5 comments about The Making of a Country Lawyer.

1. As Spence promises on the cover, this book is about himself.
   
   You'll learn how Spence's mother's selfish suicide and religious overbearing nature have plagued him. Her death was a life-long sentence without a trial. It drove him to obsess over the innocence and justifiable mistakes of others.



2. It has been said that it takes a great deal of courage for a person to take both their private thoughts and sacred moments and put them down on paper for another person to read. This is what Gerry Spence has done with his autobiography, and he should be congratulated for doing so. Spence is renowned for his landmark victories in court, including the Karen Silkwood estate, The defense of Randy Weaver, and the acquittal of Imelda Marcos. This story is not about that chapter in Spence's life, it is about the life of the young man who became this lawyer. Spence spends a fair amount of time talking about personal intimate details of his youth that most people would prefer to forget about, let alone share with perfect strangers. For me, this is where Spence's courage deserves to be applauded. Spence now presents himself as a kind understanding gentleman who is capable of dealing respectfully will those from all walks of life -- one of the many reasons he is so successful at handling jury trails. To read his own story, this was not always the case. I have read other reviews of this book from people who were shocked to learn the details of this man's teenage, young adult, and middle adult years and seemed to hold it against him. To me, Spence is not ashamed, as he should not be, about the path his life has taken. He offers no apology, and does not owe us one. He simply describes in detail the story of the first half (approximately) of his life with insight as to how it created the Gerry Spence that we all now know and love.
   
   Some parts of the book to tend to get a little long and drawn out. This is simply Spence being Spence. He is never in a hurry to tell his stories and likes to let them meander. They are his stories and this one is about his life, so he should tell it his way.
   
   My final thoughts of this book are not so much about he book itself, but something that happen right after I finished it. I had read several of Spence's works in succession. This book was the last. Not long afterward I sat down one Saturday afternoon and send him an e-mail telling him what I had read and that I appreciated his writing and his work. I sent the mail not really expecting anything and took off for the gym. I came home a few hours later and found a reply in my Inbox from Gerry thanking me and telling me that I had made his day. It was nice to know that I was able to talk briefly with a renowned figure.



3. In the Making of a Country Lawyer, Spence delivers what most of those who write autobiographies avoid -- a critical, honest and, at times, humorous account of his growth from an awkward youth, to married man, and ultimately to a truly mature man. He is so honest and witty and provides such rich descriptions of his teenage years, his law school "education," and his first few trials that I would be cringing one moment and laughing out loud the next. So emotionally lost was Spence at different times that it appeared he could never find his way out of the abyss, nevermind reclaim the mountain top. It is more than an autobiography, it is the story of man so tormented with guilt and feelings of inadequacy that he's desperate to escape his own skin . . . until he meets his soulmate. It's the best autobiography I've ever read and perhaps Spence's best book.



4. This book relates the details of the life of Gerry Spence, a well-known trial lawyer. From his earliest days of life through the beginnings of his second marriage, Spence reveals to us what his life was like, who his influences were, and how he reacted. The driving focus of the book is Spence's mother, who took her own life when he was a young man. At the time of her death, she and Spence had had a falling out, and Spence sees much of the rest of his life as trying to make peace with her. At the end of this book, some of Spence's famous cases and clients are mentioned in an epilogue; however, these topics are not discussed in the memoir section at all.
   
   As an outsider to Spence's family, this book was extremely hard to get through. Some of the details of his early life in rural Wyoming were quite interesting, and he certainly reveals some of his character as he variously compares arguing in the courtroom to wild game hunting or playing poker. The stories of his first marriage and its breakup, and how he took up with another woman are not exactly things to be proud of, and I'm not sure his family would really want to see these details published. When his marriage was on the rocks, he decided to sell his family's home in Wyoming together with all their possessions and start life anew in Mill Valley, California. Within a month, though, he abandoned his family in Mill Valley, where they were far from relatives, friends or any other people who might provide emotional support, to go back to his mistress in Wyoming. I couldn't help thinking about Judith Wallerstein's book about children of divorce ("Second Chances") when I read this section. For her studies, she chose families facing divorce in the early 1970s living in a town in California. Was it Mill Valley where she did her studies? Did she include the four Spence children in her work? Was it the Spence children whose standard of living took a drastic nosedive when their father moved in with someone else? But it was the woe begotten prose addressed to Spence's mother that was the most difficult part of this book to get through. I had hoped to develop some sympathy for lawyers, or at least for this one, or maybe even learn something about growing up in the West during the Depression by reading this book. Instead, after reading this book, I find myself repelled even by the thought of reading any more memoirs by lawyers.



5. Next to "The Paper Chase",I found Gerry Spence's autobiography to be extremely inspirational, and yet, this time he offered wisdom for the rest of us who do not take up the law. One reviewer missed the point about "country lawyer"(the common man), trying to weaken Spence's building diatribe against corporate America. His vivid, meticulous storytelling ranges as wide as the landscape of his upbringing, where Horatio Alger meets Franklin and finishes with Thomas Paine. In other words, he offers hope for the little guy, the citizen, if men of his cloth would abandon their ways and the rest of us would stop acting like lemmings. This captivating, truth-telling journey to adulthood, runs from the depression to the consumptive new millenium. His many Lincolnian lessons throughout make it a deservedly classic manual for the under-taught. Spence proves Darwin wrong. It's not the fittest, the prepared truth-seekers.

5 comments about Autobiography of Ben Franklin.

1. This says Norton Critical Edition, so, of course, designed for academic study.
   
   A man that of course did a whole pile of stuff and came up with a whole pile more.
   
   Entertaining at times, and lecturing at others, as you might expect from someone that had been in a privileged position.



2. no doubt about it: ben franklin was a bright fellow. brigher than me, for instance. his autobiography, however, and despite what people on amazon are saying, is a shallow piece of fluff. nothing is touched in depth as he skims from one episode to the next like he is racing to finish an unimportant task. his wife? his family? forget them. all people in his life, in fact, seem deserving of no deep consideration to mr franklin. at times he brags about himself under the guise of modesty, and it is both silly and annoying. plenty of excellent biograhy work out there on this man, and one would be much better served to pick up one of those. it simply boggles my mind that anyone could consider this a 5 star piece of literature. there is not the slightest bit of passion in this writing. mr franklin doesn't even seem terribly interested in what he is writing about. amazon reveiwers seem to award 5 stars to almost anything they read, without the slightest trace of critical detachment. yes, this is a book you would not be wasting your time reading, simply because these are the words of benjamin franklin, but that's it. this is not great literature. not even close.



3. As everyone else has noted, Ben was a brilliant man and an entertaining writer. This is classic American literature, particularly in how it shows a "character" striving to rise up and better himself because that is the promise of the American Dream.
   
   I docked Ben one star because the unfinished ending is not satisfying to someone who comes across this book for the first time. Just so you know, if you get lost during the third part, Ben is discussing the French Indian War.
   
   The Dover edition is very nice and anyone should be satisfied with it.



4. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography creates a portal into the mind of one of America's greatest minds. Not only did Franklin play a pivotal role in the development of our nation but he also made huge advancements in the field of electricity. His descriptions of experiences such as the famous kite experiment grant some understanding of just how remarkable these revelations were in the mid-1700s. His subsequent invention of the lightning rod, something taken for granted today, is fascinating to read about in his own words. Learning about the electrical innovations that Franklin made, written in his own words and in the language of the period offers a unique approach to the subject of electricity. The fact that Franklin managed to accomplish all of these feats in addition to playing the role as a Founding Father is astounding and only adds to the significance of the his individual successes.



5. Ben Franklin details his interesting life in his own words. If you want an investment guide, self-help book, historical read, business primer, and a look into the life of an American original, this is it, all in one medium length book. Some readers will find the phrasing antiquated, and sentence structure longer than normal. A small quibble that reflects more upon our modern age than the work itself. Highly recommended.

5 comments about The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England [UNABRIDGED].

1. If your a history buff like I am you will love this book. It is a must for those interested in the past.



2. I love this book. Even with all of the reading I have done on the British Monarchy, this book had never before seen pictures. My only complaint would be that it often focuses more on political events rather than personal lives. But, there is wonderful information in this book, and I have enjoyed every page.



3. As a lover of British royal history, I think this is a fantastic overview that 'sums' things up, devoting a few pages to tell the story of each monarch. Antonia Fraser manages to pass on a lot of information in short form. The illustrations are wonderful, as are the charts (although as someone else mentioned, they are missing some details for us serious fanatics). I consider this is a great compilation if you just want the big picture, or a starting point to jump off into detailed biographies of individual monarchs and/or houses.



4. My dad gave me this lovely book for Christmas back in '99, and I have used it as a reference ever since. Although it is a splendid read from cover-to-cover, I find that it is one of the best books out there to really whet the appetite for more in-depth research into the monarch, rebel or time period of your choice.
   
   The genealogy charts are fun to puzzle out, and the illustrations, including coats of arms, maps, tapestries and portraits, add extra personality to the history, which is, in itself, fascinating.
   
   Of course, a book of this length only scratches the surface of the noble, scandalous, shocking and never-dull lives of the British monarchs, their families, friends and enemies, so you must dig deeper if any one subject appeals to you. All in all, a well-written, organized and illustrated overview of a sizeable chunk of history.



5. Well written and documented overwiew
   
   But it lacks a bibliography for further reading

5 comments about Frank Sinatra: An American Legend.

1. No wonder this book is so thick- it's filled with numerous photos of Frank Sinatra, his family, and friends over the years. I love looking at these pics, and so will any other Sinatra fan. There is detailed info throughout the book as well. This is one worth having in your collection.



2. Here is Sinatra stripped of everything who leaves me knowing he has deserved my love and admiration all these years. With Sinatra, he drove himself through life going after whatever he wanted and risking the consequences. We get to look at his ups and downs and his prides and his falls. We see him suffer at love and sing about it. We see him finally, after all the aborted tries, finally sink himself into a relationship with his last wife that kept him happy until he died.

   Life for Sinatra was all or nothing at all and he did life his way and fell into lots of tender traps and led some into his own tender traps, like one famous movie star I will let you discover on your own.

   What so special about Nancy's book is that she is amazingly organized and objective in her account of her father's life. And the CD, well the CD is everything. You get to hear Sinatra on Sinatra, unabashed.

   Everyone on the planet needs to buy and read this book to learn what life can be when you go for it all every day!

   Kudos to Nancy for a biography well, well done.




3. This book has excellent pictures with the most vital information for a biography project. A great buy and great read for interested fans of Ol' Blue Eyes.



4. This scrapbook is a real treat to any true SINATRA fan.It is full of pictures of everybody who was important in his life from his parents to collaborators like arrangers NELSON RIDDLE; all his wifes from NANCY to BARBARA;the legendary LOUIS B. MAYER etc.Better than most biographies because it is based on facts not rumours.The early pictures from his beginnings are alone worth the price.I was fortunate enough to get this book at the third of it's price and i went through it very fast because once you open it, you simply can't take your hands out of it.If FRANK became the singer of the past century, it's not by accident, he worked hard at it.I was particulary touched by his loyalty to his true friends.FRANK SINATRA is a mirror of his country. He was the son of immigrants who lived the AMERICAN dream to the fullest.Where is the AMERICAN dream today now that it's last legend is gone?Let's not complain too much ,because everything that FRANK SINATRA ever recorded is now available on cd.Nostalgia when you think of it is a very good thing.SATURDAY is not the loneliest night of the week anymore thanks to the chairman of the board.If you are not already a fan, this book should do the trick.



5. I had to get this book after seeing how low the price came down.The original price was 40 dollars. Nancy Sinatra's book on her Father has everything in here.I couldn't believe Frank weighted 13and a half pounds when he was born on December 12,1915.The Doctor ripped and scarred his ear,check,and neck,plus puncturing his eardrum.Frank wasn't breathing,so his grandmother Rose held the baby under cold running water until he gasped his first breath and cried.This book is like a Diary.It goes from year to year,sometimes month to month.All of Franks movies,records,concerts,TV shows,songs,and the name of the songwriters are in here,plus hundreds of pictures,starting with Frank's baby photo, ending with a touching family photo taken in 1996.There's a wonderfull picture of Marilyn Monroe taken with Dean Martin sitting ringside at the Sands..All of the stars are in here,and family pictures we've never seen before.If you are a Frank Sinatra fan,you have to get this Book.Its huge,and the pictures are fantastic.

5 comments about Leap of Faith.

1. Over the past few years I have rediscovered my fascination with the 1960s space race by reading several books by or about people connected with NASA back in those glory days. After reading "Leap of Faith" I have now read biographies of all the Mercury Seven astronauts. The good news is that Gordon Cooper's book is easily one of the most interesting. The bad news is that I don't exactly mean that as a compliment.
   
   For about two thirds of this book Cooper recounts his days with NASA and here he is, pardon the expression, on solid ground. The passages feel a bit rushed and his interpretation of events differ from other viewpoints you may have read, but he's Gordon Cooper and he's earned the right to have his say.
   
   Unfortunately, the NASA days are only part of Cooper's life story and it's the remaining one third of the book where he drives himself into the ditch. I knew from other sources that Cooper firmly believes flying saucers have visited the Earth and our government has conspired to keep the truth from us. I don't believe this myself, but again, he's Gordon Cooper and he has earned my respect. I was willing to listen to what he had to say.
   
   A few UFO stories would have been fine, but Cooper shoots himself in the foot and destroys whatever credibility he had when he recounts his relationship with Valerie Ransone who he met in the late 70s. Ransone claimed to receive telepathic messages from space aliens and wanted to use the knowledge she was gaining to start something called the Advanced Technology Group. Of course, this group needed some funding to get itself going.
   
   Rarely, if ever, have I read a book before where something becomes painfully obvious to the reader but of which the author remains blissfully unaware. Ransone begins to use Cooper for his name and prestige to obtain money for what is nothing more than a huge scam. Cooper never seems to catch on. His viewpoint always seems to be "It might be true, therefore it is true."
   
   The lowest point in this silliness comes when Ransone announces that the aliens are coming to Earth to give Cooper a ride in one of their saucers. Cooper, as gullible as can be, prepares for his expectant UFO flight just as he had for any of his NASA missions. It comes as absolutely no surprise, to anyone but Cooper I guess, when shortly before the flight the aliens are forced to cancel. Apparently there was a political squabble over this proposed flight back on the homeworld. Darn the luck.
   
   One is left to wonder if Cooper really believed all this nonsense or if he was just including it as a way to make his book stand out and sell a few more copies. Either way, it's a pretty poor way for a true American hero to act.



2. I too was first confused by Coopers reference to the Saturn VIII. After reading other books about Chris Kraft and Werner Von Braun, it dawned on me that he was referring to the Nova rocket that was on the drawing boards in the early sixties by Werner Von Braun. See the Wikipedea for more information. The Nova rocket was conceptualized before the powers that be decided on the LOR (Lunar Orbit Rendevous). Everybody, including Von Braun thought the best approach was the direct ascent, which was to land a rocket vertically and blast off from the moon and return home. The other option explored was (EOR) or Earth Orbit and Rendevous, where the componets for direct ascent were to be launched individually and assembled in earth orbit, then on to the moon. The winner, LOR, was scoffed, but through perseverance, it won out as the quickest way to get to the moon with the lightest payload. Therefore, the Nova (Coopers Saturn VIII) was never needed.
   
   I'll admit this threw me for a while too. It was worded as if it existed. It never existed beyond the conceptual level. Wikipedia has a picture showing it having a 50' diameter first stage and 8 engines while the Saturn V had a 33' diameter first stage and 5 engines. The height would have been just 10' taller than the Saturn V. It would have been a beast at lift off.
   
   I thought the UFO reference's a little far fetched, and I've read that the confication of film after the gemini lauch was improbable. Cooper says the film was developed right there on the recovery ship and I've heard this was never the procedure. Maybe he's right and their is a conspiracy after all!



3. This work has produced a rather hefty array of responses from Amazon readers, many of whom are stridently opposed to Cooper's career-long pursuit of the secrets of UFO's and other mysterious new technologies, and others who see in the Mercury astronaut a hero of what now appears to be a cause losing steam. Our focus here is on the book, however. For as several reviewers have correctly observed, this is a tale of two Gordo's, one battling the unknowns of space, and the other battling the knowns of the NASA/military industrial complex.
   
   Unfortunately, neither tale is particularly compelling. The account of the astronaut's career, coming as it did in 2000, was the tail of the dog in a string of early astronaut autobiographies as the pioneers rushed to beat the Grim Reaper with their version of events. As to the second, Cooper's extensive research and observations about UFO's are not as deliciously crazy as some would like us to believe, either. In fact, some of his conjectures about alien propulsion systems and the like are rather fascinating to the layman.
   
   While Cooper has been a busy man since leaving NASA thirty-something years ago, it would seem that something he neglected to do is read what others around the space program were writing in those three decades, and specifically what they were writing about him. One Amazon reader in this sequence of reviews reports to having collected 150 such volumes himself. The general consensus of post-Apollo writers seems to be that Cooper's years with NASA are somewhat enigmatic. One of the original seven Mercury astronauts, he was the last one to fly, a statement of sorts about how the NASA hierarchy regarded him. [Oddly, NASA's "the best shall be first" policy in Mercury resulted in Cooper's complex and spectacularly successful Faith 7 two-day marathon, the last flight in the Mercury series.]
   
   Cooper and Pete Conrad would fly the Gemini 5 mission in the summer of 1965 to test fuel cells, endurance and, as the author observes wryly, defecation technique. But after Gemini 5, Cooper becomes an invisible man. He was designated to the back-up crews of three future flights, the last of which, Apollo 13, he turned down as a political slight.
   
   So why did the hero of Faith 7 fall out of favor in succeeding years? This is the question most readers today would probably bring to the book. The author himself never does soul-searching about his own role in why his space career stalled. Instead he boils his dilemma down to two words: Al Shepard. Cooper believes that Shepard, embittered by his health problems and eager to get back into rotation, used his influence with Deke Slayton, then assigning crews, to keep the Mercury hero under the radar. Cooper's distrust of Shepard appears to date back to his Faith 7 days in 1963 when he asked Wally Schirra to privately tail Shepard, then Cooper's back-up, during pre-flight training.
   
   Cooper cites the Shepard/Slayton cabal as symptomatic of the increasing bureaucracy of NASA, the military, and the federal government. He notes, for example, his complaint in a conversation with President Lyndon Johnson that his photography from Gemini 5 had been seized and classified. Johnson coolly informed him that he, the president, had given the order. It is important for the reader to observe keenly Cooper's misadventures with government entities, for they are of one weave with his later criticisms of government cover-up in the reporting of UFO sightings and general hostility toward individuals like himself at the outer margins of technology, from this world or another.
   
   If Cooper feels that he was blackballed by Shepard and Slayton, what can we say of astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, Gene Cernan, and Pete Conrad, to name several whose careers thrived under the Slaton-Shepard regime? Lovell, in fact, flew four space missions [two Gemini, two Apollo] after Cooper's Gemini 5, and he is living proof that the "evil duo" was not completely adverse to the emergence of "stars" in the astronaut corps.
   
   No, the answer to Cooper's dilemma is more personal, and probably reflects nagging doubts in NASA about Cooper's manageability and application to the growing complexity of the space business. In this Cooper was hardly alone. Nearly all of the original Mercury Seven had difficulty adjusting to a bigger astronaut corps, greater bureaucracy, public relations, politics, and the general idea of "teamwork." It is no accident that Schirra and Shepard, the two Mercury veterans to fly Apollo, each chose all rookie teams. [Walt Cunningham of Apollo 7 would refer to Schirra as "the cock of the walk."] Schirra himself found the new NASA so discomfiting that he passed on a sure moon landing assignment and retired.
   
   Because Cooper does not really address his own career difficulties with insight, the charges of some historians that Cooper did not train or apply himself sufficiently will still be left to hang out there in the foreseeable future. This is regrettable, because Cooper, like his colleague Scotty Carpenter, was one of the true multidimensional human beings of the early space program. And I give him a great deal of credit for his respect of John Glenn and others for whom timing and luck made them national heroes.
   
   Given Cooper's colorful space career, his subsequent employment by Disney, among others, comes as little surprise. The intrepid pilot of Faith 7 became--how can I put it?--a magnet for scientific entrepreneurs, some of remarkable brilliance, some eccentrics, and some undecipherable. Cooper apparently never lost touch with his astronaut friends, but he certainly picked up new ones along the way, including the mysterious clairvoyant and purveyor of character Valerie Ransone who seems to have preoccupied his personal and scientific attentions for a period in the 1980's. Perhaps if he had met Valerie in 1965, it would be Gordon Cooper making that giant leap for mankind.



4. Very good book as long as it deals with the space program, full of anecdotes. I learned a lot. (I have almost 150 books about the American Space Program). If you believe in UFO's then you will love all the book, if you don't you may be disappointed by some of Gordon Cooper's allegations.



5. In 'Leap of Faith,' Gordon Cooper adds his voice to the growing chorus of former military pilots and officers who have had direct experience with the alien presence, a presence the `Robertson Panel' has tried desperately to hide using the CIA's array of obedient "media assets." Though most of the old Cold Warriors fought the good fight to keep Americans ignorant about alien visitors, often right up until their deaths, quite a few have realized democracy doesn't function very well under such institutional self-deception. The lies have corrupted our government, weakened our economy, and spawned criminality in high places. If only America had a few thousand more voices like Cooper's!
   
   This book is, of course, much more than a tale of aliens and their craft. It is the story of an adventurer who went where no one had gone before, at a time when technology was barely adequate to get him there. That took intellect and guts. But in my mind, it is Cooper's unwillingness to knuckle under to NASA's oppressive secrecy rules that makes him stand out among the astronaut corps, most of whom have kept their mouths shut about NASA's most significant discoveries.
   
   Readers who have swallowed the official lie hook line and sinker may find it hard to accept the notion of aliens among us, but that is because they are deeply ignorant of our history. They were too young to remember when close-up `flying saucer' reports by commercial and military pilots filled the nation's newspapers. They don't recall when President Eisenhower tried to assure Americans, on the front page of the Dec. 16, 1954 'New York Times,' that the Earth was not being invaded by saucers from outer space. By 1953, the military machinery of censorship and propaganda began to torque down. Gradually, these stunning press accounts disappeared. The UFOs did not go away but press coverage did. That was good enough to fool a great many people.
   
   To be sure, there have been many leaks since. In 1988, Maurice Chatelein, the brilliant engineer who designed the Apollo communications and data-processing system, confided in his book 'Cosmic Ancestors,' that some of the Gemini and Apollo craft had been followed by "space vehicles of extraterrestrial origin." NASA, he said, kept this information very quiet. This was confirmed by Col. Philip J. Corso in 'The Day After Roswell' (pp. 128-129). And there have been other such voices, most unheeded by America's sheep-like news media.
   
   But you don't need to take their word for NASA's secrecy. Check out the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1203, Subpart B, which spells out the procedures for keeping sensitive NASA information Top Secret, Secret, and Restricted. Or consider that NASA plays a key role in administering the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, under which thousands of innovations have been classified for "national security" reasons.
   
   NASA gets mighty nervous when UFO researchers get together to discuss space propulsion with its personnel, as they did in 1999. To make certain nothing classified got out, it sent Special Agent Keith Tate to monitor the event, as reported in the Oct. 8, 1999, San Francisco 'Examiner.'
   
   As for face-to-face meetings with aliens, RAF Air Marshall Peter Horsley, an aide to Britain's Prince Philip, reported just such an experience in his 1997 autobiography, 'Sounds from a Distant Room.' Horsley also reported that British pilots, too, have had their share of aerial close encounters.
   
   The gullible skeptics are being slowly dragged, kicking and screaming, toward the realization that they have been soundly hoodwinked by their own government. Is it so surprising that they lash out so emotionally at messengers like Gordon Cooper who bear such ego-shattering news?

5 comments about Kaffir Boy (Super Sound Buys).

1. KAFFIR BOY is a must read for anyone interested in what life was like for a young boy coming of age in Apartheid South Africa. Mark Mathabane describes in vivid detail the horror of poverty and brutality which was a way of life for black children and families living in the squalor city of Alexandria near Johannesburg, the affluent suburb in South Africa. His account is heartbreaking. Yet, Mark was able to do the unthinkable. He was able to escape (thanks to the support of men like Stan Smith), and lived to write about his horrifying experiences. KAFFIR BOY is interesting and important because Mark Mathabane writes in a style as if he is talking directly to the reader, thereby allowing the reader to fully understand what it was like coping with the cruelty and injustice of apartheid.
   
   I thought that parts of the book could have been penned more concisely. Also, it was difficult at times to understand the character of Mark's mother and father. Yet, Mark Mathabane's powerful and profound account/message of life in Apartheid South Africa far outweighs the minor flaws of this book. I highly recommend this book.



2. Stark and poignant, Mark Mathabane shares his autobiography of life under South African apartheid until the miracle of his escape to the United States in Kaffir Boy (Free Press, 350 pages). Mr. Mathabane's story is told in three parts. The first, The Road to Alexandra, offers a description of the appalling squalor and violence found in a black ghetto under fourth-class citizen status. How children learn to survive, let alone attempt to carry on any type of hopeful existence, defies any common understanding of humanity and pulls at the reader's heartstrings. The challenges, frustrations, and sacrifices that confronted Mr. Mathabane and his family are documented throughout the second section, Passport to Knowledge, where education, religion, and tribal affiliations swirl as possible solutions to combat the Influx Control Law and other forms of white-minority separatist rule. Passport to Freedom, the third section, narrates Mr. Mathabane's discovery of tennis and the difficulties of making dreams come true.
   
   Despite the repetition of incidents and the infusion of seemingly inconsequential moments, Mr. Mathabane's autobiography is readable and moving. It is hard to imagine anyone living through the impoverished conditions he describes. Confrontations with his tribal father, local gangs, missionaries, and white authorities suggest hope of a better future is nothing short of a lottery ticket. The most effective sections of the text share Mr. Mathabane's inner turmoil in deciding his place as a black South African and an agent of change. The tumultuous history of apartheid is drawn with an effective narrative voice as violent uprisings and responses are juxtaposed with tender sacrifices and determination. With the assistance of liberal whites, Mr. Mathabane turned hard work and good fortune into a plane ticket to freedom. Kaffir Boy joins Cry Freedom and Master Harold & the Boys as yet another powerful depiction of South African life.



3. I picked up this book after watching the movie "Tsotsi". I was looking for a book about apartheid in South Africa and stumbled upon this one. And I am so glad I did. The author has done a great job in detailing his childhood and the struggle he and his family went through. Half-way through the book I found it extremely depressing and decided to stop. Later that night I realized that people have courage to actually go through and I can't even complete reading the book? People in Africa still go through horrifying experiences...Yes, it was a depressing read but a definite MUST. An absolute eye opener...



4. A truly heartwrenching tale of what life was like growing up under the oppressive system of apartheid in South Africa. Great resource for history classrooms and an excellent read, Mathabane relates a story that was hard to put down.



5. A very valuable, intimate inside look at apartheid direct from the eyes of a poor black boy, aged 6 to 18. Not a view point we in the west often get.

5 comments about In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson.

1. A very balanced biography. Cunningham's treatment of Thomas Jefferson is brief, yet peppered with the interesting caveats that give a personal feel to the President. Very readable, maybe to the point only wetting your taste for biographies of Jefferson. Recommended to all ages, reading levels, and interests. The very best, bar none, one volume biography of Thomas Jefferson.



2. ....one biography of Thomas Jefferson, and this would not be a bad choice. This is not Dumas Malone or Merrill Peterson, and doesn't claim to be. What it is is a concise, well written, account of the life of the man who "invented" America, who gave us a way to build on our hard-won freedom, and govern ourselves. Dr. Cunningham hits ALL the significant points, and, more important, makes no errors of fact [at least that I could find]. In several places, the author is not afraid to say that further exploration of a topic is beyond his intended scope. Honesty, indeed.
   
   My decision to give five stars rests on pages 114-116, where the Tom and Sally story is looked at, and dismissed as belonging in a work of fiction, especially the Paris part. Amen. Speaking of Paris, Maria Cosway is not dismissed [she can't be], but there is no excessive hand wringing, either.
   
   I admit I did things backwards, reading this after Malone and Peterson. This is a basic work...in the number of pages that Dr. Cunningham takes to get Jefferson to his grave, Malone has him in the midst of tribulation as Governor of Virginia, and Peterson has him in temporary bliss with Maria Cosway. This is a fine choice for 99.999%+ of readers to read one biography...so is Joseph Ellis' "American Sphinx". Likewise Willard Sterne Randall's book, though it's kind of long. The books on various side topics of Jefferson's life are virtually infinite in number, and are for poor souls like me. Forget them, especially since many tell lies that the average reader won't catch. You can order a used copy of this for a dime; it's a LOT better book than that price would indicate.



3. While those who revel in the ponderous, intimate-portrait biographies that have become fashion recently may be disappointed, this work provides a well-rounded portrayal of one of America's most interesting historical figures. Jefferson's public life is well represented throughout this work (though there are aspects which receive insufficient treatment, such as the Lewis & Clark Expedition). Nonetheless, Jefferson's experiences in Paris during the French Revolution and as governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War provide insights as to who he was and how he came to be a successful two-term President.
   
   As for his private life, Cunningham provides ample coverage. There are references to Jefferson's many letters to his daughters, providing a "warts and all" depiction of the demanding father he was; references to his letters to Madison and Adams, giving some insights into their relationships; and, for those interested in the minutia of historical trivia, even references to the number of cartons of books lost during the fire that claimed his home at Shadwell. (Cunningham's one failing in this biography was the failure to investigate more seriously the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, though the historical significance of this relationship remains debatable).
   
   Nonetheless, eminently accessible to casual reader, and providing insights to the more interested observer, Cunningham's will more than whet the appetite of any Jefferson enthusiast.



4. In this book Noble Cunningham has managed to make one of the most fascinating figures in American history pedestrian. He provides a dutiful recounting of the facts of Jefferson's life, but never makes him come alive. His thesis--that Jefferson saw the use of reason as the highest human undertaking--is certainly valid, but Jefferson was a man of enormous contradictions, none of which are truly explored here. This book makes the man who said "Democracy ought to be periodically washed in blood" seem like a hardworking civil servant.



5. I've been reading biographies of the presidents in the order they served, and I have to agree with Andrew Wagner's review: I don't really feel like I know Jefferson after reading this biography. Unlike McCullough's "John Adams" or Ketcham's "James Madison: A Biography," this book deals predominantly (just shy of exclusively) with Jefferson's public life. The author seems to begrudgingly deal with Jefferson's personal life only because some exposition of it is expected at certain points (e.g., formative years, Sally Hemings). He barely mentions Jefferson's friendships with Adams, Madison, and others. You'll know more about Jefferson's personal life from reading McCullough's book on Adams than reading this biography. That said, if you're, in fact, looking for a good synopsis of Jefferson's public life only, this book does a good job.

5 comments about Crazy Horse (Penguin Lives).

1. As he states in this volume, it's less a biography than a testament to the impact Crazy Horse had on his own people during and after his life and what he means to Americans today. Illusive yes, but Crazy Horse is a symbol of all that could've been for natives of the plains. He was an Indian who never capitulated, who never gave up on his way of life or on his dreams and those dreams, both figurative and actual, guided him through life and into the walk with the spirits. What does this man mean to us all? He's more than a simple representation. He's an embodiment to self-determination. He's an example of charity and caring of a leader who placed his own people ahead of all else.
   
   Unlike Geronimo, who spent time in prison and then ended up selling autographed photos of himself for a dollar apiece to the very white people he'd sworn to kill, Crazy Horse avoided contact with Whites until his last days and never accepted their systems or their ideas of justice. He only came to the reservation because his people were starving. He only talked to the Fort's doctor because his wife had tuberculosis. He never allowed his photograph to be taken and wasn't known for talking much.
   
   He took his responsibilities very seriously as a shirt wearer and did everything he could to provide for the poor of his tribe despite preferring to be alone and preferring the open prairie to population centers.
   
   I can't help but draw parallels between another mythical figure after reading this tightly told tale. Jesus was said to express great concern for the poor and Crazy Horse was told in a vision that this was his mission in life. Jesus was a symbol for his people of a spiritual life outside the realm of Rome. Crazy Horse was a symbol of a way of life on the plains, free to pursue the Sioux ceremonies and religious observation. Jesus was killed through the betrayal of a friend and stabbed in the side by a Roman spear while hanging from a cross. Crazy Horse was restrained by his friend, the tribal policeman Little Big Man, when he was bayoneted by a soldier. In death, both Christ and Crazy Horse are rallying points for more than just their own people, but for people everywhere.
   
   CV Rick



2. Larry McMurtry (Telegraph Days, Lonesome Dove) brings his clean and concise writing style to this brief but illuminating life of Crazy Horse.
   
   This compact little biography is one of the Penguin Lives series that features what Penguin Books web site describes as an "innovative series of biographies pairing celebrated writers with famous individuals who have shaped our thinking." The series is worth looking into for its other biographies of Churchill by John Keegan, Buddha by Karen Armstrong, and Saint Augustine by Garry Wills among others.
   
   In the case of Crazy Horse not a heck of lot is really known about the man. As McMurtry points out, most of what we know about Crazy Horse and most Indians derives from their contact with whites and Crazy Horse generally avoided whites to the fullest extent possible. He was a brave warrior, a leader of his people at times, but not truly a chief, a loner, an iconoclast within a tribe of iconoclasts.
   
   Crazy Horse is an iconic figure who captures the imagination. His life of some 35 or so years spanned the rapid transformation of the West from the free days of the nomadic Plains tribes and limitless buffalo herds to the confinement of those peoples on poor reservations and the destruction of the herds. Crazy Horse never really yielded to the whites unlike nearly all other Indian leaders, not that it mattered much in the grand scheme of things because no strategy was going to change the ultimate outcome. Crazy Horse declined to go to Washington, resisted any restraints, refused to attend the parleys with the whites.
   
   He did ultimately sacrifice his own freedom when he brought his 900 or so followers after the brutal winter of 1876-1877 - just months after the twin victories over Crook at Rosebud and Custer at Little Bighorn. Crazy Horse was killed, probably by the bayonet of a white soldier as he resisted his final arrest. His death was a blessing as the whites planned to ship him to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, a tiny prison atoll in Florida.
   
   Unlike other popular authors, notably Stephen Ambrose, McMurtry resists the temptation to let his imagination roam too freely and sticks mostly to the known facts and reasonable deductions to be drawn from them. Those facts however immutably established Crazy Horse as perhaps the single most romantic and heroic figure of the great American Western epic. He lived free, defeated Custer, the great white romantic figure, and then died young "in the last moments when the Sioux could think of themselves as free. By an accident of fate, the man and the way of life died together...he came to be the symbol of Sioux freedom, Sioux courage, and Sioux dignity." (Page 17, hardcover edition)
   
   Highly recommended for any reader with an interest in the American West.



3. I don't generally go for books on tape,but decided to give this a try. I was exceptionally pleased with it. I guess just about anyone who has read anything of the West covering the period from the 1830's to the end of the century;knows something about Crazy Horse. There are so many references and they vary so much,one has difficulty in trying to separate fact from legend.
   Mc Murtry puts on his historian hat for this one and tries ,and I might add very suscessfully,to sort it all out. To attempt such a thing,could result in a very long book with reams of details and references;but McMurtry has managed to avoid that;and comes up with a concise,easy to follow book that covers the whole Western Indian experience centered around one of the most prominent Indian leaders at the time.On top of that he builds into it references of other books where the "story" may differ;and where there is differences or actual unknown details;he addresses them. He also refrains from "making up" details and introducing them;which would do nothing but add to the confusion.
   When you finish this book ,you will be left with the impression that you now know the story about as well as one can possibly know it,particularly at this stage of the game.



4. Crazy Horse has been one of my American heroes ever since I read about him in "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West" by Dee Brown back in the 1970's. When I discovered that Larry McMurtry, a favorite author of mine, had written a biography of Crazy Horse, the book immediately made the top of my TBR list! And glad I am that I did immerse myself in this brief but rich biography. As usual, McMurtry does not disappoint - nor does his subject.
   
   Despite extensive writings about the great Sioux warrior Crazy Horse, there is actually a dearth of hard facts about his life. The man was born around 1840, at a time when the nomadic way of life of the Plains Indians was dying....or to be more accurate, at a time when the traditional way of life was stomped out though the US government's broken promises, lies, ineptitude, and the sheer number of US soldiers with rifles and their seemingly never-ending supply of ammunition. Manifest Destiny was very much a reality and it could not be fulfilled while nomadic tribes roamed the Great Plains hunting buffalo, "impeding progress," the westward march of settlers, the building of the railroads.
   
   What kind of written historical record would there be of a man who lived the life of a Sioux warrior, "raiding and hunting on the central plains?" He rarely had contact with whites until the end of his life. And what translations exist are appalling.
   
   Worm, his father was an Oglala healer; his mother was thought to be the sister of Spotted Tail, the Brule leader. From the first, Crazy Horse, called Curly as a boy, marched to the beat of his own drum. He was a loner and although he lived in the traditional way, he was not interested in the usual rituals of purification, like the sundance rite. "He took his manhood as a given and proved it in battle at an early age."
   
   He went on a journey as a young man, to seek a vision. Never orthodox in his beliefs or behavior, Curly did not purify himself in the ancient ways nor did he speak with a holy man, such as his own father, before making the trip. The vision or dream he achieved on this quest, and the interpretation, were to prove very significant throughout his life. There are enough consistent reports about this episode to prove its authenticity.
   
   The author takes the known facts about the period, as well as material garnered from documented interviews with Native Americans and whites who knew Crazy Horse, and recreates here a vivid portrait of the warrior, the human being who cared first and foremost for his people - for the very young, the sick and elderly - the man of such moral authority that he sparked deadly jealousy amongst some of his own men. "Among a broken people an unbroken man can only rarely be tolerated." Crazy Horse "became a too-painful reminder of what the people as a whole had once been."
   
   McMurtry, also paints a clear and accurate picture of the place, the times, the large Native American councils, of the Ghost Dance, the battles, the parlays, the betrayals. He recounts a much reported conversation Crazy Horse, near the end of his life, had with his old friend He Dog. General George Cook wanted all the Sioux at Red Creek "to move across the creek, nearer to White Butte, so he would have them handy for a big council. He Dog thought it might be best to do as he was told." Crazy Horse did not want to make the move for his own reasons. He Dog, concerned about what the move might mean for their friendship asked Crazy Horse if "such a move on his part would mean they were enemies now. Crazy Horse laughed, perhaps for the last time; then he reminded He Dog that he was not speaking to a white man. Whites were the only ones, he said, who made rules for other people. Camp where you please."
   
   Larry Mc Murtry invites the reader to camp where we please amid the recountings and recollections of the life of the legend who was Crazy Horse. This is a brief but beautifully written story of a life...and of a death. It is also a tribute to a great man.
   
   Apparently Penguin has published a series of brief biographies called "Penguin Lives." James Atlas, the editor, plans for six volumes a year from "celebrated writers on famous individuals who have shaped our thinking." The list includes the Buddha, St. Augustine, Joan of Arc, Dante, Mozart, Jane Austen, Dickens and Chekhov. Unfortunately I only see two women on his list. I sincerely hope this grave omission is corrected.
   JANA



5. Given the shortage of facts concerning Crazy Horse's life, McMurtry (who is truly one of the great living writers) was an inspired choice to write this little biography. He's just the sort of writer that was needed to tie together the skeleton of a life that's remembered. And, true to form, McMurtry in this little meditation seems really to capture something of the essence of Crazy Horse's fascinating, tragic life. It's well worth a read.

5 comments about Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman.

1. I am astonished at the 5 star reviews for this book. Pay attention to what other readers are saying. I read this book because it was our book club selection of the month. Out of many years in book club, this was the worst book we have read. I am writing this review so others may be spared by the glowing marks of 'professional' reviewers.
   
   It's difficult to describe how rampant the name-dropping was in this book. There were parts of the book in which 10 or more names would appear per page for dozens of pages. I don't care if the names are notable authors, it's boring to read lists of names! This was not writing, this was 'list making'.
   
   The book couldn't hold a theme for more than a couple sentences. (spoilers next)... The author has a miscarriage, which gets just 2 or 3 sentences of attention. The author is raped. Apparently something as life shattering as that gets only a brief mention as well. There are many traumatic and life-changing events that are barely explored in the book, because the look is too busy name-dropping every person she has met.
   
   This memoir should have been exciting, it should have been a great book. What an amazing life she has led, against tragedy and great odds. Yet somehow she manages to make this story sound boring.
   
   An interesting development is the 'Afterward' after the book has ended. It's so well written you can't help but wonder if it was done by the same author? The first 20 pages and the Afterward of this book are great, the 200 pages in the middle are a mess. Do yourself a favor and pay attention to the reviews here. Life is short and there so many great books to read, I regret I'll never get the time back I spent reading this disappointing book.



2. This is a splendidly written autobiography, unbelievably rich in detail and raw emotion. While other reviewers have ably described her life's journey - from a chaotic household with alcoholic parents to a very good job as TV producer and then columnist - this is also a beautiful and vivid evocation of a changing Ireland. O'Faolain provides the grittiest of portraits, of a stalled society that is emerging from centuries of repression and excessive religiosity to a modern society. She herself embodies much of it, journeying (across class lines) from desperate loneliness (seeking love as a panacea) to a self-empowered feminist writer who has the strength to keep going. It is deep and gets you to reflect on your own predicament, particularly middle age.
   
   Warmly recommended.



3. Nuala O'Faolain writes reasonably well. She has developed her craft enough to be labeled lucid, although inspired isn't a word I would use. When she writes about the shift in the concept of family that has taken place over her lifetime she can hold my interest. But what she did with whom over the course of her life, without a deeper examination of why, falls more in the category of vaccuous gossip, and won't hold any serious reader's interest.
   
   Most disappointing of all is the absence of the story that Nuala can't relate, the one she has yet to understand herself. Ms. O'Faolain tells us all about her upbringing as a child of alcoholics, complete with a horrific description of seeing her mother dead drunk on the floor of her home. She even laments the alcoholic demise and early death of her younger brother. But she never admits to alcoholism herself despite a book-long description of irrefutable symptoms. Aside from a borderline flippant remark about what she refers to as a brush with alcoholism and a one-line mention of "addiction" to pills in her younger years, Nuala never conveys any grasp of the nature of the disease that killed her mother and brother, and shortened the life of her father.
   
   For those of us with more than a casual relationship with alcoholism, Ms. O'Faolain's present condition of relative isolation is revealing, as well. It's another predictable phase in the inevitable progression of the disease. She also talks (writes) like a "dry drunk," and has the dysfunctional relationships to prove it. When she writes about retiring alone to read - with a bottle of wine - it is painfully obvious that she is living in denial of her own condition, that she has missed perhaps the most important revelation available to her. As she left us at the end of her book, it appears that the lessons her ancestors paid such a terrible price to impart have escaped Ms. O'Faolain.
   
   Alcoholics and their families and friends are among the many who would want to read "Are You Somebody?," and they want to read it with the hope that an understanding of alcoholism was reached by the author, especially after such a traumatic lifetime experience with the disease. Nuala has yet to absorb that lesson. When she does, the story she can relate will acquire a depth that escapes her present version.



4. I love the flow of Nuala's writing style. So beautifully written, almost poetic. I find myself reading some passages over many times to contemplate what is being said. She's so insightful to human character.



5. Nuala O'Faolain has been a waitress, sales clerk and maid; a university lecturer; a television producer, and, most recently, a columnist at The Irish Times. She is Dublin-born and bred, but received an education at Oxford, England, and did tv work in the United Kingdom. She has now returned to Dublin, and, in middle age, written this well-received memoir.
   
   Through most of its history, Ireland has been a tough country for women merely to live, let alone to establish satisfactory lives and careers, and O'Faolain's struggle to do both is at the heart of her memoir. Born one of nine children to an overwhelmed alcoholic mother; and a charming father who chose to spend his time, his money, and his charm elsewhere, leaving his family day-to-day poor, O'Faolain claims to have had the classic hard-scrabble Irish childhood. And from her writings, it seems she did. Though it should be noted that, whatever her father's faults, he was one of Ireland's best-known journalists, under a "nom de plume," as it happened. And it simply does not seem to me that, however hard Ireland was on women -- and we know it was-- it's quite so miraculous that a child of a well-known journo, whether male or female, should rise to become a well-known journo in his or her own turn. It's just not quite as extraordinary as, say, a child of an illiterate day laborer taking that same career path.
   
   Be that as it may, the North Dublin family was poor, and Mam wasn't up to much. Nuala reads books, struggles to get herself an education, discovers boys, pushes at the restrictive boundaries of Catholic Ireland at that time, and finally leaves the country to complete her education and begin her career. She seems to have been expert at finding help in stony ground, always a helpful ability. She seems also to take pride in having been an icebreaker for others as she pushed at those booundaries, as well she might, and she gives us quite an interesting view of talented young people struggling to find the way out of stultifying mid-20th century Dublin. She also seems to have found help in working herself up the career ladder, on her back, as they say. Some pretty heavy names are dropped, some others are held back. But there's no denying a girl can, at a minimum, learn a lot from pillow talk, if she picks the right pillow talkers. And she's certainly not the first or last woman to have gotten that kind of help up the ladder; let anybody who cares to throw the first stone.
   
   Now in lonely middle age, without male companionship or children, O'Faolain's unusually honest about her circumstances. Of course, it seems evident that, as a younger woman, O'Faolain was choosing her male companions for qualities other than the likelihood that they would stick with her for the long haul. Nevertheless, plenty of men and women have looked hard for mates for the long haul, without necessarily finding them. Ways to live must still be found. A lot of people wind up middle-aged and lonely, and can be grateful for the author's honesty.
   
   O'Faolain's trip has taken her some interesting places, and she has always been a keen-eyed observer with a keen pen. At one point, she writes of life in Oxford,"In real life, glamour consisted of my friend and myself getting done up in high heels and tight black skirts. Tucked into the skirts, and anchored by wide elastic belts, we wore men's white nylon shirts with the sleeves rolled up. We had big pointy breasts (old nylons stuffed in our bras), a thick layer of yellowy Pan-Stik on our faces, black lines going up from the corners of our eyes, Vaseline on our shocking-pink lips. In the Crystal Ballroom we two beauties eyed guys with duck's arse haircuts and crepe-soled shoes, while we condescended to dance with awe-struck Malaysian students." It's the next best thing to being there for us readers.
   
   Later she remarks, " I am still acquainted with a lot of the people I knew in Dublin around 1970. But most of them are so different now that the past might never have been. I remember the vulnerable, not always dignified young people who are, now, dignitaries: a judge, a professor, a feared critic, a consultant. In a more confident culture, people like these would reclaim their youth. In North America, people, however powerful they become, are happy to go to reunions to recapture the innocence of youth."
   
   O'Faolain found her way through her years, through alcoholism and severe depression, to become, at least, a person who owns her own life. And, hey, that's not so bad: generations of women all around the world have never achieved it, and still don't.

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