2 comments about Linking Up: Planning Your Traffic Free Bike Trip Between Pittsburgh and Washington, DC.

1. A good pamphlet if your planning the trip. It provides a good deal of useful information on routes and places to stay. It would be great if the pamphlet was updated as I'm sure there have been changes since 1999.



2. This is the essential book if you're planning a trip along the Pittsburgh-DC trailway, or any segment. Well written, this is like a visit with an experienced tour guide. The book offers options for various experience levels. You can't go wrong with this!

4 comments about A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home.

1. "A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home" provides an outstanding window into the life and times of the American migration westward. Through the eyes of Phoebe Goodell Judson, one lives the trials of the Oregon trail, the challenges of pioneering, and a powerful perspective on the American mind during the last half of the 19th Century. 20 years old and 7 months pregnant, Phoebe begins the 7 month treck from Ohio to Vancouver, Washington. Through her diaries, she chronicles the life changing experiences of exploration and community building that did so much to shape the American culture. One only wishes that she had kept additional records and thoughts as the reader is left wishing that there was more. First person story-telling at it's best, be prepared to go looking for maps of Washington and the Oregon Trail.



2. scence Phoebe is my Great grandmother it gave me a background on my history alone! this is a great book!



3. An excerpt from this amazing book:
   "While adoring the various brilliant tints of (October foilage)we are reminded "that we all do fade like the leaf." A more perfect simile could hardly be given. For a time "we flourish like the green bay tree," and then comes adversity, trials and griefs that sear and beautify the soul, as the strong blasts and chilly frosts bring out the beautiful tints of the leaves, making "old age" as glorious as the autumn season of the year." p 81



4. What a fantastic view into what it was like to be a poineer and what it was like during the formation of western Washington State. I'm from the east side of the state and enjoy our state history but to see an overall picture of what it was like by someone living through it was just a fantastic experience. Much more interesting that just learning "facts" about the history of Washington and the early settlers.
   
   Great book - even if you're not interested in the state itself!

5 comments about Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable.

1. Maybe the most important thing for you to know about this book is that it isn't just, or even mostly, about Edgar Degas. If you're in the market solely for an art book about Degas, you may not like this book. What this book is really about is 19th century New Orleans. Degas' 1872-1873 trip is the main theme which the author has used as his framework. Mr. Benfey "improvises" on this theme and goes off in interesting directions. He talks about what made New Orleans unique- the early Creole settlers vs. the "Americans" that arrived after the Louisiana Purchase; the free black population (pre-Civil War) vs. the slaves who became free because of the war; the rupture caused by the war- as New Orleans was occupied by Federal forces through almost all of the conflict. (Many of the local women proved to be fairly feisty in showing their contempt for the Yankees. One woman in the French Quarter supposedly downloaded the contents of a chamber pot onto Admiral Farragut's head. On another occasion, the soldier in charge of keeping order, General Benjamin "Beast" Butler, was riding by some women and they all turned their backs to him. Butler remarked, "those women evidently know which end of them looks best.") After the Civil War the economy, based almost solely on King Cotton, took a beating in the Depression of the 1870's. Yankee "carpetbaggers" were despised. Liberals who wanted integration of the races did battle, sometimes literally, with reactionary forces who yearned for a return to the days of slavery. Mr. Benfey works in some analysis of the writers Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable, who were interested in some of the above themes. The author does devote a fairly good portion of the book to discussing Degas' "Louisiana Connection," (his mother was born in New Orleans; he had relatives who were involved in the cotton trade; and his younger brother, Rene, left France to try to make his fortune in New Orleans). If you enjoy Degas' art, you will find Mr. Benfey's musings on the portraits and "genre scenes" that Degas did during this period to be interesting and informative. For example, from a purely painterly standpoint, Degas enjoyed the juxtaposition of black and white skin, as well as the white of cotton against the black suits and hats commonly worn by businessmen of the time. Mr. Benfey also, convincingly, shows that Degas' started to use, in these paintings, certain compositional effects- such as slanted floors, the arrangement of figures in interior spaces, and certain hand and head movements- that would shortly reappear in the more famous "ballet paintings." We also see Degas in transition from his early "realistic" phase to a looser, more "Impressionistic" style of painting. I also found it interesting that Degas was fascinated by many things he saw while walking around New Orleans, but he was limited mostly to painting interior scenes because the light of New Orleans was bothering his eyes. (He started to have problems with his vision while serving in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. By the time of his death in 1917 he was nearly blind.) There was enough about Degas and his family and art in this book to satisfy me, plus I enjoyed Mr. Benfey's "improvisations." If, in addition to being a Degas fan, you have any interest in the antebellum and post-Civil War worlds of New Orleans, I think you will get a lot of enjoyment and intellectual stimulation from this book.



2. Maybe the most important thing for you to know about this book is that it isn't just, or even mostly, about Edgar Degas. If you're in the market solely for an art book about Degas, you may not like this book. What this book is really about is 19th century New Orleans. Degas' 1872-1873 trip is the main theme which the author has used as his framework. Mr. Benfey "improvises" on this theme and goes off in interesting directions. He talks about what made New Orleans unique- the early Creole settlers vs. the "Americans" that arrived after the Louisiana Purchase; the free black population (pre-Civil War) vs. the slaves who became free because of the war; the rupture caused by the war- as New Orleans was occupied by Federal forces through almost all of the conflict. (Many of the local women proved to be fairly feisty in showing their contempt for the Yankees. One woman in the French Quarter supposedly downloaded the contents of a chamber pot onto Admiral Farragut's head. On another occasion, the soldier in charge of keeping order, General Benjamin "Beast" Butler, was riding by some women and they all turned their backs to him. Butler remarked, "those women evidently know which end of them looks best.") After the Civil War the economy, based almost solely on King Cotton, took a beating in the Depression of the 1870's. Yankee "carpetbaggers" were despised. Liberals who wanted integration of the races did battle, sometimes literally, with reactionary forces who yearned for a return to the days of slavery. Mr. Benfey works in some analysis of the writers Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable, who were interested in some of the above themes. The author does devote a fairly good portion of the book to discussing Degas' "Louisiana Connection," (his mother was born in New Orleans; he had relatives who were involved in the cotton trade; and his younger brother, Rene, left France to try to make his fortune in New Orleans). If you enjoy Degas' art, you will find Mr. Benfey's musings on the portraits and "genre scenes" that Degas did during this period to be interesting and informative. For example, from a purely painterly standpoint, Degas enjoyed the juxtaposition of black and white skin, as well as the white of cotton against the black suits and hats commonly worn by businessmen of the time. Mr. Benfey also, convincingly, shows that Degas' started to use, in these paintings, certain compositional effects- such as slanted floors, the arrangement of figures in interior spaces, and certain hand and head movements- that would shortly reappear in the more famous "ballet paintings." We also see Degas in transition from his early "realistic" phase to a looser, more "Impressionistic" style of painting. I also found it interesting that Degas was fascinated by many things he saw while walking around New Orleans, but he was limited mostly to painting interior scenes because the light of New Orleans was bothering his eyes. (He started to have problems with his vision while serving in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. By the time of his death in 1917 he was nearly blind.) There was enough about Degas and his family and art in this book to satisfy me, plus I enjoyed Mr. Benfey's "improvisations." If, in addition to being a Degas fan, you have any interest in the antebellum and post-Civil War worlds of New Orleans, I think you will get a lot of enjoyment and intellectual stimulation from this book.



3. This is one of the best books I have read. It's so fascinating, easy to read, and just interesting in general. I highly recommend it.



4. Benfey's study is an elegant, exciting study with many facets. He truly evokes a vanished world. An interdisciplinary study which does not meander or bore. Highly recommended.



5. This book is quite informative, just not about Edgar Degas. For the first few chapters I had the feeling that all this information about everyone else was setting the stage for Degas to become, as the title would suggest, a focus of this book. I still had that same feeling while reading the final chapter.
   
   The book would have been more aptly titled "New Orleans from 1865 to 1879, with a Brief Visit by Edgar Degas in 1872". If you've been to New Orleans or are interested in its history or never gave it much thought until Hurricane Katrina and are now curious, this book could be good for you. If you really want a book that focuses on Degas the artist, man, etc... this is not your book.
   
   Beyond that, 1 thing that still bothers me is that I've never read anything by Kate Chopin. In fact I'd never heard of her or Cable until I grabbed this book. I was substantially into their portions of the book, so much so that I'd decided to see which (if any) of their books I could find at my library. I was none too pleased when this book suddenly gave away the ending of one of Chopin's books I'd already planned to read. Let that warn you. In those last couple chapters if you're beginning to care about those books being discussed, skip those sections until you've already read the books.
   
   Of the 2 books I've just reviewed, All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s, Includes 35-track CD of audio clips of poetry readings was greatly preferred.

5 comments about Pacific Northwest Camping: The Complete Guide to More Than 45,000 Campsites for Rvers, Car Campers, and Tenters in Washington and Oregon (Foghorn Outdoors: Pacific Northwest Camping).

1. General introduction provides humorous, informative camping tips for beginners. Listing of Oregon and Washington campsites with notes on their features, facilities and good directions. Maps included for each region in the Pacific NW. Recently revised for 1998.



2. I was depending on this book to direct me to the best campgrounds in the area. However,without a rating system, the book is only half as good. I use the California version as a bible for camping and was disappointed to find this missing for Oregon/Washington.



3. I wouldn't dream of roaming around Washington or Oregon without this book -- simply would never get stuck for the night ever again.



4. I just got this book for Memorial Day Weekend, and it saved our trip! The spot we'd planned to go was full, but we were able to not only find another spot real easy for the night, but it ended up be better than where we'd planned to go. Great book! Saved my butt! Will always take it.



5. My husband and I enjoy spontaneous traveling in our Motorhome. We plan our vacations by selecting how long we will be gone and what direction we will head. This is the freedom afforded by having a Motorhome and being empty nesters.

   This book is fantastic. We have marked it with highlighters, "Post-It" flags, and even different colored stars. "Sea Perch" campground near Cape Perpetua in Oregon, is marked with a gold star. It is literally on the ocean, clean, friendly, and has beautiful scenery.

   Since we travel year-round, I like the information on campground openings and Motorhome size limits, facilities, etc. The quadrant maps, detailed driving directions, and "Trip Notes" are invaluable.

   I am a skeptic when it comes to ratings in books; to me, quality of an area is determined by personal preference. The descriptions in the "Trip Notes" provide an excellent overview to make personal selections.

   We have shared this book and recommended it to MANY people.

2 comments about Manhattanville: Old Heart of West Harlem (NY) (Images of America).

1. Mr. Washington has managed to summarize the rich, diverse history of a small yet fascinating section of the northern half of Manhattan which has consistently been ignored by virtually all writers on urban culture. His prose is terse and informative, and his photographs are truly stunning to anyone familiar with this neighborhood. This concise book is a precious piece of primary historical research which provides evidence on every page of the thought and effort that went into its creation. Whether you live in this neighborhood (as I have for twenty years) or are simply interested in the social and economic evolution of urban areas, this volume will provide you with a living, breathing history of an incredibly diverse slice of a continually evolving city. I urge you to read this fascinating tale of a truly unique part of our city and country.



2. Today, this neighborhood is mostly ignored. Who knew it had such a complex history? This book has great photographs. I live nearby. The web site morningside-heights.net has some pictures of this neighborhood.

No comments about Thomas Guide 2003 Portland Metro Area: Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Greater Vancouver Area, Wa (Thomas Guide Portland Oregon (Bk & CD)).

5 comments about 50 Hikes in Mount Rainier National Park (100 Hikes In...).

1. This book is a great resource to help you plan your hikes in Mount Rainier National Park. The trail descriptions are good and show trail lengths and level of difficulty. My only complaint about the book is that the individual trail maps throughout the book don't maintain a consistent North/South orientation and can be confusing to follow from one to the next.



2. The new color pics are great, but one has to wonder if Harvey, et al, are letting the details slip in their golden years. One whole section, for trails on the (washed out) West Side Road, tells you to get on the "shuttle bus" and be dropped off at the trailhead -- when in fact no such bus exists, and probably won't for years, according to park rangers. This minor inconvenience adds as much as 10 miles to some of those hikes -- and these distances are NOT spelled out in the guide. There also seeems to be sloppy editing; more than one altitude-gain stats are wrong, as in, 2,300 rather than 3,200. That's a big difference. Also, like other Mountaineers guides released recently, the authors in this one seem to be at war with their own publishers. Example: The route they suggest to Indian Henry's Hunting Grounds is no longer even maintained by the park, and another route is described on the next page as "safer." Why, then, include the old route? The authors might want to spend less time defending their old choices and more time making new ones. I'm frankly not interested in the best hikes in the park circa 1965. In sum: Worth having for the pics, but supplement it with something else for trail data.



3. The best thing you can say about this umpteenth edition of this guide is that it has some nice color pictures. Even then, though, they aren't always accurate - like the picture of Ranger Falls, which really isn't Ranger Falls, but a lower falls about a quarter-mile down the trail from the real Ranger Falls. Or the picture of the "Avalanche lily" on page 69, which is really a glacier lily. You'd think a pair of old veterans like Ira Spring and Harvey Manning would know things like that.
   That first photo is on the Green Lake hike, which the author tells you starts at elevation 985 feet. In fact, the elevation at the trailhead is about 2,100 feet. There are several mistakes like this throughout the book, which makes me wonder how carefully the book has been edited. After all, they've had four tries.
   The maps aren't really maps at all, but confusing little sketches which show you very little about the trail you will be walking. There are no contour lines and pitifully few elevations given, and you've got to wade through paragraphs of boring, often preachy text to find out whether the trail is uphill or downhill on specific sections. Compare these useless cartoons to the clear, excellent topographic maps in Ron C. Judd's new "Day Hike! Mount Rainier," and see which you'd rather try to follow with a compass.
   Of all the guides to trails on Mount Rainier, this has got to be the worst.



4. This book is great. It gives detailed descriptions of the trail, detailed maps and great photos. Many hikes can be done in less than 6 hours. This guide has helped me decide on what trails to see on my trip to Seattle-Washington-Mount Rainier in Aug. of 2005.
   
   The authors of this book, Ira Spring and Harvey Manning, really show their respect for Mount Rainier, by calling it "The Mountain" and it always being capitalized.



5. This book is great for light weight planning. it has nice photos, and a good selection of hikes. For a person who wants some guidance on where to go hiking, this is a great place to start. It's a beautiful book. We put this book in all three of our Mt. Rainier cabins at Three Bears Lodge. The guests do love to review them when they're planning their next day's assault.

No comments about The Thomas Guide Kitsap County, Washington: Street Guide (Thomas Guide Kitsap County Street Guide).

4 comments about Fodor's Around Washington, D.C. with Kids (Around the City with Kids).

1. My family and I recently took a trip to DC, and brought along this book. It had lots of great tips on what to see and where to eat. We've used the "Boston" version of the book for years, and I was glad to see that the "DC" version was just as helpful.



2. Got as a gift but spent time reading through.
   Looked like it gave great suggestions for teachers too on what to visit and where to go while on field trips.



3. We are traveling to Washington, D.C. and this book is going into our suitcase as a reference while we are there! We have really enjoyed reading it and learning about Washington, D.C.



4. Purchased prior to our first trip to D.C. The kids enjoyed reading it as much as we did. Was a great help in planning our days in D.C. Recommend using this and Frommer's Washington D.C. with Kids (Frommer's With Kids), especially if travelling with children in a range of ages as our were--7, 9, and 16.

5 comments about Backcountry Ski! Washington: The Best Trails and Descents for Free-Heelers and Snowboarders.

1. The author has written a witty very informative book. I would very strongly recommend it to anyone who loves the outdoors, and is looking for a book that is not only accurate, factual, but also very entertaining. GREAT READING!



2. Seabury Blair's guide book appeals to those of us who don't jump off of cliffs for entertainment. When first starting out as a novice skier I would have appreciated having a copy of this book. Now that I'm skiing at an intermediate level this guide book is invaluable. It's formatted for all levels of skiing abilities. Most guide books are written with just the facts..very dry. Blair's guide book is informative but written with a sense of humor. Whether you are experienced or just beginning to take to the snow this book is for you. Very well done.



3. Does anyone besides Seabury Blair's friends like this book? Marlene Kocur liked it but she has also drew the maps for the book. Another reader gave it 5 stars but also happens to live on the Olympic Peninsula. Probably another of Mr. Blair's friends. If you give this horrendous book a positive review please be completely honest about whether or not the author happens to be a friend of yours. Blair has written a pamphlet for beginning cross-country skiers and then stretched it into a book by printing the same route descriptions over and over again. Then he slapped a cover on it to try and sell it to backcountry skiers and snowboarders. A quick perusal at the bookstand would make this obvious but on the web we don't have that luxury.



4. The best thing about this guide is that you can use it all winter and put it away in the summer. I really like the relaxed style and the way the author makes me feel like I can do any one of these routes in a day.
   I own both backcountry skiing and snowboarding guides to Washington, and this one is by far the best. Most of the routes in the other book are only open in the summer and it would be impossible to get to them in a day.



5. Rainier Burgdorfer's Backcountry Skiing in the Washington's Cascades is MUCH MORE useful. I've got both this book and Burgdorfer's guide and this guidebook covers the same tours as Burgdorfer's book and doesn't provide enough new or different information about these backcountry ski tours to make it useful. As Mr. Blair mentions, Burgdorfer's book does cover some tours that are only accessible after roads have melted out or that require some mountaineering equipment, but that just makes it more interesting. The majority of Burgdorfer's tours are suitable for skiers of intermediate or better ability and do not require any non-skiing gear (i.e., mountaineering equipment).
   
   Martin Volken's guide to Backcountry Skiing Snoqualmie Pass (Backcountry Skiing) is also worth checking out as it does provide new and different options from Burgdorfer's guide in my opinion.