1 comments about FIRST LADY FROM THE PLAINS: A Novel of the Revolutionary War.

1. She was an ideal first lady. And she's written the best look at a president's term through the eyes of his wife.

No comments about The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

4 comments about A Picture Book of Anne Frank (Picture Book Biography).

1. I'm a 6th grader. This book is about Anne Frank when she was a young girl. Anne was born on June 12,1929. She had an older sister named Margot. Her parents names were Edith and Otto Frank. Her family lived in Frankfurt for hundreds of years. She had a peaceful life until the Nazis came. Anne Frank died when she was fifteen years old. Then someone found Anne's Frank diary, which got published in 1947. This is the best book I ever read because I like how it is written, telling the story clearly. I like how she did not die until she was fifteen years old. If I was Anne I don't think I would I have lasted that long because I don't think I could take care of myself that long.



2. As a sixth grader I really enjoyed the book Anne Frank. The story was about Anne Frank,A brave young Jewish girl about 12 years old and her fourting year old sister. She found out at age 14 years old that she had to put a lot of cloths on. She had to hide in the attic for three years so the Nazis would not find them. It took place in Germany where her family lived. She once lived in a house,If she went to school she would be shot. The Nazis burnt all the Jewish books and pictures. A lot of children hid so they would not be shot because the people that hid them or they would be shot with no questions asked. The only person who survived was her dad, and the reason her mom died first, and Anne and her sister died after. I think the person who reads the book would cry or be really interesting in it. The book is based on her family life as a Jew in Germany.



3. This book is Simple and touching. Its very simple to read but goes into the depths of her short and in the end devastating life. She had a simple life and she loved it but the last and dark days that she spent in the secret annexe.
   further- (beyond this story)
   iT turns out that Otto Frank was the only one to survive out of all the secret annex (peter wasn't heard from) everyone else died. If only she had survived the last couple of weeks then she would be free once more.



4. I loved it. The story is told in clear, simple language that makes it easy for children to understand (Crucial in a book geared for a younger crowd) and the illustrations are breathtaking and accurate.
   
   A wonderful introduction to Anne Frank.

No comments about The Wit and Wisdom of Will Rogers.

5 comments about My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr..

1. I thought the book was wonderful!!! It gave me insight to what life was like living with MLK Jr. You felt the pain when things went wrong. You felt the happiness when things went right. Coretta Scott King did a great job of letting everyone know the imtimate details of her and her husbands life. If you haven't read it , check it out. Trust me, as a teen, it was a book that grasped my interest. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!!!!



2. I read this book for my Modern American History class and aside from two uses of "G__ d___," which I feel Mrs. King used to show the historical accuracy of the persecution during one of Martin's marches, that this was an informative read. I don't know that much about black history, but Mrs. King seems to go in depth while being completely concise. Famous historical figures such as Malcolm X and Ralph Abernathy are littered throughout and we have what I believe is probably an accurate view of the mores and values of the times. The book inspired me to stand up for my beliefs at the expense of persecution. In this book, we have a more human picture of Martin, the love he shared for people and his determination to lead them out of the valley of despair. As I approached the end of the book, I couldn't put it down because I was completely riveted at the events that ensued after his assassination. I've not read any other books about this period, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the authorative work on the history of black civil rights during that time period.



3. This review is about the book My life with Martin Luther King Jr. By Coretta Scott King. This book touched me because my grandpa used to know Dr.King and this book tells me all the stuff my grandpa never told me. Like when Martin protested to all the whites, the Ku Klux Klan, or [KKK] told Dr.King to stop protesting or he would never see his family again, but Martin was not afraid,and with that the KKK bombed his house as a warning, luckally no one was hurt. The "I have a dream speech". Won Dr.King the noble peace prize, That angered the KKK and in his hotel The KKK guned him down in front of his family, and after the funeral the Mayor made it a law to treat blacks equally. Martin Luther King had one but had lost his life in the process.
   I reccomend this book to all people [Blacks & Whites alike] that had a goal in life and did not stop until they achevied it.



4. The behind-the-scenes story of the other side in Dr. King's life. His widow, Coretta Scott King, writes an earnest memoir of her own life and what it was like to try to maintain some shade of normality for her family in the turmoil of the Civil Rights movement. There is too much honesty here for the hero worship of the late Dr. King many might expect. After reading this book I came away feeling Mrs. King deserves praise for her own role in her peoples' struggle and her husband's achievements. Coretta Scott King, like so many women behind noteworthy men, should receive more than the footnote status those in such roles too often find is their legacy.



5. Greatness in women! How is it achieved, and how acknowledged, when one is married to a significant public figure?
   
   CORETTA SCOTT KING died yesterday, and her partnership marriage with Martin Luther King, Jr. is described in this auto-biography that is more his story, yet they were "privileged to share" each other's lives. She was a true helpmate, 'cheerleader' and support whose personality and musical talent provided needed harmony in his daily life. Coretta King was soft-spoken, with beauty and timbre in her speaking voice. She did not lack backbone; it was through her background as a descendant of slaves that lessons of courage were passed down (Read "SHOW WAY" - - Newbery Honor Book, 2006, that tells of similar circumstances.)
   
   After a rural Alabama upbringing, Coretta Scott became a 1949 graduate of Antioch (OH) College. She went on to graduate from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1951, but changed course from career to marriage, though it was said she never expected to marry a man who would march, go to jail for civil rights, and change America forever. (A picture taken of Coretta with classmates at Antioch is "so forties" - - similar pictures taken at other northern schools might not have included black students. The pictures are of great interest, including a lovely photograph of the family saying a 'blessing' at mealtime; others are sharp reminders of incidents in our national life not altogether healed.) The original 1969 edition was later changed, mostly in language, to be more 'politically correct' as people like to say nowadays. The index takes note of a press conference Mrs. King shared in Washington D.C. with my aunt, Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, to protest the war in Vietnam. This was a very few days before Martin Luther King was gunned down. Have we progressed at all during the intervening years?
   
   Coretta King was widowed at age 40, left to deal with the trauma of her husband's death, to 'explain' it to their four small children. She drew on a wellspring of courage and faith. We may wonder sometimes if there will be women in the future who grow up that strong. She writes as an historian, yet also as a fully involved wife. There was little that was 'everyday-ish' about their life; the knowledge of hatred and injustice could not be kept from the children altogether. Life was admittedly tumultuous; people did & said ugly things.
   
   The chapters telling about the time following Dr. King's death are filled with expressions of gratitude for those who immediately offered & gave help, and those who came to hold her in their arms and in their prayers. Life has not been easy for the family members, as so often happens with children of the famous, and they need our prayers now. Coretta Scott King deserves every accolade; mcHAIKU says "Amen" to a life well lived.

5 comments about Seven Years in Tibet.

1. Before I start the review, let me point out, that Heinrich Harrer was a Nazi and did leave his wife behind to go mountain climbing in Asia. Now that is dealt with, this book focuses on Tibet. From when he escaped the English to when he fled Chinese invasion he tells a tale of surviving in a strange land, a strange culture and a strange language. His book is about Tibet, the people, places and life. About the brief period of time before the land of Lamaism was turned into just a part of China.



2. Adventurous, curious. The books reads like a biography, a travel book, a cultural study. Little by little, slowly, the culture of the distant mountains seeps into the reader's mind to open a welcome window on spirituality.



3. Don't let the fact that Seven Years in Tibet has been made into a movie stop you from picking up a copy of Heinrich Harrer's classic, real-life adventure. Whatever the movie's merits, or lack thereof, by most accounts the original story--the book--remains the best-told version of an incredible journey. Originally published in German in 1953, Harrer's Tibetan travelogue did not appear in English until the 1980s or become widely read until the 1990s. Harrer's tale provides the amazing details of his escapes, survival, evasion, and physical challenge. Beyond the reward of finally arriving in Tibet, Harrer experiences the greater victory of actually creating an enjoyable life for himself in Lhasa and eventually serving the Dalai Lama himself.
   
   Born in Carinthia, Austria, Harrer spent his youth skiing and hiking in the alps. In 1936, the author secured a place on the Austrian Olympic Ski Team and became the winner of the World Students' Championship Downhill race. Reluctant to make ski movies as a follow-up career, Harrer strove to win a place on a Himalayan climbing expedition. In 1943, the author was invited to join a German-Austrian team on the Nanga Parbat Expedition, which was led by Peter Aufschnaiter. After this second thrill of a lifetime, the young mountaineer found himself facing yet another unusual life challenge. After the expedition, while waiting in Karachi, India (which was then British territory) for return transportation to the West, World War II broke out. The climbers were arrested and taken to an internment camp at Dehra Dun, near the border of Tibet.
   After two years and two failed attempts, Harrer and Aufschnaiter finally succeeded in escaping. Their subsequent struggle to reach Tibet, and eventually Lhasa, required them to draw on every skill they knew as mountaineers and athletes, as well as their college educations and general handy man know-how. They faced obstacles and dangers--rugged terrain, the altitude, winter weather, diminishing supplies, lack of funds, injury, roving bands of thieves, and the hazards of traveling without documentation--that only the truly determined could overcome.
   As though a gift to reward their efforts, when the two men finally did reach the "forbidden city" of Lhasa in January of 1946, after nearly two years enroute, they were not turned away. In their isolation from the rest of the world, the Tibetans were just as curious about these two Europeans as Harrer and Aufschnaiter were about the citizens on "the rooftop of the world." In addition, the Tibetans in and around Lhasa assumed that any foreigner who had made it this far must posses proper paperwork. Once in Lhasa, the Tibetans actually found it quite amusing that these two men had managed to make it into the mystical city without passes. It was truly a feat, considering the measures Tibet's leaders undertook to keep out foreigners--in fact, Harrer notes that he met no more than seven other foreigners during his five years in Lhasa.
   While the first half of the book deals with the two mountaineers' struggles to reach the holy city, the second half of the book concerns the fascinating details of how Harrer and Aufschnaiter managed to ingratiate themselves with the locals, eventually becoming respected members of the community. Harrer presents his understanding of Tibetan daily life, culture, and society, and details how he established himself as a citizen. Harrer finds his first job when he builds a fountain in a friend's yard--which leads to more work as a landscape architect. He is commissioned to conduct a geographical survey, and later to construct a dam. He even serves as an ice skating instructor to the locals. Eventually his work leads the Dalai Lama's family to befriend him. As a result, he becomes a tutor to the young holy man. One of the more interesting duties he had was to make films of various ceremonies and festivals for His Holiness, and he is even asked to construct for him what might be the first home cinema. He managed to take advantage of his status as royal film maker and shoot his own photos whenever possible. They must be invaluable today!
   For many readers, the most valuable part of this book is that which concerns Harrer's interactions with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and his resulting observations. As an outsider and non-Buddhist, Harrer reports that the Dalai Lama was impressively intellectually curious and intelligent, hard working and full of initiative. Despite his youth, the boy king had already established a highly developed sense of diplomacy and vision for his country. As he helped this famous young man learn as much as possible about the wide world beyond, Harrer laments that Tibet's desire to remain neutral in world affairs and her resulting political isolation made her an easy target. If only this boy had had a chance to rule, he notes, Tibet may have met with a different fate.
   Unfortunately, both Harrer and the His Holiness' good intentions were foiled in 1950, when the country was invaded. Harrer knew his time had come to leave his adopted country, but he has remained a life-long champion for his beloved second home.
   Few places on earth conjure up as many images of tantalizing mystery as Tibet. Fortunately, Seven Years in Tibet offers us a unique glimpse, from a what is truly an insider's view, into the untouched culture of Tibet. Harrer's book is often regarded as the best account of the "real" Tibet, as it once was, and as many hope it will some day return.



4. 'Seven Years in Tibet' is a classic, to place it into historical context here is a "Brief History of Tibetan Travel Literature":
   
   Prior to 1783, the only Westerners to travel to and write about Tibet were a few Jesuit priests and adventurers [[two early narratives are collected in Clements Markham, ed. Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa (1876)]]. These accounts were enough to spark European interest in the region but were too whimsical for ambitious colonialists who had grander designs in need of more specific information. Thus it is not surprising Tibet in 1792 closed its borders to Westerners: a 1783 British East India Company expedition had raised suspicions of Englands imperial intentions. Tibet became "The Forbidden Land", and for the entire 19th century - although many tried - only 3 Westerners reached the capital Lhasa, thus furthering its mystique. By 1904 the British - intending to finally establish diplomatic relations - sent an armed expedition under Francis Younghusband to Lhasa. It was successful, but bloody, causing international outrage [[newspaper reporter Edmund Chandler was there and wrote an account The Unveiling of Lhasa (1905), as were a number of other books by participants. Travel writer Peter Fleming wrote a "full account" in Bayonets to Lhasa: The First Full Account of the British Invasion of the Tibet in 1904) (1961)]]. Kipling's novel Kim (1901) was popular at the time, and it includes a romantic portrayal of a Tibetan lama which fueled imaginations of all-wise spiritual beings, but instead Younghusband found a reality of poverty and "feudal" backwardness.
   
   After Younghusband's 1904 "gunboat" diplomatic mission, Tibet did allow a few British representatives in, but a steady tide of western trespassers kept coming [[as described in Peter Hopkirk's Trespassers on the Roof of the World The Secret Exploration of Tibet (1983)]]. Some of the more notable include Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel who in 1923 disguised herself as a beggar and reached Lhasa [[ My Journey to Lhasa (1927)]] - in the same year American William Montgomery McGovern also made it to Lhasa using the same trick [[ To Lhasa in Disguise (1924)]]. By the 1930s modernity had started to make inroads, Tibet's aristocracy began to look outward, the borders were more fluid, and more well known personalities were writing about it in less Shangri-La cliches, notably Robert Byron [[ First Russia, Then Tibet (1933)]], Marco Palli [[ Peaks and Lamas (1939)]], and Fosoco Maraini [[ Secret Tibet (1952)]]. By the time Heinrich Harrer arrived in 1944 Tibet had only 6 years left before the Chinese Communists would invade and a new type of curtain would fall over The Forbidden Land. Harrer's 'Seven Years in Tibet' marks the end of "Old Tibet" (as a nation, and a western "secret land" literary tradition), and the start of a new contemporary era more focused on human rights, indigenous peoples and post-colonialism.
   
   'Seven Years in Tibet' is foremost a great adventure story, National Geographic ranks it #20 in its list of all time best Outdoor/Adventure Literature. Some of the works mentioned in this review are also great adventure tales (David-Neel's book ranks at #55), but what sets Seven Years apart is that Harrer had a personal relationship with the Dalai Lama, the first Westerner to ever do so. The Dalai Lama is now a world figure but it was Harrer who first introduced him to the outside as his personal tutor. They remained close friends for life and it is probably no accident that after Harrer died in 2006 the Dalai Lama announced his "retirement" in 2007, a sort of symbolic closure with the West. In any case, although Harrer was not the first Westerner to reach or write about Lhasa, his war-time adventure and friendship with the Dalai Lama sets this account apart as not only great exploration/travel literature, but an important record of Tibet just before its fall to the Communists, and a history of the early life of the still living Dalai Lama.



5. An amazing true story about the escape of a German from a POW camp in India during the second world war. Somehow he and his friend beat the odds and were allowed to stay in Tibet. I haven't seen the movie, but just cannot imagine that Brad Pitt could be convincing in this role.

3 comments about How to Write Your Own Life Story.

1. Patrika: I read your book this morning, and it summed-up in 200 short pages what I had to garnish from probably 50 - 60 previously read books on writing and publishing. I enjoyed every page of it. What's more important, is that it answered several questions that I had about current trends in the publishing industry.

   Thanks again for being the pioneer "Author's Advocate", it's good to know that someone understands and is willing to help.

   Mike White

   ________________




2. I'd always wanted to write my family's history but couldn't get started....didn't know how. This took me step-by-step and showed me how to make it interesting. A terrific guide.



3. I've been trying to write my memoirs for years, have read all the books. But there was something about HEARING this good guidance, and listening to the examples of everything she said to do, that made it real for me. This was the best aide I've found - and I found a lot of them.

No comments about Pieces of Heaven.

No comments about JFK: Reckless Youth Part 1.

1 comments about The Book of Elders: The Life Stories & Wisdom of Great American Indians.

1. This helps when a person wants to remember the basic way to love and share with one another. It is about respect and sharing and accepting one another on motherearth. It would be a good book for our children, to remember the way it was. It would help for us to remember the old ways and yet be able to walk in the world as it is today, using the words of the elders from this great land.