5 comments about War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944.

1. The enthralling story of life on the Origo's estate "La Foce" (just South of Montepulciano in South Tuscany and on the main route of the advancing Allied 8th Army) during the years 1943 and 1944. The contadini farmers and workers on the estate, living in conditions closer to the Middle Ages than the mid Twentieth Century, had no interest in or involvement with the forces of war but equally had no option but to suffer its consequences. They, led by Iris Origo and her Marchese husband, juggled simultaneously playing host to refugee Italian children, escaping British airmen and prisoners of war, partisan fighters, and a German officers' mess, not to mention day to day dealings with facist officialdom. All this in the knowledge that the penalty for a "mistake" was summary execution. An easily readable "must read" not just for those who love Italy and a good story, but for anyone who would like to reaffirm their faith in humanity in the context of a greater understanding of the reality of occupation and war.



2. "Greater than the sum of its parts" accurately describes this remarkable diary set in Southern Tuscany during World War II.
   
   Written as a daily record during the tumult of war,Origo does not dwell on emotional reactions to the horror around them. What comes through is the generosity, compassion, and nobility of Spirit that we all are capable of during wretched times.

   This diary has had a greater impact on me since after reading it.A book which had lingered with me and one in which I may never forget,I haved been moved to visit La Foce and the region in which this book takes place this Fall.
   Highly Recommended.




3. "War in Val D'Orcia" is a rather terse diary of events throughout Italy in 1943-1944 written by the English-born wife of a wealthy landowner in Tuscany. As an account of life under Nazi rule it's not nearly as profound or fascinating as Victor Klemperer's "I Will Bear Witness" but after the first 100 pages (or so) which are somewhat strangely detached and impersonal ("In Rome to have the baby"), and mostly an account of Italian national politics at that time, I literally couldn't put it down.
   
   Until I read this book I had often wondered why there are so many abandoned farm buildings in Tuscany: I now understand that until relatively recently there was a feudal system in place, where farmers did not actually own their land but instead worked it for the landowner in exchange for half of their production. "War in Val D'Orcia" exposed me to aspects of Italian culture that I had never even really thought about before. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and culture of Italy and Tuscany in particular.
   
   This is the first book by or about Iris Origo that I have read but it won't be the last.



4. This amazing book reveals the feelings of real people who did so much to help others in need, during a ruthless, senseless war. It is a story you will remember forever.



5. This is an exceptional book which bears precious witness to the way WWII brought out both the good and bad--but mostly good--in people living or passing through a region of Tuscany. The author's factual, restrained account of the extraordinary events of the time and her part in them is beautiful and effective. Highly recommended. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
   
   "The rounding-up of the Jews appears now to be completed--though no doubt many unfortunate women and children are still hidden. The Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal della Costa, has taken a courageous stand. When some of his nuns were arrested in consequence of having given shelter to some Jewish women in their convent, the Cardinal, putting on his full panoply, went straight to the German Command. 'I have come to you,' he said, 'because I believe you, as soldiers, to be people who recognize authority and hierarchy--and who do not make subordinates responsible for merely carrying out orders. The order to give shelter to those unfortunate Jewish women was given by me: therefore I request you to free the nuns, who have merely carried out orders, and to arrest me in their stead.'
   
   The German immediately gave orders for the nuns to be freed, but permitted himself to state his surprise that a man like the Cardinal should take under his protection such people as the Jews, the scum of Europe, responsible for all the evils of the present day. The Cardinal did not enter upon the controversy. 'I look upon them,' he said, 'merely as persecuted human beings; as such it is my Christian duty to help and defend them. One day,' he gave himself the pleasure of adding, 'perhaps not far off, *you* will be persecuted: and then I shall defend you!'"

5 comments about Faith Under Fire: Betrayed by a Thing Called Love.

1. Tjis is a must read for all females young and old to read. AIDS IS A DEVASTING DISEASE!



2. This book was awesome. I read the book in a day in a half. This book was passed to me from my Aunt. I learned a lot from ready this book. Just to wait and listen closely to what Jesus has to say. Don't jump into relationships without seeking Gods face first. From this day forward my life will never be the same. I will continue to be more observant of that gut feeling that we get, they are not always butterflies but Jesus trying to tell us something. LaJoyce Thank You So much for sharing your life with all of your readers. This is definitely what God ordained you to do. I was always taught that God allows us to go through things so that we can help others that may face similar situations and so that we can have a testimony to share with others.
   
   Be Blessed and Highly Favored



3. This is one I borrowed from the library but definately will buy to add to my collection. I read this leisurely in 4 days staying up pretty late on the 4th day trying to finish it. It is amazing what someone can get through when God is carrying them. I am astonished and happily excited by a story like this one. Thank You for sharing Mrs. Brookshire.



4. this was a very powerful book she believed deeply in god and he was there for her every step of the way even though her husband treated her badly i was very happy she found someone who loved her and believe in the same things as she did i love this book



5. I applaud and respect, Ms.Brookshire. I believe from reading her testimony, that she is a woman of God, and was highly favored during this ordeal. In this book, I learned what that phrase "NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME SHALL PROSPER.
   
   I can't believe her then Mother-In-Law, knew of her son's medical status, and did not warn this woman, this makes the mother, her son accomplice.
   No wonder why they both got what they deserved.
   
   This woman is a real "Trooper". God bless you.

5 comments about Alicia.

1. I read a lot of Holocaust-related stories in middle school. As morbid as it sounds, they were so interesting, and so heartbreaking to read. There are quite a few more still sitting in my closet that I could review, but this was my favorite, and probably the one that got me into the topic. A really great story, particularly because it's a true one.



2. Raised from the age of five in Buczacz, which was roughly a third Jewish at that time, Alicia was sheltered relatively well from the anti-Semitism that plagued her town, as well as the rest of Europe. She had many friends, both Jewish and Christian.
   After the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, whereby the two genocidal dictators divided Poland between them, Buczacz fell into the Soviet zone. The Soviets began a forced Sovietization drive, and deported thousands of people to slave labour, or their deaths, who they saw as 'enemies of the Soviet Union'.Alicia recalls being offended and hurt, on behalf of her Christian friends, for whose religion she had deep respect, when the Madonna and Child were removed from their customary spot in the classroom and replaced by scowling portraits of Lenin and Stalin.
   Alicia's second-oldest brother Moshe was shot by the Soviets after returning to Poland, from the harsh conditions in Russia, where he had gone for education.
   In June 1941, the Germans broke their pact with the Soviets and swept through eastern Poland on their way to Russia - Operation Barbarossa had begun. The Germans, however, had an even worse plan than the Soviets had had for Europe's Jews: it was known as Endlosung (aka The Final Solution).
   
   Alicia's father was shot, alongside 600 other Jewish community leaders, shortly after the Nazi invasion.
   Alicia, and her mother and brothers were forced to leave their beautiful home, and to settle in the ghetto.
   They lived under harsh laws whereby Jews were forced to wear armbands with stars of David.
   Jews who tried to leave the ghetto or to enter the synagogue would be executed.
   Alicia's brother Bunion was then executed by the Nazis.
   
   While visiting a Jewish family in the town, 12 year old Alicia was arrested by the Nazis along with thousands of other Jews, but escaped from the train to the death camps, together with a band of other young people.
   After Alicia's brother Zachary was shot by the Nazis She swore on his grave that if she survived she would speak for her silenced family.
   This book is a powerful and unforgettable fulfilment of that oath.
   It keeps us engaged and emotionally involved on every page, as we read of her struggle to survive, her irrepressible spirit, her many brushes with death. She never gave up her will to survive nor her humanity for fellow victims of the Nazis, many of whom she helped to rescue, many of whom died before her eyes.
   She witnessed such horrors as babies being shot in their cribs by the Nazis.
   While many of the Polish and Ukrainian neighbours helped the Nazis and joined in the killings, there were always those few that helped to keep their Jewish fellow humans alive, including a Polish family on whose farm Alicia worked.
   After the war, Alicia's struggle was not over.
   She was imprisoned by the Soviets and took part in the secret operation to smuggle Jews to the Land of Israel, across Europe, at a time when the British were keeping the Holocaust survivors out, often with brutal and violent methods reminiscent of the Nazis themselves.
   Alicia was on the ship Theodor Herzl, carrying young Holocaust survivors to Israel, in 1946, when it was rammed by British frigates, after which British soldiers then boarded the ship and attacked the survivors, beating to death six young Jews and allowing others to drown while trying to escape.
   This courageous girl, had struggled as part of the Jewish nation against three ruthless empires.



3. This eye witness account of the holocaust in Poland is so horrific it would be too depressing to read, if it weren't for the author's lucid, straight forward prose. Alicia Jurman was 13 years old when she fought for survival against literally impossible odds in southeastern Poland and witnessed the destruction of her entire family, friends and neighbors. Her survival was accomplished through truly incredible pluck, strength of character, resourcefulness, and unbelievable good luck.
   We already know (or should know) all about the horrors of the holocaust: the depth of depravity to which the human soul can sink; and we know that to forget this worst of all possible nightmares is to face another genocide in our lifetime (we already have in Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, and elsewhere).
   What distinguishes "Alicia: My Story" despite the unspeakable horror is this horror as viewed through the eyes of a girl who simply refuses to give in and give up. She is an amazingly strong girl who used everything she had to survive. And she tells the story in a matter of fact way that propels the narrative forward and keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next.
   If one has never been exposed to what went on during World War Two, this excellent book is the perfect place to start.



4. An avid reader of Holocaust memoirs, I found "Alicia" an unforgettable story of survival.
   
   Only a child at the onset of World War II in her native Poland, Alicia Jurman soon lost both her parents and all four brothers -- murdered, in different ways, for one reason, being Jewish. It was only through a strange destiny that young Alicia kept surviving herself -- once being pushed through a gap in a train window, heading for a concentration camp; another time, falling unconscious and being presumed dead by the Nazis, only to be rescued by an astute and caring Jewish gravedigger.
   
   Yet even when a person is at her lowest, she can always find others even worse off. It would have been easy for Alicia to say she had nothing left to give; yet even during the most destitute and desperate of times, she shared food and supplies with other Holocaust survivors.
   
   It was also this loving attitude that made Alicia take action after the war, when she noticed a number of starving orphaned children roaming city streets. Only 15 and an orphan herself, Alicia took it upon herself to establish a Jewish "orphanage," moving some 24 youths aged 10 to 15 into a vacated apartment and securing financial help to get their new lives underway.
   
   Still a teenager, Alicia eventually sought refuge in Israel. But, as always, problems arose...
   
   Alicia Jurman is a modern-day hero, guaranteed to inspire readers for generations to come.



5. I just finished another very painful but interesting and shocking memoirs in "Thanks to my Mother" by Shoshana Rabinovici and started this book. It's absolutely shocking and heroic struggle to do everything possible to survive day-by-day and minute-by-minute the Systematic Nazi Plan to annihilate the Jewish People.
   Highly highly recommend to every one who is interested in Holocaust and to everybody to read and to learn what was really WWII about.

1 comments about The Pillow Book (Penguin Classics).

1. Relatively little is known about Sei Shonagon's life. We know she was a court lady in tenth-century Japan, at the pinnacle of the Heian period.
   
   And she left behind a glimpse into her culture's period in "The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon." It's a sort of mishmash memoir -- gossip, reflections, lists, and personal recollections are all mingled together, with a light, poetic delicacy that still is striking today.
   
   The story behind the Pillow Book is that when Shonagon (possible real name: Kiyohara Nagiko) was serving the Imperial Family, the Empress Teishi received a bunch of notebooks that she couldn't use. As they were too valuable to discard, she gave them to Shonagon to use as she chose.
   
   And so Shonagon basically poured her thoughts into her "Pillow Book" -- she offers brief reflections on the world around her, diary-like recollections of things that happen among the ladies in waiting, essays on court life, lists, poetry, and pretty much anything else she dreamed up.
   
   One of the most intriguing things about the Pillow Book is the glimpse into tenth-century Japan that it gives. Shonagon's stories are about little things like flutes, disobedient dogs, clothes, and the Empress's ladies betting on how long it would take a giant mound of snow to melt (no, I'm not kidding). Somehow, it leaves the past seeming a little less distant.
   
   Normally these stories would be curiosities only. But Shonagon -- despite her tendency towards snobbery -- had a special knack with prose, and and a bright, shimmering wit. Her charming love of beauty is often enchanting; she often lists things that she finds pleasing, such as moons, summer nights, flowers and willow trees. Her words were almost as pleasant, since she littered her writing with jokes, metaphor and wordplay.
   
   Not that her recollections are without negatives -- she listed her pet peeves (such as parents worshiping a very unappealing child -- something we've all been annoyed with), and things she found depressing or annoying. A stickler for form and ettiquette, she had very precise ideas about how things should be done... right down to how love affairs should be conducted.
   
   If there's a problem with this, it's that Shonagon -- in the manner of her time -- tends to gloss over the more important, unpleasant details of life. And her own anecdotes show that she could be very cruel, as when she gave a mocking poem to a newly-homeless peasant, instead of a promissory note. It may have been typical of her class and culture, but come on.
   
   "The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon" opens a little window into the scented world of Heian-era Japan, and leaves behind the impression of a spunky, sharp-witted lady who would have stood out anywhere.

5 comments about The Sexual Life of Catherine M..

1. ...I made a decision to make myself available at all times, because it made me feel free." Catherine Millet
   
   One of my amazon.com friends whose opinion I value a lot, says in his review on Catherine Millet's memoir that if it "is truly as bad as others suggest in their negative reviews below, why then did it sell over 300,000 copies when it was first published in France?" Well, I have a counter question, how many of 300,000 returned it back? I first learned about "The Sexual Life of Catherine M." from a review in "Entertainment Weekly" back in 2002 and I instantly became very interested in reading Millet's book. It was written by obviously intelligent educated woman, editor of the French art magazine Art Press by day and insatiable Messalina who doesn't make any secret of her 30 years history of orgy-loving by night. I was not afraid of the multiple (I just could not guess how multiple) explicit sexual encounters and their shocking descriptions. I am an adult and I can accept and appreciate any honest, open, no matter how shocking and controversial book (or movie) as long as it is well written, interesting to me, touches me deeply, even makes me angry but certainly makes me feel, makes me to identify with its author, to understand at least their motivations...Well, I felt nothing of these when I began reading my copy of English translation of the memoir that I bought from my local book store. I became bored very soon. The endless line of faceless men having sex with the strangely passive author, or rather her alter ego, Catherine M. in all possible and impossible Paris locations for hours and hours; one all-night party after another and another and yet another simply could not hold my interest for 209 pages of the rather short book and I never finished it. I returned it to the store and received the full refund. I would not say that "The Sexual Life of Catherine M." is the worst book ever written and I am sure it's got the loyal fans and admirers but I did not enjoy it and at some point I realized that I was wasting my time. I expect from a memoir something more than monotonous descriptions of endless anonymous sex acts with every man who happened just pass by Mlle. M. The book has been compared often to "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage and I disagree with it. "The Story of O" which was written by a French mistress for her married lover is the love letter and the statement on how far a woman in love was ready to go for her beloved. "The Story of O" is sad and beautiful, erotic and strangely innocent, cruel and elegiac. It is a fine work of literature which "The Sexual Life of Catherine M." in my opinion is not.



2. this book is divided into 4 sections. the first section, entitled numbers,describes the numerous, numberless, men with whom catherine has sexual activities in groups, small groups at first, later orgies, the largest about 150 participants.
   
   the aggregates done with she moves on to her second section, space, sexual activities outdoors, often while positioned to scan bucolic landscapes. millet writes of pictorial works and how they are 'said to inhabit the cusp between imaginary space and the space we live in, be they barnett newman's vast colored expanses (newman himself said: i declare space), the radiant blues in the work of yves klein (who called himself the 'painter of space') or even alain jacquet's topological surfaces and objects which juxtapose paradoxical abysses. what characterizes these works is not the fact that they open space up, but that they both open and seal it again'.
   
   from her inner and outer open space, she proceeds to her third section, confined space. confined space isn't just a room or an elevator or a place, confined space, for millet, is having sexual activities while ill, sexual activities in dirty places, with unclean persons, and acts considered taboo, a few of them, but not many, she would not do.
   
   in confined space, jacques, catherine's husband, makes his entrance with his camera, and it's back to open spaces where he frames her in the confined space framed by the camera.
   
   in the concluding section, details, millet reflects on forms of objectivism, with observations of her shyness, rigidity after orgasm, her body as willing surface as represented in memory and filmed by a video camera.
   
   so there it is, her sexual life through number to canvas to camera to video camera. these days her sexual experiences are reflected by a steady stream of women attracted, for whatever reasons, to act in porn, and women who use online chatrooms. with objectification there is no voice. that's the difference with millet, she voices her interior world, her mental activity, as well as describing in detail, sexual acts and the female orgasm.
   
   a good book, a very good book.



3. Catherine Millet's sexual development autobiography is a must-read for all women in the United States who've ever had "dirty thoughts" but failed to act on them for fear of society's labels. This is Millet's true life account of her self discovery, pains and many pleasures that may not ring kosher with US audiences, but should be read by all women as an honest account of a woman's sexual desires and dreams. Tp hell with chopra and "venus and mars" books! This is the real deal! Vive La France!!!



4. 
   Book-length accounts of one's real-life sexual exploits always run the risk of being insipid, monotonous, and just plain boring. After all, how many times can you describe the act circumscribed by the limitations of a non-fictional human body, especially when you confine yourself primarily to describing yourself as the focal point of the action.
   
   For the most part, Catherine Millet avoids the peril of this sort of writing not so much by the variety of her sexual proclivities--aside from a stupendous and indiscriminate promiscuity bordering, if not altogether crossing over into nymphomania, she's pretty vanilla--as by the super-lucid intellectual precision with which she analyses the physical, mental, and emotional ramifications of her sexuality.
   
   Despite its subject, this is not a titillating read; the matter-of-fact nature of the writing matches what strikes me as the author's straightforward, almost typically "masculine" approach to getting it on. ((Millet is, by her own admission, relatively uninterested in seduction and prefers to move straight to the main event.)) That being so, one might suppose that, if not erotic, the primary value of this book would reside in how it illuminates some general truths about human sexuality--in this case, female sexuality. But how much can a woman--or a human being, for that matter--who lays on a car hood in an empty parking lot in the middle of the night and allows herself to be taken by ten, twenty, thirty, she loses track of the number, of guys have in common with even the most uncommon of common women? As a work of human sexual archaeology, *The Sexual Life of Catherine M.* thus fails to enlighten us very much about human sexuality in general; it becomes, instead, a sort of believe-it-or-not account of what might reasonably be called one particular woman's sexual pathology.
   
   And yet, one might still, and easily, find something of oneself in these pages for Millet is so brutally, clinically honest and so unsparing of detail that she doesn't flinch from even the most hushed-over aspects of monkeying around. There are also passages and reflections of a philosophical depth and subtlety, such as when Millet writes of wishing she could wake in a strange bed every morning to revel in the novelty of a new perspective on life. Behind Millet's compulsive and voracious carnal appetite, there is a drive to experience everything--and everyone--a desire as admirable as it is unfulfillable given the limitations of our mortal flesh.
   
   Reflections such as these raise *The Sexual Life of Catherine M.* above the level of the merely lurid into the realm of soul-searching mediation on life in general and our finitude in the face of infinity.
   
   While many will no doubt file this book under "Way Too Much Information," Millet is actually talking about a good deal more than what she seems to be at first glance--she is using sexuality the way the artists she chronicles as an art critic use art: as a means to understand self and world. We don't complain, but rather admire, an artist who takes risks and their art to extremes: perhaps we should likewise admire a woman like Millet.
   
   *The Sexual Life of Catherine M.* is probably one of those books that someone had to write. If nothing else, Millet has done us this service.



5. I thought this was an interesting read, though it gets a little dry and to be honest I read it in parts. The narrative structure is loose and that makes it a little bit difficult to read, as she just tends to skip around and some of the wording is hard to wade through, but I think that has a lot to do with the translation and not how she writes. I hope. I took a star off for the poor editing.
   
   I liked her cool impersonal style. She doesn't proselytize and pretty much tells it like it is giving a rundown on the men she was with and some of the ways. I don't believe she was trying to be titillating and that shows. I also think that's what a lot of people expected and are put off by the book cause it runs a little too sterile for their tastes.
   
   I do think she gave a pretty good explanation for her philosophical approach to sex, contrary to what other reviewers here stated. I just think they are used to the typical angst towards sex and sexuality that you find a lot in American books. None of that here and how refreshing it is!
   
   There is a lot of repetition though and I have to warn you that it does get a little boring reading about one orgy after another done in such a detached style. But again I loved the unapologetic, free approach to men and her sexuality that she had and her philosophy towards sex was interesting in and of itself.

5 comments about Miriam's Kitchen: A Memoir.

1. Well done, most interesting, all the various recipes, combined with memories from a time long ago. Have enjoyed it immensely.



2. Miriam's kitchen is a thoughtful, interesting, warm and homey memoir. If you are interested in material culture -- particularly food -- of various groups, you'll find it interesting. It's also a story about balancing identities -- Jewish, American, feminist, traditionalist, etc.



3. Elizabeth Ehrlich is a Jewish American woman who rejected, for many years, her connection to the practices of her Jewish faith. It is only through her discovery of her mother-in-law Miriam's kitchen and the foods prepared there that she learns to value the traditions that shaped her own family, traditions brought from the Old World and translated into the New. Through entries in her journal, through letters, memories, stories, and above all, through Miriam's recipes, Ehrlich recreates for us the story of her spiritual awakening and her self-guided journey into the lives of her foremothers, who nourished their faith and kept it alive and growing in difficult times, difficult places, through pain, separation, and even despair.
   
   This often funny, often heart-rending, always beautifully-evocative book is a powerful testimony to the importance of women's domestic contributions to the survival of their families, their communities, and their faith.
   
   Susan Wittig Albert
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   www.storycirclebookreviews.org



4. I read this many years ago. I love the stories that the author tells about her life and her family as related to food and Jewish tradition. I could relate. The recipies provided in the book are delicious. I am keeping the book as a reference.



5. This book and the reciepies are a must have for any Jewish household. Fantastic story of family history and wonderful receipies from Russian Jewish past. The egg salad is absolutely fantastic!!!

5 comments about My Life as a Traitor: An Iranian Memoir.

1. There are a number of good books out there on the atrocities that have gone on in the prisons of Iran and Iraq. What makes this book unique is that it explores in a very personal way the mind set of the tortured prisoner. The author does an excellent job of explaining her thoughts and feelings while incarcerated. She gives the torture she endured a very personal quality by explaining how even the smallest of psychological details were used to advantage by her captors, e.g., endless waiting and uncertainty, use of details about family to extract confessions, restricted personal hygiene, appeals to her vanity, etc. While the physical torture that she was subjected to was not as severe as that chronicled in some other books, it is clear that the psychogical component was inescapably devastating. A very open and honest recounting of human fraility and exploration of self. It will have you asking "What indeed is courage?"



2. This is an excellent, touching and mesmerizing story of courage and suffering. Ghahramani reveals her innemorst feelings throughout in a disarming way. Well written and interesting from the first to the last page. Brutality and torture are described vividly, yet not in a crude or brutal way. A good read and a must for everyone.



3. This is a story of a woman's ordeal of humiliation and torture for no reason other than she desired some small freedoms in her life and the lives of her people.
   With much of what we see in the news daily, it is easy to see Iran and its entire people as our enemy. This is not the case and we should never forget the people there who long to just be allowed to wear pink shoes and feel the sun on their hair.
   Well done Zarah, great book, I hope everyone reads it and I am happy to know that you have found freedom and peace. I pray that the country of Iran will also find freedom and that it's people will know the joy of pink shoes and sunshine.



4. This searing, moving account of torture and imprisonment, as Patrick Clawson wrote in the Middle East Quarterly, could come from any totalitarian country where secret police meticulously record the activities of even the most innocent dissidents, apolitical people who simply want a little free space in their lives. Ghahramani's account of her interrogation in Tehran's Evin Prison is deeply personal and not particularly political in a grand philosophical sense. She comes across as someone who wants to be able to live her life to the fullest, not as a determined democrat burning to overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Islamist thugs who control Iran. Indeed, in her approach to life she seems very much like an average American university student.
   
   The contrast between Ghahramani and her prison interrogators could not be more extreme. She is thoroughly Westernized, fully committed to such Enlightenment values as individual self-worth and the inalienability of human freedom. Her interrogators are traditional Middle Easterners, valuing faith above reason, blind devotion above thought, conspiracy theories above facts, personal ties above the law, and groveling before authority figures above asserting their individuality. My Life as a Traitor lays bare the deep cultural divide running through Iranian society.
   
   The book also fleshes out why "totalitarian" is such an apt adjective for Iran's Islamic Republic. Ghahramani shows how the regime is determined to control even the smallest aspects of each person's life. She is shown pictures of her entering and leaving a male student's apartment--a grave offense against the state even though they were simply friends studying together. Comments she made in class that were implicitly critical of the regime were carefully recorded. And of course, partying is an unpardonable crime: Western music would be sin enough, let alone that the women may have been unveiled; people may have danced (even worse, possibly even as couples), and alcohol may have been served.
   
   In such a society, the very concept of liberty is subversive. Ghahramani's account makes clear the striking similarities between Iran's Islamic Republic and fascist Germany or the communist Soviet Union. The obvious differences in the ruling ideology in these three cases is in many ways less what makes them different from the West than the totalitarian control that the three share.



5. This is one of the most moving memoirs I have ever read. It is the story of Zarah, a college student who dares to become involved with her fellow students as a political activist. She is snatched off the street one day and sent to Evin prison. Only after being beaten and tortured for days is she allowed her day in court, though she has already been pronounced guilty.
   
   Zarah's story is told in alternating chapters. One chapter will talk about her days in Evin, while the next tells part of her life story up until the time of her arrest. The latter chapters provide a fascinating insight into what life in Iran is like for young women.
   
   Although very difficult to read, this book is also very inspiring. Zarah somehow manages to hang onto her humanity despite the brutal treatment she receives at Evin, and thanks to her courage we are able to read her fascinating story.

5 comments about Minima Moralia: Reflections on a Damaged Life (Radical Thinkers) (Radical Thinkers).

1. Adorno is a sort of Nabokov of the armchair left: elitist, haughty, immaculately cultured, cynical and despairing, and capable of penetrating aphorisms and sparkling metaphors.
   
   This collection of brief meditations on life and culture under late capitalism is maddening, provocative, illuminating, opaque, invigorating, and dour-- and often all of these on the same page.
   
   Adorno is a writer capable of keen insights and exquisite turns of phrase, and the book contains a half dozen aphorisms that will stay with me. But reading Adorno fruitfully requires a lot of prereading: references to Hegel, Marx, Freud, Nietzche, Goethe and lesser figures of German philosophy and literature are tossed around with little hand-holding. In the end, his arcane cultural references and dour, despairing worldview cast doubts in my mind whether his books are worth the trouble.
   
   His insights into the more subtle mechanisms of domination and comformity that pervade our society are important, but are rendered with greater clarity by writers such as Gramsci, Reich, P. Goodman, Debord, Chomsky, Marcuse, and Postman, writers who align themselves more closely with social struggles to resist these forms of oppression and thus have a more measured, hopeful view of the possibilities for reconstituting society along humane lines.
   
   Ultimately, Adorno offers no way out of the morass, only criticism of those who seek it. His outlook of despair and non-involvement serves only to justify his elitist, impotent musings on esthetics and philosophy, and offers little instruction for resistance. Perhaps this is why his writings are so avidly championed in graduate programs in the humanities. His followers would do well to take heed of the warning Adorno himself ran afoul of:
   
   "He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing his critique of society as an ideology for his private interest." (MM 6)



2. Dis is puro...firme vato locs. Down for Adorno por vida..Smile now, Cry later..



3. This is essential reading for our times, and Adorno's insights can be applied to many different areas e.g. literature, sociology, politics, and philosophy. Highly recommended.



4. Though largely unknown outside of certain obscure academic circles, Theodore W. Adorno was, without a doubt, the foremost socio-political theorist of the 20th century. For truly intelligent, literate, questing minds (free of occultist nonsense) Adorno's MINIMA MORALIA is absolutely indispensible. A compendium of always eloquent, surprising, mournful, and deeply humane musings on modern capitalist society in all its terrible unfreedom, this book is among the most uncompromisingly radical ever written (cf. Max Stirner's THE EGO AND ITS OWN). To read and understand Adorno--even imperfectly--is to experience the tremendous pleasure of being in the presence of impeccable historical awareness, great moral rectitude, and visionary wisdom.



5. If read carefully, everything's in here, but it may be best enjoyed piecemeal, as a source of inspiration and a means of provoking thought. Not a primer on Adorno's work, but an enjoyable, relatively accessible way to dip your toes in. At the same time, it's one of the pinnacle works of twentieth-century theory.

5 comments about Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House.

1. A very good read! Interesting facts about all the first ladies. It is sure to make you laugh. You will find out things you did not know. Entertaining.



2. If you like trivia, you'll enjoy this book. If you have only enough time to read short chapters or a few pages at a time, again, you'll like this book. Each chapter, which is about one first lady, is only a few pages in length -- perfect for bedtime reading for tired moms like me. There was enough information about each first lady to pique my interest, and make me want to find more in-depth biographies about many of the women.



3. Recently a foreign journalist interviewing George W. Bush asked the President of the United States to turn out his pockets. What an interesting, humanizing thing to ask of the most powerful man on Earth. And exactly the kind of thing that never occurs in the burlesque of today's 24 hour electronic news cycle. The contents of our pockets, those little handy nooks that serve as contingency storage for our day-to-day indispensables, speak wonderful, accessible volumes about us as people. Show me what you have in your pockets and, whether or not I know WHO you are, I get a glimpse what KIND of person you are. In Secret Lives of the First Ladies, Cormac O'Brien has politely turned out the pockets of the spouses of each of our presidents, and it's a neat-o treasure trove he uncovers. His style is neither lewd nor exploitative, though, to be sure, there's plenty of juicy stuff here. His project is a sort of cameo portraiture of some forty seven intriguing and often remarkable women. The only flattery in these portraits is a consistent, entertaining, and often astounding disclosure of each woman's individual humanity. It is tempting to read the book in little chunks (as I did at first) owing to its concise chaptering. However, it's a real pleasure go back and review long stretches, watching how the public appearance of the First Lady has evolved over time while her private role has remained remarkably consistent: she is the president's wife. Which is to say, sometimes she is a loving yet diminutive spousal anchor and sometimes she is a headstrong engine of scandal and outrage. Sometimes she is a fully enfranchised partner in even the weightiest decision-making at the executive mansion, including public policy. That there were first ladies fitting all these descriptions in every era since the founding of the republic, to me, was quite amazing. If you know any married couples, you will find the First Ladies, good and bad, tragic and heroic, satisfyingly and entertainingly familiar. Predictably, a frustrating aspect of The Secret Lives of the First Ladies is the rigid brevity of its entries, particularly in chapters describing women whom one would like to examine more closely. The challenge is to keep track of those First Ladies whose full biographies you now want to find and read. Alas, one has the nagging fear that those biographies won't be as frank and entertaining as these admittedly brief introductions. But, such is the nature of this omnibus beast. O'Brien's prose is a yummy balance of richness and skim-ability with very few false notes. The design and illustration are a constant reassurance that this is a social visit and not a college text. You're here to make friends and there is no requirement to pass a final exam. A pleasure to read cover-to-cover or simply to table hop as you meet these one-of-a-kind ladies. Of its genre, this is an A+.



4. the book arrived in good condition and in a timely matter. I am a very satisfied customer!!



5. I love how this book and the Secret Lives of the Presidents give us a real look at the personalities of the First Families and what was going on culturally and personally for these folks that have impacted our world. It helps to remind all of us that there never were the "good ol' days". Politics have always been a little messy. These book also help reveal the true brilliance of some of the First Ladies and their husbands. This is what should be taught in our schools. It makes history much more memorable!

4 comments about Lutheran Church Basement Women.

1. A light hearted look at the traditional role of women and their work in Church kitchens. While I am a lifelong Lutheran, I appreciated it more after moving to the Midwest. The only book I have seen that pays homage to red Jell-O.

   On a more serious note, I am glad that the mores honored here are changing. At my church the men join in the cooking and cleaning, and the women have many other roles too.




2. My grandmother was a Norwegian immigrant who lived in a apartment down the street from our Lutheran church in Wisconsin. This book covers every recipe and nuance I remember from life in the Lutheran church, right down to the aprons. The explanations and footnotes about life as a Lutheran church basement woman are accurate and delightful. The descriptions of rituals and preparations for events are accurate to a fault, right down to the dead spreads. The hints about gossip and the social structure of these women are perfect. This book is a joy!!



3. At one time a Lutheran and now a Catholic--I know these women and they are alive in every church kitchen in the world,and we have a sense of humor!!!!! The recipes send my mind scurrying back to my home town of Ada, Minnesota and I can once again enjoy the companionship of my family.



4. As I read this book, and browsed through the recipes, I remembered when I happily consumed many of these delious edibles (as well as tactfully avoided the equally noxious ones) in blissful ignorance. I still consume many of these traditional Lutheran dishes at church functions, now usually held in the Lutheran School building. Today, though, I am required to feel guilty about consuming them, can very nearly HEAR them clogging arteries. That basement holds many fond memories of more innocent times!