Jacquelyn Dowd Hall and the other writers of _Like a Family_ created a tour-de-force study of cotton mill towns in the American South. It is a very rare book that captures such a clear, complex sense of history; Hall balances a careful sense of detail with a sweeping picture of life in the cotton-mill South by using a combination of oral and written sources. This book is perfect for scholars and non-scholars alike, and richly conjures a full picture of this period in American history.

Like a Family interestingly and accurately portrays life in southern cotton mills and mill towns in the central southeast, primarily North Carolina. The book examines family, work and community life; it is a social, cultural and political history. Working in the mills was harsh, dangerous and monotonous. Most employees left farms and a rural way of life to toil in the mills; for these people living under the constant eye of mill management was humiliating at times. The mills controlled not only the worker's jobs, but their housing, churches, schools, entertainment and shopping through company stores. It is important to note that this book does not leave out women's perspectives, as many mill workers were young women and working mothers.

A great deal of the content of this book was provided by interviews done in the 1980's of people who worked in the mills and lived in mill communities. This oral history is both fascinating and priceless. Most of the mills have closed and the memory and history of them is becoming scarcer to find as most of the mill workers who lived during the era portrayed in this book have died.

While most of the mills have closed, central North Carolina is dotted with the communities that are remains of old mill towns. I am from this region and my mother lives in Bynum, NC, a mill town dating from the mid-19th century. Several of her neighbors were interviewed for and written about in Like a Family. The old company store still serves as a post office and the mill community's church has regular worshipers. Unfortunately the rest of the community from the mill days, including the mill itself (which closed in the early 1980's and has burned down recently), have succumbed to time and aging from the elements.

Who knew that you could make such cool stuff out of paper? Like a functional floorcloth?? There's a great resource section as well, so you can order any of the great papers in the book. You will learn neat folding and cutting techniques too!

I loved this book! The instructions were clear and concise and the crafts were inspired. You'll find anything from decorative window shades to spice racks. My favorite, however, was the Japanese glow laterns. There's so much variety, you're bound to find a craft for you.

As an "art paper" lover, I can't praise this book enough to do it justice! Wonderfully clear and concise intructions, add to the user friendliness of this must have book for any crafter.

I love craft books that inspire me with new ideas. Everything i saw in this book i've seen before.

...because they will never be bored. There are so many techniques to try, no matter what you like to work with.

This is a wonderful book for someone like me who is into "everything". It is packed with projects to suit anyone's taste, spanning a wide range of crafts including paper, fabric, ceramic, glass, metal, wire and wood. Most of the over 80 projects, while beautiful and sophisticated looking, are very quick and easy to create. Conveniently, most use easy to find and inexpensive materials.

Paper projects include numerous cards, a vellum circle ornament, and a multi-color layered-paper vase. In the fabric section you learn to make a hand-painted silk scarf, embossed velvet pillow, and photo-transfer lampshade. Ceramic and glass projects include etched glass coasters, stained glass napkin rings, an engraved slate frame and daisy-painted glasses. Other projects include bamboo place mats, a bistro beverage cart, a wall clock and a mosaic chime. If you're like me you'll find several things here that you have always wondered how to make and find them remarkably simple to create with this book.

The instructions are step-by-step and easy-to-follow. Patterns and temples are included when necessary. There is also a great list of suppliers in the back including websites. The projects in this book make great gifts. Also, since there is so much to choose from and projects are suitable for all levels, this book would make an excellent gift for the crafter in your life as well.

This book was enjoyable. I was able to relate to the stories, characters, and places. This book is a fast read for anyone who enjoys good literature.

Mary Ann Taylor-Hall has written an exquisite book.Her stories are filled with characters that capture our interest from the moment we meet them.There is an abundence of emotion in her writing,from humor to sadness and the characters become real from the moment we meet them.In the title story Undella captures our imagination from the first description of her standing in a crowd wearing a pith helmet!What a woman.At first glance,the tone and language of the book is delightful and easy to read,on a deeper level it explores issues of both culture and gender that are extremely thought provoking. I enjoyed everything about this book.Not just the writing but the cover photograph,the graphics and embossed pages made this book very memorable.I highly recommend it.

My women's book group read this over year ago, this story about a woman very unlike any of us, and yet we still refer to it in many discussions. Why? Because Carrie is, after all, very much like us in her motherhood and in her loss that most of us can only talk about if we preface it with "God forbid it should happen to any of us". The absolute sincerity of both her passions and her numbness are irresistible and her ultimate incremental steps toward recovery feel like a triumph for the reader as well.

Come & Go is a marvelous novel of superb writing that captures the rhythms of the music and the world in which it is played with great capability. The characters are endearing and imaginable, and despite the tragedy that stands at the center of the story, the novel never loses the beautiful tone that draws the reader into the characters' lives. While the heroine's final situation and her relationships are completely appropriate, Taylor-Hall's choice of how to arrive there may not have been so wise, as it delves completely into a magical world, leaving behind the realism that makes the rest of the novel so credible. Also, the symbolism of Ruth as the woman who journeys to the Promised Land seems somewhat unresolved. Otherwise, this novel is a wonderful work by a promising author.

Come and Go, Molly Snow, by Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, is a novel about bluegrass music, the loss of a child, and the question of whether the "circle will be unbroken, by and by, [is there] a better home awaiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky?" Carrie is a gifted bluegrass fiddler and single mother. She has everything going for her, fiddle player in an outstanding band, Hawktown Road with the handsome Cap, when she daydreams for a moment and her five-year-old daughter, Molly, rides her tricycle into traffic and is killed. As Carrie reminisces: "The woman stood at the clothesline, dreaming, as the child wheeled her trike into the street. Nothing will change that." While a sad subject, this book is far from maudlin; Taylor-Hall fills both the characters and the music they love with light and life. Much of the book is Carrie's coming to peace with herself, that bad things happen, and that her daughter's tragic death is not her fault. She also must come to grips with the question posed by the old-timey song of whether, with Molly and with her, the circle will be unbroken. Carrie is a strong and sympathetic character, and the choices and actions she takes to regain measure in her own life are truly gratifying.

this book is just a rehash of the crafters recipe book-
you would find that to be a much better resource-

This book has an amazing array of techniques and projects. There are so many ideas for manipulating fabric, paper, metal, clay...you name it! It is a GREAT source for inspiration, whether you are looking for some quick ideas or more involved projects.

This book is great! I received it just last night and have already begun my "must do" list!

Each project has 3-5 steps, brief, yet detailed instructions and a materials list that lets you know immediately all of the items and any tools required - before you get half-way through and realize you need to make an emergency trip to the store!

Examples of projects are:

Photo Emulsions

Fabric Transfers

Rug Hooking

Beach-Pebble(polymer clay) Napkin Rings

Painted Glass projects

Mosiac Tile Frames

Glass coasters and Napkin rings

Bamboo Placemats

Velvet Embossing (absolutely GORGEOUS pillow & scarf!)

Gocco Printing - a silk screening technique

Vegetable dyes to painting with pasta

I'm telling you, this book has so many neat things to do!

I read this after reading Stewart O'Nan's vastly superior book, "The Circus Fire." Otherwise, the the novel that is the subject of this review would have made little sense.

The problem is that things just seem to happen willy nilly. The fireman casts aside a girl he's about to marry to take up with a scarred survivor of the circus fire. Why? Why was the first girl even introduced? And the novel just goes on from there.

Most irritating, perhaps, is the daughter, Martha, whose only reason for being seems to be to explain to the dumb reader the psychological workings beneath the surface. I got to the point that I just didn't care. Martha reminded me of Scarpatta's niece in a Patricia Cornwell thriller: smarmy, irritating, and ultimately a pain in the you know what.

The denouement of this novel is just too, too pat. Still, it's an improvement over the middle third of the book, which is where we are treated to all the pop psychology. Alas, this could have been so much better if it had been thought out better.

This book springboards from the real-life fire 50 years ago that killed hundreds of people and destroyed the Ringling Bros. circus when it played in Hartford. One child survived, grew up and married a mysteriously solicitous fireman. This is the story, not only of their marriage, but of the secrets that, like one layer of an onion after another, peel off and reveal, finally, the unguessable ending. I couldn't stop turning the pages