5 comments about The Concubine's Children.

1. Received my order quickly, the book was is the advertised condition and I loved the book.



2. I couldn't wait to read this book after it arrived. But I was disappointed. Althought the topic was fascinating, the writing was not. I became bored and at times found it hard to follow which person was doing what. I had to re-read some paragraphs to make sure I knew which person I was reading about. If the writing had been better, it would have been a far more captivating book. Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter was much better.



3. 
   THE BOOK WAS A VERY GOOD BUY....SERVICE WAS OUTSTANDING I RECD
   THE BOOK IN A HURRY. BOOK WAS IN GREAT CONDITION AND EVEN MY
   WIFE PICKED IT UP AND READ IT. THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK I
   PURCHASED FROM AMAZON. I WILL BUY AGAIN VERY SOON. KEEP UP
   THE GOOD WORK.



4. In this fascinating tale, Denise Chong deftly writes the story of her migrant Chinese family on two soils - Canadian soil, and Chinese soil. Her grandmother ("concubine" May-ying) moves to Canada following Chan Sam, her assigned husband. Times prove not to be so easy for the Chinese in "Gold Mountain". Their isolation and institutionalized exclusion from mainstream Canadian society stifled any progress. May-ying moves almost constantly from Nanaimo to Vancouver (the two Chinatowns) waitressing to support her husband, Hing (the third daughter and author's mother), and also the family left in China. Following relations in this book is key to understanding how the story unfolds.
   
   Denise Chong tells the story of May-ying's taut life in trying to fulfill the obligations of a Chinese wife in a polygamous setting. She also gives historical accounts (political and cultural) both at home and in China. When family and history are intertwined, both become inseperably tangible. I don't think that this book is an exploitation of Chinese culture as one reviewer pointed out. I think this book will be enlightening to many a reader with sparse knowledge and misconceptions about early Chinese migration to the New World.



5. For those of you who think polygamy works when it is culturally supported, this is the book that will give you a new viewpoint to consider.
   
   This book was written by the granddaugther of a concubine, a second wife taken while the first wife was still in the picture. Culture and practicality allowed and supported concubinage in China of the 1920s, yet this family suffered greatly for generations under the practice. It is the history of her grandparents' marriage, a second marriage. The grandfather took a concubine to be his wife in the New World while he worked to make a better living from his At Home family and to elevate his social status in his home community.
   
   The story tells of the struggles of being a "second family," of the depravation that had to go hand-in-hand with supporting two households, with the shame of having parents who were together for the convenience of sex and income, of the pain of being separated from siblings who were being raised by the first wife. It's about the descent from being a merely disfunctional family unit to being essentially an out-of-control single-parent household when the bonds of dependency and culture were broken by the stress of having two wives and two families.
   
   I couldn't put this book down once I started because it's like watching a train-wreck. I could anticpate the troubles and sorrows, as could the family involved, yet they were just as powerless as I to change things.

5 comments about The Wilderness World of John Muir.

1. A wonderful sampling of Muir's writings and his timeless perspective on the wonders of our natural world.



2. excerpted from Muir's The Mountains of California, is one chapter I've read many times. He climbs to the top of a Doug Fir so that he can experience a 100' tree swaying 30° back and forth "rocking and swirling in wild ecstasy" I take this book backpacking (there's no ultralight version yet...) in the Sierra most times and there's always something to read that fits the setting. EWT's intro is very sweet as are the



3. I really enjoyed this book as it was focused on plants and animals. My favorite chapters were "The Water Ouzel" (a bird) and "Stickeen" (a dog). However, the whole book was interesting and enjoyable, including chapters about different people he met along the way ("The Robber" and "The Blacksmith"). This book is titled as "a selection from his collected work." I enjoyed his writing so much that I will look for a complete volume of his works so I don't miss out on any other great stories.



4. I am often asked for a recommendation of what among Muir's writings, or writings about him, one should first read. After spending more than 30 years appreciating both his writings and most of the books about Muir that have been published during that time, and after ten years editing the John Muir Exhibit online, I can only turn to the same book that originally enthalled me with John Muir: The Wilderness World of John Muir, edited by Edwin Way Teale.
   
   This book was edited by someone who was himself an able naturalist and nature-writer, and therefore someone who could understand Muir in a way that most academics, whether professors of literature or historians, cannot. Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), has been ranked as a nature writer with been ranked with Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, as well as John Muir himself. His honors include being elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, receiving the John Burroughs Award in 1943, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1966. He was the author of 32 books. Teale's sympathy for Muir's message is shown in the book's Dedication page, which is "Dedicated to The Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, The National Parks Association, and all those who are fighting the good fight to preserve what John Muir sought to save."
   
   This book serves as both an anthology of the very best of Muir's writings, and also a biography, compellingly provided by Teale.
   
   The biographical value of this work is often under-stated, even by the publisher. The book is typically viewed as an anthology, and indeed it is, primarily; but it also contains a wealth of biographical information, far more than the typical anthology.
   
   Teale commences his book on John Muir with an authoritative 10-page Introduction, that not merely identifies the key events in Muir's life, but provides an assessment and perspective of how Muir stacks up with other nature writers. He provides facts you won't find elsewhere: "While visiting friends, Muir sometimes would talk four hours at breakfast." Teale, writing in 1954, was able to talk with several people who knew Muir personally. He noted that everyone he talked to had a different view of which phase of natural history held first importance in Muir's mind. Some thought it was trees; another thought it was geology, another plants. Teale points out the fourth view, probably the nearest right of all: "... the whole interrelationships of life, the complete rounded picture of the mountain world. Today, Muir probably would be called an ecologist." Teale 's assessment of Muir as an "ecologist" pre-dates the "ecology movement" of the 1970s by at least 15 years. Teale admirably tells of the scope of the places, glaciers, plants, and animals named after him, and Muir's contributions to science and conservation. Although public appreciation for Muir has grown dramatically since Teale's book was first published in 1954, The Wilderness World of John Muir still provides the best introduction to Muir's life and writings.
   
   Following the admirable Introduction, each of the 51 excerpts from Muir's writings commences with a preface by Teale, of up to a page in length, presenting in chronological order the story of Muir's life, and putting each of Muir's writings into context.
   
   Although serving as a biography, the Wilderness World is, in fact, primarily a superb anthology. Rather than simply re-printing the full text of such of Muir's works as The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, My First Summer in the Sierra, Travels in Alaska, Our National Parks , and the Journals, Teale provides short snippets from the best of Muir's writings, arranged into seven broad categories:
   
   I. Memories of Youth - reprints Muir's writings about his boyhood in Scotland, life on the Wisconsin Farm, seeing immense flocks Passenger Pigeons, nearly dying of choke-damp while digging a well, his inventions, and his enrollment at the University of Wisconsin.
   
   II. University of The Wilderness - Excerpts from A Thousand Mile Walk, including people by the way, camping among the tombs of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, and Muir's visit to Cuba and New York.
   
   III. The Range of Light - Muir's adventures in the Sierra, including his first glimpse from Pacheco Pass and crossing the bee pastures of the Central Valley, his first visits to the High Sierra, climbing on the brink of Yosemite Falls above the Valley, tributes to wildlife including bears and grasshoppers, and his telepathic experience sensing the presence of his former University Professor Butler in the Valley.
   
   IV. The Valley - Muir's glorious tributes to Yosemite Valley's waterfalls, the water ouzel, the earthquake, and Ralph Waldo Emerson's visit.
   
   V. Forests of the West - Including Muir's adventure high atop a Douglas fir during a wind-storm, and writings about Silver Pine, the Douglas Squirrel, Sequoia, Nevada Nut Pines, and Muir's clarion call to protect the forests, "Any Fool Can Destroy a Tree."
   
   VI. Glacier Pioneer - Muir's discovery of the Sierra glaciers, his climb of Mount Ritter, his perilous night on Mount Shasta, and his travels in Alaska, including his discovery of Glacier Bay and his adventure with Stickeen.
   
   VII. The Philosophy of John Muir - excerpts from many scattered sources focusing on Muir's views on mankind's relationship to Nature. For many, this is the favorite part of the book, the part one returns to again and again for inspiration.
   
   Despite this, the book does have some failings. The book belies the importance of Muir's family and friends, which becomes so evident upon reading his extensive correspondence. Nor does the book do more than barely mention some important places in Muir's life, such as his global travels to such places as the glacial mountains of Europe, the forests of Siberia, the Himalayas and forests of India, Australian and New Zealand forests, and, the fulfillment of his life-long dream, his last trip to see the forests of South America and Africa. The book emphasizes Muir's appreciative writings about Nature, and only briefly mentions the conservation battles which consumed so much of his life, including his long campaign to protect Hetch Hetchy. To obtain a whole picture of Muir, the reader will need to also read another work about Muir's conservation campaigns, such as Roderick Nash's chapter on "John Muir: Publicizer" in Wilderness and the American Mind, Stephen Fox's John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement, or John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battle for Yosemite by Holway R. Jones.
   
   Since the book was originally published in 1954, it is not informed by some of the more recent research resulting from Muir's unpublished journals and correspondence, published in the John Muir Papers in 1980. Given the popularity of this book, fifty years after its first publication, the publishers should consider a second edition, again using a nature writer rather than a literary critic or historian to update the book.
   
   Overall, in this book Muir comes alive, as someone who can can at once write inspiringly and poetically about trees, storms, mountains, glaciers, and forests, but yet also show the attention to detail of an analytical scientist. Muir is revealed as adventurer, a lover of nature, a person who can still excite the imagination of readers. As Teale concludes, "Rich in time, rich in enjoyment, rich in appreciation, rich in enthusiasm, rich in understanding, rich in expression, rich in friends, rich in knowledge, John muir lived a full and rounded life, a life unique in many ways, admirable in many ways, valuable in many ways.... In his writings and in his conservation achievements, Muir seems especially present in a world that is better because he lived here."
   
   August, 2004



5. Whether you are interested in John Muir specifically or just want to read about an interesting life, this book is an excellent place to start.

   John Muir had an incredible and important life, and it is told here succinctly in his own words, excerpted to emphasize the profound. It is a glimpse into a lifestyle 99.9% of us will never know, yet it is truly important to our times. His love of nature, adventure and exploration is a reminder of why we need to experience more than our 9 to 5 workdays and why we need to apply ourselves to the protection of the Earth.

   Muir was a gentle but strong man, a genius with simple needs, solitary yet influential. This book is a terrific way to look into his life and his time and to gain some inspiration into our lives and our times.

5 comments about Champlain's Dream.

1. This book is a massive, sweeping undertaking in the best tradition of historical writing, pulling together events, personalities, the philosophical zeitgeist of the time, and the cultural impact viewed from our times. David Hackett-Fisher portrays Champlain as unique among the explorers/colonists of North America in taking an open, humanistic, cooperative and curious view of the Native American tribes he interacted with. He sought alliances for mutual benefit, not conquest. He viewed the 'Indians' as fully his equal in competence, intelligence, ability to adapt to the environment, and personal power and dignity. He kept his word, honored his agreements, and was respected in Indian oral traditions hundreds of years later.
   
   Hackett-Fisher gives a glimpse of what might have developed had Champlain explored further south, and planted a colony at NY prior to the Dutch--might this continent have developed in a very different way?
   
   In following Champlain's life, Hackett-Fisher writes an easy to read and compelling narrative. It is a pleasure to read. The book is a lavish work. There are illustrations and maps galore. The places mentioned in the text are actually present on the maps, a pet peeve of mine. There are illustrations of historical artifacts such as an Iroquois war club, and fascinating asides, such as this club was often used for a final strike to put a dying warrior out of their misery--thus the invention of the phrase coup-de-grace.
   
   This story of the founder of New France portrays a man far ahead of his times, and with attitudes towards 'the other' that we would still do well to emulate. Champlain's life and Hackett Fisher's book illustrate history as compelling moral story with lessons for our time. A teriffic book.
   
   One other less happy thought from this writer's point of view. It seems that now, when one writes a serious work of history, one writes the book, and then has to write almost an entire additional book defending why you wrote the original book the way you did. The 'historiography' section of this book is virtually 250 pages in length itself, with analysis of preceding historical viewpoints, bows to their contributions etc. For this non-professional historian reader, this was too much. Whatever happened to writing one's book, giving a note to sources, and publishing journal articles about how you arrived at your interpretations? This reader found the Appendixes, from A through N, unnecessarily detailed and tedious.



2. Champlain's Dream is an exhaustively researched book on the life of Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and founder of three distinct nations in North America - Quebec, Acadia and the Métis. Fischer writes in a simple and straightforward style tracing Champlain's childhood on the eastern French coast, describing the small town of his birth and the politics of the French court, to his involvement in the French religious wars to his early explorations and untiring development of French North America. Arguments are always backed up with meticulous documentation and a willingness to discuss the strengths and weakness of various sources. The following are the themes or observations which are the most important in Fisher's biography, but also the ones I found to be the most eye-opening.
   
   * Champlain operated according to the principles of French Humanism and Roman Catholicism that that saw all humans - including Indians - as worthy of respect since they had immortal souls imbued with reason.
   * Champlain was driven by his grand design, one which saw Europeans and Indians living together in a spirit of peace and cooperation. He promoted many young Frenchmen to live with the Indians to learn their languages and ways, he earnestly listened to Indians and actively used their suggestions to support peace, he supported inter-marriage between the two peoples and he encouraged the adoption of Indian children (Champlain's adoption of a Montagnais orphan, Bonaventure, saved him from an imminent execution, as was the custom during this time).
   * As evidenced from the banning of the Anti-Coton, Champlain's ideal of order and hierarchy had an unfortunate consequence. It stifled the development a dynamic flow of ideas and consequently slowed the growth of Quebec.
   * Champlain was much influenced by the easy acceptance of different cultures in the seaport towns of his childhood as well as the history of French civil wars. It left with him a lasting desire for the honest tolerance of others despite ethnic and religious differences.
   * Unlike Champlain's respectful treatment of the Indians, the Spanish and English treated them with contempt. The former enslaved the natives and treated them brutally. The latter wanted nothing to do with them or tried to subject them.
   * "Savages" or "savauges" does not have the same meaning it has today. It did not describe a brutal, barbaric and inferior people; rather, it meant forest-dwellers, it had no pejorative significance. To this point, `Indiens', or people of the Indies, was the word Champlain used to call the people of the West Indies. The gentlemen of New France, including Champlain, were, "quicker to recognize the humanity of the Indians than that of their own servants and laborers". (p. 209)
   
   Throughout his account, Fischer writes with great respect and admiration when describing Champlain and his numerous accomplishments. In the last chapter and Conclusion, he contrasts the meaning of several concepts, including individuality, honour and duty, between Champlain's times and today: our ideals ring hollow and trite when compared to Champlain's lofty standards - and his practice of them.



3. It's not necessary to go into detail about the content of the book as others have covered it well. Suffice it to say, that as in Fischer's prior work on Paul Revere, Champlain's story is so well told it's hard to put down. The depth of historical detail is fascinating and illuminating even for someone who has read widely in the field. This is more than the story of one man, one learns much about the history, culture, and politics of 17th century France, and also about the culture and life of the Native Americans of Quebec and Ontario. For me, the book had a redemptive value in Champlain's more humane model of "colonization" and interaction with the Native Americans. My admiration for Champlain and for author Fischer has only increased and I heartily recommend this book!



4. The details are fascinating. I always wondered why the French had such a unique relationship with the many Amerind cultures. It was Champlain, who with a few men, bravely walked into many a village, treated the inhabitants with respect and established a lasting peace. It is a great read, a must read for anyone interested in the founding of New France.



5. This magnificent volume is multifaceted, and many important themes will necessarily be omitted from a brief review. The appendices by themselves (there are about 16 of them!) make the book an exceptional work of scholarship. Very enjoyable is the appendix entitled An Essay on Leadership, which is based on a treatise Champlain wrote near the end of his life on the subject of how he went about leading others.
   I had the privilege of conducting an interview with Dr Fischer in May, 2009, and in the interview Champlain's approach to leadership was contrasted in interesting ways with Washington's. One of the most fascinating episodes in Champlain's Dream is the account of a battle between the Algonquin and Iroquois in July, 1609, in the Lake Champlain area, near Ticonderoga. Champlain and a few of his men took part in this battle: their use of the arquebus determined the outcome. Readers interested in the strategic significance of the Hudson-Lake George-Lake Champlain corridor in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War will be intrigued by this 1609 battle in the very same location. In fact, in the video interview Dr. Fischer speaks about the strategic role of the Hudson River in the Revolutionary War. This is the link:
   
   [...]

5 comments about Grass Beyond the Mountains: Discovering the Last Great Cattle Frontier on the North American Continent.

1. Great detail and wonderful reading pleasure. Can't wait to read the other two sequels about life in the Western North American Continent. Though situated in Canada, no story could be any more American than the true tales of Mr. Hobson.



2. My wife visited the area of Canada described by the book when she was a child, and we plan a return visit this summer. The book is an essential prerequisite, and a very enjoyable read!



3. Here I am ordering another copy of this book. I keep "loaning" them. I received my first copy in the mid-1950s as a horse/cowboy-loving teenager in Indiana. My USFS Ranger uncle sent it to me because he knew....!!! Knew it would be another huge nudge in getting me out to the Great Pacific Northwest other than just for visits. I made it in 1968 and my husband and I have visited the area depicted in the book countless times. I will soon turn 70 and have enjoyed reading this book every few years throughout my life. It is most compelling. The reviews of others are definitely right on. What more can I say other than, read it?



4. A personal look in living real life in a land that little is known



5. Pan Phillips had the "Pan Phillips International Airport" at his fishing camp beyond Anahim Lake B.C. For several years, we flew into his little airport between 2 lakes. Pan told us some of the same stories that are in this book. Louis Soukup was one of the first pilots to the area. Louis would fly in, any equipment that Pan needed, on the pontoons of his airplane. This book gives the stories as though you were sitting at the feet of the men who were the first settlers in this area of British Colombia. It is really an adventure to read.

5 comments about Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy.

1. Disguised as a union soldier, Emma would risk her life for her country. Emma Edmonds was born in Saint John, Canada in 1840. When she was sixteen years old she ran away to the United States. When she was twenty one, President Lincoln made a request for seventy five thousand men to volunteer for the Army. She decided that she wanted to be a field nurse for the Union Army but those jobs were so dangerous that they were only given to men. So she cut her hair short, dressed up like a man, and enlisted under the name Franklin Thompson. Emma was assigned to the Second Regiment of Michigan Volunteers. The next day she and all the others in her Regiment were off to training camp. Upset at hearing the news that one of her friends had died in the war, Emma went to go see a woman named Mrs. Butler who lived on the camp with the soldiers. Emma started talking and she ended up telling her secret identity. After that day, Mrs. Butler became Emma's closest friend and the only one who new here secret. One day news came to the camp that a Union spy had been killed at a rebel camp. Now they needed a new spy and Emma volunteered. So she disguised herself as a black slave named Cuff. She snuck onto a rebel camp to gather any valuable information. She found out how many weapons they had, where people were hiding, anything that would help the union defeat the rebels. Once she had gathered enough information, she snuck back to the Union camp. With this information, the union began to fight. Emma became very busy in the hospital as more and more got injured. As the union reached a river, they had to stop and make a bridge across it which would take weeks. The Union army didn't have enough information to make an attack. It was time for Emma to become a spy again. This time she dressed up as a middle aged peddler woman. In this disguise she had no trouble at all getting into the camp and she was allowed to walk around freely. She found out a lot of useful information including the fact that the rebels had an ambush waiting for the union troops. She then rode away on a one of the rebel's horses. They were so impressed with Emma's work that they made her a messenger during all the fighting. For many months Emma was sent off on spy missions and was successful on all of them. Emma returned to being a nurse as the war went on. She was then struck with malaria. She couldn't go to the hospital she worked at because then they would find out she was a girl. So she decided to leave, get the help she needed and then come back. So she left and checked herself into a hospital. Once she got her malaria under control, she saw a union poster in a window. It said that Franklin Thompson was absent without leave. He was known as a deserter. Emma was upset but she continued being a nurse under her rightful name. Later on, after she was married she petitioned the war department to review her case. She had her military rights restored and received and honorable discharge. Other troops were surprised to find out that their old friend Frank Thompson was actually Emma Edmonds. Emma lived in La Porte until her death in 1898. This is a good book full of adventure and suspense.
   
   I thought it was cool how Emma was able to pull off so many disguises. Emma's biggest disguise was being a man. She was able to fool everyone, even her fellow soldiers who she became friends with, that she was a guy. She pulled it off without anyone ever asking questions. Also, there was her favorite disguise, the black slave named Cuff. She was again pretending to be a guy and she was able to come up with something to make her skin look dark. She was able to fool everyone in the rebel camp. Another disguise was as a peddler woman. Even though she was dressed up as a girl, no one ever thought that she actually looked like a real girl. She was even able to fool them then.
   
   Emma was brave and took many risks during her life. One big risk was just signing up. She could have gotten into a lot of trouble if they found out that she was lying and was a girl. And being in the middle of a war is dangerous too. Another risk was when Emma disguised herself as Mr. Mayberry. She was supposed to lead a man, who was leaking union information to the rebels, into a union ambush. If anything went wrong she could've ended up dead and no one would have known. Also, when she was dressed up as a black slave woman, she could have gotten killed. She found secret rebel documents and was going to take them back to her camp. But if she was caught with them they probably would have killed her.
   
   When ever Emma made a decision she stuck to it and didn't turn back. For example, when she decided to run away. She was only sixteen and was afraid of her dad. But she set her fears aside and made the decision to leave and she was happy about it. Another example is when she decided to volunteer for the Army. She was scared and worried that they wouldn't believe her disguise. But she made her decision and wasn't going to second guess herself. Also, when she wanted to become a spy. It was dangerous but she wanted to do it anyway. And even after Mrs. Butler tried and tried to convince her not to do it, Emma stuck to her decision.
   
   This is a great book that will make you not want to put it down. I would recommend it to most people who like biographies and adventure story. This book may not interest everyone but overall it was good.
   
   C. Chapman



2. Emma Edmonds is a young girl from Canada, living in the North during the Civil War. She's always been outgoing and bold- never able to stay in one place at a time. So when she feels a calling to join the Union army, she does what any rebellious girl would do- cuts her hair, gets the uniform, and joins up. At first she's awkward and unsure- terrified that she'll be discovered. She sees the whole thing as a big adventure-that is, until an old love interest of hers is killed in the war. She decides to really take a stand and looks at the war in a whole different way. She fights with all her power-until she gets word that a Union spy was recently killed by the Confederates. She quickly lands the job of replacement. She goes across the rebel lines, a different disguise each time, and collects useful information which helped to save many battles.
   Emma Edmonds, whom I had never heard of before reading the book, is a facinating character. How she summoned the courage to join the army I will never know. A very good book, but a little slow in places.



3. I didn't really like this book. I didn't really like the author's writing style, it was a little hard to understand and follow. The subject wasn't very interesting to me. I think that it would have been hard to try to re-create a story about the civil war. I think that the author did good on that.
   
   I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you are interested in things about the army. I think that it was cool though that a woman would take that kind of risk just to be in combat. Also it was cool that she was that passionate about serving her country.



4. My grandma forced me to read "Behind Rebel Lines". But it turned out to be an awsome and interesting book!



5. Behind the Lines is an adaptation of the Emma Edmonds story for young adults. Emma Edmonds was a native of Saint John New Brunswick, Canada who left for the United States several years prior to the war. She eventually found her way to Michigan where, following the outbreak of war, she under the alias Franklin Thompson enlisted with the 2nd Michigan Infantry. She served with the unit as an orderly for about a year before she volunteered herself as a spy, and during the course of the next year went on eleven assignments. Not only were her spying activities dangerous, but she always had to remain vigilant among her comrades as well, lest her identity be discovered. This is a very interesting and entertaining bit of history, one that is sure to interest even some of those who insist that history is "bo-ring".

5 comments about Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now.

1. Jan Wong was a third-generation Canadian of Chinese descent at Beijing University studying Mandarin and Chinese history during the early 1970s. In the midst of the Cultural Revolution she was one of only two westerners there at the time, and considered herself an enthusiastic Maoist. Part of the reason Wong went to China was to search for her roots; she also had visions of becoming a reporter in Beijing. At age 17, Wong had also become a feminist, something she calls a natural step to Maoism - both women and workers were 'oppressed.' Wong was not only unusual for being a foreigner in China, she also looked Chinese, wanted to be treated like one and experience their lives, but didn't speak Chinese. At the time, there were only 800 million Chinese, and passes were required to travel within China. Her book covers life under both Mao and successor Deng.
   
   Wong opens by describing a with meeting Mao's 23-year-old grandson in a Beijing hospital where he is trying to slim down from 300 lbs (5' 9"). The year was 1988, Wong had returned to China and was shocked at the changes. She found Mao's son scared of his mother (always telling him what to do), wanting to go to the U.S., but not allowed because the Central Committee nixed it - ironic for the son of one of the formerly most power men in the world.
   
   Returning to her first visit (six-years, based at Beijing University), she describes student conditions - students slept 8/room, drinking water was several buildings away, and there was no hot water at all. Wong was given a stipend equal to that of Chairman Mao. There were no washing machines or laundry services. She tells us that the Chinese are great believers in rote learning, perhaps developed from the need to memorize thousands of written characters. Wong herself learned about 120 words/week. Students were assigned majors; being a foreigner, Wong, however, was allowed to choose her own. After fifteen months she left China and its austerity to graduate from McGill University in Canada, then returned to China under Deng.
   
   One of the first things Deng Xiaoping did when he returned to power in 1973 was to reinstate university entrance exams - previously scrapped by Mao's wife in favor of admission based on loyalty and connections. Chinese students still were not allowed to date, and Wong began to wonder about treatment differences based on contacts and background in a supposedly classless society. Deng's children made out quite well, as did others with high connections. She volunteered for work farm assignment to strengthen her revolutionary, non-capitalist thinking. Planting work required 320 man-days for seven acres of rice; they also had to manually create earthen borders around the fields, fertilize, and then harvest by hand. Workers even crawled over the fields to glean the last bits. After her group finished its work, they had to help another group that had fallen behind. One worker was turned in to security for collecting a stamp from Canada with a picture of the queen on it.
   
   Premier Zhou Enlai had tried to mitigate the suffering that had taken place under the Cultural Revolution; even his adopted daughter had been beaten to death while imprisoned in 1968. Mao had kept the leadership fragmented by making appointments such that no faction was strong enough to challenge him. Students were forbidden to attend Zhou's memorial, and their eulogies to him were taken down - they largely were disguised anti-Mao statements. About 60 people were killed in demonstrations at Zhou's death - an ominous portent of the 1989 riots after leader Hu Yaobang's death. People also celebrated the arrest of the Gang of Four after Mao's death. Poor peasants came to Beijing after the Cultural Revolution, following the ancient tradition of seeking redress of wrong - invariably from CCP officials.
   
   Wong left China again, this time for Columbia University journalism studies, then work at the Toronto Globe and Mail. Returning again to China after 8 years, she was was shocked at the obvious improvement in standards of living. Wong was both in, and adjacent to (facing hotel room) the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The Chinese Red Cross estimated that 3,000 were killed; 30 were executed afterwards. Traveling, Wong located an execution site - relatives were billed for the bullets, and organs often harvested from those killed. Opium, V.D., and wife-selling returned after Mao's death.



2. I was born and raised in the US (and a little in Europe) but have had the opportunity to live in China for some time. This was an amazing insight to the people and culture and what they had to go through during their recent history. After reading this book (and having lived in China before that) many things about the people and the culture suddenly made sense. This book really helped me to understand why the Chinese people are the way they are--not to say that bad...or good...but really understand why they do the things they do. My wife is Chinese and I am able to understand and/or accept certain things that she and her family does as a result of having been through these difficult and changing times. It is easy to understand why "trust no one" and being "tight-lipped" are necessary. I think it was an amazing opportunity for Jan Wong to experience this things first-hand.
   
   I highly recommend this book as it gives a very clear glimpse at the heart of what has shaped China today.



3. Why does a millionaire's daughter leave her cushy life in the U.S. to move to Red China during the height of the madness known as the Cultural Revolution? Because she's an idealist and a believer. Okay. I'll buy that. But despite her youth and what must have been a suffocatingly sheltered backgtround, American born Jan Wong is not quick to pick up on nuance. Or anything else. She goes for years and years oblivious to the beatings and imprisonment of her teachers even when it happens right under her nose at Beijing University. People disappear for their thought crimes, and Wong talks about her innocent belief in the ideals. Her "university" spends more time raising cabbages than it does in the classroom, and contradiction, doublespeak and history-revision are what pass for news and information. But does Wong look around and say "Whassup?" Nope. She even betries a few friends to the authorities for mild complaints or hinting around about living in the U.S. Finally our Girl Reporter wakes up and hears the dropping of the other shoe. She notices the economic and social chaos, the lack of food, the stifling of dissidents all around her. She even regrets tossing her friends under the bus. Having panned her political and social astuteness, I have to give Wong praise for providing an intimate insight into daily life for a privileged few in Beijing. Because she is, indeed, among a handful of students treated with kid gloves. Thus when Wong innocently notes that she gets better food from her "private chef" than is available to the rest of the students in the cafeteria, she doesn't know how much she is actually revealing about her life and real life and the dichotemy becomes even more apparent.Even as they are sent to work in the fields, to the University's own farm or to the farms of peasants, the special cadres and "foreign born" students still get enough food to live on, medical care, and other luxuries that the revered peasants and working class did not. By the end of the book, there is a sameness to the narrative that becomes tiresome and overall, I can give it only a moderate recommendation. If you want to read an excellent book covering this same time frame, but which provides deeper context and more detailed information on daily life, pick up a copy of "Life and Death and Shanghai" by Nein Ching. An amazing autobiography about a woman who proves to be the toughest, most iron-willed little old lady that the Cultural Revolution (or anyone else) ever encountered. Her book is impossible to put down and impossible to forget. China Blues won't have you seeing red with disappointment, but there's not a lot of meat on its bones.



4. I really enjoyed the book, Red China Blues. I have just returned from a tour of China's Best Treasures and reading this book provided me with a better understanding of the history of the country by means of a person's life story. It was very interesting and well written. It was an easy read. So enlightening.



5. Published by Anchor Books in 1977, Red China Blues is a memoir of Jan Wong, a `starry-eyed' Chinese Montreal Maoist, who in the summer of 1972 shunned the capitalist ways of the west and went to China to `find an idealistic, revolutionary society'. And so begins Wong's tumultuous 12-year affair with Maoism, written down in intimate detail in a 416 page read.
   Wong makes no secret to hide her distaste for Communism; or rather China's communist rule. As someone who has been disenchanted, she often comes off as bitter and although she makes many attempts to reason her motivation behind her blinding faith in Maoism, they come off as weak at times and instead she manages to pick at and criticize every fault in the government and the system without contemplating any of the more positive aspects of Communist rule during the time - then again, she may point out there are none.
   Furthermore, readers interested in this book should be aware that some background knowledge of China's history is needed. Wong does a fairly good job of explaining the workings behind certain events and policies and the background of specific people; however, there are multiple ditches that the reader can easily fall into while journeying through Wong's memories. But the fact that she deals more with the common Chinese rather than some obscure government official is to be expected, as is her personal involvement with each event that occurs.
   Her attention to detail may come off as tedious, but the way she handles the memories she shares are both compassionate and critical. The interactions that occur leaves a profound impact; Mao's policies may not all be listed but we are able to comprehend on a more private level the suffering of the Chinese under Mao's, and then Deng's, rule. The wife trafficking and the secret prisons (that `secretly' make the clothes on your back) are only a few of the shocking details that Wong incorporates in the novel, as well as amusing anecdotes that one can only find in a memoir. Inevitably the readers become connected with the characters in the novel and Wong herself as they journey through arguably the most radical era for China.
   Wong explores other biographies and memoirs that deal with Mao, such as The Private Life of Chairman Mao which was written by Mao's personal doctor, and manages to not only question the validity of the findings in those novels but the truth in her own assumptions of the Great Helmsman. Although she is speaking as an eyewitness, she is still able to allow enough room for the reader to make their own calculations and judgments of the incidents. However, somebody looking for a book focused solely on Chairman Mao and his policies is clearing reading the wrong book; it's important to remember that this is a memoir and as such is more concerned with Wong and her experiences rather than Mao's own personal accounts.
   Despite all her negativity towards Maoism and its betrayal, there is no doubt that Wong's wry narrative is what keeps the readers afloat amid the turmoil in the book. Her descriptions and accounts are what set this memoir apart from so many other books dealing with China in the 20th century and what leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

5 comments about Adam: God's Beloved.

1. Adam could not speak, or even move without assistance. He suffered from frequent seizures and spent his life in obscurity. Despite being severely handicapped, Adam led Nouwen to a new understanding of God. Nouwen wrote over 40 books, and this was the last book by this popular and honored spiritual writer. I've also read Nouwen's Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring. Several years ago I was made aware of Henri Nouwen, a Roman Catholic priest and author, and this book Adam. Unfortunately Adam was an unfinished work when Nouwen passed away in 1996. The book is short and feels incomplete. I really wanted to like it, but I really believe Nouwen put Adam on a pedestal making him out to be something that he was not. Despite having some major theological differences with Nouwen, I have learned from the man.



2. As a parent of a child with disabilities, I felt Nouwen took huge chunks of our experience and condensed them into meaty paragraphs of great depth and meaning. He came to learn that his question should not be "Lord, is there any way Adam can know you as I do" but rather, "Lord, is there anyway I can know you the way Adam does?". So simple, but so profound. Nouwen sheds light on the God-given dignity in Adam's life and in so doing helps the reader understand God's great love for all of us. I have purchased several dozen copies of this book for friends and family.



3. This text by Henri Nouwen will touch the soul of your being and recognize that Christ lives in the most humblest and forgotten around us.



4. Henry Nouwen, professor of spirituality at some of America's most prestigious universities, the writer of numerous popular-yet-subtle theological and reflective works, found his greatest calling in his daily care of Adam Arnett, a severely disabled man. Nouwen was charged with caring for Adam for 2 hours a day at L'Arche Daybreak in Toronto, a home where caregivers lived together with those they cared for.This biographical sketch of Adam's life and death was Nouwen's final work before his own death in 1996.
   
   "Adam, God's Beloved" is simple, even in comparison with Nouwen's other work, which while profound, is always quite accessible. Nouwen almost provocatively lays out Adam's life in parallel with the seemingly more active and productive life of Christ. Like the Lord, Adam had his hidden years, and experienced a desert, a ministry, and passion, death and resurrection. Due to the severity of his disabilities, which left him unable to speak and barely able to feed himself, Adam's mission was often seen reflected in the lives of those who cared for him. Unable to act, he was constantly acted upon. And it is this observation that Nouwen sees as seminal to understanding Adam as "beloved." Like Jesus, Adam needs to accomplish nothing in order to be loved by God. Adam's very inability to act reveals what is at the core of his meaning, as it is of ours, that God loves *him*, the person -- not his accomplishments, his looks or his possessions. This insight is both extremely simple to express and extremely difficult to live. That Nouwen himself, after decades of teaching and living the spiritual life, did not fully appreciate this insight points to its almost unreachable depth.
   
   This book celebrates Adam's life and the love of those who cared for him, especially his parents, Rex and Jeanne Arnett and his brother Michael, but also of the many workers at L'Arche. But the book also attempts to communicate the humanness -- the pure belovedness -- of Adam to those who never met him. And perhaps to challenge them to connect with their own lack of a feeling of belovedness, and the misery that this lack produces. This is a one-insight book, and cannot adequately substitute for the work of achieveing it, but it may be as close as many of us ever come to it.



5. ADAM: GOD'S BELOVED may not be Henri Nouwen as a writer at his best, but in many ways it is Henri Nouwen as a priest and a person at his best. I know that this sounds like a contradiction, but a reading of the introduction of the book by Sue Mosteller explains some of the difficulties of this book. First, it was a bit of a rush job and the version we have today may not have been the final version had Nouwen not died prior to its publication. Even his last editor Robert Ellsberg in an article called "Editing Henri" (part of a collection of articles in a book titled REMEMBERING HENRI, a volume celebrating the life and work of Henri Nouwen) wasn't sure what Nouwen wanted to accomplish in this book until he read the final version and thought about what it said about Henri Nouwen as a person. Ellsberg's approach may be the best way to approach ADAM.
   
   ADAM tells the story of Adam Arnett, a severely disabled young man Nouwen met while living at Daybreak, a L'Arche community comprised of people of differing abilities, founded by Jean Vanier. In sum, Nouwen cares for Adam's personal needs and believes he comes face to face with the suffering Christ and sees through Adam that every life is important and has a purpose. This is basically a summary of the book and there are many writers, most notably Vanier himself, who speak eloquently about the role of the disabled in society and how the disabled reflect the life of Christ. Like many readers, as some other Amazon reviews will attest, I expected more, or at least I expected more as I read the book. I admired Nouwen for venturing into a place where too many look away, but I hoped for more profound insights from this person who shared so much with so many. I do not believe there is another spiritual writer who has shed light on so many topics, who can be deep and profound yet also simple.
   
   After reading the book, I thought about what I read, which would makes Henri Nouwen happy since he always wanted people to stop and reflect, then I realized what may make this book so important in understanding Henri Nouwen. Nouwen spent his life feeding others spiritually, finding all sorts of ways people could find God and meaning in life. When he arrived at Daybreak, he was both physically and emotionally exhausted, knowing that so many expected so much from him. Adam, whose well being depended on the care of so many, needed Nouwen too, but in a different way than those who wanted to hear him speak or read his next book. As Nouwen served Adam's needs he felt something he hadn't felt before, namely unconditional love and experienced the presence of Christ. Nouwen finally experienced what he provided for so many in his care for Adam. He needed to share this story. No doubt it would have been different if he had lived longer, or another volume with deeper insights would have been published at a later date, but for readers who loved Nouwen's writing and believe we know the man through his works, realizing he was able to experience what he so freely shared with others makes this work indispensable in understanding Nouwen and left me with a good feeling knowing he experienced the riches he so generously shared with others.

5 comments about Wolf Willow: A History, a Story, and a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics).

1. Over the past couple of months, I have brought up "Wolf Willow" to a couple of friends who are readers. It's a difficult book to sell to friends, though. Ones says, "Well, it's part history, part
   essay, part memoir, and their eyes glaze over." Today I took the bull by the horns and bought a copy and had it sent to the second friend. Then I realized that I hadn't bothered to leave a
   review on amazon.com, and so here I am, like the Ancient Mariner, to tug at people's sleeves, hoping that anyone who happens by this site might read my words and be tilted toward buying
   this book. It is wonderful. You don't need to take my advice: look at the reviews by famous people, and see that V. Nabokov found it "enthralling, captivating, and infinitely ...." oh, I can't
   remember the exact words, buy Nabokov's point was that he envied Stegner's work in this book. (For Nabokov, that's high praise).
   
   And that's it. If you reading these words, you're half-way home, half-way to deciding to read this book. I hope these words are the finger on the scale that makes you purchase "Wolf Willow."
   If you do, you'll remember this review, I'll bet.



2. Stegner once again reveals his writing prowess, This time in a self-indulgent adventure to haunts of his youth.
   
   I have some qualms about this work, however. In particular, I was not so keen on those parts where Stegner relied heavily on book-based history that never directly touched his own life. To be frank, his writing in these parts surprisingly got a bit stodgy.
   
   His thought on sense of place and belonging, however, are remarkable, hitting me right between the eyes. Indeed, he had me wistfully recalling my own childhood in what seemed a remote area of the world with the archaeological junk heap and all. In measuring his boyhood to my own, I noted how little times had changed in that interval of 60-70 years and how much has changed for kids in the last 40. It had me wondering how my own sons lives would be different were it not for the MAFIA (mother's against fun in America).



3. This book has no right to be so absorbing. Though the topic of this forgotten book by Wallace Stegner reeks of self-indulgence-- A writer returns to where he grew up, reminisces about his youth and the history of the frontier town his transient childhood most identified as home and concludes with a 100-page fictionalized account of a the terrible winter of 1906-- he manages to tie his past inexorably to ours, linking his nostalgia for his youth with our own, and exploring the promise and inevitable waste of the American Dream lived out on our frontiers.
   
   Stegner, like Proust, experiences an "ancient, unbearable recognition" spurred by a return to the sites, sounds, and most importantly, smells of his childhood. He dreams of this period and is "haunted, on awakening, by a sense of meanings just withheld, and by a profound nostalgic melancholy." Everyone has some awareness of a deep meaning lurking in our past that has not, or cannot, be fully interpreted.
   
   Perhaps the best part of the book is section three, the novella length exposition on the hope and danger of the high plains that does a superb job of creating looming dread as the winter drops hard on the land. Near the end of section three, Stegner expounds on what it is to be an American pursuing the Dream:
   
   "How does one know what wilderness has meant to Americans unless he has shared the guilt of wastefully and ignorantly tampering with it in the name of progress? One who has lived the dream, the temporary fulfillment, and the disappointment has had the full course.... The vein of melancholy in the North American mind may be owing to many causes, but it is surely not weakened by the perception that the fulfillment of the American Dream means inevitably the death of the noble savagery and freedom of the wild. Any who has lived on a frontier knows the inescapable ambivalence of the old-fashioned American conscience, for he has first renewed himself in Eden and then set about converting it into the lamentable modern world."



4. This wonderful collection of essays and fiction about the last Western frontier is both romance and anti-romance. Writing in the 1950s, Stegner captures the breath-taking beauty of the unbroken plains of southwest Saskatchewan and the excitement of its settlment at the turn of the century. Part memoir, the book recounts the years of his boyhood in a small town along the Whitemud River in 1914-1919, the summers spent on the family's homestead 50 miles away along the Canadian-U.S border. His book is also an account of the loss of that Eden and the failed promise of agricultural development in this semi-arid region with thin top soil.

   Stegner is a gifted, intelligent writer, able to turn the people and events of history into compelling reading. The opening section of the book describes the experience of being on the plains and specifically in the area where Stegner was a boy. And it lays out the geography of that land -- a distant range of hills, the river, the coulees, the town -- which the book will return to again and again.

   The following section evokes the period of frontier Canada's early exploration, the emergence of the metis culture, the destruction of the buffalo herds, the introduction of rangeland cattle, and then wave upon wave of settlement pushing the last of the plains Indians westward and northward. A chapter is devoted to the surveying of the boundary along the Canada-U.S. border; another chapter describes the founding of the Mounted Police and its purely Canadian style of bringing law and order to the wild west.

   The middle section of the book is a novella and a short story about the winter of 1906-1907. In the longer piece, eight men rounding up cattle are caught on the open plains in an early blizzard. Stegner builds the drama and the peril of their situation artfully and convincingly. The final section of the book returns to Stegner's memories of the town and the homestead, ending with his family's departure for Montana.

   Stegner lived at a time and in a place where a person born in the 20th century could still experience something of the sweep of history that transformed the American plains. I've read many books about the West, and because of his depth of thought, his gifts as a writer, and his unflinching eye, Stegner's work ranks for me among the best. I heartily recommend this book.




5. Part history and part dreamy reminiscence, this book is an account of a boy growing up in Southwest Saskatchewan in the early part of the 20th Century. The central portion of the book is pure history, and the long chapters on cowboys are particularly challenging because they require an intimate knowledge of cowboy terminology. Stegner does not mince words about the difficulties of life on the plains--extremes of heat and cold, wind, hostile topography, lack of cultural amenities--the result of which is that most who grew up there moved elsewhere. But he also shows a passionate attachment for the country of his childhood. The narrative often seems rambling because, like James Michener, the author tries to incorporate so much besides history--including the biology and geology of the nearby Cypress Hills, the biologically diverse area nearby--and even his poetic musings have elements of fact, as when he describes the wind, or the gophers, or his swimming hole, or his school, or his family's homestead, or the problems involved in the town's incorporation.

2 comments about The Rancher Takes a Wife.

1. This is a more orderly, "together" book than the middle one in the series - Grass Beyond the Mountains was excellent; the book in the middle was... spotty and inconsistent; and The Rancher Takes a Wife returns to the neat, sensible storyline, though not meeting the standards of the first book. I've found it hard to "know" the characters, and really wonder what happened to all the people in the first book, of whom few words are devoted. The characters after the first book are seen through a haze... I wonder if that's due to the passage of so much time before he started to write.



2. I own originals of Hobson's three books and re-read them every few years. His ability to vividly portray the life that he and The Top Hand and later Mrs. Hobson had in the interior of British Columbia is to have been there. It is hard in today's comfortable way of life to envision the situations and dangers that were simply a part of how it was back then. Having grown up in the mountains of the U.S. West, I can only marvel at the abilities of these adventuresome pioneers in the cattle country of B.C. To have met Rich Hobson was of great interest to me... I simply waited too long and he had passed away. The travels and travails through Hobson's life would make an awsome story for a movie. Note: Make sure you read the three books in sequence... and enjoy!

5 comments about William Osler: A Life in Medicine.

1. I purchased 5 of these books as a "Thank you" to 5 excellent physicians who supported me as an oncology nurse practitioner. Since I was retiring, I wanted to say "Thank you" and each physician was thrilled to receive a copy.



2. This is one of the most absorbing and readable biographies of Sir William Osler. Michael Bliss' book is considerably shorter and easier to read than the monumental Pulitzer Prize winning book by Harvey Cushing, Life of Sir William Osler.
   As a retired general practitioner, Sir Willam's life and example is particularly close to what I have been practicing for the past forty years. When one reads this account one can begin to fathom this great man's ability, perception of human suffering, natural curiosity and dedication to the patient's welfare. This book reveals to us some of his other unique abilities and qualities namely his bibliophilia,vast reading, writing close to 170 papers, teaching scores of students, and having the honor of holding responsible and prestigious positions in the fields of medicine and the humanities. In addition to all these were his literally developing Johns Hopkins Hospital and University into the best in the world in his time and marshalled the achievements of hospitals in Philadelphia, Montreal and Toronto. As Regius Professor at Oxford from 1915 to 1919 he was a towering giant . He therefore stands in my eyes as the greatest doctor of the 19th.,20th. and perhaps the 21st. centuries. Not Sydenham, not Hunter, not even Lister could do all that Osler managed to do and do so with so much energy, dedication and humility.
   We doctors who were not with him on hospital rounds, clinical demonstrations,lectures, lunches, teas and dinners and amazing conversations with him are very envious of those who were blessed with these opportunities.
   He set a living example to his protege the way a doctor should live and work to earn that mark of nobility that the profession has had for centuries. He was the healer of all healers and inspired many to literally follow his foot steps. To mention two such would be too few but the likes of Harvey Cushing and Wilder Penfield come to mind and they both became superb neurosurgeons even though their hero, Osler , was an internist. I was astounded to read the great numbers of international luminaries who were treated by him. He ministered to doctors and their families, medical students and staff and was thus a doctor's doctor both as a teacher and physician.
   His love of little children, the youth, the aged and his own extended family was exemplary to say the least.
   How sad that such a doctor left the world at a mere 70 years of age. Three great nations, Canada, the U.S. and Britain all claim him as their own son. That honor and adulation no one and no doctor has the distinction of achieving. He served all of them so well.
   We all stand in awe of this stalwart of modern medicine and Michael Bliss has opened our eyes to this individual so well.



3. Despite almost a century since his death, William Osler persists as the `the grand old man of medicine', a life devoted to doctoring and doctors, who has supplied inspiration for many generations of physicians in the United States, Canada, Britain and the Continent.
   
   Osler's life was a remarkable achievement as a medical teacher, (important in America in giving medical students real medical experience, as clinical clerks in hospitals) physician, prolific author, councillor, researcher and mentor to literarily thousands of men and women embarking on the profession in the medicos. It was the philosopher and great teacher, William James, who commented to Osler, marvelling and his energy and interests. Osler replied, that he was terribly conscious of time that it was a commodity he wished he could buy more of, as there was so much he could do with it. (p. 502) Osler's zest for work and unbounding passion for medicine set the standard for medical women and men in the twentieth century.
   
   After reading Michael Bliss's brilliant biography of the pioneering neurosurgeon, Harvey Cushing, another remarkable medical man, and Osler's first biographer, it seemed only natural to read about Cushing's mentor. Both biographies are first rate and it really would be a disservice to compare them, because both works are thorough, educational, inspiring and definitive contributions to the greats of medical history.
   
   Osler is the author of the currently classic text, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, which became the core textbook for students and practicing physicians during his life. It became a yearly task for the doctor to revise later editions, (sixteen in all) and in present time, for modern doctors, according to Bliss, has now become patient-centred and a historical document of the state of 19th century medicine.
   
   Osler is famous for his bedside manner, the notion of empowering patients and autonomy in clinical practice. The man's faith in medicine and the legendary "aura" of healing that surrounded him, causing patients to regain the faith in their own healing ability, has caused a renewed interest in humanities joining forces with science, a proper balance, ensuring an optimal treatment and outcome for the patient.
   
   How did the man accomplish so much in one lifetime? Similar to the 18th century philosopher, Immanuel Kant, people close to him could adjust their clocks to the second by the philosopher's movements. Osler was the same: his day was usually planned down to the minute, rising at seven and retiring by ten-thirty everyday.
   
   He was also a man born with writing disease, never a day would go by without putting pen to paper, as his articles, correspondence, speeches and books certainly reveal. A consummate bibliophile, his collection of medical texts and related subjects, at the end of his life reached eight thousand, taking many years to catalogue, ending up being donated, as was his wish, to McGill University.
   
   An excellent biography of an extraordinary man of medicine.



4. William Osler remains an iconic figure in American medicine. Osler is taken often to epitomize the physician who brings a crticial and scholarly approach to the bedside in conjunction with compassion and empathy. In this very well written biography, Bliss traces Osler's life, his achievements, and examines how he assumed iconic status and whether or not this status is deserved. Bliss is particularly well equipped to undertake this task. A well known specialist on Canadian history, he has written other fine books on medical history in a Canadian context.
   Bliss presents Osler as a product of the rising British Victorian middle classes. The remarkable son of impressive parents, Osler was the son of an English naval officer turned Anglican minister and his equally intelligent wife. Raised in rural Ontario when this part of Canada was still a frontier, Osler's parents inculcated respect for learning, dedication to hard work, and clearly taught the value of community service. William Osler was not an outlier in this family. One of his brothers became a prominent businessman and two other brothers became important figures in Canadian law and politics. An early interest in natural history (biology) lead Osler to medicine. Trained in then provinicial Toronto and Montreal, he finished his education in some of the great teaching hospitals of Europe. Spotted by his mentors in Montreal as a future star, he was brought back to McGill to teach at the modest medical school. At McGill, Osler launched the career of careful clinical observation, pathologic correlation, and teaching that would propel him to the apex of his profession. His growing reputation led to appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and then to the nascent Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. At Hopkins, he became the first Professor of Clinical Medicine and introduced the teaching methods that revolutionized medical education in the USA. Relatively little of what Osler did was truly novel. Clinico-pathologic correlation has been standard method for expanding medical knowledge for decades and the clerkship method of teaching had been used in Britain and continental Europe for some time. Osler carried these methods to new heights. In his clinical practice, in his teaching, and in his great textbooks, Osler summarized and codified almost all of 19th century medicine. He was not a notable scientist, though his description and characterization of several important clinical conditions was very valuable, but he brought the best science of his time to the bedside and set clinical medicine on the course of drawing from systematic scientific work. In terms of his personal accomplishments and the example he set for his numerous trainees, his impact on 20th century medicine was immense.
   Osler's reputation as a fine physician was deserved. Bliss shows him to be an warm and compassionate individual who was regarded often with great affection by his patients. Blessed with a generous and kindly personality, he enjoyed a wide circle of friends and a happy family life. In important respects, Osler exemplifies some of the most important and most admirable features of the Victorian period. His sense of virtue and service was very strong but he was not a prig and had relatively liberal values. Traveling in Germany towards the end of the 19th century, he noted and deplored rising anti-Semitism. He appears to have been devoid of overt anti-Semitic feelings and had a number of Jewish trainess, all of whom he appears to have treated with his usual combination of high expectations and civil behavior. Alone among the faculty at Hopkins, he supported the admission of women, though he did not really believe in female equality. Bliss spent years immersed in Osler's extensive writings and tremendously extensive correspondence, clearly likes and admires Osler, and his regard for Osler is reflected in the tone of this biography.

   Osler was also that quintessential Canadian, the provincial boy who achieves fame on the wider stage of the USA or Britain. At the peak of his fame, he was the best known physician in the English speaking world and something of a minor celebrity.
   Like all fine biographies, this book is about more than its central subject. It is valuable on the development of Canadian society, the growth of universities in the USA and Canada, the history of medicine, and the devastating impact of WWI.
   This will be the standard biography of Osler and it is worthy of its subject.




5. This is, quite honestly, a hefty tome, but no less may be expected when writing about the greatest American physician who ever lived. Bliss presents us with a detailed, well-paced, and engaging biography of Dr. Osler, from his childhood days in Canada to his final years at Oxford. Being both a student of medicine and a Baltimorean (currently), I took a special interest to the chapters devoted to his post as the first chief of medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

   Unlike the time-honored work by Cushing, Bliss's book is no hagiography; it makes no false overtures about Dr. Osler's iconic grandeur, instead letting the reader discover for himself (or herself) that Dr. Osler was, in fact, as great a man as people say he was. (All that being said, I still value the two-volume Cushing biography, and there is no way I will rid myself of the precious first-edition set I snatched up last year at the Maryland Historical Society bookshop!)

   One need not practice Oslerolatry (that is, the veritable worship of Dr. Osler expressed by many of the older faculty at Hopkins and elsewhere) to appreciate this book, though having an interest in medicine and/or medical history may help. Critics often lament that American doctors no longer have any professional integrity, and that taking the Hippocratic Oath is a sham. Read this book, and discover how great the American physician can be...and THEN lament that they don't make them like they used to.