4 comments about Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas.

1. This biography is written so well, and the story so interesting, it could be a novel from James Michener. If you are interested in Texas history, Southwest history, Mexican history, or Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny, this book is a must read. I'll be VERY suprised if you don't like it.



2. Comments about the personal development of historical figures are sometimes ignored in favor a list of achievements. Cantrell includes details of how Moses Austin encouraged his son to be a big thinker. The Austin family's "can do" attitude is certainly reflected in in Stephen's life.



3. Gregg Cantrell has tackled a sacred cow and come out unscathed. His new book, Stephen F. Austin, Empresario of Texas is a meticulously researched and carefully written profile of a man we only thought we knew.

   Our knowledge of Stephen Fuller Austin, is gleaned largely from the work of Eugene C. Barker. His 1925 tome, Life of Stephen F. Austin, painted this renowned figure as "The Father of Texas"...and rightly so. However, the Austin we see in Barker's work is a flat two-dimensional character lacking much of the humanity needed to explain the heroism behind the hero.

   Though technically accurate, Barker provided little to help us understand the motivations behind Austin the man or of the dynamic forces that led to the making of a republic.

   In Stephen F. Austin, Empresario of Texas. Gregg Cantrell brings to life the real Stephen F. Austin with all of his strengths and foibles. We learn in some depth how Austin was destined for greatness, a direct product of his father's influence. His father, Moses Austin, at one point was quite wealthy and wielded a powerful hand in creating his son in his own image. He wanted him to be a gentleman living in the world of high finance. Who Stephen F. Austin was and the way he thought all bear the mark of Moses Austin's influence.

   When the younger Austin grew into manhood, his father put him in charge of various business ventures within the Austin empire. Stephen's training paid off as he showed himself to be adroit at business. Unfortunately, an economic depression and several bad business dealings (mostly initiated by the elder Austin), left the family buried in overwhelming debt.

   By 1820, Moses Austin saw a possible way to get his head above financial water. He became the first Anglo to get permission to colonize Spanish Texas. Unfortunately, he died before realizing his goal. His deathbed request was that Stephen bring the colony to fruition. Under a sense of instilled familial loyalty very characteristic of the young Austin, he reluctantly abandoned his own course to obey his father's wishes.

   When Mexican independence became a reality, Stephen F. Austin skillfully navigated through the waters of the diplomatic intricacies to which he had been thrust. He began to see that building his colony was a way to repay the enormous debts the family had accumulated and to restore a measure of honor to his father's name. He would make his fortune through land. He threw himself wholeheartedly into the work of colonizing Texas and it soon became clear that it was not just another business venture but a mission. This mission would eventually be to create an independent Texas by any means.

   Austin earned the title "Father of Texas" by overseeing every aspect of the colony and the lives of those under his care. He became a fierce advocate for the rights of his colonists and worked tirelessly for many years (many times to his own detriment) to ensure the success of the colony.

   His was not an easy task. The central government in Mexico was in a constant state of turmoil. Cantrell shows us that one of Austin's biggest strengths was his ability to forge alliances with the powers at the heart of Mexico and the Tejano elite of Texas. Men like Don Erasmo Seguín and Lorenzo de Zavala had the deepest respect for Stephen F. Austin and shared his vision of Texas. He even earned the respect of those who opposed him.

   Throughout the book, Cantrell discusses Austin's struggle with his personal demons. All through his life, Austin was plagued with self-doubt and self-pity. He also experienced bouts of deep depression. His physical stature was not great and sometimes even frail due to chronic illness. What set Stephen F. Austin apart was that he pushed himself to the limits of human endurance and set his own interests aside many times for the good of others. Therein lies his heroism. He persisted when lesser men would have quit.

   Our tendency with heroes is to deify them and negate their humanity. Cantrell pulls no punches in revealing the full human nature of Stephen F. Austin. It was surprising to this reader to learn Austin's attitudes toward blacks and toward Catholics. Though in theory, Austin opposed the institution of slavery, he himself owned slaves. He fought diligently for his colonists to keep their slaves and not to free slaves already living in Texas. He feared that if blacks were freed, their number would increase. His vision was for a Texas populated predominately by whites.

   He looked upon Catholicism as gross 12th century ignorance, a yoke of oppression that retarded Mexico's progress into the 19th century. Austin seldom voiced these feelings except to a few close friends. It would not have faired well in his diplomatic relations.

   Stephen F. Austin was indeed human. He wasn't perfect. He made mistakes; but until his death at age 43, he never faltered in his devotion to Texas.

   Stephen F. Austin, Empresario of Texas brings a clear understanding of the events that led to the Texas Revolution. If you have ever wondered why there was an Alamo, Goliad or San Jacinto, then you should read this book.

   The narrative is clear and well written and it held my attention from page one. I highly recommend this book.




4. This is the first biography of "The Founder of Texas" since Eugene Barker's magisterial work published in 1925. A wait of nearly 75 years for a modern follow-up is tolerable when the results are as good as this.
   
   Austin was a complicated figure; much of his life played out in contradictions: born a Southerner, he was educated in the Northeast; an eloquent and persuasive spokesman in the public arena, he found it difficult expressing his emotions to those closest to him and never married; abhorring slavery, he fought for the right of slavery to exist in Texas; a cultivated man, he spent most of his life on the coarse and harsh frontier; he longed for peace and stability in his life, yet lived during extremely chaotic times; driven to "put his house in order," he claimed his only mission in life was "to redeem Texas from its wilderness state." His father inspired his son to dream big dreams and take on the challenges and responsibilities required to make them realities; when Moses Austin died before being able to colonize the 200,000 acres he acquired in Texas, he left it to Stephen to accomplish. And he did. Austin was not perfect and made mistakes (and enemies); possibly his biggest mistake was going to Washington to petition recognition for Texas at the time that the Alamo fell and, even more importantly, when Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto six weeks later. Recognizing the significance of that victory not only for Texas but for himself, he hastened to Texas from Washington as quickly as possible. He lost the presidency of the Republic to Houston. A sickly man most of his life, he died of fever in December 1836, only six months after his return.
   
   Gregg Cantrell's biography is a pleasure to read. Informative and compelling, it's a "Life" of Austin and not a "Life and Times." He captured my interest right from the beginning; not hesitant to indicate Austin's shortcomings, he also obviously respects the man. It's a solid, well written biography of an important figure in Texas (and American) history. Highly recommended.

1 comments about J. Edgar Hoover: A Graphic Biography.

1. Rick Geary does it again with his graphic biography of an American icon, J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI. He uses his trademark illustrative style to chart the course of Hoover's life from birth to death, and all points in between. Hoover is now a controversial figure thanks to some scandalous, yet unproven rumors (mostly about his personal life), but Geary treats his subject matter fairly, and portrays Hoover in an unbiased fashion. This is a new venture from Geary's excellent "Treasury of Victorian Crime" series, and it does not disappoint. Anyone looking for a concise, yet thoroughly enjoyable biography of Hoover need look no further.

1 comments about Garibaldi: Citizen of the World: A Biography.

1. While this is a lively history of a hero's life, the appeal of the book is lessened by the akward translation from the original Italian. Still, a worthy book.

5 comments about Mendel's Daughter: A Memoir.

1. MENDEL'S DAUGHTER details the harrowing story of Martin Lemelman's mother and her family during the Holocaust. It is a story that Lemelman grew up knowing very little of. But in 1989, after his mother, Gusta, dropped a frozen chicken on her foot (causing it to be broken), Lemelman brought her to stay at his house in Pennsylvania. In part to curtail her efforts to do all of the cooking and cleaning at his house with her broken foot, and in part to have a family history that he would be able to pass along to his own children, Lemelman persuaded his mother to finally share her story. He wisely videotaped her. After her death a decade ago, he watched the recording, edited the story Gusta related by reorganizing it chronologically and augmenting her accounts with those of his Uncle Isia, who also survived. He then illustrated it with hundreds of drawings interspersed with actual documents and some little black and white photos his mother had saved from her childhood.
   
   Gusta Mendel grew up in a prosperous and well-regarded Jewish family in a portion of Poland that is now part of the Ukraine. This was a region that during World War II was invaded first by the Communists and then by the Nazis. We know from the outset of this memoir that this is a story of survival, that Gusta made it through the Holocaust. Following the historical and personal events that are depicted in this book, Gusta would eventually come to America and, with her husband, raise Lemelman and his brother in the back of their Brooklyn candy store.
   
   The rest of the Mendel family was murdered by the Nazis, but Gusta, Isia, Yetala, and another sibling, Simon, lived. The four siblings survived in the woods through two winters, digging themselves a series of underground shelters, burying the potatoes and sugarbeets they'd steal from fields in the middle of the night, and getting some help from a few people who were sympathetic to their plight.
   
   "For us, the war ended in March-April 1944.
   "Who could believe that the German army coming back to Germakivka would be the beginning of our liberation? This time, thanks God, they was coming from the East, running away from Russia."
   
   The result of Lemelman's labor of love is the real deal: an illustrated memoir which, while technically published as an adult book, will be incredibly approachable, engaging, and memorable to middle school and high school age readers.



2. Our book club read this wonderful book and everyone agreed (which was a miracle) that it was an amazing experience. From the lovely illustrations to "hearing" Gusta's voice, it was a totally memorable read. The author, Martin Lemelman, accepted our invitation to speak to our book club and he added even so much more to this story. His gentle manner was in direct contrast to the horrors of the stories he told us. Reading the book then having Martin speak to us about researching and writing it, was a definite highlight for all of us.



3. Martin Lemelman has created a beautiful memoir, with his mother's voice speaking to the reader (you can hear her adorable accent!) and tender drawings that recreate her life as a young Jewish girl in Ukraine, a life that was torn apart by Nazi invasion.
   
   I almost left this book on the shelf because - sometimes you don't want to hear another story like this. But one look at the pictures and I had to read it. I could see this book would not be like any graphic novel or any holocaust novel that I read before.
   
   Somehow you finish this book, despite the story, feeling unexpectedly happy. Why is that when there is so much sadness, when you expect only grief or rage? Well, on every page you can feel Lemelman's love for his mother and you just feel happy that this beautiful book was made for her, and that her story is shared with us.
   
   By the way, I was reading to see whether I might share this book with young people. If you find yourself beginning to approach the story of the Holocaust, I definitely recommend Mendel's Daughter.



4. I liked the book and its content and the drawings but in general I enjoy a book that has more of a story or history in in.



5. Martin Lemelman, Mendel's Daughter (Free Press, 2006)
   
   I'll admit right up front that my coolness towards this book stems from a misunderstanding on my part. I see a title like Mendel's Daughter and all sorts of implications about the father of genetics and selective breeding run through my head. The story, however, has nothing to do with the more famous Mendel I was thinking of, and my disappointment at that fact never went away as I was reading this.
   
   Mendel's Daughter is an "as-told-to" graphic memoir of the holocaust by someone who lived through it. Thus, you've probably got a pretty good idea of the tone of the book. The first section covers the twenty years between the two world wars, the subject's genesis and early childhood. Then comes 1939, and the Nazi invasion of Poland, and everything blows up. The strength of the book is that Mendel's daughter didn't end up doing the same things everyone else (or so it often seems) did during the war years, and thus we get a new perspective on the lengths some people had to go to in order to survive the Nazi persecution of, well, everyone who wasn't a Nazi. The weakness is that Lemelman, who's an illustrator, doesn't quite have the editorial prowess to revise the prose (which he tells us early on is straight from interviews) into something with pace. I grant that it could have been an attempt to mirror the story, which is, not surprisingly, long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of terror, but I can't quite bring myself to believe Lemelman that much of a stylist (and it's usually a bad move anyway). I think he really did simply transcribe, unedited, the tapes, and draw around them. A bit of editing would have sharpened this book up considerably. Not enough to get me over the disappointment at the lack of the geneticist, but enough. ** ½

5 comments about President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination.

1. I'm not sure what book some of the reviewers here are reading, but it cannot be the same tome. Some claim this book is contemptuous towards Reagan, but I cannot detect a hint of that so-called "contempt" in this book, and this is coming from someone who believes that Reagan was the best President of the past fifty years, though obviously that is not saying much. Rather, what I see is a revealing, fair account of Reagan and his legacy. Certainly, many sections of the book do not give Reagan as much credit as I feel he deserves, but that is the great beauty of an unbiased biography, rather than an overly sycophantic or critical one - you get to see Reagan not as a God, but as the wrinkled, tired and yet majestic lion in winter that he really was. In all honesty, the book is so scrupulously fair to Reagan that though there were times when I believed the author was a closet conservative and still other times when I thought he must be a flaming liberal, those moments were so fleeting as to be mere flashes of consciousness - now here, now gone. In the capacity of being balanced, Mr. Reeves' biography is an enviable achievement. My one complaint is that the biography only covers Reagan's presidency, without his earlier years as context, but perhaps that is to desire too much of a good thing. Ultimately, whether you like Reagan or not, you will find something to enjoy in this book, though you may also find yourself occasionally shifting uncomfortably in your seat as the reality of his Presidency gently intrudes on your mind.



2. Richard Reeves frequently lets his personal liberal bias get in the way of recognizing Reagan's greatness as a leader. He makes many insinuations that Reagan is lazy. Reeves has difficulty recognizing that Reagan had a plan to rebuild the United States from the Carter negatives to the Reagan positives. Still, in all, the biography of his presidency allows the Regan personality and magnetism to shine through Reeves' negativism.



3. I have to admit that I was not a fan of President Reagan's during his presidency. In my own words, I thought that "the Iran-Contra affair was the biggest threat to our democracy since Nixon trying to hold on to the presidency after Watergate". I have since changed my mind, at least on President Reagan, and even on Oliver North, who I have had the pleasure of meeting at a book signing.
   
   I have to admit that I find Reeves' rehashing of the Reagan years enlightening in that I had forgotten so much of what had gone on, and it was interesting to read some of the behind the scenes details, although I had to wonder where some of the information came from. There were times when Reeves just could not avoid the backhanded remark, which was irritating at times. I also felt that he was struggling when he had to say something that might be construed as positive about Reagan. Be that as it may, it wasn't a bad read if you take into account the writer's view.
   
   Ronald Reagan certainly had his flaws. Everyone does. Great people are not always great people behind closed doors. This does not diminish the fact that they rose to the occasion when it presented itself, and one way or the other made the right decision. After reading Reeves' book, I came to the conclusion that the United States would be a much lesser county without Ronald Reagan.
   
   Reeves' book also convinced me that we need a great leader, much like Ronald Reagan, again. We need a leader who not only has the courage to make the tough, unpopular, decisions, but who can also communicate their beliefs in such a way that inspires the Nation, and the world, to do great things.
   
   If you can filter the author's bias, then I would recommend the book. The advantage of the author's bias is that what may have been glossed over, ignored, or buried under the apologetics of a completely pro-Reagan author, comes out in the raw with maybe some opinionated remarks. The reader can then weed out the remarks and come to their own conclusion.



4. Historian Richard Reeves, who has made a literary career exploring the White House years of many of the more recent occupants of the Oval Office wrote last year's best selling non-fiction book `President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination,' a biographical examination of America's 40th president.
   
   This work on Reagan's time in Washington is Reeves' eleventh book and his third biography of a chief executive's tenure solely in the White House. He previously wrote about the presidential reign of Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. He is currently the Senior Lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a syndicated columnist whose column has appeared in more than 100 newspapers since 1979.
   
   Reeves published his first book, `A Ford, not a Lincoln' in 1975. His tome `President Kennedy: Profile of Power' is considered the authoritative work on the 35th president and won several national awards including being named the Best Non-Fiction Book of 1993 by Time Magazine and Book of the Year by the Washington Monthly.
   
   Twenty-six years after Ronald Reagan became president and changed the course of America, Reeves has written a surprising and revealing portrait of one of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. As he did in his bestselling books `President Kennedy: Profile of Power' and `President Nixon: Alone in the White House,' Reeves used newly declassified documents and hundreds of interviews to show a president at work day by day, sometimes minute by minute over the 40th president's two terms by selecting certain highlights in his eight years in office.
   
   'President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination' is the story
   of an accomplished politician, a bold, sometimes reckless leader, a gambler of what he believed to be right, a man who imagined an American past and an American future and made them real.
   
   Reagan is revealed to be a man of ideas who changed the world for better or worse with his own vision of good and right, a leader who understood that words are often more important than deeds in dealing with others, whether they be aides, the public, politicians with opposing viewpoints or world leaders. Reeves shows a man who understood how to be the president, who realized that the job is not to manage the government but to lead the nation. Reeves writes that in many ways, especially in the conservative movement of today a quarter of a century later, Reagan is still leading the charge.
   
   As his vice president, George H. W. Bush, said after Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt and hospitalized in March, 1981, "We will act as if he were here."
   
   Reeves shows Reagan to be a heroic figure if not always a hero. He did not destroy communism, as his champions claim, but knew it would self-destruct and hastened the collapse by the build-up of America's military might in the 1980's. He believed the Soviet Union was evil and had contempt for the established American policies of containment and détente that was advocated by his many contemporaries and prior presidential officeholders. Asked about his own Cold War strategy, he answered, "We win. They lose!"
   
   Like one of his own personal heroes, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Reagan became larger than life. But as Roosevelt became an icon central to American liberalism, Reagan was the nucleus holding together American conservatism. He is the only president whose name became a political creed, a noun not an adjective: `Reaganism.'
   
   Reeves claims through his liberal bias that Reagan's ideas were so old they seemed new. He preached individualism that many found to be inspiring yet also cruel. He dumbed-down America, brilliantly blending fact and fiction, transforming political debate into emotion-driven entertainment. He recklessly mortgaged America with uncontrolled military spending, less taxation, and more debt.
   
   In focusing on the key moments of the Reagan presidency, Reeves recounts the amazing resiliency of Reagan as the real `comeback kid,' long before the term was used on Bill Clinton. Here is a seventy-year-old man coming back from a near-fatal gunshot wound, from cancer, from the worst recession in American history. Then, in personal despair as his administration was shredded by the lying and secrets of hidden wars and double-dealing, he was able to forge one of history's amazing relationships with the leader of `the Evil Empire.' That story is told for the first time using the transcripts of the Reagan-Gorbachev meetings, the climax of an epic story, as if he were here to tell us in how own unique style.
   
   After Dwight Eisenhower's two full terms, we had five presidents in a row who didn't complete eight years in office until Reagan did so twenty-eight years later. Now we're going to have two chief executives in a row who will have served two terms. Is this now considered to be a new trend started again by Reagan or a continuance of what once was the norm of presidential politics that was maintained by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others in the course of American history?



5. The purpose of any book review is to give the reader enough information to decide if they want to invest the time and money in reading the book in its entirety. Richard Reeves, a distinguished former reporter for "The New York Times," has tackled a difficult subject in writing a biography of a politician who still engenders strong emotions in people of a positive and negative nature. You need not share Ronald Reagan's politics (Reeves does not), to find this an interesting and enjoyable read.
   
   From the subtitle, Reeves makes his interpretation clear. Reagan was not "a tired old man we elected king," but rather a bold, dynamic politician who left behind a strong and powerful legacy. This book is revisionist in that it challenges the idea that Reagan was often "absent without leave" while in office. Reeves has done a good job of developing Reagan's voice, using notes, letters, and other records that the President left behind. Much of what he uses is new.
   
   Reagan was, according to Reeves, a big idea man. He thought up new ideas and left the details to others. In comparison, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill thought up big, creative ideas and had a good sense of strategy, but also liked to interject himself into the implementation of these ideas. Jimmy Carter, who was at the White House just before Reagan, had little vision and tended to interject himself into the implementation of policy even when he had a limited understanding of the topic. Reagan was often faulted in office for being detached from his job--like when no one on his staff woke him up to inform him of a dog fight between U.S. and Libyan fighter planes--but given the number of issues that one address in the Oval Office, his interest in the big picture looks pretty sound to Reeves.
   
   This book has its limits, though. This is not a full-fledged biography. Reeves looks just at the presidential years. Readers wanting to know about Reagan's background will be disappointed. Reflecting his training as a political reporter, Reeves shows a preference for the political process rather than policy. He skips some of the weightier issue that Presidents address like international finance, commerce, and trade policy. These topics get at best only superficial coverage. Reeves does focuses on tax and budget issues, which were of great interest to Reagan. Like many Presidents, Reagan often had enormous influence on areas that were of little personal interest to him and by ignoring these topics, Reeves does not do full justice to his subject.
   
   Still, as a first draft of history, this ain't too bad.

2 comments about Thomas Jefferson: Westward the Course of Empire (Biographies in American Foreign Policy).

1. Kaplan clearly likes Jefferson. His recounting of Jefferson's foreign policy tend to give Jefferson the benefit of the doubt. This book is very informational and fairly short at around 200 pages. I harbor many Jeffersonian ideological thoughts, however, I'd have preferred Kaplan to be a bit more critical of some of Jefferson's actions. Even so, the book still stands out as a good survey of Jefferson's foreign policy. 3 stars for a good book- but not exceptional.



2. Kaplan debunks the theory that Jefferson was an idealist in foreign affairs. Jefferson was pragmatic on what he wanted. He was for the United States, and thus made alliances based on what was best for our country. Even though he thought the French Revolution was justified, his reason for supporting the French was as a counterweight to Great Britain. Jefferson may have been accused of some silly things such as the embargo and trying to cozy up to Great Britain at the last minute, but his actions were that of a nationlist, and not an idealist.
   
   The language in this book is a little stilted. In some places, it is hard to read. However, this book gives a good summary of Jefferson's foreign policy.

5 comments about Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom-Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop.

1. This book is a very serviceable biography of John Chrysostom, the most famous preacher of the ancient church. It chronicles the entirety of John's life, from the monasticism of his youth, to his subsequent tenure as a priest in Antioch, his bishopric in the imperial capitol, and the quarrels with the bishop of Alexandria and the empress that eventually brought about his downfall.

   Kelly does an excellent job of showing John's character. We get to see that those things which in some ways were the best of John's traits, his forthrightness and lack of fear, were the very things which due to his intemperate nature led him into conflict with those who were easily made jealous and those who did not care for their misdeeds to be honestly spoken of.

   There is, however, one serious flaw in this book. Kelly seems undecided about who his audience is. He alternates between gripping narration and lengthy passages (sometimes several pages in length) wherein he dissects the arguments for and against the authenticity of a particular sermon of John's or the dating of one of his writings. In my opinion, the book would have been strengthened had Kelly simply based the main text on what he believes to be correct, and moved the disputation either to end notes or to an appendix.




2. 
   
   "John's career ended in failure. ... The tragic episcopate of John Chrysostom opened the struggle of supremacy in the East..." W.H.C. Frend
   
   
   
   
   
   John Chrysostom:
   
   Recognized to be among the most powerful orators of the ancient world, John Chrysostom was the most prolific of the Fathers, leaving us with many sermons, letters, treatises and apologetic works. He was an incredible speaker whose sermons often moved his audience to tears or applause.
   
   "Although not a formal polemicist, John Chrysostom influenced Christian thought notably. He wrote brilliant homilies, interpreting the Bible literally and historically rather than allegorically. His accomplishments as a preacher and theologian are marred by a virulent anti-Semitism." (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2001-05)
   
   
   
   J.C., Golden Mouth:
   
   The Principal of Oxford's St. Edmund Hall, described his book as, 'the Story of J.C.,' defining his selected offices as, 'Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop.' While the words of Fr. Sydney Griffith, one of the foremost Patristic scholars, are most fitting in the review of this book, I quote and apply them. One does not mean to complain immoderately, nor to appear ungrateful for what is on its own terms a good study of an important topic; nor does one want to review a book the author never intended to write. But here is the place to plead for a broadening of perspective on the part of students of early 'fathers.'
   
   Kelly recomposes the life of John Chrysostom in chronological order from his youth and its ascetic stage for his further development as a preacher. Later his pick as Archbishop of Constantinople and his career therein the capital.
   
   He remained a great orator and a moralist preacher but was socially and politically oriented. Kelly exposed the court politics and John's struggle to be faithful to his cause, by criticizing Empress Eudoxia, and inviting problems with Theophilus, who has consecrated him. John's conflicts led to his condemnation at the Synod of the Oak. John was eventually sent into his final exile, where he died on the way.
   
   
   
   Non-vindicated John:
   
   J. Kelly, described by The NY Times as, 'not only a distinguished church historian but also an elegant stylist,' remains for me and many, a reference on early Christian Creeds and Doctrines, in the first place, and expected to bring to the tragic career of the great preaching orator new lights to his thought, and vindicate his patristic literature as; "There is little original in his thought. He preserves throughout the moralizing tendencies of his Antiochene teachers," alleged to him by two great patrologists J. Danielou, and RPC Hanson. Earlier in the same chapter, J.C. is described as the friend of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and pupil of Libanius and of Diodore of Tarsus, and cast heavy shadow on his ethics as more Stoic than Christian! (J. Danielou, Historical Theology, Pelican, 1970, p.107)
   
   
   
   A Story, not a Biography:
   
   In his preface, the oxford scholar gives a version of his elaboration on the 79/80 lectures in Oxford devoted to J.C., but were not published because of Kelly's non satisfaction of his own treatment, and few years later, he modified them to chapters 2,3, and 16 of Golden Mouth. The author who explored Chrysostom's teaching on baptism, original sin, grace and free will, redemption, etc., in his classic 'Early Christian Doctrines', would not even quote himself, in reference. At least, John's treatise on the priesthood, which has been popular, though not accepted by mainstream Protestants, could have been given a brief parallel with St. Gregory Nazianzen who inspired John, but spoke in a different theological language.
   
   He concluded, "I should like to have included some tentative presuppositions underlying John's thinking, and certain of his theological ideas which still need clarification. Ultimately he decided to leave this task to 'younger scholars.'
   
   
   
   Biographer J. Kelly:
   
   The late Master of ecclesiastics J.N.D. Kelly is the Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, was Canon of Chichester Cathedral, a Fellow of the British Academy, and since 1966 a member of the Academic Council of the Ecumenical Theological Institute, Jerusalem. He is the author of Early Christian Creeds, Early Christian Doctrines, Jerome, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, etc.



3. A comprehensive treatment of this Eastern Father of the Church. We have not had a study like that of J. N. D. Kelly, unless you count the originally German 2 vol study of C. Baur, translated in 1959. An eminent historian writes about an eminent (and tragic?) personality of the late fourth and early fifth century. Kelly succeeds in making real the (imperial and episcopal) politics of the early 5th century. In addition there is enough of the theology of the time which will influence later christological developments.



4. Kelly is easily recognized as our time's authority on early church matters. Here in similar fashion as his worthy work on Jerome he tackles Chrysostom.
   
   He breaks it down nicely into three major components of his life: ascetic, preacher, bishop.
   
   The politics of the church and interaction with secular authorities dominate his life, as it does most. John certainly had his prinicples and he chose not to break them. It got him into disfavor with many, thus cumulating at the end in action taken against him. That easily summarizes his end, the buildup of resentment and hatred catches up.
   
   He certainly exhibited a passion for the underpriviledged and sick and devoted his preaching and resources to this. His ascetic beginning permeated this and fueled much of his preacher/bishop energies. This will bring enemy retaliation.



5. J.N.D. Kelly presents a faithful portrait of the great Bishop of Antioch. He highlights John as a solid expositional preacher who rejected the allegorical method of intepretation as popularized by Origen. You learn of Chrysostom's reservations about being worthy enough to be ordained, and his initial interest in the monastic life.
   
   You also learn of how long periods of harsh fasting ruined his digestive system, and how for this reason, he preferred to eat alone. You learn of the turbulent and divisive times in which he served as a bishop in Antioch and then in Constantinople.
   
   You also read of his strict views about the role of women in the church and of how strict he was with the monastic communities and with the priests in Antioch and later in Constantinople.
   
   Chrysostom's sermons were powerful and held the attention of the people, even though some of them were fairly lengthy. You also learn of his friendship with Olympias, a godly woman also given to virginity and asceticism.
   
   Finally, you learn about Chrysostom's enemies from within Arianism, and from his fellow clergy, especially Severinus, Eudoxia, Theophilus, and others.
   
   We see that Chrysostom's spicy sermons sometimes got him into trouble, ie. exile.
   
   We also read of his sad death.
   
   The book is occasionally bogged down in historical minutiae, but I thought Kelly did a good job of showing how Chrysostom was affected by the times in which he lived and how he himself affected the times. I also appreciated how Kelly was able to defend the historical reliability of much of the material that we have about Chrysostom from that time period. A very good book.

5 comments about Indiana Gothic : A Story of Adultery and Murder in an American Family.

1. I ordered this book because it was a crime that took place in my home town. I was delighted to find that this book was very well written by a talented author. Beautifully written story not only about adultery and murder, but what life was like at the turn of the century in a small southern Indiana town.



2. There aren't enough stars or adequate words to give this book the merit it deserves. It was in the "true crime" section of the library, and I mainly picked it up because it was one of the few I hadn't read.

   What a pleasant surprise to find a rather ordinary story told in such a bewitching manner! By reading Mr. Brock's words, I felt that I was familiar with the atmosphere and living conditions of Allie and Link, Maggie and Ham, and the other players.

   Allie Hale is in the prison of a loveless marriage to her former schoolteacher when her younger sister, Maggie, marries handsome Ham Dillon. The subsequent affair between Allie and Ham is not only predictable but perhaps inevitable. Allie's biggest mistake was probably giving birth to a 12-lb. boy that she hoped her husband would believe was premature, but then she named him after her lover. Link, however, could add two and two and, when confronted, Allie confessed all.

   The broken-hearted Link repeatedly attempted suicide (with and without asking his wife to join him) and eventually decided he needed some intensive treatment. He was on his way to the Kellogg's institute in Battle Creek, Michigan, when he met his rival on the street and put five bullets into him.

   Every aspect of this story is fascinating--the rivalries, passions, and betrayals as well as the mundane and ordinary are spellbindingly told.




3. I read this book when it came out in '99 and have it again since then. I adore true crime but I really love historical crime writing. This books fits that bill in every possible way.
   
   It's a book you can't put down. Brock puts you right there in the midwest at the end of the 19th cent. His beautiful prose conveys the restraint, secret passions and conflicting desires to a fever pitch.
   
   Get this book, I can assure you if this genre interests you, it will become one of your most favourites, and will live in your head for a long time to come.



4. I laughed my way through the first half of Indiana Gothic. In true soap opera style, there's not a metaphor, simile, well used phrase or silly word that Mr. Brock missed. My favorite was the "indigo sauce" of the blueberry pie. But when he finally narrates the events of the trial, he sneaks in a few nice plain declarative sentences.
   
   Still, I read on. I wish there were fewer gaps in the story. How was it that one spouse was tortured by the resemblance of the "love child" to its father while the other spouse carried on in blissful oblivion? I needed to know more about what happened to Allie and her eldest son. (I sorely desired that the latter become an accomplished and wealthy gambler.) The relationship between Allie, the adulteress and Maggie, the wounded wife, was not drawn to my satisfaction. What role did their parents play? And my goodness: how did Maggie and Ham's younger brother get together after Ham's death?



5. After reading "Charleton" by Pope Brock, I decided to hunt this book down and give it a try and boy am I glad I did. This book has it all, sex, scandel, politics, the county fair, all at the turn of the century no less!!! This book was just plain fun to read and I highly recommend it not only to history buff's, but those looking for a little guilty pleasure!!!

5 comments about Einstein: A Life.

1. I don't think biographies do well by simply presenting lives as accretions of detail; that's the fundamental flaw of this book. It may be interesting to some readers that Einstein took time to take care of his cat, or to be reminded over and over again that he wrote letters to ordinary people, but that's probably not the best way to understand him. It's like a bad blog that somehow leaves out sufficient emphasis on the most miraculous year in 20th Century science, the year when Einstein created the theories that would define him. Brian elides over these enormous issues, and give Einstein a very long leash when questioning his abandonment of his first wife, his two sons, and possibly a daughter. I guess first-rate scientists don't have to adhere to pretty basic social mores, from this author's point of view. This book has been characterized as being about the life of the man, rather than of his scientific discoveries. But those discoveries are what defined him. Otherwise Einstein's life is as mundane as anyone's. Leaves school, gets married, can't find a job, finds a job, leaves his wife and kids, gets another job, moves a couple of times, dresses shabbily, likes to go sailing, writes letters to inquiring admirers, gets hounded by the press...blah blah blah. Despite the tonnage of everyday minutia, it's all superficial reportage.



2. Brian's biography is much less about Einstein the scientist, although elements of that are certainly present, and much more about Einstein as a friend, colleague, father, husband, and eccentric. The biography is intensely personal and often feels like a long quiet conversation about a remarkable acquaintance. Brian likes Einstein but brings in elements of Einstein's personal life, especially the stormy relationship with his first wife, Mileva and the secrets and anquish that ensued from that marriage. Einstein comes across as a man who passionately loved physics, music, and the company of good friends. Brian also paints the portrait of a genuis whose egalitarian personality is astonishing. The biographer's superbly documented anecdotes show how Einstein made his way through the maelstrom of the first half of the 20th century while authoring tectonic changes in humanity's view of energy, gravity, and the universe itself. This book allows the reader to be in a room with Einstein while he wears slippers and puffs on his pipe and chats with neighbors. It is a gift.



3. I love biography, and good biography does contain details. But this book's detail is tedious in content as well as tedious in its writing style. There is no attempt at literary art. It's descriptions sound juvenile. I strained mentally to get used to the style but to add to that the small and cramped print in the book caused me to give up after a few pages.



4. I bought it for my nephew who is a freshman in highschool and ever since he read the book his approach towards science has totally changed. He never liked science before.
   
   He likes reading books. But this one has become his fav



5. Einstein: A Life was a very enjoyable biography that doesn't dwell on making you understand Relativity. Though some of the laster chapters drag a bit on the whole I feel a much better understanding of the man behind Relativity than before.
   
   What pleased me most about the book was the fact that at the beginning of each chapter the author tells you what years of Einstein's life he is covering and Einstein's age range over those years. This helped a great deal in putting the events in order in my head - usually I find myself scribbling down dates in biographies to keep from referring back to the beginning of the book to see the subjects age at the time being referred to.

5 comments about An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm.

1. You will feel great sympathy towards Vicky, the Empress Frederick, who was an unfortunate hostage to the intrigues of the German court. Sympathy will soon give way to awe at her courage and determination to do her best while having to perform the impossible: being all things to all people.
   
   Vicky was seen as the catalyst for change in Germany. Her parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert did not like the autocratic, militaristic way in which Emperor Wilhelm I was running Prussia. Instead, they visualized a united German nation with a government much like that of England. Their plan was to sow seeds of liberalism and constitutional monarchy through their daughter and her marriage to Wilhelm's son, Prince Frederick (Fritz). In preparation for the eventual match, Vicky was schooled in politics and German life by Prince Albert. Eventually, she and Fritz would be Emperor and Empress of Prussia, and could bring about German unity.
   
   Little did Vicky know that upon arriving in Berlin, she was at a disadvantage from the start.
   
   As the daughter of Queen Victoria, she was encouraged to retain her Englishness yet was expected to be a Prussian wife and princess. Her efforts to raise her eldest son Willy as Prince Albert had raised her backfired. Her tendency to over-criticize (a trait passed on from Victoria) turned the young Wilhelm away, and he grew up under his thoroughly Prussian grandfather Wilhelm. Otto von Bismarck had seen his own chance to manipulate the future emperor, and along with the groveling royal court, Willy was turned into a bombastic power fanatic.
   
   Her relationship with Fritz was not seen as loving, but as an English princess scheming to Anglicize the House of Hohenzollern. Vicky was painted as "die Englanderin", unfaithful to Germany and a demon on the shoulder of her husband, whom she 'manipulated'.
   
   Hopes that Fritz's mother, Empress Augusta, would watch over Vicky were dashed. Augusta was known to be very liberal and free-thinking, unusual for royal women of the time. In her they thought they had an ally, but both the Queen and Vicky would be sorely disappointed. The once-progressive Augusta had seen her marriage to Emperor Wilhelm unravel over the years, and as a result she became a bitter, self-absorbed woman. She gave Vicky little support in her new role.
   
   When they finally became Emperor and Empress, Vicky and Fritz had precious little time to implement any real changes. Fritz died from cancer of the larynx three months into his reign. Upon his passing, Vicky was left alone and devoid of support or influence. Your heart cries at the unfairness of brilliant minds wasted, while Willy becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II - egotistical, manipulative, and dangerous.
   
   Thankfully, Vicky did not live to see the destruction of the Hohenzollern dynasty when Wilhelm II pulled Germany and England into a devastating world war. After fighting his own relations across Europe, he headed into exile, never to see the throne again. Albert's catalyst did indeed create a change, but not in the way he had expected. Germany would be unified, but the reigning royal house would fall from power, never to recover. -MandysRoyalty.org



2. An Uncommon Woman is an excellent, first rate biography of Vicky, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria who, through marriage, became the Crown Princess of Prussia, and then Princess and later Empress Frederick of the German Empire. She played an influential (and one wishes a much more influential) role in German, and more broadly European, history during the latter 19th to early 20th centuries. Vicky strove to move German politics towards a more liberal, democratic, parliamentary form of government, but was successfully opposed by the autocracy of Chancellor Bismarck and even her son, who eventually became the Kaiser. The author persuasively implies that had this "uncommon woman" been able to prevail, European history may have benefited. The book succeeds as both an intimate, full-fledged account of this remarkable woman, her family members, and the many important historical persons of the times, as well as a comprehensive history of the creation of the German Empire, the rise of autocracy and militarism, and the lead-up to World War I. The writing style is excellent; the author is exceptionally skilled at presenting a thoroughly well-researched life of Vicky and detailed history of the times in a highly readable, well paced narrative. One of the most engaging and informative biographies I have read. Highly recommended.



3. Hannah Pakula did it again in another superb biography of one of the last great princesses in the sunset of European royalty. The high-minded, brilliant, passionate, beautiful oldest daughter of Queen Victoria was a woman fit to rule in her own right and yet she was shackled by the narrow, rigid Hohenzollern court. The very liberalism with which her father Prince Albert indoctrinated her ended up working against her ability to influence German political affairs in a positive way. Her great love for her husband and their passionate relationship is captured as well as the tragic dimensions of his death. It is horrible how Vicky dies, and especially the way her awful son treated her. A book that shows that sometimes marrying the handsome prince of your dreams is not enough. Highly recommended!



4. This was a great biography that made you feel the happiness and sadnest moments in Empress Frederick's life time. Although I must admit there were moments in the book, particularly when Kaiser Frederick as well as the Empress herself were on their death beds, that made me want to box the ears of Kaiser Wihelm if he were still alive today!



5. A very well written and interesting book on Empress Frederick who's mostly nowdays remembered in relation to her domineering mother Queen Victoria and her psycho eldest son Kaiser Wilhelm II. Her childhood was very interesting and it was fun to read about her courtship and marriage to a man she actually loved and loved her and how the death of her father impacted her life completely. Another wonderful addition to anyone's collection of royal biographies.