Hiawatha is a beautiful, richly detailed poem of Native Americans before the treahery of the white man overwhelmed their way of life. Susan Jeffers took each verse and created a breathtaking, artist's view of the young Hiawatha. Each verse becomes vibrantly alive with her delicate rendiions."By the shores of ..." and Nokomis fill the readers souls with new images because of the renderings made by the talented Susan Jeffers.

Susan Jeffers' drawings exemplify the clarity and imagination of Longfellow's epic poem to a tee. A must have for every child's library, hopefully to be read over and over again.

I have this poem memorized because my father recited it to me so many times as a child. This illustrated version has beautiful pictures that capture the fact that this is the story of child and embody the lyric quality of Longfellows poem.

For sheer size and volume, Henry Darger in the Realms of the Unreal is the best bet. An exhaustive essay into Darger's background and psychology and numerous reproductions, some not in any of the other darger books, all in color. The one drawback of the book is that because it is so big (500+ pages), it doesn't hold together well at the binding and pages start to become loose. But this is an essential Darger book to have.

The other essential Darger book is Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings. The essay portion wasn't as interesting to me as the Unreality of Being book, but this has just as many reproductions and maybe more. Also the book is a more manageable size, the reproductions seem a little better, and it's a great single volume.

The book from the American Folk Art Museum is much smaller than the other 2 in number of pages, the reproductions seem smaller, and there's even less text than the other two books. However, it is the least expensive by a significant amount making it the "bargain" Darger book. For that reason, it would be a good buy for a casual Darger fan. But if you already have the first two books, this one is too repetitive. If you are a big Darger fan, you should try and make the visit to see the exhibition at the Folk Art Museum in New York. Being able to see them in person is a great experience. The size, colors, texture are almost too much to take in, so many details....they are amazing to look at.

I must admit that before i picked up this volume, i wasnt certain of the answer to the aforementioned question. I knew about him, had read bits and pieces about him, but did not know the full scope of his talent.

This book allows the reader to see not just his art, but to catch a glimpse of the sheer magnitude of his madness/genius. The art work is brilliantly reproduced (seeing his stack of journals made the book worthwhile for me).

If you are at all interested in seeing the work and a glimpse of the life of one of the outsider art masters, i suggest that you pick up this book at once.

A recent trip to the Tower of London, and yes, watching the film _Braveheart_ a few times whetted my appetite for more information on the kings of medieval England, specifically, the effect of the Norman invasion. Since I loved to read American history but knew very little about European history, especially medieval European history, I used this book as an introductory primer on the subject. Brooke provides a brief chronological history of each English king over this 400 year period that saw a great transformation of England from a disjointed island of kingdoms that looked to Scandinavia to the beginnings of a more unified nation-state that followed its destiny in the course of the Continent. To a lesser extent, the author also examines various facets of English life and government over this period and examines its changes and what aspects survive until this day. Brooke is also quite evenhanded in analyzing the Anglo-Saxon England and the England of the Normans, and even though his book was written over 30 years ago, and even though he cites many Victorian-era works in his bibligraphy, Brooke's book isn't as dated or as pro-English as one might think -- it has stood the test of time, including the "politically-correct" fad. The wealth of names and the sometimes rapid succession of kings sometimes left me puzzled as exactly who was who and who was in charge of the throne, but as I said before, the book is a solid starting point from which I plan to read more about medieval Europe and the kings and queens of that period.