3 comments about Standing Firm: A Vice-Presidential Memoir.

1. Rarely do the media and the entertainmenr business ravage a person as thoroughly as they did Dan Qauyle. Everyone thinks that they know who Quayle is, but by the time that I was done reading this book, I felt as though he were my long lost uncle. His insights are uncompromising and clear, and he places blame where it should be in every instance, sometimes on the media, sometimes on his political opponents, sometimes on President Bush, and sometimes with himself. Quayle is honest with himself and his readers, making no unecessary apologies for the decisions that he has made or the reasons that he made them. He makes no bones about the influences in his life, starting with his God. Once a skeptic, I am now a full-fledged Quayle supporter, and I will patiently explain to anyone who says anything nasty about him that they simply need to find out what they are really talking about before they open their mouth. Reading this book is a good place to start.



2. Perhaps it is appropriate that Dan Quayle belongs to the GOP because in his public life he has displayed elephantine qualities-strength, courage,decency,loyalty,love of family and an ability to fight back from adversity. His book, Standing Firm,reflects his values. From the searing media attacks of the 1988 campaign,lack of support from GOP heavyweights like Jim Baker, and the bruising vice -presidential debates of that era, Quayle would have been less than human if he had not been unsettled. He admits that in that early period he quit trusting in himself.For some liberals he would never be trusted. In refusing to bow to trendy positions Quayle continued to attract odium.Yet, in his defence of the traditional family over the 'Murphy Brown position' he espoused eternal values. Some of his critics preferred to concentrate on his incorrect spelling of potato! ( Well, the rest of the English speaking world has always known that Americans are funny spellers-big deal!) In reading this book you quickly discover Quayle is a values-driven politician. Precisely because of the poverty of values amongst today's elites Quayle's views will continue to be ridiculed despite the fact that he articulates the views of middle America. This book give some idea of the challenges and loneliness that a Veep faces,particularly one under constant media pressure. In standing firm to his values Dan Quayle fought back-his performance in the 1992 vice-presidential debate (against Al Gore) mirrored the increased assurance of the man-and this book should be reflected on by his fellow Americans and perhaps those further afield.



3. Let me preface this review by saying that I am a conservative. I am a Christian (both of which can easily be verified by reading my other reviews). And until I read this book, I wanted to like Dan Quayle. He always seemed like the media's whipping boy, like the guy that couldn't get a fair shake. I remember watching Rush Limbaugh's TV show and seeing Slick Willy laughing at a funeral, and then after spotting a camera instantaneously becoming very sad. I wanted to know why other politicians weren't hounded like Quayle was?
   
   Unfortunately, Dan answered this question in his book: he really is as the media presents him. The media paints Quayle as a guy who's smarter than average, conservative, and something of a mistake-making dufus. I found nothing in the book to refute this portrait. Quayle goes into gaff after goof that he made in a very short time period, and one comes away seeing that, yes, he really does have a problem that would be the death of any politician. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure Mr. Quayle is much smarter that I will ever be; he's probably also more charismatic, well connected, financially secure, etc.
   
   But none of these things can save Dan from himself. He's the Yogi Berra of politicians, and you can't blame the media for jumping on the chance to make a few dollars off of his persona. Mr. Quayle's a capitalist and a conservative, surely he understands that? (though, of course, he could point out the hypocrisy in the media's claim to be unbiased, when they have biases just like the rest of us)
   
   I don't know why, but it seems like conservative politicians--e.g., Quayle, Gingrich, Keyes, etc.--have self-imploded any time they have been given a chance to do well. Meanwhile, conservative pundits--e.g., Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.--have done astronomically well when given the chance. I suppose the Republican party needs another man like Reagan, who can be a bit of everything at the same time, and still come off as seeming like much more than just the sum of his parts.
   
   Whatever the case in real life may be, I do admit that I found this book to be somewhat entertaining (if somewhat self-promoting, as most biographies are). Unfortunately, the let down that came from realising that Quayle had hurt his own case made this book very unlikable in my own eyes. It's never pleasant to see someone shoot themselves in the foot.

5 comments about First Comes Love.

1. I'm disgusted I ever bought this book and would love to have my money back (someone in my book club chose it). All nine members of my book club HATED this book and found Marion Winik's actions/addictions disgusting. She offers no explanation for her self-absorbed, destructive behavior. I promptly gave it away after I read it (not to the library...doesn't belong in a respectable institution like that). Her actions that are documented in this "memoir" are despicable and could have had life-threatening ramifications on innocent children. Do not waste your money or your time.



2. I'm sorry. I'm aware of all the favorable comments regarding this book, and no one should question Marion Winik's writing abilities -- "First Comes Love" is a well crafted book -- but, being that it is a memoir, I must confess that I no longer like or respect her as a person. This is not a love story -- it is an expose of a woman who decides she is going to have what she wants, regardless of anyone else's needs. Neither do I see her as someone I should admire for courage or long suffering. Sure, she finally decides to care for him as he dies. That is the least that she should do, as far as I'm concerned. She robbed him if the rest of his life.



3. First Comes Love epitomizes the 90's era of self-indulgent memoirs over? (and please, let it be over) This is basically a book about someone who makes one bad, selfish decision after another, wreaking havoc on the lives of those around her and then, rather than hanging her head in shame, deciding that it makes her so interesting that she ought to write about it and share it with the world. In fact, it sometimes seems as if the whole point of many of her actions is to have something outrageous to write about. One can't help but feel sorry for her sons, though. Did she ever stop for a moment and think of the effect on them of reading about her incredibly dysfunctional life?
   This book is very, very sad.



4. Yes, the two main people in this memoir are self-indulgent, but there is one, and only one, thread that holds them together: Love. It cannot be sexual attraction, because one is gay and one is straight. And the thread of love holds and holds and holds and finally snaps. Marion Winik's writing held me from the first chapter to the last and never snapped.



5. I only read this book because our reading group chose it and, frankly, at first I wasn't sure I'd like it. I didn't feel that I could relate to Marion Winik's drug use or self-destructive pursuit of a gay man. But her writing drew me in and her story proved to be so absorbing because it was so well-written. Yes, she was self-absorbed, as addicts often are, and yes, she knew her love for Tony was bound to end in frustration, but she has no sympathy for herself, and asks for none from her readers. Her story, while moving, is not cloying or sentimental, and I really liked that. She is honest, often painfully so, and direct. She reveals what it truly means to love someone who cannot love you back the way you want to be loved. She faces her problems head-on, addresses her own weaknesses with candor. Her writing style is clear and its emotions sharply drawn. If you approach her story without judging her, you will come to know her and understand her. I liked her in spite of myself, and that says a lot. Like a good friend you care about, but who can drive you crazy, Winik reveals things to you that can make you roll your eyes or sigh in frustration, make you want to slap her. And then she opens up with vulnerability, revealing her inner turmoil and pain, and you want to embrace her. This is a tough story, hard to take sometimes. But a true love story, nonetheless. After I read the whole book, I went back and re-read its opening chapter. After going on Winik's journey with her, her words about her husband's final hours brought me to tears. I felt I knew them both.

5 comments about Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI.

1. What an excellent read! The characters and relationships are very intriguing-the author's world is filled with both obvious and subtle villains, as well as obvious and subtle heroes. Candice herself is fun, likeable and strong enough to give as good as she gets. Though she is being constantly second-guessed, undermined and underestimated, she ends up turning her "weakness" into advantage time and again. The author sets up the rivalry between the FBI and the DEA and her unique role walking between the two. Highly recommended.



2. This was an interesting book about Candice Delong written by Elisa Petrini. Before becoming connected with the FBI, she'd been a nurse in a psychiatric ward. She was a divorced mother then, still something of a stigma in the early 1980s. In the late '80s she was assigned to the cocaine trafficing in Chicago.
   
   There was a drug pipeline which stretched from the South American country of Columbia, then the cocaine capital of the hemisphere, up through Mexico into Texas; from there to Chicago. I've been told that it went through Lawrenceburg, TN on the way North.
   
   There is a manadatory minimum 20-yr. sentence for anyone caught with ten or more kilograms of cocaine (about 22 lbs.). Each kilo is the size of a brick and worth $15,000 - 30,000 depending on the quality of the drug. Heroin is a lot more. She had some interesting times working with DEA in narcotics, even being tricked into babysitting for the informant on her first case.
   
   She was involved in the Unabomber case and the way they discovered it was a former University of California at Berkley (where Savage (Weiner) may have found his cocaine) professor. She was in on the specifics in Montana,trapping Ted Kaezynski in 1996. Then back to San Francisco, where Savage settled.
   
   She gives good pointers on how to handle home invastion or sexual assault. Always yell "Fire." There are almost twice as many sex crimes against women over sixty as certain killers go after the older women to act out their anger toward the strong female figures in their lives and the fact that elderly women are easier to control. Compliance is by no means the same as consent.
   
   Rape is all about power, not sex. A woman's goal is to survive the attack. About 41% of rapes and sex assaults are committed by acquaintances of the victim. Sex offenders don't think like normal men and are always on the alert for what they think of as "provacative" behavior or dress.
   
   After twenty years, she became a private citizen again and went on the lecture circuit. She is proud of her achievements and the privilege to work as a 'public servant' in the FBI.



3. This book should be listed under "fiction," because that's what it is. Ms. DeLong is a legend in her mind and her mind only. Anyone who reads this and believes Ms. DeLong actually did the things she claimed to do is living in a dream, just like Ms. DeLong. Don't waste your money. Ms. DeLong is as much a real life Clarice Starling as Barney Fife is Elliot Ness. I would recommend the book if you are looking for a good laugh. I rated this garbage one star because I wasn't given the choice of zero or negative stars.



4. This isn't the best book I've ever read but it's a fun and interesting read about her career in the FBI. She wisely chose stories from her career (which must have been difficult with so many years of experience) and always included down-to-earth humor and humility when appropriate. When she entered, the FBI was still adjusting to having women agents but she remained strong, taking the high road on many occasions when she was not treated fairly. As a result, her career flourished and her life is a story worth hearing. She is truly a trailblazer. Just nobody call her Candy.



5. I met with Candice when she bought the apartment I was renting in San Francisco last year. As we parted, she gave me her book as a gift. As I started reading her book, I could not let go of it until I finished it. Candice talks about her extraordinary life as a bright, energetic and successful female agent, and a single mother. The book is full of interesting stories, which shed light to the life in FBI. Despite of all her strengths, she struggles for the acceptance of her male peers throughout her career, but she never gives up. Among many interesting stories, she tells how she learned to shoot with a shotgun, which ended up dislocating her shoulder, which apparently never healed. Although the police-work naturally required lots of physical power, she managed to overcame her deficiencies as a female agent with her strong sense of humor, intelligence and knowledge. She became one of the best profilers - a task that requires significant data collection and analysis. The book is full of interesting FBI cases of serial murder, drug dealing, child abduction, and even specific cases we all remember from the media (such as the Tylenol case and Unabomber), in which Candice was involved to solve the mystery and to arrest the guilty party, which makes the reading even more thrilling and interesting. I strongly recommend this book not only as a fun and inspiring reading, but also as a book which provides lots of tips for public safety.

No comments about The Ashdown Diaries.

No comments about We Remember the Blitz.

5 comments about The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court.

1. If you love reading about the Supreme Court and the story behind the Justices and how they got there, then this book is perfect. John Dean was in the Nixon White House when Tricky Dick was looking to make two Court appointments at the same time. The first appointment, Lewis Powell, wasn't too hard. He was a distinguished lawyer. But what about the other appointment? Nixon couldn't find anyone suitable for the position. His choices were either not qualified or didn't want the position. As a last resort, he picked an obscure White House lawyer who went on the change the face of constitutional law, William Rehnquist.
   
   John Dean explains how Rehnquist was chosen and quotes Nixon saying some very unsavory things about women as well as other intemporate comments. This was the real Nixon -- a foul mouthed political animal who placed ideology over everything else. The book also talks about Rehnquist's unsavory past, including a memo he wrote as a Supreme Court clerk in 1954, when the Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, the seminal ruling outlawing separate but equal schools. The future Supreme Court Justice proposed affirming Plessy v. Ferguson, which affirmed racial distinctions in schooling. John Dean talks about this controversial memo and takes apart Rehnquist's position that it did not reflect his views.



2. 
   Overall this book is a good read. It is heavily biased against Chief Justice Rehnquist -- I really got the feeling that Dean despise's the Chief Justice. It portrays Nixon as a horrible president (Dean quotes Nixon as saying that no women should work in government).
   Enough of the negative aspects of the book. It goes into detail the vetting process of Court appointments. The author's direct relationship to the president and to Rehnquist makes the book even better.
   This book is not for people who only "like" to study the Court. I highly recommend this book to people who love to study the Supreme Court or William Rehnquist. Worth the read!!



3. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that someone had finally included former US Supreme Court nominee Richard H. Poff in the annals of recorded national history. Poff was considered a shoo-in for the Supreme Court, despite opposition from many liberals. While some considered him a racist, many African-Americans spoke out openly and stated he was anything but a racist, since he had in reality helped their position. His record, both before and after the nomination, speaks for itself and Poff's brilliance as a jurist. In fact, he was a man who believed strongly in individual rights, and openly stated that no American citizen should ever be detained or imprisoned absent a specific act of Congress permitting it, which by necessity means that he would be opposed to President Bush's actions in the so-called 'War On Terror'.
   
   Those who have actually met Richard Poff know him to be a man who cares very deeply about people, who quite correctly followed the dictates of his constituents even if he disagreed, and who was vociferous in dedicating his life to ensuring justice and upholding the Constitution. Bear in mind, this is a man who had been in the House as a representative of the Sixth District of Virginia since 1956, so he served during a turbulent time in civil rights history. He made some ultimately rather unfortunate choices while representing that district, but they were all done because that's what his constituents wanted. Most unfortunate among these choices was signing the infamous Southern Manifesto, which opposed and defied the US Supreme Court on its decision in Brown v Board of Education. If he had not done so, he most certainly would not have been reelected, because his constituents wanted him to sign it. While at first glance it may seem that he sold out for reelection, or that this proves him a racist, think about it. He did exactly what a Representative is supposed to do once elected; namely, act as the voice of their constituents, who otherwise would have no voice on national issues. Yet, once he was nominated for the US Supreme Court, that document came back to haunt him - and most disturbingly his family and especially his young son - in a very big way.
   
   A moderate conservative, Poff was well-respected in most circles, and seemed a perfect choice to change the tide of the liberal Warren Supreme Court. After all, he had served for years on the House Judiciary Committee, and was an attorney who had years of practical experience under his belt. Richard Poff was Nixon and Dean's first choice for the US Supreme Court, not Rehnquist. Almost immediately, 30 liberal Senators threatened a filibuster, and Poff was forced to make an unenviable choice: either destroy his family during the confirmation process, or drop out.
   
   Fearing that he would have to tell his then-12-year-old son that he was adopted - something he and his wife had never intended to do - he chose to withdraw from consideration strictly for personal reasons. Within weeks, and after it was announced that he would no longer be in the running, columnist Jack Anderson announced that adoption to the world.
   
   I still don't understand why Anderson felt the need to do that, and I'm sure no one else does, either - after all, how does having adopted a child effect anyone's qualifications for the US Supreme Court? As a direct result of Anderson's column, Poff ended up having to tell the boy that he was adopted anyway, despite the fact that protection of his son from that hurtful information is why he had withdrawn from consideration in the first place.
   
   One must therefore respect Poff as a man who made extreme sacrifices for the protection of his family, even if one does not respect his politics. Mr. Dean explains this very well in his book, and the story has been confirmed by that son.
   
   This book is not only a political one, it is a moral and ethical one for politicians and journalists everywhere - how far is too far? The adoption revelation had a devastating effect on the son, as well as his parents, because until that very day he had no hint that he had been adopted. The son relates that the press went so far in attempting to get 'dirt' on his father that the family was forced to hide in the furnished basement of their home until his father dropped out of the race, for fear (obviously well-placed) about the well-being of the Poff children.
   
   It is one thing for the press to discuss the candidate and their record. It is quite another for the press to discuss a candidate's preteen children, when neither that child nor the candidate had done anything to draw attention to the child.
   
   Jack Anderson should have been professionally censured for crossing that line, and his source about the adoption uncovered even if it required a Congressional investigation, because in the process of pseudo-journalism he harmed not only the man he hated, but the man's young son as well. As a journalist, I cannot express how abhorrent I find Anderson's actions to be in that situation.
   
   On the bright side, Richard Poff eventually went on to serve honorably and fairly on the Virginia Supreme Court, where he was a highly respected Senior Justice for many years before his retirement. As such, one can only wonder what the Supreme Court - and, indeed, the United States - would be like today, if Richard H. Poff had not been forced into that very painful personal decision due to what amounted purely to vicious political muckraking.



4. With meticulous attention to detail, John Dean gives the reader an unparalleled insider's view of one of the most momentous decisions in American history, Richard Nixon's appointment of William H. Rehnquist, Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court. Using transcripts of the tapes Nixon left behind when he fled the White House in disgrace, plus additional source material from the National Archives and his own excellent memory (remember, this is the man whose sworn recollections of conversations about Watergate BEFORE the tapes were produced were never questioned after the tapes came out), Dean lets us see how bumbling, how innocent and how political a process this important decision actually was.
   
   Dean starts the book with the background of the plot to derail Abe Fortas's nomination as Chief Justice before Nixon is even elected, and exposes it for its political and unfair nature. He then provides additional background on the nomination of Warren Burger as Chief Justice, the unsuccessful nominations of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell, and the ultimate confirmation of Harry Blackmun to Fortas's seat.
   
   With no internet, no Fox News, no right wing think tanks, no computers, the process of finding and then vetting Supreme Court justices was primitive. Nixon spent all his time on individuals never nominated, and worked hard to vet them, only to have them all be unnominatable. Not having learned by having two nominees turned down, Nixon's decision to appoint Rehnquist was made on the spur of the moment. Yet, in important ways, it was the most longlasting part of his legacy, reaching directly to just a year ago and through the legacy of Rehnquist's jurisprudence, perhaps forever.
   
   The Nixon we see here is bare naked to the reader. He hates Jews, demeans women, has few goals other than the political. He is a man paranoid of leaks and very much in charge of his White House and his own decisionmaking. He has no patience for civil rights, busing or the rights of the accused; he would be willing to appoint a Robert Byrd to the court just to spite a Democratic Senate that would be unable to turn down one of its own. He seeks to embarrass the American Bar Association (even while ending up appointing its former President, Lewis Powell, at the same time as Rehnquist).
   
   Dean clearly dislikes Rehnquist, and of course by this time hates Nixon and all his coterie, but the book nonetheless, by its very use of Nixon's own words, presents the man in all his complexity and his kind of genius.



5. This is either a fascinating or frightening account, depending on your viewpoint, of how in 1971 William Rehnquist was chosen to be nominated by Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice. The author was, of course, counsel to the President at the time and intimately involved in the process. Dean has drawn on his own recollections and notes, as well as having made excellent use of those infamous Nixon tapes which captured many of the key conversations involved in the mechanics of selection. Nixon was determined to re-shape the Court, but had been frustrated with his prior nominations of Haynesworth and Carswell. Dean argues that Nixon (with the aid of Rehnquist who was an Assistant Attorney General at the time) tried to create openings by encouraging a Douglas impeachment and the resignation of Fortas. When it became evident that Justices Black and Harlan, due to illness, would soon be leaving the Court, the "process" (if you want to call it that) began.
   
   Approximately 38 individuals were under consideration at some point, including Agnew, Bickel, Senator Byrd, Arlen Specter, Howard Baker, and Caspar Weinberger to name just a few. Dean devotes most attention to Representative Richard Poff, Judge Mildred L. Lillie, Herschel Friday, and Senator Byrd and how they were considered. Throughout the process, Rehnquist's name is mentioned by various folks, but he is never really in the running. The process swerves on erratically, names drop off, new names are added, and Nixon's frustration with leaks and the American Bar Association explodes. In the end, Nixon backtracks and offers one slot to Lewis Powell, who had been cut earlier due to his age, and is close to offering the second to Howard Baker. But Baker, as Dean terms it, "dithers" and wants more time and suddenly in a key almost off-hand discussion between Nixon and Richard Moore, his Special Counsel, Rehnquist's name pops up again, and Nixon learns for the first time that he had been second in his class at Stanford and had clerked for Justice Jackson. Suddenly the sun peeks thorough the clouds and Nixon decides Rehnquist (who he has never really known) is his man. The nomination goes forward, but Rehnquist had idea what was up when "the call" came out of the blue, only having his first private chat with Nixon months after the nomination.
   
   Dean adds some intersting discussion of both of Rehnquist's hearings (including his later one for Chief Justice), and reviews the issue of whether there were smoking guns in his background as to which he misled the Senate. The book contains a chronology, helpful notes, and a nice bibliography. An essential book for anyone interested in Rehnquist and that most inexplicable of all Presidents.

No comments about Eisenhower.

No comments about Alistair Cooke at the BBC (BBC Radio Collection).

5 comments about In Contempt.

1. A nice book about the O.J. Simpson case. I liked how Darden relays his own story of race with the murder case. Clearly, Darden has evolved over the years and became someone to look up to.
   
   Darden tells it like it is with how the Dream Team uses the race card. Up against insurmountable evidence that their client did it, they attack the DA's case by showing there was a rascist cop and a incompetent technician. The jury itself is itching to come to the same conclusion due to the Rodney King beatings.
   
   This is a nice tale on how the justice system is not always right. Two people were murdered and there was little justice.



2. In this well written book, Darden gives readers a behind the scene look at what happened at the trial. He tells readers how racism was injected into the trial by the defense team, gives his account of the infamous glove demonstration, and reveals the stress he was under being the focus of the Dream Team's wrath. He does not hold back frank opinions about Judge Ito, the Dream Team, fellow prosecutors, Furhman etc. The book is a very interesting read that provides important context to the most famous trial of the 20th century.



3. Truth is stranger than fiction! This would be a great fictitious story, only one small problem, it's real. lf you came from another planet or were under a rock for the past l4 years, you would think that Darden has an incredible imagination. But he lived it. 0f course this was his side of the story, l'm sure the dream team's version is much different. But hats off to Christopher Darden. And BABAB0OEY to y'all!



4. A very well written book about Christopher Darden's childhood, working as an adult in L.A. and "trying" to prosecute O.J. ! I did not want to read anything about O.J. - but glad I went ahead and read this book. I would highly recommend it. Loved every aspect of the book.



5. First off, Jess Walters is a wonderful writer. Very powerful writing.
   
   After reading the book, I have the upmost respect for Darden and his fight for justice. Although he could not achieve justice for Nicole Brown, I admire him for his heart.
   
   This is an easy book to read. Getting an insider look through the eyes of Darden is well worth your time. It inspires emotion and inspiration.

No comments about Oy! (Comedy Club).