It's always "Terek region this, Terek region that," and not a word about the poor bastards in Chechnia! Sure, some consider them the "trailer trash of the trans-Caucus," but I find the Chechnians to be heartwarming, charming, and mirthful when they mispronounce the names of ethnic dishes. My feelings aside, I found King's book to be accurate, entertaining, and page-turning. You know, sometimes it's the forgotten stories from the backwaters of history that truly shine a narrowly focused beam of insight that brings the big picture into sharp focus on the wide screen of our modern political era. This is just such a book. Don't let the longish title (it's half as long as the book) fool you...this one wil hold your interest wher it should!

I am very interested in reading restaurant reviews. We dine out very often, and found Gayot's guide to be very right on target. It was great to find a guidebook that also included wine country dining, as Sonoma County is an important and exciting area for food and wine. The reviewers were not biased towards famous or trendy restaurants. They mention several not yet well known "jewels" for the reader to discover. Much better than Fodor's or Zaggat's.

This is an abridged, illustrated and updated edition of "A History of Ulster" by the same author. The longer work is certainly much more suitable for reference purposes, since considerable detail has been left out of the shorter version. However, the contemporary quotations and the illustrations together give an excellent flavour of the events being described. Unless you are specifically looking for a reference book, the shorter book provides a very attractive and well-illustrated alternative.

This book contains easy descriptions of touring and trailheads within day-trip distance of the Denver area. While the "extreme" backcountry skier may find that most tours described lack the desired excitement, there are still quite a few gems, and for the more classic cross country skier this book cannot be beat. Check out Dawson's guide to 14ers for the death-defying routes, but this book has everything to keep most skiers entertained. Most of the expert terrain described requires long approach routes, but every serious front range backcountry skier should buy this book without question.

If you really want to know what life North of 60 is like, read this collection. Admittedly, life in the large towns (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Whitehorse) is like any town, but anyone who has lived up north will know people who live much like Martin.

I read this book a long time ago, but it is a good book. Catherine Cookson is a excellent author. It is unreal the cruelty orphan children went through in the last century. They were treated like slaves.

I read this book way back in 1989, not long after it was first released. That was over a decade ago and I _still_ remember how vivid and brilliant the writing was. The value of the information for those of us looking for history about the women who lived in the 'Dark Ages' is unequaled. An amazing book. Brava to the author.

Snakeskin Stilettos is the debut and introduction to an American readership of Irish poet Moyra Donaldson's abilities to craft verse that is simultaneously accessible, disciplined, imaginative, entertaining, and memorable. Lust: Bearded old satyr,/the wind from the hills/is thick with your scent,/musty yet fresh,/a confusion of seasons.//Comfortable in the house of Pentheus,/with its fitted concepts,/its rational doors, leading always/from one place to the next,/she forgot you--became only human.//Then you rear again at her window,/swirled in your own myth./Lines from an ancient script/calling her out into the hills,/where coiled snakes will lick her face/in the back seat of a parked car.

Richard Pankhurst is probably the leading expert in the world today on the subject of Ethiopian studies and Ethiopian history. I find him to be very objective and truthfull. I have read many of his works and they surpass any other's in this field, in historical accuracy, depth of study and insight.

For years I have been studying and reading every book on Ethiopia I could get my hands on. I have interviewed quite a few of the elders of the Ethiopian Jews that live in Israel. I have been researching Ethiopian history and gathering material for a book I myself am writing on the subject. I have even traveled extensively in Ethiopia gathering information for my research.

I can honestly say that nobody has helped me like Richard Pankhurst. He has made the study of Ethiopia his life's work and has done so with magnificent zeal.

Local Ethiopian historians such as Bilay Gidday have written a distorted account of Ethiopian history. They are, basically, blindfolded with national pride, corrupting the truth in order to draw a picture portraying Ethiopia as the source of human culture and cradle of both Christianity and Judaism and the Ethiopians as the chosen people.

Richard Pankhurst has successfully managed to fish out the true historical facts from Ethiopia's vast ocean of fantastic myths, legends and folk-tales. For this, he will forever be favoured by scholars of Ethiopian studies all over the world.

I salute him for yet another inspiring piece of work and wish him many more years of such productivity.

Joseph Musael, Jerusalem, ISRAEL.

Spirit Of The North: A Photographic Journey Through Northern Wisconsin by photographer Richard Hamilton Smith is a simply gorgeous coffee-table book filled from cover to cover with full-color photographs of natural scenes and wildlife throughout Northern Wisconsin. Almost no text interrupts the mesmerizing visual display. Spirit Of The North is enthusiastically recommended for those who enjoy seeing the ever-changing wonder of wilderness captured in an instant of time -- and a "must" for all Wisconsin community libraries!