5 comments about Martha Washington: An American Life.

1. Martha Washington by Patricia Brady is a very detailed and in informative book about the life of our first first lady. Martha's was named after her grandmother, her great-grandmother and possibly even her great-great-grandmother. She was born to Frances Jones Dandridge and John Dandridge in 1731. Even though her parents were wealthy, Martha learned how to pluck fowl, can vegetables, garden, cook varieties of food, clean a household, dance and read. As well as all of the customary good manners of the day. This young lady grew into a very beautiful young women. Martha married Daniel Curtis, a very rich man, a couple weeks before her 19th birthday on May 15, 1750 and had four children with Daniel, Frances, John and Martha. Mrs. Curtis lost both Daniel and Martha shortly after birth. Martha was very happy with Daniel threw out their marriage, but Daniel was very much her senior, nine years older than her and died July 8, 1757 after only six years of happy marriage. The widow was now in a very prominent position, rich, young, beautiful, running her own plantations without any pesky relatives in her way. Then a new man came into her life: Colonel George Washington. George Washington was one year her senior and the two fell passionately in love with each other. They were married on January 6, 1759. The book goes on to explain how threw out their marriage it was Martha's job to be George's supporter, his emotional stability. Every winter threw the Revolutionary War, Martha would come from her safe, comfortable home in Mount Vernon to live with George in the winter camp. Her coming was a signal for other wives to join their husbands. Then after the war, Martha lived happily with George for only a short time. He was constantly called away to whatever business the new country needed him for. She felt that George and herself had given eight years of their lives to America and should be left comfortably in retirement. She actually didn't want George to become president, but went along anyways when he did. By now, her daughter had died of a terrible seizure and her son was also dead. Though her son, John, had married and had four children before he died. Martha was mortified when she realized that she had outlived all of her children. She and George ended up adopting two of their grand-children. They came home after George's second term on March 15, 1797. George Washington died in two years December 18, 1797. Martha tried to spend the rest of her life as peacefully as possible. She took care of her beloved grand-children until her death on May 22,1802. Where she was surrounded by family and was in her late seventies. This is a very detailed and informative book, it sometimes goes of on detours and talked about George Washington as much as it talked about Martha Washington. I think this book is fine for people who enjoy over informative books that often sidetrack and talks about other things than the main topic.
   
   
   I think that this book is very detailed and over informative. It constantly had long lists of items that Martha's husbands bought her, things like chairs and spoons. The book also goes into unneeded detail about Martha's family. It talked about Martha's great-aunt and uncle Unity and William Dandridge. Which as far as I can tell, had no impact on Martha's life at all, other than being a distant relative that she probably never met. The book also went into great detail about a infatuation George Washington had before and even after his marriage on a lady named Sally Cary Fairfax. I could see how this could be use in a biography about George Washington, but this book is a biography on Martha Washington.
   
   
   This book isn't very exciting. Maybe because it is a biography, but this book doesn't elaborate the greater events in Martha's life. The book talks more about the housing and packing that Martha did to go to winter camp, then what she did at the camps. Martha's greater accomplishments should of had more attention than what her husbands bought her and what packing she did. This way the book would focus more on Martha than anything else. All in all, I'll repeat, this book is fine for people who enjoy over informative books that often sidetrack and talks about other things than the main topic.
   
   
   
   
   written by C. Shipman



2. Rather than write a summary of the book, I would like to just cover a few main points. This was a wonderful book! While some may complain of too much detail, I found the descriptions of day -to-day life fascinating. Many times I felt like I was right there with Martha and George. I felt that this book made Martha into a "real" woman, completely relatable, not just some stuffy old historical figure(that barely gets a mention in History class). She and her husband were people of character that deserve the admiration of all Americans. This book deepened my admiration for her.



3. Martha was the best partly because she was the first- but she really set the best example of making the best of situations that were at times FAR from ideal.
   
   She loved her husband so much, as was so dedicated to his well-being she sacrificed her own happiness on many occasions to be with her husband- sometimes at the risk to her own health.
   
   This biography shows what Martha's daily life was like, shedding light on her life before she married George Washington, and giving depth into her character and how it determined her decisions regarding how she conducted herself as the very first First Lady. This is SO worth reading-and a great intro into Revolutionary War characters and events that created her motivations while being First Lady and how to conduct herself.
   
   Less than 300 pages, I found it woefully short, but VERY readable! If you are into the Revolution, this is a book to add to your library.



4. This look at the life of Martha Washington was very interesting. She really seems to be a woman lost to history by her legendary husband's very large shadow but this book gives a look at her strength and intelligence and also at the time in which they lived. A must read for any woman with an interest in American History.



5. I thought this book was pretty well written. The author did a nice job telling the story of not only Martha but the Washington family without getting bogged down by too many details. I also learned a lot about day to day colonial life. The reason I give it 4 stars is because the author let her dislike of Thomas Jefferson show through. She mentioned that Jefferson didn't really think much of Martha but then later in the book took one paragragh and really threw Jefferson 'under the bus' so to speak. I found the paragraph out of charactor for the whole book and wondered why the editor kept it in.

5 comments about The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat.

1. So Woodward and Berstein used Felt's advice and guidance to unmask the Watergate cover up in the White House. Since this book was written by Woodward, I often wonder what portion of the feelings/viewpoints can truly be attributed to Mark Felt and what can be attributed to Bob Woodward. Felt had a ax to grind with Nixon for politicizing the FBI and being jumped over twice for FBI Director. Felt is also praiseworthy of Hoover's efforts at the FBI. That in a nutshell tells that Felt has his own agenda for the agency. The tapes reveal that Nixon also probably knows Felt is feeding information to Woodward and Berstein. Yet despite that, former President Nixon testifies in defense of Felt/Miller at their felony trials in the eighties. Nixon sure did turn the other cheek for Felt when the going got tough.
   
   There is a lot of information in this book. I am not sure all of it is praiseworthy of W. Mark Felt. It does show the atmosphere this country was in following the sixties, and the breakdown in trust of the political leadership of the country. I find it unusual that Felt could justify his own authorization of illegal breakins on Weathermen families, when this was what got Nixon in trouble.



2. The book should be re-titled "What Mark Felt, felt and when did he feel it?" Not only does "The Secret Man" reveal the complex interactions between Woodward and Bernstein and "Deep Throat," but, Felt's motives and the wrenching and tortuous feeling he went through as he betrayed the agency he loved.
   
   Bringing to account a Presidency whose corruption was out of control, was only one of many motives that drove the second in command of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to place his career and his sanity at risk. The others were: protecting and stopping the manipulation of the FBI; his love for Hoover and for the game of clandestine political operating; and finally, last but certainly not least, as a way of exacting revenge for being passed over repeatedly for the top job because he was a Jew.
   
   As the cliché goes, hindsight is not only always 20-20 but evidently is also much more relaxing, as this is a much smoother read than "All the President's men." It puts the final punctuation marks around the political scandal of our era, and that mark is an explanation point.
   
   Except for explaining the 18 and a half-minute gap on the Nixon tapes, this book pulls together the remaining dangling threads of the Watergate saga. Four Stars



3. Bob Woodward's inability to push Felt before old age rendered Felt unable to answer the questions about why Felt chose to provide information about Watergate.
   
   Woodward's excuse about honoring Felt's brushoffs during the late 70s and early 80s ring hollow coming from a reporter who pursued Felt during the Watergate scandal. Woodward knew that the day would arrive when Felt would be exposed as Deep Throat and American's would want a detailed answer to why Felt decided to become the inside source that helped Woodward and Bernstein expose Nixon's involvement in the cover-up.
   
   Woodward should have pushed Felt to record his reasons with the promise they would not be revealed until Felt's death or he decided to go public.
   
   Since Woodward had kept Felt's identity secret long after Watergate had faded into history, Felt should have felt comfortable enough to provide such information. However, for his own reasons, Woodward did not pursue Felt and it leaves the Watergate scandal an unfinished product.



4. The good parts of the story are already in All the President's Men. The new material is Oprah-ready filler about a young man and his source. Woodward has not (dares not?) thought very deeply about Mark Felt, his motives, or his trustworthiness. This is the same incomplete Watergate story that his the papers in 1973.
   
   I know journalists can only write the first draft of history. But Woodward is still selling that same first rough draft three decades after the events took place.



5. i just bought a new hard cover edition of the secret man at my local 99 cent store!
   there were about 6 copies in stock when i left the store!
   just sharing! lol!
   
   
   5 stars for the price alone!

5 comments about It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir.

1. Dear Gloria Vanderbilt, i am enjoying reading your wonderful book. Thank you!! sincerely,
   Joan Clement



2. The book was much shorter than I thought, and the writing was a bit too scattered, too many side notes - but good. I would average it out to be a 3.5 and you will find it funny, interesting if you know the characters or have read much about them. When you think of them as people it becomes harder to grasp, but characters seems a more realistic yardstick to use. I love Gloria Vanderbilt, I admire her and feel that she deserves applause and praise, but this one didn't do it for me. Maybe a good book to take traveling.



3. I never received this book. A notice was sent to me saying the book was unattainable at this time.



4. This book lacks depth and leaves the reader feeling that we still don't know Gloria Vanderbilt. Also, why does she give the impression that she only has one living son? What kind of mother would disregard her two older children? Very sad.
   
   A much better book on the Vanderbilts is "Fortunes Children". I recommend it.



5. It is quite irritating to read and re-read comments about Gloria Vanderbilt being unloved by her mother, her 'less than lucid' mother, or being harmed by a self absorbed mother. Perhaps those who believe these descriptions would do well to read "Double Exposure" by Gloria M. Vanderbilt and her twin, Lady Thelma Furness. This autobigraphy relates her mother's side of what happened at the custody trial (when wealthy, connected Aunt Gertrude 'won' little Gloria she no longer had an interest in her), the court allowed heresy and libel to colour testimonies and soil the reputation of mother and widow Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt as 'unfit'. Gloria M.'s own mother, Laura (little Gloria's grandmother) testified against her daughter at this trial with outrageous lies and unmotherly love. Read more about Grandma Laura's unstableness, selfishness, and self absorbsion (she left her oldest daughter at school in Paris during WW1 bombing seige). Grandma jetsetted around Europe shuttling her children to various boarding schools; she allowed her twins to move into a Manhattan apartment by themselves at age 16 to live there basically unsupervised. This was in 1922. Modern medical knowledge would most likely diagnose Grandma Laura as suffering from a neurological disorder. One wonders if it was passed down through the genes.
   Learn of Gloria M's motherly love and pain of being torn away from her only daughter and the lies spun on both sides to keep them apart. "Double Exposure" should be offered in tandem with any Gloria Vanderbilt autobigraphy. Both sides of the story should be known before one can truly pass any judgement, and even then pause and ask yourself if either one is truly glorious and deserving of gushing praise for a life of having a 'good time' and 'getting lots of lovin'.

No comments about Six Wives of Henry the VIII (Windsor Selections).

5 comments about James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet.

1. The most positive thing about this book is that it shows you what Jim Wight (James Herriot's son) was up against when he wrote his memoir. I highly recommend Jim Wight's memoir for anyone who is interested in learning about James Herriot (Alf Wight).

   I think Mr. Lord may have been well-meaning when he wrote James Herriot: Life of a Country Vet but the book is really appallingly bad. Mr. Lord has no feel for the WWII period, has done no practical research, seems to have little to no perception of human character and relies almost exclusively on gossip and word-of-mouth. One gets the impression that Mr. Lord decided before writing his book what he was going to find and proceeded to twist or ignore any information to the contrary. He relies on those "witnesses" who will tell him what he wants to hear without taking into consideration the inherent complexity of human beings. Witnesses do not always tell the truth--it is a gross error in judgment to think that one person can fully, and accurately, explain another person.

   The lack of reliable facts results in Mr. Lord relying almost exclusively on guesswork, and the assumptions inherent in Mr. Lord's guesswork are almost all negative. For instance, he assumes that because he, Mr. Lord couldn't find evidence that Alf Wight's parents were musicians, ergo, they weren't, therefore Alf Wight was lying when he referred to his parents as professional musicians. The point may be debatable but in the interests of good writing, the assumption is not enough. If Mr. Lord wasn't willing to do the required research to prove the point conclusively one way or the other, he should have left it out.

   Mr. Lord strikes one as the kind of man who is continually surprised by the inconsistencies of human nature. He reports with something like glee that Alf once told someone that his father died in 1961, instead of 1960. This becomes evidence for . . . the mind boggles. I'm not sure Mr. Lord himself has a clue what he is trying to accomplish in this book. Whatever it is, it suffers from an utter lack of scholarship and is therefore deeply insulting both to Alf Wight's memory and to the reader.




2. Graham Lord is not a hack or a fraud, but he clearly wrote this book without any cooperation from the family of James Herriot (Alfie Wight), and it shows in an abominable lack of actual information about Herriot's life before meeting Lord or of Herriot's life as a vet. He also makes far too much about the fact that Herriot was writing compelling stories based on actual incidents rather than serving only as a journalist, but since his connection to Herriot was only through his books and some occasional personal contact, there was little else he could write. The book is infuriating in the extent to which it substitutes information about the times in which Herriot lived for actual information about Herriot: knowing nothing of Herriot's life growing up, Lord talks endlessly about the life of other people who grew up in the same neighborhood as Herriot, and historical records and newspapers were obviously his primary source, along with people who didn't live in Thirsk and who had limited contact with Herriot.

   The inadequacies of this book inspired Jim Wight (Herriot's son) to write a truly revealing biography entitled The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father, and Lord is to be thanked for that. He did his best with what little information he had, but there is no escaping the fact that he had too little information, and having read the son's memoir, I quickly found Lord's book unbearable and started skimming after a couple of chapters in the hopes of finding SOMETHING I hadn't already learned from Wight's book. I was not successful.




3. I couldn't agree more with the other reviews posted about this book. It reminded me of the biography of John Lennon I once tried to read. After reading a very short time I put down the book never to reopen it, feeling as if I needed a shower. It's as if the author is trying to elevate himself by bringing down the subject by exposing all his "faults" to the world. Researching would seem to be the most important component to writing a biography (along with the ability to write), and neither are in evidence here. Graham Lord relies on information and viewpoints from only a few sources and none of them close family or friends. Much of the writing is spent on exposing Wight's inconsistancies between his real life and his writing. Why this is so important is beyond me. I believe Wight started every story with an idea based on experience, and expanded it into the charming chapter he presented to us in his books. I also believe many of the stories were accurate retellings of episodes in his career with only names and exact circumstances altered. Instead of focusing on what would be the central core to Alfie Wight's life and writing, Graham Lord has seemingly gathered all the peripheral innuendo and "juicy" tidbits surrounding that core and for some reason presented them here in his book. A real laugher for me is the chapter ending with the dramatic announcement of Wight's nervous breakdown. Simply awful, awful writing.
   You would think the movies and television shows would only have a very small part in a biography considering how long Alfie Wight lived, but in this book far to much is written about them and many of the photo's used are also directly from them.
   A book like this reminds me of a movie like "Plan 9 From Outer Space". It is so bad in all areas that you can almost derive some enjoyment out of reading it. If you want to read a real biography of James Herriot, done with real research, real writing ability and real inside information, read the biography by his son, Jim Wight. I find it interesting that this is Jim Wight's first attempt at writing and I find it quite good. Graham Lord has written many things and his biography is not so good. So you never know. Cheers.



4. This book is not even worth turning the first page! This is one of those books where you actually feel embarrassment for the author. The book is poorly researched, poorly written, poorly edited, and well...... words just fail me. While I am not a great Herriot fan, I do have to give him, Herriot his due, the man could write well and could tell a great story (isn't that what authors are suppose to do?). This guy though, Graham Lord, I suspect, has problems feeding the paper into his typewriter! The entire book is such a obvious ploy to make some quick money on the shirttail of a "dead" but popular author it is rather nauseating. Shame on the publisher for accepting such shoddy work! I did finish the book though (thank God I did not purchase the thing) because each page became worse and worse and I could not stop, my thinking being with each turn of the page "well it just cannot be any worse than that last page/chapter." How wrong I was! If you must read the thing, borrow it or check it out of the library. I would hate to see a person waste their money, and I certainly would not want the author and his publisher to be rewarded for a work such as this. Herriot's life, warts and all, could be such a fastinating subject. I do hope someone will turn out a good study of him eventually. We certainly did not get it here. I just hate having to give this one even one star. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!



5. Mr. Lord could have written a good book. He has the tools and the know-how, and he did his research. He made one fatal error, however. Actually he made not one, but two mistakes. The first mistake is that his starting point is wrong. As a trained journalist, he does as a journalist does - he keeps trying to find "dirt", or rather manufacture dirt - all in order to give us a "balanced view". One can't help feeling, as one reads interview after interview, that Mr. Lord has somehow picked only the disgruntled, caustic and jealous remarks to print. The second mistake was in underestimating "James Herriot"'s fans, and familys goodwill towards him. He treats his subject manner as just another subject, as routine grist for the gossip mill, but Alf Wight was not that kind of person. He was a person totally out of Mr. Lord's scope and understanding. He underestimated Mr. Wight's fans and family's tolerance for having his name besmearched, and, indeed, his son wrote another book in response, a beautiful book about his father, and in it he easily refutes all Mr. Lord's accusations - and turns Mr. Lord into a laughingstock. Because anybody who has read the two books side by side - which I just did - would realize that Mr. Lord has indeed made a laughingstock of himself.
   
   While there are some good parts to the book, they are very much overshadowed by the other parts. There are two good chapters - in the middle - which were written factually - the chapters dealing with the content of James Herriot's first books, and the publishing history. There is a good reason why this is so - Mr. Lord was indeed part of the publishing business and would have been privy to that sort of information.
   
   But much of the book is exactly what he accuses James Herriot of writing - pure fiction. It would take too long to point out every one of Mr. Lord's mistakes, but I would like to simply write just a few of the many mistakes Mr. Lord makes. The rest, if you still want to read this book, you could find out for yourself.
   
   The first accusation Mr. Lord makes about James Herriot is that Alf Wight did not write a semi-autobiography, but rather pure fiction. He maintains that even if this were so, it would not matter, because the books are still entertaining. With that salve to his conscience, he methodically starts to take apart many stories in an effort to prove them fiction.
   
   His first assertion - that it would not matter if it were actually fiction, is simply not true. It would matter, and matter a lot, to both his fans and friends and family. His son says as much in his book- that it would matter a lot if his books are fiction. Fortunately for us, Mr. Lord does not bring a single proof that could stand up to scrutiny. His method seems to be - I don't think this story is true, so it's probably not. That's it. Not one single proof. For instance, he says that Alf Wight's memoirs of his war years are fiction - because the dates are wrong. He says that Alf Wight joined the army in March, 1941, and was discharged two years later, and therefore his story that he was called up to the RAF while his wife was expecting their first child is a fictional story. His son, in his book "The Real James Herriot" explains that he enlisted in the RAF in March, but was NOT CALLED UP until 15 months later, in November 1942, when his wife was indeed, expecting their first child. Is it possible his son and wife might know when he joined the RAF better than Mr. Lord? Especially since Mr. Lord actually admits that he is going from hearsay - since the RAF would not give Mr. Lord access to their records, claiming that they were still classified? This should be enough of a blooper to discredit Mr. Lord; however, there are many, many more - so many that it would be funny if it were not also very, very sad that someone could so easily print a book full of lies and get away with it (by prefacing all his explanations with "perhaps" he covers himself from libel, I suppose).
   
   Another example of Mr. Lord's innuendos - he quotes from one of Mr. Herriot's books that James Herriot was taken aback by the red (and squished) face of his newborn son, and asked the nurse if there was something wrong with the child. Mr. Lord asks how can this story be true if he is a vet? Just so, explains his son, animals are born much more fully formed than humans are. (A horse is born already able to walk as soon as he is born). Mr. Lord falls flat in the mud.
   
   Mr. Lord quotes James Herriot as saying that 90% of his stories are based on real life. Mr. Lord asks how that can be - when the Herriot books say that he joined Seigfried's practice in 1937, when he actually started working there in 1941? Mr. Lord, I think we are ready for a lesson in English. Do you know what the words "based on true life" means? "Based" means "based", not "actually, exactly, fact". When he first started writing, he was hoping to remain anonymous, and therefore disguised his stories so that the people he was writing about would not recognize themselves. He changed the location of his practice to the Dales, he changed the dates, he even changed the characters - some from a man to a woman, for example. He put two stories into one, etc. etc. This all falls under the heading of "based on real life".
   
   There are many, many more examples of this in his book - where he "proves" that James Herriot was writing fiction - and he has no proof whatsoever. Not even one single time.
   
   If there is one person writing fiction, that person is Mr. Lord. Mr. Lord spends two entire chapters on a conjecture of how Alf's childhood might have been like - all based on the assumption that Alf had grown up in grinding poverty. These chapters become almost a farce when we read his sons portrayal of his real childhood - although his parents were not rich they were certainly never poor, and Alf had a very happy childhood. He also explains the economics of why this was so. Which puts Mr. Lord's two chapters of conjecture on how Alf's unhappy childhood might have been like in the category it deserves - pure fiction. While the poverty of the under-class in Glasgow in the 1920's is certainly very sad, it definitely does not belong in a biography of Alf Wight.
   
   Another mistake that Mr. Lord makes is that he constantly contradicts himself. For example, in one chapter he spends many paragraphs conjecturing on why Alf was always poor, when he should have had a thriving practice - and the fanciful castles he builds in the air are very elaborate indeed. And yet in another chapter he quotes a neighbor as saying - "oh, they claimed they didn't have any money but that wasn't true. They had money for everthing - a tennis court, ballet lessons for Rosie, etc." This came across as a vitriolic statement, but of course in contradiction to his earlier assumption that he was poor. Mr. Lord, you can't really have it both ways, can you?
   
   Another example - he constantly quotes Eddie Steanton throughout the book, with all kinds of outrageous comments, yet he himself quotes one of Eddie's colleagues "oh, Eddie always exaggerates, you can't believe everything he says". And later in the book it comes out that Eddie had had a falling out with Alf Wight, and I would assume that his "memories" might be somewhat tainted by those sentiments. And yet Mr. Lord accepts Mr. Streaton as a fully credible source.
   
   As matters stand now, this book is laughable and barely deserving of a review - except for one thing: if Mr. Wight's son would not have written his own biography, Mr. Lord's fictious book would have remained as the factual biography of Alf Wight. He would have succeeded in besmirching Alf Wight's name with his book full of lies (oh, excuse me, fiction). The fact that his son wrote his own biography, and a beautiful and moving one at that, has turned Mr. Lord's book into a joke, a book that his fans would not touch with a ten-foot pole, but Mr. Lord did not know that in advance. He tried to change James Herriot's fans opinion of their idol, by trying to find "dirt" on him, and that was a very low thing. The fact is that he fortunately did not succeed, but that does not take away from what Mr. Lord tried to do.
   
   Mr. Lord, shame on you!

1 comments about Notes from a Roman Terrace.

1. Joan Marble died in Rome at the end of April 2004, soon after publication of her Notes from a Roman Terrace. She and her husband, Robert Cook the sculptor, spent over half a century together in Italy. It was a life that we can envy, though it had vexations--which eventually, in this fine book, she could laugh at. Her chapter on Robert's continuing battle with the bicycle thieves made me laugh out loud, as did her close observation of the work (or rather non-work) done by the Rome tax office beyond her windows.

   Like her earlier Notes from an Italian Garden, this book has much to say both about Italian flowers and about Italy's current problems. Her book ends with the death of Indro Montanelli, Italy's most senior journalist, who saw Italy become one of the world's most prosperous nations but despaired of its becoming an ideal democracy. Joan Marble notes that Montanelli began his career at United Press. So did she; and had she lived longer she might have told us perceptive things about America's current problems. As it is, she has left us two fine books which I will want to keep re-reading for a very long time.

5 comments about Dean and Me: A Love Story (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. With candid portrayal of his start and 10 year "gig" with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis captivates us and we can't put the book down. This is no white wash flowery story; he tells the imperfections of both of them. You know it's love, even after their breakup of the team because Jerry reveals allot about his partner Dean Martin that we never knew of.
   
   In short the Jew did good. Jerry always wanted to mix comedy with tears. Dean didn't like the sad mixing stuff; just make 'em laugh. However Jerry got his last wish with Dean, 'cause in the end of the book the clown made a full grown man cry. Jerry instead of making me laugh, at the end, warmed my heart about his love for his partner and made me grab a tissue. That was low pool Jerry.



2. This was an excellent book. I learned so much about Martin & Lewis. Having grown up watching Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin movies I loved being able to find out more about my favorite actors. But I can't help but walk away from this book feeling a sense of sadness and heartbreak. They had such an awesome partnership, and like Jerry says, "all good things must come to an end". Sometimes it's harder for the fans to deal with the reality than the ones who are involved. They are what I would consider TRUE ENTERTAINERS. I never knew how much Jerry loved Dean...he really did so much for him just to see him happy.



3. Amazing book. I love Dean and Jerry, and couldn't put this down. I literally laughed and cried. This was a very enjoyable book.



4. I have the Audible version and have to say it again...WOW.
   
   This is one one heck of a memoir/bio delivered by the only person that could deliver it in such great detail and depth...Jerry Lewis himself.
   
   I am way too young to have known or viewed their comedy "act", but this book brings it all to life so vividly that I am on my second listen just so I didn't miss anything on the first listen and also it was really just a great story.
   
   I went ahead right away and purchased "DINO" by Nick Tosces so I can continue to learn about everything that occured in that era including the Rat Pack.
   
   I was very surprised that the book was so well written. To be honest, I only bought the audio because I had a credit towards a book and I figured "what the heck". Now I'm wondering what took me so long.



5. Good book, I enjoyed it. Jerry Lewis wrote of alot of personal experiences that I had never heard of before. I read it in a few days, was very interesting.

5 comments about John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy.

1. I am unaware of any hero from the American Revolution who was not flawed in some way, and John Paul Jones is no exception. But as always, the truth of their lives is much more compelling than the mythology of their lives: the actions and quotations invented about them by storytellers, which seemed to be necessary in order to cement their greatness in history (and probably to sell pamphlets and books), have only served to freeze them into short, individual moments of otherwise longer careers and lives.
   
   There is a certain tragic sadness about the life of John Paul Jones, and Evan Thomas captures that sadness in this excellent biography. Jones was a man who, without a doubt, possessed a brilliance of naval tactics--tactics that provided the American cause with tangible cachet at its darkest hour--but a man who could never quite claim membership in the rarified company of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin. Jones is the blue-water twin of George Washington: ambitious, dedicated, domineering, persevering, far-seeing, and challenged at every turn by lesser men, but the ducks of fate would never quite line up in his favor to boost his confidence beyond the flaws of his personality.
   
   Evan Thomas' telling of Jones' story makes no apologies, spares no remonstrance. Thomas describes Jones through manic highs and lows, with revelations that can cause the reader to wince at Jones' more pitiful moments. But then a battle comes and Jones stands boldly, for honor not for gold, and sets aside his demons for a greater cause. Jones recognized his flaws and wrestled with them throughout his life. If anything, this struggle makes Jones greater--fully human and fighting to rise above his faults.
   
   Aficionados of 18th century naval literature will appreciate Thomas' descriptions of the battles. Neophytes will appreciate Thomas' use of modern language and the glossary of 18th century naval terms in the back of the book.



2. Don't judge this book by it's cover! (The cover is beautiful...)
   
   I'll begin with the good things in the book. It has a decent overview of Jones' life and accomplishments. A first-time reader about Jones will find the catalog of his daring exploits both interesting and exciting. Evan Thomas's narration of the sea battles and manoeuvers are as thrillingly told as any of O'Brian's or Forester's epics. However, besides the battles, this book doesn't do much but echo the author's malicious conclusions about Jones.
   
   Thomas seems to think that he is writing a Doctoral or Master's thesis and that we, as readers, continually forget what the main point of the book is. Don't be decieved, the author is not a fan of Jones. In striving to be "historically fair", we are faced with a book mainly about Jones's glaring shortcomings. Thomas has made it his goal to make sure we know that every single thing Jones did (from his letters to his heroics) was motivated by his "demon pride" (p. 310). It seems every paragraph begins or ends (sometimes both) with a scathing statement about Jones' lust for glory. Instead of stating the facts in an interesting narrative, we are faced with a continual repitition of Thomas' main thesis: Jones was not a hero, but a vain, glory-seeking upstart who wasn't even a good seaman. Often we get a sense that the thesis is wearing thin and completely falling apart. In order to buttress that, Thomas redundantly restates it lest we forget and start forming our own conclusions. Heaven forbid great men did great things for great reasons!
   
   I have read scores of historical biographies and none have been as vitriolic towards their subject as Thomas is to Jones. Granted, Thomas does an effectual job belittling everyone, but I thought the part of the title "Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy" meant he liked Jones. It must have been added by someone else, for it doesn't reflect the author's views.
   
   As I said previously, the book isn't without merit. It's battles are told very well, and the overview of Jones' accomplishments (and failures) are great. However, I would recommend reading another account of Jones that didn't seek to villify him and call it "historical fairness" (or whatever the term for giving more pages to his faults rather than his accomplishments is). If you want your conclusions dictated to you, read this book. If you prefer to draw them yourself, look elsewhere.



3. If you want to understand how the modern navy was born in America this is one of two books you will need. Understanding the mentality that drove our early navy to their few successes is a harrowing story that is told best here. This focuses on our lake fleets as well as our ocean fleets and does so in a very concise manner. The prose is very good and the information is well referenced. Anyone looking for information on the history of American navy will be well served with this book.



4. I have to admit I bought this book because it was in the closeout bin and I got a deal on it. I next have to admit that it sat in a pile of books to read for at least three months before I got around to reading it. But on starting it, I was highly impressed. It's well paced, factual, well researched without being dry and scholarly.
   
   First, I had no idea that his battles were fought off the English and Scottish coasts and that he was considered to be a pirate by the English- I always thought he fought battles off the American coast.
   
   Second, I had no idea that he was so closely tied with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and the closing stages of the French monarchy- nor that he served under Catherine the Great in helping her to gain a passage through the Black Sea.
   
   Third, the personality of the man, greatly flawed in its insatiable desire for glory and honor, was balanced by an ability to fight-- and to WIN.
   
   America wasn't a third-rate, fourth-rate or even a fifth-rate naval power during her Revolutionary War. America was essentially a "no rate." But Jones gave America victories when most others (with a few notable exception) did not. And he forced the British to bring home more of Her navy to protect home waters.
   
   For those who have read any of the Horatio Hornblower or "Lucky Jack Aubrey" works of fiction, I recommend that they also read this book.
   
   War is mostly waged by ordinary men- with fears, hopes, desires and needs like all of us. However, in every major conflict there a very few, like John Paul Jr., son of an English landscape gardener, who do more than their duty would dicate. For John Paul "Jones" it was his desire to be covered with glory and honor as well as his desire to build a winning AMERICAN Navy that caused him to push himselves and others far beyond the normal limits.
   
   To "Jones", the thoughts of marriage, children, even his health were secondary to these.
   
   I salute Evan Thomas for an excellent work about the father of the American Navy.



5. John Paul Jones was a historical figure, but I really did know much about him until reading this very well written story. I gave this book to a number of friends this year as a holiday gift. Jones made two voyages around England during the Revolutionary War sailing ships procured for him from France. There have been modern ships in the Navy named Ranger and Bon Homme Richard, but I did not know until reading this that those were the names of Jones ships during those famous voyages. After reading this you will know the answer to a great quiz show question which is who is the patron, that the ship, Bon Home Richard was named after. I look forward to reading the story that Evan Thomas just released describing American naval heroes of WWII.

5 comments about Dizzy & Jimmy: My Life With James Dean: A Love Story.

1. This is the love story of James Dean and Liz Sheridan (she played Jerry Seinfeld's mother on "Seinfeld.") They met in New York when he was barely scraping by and not yet famous and she a dancer. She was quite a looker with a long ponytail and he was of course scruffy and hunched over with the ever-present cigarette hanging from his lips. I enjoyed reading about their short-lived romance as it shows a side of James Dean that I'm sure he did not reveal to too many people - very sweet and tender. If you are a James Dean fan you will enjoy this book.



2. Its just love, thats all it is. Its not ment to BE a story about the great James Dean. Its truly about a girl named Dizzy and the boy named Jimmy who she fell in love with. Somehow you can drift into this book and become the characters, you can feel the love, you can remember how it feels to be in that kind of love, where nothing else matters and reality is just something other people talk about. I read this book over and over. I bought it because it was about James Dean and i am a fan. I love it because its about the kinda of love that everyone should get to experience at least once.



3. I bought this book online because I couldn't wait for it to come to the nearest Borders store. I received it earlier than expected and I was very excited. Elizabeth Sheridan describes to us a man who did not always appear to others the way she knew him. Many other books describe James Dean as being an angry, introverted, and selfish young man. All this may have been true about him, but he also had a sweet side to him which was not always seen. From this book, it is clear that it meant you meant something to him if he expressed his feelings, thoughts, and emotions to you. It portrays a young man who had a sense of humor and who was a hopeless romantic. Reading what Elizabeth Sheridan has said about him shows his fans that he was capable of love and that other books about him aren't 100% true, that he wasn't a cold-hearted person. This is a firsthand account of James, before he became a star and it truly captures the essence of who he was, who he was when he let his guard down and trusted others. By the end of the book, I started to tear up when they parted from each other because I myself wouldn't have been able to do that with someone I loved. I then broke down crying when it described how Sheridan found out about his death. Just reading the words about it made me feel so empty inside, as if I had known him personally, as if he had once been a part of my life. It's as if I had been there. This book is truly a heart-felt account of a misunderstood young man, who in the midst of all things, really wanted to love and be loved. I love this book and whoever reads it shouldn't be disappointed.



4. This book is written by the wonderful, funny, and deeply honest Liz "Dizzy" Sheridan. All of these attributes show up in this beautiful, wrenching love story about her time with James Dean. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who wants to read of the joyful glow and searing pain of love affairs, to step into Dizzy's heart, mind, and world--Manhattan in the early 1950s, and to gain unique insight into the real James Dean rather than the icon, who lived fully until his tragic death in 1955, to the beat of his own drummer, letting few others deeply tap that drum along the way. Dizzy was surely one of those few.



5. I had a great deal of expectations to this book and finished it within 24 hours. I have been a Dean fan for almost 10 years and have read a great deal of biographies on him. Im not going to give a resume`of what the book is about, obviously Liz Sheridans romance with James Dean. The thing that kinda lost my interest halfway through is the way Sheridan describes the romance, excuse me for not bealiving the mushy love they shared and the feely romance. Its too fictional for me, and I do bealive they shared a romance but that it was so defiant and heavy loaded with passion and love, sorry dont bealive it.

2 comments about The Code of Love: The True Story of Two Lovers Torn Apart by the War That Brought Them Together.

1. Pamela Kirrage and Donald Hill were very much in love and living in England right before the outbreak of World War II. Donald was sent overseas and spent three and a half years in a Japanese prison camp. He was never the same after the war, but tried to live a normal life with Pamela and their children.

   David kept a diary during his imprisonment, but no one could crack the code until years after Donald's death, when Pamela found a mathematician who solved the mystery.

   This book tells Donald and Pamela's sad, but moving story of true love, the horrors of war and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.




2. This is simply the best book I have read in a long time.

   Andro Linklater writes clearly and eloquently about the love affair between Pamela Kirrage and Donald Hill at the eve of World War II. He brings to life the great excitement of their budding romance and the long, difficult years they spent apart, Pamela doing her part to support England's war efforts at home and Donald languishing in a Japanese concentration camp.

   The atrocities that Donald experienced are described in a matter of fact manner that does not take away from the sheer horror of what he must have endured. He was determined to document what happened in the camp at the risk of his own life and eventually coded his diary to ensure that it would not be discovered. Through it all, his promise to return to Pamela gave him the will to survive.

   Years later after Donald's death, Pamela resolved to know the contents of his diary so she could understand what had happened to him, what had happened to them. I found the efforts to decode his diary just as fascinating as the turbulent relationship between Pamela and Donald.

   This is an intelligent and articulate account of two passionate people caught up in the throes of war and their struggle to regain their lives and relationship once reunited. It is a romance, a war history, and a mystery all rolled into one.

   I am recommending it to everyone I know. Read it!