Buildings of West Virginia: with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council (Buildings of the United States)

Book Description

Buildings of West Virginia provides a comprehensive guide to the state's built environment, from the prehistoric mounds that are its earliest structures to buildings that have shaped its image--log cabins, elegant spas, and coal company towns--to its everyday commercial, industrial, government, religious, and domestic structures. Buildings and sites are described and interpreted in some 1,000 guidebook entries illustrated with approximately 375 photographs and keyed to 60 maps. Throughout, West Virginia's architecture is related to its distinctive geography, natural resources, early prosperity and later economic decline, and colorful history, first as part of the colony and state of Virginia and then as the Mountain State. About the Buildings of the United States Series: Buildings of West Virginia is the ninth volume to be published in the monumental Buildings of the United States, a series that Edwin McDowell of the New York Times has called "one of the most ambitious in publishing history." Sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians, the series is modeled on and inspired by the Buildings of England, the classic, multivolume work written by the eminent British architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for historians, researchers.......2006-10-21

I've found this book to be exceedingly useful in researching architecture in West Virginia. It's a shame it is not more widely available! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in preservation or taking architectural tours of the Mountain State. Well researched, must have been a massive undertaking. It's recently helped me out on a rather difficult project, so I'm very thankful I found it!

Outstanding.......2004-11-01

Chambers has written the book I wish I had written. If you are interested in architecture in the Mountain State, buy this book.

I was born and raised in West Virginia, but had always thought my native state nearly bereft of architecture, having only had the luck to have a succession of inferior state capitols go up in flames until the present Cass Gilbert statehouse. Chambers' book will disabuse you of that notion and make you proud of a significant architectural legacy. (The job now, of course, is to preserve what we have.)

He has performed a public service for every West Virginian, whether at home or living elsewhere.

The only nit I can pick is that he has chosen to ignore a number of significant engineering structures (mostly railroad coaling towers and coal tipples). Concrete coaling towers such as in Bluefield and Thurmond are important structures in their own right. Tipples, though not significant individually and now mostly gone, were significant as a building form. They were once nearly as common as 7-Elevens and no one who grew up in the coalfields ever quite gets over a love affair with the exposed I-beams, the corrugated metal and the jumble of roof and conveyor angles that used to be seen in the once-ubiquitous coal tipple.

Extraordinary book on a unique state.......2004-04-19

West Virginia was created through political conflict during the Civil War, and many people may think of it only as part of that part of our nation's history, or perhaps as a place of coal mines and Appalachian troubles. What Chambers shows us in this carefully researched, beautifully written book is that West Virginia has a history and an architectural heritage of great distinction and diversity. Chambers looks at the full range of this state's architecture, from the distinguished work of many state and regional as well as national architects in the principal towns and cities to the sagas of the industrial settlements, of which there are many, and the slower changing regional patterns of small town and rural areas. Buy this book, and learn that West Virginia is a state to visit, appreciate, and admire. Chambers's nuanced study takes into consideration the multiple and complex aspects of its history, and gives us all a new appreciation for an American state with a complex heritage. Anyone wanting to understand the South, Appalachia, or indeed America needs this book.

Artist's Hints and Tips: Drawing and Painting People (Artist's Hints & Tips)
Average customer rating:

Pastel, charcoal, pencil and paint--here's how to draw people

Artist's Hints and Tips: Drawing and Painting People (Artist's Hints & Tips)
Albany Wiseman
Manufacturer: Collins & Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Similar Items:

The Artist's Sketchbook

ASIN: 1843400790

Book Description

Pocket-sized and spiral-bound, this exciting new “class in a book” helps artists become skilled in one of the most popular subjects: capturing the human body. Covering everything from basic anatomy to group compositions, it presents dozens of instructive illustrations, each analyzed for technique and with useful tips. Find out how to master proper proportions, deal with foreshortening, arrange a pose, depict a person in motion or standing quietly, create beautiful portraits, and do “speed drawing.” There’s invaluable advice on all the media, from pencil to paint; lighting models; approaching a life-drawing class; keeping a sketchbook; and taking photographs for reference. With so much useful information, students will feel as if they have their own art tutor right with them.

Customer Reviews:

Pastel, charcoal, pencil and paint--here's how to draw people.......2006-07-22

One or more figures? Different media? It's all here. From discussing the importance of looking at balance in drawing a standing or sitting figure, to how to group figures in a painting, there is a lot to like in Wiseman's book.

The book itself is covered spiral bound so it sits fairly flat on your painting table. The pictures use a variety of mediums from sanguine chalk to pen or pencil and of course watercolor.

Best of all for me was the section on grouping figures. This is not a groundbreaking book, but it is a handy reference for figure drawing with some helpful technical hints.

Book Description

When Indonesia was still known as the Dutch East Indies, images on postcards were often the first views foreigners had of this fascinating land, the world's largest archipelago. The postcards in this book are divided according to seven regions: Sumatra, Java, Bali and the Lesser Sundas, southern Borneo (now Kalimantan), Celebes (Sulawesi), New Guinea (Irian Jaya) and the Moluccas, and a separate section for the capital, Batavia (Jakarta). These early postcards form a vivid visual history of Indonesia: indigenous clothes and ceremonies, kampung life, the countryside, towns, the arts and monuments. An attractive and nostalgic record, these postcards are also a useful resource for those interested in archaeology, architecture, textile design and town planning. Deltiologists (postcard collectors) will appreciate the inclusion of information such as cancellation date, publisher, series, and photographer or artist.

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Pictorial History of Indonesia.......2005-12-13

This is a splendid compilation of postcards of Indonesian architecture and peoples taken primarily by Dutch photographers around the turn of the 20th Century. The postcards are grouped according to geographic region, with Sumatra, Java, Batavia (now Jakarta), Bali, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya (now Papua) being the principal groupings. The postcards capture every aspect of traditional Indonesian life, from a royal wedding in Yogyakarta to a gathering of Asmat tribesmen in Papua.

I purchased this compilation for my mother, who is Indonesian and ethnically Sundanese, and she immediately turned to the section on Jakarta, where she spent her childhood and teenage years. Although the postcards were taken over one hundred years ago, she was able to recall many familiar landmarks. For my mother to be able to journey back via postcards to a city that she once called home is a testament to the exoticness and beauty that each and every one of the postcards in this compilation holds. Take this opportunity to see the rich, cultural history of Indonesia for yourself.

More Cat Tales, Starring Hodge
Average customer rating:
More Cat Tales, Starring Hodge
Philip Lief
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0671437615

Sustaining Nonprofit Performance: The Case for Capacity Building and the Evidence to Support It
Average customer rating:

Lots of gold in these pages!

Sustaining Nonprofit Performance: The Case for Capacity Building and the Evidence to Support It
Paul C. Light
Manufacturer: Brookings Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Nonprofit Organizations & Charities | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Four Pillars of High Performance

Why Nonprofits Fail: Overcoming Founder's Syndrome, Fundphobia and Other Obstacles to Success

Benchmarking For Nonprofits: How To Measure, Manage, And Improve Performance

The Resilient Sector: The State of Nonprofit America

Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great

ASIN: 0815752253

Book Description

"The nonprofit sector survives because it has a self-exploiting work force: wind it up and it will do more with less until it just runs out. But at some point, the spring must break."

America's nonprofit organizations face a difficult present and an uncertain future. Money is tight. Workloads are heavy, employee turnover is high, and charitable donations have not fully rebounded from the recent economic downturn. Media and political scrutiny remains high, and public confidence in nonprofits has yet to recover from its sharp decline in the wake of well-publicized scandals.

In a recent survey, only 14 percent of respondents believed that nonprofits did a very good job of spending money wisely; nearly half said that nonprofit leaders were paid too much, compared to 8 percent who said they earned too little. Yet the nonprofit sector has never played a more important role in American life. As a generation of nonprofit executives and board members approaches retirement, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that their organizations are prepared to continue their missions-that they are built to last in a supremely challenging environment.

Paul Light, renowned expert on public service and nonprofit management, strongly argues for capacity-building measures as a way to sustain and improve the efforts of the nonprofit sector. With innovative data and insightful analysis, he demonstrates how nonprofits that invest in technology, training, and strategic planning can successfully advance their goals and restore public faith in their mission and capabilities. He explains the ways in which restoration of that faith is critical to the survival of nonprofits-another important reason for improving and then sustaining performance. Organizations that invest adequately in their infrastructure and long-term planning are the ones that will survive and continue to serve.

Customer Reviews:

Lots of gold in these pages!.......2005-01-29

Paul Light's latest book is an excellent analysis of capacity building and nonprofit organizations, based on survey research which yields surprising and very valuable results. However, the book's credibility is harmed by a flawed marketing attempt to tie public confidence in nonprofits to 9/11 and assert that relative lack of public confidence in charities is a recent phenomenon and that the change post-9/11 was significant.

Light begins with a simple, yet elegant, logic chain: organizational capacity tends to lead to organizational effectiveness, which, in turn, bolsters public confidence and increases discretionary giving and volunteering. As Light acknowledges, "Given the lack of objective data for measuring nonprofit capacity and effectiveness, perceptions will have to do for now." There is little data from the private (for-profit) sector on capacity-building, and most of that is negative or inconclusive as to what worked and why.

He then reports on in-depth survey research he has performed with about 300 nonprofit organizations and their leaders. This research substantiates the basic validity of the logic chain and sets some indicators for organizational development and increasing effectiveness.

Not surprisingly, planning for change activities greatly increases their chance of success. However, relatively few surveyed organizations employed significant pre-change planning. Working with consultants tends to increase success, but relatively few survey respondents were confident in how they selected their consultant(s). The presence of some external, directed funding increased success rates, but change activities paid totally through a grant or directed gift were not nearly as likely to be successful -- despite the omnipresent concerns relating to the cost of change and the perception of diverting funds from direct service or activities more closely linked to charitable mission.

Finally, Light outlines a five-tiered nonprofit "development spiral" with life stages that include: 1) organic; 2) enterprising; 3) intentional; 4) robust; and 5) reflective. He identifies the characteristics of each stage and the capacity-building activities most appropriate to each developmental stage.

There is so much good information and insight in this book that it's hard to digest it all easily. One is tempted to read it with both a highlighter and a legal pad for notes. Some of the narrative recitations of the statistical data are tedious, but that does not mean that the text is too dense. There are a lot of "aha!" moments in the text, too, full of insight and ideas for both nonprofits and we consultants who seek to serve them and move their missions forward.

Invest the time and energy in learning what the author has discovered. There's a lot of gold there, irrespective of whether 9/11 has had any measurable impact on public confidence in charities.

Customer Reviews:

San Antonio Missions - A Part of the Spanish Borderlands.......2000-05-29

"Established in a wilderness environment in order to convert and acculturate Texas Indians to a Hispanic way of life, the missions served the goals of church and state by safeguarding remote regions in the Borderlands." This statement about the Spanish missions has another side to the story. It is comprised of the following questions. How did the missionaries and the Indians survive in those remote regions of Spain's colonial frontier? Did the colonial authorities periodically supply them with necessary provisions? Dr. Felix D. Almaraz, Jr. in his book The San Antonio Missions And Their System of Land Tenure argued that the main aspect of economic survival of the Franciscan religious establishments in Texas, particularly in the San Antonio area, was the Spanish mission system of land tenure. He further stated that the land not only served as the basis for economic self-sufficiency, but also for the purpose of the Spanish Crown. That is, the mission land tenure in general obliged the subjects of Spain to transform the wilderness into productive farmlands-one of the main elemets necessary to settle Spain's frontier. Dr. Almaraz defined and explored not only judicial grounds of Spain to establish the missions, but he also provided details on their political standing within the broader context of Spain's imperial politics, emphasizing that success of the mission expansion relayed upon Spain's "fortunes in global politics," against other emerging European powers. For better understanding, the author identified two periods in the Spanish colonial history (1793-1794 and 1823-1824) during which the process of secularization took place. A large part of the author's research is attributed to the analysis of this process and its consequences which subsequently altered the purpose of the Franciscan religious establishments in the San Antonio area. Dr. Almaraz stated that the missions experienced considerable decline in their independent standing within the frontier society by being transferred from Church control to the local civil authorities. This change of hands contributed to the encroachment of the civilian as well as ecclesiastical authorities on the farmlands and pastures under mission control. Dr. Almaraz concluded his book by discussing the San Antonio mission existence during the Texas Republic (1836-1845) and the following decades. That time proved to be the most devastating to the mission buildings. As the author's research showed, it was partially due to the secular authorities' land reduction efforts around the missions, permission to use stones from the buildings as construction material elsewhere, and it was due to the city's expansion itself that pushed the missions into a further state of neglect. The signing into existence of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in 1978 has raised the importance of these Spanish edifices as the subject of research and preservation for new academic endevors. The author has added a flavor to his book by providing the reader with the actual excerpts from the Franciscan friars' inventory documents about the physical descriptions of the San Antonio missions, conditions of their adjacent pueblos, conventos, and farmlands. Along with the first hand sources, Dr. Almaraz provided his own commentary thus making it easier to understand the character of Spain's christianization efforts in the New World. In addition, the maps of Spain's Texas and San Antonio along with the tables of statistics ranging from the registries of land grants to the summaries of purchases,and most importantly, Dr. Almaraz eloquent language give the book a particular dynamism and harmony. The author's research radiates a unique insider's look at one aspect of Spain's colonialism - the Spanish friars' practices to establish a material basis (building missions and using surrounding land) in order to propagate religion and the Spanish lifestyle among the Indians in the ever-changing frontier environment.

The San Antonio Missions and Their System of Land Tenure

Average customer rating:

The San Antonio Missions and Their System of Land Tenure
Felix D., Jr. Almaraz
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORDVVY

Sids: A Parent's Guide to Understanding and Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Average customer rating:

Horrible book

At least TRY SOMETHING

A helpful look at what parents can do to help prevent SIDS

Sids: A Parent's Guid to Understanding and Preventing SIDS

The author clearly knows nothing about SIDS

Sids: A Parent's Guide to Understanding and Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
William Sears
Manufacturer: Little Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Infants | Babies & Toddlers | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Sears, Dr. William | Authors, A-Z | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome | Children's Health | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Nighttime Parenting: How to Get Your Baby and Child to Sleep

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)

The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

ASIN: 0316779539

Customer Reviews:

Horrible book.......2007-10-16

First off, the title alone implies that as a parent who lost her child to SIDS, there was something that I could've done to PREVENT our loss. There is nothing you can do to prevent SIDS, yes, you can minimize your risks, but not prevent it. The brief overview of the book sounds like it could be comforting in the wake of a SIDS loss, but it's very much decieving. I felt like this book did nothing but make me feel like we had done something wrong. If you're looking to read a book because of your own loss, stay away from this one, it will drive you even more crazy (I lost my own son to SIDS in November). Instead, read the SIDS book with the lighthouse on it. What a perfect cover for a perfect book. It still finds a way to guide me through my grieving.

As for the review below mine, I find that completely absurd! "at least they know they tried"?!??! I did everything right and my son is still dead, I'm not sitting back thinking, "at least I tried to keep him alive." My SON was not a PET FISH! This is obviously someone that has never dealt with a SIDS loss himself.

At least TRY SOMETHING.......2007-02-04

Instead of sitting back and doing nothing, Dr. Sears is encouraging parents to be proactive in preventing SIDS. At least if something happens, they know they tried.

A helpful look at what parents can do to help prevent SIDS.......2006-10-03

It is true that no one knows exactly why SIDS happens, and Dr. Sears does not claim to be any different. He shares his own educated ideas about what MAY be behind it, and then offers possible solutions to the problem. He does not claim that following his advice will always prevent SIDS, or that all SIDS deaths could have been prevented if only the parents had been smarter--not at all.

I found this book to be very informative and reassuring. It is not the final answer to eradicating SIDS, but it is helpful.

Sids: A Parent's Guid to Understanding and Preventing SIDS.......2006-07-09

As a parent who has lost an daughter from SIDS, I am not only offended by the title of this book but the editoral review. Joanni Horchler and Robin Morris' The SIDS Infant Survival Guide is about and for parents who have lost their infant from SIDS. It was very helpful to me following my daughter's death. It was the best book that I read in that it help me understand the feelings I had following her death. I have always had a great deal of respect for Dr. Sears' books but we cannot "prevent" SIDS until we know what causes it.

The author clearly knows nothing about SIDS.......2005-09-14

Starting with the title - there is NO PREVENTION for SIDS! None, nothing, no way. The first symptom of SIDS is DEATH. I can absolutely guarantee you that if there were a prevention for SIDS, my granddaughter would still be with us.If you think I am mistaken, do your own research. SIDS is NOT caused by sleep apnea or choking. SIDS is not caused by external suffering, such as by suffocation. It is not contagious, nor is it a result of neglected illness or child abuse. NO ONE IS TO BLAME FOR THE BABY"S DEATH. SIDS is also not a disease, nor can it be a diagnosis of a living baby. Anyone who believes they know a baby who "almost died of SIDS" is mistaken. THERE IS NO "NEAR MISS" SIDS CASE. If a child lived, it could not be SIDS since SIDS means death by definition. SIDS is NOT Preventable - there are things that may be risk reducers, but the word prevent should not currently be used in association with the word SIDS. Babies have died from SIDS while they were in someone's arms and had IMMEDIATE CPR. Please understand that SIDS is the number one cause of death of children between the ages of one month and one year. How dare this author even begin to use the word prevent in relation to SIDS? SIDS is a monstrous tragedy and as long as people believe there is a way to prevent SIDS, they are lulled into a false sense of security thinking it cannot happen to their baby, and they will not understand the need to push for more research to find the cause to stop this cruel thief of children. October is SIDS Awareness Month - please educate yourself about SIDS. Unfortunately, that is not possible with this book.

SIDS : A Parent's Guide to Understanding & Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Average customer rating:

SIDS : A Parent's Guide to Understanding & Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
William M. Sears
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUF3BW

SIDS, a Parent's Guide to Understanding and Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Average customer rating:

SIDS, a Parent's Guide to Understanding and Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
William. Sears
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NXLTJ0

Book Description

This, the first of two volumes on Germany's World War II U-boats, traces their development from the early U-boats of the Kaiser's Navy, the prohibition on Germany having U-boats following the Armistice in 1918 and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles, the secret development of U-boats using a 'cover-firm' in Holland, culminating in the formation of the 1st U-boat Flotilla in 1935 with the modern Type II. The operational history section includes examples from the Classes Type VIIA, Type VIIB, VIID, VIIE and VIIF before concentrating on the mainstay of the U-boat arm, the Type VIIC. Comparisons are also made with the standard allied submarines, their strengths, weaknesses and U-boat tactics.

Customer Reviews:

Good information.......2007-05-16

Good information, photos and illustrations, maybe need more deep analisis in the different topics

Book incomplete in the U-Boats images!.......2007-05-13

This book ia not very good. The U-Boat ilustrations are bad and change or error in the Types... Best regards,

For Junior High........2006-02-03

Oh, well, I made the mistake of not having read the first two reviews otherwise I could have saved myself a few $$$.

The first two reviews are accurate and there's really not much to add here, but I will emphasize a couple of aspects. It seems to me that to address the complexity of the U-boat force in two short pamphlets is quite inadequate and even insulting for the serious reader. I only have the first one and it's 48 pages short. There can be no justification whatsoever to split this subject up into two seperate "volumes" unless each one were a few hundred pages long.

I don't find the illustrations particularly good either. There is a double page illustration of the inside of a U-boat but it's not very detailed, too small, and a little dark. There are also full-page sized comic book style illustrations which may be nice but don't convey any information at all. There are some illustrations of different versions of conning towers, but they're too small.

The written information is, however, well conveyed, but there's just too little of it.
To me the whole thing seems to be more like a popular booklet for junior high school kids who show some interest in the subject.

This is a Pamphlet, not a Book........2004-11-12

If you want to learn about U-Boats pass this one up. What you end up with is a cleverly marketed first half of a small booklet. I was enfuriated to see that I have to buy the second volume just to end up with what is a 100 plus page pamphlet on U-Boats for twenty five dollars all told after purchase.
Osprey does well in presenting targeted overviews of certain subjects but they are starting to carry this marketing strategy to an extreme. I have seen enough of this now with other Osprey titles that I have this advice for would be book buyers: If it says NEW VANGUARD somewhere on the cover...pass on it. If its an "Osprey" publication, get a good look at it before you buy and make sure its not part of one of their "series" ploys first.

a primer.......2004-06-14

This is a very basic primer.
Of little use to anyone who is interested in U- boats. There are many other books that are more interesting, have more facts and more pictures and illustrations.
I read the entire book in a couple of hours.
Some of the pictures were interesting but hardly worth the price of the book.

Average customer rating:

Poor Publishing Effort
Book incomplete in the U-Boats images

Kriegsmarine U-Boats 1939 - 45
Chris Bishop
Manufacturer: Spellmount Ltd / Amber Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Naval | Military | History | Subjects | Books

The Encyclopedia of U-Boats: From 1904 to the Present
The Type VII U-Boat (Anatomy of the Ship)
Luftwaffe Squadrons, 1939-45
Teddy Suhren: Ace of Aces: Memoirs of a U-boat Rebel
US Submarines 1941-45 (New Vanguard)

ASIN: 1862273529

Customer Reviews:

Poor Publishing Effort.......2007-08-30

Lots of plain old editing mistakes. Sentence fragments. Captioning errors. Continuing paragraphs that lead nowhere. All this seriously detracts from what could have been a decent reference work. Just outright sloppy proofreading and editorial work. Readers really must verify the content by consulting other sources before accepting some of the facts.

Book incomplete in the U-Boats images.......2007-05-13

Hi friends:
This book are incomplete in the U-Boats images. Not recomended.
Best regards

Book Description

The more than 20 million Kurds in the Middle East are the largest nation in the world without their own independent state. Their struggles for international recognition may ultimately depend on their ability to convince the world that they have their own valid and mature identity. This survey of Kurdish culture describes the differences that exist in a community that is spread across four countries in the region - Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria - and recognizes that Kurdish culture is changing. Successive chapters deal with Kurdistan's written literature and oral tradition, the development of book publishing and other modern media, the range of Islamic and other religious beliefs that have shaped Kurdish identity, and Kurdish material culture including costumes, carpets and the everyday objects of village life.

Amazon.com

Everyone likes a success story, and the bald eagle in recent years certainly qualifies as one. Environmental writer Bruce E. Beans finds enlightening stories of eagles thriving, from dozens of birds in former DDT-laden lands in New Jersey to 1,750 bald eagles counted in an hour in Alaska. But there's more than just counting birds in this work. Beans chronicles the story of some of those who have worked to save this national symbol, such as the retired banker who learned to scale 100-foot trees to band the birds. By the same token, not all the tales are happy. Beans tells of many who still act carelessly with the eagle and its habitat, showing that the story is not over.

Book Description

Symbol of power, strength, and freedom, the American bald eagle appears on coins, dollar bills, postage stamps, identification cards, and the presidential seal. It is seen everywhere except in the sky, although that is changing; nearly extinct in 1970, the bald eagle has made a modest comeback.

In Eagle’s Plume, Bruce E. Beans recounts the compelling, centuries-old story of the bald eagle’s place in American culture and landscape an its struggle for survival. Reviled by western stockmen as a killer of lambs and calves, the bald eagle has been deified by environmentalists as a reminder of America’s natural heritage. When the great national bird was robbed of its habitat and poisoned with pesticides, federal and environmental groups and local communities rallied to save it. Their heroic efforts are chronicled in the book, which also takes the measure and pulse of the bird that so impressed ancient storytellers.

Customer Reviews:

A compelling story of the saving of the Eagle.......1997-04-08

I found this book to be, much to my surprise, a very good read. Examples: The story of the college professor hoarding illegal poisons to sell to ranchers which are then used to kill eagles and coyotes; the retired man who learned to climb 100 ft trees to band eaglets; the Indians who kill, buy and sell eagles and eagle parts for profit; the western ranchers who live off government subsidies but who feel free to kill eagles as pests. There are many heros and bad guys in this book, including undercover agents risking their lives to catch the bad guys. But the good guys are winning and the eagles are going to make it back. A very good and readable book.

Well researched book on eagle's and their endangered habitat.......1996-08-30

EagleÍs Plume, by naturalist Bruce E. Beans, is an ambitious book well rendered. In search of bald eagles and the reasons for their recent endangered status and remarkable ñcomeback,î Beans travels from threatened New Jersey wetlands to the wilds of Alaska and provides memorable portraits of heroes and villains as well as indelible images of this most majestic raptor. Readers (in all likelihood, the majority) who have never seen an eagle in the wild will not soon forget his descriptions of the bird in fl

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books