1 comments about RFK: Selected Speeches: Original Live Recordings of RFK's Finest Speeches.

1. You can hear the compassion and conviction in Bobby's voices. I have listened to these two tapes many times over... I've read the speeches in text ... but nothing is like listening to Bobby's voice, slightly shaken, slightly rushed, but always genuine and sincere. Bobby Kennedy is an American leader. Though his short life span did not allow him to accomplish enough, his vision and integrity examplified what spiritual growth could be. Even with all the mistakes he might have made, you could never doubt his conviction and his good will towards all mankind. Listen to his voice, not just his words ... and let his voice give you a desire to give more than what you are required ... to live for something greater than ourselves. Even in death, Bobby left the youths of every generation the challenge, a torch to carry on.

5 comments about The Oldest Rookie: The Incredible True Story of the Thirty-five-year-old Physics Teacher Who Broke into the Major Leagues.

1. If you are looking for the book to be the Disney version of the Move, "The Rookie", do not get this book. The book was OK, but did not portray the same feeling of "faded dreams get second chance" Disney feel that the movie did.



2. Of course everyone wants a feel-good story. But the messy details that really illuminate a life get left out. It's always best for your image creation to tell your own story (with trained storytellers and) and sound like a great guy with endearing weaknesses and heady but safe admissions to decorate a long-odds story of dreams. I found the previous review of Robert Wilson, someone who actually knew Morris, to be most helpful (assuming the claim is true, which sounds credible).
   
   The objective of publishers is to make money, same as moviemakers. And in the movie, they turn Morris' dad from a guy totally uninterested in baseball and squashing his son's dreams; when in reality the dad was himself a major league prospect and pounded the dream and practice of baseball into his son from an early age. Oh well, just the exact opposite of the truth, that's all. What objection will Morris have to falsehood while he's cashing his book checks, movie-rights checks, and the speaking fees of $10,000-$15,000 a pop he still gets?
   You can rationalize all you want about inspiring people, but the truth has to be there. The truth of the objective facts, and the subjective aspect of what kind of a guy Morris really is (or was). Maybe Morris is a great guy now. I hope so. But money makes you do things you really shouldn't do. Further, it sounds like Morris thinks he was always a great guy, when in his first 25 years he probably had a lot of growing up to do. (I would know, because that's exactly how I am.)
   Last point: Teaching physics and coaching high school baseball over a career contributes way, way more to kids than making it to the majors. You can inspire dozens of kids, every day, the hard way. Fame and money are terribly fleeting dreams, after all. He gave up the majors due to injury, but now says it was to be with his family. Really? To become a national speaker? When in baseball you have nearly half the year off? Fascinating logic. For the love of Pete, where are truth and credibility going? $$$$$$$$$$$ Keep grubbing for it.



3. This story is about a man named Jim Morris and his autobiography on how he always wanted to become a baseball player. There are tons of parts in the story that I liked like when when Lorri (Jim's wife) get a dog named Brandy who was abandoned with her pups by her owner. They took her in and made her well. But soon she becomes ill and dies. I'm now up to the point where Jim is struggling to keep a job and feed two (and on the way three) children. Lorri and him have a fight for a little bit and he leaves the house but soon after he is done thinking they get back together. After his arm starts to hurt him he gets a surgery done but can never pitch again. He quits baseball and concentrates on his family. My friend told me what happens in the end but who ever is reading this I want you to find out for yourself. Also it also really inspires you that you can be a professional baseball player and live out your childhood dreams. Thank you Jim Morris for writing your story.



4. "Everything gets hard before it gets easy." A well known cliché Jim Morris knows all too well. The Rookie, a true story written by Jim Morris, travels the journey of Jim's dream and how he accomplished it. Morris learned to walk at seven months old, passing up five months or normal development, he had natural talent, and was arguably the best baseball player on any team he played on, whether little league or softball. Morris was even a star football kicker, launching the ball over eighty yards with one swift boot. He knew his baseball skills would take him far, maybe even the major leagues, but there was one little problem that hovered over his stardom; his arm. He had Tommy John Surgery on his throwing arm, setting him back a year, then he had more trouble which was a three inch bone spur in his shoulder, the surgery was said to put the cap on his career. Yet Jim Morris wasn't ready to end his career just then.

   Every novel has its good points and its poor points, that is what makes it popular. It is hard to find a negative point when the novel is based on a subject that one may feel so passionate about, yet some of the facts presented here in the book make one wonder how they were retrieved. When Jim Morris walked for the first time, he claimed that his parents didn't even see him because they were driving across the country and neither of his parents were paying attention. More than likely this information was conjured up, which in turn makes the story more interesting, but should be omitted. Even though it may have been false information, the majority of non-fiction books tend to have some created information in them. A technique many writers include in their "bag of tricks."

   
   Jim Morris dedicated his life to baseball. He played the game basically his whole life, and loved every minute of it. The emotions Morris encounters are of the harshest; from learning he will never play baseball again, to marital problems at home. He shares these sensitive feelings with the reader, letting the reader inside his mind and head, thus making the story feel more personal. When an author expresses personal experiences wit the reader, sometimes the reader can relate with the emotions and problems, and when a reader has gone through them as well, the book gets that much better. Jim Morris is a passionate man who has a love for America's past time, and never will let that love go. Jim Morris loves baseball.




5. The Oldest Rookie

   Joel Engel and Jim Morris really did a wonderful job when they wrote the book The Oldest Rookie. The story was so good in fact that it inspired a movie called The Rookie. Although I thoroughly enjoyed both of them I would have to say that the book was better. There are a number of superior qualities about the book. You know it must be really good to because I almost always like the movie more then the book. The Oldest Rookie is easily one of the 5 best books I've read.
   In the book, you really get inside Jim Morris's head. You can see how he goes from a kid who did nothing except play baseball, to a minor leaguer who had to retire because of arm troubles, to a patient high school teacher, to a major leaguer. In the movie you see him as a kid playing baseball, however in the book he talks about how when he was younger the only toys he would play with were balls and how he was only in kindergarten when the fifth graders let them play in his baseball games because he was so good. Morris explains how the only think he cared about was baseball and he knew he wanted to be a pro ball player all his life. In the movie you are left to either assume that or to not know it at all. One of the most effective parts of the book was when Morris is describing when he went to play in his first major league game. He talks about how the hard journey had been worth it and you can almost feel his happiness as a smile spreads across your face and you turn the page. In the movie there was no way they could capture this moment perfectly. They just had him stand outside of the stadium for a few moments. In the book, you really get to see how Morris's brain works. He explains how he was a perfectionist and that it really hurt his life. They don't even touch this subject in the movie, even though it had drastic effects on his life. Feeling what Jimmy Morris feels really enhances the story.
   The characters in the book are also superior to the characters in the movie. They include pretty much every person who ever had an effect on Jimmy's life, while in the movie they pretty much just focus on him. The other characters really add a lot to the story. For example they didn't even mention that Jimmy had a grandfather, while in the book Jimmy says that his Grandpa was perhaps the biggest influence in his life. It was his grandpa who taught him to work hard and to not feel bad for himself when things didn't go his way. Also, they completely changed his parents. In the movie they make them seem like a normal couple, while in the book Morris explains how they didn't even like each other. They only married each other because Jimmy's mom got pregnant and they eventually got divorced. The movie really messed up on the characters.
   The biggest part where the book has the advantage over the movie is in the story. There were gapping holes in the movie. In the movie they started at page 1 and went to about page 12 and then they went to about page 200, and the book was less then 300 pages long. They skipped the meat of the story, which is when he is in the minors for the first time. If you watched the movie you'd have no idea he had ever really played in the minors before. They left out how he had started playing pro after his first year of junior college and then went on to the grueling minor league system where he would ride in small buses for countless hours and then stay in cheap motels. Then when he finally did pitch he did horrible and right when he started doing good his arm started to hurt. In the movie they mentioned he had received arm surgery but they did not explain how important to him it had been. In the movie they made it seem as if he had gotten arm surgery and then retired when he had really came only to need arm surgery again the next season. He even got one more after that one before he retired. Then his family went through harsh financial times before the movie finally picked up the story again. The movie plot is very flawed.
   The movie tried to do what they do to most inspiring stories, and that is make it feel more like a fairy tail then something that could really happen. They failed to show a lot of the hard work he put in to get where he did. You should really pick up the book The Oldest Rookie , it's a great story and it a speed read!

5 comments about Woodrow Wilson (The American Presidents).

1. Many people ask when they found out that I'm a political scientist: "When has a political scientist ever affected politics?" Frankly, there are quite a few who have done so (think Henry Kissinger, for instance). But, above all, there is Woodrow Wilson. He served as President of the American Political Science Association and wrote a series of works that are still viewed as classics in the study of politics and public administration.
   
   This biography, another of those brief looks at presidents in "The American Presidents" series, does its job well. While I agree with other reviewers that this is such a brief volume that it glosses over much of Wilson's career, the series is what it is. And I think it somewhat unfair to criticize the book for working within the parameters imposed upon it.
   
   That said, this is a capable biography. I think a little more information about his early career, his life as an academic, an academic administrator, and governor may be covered too briefly even for this series. But that is not atypical.
   
   The book does give a sense of his persona--aloofness, stubbornness, rigidity, certitude, erudition, persuasive ability--and how this helped him succeed, but also could lead him to take stands that hurt his cause.
   
   The volume lays out the accomplishments with which he is associated, advancing the progressive agenda, enunciating a political perspective ("The New Freedom"), and the like. It also addresses his foreign policy--from the not terribly successful Mexican adventure to his leadership of the country in World War I to his efforts to transform global governance after the war (note his 14 points and his effort to establish a meaningful "League of Nations").
   
   He ran into political opposition with the League. The book does a nice job--even with its brevity on this score--explaining why he failed and how the effort here plus preexisting medical problems led to his breakdown and the strange last months of his presidency.
   
   There were contradictions with Wilson--his Southern background was associated with racism, even as his ideals led him to assist workers throughout the country with his Progressive policies. If you want a quick introduction to Wilson that nonetheless provides some understanding of his presidency, you could do a lot worse than visiting this volume.



2. H.W. Brands has written ambitious biographies of American historical figures, including a major work on the life of Andrew Jackson. Here, in keeping within the format of the American Presidents Series, Brands has writtten a shorter, but nontheless, insightful work. Wilson might have been a great president but, he was flawed. He was stubborn and uncompromising. Although he suffered a major stroke in his second term, he evidentally had suffered other, less serious strokes over the years. It is difficult to say whether his physical condition led to his unwillingness to yield but, much that could have been accomplished through compromise never came to fruition.
   
   An early sign of Wilson's concreteness appeared during his presidency of Princeton University. There was a dispute as to whether the graduate school should be located on the main campus or at another site. Wilson, a proponent of locating it on campus refused to negotiate a compromise and the project was stalled.
   
   Wilson was a Virginian and his racial attitudes were that of the Jim Crow South. However, being president of Princeton established his credentials as a New Jersey resident and Democratic party leaders put him up for governor of that state. He was elected and he showed remarkable independence as he proposed reforms that disappointed the party leaders and led them to consider him to be an ingrate. Later, when he was elected President of the United States, he continued his reform path in domestic matters.
   
   What defined his presidency was World War I and its aftermath. After the war, Wilson traveled to Europe to negotiate the peace treaty. On a tour of Europe, he was cheered wildly whereever he went. He was a genuine hero. However, in the negotiations England and France sought to impose harsh terms on Germany whereas Wilson sought more leniency. The heart of Wilson's Fourteen points proposal was a League of Nations. This League was included in the treaty and Wilson's next major battle was to get the Senate to ratify it. Here is where Wilson's stubborness did him in. Rather than negotiate with Republicans in the Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, Wilson bypassed them and took his case to the people in a speaking tour. This was not the way to win favor in the Senate.
   
   Wilson's most egregious error, probably compounded by his stroke, was his total unwillingness to yield on one point regarding the League of Nations; i.e. a clause that required members to come to the aid of other members militarily. Republicans in the Senate were concerned that this clause might weaken US sovereignty. They noted that under the Constitution, it was the Senate, not the President who decalred war. Paul Johnson, in his "History of the American People" noted that if one of Great Britain's colonial possessions, such as India, had been attacked, the treaty might require the United states to get involved militarily. Anyway, Wilson refused to allow a reservation which would clarify the United States' understanding of the clause to the satisfaction of Lodge and other concerned Senators. Accordingly, the treaty didn't pass the Senate.
   
   The tragedy of the Wilson presidency is that so much more could have been accomplished. He was a great reformer on domestic issues and was a popular war president. However, his one major flaw kept him from achieving true greatness. Brand does a good job in capturing the essence of Wilson and I recommend this book.



3. You must guard your expectations on a biography (especially of a two term president) that only reads 138 pages. However, I thought that H.W. Brands could add his typical free flowing style and story-telling ability to make a completely satisfying short-read. Unfortuantely, Brands delivers his least inspired performance in telling the story of Wilson. Obviously, the context of the project (a short "taste" on the life of Wilson) curtailed Brands style, which I found to be my biggest disappointment.
   
   As a whole - the life of Wilson is fascinating - a great turning point in the life of "liberals" (While Wilson would certainly not be considered a "liberal" by today's standards). Wilson implemented the 8 hour work day, the FTC, and stiffened anti-trust laws.... not to mention a monstrous epidemnic of the flu... and oh yeah.... World War I. Unfortunately - most of these issues are just briefly touched on (The flu epidemic was not even mentioned).
   
   As a whole - I found this to be a fair brief glimpse into the life of Wilson. However, I would have love to read one of Brand's standard 400 pagers on the life of Wilson.



4. No one can truly understand the issues of the modern era without knowledge of of the man who mid-wifed it into existence, Woodrow Wilson. In his biography of Wilson's presidency, Professor H.W. Brands brings his insightful style and keen sense of relationships between critical events. One learns enough from this rather short book to ask the next set of more interesting questions.

   Absent Wilson, would there have been a central bank, the Federal Reserve, in the U.S.? How did the Wilson presidency effect the direction of the national income tax? What did Wilson do to foster the growth of centralized federal power in the U.S.?

   Absent Wilson's inept diplomacy, would the U.S. have become so involved in World War I, first by funding Britain and France, and then by participating in the combat? Would the Great War have lasted so long and caused so much damage to the fabric of European civilization and colonial influence? Would the world ever have heard of Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini, veterans both of front line combat?

   Absent U.S. participation in the European War, would a pedestrian lawyer, and middling state-level politician named Franklin Delano Roosevelt have found his first federal job as Assistant Secretary of the Navy? Would the U.S. ever have bred such soldiers as Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman, and most of the rest of the list of future political-military leaders of mid-century?

   Absent events put into motion by Wilson, would Russia have broken up and descended into a Bolshevik Revolution? Would the Ottoman Empire have dissolved, to spawn the modern politics of the Middle East? Would the concept of League of Nations/world governance ever have gained the traction it did?

   Had Wilson never been president, would the U.S. and the world have had a far different 20th Century? Or was Wilson just one man in a particular time of great change? Germany and Italy had been building centralized, debt-financed governance for 40 years by the time Wilson walked into the White House. So did Wilson make history, guide history , or was he merely governed by historical forces whose time had come?

   Like it or not, we lived the 20th Century in Wilson's Century, and in the 21st Century we still follow the path he blazed. Wilson's ghost hovers over the plains of the Republic, walks the halls of power in every government building, and touches the lives of every person who draws a breath.




5. H.W. Brands' output over the last five years has been enormous. From huge biographies on Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin to fair-sized books on the California Gold Rush and several major U.S. business figures to a slim volume on Americans' relationship with their federal government, the Texas A&M historian has published at least six books over the last five years that I'm aware of. The four which I've read have had the same qualities: solid scholarship and writing, but nothing flashy or standout about them.

   Brands' biography of Woodrow Wilson fits in this pattern. The book is an easy and enjoyable read. The scholarship is solid (I enjoyed reading the short but striking comments for each of the books mentioned in the "selected bibliography"). Occasionally, Brands is even eloquent as when he describes the effect on Wilson of the death of his first wife.

   Nevertheless, as with every other book of Brands I've read, "Woodrow Wilson" never soars to become a great work. The reason eludes me. Brands seems to have all the gifts to write a memorable history or biography, but his work remains a little too flat and it fades too quickly from the reader's mind. He does not break out of this mold with "Woodrow Wilson".

5 comments about Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business.

1. As you would expect (if you're a fan of her songwriting) Dolly gives you the picture of her life in an honest, straightforward and sometimes amusing manner. Through tales of her own misdeeds and beliefs while growing up in a family that she admits didn't always play well together, she looks at her memories and can see how they shaped her into the performer that she always wanted to be. The little girl who loved to dream, make up her own songs and read everything she could get her hands on did get to be the center of attention as a much-loved entertainer, a shrewd and proficient businesswoman and a ceaseless humanitarian.
   But through it all she remained the caring, considerate person she had been raised to be. The rough little stone truly did prove to be a shining diamond; sparkling, tough as nails and valuable to the fans who love her for the beauty that shines from within. There's no one like Dolly!



2. I guess everyone knows or has seen Dolly Parton perform. She knows how to take a lemon and make lemonade out of life's challenges. I highly recommend the reading of this book.



3. The best thing about Dolly Parton's autobio is 'hearing' her VOICE come through the print. Eternally optimistic and carefully eccentric, there's no doubt Parton has one of the most blithesome star qualities in the biz. And why not - it's her business to be so lovable.
   
   While she hedges (considerably) on her 'indentured servitude' with Porter Waggoner and speaks infrequently about her creative process (writing and recording), when she gets a topic that pleases her - such as her childhood exploits - Parton lets go like one of her coolest numbers. Her humanism seems unbounded.
   
   Since the publication of this book, Parton, confounding all reasonable expectations, returned to the studio with a revitalized muse, producing some of her most credible work (Grass Is Blue, and onward). Hopefully, we shall 'hear' Parton speak of her artistic reinvention in a future volume.



4. I knew Dolly Parton had a good sense of humor but I didn't know it was as far out as it is. Although I've been a fan for a long time, I'm a "lazy" fan and didn't even realize she had an autobiography out there until recently. Just to think I could have been laughing 13 years ago. Duh! If you're feeling down and need a laugh, get this book. Dolly needs her own TV show and if the people who run Hollywood had good sense, she would have had it long ago. Of course, they don't so they would have probably put the wrong writers on it and it would have been cancelled in a week.



5. Dolly had a hard life growing up in the wilds of East Tennessee; she started out poor and indeed did have a 'coat of many colors' as her children's book explained. She wore hand-me-downs in the backwoods of Sevier County where my paternal grandfather's people lived. She's funny. Coming from the country, it took some doing and lots of help to get where she is today. She has re-invented her personality through the years from the young lovesick girl who write 'I Will Always Love You' to Porter Wagoner. After all, she was a young country bumpkin from the Knoxville area, and we inexperienced girls fall hard for the first person we can admire. He gave her the first 'big' break, singing on his show in Nashville.
   
   She had been on local talent shows in Knox County, Cas Walker's for country music. She migrated to Middle Tennessee to sing on the Grand Ole Opry where she met my friend, Hal Durham, who was manager of that fabulous old show on radio, television and live. I once attended at the Ryman and he gave Zachary and me a backstage tour.
   
   In Nashville and in the movies, she had a good life but suffered some setbacks and depression. The two photo secitons show how little Dolly the girl was transformed into Dolly the bombshell blonde. She is the richest person in this area as she owns Dollywood, the major attraction for people from all the states who visit the Great Smoky Mountains and from other countries.
   
   In her 'thanks' section, she included her favorite makeup, Revlon staff, and favorite lingerie shop, Frederick's of Hollywood. She includes Terry Morrow, local entertainment columnist for the News Sentinel daily Knoxville newspaper, and Ligiea Saveanu (whoever she is -- I was going to name my daughter Ligeia). From the Grand Ole Opry performers, she includes Archie Campbell from the famous Civil War area in EAst Tennessee, Bull's Gap, Grant Turner, and Bud Wendell, WSM announcer. Game show hosts were Bob Eubanks and Huell Howser; how could she leave out Wink Martindale and Pat Sajacks, both Tennesseans? For some reason, she included the Knoxville Democrat Party chairman, Jim Gray, Al Gore, Jim Sasser, and Sandra Fulton (wife of Dick Fulton of Nashville). Movie stars included Kevin Costner, Jane Fonda, and Delta Burke, while singers were Mac Davis, Billy Ray Syrus, Whitney Houtston and Reba McEntire. She has Johnny Carson, Eddie Hill, and many many others -- too many to mention.
   
   Like most successful people, she has humility when it comes to feeling indebted to others for her success. She showed he CBS anchor a thing or two when he enterviewed her ans commented on her most obvious attraction. She has talent galore, and I wish Dolly could live forever. She will in the figure on Sevier County Courthouse Lawn, as a young country girl. Dolly is everything to everybody.

No comments about Against All Odds: My Story.

5 comments about Alex Haley's Queen.

1. Ethnic novels really are not my thing. But this one had me interested after seeing pictures in a book on the civil war titled 'Slave Children of New Orleans' featuring mostly mixed race children of near caucasion appearence I became curious about them. Having read a great deal of the civil war there really isn't that much. So when I found this book I quickly took to reading it.
   
   The main character is what is called 'A child of the plantation', the offspring of a slave owner and a slave woman the product not of love but of exploitation who are so casually discarded as to be a disgrace. In the beginning, she is very naive and optimistic. Regrettably, life doesn't treat her that well.
   
   An interesting story. Admittedly I would have done things different but since this one is based on fact I can't rightly complain. I liked reading about the main character and how she was treated by all parties. Certainly I do not like that she was mistreated by many. Her ability to move among white circles was interesting only when her heritage is revealed do things get bad which disgusts me.
   
   Overall, I take people at face value and wish everyone else would do the same. People should be judged by their behavior rather than by pseudo scientific nonsence.



2. This is one of the best books I've read in my life. Alex Haley was such a skilled writer. "Queen" deals with many harsh facts of the antebellum South without becoming vulgar. It is also an inspiring tale of an American family.
   
   One of my complaint with "Queen" is the blatant misuse and fabrication of facts by David Stephens, who finished Alex Haley's posthumus masterpiece. The writing of Mr. Stephens also doesn't measure up to that of Haley. While it is a great book as it stands, I wish I could see what this book would be if Haley had been alive to complete it.



3. This book is a travesty. The guy who wrote it isn't even American. He plays fast and loose with historical facts. The potato famine is in the wrong century. Napoleon invades Ireland before he even rose to power. There are at least two chapters that are totallly irrelevant. Why does he feel the need to give us a history lesson on Andrew Jackson and the Indian removal? Does he think the Indian removal and slavery are the same issue?
   On the other hand, the parts written by Alex Haley are exceptional. It is very easy to pick out which parts Alex Haley wrote. They are well-written and historically based. It is just such a shame that Mr. Stevens was allowed to add to Alex's work. Mr. Stevens cannot not write anything but cheap, historical romance. He should be writing for Harlequin, instead of, ruining the work of a great American writer.



4. Alex Haley & Dave Stevens' QUEEN is a rare gem---the story of an american family that touches many lives. Queen is the main focus of the book but her story spans past & future generations from Ireland to America. Some of the characters are tragic but all have hope for a better tomorrow. The heartbreak of Easter's love for her "master", Queen being taught to read by her grandpa and the Haley family's quest to get a better education for their youngest son are just some of the heartbreaking stories in this novel. I enjoyed the book very much and I now hope to finally read ROOTS.



5. I just finished reading this book, this morning. And, I read "Roots," 2 weeks ago. In both of these books, I was able to vicariously be there, and emotionally travel with each person in these stories.
   
   And it gave me a sense of peace that I had not had before about being African-American. It helped me to come up with the most empowering responses to not only suttle racism from Euro-Americans, but also suttle responses to African-Americans who seem to be bound by expecting to just get by (who also believe that empowered African-Americans somehow owe them endless worthiness).
   
   To me, even though this book is titled "Queen," it has many stories: politics; narcissism; racism; boys growing into manhood; belonging; the price of not having someone to verbalize your pains to; and, how whites turned their outrage over their motherland into what drove them to do the same to blacks, in this country.
   
   During the entire time that I was reading these 2 books, as I conducted my day to day responsibilities, I felt like I had a secret weapon against being held back. And I saw things that I might not have seen before in what I could do to turn suttle racism into my opportunity to expect mutual respect between myself and my interlocutor.
   
   I recommend this book, and "Roots" to any who is looking for a means to grow beyond your wildest expectations. You will cry with these stories, laugh, and feel every possible emotion, knowing that you are breathing new life into your life.

5 comments about My Forbidden Face: GROWING UP UNDER THE TALIBAN: A YOUNG WOMAN'S STORY.

1. This is a great little book which gives a personal, moving account of the years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. I'd recommend it to anyone with a desire to know more about that part of the world.



2. Home became prison for women when the Taliban arrived. And I don't think Taliban rule was a picnic for most men either. "Latifah" did a great job of describing the deep depression of women whose lives suddenly became worth nothing with no hope and no dreams allowed.
   
   This book was mentioned in a reader review of the book "A Thousand Splendid Suns". A reviewer implied that that the author plagiarized "Latifah's" book. I was curious so I bought "My Forbidden Face". I see no signs of any plagiarism at all. Can't imagine what the reviewer was thinking.
   
   Another reviewer of "My Forbidden Face" wanted to know the reasoning behind the Taliban rules so that she could understand better. The Taliban wanted to demoralize and subjugate the people for complete control. That was the reason behind every crazy pronouncement.
   
   I have to agree that the editing was poor and the timelines confusing. I had to re-read some portions of the book because I thought I missed segments. Turns out I didn't miss anything--what I was looking for wasn't there.
   
   Definitely worth reading for the young woman's account of what life was like in Afghanistan during that time period. Scary and heartbreaking.



3. I was eager to read this book because I wanted to learn about women's experiences in Afganistan at the hands of the Taliban. The title, "My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban, etc", indicated to me that this would be a personal, information-packed book on the subject. But as others have already said, the book was quite sketchy regarding the information it supposedly covered. Most of the Taliban decrees that Fatima listed were shocking to me, a western woman, and I wanted to understand her plight in greater detail. But instead I ended up with more questions than answers. Why was whistling forbidden (including ridiculously, even teakettles)? Why were photographs and paintings forbidden? Why were no books except the Quran allowed (that one would kill me for sure!)? What did she and her sisters do to pass the time living basically under house arrest for 3 years (besides lay on their bed, and listen clandestinely to the BBC in the evenings)? When she taught school, what did she teach and how did she teach it? How did the children respond? I would have loved to get a more personal account of her situation than I can get reading news stories. How does the Taliban's version of Islamic rule differ from non-Taliban rule? Why would the Taliban want to get rid of women, as she stated? These questions perplex me. I want to know the truth, I want to understand more.
   
   When she said the United States' policies in the Middle East were mistakes and mishandled, I would like to know specifically what she was referring to. I don't doubt for a minute that the U.S. has bungled things in that region, probably on a grand scale, but I truly wanted to know what she thought first hand. Instead I think maybe she was superficially stating other people's views that she may not have been old enough to process yet.
   
   As a non-Muslim American woman, Fatima's life and religion could not have been more opposite to mine than if she lived on another planet. Maybe Fatima will write another book after she has matured a bit so that she will add a more thorough account of her experiences to help those of us living in a far different world to understand the clash between our two cultures. Because I do believe that with knowledge and understanding of the other side, a way can come to get through this mess.



4. This book jumps around a lot. The author could have used a better editor. Since this book deals with a lot of historical aspects of growing up in Afghanistan, a linear format would have worked better than the back and forth the author uses. One day her brother's fighting the Soviets. Then he's married in another country, then he's fighting the Soviets. You get the idea. It's a little hard to keep track of who's doing what.
   
   As to the descriptions of the author's life, however, it was pretty good, but I don't feel she adequately captured the horrors of what was going on, at least not compared to other books I've read on the subject. More detail and expansion would have been good.
   
   However, the book was very good, especially from one so young. I do recommend it.



5. My Forbidden Face : Growing Up Under the Taliban - A Young Woman's Story, is a firsthand account of a young girl under the Taliban. The Book begins as 16 year old Latifa, and ends when she is twenty one. I thought this book was very well written, and very enjoyable. I thought the book was kind of fluffy, meaning that, though it gave us information about the Taliban, and what it was like living under it, it was still not giving us a lot of detail. Sure, she talks about the rights they took away from women, and the depression it caused her and millions other women in the country, but I think she could have been a bit more focused on her life before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, as it is a biography.
   
   I do recommend this book to people who are interested in Human Rights, women in the Middle East, but I think that people who have read other books about Women's rights issues wouldn't like this book as much as someone who has just begun to take an interest in the subjects.
   
   I highy recommend The Princess Series, by Jean Sasson, and Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks.

5 comments about In the Arena a Memoir of Victory Defeat and Renewal.

1. Why is it pleasurable to read this book ? Because you have the impression of sitting with former President Nixon having him telling you his experience as a politician, truly revealing, with simple but skilled language, anedoctes of his life and his mind about a lot of topics.
   I really enjoyed having this presidential chat with President Nixon and every once in a while I will surely have some other ones by reading some passages of " In the Arena", a memoir narrated not in chronological order, but according to certain matters he deals with.



2. This books tells you very interesting things about Politics and Life in general. Definitely, Richard Nixon was a very intelligent man.
   
   Something I find fascinating and mysterious is that the most intelligent President of USA has been the only one to be dismissed, the one who obtained one of the most landslide victory of USA's electoral history (1972) and the one who had more enemies in the Press.



3. An autobiographical account is always a dicey proposition, and in order to succeed, the author requires a certain amount of objectivity, as well as superior writing skills. Unfortunately, this displays neither.
   
   I'm not here to bash Nixon politically, but I do have to say that the book comes off as extremely self-serving. Nixon's account of Nixon's life just doesn't come off as honest. I think that when he wrote it, he was still too entrenched in a persona that needed to take public opinion into account. The result is a lot of treacly, ponderous prose that comes off like the presidential equivalent of a Hallmark television special.
   
   The one saving grace of the book is that it gives us many little anecdotes that demonstrate the minutiae of the daily life of a President of the United States, and that is indeed interesting. But other than that, there's no reason to pick this up.



4. First of all, I began this book after reading his "No More Viet Nams" which was top notch. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed with "In The Arena". Nixon covers much about his life in politics and gives us his personal views on life, his wife, family, friends, television, books, and so on. Reading this book was much like listening to your favorite, wise, ol' grandad talking about his life and what he experienced. IF you are not interested in that, don't read this book. You'll be disappointed. Personally, I was more interested in his pointed comments about politics, foreign policies, political leaders, war, and so on but there wasn't enough of that.



5. Since the former president granted my request and sent me a personal autographed copy absolutely free I am biased about this book. I think it is well-written, insightful, personal, and philosophical all in one package. His approach to life was essentially life it to the hilt, have something to show for your existence, hence the title. He was not hesitant to enter "the arena." In fact, his life was lived in the arena. President Nixon was both a thinker and doer.

   While he lived adventurously on two levels, the mental and physical, he was somewhat neglectful of the spiritual arena. He talks about his Christian parents, especially his mother, but he doesn't address spiritual matters in his personal life in any great detail. I know he was on friendly terms with both Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale. I'm sure they had some Christian influence on him.

   In this book, the president looks back on life as an elder statesman. Some of the advice he gives is pertinent to any arena. When he talks about living with a purpose that transcends self, the focus is beyond political. He devotes time to the human condition, overcoming personal challenges, victories, defeats, and renewals. This is a well-thought out book. Any open minded reader would be stimulated by it.

5 comments about Young Stalin.

1. This is great action/adventure in the same vain as Georg Lucas's Young Indiana Jones series. Follow the exploits and exciting adventures of a young Joseph Stalin as he travels the world with a cadre of friends, including an wacky funny version of 12-year old Leon Trotsky...and in regards to that, you will perhaps laugh uneasily at the forshadowing when the 14 year old Stalin jokes to his 12-year old pal: "if you keep making those bad jokes, I am going to have you killed!" I especially enjoyed the love interest of the young Stalin, 13-year old Ameila Earhart, who takes Stalin barnstorming as they steal one of the Wright Brother's early planes. This novel is suitable for the whole family, and I think it is only a matter of time before Disney or one of the studies pick this up and makes a family movie out of it!



2. I'm probably in agreement with most in saying this is one of the most entertaining reads about such a dreadful subject as "Soso". As with Potemkin's biography, Mr. Montefiore's ability to unearth biographical details gives life to the characters. I'll mention just a few juicy anecdotes about the book (in no particular order): the author manages to interview an old man aged 109 at the time who 100 years earlier had seen Soso bereave his first bride, Kato; he reveals that the Okhrana was foresightfully worried that airplanes, back then, could be used for suicide attacks on the seat of government; he walks us through the various fathers Stalin could have had; and he takes us to Soso's last, longest and harshest Siberian exile beyond the arctic circle.



3. 
   First of all this is probably the best non-fiction book I've read in recent memory. Montefiore's portrait of a young criminal virtuoso measures up favourably to some of the best biographies ever written, works like Sylvia Nasar's 'A Beautiful Mind' and Martin Gilbert's 'Churchill', .
   
   The style of writing is unique in that it is both direct and elegant, a combination of clipped factual biography and sensational prose that succeeds in turning a historical document into a novel that puts your modern day bestselling thriller to shame (I'm looking at you Da Vinci Code). Stalin's days growing up in a provincial Georgian town, from the traditional yearly town brawls, to being a choirboy in the church, to fomenting anarchy in the seminary after his discovery of Marxism (Stalin probably wouldn't have made a great priest anyway), the author's diligently researched work gives the reader an often hilarious portrait of a surprisingly likeable young Georgian who, with some luck and charisma, just happened to become one of the most callous and paranoid autocrats in the history of the Russian empire.
   
   I thought it unfortunate that the author didn't really expand upon the particular brand of Marxism that Stalin espoused. Although to be fair he does remark that Stalin could quote and paraphrase Marx effectively enough to convince anyone of the cogency of his arguments, which is probably more revealing than any ideological claims. Like most fanatics, he expropriated the facts that suited him. In any case the book is about the Stalin, and not the revolution or Marxism.
   
   Another difficulty that people might encounter is the deluge of Georgian and Russian names that flit in and out of Stalin's life. Spandarian, Shaumian, Egnatashvili, Davrichewy, Alliluyeva, Svanidze, Mukhtarov, Sverdlov, Lunarcharsky, Dybenko, Kamenev...keeping track of everyone is like being Kirstie Alley's nutritionist, the shear quantitiy and variety is overwhelming. Sometimes people show up just so they can get killed a few pages later, but I suppose we can blame Stalin for that and not Sebag-Montefiore. In any case the author is adept at separating the important figures from more minor actors, without wasting much space on repetition or lengthy digressions.
   
   A few minor editing mistakes and the aforementioned quibbles however, do not detract from the fact that this is a first rate work of scholarship and writing. Easy five stars.



4. Even with today's conveniences of travel, it would take an extraordinary person simply to get around all the transit points and destinations in Stalin's young life. And as to personal networking skills, he seemed both to command the underground while using little effort to find support casually walking on the street.
   
   The writing and historical story-telling by the author were outstanding. While having read and viewed quite a bit on this epoch in history, I never previously got the significance of Stalin throughout the entire revolutionary ordeal. Presently, with this book's influence, I pivot from from viewing him as a crude power grabber in the later phases as we are inclined to think based on past western accounts. There was a great deal more depth to the character and story, as this historian reveals.
   
   This is a monumental contribution to straightening out modern history. It clarifies a great deal.



5. It is well known that Trotsky for a long time fatally underestimated Stalin, whom he thought colourless and plodding. The flamboyant Trotsky was for years more famous than the laconic provincial from Georgia, but if he had familiarized himself with Stalin's early career, he would have realized, as Lenin did, that Stalin was ruthless and efficient. This book documents Stalin's early career in great detail. It shows the charisma, leadership qualities, toughness and ambition that he had displayed from his schooldays onwards; how he was hardened by the brutality of his drunken father and by the violent nature of Georgian society; what a genius he had for organizing strikes, the burning of oil refineries, murderous bank raids and piracy, protection rackets and kidnappings, while himself not taking a direct part. Sebag Montefiore says that Stalin's involvement in some of these crimes has never been conclusively proved; but he has little doubt that they all bore his stamp. Stalin frequently used disguises and aliases, and several times escaped from prison or from exile.
   
   The frequent inefficiencies of the Okhrana and the Tsarist police emerge strongly in this account; but it was not always inefficiency: Stalin had many informers inside the security forces, just as they had many informers inside all revolutionary parties - so much so that some have suspected Stalin himself of at times having been a Tsarist agent, which Sebag Montefiore does not believe. But Stalin did have many people murdered whom he suspected of being agents for the security forces, sometimes perhaps because real agents planted such suspicions in his mind. The worst traitor was Roman Malinovsky, a man whom Stalin trusted implicitly, but who was instrumental in getting him sent to the worst of his exiles in 1913 and then betrayed Stalin's attempts to escape from there also. Malinovsky's treachery was exposed in 1914. Sebag Montefiore says that Stalin's future suspicions of even his closest comrades was rooted in this experience.
   
   The book is a prequel of the author's The Court of the Red Tsar, and, as in that book, Sebag Montefiore pays little attention to ideology. He consistently calls Stalin's followers gangsters, and some of them indeed were no more than that: Stalin certainly made use of the criminal underworld. But he himself and many of his followers (women as well as men) were more than simply gangsters. Of course they believed - as do the followers of Bin Laden today - that the ends justify the most brutal and ruthless means; but the ends were ideological. Stalin fought for Bolshevism when among the Georgian (Marxist) Social Democrats, the Mensheviks were in a majority; he was prepared to challenge (successfully) even his hero Lenin when Lenin thought the Bolsheviks should take part in the elections after the 1905 Revolution. He was not interested in personal enrichment, and the bulk of the proceeds of the bank-raids he organized went to Lenin or to the Bolshevik cause in the Caucasus, keeping back only a little to celebrate each successful heist in a wild party.
   
   We see Stalin becoming the leading Bolshevik inside Russia while Lenin was abroad: he joined the Bolshevik Central Committee in 1912 with special responsibility for Bolshevik policy on nationalities; he edited Pravda (where he sometimes took a different line from Lenin's and indeed turned down forty-seven of articles Lenin sent in!) But then he was sent into exile, and the description of his four years (1913 to 1917) near the Arctic Circle is one of the most graphic parts of the book. In October 1916, with the war going badly, the exiles were conscripted. Before they had left Siberia, the Tsar had fallen, and the Kerensky's government ordered their release, March 1917, and Stalin returned to Petrograd.
   
   Claiming seniority, he resumed the editorship of Pravda and was the most dominant Bolshevik until Lenin arrived in Russia three weeks later; then he aligned himself with Lenin's determination to fight the Provisional Government. In July, afer a failed Bolshevik uprising, Kerensky's government struck at the Bolsheviks. Trotsky, Kamenev and other leaders were imprisoned; Lenin and Zinoviev went into hiding. Stalin, for some reason left at liberty, was once again briefly in charge. In September the imprisoned leaders were released when Kerensky needed their help against General Kornilov; and then began the struggle inside the Bolshevik Party between Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin on the one hand who now wanted an immediate uprising, and `the Waverers', Kamenev and Zinoviev on the other who thought it too dangerous. But Lenin had his way, and the Bolsheviks seized power. Sebag Montefiore enjoys himself describing some of the farcical elements of the take-over: `the reality of October was more farce than glory. Tragically, the real Revolution, pitiless and bloody, started the moment this comedy ended.'
   
   

5 comments about The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family.

1. I also enjoyed this book as much as A Child Called "IT". This also made me cry as much as as the first one. I could not put it down as well.



2. This book among others written by Dave have left me riveted. I can't put them down. All I see is a man who has overcome the circumstances placed before him. He is such an inspiration, I only wish more people would read his books and make something out of their lives, instead of playing the victim (which is much easier to do)



3. The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family by Dave Pelzer is a sequel to the heartbreaking memoir, A Child Called "It". Pelzer explains what happened after he was taken away by his abusive mother and neglectful father. This book is really uplifting and moving. I highly recommend this fascinating story and his quest to find a foster family who will love him unconditionally. Enjoy!



4. This book helped open my eyes to what children go through in Foster Care. It helped me to relize that you can't judge a book by its cover. That the struggle for acceptance,love acknowledgement or to be recognized can consume & overwhelm a child...to even the point of doing something you know in you heart is wrong. This book makes me want to work hard, so I can buy a big house, Just so I can provide enough love and support and room for not only my three children, but for those children in need of a place to call home & to know that they have someone who care about them.



5. This is a story about a young boy who gets abused and treated unfairly. He doesn't have any clothes besides the ones he caries in a brown paper bag. He runs away from the world he hates. He has no home to go to, then he finds hope. To find out more information about this book find it and venture into it.
   
   In my opinion this book was excellent and amazing.Why? Because it made me cry on the first page, some parts I felt like going in the book, because the suspense never ends. I would recommend it to those who love to read soppy, exciting books that are true.