5 comments about A Remarkable Mother.

1. Carter was arguably the worst president in the past century. Since then, he has been an embarrassment. He believes he has interesting things to talk about, but in reality we would all be better off if he would just build houses and leave the rest alone.



2. Bessie Lillian Gordy was born in rural Georgia on August 15, 1898, the fourth in a family of nine children. Her father was a government revenue officer and later a postmaster. She grew up in a busy, noisy household and never forgot her beginnings.
   
   Lillian entered nursing school in 1920 at Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia. She met her future husband Earl on a double date but didn't like him very much at first. Perhaps opposites really do attract because Lillian and Earl married right after she completed her studies.
   
   The Carters raised four children: Jimmy, Gloria, Ruth and Billy. Jimmy was the outdoors type, Gloria was the independent one who challenged their strict father, Ruth was a sickly child, and Billy was an avid reader and a bit of a scamp. Their mom and dad had different parenting styles; Lillian was less strict than Earl, the family disciplinarian, but she did leave lists of chores for the kids to do when she was absent.
   
   Lillian worked first in a hospital and then later in people's homes. When she was on 20-hour duty, neighbors looked after her children. She gave capable, compassionate care to all regardless of race or ability to pay. In fact, she was usually paid in crops at harvest time. She owned all the pecan trees on their farm, and every November she took time off from her nursing duties to supervise the pecan harvest. She was a shrewd businesswoman who always received top dollar for her pecans.
   
   During the Depression many folks who were passing through the area looking for work and better times visited the Carters, who always greeted them with a meal and a kind word. Lillian wondered why she had so many of these unexpected visitors while the neighbors had none. One guest explained that someone had marked the Carters' mailbox as being a welcome place to stop.
   
   Earl died of pancreatic cancer in 1953, and Jimmy, much against his wife's wishes, left a promising naval career to return home to run the family business in partnership with his mother. With her family grown and being widowed, Lillian needed to keep busy and feel useful again. Her role as housemother for Kappa Alpha fraternity at Auburn University fulfilled that need for eight years. She often drove her "boys" around in her Cadillac.
   
   Ruth became an author and evangelist. Gloria was an accountant, and she and her husband were avid motorcyclists. Billy was an astute businessman and had a reputation for being a free spirit, especially when he drank. Sadly, all three died of cancer. Time and again Lillian soldiered on after each of her devastating losses.
   
   Lillian had a keen mind coupled with vitality and skills that still begged to be utilized. At age 68 she stepped out boldly when she joined the Peace Corps. She spent two years nursing in India, immersed in a very different culture from what she was used to. For someone who believed in equality for all, she found the caste system objectionable. Though she suffered many hardships and worked very long hours during that time, she loved the Indian people and felt her efforts had been well spent.
   
   Lillian is undoubtedly best remembered as a refreshingly frank, down-to-earth senior citizen who just happened to be the mother of the President of the United States. She loved to appear on talk shows and often upstaged Johnny Carson. During and after her son's presidency, she became somewhat of a goodwill ambassador who traveled the world and was a highly sought-after speaker. Often she talked about service in the Peace Corps or disregarding age to lead a full and adventurous life. She spoke off the cuff and ignored notes and suggestions made by others. No one was ever certain just what she might say. Not only was she a remarkable mother, Miss Lillian was a remarkable person.
   
   --- Reviewed by Carole Turner



3. Similar to "An Hour before Daylight," this book shares stories of life in rural south Georgia during the 20's, 30's and 40's. The book shares a great glimpse into the lives of the former president's ancestors. Anyone who remembers life with telephone party lines, chamber pots, and polio scares will reminisce and those who are younger should read this to learn what life was like for his/her grandparents.
   The reader also gets a picture of an extraordinarily confident woman and what she can accomplish even in what was then a no-where town in the grand scheme of American geography. "A Remarkable Mother" is a quick and easy but rewarding read.



4. He Does It Again!, May 13, 2008
   By P. Brogley "brogs68" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
   
   
   The former President has done it again - written an informative and inspiring book. He gives us great understanding of the mother who helped make him the best he could be.
   
   She was successful in that he is the best and most influential former President we have. This book is a gem. Read it this weekend.
   
   Author of Mr. NewHeart (New Heart): Heart Attack to Transplant and Beyond
   
   You may preview my next book if you Google "david hollar the face of war," the story of my year in Vietnam as an infantry officer including six months as a platoon leader with the Big Red One.



5. I highly encourage all to read this book. If nothing else, to gain more insight into some remarakble people, and to gain more love, compassion, and sensitivity towards this very special person in many of our lives, our mother.One Man's Love Story - A Near-Death Experience

4 comments about The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom.

1. China is a vast country, and Joseph Needham (1900-95) was and remains a man so much larger than life that the two seem very well suited to each other. I remember Needham as the Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University when I matriculated there as a young man in 1975, though he retired from the Mastership one year later. The Needham Research Institute at Cambridge for the study of East Asian history, science and technology preserves his name in perpetuity, while in China he is known as Li Yuese.
   
   The descriptions I heard as an undergraduate of Needham as a "Marxist Catholic" and "a great Chinese scholar" barely do justice to the man. Though I never remember a conversation with the Great Man and was quite in awe of him, I often saw his slightly stooping figure - crowned somewhat mysteriously by a beret - walking in the old courts of the College. (He once sent me a telegram which I do remember verbatim and treasure to this day: "Elected Scholarship Caius College. Congratulations Needham Master.")
   
   Simon Winchester's timely book is an overdue tribute to this great British academic-eccentric. Joseph Needham deserves fame outside Cambridge and China, and this carefully crafted work will surely supply it.
   
   Ian Ruxton, editor of The Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, British Envoy in Peking (1900-06), Vol. 1 of two and The Semi-Official Letters of British Envoy Sir Ernest Satow from Japan and China (1895-1906).



2. By writing an intriguing and seemingly forthright biography of Joseph Needham, Winchester peels away years of myopic Western thinking about the backwardness of China. Needham roars to life as a fascinating, flirtatious Cambridge don filled with contradictions. Though he leaned way left as an English socialist with a fawning and blindness to Red China, the biography commendably focuses on Needham's persistent and life long work in gathering the background and writing his magnus opus, Science and Civilization in China. Winchester confronts what he calls the Needham question; what caused Chinese invention and scholarship to come to an abrupt halt in the 15th century? The explanation is plausible and understandable. With a long addendum at the end of the book listing the inventions of China, Winchester's scholarship is a welcome bon voyage for one's trip to China.



3. Simon Winchester certainly has the creative power to immortalize anyone or thing he writes about, and so it is with the life of Joseph Needham (1900-1995), a Cambridge scholar polymath. Needham is probably obscure to most people, but among his Don peers he is a legendary as the writer of a massive encyclopedia on Chinese science and civilization designed to answer that great question: Why was China the mother lode of scientific and cultural innovation for so long, and why did it come to a stop by the 15th century - why didn't the Industrial revolution happen in China? At one point China was making 15 great innovations per century (paper, compass, stirrup, etc..), according to Needham, but then the country stagnated and for the last 500 years or so had a reputation for backwardness and poverty. Similar to Jared Diamond's "Yali Question" (why did Europe have "cargo" and Yali didn't?), Needham set out to find answers by cataloging the history of Chinese innovation. He created a massive multi-volume encyclopedia of such prodigious learning, value and length it has been compared with James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary, or Sidney Lee and the Dictionary of National Biography.
   
   I've now read all four of Winchesters biographies (The Professor and the Madman (1998), The Map That Changed the World (2001), The Meaning of Everything (2003)) and I would rank "China" as good as 'The Meaning', not as good as 'Professor' and better than "Map". However Winchester has done something different this time and I hope he builds on it in the future, he has made the subject relevant on a global level - the rise of China and discovery of its past history and importance. More than a well-told and fascinating story of an eccentric English professor rescued from the obscurity of the archives, 'The Man Who Loved China' in a way is about the bigger picture of the rise and future of the largest nation on Earth, one of the central events of the 21st century.



4. There are 2 facets of Simon Winchester's work that make him one of my favorite authors. Firstly, he brings amazing players in History forward that I very often have never heard of. Secondly, he makes reading History tremendously fascinating. The latter should be a given, how can our past be anything but fascinating? The reality is that History books can be painful to read.
   
   Noel Joseph Terrence Montgomery Needham is the subject of Mr. Winchester's 19th work, sound familiar? Not to me. However by the end of the book I look forward to seeking out more about this man as Mr. Winchester has a knack for catalyzing a reader's interest well beyond the book he offers. Professor Needham was a astonishing man who filled his 94 years with remarkable travels, eccentric behavior and a decision so poor the reader will ask was he a fool or a knave? (Question posed by the author)
   
   What is not in dispute is the marvelous history of China Professor Needham documented through first hand investigation over thousands of miles traveled in China (many in war time) and the decades of research that followed. The only other historian that comes to mind as being so single minded in his pursuit of a subject is Sir Martin Gilbert and his decades long work on Sir Winston Spencer Churchill.
   
   The work is also timely as it coincides with China's re-entry as a focal point for the world. China's existence is best measured in millennia and her scientific contributions when listed are nearly as long and often pre-date conventional wisdom on who was first with a given invention. Think you know where printing was first documented, suspension bridges first built, how about the compass, blood circulation or perhaps a flame-thrower?
   
   China's recent history is no indicator of its fantastic past and the latter may more likely be an indicator of what is yet to come. This is another great read by a wonderful author who never disappoints.

5 comments about The 48 Laws of Power.

1. This is a fantastic reference, a book you'll want to turn to many times over the years. Worth reading through once just to get a feel for the many examples and analyses, then you can grab it as necessary when facing a problem or issue that might be resolved by changing the power dynamic between you and others.
   
   I won't say I agree with every single specific law and application. I will say that this is an excellent work worthy of your time and study.



2. From the Author of: One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel
   
   
   This book has many great historical oddities that relate to everyday life. Who did what, when and more importantly, why. It's a book of wisdom, but I must say, I really hated the red ink on some of the stories - that part (on every page) made it tedious reading.



3. When I were in high scool I used too alwayse get picked on buy other kids and I new that one day I would be powerfull. People made fun of me working at McDonalds at first but then something happended. I found this AWESOME book! now i have the last laff. One kid even bumped into me the other day and asked me for some money and I said your not powerful and spit in his face. i got beat up but felt better later on that week. my mom didnt buy me a GI Joe aircraft carrier when I was yong so I slashed all her tires and disconnekted the ocygen bottle just to show her who has the power now! I even make my cowworkers look really bad at work by doing small things to make them mess up and makes me look better. Thanks to the athor of this book. Finally a book that i can understand AND it makes sense to me also! I feel like i am the powerfullest man in the world and I no that I am everyday when i put on my brown uniform and look into the mirrer and tell myself that i am better than god and that he kooldnt ever sweep the floors at mcdonals like better than I can sweep the floors!



4. This book is being used by all the wrong people.this is like a bible for some gangs in prison.They are using it to get over on staff, and there own family.most people dont know what hit them untill its to late.The 48 Laws of Power



5. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to live an independent life. You will encounter the challenges Greene writes about, and this book offers useful strategies for overcoming them.
   
   I know Greene's thinking is sound because I've tested it. With no business or technical education, I managed to increase my income 400% in just a few years. With my own money and leverage, I bought a house in the most expensive city [housing-wise] in America.
   
   Maybe your ambitions are different. Whatever you want, you won't get it without planning. All along the way, you must deal with people. You must get around or through them. This book is a great help. It is a masterpiece. I can't recommend it too strongly. I've read it through twice, listened to it on CDs and dipped deeply into Greene's bibliography. Read this book, you will never regret it.

5 comments about Man's Search for Meaning.

1. This book gives you a very powerful insight in the lives of millions that had the opportunity to be prisoners in the concentration camps. As strange as it sounds, that was an opportunity to develop their love for life, and that love for life was what kept them alive, Victor Frankl is a being full of light that not only thought about his own life but the value of other's lives, specially in such an ultimate experience where survival was critical. You will love it and is such a small book that gives you so much that is incredible that so much light could be put in to such a small book.



2. This is one of the most important books that I have ever read. It, along with certain books by Elie Wiesel, also a survivor, have helped me maintain a hold on life and have kept me from going under in times of despair. For me, its message is priceless. I don't know if my review can really do it justice, because it has struck such a personal chord with me that it would be difficult to objectively describe.
   Just read it, you may never see life quite the same again.



3. MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING is an incredibly deep and optimistic exploration of the best that man has to offer in the worst of times. This should especially be read by anyone under the age of 30. We live in a different world today, but today's generation can benefit from the philosophical gold of yesterday's generation. Some books transcend their time. This is one.



4. I've been meaning to read this book for years and finally got around to it. WOW WOW WOW! That just about sums it up. The amount of thought provoking passages increased with each page. I was in tears several times. I've gone back and reread many sections that touched me. I think I'll read the entire book again very soon. There are already so many great in depth reviews here, so it's not necessary to go into detail. Just read it if you haven't yet! It'll make you count your blessings and give thanks.



5. My daughter needed this book for a High School project. My review of this is neutral, but I see no reason to not buy it, if you need it for homework, ha ha

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

1. Night by Elie Wiesel is a 120-page, first-hand account of a boy who lived through Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps during the Holocaust. Wiesel published his story in Yiddish in 1958 and in English in 1960. The genre is World War II and/or a Holocaust autobiography and the reading level is 8.7.
   
   Night begins in 1941, when Elie is twelve years old. He is a studious and devout boy from Sighet, Transylvania. Despite that they were warned of the approaching German Army, the townspeople of Sighet--including Elie's family--denied that they were in reach of the Germans and years of naivety passed by.
   
   By 1944, the Germans established ghettos for the Jews in Sighet and soon after began to deport the Jews to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. In his story, Wiesel depicts how the Germans forced the Jews into cattle wagons like animals.
   
   When the train arrives at Birkenau, Elie and his mother and sisters are separated. To stay together, Elie and his father lie about their age. They are shaved, showered, given work clothes, and branded with numbers. Quickly thereafter, Elie and his father are moved to Buna, a new camp at which they both are beaten severely by the management.
   
   As a result of their experiences, the overworked and malnourished prisoners lose their faith in God. Even Elie, who was once deeply religious, after witnessing the hanging of a young boy, questions God's existence. Fortunately, Elie and his father manage to survive through the German's selection process and avoid the crematorium, a destination for prisoners unfit to work.
   
   When the Germans decide to move the prisoners away from the advancing Russian army, they begin a march during winter that claims many lives but Elie and his father manage to survive. By the end of the winter march to Buchenwald, only a dozen prisoners survive of the original one hundred, including Elie and his father.
   
   Following the trip, Elie witnesses his father's failing health and eventual death. At Buchenweld, the Germans try to exterminate all the Jews but before they can carry out their plan there is an uprising in the camp by the resistance. On April 11, 1945, American tanks liberate Elie and the others--mere corpses of what they once were before their experiences in the concentration camps.
   
   Night is a candid portrayal of the horrors of the Holocaust, short but poignant. The narrator allows the reader to see his darkest thoughts and to understand the range of emotions he felt from losing his faith to losing his family. Elie even admits his feelings of resentment toward his father when his father's health began to fail. The drive for survival provoked many to behave without compassion and Elie recognized the similarity in his own feelings toward the end of his stay at the camps. Night is a must-read story for all students/adults/parents/etc. to understand the depths of the brutality of the Holocaust and how it robbed the narrator of his family and faith. One negative aspect of Wiesel's book is the abrupt ending that leaves the reader longing for a greater sense of closure. Wiesel later found out that his elder sisters also survived the concentration camps. However, he makes not mention of this in his book.



2. I loved this book! It made me feel so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy. But, it is sad to think that mankind can be capable of such horrors.



3. Elie Wiesel's story will stay with you forever. Stark, powerful and written in simple prose, it will haunt you. How does one go on after surviving the Holocaust? 'Night' should be read in schools the world over.



4. I have been to Germany, toured Dachau and have been interested in reading about the holocaust ever since. Reading "Night", was nothing short of amazing. There wasn't one page where I lost interest and by the end, I felt conflicted. I was happy that such a sad story was over, but sad that such an amazing book was done. Elie Wiesel is hero, a survivor, an excellent son and a gifted author. It's so sad that all this greatness came at such a personal cost. Would I ever love to sit and talk with this man... amazing from cover to cover.



5. There are no words worthy to describe this epic and true tale of the Holocaust.
   
   Buy the book, but prepare yourself for this tragedy that is our world history.
   
   Never again.
   
   Wolfe

5 comments about Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

1. This is a brilliant account of Abraham Lincoln, his cabinet, and their times. It is commodious in scope, unfailingly insightful, lucid, poignant, and engaging. Washington excelled in courage and honour; Lincoln added honesty, humility, humor, and wisdom.



2. With great writing and fabulous storytelling, Goodwin takes us deep into the inner workings of President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War and into the minds and lives of the key players. This is not another Lincoln biography or a history about the Civil War battles or generals, although we do meet and get a greater appreciation of the good and bad generals -- Grant and Sherman vs. McClellan -- and focus on Lincoln's leadership skills and style. In some ways, you could say this extremely engaging read is a biography of a particular institution -- Lincoln's cabinet and its members -- at the key moment when America's peculiar institution of slavery is being fought over. However, I am glad that I read Shelby Foote's three-volume narrative history of the Civil War before Goodwin's book so that I had the biggest picture first.



3. His assassination and coronation at such an early age both preserved the mystique and obscured the mystery that surrounded Abraham Lincoln and made him one of the the best-documented men in history. Lincoln has been mythologized beyond criticism or comparison in the historical lexicon. This book brings him back from mythology and puts him into his proper political realm so that he can be criticized and compared to other mortals, whereupon you realize how far beyond criticism and comparison Lincoln is when it came to his political and personal leadership.
   
   Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln is a political leader and wise human being beyond any other, perhaps even Solomon himself. Of the people whom history has documented thoroughly enough to compare, he may be the greatest human being ever in terms of communicating, understanding, empathizing , and motivating others.
   
   Why does every leader since pale by comparison? Is there never to be another Lincoln? Part of the problem is that in Lincoln's time, one man could still control most of his environment. Lincoln created ways to work, study, and think that allowed him to apply his knowledge and wisdom to the problems he faced and come up with the best solutions. The realm of control is much smaller today.
   
   Part of the problem is the pervasiveness and immediacy of communication (the media), part of it is the complexity of the environments, and part of it is the complexity of the problems.
   
   Even a leader of Lincolnian proportions would not be as successful as Lincoln in today's world. Of leaders since then who approached that power on the world stage: FDR, Reagan, Castro, maybe Papa Doc Duvalier--on a small island scale, a lesser man can loom larger, and without a great ethical compass, accomplish much for the wrong purpose!
   
   One great example of Lincoln's abilities: with conservative cabinet member Seward's resignation on his desk because of accusations from liberal Senators (based on inside information from liberal cabinet member Chase), Lincoln agreed to meet with the Senators alone at the White House. After hearing their complaints in a long meeting and promising to think on it, the next day Lincoln called all the cabinet together except Seward, told them about the meeting and told them to come to the White House that night to meet with the Senators, knowing that as a group the cabinet would defend its own against charges from outsiders.
   
   Chase, who had provided the information to the Senators, especially charges that the cabinet was seriously divided and uninvolved in presidential decision-making, was in a panic throughout the meeting when the cabinet members did indeed defend Seward and Lincoln and present a united front during a long 5-hour session with the Senators.
   
   The next morning, Chase came to the White House to submit his resignation to Lincoln because of his mortification in front of the Senatorial delegation (when the delegation was discussing afterward how Chase could have painted such an incorrect story of the cabinet unity and involvement, one Senator remarked dryly "He lied."). When Chase pulled the paper from his pocket, Lincoln eagerly grabbed it and read it with a smile on his face. "This unties the Gordian knot," he exclaimed, as he recognized that Chase had just given him the answer to his dilemma. He wrote out a letter to both Chase and Seward, rejecting both resignations, thus keeping his cabinet and the warring Republican party united.
   
   This example is multiplied many times by Goodwin throughout the book, highlighted each time by Lincoln's quiet confidence in his ability, his moral authority, and his political authority. His self-assurance was reflected in the way he always accepted other's ideas (and gave credit) when better than his, seldom held grudges, and never paid back ill for ill, a trait that paid off many times in his political career, as those he could have made enemies became valuable compatriots in the war for the Union.
   
   How could a man with such humble beginnings, with so little formal education, who was basically a minimum-wage day laborer until the age of 25, when he learned the law on his own and began a faltering political career--how could this man harbor such ability and confident expectation of success?
   
   It is easy enough to say it stems from his determination, after a bout of suicidal depression in his mid-20s when the first love of his life died, that he did not want to die until he had made a mark on the world. A noble and worthy determination to be sure, and one made--and forgotten--by many of us, as time, ability, and circumstance leave us satisfied with some lower place. But 20 years later in the White House, while talking with his best friend from that earlier time, Lincoln reminded his friend of that pledge and acknowledged his readiness to die now that he had met it. Lincoln had not forgotten his pledge, and had fully intended and expected to meet it as he did! What gave him this ability to satisfy his fully expectant confidence?
   
   One can say it is God's hand of providence working in human history to preserve the United States. That may be the most likely driver, but why through this gangling "great ape" who was mocked and denigrated until met in political or personal arenas where he quietly and gracefully managed every relationship for the best of all parties? Was Abraham Lincoln a committed Christian? Not by most standards of orthodoxy, although he knew the Bible from hours of study, and not in comparison to Chase, whose studied religiosity was belied by his shady financial dealings and unethical manipulation of others.
   
   Regardless, with war in Iraq and economic gloom descending over most of the world, God's providence in the placement of a humble servant leader like Lincoln would surely be welcome.



4. There is no other word for it, this book is brilliant. Coming into it, I thought I knew a fair amount about Lincoln and workings of the war. However, the way the author depicts Lincoln and his cabinet is incredible. There is such depth, honesty, and intricacy to it. Although there is not a lot of background info on the war itself, that, for the most part, is not missed. The book focuses on Lincoln and his cabinet, and how he, in his own political genius, pulled together varying factions of the new Republian party to solve the crises facing the country. It's a fascinating insight into one of the great political and moral minds of history. It is not to be missed.



5. This is one of those books that, when you are finished, you need a few minutes to sit and let it all sink in. It is a powerful, wonderful, insightful book that I was almost sorry to finish, for multiple reasons -- it was engrossing, and of course it didn't end well.
   
   Goodwin does an excellent job of bringing Lincoln to life and showing his incredible talents for managing people. I had some knowledge about Lincoln, but when I finished this book, I was left with a feeling of sadness, not only for him and his friends and family, but for the country, because we were deprived of four years of Lincoln's leadership. And who knows how things would have turned out in the South and the country as a whole had he been able to preside over the infant stages of Reconstruction.
   
   The relationship between Lincoln and Seward was a pleasure to learn about, as well as the way Lincoln dealt with the various personalities around him without creating personal enemies. Reading about his interactions with Frederick Douglass was also a special part of the book.
   
   While this book may be long (about 750 pages) for those with only a casual interest in history, I would still recommend it to anyone. It is a remarkable book about a remarkable man.

5 comments about The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

1. I recieved this book in perfect condition and it came a day before the estimated time of arrival. Thank you.



2. The book is great so far. I ordered it because its my ex girlfriends favorite book and i trust her taste in books.



3. What I liked most about this book is also what since distresses me most about films circulating on this topic. Weir so thoroughly researches the profusion of biographic material available (besides Britain, courts throughout Europe had documention on the wives of Henry and him) that it is clear there is no need to fictionalise this fascinating story (you wouldn't even try to imagine it). And although it lends itself so well to a series (or a film) once you have read this book the inaccuracies in (Gregory's, for example) fictionalisions on the screen tend to get annoying. Wonderful book -the story is historic and timeless at the same time. (If you can recommend a good, unembellished biographic DVD, please do.)



4. The Six Wives of Henry VIII
   Wonderful book. Very well written. It has increased my desire to know more about Henry the VIII and his times.



5. Very informative book! Weir manages to give us a detailed description of the personalities of each of these six queens. What makes this book such a success is that its very easy to read making it impossible to get bored!

2 comments about Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age.

1. This is a wonderful book, easy to read, full of fascinating insights into two of the most powerful and prominent personalities of the 20th century. Churchill was, of course, flawed but such an interesting personality that one cannot resist his pull. Gandhi, on the other hand, left a far more negative mark on history. Perhaps a saint, he never-the-less, was so single mindedly devoted to the total expulsion of British rule, that he sacrificed the lives of millions of his countrtymen by refusing solutions that could have avoided the civil strife that lead to the parition of India.
   
   There are lessons here for us today. The British decision to exit India on a date certain, regardless of conditions on the ground, played into Gandhi's destructive power. Let's hope that there is no Gandhi in the currect Iraq equation. The entire situation in the Middle East, of course, is largely the construction of Churchill following the First World War. This book is a supurb overview of the complexity, horrors and glories of the past century, and of its most prominent players.



2. This is one of those books that takes two familiar lives--those of Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill--and tells them in parallel. The idea is that the two men influenced each other's goals and lives much more than has been acknowledged in the past. The two only met once: in 1906 when Churchill was Colonial Undersecretary, and Gandhi was lobbying on behalf of Indian independence. Author Herman makes this the center of the book in some ways, which is strange given that it happens very quickly in the book (on about page 130 of what's a 600-page tome) but it works, because the two men seem to have built impressions of one another resting in part on this meeting.
   
   Herman has a number of things to say about both men. He spends about equal time with each, discussing the central issues of their lives and how the other person fit into each stage of the history of the 20th Century. For instance, when he's talking about Churchill, Herman recounts his attitude towards Indian independence and towards Gandhi personally. The book also works as a history of the latter part of the British Raj in India, from approximately the turn of the century to independence. There's a lot of interesting stuff in here, including the fact that Churchill's time "in the wilderness" during the run-up to World War II may have been due to his attitude towards India (he opposed independence resolutely) as much as his opposition to Hitler and appeasement. Gandhi comes across as a naïve idealist who thought he could create a country where everyone worked a spinning wheel and there were no factories, who made speeches that set off riots, but always seemed to think he was only encouraging non-violence.
   
   I enjoyed this book a great deal. It's long, and there's a lot of material here, but it's very informative and has a different take on things. I would recommend it highly.

5 comments about Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

1. While daydreaming in class, do you ever place yourself in the shoes of another of another thirteen year old? Perhaps another teenager in a different historical era? "The Diary of Anne Frank" would allow you to do just that. This diary tells the story of a thirteen year old Jewish girl, forced to go into hiding during the Holocaust with her family of four. Making entries every day, Anne writes of her life in hiding; documenting her feelings of love, the noises of gunshots outside her house and the changes her body and spirit continue to experience as she develops into a teenager. She writes of normal "becoming a teenager obstacles" such as her parents treating her unfairly, the other family always picking on her and a lonely existence in the confined space. This book does a splendid job of describing the drama that enfolds with eight people living in tight quarters. Just as many of you may have felt trapped in your teenage life, Anne's is magnified in the "Secret Annex" of a room.
   
   I believe that this book is more real than any other narrative or memoir can be due to Anne's innocence without worrying about the outside critics. It leaves itself for you to easily empathize with the hardships of Anne with her honest accounts of observations, memories, feelings and troubles any teenager experiences, in addition to the complexity of her tragic situation. I highly recommend this book to any teenager who hopes to understand life's hardest lessons. If there was one negative about the book, it would be the repetitive nature of some of the entries. Many of the entries seem quite monotonous, but isn't this true of most teenagers' lives? Although this book is 304 pages, it is a quick read with it unlikely you would want to put it down. Published in 1993 by Bantam, it still applies this day to any teenager.



2. "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" is the diary (a non-fiction work) of a Jewish teenager who lived during the Holocaust and World War II. The book is 304 pages, which includes an introduction written by Eleanor Roosevelt and an afterword, which contains information about what happened to the Frank family after Anne's diary ends. Bantam published this edition in 1993, although a press in Amsterdam first published the diary in 1947. It was her father, Otto Frank, who went back to the place where the family hid for over two years, found the diary, and decided to publish it. Originally, parts in which Anne discusses and expresses her romantic feelings were cut out of the book, as the publisher felt they were too risqué; but when the diary was published in the U.S., these parts were put back into the book. This edition also includes photographs of Anne Frank, as well as photocopies of the actual pages of the diary. By including these, the reader is really able to get a sense of Anne's personality through her handwriting. The Reading level of this book is about an 8.2, meaning it is perfect for 8th graders, or those who read at about an 8th grade reading level, although it is a book you will read over and over, even after you become an adult.
   
   The diary is fascinating to read--Anne begins the diary on her thirteenth birthday, weeks before her family goes into hiding. As the war rages in Europe, Anne is forced to wear a gold star, designating her as Jewish, but her life continues in a relatively normal way. This all changes when a note arrives, stating that the Nazi's want her older sister, Margot. The Frank family hides, spending their next two years in a secret annex in the building where Otto Frank worked. Anne and her family share their space with four other people--Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan (business associates of Mr. Frank), their son, Peter, and Mr. Dussel. Anne is faced with the challenge of living out her adolescence in such a confined space.
   
   As you read her diary, you will be able to relate to the range of emotions Anne displays. She gets excited about events, she feels scared and nervous about her life, she falls in love and receives her first kiss while in hiding, she feels jealousy towards her sister, and she often feels anger and resentment toward her mother. If you did not know the context of her life, Anne might seem like a normal teenager you might know. Yet, as she wonders about whether Peter likes her or not, she also has to worry about if someone will betray the family. She lives in constant fear of discovery, and everyday, the seven hidden members of their Annex follow the news, praying for the defeat of the Nazis, so that they can once again live their lives. Ultimately, tragedy strikes Anne and her family, but Anne's words have given generations of teenagers a glimpse into what it was really like living through the Holocaust. I found this book to be so wonderful that I can't say anything bad about it, and I encourage everyone to read this dairy so that you too can understand what it was like to be a teenager living through the Holocaust.



3. ACH, DU LIEBER!!!!
   
   That's the biting phrase that can best epitomize my personal feelings at the disconnect between the expectation of Anne Frank's diary and the actual reality of reading it. The Diary of Anne Frank is very, very, very disappointing and a humongous letdown!!!! To wit, I must implacably question and hold in contempt the judgment processes of the many, previous, sycophant reviewers who've been exaggerating the "beauty" or "grace" or whatever politically correct term of flattery they can invent for this diary. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most caustic examples of herd mentality-syndrome and mass hysteria among the many positive-rating, Amazon reviewers. In truth, this diary of Anne's is just plain, bloody awful and doesn't deserve its classic status to say the least!!!! I suppose the hordes of five-star reviewers simply turned off their brains, refused to analyze Anne's diary critically, and just subserviently jumped on the bandwagon of conventional wisdom, where her diary is hailed a "classic." BS!!!!
   
   After having thoroughly read this, I can assure you that it's no classic and D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y not worth your time or money...unless, of course, you get your kicks and jollies from plumbing the trivial and superficial mind of a fourteen-year-old. This stellar, brutally-but-intellectually-honest review of mine will analytically break down precisely what the hell's wrong with Anne's diary (plenty!) and warn you against reading it. If you're not narrow-minded and can take an analysis which intrepidly contravenes the discreditable conventional wisdom of the masses, then you'll be grateful for this review. If you're a hypersensitive sheeple, then I expect you to be appalled and shocked at the alleged "audacity" of this review, but that's YOUR problem, not mine. All I concern myself with is an intellectually honest review of this diary.
   
   I went into The Diary of Anne Frank because it came to my attention that I hadn't read it in high school, whereas many of my peers had indeed had it mandated for reading in school. I attended a Catholic high school, and it's not like Catholics have something even remotely to be shameful about concerning their treatment of Jews in WWII. Why, in fact, educated people know that even N*zi Adolf Eichmann confessed in his diaries that the Catholic Church in occupied Italy was the only organization that loudly protested and opposed the mass deportation of Jews from their "ghetto" in Rome. So, I wanted to catch up on this apparent "classic" because it was missed reading at my old, Catholic high school.
   
   However, I absolutely regret and curse this misjudgment of mine due to the appalling quality and shortcoming of the content of the diary. See, as a new reader, I perceptively went into the Diary of Anne Frank with the reasonable expectation that it would, you know, perhaps talk about her feelings relating to--I don't know!--the genocidal, N*zi occupation, which had forced her family and some acquaintances into an attic, where they lived like imprisoned animals under extreme duress. That would make for an interesting read obviously because one would delve into the psychology of a person in such duress and try to relate. Conventional wisdom has it that that's what her diary mainly relates to, but in actuality...her diary's actually filled to the nauseating brim with her infatuation (nah, kids these days would call it her "crushing) on her attic-mate Peter; endlessly boring stories about preparing and storing vegetables in their attic; girl talk about her prior crush before she went into hiding; lurid tales about her discovering her budding sexuality; typical teen-girl angst about how she's never really had close girlfriends; grumbling about the adults in the attic always rebuking her due to her forthrightness; and how she hates her mother like a typical EMO teenager, just to name a few!!!!
   
   Anne disappointingly spends precious few entries (the vast minority) on the more interesting and valuable ruminations, such as those on human nature, persecution of Jews, and the terror felt inside the attic that came primarily from being discovered, or from the sounds and sights of war breaking loose outside her attic (on a couple of entries, she even recounts stories of downed fighter planes and their pilots' fate). That's the unpardonable fault of her diary because only these kinds of idiosyncratic entries actually material to WW2 are what would elevate her diary above that of any other, mundane, teen girl's. That so much of her diary is precisely so ordinary according to what one stereotypically expects from ANY teen girl's entries is the real pity in this exaggeratedly hyped work.
   
   I found the purpose of Anne's diary much more useful in detailing how more wonderfully conservative society was in the 40s--rather than getting the reader to empathize with WW2-era, persecuted Jews--compared to today's liberal nightmare. In example, Anne's many entries where she's "crushing" on her attic-mate, Peter, involve feelings of sincere, simplistic affection and puppy love, maybe quaint but still adorable in hindsight. For instance, in many entries, Anne swoons over attic-mate Peter's confiding in her or the way he merely looks at her; to her as a girl in the 40s back then, that already qualified as a "fantasy." Contrast this to the inarguable fact that in today's world, many 14-year-olds in Anne's shoes would probably have infectious thoughts of desiring to sexually please their crushes (and then do so!) just so they could feel like "true women!" Another unmistakable motif in Anne's experiences that comes through as a confirmation of how more wonderfully conservative things were back then is the constant reference to schoolwork, and, by golly, actually doing well at it! In some entries, Anne actually *gulp* takes pride in getting good grades in school and measuring herself as a person based on her work ethic in class, again, wonderfully "old-fashioned." Again, contrast this with many 14-year-olds today who--especially if they're in the NEA's public schools--can't read, write or do any `rithmetic, yet can tell you all kinds of things about the b*tches and h*es in rap music!!!!
   
   This latest edition of her diary, The so-called Definitive Edition, includes inexcusably AWKWARD entries involving Anne's sexual awakening, which is also a discomforting sign of the incrementing liberalism that's occurring societally, whereas her dad, Otto, wisely omitted these lewd entries from the original publication. For instance, on page 162, she writes, "Once when I was spending the night at Jacque's, I could no longer restrain my curiosity about her body, which she'd always hidden from me and which I'd never seen. I asked her whether, as proof of our friendship, we could touch each other's br*asts. Jacque refused. I also had a terrible desire to kiss her, which I did. Every time I see a female nude...I go into ecstasy." Gross!!!! This egregiously has nothing to do with WW2, or a person's feelings of being imprisoned in an attic while hoping the N*zis don't discover her. The inclusion of this lewdness was utterly ill-advised.
   
   Surprisingly, though, some of Anne's entries include reflections which prove she possessed moral clarity and, unlike today's liberals (the arbiters of moral relativism), had the ability to judge between good and evil with regards to WW2. For instance, on page 334 (from July 21, 1944), she writes, "Now, at last, things are going well!...An *ss*ssination attempt has been made on H*tler's life, and for once not by Jewish Communists or English capitalists, but by a German general...This is the best proof we've had so far that many officers and generals are fed up with the war and would like to see H*tler sink into a bottomless pit..." Here, Anne clearly demonstrates that she confidently feels it's perfectly all right to be happy at the prospect of your enemy being killed in a war. Further, she also interprets the *ss*ssination attempt in a pro-Allies, anti-German way, suspecting that H*tler's generals are turning on him. Contrast that to today's dreadful, modern liberals who would have a hell of a hard time rejoicing about the prospect of Bin Laden's death or any terrorist's, for that matter, because they're too obsessed with getting them "legal rights" through habeas corpus and moving them onto the US mainland for detention purposes!!!!
   
   Still, Anne's diary is soooo disappointingly off-the-mark that I want anyone even flirting with the idea of reading a fourteen-year-old's musings to just boycott it. It's so dreadful because it mostly evades reflecting on WW2 and the hardships of attic life. Mainly, it reads like every other fourteen-year-old girl's diary from the beginning of time to infinity, and, so, is an absolutely superficial read!!!! To get an idea of how WW2 affected people, you can get a better read almost ANYWHERE ELSE. If you want to get inside a fourteen-year-old girl's trivial head--which Anne's diary is really mostly about: crushes, boys, resentment of parents, etc.--you should just steal your kid sister's. What's that? Don't have a kid sister?! Well, then steal the diary of your friend's or neighbor's kid sister because you'll get the same trivialities there as in Anne Frank's diary.



4. Great read, highly recommend for all jr. high and Sr. high kids. I read this book in high school (many many years ago) and wanted to read it again because of the movie "Freedom Writers" and it's integral part in the movie. I highly recommend it



5. A classic that we all should read when we are young, and again when we are older. It emphasizes the fact that evil does exist in our world, and that evil often comes from a government. It belongs in all of our libraries.

5 comments about John Adams.

1. I had heard about this book on NPR when they did an interview with the author. It sounded fantastic but I normally do not read biographies so I didn't bother with it. THEN I got my Kindle and remembered the NPR interview and thought WHY NOT? reading it on my Kindle is not going to break my hands (It's 762 pages long)! I quickly downloaded it and dove in.
   
   What a surprise. This book is well-researched and correlated to present a side of the formation of our nation/government and several well-known historical characters that I previously never knew. Adam's own letters and those written to him by others, including his beloved with Abigal, show real-time action and opinions as things happened. I saw a side of Jefferson I never knew existed and the characterization of Benjamin Franklin makes one wonder how either of them would get on in politics today.
   
   The one thing I learned was the more things change, the more they stay the same, and the struggles of our fledgling nation in that time and space do not seem so different than the things we face today. The names have changed and time has marched on, but people will be people and nothing makes that more clear than this amazing biography. I strongly suspect that were John Adams alive today he'd be in the thick of things in Congress sticking to his morals and fighting for the rights of the PEOPLE versus the rights of the government to interfer.
   
   (Did I mention that I love my Kindle?)



2. Wonderful picture of the times and the man. McCullough gives us a fascinating picture of a great man with public and private flaws (the Alien and Sedition Acts were wrong, and his relationship with his second son Charles could have been repaired if he was more compassionate). He also shows us the tumultuous times in which he lived and the people in his orbit (you rock, Abigail). Although I agree with reviewers that note that McCullough does become too fond not only of John but most of the Adams family, I think as a whole the biography works well. I'll never again underestimate how truly perilous the founding of our country was.



3. David McCullough is to history was John Grisham is to literature: he's lite fare, easily digestable but not particulary nourishing. To me, the book seemed like a watered-down and streamlined portrayal of an important historical figure. It's reasonable well-written and moves along at a good clip; it just seems superficial. I guess that's o.k. if your target audience is people who don't normally read history. If you fall into that category, the JA is probably the book for you. Personally, however, I usually like to read "serious" works of history. History-lite just doesn't seem worth my time....
   
   Not terrible but not recommended.



4. There are many more erudite descriptions of John Adams. I decided to write a review because it is my favorite non-fiction book and I felt that the HBO series took the wind out of Adams' sails in so many ways. The HBO miniseries, which I long awaited, bored me to tears. There was none of the excitement in the series that I read in the book. Paul Giamatti's Adams could not speak above a whisper and did not convey, at least to me, the spirit of John Adams, which I read in 2001 and still remember vividly. John Adams had such an interesting and varied life, that to distill it as it was done in the HBO series leaves the viewer questioning how this complex man was anything more than a bombastic autocrat.
   
   David McCullough's use of primary sites and his use of the many letters written to his wife Abigail makes this book one of the most memorable and romantic of all the founding fathers. He clearly writes about his personal life - his treatment of his children, the favoritism of John Quincy, his life-long love affair with his wife and their juxtaposition with his duty to his fledgling country as well as his interest in his own epitaph. He brings to life a human who was so multi-faceted and brings most of those facets to life.
   
   I am not an historian, so I realize there are many things missing knowledge of John Adams. However, that which was included was readable, interesting and kept me turning those many pages with ease.



5. Of course it is only a metaphorical question, but if there were more politicians around who adored their wife and their country, America would be a pretty different place. He said what he thought and he thought deeply. He had a strict moral obligation to his God, country and his family and would never consider going against any of these things. This book reveals all these things about a complicated man. It is not a dry academic novel but a fascinating story. You cannot find too many of these out there and I have had to read many of those to get through bachelors degree and halfway through my masters. One of the things that impressed me the most was the level with which he treated his wife. In the time that he lived this was phenomenal.