No comments about History of the Conquest of Mexico and Peru, Vol. II.

No comments about History of the Conquest of Mexico and Peru, Vol. I.

No comments about Dominican Republic Adventure Guide (Adventure Guides Series) (Adventure Guides Series) (Adventure Guides Series) (Adventure Guides Series).

No comments about Waterway Guide Southern 2007: Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas.

No comments about Le Mexique: Tome 1.

1 comments about The Best Public Golf Courses in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico.

1. This book does a great job highlighting several of the better courses in each state (as well as Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean). It does include resort courses, with tips, phone numbers, etc. to help you get tee times with ease - all in all, a great resource for a golfer who travels for either business or pleasure.

3 comments about Day of Trinity.

1. This book is not entirely based on interviews with the scientists and other higher-ups at Los Alamos. It was written in large part using interviews with the "lesser" folks who were there... cooks, security guards, federal agents, family members of scientists, officers, etc. Mix those interviews in with all the historical information and you get a great alternate perspective on what it was like to have been stationed at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project years. A terrific book, and well worth reading if you can locate a copy.



2. Lansing Lamont takes an otherwise dry and sterile subject and turns it into a fictional type thrillride. This account of a momentous event matches anything that has been authored by Clancy or Crichton with one distinct differance...this actually happened.



3. This work is a highly readable look into the story behind the first atomic bomb. Some very minor factual innaccuracies can be discounted due to the lack of unclassified information available to the author at the time of writing (such as the presence of Einstein at Los Alamos).

   The book does a fine job of looking beyond the story and into the lives and personalities of the players. Excellent photo section, with what are probably the first-ever published diagrams of the general design of the Trinity bomb.

   Required reading for those interested in the most important story of WWII.

2 comments about A Traveller's History of Mexico (Traveller's History Series).

1. In A Traveller's History Of Mexico, historian Kenneth Pearce provides the reader with an informative, engaging history that begins the prehistoric life of the region, and continues with the coming of the Olmecs and the Mayans (1150-1000 BC), whose cultures were subsumed into the Aztec empire. The reader is treated to a vivid account of Aztec life and its ultimate demise with the arrival off the Spanish conquistadors. The consequent greed, corruption, and oppression of Spanish colonial rule and the Catholic Church are covered in detail. Pearce then moves on to the 19th Century War of Independence which led to the founding of the Mexican Republic, the brief reign of Emperor Maximilian and the Empress Carlotta, the dashing Santa Anna (who led the siege on the Alamo); revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, and other influential characters that were caught up in Mexico's' often violent power struggles. Highly recommended for personal, school, and community history collections, A Traveller's History Of Mexico concludes with the last 70 years of one-party political domination, recently ending with an election of the opposition, and the contemporary social issues of an expanding population, drugs, pollution, corruption, and an oppressed indigenous population.



2. This book has proven to be very interesting to our guests as they visit our new vacation home in Baja California, Mexico. They love browsing or reading it for insights into the country they are visiting.

2 comments about The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Volume 1).

1. This review refers to Volume One.I really had to struggle to get through this book. The historical documentation/notation was overwhelmingly exhausting, boring and tedious.Simply put,too much! As far as the actual journal itself is concerned, to quote Pike in his letter of July 2, 1806 to General Wilkinson, "The journal in itself will have little to strike the imagination, being a dull detail of our daily march." I agree. This is in no way to be demeaning of Pike's exploration efforts and the hardships he and his men suffered to get to the source of the Mississippi River. Pike had monumental responsibilities to accomplish. He was to find the headwaters of the Mississippi, bring peace between various Indian tribes, select future sites for government forts and trading posts, and to confer with the British establishments in the recently expanded territory of the United States.There were some highlights of the book however, one being the chapter "Correspondence and Conferences", which show Pike's letters to various individuals, and his speeches to certain Indian tribes. Also, the chapter on ethnography details the cultural aspects of the different Mississippi Indian tribes, which I found interesting. I hope Volume 2 (explorations into the
   American West) will have more flavor.



2. Volume I: Pike exhaustively recounts his daily activities on board. In almost no instance except for the frigid winter is there much drama or dialogue between he and his men. Even when he reaches what he thinks is the source of the Mississippi, he is actually mistaken, though "correct" as far as the assumptions of the day. Toward the head of the river, it is difficult to assess where Pike even is without the notes (which in themselves almost swallow the book, but of sheer necessity to the reading). We reach the headwaters of the river and return to St Louis without much fanfare or dialogue, save that Pike spoke with the English fur traders near the source and explained America's new ownership of the territory (one of his objectives).

   Volume II: In this volume Pike is no better. There is an extremely boring journey across Kansas and into Colorado, and he the real drama sets in. Pike and his men are without winter clothing and now in the Colorado Rockies. The frostbite on some of his men forces them to stay behind, unable to continue. This occurs day after day, week after week, until the expedition reaches what is believed to be the source of the Arkansas River. Otherwise the volume meekly runs through Pike's capture by Spanish authorities and his return to the U.S. via Spanish escort. This last is a daily log of conversations with French or Spanish military figures, and of little interest in general.

4 comments about Hiking Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks.

1. This book has just the right amount of information about each park, the trails, key features, preparation checklists, and suggestions. I'm planning a trip to Guadalupe and this book is an invaluable resource, since I've never been to the park, and information about the area is hard-to-find and somewhat limited. I particularly liked the trail stats that accompanied each trail description - the stats include distance, elevation change, time estimates, and key points. Also, many mini-maps are provided which help to illustrate the topic



2. Once of the few places I've found information on the above ground options at Carlsbad.
   It's given me many alternatives to the Guadelupe Peak, McKittrick Canyon, caves trip I was planning. There seems to be much more to be explored.
   Maps and photos are a bit unclear - could use some work



3. Those of us who are old enough to remember the time before hiking guides were written for smaller parks and wild areas and before the internet know what it was like: you went the first time to find out what you could do there and then you went again to do it. OK for places nearby but what about those trips across the continent? This book gave me everything I needed to get the most out of my brief week in the Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks, places I rather suspect I'll never get to again.
   The author covers all the maintained trails (and some that aren't, really) that I've heard of, with fairly good detail and guidance as to difficulty. He is clearly a champion hiker himself but no need to fear that you'll be dragged along by hiker machismo: he over-, rather than underrates the difficulty of these trails. But he also gives you all the information you'll need to go bounding out on your own over-demanding marches. For example, I took his day hike out of Dog Canyon up to Lost Peak, then continued along the McKittrick Ridge Trail out to the "snout", just before the plunge down to McKittrick Canyon. Not something he recommended, but I had all the data I needed to make my own decision.
   The maps are photocopies of the National Geographic maps of these parks, available at their website for about 10 bucks as well as the visitor centers in Carlsbad Caverns & Guadalupe Mountains NP's. Aesthetically, they are perhaps a bit lacking but I found them perfectly readable for the purpose of trail use. You might want to supplement them for bushwhacking, though.
   I used this book in October of 2004 and found no pressing need for revision, though of course I didn't hike all the trails, just a lot of them.
   I mentioned the Internet at the outset. This wonderful area does not excite the interest, as measured by internet postings, that such places as the Grand Canyon do. There is a Yahoo group, but there is just not much activity on it. So this book appears to be the only substantial resource out there.



4. The descriptions of trails and how to get to them will be an asset to those hiking in these amazing parks.