This book is the result of a three-way collaboration between a scientist, a philanthropist and artist dedicated to producing a diorama depicting 300 years of New England's natural and cultural history.

The work, started in the late 1920, captures the essence of the Harvard Forest approach to environmental science, in which a solid understanding of the landscape history provides a basis for interpretation and conservation of nature.

Lifelike and detailed, the dioramas' historical and ecological approach remains relevant today as it becomes more apparent that changes in nature can only be assessed through long-term perspectives.

Many people do not realize that Harvard University has its own forest in New England. The forest has been a source of study for silviculture since its founding in 1907 for almost 100 years.

In the late 1920s, Harvard professor Richard T. Fisher joined with a philanthropist, Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, and talented artisans in the studio of Guernsey and Pitman in Harvard Square to develop a remarkable series of dioramas to capture conservation issues for future generations of silviculture students to study. These dioramas are the basis for the text and illustrations in this book.

New England was mostly ancient forest when the European settlers arrived. The small Native American population cleared only a modest portion of the forests, and used the game from the forests rather more than the timber. With immigration, New England rapidly became one big farm. So much for the original forests. Next, the New England farms were put out of business by richer, midwestern farms shipping their goods to the east. Within a few decades, new forests arose to cover the temporarily cleared and abandoned fields. With rapid growth in pines, a second wave of clearing occurred about a hundred years ago, leaving the forests to start to regrow again. The current hardwood-dominated forests are a result of this man-driven process. These experiences provide many lessons for understanding the impact that people have on forests, and for suggesting better practices for the future.

In one sequence of seven dioramas depicting the same place over time, you can see the whole historical process take place. I found it fascinating. I recognized in each image places that I had visited in New England. Now I can connect each site to what it represents in terms of environmental circumstances. That is like learning to read nature in the way I can read a book to get a message.

Today, we think ahead further (but probably not yet far enough) to consider the implications of our actions on future generations and other species. These dioramas show the importance of capturing the natural history of an area to begin to draw those lessons.

Another set of dioramas were designed to exemplify the conservation issues in New England forests, including loss of old-growth forests, habitat needs for wildlife, natural losses due to hurricanes, erosion from cutting forests, imported pests that feed on forests, and the impact of natural fires and fighting forest fires.

To me the most fascinating part was in the suggested good principles of forestry management. Each stage of forest growth and regrowth is displayed, along with what needs to be done for each stage. This reminded me of being asked about what to do by a client with very large holdings of forests in Maine a few years ago. If I had known about these dioramas, I could have given much more appropriate and valuable advice. I do feel quite a pang of regret at the missed opportunity, as a result.

The final section of the book shows the detail of how the dioramas were created.

The book also tells you about the history of the Harvard Forest and how to reach the Fisher Museum where the dioramas are displayed. I recommend the visit!

The reference to Bullough's Pond in the title of this review is for the highly regarded book that slightly preceded this one, about the ecological history of a man-made pond in Newton, Massachusetts. If you have not yet read that fine work, you have a real treat ahead of you. Anyone who is interested in understanding the rhythms between humans and nature can learn much from these two books.

Having read these two books, a new question occurs to me. At one time, forest fires were aggressively avoided in New England. The current view is that these are a natural process and should not be so aggressively countered. Where else do our views need to be shifted to reflect the long-term best interests of all?

How should use of forests and water reserves be adjusted to reflect optimum benefits for the next ten generations? How would our use change if this question were stretched to cover twenty generations? Do we even know how to think about these questions? Do we have plans to be able to learn how?

Overcome the presumption that only the here and now is important. What we do here and now is very important, but our decisions need to be much more independent of momentary needs and perspectives.

Perhaps microcosm is not quite the world, Forests Through Time offers a fascinating angle of insight into one aspect of the ecological development of New England. For a wider angle, one reads Bullough's Pond, and for the complete picture of the land in colonial times, Changes in the Land. This however is a fascinating view and well worth perusing.

"Marx's Ecology" by John Bellamy Foster positively reasserts the long-neglected environmental aspects of Karl Marx's writing. Foster guides the reader through a fascinating look at Marx's personal intellectual development and the various thinkers who influenced him. The author reveals a Marx who was keenly aware of capital's strategy to alienate labor from nature. Foster also makes clear that Marx worked assiduously to develop a theory that might reconnect dehumanized labor with its degraded environment in hopes of creating a better, more sustainable world.

Indeed, Foster's book is an interesting study of intellectual history, with an emphasis on the debates that raged during Marx's lifespan in the 19th century. The ideas and discoveries of Darwin, Engels, Epicurus, Hegel, Malthus, Proudhon, and others are discussed at length. Foster presents a Marx who was clearly at the vanguard of progressive thought in his era and gives us considerable insight into how Marx created his materialist theory of history. We also understand why Marx privileged the environment but explicitly rejected the fashionable teleological and racist arguments of his time.

In particular, I found the discussion concerning Epicurus to be fascinating. Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher who had a profound influence on the Enlightenment and was the subject of Marx's doctoral dissertation. Foster tells us that Marx's unconventional interpretations have been confirmed by recent archaeological discoveries, although at the time Marx had been working from a small number of extant fragments of Epicurus' writings. In addition to explaining to the reader why Epicurus' ideas are important, Foster deepens our appreciation for Marx, whose intellectual capabilities were evident even at a fairly young age.

In the Epilogue, Foster shows how Marx's ecology fell out of the loop, a victim to Soviet ideology, Stalinist purges and other historical forces. But he shows how snippets of Marx's environmental thought has influenced scholars and activists throughout the 20th century. In fact, Foster suggests that Marx has been vindicated by some within the contemporary environmental movement. For example, Rachel Carson's work connecting corporate power with environmental and social degradation recalls (unconsciously?) Marx's work regarding the dialectic of nature and science. But with this book, Foster has effectively redrawn the circle, solidly connecting Marxist theory with the environment. Foster helps us understand that social justice and ecological sustainability are core Marxist values that can guide and inspire activists who are looking for solutions to today's environmental crisis.

In short, I strongly recommend this book for readers who are interested in intellectual history and/or eco-socialist theory, and congratulate Foster for an outstanding piece of research.

In "Marx's Ecology," John Bellamy Foster defies conventional green thinking by raising the banner of materialism rather than spirituality in the fight to save the planet and humanity from ecological ruin. In addition to restoring materialism to its proper place, Foster also shows that ecological questions were central not only to Marx, but other Marxists such as Bebel and Bukharin. By restoring this lost tradition, Foster hopes to create a new basis for ecosocialism grounded in Marxist science rather than mysticism.

Although most students of Marx are aware of materialist thought in such early works as the 1845 "Theses on Feuerbach," Foster argues convincingly that materialism made its debut in Marx's doctoral dissertation on the "Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature," written four years earlier. According to Foster, the standard explanation for the dissertation is that Marx saw Epicurus as a kindred rebel spirit. This Epicurus sought to overthrow the totalizing philosophy of Aristotle, just as the post-Hegelians--including the young Marx--rose up against Hegel. What is missing here is the element of materialism, which drew Marx to Epicurus in the first place. Marx identified with the Enlightenment, for which Epicurus serves as a forerunner to the radical democrats of the 17th and 18th century. The materialism they all shared was crucial to an attack on the status quo, ancient or modern.

The Greek materialists, especially Epicurus, are important to Marx because they represent the first systematic opposition to idealist and essentialist thought. Just as importantly, Epicurus in particular anticipates the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment. His dicta that "Nothing is ever created by divine power out of nothing" and "nature . . . never reduces anything to nothing" are in harmony with what we now know as "the principle of conservation." Foster also notes that Lucretius, another materialist of the classical era, "alluded to air pollution due to mining, to the lessening of harvests through the degradation of soil, and to the disappearance of the forests; as well as arguing that human beings were not radically different from animals."

In their early writings, Marx and Engels wed the materialism of the Enlightenment to a political critique of the capitalist system, particularly targeting ideologues such as Malthus. Taking aim at his false piety, the 1844 "Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy" challenges private property, especially in the land, asserting that:

"To make earth an object of huckstering--the earth which is our one and all, the first condition of our existence--was the last step in making oneself an object of huckstering. It was and is to this very day an immortality of self-alienation. And the original appropriation--the monopolization of the earth by a few, the exclusion of the rest from that which is the condition of their life--yields nothing in immorality to the subsequent huckstering of the earth."

By restoring Marx's materialism to its proper place, "Marx's Ecology" provides a theoretical foundation for further explorations in ecosocialism. Once we understand the proper connection between nature and society, we can begin to act to confront the major problems facing humanity, from global warming to diminishing fresh water supplies. In the final chapter, Foster cites a number of Marxist thinkers who belong to the materialist tradition. Their examples can help to inspire a new generation of ecologically minded socialists.

Foster presents an unfamiliar side of Bukharin. His "Philosophical Arabesques," only made available in 1992, reveals a sophisticated dialectical materialist who grounds his analysis of society in ecology. Bukharin writes of the "earth's atmosphere, full of infinitely varied life, from the smallest microorganisms in water, on land and in the air, to human beings. Many people do not imagine the vast richness of these forms, or their direct participation in the physical and chemical processes of nature."

As one of the founders of German Social Democracy, August Bebel not only spoke with some authority in the 1884 "Woman Under Socialism," he also seemed to be anticipating the dire consequences experienced today in the wake of clear-cutting:

"The mad sacrifice of the appreciable deterioration of climate and decline in the fertility of the soil in the provinces of Prussian and Pomerania, in Syria, Italy and France, and Spain. Frequent inundations are the consequence of stripping high ground of trees. The inundations of the Rhine and Vistula are chiefly attributed to the devastation of forest land in Switzerland and Poland."

Finally, in an instance that seems to address Joel Kovel's complaint about the lack of spirituality in Marxism and a possible alternative to Lewis Henry Morgan's obsession with "improvement,", we have the example of Rosa Luxemburg who wrote from prison in May, 1917:

"What am I reading? For the most part, natural science: geography of plants and animals. Only yesterday I read why the warblers are disappearing from Germany. Increasingly systematic forestry, gardening and agriculture are, step by step destroying all natural nesting and breeding places: hollow trees, fallow land, thickets of shrubs, withered leaves on the garden grounds. It pained me so when I read that. Not because of the song they sing for people, but rather it was the picture of the silent, irresistible extinction of these defenseless little creatures which hurt me to the point that I had to cry. It reminded me of a Russian book which I read while still in Zurich, a book by Professor Sieber about the ravage of the redskins in North America. In exactly the same way, step by step, they have been pushed from their land by civilized men and abandoned to perish silently and cruelly."

This book is a hot knife through the rancid butter of existing views of the ties between science, ecology, and the politics of the human future.

Foster presents prodigious historical evidence for his thesis that, despite a century-and-a-half of obtuseness on both right and left, Karl Marx was one of the greatest and deepest inheritors and advancers of the best tradition of both "Enlightenment materialism-humanism" and ecological realism.

Foster shows that, contrary to traditional interpretations, Marx was neither an admirer of crude mechanistic science nor an airy Hegelian dreamer. If one actually bothers to read the earliest and the lesser-known Marx, it turns out that the bearded one was quite consciously an exponent of the supple, open-ended materialism embodied in the Epicurean tradition and in the best ideas of its Enlightenment elaborators, including giants of science like Bacon and Darwin.

This unappreciated fact, Foster also shows, meant that Marx was also a very profound ecologist. Up to speed on the most important ecological debates of his epoch, Marx's whole project, Foster convincingly demonstrates, rested on the kind of hard-headed, historically-sensitive, and politically clear-sighted concern for the world's ecological welfare that is so sorely lacking in today's sterile debates between status-quo ostriches and "radical" nature worshippers.

This book has opened my eyes and greatly deepened my appreciation of Marx, ecological thought, the history and future of science, and the best meaning of humanism. Anybody interested in these vital issues ought to get and digest this ground-breaking tour-de-force!

Robert is an only child and he is used to having his mother all to himself. One day Robert's mother announces that Stevie will be coming to stay with them while his mother is working during the week and Robert is not happy. Robert gets jealous of the attention the younger Stevie (who Robert considers a crybaby) gets from his parents and hates the fact that he has to share his toys, friends and everything else with Stevie. Robert cannot wait until Stevie's mother comes to pick him up at the end of the week, or can he?

Stevie was published by John Steptoe when he was only nineteen years old. He expertly captures the feelings many children have when they have to share things or attention with a younger child or sibling. Check out Stevie, for a humorous story that most anyone can relate to.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay of
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

wow THats a good book for kids and i know that stevie was mean and stuff and he was a black man but i dont care robert maybe thinks in his mind that stevie is a nice little stevie.can i say it again??wow THats a good book for kids and i know that stevie was mean and stuff and he was a black man but i dont care robert maybe thinks in his mind that stevie is a nice little stevie.

Stevie, written and illustrated by John Steptoe when he was only 16 yrs. old, was the inauguration of a wonderful career as a children's author for Mr. Steptoe. All of his books are heartfelt, compassionate, richly illustrated, and can bridge the gap among all races; he was doing the multicultural thing well before it was "multicultural"ly defined and politically correct. Stevie fits in with our current PC climate without coming off as trendy and purposeful. It simply tells a tale of a young boy, Stevie, who is sent to stay with an older boy and his family while Stevie's mother works at her new job. The older boy, Robert, resents the intrusion of Stevie in his life. Always tagging along, getting footprints on the bedcovers, and acting "like a baby" to Robert's mother, Stevie is the classic irritating but innocent little brother who, in the end will be sorely missed by Robert when Stevie's mother finally comes to take him back home with her. As a young white reader who grew up in a very white world, this book, about two African-American boys, was always my very favorite children's book not only because of the stunning illustration, but because of the commonality and familiarity this book held with me: it could have easily been my story. And it could have been any story for any child anywhere. I loved the fact that it was introduced at a time when race relations needed bridging and commonalities needed awareness. It is a book for the ages.

Anton Chaitkin was persecuted for releasing the most in depth research on the traitors to America throughout it's existance. Anton Chaitkin also uncovered the document from the library of congress proving that Bush Sr's father, Presscott Bushes bank "Union Bank" was shut down by Roosevelt in 1942, under the trading with the pact for funding the Nazi party and Thyssin Steel money. Fritz Thyssin wrote the book "I funded Hitler" and was responsible for more than 50% of the war drive steel and iron. Democratic Presidental Candidate Lyndon LaRouche has exposed these impierail traitors to the ideas of the American Revolution the the civil rights movement. It is time we Americans got off our high and holy degenerate [behinds] and acted in the spirits of Ben Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Aberham Lincoln, McKinley, and FDR.

This book has to be one of the most important books that any media scientist could possibly read. It is pure art in the sense of art as an updater of consciousness.Wonderful book.

You can study American History in High School or College, but you will never get the in depth research involved in this book. I have never seen such a great list of referances andbibliography. Why haven't more historians been able to just tell it like it is instead of just sucking up to New World Order Crazies? How many people have ever heard of the "American System of Economics" as opposed to the British East India "Free Trade Buy cheap,Sell dear slavocracy. If you really want to know your history, Read this book and study its' referances.

This is a wonderful collection of stories and poems from ancient Egypt, translated of course. Someone once said "Poetry is that which is lost in translation," but that does not hold true for this book. Most of its stories are in poetic form, and they are all as fascinating and engaging as any non-translated work might be.
Some of the best works in the book are its love poems, which range from tender and sweet to erotic-and often both. They are delightful to read, not to mention startlingly modern; love has not changed much over 3000 years, it appears.
For a glimpse at what life 3000 years ago might have been like; or a taste of the incredible culture that existed then; or an eye-opening example of how close we are to people from all places and times; or simply a fabulous collection of literature, I would definitely recommend this book.

This book has received a Special Recognition for Paperback Cover Design from the 2001 Southern Books Competition. "The photographic, typographic, and color elements work together in a clean and pleasant way to produce a most attractive package." Congratulations to translator John L. Foster, book jacket designer Heidi Haeuser, cover artist Lyla Pinch Brock, and the University of Texas Press.

Both of my kids love looking at the pictures and love hearing about the big rigs.

All the wonderful machines that fascinate kids are featured in this book -- bulldozers, front-loaders, big shovels, backhoes, etc. -- each explained in a clear and entertaining style. Splendid illustrations fill every page, and are the gems that set this book apart from others, elevating it to the status of a classic. The pictures are chock-full of delightful details -- from little, surprised worms wiggling in dirt scooped by the bucket of a front-loader to a huge, snorting bull on the front of a "bull"dozer to a score of tiny turtles crewing a submarine. Every illustration totally enthralled my three-and-a-half year old grandson, who returned again and again to the book to study the pictures, for there is such rich detail in each that one cannot possibly see everything at the first reading. This is a book whose memory a child will always cherish. It is a book that parents might buy for their child, knowing it may well be saved, and someday passed on to the next generation as a special gift.

John Bellamy Foster's "Ecology Against Capitalism" is a collection of essays that addresses some of the various aspects of capitalism's crisis of accumulation and the environment. Importantly, the author compares and contrasts the failures of the ecological economics model with the more promising ecosocialist paradigm, arguing that the latter is humanity's best chance to create a stable, healthy and humane world.

I haven't read any other books by Foster, but it is hard to imagine a better effort. This powerful little book is written with passion, clarity and purpose. Foster seems to pack more meaning in 170 pages than others who use twice the space. Consequently one can imagine the book serving as an excellent supplemental textbook for students who may be interested in rapidly developing their critical thinking skills.

Many of the articles discuss how the growth of capitalism is leading to environmental collapse. Foster shows that assigning market values to nature and introducting relatively less harmful technologies will not end the destruction. Rather, these so-called Green Economics solutions will merely lead to a "more efficient exploitation of the environment" (pg. 58) by the capital markets.

Foster strongly believes that a moral element is at play. The "higher immorality" of the bourgeoise class is implicit in its accumulation of material goods and profits at the expense of the poor and the environment; but it is also sometimes explicitly stated, such as in Lawrence Summers' infamous World Bank memo where a policy of exporting pollution to poor countries was rationalized because the economies are less developed there.

In my opinion, one of the best passages on the issue of morality concerned Foster's devastating critique of Malthus, who was one of the original apologists for the privileged class. Foster brilliantly turns the cult of Malthusianism on its head by arguing that the environmental crisis is a result of overconsumption by the rich, not the poor. Foster points out that neo-Malthusianism remains influential within neoliberal thought and argues forcefully that it must end if we are to ever stop deluding ourselves and get to work on real solutions to the crisis.

Foster's personal experiences with the timber industry conflicts in the Pacific Northwest are related in the book's lengthiest essay. The author discusses the limits of achieveing environmental sustainability without class struggle and the support of labor. Interestingly, Foster demonstrates the practical value of ecosocialist theory by articulating a workable solution that went beyond the rhetoric of "jobs versus logs". Perhaps not surpisingly, the author tells us that the promising proposal was quashed by a Bush Sr. administration official in favor of a pro-industry solution.

Ultimately, Foster shows that an ecosocialist society that values democracy, community and nature can indeed create "a positive, not just a negative, alternative to capitalism" (pg. 132). I urge you to read this outstanding book.

In this new book John Bellamy Foster has assembled a great deal of evidence (in a dozen chapters written and published over the last decade) that the earth's ecology is incompatible with capitalism. But is there an alternative?

Foster says: "A shift toward a broad movement for ecological conversion and the creation of a sustainable society also means that that the partnership between the state and the capitalist class, which has always formed the most important linchpin of the capitalist system, must be loosened by degrees, as part of an overall social and environmental revolution. This partnership must be replaced, in the process of a radical transformation of the society, by a new partnership between democratized state power and popular power" (p. 132).

Reading just that far, one might conclude that such a loosening by degrees could be achieved within the two-party system in the United States or in other regimes where voters choose between conservatives and liberals. Certainly many environmental progressives (if that's not a contradiction) have opted to work within the existing political duopoly.

But the Ralph Nader campaigns of 1996 and 2000, and the concomitant rise of the Green Party, presage a different direction. It is one, however, which will require both a deeper and more ecological understanding of the incompatibility of ecosystems with a profit system, and a more radical politics than the market-regulation offered by the Green Party platform and Citizen Nader's narrower planks.

Foster goes on to say: "Such a shift requires revolutionary change that must be more than simply a rejection of capitalist methods of accumulation and their effects on people and the environment. Socialism -- as a positive, not just a negative, alternative to capitalism -- remains essential to the conversion process, because its broad commitment to worldwide egalitarian change reflects an understanding of 'how the needs of the various communities can be fit together in a way that leaves nobody out, and that also satisfies global environmental requirements'."

In his major opus, Marx's Ecology (2000), Foster showed Marx's development of an ecological perspective that drew from the latest natural science discoveries. These included the discovery of the micro metabolic cycles by the cell theorists, Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden, which Marx linked with the discovery of the grand metabolic cycles of earth and sky by the agrochemist Justus von Liebig. To this one would have to add the influence on Marx of Karl Fraas, an important figure in forest ecology neglected by Foster and most scholars in this country.

Marx's resulting awareness of the ecological care necessary to plan a sustainable socialism was ignored, however, by the Soviet Union under Stalin, as Foster showed, despite profound contributions by scientists like Vladimir I. Vernadsky, whose 1924 book, The Biosphere (1998), has become an internationally-recognized classic of ecology. Critical radicals today, and particularly those in the ecosocialism paradigm, reject the lack of democracy and bureaucratic centralism of such regimes, which
played a key role in the adoption of policies that degraded the environment.

Nevertheless, Foster argues, "Within a socialist framework, the sources of the largest-scale and most severe environmental destruction could be dealt with head-on, in a way that has already shown itself to be beyond the capacity -- not to say against the interests -- of capital."

Foster acknowledges a range of collaborators and rivals in the crafting of his new book. Most important is Paul Burkett, whose
Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective (1999) finally clarified the distinction between the human use of nature and the exploitation of the exchange value of commodities. Foster also cites James O'Connor, author of Natural Causes (1998)as showing that "While there are many variations in economic growth theory, all presuppose that capitalism cannot stand still...that it must 'accumulate or die,' in Marx's words" (p. 80).

Although Foster's new book appeared at the same time as Joel Kovel's The Enemy of Nature (2002), which has the same basic theme, the books are quite different. Foster's collection of articles is intended to deal with specifics, it is "an attempt to intervene directly in contemporary political-economic debates on capitalism and the environment..." (p. 7). Kovel's book is actually an intervention into eco-politics and provides a sustained exploration of Ecosocialism as compared and contrasted with Deep Ecology, Bioregionalism, Anarchist Social Ecology, and particularly with Populism and variants of small-business capitalism.

If Foster's new book is focused on what needs to be undone in an ecological and economic conversion, Kovel's is much more a manual of what needs to be done to build the alternative to capitalism. The books actually complement each other, and both are essential tools for the ecological activist and the open-minded citizen.

Finally a book of Egyptian love poetry for people with enough of Budge to recognize a hieroglyph or two :-) More seriously the hieroglyphs are primarily "atmosphere" in this text. Curiously, the hieroglyphs are not the original but rather transcriptions of the original cursive hieratic ... a bit of posturing that mildly concerned me when I first saw the book. Fortunately, the quality of the translated poetry more than compensated for my qualms.

Having been introduced to Egyptian love poetry by the use of Michael Fox's work in a class on the Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon), I was delighted to find this gem. The poetry is translated without footnotes - a feature I appreciate.

An example of the joys of the poems: "He had made a hushed sell in the thicket, for worship / to dedicate this day / To holy elevation of flesh"

Because of the relationship of Egyptian love poetry to the Song of Songs, this scarely known poetry has had an effect on our culture - one as worth exploring as the Greek or Latin.

If you want to warm your lady's heart through her mind, the potency of this book has no equal. I bought this for my girlfriend two years ago and she still reads it over regularly. You know guys, the gift you are looking for to prove that your mind functions outside of the physical? If she is even remotely open to ancient civilization this is the ticket, this is "The Gift." I am not usually into poetry but I like this a lot. This is the Total Recall of poetry: just enough plot, just enough action. Seriously, she will love this and you will not mind it yourself ;).

I LOVED it! I bought it on an impulse, having found it on the backshelf at a bargain store. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but, like I said, I loved it! It is SO romantic! "when I hold you close, and your arms steal around me, I am like a man transplanted to Punt, or like someone out in the reedflats, when the whole world bursts into flower. In this land of south-sea fragrances, my love, you are the essence of roses!" HOW ROMANTIC! I would love to have been that woman to whom the poet was saying such things! I highly reccomend this book to anybody, especially those wo are just getting into poetry, like me. It is truly a beautiful book.

A great read about family life in the south; mystery,love,adventure,abandonment; a typical southern family. I am a southerner. Altho written for young adults all ages will enjoy Kezi Matthews word pictures that bring Memphis to living color.

John Riley's Daughter is one of those edgy, suspenseful novels that keep you reading once you start. The Southern atmosphere is right on the mark, and the characters get up and walk off the page. I loved it from the beginning, and have already read it again!

Recipient of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association's Best Children's Book by a Northwest author 2001 award. Also named to School Library Journal's Best Books 2000 list.