5 comments about Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks.

1. This is a unique book because it combines the utility of a trail guide with the fun and entertainment of a well written history book. The quirky offbeat stories of ghosts, spooky legends, disasters and untimely deaths is followed up with concise directions on how to go out and actually experience the areas where these otherworldly phenomenons occurred.
   
   The writer has spiced this book with her acerbic wit and keen insights into being a park ranger (which she was for many years). She has portrayed the rangers and park service in a realistic light, instead of the hagiographic view of selfless sainthood so often seen in other books dealing with the NPS. They are real people working in a large and impersonal bureaucracy. The story dealing with the last Miwok Indian to leave Yosemite due to government regulations and the resulting castrophe was a real scream to read.
   
   This is a great trail guide that covers a lot of interesting historical material that you won't find anywhere else. It kept me, the reader, intrigued and excited about going out to see many of these places for myself. I can't wait to visit to Yosemite later this summer so I can go explore some of the places I read about in this book.



2. Not just a book of haunted tales, but a history lesson in some of the most unusual occurences in our most popular wilderness areas. What I like about Andrea Lankford's style of writing is her leaving it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. An informative guide to National Parks we may have never considered visiting before. Awakens curiosities never imagined about many places.



3. I liked this book because I am an avid outdoor enthusiast as well as an avid reader of "true" paranormal accounts. I've only given this two stars because although it is a very good book of hiking trails with clear directions to the trails and a very good description of endurance required to complete the hikes, etc., I was disappointed in the "thrill" factor, which, to me, was nil. It is possible that it takes more than the average run of the mill story to get to me (probable, actually) but the reviews of this led me to believe that it was scary. It is not. As far as I can tell, after reading most of this book - which took several attempts - the author is an excellent & skilled outdoorswoman but she is just repeating old stories here. No one gives a first hand account, including the author - except for saying that she felt chills or could see why someone else would have said that a certain trail was scary, at one time. I'll probably use this book as a guide next time I go hiking, but as far as chills while reading..... forget it.



4. The author's insipid attempt to sell her hiking trail guide as a book of haunting tales is insulting to the educated mind. The book is a dud, a sham, and I wish I could get my money back. Even the few interesting supernatural stories are made bland by her lack of style. Take my advice... if you are looking for a genuine book on the paranormal and the occult, do not waste your time or money on Andrea Lankford's Haunted Hikes. It is just a trail guide.



5. Had I known Pennsylvania (the 5th largest state in the union) would not have one listing in this book, I certainly would not have not wasted my money on buying it since--more than likely--I won't be able to visit the parks that are mentioned; I am deeply disappointed. I should have looked for it in the bookstore, so I could have read the table of contents first.
   However, having said that, the book is extremely well written, fun and intriguing. It is well organized and has an easy-to-read font. Ms. Lankford has a knack for story-telling and as a hike advisor.
   I hope next book, she stops in the Keystone state! (And, next time--please LIST the parks written about in the description!)
   Thanks.

5 comments about Sea of Gray: The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah.

1. The subject matter of this book gave it the potential of being a nautical classic. For lovers of sea lore, as well as Civil War buffs, the cruise of the CSS Shenandoah represents piratical adventure flavored with the bittersweet taste of the "lost cause." Instead, "Sea of Gray" suffers from the author's amateurish writing style--replete with needless repetitions of titles and poor use of syntax. Mr. Chaffin deserves credit for being the first to tell the tale of the Shenandoah, but one wonders how much better the telling would have been in the practiced hands of Samuel Elliott Morrison or C.S. Forrester.



2. When reading any historical account of Confederate military exploits, the reader usually finds himself with Stonewall's foot soldiers in the Shenandoah Valley or at Chancellorsville, or with Longstreet's divisions during their fateful assault of Cemetery Ridge, or with Forrest's mounted legions at Brice's Crossroads. In all cases, the Confederate battle flags are borne proudly, and the sea is far distant over the horizon.
   
   In SEA OF GRAY, author Tom Chaffin recounts the 13-month circumnavigation of the globe by the commerce raider C.S.S. Shenandoah, during which time it sailed 58,000 miles, captured 38 vessels (and burned most), took 1,053 prisoners, and destroyed $1.4 million of cargo. The high point of the voyage was the taking of 24 Union whalers in the Bering Sea over a seven day period in June 1865.
   
   The book is extensively researched, contains an eminently useful photo section, and includes front and end plate diagrams of the ship's interior and exterior plans respectively.
   
   Despite Chaffin's good intentions and obvious effort, it pains me to say that the narrative is more dogged than inspired. I doubt that even a reader with die-hard Southern sympathies will be sufficiently stirred to break into a rousing rendition of "Dixie" at any point. Perhaps the problem lies with the nature of the expedition itself, during which the raider skulks over the oceans under the guise of foreign flags to bedevil defenseless commerce vessels. One is almost tempted to wish for the appearance of an honest man-o-war of any nationality to put an end to the mischief.
   
   The conquests of the C.S.S. Shenandoah are not the usual stuff of which an heroic epic is made. Indeed, it's only during the last, sad 20,000 miles of the voyage (from just off southern Mexico to around Cape Horn to England), at the start of which the news of the Confederacy's surrender was confirmed by a passing English ship, causing the captain of the Shenandoah, Lt. Commander Iredell Waddell, to de-gun and decommission his command, that this reader began to admire the crew's long-suffering endurance of circumstance and uninspiringly erratic leadership. The men deserved better than their fade-off into history upon their anti-climactic return to Liverpool.
   
   Unless you're extraordinarily interested in all aspects of the American Civil War and are bored reading repetitious re-tellings of the various land battles, I wouldn't recommend SEA OF GRAY except as an interesting footnote to the rebellion. That said, you may love it.



3. The stories in the Civil War are always the most amazing, a truly great conflict, better than any Greek tragedy. The story of the war at sea has been told elsewhere but this book tells the fascinating tale of the Shenandoah and its raiding activities. In Sea of Grey, Tom Chaffin recounts the 13 month circumnavigation of the world by the Shenandoah. It sailed 58,000 miles, captured 38 vessels, took 1,053 prisoners, and destroyed $1.4 million of cargo. Its greatest victory was the taking of 24 Union whalers in the Bering Sea over a seven day period in June 1865. In some was the 'Black Bart' of the Civil WarIf a Pirate I Must Be...: The True Story of Black Bart, King of the Caribbean Pirates.
   
   When confronted with news of the surrender of the confederacy the captain of the Shenandoah, Lt. Commander Iredell Waddell, put her back into the mode of being a ship of peace.
   
   This is a fascinating story of travel and war on the high seas.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



4. By now general readers may think they've encountered every important Civil War story there is to know. Tom Chaffin shows otherwise with this eminently readable book about one of the most bizarre sagas of the conflict. In song, this would be a cross-breeding of "Roll Alabama Roll, "Blow Ye Winds," and "A Pirate's Life For Me." Where evidence is limited, Chaffin makes the most of it without resorting to speculation, a sign of a careful historian, and he weaves lives and events together in seamless fashion. A great read that I recommend unconditionally.



5. This was a well-told, but little-known story about the Confederate raider, the C.S.S. Shenandoah and her exploits around the world on the oceans during the Civil War. The average person looking for information about the Civil War might want to skip this one, as it can be a little dry at times, but it's absolutely perfect for Civil War buffs. All in all, a good read.

5 comments about Lost Cities of North & Central America (The Lost City Series).

1. There are two ways to read Childress. If you want to live in a button-down, straight laced world of academic archeologists, then every time Childress asks a question, just answer (to yourself) No! Then go about with your boring life.

   But if you want to live a little wild, to peel back the layers & pierce the veil, then answer (again, to yourself) Yes! to every one of his questions. Should you do that, you will have a gay old time figuring out how the world all fits together!

   Honestly, DHC's speculations are full of BS, but it sure is fun suspending your disbelief & reading these books. Someone mentioned that DHC really seems like a great guy, and you get that sense reading this book. Sounds like he would be a really cool guy to travel & chat with. His travel writing is straighforward, but exciting.

   Unfortunately, the book is full of typos & poorly done photographs. After reading 5+ of the Lost Cities series, I don't even notice anymore, but it will bug some beginners.




2. Much of this book is pleasant escape reading, and some of the things discussed are intriguing, such as tunnel systems associated with some ruins. The book was spoiled for me, however, when I came to chapters dealing with things I knew of firsthand. One major Northwest petroglyph site is placed in the wrong state. There are just enough wrongo facts to make me wonder how many others masquerade as reality in the text. I will reread the book in the future and enjoy the mysteries of past cultures south of the border, while keeping a salt block handy for the rest of it. His books certainly hold true to the basic instructions for finding lost cities - ask the locals. Few lost cities are truly lost to those who live in the area. They're just forgotten. Enjoy this as a tale told by a traveler, and a collection of some of the more interesting legends of American mystery archaeology. I don't really think there are Egyptian treasures in the Grand Canyon, but I would be delighted if they were real. The same holds true for the treasure-laden tunnels of Death Valley...



3. Of course, the reason others won't tell you those stories may be because the stories are patently false. I was looking for a book that would be a good read after "Collapse" -- something that would tell me about fallen civilizations. This isn't that book -- at least not from a rigorous, scientific approach. The author, for example, asserts that pterodactyls live in today's Arizona.
   
   The author believes that traditional academics are dismissing the truth because it doesn't fit in with their preconceived notions. The only reason I didn't rate this book lower is that it is clearly a great source for others who feel the same way. The rest of us, however, need to look elsewhere for scientifically grounded speculation into North American prehistory.



4. I thought I was a student of the esoteric but David Hatcher Childress makes me realize I am still only an alcolyte. History is a mystery and you can believe it because I told you so, just like your highschool history professor. This book will take you on the grand tour of North America and reveal some of the mystery that historians attempt to hide from us in their ivory towers. If you want to expand your mind without taking a lot of mind altering drugs try reading Mr. Chilress' Lost City books. He must have spent a lot of time in the underground book stores prior to his travels. That might be why he decided to hit the road in the first place, to find out for himself. Could America once have been a land of giants, or do pterydactyls still carry off unsuspecting travelers, or are there hidden books with knowledge from the ancients? Maybe, and maybe after reading this book, you will want to take a road trip and find out for yourself.



5. I loved the book. From the places I have been and the books I have read, this book hits the mark. We need more like it.
   
   Good Job!

1 comments about Indian Gaming & Tribal Sovereignty: The Casino Compromise.

1. 
   A recent search of the Mid-Hudson Library System for books on Indian casinos yielded "Indian Gaming and Tribal Sovereignty, The Casino Compromise," (2005), University of Kansas Press, which promises much according to a back cover blurb: "Staying above the emotional fray usually surrounding this controversial subject, (the authors) succeed in making a comprehensive, balanced, and even entertaining analysis of the complex issues relating to gaming on Indian reservations."
   
   The co-authors are Steven Andrew Light, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota and his frequent collaborator, Kathryn R. L. Rand, Associate Professor and Associate Dean in the university's School of Law. They are co-directors of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy, a component of the Northern Plains Indian Law Center at the School of Law, and are active writers, speakers, bloggers on casino issues, consulting with federal, state, and local governments and interested groups. The Institute is said to be the only university-affiliated research institute dedicated to the study of Indian gaming.
   
   So here is another academic, non-industry examination of casino gambling, one, as might be expected by their use of the word "gaming" instead of "casinos" or "gambling", by scholars inclined to be sympathetic to the industry. And sympathetic they are, seeing gaming as an exercise of tribal sovereignty which enhances tribal self-determination and is an overall boon to the social, economic, and cultural life of tribes, as well to states and surrounding communities. It comes as a surprise to me to see this point of view from an academic source and I was particularly interested in examining their positions and arguments in the light of Earl Grinols' decidedly critical posture. ("Gambling in America, Costs and Benefits," 2004)
   
   Their discussion of "gaming" is prefaced by a brief history of Indian-non Native relations, with swings of empowering tribes and assimilationist policies, and an overall neglect of Indian interests. The Supreme Court in the "California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians" case in 1987 permitted a tribe to operate free of state (civil not criminal) regulatory control, lending legal support for the growing number of gambling operations of Indian tribes. This decision helped set the stage for the passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 which created a framework of tribal-state compacts to regulate casinos. The 1996 "Seminole Tribe v. Florida" weakened the hand of the tribes by making states immune from suits charging them with failing to negotiate compacts in good faith.
   
   While recognizing complexity and tradeoffs, Light and Rand broadly endorse the positive economic benefits of Indian casinos. "Although most obviously and directly affecting tribes, Indian gaming's economic impacts
   extend beyond reservation borders. For nontribal communities the economic benefits derived from Indian gaming range from the tribal revenue sharing with state and local governments to the ripple effects generated by job creation and increased business and consumer spending." They particularly emphasize the positive economic effects on Indian reservations themselves, distinguishing the vast riches of the "outlier" Mashantucket Pequots from the modest successes of tribes without access to nearby metropolitan markets.
   
   I confess an attraction for the argument that casinos can serve as springboards for further economic development which rescue tribes from welfare dependency, poverty, backwardness. This is especially true if reservation lands lie close to metropolitan areas or main interstate roads which are suitable for developments such as hotels, shopping malls, industries. The casino serves as a means of "primitive accumulation of capital" (which was historically associated with harms, such as the enclosures in England which forced peasants off the land) so that even if social harms outweigh the immediate benefits (my idea, not the authors') eventually other economic development (conscientiously pursued) can bring about a net positive picture.
   
   The New York Times (11/14/07) reported on such a scenario on the Tulalip Indian Reservation next to a busy highway between Seattle (35 miles away) and Vancouver (100 miles away). Starting with a casino in 1992, the Tulalips have leveraged their profits into constructing a major shopping mall, an amphitheater, a second larger casino, a resort hotel and are seeking to build a bio-gas plant and develop an industrial and business property. I note that all this is on reservation land (not off-reservation taken into trust), taxes are paid ( Washington collected $30 million in mostly sales tax last year), the tribe members benefit (unemployment rate on reservation 10% today, compared to 65 % in 1995 and countywide rate of 4.5%.) The glowing newspaper report omits a discussion of harms but in this instance possibly a casino can be justified in the long run.
   
   For their assessment of casinos' impact on surrounding communities, the authors heavily cite the 1999 report of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago which examined the impact of
   casinos between 1980 and 1997 on one hundred sample communities within a fifty mile range as well as a 2000 study (the Harvard Study) reexamining the same data, by Taylor, Krepps, and Wang, "National Evidence for the Socioeconomic Impact of American Indian Gaming on Non-Indian Communities," In 1980 only five of the sample communities were near casinos; by 1997 forty-five were, thus offering the opportunity to assess the impact of casinos. The NORC study "found consistent and substantial net benefits and few if any aggregate harms accruing to communities with casinos." The Harvard Study concluded that overall, the introduction of a tribal casino produced "substantial beneficial economic and social impacts on surrounding communities" especially in poor, isolated rural areas.
   
   I note the apparent greater sophistication and originality of Grinols' economic analyses and his cautions about glowing assessments. "(There is) a tendency to state an industry's impact on regional jobs as an economic benefit without computing its significance in terms of value to area residents. Other common mistakes are to confuse business profitability with social profitability; to focus on the profits of the industry being added to the economy and to neglect to account for lost profits of other businesses;.....to make unsubstantiated claims about unemployment; and to neglect to consider externality costs."
   
   "Externalities" are social and economic costs associated with gambling which don't show up on balance sheets of casinos, such as costs of problem and pathological gambling, crime, competition with local businesses, traffic, loss of real estate and sales tax from land under Indian sovereignty, etc. While providing a table listing possible harmful externalities, Light and Rand examine in detail only three areas: pathological and problem gambling. crime, reservation quality of life. This restricted examination in itself defuses the impact of harms.
   
   Let's look at the first two. The NORC study concluded that the presence of a casino in or near a community did not significantly increase crime. To the contrary, it appeared that crime rates were reduced, "but not in an overwhelming way." The Harvard study, however, showed a substantial decrease in auto theft and robbery associated with proximity to a tribal casino, and other indications of decreased social ills (reduced welfare payments) perhaps relating to alleviation of poverty. Other authors are cited who cast doubt on the commonly perceived relation of casinos to crime.
   
   But crime is also a byproduct of pathological and problem gambling and should also be considered in that context. A South Carolina study of video-poker players cited by Grinols showed that the percentages of pathological gamblers who engage in criminal behavior (without complicating other disorders such as alcoholism or depression) were as follows: wrote bad checks, 54.4 %; stole, 37.1 %; arrested 41 %.
   
   Pathological and problem gambling are associated with a wide range of ills - crime, debt, unemployment, bankruptcy, marital discord, divorce, drug abuse, mental and physical problems, suicide, etc. In its
   1999 report the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC ) reported that some 1.2 to 1.5 % of the population (3 million people) were pathological gamblers at some point during their lives while another 1.5 to 3.9 % of adults (between 3 and 7.8 million) were problem gamblers. Citing the NORC study Light and Rand give the economic cost of each pathological gambler at $10,550 over his or her lifetime and a lesser figure for problem gamblers. That comes to a $4 billion societal cost for pathological and problem gamblers. (If the construction of a new casino stimulates the development of pathological or problem gamblers in its region those new cases can be attributed to the casino.)
   
   Now that's a lot of money but I kept thinking about the $10,550 for a lifetime of someone with a serious gambling problem. It doesn't seem high enough. I checked Grinols, welcoming a possible point of direct comparison on the issue. On page 167, Grinols estimates the average cost off a pathological gambler is $11,304 each year (2003 dollars). Each year! Compared to a similar figure in Light and Rand's book for a lifetime. I looked into it further.
   
   Grinols uses cost figures based on nine studies (everyone agrees that more studies need to be done and estimates are not accurate) which he cites in detail, one of which is the NORC study. The NORC study (on which Light and Rand rely) can be found on the web as an appendix to the report of the 1999 NGISC cited previously. Page 63 shows a table listing types of costs (i.e. unemployment benefits and the like) and past year and lifetime cost estimates. No estimates are included -none (they are too difficult to estimate) - for lifetime costs relating to job loss, unemployment or welfare benefits, poor physical or mental health, treatment of gambling addiction. Nor are any costs attributed to family costs (costs of divorce, separation, spousal abuse, child neglect and abuse) or "abused dollars" (gambling money acquired form family, friends under false pretenses, "loans" that are never repaid.)
   
   Obviously the $10, 550 figure is a gross underestimate of lifetime costs. Our authors should know better than to pass it off as an estimate; it is only a step in constructing an estimate. Taking Grinol's figures for costs of problem and pathological gamblers, the total lifetime costs come to not $ 4 billion but an order of magnitude higher, perhaps to hazard a guess, $80 billion to $100 billion.
   
   In addition to downplaying costs, Light and Rand throw cold water on the idea that casinos actually increase the numbers of pathological and problem gamblers. "As one study puts it `in the light of the large extent to which gambling has been legalized in America over the past few decades, the failure to find an obvious pattern of increasing prevalence of pathological gambling should raise serious doubts about just how likely the disorder is to be triggered by increasing opportunities to gamble.'"
   
   Citing (not quoting) the NORC report, they go on to say "more Americans have been exposed to gambling...Between the national commission reviews -1975 and 1998-the proportion of Americans who had gambled at least once in their lives jumped from 68% to 86%. However, the percentage of Americans gambling in the past year increased only slightly, from 61 percent to 63 percent, in spite of increased availability of gambling opportunities. Together these finding suggest that while people are experimenting with gambling, this has not turned people into habitual or problem gamblers. Other have suggested that the availability of gambling has little or no impact on problem or pathological gambling prevalence rates because the origins of gambling addiction are tangled with other addictive behaviors unrelated to gaming."
   
   Now this is interesting because the NORC report clearly states: "The availability of a casino within 50 miles (versus 50-250 miles) is associated with about double the prevalence of problem and pathological gamblers...This finding is similar to the overall level of past-year casino gambling (40% of adults living close to casinos versus 23 % of adults living 50-250 miles away)...." Grinols extrapolates social costs from these extra problem and pathological gamblers which in his view exceed the extra benefits to a region by a ratio of more than 3:1.
   
   A chapter "Indian Gaming in Context" examines "stereotypes...newly manifested prejudice and backlash," mistaken ideas characterizing public discussion of Indian casinos. They criticize such notions as: "Tribes are composed of `casino Indians'", "Tribes should pay their `fair share'"; "Tribal government cannot be trusted." Anti-casino activists should look at these rebuttals to common arguments against Indian casinos. On the whole, the rebuttals are weak and rely heavily on ad hominem rhetoric (...tribes face substantial obstacles rooted at best in misinformation and ignorance and at worst in prejudice and ethnocentrism in their efforts to realize the promise of tribal sovereignty."
   
   They rebut "Tribes are composed of `casino Indians'" by quoting the harshest critics who equate tribes' search for federal recognition and casino-building ("Bet by bet, the Indians are scalping customers for millions"), asking us to respond to the "scalping" innuendo. They offer in rebuttal a single quotation from a chief (....it will never be all about gaming.") There is no objective examination of the relation between tribes seeking recognition and their casino-building ambitions. Regarding "Tribal Sovereignty is simply an unfair advantage", Light and Rand, approvingly state:" Indian gaming is an exercise of sovereign governmental authority by Indian tribes." Throughout the book this theme is repeatedly sounded, the authors clearly leaning to an expansive view of sovereignty favored by tribes (with broader casino building powers), rather than the "compromised nature of tribal sovereignty as defined by federal Indian law." Can sovereignty, I wonder, be anything but "compromised" with small entities living in the midst of a large populous country? What does sovereignty mean when tribes are sovereign and their members can vote and lobby and run for office in U.S. elections ? If tribes are sovereign can they also grow and sell marijuana? Conduct foreign relations?
   
   A case can be made that this book overplays successes and downplays harms. Toward what end? The authors seek a reform of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1998, one that strengthens the hand of tribes, reduces the power of states, and puts the federal government in a stronger regulatory position so that it can better carry out its responsibility to the tribes. Thus, Congress could cap the percentage of gambling revenues that states can demand and empower the Secretary of the Interior to "consider whether both tribal and state sovereignty are adequately protected, that is, whether the terms of the compact appear fair and reasonable, taking into account tribal self-determination." With their strongly positive view of gaming and expansive Indian sovereignty nothing stands in the way of facilitating as much a possible the unimpeded growth of the Indian casino industry.
   
   
   Arnold Lieber
   arnlieb@yahoo.com
   Saugerties, NY

5 comments about Ghosthunting Illinois (America's Haunted Road Trip).

1. I decided to purchase this book on a whim and I was pleasantly surprised. Most paranormal location books offer little more than brief historical overviews of each location and then the associated ghost story. In "Ghosthunting Illinois," Kachuba takes a more hands-on approach in that he's visited the locations personally. His book offers some historical information, the associated ghost stories, and interviews with people associated with the location (owners, tenants, parishoners, etc.). Beyond that, he also describes his trek through these locations by expressing how he felt, what he saw, etc. An even more compelling reason to purchase this book is the fact that it's very well written which stands to reason considering the author is a "creative writing" professor. Additionally, the book holds your interest and the chapters are short so it's a great "quick chapter before bed" type of book.



2. This is a fine book about ghosts. What is most important about the author's book is its straight-ahead, honest approach to the topic. His comments and thoughts on ghosts, and their locale, is refreshingly enjoyable. The writing is concise and entertaining. This is an excellent reference on Illinois ghosts. John Kachuba is a first rate writer with a keen sense of the macabre, and he knows how to write about the paranormal!



3. John Kachuba is really good at telling
   
   the places that he visited. Each story is
   
   fasinating and he gives some interesting history
   
   on the haunted places
   
   
   ~SkUrVy



4. I decided to try this book, as I seem to have almost every other book written about ghosts in the Chicagoland area. What I most enjoyed about this book, is that John lives in Ohio. So he was a visitor to our state, while researching stories for his book. It was very well written, with pictures he provided. I enjoyed his writing so much, that his book on Ohio ghosts is in my wish list and I purchased his recommendation on the Indiana ghosts. I also appreciated that he contacted other ghost hunters and referenced them in his book.



5. I am an avid Ghosthunters fan (TAPS on SciFi). I purchased this book hoping it would give me specifics about paranormal investigations/haunted locations in Illinois. The book is interesting in that it provides several locations that are reputed to be haunted. However, it is more disappointing in that the book offers no evidence of any investigations or "hunts". In every site story that I have read so far, I see a lot of the word "maybe" and or "perhaps". The author has clearly visited the sites, but has not had any personal experiences himself to build on -- he merely repeats stories he has heard from locals.
   
   I would like to have seen something more from this book -- but it does still make me curious.

1 comments about Woodall's Western America Campground Directory, 2008 (Woodall's Western Campground Directory).

1. Woodall's camping directories save time and money. Whether you are setting up a long trip and reserve a spot for each night's or are "winging it" you can find a variety of places to stay along with good reviews of each park. And, with today's high gas prices it's even more valuable for finding local "staycation" spots.

No comments about Best Designed Wellness Hotels: North And South America, Carribean, Mexico / Nord - Und sudamerika, Karibik, Mexiko (Best Designed).

5 comments about A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf.

1. One of John Muir's earliest works, this book traces his travels from Indiana to Florida, continuing on to Cuba, and ending up in California. At times, it is fascinating stuff. As he left in 1867, just after the American Civil War, he encounters many suspicious Southerners, although most are cordial to him. Muir wrote this as a journal of discovery, I think, to document the different flora and fauna he encounters in a part of the country with which he was not familiar. But this book is just as interesting as a social study - in other words, what was life like in America in 1867? How did the people act? How did they treat him? What were his impressions? If you have ever wondered about what America was like 150 years ago, you will find some answers here.
   
   Additionally, Muir has some fine moments of nature writing. Sometimes he delights in just stopping and observing: "I used to lie on my back for whole days beneath the ample arms of these great trees, listening to the winds..." He calls the birds he observes "feathered people from the woods and reedy isles." And despite being a God-fearing man, he disagrees with those who take a fundamentalist view of nature, ridiculing the claim that the world was made especially for man..."a presumption not supported by the facts," says Muir.
   
   Overall, I enjoyed this book. At times there is a little too much discussion on botany for my tastes, but that was OK. Muir's journal is rich with interesting anecdotes. With this journey, the founder of the Sierra Club was well on his way to making his mark in the world.
   
   Four stars.



2. The title sums up quite a bit of the review for me. Not only was he a brilliant naturalist and visionary, but he was a better than decent science and adventure writer. This book, thousand mile walk to the gulf, is from Muir's younger days when he basically dropped out and went exploring. He walked from Wisconsin to the gulf, shortly after the war, and literally slept wherever. Hedges, roadsides, the occasional house. His observations on reconstruction South are all the more insightful because they are unadulterated (is that a word?) by any agenda, and have the overpowering reality of truth.
   
   While his time in the Sierras is what he is most famous for, and the mountains more rugged and inspiring, this pre-Jenkins "Walk Across America" is a tamer warm-up for reading his journals from Yosemite days. I highly recommend it myself, it gives a bit of botany and a lot of background on Muir himself.



3. John Muir (naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club) left his home in Indiana at age 29 and "rambled" 1,000 miles through the woods of the southern US ending in Florida in 1867/68. It was just 2 years after the end of the Civil War and he ran into "wild negros" and long-haired horse-riding ex-Confederate bandits who would "kill a man for $5". He passed through uninhabited stretches of burnt out fields and deserted farms and was often seen as a northern interluder mistrusted by his southern guests. He lived mostly on stale pieces of bread, almost dieing of starvation while camping in a graveyard outside of Savannah, GA. He caught malaria and was bed ridden for 3 months, cared for by a kind family in Florida.
   
   This is a snapshot of the south right after the war and the contrast between Muir's beautiful nature writing and the devastation of war are just as striking today as they must have been for the many people who encountered this unusual walker in the woods. Muir's writing is under-stated - the book was published posthumously and is more a diary than a finished book, which gives it a truthfulness and matter of factness. Fundamentally a Romanticist world-view - the power of nature and mans relation to it - Muir delights in finding, sampling and discussing plants, animals and geography. The genre is best compared with Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes and Thoreau's The Maine Woods.



4. After an accident in a carriage factory while working as an inventor left him temporarily blinded, John Muir vowed that he would break the moorings of life in Indianapolis and embark for wilderness places to study plants. His intention, which he later acknowledged as foolhardy, was to find his way to a tributary of the Amazon and float down that great river. He never made it to South America. He was lucky enough to survive a bout with malaria and be diverted to California.
   
   It's hard to imagine a much more dangerous undertaking than to set off alone soon after the Civli War to places unknown in the heart of the South. He was warned repeatedly by kind strangers and knew quite clearly of the dangers ahead: the guerilla bands of roving white bandits, displaced and desperate former slaves, a migration of rattlesnakes, the alligator-infested swamps, and the worst of all: catching malaria from mosquito bites (the thing that did catch up to him). It shows how single minded he was in his desire to study and learn about the natural world. As the blacksmith who took him in along the way characterized him: what a tough-minded man he needed to be in order to subordinate the dangers to what he wanted to do.
   
   Some do get rather tired of reading Muir's descriptive passages, but for anyone with a love of plants, this book offers a very unique and special view of the native vegetation along the route that he took to Florida. The cultural observations are less common, but they are keen and say a lot about the times: the people and how simply they lived. Then, there are some amazing experiences such as the time he spent in the natural refuge of the St Bonaventure graveyard in Savannah waiting for a parcel from his brother to arrive. There's a prophecy by a friend along the way about the coming prevalence of electricity long before the light bulb was invented. And, there are Muir's observations that plants do have secret lives, unknown to man, who tends to blow himself up out of all proportion to the rest of Creation.



5. I did not receive this product. One week after I ordered it I got an email stating that I would not receive this book & my account was refunded. Not sure what the deal is.

No comments about Chicago Laminated Pocket Map by Pocket-Pilot.

2 comments about Southern California's Best Ghost Towns: A Practical Guide.

1. I used this book on a trip to Southern California and tried to find of the few ghost towns with a friend. We had a good time locating some on a day trip. Pictures were good but a little old.



2. 
   The book is a nice, but limited resource as it has been quite a few years since publication. Photos are B&W, but it is generally well written and has directions to the sties that are described.