After living on Shelburne Farms my entire life I was fascinated to finally learn about the history of it. Although gossipy at times this book gives a plethora of history and interesting facts about the inn. My only wish was that it had more recent information. The book focused on the history and the first generation. I would have liked to learn more about the history from the 1930s on as it became a not for profit organization and eventually the house turned into an inn. If you are looking for an in depth book about Shelburne Farms....this is the only one!! Happy reading.

This book combines the humorous as well as the practicle side of homesteading. Janet Chadwick tells about the aspects of what it took for her and her family to be self sufficient in their daily lives. She covers the small homestead garden, raising of animals and even throws in some crafts and wine recipees. This book will tell the necessary equipment needed as well as what to raise and grow for a family who wishes to embark on the adventure of living off their homesteads instead of depending on the conveince of modern soceity. She covers some of the things that can go wrong, with sometime humorous results. I feel this book is a must for anyone wishing to supply their own living and to live well doing it.

Initially this appears to be a fairly standard work of ecofiction on the theme of environmental and cultural preservation, but the loopy but believable characters, sudden plot turns, and the occasional use of metafictional techniques make this a unique novel. You may think you know what these hardscrabble Vermonters and the mysterious drifter from Texas are up to, but there are surprises aplenty since the characters unfold as multifaceted personalities who are full of surprises. The landscape and small town life of New England are brilliantly evoked. This book would appeal to fans of Edward Abbey, Peter Matthiessen,Thomas McGuane or Barbara Kingsolver.--Jim Dwyer, author of Earth Works.

If it were possible I would give this book ten stars. The anecdotes that Mr. Davis shares in this book should make even the most jaded soul laugh out loud. You see the best and worst of human nature dealt with in straight forward New England style

this book IS NOT OUT OF PRINT I JUST BOUGHT IT

Everyone (parents of Learning Disabled, non-disabled, regular education and special education teachers) should read this book. Especially, if you are just starting out. This book describes how people learn in everyday english. It starts from when a child is born and how they begin to learn. And it shows you how you can teach students with learning disabilities (Yes, you the parent). When you finish this book -- you'll want to learn more about how to teach your LD, ADD, ADHD, etc. child. Also, it makes you realize how important language is to learning everyday. If you are interested in helping your child with his/her learning issues -- read this book. It maybe the key to what you need or a path to the next step.

When I first came across this book it was in the basement level of the Burlingame library. I completed it in one weekend. Visions of apple trees danced thru my head, the sound of pages ruffling and a cozy chair were all that my mind imagined.

Books are the greatest thing in the whole world what could be better to read than a book about a book store, and the family who owns it.

I highly recommend this book, take a weekend, build a fire and join this family.

The Green Mountain State sent slightly more than 10 percent of its population to fight in the Civil War, but Vermont African Americans enlisted at a rate of over 21 percent (152 out of a population of 709 according to the 1860 census)! But no one has adequately documented these contributions, until now.

"Men of Color, To Arms!" details Vermont's unique relationship with African Americans, from its 1771 constitution outlawing slavery to its rabid support of the Abolitionist movement. It also explains the difficulties facing African Americans in general, in the early days of the war when they tried to enlist and serve, but were denied the privilege, and finally, the prejudices, lack of pay and uniforms and other difficulties they faced once they were allowed to join.

Among other units, Vermont African Americans served in the 10th, 31st, 41st, 43rd, 45th U.S. Colored Infantry, and the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored). After brief regimental histories of each of these, Jim details the service of each man and often details of their pre and post-war lives. His Appendices include a complete roster, including regiment, company, rank and town, and known burial places for these Vermont veterans.

The highlight of this study, in this reviewer's humble opinion, are two letters written by Louden S. Langley, of Rutland, who served as a Private in the 54th Massachusetts and later as Sergeant-Major of the 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry. Eloquent and obviously well educated, Langley is troubled by the treatment of African Americans in the service; nevertheless he provides a balanced report of the activities of his regiment in battle and provides ample evidence that African Americans had 'the right stuff,' to be and call themselves American soldiers.

Jim Fuller has produced a definitive work, well written and carefully researched. It should be required reading in every high school in the state that proudly claims to be the first to outlaw slavery. The contributions of these men should not be forgotten. Jim's work has made sure they won't be.

Nancy Hope Wilson's Mountain Pose tells of Ellie, who receives an unexpected inheritance of family records when her estranged grandmother dies. Ellie finds the family farm and diaries a powerful connection to a veiled past: despite her father's warning she reads them and begins to understand the tensions which have divided their lives. Realistic and riveting.

Vermont Royster (1914-1996), was in his day one of the most respected and influential journalists in America. As the editor-in-chief of "The Wall Street Journal" from 1957 to 1970, he won 2 pulitzer prizes and transformed the Journal into one of America's major newspapers. Yet this memoir is far more than just the story of Royster's tenure as the Journal's editor. It is also an eloquent and nostalgic account of his boyhood and adolescence in Raleigh, North Carolina. Royster writes wonderfully of what it was like to grow up in what was then one of North Carolina's most distinguished families. One of his more entertaining tales is of how he obtained his unusual name. It seemed that Royster's great-grandfather decided to name all of his children after states, so they would "stick out" in the Raleigh area. The names were outlandish: Louisiana Carolina Royster was a daughter's name, and some of the son's names were Arkansas Delaware, Wisconsin Illinois, and Iowa Michigan. (These names were so unusual that they were included in the "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" books). Mercifully they were called by their first and middle initials. Vermont's grandfather, for whom he was named, was Vermont Connecticut Royster. The Roysters were an unusually well-educated and successful family for the time (pre-Civil War), and one even taught Latin and Greek at the University of North Carolina. But the Civil War devastated the family - several of the older brothers were killed or crippled in the war, and Vermont's grandfather and namesake lost his chance at a college education because of it. To rebuild the family fortune, Vermont and his crippled brother Arkansas established the Royster Candy Company, which was a major success and sold candy all over Virginia and the Carolinas. Vermont's father inherited the family business, and Vermont's accounts of his childhood visits to the family's chocolate factory in Raleigh are delightful. Royster went on to become a somewhat rebellious and stubborn youth (and he leaves the impression that he must have been a stubborn and combative adult), but he did discover a talent for writing at the University of North Carolina, where he ran the student newspaper. Like many ambitious Southerners prior to the 1960's, he left the South after graduating from UNC and moved to New York, where he soon obtained a job as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, then a small (35,000 circulation) financial newspaper still struggling to recover from the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. Royster spends a good deal of the book describing his slow but steady rise from the Journal's White House correspondent (where he covered Franklin Roosevelt) to editor-in-chief. This part of the book is filled with plenty of behind-the-scenes office politicking and power plays, and Royster often seems more of an amused onlooker than a participant. Another outstanding chapter in the book is Royster's account of his naval experiences in World War Two as the Captain of a destroyer in the Pacific. His ship saw a considerable amount of combat against the Japanese (and survived being caught in the teeth of a major hurricane). Royster vividly describes his trip at the end of the war to Nagasaki, where the USA dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan, and where Royster and a small group of officers were the first Americans to see the city's devastation. And, history and political buffs will be delighted by Royster's vivid anecdotes describing the Presidents, major politicians, and other celebrities he encountered in his life. After retiring as the Journal's editor in 1970 he taught journalism at the University of North Carolina and wrote a weekly column for the Journal until the mid-1980's. There have been many memoirs and autobiographies penned by members of the World War Two generation, but in my opinion this is one of the most eloquent, nostalgic, and thoughtful. If you're looking for a book that will provide a weekend's worth of fine reading about a time and era that continues to haunt the present, then Vermont Royster's "My Own, My Country's Time" will more than meet your expectations.