5 comments about Remembering Ahanagran: Storytelling in a Family's Past.

1. In tracing the "representative" story of his mother's life, the author provides an insight into the motivation and experience of the Irish immigrant. There is also an interesting lesson on the difference between memory and history. Both of these items are of particular interest to the genealogist.



2. Too often the well written and engaging memoir is disengaged from the careful checking of facts and ordering relationships that is the mark of the historian. Richard White tells the story of his Mother's family in Ireland and Chicago, draws on the family stories that he was told, and then relates them to the historical facts and records. The result is a book that is better than it would have been had he relied on a single methodology, and the story is more engrossing than it would be otherwise. While other reviewers would have critisized this methodology, I find that his ability to show where and why discrepancies arise between memory and fact is extraordinarily illuminating.



3. This is a fascinating memoir, alternating between memory and historical records. The remembrances of the author's mother of her early life in western Ireland and her later immigration to the United States are set against his searches for the actual historical documents and records of these events.
   This is not a sentimental or saccharine biography, but an unflinching look at the lives of the respected-historian author's relatives and neighbors, both in Ireland and in America.
   I read it over several days, and would have finished it sooner had I not found myself lost in thought so many times over what records might support-- or contradict--the stories of my own mother and grandmother. I am telling all my friends about this book.



4. I did not find White's actual content all that engrossing. His historian's determination to separate fact from his mother's "storytelling" embellishments or lacunae follow the usual patterns of such explorations into the clash of contrasts. The Irish mom-meets-Jewish American dad that gave birth to White appealed to me, but reading the pages of life in Chicago in the 30s vs. his father's military stint made this book little different than a self-penned history of one's family by the designated genealogist in the clan. White does write considerably better than such amateurs, but what he writes about does not rise above the mundane or the all-too-familiar tales of peasant agitation, the old IRA, and the leaving of the village for the big city.
   
   His eye occasionally gleans the telling detail, regardless. A petition for citizenship reveals that the husband does not know his wife's birthday, and his guess is off three years. His mother is asked as a 16-year-old at entrance to the country if she was a polygamist. The legend of St Rita, patron of the Chicago parish his family lived in tells in its own moral that God shapes you up only then to kill you off. Jack Benny and Father Coughlan were the radio shows one never missed on Sunday.
   
   One detail shows an error on White's part: on pg. 23 he claims that his relatives had their baptismal names "Gaelicized" by the priest as Helen-Hellena and William-Guilielmo, but surely this is the customary Latinization found on many Catholic documents rather than a return to the Irish which would make Eileen and Liam?
   
   This book reminds me of a few others that have recently delved into the Irish-meets-American immigrant encounter. Thomas Lynch's "Booking Passage," also looking at North Kerry, would complement White's book. His style in its spareness yet its eloquence reminds me of Henry Glassie, the folklorist who compiled "Irish Folktales" and chronicled a Fermanagh community in "Passing the Time at Ballymenone." Finally, books like David Monagan's "Jaywalking with the Irish" and Steve Fallon's "Home with Alice" similarly compare Irish American memories with extended Irish residences.



5. An excellent, in-depth exploration of his mother's Irish past and of her coming to America as a young girl. He takes family stories and investigates them through his historian's training. Of course, many times he finds the facts don't support the story, as family stories change over time and blend different events or are shaped by changing perspectives. So then he explores the power of the story, regardless of its veracity, and then explores the facts to more fully understand the world that shaped the people from whom he is descended.
   
   The book is a history lesson in how family's work and don't work. And it is a history lesson in the politics, morals, and folkore of rural Ireland and Chicago's South Side.
   
   A rich, well-written book. You do not need to be Irish to enjoy it.

2 comments about Stairwell to Heaven: A 9-11 World Trade Center Survivors Story.

1. A thin, amateurly written book about an ordinary person's uneventful escape from one of the World Trade Center Towers during 9-11. Few interesting details. Self-publishied for a good reason. A total waste of money. I do recommend "102 Minutes", a compelling and true account of the same day, rich with personal experiences which tell a tragic but fascinating story.



2. I found Earl Johnson and his wife's chronical of events of 9/11 to be informative and moving. The book was heartfelt and provided those of us who did not experience the fall of the towers first hand, but by TV, a small glimpse of the anxiety for both of them not knowing if their family would be one of the ones who lost loved ones. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to everyone. It has miracles and life lessons all rolled into this book.

5 comments about Biography of a Runaway Slave.

1. Miguel Barnet, eduated in Havana at an American school, came to discover his Cuban heritage later in life. His tour-de-force was The Life of a Runaway Slave, the as-told-to-biography of Estaban Montejo, an earthy, candid man who had runaway from the sugar fields and who had fought in Cuba's wars for independence. One thing readers must remember is that Barnet intevriewed Montejo when the latter was 103 years old, in a nursing home, in 1963 when the interviews were started. Oral history is difficult enough and this great time-lag makes the task of the interviewer even more dificult.



2. some of this book was fascinating...to me. i found the old man's recollections of so many aspects of long-past cuba's rural life just gripping, but even moreso, to have it told, more or less, in his words, just added a special dimension that no other type of book could really create. i felt like i was being led on a journey by a character of such realness that no true "biographer" or fiction writer could approximate it.

   particularly good parts: his descriptions of the cruelty of cuban slavery, of the cruelty of whites, of his ideas about sex, about certain aspects of the war for independence

   now for the bad stuff: some of it, i must admit, just dragged. he was a religious/mystical guy, and all his descriptions of the old religions, though certainly realistic and valid, were just boring to me, and i started skimming. also, in part this book was the recollections of a 105 year old man, and so, while i give such an old man credit for being able to tell a good story (or perhaps the credit is due to the editor), it still reads at point like...an old man's story, and not an old man who has a true gift for story-telling. as for plot, forget it. suspense...think again. drama...no. just the facts, and thank god they're interesting enough on their own.




3. "...a powerful account of a vanished world...invaluable." --Newsweek

   "An extraordinary record of a bygone era...Montejo reveals an appealing personality as he talks of women, religion, and politics. His descriptions of the activities and treatment of slaves on the Spanish plantations before and after abolition are fascinating. A rare record of history as it was lived..." --Library Journal

   "Its contribution to our understanding of Cuban history and national temperament is no less than its immense appeal as a human testament...All the fire and dash of the Cuban character, the refusal ever to cringe or to give up, take on flesh and meaning in the reminiscences of this stubborn veteran." --Times Literary Supplement




4. In the preface to the (translated) 1968 edition of "The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave" (by Esteban Montejo, edited by Miguel Barnet), Barnet describes how Montejo had recounted his life story and adds, "Esteban soon became the real author of this book. He was constantly looking at my notebook, and he almost forced me to write down everything he said."

   Though I do not own a copy of the recent edition, it is very puzzling that Barnet now lists himself as first author, followed by the translator, with Montejo's name last. Certainly the work of an editor or translator is arduous, and deserves proper credit. Yet both are distinct from the author's.

   It's both an irony and a shame that Barnet, who is a white member of Cuba's ruling elite, seems to have appropriated the story of a poor, black slave, whose protests and defiance more than 100 years ago would surely be considered counter-revolutionary today.




5. This book gives great insight into a slave's life and his attitudes before and after freedom. He also tells about living in the woods as a runaway. Well worth the money.

1 comments about Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution.

1. It should merit 3 stars alone just to have Prof. Waldstreicher actually come out with a book that people can read! His other works have been dreadfully written (esp. his work in Journal of the Early republic), the worst prose in the business. However, not only is this book very nicely written, for which he deserves commendation, but its also interesting. What Waldstreicher does is demostrate how labor inthe 1st half of the 18th century in America was quite often "unfree": either due to slavery, indentured servitude or an apprenticeship. Waldstreicher's contribution here si to show how BF's life was marked by all three. He was an apprentice himself, kept Indentured servants and owned a slave or two. It is a great way to explore this issue of labor and freedom in the colonies, and to do so by using the life of a Founding Father.
   Given the subject and the prose, I have no reservations at all about rating this book 5 stars.

1 comments about Army Life in a Black Regiment: and Other Writings (Penguin Classics).

1. Several years ago I urged John Seelye to edit this work for Penguin. A couple of years after that, he asked me to do it instead, and I did. This is a remarkable book about a literate Yankee (Higginson "discovered" the poet Emily Dickinson) who "discovers" the South. It's also "about" Black soldiers in a white war, white officers in a Black regiment, self-discovery, rivers, and hope. Much of the imagery and characterization in the movie GLORY seems to have been lifted from this book: it is, after all, a first-hand narrative of war by an idealist sorely tested by politics and physical hardship. Higginson's writing of the book is in part his attempt to deal with what today we would call Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder, and it is no wonder that the tone sometimes reminds the reader of Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River." Because the teller of this story emerges as an interesting person per se, this edition includes some of his other essays, ranging from his fascination with slave rebellion to his appreciation for poetry.

1 comments about Ploughshares into Swords: Josiah Gorgas and Confederate Ordnance (Texas a & M University Military History Series, No 36).

1. This is a classic of Civil War history, superbly researched and well-crafted by an author who has complete command of this crucial aspect of the Southern war effort. Not only is it well-written, the excellent research is immediately available to the reader due to the footnotes being located at the bottom of the page, rather than the inferior lay-out method of placing footnotes at the end of the book. In order for anyone to gain a full understand the Confederate war effort, Vandiver's PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS is a must.

1 comments about Jefferson the President, First Term, 1801-1805 (Jefferson & His Time (University of Virginia Press)).

1. This book is the fourth volume in Dumas Malone's six volume biography called "Jefferson and His Time" covering the period in Jefferson's first term as President (1801-1805)
   
   This volume is, without question, the best yet in the series and the best book of presidential scholarship that I have ever read. Mr. Malone maintains the topic based, in depth analysis, that he developed in the previous two volumes but with a marked improvement in the quality of his prose and presentation that makes this volume every bit as an enjoyable read as the best narrative biographies. The topic based chapters neatly organize related information and analysis, but are written in such a way to nicely flow from one chapter to the next and maintain an overall coherence with a minimum of redundancy. Of particular brilliance are the chapters on the case of Marbury vs. Madison, and the chapters related to the Louisiana purchase.
   
   The only point of criticism of this volume is its treatment of Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings. We, of course, have the benefit of modern DNA testing which confirms the assertion that it is highly likely, though not entirely conclusive, that Mr. Jefferson fathered most, if not all, of the children borne to Sally Hemings. At the time of the writing of this volume, Mr. Malone did not have benefit of the evidence we have today, but seems to go out of his way, much more than is warranted, in trying to convince the reader that the claims were almost certainly false. In fact, the reader is left with the sense that, if the author believed the claims were indeed true, his personal opinion of Jefferson would have been greatly damaged.
   
   This criticism aside, this volume carries my highest recommendation. My only hope is that the final two volumes maintain the excellence achieved in this volume.

3 comments about George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee.

1. The biographer was a distinguished scholar at the Conference on the Bush Presidency at Hofstra University in April 1997. Although this book was essentially finished by the time of the Conference, there is at least one footnote (Steven Burgess) referring to a paper presented at Hofstra. This reviewer suggested that Parmet look at the critical books by Jack Matlock on Bush's foreign policy and Monica Crowley's book on Nixon's devastating appraisal of Bush, but there is no evidence that this occurred. P More importantly, Parmet is weak when it comes to explaining the Bush stagnation. Despite the Persian Gulf War, there ensued the slowest four-year growth period in the postwar years. Thus, it is more appropriate to refer to the Bush stagnation rather than the Bush recession. P Whereas it is possible to describe Reagan's supply-side economics as a version of "commercial Keynesianism," there would seem to be no Keynesian bones in George Bush. Bush raised taxes in 1990, in collaboration with Tom Foley, as the economy headed downward. Later he refused to sign a reasonable tax cut coming out of Congress in March 1992. Instead he relied primarily on a change in withholding of income taxes which produced a brief upturn in the fourth quarter followed by sluggish growth in early 1993 when the tax rebates were smaller due to the previous tax cuts in 1992. P Readers interested in a critique of Bush's economic policy may want to read the contribution of Timothy Canova after the publication of the proceedings by Greenwood. 92. P



2. George Bush was a paradox. Prep school- and Ivy League-educated son of an aristocratic, rich Connecticut US Senator, he transplanted himself to Texas and (with a resounding lack of success) tried to re-invent himself as an old-school Texan. He lost two consecutive attempts to become a US Senator himself, and would have been a completely forgotten political wannabe had it not been for the charitable help of Presidents Nixon and Ford, who appointed the "wimp" to some key positions, which obviously made Bush think he was competent enough to become president, because he then ran in 1980. After being destroyed by Reagan in the primaries (and denouncing Reaganomics as "voodoo"), he then received some more remarkable charity when Reagan picked him for his running mate. After eight years as Vice President, Bush finally won the presidency (although he never would have won if he hadn't have been Reagan veep) and soon proved as incompetent at that job as Dan Quayle at a spelling bee. In short, Bush was a politically unsuccessful, rich New Englander who happened to have been picked for the right jobs by a couple of America's other worst presidents, and was then able to become President himself. An uninspiring, dull story and an OK book at best.



3. To me as a non-American it has always been a puzzle why George Bush is generally regarded as mediocre and after reading the thoughtful and very complete biography by mr. Parmet I have not found the answer.

   Bush has been a succesful businessman after a distinguisged service in the Air Force during the war. He has served as a Senator, as head of the CIA, as the Ambassador to China in an extremely interesting period in Sino-American relations and, finally, as a Vice-President to a very succesful President. What more can you ask as preparation for the most powerful job on earth? It is true that he failed to get elected twice, but is it not a credit to any man when he overcomes defeat to embark on such an interesting career?

   The view which I get from this biography is on a balanced man who understood politics very well and also had the gift of personal integrity unmatched by most of his predecessors and certainly not by his successor.

   It is true that he was not the greatest of communicators and PR guys, but there one should not forget that he had a very difficult, if not impossible act to follow. It is to his credit that he did not even try to imitate Reagan, but that he led the country in his own personal style.

   One should forgive for being biased, as a European, to his Foreign Policy, since my understanding for and interest in the domestic scene is limited.

   Bush Presidency can be characterised by formidable leadership in two distinguished events. His conduct of the events of the Gulf War was exemplary. Powell get's a lot of the credit, but I feel that is, partly, undeserved. It was the President's deciding leadership which effectively stopped Saddam's adventure in Kuwait. Of all the wars in which the US got involved after 1945 the handling of the Gulf War was the most succesful. It has been an act of extraordinary diplomacy and brinkmanship to get e.g. Saudi Arabia and Israel on one line. Haven't we all been worried about the Tel Aviv reaction after the first scud missiles hit the country? Personnaly I will not forget the relief I felt when, in the middle of the night in Europe, I saw and listened to Bush anouncing the invasion. This was clearly a leader who believed in what he was doing and who felt to be in full control, aware of the risks of his venture.

   A second event has been the unification of Germany. After all the rhetoric of the Reagan administration, it was under Bush that this extraordinary process was done swiftly and with great succes and, most astonishing, without bloodshed. I am aware that the prime players were Kohl and Gorbachov, but it could never have been done without the full support and the tacit agreement of the US. Indeed, by taking a silent and , overtly, modest role Bush did exactly the right thing. I don't think under Reagan, it would have been as smooth.

   All this is reconted in this book in fine scholarly detail, which distinguishes this author from the many, more sensational, political writings one sees so often these days.

   I think this is a fine book about a succesful Presidency and a man of integrity one could only wish would emerge more on the political scene.

3 comments about Crowning Glory: American Wives of Princes And Dukes.

1. Wonderful source of information, but I wonder why the author didn't pull it all together. Paragraph after paragraph of names, dates, locations, some juciy tidbits... but no real flow to it all. Tons of information, obviously well researched, but poorly executed.



2. good facts about americans who marry into royal ,with great pictures,juicey goosip, but not put together very well.i really wanted to now about certain royals but they other really bore me.



3. I have to agree with the reviewer, who said "paragraphs and paragraphs" of... Yes, indeed, this book is paragraphs of tittle-tattle. From Dorothy Adriance to Helena Zimmermann, pages that read as follows:
   
   "(American heiress) Miss Mary X married the Duke of K, whose mother, the American Anne Y, (see her entry on Page 135) was the first wife of the Count of Z, whose sister Maria married the Prince of -- , who lost her inheritance through gambling at Monte Carlo, after which they divorced, and Maria married the Russian Grand Duke ..."
   
   And so on, and so on. I made up that paragraph above, but I'm not really exaggerating -- this is the way this author writes.
   
   There's no insight into why these ladies made these choices (why, oh why did heiresses such as Doris Duke and particularly Barbara Hutton marry so many Euro-trashbags?? What was the attraction to these losers, who treated them, and their many other wives, so badly?)
   
   I was very disappointed in this book. If you want a simple A through Z compilation of names and brief, uninteresting histories and a few nice photographs, this is the book you want, but if you want something with a little more depth, then avoid this book, and purchase "To Marry an English Lord", by Gail MacColl, or, "In a Gilded Cage: From Heiress to Duchess" by Marian Fowler, either of which is SO much more insightful and detailed.

No comments about Character for Life: An American Heritage.