5 comments about A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee.

1. Penned during the ORIGINAL Crockett "craze" of the 1830's, this is the Tennessean's own story in his "own" words. (Much of this book was heavy edited and, some would say, ghost written by one of Crockett's supporters.) Still, it's worth adding to a "Crockett" Library. Parts of the book have an almost "Dickens" like feel, especially the stories about the poverty and hardship suffered by the young David. Sprinkled through-out this book are hunting stories, scrapes with bears and panthers, a little romance, skirmishes with hostiles, frontier wit and humor. An annoying part of the narrative are the corny pseudo backwoods expressions, like "burst my boilers" and "knocked his trotters out from under him". Evidently the author(s) tired of this excessive hoakum too because it abruptly stops. (Thank You!) Much has been written about the legendary "Davy" but this brings the real man into more perspective. Even if you have little interest in Crockett lore, the NARRATIVE is still worth reading for it's glimpse into early 19th Century America.



2. David Crockett found himself to have become mythologized in his own lifetime. Every indication is that he arrived at this place accidentally, but that once he recognized his own pop-culture status he took advantage of it and nurtured it at every turn. His Narrative, therefore, must be read with a certain amount of skepticism nevertheless it is still valuable as an historical record.
   
   The narrative is a journey from start to finish; true Homeric stuff. He describes his journey into adulthood in pre-Mark Twain style, then his journey as an adventurer in the military, his journey across the state of Tennessee with his family, and finally his journey into politics. There may be many embellishments within his narrative, but considering the period in which it was written (while he contemplated a much larger political career) the topics he chose to describe actually seem prosaic and understated, as if he were deliberately trying to avoid bragging about himself. In this light, perhaps the Narrative is more accurate than is generally assumed. The Narrative may have been ghost-written by someone else, but there is enough Crockett in it to give it legitimacy. His jabs at Andrew Jackson are quaintly hilarious, but they are also true. In this pre-Alamo period of his life, his willingness to take a stand against Jackson might be the bravest thing he ever did.
   
   Lastly, the language itself is fascinating. The Narrative may be laced with over-the-top phrases such as, "knocked his trotters out from under him", but at the same time he writes, "if a fellow is born to be hung, he will never be drowned..." This is classic southern wisdom, words I have heard with my own ears in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, so Crockett's Narrative is either very authentic or was itself the basis for an evolving southern culture. In this way, the Narrative should be considered classic American literature.



3. 
   Davy Crockett's Narrative first appeared early in 1834 at the height of his political career. During the 1820s he had won a couple of terms in the Tennessee state legislature, and in 1827 he won a seat in Congress representing the western half of the state. He was a foe of Andrew Jackson and a political maverick; when he advocated for Indian rights he won the enmity of many in Congress and his constituents, and was voted from office in 1831. He licked his wounds and patched up differences, and was re-elected in 1833. To bolster his image, which was already taking on legendary aspects, this Narrative was written with his friend Thomas Chilton. Told in bold, humorous, boastful strokes, it is nonetheless a campaign biography and ends with sharp attacks on Jackson.
   
   The way the Narrative is set up here is very useful for the reader. It appears in facsimile form, with wide margins set around it, in which Shackford explains, corrects, and separates fact from fiction in Crockett's assertions. It's almost like watching a movie on DVD along with critical commentary. Interestingly, many errors that appear in the Narrative were intentional and are often self-deprecating, making Crockett more unsophisticated and lowbrow than he really was in order to win votes with the farmers and backwoodsmen of western Tennessee. Most of the historical references he makes are quite accurate. As a campaign biography to help him win re-election in 1835, however, it was a failure, as he lost to a Jacksonian. After that, he set his eyes on Texas.
   
   The format chosen here is what makes this book a success. The many annotations make this edition of the Narrative the most informative and "honest" in print. Highly recommended.



4. Confusion about authorhip has followed "A Narrative" more than 170 years. It helps to understand that Thos. Chilton, Representative from Kentucky, shared living quarters with Crockett at Mary Ball's Rooming House. They were actual bedfellows, which was the custom of the times; Thos. Chilton was father, eventually, to 15 children. Thomas Chilton had a university education and wrote with recognized eloquence. He crafted "A Narrative" from Crockett's notes and dictation, using carefully the homespun dialogue of his friend.
   
   Thos. Chilton, a skilled lawyer, was not fool enough to do all this this work for free. Davy Crockett arranged for his publisher to pay fifty percent of the book's royalties to Thomas Chilton, who agreed to have no mention of his name in the book. What remains rather obscure is the disposition of royalites after Crockett's death. Thomas Chilton died in 1854.
   
   The role played by Thomas Chilton in "A Narrative" was lost to history for nearly a hundred years, except inside the Chilton Family.
   -- Edward M. Chilton



5. David Crockett was best known for his adventures in the wilderness and fighting at the Alamo. He also served as a Congressman where he was known as an honest and conscientious man.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found it honest, refreshing, stimulating and interesting. It is David Crockett's own words echoing through time. The sentences are long and constructed different than today and take a little time to absorb. This adds to the richness of the writing.
   
   A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett provides a peek into the world of this fine human being who was incredibly brave, a fine story teller, a gentleman and true adventurer. David Crockett was a strong critical thinker who followed his own beliefs and values. He couldn't be bribed to support any measure he thought was wrong. His celebrated motto was:
   "Be sure that you are right, and then go ahead."
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

5 comments about Seaworthy: Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting.

1. This is a marvelous read. Adventure, humor & intriguing eccentricity. Don't miss this one.



2. This book is alright. It is very interesting in some parts, but is also slow and boring in other parts. What bugged me most about the book is that the main character never had any purpose or reason for making his rafting trips. No scientific purpose. No educational purpose. He just wanted to suffer and be alone. I guess he got his wish. I would't really call him a hero as some people do. Just an eccentric man who like to build crappy rafts and sail accross the ocean. I also don't appreciate the authors bashing of a Mormon rafter, who although I'm sure was very eccentric, not really any more so than the main character.



3. The presumed subject of this book is William Willis, a quixotic figure who became obsessed with crossing oceans alone in barely seaworthy craft and eventually died during his third attempt at the Atlantic. All the more remarkably, he began this quest when he was sixty-four years old. Based on the title, I expected this to book to focus exclusively on his exploits and provide an in-depth perspective based on original research. Both assumptions proved unfounded.
   As if crossing the Pacific Ocean alone, twice, is not interesting enough, a large part of the book consists of retelling other transoceanic raft adventures. These include the famous Kon-Tiki voyage and Alain Bombard's crossing of the Atlantic. As for Willis, Pearson does little more than retell the eccentric voyager's own published accounts, now out of print. Instead of character insights from surviving relatives or witnesses, the only annotations are catty remarks about the adventurer's possible state of mind and lack of preparation, made in retrospect after each of many mishaps. One would think that the subject of being adrift alone in the world's great oceans would lend itself to some reflective prose, or at least some expansive details of life in and on the sea. Instead, the narrative often reads like a nautical log. There are frequent and detailed descriptions of rigging and sail arrangements that I found inaccessible as a non-sailor, and which could have easily been explained or omitted.
   The reader is left with the worst of two worlds: neither the authentic voice of the adventurer nor a compelling narrator. Nevertheless, the sheer adventure of the undertakings described here are enough to make the stories interesting reading, even in the retelling.



4. Anyone familiar with the works of T.R. Pearson will recognize Pearson's distinctive voice in what is, in many respects, not much of a departure from his usual idiom. The only element missing here is dialogue; the storytelling is as compelling, eccentric, and tender as any in his fiction. Clearly Pearson understands that Willis was, shall we say, a man of many demons and compulsions, but never do we get the sense that Pearson really judges the man poorly. Interwoven into Willis's tale is a cast of marginal characters who provide shape and form to a state of mind most of us can only imagine--in our nightmares. No one succeeds at peeling away and gently exposing the foibles of humanity with the same thoughtful precision as T.R. Pearson. One can just never get enough.



5. Thor Heyerdahl thrilled millions in 1947 when he sought to prove that inhabitants of the Americas could have colonized Polynesia. Heyerdahl sailed from South America to the islands east of Tahiti 5,000 miles away. The story is told in Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft.
   
   In particular, Heyerdahl inspired the hero of this fine book, William Willis. Willis has found a wonderful biographer in T.R. Pearson (A Short History of a Small Place, Blue Ridge and Cry Me a River) writing his first nonfiction book.
   
   Willis was born in Hamburg, Germany, went to sea at 15, and lived in New York City writing unpublished novels and epic poems, holding down small jobs and following yogic instruction about breathing and chewing. His wife, Teddy, supported Willis. He escorted her to and from work on foot and then on weekends "would march the poor woman" on 20-mile hikes.
   
   Before his marriage, Willis rescued his landlord's son who was imprisoned in French Guiana. Pearson writes it was the sort of quest that had been foreseen by his instructors in San Francisco: "It seems the yogi who had encouraged Willis to fill his upper lobes with air had also informed him, `The impossible attracts you,' which Willis saw fit to embrace as an article of faith."
   
   By 1951, "Willis's appetite for trial, for hardship, even suffering, was going largely unsatisfied." He became a maritime union member and planned a "pilgrimage" by raft "to the shrine of my philosophy.... Willis was essentially an extreme sportsman well in advance of the phenomenon. He was either out of his proper mind or obliquely suicidal."
   
   In 1954 he sailed on the "Seven Little Sisters", alone except for his parrot named "Eekie" and his cat named "Meekie." His trip from South America to American Samoa was 6700 miles long, 2200 miles further than Heyerdahl on Kon-Tiki.
   
   Ten years later, he rafted 11,000 miles from South America to Australia. Later, he tried unsuccessfully three times to cross the North Atlantic, dying at 74 in a small sailboat on his last attempt.
   
   This extract describing the beginning of the last journey is a good example of Pearson's style:
   
   "He carried by way of provisions only olive oil and flour, honey and lemon juice, garlic and evaporated milk. Since he intended to drink from the sea, a personal practice of long standing, he'd dispensed with the bother of stowing so much as the first ounce of fresh water. His radar reflector was a scrap of planking wrapped in aluminum foil, his chronometer a balky pocket watch, his distress flag a scarlet sweater. He'd shipped no proper radio, had but a sextant for his bearings, sailing directions to guide him into the English Channel past Bishop Rock. Among his papers was a letter of introduction to the mayor of Plymouth, England, from the Honorable John V. Lindsay, the mayor of New York City. It read, in part, 'If the bearer delivers this letter to you in person, he will have completed a trans-Atlantic voyage of great merit.'"
   
   Pearson did little original research for this book, basing it on Willis's own books and articles. Nonetheless, he has written a compelling, fascinating book about a very unusual person. I enjoyed every moment.

5 comments about The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580.

1. Once the reader gets past the European political chess games of the day, this is a bold, daring and energetic portrayal of possibly the most celebrated English navigator to sail the seas. Not only does Bawlf lure the reader into Drake's numerous exploits around the world, but he also augments the attention level as far as Drakes' secret undertakings to locate the infamous Strait of Anian. His voyage to search out the Northwest Passage is a thrilling experience of confronting and battling storms, plundering Spanish treasure fleets, capturing naval captains, day to day survival tactics, etc.
   
   The author does justice in examining the secretiveness and elusiveness of Drake's northern Pacific mission by detailing and meticulously picking through the available literature to vindicate his whereabouts. Possibly the first expedition to traverse the Pacific into its far northern limits, Drake then heads south to explore Vancouver Island and the Columbia River, two centuries before Cook and others.
   
   For the most part, Drake was the gentleman's pirate, always treating his captives with the utmost regard. Many of his short-term prisoners had a high reverence for the man. It goes without saying, he frustrated Spain's King Philip by constantly evading his nautical strategies.
   
   A very enjoyable and insightful read.



2. What a remarkable history and well written book. When you read the first pages you realize that Drake was a great human being and an excellent explorer, navigator(the best of all times) and survivor. In the time when spaniards were around beheading everything, Drake treated the prisoners or natives with dignity.
   
   I was interested in the passing of Magellan's strait and the navigation through America heading north, specially Chile. This is an excellent book to enjoy and I recommend it to everyone.



3. Overall I enjoyed this book. I read it right after a biography of Magellan which made it especially poignant. Drake in many cases landed at places Magellan had previously been to and had to deal with the side or after-effects of Magellan's actions. The book is an easy read and gives a good overview of certain background elements such as Elizabeth and her political considerations. The adventures of Drake and his crew as they circled the world are an exciting read and I learned much.
   
   I have three negative comments on the book: 1) It spent too little time on the Spanish Armada, which may not be the prime topic of the book, but is important to the story. 2) The weird organization at the end with Drake dieing and then the concluding chapters showing where Drake probably visited in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe it works, but it seemed disjointed. and 3) Most important- get a map. Yes lots of old maps are reproduced but not real readable in the paperback and nowhere is there a modern map showing Drake's route. Many latitudes and a few longitudes are given, but without a good memory for the latitude/longitude of say San Francisco, I was a bit lost.
   
   I would recommend this book, but only with accompanying maps.



4. Samuel Bawlf is more than just an historian writing about an episode in the exploration of North America's northwest coast, he has taken a mystery and turned it into an interesting and entertaining book. Unlike an academic, Bawlf didn't write this book under pressure to 'publish or perish' or to solidify his appointment to a 'Chair'; he wrote this volume out of love for the subject and an interest in finding out the truth. All of which makes this an enjoyable read.
   
   On returning from his historic voyage, Drake had his crew sequestered in Plymouth while he went to London to report to Queen Elizabeth. In addition to over half a million pounds of plunder (much of it belonging to King Philip II of Spain) he also brought her a report of new lands on the North American continent, plus the possibility that he had found the strait that lead from the Pacific to the Northwest Passage (of which Frobisher has already found the Atlantic side). The Northwest Passage would reduce the sailing distance to the western Pacific coast from 20,000 miles to 3,000.
   
   For reasons of state, the six months Drake spent exploring what became the Canadian and American Pacific Northwest, were never acknowledged to have happened. Times spent in other parts of the voyage were extended to 'erase' this time period. Drake's discoveries were never acknowledged and to this day there are few geographical namings that honor him in this area. The 'secret' was kept so well, that few first or even second-hand accounts have survived, and many of those that do, were 'doctored' to protect the secret.
   
   Bawlf does a masterful job in laying out the clues and making his conclusions.



5. Good, accurate history of the round his world voyage attempt.
   
   Reading along with Google Earth's studies.
   
   Plan to pass it along to 11 year old as soon as i finish it.
   
   Great for adults, and fun for the kids, since they can follow along with Google Earth.

5 comments about Abbey's Road.

1. This was my first introduction to the well known author, Edward Abbey. My impression was that Abbey wrote with a strong environmental voice and was an advocate of wildlands. Instead, I read about a man who kicks animals that don't get out of his way, who drags trashed cars through the Australian outback, who tosses his empty wine bottles into remote canyons,and who expresses a superior attitude to just about everybody. His writing style is highly variable, ranging from sophomoric (usually) to pure Americana (very occasionally). When he hits the latter, he can rival Mark Twain, which is probably why he enjoys the reputation he does. However, this reputation obviously wasn't made with the essays contained in this anthology. Folks looking for an introduction to Abbey are advised to try another book.



2. Do not let this book be your introduction to Edward Abbey. There is plenty of brilliance here, but an established fan will be able to appreciate that brilliance best.



3. This collection of previously published magazine articles is vintage Abbey, alternatively moving and funny, sacred and profane, flip and dead serious (well almost) and at all times entertaining. Divided into three categories - Travel, Polemics and Sermons, and Personal History - the subjects range from the Great Barrier Reef to technology to women to Winnebagos to hallucinogenic drugs - with many stops in between. The introduction, wherein Abbey comments on nature writing - and various nature writers - is itself worth the price of admission.



4. This is an entertaining firsthand account of Abbey's adventures as he travels through some of the most remote and beautiful locales in the world. The first chapter, in which he travels through Australia, is by far the most entertaining, and Abbey's wit really shines here. He also makes strong arguments throughout the book about why preserving beautiful natural areas is so important. Some of the subsequent stories come off as so much fluff, in which Abbey is trying to find events of significance and/or peril in the face of a mundane trip. The events seem to me to be interesting enough without having to be dolled up.



5. All of the material in this cassette is available elsewhere, but nowhere else can you hear the intonation, humor, and on occasions rants of Cactus Ed in his own voice. I have played this for friends who have never heard of Abbey and universally comment that they have never heard anything quite like it. Whether he's drinking with pigs in the desert, musing on planting a tree under the nuclear umbrella, or playing cat and hiker with a puma, there is wisdom and absurdity in every spoken sentence. If they ever get another copy and you beat me to it - mine has worn out - you have won a real prize.

No comments about The Shipwrecked Men (Penguin Great Journeys).

3 comments about Bay of Spirits: A Love Story.

1. Farley Mowat's notion of an idyllic day's sail more often than not involves heavy seas in shallow, rocky waters, accompanied by gale force winds, pelting rain and/or pea-soup fog, in a leaky boat with engine issues.
   
   Therefore armchair adventurers will enjoy this memoir of Mowat's 1960s love affair with "a special woman and a special world" as much as romantic sorts looking for travel among the bygone fishing villages of Newfoundland.
   
   Readers familiar with Mowat, however, will know there must be bitter with the sweet. The Newfie fishing communities, fiercely independent and attached to their way of life like limpets to a rock, were in serious decline by the 1960s. The teeming schools of fish had disappeared under the relentless onslaught of the big fishing operations and the government wanted to resettle the fishermen in factory towns, bringing Newfoundland (which had only joined Canada in 1949) squarely into the 20th century.
   
   The book opens with Mowat's harrowing and exhilarating trip aboard a 200-foot coastal steamer, one of six (now gone), which took freight and passengers to the outposts of Newfoundland, their main contact with the world.
   
   "Newfoundland is of the sea. A mighty granite stopper thrust into the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its coasts present more than five thousand miles of rocky headlands, bays, capes, and fiords to the sweep of the Atlantic. Everywhere hidden reefs, which are called, with dreadful explicitness, sunkers, wait to rip open the bellies of unwary vessels."
   
   Though Mowat saw little of the coast, due to foul weather and impenetrable fog, he was hooked. He bought a fish-slimed schooner, renamed it Happy Adventure and arranged to have it refitted for cruising.
   
   But, flying in to reclaim his refurbished boat, he makes a dismaying discovery. "My wishes had conflicted with centuries of tradition, which dictated that space allotted to people aboard a boat must be kept to the irreducible minimum so as to leave as much room as possible for fish."
   
   Then, on its maiden voyage the boat sprung a leak, a serious leak. The bilge pump jammed, the fog rolled in, water engulfed the engine and they (Mowat and his friend and longtime publisher, Jack McClelland) luckily ran aground. Next trip out they realized they should have had the compass adjusted while fixing the leak.
   
   It was while working on Happy Adventure that Mowat met Claire Wheeler, a Toronto artist. It was love at first sight, but after several mostly idyllic (including the requisite sprinkle of sudden storms, engine troubles and fog) the pair go their separate ways. Mowat was already married, with two small children, a fact he had previously failed to mention to the reader and which naturally casts a bit of a pall.
   
   Though Mowat makes no excuses, his friends and family - and hers too - seem remarkably enthusiastic about the romance. Either his first marriage was something awful, which does not seem the case, or his memory has reshaped itself. Eventually Mowat tells his wife and goes off with Claire.
   
   They take up residence in Burgeo, Newfoundland, and continue spending summers sailing the coast and meeting its people. While a few communities are insular and suspicious, most are immediately hospitable, inviting the couple into their homes for meals, drink, stories and, when called for, a bed.
   
   Arriving in Francois (Fransway) during a Force 7 gale, he and Claire are taken in by a friend who fed them rabbit soup and roast caribou. Mowat then "learned that it would be necessary for Les to take us to visit every single one of the family connections to show he and Carol weren't trying to hoard us. Visitors had to be shared, just like everything else in an outpost."
   
   The anecdotes and tall tales Mowat collects form an endlessly fascinating portrait of people's work lives, bravery, quirks, superstitions, and customs. These are seamlessly complemented by historical research and interviews, documenting the long and inexorable decline of a proud, hardscrabble way of life. There is regret and sadness, but no self-pity among the Newfies.
   
   Mowat has written more than 40 books, mostly about the people, places, creatures and history of a rapidly disappearing natural world. While this book meanders more than some, his customary passion, humor and eloquence draw the reader into his world.
   
   But it's a world in which he remains an outsider. He is reminded of this from time to time, but the senseless killing of a lone whale (documented in "A Whale for the Killing") stranded in a nearby lake, ends the book and the Mowats' happy sojourn in Burgeo. Though many disapproved of the louts who slaughtered the whale for sport, more disapproved of Mowats' actions in bringing the press down upon them.
   
   A postscript lists other Mowat Newfoundland books, including "This Rock Within the Sea" "Sea of Slaughter," and "The Farfarers." "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float" describes his restoration of the Happy Adventure.



2. This is the tale of two love stories -- one covered extensively, one almost glossed over by books' end.
   
   Farley Mowat came to Newfoundland in the early 1960s and fell in love, both with the land and its people, and with a young artist named Claire Wheeler. It's the former that Mowat dwells upon most in this book, and as a reader I left frustrated because we learn so comparatively little about Claire and about their life together. It takes 1/3 of the book for Mowat to reveal that he was married when he met Claire, and that he the tug of his family -- including two sons -- delayed his eventual divorce. His former family is dismissed in a paragraph.
   
   Having faced the music, Mowat settles down with Claire aboard his famously unseaworthy boat, "Happy Adventure", the star the classic "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float." Readers of "The Boat" will be startled by anecdotes, names and dates changing from one book to another. It gives creedence to the charge leveled against Mowat that he never lets the facts get in the way of a good story.
   
   Ultimately this lovely book covers a period of but seven years, and ends just after Mowat's futile attempt to stop the people of his adopted home of Burgeo from killing a whale that has become trapped in a tidal pond. The whale died, the locals were savaged by the press, and the Mowats decided it was time to leave Burgeo and venture in Happy Adventure to Expo 67 (a voyage that nearly ended many times, if "The Boat" is to be believed.)
   
   This is a wonderful book but I wanted more -- what happened to Happy Adventure? What happened to Mowat's sons? Where did they settle after the Expo trip? Much has happened between 1967 and now! -- I hope to hear more about the Mowat's voyages though these most interesting times.



3. Farley Mowat writes a moving story about how he met his wife Claire by accident while trying to escape a vicious dog, and, in doing so, also "kills two birds with one stone" by portraying the colorful, insular people of Newfoundland in the 1950's as well as the inhabitants of the almost unheard of French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic off the coast of St. John, NF. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy learning about new places and people, and at the same time would want to curl up with a well-written love story.

No comments about Explorer: The Life of Richard E. Byrd.

1 comments about The Life and African Exploration of David Livingstone.

1. This is an interesting book, with many quotations from the great explorer, including 100 or so pages of his last journal entries (with minimal and helpful editorial comments).

   It has some fascinating comments from the anonymous author, including details regarding the Sahara's sub-marine past (existence, in the nineteenth century Sahara, of fossils of contemporary forms of marine life, and great areas of salt flats), and also later intimations of lost civilisations beneath the great desert's sands.

   However, not all of the book's 640 pages, by any means, are direct quotes from the missionary/explorer, which I felt I was led to expect.

   The book is, nevertheless, a fascinating volume originally published in 1874, just one year after Livingstone's death. It contains generous extracts from the associated writings of American journalist Stanley, and of contemporary explorers/hunters. It is, therefore, well worth the read and a good first volume for those interested in Livingstone and/or the Africa of his days. I was especially intrigued by the accounts of the various native tribes and native villages Livingstone met with. I also enjoyed reading of the geology, geography, and zoology of the continent.

3 comments about The Woman of Wyrrd.

1. Andrews has been critcized for her approach to 20th century spiritualism, but this book shows that her fiction has an edge rarely found in contemporary writing. This addition to her chronicles takes the author on a dreamtime journey to Celtic England where Catherine (Andrews in a previous life) begins her studies with a wise woman and the Women of Wyrrd, those ancient crones who hold all the truths of all time. Celtic lore especially fascinates me and the journeys and experiences of Catherine serve to reinforce that we all share the same roots, regardless of the lables we assume today. I read these books for the spiritual truths between the lines and found this book to have more than it's share. A delight to read and to experience.



2. This book helped me find and make sence if my spiritual path. It opened my mind to new ideas. I would definutally recomend this book to anybody who is pagan or just curious about shamanism. ---peace out



3. Maybe it's best to leave the past in the past. Just how much of a past-life regression session do you need? If you want to delve into the whole "who was I in some other century and how is it impacting my life today" approach by dissecting a previous incarnation, well ... go ahead then. Even when a past life is confirmed it doesn't mean you were that person. In fact, Jung's collective unconsciousness says that we are all connected. Depending on the kind of brain wave patterns you go into during a "past life" visit, there is a chance that the 95% of the brain humans don't used was activated. And you tuned into someone else's life from a long time ago. Think about it ... we are connected to our close friends and often experience strange mental resonances and synchronicity. My advice: let the dead rest.
   
   
   As for Lynn Andrews book ... enjoy it, see how it helps y ou, treat it like inspiration fiction, but do not go looking to the past too much. Life is lived forward.

5 comments about They Went Whistling: Women Wayfarers, Warriors, Runaways, and Renegades.

1. Wow! She's done it again. "They Went Whistling" is a fantastic read. Barbara Holland consistently amazes me with her incredible ability to find even the most obscure facts in her research and then distills them into a most delightful, informative and humorous book. Ever since I read "In Private Life" at least 20 years ago, giggling out loud alone in my kitchen, I wouldn't miss anything she writes.

   In her book, "Hail to the Chiefs," Holland dug up facts and anecdotes about past presidents of the United States and served them up on a delicious dish of hilarious humor. In "They Went Whistling," she has managed to do the same, but this time she has chosen, along with famous women, some we would never have heard of without Holland's wonderful and descriptive tales. I loved learning that Cleopatra was not the "ultimate siren" or the "pure sexual temptation" that the Romans and Hollywood made her out to be. Instead, "according to Plutarch, she spoke nine or ten languages," and, as Holland says, "Cleopatra knew a thing or two about pharmaceuticals...she'd written a book on cosmetics full of ingredients unknown to Estee Lauder."

   And then there's Daisy Bates, in her Victorian garb, running around with the Australian Aborigines, learning "a hundred and twenty-nine languages." Bates also "had a son that didn't particularly appeal to her," but, Holland says, "as a general rule the whistling women made absentminded mothers."

   Indeed, I agree with the accolades Russell Baker and Dave Berry offer to Holland's books. I believe she is one of the finest writers of this century. She writes with a grace and style unmatched.




2. The women in Barbara Holland's latest book are so refreshing in their feminism simply because they would not even know what the word means. They never looked at a label in their lives and had absolutely no idea there was a glass ceiling much less that they crashed through it. The feminist cliches of today would bore them silly. This is what makes this book so wonderful to read. These women simply did what they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it, and most were over-achievers in the creative and interesting departments. Barbara Holland's dry wit supplies the reader with an ample supply of everything from chuckles to belly laughs. Holland reveals the often unseen heroism and strength of these women and shows everyone, men and women, what true individuality is all about. The brief biographies delve into the lives of Cleopatra, Queen Boudicca of Britain, Dr. James Barry (A woman who shall forever remain anonymous since no one knew until 'his' autopsy), Joan of Arc, Lizzie Borden, Isabella Bird, and Bonnie Parker. There really are too many to mention since Holland discusses some in passing and others in greater depth. She does this always with humor, respect, and a no-nonsense-myths-and-rumors-be-damned attitude. This is a world and an attitude, a writing style and an intelligence, one hates to see end on page 268. I only hope Ms. Holland will decide to write a second volume. We all need the intellectual adrenalin.



3. Barbara Holland's book "They Went Whistling" is a delight! Holland uses wit, sarcasm and a vast knowledge of many incredible women. This book highlights not only well known women (Cleopatra, Joan of Arc) but also remarkable lesser known women. These ladies were not the "fairer sex" by any means. Their stories exude courage, brawn and too little glory. For those looking for some herstory this book is a MUST read. I found myself laughing, gasping and making list of women who I wanted to read more about. The stories blend together beautifully in a easy and smooth flow. Holland's wit is so catching and real I soon felt like she was a good friend or relative telling me stories of the past. Thank you Ms. Holland for the education and experience.



4. Last night my 6-year-old granddaughter Emily and I hugged each other close, and watched "Eight Below" for the first time.
   
   Emily loved all the `dog parts' (we kept fast forwarding to those) in this amazing story of eight, Antarctic sled-dogs, abandoned in 30 below weather ("based on a true story"). Left to their own devices, they managed (most of them) to find food, surviving against all odds, for 152 days -- in weather that looked almost cold as Winnipeg. (As it should: Most scenes were filmed up here, in "Hollywood North" apart from some impressive snow mountains, and iceberg-laden inlets around Greenland).
   
   But Emily said something revealing - right after the movie's scariest moment: "Maya," the de facto Leader-of-the-Pack, gets one of her paws nearly bitten off, when she and her Siberian Husky dog-team `brothers' battle a Sea Leopard ("more dangerous than the land variety," the film's male protagonist tells a visitor).
   
   I might have missed what Emily said - had I not just been reading (an hour before) the opening passages of this book --- Barbara Holland's whimsically titled -- "They Went Whistling: Women Wayfarers, Warriors, Runaways, and Renegades." At least TWICE Emily referred to "Maya" as "HE." She did it a couple of times, and I thought of this book's premise, in its "Introduction."
   
   "Browsing through literature (you) plainly see that each man is DIFFERENT from all other men, singular by reason of what he DOES, while women differ only in hair color, beauty and chastity . . . and the less they do the better.
   
   "The youngest reader learns this basic lesson: the protagonist is male. Babar is a BOY elephant. Stuart Little is a boy mouse, Peter is a boy rabbit, the Black Stallion is a stallion, and even the Little Engine That Could, is a boy engine.
   
   "Sometimes a female hovers, wringing her hands in the background, like Kanga among Christopher Robin's friends, but she doesn't get to do anything. Girls, even girl kittens or ponies, don't do things . . .
   
   "Acceptable hero women should be driven not by dreams of glory but by a nurturing concern for others: The Virgin Mary, Florence Nightingale . . . Harriet Tubman, Mother Teresa - mothering their way into history.
   
   "In the index to Kenneth Clark's definitive `CIVILIZATION' . . . what we've done since the dawn of time . . . we find the names of 395 men and eleven women, including the Virgin Mary, several lesser saints, and Dorothy Wordsworth the poet's sister."
   
   -----
   
   In fact, Barbara Holland introduces readers to a woman saint (one I'd never heard of, though it's my favorite subject) - "St. Mary of Egypt" desert "Mother" and hermit for 40 years who lived alone, but not far from the famous "Desert Fathers."
   
   One of those "fathers" Saint Zosimas sought her out -- he left a desert monastery, crossed the Jordan River and walked for 20 days into the desert to find her living alone. Mary, at his request, came to visit him on the opposite bank of the Jordan (his side) walking on water, there and back. "St. Mary of Egypt" who died soon afterwards, performed for Zosimas miracles that raised the hair on the back of his saintly neck.
   
   After Zosimas embraces Mary's feet, overcome by her sanctity, saying God had obviously sent him there so he could report her story, Mary lifted him up with the words that she was ashamed of her "story" which, she says, "may cause you to run from me as from a snake, for your ears will not be able to bear the vileness of my actions" (as a teenager).
   
   "She tells him of running off to Alexandria as a child, where she `unrestrainedly and insatiably gave myself up to sensuality . . . I was like a fire of public debauch . . . often, when they wished to pay me, I refused the money . . . so as to make as many men as possible try to obtain me, doing free of charge what gave me pleasure.
   
   `Do not think I was rich . . . I lived by begging, often spinning flax, but I had an insatiable desire and an irresistible passion for lying in filth. That was life to me.'
   
   "Then one fine summer day she noticed great crowds hurrying toward the port . . . off to Jerusalem for the `Exultation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross' . . . (and) "without money or food for the trip, she decided to join the pilgrims" on their voyage, "deciding the journey would be a fine chance for a few extra flings with the pilgrims."
   
   God it seemed, had other plans for her! The story of "Mary of Egypt" (this "fine saint for sinners") is one of the best in this book and, for "kindred spirits," an utter delight to read!
   
   ----
   
   An afterward "about the author" states,
   
   "Barbara Holland was born in Washington D.C., produced three children, worked for many years in advertising and now lives on a mountain in the Blue Ridge, where her closest neighbors are bears and there's nothing to do but write. She is the author of a dozen books and countless magazine pieces. If she had it to do over, she'd be a pirate instead."



5. "A woman strolling down the street on a splendid morning might feel like whistling, but whistling in a dress would be absurd. Whistling implies and requires pants, and the swagger that goes with them. Ideally, it calls for pockets to thrust the hands into, or at least a sturdy waistband for the thumbs." - Barbara Holland
   
   Thus it is in THEY WENT WHISTLING that Holland provides thumbnail biographies of a number of women in history that kicked over the traces and, while literally dressed in pants or not, did what the male of the species does routinely, i.e. pretty much what they wanted without reference to society's expectations or rules.
   
   There may have been a method to Holland's choice of subjects and her categorization of them, though, to me, the former seemed somewhat arbitrary. The categories, and examples of whistlers in each, encompassed Warriors (Cleopatra, Queen Boudicca), those donning Menswear (Joan of Arc, Calamity Jane, Amantine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, a.k.a. George Sand), Outlaws (Grace O'Malley, Bonnie Parker), Exiles (Jane Digby, Daisy Bates), Wayfarers (Isabella Bird, Mary Kingsley, Dervla Murphy), Renegades (Mary Fields, Belle Star), Grandstanders (Belle Boyd, Lola Montez), Seekers (St. Mary of Egypt, Alexandra David-Neel), and Radicals (Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Emma Goldman). I'd never heard of most of these, and a value of the volume was that they were introduced to me at all. I wish there was a photo section as it would have saved me several trips to the Web; there isn't, and for that I'm knocking off a star right up front.
   
   The author's wryly humorous writing style, never mean or petty, isn't as prominent a feature of THEY WENT WHISTLING as it is in her other commentaries on times, social mores, things and places as found in Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences, and Wasn't the Grass Greener?: Thirty-three Reasons Why Life Isn't as Good as It Used to Be and Bingo Night at the Fire Hall: Rediscovering Life in an American Village, though it still shows through, as in the following observation about the Roman Triumvirate:
   
   "The Romans were still tinkering with the notion of the Triumvirate, or three equal rulers, which, considering the testosterone content of your basic Roman male, was an ill-starred concept. Antony ruled with Octavius and someone named Lepidus, who prudently crept offstage early."
   
   Although I personally don't regard THEY WENT WHISTLING as one of Holland's best endeavors mainly because it seems but a collection of cobbled-together stories, it deserves a place on the bookshelves maintained by her dedicated fans. I'm left wondering, however, why Barbara didn't include my favorite female historical figure who more than held her own vis-a-vis the powerful men in her life, Henry II's troublesome consort Eleanor of Aquitaine. I'd love to see what Holland could do with that story.