5 comments about Footprints Of A Pilgrim.

1. I am half way through and i just love this book. It is so beautifully written and the pictures are so wonderful to look at. The poems are so touching! I will definately be reading more Graham books!



2. Rich, simple and startlingly clear & deep, the poetry of Ruth Bell Graham speaks a heart language that lends itself alike to silent contemplation or verbal reading.
   
   This is far more than an attractive coffee-table book. It is a treasure of rich verse, beautiful language, deep insight and breathtaking honesty.
   
   An ideal gift for yourself or that special someone, this is a book that will continue to give every time it is opened. It also poses the risk of making poetry lovers from those who think all poetry is stilted and obscure.



3. Married to internationally known Reverend Billy Graham, Ruth Bell Graham has a lot to say in her own right. She shares her voice in a poetic way within the pages of "Footprints Of A Pilgrim." And what a lovely voice it is - melodic, deep, intelligent, elegant and so insightful. I had never known Mrs. Graham possessed such creative talent. Her poems are amazing and are of varied human, nature and spiritual topics, always interesting.
   
   The book itself is beautifully presented, loaded with pictures of the past of family and friends and annotated with brief glimpses into Mrs. Graham's life. It's almost like a shortened version of her interesting biography, showcasing her wonderful poetry throughout the years.
   
   "Footprints Of A Pilgrim" is the type of book I keep in my library as it can be re-read a few years from now, appreciating in age.



4. A lovely book, lovely graphics, and truly inspirting. One that you must keep and then also great gifts for special friends.



5. Ruth Bell Graham was a truly remarkable woman. I love how she told God that she would consider it an honor to serve Him with Billy Graham if God allowed it. She is a woman to be envied in her devotion to God and family and her absolute patience. Oh, how I wish I were as devoted as she was in every way.

5 comments about David Livingstone: Africa's Trailblazer (Christian Heroes: Then & Now) (Christian Heroes: Then & Now).

1. After reading 5 other books in the Christian Heroes Then & Now series and liking them all, I have to say that this was a huge disappointment. I bought this book for my sons to read thinking that it could give them a great role model and hero.
   In my opinion, David Livingstone was neither of these. Not only did he marry when he knew he wouldn't stay in one place too long but he also left his kids, five or six of them, with his wife or grandparents for years and years at a time without any contact. For years he wouldn't even know where his kids were or who was taking care of them, or even if they were dead or alive. He never even met his youngest child, a daughter, until she was five years old, even then it was only for a brief time before he was off seeking adventure in Africa and never again laid eyes on her or his other children. This book was not about the great missionary and role model I had hoped for, instead it was about a dead beat dad. I was very unimpressed by his life choices, it seems that his priority was adventure not family. The other thing that bothered me while reading this book was that it mentioned time and time again that David Livingstone was the first white man to do this or that.
   After reading this book I felt his goal was to explore and be the first white man to accomplish many things but not neccessarily to minister to the tribes or be a good husband and father.



2. David was exceptional across the board. My heart hurt for his family although I'm sure David was unaware of the treatment they received. His wife was deserving of better. However, if the way he treated his family seems bad to you, then read the story of Adoniram Judson. Adoniram's letter to his prospective father-in-law gives the bottom line. I'm sure it was in that spirit that David made his decisions. This book gives a perspective on Africa of colonial times that is helpful in understanding much of the time period. I would also suggest you read about the life of Mary Slessor if you'd like to better understand Africa's recent history (i.e. last 125 years).



3. I thought the book was well written and covered the highlights of Dr. Livingstone's life. After reading the book, I had no major questions that were left unanswered. But, while doing other research on the life of Dr. Livingstone, I found out there were a few other events that probably should have been included. David was mostly blinded in one eye through an accident. This could have been said in the book without taking up too much space and seems to have been an important event.
   
   I agree with another reviewer in that David was probably not the best role model for how missions should be done today and for how to treat a family. But one thing that needs to be remembered is that his life was not too different from many missionaries of the time. It was not unusual to send (or leave) the children back home for years at a time to be raised in a boarding school. Thankfully, as missionaries, we don't need to do that anymore. He lived in a very different time than we live in today and the fact that there are many great ministries in Africa today can be traced back to the pioneering work done by Dr. Livingstone.
   
   A well written book, even if you don't agree with the life of Dr. Livingstone.



4. Not quite what I expected when I read this. This book chronicles more of Livingston's ventures as an explorer, and less that of a missionary. In fact, at some point in the book there's this subtle shift from Livingston the missionary to Livingston the explorer, and while he should be credited for his efforts as an explorer, what happened to his missionary service? He all but abandoned it! And speaking of abandonment, one thing despicable about Livingston was how he would frequently abandon his wife (who had suffered a stroke earlier!) and his own children, to go off on lengthy ventures through Africa. This wasn't admirable, and I found myself actually growing to detest what seemed almost like an obsession of Livingston: turning his back on family to trudge through Africa with a band of natives.
   By the end of the book, when Livingston ultimately dies in Africa, the only sense of pity that I really felt was for his abandoned family. Livingston's insane obsession, and abandonment of his ministry, his wife and family, had ultimately left him dead, deep within the African continent.



5. Throughout his life, David sacrificed all: his family, creature comforts, and his own health to open Africa to future missions. I suppose the reason others were disappointed in this book is because David was not a traditional missionary. However, God called him and he obeyed.
   
   David's missions were a huge success in my mind. The Kalahari, trecherous rivers, bug infested jungles, and mud swamps were not going to stop him!! He travelled where no white man had travelled before, was a kind man, and embraced the Africans. This was a monumental step in keeping communication open to future missionaries and opening up unexplored areas where new mission stations could later be established. He planted the seed of missions in Africa, if you will. It parallels the thought that as we share the gospel with others, we could simply be planting seeds and then others will come along behind and help that planted seed to sprout. We won't always see the fruit of our labors, and although David saw some fruit, he had just begun the task of introducing Africans to God. After he passed on, it became the job of other missionaries to go in behind him to help the seeds to sprout.
   
   I also see him not as a deadbeat dad, but as a man sold out to God. He and his children sacrificed in order that he may obey God. What more of a testimony to his children could he have given? After all, God doesn't say to obey only after the kids are grown and gone. We are to obey all the time no matter what. I was truly humbled by David's life and sacrifices and cried as the book came to a close.

5 comments about Forgiving the Dead Man Walking: Only One Woman Can Tell the Entire Story.

1. I remember this crime all too well. My cousin (Mark) was Debbie's boyfriend. I was only 9 at the time, but I remember the frantic phone call from my aunt and my dad joining other members of our family as they drove through town looking for Debbie and Mark. I will never forget overhearing the details of the wake of horror that Robert Willie left behind.
   
   Debbie's book is full of courage, honor, and forgiveness. If should be in every victim assistance program and every victim of crime should read it. If you've read Dead Man Walking, you owe it to yourself to read this as well as Mike Varnado's book (he was the investigator who found Faith Hathaway's body). Helen Prejean cannot tell you about the "real" Robert Willie... only his survivor can.



2. It's hard to find enough words of praise for this book. Two vicious killers escape from jail and chance on a 16-year-old Christian girl talking with her boyfriend in his car in a small town in Louisiana. The escaped prisoners abduct them at gunpoint and head for Florida. They shoot the boyfriend on the way and leave him for dead on a fire ants' nest. They keep the girl with them, and rape her whenever they feel like it. She finds out they raped and killed at least one other young woman before her.
   
   Debbie Morris survived this terrible ordeal and her testimony put the abductors back in jail. Later she found that a nun had befriended the main killer, Robert Willie, and he was now becoming something of a celebrity, even while headed for the electric chair.
   
   It would have been easy to produce a book that was full of bitterness at the legal system, at the world, and at God. But this book doesn't do that. It is gripping yet sensitive, informative yet reserved, and as forgiving as it is powerful. What I like most about it is that the writers (professional writer Gregg Lewis put it together for Debbie Morris) know exactly when to give details and when to restrain them. For example, many writers would play up the rapes for their sensationalism, but in this book Debbie Morris says "he raped me" and leaves it at that.
   
   This is factual writing at its best. I found it hard to put the book down. And it moved me more than books usually do. I cannot find a thing wrong with it to give it less than a five-star rating.



3. This was written by, or on behalf of, Debbie Morris, one of the victims of Robert Willie, a death row inmate supported by Sister Helen Prejean, as recounted in her book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account Of The Death Penalty In The United States. As such, I think anyone interested in Prejean's work will want to read it, and I recommend reading Michael Varnado's Victims of Dead Man Walking (also issued as Losing Faith) and Dead Family Walking: The Bourque Family Story of Dead Man Walking by D.D. Devinci for other points of view.
   
   I read this book when it first came out, and I have pondered it for all the years since. As an account of enduring and surviving a grotesque crime, this is a very moving account. As a comment about dealing with such issues, I found it unsatisfying.
   
   The first problem is the ambiguities of the relationship between Morris and Prejean. Let me say that I have considerable admiration for Prejean, certainly more than for most people on her side of the death issue. At least she doesn't dismiss the victims as irrelevant. This story is told as a memoir, so Morris attempts to recount her feelings at the time, which are not necessarily how she feels looking backward. Before she met Prejean, Morris tells us that she was extremely critical of her for accepting without question what Robert Willie told her. Her anger was quite justified. It wouldn't have been difficult for Prejean to find other accounts. But now that Morris and Prejean are such great friends, does this criticism still stand? Further, it becomes clear that Prejean has no qualms about lying through her teeth to further her claims. She said in her interviews prior to Willie's execution that he was remorseful, a changed man. Willie contradicted her in his own interviews. She admits to Morris that Willie wasn't, and probably wasn't capable of being remorseful. Neither she nor Morris seem to have dealt with this untruthfulness.
   
   I am bewildered by Morris' remarks about forgiveness. Many people who write on the issue of forgiveness have the odd idea that if one hasn't forgiven someone, one thinks of them obsessively, eaten up with anger. I had a friend who was murdered; I certainly haven't forgiven the murderer. He received a sentence that satisfies my sense of justice and I have almost forgotten him. I often think lovingly of my friend, but the only time that I think of him is when someone brings up this forgiveness issue. One of the proponents of forgiveness insisted that I must have forgiven him in some sense, but I insisted that I am the arbiter of my own feelings - he is not forgiven one whit. Forgiveness can be just as active and require as much energy as anger.
   
   I'm glad that Morris has learned to cope with what happened to her, but I don't understand it as forgiveness. If she had forgiven him before the trial, would she have refused to testify? If it doesn't affect the course of the law, then what does it mean? Salvation is between the individual soul and God, so that is no explanation either. These are familiar platitudes, which people throw out so unthinkingly, confident that they are self evident, that when they are challenged to explain, they often cannot.
   
   Personally, I recommend Forgiving and Not Forgiving:: Why Sometimes It's Better Not to Forgive by Jeanne Safer as a nuanced look at anger and forgiveness.



4. Along with this, Michael Varnado's "Victims of Dead Man Walking" gives excellent insight into the true story of the murders/rapists and their victims. Those crimes did not just affect the ones directly involved, but the entire community.



5. Having struggled with the issue of forgiveness in my own life, I truly related to what was conveyed in this book. I commend Debbie on her courage in sharing her story, and God's work in her life.

4 comments about Bad Dog!: A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places.

1. Lin Jenson has the grace to reflect on profound moments in his life in a non-judgemental way, regardless of the circumstances. It is refreshing to read the work of a person that has the gift of self reflection and can communicate the experience as well as this Zen teacher has been able to do. One can only hope to be able to learn as much from their own life's experiences.



2. The first story "Bad Dog" evokes the recurring theme of the entire collection: Redemption in a world of sorrow. It spans the author's life through more than fifty years in a mere six pages. An essence of humilty is evident as you try and understand the hardness of his father's will. The adage of he did the best he knew how plays a familiar tune to most of us raised by depression era parents. The resentment melts away with Jensen's tender acts of mercy towards his father nearing the end of his life. A tender act few if any of us would be able to muster up...
   It's a recommended read for everyone hoping to understand how to see into the darkness and not be afraid.



3. Stark, and beautiful.
   Many people, like the author's father, assert that the best response to tough times is to be cold and tough in our actions. But throughout his lifetime, in the shadow of the Great Depression and his cruel father, the author stayed true to his own inner desire for compassion.
   And he has lived to tell us about it.



4. I'm a fan of really good writing as well as Buddhism. I read this book several months ago and always meant to write a review about it. So today I finally got around to it and browsed the reviews written before me to see that all the superlatives had been already taken.
   
   Gut-wrenching, beautiful,powerful.
   
   This book touched me as very few have. It is a must-read regardless of its subject matter because of the quality of the writing alone. I could feel this kid's life. His loneliness, alienation and neediness.
   
   Like many great books it can be read on different levels. As a personal memoir of growing up in a particular time and place with a particular type of upbringing. As a lay Buddhist book; essentially a primer of how to step away from a world of samsara and build for yourself, step by step, act by act, a life of peace, love and compassion.
   
   What a journey he's had. How amazing that he shared it with us.
   
   It's an elegant, lyrical, deceptively "deep" book which really deserves a much wider audience.(Read it and imagine that it's Number One on the N.Y. Times bestseller list and see if you feel just a little more hopeful).

5 comments about The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox.

1. Can you crack your fingers? Most people can. Can you crack your toes? That's a little rarer, but still not an extraordinary ability. Can you crack your toes and thereby enrich your family and start a new form of religion? That would be extraordinary, and the extraordinary story of the woman who did it is in The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox (Harcourt) by Nancy Rubin Stuart. Maggie Fox, and her sisters, were good enough at toe snapping (and the equivalent of ventriloquism, making people think the noises were coming from elsewhere) that they harnessed the snaps to spooky effect. They convinced first their mother and then much of the American public that the raps were simply the manner of telegraph that dead people use to contact those of us left behind here. It seems preposterous that the spirits, with all the resources of The World Beyond, would have to resort to such a system of communication, and indeed, after the Fox sisters got started, they and their imitators were able to show how spirits helped in such useful feats as tipping tables, writing in trances, producing yucky ectoplasm, or many other peculiar manifestations. Stuart acknowledges the eagerness to believe that is the great engine that powers such performances. Most religions teach that there is some sort of life after death, but many seek direct evidence of it. The spiritualists provided what passed as evidence, and what passed as comfort for the bereaved, and if Maggie Fox could crack her toes and say it was confirmation of life on "the other side", then there was a public eager to believe her.
   
   She didn't set out on a career of spiritualism. She was fourteen years old in 1848, living in Hydesville, New York, when she and her sister started playing tricks on their mom. The agitated response of Mrs. Fox to their tricks and rappings convinced her that a spirit haunted the house. The word about the "spook house" spread, and when strangers, including journalists and clergymen, converged upon the farmhouse, Maggie was locked into a role. Her celebrity was taken over by her 34-year-old sister Leah, who learned the secret of how the "spirits" were being produced, and essentially blackmailed Maggie into performing for money (this is why Maggie can be referred to as "reluctant"). Leah organized séances in homes and eventually in larger venues like theaters in Rochester and then Manhattan. The pretty Maggie was wooed from spiritualism by the Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane, who secretly married her shortly before his death overseas. Maggie attempted to gain her legacy from him, but Kane's duplicitous family succeeded in keeping it from her. Impoverished, and prone to alcoholism, Maggie eventually exposed herself in 1888, either because of guilt or because of need of money. She appeared on stage in New York to tell 3,000 listeners, "I have been mainly instrumental in perpetrating the fraud of Spiritualism upon a too confiding public." She then took off her shoes and demonstrated the tricks of her toes. The demonstration was a sensation in the hall, but it failed to translate into sales for her book The Death-Blow to Spiritualism or into a lucrative tour. Spiritualists were, of course, outraged, and Maggie didn't mollify them when she retracted her confession a year latter. She never regained her previous fame before she died in 1893.
   
   Stuart's book, the first full biography of Maggie Fox, is an important history of the founding of spiritualism. Her descendants, like John Edward and James Van Praagh, are still making money by contacting the dead, and it is useful to be reminded how the origin of spiritualism, fired by the hopes of bereaved families, was founded upon fraud. (Stuart tries for balance, and maintains, even against the evidence presented here, that the questions of authenticity among spiritualists remain "just beyond our grasp.") The book also is a reflection on women in nineteenth century America, as Maggie and her sisters had acquaintances who were in the women's suffrage movement; they themselves, however, used their fame as spiritualists to at least partially break out of the role of dependency and docility. For the most part, Maggie was trapped by her family into playing the role of fraud, which is sad enough, and she changed the history of humbuggery, which is sadder still.



2. It began as a prank where Maggie Fox and her sister rapped out messages from the 'spirit world' in 1948 and soon lead to a vast movement of believers in the otherworld - a movement Fox eventually denounced forty years later, revealing her hoax. Maggie Fox's life, prank, and phenomenon is revealed in The Reluctant Spiritualist, a powerful biographical coverage surveying not just her prank and its powers, but the famous people of her era who became engrossed in the promise of tangible evidence of an afterlife.



3. Firstly, I am a Spiritualist medium, healer, teacher, lecturer and minister. I am currently the Associate Pastor of the Colby Memorial Temple in Cassadaga, Florida. So I admit to coming to this review a bit biased in Maggie's favour.
   
   I gave this book four instead of five stars because I felt it was somewhat unbalanced. And from the other reviews, I feel justified. Ms. Stuart has given us a tremendous picture of life in the last half of the American Victorian Era. There were many issues facing women and Spiritualism got into the middle of many of them. All the reviewers read that Maggie debunked Spiritualism, but none of them seem to read that she recanted that confession and told us why. Also remember that many of the norms and mores of the time got in the way of her life. She was also tremendously effected by her love for Dr. Kane. Has there never been a young girl confused, coming into puberty? I think not.
   
   Anyway, the book is basically well written. I have already used it as a basis for a Lyceum Lecture(Our version of Sunday School). The greatest value of the book is in its exposing readers to a little known period of American history and the involvement of religion in that period. Other good books are:
   RADICAL SPIRITS by Anne Braude and TALKING TO THE DEAD, and LILYDALE. Also the truly interested reader would be remiss without reading the HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (See my review).



4. In 1888, at New York's Academy of Music, Maggie Fox announced to the packed audience that all of her previous forty years of practicing spiritualism was all a hoax. At the age of fifteen, she and her sister Katy rapped out messages they claimed came to them from the spirit world. They created 'raps' by manipulating their toe joints.
   
   They became overnight celebrities with this novelty and some of the most prominent people of that era were entranced with the Fox sisters and their performances. Among these were Horace Greely ('Go West, Young Man'), Elisha Kent Kane, William James, and others.
   
   She became disenchanted with hoaxing the world after her husband died and she chose the time and place to make her scandalous confession, And yet, her spirit lives on. Just as mine will as the Tennessee Theatre ghost and a definite presence on the city buses.
   
   Celebrity medium Sylvia Browne is a guru to many people in America, including Ken Young of Denver and his mother. I once went to a fortune teller (with my sister-in-law in Maryland) who looked at the lines in my hands and asked if I had three children. I told her, "No, I have two sons." Within the year, another son was born. And I am not a believer in tea-leaf readings, hand fortune telling, nor the possiblility of spirits who have gone on to the Great Beyond lingering to cause such an uproar as the Fox sisters did with their mischief, which got out of hand.
   
   Nancy Stuart, after whom Geoffrey was named, used letters as the primary source for this memoir of Maggie Fox, a Victorian girl who rocked the religious, social and spiritual world of her time. Ms. Stuart has also written AMERICAN EMPRESS and THE RENAISSANCE QUEEN. She is a journalist and one of the directors of the Women Writing Women's Lives Seminar at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her articles have appeared in the 'Los Angeles Times.'



5. Whatever your opinion about spiritualism and ghosts, this is a very interesting biography. Of course having an interest in ghost stories myself, I was already aware of the Fox sisters as a phenomenon. I had also run across Margrette Fox as an individual in a book I'd read on the ice ages which happened to include a section on the artic explorer Elisha Kent Kane. Miss Stuart's book, The Reluctant Spiritualist, puts all of this information into perspective making it a coherent tale. "Tale" is a good word for it, too. The lady's life was quite extraordinary. One might believe it to have been written by a depressed Jane Austin or by one of the Bronte sisters.
   
   The book makes it clear that the rise and surprising persistance of spiritualism in the 19th century was a reflection of the social issues of the time, particularly the status women. Spiritualists like the Fox sisters acheived a much greater degree of independance than most women of the time did. A practicing medium could not only make a living, but an especially gifted one could make a small fortune and live a quite lavish lifestyle. She could meet famous and influential people, thereby achieving a great degree of social consequence herself. All of the Fox sisters--with the possible exception of Maggie herself--made advantageous marital liasons with well to do individuals who encouraged their activities. A move from a lower middle class rural background to an upper class lifestyle was hardly possible for most women. The average woman found herself circumscribed by rigid codes of behavior, confined to her home and family, poorly if at all educated, and at risk of poverty at the death of her husband should he have made little or no provision for her well being. The latter is very evident from the outcome of the relationship of Elisha Kane and Maggie and from the situation with Katie and her husband. It is probably no surprise that the spiritualist movement appealed to the followers of the women's movement of the time or that many spiritualists were also suffragettes.
   
   It would appear that freedom and public attention came at a price, however, as both Maggie and Katie suffered from severe depression and alcoholism all their lives, ultimately dying of these afflictions. Society treated them and others like them with a marked degree of suspcision, if for no other reason than that they were women in the public eye, and women who did what they wanted, had money of their own, and socialized with whomever they chose. There was also the issues of "free love" and the equality of women, which titillated the less adventurous curious.
   
   Although the effects of the Civil War on the persistance of spiritualism is mentioned, I'm surprised that the author did not discuss this topic more thoroughly. The death of so many men during that period created a huge market for the services of spiritualists and probably was the cause of it's popularity lasting well into the 20th century as well. Almost everyone at the time was religious to some degree and believed in the survival of the spirit. The opportunity to achieve a degree of closure after the loss of a family member during the war must have been almost irresistible. And who can tell to what degree the information received by the individual subscriber at the seance helped them through their grief? Might it not have been to at least same extent as that acheived by a modern grief cousellor or psychologist? Possibly better, since it suited the religious sensibilities of the times?
   
   I think the book would make an excellant film. The characters are all very strong. There's an adventurer--Kane--to carry us off to the rigors of the artic. There is a tragic romance and the escape of Katie to England where she marries and has a family--if not happily ever after, as close as she, and probably anyone gets. Much is made by Artic exploring buffs of Kane and by Spiritualists of the Fox sisters, but together they create a major drama.

5 comments about Sgt. York: His Life, Legend & Legacy : The Remarkable Untold Story of Sergeant Alvin C. York.

1. I'm going to do what the author couldn't seem to do "get to the point" This book was very dry and I hope that Sgt York had a more
   exciting life (other than his war experience) than this book makes it sound. I had a hard time getting through it.



2. After reading his life of Mary Custis Lee, which was quite impressive and turned up many unique insights into a tragically misjudged lady, I sought out other books by Tennessee's own and only John Perry. I found a copy of UNSHAKABLE FAITH, but it had mildewed badly and was nearly unreadable. But faith must have led me to a path of light because on a dark shelf in an East Bay bookstore my hand crept down past a row of Elizabeth Peters books, and landed almost by a miracle on this earlier book by Perry.
   
   I knew very little about Alvin York, except that my grandfather, whose name was Alvin, always blamed the remarkable fame of Sgt York on the popularity of this previous unknown name. He said when he went to school there were thirty-four boys in his graduating class called Alvin. John Perry addresses this amazing renown. His exploits in the Argonne Forest became the stuff of legend, and the Gary Cooper biopic in 1941 muffed the facts a bit to give York more of a country background than actually he had. Many members of his extended family were quite erudite, and my grandfather always used to say that one of York's aunts had written the very first home economics textbook in English, predating Boston's Fannie Farmer by some years.
   
   Perry has a sincere way of writing, and the excitement doesn't let down when York comes back home a hero. You see him doing good works in the name of the Lord and, although many politicians and lawmakers were ever ready and anxious to buy up a piece of his ass, hoping to enlist him into one or another misbegotten crackpot scheme. To his credit York paid them no mind and just continued on his humble way. As with his life of Mary Lee, Perry shows how a good writer concentrates on the facts and lets the legend go its own way, like a small boy cutting the string to a kite and waving it goodbye. The truth is, what becomes a myth is something we have no control over, and Perry acknowledges this with good grace and a wry smile.
   
   Highly recommended not only to Tennesseans and to Christians, but to everyone out there interested in a good life story.



3. The Sgt York Biography by John Perry is an exhaustive effort to give a representation of the Life of Alvin York in the highest degree of accuracy, and tedious attention to detail in painting the most True to Life version that anyone is likely to come across. If one is interested in what made Alvin C. York Tick, then John Perry's account is your book. If only a general understanding is what is sought, then these pages will be far more than what you may have bargained for. But For Fineness of intricacies which permeated Sgt. York's Life, Read John Perry's version.



4. Alvin York spent 19 months of his 76 years in the United States Army during World War I (WWI) and 20 minutes to an hour in the action which made him America's greatest hero of that war. In writing a book about Alvin York, then, the author had to make a decision. Should he write about those 19 months, about that hour, or about the man's entire life? For any other man, the answer would be fairly simple: write about that hour. For Alvin York, however, the answer is quite different, and this author rightly chose to write the complete story of his life both before, during, and after his heroic military service.
   
   When I began reading the book, however, I didn't realize this, and, as a result, I was somewhat disappointed. It seemed to me that all the action, the interesting stuff, was up front and then the book slowly transitioned into the more mundane story of York's later life. But I persisted and gradually came to realize that that was the way York, himself, would have wanted it. After all, as he said many time throughout his life, "Uncle Sam's Army is not for sale."
   
   I must agree with some of the previous critics that this book is almost too detailed, particularly in the middle chapters, as York, with his third grade education, struggles against entrenched politicians to fulfill his dream of building a Christian school in the Tennessee mountains so the backwoods children could have the education he never had. But if you persist, you will likely come to realize, as I did, that his actions after the war and the manner in which he lived his life are much more heroic than anything he or anyone else did in the Great War or in any other war.
   
   The bottom line is this: Alvin York is much more of a hero than I had ever imagined, and, although this book may at times be a difficult read, I highly recommend it. After all, although he never caught a touchdown pass or hit a ninth inning home run, Sergeant York is one hero whose like will never be seen again (guaranteed).



5. If you've seen the 1941 film "Sergeant York" with Gary Cooper, then this book is a must read for you. Perry delves into the man, Alvin York, and tells us the rest of the story. Yes, the defining moment of York's life happened in the Argonne Forest in WW1, but he went on to do more. He battled Lindberg, the IRS and more. This book doesn't paint York as faultless by any stretch, but it also is by no means an exposé. Just a keen insight into the complex life of a simple man.
   If you enjoyed Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit", you will also be moved by this book as well.

2 comments about Where Women Walked.

1. I was really moved by the stories of the women in this book. The authors did a great job of recounting the hardships and challenges of older women while challenging their readers to draw on/grow in their own faith to handle the hurdles in their lives. I plan to use this book in my own life if/when I face similar challenges and will share it with others who are in the midst of experiencing such things as a divorce, cancer, loss of a spouse, etc.



2. The authors interviewed and recounted the stories of older women in the hope of inspiring younger readers to seek older women's wisdom and encouragement. This book is a gem for younger and older readers alike as it spans generations. At the crux of each story is the presence of faith and how it works in women's lives. A must-read!

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 Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic.

1. I love this man. If he were still alive, and if I had a daughter, I would not trust him around her, and I would also not take anything he says too seriously. But that is sort of the point. Follow any teacher or master too closely and you will be disillusioned. This guy tells you where he found his keys to the kingdom, and his stories and message are all you need to find your own key. I really enjoy his books.



2. It is believed that the tribals lead a much better life than us educated, sophisticated, and evolved humans. Osho proves this in his biography. His quest for the ultimate truth, lead him to question not only established cult-typed religions but also ourselves in terms of psychology.
   
   For a moment, if seekers were to be stranded in an island and they knew nothing about religion, sex, luxury, philosophy then what would they do? One thing is sure, that their freedom of choice would not be limited by these norms and beliefs. In other words, they will be free than us living in advanced nations.
   
   Osho has achieved just that while living around dogmatic people like us. With his clarity of thought and analysis he has seeked his answers everywhere. Born as a Jain, he questioned not only his birth religion but also every school of thought, from Zarathustra to Zen.
   
   I loved reading this biography. It challenges people to look at their reactions to similar situations in their lives. What we have taken for granted, Osho has given a thought to it rationally!



3. Nice book only half is about is life which is suprising as he seemed to talk and do alot.



4. The only thing incorrect about OSHO is that he could not have lived a hundred years. This book is a delightful and funny look into the early life of a spiritual rebel, even as a child. I see in OSHO the courage it took to ask the questions I never asked for fear of retribution or crusifiction. Reading his autobiography inspired me to "question my answers."
   Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide Magazine, Chico, CA



5. I was unaware of all the controversy about this man, and I wish I still was naiive to it. I love osho's books they have helped me so much ...as a younger person, I didnt know about all the bad stuff, or Rajneeshpuram. This book doesnt go too far into THAT, which is good because his teachings were and still are so strong. Some say that this book left out a bunch of stuff ... maybe for good reason. Osho is to YOU what you want him to be. You dont have to wear marroon or orange clothing and go to retreats to experience Osho. Hes right here! OSHO-NEVER BORN NEVER DIED-ONLY VISITED THIS EARTH FROM 1931-1990. And I believe that Sheela poisoned him, she was the one to go to prison for her wrongdoings not Osho.. But maybe it was the government like he thought when he was in jail for 12 days and deported for no real reason. Regardless, he died at age 59. Left his body. Perhaps it was his time to leave that body and come back later on. I love tis book. I have disregarded all the bad stuff Ive read abou him, and focus only what he taught me (and continues to teach me) through his books and words. I wish I could have met him. Namaste.

5 comments about Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History (Austen Riggs Monograph, No 4).

1. Erickson's work is intelligently written and is perfect for stimulating the first year history graduate student towards broadening his or her thoughts on history and historical figures. That said, the work is also a tedious read that at times is little more than a pedantic stream of the author's consciousness. In the end, one does not really feel that much has been learned about the inner life of Luther, or about his time and place. A worthy work to be sure, but certainly also a minor one of limited value.



2. Granted, Erikson's book makes for a great read, but lacks any real credibility. This book, along with his book on Gandhi, demonstrate that one can read anything into people when seperated by time and space. Take everything you read with a grain of salt. There are many more Luther bios that are more accurate and useful.



3. The father-son relationship Erikson explores here is very interesting. The most convincing aspects of his analysis are those most closely based on Luther's own writings, such as Luther's deep paralyzing dread at celbrating his first mass in front of his earthly father, as he mediates on behalf of that same father with his heavenly father.

   Erikson's spirit lives on in the same tension found in "Amadeus," where Mozart confronts his father's same brand of wrath--suspecting that his son is wasting himself in something unproductive and immoral.

   Erickson probably is speculating, in the manner of an archaelogist, when he broods about what Young Man Luther may have witnessed around the house in his violent father's relationship with his mother.

   Psychiatrists need this kind of book. Taking on the really big personalities helps them understand the rest of us. Helps them use all the gears on the 18-speed; lets them press all the buttons they will never need to service the only vital end of the market for shrink services: the troubled youth market, the only one with the cash to invest in the counseling arts. Before you're too far gone for anyone to care about.

   Perhaps it also helps the rest of us to escape, to focus on something we don't know much about, and aren't very good at: but to be satisfied anyway. Ibn Khaldun said that was a particular affliction of academics. That's the good news: if you can't bear this book, maybe you're a really talented academic with a bright future. The rest of us are just reading it in an attempt to find meaning in our latest airplane flight. We're developing a fear of facing the pilot on the way out, since he's such an imposing father figure. Then we realize he's repeating cheesy little "good byes" and our confidence returns--he's not challenging us at all, he's one of us. Amen.




4. This is Erikson's breakthrough work in psychohistory. He reads the inner conflicts of Luther and connects them convincingly with great historical events. In this particular case he chooses a historical figure whose violence in some way undermines and contradicts the very religious vocation his life is built upon. Erikson shows how the revolutionary Luther in conflict with his own violent father and himself turns against the world of corrupt medieval indulgence- laden Catholicism and uses his own personal energy and story to create a powerful change in history, the Reformation.
   This is an admirable piece of theorizing and research combined and a fascinating read.
   
   
   



5. This might've been a worthwhile study if Erikson had not watered down his Freudianism. For example, Luther displays numerous traits of what Freud would describe as an anal personality: not only was he angry and uptight, he was obsessed with farts, butts, and feces. Does Erikson pursue this angle? Not consistently. Instead, he suggests renaming the anal stage the "independence stage" and compares Luther to a typical adolescent. This sort of watering down in endemic here.
   
   Erikson focuses on the notion that Luther went through an identity crisis. Unfortunately, Erikson's notion of an "identity crisis" is so bland and general that it is hard to imagine anyone who has not gone through such a crisis, and thus it says little about Luther in particular. Further, Erikson's ambiguity about Luther becomes annoying as he constantly swings from criticizing his behavior to defending him as a supposedly great man. He frequently gets off track and explores side issues.
   
   Finally, Erikson's understanding of the Reformation is limited at best. He blindly accepts every anticlerical cliche about the Catholic Church, and offers simplistic versions of German history and politics. On the other hand, he does offer occasional insights and throws out some spicy tidbits about Luther's private life. A curious mix of purience and dullness which left me wishing for what might have been.