1 comments about Streetwise Northern New England Map - Laminated Area Road Map of Northern New England - Folding pocket size travel map.

1. very small type, of course, but great for getting a general idea of where everything is in relation to one another

5 comments about Boston 1775: The Shot Heard Around The World (Campaign).

1. I bought this book at the Bunker Hill national monument recently, hoping it would fill in the gaps that David McCullough left out of his excellent 1776. Unfortunately, I finished the book only more desperate to find a book that not only solved my original dilemma but could also serve as an antidote to this one.
   
   First, what the book is and what it is not. It is not a narrative of what took place in Boston in 1775. Instead, it is a sequential distillation of the military events of 1775 in and around Boston. To be fair, it is part of the Campaigns series so I should not fault it for not reaching for the same heights that McCullough did.
   
   I would not have minded this approach, however, had the author been even remotely objective in his presentation of the known facts -- or perhaps even-handed, trading barbs against both sides. But, alas, Morrissey chooses to chide the colonists at every turn possible and to praise the redcoats for their forbearance and grace under pressure. It becomes laughable when page after page he continually defends the British taxes and the behavior of the British regulars while portraying the American leaders as having only profit motives for rebellion and the militia as misled rabble.
   
   I am willing to hear of our own people's weaknesses: they are many. However, to fail to note that the other side was equally flawed in aspects of its approach grows wearisome after about page 10.
   
   In sum, the book does have great maps and visuals -- the commentary on the etchings are first rate (except when they again accuse Americans of dealing unjustly with the British). I will keep the book on the shelf for reference, but will not recommend it.



2. Great stuff! Great maps and information - based upon fact and not fiction.



3. Hard to believe a Brit can write a good book on the American revolution but here it is.
   
   Well organized and nicely written and also very balanced. A fun read. Maps are very good.



4. How can anyone not love the Osprey series of books?
   
   Whenever I'm researching a military campaign or would just like to know a more about what happened historically, I turn to the Osprey series of publications. They are well organized, written, and illustrated and provide the reader with state-of-the art maps and graphics.
   
   This particular volume provides the essentials on the Battles of Concord/Lexington and Breed's (Bunker Hill). Author Brendan Morrissey covers the following:
   
   - The Road to War (Colonial America and Colonial policies)
   - The Seat of War (Boston in 1775)
   - The Opposing Commanders
   - The Opposing Armies
   - Lexington and Concord (19 April 1775)
   - Breed's Hill (17 June 1775)
   - The Seige of Boston
   - Aftermath
   - The Battlefields Today
   - Chronology
   - A Guide to Further Reading
   - Wargaming the Boston Campaign
   
   In short, this neat book contains everything anyone needs to know about the opening campaign of the Revolutionary War that set the stage for a British defeat eight years latter.



5. This book had great visuals, but the writing just did not flow. I love learning about the Revolutionary War, but found myself bored with what was written. The book was quite brief so even though some points were tedious, it was a quick read.

No comments about A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria (Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology).

3 comments about Historic Newport Mansions.

1. I just love the Newport Mansions. This CD is great because I can never remember all the details when I visit the mansions, and this CD lets you pan around and up to the ceiling and down to the carpet, also zooming in. You can see all the details that give the rooms their luxurious feel.

   Also, it's great because I haven't been to all the mansions and through the virtual tours I can see which one I most want to visit next.

   Now, if they could just figure out a way to get the CD to give you that musty dusty smell of the actual mansions...

   Seriously, this is very cool and if you are only visiting Newport for a short time, it's worth it to see which mansions you really want to see in person.

   Jilla




2. This is a very cool CD showing you the various Newport mansions. You can pan around inside the rooms, looking at all the walls, even the floor and ceiling.

   I like it because when you visit the mansions there isn't time enough to see them all, and with this CD I can see them all. Also, I can go back to the rooms that I like and study the details in that room. It is very interesting.

   Anyway, I would recommend this CD. It makes great use of new technology and is fun and easy to use.




3. After the other reviews in this column piqued my interest, I picked this CDrom up in one of the Mansions stores a couple of weeks ago,and boy, am I glad I did! Great insight to the construction of the mansions including, the materials used, styles used, builders etc.. There is a brief narration for each one that gives dates & facts , along with 8 classical tunes that play at random as you wander about. The only constructive criticism is that you don't get narration for each room as you enter, just at the beginning of each VR tour. I'm sure it would've been too costly and time consuming to do that anyway. But, you can even do an auto tour where you sit back and relax, while the camera pans to different rooms, or you can do the manual tour at your own pace. Great quality! Runs smoothly with no popping or skipping, and the picture quality is terrific! You can zoom, spin, look down, up, to get a closer look at that special vase, or to look at the gilded ceiling tiles. Great for those who have never been to get an inside look, or a great momento for those who have visited the 10 mansions from the preservation society. You'll feel like you've wandered back in time to the Victorian age on Bellevue Ave.......................

5 comments about Spider Sparrow.

1. Spider Sparrow was a great book. I only wish Spider could have lived longer because he had something special about him. Everyone would enjoy this book - kids or adults!



2. THIS BOOK WAS VERY GOOD I LIKE HOW SPIDER PARENTS WHERE HAPPY THERE SON COULD NOT BE SENT TO WAR BUT THEY WE SAD HHE WAS NOT NORMAL.THE NDING KIND OF SADDEDEN ME I WISH IT COULD OF HAD A HAPPY ENDING.



3. A simple, beautiful story, Spider Sparrow will definitely leaveyou in tears (the good kind). I highly recommend this book - all ofthe characters are real and likable, and Outoverdown Farm is somewhere I would love to live, as Spider did. And "simple" Spider has many things to teach us...wonderful book!



4. This book is so subtle but somehow kept me gripped. The imagery is superb and I felt I really knew Spider as I neared the end. The ending was beautiful- everytime I read it I am left in tears of sadness. I'd reccomend it to anyone as you can read it over and over again.



5. ... What would you do if someone left a baby boy on your doorstep? Would you keep them? Send them up for adoption? Try to find their parents? Well, a family from England kept him, and named him Spider for the way he walks. They found some interesting facts about him. He can mimic animal's calls perfectly; one of his only phrases is "Good un!", he walks weirdly, and can't learn any thing.
   His friends make fun of him for the way he walks, how he can't learn, and how he does not go to school. His parents also worry about how he acts. The people on the farm make fun of him behind his back, but none of this matters to him because he does not understand any of it. His parents try to make him act normally but they notice that he is happy, so it does not matter.
   This great fiction book is set in World War II! This book is terrific for anyone, especially because it teaches you about a boy who is different then most kids. This book is interesting because you can learn a lot about kids who have disabilities like Spider does. This book is a page turner. I highly recommend it to anyone.

4 comments about Boston, All One Family.

1. The problem with photography of important figures is that the majority of the attempts either end up as images of people looking like static statues or, at the other extreme, Weegee rendered caricatures.
   
   This effort is first rate because Brett achieves the sought after goal of natural and real-to-life photographs that capture the movers and shakers of business, government and sports during the last two decades.
   
   A must book for anyone interested in the history of Boston!!



2. If you love the city of Boston like Bill Brett than you'll love this book. The black and white photos are timeless captions of the people who make this town unique and vibrant. Life long townies or displaced natives would be captivated by this transparent look at their hometown.



3. Bill Brett's book captures black and white photos of the city's best and brightest people over the course of the last century. This book is a glimpse into the heart of this city and the people who have their fingers on the pulse of it. A must have for every Boston coffee table.



4. The book is only interesting if you are an avid fan of the Boston Globe, as the subjects are almost exclusively the pols, "community activists," and entertainers idolized by the Globe over the past three decades. Seriously, how could a figure as prominent as Boston Herald columnist/Boston Magazine writer/PM Drive talk host Howie Carr not be included as a influential Bostonian? It couldn't have something to do with the fact that he is a staunch critic of former State Senate President Bill Bulger, a friend of the photographer's brother...could it?

1 comments about Old-Time New England Cookbook.

1. How do you combine traveling and cooking if both are your hobbies? Very simple - after you've savored the local cuisine of the place you have visited in restaurants, you take home a cookbook to try and prepare some of those dishes at home.
   
   I bought the "Old-Time New England Cookbook" during my first visit to the region, and it fast became a staple in my cooking, whether for friends and parties or just for myself. This book, an unabridged republication of 1958's "Rain, Hail, and Baked Beans" (Ives Washburn, Inc., New York), is a wonderful introduction to traditional New England cooking, from classics such as clam and other chowders, lobster and Concord grapes, to bear marinade (a mixture of cider, orange juice and spices) and Governor Bradford's plum pudding. Arranged not by dishes but by seasons, the book introduces the reader, in addition to the flavors of the local cuisine, to those of the region's particular atmosphere and, through numerous little anecdotes, describes the origin and the popularity of individual dishes, and traces their development to the products available at any given time of the year. A particular treat are the recipes from New England inns reproduced at the end of the book - I have found the Bangor House Fish Chowder to be a particular crowd pleaser, but every dish I have tried so far went over very well with my guests. All recipes are well-described and easy to follow, and none contains ingredients that are hard or impossible to come by. If you're looking for a well-done and yet very affordable introduction to New England cooking, written with obvious love for the region's people, nature and seasons as well as for its cuisine, you should definitely give this book a try.
   
   Also recommended:
   The Nantucket Holiday Table
   Around the World Cookbook
   Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day
   Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant: Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks at the Legendary Restaurant (Cookery)
   Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More Than 650 Meatless Recipes from Around the World
   On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals (4th Edition) Textbook only
   Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006

No comments about A Gathering Of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32.

No comments about Murder and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts.

1 comments about New York As A Second Language: Haddabea Neyawka.

1. Cute little book. Quick read. Makes a good gift for your New Yorker friends. I give them as party favors or hostess gifts. I like that you can just pick it up and turn to any page for a chuckle. It's not a "cover to cover" read.