As Dr Boxer points out [below]: " ... these lithographs also remind us of the responsibilities that come with the stewardship of our land." We need to re-double efforts to protect the environment so that "our children and our children's children will not be able to see in these fifty plates anything more than a past as remote and fantastic as Eden." Boxer's observation- and Kidd's work- brings to mind the reflections of Philip Henry Gosse [1810-1888], one of the great mid-19th-century British descriptive naturalists, of "the unwearing delight of those months that I spent in beauteous Jamaica" in the Bluefields area on the south-west coast. [See: "Gosse's Jamaica 1844-45," Ed. D B Stewart] More than a hundred years later, veteran journalist Evon Blake was still seeing much of what Kidd and Gosse saw, when he rhapsodized: "Nature's beautiful gifts are to be found everywhere. In every land, in every clime, at every time of year." "But there is no place on earth where Nature has lavished so much enduring and incredible beauty as the Caribbean island of Jamaica." "In the grandeur of its blue-tinted mountains ... in the variegated splashes of colour that are its lush green valleys ... in its picturesque plains of waving canefields, golden-green banana plantations and gently rustling grasslands ... in the unbelievable blue of its fathomless lagoons, bluer than the fleckless sky above or the encircling sea ... in its world-renowned bathing beaches of purest white sand ... in the artist's dream that are its golden sunsets ... in the sparkling sunshine that transforms its waterfalls into silvery cascades ... in these and many other ways Nature's hand rests lovingly on Jamaica, giving the island breathtaking Beauty in Depth and to spare." - Evon Blake, "Beautiful Jamaica" Views of [Beautiful] Jamaica comprise 50 high-quality reproductions [17.75x20.00 ins] of Scottish painter J B Kidd 's hand-coloured lithographs of Jamaican landscape and flora in the early 19th century, published to commemorate the centenary of his death [1889]. Here's more background on this exquisite book, extracted from the Introduction by Dr David Boxer, Director Emeritus and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica: "The Jamaican art that dates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was essentially the work of itinerant artists, British and American, who travelled to this "fairest isle" to seek out new and exotic landscapes. To a certain S. Robins we owe the six views of Jamaican harbours, the so-called "Spillsbury Prints"; to George Robertson, the six views of river-laced lush interiors; and to James Hakewill, the twenty-one sensitive miniatures etched to accompany his "A Picturesque Tour of the Island of Jamaica." Fine as they are, none of these series however quite prepare us for the magnitude of the pictorial essay of Jamaica undertaken by the Scottish painter, Joseph Bartholomew Kidd." "J B Kidd was a prominent founding member of the Scottish Academy of Art where he was a regular exhibitor. Inspired by descriptions of the island of Jamaica, given him by his brother Thomas who had settled in Falmouth, Trelawny, J B Kidd visited the island in 1835. By April of the following year he was able to insert advertisements in the Falmouth papers inviting the public to his brother's house to view his paintings, "all," according to a press report, "elegantly framed in the woods of the country." This exhibition, credited as the first in the island, contained Scottish as well as Jamaican landscapes and a collection of portraits of local patrons and their families." "Kidd's paintings found ready purchasers, and with the success of his Jamaican works he was prompted to embark on the work which to this day remains the most ambitious art publishing project originating in Jamaica." "The overwhelming success of the five plates which made up Part One of Kidd's "Views of Jamaica," led to the translation over the next four years of a total of fifty drawings and paintings created in Jamaica, into lithographs. All the lithographic drawings (reverse drawings on lithographic stone) were done by Kidd himself and it is quite likely that Kidd also carried out the hand-colouring required for each of the plates." "The subjects of the series are varied, giving us a comprehensive view of the Jamaican environment in the last days of the pre-emancipation era. From individual studies of plants and trees to vast vistas of townscapes and estates; from much admired "beauty spots" to the unusual views of Kingston "from the Commercial Rooms," we have been bequeathed a visual essay of our land of quite extraordinary breadth and beauty. If we fault Kidd at all, it is perhaps in his reticence in dealing with the human element in this essay of Jamaica. We know that he was a superb portraitist, and there are records of sensitive drawings of slaves and of his empathy with the black population of Jamaica, but we must be content in these lithographs with the tiny vignettes of bathers in a river, occasional pedestrians, a rider or carriage passing by. It is an idyllic spell he weaves, a portrait of an ordered society; the winds of change which were already sweeping the land were not permitted to disturb the essential serenity of his vision." "Jamaica, of course, has changed considerably over the 150 years since the creation of these lithographs. Jamaicans themselves now have proprietorship of the land Kidd drew. But these lithographs also remind us of the responsibilities that come with the stewardship of our land. The rich fertile land that Kidd saw and drew is steadily slipping away and unless we adopt a more caring attitude towards our environment and unless we treat our historical structures with more respect, then our children and our children's children will not be able to see in these fifty plates anything more than a past as remote and fantastic as Eden."

If you want a glimpse of the famed Villa & its beauty take a look inside this book. The pages are beautiful & you can feel the ambiance as if you were living it in the moment!

This is a great book that thoughtfully analyzes the problem of workplace violence then outlines, in rare clarity, how to combat this problem. Mr. Kinney has done a great service for organizations that wish to maximize productivity.

I read this when it was first published and have the honor of having a signed copy. E. Joseph Cossman was once my teacher. He taught me the principles of how to make money without having to work for someone else. When I read the book, I had a completely different opinion of him. I now understand why my Mother had this enormous desire for him. Not only was he a man who is very intellegent but also sensuous, romantic and captivating. Pearl (his wife) is truly the lucky one!. Love always, Darlene Kopplin P.S. Love to the family.

I really liked this book. Rather than being your standard coffee table oversized hardcover (which is a lot of what you find these days about architecture) this book presents a serious and fascinating discussion about architecture and the modern world. Their new approach, looking at three clients, puts the architects in a new light, offering greater depth and understanding of what it takes to build a modern monument. Anyone with a more than cursory interest in architecture would certainly enjoy and learn from this book.

The Vitamin Book is the Strunk and White for nutrition. It is concise, yet provides all the essentials and is enjoyable to read cover to cover. It is a great primer on vitamins and minerals, but experts can also refresh their knowledge and glean a few gems from its pages. I believe that a new addition will also contain chapters on herbals which will further enhance this excellent book.

Daisy Belle Catherine was my grandmother. She came west on a covered wagon, as part of a wagon train of 48 wagons which started in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her family and friends joined it in May Day, Kansas, near the Nebraska border.

But, there's more to the story than the wagon train trip and their brushes with Indians and horsethieves, and the winter in Eastern Oregon, and the vivid description of the Oregon Trail. As they say in advertising, there's much, much more!

There is the story of her childhood in Tumwater, Washington, in the latter part of the 19th century, and her marriage in 1888 (when she was only 16-years-old.) Then, there is the story of how she and her husband, Dave Pier, lived and loved and fought for survival in the early 20th century, and how she gave birth to eight children, and raised them and educated them in a time when there was no aid-to-dependent children, or unemployment compensation--or income tax.

This is a good story, because it is hard and true and real, and was written by a woman who saw the world transformed from the time when black powder weapons were the state of the art, to the atom bomb and astronauts in space. Daisy Belle was a great little gal. I knew her very well. She died in 1965, in Molalla, Oregon, near where I lived, when I had five children of my own.

You will enjoy this book, I promise you.

This book, like a more recent one by WG Sebald, The Emigrants, gives a speaking, stunningly well-written account of what it was like to be a Jew in central Europe in the first half of the 20th century. But it is a book that would fascinate anybody, even a deracinated Irishman like me.

I read the book several years back. I loaned it to a friend, and took a Job Transfer shortly thereafter.
Well, needless to say, I think the friend liked the book also.
So, today I am ordering it for my 2 daughters. They are approaching their 40's, and I know they will love it as much as I did.
The Author does an excellent job in depicting that which makes us smile at ourselves, as we grow older. She lets you know that growing old can be a lot of fun.
",,,I shall wear purple", is a very appropriate title. And, when a Woman nears that special time , OLD AGE, wearing purple is almost an unwritten rule.
The Author tells that in Old Age, you can get more respect. If for no other reason, than just being your Old Self.
I highly recommend reading at least twice. You'll never feel the same about yourself.
The picture on the cover and the poem that goes along with it,are alone worth the price of the Book.

In the many books written about Native Americans Sioux that lived during the Great Sioux War as a hostile this is one of the best. A bit of a braggart, White Bull also is very revealing as far as what he was thinking at the time. E.i. There was an incident when his uncle, Sitting Bull, who decided to show the young braves how brave he was and asked who would like to walk out into the middle of a battlefield and sit down and have a smoke from his pipe with him. White Bull along with three other braves not wanting to look afraid volunteered. When they sat down in between the soldiers and their fellow Sioux with bullets zinging all around them, Sitting Bull put tobacco in his pipe, lit it, and took a long slow draw. When it got to White Bull he states "Except for Sitting Bull we smoked it as fast as we could." For those that wish an authentic flavor of what the Sioux thought during the Great Sioux War this book hits the spot.