How Nature Works: Regenerating Kinship With Planet Earth

Book Description

The only guide that covers Central America and Mexico in one portable package, this Footprint handbook provides comprehensive travel information for all seven countries of Central America, plus coverage of Mexico including Baja California, the Yucatan, and Mexico City. Enabling the traveler to get off the standard trail and experience much more of each country, this guide's full color photography will inspire while providing all the basic information needed for a trip. Sections on planning, how to stay healthy, history and culture, responsible tourism, music, and a special feature entitled "Mundo Maya," along with practical, comprehensive, up-to-date listings for each country are included. Where to stay, eat, drink, and shop; how to get about via air, road, train, and car; and over 100 maps of the countries, regions, towns, and sites are offered. Focusing on majesty and splendor as much as the spark of adventure, Footprint Central America and Mexico Handbook also includes special coverage on the Maya world of Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo.

Customer Reviews:

Need More for the Driver and Camper.......2005-11-09

We drove to Panama and back in our RV using Lonely Planet's "Central America on a Shoestring" and the Footprint "Central America and Mexico" guides as our main references. Both are written primarily for the backpacker taking public transport and staying in hotels, but we found Footprint had more information for camping. Both were helpful, but ultimately we ended up finding our own camping places and writing our own book more focused on driving and camping. If you are spending time in one country and not just passing through, it is better to have a Footprint or other guide for each country. For example, we found some camping places in a Panama guide which weren't in the Central America guide.

Perfect.......2004-07-23

I drove to Panama with a friend of mine this last summer, using this book as a guide. It was accurate, useful, and led us to many places that we would never have found otherwise. I cannot speak highly enough of it. If I am traveling anywhere else in the future, I am buying a Footprint guide. The maps in the back proved accurate, too, succesfully getting us all the way to Panama. I looked at a Lonely Planet guide to Panama once I was there, and found that it was not nearly as accurate or useful. If you are traveling anywhere in Mexico or Central America, this footprint guide is all you need. Buy it.

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The Virginia Experience! for Kindergarteners Student Workbook
Carole Marsh
Manufacturer: Gallopade International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Workbooks | Education | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 063501033X

Book Description

This delightful guide is packed with photos, detailed illustrations, and fascinating facts that are sure to enlighten and entertain. It describes the various coastal habitats that affect them.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reference guide for those who love beachcombing!.......2002-03-02

When I first got the book in 1999, I read it cover to cover immediately, and learned much about the various beach finds I have been curious about for many years. It answered many of my basic questions and I still use it as a reference. Interesting and valuable information.

Excellent layman level coastal marine science........1999-11-19

Althought the cover looks simplistic, it belies an excellent book for those interested in coastal and estuarine life forms and habitats in the Northeast US. Much more scientific than I expected. A great reference book!

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XXIIIrd International Congress of Pure and Applied Chemistry
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Manufacturer: Butterworths
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GRGRNG

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XXIIIrd International Congress of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Manufacturer: Butterworths
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
General & Reference | Chemistry | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0408703156

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XXIIIrd International Congress of Pure and Applied Chemistry Vol. 4
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Manufacturer: Butterworths
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQQOSA

Book Description

This work offers a unified presentation of the theory of binary polynomial transforms and details their numerous applications in nonlinear signal processing. The book also: introduces the Rademacher logical functions; considers fast algorithms for computing Rademacher and polynomial logical functions; focuses attention on general auto- and cross-correlation functions; and more.;The work is intended for applied mathematicians; electrical, electronics and other engineers; computer scientists; and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.

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An Absolute Work of Magic for the English Classroom, May 8,

Literature and Lives: A Response-Based, Cultural Studies Approach to Teaching English
Allen Carey-Webb
Manufacturer: Natl Council of Teachers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents (Language and Literacy Series (Teachers College Pr))

Classics in the Classroom: Designing Accessible Literature Lessons

Bridging English (4th Edition)

Speaking Across the Curriculum: Practical Ideas for Incorporating Listening and Speaking into the Classroom

Write For Insight: Empowering Content Learning, Grades 6-12

ASIN: 0814129641

Customer Reviews:

An Absolute Work of Magic for the English Classroom, May 8, .......2005-05-09

Reviewer: A reader
This book has revealed doors that I never knew existed within the English curriculum, and these doors will open worlds to my students that literature has ceased to open in the past. As a secondary school English teacher, I know the importance of literature in the students' lives, but I never knew how to show this importance to my students. After reading this book I now know the secret of achieving this goal. By using a response based cultural studies approach to teaching English, literature opens a door to the students own lives. A means for the students to value literature by drawing parallels between the literatures we feed them, and their own lives found within that literature.
English has been taught in a fashion that has raised it upon a pedestal. A place to where students will find enlightenment with study. But this book has shown me that literature does not bring enlightenment to the students, but the students bring enlightenment to literature. By creating an environment where the English curriculum is structured around the students' responses, literature can take on a relationship with the students that create an inviting and welcoming role that the students can take on in their learning. English is not simply a reading and writing based subject, but in educations past it has been treated as such. English is a subject that requires students to be actively involved. By actively involving our students in the classroom, students receive extrinsic motivation in studying literature.
This book shows teachers how to create an English classroom that is centered on the students, and their own questions and responses. Whether dealing with issues of diversity, gender, or homelessness in the classroom students can draw from the literature in ways that better their own lives. This is the goal of literature,and this book is the key to opening that door.

Average customer rating:

very interesting book!!!!!!

Nice but not thrilling

A Story You Don't Think About Very Much

First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives
Bonnie Angelo
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Presidents & Heads of State | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents

America's First Families: An Inside View of 200 Years of Private Life in the White House (Lisa Drew Books)

All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families

Secret Lives Of The First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About The Women of The White House

Real Life at the White House: 200 Years of Daily Life at America's Most Famous Residence

ASIN: 0060563567
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Customer Reviews:

very interesting book!!!!!!.......2006-02-07

I just finished this book last night, and it is wonderful. Not only is it filled with intimate facts about all of the First Families, but it very interesting. It makes you realize that they were real people and did they're duties even if they despised them.

I couldn't put this book down! I am reading constantly, and this is one book that was so good I didn't want it to end! I would recommend this to anyone, 5 stars~

Nice but not thrilling.......2005-10-21

A lot of the antecdotes in this book have been published elsewhere but the insights on how each of the more modern presidential families view the White House were interesting. In all, I would have borrowed this book from the library rather than purchase it. A nice read but not a book I will take off the shelf from time to time to review or share with others.

A Story You Don't Think About Very Much.......2005-09-22

Living a life in a family is difficult enough. Imagine having an argument with your spouse while the TV cameras are on. Imagine your kids report card being broadcast all over the world, worse imagine that you're that kid and it's your report card. Imagine being a kid, particularly a young one and hearing what the other side is saying about your dad. Imagine trying to go to grow up and have a relationship with someone of the other sex. Imagine being a girl, do you think anyone would ever get up the courage to ask you out? On the other hand, with the secret service around you wouldn't have to worry much about date rape. But you probably didn't get to try smoking pot.

Ms. Angelo is a long time correspondent for Time magazine. Her first book was First Mothers, on the mothers of the presidents. Here she has expanded to the people closest to the presidents.

First Families: The Impact of The White House on Their Lives

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First Families: The Impact of The White House on Their Lives
Bonnie Angelo
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEV6AU

Book Description

A team of top experts from across the nation and around the world presents issues of war, conflict resolution, and stable peace. They explain how men and women are transformed into perpetrators of genocide, how neighbors become sworn enemies, the cultural and psychological origins of war, and even the neuropsychology of conflict. Considering these elements together allows us to understand more clearly the violent world that surrounds us, and serves as a precursor for examining models for resolving conflict and building peace. Finally, an exploration of what it means to wage a "successful" war holds profound implications about what a victory in the war against terrorism would look like. These books bring attention to a variety of elements that will inform military studies, psychology, and sociology scholars and students. It will also inform researchers in many fields and at many levels who aim to understand the underlying causes of longstanding and emerging conflicts and the methods that may finally bring resolution and peace.

The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts: From War to Peace

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The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts: From War to Peace

Manufacturer: Praeger Security International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

War & Peace | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0275982106

The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts: From War to Peace, Three Volumes

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The Psychology of Resolving Global Conflicts: From War to Peace, Three Volumes
Mari; Stout, Chris E. (eds.) Fitzduff
Manufacturer: Praeger Security International Multi-volume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORAPPY

Amazon.com

Stokely Carmichael (known as Kwame Ture later in his life) died before his autobiography, Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael, could be completed, so much of the text was stitched together from extensive taped sessions by his long-time friend, Ekwueme Michael Thelwell. What remains is a sometimes uneven but always stirring record one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the Twentieth Century.

Carmichael was born in Trinidad, but his life as an activist began with his immersion in the Civil Rights movement at the Bronx High School of Science and then Howard University in the 1950s and 60s. At Howard he joined the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) and later, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), through which he drove voter registration efforts in Mississippi and Alabama. Later, as chairman of the SNCC he moved beyond the teachings of nonviolent resistance and forged the Black Power movement, authoring one of its key documents, "Toward Black Liberation" with Thelwell. He became a nationally recognized figure, reviled by leaders on both the left and the right for his apparent abandonment of integration. Yet his vision for black self-determinism would empower a generation of African-American artists, scholars, and leaders to embrace a new vision of African and African-American identity that is still transforming black culture. Eventually, Carmichael settled in Guinea, where he became a member of the ruling party and spent his later years promulgating his vision for Pan-African revolution.

In the introduction to Ready for Revolution, Thelwell admits that, in keeping the story faithful to the recordings, he left it essentially a "first draft" of Carmichael's vision. Thelwell's intrusions in the text, whether his own points or thoughts of others whom he interviewed are bracketed--while this formal approach honors Carmichael's words, the passages are often distracting and would have been better left as endnotes. Further, Thelwell seems to let Carmichael's original text stand where some pruning would have been beneficial, notably in Carmichael's overly detailed recounting of his school days. That said, Thelwell has done a great service to African-American studies by shepherding Carmichael's controversial, quirky, and uncompromising autobiography into print. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Honorary prime minister of the Black Panther Party. Bestselling author. Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) is an American legend, one whose work as a civil rights leader fundamentally altered the course of history -- and our understanding of Pan-Africanism today.

Ready for Revolution recounts the extraordinary course of Carmichael's life, from his Trinidadian youth to his consciousness-raising years in Harlem to his rise as the patriarch of the Black Power movement.

In his own words, Carmichael tells the story of his fight for social justice with candor, wit, and passion -- and a cast of luminaries that includes James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh, and Fidel Castro, among others. Carmichael's personal testimony captures the pulse of the cultural upheavals that characterize the modern world. This landmark, posthumously published autobiography reintroduces us to a man whose love of freedom fueled his fight for revolution to the end.

Customer Reviews:

Charlie Lomax, Reviewer for Turning Pages Book Club.......2006-02-04

This autobiographical and historical overview chronicles the experiences of Stokely Carmichael's(Kwame Ture)from his childhood in Trinidad throughout the "Civil Rights Movement" and his entire life.
This book is a must read for high-school and college level students who want a glimpse into the lives of people who were deeply involved as students during the "Civil Rights Movement" during the 60's .
Although,the book is very lengthy and somewhat tedious to read the information , is paramount to the history of African Americans and a great legacy to Stokely Carmichael, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer and other leaders during that era and before who dedicated their lives to fighting for "Civil Rights" for people globally.
Stokely Carmichael along with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, John Edgar Wideman and other SNCC members revisit their organizing days as students at Howard University ,which turned out to be not only historical but some very life changing events for them, their families and African Americans in the U.S. and the Diaspora.

Amazing Book.......2005-09-04

I just finished this book today and I must say it is an amazing book. He leaves no stone unturned in going through his amazing life. It is in the tradition of so many other books, Frederick Douglas, Du Bois, Malcolm X, and many others. A great bok to read for all those who wish to learn more about him and the times in which he lived.

Ready for revolution.

The Best Book About the Movement, Jack!.......2005-02-09

W.E.B. Du Bois' prophetic tag about the color line in America being the problem of the 20th Century (still #1 with a bullet in the 21st)may be the great man's greatest understatement. I marvel that Stokely Carmichael(later Kwame Ture)was able to get his arms around the reality of his life and strange times as profoundly as he does. Fortunately for us, confidence was never his problem.

This book is a sustained narrative, in equal parts autobiography, historical analysis, and oral history.

Like SNCC itself, this work is focused, disciplined and deeply grounded in the freedom struggles of African people in communities like Cambridge, Maryland, Greenwood, Mississippi and Lowndes County, Alabama. Stokely's recap of events that made the walls of segregation come tumbling down is illuminated by luminaries like Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer. But it's the voices of the real stars of the Movement -- Mr. Hartman Turnbow, E.W. Steptoe, Victoria Gray, Annie Pearl Avery and Endesha Holland -- that, rightly, get pride of place in his retelling.

Thanks and praises to Ekwueme Michael Thelwell for midwifing a masterpiece. Show me a biography or an autobiography in which the text does not "stitch together" memory and chronology, fact and fiction, people and places -- and I'll assume you do your reading in the checkout line at the supermarket. Thelwell includes just enough of Stokely's vocal mannerisms to convey his live voice and real personality, without allowing them to become tics and distractions. His parenthetical asides may challenge readers with attention deficit issues, but personally, I found they captured Thelwell unraveling small mysteries about his friend. Check out the one where Thelwell muses about where Carmichael really was during the March on Washington.

Readers should be told that this autobiography is a page-turner, it reads like a thriller. High School and College students will learn what all the excitement of the Southern Civil Rights Movement was about. Godwilling they'll be motivated by Stokely's example. There is high literary art in the way Carmichael and Thelwell capture the sweep of events that shaped our own life and times. The stories and homilies are so archetypal, you'll imagine they happened to you -- until you catch yourself realizing that that was Stokely, not you, who fell in love with Miriam Makeba over the radio and then married her in real life.

The chorus of voices reveals black and white folks willing to give their lives working for something at the core of our shared humanity. I always knew there were those who do not share that humanity. Stokely's autobiography teaches us that the struggle is so desperately important because they will never stop trying to enslave others by denying them their humanity. You cannot read this narrative and not share Stokely's love for and belief in the struggles of Africans, and indigenous peoples, everywhere.

Stokely Speaks.......2004-04-21

I have always felt that Kwame / Stokely did not get the appropriate historical recognition that he deserved. After his relocation to Africa he was all but forgotten in the west except for those that remembered his "Black Power" years. This is unfortunate! The man did so much work on the part of the oppressed that he should be remembered for the pioneer and visionary that he was.

This much awaited biography covers much of the gaps and unknowns regarding his work post-1970, but unfortunately one of the tapes which Kwame made about his work with the All-African Peoples Revolutionary party went missing and it is this work which I and many others might be most interested in knowing about. My hope is that this information will one day find the light of day.

Details regarding Kwame's associations with Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Martin Luther King jr, Huey Newton and others are illuminating and insightful, but I would have liked to know more about his political work with Yasser Arafat, Mommar Ghadafi and Oliver. Given the fact that time was running out for Kwame I am sure it would have been a much different book had the circumstances been otherwise.

I found the biography engaging and would recommend it to anyone interested in the revolutionary nationalist movements of the past 40 years. Kwame / Stokely was definitely someone that "arrived early and stayed late" unlike many activists of his generation.

Interesting Document.......2003-11-15

This is an important document. Stokely Carmichael/Toure was a person you either loved or hated, no in-between, but he was indeed an important person of the Civil Rights era. E. Michael Thelwell, who edited this book, sat down extensively with the Stoke before his death to preserve his memoirs. The Stoke that appears here is not quite the wild man often quoted in the sixties. The rhetoric about "honkies," crude sexism, and xenophobia of some of his old speeches are absent here. Stoke clarifies his stands as being more of a socilaist humanitairan (as well as still being a Pan-Africanist), but he does not acknowledge many of his errors of that time. Some readers will have a problem with Thelwells' constant injections, which explain some of the names, people, and events that the Stoke talks about to those not familiar with the sixties. This may help some readers and annoy others, but it may be necessary since the generation who knew such things firsthand will soon be gone. In either case, it's an important document of an interesting era from one of it's major players.

Ready for Revolution; The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael

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Ready for Revolution; The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael
Stokely and Thelwell, Ekwueme Michael CARMICHAEL
Manufacturer: See notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V5X2ZO

Book Description

Aliens live among us. Thousands of species of nonnative flora and fauna have taken up residence within U.S. borders. Our lawns sprout African grasses, our roadsides flower with European weeds, and our homes harbor Asian, European, and African pests. Misguided enthusiasts deliberately introduced carp, kudzu, and starlings. And the American cowboy spread such alien life forms as cows, horses, tumbleweed, and anthrax, supplanting and supplementing the often unexpected ways "Native" Americans influenced the environment. Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports into America recounts the origins and impacts of these and other nonindigenous species on our environment and pays overdue tribute to the resolve of nature to survive in the face of challenge and change.

In considering the new home that imported species have made for themselves on the continent, John Leland departs from those environmentalists who universally decry the invasion of outsiders. Instead, Leland finds that uncovering stories of aliens' arrivals and assimilation is a more intriguing—and ultimately more beneficial—endeavor. While he does lament such storied ravagers as the chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, and gypsy moth, Leland also posits that the majority of nonnative plants and animals, much like their human counterparts, go about the business of existence and reproduction without threat to the world around them.

Mixing natural history with engaging anecdotes, Leland cuts through patriotic and problematic myths coloring our grasp of the natural world and suggests that the stories of how these alien species have reshaped our landscape are as much a part of the continent's heritage as tales of our presidents and politics. Simultaneously, he poses questions about which, if any, of our accepted icons is truly American (not apple pie or Kentucky bluegrass; not Idaho potatoes or Boston ivy). Written with a genuine appreciation for nature's resiliency, Leland's ode to survival reveals how plant and animal immigrants have made the country as much an environmental melting pot as its famed melding of human cultures, and he invites us to reconsider what it means to be American.

Customer Reviews:

Things they Never Tell You About American History.......2007-01-23

For a short time I worked at a Florida lab helping to compile the USDA list of introduced arthropods. It was then I learned about a lot of obscure creature that had invaded the US in ballast, on plants, in clothing, and on wood, rock, sand, and just about any commodity or personal effect. The invasion has not stopped, but it is often not even known to be going on by the general public, except in some high profile invasions such as the Asian tiger mosquito!

John Leland, in his "Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports into America" presents us with many (but certainly not all) of these imported organisms, from starlings to Russian thistle and from dogs (first brought in by Native Americans) to anthrax. Some of these introductions changed history as they destroyed or interfered with crops, or were of medical importance. Smallpox, unknown in America, was used to kill Native Americans long before anyone heard of a virus by transferring contaminated blankets to the intended victims. Both diseases and destroyers of crops had their effects on armies and the outcomes of wars, as well as the physical and economic health of the hemisphere.

Despite a few irritating typos, I found the book to be basically accurate and I learned a few things as well, such as the fact that all species of human lice were already present in the New World when Columbus landed. Typhus may have been here as well.

This is one of those eye-opening books that should be read by everyone, especially if you are concerned with security. We don't need terrorists (although they can help things along) to cause major impacts on society. Nature and our own mobility can do it as efficiently or even better! We should also keep in mind that we, who evolved on the plains of Africa, are aliens to the New World as well! Indeed, John Leland drives this point home several times in this book!

A dizzying, entertaining compendium of facts and myths and stories.......2005-10-11

We've all heard tales of the dreaded zebra mussel, rampant purple loosestrife, or prolific European starling, but if you think exotic species are the exception, even a quick browse of Leland's entertaining compendium of aliens will set you straight. You can't step into your backyard without treading on interlopers, like the favored Kentucky bluegrass.

From the hallucinogenic properties of hemp, morning glory, datura and more; to attempts to cultivate the silkworm; to rats, cockroaches and disease, Leland's essays offer an entertaining history of facts, rumors and squabbles on an exhaustive number of alien species. Whether purposely (often to rid the place of some other unwanted interloper) or accidentally introduced, aliens have long thrived in their new home and many have come to be considered natives.

A professor of English at the Virginia Military Institute, Leland ("Porcher's Creek: Lives Between the Tides") writes with wit and a certain wicked relish, and his research is dizzyingly thorough. But the sheer width and breadth of information is overwhelming. This is a book to keep, to dip into again and again a chapter or even a few pages at a time, so as to have some hope of retention.

With chapter titles like "Out of Africa," "Cowboys: And Their Alien Habits," "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time," and "Bioterror: Older than You Think," Leland makes an appreciative and entertaining case for the melting pot.

How alien species have changed America.......2005-09-08

John Leland (Professor of English at the Virginia Military Institute) does a great job of pointing out which plants and animals are, and which plants and animals are not, native to America. He writes well with style, grace and wit, and he gives a lot of interesting information about how various animals and plants came to be incorporated into the America landscape and enterprise.

From apples to kudzu he details which aliens have been a boon and which have been a sorry bust. In the case of kudzu (Pueraria lobata, which I saw for the first time in a Louisiana swamp a week before hurricane Katrina hit), "It Seemed a Good Idea at the Time" (title of one of his chapters). That was before people realized that kudzu completely blankets "whatever it grows on in a smothering welter of leaves and vines" strangling trees and other vegetation to death. (p. 161)

Also not a good idea was the introduction of carp into America's waters. Leland opines that "Most fishermen and environmentalist regard its widespread introduction...as a disaster...," although there are some, including the Carp Angler Group, who have a different opinion. Similarly, people differ about whether it was a good idea to bring the starling (one of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works) to America since it is now considered "a dirty, noisy, gregarious, and aggressive" bird that has displaced native species. Perhaps the worst of the "it seemed like a good idea at the time" species is the gypsy moth, brought to America as a possible silk worm. Leland goes into some detail about "well-intentioned dreamers of silken fortunes" in the chapter, "A Sow's Ear from a Silk Purse."

But these deliberately introduced species are relatively benign in the public eye compared to those that have freeloaded their way into our land and have more or less taken over in ways that we cannot control. The German cockroach, the Norway or brown rat, and the tumbleweed (surprisingly not native to the land of the cowboy but from Russia (with love)--oh, you deluded Sons of the Pioneers!) are three that Leland zeroes in on. He also has a few words to say about the American cockroach (probably not American--also called the palmetto bug) and the Oriental cockroach. Here in southern California we have all three, the German, the American and the Oriental. The German is the ever so prolific one that lives indoors in apartment houses and restaurants the world over, while the larger American and Oriental tend to live outdoors. I sometimes find one of the latter in my house dried up and dead in a corner or in a drawer, having wandered in and found nothing to eat and no moisture.

An introduced species that is perhaps an even bigger pest here in the southland is the Argentine ant, which Leland unaccountably does not mention. I recommend he take a study on it. There's enough material there to write a book and then some. Once the Argentine ant (small and black with only an occasional tiny bite) sets up shop inside the walls or under an establishment such as an apartment building or a college dormitory, it is there to stay.

What Leland does so very well in this book, and what makes it superior to some other books I have read, is integrate the alien species into the historical and cultural experience of the American people. In his chapter, "Out of Africa," he details "How Slavery Transformed the American Landscape and Diet." I had to laugh when I read that watermelon is not native to America but comes from Africa, as do peanuts and Bermuda grass, sesame seed and of course the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) also known as the black-eyed pea. I had to laugh because I recalled Randy Newman's satirical song encouraging Africans to come to America in the early days of the republic for "the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake"!

Naturally, it is not in any way surprising that many of our foods come from other lands since most of the world's cuisines have found a home in American. Rice is not native, although the so-called "wild rice" is. Wheat comes from the Middle East as most people know, while potatoes are native to the Andes in South American.

In the chapter "Cowboys and Their Alien Habits" Leland recalls the familiar story of how the horse was once native to America but had gone extinct here before Columbian times, and then was accidentally reintroduced by the Spanish explorers after which it revolutionized the Plains Indians' way of life. (p. 92) Also alien are the cowboy's cattle, including the Texas longhorn; and if we go back far enough even the "Indians," the so-called native Americans are not native. Sad to say many of the true natives, like the giant sloth and the cave bear and the great mammoth went extinct coincidental with the arrival of the first humans from across the Bering Strait.

The only problem I have with this book and others like it, is that there is never enough. The way plants and animals have moved around the world and the way they have changed the lives of people is a continual source of fascination. Leland's fine book adds to the reader's pleasure while not sating it.

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