No comments about Belchamber (New York Review Books Classics).

4 comments about Vermont Covered Bridges Map & Guide.

1. On medium-weight, stain-resistant paper, this beautiful and durable map folds out to approximately 2 feet by 3 feet. On one side is a three-color map of Vermont placing all 107 of the state's covered bridges, interesting facts about bridges and their designers, separate indices for bridges and places, and labelled watercolors of 23 of the bridges. The reverse side shows a county map, line drawings of various types of bridge trusses and a list of all the state's covered bridges by town. Each entry gives the date the bridge was built, information about its design and construction, and directions to the bridge.

   This is a beautiful and informative map, and what a bargain!




2. Just returned from a week in Vermont and this map/guide saved me a lot of time and effort in tracking down the covered bridges I wanted to see in Northern Vermont.



3. I found this map of Vermont covered bridges only moderately helpful. The map has a symbol for covered bridges on it and directions to each bridge are located on the back of the map by region, along with a very brief history. I found having to flip the map over for directions very user unfriendly while trying to navigate.



4. This product is exactly what it's supposed to be: a comprehensive map to covered bridges in Vermont.

1 comments about Hidden New England: Including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont (Hidden Travel).

1. Like the book My wife and I like going to new places for a weekend .

2 comments about A City in Terror: Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike.

1. This book is great for anyone interested in Boston history, labor history or American history in the period following WWI when labour unions were striking all across the country and fear and violence were shaping politics in America.
   
   The riots, and the politically shrewd actions of Goverenor Calvin Coolidge led to his election as President in a time when the handling of unions and strikes was as important of an issue as any in modern day politics.
   
   I highly recommend this book if you are interested in seeing what life was like in 1918, what happens when the police force of a large city strikes, and what chain of events can propel a man to the highest political office in the world.



2. I would have liked to have seen a greater number of references and footnoting for the book. While a very good history, it lacks what I would consider a true scholarly outlook. I do not doubt the research, but I have a problem with not being able to follow up on the research.
   
   Overall, this book is an excellent resource for the Boston Police Strike, especially in lieu of the results (the First Red Scare).

2 comments about Classic Starts: Little Women (Classic Starts Series).

1. This book was set in the civil war about four sisters and their mother. They also had a friend named Laurie. Their father was taking care of hurt and Ill soldiers. Then one day they were sent a telegram that said that their father was very ill, but he was cured and their father was luckily home in time for Christmas. One of the sisters, Beth, became ill also from helping a poor sick family.
   
   This book is one of the best books I have ever read because it is filled with interesting things that happen! But my favorite part was when Laurie joined their busy bee society and when their mother leaves them by themselves for the entire day just to play a trick on them!



2. Little Woman is a book that everyone must read. I really love the characters and everything about it! My favorite character is Jo, who seems a lot like me because she loves books and isn't a really girlie girl. I also like Beth because she is so nice. I really recommend reading this book.
   (by an 8 year old reviewer)

2 comments about Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People (Studies in Cultural History).

1. Awash in a Sea of Faith is a book of its time. The intellectual and historiographical context of Jon Butler's revisionist history of religion in America is found in the camp that Jack Greene, Keith Thomas and David Hall have been preparing for some time now. This trend, which Butler perfects, is marked by a strong skepticism toward the influence of Puritanism in American culture, toward the major claims of American Protestantism, toward the basic dogmas of traditional American religious history and by a desire for historical and geographical egalitarianism. A pervasive skepticism is not the only component at the foundation of Butler's approach. His historical logic is partially guided by a continuous dialectic between the sacred and secular, elite and popular, the barren colonial landscape and the rise of sacred structures, orthodoxy and occultism. Considering the large and long religious historiographies in North America, Butler's approach starts with profoundly untraditional premises and assumptions. It should not surprise us, then, that Butler would arrive to untraditional conclusions. After all that is what revisionism is- to change the way we perceive history and to challenge some rusty assumptions. His main argument, that the Christianization of America came through a process of syncretism, would have not only alarmed Protestant leaders in the 19th century, but would also have worried religious historians in the 20th century. In his presentation of European Protestantism and its journey toward the America continent, Butler emphasizes occultism as a transforming force in religion and society. In doing this, he ignores the strength of the anti-idolatry Protestant movements that "cleaned out" many churches, the close relation between modern empiricism and Protestantism with its emphasis on the "Biblical evidence," and the influence of effective preaching on parishioners.

   Considering that the word "holocaust" in the post World Wars is related with the Nazi's massacre of the Jews, Butler demonizes American Protestantism for its missionary zeal and for its emphasis on civil obedience among the African Americans. By doing this, Butler completely disregards the humanitarian impulse in their behalf, which was equally syncretic. And by assuming that African American ideology was secular before 1760 he contradicts his conclusion that "Slavery's destruction of African religious systems in America . . . . constituted cultural robbery. . . . of the most vicious sort." If we still ignore this contradiction, his analysis of the African-American mass movement into Protestant Christianity cannot explain how would the unsophisticated African religious systems could have been a match to Protestantism and to the complex life in American Slavery.

   In revising the Great Awakenings Butler take luster out of these movements by emphasizing its conservatism and downplaying its egalitarianism. But here Butler's assumption falters in logic. He presumes that increase social status for the clergy and increment in church authority always meant conservatism. In the American religious context, where pluralism was the main characteristic, more leveled status to clergy, and more authority to non-state-churches (dissidents) meant egalitarianism- particularly compared with the European religious experience. Furthermore, by indicating that itinerant ministers opposed settled ministers selectively, he is not only ignoring their significance, but is also ignoring social forces that would naturally motivate the Itinerants to seek support and sympathy from some settled ministers while ignoring others. Curiously, Butler's analysis of American revivalism is distinguished by a robust defense to the Anglican Church, and a downplaying of dissent's strength and growth-, which is also a revision in traditional American religious history.

   Throughout his entire book, but especially on the Antebellum Christianity, Butler always defines the practice of Alchemy, the curiosity for the gothic and the secret, and the believing in dreams and miracles as indication of spiritualism and witchcraft. Defining these religious experiences, which some orthodox leaders, have seen with suspicious eyes, may belie Butler's position of standardization-a secularized Protestant mainstream. At this point the reader would wonder why Butler includes the practice of alchemy with the believing in miracles, since science (to mention only two) was not as clearly define and not as evenly spread as it was a century later, and miracles have always been regarded as part of Christian beliefs. It may be that Butler needs this combination to highlight his point of Protestants' lack of purity and imprecision, which would have been impossible otherwise. Perhaps inexactitude is inbuilt in certain aspects of the study since Christianity is itself syncretic, thus invalidating any model of Christianity detached from "its" culture and historical setting.




2. Thoughtful and scholarly, yet readable, history of religion in US history and its ups and downs.

No comments about Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide (Great Destinations).

5 comments about The Law of Dreams: A Novel.

1. I was transfixed by Peter Behrens' novel, The Law of Dreams -- the story, the language, the characters. The writing is extraordinary and, if anything, the reader comes away with an awed understanding of the American immigrant experience and what those immigrants endured to leave their countries to get to North America. I agree with many of the other reviewers -- the biggest problem after reading the books is, what to read next?



2. I trawled my local Barnes and Noble for two hours the Sunday before Christmas, determined to find a good book to read over the Holidays. I was just about to give up when I came across The Law of Dreams, the last copy in the store.
   I wanted a good story that was well written. After flicking through a few pages in the store I was quickly convinced it was well written. After finishing the book I can now also confirm that it's a great story. Right up there with Zafon's 'The Shadow of the wind'. Just a damn good read and beautifully written to boot.
   If you know you have some Irish blood in you and you are in anyway curious about what things were like for your people and what they went through in the 1840s to survive and to get over to America, this really gives a great insight. A very entertaining way to learn a little about the past.
   Not just that though. The structure of the dialogue is awesome, really believable. Irish coutry folk have a great way with words and Behren's really captures that. Apart from the structure of the dialogue, the text is also peppered with words that have long been lost, it's great to see they are captured here. Congratulations to Peter Behrens on a great book. Fully deserving of the honours and awards it has won to date.



3. I liked the book, and thought it was well written, but it was a little too depressing for my taste. It seems like he could never catch a break. I know it was during the famine, but still, I think the depressing aspects were a little excessive. I would recommend reading it, but only if you don't expect to come away feeling good about life afterwards.



4. I am of Irish decent. I suppose this hit close to home for me. I clearly remember arguing with my grandmother when she told me how horrible the Irish were treated. I insisted she couldn't compare it to some other minorities who were mistreated. And she responded, " You don't understand, you weren't there."
   
   Upon reading this book my eyes were opened to a history of the famine we don't learn of in school. It mesmerized me. I literally could not put it down. I finished it in less than a day. But, really what this book did was make me want to apologize to my now dead grandmother. I wrote off her rantings as an angry old woman. Now, she was an angry old woman. Come to find out she had good reason to be.
   
   I have now researched the subject more and the information out there is even more horrible than the book explains. Please read this book. You will laugh and cry. You will also be drawn into a world that you did not know existed. I am sorry grammy.



5. ARGH!
   
   Depressing, explicit descriptions of death, violence, cruelty to animals and people, betrayal and hopelessness.... Only because it was my book club's selection did I finish this book.

1 comments about The Pendleton Disaster off Cape Cod: The Greatest Small Boat Rescue in Coast Guard History.

1. The Pendleton Disaster gives new and important insights into Bernard C. Webber's impossible rescue of the crew of the SS Pendleton stern in 1952. The authors have done in-depth interview with the rescue crew and what emerges is heart-touching as well as insightful. The organization of the book is a bit choppy here and there with free-standing chapters on various aspects of the wreck. But the sum is far more than the parts and any fan of Cape Cod history, the Coast Guard or maritime rescues in general will be rewarded with this read.

1 comments about The Vermont Life Guide to Fall Foliage.

1. The Vermont Life Guide to Fall Foliage: The Leaves and Landscape of a Northern Autumn is a guide for nature lovers to getting the most out of experiencing autumn in Vermont. Written for casual travelers and amateur naturalists alike, The Vermont Life Guide to Fall Foliage includes statewide walking, driving and bicycling tours; maps of tour routes; a handful of color photographs of natural communities and species; extensive black-and-white illustrations to facilitate tree and shrub identification; a list of extensive references and resources for further reading; and more. From an overview of the turn of the seasons in Vermont, to a tree-by-tree list of the most commonly found species, to discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of each walking tour available, The Vermont Life Guide to Fall Foliage solidly lives up to its title.