Prof. Kovacs is as lucid and knowledgeable as they come! Excellent book!

This is easily in my top ten list of books. Wonderful account of growing up in the upper Midwest after the War Between the States. Hamlin Garland writes with a great sense of place and a love of the land.

I've read, oh, 3,000 books of literary criticism. Two illuminated their subject. This is one. (The other is "Shakespeare's Imagery" by Dorothy Van Ghent.) This is what great criticism should be, an enrichment of the subject for the reader--not an exercise in correctness, a line for the vita, self-absorbed fantasy, or one critic's opinions about another. Imagine: a book that remains in the mind after reading 3,000 similar. Holds the mirror up to the lamp.

What to say about the Timberline Lodge Cookbook... only, I guess that the recipes in this book are within the skill level of everyone. If you have never been to the Lodge, this is the next best thing to sampling the wonderful menu at the Cascade Dining Room. I use this book whenever I cook for a special event, and continue to get rave reviews from all.

I really liked this book for its brutal honestly about plant habits - which trees & shrubs will die back in Zone 4, which need protected sites, which sucker, which are not that attractive. It has an extensive list of cultivars for species - I just wish I knew where to find some of them! My only disappointment is the lesser number of pictures in this edition as opposed to the original.

Reading Wandering Peoples brought to my mind a pleasant afternoon I spent several years ago traveling from San Ignacio Rio Mayo, Sonora, to Alamos, Sonora, with four Mexican friends, at least two of whom occasionally referred to themselves as Mayo Indians. We were going to Alamos because one my friends, Joel Casaraz, wanted a treatment from "Don Juanito", a "real Indian" who was famous as a "sobador" or masseuse. We developed quite a discussion as to just what it means to be "indian" in Sonora, since two of my companions considered themselves "Mayo Indians" but not "real Indians" like "Don Juanito." We wondered why certain other people we knew were "Mexicans," "real Indians" or something in between.

Our results came down to differences in life style, dress (they wore boots, he wore sandals) and language (they spoke primarily Spanish, he spoke very fluent Mayo). But they all had the same Mayo genes, were similar in appearance, and had grown up in Mayo speaking villages. Finally, Jonatan Ramirez gave the conclusion we all accepted: to really understand you've just got to know the history of these lands for the last five hundred years!

I welcome a book like Wandering Peoples for the insight it gives into that history. Someone seriously interested in the history of Sonora and its peoples will want to become acquainted with this book. There are chapters meriting study from the historian, and other chapters are more for an anthropologist. Wandering Peoples deals with the late Colonial to early National period in central and northern Sonora. Radding knows her stuff, and shows an intimate knowledge of the region and its history. I especially appreciated understanding of the variation in interests among Spanish and Indian groups.

She defines "social ecology" as an approach based in the ecological relations that guide the "political implications of resource allocation," and determines how people "ascribe cultural values to their claims to land and labor." Clearly, the indigenous peoples had very different concepts of land use and mobility that would directly clash with the Spanish agenda.

There is a good discussion of native history both before and after the arrival of the Europeans, in particular describing land-use patterns that conflicted with Spanish concepts. There is a good treatment of the difficulties imposed by the climate and the unstable nature of agricultural production, and how these forced a dispersed settlement pattern. It seems almost surreal how little things have changed: lack of water is the major obstacle to life and development in Hermosillo and most of Sonora to this day. The discussion of the pre Colombian archaeology is quite good. She focuses especially on the Trincheras and Rio Sonora traditions.

There follows the history of Spanish colonial exploitation of Sonora differed primarily because of the lack of large-scale polities that could be easily tapped into, and due to the degree of nomadism practiced by northern groups. The Crown relied on evangelization for a Spanish presence, primarily embodied in members of the Jesuit order, such as Padre Eusebio Kino. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 left other Spanish colonists free to ensnare the Indians in debt servitude, even as Bourbon reforms continued to break up communal lands into private holdings.

Radding explains how Indian households responded by becoming considerably more flexible; they accepted new members who had lost their own families, and temporary sexual unions formed while males were away at mining camps. These impermanent family structures clashed with Spanish, particularly missionary, ideals, and were yet another source of ethnic conflict. The migration of Indians away from the missions undermined the communal land system, the invasion of the region by cattle herds led to increased erosion and destruction of agricultural land. Furthermore, men joining the military for long campaigns against the raiding, nomadic Apaches left many of their towns starved for labor.

The author show how the invading whites were slowly gaining control of land and water rights, in a treatment reminiscent of invasions of Seri, Yaqui, and Mayo land in recent years. The advance of Bourbon reforms brought increasingly formal procedures of land ownership for which the Indians were unprepared. The land grabs that followed continued to chip away at communal land holdings until little was left, and the incentive even to retain Indian identity disappeared. The final dismantling of communal and mission lands under the new Mexican republic, provoked by the needs of a growing non-Indian population in the far northwest.

This book achieves well the purpose of a detailed study of the adjustments of certain Sonora indigenous groups to the European conquest. I recommend it to those interested in the history of Sonora.

A wonderful collection of early 20th century Native American interpretations of Western American History. Ottogary's fascinating career as a journalist is brought to life in this edition. This book is a must read for any one interested in the history of the American West.

Jackie Williams is a friend of ours, a fellow collector of spud-abilia and appreciator of the potato, who has written several cookbooks as well as a fine food history work, Wagon Wheel Kitchens, Food on the Oregon Trail. Happily we can say that her newest book is a superb sequel, looking in on the pioneers once they reached their new home bases. Jackie has researched this subject down to the last eggless cake and translates all her findings into pleasing prose.

Starting with all-essential water, then moving from early kitchens--every woman wanted a proper cookstove, but many made do with Dutch ovens over hot coals--to the perils of pickling , Jackie Williams paints an engaging picture of the improvisational skills of early settlers and their appreciation for the bounty of the land when it came their way.

Denson is back, solving the mysterious death of an owl. There's a romance. There's the word play that Richard Hoyt does so well. There's the tight prose and glib humor that he's known for.

But mostly there's another great mystery set in the beautiful Pacific North West. Richard captures the essence of the place and uses it, once again, to contrast the dark secrets of another Denson story.

Richard has done it again.

I enjoyed browsing through this book but haven't been compelled to maje much. I think I'm nore Classic than Nuevo, in many senses.

Being from San Antonio - I was a little sceptical when I checked this out from the library. I don't know about 'Nuevo' as a trend, but the book is a delight and I hadn't had it home for more than an hour or so before I was on Amazon ordering a copy. It is fun to read and fun to cook from and the whole layout of the book is a delight with fine color photographs.

'Nuff said.