No comments about Neat and Tidy: Boxes and Their Contents Used in Early American Households.

No comments about Superb Maine Soups: Innovative Recipes from Simple to Sumptuous.

No comments about Laconia Motorcycle Week (Images of America: New Hampshire).

No comments about The New England Primer of 1777.

5 comments about New Jersey Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff.

1. While this book was okay, I was kind of disappointed. It seems to just be rehashed articles from the author's previous two books, Roadside NJ and Jersey Diners, without all of the great pictures that originally accompanied them. I would recommend buying one of those books, which are still published by Rutgers University Press, rather than this one.



2. For anyone who likes the concept of Weird NJ but feel the folklore and reader letters are fiction, this is a great non-fiction book for you. It's about the many quirky things in the wacky garden state, broken down into three sections-- North Central and South. Besides summaries on Lucy the Elephant, and and the blind waiter diner in Hasbrouck Heights, the book also includes little known fun facts about the state, that we are home to the nation's only on-campus diner, and that the oldest log cabin in the country. And did you know the movie Jaws was based on a fatal Jersey shark attack? Well, then, read the book.



3. Great book to find awhole lot of stuff about New Jersey. Would highly reccomend it to any Jersey person. Great to remember the weird quirks of Nj.



4. Being a fan of Weird NJ for several years, I recently decided to try out other books that chornicle the strange, unusual and the funny stuff that can be found within our borders. I found this to be a very decent, relatively comprehensive guide to those weird roadside items of the book's title.

   The author, Peter Genovese, is a writer for the Star Ledger, and runs a regular series about good places to grab lunch at, and has also written several other NJ based books about such things as diners, the jersey shore, and a previous book on weird stuff in NJ. He clearly has qualifications to write such a book, and it's obvious he enjoys Weird NJ, as many of the items referenced can be found in Weird NJ.

   In fact, this book is really a cross between Genovese Munchmobile column and the Weird NJ Roadside Guide. This book really is not comparable to the Weird NJ book recently published by the Marks, in that they are two different books. The Weird NJ book is all about stories and myths, and although you can go out and visit some of the things referenced in the book, it isn't meant as a travel guide. This book is, and it functions quite well. It features many things not found in the Weird NJ Guide and really does deserve a spot on any weird NJ fans book shelf.

   Some people like his first roadside guide better, while others found that book totally useless/. I can't compare the two books but I can say that this book is thoroughly enjoyable and worth the money.

   Pluses: interesting trivia and factoids about NJ
   minuses: pictures are B&W




5. A great read for fans of Weird NJ, regional history and the offbeat in general, Peter Genovese's book is both entertaining and informative. Unlike Weird NJ, you won't find much about ghost stories, UFO sightings and urban myths in "New Jersey Curiosities"; instead, the focus is on real, specific locations that have down-to-earth yet interesting histories.

   One of the nice features of this book is that the curiosities are organized by region, so you can easily look up the oddities in your area. Genovese also includes specific directions to aid in sightseeing. One area of improvement would be to include more pictures, but other than that, it's a superb travel guide.

No comments about Slightly Offshore: More Reflections on Contemporary Life from a Small Maine Island--By Down East Magazine's Award-Winning Essayist.

1 comments about Pilgrims Of Plymouth.

1. I use this book in my second grade class to introduce Thanksgiving and our study of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people. The book is published by National Geographic and has stunning photographs taken at the Plimouth Living History Museum. It has simple text (great for 1-3) and gives a nice overview of pilgrim life. My students find this book fascinating... they're intrigued by the pictures and descriptions of a life so different from theirs. One caveat: if you're looking for a book about the "First Thanksgiving" this is not it. Its primary focus is on everyday pilgrim life. Try 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, instead.

5 comments about Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream.

1. This is a surprisingly exciting read. A 10 star book, at least. I can't imagine this history being told better although I don't know what others have written about this strike, other than a brief reference from the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). Watson captures the importance of the IWW to this strike but also shows the great problems that the IWW had in holding on to the strikers after the strike ended.
   
   So much detail but it flows so well. Watson seems to largely let the details tell the story rather than editorialize. This is history with the emphasis on history and not salesmanship. This is effectively a "you are there" episode accomplished in text.
   
   What motivated Bruce Watson to do such exceptional work? I suspect that, unlike the author of "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, And Got a Life", Bruce Watson did not get anything like a $500,000 advance for "Bread and Roses". We need more people like Bruce Watson. And more money directed to support them: so buy this book!
   
   So much about U.S. History I'm ignorant of. That a Kansas Socialist newspaper was our most popular weekly. That the IWW, afer having so much success in Lawrence, would be nearly crushed by the federal government. That one young man of the IWW, Joseph Ettor, would have such a profound influence of the Lawrence strike but die largely forgotten. That so many women would play important roles in a strike at this time. That within a year of the 1912 strike, the Lawrence strikers would be in denial as the IWW membership in their city plummeted: but there was a lasting impact on the strike on wages and working conditions in other cities, afraid of what the IWW and people of Lawrence had done.
   
   The strike went from just Jan 12, 1912 to March 14 of the same year. But so much happened that it is amazing Watson was able to present it all clearly.
   
   Imagine that after holding to such a hard position in 1912, the mill owner William Wood, would, about seven years later give his employees insurance, maternity benefits, sick pay, help them buy homes, provide English lessons. Yet die by suicide within another decade after losing his children.
   
   These are powerful facts powerfully presented. At a time when globalism is weakening labor in the U.S. and everywhere else in the world, it seems worthwhile to learn what people did. And don't forget what Bruce Watson has done, by bringing that event to life again.



2. I grew up in Lawrence and had several members of my family work in the woolen mills....
   
   Although the strike was not talked about, I was very aware of how hard the work was and how much sacrifice was made by each family.
   
   Sadly, the history of the strike was not taught in our classrooms - I strongly believe that it is as relevant today..... I urge everyone to read this book and to take it to your heart. Bruce Watson did an extraordinary job presenting this story.
   
   I always was and always will be proud to be a member of one of those hardworking immigrant families.....and continue to be proud to have been raised in Lawrence.



3. I was raised in Lawrence. My grandmother was a polish immigrant weaver at the Wood Mill and my grandfather was an Irish plant foreman at the Arlington Mills as was my father. I have been reading and researching Lawrence for some time. In fact in my book about growing up in Lawrence "A Summer with Charlie" now listed on Amazon, I include a short synopsis of the Strike of 1912. When I saw Mr. Watson's book advertised, I had to have it. He did an excellent job as did Mr. Moran on "The Belles of New England". If you really want some fun books about Lawrence get Images of America, Lawrence Massachusetts by Ken Skulski and friends. These are two volumes full of old pictures and descriptions of good old Lawrence. Whenever I get nostalgic and lonely for the old days and the good times I go over and start browsing through one of these volumes.
   Bruce Watson's book is much the same - I loved walking with the strikers up and down all those familiar streets and learning about the history of my old hometown. This book should be a required reading at Lawrence High and Central Catholic, that's for sure.



4. I saw this reviewed on one of the public television shows. I read it, then passed it on to my Union to add to their library. Excellent work, very informative.



5. Bruce Watson's "Bread and Roses" tells the captivating story of the 1912 textile stirke in the mill town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Now known as the "bread and roses strike", it united dozens of communities of immigrant workers under the leadership of the radical anti-capitalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to win a months-long struggle against all odds. One of the IWW's greatest victories, it also proved to be a short-lived one. In less than a year, the union in Lawrence had been all but exterminated, victim of a violent reaction the likes of which wouldn't be seen again until the jingoistic hysteria of the First World War and subsequent red scare.
   
   Watson's telling of the story is a beautifully written, meticulously detailed and documented account. His fast-moving, journalistic history stretches beyond the strike itself in frequent tangents, to provide a glimpse at labor organizing and class conflict in early twentieth century America, starring Big Bill Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Smiling Joe" Ettor and hometown organizer Angelo Rocco, with cameos from Gene Debs, Joe Hill, Clarence Darrow, "T-Bone Slim", Morris Hillquit, John Reed, Emma Goldman, Teddy Roosevelt, Nicola Sacco, and many others.
   
   My chief criticism of Watson's account is actually that he makes it too much a story. He gets swept up in the romance and legend of the "Wobblies", which leads him to neglect a serious analysis of their program and goals. Watson never really comes to grips with the radical anti-capitalist agenda of the IWW and the strike itself, characterizing it merely as part of the "struggle for the American dream".
   
   Although Watson tries to maintain journalistic neutrality, it becomes clear that his sympathies lie with the strikers, if not their self-proclaimed "historic mission... to do away with capitalism". This is especially the case when he discusses the aftermath of the strike, when the union was violently suppressed and equal violence was done to history. In the sanitized history of the strike that was then established, Lawrence was a peaceful, idyllic town, with no poverty, no slums, no hunger, no low wages, no oppression. Then a handful of outside agitators descended on the town, exploiting flighty and feeble-minded immigrants, to manufacture a labor dispute where none truly existed.
   
   Nonsense, of course, and Watson does a good job of demolishing it, and an even better job of telling a more accurate tale. The story of the Lawrence strike is one we all should know, and even those already familiar with it are not likely to find a more engaging account of it than "Bread and Roses".

2 comments about The Man Who Lived Alone.

1. I read this book as a fresh eyed 18 year old. I am now a 40 year old woman tattered but not shattered. This happens to be one of those books so rare to me, I feel the same way about it today as I did the first time I ever read it. I gave my copy to my sister an English Lit. teacher. She uses it every semester. Mr. Hall signed it for her. I now only have a photo copy of it and it breaks my heart that I don't have the book. God Bless Mr. Hall and his most magnificent literary ability.



2. I love four things about this book. First, this great contemporary poet wrote it. It also reminds me of Fisherman Simms, a book from my childhood featuring a similar character and pastoral setting. I love the simple but elegant black and white pen and ink illustrations.

   I also love the story. The nameless man built a camp on Ragged Mountain and lived alone collecting things, thousands of rusty nails, deer pelts, old newspapers and clocks, and "wasps nests hanging from railroad spike." He built a shed for his mule, who does have a name--Old Beauty. He survived a terrible childhood, a house fire, and when he was 14 left home and tramped around until he returned home to visit his cousins, who made a few years of his youth happy. He liked eating vegetables because "that is what the woodchuck ate." He made friends with an owl named Grover Cleveland. He worked as a carpenter and could do everything else too.

   Not much happens here. But this story offers an intense tranquility that others lack. In our harried age, children need this kind of peace. Alyssa A. Lappen

No comments about Mountain Biking Northern New England.