Mr. Wallace's studies of Philadelphia's colonial architectural legacy are a must for any self-respecting architect, preservationist, or metalsmith. This reprint is yet another credit to Dover's publishing effort.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable epic trip to the old west. If you enjoy raunchy western characters, that parallel historic events, this is the book for you. Gravelly with realism, Liars Moon runs the gamete on what if scenarios. Two child infants one black one white, fall from a wagon, gone from their families ,then raised by coyotes. The lives and struggles of the families that lost them and yearn to recover them hold captive your imagination with vivid descriptions of the times and toils of the early west. The novel includes the settling of Nicodemus Kansas and one of the last cattle drives. I haven't enjoyed a western so much since Lonesome Dove. It's a good read and worth the investment.

I would have thought that by now it would be impossible to write anything interesting and new about the settling of the American West. However, Kimball does just that. The way he tells a unified story from so many different angles is brilliant and engaging. As the novel progresses to its conclusion, the reader can feel right along with the characters how the eastern expansion starts to (literally) fence in the frontier. I've always enjoyed reading Cormac McCarthy's treatment of the same topic, but I enjoyed this book even more.

Philip Kimball's book is perhaps the best American novel I have read for several years. Since I am a Hungarian reader, I have not known much about the intricate history of the Wild West, the development of the United States into the kind of mythical melting pot as it is often remembered. Liar's Moon is a balladaic story of that process told in a magically compelling prose style. Everything is in it: the frontiers, the Indians, the settlers, the religious missionaries, the buffalo soldiers, the cowboys, sex, fight, and clownery -- all with lyricism but without the usual American sentimentalism. I would say this is the best initiation for an European into the deep collective psyche of America; true, compelling and still pure fiction. An interesting additional feature: the narrative, perhaps unintentionally, plays on some hot issues of cultural theory. One of the key concepts is 'power', as several times spelt out in the book. The female-centered awareness of gender studies can also felt here: the book's most powerful characters are all women.