Customer Reviews:
Exactly as Advertised.......2005-09-02
This book is exactly what the title says, a collection of short stories about first time lesbian experiences. The stories are written by women, usually in the first person, and are filled with flowery imagery. This title takes a deep look, mostly through repetition, at the sensual and emotional sides of lesbianism.
Each story left me with a sense of admiration and respect for the virgins at the leaps of faith they made in order to live out their first experience. Certainly in light of the social taboo and potential rejection a journey into homosexuality has the potential to be a devastating occurrence. The women all know this but follow their hearts into relationships to intensely rewarding ends.
This book allowed me a window into my own wife's past as an experimental teenager. I thought it was amazing how closely her story mirrored some of the stories in this book. I would recommend this collection to anyone who thinks they are a lesbian or anyone who is in a relationship with a lesbian/past lesbian.
One last note of warning, this is not a hardcore/pornographic novel; if you are looking for something like that I would recommend "Penthouse Forum" magazines.
Depends on what you want it for..........2004-07-12
I found this collection to be standard. Like most erotica, this compilation has a few shining stars as well as a few stinkers, with most everything else falling in the middle.
One of the stories was mediocre in its editing: There were a few times where the author's repeated use of the same word distracted from the reading (After reading only 2 pages, I wanted to ring up the author and yell, "Buy a thesaurus!")
Another story was poorly paced: I wanted to sink my teeth into erotica and instead I got three pages of fruit salad recipes.
That said, I must give credit for a few good choices by the editor. One nod goes to the fact that she tried to create a balance of romance themes and hard core sexual stories. A second nod goes to her attempts to cater to a wide variety of sexual tastes and fetishes, from vanilla to S&M.
If you're in the mood for a decent collection of varied erotica to have on your bookshelf, this is a nice choice. If you're just looking for some reading to whack with, I suggest you save your money and surf up nifty dot org or some other web source.
Great stuff in here........2004-01-24
Whether you're a woman and are "bi curious" or you're a guy--there's no need to explain why men would like this book--Awakening the Virgin is a mind blowing and satisfying read about women and women. I've only read one other book that comes close to this one, "The Other Woman" by Kim Corum. I hope to find more becuase these stories are HOT.
*Whistles*.......2003-10-03
I don't even know what to say about this book but its great. Ever since reading the book it reminded me of the things that I thought were forgotten.
Anywayz this is a must in have in your collection since all the stories are real. All in all a great read.
Awesome book! A must read for all women........2003-02-07
This book was the most awesome book on lesbian relationships I have ever read. The stories are emotional and erotic! I loved every story and highly recommend this book to all women, whether you are straight, bi, or lesbian. This book shows how women relate on all levels, especially sexually. A real eye-opener for the novice or curious.
Book Description
Call it what you will, we call it hot: the idea of initiating another woman into the ecstatic joys of woman-on-woman sex. Apparently you liked it because you bought a kazillion copies of the first volume. So here is another collection of scorching true stories by women who had the mind-blowing good luck to be another woman's first.
Nicole Foster is the editor of Electric, Skin Deep, Body Check, Wet, and of course, Awakening the Virgin.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting anthology.......2006-07-31
I found the title a bit misleading. With titles like -
Fist
Sugar: My First Threesome
Rough Trade
Rock Star Spanking
I was thinking that virgins might not be participating in certain stories.
I did find a stand out story from an author that is new to me -
Sydney Larkin's `Pawn Takes Queen' was excellent and I will look for her in future books.
There are 23 stories in the collection with many new names to me and several I have read in other anthologies, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Shar Rednour to name just two.
I enjoyed this second volume MORE than the first!.......2004-06-08
If I have a problem with this "Awakening the Virgin" series it's that it's not really about first-time lesbian encounters so much as women recalling a particular encounter they had later in life, or a particular woman. I guess I had hopes of more lesbian seduction.
Having said that, I enjoyed this second volume of the series more than the first because I felt it included a certain kinkiness lacking in the first edition. These included episodes of sensual bondage and even some light spankings (nothing severe). I feel the first volume is bland in comparison.
A disappointing reawakening.......2004-01-01
I anticipated with eagerness the arrival of the followup tome to Awakening the Virgin part 1, a splendid and evocative celebration of lesbian relationships. However, the followup, while well-written, has none of the gentle, magical discovery of its earlier counterpart. This book will still hold appeal for the reader with kinkier or wilder interests, but may be too daring and elusive for more tentative, curious novices.
A disappointing reawakening.......2003-12-30
I anticipated with eagerness the arrival of the followup tome to Awakening the Virgin part 1, a splendid and evocative celebration of lesbian relationships. However, the followup, while well-written, has none of the gentle, magical discovery of its earlier counterpart. This book will still hold appeal for the reader with kinkier or wilder interests, but may be too daring and elusive for more tentative, curious novices.
Customer Reviews:
Major General John Pope.......2005-11-18
An excellent biography of a truely misunderstood Union Civil War General. Pope is most famous for losing the Battle of 2nd Manasses (called 2nd Bull Run also). He was whipped by Robert E. Lee and ended up being placed in command of the Department of the Northwest (Minnesota, the Dakota's), to fight Indians. He served the military honorably though for over 40 years, and was a good general, simply suffered from having to face Lee, having to deal with McClellan, Halleck, Washington, and being totally unprepared to command an army. Had this man stayed out west he probably would have done some truely great things. It is a shame Lincoln never sent him out west as a Corps commander right after 2nd Manassas, he would have been a huge asset for men like Grant and Sherman, who both liked Pope.
Before reading this book I always had the opinion that Pope was a fool, I was wrong. He was definitely nowhere near Lee or Jackson, but he was one of the best fighting generals the Union had, as his capture of Island # 10 and drive on Corinth proves. He did great things after the war as a department commander as well. He really did live a life for his nation.
Cozzens writes an outstanding biography of this man. He remains very level headed, not showing hatred for Pope or explaining away his mistakes. He makes clear that Pope made huge mistakes at 2nd Manassas, but also shows the reader throughout that Pope was a good man and a loyal soldier who did great things. He was one of the men who actually wanted to help the Indians out West, unlike men such as Sheridan who wanted them exterminated.
Only negative would be that we don't get that much detail on Pope before the Civil War, but you find that with every Civil War biography usually.
A Whole Story, Well Done.......2004-02-19
When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I asked my Mother if we were Yankees or Confederates. Without hesitation, she stated in no uncertain terms that we were Yankees, always had been and always would be. So at that age, already starting my lifelong study of the Civil War, I was very much disposed towards liking all Yankees without regard. Even still, warming to John Pope seemed to be a task far beyond the call of human nature. It seemed almost everything I read about John Pope (and I read a great deal about the Civil War), painted the picture of a pompous, incredibly incompetent, self-centered man; very root of the Union defeat at 2nd Manassas. I read Cozzens' book not because I wanted to learn about John Pope so much as wanting more depth in my understanding what really did happen at 2nd Manassas. I was quite willing to write John Pope off as the "miscreant" in the characterization of Robert E. Lee.
John Pope in Mr. Cozzens' book is all the human frailties ever attributed to him. Cozzens is not a Pope apologist. However, what does emerge is a man much more complex than simply the bombastic, huff and puff blow-hard John Pope most often detailed in our history books. That he made fatal errors in the 2nd Manassas campaign; that he did not rise to the occasion; that he was a relentless self-promoter; all of these faults are not disguised nor dismissed. They are treated fairly and truthfully without a hidden agenda, as only a part of the picture Cozzens paints of John Pope's whole life of service in the United States Army.
Peter Cozzens is one of the best historical writers publishing today and this book is the product of a skilled craftsman. His writing is warm and engaging. I read the whole book, cover to cover, even though I only intended to read the section on Pope's defeat at 2nd Manassas. Cozzens moves easily and swiftly from minutely examining the daily life of John Pope to covering the span of years in a few pages. Knowing when to "go deep" marks a good writer and Cozzens comes through for the reader every time.
If he were just a good writer, it would be enough for fiction, but writing about history requires the author to be good at research and Cozzens is no slouch there either. This book is well-documented and uses a lot of primary source material - a hallmark by which research is judged today. Having the combination of good research and lively writing puts Cozzens in mighty rare company.
I now see a different John Pope. I still wouldn't have him in command at 2nd Manassas, if I had my say. But I no longer despise him. In fact, I am inclined to see him as good man, limited, as we all are, by the frailties attendant to humanity. If you are a serious student of this time in United States history, or just want a good non-fiction read, you will find General John Pope; A Life for the Nation a worthy investment of your time.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on February 1, 2002. The length of the article is 669 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: General John Pope: A Life for the Nation. (Book Reviews).
Author: Robert Wooster
Publication:
Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2002
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 68
Issue: 1
Page: 178(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This book provides an eye-opening account of recent battles over publicly financed stadiums in some of America's largest cities. The authors' interviews with key decision makers present a behind-the-scenes look at how and why powerful individuals and organizations foist these sports palaces on increasingly unreceptive communities.
In the face of studies demonstrating that new sports facilities don't live up to their promise of big money, proponents are using a new tactic to win public subsidies¾ touting intangible "social" rewards, such as prestige and community cohesion. The authors find these to be empty promises as well, demonstrating that new stadiums may exacerbate, rather than erase, many social problems.
Public Dollars, Private Stadiums should be read by everyone with an interest in the future of sports and our cities.
Customer Reviews:
Great Look at Big Sports Business.......2004-01-29
This was a very interesting book. Written by 2 scholars but easy to read and enlightening to anyone who wants a closer look at how sports teams and cities play off against each other and with competition (other sports teams and other cities).
Also gives an interesting look at the regional dynamics of the different regions of the USA. Very interesting look at how people in various cities in the US see themselves and how the importance of spectator sports ranks relative to other economic and entertainment opportunities in various cities.
A must-read for the average citizen to help make informed choices if and when governments in their area are evaluationg/pushing new stadiums.
Book Description
A passionate recounting of the natural history of the rise and fall of salmon in England, New England, and the Pacific Northwest-with recommendations for bringing the salmon back.
The salmon that symbolize the Pacific Northwest's natural splendor are now threatened with extinction across much of their ancestral range. In studying the natural and human forces that shape the rivers and mountains of that region, geologist David Montgomery has learned to see the evolution and near-extinction of the salmon as a story of changing landscapes. Montgomery shows how a succession of historical experiences -first in the United Kingdom, then in New England, and now in the Pacific Northwest -repeat a disheartening story in which overfishing and sweeping changes to rivers and seas render the world inhospitable to salmon. In King of Fish, Montgomery traces the human impacts on salmon over the last thousand years and examines the implications both for salmon recovery efforts and for the more general problem of human impacts on the natural world. What does it say for the long-term prospects of the world's many endangered species if one of the most prosperous regions of the richest country on earth cannot accommodate its icon species? All too aware of the possible bleak outcome for the salmon, King of Fish concludes with provocative recommendations for reinventing the ways in which we make environmental decisions about land, water, and fish.
Customer Reviews:
Say Goodbye to Salmon.......2005-09-13
I read this book with great interest and I am saddened by what I learned. I was raised in a town on the Columbia River and as a young fisherman, heard stories of large historic Salmon runs described in near myth-like terms. Back then I was taught to blame the tribes, gill netters and other commercial fisherman for the diminished runs. If only the problem were that simple. As Montgomery clearly describes, through an interesting comparative analsis, Salmon runs have historically been driven into extinction, first in Europe, then England, then New England, and now the Pacific Northwest in more or less the same fashion. As the areas around native salmon waters became populated and developed, our society has made certain choices, economic v. environmental, which not surpisingly have nearly always favored the economic. As a result, salmon runs were decimated by the construction of dams, overfishing, pollution, misguided hatchery programs, the clearing and diking of streams, destruction of wetlands, logging practices, and simply by population growth and development, which Montgomery describes as a death by a thousand cuts. Presently, salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest are at just 6-7% of their historical numbers. As the region's population is expected to double within this generation, conditions will likely only get worse. While Montgomery identifies steps than can be taken to revive these runs, it seems doubtful there is enough public sentiment or political will to effect these changes. If anything, this books is a sad commentary on our society's ability to manage its resources. Salmon, which are a symbol of the great Pacific Northwest, will soon be gone for good.
Capitalism can't protect the Salmon.......2004-05-22
Dr. Montgomery shows that if the toxic and human waste poured into the rivers of the industrial revolution did not poison Salmon, the incipient capitalist institution of commercial fishing would swallow most of them.. Montgomery quotes records from the holder of fishing rights on a specific part of the Thames river. The records of this particular holder shows he caught 66 salmon in 1801, 18 in 1812 and only 2 in 1821....by the 1960's, the annual salmon catch of England and Wales was a quarter of that a century earlier. He quotes an account of MP Robert Wallace about parliament blocking effective salmon protection laws at the behest of the commercial fishing industry, dam operators, etc.
He quotes accounts from the early 19th century including from Henry David Thoreau about the severe depletion of salmon stocks in Northeast U.S. rivers caused by the disruption of salmon spawning beds by the transportion of boats and logs down the river, dams, factory poisons and so on.
Salmon stocks continued to decline to near extinction in Eastern U.S. waters. The Danish government agreed to ban its fisherman from engaging in their highly destructive open ocean fishing off the coast of Greenland, where salmon from Britain, the U.S, and Canada often converge for their sojourns in the Ocean, in 1972. However Danes continued to fish heavily near the Greenland shore, and used vessels under other nation's flags to circumvent their salmon catch quota under the 1972 agreement.
Montgomery shows how salmon have been sacrificed since the Great Depression in favor of the dams which have provided water and electricity in the Eastern Pacific Northwest from the Snake and Colombia Rivers. In 1937, U.S. fisheries commissioner Franklin Bell let it be known that he wasn't going to strain himself too much on behalf of the Salmon. "Aside from blind restriction" of commercial fishing, he explained, "the protection of individual runs menaced by virtual extinction must be left to chance."
Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest thrived on salmon for subsistence, and to preserve the run, would commonly allow half of the run to pass through its nets. But with the coming of commercial fishing dominated by whites, Indian livelihood was wiped out. They could not compete in commercial fishing, lacking the wealth to purchase the sophisticated boats and nets increasingly becoming common. Indians became a racist scapegoat for the depletion of salmon stocks. He notes He notes though that state records that the entire Indian fishing catch from 1935 to 1950 was less than the total commercial catch during a typical year.
Washington State had always claimed that on traditional Indian fishing grounds based on treaties made regarding Colombian basin rivers in the 1850's, Indians merely had the same rights as whites to exploit salmon. But in 1970, federal district court judge George Boldt ruled that the treaties actually reserved for Indians half of the annual salmon supply. In 1975, the Supreme Court upheld Boldt's decision. In 1980, Federal Judge William Orrick declared that under the old treaties, maintaining decent habitat for salmon spawning fell to Washington state. Shortly thereafter a three-judge panel of the 9th circuit overturned the decision. The issue of maintaining the habitat has not been resolved. He points out that native Americans have not been given "special rights" in fishing, as white fisherman and the demagogues inflaming them have claimed but the treaties, signed as they were under pressure, were grants by the Indians to the White man on the Indian's land. Not grants by the white man to the Indian.
, Hatcheries were promoted as the catchall solution to salmon shortages. Huge investments were made in this new technology by Washington and Oregon governments beginning the late 19th century. However, writes Montgomery, in the long term, hatcheries have clearly failed. Salmon cannot simply adapt to any stream or river. They seem genetically programmed to operate in limited regions. Hatcheries salmon are selected from a very limited gene pool i.e. lack of genetic diversity and can produce defective offspring with their wild brethren. The hatchery salmon are found to be much more aggressive than their wild counterparts in eating up the food supply, thus making the wild ones lose out in the survival of the fittest. In particular hatchery fish, can introduce deadly diseases to their wild brethren. In the mid-70's a parasite from hatchery fish wiped out restored wild salmon stocks in Norwegian rivers.
By the early 1990's, while the Colombia river held an estimated 11 to 16 million salmon before the arrival of Europeans, by then it had dwindled to around 2 million wild fish. Yet the number of hatchery fish in the river was estimated at the time to be around a hundred million.
Likewise, on the East coast, salmon produced in "farms" i.e. maintained in cages at sea, sometimes accounted for the majority of spawning salmon in a river. An estimate of the National Research Council declares that 180,000 fish a year escape from their farms in Maine. They spread disease to wild salmon and mate with them, creating large numbers of genetically limited salmon. According to Montgomery, those 180,000 fish are ten times the number of wild salmon left in New England. In Europe, he notes, the amount of farm salmon being produced was 100 times the catch of wild salmon.
He advocates strictly enforced moratoriums on fishing, increased preservations of wetlands to allow for the creation of flood produced salmon-friendly side-channels, strictly enforced regulations on placing passageways for salmon in dams, regulations to prevent salmon waterways from being polluted and to make sure that salmon do not end up as carcasses on farmland after being swallowed through irrigation pumps. The economic actors involved continue to block serious efforts to protect the salmon as they always have. He notes how the Bush administration has blocked efforts to address over-fishing.
How to Save Salmon - Lessons from History.......2004-03-20
Montgomery's book is centered on the notion that we are failing to learn from history when it comes to the Pacific salmon crisis. In England, eastern North America, and now the Pacific Northwest, human actions that inevitably destroy the "king of fish" have been repeated. Overfishing, blocking salmon from their spawning habitat, and causing the deterioration of habitat quality through pollution, land clearing, and simplification of the river are the culprits. Montgomery also tells why hatcheries are not the solution and never have been. He closes with a clear and, to me, indisputable analysis of what we must do to preserve and recover this most amazing of creatures. The book is quite accessible to a layperson; you don't need a scientific background, or even any knowledge of the problems facing Pacific salmon, in order to enjoy and learn from the book.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from OnEarth, published by Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 525 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: King of Fish: the Thousand Year Run of Salmon.(Book Review)
Author: Barry Estabrook
Publication:
OnEarth (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Volume: 25
Issue: 3
Page: 39(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
- Beauty & Submission
- Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings (Library of America)
- Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle-Aviation Pioneer and World War II Hero
- Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: A Biography
- Companero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara
- Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood LIfe of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons
- Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond
- Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary
- Dharma Punx
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Princess and the Goblin
- The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
- My Own Very First Coloring Book Set
- Silence in October
- The Big Book of Drawing and Painting the Figure
- Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change
- The Big Sea: An Autobiography
- Digital Harmony: On the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art
- Soul, Sweat and Survival on the Pacific Crest Trail
- Anatomy of a Rose: Exploring the Secret Life of Flowers
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Wet: True Lesbian Sex Stories
Up All Night: Adventures in Lesbian Sex
First-timers: True Stories of Lesbian Awakening
Early Embraces: True-Life Stories of Women Describing Their First Lesbian Experience (Early Embraces)
Awakening the Virgin 2: More True Tales of Seduction
