Ray's Summer Reads

Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading. Here are some not so new books to consider. They include a history of America before Columbus full of fascinating information you did not learn in school, a rare book on the Commanche empire in Texas and Oklahoma, a mystery set in Laos in the 1970s, a superb natural history book by a master of the genre, and one more.

Shelby Foote is the grand gentleman with the white goatee who spoke so eloquently during parts of Ken Burn's  Civl War documentary on PBS. no onehas written a bette blend of popular/scholarly history of this conflict that took place 150 years ago. Exactly 150 years ago. Okay, maybe you don't want to read 1000 pages of history this summer, but consider reading these three volumes in real time. Pace yourself, and with just an hour or two now and then, by 2015 you can reach Appomattax Court House at the same time as Grant and Lee - 150 years later.