Amazon.com
Part travelogue, part history, part love letter on a thousand-page scale, Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a genre-bending masterwork written in elegant prose. But what makes it so unlikely to be confused with any other book of history, politics, or culture--with, in fact, any other book--is its unashamed depth of feeling: think The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire crossed with Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. West visited Yugoslavia for the first time in 1936. What she saw there affected her so much that she had to return--partly, she writes, because it most resembled "the country I have always seen between sleeping and waking," and partly because "it was like picking up a strand of wool that would lead me out of a labyrinth in which, to my surprise, I had found myself immured." Black Lamb is the chronicle of her travels, but above all it is West following that strand of wool: through countless historical digressions; through winding narratives of battles, slavery, and assassinations; through Shakespeare and Augustine and into the very heart of human frailty.
West wrote on the brink of World War II, when she was "already convinced of the inevitability of the second Anglo-German war." The resulting book is colored by that impending conflict, and by West's search for universals amid the complex particulars of Balkan history. In the end, she saw the region's doom--and our own--in a double infatuation with sacrifice, the "black lamb and grey falcon" of her title. It's the story of Abraham and Isaac without the last-minute reprieve: those who hate are all too ready to martyr the innocent in order to procure their own advantage, and the innocent themselves are all too eager to be martyred. To West, in 1941, "the whole world is a vast Kossovo, an abominable blood-logged plain." Unfortunately, little has happened since then to prove her wrong. --Mary Park
Book Description
Written on the brink of World War II, Rebecca West's classic examination of the history, people, and politics of Yugoslavia illuminates a region that is still a focus of international concern. A magnificent blend of travel journal, cultural commentary, and historical insight, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon probes the troubled history of the Balkans and the uneasy relationships among its ethnic groups. The landscape and the people of Yugoslavia are brilliantly observed as West untangles the tensions that rule the country's history as well as its daily life.
Customer Reviews:
A Croat's Return to Yugoslavia.......2007-08-26
This book recounts a journey made by the author and her husband as they traveled through Croatia, Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Old Serbia, and Montenegro at a time when Hitter threatened to engulf all of Europe in a World War.
Describing and analyzing the journey, the author fills more than a thousand pages.
The highlight of the book is the epilogue which recounts the author's thoughts of the impact her travels made on assessing the politics of Germany and the Balkans at a turning point in history.
For All That.......2007-03-06
Yes "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" is wonderful for all the reasons stated in these reviews, but for all that it must be said that the dominant theme of Ms West's masterpiece is the eternal human condition. She sees with the eyes of a woman and the eyes of a genius. She has seen humanity's troubled soul, and gently brought it to the surface in the fabric of her marvelous linguistic tapestry. "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" is in a class by its self.
a fascinating mess.......2006-12-19
BLGF is a gigantic grab bag of a book.If your interested in the former yugoslavia,it is a fascinating read.Although i don't think anyone would wish it longer than it is.West offers sharp and at times profound insights.However the reader needs to be careful.West's prejudices distort much of what is on view.The first of these is her near pathological hostility to all things german.One might think that would not be all that important in a book on yugoslavia.It turns out to be of critical importance.West combines this anti-germanic perspective with a pronounced anti-catholic bias.Once you realize this the opinions expressed in the book as well as its omissions begin to make a kind of sense.It's telling that West virtually ignores slovenia except to point to bad conduct by the catholic church.Slovenia is mostly catholic and even worse the most"austrian " of yugoslavia's nations. As such i think she considers it unworthy of her attention.Croatia is a place she has to write about but one can infer she'd rather not.The croats are too catholic and somewhat german influenced.Almost as bad they are also italian and hungarian influenced.They just aren't "slavic" enough! Well it is fairly easy to guess who is slavic enough,the serbs.This is a very distorted picture.Westdoes seem to think that the serbs are noble savages by virtue of their freedom from non slavic influences.Whereas the northern south slavs are tainted by foreigness.To say the least,this is a strange viewpoint for a writer of"advanced" views.It smacks of an odd provincialism.Italy was at one point one of the most creative and dynamic societies on earth.It's croatias neighbor.Does West really think that the croatians should have turned their back on italy inorder to cultivate slavic purity?I think the answer is ,yes.West dissmisses late imperial austria as an intellectual and cultural wasteland.That can only be explained as a by product of ignorance.This was afterall the land of klimt,mahler,freud and wittgenstein.Joseph Roth would wind up downright nostalgic about it.West says austria-hungary was the most repressive state in europe after russia.This is oddin two ways.One i doubt it's true.Austria was more repressive than the ottoman empire,spain,portugal,romania and bulgaria?Also even if true no one with a straight face could argue that austria was comprable to russia as a tyranny.That said this peculiar book is fascinating.Although like some of the other reviewers i too wondered what's the story on the husband and what's allthis talk about the positive benefits of the absence of homosexuality?(and where did she get that idea from?).
Another misconception of Balkan realities .......2006-12-19
A nice read but highly romanticized outlook of the old Yugoslav Kingdom and the people of Yugoslavia. The book is based on the author's interaction with the Yugoslav intellectual elite and her observation of the people of old Yugoslavia Her interpretation of the Slav character needs to be understood in the context of the orientalist approach of the time- as a result - the Slav character in the book is idealized in the same manner that modern day nationalist in the same region see themselves. Namely, the great Slavic nation of the Serbs who defended Europe from the Turks and saved the rest of the Southern Slavs from the Austrians. Given the time in which it was written (late 30s) the author suffers from an extreme germanophobia in every possible sense! She seems to come across only irrational, pompous and arrogant Germans who can't appreciate the Yugoslav people in the same way that she and her husband can. The book is extremely pro-Serbian, so much so that the Croatian and Macedonian discontent and wish for separation is seen not as a solution to the Serbian dominated Kingdom but as, sometimes Vatican sometimes Austrian and sometimes Italian inspired propaganda to divide the otherwise brotherly relations between the Serbs and the Croats! How much of this brotherly love was genuine - we saw in the WWII that followed the authors book as well as the bloody brake up of Socialist Yugoslavia. As much as she has made a conscious attempt not to become another British traveler in the Balkans that picks her pet-nation and promotes their interests - she falls under the Balkan trap of victimization and myths and becomes in the process an ardent pro-Serb - as indeed her political activities would later reveal.
Unique mosaic of time and places now gone .......2006-11-04
The prose in this book weaves a mosaic of rural and town life in the 1930s Yugoslavia which is gone in fact but captured in West's captivating prose. This was a Yugoslavia whose name was adopted a few years before, whose eastern and southern borders were agreed in 1913 with Bulgaria and Greece , just one year after the Ottomans had been evicted in 1912 after 500 years of rule . And published just before Catholic Croatia's Tito and Orthodox Serbia's Mihailovich led separate resistances against the Germans then like two pit bull terriers fought until Tito emerged as victor and ruler for three decades . The war between these carnivores ended in 1991 with the unravelling of the mosaic West had so beautifully weaved just over 50 years before.
The scenes-in-words of a run-down town of Bitola (ex-Monastir) and a lakeside lovely Ochrid provide instructive insights into a Macedonia before the Communist Tito created a Republic of Macedonia (in 1944) in an effort to destabilise the northern borders of Greece at the beginning of her wrenching civil war.
West's is a must-read for students and scholars of the land of the southern Slavs during the fleeting time it was a union and they wish to relish one of the classics of 20th century English prose.
Book Description
Part Two Of Three Parts
Written on the brink of World War II, West's classic examination of the history, people, and politics of Yugoslavia illuminates a region that is once again the center of international concern. A magnificent blend of travel journal, cultural commentary and historical insight, it probes into the troubled history of the Balkans and the uneasy relationships among its ethnic groups. The landscape and people of Yugoslavia are brilliantly observed as Rebecca West untangles the tensions that rule the country's history as well as its daily life.
"A masterpieceas astonishing in its range, in the subtlety and power of its judgment, as it is brilliant in expression." (London Times)
Average customer rating:
- The Other Reviews Are Not About The Book
- People should really learn Yosemite Native American history
- A thrilling excursion into the heart of the West
- Savage Dreams
- No romanticism here
|
Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Landscape Wars of the American West
Rebecca Solnit
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Nevada
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
West
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Living on the Land
| Ecology
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
| Architecture
| Hunting & Fishing
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Environmentalism
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Ecotourism
| Specialty Travel
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Yosemite
| California
| States
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Outdoors & Nature
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Travel
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics
-
A Field Guide to Getting Lost
-
As Eve Said to the Serpent: On Landscape, Gender, and Art
-
Wanderlust: A History of Walking
-
River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West
ASIN: 0520220668 |
Book Description
In 1851, a war began in what would become Yosemite National Park, a war against the indigenous inhabitants that has yet to come to a real conclusion. A century later--1951--and about a hundred and fifty miles away, another war began when the U. S. government started setting off nuclear bombs at the Nevada Test Site, in what was called a nuclear testing program but functioned as a war against the land and people of the Great Basin. Savage Dreams is an exploration of these two landscapes. Together they serve as our national Eden and Armageddon and offer up a lot of the history of the west, not only in terms of Indian and environmental wars, but in terms of the relationship between culture--the generation of beliefs and views--and its implementation as politics.
Customer Reviews:
The Other Reviews Are Not About The Book.......2007-03-02
Wow, take a moment to read the other reviews of this book.
I picked this book up off a bargain table, and months later happened to take it with me when I was visiting Yosemite without knowing 1/2 the book was about Yosemite. That was kind of a thrill.
Solnit's historical and writing skills, her ability to build a world stage of activity and its interconnectedness with her narrative are extraordinary.
As a landscape artist and photographer, I find this book to be a great resource. Understanding the history of Yosemite is frankly consciousness shifting.
As the other reviewer says, nuclear weapons are our oyster.
Indians, big bangs, Central Park, Fremont and the Heart of Darkness. How about that.
People should really learn Yosemite Native American history.......2007-01-10
If people would really read the TRUE history of Yosemite Indians they would find something interesting. First the Miwoks in the area were friends and workers for James Savage and Charles Webber, the founder of Stockton. The Miwoks had a working relationship with both white men and they dug gold for them. The real Indians of Yosemite were Mono Paiutes who tried to fight off the invasion, and not Miwoks. They were allied with the white invaders and they called James Savage "White father". I am a descendent of the original Indians of Yosemite and there is a problem. The defintion "Some of them are killers" for Yosemite was fabricated in 1978 and is not the original meaning of Yosemite. The real meaning was "The Killers" or "The Grizzlies" because the Miwoks were afraid of the Ahwahnees. It was Chief Bautista and Russio, who were helping the Mariposa Battalion, who coined that term "Yosemite" for the Indians in Yosemite Valley which they were afraid to enter. It is because the Miwoks were once enemies of Chief Tenaya and the Ahwahnees. 30 years Yosemite National Park Service hired a person named Craig Bates who was married to a Miwok woman and had a 1/2 Miwok son who created that new defintion. So it is increble that ONE person changed the meaning and defintion of one of the most important and well known parks in the whold world...and no one noticed. The Miwoks were actually the scouts and guides for James Savage and the Mariposa Battalion, but you would not know it because the information was controlled by the "Indian expert" at Yosemite, which causes wrong information to be written...like the actual defintion of Yosemite. For the real story read Lafayette H. Bunnell's Discovery of the Yosemite to find out the truth.
A thrilling excursion into the heart of the West.......2004-05-19
If you have an open and inquisitive mind, no matter what your political outlook, you will enjoy this exploration of western America and our relationship with this unique landscape. Solnit weaves discussions about the settlement of the west by Euro-Americans, native American rights, nuclear testing, and other critical issues, with ruminations about H.D. Thoreau, John Muir, country music, landscape painters, and other intriguing topics. This is an excellent book about an important subject that will delight you if you let it.
Savage Dreams.......2004-01-15
This book is classic eco paganistic 1/2 truths and full tripe. Solnit carries on a dreamy and irresponsible massive 'feel good' opinion piece about the handfull of people harmed by our successfull development of our deffensive nuclear weapons. The author fails to note that our development and limited use of our weapons saved millions of lives.
If you are currently a eco pagan, here is more for your religion. If you want a full account of the history of our deffensive development of nuecs, don't waste your time reading this novel. However, if you want further insight into the basis that drives our planet's new pagan eco religion, then this book will help you to understanding their factualy fictionist journey into politics.
No romanticism here.......2000-02-06
Solnit's juxtaposition of the insidious nuclear poisoning of Nevada to the making of Yosemite National Park (that she shows has been "loved to death" since it was first discovered by whites more than 150 years ago)makes this book a must for all environmentalists. Solnit deals directly with themes of conquest and redemption in historic efforts to both tame and use these lands. Readers gain specific understanding about two places that are, after all, national icons. However, the deeper themes so well-developed in this book are being played out no less dramtically all across the country.
Book Description
The lives of the talented Aubrey children have long been clouded by their father?s genius for instability, but his new job in the London suburbs promises, for a time at least, reprieve from scandal and the threat of ruin. Mrs. Aubrey, a former concert pianist, struggles to keep the family afloat, but then she is something of a high-strung eccentric herself, as is all too clear to her daughter Rose, through whose loving but sometimes cruel eyes events are seen. Still, living on the edge holds the promise of the unexpected, and the Aubreys, who encounter furious poltergeists, turn up hidden masterpieces, and come to the aid of a murderess, will find that they have adventure to spare.
In The Fountain Overflows, a 1957 best seller, Rebecca West transmuted her own volatile childhood into enduring art. This is an unvarnished but affectionate picture of an extraordinary family, in which a remarkable stylist and powerful intelligence surveys the elusive boundaries of childhood and adulthood, freedom and dependency, the ordinary and the occult.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing characters, sparkling writing.......2007-08-11
This was my first encounter with Dame Rebecca West's writing, but it won't be my last. Nearly every paragraph stood alone, as a description to savor or an emotion remarkably described. The characters linger long after the book is closed. I believe that someone has suggested that they are somewhat Dickensian, with which I would agree. The plot conveys to the reader a deep understanding of the frustrations encountered by women whose lives are held in thrall by men who are indifferent to their wellbeing.
The only thing that keeps this book from being 5-stars in my mind are occasional spots where you want it to move more quickly. Its subtlety and richness make it a book well worth revisiting.
A general comment about the Classics series of the New York Review of Books. I am particularly pleased to have discovered this series for two reasons. First, because of the beauty of the books themselves; the cover art is of a very high quality and the paper, printing and binding is as well. The books themselves are pleasurable to experience. Second, the series is introducing me to literature that I would otherwise have never read. I just finished "A High Wind in Jamaica," have begun "Indian Summer" by William Dean Howells (and my middle-school introduction to "The Rise of Silas Lapham" would have predicted that I would never have picked up a book by Howells again, which would have been my loss - I might even tackle Silas Lapham again), and have ordered a few more. I recommend that readers explore some of these treasures.
Once Of My Favorite Books.......2006-11-07
to be savored - a real treasure.
This book is hard to classify because it is both densely written, and yet, it is like cotten candy. If you like to be transported to another place and time, and enjoy writers who know how to use the English language, this is a book for you!
My favorite novel of all time--and I've read thousands..........2005-01-10
The header says it all. If pressed, I will have to admit that this is my absolute favorite novel of all time. There is something so haunting and so human and so memorable about this book, I can't stay away from it--I must have read it 20 times, and I never grow tired of it.
Quite Simply One of the Best Books in English Literature.......2003-08-16
I had heard of author Rebecca West, mainly as the young woman who had a long term affair with a much older H.G. Wells and produced a child out of wedlock, back when things like this were considered shocking. I stumbled across a copy of this book and decided it might make an interesting read.
I never imagined that I had found a true classic, a book that uses the English language to a degree unsurpassed by any other author I have ever read. The story of is simple, that of a down on their luck family, living in London during the early 1900's. Their trials and tribulations are faithfully described, as are the multitude of characters they befriend. Actually to describe the plot, one might assume that not much really happens and to be honest, the plot is not the main attribute of this novel. But the language! I have often thought that I would some day like to write a novel but after reading this book, I would not even attempt it! This is how language should be used...clear and concise but also able to convey atmosphere and emotions. Page after page of luscious words, all combining together to create an unforgettable reading experience. If, like me, you wanted to read more, please note that the sequel, This Real Night is almost as good. A third book, Cousin Rosamund is much weaker since it was not completed at the time of the author's death.
Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I think this ranks with Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights as books which define the best that the English language can offer.
Beautiful, wise, witty, and, yes, you guessed it, timeless.......2003-03-27
About two pages into this I realized I'd come across a sublimely intelligent and aware narrative voice -- that of a 12-yr-old girl in turn-of-the-century London -- and from that point on I read the rest of the novel in a page-turning fever of delight and pleasure. A fictionalized account of Rebecca West's real family, the story follows the lives of the narrator, Rose Aubrey and her twin sister Mary (both of whom are prodigies on the piano), their older sister Cordelia, who apparently stinks at the piano, but doesn't realize it (much to the chagrine of the rest of the family), their thoroughly unflappable and adored younger brother, Richard, a flautist, and their ragged, heroic mother who tries to keep the family above water while the father, a brilliant essayist and pamphleteer who is completely lacking in all matters of practicality, loses one job after another. It's a brilliant cast brought unforgettably to life by West's flawless prose and the intelligence, generosity, imagination and wit poured into it. When you close the book, you feel as if you had just remembered moments from a real family you'd known while growing up, but who you lost touch with because your family moved away. Truly wonderful. Please, if you love beautiful things, read this.
Average customer rating:
- Photos from the 1906 Fire (Earthquake) of San Francisco
- An important documentation of how urban disasters change urban landscapes
|
After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
Philip L. Fradkin , and
Rebecca Solnit
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Nature & Wildlife
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Photo Essays
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Travel
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
West
| United States
| Travel
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
California
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| California
| States
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0520245563 |
Book Description
How exactly has San Francisco's urban landscape changed in the hundred years since the earthquake and cataclysmic firestorms that destroyed three-quarters of the city in 1906? For this provocative rephotography project, bringing past and present into dynamic juxtaposition, renowned photographer Mark Klett has gone to the same locations pictured in forty-five compelling historic photographs taken in the days following the 1906 earthquake and fires and precisely duplicated each photograph's vantage point. The result is an elegant and powerful comparison that challenges our preconceptions about time, history, and culture. "I think the pictures ask us to become aware of the extraordinary qualities of our own distinct moment in time. But it is a realization that a particular future is not guaranteed by the flow of time in any given direction." So says Mark Klett discussing this multilayered project in an illuminating interview included in this lavishly produced volume, which accompanies an exhibition at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006 features a vivid essay by noted environmental historian Philip Fradkin on the events surrounding and following the 1906 earthquake, which he describes as "the equivalent of an intensive, three-day bombing raid, complete with many tons of dynamite that acted as incendiary devices." A lyrical essay by acclaimed writer Rebecca Solnit considers the meaning of ruins, resurrection, and the evolving geography and history of San Francisco.
Copub: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Customer Reviews:
Photos from the 1906 Fire (Earthquake) of San Francisco.......2007-06-26
I received this book along with another one called: "Denial of Disaster: The Untold Story and Photographs of the San Francisco",by Gladys Hansen.
Both books are wonderful to read together because the book by Hansen describes what happened during and after the 1906 Fire (and/or 1906 Earthquake), and this book by Fradkin shows more photos from the tragic event. Thus, I recommend both books highly.
An important documentation of how urban disasters change urban landscapes.......2006-08-19
AFTER THE RUINS: 1906 AND 2006 - REPHOTOGRAPHING THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE has been a century in the making, and deserves a spot on any collection purported to be even halfway authoritative about San Francisco or California history. Its purpose seemed simple: to capture the meaning and impact of the 1906 quake through juxtaposing 'before' and 'after' photos, right down to the very angle of original landscapes. The idea was to also document how the city's landscape changed because of and since the quake: black and white and duotone photos by photographer Karin Breuer compliment essays by Philip L. Fradkin and Rebecca Solnit, longtime writers on California history, compliment an outstanding survey. College-level holdings on urban planning and design also should make this a special pick: it's an important documentation of how urban disasters change urban landscapes.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Book Description
St. John On Foot And By Car is an informative and entertaining guidebook featuring 4 self-guided walking and motor tours of the history, culture and natural beauty of St. John, US Virgin Islands. There is information on hiking trails and popular swimming and snorkeling beaches. Handy field guides help visitors learn firsthand about the exotic fauna and flora of this tropical paradise. Included are guides to local plants and trees as well as to the exciting array of tropical fish and other marine inhabitants of the crystal-clear waters surrounding St. John.
The guidebook is designed to make St. John sightseeing a learning experience that is both adventuresome and fun. The authors, Randall and Rebecca Koladis, are frequent visitors and former residents of St. John. Collectively they have spent many years researching and compiling the information in this extremely attractive and easy-to-read book. Their self-guided tours provide a virtual road map of this unspoiled paradise, where nearly three-fifths of the island has been thoughtfully preserved as the Virgin Islands National Park. St. John On Foot And By Car is divided into several parts. It begins with an overview of this tiny Caribbean jewel, which measures only 21 square miles! There are only about 3,000 permanent residents, but each year the island attracts many hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. There are no shopping malls, no high-rise resorts, no casinos and no traffic lights. But the scenery is breathtaking, the people are friendly and there are plenty of activities and attractions for everyone. The beaches are some of the most spectacular in the world! It is a picture-postcard island on which to escape and relax, and St. John On Foot And By Car is your own personal tour guide to a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Following the book's introduction, the authors include a brief history of the island beginning with the discovery of St. John by Columbus in 1493. Taino Indians, we learn, were in residence at the time of the Admiral's arrival. Tainos were a nation of peaceful Indians who supported themselves by fishing, gathering food from the land, and growing produce.
The book is structured around the 4 self-guided tours, which are arranged and briefly described as follows:
1) WALKING TOUR OF THE CRUZ BAY VILLAGE (2.5 Hours). This tour begins with a visit to the National Park Visitor Center followed by a brief hike out to Lind Battery, where visitors can enjoy the panoramic view of Cruz Bay Village below. Other highlights of the tour include visits to the Administration Building (a former 18-century fortress) and the Ivan Jadan Museum, which houses over 5,000 letters, documents, artifacts and photos related to the life and singing career of Ivan Jadan, a former Soviet dissident and one of the great Russian tenors of the 20th-century, who made St. John his adopted home.
2) NORTH SIDE TOUR (4.5 Hours). Takes visitors to some of the most stunning beaches on St. John. The tour begins at the historic Caneel Bay Plantation Resort, which played a key role in St. John's slave revolt of 1733. Also included are visits to the restored ruins of the Annaberg sugar factory and Cinnamon Bay, where artifacts of Pre-Colombian Indians have been recently unearthed.
3) CENTERLINE ROAD (4.5 Hours). Includes visits to the ruins of the Cathrineburg sugar plantation and Coral Bay Village, the site of St. John's original Danish settlement. Visitors are also guided to the isolated East End community, whose self-reliant residents are known for their skills as stone masons, boat builders and basket makers. Includes stops at popular Salt Pond and Lameshur Bay beaches.
4) REEF BAY HIKE (5 Hours). A full-day hike into St. John's fascinating world of fauna and flora. Hikers visit ancient Indian rock carvings and the abandoned ruins of one of the last operating sugar factories on St. John. This 126-page guidebook is fully illustrated with a lot of color photography. Makes a wonderful gift idea for anyone who has ever been or who might be contemplating a trip to the US Virgin Islands. A must for first-time and repeat visitors alike!
Customer Reviews:
Fun Trip!!.......2006-12-01
I just got back from visiting St. John with my parents. It was a great trip! They gave me this book so that I could explore the island we went to. I liked this book. They let me plan our adventures and I found lots of great stuff, like beaches, weird plants and bugs, and we had a good time. Thanx!
Excited to visit!!!.......2005-11-18
I recently purchased this book because my fiance and I are planning on going to St. John for our honeymoon. We have spent many hours together reading this handy guide, which is informational as well as being filled with anecdotes, facts about plants and wildlife, and historical tales of pirates, slave rebellions and local life. We are both so excited after reading this book that we can't wait to arrive on St. John and start exploring!!!
Splendid book! .......2005-02-02
I came across this book while surfing the internet looking for somewhere different that we could go for our family vacation. I found the website written by the authors which is worth checking out if you want to find out more indepth information on the book and the place. It's: www.islandways.com.
Getting to this lush island is an adventure in itself, but once we arrived, it was wonderful. For once we didn't feel taken advantage of by the many services geared towards tourists. We were able to explore the island indepth and at our own pace. Our children also loved reading this very accesible guidebook and helped in planning our daily activities. My favorite aspects of this guidebook is that it is small enough to throw into a beachbag and bring with you, and also that the authors didn't just list out a bunch of place for us to visit, but that they actually spent the time designing tours for us to truely explore what this unique island has to offer. St. John on Foot and by Car has provided us with a wonderful experience that we will not be quick to forget!!!
A worthwhile purchase!!!!.......2004-09-01
My friends and I all went down to the Virgin Islands over spring break. We were staying on St. Thomas, but got tired of shopping and decided that we wanted to do some exploring. We were directed to take a ferry over to St. John where I found this book in a local shop. We rented a jeep and followed the North Shore route where we visited Annaberg and stopped at Trunk Bay for a swim. What a wonderful little book! It really helped us to learn about how special an island St. John is, and made us feel more like explorers of a tropical paradise rather than some tourists that are shuttled back and forth. I only wish that we had been able to stay longer and visit more of the sites listed in this guidebook.
This is great!!!!!.......2003-06-23
Personally speaking, I find this book to be very detailed and painstakingly accurate. Being from the islands myself, I find that most guide books leave out the history and individual story specific to the place. But this book, gives the islands a history and also a particular humanness. Little tidbits that make the place unique and worth while. This is no tourist deal. You see the care and appreciation for the island in every well thought out fact. I recommened this book, not because I happen to love the great pictures and historic deatils, but because being an island girl allows for me to be objective. This book has it all. Buy it and enjoy its bounty.
Book Description
As Louisiana and Cuba emerged from slavery in the late nineteenth century, each faced the question of what rights former slaves could claim. Degrees of Freedom compares and contrasts these two societies in which slavery was destroyed by war, and citizenship was redefined through social and political upheaval. Both Louisiana and Cuba were rich in sugar plantations that depended on an enslaved labor force. After abolition, on both sides of the Gulf of Mexico, ordinary people--cane cutters and cigar workers, laundresses and labor organizers--forged alliances to protect and expand the freedoms they had won. But by the beginning of the twentieth century, Louisiana and Cuba diverged sharply in the meanings attributed to race and color in public life, and in the boundaries placed on citizenship.
Louisiana had taken the path of disenfranchisement and state-mandated racial segregation; Cuba had enacted universal manhood suffrage and had seen the emergence of a transracial conception of the nation. What might explain these differences?
Moving through the cane fields, small farms, and cities of Louisiana and Cuba, Rebecca Scott skillfully observes the people, places, legislation, and leadership that shaped how these societies adjusted to the abolition of slavery. The two distinctive worlds also come together, as Cuban exiles take refuge in New Orleans in the 1880s, and black soldiers from Louisiana garrison small towns in eastern Cuba during the 1899 U.S. military occupation.
Crafting her narrative from the words and deeds of the actors themselves, Scott brings to life the historical drama of race and citizenship in postemancipation societies.
Average customer rating:
- excellent resource for off beat and less expensive spots
- Cheap Eats and Sleeps Northern California
|
Northern California Cheap Sleeps: Eats, Sleeps, Affordable Adventure (Best Places)
Rebecca Poole Foree , and
Matthew R. Poole
Manufacturer: Sasquatch Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Dining
| Food & Lodging
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Hotels & Inns
| Food & Lodging
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Budget Travel
| Specialty Travel
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Pacific
| West
| Regions
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| California
| States
| United States
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Best Places
| Guidebook Series
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1570611858 |
Book Description
From quiet weekend getaways to big-city bargains, travel smart and travel cheap with this new, completely revised edition of Northern California Cheap Sleeps. From the heart of downtown San Francisco to the rocky coast of Mendocino and the inland adventures of the Sierra Nevada, cash-conscious travelers will find honest advice on how to hit all the hot spots and still stay within a budget. Northern California Cheap Sleeps is written by locals and offers tips on discounts for major attractions, shopping, concerts, tours, and moreplus the lowdown on the best eats and sleeps for weekend getaways or longer trips. From Best Places, one of the most respected regional travel series in the country.
Customer Reviews:
excellent resource for off beat and less expensive spots.......2004-07-27
i've used this book many times and have never been disappointed. there are few actual prices cited in the book, so you must call to check current rates. however, this is simple to do and i was pleasantly surprised by many of the hotels, motels, and dining locations in this book. i bought the book several years ago and it is still useful. it is also a convenient size - not too big or heavy.
Cheap Eats and Sleeps Northern California.......2001-08-18
Love this book...although there are many guides to Northern Cal, this one is an excellent one to reasonably priced lodging and restaurants. I use it to explore the region. The cover area is wide...from the North Coast to Lake Tahoe and to the Oregon border. I look forward to future editions.
Book Description
The world as we know it today began in California in the late 1800s, and Eadweard Muybridge had a lot to do with it. This striking assertion is at the heart of Rebecca Solnit's new book, which weaves together biography, history, and fascinating insights into art and technology to create a boldly original portrait of America on the threshold of modernity. The story of Muybridge—who in 1872 succeeded in capturing high-speed motion photographically—becomes a lens for a larger story about the acceleration and industrialization of everyday life. Solnit shows how the peculiar freedoms and opportunities of post-Civil War California led directly to the two industries—Hollywood and Silicon Valley—that have most powerfully defined contemporary society.
Customer Reviews:
Stunning writing.......2007-06-12
Rebecca Solnit is an amazing writer. She brings to the surface all the hidden currents of the Muybridge story in a narrative that is at once informative and moving. This book constantly surprised and delighted me with its deep insights and fascinating details. Not only is it well researched, but the results of the research are germane to the story and are all neatly brought together. It was a pleasure to discover that fine writing like this still exists. I can't wait to read her other books now that I have found her.
This is a marvellous book.......2007-03-26
This is a splendid book, intelligent,stimulating, the best kind of cultural history. It illuminates the origins of photography, cinema, and the construction of the American west.
Solnit Takes on the West, Photography and Doesn't Disappoint.......2007-03-02
Muybridge was an interesting character aside from his pioneering landscape photography and motion studies. Rebecca Solnit is an interesting character aside from her accessibility and easy readable style. She is uncommonly skilled in describing her subject and what he did as well as explaining the historical context and landscape into which Muybridge inserted himself.
Gold rush California was a wild and raw landscape, filled with the last gasps of the American frontier as the Sierra was trampled by the world's riffraff. Muybridge dragged his huge camera into the mountains capturing images of Yosemite from perspectives many of us with much lighter cameras and easier trails wouldn't dream of attempting.
While Solnit makes a reasonable case for Muybridge's pioneering technology work in pre-motion pictures as well as still photography, she misses the continuing photographic California thread down the road from Leland Stanford's Palo Alto ranch, where Silicon Valley turned the telephoto lens around and photographically shrank designs onto silicon wafers. A minor point.
Nevertheless, this book, like her Savage Dreams, is an exquisite bit of California and photographic history. Anyone with an interest in Yosemite, landscape and nature photography should have this on their bookshelf!
Unique story of the pre-modern West.......2007-01-10
Few authors have tied together the many facets of the post civil war, pre-modern West as well as Rebecca Solnit. Her literary vehicle is a man as strange as his name, Eadweard Muybridge. Of course you can also read this book to learn about the early days of photography and the technology which preceeds motion pictures. For either reason this is an excellent biography and will serve the inteerests of many readers.
Interesting Reading.......2006-06-01
Solnit has some interesting things to say about Muybridge's photography, and about how photography, our self image as a society, and even California's culture of rebirth, innovation, and redemption are tied up. But even apart from such heady stuff, Muybridge was a rascal who lived an interesting life (besides his photography, he murdered his wife's lover and invented the technology that is the basis for movies). So read this book, you'll enjoy it, and maybe learn a bit too.
Books:
- Blahnik by Boman: Shoes, Photographs, Conversation
- Boundaries
- City Limits
- Coming Up for Air (Harvest Book)
- CPT 2007 Professional Edition (Cpt / Current Procedural Terminology (Professional Edition))
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)
- Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism
- Dark Waters: An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub
- Doctor Zhivago
- Donde no hay doctor
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Food and Beverage Cost Control
- 101 Arena Exercises: A Ringside Guide for Horse & Rider
- Steel Ashes
- The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
- The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- War with the Newts
- Pay Structure of the Federal Civil Service: As of March 31, 2000
- Succeeding Against the Odds
- The Schopenhauer Cure: A Novel
The Bridge on the Drina (Phoenix Fiction Series)
Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History
The Balkans: Nationalism, War & the Great Powers, 1804-1999
Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus
The Balkans: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)
