5 comments about The Great Escape.

1. This is the (true) story of the efforts of a multinational group of POWs to escape during WW2, and led to what is one of my favourite films.
   
   I anticipated the book to be a bit of a let down after seeing the movie, but it really wasn't. They emphasize quite different aspects, and some parts of the movie were clearly made up with entertainment value in mind (people jumping motorcycles over fences for instance!). I can't blame the movie makers of course, because the compelling essence of this story is the daily slog of tunnelling set against the backdrop of the mind-numbing drudgery of incarceration. No movie could be long enough to get this point across, but the book allows one to build up a better picture of what captivity was like, particularly because it provides such incredible details. I was really struck by the ingenious ways the prisoners found to fake German uniforms and official passes, improvise tools, and build radios and other vital pieces of equipment. The book provides sufficient descriptions to allow you to get an impression of the main characters and camp layout, though I personally would have enjoyed a few photographs of the people involved (good and bad), though I realise these wouldn't have been easy to obtain.
   
   The author has a relatively dry style typical of a historian rather than a dramatist, and at times relates key events remarkably passionately. The book ratchets up the tension without having to try too hard however, and I could sense the tension that existed whenever the guards entered the barracks to check for tunnels. The depression that accompanies every uncovered tunnel jumps out of the page, as does the resolve to keep trying to escape without ever accepting captivity.
   
   I was also pleased that the author described the events some time after the final escape, so that I could see how thoroughly the Allied authorities pursued the main protagonists, and what was their evetual fate.
   
   This book was a fine testament to the memory of the brave men who didn't wilt despite literally years of incarceration in conditions that can best be desribed as spartan. If they had all died without anyone knowing their story the world would be a poorer place.



2. I love the movie the Great Escape and I loved reading the book it was based on. The movie did an excellant job of following the book but reading the book gave me so much more of an understanding of what these men went through and the courage they had. To truely understand the courage these men had and what they went through, you have to read the book.



3. If you want to know how to make something out of nothing, this is the book for you. I've been reading and re-reading this book since early childhood and that's how I learned to make a needed item out of just what was at hand. McGyver had NUTHIN' on these guys.
   
   MRS. Dee Schauer
   Texas



4. It's a shame the publisher decided to put a picture on the cover of Steve McQueen wrapped up in the barbed wire at the end of his big motorcycle escape attempt. Because, you see, that never happened in the TRUE story of the Great Escape contained in this book. The movie (while good) took serious dramatic license, while Brickhill's book presents the facts. And they are quite inspiring and thrilling enough without the addition of fictional elements such as McQueen's stunt riding.
   I first read this book while in elementary school, and was hooked to the extent that I've read it many times since over the decades. A truly outstanding story.



5. The Real Deal! No "Steve Mcqueen" character, but everyone a true hero.The Great Escape

5 comments about The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940.

1. This was the first William Manchester book that I ever read. I found it inspiring. After reading it, I promised myself that I would read everything that Manchester has written. To date I've read several but I still have a few to go. Mr. Manchester is another one of those historians that makes studying and learning History easy. I had no idea what a character Winston Churchill really was. Manchester recreates a real true to life human being, with faults, idiocincracies, humor, courage, and some great phrasing. After reading both volumes of Manchester's on Churchill, I then wanted to read Churchill himself. From a writing perspective Churchill was great - but Manchester was better. Today I am a fan of both men. They were both heroic in their lives and fascinating in their prose.



2. For some inexplicable reason, the second (and unfortunately final) volume of William Manchester's biography sat on my shelf unread for some time. I think because the book spans the years 1932 to 1940 -- and does not cover most of World War II -- I skipped the book over, figuring that Winston's best and most important years were his war years. After reading "Alone", I realized immediately how wrong I was: if anything, Manchester's incredible book demonstrates that Churchill's so-called "wilderness years" out of power were his finest hour. Unquestionably, Churchill provided resolute leadership to Great Britain -- as well as the rest of the Allied world -- during the War. But he perhaps demonstrated even greater leadership while out of power, when he was quite literally the only European statesman who was repeatedly warning the world of the dangers of Nazi Germany and calling for rearmament to stand up to Hitler. Thus, "Alone" is not just about Churchill and his greatness, but also a powerful historical record of the dangers of appeasement in the face of tyrants.
   
   This book goes beyond being a simple historical biography. Manchester's writing is delightful and seamless, literally depositing you into Churchill's time and Churchill's life. It maintains and builds a tenseness throughout the book as the world moves closer and closer to war despite Churchill's warnings, which if heeded, could have averted the conflict many times over. The work is meticulously researched and crafted, and flows perfectly. Perhaps most of all, reflective of the title, Manchester captures how completely and totally alone Churchill was during the 1930s. Aside from a very small coterie of loyal friends, Churchill alone rose in opposition to appeasement in the House of Commons and elsewhere hundreds of times as Hitler consolidated his power, practically begging his nation's leadership to stand up to the Fuhrer.
   
   I suppose that one sign of a great work is that it moves you in some way, and evokes great emotion as you read it. The most striking asset of this book is how angry, shocked, and prideful I was as I read it. I shook my head in disgust at least 100 times as I read Manchester's descriptions of the putrid, almost treasonous behavior by Prime Ministers John MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin, and of course Neville Chamberlain as they repeatedly ignored Churchill's warnings and countless pieces of evidence showing that Hitler would not be appeased. Manchester's sections on the Munich Crisis and Britain and France's literal sacrifice of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis is particularly noteworthy; the Chamberlain government literally served the nearly defenseless nation on a platter to the German war machine despite a pledge from the British to defend them if invaded. Much of the book in fact summarizes the folly of His Majesty's Government's appeasement policy, and Churchill's many warnings against the policy. Fascinatingly, appeasement was heartily endorsed by nearly the entire British media establishment, which repeatedly refused to air Churchill's views and other dissenting voices. Indeed, as Manchester well demonstrates, the government and media literally crafted its policies and made important appointments, with pleasing Hitler being the sole objective. While hindsight is of course 20-20, reading these sections was completely maddening to me, and made me want to scream many times over.
   
   I hesitated writing a review of this book because I know it is impossible to do full justice to Manchester and this fantastic book. I just wanted to express how much I enjoyed the book; it completely lives up to its reputation as perhaps the finest Churchill biography and easily the most accessible. I, like millions of other readers, am greatly saddened that illness and other tragedies kept Manchester from completing the final volume of his intended trilogy. Treat yourself to this book: it will give you greater appreciation of Winston Churchill's greatness, courage, and foresight, and probably an even greater hatred of appeasement and diplomatic cowardice.
   
   Five big stars.



3. This book was given to me by my father, who is a huge fan of Winston. I was absolutely shocked and amazed by the information that this book brought to light. I was taught, so little about WWII! I was amazed. I savored this book. I would recommend and have recommended this book to anyone, who would listen. Prepare to be amazed by the man and confronted with the real realities of Britain before and during the first declarations of war.



4. There are two volumn of "The Last Lion" and both are them are an excellent history of not only one of Great Britain's finest statesman of the 20th century, but one of the World greatest statesman, historian, and many have said "the man of the 20th Century" And after reading these two volumns one might have to agreee with the historians.
   Congtributed by Hurdrey Angus Jordan



5. A frightening story with a redoubtable yet all too human hero who prevails. There are even evil and bumbling villains along the way during this shameful period. The Last Lion should be required reading for politicans and world history students. William Manchester does a masterful, well researched [and entertaining] job of describing the inspirational leader of the Free World.

5 comments about Shakespeare the Thinker.

1. In this delightful book, Shakespeare the Thinker, A. D. Nuttall seeks to defend the great playwright against those who view him as just a product of his time (a view that is a strong form of Historicism). I'm a huge fan of Stephen Greenblatt, who wrote the terrific biography Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, so I was glad that Nuttall did not disagree with the nuanced New Historicism of Greenblatt and Pierre Bourdieu. Rather he agrees with them that Shakespeare interacted or "negotiated" with his milieu in a complex way, and that the "causation [was] a two-way street." Nuttall goes even further, asserting that "although knowledge of the historical genesis can on occasion illuminate a given work, the greater part of the artistic achievement of our best playwright is _internally_ generated" and that "[i]t is the product, not of his time, but of his own, unresting, creative intelligence."
   
   Shakespeare the Thinker takes the form of a well-integrated commentary on the plays--almost too well integrated, as it is hard to find discussion of a particular play just by thumbing through the book. Several plays are discussed in each chapter, which the skimpy table of contents doesn't mention (my only real gripe with the book). In a way, this is good, because much is gained by reading the book, or at least a chapter, straight through. For instance, Romeo and Juliet is followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Nuttall examines some common themes and how interpretation depends on which play one believes was written first.
   
   Nuttall's new book probably won't replace Marjorie Garber's Shakespeare After All, but will complement it. His synthesis provides a nice counterpoint to her fine-grained analysis; and his (sometimes elliptical) engagement with other critical works, to her careful culling of observations from such works.
   
   Nuttall's writing is enjoyable, sprinkled with insightful references to modern pop culture--for example, Ian McEwan's Atonement, Wife Swap, Goodfellas, and Star Trek! He takes delight in language (and not just Shakespeare's), like when he's describing Katherina's response to Petruchio in the sun-moon exchange: "Turning his non-committal `say' into `know' exposes the lunacy of all this moonshine with solar clarity."
   
   What shines through, most of all, is Nuttall's admiration of Shakespeare's intellect, encapsulated in his "law": "Whatever you think of, Shakespeare will have thought of first." Fellow admirers and students of the playwright will enjoy this excellent book.
   
   Here is an expanded table of contents:
   Ch. 1. To the Death of Marlowe
   p. 25: Henry VI, parts 1-3
   45: Richard III
   56: The Comedy of Errors
   63: Two Gentlemen of Verona
   70: The Taming of the Shrew
   Comparison of Shakespeare and Marlowe.
   
   2. Learning Not to Run
   87: Love's Labour's Lost (preceded by brief discussion of Titus Andronicus)
   99: Romeo and Juliet
   119: A Midsummer Night's Dream
   
   3. The Major Histories
   133: Richard II
   150: Henry IV, parts 1 and 2; Henry V
   
   4. Stoics and Sceptics
   171: Julius Caesar
   192: Hamlet
   205: Troilus and Cressida
   
   5. Strong Women, Weaker Men
   221: Much Ado about Nothing
   226: As You Like It
   239: Twelfth Night
   247: All's Well That Ends Well
   
   6. The Moralist
   255: The Merchant of Venice
   262: Measure for Measure
   
   7. How Character May Be Formed
   277: Othello
   284: Macbeth
   290: Coriolanus
   
   8. Shrinking and Growing
   300: King Lear
   312: Timon of Athens
   321: Antony and Cleopatra
   
   9. The Last Plays
   333: Pericles and Cymbeline
   345: The Winter's Tale
   360: The Tempest



2. Nuttall who recently passed away was considered by his colleagues one of the great Shakespeare scholars of our time. I have read at least two reviews praising this book in the highest terms possible.
   Thus to my own surprise and slight disappointment I did not find myself enjoying the book as much as I had hoped.
   There are a couple of reasons for this. The title suggests that we are going to understand far more deeply, and in something like a systematic way that which Shakespeare thought on the major issues of life.
   This is not exactly what happens. Nuttall continually stresses Shakespeare's extraordinary intelligence but he never really develops lines of thought in a rich and complicated way. What he does is 'read the plays' often by seeing how they grow out of each other. He also in doing this includes a lot of extraneous information often supplying short - summaries of concepts which in many cases it might be assumed the reader of his book would have a knowledge of.
   The writing itself somehow does not flow, and feels to me ' broken up' shifting attention needlessly in a less than coherent way.
   But the writing does contain an enormous knowledge about Shakespeare. It too reveals an encylopediac knowledge of scholarly disputes which often to the general reader seem less than interesting.
   Nuttall does make a strong case for his own conception of Shakespeare as an enormously intelligent thinker, who uses a variety of literary techniques to hide himself and his own position on the question at hand. Shakespeare's long- noted multi- sidedeness, his ability to think sympathetically into and out of the positions of diverse and contradictory characters is also amply illustrated. Nuttall has a wonderful feeling for the most remarkable passages in Shakespeare, and in fact for me the most enjoyable part of the work was confronting and reading again, for instance , what Nuttall considers the greatest speech in all Literature, Antony's funeral oration for Ceasar in 'Julius Caaesar' or Gaunt's sad lament on the decline of the England he has known.
   I believe that there is much to learn for all lovers of Shakespeare in this work.
   But the kind of new depth in understanding which came with reading the great critics like Coleridge and A.C. Bradley I , perhaps mistakenly, did not find in this work.



3. That Harold Bloom sees A.D. Nuttall as his hero should be a tip-off to potential buyers of this book: it is not one for the average reader (like me).
   
   There is no doubt that the author is a scholar of the first rank. However, this book is written for his fellow scholars and those intense amateurs who have a good existing command over the full breadth of William Shakespeare's many plays.
   
   I was disappointed since the title seems to indicate there would be a more overt and accessible discussion of the thought patterns of the great playwright. Instead I entered a great forest, which as Professor Nuttall notes, "is a place to get lost in."



4. What makes this book especially valuable to me is that A.D. Nuttall brought not only a lifetime of reading and discussion of the plays, but a lifetime of seeing them performed.
   
   This book has already proven to be an excellent companion when considering a specific play (using the Index helped), especially before and after seeing a new production. The contexts and meanings of the histories so remote in time and place are especially useful.
   
   Nuttall writes with fearless precision that honors the best academic standards, yet in an almost conversational style. He writes about nearly all the plays, and his approach is variously appropriate to that particular play as well as its relationship to the others, to its "type," to Shakespeare's times and what we know about him. He does not shrink from the issues which certain plays raise for 21st century audiences: the role of women within marriage in "The Taming of the Shrew", for example. Other commentators may suggest that Kate's submission is meant ironically, but Nuttall does not take that easy escape.
   
   I'm not a Shakespeare scholar, and I don't agree with all of Nuttall's interpretations, but that's the joy of Shakespeare--the dialogue with the plays can be endless. For reference and for reading, I will be returning to "Shakespeare the Thinker."



5. After reading this excellent book, my first thought was one of admiration for Shakespeare that he can provide so much interesting material for so many. Nuttall by no means exhausted the thematic possibilities of any of the plays but found very interesting questions in all of them. But actually not everyone who writes about Shakespeare writes interesting or memorable stuff, it takes what actually is a rare combination of good education, common sense and an open, alive mind. So even though there is an astounding amount of insight in the plays, not every commentator derives and gives us something of value.
   
   I didn't agree with all his points but they are all honest questions: not self-serving and very little arguing with his colleagues. The question of The Tempest and nihilism is quite provocative. I suppose in the way that Buddhism is nihilistic, nihilism leading to transcendent joy, yes, he's right. Well, you'll read it and decide for yourself.
   
   He writes in the Coda: "The universe is indefinitely recessive to the understanding. It will not provide the thing that philosophers cannot help pursuing: the Answer." This is a very good formulation of our situation: we can't help wanting to have the conclusive view - and in fact we can't help assuming at any particular moment that we've got it already. It's natural to try to establish equilibrium. Still, for us, the truth of things comes as gnawing doubt, as a question. It's not truth but it's the accepting to entertain an opposing view, sensation, fact or feeling.
   
   These are essays provoked by long acquaintance with Shakespeare, Plato and Western thought in general. It's not an introduction to Shakespeare. It's really only for people who love these plays.

5 comments about The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932.

1. This fully lives up to its reputation as perhaps the best biography ever written. Manchester does a peerless, masterful job filling in the background colors and giving a complete picture of Churchill from a young man into his early fifties. As Manchester emphasizes, this background was essentially the decline and fall of the British Empire and the aristocracy who ran it. Manchester's main point, that Churchill was a Victorian who also lived in the twentieth century, is brilliantly made. Churchill himself is presented in all his perplexing, influriating splendor: an impetuous, charming, ambitious genius who all too often jumped out of the plane without a parachute. If you wish to know why he was rejected by the British people at the polls just after his greatest triumph (and job done) this fascinating volume of his early triumphs and memorable failures is indispensible (answer: they needed his boistrous energy in war but they didn't trust him in peace



2. William Manchester is a tremendous writer. A man like Churchill deserved to have his biography writted by a writer as gifted as him.
   I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting, not only to learn much about the great man Churchill, but also to have their mind expanded and stretched by excellent literature like this. There are not many people writing like this today, sadly enough.
   This is not an easy read, in fact most people will do well to have a dictionary near by - but it is worth it. Drink deeply and you will learn so much more than you would have thought possible about the world from the late 19th century up through WWII.
   Drink it up! 6 stars.



3. This is a very good analysis of Churchill, a thorough and colorfull portrait of a man I consider to be the greatest man of the 20th century. I have only two complaints, first I would have liked to have known more about his life with his wife and children. I also would have liked to have known what he thought of the Lusitania sinking. Not only does Manchester say nothing about Churchill's role in this business but the word Lusitania is not mentioned at all in nearly 2000 pages. Very strange. The letters of Churchill point out the chivalrousness and romantic nature that the public has not seen. All in all - very good and well worth a good read.



4. The finest biography of Churchill (and one of the best biographies of anyone else) ever written. Manchester is unequaled in providing a balanced, thorough and readable product. Only down side is that he died before completing the third and final book on Churchill.



5. yeas the most popular book on sir winston but mistakes are in it and volume three will appear after a 20 years break .

5 comments about Churchill: A Study in Greatness.

1. A compact biography (384 pages) by Oxford Historian Geoffrey Best is far and away the best I have read on Churchill. The many facets of Churchill's life are covered in a series of essays from the author. Best summarizes Churchill's life with clarity and high degree of accuracy.
   
   If you're looking for a comprehensive study on Churchill, this isn't it. You won't find page after page of stilted verbiage here, but you will find a well written presentation of this fascinating man, perhaps the savior of England. If it is possible to write a detailed account of such a varied figure within the brevity of such a small volume, the author has done so admirably.
   
   Though the author clearly admires the subject, this isn't just another "I love Churchill" book. Best gives a fair and balanced account of many areas where Churchill may have erred, such as Gallipolli. The book is fair, and it is no-nonsense, to the point, without a lot of ambivalent inflection.
   
   I have a number of volumes on the life and times of Churchill. I may go to other volumes for research purposes, but this is probably the most enjoyable read I have encountered on the man.
   
   Monty Rainey
   www.juntosociety.com



2. Not a true biography but more than just a compilation of essays concerning Churchill's life and times, the author provides us with a 300+ page synopsis/chronology with a sprinkling of his thoughts, insights and conclusions. I found nothing new or "earth-shattering" here. On the other hand it makes a nice supplement, (i.e. much like Meachem's book on FDR and Churchill), to biographys/books I have read. If you are looking for a full-fledged bio start elsewhere, (Manchester or Gilbert), and if your interest is piqued as mine was, come back to this one.



3. A very readable book that provides balanced and insightful coverage of the whole of Churchill's life. I would highly recommend this book either to those who have not previously read much about Churchill or equally to those who have read other Churchill biographies or war histories and wish to take a fresh look. Of particular value is the way that the author take the occasional opportunity to dispel certain myths and revisionist ideas about Churchill.



4. Best nos presenta una panorámica de la vida de Churchill. Algunos capítulos están mas inspiradoa que otros. Trata de mostrar una perspectiva imparcial del personaje aunque claramente se comprueba que le admira grandemente, pero no tanto como a su esposa Clementine. La extensión de la parte que corresponde a la segunda guerra mundial es mucho mas amplia (quizás la mitad del libro). Casi no responde las preguntas o dudas sobre asuntos controversiales que existen sobre la vida de este personaje.
   
   Como se comprende, al escribir sobre Churchill es necesario mostrar una parte de la hisoria de GB y del mundo pero esta se queda corta a veces para ayudar a comprender a cabalidad la circunstancias que rodearon a los hechos.
   
   En general el texto es bueno, muy bien redactado, fácilmente comprensible. Algunos artículos mas inspirados que otros pero todos interesantes.



5. this book by geoffrey best will rank as one of the greatest book ever written about churchill full of wise summations and not too long thi work is recommended by the churchill society . for sure one of the very best one volume work

5 comments about The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940.

1. I was adrift when I finished this volume.
   grasping at pathetic things to read for a while - nothing satisfied - Manchester can set the stage, his historical background is so rich that you'll find yourself spouting about it to your friends.
   
   You'll learn more from this book than a two semester course in 20th century history.
   
   Churchill himself is the lead player in a panapoly of exciting elements. But manchester never lets the reader forget the place in history - the man was a masterful writer.



2. After the fall of France in June 1940, Winston Churchill was begging USA President Roosevelt for military aid (in fact, all sorts of support was then needed) as no one knew what would the 'fate' of the French fleet was going to be.
   Churchill kept reminding the American president that Britain would not surrender even if left alone.
   Churchill was defiant despite the fact that the two 'key' American ambassadors, in France and Great Britain, were pro Hitler (or at least they were not anti-Nazi).
   Joseph Kennedy (USA Ambassador to GB) openly cautioned his fellow Americans against entering the war because the 'allies' would soon be beaten.
   However, I would have liked to see more comments about the position and reaction of the king - king George VI.
   Was he indifferent?
   We should remember that Hitler had been addressing the King as the man whom the British Government circles have loathed, and as the only 'hope' for a reconciliation between the Third Reich and GB.
   In this context it is true that Churchill was indeed ALONE



3. William Manchester informs and entertains in this excellent historical account of the critical years leading up to WWII, juxtaposing the appeasement practices of predecessors Baldwin and Chamberlain with the unwavering belief in the principles of freedom held by Churchill. The book (along with Manchester's first volume) gives terrific insight into the transition from the glory days of the British Empire to the Post WWI apathy that beset the British public. As well, the work provides delightful commentary on the characters surrounding Churhill's life including his colorful mother Jennie, his wife Clementine and his nemesis Adolf Hitler.



4. The Last Lion, Alone covers the history of Europe from the time Hitler first came to power in Germany to the time that Hitler invaded the Low Countries and World War II began. During this period Churchill, who continually fought against the appeasement policies of Chamberlain, rose from Back Bench irrelevance to become Brittan's Prime Minister.
   
   The history of this period is a gripping saga of one man's malicious attempt to dominate Europe and another man's noble efforts to stop him - a classical case of good vs evil - told as an almost unbelievable story in the words of a master story teller.



5. Finest biography on Churchill ever written. A pity Manchester died before completing the third book of the trilogy.

5 comments about The Guynd: A Scottish Journal.

1. I bought this book at my mother's request. She loved it. I'll be getting it back from her and reading it too.



2. I wanted to read this witty memoir because of my romantic childhood fantasy of living in a mansion or castle in Europe. Oh how lucky the American author was to have fallen in love with Scottish man with an ancestral home and property. I was rather envious of their son, Elliot, who was able to spend his childhood exploring and playing in the gardens, on the lake, and in the house.
   
   But life isn't a fairytale. This is a story about a deteriorated, cluttered mansion, its 400 acres and a marriage that started as a whirlwind romance and came to mirror the mansion itself.
   
   There's a lot of humor in the writing. How could you not laugh at the author's stories about how hard it was to heat the house, find proper tenants, clear out a garden untouched for decades and to try to throw junk out when married to someone who can find a use for everything.
   
   If you don't know what an Aga stove is, you soon will. I highly recommend this book, but suggest curling up in a warm house with a hot cup of tea and a blanket. You'll need it.



3. I enjoyed the book, but was shocked when I came to the passage describing how the author, while in a late stage of pregnancy, climbed a tall scaffolding to paint a wall. It seems like an amazing lack of judgment for someone who was pregnant late in life.



4. Ours was not the 'big' house, but the 'gardener's cottage' which we rented for a year, and both the marriage and the enterprise of that particular country home survive. But all the characteristics and challenges of the estate, garden, community, and home came to life again in the author's witty, canny prose. This is the best description of the many, layered facets of Scottish society and how the great homes and their residents fit into the scheme of their surroundings that I have read.



5. I really looked forward to reading this book because I have long wanted to travel in Scotland, and I enjoy the extended travelogue where people live in a new land for a long time and get to know the locals. This was a good book, but not great. I had unanswered questions when it ended. For example, why did it take her 10 years to realize she and he husband were incompatible? Why did she keep her apartment in New York during the time she was living in Scotland? I kept thinking that if this were fiction, some of it would be implausible. Still, the characters you meet are worth meeting, and I did enjoy the book.

5 comments about Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton.

1. I visited East Africa and while in and around Nairobi took a chance on visiting the public museum that is now entrusted in preserving Karen Blixen's original home and a few acres that remain the last remnant of the Karen Coffee Plantation. On the tour I came to learn of Denis Fitch Hatton, the early days of colonization of British East Africa
   ( World War I in East Africa) and the likes of Lord Delamere, Count Blixen, Beryl Markham, Kermit Roosevelt and Prince Edward. Although much has been written by and /or about Isak Dinesen, Beryl Markham, Blix (and the others) so very little was available to learn more of the elusive Finch Hatton as early flyer, big game hunter, East African land speculator, conservationist, herdsman, nature photographer...and here again the author admits that accurate personal historical information remains sparse. Nevertheless the author is to be commended and this book can be highly recommended as a worthy presentation of an unusual life "well lived" in the context of his time and place. Admittedly it is not all "easy reading" and the author does perhaps over indulge in the "who's who" and "who's title is the umpteenth earl of somewhere....but I can accept all of that as necessary and essential to that time and place in history.
   The book especially captures the land,it's colonists, it's native people, the animals and Denis Finch Hatton's place within East African history. Thoroughly enjoyable and informative reading.



2. I picked up this book after finishing Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen's OUT OF AFRICA and Beryl Markham's WEST WITH THE NIGHT. When I found out that a biography about Denys Finch-Hatton had just been published, I thought it was too good to be true - he is so fascinating, and so mysterious, in Blixen and Markham's memoirs that it's hard to read them without wanting to learn more.
   
   It turns out it WAS too good to be true.
   
   Finch-Hatton left little to no record of his own life. There are no diaries and very, very few letters. My burning questions were: What is the interior world of a charming, dashing adventurer like? What is he thinking while he's busy making life brighter, sweeter, and more exciting for others? Wheeler has no more idea than anyone else. Finch-Hatton has left no record of what his life was like, from his own point of view.
   
   Aside from Blixen and Markham, whose portraits of Finch-Hatton are already well known, his nearest and dearest didn't sit down to describe his character, his thoughts or hidden sides. I recognized huge sections of OUT OF AFRICA and WEST WITH THE NIGHT rephrased here, with additional comments pulled from research into Blixen or Markham's life, plumped up with (generally fascinating) cultural and historical context and (generally very clever) anecdotes and asides. But this was an enhanced reading of Blixen or Markham's life, nothing new, and at a real distance from the actual subject of this biography.
   
   I learned a lot about a particular moment in the history of British East Africa. I learned some things that I didn't know about Blixen and Markham and, yes, even a few things that I didn't know about Denys Finch-Hatton - a bit about his family history, where he went to school, where he was during the war and how he became involved in big game hunting and conservation.
   
   Wheeler writes beautifully; she has an exquisite style. She clearly hopes that if she can plump up her scanty material with lots of dazzling imagery, we won't notice that this lengthy description of the English countryside or that lengthy description of the Serengeti actually isn't telling us anything at all about Denys Finch-Hatton. This felt like sleight of hand to me, like a trick, and I resented her for it. I want to see gorgeous style used to make good, solid research come to life. I don't want to see it poorly masking the author's failure to gather enough material to justify a book.
   
   In short, even though I generally enjoyed reading TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN, I disliked it.



3. Too Close to the Sun, The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton is as much a detailed history of British East Africa--the country known today as Kenya--as it is the story of Denys Finch Hatton's life. In other words, the focus is keener on the times than on the life.
   
   Finch Hatton, a notorious and romantic character portrayed in Out of Africa (Modern Library), the book of stories by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) and the in the film played by Robert Redford, didn't keep a journal or, for that matter, write many letters. As a result, a great deal of the exhaustive research on him compiled by dedicated author, Sara Wheeler, is derived from Dinesen's fiction and other contemporary, Beryl Markham's autobiography, West With the Night. Generally well written, a bit on the formal side, the prose wavers between colorful and descriptive and textbook laborious. (Have your dictionary nearby!) The subject, Finch Hatton, might have been better left to the material written by his former lovers than the subject of an entire biography.
   
   What I enjoyed most about this book was the trip to Kenya and the stunning visuals it provided. Having spent time there, including a visit to the town now known as "Karen," and a tour of Blixen's house, the pages of this book gave it a living history quality. Wheeler also clarifies Finch Hatton's character as more than the uncommitted lover of Karen Blixen ("Tania")--"They were living in different mental worlds, as unhappy lovers do, coexisting like the twin beaters of a rotary whisk, spinning in time by never touching"-- but also notes he was one of the first to point out the dangers of uncontrolled hunting on safari endangering Africa's wildlife. "For the first time in his life, he had found something he believed in, a cause that was worth commitment." Hence, his legacy as "an eternal wanderer on a perpetual quest for knowledge and experience," which is the main thrust of this dissertation.
   
   From the author of I'm Living Your Dream Life: The Story of a Northwoods Resort Owner, McKenna Publishing Group.



4. So this book is definitely not for everyone. There has been a lot of criticism regarding the content and whether the author provides any novel insight into the life and times of Denys Finch Hatton. On a personal level though, I found the book intriguing from multiple standpoints. For those of us who seem to be eternal wanderers this book provides valuable insight into the perils and rewards of pursuing your own dreams and wandering off the beaten path. Success is defined differently by each individual and while Denys may have appeared to lack direction, his constant quest for knowledge and experiences were the driving force for the many and varied initiatives and ventures he took up in his lifetime. He was a romantic and was perhaps better suited to an earlier time. His non-conformity and unwillingness to change with the times may have lead some to perceive him as being unsuccessful, but in reality he marched to the beat of his own drum. In the final analysis the only definition of success that matters is an individual's own.



5. Sara Wheeler's "Too Close to the Sun" is as much a biography of a place and of an era as it is of a man. The author went looking for Denys Finch Hatton and found East Africa as well as her elusive subject.
   
   The man, himself, was once a nearly mythical East African figure. Finch Hatton is best known today as Karen Blixen's long-time inamorata in the film version of her book "Out of Africa." In life, he was a privileged Englishman who often worked as an African guide and professional hunter and who flourished and died during Kenya's colonial period. He was also a reluctant soldier, a glad aviator and a man who loved theatre, photography, dance, books and women.
   
   Ms. Wheeler says that her aims in writing the biography were: "to depict a figure in the landscape, to explore the universal themes threaded through his story, and to find out why he was an engine of myth." Other than a few personal letters and some newspaper articles, he wrote little. Because of this, and because she writes so many years after his death, Ms. Wheeler is left with little more than trace evidence and the words of others with which to develop her theme and achieve those goals. Fortunately, she's an able writer and tenacious researcher. She also uses the words of Teddy Roosevelt, H. Rider Haggard, Ernest Hemingway, Siegfried Sassoon, Elspeth Huxley, W.B. Yeats and Evelyn Waugh, among others, as sources to help her develop her African story.
   
   Karen Blixen is, perhaps, her most famous source for direct Denys Finch Hatton information. Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen) wrote about Finch Hatton as her lover and used her version of him as an element to drive her own story. Sara Wheeler, on the other hand, is a graduate of the same Oxford college as Finch Hatton and seems more in sympathy with him as a human being.
   
   Beryl Markham, an aviatrix, writer and renowned wild child, is another useful source. Martha Gellhorn (Hemingway's third wife) described her as, "Not your ordinary Circe." Beryl says of Denys, "As for charm, I suspect that Denys invented it." Those may be the final words on Denys Finch Hatton. In two-hundred-fifty-two pages of text, author Wheeler can't find anyone to say a bad word about him.
   
   Sara Wheeler certainly charmed this reviewer when she quoted Anthony Blanche, a character in Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited." Antoine, as he's known, warns another character about the danger of English charm, stating that it blights anything it touches. Ms. Wheeler believes that Finch Hatton's own charm nearly destroyed his ambition.
   
   Ms. Wheeler's writing skills are (to say the least) fully developed. She calls the disastrous British 1916 offensive in France the "Apocalypse on the Somme." In one chapter, she describes the deteriorating relationship between Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen by saying, "They were living in different mental worlds...coexisting like the twin beaters of a rotary whisk." In passing, Ms. Wheeler notes what she calls "the spiritual journey at the heart of all great literature."
   
   She's made some interesting choices in her own life, both as an author and as a person. By her own reckoning, she spent three years researching and writing "Too Close to the Sun." She also traveled to three continents (Europe, Africa and America) doing research. She's also written "Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica," and "Cherry: a Life of Apsley Cherry Garrard." She spent six months in Antarctica paying part of the personal tariff for creating these two works. She paid another similar price to research her South American book, "Travels in a Thin Country."
   
   There's a theme here: Much time and energy spent on projects with a limited market potential. That may be crass, and those of us who are interested in any of her subjects do have reason to be glad that she invested the time as she has. Considering her enormous writing ability, however, had she devoted the same amount of skill and effort in another direction, she might well have become the new James Michener or the next Donna Tartt or A.S. Byatt. Instead, she's chosen to forgo the probability of huge literary or popular success and with such success, big bucks and big acclaim. Perhaps this is too American a perspective about writing or living, but Ms. Wheeler's choices do remain interesting questions. In his day, Denys Finch Hatton was already becoming an anachronism. Sara Wheeler, who refers to modern-day Istanbul as Constantinople may also fit into that category. Bless them both.
   
   The bottom line on the book is that for anyone with even a drop of Walter Mitty blood, "Too Close to the Sun" is a splendid read. James Joyce has given Daedalus his modern day due. Let's hear it for the new Icarus.

5 comments about Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys.

1. Having read a lot from Gemini-thru Apollo, this is by far the best book yet. Collins and the writter do such a great job on details and made for an very interesting read. I wish he would have gone into more detail about him being the only one in the CM when Armstrong and Aldren were on the surface of the moon. To me, that had to be a very interesting place to be. I thought it was great Charles Lindberg wrote a few things in the front of the book. I can add, in addition to this book having read "Failure is not an option" by Gene Krantz add a back drop of technical data to support what these guys did. Seeing how this all works from mission controlls end is a good knowledge to have. Again, a great read and highly recomend it for your library.
   
   Micheal Collins, you were the ticket home.
   
   KLD



2. I've read a fair number of books on Apollo, but not very many astronaut biograpies. I chose this one mostly because of its good reviews on this page!
   
   It's definitely well written, surprisingly humorous, and full of fascinating details on the Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 mission that I had never heard about. (His short descriptions of the other astronauts are particularly funny.)
   
   His book really answers the question: What would it really be like to fly critical missions during the space race? To work with other famous astronauts (not just Neil and Buzz but also John Young)? He makes his nuanced and deep emotions clear throughout, giving the book an "everyman's" perspective.
   
   Can't recommend this one enough.



3. The best (and one of the earliest) book by an Apollo astronaut. Very witty, with candid appraisals of other astronauts. Actually written by the astronaut himself. A must for anyone interested in the Apollo program.



4. I was reading Deke! By Donald K. (Deke) Slayton and Michael Cusset. Deke Slayton was the highly respected chief astronaut and godfather to the astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions; In this book, I noted a positive reference to Michael Collins's book Carrying The Fire so I figured this as a must read.
   Michael Collins takes the reader through the stages of astronaut training and spaceship design and his own flights of Gemini 10 and the pioneering Apollo 11 with self- depreciating humour and irony. He manages to present a great amount of technical detail in an easily understood fashion in an articulate, intelligent, flowery, almost British manner.
   With a forward by Charles Lindbergh himself, this book is nearly 500 pages but seems only half that by the man who stood station 60 miles above Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on that historic first lunar landing.



5. Of all the astronaut bios & autobios this one is the best. Michael Collins' style is natural and funny.

5 comments about Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography (Anchor Books).

1. This is the edition that Graves edited to all Jesus hell! I've seen excerpts of the unedited version and THAT is the book to aim for, though you have to find it through an antiquarian book peddler and the cheapest edition I could find cost $300. Rats. But hopefully perhaps an electronic edition of the original will somehow find its' way to the internet one day.
   
   What is left is still an excellent read. Concerning the up to that date unprecedented rate of slaughter and the technological changes of modern warfare that made it so, his way is understatement which I believe made it that much more impactful. I like this man's mind - I like him. It would have been very interesting to corner him by a fire with a bottle of good sherry and to let him expound on the Latin or WWI or poetry, or perhaps Hebrew mythology.
   
   Speaking of Hebrew mythology, he wrote a wonderful wonderful book on it, a treatise really on the book of Genesis. If you have any interest whatsover in religion, etymology or anthropology, please read this book - it is wonderful! Just google or "amazon" Graves and Hebrew myths and you will find it.
   
   I have his "White Goddess", but have not read it yet.



2. Good descriptive text of WWI in the trenches and on the way to them, but other than that, not a particularly well-written book. Graves's 'better than thou' attitude sours what could have been a masterpiece if written by somebody with a heart. A bitter story by a bitter man who should have stuck to his poetry.



3. This account by Robert Graves is one of the better personal journals I have read concerning the Great War. The very fact that Graves is in almost at the beginning of the conflict / situation of Trench warfare make this a very valuable work. Because he is an accomplished writer, it flows and reads very well. There are no sections of the book that lag. You will absolutely gain some insight to the way that the officers and men behaved and especially appreciate his commentary on French citizens caught in the middle of the conflict, individual soldiers that have some sembelance of a brain versus the moronic mass, and how much stupidity there is in military conduct based on previous experiences in war, not realizing that this was a new and different sort of conflict, yet trying to constantly apply outdated and dangerous methods in attack. One such crazy result of it is that officers had a high casualty rate. Why? Well, you could always identify them in the field of battle. They were the guys carrying a pistol and swagger stick versus a rifle. Easy pickings to say the least and you would think they would learn and make adjustments accordingly but tragically the practice continued. Anyway, a great book. Well worth your time and small investment to a window on another era by a first hand witness.



4. If you want to learn about and from Graves, then you will love this book. The Great War was a turning point for the generation of Robert Graves just as post September 11th is a turning point for the current generation: nothing can ever be exactly the same, but it takes a great poet to put those changes into context for the rest of the world. Graves was that poet for his generation.
   Misunderstood early in life, at times labeled a subversive, after ninety years, he departed this world as a wise sage. This is the story of his early life, including his experiences in the Great War. It is a must read for any ex-soldier and for anyone who wants to understand the core of Graves' thought.



5. Obviously a must read for all Graves fans and pre-world war Britain. Later chapters will be worth the wait for World War I fans. The reading is clear, fluid, and to the point; making it am excellent reference to the war. I gave it four stars since I am not a Robert Graves fan; although he seemed like a nice bloke.