5 comments about Warrior: An Autobiography.

1. Warrior An Autobiography This is one book I can review without having finished reading it. He is one of the great generals of our time even ranking with MacAuthor, Patton, Swartzkoff,Etc. My own personal opinion he is tops. He had to help try to save a country when there was little help from the rest of the world. As a political figure I,ll also stick with him. He may have made some mistakes according to others but no one else did any better. I stay away from politics as most have no idea of what they are talking about any way. I think he had his country at heart either way.



2. I enjoyed this autobiography of one of modern Israel's giants.
   The book was written in great detail on many of the historic battles and decisions that Israel faced. Sharon played a large part in the fledgling country's struggle to survive the onslaught of hatred and terror. Sharon also touched on the personal hardships he faced.
   The only problem with Warrior was that Sharon wrote it so early in his career (1980s) that I was left hungry for more information. I had to go and buy a more recent biography of Sharon to bring myself up to date on Arik's life and career.



3. 
   
   There are many references to Pierre and Bashir Gemayel (leaders of the predominantly Christian-Phalanges Party).
   Most of Lebanon, and the Christian Leaders had been particularly confounded by the rash and dash with which the Israelis' conducted their war against the Palestinian Militias, and Beirut was awash with gossips that the Lebanese Forces - LF - (mainly Christians) would perform, alone, a sweeping military - mop up - operation in support of the Israelis.
   Such was a request Sharon had asked of Bashir during his first and short `look-see' visits to Jounieh - Lebanon (East) but did not evoke clear-cut answer (nor commitment) from Bashir because LF had not been able to give viable practical assistance, least of all to do any `street fighting' in a densely populated Beirut (West).
   If LF entered the important green line (Sea port area) rushing into Hamra Street, civilian losses would have been immense.
   Sharon wanted to infuse his sense of urgency into LF leaders in order to gain time and face the Israeli Cabinet with a fait a compli situation of which the Cabinet had never approved before.
   Sharon left Jounieh under the impression he and Bashir had concluded an agreement -in principle- of `a military operation' to be performed when the proper time called for it and now the next phase was for `joint planning'. Bashir was led to believe that Sharon was highly depending on LF supportive participation.
   Sharon thought Bashir had fully understood him to support a `do it alone' military operation, i.e. that LF would attack independently from the East when the Israelis had tightened the noose on Beirut (West).
   Mismatch in person-to-person communication took on new impetus.
   In the first place, it had never occurred to Bashir to attack West Beirut because he was heading for the Presidency and his `election' was imminent and inevitable.
   Bashir's priorities were 1) Never to put himself in disfavour with the Muslim communities and 2) Should not destroy political bridges with Syria (Hafiz al Asad) that would come after he's elected to the Presidency.
   
   Sharon, a military man to the bones, could see nothing relating to `Lebanese Politics' in the middle of his `war against the PLO - Arafat'; he had found that the Lebanese appreciation of his sweeping moves - having also neutralized the Syrian Army in Lebanon - were meant to ask him to revert to the idea of `independent action in West Beirut. Sharon should begin, and the LF would follow'.
   
   As there are no secrets in Lebanon, pulling the blankets of `no commitments' over their bodies resolutely did not refrain Philip Habib - not yet tired of repeating to Bashir - `at no time give a pretext that would obstruct your election to the Presidency'.
   
   And the `drama' has never ended..............



4. A very good book. It goes into a bit more depth with strategy and such than I could really grasp in a few spots, but on the whole I found it very interesting. Good descriptions of and insight into politics, history, and his accomplishments and ideas. I hadn't known how much he had done outside of the military before reading this book: founding Likud, advancing agriculture in Israel and in Africa, and forging relationships throughout the world for a fledgling Israel. A good book from a most impressive man.



5. The short, turbulent history of modern Israel has called for extraordinary leadership. Ariel Sharon is clearly one of the most important of the leaders who have shaped the history of this vulnerable young country.
   
   I suppose any autobiography could be said to be self-serving. Still, I have always believed that any man has a right to have his own assessment of himself be taken into consideration in any evaluation of his life.
   
   But my purpose now is not to give an assessment of his life. Rather, it is to give an assessment of this book, as a means to understanding that life. As such, I would have to say that I think you will find it useful. This is due, in part, I think, to the fact that Sharon was a man of strong feelings who expressed them openly. But it is also due to the fact that Sharon always lived his life in a manner which gave him plenty to talk about. He had a zest for life, and a fearlessness toward death that inclined him to an extraordinary life.
   
   Sharon also had the good fortune to be associated in time and proximity with several extraordinary men, and he made decisions that put him on a level with those men that might otherwise have been quite different. His bold military initiatives brought him to the attention of David Ben-Gurion during the critical early days of Israel as a nation. Later, after he had retired from the military as a part of a national policy to retire generals before they got too old, he entered politics without getting the permission or trying to earn the favor of established personalities. He was lucky, of course, because at the moment he decided to found the Likud, Begin desperately needed something just like that to build the kind of coalition that could bring him a national position. But he was also decisive. That's the key. He didn't wait to hear what everyone would think, he just did it.
   
   Sharon's defense of his actions during the invasion of Lebanon are convincing, but in my mind, they do not completely remove the necessity for him to step down. I think he had to leave at that point. I do not believe he ordered the massacre of civilians. I didn't need his book to come to that conviction. I didn't believe it at the time, either. But it happened on his watch, and there just was no escaping the impression in the minds of so many people, that he could have done more to prevent it.
   
   As could be expected from any autobiography, there are several things that Sharon does not address. This is why the whole picture can seldom be obtained by reading only autobiography. At some point, you have to balance autobiography with objective studies by reputable scholars who can address questions the individual in question hesitates to mention, and address them fairly. Sharon's oldest son was killed by a neighbor kid who was playing with one of Sharon's guns. How did this happen? How in the world did a couple of young kids get access to a loaded weapon? The incident itself, is of course, a poinant part of the book, but some of these questions any reasonable person would ask are simply not addressed.
   
   But taking into account the limitations of autobiography, this book provides a very useful insight into both the man and the country. It will be on every reading list for future historians of Israel for a long, long time to come. Fascinating character. Fascinating book. Fascinating country. Read and enjoy.

No comments about Thoughts and Adventures.

5 comments about Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved.

1. As an aviation enthusiast this is the first book I pulled in to my Amazon Kindle e-book reader. I would caution those looking for a classic biography of Amelia Earhart, as this is not what the authors of this book are offering. Although her early years and flights are covered, the book really deals in depth of the final attempt of Amelia's round the world flight, ending of course with her failure to reach Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The authors break down everything from flight logs, communication schedules and frequencies, to manifold pressure, fuel flow rates, prop rpm etc. So if you are not up on propeller driven aircraft and the jargon associated with them, this work will be litany of facts and figures that will cause you to loose interest in the book quickly. On the other hand if planes and vintage aviation are your thing, you will devour every detail. I found it to be a good read, and accept the author's conclusions as to why Amelia Earhart and her plane failed to reach Howland Island. A note to Kindle readers: The maps included with the Kindle version are so small that they are not really useful to e-book readers. Never the less it is still a good book on Amelia Earhart's famous flight.



2. This fine book by Elgin Long and his wife Marie is by far the most sensible and logical of all the works on this great mystery. It starts with the story of the last leg of her flight from Lae, New Guinea, to tiny Howland Island, a speck in the vast Pacific. It then goes back to trace the origins of the flight, the many personalities involved and the varied possible causes for the tragic loss of this great Aviator. As a pilot I found the navgational detail very useful although some may find it tedious.
   
   Mr. Long is currently working with Nauticos Corp. conducting a deep sea search for the Earhart plane. Filmmaker James Cameron (Titanic) is also involved in this project. I personally think that the plane will be found someday. This outstanding work belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the Earhart mystery.



3. I'VE READ ABOUT TWENTY BOOKS ABOUT EARHART'S DISAPPEARANCE AND THIS IS THE BEST BOOK BY FAR! IF YOU ONLY READ ONE BOOK ABOUT AMELIA EARHART AND FRED NOONAN THIS IS THE ONE TO BUY.



4. Very reminiscent of Gerald Posner's 'Case Closed' this book shows that an apparently unanswerable question can be answered if informed knowledge is brought to bear with clear logic and meticulous research. A fascinating and 'factual' analysis of the doomed aviatrix' last mission and a plausible explanation for the end. The Longs have written what must be considered the 'definitive' book on this undying mystery.



5. `The wing tips wobbled slightly, and suddenly the plane began veering to the left with increasing speed...it swung around and tilted with its right wing tip almost almost scraping the mat. The right landing gear suddenly collapsed, followed shortly by the left gear, and the plane slid on its belly. A shower of sparks spurted from the airplane...' Honolulu, March 1937, and Amelia Earhart's plane Electra has just crashed while attempting to take off on a test flight. The crash was bad news for the famous American woman aviator and her team: it meant they had to approach their financial backers for more funds to repair the plane if Earhart was to fly around the world. They got the money, of course, but worse was to come: Earhart and her navigator disappeared four months later on July 2, 1937, on the longest stretch of their epic trans-global flight. Since then what exactly happened to the Electra and its occupants has been a mystery. One of the stranger rumours have been that Earhart and her navigator were captured and spirited away by the Japanese, who had rather frosty relations with America in the days before Pearl Harbour and World War 2. But here the authors claim to solve the mystery: according to their reckoning, and backed up with a swag of maps, radio transmissions and estimates, they say the Electra simply ran out of fuel somewhere around their destination of Howland Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The plane (and the remains of its occupants) are lying 17,000 feet below the water somewhere around the tiny island. The mystery, of course, is why did it happen? Long-distance flying was extremely dangerous in those days, but it wasn't complete guesswork: Earhart had the latest and best radio, planned her flights with great care and had support and encouragement from the highest levels. However, several factors - minor on their own - all contributed to the disaster that took place. The Electra's radio equipment was so new it didn't have an accompanying instruction manual. Navigator Fred Noonan was relying on a map which showed Howland Island six miles west of where it really was. The wind was slightly stronger than Earhart thought it was, thus pushing her further away from the right direction. There was a US Navy vessel near the island, but radio contact between it and Earhart was sporadic, and they never saw each other. The book is very detailed, and contains a lot of technical information. There is much talk about mile radius, azimuth and radio frequencies. The authors do a sterling job of explaining the technical stuff where necessary while narrating an exciting tale. One of the later chapters examines the `area of uncertainty' the Electra had to grapple with on its last flight: the agonising calculations that Noonan would have performed in an effort to determine where the Electra was, and where Howland Island was. The Electra is still at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. Despite the careful research, the mystery of Earhart's last flight won't fully be solved until the plane is found - as with our own Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his Lady Southern Cross. `Is the emergency equipment still there? Are there any signs of remains? There are dozens of questions that can be answered only be recovering the plane,' the authors conclude.

5 comments about The Essential Gandhi.

1. I have been researching Gandhi for a number of years, so I can claim some expertise in evaluating this book. Simply put, I am not sure why I didn't get to it earlier, as it is a superior collection of Gandhi's writings, blended in skillfully with some of Fischer's own writings about Gandhi. This anthology goes beyond mere collection in that it also is organized with attention to telling the story of Gandhi's life chronologically. If you know the story of Gandhi well, this book will capture some of the rare gems of Gandhi's thought, as well as his controversial ideas. If you don't know Gandhi's life story yet, start with Fischer's Gandhi: His Life and Message to the World, a short, concise summary. The Essential Gandhi succeeds in being just that: a treasury of thought of one of the most important men of the past century.



2. I've read a total of 3 books about Mahatma Gandhi, all of them stemming from his own writings. This is the best out of those three books.
   
   It is well organized and takes the most crucial parts of his writings and puts them in an order that is coherent and easy to read. The notes by the editor also make it easy for someone who does not know the whole history surrounding Gandhi's plight. She sets the setting and environment with each chapter making sure the reader knows what is going on regardless of their previous knowledge of the situation.
   
   This is why I always suggest this book to anyone who wants to start learning about this amazing man. It is very inspirational, and I have highlighted and reflected on quite a few passages. This is one of my most lent books since everyone hears about and references this man, but very few actually know anything about him.
   
   This is the best book to allow people to be introduced to his ideas and beliefs.



3. The format of this book is a little unusual, it's basically an abridged version of Gandhi's writings, supplimented with editorial comments which set the scene for when and where his statements are coming from. If you're not entirely familiar with Gandhi's life or some of the basic aspects of Indian culture at the time, these editorial comments are very helpful. For example, just before some statements about Gandhi's use of the Gita (around page 160) the editor gives a brief summary of the what the Gita is.
   
   Moving on from the basic format, I found this book very enlightening, and not in the way that other reviewers seem to have. I doubt very much that I'm in a position to change anyone's opinion on him, but I ask that if you buy this book, look closely at the ways in which Gandhi supports his claims. Oftentimes he makes grand statements and then leaves them in the air, unsupported. This is not in an of itself a bad thing, as sometimes the truth value of a statement is obvious to the casual observer, but then again sometimes it is not.
   
   Gandhi was certainly a great leader, but I think it's stretching to call him a great philosopher. His ideas were not new, even if the grand-scale application of them was. He seeks truth but seems largely unconcerned with methodology, which undermines the grand statements he makes.
   
   If you do read this book critically, it may help to keep in mind persuasive techniques, even beginner things like appealing to authority. Watch for strange analogies, as in page 168's equating atoms to people and Love to hydrogen/ionic/covalent bonds.
   
   It probably seems a little weird to hear someone object to the methodology of someone like Gandhi, but these days we have to be aware of the methods by which the people around us seem convincing, whether we like what they're saying or not.



4. This is a wonderful book about Gandhi's whole life, his personal growth, relationships and tells how Tolstoy's "What I Believe" influenced the man that he became. A inpiring story that proves that peace is the way.



5. I really liked the way everything is laid out in this book, allowing you to read Gandhi's own words coupled with an explanation of events that was driving him.

No comments about Souls for Sale: Two German Redemptioners Come to Revolutionary America, the Life Stories of John Frederick Whitehead & Johann Carl Buttner (Max Kade German-American Research Institute Series).

2 comments about Scrounging the Islands with the Legendary Don the Beachcomber: Host to Diplomat, Beachcomber, Prince and Pirate.

1. An interesting and entertaining little book, though it would be nice if, with the alleged statements from Donn himself, the author included some information as to where he gathered them. As it is, I'd have to take a LOT of salt with some of this stuff. The outragous claim that Donn the Beachcomber rather than Trader Vic had invented the Mai Tai, based upon some unsupported hearsay in a gossip column published long after both were long gone, is hardly convincing. Especially after Vic had won a court case on just that same claim against a company trying to cash in on their own brand of "Mai Tai Mix" packaged under Donn's name! While this is a nice book to read, keep an open mind & read the appropriate chapters of "The Book of Tiki" first.



2. Well written, in biographical form.
   
   I have read "Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes...and the People Behind Them" (another book I highly recommend) by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry...and many of the stories are nearly identical, word for word. I wonder which one is the chicken and which one is the egg? But it's truly an amazing life story of the man who lived the escapist's dream, and deserves all the credit.
   Don the Beachcomber, your story lives on!

5 comments about The Invention of Solitude: A Memoir.

1. Having been, to some extent, in the same situation as Auster with relation to his father, I sympathize with him. What's more, I understand him. And his memories. His feeling of emptiness and sadness when he finds out that his father - who was never physically there - is gone spiritually too. It's one of his best, perhaps because it dealt with a personal theme of his life, and he didn't have to use the imagination so much...
   
   I must sincerely say that this novel made me understand my father, and his 'absenteeism', much better. It provides a framework of memories, emotions, relics in which one can maneuver and come to realize that: we are all human, and we all need other human being, even if they have disappointed us, others, or people in general. Auster found that he had missed his father much more than he thought - he came to terms with what his father was and what he wasn't, and saw the world from his perspective.
   
   It absolutely goes without saying that this book, this meditation on life, family, and the inevitability of the unknown is worth reading. Twice.



2. "Portrait of an Invisible Man" starts as a reflection on the nature of life as an experience of solitude. Auster's father appears to have lived in a state of perpetual withdrawal from his self. It is for this reason that writing about him becomes eponymous with writing in an absurd world, after Becket. The task of writing has no ultimate goal; life itself is full of hollow spaces, so why would we want to transcribe it into a work of art? Why should Auster have wanted to write about his father who lived not a life inside himself? Why are we reading this book? Reading, writing and living are all part of the same ludicrous, meaningless wandering.
   
   Fortunately, just before the hollow corridors of emptiness cease to reverberate there is something that captures our attention. A murder! One almost wants to thank Auster's grandmother for rescuing the narrative from its postmodernist drift into nothingness. And the author himself for allowing us to open his grandma's hidden trunk in the attic. Yet after this exciting brief interlude, Auster returns to muse over his father's quirks of personality, and the first section finishes.
   
   "The Book of Memory" starts as a tract on writing: the craft of a man sitting alone in a room for long hours. Filling a room with thoughts is "real spiritual work", the result of an inner struggle in which the mind is made to conquer the dreariness of the surrounding world. It is also about finding oneself before looking for anything else.
   
   The section is composed of various parts distinguished by different thematic links. We have the paragraphs on Memory and the reflections on Chance and assorted instalments on a number of family-related and other themes. Auster is making himself up as a writer, and trying to say something substantial about the workings of reality or European art at the same time.
   
   To withdraw into a room does not mean that one has been madened. It is the room that restores the person, to health and to safety. The modern nothingness can be best confronted from a room or from a position of parenthood... The Book of Memory is concerned with the process of thinking, this is, with mind travel.
   
   References to the Book of Jonah introduce the theme of sleep as "the ultimate withdrawal from the world." Is sleep an image of solitude? By eating him, the fish saves Jonah from drowning in the sea. The depth of the belly is the depth of silence, the refusal to hear and to speak. It is about seeking a separation even from the conversation with God. It is a death before a life that can speak. One learns to speak in solitude. But what is the purpose of speaking? A prophecy remains true when it isn't told. After that first silence one may die, and in death learn to speak. So that a book can be written, a book that will always be closed.



3. Paul Auster's The Invention of Solitude, split as it is between a half that could be great fiction and a half that could be pure philosophy (or, if you'd like, pure rambling), is unlike anything I've ever read. In its first half, "Portrait of an Invisible Man," he not only gives a compelling, fully human rendering of a cold, unexpressive father, he makes us fully aware of the consciousness watching him, struggling to make sense of the place he still occupies in Auster's mind as he attemps fatherhood himself. The second half, "The Book of Memory," takes that death into the most mystical realm possible, discussing the way motifs, rhymes, themes, and coincidence merge to create a life, and in its brain-scrambling way of taking quotes, allusions, and personal tales into describing the ramblings on life after personal upheaval, it responds in a way most writing never can to understanding the whole complex fabric of existence. Auster's literary expertise is extensive and his prose is transporting, together these halves, moving from corporeal to penetratingly ethereal, respond to questions and evoke emotions in a way that neither fiction nor poetry can, making the book a transcendent experience - a vivid rendering of a mind hurtling, with precise diction, into the depths and implications of why and how we have lives in the first place.



4. The first part of this book describes Auster's reaction to the sudden death of his father. His portrait of his detached divorced father who remained alone in the house his family once lived in, and spent fourteen lonely years there is restrained and moving. The portrait becomes at a certain point an extended family history and reveals a great family secret, the shocking murder of Auster's grandfather by his grandmother. The detached father who is the central figure is described as an extremely colorful character, a lonely ladies man who thrived on quick passing affairs and hard work. Auster's effort to sort out his own emotional connection to his father makes a sincere, honest record. The father- son relationship here is the heart of the story, and Auster tells the one he has with considerable skill and feeling. And this when the father- son relationship does not here have the kind of charged emotional complexity the great tormented depth that Kafka reveals in his immortal ' Letter to his Father'. It too does not come close to the kind of liveliness and depth that Philip Roth reveals in description of his relationship with his father in ' Patrimony'.
   The second part of the work in which Auster is now a divorced father meditating on his own life and literary work is less humanly interesting. Its abstract literary reflections may have a Pascalian value of their own but they do not hang together as the first part does.



5. I'll go out on a limb here, diasgree with the hagiographic tone of preceding reviewers, and say that only half this book is worth reading - the first half. When Auster writes about how he feels after his father's death, he makes universal the sorrows, guilts and uncertainties of losing a parent. But the second half - "The Book of Memory" - gets very tedious very quickly. Real feeling is replaced by real showing off, with pages of literary criticism masquerading as fiction. If you thrill to "isms" - structuralism, deconstuctionism - there may be something here for you. But for the rest of us...

5 comments about The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War.

1. This is a wonderful book. It is interesting in the discussion of village life in Viet Nam during the war. It is also an interesting retelling of the physical, emotional, and spiritual journey of the little girl, so well known from the photo. The entire story of what happened to this little girl is quite readable and in fact inspirational. I did not find it to be sappy in any way, and in fact quite moving. I highly reccomend the book.



2. This is the life story of Kim Phuc, with supporting coverage of the horrors of Vietnam and the endless legacy of pain and sorrow caused by the war. Kim was captured on film in the devastating news photo form 1972, as she ran naked and screaming from a napalm attack (which turned out to be a friendly-fire accident, to boot). While reading this book, I was unable to stop flipping it over to look at the famous photo on the cover again and again, as writer Denise Chong does an outstanding job of bringing Kim and her story to life. Granted, the book does have a few weaknesses. Chong obviously saw the need to add background information about the war to support Kim's story, though in the attempt to summarize or introduce the issues and politics of the war, Chong's coverage seems simplistic and perfunctory. Also, as Kim's biography progresses, Chong is trying too hard, and inconsistently, to make the book "inspirational," with Kim's inner thoughts and reflections on her ongoing struggles coming across as forced and sappy in places.
   
   But these weaknesses do not damage the overall success of the book, because Kim's life story is definitely compelling, and her postwar struggles are especially informative. We learn about the wartime travails of Kim's middle-class Vietnamese family, culminating in the horrific day when she was injured and barely survived. Kim has suffered through chronic pain and constant health problems stemming from here severe napalm burns. Meanwhile the incompetent new Communist regime in Vietnam used her for years as a pawn in propaganda schemes, and ruined her once successful family. Kim spent most of her teen and young adult years trying to escape the regime's clutches and finish her schooling; and interestingly, she observed the collapse of two Communist systems, both at home and as an exchange student in Cuba. (She now lives as an activist in Canada.) Chong's coverage of the postwar hardships of those affected by the Vietnam War is especially valuable, because you see little of this type of material in standard war texts. And you will surely root for Kim Phuc as she slowly puts her lifetime of horrors behind her. [~doomsdayer520~]



3. I liked this book because it gave me a portrait of one girls struggle with the affects of war, how she was used by both side of the struggle as a poster child and how she got through it all. I am close in age to Kim Puc and the photograph of her affected me when I was young. I had not heard about this book when I came across it at the library. It turned out to be a good story and an informative lesson in a story of living through the Vietnam War and beyond. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a story of survival.



4. You don't really enjoy a book like this. It's a story of almost unremitting suffering. I found the story riveting, well written and troubling. Of course, I knew the picture and I'd seen the documentary when I was in England several years ago, but the details in the book and the evident research provide a much deeper understanding.

   It is a very human story, the suffering of one girl in particular, but also her family, and she is one of many. The book gives a concise account of the historical background to the bombing. It will serve as a good introduction to those that do not know about these events, and will be useful for visitors to Vietnam.

   The author also narrates the stories of members of Kim Phuc's family and their struggle for existence during those hard times. I've been to Vietnam, including Saigon, not far from where the awful atrocity took place, so I feel a closeness to the place. I saw the famous photograph in the American War Crimes Museum (now renamed) in Saigon.

   My life in Bali cannot compare to Kim Phuc's, but I understand a little some of her family's difficulties - the paranoid fear of Communism in the 1960s (there was an alleged Communist coup in Indonesia in 1965), the hard work involved in running a small restaurant (I started mine from scratch in 1974 just like Kim's mother did) and the hassles of dealing with officials (the author describes these well).

   It is doubly distressing that Kim Phuc was so cruelly used and cheated by others for their own purposes. Governments, officials, journalists. One can only have contempt for them and wish Kim Phuc a better life in Canada.

   I would certainly recommend this book to anyone. It has 370 pages and there are several pages of photographs.




5. I have read hundreds of books on Vietnam. This is one of the best. It really gets across the point of view of those poor peasants in the rural areas caught between the communists on one side and the government on the other side. That the girl survived was a miracle. All the pain and suffering that resulted after the communists took over is well documented. This young lady because of the photo was helped from time to time by those on both sides. She became a personal friend of Pham Van Dong the Communist leader of Vietnam. Yet this did not stop her or her family from suffering under the communists.

No comments about Searching for Schindler: A memoir.

5 comments about The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton.

1. As someone who is interested in the domestic arts, I had previousely purchased a facsimile of the original Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. When I purused its pages, I remember asking myself, "I wonder what made her such an authority" because there's nothing in the book that tells the reader where or how Mrs. Beeton obtained her knowledge. I knew nothing of the author, other than that she was married to a publisher -- that is until I read this book....
   
   Kathryn Hughes tells the story of Mrs. Beeton's life from beginning to end. It is well researched, readable, and I couldn't help but think of the comparison between how Mrs. Beeton's book contained plagiarized material and how it was alleged that Martha Stewart did the same with some of the recipes in her earlier cook books. So it struck me as odd that Kathryn Hughes missed the obvious comparison, when she did happen to mention other American domestic goddesses like Cheryl Mendelson who wrote "Home Comforts" and even the fictional character, Betty Crocker. Other than this minor omission or oversight, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am glad it was written.



2. There used to be a time that if you were a newlywed young woman in Britain or the vast reaches of the Commonwealth, one of the presents you were likely to recieve at your wedding was a book. It was usually a rather thick and massive book, full of tidbits of what was expected of the middle class lady of the house, how to prepare meals, instructions for handling servants, or at least the daily help, simple medical and scientific information, and being a general 'help all' book that was aimed at a single niche market. By the turn of the twentieth century, Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management was up to nearly two thousand pages, and was as firmly a part of the British psyche as the Queen.
   
   But who was Mrs. Beeton? Since there had not been any sort of author blurb that has become standard in most books today, imaginations ran riot as to just who she was. Was she an advertising image, such as the modern 'Betty Crocker'? Or perhaps she was like today's Martha Stewart, dominant and stern, ready to reprimand the slightest slip in domestic caretaking. And Mrs. Beeton has survived into the modern day, there are still books being published with her name on them, full of advice on cooking, cleaning and the suchlike.
   
   Kathryn Hughes' book The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton takes on both the topic and the book, giving the reader a glimpse into middle class English life in the nineteenth century and a very intriguing woman. Born into a numerous family -- Isabella would have more than twenty full, half and step-siblings -- Bella Mayson grew up as a caretaker of her mother's numerous brood, and still managed to gain an education and found herself with a flair for foreign languages. She was also bright, witty and blessed with a certain charm and prettiness, all desireable qualities in a woman, and soon Isabella had a suitor: Sam Beeton.
   
   If Isabella was sensible and practical, then Sam was the high-flyer of the pair. Full of schemes and ideas, but rarely having the luck of foresight to get the best out of himself or the product, Sam instead worked at a feverish pace, and sometimes wasn't above using shameless self-promotion. He also faced stern opposition from Bella's family, who thought that he did not and would not have the means to support Bella properly. But the young couple were in love, and Hughes uses their letters to one another to show a courtship that was full of passionate feelings, and despite everything, they were wed and soon setting up house together. Sam was starting to show promise as a printer and publisher, and the couple were looking forward to starting their own family.
   
   But tragedy hit in the form of a long series of stillbirths and miscarriages for Bella, and it was no doubt to distract herself that she turned to writing an advice and homemaking column in Sam's magazine, "The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine," which would form the nucleus of the later Book of Household Management. Both Sam and Bella kept up a feverish pace, both home and abroad, and Bella would become influential at writing and marketing the latest fashions from Paris, developing a chic style of her own.
   
   A dark secret was lurking at the center of the marriage, one that would explain the failure of Bella's children to thrive -- Sam had contracted syphilis during his bachelor days and transmitted it to Bella in the early days of their marriage. It is quite likely that the doctors nor Sam ever told her that she was infected, and that combined with the never-ending stress of working and managing a home as well as numerous pregnancies would end with her death at the age of twenty-eight. Sam's career would continue on a downward spiral, with one hideous incident of pornography ruining his business and the tertiary stages of syphilis cutting his own life short.
   
   But Mrs. Beeton's Book would become a bestseller, but neither Bella nor Sam ever saw a profit from it. In more capable hands, it went through revisions, new editions, and changes, and conversely, would recieve a critical battering in the twentieth century and be known as the 'book that ruined British cookery' as tastes changed to a more Mediterranean style of diet. Researchers claimed that Beeton had cribbed most of her recipes that formed the bulk of the book -- more than 900 pages worth in later editions -- and that the book was mere fluff, and badly written fluff at that.
   
   Hughes work in this is fluid and entertaining, detailing the life of Isabella Beeton, her husband, and two surviving sons. Small chapters called "interludes" take the various myths about the Book, and show the truth that lay behind it. But this is more than a biography of a woman and a book. Hughes also looks at the sexual mores of the time, religious attitudes, the rise of consumer culture and the middle class, and the use of cheap magazines in both advertising and education. It's a fascinating read for anyone who thinks that they know what the Victorians were all about and the cult of the homemaker -- I found my assumptions challenged over and over again, and Hughes uses a particularly dry wit in talking about her subjects.
   
   There are several line drawings, several photographs of both Bella and Sam, and an extensive set of footnotes and bibliography that will encourage further research. Hughes draws on surviving journals, letters, newspapers, court documents and contemporary authors to flesh out her story and manages to remain objective throughout it all.
   
   This book was very entertaining to read, and helps to show that sometimes things never change. The sections on the use of magazines I found fascinating. For anyone interested in the art of the domestic goddess this is a welcome addition to their libraries.
   
   Happily recommended.



3. I am a fan of Isabella Beeton, and I have a facsimile copy (ordered on amazon from a British bookseller) of the first edition, 1861 "Beeton's Book of Household Management." Strange as it may seem, I have made some of the recipes from the book in my 21st century kitchen! I find this classic compendium a delight to browse through, as I enjoy the brisk, authoritative tone of the Victorian author.
   
   Kathryn Hughes's 400 page (plus extensive footnotes and bibliography) biography is a surprisingly quick read for those interested in the domestic icon of the mid-1800s, who is still a "household word" (!) in England. For many years, British women assumed that Mrs. Beeton was "a tub-like lady in black," a middle-aged, extremely competent, experienced woman who ran a wealthy household. Discovering the real details of Bella's life, which are far from that image, is rewarding and a little sad. Bella was only 28 when she died of puerperal fever, and Hughes speculates that she also suffered from syphilis, contracted when she was a bride from her husband Samuel, who "had a roving disposition." She may have been, like some other wives of her era, the victim of massive Victorian hypocrisy. Hughes states that doctors usually opted not to tell the women they were treating what was the real nature of their trouble.
   
   Isabella Beeton was an energetic, bright, inquisitive woman whose skills were put to ideal use in Samuel's publishing business. Her famous work was not original; it was in modern parlance, a "cut and paste" affair, but that was a genre the Victorians favored. The recipes owe much to innovative cooks like Eliza Acton and others, but Beeton's over 1,000 page work stands in an encyclopediac category of its own. Although some of her methods seem alien to us, (boiling carrots for an hour and a half?) Hughes points out the when nutritionists analyze her menus, they conclude that her meals are better balanced and healthier than the usual diet of families today. If you factor out the boiling of meats and long cooking of vegetables, two techniques that are responsible for the notoriously low reputation of Britsh cuisine, Beeton's recipes endure and measure up well.
   
   Kudoes to Hughes for an extensively researched, well written work, a definitive biography of a woman once shrouded in
   false impressions.



4. Thumbing through a hefty copy of "Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management" you form a picture of the author as an authoritative, practical, middle-aged Victorian matron, the very image of respectable domesticity.
   
   But except for her practicality, nothing could be further from the truth. Isabella Beeton was dead before she was 30. The book that made her a household name in Britain was published when she was 24. She didn't know much about running a household - with or without servants - and according to her biographer, Kathryn Hughes, she wasn't much interested either. She would no doubt be astonished to hear that her book is still in print almost 150 years later.
   
   A young wife with strong organizational skills, Isabella's goal was simply to help keep her husband's publishing business solvent and growing. Hers was the first of a branded series of useful "Beeton Books" for the middle classes, which came to include "Beeton's Illustrated Bible" and "Beeton's Book of Universal Information." That she took to the work is clear - she was correcting proofs on her deathbed at age 28.
   
   Immediately after her marriage to Sam Beeton, Isabella threw herself into the publishing business, writing domestic advice columns (on any subject required) for his "Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine." But it wasn't until the birth of her first healthy son (after the death of her first child in infancy and a probable string of miscarriages - Hughes makes the case that Sam infected Isabella with syphilis) that she officially began working full time, appearing at the office and recognized as "Editress."
   
   Although Isabella was as methodical and levelheaded as her husband was impulsive and reckless, necessity may not have been her only motive for such unconventional behavior. She may not have known much about running a household, but she knew more than her share about chores and childcare. Growing up, Isabella had been the eldest girl in a blended family of 21 children. A sketch by her mother shows Isabella as a calm presence among the brood, "age 12 going on twenty-five."
   
   Isabella emerges from Hughes' lively, engaging, meticulously researched biography as a conventional Victorian girl who accepts her lot in life with reasonable grace. Until along comes an opportunity for escape from domesticity, by instructing others in how to excel at it.
   
   But how, you might wonder, does a 20-something author sound authoritative on matters ranging from handling dinner parties for 60 and training servants to trussing a turkey and properly ventilating the home? She steals from her elders, that's how. Though Isabella developed a distinctive voice and demonstrated a formidable talent for organization and assembly, much of her famous book is cobbled directly from her predecessors.
   
   But Hughes' book is much more than a biography of an ambitious plagiarist cut off in her budding prime. It's a colorful and energetic exploration of Victorian society in the midst of rapid change. Industrialization had expanded and urbanized the middle class and cheap printing processes revolutionized access to information and entertainment.
   
   Parallels to today's rapid advances in information technology abound, particularly in the areas of copyright and specialization. Isabella was more cautious stealing from living authors than dead ones and Sam made his first fortune from a pirated edition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Copyright laws existed but were disputed between Britain and the U.S. and the volume of printed material expanded more rapidly than the legal system.
   
   And the appetite for printed material seemed boundless. The Beetons zeroed in on the expanding middle class, people - and their servants - who lived in newly urbanized domiciles and welcomed advice on coping and correct behavior.
   
   As Hughes goes through Beeton's book - prefacing chapters with often hilarious quotes - she shows how Isabella cleverly aimed her advice at those doing the work, be it the servant or the housewife, recognizing the fuzziness of changing boundaries without dwelling on them. She embodies the ideal household while providing solid, practical information, allowing her reader her fantasies.
   
   It's a big, complex book, but, like her subject, Hughes is a formidable organizer. Her authorial voice is strong, with a wide streak of humor, and an illustrative style. Her affection for Isabella shines clear, but without a drop of idealization, while her vibrant portrait of Victorian daily life and social changes and trends emerges from a broad and natural context.
   
   A gem of a book on many levels, Hughes de-mythologizes an icon and gives us a woman, a family, a society, and the creation of a legend.
   
   --Portsmouth Herald



5. In spite of the hard work that has evidently gone into the writing of this book, the results are variable. Too much irrelevant material gets a look in, and too much tedious commentary about Mrs Bee's after-life. I feel somehow that Ms Hughes wanted to write something more meaningful, but was stumped by lack of firsthand evidence.