Rekindling Desire: A Step by Step Program to Help Low-Sex and No-Sex Marriages by Barry W. McCarthy and Emily J. McCarthy

“… Why Do Couples Experience a Dead End to Desire‘ - 15 ing sex makes a statement, a way to fight back. Although this …”

I am a sex educator teaching in a Michigan college town. A graduate student told me about Rekindling Desire and how it helped both she and her partner have a much better sex life. I bought Rekindling Desire on her recommendation, read it, and now recommend it to couples of all ages. If a couple want to work on being an `intimate team’-a term that is creatively used in the book-to change their sexual life for the better, they’ll find this book honest and clear, explaining lots of common sexuality concerns and making suggestions for how to move forward and solve problems. The book doesn’t just cover sex, it really helps couples deepen their relationship and strengthen their intimacy.

The McCarthys’ have written other good books about sex, and are known for their conversational, non-textbook way of writing. Since Barry McCarthy is a sex therapist, he understands real people and real people’s problems. No time is wasted on blaming; instead there are understandable and doable steps outlining a path to change. Great information, clearly written. For people who want to work together realistically to bring out the best in themselves, this is a wonderful book.

Fit to Teach: Same-sex Desire, Gender, And School Work in the Twentieth Century by Jackie M. Blount

This is the most important book yet written about same-sex desire and the institution of education in the US. Blount describes in rich detail how schools have attempted to control the sexuality of their workers–and how school workers have resisted. The research for the book is impressive: Blount traveled widely throughout the US to access archives and other original sources. The book is sure to stimulate a wide range of emotions in readers: outrage at oppression, satisfaction at successful resistance, sadness that justice continues to be withheld in too many school districts. The book is highly readable, beautifully written, and compelling. Anyone interested in the history of sexuality, education, and/or gender will find this book to be absorbing. I recommend it highly.

True Secrets of Lesbian Desire: Keeping Sex Alive in Long-Term Relationships by Renate Stendhal and Jewelle Gomez

True Secrets of Lesbian Desire should be essential reading for
every gay woman….period…no excuses. It would be a good book for anyone
who loves women to read. A lifetime of experience, distilled,
artfully presented and so essential right now. So many women floundering.
And answers to their questions, right here, clearly expressed, with humor
and affection….readily available. I particularly found the chapter “Truth
as Aphrodesiac” enlightening. To end with Ms. Stendhal’s words: “The
sexuality for which we ardently long, waiting for us in the very bed we
thought had condemned it to death? You bet!”

Reclaiming Desire: 4 Keys to Finding Your Lost Libido by Andrew Goldstein and Marianne Brandon

“… They must work to want sex again. Your Journey Begins Here You cannot simply will yourself to experience a desire for sex. Like joy or peace, it is a feeling …”

Written for women, “Reclaiming Desire” explores why sexual desire fades and what can be done to bring it back. Authors Andrew Goldstein, M.D. and Marianne Brandon, Ph.D., the founders of the Sexual Wellness Center in Annapolis, Maryland, claim that there are four keys to reclaiming this desire. These keys are good physical health, being emotional resilient, being intellectually fulfilled, and having spiritual contentment.

We all go through various life changes, any one of which can affect the libido. The authors look at many of these changes and how they affect your sex drive as well as what can be done to reduce or eliminate that effect. Each of their four keys is examined in detail including not only how things like hormones, depression, anxiety, stress, menopause and other factors affect your drive but also exploring how to lessen those effects. They do a good job of exposing various myths and misconceptions as well as detailing what works and what does not. With today’s focus on natural health options they even include information on how exercise and other natural options can be used.

Throughout the book two messages are clear - you are not alone and there is hope. “Reclaiming Desire” is highly recommended to any woman suffering from a declining libido who wants to reclaim that portion of their relationship as part of their life.

Women Who Love Sex: Ordinary Women Describe Their Paths to Pleasure, Intimacy, and Ecstasy by Gina Ogden

This book was very, very liberating and affirming for me. I have read many books on sexuality in an attempt to better understand my own experience. I found that most, no matter how broad-minded and inclusive they purport to be, tend to pathologize behavior that the authors don’t define as sexually “correct” in some way. Also, if they include spirituality at all, it is corralled into a limited definition, such as “tantric” sex. Such books encouraged me to define my own sexuality as largely dysfunctional. By reading this book, which describes the experiences of women who define themselves as loving sex , I was able to recognize kernels of my own experiences in their’s. For instance, I may not be able to “think myself off,” as some of the women Dr. Ogden interviewed are able to do (have a no-hands orgasm) , but , by reading about them, I was able to better appreciate that I can “think myself on!” Dr. Ogden appreciates a wide variety of experiences as completely valid ways of loving sex. (For instance, there are women who take an hour to have an orgasm, who define themselves as being “highly orgasmic.” A more conventional “expert” might deem that time frame as being sexually dysfunctional, and try to fix something that Dr. Ogden assures us ain’t broke!) I’m sure that many men would recognize their experiences in this book as well as women. In fact, I’ve read many passages aloud to my husband. Thanks, Dr. Ogden, and all blessings to you.

The Sex-Starved Marriage: A Couple’s Guide to Boosting Their Marriage Libido by Michele Weiner-Davis

I am a 38 year-old, attractive woman whose husband could care less about touching, caressing or making love to me. Until I read this book, I thought I had the only marriage in America that was a pretty much platonic. It’s not that we have no sex, it’s just that it is so infrequent (and always me that has to initiate) - that this makes me feel less than womanly. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in this kind of a marriage.

Now, after reading this book, I’ve learned that I am not alone and I am forever grateful for that. Even though other men still seem to be attracted to me, I had convinced myself that there must be something wrong with me. Now I don’t think so anymore. I also learned that I’ve probably been doing all the wrong things to change the situation. I plan on changing my approach immediately. I get very angry and critical and I can now see how that turns my husband away. I feel much better already knowing that I have a plan. I highly recommend that anyone dealing with this issue in their marriage read this book. It’s well-written and it will make you feel that the author has been hanging around your bedroom. For me, this book is a Godsend.

The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race: A Political History of Racial Identity by Bruce Baum

“… the Mongolian branch, but that the “higher castes in these countries are undeniably of Caucasian or Tartar origin. …”

Bruce Baum drives the reader to a much more comprehensive understanding of modern race relations through this careful study of what it means to be caucasian. The ability to sift reality from the socially ascribed labels and preconceptions of race separates Baum from others who have attempted to address this area in the past. His work is deeply insightful and led me to a clearer understanding of my own roots and place in this world. Factual and simultaneously poetic, Baum’s writing is to modern political science what Dylan was to the music scene in the 60’s and 70’s. I will be using this work in my Multicultural Studies program next fall and will eagerly anticipate Baum’s work in the future.

Caucasian Mountain Dog by Stacey Layne Grether Kubyn and Isabelle Francais

“… and named Russia as the parent country of the Caucasian Mountain Dog. The RKF’s new program, known as the Russian …”

An excellent book about the Caucasian Mountain Dog. A must read for anyone who owns, or is thinking of owning, the breed.

It is refreshing to see a book about the breed and its history that provides a real history of the breed and what it is all about. Unlike some other “breed” books, there is little if any filler from the publisher. Political issues are left for others to fuss over. This is about the Caucasian Mountain Dog.

Pictures in the book are terrific. They show the breed in all its natural habitats, which include not only environments as a guardian (against wolves, hardly as a wolf! and other predators of the four and two legged varities) but as a pet in the homes of families. Flocks are not the only ones who benefit from the watchful oversight of an LGD, or it’s caring nature for it’s own.

The book provides sound practical advice about the breed and who should consider it as a companion, in a fair and balanced manner. It goes beyond advice, however, and provides an understanding of what drives this breed’s remarkable behavior.

That insight can only come from an author who has been deeply involved in the breed for many years. It is absolutely essential to anyone owning, and training, these wonderful dogs.

A Winter Journey through Russia, the Caucasian Alps, and Georgia: Thence Across Mount Zagros, by the Pass of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand Greeks, into Koordistaun. Volume 1 by Robert Mignan

“… that previously to their occupation of Georgia, the whole country was exempted from this pestilence, …”

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1839 edition by Richard Bentley, London.

Georgia: Sovereign Country of the Caucasus by Roger Rosen and Jeffrey Jay Foxx

“… the population is Moslem. Moslem communities of Azeris and North Caucasian peo- ples, such as the Kists, live primarily in the eastern part of the country. Many people in Ajara and Abkhazia also follow Islam as …”

The best thing one can say about this book is that the author’s love for the people and culture of Georgia shines brightly; rather than the cynicism that peppers many guidebooks to the former Soviet Union, this one is written with genuine warmth and affection.

Regrettably, however, this very affection soon becomes one of the book’s many, many flaws. Rosen’s style is florid to the point of being laugh-out-loud funny: open any page at random and you’re sure to find a sentence gushing with the moonstruck hyperbolic excesses of a hopeless sentimentalist. (Wish I could now provide examples, but I abandoned my copy of the book in Georgia.) Much worse, though, is the book’s utter, utter uselessness as a travel guide. Rosen provides no practical information whatsoever for the independent traveler: where to stay, where to eat, how to get from point A to point B. Some phones and addresses for hotels and a very few for restaurants–the vast majority of them in Tbilisi–are appended without comment at the very end of the book, but no descriptions are provided, and no value judgments about the quality of the places are made. This is a “guide” wholly without “guidance”! Nor does the author get off the well-beaten tourist-track: nearly a third of the book is devoted just to Tbilisi, while entire regions (Guria, Racha, Kvemo Kartli and Samegrelo) are glossed over in a paragraph or two. Fabulous places like Bakhmaro don’t merit so much as a mention.

How then does the author fill his 300-odd pages? With long-winded disquisitions on the art, architecture and history of the country. Some of this is interesting, some not, but none of it is useful once you’re actually in Georgia. Fine to go on for pages and pages about the history of Gelati Monastery, for example, but the only thing you need to know once you’re on the road is how to get there easily from Kutaisi…the one piece of information this book doesn’t provide.

So, as PRE-DEPARTURE background reading, the book isn’t completely without merit, especially for those who know little or nothing about the history of the Caucasus. (Some “background” areas where you’d expect to Rosen to be good, however, he comes up inexplicably short. I’m thinking particularly of the perfunctory sections on Georgian language and Georgian cuisine.) To actually help you get around Georgia, though, you’re better off with any other travel guide. Tellingly, I lived in Georgia for nearly two years, and the entire time I was there this book sat gathering dust on my shelf, while whenever I needed some practical information I referred to the older Lonely Planet or Bradt guides–both flawed themselves, but far superior to this effort.

South Carolina: A History by Walter Edgar

“… of Carolina OUTH CAROLINA today is a “little triangle on the map” of only 31,113 square miles. In area it is the smallest of the Deep South states, and of the fifty states it is fortieth in …”

This book is the first I’ve read on a history of the state and I was shocked, shocked to learn how during Reconstruction with the
Republicans running the state government blacks were given the vote, elected to state offices, and began their educational progress. Then the Democrat party got power and destroyed everything that the GOP had done while enacting all the Jim Crow laws which remained for decades. How after reading this book, assuming it’s true, any African American can ever vote for a Democrat, I’ll never know! The shenanigans of the Democrat politicians were amazing: taking a vote and then ignoring the results.
Particularly well described in this history are the economic changes in SC over the years including: farming of indigo, cotton, tobacco, rice, peaches to manufacturing and tourism.
I plan to buy this for some of my newly-arrived SC friends.

South Carolina And the American Revolution: A Battlefield History by John W. Gordon and John Keegan

“… CHAPTER I SOUTH CAROLINA MANES A REVOLUTION 1775 The maternal eye of Britannia, which …”

Despite having its’ origin in Massachusetts, its first major victory in New York (along with numerous defeats), the many traipses across New Jersey, and its conclusion in Virginia, more Revolutionary combat actions occurred in South Carolina than in any other state. Often, when Americans think of the Revolution, visions of minute men at Lexington and Concord, Washington crossing the Delaware, or even the first victory at Saratoga come to mind. With his book, SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, John W. Gordon seeks to change all that and bring to the forefront, the importance of the campaigns and skirmishes that kept South Carolina in turmoil for nearly eight years.

Even in the southern campaign, knowledge is often limited to the major events such as Cowpens and the siege of Charleston. Gordon lends meticulous insight and detail to countless lesser known events of the south. Closely examined here are details concerning the three fronts of attack in South Carolina; British Naval forces in the east, Cherokee Indians in the west, and Tory loyalists throughout the state.

If you are a southern campaign enthusiast, I believe this book gives the best overall insight to the South Carolina battles of all the endless array of books previously written on the subject. Gordon writes with a fluidity often missing from battlefield narratives. The book flows extremely well and even learned students of the southern campaign will gain an abundance of information from this fine work.

This is far more than simply a reference guide to South Carolina battles, though it serves that purpose well also. Gordon goes on to present his arguments in rich detail and substantiate those arguments with well defined critical factual elements. As you would expect from a book of this magnitude, there is also a wonderful bibliography and footnotes for enhanced further study.

Hurricane Destruction in South Carolina: Hell and High Water by Tom Rubillo

After a brief introduction regarding hurricanes, what they are, and the meaning behind the 1-5 category ratings, we get the meat of the book: pretty much a chronological briefing of all the major hurricanes and tropical storms that have lashed the South Carolina coast, from as far back as the late 1500s up to Hugo in 1989 (though Floyd in 1999 is briefly mentioned). Information about pre-mid 19th century storms must be gleamed from diaries and newspaper reports, and Rubillo quotes freely from both, especially newspapers.

South Carolina has been roughed up by quite a few good storms, most of them coming, of course, before the weather bureau began naming them in 1950. 1804, 1854, and 1893 brought particularly nasty storms. Charleston seems to have a bullseye on it when it comes to storms making landfall. The book was interesting and geared toward the average person interested in the topic: it is not an academic tome. Recommended.

The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women’s Rights and Abolition by Gerda Lerner

“… cutting remark: “It is rather doubtful whether any of the South Carolina lords of creation will ever seek the heart and hand …”

I read an earlier (1970-something?) publication of this work, and really enjoyed it. The sisters were presented as powerful thinkers who struggled with the issues of their day. The title is right on, they were pioneers for women’s rights, as well as influential abolitionists. I’m glad that they were presented as whole people, with doubts and questions and problems, too.

It was an easy ready, but I didn’t feel like the author was talking down to me. The book is highly recommended.

Old Homes of South Carolina by Joy Stagg Rust

Now living in Colorado,but My Homestate is South Carolina and have been to most of these Towns,I can say it is a very good book!

Miss Teen South Carolina

Miss South Carolina:Jamie Hill

South Carolina Cheerleader