5 comments about Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story.

1. Today, porcelain, china, and dinnerwares are common items in a household. This was not always true. Once, hard paste porcelain, the world's best, was literally as valuable as gold. But only the Chinese knew the formula, and they kept their secret from Europeans for nearly 1000 years. So it is fitting that the person responsible for discovering the Chinese's secret was an alchemist, whose true quest was to find the secret for making gold from other less expensive metals.

   This swashbuckling tale of adventure, double-dealing, and final victory, is a basic manual for porcelain collectors and dealers, and it is a must for antiques enthusiasts, no matter where their interests lie. Porcelain and its history touch every collecting area to some degree. The knowlege contained in this short history is a must for anyone who aspires to a full education in the decorative arts.




2. If you enjoy splendidly written historical stories, this is a must read. I must admit that the story started to lose its lustre around the time that Meissen loses its lustre; but, in its entirety, the book is a must read. If you've read The Professor and the Madman, this story is equally enthralling.



3. There were many advances during the rennaisance era in Europe that are far reaching. You would think that something so ephemeral as a luxury item wouldn't have much impact, but history demonstrates otherwise. Deception, espionage, war, and even treason were common occurences in 17th and 18th century Europe. All that in pursuit of the secrets for making porcelain is conceptually challenging to say the least.

   When one alchemist searching for the legendary philospher's stone performs one illusion too many, he finds himself a "guest" of Augustus the Strong until he provides him with the gold he needs to pay for his extravagantly decadent life style. Fortunately, for the alchemist, he's bright and talented, and just may provide the king with another type of gold to keep the executioner at bay.

   The Arcanum, is well written and researched with an extensive bibliography. I was very impressed with the level of scholarship exhibited by Ms. Gleeson. Considering the subject matter, and my preconceptions, I was suitably suprised and impressed at what I learned.




4. Janet Gleeson is not a storyteller. This becomes apparent as she pops between explaining the arcanum, porcelain making, political strife and the lives of the people involved. The subjects are so compelling, however, that you will not mind too much. It is apparent, too, that she has a passion for the subject of porcelain making, and she does manage to infuse the reader with her interest.



5. Porcelain, the ceramics world's equivalent of gold, is among humankind's most celebrated and beautiful inventions: the perfect porcelain item is translucent, and infinite variations of usage exist for it. It was notoriously expensive because for centuries it could only be obtained overland, through China - some thought it was created by magic, and even among educated people despaired that the sands and clays necessary to make it would be unavailable in the West. All until a rather mad semi-conman, who had already been chucked out of one royal house, lucked upon the patronage of the Elector of Saxony, and then lucked upon the winning formula, thus bringing the art of porcelain-making to the West. For about a generation, Dresden had the monopoly on porcelain manufacturing; following that, industrial spies were able to sell the secret to France (Sevres) and various other European capitals. Nevertheless, Meissen porcelain is still celebrated as Europe's best. Gleeson's story is an excellent recapturing of the strange conventions of the seventeenth and eighteenth century economies and the strange means by which one might make one's fortune under the ancien regime. She is also blessed by some truly colorful characters: Bottger the fortunate (if not accidental)inventor; Herold the painter (who found a way of decorating and tinting the porcelain), and the Elector himself, who was ruthless enough to hold Bottger prisoner until he yielded the formula.

5 comments about Memory Slips: A Memoir of Music and Healing.

1. An absolutely stunningly clear account of losing memory- and many of the complexities within this experience- and of reclaiming resilience, balance, and self. As Cutting loses her memory of the music she is performing (music she has memorized and played over and over) in the process of working through her child abuse history, her story is a highly interesting account of the complexities of "memory slips" in an adult. Cutting navigates her history of child abuse with incredible strength and determination, and ultimately with great compassion for her family. Beautifully read by Cutting- some of her piano playing is on this audio cassette which is one reason I would recommend the audio version. Her musical expression is an important part of her story. The audio may be helpful for both women and men who have experienced sexual abuse as children/ adolescents as well as for those who want to understand the impact of this kind of an abuse history. In addition, this audio may be highly valuable in exploring the specific psychological dynamics that can arise with those who are or have been musical performers. The depth of this audio is difficult to articulate- the exploration of family psychological dynamics is worth every penny.



2. I have read many personal accounts of incest (and other forms of sexual abuse). I am also a survivor of incest (and other sexual abuse as well), and I am a dancer. This book very accurately depicts the effects of child abuse on art, memory, and expression. Linda Cutting achieves this through an honest memoir of her own experience of memory recovery in adulthood, and it's effect on her life and art. Often her words spoke my own experience, particularly in her descriptions of having a flashback. Severe child abuse alters the structure of our minds, but through truth we can transcend. This book is superbly written. With very little description of the actual incest I was transported into her world. I could see her as a child, and the life she lived in. My heart reached out to her. If I ever want someone to understand what life is like for an adult survivor of incest this will be top on my list of recommendations. After reading this book I felt as if I had sat down with Linda, and she had told me her story. I thank her for having the courage to share her story with us. Her book is a great help to other survivors and for anyone who seeks to understand the life of an artist who is also a survivor of child abuse. This book helped me to get in touch with my own strength and empowerment to stand tall despite my past, and to continue my artistic work.



3. This memoir of an extraordinarily gifted pianist who found the courage to get help for the years in which she was sexually abused by her clergyman father stands out among similiar memoirs. That she not only found the courage to heal but to report her father to the church is a remarkable testimony to what good therapy, support, one's dedication to their craft, and personal determination to heal can do. The author's brothers were likewise abused, and wound up dealing with depression and mental illness. That the author's piano lessons first served as a bargain between her and her father, as a bribe for not telling about the abuse, makes her journey both as a professional musician, a writer, and a human being especially poignant.



4. So very glad to have discovered this audiocassette in a discount
   bookstore nearby before making a long trip in my car. What glorious music! What a unique autobiography, I never hear such
   a perfect combination of writing and music - and some of my
   favorites! Schumann's Scenes from Childhood ... And the Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, a magnificent pianist to enjoy for
   hundreds of miles! I was also a prizewinning pianist, and had
   memory-slips galore, and other similar experiences to relate to!
   My most favorite audiocassette of all time.



5. This memoir described one month in the recent past of the author, while she was in therapy and one year in her less recent past. The convention of switching back and forth between the time periods and showing the correlations between events was less confusing than I thought it would be. The musical terminology and descriptions of pieces of music were much more confusing to me. She described her feelings a lot of times in terms of certain concertos and symphonies. I don't read music at all, and I had a hard time grasping the point of what she was trying to say.
   I also didn't feel that the book really resolved. She went through a lot of abuse and broken relationships and her therapy was all about coming to terms with that. She described the process of that very well, but even though the book includes a 'Coda' (Epilogue) that takes place 3 years later and then the entire work was copyrighted 2 years after that, the author does not say how she now relates to her family and whether her father continues to be an abusive clergy person. I'm glad she can play the piano again, but I'd like to know how other things are going as well....
   Possibly I shouldn't have attempted reading a memoir so steeped in musical theory with my lack of knowledge on the subject, but I was reading for the personal story, which I thought got lost amidst all the musical analogies. Also, I understand that this is probably a very difficult process, to write about one's childhood abuse, so I feel apologetic for judging the work rather harshly.

5 comments about Campaigning With Grant.

1. Porter writes as if the North was never wrong, its commanders never fooled or mistaken, its armies never disspirited, and that the Union campaigns always succeeded. We all should know better. According to Porter, every time the Confederates didn't hold a field they were "repulsed handsomely." Every time the Union didn't hold the field, they were merely "compelled to retire." You will see these gross aberrations throughout this stale and shoddy work. His characterizations add nothing fresh about the famous personages surrounding him, and certainly his military perspective offers less in quality of insight than the diary of any Union private. There are many great books on the Civil War by the figures who fought it: this one can wait until you've exhausted everything else.



2. These are the personal reminiscences of Horace Porter, Aide-de-Camp to General Grant. He joined Grant April 4, 1864 and served with him for 9 years, 1864-1872. So by definition expect Federal bias and a father like depiction of Grant. That said, this is a very good Civil War learning tool, insightful as only the reflections of someone who was privy to the highest councils of Union command could be.

   From his promotion to General-in-Chief until the end of the war, Grant had to make many tough decisions. Porter reports a number of these in this book. But he also reports on Grant, General of the Armies. My comments to come are not intended to in any way denigrate Robert E. Lee. Let's face it, Lee's performance was awesome. However, Grant's performance was much better, if for no other reason than Grant's authority was greater than Lee's. Until the very last days of the war, Jeff Davis acted as his own General-in-Chief. For all but 3 weeks, Lee only commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, however, commanded all Federal armies. Thus, as biased as Porter's work necessarily is, Porter does give us the first and best look at a true modern general. Grant's political awareness, his understanding of logistics, close coordination with the navy, handling multiple armies, ability to improvise, understand and forge new methods of warfare such as Sherman's march, "mark him as the exceptional general of the nineteenth century".

   Porter book gives us a unique view of how Grant's abilities evolved. Equally important we get in-depth reviews of a variety of Union participants everyone from Lincoln, to Hancock, Dana, Meade, Sherman and Sheridan just to mention a few. These personal reflections are quite worthwhile.

   This is one interesting book, written by a well positioned observer. It is a book that adds greatly to understanding the Union participants of the Civil War.




3. These are the personal reminiscences of Horace Porter, Aide-de-Camp to General Grant. He joined Grant April 4, 1864 and served with him for 9 years, 1864-1872. So by definition expect Federal bias and a father like depiction of Grant. That said, this is a very good Civil War learning tool, insightful as only the reflections of someone who was privy to the highest councils of Union command could be.

   From his promotion to General-in-Chief until the end of the war, Grant had to make many tough decisions. Porter reports a number of these in his book. Most importantly, however, he reports on Grant, General of the Armies. My comments to come are not intended to denigrate Robert E. Lee in any way. Let's face it, Lee's performance was awesome. However, Grant's performance was much better, if for no other reason than Grant's authority was greater than Lee's. Until the very last days of the war, Jeff Davis acted as his own General-in-Chief. For all but 4-5 weeks, Lee only commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, however, commanded all Federal armies. Thus, as biased as Porter's work necessarily is, Porter does give us the first and best look at a true modern general. Grant's political awareness, his understanding of logistics, close coordination with the navy, handling multiple armies, ability to improvise, understand and forge new methods of warfare such as Sherman's march, "mark him as the exceptional general of the nineteenth century". He really was.

   Porter's book gives us a unique view of how Grant's abilities evolved. Equally important we get in-depth reviews of a variety of Union participants, everyone from Lincoln, to Hancock, Dana, Meade, Sherman and Sheridan just to mention a few. These personal reflections are quite worthwhile.

   This is one interesting book, written by a well positioned observer. It is a book that adds greatly to understanding the workings of the Union high command during the final year of the Civil War.




4. The personal anecdotes are truly amazing. This was written by one of Grant's closest aides during the Eastern Theatre campaign. This book shows and disputes the old arguments of Grant as a Butcher. An Important read for those who want to find the real Grant!



5. I'm in the middle of this right now. It's a long book, over
   500 pages, and yet there is nothing tiring or tedious about it.
   Somehow it flows on in a way few other books have for me.
   I credit Porter's writing.
   
   When this book was first handed to me, I set it aside, having
   little taste for the carnage I had read of before. But this
   book is about *people*, not about death. Its as a study of
   humanity that this book excells.
   
   Yes, there is a heavy Union partisanship - Porter is human.
   But he also writes about the near-insanity of waging this war
   across the American map. He knows how deep he and everyone
   around him has descended into the pit.
   
   The greatness of the book is that Porter's humanity and his
   keen study of the human natures around him grow greater in
   these monsterous circumstances.
   
   And there are hints here of a history that I've read very little
   of. A terrible shadow of despair behind Lincoln and Grant, a
   feeling that Grant is the Union's last chance. Porter paints a
   group portrait of the Union leadership on the verge of tearing
   itself apart. Teetering on the edge of a wave of duels. A war
   of personalities in the Union which reflects the Civil War
   itself. The very concept of human society put to the test on
   all scales.
   
   And what is Porter's opinion of Grant? Calm. Utterly fearless.
   An executive genius. Utterly respectful of other human beings
   *except* those who mistreat the people and animals entrusted
   to them. A man who engenders iron loyalty. As Porter says at one
   point, Grant was given the most appalling task in the history
   of the nation, and he accomplished it. A man with a genius for
   stabilizing personalities, for keeping them socialized, for
   bringing out the very best in them. A man with absolute faith
   in the human spirit, and the force of will to bring out the
   best in people.
   
   One last note: somehow I grew up with the idea that Lincoln
   was this slow-moving man, and a stodgy speaker. Porter describes
   the exact opposite, a Lincoln still angular, almost freakish,
   but swift-handed in greeting his friends. And a Lincoln who's
   verbal fluency is as swift as his anecdotes are wise.
   
   This is a marvelous window into our past.

No comments about Goldwyn: A Biography Part 1 Of 2.

5 comments about It's Only a Game.

1. Growing up in Pittsburgh during Terry Bradshaw's pro career was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, being a young fan at the time, I could not understand how the actions of fans can affect a player. The Steeler fans loved Bradshaw, yet expected a level of achievement that could never be obtained. It is wonderful that Terry has achieved so much in a variety of careers. This book allows Terry tell what he was thinking then and how he feels about it now. It's a very revealing and funny book.



2. TERRY BRADSHAW PERSONIFIES HUMOR. I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK FOR VARIOUS REASONS. I ENJOYED HIS RETELLING OF HIS STEELERS DAYS AND HIS RELATIONSHIPS WITH VARIOUS TEAMATES. HIS DOWN TO EARTH HONESTY IS ANOTHER FACET I FOUND REFRESHING. AND ABOVE ALL WAS HIS STORY TELLING OF HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE BROADCASTING BUSINESS. I ENJOY THE PREGAME HYPE WITH BRADSHAW AND HIS 3 COHORTS EACH WEEK. HE HAS CERTAILY GROWN OVER THE YEARS, HE CAN POKE FUN AT HIMSELF AND YET BE SERIOUS ABOUT THINGS IN LIFE. VERY RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE WHO ENJOYS HUMOR A GREAT STORY TELLER.



3. This book covered everything I hoped to hear about - from college QB thru Pittsburgh and into TV's best pre-game show. The book is fast paced, enjoyable throughout and quite informative. All that's missing is a couple of one-on-one hours with Terry to ask more about everything.



4. This is one of the funniest autobiographies I have ever read. Several times during the course of my reading, my wife feared for my sanity as I laughed hysterically. Two incidents in particular had me howling: Terry's adventure with the horse, and when his Dad opened the box from the marketing firm.
   Terry has always been one of my football heros and now I have a great deal of respect for him as a person. This account is warm, funny, and honest. By the way, he called his own plays . . .



5. I could hardly put this book down. Very interesting stories about his childhood, football career from grade school through the pros and life after the NFL. All the things that went on during his career in the NFL. I found this book very enjoyable. He doesn't hide anything and I admire his honesty.

5 comments about Ten Minutes from Normal.

1. No one should let this book escape perusal, especially at this reasonable price! You've heard that Karl Rove is "Bush's brain?" Well, Ms. Hughes is "Bush's brain on drugs (with a side of bacon)!"
   
   To read her describe Dubya's mind as "laser-like" leaves no doubt in my own mind that when she worked for Reagan, she was a conduit for Dubya on the "Star Wars - Strategic Defense Initiative" project. I don't remember if that was his pre-cocaine or post-cocaine years, but it all makes so much sense now.
   
   I'm happy that after a lifetime of one political success after another, she took time off from her busy schedule for a sabbatical to bake brownies for her young, hungry son. I wonder if perchance, she has a recipe for a cake with a file in it?
   
   Now that she's back on the team with her traveling road-show thumping America's generosity and love for the rest of the world, I suppose her son will go hungry, but at least America will be safe from those naughty terrorists! Praise da lard!



2. This is a very well written and absorbing insight into the lives and goings-on of our government. I could hardly put it down.



3. I really enjoyed reading this book! It is like having an inside look into the life of our president and some of the people who work closely with him. It is easy reading and very interesting. It is also very inspiring.
   
   Happy Reading!!!



4. I really enjoyed this book. It gives a good insight into a busy life of a politician..
   
   BEAWERE, Karen Hughes is a friend and a supporter of President Bush, so if you lack respect for the president you won't rate this book very high!



5. I highly recommend this book.
   The negative reviews here are obviously from those
   who have a different political position than the author.
   
   How sad some can't look past partisan politics to enjoy
   a book. FYI: There are talented people in BOTH parties
   & I find it inspiring to read about those who choose
   to use their considerable talents in service to their
   country and what they believe is best for it.

5 comments about Namath: A Biography.

1. Time has a way of marching on. In every sport there are a certain amount of sport stars that made their mark not only in the history of their particular sport but upon society in general. Joe Willie Nemet (his real name)made that and more.
   
   A larger than life character is brought to life in this wonderful read. From his roots in growinup up in a rough and tumble mill town of Beaver Falls to the bright lights of Broadway. Namath had the ability to overcome many demons with a unreal atheltic arm and mind. Today's professional athlete - football, baseball, basketball - should lay down and thank the Namath's of professional sport as the ones who made it possible for them to earn these out of sight salary figures kicked around today. Joe brought not only guts and grit to his game but a dertermination and intellegence to run an offense without all the help of modern coaching input seen in today's game. They just don't make em' like the Namaths', Title's, Unitas's, and Baugh's much anymore.
   
   Rank this one up there with it's realistic approach to how it was. A fun ride.



2. Everybody knows Joe Namath (okay, most people have heard of him). Of our knowledge and recollections of Namath, most go back to about 40 years ago, when he was a young quarterback on fragile knees, had a shotgun arm, a team jelling around him that lead to The Guarantee, a Super Bowl win . . . and he was Joe Namath, The Swankiest Dude in NYC, ladies at his beck and call, llama rug, fur coat, bachelor lifestyle, etc. After that, it all kind of fades to memory: years of frustration, a year with the Rams and retirement. Once in a while you'd hear about him, starring in the theater of all places, but the memory goes back to when he was 26 and an American idol.
   
   Kriegel wrote a heck of a book, cutting through the cobwebs of our collective memories to give us a much different portrait of a man than the hype had provided to us: one who cared about family, one who respected the father figures of his life, one who cared deeply and was loyal to his friends - but one who reinvented himself at various times of his life and left his old friends behind. His reinvention of his life led to marriage and a family, where he wanted a stable, loving family around him - but didn't quite achieve that. Now, the reinvention goes on - new relationships, new family relations as his children got older, but the old life he lived has never quite been shaken off.
   
   This book was written without the direct help of Namath or through his lawyer, Jim Walsh. It appears that Namath's policy is that his personal life is nobody's business but his, and I respect that: he's had years in the spotlight and what he chooses to reveal to the world should be just that which he chooses. Walsh, a lawyer who has as his sole business that of Joe Namath, requested a huge sum of money for access to Namath and his story. That I have little respect for. I think that Kriegel's version without the help of Namath and Walsh give us a much better, more honest view of the man than if Namath had cooperated in the writing and editing. The result is a book that sheds a good deal of light on a much more complex man than we thought we knew.



3. Great book. I feel sad for a man who peaked at 25.
   
   J!E!T!S! Jets Jets Jets



4. Namath, through his legal mouthpiece, refused to cooperate with the author of "Namath: A Biography." A terrific researcher and writer, Mark Kriegel didn't need him. Joe left enough bitter friends, teammates, and business partners who were willing to share the lowdown on Broadway Joe. Ain't a pretty picture, but neither is pro football.
   
   This was one of the most talented and courageous players ever to step onto a football field. The author pays due homage to Joe Namath, QB. Plenty of fascinating stuff on Beaver Falls, Alabama, and Jets heroics. His athleticism was a great gift; his grit in making the most of it was unyielding. If you utterly idolized him as #12, leave that as your only memory.
   
   What this book presents is Namath as man in full; which is to say, a user without peer, a smalltown pool hustler who brought that ethos to all that touched his life. There's me, and there are the suckers. When he was finished with you, you learned it this way: your phone calls were not returned. Out. Finis. A buddy for twenty years now dying? A teammate for a dozen years? Sorry. Your services in the lifelong promotion that remains Joe Willie "White Shoes" are no longer required. Perhaps the best example cited by the author of the crassness of Namath the man was when he wanted 60G to attend a charity golf tournament organized by his Jets teammates. Unfortunately that sum would drain the total funds earned by the event. So no Joe. Not that he wanted to go; that was the point of the exhorbitant fee--he didn't need them.
   
   When the primetime hustle that was Broadway Joe finally petered out, Namath decided it was family that mattered. He had always tried to take care of his natural family, which was a broken one. But he had no practice at real life. He waited too long. He soon married a user half his age who hustled him: she left him because she wanted to be a "serious actress" and "find herself," as Kriegel painfully quotes her. This she did by ditching Broadway Joe for her own personal Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. She took the two Namath daughters with her, leaving her husband shellshocked as to how such a thing could happen to The Man Himself. He quickly returned to that which best sustained him through his desultory off-field existence: booze.
   
   Kriegel throughout makes the point that the Namath con is all part of the Big Con: The Enteraintment and Sports Sell. The original power behind Namath as Broadway Joe was Sonny Werblin, New York TV superagent and hustler extraordinnaire when he became a minority Jets owner. At the time, pro football was bringing up the rear in the American sports pantheon. Its owners still labored under the delusion they were in the football business. Namath-Werblin changed that. It was the perfect marriage in Joe's life. Joe and Sonny, Football and Show Biz.
   
   Namath's latest promotion has been his autobiography, surprisingly titled, "Namath." This was the reason Joe risked an interview late last year with Sixty Minutes, notorious for slapping the self-satisfied smiles off its subjects. No problem: his attorney likely made sure he got what he wanted, a puff-piece where he charmingly skates Oprahesque across the wreckage of his life while walking a Florida beach. Trying to stay booze-free once again, moving on metal knees and arthritic hips, the man's hustle hasn't lost a step. And he may be alone, still devoted to his daughters, but he's certainly not lonely (wink, wink). Broadway Joe lives.
   
   If you want a well-written take on Namath that is as gritty as the man and his world, read the Kriegel book. It's all about Joe William Namath, who remains one of the most extraordinary football players I ever watched. And wish I could pay good U.S. money to go back and watch again in the autumn dust of Shea Stadium, New York.



5. Kriegel does a masterful job at covering Namath for the reader. That said, I found the book way too long for the subject matter. Definitely mainline skimming after Namath retires from the Jets. The author really covers Namath's flaws. He appears to have always been an industrial strength drinker with little regard for most of his teammates and others. Not an easy person to like. Consequently, I found myself asking why am I reading all of these words about such a person. The football parts are really good, especially I would think for old line Jets fans. However, other parts are less intriguing. I've noticed that authors who are also journalists tend to think we care as much about all the details as do they. I found Kriegel's book, Pistol, about Pete Maravich is a better read.

5 comments about Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook has Gone Before.

1. Well, consider paradise thoroughly debunked, between Horwitz's far-ranging journeys of disassembly here and J. Maartin Troost's more narrowly focused The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific about real life on a South Pacific speck.
   
   Horwitz applies his witty and accessible style to a popular cultural, anthropological, historical, and gastronomical view of Cook's travel stops and his impact on them. He even finds parallels to his earlier "Confederates in the Attic" (see my review there) in the way that the distant descendants of both English and native island-dwellers see their shared and separate histories. On these journeys, covering a wider geographic and ethnic range, Horwitz finds more room to spread his reportorial wings, and the results can be hilarious.
   
   He is also often joined by an often-drunk Australian friend (Horwitz is married to an Australian and lived there for a few years), and the interplay between the two and the sights and people they meet on the way adds to the insights and insanity that ensues. But throughout the book, Horwitz weaves the background of Cook and his ships, crews, and journeys so that we learn more than we realize.
   
   If you are interested in a more narrowly focused biography of Cook, consider (in addition to the ones Horowitz lists in his biography) Cook : The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook by Nicholas Thomas, which I review there and which came out shortly after Blue Latitudes.



2. Horwitz's gambit is to retrace Cook's voyages as he chronicles his life. It's a good idea, and it's interesting (if depressing) to learn what Cook's stops have turned into. (Tahiti, once a paradise, is now a shabby tourist trap.) Horwitz's own explorations are given equal time to Cook's, which means that the biography of Cook is somewhat less detailed than you might want it to be. But he's an engaging writer.
   
   Check my list, "Books About Explorers," for more recommendations.



3. While this is one of his earlier books, i just discovered this author and love his interplay of current experience and history. As in his other works, a new level of understanding emerges about the earliest interplay of European contact with the native peoples and, unfortunately, the consequences that are with us today. Highly recommended.



4. An author such as Tony Horwitz is a rare find.
   After reading his latest release (as of this review), "A Voyage Long and Strange", I had to backtrack to "Blue Latitudes". Glad I did.
   
   Horwitz' slant to history is savvy with modern day adventure, wit and insight.
   Following in the wake of Captain James Cook's three world voyages of the eighteenth century, the author painstakingly confronts hundreds of present day individuals from several South Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands to better understand the gist and consequences of Cook's discoveries.
   This angle of story-telling makes history entertaining. Not a dull moment.
   
   A plucky, energetic and informative read.



5. 
   
   
   
   
   
   In my research for Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawaii, I read a dozen accounts of Captain James Cook's deadly encounter with the natives of Hawaii in 1779. This included not only the Captains' journal, but that of seaman, John Ledyard, and that of first mate, Lt. King. When Tony Horwitz declared that in Blue Latitudes he would take us boldly where Captain Cook had gone before, I didn't expect to learn anything new. What I found was the most informative, well-researched, fun account of the famous explorer to date. Horwitz likens Cook's three voyages of discovery throughout Polynesia and the Northwest to that of the Startrek's explorations into deep space. His journalistic style and breezy sense of humor keep historical events fresh. I stuck closely to Horwitz account of the events in Kealakekua Bay in the telling of Wai-nani's story. Her first person narrative allows the reader to know what was happening in the Hawaiian culture on the fateful day the navigator lost his life. Controversy over the actual events that took place that week and why rages on, but Horwitz provides an even-handed,thoughtful point of view.
   
   LindaBallouAuthor.com
   Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i-Her Epic Journey

2 comments about K.D. Lang: All You Get Is Me.

1. The life story of a famous singer.
   
   Even if I don't like her music, I like k.d. Having on the odd occasion appeared barefoot on stage, she seems like a decent human being.
   
   A must-read for my sister, Julie, who's going through a very exciting time in her life now.



2. Before Ellen DeGeneres, there was kd lang and Melissa Etheridge who were the most famous "Out" entertainers. This is the only comprehensive biography of kd lang to date. It was published 10 years ago, so it is not current, but it is an excellent, detailed biography, nonetheless. Starr traces Lang's history starting with her childhood, her teenage years, and her struggle to break into the music business. Talented but strongly individualistic and proudly Out, it is not surprising "the Old Boy's Network" in Nashville boycotted lang and her "country punk" music, even though she had great songs, a tremendous voice and a huge fan base. Of course, kd did nothing to endear herself to the country radio DJ's or to the powers-that-be, which is unfortunate.
   
   However, people in the industry thought highly enough of her talent to colloborate with her on albums (most notable is Owen Bradley, Patsy Cline's producer), resulting in powerful and memorable music.
   
   The author presents a well-rounded portrait of kd, noting her flaws and mistakes as well as her triumphs. She writes objectively and clearly about her subject, without going into supermarket, tabloid trashiness that often accompanies biographies about controversial entertainment figures. If you're expecting to find steamy gossip about lang's personal life, thankfully you won't find it here.
   
   It is an articulate and interesting read, but in dire need of an update. Still, it is one of the best lang biographies and I highly recommend it.

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