1 comments about A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West.

1. 
   James J. Lorence (professor emeritus of history, University of Wisconsin-Marathon County) presents A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West is the biography of poet, ordained Congregationalist minister, labor organizer, educator, leftist activist, and political figure Don West, a twentieth-century American advocate for traditional religious values who dedicated himself to building a nonracist, egalitarian south. Chapters meticulously scrutinize West's adolescence, the passion with which he threw himself into his life's work, the ethical and religious roots of his dogged antifascism, and his lifelong determination to defend mountain culture and his advocacy for the rural poor. Extensive notes, a bibliography and an index round out this heavily researched account of a life well and dutifully lived.

5 comments about Reiki: The Legacy of Dr. Usui (Shangri-La (Twin Lakes, Wis.).).

1. Thank you Frank Arjava Petter for being daring and brave to bring the 'real' version of Dr. Usui's Reiki to the west. I had from the beginning a little difficulty to accept everything which was said about the 'grand-masters' and their likes. And in the past very little facts were given about Dr. Usui and mainly in a kind of fairy story tale. Now I can accept Reiki as I believe Reiki should be: free from major money making and available for all people who truly wish to heal themselves, others and the world. God and Reiki bless us all. B. Müller, Reiki Master, South Africa



2. I have studied Reiki and am a Reiki Master. I give this book to all of my Reiki students because it explains Reiki so simply and well. I especially like that it is informative without giving the impression that only the author's opinion of Reiki is important, and also that it sites Reiki's founder, Dr. Mikao Usui. It is clearly a tool to help one further one's understanding of Reiki.



3. This is an excellent book. I highly recommend it for my students and for other Reiki Practitioners.



4. I give this to my first level Reiki Students to help take away the mystery of how Reiki got started in the United States and it's source.



5. This book explains the beginnings and history of Reiki and gives examples of how to use the energy not only for healing the body, but getting rid of old guilts and fears, helping your plants grow, and much more. Such dramatic results have been seen with this method that more and more hospitals in the U.S. are having a Reiki Master on call to help in aiding the healing process of their patients. Even though the symbols are not shown, this book gives the author's tested examples of the results achieved using this universal energy that is available to all of us. I highly recommend this book.

No comments about Tales Out of School.

5 comments about Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell.

1. I was very much disappointed in this book. The writing seems borderline hyperbolic and lightweight, almost like it's in a travel magazine, or weekly news magazine. The material is largely a rehash of published information, and does not capture the feeling of that time. The work seems padded and lacking in substance as a result. I kept wondering how it could possibly drag on after the first couple chapters. For anyone who has read Steinbeck's books, or Ricketts's books, or the Hedgepeth book on Ed this is unnecessary, but maybe a newbie will be encouraged to go for sterner, more genuine stuff as a result of reading this.



2. As one only slightly familiar with Steinbeck and Rickets and stories of their friendship, I found Mr. Tamm's book incredibly well researched and full of the stories and details I was hoping to find. I was so intrigued that these major intellectuals, that is Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, found this much lesser known personality of Ed Rickets as the galvanizing force in their mutual friendships, but more so as a major influence in the shaping of their personal philosophies. I wonder if that is why Steinbeck is so compelling since people know his life was surrounded with people as interesting and elusive as Ed Rickets. This is one of those true stories, it seems, that is larger than fiction. If you, too, are curious, you will not be disappointed in Mr. Tamm's book.



3. My favorite read for 2007 was Beyond The Outer Shores, Eric Enno Tamm's insightful and illuminating biography of ecological pioneer and polymath Ed Ricketts. The book's tagline mentioned Ricketts as an inspiration for John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, and this is what initially caught my attention (being a fan of Campbell). Tamm tells the story of how Rickett's personal philosophy and humanist outlook inspired them both. In particular, the "Doc" character of Cannery Row was directly modeled on Ricketts.
   
   A biologist with the outlook of a philosopher and heart of a poet, Ricketts lived a fascinating yet shortened life, never receiving his due recognition as a scientist and thinker until well after his death. His environmental philosophy permeated the works of Steinbeck in the late 1930s. In this way, Tamm shows The Grapes of Wrath can be read as a warning against anthropogenic environmental degradation, and Cannery Row read as a human reflection of the diversity of tidepools. Likewise, his revolutionary work on the western American and Canadian shores remains influential to this day. Tamm's book is a fantastic read that brings to light the life and spirit of a true Renaissance Man.



4. I was drawn to this book by my curiosity regarding the "Doc" character from the Steinbeck novels. I had expected a short biography that would cover most of the facts of his life and perhaps stress some of the more sensational moments that may have been inspirational to Steinbeck. What I found instead was a very finely crafted piece of non-fiction writing.
   
   What sets this book apart from a mere biography is how the author develops many secondary themes that relate to Ed Ricketts and then weaves them together in a rich tapestry of ideas. There are the secondary characters of Steinbeck and Campbell, but there are also other significant themes such as ecology. There are wonderful descriptions of the Pacific Coast, particularly Vancouver Island, which I am sure Ricketts himself would have been very enthusiastic about.
   
   Beyond the Outer Shores is also attractively illustrated and features many interesting photographs. Whether you are a Biologist or a fan of Steinbeck you will find this non-fictional account of a life lived with passion more compelling than any fictional character ever created.



5. Although I enjoyed the first part of the book and scattered sections throughout, Tamm did not succeed in capturing Rickett's ecological worldview by a kind of non-lineal, disorganized presentation of information. It is also unbalanced by his love 'em/hate 'em view of Steinbeck, and his love 'em like crazy view of Campbell, which in most cases obfuscates the story (except in telling of actual facts, such as Steinbeck's poor judgment in taking Rickett's name off the Viking edition of Sea of Cortez).
   Tamm's inordinate fixation on personality conflicts affected the development of the book most particularly in his not exploring the trip to Baha. It is oddly and disappointingly skipped, and at this point the book becomes centered on Rickett's journeys to the Vancouver Is. area, which, lo and behold, is where Tamm is from.
   There are a lot of interesting spots in this book, but it would have been better served by good editorial direction (much as Rickett's writings were served by Steinbeck's pen).

2 comments about Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution (Culture and Education Series).

1. Peter McLaren has long been recognized as one of the pioneering figures within the tradition of critical pedagagy and his body of work thus far has been hailed, rightfully so, as cutting-edge in his field. Yet what makes McLaren's work both provocative and unique is that it transcends the boundaries of any one discipline--in this case, education, and speaks to much broader concerns within critical social theory as a whole. His latest book to which this review is dedicated, "Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution," is arguably his most powerful contribution not only to social theory but to progressive Left politics as a whole. After reading this inspiring text, I was immediately reminded of E.P. Thompson's famous treatise "The Poverty of Theory" penned more than twenty years ago. In that text, Thompson was, of course, mainly concerned with the influence of Althusserian Marxism and the tendency of intellectuals to become so immersed within the web of "scholastic argument," so immersed within their "pseudo-revolutionary dramas" in the realm of pure Theory (with a capital T), that they tended to ignore the actual material conditions of embodied, historical agents. Thompson condemned such intellectual exercises for being diversionist tactics which lended themselves to the elitist division between theory and practice. Thompson's book was also a clarion call for the "Left" of his time to honestly re-evaluate itself. McLaren's latest effort is another such clarion call and it comes at a time when it is desperately needed. Indeed, it is a passionate plea for committed Left scholars to reassess the most basic constitutive principles which have dominated Left intellectual discourse for the last two decades. The beauty of McLaren's book is that it demands progressives to take stock of regnant social relations. At a time when the "text" has become the marionette theatre of the political, at a time when the critical interrogation of capitalism has become unfashionable among the avant-garde of the "cultural Left," McLaren reminds us of "real" concrete struggles that are taking place all over the world. At a time when the subject has been decentered and textualized within contemporary "left" theory, McLaren reminds us of living, breathing, bleeding historical agents engaged in struggle and he does so by drawing on the remarkable legacy of Che Guevara. Of course, Che the icon has become part and parcel of mainstream popular culture--his signature beret has been placed on the head of Taco Bell's chihuahua to hawk fast food; the site of his remains has become a tourist attraction and yet among the cacophony of commercial messages that have attempted to make a mockery of Che's legacy, Peter McLaren stands firm. His Che is a revolutionary committed to human emancipation, unafraid to confront the powers that be and the enormity of forces that steadfastly guard the status quo. McLaren's Che is not a caricature but rather a vivid portrait of a dedicated human being--Che was not only an extraordinary revolutionary figure, he was also a brave humanist and McLaren fearlessly picks up that torch and demonstrates how Che's legacy can illuminate our thinking about contemporary global conditions. McLaren's book will, without a doubt, stir a great deal of controversy and it may very well be condemned by weak-kneed academics caught up in the scourge of "discourse radicalism"--those who strike radical poses without ever leaving the confines of the academy; those who believe that turning texts on their heads can change the world. Such posturing is to be expected for McLaren has clearly thrown down the gauntlet--this is clearly a challenge to those that fashion themselves as progressives and Leftists to put their proverbial money where their mouths are. This is a book penned by someone who is not only an exceptional scholar but a passionate activist as well; someone who is unafraid to challenge the scholarly inertia that has plagued the intellectual Left for far too long. This is a book that all committed Leftists must read regardless of field or discipline--it is intense, informative, invigorating, and above all--inspiring.



2. Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy ofRevolution

   Reviewer: Robert E. Bahruth, Ph.D. from Boise StateUniversity, Boise, Idaho

   In order to contextualize the significance of the contributions of both Che Guevara and Paulo Freire for American readers, McLaren makes the analogy to Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. respectively. Whereas Che, Malcolm X and Dr. King were all dealt with by assassination, Paulo died of heart failure at the age of 75. One might suspect that Paulo's end may have been more violent - and he certainly suffered persecution during critical periods in his lifetime, including a long exile - had his ideas not been rejected by anti-intellectuals in the American academy. Often his work was dismissed, without careful consideration, by professors who claimed that his ideas only applied to third world contexts. To this Donaldo Macedo often asked the critical question: Have you been to East Los Angeles, Roxbury, Harlem, East St. Louis or Camden, New Jersey, lately? One might wonder how the world today might have been a saner place for humanity had Che, Malcolm and Dr. King truly enjoyed the protection of the first amendment's freedom of speech "guarantee," thereby living longer lives and pushing the causes of common people's human rights. It has been claimed that the reason why Che was not allowed a trial in an international court was because the powerbrokers who financed his murder - there were CIA agents present to orchestrate his assassination, including the way he should be shot to make it appear as though he were wounded in combat - feared the power of his discourse and how it might play in the minds of the oppressed peoples of the world. To set the record straight and to dispel the many myths generated by status quo propagandists, McLaren's scholarship allows readers to look into the life and the machinations of the mind of Che, while simultaneously calling into question how contemporary revolutionaries such as Comandante Marcos in Chiapas, Mexico are both inspired by the lived example of commitment and love that Che provided, as they are equally persecuted for standing up for the rights of subsistence cultures around the world who are not interested in joining in the vulgar game of globalization, consumerism, and the politics of greed. Were Che alive today, with access to the high technology that Comandante Marcos and others so skillfully employ as they advance the cause of their post modern revolution, he might not have had to resort to violence which was then his only option. With the co-opting of corporate media, many are hoodwinked by the spin doctors who claim objectivity. Journalism has sunk to such depths of integrity and moral bankruptcy that they have found it necessary to invent terms such as investigative reporting. What does this imply about all other types of reporting? To counter the propaganda of corporate media, Comandante Marcos has demonstrated the power of the internet as a tool of organization, fund raising, and moral support from around the world, as well as the means to dispel myths while informing the world of the atrocities and lies of the status quo. Che would have had a field day with such luxuries! McLaren's other subject, Paulo Freire, is addressed with great love, honesty and devotion. He shows us the gentle man, dedicated as was Dr. King, to nonviolent humanism and the cause of democratic ideals. Education which is not commodified or politicized to reproduce the status quo, but rather a process of conscientization which invites all humans to participate as agents of history, as readers and writers of the word-world. Paulo provided a vision which expresses the possibilities for a future which is less violent and anti humane than the world we live in today. His was an invitation for teachers to rise above the technicism of skill, drill and kill which banters learners into silence and submission. Along with Chomsky, Giroux, Aronowitz, Macedo, bell hooks, McLaren, Chávez Chávez and others committed to "teaching to transgress," Paulo was an inspiration to us all. I have often said that the degree to which the status quo rejects a vision is in direct proportion to its power to create change. Clearly, Paulo has been marginalized in mainstream academia, but for world class scholars and extraordinary humans who are ontologically clear, Paulo's is a message of hope and possibility. McLaren has made a great contribution by keeping Paulo's vision alive and challenging all of us to awaken to social consciousness. In Peter's own words in a recent interview he states so well what is at stake:

   "We cannot -- we must not -- think that equality can occur in our schools or society in general without at once and the same time demanding and participating in political and economic revolution. No sphere of domination must remain unassailed by the project of liberation. We need to remain steadfast, we cannot embark in a flight from being, that is, a flight towards the world of commodities that can only objectify being. We need to remember that we do not own ourselves, we don't belong only to ourselves. We belong to being. Because we belong to being, we need not covet the fruits of capital, for they are also the fruits of exploitation. Exploitation violates being. To find our multicultural soul is always an exercise of praxis, not ownership. It is an act conjugated with love in the interests of social justice. I am not trying to be metaphysical here since I connect objectified being with labor, with the laboring and toiling body, with the alienated worker, with the commodification of labor, with the exploited and the oppressed...

5 comments about The Education of a WASP (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography).

1. Lois Stalvey came from a middle-class white Midwestern background in the 1950s-60s. She was ignorant of racial problems. She thought that outright racism never occurred in her community. That perception was changed when she made friends with an African-American doctor who was trying to buy a house. She then discovered the substantial vein of racism running through her community, in her friends and neighbors. She was ostracized and shunned for trying to help out this black family. She then continually got more and more involved in fighting for civil rights for black people. This is her story. An excellent introduction to race relations for Midwestern/ rural whites like me who saw few black people when we were growing up. Also the book gives a glimpse into racial attitudes of middle-class whites in the Midwest in the 1950s and 60s.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it led me to understand some of the truths of society that I had somehow ignored and denied. This book will cause you to examine yourself and the society you live in in an entirely new light. It changed my outlook on my life dramatically.



3. I worked in the library in college and happened on this book in the stacks. I had started a group to end white racism but never found another resouce to help me with this process. I read this book cover to cover, send it to the elders of my church, gave copies to friends...spent all my money buying copies so this womens journey from a total unconsciousness about white racism grew and grew and grew, She didn't know, she didn't understand but when she did, she did something about it. Not only in the midwest, but after encountering more"subtle" racism when she moved East to Philadephia. I loved this book. Still give it away. Admire her courage and her journey and her willingness not only to change but to do something to change the injustcie she learned about around her.



4. I read this book for a Diversity in the Workplace class I took at college. I can never tell you how much it opened my eyes. Being married to a black man and having bi-racial children didn't teach me as much as this book did. If you have the time and the inclination, please read this book. The only draw back is the price. Using it for a textbook has given the sellers a license to charge as much as they can on it. And it is a shame because more people should read this but they can't afford to buy it.



5. Maybe it's because I grew up in Mount Airy (the setting for most of the book) and I take pride in being the product of such a unique place, but I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Interestingly, I saw a news recap of the protest march for the Jena 6 tonight, where well-tanned white anchorman interviewed the highschool football coach, who had no idea that there were ratial tensions in his town - "there's no rule that says they can't go to our church, they just don't want to" - RIGHT... This book touches on the ingrained bigotry of white suburbia in the 50's (not that it's come so far) and the tenssions in more-urban Philadelphia surrounding the process of "white flight," which was occuring in urban communities nation-wide. It's notable however that this story probably would never have been written if the author had moved even a few miles away to west Philadelphia where the racial make-up of the neighborhoods were almost completely turned over (and where another turnover has been ongoing for a decade or so). It is a testament, not only to the author but many of her neighbors who chose to stay that Mount Airy is considered one of the first successfully integrated communities in America, having been noted for this in Oprah's magazine (bette late than never) and US News & Word Report. Anyone interested in learning about mid-century "white flight" and the undercurrent oooof racism in America in general will find this book and the community described to be a welcome stand-out.

5 comments about Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference.

1. I think that this book was fairly interesting. It didn't have enough rivetting thoughts to keep the reader interested. Even though I was unhappy about the book, it's still a good read. I think that this book would be appropriate for a much younger audience, an age group of ten to sixteen.



2. This book was an enjoyable story, but it had many points that did not hold my attention. I also could not find much interest in the book due to the fact that it was a tedious story. Many points got boring and I would have trouble concentrating. This is just an average book. I would only reccomend it to a middle-school reader.



3. The book that I just finished reading "Teacher The One Who Made The Difference" by Mark Edmundson was an average book. At first when I bought the book I thought that it would be interesting and enjoyable to read but it was not really interesting at all.There were so many ideas that were hard to follow, and it did not talk particulary about the teacher and how he changed his life.I would not recommned it to anyone, but if you like to read for pleasure and you have time you certainly can. There were some chapters that keep you interested but there were some that you just do not want to read. Overall it had a nice ending.



4. Before reading this book, I assumed it was about an excellent teacher in whom the children connected with. After completing the book, I realized it told of the struggles of a high school senior and his reform with the help of his teacher, Mr. Lears. Told from the first point of view, Mark Edmundson shows how no child has to fail. I do not reccomend this book to college level students, though I do reccomend it to the younger audience. Teachers having difficulty in their own classes may find this book inspirational and helpful.



5. Mark Edmundson's book has received mixed reviews, but I found it to be refreshing, enlightening, and inspiring. He relates his high school self in an open, forthright way, revealing his ignorance, his oppositional, immature (even for a 17-year-old) behavior, and his preoccupation with shallow, insignificant pastimes. I think that aptly describes most high school seniors. He and his classmates conspired together to undermine any teacher who attempted to do interfere with the intellectual malaise of the school. The few students who were actually interested in education were ridiculed and despised. This was to change as a small class met day after day with an amazing teacher who changed the classroom dynamic and in doing so, successfully altered the way his students listened, thought, reacted, interacted, learned, and even the way they lived.
   
   This change was not an accidental happenstance. It was a well-planned strategy. As the students persistently refused to read the literature for their homework, the Teacher read it aloud in class. He used Socrates' example, posing questions for them to answer, or at least to think about. Unfortunately, his initial efforts produced little fruit. As a result, he changed the seating in the classroom to allow for open exchange of ideas. He raised the question of an important experiment by a man named Milgram, which involved testing the willingness of people of different nationalities to use electrical shocks on people in order to produce desired results on a memory task. This exercise interested the students and opened up the first real discussion. A few weeks later, the Teacher led the class in a similar experiment involving one of their own. Using these unusual but brilliant methods, he showed his students "the pleasure and pain of sticking to your way, of seeing things as truly as a human being can". To quote a familiar adage, he dared them to be different.
   
   His next ploy was to throw out the curriculum and introduce a collection of books that would teach them to question authority, to recognize herd behavior, and empower them to make educated choices. He encouraged them to examine themselves, to explore their deepest thoughts and beliefs and allow themselves to be free from illusions. The Teacher then invited a group of representatives from Students for a Democratic Society to visit the class, and as a result had students actually skipping other classes so they could sit in on his class. The visitors were against the Vietnam conflict, and vociferously against the unnamed perpetrators who had oppressed native Americans, enslaved African Americans, and continued to exploit Filipinos, the Vietnamese, and other "poor, inconvenient people who lay between the arrogant republic and its hunger for more". The author reveals that the Teacher was "nearly gleeful" the day his class was visited by "commies", because people who usually did not think were thinking, and people who did not usually talk were actively discussing issues. He wasn't interested in swaying the students to any particular viewpoint, he just wanted to stimulate them to have a viewpoint.
   
   When the students came to his next class, the Teacher found them drowsy and again unmovable, so he invited them outside into the snow, where he began a spirited snowball fight. The upshot was what author Mary Pipher calls "a moment", with everyone panting, laughing, drenched with cold, wet, snow, but filled with life. The Teacher was again triumphant, because from this time forward the class began to change.
   
   The students began to be interested in the Teacher as a person, even as they realized that he was aware of them as individuals. He introduced a variety of music, including current rock and roll compositions, as another format for stimulating analytical thought and intelligent discussions. Students who never asked or answered questions in any classes began to interact. They were still working their way through his series of books by reading aloud in class, so the Teacher used diverse means to pry open the cobwebbed minds of his group. He believed that if you impelled people to be boldly imaginative, and rigorously discerning, they could affect positive change in their lives. A turning point came when the questions were not related to the meaning of a book, but moved forward to inquire about the truth of that meaning, and whether there were life-changing truths to be found like gold nuggets and used to guide, to refine, to transform.
   
   I admire the way the Teacher showed his students by his example that it was not just okay but important and necessary to be unique, an individual, to be aware of which matters are weighty, and which are shallow, to be knowledgeable and affect change with words rather than your fists, to be unfailingly honest, to be accepting of others' opinions, feelings, and thoughts, to really listen, to challenge your students with large words and larger questions, concepts, and ideals, to teach them to create their own path to freedom and their own particular culture that is true to who they are. The author acknowledged that by being a student of this Teacher, his life was made infinitely richer. By writing this book, he has passed the torch on to countless others.
   
   The author encourages the reader not just to emulate the Teacher, which is a given, but also to recognize the pitfalls inherent in the educational system ("The content of these exercises mattered not at all. All that mattered was form - repetition and form. You filled in the blanks, conjugated, declined, diagrammed, defined, outlined, summarized, recapitulated, positioned, graphed."), which result in teaching loads of information, perhaps producing higher SAT scores, but achieving very little in the way of impact on the future. Masses of students graduate year after year, but how many are able to think freely for themselves, read to analyze their beliefs, and avidly seek to find their true North? Edmundson reminds us that in order to be a great teacher, it is necessary to have kindness, but also to have an edge, in the spirit of Socrates, Confucius, and Jesus Christ. Teachers must be willing to lead by example, to be antagonistic if necessary, and above all, to tell the truth.
   
   Although the chapters about football and beer-drinking and chasing after girls were, I suppose, necessary to demonstrate the "before" and "after", those portions were geared to the masculine mind and therefore were rather difficult for me to digest. I also thought it was a shame that he and his father did not maintain a good relationship when it was obvious how much his father loved him. It took many years and the author becoming a father himself before he understood the irony of their relationship, with his father taking the back seat as the author's life became more vital; and also of his father realizing what he might have been when he visited Yale, where Edmundson was pursuing a graduate degree. In reporting all of this openly and honestly, Edmundson teaches us yet another lesson. All in all, this author has produced a winner.

1 comments about Of Farming and Classics: A Memoir.

1. Growing up on a small farm in eastern PA about 70 years ago, has left fond memories and a cognizance that one's young experiences play into evertday life. During a 40 year career , I lived in Europe and traveled the wine country meeting farmers . The bond was immediate regardless of language . We understood the earth and the sense of intimacy in a handful of cool, damp soil .
   This book delved into those aspects to some extent and led the reader through a career in education . I related easily to his horse experiences (I now breed horses), but somewhat selfishly, expected a more intimate touch . An very enjoyable read without question . I have passed it on to my Brother , an educator in the humanities and a hose owner . It's the blood.

5 comments about Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic.

1. Doing Battle is an excellent book for these troubling times. Though obviously a prickly sort, Fussell his kept his critical faculties intact and properly skewers ineptitude, careerists, rationalizers, martinets, and soft-headedness. The center-piece of this autobiography is Fussell's experience as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in France and Germany in WWII. Fussell takes aim at the military - recounting the caprices and cruel arbitrariness of his own service with a scalpel-like pen.

   Fussell also has little use for the beer-fueled sports culture that now dominates the American cultural landscape. He is first and foremost a defender of elitism - not an elitism based on social or economic class, but based on what and how one thinks and comports oneself in doing the tasks of daily life. Doing Battle is about honor and integrity, with Fussell having been lucky enough, or bright enough, to have had a series of teaching jobs that allowed his convictions and sense of honor and self to survive largely intact.

   Fussell writes beautifully and movingly. He also lays himself bare in Doing Battle. It is a rare book in that it is scholarly as well as a good, quick read. The influence of Mencken is clearly felt. You put the book down at the end regretfully. You then begin the processs of recommending it to your special friends - the ones that you think will "understand."

   I recommend the book highly.




2. Other reviewers here seem to be approaching this book from the perspective of WW II experiences, or from reading Fussell's war books. I chose to read this book because I had already read two of his other extremely entertaining and thought-provoking books, "Class" and "Bad". This book is never boring. It took me awhile to read it, because every few pages I would have to stop and think about things he had said. One can always depend on Fussell for honesty and frank discussion. I am happily making my way through all his books, and look forward to reading "Uniforms" next. His discussion of the hot summer spent in training near Gainesville, Texas, was especially interesting to me since I grew up in a town 30 miles east of Gainesville. This book is worth reading.



3. His name must rhyme with tussle else the students he had at Connecticut College were not very good at poetry.
   Very important point: his own description of his book "Class" (see especially p. 280 in "Doing Battle") describes it as straight irony. "Except for a page or two the book is unrelentingly facetious, packed with exaggerations and palpably irresponsible assertions, and I was astonished to find how many readers took it seriously." Beware of taking "Class" seriously!
   I have to thank Paul for a very interesting autobiography. It continues to amaze me that biography makes so much clearer than does an author's straight forward critical work. You certainly need both. But a sense of the person who writes makes what they write so much more sensible. This book is more enjoyable than some other autobiographies. Still, it leaves me in a quandary. Much that PF says strikes home but there is always a sense that PF lives within a particular narrative (by the way, he critiques those that talk in terms of narratology on pp. 212-213 "The all-but-universal worship of science, social science, and analytic philosophy would soon encourage the half-educated to pepper their discourse with terms like narratology, disciplinarity, engendering, and interface." "Half-educated"? I have a t-shirt that says, "The truly educated never graduate." (Of course this places me in a class.) Today there are books with titles like these and I would hardly refer to the authors as half-educated. It feels almost like C.S. Lewis in "Words" critiquing their misuse. But new words are invented all the time and come to mean things by their use. I wonder if someplace PF critiques the concept of "meme". Clearly, PF's classical education is way superior to mine. He would certainly join the defense in the war against grammar. I have a programmable thermostat that I can't figure out how to work.
   But I am partial myself to the narrative I suspect he follows. I was never in battle though I am retired Army. Should I try a book called "Doing Peace"? Imagine having a full career in the military without ever being in battle? Assuming I could talk about the experience would annoy PF far worse than Glenn Gray. At least Gray was within miles of such action.
   As an update years after reading this book and leaving the above as my review I have to point out that I appreciated Paul's participation in the special "The War" and found his experiences especially profound. It certainly made my appreciation of "The War" the greater having read his book years before and seeing the images in "The War" brings home the descriptions from his book. Thanks again Paul.



4. "Doing Battle: The Making Of A Skeptic" By Paul Fussell
   Little Brown And Company, Boston. 1996.
   
   An exceedingly well written biography of an intellectual of the last half of the 20th Century. Well written, as to be expected of a person with so many degrees in English. I do not think that he likes "vocational" degrees, such as engineering degrees, but I suspect that he enjoys using modern word processors that engineers have developed. However, this well written book presents the life story of person, who appears, sometimes, as an anarchist, or perhaps a nihilist, and sometimes a hypocrite, and sometimes as a loner.
   
   For example, on page 97, he describes the members of the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) as very angry young men "...who had been luxuriating in colleges." Of course, Paul Fussell had not been "luxuriating" in Pasadena where his father was building a new house while the rest of the nation was selling apples on corners during the Great Depression. While at Pasadena, he attended Pomona College, (of the Claremont Group of five colleges ... one of my daughters graduated from Scripps College), snuggled in a New England look-alike green belt in brown California. Because Paul Fussell was privileged to attend such a fancy college when most Americans did not go on to "Higher" education, the author had the opportunity to become an officer in the United States Army. From this seat of wisdom, he was able to judge the combat performance of the 29th Infantry Division, a National Guard Unit...which, in turn, prompted a reply in Joseph Balkoski's book "Beyond The Beachhead".
   
   Most of Fussell's book, "Doing Battle", deals with his career in academia. I do not think that the author was ever happy. At the beginning of his career, the author was "...condemned to an atmosphere of insignificance and ineffectiveness..." at a mere girls' school. (page 213). Interestingly enough, the comments of that famous (infamous) Senator from Wisconsin are confirmed in Fussell's book. Universities were godless places. Fussell reports that a Catholic professor was surprised to find so many atheists.
   Page 203: "...what a pederastic paradise for some graduate students Harvard had been." Heidelberg was more efficient than American universities. After I finished his book, I could only think of the comment I learned in the United States Navy, "My heart pumps purple panther piss for him."



5. Unless you enjoy seeing the US Army trashed save your money. Very twisted view of the WWII Army and those belonging to it. I agree with a previous writer that had the author been a officer doing his job his men would have been trained properly. As a retired Army officer and combat veteran I found the book offensive to say the least.

3 comments about Within the Whirlwind.

1. Eugenia Ginsburg was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 1937 on a false charge of terrorism at the height of the Stalin purges. In her first book 'Into the whirlwind' she describes her arrest, her interrogation, her mockery of a trial and two years in solitary confinement in prison. She was then transported to Magadan in the far East of Russia to a labour camp, and the first volume ends as she is beginning to cope with the undescribably harsh conditions in the camp.

   'Within the whirlwind' describes the next fifteen years until her return and rehabilitation. She describes how her life was saved by gaining work as a nurse in the camp hospital where she met her second husband.

   This book leaves the reader astonished how Evgenia could describe her life with such humour and at the same time with such human understanding. All the time, however, the reader is reminded of the inhumanity, lying and deception of the Stalin regime.

   At one stage, the vice president of the USA, Henry Wallace, visits the camps, and the prisoners are removed and the guards temporarily take their place and manage to convince the gullible American that the camps are manned by well fed and enthusiastic pioneers.

   Eugenia returns to Moscow, her life destroyed, having lost one of her sons. She ends on a note of optimism, that the truth will be told in her native land. She died however in 1977 and never saw her books published in her native land nor the destruction of the communist regime.

   This book is now out of print, which is a pity. Everybody interested in Russia should try to get hold of a copy and read it and ponder on the demons that helped produce the country as it is today.




2. This book shocked, sickened, and inspired me. I never realized how terrible Stalin's purges were until I read Ginzburg's historically accurate and emotionally compelling memoir. Unforgettable characters, disturbing mental images, and harrowing brutality made up the Soviet Gulag and Ginzburg's book showcases them beautifully! Outstanding memoir!!



3. Eugenia Ginzburg was the first Russian Communist to write extensively about being caught in the "meatgrinder" of Stalin's purges. It took her a long time to figure it out: "We were creatures of our times, of the epoch of magnificent illusions."
   
   "Within the Whirlwind" is the second volume of her memoirs. I have not read the first, but the editors say she pulled her punches then, hoping for publication at home (which didn`t happen). She avers that this volume is only the truth. Not the whole truth, she admits, but nothing but truth.
   
   This seems credible.
   
   At least, her memoir is readable. I forced myself to go 100 pages in Solzhenitsyn's "GULAG Archipelago," but it was unreadable. Ginzburg's memoir is windy but readable, basically a series of vignettes of encounters during 18 years of exile/imprisonment in the Soviet Far East.
   
   Her pen portraits of fellow zeks (political prisoners), free workers, apparatchiks, common criminals and commandants are deft, though there is no way to be sure how realistic they are. Each story has a point, often about little expressions of humanity or courage breaking out in what was otherwise a hellhole.
   
   Like all memoirs of the great slave societies of the 20th century, Ginzberg's is shaped by survivor bias.
   
   Although she spent some time in the more brutal camps -- felling trees where the temperature came to 40 below, on little food -- her background (teacher of literature, musician) got her easier posts most of the time, where she ate somewhat better and had some shelter. Also, she was never beaten or tortured.
   
   The same survivor bias shows in memoirs of prisoners of the Germans and Japanese. The ones who did not get jobs in kitchens or offices seldom survived to write memoirs. (A.J.P. Taylor accepts that 2 million died building the White Sea Canal; they left no memoirs.)
   
   The capsule story is that Ginzburg had two sons. One died of starvation in Leningrad. She adopts a foundling daughter and falls in love with a German doctor. After her final release, she stays in the east because Anton, her new husband, has not yet finished his endless sentences.
   
   Later, when they are allowed to go back to European Russia, where Ginzburg's first, undivorced husband turns out to have survived both the Germans and the Russians, she skips over whatever arrangements were worked out.
   
   Among many interesting tales, there are some broader generalities that come through that might surprise American readers.
   
   One is that not everybody in the GULAG was an innocent zek. There were huge numbers of what Ginzburg calls common criminals, a not unexpected residue of tsarism and civil war. The zeks were terrorized by the criminals, in some ways even more so than by the Party.
   
   During the war, the zeks were wild to fight the Germans. The notion, promoted today by some neocons, that the Russians would have revolted against Stalin if given the chance is not supported here.
   
   In the end, Ginzburg takes a lenient view of her persecutors, viewing the common run of them as misguided, weak, ignorant. Her hatred is reserved for the few actors at the top.
   
   Thus she excuses herself from a great earlier crime. She and her first husband were stalwart Communists until the knock on the door in 1937. In an epilogue, Ginzburg says she did not know much about what had been done to the kulaks.
   
   In one sense, this may be believable. She was teaching literature in college far away in Kazan. In another, it is not. The drumbeat of hatred against the kulaks and wreckers was part of her daily life. It required a determined failure of imagination to avoid drawing conclusions.
   
   Even after her first 10 year sentence, she was still failing to imagine. And that, to me, is the heart of the book -- a failure to imagine.