4 comments about Multicolored Memories of a Black Southern Girl (Women in Southern Culture).

1. Picture yourself in a SUV roving through out the countryside. You take in the view of the countryside but are in such a hurry to reach your destination to the point of not appreciating what you've seen. Kitty Oliver's autobiography is very similar to the above experience. She takes you through the roads, streets, detours and valleys of her life never stopping to give you a full appreciation of this native Floridian.

   As the first generation of Black students to integrate the University of Florida in Gainesville (1965)Oliver certainly has a story to tell. It is one of turbulent times and great transitions as she leaves the segregated community of her youth and enters into a whole new chapter in her life. Oliver shows us her fears, drive and hope that she has for the future that was denied her elders. Now it is up to her to make a difference.

   Kitty tells of her quest in finding her roots from the exploration of her Geechee background to her attempts to become a bridge to her estranged father's family. You meet up with a varied mix of people in her community (train workers, cooks, teachers,etc) who held things together even in their limited world. She also dispels the myth of the united Black community during segregation. You meet with Black people who are class conscious, want to keep the status quo and are insanely concerned about skin color. Her Jacksonville home reveals a diversity of Blacks who have their own opinions and mores that are not necessarily what one would want them to have.

   Such a coming of age story has great potential but Oliver lets us down. She takes us on an excursion of her stream of consciousness as we roam from one subject to another. Her thoughts appear disconnected and you do get confused as to how she gets into school in one moment and then is married in the next without anything in between. She rarely talks about her own family except to mention her biracial adopted daughter and son. What about her husband and the lives they shared together? Was it unable to survive in an integrated world?

   Oliver goes on and on about multi-culturalism as if she just discovered it. You get a sense that she doesn't fully appreciate who she is and at times you wonder how much she has assimilated (her word) in the white culture.

   Despite those flaws her work is an enjoyable read of one reminiscing about those FIRSTS who broke the racial barriers and ushered in a new era. Her story is one that should be read, reflected upon and appreciated for its one particular viewpoint of a time gone bye.




2. Kitty Oliver has taken a changing time in our country's history and shaped it into a time of growth, understanding and exploration of herself and the multifaceted world around her. Her writing makes you sigh out loud as she takes you with her through colorful, sometimes sad, sometimes funny memories of her life. A compilation of essays, this wonderful book easily moves from one tale to the next as Ms. Oliver admirably exposes her pain and joy for the world to see. Ms. Oliver's skill as a writer is, without question, astounding. With such a poetic style to her writing, this book will bring one last sigh to your lips as you close the book at its end, only wishing for more.



3. I hoped MULTICOLORED MEMORIES OF A BLACK SOUTHERN GIRL would continue past its 173 pages. I just finished the book, and I want more. Kitty Oliver's journey from a small Florida town to her travels around the world feel very real. "When a trip is over for me, however, I enjoy observing the way life falls back into place. The toothbrush slides into the cup waiting empty on the sink."
   Kitty's honest account of her childhood, her family, her personal encounters with integration and her journey to find "home" resonate with each description and heartfelt memory. I'm a fan of her writing and look forward to more, soon!



4. For those of us who "came of age" during the time Kitty Oliver remembers so poignantly, her story is a great affirmation of our hopes and fears. In both Race and Change in Hollywood, and Multicolored Memories, Kitty writes down what some people knew and no one else cared about. The reviewer for Publisher's Weekly may dismiss the feelings of black reader's who grew up in the 60's, but Kitty Oliver doesn't.

5 comments about Unseemly Man.

1. Is Larry Flynt a champion of free speech, exposer of hypocrisy among clay-footed moralists in elected office, and likable purveyor of dirty magazines, or is the man the gravest threat to community decency since the abolition of the chastity belt? You decide.
   
   That Larry Flynt collaborated on an autobiography that wasn't a salacious commercial for sleaze shocked many who thought he man incapable of tact. When this volume showed up in public libraries, some thought pigs might have sprouted wings. But the fact is, this is mostly a straightforward life story whose subject happens to be in the skin trade. That I am about to write a review in which I say some nice things about Larry Flynt is little short of a betrayal of the ethics so many of our teachers in Catholic elementary school tried to instill in us in a city where Flynt's memory still loomed from his time as public enemy number one. Except for a few years away at college I have always lived around Cincinnati, Ohio, scene of the alarmingly bad idea that was the 1970's obscenity trial of pornographer Larry Flynt, then a resident of our uptight right-wing berg. As a youth in the decade after the trial, I heard names like "Larry Flynt" and "Hustler Magazine" occasionally spoken in hushed tones as if it were evil incarnate being mentioned (which naturally made me curious as to what this matter was all about). So when Flynt made his return to "Censornati" in the late '90's to re-open the first adult bookstore in town since he left in the aftermath of his ill-advised trial, it was major local news and I was bemusedly interested. I got the front page newspaper clippings sent to me and followed along as the moralists among Cincinnati residents and elected officials reacted with wild outrage to the return of this outcast Satan.
   
   So, just for background sake, that's what I knew about Larry Flynt when I began this book, fresh from having seen the fairly good movie made of his life "The People Versus Larry Flynt". (Even if it did make my home town seem like it had no one living in it except hysterical, repressed, neo-fascist Puritans.)
   
   I'll say this. Larry Flynt in this book is refreshingly unpretentious. He is who he is, an ambitious entrepreneur who earned every penny he ever spent and who is unafraid of taking a stand on the things he believes in. He is also a foul-mouthed, perverse, virulently anti-government, self-aggrandizing publicity hound, who made me laugh with and at him a time or two and left me thinking he is most likely basically harmless to public morals and in helping members of Congress stick to their wedding vows via his posted bounties on information about their infidelities, he might even do society some good.
   
   But news flash to young liberal anti-censorship types who might read this. There are SURE more palatable First Amendment In Action heroes out there to idolize.



2. Larry Flynt is one of America's most colorful adult- industry businessmen. Starting with his dysfunctional childhood, Flynt's life reads like a tragic novel with a fairly happy ending. He spent his youth doing very unchild-like things such as selling moonshine and copulating with a mother hen. He ran away from home a few times; was molested by a man; spent time in the army; divorced twice at a young age; and entered the world of adult business where his life became a revolving door of courtroom appearances and, ultimately, triumph over the system.
   
   Controversy is something that has followed Larry Flynt around for most of his lifetime. Much of it, the combative Mr. Flynt brought on himself. He deliberately behaved in outrageous ways, just to challenge the rules and defy authority. His courtroom antics, in particular, went way over the top and shocked and amazed everyone, including those who felt they knew him pretty well. Flynt commitment such wild and crazy acts as wearing a U.S. flag as a diaper in the courtroom; spitting on a judge; cursing out loud; and throwing oranges when he got fed up with court procedures.
   
   This book tries to cram too much, in my opinion, into too little space. In a matter of a couple of paragraphs, Flynt often covers a span of several years of his life. He elaborates and explains some of his life events in more detail. But other events are just mentioned briefly, in a few sentences, making you want to know a little more. I assume that Flynt did this to keep the book from getting so long that people would not want to read it. Given all of the twists and turns in Flynt's outrageous life, this book could have easily been two or even three times longer.
   
   Many personal tragedies have befallen Larry Flynt throughout his lifetime. He witnessed the death of his younger sister, who was diagnosed with leukemia and died at the tender age of 5. He had two women betray him, shortly following his marriage to each one. He was shot by a white supremacist and was left paralyzed from the waist down. His third wife, Althea, died in the bathtub at home. He underwent a "born again" experience under the guiding hand of Ruth Stapleton (President Jimmy Carter's sister), and later rejected the experience completely. He finally had his shining moment when he won the Supreme Court decision over Jerry Falwell, but with so many negative events in one's lifetime, you have to wonder how the man kept his sanity.
   
   Larry Flynt's life as told in this book would make an interesting psychological case study. What impact did the molestation by the hitchhike driver have on Flynt's psyche? What about the two betrayals by early girlfriends? Did they scar him for life against making emotional commitments to women? Was the fact that Althea came from an even more dysfunctional (believe it or not!) background just a coincidence, or do these types of individuals commonly fall for each other? None of these questions is easy to answer. Flynt's life has all the makings of a research study for a Ph.D. psychology student.
   
   Most of the Larry Flynt saga includes information that I was already aware of, but hadn't heard in a long time. I already knew about the chicken incident, the poverty, the go- go clubs, the magazines, and all the court appearances in defense of free speech. I knew that he started in business right here in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. But I had forgotten about Flynt's experience with the Delorean tapes (he got them from an anonymous source- they showed the FBI framing Mr. Delorean and then falsely arresting him on drug charges), so this was a refresher course on that subject. And I did not know anything about the experience with the hitchhiker or the dysfunctional life of his wife Althea. These were all new things for me to read about.
   
   Flynt makes some interesting observations about life, the law, and sexual repression and his own personal stories keep you entertained as you read. Some of the statements he makes might seem a little outrageous and difficult to believe, but I see no reason for him to be making them up. The chicken incident, for example, seems a little too wild to be true. But the fact is, I have talked to people who grew up in Kentucky in the 1940's and 1950's and they can vouch for what Flynt is talking about. It wasn't uncommon at all, in the state of Kentucky during this era, for people to do "things" with animals. It was also ordinary for every family to have at least one alcoholic and it was fairly common for family members to practice inbreeding. These were all acceptable ways of life at this time, in the state of Kentucky.
   
   Whether you like Larry Flynt or not, you have to admire his incredible tenacity and his relentless refusal to allow others to control his life and tell him how to live. Flynt has spent much of his life as a crusader for First Amendment rights, and he has sacrificed much of his personal time and freedom to fight for the right to be offensive. His autobiography is a true rags to riches story. From the sleepy hollows of Kentucky to a multi- million dollar business and a mansion in Beverly Hills, Larry Flynt has come a long way. He has fought for individual expression and paid a high price for pursuing his cause. He lost the woman of his dreams and almost lost his own life in the process.
   
   "An Unseemly Man" reads like a work of fiction. Much of it will shock and surprise the average reader, while leaving others feeling a sense of disgust. There is a fair amount of profanity, and Flynt is very outspoken from beginning to end, explaining his point of view in a direct and sometimes abrasive way. It's an interesting book to read, to say the least, and it will make many people reassess the way they view one of the best- known and most controversial businessmen in the adult entertainment industry, Mr. Larry C. Flynt.



3. Larry Flynt is one of Americas great unrecognized heroes. He stood for our constitution every chance he could and it cost him dearly. His story should be read by everyone who really wants to know the price of freedom in our country. My only problem with the book is it was too short skimping over things I would of liked greater detail on. Otherwise it was a good read and better than the movie The People V.s. Larry Flynt.



4. Flynt is a drunk, drug addict, pornographer, eighth-grade dropout, convicted felon, and adulterer who has a lot to teach us. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. While many people would cringe at the thought of reading his book, I would remind you of the words of Jimmy Buffet who sang, "Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks, and I learned much from both of their styles."



5. What can possibly be said about Larry Flynt that has not been said already? The guy is a one-man attraction at the side show of Americana. Pornographer, First Amendment hero, political gadfly, and more. The country would be a tad different place, for both good and bad, without him.
   
   AN UNSEEMLY MAN may not shed a lot of light on its subject, though, really, is that much of a surprise? After all, it is not that Larry doesn't have a dark side, but that he has already exposed it. Nonetheless, the book is worthwhile just to gasp in awe and disgust at that exposure. Like the sideshow attraction, we cannot look away at the public display of the previously unseen. It takes us from Larry's upbringing in Kentucky and his shudder-inducing first sexual experience all the way up to being top dog of his publishing empire. Along the way we get the legal battles, the paralyzing gunshot and all the other details that have made Larry a household name.
   
   The book, not surprisingly, is not a difficult read. Anyone capable of grasping the nuances of Hustler magazine's articles and editorials should be able to get through it fast enough. AN UNSEEMLY MAN may not be the best book on your shelf, but you'll get a kick out of it.

No comments about Hurly Burly: My Time at the Globe and Mail.

4 comments about Fighting for Air: In the Trenches With Television News.

1. If you like most of us receive your news primarily through television you need to read Liz Trotta's book Fighting for Air. She was present at the transformation of TV news from a reportorial medium to an editorializing, prostelytizing one. Trotta too often was a lone voice for truth in reporting amidst a wilderness of ratings, liberal bias and pretty talking heads. She recounts the ups and downs of a traumatic career that took her from battleground to political campaign and back again. Few incidents of significance occurred in the two plus decades that Liz has covered the world that she has not seen and reported on. Her greatest contribution - in this era of finally revealing the shallow nature of TV news - is that some people are able to look beyone the surface and see what is really important.
   This book is a must-read for all concerned with current affairs and with how the media deliberately attempts to shape your thinking. Buy it and send it to a friend after you finish. Thanks to Liz Trotta for being ahead of her time.



2. At first read, this was an interesting account of history, represented by a front line witness.
   
   All the more reason I was surprised to see and hear Liz, in what was hopefully a momentary lapse of reason on Fox news, express a hope that a US Presidential candidate be assisinated. To see and hear this esteemed graduate of Columbia's Graduate Schoold Journalism and award winning author giggle at her suggestion a US presidential candidate be killed, murdered with intent and political purpose, was unexpected. Liz spoke as though, almost suggesting, both the historic terrorist Osama Bin Laden and Christian US Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama be casually disposed of with some ignorant measure of equal consideration simply because their names are similar.
   
   What opinion is one to draw of this person's intellect and credibility when irresponsible, cavalier, historically ignorant and irresponsible comments are shared with ease? Dare I say she sounds more like a member of the White Power Movements than a Graduate of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism.
   
   Though I once respected Liz's words and accomplishmnets, I cannot help but apply a new filter over my interpretation of her words and apparent ignorance. Fair or unfair, in a single, highly visible moment this author has place a lifetime of work and accomplishments in question. Read her books, but view her as a suspiciously unreliable and ignorant source.



3. Liz Trotta is not a person I would trust to give an unpartizan account of any sort of journalism. As a commentator for Fox News she regularly spouts simple minded talking points from whatever politically convenient campaign is nearby at the moment.
   There are plenty of books out there that examine the media in a much more enlightening and open light. Skip this one.



4. Gee, I think Ms. Trotta would like to be given credit for the assassination of an American senator, eh? She would have felt right at home in Nazi Germany, where calling for the death of a political opponent was completely acceptable.
   
   Why are we stuck with these monsters? How can we get them to climb back under their rocks???

2 comments about Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America (Harvest Book).

1. Robert MacNeil struggles nearly a lifetime with the idea of becoming an American citizen, all the while enjoying the benefits of residing in Canada, Britain, and the United States. It takes a horrendous disaster, 9/11/01, to make him realize that Americans are good people, after all, and he is one of them. His book conveys a coldness about himself, perhaps characteristic of Canada, an absence of emotion about his life apart from his career, for which he holds great driving ambition. His career is truly exciting to read about, and one can see how submerged he was in it, perhaps too much, to focus on which country was right for him.



2. To some degree, we are all products of place...even those of us who spend significant portions of our lives moving from one place to another. In this slim volume, veteran journalist Robert MacNeil recounts his growing-up years in Canada, his move to Britain in the mid-twenties for work in print and broadcast outlets, his return trip across the pond to work for NBC, and eventual teaming with Jim Lehrer for public television's evening news program. MacNeil recalls the great events of the era that he witnessed from a newsman's front seat, including the building of the Berlin Wall, JFK's assassination, and the destruction of the World Trade Center....and also shares the joys and heartaches of family life through the decades. But the dominant theme in this volume is MacNeil's long search for a place that he truly could call home. His decision to become a citizen of the United States, after more than three decades of residency here, is explained with MacNeil's usual insight, warmth and grace.--William C. Hall

2 comments about A Life in Print: Selections from the work of a reporter, columnist and editor.

1. A Life In Print is an anthology of columns from reporter, columnist, and editor James P. Gannon. Collected from the pages of The Wall Street Journal, The Des Moines Register, and The Detroit News, the author's heartfelt and candid opinions touch upon the highlights of his life, his passion for journalism, and his views of both America and the world. Flavored with Gannon's Midwestern charm and Irish hard-hitting honesty, A Life In Print is unafraid to level scathing criticsm against individuals or societies - whether decrying presidential canditate John Kerry's professed Catholicism when Kerry has repeatedly voted against pro-life platforms, or lamenting that the factionalized modern-day America is such a far cry away from the unified nation that came together and gave everything it had to support the war effort during World War II. Skillfully written, each short column offers a new slice of insight, both in the author and in the world that surrounds us all. An extremely readable book that captures one's attention in bite-sized morsels.



2. Jim Gannon's new book, "A Life in Print", is obviously written by a journalist. The inverted-pyramid style of crisply writing the lead sentence, followed by information that supports the lead, reflects a lifetime of honing skills to meet deadlines. This well-written and open-eyed retrospective into the lives and times he covered as a reporter offers the reader insight into the jagged edges of life that has softened in our post-September 11 memories of the previous generation.
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking glimpses of life of the average Joe, as well as the rich and powerful, that spanned 33 years capturing private and public moments in America's history.

1 comments about Two Lives, One Russia.

1. Keep in mind, that I am a complete Russophile. I studied Russian for two years, spent months in Russia in the 90s. So this book touches me in ways that are personal. I read this book every few years, and I'm starting to think my original copy is wearing thin.
   
   This book is divided into two storylines that weave a united theme. The first part is an a account of the author's own detention and interrogation under the time of Gorbachev leadership. Nicholas Daniloff was the Soviet reporter for US News & World Report in the 1980's. He was one day grabbed of the street and what follows is an account with as much intrigue as a Robert Ludlum novel. It hits hard, those who lived during the Cold War of the 80's.
   
   The second story line is that of the author's investigating and eventually unraveling of the story of his Great-great-great grandfather who was a minor member in the Decembrist revolt in 1825. Daniloff's investigation of the history of his ancestor shows the warm nature of Russians and the power of History that survived through communist Russia. When Daniloff, tells the account of his Great-great-great grandfather, it brings up images of Tolstoy.
   
   All in all, this book brings an amazing account of the Russian people in two periods of oppression. The warm nature of Russians has always been from within, and this book shows that.
   
   Give this book a try, if you love great non-fiction stories, this one should be at the top of your list.
   
   Note: I contacted Nicholas Daniloff via email a few years ago, to tell him how much I loved this book. He actually replied and took to heart the fact that his and his ancestor's story meant so much to someone.

No comments about A Man From Kansas: The Story of William Allen White.

2 comments about 20th Century Journey: A Memoir of a Life and the Times : The Start : 1904-1930.

1. Shirer's moving account of his formative years in Chicago, Cedar Rapids, and as a young reporter in Paris ranks as solid autobiographical writing. I like how this renowned journalist parallels history with a revealing narrative of his youthful yearnings, setbacks, and rebellious insights. Future historians will read this volume to feel the rhythms of everyday life from 1904-1930. Career, personality, and luck exposed young Shirer to many notables, and his portraits of acquaintances like Hemmingway, Sinclair Lewis, Isadora Duncan, and Eamon De Velera add spice to the narrative. Some academic historians jealously dismiss Shirer's best-selling books, but I find his eyewitness accounts illuminating and his prose superior. The first of three volumes, this memoir is more personally revealing than The Nightmare Years, Shirer's superb account of Nazi Germany and A Native's Return, his homecoming finale. Writes Shirer in the introduction, "...it is an interesting fate being an American in the Twentieth Century. I am glad it was mine."



2. William Shirer, best known for The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, here presents a fascinating account of the first 25 years of his life. Young childhood in Chicago, growing up in rural Iowa, then being lucky enough to land a newspaper job on a trip to Europe (days before having to head back to Prohibition-time rural America), and then spending his young adulthood in the glorious cities of Europe in the Golden Years, before the shadows of Fascism and Nazism began to dim the lights...(but that leads to the second book of his autobiographical trilogy).
   
   I find this man's accounts of life in the U.S. Midwest, of meeting celebrities and writers and leaders of the thriving, to-be-short-lived Europe of the Twenties (and falling in love as well..don't we all), to be gripping and entertaining. I envy Mr. Shirer's life, too. My favorite autobiography of any I have read, bar none.

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.