5 comments about Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps.

1. My family was also sent to internment camps, actually some of the same ones as this author. We came from the same beloved Vashon. Being a child of a parental figure who came from that era and having had aunts and uncles, grandparents and great grandparents who had lived that experience but never spoken of it, this book has opened my eyes and helped me understand the severity of it all. I can understand now the turmoil emotionally and physically that they under went. I cried with this author. For even today, in this wide spread nation, I can still see the ripples of underlying current made from this time period and the choices made by our leaders. This is a wonderful book. You'll learn something, and if you don't, you should ask yourself some hard questions.



2. A must. Extremely readable. Should be required reading for Junior or High School students. Evokes a sense of what it felt like to be Japanese during that infamous time.



3. I loved this book. As a Sansei, 3rd generation Japanese in America, I learned so much from reading this book. Both of my parents were interned during the war, but in all these years, they've only shared bits and pieces or vague generalities of their own experiences. Reading Mary Matsuda's vivid and detailed account of her own experience gave me a much greater appreciation and understanding of this traumatic, stressful period, along with a better understanding of basic Japanese customs and beliefs that have guided my own life. It has been a powerful step towards better understanding my own family's history, and I so appreciate that this story was shared by the author. It was beautifully written. I highly recommend this book to all.



4. I'm a history buff of sorts and alsways looking for books on American History. I've just started reading this book and it is already very interesting. We need to know how our citizens felt when they were treated like the enemy. We don't want to do it again.



5. I agree completely with Cindy Lee's July 12 review of this book. I am also a sansei (3rd generation Japanese-American), and have heard only bits and pieces of my parents experience in the internment camp. The other bits and pieces I heard about these camps when in school were that they were for the "protection" of the Japanese who had migrated to this country and that it was a "good" thing.
   
   Even though this happened back in the 1940's, it was very frustrating and angering for me to read the account of how people of Japanese ancestry were deprived of all their rights just because of that ancestry, and also because they could be more easily identified by their physical appearance than the German or Italian people. You can see the same situation brewing now with people of Middle-Eastern descent.
   
   Ms. Gruenewald puts us right in the scene with her and her family as they undergo evacuation to the camps, and make do the best they can when they are forced to live there for several years.
   
   I would also like to say that I felt the author tried to be objective in her writings. Her feelings are expressed very well, but she does not let it degenerate into a black and white, one side is all good and the other side is all bad portrayal. There are good and bad guys on both sides, and she also does a good job of pointing out the conflicts within the internees as far as loyalties. This was a very difficult time for everyone and decisions were not easily made. Ms. Gruenewald gets that across in her narrative. She does not try to incite the readers by making anything overly dramatic, she simply tells what she saw and experienced, along with how she felt about it, and I am appreciative of her account. Very well done.
   
   On a side note: there is a reference to her website at the end of the book, but beware - it has been identified as a site that downloads viruses onto your computer. This was announced to me by my Firefox browser, which then allowed me to skip the page. Internet Explorer, which is not so secure, allowed me to visit the site at which time my anti-virus software warned me that the site was attempting to download viruses onto my computer, and it blocked them. Hopefully the author can get this remedied because I would like to visit the site and see what else she has to say.

5 comments about Blood, Money & Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K..

1. The author opens with a detailed biography of Lyndon Johnson that removes the veneer of 'presidentiality' from Johnson and shows him as a greedy, fearful, mean man with an all-consuming need for power. McClellan then builds his case against Johnson by describing events earlier in Johnson's life in which foul acts were performed for a momentary advantage. Quite a bit of detail is provided about the stuffing of the ballot box which allowed Johnson to win his seat in the US Senate in 1948 and also about the murder of the USDA inspector, Henry Marshall, who was on the trail of fraud being perpetrated on the Department of Agriculture. The original investigation found that Marshall had committed suicide...with five bullets in his body delivered by a close Johnson associate, Mac Wallace. Another murder victim was Doug Kinser who was threatening to bring scandal to Johnson. Mac Wallace was then convicted of killing Kinser but, thanks to Johnson's power over the Texas legal system, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and given a suspended sentence.
   
   It is Wallace that the author alleges was one of the trigger men in the sniper's nest along with Oswald. As proof, the author matches a fingerprint found on a box in the sniper's nest with one of Wallace's earlier fingerprints obtained for the Kinser murder to place Wallace on the 6th floor of the School Book Depository. The author provides a lot of other interesting information such as pointing out that it was Johnson who arranged for Kennedy to visit Texas on November 22, 1963 and that Johnson had given a copy of the Secret Service plans for protecting the president to the conspirators.
   
   McClellan also claims that there was a third trigger man on the grassy knoll who he does not identify and he claims that the conspirators wore suits and used fake Secret Service badges to identify themselves to police and escape the scene after the shooting. There is some credibility to this as many of the shooting eye witnesses and police officers reported encountering secret service agents in Dealey Plaza after the shooting and yet the Warren Commission established that not a single secret service agent was present in Dealey Plaza other than those riding on vehicles. One of the weaker parts of the book is where McClellan claims that the entire conspiracy was the work of a crooked Johnson lawyer named Ed Clark. It seems much more likely that the conspiracy was large enough that the lawyer Clark was working closely with other a handful of rogue agents from the CIA and the secret service and that the final conspiracy was a 'team' effort.
   
   This is an interesting book that fleshes out a lot of missing pieces of the assassination puzzle and makes some of the earlier stuff attributed to Johnson, such as his phone call to the Parkland Hospital ER seeking a dying confession from Oswald, much more believable.
   
   After reading this book, you will never again look the same way at the famous photo of Johnson getting a wink from Congressman Albert Thomas on board Air Force One after being sworn in as the president following Kennedy's killing.



2. Strange book; it starts off promisingly but then moves from factual data to 'faction' and at that point becomes riddled with errors and unnecessary speculation. If McClellan had just stuck to the facts of what he knew this would have been a far more credible book.



3. I've read quite a few books on the JFK assassination. This one makes the most sense to me. The book doesn't go into a lot of technical detail like the ballistics, Zapruder Film, witnesses, medical evidence, etc. I think that trying to "prove" who carried out the assassination using physical evidence is problematic at this point in time, because so much of it has been altered, stolen, or just disappeared. Several researchers even say that the Zapruder film has been altered. The only evidence the author uses is a fingerprint found on the 6th floor of the TBD that doesn't match Oswald's. A fingerprint expert does match the print to someone named Mac Wallace. You will have to read the book to find out who Mac Wallace was. Most of the book deals with LBJ from his early days up to the assassination. The author describes how LBJ uses power and political contacts to pull off the crime of the century. This may be the last book on the JFK assasination you will need to read.



4. I hope that being the son-in-law of Page Keeton (expert on Torts law and U of Texas Law School Dean) lends credibility to this tome of LBJ's involvement with the men and actions surrounding JFK's death. It's interesting that so many lawyers would be involved, but who better to help cover the tracks of the conspirators? If I had not seen the History Channel's The Men Who Killed Kennedy: The Guilty Men, I might have gotten lost in the myriad of names and dates. I wanted the Audible version but the reviews said the written book was better as the author (not a professional reader) read his own work. Recommended for conspiracy theorists and JFK buffs.



5. This book is almost as phony as his son's recent book about President Bush. I guess making things up and lying for money runs in the family. Can't wait until he sells the film rights to Oliver "Che" Stone.

5 comments about Could It Be Forever?: My Story.

1. The book arrived on Saturday around 1-ish, and I opened it after dinner. I finished it by 7:30 pm Monday night. I could not put it down! I, the web addict did not turn on my PC, except to check messages during the entire time I was engrossed in the book! And totally engrossed I was!
   
   It's an honest open account of David's life. It's well written and keeps the reader engaged. What I mean by that is that you get the information, the story in good detail but not so much that you get bored. Seriously, I felt that a 13-16 year old me was right there with David on the set, on the stage and behind the scenes.
   
   Reading about his painful childhood made me just want to reach out and give the guy a big old hug.
   
   I have not read the first book, but I would recommend this to anyone and everyone who gazed into those bedroom eyes that graced those posters so long ago.
   
   I enjoyed the snippets from other people that were put into the book. Loved Henry Diltz' (who I admire as a photographer), account of the photo that Gina Lollobrigida shot of David. Nude with all of that fruit....LOL!
   
   The only thing that did bother me is that I would have liked him to explain in better detail his relationship with Katie. I was a bit confused by a few gaps there:
   
   1) He says he was hit with a paternity suit, and that he borrowed money to pay support, but did not elaborate further. Was he there for the birth of the child? Was he part of her life? Did he have visitation when she was young?
   
   2) He does mention Katie near the end of the book. Says that they have had a good relationship for the past few years, that he supported her financially until she was 19, but still does not really elaborate.
   
   3) He speaks of Beau's birth as if he were becoming a father for the first time...left me kind of wondering just what the deal was with Katie.
   
   But then maybe his daughter and her mom were not comfortable with him discussing such details publically? If that were the case, it would have nice for him to just say so instead of leaving gaps in that story that may leave the reader confused.
   
   That is my only gripe about it. If you were, as my mom used to say 'Cassidy crazy' back in those glorious days of old then order this book and read it!
   
   It will take you back...(let's face it..we are all either in our 50's or nearing that age and our memories ain't so hot anymore...).
   
   It will also let you see beyond the cute buns in the white jumpsuit and into the young man who wore it.
   
   It will take you on the roller coaster ride that was David Cassidy's life. What a ride it seems it was.....super highs and rocky lows. Made me happy to have led a 'normal' life.
   
   It will let you see David Cassidy as he is now...as we all are now..older, wiser, settled.
   
   An awesome read...go for it!



2. I had the pleasure of meeting David Cassidy in 2002 after one of his concerts near Syracuse, New York. He's everything I imagined him to be-- kind, sincere and just plain wonderful. That said, if you are a fan of David's, or even if you're just interested in reading his book out of curiosity, then by all means, purchase this book. It's worth every dollar. They did a nice job on the photos-- some of the captions are in David's handwriting (die-hard fans recognize his handwriting). A section of his older photos are in black & white and a section of more recent photos are in color.
   
   I also liked the excerpts included in David's book-- thoughts & comments by his wife Sue, closest friends, colleagues, etc. I really liked reading about the love story between David and his wife Sue. He wrote about his Mom, Evelyn Ward and his father, Jack Cassidy. He wrote about so many things that were very interesting. After reading this book, I was glad that I'm not famous. He told things the way they were back in the early 70's, at the height of his fame. Its remarkable how he kept his sanity through the madness.
   
   David still has a huge, loyal fan base and that is quite evident when you attend his concerts. The fans' love for David and his appreciation for his fans is enduring. YES, DAVID, IT COULD BE FOREVER!



3. We purchased this book for a friend who is a big David Cassidy fan. I'm sure he will enjoy it. Amazon's service was very professional and the book was delivered promptly, in good condition.



4. This book was well worth the read, I loved it, the honesty and feed back from his family members were great. You will enjoy this book if you grew up watching david on tv and listening to his music.



5. Kind of boring and a bit whiney - half the book has a "poor David" tone to it - his parents were jealous of his success, other people lost his money, he didn't get recognition for his talent and none of the magazines ran stories about the real David.
   Well if this is the real David, then who could blame them - the teen idol was way more interesting.
   He's worked with a huge range of actors through his career, but offers hardly any insights on what they were like to work with. He skips over other key periods and details too - covering his first marriage (to actress Kay Lenz) in about two pages and his second marriage in even less! Plus there is way too much detail about writing/producing songs with people that really isn't that interesting.

5 comments about In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams.

1. I loved Tahir Shah's previous books. I'm a fan...actually, WAS a fan. Tahir has misrepresented this book, has no one noticed there was only, uh, a handful of actual stories in this book? Mostly it's a whiny expat account of his inability to fully integrate into his adopted homeland. He would describe, build up a story, but NOT tell it...and then go on about his quest to find another story...and then NOT tell it...and on and on. I got nothing. just read his previous book and save yourself time and money. I was frustrated.



2. Given me as a gift by someone who traveled to Morocco last year, this became one of our most valued pieces of insight into this unique culture. Morocco is a land with feet in both ancient and modern times. As indicated by the book, the Morocco we encountered showed us genuine and heartfelt care and hospitality, and a value system not unlike that of Judeo-Christian culture. But the greatest treat in this book is the inter-weaving of stories that describe life, lessons and humanity. This book will have a permanent place on our bookshelf and be enjoyed again in the future. Fresh, candid, and funny, too.



3. Would you like to be transported on a magic carpet ride through the mysteries and magic of Morocco? Then read In Arabian Nights. I loved Shah's last book, The Caliph's House, and was thrilled to discover he has written another. And I wasn't disappointed. I read it slowly, savoring his exquisite writing like a delicious tajine (Moroccan stew for those who haven't tasted one).



4. This latest of Tahir Shah's books brings to mind his father's own works, though clearly from a different and unique person with the gentle wisdom of his father housed in an apparently mad, obsessed adventurer. Surfaces are often misleading, and underneath the funny, interesting, exciting, puzzling, touching surface of this book is a way of seeing and feeling and experiencing that is wonderful.
   
   The author's own growth and development are on display along with fast moving, ever changing imagery and crisp almost unnoticed writing. With him the story is the thing. Read this book and then read his others.



5. In Arabian Nights: A caravan of Moroccan dreams, Tahir Shah - Mr. Shah continues from where he left off at The Caliph's House: A year in Casablanca ... and the result is as uneven as that book was. The plague that haunted Mr. Shah in Caliph's House strikes here as well: untied loose ends, veering off an account just as when it was becoming interesting, etc. The book is a journey about a story -- every person has a story that is close to his or her heart. Finding that story is the hard part. Mr. Shah does indeed find the story, but guess what? The reader has no idea what it was! One aspect that struck me -- put me off, really -- was the almost feverent view of the author that anything to do with the Oriental culture is far more superior to the Occidental one. Thus we are treated to many reasons why Oriental culture is better -- some that I can still recall are depths of friendship; the treatment of guests; deep in-depth knowledge of things, not the superficial "expert" label that everyone sports in the west; strict adherence to principles, etc. -- all things that the west can (and should) readily learn from the east. Brushed aside almost indifferently are the instances where the east can learn from the west: things like not marrying off young girls to old men, or learning to go to the police if oppressed. The one sided romantic view of Mr. Shah was almost too much to take, more so since it appears that his only mode of income was coming from the west through the sale of his book! Mr. Shah can be a great writer -- his earlier work, Sorcerer's Apprentice was simply marvelous. Chances are that I will still read his next novel, but this one was a bit disappointing. (March 2008).

5 comments about To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian.

1. Very good book of brief compilations by a premier historian. What I liked most about many of his brief writings was that Ambrose introduced many contrary, often undiscussed sides of various historical events in history. For those of you interested in reading in depth on many US historic topics, this is a good book to see the flip side of many of the "biased" teachings others may discuss on a topic. What mean by biased is the current school of thought on a subject. Many historians write of America's conquests of the continent as taking away and exploiting the native indians. Ambrose introduces another side through his dealings directly with many native Americans namely that the indains in which the land was taken from, had at one time taken that land from others. Another topics is many of present day hold our founding fathers in contempt of being slave holders. Amborse discusses that this was the norm of the time and some of the founding fathers did trouble over this issue. He continues to say in light of this issue, there were many great things these men did that should never be cast in a shadow.Many of his brief writings in this book will be kept in the back of mind as I continue to explore US history and contrast mainstream train of thought as I read further. Ambrose is also a great story teller often bring that personal touch to each subject which greatly helps the reader relate.



2. It is a shame Ambrose died of cancer. I looked forward to his yearly books in the nineties. Although his last book was clearly a very readable book, it is not his best. It is summary history of what he learned throughout his life. He states his dislike for Nixon, but also states that what he did in holding the country together demonstrated his abilities. His admittance of some of his mistakes shows a truly great historian and gentleman.
   
   If you have read his other books, this is basically a rehash of all his other books. Since I have read many of his books, I did not learn much, but it was a pleasure to read his summary history. This was a quick read on a well liked and great author and historian.



3. This is my favorite book by this author, which is saying a lot since I have enjoyed almost everything he has ever written. This particular book was written a couple years prior to when it died and it gives his honest reflections about America's history. I absolutely love this book. It's not a long read and it's so interesting since Stephen E. Ambrose was such a great historian. His reflections are honest and I agree with a lot of what he says. A great book.



4. I have loved many of Ambrose's books, but this one really brought home to me the debt we have to those who went before. He's not afraid to say someone is not absolutely perfect (i.e. Jefferson) or absolutely evil (i.e. Nixon). But what he does show is that the American way, with a sense of right and wrong, has prevailed up to the end of the 20th Century, and by implication, that sense of right and wrong need to be there for us to continue into the 21st Century.
   
   Thank you, Mr. Ambrose, for this goodbye card to America.



5. Stephen E. Ambrose writes in a descriptive and knowledgeable, yet fun tone that continues to draw readers back to each of his compelling books. "To America" is no exception to this as it shows an interesting view on main historical happenings in the United States from foundation to present day. After reading this book I was left with many new details and actualities about our nations' history. Ambrose sheds a new light on historicalfigures such as the Founding Fathers, Nixon, Theodore Roosevelt, and Andrew Jackson. He gives details about battles so descriptive that the reader feels like they could have been there.
   
   As I read "To America", I gained valuable knowledge that was never covered in any history class. Ambrose explains misunderstood ideas of quite a few important people, often going deeply into detail about their lives and careers. Besides obvious stories and events given about America, Ambrose also writes about his own life as an historian and author.
   
   Anyone who reads this book will feel that they have a new set of facts about American History. With each story told, Ambrose gives the facts that are often skipped over in textbooks or lectures. Ambrose ties this book together with a powerful sense of nationalism and American spirit.
   
   I would recommend "To America" to any reader who is looking for a new, more detailed view on U.S. History. I give it a 4 out of 5 because although it is somewhat long, any reader breezes throughwhile enjoying Ambroses confrontation of Americas successes and it failures. The reader also is able to much better understand the career of a famous and influential historian.

5 comments about A Writer at War: A Soviet Journalist with the Red Army, 1941-1945.

1. I'm very glad I've read this book, because it is truly one of the greatest, if not the greatest eye-witness account of the war on the eastern front. The chapter about the liberation of Dachau and the writer's thoughts about the Holocaust made me shiver, I've read dozens of books on the Holocaust but nobody ever put it to paper like Vassily did. If you haven't read this book, please do. You will never forget it.



2. Parragraphs of intense live experiences on the Eastern Front are interspersed with the introduction and analyses of historian Mr. Beevor. If it had been in a linear sort of narrative, so we could feel the progression of the drama, and we could get used to the comings and goings of our narrator, it would have been a great book. But we have only scattered pieces, fading images of a soul soaked in the pain of war, glimpses of horrors witnessed and stories that remain untold.
   
   It's what it hints at that gives it its precious value: the authenticity and honesty of the man, Grossman. But it lacks a linear storytelling; it leaves a chaotic impression of imprecise locations and hard-to-pronounce names. I'm the first to be sorry about this impression, nevertheless it is what it is. I would have packed the best passages into a short book, made it more concise and more precise.



3. Vasili Semenovich Grossman was a decorated Soviet military journalist best known in the West for his epic novel, Life and Fate (New York Review Books Classics). In 'A Writer at War' editors and translators Anthony Beevor (Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943), an esteemed historian and author in his own right, and Luba Vinogradova, follow Grossman's progression through the war by piecing together stories from his notebooks and writings. At times one would have liked a bit more context to be provided by Beevor, but that is a minor quibble.
   
   Grossman, while still a loyal Communist at this point, managed to maintain a relatively objective viewpoint. He often pushed his editors to allow him to write stories they did not want written, in particular regarding the fate of the Jews in the Ukraine under German occupation and the role of the Ukrainians.
   
   While at time the stories have to be stitched together from bits and pieces, `A Writer at War' is a gold mine and provides a rare view into the inner workings of the Soviet military and Soviet military journalism in particular. Grossman experienced the initial German onslaught and the Russian flight from it, Stalingrad, the tank battle at Kursk, and the death camps. The book includes an extensive article on the workings of the German death camp Treblinka. Earns the highest recommendation.



4. 
   Grossman, most famous for his Tolstoyan work, 'Life and Fate' was, first and foremost, a journalist. He spent the majority of the Second World War on the front lines, witnessing some of the most violent confrontations of the war. He was in Stalingrad, widely acknowledged as the bloodiest battle in history. He was at Kursk, the major tank battle of the war and the military turning point-Stalingrad being the psychologic hinge-of-fate for Nazi Germany's imperialistic and ideological ambitions. He was at Treblinka during it's liberation and in Berlin during the final death-throes of the Nazi beast. In other words, he was an eye-witness to all the major events on the Eastern Front.
   
   This book, cleverly and unobtrusively edited and translated by Vinogradova and Beevor excerpt relevant segments from Grossman's diaries. These wartime diaries were kept at great personal risk, since such activities were prohibited by the Stalin government. While many of the depictions of the attitudes and behaviors of Soviet soldiers seem redolant of 'socialist realist' propaganda, the descriptions of Treblinka and the author's sentient observations on Soviet military men are obviously the product of a gifted writer and psychologist.
   
   The reader should recall that these diary entries were not intended for publication but rather were kept by Grossman to provide source material for future literary efforts. Unfortunately, Grossman fell afoul of Stalin, largely for his efforts to publicize the fate of Jews at the hands of the Nazis and secondarily for failing to sufficiently promote the role of Stalin's leadership and the Party in the Battle of Stalingrad. As a result, 'Life and Fate' was only published posthumously and stomach cancer claimed the author's life before much of the raw materials presented in this book could be crafted into a final literary effort. Any serious student of WW-II should read this book, as it is a major contribution to understanding the Soviet perspective on the 'Great Patriotic War'.



5. Like the other books of his I've read (Black Book -- really great book), this book manages to be extremely factual yet at the same time emotionally gripping. Grossman's reporting narrative puts you in the time and the place and gives a strong sense of what it was like to be there - the senses, the feelings, the despair, the players, the impact to real people. If you are interested in the Soviet side of the war, or WW2 in general, this is a must read.

5 comments about Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label.

1. I love this book soooo much i remember all the old movies that Adrian desigend for .. so happy with this book thanks Robert



2. adrian, a/k/a gilbert adrian, was one of the few designers for the classic hollywood films that did not blow his own horn during his time in the fashion industry as both costume designer and couturier.
   
   in his somewhat short life, he worked hard, played hard and draped some of the film industry's most glamourous bodies in uniquely beautiful designs. his creativity was unstoppable. yet, in a weird twist of fate, he was never to compete for an academy award.
   
   it is a wonderful thing to see another book published about this genius/workhorse! there are some of his gowns that defy description, such as his 'letty lynton' dress with its wildly ruffled sleeves. or, his showgirl get-ups that were featured in 'the great ziegfeld' and re-used time and again for mgm's less lavish musicals. and his period designs for the films of garbo and jeanette macdonald (to name a few), while not painstakingly researched, supply great amounts of aura for these actresses and the films.
   
   it would be nice for the academy to pay tribute to him, travis banton and many others one year. but as it won't get more people to watch, it probably won't happen.
   
   but that's fine. let the books keep coming and let the reinvestigations of the makings of glamour, hollywood style, spark many a scholarly discussion as they should.



3. Fantastic book - gorgeous photographs and behind the scenes antidotes give you the sense of actually being there in Hollywood during this glamorous age.



4. I have long been an admirer of Adrian. It's a shame that Oscars for costume design weren't given out until 1949, because he'd have garnered many of them. He could design something as basic (yet revolutionary) as the "Letty Lynton" dress, or as dazzling as the costumes in "The Great Zigfeld," both in the "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" number, then in the "You Never Looked So Beautiful Before" stage show. I think his crowning glory was his work on "Marie Antionette." I knew little about Adrian after he stopped turning out his stunning creations for the movies, and went into private business. This is a beautifully produced book, with many pictures of his later coture creations, some insights about his married life with actress Janet Gaynor, and his passion for travel. For Adrian fans everywhere, this is a book to own and cherish.



5. I've got to say that when I saw a book devoted to "Adrian," I got very excited, because I am a great admirer of his work during his years at MGM. However I must admit that I was disappointed with this book for its lack of actual content. If this were a simple photographic display of Adrian's works, I would have enjoyed the book more; it is the content that weakens the presentation.
   
   The narrative starts out fine, giving the reader a sense of Adrian's struggles to delve into the fashion business first in Paris, then in America. Wonderful tidbits about the actresses like Crawford and Garbo are scattered throughout the initial 20 pages. But once Adrian's reign at MGM ends, so does the intrigue of the text. The interesting dichotomy of grand art and snappy human interest evolves into a verbose textual rendering of Adrian's creations, spanning about 15 years. Pages upon pages are spent lightly describing gowns from each collection, them not all having photographic companions to help the non-seamstress reader visualize these descriptions. In addition, the layout of the book causes confusion in that gowns described in the text are not necessarily juxtaposed on the same or corresponding page; then, too, some photographs are included that never were referenced in the text, making the reader wonder if they "missed" something.
   
   I feel that this book's content could have been made stronger if more was included about Adrian's personal life, to give the reader insight into the genius behind the design. It is obvious that very little research, outside of photographic, has contributed to the content, which I think reasons its sketchiness. Critique and criticism by reviewing columnists as well as quotes by models or celebrities would surely have been a wonderful addition to the plodding text.
   
   Because of the wonderful photographs, this makes for a great coffee table book. However its lack of content diminishes its viability as a strong read.

5 comments about Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician.

1. This book is really well written. It doesn't feel like a textbook when I read it, instead, it's as if you're reading a story. I don't feel as bored when reading for my class assignments. I'm able to read and remember what was said in the book.



2. I have read other biographies of Bach, but none more detailed or insightful than this. He really comes alive as a person.



3. We should all thank Christoph Wolff for putting his thoughts and knowledge of Johann Sebastian Bach in print. Christoph Wolff is the world's leading authority on Bach. He is currently Director of the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, an appointment given to the person who presumably knows Bach best. He is University Professor at Harvard Univesity, a title given to those of retirement age that Harvard wishes to keep. A previous example of a University Professor is Paul Tillich. Christoph Wolff himself is a repository of knowledge about Johann Sebastian Bach that is unmatched in the world.
   
   Christoph Wolff still teaches the course on Bach at Harvard that I audited during the 1975 academic year, except that now it is taught every other year. What a great intellectual experience that course was, to learn what Bach was trying to do, while contending with multiple personal and situational problems without a mentor, coping with the changing situation in Leipzig and the Thomaskirche and Thomasschule, all the while developing the intricacies of his music! I have experienced nothing intellectually to match his course.
   
   Sometime after I audited his course, Christoph Wolff became Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University, and upon achieving retirement age, was made University Professor.
   
   In the course, Christoph Wolff discussed Die Kunst der Fuge. He emphasized that, to write a fugue one must resolve its closure or ending first. In his book, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, Christoph Wolff described Bach's early skills in German tablature, an early form of music notation used in north and central Germany in the 17th century. A musical score, written by Bach in tablature during his stay in Weimar, has recently been found. This finding emphasizes Bach's mastery of this form of music notation. A thought has gradually come to me, based upon information gathered from the writings and lectures of Christoph Wolff. When Bach resolved the ending of Die Kunst der Fugue, he may have written it down in tablature. It was a sort of shorthand for him, and, most importantly, it was beyond the scrutiny of the casual observer. Upon Bach's death, his sons may have recognized the resolution of the ending of Die Kunst der Fugue as tablature, but they did not recognize that bit of tablature as the resolution of the ending of Die Kunst der Fugue. I shared these ideas with Christoph Wolff during a visit with him with my wife, Julie Moll, at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig in May, 2007. It would be a most rewarding experience to hear the end of Die Kunst der Fugue. If the end of Die Kunst der Fugue is found, I strongly expect that Christoph Wolff will play a pivotal role in it.
   
   There is no other book to match this one on Bach. I enjoyed it thoroughly.I found it refreshing and stimulating and had difficulty putting it down. This book represents the lifetime accumulaton of knowledge about an important topic, Johann Sebastian Bach, by a world-class scholar, Christoph Wolff. That is enough for five stars for me any day.



4. Very complete factual account of Bach's life and musical production. So many facts and such little insight into the man behind the facts. What good are all the facts if we come away from this book without a enlightening vision of the man. The books provides a complete catalogue of Bach's works, which is very handy.



5. 
   Brilliant book written on the life and works of JS Bach, a Pulitzer Prize finalist owning a close reading of his compositions and a sensitive examination of the man himself, and his progenic plethora of talents tiny Bachs - CPE, JC, and the rest of the bunch. A work wished for by any student of Baroque or Classical music wishing to move beyond the "mere" listening. Twice the size, and indeed, there IS, twice the material, would have nudge a fifth star from this Chestertonian curmudgeon.
   
   "Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician" by Christoph Wolff . . . a grand and sound work upon God's greatest gift to composition and the aural sense.

5 comments about Mountain Madness.

1. World-class mountain climber and guide gets a posthumous tribute from a mournful, devoted friend and fellow mountaineer.
   
   Birkby opens atop the 18,000-foot Himalayan peak Kala Patar. It's 1996, and Scott Fischer (1955 - 96) is showing him the skyline of Mount Everest, where Fischer will shortly lose his life. That climb was a far cry from the pair's initial adventure back in 1982, when Fischer convinced a then-inexperienced Birkby to scale Mount Olympus.
   
   The author details Fischer's childhood, when a love of camping and a penchant for thrill-seeking blossomed into challenging hikes as a teenager with the National Outdoor Leadership School. He would later join NOLS as an instructor, counting among his students Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, 1997, etc.).
   
   Birkby tenderly recalls Fischer's clumsiness in his early 20s, when he miraculously survived more than 12 deadly plummets and was nicknamed "the Fallingest Man in Climbing." After gaining increased experience and acumen, he left NOLS and formed Mountain Madness, a company offering guided climbs whose motto was "Make it happen."
   
   Deftly detailing Fischer's life in conversational prose, Birkby shares stories about encountering bears and traversing frozen terrain in the Alaskan wilderness, adventures ascending Kilimanjaro and the death-defying challenges of the Annapurna Circuit trail. As his son neared his first birthday, Fischer became more determined than ever to scale Everest. Climbing down from its 29,000-foot peak in May 1996, the group he was guiding got caught in a blizzard. Everyone managed to descend to safety except Fischer, who perished from exposure. The tragedy received widespread media attention and a lasting memorial in Jon Krakauer's eyewitness account, Into Thin Air (1997).
   
   A fitting homage to one of the great outdoor extremists.
   (Kirkus Reviews)



2. Anyone who likes mountain climbing/adventure books will really love this portrait, as the author takes the reader through the experiences of Scott Fischer's most memorable life. A great pleasure to get the "behind the scenes" view of so many aspects of Fischer's multiple adrenaline filled challenges. When asked the question "Whom would you like most to have a beer with", Scott Fisher would be at or near the top of the list of any person who appreciates an action adventurist's life story. One cannot but feel a sense of real loss at not having had the opportunity to have met this person, "in person". This book, is I suspect, as near to being a close second, as one can hope for. I expect it most likely will be a best seller within the genre of mountain climbing/true adventure books.



3. Everyone who met Scott remembered him. His energy and enthusiasm always left an impression. Robert captures the person, but also captures the communities of people with whom Scott spent his life. This is a remarkable book on a remarkable person.



4. I got caught up in Mountain Madness and barreled through it in a week. Because Fischer's life is so crammed with the incredible, in the hands of the wrong writer, it could easily become a boring litany of outrageous feats. However, Robert Birkby gets it right. Each climb is unique in its setting, challenges, and personalities. And make no mistake, the book is crammed full of incredible adventure, both terrifying and triumphant.
   
   It was a lot of fun to read about the camaraderie and good times the climbers have when they are not risking their lives on the mountains. I'm afraid of heights, but I sure would have enjoyed hanging out with this guys on level ground. In fact, one of the things I appreciated was not feeling like an earth-bound outsider, looking in on the gods of climbing. Through Birkby, who was a friend of Fischer's and is also admittedly more of a horizontal hiker, I felt squarely anchored in the book. I also appreciated that Birkby is an outdoorsman, and I always felt like I was in the hands of someone who understood the process of climbing.
   
   Lastly, this is an excellent portrayal of a fascinating person. I got a good understanding of the drive behind Fischer's climbing. He seemed like a man with a relentless hunger, and yet a thoughtful man, who was struggling for balance in his life.



5. Scott Fischer's name as a mountaineer was as well known within the international mountaineering community as it was little known by the general public until his tragic death on Mount Everest during the deadly climbing season of May 1996. That deadly season at the top of the world captured the public's imagination not only because of the significant loss of life, but also because for the first time, the mostly private business of challenging the world's highest summit was available for the first time to all who were interested on the internet, over satellite phones and through Jon Krakauer's presence as an "imbedded" journalist for Outside magazine.
   
   With Scott's death, Birkby lost a close friend and an influence in his own life going back to 1982 when the two men, who had only recently met, climbed Mt. Olympus together in Olympic National Park. Although Birkby's evolution as a highly skilled and well known outdoorsman had taken him on a self described "horizontal approach to America's wild places" his new friendship with Scott inspired new types of vertical adventures with Scott and his commercial climbing company Mountain Madness that included expeditions to the summits of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Elbrus and even eventually, to the famous Everest base camp.
   
   Birkby's healing from the loss of his good friend began on the SCA high school crew he led in Grand Teton National Park the summer following the tragedy. But even as the pain eased, Bob and other member's of Scott's community grew frustrated with the incomplete portrait of who Scott was as a man, a father and a mountaineer that emerged publicly in major accounts of the accident. And so he eventually began a search for the truth of who Scott was, mostly gained through the eyes and hearts of those who knew Scott best, that Birkby chronicled in a manuscript that he was never sure would be published.
   
   It is to our great good fortune that not only did Mountain Madness eventually find its way to publication last February, but also that one of the book's most influential and articulate story tellers about Scott's life was Bob Birkby himself. This first person narrative tells great stories of adventures but also seeks - quite successfully - to ask and answer questions about why people seek out adventure in the outdoors and how we succeed or fail in balancing this need with other priorities in our lives.
   
   Scott was both a charismatic and controversial character, a fact that Birkby both acknowledges and illuminates. From his tracing of Scott's boyhood in New Jersey, watching a documentary on television about the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) that led to his odyssey to Wyoming's highest places, to his early frustrations of trying to make a living by following his passion with his company Mountain Madness, the reader learns much about what drove Scott Fischer to the heights he sought.
   
   And while Birkby had no intention to add yet another book to the considerable cannon of Everest disaster literature, the quality of his research and the trust his interviewees obviously placed in his integrity and commitment to tell Scott's story does in fact shed some new light on that fateful May expedition. But perhaps more importantly the author has succeeded in telling the story of a man, his community and what came to be a far more fleeting moment in the history of high elevation mountaineering than any of the real people living in that moment could have recognized at the time.
   
   As readers come to different conclusions regarding the who the real Scott Fischer was and how well Scott met the challenges of his own life and goals, Mountain Madness succeeds fully in articulating the call that wild places has on so many of us. And by the end of the book too, we realize that with his crisp descriptive prose, his own vast experience and deep sensitivity to human triumph and fragility, Bob Birkby was our perfect guide to this remarkable story.

5 comments about In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War.

1. Tobias Wolff knows how to write.
   In his second memoir, In Pharaoh's Army, Wolff masterfully recounts his experience in the Viet Nam war and does so in a way that completely entrances the reader. I started this book on a plane ride from Chicago to Los Angeles, which is a good three and half hours, and not once on that flight did I put the book down. Wolff is a true master when in comes to the conveying of experience. He brings people that remain only memories to life, and provides wit and insight from an older, matured voice. This is Wolff's true talent, the simultaneous storytelling and ironic analysis that he is so acclaimed for.
   
   Wolff's characters are some of the best in literature. Even minor ones come to life; Wolff describes a Vietnamese Sergeant as "[having] a thin scholarly face and a grave manner. When he spoke to me he lowered his head and looked up from under his eyebrows" (81). To add to his incredible storytelling and description, Wolff's funny asides bring even more life to the book. Looking back on a mission where he brought medical aid to rural villages, Wolff describes it as "being a missionary; even a god. A couple of us big white guys would drop out of the sky and spend the day surrounded by astonished rustics..." (100). Honestly, what is there not to love about writing like that?
   
   Not only does In Pharaoh's Army serve as a recollection of Wolff's experience in Viet Nam but also is a continuation of his previous memoir, This Boy's Life. He bridges the gap between his expulsion from Hill Academy and joining the Army, while also going much more in depth into his relationship with his father. So, basically, if you are looking for even more closure than provided by This Boy's Life, this is the book for you.



2. There is something about Wolff that puts me off. I couldn't empathize with him in reading This Boys Life. I could understand how critics would think well of it--it does READ well. But as a person, I didn't like him. He carries this unlikablity (not as bad as Dubya, mind you) into In Pharoah's Army. I didn't like how he managed to become an officer in the Army. Somehow his book comes off as less authentic than other books about Vietnam. Compare it to Tim O'Brien or Philip Caputo (or even my own, Waiting for Westmoreland) and he comes out too detached and sometimes not entirely believable. I am not saying he ripped off Graham Greene, but he also shares a fair bit of style and tone with The Quiet American. Still, it may be worth reading if only to contrast it with the others out there.



3. War stories are really my brother's forte, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a memoir of Vietnam, and because I read it for a Creative Non-Fiction class, I'm left wondering whether a few things actually happened. Is truth crazier than fiction?
   
   I also really loved the interjections of writerly advice within the narrative, and wish Wolff would have given us more. A young man overseas, always with a novel in the back of his head. In many ways, I related. In many ways, I found truth within his words, and I think I may have found my "in" to the novel I started writing.
   
   The format of the book was especially endearing. Each chapter really was its own short story. There is no true linear progression, and yet there is one. We start off in Vietnam, after he and his buddy has just stolen a color TV upon which they're planning to watch the Thanksgiving special of Bonzana. Then we're back in the States, following the author around as he tries to figure out what the hell he's doing with his life. Then back to the war. We are told even before meeting them that some of his buddies are going to die, and yet we watch their relationships unfold ignorant of that fact.
   
   He's funny without trying too hard to be funny, an unique trait among writers nowadays. His humor comes from the mouth of someone real, not merely a vessel for funny sayings. It read, perhaps, like the memoir of someone I might know. A full-timer, down in the dish room, who doesn't talk about it, but it's always there, like the dreams that were so viciously taken away from them and the dreams that they gave up on.



4. Viet Nam is well-represented in war memoirs these days. Tobias Wolff, whose first memoir, This Boy's Life, made him famous, perhaps mostly because of the successful film version of the book, starring DeNiro and DiCaprio. His second memoir, In Pharaoh's Army, is not so well known. Wolff is brutally honest and self-effacing as he chronicles his rootless young adult life; his drift through basic, jump school, special forces training, OCS, artillery and language school, always near the bottom of every class. When he finally lands in Nam he is assigned to a remote jungle outpost as advisor to an ARVN artillery unit. Somehow he survives the Tet offensive, terrified to his very toes. He tells of an R&R trip to Saigon where a trio of drunken redneck GI's casually pound the poop out of him in a bar. Another tale concerns a small dog he rescues from his Vietnamese comrades. The dog's name, he learns, is Canh Cho. Wolff keeps the small fearful animal as a pet for months. At a farewell feast before his departure, he compliments his hosts on the delicious fare and asks what he's eating. "Canh Cho," he is told, which translates, of course, "dog stew." Horrified, but philosophical, Wolff concludes, "There was only one way left to do him justice. I bent to my plate and polished him off." There is no sign of braggadocio or false heroics in this story. Wolff is just a man who survived the nightmare of the Vietnam venture and told his story as honestly and as well as he knew how. Which is VERY well. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy.[...]



5. Once I started reading this book, it was so totally engrossing, I finished it in 2 days. It's a rather self-deprecating telling of his experiences as a US Army Special Forces advisor to the South Vietnamese in 1968-69 during the Tet Offensive. It is not a "war story" of violent or graphic combat, but of many engaging & intelligent observations, of himself, of the army, and of the events shaping his world at the time. At the end of the book I was left wishing for more.