Columbia Reviews

The "Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest . . ." is an excellent read for anyone living in the Pacific Northwest from Coos Bay/North Bend to Nome, even if you aren't into maps. As someone who relocated here from the Midwest five years ago, this book has helped put the webbing between my toes.

The map research is impressive. Derek Hayes has reproduced maps in this book that I never would have known existed. The narative history is good reading as well (I detect the influence of Ken Burns here). The book has greatly increase my knowlege of the place I have chosen to live, both in terms of its history and the physical landscape.

I also recommend it to any history or geography buff, even if you mispronounce Oregon "Or E Gone!"

Ok, so I love maps and I live in the area, but this is still a rightly highly-acclaimed wonderful piece of work! Map fans will love it; locals will love it; others will learn (many) things from it. As well as the maps themselves, you also get a sweeping series of historical vignettes associated with each map. The least you'll get from it is the sheer joy of looking at a fantastic collection of wonderful old maps!

I had low expectations for this when I ordered it. I figured it would be one of those overly general "how to" books that leave out much of the important information. I was surprised to find that it has very specific plans for a variety of garden situations, plans which already show specific groupings of specific plants.

I found this very helpful because I'm not particularly experienced in designing a landscape, nor am I wealthy enough to afford a landscape designer. There is a design for every corner of my new house, tailored to sunlight, etc. I can follow the plans verbatim and end up with a landscape that looks like it was professionally designed, or I can make small changes to personalize it. This is, as the previous reviewer commented, much easier than starting from scratch.

Definately worth the money.

THE BACKGROUND: I know next to nothing about plants, and what little I do know is mainly for plants that grow well in the Deep South, where I grew up. I now have a cute house with a remarkably boring yard 2500 miles away from the "Deep South" - in Seattle, to be exact.

THE GOAL: create some nice-looking, *low maintenance* landscaping for the yard, but without having to become an avid amateur gardener, carpenter or landscape designer.

THE TECHNIQUE: as is my style, I go in for complete overkill and immediately buy a dozen books on the subject of landscaping and gardening - must be thorough in my research, you understand. I pour through them, make lists, check with local nurseries, draw detailed plans, etc., and after many hours of work and decision-making, finally decide what to buy and where to plant them.

THE RESULT: 90% of the plants I finally choose as appropriate to the area, low maintenance, and nifty looking, are in this ONE BOOK already, and there were plenty of others in this one book that could have substituted for the remaining 10%. My planting layouts also fairly strongly resemble several of the suggested layouts detailed in this book.

THE LESSON: Should have started and stopped with this one. I coulda fit in tuba lessons or something!

Buy this book, Cascadia gardeners and landscapers! It's what you need! Oh, and it also has tons of useful information on creating walls, fences, gates, paths, garden layouts, pruning, planting, etc.

VERY highly recommended.

This is a sure fire way for MD., VA., & DC residents to learn how to file their own divorce cases. If you don't have a phone, you may not have a lawyer, but if you can read and follow instructions and you have the cost of this book, you can, if certain requirements are met, be your own lawyer and lean to obtain your own uncontested divorce.

I had decided that enough was enough, but was concerned as to whether I could be on my own and still take care of the children. After reading the information provided in this book, I realized that there were legal ways to make my husband help. I was not interested in destroying his life----just taking our children and starting over. Having information that was specific to my state of Virginia gave me the cnfidence I needed to move forward and talk with an attorney.

This is one of the few books I've found that really explores the issues of sovereignty and native women together. Maracle really explains the connection between women's integrity and wholeness and tribal self-determination. She also looks at issues of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault from a uniquely native perspective. I would recommend this book to all women of native descent.

I read and re-read this book while in university studying native cultures throughtout Canada. I can honestly say, as a native male, that this is one of the most powerful books that I have ever read. Lee Maracle's story portrays that which everyone should know about - the struggles that native people, especially native women, have endured over the past centuries.

If I had only read one book while in university, it would have been this one.

Kendall H. Brown begins his history of Japanese-style gardens with a quote from James Rose to the effect that Japanese gardens outside of Japan are fakes. Brown's attitude is, however, more ambiguous than ambivalent. He seldom says he doesn't like something. His liking may be found between the lines. At the end of his history, Brown concludes that Japanese-style gardens are meant for play. It is pleasant to think of people having a smiling time in Japanese-style gardens . . . the wistaria, azalea, carp and waterfalls call for that. Nevertheless, Japanese in Japan are as out of touch with their past traditions as are Americans with their's. There is pleasure in knowing the symbolic uses of gardens in Japan and in their transplanted versions in the United States. Gardens in both countries should be more creative as is the case with "California Scenario" by Isamu Noguchi, the last garden Brown describes. (It is popular with skateboarders!) "Japanese-Style Gardens of the Pacific Coast" is a splendid book and the only book extant that gives the historical background of West-Coast Japanese-style gardens. Melva Levick's photographs whet the desire to see the gardens, if for no other reason than to see which is better . . . the photographs or the gardens. A small objection: If Brown had included acreages, one might be better able to compare the problems and successes of the individual gardens.

This book is one of the few books on US Japanese-style gardens which compares and contrasts the real gardens of Japan with efforts to recreate the essence of their beauty in the western US. Beautiful Photos

I just wanted to thank you that you wrote this book

I want everyone to know that this book was a labor of love. I want to help make people aware of the life and the legacy of Ilan Ramon, a hero and inspiring figure for all of us.

Vous passerez des heures à ficeler les figures proposées. Ce gros livre est le "must" des jeux de ficelle. Ce livre a environ 110 jeux de ficelle et 10 tours de ficelle. Les explications et les illustrations sont très claires. C'est un livre pour intermédiaires et avancés.

You'll spend hours to make the figures offered.
This big book is a must for all string figures's lovers.
This book have about 110 string games and 10 tricks.
The explanations and illustrations are clears.
The book is for intermediates and advanced.
Enjoy!

I bought this book because Warren Angus Ferris is my Great (many times over) Grandfather and I was researching the family tree. What a delight to find that he was an accomplished writer and pioneer! His journal of his life in the Rocky Mountains is exceptionally well-written and a beautiful view of the time period. I recommend it to anyone with an interest of the early 1800's or fur-trading.

Day to day survival in the early American West at its best! Pick up any reputable book on the fur trade era during this time frame, and Warren Ferris' "Life in the Rocky Mountains" is always cited as a reference. There is good reason for this. Ferris joined the American Fur Company in 1830 at the age of nineteen and this is his journal of how life was back then from 1830-1835, so far removed from the luxuries of civlization. He spent most of his time in the central and northern Rockies, describing and recording just about everything one can possibly imagine from hostile Indians and the unrelenting forces of nature to grizzlies, days without food and water, etc. He was there at the Battle of Pierre's Hole and the death of William Vanderburgh. He also details the Yellowstone area with its geysers and other oddities, along with many other geographical areas which we now take for granted. Ferris vividly describes the many different Indian tribes of the region of their customs, cultures and habits. This is an excellent book and I can see why many historians use this book as reference material. A must read for fur trade era enthusiasts and arm chair explorers.

LINE SCREW BY J. MICHAEL YATES

J. Michael Yates was born in Missouri and educated around the world but in 1966 he moved to Canada and has, I think, lived here ever since. He has published approximately 30 books of poetry and also a memoir called LINE SCREW in which he writes of his experiences during 12 years as a jail guard in British Columbia on the West Coast of Canada. Lest you worry that a poet might not survive in a maximum security prison, as a prisoner let alone a jail guard, let me assure that J. Michael not only survived, he lived to write of it in ways that prisons have not been so accurately described before. This book is filled with accounts that ring with their truth. J. Michael is six foot one and prepared to defend his position with his fists as well as his words. He is also an expert marksman and psychologist. Since most of my best friends have been in jail at one time or another I think I qualify as an expert on these things and I tell you that if you really want to know what goes on behind prison walls you must read LINE SCREW. In it you will find the language, the life and the routines that make up doing time in Canada and if it does not convince you of the futility of our present methods of "correction" nothing will. J. Michael Yates is not soft on crime. He is not soft on anybody. That includes prisoners, prison brass and particularly the media. I don't have enough stars to give to this book! Ed Wildman Honeywood, Ontario August 16, 2001

I picked this book up a few months ago and found I couldnt put it down. Mr. Yates gives a in deepth, raw and humorous look into the canadian penal system and it's prisons. If you like real life prison storys then pick this book up. You wont be sorry!

"History can provide us with painful, though necessary, lessons that will help us come to better understand why the dominant religious cultures of North America have often failed tragically to listen with a nonpatronizing and open heart and mind to the story of Native Americans. Well-written history can bring us to our senses. Fr. Vincent J. McNallly, professor of church history at Sacred Heart School of Theology, near Milwaukee, offers such history. It is a strongly critical but generally objective account of a missionary order's long-term relationship with the Native people of British Columbia....His account, however, is prototypical of the missionary story in many other places. Its lessons are timely and serve to illuminate a wide ecumenical audience....Many remain in denial, even today, of the truth and the serious damage that actually resulted. It is clear that McNally has an honorable and constructive purpose. He strongly affirms Christian faith and evangelization. Yet, he believes Christians must come to terms with their missionary history. The church needs to own its mistakes, learn from them and undertake reconcilation, renewal and healing with those who were so often misunderstood and hurt. McNally's book provides...an important and serious wake-up call...To read this book is to be confronted with a reality, shorn of propaganda and pious sentiment, that is both a bitter pill and a harbinger of hope....Pope John Paul recently reminded all Catholics that "grave forms of injustice" have been done in the church's past in the name of the gospel of Jesus Christ....Bigotry and hate, narrowness and intolerance, have more often been reflected in the missions than a gospel message of radical inclusiveness. The gospel, not the institutional church, is central to the Christian message. It is time to make amends and to begin anew." Reviewed by The Rev. Wayne A. Holst, lecturer in religion and culture at the University of Calgary in the "National Catholic Reporter" Sping Books section, February 2, 2001, p. 38.

Comprehensive, candid and critical-McNally's coverage of Catholic Missions and churches in British Columbia is both insightful and wide-ranging. His treatment of the motives, methods, and impact of the missionaries' residential schools on First Nations children and communities is especially good.

Review by (back cover of book) by J.R. Miller, History, University of Saskatchewan