For me the best book I've read. A tremendously educational book on slavery, faith, endurance, love, spiritualness, patience, and the importance of family values.

I could not put the book down because of the excitement of looking ahead. You could almost feel yourself wanting to be their in real life and seeing first hand the events unfold.

The author clearly reveals to me his heartfelt feelings for his heritage, and his writing makes you want to be a part of that past. As I was finishing the final chapters I had to go and find the burial place of "Freejoe", and experience some of his past. What a great feeling it was walking in the cemetary at Gray's Creek Baptist Church.

In this volume, Joseph Reidy traces the development of Central Georgia from the period of its earliest settlement following the Revolutionary War through Reconstruction, focusing on economic, political, and social changes. Prior to 1830, most Georgians were yeoman farmers seeking self-sufficiency, owning only a few slaves with whom they lived and worked in a familiar manner. During the cotton boom of the 1830s, large planters moved into the area, establishing the plantation system, large numbers of slaves, and the ganging method of production. The depression of the 1840s allowed the planters to make gains at the expense of yeomen, as they bought up land and slaves at low prices from debt-burdened farmers. The process of planter consolidation and domination continued into the 1850s when cotton prices rose. Reidy argues that to respond to increased demand, rather than practicing scientific agriculture to increase output, planters in central Georgia simply increased the workload of their slaves, hiring additional overseers from the newly dispossessed white lower class. The increased tensions between planters, struggling yeomen, overburdened slaves, and the new landless poor whites played out in the Secession crisis and period of Reconstruction.

Despite their claims that a slave republic was the only form of government capable of producing harmonious social relations, planters were aware that the growing poverty in the region undermined this argument and threatened to turn the yeomanry and poor whites against them. Evidence of this division could be seen in the growth of party politics, with planters, town dwellers, and immigrants preferring the Democratic Party, and yeomen and poor whites turning to the Know-Nothings. Planters hoped to alleviate social tensions by funding poor relief, public education, and internal improvements that would bring new jobs, but the yeomanry, while approving in theory of public works, rejected them out of opposition to the higher taxes such projects would entail. Once the Civil War broke out, planter actions only furthered the destruction of the social and economic relations they had hoped to save, as planters refused to devote all resources to winning the war at the expense of current profits. They continued to plant cotton when grain was needed to supply troops and would not contract out their slaves to war materiel producers at low prices, resulting in rising prices for yeomen families who could not maintain self-sufficiency with their household heads away fighting the war and decreasing purchasing power for white laborers. Planters were unable to feed or protect their slaves from Union troops, destroying slaves' faith in paternalism and forcing them to take care of themselves, which prepared them for independence following emancipation.

Following the war, planters hoped to exercise the same control over free blacks as they had over slaves, but with the help of the Freedman's Bureau and Radical Republicans, free blacks negotiated for more control over working conditions, their families, religious institutions, and rights as citizens. While facing legal discrimination at every turn, they were in many cases able to negotiate contracts as sharecroppers, educate their children, exercise their right to vote (though not to hold office), and establish their own churches and political movements. Yeomen also benefited somewhat in that they now had unprecedented ability to hire black laborers, but were harmed by new laws limiting hunting and fishing on unenclosed lands, which diminished their ability to subsist as much as it did that of freedmen. Both black and white non-planters increasingly turned to wage labor, marking central Georgia's transition to a capitalist economic system. Planters lost a good deal of their political and economic dominance, but maintained as much of their social power as they could under the newly bourgeois order.

From the Heart of the Crow Country is a unique book by Joseph Medicine Crow, oral historian of the tribe. Filled with stories, observations, biographical portraits, accounts of hunting, warring and religious practices, and even examples of Crow Indian humour, From the Heart of Crow Country is a valuable compilation enriched by many black and white historic photos of Crow Indians, including the author's own parents and family. Convincing cultural and religious parallels are drawn such as between Jesus' fasting for 40 days and a Sun Dancer's fasting for 4 days. In this vein a good definition is given of a holy man: "This special person is the product of three factors coming into conjunction: First is the event or situation at hand; second is a man with capability and intelligence; and third is this man's definition of the situation, which leads to the solution's becoming a reality. The result of the successful conjunction of these three factors is the emergence of a new leader, who brings about the final release of the people from their predicament (p.55)." A chronology of Crow history is included that highlights major events of Absarokee History from ca.1500 to 1962. From The Heart Of The Crow Country is a fully authentic work that has value and appeal to both scholars and general readers, elegantly voiced, and easily read.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

This is a one of many books in a series that is wonderful for preschool age children. They are not quite old enough to comprehend every page but the illustration and words are perfect. It will definatley keep the interest flowing and forces the brain to work at the same time.

This is one of many books in a series that is wonderful forpreschool age children. They are not quite old enough to comprehendeverypage but the illustration and words are perfect. It willdefinatley keep the interest flowing anf force the brain wo work atthe same time.

This book is a great textbook for any psychology student. The co-author or this book, Dr. Perrotto, was my introduction to psychology professor at Queensborough community college. Along with the easy to comprehend textbook and class instruction, I got an A in the class.

I have read many different books and this one tells where all the great resources are. Nothing beats it!

This is a remarkable book. It approaches the social psychology of the decision making process in comparative case study form. Since the dynamics, personal and structural, in the Nixon and Carter administrations were so different, it is a useful education in the methodology of waging internecine feuds.

This book is filled with beautiful photos and short descriptons of gardens from all five boroughs of New York City. Leafing through it, once again I realized how special this city is. Garden Guide: New York City is a must for anyone who wants to know the city better; for those of us who live here and for those who are just visiting.

Small enough to carry in one's purse, it is concise and well researched. It is pleasure to read and makes you want to explore the city through its gardens. Be careful, if you are not already a garden lover it might make you one. From the Chinese Scholar's Garden in Staten Island to the Botanical Garden in Queens; from Rincon Criollo in the Bronx to The Conservatory Garden on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, even in its gardens the diverstiy and creativity of New Yorkers is evident and that makes New Yorkers like me burst with pride.

Collaboratively edited by David Appelbaum and Joseph Kulin, Gathering Sparks: Interviews From Parabola Magazine is an outstanding collection of Parabola Magazine's interviews drawn from a publication span of twenty-five years and featuring some of the most spiritual, brilliant, insightful, and memorable people to be found worldwide. From noted psychologist Oliver Sacks to celebrated authors Ursula K. LeGuin and Elie Wiesel, to H. H. the Dalai Lama, Gathering Sparks presents a cross-section of fascinating, inspirational, and meaningful presentations to be read, mulled over, debated, and cherished. Gathering Sparks is enthusiastically recommended reading for students in the fields of world religions, spiritual traditions, psychology, philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics.