5 comments about Monica's Story.

1. Monica Samille Lewinsky appears to be either incredibly naive or incredibly childish. This book is not a page turner. If you are interested in her camps' POV... then you may like this book. The author says her "disorderly routine and her neurotic behavior over weight perfectly explain why she never cleaned the notorious blue Gap dress that was stained with the President's semen" (page 11).
   
   She is characterized as very naive. She documented every little detail as if it was major, which appears that she had a motive for the future use of this information. It gave me thoughts that she was contemplating possible blackmail, book deals, and/or movie deals.
   
   Yet again... she was either incredibly smart, naive, or silly.



2. This book was quite dumb, and all that it does is emphasize how dumb people can be. If you're a Republican right-winger who's more interested in a president's, a man's, sexcapades than what he does with the economy, then read on by all means. This mindless book was made for you.



3. Any woman in her early twenties, who has ever fallen in love with a man who is married and forbidden by conventional ethical and professional standards, will find empathy in this book.

   Whatever side of truth or political scenario this book attempts to portray, I primarily read it as a romance and enjoyed it more than ever. The book's appeal lies in the dynamics of the affair between the young intern and the president, rather than any political truth-finding. Maybe, there are too many 'truths' out there, and who are we to judge which one is true. This is Monica's version, so why quibble about absolute realities?

   The book certainly does a good job of revealing her a human figure rather than a man-hunting slut responsible for the impreachment of Clinton.

   Why marvel Marie Antoinette and Josephine, and not Monica? I admire Monica Lewinsky as a person who enjoys poetry, loves life, watches her weight, experiments with men, and most of all braves what the world thinks of her. I really think people ought to stop thinking of her as a sex symbol.

   Tragic as the love story's end is, Monica RULZ!!!




4. This book was quite ridiculous. Although I applaud the author on his efforts, the book was among other things boring and without depth. The story somehow tries to paint Monica as highly intelligent, sure of what she wanted and able to speak her own mind. But she is also supposed to be lost, confused, and have low self esteem. Am I the only person who sees the contradiction here?

   I honestly picked up this book simply because it was in the library and sounded interesting. I am not truly interested in either politics or gossip. Although I knew information about the Lewinsky scandal (who didn't?), I never defended one side or the other. I don't think Lewinsky is an evil women who should be burned at the stake. I also think that some people are too quick to criticize her without considering the fact that we've all done something we aren't proud of in our lives. I think she was truly in love with the President and that she didn't try to set him up. However this book goes way too far in trying to make her sound innocent. Any decent person will own up to the fact that they have done something wrong. But this book made Monica into the hurt little victim, without taking any responsibility for her own actions. The thing that bothered me the most was that no one ever considered Hilary or Chelsea seriously in the story. Monica somehow seems to almost completely write them out of the picture as if the family didn't matter. Of course she does mention that she followed Hilary's actions so she could know when the President would call her. For someone who is so intelligent it is surprising to me that she never considered what effect it would have on other people (namely the Clinton family) if she and the President actually did get married, something she often daydreams about in the story. Does she expect to just lovingly become Chelsea's stepmother? Although the author tried to avoid this he truly ended up making Monica sound extremely neurotic.

   In life there is usually no black or white area. Most situations can not be interpreted as completely right or wrong. All people live in a gray area, meaning sometimes they do the right thing and other times they don't. In this book we apparently meet the first person who doesn't, because Monica Lewinsky lives totally in the white area. I wish I had picked up a book with much more depth.




5. Not indepth reading, but remember the story and the people it includes. The book details Monica's emotions to conincide with what headlines the public knew. Worth reading, if you are interested in what took place (obviously from her side). Many facts and the Starr Report excerpts to legitimize assertions.

5 comments about I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story.

1. It doesn't matter how many home runs Berry Bond's or anyone of this aera of Baseball, what Hank AAron endured and the racial hatred he went through only proves that he is the BEST. These modern day players could not survive what he and others went through.



2. I've been a fan from age seven, which is where I was in life when Henry hit number 715. His recounting of his life in baseball is captivating and highly educational.
   
   Mr Aaron is one of the most skilled players in baseball history, and his telling of his story explains that he is much more than that. Mr Aaron is a man of dignity and class, his success through clouds of racist hate provides a shining example of what a man can be under extreme circumstances. Thank you Henry, for your marvelous career in baseball, and for your open, honest sharing of the story.



3. "I Had A Hammer" is a wonderfully written autobiography about the struggles and the triumphs of one Henry(aka Hank) "The Hammer" Aaron, the career home run record holder, and one of the last of the "Negro League" players to make it big. Aaron describes his upbringing in Mobile well, and shows us the different levels of racism in the Deep South. The book reveals that Aaron fought against segregation in the minor leagues, helping to end "white-only" minor league teams, and shows us Aaron's love affair with the city of Milwaukee and it's long-gone Braves team, and the tense relationship between Aaron and Atlanta, which had the first Deep South major league team. This is recommended for lovers of baseball as well as those who want to know more about civil rights heroes. Atlanta is not cast in a good light in this book, but Aaron harbors little bitterness towards the city or the racism and death threats he had to endure while trying to break Babe Ruth's record.



4. The athletic proficiency of Hank Aaron is probably the greatest in the history of baseball if not all sports. He is a man of dignity, grace and the stuff legends are made of. This is an endearing and absorbing biography. This biography has captivated the legend of the man for me. It is well written with true fervor and endearment. One of the best.



5. In this baseball season where my favorite team is floundering in the cellar, and every good story(compelling divisional races) is counterbalanced by the bad (steroids), I have been trying to maintain interest by re-reading some baseball books that I have read over the years. After re-reading "I Had A Hammer", I remember why it remains one of the best biographies/autobiographies that I have ever read.
   
   The sports genre in books is much harder than one would think to keep up interest in. There are very few gems in any sporting subject; mostly it's very mediocre to terribly vapid. Usually a fan becomes disappointed in their sports "heroes" when they read a biography about them, because the writing can be so bad. Fortunately, for a ballplayer as great as Hank Aaron, the work lives up to the character and legend of the man.
   
   Mr. Aaron does a splendid job of taking the reader through his life in Alabama, his discovering the game of baseball, and - of course - his remarkable career. His writing style provides enough description to allow the reader to get a true mental "picture" of what his life was like without getting bogged down in minutiae. Throughout the book, I had the feeling like I really was there watching his career unfold.
   
   Of course, that brings us to the real core - and most important part - of his life story. That is, what Mr. Aaron experienced as he neared and eclipsed Babe Ruth's home run record. Most celebrities or sports figures would relate this in that sensational, "woe-is-me", tabloid-tell-all sort of way. Not Mr. Aaron. He shares many of the truly hateful and despicable letters he received from people across the nation who saw the idea of an African-American breaking the record of a white man as egregious. Mr. Aaron relates how this inundation of hate mail affected him, but he manages to avoid expressing any hate towards the senders of those letters. One obviously gets the sense that Mr. Aaron steeled himself against those attacks with grace and dignity, allowing himself to still play the game the way it was supposed to be played, and to do it with class and personal enjoyment.
   
   It is striking to return to Mr. Aaron's autobiography after the events in baseball over the past decade. We as a fan base in general express outrage over the strike, the steroids (and questions about those players that broke records), outrageous salaries, and the like. It seems to always elicit a response demanding a return to the "innocence" of baseball seasons and players gone by. However, Mr. Aaron's experience demonstrates that there was controversy in almost every era of the game. In his case, it was a despicable form of racial hatred expressed by a very vocal minority in this country.
   
   Again, "I Had A Hammer" stands out as one of the great books in the sports genre, and stands out as one of my favorite biographies/autobiographies. I rate it the full five stars, and encourage readers of all interests to give this one their attention.

No comments about An American Story: The Odyssey of Solomon Northup (Kente Classic).

5 comments about Nixon: A Life.

1. In searching for a positive, or, at least, evenhanded account of America's most controversial 20th century President, (no easy task) I stumbled across this biography written by a British politician, Jonathan Aitkin. I found Nixon: A Life to be the most favorable biography of anyone I have ever read and it indeed pushes the boundaries of scholarship in its near-hagiography.
   
   As a record of facts, I would give this book five stars. No biography can cover every little thing but Aitkin does an excellent job of covering just about everything the reader needs to know about the life and times of America's 37th President. Aitkin quotes extensively from the subject both in personal interview and archival documents. Aitkin also quotes family, friends, employees and a veritable who's who of famous historical figures large and small from the second have of the last century.
   
   As an objective analysis of Nixon's character and behavior, I would have to give this biography only three stars. Aitkin clearly worships his subject and rarely passes up an opportunity for blankfaced praise. Though Aitkin occassionally acknowledges Nixon's deep personal and moral flaws, he is quick to qualify his remarks by downplaying the severity of the flaws that contributed greatly to Nixon being the only President to be oblidged to remove himself from office. Aitkin bends over backward to portray a well-meaning and honorable Nixon as beset on all sides by "liberal" media and historians, witch-hunting partisan Democrats in Congress, and ignorant and meanspirited Vietnam War demonstrators. Aitkin effectively tips his hand when he defends Nixon's extremely controversial decision to bomb Cambodia, "Although no liberal historian has been able to accept it, the Cambodian incursion brought about many of its intended tactical and strategic results." Here, he is clearly drawing a line in the sand between "us" and "them" with himself and Nixon on one side of the line and "liberal historians" who disagree with the President's decision on the other.
   
   That Nixon accomplished many admirable feats in his first term is undeniable. He opened up relations with Communist China, he (and Kissinger) finally ended the Vietnam Conflict horrorshow, he started the EPA, he did a fine job hastening the desegregation of The South's public schools and bringing the South closer to mainstream America, he ended the draft, he supported the arts and expanded the national parks. In fact, domestically, Nixon was at least centrist, if not positively leftist in his policies that benefited the poor, the arts and the environment. His opening of China was a brilliant foreign policy masterstroke. Because of his accomplishments, I honestly believe Richard Nixon loved America, was capable of deep sympathy toward those less fortunate, was an inherently decent man, and revered the office of The Presidency.
   
   Nixon was a strange and deeply intellectual man. Deeply flawed but extraordinarily gifted. Extremely intelligent and perhaps even brilliant. Physically and socially awkward and a natural recluse, he was insatiably intellectually curious & read incessantly and deeply. He loved to talk for hours and hours about political and social topics, particularly his area of expertise, foreign policy. He seemed to be most relaxed amoung a very few close confidants or abroad impressing foreign leaders with his intelligence, insight, foresight and expertise in foreign policy. The more I read about him, the more I couldn't help but think he would have made a tremendous Ivy League college professor in History or Political Science.
   
   He was, by no means, the devil incarnate many have portrayed him as but he was no cupcake either. A ruthless and occassionally dirty politician; even as early as his first election, he was accused of violating the spirit, if not the rules, of political fairplay. The phrase "dirty tricks" was invented in the political sphere to describe Nixon's unsavory political tactics. He came to prominence as the Republican party's attack dog, willing to do and say anything, no matter how mean or unethical. He was chosen as Eisenhower's running for precisely this reason. The Republican Party shrewdly figured Eisenhower could be perceived by the public as the benign, smiling world savior in grandfatherly retirement while Nixon did the political dirty work. Even other Republicans noted Nixon's somewhat distasteful enthusiasm for such work.
   
   Nixon, like many powerful people, was pathologically adverse to admitting or accepting fault. For instance, Both Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush have demonstrated this characteristic. Powerful people are often incapable of acknowledging themselves as accountable to the same rules and laws less powerful people are. Nixon exacerbated this common trait with his own meanness, paranoia, pugnaciousness, vindictiveness, pettiness, secrecy and willingness to step outside the lines. Judging by many of his cabinet postings, it is fair to posit the possibility that his social ineptness led him to be a poor judge of character. His decision to engage in the Watergate coverup was immoral and just plain stupid. Even brilliant people do dumb things. That Nixon was able to convince himself or be convinced that a coverup would bring anything but disastrous political and, thus, professional ruination is mindboggling to the point of bizarre.
   
   Richard Nixon was a complicated and conflicted man. A good man and real patriot though deeply flawed, he was a compelling portrait of a man who may have been better suited to a different, more cerebral profession that would have allowed his natural gifts to flourish while limiting the impact of his personal awkwardness & flaws on himself and the outside world. A brilliant statesman but an ultimately failed President.



2. Nixon was hardly an angel, but he was never the evil man that many so-called biographers have portrayed him to be. This book is an excellent read for people that are interested in Nixon the President and Man as opposed to Nixon the Beast. He WAS human by the way.He had failings and personal demons to be sure, but this book doesn't harp on these failings as being the WHOLE story of Dick Nixons life. Nixon's admirable qualities do come through in this book instead of being buried or ignored. Nixon's rise to power was the product of his intellect and just plain hard work. There was never a silver spoon in Dick Nixon's mouth for sure, and he never forgot it. This was his strength and in the end his weakness. He always seemed to resent the "silver spoon" crowd and they returned the favor in spades. That crowd still finds it necessary to trample on his grave every chance they get. The negative books are still coming. The hatred is still there. It's sad that they still find the need to attack him all of these years after his death. Dick Nixon would find it gratifying that he still has that effect on them. Read the book, it's great.



3. Love him or hate him, the 37th President of the United States occupied the office at a critical time in our nations history.
   
   British Member of Parlament Jonathan Aitken gives us a nuanced portrait of a highly complex man. Aitken, initially no admirer of RN's, paints a sympathetic portrait of a deeply flawed man who, in the end, was his own worst enemy.
   
   While reading this book I could not help but recall the words of Henry A. Kissinger; "What would he have been like if some would have loved him?" I could not help but think of opportunities lost, such as a resounding victory in Vietnam, true detante' with the USSR, a China policy with lasting power, as well as true health care and welfare reform.
   
   Instead we get a picture of a White House under seige almost from the moment of inaugeration. Although, it could be argued, RN sought for his moment since a child, once he reached the pinnacle he was unable to enjoy that which he strove so long for. We see an idiosyncratic Nixon who thought that sleep was a waste of time, talking to the press was a waste of time, and being friends with your enemies was a waste of time. The result? Caracatures of "Tricky Dick," a stiff, wooded figure who exuded no warmth or strength (unlike FDR and Reagan).
   
   The criticisms of this book as being "too favorable" are not warranted. Throughout Aitken's book he strives not to paint a uni-dimensional portrait of Nixon; to do so requires a great deal of journalistic jujitsu at times because RN is so quirky. Notwithstanding, we have a volume that properly gives RN credit where he is due, and one that takes him to task when need be. The fact that ANYONE says something positive about Nixon is a bit much for some because of the fact that we have been conditioned to only see RN in his darkest moments.



4. Recently, I've began reading a series of Presidential biographies. First I read "Master of the Senate" which is about LBJ. Next, I decided to read this book about Nixon.
   
   I found it to be a good read, although the author seems to make it his mission to rehabilitate Nixon a little too much. He makes guys like John Dean, H.R. Haldeman, and Bob Ehrlicman look like the main villians in Watergate, and gives too much credit to G. Gordon Liddy. It does a good job of following the major events in Nixon's life, and it does lack the anti-Nixon bias that many Americans, myself included, have towards the 37th President.
   
   I recommend the book, but I do warn you that it may be a little to pro-Nixon for some people.



5. Aitken clearly writes a sympathetic biography of Nixon. Sometimes he goes too far toward apology for Nixon, whitewashing his obstruction of justice during Watergate and other crimes as being unimportant because they were unsuccessful. He portrays Nixon as almost always sinned-against, instead of the sinner.
   
   Nonetheless, this is one of the better things that I have read about Nixon because it portrays him as a person instead of the personification of evil. You learn about his character, his motivations, his family, and his many important achievements in foreign policy (such as triangular diplomacy).
   
   The strength of the book is Aitken's access to Nixon through several interviews, as well as interviews with many other key Nixon associates--a hostile biographer was never going to have this kind of access. The author does an excellent job explaining how Nixon transformed US foreign policy from the bipolar, anti-Soviet approach of Eisenhower, JFK, and LBJ into a sophisticated and much more effective triangular diplomacy. He provides much interesting material about Nixon's Quaker background and his spiritual ups and downs through out his life. Finally, he provides a good analysis of Nixon's well-planned and deliberate comeback after his resignation.
   
   The weaknesses should also be mentioned--Aitken often portrays Nixon's views of his opponents as objective fact, and he too often assumes that conspiracies against Nixon explain away his misdeeds. He excuses Nixon's rough political campaigns as either a reaction to his opponents or as a result of the atmosphere of the times.
   
   Overall, the writing is interesting, although it does not rise to the level of gripping. The book reveals several key facets of Nixon that are usually overlooked, and an intelligent and thoughtful reader can see through the apologetic elements. Although not perfect, it's still the best book or article that I have read on Nixon.

5 comments about Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons.

1. This is great book to read if you love the pre-Steinbrenner Yankees of Mantle, Berra, and Ford. Yogi
   gives a simple (what else would you expect?) description of the glory days of baseball before big money. I loved the book! If you are a Yankee fan you can't afford not to read this one. Spend the money and sit back and
   let Yogi tell you what it was like to be young and a Yankee!



2. YOGI BERRA DOES A FIND JOB IN REHASHING EACH OF HIS 10 WORLD SERIES VICTORIES. HE GIVES US A LOOK AT HOW THE SEASON WENT, ADDITION OR SUBTRACTION OF KEY PLAYERS, AND SOME DETAILED HIGHLIGHTS OF THAT PARTICULAR SEASON. I ENJOYED HIS HUMOR AND HONESTY CONCERNING HIMSELF AND MANY TEAMATES. THE ONLY THING I WANTED WAS MORE DETAIL ON THE EVENTS HE COVERS. ALL IN ALL THIS IS A VERY EASY BOOK TO READ AND IS VERY ENTERTAINING. FOR ALL YANKEE FANS.



3. If you are a sports fan, baseball fan, Yankees fan, or a Yogi fan this book won't disappoint. The book chronicles the tough, unlikely hero over his career in his words. In many ways Yogi was the bridge between the "old" Yankees (Di Maggio, etc.) and the Mantle / Maris Yankees and beyond. Great book! Fun read!



4. I feel that I can make the claim that Yogi Berra is the most beloved living baseball player, without the same sort of argument I would get if I happened to be making a claim about the greatest living baseball player (Mays or Bonds or Aaron?) or the most admired living baseball player (Musical or Ryan or Aaron?). But who else brings a big smile to your face when you see him still doing commercials on television almost four decades after he retired from playing baseball?

   "Ten Rings: My Championship Seasons" was written by Yogi with Dave Kaplan, a former newspaper reporter who is currently the director of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, and you have the sense that Yogi was looking at his scrap books and press clippings talking about what he remembers from each of the ten seasons in which he and the Yankees won the World Series. Yogi also comments on the four years the Yankees lost the Fall Classic and the three years they did not even win the American League pennant, but the focus is mainly on what those ten seasons that ended with him receiving one of his "Ten Rings."

   I have read most of the books by and about Yogi since I was given a copy of Joe Trumbell's biography in the mid-1960s, and I was rather surprised by how many new stories Yogi came up with for this trip down memory lane. Especially interesting "Ten Rings" are what he has to say about Casey Stengle during the 1949-53 seasons when the Yankees became the first team to win five World Series in a row, and his thoughts about the Brooklyn Dodgers during all their classic confrontations in the 1950s. He also provides some nice details on the end of Allie Reynolds's second no-hitter in 1951. Some readers might be dismayed that Berra has little bad to say about his teammates and opponents, although I think it is clear he felt about Yankee GM George Weiss the way many feel about the team's owner George Steinbrenner today, but clearly Yogi is long past holding grudges. He talks about some of the abuse heaped on him in the early days of his major league career and speaks modestly about his own impressive career accomplishments.

   If you read between the lines the key thing you will pick up is the sense of teamwork and professionalism that existed on the Yankees during the Berra years. This book will be of some value to baseball historians in that it contains Yogi's thoughts on the key players in each championship season as well as some interesting anecdotes that show a different side of the Yankees. For example, Mickey Mantle thought calling pitches was not that hard so Yogi lets him do it during a game Whitey Ford is pitching. Then there is rookie Gil McDougald making a point to veteran pitcher Allie Reynolds. So there are a few choice tales in this rather brief book.

   In the fifth grade there were three of us with the same first name and since I had a catcher's mitt, I spent a year as Yogi. It did not matter that Yogi had already retired and that I had never seen him play. I liked New York as a city and the Yankees in the Civil War, so becoming a New York Yankees fan seemed like a good idea. The fact that they had a catcher with basically the same first name and a last name starting with the same three letters as my own, was too obvious to ignore. Since then I have become much more impressed by what Berra did on the field, much more than the celebrated Yogi-isms (although I love the way the best of those make perfect sense if you pay attention to what is meant rather than what is being said). Clearly I am at the point where I will read anything Yogi happens to write, and while we are not talking classic baseball books, you are not going to be disappointed by "Ten Rings" or any of his other volumes.

   Final Notes: Yes, the page numbers are superimposed on a miniature image of Yogi's ring for that particular championship season. Also, I find it somewhat ironic that the cover is done in a layout rather reminiscent of the 1965 Topps baseball cards, which was the first year in which Yogi was pictured as a player-coach for the New York Mets. The back of "Ten Rings" has an Appendix listing Yogi Berra's World Series Career Records along with his season and post-season batting stats along with line scores for all of the World Series games for those ten championship seasons.




5. This light reminiscence of Yogi's ten championship seasons is a quick, pleasant read. Like a fleshed out magazine article, perhaps, it touches on a bit of history, a few sketches of famous teammates, and a recounting of the high spots of this charming hall of famer's career. A good choice for the younger fan with no memory of the game as it was in a simpler time.

5 comments about Down The Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon.

1. This non-fiction book is about the expedition of John Wesley Powell and their pioneering and death-defying exploration of the Grand Canyon in 1869. Powell, a college professor who had lost an arm at Shiloh, was well-prepared to map the canyons of the Colorado and do a scientific andgeological survey. Unfortunately, he was no leader, and the expedition suffered terribly for it. He rounded up a crew of mountain men and ne'er-do-wells, as well as a few neurotic former Civil War veterans and set off in rowboats that couldn't have been more ill-suited to running the violent rapids of the Colorado. Powell and his men saw amazing sites, but they almost perished multiple times. Finally there was a mutiny in which several men ended up leaving the party and trying to hike out of the canyon(they were never seen again); the others ran the rapids and somehow lived to tell the tale.
   
   While I liked learning more about Powell's expedition, Dolnick has little sense of pacing, and uses annoying modern metaphors every time he gets the chance. The result is a plodding read on what should have been a can't-miss story. Down the Great Unknown has its merits, but the definitive book on Powell and the Grand Canyon has yet to be written.
   
   Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark"



2. I've "rafted" the upper Colorado.
   
   Of course that was in a motorized raft, led by experienced pilots, with a map and they did all the cooking and if something really bad happened the ranger service could chopper in and get me (Hey, I *did* hike out from Phantom Ranch)
   
   I can't conceive of doing it in an ungainly rowboat, without a steering oar, having little provisions, without a map or even knowledge of the river (what happens if you hit a 100 ft fall and nowhere to portage?), and where a broken ankle would have meant an almost certain death -- and with one arm.
   
   Truthfully, its amazing this exposition survived.
   
   Dolnick weaves in Powell's embellished account with the other expedition journals to craft a balanced account of the expedition, along with correlating the trip with known features of the canyon. Dolnick describes the tensions within the team -- categorizes their moves, good and bad and tracks their trailblazing passage.
   
   Excellent read.



3. This is a pretty decent book for the newcomer who has never read anything about Powell. I found it less entertaining than my fellow reviewers though, as it follows the tedium of the daily journals a little too closely. I also found the narrative to be interspersed with too many digressions. These range from opinions of the Green/Colorado river by modern rafting experts to accounts of other early rafting expeditions, and a lengthy 2-chapter segment on the American Civil war and Battle of Shiloh. This latter exercise contributes nothing to the book, by the way! The reader is also left in the dark about the Native American peoples, Mormon settlers, and miners who inhabited this area at the same point in time ... Really, it is as if the expedition were done in a vacuum. Even worse was the lack of information on 9 of the 10 men who took part in the expedition. While there is more than enough about John Wesley Powell, readers get only sketchy details about the lives of the other 9 men. Even the simplest details like where these men were born is left out, nor are we given much about the kinds of lives they lived (careers, families, etc.) prior to the expedition (and precious little afterwards as well). Although 6 of these 9 men were, like Powell, fellow Union veterans of the Civil War, but we get nothing about their wartime experiences! We also have no clue what motivated them to join this expedition. This oversight would not doubt have suited the egotistical Powell, but is a serious oversight for a modern historian.



4. I enjoyed this book very much. So much that I have loaned it to family and friends to enjoy.



5. This book was informative but not a real "page turner". The author went off on tangents often that took away from the story at hand. It was not a bad book, but it was not full of the adventure that you would have expected the trip to have been.

5 comments about Namath: A Biography.

1. Kriegel does a masterful job at covering Namath for the reader. That said, I found the book way too long for the subject matter. Definitely mainline skimming after Namath retires from the Jets. The author really covers Namath's flaws. He appears to have always been an industrial strength drinker with little regard for most of his teammates and others. Not an easy person to like. Consequently, I found myself asking why am I reading all of these words about such a person. The football parts are really good, especially I would think for old line Jets fans. However, other parts are less intriguing. I've noticed that authors who are also journalists tend to think we care as much about all the details as do they. I found Kriegel's book, Pistol, about Pete Maravich is a better read.



2. Namath, through his legal mouthpiece, refused to cooperate with the author of "Namath: A Biography." A terrific researcher and writer, Mark Kriegel didn't need him. Joe left enough bitter friends, teammates, and business partners who were willing to share the lowdown on Broadway Joe. Ain't a pretty picture, but neither is pro football.
   
   This was one of the most talented and courageous players ever to step onto a football field. The author pays due homage to Joe Namath, QB. Plenty of fascinating stuff on Beaver Falls, Alabama, and Jets heroics. His athleticism was a great gift; his grit in making the most of it was unyielding. If you utterly idolized him as #12, leave that as your only memory.
   
   What this book presents is Namath as man in full; which is to say, a user without peer, a smalltown pool hustler who brought that ethos to all that touched his life. There's me, and there are the suckers. When he was finished with you, you learned it this way: your phone calls were not returned. Out. Finis. A buddy for twenty years now dying? A teammate for a dozen years? Sorry. Your services in the lifelong promotion that remains Joe Willie "White Shoes" are no longer required. Perhaps the best example cited by the author of the crassness of Namath the man was when he wanted 60G to attend a charity golf tournament organized by his Jets teammates. Unfortunately that sum would drain the total funds earned by the event. So no Joe. Not that he wanted to go; that was the point of the exhorbitant fee--he didn't need them.
   
   When the primetime hustle that was Broadway Joe finally petered out, Namath decided it was family that mattered. He had always tried to take care of his natural family, which was a broken one. But he had no practice at real life. He waited too long. He soon married a user half his age who hustled him: she left him because she wanted to be a "serious actress" and "find herself," as Kriegel painfully quotes her. This she did by ditching Broadway Joe for her own personal Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. She took the two Namath daughters with her, leaving her husband shellshocked as to how such a thing could happen to The Man Himself. He quickly returned to that which best sustained him through his desultory off-field existence: booze.
   
   Kriegel throughout makes the point that the Namath con is all part of the Big Con: The Enteraintment and Sports Sell. The original power behind Namath as Broadway Joe was Sonny Werblin, New York TV superagent and hustler extraordinnaire when he became a minority Jets owner. At the time, pro football was bringing up the rear in the American sports pantheon. Its owners still labored under the delusion they were in the football business. Namath-Werblin changed that. It was the perfect marriage in Joe's life. Joe and Sonny, Football and Show Biz.
   
   Namath's latest promotion has been his autobiography, surprisingly titled, "Namath." This was the reason Joe risked an interview late last year with Sixty Minutes, notorious for slapping the self-satisfied smiles off its subjects. No problem: his attorney likely made sure he got what he wanted, a puff-piece where he charmingly skates Oprahesque across the wreckage of his life while walking a Florida beach. Trying to stay booze-free once again, moving on metal knees and arthritic hips, the man's hustle hasn't lost a step. And he may be alone, still devoted to his daughters, but he's certainly not lonely (wink, wink). Broadway Joe lives.
   
   If you want a well-written take on Namath that is as gritty as the man and his world, read the Kriegel book. It's all about Joe William Namath, who remains one of the most extraordinary football players I ever watched. And wish I could pay good U.S. money to go back and watch again in the autumn dust of Shea Stadium, New York.



3. Great book. I feel sad for a man who peaked at 25.
   
   J!E!T!S! Jets Jets Jets



4. Everybody knows Joe Namath (okay, most people have heard of him). Of our knowledge and recollections of Namath, most go back to about 40 years ago, when he was a young quarterback on fragile knees, had a shotgun arm, a team jelling around him that lead to The Guarantee, a Super Bowl win . . . and he was Joe Namath, The Swankiest Dude in NYC, ladies at his beck and call, llama rug, fur coat, bachelor lifestyle, etc. After that, it all kind of fades to memory: years of frustration, a year with the Rams and retirement. Once in a while you'd hear about him, starring in the theater of all places, but the memory goes back to when he was 26 and an American idol.
   
   Kriegel wrote a heck of a book, cutting through the cobwebs of our collective memories to give us a much different portrait of a man than the hype had provided to us: one who cared about family, one who respected the father figures of his life, one who cared deeply and was loyal to his friends - but one who reinvented himself at various times of his life and left his old friends behind. His reinvention of his life led to marriage and a family, where he wanted a stable, loving family around him - but didn't quite achieve that. Now, the reinvention goes on - new relationships, new family relations as his children got older, but the old life he lived has never quite been shaken off.
   
   This book was written without the direct help of Namath or through his lawyer, Jim Walsh. It appears that Namath's policy is that his personal life is nobody's business but his, and I respect that: he's had years in the spotlight and what he chooses to reveal to the world should be just that which he chooses. Walsh, a lawyer who has as his sole business that of Joe Namath, requested a huge sum of money for access to Namath and his story. That I have little respect for. I think that Kriegel's version without the help of Namath and Walsh give us a much better, more honest view of the man than if Namath had cooperated in the writing and editing. The result is a book that sheds a good deal of light on a much more complex man than we thought we knew.



5. Time has a way of marching on. In every sport there are a certain amount of sport stars that made their mark not only in the history of their particular sport but upon society in general. Joe Willie Nemet (his real name)made that and more.
   
   A larger than life character is brought to life in this wonderful read. From his roots in growinup up in a rough and tumble mill town of Beaver Falls to the bright lights of Broadway. Namath had the ability to overcome many demons with a unreal atheltic arm and mind. Today's professional athlete - football, baseball, basketball - should lay down and thank the Namath's of professional sport as the ones who made it possible for them to earn these out of sight salary figures kicked around today. Joe brought not only guts and grit to his game but a dertermination and intellegence to run an offense without all the help of modern coaching input seen in today's game. They just don't make em' like the Namaths', Title's, Unitas's, and Baugh's much anymore.
   
   Rank this one up there with it's realistic approach to how it was. A fun ride.

5 comments about Old Songs in a New Cafe Cassette.

1. Item was shipped timely in great condition. I would buy from this seller again. The book is fabulous, I especially like the story titled "Romance", I could read it over and over and till take something away from it. Robert James Waller is a great author with wonderful words.



2. Since this is a group of essays, it is easy to pick up and read any particular portion at will. I've read "...Rachael's room" several times, cry every time, and it makes me give thanks AND say a prayer for our own son. Love the flow. Each story is unique, and living. I've given a number of these books as gifts, and will again. I'm glad Mr. Waller shared these stories with us.



3. I found "Old Songs in a New Cafe" to be the choice selection of Waller's essays, although "One Good Road Is Enough" and "Just Beyond The Firelight" contain excellent essays as well. Waller is a master of dressing emotions in words and for me a new experience. After finding this author, I read his fiction as well. I don't care for some of the subject matter of the fiction but was intrigued with the sensitive prose. Behind it all is a seeker who has "been circling a thousand years and still does not know whether he is a Falcon, or a storm, or a great song." Waller sets me on a high plains afternoon remembering the flowers and the wind, dancing through the late autumn dust remembering those who were free.
   Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope, Concepts to Ponder and South State Street Journal, Secrets of The Heart.



4. I enjoyed reading this biography of writings by Robert James Waller. I, too, felt he was very similar to Robert Fulghum in his approach to life; a reverence for all that is simple and beautiful in this world. After reading only his fictional works, I gained a deep appreciation of the author himself and am refreshed that someone with a PhD in business can have a soul.



5. Reads a tremendous lot like Robert Fulghum, but beyond that...

   Through essays, the presumably all true story of a man who lived as if he was born with a detailed, incredibly accurate set of instructions and near-Godlike wisdom. Learns pool and billiards as an eleven-year-old kid and beats the town champ. Takes up basketball, making his high school team as a freshman and becoming a good major-school college player. Starts a loving marriage in college that remains super-strong over 25 years later. Plays guitar, and with his small combo is chosen for national TV appearances with Charles Kuralt and Robert Kennedy. Despite all his independent thought, establishes a solid - actually distinguished - career in academia. And, in the decade after this book, writes a novel that may have sold more copies - and tickets to its subsequent movie - than ANY in the 1990's!

   And guess what? NONE of this - not even a SCRAP of it, according to the essays - ever misled him or cost him anything! He didn't drop out of school to hustle pool, ignore academics to over-concentrate on basketball, discover his wife who he chose at age 22 didn't fit his ever-evolving life at age 50, go for a low-paying full-time music career, QUIT music altogether and lose the fun of playing recreationally, or constrict his thinking by getting it in line with the PC work setting of a university.

   Not only did he seem to be always doing the exact right thing at the right time, he avoided every trap there was.

   Amazing! Have never seen a life so comprehensively superb since Jennifer Beals' in Flashdance, and she was FICTIONAL!

   So, Robert James, we have two ways to interpret you. You can be one of the most premier renaissance men of our time, or an archly annoying "perfect" person akin to Martha Stewart. So, my challenge to you is - write an essay, telling us in detail, how in at least one instance YOU, not circumstances, luck or the people around you - have FAILED. Have you done it? Can you do it?

1 comments about Zinger : A Champion's Story of Determination, Courage and Charging Back/Audio Cassettes.

1. Determination and trust in himself and now God make Zinger one of the most popular players.

   So good to now see him contend like he just did at 2001 U.S. Open. He is gritty player who toughs it out on the course and as he so exemplary demonstrates here in his early PGA career and his bout with shoulder cancer.

   Love the story about his hitting 3-irons over the motel from the asphalt parking lot. That's got to be a swing that can be trusted.

   His anguish and yet peace with death of Payne is still treasured memory of all of us who love this game. Zinger is a winner if he never wins again. But I'm convinced that will not be the case.

   Great read worth your pursuit. Lessons to be gleaned.

1 comments about Harry S. Truman: A Journey to Independence.

1. I listened to these tapes just after finishing McCullough's Truman bio. I felt it was a rehash of the highlights of that work, sensationalized by mixed narration of Lauren Bacall, Gregory Peck, and Jack Lemmon, except with a little more of an additional focus on Margaret than McCullough's book. It did not cover much of Truman's life before or after the presidency. "A Journey to Independence" was a tribute and should be judged as such, rather than a bio. It's a passable listen, but I certainly would not recommend hunting down a copy.