d a n i e l l y o n s

book:	winter's tale
author:	mark helprin
publisher:	harcourt brace
year:	1991

A complex tale of love, greed, loyalty, and betrayal. The book describes the adventures of Peter Lake, a mythic figure "who progresses from waif to demigod, from the late 19th century to the third millennium, preserved by mysterious forces, pursued by the forces of evil, accompanied by his flying steed Athansor."

"A breathtaking novel by the author of A Soldier of the Great War, this is a book about the beauty and complexity of the human soul, about God, love, and justice, and yet readers can lose themselves in it as if it were a dream. A gifted writer's love affair with the language."
--- Newsday

the death and life of great american cities || jane jacobs

book:	the death and life of great american cities
author:	jane jacobs
publisher:	modern library
year:	1993 (1969)

Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs's small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable.

"perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning . . . [It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments."
--- The New York Times

book:	cadillac desert
author:	marc reisner
publisher:	penguin
year:	1993

The definitive history of water resources in the American West, and a very illuminating lesson in the political economy of limited resources anywhere . . . a weighty history of how the West was won--not with six-guns and lassos, but with steam shovels and cement that moved "water from where it is, and presumably isn't needed, to where it isn't, and presumably is needed." California . . . was the chief beneficiary of the great hydrological projects that remade the West; transplanted water allowed it to grow to boast a population now larger than Canada's, and to create an economy richer than all but seven nations', a condition not "remotely conceivable within the pre-existing natural order."

"***."
--- ***

book:	landscape and memory
author:	simon schama
publisher:	vintage books
year:	1996

Cultures are shaped by place. Forests inspire tree worship; rivers are gods. These cultural constructs are the source of "landscapes," the transformation of earth into metaphor. Schama, a fluidly creative scholar and adept author with far-ranging interests, has conducted what he describes as an "excavation" of Western culture's profound landscape tradition. What he reveals in this intricately structured, finely detailed, and wonderfully engaging analysis is the endurance of our veneration for nature, a perspective we still hold dear in spite of our environmental difficulties. Schama believes that a deeper understanding of our "core myths" may help us see our way through the present crisis. Schama focuses on three types of landscapes: forests, rivers, and mountains. As he describes each setting--from the tragedy-filled forests of Poland to California's astounding redwoods, to the heavily navigated Thames and Mississippi, the otherworldly Swiss Alps and even crass Mount Rushmore--Schama interprets the myths, literature, art, and polemics that have infused each place with metaphorical, spiritual, or political significance.

"This beautifully illustrated volume is an awesome achievement, a masterful, multifaceted survey of the many stories and images Western culture has evolved to express our complex relationship with place and the rest of life."
--- Booklist, Donna Seaman

book:	the great shame: and the triumph of the irish in the english-speaking world
author:	thomas kenneally
publisher:	doubleday
year:	1999

This is the story of how Irish men and women came to be dispersed all over the world, and what they made of their lives in their new homes. It is the epic history of a whole people. It offers a sharp description of the first convict settlers' lives and the terrible hardships they endured and includes the spellbinding story of John Boyle O'Reilly's amazing escape from Western Australia on board the Gazelle.

"Keneally breathes life and warmth into his Irish heroes . . . The Great Shame is an epic tale of courage and ingenuity."
--- The New York Times Book Review, Jay P. Dolan

book:	the fatal shore: the epic of australia's founding
author:	robert hughes
publisher:	vintage books
year:	1987

The history of the birth of Australia which came out of the suffering and brutality of England's infamous convict transportation system. For 80 years between 1788 and 1868, England transported its convicts to Australia. This punishment provided the first immigrants and the work force to build the colony. Using diaries, letters, and original sources, Hughes meticulously documents this history. All sides of the story are told: the political and social reasoning behind the Transportation System, the viewpoint of the captains who had the difficult job of governing and developing the colonies, and of course the dilemma of the prisoners.

"a brilliant and enduring achievement . . . history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment."
--- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.


winter's tale	the hobbit		death & life of great american cities		cadillac desert		landscape and memory
the great shame		the fatal shore		the poky little puppy		the puppy who wanted a boy