I stumbled across this book by accident one day and it has turned out to be my find of 2001 -- one of the most enjoyable books I have read in ages. Taylor, a youthful New York journalist and poet, was sent out to California to file back dispatches on this wild, gold-filled, lush place in the seminal gold rush year of 1849, when California was a sprawling region, and not yet a state. And what a fabulous job he does -- this reads more like an engaging adventure narrative than non-fiction, and I could not put it down -- a reader is completely transported into another place and time. One cannot fail to be fascinated by the bustling, energetic, multi-ethnic, can-do place that was the west coast. If you know California, especially the San Francisco, Monterey and Sacramento areas, Taylor's descriptions of their still-untamed landscapes will be both familiar and strange, but always utterly lovely. His reports of the gold rush regions are extraordinary, as is his walk -- yes, *walk* -- from San Francisco to Monterey... this at a time when a galloping horse could get from San Jose to San Francisco in perhaps seven *hours*. Taylor is funny, honest, generally very clear-eyed and unsentimental, and his writing is of very high calibre. Kudos to Heyday Press for bringing this wonderful book to a new audience. I am giving it to everybody as a gift this year.

Bayard Taylor, with the eye of the photographer for detail and composition and the writing talent of the professional journalist Horace Greely so willingly paid, provides the reader with a fantastic look at California of the mid-1800's. His vivid descriptions of the people, the events, and perhaps most importantly, the pre-development beauty of California's wild mountains, seacoasts, and valleys, made this reviewer (a native Californian) long for a time machine to allow visits to the wondrous collection of experiences described by Taylor. From his many travels across the land, to his viewing of the first California consitutional convention, his words allow the reader to feel the wind in one's hair as the California-bred horses fly at top speed across the valleys and through the washes, or to be a fly on the wall as the convention delegates reach compromises which shaped and prepared the State for it's Golden future. The pictures he paints of the natural environment of early California are so dramatic that they must certainly encourage all attempts to preserve the tragically few expanses of California landscape remaining. This is a book for Californians (and those who love the state) who wish to return, if only for a few brief moments, to the sounds and the sights of it's birth: raw, chaotic, beautiful, yet with a rich Spanish/Mexican heritage and social codes that provided a useable framework to maintain law and order. Taylor describes it all, allowing us to understand not only what was happening, but also why. It's a great book.

This is kind of a joyful, thoughtful, updated FAREWELL TO MANZANAR, a modern journey around the Pacific Basin to see the context of our oneness as a people, the future of how we will coexist as Americans and Asians and Amerasians. Examines in a playful way the similarities we share as peoples, and the lessons we learn from each other about our cultures--our histories, and our shared humanity. Important lessons for the future as the boundaries fall away. Highly recommended

A restless VietNam vet PI, a beautiful mixed-blood Hawaiian woman, slimeball corporations, spiritual but passive islanders, the Goddess Pele: this is potentially as dangerous ground as a fresh lava flow. Fortunately, Houston is a sufficiently subtle author to create credible and sympathetic characters, provide suspense and surprise, and keep the reader totally engaged. Not as strong as Kiana Davenport's magnicent Shark Dialogues, but a very entertaning page turner with a good environmental message.

Before Michener, Hawai'i was an open-season setting for every visitor who made an occupation of putting pen to paper. Since the local literary renaissance, built in part on the objections of people who live in Hawai'i to Michener's failure to "get it right," few outsiders have stood up to challenge the likes of Darrell Lum, Lois-Ann Yamanaka, and -- most recently -- Chris McKinney. The Last Paradise is less a challenge to those talented local writers than a contribution to the widening pool of literature that celebrates an authentic Island experience without unduly demonizing or romanticizing. But romantic it is, in both the narrow, amorous sense and in the sense that inspires wonder at the natural and spritual forces that pervade human life, whether we pay homage to them or not. Jim Houston is not a Hawai'i-based writer, but he has spent considerable time here and his acculturation seems as complete as an outsider's can be. The writing is lyrically beautiful and authentic-feeling, and the characters Travis Doyle and Evangeline "Angel" Sakai are three-dimensional and vital as their mingling fluids. This is a good read, whether you grew up in Hawai'i like Angel or on the West Coast like Travis; it's a good read for anybody who likes to ponder things that count, such as how long this earth will continue to sustain human beings regardless of what we make of it or ourselves.

James D. Houston novel, Snow Mountain Passage, has two main threads. The minor one is the recollections of an eighty year survivor of the Donner Party looking back to her time as an eight year old during the struggle for survival. The major storyline, though, is that of her father, James Frazier Reed, and his search for a rescue party for his lost family and the other emigrants as he gets caught up in the politics and struggles of a new territory being born. The problem with the book is that the more interesting story (and better writing) lie with the Donner Party and the interesting clash of personalities there. Unfortunately, the reader has to go through much less developed or lively personalities, such as Reed himself, to get back to the heart of the story. The tragedy of the Donners hangs over the entire novel but is not enough to carry it through the less interesting or illuminating sections.

In 1846, the families leaving Illinois for the West Coast feel ecstatic about the success of their journey even though they have heard some harrowing tales. For instance, the Reed family consisting of a father and mother and four children headed by James expects to achieve a golden life in California.

However, problems occur in Nevada as jealousy and politics surface. James is forced to leave by himself with his family staying with the remainder of the Donner Party. Soon storms batter the group in the Sierra Nevadas while James tries to find help to save his family.

SNOW MOUNTAIN PASSAGE is an intriguing novelization of the disastrous Donner Party. The story line alternates viewpoints between James's desperate efforts to rescue his beloved family and through the six-decade-old memory of one of his daughters looking back to the disaster. The characters come alive as well as readers get a deep inside look at the human condition when tragedy strikes. James D. Houston provides a harrowing tale filled with passion and anger while making his present and future flashback techniques not only work, but prove he is quite an author of historical fiction.

Harriet Klausner

There have been so many excellent books about the 19th century American West in the past year, starting with "Gates of the Alamo" to "The Borderlands" and "The Heartsong of Charging Elk" (my nomination for the best novel of 2000), straight through to "Snow Mountain Passage."

James Houston tells the story of the Donner party from the point of view of James Reed, a member of the wagon train who did not spend the winter of 1846 in the Sierra Nevadas. He had been sent on ahead, and was one of the people trying to reach the stranded families from the other side of the mountains. His frustration is excruciating as he battles for support in an area that is consumed with breaking away from Mexico. Rescue parties he mounts are turned back again and again by blizzards. Reed refuses to accept that rescuers may not be able to reach the settlers until the terrible winter is over. He knows that his family and the others cannot survive that long.

Survival in the freezing camp is recorded by his youngest daughter, Patty, who looks back on that winter as a woman in her 80's. Her story is told with the clear eyes of a child and the wisdom of an old woman. The fact that there were any survivors is incredible. This was an exceptionally frigid winter, and the families crammed into hastily thrown-together shacks, without heat, polar fleece, or thermals, eating anything, anything to stay alive. There was little heroism. Each group was on its own. Patty's trail diaries reveal the smell, the anger, the hunger, the despair that no one will come to help in time.

The desperation is heightened for the Reed family because they are one of the reasons the group did not make it over the summit before winter set in. What keeps James Reed from hero status is his hubris in building an enormous two-story wagon so his family could travel west in comfort. This "Palace Car" slowed everyone down, delaying the group's arrival in the Sierra Nevadas until too late in the year. The Reeds' descent from being the most envied group on the trail to the one with the fewest remaining resources makes Jim Reed even more complex, frantic to save his family from the result of his pride, yet so wrenched by guilt that he is tempted to flee south to fight the Mexicans.

Vivid and powerful, "Snow Mountain Passage" is a fine and affecting example of literary fiction, historical fiction, and plain great reading.

Amongst numerous hermeneutics Books in stores, this one is quite different from others.

Using the multidisciplinary approach, it starts with the historical perspective and canonical approach in the first two chapters. Each chapter also spends a good length for a detail and scholarly illustration of both approaches. The subsequent chapter discusses the theological perspective of Bible reading. In tackling the misconception that theology is unrelated to Bible reading, or even causes bad influence to Christian lives, Packer argues why these are not truth and illustrates how theology nurtures our Bible reading and rescues us from being lost when in the "forest" of the Bible.

The book then discusses Bible reading from a wider context, the sociological, postmodernism perpectives and finally back to context of the reader, the prespective of spirituality: a discussion on the act of Bible reading from a comprehensive context.

The book is an exellent one and the authors offer many sound points, especially the last three chapters. The authors successfully relates Bible reading in the culture of our modern/postmodern world and point out the blindspot of our culture and provide a new perspective using the good "old" truth of the Bible. For example, in the chapter of "postmodern truth", the writer first pointed out the blindspots of both modernism and postmodernism. The former treats the world as an engine, using the same way to extract what we want from the world thus becoming the "metanarrative" of others. The latter is too pessimistic that knowledge is only a construction and there is no truth. Using the fact that human being is only part of the creation, knowledge is not a human construct but a response to our world. As the creation, truth is comprehensible, although not ultimate, but still enough for us to communicate with the world. Moreover, our fallen human nature results that human being uses knowledge to the good as well as the bad. While the postmodernism holds the idea that knowledge only serves a purpose to obtain power to suspress/control others, we cannot ignore the other side of the truth as previously mentioned.

In view of readibility, I would give a relatively lower score. Probably, this is caused by the apporach it used. Although multidisciplinary approach gives many different perspectives on Bible reading, written from the hand of the scholars, it also demands the readers equipped with multidisciplinary basic background knowledge. For instance, the basic knowledge of postmodernism, existentialism, Marxism and so forth. In addition, a good basic theological knowledge is important to understand the points made by the readers or else it is very difficult to follow the points made by the author.

This small volumn is beautifully done and includes most of the best decoys in the McCleery Collection. Excellent introduction by Robert Shaw, noted curator at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Decoys are presented by region with clear descriptions of the decoys shown. With last years celebrated Sotheby's auction of the McCleery Collection, this book serves as an introduction to the man and his remarkable eye for excellence.

I'm taking a class from one of the guys who compiled the book, and for starters let me say twenty bucks is a damn good deal for a textbook. This one is meaty too. Very interesting prefaces for each selection of writing, as well as essays about each period. A must for anyone curious about Mythic California and the writers who, well, wrote about it. Great stuff by Twain and other biggies. My favorite pieces are those giving a glimpse into Californian mining camps. The one downfall of this book is that it would have been difficult interpreting the native american stories had I not been takeing a class concurrently. The essays written by the editors about the decimation of the native population, the subsequent eviction of Mexicans were much more insightful than the native pieces themselves. There are also pieces by descendants of native peoples, which give insight.

I bought this book at a bookstore in Santa Clara, California, on my way home to the east coast, because it just looked interesting. It turned out to be a great purchase.

The perspectives were beautifully mixed. Nice blend of perspectives of those who came to the west under good circumstances and bad circumstances, for whatever opportunity awaited, from other countries or remote parts of this one.

Definitely thought-provoking, pleasant, with lots of nice imagery evocative of so much that's interesting about the west coast.

I read this book for literature class in the seventh grade. Although it wasn't my favorite book it was informative. The book told of events in the US during World War II. Many Japanese American families were forced to live in internment camps away from the coast. The author of this book and her family were sent to Manzanar in California. The FBI thought the father may be sending signals to the Japanese navy. Farewell to Manzanar is an autobiography. I learned a lot about the conditions these families had to endure. This was a very sad and shocking time in our history.

I have been thinking about this book more and more ever since I saw the rascist, effusive film "Snow Falling on Cedars". My big gripe with that film was that it made the Japanese Americans look so weak and helpless without white people to rescue them from their predicament.

For those of you who disagreed with my review of that film, I strongly urge you to read (or re-read) "Farwell to Manzanar". This is a frank, accurate, and at times heart-breaking, true story of a Japanese family's internment in the camps. The narrative contains several different threads including:

1. The legal and economic injustice done to the author's family and thousands of other Japanese Americans.

2. The day to day life and survival requirements in the camps.

3. The difficulty of coping with generational differences within an interned Japanese-American family.

4. The difficulties and predjudices that Japanese Americans had to overcome in order to rebuild their lives after they were released.

Ms. Wakatsuki-Houston's memoir is simple and compelling. She describes her childhood experiences from the objective and mature perspective of an adult, a wife, and a mother. But despite the passage of time her narrative still conveys a great deal of pain and difficulty in coming to terms with her childhood internment at Manzanar.

The most interesting part of the book for me was how the author's family attempted to rebuild their lives after the U.S. government robbed and humiliated them. The father immediately started a farming venture whose success was only undermined by unsually adverse environmental conditions. One of the sons served in the military and then resumed the family's fishing business. And the author herself challenged the pedjudiced administration of her highshool by becoming prom queen despite their attempts to thwart her.

Contrary to the wishful thinking of "Snow Falling on Cedars", the white people in this book do not come back and redeem themselves. They do not rescue the people they victimized, and they do not receive bows from them. No woman begs the white man for permission to put her arms around him.

The people in this memoir endure their mistreatment with strength and dignity. When they are released from the camps, they rebuild their lives on their own without assistance, sentimentality or self-pity.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about a shameful period in American history, and who wants to see how people who are treated unjustly can still survive and move on. But most of all, I recommend this book to people who were taken with the Hollywood version of what happened to Japanese Americans in this country during World War II.

Now that we live in a country where terrorists crash into skyscrapers, we find ourselves on the brink of war. More than ever, it is of tantamount importance that we remember our nations' past errors. To ignore what our parents and grandparents have lived and learned will set the stage for repetition of persecution of the innocent. The Japanese-Americans on the west coast during WWII were snatched from their homes, jobs and lives. They were placed in internment camps and held for no other reason than the slant of their eyes. After years of living behind barbed wire and treated no better than animals, they were released and sent "home". What they found was their homes and property repossessed, businesses destroyed, and replacements at their jobs. For a proud and self-reliant people, it was the ultimate degradation. Farewell to Manzanar is an eloquent reminder that America is not immune to racial fear and hysteria. To avoid a perpetuation of hate and bias, we must educate our children. I read this book at the age of ten and have continued to re-read it for the last 20 years. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston has educated generations with this detailed account of her family's ordeal. I wish this book was required reading in all public schools.

I admit I expected more from this author, especially after reading his excellent book about the Donner party, _The Snow Mountain Passage_.

The story unfolds around Monterey Bay, California on a ranch inland on the San Andreas faultline. The owner of the ranch, Monty, lives quiely with his wife in a nice home with large acreage, renting out another home to an artist. The story opens with the return of their youngest son from the Vietnam war. Not sure what to expect, they anticipate his arrival with a house party and even welcome the unexpected girlfriend on his arm when they pick him up at the airport.

It becomes blatantly obvious that the son has changed. His behavior is bizarre and unpredictable. Not only do his parents fret about the returning Vietnam vet, but his older brother does as well.

His return coincides with a series of shocking murdurs in the area, and with some analysis it appears the murdurer is closely in the vicinity of the ranch and is actually burying his victims on the fault line.

In panic, the parents fear the worse when the girlfriend turns up murdered and they are unable to locate their son. Monty especially feels the chill of this heinous crime as he was freshly intimate with this woman in the field the evening prior to her death.

Unfortunately, the relationship of Monty and his wife is contaminated by Monty himself as he falls victim to his sexual urges and violates himself and the vows of his marriage. The murder investigation takes a fevered pitch and Monty plots out on a map that they are at risk as the murderer is apparantly following a clear path along the fault line and they are right on it.

The mystery is fairly predictable, but since the author is of high standing in his other books, I would recommend this one, although it is clearly not one of his best.