The Round Barn takes us back to the days of the great american novel by authors of the past. Ms. Wizowati really gets the characters lives of their own and tells a good story too. Very few novels stay with you long after reading, this one does. I think we will be hearing from this author for a long time to come.

The story centers around a museum in rural Vermont that acquires and relocates a historic round barn (the scene of moving the silo with a helicopter is wonderful). However, this is really a character-driven novel. The author successfully braids together half a dozen different storylines (featuring characters young and old, gay and straight) into a satisfying whole. The author has thoroughly imagined each of the characters and presents them with great skill and sympathy.

This book gets a 10 out of 10 from BridgePros. At BridgePros.com we have been lucky enough to review some of the best products about bridges. This book just adds to the list. The information and pictures are wonderful. The book is laid out very well with 15 different tours to take of the bridges. The history of each bridge was researched well with all the source laid out nicely. This book has a great appendix for the bridge novice, including: A summary of the bridges, a covered bridge glossary, and a great explanation with pictures of the different bridge trusses, a section on the bridge builders, and finally a reading list. The book ends with a comprehensive index. This book is the first place you should look to learn about anything on Vermont's covered bridges and how to see them all! This reviewer traveled to Vermont in October 2000 to check out some of the tours listed in this book. They were laid excellent. Very good guide.

This extremely well written book contains a wealth of information and beautiful color photographs about all of the covered bridges in Vermont. The author has also drawn nice maps so that visitors can locate the bridges, which is very helpful. Anyone who is interested in covered bridges should own a copy of this fine book. I find it well worth the price and highly recommend it!

I read this book little by little. I wanted to savor every story that this author shared. I have been to Vermont and it has many wonderful memories for me too. This beautiful state has so much to offer. My favorite part of the book was the section of family remembrances of early years. I recommend this book to all nature lovers, family oriented people, and those who love New England especially the Green Mountains of Vermont and Lake Champain.

Vermont Life Stories....is a delightful offering of memories of years past and ongoing happenings of the present in Vermont. Margaret spent the summer vacations of her youth, along with her family, in various camps on Long Point, North Ferrisburg, Vermont. Her dad was a Presbyterian minister and took his family of six to Vermont most summers. Many experiences of being out on Lake Camplain, trout fishing in the beautiful, rushing mountain streams, picnics, hiking, mountain climbing - Camel's Hump is a favorite, as well as card games, reading and get togethers with friends made over the years. Margaret takes you all over the New England area, reminiscing and revisiting favorite spots with her three sisters, sometimes all together when they have their Berger Girls reunion every two years, and sometimes with only one sister at a time over the years!
Then Margaret and her husband, Whitney Doane Morse, were privileged to buy their own camp and enjoy continued pleasure in Vermont with its beautiful fall foliage and snow covered mountains. Whitney keeps the camp and lot beautitul and in good repair. Margaret does gardening, putting local flora in a rock garden setting, remembering her Dad's rock gardens. There are outings in her Boston Whaler purchased with funds left toher by her mother. When her sisters visit, they are usually out on the lake revisiting Kingsland Park, The Dean's Islands also known as The Three Sisters and the Little Otter River to name a few.
And so the stories continue to come. The book truly is delightful, spiritual, uplifting - filled with love of God and family and God's awesome creation - our world, especially Vermont. Margaret has shared her thought and feeling and her generous nature with all of us. READ THIS BOOK! You will be enriched!

nd lot beautiful and in good repair. Margaret does gardening, putting local flora in a rock garden setting remembering her Dad's rock gardens. There are outings in her Boston Whaler purchased with funds left to her by her mother.
And so the stories continue to come. The book truly is delightful, spiritual, uplifting, - filled with love of God and family and God's wonderful creation - our world, especially Vermont. Margaret has shared her thoughts and feelings and her generous nature with all of us. READ THIS BOOK! You will be enriched!

Government at a distance does not work. It is easy to ignore the personal responsibility of governance when it is not local. First we allowed the State to take over the rule making and curriculums of our schools and now the Federal authorities are making global rulings on school operations. Those who wish to control find it easier to make rules once at the Federal level and force all to submit to their vision. Return the control to the local levels.

Having just seen the review posted by Independent Publisher (1998) - right on the money! Ten years after publication, The Vermont Papers is still the only blueprint for dismantling overgrown liberty-destroying political superstructures and restoring true LOCAl democracy with widespread civic involvement. And we also thought it was pretty entertaining, too. (from co-author John McClaughry, now 32 years a Town Moderator)

While the book takes place in rural Vermont, it gives one an insight to small town America in the mid 20th century. It's interesting to see American technology and life evolve through the years.

This is a very interesting look at small town life in the 20th century. While the focus of the book is on life in Vermont, the larger story is an account of how life in the United States has evolved during the 20th century. One wonders what life was like before cell phones and laptops, this book provides insight into that, and gives the reader a path to where we are now as a culture.

This book is great fun. Written by "Real" Vermonters Frank and Melissa Bryan (Linda Bryan took all the pictures for the book, she did not write it), it's a great way to test your trivia knowledge or your friends. Whether you live in the Green Mountain state or just like to put your knowledge of it to the test, this is a great book for everyone.

The (Very Latest) Vermont Quiz Book by Shelburne Vermonter Linda Bryan is an amazing trivia guide and self-test on everything about Vermont from its natural wonders, to its roads, towns, and famous people. Featuring 928 multiple-choice questions and answers, The (Very Latest) Vermont Quiz Book is an engaging and fun read, whether to self-test one's knowledge or as a an extra supply of questions for popular trivia games.

I don't think I can improve on the e-mail I sent to friends and family as soon as I finished the book..... 'I just finished a book called "A War of the People" by Jane's good friend Jeff Marshall. It is a collection of letters from (and to) Civil War soldiers from Vermont. I can't say enough about this book. I feel as if I've just read a great novel, and yet it's all true. Jeff has done a brilliant job of choosing the letters, and many of the letter-writers reappear, as you're taken through the course of the war. The most emotionally wrenching aspect is that Jeff includes a brief but pithy biography of each soldier at the back of the book, listed alphabetically, so that after reading a letter, you can look up the soldier to find that he lived until 1915 and was "wounded ... at Savage Station , June 29, 1862. ... Mustered out June 19, 1865. Returned to Concord and became a farmer. Married Eliza E. Hale (to whom some of his letters are addressed) in 1867." Or that he was "Killed in action at Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864." I found myself biting my nails reading the letters, barely able to keep from turning to the bios in mid-letter to see if the soldier survived the war. These soldiers, most of whom were farm boys, were eloquent nonetheless. I guess you can tell I really, really loved this book, and I highly recommend it. (Jane's family: you know Jeff and may have already read the book, so please forgive my literary euphoria. I just finished it and went right to the computer.) Tom'

University Press of New England asked me to review Jeff Marshall's new book, "A War of the People: Vermont Civil War Letters." In the words of Private William Daniels, of Barton, one of the letters included in the book, "I will respond simply." WOW!

Over 140 letters to and from 78 soldiers, from practically every unit Vermont fielded during the course of the war! Letters from all theaters of the war, covering every period of time from the Spring of 1861 to the Spring of 1865! You'll find a governor (or at least his wife), a general or two and some Colonels. But for the most part you'll find common soldiers, their fathers and mothers, their brothers and sisters, their friends. Don't expect these letters to divulge some great heretofore unsolved mystery about the war. These letters aren't about the war; they are about life, about the people, and Jeff has done a great job collecting just the right letters to show the whole gamut of emotions and attitudes the soldiers and their families expressed, and the joy and concerns and pain they endured during the course of the war.

I usually have a hard time carefully reading the introduction and commentary in a book of letters (I want to get to the letters!), but Jeff does a great job of explaining the rationale behind the soldiers' reasons for writing, and has given accurate and relevant background for each season of the war. Its a great read! I hope this is the first of a number of books like it.

Here's the wonderful story of a man who set himself a goal--to live in the country--then figured out a way to earn a GREAT living to support that goal. Lyman Wood is (is he still alive?) a direct marketing/mail order pioneer who spent 60 years or so selling everything from $400 Roto Tillers to PRAYERS by mail. He also worked as an advertising and marketing consultant from his rural home. The stories in this book are inspiring AND instructional. This is a book filled with passion. It's not just biographical, it's "how-to." And best of all, it's FUN to read! I recommend it very highly to would-be entrepreneurs and to those frustrated entrepreneurs who occasionally need a "lift."

I read the book for the first time several years ago. Since then I've kept in on my desk to refer back to for practical advice about starting and running my internet business.

Much of Lyman's wisdom and insight into the mail order business is directly applicable to developing e-commerce sites for business customers: writing copy that stirs the reader to take action, measuring and testing the results of each ad, starting small and growing the business out of the profits it generates are a few of many gems he practiced.

In the book, his passion for doing what he loved, from a place that he loved, with people that he loved was inspirational to me. When I met him in person, he was also a great encouragement to me.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in in "Making a life" while making a living.

I've worked for years in the extensive gardens of children's book author/illustrator Tomie dePaola (26 FAIRMOUNT AVENUE and other books). This book has helped me appreciate what I do and has helped me "see" the value and the beauty in plants and shrubs and colors, etc., that I never before saw or understood. It's a wonderful book.

Never did I expect to be so conflicted about why I love a book. This one has it all. Such a beautifully written love story about a garden and the shared lives of two people who have a vision and the courage to create a truly great landscape. The sheer volume of information about specific plants and how they are used are invaluable to me. To have all this knowledge presented in such a beautifully written book is such a gift. I've already read it twice. I've had my copy of this book for two years now and it wouldn't surprise me if I picked it up for a fresh reading sometime this winter.

I read this book during the winter and couldn't wait for Spring to get going. You're in the saddle from the first tour to the last. I have ridden on two of the tours, one in North Hero and one in Stowe area, and the rides were deja vu...perfect directions and perfect suggestions. The simple route maps are outstanding. I'll be out there again this year with my dog-eared copy of 25 rides in Vermont keeping me company. I highly recommended this book to any serious or seriously casual rider.