5 comments about A Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman.

1. Ida Pruitt's biography of Ning Lao T'ai-t'ai (literally "old lady Ning"), a peasant woman of northeast China born in 1867, is a fascinating anecdotal retelling of Ning's personal history as she related it to the author over the course of their two year long friendship. The storyline of Ning's life: childhood, marriage, work, and children, is laid out in a chronological history, broken into separate sections at particular turning points; and yet a cohesive theme of hardship, oppression and poverty, of strong-willed women and weak men is carried throughout not only Ning's tales but also through the stories she relates of her ancestors and neighbors.

   Pruitt writes in the voice of Ning as if she is translating, but what she is really doing is recalling Ning's stories of her life in the first half of the 20th century. Ning was born into an educated middle class family which had fallen on harder times. Her father wants a better situation for her marriage, but the older husband he choses for her becomes addicted to opium driving the family into poverty. To survive and feed her children Ning must become first a beggar, then a servant to various households: military, Muslim, bureaucrat, and finally to Christian missionaries. And Ning's voice does come across clearly; speaking against concubinage and prostitution, about the penury of employers, the need to support and keep family together.

   By using a first person retelling of the stories Pruitt gives the impresssion of accuracy, yet there were 7 years between the conversations with Ning and the writing of the book. Also the apparent bias against Japanese in prologue and last chapter together with the pub. date of the book indicate a hidden agenda on the part of the author. Still, although limited to the view of this one woman's experience, Ning's story is reflective of the hardships of life for Chinese women before the Communist era.




2. I had to read this book for a core class in college and I thought that I would have hated it. Actually, I really liked it. It told of a Chinese working woman's life. It even gives the reader an insight into her lifestyle and her struggles during this tumuluous time in history. The story even touches on the japanese invasion. I didn't think this biography would be interesting but it was. I would recommended this book to anyone. It is a light read and it is very interesting.



3. Ning Lao Ta'i-ta'i. _The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman. Translated and Transcribed by Ida Pruitt. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1967.

   Every now and then I read an entire book in one for one or two reasons a) I have to read a book that I have put off for the time period in which I had to read it b) I become completely engrossed in it. I must say that, in the case of this book, it started off as the former and it ended up being the latter, although I still have to write a paper on it by tuesday.

   This memoir was was orally transcribed by Ida Pruitt over a two year period in which Mrs. Ning visited her from 1936-38. Pruitt was forced to leave Beijing in 1938 when the Japanese invaded the series. In the brief introduction of the book, Pruitt informs the reader that she does not know what happened to Mrs. Ning after she returned to America. The brutallity of the Japanese army was not as great in Beijing as in such areas as Nanjing and Shanghai,but one can not help wondering about Mrs.Ning who the reader, or at least I, becomes quite attached to.

   Mrs. Ning begins her tale by detailing how her family became established in the town of P'englai her family history is both entrenched in history and folklore and makes for a fascinting read. The book continues following her life from her childhood, marriage, hard times, working both for government officials and missionaries, and finally living in Beijing. The greatest thing about this book is the extraordinary detail Mrs. Ning goes into describing her everyday life. One can almost see oneself removing the fourth wall of the past and being able to see late Ching China. One gets to see a good picture of opium addiction and the dealings inside yamen, political offices, that are no longer controlled by skilled officials. A great book.




4. This riveting book details an area of Chinese life seldom touched by written records. The remarkable friendship between Ida Pruitt and Ning Lao Toai-Toai has led to this very readable, and beautifully textured description of Ning Lao Toai-Toai's life in the late 19th and early 20th century. I found it both an enjoyable read and a valuable source of information about my research related to Chinese family life.



5. China always seems to have a veil of mystery around it. This book give a rare glimpse of life at the turn of the 19th century as the empire was dying and the nationalists and communists were gearing up for battle. I read this book for a class on Chinese women and absolutely loved it. I will always remember the part of having her feet bound and how her mother would lay on her legs at night so that she could sleep. Unfortunately I lost the book after many years. It wasn't until now, as I was conducting inventory of our biography collection at the library where I work, that I came across the sequal to this book. For those who could not get enough of Lao Tai-tai, there is a second book by Ida Pruitt titled "Old Madam Yin: a memoir of Peking life 1926-1938." The copyright date is 1979. The Daughter of Han is now a wealthy widow struggling to adapt to the new order. If you can't find it on amazon you can always Inter-library loan the book, I know there's at least one library in the midwest that has it ;).

5 comments about Twist of Faith: The Story of Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

1. I really enjoyed book. It was a bit confusing going back and forth between time lines, but book was well worth re-reading to catch timing.



2. This was a great book and it was exactly what I expected.
   Everyone should read this book. I could not put it down.I loved it.



3. Anne Beiler's inspiring story of her life made it a very worthwhile book to read despite the layout of the book with mixing the past and present. The story about the tragic loss of her daughter cuts to the heart of any Mom. What I loved most was the tenacity to keep moving forward despite the many difficulties and challenges that she faced.
   
   As a Christian, I love the fact that she is not shy about expressing her faith in God and crediting Him for helping her through all the ups and downs in her personal and professional life. This isn't just about how the best pretzels on earth came about (although that part is fascinating) but it's about family, faith and finding fortune by persevering.
   
   After reading this book, what I realized most of all is that it's the journey that counts (not fame or fortune) and that's where you'll find your greatest blessings. Often they are right under your nose.



4. Book arrived in time and in excellent condition. I really enjoyed reading it, too. Not all that well-written it is still a fascinating - and amazin - true story of one woman's struggle to succeed.



5. I loved TWIST OF FAITH written by Anne Beiler. It was a great story of courage and faith. I would recommend it to everyone.

5 comments about Who Do You Think You Are?: A Memoir.

1. This book drew me in from the start, and a combination of the writing and the story kept me hooked. People might wonder why someone with a mother who was so frequently awful to them would want to stay connected to that parent. But as is made clear in this book -- it's still your mom. And it's human nature to want it to turn out o.k. Myers doesn't try to find excuses for her mother or psychoanalyze her. There's an acceptance here; not approval of her behavior, and not wishing it wasn't different. But a realization that her mother was a very flawed human being -- and she still wanted a relationship with her. It was a great read.



2. I could not wait to get my hands on this book. I devoured it in a few days, which is a record for me, as I often get bored with (some) books, lay them down, never to be picked up again. This author pulled me in from the "get go". I kept thinking, "that happened to me", especially the hurtful words. I'm lucky that I did not suffer all the things the author did. However her mom changed, and mine has not. The ending give me hope, that perhaps our mother will one day accept our love. This may sound selfish, but it's somehow comforting to know . . . that you're not alone with your agony. Remarkable book. Brave author.



3. reading this memoir--I was done reading it in one day. I found there were times I put it down; when it got too close for comfort. I really found this book by accident..I didn't know anything about it until I was shopping for new memoir's at bookstore last weekend--and there it was. I am very glad I picked it up and read it. I will recommend this book to my best friend..and I think she will like it as much as I do. :)



4. No insight. A the ending - the "I'm the good person I am today because my mother was awful to me, and I wanted to be better than her" is a total cop out. How about that you might be a good person today ~in spite of~ the hate and violence your mother tortured you with as a child? Think about what a wonderful person you'd be like if you had a Good childhood? A supportive parent, a happy household, an understanding family. It's like justifying being spanked as a child as a good thing because hey, you turned out okay, so it must not have been so bad.
   
   There was no real exploration into the reason why her mother was so angry and hateful toward this one daughter and not the other two, why the three didn't get along or speak much. Why?
   
   This is a story suitable for a blog, someone posting about what it was like growing up. Not worthy of print though. Find it at the library. You will read it in one afternoon - it is not a weighty book at all and certainly not one that requires much effort on your part as the author didn't seem to work that hard. So many times I asked "but why?" and wanted to know more, things were hinted at but never explored further and my questions not answered. Could have been a good read but it's really just a quick story of growing up with an angry mother.



5. "I found this book to be amazingly captivating. I must be honest I did not expect to enjoy this read, but I was entranced from the first page. The book was a nostalgic ride back into my youth. Alyse Myers manages to deal with her formative years in an honest almost cleansing manner. The book shows us how we are in some positive and negative ways the products of our environment. The essence of who we are is shaped in childhood and Alyse shows her strength and determination in rising to the top." - Eva Johnston
   
   *I give it 5 stars, but my computer isn't allowing me to highlight all five.

5 comments about Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir.

1. Lauren Slater, Lying (Random House, 2000)
   
   I picked up Lauren Slater's first book, Welcome to My Country, on a whim in 1997, and instantly fell in love with Slater's impeccable prose. That she related case studies without descending into the smarmy self-help realm of, say, Oliver Sacks helped immensely. Welcome to My Country was on my best-I-read list that year.
   
   Fast forward to 2005, and I start wondering what Slater's been up to since releasing it. I check her out at Amazon, and am thrilled to find she's released two books since. Lying is the first of them I picked up, and it's great to see she's still at the top of her game.
   
   Billed as "a metaphorical memoir," we are given an autobiography of Lauren Slater, an epileptic who's had a rather extreme surgical procedure performed to counter her epilepsy. It controls the physical aspects-- the seizures-- but hasn't controlled any of the mental. This, of course, is the stuff popular memoirs are made of; the dysfunctional childhood sells.
   
   What Slater brings to the table that sets her apart from the others is that, while there is always the understanding that the memoir is colored by the perceptions of its author, Slater recognizes this as much as any reader, and has decided to play with it-- to the point where the reader (and the person who wrote the cover copy, as well) realize that by the time we reach the first of Slater's revelations that she's written a fantasy as an actual event, we can no longer even be sure she has epilepsy. This opens up whole worlds of discussion in the larger genre of memoir, and that in itself makes Lying a singularly important work in its field; if taken as a greater meditation on memoir, the reader should come away with this book with a new way of looking at the form.
   
   All that aside, though, the best reason to read Lauren Slater's books is simply that she's a fine, fine writer. Lying also has a very, very good chance of landing on this year's best-I-read list, despite the quality of my reading having skyrocketed in recent years. **** ½



2. Lauren Slater's tribute to postmodernism in her "metaphorical memoir" is an interesting exploration of the role of fact in what is true. Where we may tend to regard the objective facts of a situation to be the truth of it, Ms. Slater takes a much more subjective view. She asserts her point, explicitly and in a masterful way woven seemlessly throughout the text, that there may be a more truthful way to relate a situation, a character, an anecdote, than to simply relate the facts.
   
   So she leads us to wonder even about the most central elements of the story. Does she really have epilepsy? Has she ever really had a seizure? Does the doctor she cites throughout her story really exist, or is he a metaphor also?
   
   While fascinating questions I found their deliberate effect a bit too successful: I couldn't trust the narrator. Unfortunately for me, that meant also that I was ultimately unable to feel close to the narrator and really understand her motivations -- perhaps, in my eyes at least, the most important role of a memoir.
   
   It's a bit of a quandry that I'm left in. She's succeeded fully in doing what she set out to do. She's presented herself as something of a chronic lier; a trickster at the very least. But since I know this about her so soon, and I'm so frequently reminded, I have difficultly staving off the need to push her away. So as a memoir, instead of a piece of literary theory, I found Slater's book a bit distant.



3. Slater insists that her book be characterized as a non-fiction memoir, despite that fact that she freely admits that her account of her epilepsy is factual, symbolic, real, and fantastical all at once. Slater herself isn't always sure which of her memories are true and which are vivid but invented. If the reader can let themselves free in this alternate reality, Slater's memoir makes for fascinating, touching, and chilling reading. She truly brings the reader inside her own confusions about how much of her disease is real and how much fabricated. The short length of the book allows Slater's literary trickery to work well.
   
   As an adult, Slater confesses to her adolescent neurologist that she frequently exaggerated her seizures and symptoms right before her corpus callostomy surgery. He dismisses her guilt, saying it was well-known that she was an exaggerator. "Okay, you lied. But really, Lauren, I don't want you to feel guilty. In a sense you lied, but in another sense you didn't, because trickery is so hinged on your personality style, and, therefore, you were only being true to yourself."
   
   Also as an adult, Slater finds salvation in AA, despite the fact that she's hardly a drinker. She enjoys the comraderie and the structure of the 12 steps. The climax of Slater's coming to terms with her disease is a stunning confessional at an AA meeting, spoken entirely metaphorically, which has a huge impact on her group and the reader.



4. Hmmm? What to say? What to think about this book?
   
   Obviously Lauren Slater is very clever, I enjoyed her story. But mostly when I read this book I felt fortunate to have endured only the so called normal or typical teenaged angst growing up.
   
   She offers us a history of her life that may or may not be a complete fictionalization. It's an interesting angle from which to write a memoir.
   
   I have to say that I read Love Works Like This by Lauren Slater and I really enjoyed it. Lying was clever but I didn't love it.



5. Prior to this book, I'd read Prozac Diary and Welcome to my Country, both of which were quite good. This book, although an interesting concept, does not live up to Slater's better works. Satire-like, memoir-like, fiction-like.... But it fits none of these, is fairly incoherent, and does not really thread the story together adequately. If you want some fictional-type, possibly-true, almost-factual words, try this book. It is a fairly quick read and mildly entertaining. Personally, I'd save my time for Welcome to my Country. Reminds me of Blank: The Power of Not Actually Thinking at All (A Mindless Parody)

5 comments about Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey Of A Desert Nomad.

1. This is the most emotional, extraordinary and shocking autobiography I've ever read, and the one I'll never forget and will always be in my mind.
   
   Some passages of the book are so shocking, you get sick in your stomach for a few seconds. But every time I had that feeling, I thought: what's this feeling compared to the pain they've gone through? So I kept reading and was astonished that FGM is still existing.
   
   I'm now a proud member of the Waris Dirie Foundation and every month, I give a little amount of money to help these little girls and the battle against FGM.



2. I looked for a book off my shelves that I hadn't read yet and came upon this one-- one I've been meaning to read ever since I first heard of Waris Dirie a few months ago when she disappeared for a few days and made the international news.
   
   As I had a few hours to wait for my son to finish his pottery class, I dove right into this book. And, it was very good. I was able to finish it before my son's class was over 2 1/2 hours later.
   
   Waris' life has definitely been interesting and, in some cases, very sad. Born in Somalia, she lived with her nomadic family for her first 13 years. As she notes, all ages are estimates, since they didn't really pay attention to birthdays. She begged her mother to be circumcised when she was five years old-- obviously, she had no idea what that meant, at all-- she only knew it meant she was considered more grown up. And, this was the kind you read about-- the kind that removes both the inner and outer labia and the clitoris. The woman that did the "surgery" sawed her with a rusty bloody broken blade that she spat on and wiped dry before cutting. Waris' circumcision left her infibulated-- with only the smallest opening that made menstruation and urination extremely painful.
   
   She does discuss this, one of the most abhorrent practices, but she also discusses much more. Much of her life was very happy-- although they were very poor. She loved both parents but ran away when she was 13 (through the desert with no shoes or water) or so to avoid a marriage to a much older man (for the price of five camels!).
   
   Through an odd chain of events, she was able to go to London to be a servant for some wealthy relatives. And, when this family planned to return to Somalia, Waris decided to stay in London. She was very soon discovered by a photographer and almost immediately became a top model.
   
   Waris' tells her story in simple, yet stark language-- she speaks her mind and is a likeable and strong woman. Her memoir is definitely interesting and she's very open about all her feelings and thoughts. The only thing I would have preferred she talk about more were her feelings about Islam. I realize that genital mutilation is not mandated by the Koran-- it is only a tradition in many of these families. However, her thoughts about her religion and some of its laws and archaic practices that affected her family (polygyny and its treatment of women, for instance), would have made the book a bit more intriguing. She didn't go into this at all.
   
   All in all, this was a provocative memoir of someone raised so entirely differently than those of us in the West. Her introduction to our foreign culture- so different than her own- made for a very thoughtful and affecting read.



3. This is the autobiography of Waris Dirie, an international supermodel. Waris grew up as part of a nomadic tribe in Somalia that still practices female circumcision, sleeps outdoors, subsists on camels milk, and marries off young girls at 12 or 13 to much older men. It was very interesting to read about her experiences as a child because her upbringing was the same as the upbringing of children 1000 years ago in Somalia. Waris' description of her circumcision and the problems she experienced afterward were poignant and terrifying.
   
   Waris clearly has a good sense of humor. It is interesting to read her perspectives first of Mogadishu and then of London. It is fascinating to hear about how she became a model. Unfortunately, the book degenerated in the second half. Waris becomes conceited and less likeable. She also seems a bit selfish in her behaviors towards her friends.
   
   This book was a good read because of the first half but the last hundred pages was a big disappointment.



4. Desert Flower is as an excellent introduction to the nomadic culture of the Somali desert. Somalia, as described by Dirie, is a beautiful and dangerous place. The people who inhabit the desert must use all their strength to create a life using only sand and the little water that can be found. It is this strength that enabled Dirie to survive female genital mutilation, her flight across the desert to avoid an arranged marriage, living as a servant in England, and finally achieving success as a model.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed this book, finding it to be easy to read and well-written. Dirie manages to describe the more intimate events in her life with just enough detail to get her point across. She is factual, but not over the top. I am now looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Desert Dawn.



5. Surprisingly enough, the author did not have much of a story to tell. The author tells a pretty good story about her life in Somalia. Once she leaves Somalia, her life goes uphill, however the book pretty much goes straight downhill from there. Instead of a storyline that flows, she pretty much compiles some not so interesting stories into random chapters. I have never read a book that was so choppy. One chapter does not flow into the next, so it was really hard to remain interested in the book. The author was certainly blessed to make it to where she did, but her journey didn't necesarily translate that well on to paper.

5 comments about A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle.

1. I was very disapppointed in this book and am very surprised it has received so many positive reviews. It was shallow and offered little - if any - insight into the author's family. The stories were superficial and often just depicted the author's narrow view of each set of circumstances.
   I am now reading Miranda Seymour's book "In My Father's House," and the difference is remarkable. It is so much more insightful and the writing is outstanding.



2. I found this book well-written and thoroughly engrossing, although I believe that the original British title ("Title Deeds") is more descriptive of the contents, particularly given the current and continuing legal wranglings. However, the double entendre would be lost, I think, on most Americans. The author aptly calls this a personal memoir, rather than a biography, of her father, but I couldn't shake the feeling that, notwithstanding her attempt at some rudimentary psychoanalysis of and conciliation with her father's memory in the final chapter, she is still highly conflicted about her feelings concerning not only her father, but also her birth mother and stepmother. Charmed life? I don't think so.



3. Liza Campbell's account of growing up at Castle Cawdor is hard to put down. She shares the tale of intensly personal detail which left me a bit envious at the end of the first chapter, but weary with relief by the end of the book. The story had an enevitability, yet was surprisingly fresh as it rocketed to the horrible conclusion. She was brutally honest, right up until the conclusion, where I felt that her love for her father greatly softened her final assessments.



4. This was a beautifully written memoir about what goes on behind closed doors in the so called "upper class" Campbell family. Sad to see what drugs and alcohol can do to someone who had so much already and so much to give (but didn't). I found the historical background to the scottish aristocracy really fascinating and educational without being boring. I would have liked to know more about the other members of the family and how they all felt about the way they were ultimately betrayed by their father and revolting step-mother.



5. I stumbled across this book when searching for something else. I was intrigued by the title because I once traveled to Scotland and wanted to visit Cawdor, but it was closed as it was the off season. I did however travel the general area, and I looked forward to reading about her life at Cawdor. I was richly surprised to uncover a wonderful gem of a memoir filled with references to the Scottish landscape I so enjoyed visiting. Ms. Campbell is an excellent writer. Her use and command of the English language was a pleasure to experience. Her story, and that of her siblings, was something out of a fairy tale in many regards, yet it was also a nightmare, easily recognized by others who grew up with an alcoholic parent. I enjoyed the book immensely and recommend it highly. I have tremendous respect for her, cemented by the fact that in the notes at the end of the book, she thanked her mother for her permission to share with readers intimate, yet privately painful experiences of her marriage. I greatly look forward to another book penned by Ms. Campbell.

1 comments about Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope.

1. _Mistress of the Vatican_ is a great read, even if you aren't a history buff or an expert of 17th century Italian culture. Herman wields her pen with almost magical effect, presenting the life and times of Olimpia Maidalchini in vivid color, packaging her extensive research in a delicious candy coating. Olimpia's story, who Herman describes as an Italian Scarlett O'Hara, is timeless tale of a strong and intelligent woman seeking to get ahead in a male-dominated world, thumbing her nose at naysayers and poking her finger in the eye of Vatican traditions all along the way. In a year that the United States has witnessed one, and now two, women take aim at the highest offices of the nation, _Mistress_ offers an interesting counterbalance.
   
   While Olimpia is the focus of the story, Herman painstakingly details the world in which she lived - the traditions, the culture, the clothing and architecture of old Italy. It is also a glimpse into the highs and lows of Italian society during Olimpia's day - ranging from the lush lives of the rich to the deprivations of the poor. Moreover, Herman tells a tale full of greed, lust, theft, humor, and treachery, all taking place within the sphere of the Vatican elite. _Mistress_ is a guilt-free guilty pleasure and Herman proves that good history can be very fun.

5 comments about Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman.

1. This is a splendidly written autobiography, unbelievably rich in detail and raw emotion. While other reviewers have ably described her life's journey - from a chaotic household with alcoholic parents to a very good job as TV producer and then columnist - this is also a beautiful and vivid evocation of a changing Ireland. O'Faolain provides the grittiest of portraits, of a stalled society that is emerging from centuries of repression and excessive religiosity to a modern society. She herself embodies much of it, journeying (across class lines) from desperate loneliness (seeking love as a panacea) to a self-empowered feminist writer who has the strength to keep going. It is deep and gets you to reflect on your own predicament, particularly middle age.
   
   Warmly recommended.



2. I am astonished at the 5 star reviews for this book. Pay attention to what other readers are saying. I read this book because it was our book club selection of the month. Out of many years in book club, this was the worst book we have read. I am writing this review so others may be spared by the glowing marks of 'professional' reviewers.
   
   It's difficult to describe how rampant the name-dropping was in this book. There were parts of the book in which 10 or more names would appear per page for dozens of pages. I don't care if the names are notable authors, it's boring to read lists of names! This was not writing, this was 'list making'.
   
   The book couldn't hold a theme for more than a couple sentences. (spoilers next)... The author has a miscarriage, which gets just 2 or 3 sentences of attention. The author is raped. Apparently something as life shattering as that gets only a brief mention as well. There are many traumatic and life-changing events that are barely explored in the book, because the look is too busy name-dropping every person she has met.
   
   This memoir should have been exciting, it should have been a great book. What an amazing life she has led, against tragedy and great odds. Yet somehow she manages to make this story sound boring.
   
   An interesting development is the 'Afterward' after the book has ended. It's so well written you can't help but wonder if it was done by the same author? The first 20 pages and the Afterward of this book are great, the 200 pages in the middle are a mess. Do yourself a favor and pay attention to the reviews here. Life is short and there so many great books to read, I regret I'll never get the time back I spent reading this disappointing book.



3. This was a slow read for me; I had to force myself to pick it up each night. I found the writing fragmented with references to many people (particularly writers) I had never heard of. The subtitle "An accidental memoir" is fitting becomes the book seems to be constructed of disjoint notes and memories (many involving drinking). A recurring theme is Faolain's disappointment with her parents' behavior (particularly her mother's alcoholism). I felt that Faolain was a bit self pitying (which she acknowledges in the book). It wasn't until the end when she discusses her surprise at being alone and her loneliness that I became more engaged in her story. Until that point, Faolain's story was a whirlwind of working, drinking, and traveling interwoven with criticisms of her parents. I am surprised that this book was a best seller and I wonder what I am missing.



4. I heard an interview with the author and decided she was quite an interesting individual. Although this book has received many over-the-top reviews, I was disappointed. The book has sections which are long lists of people she met, worked with, or admired. But often she provides no information about the individual. She clearly accomplished a great deal but how? There is a tone of self-pity throughout the text and she seems loathe to give people, including herself, credit for their achievements. Very Irish that way.



5. This is a book every woman should read. It is an excellent historical account of the difference between generations of families. It is a deep revelation about family relationships.
   For young women, especially, who have lives not so different from their mothers should make this a must read. It is a very personal history of what it was like to live through the women's movement.

5 comments about Nothing's Impossible: Leadership Lessons From Inside And Outside The Classroom.

1. 
   I found about Dr. Lorraine Monroe on 60 minutes. She took one of the worst public schools in Harlem, New York and turned it around to the point that it is one of the top three public schools in New York and 96% of it's students are accepted into college. I believe that her insights and strategies can be used to improve any workplace or organization. Remember, she isn't some theorist - she actually has dramatic results in the real world -under some of the toughest odds imaginable!
   

   
   She has some great strategies that can help anyone. Here is an example:
   
   "I developed the habit of never asking my superiors at the Board of Education for permission to carry out any innovation or other "risky" venture. I felt that if I asked, they would usually say no. After all, they were cautious, conservative people, interested in keeping their present jobs or moving up within the heirarchy. Taking risks isn't a good way of accomplishing either goal.
   

   .....My supervisor would come to the school for periodic visits, and I'd either tell him about our latest venture or let him see it for himself. I figured that it would be hard, even for a dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrat, to try to stop a program that was already running successfully. This approach worked like a charm; the supervisor was generally pleased to realise that the successful new program, whatever it was, had been started under his administration. As the saying goes. "Success has many parents." When something is working, people are always ready and eager to bless it and share the credit."
   
   Some more of the Monroe Doctrine:
   
   "I learned from Mr. Littwin that it's impossible to run any organization from behind a desk in an office. You've got to walk around, watch people work, schmooze with everyone, and make yourself visible. It's the only way to really know what's going on and to have a true impact on the operation."
   
   Pick up this book to get some inspiration on how you can make a dramatic difference in your organization.




2. Everyone should read this book. I just started it and I am already hooked. The energy and enthusiasm leaps from the pages and "kicks" you into action. Although I am not an educator, I was greatly encouraged as a parent-to-be by this book. Thank you Dr. Monroe for being obedient to God's calling and preparing the way for our future leaders.



3. Dr. Lorraine Monroe is a force to be reckoned with. Tenacious in all aspects, once she discovered who she was and what power she possessed as a leader, there was no turning back.

   I choose to read about Dr. Monroe simply from the title of her book Nothing's Impossible and to learn what further lessons I could learn in and outside the classroom. As an administrator, I too believe that nothing is impossible and I was curious to see hear how "a dedicated educator" as Jimmy Carter described "conquered the most overwhelming challenges in life". I was not disappointed. As I read, reread, dog-eared pages highlighted and shared with my colleagues those familiar Monroe Doctrines (witty sayings and profound statements) I continued to believe that perseverance and believing in yourself enough not to back down for what you believe in, is part of the leaders make-up.

   Dr. Monroe further encouraged my thinking that sometimes as a leader, it's better to just "do your thing" and ask questions later, even it means getting your hands slapped later.

   I would encourage administrators in all lines of work to learn from these lessons, because no matter where you work, those you're working with are `students' in your `classroom' even if it's in the corporate office.

   In the final chapter of the book, although the message reverberates all through the book, Monroe brings back the point that leadership is the key to school change. In her words, the message of the leader is "I am here to support you in whatever way you choose, as long as your way improves children's academic and social achievement."




4. Great woman and story and excellent for teachers and principals
   
   I thought there would be a lot of good life lessons 'outside of the classroom' but found there weren't



5. I am a public school teacher, and I read Nothing's Impossible because my principal attended a conference where she became enchanted with Monroe and her doctrines.
   First, the good. Monroe had a very challenging life, and it is impressive what she has done with herself. She was African-American, poor, there were alcohol and abuse issues at home. I also agree that many times you have to, so to speak, ask for forgiveness rather than permission-- education is full of paper-pushing bureaucrats who nay say everything. One has to admire how Monroe turned FDA into a wonderful school to attend or at which to work.
   Having said that, however, I must point out that Monroe basically created a charter school. In public schools, you have to try to teach everyone within the school's enrollment boundaries. If we were able to kick out the small but extremely difficult, criminal types, all public schools would be much better. I am glad FDA has done so well-- but comparing FDA to a public is terribly unfair. She hand picked those who may have had challenges but who wanted to learn. That makes a huge difference.
   I also found it extremely offensive that Monroe, who had taught, said in her book that there were three types of teachers: the stars, the strugglers, and the incompetent. Every school district has all three, it is true, but what about the thousands of us who aren't struggling ( well, most days) but aren't stars or incompetent? We are not all perfect. I work very hard to be a good teacher. I may never be great, but does that mean I should leave teaching? No.
   The Monroe Doctrine is useful to some extent, just as long as you can live with the reservations I have described.

5 comments about Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol.

1. When I read a book, I want to get a lot out of it, as I enjoy the reading of it. On the second point: this book is engagingly written. The author questions her own motives and information as she constructs a biography of a difficult life to document. We see Painter confront the challenges of performing biography. I found it a compelling literary device. On the first point, the book mixes biography with history and feminist criticism. This interdisciplinary focus produces a highly inviting book. Among other topics, we find out about the details of slavery in the North, 19th century religious cults, and the ways in which feminists and abolitionists of the time exploited Truth for their own gain, as well as how this appropriation of "Truth" continues to the present. On this point, we learn much about contemporary feminism and culture and its need for heroes-especially African American female heroes.



2. I THINK THIS BOOK IS VERY EDUCATIONAL. I REALLY ENJOYED READING IT. I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT TRUTH. PAINTER WAS A WONDERFUL WRITER. SHE DESCRIBED EVERYTHING TO THE MAX.



3. Painter's biography is excellent. She puts Truth in perspective with the challenges of her time. She sheds light on complicated relationships with noteable Abolishionists and with her own children. This book clearly presents the difficult life of one incredible woman who struggles to do her part to free all slaves, gain respect as a woman and be accepted as a human being.



4. For some reason, most Americans know, or think they know, quite a bit about the Civil War. But somehow the decades before the great drama of the 1860's are little known to most of us. It's almost as if everything between the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War happened under a cloud or in some shadowed universe that sends out very few signals to modern Americans. In reality, the country went through a time of near-chaos as competing political and religious movements battled for the minds and hearts of the American public.
   
   Sojourner Truth, the subject of this biography, experienced a good bit of this social ferment, and the story of her life gives readers a good opportunity to get a grip on this very strange and fascinating period. The author starts with the odd fact that the name and face of Sojourner Truth became very well-known, yet the real story of her life was obscured by her status as a symbol of the Abolitionist movement. The real woman led a surpringly adventurous life, and she did it in the context of a society that supposedly kept slaves, women and rural poor people firmly in their pre-ordained place. The story of how a courageous girl named Katherine, born in slavery and poverty on a Dutch farm in rural New York state, became the free woman and independent thinker called Sojourner Truth, is worth reading for its own sake. But the book also sheds light on the wild side of American religious and intellectual life during her lifetime. While reading this book, I felt like I was really getting two books in one-I highly recommend this book!!



5. This book is an excellent review and account of this great woman's life. Although it is rather disjointed in areas--there is a basic sense of the many challenges that Ms. Truth encountered. I found that it gave me a basic sense of her sojourn and it helped fill in the gaps left with other books. It was the basic information for an academic presentation I needed to prepare for one of my doctoral courses.