I must admit my bias right up front. The authors previous book entitled Border Fury, which combined a photo study of the Revolution with a history of the postcard industry, drew heavily on my collection of period postcards. That one was excellently done by the UNM Press and so is this one. This covers the phases of the Mexican Revolution in the northeast around Matamoros, right across the Rio Grande del Norte from Brownsville. Located as it is downstream from the Big Bend country and seperated by mountains from the central valley between the two main chains which run north and south, this area was little settled on either side until the Anglos built a railway to the border around 1900. With the opening of access to markets for tropical agricultural crops in the North this semi tropical area began to fill up with Anglo towns on the north side of the river. This area became known as the Lower Valley to distinguish it from the El Paso, Juarez area of the upper valley. The sparsely settled country had always been a hotbed of banditry, dominated by the enormous King Ranch, which was almost as large as Delaware. Race relations were typical of the times, in a word, bad. The area was politically dominated by the cacique or patron (godfather) system. If you have seen the film Lone Star with Kris Kristofferson, you will see that things had not changed much by the fifties. Social unrest, and border raids were exacerbated by the unsettled conditions south of the River; although the campaigning in the area was not decisive in the fighting between Villistas and Carranzistas in 1914 and 1915. The notorious Plan of San Diego, which called for reconquest of the old area of New Spain taken in the Mexican War and a general massacre of all Anglo males over the age of puberty, became a highly charged issue between Anglos and Chicanos. This fantastic plot was taken seriously by the Anglos and the Texas Rangers became highly feared as they carried out a race war to keep down the Chicano population. Right in the midst of these doings was Robert Runyon, a professional photographer located in Brownsville. Probably the most famous image of his atelier was one taken after the Norias raid (a group of bandits laid siege to a remote ranchhouse) in which a mounted Ranger is shown dragging away the corpse of one of the raiders at the end of a rope. This made a sensation in the press as it was not apparent from the photo that this episode was not a typical lynching. This book can be read with interest both by the general reader, the photo historian, and the local historian. It is a well made book typical of those sponsored by the Texas State Historical Association.

I must admit my bias right up front. The authors previous book entitled Border Fury, which combined a photo study of the Revolution with a history of the postcard industry, drew heavily on my collection of period postcards. That one was excellently done by the UNM Press and so is this one. This covers the phases of the Mexican Revolution in the northeast around Matamoros, right across the Rio Grande del Norte from Brownsville. Located as it is downstream from the Big Bend country and seperated by mountains from the central valley between the two main chains which run north and south, this area was little settled on either side until the Anglos built a railway to the border around 1900. With the opening of access to markets for tropical agricultural crops in the North this semi tropical area began to fill up with Anglo towns on the north side of the river. This area became known as the Lower Valley to distinguish it from the El Paso, Juarez area of the upper valley. The sparsely settled country had always been a hotbed of banditry, dominated by the enormous King Ranch, which was almost as large as Delaware. Race relations were typical of the times, in a word, bad. The area was politically dominated by the cacique or patron (godfather) system. If you have seen the film Lone Star with Kris Kristofferson, you will see that things had not changed much by the fifties. Social unrest, and border raids were exacerbated by the unsettled conditions south of the River; although the campaigning in the area was not decisive in the fighting between Villistas and Carranzistas in 1914 and 1915. The notorious Plan of San Diego, which called for reconquest of the old area of New Spain taken in the Mexican War and a general massacre of all Anglo males over the age of puberty, became a highly charged issue between Anglos and Chicanos. This fantastic plot was taken seriously by the Anglos and the Texas Rangers became highly feared as they carried out a race war to keep down the Chicano population. Right in the midst of these doings was Robert Runyon, a professional photographer located in Brownsville. Probably the most famous image of his atelier was one taken after the Norias raid (a group of bandits laid siege to a remote ranchhouse) in which a mounted Ranger is shown dragging away the corpse of one of the raiders at the end of a rope. This made a sensation in the press as it was not apparent from the photo that this episode was not a typical lynching. This book can be read with interest both by the general reader, the photo historian, and the local historian. It is a well made book typical of those sponsored by the Texas State Historical Association.

Anthony Paul's book covers all styles of water gardens with accompanying photos and plans. Construction techniques are clearly explained, accompanied by line drawings. Plants to use for stocking the water garden appear in a separate section, as well as a glossary of terms. While most of the gardens featured were designed by landscape professionals, many of the ideas can be extracted and incorporated into one's garden.

Brisco has obviously gone to great lengths to investigate the history of waterfowling in SW Ontario. There are many facts and figures contained within the text. Brisco himself is an avid waterfowling and collector originally from Chatham, Ontario. The book is full of history of the area from the market gunning days back when trains were the only access to the 70's. There are hundreds of black and white and color plates of various decoys produced by the dozens of past and present area makers. Also mentioned are many of the Detroit factory decoys. Included are pictorials and biographies of many of those makers including a chart of when they lived and died. One can also find many other waterfowling collectibles including duck calls, live deke boxes, shooting chairs, etc. Look for the old photos of the hunt clubs and marshes. A truly warm and friendly book that visits the realm of the hunter in SW Ontario long, long ago! Dale Hainer, OWC shooter@MNSI.net

Rich, powerful material by some of the best, Hemfelt, Minirth & Meier! Worth listening to!

This book is a compilation of eyewitness reports. From the moment of the blast to the demolition of the building, we hear from those who were there. What they saw, what they felt, what they experienced. Cops, firemen, office workers, FEMA experts, Red Cross volunteers, every aspect of the disaster except the hard details of the investigation are covered. (The book was created during the investigation and the pending criminal trial, so these details were not available for publishing.)

After reading this book, you will know at least a little about what it was like to be there at ground zero, about what the building was like inside (without many graphic details), about the willing sacrifice of all involved, about the effects of the terrorist's bomb.

Highly recommended.

If you enjoyed P. Hazel's book you might also enjoy Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series. Both series rely heavily on rambling Welsh/Celtic mythology. I, though, don't care for either!

This was one of the original Golden Guides done back in the 50's, along with The Stars, Rocks and Minerals, Birds, North American Trees, and some others. I collected and read just about all of these and it's surprising how much info they got into these little books. Each book is exactly 160 pages, if I remember right. Thus, they have a fixed format, so they have to be very careful about what they select for material since it all has to fit.

These books sold for 75 cents or 95 cents originally. They were great little educational tools when I was a schoolboy, and I could still read them with profit many years later.

The more specialized ones, such as Pond Life, Structural Geology, The Heart, Insect Pests, Spiders and Their Kin, Mushrooms and Non-Vascular plants, were also very good.

It is small. It is well illustrated. It is simple. It is comprehensive. It is correct, almost no errors and no "over simplifications." If you are a CEO, a student, or a child over 10 and interested in understanding weather, this well organized and concise book is a good place to start.

overall, i thought this was a good book to read about the proper strategies for the weatherlight deck cards. I'm an avid magic card player and i own portal subset besides weatherlight subset. This book was useful in instruction on building contructed or limited deck formats and gave excellent information on certain cards for certain environments. Plus the artwork was great!