5 comments about Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom.

1. The story of the ex-slave, Civil War `general' and black liberation fighter Harriet Tubman is the stuff of legends. Although in recent decades she has received more of the proper attention due her the fight she so ardently fought for the real freedom for blacks still is the wave of the future. Her early story, in any case, is the all to familiar slavery story of arbitrary beatings, random acts of senseless brutalization, separation from family and friends and the dreaded `sale' further South that those like Ms. Tubman from border state slave society in Maryland feared above all. It was as a result of one such beating that left Ms. Tubman permanently injured that she determined to in the late 1840's to seek the "Northern Star" and escape.
   
   If that was all to her story then she would not be different from the average one thousand or so slaves who escaped each year. But here is a woman with a difference agenda. After her escape she became a 'conductor' on the then bustling Underground Railroad, the route used by escaped slaves to head North to freedom. She repeatedly led, at great personal risk to her life, many slave expeditions from the South. As she was able to brag later she did not lose one of her charges to the hands of the slave owners.
   
   Another interesting part of her story is her relationship with the legendary revolutionary abolitionist John Brown. Apparently she was slated to join Brown at Harpers Ferry but illness forced her to forego that fight. Given her talents in leading slaves from bondage, her authority among plantation blacks and her knowledge of the terrain and travel routes in the South she could have made Brown's seemingly utopian plan for a slave insurrection and guerilla warfare much more plausible. Needless to say she held the highest regard for this white man ready to lay down his head for black liberation. Toward the end of her life she named a rest home for indigent that she sponsored with her gvernment pension in his memory.
   
   During the Civil War Ms. Tubman sought to aid the Union Armies as they made a beachhead in the South by acting as a scout and helping create a scouting unit made up of blacks that knew the area. She witnessed the brave fight of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment made up of Northern freeman at Fort Wagner and spent time under the command of the famous Kansas free state fighter Colonel James Montgomery, another intimate of John Brown's. Although she was recognized for her services she had to endure many hassles in order to obtain the full pension that her service to the Union cause entitled her. She nevertheless spent most of her life in poverty and maintained herself with odd jobs and projects. The real honors that Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, the men of the Massachusetts 54th and those countless black slaves and freedman who fought in the Union ranks still await them in a more just and honest society. In the meantime read this informative book about Harriet Tubman's life and struggles to free her people and learn how to bring that day closer.



2. I partly agree with a former reviewer that this book lacks sparkle and suspense. In fact, if I were not already interested in this fantastic historical female figure (and slavery, in general), this book would not draw me in. I also agree that Clinton made the book tedious by her detours and sub-topic (if not off-topic) details--except that such coverage may increase the value of the book as an archival reference. She does wax somewhat eloquently in her Epilogue.
   
   But I am not so dismissive of the book as to give it the lowest rating. Her seemingly exhaustive research did sparkle (to me) when it revealed Tubman's social connections, and events with which I was unaware. Here are some gems that got my attention:
   
   1. The behavior of her first husband, John
   2. Her later remarriage to someone nearly half her age
   3. Her affirmation of and connection with John Brown
   4. How pro-slavery Maryland was
   5. Her torturous efforts to get a military pension for her
   dedicated service to the union army
   6. Both her devotion to the charity of other down-trodden African-
   Americans, both slave and free, and her intelligence in dealing with
   various issues
   7. The fact that a SINGLE and private reward for her capture would be
   $270,000 in today's currency and the total offered by all parties
   would add up to just under a million dollars
   
   Finally, what I found unsettling was Clinton's admitted speculations-interpretations (and from some she quoted), the passing of "stories," events "according to family lore," and other happenings "based on comments"--the quotes are from her book. Of course, this practice was not a major part of the book by any means, but still a minus. These parts are sort of like the unanswerable historical question, "Who created ice cream?" with each answer having its own logic.
   
   The rating of 3 is based on her craft as a writer, not on her skill as a researcher; for the latter I would give her a 4 or 5. I, too, recommend THE JOURNAL OF DARIEN DEXTER DUFF, AN EMANCIPATED SLAVE and THE JOURNAL OF LEROY JEREMIAH JONES, A FUGITIVE SLAVE. Also, though out of publication, I believe (but available at Amazon as used), is the engrossing young-teen-oriented book MARASSA AND MIDNIGHT by Morna Stuart. Finally (one has to stop somewhere), there is Milton Meltzer's ALL TIMES, ALL PEOPLES: A WORLD HISTORY OF SLAVERY. Of course, these recommended books are not about Harriet Tubman, but about similar conditions that Tubman experienced.



3. I was excited when I finally got the chance to read about Harriet Tubman, but when I started reading this book, my excitement went downhill. I don't know if the book just didn't capture my attention or if Harriet Tubman's life wasn't what I thought. Anyway I barely got through the book so can't say much about it except that I lost interest.



4. I got this book after a debate with a former co-worker about whether Harriet Tubman helped free 300 slaves or 75 slaves. He insisted it was 75, but I have read that it was 300 in several books and articles. He insisted that this book was a great source for research and facts, so I picked it up.
   
   Cons: I love reading about Harriet Tubman, but this book seemed like it should've made the subtitle the main title "The Road to Freedom" instead of using Tubman's name or picture. There were so many antecdotes that didn't have a thing to do with Tubman--stories about white people in black face to free slaves she didn't even know, presidents, and so forth. But what bothered me was all of the opinions the author gave within this book. Is this supposed to be a nonfiction book or a really long op/ed? (Example: On page 58, the author talks about how Jerry Henry was "far from an ideal candidate for rescue" and the story of him being saved from slavery by a crowd. But she uses adjectives like "menacing." If this story is supposed to be fact based, I need to know WHAT made him menacing, not that she thinks he was menacing. The note (in the back) says he had domestic issues with the same women several times, but without the back story on Henry, I don't feel it was necessary to put that bit of information in there. I don't advocate men hitting women, but I'm also skeptical of the charges considering Black men were being slapped with incorrect charges even moreso during slavery days. Telling half stories does not lend to Tubman's story at all.
   
   The author kept calling Tubman "Araminta." Once it was mentioned that her name was changed, I didn't understand why that was necessary. That's like calling Malcolm X "Malcolm Little" once he became a Muslim.
   
   Pros: This book made me want to read the story of Jerry Henry to find out about the uproar and danger people went to to save this man. But do you see how this could be a con as well? I'm supposed to be reading this story to find out about Tubman, but I'm finding out more information about OTHER people even though Tubman is on the front cover.
   
   After all the stories, either I looked over a page or it wasn't there, but I do not see how many slaves Tubman freed in this book. It says she was responsible for THOUSANDS of slaves being freed, which backs up my argument even more.



5. Sorry to disappoint, but this book is not really about Harriet Tubman. I would liken it to a college student majoring in the histrory of slavery, with a minor in Harriet Tubman. I wanted to know more about this very great lady. I was disappointed.

5 comments about Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks).

1. Jasmine and Stars is a compelling novel, warmly presented through the very personal narrative of Fatemeh Keshavarz, who explores the different voices of Iran, including two modern Iranian women writers and people of many statures. It does so in response to novels whose narratives present a paradigm of the world by which the existence of such people is improbable.
   
   "What does the elephant look like?" poses Keshavarz. Jasmine and Stars begins by recounting the ancient Persian fable about villagers encountering an elephant for the first time and in the dark. One feels its trunk, the other its legs, and the other its ears. Later, when asked what the elephant looked like, one says the elephant is like a thin pole. The other says, "No, it is thick like a tree." The third says that the elephant is neither - instead the elephant is flat and round like a fan. Unable to see the whole picture, no one had truly learned what the elephant was. If only the villagers had a single candle, notes Keshavarz, they could have begun to learn its true nature. And so her book begins, in sincere search for a candle to help enlighten for us America's own elephant - Iran and the broader Middle East.
   
   What is it about Iran that seems to elude our grasp? Why are we having so much trouble understanding the elephant? In fact, to many it would seem that there is nothing to understand beyond that which we already know. The media is filled with stories covering Iran, its president, the nuclear standoff, and - most significantly - the possibility of war. The internet is even more densely packed with stories and opinions. So, what is the problem?
   
   The problem is that while there is a lot of monologue from twenty-four hour news feeds of sound bites and talking heads, there is almost no dialogue. The voices of Iranians themselves have been shut out. This essential humanizing factor of one culture speaking for itself to the other is strangely absent. How do they live? What do they value? And what is the interplay of their culture upon their lives? Iran is always spoken for instead of listened to. The product of this is a very distorted and narrow perception of what the elephant is. Even worse, it creates the grounds for the dehumanization of a nation, facilitating the path to conflict.
   
   These missing voices, the cause of their absence, and the anecdote for their return are the subjects of Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than Lolita in Tehran.
   
   The author, Fatemeh Keshavarz, is an accomplished professor of Persian and comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis, currently serving as the chair of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. An Iranian American, she was born in the city of Shiraz, Iran, and has lived and worked in the United States for nearly three decades, visiting Iran every year. Keshavarz describes herself as "a Muslim, a feminist, a literary scholar, and a poet, though not always in that order."
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand Iran and the Middle East.



2. I just finished "Jasmine and Stars". I have recommended it to many of my friends and relatives. Keshavarz weaves anecdotes from her own life with excerpts and summaries from Persian literature. It is simply a fascinating and humanizing text especially if you are not familiar with Persian literature. It is a great introduction. After finishing it, I went back and wrote down the names of the text and authors Keshavarz cites. I am excited about reading these works in the future thanks to this text.



3. I absolutely would recommend this book to anyone who is from Iran, thinks they understand Iran, or wants to understand that complex nation.
   
   This book is by far the most balanced, honest, and unvarnished assessment of the complexities that escape so many analysts and authors who attempt to write about that country.
   
   It also disassembles the perturbing pattern of modern day 'neo-orientalism' that is exemplified by Azar Nafisi's unfortunately best-selling "Reading Lolita in Tehran".
   
   I HIGHLY recommend this book.



4. This book is a combination of two things. One is a polemic against Azar Nafisi's flawed masterpiece Reading Lolita in Tehran (RLT). This polemic is deeply dishonest, with quotations lifted from RLT in clear violation of their meaning.
   On the other hand, the author's memoirs of her highly educated family is charming and she has profound insights into Persian mysticism and its literature.
   The problem is that the author walks on eggshells to portray her country in the best possible light. Even the brutal Islamic Republic gets the kid-glove treatment. A little intellectual honesty would have been appreciated by this reader.
   For a more detailed review, please visit my blog article on it and leave a comment. http://iranwrites.blogspot.com/2007/12/jasmine-and-stars-reading-more-than.html



5. After finishing this book I felt that I had had an education and brief introduction into modern Persian literature which is actually quite vast; which is something the "new orientalists" who write books like "Reading Lolita in Tehran" are happy to deny the existence of in order to pander to the self serving preconceptions held by the West about the paucity of great writing and novels in an Islamic country.
   
   I was so intrigued by learning from Fatemeh Keshavarz's book about contemporary authors like Moniru Ravanipur, Shahryar Mandanipur, Simin Daneshvar and Shahnush Parsipour that I started to research modern Persian authors and at last count I have found over 46 considered great by their countrymen and many internationally.
   
   I have come to the conclusion that the only thing missing from contemporary Iranian literature is enough translations into English and other European languages to educate the Western world that Iran is in a literary renaissance rather than a Dark Age. Yes many Iranian writers have served time in jail under the Qajars, under the Pahlavis and under the IRI for writing things critical of the regimes but nothing can stop the writers and the film makers who like water encountering an obstruction flow under it, around it, over it, through it or when split up into a thousand rivulets regroup where ever they find the deepest hole.
   
   As we concluded in my interview with film maker, Parvin Ansary a few years ago, great literary and artistic periods of creativity do not come from times of prosperity and comfort but rather fluorish in times of chaos and suffering like Italian cinema after World War II when Italy was broken before it became too affluent to be driven to creativity, like the earlier Italian Renaissance which people from today's perspective forget was a time of struggle, intrigue, internecine wars and chaos...it is from a struggle for identity, a unique identity both on an individual basis and as a society and nation that great works of art are born...it is not from micmicry of the West.
   
   Iran has made contributions to world literature from the second millenium BC, all the way to the present day and continues to do so. We have Ferdowsi,Al Ghazali, Nizami, Attar, Rumi, Khayyam and many others from the past but we also have Forough Farrokhzad,Akhavan Sales,
   M.A. Jamalzadeh, Sadeg Hedayat, Bozorg Alavi, Beh' Azin, Sadeg Chubak, Ebrahim Golestan, Iradj Pezeshkhzad, Jalal Mir-Sadegi, Gholan Horayu Nazari, Esma'il Fasih, Gholam Hosayn Sa'edi, Nader Ebrahimi, Bahram Sadegi, Hushang Golshiri, Fereydun Tonokaboni, Goli Taruggi, Mahsid Amir-Shahi, Mahmud Dowlatabadi, Nasim Khaksar, Amin Faqiri, Hushang Ashurzadeh, Farahnaz Abassi,Taghi Modarresi, Ali-Mohammad Afghani, Abbas Marufi, Hormoz Shahdadi, Reza Baraheni,Ghazaleh Alizadeh,Fereshteh Saari,Farideh Farjam...the list goes on and on and contemporary Persian literature is huge and still growing right now as we speak... to see photos of these writers, whom I emphasize are both genders, go to:
   
   [...]
   
   The amazing thing to me is that a person like the author of Reading Lolita In Tehran, could be satisfied ignoring her own country's stellar literary inundation of talent taking advantage of the relative ignorance of the West about Persian writing, to suggest that the novel doesn't exit in the IRI, what Keshavarz refers to as a continuation of the Bakhtinian perception that the written form of a novel is of Western origin, to focus on a few Western authors like Fitzgerald, James, Austen and Nabakov,not even contemporary anymore
   , and by inference and omission, present her own countrymen as if they are void of writers on issues of birth, death, puberty, virginity, adolescence, women's rights, marriage, divorce, love, crime, rape,anger, sorrow, jealousy,guilt, ambition, greed, spirituality and the whole array of human experience and emotion...but rather would have us believing they only write religious doctrines...and argue over how many angels can sit on the head of a pin...or whether men can have sex with chickens as long as they don't eat them for a week after...at one of her lectures which I attended she suggested that trying to reason with the IRI was like playing chess with a monkey who at a certain point grabs your queen and swallows it. How very convenient to over simplify, dehumanize and demonize an entire nation of 70 million people 70 % of whom are under age 30. You have to question the motives of any of these "new orientalist" writers who pick the worst moment in time or a particular slice of society and freeze the shot for eternity to represent that people. Any people can be skewed in this manner. If we froze the "Reign of Terror" after the French Revolution and presented it as the epitome of France...what would people think of France? If we dwell on the prison population per capita and crime rates and statistics in the USA, we would come to the conclusion that there is no freedom, that there is anarchy and people live in constant fear of being victims of random crime. This is propaganda not literature.
   
   I am forever grateful to Fatemeh Keshavarz for lifting a veil from my eyes with her book. I am now on a rampage to read every modern Persian writer I can find in translation especially the ones still living.
   
   Brian H. Appleton
   aka
   Rasool Aryadust
   www.zirzameen.com

1 comments about American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post.

1. Superb biography which open the window (and the door) into Marjorie Merriweather Post's fascinating life - - and shows that "money cannot buy everything" ....

2 comments about Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace.

1. Each of us experience times in life when we feel alone and disconnected. The lack of relational intimacy with the people we love can be especially painful. It often contributes to unhealthy behaviors as a means to cope with the pain. In the stories of individuals who break their addiction, you will nearly always find one person or a group of people who helped heal the wounds of the addicted with love and encouragement.
   
   Lost & Found is the poignant story of Kathryn Slattery, a contributing editor of Guideposts magazine and author of several books. In the book, Kitty describes her disconnection with her mother and father, the onset of bulimia, how her husband Tom's love and encouragement helped her overcome bulimia, and finally how Kitty reconnected with her parents.
   
   I enjoyed this book. As a writer and speaker about the importance of connection in organizations, I was interested to see that some of the same dynamics that affect relationships in the workplace were also at play in Kitty's story. Lost & Found helped me see several examples of how connections are diminished and how they can be restored. Excessive criticism, lack of transparency, perceived indifference, geographic dislocation and alcohol are the agents of disconnection in Kitty's story. Kitty's husband Tom becomes the primary agent of re-connection and it is his affection, steady optimism and encouragement that help heal her wounds and give her the strength to overcome bulimia. Eventually, with time, healing and self-reflection, Kitty is able to reconnect with her mother and father.
   
   I recommend this book. On one level, this is Kitty's story; on another, it is a study of the powerful effect of relationships and connection in our lives. It will be especially valuable to those who feel disconnected from their parents or other family members. I imagine most of us feel that way with at least some of our family members. It will help you think about what contributed to disconnection in your own life and how to restore it. Lost & Found is an ideal book for a book group. It would stimulate a lot of discussion around the connections and disconnections in our lives. These conversations tend to be healing too.



2. In an opening letter to her readers, Kathryn ("Kitty") Slattery says, "All of us have a story to tell. When we choose to share our stories, extraordinary things can happen." Most memoirs focus on a certain theme --- a thread that runs through the author's life. And here Slattery draws out "the story of my mother and me --- two very different people." In these pages, there is keen insight for daughters who have wished for better mothering. It's not that Kitty had a stereotypically abusive mother, but one with a perfectionist bent, a self-absorbed view.
   
   Kitty's childhood home looked a lot like that of other baby boomers --- a successful corporate father and a devoted wife who tended her family. (Did she really wear pumps as she vacuumed?) Kitty's one sibling was 10 years her senior, which plays into the family dynamics. One day young Kitty discovered a document that implied that her older sister was a step-sister, that her mother had been divorced before marrying Kitty's father. But Kitty's mother wouldn't answer her questions. "Don't be a snoop," she said. And, "This is none of your business... And it's certainly nothing for you to worry about." But Kitty was a worrier. "With the discovery of the birth certificate in the breakfront, my world had been turned upside down and inside out. The fact that things were out of order, and that things might not be as they seemed, scared me to death."
   
   Kitty obviously needed a mother who would listen to her, explain mysteries rather than withhold information, encourage her rather than ridicule. As Kitty saw it, "she was not exactly the kind of mother I wanted and needed." Nor was Kitty the perfect daughter, primed to catch the perfect man. "Oh, Kitty," Mrs. Mother said one day. "You think too much... Boys don't like girls who think too much." A little overweight (having once bought clothes in the "`Chubbette' department at Sears") in high school, Kitty felt parental pressure to take off the extra pounds. Dieting led to self-purging --- and this in the late 1960s, before magazine articles explained the phenomenon, before eating disorders took Karen Carpenter's life. It was Kitty's dark secret --- like her father's chronic drinking.
   
   In college Kitty committed her life to Christ, a turning point in her life, though not the end of her struggle with bulimia. That abated only after she realized it was a not uncommon disease; she no longer felt uniquely dysfunctional and found the inner resources and community support --- principally a secure relationship with the man she married --- to live on an even keel.
   
   In the last third of LOST & FOUND, after Kitty has children of her own, she works on mending her relationship with her mother, even bringing her into a "mother-in-law apartment" in her suburban home. Here she comes to a new understanding of her mother that one can hope for in middle age. She sensed God saying, "I'm giving you this time with her." For what purpose? Kitty wasn't sure, but, looking for grace, she eventually found out.
   
   --- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence

5 comments about The Women of Windsor: Their Power, Privilege, and Passions.

1. Don't be deceived by the cover of this book. This is the same old Windsor tale, written in a light and breezy manner. The idea of focusing specifically on these four women is an interesting idea, but the author only seems to remember the point in the last chapter. Instead, what we get is a pretty good portrait of the Queen Mother's early years, and then plow right into Windsor Lite-- standard fare, but certainly nothing new. A good book for starters, but don't be deceived here-- Princess Margaret and Princess Anne are not studied to any degree of depth, nor is Queen Elizabeth II probed and examined as any solid biography would demand.
   
   Interestingly, Diana is in full force throughout the second half of the book because of her obvious impact on the Windsors. Also examined to some degree is Wallis Simpson, and this is important-- although she's an ambiguous character, her impact on the royals was perhaps greater than any other woman in that she literally shifted the course of the accession-- assuming Edward VIII was capable of fathering children, in which case the crown would have fallen to Elizabeth II anyway (as George V well knew).
   
   Nearly invisible in the book is the indomitable Queen Mary, very much a Windsor, and largely responsible for setting the tone of the royal court in the first half of the 20th century-- and for moulding her granddaughter, Elizabeth, into the monarch she is today. This was probably some sort of marketing scheme-- the idea of putting the most well known women on the cover must have been too appealing. And sadly, the intelligent, complex and duty-bound Princess Anne, who truly does deserve a body of work dedicated to her own life, gets little more than superfluous treatment (as does Princess Margaret, who is basically written off as misunderstood, but superfluous in her own right-- haven't we heard all this before?).
   
   Think of this book as Windsor Lite, a current "simple history" starting with Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon's youth and teen years, through her marriage to Bertie and ultimate accession to Queen Consort, through the highs of the coronation and declines of the 80s, ending with the death of Princess Diana. Nothing new here, and disappointing treatment of women who should be examined far more closely, but a decent job for those just getting to know the history of the royal family in the current century. Otherwise, move on.



2. As an English Expat I thought the book quite well written and all in all quite fair tho I think this author did not do full justice to our hardworking Princess Royal by dragging up the old chestnut about her not being attractive. I saw Princess Anne in her 20,s and she was stunning, not chocolate box pretty like Princess Diana but a truly regal beauty and of course like most of the Windsor Women she does not photograph well.She was and still is very attractive to men. speaking of which I really do think Ms Whitney did a total hatchet job on the Windsor men especially The Prince of Wales whose Princes Trust is one of the best charities in the World, He is a wonderful man.



3. Having said that, and speaking as an Anglophile, I still found the book hard to put down. It doesn't purport to be an in-depth history of any of these women and the only revelation that was new to me was the fact that Princess Margaret could indeed have married Peter Townsend after all by merely giving up her place in the royal line of succession. I did note with dismay, however, that the author stated Prince William's birthday as June 22 when in fact it is June 21. Might that mean there are other, more serious, errors?
   
   If you're looking for juicy bits of gossip, this is not for you but if you want a short walk through the House of Windsor, I would add this to my reading list.



4. THE WOMEN OF WINDSOR has numerous inaccuracies...to confuse this book with a carefully researched history would be a major mistake for the serious reader. It is not true that Edward VIII "took the name of Edward when he came to the throne", Edward was the first of his given seven names, David being the last and employed by the royal famiy. The author tell us that the Duke of Edinburgh had Michael Parker stand as best man at the wedding...no indeed... the best man was a Mountbatten cousin, David, Marquess of Milford Haven. The Duchy of Cornwall is NOT amongst the Queen's estates...her income derives from the Duchy of Lancaster...Cornwall belongs to The Prince of Wales. Barbara Cartland is not "the step- grandmother of Diana's step- mother, Raine"...Cartland was Raine's mother, thus Diana's step grandmother. The author indulges in a tirade against the eulogy given by Earl Spencer at Diana's funeral, omitting the fact that the congregation and thousands gathered outside the Abbey cheered his words. This poorly researched book was a disappointment. This book is facile, it is a folly.



5. This is mostly the same old story with a new cover. Some real light is shed on Princess Anne, and some new additions shed on the late Princess Margaret, but by & large its hard to separate this book from so many in the past. Check this book out from the library or borrow it from someone before buying it, unless your knowledge is basic, then its perhaps a great start to extending your knowledge and library on the Windsors.

5 comments about True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess (Thomas Dunne Books).

1. I enjoyed this book, it was an easy read, but I agree with those who say that it does have its flaws. There were many typos, words left out of sentences, and sentences that could have been structured better. Any good proofreader would have spotted those things. Also, for a person who led as full a life as Grace Kelly did, the picture section was sorely lacking. I have always admired her, and the book was very imformative, but it could have been better.



2. Some new and interesting material, but I was distracted by the many misspelled words and grammatical errors - needed a good proofreader, not just spellcheck. Also irritating was quoting someone only by a first name, when no one with that name had yet been introduced into the story. Also would have benefitted from a lot more photos. I also think that Grace's charity work got a bit short-changed.



3. best thing about this book is the cover photo. Poorly organized, piece-meal presentation with little new material.



4. This is probably the 6th biography of Grace Kelly that I have read and I felt that it was easily the weakest. In fairness to Wendy Leigh, she had clearly conducted her own research and she did present some new stories and anecdotes. However it felt like she was more pre-occupied with digging up new scandals than with presenting a cohesive picture of who Grace was. She glosses over significant events such as Grace meeting Rainier, why she decided to marry him and barely mentions Grace's death. Instead we get an obsession with every sexual relationship that Grace may or may not have had.
   
   While the book gives the impression of being well researched, when I looked up some of the footnotes it appeared that at least some of these claims were based purely on the word of someone who was the friend of a friend of someone who was now deceased. In a case like that, I feel that a reputable biographer should make it more evident that these are alleged rather than proven facts.
   
   Leigh implies that Grace had a fling with a Paris Match photographer on the ship sailing to Monaco for her wedding. Putting aside the fact that the evidence that this ever occurred is more than weak, if it were true (as Leigh insinuates), it raises all manner of questions about what that says about Grace's feelings towards Rainier and her upcoming wedding. None of those questions are dealt with. The implication throughout is that Grace never particularly loved Rainier and that she was unhappy in her marriage from start to finish. Based on the other books that I have read, this is an over-simplified and unlikely version of events.
   
   Here's a summary of the book: Grace Kelly was a successful actress who had a lot of affairs, sometimes with more than one person at a time. She looked very pretty in all her movies, even though she didn't like her jawline. She decided to marry Prince Rainier even though she didn't love him and she had a last fling only days before the wedding. She was very homesick after the wedding and Rainier started cheating on her almost immediately. She had several more affairs herself, including one with the husband of a friend. She was very unhappy. Some people thought she was icy and some people thought she was warm and friendly. She always believed she'd die in a car crash but she drove her car anyway and then she died.



5. Well, Leigh made have promised her publisher that she would not do a "warmed over" treatment of her subject, but that is exactly how this book comes across. She is proud to make the point that she interviewed over a hundred new sources who were willing to speak on the record about Grace, and even prouder of the fact that she was able to disclose fifteen of her sexual affairs that had never been made public before. (As if that matters.) There were only a few revelations here that caught my attention, like the fact that Grace had a tumble with the husband of one of her bridesmaids and then confessed all--leading to the complete decline of that poor woman's life--and a discussion of the extremely cruel side of Alfred Hitchcock's personality. There was virtually no discussion about Grace's death and too little examination of her complicated relationships with Rainier and the children. Also, there are regrettably few pictures in this book, most of them being publicity shots.
   
   Finally, there is too much emphasis on what seems to be extraneous. One appendix is devoted to Grace's horoscope, and another concentrates on analyzing her handwriting. Leigh also emphasizes in an epilogue about writing the book that she stayed in many of the same hotels that Grace once did, allowing her to "experience and understand her world." But did that contribute to a better book? I don't think so. For a much deeper look into the life of this beloved but controversial princess, read Randy Taraborrelli's 2003 work, Once Upon a Time.

4 comments about A Holy Life: The Writings of St. Bernadette of Lourdes.

1. This book is a wonderful resource for all who want to know Bernadette better. From her writtings one can see the depth of her faith. She saw all that occurred in her life as the will of GOD and she accepted everything that came her way. One learns that Bernadette carried her cross in life with acceptance and love. She suffered greatly and wanted to unite her suffering with Jesus' for the sake of all sinners.



2. In developing my own book on the famous apparitions at Massabielle (Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope, & Charity, Paulist Press, Sept. 2007), I researched a great number of titles. None of them, however, gave me better insight into the real person of Bernadette Soubirous than A Holy Life. Thanks to Patricia McEachern's careful translation, English-speaking readers can appreciate the oftentimes difficult journey to sainthood through Bernadette's candid letters and journal entries as she lived out her sanctity in the motherhouse at Nevers. A true treasure -- it was like meeting the visionary in person!



3. In the initial account of the apparitions Dr. McEachern uses the method of drawing lines from various different accounts given by the Saint over several different years in order to present one comprehensive report. If you accept this methodology as valid, you will draw much from this book. I felt a bit uncomfortable realizing I was reading a mosaic of shards shattered and shorn from so many different sources and presented as her complete account, but perhaps such textual criticism does not present a problem to other readers. I would prefer to read the accounts in their entirety, including to the various ecclesial and legal authorities who questioned her, in chronological order, and piece together a conclusive report from that entirety. Here this work has been done for us, leaving only the golden threads from among the whole cloth. I would hope one day to see the fullest tapestry.
   
   After that opening, the compiler of this volume does leave us a fairly representative collection of the Saint's letters, translated. Again I hope one day to see them in the original, including the regional dialect, and in chronological order, as here we find the intriguing and often difficult and treacherous work of translation done for us.
   
   I also found the opening introduction touched by a persistent trait of other reports on this Saint, the disparagement of her family and conditions and education and mind, rather than a charitable embracing and comprehension. I am always uncomfortable to read such judgmental emphasis, yet here find it more balanced and contextualized than in earlier standard texts. The Saint herself suffered this from the first moments she reported the Visions, and for the rest of her life on earth, and accepted this suffering, for reasons she examines in this book, including unmentioned yet infinitely consoling comments by Our Lady herself, who was of similar age and education and conditions. I am not so holy and so feel deeply uncomfortable for the Saint suffering such mistreatment both during and after life, but I must resolve to convert by her very wise and holy and compassionate example, and by her own exhortations shared here in her own, translated hand.
   
   A necessary addition to any Catholic spiritual library, and probably the best we can get for this Saint.



4. An enlightening story about the humble, poor little shepherd girl who encountered the Mother of God and the tremendous impact it had on her life. Details and insights that kept me excitedly turning those pages.

3 comments about A Church of Her Own: What Happens When a Woman Takes the Pulpit.

1. I am thoroughly enjoying the book. The author deals with past and present patriarchal obstacles that would ordinarily prevent an elevated sense that there is true value for women to assume leadership roles within the church. A well written description of what to look forward to when women are finally accepted and valued in in true pastoral capacities in influencing a valued and healing role of the soul and the many dimensions overlooked in a male dominated profession.



2. Sarah Sentilles set out to be an Episcopal priest, attending Harvard Divinity School, and seeking ordination in that denomination. She found the ordination process difficult, because she did not conform to some rather narrow expectations of what a priest should be. She blamed herself for not being good enough, and so great was her pain, she completely withdrew from the Church.
   
   In A Church of Her Own, Sarah Sentilles studied in depth a problem that she sees to be of major importance in organized religion. She found that although more and more women are entering divinity schools and the ordination process, these same women are leaving the Church in even larger numbers. She wanted to find out how and why called and committed Christian women were becoming so discouraged and disillusioned in a very short time. [inset as quotation] "...I realized that the brightest, most creative women I knew were having trouble. Either they struggled through the ordination process like I did, or, once ordained and working in churches, they were silenced, humiliated, and abused. These women--women who were faithful, who brought the house down when they preached, who had dedicated their lives to serving God--were being driven out of churches or were leaving the ministry altogether." (p. 3)
   
   When I read this, I became very defensive and wondered if I wanted to read further. Having been in churches with female pastors and counting several as friends, my experience seemed the opposite of Sentilles'. Surely she exaggerated. But I read on--and as I read, I became persuaded. I also became angry and disillusioned. If churches can treat people like that, what hope is there for the world?
   
   The interviewees, from across the country and from different denominations, were honest and frank and needed little prompting to talk about their experiences. Some were still in the church and their real names were not used--their real feelings, however, came through in heartbreaking detail. They reported many incidents of sexism. One of the most common, seemingly harmless practices involved a woman pastor being complimented or criticized about her clothes, her hair style, her weight, or her "time of the month." Male pastors seem never to have that experience. Interesting, isn't it?
   
   Almost all women were offered lower salaries than their male counterparts because (it was rationalized) men were known to be the breadwinners of the family. Many congregations could not deal with a pregnant pastor. It makes everyone uncomfortable, they were told, to bring that "sexual connotation" to the pulpit. Do these same congregations think their male pastors are celibate? Of course not, but their sexuality was not so overt.
   
   Many women--and some men--come as new pastors, fresh from leading seminaries with a passion to serve. They might use what is called "inclusive language," terms which do not exclude or demean on the basis of race, religion, or gender. Most often, the women's efforts to speak inclusively were rebuffed. They were told that no one wanted to call God "She." (Sentilles argues that this misses the point, anyway: "Replacing one form of gender-exclusive language with another does not solve the problem." p. 138) The way we speak of God, she feels, goes to the heart of theology, regardless of denomination. "We will have to trust that God is bigger than anything we can say or write or sing about God. We will have to have faith in God."
   
   What first seemed to me to be Sentilles' angry and bitter criticism of an institution that failed her turned out to be a clearly stated and researched study, not just of the institutionalized church but those who attend and manage those churches. It truly does go to the heart of belief. What is religion? What is the Church? Who can fully participate? And, most important, what do our attitudes toward the clergy say about Christianity and those who profess to be Christians? Sentilles and the women she interviewed were very specific about ministry being a call to action--this is not religion of which they speak, but service, ministering to others. "Ministry is theology in action." (p.244) Sentilles and the other women ask this of organized religion, from which they often felt excluded or alienated: "What might empowering people to live their ministries in daily life look like? How would it change the church?...What might be lost? What gained?" (p. 247)
   
   Many of the women remain hopeful about the future. Many continue their ministry outside of the church, working with the homeless, abused women, the elderly. Interestingly, more than one finds she is most accepted in women's prisons. "It is a population that is vulnerable and needs help and is easily accessible...Women want to tell their stories. This is a place to hear women's stories." (p.278)
   
   Sentilles concludes that she has found a kind of faith in the writing of this book. "Yes, the church is sexist. Yes, the church is racist. Yes, the church is homophobic and classist and oppressive...and exclusive. And, at the same time, the church is filled with human beings ministering to one another, nourishing one another, challenging one another." (p. 309) "When I began writing this book, I was extremely angry. I was grieving. I wanted to write a book that would reveal how terrible religion is...But the women I interviewed changed my mind. Their stories, their energy, their commitment converted me. I began to feel strangely, unexpectedly hopeful." (p. 309)
   
   Having read this book, I feel hopeful, too.
   
   by Susan Ideus
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



3. IMHO, the name of this review should have been the title of this book... as I read through the first 3/4 of this book, I was struck by two things: how well-written it was, and how bitter the author was about her experience with trying to serve in the church.
   
   Turns out, writing the book was healing for her. In the final pages, she comes to realize her interviews with the women for this book have washed over her soul and made her long to be accepted or requested by a congregation. Her bitterness turns to grief. I was sorry she hadn't spent more time on this discovery, less on all the negative aspects of women in ministry. (I do know women who are serving, loving it, but have also had frustrations. That seems rather typical, I think.)
   
   This was not the kind of book I was expecting when I bought it. Often I wondered how young this author was--her contemporaries were women in their 20s. And, I'm sure it is hard to receive respect when one is a woman, that young, and as some of her friends did, look and act so contemporary that some might have thought they still belonged on a college campus.
   
   Still, she is a fabulous writer (or she has a fantastic editor, or both). She's obviously done tons of research that's invaluable. For years I struggled to find something contemporary on the shelf about women in the ministry... so a book like this was/is sorely needed.
   
   The slant is overtly liberal and gives ample space to the disenfranchised (gay/lesbian/transgendered/etc.). I did feel much compassion for, and learned more about those who are frustrated because the traditional church will not ordain them, yet God is calling them to serve in some meaningful way.
   
   I totally "get" the inclusive language she talks about. I'm a Cady Stanton fan, sat through many women's studies classes--yet I can't say that I have as strong of a revulsion to the male-only language (Father, Son, etc.). Although I do love the NRSV and the fact that it uses "brothers and sisters"!

2 comments about Michelle Obama: Grace and Intelligence in a Time of Change.

1. I am so excited to read this biography of Michelle Obama. She is smart, beautiful, hard-working, and a dedicated mother. For people who say you can't do it all, Michelle is the proof that you can! And she does it with grace and elegance, all from the heart, with sincerity that many other political figures don't show. My only regret with this Kindle edition is that I can't share it with my daughter!
   
   UPDATE: Now that I've finished the book, I have to say I'm very disappointed. I am a BIG fan of Michelle Obama, but the author wrote this book without ever speaking with, or even having a personal e-mail from, Michelle. She basically Googled Michelle Obama and wrote about whatever she found on the internet. The author pretty quickly exhausts her info about Obama and then spends a lot of the book talking about her own uninteresting suburban life. What a bummer!



2. thoughtful and well-written. an interesting if somewhat unconventional delivery--the author combines michelle's story with a bit of her own, often suggesting an allegory between mrs. obama's humble roots and the happenings within her own respective life. this does occasionally detract from the main focus, but it also provides some interesting subtext that makes an at-times detached presidential spouse seem all the more familiar. overall, 'grace and intelligence' provides us with the rare biography that not only conveys the subject's life from an outward perspective but also draws us closer to a woman with whom we all, whether we realize it or not, can relate.

5 comments about Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women.

1. Great, more caterwalling from this self-obsessed, immature, indignant egomaniac. Do us all a favor Lizzy, and throw in the towel. You're schtick is overtired. You're pushing 40. Would you finally grow up and stop torturing the nation with your whining?
   
   That's right, your depression was real. But you were 19. You were nothing but a scared little girl. It doesn't take a Harvard education to figure that out.
   
   And this book, I yie yie. Please go on another bender and never ever take pen to paper again. You'll be doing us all a huge favor.



2. Everything that Elizabeth Wurtzel wrote in this book is true. The truth about how males can be so sexist, and how men are 'allowed' or supposed to do certian things, while women aren't. Elizabeth uses many examples of 'difficult women' in this book such as Dilea, Madonna, Amy Fisher and so on.
   
   I am pretty sure that everyone has heard of phrases like, "Men can sleep with 10 women and thats fine. But if a women would sleep with 10 men she is a whore or a slut." And thats what many people believe to be true.
   
   When guys are difficult and speak there mind they are 'just being a guy' but when a woman is difficlut or speaks her mind she gets classified as a bitch. And those are some of the things that she points out in her book. This is a very good book, but I wouldn't recommend it to people that have the minds set to the old fashioned ways or people that believe 'women are better off seen than heard'.



3. I have rarely been as disappointed with a book as I have been this one. In many ways Elizabeth Wurtzel is a brilliant writer, gifted with the ability to construct a memorable sentence or a brilliant image. Moreover, as a bit of a rebel and a very intelligent woman I would have imagined that this would have been a book bristling with insight. Besides, I liked the subtitle: In Praise of Difficult Women. My own thought has long been that the way our society is constructed, brilliant, independent women would often be taken by society at large as "difficult." I had imagined that this was going to have multiple overlaps with third wave feminism and perhaps the riot girrrls and all kinds of wonderful new ways of women asserting their rights to be whoever it is they want to be. Besides, she and I share very similar tastes in music and pop culture. I imagined a brilliant effort in gonzo feminism.
   
   But I was disappointed. Yes, there were the brilliant turns of phrase and startling paragraphs. But like other reviewers, when I finished I really couldn't say what the book was about. The details were often marvelously expressed, but to what overall end? The book ended up being brilliant on the micro level, but dense and opaque on the macro. The result was a book that was fun to read from beginning to end, but frustrating because I was never able to grasp what it was all about.
   
   The book is structured around five themes, each one with several women evoked to stand as icons, but in each case one woman above all others. The first part deals with sexual sirens who can also be conceived as man eaters, with Delilah, Samson's seductress/betrayal as the great example. The second part deals with under aged temptresses, with Amy Fisher as the great exemplar. The third section deals with women who died either by their own hand or by the kinds of lives they had come to live. Here several women are presented as icons, including Margaux Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Anne Sexton. The fourth section, written at the height of Monica-gate, skewers Hillary Clinton for being a wife instead of achieving great things herself (a secton that seems hopelessly out of touch with reality as she in 2006 looks poised to run for president--for the record, a move that I am passionately opposed to, since despite the hype she is extremely conservative on most issues, especially economics, and I think she would keep America on the right wing course upon which it began under Jimmy Carter--another person perceived to be liberal who was actually quite conservative on economic issues--and has continued under all successive presidents). The final section deals with women who are the victims of extreme violence and centers on Nicole Brown Simpson. The problem is that the book simply never coalesces around any substantive ideas.
   
   In the end, the women she chooses to write about are women that are as difficult for feminism as for men or society or the public at large. Feminism simply can't absorb Amy Fisher and claim her for one of their own. The story is too tawdry and messy for that. But after three hundred pages of writing about these women, it still isn't clear what she is writing about. The big pay off never comes. It is a book that promises great--or even just pretty good--things but never delivers. This truly is a book that is far less than the sum of its parts. I think the fact that one can love many individual pages while hating it as a whole is reflected in the weirdly schizoid reviews that my Anchor Books edition contains (I have as of today the latest printing, so this may not be true of previous editions). The blurbs are divided into "The Good," "the Bad," "the Bitchy," and "The Bottom Line." The attempt on the part of the publishers almost seems an admission that it is a deeply flawed book, but they want to portray it as one of those ultra-controversial books that you have to read so that you can discuss.
   
   I stil think there are some great books to be written about truly difficult women, about women that society has trouble absorbing or that it resists. I just in the end did not feel that this was one of them. This despite the fact that she writes well, that she is obviously a smart woman, and--let's admit it--very hot. Yes, that is her on the cover. Not many writers could pull that off.



4. I was eager to read Bitch after having read Prozac Nation years before. I was sorely disappointed. Wurtzel rants and expounds on various maligned women throughout history. Her rambling can be hard to follow and I soon lost interest. This book had a lot of potential but Wurtzel just wasn't able to deliver.
   
   I later read her memoir of drug addiction and recovery, More, Now, and Again which explained Bitch's dismal failure. It turns out that during the time Wurtzel was writing Bitch she was heavily using a myriad of drugs.
   
   I suggest reading Prozac Nation and More, Now and Again (which are fabulous)and skipping Bitch. Read Manifesta and Grassroots for a modern perspective on feminism.



5. As a radical feminist, I was pathetically amused and enraged by this book. It does not celebrate women's strength or struggle, instead finding glory in the consolation prizes of temptress roles and the like. As a reader, I was intrigued but confused. It's easy to lose your place - the author is very clever but harder to stay with than a mechanical bull. I don't think any book i've ever read has given my facial muscles such a workout: i'm sure someone watching my expressions as I read would have been the more entertained of the group. Now that i've learned it was written during a drug binge, I understand it better and can get some sleep. We can do better.