5 comments about "My Heart Became Attached": The Strange Journey of John Walker Lindh.

1. Mark Kukis has done what few authors have the nerve -- or skill -- to do: explored Lindh's path from American student to Taliban fighter by actually following in Lindh's footsteps. Along the way, Kukis vividly describes the places and personalities that shaped Lindh's transformation. Unfortunately, the Lindh family declined an interview with Kukis to tell their side of the story. However, Mr. Kukis does not let this setback interfere with his narrative, instead depicting Lindh as seen by people in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- a richer, more accurate and more rewarding depiction than would likely have emerged from an interview with the Lindh family in the comfortable confines of their California living room.

   In the end, Kukis leaves deliberately unanswered the central question in the Lindh paradox. Is John Walker Lindh a hapless American kid who made some really bad choices in finding himself -- the kind of bad choices many of us have made in life, only with drastically worse consequences? Or is he a cold and calculating zealot pledged to jihad against those he perceives as non-believers? The answer is ultimately locked away in Lindh's mind as securely as Lindh himself is incarcerated, but Mark Kukis has done an excellent job in literally walking in Lindh's footsteps to try to find that answer.




2. Kukis keeps you turning the pages on this well written biography of the American enigma which is "John Walker Lindh".

   Kukis daringly retraced Lindh's steps through the unforgiving hotbed of madrassas and dusty towns in the middle east to deliver an excellent recount of what happenned to this unique young adult. Kukis's interviews of those closest to Lindh in his final months before capture really gives you an insight to a world much different than Lindh's United States.

   This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys keeping abreast with current events as well as those who wish to peer into the mind of one of the most notorious 9-11 figures.




3. I was hoping to read more about why Walker Lindh committed the acts he did, but without a firsthand account, learning his beliefs was not possible.
   Also, the author should have tried to weave in the political dynamic of the world into the story instead of treating Walker Lindh as an isolated person.



4. Mark Kukis, the author of "My Heart Became Attached," tells what ends up being a rather pedestrian story about a young American who briefly gained notoriety as the "American Taliban" after 9/11.
   
   John Walker Lindh is the son of middle class parents who grew up in a comfortable household around Washington, DC and then in the San Francisco suburbs. Lindh, like many teenagers curious about the world and trying to find himself, develops a teenagers interest in Islam and the Arab world.
   
   Lindh converted to Islam in his late teens and, with a convert's zeal, throws himself into studying the language, culture and religion of the Arab/Muslim world. His first visit to the region was a trip to Yemen to study Islam and Arabic.
   
   After a brief trip back to the US, Lindh follows a friend he met at a local mosque to Pakistan. While there Lindh begins studying with more extreme and violent interpreters of his religion. He eventually found himself in a training camp for young Jihadists. The best of the camp's graduates were sent to fight in Indian held Kashmir. However, Lindh was determined to be too weak and poor as a soldier and was thus encouraged to go to Afghanistan.
   
   Lindh arrived in Afghanistan in the late summer of 2001. He trained at an al-Qaeda camp frequented by Osama bin Laden, and sat through what he thought were many boring bin laden lectures. He was then sent to the front lines of the Taliban's battle against the Northern Alliance. After 9/11 and American firepower was inserted into the conflict on behalf of the Alliance, Lindh and his comrades were quickly taken prisoner and sent to a makeshift prison at Mazar-i-Sharif. When a group of prisoners began a rebellion against their captors, Lindh escaped to the relative safety of a nearby cellar. However, he did briefly share the field with CIA officer Mike Spann, shortly before Taliban rebels murdered Spann.
   
   After the riot was finally quelled a week later, Lindh was taken by his American captors into custody, but not before a CNN crew could film the one interview that launched the infamy of the "American Taliban."
   
   The author was unable to interview Lindh for this book. He was, however, able to track down nearly everyone who came into contact with Lindh during his journey from suburbanite to Taliban. The story he tells is of a kid who stumbles from one place to another, somehow finding himself in bin Laden's audience and on the Taliban front line. That this could happen to such an ordinary American kid is the true lesson of this brief, but excellent, book.



5. The controversial story of John Walker Lindh is well-researched in this book. While the author was unable to speak with Lindh or his parents, he travelled to distant lands such as Yemen and Pakistan to interview people who met, studied, and trained with Lindh. The author remains relatively objective in his treatment of Lindh, neither condemning nor commending him. After reading this book, Lindh comes across as a sincere and thoughtful, albeit naive Muslim, perhaps swept up in the momentum of where his new found religion took him. After 9/11, many people will be outraged by the suggestion that Lindh was anything but a cold-blooded terrorist, especially since he was present when CIA agent Mike Spann was killed. Personally, I think the situation is far more complicated than that. I think that Mr. Spann was a true patriot who died defending the country he loved, but at the same time, I see Lindh as a sincere Muslim who thought he was defending the religion he loved. Who am I to say which one is superior? Also, I have to ask, if Lindh never joined the Taliban, and was not present that fateful day in Afghanistan, would Mike Spann still be alive? I'm afraid the answer is no. With that said, the author points out that only Lindh himself knows his true motives and intentions. I would have liked to learn a little more about Lindh's pre-Muslim days, but overall I found the book compelling and informative.

No comments about The Life of Gampopa, Second Edition.

No comments about Abdu'l-Baha in America: Agnes Parsons' Diary, April 11, 1912-November 11, 1912: Supplemented With Episodes from Mahmud's Diary.

2 comments about Phoenix: Lucrezia Borgia.

1. There are few portraits as sharply drawn as that depicting (or considered to depict) Lucretia Borgia: smart, beautiful, edgy and dangerous. The illegitimate daughter of Roderigo Borgia, who reigned as the most notorious Spaniard of the High Renaissance, Pope Alexander VI, she spent her most adult life (and great swathes of her childhood) being ferried from fiancé to fiancé, husband to husband and lover to lover as the Borgias sought to establish an Italian dynasty. Originally written
   in the 50s, this is the leading biography and is fairly sympathetic to both Lucretia (whom it paints as romantic, literate and cultured) and also Alexander (whose worst abuses are excused as acts of an oversolicitous father). There is no sympathy whatsoever for Cesare Borgia, who is ascribed responsibility not only for murdering Lucretia's
   lovers but also his (and her) own brother.



2. lucretia was a kind ,loving and smart woman ,who was use by the men in her family for political reasons.the borgia men wanted dynasty more than lucretia happiness.her father alexander the pope sold her recieve power he need at that moment.her brother murder the love of her life.also murder their own brother.she was trap in a family control by addiction to getting power.

No comments about Primero Sueno Y Otros Escritos (Aula Atlantica).

5 comments about To Play With Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey.

1. I read this back when it was called "Playing With Fire". I am not sure which branch of fundimentalist Christianity her family was with....perhaps the British group "Plymouth Brethren", they were really cultlike. Her background was extreme, but her issues with Christianity are thoughtful and not merely colored by her strange community.

   I recognized alot of things from my sojourn with fundimentalism, and I found her honesty refreshing. She is also very straightforward about the Jewish community she has joined. She doesn't paint an easy rosey picture of her transition. I still think of her and her husband, a convert from Episcopalianism. I think if you are interested in conversion stories and people affirming their Judaism you will love this book.

   I remember vividly her description of the heartrending time of her sister's death, and her parent's programmed reaction.

   Good Luck Tova! I am so glad to see this reissue of your book!




2. This book is a very honest one. I especially loved the fact that Tova did not show Orthodox Judaism in rosy colors, but were describing her negative feelings and experience with Orthodox Judaism as well. And there were plenty of what to be upset about. However, she chooses Orthodox Judaism for the rest of her life.

   She made it clear that she despised Christianity not just because she was abused by so called "Christians" but also because she was rejecting the New Testament itself. She wrote openly inside her book that Jesus was a false prophet, and that Gospels were misquoting and distorting the Jewish Scriptures. She revealed herself as a very educated and knowledgeable minister quoting the verses from the Bible in order to explain us why according to her the entire Christian doctrine is wrong.

   I highly recommend this book to all people: both Jews and Christians. Written in a very sophisticated English it will certainly help them to understand it other.

   Also, this new edition "To Play with Fire" is much better than the old one "Playing with Fire". This new edition is longer on sixty pages and reveals more details about her experience and feelings. Even if you own the book "Playing with Fire", you certainly should get this uncut and unedited edition, too.




3. Tova Mordechai's story of her journey from a Pentecostal cult to Judaism reads like a Jewish _A Little Princess_: she lives in poverty surrounded by plenty, is forcibly separated from her family; she succeeeds at everything she tries and yet receives no recognition for her successes, but she is cheerful and good-hearted throughout. If this book were fiction, it would be remarkable for its excellent writing, suspenseful plot, and believable characters. The fact that the book actually happened is all the more amazing. _To Play with Fire_ compellingly tells a truly fascinating and inspirational story, giving the reader an insight behind closed doors of two little-understood religions.
   
   Any autobiographical work about an author's religious "odyssey" sets off alarm bells in the mind of a demanding reader, yet this book avoids the clichees. Despite telling a very personal story about the evolution of the author's fundamental religious beliefs, it maintains a distance from them: much to her credit, the author does not attempt to persuade readers of the truth of her new belief system, and she does write a relatively honest assessment of her new life. Further, it is clear that Ms. Mordechai is writing for her audience, not herself: she tells her story because others have found it fascinating, not because she thinks herself a model of humanity, again quite unique of autobiographical works.
   
   Nevertheless, I do wish that she had written more about her current life. She mentions her reluctance to accept anything blindly, and indeed she argues extensively with the Lubavitch rabbis at her seminary, but she nonetheless stayed within Lubavitch during her struggles, rather than exploring other streams of Judaism, such as the Greek-Jewish and Egyptian-Jewish traditions of her ancestors.
   
   While the most important part of her exploration occurred in the transition from Christian to Jewish, I wish she had discussed her thoughts about the nature of religion itself: whether power in any religious group should ever be centralized in one figure whose opinion determines the policy of the religious group, or whether decentralized power (as in the classical Jewish model of multiple rival opinions) is safer.
   
   It is understandable that she cannot risk personal relationships by giving a complete discussion of her own life in her small community, but I was disappointed to watch her lush prose become sparse at the very end, and to see her incisive commentary become more muted.
   
   One warning to the reader: it is impossible to read only one chapter and it compelled me to stay up until 3 am to finish it.



4. If you are looking for a book which details the intellectual and rational search of a person for the soul's home in the Jewish faith, this is not the book to read. Coming from a cultic, dysfunctional Pentecostal family, the author is very emotional and seems to judge religious precepts purely on the basis of how they "feel". I don't doubt that she had a life-long feeling of inner-connectedness to Judiasm,but all one reads is how a woman exchanged a christian faith which controlled all her action for a jewish version of the same.



5. Tonica aka Joy aka Tova has the misfortune to be born to a couple of warped religious fanatics. Her mother a Sephardic Jew is the daughter of an orthodox father and not so observant mother. Eventually, Tonica's mother and grandmother become Christians while her grandfather and two uncles remain orthodox. Sally, Tonica's mother meets and marries Jim Marlow, a born again Christian. They move to England where Jim is content to live in the shadow of his wartime buddy, Raymond who eventually becomes cult leader "Daddy Raymond."
   
   Tonica is 16 when Daddy Raymond gets the "revelation" that her father and mother are supposed to sell everything they own (including Tonica's beloved horse), donate it to the church/cult and quit their jobs and move into a one bedroom apartment and work for the cult for free. Her father the head of the household dutifully complies, even though he is only two years away from a full pension, and Tonica is left homeless. They dump her at Daddy Raymond's new Bible college for "training." Tonica is abused physically, verbally, and spiritually to the point that she stays with church/cult and severs all contact with her parents after Daddy Raymond excommunicates them.
   
   If you replace church with revolution, Jesus with Chairman Mao, and Daddy Raymond with one of Mao's lower henchmen you could be reading a memoir of the Cultural Revolution. The basic premises are the same; impressionable young people are beaten into submission physically and psychologically. Then they try to out do each other in their adoration of a so called deity who becomes their raison d'etre. In the process they spy and tattle on each other, turn in and or disown family members, in order to win favor and work their way up the hierarchy. They also devise petty backstabbing machinations that rival day time soaps. The final reward for all this effort is group acceptance and recognition from the cult leader.
   
   This book is just under 450 pages and the first 300 or so pages we are dragged through Tonica's thought processes during her nine years with the cult; I think I'm really Jewish, no I love Jesus, no I'm Jewish, no I love Jesus. The redundancy itself was agonizing, but what I found extremely frustrating was her inability to wake up and leave this cult of freaks. She is very capable of making a bonafide living, has had positive contact with the outside world, and even been offered a ticket to Israel by her estranged uncle. Instead she chooses to stay and continue to be abused and used as slave labor.
   
   This book would have been much more palatable if it had been kept under 150 pages and or written by a third party with some insightful commentary about cults and missionaries. Other than her thoughts on modesty for a woman's spiritual development versus modesty to prevent male temptation very little of this memoir was thought provoking. I found Tonica's husband's story impressive, but he doesn't' appear until page 413. He was born into a blueblood church family. He came to Judaism completely on his own after reading through the Bible and after a priest is unable to successfully answer his numerous questions. At age 18 he immigrated to Israel. I thought that was pretty gutsy. On the back of the book it says; "Tova also lectures throughout the world on being Jewish in a contemporary society." Given her and her husband's backgrounds I think they would be very well suited to do a Noahide outreach and or anti-missionary work.
   
   Turbulent Souls by Stephen Dubner is a similar, but much better book. Dubner's American WWII Era Jewish parents for some reason felt compelled to convert to Catholicism. Then they met and married. Dubner is more sophisticated, does his research, and asks thought provoking questions as he winds his way back to the religion of his grandparents.

4 comments about So Strange My Path: A Spiritual Pilgrimage.

1. The story of Mr. Carmel's spiritual journey is very worthwhile reading. His strange path from Anglican priest, to Roman Catholic priest and subsequent conversion to Judaism is well told. His modest, gentle and generous nature will come through to any reader. Plus it's very well written. After all he spent the latter part of his life as an English teacher.

   I had the priviledge of meeting this wonderful gentleman, may he rest in peace. I approached him, and got to know him, because I found his story fascinating. Unfortunately he retired from teaching at my high school before I could formally become his student.




2. In the process of finding my way from the Episcopal Church to life as a Jew, this is one of the most power things that I read and re-read. It gives one an idea of where to go when the idea that Jesus was God incarnate no longer holds. I have recommended this book to everyone I have met on the path to conversion, and others with crises of faith, for over 25 years. It is still one of my most beloved books.



3. A convoluted and strange path indeed.

   Mr. Carmel, of blessed memory found his spritual home in a most unlikely place, and only after diligent search and much discouragement: from his family, his colleagues, and for quite some time, from the community he sought to join. He found joy and contentment as a high school English teacher. To hear Shakespeare from his mouth was an experience, but to be privileged to have known him well and to have been one of his students was a singular honor. Shunned for the most part by his family, he never married; his funeral was so large that traffic and bus lines had to be diverted for the crowd that assembled outside the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School. Such was the measure of the love his students and his adopted People had for him.
   A remarkable man.
   May his memory be for a blessing.




4. Abraham Carmel's story is truly inspirational. It reminds us that our priorities in life today are so misdirected. This man had one goal that he centered his life on: Finding a religion that he could flourish with, and that did not leave him full of doubt and contradiction. Like other reviewers, I had the privilege of being a student of Mr. Carmel (of blessed memory), but I knew little of his journey until I read this amazing book.

1 comments about Conversations with Jesus: The Spiritual Adventure of Connecting with God.

1. CONVERSATIONS WITH JESUS is meant to be used as a daily devotional guide for a period of 122 days. Each entry contains both a scripture reading and accompanying text arranged in a format suggesting a conversation with Jesus.Calvin Miller is an excellent writer who is obviously very knowledgeable about the Bible. I recommend this book to those who want to find another way to get closer to Jesus Christ.

2 comments about Dancing in a Wheelchair: One Family Faces HIV/Aids.

1. Through "Dancing in a Wheelchair" United Methodist Bishop and Etta Mae Mutti pour out their own hearts as parents who lived the experience of HIV/AIDS with two of their three sons and saw them die. This family's story cannot deal with AIDS without homosexuality. Every emotion impacts their pensive dialogue: When the two sons individually come out, the father and mother go behind their own doors to express shock and anger, and to weep; yet, affirm love for their sons. Etta Mae Mutti storms with disbelief, and finally a commitment to action, because her church does not treat gays with equality. Where will a Bishop turn for support in his personal pain that's a controversial issue in the church? In dialogue format these parents reveal many experiences and truths any family might encounter when HIV/AIDS invades, but with profound impact coming from a Bishop and Bishop's wife. The book is powerfully enlightening regarding the physical and mental stages and the stresses of the disease, AIDS. Despair rips parents' hearts when this illness worsens. The dialogue graphically paints the ugly portrait of AIDS. Questions loom: How to let adult children make their own decisions when they're dying? Should we make him come home? Families who have persons who are gay or those who suffer from AIDS will find Fritz and Etta Mae are companions. Religious folks will be changed if this story is read with open minds and eyes. The result could be effective risks, love expressed to all, and lifes lived in equality.



2. A MUST READ!!!!! THIS BOOK ALLOWS THE READER INTO THE LIVES OF THIS FAMILY,IT ALSO SHOWS YOU WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRISIS , AND IT ALSO SHOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RELIGION AND CHRISTIANITY! AND THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF A FAMILY, NOT TO CHANGE PEOPLE, BUT TO ACCEPT PEOPLE THEY WAY THEY ARE. AND LOVE THEM THE WAY GOD SEES US (UNCONDITIONALLY) SHORT READ I READ THIS BOOK IN 2 HOURS REALLY GOOD MEMOIR.TOUCHED MY HEART AND LIFE AND MY WAY OF THINKING!

5 comments about The Miracle of Hope: Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan; Political Prisoner, Prophet Of Peace.

1. This man have suffered so much, he is the truly lived what Jesus told us, to love our ememies and he did. He suffered in jail for 13 years and never felt any hate or anger toward them. He is such a good role model for us, it wouldnt suprise me he would be made a saint one day, cuz he truly was one when he was here on earth, a living martryr.



2. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was part of the Christian community of Vietnam, member of a prominent family of national renown, nephew of assassinated leader, President Diem, and an integral voice in the decades of conflict during the tragedy of Vietnam's fall to communism. His great spirituality, his imprisonment and torture for his religious and political beliefs, and his ultimate rise to become a Cardinal in the Catholic Church, are inspiration to readers of all faiths and nationalities.
   
   The author provides a decent examination of the late Cardinal's life (he received the red hat from Pope John Paul II in 2001) with a solid background of his family ancestry, a look at his formative years, a chronology of his ministry and trials with an increasingly antagonistic government. Later exiled, his work at the Vatican and his writings have served to inspire Catholics around the globe.
   
   Although the writer packs a lot of information into the 300 pages, in my opinion, the book lacks the sufficient critical thinking and analysis regarding the various issues that contributed to his ultimate suffering and sacrifice. The tone is respectful, even worshipful, but left me wishing for more information regarding the issues held by his opponents. As Bishop, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan inspired a great love and affection by the faithful. However, the fear in the hearts of his opponents could have (in my opinion) received a greater examination. Further, his sufferings seemed to be somewhat sanitized in the book. While not seeking lurid details of his experiences, the book did not convey the true depth of his suffering. Additional information in this regard would have actually fostered a greater appreciation of the man's depth and character.
   
   That aside, THE MIRACLE OF HOPE presents a good introduction to the late Cardinal's life. His own writings - THE ROAD OF HOPE, and TESTIMONY OF HOPE - taken along with this biography, will provide the reader with a more comprehensive understanding of the man and his Catholic spirituality.



3. This is one of those biographies that is difficult to put down-even if history has made you aware of the ending. The sory is told in a very descriptive manner and gently informs the reader of the amazing place this family had on Vietnam and her history. The parts are divided into major events of Cardinal Thuan's life and was written while he was still among us.
   Do not anticipate a super description of his POW days- it is obvious Cardinal Thuan conjoled the author into tempering and playing down that experience. There are amazing stories about his acts of courage and faith but they are not told here and are played down -perhaps too much for us, the faithful who thirst for those heroic stories in this century.



4. Great book about a great individual. This book is near impossible to find at the mainstream places. Only options for me were Amazon marketplace and Catholic bookstores. Glad I was able to order one.



5. "The Miracle of hope: Political prisoner, prophet of peace: Life of Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan" by . Andre Nguyen Van Chau.
   
   Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was a brilliantly devoted man who was born into the talented Ngo Dinh Diem's family in central Vietnam. The book, which provides an excellent contrast to much of Dennis Warner's book "The Last Confucian," is a story about Vietnam in the Twentieth Century.
   
   "The Miracle of Hope" is in two inter-connected parts and includes Vietnamese view of the geo-political influences that affected Vietnam until the end of the last Millennium. It was interesting to read that Diem was extremely reluctant to accept American suzerainty. This resistance and Madame Nhu's insensitivity towards the Buddhists, led to the assassination of Diem and Nhu by the American influenced Vietnamese Army.
   
   Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan chose the vocation of the priesthood at an early age and he witnessed the Japanese occupation during his early years. After many years of training he was sent to Rome to further his studies. On his return to Vietnam his career was mapped out and he became a bishop just as South Vietnam collapsed in 1975. Thuan had planned for this eventuality and had trained many priests to ensure that congregations would be served by priests in the difficult times ahead.
   
   As with many supporters of the failed South Vietnamese regime Thuan was gaoled, interrogated and subjected to severe psychological strategies designed to break him. Thuan's deeply religious beliefs, and an understanding that God had a plan for him, enabled him to beat the enormous pressure placed on his mental and physical health.
   
   This is a truly uplifting story and readers will salute a brave and pious man who always thought of others even when his own situation was darkly grim.