Columbia Reviews

Well, Mr. Criscuolo has proven me wrong. Having growing up skiing other places like Idaho, Utah, and California I thought all skiing up in the Washington area was wet and marginal. I had no idea that there were all these different places to ski in the Seattle area (2 hour drive or less).

There are even more if you want to do some traveling but not make the hike all the way to Sun Valley or get on a plane to make it to Utah, Colorado, or California.

Thanks Mr. Criscuolo This is a resource that I needed to make my winters fun in Seattle!

Finally, a book about Pacific NW skiing that nails it!

Criscuolo obviously did his research, because the information is dead-on. While the book is meticulously detailed, it is easy to navigate and well-written.

Anyone who's serious about NW skiing & boarding needs to have this book.

Santo has done extensive research and this book is excellent! Santo writes very clearly and provides and all the pertinent information you'll need to enjoy any of these Northwest resorts to the fullest. Having grown up in the Northwest and skied many of these mountains, I found myself agreeing completely with what Santo wrote. His descriptions brought the resorts back to life in my memory. I especially like that he chose some out-of-the-way places that haven't been covered in other guide books. Santo gives press to some of the best-kept Northwest secrets, for which I suppose I can forgive him, and I applaud his honest enthusiasm for snow riding. This book makes me excited about the upcoming season and want to ride every single mountain he's reviewed! Get this book. Then get out there and make some turns!

This book is a good source to balance the word and image of Islam and Muslim in the western world. Muslim is not only in Arabian peninsula or Gulf contries, in fact Indonesia is the largest muslim population in the world. Many pictures on the book can give the different side of Islam in Southeast asia. They don't speak arabic, they don't have big nose,they are short, skiny etc. I recommend this book for the people who wants to know Muslim in Southeast asia without reading a long history book.

But there is unbalance information in the book I noticed, specially information about Indonesian muslim in the introduction. Steve Raymer seems doesn't have a good source that he can get the information about Indonesian muslim. Might be because they are so many and he tries to put it in the same ammount as Malaysian which is only about 1/6 or 1/8 of Indonesian in comparison. It is best if he can consult or clarify his information with the Indonesian sociologists, historians, or scholars in order to validate the information. One of the examples is on second page, the picture doesn't not macth the note (citation). The picture is showing the people who are suplicating, is not always in arabic, but he says those people are reciting the koran. This is just small example.
I recommend people who have this book to check with the Southeast Asian people to clarify the information.
More than that, good work and well done.

Steve Raymer has done an exceptional job at capturing the humanity of Southeast Asian Muslims through the lenses of the faithful camera. The pictures are breathtakingly beautiful, while the accompanying caption and text serve as an easy-to-read commentary especially for those expecting only an excursion into the subject. His attempt at a sympathetic understanding of a culture that is relatively obscure to the average Westerner is commendable; the journalistic objectivity being a salient feature of the book.

Raymer, in my opinion, succeeded in shattering the perpetuated myth surrounding the perception of Muslims. Not only does he cogently disprove the notion of a monolithic Muslim culture across the Muslim world, but he also demonstrates the existence of diversity with which Islam is practiced in this forgotten region. The cognitive image of either a rich Middle-Easterner or a terrorist brandishing an AK-47 so often associated with Islam must now be relegated to the domain of stereotypes. The book is probably a silent apologist for the peace of Islam.

Caveat emptor for those expecting their stereotypes confirmed and prejudices accomodated; the book is sure to frustrate them.

The maxim that a picture is worth a thousand words had never been truer. The picture is now worth millions of humans.

As one who's lived in Southeast Asia off and on for the past seven years, the thing that strikes me about the book by Raymer are the brilliant photos, yes. But the way they are put together gives a human face to Southeast Asia's Muslim peoples. A fair and realistic look at them is refreshing in light of many Western reports that tout them all as gun-toting extremists.

Has excellent photos, maps, directions and places that I was not able to find on other books for this part of the state.

We've been exploring this area for 20 yrs, but this book has led us to some new places. Directions and descriptions are very good. So far, Dusty Lake is my favorite- see it online.

Acts of murder is an excellant book sure to grab even the most reluctant reader. Karl Alberg once again finds him self trying to piece together murders that seem unrelated, yet somehow, he suspects, they are all related. In this book, the lives of several different people, who for the most part do not know one another exist, are intertwined by one person. The cleaning lady has taken it upon her to punish the "sinners". Now, it's up to Karl Alberg and his new female sargent to piece this puzzle together.

After living together for many years, Staff Sargent Karl Alberg and Cassandra Mitchell marry. On that same day, a virus infects the townsfolk of Sechelt, Canada. It begins with the disappearance of a teenage girl, whose corpse was found in a shallow grave over a year later.

A young woman also vanishes after an ugly argument with her now worried spouse. Her body is found near the first body. A housewife thinks she kills her husband when she can no longer tolerate his infidelities. However, when she goes to dispose of the corpse, the body is missing. A waitress at the local diner turns up missing as well.Karl knows that he must uncover the identity of someone who is executing non-repenting sinners.

Laurali R. Wright, who is considered one of Canada's top mystery writers, is actually is one of the world's top crime authors. She is able to capture the mindset of the victims, perpetrators, and authorities with clarity rarely seen in novels. ACTS OF MURDER is actually three stories woven together by decade old actions. However, the book is very atmospheric, depending more on mood rather than action, and why rather than who. Ms. Wright may be in line for another Edgar with this terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner

At last! An historical novel that's interesting, amusing, and *entertaining* and so *real* you feel you need to clean your boots every time you read a piece of it. Yeah, the pictures are faded. They're *old*, dammit, *real*. These are *everybody's* folks, the way they grew up and loved and lost their limbs just so we could be here. John Sayles, *do* read these books. You'll have another "Matewan" in your hands.

'Labor of love' seems inadequate in describing BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS, authored by resident-historian, Mona Leeson Vanek. This engaging book narrates virtually every known event of significance in the region, through the use of oral tape recordings, letters, and written documentation. Beginning before the arrival of David Thompson, it contains determined homesteaders, exciting log drives down river, pioneering merchants, establishment of schools and churches, and the horrors of the 1910 forest fire. Countless stories of individuals, ranging from mildly amusing to hilarious enliven this history. Where else in a book of this sort can one find characters who vow to escape from a local jail "disguised as a bunch of radishes?" or a shingle-mill owner who closed down his mill after having to ante up compensation for too many workers' sawed-off fingers - at $1,000 per finger. BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS stands as the definitive history of its region, the lower Clark's Fork of the Columbia River and the Bull River valley in Sanders County, Montana. The chapter on the Forest Service's arrival in the valley clearly describes the bitter struggles between pioneer ranger Augustus Ferdinand Silcox and local businessmen, led by Clifford R. Weare, who wanted to continue their unfettered exploitation of the public domain. The more than 200 photographs are positioned in the book to match and enhance the text, but reporoduction of many of them obviously is more faded and washed out than the author would have liked. The thorough index is a boon for genealogists. A complete set of end notes contain material that enhance the stories, and if readers ignore the footnotes, they'll miss some stirring accounts of vigilante activity during the 1880s. Excellent accounts of the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which opened the northwest area of Montana to settlement, provide vivid accounts of problems along this 'most difficult and expensive division' of the entire NPRR line. Vanek has done her community and Montana a great service

While there are several multi-day trips in the guide, this book is targeted at the more serious recreational rider who is looking for day rides of 25 to 60 miles. It covers quite a large area, mostly in Washington State, with general and detailed descriptions of the routes, augmented by line maps. One nice feature is that it details the vertical profile of each ride so you can see what you're getting into when it comes to climbing hills at various milage points in the rides.

I've ridden about 1/3 of the routes and have found the rides well planned and accurately described. There is always a place to stop for a break near mid-way, and often alternatives to shorten or lengthen the trip. A great book to get you in touch with quiet roads or bike trails that you otherwise may never discover.

Good reference of some of the favorite multi-day bicycle tours in the Northwest.

The Boys of Boise is one of those books that anyone interested in understanding the issues besetting those living an alternative lifestyle must read.

John Gerassi writes an editorial history of a series of politically motivated arrests and harrassments of those in the homosexual community in Boise, Idaho in 1955. Gerassi writes from a mid-1960s perspective in the midst of the sexual revolution looking back on a different perspective when homosexuality was even less accepted than it was in the 1960s.

The book explores several issues as they impacted a prosecution of a given portion of the homosexual population: community politics, the input and influence of a religous community (in Boise - the LDS), the role of the popular local press, a grab for power by those outside the main community power structure, the role of law enforcement and the courts.

Why is this book a must read for understanding issues facing those living alternative lifestyles today? The events covered could happen in any community today - to those who are exploring poly relationships, BDSM, and Gor - as well as to those who continue to simply live within the Gay community. There are laws on our books in each state and locale that could be discriminatively enforced to bring problems to individuals or groups - in violation of protections they believe they have under the Bill of Rights.

The only possible negative in the book - and for some it is not a negative - is the amount of space devoted to reproducing the entirety of court dialogs and certain other primary sources. While I personally enjoyed having the sources there - other historians would prefer they be relegated to either appendices or simply referenced and summarized. It should be noted that when Gerassi wrote this book - he was a reporter/editor for a news periodical rather than a university professor.

The book definitely belongs in the library of scholars devoted to Urban studies, gay studies, the sociology of alternative lifestyles and the like.

From 1955 to 1957, Boise, Idaho, was caught in the grip of a full-blown Gay panic that made national headlines and gave Idaho's judicial system a black eye. This study of the panic, published in 1965, is both of its time and decades ahead of it. Gerassi brilliantly dissects the (chiefly economic) motives of people involved in promoting and prosecuting the scandal. He also displays a sharp eye for character and incidental detail.

A must-read for anyone interested in GLBT history, and also a classic piece of investigative journalism, Gerassi's book is an astonishing piece of work. (Neil Miller covers a similar scandal in Sioux City, IA, with the somewhat inferior _Sex Crime Panic_.)

If you have looked for great muffin, coffee cake, cobbler recipes, this book has them. I'm pretty picky about recipes but I have found some great ones in here. I made the blueberry coffee cake and it was so easy and delicious. The banana bread was great and I can't wait to try others. I'm going to check out her other one!

Carol Frieberg continues to find the most delicious, and easy to prepare, breakfasts in town. There are so many good recipes, this book makes it easy to celebrate the morning! I cannot wait until Carol's next B&B adventure.

As someone who grew up in the Kennedy era, these images had a profound effect on me. They are images that shortly after they were made, could never have been made again. Can you imagine seeing Jack and Jackie Kennedy strolling alone down the streets of Georgetown (in DC), her wearing shorts and him wearing sneakers and a plain t-shirt? Or playing football in a public park with absolutely NO gawkers hanging around? The great impact of these pictures comes from their innocence and irony, because of what came after and what we now know. If you remember the Kennedy era, you might stare at some of the images in this book for many minutes in wonder, about the people in the picture, about yourself, and about how we were then and are now. I gave this book to my brother-in-law--a recognized expert on the Kennedy assination--and he said he almost cried. It's that good.

Can the Kennedys ever have a bad photograph taken of them? It is appears not, as this book illustrates. CAMELOT AT DAWN is kind of an artsy photojournalism feast for the eyes, and although at first glance the text will seem to have general information that we all know about, it too is a treat.

Orlando Suero had his first big assignment taking pictures of Jacqueline Kennedy for McCall's magazine for an article. It would turn out that most of his shots would not be used because the press felt that the Kennedys had been overexposed in the media due to their wedding--so it is only now in this book that most of the pictures taken for that assignment have been published.
Suero says that JFK manages to sneek himself into most pictures, and so the final result became as much as about him as Jackie...but we also see the Bobby Kennedys as well as the former President Trumans.

Some of these pictures have been published in other books, so not all of them are seen here for the first time, but seeing them within the context that they were shot makes the photos that have been seen before all the more interesting. However, it is only a few--most of these are just being seen for the first time.

As for the text, some of it is "well duh" text because it is known by everybody:"Jackie was a silver-and-Sevres kind of girl, whereas Jack was a milkshake-and-hamburger kind of guy." (I am not cutting on Anne Garside's writing--because the book is actually quite good, I am just trying to point out that some of the information that she writes everyone knows in their sleep...as that is how famous Jack and Jackie have become.) Now don't take this sentence of Garside's alone--you have to read the whole book before you dare judge her writing, and in my estimation she has succeded in the overall scheme in making two well known sujects seem like new again. How does she do this?
For example, there is information about the renting of Dent Place--where these photographs are taken as well the Kennedys first home--which is interesting because we get to see excerpts from Jackie's letters to the Childs (the people who the Kennedys were renting the house from.)
Also information about Evelyn Lincoln's calender is given as to what the Kennedy's were doing the week the photos were taken, as well as little details spread out throughout the text that make the book an interesting read.

I believe that this is a standout book published on the Kennedys. It is informative and orginal in text, and the pictures easily give Lowe, Avedon, and Shaw a run for their money. You can and will enjoy this book if you give it a chance--don't get stuck on the information about the JFKs that we all know or the pictures that we have all seen--read the entire book and appreciate the entire book!

This is one of the finest historical novels that I have read. I am a real fan of Pamela Jeckel. All of her novels are meticulously researched and historically accurate. Her use of both the human saga and the animal life of the area are interwoven and really two stories in one. I am a Northwest native and reading of the history of the mighty Columbia before man was in the area, to the building of the Gramd Coulee Dam was an eye opener. The lives of the characters are interwoven from the Portland Chinese immigrant woman, the Indian shaman, and the dam builder. A terrific book.

I am from the Pacific Northwest and this is one super book! I enjoyed reading it and was facinated with the accuracy of this historical novel. I highly recommend it! It is a "hard to put down" book.