I chose this book for my final project in geology class because I was interested in Yellowstone National parks though I have never been to, and this book was very good not only to read but also to review my studying in the class. Yellowstone and Grand Teton ground systems such as ground movements and heating systems are covered and also advanced my studying. Actually, I had totally no knowledge about geologic activities before I studied in the class, so this book was also really good to review my studying. In addition, this book introduces these parks view points with beautiful and colored pictures, so this book also can be used for a tourbook. It is no doubt that I will go to these parks with this book!

A friend loaned me this book two months ago. I haven't returned it yet. It is simply the best book on these two parks that I have ever read. The authors accurately portray the very considerable geological power present in each park, and yet do not manage to make either park a fearful place to be avoided. Instead, their writing is a persuasive invitation to visit these wonderful manifestations of nature for an extended period. I was particularly impressed by the visitor's tour set out near the end of the book. I took a part of that tour in 1994, and the narrative is very accurate. I will certainly use my OWN copy of the book when I go back again this autumn. (I don't want anyone to think I don't return borrowed books!) This book is an absolute musthave-mustread for anyone going to the parks or interested in the geological processes that have made the West. Enjoy.

This treasure will turn "topography" into a household word. Dedicated to a fellow geologist recently killed by an avalance while conducting fieldwork, "Windows" is a slick and dramatic feature presentation of volcanism, earthquakes, and geysers. Superb maps and graphs colorfully illustrate variable stratae formed through the eons. An informal and friendly text is scholarly without being stuffy. The writers establish a tone of substance and humor as they discuss multiple upheavals that created Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. This is the kind of book that will impress early rock-ologists and even be hoarded by their more secretive, sedimental parents. The writing never "dumbs down" but is lucid with factual attention to landscape formation without snubbing the human astonishment that continually witnesses it. Thanks to geologist Smith and naturalist journalist Seigel, the book is threaded with lively accounts from park rangers, tourists, and waitresses at the Old Faithful Inn. Appeals to romantics and literalists alike. Studded with beautiful, full-color photographs. Every page is hefty and sleek to the touch, a feast for the eye as well as the brain. Kind of a wonder-book for anyone who seeks the phenomenal in terra firma.

I used this book in a mythology class project and it was a great help. The book reveals a great deal of the Winnebago tradition through the history detailed in the stories. This book is well worth the money and is a necessary piece to any Native American collection.

Gene Smith's Lee And Grant was a well-written documentation of the lives of these Civil War generals. The way the book was set up kept it interesting and almost fun to read. The format was such that consecutive chapters paralleled each man's life. For instance the first chapter pertained to Lee's father and his childhood while the second chapter was about Grant's Father and childhood. One warning I have to potential readers: this is a great book for those interested in the Civil War and these two men. If one doesn't have any interest in the topic, then this book is not for them. There aren't and underlying driving plots or surprises that make the book suspenseful. This is a historical piece highlighting two great men in our country's history. It's a great book for those who want to read specifically about these two men, not for a reader just looking for a book to read.

I enjoyed this book very much. The contrast between Grant (who led a hard scrabble life, even resorting to selling firewood by the side of the road to make a living) and Lee (perhaps the greatest man of the South) and Grant's triumph was a great story. You get a great introduction to the Civil War, even though there is a focus on the Virginia campaign because this is a biography of these two men, not an overall history of the Civil War. Highly recommended.

I was enthralled by the unique view that this book afforded. I have read many histories of the Civil War from many perspectives. This is the first time that I was introduced to these two pivotal historical figures from the human side. The juxtaposition of each of them to the other was very helpful to put the time and sequences of the war into perspective and give true scale to all that happened.

To draw the most from this new book, you need to know already quite a bit about occupied France. The authors trace in detail academic perceptions of Vichy since 1945. Regime apologists tried to maintain in the 1950s that Petain had played a clever game in seeming to collaborate whilst plotting to maintain French independence. We now understand this was nonsense: Petain and Laval may have been interested in collaboration, but Hitler's only concern was booty. But equally in error was the Gaullist position that forty million Frenchmen supported the Resistance against a tiny number of traitors. The editors demonstrate that more recent research has shown how fragmented both the pro and anti Vichy groups were. For example, it was possible to be faithful to Petain whilst being anti nazi. Many ordinary French people, both in the cities and in the countryside, adopted an eclectic attitude according to "how the wind was blowing" in their area. The book suggests new lines for research on Vichy, especially a comparative approach with what was happening in other occupied countries such as Bulgaria and Hungary. The book is largely a tribute to Robert Paxton who wrote a ground breaking study of wartime France in the 1970s. This reviewer found the continuous adulation of Paxton, however merited, somewhat repetitive. You will enjoy this new volume if you really want to explore in depth the meaning of Vichy over the past sixty years. Given that France was still prosecuting men for war crimes in the late 1990s, Petain's regime is still a hotly debated topic in that country's academic establishment.

This book is an essential text for anyone interested in the history of of France during the Vichy regime. It offers a superlative compilation of the latest scholarship in the field, contributed by some of its most important writers, people like Michael Marrus, Jean-Pierre Azema, Henri Rousso, Stanley Hoffmann, Philippe Burrin, etc. etc. The introduction by Fishman and Smith is a thorough map of the entire contents of the book which, again, provides a rich collection of articles destined perhaps not for the general reader without any background on the subject, although the book itself is reader friendly....