5 comments about The 48 Laws of Power.

1. So many people misunderstand this book. Some view it as an antiethical abomination, others as some bag of tricks to cheat with.
   
   In reality it's simply an explanation of the tools of power. What they are, how to use them (using historical examples and modern applications), and what the consequences are. Greene also explains the exceptions to, and consequences of violating the Laws of Power.
   
   Most bad reviews of this book seem to fall into one of three categories.
   
   1. "I (or a friend) tried to do everything in this book and now everyone hates me and won't talk to me"
   
   A. Probably because you didn't follow the Laws very well, and B. No one said you had to go out and act like Atilla the Hun or Napoleon just to get a promotion at your company.
   
   2. "This book is evil or immoral, I'm a good person and can suceed without such vile tactics"
   
   Either A. You are more or less a failure in life or B. You use the laws without realizing it. This argument is akin to saying "I'm a good person, therefore I don't need air to breathe". The Laws simply are whether you use them or not.
   
   3. "This book is too simplistic,dangerous, and poorly written, a much better explanation of power is [whatever] by [whoever] which scientifically studies the issue and delivers better advice."
   
   Interesting how many of these people are professors pitching their own publication or someone who defends reason #2 by supporting some other book, which in actuality also teaches the laws of power, albeit in some watered down form.
   
   
   Anyway get this book or not, and either use the Laws of Power or be used by them. Your choice.



2. Seconding the other positive reviews of this book, I would add that any person in the sales, marketing, negotiation, management, or legal fields should make this a must read. If you're not a natural Type A / High D personality this will help you understand the nuances of interacting with those who are. Plus, the book offers great history lessons that may be read in less than 10 minutes each.



3. I read an average of 3 to 4 books per month...every month...and of the thousands that I have read..this condensed blend of psychology, history, and order is a significant solution for depression! In the words of Yoda "Named must your fear be...before banish it you can!" This book helps you to define the game of power;to know when and how you will be,or are currently being manipulated, in the struggle for power. Many say that depression is a lack of empowerment...you might find it here. Some of the chapters are distubing...unsettling even, as the meaning remains like a pebble in your shoe, to motivate reflection and change. Well done. I received a new Kindle recently...this was the first book I purchased for it...and undoubtedly the best. I know that it's available on CD now...I'd like to see Amazon offer a combo price for download (Audio and Kindle book).



4. The 48 Laws of Power is worth the money. If you want an edge in business and in life, I recommend this book. Use this book with, the book of five rings, the art of war and the 33 strategies of war. Never mind what others think about the books or about you reading them. They laugh because they don't have the knowledge to apply the reasoning/stragies these books provide. Employers from all works of life want leaders that can lead, not talk B.S. and take two (2) hour lunches. It won't happen overnight but, applied and practiced it will happen and you will get noticed. But, don't take my word for it, get it and see for yourself.



5. Excellent book to help assess the behaviors of others. Rereading chapters over the years has helped in many ways. If you enjoy history and are an industry leader or entrepreneur, this is a great book to have on hand.

5 comments about The Real George Washington (American Classic Series).

1. Having read all 3 books in this series, the Real George Washington is the longest and most comprehensive. This book, naturally, focuses more on the revolutionary war than the politics of independence. The great thing about these books is that they let you read our founders actual words instead of the twisted version of history presented by academia & popular culture. These men had more courage, humility and wisdom than pretty much anyone I can think of. We own them a debt of gratitude for what they sacrificed for us. Highly recommend reading all 3.



2. A must read for every American! I loved this book. It gave me the whole story behind the founding of the USA, and cleared up a lot of the questionable items found in abridged history books. Every HS/College student should read this book.



3. After reading just the first part of this book, to the point where young George gets his first military command, I cannot read further as it is an obvious revision of history in order to distort the fact that Gorge Washington was a Christian. Despite the fact, proven through numerous documents, and thru Mr. Washington's own writings, that he was a Christian, this book purposely voids all traces of this from this story. Shame on the author for this as the very fact that Mr. Washington was a practicing Christian is a very powerful part of his story. Shame on the author for promoting distorted truths as facts. Shame on the author for declaring his book as "The Real George Washington" as it is NOT! I do not recommend this book to anyone.
   
   I would have liked to have been warned, before I purchased this book, that it was written by a history revisionist in order to fit current secular humanist religius philosophy.



4. This book should be required reading for all high school students and all American citizens, for that matter. It reveals what a true and brave hero George Washington was as a General, but also what an incredibly good man he was as a person. This book gave me a real appreciation for the tremendous cost of our free country. When you read the book you will come to understand that there are so many times when things could have happened just a little differently and the USA would never have been born! It's a very thick book, but the last third of it or so is references and extra stuff. Please read this and then give it to someone else to read!



5. This is book was a pleasant surprise. I recently finished reading His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis and was let down, I don't recommend it. Ellis' work is sterile and cynical. It accentuates Washington's flaws, and makes a point of deconstructing one of our nations heroes. I wanted a book with all the information but without the agenda. I didn't want the author to stand out more than the subject. I found what I wanted in The real George Washington.
   It's a large volume, over 900 pgs. (The last 300pgs or so are texts and excerpts written by Washington himself) but the book isn't unwieldy. It's thick, but not the dictionary-size I thought it would be, it's about 8 x5 inches, a perfect size for easy reading. The text is on the large side and there are paintings, maps and letters scattered throughout. It ended up being a very quick read.

5 comments about Night (Oprah's Book Club).

1. Elie Wiesel has not forgotten and through this text he ensures that the rest of us knows what happened - and do not dare to forget. Written in simple prose within a thin volume, "Night" speaks as loudly now for the murdered millions as it did when first published more than 50 years ago. It's a memoir but so much more than a recounting of a single life. The writer is subtle and economic in this tight history of the largest documented mass murder. By limiting full graphic depictions and allowing the imagination to fill in the gaps of conditions in the concentration camps, the reader counts and mourns Wiesel's family and neighbors as if they were our own. So well does he draw us into the scenes that while reading "Night" we smell the crematorium's smoke and feel its heat. Weisel's Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech is at the end of this new translation of "Night." Delivered in 1986, it is the perfect anchor to book. The speech addresses the injustices worldwide that followed the Holocaust and warns against allowing the holocausts that inevitably have come to pass between 1986 and now. "Night" is being read in many colleges. It should be required reading in high schools. Generations across the world should not be allowed to forget.



2. Elie Wiesel was a victim of the attempted extermination of the "Jewish Race" by the Nazi German State under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.
   
   Adolf Hitler actually had a bigger plan than the extinction of the "Jewish Race." His larger goal was to eventually rid the world of all inferior breeds and types of people - weather they were members of races or not. He was going to purify humankind of all of its miscreants. The Jews were simply first. He explains these goals in his book Mein Kampf.
   
   It always amazes me that here in the United States there has only been one political party that has ever been outlawed - the Communist Party. As far as I know even today, you can be a member of the Nazi Party but not a member of a Communist Party.
   
   In principle and theory the Nazi Party advocates the extermination of all inferior peoples for the eventual goal of the purification of the species.
   
   The Communist Party in principle and theory (despite the leadership of many misguided brutes and dictators and murderers) has advocated fair treatment for the poor and working class.
   
   In the United States we have outlawed the Communist Party but not the Nazi Party.
   
   Harry Truman in one of his memoirs states that in his opinion Communism was a worse philosophy than Nazism.
   
   To say the least I'm confused.
   
   But "Night" by Elie Wiesel is not a book about Nazism or Communism. It is a book about people and the human race.
   
   The copy of "Night" that I have was previously owned. And the original owner has written several of his comments or questions in the margins.
   
   On page four he writes; Why would you allow yourself to be shipped off? On page seven he writes: Total denial of worsening conditions by the Jews. On page 27 he writes; So many Jews and so few SS. Why don't the Jews just take over? On page 37 he writes: A psychological feeling of depression controlled the Jews. He has other comments but they get fewer and fewer as the book goes on.
   
   What do you think about these questions?
   
   I wonder why this last reader is questioning the behavior of the Jews and not the behavior of the Germans.
   
   There is not one question written in the margins of this little book asking how the German people could do such a thing to any group of people.
   
   Like the battered housewife, everyone asks; Why did you stay with him? Why did you allow him to treat you so?
   
   No one asks: What was wrong with this man?
   
   Is it because we as human beings are so conditioned to abuse and torture and mistreatment in this life that we see nothing unusual about the abuser?
   
   And this brings us to Mr. Elie Wiesel's constant refrain throughout this book; `Where is God? Where is He? Where can He be now?'
   
   As a philosophical student of the classical problem of the existence or non-existence of God, I find this argument basic. This is the moral argument against the existence of God - How can a moral God create an immoral world?
   
   Leibniz said that because God is good and moral - this is the best of all possible worlds. It must be. God can not make mistakes.
   
   Voltaire wrote Candide as the disbelievers' response to Leibniz.
   
   The believer will say that the evil of the Holocaust was not God's evil but the evil of man - it was created by the German people. This was human evil not Divine evil - as if human nature could somehow be separated from a Divine creation.
   
   Once again we see the victim getting the blame while the abuser is exonerated.
   This seems to be the human condition.
   
   To continue with this philosophy of "beating up on the victim," I suppose that the non-believer could say to the believer: Why my friend do you chose to believe in an abusive God?
   
   Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
   "Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
   "A Summer with Charlie" Salisbury Beach, Lawrence YMCA
   "A Little Something: Poetry and Prose
   "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" Novel - Lawrence, Ma.
   "The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.
   "Noble Notes on Famous Folks" Humor - satire - facts.
   "America on Strike" American Labor - History



3. Some books, it seems, are almost beyond mere review. NIGHT is about Elie Wiesel's time in Nazi concentration camps. Really, what can one add? The description alone says an awful lot. So let us not focus on subject and instead focus on readability.
   
   NIGHT is very readable. It is not, however, a scholarly study. Many other books provide much better detail and history of the Nazi camps designed either to exterminate undesirables outright or, alternatively, work them to death. NIGHT, rather than being scholarly, is personal. It does not bring the concentration camps to life. It brings Elie Wiesel to life as he lived it in those camps and, more ominously, the life he led before them.
   
   That life before heading to the extermination camps is of equal importance to the life in the camps itself. A basic yet terrifying rule of totalitarian ideologies and the political movements that bring them to fruition is that they do not advertise the barbaric methods that will ultimately be employed in order to achieve their ideological goals. Concentration camps were such extreme institutions that, even given the generations of anti-semitism, they seemed beyond belief until it was much too late. Wiesel and his family (and others in his village) were indeed warned as to what was awaiting them. Yet the stories were so far out there, so incomprehensible, that they were scoffed at. That is perhaps the most important lesson of the book.
   
   At a little over 100 pages, NIGHT is actually a bit skimpy in its descriptions. Yet it provides enough. It provides the big pictures - endless work, ravenous hunger, brutality of the guards and other prisoners and, most distressing, the slipping away of one's own humanity as survival becomes so precarious that one's concerns even for loved ones slips away in the face of self-preservation.
   
   Part memorial, part warning, NIGHT was Wiesel's first book. It could have been his last and his reputation would still be significant. It is a dark but worthwhile read about a very dark time.



4. When a teenager, Elie Wiesel was taken from his home, and he and his family were put in a series of concentration camps over several years. Night is the haunting record of that experience, as bleakly unflinching a memoir as has ever been written. Few can know the horrors of not only spending teenage years in such a place but also seeing family members and many others die and countless others suffer. Needless to say, Wiesel's own plight was also tragically great, and he unsurprisingly lost both innocence and faith. The experience touched him so deeply that he was unable to write of it for over a decade. When he finally did, he had great difficulty getting published; the events were still very close, and the world wanted to forget rather than being reminded. However, when published in 1960, Night was an international sensation, reawakening interest in the Holocaust and all it stands for. It was not only a literary triumph but the first step in Wiesel's core belief that we must always remember the Holocaust so nothing like it ever happens again.
   
   The book remains undeniably compelling, a masterpiece on many levels. Perhaps most immediately, it is a stark depiction of evil's height, showing humanity at its worst. This is valuable in every sense from philosophical to sociological but above all in destroying hollow optimism epitomized in the belief that things will take care of themselves and all will work out for the best. Night leaves no doubt that, left unchecked, human evil grows exponentially; it is our duty to curb it, and the awareness raised by such works is a very important part of this. Second, it is an invaluable historical document, one of the best - most thorough and readable - primary sources of the Holocaust's unparalleled miseries. As such, it is one of the darkest works ever - all the more so in being true; even the blackest imagination could not conceive such atrocities, which says all that need be said about this aspect of Night and the events it records.
   
   Yet there are several strong senses in which the book is not bleak. First, it is an artistic masterpiece; unwavering honesty and vivid description raise it above mere memoir, putting it with the most harrowing and unforgettable first-person accounts ever. Its biggest strength in this way is unadorned yet highly effective prose. Wiesel has no time for dizzying metaphors, lush descriptions, or other fancy writing; he has a bitter story to tell and tells it as plainly and - in the best way - as simply as possible. This makes it clearer and more memorable than it could ever have been otherwise, forcing us to focus on the events rather than the writing. The story speaks for itself as few can. Though barely one hundred pages, it has more of substance and significance than nearly any other book. The words are few but the implications endless.
   
   Perhaps more fundamentally, though Night is a savage condemnation of human evil, it is also a tribute to human endurance. Like a surprising number of others, Wiesel survived the Holocaust despite everything, showing just how far human beings can be pushed and live. Such determination and perseverance is truly incredible, a testament to the indomitable human spirit that is at least as astonishing in its way as the evil that confronted it and far more awe-inspiring. Wiesel not only lived but, in a long career starting with Night, has admirably devoted his life to exposing the Holocaust's monstrosities to guard future ages against recurring evil.
   
   Night is a profoundly important document in this and many other ways, a must for anyone even remotely interested in the Holocaust, World War II, Judaism, or the depths to which humanity can sink - as well as, in one sense at least, all that it can rise above. It is nothing less than one of the most important and valuable books of all-time. Though a very painful read, everyone should read it if only to see just how painful life can be - and hopefully to avoid passing the pain on to those lucky enough to have been born after the nightmares it faithfully records.



5. Book was sent quickly and was in great condition. Would do bussiness with this business/person again.

5 comments about Man's Search for Meaning.

1. Today's society needs positive books, that value life not by it's usefulness but by it's meaning. This is one of those books.
   The testimony part is awesome, leaves little chance to argue that a life full of suffering shouldn't be lived. The logotherapy introduction part is very interesting and enlightening, although I had some bumps with the technical stuff, but that's nothing that google can't handle :)
   Buy it, read it and share it.



2. The last 10 years has been a real struggle, and as I go through life trying to find ways to cope and stay happy, I ran across this book. Heard about it many years ago and always wanted to read it. I HIGHLY recommend that everyone read this. It's a very interesting psychological look at the people who survived the Nazi death camps in particular, but in general, is a good resource for anyone going through a hard time. It looks at the coping mechanisms of those who survived, and the mindset of those who gave up, and reminds us all that even when everything including our very identity is taken away, we still have something that NO ONE can take unless we let them - how we will deal with our challenges. Will we give up and give in, defeated; or will we choose to look past the bad stuff at the sunset, the puppy's eyes, the pretty flowers and see that there is still good stuff in the world.
   
   This book, along with Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness and How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People--Their Secrets, Their Stories are excellent textbooks on how to bring more joy back into your life.
   
   Do yourself a favor and buy all three.



3. Part essay about his time in the concentrations camps, part psychiatric tract based on those experiences, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is one of the most important books I've read. It is not surprising that there are more than 12M copies in print and that it's been named one of the ten most influential books.
   
   In the first 100 pages, Frankl recounts the time he spent in the camps from 1942-1945. Anyone who has read other accounts of the camps or seen movies of them knows the depravities there. But Frankl's account is somewhat unique in that he approaches the experience as a psychiatrist, in a very clinical fashion, only using emotion here and there to spice his writing. His writing is perceptive, showing a keen empathy for not only those who were heroic in such places, but also those who were not. This goes for both the prisoners as well as the German guards. He explains the psychology of lowered expectations, how a simple de-lousing, for example, could be the source of so much happiness for the prisoners. And given the title, it's not surprising he spends much time talking about meaning. The whole premise of his book is that humans are driven by their search for meaning. And in these pages, he demonstrates how meaning in a prisoner's life, whether it be a family to get back home to or work still left to be done, literally was the difference between life and death in many cases.
   
   This leads to the second part of the book, called Logotherapy in a Nutshell. Logotherapy is a therapy Frankl pioneered after his experiences in the camps. In it, a patient is `actually confronted with and reoriented toward the meaning of his life'. He talks of the existential vacuum, in which so many people now languish due to the complexity of having so many choices and a lack of traditions to fall back on. Logotherapy simplifies this for us. According to it, meaning can come from three places: creating work or doing deeds, experiencing something or encountering someone (love), 3) or by our attitude to unavoidable suffering.
   
   To me, this puts logotherapy in the realm of religion, especially eastern religion. It's about human transcendence. Frankl says here that we derive meaning by helping others (through deeds or work), putting another above ourselves (loving someone), or by seeing unavoidable suffering as something of meaning in its own right. These ideas seem Buddhist to me, and in this case I applaud the convergence of science and spirituality in a space that needs it.
   
   I found this book inspirational. The experiences of the concentration camps by themselves are enough to put matters in harsh perspective for anyone living in freedom. But Frankl's expanding of this information into a book that can help so many others is a fine example of his own theories. We are lucky to have such a work available to us.



4. I am in no position to comment on this book, except to suggest others read it. What an incredible man and what a book! I will keep this book in my home forever, just in case I ever feel that life is difficult. Wow - this book will stop you complaining and help anyone focus on what really is important in life. I am honored to have read Viktor Frankl's words in this book.



5. I love this book. The writer really gives you something to think about in your own life. This book touches you mind, heart, and soul. If you every though about a meaning about/for life, please read this book. It would give you more insight then you can imagine!!!!!!!!

5 comments about New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America.

1. Some good information, but written from such an obvious point of view that it detracts overall. I much prefer Amity Schlaes' "The Forgotten Man" or Joshus Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism"



2. A great book for everyone interested in history or economics. This should be required reading for everyone in Congress!



3. Our whole lives we've lived thinking black is black and white is white. as we get older most of us hope that people start seeing the grays and the blends... but now, in this age, a growing portion of the population are becoming quite, quite disturbed... claiming black to be white and white to be black. And there is no room for discussion. You must now understand that all attempts by anyone from the past to make humanity a little more humane, or to wrest some control away from power and put it in the hands of labor, or just to have say in our own destiny... well, turns out that is pure evil. we have begun a time where good is evil, and evil is good.
   We are doomed, and if we can do no better... than good riddance to us.



4. I am convinced that most of those leaving one-star reviews have not read this book, but were grinding their own ideological axe. Note that I used the word "balanced" in the review title. Folsom presents all sides of the issue and does not hesitate to give FDR credit for those programs that actually worked; reducing tariffs and the bank holiday among them. He also lets FDR off the hook where he (Folsom) is admittedly benefiting from 20/20 hindsight. I think what irks the FDR worshipers is that this book lifts the veil most historians place around FDR and his presidency.
   
   Folsom's work is thoroughly researched. And he benefits enormously (as does the reader!) from personal accounts of those closest to FDR. Those very people kept their allegiance to the President while he was alive, but who also recognized their duty to history once he was gone. The accounts from their personal recollections, journals and other writings give a true insider's look into FDR's administration.
   
   I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in American history, regardless of personal politics. For those under 30 it should be mandatory reading, as I doubt you were taught much about the depression of the 1930s ... other than the myth that FDR alone saved the nation. It should also be mandatory reading for all elected officials and government employees. The only thing scarier than some of the policies detailed in this book, is that we seem to be ready to repeat history.



5. This Book is an eye opener. It explains a lot of things that go on in government today. FDR was not as much trying to be president he as he was trying to be a dictator!

5 comments about A Tale of Love and Darkness.

1. There are 54 reviewers who recorded their thoughts before mine. So, my review includes some comments on those reviews.
   
   I found the book to be very fascinating because I am very curious about Jews as people and Israel as a country. Amos Oz has gone through events that few people go through in their life ... the most difficult one is his mother's suicide. The story is told in a radiating style with his mother's suicide being the focus. Events either flow towards it or away from it. It is not easy to tell such a difficult, painful story. Amos Oz tells it very effectively and virtually takes you into his life. His prose is so beautiful. He is also very humorous.
   
   As many commented, this book is not completely autobiographical. A bulk of it is on his childhood years. He was in kibbutz for nearly 35 years starting from when he was nearly 15, but less than one third of the book is devoted to it. While so much detail is shared with readers about his reading habits, the people influenced him, etc., the life-changing decision he made with respect to joining kibbutz is told as if he woke up one day and decided to do it. There is no detail on how he found out about it, what he thought about it initially, and how he ultimately came up with the conviction.
   
   Someone has mentioned that there are nothing but street names in the first 70 pages and the book was so boring they could not continue. I feel sorry for the person because he missed the best parts of the book. Even in the first 70 pages, there are a number of events of interest. In fact the most poetical paragraph in the book is in the first 70 pages which describes how his mother acted in the presence of a famous writer (Agnon).



2. Amos Oz is one of Israel's best known novelists; some label him as Israel's "number one". Any new book by Oz gets the immediate attention of everyone, gets translated to several languages and hits the no. 1 spot in the bestsellers list almost immediately. Indeed, Oz has become an icon in Israel to whom many turn to, not only to discuss literary matters but also get his opinion on politics, society and life in general. As my wife says, he has become a "sacred cow", elevated to a status where it has become extremely difficult for any critic to harm sales of his books in any significant way.
   
   I read A Tale of Love and Darkness (in Hebrew) during my trip in New Zealand and it accompanied me throughout the journey. It is an autobiography that Oz started writing shortly after he turned 60, at the end of the previous century. It tells mainly the story of his childhood in Jerusalem, growing up during the time Israel was being formed (Oz was 9 when Israel gained independence). Although the book covers many aspects of his life, the one overriding theme surfacing over and over again is the suicide of his mother when he was 12. This event shaped Oz's life and led to the abrupt change he embarked upon two years later: the move from the book-centric, scholarly life of his father in Jerusalem to the freedom and agricultural life of Kibbutz Hulda.
   
   Oz's writing is at times long-winded and pompous. Even daily, mundane events are recounted in excruciating detail that sometimes make the reader wonder whether they indeed made such an impact on his life to deserve such attention. Despite this, Oz manages to combine tragedy and comedy in his family's saga and his occasional self-effacing manner make the reader forgive him for his long-windedness. Throughout the book, the leading figures of Israel as a young nation pop up: Bialik, Tchernikhowsky, Agnon, Ben-Gurion and Yadin all came and went in Oz's childhood.
   
   The book is more of a memoir than an autobiography. The storyline is not linear and Oz repeats some events several times. If we ignore the fact that Oz wrote this book and thus remove the "sacred cow" factor, the book is an enjoyable read and contributes to the understanding of how Ashkenazi Jews coped with their new life in the Middle East.



3. This review was published in The Australian, August 16, 2008. Greg Sheridan is the Foreign Editor.
   [...]
   Memoirs are made of this
   
   OPINION: Greg Sheridan | August 16, 2008
   
   A FEW years ago I experienced a severe addiction to travel literature.
   
   With the contemporary serious novel in such a mess, travel writing, like biography, offers many of the traditional pleasures of the novel: story, character, good dialogue, development, resolution. But I can't say I discovered any great literature there, much as I enjoyed Bill Bryson's wit and Paul Theroux's misanthropy.
   
   Now I am immersed in a frenetic bout of memoir reading and here the story is different.
   
   When Tom Wolfe was promoting the new journalism, which has been with us several decades now, his essential insight was to bring the techniques of the novelist to bear on journalism: exploring the subjective elements of a story, the characters' inner lives and interior monologues, with the advantage that the events had actually happened.
   
   A novelist's memoir can achieve this supremely. A Tale of Love and Darkness is the childhood memoir of Amos Oz, Israel's greatest novelist and surely soon a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
   
   This is an incomparably good book. Perhaps it is the best book I have read. It tells of growing up in Jerusalem in the 1930s and '40s. Oz conceives life as one part comedy, one part tragedy, one part humdrum, quotidian concreteness, and if you are Jewish, the chance always of utter disaster.
   
   His life proceeds against the backdrop of the Holocaust and the birth of Israel. Oz is an only child and his life is also shaped by the suicide of his mother when he is 12. This colossal roadblock dominates and shapes the book and yet does not distort the loving portrait of his father, a frustrated academic, out of his depth and at his wits' end with his wife's melancholy.
   
   Oz's technical accomplishments in this book are dazzling. He writes of his grandfather:
   
   It was not easy for him to go out. Grandma had a highly developed, super-sensitive radar screen on which she kept track of us all: at any given moment she could check the inventory, to know precisely where each of us was, Lonia at his desk in the National Library on the fourth floor of the Terra Sancta Building, Zussya at Cafe Atara, Fania sitting in the B'nai B'rith Library, Amos playing with his best friend Eliyahu next door at Mr Friedmann the engineer's, in the first building on the right. Only at the edge of her screen, behind the extinguished galaxy, in the corner from which her son Zyuzya, Zyuzinka, with Malka and little Daniel, whom she had never seen or washed, were supposed to flicker back at her, all she could see by day or night was a terrifying black hole.
   
   This passage is instructive. First, there is a lovely metaphor for domestic life. How many grandmas have their perfect family radar screens? Then, everyone is mentioned by name. There is the accumulation of small details of location that give the passage life. But suddenly, at the end, the shocking reality of the Holocaust explodes this domestic tableau, as it does intermittently throughout these beautiful memories.
   
   Almost every page of this book contains an observation or metaphor so striking you cannot let it go, or rather it will not let you go. Oz writes: "Both my parents had come to Jerusalem straight from the 19th century."
   
   The contrast, indeed conflict, of east European Jews trying to recreate an idealised Europe, one free of anti-Semitism, in the hot, dusty climate of Israel, surrounded by hostile Arabs, is mined by Oz as much for comedy as tragedy. And there is endless comic delight in the crazy clash of expectation with reality. For bookish, intellectual, urban Jews such as Oz and his family, the kibbutz pioneers were a new kind of Jew. Oz mocks his own earnest idealisation of kibbutz pioneers, yet somehow affirms it as well:
   
   Tough, warm-hearted, though of course silent and thoughtful, young men and strapping, straightforward young women ... I pictured these pioneers as strong, serious, self-contained people, capable of sitting around in a circle and singing songs of heart-rending longing, or songs of mockery, or songs of outrageous lust ... (people) who could ride wild horses or wide-tracked tractors, who spoke Arabic, who knew every cave and wadi, who had a way with pistols and hand grenades, yet read poetry and philosophy.
   
   Oz is free of self-pity. Instead there is a generous human solidarity and understanding for everyone. But there are passages of aching melancholy and pain. The night the UN votes to establish Israel is the happiest night imaginable. Though it too is tinged with fear, as the Jews of Jerusalem are always in dread of a second holocaust. But the recognition of the Zionist dream is a fulfilment of generations' desires.
   
   In all his life, Oz never sees his father weep, except that night. The father crawls into bed beside young Amos and tousles his hair:
   
   Then he told me in a whisper what some hooligans did to him and his brother David in Odessa and what some gentile boys did to him at his Polish school in Vilna, and the girls joined in too, and the next day, when his father, Grandpa Alexander, came to the school to register a complaint, the bullies refused to return the torn trousers but attacked his father, Grandpa, in front of his eyes, forced him down on to the paving stones and removed his trousers too in the middle of the playground, and the girls laughed and made dirty jokes, saying that the Jews were all so-and-sos, while the teachers watched and said nothing.
   
   Now, the father tells Amos, people may bully you, but not because you are a Jew: "Not that. Never again. From tonight that's finished here. For ever." Most of the book is not political in that sense. It's full of jokes, though its genius is to blend comedy and tragedy. Oz recounts how as a kid he talked all the time, but that was fine because everyone in Jerusalem talked all the time. A professor tells Oz that the odds of there being an afterlife, as there is no conclusive evidence either way, are 50-50. For a central European Jew in the generation of Hitler, those chances of survival are not at all bad.
   
   When a great novelist writes a memoir with all the technique of the novel at its best, you get a superior art form. If I could recommend just one book to tell you something about the human condition, this would be it.



4. Amos Oz's A Tale of Love and Darkness is a memoir of his life and the life of his family up until the time of his mother's suicide at the age of 38 in the early 1950s. Oz's mother's suicide, never treated fictionally in his other work (as far as I can recall) is treated here with great care and thoroughness: there is anger, guilt, shame, sadness, loss, a sense of regret, and penetrating understanding. Without a doubt the book is strongest when Oz discusses his mother and her family. His mother, brought up on a romantic, Hebrew education in Rovno, was not ready for the tawdriness of life in Palestine, "the rough terrain of everyday life, diapers, husbands, migraines, queues, smells of moth balls and kitchen sinks." The story of his mother's mental decline and suicide is also the story of the convergence and divergences of Jewish life in the 20th century; the outline of the gap between the real and the ideal of the Zionist dream. That said, A Tale of Love and Darkness is generally overwritten. There is much useless repetition here which drags down the trajectory of the memoir. I do not recommend this work as the first work of Amos Oz to be read, but the last. It makes for an instructive book end with Where the Jackal's Howl and Other Stories on the other side.



5. This is a beautiful and moving memoir from a sensitive and humanistic writer of great skill and style. The reader will feel that he or she is personally experiencing growing up with the author in the most modest and simple circumstances, in the young State of Israel, from before statehood and into its early years, getting to know as friends and neighbors some of its intellectual leaders who were the writer's family members and friends. The book is a sheer delight, and highly recommended.

5 comments about The Real Benjamin Franklin (American Classic Series).

1. Reading this well written book on Benjamin Franklin makes me a little ashamed that I did not study harder in school and that I swallowed all the lies concerning this great man. Well documented and clearly demonstrates how this humble man rose to such prominence and played an integral part in the founding of our nation. Whether you are a student of history or merely a simple member of a tea party, you will find this book both inspirational and enjoyable. I highly recommend you read it and then add it to your family library.



2. Again, reading this to my son. It may be long in the tooth for him so I read the narratives and some of the examples. Still in the early chapters but he loves it and is looking forward to the "Real George Washington"



3. Outstanding, well presented, and learned many thing about Franklin I was never aware of before.



4. The Real Ben Franklin was allright for an overview. I was looking for more depth on his political thoughts of developing early American government and the constitution. This was a beginning place. I,ll search other authors no doubt.



5. A FOUNDING FATHER, A PATRIOT, DIPLOMAT, FOREIGN POLICY EXPERT, PRINTER, AUTHOR,INVENTOR,and the list could go on, and on, and on. Franklin was so accomplished in so many diverse areas that it might be easier to list the things that he could not do rather than those in which he was expert. The Real Benjamin Franklin as presented by W. Cleon Skousen so artfully that you actually feel Franklin's presence as his words tumble off the pages. Along with The Real Thomas Jefferson, The Real Washington , The 5000 Year Leap *** this is a most wonderful way to get to know Benjamin Franklin, the man, just as, by his own words, he was. If you do not already know that anything carrying the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS) label is bound to be excellent, I am sure that after reading Benjamin Franklin you will seek out other NCCS titles and experience the same pleasure.

5 comments about The Real Thomas Jefferson (American Classic Series) (American Classics Ser.).

1. Wow what a wonderful book on T. Jefferson!! This book should be required reading in all of our schools. It is hard to believe that one man could accomplish all this man did! It is mind blowing! A must read for anyone going to the Lincoln Memorial to meet Glenn Beck and Company August 28, 2010. Restores your faith in what this country could be again.



2. Thomas Jefferson book was basic interview reading. The outling and meaning section was helpful to review. I would recommend this to start research and go to other more detailed material on the subject matter you choose.



3. Haven't been able to read this yet, but I've heard great things about it. It was easy to find and order and was shipped fast. I love the free shipping!



4. Anything carrying the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS) label is bound to be excellent. The Real Thomas Jefferson is no exception. It so well presented that you actually feel his presence as you read. Along with The Real Benjamin Franklin, The Real George Washington, The 5000 Year Leap, *** this is a wonderful way learn U.S.History as well as to get to know the man, Thomas Jefferson, as he was.



5. This should be required reading for all, starting as young as possible. Read it and educate your children and other family members. This series presents the subjects in an honest way that isn't twisted by time. Look for all their books including the ones on Ben Franklin and George Washington and see what god-gifted and god-fearing men our founding fathers truly were.

5 comments about Churchill.

1. THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO AMAZON IS TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT WHEN YOU GET YOUR BULK SHIPMENTS OF DVD'S, THAT THEY ARE NOT DEFECTIVE.
   OTHER THAN THAT YOU ARE TERRIFIC.



2. Just excellent! Paul Johnson does a masterful job of illuminting the man who saved western civilization.



3. This is one of the very best biographies I have ever read. It's got just the right amount of detail, moves briskly, and is incredibly well written. The author brings his personal knowledge of Churchill in with a light hand, and doesn't shy away from advocating why he believes Churchill saved Europe and possibly the world. I loved the Epilog, with the examination of why and how Churchill was such an effective person. Very uplifting and positive. A fitting tribute to the man.



4. Johnson gives someone unfamiliar with Churchill a wonderful description of the action packed and extraordinay life of possibly the greatest leader of all time, and certainly of World War 2. Churchill was also a prolific author who wrote perhaps the definitive books on both World Wars. Few know that he had more words published than Charles Dickens, and that his Nobel Prize was for Literature. In addition he was a talented painter and a visit to his beloved home "Chartwell" allows the visitor to view hundreds of his works.
   
   Johnson amazingly gives the reader a good view of Churchill the man, the leader, and the icon, all in only 166 pages. There is enough here to give even the most devoted and well read Churchillian new information. A terrific achievement.
   
   Highly recommended



5. We're pretty North American-centric here in the U.S. Watching the Winter Olympics reminds us that we Yanks are hardly the center of the universe. Plus, I've always felt a tad guilty that my reading list had never included anything on Winston Churchill. No more guilt.
   
   Paul Johnson's 166-page chronicle of Churchill's amazing life and leadership has received excellent reviews. The page count also works. The author's masterful scan of Churchill's 90 years (1874 to 1965) includes insightful detail, laugh-out-loud sidebars and absolutely relevant commentary on leadership and politics, war, success and failure (lots of failure).
   
   If you're under 40, don't skip this book--thinking it irrelevant to our Twitter times. Churchill was a member of Parliament for 55 years, 31 years as a government minister, and almost nine years as prime minister. He served in the trenches of (and reported from) 15 battles, was awarded 14 campaign medals, "had been a prominent figure in the First World War, and a dominant one in the Second."
   
   And get this: he published nearly 10 million words, including his 880-page book, The World Crisis: 1911-1918. His five-volume War Memoirs book deal in 1947 paid him $2.23 million ($50 million in today's dollars). And in his spare time, Churchill painted over 500 canvases. In 1953, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
   
   He overcame family challenges. His cousin noted, "Few fathers had done less for their sons. Few sons had done more for their fathers." Yet the author writes, "Among all the twentieth-century ruling elites, the Churchills must be judged to have had the most successful marriage."
   
   In the epilogue, the author includes five specific ways that leaders can learn from Churchill. Number 2: "There is no substitute for hard work." Yet, this giant of a world leader "also manifestly enjoyed his leisure activities," including his painting, which created a sanctuary-like retreat for his mind and body. He worked 16-hour days (often with full working mornings in bed--to conserve energy). "The balance he maintained between flat-out work and creative restorative leisure is worth study by anyone holding a top position."
   
   He knew the value of face time. He forced himself "to travel long distances, often in acute discomfort and danger, to meet the top statesmen face-to-face where his persuasive charm could work best."
   
   Speaking of charm, the writing enticed me page after page. Churchill's famed oratory: 111 words per minute, "with Gladstone's 100 as the standard." After touring Africa, he wrote My African Journey (completed on his honeymoon): "...full of schemes for industrializing Africa and harnessing the Nile." His politics: "Churchill was carried forward by intellectual conviction, but his reverence for tradition acted as a brake."
   
   He ribbed others, including the Labour Party leader, Clement Attlee. "Yes, he is a modest man, but then he has so much to be modest about." And this: "An empty taxi drew up outside the House of Commons, and Mr. Attlee got out."
   
   He popularized (if not invented) the terms "cold war" and "iron curtain." Dependent on U.S. help to win World War II, he became a student of FDR and wrote more than 1,000 letters to him. With pen and cigar (up to 12 a day) he was a brute force writing factory. He documented all verbal orders in writing, and his results-driven memos began with the famous headline, "Action This Day."
   
   "So did the endless series of brief, urgent queries: `Pray inform me on one half-sheet of paper, why...' Answers had to be given, fast." (This from Johnson's insightful list of 10 ways that Churchill saved Britain. Number 4: "a personal example of furious and productive activity.")
   
   All of this, and more, in just 166 action-packed pages. This is a fantastic book!

5 comments about The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty.

1. I truly enjoyed this book. Well- researched and presented.
   
   The short background chapters that provide an overview of the core topic in each section are very full of insight.
   
   I especially like the lack of sensationalism about henry viii in this book. It is fascinating to read, yet has an almost somber tone to it.



2. I've read a few books about the Tudors, and they tend to get repetitive. Let's face it, there's only so much information on that era that survives, so a new perspective can be hard to come by. So much to my surprise, I did actually learn new things by reading this. The author portrays the Tudors in a more negative light than other books I've read, and that lends an interesting perspective. Many authors come across as thinking the subjects of their books are the greatest people ever and downplay any negatives they may have. Meyer does the opposite. I'm not even sure he finds the Tudors admirable in the least. He isn't shy about expressing his opinion on the people who appear in the book. If you're strict about history, that could be off-putting, on the other hand, his biases are out there for everyone to see and evaluate accordingly.
   
   One thing this book is NOT is the complete story. The bulk of the book is about Henry VIII. Henry VII is mentioned only in passing and only as the father of Henry VIII. I can understand why the sections on Edward VI and Mary I are shorter--their reigns were shorter, but Elizabeth I, who ruled longer than any other Tudor, barely figures into the story until the last 200 or so pages. And even then, she doesn't seem very present--the author focuses more on the men around her than the Queen herself. I got the impression the author got bored with the book about halfway through and started rushing. Large clumps of time are covered in a few pages (this happens throughout the book, not just the latter parts), while some events are covered in excruciating detail (this happens almost entirely in the Henry VIII parts).
   
   Each chapter is broken up by a brief "background" chapter. These will be a like 'em or hate 'em thing. I liked them--they provided good information about life in England beyond the Tudors and broke up some heavy reading. I can see why people would hate them, though, as they don't flow into the text naturally and often bear little relation to the chapter before or after their location in the book.
   
   Overall, I did enjoy reading it. Meyer has a nice writing style* provide some much-needed balance on the subject. If you've read other books about the Tudors, this would be a nice contrast to those and chances are good you'll learn something new. But it's probably not for someone who knows little about them--you'll wind up hating them and not read another thing about them, which would be a shame. The Tudors, warts and all, are a fascinating subject.
   
   *My copy was an unproofed review copy, so I'll refrain from dwelling on the typos, bad sentences, etc. that plagued almost every page in hopes his editor was a darn good proof-reader.



3. Although I mostly enjoyed this book, I have to take issue with the tagline of the title -- this is not the complete story of the Tudors; in fact, the book assumes you know the basics. As just one example, Elizabeth's execution of Mary Queen of Scots is only mentioned after the fact, in passing.
   
   Meyer doesn't much like the Tudors, particularly Elizabeth, and in the introduction he states that part of what he wants to do is to deflate to some extent the glamorous image that this dynasty has built up over the centuries, and to show how they were responsible in part for the positive image of themselves that has come down to us over the centuries. But mostly what Meyer wants to do is examine religion during the Tuodor era and how it relates to matters of state and the creation of Renaissance England.
   
   Meyer is at his best when discussing Henry VIII. There is a chapter early on in which Meyer tries to sum up the events giving rise to the reign of Henry VII and to how Henry VII changed the government of the medieval English state, but it is entirely confusing, even if you already know much about the history of the Tudors. If you don't know anything about the era, the names will be impossible to follow. Once Meyer really gets cooking, however, about Henry VIII, the book starts to become very interesting. He goes in depth into the workings of Henry VIII's government and finances and explores in great detail how Henry's position on religion changed over time under the influences of Cardinal Woolsey, Thomas Cromwell and others, and conversely, how politics shaped the state's religion.
   
   Meyer challenges some of the characterizations of Henry, pointing out what a truly awful man he became and what the cost was for much of England's nobility and for its religious leaders and institutions. He continues to examine the motivations of the nobility, in particular, during the brief reign of Edward VI and the even briefer reign of Lady Jane Grey.
   
   Meyer presents a much more sympathetic view of Queen Mary than is generally held, examining the conflicting pressures that were exerted upon her during a reign in which the Catholics and Protestants were very much at odds. It is when Meyer gets to Elizabeth, however, that the book really begins to break down.
   
   Doubtless, Elizabeth was not a very nice person, but Meyer clearly loathes her. It also seems like the author may have had deadline pressure when he got to the section on Elizabeth as his tendency in later parts of the book is to make very broad conclusions that seem personal in nature. He is of the opinion that Elizabeth's primary interest as Queen was her personal survival and that this led to her inability to make decisions. He presents a fairly compelling case, but it would have been much better work were it more balanced and were his personal dislike of her less on display. As it was, my reading pace in the latter half of the book slowed tremendously and while the first half of the book, which is devoted to the reign of Henry VIII merits five stars, the coverage of Edward VI and Queen Mary slips to four stars and by the end of the book, the writing barely merits three stars, despite the wealth of useful information.
   
   All in all, there is much to like about this book as it does present an alternative and probably more accurate view of the Tudor monarchs, particularly the intersection between government and in religion during their reigns. The complete story of the Tudors, however, can not be told in one book, and if you're looking for much of a personal glimpse into the lives of people during this era, you'd do better to look elsewhere. But if you are interested in church and state in late medieval/early Renaissance Europe, this book is quite worth a read.



4. Meyer, a journalist and Literature professor, should know better. Leave history to the historians, and particularly, leave modern interpretations of people with even pre-Enlightenment values to authors of historical fiction. Reasons not to buy this book, much less waste your time reading it...
   
   1. The narrative is dull, tedious, and frustratingly interrupted by grossly brief surrounding histories (such as interludes about the state of British schools in the 16th century). Any decent author would weave the necessary bits into the story itself, instead of attempting a lax history of the entire 16th century.
   
   2. Sources, sources, sources. The most prominent, reliable, and unbiased historian on this era and dynasty, Alison Weir, is blatantly absent.
   
   3. Don't be fooled by the title. More than 50% of this "history" is devoted to Henry VIII. Why? Meyer states that there simply isn't enough info about his father, Henry VII, so dimisses him by devoting a mere 10 pgs. In return, he launches into nearly 250 pgs of the tedious political backdrop of Henry VIII's reign, before even arriving at his marriage to Anne Boleyn!! Edward and Mary (Bloody) are glossed over, and significant events, such as Seymour's attempt to kidnap Edward VI, are conspicuously absent. Elizabeth's reign is described as a protracted, successful attempt at self-preservation. Reductionist at best.
   4. Meyer commits the fatal flaw of pseudo-historians; using a 21st century lens to capture 16th century ideologies, motives, and acts. While always tempting to apply Freudian theories to say, the question of why Elizabeth I never married, and admittedly, Meyer is probably correct in describing Henry VIII as a narcissistic, spoiled inept ruler who later brutally justified murders to assuage his ego, any astute reader can come to that conclusion based on the facts alone.
   
   Suggestion: Buy a few histories of these individual monarchs, Weir's work being recognized as the most accurate, thoroughly researched and best written, and let Meyer continue to capitalize on the recent popularity of the Tudors with someone else's dime.



5. "The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty" offers an overview of Tudor England -its monarchs, influential personalities, and crises- for those who would like to understand the era and its famous kings and queens but who don't want to read half a dozen biographies of every major figure. If you want that degree of depth, you will find no shortage of material. But G.J. Meyer tries to bring the major points together in this single volume for the more casual Tudor buff. He covers three generations of Tudor monarchs over 118 years, beginning with a lively account of Henry Tudor's defeat of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, after which he would be Henry VII, through the reigns of Henry VIII, young Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, who died in 1603.
   
   Fewer than ten pages are dedicated to Henry VII's reign, though more address his background. The first 20 years of Henry VIII's reign get another ten pages. About half of the book is about Henry VIII, concentrating on the events leading to his break with Rome, his pursuit of an annulment from first wife Catherine of Aragon, his battle with clergy over the Act of Supremacy, and Thomas Cromwell's role in it all. Meyer covers the boy-king Edward VI's brief reign, his efforts to promote Protestantism, and Edward Seymour's government. The author takes a more favorable view of Mary I's rule than it seems to merit. Finally, about 140 pages are dedicated to the reign of Elizabeth I, concentrating on foreign interventions, religious persecution, her "favorites", and minister-in-chief William Cecil.
   
   Every other chapter departs from the main storyline to explore some "background" feature of Tudor England. These digressions address subjects such as: the War of the Roses, the Reformation, the Tower of London, monasteries, Renaissance popes, Calvinism, education, the Turks, and the poor. I appreciate that the author is trying to give the reader a more complete picture of Tudor England, the background against which political events played out, without referring us to volumes of social and economic history. Some of the background chapters are good, but others are so cursory as to be misleading. And they interrupt the flow of the story. Fewer background chapters and more depth might have been better -or just omit the weaker chapters.
   
   The author would have done well to shorten the book by being more selective with the background chapters, trimming some detail, and restraining some of his opinions. And he needs to give some indication when his facts are in fact hotly debated. Meyer is downright snarky toward Henry VIII, who deserves it, but I found his tone too flippant at times. Some chapters are overloaded with detail while others skip important topics. It makes for a bumpy ride through the Tudor dynasty. Meyer doesn't think much of the most famous Tudors. He presents Henry VIII as a murderous megalomaniac and Elizabeth I as indifferent and childish. Some debunking is in order, and I like the idea of a overarching Tudor biography or history. But "The Tudors" is too casual and uneven for my taste and, I suspect, too long for the casual reader, whom I believe is the intended audience.