Dr. Lobban's factual description of the culture, geography, economy, and history of Cabo Verde is unmatched. This book is an essential introduction to this island nation, and packs a large amount of information into a very readable format, illustrated with adequate photos by the author. The book fails, however, whenever Dr. Lobban tries to match that information with his preconceptions. He states, correctly, that the central political/cultural issue in CV is the choice of African or European or Criole identity. Writing for a Modern Africa series, he tries to force the conclusion that the 'real' identity is obviously African, and as a result cannot understand the political and cultural forces which have dominated CV because they reject African identity. His political coverage similarly suffers from an obvious bias toward the leftist PAICV independence party (e.g. the takeover of a radio station by PAICV activists was 'revolutionary justice'while a threat to take over a radio station by the opposition UCID party was described as a criminal plot) which weakens his coverage of the transition to a democratic pluralistic political regime. Nevertheless, he has presented a valid, readable, and factually accurate picture of Cabo Verde which is invaluable to any researcher. Especially enjoyable was his section on "Cultural Markers" in which, inter alia, he traces the development of the unique forms of music which are Caboverdian. I would love to read more on that subject alone by this author.

The life of Henry Miller really derves the talents of someone like Robert Caro, since it can be seen as the basis for a broader history of the American West in the 19th century. Miller himself was self-made, a dynamic, visionary, and fantastically successful land and cattle baron. He also seems to have been welll-liked by the men he hired, and (at least for a land baron) by his neighbors. The story as told by Treadwell is factual enough, but devoid of personal and cultural detail. Miller's business papers are mostly in the collection of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, raw data awaiting the talentrs of a more skilled biographer. An out-of-print but fairly easy to find book written by one of Miller's foremen, "California Gringos", is also informative

Hardorff writes well but its an awful waste of time to put out two small books, one for the Dakota and one for the Cheyenne which are essentially reprints of the Camp interviews. It is nice to have these interviews available but you can order Camp direct. This particular book I thought was flawed because it starts with American Horse who by all other accounts (but his own) was not in the Little Bighorn Fight.

I am going to be travelling to Cuba soon and a friend of mine gave the book to me. I read it quite easily actually since the small format helped me carry it in my coat pocket and the easy flowing language made it a pleasant experience. The book does contain all the necessary information one needs before getting to Cuba and while there as my friend told me. What it does lack is some elaboration on the art and history of the island, subjects covered not very deeply by the book. As an introduction it is an excellent travel guide but I felt that I had to get another guide if I wanted to really get all the info that I feel I need to digest before getting to Cuba and making the best of my trip.

However, as I said earlier. Read this book if you are not sure about getting there, and read on if you do decide to get there....

This book was a good resource for things to do in California, but we tried two of his inexpensive hotel recommendations, and both were terrible - and we're not picky! Also some of the phone numbers were incorrect. There were some good local area maps. Overall, the Fodor's guide is much better.

Real information on what to do, geared more for the adventurer.Maps nothing special.Brief history coverage. No real prices, only "budget, moderate." Not a complete travel guide, but gives good ideas of what to do on the islands. Use this for some non-touristy sites and to do's, but buy more complete guide for hotels and car rentals, etc. Covers all islands, though not real detailed.

Hong on the Range is good fun, filled with puns (like the title) and jokes. It's a parody of every pulp western ever written with the hero the lone outsider with a secret(his secret is he's fully human in a world of cyborgs). It's full of outlaws and clever gadgets, not to mention several women none of whom are what they seem to be. Because it's anon-stop tongue in cheek parody, the humor gets tiresome at times. One wishes it would go somewhere, but still, It's endlessly inventive and perfect for what it is.

Hickok is neither romanced nor ridiculed by the author, who shows on every page an intense interest to portray his subject as he was: a tough, hard-fisted lawman, but cool under fire; a man with an eye to the ladies and the table; a private individual, not anxious to stir up a fight; a giving, generous soul to good friends and trusted associates.

O'Connor does a good job in weighing between sources, in providing alternative interpretations to longstanding legends, though his conclusions and literary glitter sometimes spoil his credibility. Nevertheless, the author shows his subject's faults and favors with equal ease, and his reasoning is neither absurd nor apologetic. Strong casework appears throughout the book, but sometimes peppered with too much comic relief.

An enjoyable and easy read about a very interesting man, a tragic figure, the victim of his own legend.

In 1996 I purchased several books about Las Vegas for a trip I was planning. I found that the third edition of this book, Access Las Vegas, was a great source of information. I found the maps and the information cross referenced to them especially helpful. Plus the size of the book made it very easy to take along as you explored Las Vegas. Since I was highly impressed with the 3rd edition I decided to purchase an updated book for our up coming trip.

Upon looking thru the book for the additions to the ever-changing landscape of The Strip, it became apparent that the map of the strip was filled with errors. Based on their map the Monte Carlo was built on the site of New York New York. The MGM Grand has moved east on Tropicana Ave. New York New York has moved to the site of the Tropicana and the Tropicana has moved off of the map. The Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay are not even referenced on the map. The majority of the maps cross-references for the Strip are inaccurate. Did anyone with any knowledge of Las Vegas check these maps before they were published? If the maps are this inaccurate what other information is incomplete or inaccurate? It is a real shame for what was a great vacation guide to become useless. I am highly disappointed in that Mr. Wurman produced in this 5th edition.

I went to the Access Guides web site to see if they posted corrected maps for this book. Unfortunately they have not made corrections available. I looked for a way to email them about the problems with their book. However they did not offer that option.

For correct maps of Las Vegas visit the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority web site. There are numerous other Las Vegas web sites with very useful information. My recommendation is to skip the book and use the web sites.

While I have enjoyed the compact format of Access Las Vegas with its color-coded run-down's of various restaurants, casinos and hotels in the past, I found this edition to be slightly out-of-date, especially in the section on shows (featuring several that closed or changed stars prior to January 2000). I enjoyed the featured "Bests" comments by local Las Vegas personalities and trivia boxes with interesting Vegas facts. However, [..] for 140 pages [..] I found this to be a little pricey.

'Access Las Vegas' was not exactly what I was looking for, but is a well rounded guide to the city and the attractions. I am a college student taking my first trip to Las Vegas, and I was looking for a guide to the sites on a very small budget. This would be a good book for someone with more of a budget to work with, and more time to spend in the city.

The format of the Access books is terrific. Unfortunately, this bookis outdated to the point of being DANGEROUS to use. I visited L.A. insummer '99 with my husband and baby son. Beforehand, I carefully wentthrough this guide, using a hiliter marker and making hotel reservations from the recommendations of the author. Let me tell you about that hotel. When we arrived.... it was filthy.... To this day, my skin crawls to think of it. (We left).... For the rest of the trip, my hilighted sites turned out to be long-closed businesses, stores and restaurants. I can't tell you how much money I spent parking to go to places that turned out to have been closed for years. I understand that it's to be expected that 5-9% of the info in a travel guide is out of date by the time it goes to press.... I learned three lessons about travelling: one, call all the phone numbers first to be sure your chosen attractions are still open; two, never go to a "recommended" hotel that AAA ignored; and three, never buy a travel guide by this "expert" again.... Consider yourself warned.

I've been waiting for the 9th edition to come out because of the errors I found in the 8th edition. I've been a user of the Access guides for more than ten years and I have always found them very useful. However when I bought the 8th edition I had to call the publisher because there were many mistakes in the guide map numbering. They thanked me and said they would notifiy me when the next edition came out (naturally they didn't). I was very distressed from the first review on Amazon of the 9th edition. It appears that they don't really have anyone that checks for accuracy. I guess I'll wait for the 10th edition.

This book is phenomenal for architecture, museums, parks, galleries and other interesting sites. The maps help us in using large L.A. map to keep us oriented. Have found some great places to shop by just checking the area around our destinations, like the outdoor mall area of Santa Monica. Have made L.A. trips using the older version and love it.