5 comments about My War.

1. Andy above and beyond potrayed his position in WW2 if anything played down. Yes he was a private that lucked out as many do in the service,but it seems he is able to tell the truth about it and feels no lesser for the facts. He tells of several heroes and some not so good officers. We have all known those. All in all I found the book very enjoyable and would highly reccomend it to all.



2. My grandfather was in the Army Air Corp during WWII and would tell wonderful stories about his time in the war (the good and the bad). I think he would have liked Andy Rooney.
   
   I found the book very interesting particularly his insights on Patton. I have an great uncle who served under Patton. His mind never was the same.



3. This is a great book. Andy Rooney, who I hate, is likable here in his stories about the GReat War. He tells stories, and jokes, and rubs elbows with all sorts of famous people, and, yet, doesn't seem to be bragging as much as telling. Also, his descriptions of tanks running over bodies and the air war are heart wrenching, beautiful, and terrifying. This book isn't my favorite overall, but it is the biggest surprise I've ever read. I really did love it.



4. This memoir by Andy Rooney of CBS of his army days during World War II mixes humor, cynicism, and tragedy. Rooney recounts how he was drafted into the artillery in 1941, and then transferred to the army newspaper STARS AND STRIPES. The author recounts his army experiences with a mixture of nostalgia, humor and sadness. The author admits his distaste for the military, and considers him self lucky to have drawn duty as a correspondent. Yet his service record was hardly risk-free. Rooney accompanied B-17 crews on raids over Nazi Germany, then infantrymen as they battled their way after D-Day. Rooney recounts much of the war's horrors and describes several friends and acquaintances that died in combat. The author's irreverent and at times cynical tone (particularly regarding General Patton) reflects both himself and many of the GI's that served in that deadly conflict. The book is generally very readable, although it does slow in a couple spots. Still, this moving 1995 memoir written half a century after Rooney's discharge is worth reading.



5. Lately I've been reading stories about war, an unfortunate constant of human history, I'm afraid. Tales about WWII, or "The Last Good War" (a book I read many years ago), as Studs Terkel called it, abound, but I especailly recommend this one. My War, by Andy Rooney (yep, the same bushy-eyebrowed old grump you see on 60 Minutes every week), is a true gem, full of his homespun self-deprecating bits of humor and wisdom, along with the expected grim and grisly stories about the carnage that is war. As to the importance of his wartime experience, Rooney says right up front, "My life was never the same again." As a young reporter (his army ID photo looks startlingly like Audie Murphy, who of course penned his own memoir, To Hell and Back) for The Stars and Stripes, Rooney got up close and personal with both the air and ground wars in Europe, and also traveled to India and China, rubbing shoulders with Ernie Pyle, Bill Mauldin and Walter Cronkite. One particular line from the book has stayed with me: "I laugh, bitterly, when I hear the phrase, 'He gave his life for his country.' No one gives his life. His life is taken." Rooney is a newspaperman and a reporter, but more than anything else he is a damn fine writer who simply tells it like he sees it. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy and Love, War & Polio ([...])

5 comments about Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: A Memoir of Gay Literary Life After Stonewall.

1. A memoir of the heady days of gay writing and publishing, the 70's and 80's in New York City, which is alternating fascinating and frustrating. Fascinating in the stories Picano has to tell in his fluent, readable prose style: the development of "Torch Song Trilogy" and Harvey Fierstein's early career, the personalities behind Three Lives Bookstore and Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore (Greenwich Village institutions), the Violet Quill writers circle, the trials and tribulations of getting gay and lesbian literature written at all when societal prejudice continued to create obstacle upon obstacle, the devastations of the AIDS epidemic upon multiple budding careers.
   
   Frustrating in the narcissism with regard to the author's contribution to gay literature, the myopia that conflates historic significance with literary worth, the overvaluation of minor writers (his friends) and the undervaluation of major ones (not his friends):
   
   "I'd begun writing what would end up being the first part of my first memoir and I was intensely aware that I believed I'd accomplished a kind of breakthrough in the form". (page 166)
   
   "Today the criticism my book received then seems silly when it isn't hypocritical". (p.171)
   
   A little of this goes a long way - and there is alot of this.
   
   Picano is out to dish the dish, settle some scores and make perfectly clear how heroic his (and some others)efforts were. It isn't so much as I disagree with his assessment of some of his accomplishments as his manner of seeing them all in the same rosy glow.
   
   While I frequently found this book compulsively readable, I episodically had to slow down to step around the little piles of egocentricity.



2. Picano, Felice. "Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: Gay Literary Life After Stonewall", Carroll & Graf, 2007.
   
   A Look at Our Lives
   
   Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
   
   Felice Picano is one of our A-List authors. He is a pioneer in gay literature and one of our best loved authors. In "Art and Sex in Greenwch Village" he gives us a deep look into what brought about contemporary gay literature as well as gay culture as he looks at life in New York in the 70's and 80's. He, himself, has written more than 20 books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry so he is well equipped to provide this look.
   When gay liberation began with the Stonewall riots in 1969, a new era in the history of our community began. It seems that politics were affected and, in fact, everything else felt he change except for the arts--literature, movie, and drama. Sure, there were films and plays and a few books written but most did not deal with our newly won liberation. It was not until six years later, in 1977, that things began to take a turn. Picano founded a small press to be devoted to publishing gay books to be known as Seahorse. Coming along to launch another new venture was author Larry Mitchell who began his own press for gay books, Calamus Press. Terry Helbing also began JH Press to publish his plays. In 1981 the three men joined their separate presses together and formed Gay Presses of New York which was to become the most influential gay press of the time. It published books by some of the giants of gay writing including Harvey Fierstein, Martin Duberman, Dennis Cooper, several women writers and brought in some up and coming writers. Here was the beginning of gay literature as we know it and Gay Presses of New York influenced popular culture greatly. What Picano gives us is a behind the scenes look at that press and what it produced. Those days in New York were a time of moving ahead in gay writing and publishing which held both frustration and fascination. Picano relates stories to us in his beautiful eloquent writing and he also tells us about the writers of the time. We learn about the gay bookstores in New York and the famous Violet Quill writers group and how difficult it was to get gay literature both written and published. This was a time when the pressures of society were great and AIDS was affecting our lives so terribly.
   . Picano tells it like it was and to show how brave he and the others were. It is so interesting to compare this where we are today--seeing mainstream publishers publishing out work and not having to have special houses to do so. We can look back ay and see how things were but we must remember that we are where we are today because of what some heroic people did for us.



3. As a writer and poet in the 21st century, I owe my success to people like Felice Picano, who opened doors for all of us in the business. His newest effort, Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: A Memoir of Gay Literary Life After Stonewall, a non fiction recount of the creatively rich, landmark period during the 1970s and '80s when the first dedicated gay presses arose in New York City. Focusing primarily on SeaHorse Press and the seven writers that formed the Violet Quill: Andrew Holleran, Christopher Cox, Edmund White, George Whitmore, Michael Grumley, Robert Ferro, and, of course, Felice. He covers the two decades following the 1969 Stonewall riots, outlining how he (and others) fostered a GLBT literary tradition that continues today, with writers such as Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, Larry Kramer and, of course, Picano.
   
   As an HIV survivor, I am aware that we have lost two generations of GLBT history; one to HIV/AIDS, and the other to The Vietnam War. We have kids under thirty years old that have no idea how the GLBT movement, much less our literature, came into existence. Most of them take them for granted. For me, personally, Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: A Memoir of Gay Literary Life After Stonewall is a reminder that we should continue the struggle, and, at the same time, we need to be thankful to those who led the way, when most of us were too afraid and closeted to do what needed to be done.



4. Felice Picano's Art and Sex in Greenwich Village is an informative and entertaining history on the emergence of gay literature in the 1970's and `80's from someone who was not only there, but helped pioneer it.
   
   With his own SeaHorse Press and later Gay Presses of New York, Picano published the works of then- unknown gay writers such as Harvey Fierstein, Brad Gooch and Dennis Cooper.
   
   With his no-holds-barred candor, razor-sharp memory and quick wit, Picano recollections (from visiting Fierstein's tiny Brooklyn apartment to an after-hours private photo session with Robert Mapplethorpe) are, at times, dishy and gossipy, yet always incredibly fascinating to read. Picano also settles some scores and puts a few rumors to rest along the way, too. I also enjoyed the many photos of book covers, artists and writers of the era.
   
   But I was mainly touched by Picano's stories on lesser-known writers, many who died too young to establish great literary legacies. Although never becoming big names, these writers' contributions were no less important, and Picano's book reverently honors their place in gay literary history.
   
   Salvatore Sapienza, author of Seventy Times Seven



5. Felice Picano is the man who was there and who did the work. He devised SeaHorse Press and built it up into a larger agglomeration called GPNy, with a pair of other likeminded publishers and dreamers. SeaHorse was responsible for some of the very best books of the 1980s, some authentic landmarks like Dennis Cooper's IDOLS and SAFE, Bob Gluck's JACK THE MODERNIST, Brad Gooch's JAILBAIT AND OTHER STORIES. And plays like FORTY DEUCE by Alan Bowne and the book that put SeaHorse on the map, TORCH SONG TRILOGY. Along the way, as Picano describes it, he encountered everyone from Robert Mapplethorpe to Nico and he lived to tell the tale.
   
   The subtext of the book is survival, one man's survival through the worst of the AIDS crisis in Manhattan. No sooner do we come to know a writer, an artist, a lover, a friend, than he is carried off by the disease and that which he left behind becomes more precious. This terse threnody runs all along the underside of this delicately written book like the runner of a carpet; just when it seems to be all about publishing trivia and how many printings had this or that forgotten volume, Picano's novelistic sense surges forward and real human interest takes its place on center stage.
   
   And the book has its own humor too! Gore Vidal averts Picano's overtures towards the republishing of MYRA BRECKINRIDGE with his own King Charles' head, the alarming spread, even in youth, of American men's backsides, and how the Germans do these things so much better. Boyd McDonald, the notorious editor of STH, perplexed by a royalty statement; James Purdy, genius among plebes, equally baffled by niceties of copyright. SeaHorse and GPNy didn't last very long--not nearly long enough in my view--but the very compression of the period provides Picano with exactly the right amount of material for his project, a book which brings back all the glory days, and much of the terror, of a certain era in literary and artistic history.
   
   I had a great editorial experience with him even though, in the end, SeaHorse passed on my book of memoirs, and the press was running down when I sent it in. He took the trouble to read the entire thing and made one enormously sweeping editorial suggestion which actually saved the whole thing and made it hang together, rather than the ragbag of halfassed New Narrative experiments it had previously been. I'm sure there are hundreds of younger writers who can attest also to Picano's generosity and, what would you call it, in Scotland it would be that he is a canny man. In the USA, he's a mensch.

5 comments about The Gift of Jazzy.

1. Great book for dog lovers. Cindy Adams tells the story of losing a loved one and how a very small dog came into her life and captured her heart forever.



2. I'am sorry I bought this book, it is not a good read



3. I found that this book was very entertaining and heart-warming. Cindy Adams wrote this story from her personal experiences. The funny antics of Jazzy, all the way to the celebrities mentioned, is her story. It is, what it is. If you like it, it's because it's a good re-telling of life going on after a loved-one passes, and how a little dog helped in the healing process. If you didn't like it, at least give Cindy Adams the respect and acknowledgement that she has the ambition to write a book, of which many people wouldn't even know where to begin with. At the very least, it doesn't deserve the nasty negative comments.



4. Cindy Adams has a hit here. She is very good at writing a memoir, while incorporating the story of her dog. Cindy is the writer of a gossip column for the New York Post. Hobnobbing with celebrities and their quirks is nothing compared to the quirky dog that has come into her life and stollen her heart.
   
   Because of the dog, Cindy, dressed in her nightgown and Amilda Marcos, dressed to the nines, spent Christmas locked out of her apartment, sitting on the floor eating McDonald's hamburgers and fries.
   
   Taking her dog to a dinner party ended in disaster, with Cindy drenched in wine and worried that the white carpet would be permanently ruined.
   
   While on vaccation, Cindy had to sneak into the hotel room of a stanger, to excavate Jazzy from the suitcase of a Japanese tourist, before he hitched a ride back to Japan.
   
   Cindy was on the phone speaking to a client, when Jazzy took a flying leap off her apartment balcony. Cindy threw down the phone, and caught him in mid air.
   
   Jazzy and Cindy took a trip to the counry. She found that Jazzy was a New York dog, who was more accustomed to the sound of the garbage truck, then the sound of crickets with insomnia.
   
   I found The Gift of Jazzy to be both heart warming and entertaining. I really enjoyed Cindy Adams sense of humor and finding out that many celebrities prefer their dogs over any other relationship.
   
   Jill Vanderwood
   Author of two fictional dog books
   Through the Rug[[ASIN:0979845548
   Through The Rug 2: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)]]



5. this book was overall a great book i enjoyed reading it!!!! and i have a baby myself her name is holly i can toatlly relate to what she went thorugh.....a great book to read!!!!

5 comments about When The Going Gets Weird : The Twisted Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson : A Very Unauthorized Biography.

1. I don't know.. I have some ambivalent feelings about Mr. Whitmer's book on Hunter S. Thompson. On one hand I really like reading about Hunter Thompson and suppose that I myself am a kind of weird groupie when it comes to reading about him and a few other writers (I bought this one at a garage sale for 50 cents). On the other hand I really dislike reading gossipy books where the author has only a little understanding of his subject or his work and is mainly just trying to cash in on the artist's celebrity, telling second hand stories that might or might not be true. I myself am guilty of reading these little tabloid-like pieces and almost always feel dirty afterward. Especially if the subject is worthy of some respect in his artistic life and HST certainly is. Artists should be given the space they need to work through their inner struggles while sorting it all out. This requires huge amounts of slack for an artist like Thompson. But then after they die all the lies and sentimental twisted memories can come flooding out and it's all so much less embarrassing for them and for us. I do understand why Mr. Whitmer would want to do a book on HST. And his might be better than the other bios as the above reviewers say. But make no mistake, Peter Whitmer did this one to make some easy money and Hunter Thompson's name sells better a lot better than his own.



2. I read Thompson's collected letter's, but they are no substitute for this very well-done biography. The author is not doing literary criticism, it is true- he is doing biography. Unlike most interviews/biographies about this wonderfully unique character, he doesn't drool all over the subject. Thompson did some great work, and the persona he crafted was spectacular. This book, along with the collections of letters, makes clear what a tragedy is the result of attempting to stay on the edge for all of these years. His recent work is all recycling and incoherent parodies of himself.

   HST is a wasted hull of a man and a mind. His alter ego became himself and the result was a tremendous waste of talent and creativity. The quality of HTS's correspondence in The Proud Highway makes this all the more clear. I am grateful for what he gave- it's just a shame he couldn't keep a handle on it.




3. This is the most fact-filled accurate and complete biography of Hunter S Thompson thus far. Also, it contains an interesting psychological profile of Hunter S. Thompson because the author is a Ph.D. psychologist.



4. HST is my absolute favorite author but this is a so so bio. I knew about most of these events HST had described and even HST tried to block it. Interesting, but not mind blowing.



5. if you really want a book about hunter thompson, read "Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson" by Jann Werner and Corey Seymour. a bunch of the dates and names of people in this book are wrong. it's greatly detailed, very candid about many of thompson's assignments and the events, etc., but the number of things i've found factually wrong in this book makes me wonder whether all that detail is even correct. at least in gonzo, the facts are from the people who knew thompson best and were there to see it all happen.

4 comments about In These Hills.

1. Ralph Beer is one of my favorite Montana writers. In both fiction and nonfiction, he's hard to beat. This collection of short essays describes his life as a rancher outside Helena, Montana. Many of them are humorous and rich with Western wit; some have a melancholy undertone; all are very finely crafted.

   Working a ranch that has been in his family for four generations, Beer slowly comes to terms with the futility of maintaining a lifestyle that can no longer be justified as a way to make a living. As cattle prices fail to meet the rising costs of running a ranch, it is finally only humor, sentiment, self-respect and the well-worn romance of the rural West that keep him going. Beer's wonderful essays chart the gradual decline of ranching, even as he puts in new fences and throws himself into the yearly rounds of upkeep and improvements.

   Meanwhile, many of Beer's essays use humor to deromanticize the Western mystique. A trip into town becomes an occasion to reveal himself as a fish out of water. The descriptions of ranch work often reveal him struggling with uncooperative equipment and stock, often in brutal weather. A tongue-in-cheek discourse on pickups explores the special kind of love affair between men and their trucks.

   Other essays are rich with boyhood memories of his father and grandfather and the friendships of men who have been long-time neighbors and mentors. Some essays are celebrations of skills and craftsmanship no longer appreciated, the building of a log barn by his great-grandfather, the work of a hayfield irrigator, his own reconstruction of an old snowplow, the way a natural horseman rides a horse. In these, the essays become a balancing between a sense of people and times slipping into the irretrievable past and an embrace of what is still there to be cherished in moments of grace and pride.

   Many thanks to the University of Nebraska Press for keeping this wonderful book in print. May it find the many readers it deserves. For a sample of Beer's excellent fiction, get a copy of his novel "The Blind Corral," which tells a story very similar to his own, about a Vietnam veteran inheriting a family ranch.




2. I got this book from a friend a while back and just never really picked it up, but boy am I glad I finally did. Ralph Beers' prose is beautiful, and his descriptions of a way of life that's passing away are fit to bring tears to my eyes.
   
   If you have any interest in the West, especially the contemporary Western way of life, I recommend In These Hills very highly.



3. This man is a wonderful author and gives an authentic depiction of life as it was in that time era and under those conditions. We were neighbors with the Beers when I was growing up and truly,life was hard but good at the same time. The sense of neighborliness has gone by the way of subdivisions but I believe the author managed to capture the dying spirit of what was good and wholesome about the life that was led from the original homestead on. I would recommend this book to anyone.



4. I received this book yesterday, sat down to leaf through it, and scarcely budged from my chair except for meals until I had read the last word. The text simply grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. Yesterday was a day well invested.
   
   The text is very accessible and yet some paragraphs reach the level of great literature.

5 comments about From This Day Forward.

1. A boring book filled with narratives, possibly copied from an encyclopedia, about historical figures. Apparently, stories from their own lives could only fill a few chapters of this book.



2. I picked up this book for $5 at Borders, mainly because I enjoy listening to Cokie Roberts on NPR. I was curious to get to know her a little better.

   I thoroughly enjoyed the book. She and Steve take turns writing, as if they're dialoguing back and forth. I appreciated their commitment to their marriage in a day when it's not all that popular to stay married to the same person.

   I also enjoyed the glimpses into slave marriages and Old West marriages. I'm glad I picked up this book. It was a pleasant read for sure.




3. I always loved Cokie Roberts on TV and when I saw this book, I figured it would be fun to read about her marriage to Steve Roberts. I recommend this book highly to everyone thinking of marriage especially.

   From the beginning I was drawn into this couple's world and liked the way they each expressed themselves in separate chapters. I found the entire book exciting, informative, inspiring, and so thankful that they took time to write about their unique marriage and how they make it work.

   This is a refreshing book. A rare book about how a marriage can work. I've been married for fifty years and I know this couple will celebrate gold as well. Lots of love and best wishes to Cokie and Steve and thanks for sharing your busy happy loving life with us.

   You'll be glad you read this book too.




4. It takes a narcissist of tremendous proportions to foist this scrapbook off on an unsuspecting public. On the plus side, Cokie Roberts does more than her usual cut and paste from the work of others in From This Day Forward. When not pulling from the work of others, Cokie (and the compliant Steve) offer up tidbits that are supposed to inform the reader how s/he too can have a great marriage.
   Apparently the basic rule for a successful marriage is to live in your own little world the way kooky Cokie does. I doubt she realizes how racist she comes off in parts of the book. (Yes, Cokie, condescension is a form of racism.) Or how laughable most will find her book. Reading of the great "trauma" of her life, you realize this is someone who hasn't experienced many character building moments in her life. The great "trauma"? Learning that her new employer wouldn't provide a limo and that Cokie would have to take taxis around NYC. Oh, the horror! Oh, the shame! How did Cokie ever survive?
   (Had she been told to take the subway, one gets the impression Roberts would have called it quits right then.)
   A vapid celebration of what appears to be a vapid marriage isn't necessarily shocking -- what's shocking is that Cokie (and husband Steve) put their names to it. Had a child offered this slight volume as a souvenir to a wedding anniversary, we all would have "oooh"ed and "aaaawe"d over it. But for grownups to write such a book about themselves is the height of narcissism.
   The book works best as anthropological study of When Gigantic Egos Mate.



5. I work with Habitat for Humanity and we use a ot of Hardie Bd. siding. The Gecko set makes installation much easier and accurate. Buying it through Amazon was also fast and easy. Thanks

5 comments about More Than Money: True Stories of People Who Learned Life's Ultimate Lesson.

1. Mr. Cavuto has done an excellent job of profiling well-known people who have responded to their devastating ordeals with unselfish courage and personal integrity--people who became stronger, better people in the process. Their ordeals brought out the best in them and they, in turn, brought out the best in others. This is a book about the indomitability of the human spirit and, as a cancer survivor myself, I found myself identifying with many of these people. Suffering is universal but how we respond to our suffering makes all the difference, and the people profiled in this book are great role models for all of us. Highly Recommended!



2. This is an inspiring collection that relates the stories of numerous people who have overcome.
   
   The people included have overcome serious diseases, paralysis, family deaths, business failures, and more. It included stories of well known people such as NY Yankees Manager Joe Torre and former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro.
   
   Cavuto himself has struggled through cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. He doesn't spend a lot of time on his own story, but definitely illustrates that he knows how to overcome. His attitude about his own troubles is really amazing. He talks about how his illnesses have helped him to become more of a human being. Speaking of that, he said: "It's one of the reasons I tell people I'm lucky to have come down with cancer and now MS."
   
   He makes the point that we all struggle and suffer with various issues throughout life. It is the way that we deal with them that makes all the difference.
   
   The only part of it that I didn't appreciate was a section where he was discussing a Congressman who is a quadriplegic. This person has accomplished a lot, which is great. The bad part is that Mr. Cavuto goes into an anti gun diatribe while discussing it. I think that the book would have come across a lot better without that unnecessary rant.
   
   Nevertheless, this is pretty good and has lots of inspiration for those struggling with something. It is a worthwhile read.



3. I watch this dude every time I get a chance. He's cool. His show is intelligent and balanced. It's relaxed but not lazy. He's firm but not overbearing.
   
   For some reason, one of my books is always listed on his amazon page and this one is listed on mine "The Wisdom of Shepherds." (I also wrote The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told,where my email address is displayed). I am honored that my book is connected to Neil's. I would like nothing more than to be on his show-- heck I might even offer up my controversial social-policy opinions or something like that.
   
   Anyway, Neil is the man. Watch him. Buy this book. Seriously, buy this book.



4. It is very nice to see someone talk about business in a way that is touching and human. After all the huge scandals of rich business people screwing the little guy, reading about these heros is quite refreshing. It gives you hope that maybe there are still a lot of GOOD people left in this world.
   
   The stories are very personal, touching, and uplifting. I highly reccomend this book to everyone.



5. Stories of the rich and famous (mostly the rich) who were hit during their richness with a disease, usually a serious disease.
   Cavuto speaks lovingly of them, hard to say whether it was because they were rich and successful or because they didn't go into a tailspin when bad news hit. No great insight, however, comes from his reviews, or interviews, or analysis. The possibilities were there but the book fell short. Sadly, so many people do good things AFTER they are hit by MS or their child is hit by a drunk. Not to minimize their good deeds, but motivation is easier than it would be for Joe Schmoe who simply feels the need to aid the Lepers or feed the hungry or get rapists off the street. While these people took action, it took personal loss to get them off their seats, and as I said, admirable, but motivated by self. Some of what I read between Cavuto's lines is the shock that this could happen to rich people- duh- it happens to all of us and most of us don't have the means to do things about it.

No comments about George, Being George: George Plimpton's Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals--and a Few Unappreciative ....

5 comments about Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography.

1. This scholarly and readable life of Twain begins with his thirties and carries the master humorist through the glorious successes and bitter tragedies that would haunt him. Well written and full of insightful analysis into his real character this book brings to life a persoanlity so large that it took a new era (Gilded Age) and two centuries to contain it! For his boyhood try Deep Waters- an equally good review of his wit and life.



2. Kaplan's National Book Award and Pulitzer winner starts with Samuel Clemens' arrival in the East already quite famous due to the popularity of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Almost immediately Clemens sets off to earn his living as a humorous lecturer. Kaplan shows us the many techniques he used such as the extended pause and how carefully he orchestrated his performances.
   
   Clemens' first literary success was INNOCENTS ABROAD about his trip accompanying a group of pilgrims to the Holy Land. It was always one of his most successful books. It was also published by subscription, which means that it was sold pretty much door-to-door.
   
   For me, one of the most entertaining parts of the book was Clemens' courtship of coal heiress Livy Langdon, whose brother, Charlie, had been one of the pilgrims on the INNOCENTS ABROAD trip. She rejected him, telling him she could never love him. He convinced her theirs could be a brother/sister relationship. Then he fell out of his carriage and she had to nurse him back to health.
   
   Much of the book details Clemens' obsession with James W. Paige's typesetting machine, which eventually bankrupted him. According to Kaplan, Clemens always led a duel existence (hence the title), with Mark Twain, the famous writer and social critic, and Samuel Clemens, the incompetent entrepreneur, always at loggerheads.
   
   Kaplan is almost offhandish when it comes to the early deaths of Clemens' daughters Susy and Jean. Clemens never recovered from Susy's death and Jean's preceded his own by just a few months. His wife Livy had been an invalid several years before her death, partly due to heart problems and partly because of nervous prostration brought on by her relationships with Clemens, but they were married for thirty-four years.
   
   The pictures leave a bit to be desired. We never get a good look at Livy as an adult and Jean and Clara are not shown at all, somewhat surprising since Ken Burns found several for his PBS documentary.



3. It's no wonder this book won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. This is a serious, entertaining and informative treatment of one of the greatest American writers, and, in terms of his life and attitude, one of the best representations of 19th century America. In detail that becomes adornment to its subject, the author proceeds to map out the course of Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, as he progresses as a writer and as a person. Great insights are revealed of his social behavior and, inasmuch as possible and believable, his thoughts. This is a great book; a must for any serious reader.



4. Wordy in places, but still the best, most comprehensive biography of Samuel Clemens.



5. Twain was an interesting guy possible racist... The book was boring and I wanted to dig my eyes out. The book starts off at a weird time which is apparently "inovative" to some people. If your looking for something to read for pleasure then pick a diffrent book on his life.

5 comments about Coal to Cream: A Black Man's Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race.

1. A fasinating look at race and color.Well writing and obviously lived by Eugene Robinson. As a White 57 year old male I found his account of black life in Brazil to be educational and interesting. Its a shame that there has to be divisions between the races. I could only wish to live to see a colorless society. What then would they all fight over?



2. i would recommend this book to any reader that wants a good perspective on how race and class abound our world. As a 18 year old Afro-American female,I too like Robinson, initially believed the myths of a Brazilian racial democracy, but later on I sadly realized the truth. Racism is just as explosive in Brazil as the US but only it is done in a more subtle and hidden fashion.

   Compare neiborhoods like Ipanema and the favelas(ghettos) of Rochina and Mangueira and see what colors are most dominate. And also see the racist killings of street children (80% killed are Black), and why the most dominate workforce for Blacks is domestic service(i.e. maids and butlers) The affirmation that Robinson made of saying that he was told he didn't have to be Black shows how in Brazil race is not soley based on heritage, but social status and education.

   Euguene Robinson digs into the reasons why the Black Brazilian Movement is finally starting in Brazil. Trying to find a voice in a racist society and have the series of "race" categorizations to seperate Blacks be removed so that Blacks can identify and work against racism in a country where they are dominate (UNESCO reports Blacks are 70% population) but used to be counted only as 6% in 1973 and then 44% in 1992 by the government, these figures do not show a boost in Black births, but a boost in Black identity and pride.

   Many will argue how Brazil can have Affirmative Action, but with a predomite population and predominte population of poor Afro-Brazilians, it is needed in Government and TV. I disagre with reviewers that claim that Black race identity leads to race "wars", it unifyies us, the only reason why people do not think racial conflict happens in Brazil is because most Blacks haven't been saying anything(ending that is Senetor Benedita da Silva).

   Even though I think that this book could have dug deeper in the realities and myths of race in Brazil, I belive this is a honest and well written work




3. In spite of my better judgement, I really like this book. As a quietly emotional, introspective and beautifully written report of one Black American man's reactions to Brazilian notions of race, it has no equal.

   Why do I give it only two stars then? It upsets me that people across the U.S. will use this as some sort of "text book" to decipher Brazilian race relations. It is not. In fact, for an intelligent, sensitive journalist, Robinson shows a shocking lack of knowledge of Brazilian history and culture, especially as viewed through Brazilian eyes. This fatally undermines his analysis of race relations in Brazil.

   To hear Robinson tell it, Brazil is in some kind of racial purgatory. Brazil's concepts of race never change. Or rather, its /lack/ of concept of race never changes. Brazilians, as we are told again and again throughout "From Coal to Cream" simply don't believe in the idea of race: they only see colors relative one to another. This theory of race in Brazil has a long and hallowed history in American academia. Unfortunately, Brazilian social scientists have pretty well demonstrated it to be full of enormous holes. There has been quite a long and well-documented tradition of seeing things in "black" and "white" in Brazil - a tradition which the Brazilian public ideologies of race would prefer to ignore. That this tradition remains alive and well in our quotidian world, however, is a fact that's brought back to me everytime I see some light-brown skinned kid wearing a "100% Negro" t-shirt here in Rio de Janeiro.

   Ironically, the years that Robinson spent as a journalist in Brazil saw some of the greatest historic changes in afro-descended Brazilians' perceptions of themselves and their nation. These changes were perhaps best (but not exclusively) symbolized by the 1988 Constitutional Resolution to give land to Brazil's surviving quilombo residents - a law which was only won through large-scale mobilization of Black Brazilian grass-roots groups. None of this exciting ferment and activity is touched upon by Robinson, whom, I suspect, is unable to read a daily newspaper in Portuguese. From what I've gathered in the book, he didn't know anything of this sort was occuring among Black Brazilians. If he did, he certainly didn't follow it up, prefering to maintain the old, thread-bare dichotomy of a Brazil which ignores race and doesn't progress opposed to a progressive, race conscious United States.

   Robinson would probably be quite suprised that, as regards his conslusions on race in Brazil, he is travelling the same path that many hard-core racists once tread. The French philosopher and scientific racist Gubineau (SP, sorry...) also believed that as a mixed race nation, Brazil was a contradiction in terms which could never, ever progress. The real question, of course, is why Robinson finds it necessary to do this and how does he have the power to be more widely heard on this subject than any one of hundreds of Brazilian journalists and scholars (of all colors) who are infinitely more well-informed than he is.

   Robinson needs to look into the mirror and realize that even though he's Black, he's also a U.S. citizen and thus inherits a certain degree of imperial power along with that status. Perhaps then he'd be capable of writing about Brazilian racism with a new degree of sensitivity - not only to his personal feelings, but to Brazil as well. What is scary to me is that "From Coal to Cream" is so convincingly written that even many Brazilians, ignorant of their own history, will buy into its precepts.

   When a journalist who barely speaks the language of a country attempts to tackle one of its deepest, most perenial problems based upon a few superficial travels, we should take his conclusions with a large grain of salt. Though it attempts to address Brazilian racism, "From Coal to Cream" is yet another in a long series of fantastic projections of Anglo-American fears and desires upon Brazil. Nevertheless, one should buy this book if one is interested in how Americans perceive and react to Brazil. /That/ is it's true value, and in this sense, Robinson has crafted a masterpiece.




4. I enjoyed this book because it is a thought provoking book. Too often the topic of race is avoided. The truth is that race may be the topic of the next decade in the US. The country is starting to have a substantially higher percent of population of non-whites. The largest California is already mostly non-whites. The author compares and reflects on his upbringing in the US with his experiences in Brazil thru the eyes of a dark Black man. I agree with the author that Brazilians do indeed think about race and are certainly not color blind. In my travels to Brazil I noticed from looks that some people certainly acknowleged the fact that I was Black by giving me a certain look or holding their look a little longer. However the lack of malice was apparent among my Brazilian contacts. In the US sometimes I have created static by simply showing up as a Black man at an all white affair or business meeting. The average Brazilian is actually quite a laid-back person. The American in comparison tends to be aggressive and highly opinionated. I hope to one day spend some time living in Brazil. I think that the author also overestimates the number of Blacks (by US standards) in Brazil. I have the number at around 50%. I actually prefer the terms AfroBrazilian and AfroAmerican. The author actually made it a point to study race. In Brazil race is certainly not one of the top conversational topics. Although this book is only around 4 years old, plenty has change in Brazil. Global changes have had an impact on Brazil and the people have adapted. Foreign films and TV shows have had an impact on Brazilian culture. Inventions such as cell phones and the internet have had a profound effect of reducing Brazils isolation. I can't wait to go back next year!



5. Robinson uses his own personal sojourn through South America as a framework to discuss broader issues of race relations and racial identity. When Robinson first visits Brazil, he views it as a utopia for black individuals, a place where unlike America race was not an immutable construct but rather a broad spectrum of possibilities which ebbed and flowed: "[t]he emphasis on the more mutable issue of color (rather than the rigidity of race) was at the heart of what I loved so much about Brazail--the absence of racial conflict, the ease of coexistence."
   
   At first, Robinson's exulation of Brazil as a paradigm for issues of race appears naive and simplistic. However, as Robinson's journey continues, he realizes that Brazil also suffers from its own insidious forms of prejudice and problems of racial conflict though manifested differently, exist there as well. Robinson's meditations on race are interesting and emerge from a well written and engaging story.