The Forest Within

Sue Susman's poems take readers on a journey deep into her feelings and emotions. She is not afraid to relive memories that are sometimes unpleasant and even painful, yet the book has an uplifting message. Book Review 1: In this amazing collection, poet Sue Susman takes readers on an intimate journey into her heart and soul. She bravely shares her loves, losses and victories in visually evocative language that will inspire readers to also examine their lives. - Myrna Petlicki, writer and lyricist Book Review 2: Sue Susman brings her artist's eyes, heart and rare sensibilities to create a work that expands, refines and deepens us all! - Zoe Keithley, Crow Song, The Calling of Mother Adelli, Of Fire, Of Water, Of Stone: Jophiel's Story Book Review 3: I first heard of Sue Susman through her brother. William Susman is the composer of Scatter My Ashes, an orchestral work based on Sue’s poems (including some of the poems in this volume) and performed by OCTET. The Forest Within isn’t the product of an English department, and Sue Susman, a clinical social worker, isn’t a member of any special avant garde school of poets. Rather she’s a deeply insightful human being with a grand capacity for self-examination — and self-healing. Many of these poems manifest a startling metaphorical beauty. In “What Holds Us Up” she gives us a vivid representation of the experience of death among loved ones, a reminder that will spring to mind from now on every time I see a tree fallen against its fellows in the forest: Today, a tree has fallen, silent in the arms of loving companions . . . Susman records those precious moments when she’s somehow managed to wipe her vision clean and experience raw reality in its significance, granting us the inner sense of it. At these times her poetry carries an echo of Rumi, refining an infinite beauty from within a crucible of finite pain. The poems make reference to depression, bereavement, loneliness, even sexual abuse. From the jarring “Return Me to Me:” I want my body back. Give it to me. It’s mine. I wasn’t looking when you slipped it out from under, quiet as a ghost . . . Whether or not the poet has endured the pain she describes is beside the point; she manages to masterfully portray the human predicament, using her own life events, certainly, but also reaching into the wellspring of common experience. Her images are mirrors in which we recognise our own suffering and its aftermath before being gently lead to our own personal salvation. From “Beauty Mark:” . . . Nothing is wasted or forgotten, And tears are like footprints leading out of a sea of grief and pain. - Wanda Waterman, themindfulbard.com

This is a detailed portrait of how an aboriginal tribe of the remote Amazonian region understands the cosmic dimensions of their partnership with the rainforest. Anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, who spent most of his life working in Colombia among the Indian tribes of the North-West Amazon, explores the world-view of the Tukano Indians: their view of the forest as a model of the cosmos; the master of the animals; their complex and multi-dimensional bond with their environment; and their social and sexual restrictions in order to harmonise with the rainforest.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two teenage sisters living alone in their Northern California forest home. Over 30 miles from the nearest town, and several miles away from their nearest neighbor, Nell and Eva struggle to survive as society begins to decay and collapse around them. No single event precedes society's fall. There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found. The sisters consume the resources left in the house, waiting for the power to return. Their arrival into adulthood, however, forces them to reexamine their place in the world and their relationship to the land and each other. Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale, Into the Forest is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel of hope and despair set in a frighteningly plausible near-future America. Praise for Into the Forest “[A] beautifully written and often profoundly moving novel.”—San Francisco Chronicle “A work of extraordinary power, insight and lyricism, Into the Forest is both an urgent warning and a passionate celebration of life and love.”—Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade “From the first page, the sense of crisis and the lucid, honest voice of the . . . narrator pull the reader in. . . . A truly admirable addition to a genre defined by the very high standards of George Orwell's 1984.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Beautifully written.”—Kirkus Reviews “This beautifully written story captures the essential nature of the sister bond: the fierce struggle to be true to one’s own self, only to learn that true strength comes from what they are able to share together.”—Carol Saline, co-author of Sisters “Jean Hegland’s sense of character is firm, warm, and wise. . . . [A] fine first novel.”—John Keeble, author of Yellowfish

"It's common knowledge that coast redwoods are tall, tall trees. In fact, they are the tallest trees in the world. What most people don't know is that there is a whole other forest growing high in the canopy of a redwood forest. This adaptation of The House That Jack Built climbs into this secret, hidden habitat full of all kinds of plants and animals that call this forest home."--Publisher's description.

This is a story about trees and fungi connected through a ‘wood wide web’ – told by one tiny fungal spore. A little fungus meets a baby cacao tree and they learn to feed each other. They cooperate with a forest of plants and a metropolis of microbes in the soil. But when drought strikes can they work together to survive? The fourth book in the Small Friends Books series, this science-adventure story explores the Earth-shaping partnerships between plants, fungi and bacteria.

Michael O'Kane's problems go beyond early loss and abuse--the killing instinct is already kindled in him as he earns the title of Kinderschreck: someone of whom children are afraid.

Learning becomes fun for kids with this counting book about the forest habitat. Amazing artwork will inspire children in classrooms and at home to appreciate the world around us! Follow the tracks of ten woodland animals but . . . uh-oh . . . watch out for the skunk! Children learn the ways of forest animals to the rhythm of "Over in the Meadow" as they leap like a squirrel, dunk like a raccoon, and pounce like a fox. They will also count the babies and search for ten hidden forest animals. Cut paper illustrations add to the fun in this delightful introduction to a woodland habitat. Once again, Marianne Berkes makes learning fun. Kids will hide, graze, and pounce as they imitate and count the animals. Like Over in Australia, the cut-paper illustrations will inspire many an art project. Plus Marianne provides tons of ideas for activities and curriculum extensions about forest animals, literature, and writing. Teachers and parents, as well as kids, are the winners with these books. Backmatter Includes: Further information about the forest and the animals in the book! Music and song lyrics to "Over in the Forest" sung to the tune "Over in the Meadow".

While trying to outwit the soldiers who are occupying their small town, Daniel, who cannot lie, and Emily, who discovers she has magical powers, are drawn to an island in the heart of the forest where townsfolk have been warned never to go.

Are humans by nature hierarchical or egalitarian? Hierarchy in the Forest addresses this question by examining the evolutionary origins of social and political behavior. Christopher Boehm, an anthropologist whose fieldwork has focused on the political arrangements of human and nonhuman primate groups, postulates that egalitarianism is in effect a hierarchy in which the weak combine forces to dominate the strong. The political flexibility of our species is formidable: we can be quite egalitarian, we can be quite despotic. Hierarchy in the Forest traces the roots of these contradictory traits in chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, and early human societies. Boehm looks at the loose group structures of hunter-gatherers, then at tribal segmentation, and finally at present-day governments to see how these conflicting tendencies are reflected. Hierarchy in the Forest claims new territory for biological anthropology and evolutionary biology by extending the domain of these sciences into a crucial aspect of human political and social behavior. This book will be a key document in the study of the evolutionary basis of genuine altruism. Table of Contents: The Question of Egalitarian Society Hierarchy and Equality Putting Down Aggressors Equality and Its Causes A Wider View of Egalitarianism The Hominoid Political Spectrum Ancestral Politics The Evolution of Egalitarian Society Paleolithic Politics and Natural Selection Ambivalence and Compromise in Human Nature References Index Reviews of this book: This well-written book, geared toward an audience with background in the behavioral and evolutionary sciences but accessible to a broad readership, raises two general questions: 'What is an egalitarian society?' and 'How have these societies evolved?'...[Christopher Boehm] takes the reader on a journey from the Arctic to the Americas, from Australia to Africa, in search of hunter-gatherer and tribal societies that emanate the egalitarian ethos--one that promotes generosity, altruism and sharing but forbids upstartism, aggression and egoism. Throughout this journey, Boehm tantalizes the reader with vivid anthropological accounts of ridicule, criticism, ostracism and even execution--prevalent tactics used by subordinates in egalitarian societies to level the social playing field...Hierarchy in the Forest is an interesting and thought-provoking book that is surely an important contribution to perspectives on human sociality and politics. --Ryan Earley, American Scientist Reviews of this book: Combing an exhaustive ethnographic survey of human societies from groups of hunter-gatherers to contemporary residents of the Balkans with a detailed analysis of the behavioral attributes of non-human primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos), Boehm focuses on whether humans are hierarchical or egalitarian by nature...[Boehm's hypotheses] are invariably intriguing and well documented...He raises topics of wide interest and his book should get attention. --Publishers Weekly Boehm has been the first to look at egalitarianism with a cold, unromantic eye. He sees it as a victory over hierarchical tendencies, which are equally marked in our species. I would predict that his insightful examination will reverberate within anthropology and the social sciences as well as among biologists interested in the evolution of social systems. --Frans de Waal, Emory University Hierarchy in the Forest is an original and stimulating contribution to thinking about the origins of egalitarianism. I personally find Boehm's ideas convincing, but whether one agrees with him or not, he has formulated his hypotheses in such a way that this book is likely to set the terms of the discussion for the forseeable future. --Barbara Smuts, University of Michigan The most unique and interesting feature of this clear, well written book is the way Boehm links the study of nonhuman primates (particularly chimpanzees) to traditional concepts of political anthropology. As a political scientist, I was intrigued by Boehm's suggestion that democracy, both ancient and modern, could be understood as the expression of the same natural dispositions that support the egalitarianism of nomadic bands and sedentary tribes. I expect that many scholars in biology, anthropology, and the social sciences would learn from this stimulating book. Even those who disagree with Boehm's arguments are likely to be provoked in instructive ways. --Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University Chris Boehm boldly and cogently attacks a whole orthodoxy in anthropology which sees hunter-gatherer 'egalitarianism' as somehow the basic form of human society. No praise can be too high for Boehm's brilliant and courageous book. --Robin Fox, Rutgers University

With original research and interviews with survivors, a journalist reveals the brutal yet forgotten battles in Latvia during the final months of WWII. While the eyes of the world were on Hitler’s bunker, more than half a million men fought six cataclysmic battles in the fields and forests of Western Latvia known as the Courland Pocket. Just an hour from the capital Riga, German forces bolstered by Latvian Legionnaires were trapped with their backs to the Baltic. Forced into uniform by Nazi and Soviet occupiers, Latvian fought Latvian – sometimes brother against brother. Hundreds of thousands of men died for little territorial gain in unimaginable slaughter. When the Germans capitulated, thousands of Latvians continued a war against Soviet rule from the forests for years afterwards. An award-winning documentary journalist, Vincent Hunt travels through the modern landscape gathering eye-witness accounts, piecing together the stories of those who survived. He meets veterans who fought in the Latvian Legion, former partisans and a refugee who fled the Soviet advance to later become President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga. A survivor of the little-known concentration camp at Popervale details his escape from a death march and subsequent survival in the forests with a Soviet partisan group - and a German deserter. With detailed maps and expert contributions alongside rare newspaper archives, photographs from private collections and extracts from diaries translated from Latvian, German and Russian, Hunt assembles a ghastly picture of death and desperation in a nation both gripped by war and at war with itself.