5 comments about Hazardous Duty.

1. Hackworth is the ultimate soldier. He has been there, done that, and his record gives him the credentials to call a spade a spade in military matters. Recommendations and condemnations are posited on the basis of what is best for each soldier and his defense of our country. Even his technical descriptions are easily understood by an average reader. The writing flows naturally, and Hackworth's integrity is clear on every page. Honor, duty, country. Hackworth was all about that, even without the ring of West Point. He lived it; all of us owe him respect.



2. Love him or hate him, you can't deny that David Hackworth has a story to tell. "Hazardous Duty" is his very persuasive diagnosis of the problem with American armed forces. Hackworth has "been there." Hew has led men in combat in Vietnam and experienced the "ticket punchers" who were less interested in destroying the enemy than in feathering their resumes. In this book, he takes us from the rice paddies in Vietnam to the scorching sands of Iraq and Kuwait in order to show us the weaknesses in the American fighting machine.
   
   Hackworth takes dead aim at the "military-industrial-congressional complex," the source of much of the problem, in his telling. His "perfumed princes" ride the military promotion machine to high rank while arms manufacturers pad their expenses and congressmen use the revolving door to lucrative jobs in the arms trade. The media and public are bedazzled by a few "smart" bombs and glad-handed into shelling out more tax dollars for Flash Gordon wizzbangery. Meanwhile, the grunts on the ground are outfitted with obsolete weapons and uniforms manufactured for the wrong climate.
   
   Hackworth portrays himself as a soldier's soldier, more interested in what happens on the ground than in some major's efficiency report. His devastating analysis of the debacles of the Grenada invasion and the Iranian hostage rescue are the first serious criticism I have heard about these botched operations. His skewering of Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf is pretty frightening. In Hackworth's telling, it's a good thing that Saddam Hussein was such a horrible tactician; the US might have taken some serious casualties otherwise. By letting Iraq's Republican Guard escape, he empowered Saddam Hussein, and ensured that we would have to fight him again.
   
   Hackworth sees the military as a bloated giant, drunk on appropriations and its own sense of importance. Its leaders are dizzy with bringing home the bacon and fighting the other services, leaving America poorer and less prepared to fight the next war. Hackworth's pre-9/11 perspective is fascinating, if not always on target. He criticizes Reagan and Bush I for blindly throwing money at the military and Clinton for trying to integrate gays at a time of severe cutbacks and low morale. Writing at the time the US was involved in stopping Bosnia's self-destruction, he criticizes that effort as well as our interventions in Somalia and Haiti. The measured success in Bosnia and Haiti were still in the future, and somewhat diminishes Hackworth's omniscience.
   
   Whatever his excesses, Hackworth is passionate about his country and the ordinary soldiers and sailors who defend it. His prescriptions (reducing the armed services from 4 to 1, stopping the revolving door from Congress to arms manufacturers) may be either visionary or unrealistic. But it's clear from his experiences and perspective that a military that persecutes and marginalizes "war fighters," which continually prepares to fight the last war, and is hypnotized by fancy gadgetry is no asset to our country.



3. There are two types of soldier, peacetime and wartime. Hackworth is from that wartime brand. A pain in the ass in peace but vital in conflict. He clearly identifies the issues and yet is lambasted as a poor staff leader, funnily enough so was Patton, and what a fighting general he was! No one believed him about the Russians at the end of WW2. As an ex-soldier from a recon background i'd really have liked to have met and even served under Col. Hackworth. At least he wouldn't have thrown my life away like modern leadership. The quickest way to resolve an issue is to accept that it exists. The US Military should listen to these views and act on them, otherwise when the big day comes and they are up against an effective force they will be sorely embarrased. Look how badly they are currently handling the insurgency in Iraq.



4. Great read, unique and interesting perspective about the US military from a qualified expert.



5. Very interesting book. I couldn't put it down after the first page or two. I've been inspired to read his other books -- esp. About Face, and support his organization Soldiers for the Truth.

5 comments about America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines.

1. I wish this book had more complete footnotes. It's informative and so well written -- so wry and funny -- but at times, when I check the chapter notes to see where the author is getting her information, the citation is not there. I found at least one error -- she says that, when a married Puritan woman stepped out on her husband, it was adultery, but when a husband stepped out, it was merely fornication. That is not true -- and my source is a statement by some seventeenth-century Cambridge ministers, as quoted in Morgan's Puritan Family. It makes me wonder: what else in this book is incorrectly stated?



2. Gail Collins' America's Women, 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines was gifted to me by a friend. She rightly concluded that my four decades working as a flight attendant, studying history, tending house, authoring works, serving as a union officer and currently organizing retirees has included these roles. Along with many American women I have been a doll, drudge, helpmate, heroine--all within a short span of time.
   The inclusion of "women's' work" in this comprehensive four century history of America's woman is in nearly every chapter. Combining pregnancies and nursing children the early colonial American women took on the heavy duties of planting gardens, cooking and spinning. In the southern colonies the women often helped in the fields and ground corn which was an onerous task.
   Collins creates a tempo that takes America's women working during the Revolutionary War where cash crops enabled families to buy fabrics which lifted the tyranny of the spinning wheel. Collins' research takes us through the post revolutionary period through the 1860s that focuses on slow but steady progress from many women keeping house, child caring and producing dairy goods and dry goods for marketing.
   The stories and narratives from sources that the women often wrote themselves is worthwhile. The women who went westward were mainly from pioneering farm families. Pushing wagons, driving teams of oxen, pitching tents and handling guns was viewed as a temporary emergency and the idea of women providing nurturing care for a family in the "home" remained a prevalent attitude.
   Women were often working to be able to work and that is illustrated by such accounts as women in the American West. One woman mentioned, although there must have been many, created work with her cast iron skillet making biscuits and flapjacks for miners in the gold country. One woman posed as a man and drove a stage coach; one woman continued her husband's dentistry practice after he died.
   Organizing with other women for a union first appears in the early 1900s when Jewish women successfully organized garment workers. Readers might conclude--its about time after reading about the treatment of women working on farms, as domestic workers, early factory assemblers, and department store clerks. Switchboard operators, clerk typists and library work came to women quite by default. One account described male switchboard operators as talking back to customers.
   The author takes us through the Gilded Age at the end of the 1800s, the attempts at reform to enfranchise women in the early 20th century, dealing with the depressions of the 1930s, and World War II. America's women who worked hard to keep the economy afloat seem to regress back into the 19th century following World War II. It was a time when women were often dropping out of college, marrying early, and reading women's magazines that urged them to be dumb and helpless to hold their husband's love and devotion.
   Gail Collins work reminds us of the old cliche that "woman's work is never done" and her work is never done as she leaves Volume I of America's Women with the 1960s where the pendulum was swinging back with a vengeance. Gail Collins plans to release Volume II of America's Women in 2008 and I look forward to the continuation of her important work on women's work.
   Georgia Panter Nielsen, Doll, Drudge, Helpmate and Heroine



3. This is an easy to read book with a wealth of information.



4. The audio book was supposed to be unabridged, however there are several sections missing. Including the entire section on the Salem Witch trials.



5. Ms. Collins takes you on a journey through 400 years of U.S. history as seen and experienced by women. It is a great review of our history as well as a perspective many neglect to include. This book is easily recommended to not only students of U.S. history, but to anyone who could use a refresher on some of the intricacies of our past. It was both captivating and intriguing.

5 comments about John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography.

1. The book is very interesting, well written by an author clearly concerned with facts not myths as he differentiates between tales surrounding the subject and actual events.
   Too bad the book is missing pages 77 thru 92. (At least my copy is, anyone else come upon a similar print? If I keep it will it turn into a collectable?)



2. John Paul Jones is one of those figures on the fringes of the American pantheon. Most educated people have heard the name, but few know anything about the man beyond, perhaps, that he proclaimed, "I have not yet begun to fight!" Much to my surprise, after reading this classic biography (winner of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Biography) by Samuel Eliot Morison, the godfather of US Naval history, Jones' exploits are both relatively unknown and relatively modest. There is, however, nothing relative or modest about Morison's biography, which is an excellently structured and wonderfully written piece of history that is a pleasure to read.
   
   How did Jones attain immortality for his role in the American Revolution while other leading military figures of the period (most notably, in this reviewer's opinion, General Nathaniel Greene) have nearly vanished from history? Jones' attachment to the United States, both as a nation and a cause, were slight, even dubious. He was born and raised in Scotland and didn't arrive in America until roughly 1775 (on the run from a murder trial, no less, which also prompted him to add the alias "Jones" to his birth name of John Paul). He never owned a home or even maintained a permanent resistance in his adopted land, and instead lived with friends or at hotels at government expense. During his forty-five years of life, Jones only spent about three of them on American soil -- and that time was divided among four brief visits. His commitment to the principles of the American Revolution are a bit suspect, although he did frequently claim to be a citizen of the world engaged in the fight for liberty. Nevertheless, when Catherine II of Imperial Russia, the ruler of the most despotic of European monarchies, dangled a much coveted flag officer position before him in 1788 Jones quickly jettisoned his liberal pretensions and jumped at the offer.
   
   If Jones lacked the deep American roots of a John Adams or the strong ideological convictions of more recent immigrants like Thomas Paine, he was at least a military hero, right? Well, sort of. Jones' major military exploits during the war can be summarized as follows: a partially successful raid on his hometown port of Whitehaven, Scotland followed by a botched kidnapping attempt and then the capture of a modest-sized British warship while cruising the Irish Sea aboard "Ranger" in 1778, and then the famous defeat of the "Serapis" off Flamborough Head in September 1779 aboard the "Bonhomme Richard." Like Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo in 1942, the military value of these actions were minimal, but the psychological impact -- both at home and with the enemy -- was enormous. The British home islands had, afterall, been inviolable since a Dutch raid in 1667. Thus, Jones stands alone as the man who brought the American Revolution home to the British Isles, albeit in a way that caused little material damage.
   
   So, through a combination of moxie, luck and the general absence of anything else to cheer about, John Paul Jones -- one-time slave trader, murderer, Imperial Russian admiral, and alleged rapist of a 12-year-old (in his defense he swore, foreshadowing a future American scandal, that he "did not have sexual relations with that [girl]," although conceded that other amorous relations did occur) -- emerged as a bona fide hero of the American Revolution. Jones died alone, indigent and forgotten in Paris in 1792. But today his remains rest in an ornate tomb (modeled on Napoleon's) at the US Naval Academy and he is widely regarded as the father of the US Navy, which has become the global juggernaut he dreamed it would be.
   
   In closing, Morison does a remarkable job in capturing not only the essence of his subject-- Jones' native intelligence, egotism, insecurity and opportunism -- but also the pulse of life on the open ocean in an eighteenth century sailing vessel. The skill, experience, fortitude, and endurance it must have taken to guide these ships in battle and in treacherous seas with a motley collection of mutiny-inclined men as a crew is difficult to fathom. That Jones did so with such obvious success is, indeed, impressive. For readers with an interest in naval affairs or simply a love of sailing, this book would be a welcome addition to your library.



3. A hero of my youth, this book appears to tell the full story. This is a scolarly work which reads easily. I only wish I would have read this book in my twenties. There are some wonderful life lessons in this biography. If you read it you will learn his flaws, his good and fine attributes, and some mysteries. This is first-rate biography and detective work by the author. I recommend it.



4. It has been said that most great men are bad men. Samuel Eliot Morison's superb biography of John Paul Jones supports, if not proves, that proposition. Jones's greatness is undeniable: Although he was the son of an obscure Scottish gardener, he virtually founded the United States Navy, he won one of the most important sea battles of the Revolutionary War when he was only 32, and he later commanded ships in the service of France and Russia. But Jones also was extremely temperamental, excessively vain (after receiving an honor from France, he liked to be addressed as "Chevalier Paul Jones"), and he had mistresses in practically every port. Morison, a longtime professor at Harvard and the author of the authoritative, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Christopher Columbus, as well as a massive, multi-volume history of the U.S. Navy during World War II, reports all of this in a matter-of-fact fashion. Morison's Jones is a great sailor and a man of the world in every respect.

   According to Morison, Young Jones was highly ambitious and went to sea at age 13 "as a road to distinction." During the next 15 years, he learned well his trade and he also became an American patriot. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Morison writes that the American navy was "only a haphazard collection of converted merchant ships," and the Royal Navy was probably the most powerful in history. But General George Washington, according to Morison, "had a keen appreciation of the value and capabilities of sea power," and, in October 1775, Congress appointed a Naval Committee of Seven to manage the colonies' maritime affairs. In December 1775, seven months before the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, Jones accepted a commission as a lieutenant in the continental navy.

   Although Morison is primarily interested in Jones's activities during the Revolutionary War, he makes a number of more generally cogent observations. For instance, the United States government was in a state of nearly constant impecuniousness and was able to afford to build only one of the largest class of naval vessels, a ship of the line, during the conflict. In Morison's view, this was the status of the war at the time of the battle off Flamborough Head in September 1779, which secured Jones's fame: "The War of Independence had reached a strategic deadlock, a situation that recurred in both World Wars of the twentieth century. Each party, unable to reach a decision by fleet action or pitched land battles, resorts to raids and haphazard, desultory operations which have no military effect." That deadlock continued, according to Morison, until 1781. Morison also writes that Britain took the position "since the United States were not a recognized government but a group of rebellious provinces,...American armed ships were no better than pirates."

   Morison appears to be deeply impressed by Jones's technical competence: "One of Paul Jones's praiseworthy traits was his constant desire to improve his professional knowledge." That passion for self-improvement reached fruition September 1779 off the Yorkshire coast of east-central England when a squadron which Jones commanded from the Bonhomme Richard defeated the H.M.S. Serapis in a three and one-half hour battle during which those ships were locked in what Morison describes as a "deadly embrace." (Bonhomme Richard sank during the aftermath of the fierce fighting.) It was during this battle that Jones defiantly refused to surrender with the immortal phrase: "I have not yet begun to fight." According to Morison, "[c]asualties were heavy for an eighteenth-century naval battle. Jones estimated his loss at 150 killed and wounded out of a total of 322." Morison writes that Jones was at his "pinnacle of fame" in late 1779, and, when he visited France, which was allied with the U.S. during the Revolutionary War, in April 1780: He became the lion of Paris, honored by everyone from the King down." When Jones returned to the United States in 1781, however, he was unable to obtain what Morison describes as a "suitable command," and he never fought again under the American flag. In 1788 and 1789, as "Kontradmiral Pavel Ivanovich Jones" he swerved in the navy of Catherine II, "the Great," Empress of Russia. When he died in 1792, he was buried in France, but, in 1905, his body was returned to the United States and now rests in the chapel of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

   Jones's nasty temper is frequently on display. Morison remarks on various occasions that his crews were "disobedient," "sullen," and "surly." Which was cause and which was effect is difficult to ascertain. Jones clearly was an overbearing commander, which may explain, though does not excuse, his crews' bad attitudes. On one occasion Jones had one of his officers "placed under arrest for insubordination [giving the officer] a chance to clear it up, and Jones was unwilling to admit his error." It is not prudent to compare events during war in the late 18th century to the peace and prosperity of our own time, but no reader of this book will be impressed by Jones's interpersonal skills.

   Morison makes numerous references to "prize money," the curious, but apparently then-universal, practice of rewarding captains and their crews in cash for capturing enemy ships. The fact that Jones pursued prize money with vigor may raise additional doubts about his character, but I would guess Morison believed that Jones simply followed a custom which probably motivated many successful naval captains of his time.

   Morison held the rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Although the degree of detail in his narrative is fascinating, I found some passages too technical, and I suspect some other lay readers may be baffled as well. (The book's charts and diagrams were, however, very helpful.) But that is a small price to pay for a wonderful biography of one of the most intriguing figures of the American Revolution.




5. As someone who had recently seen the "John Paul Jones" movie that was made in 1959 with Robert Stack, I was curious to learn more about the man who put the U.S. Navy on the map. Of course, most know him as the one who coined the immortal, defiant phrase "I have not yet begun to fight!" This book delves beyond that, as Morison shows Jones as he really was, a human being born in obscurity in Scotland who developed a love for the sea at an early age. He was simultaneously a shrewd combatant with a quick temper (in many ways the American equivalent of the great English admiral Nelson,) and a gentleman who enjoyed the company of numerous lovely ladies ashore. Morison leaves no stone unturned as he takes the reader on a detailed, captivating journey (from page one, the reader is hooked.) He sailed the waters that bore witness to Jones's battles and drew extensively upon the naval archives of the four primary countries that figured in Jones's life. To give you some idea, the engagement with H.M.S. Serapis is fleshed out in such marvelous detail that one can almost smell the gunpowder, but Morison goes beyond that, explaining what happened before, during, and after, most of which one would not learn in history class. In fact, I would make book that at least ninety percent of what one will read in this book would not be learned in history class. Morison has included pictures, charts, diagrams, excerpts from letters (some of which are in French with English translations), and has deftly blended them and the text into a perfect biography. For anyone who wants to learn more about Jones, this is required reading.

No comments about Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During WWII.

5 comments about Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.

1. These are comments on the essay "Alice Walker: Do You Know This Woman? She Knows You" in this book.
   
   What has made Alice Walker such a good writer?
   
   Alice Walker grew up living with suffering first hand. She writes on the topics she understands from personal experience.
   She didn't turn her head away from the suffering all around her and she listened carefully to the suffering of her ancestors.
   She has lived with chronic disease that constantly reminds her of life's fragility, finiteness, and pain.
   She lost sight early on in one eye and is constantly reminded that all her senses are not to be taken for granted.
   She grew up with significant facial scars that showed her how the world treats people with unusual appearance, and made her particularly aware of appearances.
   
   She has experienced many loves over her lifetime. She has focused on and brought attention to people who have not traditionally been shown love.
   She has done regular work, speaking engagements, and activism activities that bring attention to genuinely controversial and dangerous issues.
   She lives and experiences lifestyles that many people still disapprove.
   She challenges the major religions and blasphemes regularly without apology, suggesting that helping others is a higher ideal than worshiping a deity.
   She suggests there is the potential for redemption in the people commonly expected to be unredeemable.
   
   When she has been criticized or pressured to be silent, she has continued to write and publish, discussing unpleasant and uncomfortable issues.
   She has voiced her objections to unjust, unfair, and cruel systems. Her protagonists often do the same.
   She believes that well-presented ideas can change the world. And if they can't, it's still better to err on the side of trying.
   
   In the interview that Gloria Steinam conducted with Alice Walker, Ms. Walker said, "I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for?" I agree.
   
   Art does so many good things. It records the epiphanies, moments of progress, and moments of joy for us to pull out and replay in our times of need. There are so many times when there seems to be slow progress, moves backwards, silence, or numbing indifference. Thank goodness that we can pull out the artworks we love - to add music to ideas, color to darkness, and hope to silence. Beauty, wisdom, & genuinely good feelings.
   
   If you would like to be a good writer like Alice Walker, consider her example, and live a life that would make a worthwhile story to read.



2. This review is not a review of the whole book. For focus, it is a review of "Ruth's Song (Because She Could Not Sing It)," a memoir essay written by Gloria Steinem about her mother who suffered from serious mental illness throughout Gloria's entire life. But before I focus on that essay, I want to mention that this book also contains an essay "Alice Walker: Do You Know This Woman? She Knows You" written in 1982 before The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize the following year.
   
   If you are trying to decide whether you want to buy this book, pick it up in the book store and read Gloria's essay on her mother's detailed history of mental illnesses. "Write what you know" is a common adage, and it rings true here. If you want to understand what energized Gloria to take on a life of advocacy promoting women's rights and equality, reading this essay will help you easily understand how her personal suffering has given her such robust motivation for so many years to combat the forces Gloria believes led her mother to become mentally disabled, to varying degrees, for all of Gloria's life. Gloria starts by inquiring into the mysteries of what led her uncle and mother to shut down and completely change from the outgoing and incredibly bright people they were in their young adulthood (her uncle a brilliant electrical engineer, and her mother a math teacher who once taught college calculus) to meeker and lower functioning older adults. She notes that the family was concerned about her uncle, but not as engaged in trying to remedy her mother's ailments.
   
   Gloria lives with the hindsight that she did not know in her youth how to possibly help her mother better, "Assuming there to be no other alternative, I took her home and never tried again," and "Perhaps the worst thing about suffering is that it finally hardens the hearts of those around it," and "For many years, I was obsessed with the fear that I would end up in a house like that one in Toledo. Now, I'm obsessed instead with the things I could have done for my mother while she was alive, or the things I should have said to her. I still don't understand why so many, many years passed before I saw my mother as a person, and before I understood that many of the forces in her life were patterns women share." Gloria spent many years growing up with only herself and her mother in the home while her mother suffered from agoraphobia (primarily suffered by women), terrors, delusions and many other cognitive deficiencies. Her mother suffered from depression and other mental roadblocks, spent time in sanatoriums, was drug dependent, and could not work outside the home.
   
   Please, please read it if you or any woman you care about has either suffered from mental illness, or if they "became a different person" at some point in their life. I have a female relative that all my uncles could not understand why she "changed so drastically" and fell into never ending depression, drug dependency and general dysfunction. But I understand many of the likely reasons for those declines, declines that our extended familial environment contributed to more than most of my family ever realized or were willing to acknowledge.
   
   Gloria's mother, Ruth, sold her only home so Gloria could go to college. She encouraged both Gloria and her sister to leave home for "four years of independence she herself had never had." Before certain events happened to Ruth, Ruth was one of the first female journalists and went to dances when her religion and community told her the music was sinful. Why does Gloria share this private and painful family history? I believe she wants to help teach other women how to tell their own stories. Each woman is best at telling her own story. But when they cannot or do not sing their own song, sometimes others sing it for them, to share their beauty. Gloria concludes with, "At least we're now asking questions about all the Ruths in all our family mysteries. If her song inspires that, I think she would be the first to say: It was worth the singing."
   
   A beautiful coincidence: my mother's mother was a musician named Ruth.



3. This courageous book should have all those mean-spirited feminism bashers running for the hills. Some popular accusations against feminism is that the movement has created a so-called backlash against men. If this imaginary backlash exists, however, I have yet to see any examples of it. The backlash against women and feminism (led by a minority of cowardly, insecure men and women who hate their own sex) is what Steinem details in in her powerful memoir/essay collection. She takes her readers back to a time when sexism against women was a fact of life and full work still only got them half pay.
   
   Honestly and empathetically, Ms. Steinem takes us through her own evolution--from a journalist proud to "write like a man" and ashamed of covering "womens' issues"--to a passionate activist, willing to take on every issue. If you've ever wondered why all the ranting, women-hating anti-feminists STILL abhor Gloria with such irrational fervor, read this book. She presents each of her points in a perfectly calm and reasonable way. Never is there an attempt to force her readers to agree. Gloria Steinem, does not blame anything on men or make any affront on their dignity. She simply questions, unobtrusively, why certain inequalities still exist.
   
   If you're looking a feminist's account of "life in the trenches," you won't be disapointed with Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. Gloria is an inspiration for everyone to reach their full potential.



4. Gloria is a witty woman who tells it like it is. Her adventures are funny and thought-provoking. I particularly enjoyed the story in which she was a Playboy bunny back when there were PLayboy clubs with bunny waitresses and coatgirls. She encourages women to step outside the box and think for themselves.



5. There was often grumbling in certain circles that Gloria Steinem had so much attention paid to her because she was pretty. If that was the only factor, Steinem's popularity would have waned, not because she lost her looks (she never did) but because of the fickleness of the media and the "next pretty face." Steinem is smart, brave, funny and a damn good writer. "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions", her 1983 book of collected essays proves it in spades.

   In early 1993, I had the privilege of seeing Gloria Steinem speak at Mount Holyoke College. I had to take the bus from UMASS to get there, and the place was packed. They closed the doors at one point saying it was too full, but they ended up letting most people in. When Ms. Steinem took the stage, she urged all those who were standing in the back to come up and join her onstage so that they could sit. This is the kindness and warmth that Steinem raidates. Many people in the audience were clutching copies of her books for her to sign. As this was the era of "Revolution from Within," that book was everywhere. But I also saw many copies of "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions" as well. By then the book was 10 years old, but I can understand why people held onto it. This is a great book of essays written over the years. The book touches upon topics such as abortion rights, Jackie Onassis, Alice Walker, Steinem's college reunion, Steinem's own relationship with her mother and the famous expose of Steinem's undercover work at the Playboy Club in the early 60's. Having a journalism background, Steinem's prose is clear and concise. This is no rhetoric-filled theory-based polemic, but a balanced and fair look at the world from the perspective of an extraordinary woman. Also included in this collection is the wonderfully wry, "If Men Could Menstruate." The second edition of this book has some updated comments from Steinem that reflect on the essays more than a decade after the book was published.

   For all those who condemn feminism yet really know nothing about it, read this book. For those who are looking for a book of unique, well-written and enlightening essays, read this book. For those of us who discovered this book long ago and have fond memories, read it again.

5 comments about Marilyn Monroe: The Biography.

1. Donald Spoto, a very well respected biographer, has written what is probably the best biography of the 50s icon. Contrary to a previous review here, he does not spend that much time on her death; what he DOES do though is give very plausible facts from inside sources that make sense. The hysterical theories and ravings of conspiracy loons that abound out there are not to be found here, and Spoto easily strips away their credibility. Spoto has obviously interviewed people that actually knew Marilyn, not fans who have one snapshot taken with the star that they turn into a career. Get this book--it is the one to refer to.



2. It is hard to imagine the kind of painstaking research that went into creating this comprehensive work of exquisite detail. Spoto not only captures the unique essence of MM's engaging personality, he includes the minutiae of her life experiences to such a degree that even someone who did not grow up surrounded by her iridescent image would feel a part of this era. Especially interesting are the intricate details of her early life, which would later so greatly affect her vulnerable psyche.
   
   Unfortunately, what put me off were the conclusions he draws regarding the controversial circumstances of her death. He offers some bizarre theories, apparently of his own supposition, based on less than concrete evidence and woven to fit unanswered questions. You may find his theories plausible; you may find them ridiculous. Although he does argue a somewhat convincing case, I have never seen or heard of any other documentation that would support these claims. I believe the only real conclusion to be drawn is that we will never fully answer all the questions surrounding the mystery of her death.
   
   This is the story of a very special lady, a lost and deeply lonely little girl who would reach her whole life for an intangible dream of fulfillment that would slip again and again through her fingers. This comprensive work does well in capturing the spirit of that struggle, and those who exploited it. Judge for yourself the validity of Spoto's allegations. Beyond that, you will find this a thorough and engrossing portrayal of our most luminous screen goddess.



3. This is one of the best biographies I have ever read
   about the icon "Marilyn Monroe".
   
   Highly recommended.



4. I have read many Marilyn biographies and all have inconsistencies.
   
   Spoto's version is just the same -- he spends a lot of time pontificating about the details and the aftermath of Marilyn's untimely death.
   
   Minute details were also different from other Marilyn bios I have read.
   
   Mugsy, her dog, according to Spoto was male and adopted by Marilyn.
   
   In another bio, the dog's name is spelled Muggsie is female and was purchased by Jim Dougherty to be a companion to Marilyn during his Merchant Marine days.
   
   I figure if writers can't get that small detail correct (both authors claim to have interviewed Jim Doughtery), how can the authors get the real version of Marilyn's death correct?
   
   I doubt anyone will ever know the truth about Marilyn's life and death.



5. I bought my first book on MM back in 1982 (Yep, it was Robert Slatzer's book!). Since that time, I have read close to 20 books on MM. I think for anyone who wants the closest thing to the truth regarding, among other things, Marilyn's death, her supposed "secret marriage", and her reported "affairs" with both John and Robert Kennedy, this is the book to read. Great job by Donald Spoto! He captures the real woman behind the MM mystic. I love the chapter of MM entertaining the troops, and how great an experience it was for both her and the soldiers.

1 comments about Spirit of the Wilderness.

1. Way back when I was in high school, I read a book by John Muir and enjoyed it. This audiobook covers some of the same material - Muir climbing a tree during a storm to experience it's wild swinging movements, clambering behind a waterfall and other exciting wilderness experiences. Some of them seem pretty reckless. But Muir loved the mountains and was instrumental in founding Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Club.
   
   Actor Lee Stetson selected his material well; it is entertaining. His accent surprised me: very proper and from the British Isles. Possibly Muir spoke like that; he spent his early years in Scotland. I did find that the volume level of the narrative sometimes dropped down to where I could hardly hear it. (I was listening to the cassettes in the car.)
   
   The audiobook plays for 2 and a half hours. The listing says that it is "by John Muir" but it is technically by Muir and Stetson. It is based on the writings of John Muir, and many of the words are his. Lee Stetson added to the narrative here and there, no doubt in order to make it satisfying as a performance.

5 comments about Were It Not for Grace: Stories from Women After God's Own Heart.

1. The very idea of these airheads expressing their "faith in God" is vile enough. But the idea of including Laura "Gas Pedal" Bush is really too much. Why didn't she care when she ran over her boyfriend 25 times, the whole time shrieking about revenge? I don't consider that very holy.
   
   Why are we not a Christian nation again?



2. I was really encouraged by all the many stories of triumph in this book. Women I look up to who have had difficultly in life. I see them and I think they have had an easy life and that's why they're leaders and influencial, but they haven't. They've overcome through their faith and it gives me hope that I can too. I keep my copy in my bathroom and rarely a person who uses it doesn't come out commenting on one of the stories. It would be a great book to give as a gift for any occassion or to someone who is struggling with one of the twelve issues the author covers.



3. I think a couple billion people could think of other people to tell stories about. Not these.



4. These women are hardly worth a look into faith. Try someone worthy and readable without laughing...or puking.



5. I met author Leslie Montgomery at the CBA/International Christian Bookseller's Convention where she was signing copies of the book. I got in line because I like collecting autographed books by authors. I had no idea the treasure I'd found. I put the book in my purse so on the flight back to Miami I'd have something to read - I couldn't put the book down; I cried so much as I read the story about the couple who lost their son Matthew, but I was encouraged by their faith in God. I lost my son two years ago. I know what it is like. Thank you for sharing your story and thank the author for writing it down. I'm buying copies for my book store immediately. I highly reccomend this book to anyone going through a hard time. I pray that the author keeps writing books like this. Thanks.

5 comments about Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

1. The author gives us a rare insight into how the US conducts "foreign policy" that primarily benefits US corporate/conglomerate profit interests. Similar to the US "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961, the author sounds a warning about how narrow monied interests guide the conduct of foreign "assistance" and "relations" so that the public interests, in both the US and the "target" country are ill-served. This is a MUST READ for American voters and the new generation of elected decision-makers.



2. there are many great, kind and charitable americans. the presidents and the government represented american....
   
   for years, as now everyone knows that there was no nuclear weapon found in iraq, haliburton is still making great money. people like bush family, dick cheney have a lot to do with this company. they made great money. they were the one declaring war. and they were the ones making friends with the dictators of the world. look where it has got america and the world. i hope McCain will not win. and obviously the lady running mate of his. with all due respect, someone who has little education, and pro-live and pro-gun. imagine the future of america and the world in the hands of these duo.
   
   this book is an eye opener. the view it presented has tied in with the facts i have previously known.
   
   american should care more about the rest of the world and the action of their leaders. indifference can otherwise be very costly



3. Mr. Perkins has a great thesis and great angst about his role in the world. His thesis is simple - American engineering and oil companies go to third world countries and give hugely inflated estimates of growth potential. Using those inflated numbers, they induce the countries to get loans so they can hire the American companies to do the work. The country then is unable to repay the loan. The theory implicates American companies, the many politicians with ties to them and the World Bank, IMF and other financial institutions.
   
   Unfortunately, Mr. Perkins fails to come up with the proofs. His outline appears feasible, but he never gives any instances of the loan and default portion of the thesis. There is nary a number or statistic to back him up. He does not cite a single defaulted loan.
   
   Further, Mr. Perkins often draws parellels to the American Founders and our Revolution. His grasp of American history is sophomoric at best. He uses a cartoonish image of 1776 that one would expect from an elementary school student, not someone indicting corporations, international banks and presidential administrations.
   
   Mr. Perkins does have some sources and they are noted. Again, they occasionally show his sloppiness with the facts. In one instance, he states with firmness that the Reagan and Bush administrations had been proven to have dirtied their hands in this corporatocracy (his term) scheme. The text said this was proven by testimony. When one checks the note, the testimony was by John Dean in 1973 and 1974 - six and seven years before the Reagan and Bush administrations. Such errors in fact and use of bad history undermine the reader's confidence in the basic theory of the book.
   
   That all having been said, the book does show how America's corporations have gone into Third World countries focused only on their own bottom line. Their is no altruism in the corporate world. This pure greed is aided and abetted by connected politicians.
   
   Most interesting are his accounts of the American-Saudi relationship where the corporate scheme worked with oil money rather than World Bank funds. Although Perkins seemed to criticize the plan, it worked well for both sides. It was a true win-win. Somehow, the author tried to tie in the Saudis' support of terrorism with its modernization and westernization. The parallel did not work - especially since he had given Saudi Arabia's history of being founded by fundamentalist Islamists long before the corporations came in. Mr. Perkins then tried to draw another parallel to Iraq. Unfortunately, he could never explain why the system that worked so well for Saudi Arabia did not work for Iraq.
   
   There are some alarming aspects of this book and it really does read, in parts, like a novel. Alarm is what Mr. Perkins expects to raise with his "Confession". There is a lot to look at behind his accounts. Sadly, Mr. Perkins just did not deliver the goods to prove his points.



4. I started reading this with some skepticism but it all seemed to add up to me - - believe it or not - up to you, but I think an interesting read and for me, it was credible..



5. This book is everything I hoped for. Very informational and helpful in understanding how the U.S interferes with other countries and how they are able to do what they do. Even though this is an easy read you should be familiar with the IMF and World Bank to better understand the process.

No comments about Yeager: An Autobiography/Audio Cassette.