No comments about Maverick Among the Magnolias: The Hazel Brannon Smith Story.

5 comments about Faded Pictures from My Backyard: A Memoir.

1. Carswell's book is a tremendous, insightful read. There are so many beautiful images and her writing just flows off the pages. The story is captivating and the characters -- her family members -- are honestly drawn and with great humor.
   
   I literally could not put this book down. Not only is the writing fantastic, her changing voice as she matures and ages is something I don't think I've ever experienced as a reader before. The stories themselves are all intertwined and her observations of her mother and her own self-reflection are devastating, moving, hilarious, wrenching, and lovely. It's a wonderfully fascinating story and for anyone who grew up in a large family in the 60s, it is especially fun.



2. The tender love emanating from the pages of this book touch the depths of one's soul. Whether she knows it or not, Ms. Carswell has attained spiritual greatness, although the book does not seem to be written to that end. The love she has for her mother and the empathy she holds for the orphans are the true essence of its beauty.
   
   Reminiscent of the style in which Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, the author so poignantly captures the voice of a child trying to make sense of the sadness which is her backyard; while at the same time she interjects bouts of comic relief that can only come from pure childhood innocence. As she ages in the book her voice does also. It is brilliantly done.
   
   I highly recommend this book. You will cry. You will laugh out loud. And, because Ms. Carswell reveals her heart so openly, you will love.



3. Sue Carswell's astonishing, spectacular book is, without a doubt, the most courageous book I have ever read. Carswell opens her heart, her psyche, and her soul to the reader and the world, and does so with monumental skill, humor, and candor. When you finish this book, you feel you know the author better than anyone, other than yourself, because she has revealed herself so generously. What a comfort her struggle with her demons will be to so many people.
   
   I laughed out loud at points and cried (something I haven't done in years while reading a book). Her voice evolves over the course of the narrative and will be in my head for a very long time, maybe forever. So sweet, so sad, so resilient. Ms. Carswell invites readers in to her wirting process in the beginning of this book, and at the end, she brings you back to her flickering computer screen. Even though much of the book is painful to experience, I didn't want it to end and so I read the Acknowledgments as if they were a part of the story and, in a way, they are.
   
   I tried to find one thing I didn't like about this book, but the only thing I was unsure about (the lack of quote marks), I ended up loving. Their absence is liberating.
   
   I recommend this book to absolutely everyone. Put it on the top of your list for 2006.



4. Sue's father is the Director of a home for disturbed children. It's interesting the expertise and wisdom that he can give to other troubled children, but when it comes to his own daughter, he's in denial. Very candid and extremely well written.



5. From December 1947 until June 1951 while I was a student at SUNY - Albany, I worked and lived at the Albany Home for Children as one of several Assistant Activities Directors. A week ago while googling "Albany Home", I came across this book and started reading it to learn more about what has happened at the home since I left. It didn't take long for me to become absorbed in the major thrust of the book as described by previous reviewers - especially Virginia Mathers. "The heartfelt story she tells of her love for her mother is so poignant that at some points it is almost painful to read - her emotions are so raw and real. The other part of the story is Ms. Carswell's amazing candor as she describes her own problems and obsessions which haunted her throughout a majority of her life. The fact that she has perservered and become a major literary success is a tribute to her strength of character."
   
   I actually couldn't put the book down.
   
   Although it was a minor part of the book, Ms. Carswell's descriptions of life at the home, both from her own experiences and Bob Wygant's, was right on. In fact, I learned more about the purpose and mission of the home by reading the book than I did while I was there.
   
   I'm glad that she got to meet my boss, friend, protector, and straight shooter - Coach Huddleston.
   
   Read this book!

4 comments about In Search of History: A Personal Adventure.

1. In Search of History, by Theodore H. White is an excellent and well written book chronicling not only the life of this astounding reporter and writer, but also giving you an inside view into the U.S. from his birth in 1915 to the publishing of the book in 1963. In his early years (1915-1938) he details to a full extent the Boston in which he grew up, as well as going into a small extent about New England and the rest of the U.S. In these few fascinating chapters, he details the history of immigration to the U.S., and how the various ethnicities and neighborhoods functioned. For me in particular, who was only born in the last decade, this view of an America long gone and far removed was both fascinating and informative.

   In the next section, after completion of his education and after receiving employment as a reporter from Harry Luce at Time, White travels to Asia (1938-1945) to detail the three way struggle between the Japanese, Chiang K'ai-Shek (and his Nationalist forces), and Mao Tse-tung (and his Communist forces), with the U.S. supporting K'ai-Shek. While this era in China is all common knowledge and part of history, to see it the way that White writes it is to see it in an entirely new light. An example of this is when White takes the reader into the party conference (Communist), and reveals many details of Communist thinking that are rather unknown in the West. Also, here, as in almost any situation, White managed to ease his way into the confidence of these men of power, and therefore many parts of what he reveals in this book are not well known, such as how close the U.S. actually came to acieving harmony between the Nationalist and Communist forces. However, White's views on the matter of China differed sharply from those of his employer, Harry Luce (then owner of the Time-Life conglomerate), and so shortly after he left Asia he quit.

   He next found employment from a variety of small papers and went to Europe (1948-1953) to detail the demilitarization of Germany and the reconstruction of the occupied countries. This section provides an excellent look at an era in history that has been forgotten by the majority of Americans. Take, for example, the European Joint Defense Force. This was a proposal under which all of the armies of the European nations would be joined as one. Long forgotten, this book sheds some new light on this fascinating proposal.

   Next, White returns home to America (1954-1963), where he publishes several books. He next follows Senator John F. Kennedy through his campaign for president up to his assassination. He was an intimate of Kennedy's, and this section of his book provides an excellent look at that era. He tells of the tear-filled meeting between himself and Jacqueline Kennedy shortly after President Kennedy's death in which he wrote the story that was to label the Kennedy years as the "Camelot" era of American history.
   
   This book provides an excellent and in depth look at the world from 1915-1963, from White's (a liberal's) point of view. I recommend this book to the casual, interested, or scholarly reader.




2. This is a wonderful tour of the 20C, to about 1970, by a reporter who followed stories as they emerged in the most important places and with the most powerful people. White was entirely self-made, an energetic and talented man who had some luck but mostly worked very hard.
   
   Although many journalists came to scorn White for his nostalgic style late in life - rightfully in my opinion - there is no doubt that early on he was a great reporter of courage and idealism. You see him begin reporting for Luce (and Time) while on a fellowship in China, fresh out of Harvard, when he got into the innermost circle of communist leaders after becoming disillusioned with Chiang Kai Shek. There he met Mao, Zhou EnLai, and scores of others who would go on to great power - the reader feels like he gets to know them personally. He then wrote a bestseller on the experience.
   
   In a typical move that showed his nose for a great story and a pioneer of in-depth investigations, White then moved to Paris, where he chronicled the post-war reconstruction under the Marchall Plan. He then returned to the US and started his outstanding series on US elections, the Making of the President. After losing a job at Colliers, and at great financial risk, he made his living almost entirely from books.
   
   This is a amazing and trailblazing career, thick with historical detail, but this book is also a memoir that lets you in on what made him tick: he witnessed his father beaten down by the Depression, but heard from him that China would have a revolution that would change the world. This was the source of his original inspiration for China. There are many asides that are both charming and fascinating, such as the time he lost his virginity in China, but also about how he works and what he remembers of certain scenes, such as the moment Zhou EnLai got him to eat pork.
   
   Warmly recommended, in particular for aspiring writers (like myself when I read it!).



3. An incredibly broad overview of one man's very exciting career in journalism, Theodore White's "In Search Of History" puts us at his shoulder as he explores war-torn China and reconstructed Europe, does battle with leftist zealots and right-wing hoods, and apotheosizes the ephemerality of the world and the fleeting cast populating it. Any journalist, or one thinking of a career in journalism, owes it to him- or herself to read this.
   
   One might subtitle this: "Enough About Those Presidents, Let's Talk About Me." By 1978, he had ceased producing his widely-read and respected "Making Of The President" books, deciding he needed to figure out what it had been all about. Such a scenario would bode ill except White lived an interesting life he shares here with passion and candor, focusing always on what it meant for him to be a journalist, lighting on telling moments in time and raising questions about his own possible shortcomings and oversights that help lift this above most journalist autobiographies.
   
   Starting out a poor Jewish boy in Boston during World War I, White was a Horatio Alger story who made his way to Harvard with a gritty combination of hard work and belief in himself and the country that produced him. Though best-known today for "The Making Of" series, White had been a reporter for more than 20 years before that, cutting his teeth at Henry Luce's Time/Life, where the focus was always on individual "makers of history." Though he fell out with Luce, he held fast to that "compelling personality" concept throughout his career, latching on to various figures he met with a curiosity so immersive it bordered on idolatry.
   
   "What frightened me then, and frightens me still, is how very few men it takes at the head of any state to give it its character of good or evil, of freedom, tyranny, torture, butchery or benevolence," he writes, reflecting on postwar Germany but taking in the world.
   
   For those disposed to accept this viewpoint, White offers vivid profiles of such unique and complex characters as Luce, Chou En-Lai, Chaing K'ai-Chek, Averell Harriman, and especially John F. Kennedy, of whom White says: "Those who knew him well loved him too much...The man I followed wrapped me in such affection that I have never been able completely to escape." Those who note this was part of White's problem have to acknowledge the fact that they, like so many in the last 40 or so years, are drawing on White's own reportage in making their conclusions.
   
   What makes White great to read is the apparent absence of anything else interesting going on in his life. He writes a little about women, his first sexual experience and an early wife who kept him working by spending his money. But you get the feeling he was more devoted to us his readers than anyone he knew in his own life. No detail is too small or too squalid for White to bore in on, and stick with long enough to make come alive in our hands, whether it is poverty-stricken children being worked to death in a Shanghai filature or the quality of napery on a French dinner table.
   
   Reading him is like having a curtain pulled back on episodes that come off stiff and square in history books, discovering not only the pulsing, bleeding life behind them but something of the poverty of journalism today, at least where imaginative reconstruction and non-doctrinaire analysis are concerned.
   
   He also gets into the stories behind the stories, of his fights to get Luce and other editors to publish his view of the world rather than theirs, of the logistical challenges of being at the scene of great events, of helping Jackie Kennedy craft the enduring myth of her husband's Camelot, and his lasting belief in the importance of his work. Jayson Blair and Jared Paul Stern, take note: "Contacts are the only bankable capital on which a journalist can ever draw."
   
   I wish I could write this review with something other than a ponderous ministerial tone, give some hint of the joy and humor to be found, the marvelous turns of phrase sprinkled throughout this large book like sand on a beach, and properly credit "In Search Of History's" Dickens-like method of drawing you into the world he inhabits, until you feel like you know as well as he ever did his fellows and his surroundings.
   
   Suffice to say this is White's most enjoyable and readable book despite its length, and next to "Making Of The President 1968," his best. Along with that other White's book, "The Elements Of Style," this is something no writer of worldly affairs can be without.



4. One of the themes of this book is White's belief that history has heroes, individuals who make a real difference, and change things for good. White does not speak or think of himself as a hero, but I believe that many readers of this book will come to the conclusion that White himself was a kind of hero, a hero in serving the American public through first- rate eye-witness imaginative Journalism.
   In this fast- paced and often exciting recollection White tells of his boyhood on Erie Street in Boston. His father an unemployed lawyer dies when he is sixteen, and the family lives in great poverty. He works hard and goes from Boston Latin School to Harvard. He tells the story of remarkable people he meets along the way including his great mentor in Chinese Studies at Harvard John Fairbanks. White is a person who deeply appreciates other human beings, and one of the best features of this book is his portraits of many remarkable human beings. Among these are those he will meet in his first real journalistic assignment in the Far EAst , General Stillwell, Claire Chenault , General Douglas MacArthur.
   White has great sympathy for the Chinese people and tells the story of the inept war conducted against the Japanese by Chiang- Kai-Shek, a villian in White's eyes. One of the stories within the stories, and one which alone justifies calling White as hero, relates to the great famine in Hunan province. Singlehandedly White went to investigate this , and it was his reports to Time Magazine and a chilling conversation he had with Chiang - Kai- Shek which led to massive supplies being sent to the province, and the famine ending. White also tells of his visits to Mao, and in retrospect it can be said that he treats him far too gently. Mao has emerged as one of the most evil mass- murderers in human history and White does not even begin to hint at anything wrong with him.
   White's reporting on China, especially his criticism of the Nationalists leads him into conflict with his boss Henry Luce. White leaves off writing for 'Time' and eventually comes to write the four 'Making the President ' volumes which is what he will be most known for. Towards the close of the book he tells of his special relationship with President Kennedy who he deeply admired, and tells too of the famous interview the President's widow summoned White to , shortly after the President's death when she was deeply worried about his place in history.
   There are many extraordinarily well- written and moving passages in the book. One of the best is White's description of the Japanese surrender to General MacArthur and how at the very moment of the surrender there suddenly appears in the sky squadrons and squadrons of American planes, a signal of the great American power that won the war.
   White talks quite a bit about the craft of writing, and distinguishes the journalist limited in vision by being so involved in the factual realities as they are happening, and the historian who can through time and distance order and see things the journalist cannot. Clearly White himself combines both these capacities in this work.

5 comments about A Writer's Life.

1. As others have pointed out, this book seems to have been written to tie together numerous unfinished pieces rather than to capture Telese's life. I'm glad the effort ended up the way it did; otherwise, years of his time and numerous entertaining story lines would probably not have found their way into a book. Yes, the book is rather circuitious. No, that does not detract from it nor make it boring. To the contrary, Talese brings seemingly mundane subjects alive. The trials and tribulations of the 63rd St restaurant made for particularly fascinating reading. Makes me want to go there right now and check out the latest culinary attempt.



2. I listened to Arthur Morey (very engagingly) read this book on CD while I commuted by car or bicycle, ran or just walked the dog. It's that kind of book and no more. Your mind can wander and pick up the thread in no time. Talese is an interesting, shrewd, charming, moderately wise and becomingly modest man in his early seventies. I doubt that Nan Talese--his tough-minded editorial wife--approved the needless repetitions and the loose organization. Yet the reader comes to appreciate how Talese was able to approach and ultimately master the more disciplined works of his earlier years about the New York Times, where he once was a reporter, or the Mafia. Anyone considering free-lance journalism as a profession should read this book. Talese is no genius, but he has proven over time that he has what it takes.



3. Gay Talese is obsessed with restaurants and procrastination. This book is a pastiche of articles he's never managed to write and thoughts he's never been able to previously tell. In a sense, Talese is a failure for never getting the four main stories of this book (the history of race relations in Selma, Alabama; the Lorena Bobbitt case; Ying Liu's missed penalty kick for China in the 1999 Women's World Cup; and the story of ten failed restaurants at a certain upper east-side locale) published as long magazine articles. In another sense, however, Talese must be praised for fusing four unrelated stories into a whole (five if you count the autobiographical narrative). Every so often Talese drops a reference that links his stories, and shows what they have (roughly) in common. This is how the book is structured. Here and there Talese mentions how he organized an article or what he was thinking about while he was performing an interview. Other than these brief glimpses into his mind as a writer, we don't learn many details about the craft of writing. What we do get is a broad persepctive on what it was like to live the "life of a writer" over the past 20+ years, as Talese has followed these stories -- past publication deadlines, through New Yorker magazine rejections, and finally to this (overdue) book. we don't learn much about Talese's pieces that have actually been published. Once or twice he mentions a previously published article, but, for the most part, the book doesn't talk about technique or methods he had successfully employed for past successful articles. (Here I'm thinking it would have been nice for him to briefly describe the comings and goings in his mind while he was writing some of the long articles forwhich he is famous, namely "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" and others.)
   
   Overall, a good book. If your a fan of Talese, this is a must-read.



4. I had trouble reading this book. I didn't finish it. It seems plodding and takes forever to get to the point. Lots of long long run-on sentences. There were entire paragraphs that were one sentence long! My attention span is not that long. I admit I'm no intellectual, maybe that's the problem. I read his Brooklyn Bridge book and enjoyed that very much.



5. Mr. Talese manages to put the biggest portion of his life out in the open but it is so much a part of why he writes that a reader can easily miss its import. He was given a good home but was isolated as a child from his own parents due to their private and exclusive pairing. They had such a closeness that their two children felt invisible as children. Extremely so, although his ties to his dad bring the father's character through. Not so the mother, whose time is taken up by her talkative clients, to whom she sells oversized dresses. So, there is a matter-of-fact rendering of what is, at heart, a rather insulting and strange situation. His private life was very public. He compares his mother to a movie star in looks, but little else is seen or known about the woman, and the mothering side of her may have been nonexistant. She seems to have related to everyone but her children. They lived above the tailoring shop and he cannot recall a meal that was not intruded upon by his father or mother's clients. The clients were the basis of the family's income, and were catered to. Some were demanding. His dad had wanted to be a monk and was a devout, religious man, so one wonders... He renders his mother as a business woman, first, last, foremost, and as a preppy oldster, but she is either not understood or there is not a lot to her to understand. He developed a natural desire to shine outside the home, I think to find his identity. And, yet, he is not complaining in this book, but it is an odd position he describes. He has managed to make an interesting life, and I am interested in reading his other works where he identifies with outsiders. I think he understands them.

No comments about JERRI: A Black Woman's Life in the Media.

5 comments about Memories of a Lost Egypt: A Memoir with Recipes.

1. If you are like me, you enjoy reading cookbooks that are more than just compilations of recipes but also include evocative text that recreates another time and place. "Memories of a Lost Egypt" is such a book. The author's vivid and touching reminiscences of her childhood often center on food and her relationships with her family's cooks, and she skillfully interweaves her narrative with recipes for the delicious dishes she savored and learned to prepare.

   Another Middle Eastern cookbook that I treasure is Sonia Uvezian's "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan." It too evokes a strong sense of time and place, and it is filled with outstanding recipes.




2. This book is not only charming but is beautifully written. I had tears in my eye as I read it. The recipes are mouth watering and I ran to buy some Egyptian ingredients to try the recipes. Colette Rossant gives an evocative picture of the life of a Jewish family during second world war.



3. This is a lovely little memoir with recipes. Colette Rossant is reminiscing about her childhood years growing up with her Jewish Egyptian grandparents in their mansion in Cairo during WWII. This poor little rich girl who was abandoned by her French mother, grew closer to the kitchen, and the cook Ahmed. Colette remembers many of the special recipes prepared by Ahmed and incorporates them into this nostalgic memoir of her childhood days. This is a lovely and sentimental memoir about the Egyptian belle epoque that also includes some savory Egyptian recipes with a gourmet twist.



4. I found this book at a landmark bookstore on Picadilly Street in London, England. It was titled APRICOTS ON THE NILE, A Memoir With Recipes. I just realized via a search on Amazon that the title is different here in the USA. I like the English title better. This book is a 'must get' for anyone who cooks. There will be some recipes that sound "ugh", but many are mouth watering. Personally, I liked the Tomato Salad(s), Roast Chicken on a Bed of Leeks, Meatballs with Apricot Sauce, Angel Hair Pasta with Nuts, Vegetable Salad, Traditional Hummus, Christmas Four-Meat Pate, Lentil Soup, and Roast Leg of Lamb. The book is more than just recipes, though. You will be taken on a cultural trip through Cairo, Egypt and Paris, France through the eyes of a little girl & a woman who has not lost sight of her ancestral heritage. It's a quick and enjoyable read where you'll be thrust into memories of a wonderful childhood...try it, you'll like it. Smiles :)



5. I received the book as a gift for the 2007 Christmas. Rossant was able to skillfuly blend imagery, scents, and sounds into a portrait that rivals any treasured piece of modern art. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but overexpose her glamor. But why not? It's a glamorous picture, after all.
   
   Perhaps it's my Egyptian background that led me to sense some "us versus them" sentiment in her writing as, for example, in the relative positions of French and Egyptian Nuns in the convent where she was boarded as a school-age child, or the marginal portrayal of "upper middle class" Egyptian families vacationing in Switzerland. Perhaps this is the reality of Europeans escaping WWII Europe, circumscribing to themselves as many of us do when living abroad. There is no denying her friendship and love for many Egyptians that crossed path with her. In the final analysis, it's a well-written account of times and places that we all wish we had witnessed.

5 comments about Coming of Age: Growing Up in the Twentieth Century.

1. American society suffers from collective Alzheimer's, says Studs Terkel, "and the young are suffering from it the most severely. We don't know anything aboout the past and we don't seem to want to know." The author of widely-praised, bestselling books like Hard Times, Working, Race and The Good War, Terkel interviews 70 strong minded and outspoken Americans, the youngest of whom is 70, the oldest 99. Nearly every page is mesmerizing. Particularly delightful are his interviews with art critic Katherine Kuh (at age 89) and Sophia Mumford (at 94), the widow of Lewis Mumford.



2. Studs Terkel captures in this volume what few children of the new millennium will ever learn about or experience: how our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents grew up, grew old, and left footprints on the twentieth century. His vignettes of life throughout the century, focused on the lives of amazing Americans from coast to coast, are quite profound. Terkel did not profile famous athletes, politicians, and CEOs; his interviews capture the lives of those who have made - and continue to make - an impact on our local communities.

   It did not take very long to become addicted to this book. Terkel captures some of the most valuable American minds at just the right moment. The interviews give a first-hand look at history while capturing pearls of wisdom for the future. I recommend this volume as a gift and as a textbook for students. What Studs Terkel has captured here is worthy reading for any generation.




3. A host of compelling stories marks COMING OF AGE as one of the top efforts from oral historian Studs Terkel. We hear from dozens of outstanding senior citizens, each one giving their personal remembrance of American life in the 20th Century. The mostly liberal interviewees range from ordinary citizens to baseball activist Marvin Miller, Congressmen Henry Gonzalez and (the late) Charles Hayes, and Chicago medical director Quentin Young. Readers get a strong personal sense of major events like the Depression, World War II, McCarthyism and Civil Rights - something one seldom gets from dry academic texts. The book also lends credence to tales many of us once heard from older and often now-departed relatives.

   I gave COMING OF AGE just four starts because Terkel's increasing rigidity in sticking with liberal interviewees deprives readers of an honest cross-section of views. Despite this flaw, COMING OF AGE remains a moving effort.




4. Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel, widely known for his oral histories on World War II, work, race and the Great Depression, here offers an oral history of the twentieth century. The 70 people on record range in age from 70 to 99 and represent a wide variety of endeavors from labor organizers to CEOs, cops, lawyers, philanthropists, doctors, environmental crusaders, artists, clergy, farmers and more.

   In addition to a zest for life, which they all share (few, despite physical infirmities, consider themselves "retired"), a few common themes emerge in these recollections. Whatever their background, almost all were affected by the Depression and World War II and a surprising number felt the blight of McCarthyism.

   Yet most view the young today as facing a tougher road than they did. And while they all claim to find younger people invigorating, most deplore the modern lack of community feeling, the emphasis on self, the ignorance of history and unwillingness to learn from the struggles of the past.

   The Catholic priest who was a gung-ho soldier in World War II, learned about race in a poor southern parish and went on to join the Berrigans in protesting the Vietnam War, says that what's "lacking today is a national cause in which all can join." You could say he spoke too soon or those were the days.

   Jazz musician Milt Hinton's grandmother was a slave of Jefferson Davis. He recalls the apprenticeship of his youth, sitting in with the greats. When prompted he cites the more absurd of racial indignities faced touring the south but prefers to dwell on the good times, voicing regret that those opportunities don't exist for today's young black musicians.

   All of these oldsters have strong convictions about what's wrong with the world, although surprisingly few sound cranky about it. "I'm deeply accustomed to giving advice that is not heard," says economist John Kenneth Galbraith, a long time critic of "private affluence and public squalor."

   Many of them find a new freedom in old age. "Young people don't have this liberty," says environmental activist David Brower. "They can't alienate themselves too much from the system."

   Some seem to live almost wholly in the present. A Nisei school teacher who spent World War II in an internment camp spends her entire interview enthusing about the young children she teaches and the future before them.

   An admiral who directs the Center for Defense Information, a whistle-blowing group, was a model naval officer. "My fervor and dissent has increased....as you get older, you realize that whether it be a justice of the Supreme Court or the president of the United States, he's just a human being subject to human foibles."

   Terkel, a feisty fighter himself, has naturally picked a large proportion of social and political activists - people who see the world as imperfect then and imperfect now - but always worth fighting for. This is an invigorating and thoughtful collection and a fine perspective on the last century.




5. The Celts have a term for people like Studs Terkel. Mr. Terkel is one of our cultural Shanahee. In the world of the ancient Celts, the story around the fire was the way in which cultural values, community and family history was transmuted to future generations. The role of the Shanahee was to keep the family tales and pass them on to future generations. That is exactly what Mr. Terkel does with this book. Wisdom and the values of the past are not something that younger generations today value so I fear that Mr. Terkel's book, although very interesting and informative may not be read by many nor the great pearls of wisdom discovered and carried forward.
   Over sixty elders were interviewed by Studs Terkel. After reading about their lives, their adventures, their hopes and dreams for the future, and their indomitable spirits, there are some that I would really like to have had the opportunity to meet and other that I did not find as interesting.
   Since this book is a collection or oral history interviews, it is not a typical book that a gerontologist would use for research yet the book is helpful to those desiring to know more about the life experiences of older persons. As I read the book and entered the life experiences of those interviewed, I was moved and challenged and delighted as I read about people whose lives impacted and created the world I live in today.
   After reading Terkel's book, and this was the first book that I read written by Terkel, I think that oral history is an under utilize in teaching history and makes a contribution to understanding the lives of people, common people, who were part of making the history we learn about in text books. In many ways oral histories make history come to life.
   I don't believe that Studs Terkel set out to write this book as a means of making a contribution to any one particular academic field. I think his motivation was two fold. The first purpose was to give the reader insight into the common person's impact into the events that formed the 20th Century. The second purpose was to allow those who he interviewed to tell their story and in recording their story, allow that person to leave their legacy to the world. Coming of Age contributes to gerontology as a field because it elevates the art of oral history, it highlights the importance of oral history in understanding the life experiences of older adults, and it allows a means of informally testing formal theories of aging by comparing and contrasting those formal theories with the actual life experiences of real people.

No comments about The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2: Printer and Publisher, 1730-1747 (Life of Benjamin Franklin).

5 comments about Too Good to Be Forgotten: Changing America in the '60s and '70s.

1. Obst's book is charming and revealing of not only himself but his -- our -- times. Although the media have focused on his "DEEP THROAT" revelations (and beat up on him unfairly, I think), the real story is how this "Forest Gump/Zelig" guy moved through all our lives and what he saw. The love story(ies) are touching, and the portraits of people like Ellsberg and Sy Hersh are important historically.



2. Obst was in all the right places and knew all of the key players from the 60's and 70's. He explains how strange it was to grow up in the 50's practicing the 'duck and cover' drills at school, and fearing death at any moment. As a early baby boomer myself, many memories were brought back about those times. I want my in-laws to read his book to understand why people my age are so different from other earlier and later groups.



3. This book was written by a man who has done and seen things that most of us only witness in the movies. It is exciting as well as touching and informative and a must read by those of us under 30 who want to enjoy ourselves while learning about one of the most exciting times in our country's history. This book should be recommended reading for every college student. I loved it!!!!!!



4. The author wonderfully describes his experiences during the tumultous years of 60s-70s and skillfully weaves his observations about all the events. The book is a very easy and quick read. But the best part is the information it packs about all the events of those times (Vietnam and My Lai, Chicago convention, Watergate..), the government's reaction and the effect on student psyche. What will leave the reader amazed at the end of the book is, how a person could have been at so many places at the "right" time! A truly wonderful work!



5. The author wonderfully describes his experiences during the tumultous years of 60s-70s and skillfully weaves his observations about all the events. The book is a very easy and quick read. But the best part is the information it packs about all the events of those times (Vietnam and My Lai, Chicago convention, Watergate..), the government's reaction and the effect on student psyche. What will leave the reader amazed at the end of the book is, how a person could have been at so many places at the "right" time! A truly wonderful work!

5 comments about A Thousand Suns.

1. I have read almost all of Lapierre's books and loved them. They were vivid, well-researched and absolutely riveting. But this book seems dated. He takes old pieces and pieces them into a book. We've been there.



2. This is an interesting book by a man who has obviously had a fascinating life. He takes us across many continents and interviews many people, throwing in anecdotes about his life and interests.

   However what stops me giving this book a 5 star rating is the fact that I feel that some of the topics are given superficial treatment (despite the lengths of the chapters), and there is too much emphasis on the author's own involvement. Fair enough, you might say, it is his book about his experiences, but I feel it is these experiences which should take central stage.

   This is however only a small criticism, and it is a VERY interesting book, about interesting people in interesting times.




3. After reading Beyond Love and City of Joy, I expected this to be just as good. Two third of the book is interesting - although I discovered what a prejudice author this is - but the nearer I got to the end of the book, the more disappointed I was. I expected a great ending, instead I found a very slow one.



4. 1. 'A Thousand Suns', a fascinating book by Dominique Lapierre, famous author of books like `Is Paris Burning' and `City of Joy' takes its title from and Indian proverb that the author chanced upon during his stay in South India. It comes from (as indicated by the author) "Behind every cloud, there are a thousand suns". A perfect message for life in present day's gloomy outlook of life.
   
   2. It goes without saying that the book, which has such a beautiful and motivating title ought to be full of life energy and epitomize everything that is the very essence of meaningful life. This book actually is a byproduct, but a beautiful and useful one. It consists of 15 independent well researched real life stories, which the author encountered in the run up to doing a specific assignment mainly related to the prime characters or places related to these stories, initially as a news correspondent and later as a writer.
   
   3. At the end thus, he filed his reports / wrote his books, but the enduring beauty of life enshrined in the background of these reports / books remained. The author has really done a wonderful service to mankind by writing this book; else such beautiful pearls of human endeavor, wisdom, perseverance and enterprise would have been lost forever.
   
   4. Written in a simple style with stress on delivering the message right, the author might have not achieved perfection of narrative, but what needed to be achieved i.e. delivery of the essentials of beauty of life has been achieved with perfection.
   
   5. It is rightly said that `make your hobby your profession and you would not have to work for a day'. It is evident from reading this book that Mr Lapierre seems to have not worked for a day but have thoroughly enjoyed this life following his passion for writing.
   
   6. All those who have faith in life and mankind and all those whose faith on these is wavering for some reasons must read this book to derive the requisite benefit.



5. 
   
   Dominique Lapierre was one of the twentieth century's most prolific international journalists and a highly prolific author of both novels and historical works, many together with his lifelong coleague Larry Collins.
   In this digest he takes us through some of his greatest journeys and encounters with people who shaped the course of events. He includes some of the encounters behind his joint works with Dominique Lapierre, such as his interview with Ehud Avriel, who helped Jews to escape Hitler's infernos to get to the Holy Land, and gathered together arms to help the fledgling State of Israel survive the overwhelming military force of six Arab armies who attacked the tiny state, as soon as the United Nations agreed to partition of Palestine.
   He also describes the starvation and misery of Jerusalem's Jewish inhabitants during the siege of that city by Arab armies intent on massacring all of Jerusalem's Jews.
   Some of the events described in his article about Avriel, who Lapierre was a good friend of are recorded in O Jerusalem!
   He also recounts his interviews with Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was instrumental in negotiating the independence of India and it's aprtition into the two states of India and Pakistan.
   Lapierre was with Mountbatten a few days Mountbatten's assassination by IRA terrorists in 1979.
   He also recounts his meetings and interviews with the men behind the assasination of Mahatma Ghandi, as result of Gandhi's favorable policies towards India's Moslems.
   These events form part of the bakground to Freedom at Midnight.
   Lapierre details his relationship with the man who was executed for somebody else's crimes, Caryl Chessman, and Chessman's campaign from prison against the death penalty.
   He describes the refusal by General Dieter Von Choltitz refusal to obey Hitler's orders to completley destroy Paris but ignores the evidence that Von Choltitz had been involved in the massacre of Jews in Russia.
   He also writes of his interview with the evil terrorist murderer Kozo Okamoto from the Japanese Red Army Faction, who together with two other psychopathic Communist terrorists murdered 26 Puerto Rican pilgrims in 1972.Interesting that even then those hellbent on murder and destruction chose Israel as their first target for butchery.
   But the world made a lot more sense then, as most the world reviled these horrible terrorists acts, unlike the macabre Orwellian nightmare we are living through today, were so much of the world supports terror against the tiny nation of Israel.
   Interesting even that the first t
   He also writes of his encounters with the great conservationist Rafael Matta in the Ivory Coast, and the authoir's first car and how he acquired the foal of a prize horse in San Tropez France, by the name of Preferido.
   
   Most touching is Lapierre's recounting of work in Calcutta, which the author was involved in with Indian leper and other orphan children
   Lapierre donates half of his royalties to the foundation set up to save these children
   It is heartbreaking to read of their plight and uplifting to read of their joy in life despite their suffering and death all around them. You can read more about these poignant and heartrending accounts in The City of Joy
   "behind every cloud" as the author recounts "there are a thousand clouds."
   Overall a fascinating and exciting read.