5 comments about Barefoot Gen, Vol. 1: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima.

1. Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen (New Society Publishing, 1983)
   
   Keiji Nakazawa's four-volume graphic epic Barefoot Gen has become legendary in the field of graphic literature, and also, in no small way, out of it. While many Japanese artists working in every medium have examined the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their aftereffects, Nakazawa, who lived in Hiroshima at the time the bombs were dropped, has an understandably closer perspective than most others who have tried it. For sheer power, Barefoot Gen's only rival in the subgenre is the similarly legendary Grave of the Fireflies.
   
   This eponymous first volume takes us through the life of Gen, an elementary school student, and his family in the months before the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. Gen's father, while not a pacifist, is notorious in town for his speaking out against the war, which gets him and his family branded traitors. Because of this, they don't have an easy life. The family members try to find various ways to survive in the face of shunning at best, and aggression at worst, from the rest of the townspeople.
   
   Do you need to be told that this is a book that's going to hit you in the face like a sledgehammer with its message? The artistry, or lack of same, in the delivery is the place where Grave of the Fireflies is clearly superior to Barefoot Gen, but while Nakazawa is not above letting his message get in the way of his story on occasion, it never happens for too long a period of time. Nakazawa's characters are well-drawn, and the story spends more time focused on its characters than on its message. There is a lot to be liked here, and a good deal to be mulled over, as well. Well worth your time. ****



2. The manga form of presentation makes reading about the prelude to this event easy and fast. The book seemed to be reasonably accurate with historical documentation and the visual format allowed the author to include detail that might otherwise have become difficult to work into the story. The clothing, clogs, air raid hoods, etc. that are be depicted add depth of information to a quick read.



3. In our present time this portal to the topic of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and our nature as the only nation to build and to use nuclear weapons, and against strictly civilian population centers may inform our moral consideration of the present failure of our total war alone against civilians to establish a peaceful and stable and democratic society.
   
   This present volume serves as an excellent introduction to the topic. Centering on Hiroshima, as may supplement this strong introductory reading with the recent study by Prof. Takaki, or the new Racing the Enemy, which explores the lack of military reason for dropping the Bomb against an already defeated Japanese Empire. We may also read on this specific event of crisis the moving Letters from the End of the World, or HIroshima Diary, written as was Gen by eyewitnesses and civilian victims of this our nuclear holocaust. Hershey is also important to read of course, and the reissue of Hiroshima Mon Amour, but I keep returning to this child's eye view in Barefoot Gen.
   
   We are fortunate in this reprinting for the informed and astute introduction by Art Spiegelman, the creator of the Maus series which does a similar though more symbolic treatment of the Nazi Holocaust. Art strongly recomends this first person account of a small boy on the morning of the Bomb, and its immediate effects upon himself and upon his family. Please read this book and remember. Our Popes continue to visit the Peace Park at Ground Zero in Hiroshima, to pray for peace and nonviolence and for the development of peoples.



4. Barefoot Gen - I grew up with this famous comic series by Nakazawa. It's about a boy called 'Gen' and his life in Hiroshima during the WWII and soon after the atomic bomb. Volumes 1 & 2 are probably the most important ones. After I read them in English, I just had to lend them to everyone I knew. If you read this story, you'll realise how silly to hear some popular opiniton 'Dropping two atomic bombs in Japan was necessary to end the war'. The author Nakazawa says that each and every event illustrated here is a true story. You'll see, for example, that two young brothers fight against each other for a little grain of rice. Gen trying to encourage a girl who used to be dreaming about one day becoming a professional dancer, but now her face was badly burnt by the bomb, although she still didn't know it - he refuses to let her see the mirror.
   
   The bombs were dropped onto civilians in the two cities, and, in Hiroshima alone, 100,000 people, including children, elderly people and western prisoners of war, were killed instantly, and the pain they suffered from it was tremendous. The way some of Gen's family members, including a new born baby sister, were slowly dying is simply too sad to look at. But the reality is that it actually took place and was caused by human hands.
   
   I sincerely hope that many people will find the opportunity to read this book at least once in their life-time, and I strongly believe that this book will enlighten the whole world with the message: 'What really happens when a nuclear bomb is dropped onto humanity', which hasn't really been talked about in history books for some reason. But I think it's time to face reality.



5. This manga is unsophisticated in its artwork, storytelling, and politics. Yet that very lack of sophistication seems to me to be what gives it power that probably could only otherwise be generated by poetry, or perhaps opera.
   
   You might as well go ahead and buy the four volumes in this series now, to save time & postage. Then you can wait, like I am waiting, in the hope that Project Gen manages to publish the next six volumes in the series.
   
   Note: there is at least one prior English edition of Barefoot Gen, and the volume contents are not the same as in the latest edition. So if, for example, you buy volume 3 of the earlier edition (1979), you will find that it overlaps the latter part of volume 2 of the current edition (issued in 2004.) The volume titles seem to be the same in each edition, so things can get confusing if you don't stick with the same edition. If you buy used, pay attention to which edition you are getting.
   
   According to Wikipedia, these are the published & projected volumes in the current English translation series of Barefoot Gen:
   
   * Barefoot Gen #1: A Cartoon Story Of Hiroshima (ISBN 0-86719-602-5)
   * Barefoot Gen #2: The Day After (ISBN 0-86719-619-X)
   * Barefoot Gen #3: Life After The Bomb (ISBN 0-86719-594-0)
   * Barefoot Gen #4: Out Of The Ashes (ISBN 0-86719-595-9)
   * Barefoot Gen #5: The Never-Ending War (17 April 2008, ISBN-10: 0867195967)
   * Barefoot Gen #6: Writing the Truth (17 April 2008, ISBN-10: 0867195975)
   * Barefoot Gen #7: (Not published in English)
   * Barefoot Gen #8: (Not published in English)
   * Barefoot Gen #9: (Not published in English)
   * Barefoot Gen #10: (Not published in English)

5 comments about Plutarch's Lives, Volume 2 (Modern Library Classics).

1. Although it's a very good translation, I prefer to read the books of Plutarchos in the original Greek texts because the version of Dryden is now somewhat obsolete. And if you don't understand the ancient Greek language well, I recommend you to read several volumes of Plutarch in THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY.



2. I have now plowed through the second and final volume of this series, and though my energy began to flag, I still think this is one of the great classics of all time. Though not exactly chronological, the stories in this volume tend to occur later than in the first volume and are often longer, which is understandable given that Julius Caesar and Alex the Great are covered in this volume. THe stories are also more intricately interwoven - you get lives that overlap, such as those of Brutus and Caesar, with slightly different takes and details in each one. The upshot of all this is that the serious reader will need to keep this around as a reference, going over the text again when some question of detail comes up or to refresh one's point of view. Plutarch's take on things is very different from that of many authors: he is a pro-aristocrat conservative and admiring of martial prowess, yet pro-Republican. Once again, the reader really needs to know the historical context before undertaking this. It is not at all introductory.

   Warmly recommended. Though it takes real effort at times to continue, it is well worth the slog.




3. Plutarch's parallel lives, parallels the life of a great Greek with a great Roman. Theseus and Romulus, Demosthenes and Cicero, Alexander and Ceasar. There are forty- six such pairs which tell not only the story of the individuals but of their society . Plutarch brings to bear his tremendous learning from a wide variety of sources . Plutarch's first interest is in the character of the people he writes about, and the moral lessons he can draw from comparison of the lives. His work has had great influence and provided inspiration and material to Shakespeare, Montaigne, Browning and others. The reading of the work is not always easy, and there are strange and questionably credible tales and details but the work is humanly alive. The reading and studying of it was once considered a basic part of true humanistic education, and not the confine of a few scholars in the classic departments of universities. It once had broad reader appeal and anyone with a keen interest in biography, and the subject of how lives have been lived in worlds far from our own, would do well if not to read this work cover- to- cover than at very least have a good read in it.



4. A most concise volume of all the most important people of the Roman Empire.



5. Twain's pejorative definition of `classic' need not apply. I define classic as that (text) which speaks to the heart over an extended duration - perhaps for several generations, as in `classic rock', or several millennia, as in Plutarch's "Lives". I probably never would have read Plutarch, were it not for a glorious discovery of Montaigne in mid-life. Having acquired enough distaste for the copious demands required to master classical languages after five years of Latin in secondary school, I made an arbitrary and direly misguided vow to eschew all Classics courses at the university level. And thus again is revealed the fateful difference between post-modern (post-1945), and the modern (c. 1500 - August 5, 1945) pedagogy, of which I unwittingly, if serendipitously, caught the tail end. The modern cannon required thorough immersion in the classics, and, for many years, Plutarch was required reading in the best schools, and should be even now. The author of the Shakespearian plays came to Plutarch by way of Montaigne (and likely read the Amyot translation, and only later the North, if at all), and the English schools came to Plutarch by way of Shakespeare. We might say that the revival of Plutarch was one of the most far reaching achievements of the Northern Renaissance.
   At one point in his celebrated chronicle of the self, Montaigne (as a shaper and bona fide member of that cannon, guardian of some of what is best in our cultural inheritance) amusedly reveals that, when his critics believe they are attacking his work, they are actually attacking Plutarch and/or Seneca, so profound is their presence in his writing, and, in his "Defense of Plutarch and Seneca", he declares that . . . "my book [is] built up purely from their spoils".
   
   And what a book it is! But Plutarch's magnum (see the 14 volumes of the Loeb Classical Library for his other works), is the greater. Montaigne is one of the great students of the self. Plutarch is the first (and may yet still be the definitive) historian of virtue. Montaigne, in scrutiny of his own nature, seeks to recognize the limitations and potentials of the self, and thereby sketch our general spiritual contours. Plutarch, in an unparalleled series of real life, historically and culturally pivotal, examples, shows us what they are.
   
   The book records in the most remarkably intimate style (Plutarch has few peers as a master of narrative and an uncanny ability to ferret out of detail the significance of individual actions as a unified whole), the major events in the lives of the most impacting figures of the ancient world. Therefore, like the best novels, the book forms a world in itself, a lost world, the world of our ancestors, through a landscape drawn of actions and consequences. The structure of the book is such that an account of the seminal moments in the life of a noble Greek and then of a noble Roman are brought forth in pairs, followed by a comparison. In some sections of the work these comparisons are absent. They appear at some point in antiquity to have either been lost to or removed from the text, which would seem to explain why, for instance, there is no comparison of Alexander and Caesar. But the comparisons are brilliant, and eminently instructive.
   
   Of course, from the details alone, we may draw our own inferences. Alexander, as a mere teen, leading his troops in hand-to-hand combat, won his first battle fighting uphill at night. Caesar, a heavy drinker, was wont to ride horseback at full tilt with his hands clenched behind his back. He had a life-long passion for Cato's sister and it is said that from their relationship, which continued through their respective marriages, Brutus was born. Et tu? Of course, one cannot fail to mention, even in this briefest review of the abundantly rich description in the nearly 1,300 pages which comprise the book, the death of Cato the Younger - one of the most exquisitely drawn figures in the book. Hunted down with the remnants of his troops into the wastelands of Carthage by the army of Octavius Ceasar in an effort to snuff out the last vestiges of republican resistance and opposition to Empire, realizing that the last realistic hope for freedom is lost, Cato attempts ritual suicide (a Stoic custom common to Roman nobility) by disembowelment. As Plutarch describes the scene, ". . . he did not immediately die of the wound; but struggling, fell off the bed, and throwing down a little mathematical table that stood by, made such a noise that the servants, hearing it, cried out. And immediately his son and all his friends came into the chamber, where, seeing him lie weltering in his own blood, great part of his bowels out of his body, but himself still alive and able to look at them, they all stood in horror. The physician went to him, and would have put in his bowels, which were not pierced, and sewed up the wound; but Cato, recovering himself, and understanding the intention, thrust away the physician, plucked out his own bowels, and tearing open the wound, immediately expired." In Seneca's words: "For Cato could not outlive freedom, nor would freedom outlive Cato."
   
   However, the life most appropriate for the contemporary reader, I feel (and wish that every member of the shadowy corporate/military junta that seems to be ruling us these days would read and take to heart) is the life of Crassus. Crassus was the most successful businessman in the history of the Roman Empire. Plutarch relates that at one time he owned virtually one-third of the real estate in Rome. However, such mind-boggling success was not enough for him. His yen, and later, obsession, was to be revered as a great military leader, a world conqueror, expand the domain of the already burgeoning Empire, and the object of his fantasies was the area of the world at that time known as Mesopotamia and Persia, today as Iraq and Iran. We follow as he makes extensive preparations, investing his own fortune and a great deal of the nation's wealth into outfitting an army for the venture. And at first, the invasion of Mesopotamia seems to go well. But the centers of population are spread out over great stretches of desert, and the occupation never really succeeds, because a central authority cannot be solidly established. Crassus, however, remains undaunted, even though the troops are becoming mutinous as supplies begin to run thin. Led on by treacherous advisors, he enters Parthia (somewhere in the vicinity of modern day Syria). Plutarch describes the grueling denouement with his usual detachment, aplomb, and gifted eye for pertinent detail. Having lost the greatest fortune in the world, he proceeds to lose his troops, then his sons, and finally his life. These lessons are never too late for the learning, and my apologies to Twain, but a classic is a text which retains its urgency to be read, and read now.
   
   I read the Dryden/Clough translation. Dryden was never my favorite writer of his period, the late 17th century - hardly a match for Burton or Milton, in my opinion, but he was poet laureate, and this work I love - his English is fine, and resonates with classic dignity. Clough, the mid-nineteenth century British scholar who revised the translation, befriended Emerson when he traveled to England, and became a sort of mentor to the New England Transcendentalists in general. We can be grateful for such a wonderful rendering for one of the very greatest and edifying masterpieces.

5 comments about The Private Life of Chairman Mao.

1. As an off and on student of modern Chinese History and with a decided leaning toward the benefits of socalism for China I was bewildered by Li Zhisui's book. It seems to me that this is either an elaboratly deceptive historical piece or -- very close to reality.



2. It is difficult to find a relatively objective portrait of Mao, and Dr. Li provides one of the most direct and honest descriptions of the Chairman that I have been able to find. His knowledge of the details of the Chairman's political conflicts is often superficial or naive, but this stems from Dr. Li's desire to stay out of the dangerous, entangling politics that surrounded Mao. The real value of the book is in Dr. Li's observations and insights into Mao's personality and how the political struggles surrounding Mao resulted in disastrous national policies.



3. 
   This doctor could have had a comfortable and fulfilling life but chose to join the spirit of the new China. He, like so many idealistic youth, went back to China (and Russia) to join the "new society" only to be buried in a world created by the revolutionaries in whom they had put their trust.
   
   Dr. Li's suffering was made meaningful in his writing this book. This may be the world's first up close portrait of a national dictator/cult leader. Some of the things that were most striking to me are:
   
   · First, when Dr. Li accompanies Mao to his hometown, Mao tells him how his father, a minor but comfortable landowner, beat him and his brothers so badly that he would run away. Recently I had read how Fidel Castro, was humiliated by living in the workers' homes on the property where his father lived in the "big house" with his legal wife and family. Years ago I had read of Stalin's abuse at the hand of his stepfather. These bright, talented and unwanted sons turned their anger, resentment and hostility on millions of victims.
   
   · Second is that revolutionary warriors had no time for education and their resentment for those that had it ran deep. The facts of the Great Leap Forward imply ignorance, but Dr. Li defines the know-it-all way it got started, grew, got implemented and institutionalized. With science meaningless, Mao's medical treatment was a political decision, and the doctor knew he would suffer for the patient's eventual death.
   
   · Third is the no-win situation everyone was in. The people setting the dynamics had not only the education of third graders, they had the emotional maturity of them too. Slights and unwanted facts create temper tantrums and grudges lethal to the inhabitants of Zhongnanhai and disastrous for China.
   
   · Fourth, was how Dr. Li was expected to know about everything from water quality, to the poisons in food to dentistry and given no opportunities for professional development. When convenient this knowledge was used, but never applauded.
   
   · It's interesting how Mao maintained power even as he lost his eyesight and speech. I'd be interested in some views why/how this happened.
   
   · It's amazing that this book is free of acrimony and sensationalism. For all his troubles Dr. Li was banished to the countryside 3 times and often intentionally separated from his family.
   
   It must have been both painful and cathartic to write this book. I'm curious how his sons got to the US.
   
   This is a must read for anyone interested in 20th century China.



4. An urbane bourgeois doctor meets and works for a brutal egotistic self-doubting country boy turned dictator, with hilarious results. Part of the fun of reading this is who you are rooting for. Personally I found the good doctor rather tiresome, he is clearly a lesser man than Mao (although he obviously didn't think so) throughout the book. However Mao's weaknesses - vanity, covetousness, adultery (in the extreme), heck just paste in all the seven sins - also become tiresome after the first exhilaration of meeting this gangster turned dictator. In fact Mao becomes a bit like Tony Soprano - you stop rooting for him after you realise that this kind of life is what it is - unhealthy and harmful to others. Mao was a powerful man, but not a great one, as he did very little to help his people - in fact millions suffered and died under his rule - but he does have the legacy of founding the modern China that right now is on the rise.



5. A real, in depth account of Mao from the view of his personal physician. I don't think there is any other point of view that can capture this leader's horrendous acts and thought process.

5 comments about Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.

1. There is nothing here about policies or ideology, but the unbelievable monstrosity of Stalin and his magnates is described as never before. A terrifying and gripping story.



2. Josef Stalin was an artist. While some artists work in clay, oils or water color, Stalin worked in mass murder. It was his medium and he was a virtuoso. And just as Picasso's style shifted from his pink to his blue period, Stalin's abattoir art developed through his Trotskyite period, his old guard Bolshevik period, his military officer period, his Jewish period, his doctor's period, his Mingrelian period and so on, across several decades of obscene, senseless blood-letting.
   
   Simon Sebag Monteriore tells the story of this deranged madman in a way few if any have before. The suicide of Stalin's wife, Nadya, in the Kremlin in 1932 is the pivot upon which the whole narrative turns. Monteriore notes that prior to that traumatic event Stalin was primus inter pares in the Soviet leadership hierarchy and not the omnipotent, dreaded dictator of his later years when the Politburo "studied [him] like zoologists to read his moods, win his favor and survive." In the early thirties old colleagues like Sergo Ordzhonikidze and Alexei Rykov were casual with Stalin, addressing him as "Koba" and were quite comfortable challenging his proposals within senior leadership circles. Within a couple years of Nadya's death these and other patriarchs were dead and so too was any thought of informality with Stalin or speaking freely on any topic no matter how trivial.
   
   The author provides a rare and stunning glimpse inside Stalin's personal and political circle over a quarter century of his rule. The picture that emerges is somewhat analogous to HBO's Sopranos family - only without the mafia code of honor. In Stalinist Russia nobody was off-limits: the elderly, women, children, pregnant wives, extended family, casual friends and neighbors, others completely and undeniably innocent. All were subject to heinous beatings, prolonged torture, hard labor and execution - often in that order. Proximity to the "Vozd" himself was no guarantee of safety; indeed, it was one of the more parlous positions in the Soviet Union. For instance, five of Stalin's eight in-laws from his marriages to Ekaterina Svanidze and Nadya Alliluyeva were liquidated during his rule. Meanwhile, the passionately Marxist-Leninist wives of long-standing and blindly devoted acolytes, such as Moltov, Poskrebyshev, and Kalinin, were arrested and in some cases shot. His secret police chiefs - Yagoda, Yezhov, Beria, Abakumov - each outdid their predecessor in zealotry to the cause of uprooting "enemies" and in the cruelty of their methods before being arrested and shot themselves on the falsified charges of being one the very "enemies" they were supposedly hunting (Beria, of course, being the exception, having survived Stalin's rule only to be shot by Khrushchev). The whole story is so twisted and nonsensical that it is difficult to fully comprehend.
   
   What was most surprising about Monteriore's narrative, in my opinion, was how human, talented, and common Stalin could be. Here you find Stalin locking himself in a Kremlin bathroom as his angry wife pounds furiously on the door in a fit of spousal rage; slapping his beloved daughter Svetlana for her romantic relationship with a middle-aged married poet during the Second World War; reprimanding his hard-drinking debauchee son, Vasily, for irresponsibility and sullying the family name; serving as a Simon Cowell-like judge in a bizarre version of "Soviet Idol" put on to create a new national anthem in 1943; unleashing a deadly inquiry into corruption and incompetence after being served under ripe bananas in 1951; and throwing tomatoes at dinner guests during a summer holiday on the Black Sea and forcing his inner circle to drink until they vomited at the table.
   
   Not only was Stalin often a doting parent, smothering his daughter and grandchildren with affectionate kisses and hugs, but he also possessed a first-rate intellect, at least according to the author, who writes "it would be no exaggeration to say that Stalin was the best-read ruler of Russia from Catherine the Great to Vladimir Putin, even including Lenin..." That's high praise given the unusually highbrow literary consumption of the Russian people.
   
   This is one of the most enjoyable and eye-opening (not to mention unsettling) books that I have read in quite some time. No matter what opinion you hold of Stalin (and hopefully it's not a positive one), this book will likely forever alter that perception.



3. This is a great book if you want to understand the horrors and paranoia among the elites in totalitarian regimes. The book discusses how Stalin manipulated his court and why his associates went along with his schemes. There are some fascinating tidbits, but one of the most unnerving is the fact that Stalin was actually a very well-read and intelligent man who read Western history and Russian literature (books he banned incidentally), but still believed in the Communist system and perpetuated mass murder. He also skillfully involved his associates in crimes, so none of them could take the moral high ground and they all had some stains on their character which could be used against them when Stalin decided to get rid of them.
   
   I thought there was enough of an overview on Stalin for reasonably educated people to delve right into this book, but you may want to review a brief online biography (or even Wikipedia) before tackling this book.



4. In the pantheon of the 20th century's most heinous individuals, Joseph Stalin would be prominently placed along with Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot. Stalin was a truly repulsive individual who brought death and misery to millions. To think that he should deserve some accolades for industrialising the Soviet Union is historical blindness of the greatest degree. He was simply a repugnant monster.
   
   Simon Sebag Montefiore has told the tale of Stalin as a riveting piece of history. You may ask if there is anything new about Stalin to be told. Well, the short answer is that much has been learned in recent years. Montefiore was given unparalleled access to Russian records and has a keen eye for detail. Indeed, it is remarkable that such records even exist. Yet it seems that the Soviets were, if nothing else, diligent keeps of files. Montefiore has unearthed a veritable treasure trove.
   
   Stalin was a man of immense paranoia. In his life, he trusted no one except, ironically, Adolph Hitler. Right up to the last moment, he was convinced that Hitler would keep his word and leave the Soviet Union in peace. When Hitler's word was broken, Stalin nearly collapsed. Yet, everyone else was a danger, real or perceived. The bloodletting that this unleashed in the 1930s has few parallels in history. But for all this carnage, Stalin was able to live a life cut short only by natural death. He created fear in his people and his immediate colleagues. He used this fear as a weapon. He was utterly remorseless.
   
   Simon Sebag Montefiori's book is a master piece. It is a superlative piece of historical writing and biography. Not with standing the repugnance of the subject, this book is great reading. I thoroughly recommend it to all interested in understanding one of the great figures of the twentieth century.



5. Yowzahs! If you want a DETAILED biography of Stalin's political life then pick this up. I fully recommend it to grad and doctoral students or anyone else writing a book.
   If you are a little curious and your last Russian history class was in high school, then you might want to look elsewhere.
   I was overwhelmed. When I got out of bed, wanting to draw my own character profiles and story arcs, I decided that this would NOT be a good bed time read.
   Thorough, scholarly and well-written this book made me feel stupid.

5 comments about Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician.

1. I don't remember where I saw it but someone said something like "you can't spent your life without reading something about Rome", not the exact words by the way. I am not a fanactic or expert in Rome history, but I think that to read about Cicero, Caesar, Augustus or anything about this ancient empire is absolutely recommended. An it is important because you can see how was the Republic organized, how was to be a politician those days, why Caesar intended power as a sort of monarchy and so many facts that makes you think about the struggle of people to establish the best political system throughout history, a struggle that still reflects in todays politics, especially in those countries that have difficulty to learn the lessons of history.
   
   Cicero was a great statesman, orator and prolific writer and while I was reading this book, I was recalling the images of the BBC series, Rome, which helped me to focus even more in the narrative. Despite Cicero's excellent intellectual skills, were not enough to save himself to the rage of Mark Antony -- but in any case, he managed to live a long life, a life to be remembered and perhaps celebrated to these days.



2. I enjoyed this book enourmously. It is easy to read and helps readers understand more about Roman politics and history. It probably has many incorrect interpretations but regardless of this it is entertaining. I will definitely try to purchase Elizabeth Rawson's Cicero-A Portrait since one of the other reviewers say it is even better than Everitt's book.



3. Odds are, you have heard of Cicero. Considered one of Rome's greatest orators, his writings are the main influence on how way we remember the last days of the Roman republic. The story of Cicero's life is the story of end of Republican Rome. All of the major players of the era: Caesar, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Brutus and Octavian (soon to be Augustus) all make an appearance in his life. In his role as one of the world's first brilliant statesman and backroom player, Cicero was friends and enemies with all of them. From Everitt's book, it seems Cicero was, at times, courageous in his rhetoric and at times, he was cowardly. He always tried to see all the angels and jockeyed for a position that put him in the best place politically while betraying as few of his political convictions as possible. In the end, he wound up on the wrong side of Marc Antony and was killed.
   
   The story in getting from provincial boy to one of the most powerful men in Rome is fascinating. I am no expert on Roman history. I have read no other biography of Cicero. But to my tastes, Everitt's biography of Cicero is excellent for the reader with a casual interest in this time period in Rome. Not only does it give us insight into what a complicated person Cicero was (both arrogant and generous; brilliant in the courtroom and terrified of physical injury) but also perhaps more importantly it is an excellent primer on the death of the Roman republic. The story of Rome's decent into dictatorship, the attempt at recovering republicanism, and then the reassertion of dictatorship is the stuff that western history is made of, and Everitt's book is a good place to get a sense of who did what when and what Cicero had to say about it. Recommended.



4. Anthony Everitt does an excellent job with this introduction type book of Cicero. Gives a great account of the man as well as the people in his life. Vivid description and good amount of primary analysis.



5. This is a splendid biography of Cicero. The book is exceptionally well-written, its clarity a product of true mastery of a broad range of historical material. I particularly enjoyed the way that Everitt brings historical figures like Julius Caesar to life. The book retains a clear and sometimes critical view of its subject, keeping it from the realm of hagiography. Cicero emerges as a flawed but ultimately and perhaps accidentally principalled man. The highest compliment I can give Everitt's book is that I am now looking forward to reading Cicero's works.

No comments about Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

5 comments about Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years.

1. Let's just say I fell in love with the sisters so much that I adopted their last name. I am in awe of these remarkable woman, still. After living for more than a century they did not believe they had a story to tell. I am grateful that Amy Hill Hearth was able to convince them otherwise.
   Their accomplishments were remarkable not only what the two oldest sisters did but the entire Delany family. Their father Henry was borned into slavery, however, he did not use that as an excuse. All of the Delany children were trailblazers because there were no civil rights for people of color in the early 1900's. They did what they had to do, Bessie was honest and brutal as she felt it was her duty to tell people the truth. Sadie was considered the sweet one, however, she too was a go-getter.
   I recommend this book and the two other books that were co-authored by Amy Hill Hearth. Without Ms. Hearth these women and their stories would have never been told, I am thankful to her for bringing them into my life. I expected the sisters to live forever but Bessie died in 1995 shortly after turning 104 and Bessie at 109 in 1999. They are still alive in the hearts of many of us and in the pages of their books.



2. This book was recommended to me by my 95-year-old mother, and I must say it was an excellent recommendation.
   
   
   
   Author Amy Hill Hearth must have had numerous conversations with Sadie (age 102) and her "little sister" Bessie (100). The book is written with the words and the spirit of these two special ladies shining through each page. The Delany sisters were born to a father who was a former slave and who got an education and later became the first black bishop in the Episcopal Church. Their mother had white blood, but she chose to marry and socialize among the black race. As the sister explain, if you had one drop of black blood at that time, you were considered a Negro.
   
   
   
   The sisters describe their growing-up years and their gratitude for their parents' love, guidance, and the high standards of conduct which they held up to their children. They tell what is was like to be chased by the Ku Klux Klan, discriminated against by teachers and employers, and be the victims of the Jim Crow laws. They mention the illustrious black people, such as Adam Clayton Powell, and Cab Calloway, who were part of their social circle. They tell about their patriotism during WWI and WWII and in one of the most poignant comments in the book Bessie says, "We were good citizens, good Americans! We loved our country, even though it didn't love us back."
   
   
   
   This is a look back at American history by two women whose family was prominent in the black community, but mostly unknown in the white world.
   
   It is an eye-opener and is a wonderful story.



3. The Delany Sisters are simply a spectacular duo of fighters. Their story is one almost every person would find amazing. The way they see this world, and how their past experiences with Jim Crow and being colored in the South before the Civil Rights Movement shaped their perception of humans forever. The book is filled with very warm humor and it is essential to understand part of the complex psyche of 'colored' people in the United States today, which, by the way, is a term prefered by the Sisters over black or even African American to refer to themselves and their people.



4. "I'm not black, I'm brown!" So says Bessie Delany, at age 100. Despite her years of involvement in the Civil Rights movement, accepting its nomenclature wholesale isn't part of Bessie's personality. She's the feisty sister. Sadie, age 103, is the one who conquers by saying nothing - while going right ahead and doing exactly what she wants. Or by playing dumb, as she and Bessie both put it; but either way, it's always worked for Sadie. These two, the second black woman licensed as a dentist in New York and the first black woman to be appointed a New York City high school teacher, have lived together more years than not in their long lives; and as of this book's publication, they're still in their New York home and taking care of themselves just fine, thank you very much.
   
   What do they have to say? Plenty, mostly in alternating chapters. Their father was born a slave, and their mother's parents - a mulatto woman and a white man - couldn't marry because state law forbade it. That freed slave eventually became an Episcopal bishop, and all ten of his children became college-educated professionals. Sarah and Elizabeth Delany were old enough to be shocked and hurt when Jim Crow became the law of the South, and each had to find her own ways to survive and thrive in spite of both cultural and institutionalized prejudice. Relocating to Harlem, New York City opened new opportunities, but didn't take them away from that familiar struggle. Through it all, Sadie and Bessie lived by the creed their parents had taught them: You're here to do good. To which Sadie added her own maxim: Maybe I can change the world a little bit, by changing me.
   
   The challenges these two women faced are not familiar to me personally, in one sense, because I've never had to face racial prejudice. Yet in the way they met those challenges, with determination, realism ("As long as they need you, you've got that job"), and plenty of humor, any fellow human can surely find inspiration. A wonderful read!



5. I am so glad that I read this book. I found it uplifting and inspirational. How amazing that women like this lived, and I am so grateful they shared their story. It is not something I normally would have read, but I am grateful that I gave it my time. It was a very quick read.

No comments about Romanovs: Ruling Russia 1613-1917.

5 comments about Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet.

1. Karen Armstrong writes an incredibly accurate portrayal of the life of the Prophet accept without 75% of his life. Muhammad had a life where the entire last half was dripping with blood. Armstrong does a great job of referencing the great, peaceful philosophies of Muhammad while grazing over the slaughter of the Jews of Banu Qurayze for not converting. Islam has the belief of abrogation, which is that it is alright for the Qur'an to contradict itself because the later revelation overwrites the earlier one. The call for Jihad at the end of Muhammad's life is then the law that is to be followed. Muhammad was not a man of peace by any means. Extremely intelligent, and a phenominal leader, but far from peaceful. For a dry but immensely more accurate picture of Muhammad's life, read The Life of Muhammad. This is the oldest account of the life of the Prophet that is still in existance and many historians claim as the most accurate.



2. I would have preferred more direct sources- more quotes, more historical moments- less interjecting of personal ideologies, especially her recovering Catholic philosophical interludes. She also made blunders that led me to question her reliability. For example, she inferred that the Qu'ran is written in chronological order! (The Qu'ran is ordered from longest to shortest chapters).
   
   Her book does not strike me as being historically accurate, but is an attempt to show Muhammad in a positive light- every attack Muhammad made on the Quraysh, Jews, and non-believers were pro-active defensive measures... reminiscent of George Bush's "pre-emptive strikes".
   
   I enjoyed a few passages when Armstrong's personal interludes were kept down to a minimum and the history of a fascinating man and time and place unfolded. But for the most part I felt like I had to read between the lines. I know when I'm hearing only one side of a story.
   
   Definitely not a historical book. Falls into the category of polemics.
   
   If you haven't read an other book on the subject try a different author first.



3. I have read several reviews about Karen Armstrong book many have liked it and others have called her naive . I guess it is how we view her writting skill. First point is that she is not a muslim to have any kind of biasing.I have found her impartial.she has presented query from western perspective as well as islamic perspective. She has presented her work in such a way that it brings out prejudism and threaten their own preassumtions regarding Mohammed and Islam. I have found her work very analytic not lacking any sophistication.
   This book can bring out prejudism and preconcieved ideas that people have developed over the ages living in western world viewing islam through that lense.
   It is how we view a glass half full or half empty. We are looking at same book and presenting different views as we see it.



4. It's been awhile since I read this book, but I must say that it is clear and concise, and informative. I think everyone should read this book, maybe George Bush should be sent a copy (does he read?)
   
   It's imperative to have understanding about the Story of Mohammed, after all, we know he existed, we have no proof that Christ did.
   
   It is simply amazing what Mohammed managed to do to create stability where there was the possibility for factions by the score to develop. Bad enough we must deal with two factions at this time, (and Karen explains where this originated) But we have Mohammed to thank for the fact there are 'only' two.
   It could be worse!
   
   I was glad to see, too, that Karen put the connection together in this book about the Ismael the first son of Abraham, (with the maid servant of Sarah) and Mohammed connection . I was sure there was a connection. It's in this book!
   
   Insight, and education, makes such a huge difference in our perspectives. Karen is a prolific writer who began this writing early in life for reasons explained in The Spiral Staircase. Another great book that helps us to understand the part the brain plays in spirituality. Go on to read, The Brain That Changes Itself. ( not an Armstrong book)



5. This is a good book that attempts to introduce Muhammad in the most positive light possible: Armstrong believes that Westerners do not understand enough about Islam and its founder, and so produces this argument. It is long on reason and seeking to find common ground - essentially in monotheism - between the East and West. No doubt this is an important task, but her approach in my reading is to bend over backward to excuse Muhammad of virtually any negative legacy. As such, this slants the book too much towards good intentions.
   
   In socio-historical terms, Armstrong believes that Muhammad emerged in a culture in crisis, offering a new religious solution that first and foremost worked politically. The Arabs, she says, had developed a tribal culture, whereby relative peace was maintained by the threat of blood feud - if a tribal member was injured or murdered, revenge was exacted on whomever belonged to the offending tribe, beyond the individual responsibility of the person who carried out the act itself. This worked while tribes were separated in the desert, but began to break down with increasing urbanization in 7C: close proximity bred violence, which easily spiraled out of control into endless mob violence. Muhammad's solution was to create a version of monotheism, that united the Arabs to a single purpose, transcending the polytheistic patron gods of the various tribes in their battles. This is a very interesting existential perspective.
   
   Armstrong also describes the unique details of Islam, as Muhammad created it: the Kuran offered a poetic vision that mesmerized many Arabs in an untranslatable sense. The new religion also offered a new kind of submission to Allah, which carried with it an ethical code that she convincingly argues is close to the essence of Islam. I enjoyed her vision of the religion and gained empathy from it for the prayers I have observed personally.
   
   Muhammad's vision was of course not easy to impose on a primitive culture. This is where Muhammad's political genius comes in, a perspective I found fascinating and valuable: he knew when to compromise, but also understood how society was reorganizing itself and so could set political precedents that often caused grave doubts in his followers before revealing themselves as phenomenal strategic successes later on.
   
   Along the way, Armstrong does pose many of the difficult questions, but somehow finds a way to dismiss them by putting them into historical context, comparing them to existing practices in Christendom and elsewhere. This works well, for example, when she argues that Muhammad in fact worked to liberate women (in a relative way). However, it often fails to satisfy, at least in my own reading. He ordered massacres in Jihad (even of Jews in Medina), the text of the Kuran froze many medieval attitudes into an orthodoxy that is proving rigid today, etc. These are serious problems that cannot be argued away as facilely as Armstrong attempts. In my opinion, she did not wrestle enough with a lot of these questions.
   
   The book ends on an interesting note, arguing that the current crisis in Islam began in the 17C, over 1000 years after Muhammad created his politico-religious system. At that time, as science and then industry developed in Europe, Islamic states/empires began to falter, which raised the question of whether God annointed their religion as indisputably superior anymore. This is very thought-provoking and articulated a view I have wondered about for a long time.
   
   Recommended. Armstrong's heart is in the right place, even if it makes her argument a bit too politically correct for my taste. Nonetheless, a worthy introduction to Islam it is indeed, but only as a starting point.

5 comments about Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life (Ballantine Reader's Circle).

1. This was a very interesting bit of history but it is wrtten like a textbook. And, the last third of the book was poorly written. Editing seemed to be forgotten. It was just a bit wordy and too long.



2. A woman ahead of her time. Compelling biography that sheds light on both Eleanor of Acquitaine, as well as much information about the age in which she lived.
   
   Who needs soap operas - the lives of royals are always intriguing - scheming, treachery, and plots abound within the royal family and amongst friends and neighbors. A good read, well researched, a fascinating character with a plot line that spans the reaches of both France and England for 80 years - with a Crusade in between.



3. This book purports to be a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and in that respect it is deceptive. As the author states several times throughout the work, there is virtually no source material on the subject. How then to fill almost 400 pages on a subject for which there is no reliable history beyond the obvious?
   
   First, the author fills the book with general 12th century history and facts. There is every bit as much, if not more written about Henry II, the second husband of Eleanor than there is about Eleanor herself. In truth, the book should have been entitled "12th Century European History." The author writes extensively about the Second Crusade, undertaken by Eleanor's then husband, Louis of France, but has virtually nothing to say about Eleanor's role. Understandable, since there are no sources that speak of it. The book deals primarily with the political and martial dealings between the various Kings, Dukes, Earls and Counts of Europe and England.
   
   Second, the author writes generally about the role of women in 12th century Europe and tries to compare and contrast Eleanor's activities in an attempt to paint her as a much more politically savvy and active member of society than most women of the age.
   
   Finally, the author takes very flimsy historical information and tries to expand it to fill the historical gaps and flesh out the subject of the "biography". To her credit, she uses this technique very sparingly and avoids wholesale fiction.
   
   With respect to the author's writing style, I found it to be very dry and at times, merely a recitation of historical facts running for pages at a time. The plethora of names and titles were at times confusing, a situation that was compounded by the style utilized by the author.
   
   We know about Eleanor's family, her titles and estates and and the rough timeline of her marriages, divorce, children and death. Beyond that, with respect to Eleanor herself, we know very little. We do not even have a reliable likeness of her appearance. To sell this work as a "biography" is to give the word a definition with which I am unfamiliar.



4. Alison Weir's book *Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life,* which places Eleanor in the context of her times, provides a microcosm for the medieval world and can be used in a variety of ways to study European culture and history in the Middle Ages. Here are a dozen ways this book can be used: (1) the use of Chapter 7, "All the Business of the Kingdom," as a stand-alone piece, laying out all aspects of medieval culture: kingship, the Church, knighthood, political geography, crime and punishment, art, architecture, music, towns, economy, diet, and science; (2) the conflict between Church and State that so dominated the High Middle Ages, including Henry II's infamous murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury; (3) a study of the Crusades that focuses on the territorial ambitions of the European nobility; (4) the role of marriage as political alliance, including the near arrangement of a marriage between Eleanor's daughter and the Muslim leader Saladin; (5) the importance of genealogy to the study of history, including eight genealogical tables that help the reader understand the relationships of the many individuals in Eleanor's story; (6) the importance of geography to the study of history for which three maps are included; (7) a refutation of the idealistic image of Richard the Lionhearted as portrayed in the Robin Hood legend; (8) a study of the ways that the Arthurian legend served as an influence on the lives of the French and English nobility; (9) an insight into the way historians evaluate and use primary sources of history; (10) a reality check for the usual Hilary-esque treatment of Eleanor of Aquitataine; (11) an insight into the way the foibles of an individual can influence world events; and (12) a heightened awareness of the ways in which medieval women in the Church and the State influenced and even directed history through both beauty and intellect. Weir has given a highly readable, solidly researched, footnoted account of the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of two kings and mother of three, which is both entertaining and educational.



5. I expected to learn more about the person when I read "this is a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine." Although Eleanor is mentioned in every chapter,this is a history of Henry II and his conquests in war and lust. Eleanor and her children become peripheral characters in the tale of Henry,Beckett,Louis,Rosamund, and war,battles and conquest.In this book, Eleanor of Aquitaine is lost among the far too many other characters. Ms. Weir writes well researched and utterly dull history books. The kind of reading required in high school and responsible for so many students losing interest in medieval history.I am plodding through her books because I enjoy English history and in between the page after page of detail, I occasionally find an interesting fact.