5 comments about Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail.

1. This story definitely will keep you reading on and on into the night. I was turning the pages trying to find out what would happen in the end.
   The first of the book is bittersweet, but has many moments of joy. The second half, however, is a terrible account of incarceration in some of the worst conditions possible.
   I really liked this book because the story telling kept my interest. The main character of the novel is my only complaint. I know this is her story, but sometimes she seemed like she was telling a story of how she saved her family almost totally by herself. This part seemed a bit contrived since there was eight of them in jail. I think another reviewer said they would have liked to hear more about the siblings and their contributions. I think this is what I might have wanted as well, but seeing this was Malika's telling of the story, I assume she was answering for herself and what she was thinking.
   Aside from the fact, I found the story very Malika centered at times although there were eight in jail, I can definitely recommend it.



2. I read this books some years ago and still can't get it out of my head because of how incredible the real life events were. For a Westerner, the tale is imazing. As a woman, I was dumb-founded by the sentence given to an entire family by the Moroccan Royalty for a crime that none of them committed. The book really opened my eyes about the differences between democratic societies and those ruled by royalty dictators. This is a book I always recommends to others to read.



3. This book was just amazing. The story she tells keeps you on the edge of your seat. Truly spine tingling. It's a book that provokes alot of soul-searching.What's life really about? How do people survive such things as those described in this book? A good book.



4. I thoroughly enjoyed Stolen Lives. The ordeal Malika Oufkir and her family suffered is astonishing. It really pained me to read through her true accounts of riches to less-than-rags. The Oufkirs were fortunate and strong to have survived through it all.
   
   I felt that the writing was fine. Even if it was not, the story was so powerful, I would have enjoyed it anyway. There are many books out there that are fluffy, shallow, and very well written. I prefer to read works that are deep, educational, and so powerful that they leave a lasting impression - like this book!



5. Incredible story. I just recently returned from Morocco, and while there wondered how many such prisoners are still lingering in the country's prisons. The people of Morocco and kind and friendly, as a whole friendlier than in most countries I have visited. Not once did I hear an unkind word or saw a grumpy face on people I encountered. Absolutely lovely. With that in mind, in the story of her 20 years of imprisonment and the subsequent "Freedom" describing the return to life outside a prison system, the kindness and forgiveness she expresses are much easier to understand.

1 comments about For All of Her Life.

1. I didn't like it. The murder mystery was okay, but not that great. I figured out who it was & why they did it long before the story ended. It really didn't seem worth it.

   The mystery was overshadowed by the main characters' relationship. That wouldn't have been a problem, but my main objection to the book IS the relationship between the exes: Jordan and Kathryn.

   The gist is: Kathryn seems to be pining after her ex-husband, but the ex-husband has no problem having sex with his present girlfriend and trying to have an affair with his ex-wife at the same time. Jordan lacks depth, morals, character, conscience, etc - all the things that would make a man attractive to a woman - unless, of course, she was only after casual sex. He is described as having a great body, but, in my opinion, it would take a brainless woman to want him for the long haul. Kathryn seems to be making all the compromises and doing all the giving - Jordan's a waste of time and space. There's macho and then there's worthless, obnoxious pigs - Jordan fits into the pig catagory. Kathryn is just a plain idiot.

   If this is representative of today's relationships, and authors have come to believe that this is what women want to read - then Heaven help us. This is a shallow man's fantasy. I prefer to read a story where there's at least the illusion of a caring relationship and the man treats the woman with RESPECT! and she demands it instead of rolling over and being a desperate-to-have-a-man doormat! I was so disappointed in this book that I haven't read a Heather Graham Pozzessere book since.

5 comments about Anybody Can Do Anything.

1. we get the story of what she and the children did with themselves.
   
   Her father had been a mining engineer, and although he died fairly young he had been able to save quite a bit; her mother had come from a 'good' East Coast family--not REALLY rich, but apparently quite well off. Betty and her siblings had grown up in large houses with music and dance lessons. However, the Great Depression reduced the family's portfolio to wastepaper. The children had never been taught to actually *do* anything, and actually going out to work for a living was something that they (especially the daughters) had never thought that they would have to do.
   
   The story of how they scrambled to make ends meet during the 1930s would have been grim, but the Bard family despises self-pity above all other faults, and Betty is able to find humor in any situation.
   
   After women having to work to survive during the 1930s, and having to work in the 1940s when all the men were off to war, is it any wonder that the women of this generation and their daughters wanted to retreat into domesticity during the 1950s?



2. This book is hard to find, so if you get the chance, snap it up!
   This is a hilarious account of the author's life post-"Egg & I."
   Betty moves from the chicken ranch back to her family's home in Seattle.
   Sister Mary, undaunted by the fact that Betty has no experience, eagerly launches Betty's business career and social life.
   The mishaps that ensue are absolutely hilarious.
   Skillfully written, this book makes the Depression a laugh riot.
   BUY IT!
   I only wish that Betty had written more books.



3. My husband is one of Betty's nephews.All of the sisters had an incredible wit about them - probably because of their mother Sidney Bard. She did a wonderful job raising her children with out her beloved husband Darcy. It's too bad the children and grandchildren didn't learn lessons from Betty's books. She would be sad to see the way the family turned out.



4. It's just so heartening to know that others love Betty MacDonald's books as much as I do. I've been giving Anybody Can Do Anything as my female gift book of this year.



5. I discovered Betty MacDonald when I was about twelve years old, after checking The Egg and I out of the Carmichael Branch library here in Sacramento, about 22 years after it was first published. My parents had mentioned that the egg ranch Betty lived on with her first husband in the 1920s, which she writes about in The Egg and I, was located some miles from the place where we lived in Washington state, in the late 1950s. Furthermore, they had actually taken a day trip with friends to look at the old place, sometime after the book and the movie of the same name came out in the 1940s.

   This familial connection, however faint, to an old, famous book and the movies it inspired, piqued my childish mind, and I eagerly started reading about life on a chicken ranch on the Olympic Penninsula. I fell in love with Betty's easy, friendly, hysterically funny, down-to-earth yet somehow elegant prose, and immediately checked out her other autobiographical books: The Plague and I, Anybody Can Do Anything, and Onions In The Stew.

   In all of her autobiographical books save Onions In The Stew, Betty uses the first chapter to presage her theme by describing her experiences as a child in a large, boisterous family, in loving and extremely funny detail. In Anybody Can Do Anything, Betty describes life with her family and her two young daughters, Anne and Joan, in Seattle after she has left her husband and the egg ranch behind. The Depression is on, and Betty, now a single mother, struggles with her large and interesting clan to make ends meet, somehow finding a lot of laughs and funny adventures, often with her exuberant sister Mary, the inspiration for the book, along the way. Anyone who is interested in what life was like in Seattle in the 1930s, in witty character descriptions, and in a personal glimpse of how families coped with the "Great Depression", will find this book fascinating, not to mention frequently hilarious.

   Betty, I miss you and the way you used to make me laugh out loud--I was sad when I finished reading Onions In The Stew for the first time and then realized it was the last autobiographical book you wrote: the tuberculosis finally caught up with you in 1958, when I was only four years old, still living in Washington, not far from your home on Vashon Island. I re-read your books many times as I grew up, even visited Vashon Island, and often wished I could have met you and your family. It's silly, but I've always felt a sense of loss at never having known you, because I am sure you must have been a marvelous friend. Your sense of humor had a profound effect on me, and inspired me in my earliest writing attempts. It's been many years since I've read your books, but I've never forgotten your irrepressible, bona-fide funniness. Wherever you are, thank you!

5 comments about Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House--1911 to 1980.

1. I passed this book by many times before finally breaking down and buying it. Somehow, its title and dust cover just didn't grab me. Besides that, having already read several biographies of the Reagans and the Reagan family members, I was fairly well convinced that the book couldn't possibly contain much of anything new. Even after buying it, I still wasn't much inclined to read it. What finally convinced me to do so was when I read in the prologue that Colacello was a personal friend of Nancy Reagan and that Nancy had arranged for him to have unprecedented access to her personal files and to virtually all of the Reagan's living friends and associates and/or their children. How could I resist? This had to be a spectacular source of inside information. And it was!
   
   The early part of the book traces the lives of Nancy Davis and Ronald Reagan in parallel chapters. This section is interesting primarily for the light it sheds on Nancy's early life; her relationships with her mother, Edith Davis, and her adoptive father, Dr. Loyal Davis; and for the in-depth background provided concerning both Edith and Loyal.
   
   The book really takes off, however, in the mid-sections where it deals in depth with Reagan's and Nancy's film careers; Reagan's military service; his marriage to and divorce from Jane Wyman; his actions while president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), particularly in combating the Communist attempt to take over Hollywood's film industry; his, and other's, testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) - who was who and what was what; the members of "The Group" who induced Reagan into politics and the subsequent "Kitchen Cabinet" members (mostly wealthy, conservative, high-powered friends of Nancy or Edith) who guided, supported, and, it might be said with some degree of truth, made Reagan Governor of California and President of the United States; Reagan's abortive run for president in 1968; and the rationale for his run in 1976. From that point on, the book is hard to put down.
   
   In summary, this book contains inside information which can't be found anywhere else, making it a vital historical document. The information doesn't always reflect well on Ronald Reagan or Nancy, but it dispels a lot of myths and misinformation, and certainly provides a great deal of insight into what it takes for even a great leader, such as Ronald Reagan, to become President of the United States.
   
   The book certainly rates five stars for content. It loses something for readability, however, due largely to its repetitious descriptions of parties and dinners, including: who was invited; what foods and wines were served; what gowns the women wore and who made them; who were the women's hair stylists and what were their hair styles; etc. But that was a small price to pay. I give it four stars.



2. Some friends of ours in Australia started to read this on an Asian cruise last Fall and asked us to bring them a copy when we visited Cairns in August.
   
   They loved it and so did we, when we got to look at it prior to giving it to them.



3. As a Reagan supporter, I really wanted to love the Reagans and to see Nancy Reagan's reputation vindicated. Nancy, in her elder years, is very admirable. It is a bit creepy to read that Ronnie always called her Mommie, but no one can deny their mutual love. Bob Colacello is quite thorough in his research,fair and honest - no whitewashing here...the endless sniping and self-aggrandizement of Nancy's pals, like Betsey Bloomingdale et al? These women were all intimate friends, but were clawing at each other for primacy in the Reagan inner circle. Bloomingdale brags about her caviar parties and hobnobbing with the Paris set of sophisticates, but gets caught evading customs duties for lying about how much she paid for a new couture outfit in France. The other graceless, snobby chums of Nancy also seem like the idle, witless, rich that P. G. Wodehouse skewered in his books. The Kitchen Cabinet husbands are scary and only a tad less obnoxious. The book makes one feel queasy; Ronnie and Nancy seem bought and paid for by their cronies. Nancy herself comes off as self-deceiving and controlling - a shallow and manipulative social climber who rewrote her personal history;possibly she is portrayed as second only to Joan Crawford as Mommie Dearest. Ron takes up ballet as an adult. Patti has herself sterilized at 24 because she's afraid she'll be like her mother??!
   
   The book proves what most of us assume - being well-connected helps a lot with success and acts as a powerful "deodorant". Colacello is due to write a second volume on the Reagans. I will read it for the writing, the history and my belief in redemption.



4. Colacello deconstructs the Reagans like no other author has. He starts with the premise that their personal and social lives were inseparable from their political ambitions, and an essential factor in Ronald Reagan's rise to power. He goes on to explore how the couple's social milieu and interpersonal relationships influenced Reagan's political ideas and governing style.
   
   A fascinating portrait of Nancy emerges as well: Colacello sees her as supremely focused and determined to advance her husband's political career, but motivated by pure adoration of Ronnie rather than any overriding desire for control and power.
   
   The writing flows easily and is peppered with enough interesting anecdotes and revealing quotes to make the reader forget at times that this is, in fact, a serious political biography. A great read from cover to cover.



5. The perfect mix of gossip and history. Meticulously researched and carefully observed. You won't be able to put it down.

5 comments about Brinkley's Beat: People, Places, and Events That Shaped My Time (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. One is almost tempted to use an old Walter Cronkite line in reviewing this work..."And That's The Way It Was..."
   
   Because that what David Brinkley does in this, his last work, take us back to his time, our time, and tell us about the people, places and events that became what we now call "our time."
   
   Extremely will written. One almost feels as if he's sitting in the den with Brinkley listening to him as he tells the story.
   
   And, if you have read this far, isn't it interesting that everyone who has reviewed this book as given it a four-star rating. Don't know that I've seen that before. It is a good book and deserving of at leat that rating, perhaps higher.



2. This book contains a hundred wonderful anecdotes from the life of a man in the middle of things for four decades. They don't make journalists like David Brinkley any longer.



3. David Brinkley's final work is a brief but often amusing accounts of "persons, places, and events" covered in his long career--a literary post-dinner liquour to be sipped and savored for the moment and the memories. Brinkley is at his best when he recalls his meetings with Washington types, from reporters to presidents, in brief summations. It was fun to once again, for those of us long in tooth, recall the antics of Martin Dies, the racist Theodore Bilbo, the amusing bloviator from the Illinois prairies, Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, the solemn hat-wearing reporter, Mae Craig, and other worthies that Brinkley chooses to comment on. Brinkley also shares his views on presidents he knew and interviewed. There is nothing particularly notable here, but little asides as, for example, his apology to President Clinton after Brinkley's late night put-down of Clinton's long-windedness during the 1996 convention are of interest.
   
   Some of the tales that Brinkley tells are little known, or forgotten, as for example his treks into the hinterland of America, early TV travel documentaries, that he helped pioneer. All of these mini-essays and remembrancs make for a nice bedside book, to be picked up and savored before the sandman arrives. As usual, the writing is clear and unpretensious and his acerbic and sometimes jaundiced view of Life in Washington greatly appreciated, particularly by those who have lived here during many of the events written about.



4. This book is not a memoir in the traditional sense, or even directly about Brinkley. Instead, Brinkley has composed a collection of essays recounting, as mentioned in the subtitle, the people, places and events that have captured his interest during his career as a television journalist. These compositions provide glimpses into the past sixty years, and are both observant and humorous. Brinkley helps shed some light on the second half of the twentieth century, and in doing so, also provides us a glimpse into his own personality. Through his insights and reactions, we can just begin to get a glimmer of the man behind the familiar face.



5. Legendary newsman David Brinkley's final book lacks the narrative sweep of his autobiography or of "Washington Goes To War," his highly recommended history of the District of Columbia's growth during World War II. But "Brinkley's Beat," published shortly after its author's death in June 2003, retains the trademark of his six-decade news career: a walk along the fine line between wry humor and casual, near folksy storytelling, all told with an insider's sense of detail.
   
   It's basically Brinkley clearing out his lengthy, valuable notebook, remembering people he knew and sharing a few pages at a time about them. In chapters no more than a few pages each he recalls infamous icons like Senator Joe McCarthy (with some personal remembrances of Brinkey's sister, who worked for McCarthy), FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, and Teamsters Union boss Jimmy Hoffa. He also shares his views on presidents from Clinton to John Kennedy. Brinkley candidly assesses each man's career and their enduring popularity and legacy.
   
   Along the way he speaks of personal disdain over Johnson's allegedly wiretapping his phone during the Vietnam war, shares a moving account of the days following Robert Kennedy's 1968 assassination, and even chastises himself for publically criticizing Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election victory speech. (It would be Brinkley's final covered campaign even as another chapter addresses the 24 political conventions he reported at and how television changed the conventions' intent and approach.)
   
   But "Brinkley's Beat" shares its spotlight with smaller, more intimate reminiscences. He writes brief histories of a rogue's gallery of forgotten political figures including bigoted Washington mayor Theodore Bilbo, Roosevelt-era reporter May Craig and long-winded Senator Everett "Wizard of Ooze" Dirksen, describing their foibles with touches of quaint sentiment mixed in with the deserved ridicule.
   
   Brinkey extends his personality studies to places he visited during a series of travelogues he hosted in the 1960s. He writes of Vienna trying to reclaim a past of classical music and rich food, and of Florida beaches and hotels beginning their decades-long, pre-Disney reputation as tacky playgrounds. Brinkley also shares a personal portrait of Normandy at D-day in 1944 and at its 50th anniversary, keeping his wry humor while praising those who fought there and citing the horrid conditions they endured.
   
   Many see NBC's Tom Brokaw and, soon, CBS's Dan Rather leaving their long-held anchormen's chairs as the end of an era in news coverage. To that end, Brinkley's final reflections are his most valuable as he says, "The news becomes not just what happened but what a familiar face and voice says happened, and the meaning of it is to some extent determined by how he says it." David Brinkley's unique approach to the news, from his cadence to the angles he reported it from to the rapport and credibility he gained presenting it, endeared him to two generations and made him an icon the near equal of those he covered. While "Brinkley's Beat's" tone is a bit cranky, it's still a breezy, worthwhile read for history and journalism buffs. Recommended as a solid follow up read to his essential biography.

No comments about The Road from Coorain: Recollections of a Harsh and Beautiful Journey to Adulthood (G K Hall Large Print Book Series).

5 comments about Worth the Fighting For (Random House Large Print (Paper)).

1. I found the book missing in some critical information about Mr. McCain such as:
   John McCain has pledged that, if he and Ms. Palin are elected, he would end the revolving-door practice of administration officials leaving office for lucrative lobbying jobs Obama has also pledged to stop the revolving door if elected. He has also declined to take donations from lobbyists; McCain has not.
   
   Still, during McCain's nearly 25 years in Congress, the revolving door has remained open.
   .
   As his aides have moved downtown from Capitol Hill, they've drawn from their experience on the senator's personal staff or on his key committees: Armed Services, Commerce and Indian Affairs
   
   Here's some examples:
   
   * Mark Buse went from being staff director of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation when McCain chaired it to becoming a lobbyist at two firms, ML Strategies and Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo. His clients included many companies with issues before the committee, including Northwest Airlines, AT&T Wireless, Cablevision and Exxon Mobil Corp. This year, Buse returned to work for McCain as chief of staff of his Senate office.
   
   * John D. Desser was a staffer in McCain's Senate office and was a health policy aide in his 2000 presidential campaign.
   After that, he lobbied for the health insurance, chemical, coal and pharmaceutical industries. From there, he was deputy assistant secretary for health policy at the Department of Health and Human Services in the Bush administration and has since gone back to the private sector as vice president of public policy and government affairs for eHealth, an online health insurance company.
   
   * After serving as counsel for McCain's Senate Commerce committee, Sloan W. Rappoport moved on to the Bush administration and then to K Street. Rappoport is now a vice president of the Downey McGrath Group, where he lobbies for legalization of Internet poker and for a group promoting offshore oil drilling.
   
   * John W. Timmons served as legislative counsel for McCain, working on commerce, energy and environmental issues. Since then, Timmons has founded his own lobbying firm that represents clients under Commerce committee jurisdiction, including AT&T, the Air Transport Association, the Association of American Railroads and TW Telecom, formerly Time Warner Telecom.
   
   * Pablo Chavez, a former chief counsel to McCain, is now an advocate for Google, where his experience on the Commerce Committee doubtless comes in handy. Last year, he fought off objections to the acquisition of Internet marketing giant DoubleClick and is now working on the contentious issue of Net neutrality with hardware providers such as AT&T and the regional Bell companies
   
   * David Crane, a former McCain Commerce committee aide, notes in his lobbying firm biography that, as an aide, he "developed and implemented legislative and communications strategies and tactics to secure passage of Senator McCain's legislative agenda." He has worked in three K Street firms, representing clients on financial services, homeland security and trade issues. He now runs the firm Quadripoint Strategies.
   
   * Former McCain chief of staff and Commerce committee counsel Christopher Koch is now the McCain campaign's policy coordinator. In between holding those positions, he was a lobbyist. Before joining the campaign, Koch was president and chief executive officer of the World Shipping Council, a lobbying trade group that represents about 40 foreign and domestic ocean transport companies. In the first Bush administration, he was chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission. And in the second Bush administration, as chairman of the Department of Homeland Security's National Maritime Security Advisory Committee, he helped craft port security policy.
   
   * Ann Sauer worked for the Senate Armed Services Committee and later became vice president of Washington operations for Lockheed Martin. The world's largest defense company has spent more than $8 million this year on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
   * After working as a Senate aide for McCain, Michael Jimenez set up shop as a lobbyist. His clients include Pinnacle West, and he advocates for the Arizona-based utility on nuclear and energy issues, according to Senate records.
   
   * Former McCain legislative assistant Sonya Sotak now works for drug giant Eli Lilly. According to Senate filings, she's lobbying on issues relating to health care reform, drug pricing in Europe and an initiative to require drug companies to disclose their payments to doctors.
   
   * Robert Fisher, a former telecommunications adviser to McCain, went on to lobby for Clear Channel Worldwide and Verizon.
   
   
   Other former McCain staffers who went on to private sector advocacy include Steve Primrose, now a principal at Triadvocates, where he works on drug enforcement, environment and technology issues; Katy McGregor, who left Capitol Hill to work as a tax lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association and is now a senior director at the corporate speechwriting firm the White House Writers Group, working on communications strategies for companies in the telecommunications and financial services sector; and Victoria Clarke, formerly a congressional spokeswoman for McCain and later a spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. She's now a senior adviser for communications and government affairs at telecom giant Comcast.
   
   Three of the McCain-staffers-turned-lobbyists - Rappoport, Timmons and Fisher - have bundled thousands of dollars in campaign donations for McCain's presidential bid, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Rappoport alone has gathered $250,000 to $500,000, the center said.



2. Unfortunately this book which I hoped to be a biographical "chapter 2" to his personal journey after his Viet Nam stint, as covered so well in "Faith of My Fathers," this book offers only a sloppy mish-mash of this and that, which causes it to never commit to be any specific type of book. It tries to be part "Profiles in Courage" (which later McCain books "Courage Matters," and "Hard Call" commit to), part "Leaders" (by Nixon), and part autobiography, but sits as an uncommitted, uneven, unsatisfactory read. On paper this might have been a good idea - to tell one's story by also talking about that person's heroes, but in this work all these different types of works get in the way of each other. There is a chapter that goes on ad nauseum about the Keating scandal to be followed up on a piece of fluff over Ted Williams the baseball player.
   This is also probably not the bio that his supporters want us to read during this 2008 election as almost each and every "hero" of his...including his contemporaries...are all dead, which highlights the age issue. I have yet to find a classic bio on this man, but I understand they are out there; unfortunately this book sadly misses its mark.



3. This is a great book by a great man. John McCain's humor, style, and love of life are inspiring in this read. His honor, patriotism, and his words of those who have inspired him, make him one of the most inspiring public figures of his generation. He has a loving awe of what is best in America, and in ourselves.



4. When the 2008 GOP primary began, I was not a fan of McCain. I didn't dislike him. I just had a different preference. I'd always wanted to read Faith of My Fathers and read that one first. It took the reader from McCain's grandfather, to his father, and finally to McCain himself and his experience in Vietnam, where it concluded with his homecoming.
   
   This book picks up with John McCain's return home. He is atypically candid for a politician and presidential candidate. He admits faults where necessary. He takes responsibility when demanded. He defers credit where due. He takes the reader into his personal struggles, in particular the Keating 5 affair. He touches on his failed first marriage -- and takes full responsibility. The reader has the privilege of being a "fly on the wall" as McCain learns from his mentors and teachers. I can't imagine an author being much more transparent. The reader does not come away with a messianic vision of John McCain. Rather, one develops an understanding of whom he is and what influenced him. There is also much history to be learned as he explains how historical figures have influenced him in his career. I was a bit surprised by the profanity used in the book, but it's a part of who he is -- part sailor, part rebel, part patriot, part leader, part humble student, part aspiring executive, part competitor -- and full time, 100% himself.
   
   If you have an interest in politics and/or history, and want a better understanding of who this potential President of the United States is and may be as president then this is THE book. Straight from his own mouth -- warts and all -- leaving it to the reader to make their own educated decision regarding McCain's worthiness for the most powerful job in the world. You may not finish the book as a supporter -- and you may go from pro to con -- but you will have a greater respect for the man.
   
   Highly recommended.



5. Several times in "Worth the Fighting For", the senator notes that he has a quick temper. It is an inspiring book, however, I do wonder how effective he would be in the White House given his self acknowledged temper.
   
   Author of: Mr. NewHeart (New Heart): Heart Attack to Transplant and Beyond
   
   You may preview a free copy of my next book if you Google "david hollar the face of war."

No comments about Head First: The Biology of Hope.

5 comments about Jackie Robinson: A Biography (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. After reading several excellent reviews of this book, I purchased it for
   my nepbew's birthday. I have not read the book myself since I lived through that period.



2. It was a year of Fire and also the year of Grace for Jackie Robinson!! It is an amazing book to read about a great person who changed history and loves baseball!! It is more than just baseball and it has so many things to show that shaped Jackie's life so much. It is also spiritual and emotional book that leaves you to become a stronger person to make a great difference in the world.



3. I really liked this book and normally I dont like reading. Ijust wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. I think Jackie Robinson is a vary good romodel because no matter what, you should never give up. Because Jackie never gave up he ended up being one of the best baseball players to ever play the game. But most of all he broke the color code for all professional sports.



4. This biography does an outstanding job of giving an overview of Robinson's life and times, from his early, awnry but talented years in Pasadena, through UCLA, then the military, and then the Brooklyn Dodgers and beyond. It paints a picture of a strong willed gentleman with enormous pride, dedicated to his family, and dedicated to the idea of racial integration and equality. The influences of his mother on his early, somewhat (understandably) confrontational character, that allowed him to ultimately be the individual who paired with Branch Rickey to integrate "America's Pastime" are clearly laid out.

   Some reviewers have faulted the author for not being more interpretive of Robinson's politics - specifically, that he was a Nixon supporter in 1960 and a Rockefeller supporter in 1968 (while also being a strong supporter of Civil Rights, active in almost every civil rights organization) and Humphrey supporter as well. I think the book lays out all the facts for the reader to see for themselves. Robinson's coming of age - in an era when a Dixiecrat from a Jim Crow state (LBJ) led the passage of the Civil Rights Act - was a time of a shifting political landscape that didn't settle out until near his death (he also broke badly with Nixon later in Nixon's career). The Republican party's mantra of self-reliance, and Robinson's determination to succeed in business in the same way he did in sports, made his attraction to the party not a big leap; the alienation of this country's African American establishment from big business was not a pre-ordained fact in the time Robinson lived.

   Finally, Robinson's own family struggles were also a reflection of the confusing and troubling times in which he lived.

   Robinson died too young for us all. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it..




5. i'm not particularly interested in baseball, but i am particularly interested in American history from the human perspective. i could have read a much more dry account of the turmoils that dominated American race relations throughout the middle of the 20th century, but instead i've read this fascinating account of those terrible, backward days from the perspective of a true pioneer, Mr. Jackie Robinson.

   of course he is looked back on now as a symbol, a mythological figure. i always knew peripherally of Jackie as the same thing most people do: the first black man to play major league baseball, a step forward & up in the painful struggle of the times. but this book presents him as a human being, a fallible man who lived most of his life not on the baseball field, but in a relentless pursuit of his ideals and desire for a better life for himself and everyone around him.

   the reviewer before me questions the biographer's lack of judgement of Robinson. i am curious as to why he feels Rampersad should insert his own analysis; the biography presents analyses of Robinson by many of Robinson's contemporaries, and then presents the recorded facts available to clarify incidents & statements. yes, this is an intensely personal biography, perhaps too personal in places. it is very much centered on Jackie's private correspondences. it is absolutely told from Robinson's persepctive, as best can be reconstructed from his widow Rachel & the papers he left behind, but it feels very honest, not at all like an airbrushed bit of hero-polishing. it is in places very blunt about Jackie's shortcomings as observed by his peers & contemporaries.

   before i stretch this out any longer, i'll just say that this is the most engrossing biography i can ever recall having read. it's an account of a fascinating life in an amazingly recent time, in an America that seems so long ago but is still discouragingly recent. readers will learn not just about Jackie Robinson, but about two American eras as well.

No comments about Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet (Transaction Large Print Books).