5 comments about 3000 Degrees: The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It.

1. I didn't think a non-fiction book about the personal and professional lives of 'everyday' people would be so well composed. Sure, I expected to read about drama and bravery and tragedy, but Sean Flynn writes with well-tuned prose and a well-honed ear for the people and the town he reveals to the reader. He has done a great service in getting to the heart and soul of the protagonists and their loved ones. He does so without exaggeration, false bravado, or romanticism. The heroic fire fighters are shown three-dimensionally, and there isn't a phony note or word in the book. And like the true heroes in history, they are far from perfect human beings. In fact, the profound issue suggested in this book is that they are willing to risk their lives because they have flaws and have felt personal pain. How else could one feel so obligated to save utter strangers at the risk of their own lives and to have such an intuitive sense of how far your body and soul can go when they're up against a formidable foe. George Orwell said that it is the job of a human being not to be a saint. If my life was at risk, and given the choice who would try and save me, I'd pick these guys over any saint, preacher, minister, or holy man.



2. All that I can say is that Sean Flynn wrote this book about a horrific true event in such a way that I feel as if I lost my friends in the blaze. I can only imagine how the true friends of these 6 men felt and continue to feel each time they see a family member of one of their perished brothers. I'm not a crying man, but I cried at some points in this story b/c they hit so close to home for one, but for two you get so wrapped up in the lives of these men that you feel the stinging pain of realizing they have died. It's a sad story, that I actually remembered hearing about after i read the book, but it's also very motivating to anybody that has thought of becoming a FF. It's almost as its a test of your heart to be a FF. Like the beginning of initiation (hazing) to become a part of a fraternity. I know two other people that read it, that upon completion(one wasn't even able to finish) withdrew from the FF applicant process in which we all signed up together. Weeds out the weak...well kinda. :o)
   
   Either way you look at it, this is good reading. I finished in in 4 days and I was continually fussed at for 3 of those days by my 9 month pregnant girlfriend b/c I wasn't giving her the attention she wanted. Now she's reading it and i'm not getting any attention. Go fig!
   
   Buy the book! BTW...my addiction i speak of in my title just means my addiction to FF books.



3. I really enjoyed this book. My dad was a firefighter and I thought the writer portrayed the firefighters with a tough realisim without taking away their compassion for what they do. The families stories seemed to convey not only the day to day fears that all firefighters families have but, a small sense of what they went through when the unimaginable happened to them. Overall a great read by a writer who seemed to care about the subject.



4. Note to who ever wrote the Publishers Weekly review. Get a map. The second largest city in New England is Worcester Mass. not WorcHester. Those of us born and raised there pronounce the city to rhyme with mister.



5. I read this book simply because my boyfriend said he couldn't put it down. I was mesmorized by the bravery these men went gave out to fight the fire. After every page, I kept thinking to myself, "This is TRUE." I have a stronger respect for the brave fire fighters aroundt he world. Not only is this book about the fire and the fighters themselves, but it also depicts the family's devistation after the fact. Every page brought tears to my eyes. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially family's of fire fighters. Didn't want to put it down.

5 comments about America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918.

1. I saw this on sale and thought it would be a nice 'chaser' after David McCullough's long but excellent "John Adams" that I was just finishing up. I was right, but barely. First, on the good side: it's a well written quick review of the four famous and interesting generations of Adamses. It gets high marks for putting a lot into a small package. Also, all four get equal time, which, given the complexities of each, I appreciated.
   
   On the negative side: it did not surprise me that Brookhiser took a less flattering (and more mainstream) view of John Adams than McCullough. But when his disparagment stretched to the following three generations I started to wonder what size burr the author may be sitting on. If you buy Brookhiser's somewhat malignant view of these four, it then begs the question how such an irascible hypocritical set of men could be so successful. Which is neither asked nor answered.
   
   It was worth the $5 I paid, but I wouldn't pay full price.



2. Throughout much of human history, leaders of nations were the children of leaders of nations. Nearly 230 years ago, a radical notion was advanced in a document that would help to form a new republic: that all men are created equal. Many of those American colonists who declared themselves independent of their king wanted not only to limit the power of the executive but to be sure that they had the ability to choose who that executive would be, rather than to have it pass from father to son. Thus, "only three of the first eight presidents produced potential successors, [and] only three of those sons were considered presidential timber." Two of them were named Adams, and one of them would actually become president.
   
   In America's First Dynasty, Richard Brookhiser uses just under 220 pages to paint compelling biographies of four successive generations of a family from 1735 through 1918, an unusually active one that included two presidents of the United States, a public servant of the republic and his state, and a writer. These men lived through tumultuous and eventful times and played roles in them.
   
   The text appears to be well-researched and is quite readable. Quite a lot of history was packed into a very small number of pages; readers with a good understanding of the times and concurrent history will find their understanding of these characters enhanced. Readers who do not know much of the concurrent history might feel rushed.
   
   In groups of three chapters, each of the subjects is considered. Beginning with John Adams, we're introduced to him already in service of his country, at a dinner party in France. We follow him through the highlights of his professional career, and into retirement. We're suddenly focusing on his son John Quincy, as his career starts at an early age with his father, and how he differs from his brothers, who fall prey to the snare of alcohol. John Quincy himself was distinguished, even becoming president, but (much like his father) was hampered by his distaste for political parties and the method of serving in public office.
   
   Charles Francis Adams married well and held various public offices throughout his career, even running as a candidate for Vice-President on the Free-Soil party ticket. Most of his public life was in state and then federal legislature, followed by a diplomatic appointment by Abraham Lincoln. Brookhiser points out that it is in the family of Charles Francis that the family tendency toward alcoholism is broken.
   
   Henry Adams apparently had no taste for public life, preferring instead to become a writer. Much of the biographical sketch focuses on the creation of his best-known work, The Education of Henry Adams. With only his lineage and his wife's suicide to frame the work, we're left wondering what else Henry did. Perhaps this was Brookhiser's intention: to focus on that which each of the subjects left behind for posterity.
   
   Indeed, after the biographical sketches, we're given several more brief chapters that discuss the family habit of keeping a diary and the writing of history. Brookhiser then attempts to frame much of what we have read, discussing such matters as dynasty and legacy. I found the discussion a bit strange because while various Adamses were clearly concerned with the matter of greatness-returning to the question of who are great men-I was under no impression that the Adamses themselves were much concerned with the legacy of the family. I saw only that they were like every other family, wanting what is best for their children, hoping that they will be of good character and do well for themselves.
   
   Putting the discussion in terms of dynasty might not be so strange when viewed through the lens of history. The fact is that John Adams was there from the founding of the country, and his family remained prominent in American life into the twentieth century. Had Henry fathered children, perhaps the chain of prominent Adamses would be unbroken today.
   
   Given this country's interest in the families that produce presidents, it's hardly any surprise that there would be such interest in a family that produced two presidents, especially in light of the fact that the current president is also the son of a president. In all, America's First Dynasty makes for an engaging read, but the extreme brevity of the biographical sketches left me hoping for more.



3. The old style of biography was much like theatre criticism. The more cleverly you could trash the subject, the more you were -- or felt yourself to be -- a winner. When personality peculiarities made subjects as vulnerable to witticism as John Adams' was, we got decades of historical biographers trying to out-acidify the likes of Bernard Shaw. This style had faded significantly by the time David McCullough wrote a biography of John Adams that was unabashedly laudatory...an open fan letter...clear hero worship!

   From Brookhiser's race through four members of the Adams family I learned only two things for sure.
   1. The Adams's irritate him.
   2. The old adage that "the things you criticize most in others are usually your own worst fault" appears to be true.

   The author's rancor calls and raises the rancor he attributes to his subjects. Reading it was an unpleasant experience with little to no redeeming informational or ideational value for anyone but the author's therapist.




4. "America` First Dynasty" by Richard Brookhiser. Sub-titled: "The Adamses, 1713-1918".
   Understandably, this book concentrates on the two presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Their contributions as one-term presidents help to establish democracy in the nascent United States. Brookhiser notes that the two Adamses were the first presidents not from Virginia. Much of what John Adams did became precedents for later presidents.

   It appears to me that the author makes the tacit assumption that the reader has a fairly good knowledge of American history, so he casually introduces lesser know subjects, such as the "Know Nothing Party " (Native American Party) and the anti-Masonic efforts in upstate New York. This, of course, leads you to things that you want to examine further, but, on the other hand, inhibits the free-flow of the book.

   I think that the author is stretching to consider Charles Francis or even Henry Adams as "greats" who were continuing the Adams "dynasty". I did, however, enjoy Brookhiser's "book review" approach to "The Education of Henry Adams" and Henry's book on Mont St. Michel. Perhaps the next book by Brookhiser would be the comparison of the contributions of the Adamses, the Harrisons, the Roosevelts and the Bushes: all presidents who related by blood.

   I listened to the seven tapes as I commuted around Boston; excellent reading by Dan Cashman. It is appropriate to note the name of the town of Haverhill is pronounced as HAV AAAA rill by the natives.. The reader sounded it out and said Have Er Hill, which is logical but not the way it is said in Massachusetts. Further, the hometown of the Adamses , Quincy, is said as "QuinZZZy".




5. I've read all of Richard Brookhiser's biographies of the Founding Fathers (Washington, Hamilton, Morris) and I've enjoyed them all, but I liked this one the least. Brookhiser writes very well and his observations on the character of his subjects are always revealing. He shows how often the best quality in a biographer is not polished prose or research skills, but judgment.

   In his book on the four generations of Adams, however, Brookhiser overreaches. Had he kept his focus on the men, this would have been a fine if undistinguished book. But Brookhiser appears to be trying to say something about families, American dynasties, and the difficulties of sustaining greatness. What he wanted to say, I could never quite figure out. The wonderful aphoristic quality of Brookhiser's prose -- that makes him so good when writing some sharp and brief observation -- fails him when he must sustain an argument.

   An example of this is when Brookhiser writes in his introduction of the contradiction of an egalitarian society having so many political family dynasties, from the Adamses to Bushes. In noting this, he writes "[An American political dynasty] is the tribute democracy pays to aristocracy." This sounds very nice, but it's meaningless. Most of Brookhiser's comments on the significance of American political dynasties and how the Adamses were able to sustain their greatness fall along this line.

   Thankfully, most of this book is on the Adamses, and it is when writing on them that Brookhiser shines. Still, the bad ideas -- even though they don't make up a substantial part of the book -- hang over it. Brookhiser is always interesting when writing about a person, but is not at his best when trying to come up with a conceptual framework to make sense of it all.

5 comments about Gift and Mystery.

1. Pope John Paul II will be regarded by history as one of the great Popes in the modern history of the Church. This book is a translation of his "testimony to his priestly vocation" on the occasion of the golden jubilee of this ordination as a priest in Poland in 1946. To me, this was a powerful testimony of the walk of faith of a man who has left a lasting and postive imprint on the face of our Church.
   
   I was most moved by the influence of his father that how his deeds, not his words affected him. As a father of two young children myself, this anecdote from the Pope certainly will influence further and provide more incentive to raise my daughters in the faith and that through my actions (prayer and striving to live a holy life), I can make the same impression on my children as John Paul's father had on him.
   
   This also has the history of John Paul's religious education and how the Second World War affected his education and shaped it. The man we knew as Pope John Paul II was certainly shaped by those events. They apparently made him a better man.
   
   Pope John Paul the Second is an inspiration to millions around the world, both to Catholics like myself as well as to non-Catholics. The combination of wisdom, intellect and faith possesed by the late Pope is matched by few in the history of the world. This work shows just a small portion of all three. While it is a pretty easy read, it is most certainly worthwhile. Reading about the great men of the faith is as vital to the ongoing catechizing process that all adult Catholics must constantly engage in to grow in knowledge of the faith.



2. This book serves as a companion to Rise Let us be on Our Way, but it also stands quite well on its own. In it JPII discusses various phases of his priestly journey, various challenges he faced, and various influences that supported him along the way. John Paul had a true gift for beautiful and clear writing, and it shines through in this book. The only drawback I found were about twenty of what looked like charcoal drawings in the middle of the book. They were allright I suppose, but I could have done without them.



3. His Holiness Pope John II Spoke to me. This book is insprational and wonerful.



4. The words of Pope John Paul II have always captivated me, however, this particular book is very touching because we see first hand his humbleness for the people that shaped him into the priest he became. A man of such global stature writes thoughtfully about the individuals that helped lead him into the priesthood, protect him from the Nazis, and urge his following of Christ. This is a great read for Christians and non-Christians, or even students that are doing a report. John Paul was one of the most inspiring human beings to ever live, and continues to inspire even after his death. His books and thoughts are highly reccommended...it helps any reader to better understand this complex and delicate soul.



5. As you might expect from such a great person, the Pope's book provides few insights into the Pope himself. He does show how our own lives can influence others, especially in a cumulative way, as the he tells of all of those who influenced his entering the priesthood. He cites the religiosity of his father; the holiness of Jan Tyranowski; the writings of St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Louis Marie de Montfort; the devotions in his parish, to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and of the brown scapular. The reader can't help but wonder if there is a link between the lack of devotions today and the lack of vocations today.

   A priest's life is challenging. He must be attentive and sympathetic; critical and watchful with regard to historical developments; a giver of Christ; a spiritual father -- especially in the Confessional; holy; constantly training, studying and updating; promoting the family; defending mankind; in dialog with the youth; in dialog with the culture; intellectual and scholarly; and living the Gospel.

   But a priest's life is most rewarding. The priest is "a steward of the mysteries of God." An essential part of his mission is fulfilled in the Confessional. The priest is an essential being in the only suitable offering that man can make to God, the offering of God-made-man, an offering made at every Mass. The priest is so united to Christ at Mass that he is "in the person of Christ." What a beautiful reflection on the Mass is offered by the Pope!

   The challenge of the priesthood seems overwhelming. It would be without God. It is "a mystery of divine election."

   Every parent of a potential priest should read this book.

5 comments about Teacher Man: A Memoir.

1. After surviving a miserable childhood in Ireland and making his way to New York City as a young man, Frank McCourt shares anecdotes about his next 30 years -- teaching high school and community college English classes.
   
   McCourt's somewhat unconventional teaching style, he readily admits, didn't reach everyone or even succeed as often as he would have liked. Yet many of his classes, filled with students from poverty-stricken and hopeless homes, found real enthusiasm and understanding through such lessons as writing excuse notes for their own teachers, for setting recipes to music, and setting up impromptu ethnic feasts in the park.
   
   As no section of any person's life can possibly be extricated from all others, readers will find some familiar tidbits first mentioned in AA and 'Tis. This is, in my opinion, just light enough to establish familiarity with previous material; it is certainly not a recycling of the first two books.
   
   As always, McCourt is honest and humorous, giving readers a glimpse into the world that was and is uniquely his.



2. Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know there is a GREAT event coming up almost a week away in New York City. The American Place Theatre's Festival: Literature to Life is performing a theatrical adaptation of TEACHER MAN by Frank McCourt on September 21st, 2008. Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to see this moving piece of literature come to life. Here's the information and can't wait to see you there!
   
   [...]



3. I don't believe there can be much more to be said about the Charms of Frank McCourt. Even when he is divulging his shortcomings, his wit and bare-knuckled honesty draw you in.
   
   "Teacher Man" is, to me, quite different than his previous two works, but completely enjoyable down to the last tale. I think it makes a great gift to every teacher who has ever struggled with their profession and the demise of their idealistic vision. It stands out as a shining beacon that you don't have to be "perfect" to make a life changing difference in the lives of a student.



4. A fellow teacher and friend recommended this book to me; I had never heard of it previously, surprisingly. I knew I would like it just by looking at the cover and first few pages: Frank McCourt's sense of humor and finesse with teaching really shows through with two photographs there especially. He takes the reader easily through the span of his teaching career with a string of hilarious anecdotes and shares invaluable, yet typical, insight along the way. McCourt really refreshed my sense of what teaching was, is , and can be along with putting teaching situations and education in perspective. As a teacher of high school Language Arts, I often wonder whether or not it's me, the kids, or both. Whether he intends to or not, McCourt reassures educators like me that educating youth is an ongoing, if not sometimes stifling, doubting, and frustrating struggle. Kids have always been kids, so to speak, and the best teachers have always been just that too. A true reality check for public school systems in a time of No Child Left Behind. It does a stunning and long-lasting job of reminding us that making kids think is what we yearn for and that, sometimes, we realize that yearning, in spite of ourselves. Thanks Mr. McCourt for revitalizing a part of me that had been a bit bogged down!



5. I am puzzled by this book. The first paragraph stated McCourt's pride over having made something of himself after a terrible childhood. He then proceeds to tell the story of his teaching as part of this. He admits himself that he felt like a fraud much of the time. I can see why! Most of the anecdotes cover stories of his childhood and he admits to not having control over the students. (He seems to waver between intense pride and self loathing.) Although I enjoyed many of his anecdotes(the assignments to write a suicide note, a excuse note to God from Eve, and reading recipes to music), I spent a lot of time wondering how he could have been a wonderful teacher and had kids flocking to the classroom. I must assume that there is something key to McCourt's charming classroom manner that he left out.

5 comments about Somebody to Love?: A Rock-and-Roll Memoir.

1. The first two thirds of the book are pretty good, although it's obvious that she keeps many secrets untold. Not as much detail about her early life as I would have liked. It's obvious that she has lead a very interesting life, but I got the impression that she's not ready to tell the whole story yet. The final third of the book can be skipped unless you want to hear about her political (extremely left) views, which more or less reads like any other left wing ranting.



2. I have been a Grace Slick fan when I first heard Jefferson Aiplane. To me, I don't think there's a better female vocalist than her. Just my opinion here. I wanted to know more about her and what makes her tick so what better way than to read her autobiography?
   Grace is an honest woman at least in her book, she isn't afraid to tell how she feels about everything from the government to sex to the guys in the band. It's a very fun read, and I looked forward to reading it each night after I went to bed. You become aware after a little reading that there's a hell of a lot more to Grace Slick than just her beautiful voice and goregous looks. She is a very intelligent woman has her own ideas about everything and doesn't just follow the crowd. If she thinks something is stupid, emabarassing she won't do it.
   I came away from the book feeling like Grace was my next door neighbor. I also felt like I had a heart to heart talk with her for hours. I think she's a great woman, totally beautiful with a voice to match. I really liked this book. If you feel like I do and would like to get to know Gracie a little better buy this book. There's nothing boring in it at all. A very good read, and written by a woman with a great vocabulary as well. If you are just curios about her buy the book.



3. Grace is still driving my magic bus through wonderland. This is a lesson on how to live and get the most out of the lives we are lucky to be blessed with. The best line is about Jim Morrison (about how through all the drugs, he could still f**k through the fog). The honesty here is unlike most autobiographies, especially where she laments on the drawbacks of recording a solo album when the process is so much better with the already assembled band that made her a star.



4. Ah, those misanthropic hippies, The Jefferson Airplane, slapped together one discombobulated hotrod. Meandering riffs, Arabian exotica, distorto guitar, open-mike sci-fi and degenerated jazz - plus the mighty yowl of Woodstock's pissiest broad! Impossible, irascible and insincere, Grace Slick - like contemporary Frank Zappa - plonked the love song.
   
   Asked about her singular role and attendant recognition as a chick in an otherwise guys' band, Slick quipped, "Well, if you had five cows and a pig, you'd look at the pig, right?" Dig that genderf00cking analogy! Even when Slick exploited the sexist trip (lifting her skirt in concert, waving an exposed boob for the cover of Creem), she always exuded a macabre disembodiment of oohlala. Such coarse pranks fell in line with her other alcoholic misbehaviors, such wearing blackface for a power salute on TV (in '68!) or going onstage in Berlin wearing a Nazi uniform. (Was she drawing upon childhood recollections of her crossdressing father?)
   
   Unlike poor, weapy Janis Joplin, stentorian Slick never put out. Her most sensitive performance, David Crosby's slippery free-love meditation, "Triad," turns male hedonism on it's gooey head, while her most rocking self-penned number, "Lawman," posits a grassed-up Slick kapowing a (male) cop to smithereens. Top that, Tania! Last but not least, the pornographic "Across The Board" has Slick caterwauling about "seven inches of pleasure" with all the powdered muliebrity of Evel Knievel.
   
   In grammatically correct prose, Slick has another twisted ditty to sing, and here's it is.



5. 
   
   
   
   This book is like a series of tangents. It must have been nerve-wracking for Andrea Cagan to sit and listen to all this. The thing reads like Grace was hopped up on caffeine throughout. Her export of information to the pages is eratic; for example, no clear statement of her ancestry, but she makes a comment about her parent's "Edwardian Background" (does she mean they were from Britain? Two Brits who graduated from U of W in Seattle and had babies in Chicago and the Bay Area?) and suddenly, several lines down, mid-paragraph drops this: that her folks had neither the Italian or Jewish cultural/social stamp. So, what does this particular non-sequitur mean? Where her folks Italian and Jewish? In another part of the book she says part of her mother's clan came over on the Mayflower. Italian Jewish Separatists? In another bio source, her dad's side is described as Norwegian-Scandinavian- Grace makes no mention of that either. She does make is clear that she had nothing but disdain (and apparently still nothing but) for her folk's middle-class, quesi-elitist background (father worked hard, got ahead in a career as a white collar worker with a respected firm, was able to keep his family in nice homes and circumstances his whole life) well, at least Grace didn't have to grow up in a ghetto or impoverished farm like Ottis Redding or somebody like that. And in this vein, she can really sound like a 58-year old brat. She also still harbors the tired cliche political views of her time, like we live in an "F-'d up" country, she refers to Nixon as Tricky-Dick, etc. And reveals that back in high school and college, she slept through American history classes. Well, that figures! `Cause it show in her book! And oh, we are treated to the description of how she ended up in bed with Jim Morrison and Airplane bassist Jack Cassidy: like we really need that as revelatory material, anyone who knows anything about this broad already knows before picking up this book that Grace was the most promiscous Rock babe this side of Angie Bowie. She also seems to love to drop names- and in silly, pretentious ways; like she claims to have been listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain four dozen consecutive times before writing her song "White Rabbit" and this just smacks to me of status-glomming in this age of yuppies refering to their jazz album collection like they'd refer to the Mercedes and BMW sitting in their garage.
   
   The illustration package does make the book worth the price of admission- some good vintage photos and a few samples of Grace's own gook often spooky art work.
   
   
   
   
   

5 comments about Lincoln.

1. I'd like to give this book 5 stars for the extraordinary undertaking of thought and research that it represents, but the book, while very good, is weakened by its ambition and its reliance on dialog.
   
   I think Vidal developed insight into many of the players (Lincoln, Mary, Salmon Chase, Kate Chase, Sprague, Stanton, Seward, David, Hay...) and wanted to sketch a portrait of each one of them. This detracted from his most interesting portrait, that of Lincoln.
   
   The characters are developed primarliy through conversation, so much that it reads more like a script than a novel. Even as a script, it's in need of an edit. Some of the conversation has tremendous impact, such as Lincoln at cabinet meetings, exchanges with Mary, meeting with free Blacks, Lincoln on his own political situation, Mary talking with relatives, David and Booth, and Hay in Paris. At other times, the dialog seems to be there because it's just too clever to leave out.
   
   I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed Vidal's Burr: A Novel. The novel was enriched by my having recently read Alexander Hamilton and Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr. While I enjoyed and appreciated this book, perhaps it would have been more so had I prepared by reading something like Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln in advance.



2. Gore Vidal's 'Lincoln' immerses the reader in Civil War Washington with rich detail. Vidal introduces few fictional characters and hews close to the known historical record in brilliantly recreating actions and conversations. Lincoln emerges as a master political strategist who invites his chief adversaries into his Administration and then lulls them into thinking they and not he are the real powers. By the time Lincoln acheives near complete power, Chase and Seward are unsure just how it happened.
   
   By the end, this reader more pitied than despised Mary Todd Lincoln, but felt both emotions in full towards Lincoln's vicious and insane wife. Salmon Chase comes in for a richly deserved measure of disrepute with his incessant political ambitions. Lesser known characters such William Sprague and 'Chevalier' Henry Wikoff add color and dishonor. The examination of Lincoln's second secretary, John Hay, is fascinating and enlightening.
   
   Vidal inserts several rebels into the story, including a glory-hound named David Herold. These characters are real, but little is known about them and it shows. A reduced role for these characters would have mercifully shortened the extraordinary length of the book.
   
   Vidal controversially has Lincoln continuing to advocate the colonization of freed slaves right up until the day of his assassination. My understanding of the generally accepted view is that Lincoln had long since abadnoned colonization as a viable policy.
   
   Vidal's 'Lincoln' is historical fiction at its finest - entertaining and elucidating. Highly recommended.



3. Mr. Vidal has written an elegant story about one of the most troubling times in our nations history. As seen through the eyes of our greatest president, his cabinet and the people around him this book pulls you in and grabs you by the coattails. What is actual fact and what comes from Mr Vidals imagination? Every action, every word seems authentic and keeping in line with what we expect from the characters. A beautiful book, you feel as if you are right there seeing for yourself firsthand, the birth of a nation from grandiose ideas about democracy and union to a reality.



4. It is a book about Lincoln; the book was delivered on time and it was clean and just what we needed!



5. In his 1984 historical novel "Lincoln", Gore Vidal has written with great insight about our sixteenth president, his cabinet, his family, his enemies, and the Civil War Era. Lengthy though the book is, the writing is crisp and eloquent. It held my attention throughout. The book is part of a series of novels by Vidal exploring the history of the United States.
   
   In writing historical novels, it is difficult to tell where fact ends and fiction begins. This is particularly the case in dealing with a complex figure such as Lincoln whose life and political legacy remain controversial and subject to many interpretations. Controversial matters that Vidal addresses in his novel include Lincoln's attitude towards African-Americans and the Reconstruction policy that Lincoln might have pursued if he had lived. Vidal's book shows careful study of Lincoln's life and the Civil War era. He uses the resources uniquely available to the novelist to good advantage by probing the thought processes and feelings of his characters where historical evidence is lacking. I found the portrait of Lincoln compelling, but it is important to remember that Vidal is writing a novel.
   
   Vidal's book begins as the President-elect arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. a few days before his inaugaration to thwart a feared assassination attempt in Baltimore. In the course of the novel, passages of recollection by various characters, reliable and unreliable, cast some light on Lincoln's earlier life. The book moves carefully and slowly, with a great deal of attention given, and properly so, to the earlier period of Lincoln's presidency. Much attention is given to Washington, D.C. at the outset of Lincoln's administration, to attempts to avert the war, to Lincoln's formation of his cabinet, and to preparing the nation for what proved to be a long bloody struggle. The pace of the book picks up as it proceeds through Lincoln's first term and reelection, the end of the Civil War, and the assassination.
   
   The picture of Abraham Lincoln that emerges from Vidal is of a man of great intellect, ambition and will, determined to save the Union at all costs. Vidal portrays Lincoln's overriding dedication to the Union. In order to preserve the Union, Lincoln uses extraordinary and even ruthless political skills. Thus, Vidal's novel considers extensively Lincoln's relationship with his cabinet. Vidal shows Lincoln choosing a cabinet from among his political rivals for the presidency, as well as from loyalist democrats, in order to be all-inclusive in the war effort. Lincoln deals with uncanny skill with potential rivals for the presidency, especially Secretary of State Seward and Secretary of the Treasury Chase. (A recent historical study, "Team of Rivals" by Doris Goodwin also treats Lincoln's relationship to his cabinet at length.) The book also shows Lincoln dealing with similar finesse and force with the Radical Republicans in Congress, with Chief Justice Taney on the Supreme Court, and with his military leaders.
   
   Vidal tells his story through a variety of perspectives. Most of the time, the viewpoint is that of John Hay, one of Lincoln's two secretaries, who had detailed and close access to Lincoln throughout the presidency. Hay and Lincoln's other secretary, Nicholay, together wrote one of the earliest biographies of Lincoln. Vidal also gives the reader a large portrait of the many southern conspirators against Lincoln. In particular Vidal develops the character of a young man named David Herrold, with uncertain purpose in life, who ultimately becomes part of the Booth conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase and his ambitious daughter Kate also receive a large share of attention in Vidal's novel.
   
   For all the attention lavished on him, Lincoln as a man remains an enigma. Lincoln largely kept his own counsel and was not demonstrative in showing his feelings. Thus fleshing-out Lincoln's character offers the novelist a great deal of latitude, and Vidal makes the most of it. His novel focuses on Lincoln's difficult relationship with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as she spends lavishly, engages herself in political intrigue, and descends to near-madness. The Lincolns endured the death of their young son Willie during the presidency. Vidal properly gives substantial attention to Lincoln's religious views, which became increasing theistic with the prolongation of the Civil War, but never Christian.
   
   Although Gore clearly admires Lincoln and his fortitude in saving the Union, he emphasizes that Lincoln's success came at a high price over and above the loss of blood and treasure in a long bitter war. With his suspension of habeas corpus and supression of dissent, Lincoln expanded forever the power of the Presidency. The war effort changed the character of the United States from an agrarian republic to a centralized, industrial nation. At the end of the book, Vidal puts his own misgivings into the words of John Hay, stationed in France after the assassination.. Hay remarks that "Lincoln, in some mysterious fashion, had willed his own murder as a form of atonement for the great and terrible thing that he had done by giving so bloody and absolute a rebirth to his nation." (p. 657)
   
   "Lincoln" is a thoughtful and moving book for those readers wanting to think about the ideals and political processes of the United States and about Lincoln's role in their continuing development.
   
   Robin Friedman

5 comments about A Joy I'd Never Known (Audio Pages).

1. I immensely gained from reading this book. This book is the true story of a Christian woman who "thought" she knew what Christianity was all about - mostly by being helpful and in control and people-pleasing, and looking and acting a certain part. I know this to be true of so many people (especially the "in control" and the "looking and acting a certain part"). She, like so many people, thought Christians had perfect lifes and nothing ever went wrong. I especially agree with her (on page 24) where she says: ". . . valuable lessons I could not have learned by staying on the high road where the sun always shines".
   
   Another one of her quotes that I was really thankful to read is on page 198: ". . . lie out there (that the church sometimes supports) that we are to look and act a certain way". That really hit home for me because of something I had been through.
   
   She is open and honest in this book. We realize that true Christians (and people trying to become such) are just like anybody else. They don't have any special "grace" to make them be "perfect" and "unbroken".
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone. Whether you're going through a rough time, or have unresolved or unanswered anger or issues, or wondering why your life isn't perfect, or wondering why you have to put on a front to make it appear that your life is perfect, or just if you are or want to be a Christian - and that covers everyone who would be interested.
   
   There's so much I could say about this wonderful book, but I don't want to say much more, because I want people to be able to read this book without me giving anything away. But to sum it up, I will say that after she gave up her control, and let God be in control, she found joy.



2. This book absolutely changed my life and the way I previously perceived panic attacks and depression. I am so grateful God led me to this book. Thank you Janet Dravecky for writing your story!!!



3. This book is a tremendous help to someone (especially a Christian) suffering from loss and/or depression. It would also be a help to you if you have a friend or loved one suffering from these things. It is a very easy and quick book to read since it is written in a conversational manner. You get the feeling that you are a friend to whom Jan Dravecky is telling her story and sharing sound advice and support. The book came to me when I needed it most, and I will always be thankful for that. I am sorry the Dravecky family has been through so much, but out of their experience many will be blessed.



4. Jan is a tremendous inspiration to all women struggling with control issues but are not admitting it to themselves or others. Her insights into how being in control controlled her life is truly a gift from God. Ms Dravecky pulls from the bottom of her heart strings in order to share her life's struggles and triumphs. I read this book last summer after having lost the job of my dreams on short notice and without prospects of another one. Feeling her pain and rejoicing in her ability to get to the other side because of her strong spiritual beliefs enabled me to gain strength in my own battle. Being in control is not always in our best interest is the lesson here, as difficult as that may seem to most women in that position. A great book !



5. Jan is a tremendous inspiration to all women struggling with control issues but are not admitting it to themselves or others. Her insights into how being in control controlled her life is truly a gift from God. Ms Dravecky pulls from the bottom of her heart strings in order to share her life's struggles and triumphs. I read this book last summer after having lost the job of my dreams on short notice and without prospects of another one. Feeling her pain and rejoicing in her ability to get to the other side because of her strong spiritual beliefs enabled me to gain strength in my own battle. Being in control is not always in our best interest is the lesson here, as difficult as that may seem to most women in that position. A great book !

No comments about Heretic Blood: An Audiobiography of Thomas Merton.

5 comments about My Life.

1. For those seeking the limelight, a must read. Be prepared for all the pitfalls that come along with the ride to fame. Inspirational autobiography of dedication and determination. May our young people keep the thought before them, that nothing comes without full commitment. Mr. Johnson has seen the highs and lows of life. There is strength in the testimony of others.



2. A good book as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far into truth. Although Johnson recalls his early years,the lessons he learned about hard work,etc. this book reads like a fluff job. It would have been a lot better if he told the full truth. Anyone who has some experience with life knows that there is another side to the story. Intrestingly, this side is seldom heard. Pro athletes and other celebrities are usually portrayed in a glowing light that hide dark truths. Johnson claims that in the cities he played in there were usually many beautiful women who waited for the athletes. In the book it is implied that this is one of the perks of being a pro. Really? You hear of other athletes who take advantage of this and are slapped with paternity suits, the women are given hush money, the athletes pay for their education and then are dropped by the groupies,or the groupies are set up for life by the athletes. With all the thousands of women Johnson supposedly slept with you hear nothing about this, and outside of AIDS he didn't get any other sexually transmitted disease sleeping with all these women? I find that incredible, since anyone else would be seeing the doctor pretty often. Most of the groupies are beautiful because its easier to trap the athletes money with. Does anyone really believe that athletes will sleep with ugly women? These groupies aren't stupid. The hard truth is that people are selfish. They don't sleep with athletes or other celebrities because of their status, but what it will get for them ie, bragging rights, paternity suits, etc. Most athletes are notoriously tight-lipped about this. But sometimes the truth comes out. One nameless athlete said "If the public knew what's going on with groupies, the payoffs etc. sports would lose a lot of money." Its all about the money. This is why opposing evidence is suppressed and why you seldom hear about the dark side. Does anyone seriously believe that vested intrests who profit from the athletes image, who make money selling sports merchandise and everthing connected with it want the truth out? Yeah, right. This book is little more than propaganda. If Johnson were serious about helping people out, he would tell the full truth. Save your money.



3. Earvin Johnson a.k.a Magic is a regular guy who is a nba legend who has aid, that' s what we all know, but at the reading of this book i found out, Earvin the man , how he felt when he found out he has aid , how much he got respect for other NBA players like Michael Jordan or Larry bird, it's a very interesting book,..., just buy it and enjoy it!



4. This book is awesome! I have been a fan of Magic Johnson forever and I still love him today. This book tells you all, from when he was a child and how life was growing up in the ghetto and his life now with his wife and son. It is very inspirational for any age. If you are an athlete this is a must read. Magic brings out his humorous side and his emotional side in this book. WELL DONE!



5. Magic shares about his life, basketball and battle w/HIV. He shares candidly and provides insights into his character, work ethic and upbringing. It's a book that's written w/a lot of enthusiasm and passion, words that would also describe Magic. I highly recommend this book.

No comments about Edward R. Murrow: Reporting Live [A Selection From The Original History Making Broadcasts]; Audio Cassette (From The CBS News Archives).