Laurell K. Hamilton Recommended Books

In the rural areas of south-central Mexico, there are believed to be witches who transform themselves into animals in order to suck the blood from the necks of sleeping infants. This book analyzes beliefs held by the great majority of the population of rural Tlaxcala a generation ago and chronicles its drastic transformation since then."The most comprehensive statement on this centrally important ethnographic phenomenon in the last forty years. It bears ready comparison with the two great classics, Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft Among the Azande and Clyde Kluckhohn's Navaho Witchcraft. "—Henry H. Selby

Some extraordinary rats come to the aid of a mouse family in this Newbery Medal Award–winning classic by notable children’s author Robert C. O’Brien.Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.

After the initial shock of even considering a rat-catching professional, the title and content of this book are intriguing. The rat is "the unheralded game-animal of Great Britain," so much so that its proponents are feared and reviled as not quite "right." But from the time D. Brian Plummer received his first rat terrier at the age of 10, he dedicated himself to the sport of rat-catching using either dogs or ferrets. He actually enjoys killing rats and is pleased to share his techniques. Thank goodness for Plummer's wit and charm, which make the experience of reading about such nasty creatures a delight.

New York Public Library Book for the TeenagerNew York Public Library Book to RememberPSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York TimesBehold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats , the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.With an all-new Afterword by the author

Centuries ago, tattooing was so integral to the culture of the Philippines, that the islands were originally called by the Spanish, Las Islas de los Pintados , or "The Islands of Painted People" due to the abundance of tattooing seen by early Spanish explorers. However, after centuries of colonization, traditional tattooing in the Philippines now stands on the precipice of cultural extinction. In an effort to preserve this beautiful aspect of the Philippines' history, the author condenses almost 2 decades of research to profoundly examine the nearly extinct remnants of this art in its proper socio-cultural and spiritual context. This includes examining historical accounts, mythology, tools, the social importance of both sexes' tattoos, identification of individual symbols and designs of Filipino tattooing, and cross-referencing them to related designs from the Pacific Islands for a broader understanding of tattooing in both the Philippines and the rest of Oceania. In addition the author discusses the modern adaptation of tattooing from the Philippines.This is the first serious study of Filipino tattoos, and it considers early accounts from explorers and Spanish-speaking writers. The text presents Filipino cultural practices connected with ancestral and spiritual aspects of tattoo markings, and how they relate to the process and tools used to make the marks. In the Philippine Islands, tatoos were applied to men and women for many different reasons. It was considered a form of clothing. Certain designs recognized manhood and personal accomplishments as well as attractiveness, fertility, and continuity of the family or village. Facial tattoos occurred on the bravest warriors with designs that denoted particular honor. Through the fascinating text and over 200 images, including color photographs and design drawings, the deep meanings and importance of these symbols is revealed. This book will be enjoyed by both cultural scholars and tattoo enthusiasts.

The hugely illuminating story of how a popular breed of dog became the most demonized and supposedly the most dangerous of dogs and what role humans have played in the transformation. When Bronwen Dickey brought her new dog home, she saw no traces of the infamous viciousness in her affectionate, timid pit bull. Which made her wonder: How had the breed beloved by Teddy Roosevelt, Helen Keller, and Hollywood s Little Rascals come to be known as a brutal fighter? Her search for answers takes her from nineteenth-century New York City dogfighting pits the cruelty of which drew the attention of the recently formed ASPCA to early twentieth century movie sets, where pit bulls cavorted with Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton; from the battlefields of Gettysburg and the Marne, where pit bulls earned presidential recognition, to desolate urban neighborhoods where the dogs were loved, prized and sometimes brutalized. Whether through love or fear, hatred or devotion, humans are bound to the history of the pit bull. With unfailing thoughtfulness, compassion, and a firm grasp of scientific fact, Dickey offers us a clear-eyed portrait of this extraordinary breed, and an insightful view of Americans relationship with their dogs. From the Hardcover edition."

Is race only about the color of your skin? In The Latinos of Asia, Anthony Christian Ocampo shows that what "color" you are depends largely on your social context. Filipino Americans, for example, helped establish the Asian American movement and are classified by the U.S. Census as Asian. But the legacy of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines means that they share many cultural characteristics with Latinos, such as last names, religion, and language. Thus, Filipinos' "color"―their sense of connection with other racial groups―changes depending on their social context. The Filipino story demonstrates how immigration is changing the way people negotiate race, particularly in cities like Los Angeles where Latinos and Asians now constitute a collective majority. Amplifying their voices, Ocampo illustrates how second-generation Filipino Americans' racial identities change depending on the communities they grow up in, the schools they attend, and the people they befriend. Ultimately, The Latinos of Asia offers a window into both the racial consciousness of everyday people and the changing racial landscape of American society.

On May 27th, 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart met a flirtatious little starling in a Viennese shop who sang an improvised version of the theme from his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Sensing a kindred spirit in the plucky young bird, Mozart bought him and took him home to be a family pet. For three years, the starling lived with Mozart, influencing his work and serving as his companion, distraction, consolation, and muse.Two centuries later, starlings are reviled by even the most compassionate conservationists. A nonnative, invasive species, they invade sensitive habitats, outcompete local birds for nest sites and food, and decimate crops. A seasoned birder and naturalist, Lyanda Lynn Haupt is well versed in the difficult and often strained relationships these birds have with other species and the environment. But after rescuing a baby starling of her own, Haupt found herself enchanted by the same intelligence and playful spirit that had so charmed her favorite composer.In Mozart's Starling , Haupt explores the unlikely and remarkable bond between one of history's most cherished composers and one of earth's most common birds. The intertwined stories of Mozart's beloved pet and Haupt's own starling provide an unexpected window into human-animal friendships, music, the secret world of starlings, and the nature of creative inspiration. A blend of natural history, biography, and memoir, Mozart's Starling is a tour de force that awakens a surprising new awareness of our place in the world.

A WIDE VARIETY of pre-Islamic and pre-Christian deities haunt the Philippine countryside. This explains why few of our village folk venture out after dark. These pre-Spanish gods I have classified under twelve groups: 1. Demons—tall, dark, and ugly creatures that haunt large trees in or near human habitations. 2. Dragons—usually large animal forms such as pythons, crocodiles, and sharks that the folk avoid encountering. But they are often spoken to with awe or reverence and are thought to bring good fortune. Eclipses are thought to be caused by a huge sky dragon—the laho of the Tagalogs and Pampangos—swallowing the sun or moon. The folk believe that thunder is the sound coming out of the folds of the sky dragon's long body. 3. Dwarfs—old men who dwell underground with jars of treasure, entering and leaving their habitat through termite mounds on which they often invisibly sit and give itches and cast dust into the eyes of those who molest them. 4. Elves—short or tall fair-complexioned tree-dwelling legendary beings that try to seduce the men or women they fancy, steal rice and fish from kitchens and fishtraps, and give treasure to those who please them. 5. Ghouls—Aswang that devour corpses and are scared off by bright light and loud noise around the dead. 6. Giants—relatively harmless large human and animal forms that often interact with people. 7. Merfolk—fish-tailed men and women found in rivers, bays, and seas but living in luxurious dwellings to which they take the men or women they capture. 8. Ogres—man-eating large creatures, usually in the shape of ugly humans but in some cases of animals and birds that devour people. 9. Vampires—pretty women aswang with long tubular tongues through which they suck out blood from their human victims, usually their dancing partners in night spots. 10. Viscera Takers—good-looking women aswang with enormously extendible tube tongues through which they suck out the entrails or fetuses of their human victims. 11. Werebeasts—aswang in the form of dogs or other fierce Philippine animals that attack people at night, devour them, and then resume their harmless human form. 12. Witches—men and usually women aswang who have the power to make people severely ill. The beliefs in these twelve groups of demonological beings have shaped Philippine culture and Philippine behavior because the folk fear and try hard to propitiate them or counteract the harm they do.

This book is a collection of the various Philippine deities, pantheons, myths and tales of wonder grouped under a few large headings and strung together with a minimum of unobtrusive commentary by an outstanding Filipino scholar, Dr. F. Landa Jocano. This book is designed as an introduction to give a general understanding of this expansive and often confusing topic.The stories are drawn both from previously published materials and from Dr. Jocano’s own field research.

A comprehensive perspective of the witchcraft practices of the various Filipino ethnic groups such as the Ilocanos, Pangasinenses, Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Visayans, Maranaws, Tausogs and Ifugaos, not to mention others. The magic of such intriguing terms as anting-anting, aswang, kulam, gamod, barang, gahoy, pantak, dawak and a number of others are explored within. If only to unfold their mystic nature, definitely a book to be prized for its cultural value. Witchcraft In BicolandiaWitchcraft, Pangasinense-styleBlack Art In IlocandiaDarudarAnitoSerenaTagi-amoKulamAnting-anting MutyaBarangAswangSorcery In Negros OrientalSalimboagDadawakAyagMaggalagAnituanTausog Witchcraft PantakTinguian Witchcraft RitualsBalilicSamal Witchcraft

This beginner-friendly guide is the ideal choice for understanding and practicing brujer�a--the healing witchcraft of Mexico and the American Southwest. Adapted from a twelve-month series of classes, The Sacred Art of Brujer�a is a hands-on learning tool that features practical techniques, engaging exercises, and clear explanations of a wide variety of brujer�a-related topics.This remarkable how-to book is unlike any other, covering everything from the history and divine figures of brujer�a to the healing, protection, and money magic that you can utilize in daily life. Explore power words and breath work, treat spiritual maladies, perform different types of limpia (cleansing and clearing), and learn about brujer�a as a business. Professional bruja Katrina Rasbold gives you an insider's look at this sacred practice and how it helps others as well as yourself.