My wife and I have one of his watercolor paintings. It was in an old antique shop. It is a mountain stream painting with mountain background.

This book is the major source for both artistic and historical information about Adams, widely considered to be Colorado's finest impressionist landscape painter. Adams is best known for his stunning views of snowy mountain peaks in early morning or sunset light, or wreathed in storm clouds, and for his luminous twilight and sunset paintings of the river bottoms near Denver. For sample photos from this book, photos of his paintings, and additional information, see the Adams website, charlespartridgeadams.com

Charles Partridge Adams (1858-1942) is widely considered to have been Colorado's finest landscape painter, best-known for his stunning views of snowy mountain peaks in early morning or sunset light, or wreathed in storm clouds, and for his luminous twilight and sunset paintings of the river bottoms near Denver. His paintings are best characterized as impressionistic and subjective. This lavish book contains 92 full-color illustrations of his work in both oils and watercolors, as well as three historical essays about Adams' life and work. A unique feast for those who love the Rocky Mountains and impressionism.

Charles Adams has written a history that everyone who grew up in a small town wishes that someone would write about his or her home town -- a nostalgic journey back in time to the way it was. But Blocton was no ordinary small town. Adams captures the essence of a backwoods boomtown at the turn of the last century -- a colorful and detailed account of an unusual piece of Americana in rural Alabama that was as diverse in its ethnic makeup and its vitality as the melting pot of New York City was at the time. Adams documents an interesting story of a little known and out-of-the-way place where Polish and Italian miners and the Jewish merchants who served them created a community that alternately went boom and bust, that survived strikes and a fire that leveled the town, and then prospered again until the closing of the mines and the Great Depression finally turned it into a sleepy but still proud little town that attracts little attention today.

The book is well documented and is illustrated with many photographs and documents. It favorably reflects the many years of research and effort by its author to capture the substance and spirit of his home town, and it accurately tells an unusual story, because Blocton was not your ordinary little town.

The book has been in the making for over 20 years. It accurately represents the life and times of a small coal mining town. It goes from boom time through the decline of the town and to the rebuilding of its future. I am very proud to have helped with the book and also proud of its author, Charles adams. I feel that anyone wanting to read a very accurate and realisitic historical saga would benifit greatly in the reading this book.

This is the book I wish The South Was Right!, considered the gospel of modern Southern nationalism, had been. That book, although it contained much useful and(for the unreconstructed Northerner)embarassing information, was repetitive, occasionally poorly-argued, and overly polemical.

Adams' book, on the other hand, is a concise lawyer's brief. He argues that the South seceded primarily for economic reasons. Adams puts a number of disinterested European third parties on the witness stand, notably Charles Dickens, to buttress his case. And he demolishes the arguments of John Stuart Mill, the "prosecution's" star witness and the man who said the whole thing was about the protection and expansion of slavery.

Although I'm not completely comfortable with Adams' argument(slavery seems to have been far more important in Southern thinking than Adams makes it out to be, and with good reason. Black people were a reality in the South but an abstraction in the North), it is difficult to disagree with it entirely. Slavery, after all, was still legal in the North and would remain so until 1865. The North ADDED a slave state during the conflict(West Virginia)and Mr. Lincoln countermanded TWO emancipation orders during the war. Thomas Jefferson was not overly terrified by the idea of secession. And Mr Lincoln himself, in 1848, admitted that any people dissatisfied with their government, had the right to form one that suits them better.

Adams portrayal of Lincoln's actions early in the war(suspension of habeas corpus, illegally calling out the militia, shutting down opposition newspapers, arresting the Maryland legislature, etc.)is devastating. Although Adams does get off track now and then, When in the Course of Human Events is highly recommended for anyone interested in history as it really was. Devotees of the cult of St. Abraham, though, may want to avoid it.

Charles Adams is an excellent author. I recommend his other books, "Those Dirty Rotten Taxes," as well as "For Good and Evil." His writing is very precise and supported by copious research.

Although most Americans blindly hero-worship Lincoln, he was really a tyrant who nearly destroyed our republic. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, imprisoned or threatened Maryland legislators so that Maryland could not seceed, ordered the arrest of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for writing a controversial opinion, and in general, was a Very Bad Man.

Incedentally, if Maryland had seceeded, the South probably would have won the war. In illegally preventing Maryland's secession, Lincoln crushed the self-determination of a nation full of people.

This book also reveals that the cause of the war was not slavery or "the Union," but about money and resources. The north wanted to extract money from the south through tarriffs on imported goods.

Charles Adams is an excellent author. I recommend his other books, "Those Dirty Rotten Taxes," as well as "For Good and Evil."

This book taught me a lot, and in so doing revealed the lies and half-truths that I had learned in U.S. History.

Although most Americans blindly hero-worship Lincoln, he was really a tyrant who destroyed our republic. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, imprisoned or threatened Maryland legislators so that Maryland could not seceed, ordered the arrest of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for writing a controversial opinion, and in general, was a Very Bad Man. This book also reveals that the cause of the war was not slavery or "the Union," but about money and resources.

To summarize, you should read this book. It is very revealing.

This is not a book for the casual reader. Oh no, he who picks up this book had better have his thinking cap firmly in place. The book is split into four sections, each distinctly different from the others yet related in their relevance to the studies of two men: Darwin and Freud.

Expecting to find a biological study on Darwin's fascination with worms, I foolishly picked this book up. I was dismayed to discover that about ten pages of the first chapter is actually dedicated to the study of worms and their importance. Even this one section deals with worms more from a psychological standpoint than in a biological sense. This book, although interesting as it delves into complex theories, was slightly misleading to me with its cover and title.

This book consists of four somewhat related essays on what Darwin and Freud have to say about how to live a life in the face of the transient nature of existence. Disappointingly, the essays fail to address this interesting question effectively. Instead, Darwin's Worms is a collection of brief, descriptive essays on a few elements of Darwin and Freud's thinking.

The first essay sets out the question. Darwin and Freud are two thinkers who are probably most central to the "existential" worldview, the view that there is no greater "being" responsible for or looking over our actions. As a result, each of these writers was keenly aware of the relevance of "transience" as an element of living a life. Darwin saw that transience was a natural element of his theory of evolution, and Freud saw mourning and loss as a critical component in the dynamic of the psyche. So the interesting question arises: what did each of these thinkers have to say about how to live a life in this new world into which they thrust us. This question is particularly intriguing since both viewed themselves as scientists for whom direct speculation on these issues would be inappropriate. The answer to the question needs to be carefully teased from their writings. Unfortunately, the author does not carry through this exercise.

The second essay focuses on Darwin and what can be learned from his interest in the productivity of worms. The writer provides a light pastel portrait of Darwin and considers the broader implications of Darwin's interest in worms. But for me the review was too cursory and I had no sense from this of Darwin's answer as to how to live an "existential" life. At best, this was a teaser to read the more detailed work done by Darwin's biographers.

The third essay, on Freud, is surprisingly confused, given that Phillips is a psychoanalyst. It appears that what happened is that Phillips had previously written an essay on Freud's feeling toward his own biographers. Phillips then tried to fit that essay into this book and somehow make it address the larger questions this book was to address. The result is an essay that moves unconvincingly from Freud's feeling about his own biographers to his thoughts about the death instinct.

The final chapter tries to summarize what we've learned, but again the rigor is lacking. If you are looking for a cursory treatment of Freud, Darwin and the question of how to deal with the "transience" implied by their work, this book is fine. For this reader, I found the lack of disciplined reasoning frustrating, and made the book not worth the purchase price.

Adam Phillips is one of the few genuinely exciting contemporary psychoanalytic writers today, and this, along with Houdini's Box, is one of his finest works.

It was a pretty good book. It made me realize what life was like back in dickens' time. The industrial revolution was going on... It started off pretty slow than got exciting as I read on. I encourage young readers to think about reading this book.

Hard Times depicts the lives of ordinary people during the industrial revolution in England. Dickens brings several characters to life and weaves an interesting story about their interactions with each other. Most of these characters are poor and they live in a pollution ridden town where the economy is based on coal production. Dickens's description of their lives is excellent. The only reason for the four stars is that one or two secret matters are alluded to near the beginning, but they are never revealed, leaving the reader a little disappointed. Overall, Hard Times is very good book.

Hard times lyrically explains life in the early 1800's while captivating its readers and showing that hard times hits people of all eras, decades, and even surpasses those of 1800's to the 1990's. However, what is most intriguing is the fact that Charles Dickens in some aspects suggest that sometimes hard times are circumstances that we subject ourselves and others to and whether is under ones own volition or under false pretenses. Hard Times is indeed a knowledgeable novel that teaches a lesson and shows one of many Dickens attributes. This review is from Merci McKinley who is 16 years old from Potomac High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

I am from Reading (Berks County) and I have found these books somewhat interesting. I read them at night when I can't get to sleep and they always do the trick. They are like I said somewhat interesting but the writing style of bringing the reader into the story and adding some pizzazz to it has a lot to be desired. I love a good Ghost story. These well as much as I have really tried to see them as good and well written I find them more a nod then anything. If you want a real good Ghost Story Book get the one called Christmas Ghosts, I forget who it is written by but it will leave you wanting more and more unlike these that you just keep hoping the next one will be good, but it may be worth the read if you are really into ghost stories.

Ghost Stories of Berks County is one of the few book I have read that i really enjoyed. I heard many things about the ghost in Berks County, but i never heard the full stories. This book finally gave me a chance to read those stories I have heard so much about. My favorite chapter is the one where the author talks about the ghosts of Hawk Mountian. My friends always talk about them, but i never heard the stories behind them. I really like the way the author not only tells the stories, but how he adds quotes from people who like there and have experienced these ghosts. That's main reason I enjoyed this book so much. Although I noticed few misspelled words, I still think this book was well written. To anyone who is interested in ghosts or the unexplained, I recommend Ghost Stories of Berks County.

I have lived in Berks County all my life and really loved these book from the time I was 10. I enjoyed them so much because I know were these places are and even some of the people involved. One story is about my best friend's house. I really enjoyed these books and have enjoyed all the other books Mr. Adams has written.

I found this an absorbing personal account of a thoughtful layman's encounter with prostate cancer. At age 78, with a PSA of 14 and a Gleason of 6, Neider choose treatment by external beam radiation. He describes this experience, which began in 1993, in absorbing daily detail. Neider is curious but not contentious. He questions his own doctors and technicians, and he listens to other patients. He patiently records not only his own thoughts but the shared details of others' encounters with cancer.
Two years later his radiation oncologist pronounces him cured -- with a PSA of 3.4. The book closes on this hopeful note in 1995. Six years later the book is published and the author is dead (of cancer?). That's the book's weakness; it closes with the story well begun but only partly told.

This book is super for any birdie fan. Perfect for anyone who is doing the musical. It is really a good read.

I found this book in City Lights ... on my own quest around sacred mountains of the world. It was fun to find Evans-Wentz had anticpated much of my route ... many years before. Cuchama is also Mt Tecate, a mountain on which young American Indians were set to spend the night, coming down with their vocation in life. Well edited by Frank Waters, with what were to me fascinating additional observations. A great intro to the phenomenon of the sacredness of mountians, from a man who lived his life by such things.

As a member of a Pacific Northwest tribe and fishing family, I found this book to be resourceful, interesting, eye-opening, and yet hopeful. It summarized rather clearly many important points of the "fish wars," tribal treaties, government-to-government relations and tribal sovereignty, family and tribal traditions, timber and dam effects on river/fish sustainability, and much more. It is clear that the author put a tremendous amount of time and energy into the research and ideas behind this book. And it is not just a "history rewritten" book or an attempt by one cultural group to get their two cents in on the events of 30 to 150 years passed. It's about an Indian world view, and how saving the salmon and the rivers they run through is part of the Indian way.

Another aspect that I liked about this book was the lack of white bashing, and also the tremendous respect for the law of the land. This book provides many examples of the patience required to work through the American judicial system, and how the positive results of that patience can be cultural, environmental, and social... things that are impossible to measure in terms of dollars.

A hint of hope is intertwined through the chapters as various governments and cultures -- people with sometimes conflicting goals and values -- are able to successfully work together as "good neighbors."

Inspiring and even humorous at times, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Pacific Northwest, the environment, Indian culture, and/or the law. It would be great if this book ends up in classrooms at the junior high level on up. It also includes many excellent, crisp photos.