2 comments about William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision.

1. I think I did learn more about the influences on Blake's thought. Anything that can help explicate his prophetic books is a good thing! However, it somehow seemed that Blake was less the focus of the book (especially in the first half) than the chronological minutiae of the Moravians, Swedenborgians, Kabbalists and Tantrics during the late 1700's/early 1800's. Not that the info was bad. A chart of the characters on one or two pages might have helped to keep track of them all.
   
   At times it felt like a lot of gossiping and name-dropping without adding much to the substance of the discussion re: Blake. Also, occasionally, the author would pose a question, like "Could Blake have done so and so?" that made it sound like "Could Jamie Lynn's cover glamorize teen pregnancy?" Those kind of hypothetical questions just kinda clanged in an otherwise scholarly book, as gossipy and name-dropping as it was. Also, be prepared to read the words "antinomian" and "millenarian" more than enough times.
   
   So, for what the author intended to do vs. what I got out of it, I figure four stars is fair enough



2. William Blake's reputation as a poet and artist was born from his spiritual vision, and so William Blake's Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision offers up a different kind of investigation based on the psycho-sexual practices which surrounded this artist. Fueled by new archival discoveries of Blake family documents, her analysis probes spiritual paths and recreates sexual focuses of his work which were initially changed by his pious executor. New age libraries will find it a winner.

5 comments about Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati (Definitive Edition).

1. "'Infinite Variety: The Definitive Edition' provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the bizarre and spectacular life that Casati led...All you fashion-conscious history buffs will love the in-depth exploration the authors take into Casati's stylish life."-Denise Dandeneau (Zink Magazine)

   "This meticulously researched and completely updated biography vividly details Luisa Casati's extravagant life...Fashionistas, art history buffs, aficionados of Belle Époque and Jazz Age culture-and general readers-will be pleased."-Lorraine Thompson (Primo Magazine)




2. "Mesmerizing and revealing, 'Infinite Variety' is the definitive account of the Italian femme scandaleuse. A great glimpse, and more, into the life of a larger-than-life individual."-Mar Yvette (Clear Magazine)



3. "'Infinite Variety' is a thoroughly unbiased and well-researched biography. The 'Definitive Edition' includes a plethora of new information as well as artwork and photos. Thanks to the efforts of Ryersson and Yaccarino, the story of the Marchesa Casati, with all its splendor, will continue to astonish.--Jonathan Williams, Gothic Beauty Magazine



4. 'This book about the Marchesa Casati (1881-1957) is called "The Definitive Edition" about a lady of extravagant leisures. It is an excellent book reviving the roaring twenties in Europe and gives you a fairly good insight of the lifestyle of the truly rich and famous through to the 1940s. Part of this set was the Marchesa Casati, who is a source of inspiration to this very day for fashion designers, artists and wealthy heirs. So if you squander your vast inheritance, at least do it in style!' (review from Elegant Lifestyle)



5. "I loved 'Infinite Variety' for the way the authors brought the Marchesa Casati vividly to life."--Robert Fulford, author of 'The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture'

4 comments about W.A. Mozart.

1. As the centenary of Mozart's birth loomed in 1856, German musicologist Otto Jahn published the first volume of his ground-breaking four volume biography of Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart. Theophilus, meaning 'beloved of God', was changed to its German equivalent, Gottlieb. The names Johann and Chrysostom commemorated the boy's birth on that saint's day. He was born on 27 January 1756 at eight o'clock in the evening. He was the last of seven children: only two of whom, Nannerl, the fourth, and Wolfgang, survived. No one at the time had the slightest foreknowledge of the epochal nature of that birth.
   
   Simultaneous to Jahn's massive undertaking was Ludwig Kochel's similarly path-breaking catalogue of Mozart's works. The two scholars created the historical landscape upon which all subsequent study and knowledge of Mozart's life and works would be based. Jahn's and Kochel's work were as comprehensive and dependable as the then current state of knowledge about Mozart's life and music permitted. In the process, the foundation of a Germanic cultural hero, a Romantic myth, of Mozart, the inestimable, miraculous child genius who created musical masterpieces Jove-like fully formed from his mind, was created. That myth is still with us in books, in concert notes, in recording liner notes, in essays and in films.
   
   Jahn's work was revised several times before Hermann Abert fully reworked it in the post-war years of 1919-1921, taking full advantage of an additional 70 years of research and discovery: in the process modifying Jahn's 19th Century Romantic tone to fit a more modern sensibility. Abert's massive work included everything then known, the most informed and substantial biography of Mozart in any language. It is unquestionably the most comprehensive account of the composer's life and a profound analysis of the composer's work. In Abert's 'book-within-a-book', he scrutinizes the music, with individual chapters on the operas, splendid accounts of the orchestral works, the symphonies and piano concertos, church music and compositions for solo instruments. It is a titanic work that has never been rendered in English until now.
   
   Brilliantly translated by Stewart Spencer, what makes this massive work so impressive is how even Abert's deeply considered words are brought up to date. Recent developments in Mozart scholarship since the last German edition are analyzed by Mozart scholar Cliff Eisen in his meticulous and informative annotations located on every single page. This whole massive undertaking is supported by a coterie of leading Mozart scholars. At the weight of a very healthy baby, this is not a book you will be carrying to your local Starbuck's unless you plan to use it as a portable table. It is, nevertheless, the single most important source on the life of a truly great composer. It is remarkable that it has been unavailable in English. That it now is, and in such a superlative edition, makes its publication the single most important event in English language Mozartean scholarship of this, or perhaps any other, year. This book is not an investment to be made lightly. It probably requires a program of upper arm development (a small lectern might be helpful). But for the committed Mozartean, this mighty volume would make a splendid gift. You will spend the rest of your life absorbed in its 1600 pages. Most strongly recommended.
   
   Mike Birman



2. Great book, have only read a little so far since I am obliged to sit at the table to read it and not in my favorite armchair. It would have been so much simpler to have this published in two volumes. I am prepared to buy it again in order to read it in a more comfortable position. I think I would really enjoy it much more.



3. This is a serious reference work that comprehensively details Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's life and works, together with the Kochel catalogue, a chronology, a bibliography of other authors' works, and a comprehensive index of significant people, places, and events in Mozart's life. This English-language edition has only been available for about 12 months, and I have found it to be one of the most valuable books in my collection of musical literature. Yes, it's a bit dry in its style, but this is not some fluffy novel. If you present classical music for radio, TV, the internet, or are a teacher, this is a work you should have on your bookshelf.



4. I am someone who considers Mozart to be our "greatest" composer, in fact probably a person surpassed by no other person in creative achievement and whose work comes closest to achieving perfection at the level that nature herself does. Across all the arts. So I was astonished when I learned of the existence of this book. It actually has existed for some time but is only now available in English translation. An excellent translation. Aided further by copious annotations by a contemporary Mozart scholar. I have not read the book in its entirety yet but every part that I have read has been fascinating to read. Never a dull page. A magnificent book!

5 comments about Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties.

1. Extremely well written, as is all Meade's stuff, and you'll walk away considerably wider of eye over these lives of recently enfranchised famous flappers learning how to deal with their new status as full members of society. Some of them did not deal well.
   
   Meade also wrote a great bio of Eleanor of Aquitaine.



2. A breezy, fast read which skims the surface of Prohibition Days. If you enjoy learning about that crazy time before Wall Street "laid an egg" you will like this book.



3. A wonderful view into the lives of women writers in the 1920's focusing mainly on Edna Ferber, Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The writing is wonderful, easy to follow, and it almost reads like a novel itself. A great introduction to the biographies of these ladies, Meade doesn't weight the account down with esoteric references to peripheral literary characters. Her focus is sharp and vivid, and I liked that she organized events chronologically, breaking up the chapters by year. She paints these women so multi-dimensionally that I found myself missing them, like characters in a great novel, once I had finished the book.



4. With BOBBED HAIR AND BATHTUB GIN writer Marion Meade takes the reader on a decade-long tour of the lives of four women who helped make the 1920s roar: Edna Ferber (1895-1968); Zelda Sayer Fitzgerald (1900-1948); Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950); and Dorothy Parker (1893-1967.) Although all four were distinctly different, all four shared certain traits. They were of a generation of women who considered themselves "emancipated." Generally based in New York City, all four proved globetrotters to at least some extent. And all four were writers, and their work was shaped by the decade just as it shaped the decade in turn.
   
   The 1920s saw Edna Ferber rise from the status of a commercial hack to the critically lauded author of such novels as SO BIG and SHOW BOAT and co-author of such plays as THE ROYAL FAMILY. Determinedly independent, Ferber's character would cast an even longer shadow than her works, setting a pattern for single, hard-working, career women that would last decades. Zelda Sayer Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, was Ferber's polar opposite: a woman whose career was marriage but who didn't feel it should crimp her style. Along with husband Scott, she would party her way into self-destruction--and provide significant inspiration to Fitzgerald's novels as well. As the 1920s passed, Zelda would discover a gift for prose and publish several short works, but mental illness began to claim her as the decade came to a close.
   
   Edna St. Vincent Millay was a critic's darling who--when she wasn't writing poetry--spent much of the decade sleeping with any one, male or female, who appealed to her. As well known for her personal charm and eccentricity as for her work, Millay endured numerous difficulties in the decade before emerging as America's most highly regarded poet and then, rather perversely, find critical reaction began to turn against her in the face of works by the likes of T.S. Eliot. And then, of course, there is the truly legendary Dorothy Parker, who began the decade as a drama critic and slowly rose to fame through her remarkably funny and acid poetry. A truly dark figure, like Zelda Fitzgerald and Millay she too would struggle with a host of inner demons ranging from alcohol to drugs to bad relationships.
   
   These four women, their lovers, husbands, publishers, and associates crisscross throughout the book in an interesting counterpoint. The result is always readable, always entertaining, but it does contain certain flaws. Although Meade does provide background and does give notes as to what became of them in later years, her story begins with 1920 and stops with 1930; there is little context. That said, the portraits involved are somewhat superficial; all four of these women are worthy of stand-alone biographies, and indeed all but Ferber have received major, widely available, and well-received biographies.
   
   That said, however, BOBBED HAIR AND BATHTUB GIN is an enjoyable book that does indeed seem to capture a feel for the 1920s, a decade in which the sky seemed the limit for women, the arts, society, and indeed the entire nation. Although they were hardly the only noted women of the era, Edna Ferber, Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Dorothy Parker were in many ways indicative of the decade--and this is a wild and very entertaining romp through their early successes and failures. Recommended.
   
   GFT, Amazon Reviewer



5. An engaging, entertaining read by a skillful writer. . .but if you want a thorough, complex picture of these four women (Parker, Ferber, Z. Fitzgerald, Millay) and their circles, you'll be better off reading a full-scale biography of each, one that places them in historical and literary context. This book's final paragraph sums up both its strengths and its shortcomings -- the ending is crisp and breezy, but it offers no thoughtful conclusions. Instead, it basically says (and I'm paraphrasing), "and so the 1920s ended and passed into history and the people described here went on and lived the rest of their lives." What we have overall is a well-phrased and smoothly-organized collection of largely unanalyzed details.
   
   If you knew nothing about these writers beyond what you read here, you'd conclude that most of leading artistic lights of 1920s New York were shallow, self-centered, silly sots, and you'd wonder how on earth they managed to write anything at all, let alone stuff that is held up decades later as examples of significant art. (The only person who doesn't seem to have been an exasperating wastrel is Ferber, and you could easily come away from "Bobbed Hair" believing that her work is the least worth reading.) If it's really true that these largely despicable, aimless people are nonetheless artists worth our continued time and attention, then I wish "Bobbed Hair" had spent more time examining and explicating this paradox. As it is, we end up with details, details everywhere and not a point to make.
   
   But then again, perhaps I'm trying to turn this book into something it's not: it's not a scholarly biography, never claimed to be, and doesn't have to be. On its own terms, it's quite fun. So if you want a dishy tiptoe through the 1920s tulips, buy this book. If you want context and in-depth analysis, buy something else.

2 comments about We Fed Them Cactus (Paso Por Aqui Series on Nuevomexicano Literature).

1. I adore this slice of life on the eastern New Mexico plains, the Llano Estacado. Cabeza de Baca is an amazing lady, and her childhood remembrances are well worth reading for history buffs, who've probably already enjoyed it, as well as for people who just like to know how people lived on ranches in this era.



2. This is one of the better books I have read on Northern New Mexico history and culture....This book is FULL of phrases and definitions...Most of the stories are either first hand or oral history passed down to Fabiola..If you want to get a feel of life in New Mexico back in the day..This is a GREAT book....It aslo has a good chapter on Vincent Silva and his criminal ring..Very interesting....I'm going to get Fabiola's book on New Mexico cooking next!!.......Green Chile......mmmmmmmm

5 comments about The First Elizabeth.

1. A great book about a Queen whose story reads more like "The Godfather" than you'd guess.

   Elizabeth I, thrust onto the throne while her country was still in the midst of it's centuries-long emergence from Roman rule, turned England into Great Britain through a heady mixture of guile, guts, and British steel(How's that for rhetoric?).

   It's a great book, as are most of Erickson's titles.




2. The major difference in "The First Elizabeth" by Carolly Erickson and "The Life of Elizabeth I" by Alison Weir is stylistic. Both women are thoroughly versed in the life of their royal subject, and obviously enthusiastic about her as well.

   Erickson's style, however, leans more toward novelistic narrative. She seems to be sitting with you, telling you a story about this great monarch with her infamous "virgin" status, her political adeptness, her fearsome temper, her penchant for swearing oaths that made one's blood freeze, and her ability to command deep love and adoration from her subjects.

   This style is especially appealing for those for whom this biography is their first foray into Tudor biography. It introduces the major players in the queen's life thoroughly so that one is well acquainted with Robert Dudley, Cecil and Walsingham, as well as Mary I and the many other colorful characters that populated the Queen's life. You also get a real feel for the terror and uncertainty of Elizabeth's youth, when she lived in fear of death at the hands of her unstable, Catholic sister.

   Erickson adroitly paints a stunning (and sometimes shocking) picture of life at court - and what a life it must have been. Living at the various castles Elizabeth moved between (they changed castles regularly so that the one previously used could be cleaned and "aired out") was far from our 21st century idea of luxury, and when you read about the trials and travails inherent in the Queen's annual "progresses", you'll never gripe about rush-hour traffic again!

   Again, I would recommend this to anyone starting out to read about Elizabeth I, and to the reader already familiar with the life of the greatest queen of England. Those of the latter group might find that the author falls in love a bit too much with her subject (and who wouldn't, as this lady is one of the most fascinating people in history). In some places towards the end the flow of the narrative (going from event to event) isn't quite as seamless as it could be (you feel as though you are jumping from one to the other without a lead-in sentence/paragraph) but never mind that. Erickson does a marvelous job of painting a portrait of the life and times of Elizabeth and it's a most pleasurable learning experience and enjoyable read.

   After finishing "Elizabeth I", the reader would do well to continue on with Weir's biography mentioned above. I started with Weir and am now committed to reading Erickson's extensive series on the Tudors, including "Great Harry", "Mistress Anne", etc.




3. I tend to read mostly fiction, but for some reason earlier this year I decided to foray into biographies. This book gives you a peek into Elizabethan life, gives you insight into Elizabeth I's personality, and you learn quite a lot of history, scandals, and rumours-of-the-day along the way.

   This book reads more like a biographical novel than a pure biography, which, considering the subject matter is about 500-years old, probably means some license was taken with dialogue, etc., however, I think the style makes the subject infinitely more memorable.




4. Carolly Erickson has done her homework on the Tudors of England and in her 1984 biography of Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603)
   does a fine biographical profile.
   Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn died at the stake failing to produce a male heir for the cruel HENRY VIII. Her only chld was Elizabeth who ruled Britain from 1558 to her death in 1603.
   Elizabeth had a difficult and dangerous life dealing with such
   enemies as:
   1. The might of Spain and France.
   2. Various Catholic groups wanting to assasinate the Protestant leaning queen.
   3. Personal enemies include her half-sister Queen Bloody Mary
   who at times had Elizabeth imprisoned in the tower. She burned
   Protestants at the stake in her short reign from 1546-1553 following the death of her half-brother Edward VI (son of Henry and Jane Seymour). Another enemy was Mary Queen of Scots who Elizabeth had executed in 1587.
   4. Elizabeth was very intelligent, crafty and skilled in survival in a dangerous time of civil war, various rebellions and complicated international political and religious warfare.
   Erickson is good at writing Elizabeth's story focusing on her many love affairs most notably with the Earl of Leicester.
   Elizabeth's reign is well told in this biography which is a good place for a burgeoning interest in Tudor History to bloom.
   The book is one of the finest I have read on Elizabeth. I can
   recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story well told about one of the great female rulers in history!



5. Erickson gets one star for a lively and readable writing style. She's great at engaging the reader.
   
   I'd give her zero for accurate substance.
   
   If you examine her body of work, you find that she's a Mary Tudor apologist and that bias informs every line of this "biography" of Elizabeth as she revels in gossip and ignores accomplishments.
   
   Erickson should stick to novels, because that's what she's writing here. She misrepresents facts and her editorial slant colours every line. Nearly any other biography would give you a better idea of what really went on.

5 comments about Scheisshaus Luck: Surviving the Unspeakable in Auschwitz and Dora.

1. "Scheisshaus Luck" is superb. Most people think it was just Jews who were holocaust survivors; however, this book clearly details how the Nazis captured Italians, French, and others.
   
   Pierre Berg was an 18-year-old French lad in the wrong place at the wrong time in January 1944 when he was captured by the Germans. He suffered an unspeakable and savage existence for the next 17 months until May 1945. This brutality was not only dished out by the Germans but by his fellow inmates who had garnered priveleges as overseers of the other prisoners.
   
   Pierre Berg with the help of writer Brian Brock delivers a cold and unemotional account of his and others existence (through his eyes) during his imprisonment in several concentration camps. The tragedies he experienced (witnessing calous murders, beatings, disembowelment of a dead prostitute to catch eels for the Germans, etc.) clearly portrayed how a "pre-war" wonderful human being could lose all his dignity to be reduced to the sub-human person the Nazis expected him to be. His story is told with such a clear emotional detachment, that one really got a good feel for how he survived.
   
   Brian Brock said that it was Pierre's resistance to talking about the emotions that made it difficult to express Pierre's memoir as vividly as he wanted. In my opinion, however, Brian really misunderstood how effective the lack of that expression makes the book. It was this lack of emotion that drives home how one becomes after such catastrophic torture. It is not that Pierre has no emotion; it is that he has had to become so numb to expressing that emotion and had to sometimes find humor in some circumstances to SURVIVE. It is the same survival instinct some abused children employ.
   
   I am so sorry Pierre and others had to suffer such atrocities and thank him for telling his story. There is no doubt those awful 17 months changed you (and the other survivors) for life.



2. This is a very well written book about the author's experiences in the Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II. It is an almost brutally frank appraisal of man's inhumanity to man. One episode of particular interest on the effect of these events is the author's description of what happens when he finally meets up again with his beloved Stella, who he first meets on the train to the concentration camp, and why he acted as he did. Overall, the book is a must read for anyone even peripherally interested in this aspect of World War II.
   It is clear the writer hates the Nazis (of course, not without good reason) and a minor drawback to the book is that the author's editorializing about matters beyond his personal knowledge sometimes seems out of place and tends to drag down the overall quality of the book and actually detracts from the story. [In the same vein, the book (somewhat like Rolling Stone magazine refusing to ever mention John Lennon's assassin by name) never mentions Hitler by name, referring to him solely as the "god with a moustache": This itself does not detract from the book, and is presumably Mr. Berg's choice, but I would have liked to hear the author's personal explanation for this (i.e., other than the obvious ones).]
   Other minor drawbacks are (1) Mr. Berg's insistence he saw Heinrich Himmler at Auschwitz at a time when there is no record of Himmmler ever being near the camp (A note in the book and the book's afterward try to explain away this mistake by asserting it must have been a body double of Himmler's. Yet the footnote for this assertion fails to identify a single source confirming Himmler's use of body doubles. I would appreciate authentication of this for my own general knowledge, either from the publisher or any astute Amazon readers.), (2) the reference to a prisoner's identification as consisting only of a colored triangle (e.g., red for political prisoners) with an additionl yellow triangle if the prisoner was both Jewish and fell into some other category (e.g., pink for homosexuals) as it is my understanding that, during the later stages of the war when the author was interned, the Nazis used a yellow bar over the triangle, instead of two triangles, to identify Jewish inmates who fell into more than one prisoner category (e.g., a Jewish criminal would be identified by a yellow bar over a green triangle), and (3) the sometimes too literal interpretation of German words and phrases that fails to pick up the nuance of what was actually meant.
   But please do not let these minor matters prevent you from reading the book. It is full of harrowing escapades (not the least of which is the death march from Auschwitz to Dora) and episodes where the author survives by blind, or just plain dumb (as when he mistakenly escapes execution due to the misreading of his prisoner number), luck. In the final analysis, though, it was more than just luck that kept the author alive. He just never gave up and used his ingenuity and intelligence to survive.



3. I just finished Pierre Berg's book, "Scheisshaus Luck," and it was quite a vivid memoir.
   
   If you have read Elie Wiesel's book, "Night," you will notice some parallels. A teenager sent to Auschwitz, "selected" for hard labor, and attempting to survive as best as he can. "Night" tells the Holocaust story primarily from the Jewish victim's point of view. "Scheisshaus Luck" tells the story from the gentile point of view. Both points of view are just as brutal, and both young men suffered horribly during their internment. Berg was older than Wiesel at the time of internment; that may account for the additional observations and details in Berg's book ("Night" is about half the length of "Luck").
   
   Some of you may be put off by the title. Don't be. The title is in reference to the randomness of fate that intervened at odd times. This randomness ensured Berg's survival. In fact, there's an excellent online interview with Berg, posted at litpark.com/2007/10/03/pierre-berg/ One example of this randomness is an incorrect digit, which keeps him from a date with the hangman.
   
   One addition I wish could've been made in the afterward; we meet characters in the book, and we never know what happens to them again (for example, Berg's parents. We see them up until 1947, and then that's it). I'd like to know what happened to Berg's parents, to the Novaks, to Claude, etc. What happened to them after the war? I realize we cannot know what happened to all of the characters, as many probably disappeared and were never heard from again. That is the only suggestion I have for improvement.
   
   "Scheisshaus Luck" is frank, raw, in-your-face, snarky and filled with gallows humor. And it was well worth my time. And it'll be worth yours, too. You won't regret it.



4. Hey, I'm a big fan of Holocaust Books - generally I can't put them down. Sometimes I make fun of myself and say that I'm like Woody Allen's character in Annie Hall who has to go see Marcel Ophuls' The Sorrow and The Pity every time it shows. But what this does is create some kind of fairly informed perspective - at least I think so. I know I'm not here to review the back cover, but to say that this book ranks in importance with Levi and Weisel, as the back cover does, is shameful hyperbole. Every survivor's story should be heard, but this one is on the plebian side of the spectrum. It doesn't engage with the universal, paradigmatic significance of the Holocaust. It is artless, and in that it has value. We are perhaps TOO accustomed to drawing deep philosophical significance from Holocaust Testimony, and this book reminds us that there are hundreds of thousands of individuals who went through this collective trauma and came out on the other side, marked forever. But I can't recommend this book warmly, although making aesthetic judgements about such recountings troubles me. But when one publishes such a book, I suppose one leaves oneself open to this.



5. "Scheisshaus Luck" is a searing memoir of the Holocaust. As the initial draft was written less than 2 years following the author's release from the concentration camp, the book retains the rawness and freshness of detail that brings the day to day brutality and deprivation of concentration camp experience to life. As I read the book, two themes stood out: (a) the tremendous evil that humans are capable of inflicting on each other, and (b) the depths of what humans will endure in order to live. Most of us think we could not stand long days of back-breaking labor with only a cupful of weak soup and a few bites of bread to eat day in and day out. Berg, and his fellow prisoners at Berg's camp did this... and more. One of the outstanding features of the book, in fact, is Berg's inflinching portrayal of the conditions of concentration camp life, in all its moments of great ugliness (the scene where one inmate takes advantage of temporary darkness to steal Berg's bread literally from his hands is particularly heartbreaking) as well as moments of great heroism (Berg survives one forced march due to the efforts and help of his friend, who is then so weakened that he is "selected" for death upon the arrival at the next camp).
   
   The title of the book echoes the major premise developed by Berg in his narrative, which is that the question of who lived or died during the Holocaust was largely determined by blind luck. And he does an excellent job of portraying the arbitrary nature of much of the cruelty that occurred, not to mention the role that chance plays when the line between life and death is so slim that one's survival literally depended on whether you were able to "organize" an extra spoon of soup that day.
   
   However, I might gently disagree with Berg that his survival was only a matter of sheer luck. Throughout the narrative, it becomes clear that--while arbitrary luck certainly played a role in what happened to him--Berg's survival also depended heavily on his abilities and quick wit. More than once, Berg was provided with jobs that were physically less demanding and provided him with more food because of his skills as an interpreter (he spoke four languages fluently). More than once, he obtained more favorable jobs because of his mechanical abilities and willingness to fake being a trained electrician.
   
   This is not an easy memoir to read. Berg relates what happened to him and his companions in a clear, unflinching prose that does not sugarcoat any of the details. But it is not a totally depressing book, either; Berg has a sardonic wit (as seen even in the very first sentence of the book, where he says "if you're seeking a Holocaust survivor's memoir with a profound and poetic statement...you've opened the wrong book"), and there are multiple instances of gallows humor to offer a reader some emotional relief.
   
   Toward the end of the memoir, Berg questions "whether, as a society, we had the fortitude to ever overcome the bestiality so deeply embedded in our fabric." I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that if we are to have even the slightest chance of preventing genocides like the Holocaust from occurring again, we much confront, and remember, the evil of the past. Berg's book, like the memoirs of others who have experienced the Holocaust, plays a vital role toward that end.

3 comments about Memoirs of Montparnasse (New York Review Books Classics).

1. It was 1927; John Glassco was 17 when he left Montreal to go to Paris with the intention of becoming a famous writer. He kept a journal of his life there for the next five years. He was convinced he was a genius who would one day produce a masterpiece. The irony is that the masterpiece turned out to be these memoirs edited and published when he was 59.



2. John Glassco writes about the Paris arts scene of the 1920s, telling the story of an artist as a young man. It's not always true, but it is always fun, as fiction and autobiography blend to create a good read. Has all the sex, boozing and pathos that was typical of 1920s Paris as its been memorialized in literature, whether that's a good thing or not is for you to decide.



3. It's good to see that John Glassco's hilarious if not always reliable memoir of his youthful exploits in Paris is back in print. From what I gather, this edition includes an introduction that comments on the fictitiousness of some events described in the book and its real date of composition. (I'll give you a clue: it's later than you think.) So I would like to exhort everyone and anyone with an appetite for stories about the good old days in Paris, when James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein roamed freely, to pick up this book and enjoy themselves.
   
   However, you should bear in mind that around 25 per cent of it is fiction. Also, if you really want to know who's who, you are better off with the 1995 OUP edition with notes by Michael Gnarowski. This contains a good introduction and reveals the real identity of many thinly veiled characters in an appendix. (Djuna Barnes' lover Thelma Wood is renamed Emily Pine - you get the idea.) But if you are less detective minded than me, I guess this new edition will do just fine.
   
   For further reading, I warmly recommend Being Geniuses Together by the very outspoken Robert McAlmon, with later material interpolated by Kay Boyle, yet another unreliable narrator. Both of these memoirs are infinitely more entertaining than Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas or Hemingway's maudlin A Moveable Feast. The last of these was hailed as a return to form, but I believe it contains much material that was actually written *earlier* than you'd think. Quite the opposite of Glassco in that respect!

2 comments about Heinrich Himmler: The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career.

1. I read this book as part of a class I took on Nazism. This is truly an engrossing account of the life and times of Himmler. This is the tale of how one young boy can turn into one of the Nazi leaders, and head of the SS. This was one of the best books I read in my course, and best books I've read period. It is informative and entertaining, pick it up.



2. A fascinating insight into the mind of the madman Himmler. A must read for any student of World War II. Part of the incredible Himmler / Goebbels / Goering series by Roger Manvell & Heinrich Fraenkel. Great book.

5 comments about 747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation.

1. As a project manager/engineer and aviation enthusiast, I knew I had to read this book. It did not disappoint. Joe Sutter seemed at first like a typical engineer thrust (no pun intended) into a dream job--designing and building a new aircraft that most couldn't even imagine. By the end of this book, however, he'd discussed not only the technical challenges he faced, but the political roadblocks he encountered along the way. The story is compelling and interesting and taught me a few lessons on dealing with angry higher-ups and demanding customers.
   
   I especially liked how Joe weaved in a few details about his personal life and his background, without detracting from the story of designing the 747.
   
   This was a fascinating read and one that I may have to revisit. Thank you, Mr. Sutter, for sharing this story with the newest generation of engineers.



2. History was made in Everett, WA 40 years ago when the "Queen of the Skies" was developed and built. It was Boeing's Jumbo Jet, a double-deck airplane. Everyone has interviewed Joe Sutter, the "father of the 747",Chief Engineer on the project, and now he's written his own account.
   It's his personal story as well as the making of history in aviation. Juan Trippe of Pan Am was a driver behind the development of this airplane.
   The book gives one insight to the struggles of developing a new airplane.
   You can take guided tours of the assembly plant in Everett, where they assemble the twin-aisle airplanes, including 747 and 787.



3. Joe Sutter helped accomplish what was probably the most challenging engineering feat in history prior to 1970 by designing the largest jet aircraft in the world. His book touches briefly on the life journey leading up to his employment at Boeing and taking on some major assignments there, including running the 747 program. Joe's book shows he was an engineer first, and a manager second. While downplaying his own ability to understand company politics and business dealings, you see that Joe really felt a strong sense of importance about each and every engineering assignment he had at Boeing. From the 707 to the 727 to the 747, Joe talks about each Jet as if they were his.
   
   He shows how Boeing bet the whole farm on 747, and how that is typical of Boeing and a key factor to understanding the character of the Boeing Company. He discusses how he played a pivotal role both in the design and risk management process of 747. He shares some of the backroom strategy meetings where he convinced Boeing's top leadership to build a single deck airplane versus the customer proposed double-decker, and offers insights as to why a double-decker is so much more expensive to build than a single deck aircraft. Insisting on a single deck configuration for 747, according to Joe was probably the most valuable contribution he made at Boeing, though he risked loosing his job and Boeing almost lost the support of their biggest Customer, Pan-Am by going with his approach.
   
   Joe shared some other specific job experiences that helped groom him to run the 747 program, the lessons he learned, and the lessons he wish he had learned.
   
   Joe wanted this book to inspire the younger generation of engineers, and he definitely does. Joe is a story teller at heart and his book is easy reading like some of the emails you might get from an 85 year old war veteran with inspiring and straight talk. I couldn't put it down till it was done and recommend all my engineer buddy's to pick up a copy.



4. 747 is simply a must for anyone in the aerospace design industry, or for people who are just interested in how the 747 was built. Joe Sutter, the airplane's director of engineering and the one most responsible for its actual design, has written a trim, quick, and enjoyable to read history of the 747 program encased in a semi-autobiography.
   
   After a few chapters exploring the author's early life, including his college time and Navy life, the book spends its bulk on a 50,000 foot overview of what was going on with the 747 development program from its inception until its most recent incarnation to fly in the form of the 747-400 family of derivatives. The final chapters sweep the remainder of the author's professional career including his service on the Challenger Disaster commission. Joe (and after reading the book you definitely get the feeling he would prefer to be called that then Mr. Sutter) has certainly led a very interesting life, and has had the privilege of experiencing a truly gilded age of aviation from the peaks of its ambitions and the lows of its difficulties and uncertainty. But the star of the book is truly the magnificent 747 aircraft and even his more autobiographical chapters tie into the aircraft and its design.
   
   Much of the author's life exerted an inexorable influence on the design philosophy he brought to the plane. As an early child he grew up in Seattle and watched, literally from his neighborhood, as Boeing would roll out new aircraft through the twenties and thirties and try to push aviaiton forward and make the world a smaller place. Caught up in the majesty of flight Joe wanted very badly to design airplanes, but as WWII dawned when he was in college that would have to wait for more important world events to be sorted out. Joining the Navy he became a deck officer on a destroyer escort in the Atlantic, where he had a formative experience. Returning to Boston Harbor his ship started to become glazed with rapidly growing layers of thick ice in the midst of a storm, making the ship dangerously top heavy. With no anti-icing system and no ability to get people out on deck to hack off the ice the crew had to just ride out the storm praying they wouldn't die. From this moment on the author decided safety would be a primary criteria of anything he designed.
   
   The legacy of the 747 is one of carrying on Boeing's legacy of leading the pack in aviation with an unparalleled record of safety, thanks to smart design and brute force quadruple redundancy. (Brute force is by no means meant perjoratively here!) The 747 came about during an amazing time in aviation history. It was the first wide body airliner (against the initial full double decker narrow body wishes of its launch customer), the first turbofan (or fanjet as they are sometimes called) powered airliner, and it was designed by a slimmed down workforce in the shadow of the ill fated 2707 SST, while the 727 and 737 were also absorbing significant company resources, and while Lockheed's L-1011 and Douglas' DC-10 provided competition. The story of how this giant came about and triumphed in spite of the decidely low expectations Boeing clearly had for it at the begining is a truly fascinating one, filled with such aviation luminaries as Juan Trippe, Bill Allen and Charles Lindbergh. Joe's life on the program is also filled with equally amazing events including state department sponsored dinners with the Soviets in Paris at the height of the Cold War (in the spirit of "Detente"), and trips all over the world ranging from the expected places like Japan and New York, to Baghdad.
   
   In addition to being a great story well told, there are real gems here for aviation program managers and aircraft designers about how to make a successful airplane. Absolutely worth reading, and would be something I would like to see as a textbook for aeronautical engineers, perhaps in an aerospace history course, to give them some real world perspective that is so often lacking in modern engineering degrees.
   
   An outstanding book, highly recommended!



5. Joe Sutter rose to lead the 747 program through hard work, preparation, and a little bit of luck. As an aspiring Boeing worker, I hope to do the same one day. All of the lessons learned from decades ago are still relevant today. Joe tells his story from all angles: professionally and personally. This is a highly engaging book, and if you are interested in the aerospace industry it is highly recommended.