3 comments about The Secret Eye: The Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1848-1889 (Gender & American Culture).

1. A Secret Eye was a huge disappointment. The characters were not as developed and colorful as one might expect. The diary/journal form became ho-hum after the first few entries. The dragging subjects and subject matter made the 470 pages difficult to wade through. Augusta has always been my home and I did enjoy some of the local history. I am certain a more interesting story could have been told about my hometown.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! How often does one get to read someone else's diary? (Set during the Civil War, no less.) The author was a well educated, intelligent woman for her time and she is an excellent writer. So many aspects of this diary are completely fascinating. Her pampered southern lifestyle, her views on slavery (she calls herself a liberal re: slavery and yet, she is such a racist.), her feelings on male superiority and her longing to do more with her talents. The entries during the war and after are the most interesting... but DON'T read the introductory notes written by the editor...unless you want to spoil the ending! I wanted the diary to unfold one day at a time without knowing what was coming just as it did for Gertrude. After reading the diary I went back and read the editorial notes which add insight into the author's life. This is a story of a very strong woman enduring unbelievable hardships. If you enjoy history at all you will love reading this diary!



3. I totally diagree w/ the review above because apparently the reader did not understand that this diary is not a novel.
   
   It is true however that the diary does not reveal too much of Ella herself. This is not surprising to me since she states that she is not going to open up to her diary and tell her innomost feelings. Unfortunately!
   However, after she gets married, has children and is much more matured she does reveal a great deal about her life, feelings etc.
   One can only thank that someone took the trouble to record personal information during the antebellum time and afterwards for the readers of the 21st century to read. Thank you.

5 comments about Behind the Burqa: Our Life in Afghanistan and How We Escaped to Freedom.

1. I can't understand how this book got such excellent ratings as presented under the guise of Taliban oppression. The older sister, Sulima, was extremely pampered and spoiled by her bizarre father. She seems to have lacked for anything she wanted. Her story is really one about becoming an abused wife. Her unhappy story doesn't relate to her culture as much as her particular circumstances. Abuse of this sort is present within every culture. It is a story about misery, just as all abuse stories are. Her sister, Hala, younger by 20 years has relayed a bit more interesting story, but it takes up less than one third of the book. She touches on the upheavals that led to the ultimate Taliban rule as seen from her exceedingly narrow point of view. Neither of the sisters seems very politically astute. Apparently they lack the erudition to give them a real worldview. Needless to say I was disappointed since I was looking for a book on Afghani culture from a more objective viewpoint. The only thing I gave it stars for is Hala's story of her experiences in detention centers after coming into the US under asylum. After 9/11 we need to be careful about who we let into our country, but I was surprised that detainees were treated like prisoners. After reading "Mayada, Daughter of Iraq", I am sorry to say that Hala's experiences as a prisoner in the US are almost laughable



2. I disagree with the last reviewer. I feel that when I read BEHIND THE BURQA, I got an amazing glimpse into Afghan culture. The story went well beyond the individual circumstances of the two sisters but encompassed an entire timeline of Afghan history since the 1950s and also a great deal about Afghan society, practices, customs and beliefs. Hala's story was even more shocking because she was oppressed in our own country! I am sad that the last reviewer didn't understand the true meaning of the book, and its real message. I highly recommend this book as both a great read (lots of others have said this and I totally agree) and as an important educational experience.



3. I read a negative review on here, that I was unhappy to see. This book focuses on "Salima" and "Hala" two Afghani sisters, both opressed by different wars and regimes at different times in Afghanistan. They are 16 years apart. Reading that Salima had a "pampered life" in one of the reviews was quite disturbing to me. Considering that she fought for women's rights underground in a country that supressed them, that she was house bound and beat by an abusive father, Locked into her room and then threatened with guns by her brother, I would hardly call this a "pampered life". She continued to risk for the women she served. Later the book focuses on her horribly physical abusive relationship with her husband. This is also part of the culture, where it is considered "okay" to beat a woman. Her heroism and story was amazing.
   Hala, 16 years younger suffered a completely different type of abuse, under the mujaheedin and then the rule of the Taliban. After being beat and her life threatened she had to flee and claim political assylum in the United States. This book was so heart felt and thought provoking, that for two nights I have stayed up until 4 in the morning reading. I say it is a "must read".



4. Two sisters with two related stories - the book is not difficult to read, and the stories are eye-opening. Reminds me how thankful I am to have been born and raised in a free society, able to go where I want whenever I want, get an education, have a career (or not ... but I at least have the opportunity).
   
   I can't believe someone considered Sulima to be "pampered" ... I did not get that impression. Yes, abuse of women also happens here in the US, so some of her experiences are not unique in that sense - but the pressure from her family to stay with her abusive husband was reflective of the culture and was clearly not good for Sulima. I just think of her technical talent and skill that was not allowed to grow to full potential - society's loss in the long run... how many other women are also derailed like that.
   
   Hala's story shows how truly oppressive to women life under the Taliban was, something I did not realize at the time.
   
   I am glad that both women were able to leave Afganistan, and I hope they are thriving in the US. I only hope the situation for women in Afganistan and in other similar cultures improves instead of worsening in the future.



5. Living in Egypt and seeing firsthand how harshly women were (and still are) treated by men started my quest for knowledge and understanding of Islam and the Middle East.
   
   I was, as most people from non-Islamic countries, horribly uninformed and misled about the true nature of the legalistic doctrine of Islam. I had no idea how strict and cruel and oppressive this "religion of peace" was concerning women until I read from the Islamic sources themselves.
   That being said I really enjoyed reading the first 3/4ths of this book written by the older sister, Sulima.
   
   Now a former Muslim and living in America, Sulima details her struggle for equality and education for females in her native country Afghanistan. This remarkable girl/woman accomplished quite a lot while enduring shocking, abusive treatment from almost EVERY single Muslim male in her life. This should be an eye opener and required reading for anyone who under-estimates or denies how the Koran looks upon women and their subserviant second class role in society. Sulima's Islamic religion/upbringing ensured her a life of misery and suffering that few in the West will ever understand. Fortunately she was able to escape and build a wonderful life in America. I found her story brilliant, brave and moving. Five star's all the way.
   
   The last 1/4th of the book was written by Hala. Sulima's younger sister by 16 years grew up under very different, much more brutal regimes before seeking refugee status in America and ultimately with her sister. During Hala's childhood she witnessed considerably more violence and oppressive treatment under the Mujihaddin and later the Taliban who sought to rid Afghanistan of the evil Western influences and establish a pure Islamic State. Hala bravely ran an underground classroom for children (because the government believed education was evil and unnecessary.) Once she had been discovered by the Taliban she was fiercely beaten and essentially told she would be killed soon. Hala was forced to leave her country and ended up in a lengthy struggle with American immigration before ultimately being granted political asylum.
   
   I found it very offensive and frustrating that of all the evil Hala endured in Afghanistan (due wholly in part to the religion she loves and embraces so much) she goes on and on and on about all the "atrocities" at the hands of INS, the court system, customs officials etc..The bulk of her story is not the first 20 plus years of her life in a backwards, war torn and little understood society like the reader might imagine, but lengthy details ad nauseum of how violated she felt by America. In her words she felt no safety in our harsh and alien world. Having such high expectations, Hala found only a cold and friendless place. For example, she was horrified at having to deal with rude, weary, overworked airport officials who couldn't understand her language; mortified that she couldn't use the restroom alone or take her luggage with her when she did go; mentally defeated because the bench was uncomfortable and she was cold; shocked and ashamed the shower curtains didn't close properly and devastated at how long she was kept in detention until she could prove her case. Hala even claims she was denied "spiritual food to nourish my soul" and given only "physical food to nourish my body". She complains how the vegetables were overcooked and limp, the meat was fatty and the oatmeal-loose and watery. "The food was tasteless. It was a diet to make people feel physically sick and mentally punished."
   Now I don't know if it's just me-but I can only imagine thousands upon thousands of hungry Afghans in her Godforsaken country who would be very appreciative to eat like she did while in detention. I won't even go into her new found peace of mind from the "religious police" who were constantly on the look out for the smallest "offense" in order beat or kill a woman. Something as simple as laughing, speaking loudly, walking in front of a male, showing any skin or leaving the country without permission from a Mahram are serious offenses that could end your life.. Do you see the irony in all this?
   
   While detailing all her perceived injustices, Hala barely mentions all rules that were bent to make her more comfortable. She was allowed privileges others weren't and access to various things like an Islamic chaplain, prayer rugs, phonecalls, her sister being allowed to interpret in legal procedings, free medical attention, her holy Koran, shawl to cover her head etc...
   All you read about is how insensitive America has been to her suffering and her dissappointed with out great country.. You would think after growing up in Hell that something as minor as having to go to the dining hall (but not forced to eat) during Ramadan wouldn't be so bad-think again!. Her lack of gratitude is disgusting. Her bloated sense of entitlement will amaze you. Hala doesn't understand that when you enter the country illegally (especially these days) you have to go through the red tape process. This has become a long drawn out ordeal due to the endless droves of non-citizens seeking life in America. It may not be pleasant or the most efficient process but I'm certain it wasn't as bad as life with the Taliban. For Hala's story I took two stars off my rating for an otherwise wonderful book.
   
   By the way, if you are wondering if she got over her traumatic ordeal at the hands of the insensitive Americans or her disappointment with our society/way of life guess again! She is still ungrateful and complaining!

5 comments about A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson.

1. This book on Greer Garson I highly recommend. It's very balances and tells of the good and bad times in her life about her career andher fmaily. Though i must admit I wished it had mentioned more about her interests and personal life off screem. But overall it's really well written and interesting book about alovely screen actress. Greer Garson really had class
   and a wnderful grace about her in all of her films



2. Michael Troyan has a gift for biography. I hope he can collaborate with Turner Classic Movies to produce a video on the life of Greer Garson.
   This book makes me wish I could have known Greer Garson. She loved and respected her mother, she loved her husband, she loved children and orphans and the disabled and disadvantaged. She loved her dogs, ranching in New Mexico, history, and she loved Texas...makes me love her even though I never met her. Good job, Mr. Troyan.



3. An excellent read if you're into details. For me, the details got a little overwhelming, but I so much wanted to learn more about this actress that I admire greatly. Sadly, as the author himself stated, it was difficult to write a biography because Greer Garson was a very private person and did not give many interviews or express many personal opinions in public. However, he richly details her movies, her public service, and others' opinions of her (and a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold). I have always enjoyed watching her many films and am tracking down as many of them as I can on DVD so this made for a fine addition to my collection of her work. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading and loves any of her many films.



4. Modern actors and actresses don't seem to have the charisma, style and elegance of yesteryear's stars. Maybe that's because most of today's actors are really nothing but pitiful celebrities striving to be what once was, when Hollywood was golden.
   
   I long for yesterday when it comes to film stars: Betty Davis, Myrna Loy, Katherine Hepburn Ginger Rogers, and so many more. Oh, yes, and that includes Greer Garson. The beautiful and talented woman we thought was born in Ireland in 1908, was really born in London in 1904.
   
   Author Michael Troyan delves into Greer Garson's life, as much as anyone could, given that she was an extremely private woman. He carries you through her intense desire to succeed as an actress, her `discovery' and career struggles to resist being typecast, all the way through her marriages, and to her death on April 5, 1996 at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital with Van Cliburn at her bedside.
   
   I'd always thought of Ms. Garson as a brilliant actress who could get any part she wanted. I had no idea of her struggles with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. One of my favorite films is the record-breaking "Mrs. Miniver." I get chills thinking about her Academy Award-winning performance.
   
   And while it felt a bit like voyeurism looking in on her life, I'm glad I visited it through Troyan's eyes. It was a satisfying trip. And the author did a marvelous job showing us a small part of the woman who was Greer Garson.
   
   For a compelling look at one of the best actresses to ever grace the stage, big or small screen, read A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: This is a wonderful slice of our American film history.



5. Michael Troyan has done a wonderful job of putting together an informative and enjoyable biography on a fascinating subject. In fact, I found the book so delightful as to find it to be one of the best biographies I've ever read.
   
   While there is no doubt that the charming personality of Greer Garson herself that radiates throughout the book has helped in the formation of my favorable opinion, I give much-deserved kudos to Mr. Troyan for being able to present his subject to the audience in such a friendly manner. By that I mean that throughout the pages, I could feel the presence of Greer Garson, and after having finished the book, felt as if I had just finished reading a letter from a long-time friend.
   
   The first half of the book, which deals with Greer's childhood, life in Britain as a stage actress, and the later move to Hollywood, is generally a smooth and easy read. The toll of the grinding studio system and the competition involved for the popular actresses of the time are keenly felt and one can get a very good idea of the kind of position the actress was in at the time. Eventually though, talent perseveres and success follows. Detailed and interesting accounts of each of Greer's films are available and are a joy to read.
   
   The latter half of the book is a particularly refreshing read because of the relatively vast amount of information about Greer's later life outside of Hollywood. Personally, I had not previously been aware of her various activities and hobbies and learned a great deal more about Greer Garson than when I first started out. A sign of a good biography is new information, and this one certainly has its fair share.
   
   Now, all other traits aside, the most notable accomplishment of this work is that it does not read as a stiff, dull and fact-driven thesis paper, which is a pitfall that so many biographies of this kind can fall into. Rather, it is an intimate yet respectfully distant portrait of a lovely human being who was also a remarkable artist in her own right.

5 comments about Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride.

1. This true story of Annie (Kopchovsky)Londonderry is an exhilarating and fascinating romp through history with a companion the reader can't help but admire for her gumption, cleverness, and determination.
   
   Annie was the first woman to ride her bicycle around the world, possibly as part of a contest. It's just as likely, however, that she fabricated an excuse to travel because she felt claustrophobic, trapped within the societal constraints placed on women during the Victorian era. The author, Peter Zheutlin, writes Annie's story with tenderness (he's a descendent of Annie's, but I suspect he would do so regardless), yet also with appropriate skepticism and rich historical detail. (Read the endnotes!)
   
   While following in the wake of her fierce independence and almost reckless energy, the reader also explores the impact Annie's journey had on the advancement of women's rights, as well as uncomfortable questions it posed about traditional roles - including her own role as wife and mother.
   
   I'm recommending "Around the World on Two Wheels" for my book club selection next month. We'll have plenty of issues to discuss, and we'll get to do so in the company of one incredibly memorable character -- Annie Londonderry.



2. An extraordinary story! Peter Zheutlin, a descendant of Annie Londonderry's brother, has researched and written her incredible adventure. With all her claims, her outrageous self-promotion, her character flaws, Annie Londonderry has emerged again as one of modern women's most outstanding pioneers and role models. Her story--and this book--is inspiring, fun, and memorable. It is a stiring tale of one woman's incredible adventure, a provocative and thoughtful example of women's suffrage, and a tale of the Old West rarely investigated today. It is not only a must read, but a must have.



3. "Around the World on Two Wheels" is the fascinating and highly amusing tale of how Annie Kopchovsky, a Jewish immigrant and mother of three living in Boston in the 1890s, singlehandedly reinvented herself as "Annie Londonderry," the subject of a high stakes wager over whether it was possible for a woman to cycle around the world. While the wager and much of Annie's recollection of her journey is apocryphal, she did succeed in circling the globe, all the time spinning fantastic travel tales to willing and gullible newspapermen.
   
   Zheutlin has done a marvelous job in researching the tale of Annie, a distant relative, and also in separating the facts from the many fictions she put forward. He also puts Annie's groundbreaking journey in the proper historical/societal context.
   
   A great read that will appeal to a large cross section of readers.



4. Instead of running to buy this book, bicycle there! I could not stop reading the story, and finished it over the weekend based upon my father's enthusiastic recommendation. What an amazing true story Peter Z. has discovered, digging from his family tree. This would make a blockbuster movie. It would secure at least an oscar nomination for the lucky actress who gets the role of Annie Londonberry, perhaps someone such as Natalie Portman?
   Mr. Zheutlin is an erudite story teller and I can't wait to read his next book.
   R. Bornstein, Ft Lauderdale, FL



5. Annie Kopchovshy decided to ride around the world on a bike. So she changed her name to Annie Londonderry, conned half the planet in helping her ride around the world, mostly on trains and steamboats, and made money while doing it. An interesting story? Why, yes. An amazing woman? Yes. Smart? Yes. Amoral? Sure. A con artist? Yes. Did she lie and cheat and act self centered? Yes. Did she leave behind her husband and kids during her travels? Yes.
   Interesting, daring, and a great piece of history.

2 comments about "Strong Medicine" Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say.

1. This book is a gem! I acutally felt each story as though it were "Stong Medicine" actually speaking directly to me. I felt all emotions, happy, excited, anticipation, and sad as she told this beautiful story.
   
   Amy captured her and this book will truly capture you!
   
   What a testimony of true Native American life.



2. I had no idea I've been waiting for words of wisdom from a Native American Elder. But Strong Medicine is (forgive me) just what the doctor ordered.
   
   Marion "Strong Medicine" Gould's story is a big one. She has suffered. She inspires. She laughs. She shares wisdom you'll want to reflect on. And she does not shrink down from saying what many of us think but might not say out loud. (Or in a book.)
   
   I'm not a history buff, but I loved learning about Strong Medicine's life--precisely because of the way Hearth presented the information. I didn't feel like I was getting a lesson. I felt like I was making a new friend. A really compassionate and wise and funny one.

5 comments about Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There.

1. Max Arthur's book covering the Great War is quite unique in that its content is nearly all first-hand accounts from people who experienced the horror of the Great War. The author has utilized a number of tape recorded interviews conducted by the Imperial War Museum in 1972. Many of the tapes from the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive had been forgotten and left unheard for years.
   
   Now Max Arthur has put together many of these unheard voices from the Great War to produce this spellbinding and captivating book. I must admit that I was reluctant to buy this book as I was worried that a book full of short accounts would be too disjointed and really not detailed enough to satisfy my interest. I can honestly say that I truly enjoyed reading this book.
   
   Each chapter of the book was a year of the Great War and was commenced by an introduction by the author offering a brief run down on the major events of that year. Then we heard from the men and women who participated in these events, from both sides of no-man's land. The author has concentrated mainly on the Western Front and Gallipoli and has tried to run the oral segments in chronological order.
   
   I was really taken by these segments and I found it hard to stop reading. The accounts from these soldiers and civilians alike were at times humorous, strikingly direct, horrifying and on many occasions quite sad. I was really taken in by these accounts and I don't think that any World War One library would be complete without this title sitting on the shelf. I can honestly say that I learnt quite a few things from this book and I would place it along side such works offered by Lyn MacDonald. Well done to the author and the Imperial War Museum for allowing these veterans, many now long dead, the last word on their experiences in the Great War. This is a great book, you won't be disappointed.



2. I thought the book was out standing of being told from the prospective of the common soldier and the ironies of war. this was an important work as to the feelings of the soldiers and not nesserly of the high command. very enlightning Norm Miller



3. Detailed descriptions of great battles and campaigns and after battle reports are good and certainly worthwhile, but this work is just as important, if not more important in some ways, than the first mentioned. This is a collection, taken primarily from original tapes, of the recollections of those who were actually there. As one reviewer has already pointed out, most of these observations were made by those actually in the trenches, actually working on the home front, and not just the recollections of Generals,leaders and journalists. This is quite refreshing and informative. The author has, as much as possible, kept the recollections in chronological order and has given us a brief history before each segment. Some of the recollections are quite mundane, but in being so, make them that much more special. The many black and white photos added much. The only problem I had with the book was that each nationality represented here have used their own colloquialisms, many of which I had never encountered before. But...this actually, in the end, was an advantage for me personally, as it forced me, due to pure curiosity, to do further research and find out just what they were referring to. I learned much this way! Most, if not all, of this generation is gone now and we are quite fortunate to have records such as this. I hope there are more to come. Overall I highly recommend. I collect books from and about this era and recommend you add this on to your collection.



4. A fantastic read. This is not a story book this is real thoughts from real people in a very real war.
   This book really takes you into the minds and souls of those very very brave men & Women.
   Excellent. The only reason I did not give this 5 stars is that the book could have been longer. My only grievence. Thanks to the brave who lost their lives. Long may their memory live.



5. This is mostly from interviews from British and Australian troops who lived through the war. It is amazing to hear what they went through, in wars since the warriors were almost spoiled in comparison. I have read everything on Vietnam and world war 2, here they lost more men in one day of one attack then in the whole 15 years of Vietnam. That they could continually follow the orders that were nothing less than suicidal are beyond me.
   
   I recommend for anyone interested in first person stories of this or any other war to educate yourself on what it was like with this book.

5 comments about The Girl in the Red Coat.

1. I have read hundreds of books about those who survived the holocaust but this is one book I cannot recommend. Although you get a glimpse of what life during the holocaust may have been like, you unfortunately get too many glimpses of a woman who thrives on vanity. Throughout the book, Roma time and time again stresses how pretty she was and how many men wanted to marry her. Roma is a woman who you cannot come to care about as she cares so much about herself but not in the way of her survival but instead her looks.



2. Ligocka writes an unusal Holocaust memoir. She writes about her entire life and how the Holocaust affected her. The most intriquing and exciting part of the book deals with Ligocka's childhood. Many people helped Roma and her mother survive by hiding them and providing shelter for them during the war. Roma recalls childhood friends and relatives (including Roman Polanski).
   Roma's adult life was not perfect.She mad some bad choices and lived with the consequences. A very interesting life, indeed.



3. This is a great book about the Holocaust and for anyone who had read many books on the topic I reccomend you add this one to your list. Roma gives a detailed look inside her childhood and although her life may not have turned out as bright as other surviors her struggle is great and inspiring.



4. I almost finished this book in one sitting. It's a different way of looking at those years than what I've read before. I think we forget that even though - or especially though - when a child is so young - the impact it has. The horrible things that for Roma were ordainary. I'm not surprised by her struggles later in life, to the contrary I think it's amazing she came through as well as she did. So very different to see the Holocaust through a child's eyes. Bravo Roma! Congratulations on your book and your survival



5. I recently returned from a trip to Warsaw, Poland. At a holocaust memorial there were quotes from this book and so it piqued my interest. The book is beautifully written and you can feel the pain and frustration of the author. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Mafia Wife: My Story of Love, Murder, and Madness.

1. Oh man.
   I picked this book up on vacation, intending it to be a good read...if anything something to pass the time. I have a huge interest in the Mafia and have for quite some time....however this book blew it for me. I don't think I made it past page 50...in fact I think I read the first 50 pages half a dozen times. I couldn't believe how poorly this book was written!! On top of that, like others have stated, it was so repetitive! I was shocked to say the least. I believe there to be many ways to have a book sound very much like the author, despite the authors ability to write a book, which clearly was not done with this book!!



2. I have never written a review on a book in my life, but this one so enraged me, I sought out a place to state my view.
   
   I won't expound on the whining, as others have covered that quite accurately. But what really burned my biscuits about Lynda is her feigned ignorance of how her husband earned his money. She had at least two independent confirmations from friends that her husband had become a made man in the mob. She even admitted to seeing a bandaid on his cut finger, which corroborated their story. Her response? They must be crazy. Is she color blind? The big, waving red flags were near impossible to ignore, but she somehow claims to have done it. She sees her husband brutally attack a man in their yard, in front of her children, yet has the gall to proclaim him a good and loving parent. She should have had her children taken away fron her for not protecting them from such a lunatic criminal. To make her statements even more outrageous, she knowingly participated in some of his illegal money making schemes. In fact, her 'honeymoon' was financed by stealing from the telephone company! Hey, there's a clue.
   
   For all her whining about her 'horrible' childhood, she also casually mentions many positive things, such as the nose job she had done, and the vacations the family went on. These details are incongruous with the image she paints of a poor waif of a child wearing hand me down clothing (albeit high end label stuff) and being abused by her mother, and not defended by her father.
   
   In my search for a place to vent my view, I found an interview she did on Court TV where her parting shot was, "Buy my book!" I also stumbled on her web site which you have to pay to view. For someone who claims to have had no clue what was going on in her husband's life, she lists lots of tantalizing come ons for joining her site.
   
   Don't waste your money on this book! I bought my copy used and will be selling mine soon for .01. I am only grateful that my purchase of her book did not put one thin dime into her greedy hand.



3. I was fresh off of reading "Westies" and was wishing that they had given more detail about Sissy Featherstone and Edna Coonan and their lives and ordeals with there husbands when I found this at the local bookshop. I flipped though it, thought it intresting and picked it up. I think the thing you have to understand is that when dealing with 85% of people in the mafia or associated in some way with the mafia. They aren't well educated. Or else they wouldn't have had to start doing petty crimes to get somewhere. They would have went to Law School or taken more traditional paths.
   
   At the beginning of this book, I do see where alot of people call Lynda 'whinny', but she was telling why she turned out the way she did and why she put up with Louie even though he abused her. But as you go into the book, I feel it does get more intresting and I didn't want to put it down. And for not being as well educated as most expect, Lynda did really well for herself. It's a true story, and sometimes the people with the most intresting stories are the one's that didn't finish 8th grade. I think people need to remember that.
   
   5 stars for Lynda not so much the book.



4. Having been on the inside I could relate to this one. Rita Schiano, author "Painting The Invisible Man" Painting the Invisible Man



5. I did not find this book as enjoyable as I had hoped. I think the author was very slanted and presented her side of the story in a self serving way. Really a disappointment.

No comments about Pioneer Work In Opening The Medical Profession To Women (Classics in Women's Studies).

5 comments about Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir.

1. This book -- personal and warm -- is an extraordinary gift to kids of working-class parents. Cheri Register says things that I felt about my own dad and about my own home town, but that I was never able to say to him. She shows how what we do for a "living" is really central to shaping who we are in the bigger world. Thank you for this book!



2. Even if you are not from the midwest or know nothing about the meat packing business this book will give you much to think about. Cheri has a way of bringing you into her experiences.



3. I first found out about this book in an article in the Rochester newspaper about the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Since then, I have purchased several of their books. *Packinghouse Daughter* won the American Book Award and the Minnesota Book Award for autobiography, and it deserved both prizes heartily! This book is full of interesting people, class struggle, a young woman coming of age, and old-fashioned Midwestern life. If you hate those whiney memoirs about bad childhoods then this is the perfect antidote.

   I would also recommend Steven R. Hoffbeck's *The Haymakers,* which won the Minnesota Book Award for history, and Peter Razor's *While the Locust Slept,* which deserves to win every award out there--both from the Historical Society. These books, like Register's, are good stories concerned with how ordinary people get by and sometimes make an important impact on our culture. These heartfelt books should be read by Americans everywhere and should be the standard for all publishers to meet.




4. I don't much like memoirs. But Packinghouse Daughter, by Cheri Register, is not a typical memoir. It is enchanting, disturbing, and provocative. It should be read by a wide range of readers, including academics and other middle-class professionals who pride themselves on "siding with the working class." It shatters some of our illusions and our tendency to romanticize our identification with working-class people even as it encourages us to hold fast to our principles. The book should also be read by the countless working-class parents who worked hard to give their children the life they knew they could never have. Speaking for those children, this book says eloquently: we honor you, our parents, for your commitments and principles and will try to carry those into our very different worlds. As a bonus, the book's author tells her story so well, with a disarming openness about her conflicted emotions and with such humor and earthy but deep insight, that it will be accessible even to those who don't read much.

   Register tells a story of growing up in the 1950s as the daughter of a longtime employee of the Wilson meatpacking plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota, not far from the more famous (and, in her account, more favored) Hormel plant in Austin. Coming-of-age memoirs now flood the market with stories that cater to our need for a revised Horatio Alger myth. In countless stories--many of them moving, important stories for our time--children grow up suffering from unspeakable poverty, abusive or otherwise dysfunctional families, or racism, but somehow survive and overcome those conditions to become not wealthy business moguls but their equivalent in our politically correct age: writers or academics who speak out against poverty, violence, and racism. Despite some similarities, this memoir is different. Register acknowledges gratefully that her parents provided an emotionally and economically secure environment for her, while educating her about her place in a world with more complicated class divisions than we see in most popular memoirs. It is, in part, her more subtle account of those divisions that makes her story so compelling.

   Make no mistake about it: this is a one-sided story. Register's father is a loyal union man, and she is loyal to the union line, too, especially in telling the story of a particularly divisive labor dispute in 1959. But even when she makes it clear where she believes justice and unfairness lie, she complicates the story in ways that enrich our understanding rather than feed our prejudices.

   I grew up in rural Ohio only slightly later than Register, the son of a small-town midwestern merchant in a solidly middle-class family with undoubtedly less disposable income than Register's. My father, like many of Albert Lea's merchants, resented the unions that secured better wages for the workers in the nearby General Motors plant than he thought he could afford to pay his loyal, hard-working employees--some of whom earned more than he did. That experience has always made me suspicious of class-based analyses of rural and small-town life. But Register's subtle class analysis of life in mid-century Albert Lea rings true even to my suspicious ears.

   It also rings true because Register does not rely on memory alone. She consulted contemporary sources and interviewed a wide range of informants-balancing her interview with the union president by her interview and sympathetic portrayal of the plant manager, for example. Register knows what memories--hers and her informants--are good for. They convey the sentiment of the times. In that sense her account is sentimental in the best sense of that word. Her language is so vivid and her memories so fine-tuned that we feel we are walking the streets of Albert Lea with her, encountering mid-century sights and sounds that conjure up our own memories. But she knows enough not to trust memories when they become nostalgic, and she walks that fine line with a fine sense of balance.

   Register also manages to succeed where many memoirists try but fail: though cast as a memoir, this book feels like it is more about the times than it is about her. Packinghouse Daughter is an eloquent and fitting tribute to the working-class lives of The Greatest Generation.




5. Wilson's was a remarkable presence in a town that that has never gotten over the loss of the high-pay meatpacking firm. Ms. Register wrote a fine and noteworthy account of a company town in rural America. My grandfather worked there for many years chasing cattle up a four-story ramp to the 'kill.' My father worked in the freezers after WWII and my uncle spent many years as a meatcutter. I worked there one summer as did many of my friends and it defined the baseline economics of the union town and it defined what drugery and workplace injuries were all about before we even knew the term carpal tunnel. Beyond working there I witnessed the impact of the strike in 1959. As a nine-year old I used to walk down the railroad tracks to the plant entrance and watch the rocks being thrown, cars being vandalized and anger controlled only by the National Guard. One of my friend's fathers crossed the picket line to work. He like other 'scabs' were labelled and treated as such for decades to come.
   
   Ms. Register digs deeper into Albert Lea's labor past and unbeknownst to me identified an aunt as a striker at the local Woolworth's. The effort of the local union to interject itself into other businesses defined the patrons that businesses would have (another relative who refused to unionize his small retail business found himself boycotted) and the success or failure to follow.
   
   I'm surprised this has not been picked up as a movie. Worth the read.