5 comments about First Lady of Song: Library Edition.

1. Reading this book left me feeling that while the author is passionate about is subject matter, he felt entitled to make snarky comments throughout and who proof read this book? Errors abound. This book was published before Ella's death so it ends paying tribute to her remarkable career more than the subject herself. There are two errors that I know of, one regarding a song and one a television appearance. Dinah! did have Lucille Ball as a guest on a referred episode and was quoted correctly a comment to Ella, but the broadcast featured not Elizabeth Taylor by satellite but Beverly Sills on set, the song "Ordinary Fool" was not recorded by Karen Carpenter for her last album, Karen recorded her version during the "Kind Of Hush" sessions in 1976, Ella recorded hers in 1977, it was impossible for Karen to follow Ella's vocal line as suggested and Ella couldn't follow Karen's because Karen's version wasn't released until 1983. The author credits himself as the writer of the liner notes for Ella's "First Lady Of Song" 3 disc set released by Verve in 1993, I feel this is unnecessary bragging on his part.
   I've looked for this book for years not understanding why it went out of print until I found it at a book discount shop. It's giddy, self-congratulating, and arrogant. Who is he to refer to Ella as "Miss Fitz?" and the photo section has personal captions not unlike a photo album one would have at home. The one good section is the discography located in the back that contains every recording made including the outtakes.



2. I'm a huge Ella fan, but not much is available about her personal life. This is a decent book if you want to know more about Ella's career; in that respect, it's pretty exhaustive and very detailed. I was a little disappointed in the overall quality of the book, however. It has a cheap feel to it, the paper is shoddy, the pictures look as though they were run through a copier, and there are many, many typos and punctuation errors. I also wasn't crazy about the writing style. But for you die-hard Ella fans, I would suggest that you read the book and get what you can out of it.



3. Ella Fitzgerald is my favorite singer. I think that her best work is outstanding. I wish that this book was too. This is an okay biography of Ella's life and career. The author is clearly a fan and has some trouble being objective about some of Ella's work (especially her later work in which she had clearly lost a lot of her voice due to illnesses); however, the book gives you a detailed overview of Ella's numerous appearances on television, her performances with Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, and her extensive recordings.
   There is another book about Ella by Stuart Nicholson that you may want to read too. It is rather dry in comparison to this book, but I found that by blending Mr. Fidelman's almost-giddy prose with Nicholson's workman-like style, I did come away with a feeling for the woman who Ella was.



4. The reviews are a little unfair. This is accurate and written with passion. The tone has clearly offended. However I do believe that the definitive biography has yet to be written. I hope somebody is putting it together as I write; maybe Will Friedwald or David Ritz will do it.



5. I must first commend Fidelman for his relatively thorough documenting of Ella's recordings, concerts, and television appearences; if this book is at all worthwhile, it is to learn more about the lady's career.

   That being said, the author has here penned one of the most unprofessional works of biography ever published. He sets the tone early, recounting the ways he was denied access to Fitzgerald's inner circle with all the righteous, catty anger of the dorky girl excluded from the popular group in middle school. He punctuates various passages with tangents that have little or nothing to do with Fitzgerald's life and legacy, including a plea for record labels to reissue the works of the great stars of the mid-twentieth-century, and mentions of his having written liner notes for certain Fitzgerald releases. The majority of the book's narrative is written in a silly tone which belies any attempt by Fidelman to cast himself as a serious biographer. His insight into Fitzgerald the woman is nil. This is all in addition to his highly questionable and tabloid-esque recounting of a tragic interview with Joe Pass, suffering from terminal cancer, which seems only to be included due to Joe's saying he doesn't know why he's telling Fidelman this - perhaps an attempt by GMF to indicate some sort of personal relationship with the legendary guitarist.

   I would not go so far as to tell Fitzgerald fans to avoid this book, nor would I send them running to Stuart Nicholson's dull, fact-heavy tome; a compelling, authoritative biography of the great jazz singer has not yet been written. I would instead advise possible readers to approach "First Lady of Song" with very low expectations, and then purely from an informational standpoint.

No comments about Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham; Part 1 (11 Cassettes) and 2 (9 Cassettes).

No comments about The Road South.

No comments about A Life in the Twentieth Century : Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950.

1 comments about Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi.

1. An example of what a memoir should be as opposed to what often trys to pass today.

No comments about Wilbur and Orville Wright: Young Fliers, Library Edition (Ready Reader).

5 comments about Out of the Depths: Library Edition.

1. The story of John Newton's life is remarkable and fascinating and I was eager to read this book. I cannot complain about the facts presented in the book, only in the way they were presented. The story was told in almost sterile and unemotional language. This may be because John Newton recounted his history in a series of letters and it can't be expected that he would make it read like a novel. I still feel like I don't know the man John Newton, I just know about him.



2. After seeing the movie "Amazing Grace" I wanted to know more about John Newton and his experiences. There are some spiritual gems in this book but, even though this autobiography was updated to 21st century language, I found Newton to be overly pious--even feeling worthless.
   
   I was hoping for more details on his years as a slave trader but the sensitivities of the time probably prevented details that modern readers expect.
   
   Although I was disappointed in some ways, I didn't expect many of the moving spiritual thoughts Newton expressed. Maybe some of his experiences not described were so sinful and embarrassing that was the reason he didn't go into detail.



3. John Newton's story is totally absorbing and in some ways shocking for the times in which he lived! He was quite the wild man and yet, in his sin, God saved him. After reading this book it brought the true meaning of Newton's words in Amazing Grace to life. Truly, how sweet is the sound of grace to a sinner so depraved and so destined for hell. Hallelujah for such an 'amazing' book! Christians need more of these kinds of biographies to inspire and strengthen us in our faith. Read this book and rejoice!



4. Reading stories of how a sinner's life can be changed when he turns the leading of his life over to God renews my faith.



5. While the mention of the name John Newton (1725-1807) will probably elicit a blank stare from most people, there are very few people who are unfamiliar with Newton's most famous composition - the hymn "Amazing Grace." Those familiar with the hymn most likely do not know that - prior to becoming a minister and a composer of hymns - Newton was a slave trader, a scoundrel, a ruffian, etc.

   This book is Netwon's autobiography. I recently read it in one sitting and must say that I was incredibly humbled by Newton's account of his life. (This book broke scabs off of my heart that I thought were petrified!) There is no way that one can read this book and thereafter not have an added appreciation for Newton's lyrics (e.g., "amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me").

   Newton's story puts flesh on the verse: "[God] determined the times set for [man] and the exact places where [man] should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though he is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:26-27)

5 comments about Robert Kennedy: His Life, Library Edition.

1. The book is okay. It is that simple. The prose are incoherent and it is very hard to tell who or what the subject of the sentence is. He tries to be far too clever with his sentence structure which results in being forced to read a sentence several times, sometimes understanding what he's talking about the fifth time, sometimes still confused but forced to move on
   The most prominent of my complaints is that he is so repetitious. He will use the same adjectives to describe the same person over and over in almost identical sentences which begs the question: How long would this book be if he didn't repeat himself?
   My final complaint is that he will write ad nauseam about the most mundane events and details and will examine the motives and come to a verdict while repeating the evidence almost verbatim to what he just wrote the paragraph before.
   I haven't read another book on Bobby so I cannot compare it to other Bobby-books. However, since I was born in the eighties and did not live during all of this, it is new information and basically the only fact I can't give this a lower grade is because the information itself propels the book into mediocrity.



2. I was so looking forward to listening to this book and so frustrated with the outcome.
   
   That part that I did listen to was written well but read poorly. Attempting to mimick the voice of Kennedy (and others) grows so old so quickly one would have thought it would have captured the eye of an editor sooner rather than later. But never? Alas, apparently that was not in anyone's job description.
   
   If you must do anything buy the printed version.



3. Although I was only 7 years old when he died I have talked to many people about the passion they felt for Bobby. Boy, could we use someone like that now. Although the book does not shy away from his sometime machiavellian tactics, it shows a person who was so affected by tragedy that he really cared. I see film clips of when he visited Buffalo, and the entire Niagara Square was packed with tens of thousands of people. I cannot think of anyone, short of the Bills after a super bowl win, that would garner that much enthusiasm. Evan Thomas captures that and draws the reader in. I actually felt empty when finishing the book and sad that I could think of no one today that could fill that void. Thomas also through thorough research seems to dispel the popular myth of Bobby as a womanizer. He was actually a devoted family man haunted by his brothers death but loyal to wife and children. Not so with Jack. When Bobby was in Indianapolis about to speak before a black audience it was announced that Martin Luther King had just been killed. He discarded his planned speech and relayed his own feelings of how he felt when his brother Jack was killed. It was totally ad-libbed and from the heart. Indianapolis was one of the few major cities not to erupt in violence. I wonder how different this country might be had he the opportunity to serve us.



4. Evan offers much insight into an unfinished life. He meets the mark of a good biographer; as a history this is a well-balanced read. But he fails to give us what we crave: perpective into how the world might have been different had Bobby survived.
   
   Bobby once famously said: "Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies". Mr. Thomas has done a commendable job of tracking that change, speaking to the better known facets of Bobby's personal as well as political evolution. Evan's book captures the antecedents: his awkwardness as a young Kennedy; the shadow, and then death of, his brother Jack; the opportunities to question the rigidity of his Catholic faith; his decision to align himself with McCarthy (Joe not Gene). These alternately help set the foundation for the evolution of Bobby from FDR politician to modern-day progressive. These help explain what caused a 1950's era government attorney concerned about Comintern penetration of the State Department to become a proponent of the United Farmworkers in its most radical years. Or those changes that caused the one-time skeptic of Martin Luther King to become one of his most ardent political champions.
   
   Evans provides the rationale for the enmity shared by various mobsters, LBJ, and even Roy Cohn. His rationale is this: Bobby cared. Evans touches us when he describes Bobby as a man who strived to live lives as others did. The description of Bobby's pain witnessing the utter poverty of rural blacks in the 1960's Mississippi delta is palpable and authentic. But Bobby was also a shrewd strategist, adapting to a time when the solid south was no longer the dependable, conservative counterweight of the Democratic Party fulcrum, and the campus was no longer the only forum in America for frank discussion of problems in America. Bobby was not an opportunist, but he was a political realist, and in the days leading up to the '68 convention Bobby reflected not simply the changes occurring within the antiwar movement or the modern-day Democratic Party, but also those changes occurring all across America at that time.
   
   Would Bobby have turned around a country that was heading down a path of "secret plans" to end the Vietnam War, Watergate, "Trickle Down" economics and South American puppeteering? Evan Thomas to his credit wrote a book about an unfinished life, and a good one at that. But for those interested in what might have been, we'll have to continue to wonder.



5. The life and times of Robert Kennedy beg for a coherent and in depth book .... unfortunately this is not it. Living in the shadow of his presidential brother, the shadow of his oldest brother killed in WWII and the all encompassing shadow of his father, RFK was able to chisel out an identity of his own in US history before his tragic death. Hoping to gain some understanding/insight of/into this man's character and evolution from a sullen child to presidential candidate and everything in between, and a chonology of such things as his involvement in the US civil rights movement, McCarthyism, Cuba (Bay of Pigs and The Missle Crisis) and his relationship in the White House with his brother JFK... I was greatly disappointed. A glaring hole in this book is any serious treatment of RFK and Vietnam. What the book does contain are snippets, quotes and anecdotes, some mildly interesting, (i.e. RFK's role in the release of Martin Luther King from prison), without any cohesiveness and very little context. And although many of the conclusions reached in this volume are valid they are simply not borne out here. The book's attempt to cover significant parallel events is at best confusing and there is also an alarming amount of armchair psychology. I hate to be so hard nosed but the subject deserves much better than this book.

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