5 comments about Goldwyn: A Biography.

1. Great book! I enjoyed reading about a man who literally came from poverty to be on of Hollywood's pioneer filmmakers. He was a rough man to work with no doubt, but knew what worked and lasted in an industry that is hard to last in! A. Scott Berg did a wonderful job of writing a respectful book about this man!



2. What a story! A remarkably easy to read account of Sam Goldwyn's rags-to-riches life. Did you know "Goldwyn" was not his real name? Did you know he was thrown out of the MGM company after a few years?! Goldwyn worked at some stage or other with just about every famous name in the business, and also fell out with just about everybody he ever met. A cantankerous and perverse character who loved contradicting people. When people quit because he made their lives intolerable, he sometimes felt personally attacked and betrayed. The book is full of colourful characters, and Scott Berg has done a wonderful job of using quotations and dialogues to really bring these people alive: Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Lillian Hellman, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, and the remarkable Hilda Berl. It reads like a movie! By tracing Goldwyn's history, the book also covers the story of many of the other famous movie companies that are still famous today: United Artists, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO and of course MGM. Goldwyn also came across many young actors and actresses before they were stars: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, etc. And of course the famous Goldwyn malapropisms are here, though limited to the ones actually traceable (as far as possible) to Goldwyn himself: "Anyone who sees a psychiatrist should have their head examined! Include me out! A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on," to pick just a few.

   A remarkably well-written and well-researched biography that brings this vigorous, infuriating, yet oddly attractive ugly duckling to vibrant life. This must rank amongst the best biographies, up there with Ron Chernow's book about the Morgans. Anyone at all interested in movies and movie history will enjoy this.




3. I picked this book up at the library not knowing what to expect and was amazed! Although it is indeed a biography of Sam Goldwyn, it is also a very well told piece about the studio system and Hollywood in the first half of the century (with an emphasis on the 20's) Not only insightful but entertaining; it makes for a read more gossipy than the trashiest celeb autobiography while maintaining class and style.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone the least bit interested in the classic hollywood days. It is the best book I've read thus far on the era, and it will get you down to the video store hunting down old movies just to see the actors and actresses you've read about.



4. Berg does a great job, and the subject is absolutely a fascinating one.



5. A. Scott Berg does an excellent job in capturing the life of one of the American cinema's first industry moguls. From his tough beginning as an immigrant to his phenomenal success as an independent producer, this entertaining and fascinating biography delves deeply into the man with the "Goldwyn touch." Berg also effectively captures the spirit of early cinema and its rapid rise in American culture. Along the way, we also learn about many of Hollywood's colorful personalites, including Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. This book is a must for any fan of early American motion pictures.

No comments about Legacy: Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Trust and Rhodes Scholarships.

5 comments about Tiffany's Palm Beach.

1. For most people, this kind of lifestyle is only a dream, but wow, what colourful and beautiful dreams. This book is choc full of stunning photos that reflect the wealth some people luckily or unluckily have. Their houses (or should I say shrines) are treasures in their own rights, but the possesions inside are also gems. The Tiffany theme is reflected in here all the way through and there is some stunning pieces. This is a pricey 'coffee table' book, but it's so beautiful, you'll be glad you treated yourself or someone else.



2. Loved this book. I purchased it merely for inspiration photos for my own construction, but found myself reading each page!! Very interesting read!



3. This book shows that given enough money there is no limit to how young, thin and attractive your wife can be. And apparently there is no limit to the hubris of the rich--designer wine cellars on a hurricane prone barrier island.
   Last I checked there were over 260 homes for sale on Palm Beach with an asking price of $2 million up.
   A great coffee table book. And a pictorial guide to The Season by Ronald Kessler that is sitting on my book shelves awaiting a read.



4. To almost anyone, Tiffany and Co. and Palm Beach would go hand and hand, analagous like Lalique and Monte Carlo. The concept for this book is very interesting and the author fully realizes how to exploit the two to their most advantagious. The text is highly informative and the images are crisp and beautifully presented. I agree with one of the reviews that this is an expensive coffee table book, but frankly im sure those interested in this sort of thing, will not think twice about the price of admission. Really a wonderful book on a very interesting subject, well done indeed.



5. There isn't much substance to this book......
   Fun pictures, but nothing much more

No comments about Last Train to Memphis Careless Love.

5 comments about Last Man Down: A New York City Fire Chief and the Collapse of the World.

1. I have had this book for a few years but have not been able to read it till recently.The story is quite interesting and astonishing (especially as it is a true story) but the writing is somewhat repetetive - I think this is done to make the story longer - and the Firefighter seems to be too full of himself always going on how great he is and how well he did what a good leader he is ...... and so on.Entertaining and interesting but the way the story is written spoils it.



2. As a firfigther who understands chain of command and the need to work with in an Incident Command System, this book perfectly explains how one FDNY Battalion Chief breaks all the rules, chosing to respond to the World Trade Center Disaster rather than remain responsible for his own Battalion, risks the lives of members of 110Truck to "sprint" to the 35th floor of the North Tower, ABANDONING them on the way to freelance some more in the burning tower, only to ultimately become stuck in the collapse of the North Tower where he goes on to shout at and berade a PAPD Officer who's lost his partner, a K9, to the collapse of the bulidng. This book is a shameful and embarrasing for all American firefighters, those silent heros who risk their lives daily.



3. I just recently read the paperback version of this book. The first half of this book is pretty interesting and heart pounding in detailing what it was like to be in the World Trade Center while it collapsed. The second half was very disatisfying. It was very self-serving and is mostly about Mr. Picciotto praising himself and his actions and criticizing absolutely everyone else. I also find it interesting that Mr. Picciotto said how hard it was for him to return to the site and that it took him a very long time do this. However, in the acknowledgment at the end of the book, he returns barely a few weeks after the collapse and with his collaborator of this book. He had already found the time to get a book deal and co-author!



4. I had wanted to read this book for a while, so I purchased it. Richard Picciotto is not the best writer, but he does give you a sense of what it was like to be under pressure and trying to survive the tower collapse. He doesn't pull punches as to who he blames for the loss of firefighters that day. Lack of adequate equipment, department cuts, etc. I think to a certain extent he has a valid point, but I also know that there were many other factors involved as well. Mr. Picciotto's focus is understandably on his personal experience and his emotions around what happened that day. I am glad that I read it, but I have to be honest and say it is what it is. Mr. Picciotto will probably not win a Pulitzer, but he calls it as he sees it and he was there and I wasn't.



5. Number one fact: Picciotto probably sensed the opportunity to make a few extra bucks from his ordeal in September 11, and seized the opportunity.
   
   Number two fact: It's strange to NOT like a book about September 1, but I did not like this book at all. Not because of the selfish and auto-congrulatory mode, but due to the literally (or lack of) characteristcis of the book. I think it's badly written, even with Mr. Paisner at the helm.
   
   As for Picciotto actions those days, only people under that kind of stresssful situation could know how they would have acted... Generally, I think he did the best he could for his city and for his companions and for the civilians he encountered.
   
   For all his detractors, I put the question: if he had died along with the shocking number of victims, even with all his "faults" he would have benn considered a hero, ego or no ego involved. Am I right?

5 comments about The Titled Americans: Three American Sisters and the British Aristocratic World into Which They Married.

1. Interesting story about these sisters but it is very shallow in that it never gets past the surface. We never know what drives these women and never get a true sense of their personalities. then towards the last third of the book, it becomes more of an itinerary than anything else. All you read is "....then Clare went here, then Jenny went there..." I think this author has promise. Apparently, this is her first book so I am hoping that she learns more writing skills. Lots of incorrect historial information as well. Unless I am missing something, was there someone called "Grand Princess Tsarvena" and "Grand Prince Tsar"? Apparently, the author tells us these 2 people were the future Nicholas II and Alexandra, who, according to the author "..attended his sister Marie's wedding to Queen Victoria's son..." Now, last I read, Marie was the daughter of Alexander II and NOT the sister of Nicholas II. AND, Nicholas II didn't even know Alexandra at this time. This is just one historical error but since this was my first connection with these sisters how can one be assured that they are reading the truth.



2. Elisabeth Kehoe's "The Titled Americans" is a good examination of the lives and careers of the surviving daughters of American financier Leonard Jerome: Leonie, Clara (originally Clarita), and especially, Jennie, the oldest, and probably best known for being the mother of Winston S. Churchill. Kehoe covers a lot of ground, focusing primarily on the lives of Leonie and her Leslie family and of Clara and her Frewhen family. Unfortunately, as another reviewer has so aptly noted here, we do not really get more than a terse descriptive look at these sisters, their husbands, and children. Without question, Jennie Jerome Churchill (Lady Randolph Churchill) was undoubtedly the most interesting of the three, working tirelessly as a dutiful politican's wife and as an unpaid resident "American Ambassador" to the United Kingdom at a time when relations between Americans and the British were far more cordial, and far less friendly, than they are now. I was struck reading how the lives of all three sisters were in many instances quite similar, having endured either poverty or unhappily married bliss (or in at least one instance both) inspite of their matrimonial alliances to British aristocracy. This slender volume serves mainly at best as a fine overview of the Jerome sisters and of their families; those wishing to read more about them should read the elegant biographies written by family members, most notably those by Winston S. Churchill.



3. This work chronicles the rise of one American family in the first half of the 1800s. The father is able to acquire a fortune through the stock market, and the mother is determined to take her three daughters to Europe where they will be able to trade their financial prospects for a European title, coming at the beginning of a series of marriages in which American heiresses were joined to less wealthy but socially advanced British nobility (particularly minor nobility). However, as the fortunes of the Jerome family wax and wane with the unsteady stock market, so do the prospects, marriages, and lives of the three Jerome sisters. Of special interest because one of the sisters (Jennie) is the mother of Winston Churchill.
   
   Quote: "It was all the more important to women of their class to adhere to these standards because they had so little else beyond their social position. Their story thus illuminates what it meant to be a female member of the British aristocracy during its decline, when incomes were falling but lifestyles were slow to follow the downward spiral."
   
   
   While I enjoyed this story and learning about the interesting lives led by the sisters, I also felt that it dragged on for rather longer than it needed to given its subject matter. And I'm a history teacher, so it's not that I automatically think history non-fiction is going to be boring :). However, the research seemed well done (end notes, yay!), and the stories of the lives of the three sisters and their offspring were woven together nicely.



4. The author has done a good job for her first book, her writing style is engaging allowing you to imagine you are witnessing the trails and trumipths of the Jeromne sisters.
   
   However, there was times that I had to consult the family tree (found in preface pages of the book) in order to understand which family members the author was writing about.



5. My title applies to the protagonists of the book as well as the book itself. The three Jerome sisters were certainly fascinating women, though incredibly self-absorbed at the expense of their children. The husbands all come off as cads, which I suppose can excuse some of their excesses. You almost get exhausted reading all the examples of shallowness throughout the generations. There were some eggregious errors by the author (one passage referred to a Tsar of Russia as Nicholas II before Nicholas was even born! The author must have meant his father, Alexander III). It's errors like this that detract from getting into the story. It's entertaining, but not as good as other bios of the time period.

5 comments about Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince.

1. Not really an insightful book. Not even worthy of a gossip column.



2. 
   Impressive bio ... However, authot repeats a lot of facts/opinions..



3. Probably the most salient thing you need to know about this book is that it's the OFFICIAL biography of the billionaire Saudi prince. Its author, Riz Khan, is a Yemenite who works at Al-Jazeera TV. The book was originally published in Lebanon.
   
   It's doesn't actually SAY "official" anywhere on it, but the book was made with extensive assistance and encouragement from Al-Waleed himself, and explicit cooperation from the Saudi government. In a country where even Mickey Mouse and "Little House on the Prarie" have been banned, you can find a copy of it in nearly every corner bookstore (not that there are many in the region). In fact, it's quite common to see it in shops and airports all over the Middle East.
   
   So you'd better believe there isn't a single negative word anywhere in it about Saudi culture, the Saudi royal family, or, of course, the main subject, the alluring Prince Waleed. Everything's hunky-dory!
   
   So if we can't criticize, that pretty much leaves what . . . ?
   
   Did somebody say praise? Why, praise it is! Did you know, gentle reader, that between loving his family wholeheartedly, wishing only the best for the world at large, and praying five times a day, the brilliant and raffish Prince Waleed is also an accomplished mountain climber, linguist, chef, author, skydiver, bodybuilder, musician, archaeologist, patriot, photographer, zoologist, pilot, historian, wine connoisseur, chess whiz, hunter, fashion designer, gymnast, philanthropist, bear wrestler, psychologist, pearl diver, stamp collector, tank commander, belly dancer, magician, software programmer, antiques buff, croquet master, Arctic explorer, pearl diver, entomologist, kappelmeister, physicist, sculptor, alchemist, mathematician, acupunturist, shark hunter, car collector, lutenist, Civil War aficionado, polo player, scrabble champion, zymurgist, yoga enthusiast, bridge player, and world-renowned expert on cigars?
   
   Need I say more?



4. This book is extremely fawning (sickeningly so), and it is obvious without it being written anywhere that Alwalweed would only participate in the biography if he had full control over the final product. He has a massive ego that comes through on every single page.
   
   Salient points:
   
   1. This book manages to bring up Israel *A-gain.* Big surprise.
   2. Strangely, there are no pictures of any of Alwaleeds wives anywhere in the photos section. (It is said that cameras are not allowed to take photos of any of them.)
   3. It is very surprising to find out that the author is from a family of moderates and that Arab royalty seems to be as much distinguished by country of origin (even though these countries are all relatively recent) as by anything else.
   4. This book teaches some very interesting things about the nature of banking-- but all these facts are not presented in a technical, unapproachable way.
   5. It was obviously an imporant thing to Alwaleed to make the point that he made his money from ways OTHER than oil. This is reiterated *many* times throughout the book. The conclusion that one comes away with is: No, it was not strictly oil that made his money, but royal connections/ nepotism accounted for a healthy chunk of it.
   6. The prose is very light and easy to read, and the whole thing can be put away in about 2 afternoons of reading.
   
   This is worth buying on the second hand shelf if you can find it.



5. There are many billionaries listed with Forbes. But in Saudi Arabia, Alwaleed rules. It is a good book to learn the strategies and success of what he did. He did not get rich, using oil money as you might suspect.
   I would recommend this book to all.

5 comments about A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson.

1. A Romanov Fantasy is the story of the most famous royal pretender of the twentieth century: Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish peasant woman who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, for some 64 years. It is also the story of the many devoted and eternally patient friends who sheltered and supported Franziska, better known as Anna Anderson, throughout that time.
   
   Franziska was a highly intelligent woman with a gift for drama. Unfortunately she also seems to have been mentally and emotionally troubled from an early age, so that she was unable to use her abilities positively. Her charm and her ability to pick up information enabled her to pose so successfully that even some of Anastasia's close relatives and former servants and associates were unable to either denounce or accept her. She used her magnetic personality to gather a crowd of supporters who, despite being exasperated by her time and again, seem never to have stopped believing in and trusting her.
   
   Frances Welch's biography concentrates primarily on Franziska's life and on the problems her supporters had dealing with her. The crucial last bit of the story, the DNA testing that ultimately proved Franziska was not Anastasia, is barely discussed. While it would be nice to read a fuller biography of Franziska, she was so unaccountable and so bizarre that it would probably not be possible to write one.



2. The book is not bad, but what put a damper on it for me is that the author had her photos mixed up, she identified the wrong sister as Anastasia a couple of times... You would expect she would at least get that one right. Maybe it was the publisher's fault. Some other minor mistakes and a few somewhat shifty sources, but on the whole a good read. For a change a non-fiction book about Anna Anderson as who she actually was: a mentally ill woman posing as a Russian grand duchess, as well as about the phenomenon of her dogmatic followers.



3. As a former Anna Anderson supporter, I dreaded reading this book. For over a decade I have studied the claim's Anna Anderson's to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, and while I no longer believe that she was actually the Grand Duchess I still respect and am fascinated by those individuals who spent years of their lives trying to support and aid this very fragile (mentally and physically) woman. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised by the author's ease of maintaining the dignity of the participants while showing quite accurately the circumstances of Anna Anderson's life.
   
   For those unfamiliar with this case the story proves as fantastic as any fictional novel and just as entertaining. For those who are already familiar with Anna Anderson I believe there are enough new tidbits of information that will help to clarify some of the remaining mysteries of this case.
   
   Both readable and informative, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the mysteries surrounding this most famous of Anastasia claimants.



4. Welch's well received biography of Anna Anderson (or, to put it more succinctly, the woman who pretended to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia for some sixty years) manages to both inform and entertain without losing focus or academic content. Certainly the author had quite a task ahead of her: rumors and stories abound about the woman that was Anna Anderson, and it must have been quite a feat for Welch to sift through fact and fiction in a world damaged by tabloid headlines. Parts of note were those that literally delved into Anderson's lifestyle - a surprising and often perplexing world filled with grandiose thoughts and incoherent madness. Welch sporadically confuses the reader with endless names of royals and people mixed up in the claim, but those rough patches soon give way to clear narrative. I went into this book thinking I would get the author's opinion or analysis, but alas, she stays staunchly in the middle and there is little to no bias (which to some would be a good thing). Overall, a pleasing piece of work that brings together numerous lives to uncover one life that has, until now, seemed so elusive.



5. Although it is well-known at this point that Anna Anderson is NOT a Romanov, this book offers some new details to this very weird story. How DID she get away with it for so long?

5 comments about Stanwyck.

1. No matter what Axel Madsen writes about Barbara Stanwyck, I find her to be someone I would love to have met and known. He tries to make her "toughness" sound like something negative; but, as a matter of fact, I admire that quality about Stanwyck. She was tough, she was strong, she was independent, she was sharp, and she was a brilliant actress. Her vulnerability, still visible beneath that tough facade, always goes straight to my heart, somehow. She couldn't help the facts of her early life, her being an orphan, poor, abandoned by her father...the woman's drive to succeed was phenomenal and she should be remembered for that, for her refusal to wallow in self-pity, and for her professionalism, both on and off the screen. I've always loved her and I always will. She was a private person; her personal life was her personal life, entirely her own business. Her refusal to "let it all hang out" should be copied by today's "actresses," as I loosely call them. The book is laced with mistakes about the facts of her life. But, as these books go, I'll have to admit it isn't as lurid or as vicious as some of them are. Madsen seems to own up to a grudging respect for Stanwyck; that's a step in the right direction.



2. What can you say about a "biography" that uses articles from the National Enquirer for some of his information? This book is badly written with tons of speculation but little solid information. The author clearly wants Stanwyck to come across as a fool. There's scarcely a word about how beloved the actress was on her film sets and at the studios but plenty of conjecture about her private life. Madsen is outrageously inconsisent. On one page he tries to paint Stanwyck as a closeted lesbian, on the next she is absolutely obsessed with her ex-husband Robert Taylor (how many lesbians do you know who won't let go of an ex-husband?) Similarly, he pushes an image of Stanwyck as a Bible thumping right-wing fanatic which again hardly seems to fit with his image of Stanwyck as a hardcore dyke. Lesbians will no doubt be as offended as everyone else for the negative spin he puts forth. I suspect Madsen is smart enough to know the gay rumors about both Stanwyck and Taylor are bogus but they are a strong starting point if one wants to write an salacious book. He barely acknowledges Stanwyck's talent and seems to not admire anything about her.



3. Biography can be a tricky thing. It's inherently gossipy, inherently exploitative. A biographer opens herself up to accusations of slander when she writes without cooperation from her subject, to accusations of pandering when she writes with it. Perhaps more importantly, a human life--any human life--is too nuanced and fickle a thing to be completely reduced to words. This is especially true when the biographer aims not just to plot a step-by-step map of the subject's life, but to expose his or her inner demons, as Axel Madsen endeavors to do in his biography of Barbara Stanwyck.
   
   Ultimately Stanwyck proves too elusive and complicated a subject to present a clear picture, but that's no reflection on Madsen. Instead, it's a reflection on Stanwyck. There may never have been a movie star more protective of her privacy or more prickly when it came to talking about her feelings and foibles. Stanwyck would have despised Madsen's biography, not necessarily because what it says isn't true, but because she hated being talked about, hated being stared at and prodded like a laboratory specimen. Some of this probably goes back to her childhood, which was by all accounts one of the most miserable a future Hollywood star ever had.
   
   Stanwyck's reticence may account for some of the seeming structural problems with Madsen's book. For one thing, the book is frustratingly short on direct quotes and named human sources. This might be due to laxness on Madsen's part--or it might signal that he received no cooperation from Stanwyck's friends--but it seems equally likely that many of his sources simply refused to be quoted or named, perhaps not wanting to be thought to have betrayed Stanwyck. In any case, the lack of quotes adds more uncertainty to an already uncertain subject: we are never sure whether Madsen is reporting what he was told or his own conclusions drawn from what he was told.
   
   Some would accuse Madsen of outright fabrication--especially in his page-and-a-half treatment of Stanwyck's possible bisexuality, which has somehow dominated all discussion of his 400+ page book. Indeed, for whatever reason, there's never been a star whose putative heterosexuality has been more hotly championed than Stanwyck's. Not Cary Grant, not Errol Flynn, not even Kate Hepburn--Kate Hepburn, for pity's sake!!!--has been "defended" so vigorously against similar charges. You'd think Madsen had questioned Mom and Apple Pie, or accused John Wayne of wearing girl's panties under his chaps.
   
   In fact, however, Madsen neither fabricated the rumors about Stanwyck's bisexuality nor lifted them from tabloids. Stanwyck's own press agent has been quoted as saying that she had "no doubt" that Stanwyck was "intimate" with Joan Crawford on "more than one occasion." (Lawrence J. Quirk, Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography). Tallulah Bankhead reportedly claimed to have had an affair with Stanwyck. (David Bret, Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life). So, incidentally, have men, including Robert Wagner, who is more than 20 years Stanwyck's junior.
   
   Of course, any or all of these claims might be false, but that doesn't mean a biographer has to ignore them. Unproven statements are all the evidence there is ever likely to be about a person's sexuality. Moreover, sexuality is no less a part of a person's life simply it might make other people--or even the subject himself--uncomfortable. Bisexuality is not a disease, but even if it were, a biographer would still be entitled to explore evidence of it after her subject's death. If a life story is to have any value at all, it must be allowed to track the full range of life experiences. Anything else isn't life, but someone's sham idea of what life "should" be.
   
   That said, Madsen struggles and ultimately fails to describe Stanwyck's life below the surface: what drove her, how she thought, what feelings she had about whom. Madsen suggests that Stanwyck said virtually nothing publicly that wasn't scripted, nothing privately that might have left her vulnerable. He implies, moreover, that she couldn't have begun to open up if she'd wanted to, that she simply didn't know how. That seems believable enough: Stanwyck had virtually no formal education, virtually no stable family relationships, especially in early childhood. The hurts from her early life may have simply been too deep; maybe the reason we can't know Stanwyck from her biographies is that no ever quite knew her, because she couldn't let them.
   
   If this is true, it isn't fair to besmirch Madsen's book because of it. His book has flaws, but he's given us the best psychological study of Stanwyck to date, and very likely the best we'll ever get.



4. Flat, passionless, lazy, pointless...I don't think there are enough words in the English language to communicate that this is a completely crap biography. Why did Axel Madsen even bother? He doesn't seem to have any enthusiasm for his subject. He gets so lazy in points that he gets concrete facts wrong. (Barbara DID share a scene with Ava Gardner in "East Side, West Side" - did he not even bother to watch Miss Stanwyck's movies?) It's like he wanted the money, researched which actress hadn't had a biography written on her in awhile and decided he would pound out some boring pages on this one. Just look at the title - "Stanwyck" - it just screams passion project!
   
   Barbara Stanwyck was a fascinating mixture of brains, beauty, talent, humility and guts. She had a hell of a rough life but never outwardly felt sorry for herself. She gave intelligent, honest and layered performances in every movie she worked on, no matter the quality of the overall picture. Many of the great directors and leading men of her time site Barbara Stanwyck as the greatest actress they ever worked with. They don't say it in trite statements, they gush about her for paragraphs. She deserves something far better than this rubbish. Hopefully a more thoughtful biographer will come along some day and do her the justice she deserves. But Axel Madsen seems to think the world of himself and not much of anything for poor Missy. Well, in the words of Miss Stanwyck herself: "Egotism - usually just a case of mistaken nonentity." Go ahead and ignore this one.



5. This man seems so intent to defame Stanwyck's name is subtle, deragatory ways. His sources are unbelievable.....the tabloids?????? Come on, that should say something right there about his credibility as an author.
   
   Stanwyck was a legend and had to much class to be relegated to garbage like this from someone who obviously felt like he had to make some money off a great film star's life but failed to research his subject adequately and got most of his information from other biographies already published about her and of course...the tabloids..."The National Enquirer", "The Star" and "The Globe".
   
   Mr. Madsen ought to be ashamed of himself for taking a great subject and making a book about her life mediocre. If Stanwyck were alive she'd slap his face and spit on it too!

5 comments about A Prison Diary.

1. Absolute drivel, poorly written by an angry ego driven con. The only thing that does come out of this is the state of our prison system, Kudos to our Lordship for at least using his celebratory status to raise this issue. However, come on, if you are going to write about being in prison at least let us know that you were scared to death. He never really talks about what was running through his mind all those hours in lock up. If any of these men, including Fletch, had sat next to him at the theatre he would have called security.



2. Incredible writing, totally expected of Jeffrey Archer.
   He brings his artisary in fiction into this non-fiction giving you great insight in the lives of prisoners who we all love to think of as bad guys.
   At the end of the book, the inmates are no longer bad guys but regular people who just want to get by with their lives living it as best as they can.
   A definite must read for all lovers of a good book.



3. I actually originally read Volume III Heaven before finding a copy of Volume I Hell and have to say I think Heaven was a lot higher in quality than this book. Heaven is also a lot thicker with a lot more pages. In Volume I Archer shows more of himself through his writing than in the final volume which to be honest makes him a little bit less likeable and harder to relate to. In Heaven you assume he is an average guy (I mean you know he is a rich author and politician) but in Hell he portrays his upper class upbringing and lifestyle and comes across rather snobby at times when talking about his fellow inmates backgrounds or describing his conditions. He will only drink bottled water, can't eat the everyday prison food served at meal times even though there's a menu of three alternatives, had never even heard of let alone eaten Coco Pops (these as the same as Coco Puffs for North Americans) before getting them in a multipack of cereal, and in his opinion they weren't as good as Cornflakes. How he was amazed that drugs can get smuggled in obviously means he had never watched normal TV before in his life.
   
   I found that the empathy I had for Archer in Volume III Heaven I just did not have reading Volume I Hell. Surely he also got some of his friends into trouble and a loss of their privileges or another 28 days added onto their sentences by revealing stuff like one of them who worked in the canteen stole him a bottle of water and passed it through the wire. Even if he uses fake names it is not going to be that hard for prison authorities to work out who it was from the dates in his diary. I'm glad he also got rid of the cricket score updates by the trilogy finale as these were pretty boring.
   
   Saying all that though I still found the first volume of the Prison Diaries an entertaining read and an insightful look into the Class A prisons of Britain which I imagine would have many similarities to ones in Australia, North America and elsewhere. I'm just glad that he improved the diaries by the third volume and I will definitely be checking out Volume II Purgatory.



4. What a shock to the system,but what a good read this was as well.To go from the very top to the bottom in one easy lesson!
   Loryn Potroz



5. Prison Diary is, by far, one of the most interesting books I have ever read. While some believe that Archer is egocentric (he does talk about himself quite a bit), I believe this adds importance to the story. Archer was part of the political system, yet he had no idea how horribly the prisons were run. He is now experiencing day to day life in the highest security prison in England. For a first-time offender, that has to be extremely overwhelming! He may complain about his conditions and the ordeals of his daily life, but wouldn't you if you were given a four year sentence for something that should have only gotten community service? His stories of the drug dealings, the prisoners inside the "lifers" wing, and the problems the guards face bring a new insight into prison life. Because Archer was not the "typical" con, everyone felt as if they could talk to him, thus, making this a well-rounded novel on the system. Overall, this is a well-written novel sure to shake things up a bit.