5 comments about Lindbergh.

1. Found this today at the annual library sale for $1 and now that I have read the reviews on Amazon I am anxious to read it.



2. Excellent. I enjoyed this book because of the ease of reading it. It was very informative and interesting.



3. If you want the most complete look at the life of Charles Lindbergh,then read this book.There are many glowing reviews on [...],about this book.Yet,the section about the famous kidnapping is NOT the full story.You are just getting a good historical account of Colonel Lindbergh,however,from an outsider looking in.I have yet to read a Lindbergh biography that comes as close as to the truth as this book does.Scott Berg did not research enough about the kidnapping,and as well as millions of other biographical book-readers.They just accepted the Bruno Hauptmann guilty verdict. World War Two is long over.And the Anti-German hysteria is mostly forgotten,by modern Americans. Lindbergh accepted Hauptmann's guilt because Bruno was a former Berlin communist,who helped kidnapp the Berlin burgermeister's infant son.And for ransom.When Hauptmann jumped off the 'Friedrich der Grosse',he swam to shore.He married Anna Schuffeler,who worked at Frederiksen's Bakery.Hauptmann invested heavily in the stock market,during the 1920s.And reaped the benefits,of the easy profits.Then Wall Street laid on egg,and Hauptmann's goose was cooked.Hauptmann's business partner ,Isidore Fish,also lost everything.These former left-wing radikals turned American capitalists may have discussed Lindbergh's fortune. Fish may have hatched the plan to kidnapp America's number one eaglet,the Lindbergh Baby. Fish died of TB ,a short time after the March 1st,1932 kidnapping.Hauptmann alone faced the electric chair.His only guilt was that of association with Isidore Fish.Updated-12.Jan.2007.=If the decomposed child's remains had a DNA link to Charles Lindbergh,there may be some truth, to the corpse being an illegitimate child of his.Elizabeth Morrow was believed to be a jealous sister-in-law of his.Did they have an unwanted child that Colonel Lindbergh sadly refused to accept?Lindbergh did have three German children from a secret affair.The mistress was a Bavarian milliner. If Dr.Bill Bass of the Knoxville 'Body Farm', does not have any DNA proof,then he is a "Quack".The story thickens.+Updated=June/10/2007 There is another guy that has been claiming he is the real Charles Jr.His website is 'Charleslindberghjr.com' and he was on the coasttocoastam.com show.He may be the real deal and Harold Olson may be the real son of Charles Sr. and Elizabeth Morrow.The direct Lindbergh children,Jon and Reeve, have refused to do DNA testing for him.The story continues.



4. This book is extremely readable, which is why everyone gives it 5 stars. But it fails to mention the fact that Lindbergh fathered at least 3 illegitimate children in Germany in the late 50's-60's. In 2003, 3 German siblings took a DNA test vs. one of Lindbergh's legitimate grandchildren and paternity was proved. Lindbergh kept their mother as a '2d family,' and he possibly fathered others. This book was extremely well-researched, so I can't see how Scott Berg can continue to sell this book without an update that talks about this.



5. ~Lindbergh~ is an astute an well-written biography by acclaimed writer A. Scott Berg. Berg captures the life of this most fascinating character. What unfolds is an amazing tale of the aviator turned adventurer turned statesmen turned war hero.
   
   Aviator Charles Lindbergh, gained acclaim for the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight across Long Island, New York to Paris, France in 1927 in the famed "Spirit of St. Louis." Not long after, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. At the time, Lindbergh was seen as a man of seemingly impeccable character. He became an American hero overnight.
   
   A. Scott Berg casts light on Charles' complex marriage to Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the daughter of the famed J.P. Morgan investment banker. His marriage had its ups and downs due to his indiscretions, and it was not a fairy-tale marriage by any stretch of the imagination. Though, public perception certainly believed the marriage as a storybook romance in 1927. Berg also illustrates how tragedy hit the Lindbergh family and the whole nation in 1932 with sensitivity.
   
   Lindbergh, being an acclaimed aviator, was invited to Germany in the 1930s, where he subsequently received a medal. It was an opportunity that intrigued him, for the Germans were renowned for their innovation in aeronautics. With the approval of Nazi chieftains Hermann Goering and Ernst Udet, Lindbergh was permitted to inspect and tour German Luftwaffe facilities, and view some of their latest innovations such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Junkers Ju 88. He became enamored of German aviation technology not coincidentally thereafter. He believed that German aviation was superior to that of the Americans and British. Why? Probably, because it was. His trip to Germany, however, soon soiled his reputation, particularly after 1939, despite the fact that Lindbergh returned the commendation awarded by the German government. When misguided historians like Max Wallace present Lindbergh as a Nazi sycophant, he conveniently forgets, either out of ignorance or obfuscation, that Lindbergh came to Germany at the urgent request of the U.S. military attaché at the American embassy in Berlin. The military attaché was charged with learning everything possible about Germany's new warplanes. In other words, Lindbergh was covertly providing U.S. intelligence, and playing off of his reputation as an aviator of international fame to gain a warm reception by the Germans. He might not have brought back stolen 1:6 scale airplane models from the hangar offices and secret James Bond snapshot pictures, but he was doing his country a service nonetheless.
   
   His political odyssey took some strange turns, and it put him at the helm of the American First Committee which pressed the case for keeping the United States neutral and out of World War II with Germany. While his patriotism and motives have been brought into question, Berg gives us a few reasons not to question Lindbergh's sincerity. When the war began, Lindbergh was quick to uphold his honor, and be a part of the Army Air Corps unofficially. Unfortunately, being the bitter partisan, President FDR, stripped him of his opportunity to fly in dress ranks, and he flew unofficially as a contractor. But Lindbergh earned much success dogfighting against Japanese over the Pacific. He was denied his deserved commendations because of politics.
   
   This book is a marvelous journey into the life of aviator Charles Lindbergh. Berg sculptures a sensitive and astutely written account of the life of this acclaimed American. If read, in tandem with Lindbergh's on autobiographical journal "The Spirit of St. Louis," one can certainly get a fascinating picture of his life. The superb prose is matched by the fascinating insights of the author who had direct access to the Lindbergh family's personal archives.

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 Life and Work of Marcel Proust (Naxos Audio).

5 comments about Every Breath You Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder.

1. I have never been disappointed by an Ann Rule book. All are page turners. Though, this is not one of my favorite books from her, it will still have you up reading late. Also try "Stranger Beside Me" and "Small Sacrifices".



2. Of course, Sheila Bullush said that if she was murdered that Ann Rule should write a book about it. For Ann Rule, she kept a promise from an unknown woman. This book is about the troubled marriage that ended in a nasty divorce. Her former husband can't let her go without her. It's more of a male ego and pride than anything else. She left him, divorced him, remarried, and gave birth to quadruplets (4 babies at a time) with the help of fertility treatments. She also had two daughters from a prior marriage, the nasty one. Sheila is murdered but she thought she was safe from her ex. We read about how the four babies are found with their mother's blood on them. Her husband had hired a hitman to kill her. I feel sorry for her two older daughters who loved their father and torn in a nasty divorce. One of them reluctantly revealed the location of their mother's whereabouts. After all, they didn't think their father would go so far. Regarding Sheila, I don't know much to make a judgment about her. She was a fan of Ann Rule but she was torn, troubled, and always hiding and living in constant fear of an ex-husband from hell. I have sympathy and empathy for her second husband who became her widower and the father of four young children.



3. This book is filled with extraneous stuff that could have well been left out. I've loved all the other Rule books I've read, but this one was a real let down for me. It would have been good being half as long.
   
   I think it would have been better not written at all, and possibly the request by the victim to have Anne write it clouded her better judgement.



4. It wasn't as good as the Bundy book, but I personally thought it was better then "Small Sacrifices." I didn't think it was too long, but there were points where Ann Rule would spend pages describing characters in the book that weren't all that important. Use the character definition page in the beginning of the book to get through it.
   
   Overall, a really great book, definately a page turner. I highly recommend.



5. This story was about the murder of Sheila Blackthorne and her subsequent life with her husband, Alan Blackthorne. While it is important to present some background information on the characters, was it really necessary for the reader to be confronted with such a lengthy history on Alan and Sheila's parents and grandparents? There was so much information on their ancestors that the reader became distracted at times and had to refocus attention on the subjects of the book (Alan and Sheilia). The book was heavily padded. For example, I was not the least bit interested in the background and career path of the lead detective on the case...I mean, why would we care that he started out on highway patrol and eventually promoted to Texas Ranger? Come on, he was an incidental character in a story so much larger than his role in it. Why Ann Rule felt it necessary to include so much information on these secondary characters is beyond any explanation I can think of. I would rather have known what made Sheila such a passive personality...why didn't she leave Alan after he'd bankrupted her parents...after he'd killed a motorcyclist while she was in the car with him? She seemed a bit of a ghost in the story; we should have been given a clearer representation of who Sheila really was. This story could easily have been told in 300 pages rather than 680. All that aside, the story itself was absolutely riveting. Sheila's life with Alan and the gradual unfolding of his diabolical personality made the reader want more, but chapter after chapter you were let down by boring details of Alan's golfing, details about Danny Rocha's (his accomplice)wife, kids, and auntie. Nevertheless, if you can get past the extraneous use of detail it's a pretty good read with all of the classic absorbing true crime elements--greed, obsession, lies, betrayal, murder.

No comments about Karstens Way Audio Cassette.

5 comments about Dry: A Memoir.

1. This was a great book. Augusten Burroughs has such a great narrative style and you immediately feel like you know him, as if you're friends. I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days (would have in one if I didn't have to stop for meals and work!). Highly recommended!



2. The fact that I finished this book in one day *probably* indicates that I enjoyed it. Indeed, the only novels that I recall where I truly laughed my head off were from chick-lits, trivial as that may sound. But, really, Burroughs has managed to be disarmingly droll while being frightfully honest and self-deprecating. I can't attest if that's from being gay, the result of coming from a dysfunctional family, or perhaps from working in advertising (in New York, no less).
   
   What made this story interesting for me was the way he narrated his excruciating battle with alcoholism, that even someone who doesn't suffer from that ailment can actually empathize with him. Definitely he refrained from being too long-winded about it, avoiding the pitfall of letting his story become boring or monotonous--his cracks about himself, his fellow addicts, down to the closet case that is his boss, openly drew chuckles from me. There was enough balance of falling into bouts of introspection as well as allowing the story to progress via the lively dialogues with the equally captivating secondary characters--the tragedy that is Pighead, the complexity and apparent exceptionality that is Foster, and the oddity namely Greer, among others. A guilty enjoyment for me as well was the encounter with the German advertising client who unwittingly provokes the imagination of Augusten to spout Nazi stereotypes.
   
   Unexpected, though, was the striking insight into repressed emotions and the ability of a person to love another despite seemingly insurmountable flaws. Augusten's relationships perfectly capture what I think is a quintessentially urban tendency of people nowadays to tirelessly compensate for what they think they are missing in life. In a way, this novel shows how cheerless that condition is, and, at the same time, be unafraid of what is, after all, a price for being human.
   
   Augusten's narration of what his childhood was, the blatant abandonment he experienced from his parents, the perversion done to him as a teenager, makes the reader in turns awed and morbidly fascinated with the man that he has become. There were times our protagonist was readily aware of his shortcomings--from keeping up with the AA meetings to juggling his relationships with Pighead and Foster--and if those weren't uncomfortable enough, the reader is also made cognizant of his glaring denials about how he was living his life, pre- and post-rehab.
   
   I highly recommend this novel. Whether one is seeking an understanding of alcoholism, or simply in want of a refreshing, entertaining read--granted it's peeking into the "memoirs" of a self-confessed mess--this story will take you from laughs to sadness, hope to sorrow. (and back again). Without a doubt, this work proves that Burroughs is an Original.



3. This book is much better than Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs' prequel to this book. Thankfully there weren't any graphic sex scenes but there seemed to be a realness about what he was saying. I enjoyed it.
   I'm not saying it was my favorite book ever, but it wasn't bad.



4. I read Running with Scissors and found it shocking, almost embarrassing and worried that people would be reading over my shoulder on the metro. But it was great and left me feeling shocked that someone could be raised that way and still turn out relatively normal. Dry was extremely witty, scary, sad, exciting, anger provoking, thought provoking, startling, comforting, and truly enjoyable to read. I found myself impatient for my subway ride home and not caring who might be reading over my shoulder. At the end of the read I decided to go purchase the rest of Augusten's memoirs because I just love his brand of humor and wit and sense of irony and sarcasm. He's, umm, dare I say it, addicting.



5. Augusten Burroughs never ceases to amaze. This is by far my favorite book of his. The writing is terrific, the story is captivating. I couldn't put it down. The characters are so real, and even if alcohol isn't you thing, you can identify something in your life that has taken over and relate.
   
   One of my favorite lines comes from a passage where he is describing an ex boyfriend of his. He says,
   
   "He's like this incredibly beautiful Van Gogh painting with slashes all through it. True, it's a Van Gogh. But look at those slashes."
   
   That line made me identify with someone in my own life and helped me realize that sometimes we have to let people go because no matter how much we love them, we cannot make them whole. It actually helped me set aside someone I had been unable to leave behind.
   
   This book is a terrific read. Go out and pick it up. Don't get it from the library- bo buy it. You'll end up buying it anyway.

5 comments about Amy Fisher My Story.

1. My what a few years does for Amy. Her new book is so much better than this one. I think we can all forgive her tresspasses since Joey's wife has forgiven her.



2. "Amy Fisher: My Story", shows how a young sixteen year-old got trapped into a prostitution ring; an adulterous affair; and an eventual crime charge. It is easy for one to absord all the negative press; however, after reading this book, one sees an innocent sixteen year-old that was taken advantage of by an older man's charm. She fell for his charm's sweet-toned voice and false love for her. It was this false love that made the fall of Amy Fisher. I related to her book because I was once taken advantage of in my former Amish religion. I know how easy it is when you are young and inexperienced in the world. You keep hearing things like a tape-recorder. Then they become reality. If you want to know the real Amy, buy the book. I also recommend her new book, "If I Knew Then." For Amy is now a wonderful mother and a wife.
   Teresa Phillips,
   Author of, "Leaving Lancaster County."



3. They picked a great actress to recite Amy's book in authentic Lawn GUY-land dialect. Indescribably hillarious! BUY IT!!!



4. Have you ever wondered what Amy Fisher was thinking? If so, this is the book to read. She tells you exactly what she was thinking and when she was thinking it. She doesn't sugar coat it. I thought the story was well written and very insightful. Highly recommended.



5. The thing about this book, is, Fisher tries to come across as someone
   with more knowledge about why people act the way they do, than she actually has.
   Frustrating read.

5 comments about Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles.

1. personally, i like the fact he admits to not enjoying the corp, he told the truth, instead of writing a book about how much he was toughest guy in the world and he loved everyday of the corp, he admitted to fear and hate.he curses non stop in the book, but it is written by a marine. he's a real man, he told the truth. he dident wright this book for praise, he wrote it cause he loves to wright.



2. Boring, laced with profanity, raunchiness, whiny, so I find it difficult to relate to this author. He seems like a cry baby to me, and not very intelligent. The book is written to make it seem more than it is, which isn't very much at all. And the constant attempt to make everything poetic is very annoying and an obvious filler technique. This book just sucks! The worst personal perspective war book I think exist. I have no idea how this became a movie, but then there are plenty of stupid movies made all the time.



3. Text Review: Jarhead
   Reviewer: Jessica
   
   This historical fiction novel, Jarhead by Anthony Swofford, is in part historically accurate but also embellished in the detail for story sake. The recollection of the events of the war in the story, when the main character Anthony told them, mentioned Saddam Hussein's overrun of Kuwait and their oil, mentioned the massive international deployment to the Arabian Peninsula and the air raid against Iraq. Anthony chronologically reiterated these historical events, but at the same time detailed aspects of his life. Jarhead is more of the story about Anthony in the war as a soldier than about the war itself.
   
   This novel is written from the perspective of a marine. From start to finish the reader follows Anthony on his journey through boot camp to the frontline and back home. As a reader we connect with his emotions and understand the emotional and physical pressure subdued to these men that sign over their lives to fight for US safety. By having this perspective the historical event of the Gulf War is brought down to a level that is more understandable to the mass public. The public can connect with the chain of events through Anthony's character. The only down fall is that there is a biased on how to view the war. To Anthony he was very apprehensive about going to war a felt he was obligated to enlist; through a historians perspective we are only given the facts and not personal feelings.
   
   A historical fiction novel gives a reader a very basic understanding of history. Unlike that of a text book, in novels the focus is on the characters and their reactions and their emotion struggles. Usually these types of novels are about specific moments in history and cover very brief time frames and specific events. Jarhead is one of those novels; we obtain the basic idea of the gulf war and its reasoning behind it, but mainly are focused on Anthony's life and his adventure through the desert. The reader will connect with the situation and understand more what a marine feels and thinks as they walk through the harsh desert, withstand the brutally cold nights and push through the open fire dodging bullets. If the reader does not know about the war prior to reading this novel the most they will be educated on is what and when the war happened. Historically the events are accurate but not a main focus.
   
   This book is highly acclaimed and gratefully appreciated. The connection with Anthony develops throughout the story and the reader grows to love and care for this marine. I would recommend this book to those who have been through what Anthony has and to those who want to further understand the life of a marine. On a scale of 1-5, I would rate this book a 3 for the detail and the emotional bond built while reading.



4. Jarhead by Anthony Swofford, is the memoir of a former U.S. Marine sniper during the first Gulf War in 1991. It's a very intelligent and humorous look at military life for a new generation. Swofford was stationed in Saudi Arabia, at the northern most area right behind Kuwait for more than six months before the short-lived combat started. This was called "Operation Desert Shield", as to shield the massive oil wells of Saudi Arabia from the Iraqi Republic Guard. As you know, the actual combat, "Operation Desert Storm" started in January and was over in late February.



5. Jarhead is a fantastic read! It is a glimpse into the everyday life of Marine in Desert Storm. The book is pure raw emotion. You get the chance to move to the front lines with a Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition or S.T.A sniper and see the war through his eyes. It provides an honest glimpse into what sometimes happens to these heroes after the war, the forgotten part of most war books. This book also has some hilarious parts.

5 comments about Black Boy - ABRIDGED.

1. Every time I read a book about the plight of blacks in the South in the early part of the 20th century as Jim Crow society solidified I have to shutter in disgust. I have just finished reading communist Harry Haywood's autobiography Black Bolshevik. I have read Malcolm X's words on the fate of his forebears in the post-bellum South and now I have read Richard Wright's autobiographical sketch Black Boy. I will make no defense of the unequal treatment of blacks in the North. There is none. However, Wright's descriptions of the physical and psychological damage, as presented by his own experiences of Jim Crow, done to blacks by Southern whites are positively feudal. There was no room for illusions about the goodness of humankind in that world. To believe so was to face personal humiliation, or worst-the lynching tree.
   
   Wright, after great personal struggle within himself, is able to reflect on his experiences and to articulate the effect that Jim Crow had on him as a black, as a man, as a human being. It was not pretty. One can only image the fate of those less articulate than brother Wright as they try to comprehend a world not of their making but which they early on must learn to navigate. The description of this grinding struggle is heart of the first part of the book.
   
   Wright goes back to the mist of time in his early youth to dissect the hunger, psychological as well as physical, than never was far from his door; the effects on him of a sick and helpless mother; of an absent ne'er-do-well father; and, an overbearing and religiously-driven grandmother on his early development. And those are just the problems in the house. Once Wright steps outside those comparably comfortable confines he faces the outside world of Mississippi reality that he must put on a mask in order to survive in a world that will literarily cut him down if he does not learn the code. Although Wright gives many examples of how this system robbed blacks of their personality the most graphic descriptions, by far, are those that deal with the need to have to put on the mask when whites are around. And the consequences if one did not.
   
   And what of the great escape to the North (via Memphis) to Chicago-the Promised Land that forms the basis for the second part of the book? We have seen that urban story portrayed in other locales as well, for example, in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Claude Brown's Man-Child in The Promised Land. That is where my statement about the treatment, or rather mistreatment, of blacks in the North comes into play. In effect, Wright articulates the contours of a psychological feudalism in the North where the special oppressions of blacks as a race are met with indifference by whites. What makes Wright's case special is that through self-education and willpower he breaks out of the endless and destructive turning in on oneself to articulate his experiences and those of other blacks like him displaced from the rural life of the South to the uncertainties of urban life.
   
   On the face of it seems incongruous that Wright would find a solution to his angst in the American Communist Party during the heyday of the `third period' in the early 1930's. I have mentioned elsewhere, most recently in my review of Harry Haywood's Black Bolshevik (part of which also deals with this period in the American party), that on reading memoirs and autobiographies of the older generations of radicals and revolutionaries I am looking for the spark that broke them from the norms of bourgeois society. I have found that there is a great range of reasons from racial and class hatreds to intellectual curiosity. I find that in the end that Wright's relationship to communism, not without some bumps and bruises along the way, came from intellectual curiosity as much as any sense of racial or class injustice.
   
   In Chicago, in many ways the embryonic black proletarian core of the country in this period, Wright continued his struggle for physical daily survival and for intellectual understanding. His fortuitous linking up with the local John Reed Club helped, at least initially, stabilize his intellectual life. His description of the inner workings of the Communist Party and its role in its own front group creations, like the Reed Club, jibes with other accounts that I have read. The tremendous pressures to conform to party life and the party line are chilling for what, in the final analysis, was a voluntary political organization and not a cult. Moreover, one of the characters portrayed in this section bears a striking resemblance to the above-mentioned very real Harry Haywood. Wright's take on Haywood is very, very different from how old Harry portrayed himself in his autobiography. Surprise.
   
   One of the charges brought against Wright by fellow black party members was that he was an intellectual. Self-taught, yes, but an intellectual nevertheless. One would think that recruiting such a fairly rare person, black or white, would have had the comrades spinning cartwheels. No so in Wright's case. Tremendous pressure was placed on him to conform to party dictates. Or else. This seems counter-intuitive. The relationship between communism and intellectuals and artists has always been a somewhat rocky one. But know this-then and today we need as many intellectuals as we can get our hands on to write, think and lead the struggles of humankind. Ignorance never did anyone any good. Enough said on that. If you want to get a real feel for what that old expression Mississippi God Damn from Nina Simone's song really meant read this well written and thoughtful book.



2. I ordered this book because it was on my nephews book-report list. It's a good book. But it is full of bad language. I think it's an adult book--with a very compelling story. But completely not for kids. I know kids hear bad language all the time. But to have it presented to them by a 'trusted' adult--gives it a kind of condoning that it doesn't need.



3. The best autobiography EVER, in fact I am not even sure it should be called autobiography because it is much more than that for many reasons. Autobiographies are often flat and either self pitying or glorifying, but this one is completely at another level. I was so impressed by the brilliant mind that shines through all obsacles, and his writing is just so natural, logical and insightful, not just about his personal life experiences, but about human suffering, senseless oppression, and unyiedling human spirit. Wow!



4. Often when you see books written about the life of black people in any point and time before the 1960's its main message is "My life was hard because white people are terrible," and that gets very redundant. However this was quite refreshing, as he did not harp on racism on every page. This is a very well written and intresting account of this man's unique life experiences and all the strange, crazy people he encountered within his family and outside them as well. People who have a few or several nuts on their family tree will be able to relate to Black Boy.



5. I read Black Boy years ago and wanted to refresh my memory of the book. The author has a way of taking you into his world. I was rivited to the pages as I was all those years ago when I first read the book. I would recommend this book to anyone, young or old.

5 comments about Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis.

1. This is a great story about life told with a lot of information about fly fishing included. If you are a die-hard Republican and can't take a few barbs, don't bother and buy it, otherwise buy it and you will have trouble setting the book down. After reading it, I feel like I knew his good friend Dick Blaylock, a true champion for the outdoors.



2. Really good fishing stories which are ,unfortunately, injected with liberal politics. Why did he have to do that? Apparently he doesn't know that people fish to get away from things like politics.
   
   Would have been close to a 5 rating without the political stuff.



3. This book puts it all together, lifes high and low spots, our successes and failures, and the drive to overcome the challenges presented by these situations. It makes one realize that there is a degree of "The Redneck Way" in all of us.



4. Howell Raines' "Fly Fishing Through the Mid Life Crisis" is a pretty good read full of the wisdom of fly fishing, friendship and coming to terms with one's mortality. He also gives a brief history of fly fishing in New England with some of the greats of the sport like Bob Closuer and Lefty Kreh. It was an enjoyable read but could have been just as good without his political commentary. I could have done without his endless praise of past Democratic Presidents and disdain for the Republic ones. It has a definite liberal bias that took away form the main point of the text, the joy of the pursuit of fly fishing and how it made his life better. I would rate it a six on a scale of ten.



5. A coworker of mine let me borrow this book to read...because he knew I liked fly fishing books. I think I could have very easily put this book down and not finished reading it. I really do not care to spend my free time reading about politics but it's 4 degrees outside and my flyline keeps freezing to the ground so I decided to continue on. What I found was an author who learns how to come to terms with his mortality through the death of a close friend. I think if he had listened to his preacher as a child instead of shunning him he might not have wasted so much of his life fearing death. If you're looking for a book to help solve your mid-life crisis I wouldnt read this book. Try reading the Bible. I'm giving this book 1 star because it's a flyfishing book and another star for the recipes which I may try some day.