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Three friends bound by love of the Southwest's canyonlands undertake the first traverse of the Comb Ridge, in search of the lost civilization of the Anasazi • A cultural pilgrimage as well as an athletic one • Story blends personal adventure, middle-aged angst, the beauty of a landscape, history of exploration, and mysteries of the rise and fall of an ancient culture • By a critically acclaimed travel and adventure writer also famous for his exploits in Alaska's mountains • Includes photos by Greg Child of the landscape, Anasazi and Navajo ruins and rock art On September 1, 2004, three middle-aged buddies set out on one of the last geographic challenges never before attempted in North America: to hike the Comb Ridge in one continuous push. The Comb is an upthrust ridge of sandstone—virtually a mini-mountain range—that stretches almost unbroken for a hundred miles from just east of Kayenta, Arizona, to some ten miles west of Blanding, Utah. To hike the Comb is to run a gauntlet of up-and-down severities, with the precipice lurking on one hand, the fiendishly convoluted bedrock slab on the other—always at a sideways, ankle-wrenching pitch. There is not a single mile of established trail in the Comb's hundred-mile reach.

The friends were David Roberts, writer, adventurer, famed mountaineer of decades past, at age 61 the graybeard of the bunch; Greg Child, renowned mountaineer and rock climber, age 47; and Vaughn Hadenfeldt, a wilderness guide intimately acquainted with the canyonlands, age 53. They came to the Comb not only for the physical challenge, but to seek out seldom-visited ruins and rock art of the mysterious Anasazi culture. Each brought his own emotions on the journey; the Comb Ridge would test their friendship in ways they had never before experienced.

Searching for the stray arrowhead half-smothered in the sand or for the faint markings on a far sandstone boulder that betokened a little-known rock art panel, becomes a competitive sport for the three friends. Along the way, they ponder the mystery, bringing the accounts of early and modern explorers and archaeologists to bear: Who were the vanished Indians who built these inaccessible cliff dwellings and pueblos, often hidden from view? Of whom were they afraid and why? What caused them to suddenly abandon their settlements around 1300 AD? What meaning can be ascribed to their phantasmagoric rock art? What was their relationship to the Navajo, who were convinced the Anasazi had magical powers and could fly?

DAVID ROBERTS is the author of On the Ridge Between Life & Death, Escape From Lucania, In Search of the Old Ones, and Escape Routes among other titles. His adventure and travel writing have appeared in Outside, National Geographic Adventure, The New York Times, and other publications..
Price: $15.51 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings is for people who like to work with their hands and who appreciate traditional nautical craftsmanship. You don't have to be the master of any craft to undertake any of these projects--from a simple kamal or latitude hook to the more complex pelorus or octant--just a careful and enthusiastic worker.

These 18 projects fall roughly into three categories: decorative, useful, and somewhere in between. Some, such as the astrolabe, are mainly for display. On the other hand, the sounding line is an important and practical tool for small-craft navigation, particularly in the absence of an electronic sounder. The cross-staff falls somewhere in between, equally at home in the den or the ditch kit.

Each of the devices discussed here--with simple, proven building instructions complemented by clear illustrations--has at one time or another been used for the practical business of navigation, and each is worth reviving for its beauty, historic value, or sheer usefulness.

Dennis Fisher has designed these projects with an emphasis on simplicity and reasonable cost. Everything can be scratch-built using easily obtainable materials and tools, and each is true to the spirit and function of the original instrument..
Price: $10.66 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Northern Michigan Asylum, which opened in 1885, was known during most of its years as Traverse City State Hospital It was run during its first decades by Dr. James Decker Munson, who left his legacy in the landscaped grounds and the medical center that today bears his name. Traverse City State Hospital served the mental health needs of a large part of Michigan for 104 years until its closure in 1989, housing a population as large as 3,000 in its many buildings.This book traces the history of this great institution, from the local and mental health context in which it was founded, through its growth, development, and decline, and finally to its renovation and preservation as a vital part of the Traverse City community. .
Price: $12.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

For better...

Laura Nelson has it all - a successful career as a surgeon, five well-adjusted kids, and a gorgeous, prominent husband Steve, a nightly news anchor at the Tampa TV News.

For worse...

Laura's seemingly perfect world shatters when she discovers that Steve is sharing much more than a news desk and a billboard with Kim, his sexy co-anchor. But Steve's torrid fling with his coworker is about to come to an abrupt end....

Till death do us part...

When Kim is murdered, Laura is left holding the smoking gun. How far would Laura go to preserve her perfect life? That's about to become yesterday's news.

Now, Laura must fight to protect her freedom as lies, deception and dark secrets threaten to close in on her, and change her perfect life into a perfect nightmare.

But, looks can be deceiving. And deceit can be deadly. Sexy, alluring and provocative, Twisted Justice delivers fiery hot action, pulse-pounding suspense, and a razor-sharp plot full of dangerous curves..
Price: $15.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Memoirs of Earle Steele, a fifty year employee of the Traverse City State Hospital Steele's first affiliation with the hospital was at age nine when his father began employment at the institution. Ten year's later, the younger Steele began his own employment with the hospital. At the time of his retirment in 1984, Steele was the Superintedent of the Grounds Department. Between 1984 and 1989 he helped continue the devolopment of the hospital musuem and served as curator until the closing of the institution in 1984. The book contains black and white photos retrieved from the local historical society as well as illustrations by Steele..
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The Grand Traverse Lighthouse sits majestically at the entrance of Grand Traverse Bay, guiding vessels between Chicago and the Straits of Mackinac. For over 150 years, it has been an important beacon for all who have plied the waters of Lake Michigan. The original 1852 lighthouse was used for six years before being torn down. In 1858, a larger lighthouse with an attached nine-sided tower was erected on a site farther west. Over the course of its history, 66 lighthouse keepers, assistant keepers, and U.S. Coast Guard personnel have maintained the light. Today visitors tour the restored lighthouse, which is now a living museum filled with displays and exhibits depicting a simpler way of life. A climb to the tower where keepers once stood watch now provides an inspiring panorama..
Price: $12.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Purkayastha's work disentangles the effects of race and class. . . . Her findings suggest that ethnic identity is fluid and multi-layered and that the meanings and boundaries of these multiple layers constantly diverge, intersect, coalesce, and clash."—Min Zhou, professor of sociology and chair of the department of Asian American studies, University of California, Los Angeles

"[An] innovative and richly textured work."—Gary Y. Okihiro, professor of international and public affairs and director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University

In the continuing debates on the topic of racial and ethnic identity in the United States, there are some that argue that ethnicity is an ascribed reality. To the contrary, others claim that individuals are becoming increasingly active in choosing and constructing their ethnic identities.

Focusing on second-generation South Asian Americans, Bandana Purkayastha offers fresh insights into the subjective experience of race, ethnicity, and social class in an increasingly diverse America. The young people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Nepalese origin that are the subjects of the study grew up in mostly white middle-class suburbs, and their linguistic skills, education, and occupation profiles are indistinguishable from their white peers. By many standards, their lifestyles mark them as members of mainstream American culture. But, as Purkayastha shows, their ethnic experiences are shaped by their racial status as neither "white" nor "wholly Asian," their continuing ties with family members across the world, and a global consumer industry, which targets them as ethnic consumers.

Drawing on information gathered from forty-eight in-depth interviews and years of research, this book illustrates how ethnic identity is negotiated by this group through the adoption of ethnic labels, the invention of "traditions," the consumption of ethnic products, and participation in voluntary societies. The pan-ethnic identities that result demonstrate attempts to balance racial marginalization, an attachment to heritage, and a celebration of reinvention.

Lucidly written and enriched with vivid personal accounts, Negotiating Ethnicity is an important contribution to the literature on ethnicity and racialization in contemporary American culture..
Price: $62.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]