5 comments about Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress.

1. Oddly enough, I recieved a copy of this book, as a gift, three years ago. After rushing my education, recieving a Master's degree at 21, I found myself still employed as a server. Needless to say, I related to the story, which some may argue, is why I rated it a five. Most people take for granted, how many educated servers there are and how annoyed we get when you treat us like a "dumb server." If I have any hopes for this book, it's that some non-service industry types read it and get a better understanding of "the other side."
   I found this book to be a quick and easy read, but very enjoyable. She reiterates that common curtiousy goes a long way, whether you are a server or being served. Definately a must read for anyone that has waited tables and a should read for anyone that has or will ever eat out.



2. I love this book and am currently enjoying it again after first reading it several years ago. Not only does Waiting deliver a strong sense of what it is like to be a waitress, it's also a strong story about what it is like to be Debra Ginsberg and to some degree what it was like to be in Portland, Oregon in the 70's and 80's.
   
   Highly recommended.



3. This is a wonderful, fast-paced read that will take you into the life of Debra Ginsberg, a woman who worked as a waitress for twenty years.
   
   If you've ever worked with the public in any capacity, this book is for you! And, if you patronize restaurants, you'd best read this book so you can see yourself as a customer through the eyes of those invisible people who serve you.
   
   Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg is a hilarious eye-opener. You'll never see waiters in the same way again.



4. Debra Ginsburg's book is nothing less than an updated version of Melville's Moby Dick: an ode to the humanity of the ordinary working man and woman. The restaurant staffs (many throughout her life-long career waiting) are Ginsburg's shipmates. The great whale was for Melville a mirror by which we can look into the souls of ordinary working people, and this is what the working men and woman of her restaurants are for Ginsburg's great work of Genius. Ginsburg plays on the word "waiting" in a way that would have made Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot) proud (although Ginsburg is never heavy-handed with the pun), as True Confessions of a Waitress is also about people who are waiting for salvation from the miserable existence where they are forced to eke out a humble living while their dreams lie just out of reach. I read the book as part of a writers' seminar and fell in love with the book and with its author.



5. About: Ginsberg describes her long career as a waitress in restaurants ranging from her family's luncheonette to a country club. Plenty of vignettes about ill-behaved restaurant staff and customers here.
   
   Pros: The tales and interpersonal relationships she describes on the job can be amusing
   
   Cons: I read this book after reading Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter and found that Ginsberg's work paled in comparison. The chapter on waitressing in the media seemed like a tacked on writing class assignment, and her style lacked any "oomph" to hold my interest.

5 comments about Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero.

1. For those of you that can't get a hold of the other Shannon Miller biography, this book is a good substitute.

   Written by Shannon's mother, I found it to give a very informative and interesting look into Shannon's life before and after Barcelona and Atlanta. This book tells you how she coped with her injures, about her training, and her relationship with Steve Nunno.

   Of course, since Shannon's mother wrote it you get a little one-sided view, because after all, in her mother's eyes Shannon can do nothing wrong. But Shannon's mother tried very hard to be accurate, and overall I was left with a very good impression.

   Before I read this I didn't really like Shannon Miller as much as some of the other gymnasts, and I'm not sure why. But after I read this book, it gave me a new understanding of all the hard work Shannon had to put in to become America's favorite gymnast.




2. I love to read gymnastics biographies; usually I don't care most of the time what gymnast I'm reading about. So, after reading several books on Shannon Miller, I picked this one up at the library and thought it might be interesting since it was by her own mother.
   
   Yeah, I was wrong. This book is BORING. All it does is describe Shannon's competitions event-by-event, competition by competition. Yeah, maybe if you've never watched her on TV or read any other books about her, this book might be interesting, but I had a hard time picking it up and stopped reading after five minutes because it was so boring. I gave the book several chances and eventually forced myself to finish it, though.
   
   Plus, there's nothing much about her personal life; really. All it does is talk about her gymnastics career and early life. Oh, and her mother brags about her daughter Shannon plenty enough, as well, sometimes even bragging about herself. Last time I checked, this was a biography about SHANNON, not her mother.
   
   All in all, I didn't like it. The photos were nice, but I'd already seen many of them. For a slightly better Shannon biography, read "Shannon Miller: America's Most Decorated Gymnast," by Krista Quiner. It does a better job of detailing her career without being boring and/or overly bragging, plus it is more revealing, as well.



3. I strongly felt that this book was very lovingly written by Shannon's mother,Claudia,and really gave me a chance to get to know Shannon better.I learned all about her trials,triumphs,and hard work as a gymnast,often in the shaddows of U.S. greats such as Kim Zmeskal,Dominique Moceanu,and Kerri Strug.Shannon was one of the most fortunate gymnasts because she was able to live and train at home,while most elite gymnasts have to live and train far from home.Throughout her life,Shannon has shown the true heart of a champion,both in and out of the gym because she has been grateful for every award or medal she has received.She has also donated her money and time to some of our country's most worthy causes.Shannon is an amazing woman who has set a great example for generations of gymnasts to come.I also admire the sacrifices the Miller family made for Shannon's gymnastics career.They have shown true love and support for her throughout her entire career.



4. I enjoyed this book when it first came out, and at twenty six years of age, I still read it. Her mother did a fantastic job of filling in the time spent off the camera between competitions. This is not like other gymnast biographies that just relay the information we can see on television. This really explains Shannon's feelings, her struggles and personal victories. If you are looking for a basic overview of her gymnastic career intended to be read by children, look to Krista Quiner's biography. If you want to know more about Shannon and her life, written by a competent adult, buy this book.



5. This book was informative in regards to Shannon's awards and achievments. However it would have made a much better read if we got to know both Shannon and her family on a more personal level.

5 comments about Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography.

1. This is a comprehensive story of one of the most interesting women in history. Marion Meade gives us everything we would ever want to know about Eleanor of Acquitaine. Of course, what makes the book more interesting is the huge cast of supporting players in Eleanor's life. The story begins with her father and his castle of courtly romance. We then see Eleanor married to Louis Capet, King of France. He takes Eleanor on crusade to the Holy Land where their marriage falls apart. This sets the stage for her marriage to Henry Plantagenet - one of the greatest kings of England.

   We get the full story of Henry's struggle with Thomas a Beckett. We see the gradual dissolution of his marriage to Eleanor, and we see the famous children they sire - especially Richard Coeur de Lion.

   This is a long book but it is a well-written and fascinating read for anyone with even the most casual interest in history.




2. This was a wonderful book. I would read as much as I had time to each day and then spend time thinking about Eleanor until I could get back to her story. I have read other accounts, one historical, of Eleanor of Aquitaine, but this one brings her to life more than anything else I have read about her. She truly was a remarkable person by any standards and Meade made me feel as though I was right there watching it all unfold. I would highly recommend this book, particularly, if you have not read anything else on Eleanor and I guarantee you will want to find out more.



3. This book provides a detailed, insightful and thorough examination of a woman whose life would have been radical by modern standards. However, Eleanor lived nine centuries ago, in an age when patriarchial attitudes, values and mores were completely dominant. In such a world, Eleanor not only survived, she thrieved. The wife of two powerful Kings, Eleanor was a match for any man. She floutted convention, wearing armour and riding a charger on crusade, Eleanor remained sexually attractive enough to have the King of England, a man fourteen years her junior, marry her without regard for her lack of the normal virginal requirements of a queen consort.



4. "Meade's history [of Eleanor] is full of color, but based on facts," a reviewer wrote in 1999. As indeed it should be. Those qualities are not antithetical: history is often colorful and always based on facts. Reading reviews of Marion Meade's "Eleanor of Aquitaine: a Biography" (1977) is to discover that this writer is defending Meade's book against comments such as: "[It's] a very good read, but one suspects it is a poor history." And, under the heading "Entertaining fiction, not history" a reviewer describes Meade's book as, "indeed entertaining, and paints a vivid portrait... one that many readers have complained is missing from other biographies of this most fascinating queen." But then the reviewer changes direction, adding: "A substantial proportion of that portrait is conjecture."
   
   Some conjecture is essential to a quality biography from a faraway time. (Where would a jury be without connecting facts?) Meade's book is readable, superbly researched--as one expects from an accomplished journalist--and colorful. It is what a lengthy biography of an amazing woman should be, especially when the adventure of that long, exceptional life was so extraordinary.
   
   Marion Meade's diversity of interests is intriguing. She has written biographies of Buster Keaton, Woody Allen, Dorothy Parker, and tales of the roaring twenties under the title "Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin." On the other hand, here is this well-researched, compelling biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, a rebellious life, to be sure, but a life pushing forth from the stony soil of the straightened, misogynistic twelfth century. Eleanor's life and times clearly made an impact on the author. Two years later (no doubt using some of the same hard-won research) she gave us the tale of Eleanor's near-contempory in "Stealing Heaven: The Love Story of Heloise and Abelard." Eleanor may have heard Abelard preach in Paris. Like Heloise, in Meade's capable hands Eleanor of Aquitaine comes across as the mistress of her life--even, be it said, of her life's many frustrations.
   
   Robert Fripp, author of
   "Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine"



5. I am not much of a reader of biographies as many of them read like text books. Meade has managed to do a superlative job in creating a biography that I found myself unable to put down.
   
   I have read the critics stating the book is more fiction than history. Without personally researching every document Meade used to develop her book (a task I am sure the critics did not perform), I felt able to easily understand where Meade made conjectures about Eleanor's thoughts and motivations for the actions that she took, most of which were well documented by Eleanor's contemporaries - particularly in the accounting department. It is apparent to me that Meade's conjectures were based on these solid facts along with a good dose of understanding what it much have been like for a women of means and will to be constantly under the thumb of men.
   
   Critics also state that Meade painted a woman without faults. Obviously they did not read the book. The description Meade gives of Eleanor's second attempt to regain Toulouse with her land hungry second husband shortly after a friendly truce with her ex-husband was gained, amounted to Meade basically stating in so many words, "What was she thinking?"
   
   Rather than faultless, Meade gives a detailed description of a complex woman; a woman of intelligence, but also a woman easily succumbed to flattery; a woman of independent will consistently struggling against a society clipping her wings.

5 comments about If I Perish.

1. a wonderful warrior for the lord who stood up for the gospel.



2. I would just like to caution those who are interested in purchasing this book that it contains events such as people believing they have received messages from God.



3. Ahn Ei Sook was a living testimony of what a disciplined, prepared and faithful follower of Christ looks like. Her ongoing determination to gain control over her flesh, and also her courage in a time of extreme persecution made this book riveting to read and a true inspiration. The historical account of this time period (Japan and Korea 1939-1945) was also fascinating to read from an eyewitness account. This book was required reading for me, but how grateful I was to have the opportunity to glimpse this remarkable life. Since this book reads very much like a fiction, I had to keep reminding myself that it was in fact a very true and inspiring story.



4. I read this book many years ago as a teen and it has remained in my memory every since. It touched my heart to the core. Amazing story indeed!



5. Interesting story, too much focus on death. Too much dwelling on her thoughts and it becomes boring
   
   pc

5 comments about Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography.

1. This has to be one of the most unique autobiographies I've ever read. The premise is brilliant. P.D. James takes one year of her life, at age 77, and as we follow her from activity to relative to meeting to book event, she also takes the time to reflect on the larger picture of her life and the people she has known for most of her life, providing historical details as a stream of conscious memory. Some of her life just isn't that interesting, but trying to manage two children and a marriage to a man who spent most of his adult life in asylums, as well as being made a Peeress of the Realm, and all of the publication minutae are pretty interesting. It is always fun to read the story of a life richly lived by an accomplished person.



2. As a fan of P.D. James' mysteries, reading her 'fragment of autobiography' served as an interesting chance to get to know the woman behind the words. "A Time To Be In Earnest" is a diary written for one year of the author's life: since the original intent was publication, there is a formality to it and it does lack the spontaneity of emotions of other diaries. Yet that does not diminish what is written within its pages, for it is a glimpse into the everyday life of a woman, a writer, a grandmother, a public image, etc... as she reflects on the past, present, and what the future may bring.
   
   P.D. James did not begin writing her novels until she was in her thirties - she was already married with two daughters and worked as a public servant. Her diary begins with a note to the reader about the task ahead. The title is taken from a quote by Samuel Johnson that reads, "At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest" and so during her seventy-seventh year, James keeps this diary as a way to ward off the would-be writers of biographies and to help her remember certain events and moments in the face of oncoming age. Sometimes her entries focus on her early life, giving readers a brief biographical sketch of home and school, while other entries are forays into James' thoughts on current affairs, past crimes, and what it is like to be an author in demand. Also during this year, readers follow the author as she promotes her newly published book ("A Certain Justice") and travels throughout the world, allowing readers to into her insights on the places she visits.
   
   There is no doubt that P.D. James has led an extraordinary life, having experienced love, loss, and the shattering and numbing consequences of war. Her diary is, at times, like sitting down with an old friend (who happens to be a favorite author) and discussing books, history and the affairs of the day. Readers are drawn into her life, just as they are drawn into the characters she creates in her fiction. (An included positive for Jane Austen fans, is a talk that James gave on "Emma" and how it is a detective story, with James laying out the clues that Austen left for readers to find.) James may fancy herself a grandmother who happens to write detective stories, but I for one am glad that she continues to write, well into her eighties.



3. As a long-time fan of PD James, I was eager to read her fragment of an autobiography. Upon finishing it, I regretted reading it. This esteemed author reveals a bit too much about her extremely right-wing politics, her puzzling infatuation with rank and privilege, and her obsessive nature. I didn't count the number of speeches and signings she did in her 78th year, but the number would be staggering. She seems unable to refuse any request to be honored and fawned over. Of course, her obsessive nature is useful in crime fiction, I suppose. And her prose remains the model of clarity. I still love her work and will go on reading it, but I will have to make an effort to separate my negative impression of the woman.



4. I've enjoyed all of P. D. James' fiction works, but found the fragment of autobiography interesting, but a bit tedious. The book is interesting in that her life is filled with drama, trials, and turmoil; tedious in the multiple social and literary events that are recited. I can only surmise that the author herself really was not interested in keeping the diary and found it tiresome.



5. Samuel Johnson famously said that 'at 77 it is time to be in earnest' and P.D. James is. She has not been a diarist but for this book she forced herself to become one. The book consists of a year's worth of diary with flashbacks and memories of the past. Structuring an autobiography is far more difficult and far more problematic than it may at first appear. Her solution here is certainly novel. Superficially, the book is an account of a year's events--speeches, book tours, lunches, and so on, but ultimately it explores the key events and key individuals of her life, with all the tears and joys attached. She evokes a vivid sense of the war and what it was like to bear and protect infants then; she speaks of her beloved husband's struggles with mental illness, the fact that she was forced to support the family and do so by wending her way through a government career after taking what Americans would think of as a continuing ed program at the City University in London. She is so literate, so polished, and so well educated that it is hard to believe that she lacks a formal college education. Her success as a writer came relatively 'easily', though that is always a relative term. It came early, but it did not come without great labor.
   
   Time to Be in Earnest includes wonderful reflections on the craft of writing and the specific culture of crime writing and interesting anecdotes about such household names as Ruth Rendell and Iris Murdoch. Phyllis James/Baroness James knows everyone and speaks of them honestly and in detail. She also tells us about her cat (named for Johnson's cat, Hodge), which I found more interesting than I expected. I loved her comments on modern culture--on travel, on cell phones, on education, on political correctness, political personages (including the Blairs) and such unexpected pleasures as an account of what it is like to spend the night at Chatsworth. In all of these matters she is scrupulously honest and scrupulously frank. The impact on her of Johnson and of the Jane Austen of the letters as well as the novels is clear.
   
   This is a delightful book and you do not need to be a fan of P.D. James's crime fiction (she would say detective fiction) to enjoy it. It is a very English book in every way, but it is also pure Horatio Alger--relatively poor woman hungry for butter during the war becomes Baroness James of Holland Park and doesn't change a great deal in the process. I had the great pleasure of meeting her once and talking to her for a few minutes. She is absolutely the genuine article--kind, direct, real with a capital R and authentic with a capital A. The book conveys that, without any arrogance and without any pretense. Read it and love her.

1 comments about Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the Rights of Women and Workers, ... Planet, and Shook Up Politics Along the Way.

1. This is my first Amazon review. I felt I had to write a review for this wonderful book. On one hand, this is an inspiring account of the passion and vigor that catalyzed the civil rights and feminist movements in this country (in stark contrast to much of the hollow rhetoric these days). On the other, it is an entertaining and poignant portrayal of an incredibly complicated character in American history. The form of the book, something of a round table discussion between Abzug and those who knew her, helps the reader to get a sort of 360 degree history with multiple views of single events. It is a finely wrought and powerful portrayal of Abzug and of the history of our country. I hope particularly that young women (and men) will read it and be inspired.

5 comments about Under the Duvet: Shoes, Reviews, Having the Blues, Builders, Babies, Families and Other Calamities.

1. Cute book but a bit repetative in places. The house buying stories were the most amusing just because we've recently gone through that ourselves. My husband also enjoyed the book, so while it's clearly marketed at women, men who enjoy humorous essay style memoirs will also enjoy Under the Duvet.



2. I adore Marian Keyes. Totally. When I excitedly buy Marie claire every month, I skip to her column first! In fact, I'm so desperate to get it before it comes out in the shops, I subscribed to it. Tragic, I know.
   
   But anyway.
   
   I bought "Under The Duvet" because I bought "Further Under The Duvet" first which I know sounds mad, but I bought the latter because it'd just come out and had a couple of quid off, so that's my excuse. Anyway, I purchased "Under The Duvet" after reading her novels. For you Yanks, "Further Under The Duvet" is under a different title, but don't ask me what as I haven't a clue!
   
   I like the fact you can just dip in and out of it. I have a habit of reading more than one book at once, therefore I end up losing the storyline because I've got confused. Why do I do that? I keep asking myself the same question. Marian Keyes is warm, witty and real. She's down to Earth and so damn likeable. And when she talks about her alcoholism, she does it without self pity which is endearing, if you ask me.
   
   So, yeah, just buy it.



3. Marian Keyes is one of my favorite novelists, so I was very excited to read her articles. Most of them were very entertaining and witty, as one would expect from Keyes. Read one after another, however, some of them didn't quite make the mark. What I did enjoy was getting to know a little more about Marian Keyes, the person. I also enjoyed reading about Ireland (as I usually do). My favorite essays/articles were Catholicism: Cheaper Than Prozac, but Is It Good for You? (about the a la carte attitude to Catholicism many modern cradle Catholics tend to practice in their 30's), Have you the Green Food Coloring? (about Marian and her Irish co-workers celebrating St. Patrick's Day in London), You Can Run, But You Can't Hide (about life-long friends), and Time's Arrow (which very much mirrored my thought on how you are the last to know you are in deed one of them -- an adult). In any case, it's an enjoyable, easy read that I'm sure all fans of Marian Keyes would enjoy.



4. In my book, Keyes' best work was Watermelon, her first novel. Anyone who's ever tried to pick up the pieces after the sudden end of a relationship can instantly identify with Claire's heartbreak and dilemma, and Keyes does an excellent job mining all the sad, gory details of a love lost and found.
   
   "Under the Duvet" is her first nonfiction book, and while it's an entirely different reading experience, it's still not a bad way for a Keyes fan to get her fix. A collection of columns she wrote for various magazines and newspapers, as well as a few previously unpublished pieces, this book is vintage Keyes, mixing laugh-out-loud observations about her shoe fetish and her large, very Catholic family, with poignant reflections on overcoming crippling alcoholism.
   
   Never fear, though -- you're not going to be subjected to a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Save for a dark, somber chapter about her struggle to get and stay sober, "Under the Duvet" is primarily a happy, skippy romp through the landscape of Keyes' life and times, introducing us to Himself (her husband Tony), her wise Mam, hapless Dad, and her memorable band of siblings and friends. Keyes spent eleven years living in 'Swinging London' before moving back to Ireland for good, and each country gets its share of gentle teasing about its eccentricities and colorful characters. But her finest pen is reserved for her affectionate look at Ireland then and now: she waxes nostalgic about the Dublin before the specter of the Celtic Tiger, and marvels at the remarkable transition its made in these increasingly secular and materialistic times.
   
   Fans and children of Erin will find much to love here, and chick-lit aficionados will love Keyes' brief, charming musings on dating, parties, growing older, getting married, Botox, losing weight, and the Holy Grail of twentysomethings everywhere: Keyes' short-lived but glorious stint as beauty editor for a national women's magazine. Would-be writers seeking advice on the craft and business of novel writing and publishing will best look elsewhere, as Keyes touches only lightly on the subject.
   
   There are a good many Irish-isms that may stump the American reader, but not enough to prevent one from enjoying the book. Part memoir and -- surprisingly -- part cultural study of the author's beloved Ireland, "Under the Duvet" is a pleasing way to pass an afternoon. Make sure you have a cup of Bewleys Irish Breakfast and some soda bread.
   
   MRA



5. In Under the Duvet, Keyes talks about her (somewhat dysfunctional) life in a series of essays, most of which were published in the Tatler. From her loathing of gardening to her dark days with alcohol abuse, she unveils her thoughts and feelings about the terrors and bliss of living, in a very Irish way. It's not only the language that's different (crisps instead of chips, boot instead of trunk, etc.), it's the mindset of being a woman in Ireland. Typically, the women in the essays are more fleshed out than the men, which makes the poor men always sound dense and unenlightened, while the women put up with it because that's just the way it is. Despite the cultural differences, it's easy to relate to many situations she's gone through: learning to drive, going through house renovations, spending Christmas with your family (when you'd rather be elsewhere, like in Groenland).
   
   Okay, Under the Duvet is not literature. But it's fun, and a touch of levity in life has never hurt anyone.

5 comments about Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Negro American Biographies and Autobiographies).

1. The historical merit of Ida Wells' story is profound: here we have a history of African Americans written from the perspective of a fellow A.A. at a time when black history was otherwise sadly neglected. This book provides information about the foundation of A.A. activist groups, such as the NAACP from the perspective of an insider. The events of Wells' life coincide with other great A.A. figures, such as Frederick Douglass. She also provides a candid and heartfelt commentary on the injustices suffered by blacks in her time, most notably episodes of lynching. Truly and inspirational story of a very strong and very motivated woman.

   In terms of readability, however, the book gets a little redundant and repetitive after the half-way point. The details of Wells' many meetings and interactions are sometimes hard to follow and...well,repetitive.




2. Even though some of the material in this book is redundant, this is an opportunity to read primary source material about the actions and reactions of a woman many of us know little about. Learning about Ida B. Wells in the first person puts you into the times in which she lived. There is no way a biography can give you the same experience. This is a book I would recommend to anyone wanting to understand this period of our history and the personalities--their strengths and limits--that dominated the crusades of those times. I like knowing about Wells' frailties as well as her strengths and the insights that she shared. And I like hearing her viewpoints about other leaders of her time. The three star ratings may say something about the readability of the book, but not about what you gain by staying the course.



3. This book sin't really anything special although it is interesting.The author describes her life all the way from her childhood where most of her family died, and through her success as a teacher and a newspaper editor who fought for freedom of speech in her articles.I recommend this book for those who are interested in the history after 1800s and how life went on at that time.Overall,it is a good book but I found it boring at times.



4. I read 'Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells' as part of a class in ethical and prophetic witness for seminary. This was, frankly, not the kind of book I was likely to read apart from a class assignment. But I am very glad to have been given the opportunity -- sometimes things we have to do are in fact good for us!

   Ida B. Wells was an African-American woman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She was born and grew up in the South, born in Mississippi during the Civil War. It is significant the impact of the legacy of slavery on her life -- she recounts how her parents, who were married as slaves, remarried each other as free persons after the war. Wells was a determined and intelligent woman -- her parents died while she was young, yet old enough to be left with the responsibility of her younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 14 she found herself at the head of a household with five younger children.

   She worked hard to make sure that her education did not suffer, and eventually (a rarity for women of any colour in America at the time) went to work for a newspaper.

   In an incident that foreshadowed Rosa Parks, she was once removed from a train for sitting in the wrong section, despite her ownership of a valid ticket for the seat. She sued the railroad and won (newspaper headlines read 'Darky Damsel Gets Damages' without concern for the racist tone), but the judgment was overturned on appeal, and she later discovered her lawyers had been paid off by the railroads, and the appellate judges had thought she was just being uppity to pursue the matter.

   Such was the state of the African-American community that none came to her assistance as she pursued this fight. This made her more determined to organise and fight.

   Several of her newspaper partners and other friends in Memphis were lynched for these efforts, and Wells was threatened herself, and left the South, but did not give up her crusade. Where ever she went, through cities and towns in the North as well as over to Europe (where, she said, she felt like she was treated as a real human being equal with others for the first time) she decried the injustice of laws which dismissed charges or gave light sentences if victims were coloured, and prosecuted more strongly, gave out harsher sentences, or even resorted to lynch mobs if the defendant (who was often not guilty) was coloured.

   'She fought a lonely and almost single-handed fight, with the single-mindedness of a crusader, long before men or women of any race entered the arena, and the measure of success she achieved goes far beyond the credit she has been given the history of the country.'

   She continued speaking and publishing up to her death in 1931. She was never afraid of making herself unpopular, and often upset the African-American community by being critical of their complacency (especially the upper and middle classes). She became unpopular by standing against the military service during World War I, because of prejudicial and discriminatory practices, and never quite recovered in popular esteem from that.

   But Wells had courage and determination that is rare in persons, male or female, of any colour, of any time, to take on such a task as the exposition and combat of lynching in the South during the post-Civil War decades. Talking directly with governors and even a president, Wells made her voice heard, and it was a difficult hearing in a difficult time.




5. THIS IS ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT THE INJUSTICE OF THIS HYPOCRITICAL COUNTRY OF GOD FEARING BARBARIANS, WHOSE ANCESTORS PRACTICE GENOCIED OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF TURTLE ISLAND AND THE ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICANS. WHEN THOSE AFRICANS TRIED TO VOTE AND TO EXPERIENCE THE SO CALLED AMERICAN DREAM, WHO THEY WERE VICTIMIZED, AND THIS BRAVE LADY HAD TO CARRY A SHOT GUN TO PROTECT HERSELF FROM THE euro-american TRASH, WHO THREATED HER LIVE AND HER LOVED ONES. IT'S ABOUT TIME THAT THE TRUTH ABOUT america BE KNOWN.

5 comments about An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, And the Fight for Seadrift, Texas.

1. What a pleasure to read this story of an amazing and heroic woman, giving it all to take down giants. Ms Wilson's Marquez-like writing style and choice of words leaves me breathless and imagining I'm there with her as her mission lays itself at her feet and she picks it up and takes it on. Bravo! An absolutely wonderful read.



2. Diane Wilson is not only an unreasonable woman she is an outstanding human being. She is a reluctant hero, the most authentic kind. She eventually stands up for her native waters, mother earth and the very survival of the human race.
   
   Doing something doesn't necessarily mean you can write well about it. In this case, Diane writes in her own authentic and electrifying voice. Her story rings true and reads like the most exciting fiction. I recommend this book to anyone who loves nature, adventure or just plain good reading.



3. I found Diane's use of local dialect when "she" is talking, and standard prose elsewhere, a delightful aspect of this book. The local dialect is what one hears in the Texas Coast fishing communities, and it evokes an incredible feeling of time and place. The reader feels the salt spray right along with her.



4. With the discovery that her "piddlin' little county on the Gulf Coast" led the nation in toxic emissions, Diane Wilson fought friends, family, local politicians, corrupt state regulators, legislators, senators, and the multi-billion dollar company Formosa Plastic. This leader of Taiwan's petrochemical industry had environmental practices so appalling that twenty thousand Taiwanese came out under threat of police violence to protest its proposed new $8 billion dollar complex. That's how Formosa decided to shift its operations to Texas. Texas was willing to give Formosa $200 million in subsides and to look the other way on environmental violations for it's proposed $1.3 billion expansion of its PVC manufacturing facility in Calhoun County, Texas.
   
   Diane wanted to know why in her small community "a man could make the arrest column in the local newspaper any day of the week for running his truck with expired license plates or no insurance, but let a chemical company, half a mile wide and with a thousand unknown chemicals zipping through their pipes, release eighty tons of a baby-aborting chemical into his neighbor's backyard, and it would be lucky if it made a note in a report. The plant manager sounded startled over the phone. "Good God!" he said. "Of course we can't put that type of information in the paper. Do you want old Mister Weaver across the street to have a heart attack?" " (p. 250)
   
   Vinyl chloride monomer is one of the worst cancer-causing chemicals in the world.
   "It's so hazardous the government says you're in violation if a single pound is released. But here seventy-four tons of vinyl chloride was released within one mile of an elementary school right across the road from Point Comfort. And if that wasn't enough, Formosa, in the same breath they were polluting with, asked the state to permit a tenth reactor while the ninth was violating production permits. You tell me the state is getting it? You exceed permits and you're rewarded with more?" (p.186)
   
   Maybe all this had something to do with Formosa giving campaign funds to U.S. Senator Gramm, who appointed his former campaign advisor to the head of EPA Region 6, and who was now the final authority on Formosa's penalty and all their permits.
   
   "The commission decided that even though Formosa's fine warranted something in the seven-figure bracket, they would calculate it thirty times lower, and although Formosa continued to violate their wastewater permit on a daily basis into a body of water they had already degraded, the state would allow the waste water permit and violations to continue.
   It wasn't the Water Commissions fault, Chairman Bucko said. The blame lay squarely with the federal agencies who prevented the Water Commission from dealing appropriately with the environmental issues at Formosa. Maybe now the agencies would back off their demand for a comprehensive environmental impact statement and let the state regulatory process work." (p. 208)



5. I just loved this book and was sorry to see it end, and I am a discriminating reader. The story is so incredibly well told and so well written. There is drama, personal stories, great environmental information. I read some of the paragraphs, which flowed just like the tide at Seadrift, over and over again. She writes just like Texans talk and I just enjoyed it so much. She fights the good fight. Right ON!

5 comments about Yes Mother.

1. there is a grammatical error on page 10, paragraph 2 that I noticed. You wrote: "The only this I could was to cut my bloomers...." I believe you meant to say: "They only thing I could do was to cut my bloomers..." Just thought I would let you know.



2. Even though I read the other reviews before I purchased this book, I thought, just how bad can the book really be. It's BAD. Only 56 pages, lots of errors, very little focus, and reads like it was written by a sixth grader. I wasnt convinced that these kids had it all that bad and right away I wished I hadnt wasted my money or time.



3. This book was not well written. It jumped back & forth through time in a disjointed, confusing manner & some topics were repeated over & over.



4. I saw the same grammatical error as a previous reviewer, and was very disappointed to see that this was not actually a "book", more like an essay, broken into nine chapters.
   
   Also, it is difficult to believe the entire story when there are so many inconsistencies. The most glaring was on page 21, when the author recounts adopting her daughter's baby daughter.
   
   In the second full paragraph on page 21 she wrote: It took a month to decide what to do. [regarding adopting her granddaughter]
   
   In the next paragraph she wrote: We [she and her husband] had to take four months of kinship and childcare classes. The baby was placed in our home after a thorough background check. [A few sentences later, in the same paragraph:] Emily has been with me since she was two weeks old.
   
   How can this be? The fact that the author had four months of kinship and childcare classes, then had to be approved first, would mean the child could NOT have been placed with her within two weeks of birth.
   
   I can understand wanting closure, but don't try to sell your writing exercise as a fully-developed, readable book. It is far from it.



5. "The book is the truth. I wrote it for closer and to heal the pain."
   Published on May 8, 2006 by Margaret Gomez
   
   This is why an editor is so important. Do you mean you wrote it for closure? This could have been a great book with some help from a professional. It probably would have sold a lot more as well. I really feel for you but if you want to put something out to the consumer, make sure it is checked for consistency and errors.