3 comments about 66 Frames.

1. Gordon Ball's fine little memoir of the distant past is a bitter sweet account of growing up to a world that was not what we told it was. I guess, self discovery of the world, is always narcissistic and solipsitic. I admire so much his persistance and devotion to those that influenced and guided him in that discovery. He continues to do a great service to the legacy of that era. We may discover that the 60's are not over. Not by a long shot.



2. The best books about the 1960s were written by people who disliked much about the time: Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe. For those who want to know why one might miss the decade, what it was like to be young and arts-oriented and practice free love, I recommend Gordon Ball's book.



3. READ THIS BOOK!
   Gordon Balls' intimate recollection of a fascinating time in American history allows a vicarious experience for those unwilling or unable (due to age) to participate. I know of no better writing from a personal perspective on the exploration, freedom, generational misunderstandings and sometimes, excesses, of the 1960's. Perhaps Ball will consider an autobiography of his early teenage years, 60s experiences, and later periods and indicating how those have shaped him. One may drop acid AND love baseball, right?

2 comments about Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History.

1. Robert Draper's Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored Story is a stunning testament to the magazine which helped herald in an era, and has been here ever since. This book isn't about the artists that were covered; instead it's more about the staff, the writers, th editors, and especially founder Jann Wenner, almost biographically so.
   
   Now out of the 60's came many things good and bad but in the late 60's Rolling Stone the magazine was formed. However it's never that simple and Draper conveys that well. With inside information due to hundreds of interviews and just some good research he pieces together what life was like behind the cover.
   
   My only fault is that I wish this book could have been written in 2004 instead of 1990 so that I could learn about recent events. Overall this is a great book and I highly recommend it for musicians, journalists, and any Rolling Stone magazine avid fans out there.



2. This fantastic book tells the tale of one of America's most successful publiciations while simultaneously chronicling its seedy underbelly. You'll laugh at the hijinks of Hunter S. Thompson one minute and get infuriated by the way editor in chief Jann Wenner chooses to treat fellow human beings the next. I highly recommend it for ANYONE who is interested in the music industry, the magazine world or fine music writing in general. It's a shame that this book is out of print, but on the upside, you can get a pretty cheap used copy without much trouble. A great read.

1 comments about Front-Page Women Journalists, 1920-1950 (Women in the West).

1. Kathleen Cairns does a formidable job of revealing these early women journalists in the context of their era -- and explores the womens' own ambivalence about their unique role in society. These women come alive on the page and easily earn a place in the forefront of ground-breaking, energetic and articulate women of the age.

1 comments about Helen Foster Snow: An American Woman in Revolutionary China.

1. This text is an insightful study of a little known figure of mid-20th-century America. Readable for a general audience, worthwhile for a scholarly audience and academe.

No comments about No Boundaries.

3 comments about No News at Throat Lake: In Search of Ireland.

1. Rural Ireland has never been funnier! This is a gem. Donegan captures Irish country life and the quirky Irish themselves. It's not a book that says, "READ ME," but you'll be awfully glad you did.



2. This is a fun, enjoyable book. Donegan is a self effacing man, but one who has an an ecclectic, and noteworthy series of achievements for a young man -- rock musician, golf writer, and journalist for a internationally known newspaper. Having visited Donegal and been charmed, he decides to abandon his mainstream life in Britain and embrace bucolic rural Ireland.

   Of Irish extraction, in typical Irish fashion, he mocks his own inadequacies and pitfalls. As his Irish period proceeds, he recognizes his naiviete in assuming that he would be embraced by and acclimate to Donegal society. He is such a likeable guy that you can't help smiling while reading of his daily struggle to make friends and to be seen as professionally credible. His descriptions of striving to make the team in Irish football are hysterical and endearing -- you both admire his persistence and his brutal honesty in sharing his mediocre performance. After a long period during which he is beginning to break into the local culture he recognizes that he is lonely -- not only for a companion, but also for the life he sought to escape.

   Great descriptions of the laconic, iconoclastic locals. Having myself lived in a rural area where we only began to be accepted by the locals after seven years, I could identify with Donegan. However, he is kind spirited and not resentful -- he recognizes and appreciates the cohesiveness of Donegal society. Good stuff, with a solid underlying message.




3. In an attempt to escape the artificial and crazy life of modern life for a more simple way of living, Lawrence Donegan moves from Glasgow, Scotland to Creeslough, Ireland, a small rural community. The book details the year he spent living there, working for the small community newspaper and playing for the local Gaelic football team. Though it sounds like this might be an amusing book about a fish out of water, about a big-city guy adapting to small-town life, it's not really as amusing as it sounds. The author adjusts to his new life and learns the ways of small-town life. Period. And it's not really that entertaining or amusing. There's some funny anecdotes here and there, but not as many as you'd think, and it ultimately took me quite awhile to get through this book.

3 comments about LAST HOUSE: Reflections, Dreams, and Observations, 1943-1991.

1. I marveled at her honesty, such as resenting looking after an ageing father or her unsent, unsympathetic letter to an elderly friend, her frustration and rage at her own diminishing health and her observation that none of us is prepared for the inevitible process leading to death.



2. These autobiographical essays can be returned to again and again for the beauty of the writing and the startling frankness of the writer. The earlier essays explore the experiences that shaped her - trips to her beloved France, caring for an aging and difficult father, lifelong regret over an impulsive rejection of her sister, musings on literary characters, minor thieving, incidents that retain their emotional charge over decades.

   The second half of the book is a portrait of her own aging and increasing illness - her rages, fears and love of life. Whether baring her soul or keeping a whimsical distance, Fisher's writing has an immediacy that connects with the reader.




3. The great essayist Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher wrote this last volume, starting in 1943 and then in the 1990's, when Parkinson's Disease began to make it impossible for her to speak, as a sort of summary of her writings. This book gives a lot of insight into MFK Fisher's life when she returned to the US from Europe, married again after her first husband's death. Some of the writing is familiar, subjects visited before such as her life in Europe, and some is quite new, if all you've read are her classic essays in "Serve it Forth", for example.
   
   The Last House is one designed for her in Glen Ellen, California. In this house, she writes honestly of the ravages of age, incapacity, fright and regrets. It's brutally honest, as all her writing is. If you love the works of this author, this is a must-read.

3 comments about Buying the Night Flight: The Autobiography of a Woman Foreign Correspondent.

1. Ms. Geyer reveals her life and work as a wonderful adventure. As one of the first women foreign correspondents, she was where the action was. She provides us not only with brilliant insight into the geo-political events of Vietnam, Central America, and the USSR, but makes each of her tours an adventure. Ms. Geyer is truly a gifted writer. You have so much fun reading about her adventures, you may not realize you are learning a lot about foreign politics at the same time. This is a great book.



2. I know Geogie Anne Geyer personally. We met first in Poland in the 1980's when she covered my country after the military coup in 1981. I have red her autobiography several times. I translated it to Polish in jail, when I was a political prisoner of the communists. This woman is a unique example of an investigative journalist. If she had fought in the wars, she would become a war hero. But she covers all the wars and revolutions that broke out during her mature life.What I like about Georgie Anne ("GeeGee") is her sharp mind and toughness. She always gets to the heart of the matter. But (a unique feature) she's also a lovely woman who never looses her charm. I recommend her book to everyone who is conscious of the World we live in. DAVID MARIUS DASTYCH (60),a veteran international journalist, Warsaw, Poland. E-Mail me at: starm@poczta.onet.pl Date: August 12, 2001 on Sunday



3. Let me make two things clear: "Buying the Night Flight" is a good autobiography, and it is also the account of a woman's amazing career as a trailblazer in the field of journalism.
   
   Geyer was truly a pioneer and a real lady. As a female foreign correspondent, something of a rarity back in the old days, she had to overcome a lot of obstacles. Not only was she not as respected as her male counterparts in her profession, she was also in a line of work that's very physically and mentally demanding for a woman. What's more, as one of the first female foreign correspondents, Geyer really had no one to look up to or to learn from. She had to make up a lot of her own rules as she went along. But as she marches into uncharted territories, whether it's the deep Columbian jungles ruled by the rebels, or a hostage crisis in Egypt, she proves to us time and time again in this book that not only did she succeeded in surviving each assignment with the most fascinating stories and interviews, what's more, she's always done it with class and stylish prose.
   
   What I loved most about this book is Geyer's unrelenting criticism and analyses on herself through each situation. Being pretty much the very first female foreign correspondent, Geyer is acutely aware of her limitations as a woman. But she had also learned that there are many advantages to being a woman, namely that women are more sensitive, and are actually able to get men to open up more. At the same time, Geyer is also honest about the sacrifices that she's had to make in her personal life in order to gain the achievements in her professional life. That's another element that makes this book a good autobiography, because it's such a truthful introspective on the author.
   
   Geyer is also one of those journalist who has a strong moral conviction in what she does, and is not afraid to voice her own subjective opinion on each subject. She's unabashedly American, and carries that naive, moralistic optimism which is very endearing. It makes her book a very revealing read.

1 comments about An Honorable Estate: My Time in the Working Press.

1. QUICK REVIEW
   A simple story about the early years of the newspaper business and a young man's experience within it. Not engrossing, or particularly well written, but a short simple account that is somewhat enjoyable.

   FULL REVIEW
   This book may sound intriguing, and it is in a sense, but it is not intriguing throughout and ends up being only marginally enjoyable. It is neat to read an account of a young man's experience in the early years of newspapers, and nice to learn and see the differences between then and now. The problem with this book, however, is it is written as much for the author as it is for the reader, in trying to find meaning in why the author was drawn toward journalism and writing. The author simply tells of his experiences, hoping to find meaning by the end of the book. He does find some answers, but we aren't left with a full picture of the newspaper business back then or of his life. We are left with vignettes of his journalism career, which are nice, but they aren't written as well as you'd think they would be considering his profession was writing. The writing style is loose and simple, but there are many obnoxiously long sentences and he constantly digresses. Constantly. And then, every now and then, he starts throwing in a bunch of newspaper jargon which tends to confuse. Overall it is not that bad of a book, but it has its problems and those problems keep it from being a really good book.

4 comments about Getting Better: Inside Alcoholics Anonymous.

1. Ms. Robertson's book is a comprehensive review of Alcoholics Anonymous and it's co-founder Bill Wilson. She gives a surprisingly objective history of Bill W.'s life, his joining with Bob Smith, the other co-founder of AA, and AA's evolution into, perhaps, the most sigificant spiritual program of the 20th century. The only negative aspect of the book is Ms. Robertson's compromising of the 12th Tradition of AA which is maintaining personal anonimity in press, radio and films. I strongly urge anyone in recovery from substance dependence as well as mental health professionals to read this book for greater knowledge of the famous founder of AA.



2. Nan Robertson's book is the most accurate I have ever read concerning Alcoholics Anonymous. She is devoted to AA, but more so to her research and her honest in writing. If I had to read one book concerning AA, this would be the one. Robert F. Hale



3. This book is well researched (including interviews with the widow of Bill W, co-founder of AA) and well written. It gives an honest history of the origins of AA without the trappings of saintliness often given to Bill Wilson from the works published by the AA general services office and some other sources. For examples, Bill's infidelities, neglecting family responsibilities to help fellow drunks, and "post-sobriety" experiments with LSD and other chemicals are mentioned. The history sections on AA are excellent as a result of this objectivity. The author also gives an excellent account of typical experience in in-patient rehab.

   The author's personal story is equally compelling, and touches on issues chemically dependant individuals face, including how alcohol addiction relates to other facets of life, including depression and physical illness.

   All in all, one of the better works on AA and the disease of alcoholism. As a well qualified member of AA, I have one message for other AA members concerned with the author "violating" the 11th tradition on anonimity: "get over it!". Bill Wilson was (and is) hardly "anonymous". If his widow didn't have a problem with this work neither should we.




4. Heard the taped version of GETTING BETTER by
   Nan Robertson, an inside look at Alcoholics
   Anonymous . . . I've often wondered about this
   group, but had seen little ever written about it--in
   part because of the anonymity factor.
   
   Somehow, Robertson (a Pulitzer Prize-winning
   reporter for THE NEW YORK TIMES) got permission
   to write the book . . . in it, she tells the story of how a failed
   stockbroker and a surgeon together found a way to stay
   sober--one day at a time.
   
   She also describes what happens at the actual meetings . . . and
   that is what I perhaps liked best about the book: its
   behind-the scenes view of these gatherings . . . the
   fact that Robertson actually attended many of these as
   a recovering alcoholic made her reporting all the more believable.
   
   I also liked how she summarized the message of message
   of AAA into these three key points: Be honest, change
   yourself and help others.
   
   GETTING BETTER was made even more enjoyable by Michael
   Learned's excellent narration.