Voted "the Prettiest Small Town in North Carolina" and often referred to as the Crown of the Blue Ridge, Blowing Rock is the highlight of the High Country. Named for a unique, natural feature itself, Blowing Rock has always represented a distinctive blend of natural and cultural heritage. The town was first developed as an early resort area, which grew quickly in the 1890s. Modern boardinghouses, hotels, and inns were the first significant businesses in Blowing Rock and helped the town survive--even flourish--during the Great Depression. Added attractions in the 1950s and 1960s made Blowing Rock a year-round vacation paradise for families, which it still is today. Yet the heart of Blowing Rock lies within its community and residents who make their small town a wonderful place to visit and an even better place to live.

In this revised edition of the 1967 Twayne volume, Sanders sees The Call (1985) as the culmination of Hersey's career, since it draws on autobiographical themes and marks a standard against which his earlier work in fiction and journalism should be measured. Discussing Hersey's early career as a correspondent as well as his major volumes of fiction and nonfiction in separate chapters, Sanders makes a persuasive case for Hersey as an important figure among writers who have experimented with journalism and the novel. He includes a chronology, a comprehensive bibliography of Hersey's works and a succinct, annotated bibliography of writing about Hersey. ISBN 0-8057-7610-9: $20.95.

John Christian Hoffman was born in about 1705 in Germany. His parents were Hans Georg Hoffman and Catherina Margaret. He married and had seven children. They emigrated in 1751and settled first in Virginia and then moved on to Orange County, North Carolina. He died in 1780. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

• Rich, warm, relaxed, natural—Adirondack camps, Western lodges, much more • Glowing photos of dozens of unique rustic homes from across North America • Spotlights craftspeople and creative forces in construction and deacute;cor • Great idea book for anyone looking to design or decorate a primary or second home Used to be that “rustic” meant a dusty, dumpy cabin in the woods. No more!Rustic Revisitedreveals today's rustic—contemporary design that celebrates the honesty of all-natural, local materials such as wood, twig, stone, and bark. Rustic structures often have the same finish on the exterior and the interior—for example, rough-hewn timber on the outside and rough-hewn timber on the inside. The projects inRustic Revisitedembrace the hand-crafted philosophy of rustic and show how to take that philosophy to new heights in a variety of styles, from the Adirondack camp to the Western lodge to the classic log cabin. Thirty unique homes, most planned by architects or interior designers, are showcased here, each lavishly photographed to allow readers exclusive access to interiors, exteriors, and noteworthy details in unusual rustic houses from New York to California, from Montana to Ontario, from North Carolina to Minnesota. These spotlighted projects, plus photos of dozens of additional homes, cover the full spectrum of rustic—renovations and new construction, traditional and cutting edge. A bonus chapter on decoration spotlights the craftspeople who are the creative forces of the movement.

The English explorer and author Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-90) began his long and adventurous career in India, where he arrived in 1842 to join the 18th regiment of Bombay infantry as a young commissioned officer. In 1844 Burton's regiment was posted to Sind, the province located in present-day southeastern Pakistan, at that time only recently annexed by the British. Burton lived in Sind for a number of years and published three early books based on his experiences and observations: Scinde, or, The Unhappy Valley (two volumes, 1851), Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus (1851), and Falconry in the Valley of the Indus (1852). The "unhappy valley" of the title of his first book refers to the valley of the Indus, which, along with the Indus River delta, largely defines the geography of Sind. More than two decades later, in 1875-76, Burton and his wife Isabel made a return visit to the province. Sind Revisited, published in London in 1877, is a result of this later journey. The book contains Burton's observations on the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad; the state of the Anglo-Indian army; relations among Muslims and Hindus and, in particular, the relentless pressure on the Hindus to convert to Islam; Sindi men and women; the Indus Valley Railway; and many other topics. Throughout, Burton uses the literary device of a fictitious traveling companion, "Mr. John Bull," to whom he addresses comments and asides. He also includes translations of poems and summaries of colorful local tales and legends, for example, that of "the seven headless prophets." In concluding remarks, Burton judges British rule to have had a positive influence, by bringing improvements in health and access to education for the Sindi people. The book is indexed but has no maps or illustrations.