2 comments about Tina Turner: Break Every Rule.

1. If you want to know more about the private life of Tina Turner, buy "I, Tina" written by Tina Turner and Rolling Stone journalist Kurt Loder.
   What makes this book great is the fact that it gives you a very detailed view of Tina's recording career and the chart positions her records achieved in the US and the UK charts.
   Also a really great discography in the back of the book.
   For someone more interested in her achievements instead of her private life, I think this is a great item to add to your Tina Turner collection.



2. As a huge Tina fan, I became very excited when I heard about this book. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to my expectations.

   I think the main flaw lies with the author's research. It doesn't appear as if he interviewed Tina or anyone connected with her. If he had, it might have made a world of difference. The book seems to be a compilation gleaned from every other Tina bio that has been written. There is very little info that hasn't been printed before. Even worse, there are numerous incorrect facts. Most of which could have been fixed had the author done better research.

   Case in point: the author states that after leaving Ike and starting her solo career, Tina never again performed the songs A FOOL IN LOVE and ITS GONNA WORK OUT FINE until they had to be re-recorded for her 1993 film biography. Not true. In a commercially-released concert home video from the late 70s, Tina indeed performs both of those songs, along with I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU TOO LONG (another song that the author claims Tina dropped after leaving Ike.)

   For those who have not read any other bios on Tina, this is a good introduction and a quick read. But those who have closely followed Tina's life and career will be hard pressed to find anything new here.

3 comments about The Sweet Hell Inside: The Rise of an Elite Black Family in the Segregated South (National Book Award Winner).

1. 
   Interesting read title does not clearly depict the nature of the book. The title makes it seem as a dark story of an african american family in the south. The book chronicles the struggle and racism that faced by this family and many families during the civil war time period.



2. This book caught me so well, that even though I left my original copy on an airplane, I had to get another copy! In this book, I found it much more than just about the Harleston family. There was so much in there about the history of Charleston, the beginnings of Jazz and Blues, and the the transformation of the South in the late 1800's and 1900's.

   There was a lot to like about this book: the style, the pace, the depth of the family history, as well as the way the events were placed in the course of what was happening at the time. I particularly enjoyed the information related to the music and art of the time.

   This is a tremendous book, and a great read. While I realize it could have been about 100-200 more pages, I would have liked to know more about the life of Edwina during her adult years. While she was one of the few members of the her family still alive in the mid-1900's, it seems the meat of the book ended in the 1930's.

   A highly recommended book, a sure one to keep around...and pass around!




3. 1/29/03 After scanning through the many pages of illustrations and photographs and portraits of the Harleston family ,I found the book even more intriguing by going to the 'Notes'(pgs 353-371) and the Index(Pgs 375-384) and follwing through on the events in the lives of certain of the Harlestons(e.g.):Eloise"Ella" Harleston and Edwin A."Teddy" Harleston.

No comments about Carter G. Woodson: A Life in Black History (Southern Biography).

No comments about Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins: Black Daughter of the Revolution (Gender and American Culture).

No comments about Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, and History.

No comments about Muhammad Ali: Trickster in the Culture of Irony (Polity celebrities series).

3 comments about A Place in El Paso: A Mexican-American Childhood.

1. The author titles her story "A Place in El Paso." Nevertheless, any of the following titles, "A Place in My Heart," "A Place in the Sun," "A Place in my Life," would had been appropriate as well. To the careful reader the story will bloom like a flower in his or her heart and soul.
   
   Even though the characters, the places, and the events are necessary to complete the gestalt of the story, the characters, and the events are not restricted to any particular place or to anyone in particular. It can happen anywhere to anyone.
   
   The careful reader will examine the story "A Place in El Paso" by looking below the surface, below the gestalt of the story in order to reach the nuances of Gloria's coming of age and survival. Moreover, the grammatical structure of the story is, symbolically speaking, a ticket for the reader to shadow, follow, and observe her life, and in doing so experience her innocence and get involved in the vicissitudes in Gloria's existence. The reader will witness and feel not only the tragic sad and heartbreaking moments in her existence, but the events that made her strong to endure the various disappointments and disillusionments while trying to find the right place in her life.
   
   I highly recommend this book whether you are Anglo, Black, Hispanic, and so forth; this story can very well be your story as well.



2. Beautifully told story of a young Mexican-American girl growing up in El Paso in the 1940s. Ms. Lopez-Stafford shares her recollections of her barrio and all it's colorful characters.



3. Great book, I read it for a Chicano Studies class but I enjoyed every moment of it. A good memoir for anyone interested in the daily life experiences of Chicanas in the U.S.

No comments about Death of White Sociology.

2 comments about Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

1. Black Moses was first published nearly 50 years ago. It was based on a masters thesis and for years was the only book available on Marcus Garvey. Since the 1970s several new books on Garvey have appeared, most notably Race First by Tony Martin. These more recent books are much better researched and incorporate a lot of new sources that Cronon was unaware of or did not have access to. These include Garvey's newspaper, the Negro World and various governmenrt records in the US National Archives. It simply is no longer possible to get a really accurate view of Marcus Garvey from Cronon's now woefully out of date work. It served its purpose but should now give way to better books.



2. Knowing only of the name "Marcus Garvey," I set about reading this book to get a better understanding of Garvey's beliefs and perceptions on race relations in the 1920's and 1930's. This book fit the billing, with an honest account of the victories, defeats, embarassments, and lasting effects of Marcus Garvey's legacy. Unforunately, Marcus Garvey was never spoken of in my high school or college history courses. This book provides a great starting point for understanding the conditions in 1920's America, which allowed Marcus Garvey to gather such a large and faithful following.

5 comments about Woman: The Incredible Life of Yoko Ono.

1. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning anything new about Yoko Ono and her marriage to John Lennon. While it did explore some of Yoko's early years, there wasn't very much detail about her life since the death of Lennon.



2. I was really enjoying this book until I came to the 'After John' section authored by Mr. Clayson. Until then, I found it to be a very balanced and informative account of Ms. Ono's life, with intelligent critical analysis of her work and her place in cultural history.
   
   Then suddenly (snark) I found myself in the presence of a (snark) "personality", a writer who seemed to believe (snark) that I was as interested in him (snark) and his snarky little prose as I was in her. ("Who is this jerk?" I found myself saying aloud just two paragraphs into Clayson's piece). Ugh. Ugh. One could almost sense the hand of an editor on his shoulder, occasionally injecting a sentence of bare fact into the (snark) narrative.
   
   That said, I'm happy to be proceeding to what appears to be a return to the good form of the earlier chapters, with the final chapter on her art and music, happily not authored by (snark) Mr. Clayson. Ugh.
   
   Overall: I'd recommend it at the price it's selling for here used. Just hold your nose through the third section, and then look for a source that treats Ms. Ono's 'post-John' biography with a little more seriousness.



3. Many passages were written in an overtly hostile manner and saddled with the same tired cliches one has come to expect when reading about Yoko Ono. If that is not enough, this book is riddled with inaccurate facts from beginning to end...For instance, I'm no astrologer, but it's pretty well-accepted knowledge that like Yoko, those born on February 18 are born under the sign of Aquarius, not "Pices," as the book tells us. And contrary to what the book states, the Dakota apartment building where Ono resides is not on the Upper East side, but located on the Upper West Side. Even more disconcerting though, is the butchering of quotes previously put forth in other publications. For example, the authors write that Ringo Starr (when going to the Dakota shortly following Lennon's death) "muttered 'It was her who started all this'," as to imply....well, frankly, I'm not sure what! Regardless, what Ringo ACTUALLY said in an early 1980's interview when describing how he gently tried to quell Yoko's initial reluctance to meet his fiance during that difficult time was, "Remember, you started all this..." In other words, he was acknowledging that it was John and Yoko -- with their insistance upon being acknowledged as "a cohesive unit" despite protestations from those around them -- set the bar for recognizing importance of this type of togetherness. Basically, if one purchases this book, they are paying for 207 pages of junk.



4. This is the first accomplished and serious book about one of the greatest artists of the 20th century: Yoko Ono. Villified and misunderstood, Ono now is getting some acknowledgement for her impressive works in music, arts and her political activism. This book is definitely a must.



5. I bought this book at Powell's in Portland, Oregon, after hearing about it for several years. What a disappointment. Not only is it horribly written, but it includes sections by several different writers, most of which repeat the same ignorant and negative prejudices spewed against Yoko for years. If you are looking for a well written, objective, intelligent, indepth biography of this intriquing woman, you will not find it here. Sad...Save your money.