This book was required reading for a college children's lit class and I was incredibly pleased with it. It is an absolutely beautiful story of a young native american boy. The book is written in lovely, lyrical language using incredible imagery. It is a book children can relate to, as it is told in first person by a child and includes all the mixed up feelings of a child, but it also addresses some very deep and meaningful issues that adults will find rather poignent. I was captivated throughout.

Loved this book. What a wonderful world that is depicted by the author. I think it would be a wonderful read for children of all ages. Excellent.

This is a coming of age book with a new twist. The child becoming a man lives in a world which is smaller than we can imagine. It is small because he cannot see more than a few inches, but it is also small because he lives in a tiny Native American tribe that has virtually no contact with anyone outside of its own narrow circle.

And yet in this very small world, the adolescent begins a voyage like that of all adolescents, where adults stop being enormous mythical figures and start emerging as human beings, each with their own strengths and weaknesses; and where those adults begin to see the adolescent as one of them, with whom they can share their secrets.

But, unlike adolescents in our larger world, this youngster does not rebel and become angry. Instead he grows and learns and is awed and almost overcome by what he discovers. Perhaps this is because, in this very small world, all the adults are able to show a respect and sensitivity to the emerging man that we have lost in our larger world.

This book is actually very complex. I doubt that your typical kid would understand it without help, but that is really its strength, that you can talk with your kid about what it feels like to become an adult.

I am reading a book called "The Sign Of The Beaver. I think it is a great book because of all the excitement it brings to me!!!! This book will take you on adventures that you won`t forget. It will leave you hanging at the end of the chapter so you want to read on. It is a fast book to read but you want to keep reading about Matt`s (the main character in the story) adventures and his troubles with Attean!! I love this suspensful book and would like to recommend it to you. I thought it was boring at first but when Matt came upon the BEES it became more and more exiting when the INDIAN saved his life. (Matt was scared at first but then realized that Indians aren`t bad at all). Matt ended up teaching Attean (the Indian boy) to read and they became very close friends, in fact, almost brothers. Well I don't want to spoil the rest of the story so if this book sounds interesting TO YOU you can go buy this book at any store and I hope you have reading this adventures, exiting and funny book!!!!

The Sign of the Beaver is a great YA novel that will especially appeal to adolescent boys. After settling on their new homestead, Matt's father must return East to bring back his mother, sister, and newborn baby. He leaves thirteen-year-old Matt to care for the place while he is gone, a journey that shoud take less then two months, but ends up being twice that long. Matt has to tend the crops and the house as well as fend for himself when he runs out of supplies to make meals. Along the way, he learns some valuable--and very hard--lessons, such as locking the cabin door carefully and taking care of his Pa's gun. When his luck has almost run out, Matt meets Attean and his grandfather, Indians who befriend him. Attean patiently teaches Matt the ways of the wilderness, and soon the cultural gap between them is bridged. The Sign of the Beaver is an excellent lesson in not only history and pioneer life, but also in the effects of racism and prejudice. This is a great YA novel and an excellent choice for readers of all ages.

If you have seen The Sign of The Beaver in your library pick it up and read it because it's jammed pack with adventure. It's about a boy named Matt that has been left behind to guard the family cabin while his father goes back to Quincy, Massachussetts for the family. The Beaver tribe chief and his grandson, Attean, help save Matt from a swarm of bees, Will he live or will he die? The two boys go on a trail and are confronted by a bear. Will they get out alive? Read the book and find out and have a great time reading it!

I must admit this book disappointed me. Elizabeth Shannon interviewed several women in Northern Ireland and the only conclusion she seems to draw from them is that the armed struggle waged by the IRA is ethically wrong and completely useless. The author does not even try to analyze reasons for violence in Northern Ireland, she only stresses again and again that violence is wrong and there must be a peaceful solution to centuries old grievances and hatred. Plus, she seems to accept and reinforce British propaganda about Irish Republicans as thugs, sociopaths and racketeers, who are only in it for power, money and excitement. She thinks that hundreds of young lads, generation after generation, have willingly suffered through life on the run, torture, imprisonment, and ultimately death only to prove their masculinity. Some of her comments are simply ludicrous: introducing an Unionist woman politician (and a former Mayor of Derry, mind you)she underlines that Ireland would be a better place if there were more people like her. In the interview the same enlightened politician advocates the return to hanging to do away with all Republican "terrorists". Yes, Elizabeth, you are right, this is what Ireland really needs, that's the way forward for sure! And by the way, is this kind of violence justified in your peace-loving mind? The interviews are interesting though, biased comments and questions notwithstanding. In the end, I recommend this book only to people who already have some knowledge of Irish history and politics. This is definitely not the book to start with if you want to understand the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Over the past few years, I've been fortunate to learn about "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. One of the first things I learned is that very few sources of information are unbiased. Elizabeth Shannon defies that tenet with "I am of Ireland."

While her husband served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Shannon took the opportunity to explore women's roles, or the lack thereof, in the political spectrum in Northern Ireland. She did this by interviewing women from all walks of life in the North, from paramilitary members to politicians' wives. These interviews culminated in Shannon's superb study.

In "I am of Ireland," Shannon shows the reader there is no cut and dried solution to bring an equitable and just peace to Northern Ireland. She accomplishes this through the interviews. No matter religion, economical stature, or political stance, the women Shannon interviewed all had valid concerns regarding their circumstances.

Through these women's voices, Shannon respectfully reveals the human price all the citizens of Northern Ireland have paid: anguish over lost loved ones, pain from their own injuries, constant terror, apathy to the terror.

This book came highly recommended to me, and I can't recommend it highly enough to others who wish to gain an even insight into the human side of "The Troubles."

Sonneborn's book is a compilation of very brief answers to questions assumed to interest kids. The book's organization, however leaves much to be desired. The attempt to divide the material into sections on ancient Americans, contemporary Indians, and various indigenous cultural and geographical regions was apparently ignored by the author and information seems to pop up in unexpected spots. One finds material both on the nineteenth century leader Tecumseh and on the contemporary leader Ada Deer under the Northeast Woodlands section. The ancient skeletal remains of Kennewick man is found under the Contemporary Native Americans section and both Wounded Knee 1 which occurred in 1890 and Wounded Knee 2 which resulted from the AIM takover in 1973 are in the historical section, with AIM barely mentioned in the section on contemporary Indians. One must constantly check the index to be sure that the scattered material one is seeking has been read.

There is not even a vague sense of continuity and the material is so superficial that it serves little purpose. The book might be helpful for a student to peruse in order to select a topic for further research. It will not help much once the focus of the research has been determined.

I bought this book for my ten year old, who's going through an "Indian" phase. He loved it--it's full of fun facts, and it got him even more interested in Indians and their culture. (He's getting to be a real buff on the Cherokee.) More surprising, though, the book got me hooked. I had a great time reading it with Jeremy. The Q&A format lets you flip around, and each entry is short enough to read quickly, but long enough to contain plenty of information. The illustrations are also good. All and all, it's a terrific book to read with your kids.

This book collects five essays by scholars on different aspects of slavery in the Muslim Middle East. Contrary to the title, it is not a comprehensive review of the phenomenon -- vast in time, space, and social, political, and economic features -- but snapshots of slavery in a few limited contexts. Perhaps the essay that will appeal most to non-specialists is John Hunwick's discussion of the role race played in enslavement in northern and western Africa; he teases out the various conflicting strands of legal-religious theory and practice on the ground to bring to life a relationship between slavery and race with tantalizing differences from and similarities to the system Americans are most familiar with. Also good are the editor's (Shaun Marmon) discussion of domestic slavery among the Mamluks and Yvonne Seng's on slavery in Istanbul. Michel Le Gall contributes a translation of an account by a French doctor of the slave trade in late eighteenth-century Cairo; it contains some useful data and has been judiciously annotated, but anyone who wants to use it seriously will no doubt consult the original French. The volume ends with a posthumous essay ranging broadly over time and space by the great scholar David Ayalon. While there is probably nothing much new here, it is fun to watch a great mind playing with history on the broad scale. It is a pity that the editor did not feel the need to supply the references that a scholar like Ayalon would surely have included in a final revision had he lived to complete it.

Compiled and edited by Shaun E. Marmon, Slavery In The Islamic Middle East is an impressive and informative selection of scholarly essays examining the institution of slavery as recognized and regulated by Islamic law, and as incorporated into Muslim societies well into the modern day. Looking at military slavery in Islam in the pre-modern period, the connection between skin color and slavery, a memoir portraying a raw and real look at victims of the African slave trade, and more, Slavery In The Islamic Middle East is a welcome and invaluable addition to Middle Eastern History and Islamic Studies reference shelves and reading lists.

This is a very good guide to the hikes that it covers. All 50 hikes are rated and include a range of difficulties from easy to strenuous. Many are in some of the most beautiful parts of the North Carolina mountains. And topographic maps help show the routes well and clarify what one shoule expect. A chief drawback (only hinted at in the low-key extended part of the title after the colon), is that it is less than a comprehensive guide to North Carolina mountain trails. It covers nothing west of the central part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park or west of the Cashiers area to the south thereof. North Carolina extends more than a hundred miles west of those areas, and there are plenty more mountains that way. So if that western extremity of the state is where you're wanting to explore, this is not the guide for that. But for mountains to the east thereof, this book should serve you well. One irony is that, although omitting that vast area of westernmost North Carolina, it does have a
"Foothills" section that includes at least three hikes properly described as in the Piedmont, hardly foothills at all. Those are at Reed Gold Mine and Duke Power State Park (as the book still calls it). They can be pleasant and rewarding hikes, but if you go there expecting mountain or foothill vistas, you could be disappointed. By the way, Duke Power State Park has since been renamed Lake Norman State Park. You'll need to know that if you look for signs directing you there (like from Interstate 77).

The Berbers occupy a huge area of North Africa from Morocco to western Egypt and as far south as Timbuktu and the Niger River. Historically, their influence extended to Sicily, southern Italy, and Spain and now enriches emigrant culture in contemporary France. They are not a single "people" but can be defined by their prehistoric Mediterranean origins, by a common language (or language-group) and by their historical tendency to seek refuge from a long succession of conquerors (Punic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Ottoman, French) in remote mountain or desert communities, where they could preserve their independence and way of life. This book, by an archaeologist and a historian, provides an excellent summary of Berber history and culture. It casts a critical eye on the traditional historical sources (almost all written by the conquerors, not by the Berbers themselves) and re-examines them in the light of contemporary archaeological and anthropological evidence. It is especially good in two areas: the Berbers' relationship to Islam, their adopted religion, and the relative freedom of women in Berber society. The black-and-white illustrations and maps are of uneven quality but nevertheless helpful in visualizing this complex and little-known culture

Elizabeth Taylor, one of those indomitable Victorian women who hiked their skirts and explored where even tough moderns would pause, faced the wilds of northern Canada and of the Faroe Islands. The miserable weather etched the inhabitants but didn't faze our guide.

Taylor was neither a sentimentalist nor a cynic but saw clearly and wrote straight. Trained as an artist and enamored of nature--especially birds and flowers--Taylor appreciated people who lived closest to her beloved surroundings. By her account, they responded to her interest by inviting her to share their hard-bitten lives and without pretense, she accepted their invitations.

Taylor financed her economic travels by writing for middle class magazines, like Frank Leslie's, and for outdoors magazines where a female byline was a rarity. These essays come from those published pieces and some journals archived in her hometown, Minneapolis. A descendent has assembled the collection, but the task had real literary and cultural value that counts for much more than familial duty.

A book about places few of us ever would want to visit became for me a book full of passages worthy of reading to friends. A description of the whale hunt, for example, rings with authority and subdued horror. Elizabeth Taylor emerges as her own modest heroine, and her quiet, gemhard descriptions stay alive long after the book is finished.

In summarizing my opinion of this book, I can only think of one word: revulsion. Perhaps I should qualify -- absolute revulsion would be the better description. Elizabeth Barton's "North and South" is the most boring, trifling, heinously insignificant, hyperfeminized novels I have yet to read. While the novel does touch on some important themes -- class warfare, the condition of women, and don't forgot, the godlessness of the heathen lower classes -- no true insight is gained that cannot be found in a middle school history textbook.

The back cover describes North and South's heroine, Margaret Hale, as one of the "finest heroines of Victorian literature." Lies, I say. Lies. While Margaret does possess some independence of spirit, her self-sacrificing Christian character nevertheless humbles herself in love before a "benign" capitalist individualist, Mr. Thornton. Though people have spoken of North and South being a feminist novel, one need only read the first page of Bronte's earlier work, Jane Eyre, to find the former description flat.

Barton's characters are hopelessly vacuous, her storylines inane and inspid, her understanding of the world hopelessly shortsighted. One thinks of Virginia Woolf, who once said that the greatest female writers needed only a room of their own to perfect their writing. Elizabeth Barton, however, needed far, far more.

Just a quick review! The novel itself wasn't too bad, and Gaskell writes it really well. The characters are convincing, and she puts across the issues of the time really well. Unlike most other books written around the same time, North and South was a much easier read, and more enjoyable. The only thing that wasn't so good was the ending. It was so frustrating! I finished the book and was left wanting to know what happens, or at least a little bit more than what I was left with! Apart from the disappointing ending, North and South was a pretty good read. It was definitely one of the better books that the english department have given us to read over the holidays! :)

I fell in love with this marvellous novel and it's main protagonists, Margaret Hale & John Thornton, when I first read it some five years ago. I remember when I was reading the chapters describing the riot at Thornton's mill while on the way home from work on the train, I was so caught up with the story that I nearly missed my stop.

One of the things that particularly impresses me about "North and South" is that Elizabeth Gaskell actually concentrates as much, if not more, on the principal male character's (John Thornton's) sexual and romantic desires and inner life rather than on the main female character (Margaret Hale). This is somewhat unusual to find in a book by female writer of the Victorian era. I feel that it makes the character of John Thornton one of the most interesting and attractive in 19th century literature.

His passionate love and desire for Margaret border on the obsessive at times. However, Elizabeth Gaskell details his torturous struggles with his emotions in such a empathethic way that you feel immensely drawn to Thornton from the first time you meet him. The scenes where Margaret rebuffs his attempts at a marriage proposal and the aftermath where he dazedly goes off into the countryside to calm down are vividly written.

I thoroughly disagree with some of the other reviewer's comments below, especially the person on 17 March 2003 who cannot even get the author's name right. It makes you wonder if they have read the same book as I did. I have no respect for people who impose inappropriate and modern notions on a work from this era and give their opinions, with such a sneering tone, in a trite and dismissive critique.

I know that there are many "North and South" fans out there who, like me, can appreciate the novel for what it is, not what they think it should be.

It is simply a beautifully written, engaging and satisfying book.

This book was poorly written, poorly organized and poorly researched. If you are looking for a cure for insomnia, then I would recommend it!

What a great and tragic story Simpson tells! Having moved to Elizabeth City three years ago, I'd heard the history and legend of the Cropsey murder, but this book brought so much life to it. Now when I jog by the old Cropsey place on Riverside, the Courthouse and Baptist Church on Main St, the bend on Road Street where Wilcox took his own life years later, Williams Circle (site of the old Fairgrounds where Nell visited the circus weeks before her death), the story is real and vivid. I also heartily recommend Simpson's "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals". Mr. Simpson affection for the North Carolina low-country is contagious. What a treat!

The most interesting mysteries are those of a different generation. After Bland Simpson learned this simple lesson, he applied it, turning out an absorbing and true tale of murder, love and damning coincidence taken from the Victorian Age. The story takes place in remote Elizabeth City, N.C., and focuses upon the murder of a beautiful young woman and the possible involvement of her spurned lover. It follows the footsteps of those closest to the story and builds to a climax of uncertainty and mystery.