for a decade or so I can say that some of the descriptions are pretty good.

The romance between the young officer and his Dutch sweetheart is nicely described.

In places the book does become a bit two dimensional, however, the quality of the story carries the reader through these patches.

If the retired Admiral wrote his autobiography I am sure his story would make an interesting read.

This review is submitted on condition the content is not ammended.

South to Java is the story of the US and allied navies which were tasked with the defence of the Philippines and Dutch East Indies at the outset of World War II. It is the story of the crew of the destroyer O'LEARY and their lives in the Far East. Admiral Mack was a participant as a young Naval officer in this campaign and I have no doubt much of what he writes is based on his experiences. The charecters of the crew are excellent and true to life. One of the chiefs is hated by all of the crew, yet he comes through in a crunch and helps prevent the ship from sinking after a battle. Other chiefs are much more humane but equally competent. The Sailors are all totally believable and all are extremely competent and in many cases are doing double duty in keeping the ship operating and at the same time teaching the officers the fine art of leadership. The officers are all believeable whether they were competent or otherwise. This is a story of the old Asiatic Fleet; where Sailors made whole careers serving there and then retiring after 20-30 years. Some Sailors served in the same ship for 8-10 years; a far cry from todays rotating men and women every 2-3 years. The other members of the crew, from the engineers, to the gunners mates, the torpedomen and to the doctor all resonate with authenticity. The romatic aspects of the book are not neglected and they are all extremely well and sensitively done. I was a little surprised to see an Admiral writing with such sensitivity. The interactions between the allies also is well done. These were men who were facing a highly trained and highly professional foe sailing in modern ships and using modern aircraft extremely well. Facing the Japanese fleet was a collection of ships that were obsolete and ready for the scrap heap in many instances. As the authors said at one point, the ships weren't worth much but the crews were worth a great deal. This is a story that doesn't really end. It is really only the end of the beginning. The survivors are left with having made it out of danger but are going to have to go back and face it again to bring the war to a close. Admiral Mack has written other books in this time line, but I would like to see a final book that brings closure to the sacrifices of the men of the O'LEARY in his book about the start of World War II in the Pacific. This is an exceptional book and one that you won't put down. It is one that I have read any number of times and find it just as good a read now as when I first read it. Anyone with an interest in the real Navy as opposed to the Navy of Tom Clancy should read this.

This book was a real sleeper. I picked it up for a friend and ended up learning a lot. I really was pulled into the story of Destroyer Captain and his men fighting their way south from the Phillipines after Japanese attack Dec 7, 1941 (on the same day Pearl Harbor was attacked). I found myself rooting for the likeable crew on their journey,and I was so taken by the story that I did more research on the early part of the war in the Pacific after finishing the book. Highly recommended!

This is a somewhat tedious book that does not really break any new ground in its descripion of people's experiences with the events surrounding the fall of South Vietnam. The tediousness in the book comes from the fact that there is so much similarity in the experiences related: South Vietnam was worth fighting for, America let us down, it was hard to get out of Saigon, Thai pirates preyed on boat people, Americans who'd shed sweat or blood in Vietnam were terribly disappointed with how things turned out, etc. I would have appreciated some more diversity in people's experience (as Studs Terkel did in "The Good War" where we read not only about 18 year old combat soldiers, but also WW II draft dodgers, etc.). I also found myself getting weary of reading that America let the South Vietnamese down. ...

I've read a fair amount about Vietnam (Fire In the Lake, Karnow's Vietnam, Chickenhawk, etc.), all definitely worth reading, but this book ... the many stories and experiences, is the most memorable. It's rare to find a singular event remembered and retold from so many different perspectives. Well balanced and presented.

I shed many tears while reading this beautifully written collection of stories about the fall of Saigon. They are stories of tragedy inflicted by human beings upon each other. They are stories of human spirits surviving, triumphing over the most horrible situations. You will never be able to forget the people, the stories once you read the book. I highly recommend it.

I have been using the Hecho en Mexico engagement caledars since around 1995 and find them to be useful and nice momentos of times present and past. If you look at the sample pages you can determne if this calendar is for you. If you like Mexican culture than this is for you as each page of five or so days has a corresponding photograph of something"tipico" or typically Mexican. The photographs vary in subject but is like a mini-cultural artifact covering such diverse topics as food, milagros, movie posters, playing cards(loteria), restaurant menus, art, folkloric costumes and in general, all facets of Mexican folklore. This years calendar seems to be more focused on a theme. The majority of the photographs are dealing with vintage items more than usual which evokes a sense of nostalgia for old, romantic Mexico. Some of the colorful pages are familair imagery but there are plenty of unusual images rarely seen outside of Mexico. Each month is broken up into about five pages, each page takes up about an equal(5) number of quadrants representing each day for you to write down your commitments. Each day has the saints day. The explanations of the photgraphs, days and months or illustrations are bilingual for an extra little feature. At the end is a section for notes, phone numbers and special dates totaling some ten pages for your convenience. This is a fantastic little calendar for your personal use and to keep after the year is over for the beautiful pictures. Not exactly a business calendar but it is highly recommended for those who have appointments and schedules to meet nonetheless and who are into Mexican culture.

If you love Mexican culture, history and especially cinema, this is the calendar for you.

It is spiral bound and includes posters from some of Mexico's famous and not so famous movies of the past. Also included are Mexican folk art, cigar wrappers, paintings of the Virgen and general posters of Mexican life.

So is Jerry Ellis in this book, which is a first person account of his thoughts and encounters as he walks the Cherokee Trail of Tears. He blends what he sees and who he meets along the trail with ancestoral stories and beliefs in a way that educates and entertains the reader. He also manages to restore a person's faith in the kindness of Americans.

I use this book as a classroom novel in my high school nonfiction course. The issues that Jerry struggles with in his book are some of the same ones that my students face as they prepare to leave school and figure out where they belong in the world. What keeps me from giving the book a five star rating is that Jerry sometimes gives the reader an up close and personal look at his love life in a way which doesn't really add to his narrative.

Otherwise, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the cerebral slant of an excellent travelogue and who wants to know more about the spiritual traditions and history of the Cherokee.

I just want to say "Thank You" to Jerry Ellis and also Congratulaions to him for such a wonderful, informative book, and for walking The Trail of Tears!!! I just finished reading this book about an hour ago and I loved it. Tears came to my eyes at the end. It was such a touching book. I plan on reading all your books, Jerry. Thank you for such a great one!

This is a wonderfully-written book that helps us rethink our connection to our fellow humans and to all of Nature. Jerry Ellis has the ability to connect to people, causing them to trust him immediately and open up. Because of his encounters with so many during his walk along the Trail of Tears, I am encouraged about the state of our ability to be more tolerant of one another. Jerry also conveys a sense of calmness and patience and it has helped me to stop and take a few minutes to breathe, and look up, and look around. Also, to listen. Jerry writes with clarity and sureness, and it's as if he's telling you this story in person. I highly recommend this book.