5 comments about Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey.

1. This is a very good book. It is a good description on the life of Jane Goodall. Very easy read.



2. I have read REASON FOR HOPE and find that Jane Goodall did an excellent job in describing her life in a way that gives reason for hope in life, especially in difficult times. I was very touched by her description of her relationship with her second husband, Derek, her life with him, and her feelings after his death. It brought back feelings I had after the death of my wife. Jane Goodall is an excellent humanist. Also, she merits the Nobel Peace Prize.



3. Jane Goodall is just a wise old soul...no matter what
   her age or yours. She brings good wisdom that is
   understandable and applicable for each one of us to
   be better stewards of the earth and ourselves.



4. I loan this book, give copies as gifts, and read it at least once a year. Dr. Jane Goodall's life, from her days as a young British girl with a love of animals and nature to her present incarnation as a world-renowned conservationist, advocate for threatened and endangered animals - particularly primates - and UN Messenger of Peace, is exemplary. In Dr. Goodall's own words, "We have a choice to use the gift of our lives to make the world a better place." Through this book, we may learn how Dr. Goodall has done just that.



5. Jane Goodall's "Reason For Hope" is an engaging, richly detailed life story. Raised in England, a lucky break through a friend takes Goodall to Africa for a job as a secretary. There she meets Louis Leakey, who is very impressed with her and helps to shape her career. Although she completes a PhD and spends time on book tours and teaching gigs, Goodall is most at home living amidst the wildlife. In fact, she makes it clear that she is most comfortable alone, observing chimpanzees. She finds her sprirituality there, drawn on a Christian upbringing in the UK. She also marries twice and has a son, and oversees students who visit her compound.
   
   Although this is a traditional memoir, it is also very much about Goodall's faith. Despite many doubts about man's inhumanity to man, Goodall sees in nature (and in humans) several reasons to believe in a creator and in humankind. (She also has a supernatural encounter with a deceased relative.) Much of her spirituality is rooted in reverance for God's creation. Her life is an extraordinary one, but her faith is a common one.

5 comments about My Life So Far.

1. Jane is a pretty misunderstood woman. People make judgements about her based on stories they see in the media, and based on the rhetoric of those who oppose her. I learned a lot about the real Jane Fonda in this book. Her childhood was not that pretty. Her relationship with her father was strained at best, and this book delves into that with the insight and sensitivity of a person who has learned to accept parents who are not perfect, and who has come to understand how those early years shaped her life and the decisions she made throughout.
   
   - C.A.Wulff, author of Born Without a Tail



2. I "met" Jane Fonda at a book signing in Pasadena, CA. I was immediately taken with her graciousness. She appeared beautifully poised, content and unpretentious, before a packed gathering. She was irreverent, intelligent, insightful and candid. As she sat at the signing table, she immediately commented that she thought my blouse was gorgeous. While this may seem like a very minor thing, having been to countless events of this type, I was a bit taken aback by her focus on me. This was supposed to be about HER. This is a huge part of her charm; the ability to look outward, instead of being obsessed with herself, the way that so many of today's celebrities seem to be.
   
   As a child of the civil unrest, disobedience and rights movement, I had always related to what she stood for. I could always distinguish between being patriotic and simply disagreeing with the way that the government was handling things. Therefore, it was my belief that she had been demonized needlessly, and that ignorance and the inability to understand how caring for one's country, is what makes one passionate about what is happening in the first place. This is what has made it so difficult for people to look past what happened during the Viet Nam era.
   
   There are still many people who hate her for her activism. And it is a shame that those people will miss out on what truly is, an astoundingly insightful book. Jane Fonda is not just someone who is a famous actress; she is a woman who is living a very full, informed, and turbulent life, and took the time to really learn from it. And she is sharing her experiences in such a candid, forthright, refreshing way - that anyone could benefit from reading about them.
   
   You do not have to have been famous to have the kinds of experiences that she describes. While some celebrity autobiographies drone on and on about all of the other famous people they knew and know, very few actually tell about how they felt, and what they learned in the process. And many still have the fear of telling the truth. Because Jane Fonda is where she is in her life right now, she has the luxury and ability to be as honest as she wants to be. She has reached successful pinnacles in her career, that few rarely achieve.
   
   As I read each chapter, I could see my own life in parallels. I did not have the privilege that she did, however, I understand the same struggles that she had, as a woman. I could even see similarities in the kinds of men that she has had in her life, yet, I have lived worlds apart from her.
   
   This is a true, unabashedly truthful memoir, that does not scrimp on details. It is entertaining, candid, informative, while being stunningly, strikingly provocative, and enlightening. This is a book that I will always cherish. The revelations that she shares, have affected my own life, and will continue to do so. It is the most insightfully enlightening autobiography by an actor that I have read thus far. But that is not surprising, given that Ms. Fonda is much more than an actor. First and foremost, she is a human being who has always cared about humanity, and it truly shows in her life's experiences. I am so grateful that she decided to share it with us.
   
   



3. Different FlagsI have read Jane Fonda's Autobiography and find it a very interesting book. The parts telling about her mother's mental illness, her suicide, her brother Peter and her relationship with her stepmother are the ones I enjoyed most. I was able to relate to the things Jane Fonda should have said to her mother but didn't. Her father's depression was described in a touching and honest way. Having lived in another country myself, I really liked Jane Fonda's description of France back in the 60s. I will read it again. Eugenia Renskoff



4. I have so much more respect for her and the times we went through. A friend gave this book to me while on vacation. I'm not sure I would have chosen it, BUT I could not put it down. I came home and bought a copy for my 25 year old daughter. Some things in life never change. Thank you! Diane



5. This is one of the best-ever show biz (but any biz!) autobiographies I've ever read. Ms. Fonda has delivered her readers a real treat -- a thorough re-telling of her already familiar story with wit, pathos and a real desire to get to the truth and share them with her readers.
   
   If life is a journey, she's taken a hell of a trip and it's to her credit that she pushes on and continues to fight the good fight.
   
   She doesn't skirt around the controversy or try to shirk away her actions or culpability for any mistakes she made. She confronts it all -- head-on without fear or denial. She's to be commended for her honesty and for her uniquely American life and the truth she's pursued relentlessly all these years.
   
   Many people are still mad about Vietnam (and but for her moment in the gun turret, wasn't she right about the whole sad affair?) but those are the same folks who think we're doing right by Iraq right now, so there's no winning that crowd over. They'll simply stay mad forever, even though she's the one who really shows her love for this country by trying to make it better and to hold its leaders accountable to the people who give them their power.
   
   She's a remarkable human being and she can be extremely proud of this book.

1 comments about No Time to Die.

1. This book was written with warmth, humor and honesty. Liz was a remarkable woman who inspired woman to live with grace, strength and faith. Must read.

5 comments about West With the Night (Audio Editions).

1. Fantastic! I don't care if Beryl Markham wrote this or not (it is rumored that her third husband, a Hollywood ghostwriter, wrote the book). Beryl Markham's story is fascinating: from growing up in East Africa on her father's horse farm, to training race horses, to her time in Africa as a pilot tracking wild game from the air ... all culminating in her historic solo flight across the Atlantic from east to west. This book brings the ultimate forms of praise from me: (1) I could not put it down; and (2) I am now seeking out anything I can find out about this amazing, daring woman. No matter who wrote the book, the use of imagery is astounding. Highly recommended.



2. The hardcover is the illustrated (with photos) edition of one of my favorite re-reads. Hemingway loved it, too. It is memoir that reads like fiction and it doesn't matter to me who wrote it (Beryl or her husband, as the scuttlebut goes). As a bookseller, I sell this one with a guarantee that if my customer doesn't like it they can return it for a full trade credit. None have been returned but many customers have dropped by to say that they have shared their copy with family or friends.



3. This a wonderful, mostly true, story about the early years and astonishing adventures of a young woman who grew up as one of the real "Out of Africa" characters. The other reviews do a good job of describing the story line of the book, so I won't repeat that.
   
   At the time I read the book, I knew little about Beryl, and was so fascinated by this beautifully written, "Hemmingway-esque" book and its heroine that I wanted to know more. First, I read Mary Lovell's autobiography. I thought it was surely a "negative" biography and wanted to try to understand Beryl in a positive light. Then I read the much more impartial and well-researched autobiography by Errol Trzebinski, and realized that as a human being, there was little to like or admire about Beryl; Lovell's book turned about to be sugar-coated!
   
   I came to realize that while "West with the Night" is an accurate description of Beryl's actions, it is a whitewash of her as a person and very misleading. Also, there is such overwhelming evidence that she did not write this extraordinary book, that I am surprised that she is still given credit for being its author. Even at the time, Hemmingway himself doubted that she could have written it. And he was in a position to know as it was written flawlessly in his style and he, shall we say, knew her "well." She barely had a high school education, rarely read anything, and never wrote another word. She wasn't even a letter writer. However, her naïve, love blinded and ill-fated husband, Raoul Schumacher, an experienced ghost writer, did possess the ability to write the book, and most certainly did; the early drafts of the book that were later found leave no doubt about this. Even in her dotage, Beryl refused to give credit to Raoul.
   
   Beryl Markham grew up near Nairobi, raised by a loving father, and was an acquaintance of the much older and now famous Baroness Karen von Blixen. Karen initially thought of her fondly, but came to understand that Beryl was no friend of any woman. It was Beryl Markham that Karen was referring to in the movie when she was furious with Dennis Finch Hatten for having an affair with a younger woman. In real life, both Karen and Beryl aborted his children; one of the few untruths in "Out of Africa" was that Karen was infertile as the result of syphilis.
   
   Beryl's list of sexual partners is a who's who of the times and includes royalty, and other celebrities. However, Dennis may have been the one man that Beryl actually cared for - probably because he cared so little for her. Even so, it must have been difficult for her to have him die during a period in which they were on again, and while flying an errand on which Beryl had originally planned to join him; and then for Karen to play the role of "widow."
   
   Perhaps that was part of what made her such an unpleasant, moody, selfish, misogynous and promiscuous woman, although she had a pretty good start on that prior to Dennis's death. Also, she was no doubt affected by her mother's abandonment when she was a toddler, only to find out much later in life that the woman she thought was her mother, was not. That does not explain, however, Beryl's immediate and irrevocable rejection of her only child, a son, who was born with a rectal defect that required several surgeries and who was later somewhat sickly. The fact that he was not strong and manly was always an embarrassment to her, and she spent very little time with him.



4. Ernest Hemingway raved about this book - and for good reason. It is a fascinatingly multi-layered story told in a way that makes it very compelling and utterly believable. One of the greatest books I have read. It comes with controversy - maybe Beryl did not write it all herself. Still, she was a remarkable woman.



5. I read this book about 10 years ago so this is not a fresh review and I won't attempt to recall all the book's details.
   
   But I can tell you it was one of the best books I've ever read. Not necessarily for the story itself, although it is quite interesting on it's own.
   
   What made it so memorable for me was the quality of writing and the style of it. She evokes such intense feelings of nostalgia and loss - of an era gone by, youth passed, and people lost. Whenever I put it aside while reading it, I was aching to the point of tears - I compare it to the nostalgia/loss I felt while reading other novels like How Green Was My Valley and Angela's Ashes.
   
   I am not trying to say this is a sad storyline as it is not. But I felt that I was experiencing what the author felt while writing it from her memories.
   
   It's quite a shame the book is not more known in general. Those who have wandered via Amazon to this book, I deeply encourage you to purchase it while it is still in print. The paperback will suffice - it's of the bigger size - and it is not overly long or difficult to read.

3 comments about Long Quiet Highway.

1. At first it looks like nothing--simple prose--simple stories--a simple, straightforward, non-dramatic reading. The pure, direct simplicity of Goldberg's prose makes her writing seem effortless, almost unintentional. The text is nearly transparent, as though the reader were listening to Goldberg's mind in all the fresh, unstudied, immediacy of first thoughts. But, any writer learns very quickly that nothing is more difficult than simplicity, and anyone who's ever attempted a memoir discovers that Goldberg's unembellished, naked honesty is almost as impossible to attain as enlightenment.
   
   Long Quiet Highway, like a Zen garden, is an open gate to quiet reflection on the journey of becoming, on the pain and pleasure of striving to be human, on the way that death both pierces and gives meaning to our existence. Goldberg's meditation upon her own spiritual journey, upon the essential loneliness of all such journeys, and upon her own passage through grief is read on these tapes in the simple, unpretentious voice of an old friend calling long distance, just to talk. And, her conversation is the late night talk at the heart of our deepest friendships--the one about how we come to terms with the impermanence and loss in our lives, how we learn to survive change and grief, and how we may yet turn this survival into something very akin to joy.
   
   I listen on the interstate as I drive the half hour to and from my work teaching writing at a local college. I rewind. I listen again. I slow down inside and remember the real journey. And, I'm glad to have Natalie, with her flat Long Island accent and her "simple" stories, along for the trip.



2. I came to Goldberg's eight hour audio work with high anticipation. I'd read, reread and shared Writing Down the Bones with anyone who cared to listen about my enthusiasm for it. One of my treasured memories is that of riding in the dead of night through West Texas landscape and unexpectedly coming upon a taped interview with Golberg just after she published her book of paintings. I felt a connection with Goldberg's experience as a Soto Zen practitioner, having launched my own practice with the benefit of time spent in a tiny Soto sect Zendo.

   None of this prepared me for the disappointment of Long Quiet Ride. Goldberg's reading voice traced and retraced the same four-note drone with mind-numbing precision for six and one-half of the eight hours of listening. The only thing that saved the last hour and one-half was that she was not reading, but being interviewed. I almost cried to hear her natural speaking voice in that interview. Despite its fancy packaging, this Sounds True production bears the marks of no effort, not in the Zen sense, but in the simple sense that NO ONE cared to bring Goldberg's drudge of a reading voice to this poet's attention, and Goldberg HERSELF evidently did not care or was not awake enough to really hear herself reading in a voice that would have made Mr. Clemente (a former English teacher) groan aloud.

   This book's effort (or lack thereof) at clear, descriptive and inviting prose is largely confined to banal descriptions like that of Goldberg eating a sandwich in a deli after witnessing the cremation of Katagiri Roshi's body. Don't get me wrong. It could have been a profound moment in the history of prose, but Goldberg refuses to press even one inche below superficial description to any semblance of specificity. Such is the case again when she visits Katagiri's grave in Japan. "I saw a bird, a brown bird," she states and then repeats the statement. "What kind of bird is that?" she asks someone. No reply is given. Goldberg drops the observation, half-baked, unexamined and unresearched- essentially undenoted- and moves on to more banal descriptions punctuated with lots of adolescent angst and hysteria. Yet we are asked, by the author's insertion of this bit of trivia, to treat the presence of this "brown bird" as somehow significant. If the writer is aiming at mystery, then her attempt fell miserably short of the target. To create a mystery (or to evoke a sense of the mysterious), one must awaken interest in the reader.

   Such basic mistakes in writing were so numerous in this work that I stopped counting. After three hours I even stopped feeling embarrasment or pity for Goldberg, the teacher of writing who can't seem to write. Much more serious than the above stylistic concerns (and I say this after having spent eight hours in a car being assaulted by that droning monotone GoInG Up aNd DoWn with maddening precision)are my concerns about Goldberg's understanding of Zen and her ethics in allowing Sounds True to hawk this book as a legitimate look into Zen.

   Perhaps it is in this most profound disappointment that I actually do feel great connection to Goldberg, and real empathy for her task. She wrote the book in a self-admitted effort to keep her teacher alive, much as John Krakauer wrote Into Thin Air to exorcise the demons of his participation in the Everest disaster of 1996. I can and did hear this book as a grief journal of someone who was quite undone by the death of a surrogate father figure. I only wish that Goldberg was awake enough to realize the depth of her own grief, or that she exhibited some signs of having com to insight in the course of her writing. I only wish that Goldberg had somehow found the courage of Nanzen's students and kept her peace (you'll have to listen to about four hours of the tape to get this story- sorry) when she was tempted to speak where she had no knowledge or experience. As far as I could tell, Goldberg never once said "no" to that temptation.

   She witholds much about the true nature of Zen, but is unabashed in her eagerness to claim the mystery, the specialness, and the fantastical elements that lie on the periphery.

   Krakauer's work towers over Goldberg's attempt in mastery of language, eye for detail and pure poetic concision (compressing feelings too big for words into a single sharply focused image). Both works, however, are fundamentally flawed. Krakauer sacrifices truth to his anger, need to blame others, and his own self-loathing. Goldberg sacrifices Zen to her loneliness and need for a father. Thus it is only in the last half-hour or so of the tape, in the interview, that we find that Katagiri was guilty of the same sexual predation of his students that Goldberg decries in others. She knew this information when she taped the book, but leaves it up to the interviewer (whose voice, by the way, saved me from insanity) to unearth this fact.

   Goldberg's portrayal of Katagiri is fleeting, vague, constantly clouded by her obssessive description of her inner world. Indeed, every object external to Goldberg is portrayed in this way. No clarity of vision here. No big mind. Only hypnotic fascination with the fermentation of her quest for . . . well, something. Goldberg titilates us with visions of Katagiri after death, reveres her teacher and claims a kind of relationship with him that is difficult to swallow even after the most determined attempts to suspend disbelief. She does all this in clear contradiction to Zen teaching.

   And this, dear reader, is what I am writing to warn you of. If you are looking for dependency relationships, if you want to risk your spiritual and sexual well-being by brokering your trust, if you seek fantastic visions, then by all means read and "eat" Goldberg's long quiet highway. That is what she's selling. This approach to spiritual practice has long gone by the name, "Buji Zen" that is crudely translated as "bullshit zen." Fascination with the experience, a quest for the special moment and the special relationship so that one may enter the lineage of THOSE WHO ARE SPECIAL.

   If you seek Zen, however, my advice to you is to take the path less often traveled by the author and reader of this work. In short, look elsewhere.




3. Natalie Goldberg's reading of her book Long Quiet Highway truly enhanced the amazing content of her work. Her wonderful New York accent, complete with its dry wit, wonderfully transformed the recollections of her search for true direction in her life through both her writing and her Zen Buddhist practice.

   The motion and rhythm of her voice as she describes the depths of her great love for her teacher makes for both warmth and a riveting story. Her travels take her from the suburbs of New York to New Mexico and beyond. The greatest of her travels, of course, proves to be the journey into herself as she continues her challenging Zen practice.

5 comments about Unstrung Heroes.

1. This book may perhaps not meet your expectations regarding content: I expected to see the uncles in their own habitat, surrounded by the debris of compulsive hoarding, at one with the world they had created. Lidz does not show this world: instead, he shows mainly the two uncles who live outside asylums at odds with the outside world, fumbling their beyond-quirky way through the landscape of New York.
   
   That difference could make or break your interest in the book. Which do you want to read about, two curmudgeons at home in the nest they have created or two outcasts in society? I'm not saying that either narrative pathway makes for a bad or good book; I merely suggest that, before you read, you be prepared for what you will be reading. You might also consider that the four uncles of the title really refers mainly to two uncles; one of the others makes a single cameo appearance, and the other uncle gets a bit of space toward the end.
   
   Lidz takes slow steps in childhood, telling ancedotes about his times with the two main uncles. These humerous takes are made forceful because they are told against the backdrop of his mother's long, ultimately fatal bout with cancer, a narrative that underpins the first half of the book. You thus have two strong narrative themes in the first half: the bumbling uncles (and the question of how on earth they function) and the sick mother (and the question of how on earth she manages to hang on to life).
   
   The book becomes rockier in the second half, beginning when Lidz is an adolescent and his father remarries. Time speeds up considerably and without warning: you go from the slow ascent of the roller coaster to the rapid descent, and, narratively speaking, it's a rocky ride. It does make some narrative sense to speed up this second half, but it's too much too quickly and thus disconcerting for the reader. The second two uncles are introduced rapidly and don't receive as much analysis as the other two.
   
   The book goes on to wrap up (incompletely) too quickly as well. It's as if when one uncle dies, another uncle is plugged in to take his place, and, what with the uniqueness of the uncles being emphasized, it doesn't work in the narrative. Lidz's attempt to introduce his recording techniques is also akwardly introduced, though I don't know how he could have done it more smoothly.
   
   All in all, though, it's a good book. The strong first half does much to make up for the weaker second half, and the character's personalities make for excellent dialogue throughout. Lidz is an excellent prose writer who simply needs to pace himself a bit better; the writing itself is commendable. Recommended.



2. This story although sadding at times kept me giggling and laughing at the antics of these uncles based on the real-life uncles of the author. I can see why it was made into a movie--it is a ball of fun and yet heartbreaking in others and down-right silly at times--in the end you come to feel as if you KNOW these men and the rest of the family and you feel slightly sad that more people don't look at the world through their eyes, but instead are so quick to judge those considered "different". I hated to see it end---a great, great story!!!



3. Heard the taped version of UUNSTRUNG HEROES by Franz
   Lidz, the author's tale of growing up in what might charitably
   be called a dysfunctional family . . . it consisted of him and
   his sister, their parents, and their father's four brothers who
   played an even more significant role in his upbringing when
   his mother died.
   
   If you ever thought your family was strange, wait until you meet
   this group of eccentrics . . . for example, one brother thought
   Mickey Mantle was out to get him . . . another collected
   shoelaces . . . how Lidz, who became a writer for SPORTS
   ILLUSTRATED, managed to escape the lunacy is beyond
   me.
   
   The fact that he grew up on Long Island, not far from where
   I was raised, made the book even more interesting to me . . . that
   and the narration by John Turturro . . . the actor's work greatly
   aided in my enjoyment of UNSTRUNG HEROES.



4. I could show you a sentence in Unstrung Heroes as elegant in its implications as the binomial theorem, and another as economically sphinx-like as the square root of minus one. The declarative sentence, Franz Lidz makes you suppose, is perhaps a writer's highest achievement.



5. The author possesses fierce intellectual honesty, and his prose has a bare, involuted rhythm that is almost hypnotic. Very, very funny.

5 comments about To Hell and Back: The Epic Combat Journal of World War Ii's Most Decorated G.I..

1. This is on of the best books ever written about war. I'm a NCO in the Army and I believe that this book should be a preferred read on any soldiers list. I've served in Iraq on the front lines and the emotions that Audie Murphy writes about in this book are still identical in today's war.



2. I found "To Hell and Back" to be well worth the time and investment. While it could have contained more detailed information about the battles it did a great job of tell the human side of Murphy's campaigns.



3. In my opinion this is one of the best war movies of all time.You really feel like you are there in the heart of the battle.and the burning tank scene is the best of all.A must see.
   
   jim smith



4. Good movie, see what the real Audie Murphy is like as well, visit his web site.



5. this picture was very well done concedering it was 1955.too bad it
   couldnt be remade with todays technlogy with the horor of war the main
   theme. audie murphys co-stars were perfect in thier roles...

5 comments about The WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE.

1. I have always been a Patriot and came from a military family. Yet the mass media always seemed to be putting out the message that it was wrong to be Patriotic, that there isn't really any such thing as right or wrong, that serving in the military is a waste.
   
   So, who was right? I was like Smith in 1984: I didn't have any proof in the face of all this propaganda that things should be different but a FEELING that patriotism is a positive attribute, that you could disagree with the picture being painted and NOT be labeled a bigot/homophobe/fascist.
   
   I never listened to Rush until after I read this book. It was right after Desert Storm and despite liberating Kuwait from a brutal, bloodthirsty tyrant who's treatment of the Kuwaitis rivalled anything the Nazis dished out in the USSR I was hearing this same negativism. But Rush put it all in perspective for me. I've been an avid fan ever since.



2. A delusional hypocrite sounds off. Save your money. Go to the press releases sections of the American Enterprise Institute and the Republican National Committee Web sites if you want this guy's philosophy.
   The book is useful if you need a primer on the language used by big government neoconservatives.
   It saddens me to write this. I considered Limbaugh a teacher and an inspiration until the Republicans assumed power in D.C. and he showed what he really is (a partisan political hack albeit an articulate and entertaining one). Limbaugh does not believe in "freedom" or "limited government" despite his many pretensions to the contrary in this book and elsewhere. He believes in electing Republicans and hoping for the best. It's a simpleton's philosophy, really.
   If you want to get a glimpse of the real Rush Limbaugh then tune in to his radio show a few days before a presidential election. What you'll hear is Limbaugh running down the Democratic candidate while pretending that the Republican nominee is sweetness and light.
   Limbaugh can't resist the siren song of party politics but, in fairness to him, he's not the only person who suffers from this malady.



3. As old as the first edition is, I found this book to be timeless and very relevant to current events. An important read for those who care about the future of our country. Ditto for his followup book See I Told You So.



4. A concservative's Bible if you will. A common sense look at life.



5. Limbaugh's demagoguery in print. His reputation as a hypocrite and liar has been well established, yet his followers continue to give him credence. This book is packed full of mischaracterizations, lies, and half-truths.
   
   An example; From chapter 5: "I have about had it being told that the plight of the homeless is my fault. I'm sick and tired of turning on my TV and being told that the AIDS crisis is my fault too, because I don't care enough." Clearly, he's trying to make an emotional appeal to the reader, based on the false premise that "someone" is characterizing Rush (and the reader) as uncaring louts. In reality, these are just issues that come up in the news from time to time. Guilt feelings are optional and personal - not stated and explicit.
   
   Here is another quote from chapter 15. Rush has this to say about environmentalists: "Rather than elevate the third world, they want to move us closer to Third World conditions. That's somehow cleaner and purer. They want to roll us back, maybe not to the Stone Age, but at least to the horse and buggy era." Naturally, Rush never explains what it is that environmentalists are doing that is going to send us back to the horse and buggy era. I can't see how requiring stricter auto-emissions standards moves us back to the horse and buggy era. Environmentalists want to maintain strict pollution control standards, and health and safety requirements, as well as higher automobile fuel efficiency standards. These things improve the quality of everyone's lives without any great sacrifices. Why the hatred of environmentalists? What agenda do they have other than trying to make our world better? Perhaps they stand in the way of Limbaugh's corporate bosses?
   
   In short, Limbaugh's "logic" will only pass muster with those who are in lockstep agreement with his narrow viewpoint. No thinking individual will find anything but disgust with this slanted screed.

5 comments about Locked in the Cabinet.

1. I continue to use this book in my "Intro. to Public Policy" course. I ask my mostly first- and second-year students at the end of the semester if they like the book and if they think it is useful even though it's now almost 9 years old. They thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate gaining a better understanding of the Clinton administration and events in the 1990s that happened when they were only 6-12 years old. Highly recommend.



2. So far, I've read three other memoirs from the Clinton Administration; those of Mr. & Mrs. Clinton and Bob Rubin.
   "Locked in the Cabinet" exhibits a sharp contrast to all other three in that it is the more casual and down to earth recollection of what was happening behind the Democrat-"Putting People First" - disguise of the Clinton Administration, where, in the face of Bill Clinton's indecisiveness, some of the key cabinet members and the Federal Reserve's chief continued to put big businesses and Wall Street first, at the expense of working class America which the Labor Secretary represented. Reich describes some of his cabinet colleagues, plus the President, the First Lady and Greenspan, in an unprecedented light.
   He also well explains his ideal fresh from den being constantly challenged and often destroyed by political balance of power and reality. He does so with passion, wit, colloquialism, and the sense of forgiveness.
   As a reader in Japan where (from wive's point of view) what traditionally makes a good husband is a big bread winner who is hardly home, the detailed descriptions of the author's struggles against his family missing him badly is too alien to me. The author who held a highly respected cabinet position away from family would have made a most desirable husband in Japan.
   I would like to read how his family life developed after he was reunited. Hope he is happy in Berkeley now.



3. Reich presents insightful information in a hillarious way. By writing the book in a journal style, the reader views the 1st four years of the Clinton presidency as a hard fight for the laboring poor. One really feels as if they are in Reich's position, with his outrage, frustrations, and loneliness.



4. Reich is absolutely brilliant and this book presents a good dollop of his wisdom. Few people in politics are driven by ideals anymore, which makes Reich's laser focus on improving economic inequity all the more laudable. And doomed.
   
   In fact, this book explains a whole lot about how & why Clinton's first term of office became such a disappointment. "B" (as Reich, a longtime FoB, calls him) was elected with a mandate, he was young and energetic, he was idealistic and he was determined to improve the social disasters left by 12 years of voodoo economics. But he was also a classic Washington Outsider who did not have the requisite skills of playing Congress like a fiddle as FDR, JFK & LBJ had with their progressive terms. Consequently Clinton's agenda became a losing political football even under a majority Democratic Congress. When Congress passed back into Republican hands in 1994 (in large part due to Clinton's own fumbling) his effectiveness was cut off at the knees by Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America. From then on, B was in full-time CYA mode, relying on Dick Morris's polling of voters to decide all policy issues. The result -- and ultimately the indignity of the impeachment attempt -- are all too familiar and preordained. Alas Bill, we hardly knew thee...
   
   Reich's book is fascinating, thought provoking, brutally frank and often hilariously funny. The man is a gem -- too bad politics isn't a respectable business anymore. Or was it ever?



5. I started this book hoping to get a better sense of the internal workings of the Clinton administration. On that count it delivered, but the book also provided an insightful look into many of the other element driving Washington - Congress, the media, lobbyists, unions, political consultants, Alan Greenspan, etc. While I don't agree with all of Reich's views, I really appreciated his wonderful sense of humor and his keen insights into both people and policies. Except for the most jaded of conservatives, I think anyone who has even a passing interest in politics would enjoy this book.

5 comments about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

1. Definitely not what i thought when i was assigned to read this book by my professor. Maya Angelou definitely led an interesting life, but the way it was written makes her seem self- conscious and doubtful of hew own recollections, i personally did not like or understand it. i had to rely on sparknotes to guide me to the end of this most unique... book. i would not recommend it.



2. A narrative about overcoming the obstacles in one's life, Maya Angelou's memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, reflects on Maya's experiences as a child and teen and the racial discrimination she faces. The memoir is set in rural Arkansas, St. Louis, and San Francisco between the years of 1931 and 1944, At the age of three, Maya, along with her elder brother, Bailey, are sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas, deep in the then segregated South, after their parents' marriage ends in divorce. Later, as a young adult, she and her brother are sent to live with their mother, both in St. Louis and in San Francisco. While growing up, Maya struggles with maturing into an adult, her parents divorce, rape, and pregnancy.
   While living with her mother in St. Louis, Maya is raped by her mother's fifty-year-old boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, at the age of eight. Although this issue is briefly touched upon through the book, one can see it made a great impact on her life, as she refused to talk for several years. With the help of Mrs. Flowers, a woman living in her town in Arkansas, she finally did begin to speak again. Later, while living in San Francisco, Maya begins to fear herself to be a lesbian, and as a result of this belief, she has sex with a boy at sixteen in hopes of convincing herself she is not gay. Three weeks after having sex, Maya finds herself pregnant. She hid her pregnancy from her mother for a majority of her pregnancy term, and it was only with two weeks left in the pregnancy did she decide to tell her mother. Angelou only briefly touches on her pregnancy, as if it is an insignificant issue in her life; however, during the 1940's, society looked down upon single, unwed, teen mothers. Despite all the elements working against her, she continues to persevere, eventually becoming the first black female street car conductor in San Francisco while still in high school, despite the racial discrimination opposing her.
   Although I wanted to connect to Maya Angelou's character because she is a female protagonist and much of the book takes place while she was a teenager, I was unable to. In Jeannette Walls's memoir, The Glass Castle, I was cheering for Jeannette to overcome her obstacles and achieve her goals in life, while I had little empathy for the issues Maya faced in her life. I found the language in the book relatively simple, but I was confused throughout the book, whether it was about character's ages, or the introduction of new characters. While reading, I would find myself needing to stop for a minute so I would be able to remember who a character was.
   Maya Angelou expertly sums up her experiences as a child in the opening of the book when she states, "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat." Although I did not love this book, it is successful in portraying a young woman who clears many hurtles and champions her dreams.



3. I read with my daughter who is in the 7th grade. Her teacher assigned to read as a book report. The students had to write about symbols, motifs, etc. and compare them to personal life experiences. But, as we read together, the words were very graphic beginning around ( i believe chapter going forward ) describing the rape by Maya mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. The book stated that his private part " stood up like a piece of corn ". This is not a " youth friendly book ". PARENTS : Take time to read with your children. I gave two stars because there were funny, interesting points in the book at teh beginning. Other than that, INAPPROPRIATE !



4. I know why the caged bird sings is the glorious yet sad
   tale of Maya Angelou's coming of age as a young girl.
   I don't want to give away the story but it is rife with
   abuse, family conflicts, the power of forgiveness, the
   need to find meaning in one's life. It is slow but it's
   like an old friend, you'll want to take your time with
   this book and that's only a small part of what makes it
   a gem.



5. Maya Angelou's first memoir gives us a glimpse of how isolated segregation made Afro.-Americans during the 30's. But she goes to a wider range of experiences as she goes from rural Arkansas to St. Louis, where she experiences a terrible crime. But even through hardships she repeats her belief about literature saving her. She later goes to California where she becomes a young woman of determination and yet at the same time confusion. Maya Angelou makes very powerful statements when looking back on herself. I would recommend this for teens (15-up) because some themes and subjects might be too much for younger children.