The author's research and detail here is incredible. She presents a well-rounded and unbiased look at the Duchess of Kent, and as much as I admired the Duchess for her determination and faith, I was thoroughly disgusted by the Royal Family's cold and insensitive treatment of her. Although the book drags a little bit, I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this subject.

If you love to quilt or you're just starting to dabble in quilting. Try to get a copy of this one! This is everything you need all rolled into one. The contents are very helpful and instructional for the novice to the expert in the art. It has faboulous step by step pictures. I think it's like having a private instructor at finger tips.... This is a book you can pass on to future quilters or would make a great gift.

This was actually a textbook for my crisis communication course at a large western university. The book is an invaluable primer in the characteristics of corporate crises and the step-by-step methods needed to successfully emerge. All companies should have this book and prepare themselves for what to do when a crisis hits!

I went to Columbia, with the most prominent 'great books' curriculum still in existence. 25 years later, I'm finding myself re-reading and discussing many of the titles. The Penn Greek Drama series is a handsome library of new translations that give fresh takes on the classics. It's useful to have Euripides on the shelf when you return home from the recent bravura performance by Fiona Shaw as Medea--it settled an argument too on how it 'originally' ended.

"A catalogue of the Museum's collection of European portrait miniatures, dating from the early 16th century to about 1850.
224 pages, 380 illustrations (60 in color). 9 1/2 in. x 11 1/4 in."

Katharine Briggs is the queen of fairy folklore, and I can highly recommend all of her books. This one is due to be republished in 2003, and it's long been out of print. With scholarship and grace, Briggs captures the stories of the fairies, treating them somewhat differently than WY Evans-Wentz, another great folklorist. Briggs' literary view is far-reaching, writing that over time fairy beliefs have remained fairly constant. She writes "...the tradition is still there and lingers on from generation to generation substantially unchanged Every now and then poets and writers draw on the tradition and make out of it something suitable to the spirit of their age."

In this book, Briggs combines folk beliefs across the British Isles, covering topics such as fairy music, their interest in human affairs, tutelary fairies (hereditary fairies connected through generations to a particular family), changelings, fairy rings and other key fairytale themes. Briggs differs from other writers in the flow of her books and the way she connects ideas and concepts to one another. Her chapters read like the lectures of a favored college professor. Her work is that of a gifted storyteller, engaging and entertaining, while meticulously researched.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in folklore or the stories of English fairies.

I've been looking for a good book of finger food for awhile and was happy to find this one. Usually, the recipes for finger food are too exotic or time comsuming, this book has a few of those but there are plenty that are not too complex. Finger Food also has a range of ethnic styles, such as Mexican, Asian & American flavored foods.

Finally, I found it. I moved to the Finger Lakes area (Rochester, NY) in 1996 and every time I visited a local book store I looked for some kind of travel guide for the area and I could never find one that wasn't hiking or cycling related. When I saw this one, I had to buy it and I don't regret it. It came very handy for the summer so far. It includes some of the history of each of the finger lakes and its towns. It also includes places to see and visit, where to stay and where to eat. A very good section is the one that lists all the area festivals and the dates when they usually occur. The list can help you plan ahead, either to visit when the festivals are taking place or to avoid them. Another part of the book that is very helpful is the maps section. It has maps for the different finger lakes areas, w/ main roads, etc. And if you want to know about the area wineries, it has a whole chapter on wineries. I have found that this book can be used by a local as well as tourist to the Finger Lakes area, it is very complete.

I first read about Mercy Otis Warren in a biography of John Adams. The sister of James Otis, one of the first American patriots unfortunately silenced due to illness caused by a severe beating over politics, Mercy married James Warren and had six sons. She was involved with the politics of her time and spent much time with John and Abigail Adams. She also was a political writer and during the American Revolution penned many pamphlets crusading for the cause of freedom. Her relationship with Adams was temporarily disrupted during the dispute over the Constitution and her epic history of the American Revolution further served to facilitate this break.

This story is particularly interesting because Mercy and her husband James were relatively minor characters during the war and the reader gets a well presented viewpoint of what it was like to gamble so much on the new government. Neither Mercy nor James were personally rewarded for their efforts and yet their strength of character and perserverance helped shaped our country. Mercy was able to function as a beloved mother and wife and yet maintain a role in the intellectual life of the new country. I would strongly recommend this biography. Yet I would also hope that someone current author would undertake the project of a new biography on this interesting woman and her times.

Get Mears! Frederick Mears: Builder Of The Alaska Railroad by Katharine Carson Crittenden is the eye-opening story of Colonel Frederick Mears (1878-1939), who was appointed by President Wilson in 1914 and served as chief engineer and later chairman of the Alaska Engineering Commission until 1923. It would be his mission to oversee the forging of the Alaskan Railroad, an act that would forever change the state, its wilderness, and the people who lived there. A solid chapter of Alaskan history and the amazing life of a determined and visionary man mark this incredible read, Get Mears! is especially recommended for students of railroading history. Get Mears! is also available in hardcover...