3 comments about Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings (Library of New England).

1. The following is an excerpt from a review in Vernacular Architecture Newsletter, Feb. 1999.

   The outbuildings of rural dwellings have customarily received less attention than the dwellings themselves. The fields of architectural history and historic preservation have long focused on dwellings, for such reasons as their sheer abundance and the fact that they may have been repositories of the fanciest and trendiest architectural detail. But visitors to rural areas will often find that a farmstead's ensemble of outbuildings may overshadow the dwelling in size, number, or visual prominence. The outbuildings reflect past activities of people and animals, and connect the dwelling to the system of fields, fences, driveways, and other farmscape elements.

   Thomas D. Visser, Associate Professor and Interim Director of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Vermont, recognizes that barns and other outbuildings are far more important than as mere picturesque elements of the rural landscape. From the massive barn to the lowly privy, "each has a story to tell." In his Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, Visser provides "clues for deciphering the many layers of history spread over the rural landscape... to help observers... realize the wonderful insights that can spring from an understanding of the evolution of our rural heritage."

   Visser's book may be used two ways, as a reference book and as a handy, portable field guide. It stands alone as a good concise history of New England farm buildings with an understandable concentration on barns, the most necessary structure of a farmstead other than the dwelling. The specific fieldwork for this volume took two years and was concentrated in areas preselected for their relevance. The fieldwork not only made possible this excellent guide to identifying, understanding, and appreciating farm buildings, but recorded a dwindling cultural resource. Visser has for years encouraged the preservation of barns, building interest among their owners. This book, it is hoped, by increasing awareness of these often neglected structures, will advance the cause of their preservation.

   The Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings will prove informative and entertaining to a wide audience, from agricultural historians to New England residents who haven't truly appreciated the value of farm buildings as cultural resources.




2. Having just purchased an old barn, I found precious few resources to assist in gleaning a history. Visser's book was concise, informative, and a pleasure to read. It provides valuable insight to the development of agricultural styles, and valuable clues to dating the agrarian landscape. Excellent source.



3. Despite many mistakes in the layout and composition of this little book, the author has done an admirable job of researching and presenting a dauntingly diverse subject, except for the inadequate photography. One imagines him spending many hours taking and cataloguing and captioning the numerous photos, which are essential to understanding the subject and its details. Too often, however, the camera is too far away or the photos are reduced to such small size that the reader comes away with an impression, rather than a clear idea. It's evident the book suffers from budgetary constraints, and in this instance those constraints have hurt badly.
   A final complaint -- the title is misleading. Despite the inclusion of a few Connecticut tobacco barns, this is a guide to NORTHERN New England barns. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine barns are well represented.

3 comments about Stark Decency: German Prisoners of War in a New England Village.

1. This book describes in great detail the lives of German POW's living in a New Hampshire POW camp in the 1940's. It is well-documented, with interviews with former guards and work-crew formen. The former prisoners, guards and foremen have met for reunions at the site of the camp.

   I lived in the area and remember the POW camp.




2. Koop's chronicle gives us a picture of an oasis of amity in a world torn by war, in the unlikely location of a prisoner-of-war camp in the tiny town of Stark, New Hampshire, several miles north of Lancaster and Berlin. We see German captives being pleasantly surprised by the humane treatment of the American guards, who observed the letter and the spirit of the Geneva Convention, and we see the Americans learning that not all Germans were enthusiasts of Hitler's fanatical National Socialism -- far from it! There are disputes about the 'pulpwood quota' (German prisoners in Stark assisted the locals in their efforts at paper production) which led to a five-day strike, but also led to deeper understanding about the dignity of the captive workers. There are amusing tales of attempted escapes -- the most successful being that of a colourful character named Franz Bacher, a youthful Austrian artist who made it to New York City. There is an illuminating glimpse into the generosity of the townspeople of Stark toward the prisoners of war, from an enemy nation but sharing a common humanity. There are tales of collaboration at arduous tasks, and there is a record of the small acts of charity and levity which transfigured a potentially painful experience into the basis of camaderie and a future peace.

   One need not be a historian, or an ardent reader of history to appreciate Allen Koop's handsomely written book; one need only be a human being, possessed of sufficient imagination to place oneself in the shoes of a stranger in a strange land.




3. I continue to enjoy finding additional information about the time WW-II POWs were kept in this country. Often I've spoken with friends about this historic moment and seldom have I found anyone aware that this occurred. This particular work by Koop is another example of the literature available.
   I found his efforts to be worthwhile as yet another piece of the grander puzzle as to how this imprisonment took place. Without reviewing similar accounts from all the other some 400 U.S. camps, like the one at Stark, it is impossible to know if what took place in this camp was unique. I tend to think that while the details of each camp and its relationship with the surrounding community will be similar, I am sure there would also be differences. What I liked about Koop's book is the realization that people on each side of the fence that separated them, they were still people with similar desires and concerns, though the language may have been different. Each side learned from the other and came to realize that each may not have been getting the totally clear picture of their adversary. I assume this sort of thing happened elsewhere in this country-wide POW prison program. Like other works dealing with this POW experience, Koop's book should be included as a reading project in any modern history course.
   I believe the book's overall impact would be enhanced by more photographs but, understandably, these may not be available.

1 comments about Weekend Walks in Rhode Island: 40 Trails for Hiking, Birding & Nature Viewing, Fourth Edition.

1. This book provides detailed and accurate suggestions and advice for weekend rambles. It was a great way to introduce my 5 year old and 3 year old to the outdoors, and a good introduction to the lovely countryside of Rhode Island as well. Much better than some other similar guides which were not well researched and suggested trails that got us lost!

No comments about Jackson & Perkins Beautiful Roses Made Easy: Northeastern Edition (Jackson & Perkins Beautiful Roses Made Easy).

No comments about A Little Princess (A Stepping Stone Book).

5 comments about Snow Island.

1. This novel takes place in 1941, on Snow Island, right off of the coast of Rhode Island. At the island, it's the men's jobs to go quahogging and the women's jobs to take care of their families and everything else that a man can't do. The main character, Alice Dagget, is a 16-year-old teen, who lives on the island with her mother, Evelyn and her brother, Will. Alice's father died 5 years earlier and it's hard for them to deal with his death. The Daggets support themselves, by running their own store.

   George Tibbits, a man who was a veteran of World War 1, came to the island every summer to go to the houses that belonged to his aunts, Sarah and Bertie, where he stayed during his childhood. The next year, 1942, George Tibbits decided to stay there for good. As the Second World War approached, many people started to enlist in the war, like Alice's two closest twin friends, Pete and Lydia Gibberson, and the 26-year-old, Ethan Cunningham, who was the keeper of the island's lighthouse. Everyone else on the island were forced to leave their homes. Alice had nobody to whom she can talk to because she was very saddened that her closest friends left her behind, so George Tibbits came along and was there by her side, during that time of the war.

   Katherine Towler, the author of this book, helps bring many people together, from different generations. She uses a powerful setting, like the Second World War, to give readers an understanding of what had happened in the past and how others reacted to that particular situation. The characters in this story were strong and unique in their own ways. By reading this novel, I'm sure that each of us can relate to at least one of the characters in some way. I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it to everyone because you can learn more about yourself as well as your past like Alice and George Tibbits did.




2. "Snow Island" was a disappointment. I read it, hoping something would happen on the next page. It was quite boring and reading it tedious. Teenaged girls' first crushes & kisses, a middle aged man who couldn't recover from his aunt's death. An aunt, by the way, whom he shared a bed with while growing up, thankfully, not anything to do with sex. Very odd characters in the book -- people I couldn't relate to. Was pretty depressing.



3. A dazzling debut, Snow Island follows the dual stories of Alice Daggett and George Tibbits in a small isolated island populated by quahoggers and eccentrics during the Second World War. Towler weaves the two plot lines intricately, at the same time subtly relaying the nuances of the island's inhabitants through gossip and tales.

   Sixteen-year old Alice Daggett, haunted by the tragic death of her father six years prior and the overbearing presence of her mother Evelyn, never quite fits into the strict societal rules of the small gossiping town. Her awkwardness as she becomes aware of her own sexuality-her fear of not understanding her role as a woman and her fear of her inability to fulfill it-is beautifully told. Snow Island also unravels the unique story of George Tibbits, a recluse in his forties, who returns to the island each year in order to gain some closure regarding the death of the two women who raised him.

   Snow Island is an evocative work with characters carefully chosen and crafted. Moving and luminous, it breaks the clichés of war novels. The characters and their stories resonate and linger long after the last page.




4. I didn't want it to end but I could not put it down. I read it in 24 hours. It stays true to life as very few times does things turn out as we expect or so perfect. This story will stay with me for a long time. I hope the author will revisit Alice's life in another book. I can't wait to read other books by this author.



5. Beautiful imagery of this small town island community. A slice of New England life. Characters are ones we've met in our lives. The plot is carefully constructed and holds the reader's attention. Rich language. Take this one with you to the beach, the mountains or your favorite vacation site. Highly recommended.

No comments about Hawthorne's Haunts in New England.

5 comments about Sufferings in Africa: The Astonishing Account of a New England Sea Captain Enslaved by North African Arabs.

1. We should all be grateful that his book was reissued. It is truly a remarkable account of the danger of seafaring merchants during the early 19th C. Written in the style and the variable spelling of that period, the book prompted me to search out a map of northwestern Africa so I could follow the plight of Riley and his crew. Given that this narration was one of the few books owned by the young Abe Lincoln, one can already see the seeds of the abolition movement after the slavery tables were turned (English speaking whites being enslaved by Africans). One detail not in the book is that a cousin, Justus Riley, from Weathersfield, Connecticut, owned the brig Commerce along with his partners, the Savages of Hartford. Ship insurance would have paid the owners for the loss of the ship, but not the master of the ship, in this case James Riley. It is fortunate James wrote his account as it permitted him to move to Ohio during the US western expansion. Anyone who loves the O'Brien books will love this book -- I keep hoping it will be made into a screenplay.



2. After the war of 1812, Captain James Riley was employed as master and supercargo of the brig Commerce from Hartford, Connecticut. He shipped a crew of George Williams, chief mate, Aaron Savage, second mate, William Porter, Archibald Robbins, Thomas Burns and several others. He sailed for New Orleans in May 1815, passed the Bahamas and Florida Keys, (not without incident: the ship ran aground, before Riley freed her) and, in early August, reached Gibraltar. While headed for Cape de Verds, Riley ran the Commerce off course, and was shipwrecked in breakers off the Sahara.
   
   One man was slaughtered on the beach.
   
   Conditions for the rest were pure hell. Captain Riley and those remaining were forced to sell themselves into slavery in order to survive. The party was then divided. Some men were never seen again, and were presumed to have spent the duration of their days in privation and servitude.
   
   Riley and four others were saved in November 1815; in late September, Riley had convinced an Arab merchant to buy himself and those companions, transport them across the desert to Mogadore, and there to ransom them to the British embassy. He tells in great detail the sufferings the men endured during their slavery and travel through the desert. Nineteen months afterwards, Archibald Robbins was ransomed as well. Subsequently, he wrote at length on his own experiences in slavery. During the 19th century, a volume including both this book and Robbins' tale became a bestseller. Today, a copy of Robbins' account is hard to come by.
   
   The conditions endured by the infidel slaves is almost unbelievable. This book, reprinted dozens of times in its day, sold millions of copies and influenced abolitionists of Riley's time. The book was of the works that the young Abraham Lincoln read by firelight in Illinois, and strongly influenced his thinking about slavery, as did a visit to the slave market in New Orleans.
   
   Mogadore was once a flourishing city, Riley observed, but when he became a freed man there, he observed that "superstition, fanaticism, and tyranny bear sway...[and] have swept away, with their pernicious breath, the whole wealth of its once industrious and highly favored inhabitants;--have driven the foreigner from their shores, and it seems as if the curse of Heaven had fallen on the whole land...."
   
   --Alyssa A. Lappen



3. Considering that this book was written in the early 1800's and is a true story, I am totally impressed. The whole concept of slavery and how it applied to white and black people in the early 19th century in Africa before it even became an issue! Extraordinary accounting of true life at it's most extreme.



4. The author of the book, Captain James Riley, bravely wrote and acknowledged his role in his ship's disaster of wrecking off the North African coast back in 1815. This is an incredible tale of survival under the most brutal and pain-racking conditions one can imagine. The American brig, Commerce, hit a storm off the North African coast and was wrecked. The crew manages to reach the beach in their boats and collapse with exhaustion. However, the wreck and chance of plunder attracts an Arab nomad band to the scene. It is at this point that the captain and crew get a taste of the welcome they that will be met with from natives who are as merciless and unforgiving as the Sahara desert they live in.
   
   Although they manage to avoid capture and probable execution on their first encounter with the Arab nomads, the second encounter finds them starved, hopeless, and without water for several days running. So, they are enslaved and stripped naked by their captors. Their skin sizzles and blisters horribly under the ferocious Saharan sun while they walk barefooted and bloody over the sharp, rocky desert floor for many days - each day weaker with the spark of life slowly ebbing from their eyes. Then their band encounters their personal savior, Abdallah, who is an Arab merchant crossing the Sahara along with his brother. He buys the captain and most of the crew at Riley's repeated emotional entreaties, planning to sell them back to the English consul, Mr. Willshire, in far away Mogadore (for a profit, of course).
   
   Yet despite their new master and his profit motive, their continued survival is highly tentative as starvation, thirst, fatigue, continual danger of brigands, and even Abdallah's own brother conspire to steal these forsaken, hapless captives. And even though Riley must have suffered immeasurably he still managed to sear his inconceivable experiences into his memory and learned to speak some Arabic as well. Their thirst was often so remorseless that they routinely drank camel urine and subsisted on the most meager food imaginable.
   
   This is a remarkable true story and one which vividly portrays the unspeakable sufferings by the unprepared and unwary stranded in the deserts of North Africa. Read the book, skip the visit!



5. A must read. This is a wonderful read of the account of the U.S. Merchant Mariners on the Brig Commerce by her Capt.
   
   Secondly, the Brig Commerce's seaman Archibald Robbins who got separated from Capt. Riley wrote his own account as well. It can be found on g**gle books for free. Hopefully this link will work:
   
   http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=MQkPAAAAYAAJ&dq=Archibald+Robbins&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=6jkFuOattw&sig=8oAQIZb2R0qWl9ENBY3AL5g7ImE&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPR1,M1

No comments about Art of Death: Visual Culture in the English Death Ritual c.1500 - c.1800.

3 comments about Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More.

1. A very important body of photographs -- both artistic and historic -- framed by a text of the Travelling people's stories and a compact disc of the people in the book performing their music, over forty years ago. A testament to a great photographer's determination that brings to life a part of Ireland's immemorial past which has vanished in our lifetimes.



2. This work is truly profound. His composition is genius. The subject matter is an important cultural statement. Alen is without doubt a master photographer. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The reproduction is perfect. A hidden gem is the beautiful audio cd that captures the the music of these people. What a brilliant work!



3. A striking breadth of work that allows the viewer to see, hear, and feel the difficulty of life in concert with the beauty and light.