5 comments about On Mexican Time: A Home in San Miguel.

1. Author has a nice touch, however, half way through he seems to run out of much to say except reportage. Reports about fixing a centuries old house can be about as dull as being there. No duller. There are interesting reflections, along with descriptions of people and places in the first half of the book, making it worth the cost of the book and your time reading at least half of it.



2. When I was 16 years old, I traveled to San Miguel de Allende under the kindly watch of a young teacher-couple that I knew through my church. After two weeks in their rented home on Calle del Chorro, they set me up in a casa de huéspedes on Pila Seca Street. It was the most formative adventure of my young life! The introverted and frightened-of-his-own-shadow kid that I was disappeared rapidly as I was enveloped into the fold of the guests at Domingo and Pita's place. I really grew up that summer and made San Miguel my home. I returned home an older and more confident person. My stay in San Miguel de Allende changed my life and is responsible for my love of Mexico and my chosen profession: high school Spanish teacher.
   
   Tony Cohan caught the essence of San Miguel de Allende and I was transported back through his wonderful prose to those days. It was such a thrill to recognize the places he wrote about and the experiences (both frustrating and exhilarating)that time and travel in Mexico provides.
   
   If you want wonderful writing, a deeper understanding of Mexican culture and a view of one of the most beautiful towns in Mexico, I highly recommend On Mexican Time!



3. I have lived in San Miquel and this is a good book on the city and the people. Things have changed a lot in the past forty years and we need another update.



4. I bought this book 7 years ago and am currently reading it yet again. This is one of those books I can't read enough. I never get bored with this book. Cohan uses all the senses to bring the reader into the story and paint the most beautiful mental portrait of Mexico.
   -Jodi: age 24



5. I absolutely loved this book!! The writer's style was such that I could vividly imagine myself in SMA during the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties. The characters were so real and full of life: the gardener who had a mistress, the man who killed someone twice, the young girls who helped around the house and grew to be women with their own girls, and many many more characters came to life. The book was like a great movie you don't wish would end and when it does it leaves you sad that it's over. Luckily for us Tony Cohan has another book, Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico, on his life in Mexico which I'll be quickly ordering to pour through just like I did with "On Mexican Time".

5 comments about Campaigning With Grant.

1. I'm in the middle of this right now. It's a long book, over
   500 pages, and yet there is nothing tiring or tedious about it.
   Somehow it flows on in a way few other books have for me.
   I credit Porter's writing.
   
   When this book was first handed to me, I set it aside, having
   little taste for the carnage I had read of before. But this
   book is about *people*, not about death. Its as a study of
   humanity that this book excells.
   
   Yes, there is a heavy Union partisanship - Porter is human.
   But he also writes about the near-insanity of waging this war
   across the American map. He knows how deep he and everyone
   around him has descended into the pit.
   
   The greatness of the book is that Porter's humanity and his
   keen study of the human natures around him grow greater in
   these monsterous circumstances.
   
   And there are hints here of a history that I've read very little
   of. A terrible shadow of despair behind Lincoln and Grant, a
   feeling that Grant is the Union's last chance. Porter paints a
   group portrait of the Union leadership on the verge of tearing
   itself apart. Teetering on the edge of a wave of duels. A war
   of personalities in the Union which reflects the Civil War
   itself. The very concept of human society put to the test on
   all scales.
   
   And what is Porter's opinion of Grant? Calm. Utterly fearless.
   An executive genius. Utterly respectful of other human beings
   *except* those who mistreat the people and animals entrusted
   to them. A man who engenders iron loyalty. As Porter says at one
   point, Grant was given the most appalling task in the history
   of the nation, and he accomplished it. A man with a genius for
   stabilizing personalities, for keeping them socialized, for
   bringing out the very best in them. A man with absolute faith
   in the human spirit, and the force of will to bring out the
   best in people.
   
   One last note: somehow I grew up with the idea that Lincoln
   was this slow-moving man, and a stodgy speaker. Porter describes
   the exact opposite, a Lincoln still angular, almost freakish,
   but swift-handed in greeting his friends. And a Lincoln who's
   verbal fluency is as swift as his anecdotes are wise.
   
   This is a marvelous window into our past.



2. The personal anecdotes are truly amazing. This was written by one of Grant's closest aides during the Eastern Theatre campaign. This book shows and disputes the old arguments of Grant as a Butcher. An Important read for those who want to find the real Grant!



3. These are the personal reminiscences of Horace Porter, Aide-de-Camp to General Grant. He joined Grant April 4, 1864 and served with him for 9 years, 1864-1872. So by definition expect Federal bias and a father like depiction of Grant. That said, this is a very good Civil War learning tool, insightful as only the reflections of someone who was privy to the highest councils of Union command could be.

   From his promotion to General-in-Chief until the end of the war, Grant had to make many tough decisions. Porter reports a number of these in his book. Most importantly, however, he reports on Grant, General of the Armies. My comments to come are not intended to denigrate Robert E. Lee in any way. Let's face it, Lee's performance was awesome. However, Grant's performance was much better, if for no other reason than Grant's authority was greater than Lee's. Until the very last days of the war, Jeff Davis acted as his own General-in-Chief. For all but 4-5 weeks, Lee only commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, however, commanded all Federal armies. Thus, as biased as Porter's work necessarily is, Porter does give us the first and best look at a true modern general. Grant's political awareness, his understanding of logistics, close coordination with the navy, handling multiple armies, ability to improvise, understand and forge new methods of warfare such as Sherman's march, "mark him as the exceptional general of the nineteenth century". He really was.

   Porter's book gives us a unique view of how Grant's abilities evolved. Equally important we get in-depth reviews of a variety of Union participants, everyone from Lincoln, to Hancock, Dana, Meade, Sherman and Sheridan just to mention a few. These personal reflections are quite worthwhile.

   This is one interesting book, written by a well positioned observer. It is a book that adds greatly to understanding the workings of the Union high command during the final year of the Civil War.




4. These are the personal reminiscences of Horace Porter, Aide-de-Camp to General Grant. He joined Grant April 4, 1864 and served with him for 9 years, 1864-1872. So by definition expect Federal bias and a father like depiction of Grant. That said, this is a very good Civil War learning tool, insightful as only the reflections of someone who was privy to the highest councils of Union command could be.

   From his promotion to General-in-Chief until the end of the war, Grant had to make many tough decisions. Porter reports a number of these in this book. But he also reports on Grant, General of the Armies. My comments to come are not intended to in any way denigrate Robert E. Lee. Let's face it, Lee's performance was awesome. However, Grant's performance was much better, if for no other reason than Grant's authority was greater than Lee's. Until the very last days of the war, Jeff Davis acted as his own General-in-Chief. For all but 3 weeks, Lee only commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, however, commanded all Federal armies. Thus, as biased as Porter's work necessarily is, Porter does give us the first and best look at a true modern general. Grant's political awareness, his understanding of logistics, close coordination with the navy, handling multiple armies, ability to improvise, understand and forge new methods of warfare such as Sherman's march, "mark him as the exceptional general of the nineteenth century".

   Porter book gives us a unique view of how Grant's abilities evolved. Equally important we get in-depth reviews of a variety of Union participants everyone from Lincoln, to Hancock, Dana, Meade, Sherman and Sheridan just to mention a few. These personal reflections are quite worthwhile.

   This is one interesting book, written by a well positioned observer. It is a book that adds greatly to understanding the Union participants of the Civil War.




5. Porter writes as if the North was never wrong, its commanders never fooled or mistaken, its armies never disspirited, and that the Union campaigns always succeeded. We all should know better. According to Porter, every time the Confederates didn't hold a field they were "repulsed handsomely." Every time the Union didn't hold the field, they were merely "compelled to retire." You will see these gross aberrations throughout this stale and shoddy work. His characterizations add nothing fresh about the famous personages surrounding him, and certainly his military perspective offers less in quality of insight than the diary of any Union private. There are many great books on the Civil War by the figures who fought it: this one can wait until you've exhausted everything else.

5 comments about The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire.

1. This book is far more than a memoir -- it is a page-turning narrative of the wonderful and terrible drama of life and war in a region about which we think little and know even less, written by a man of exceptional bravery and humanity. I met Dr. Baiev shortly after his arrival in Washington, DC, where my girlfriend (working for Physicians for Human Rights at the time) coordinated PHR's assistance to Dr. Baiev in Washington. At the time I had little appreciation for just what this man had been through, although it was obvious he had survived a harrowing ordeal. To read now the full story behind the brief weeks in which his life intersected ours has been both fascinating and deeply moving. His account of living as a Caucasus youth in the Soviet Union, his struggle to become a doctor, and his extraordinary dedication to his profession, his people and and his faith through two protracted and brutal wars is by turns fascinating, inspiring and heartwrenching. You will not find a more intimate account of the conflict in Chechnya, nor a better illustration of the way that such conflicts have become simultaneously global and local. If you care about peace, if you care about the prospects for a free and prosperous world, you cannot afford not to care about the gross violations of human rights that accompany conflicts increasingly economic, sectarian and cultural all at once. Dr. Baiev's gripping account puts a profoundly human face on the complexity and the urgency of coming to grips with the destructive conflicts that need not and should not continue into the twenty-first century.



2. If you are interested in war, modern politics, news, or human rights, you need to read this book. It shows what warfare is really like, what happens to people after governments make decisions. And it is heartbreaking, but you cannot put it down.
   
   The conflict in Chechnya is mostly forgotten and then often miscontrued topic for most of the world. Dr. Khassan Baiev's memoir sheds a light on the horrors of life in Chechnya since 1994, what this ghastly, genocidal war means for the common people and Russian grunts. Baiev is a surgeon with a big heart, and never turned anyone away. He explains casualties from the rather disturbing anatomical perspective of a surgeon, illustrating how fragile bodies and how much pain people can suffer.
   
   The book starts with his life before the war: of the ancient and beautiful Chechen traditions, of the extreme and often brutal Russian racism. As you read the book, the cultural differences between the ancient highlander Chechens and the rest of the Western world seem dwarfed by how lovely their life was, and how, as you read it, you can see yourself in their world. What stays with you is that once you empathize on this level, the eruption of war and desolation is utterly heartbreaking. Because Baiev lived it we see an intimate world being shattered, not a headline.
   
   Baiev (narrowly) survives years of war until both the Russians and Chechen guerillas are out for his head because his clientele includes everyone (and mostly civilians) so he has to escape to America, and eventually moved to Boston. His observants description of coming to America, seeing how peaceful it is here, how people of many races coexist, and how a town in Vermont took care of his family, gives you a deeper appreciation for what we have in this country and that many take for granted.
   
   I've never read anything that captures so vividly and personally the heartbreakingly human face of war. I think everyone should read it just to be educated on something that is going on at this moment, but that many people do not know about or simply don't understand. It speaks of overwhelming swaths of cruelty and evil, but also transcendent moments of grace and joy, humanity between enemies. Baiev treated anyone who needed help, so we see souls, not sides.
   
   What steals the breath from you, what made me rather emotional, is how war is revealed here as so useless, so tragic, so profoundly evil because we are all people, and war destroys and perverts this sacred life that we all share in.



3. If you plan on investing your time in reading one book this year make it this one. It is a remarkable tale of an honourable man trying to survive in barbaric times under the tyranny of Putin's Russia. Hassan Biev states that one in every five chechens has been killed as a result of the conflict. However after all this carnage the war stills continues and the state still exits in the hearts of men like Dr. Biev. Perhaps the actions of people like him will ultimately lead to peace in that most violent of places.



4. Let me begin by saying that if everything in this book is true Dr. Baiev has my total respect and admiration. It's inspiring to realize that people of his caliber do exist.
   
   There are, however, one or two disquieting features of this book that I feel compelled to mention. After having read the initial reviews I had expected not only a compelling story of human strength amidst tragedy, but a book of high literary accomplishment. That has not come to pass. Whatever Dr. Baiev's own writing style, it has been submerged in the journalistic style of Nicholas and Ruth Daniloff. Nick Daniloff is he of the famous Soviet espionage sting of the 1980's when he was arrested in Moscow in an apparent KGB set-up. Ronald Reagan himself is reported to have been involved in getting Daniloff released. I just wish Dr. Baiev had been able to choose a more literary writer to assist him in developing this book.
   
   Another point I'm almost embarrassed to make is that Dr. Baiev comes across in this book as almost too good to be true. Not only is he an heroic doctor, brave humanitarian, and loyal son, brother, and friend, he is also described a medical entrepreneur, a doctor who not only moonlights as a cosmetic surgereon, but who is also a national martial arts champion! If this book is made into a film I can only imagine Harrison Ford playing the part of Dr. Baiev. It almost seems as if some of Dr. Baiev's financial and sports successes were included in the book just to appeal to the certain segment of the community that might find those aspects of his life as compelling as the humanitarian work of saving lives and limbs amidst war and destruction.
   
   Nevertheless, the book is full of unique tid-bits. While many people reading it will be aware of Russia's halting attempts to convert its military forces from a large army of draftees to a smaller one of professional soldiers this is the first time I'd seen such a negative depiction of these new contract soldiers. I don't think I'd have gotten this insight anywhere but in this book. Likewise, it was also very interesting to read that in addition to the fight between the Russian military and the Chechen rebels there is a criminal, opportunistic element also actively engaged in exploiting the tragedy of Chechnya and which appears to be much more influential than I would have imagined. I think that this insight is very valuable, not only in the context of the Chechenya, but in understanding the influence of criminal opportunists in other conflicts. For me this insight itself was worth the price of the book.
   
   I certainly recommend The Oath, worts and all.



5. This book opened my eyes to the tragedy in Chechnya, and now I want to know more. A compelling, first-hand narrative of the situation in Chechnya that everyone should read.

2 comments about Michael Jordan ....In His Own Words.

1. I accidentally bought this tape instead of an excellent book of Jordan quotes by Janet Lowe. The book was so good I'd pass copies out to kids that I thought could use some mentoring or role modeling. This tape, however, is hardly worth the time to listen to it, and absolutely not worth the price. A verbal 'People' magazine piece at best. In disgust, I am throwing away the 3 copies I bought so that no one else should be victimized. Please do the same.



2. I like a lot this book,please,please,please... I dont know what to say,I just like this greate book.

5 comments about Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Abridged).

1. This book is amazingly moving and well written. Anyone who is even remotely curious about the life of ordinary Chinese women throughout the 20th century should read this work. It not only describes the stories of three generations of Chinese women, but it transports the reader to world that the author is describing. I definitely recommend this book. Often I will sell biographies after reading them, but this book is a keeper.



2. A wonderful narrative of the pre-1949 and cultural revolution China told through three generations.
   
   Though Jung is anti-Mao, her book does a great job of providing a relatively unbiased personal account of this pivotal period in Chinese history.
   
   Jung's colorful family history gives her fodder for intriguing anecdotes and the reader a perspective into the life of a "well-to-do"/politically active Chinese family.



3. Before leaving for my 2004-05 sojourn in China, I naturally sought to acquaint myself with the culture in which I was about to live and work. Of the various books I read (which ranged from Chinese history to essays from American expats to descriptions of "the Asian mind" as applied to Western business people), it turned out that this book was BY FAR the most helpful in my day-to-day interactions -- both social and business -- with my Chinese associates.
   
   Spanning the early 20th Century when author Chang's grandmother was given as a concubine to a warlord general, through mid-century when Chang's parents joyously risked their lives in the Communist takeover, to 1978 when Chang herself left China, WILD SWANS paints a vivid picture of the China of today. I found that the information in this book, told in first-person story form, gave me far more understanding of my Mainland Chinese colleagues than any journalistic writings ever did, or could have.
   
   Since China is already a major force in western economies (especially America's), and will only become more central to the global economy, I consider it useful to share the observation of my personal experience: Understanding the RECENT LIFE EXPERIENCES of a nation's citizens is even important than understanding its customs. The good news is that history--told well--is a fascinating read! And Jung Chang's story is hard to top.
   
   Doni Tamblyn is author of Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training and The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (Big Book of Business Games Series)



4. Nice review of History of China since world War II. Intersting way of telling story.



5. The story of this family is not usual. The grandmother was the mistress of a warlord, the mother was a communist revolutionist, and her daughter, the author of the book has escaped form China as a young girl. The thing I respect the most, that the author has only used personal experiences, and only written about things she has seen with her own eyes, or things which has happened with her family, and never used unchecked stories in her descriptions. She never tells a word in her story against the regime, even when she writes about the most shocking events in her family, but leave the reader to create his or her own opinion.

5 comments about The Sins of the Father.

1. Kessler details the life of Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of Robert, Teddy and Jack Kennedy and the founder of one of the largest political dynasties in America. JPK is not given a very favorable look in this book. He is listed as an adulterer, a swindler, a crook, power hungry and unscrupulous. And that was just on the first side of the first tape. Because I don't know how much of this book is truly factual, I can't give it a proper review. Frankly, I bought it out of a discount bin for a long trip I was taking. However, it's a fascinating look at one of the people that isn't closely examined in history. It is an abridgement of the source work; it runs three hours and is read perfectly by Frank Langella.



2. Kessler does an excellent job writing, truly, about the sins of the father, Joseph P. Kennedy. I had heard many stories about the man, but I didn't realize to what extent these stories were myths or real. Kessler certainly dispels that these stories are myths. He tells us what a manipulative, conniving, scheming, deceitful man that Kennedy really was.
   
   We are treated to the stories of Kennedy's manipulation of the stock market for his own personal gain; his illegal importation of scotch to pad his growing millions; his manipulation and theft of Gloria Swanson's monies. It doesn't stop there. Kessler tells about how Joe wanted to avert war since he was afraid he would lose millions of dollars.
   
   Kessler tells us how much Joe manipulated and controlled his children so that they would conform to his standards; and how their political life was formed in order for Joe to pursue his own dreams via his children's lives.
   
   After reading of Joe's death, one has to wonder whether Joe's cruel and deceitful life was worth it in the end - two assassinated children; Rosemary's lobotomy; a family myth built on lies. A simply incredible book - first rate from start to finish.



3. A very fine book exposing the Kennedys. I am somewhat surprised that such immoral things could happen in free and democratic U.S. In any event, justice has been done. No Kennedy is likely to be President in the near future. Jo's manipulative and power-hungry character did not serve him well. The early and untimely deaths of his three sons gave him more sorrow and grief than anything else.



4. I have read a few books by Ronald Kessler. It is a recurring theme that I find myself irritated by how uncharitable Kessler is...unless Kessler honestly believes that The FBI ("the Bureau") did nothing right and that Joseph Kennedy was an absolute villain. Kessler has a tough time saying anthing good about Joseph Kennedy, The FBI or most of his other topics. I think Kessler's novels need balance and fairness. Maybe only the negative and scandalous is stimulating or salable but the novels leave me feeling annoyed.



5. It is a good and fair book, well written and researched. To read this book is so essential to know and understand - really - an important american family like the Kennedys, apart from the mith that this cool man, Joseph Kennedy, helped much more than anybody else in the family to create and foster. There are some dark sides, but the truth is one thing and the legend is another and of course if you prefer the latter leave this book on the shelf and go on dreaming.

2 comments about McCartney Yesterday & Today.

1. As with all of Ray Coleman's books, this one is accurate and informative, but somewhat irritating in its obvious adoration of McCartney. Still a definitive account of the history of one of the most famous songs of all time. Also, it includes a comprehensive account of how Paul McCartney lost the chance to get the rights to the Lennon/McCartney songs when he was outbid by a former collaborator, Michael Jackson. A must-read for any Beatles fan, for this information if for nothing else.



2. After reading other Coleman books I expected to read something new and informative about Paul McCartney. Instead I was spoonfed a repetitive and boring story of the development of the song "Yesterday". Pass on this one - it's definitely not worth the money.

5 comments about Singing My Him Song.

1. This was a great book in my opinion. Although I am biased because I am Irish and loved all "the brother Frank" books. This sequel wasnt as great as Tis by Frank but still good. I couldnt wait to read Tis after reading "Angela's Ashes". After reading "A Monk Swimming", I was glad that Malachy got his act together. Being a recovering alcoholic myself, it was very refreshing to read how rewarding it was to Malachy to get clean. I recommend this book not just for Irish or alcoholics, but for anyone that wants to read a good story by a great story teller.



2. No, it won't be Angela's Ashes (though Malachy does tell the story of carrying the ashes back to Limerick in a defective airplane). The author is Frank McCourt's brother and shares with him the Irish ability to tell a good story.
   I haven't read his earlier book, A Monk Swimming, but this one can stand alone. In it, he wrestles with his alcoholism, finds the love of his life, tries to carve out a career as an actor, confronting his dreadful childhood and gives his opinions on American political failures of the past forty years. Somehow he melds all that together into a biography that holds your attention.
   Readers might also be interested in A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill.



3. Vintage McCourt! This is a good one but reminiscent of A Monk Swimming by the same author. Mallachy McCourt is good, but I prefer his brother, Frank. Poor man, I wonder how many times he has heard it. But it takes nothing away from the book. What genius of a family. Poverty in childhood has turned out into prosperity for posterity. Thanks McCourt Brothers.



4. After reading Angela's Ashes and Tis by Frank McCourt, I was looking forward to reading more about the McCourt family's lives from the perspective of another member of the family but Malachy McCourt definitely does not have the talent of his brother, Frank. He focuses too much on himself and I could sense his ego becoming more and more inflated as the story progressed. I'm sure he is charming and witty but an entire book by the author telling us just how charming and witty he is does get to be tiresome. And the fact that he is so proud to be such a total scoundrel is not admirable. I also read Malachy's book, A Monk Swimming: A Memoir, and in both books I was hoping to read more about the entire family instead 95% about Malachy himself and how pleased he is of his escapades.
   
   The book became tiresome to read and I had to force myself to finish it.



5. Frank McCourt wrote the famous bestseller, ANGELA'S ASHES. In this book, you learn about the personality of Angela and the events just prior to her death. His version of the Irish funeral 'doings' at a fancy mortuary in New York whre they partied with lots of beer is almost sacrilege. He had suggesting putting her ashes in a body bag and leaving them on the curb for garbage pickup. He and Frank were in financial straits at the time, but brother Alphie was doing okay. Frank became the possessor of her ashes in an old bean can.
   
   Bob Miller wrote this account from McCourt's avid remembrances. Like Eddie Fisher's BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, he reveals the bad with the good. Malachy's narration is spelled almost phonetically, the Irish sayings Americanized, which I guess his fans would get a kick out of -- it reminded me of the old man in 'Brigadoon.'
   
   Since I don't watch soap operas I have not recognized him as a young man, nor at the age of 69 when he was diagnosed with cancer. He had a sad life in Ireland, but after coming to America drank his way around the world to forget his past.
   
   Part of this book is about the retarded stepdaughter and the experimental program they agreed to at the Willowbrook State School for the Retarded on Staten Island. To get a place for her, they signed consent for her to be used as a guinea pig in a hepatitis program funded by the U. S. Army. The place as described resembled the one in the movie, 'Suddenly Last Summer,' in which Elizabeth Taylor is committed by a demented aunt and she wonders out on a raised landing above a mass of humanity "driven totally mad" by the place in which they were drugged, abused and locked. These things actually existed, and he and his wife Diana witnessed it first hand.
   
   He tried to expose the horrible abuse through the media (radio and t.v.). He said, "Media types will come to the 'field of dreams', but don't ask them to cover the plains of nightmare." Finally, they were able to get Geraldo Rivera to tour the back wards with a cameraman. It took them two years to get heard in Court in 1972. It was a historic case, followed by similar suits across the country, that all people have a right to decent human conditions no matter what their mental status.
   
   He made his mark in Hollywood and New York in movies and plays, and was host of t.v. and radio talk shows. So I'm sure he has a vast following of those who've seen him -- and read his previous book, A MONK SWIMMING.
   
   He was the Boston police lieutenant in 1978 'The Brinks Job' and was in 'Mass Appeal' on Broadway in 1982. Then his soap opera career started in 'Search for Tomorrow,' 'One Life To Live,' 'Ryan's Hope,' etc. Now he has embarked on a career as a writer, or at least a storyteller to beat all. All in all, his is a success story.

5 comments about RFK - A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy.

1. I picked this up for $2 used. I paid too much. This book is an offensive hatchet job, full of ridiculous claims that the author makes no attempt to substantiate. People simply make claims about RFK, and Heymann prints them. I know Bobby was no saint, and I don't expect hagiography. But this biography goes way too far in the other direction. One source compares Bobby to Caligula. At that point, I stopped reading the book. Save your money -- even if it is just $2.



2. Mr Heymann has an interesting interpretation of the word 'integrity'. I was simply aghast at some of the bizarre assertions that the author seems to accept as fact. Check the sources (and I did!) and you'll not find much to back up his rather bold claims. Many of those interviewed or quoted have rather questionable motives and a lot is second hand information or hearsay.
   
   Also many of RFK's own comments were taken completely out of context. When asking "Where are all the women?" on the '68 campaign trail this was not in a sexual context. As far back as the early '50s while running JFK's senatorial campaign Bobby would often say that he preferred women in a campaign because he thought they tend to work harder.
   
   This is NOT an unbiased biography. For a completely unbiased account of Robert Kennedy's life I refer you to Evan Thomas' 'Robert Kennedy: His Life'. It takes a look at both 'Good' and 'Bad' Bobby but sticks strictly to the facts.
   
   The most exhaustive and indepth RFK biography is of course Arhtur Schlesinger's 'Robert Kennedy and His Times'. Not from a completely objective standpoint as it's written by a Kennedy friend but ultimately reliable and informative.



3. RFK fans may not like this biography because it ain't a biased one. And this may be the first attempt to write a cruel and honest account of RFK's life. I've read some reviews here, and people who did not like this book are commeting that it is just gossip plain and simple. It must be remember that Heymann spent 7 years researching for this book. RFK was not the liberal icon that many thought he was. Many of the things he did wasn't only because he cared (I do believe he did care) but also for political ambition. He had a dark side (which he did use a lot with LBJ) and also a good side. The dark side is shown exhaustively in this book, and in the end, as amanzingly as it seems, Heymann writes a sympathetic image of RFK. Another thing, just because it is shown that RFK was not very different from his brothers when it came to sex doesn't mean that it is not truth (and who says otherwise must known that Heymann did much more researched in this subject than the others biographers did), this is a "candid" biography after all. People who bought this must not be naive and have an idea of what they'll find when they read it.



4. My title tells it all and to spent too much time on a review is to assign this an importance it does not merit. If you are interested in any thoughtful analysis of RFK you will not find it here. The focus is on lurid one source and second hand tall tales and obviously the author has an axe to grind. If you love the National Enquirer and Fox News you will probably like this and there's no saving you. If you want to learn more about this complicated man and his era, this will fill you with disgust.



5. one star is too much, the book doesn't do anything tern RFK?s legacy. the arguments are false, and the book is boring.
   DONT SPEND EVEN ONE CENT ON THIS BOOK.

5 comments about Eminent Victorians.

1. In 1918, the Victorian Era was the visitable past, but World War I had wrenched the British far from their former frame of mind. According to Michael Holroyd's concise, non-spoiling introduction to the Penguin edition of EMINENT LIVES, author Lytton Strachey belonged to the camp that largely held the Victorians responsible for delivering the younger generation to the horrors of that war. So it is that Strachey, one of the Bloomsbury crowd, felt free to break with the tradition of sober, deifying biography and produce critical profiles of icons of Victorian culture. He went looking for the humans behind the legends of Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightengale, Dr. Thomas Arnold and General Gordon . . . . and found them wanting.
   
   Strachey provides more than enough evidence that his four subjects were driven by ego, ambition and the certainty of moral superiority. Cardinal Manning's story reflects the 19th century religious debate as the Evangelists and Catholics battled for England's soul. Manning followed his mentor Dr. Newman and capitulated to Roman Catholicism, after which he rose to prominence in Rome, helping to ratify church dogma (especially, the infallibility of the Pope), all the while marginalizing his original mentor. Florence Nightengale's achievements are not in doubt, it is how she pushed them through, probably bringing her friend and colleague Sidney Herbert and cousin Arthur Clough to early deaths. The Victorians called her an angel, Strachey thought her a demon. Dr. Arnold was sentimentalized as the headmaster of Rugby in TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS, but in the long view, he squandered the opportunity to make real educational reform by limiting curriculum to morally instructive classical texts in their original languages. General Gordon brings up the rear, his own ambition and ego the perfect catalyst for igniting the proclivities of Gladstone's government by doing things his imperialistic way in the Sudan, causing untold casualties and getting himself executed (not to mentioned dismembered) in the process. In a way his ending speaks for Strachey's overarching theme: General Gordon, faced with the final rebel attack at his door, did not take the moment left to escape. He used it to change out of his dressing gown and into his proper dress whites.
   
   Strachey trolled public record, personal journals and letter and eye-witness accounts to elucidate his subjects, their thinking and the effect of such. True, he shapes the facts to fit his vision, but all the same, they are facts and rather telling. Sometimes the text is dense with historical detail, but mostly it flows. I found it to be not only a valuable perspective on the Victorian era and the mood of the world in 1918 but a cautionary tale about cultures creating their icons. It is irresistible, and frightening, to draw contemporary parallels.



2. It is difficult to imagine anyone actually reading nineteenth century biographies. If encountered today, say in dusty archives, these works commemorating the dead - typically two thick volumes of "ill-digested masses of material" - are notable for their tediousness, seeming lack of design, and "lamentable lack of selection".
   
   With this book, Eminent Victorians (1918), Lytton Strachey deliberately set out to revitalize biography. His subjects - Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold, and General Gordon - were all legends in their time, archetypical Victorians. His incisive style, sense of drama, and subtle irreverence made Eminent Victorians an immediate success, and one that remains fascinating today. Florence Nightingale and perhaps General Gordon have retained some eminence, but Dr. Arnold and Cardinal Manning have faded into the background, at least from the perspective of American readers.
   
   In his introduction Strachey wrote: "That is what I have aimed at in this book - to lay bare the facts of some cases as I understand them, dispassionately, impartially, and without ulterior intentions." Be that as it may, readers will undoubtedly discern some passion, some partiality, and some unstated objectives. Regardless, Eminent Victorians is an enjoyable, entertaining, intellectual adventure that brings life to Victorian biography.
   
   Henry Edward Manning at age thirty-eight was a rising man in the Church of England. He had many powerful connections: he was the brother-in-law of Samuel Wilberforce, who had lately been made a bishop; he was close friend to Mr. Gladstone, who was a cabinet minister; and he was becoming well known in influential circles in London. Within two years Manning - later to become Cardinal Manning - resigned his position and was received into the Roman Catholic Church.
   
   The real Florence Nightingale, not the saintly, self-sacrificing, delicate maiden lady of popular legend, was, according to Strachey, more interesting, but also less agreeable too.
   
   Dr. Thomas Arnold acquired the position of headmastership of Rugby School in August, 1828, and subsequently changed the face of Public School life.
   
   General Gordon is remembered for his death at Khartoum. Strachey's controversial account is great biography. (In the 1966 movie Khartoum, Charlton Heston played the role of General 'Chinese' Gordon.)



3. I just don't see that Strachey made Florence Nightingale and General Gordon look as foolish as he made Cardinal Manning and Thomas Arnold appear in "Eminent Victorians". I suppose that impression comes from having been brought up reading 20th century 'warts-and-all' biographies rather than the 'if-you-can't-say-something-nice-don't-say-it-at-all' biographies of the 19th century. Although Strachey made Manning and especially Arnold seem pretty icky, Nightingale and Gordon come through as pretty admirable human beings -- not perfect (i.e. human) but on the whole admirable.



4. Some of Lytton Strachey's choices of subject for the four scathing biographical essays contained in _Eminent Victorians_ may seem rather strange. Florence Nightingale was an obvious choice for any biographer, but who cared about Matthew Arnold in the post-war era when Strachey was writing these essays? Who gave a thought to Cardinal Manning or Chinese Gordon? And why combine their biographies into one book?
   
   The answer may be that all four shared one unusual character trait, one so reminiscent of the Victorian age that even the thought of it brings the scent of lavender to mind: extreme earnestness. Each figure cared very, very deeply about something, but for each that earnestness also masked a corresponding personal craving. Like many young Britons in the post-WWI era, Strachey was deeply distrustful of earnestness, often seeing it as an excuse for personal gain or fulfillment. This was especially true when one man's deeply held beliefs sent others to their deaths, as it often had during WWI. He had no time for official incompetence, ignorance, or inaction, but often found the opposite just as dangerous.
   
   The first essay in _Eminent Victorians_ is that of Cardinal Manning. Manning was a priest in the Church of England who became involved in the Oxford Movement, a group of churchmen who disliked the increasing secularization of the C of E and who wished to bring it back to its Catholic roots. Most of those involved remained in the Anglican communion, forming the nucleus of the "High Church" movement of the late 19th century. Manning found that he could not stop at that, though; unable to reconcile his belief in a Church Universal with his membership in a church that existed basically because Henry VIII was a serial adulterer, and unable to 'take back' the text of a tract he had written that was deeply critical of the Anglican church and which eliminated any chances of his gaining higher office, Manning found himself eventually in the arms of Rome. Strachey paints Manning as a weak, vacillating, impulsive man of great ambition whose conversion to Roman Catholicism was as much a political and career move as one of the heart and soul. Had Manning remained in the Church of England, Strachey implies, he would have been an archdeacon until death; only conversion to Roman Catholicism allowed him to fulfil his ambitions towards higher office. It's a masterful biography, one that explores not just its purported subject but also the birth of Anglo-Catholicism.
   
   The third essay, of Rugby school headmaster Matthew Arnold, reveals Strachey's hatred of the English public school system (or what we in North America would call the private school system). He skewers Arnold for failing to make the educational reforms he was hired to make and for delegating the discipline of younger students to the senior class, thereby condoning and even encouraging the type of severe bullying that caused many young men to consider suicide. Arnold, whose earnestness in creating 'Christian gentlemen' did not go so far as to allow him to teach them himself, refused to update the school curriculum ostensibly because gentlemen didn't need science, maths, or English literature, but really (as Strachey contends) because Arnold had studied Latin and Greek himself and didn't want to feel his own learning was unnecessary. Strachey points out that Arnold did little at Rugby except pronounce the Sunday sermon, intimidate students, and foster a personality cult that eventually made him the father of modern education in many Britons' eyes - even though he made no changes to the educational system itself. His reforms in discipline and in religion (and his lack of reforms in curriculum) were copied by most public schools, to the great detriment of the British people.
   
   In Strachey's essay on General Gordon, Strachey shows how a brave man with a strong belief in the rightness of his cause and an overwhelming desire for adventure may have been used to precipitate a war and to advance the cause of imperialism. Gordon, a war veteran and former colonial administrator (and a rather unstable fellow), was sent to the Sudan during a revolt to report on conditions there and to evacuate civilians who were loyal to Egypt, which was then controlled by the British. Gordon did none of the above; he instead tried to wipe out the insurrection, and for his troubles was killed and his staff and allies massacred. His death was used by the imperialist factions in the ruling party as a call to arms. Strachey wonders: was this deliberate? Was Gordon given alternate instructions by the imperialists? Did they intend for him to die, so that his death could be used as a rallying point for further imperialism? He argues his point well, and the essay is definitely worth reading.
   
   Strachey's portrait of Florence Nightingale is not quite as successful as the rest. Nightingale was born into a wealthy family, and like all young women of her class and time was expected to marry young, have children, and generally be nothing more than a society lady. Florence wanted more: she wanted to work, to make a difference, to change the world, and she wanted everybody around her to work as hard as she did. After many years of waiting, she finally had her chance; her efforts to reform British military hospitals and eventually the practice of medicine in the Empire did in fact change the world. Strachey seems to have thought that she pushed her colleagues too hard, that her own drive was so abnormal that her friends and family could not keep up. Granted, she did push some of her colleagues very hard, and one may have even died from overwork, but they chose to work with her because they believed in her, and given what she was able to do I think they were right to believe in her. It also appears that Strachey may not have been comfortable with a woman refusing to hide her intelligence or personal strength when dealing with men. I had the distinct impression while reading this essay that Strachey was sneering at those men who took orders from Nightingale or who assisted her in her work. Another reviewer mentioned that Nightingale is portrayed here as a 'pushy woman' - and she certainly is; however, most of Strachey's implied criticism seems to be directed towards the men who treated her as the intelligent, hard-working, valuable human being she was. Strachey also seems to have viewed her invalid status as something of a neurotic problem, which in the light of recent research (showing that she likely had undulant fever) may not be accurate.



5. Lytton Strachey gives us a revealing look at four prominent Victorian personalities: Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Thomas Arnold, and General Charles George Gordon. Personally, I most enjoyed learning more about Florence Nightingale and General "Chinese" Gordon. Manning and Arnold are simply more steeped in their own times and have, perhaps, less to offer to modern readers.
   
   The section on Gordon is the best. It covers the end of his life at Khartoum in a much more interesting fashion than that portrayed by Charlton Heston in the movie. The modern problems in Darfur show that in many ways little has changed there in the last 120 years.
   
   Strachey's style is to get behind the events of his subjects' lives to delve into their psychological motivations, and he is often less than kind to them. He frequently punctures their balloons and exposes their foibles in a very entertaining way.