No comments about Anderson Cooper: Profile of a TV Journalist (Career Profiles).

2 comments about Echoes of Violence: Letters from a War Reporter (Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity).

1. Although Carolin Emcke's compelling new book is subtitled "Letters from a War Reporter," she fits none of the stereotypes that the rubric of war reporter suggests. Nowhere in her writing does the reader find the cynical, hard-bitten media professional who -- writing on short deadlines for a largely uninformed audience -- has little interest in exploring complexity or challenging the conventional wisdom.
   
   Emcke's letters, written first for her friends and later compiled for publication, give the back story that is left out of most international news reporting. Reading them, one sees a thoughtful but utterly human person at work -- not an omniscient narrator, but someone with emotions, opinions, subjectivity, and humor. Emcke describes herself as a witness, and some of the most compelling passages in the book reveal her grappling with the difficulty of being a faithful witness to situations that are in some sense indescribable.
   
   Emcke has an eye for the telling detail. Describing a hotel in Prishtina, Kosovo, for example, she notes on a visit in 2000 that "the porn magazine in the desk drawer offers 'phone sex with mature women' in a country with no functioning telephone lines." (A few years later human rights observers documented the role of NATO troops and UN police in encouraging the rapid growth of sex-trafficking and forced prostitution in Kosovo.)
   
   Unlike reporters who cover local or national beats -- who can assume that their readership shares a history and culture with the people described, or is at least familiar with that history and culture -- journalists covering foreign crises have to do more than report the facts: they have to translate between worlds. Emcke's moving book shows that this role of translator requires sensitivity, empathy, and understanding, qualities she has in abundance.



2. From time to time Echoes of Violence is a very interesting book, and when it's at its best the reader will have an extremely difficult time trying not to keep on reading forever and ever.
   
   But alas, this only happens on a few occasions. And that's too bad, because there is no reason whatsoever to think that Carolin Emcke comes even close to being a bad writer. A German journalist with a thorough experience in doing war journalism, Emcke has spent much of her professional career in different war zones all around the world, and she writes in a style that's actually both emotional and clear-sighted at the same time. Not only that, she also offers such detailed background analyses that it never becomes necessary for the reader to have any deeper knowledge about the area she's in or the events leading up the particular conflict (though it's obviously not a disadvantage if the reader indeed does have this knowledge).
   
   Most important of all, though, is the simple fact that she never loses touch with the human aspects of her story.
   
   And that's not much of a surprise, really. After all, it's this humaneness that permeates the entire book and prompted her to start putting the stories into words, since the book is based on letters she began writing to some of her closest friends after visiting Kosovo in 1999 and becoming a witness to the horrendous suffering caused by all the sickening ethnic cleansing. In order to come to terms with what she's seen she decided to put it all into words, and Echoes of Violence is the end result.
   
   However, just because it happens to be quite a touching testimony detailing the stupidity of mankind doesn't mean it's a brilliant book. Simple because it contains too few highly detailed descriptions of war, misery, suffering and revolting battle scenes. Perhaps this criticism sounds creepy, but the thing is, without such gory descriptions it's impossible to get some sort of understanding of all the awful scenarios that Emcke finds herself in. Some of the chapters are in fact quite boring.
   
   Still, this doesn't mean it's not worth taking a closer look at. After all, when it's good it's REALLY good.

No comments about Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?: From the Projects to Prep School.

4 comments about It's News to Me: The Making and Unmaking of an Editor.

1. By a person few-- outside U.S. publishing circles-- will know. The book is best when describing the high politics within major (mostly New York-based) magazines and papers. Sections on the author's youth and family will be of little real interest to most.
   
   While Mr. Kosner's ego is certainly large (dropping famous names is rampant), he does have the redeeming feature of not overstating the cosmic value of editors and reporters. They are there to get information out-- packaged in a way the public will buy it.



2. I enjoyed the sections on the youth and family of the author as well as those chapters following his career. The book is extremely well written. I bought it as a gift for my journalist son and decided to read it first and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it so much.



3. The name of Edward Kosner will doubtless fail to ring a bell in the minds of most Americans. This is because Kosner was a journalistic insider in the Eastern Establishment who preferred to work behind the scenes and also did not write much in the line of columns or any other work that bore his name.
   
   Edward Kosner held top editorial positions at such institutions as Esquire, New York, Newsweek and the New York Daily News. Kosner was in an excellent position to witness the ongoing decline of newspapers and newsmagazines as well as the rise of the Internet as a news source. Among other things, Kosner predicts that newspapers will increasingly become marginalized as a mass medium and come to have only a limited audience in what he calls the "educated elite."
   
   Kosner's book is rich in insight into the state of journalism today and about the practitioners of modern journalism. This is a most important book and as such is warmly recommended.



4. Mr Kosner details his rise to become an editor at several journalist institutions. The best part of this book is how he describes the non-glorifying and very anti-climatic process of being fired. it is never easy ona person and this author described that perfectly. The ending of this book which lists several traits that should define a person are an extra bonus with this book. It was smart to include in this book.

1 comments about The Element of Lavishness: Letters of William Maxwell and Sylvia Townsend Warner, 1938-1978.

1. Sylvia Townsend Warner counted herself very lucky to have William Maxwell as her New Yorker editor and readers of this volume of their correspondence would agree Warner wrote 153 stories between 1936 and 1977 and found a devoted and discering fan in Maxwell. Many of the letters deal with both Warner's and Maxwell's writing. On occasion Maxwell has to gracefully reject one of Warner's stories (usually with the reassurance that the story is wonderful "but not for The New Yorker"). But what the reader comes to appreciate are the writers' accounts of momentous occasions and everyday life. Maxwell gives us wonderful accounts of an Adlai Stevenson rally and the Vietnam Moratorium. His account of the NYC blackout (in a letter dated November 17, 1965)is one of the best things I've ever read and worth the price of the book. It's such a seamless piece of writing, with each detail depending on what came before, that to quote bits of it would be to trivialize it.
   Maxwell, who lived with his wife and two daughters in NYC, is also good with domestic detail and affecting and funny observations. He relates a conversation in which his small daughter laments that he is bald."'Would you trade me in for a daddy with more hair?'" 'Yes," she says, teaching me a lesson."
   And on his resuming piano lessons in middle age: ". . .And Mozart is sustaining though I cannot do it. I would rather not be able to do Mozart than any composer I can think of."
   Townsend who lived in England with her companion, Valentine Ackland offers a number of home remedies for illness, my favorite being champagne for any ailment above the waist, brandy for anything below. And she writes with droll humor of her life in an English village: "Poor Niou (a Siamese cat) has just had her first affair of the heart, and of course it was a tragedy. As a rule he flies from strange men, cursing under his breath, and keeping very low to the ground. Yesterday an electrician came; a grave mackintoshed man, but to Niou all that was romantic and lovely. He gazed at him, he rubbed against him, he lay in an ecstasy on the tool-bag. The electrician felt much the same, and gave him little washers to play with. He said he would come again today to to finish off properly. Niou understands everything awaited him in dreamy transports and practising his best and most amorous squint. The electrician came, Niou was waiting him on the windowsill. A paroxysm of stage-fright came over him, and he rushed into the garden and disappeared.
   He'll get over it in time; but just now he's terribly downcast."
   The volume is filled with fine writing and the reader wants very much to know these two people personally.

1 comments about John Steadman : Days in The Sun.

1. John Steadman is a venerable Baltimore Sun sportswriter who has shared his stories about sports superstars, fallen idols, unsung heroes, remembrances of good times and bad with an enthusiastic readership for more than 50 years. In John Steadman: Days In The Sun, Steadman shares historic moments in the worlds of football, baseball, golf, horse racing, boxing, and more. Here is "must" reading for all sports enthusiasts and Steadman fans.

5 comments about Shanda: The Making and Breaking of a Self-Loathing Jew.

1. I read the book. I kept thinking throughout, this guy is lonely, single, in his 40's, redeeming himself in the hope of finding a nice jewish wife.
   
   I don't really believe most of his account.
   
   This could have been posted on eharmony.



2. This is an honest and moving account of a man's journey away from and back to his Jewish roots. It's a story of redemption, and of the restoration of a father-son relationship.
   
   You don't need to be Jewish (or speak Yiddish) to enjoy this book. In fact, gentiles may find that this book helps them understand some of the challenges and contradictions faced by modern Jews who seek to connect with their ancient faith.
   
   Karlen's very conversational writing style makes this book an easy read. His own humor, plus one-liners borrowed from Henny Youngman and Steven Wright, provide comic relief despite the very serious issues addressed in this book.
   
   At the end of the book I found myself wishing there were just a few more chapters (and perhaps a soundtrack album so we could hear this "nigguns" mentioned in the book). This is the story of a journey that seems to end before the final destination has been reached. Perhaps that's because the journey continues. But while it may seem a little unfinished, it is nonetheless a very satisfying book.



3. I agree in particular with what reviewer Adamchik aready stated about this book. The book would be more understandable to me if Karlen came from a less knowledgeable background. In fact, it's difficult to ascertain whether his background is Orthodox, Conservative, or somewhere inbetween. While there are people who were raised Orthodox who go "off the derech", that doesn't totally appear to be the case here. And then, Rabbi Friedman takes over the story. I've had the priviledge of hearing him speak - he is awesome, even if I'm not personally into Lubavitch. But all in all, the book seems a bit directionless, even if it is painful/funny at times.



4. This is a must read for all people who struggle with religion and have to deal with the "fakers" who give religion a bad name.
   You don't have to be Jewish to understand Neal's journey back to the fold.
   
   In my personal life, my wife and I struggle with those who forget what religion means. Karlen sums it all up with the "It's not Judaism that I don't like; it's the Jews." He follows up with his quest to me a "mentsch," which is Yiddish for an upstanding person. My wife and I couldn't agree more.
   
   We live in a world today where many of us have lost our moral compass. We judge wach other by what neighborhood they live in, the clothes on their backs, the car they drive and where they send their kids to school or camp. What happened to family values? Respect for our fellow man? Or the power of silence - when we should just shut up.
   
   There's a little bit of Neal's Yiddishe Hartz (Jewish heart) in all of us. This should be a must read for all those trying to keep up with the Jones, Schwartzes, etc.



5. In many ways, I could relate to the author not feeling like a part of a congregation in the Minneapolis suburb he resides in. Congregations in suburban North Shore seemed similar to what the author experienced -- ornate and fashionable but not very warm. What's frustrating about this story, which is filled with some good Jewish humor, is that the author's journey just didn't seem all that realistic.
   
   He's disconnected from Judaism, in fact, he loathes it and practically himself for being a Jew. But his catharsis really occurs as he begins studying with a Hasidic rabbi he once interviewed for a story. He learns a lot from the rabbi, but there's something about the writing that never really relays just why he dove back into the religion and why what the rabbi did worked. In the end, though, he has a mild awakening whereby his character is redeemed when he invites his father to partake in a nearly-forgotten family tradition and he then successfully guides a young Hebrew student to a successful Bat Mitzvah.

4 comments about To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells.

1. I came away from this book with new respect for Wells, and her courage. I was overwhelmed with sadness after reading some of the details of the lynchings and the effect on the survivors. The book contains an excellent analysis of the real reason for many lynchings:economic competition.



2. McMurray's biography of Ida B. Wells-Barnett is a rare triumph. Wells-Barnett was a courageous American whose valor is depicted in full color. All too frequently, when there is a discussion of the impact of race, there is a mistaken assumption that black males comprise the affected population. Similarly, when gender is raised as an issue, the false assumption is that white women are the only ones to be affected. Wells-Barnett was an American woman of African descent who fought the societally-mandated strictures of race and sex until her death. I am emboldened by her deeds since too many of the same strictures still exist. I applaud McMurray for her scholarship in this biography's portrayal of the life of Wells-Barnett. This book is definitely recommended.



3. This book is interesting and easy to read, but hard to take. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a complex person: incredibly smart, brave and strong, but at the same time, prickly and ultra sensative.The book also puts America's current racial and gender problems into perspective, showing us that we haven't come very far from the late 19th century's attitudes toward and treatment of African-Americans and women. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about a great American or wants to face and learn more about America's shameful history. That said, the author's style makes it easy to read. Amazingly enough for a scholarly biography, I would often find myself reading late into the night because I couldn't put it down.



4. And one of the ten most impressive people I've ever read about, period. I can't say too much about how awed I am of the life of Ida B. Wells. Had I been her contemporary I would have worn out my knees trying to propose to her until she married me. McMurry's book shows how this woman has been short changed by history due to her uncompromising belief in African American equal rights and self-respect. She and people like another African American who doesn't get his due, Monroe Trotter, have been marginalized merely because in their day they demanded the same degree of self-respect and political and educational rights that Caucasians of every stripe took for granted. They were considered "radical" and "militant" for not compromising the way virtually all other African American leaders did during their era. Their marginalization goes a long way in explaining why the African American persona has never featured the degree of chutzpah and daring it has needed for us to advance farther than we have. Instead, all of us have been too heavily influenced by leaders promoted over Wells-Barnett and Trotter, who instilled caution within us as a people, virtually as second nature. Not even W.E.B. Du Bois conducted himself with the degree of pride and fortitude that people like Wells-Barnett and Trotter did. McMurry's book deserves a place on all reading lists in American history classes so that everyone can truly understand the troubling forces that made this country what it is today, and the manner in which people like Wells-Barnett were purposely silenced as part of a plan to keep African Americans oppressed.

No comments about Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin.

1 comments about The Bookbinder: More Stories from the Road.

1. As I read The Bookbinder, I felt as if Jackie Cooper was sitting there talking to me. I kept wanting to respond--to tell him the things we have in common. I laughed aloud while reading some of the anecdotes, like the one about getting his coat caught in a newspaper vending machine, and smiled at others. A few brought me near tears. His book isn't a thriller, but if heartwarming and uplifting are what you're looking for, read it.