5 comments about Don't Let The Lipstick Fool You: The Making of a Champion.

1. In August 2008, I had the pleasure of seeing an incredible champion represent America in women's basketball at the summer Olympics in Beijing. Lisa Leslie and her team annihilated their challengers. It meant this incomparable woman had been in four Olympics, won four gold medals, and her teams (since 1996) had a won lost record of 32-0.
   
   When I heard about her current book, I hurriedly purchased it. While I knew she was a warrior on the court, I wanted to explore what other influences shaped her indomitable spirit. Don't Let The Lipstick Fool You, revealed a life that would have caused many of us to despair. I was shocked to discover the hardships, personal upheavals, and cruelties she had to endure. In spite of these tribulations, she emerged out of the shadow of darkness ... a beautiful, poised, and self -assured woman.
   
   I first saw her on a summer day in 1998 crossing a street (near Columbus Circle) in Manhattan. What impressed me most (besides her obvious 6ft 5in frame) were her regal elegance and compassionate nature. Many celebrities have delusions of grandeur. However, Lisa Leslie is the epitome of a class act. She smiled at everyone and signed autographs for strangers that approached. With their applications, too often our society trivializes words like heroine, queen, and star. Reading her autobiography was a reminder for me ... these descriptions would be understatements.
   
   I bought a copy for my teenager. Like many tall girls, she is self- conscious. Ms. Leslie is the embodiment of what my wife and I have been trying to teach our daughter: Stand tall, walk proudly, and be humble and thankful for the talents, assets, and gifts ... bestowed upon you by God.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed this exquisite book and recommend it to anyone looking for inspiration, hope, and a marvelous way to experience this journey, called life.
   Reggie Johnson, author, How to be Happy, Successful, and Rich



2. I picked up this book because of the respect for the athletic skills that Lisa Leslie shows on the court and the class she shows off the court. However, I learned a lot more than that. I had no clue that she had grew up in a home where her mother was a truck driver and a post office employee. I didn't know that she lived with her aunt and was helped out by her uncles in the game of basketball. I didn't realize that she had basically raised her younger sister, Tiffany and that her older sister had stolen her identity and ruined her credit. It was an informative book about one of the best basketball players of our generation. She was very open about things that happened like the fact that her college coach left because even though she had a better record than the mens coach they wouldn't pay her like it. I felt that Ms. Leslie was very very honest about how she felt during games and in her life about numerous subjects. I would highly recommend this book if you are interested in finding out what makes Lisa Leslie tick but also if you are just looking for a good autobiography of a strong woman that had to overcome numerous obstacles in her life.



3. I feel like I know Lisa now after reading her book. I not only like her as a player but as a person. It was an easy read and inspiring along the way.



4. Anyone who's a WNBA fan of any team other than the LA Sparks knows that the Sparks have gained the reputation of being the team you "love to hate"! But also, as a WNBA fan you have to give credit and your respect to all the women who have been responsible for the love and excitement we have for the league. They have blazed the trail for all the young talents we see today.
   
   Lisa Leslie is definitely one of those women. In her book, "Don't Let The Lipstick Fool You", you will get a better view of Lisa the person as well as the athlete. She shares her life, her beliefs, and her career. I truly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to any WNBA fan.



5. Lisa Leslie's bio/memoir is not just another story of an athlete's rise from hard times to good luck. This is the story of a woman's ruthless determination to honor the gifts and talents God has given her. There is no luck involved... just pure, unadulterated hard work, a loyal personal and professional support network and God's blessings.
   
   DON'T LET THE LIPSTICK FOOL YOU is one of those rare bios that shares the good, the bad and the ugly while inspiring each of us to follow our own journey, working through the dross to get to the silver, then the gold. From a latchkey home in Compton, California to the Olympic Stadiums in Atlanta, Georgia and Sidney, Australia, Lisa Leslie has traveled the road of disappointment, hardship, and betrayal to become a champion in her personal and professional lives.
   
   Leslie has earned the admiration and respect of many of her peers, as evidenced in the foreword by Earvin "Magic" Johnson; but she has earned mine through the sheer diligence, hard work and integrity that not only resonates through her life, but through the precious pages of her uplifting story. DON'T LET THE LIPSTICK FOOL YOU is definitely a keeper.
   
   Reviewed by Cxandra
   for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

2 comments about Out of Egypt: A Memoir.

1. I read these memoirs with strict concentration on all features of the environment that provided the interesting material to this book.
   
   From childhood of elderly relatives that was somewhat unhappy and bordering on deprivation, the family living off charity, in areas where the primary social groups' life revealed a pattern of neglect, moral [...] , and disregard for law.
   
   I watched a collection of things making people of the same feather sharing a common attribute. Perhaps I should say that a small part of these features I lived myself (1952-56). The message Andre Aciman is giving me is also addressed to every member of a clan feeling alien in the environment in which one was found, and resisted to share.
   
   You are taken back in time to the beginning of the twentieth century until the mid fifties. I never felt strange to uncle Vili, Aunt Clara, or Tante Lotte, like these people exist in the annals of many families' chronological account of events in any successive years.
   
   How much true it is when one had become a success story and thus an object of intense jealousy on the part of his less fortunate confreres. One would definitely feel better off to keep ones apart from ones fellows.
   Walking on tight ropes during WWII to keep balance between complete annihilation and survival is not impossible, or unethical, though the uncomplimentary remarks Uncle Vili used to make about the warring parties - about them both - in private, now remained no secret. We all tend to do the same thing when cornered; won't we? This is legitimate quest for survival amid a world run in madness, Uncle Vili appeared uncomplicated enough.
   
   Those were the people we came to know in Egypt in the mid-fifties, their private life, their intimate charm, their gentleness, their direct and affectionate manner, their kindness and modesty which remained unchanged even at the very height of their predicaments.
   
   We knew people like Uncle Vili, their sense of humor, coupled with caustic wit with their servants - Egyptians and/or Sudanese - that their good nature forsook them and their tongue became capable of mordant, wounding remarks. In the company of their intimate friends, they would throw off the habitual reserve they displayed on public occasions and behave like the big boy scouts which they remained in one corner of their personality - Pashas attitudes.
   
   Andre Aciman: I salute you.



2. Out of Egypt, is a very special memoir about growing up in Alexandria before the author and his family were forced to move from Egypt in 1965 . It's a fascinating memoir of a time and place that no longer exists, and a wonderfully written account .

5 comments about Tomboy Bride.

1. Harriet Backus chronicles her everyday life with a riveting narrative of her experiences in the early 20th century mining camps of the west. One cannot help but marvel at how our ancestors dealt with the harshness of life without the creature comforts we now all enjoy. But of course they knew no other way, so therefore accepted the hardships as they lived their lives. The author's marvelous way with words enables her history to come alive, making the reader feel like a companion sharing her joys, griefs and wonders of the world she encountered.



2. I rarely read a book more than once but this one is worth the time to do that. What a life the bride lived.



3. Since so many have commented on the story, I'll skip repeating all the wonderful things others have already said. Here's what I have to say:
   
   I bought this book in 2001 when my wife and I got married at Alred's in Telluride (we were the FIRST couple to be married there). It wasn't until last month that I "found" this book on my shelf and decided to read it...I couldn't put it down!
   
   This book should be mandatory reading for all high school kids for several reasons: they can learn what life was like back then, and to show that life doesn't own you a thing! You have to earn what you want and take the good with the bad.
   
   Mrs. Backus was an incredible woman that lived through some incredibly difficult times, all the while never giving up or having a bad thing to say.
   
   I would rank this book right up there with "Narrative of the Slave"; it's easy to read, extremely fascinating and leaves you with lump in your throat when it's over.
   
   This book would make an incredible movie (just don't let them "Hollywood-ize" it. Keep it true to the story.



4. My son gave me this book as a gift and once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It is a wonderful story of a young girl who marries and moves to a mining town in Colorado with her mining engineer husband in the early 1900s. As you turn the pages, you live day by day with Harriet and can actually experience the hardships of living in such remote areas.
   
   It is one of the best written books I have ever read and I recommend it to everyone.
   Brenda Ritter



5. Fantastic book. Well written with humor and sorrow. I picked this book up on a whim at a $1 book sale. Best dollar I have ever spent. I couldn't put this book down. Really a great read for anyone interested in mining life esp. what it was like from a womans point of view.

5 comments about Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion.

1. Sam Langford is typically not on the list of modern boxing historians top ten, or even top twenty-five, but this is their oversight. Sam Langford was a pioneering trailblazer in a young sport.
   
   Clay Moyle is one of many authors revisiting great warriors of the early days of boxing. Recent biographies have been written about Bob Fitzsimmons, Joe Gans and John L Sullivan to name a few.
   
   This tome reads quickly, is highly entertaining and highly informative.
   
   Sam Langford is portrayed as not only a fierce competitor, but also an intelligent, quick-witted and generous man. He had a huge following, but because of the times he fought in, was avoided by the serious contenders and Champions of his day. Although smaller of stature, and lighter than most of the men he fought, he had so much talent that he found ways to break these men down.
   
   Although he lived his advancing years blind and penniless, he refused to give in to bitterness. While he could have fought fighters like Jack Dempsey, Jess Willard and Luis Firpo in big money fights, he had to content himself with fighting the great colored fighters like Sam McVey and Joe Jeannette again and again.
   
   Interestingly, he often carried these fighters through many rounds, because he knew he would have to fight them again, and he wanted to keep interest up for a potential larger gate.
   
   Reading about Langford's life and times opens up new vistas about what it meant to be a black athlete in the early 20th century, and how important a strong mental outlook is in life.



2. Just a great book about an uncrowned champion who deserved the title and the fame that went with it.
   
   Clay Moyle's book is just brilliant, filled with rare photgraphs and stories. Very readable and he doesn't get bogged down with the intricacies of the fights which can get boring.
   
   I hope he writes more books like this one, would LOVE to see a book on Sam McVea and Joe Jeannette written!



3. 
   
   Clay Moyle has written a wonderful new biography that is a well-researched and detailed legacy on the life of Sam Langford. It was certainly worth waiting for and is now a prized addition to my library.
   
   James Louis Bacon



4. Thoroughly researched and well paced biography. Includes lots of rare and interesting photographs of Langford and his principal opponents.
   
   A highly recommended 8 out of 10.



5. Clay Moyle's book is a superb example of a what a boxing biography should be like. Providing many hitherto unpublished - if not unknown - facts about the life and career of the 'Boston Tar Baby' and many of his opponents (for example, we are told Langford's middle name for the first time and we are informed as to what became of boxer Danny Duane, who easily defeated both the young Langford and the highly-skilled Jack Blackburn, yet gave up what would seem to have been a very promising boxing career), the author sprinkles his book with many interesting, oftentimes funny, anecdotes about his subject. Of course, the best aspects of this book for boxing fans are Moyle's descriptions of Langford's boxing style and abilities (including accounts of when and against whom he started to utilize certain tactics and techniques); his accounts of Langford's major bouts - sometimes seemingly providing a 'blow-by-blow' description of the action; the many cited opinions of Langford's opponents and other boxing experts as to his strengths and weaknesses, as well as where he stands among boxing's greats; and, of course, the many fine photographs of the great man and his peers, many of which have never been published before. My only real complaint about this book is that the author did not provide a better 'running account' of Langford's gradual weight gain (i.e. providing his official weigh-in weights for his bouts) so that the reader would have a better idea as to when and against whom he rose from a lightweight to a welterweight to ... a heavyweight (I would have even settled for his weight and that of his opponents being included in his 'Professional Record', which Moyle provides at the back of the book). But that's a small quibble given how great this bio is. I only hope that the upcoming biographies of Joe Gans and Harry Greb are even 80% as good as this one.

5 comments about The Wisdom of Wilderness: Experiencing the Healing Power of Nature.

1. There is much to like about Gerald (Jerry) May's The Wisdom of Wilderness. I too am greatly interested in notions of wilderness and wildness and appreciate May's reflections on our species' "estrangement" from larger, wild nature, and the fact that our western Euro-American culture all too often tries to tame, exploit, or manage "the natural world" even as we fear or ignore or deny the wildness within. I also appreciate that he risks writing about the invisibles or intangibles he discovered in the latter stages of his life, while answering "the call" of wilderness; and the fact that some aspect of larger nature might actually be perceived as welcoming. I too have sometimes had the experience of being drawn by nature out of myself and into something bigger. It's often said that wilderness - or, more generally, wild nature - is indifferent to the fate of humans. Yet at times in my life I have sensed something else. I don't know if it has been nature itself or something even "bigger" than nature, some creative force or energy. But I have felt accepted by what we call the natural world. Other ideas also resonate: the notion that we humans and other parts of nature are perfect in our imperfection; the value, even necessity, of solitude; the importance of being "vitally present"; the ability of wild nature to heal; the possibility that "all creation participates in creation"; and love's presence at the center of it all.
   
   May describes his own calling and welcoming by different names. And though his description of "The Power of the Slowing" or "the Presence" or "the Wisdom of the Wild" is not quite like my own, I can sense the truth in his experience. At the same time, some of his accounts seem almost too facile, too pat, too simplistic; and occasionally, a little too "woo woo." Perhaps that has to do with the difficulty of describing intangibles and larger "Presences" or transcendent experiences. In any case, I wanted MORE. I also sometimes had trouble following his "leaps" in reasoning and found that he sometimes seems to contradict himself. For instance, he discusses the importance of accepting nature as it is, but then also writes that nature is "willing to become an imaginary enemy" so that humans might learn one lesson or another. That sort of idea seems to put humans back at the center of things. And in certain chapters, I wish May had dived deeper. For instance Chapter 6, "Violence at Smith's Inlet." While certain parts seemed overly dramatic, I think May missed an opportunity to explore his own complex relationship with the violence involved in sport fishing. Though his own participation in fishing resulted in considerable killing and wounding, he simply says, "It always bothered me, but I kept doing it." (Until, we learn in a later chapter, he simply stopped.) As an aside, I found his discussion of angling "one-upmanship" to be silly and irrelevant in this sort of book. I do greatly appreciate his argument that we need to look harder at - and accept - the "shadow" of humanity's violence. I just wish he'd gone deeper in this chapter. I also wish he followed through in his discussion of the human proclivity for naming; by the end of the chapter I wondered, what is his point?
   
   One other comment: May - like many people in our culture - seems to equate wilderness and wildness. But as I note in my own book, Living with Wildness: An Alaskan Odyssey, wildness and wilderness are not at all the same, a point that Gary Snyder, Jack Turner, Paul Shepard, Wendell Berry, Roderick Nash, and many other American writers, historians, and philosophers have emphatically made, sometimes at great length. Wilderness is a place; and sometimes, an idea. Wildness, on the other hand, is a state of being. Wildness is present everywhere, including within us. As Jerry May himself puts it toward the end of his book, what he is really considering here is "the Wisdom of the Wild." It's a wisdom meriting our attention and openness.



2. I love this guy and wish with all my heart I could have met him. I connected immediately with this books message and read it all the way through. I love the wilderness and identified with everything Gerald May had to say in this little gem.



3. It was September, and the long stretch of Lake Michigan island beach was deserted except for a herd of snowy swans cruising along the shore at sunset. I had just read THE WISDOM OF WILDERNESS by Gerald May before my solo backpack trip. As I took my last swim of the season and marveled at the beauty all around me, his words echoed. Wilderness, he believed, is not just a place. It is also a state of being. The inner wilderness, he wrote, "is the untamed truth of who you really are."
   
   May knew he was dying as he penned THE WISDOM OF WILDERNESS, a book drawn from his journals and thoughts over the last decade of his life. Drawn to nature because of his deep longing for something he couldn't articulate --- but knew was wrapped in a yearning for God --- he spent many nights out of doors in a state forest close to his home. It was here that May's life was irrevocably changed, as he learned about himself and about God's presence.
   
   The idea of going to the wilderness to learn spiritual truths is as old as humankind. It's even biblical. Think of Jesus going to pray in the desert, or the prophets who found metaphors in creation. Many of the early church fathers and mothers found solitude and a special sort of communion with God when they set themselves apart for a time in the wilderness. Although May uses language that may be difficult for Christians to get past (for example, he meets something called "The Power of the Slowing," which he calls a feminine presence), if we put aside some of our preconceptions about God, May allows us to see how God might work through nature to teach us truths about ourselves and work healing in our lives.
   
   Like any of us who love to be alone in the outdoors, May writes of his battle with fear. Fear of the dark. Fear of wild animals (his encounter with a bear is one of the best moments in the book). Fear of other humans who might wish him ill. Letting himself deeply experience fear has an unexpected result: gratitude.
   
   Indeed, this willingness to let ourselves feel deeply is at the heart of the book. May, a respected theologian and psychiatrist (ADDICTION & GRACE), had spent a lifetime helping people learn to "cope" with their feelings. In THE WISDOM OF WILDERNESS, he rethinks the idea of "coping" and wonders if in fact it isn't better to feel our emotions deeply. May wants us to look deeper at our own nature. Are we awake to our lives? Are we paying attention? What are we missing? What are we afraid of?
   
   When we allow ourselves to feel deeply, we open ourselves up to pain. And there is pain in the book. May spends a chapter looking at pain through his story of a tortured turtle, a chapter that no one will be able to read without flinching. More importantly, May is aware of his own mortality as he battles cancer. This lends a terrific poignancy to his words. When dying, one is aware of what is most important. May doesn't have time to trivialize.
   
   As one who loves field guides and putting names to the birds, flowers and clouds I see, I particularly appreciated May's chapter, "The Name of the Eagle," although I'm not sure I agree with him completely. He believes that part of our desire for naming things is a need for power or control (or he says "subjugation.") "A...more respectful way is not to give a name but to discover it," he writes. This chapter gave me plenty of food for thought, since I consider learning the names of things a form of respect and appreciation --- like learning the names of the people you want to know better. I appreciate his challenging words, however. Although I will continue to enjoy naming things, I'll remember his caution the next time I'm poring over my field guides, spending more time looking for a name than getting to know the birds or the flowers for themselves.
   
   Perhaps most importantly, May reminds me to be attentive --- to stay awake to my life. As he writes in the preface: "Your experience may be very different than mine. Just as you find your wilderness in your own place, you will have your own experience of Presence there. But my guess is that you will be touched and moved by Something that is in you but yet not completely you, something dynamic, surprising, and very, very wise....it is your wilderness calling." I plan to listen.
   
   --- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby



4. This book was written with the last ounce of strength Jerry May had as he was dying of cancer. It is full of joy, humor, gentleness and beauty, and it is vintage Jerry. A beautiful book for those who love nature, beauty and the outdoors, and seek the divine in natural settings.



5. Gerald May, well known author of Addiction and Grace, was dying as he wrote this book. He leaves it to us as a last testament of the wisdom he gained not from his teachers, peers or patients, but from the wilderness within him and without. Recounting expeditions into nature over a five-year period, he shares with us what he experienced in the woods and on the water, how nature's lessons healed him finally at a deep level of his being, and how they might also heal us. He and we are one with that nature, not separate from it, whether to tame or destroy or protect. Nature herself heals the rift that can arise between her and us, and led him to accept its force within himself -- even fear, imperfection and dying -- exactly for what it is. May acquires a Zen-like openness to all things, an appreciation and acceptance of all things just as they are, a delight in and gratitude for all things, and of the force and power behind them. "Love," he writes, "is the pervading passion of all things that draws diversity into oneness, that knows and pleads for union, that aches for goodness and beauty, that suffers loss and destruction.... Love is the energy that fuels, fills, and embraces everything everywhere. And there is no end to it, ever." His insights are many: great and small, clear and subtle, well-known to solitary venturers into the wild and strikingly origianl with him. His perception into his own deep feeling is acute and his writing is exquisite. This book is a gift for us all, a special gift for those who appreciate nature or have, like May, spent time alone in it.

5 comments about Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History.

1. Most people who have taken the time to review Thomas DeWolf's "Inheriting The Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave Trading Dynasty in U.S. History" give this book extremely high marks. Reviewer Linda Pagliuco begs to differ. She deemed the book worthy of a mere two stars and opined that the book "reminds me of those self-indulgent, melodramatic "encounter groups" that were so popular in the 1970's. Let's beat up on each other for things we never did, just for being who we are." This is a fair point but I cannot dismiss this story altogether. Rather, I applaud the DeWolf family for participating in this ambitious project with the goal of discovering for themselves the horrible truths surrounding how the family fortune was made. In documenting the group's emotional journey from Bristol RI to West Africa and then back to Cuba, Thomas Dewolf offers his readers unique insights into how the nasty business of the Triangle Trade was conducted. Even though I have read a couple of other books on the slave trade I found that "Inheriting The Trade" presents this sordid tale of human misery from a very intimate perspective that I simply have not found anywhere else.
   They called themselves the "Family of Ten". The members of the DeWolf family who participated in this project hailed from points all over the nation. Author Thomas Dewolf resides in Bend, OR and had never met any of the family members before. The group met for the very first time in Bristol, RI in July 2001 at the behest of Katrina Browne and over the next several weeks would embark on an adventure that would change them all forever. One of the objectives of the project was to produce a documentary film about the experience they were all about to share. Over the next few weeks the group would retrace the exact path of the Triangle Trade. Being a native Rhode Islander I was stunned to learn that more than half of all the slave trade voyages made from North America during this period originated from our tiny state. The book chronicles the group's trip to Ghana on the west coast of Africa where the slave trade thrived for so many years. The description of the conditions that these African men and women were forced to endure while waiting to be transported to Cuba and other destinations in the West can only be described as heartbreaking. Meanwhile, the same can be said for the deplorable conditions on the ships as well. While there was a pretty significant mortality rate amongst both the slaves and the ships crews it is truly amazing that more people did not die on these voyages. From Ghana the group moved on to the island of Cuba where they visited the locations of some of the DeWolf family plantations. Not much remains but all found it to be a very emotional experience.
   Although it took several years to complete the documentary film "Traces of the Trade: A Story From The Deep North" was finally released in 2006. Although I have not yet seen it myself I have been told that it a very powerful film.
   At the end of the day I thought that on balance "Inheriting The Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy As The largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History" was a very worthwhile project. Perhaps because I hail from the Ocean State this one managed to hold my attention most of the time. But like reviewer Linda Pagliuco I could have done with a bit less of the group therapy. The story of the slave trade is powerful enough in its own right. If you know little or nothing about the topic at hand then "Inheriting The Trade" would not be a bad place to start.



2. I looked forward to reading "Inheriting the Trade" by Thomas Norman DeWolf when I first heard it mentioned on National Public Radio. I ordered it with high expectations, (maybe unrealistically high), hoping it would match up favorably to Edward Ball's revelatory "Slaves in the Family."
   
   Sadly, this book under-performs. By his own admission, Thomas Norman DeWolf is no historian. While one need not be a historian to write about this compelling subject, DeWolf frequently presents a cluttered and annoying mix of historical fact with personal opinion. While it is no a crime to interpret history in one's own way, the mush of blended facts and opinion DeWolf presents becomes increasingly frustrating to the careful reader. A trained historian would support his opinions with a critical analysis of facts, building conclusions one brick at a time.
   
   The DeWolf Family of Bristol, Rhode Island is a family of prominence and privilege, with a national reputation.
   
   While most of the "Family of Ten," who travel the historical journey with the author come from the more privileged side of the family, with backgrounds of wealth, status and Ivy-League education, Thomas Norman DeWolf himself comes from the less privileged side of the family. He lives in a county in Oregon with a mimimal percentage of black people, a state with one of the lowest percentages of black people. His presentation of himself is as a man laden with personal guilt for not mixing with black people, for not having had a black person as a business colleague, for not having a black person as a friend, for not understanding black people.
   
   From this perspective, he opines that all whites have "complicity" for what has gone on between the races through decades and centuries of American history. He rails against the founding fathers and he condemns the first five presidents who hail from Virginia (since they were slaveholders for parts of their lives). DeWolf does not present the controversy and struggle to end "the peculiar institution." He does not seem to know much American history. He claims that he and whites generally have "amnesia" about slavery, about the slave trade and about race issues. Where has he been hiding? His high school and university education must have been sorely lacking. Does he not know how many people, black and white, north and south, for decades and centuries worked to end the maritime slave trade, for the abolition of slavery, for equal rights in society? Did he "forget" how many Americans strove to end the practice long before it finally did end?
   
   DeWolf is on much more solid ground when he delves into the history of the 18th and 19th century maritime slave trade and the specific role played by certain DeWolf Family ancestors. These relatives are presented in a well-done genealogical chart at the front of the book which the wise reader will frequently refer back to. These were the ones who were involved in the maritime slave trade when it was still legal and who continued in it after 1808, when it became illegal. The best parts of "Inheriting the Trade" are in this portion of the book and these parts compare with the best historical documentation in "Slaves in the Family." Unfortunately, there is much less here than I would have liked to learn about the DeWolf family members as they continued in the illegal slave trade--such as how they got away with it, who assisted them, identifying complicit political figures who looked the other way or may have been paid-off.
   
   On the Cuban leg of his trip with the "Family of Ten," the family visits a sugar mill museum. Perhaps the most insidious of all the DeWolf ancestors who engaged in the illegal maritime slave trade was the one who established several plantations (coffee and later sugar) after fleeing Rhode Island for Cuba. Again the guilt emotion in the author is paramount: Thomas DeWolf feels "white man's guilt" when he notes the mark of a Buffalo, New York manufacturer on a 19th Century sugar mill press.
   
   DeWolf does understand that slavery was above all, an economic institution. He makes it quite clear that the maritime slave trade was extremely lucrative and that is why the more notorious members of his family continued to engage in it, even after it was made illegal.
   
   A few other points are important to remember: It was Africans who sold other Africans into slavery. Lots of people, not just whites "share the blame" for the slave trade. It is estimated that from 5 to 10 percent of slaves in 18th and 19th century America were owned by black people who could afford them; some of these "black" owners were the mixed-race offspring of black and white people, who understood the peculiar insitution quite well. After all, slavery was above all else, an economic institution.
   
   Many historians believe that that was why it took so long and was so difficult to end. Let's also not forget that it took a four-year long Civil War, an Emancipation Proclamation and three constitutional amendments. Let's also not forget that something pretty close to slavery continues today in the Sudan and that there is effectively, chattel ownership of people from certain tribes in some of the former Portugese colonies in sub-Saharan Africa.
   
   "Inheriting the Trade," is admirable for it its message of compassion. Unfortunately, DeWolf's guilt trip that he wants to lay on the whole of the white race gets in the way of finding effective solutions to problems. America needs to focus on class issues more than race issues. Poverty is much more a function of class and education than it is of race. America is an increasingly diverse country, home to people with origins from all over. Issues like reparations (to whom? from whom?) only serve to drive wedges between people. The past cannot be undone--only the future changed.
   
   
   
   



3. Like Traces of the Trade, the authors lack the courage to jump in, and like the stink of Zen, grasping their pride and privilege, it all looks like new age capitalists creating a new ego of "nice people" with wayward ancestors, standing firmly on the high-ground on a very un-level playing field.
   Resting in wealth and capitalistic venture, what is so sad is the lack of courage to jump in the freezing water and suffer the death of their egos.
   Without taking a vow of poverty, these fat cats will always look like Zen priests in there pretty robes, in a world of immense suffering and pain as children are incested, burned, and beaten by their parents, also children of parents generations later. Where is the commitment?
   And they sell books...



4. Learning about your family's slave trading empire must be hard to stomach, and the members of the family who undertook to study the facts deserve credit for facing up to it. Too bad they didn't hire a qualified historian to write their story. Inheriting the Trade reminds me of those self-indulgent, melodramatic "encounter groups" that were so popular in the 1970's. Let's beat up on each other for things we never did, just for being who we are. And along the way, let's read endless descriptions about the participants' clothing, jobs, hair color, and denial. And let's ignore the fact that people of all races have been enslaved at one time or another, by one culture or another.
   Slavery is deplorable, but an avalanche of angst is useless and a waste of energy that could better be expended on finding solutions to the problems that separate the races in 2008. What did the deWolfs gain from the evils perpetrated by their ancestors? Well, among their apparently endless "privileges" is the right to write a book and make a TV program.



5. It is my pleasure to invite you to read this book. Inheriting the Trade is about Tom's journey with his relatives as they documented the story of their ancestors being the largest group of slave traders in America. Their experience is told in the recently released movie: Traces of the Trade.
   
   This book stopped me in my tracks and invited me to ask questions and see new truths about myself.
   It is not just the story of one family, but of an entire world and all of us in it.
   
   Be ready to take your time when you read this and listen to the questions that surface in your heart. Answer them honestly and you will learn about more than slavery in the past, you will discover your own position and how it is influenced by privilege, your own and others still today.
   
   I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Slave: My True Story.

1. The content of the book is a deeply moving story of a taugh girl who didn't lose her hope to be a free person. The most of the people in our world are not aware of a crude fact that slavery exists in 21 century. The highest toll pay children and women.



2. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to ready true stories from someone's life.



3. I am was in shock throughout this entire book. I could not believe that this actually happen in the 21st century. Mende told her story so descriptively. I could not stop reading it. Excellent memoir.



4. Parts of this book were too graphic for me. I can't believe what women in some parts of the world have to endure. I couldn't finish it.



5. I just finished reading this book and wow. One of the things that really helped me was the references to modern things like cell phones and VCRs. It really helped reminding the reader that this happens today. The book will have a profound effect on whoever reads it. We live in what we consider a civilized society but who knows what goes on in the house next door. I wish the remaining years for Mende to be filled with health, love, and happiness.

5 comments about No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life.

1. The next time you think that life has dealt you a bad hand, you should pick up this story about Kyle Maynard, the congential amputee athlete. I found the story very inspirational and motivating. While I was hopeing that Kyle would talk more about other aspects of his life, like career, it was impressive reading about how he trained for football and wrestling. There is also the amazing amount of faith and caring from Kyle's friends and family.
   
   Next time that you get self-conscious over a blemish or do not feel like exercising, take a few minutes to flip through this book about an amazing human being.
   
   Doug Setter, author of Stomach Flattening



2. Kyle's story is one that helps you to believe in love of family and power of the human spirit.



3. This book is truly inspiring!
   Read it, with a box of Kleenex tissue handy. This book will put iron in your spine!
   Then buy copies for everyone in your family . . . and friends . . . and.
   Do not! Repeat- Do not miss out on the rich blessing this book delivers.



4. It is a great book. It proves that the mind can overcome any physical disablilities.



5. Very great story. It's one thing to tell a kid that they can do anything they put their mind to when they're born with a body that's not "normal".
   
   But it's another thing for a man like Kyle to SHOW people that it's possible. He's served as an inspiration to at least 2 of my patients and their families, because they can see the possibilities of life as an adult, defining and projecting who you are as a man, rather than letting society tell you who you are supposed to be.
   
   Excellent read. Highly recommended.

5 comments about My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands.

1. I thought this was such a funny book. Not for the faint of heart, but if you are a Chelsea Handler fan, you'll love this book. I can hear her saying and doing some of the things she describes, well written and true to Chelsea.



2. A very funny book! Ms. Handler is as funny in print as she is on her late night show!
   
   Very enjoyable!



3. Sadly I liked the book. I feel a little voyeuristic! Not sure if that is spelled correctly. This book reminds me a lot of all the years in my 20's I don't remember very well. :)



4. This is a laugh out loud funny book. I wish it were 700 pages. I highly recommend reading this book, it is soooooo funny. I personally liked this book better than "Are You There Vodka..." I think I had it read in about two days because I seriously didn't want to put it down.



5. I had seen Chelsea's show on E! several times, and figured that if she wrote about her one night stands, it was bound to incite a giggle or two. Boy did I underestimate! I actually brought this into work (shhhh!) and had to stifle my laughter....and I was not entirely successful. The way she describes things and the vernacular she uses are simply hilarious and I think most people who read this have a similar story or two. I also read her other boook (Are You There, Vodka?) but I prefer this one for its laugh-out-loudability. A must-read for anyone who is not uptight about one night stands or casual sex (or at least reading about them).

5 comments about Where Rivers Change Direction.

1. These are two feelings I got from reading this memoir. Life in NW Wyoming is not easy. Days are spent with horses and one's life is taken by horses. In fact, if you love horses this is a great book.
   
   One thing that kept creeping into this book is the distance the author had toward his parents, especially his father. Little but dialogue is written about the father, but he comes across as callous and more worried of turning the boy into a real man. The boy, in turn, writes about his concerns about the man he will become. At times that dragged on too much.
   
   Still, it's wonderful prose written in a manly tone. For rugged cowboys and ranchers it's a perfect read.



2. What an unrelentingly gripping series of stories -- life, death, animals, boys, girls, men, women, horses, snakes, water, wind, earth, blood, fire and sky. Mark Spragg's style is a bit like David Hockney doing his photograph collages. He doesn't show you everything, just bits and pieces to make the whole. He lets you put some of the pieces in place. What a style. It's shot through with his own strong character and some compelling scenes of raw Wyoming life. The stories follow an amazing arc that you don't see coming until the last chapter and then you just kind of want to start all over again, and meet the boy that became the man. Beautiful stuff. Look, I'm not really out here trying to sell my book at every corner but the people who told me about Mark Spragg are readers of my book, "Antler Dust." I had three recommendations from "Antler Dust" readers to check out Mark Spragg, mostly because, I believe, of the detailed outdoors action and the fact that my book takes place in a neighboring state, Colorado. I am going to read more Mark Spragg but for others who like him, please also consider Antler Dust.



3. I'd worry about peope who don't hurt themselves laughing while reading Wapiti School. My goodness, these stories are terrific, sometimes tough and bitter, sometimes perfect poetry. Just wonderful.



4. Mark Spragg writes beautifully, even poetically, of teenage life in a Wyoming family struggling to make ends meet by catering to "dudes" come West for the seasonal fishing and hunting. His collection of stories is varied, but all are tied to the splendor of unshod love for the land and for the horses he rides through a journey that will steal your heart.



5. The author writes excellent prose with innumerable well turned phrases and descriptions. The subject matter is primarily his adolescence on a Wyoming dude ranch and hunting guide service that his family, Pennsylvania expatriates, operated in the 1960s, some vignettes from his adult life and descriptions of friends and conditions in windswept Wyoming. The chapters are actually a series of essays rather than a progressive narrative with the ones about life and work on and around his father's ranch, where he essentially lived as a hired hand in the bunkhouse with hardened wranglers from about the age of fourteen, being the most interesting.
   
   I enjoyed the book principally due to the excellent writing and colorful recounting of the author's experiences as a real "cowboy" in an era when most of us male baby boomers only experienced the same thing through ubiquitous western TV shows and movies of the 50s and 60s. It was a life in another era when so many of us grew up in boring suburbia. I recommend it for these reasons.
   
   But maybe I missed something because I never came across any explanation for the author's seeming sense of hurt, isolation, melancholy and general unhappiness that begins, for unstated reasons, during his college years.