5 comments about Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Norton Critical Editions).

1. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: This book is diffficult to read because of the horrible reminders of
   the wretched life of American slaves. The book is so
   well written, beautiful prose, detailed descriptions
   of rememberances that I am sure were difficult to
   relive. I highly recommend this wonderful book to any
   one.



2. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl / 0-674-44746-8
   
   It is amusing to note that Jacobs' autobiography was published just prior to Stowe's famous Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe's work, for all it's virtues, is (to modern eyes, at least) painfully didactic, frequently breaking the narrative to tell the reader what they are meant to take from a scene. Jacobs' Incidents, however, is written freely and easily, relating the salient points of her life, rarely breaking narrative to tell the reader what to think. It is merely presented, as is, and is immensely more readable than other contemporary works. Unfortunately, Jacobs' work was passed over as too salacious - she actually includes men in her novel, and not all her encounters are strictly 'forced', in the sense that some liaisons are contracted for convenience and safety, if not always for love.
   
   Amusingly, these "flaws" in Jacobs' character make her narrative that more interesting and insightful to read. It is relevant and worth knowing that slaves sometimes felt obligated to please certain men in order to secure safety or basic necessities. Jacobs determination to survive and thrive within the system that oppresses her causes us to admire her and to enjoy her narrative as we hope for some kind of happiness and success in her life of few options, none of them good. If you have any interest at all in slavery or the American Civil War, I highly recommend this narrative.



3. I had no idea that this book would be as compelling as it was. Really, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise. I bought it because it was required reading for a class, but ended up liking it... Who knew?



4. It's obvious the difficulty slaves endured. Ironic, but she endures a great deal more than most. How her story ends is not predictable.



5. Concerning this edition (the book is a must read)... Dover's thrift editions are just that--thrifty. The text is close together and the overall readability of the edition is fair. It works, but I'd like to see Oxford or Penguin make a "classic" edition with a scholary introduction, footnoting and contextual information like 19th century reviews, etc... A good edition, needs improvement, but then it wouldn't have a "thrifty" price!

5 comments about Robert E. Lee: A Biography.

1. This is a fine biography of Lee, though not necessarily the best. In an attempt to provide new insights the author seems to stretch the evidence in areas that just don't add up. The insinuation that Lee's flirtations with women were less than innocent is just speculation that takes away from the book. The author does a good job of explaining the little things that Lee had to deal with in his life. He comes off human. Lee has to deal with parenting and marital issues. In one incident his wife embarrasses him by causing him to overdraft his bank account. I thought the book's strength was the period of the last year of the war until Lee's death. Here we see Lee struggling with his helplessness in the face of Grant's ever tightening noose. Realizing the inevitable, Lee becomes testy with his staff and subordintes. Finding defeat certain Lee ponders the advantages of death over the agony of surrender. I thought the post-war years were covered very well. Lee doesn't just retire to academic life, he has to deal with the headaches of reconstruction. Whether it involved his students attacking freedmen or having to personally testify to federal agents, his post-war years were challenging. In the end Lee faces these challenges with the courage and character for which he is so rightly famous. This book is worth a read.



2. This is the best book on the market of its kind. It is a fascinating and intimate look into the personal and public life of one of the most revered figures of the Civil War. Robert E. Lee was not a man who wore his heart on his sleeve, and only a handful of very close friends, most of them women, really knew what made him tick. This work exposes his private flaws while celebrating his public strengths. Best of all, it transforms him from the symbolic marble statue which time has created, into the human being that he really was.



3. Thomas' book offers a fascinating insight into United States history during the early and mid parts of the nineteenth century. Lee's early career and his family life are treated in great and revealing detail. Robert E. Lee emerges as a man of exceptionally high principles and as a concerned, (but at a distance) father), of seven children. However, to one's great disappointment, Lee emerges from the book as an enigmatic man whom it is difficult to like. A very good read.



4. Emory Thomas gives a southerners perspective on the life of Robert E. Lee. The preface of this book gives the reader a sense that they will be given a pro-southern view of the war and while that is true at times the biography is generally balanced well. Lee is portrayed as a hero which he was to the south and shown as a military genius which was mostly true. Lee accomplished amazing things by bold actions and the principles of movement and concentration. This book tracks his childhood where he lived in the shadow of a father who was a failure. It then moves to his years at West Point where he excelled and graduated at the top of his class. He was given several assignments across the country from building a fort in Savannah to defending the Mississippi near St. Louis. He even spent time in New York City rebuilding forts there before heading off to war in the 1848 Mexican American War. Lee served with distinction in the war and learned a great deal from Winfield Scott about fighting an offensive war with smaller numbers than the enemy. He would take these lessons to heart against the north.
   Lee would refuse both the United States Army and the Confederacy when they offered him posts in their armies. It was only when his home state of Virginia left the union that he accepted command of all Virginia militias. As the militias were absorbed into the army Lee found himself without a command. Jefferson Davis would use Lee as a roving advisor helping to make overall strategic decisions, a sort of Halleck of the South initially. Lee would eventually take command of the army once Johnston was sent out to command the Army of Tennessee. This would be a post that Lee kept throughout the entire war. Lee was able to achieve stunning victories by daring action but in the end resources were against him. Lee correctly believed that his army had to achieve victory very quickly because a war of attrition favored the north. Unfortunately for Lee he was at times too bold and all of the battles are categorized well here. For a book written in 1995 there is a good deal of attention paid to the west which is now considered a vital battlefield. Lee was forced to surrender after a vicious battle near Appomattox courthouse where PA miners actually blew up a whole underneath his army. Lee won daring defensive victories but each time his army was smaller and his position more tenuous. After the war Lee accepted a post to become President of Washington College in Lexington. It was a post he would excel at. Lee would not become a citizen of the union until historians discovered his petition in 1975 when Congress made him a citizen again. This biography provides an excellent and balanced look at Robert E. Lee's life. I would highly recommend for Civil War scholars who want an updated biography and one that is not too biased in one direction.



5. Emory Thomas promises to deploy the cool eye and analytical prowess of the historian to present a Lee much more vulnerable and flawed than that portrayed in Douglas Southall Freeman's titanic classic, R.E. Lee. And I certainly learned a lot about Robert E. Lee from Thomas's book. He does a good job of summarizing Lee's eventful life and his character, and shows why this defeated Confederate retains a more potent place in American history than most of those who won the Civil War.
   
   I was most struck by his insight that Lee was a man whose deeds were more important that his words. Lee never wrote his memoirs. He gave no important speeches and left no pithy quotes. His letters were pedestrian and full of thoughts on household economy, family vacations, and the fates of various pets. To understand Lee, you have to look at how his actions revealed traits like honesty, courage, and grace. Lee embodied what every Southerner aspired to be. For many, he still does.
   
   On a personal level, I also liked reading about Lee's careers as engineer, soldier, and educator. It's reassuring to realize that famous historical figures were actually fellow human beings who suffered the same frustrations as anybody else.
   
   When Thomas strayed from his historian role, I found the book less satisfying. He puts Lee on the couch, psychoanalyzing his thoughts about God and his relationships with his ne'er-do-well father, self-sacrificing mother, crabby wife, and underachieving kids. I saw precious little evidence for some of Thomas's conclusions.
   
   Similarly, I was shocked at the harsh and unsympathetic portrait that Thomas paints of Mary Lee. I was disturbed to realize that Thomas cherry-picked quotes from both Robert and Mary's letters to make Mary look bad, and I wonder why it was so important to him to do so.

1 comments about William Bradford: Plymouth's Faithful Pilgrim.

1. I chose this book to round out a study of the early colonies for my 4th and 6th grade boys. I would say it is geared more for 7th grade and up. But since I read it to them I could explain some of the things that they did not understand right off. I was extremely pleased with how Mr. Schmidt rendered Brandford's, "Of Plymouth Plantation" into a useable and understandable text for today's reader.
   After reading this book I feel cheated in my education as to the true lives of the original Pilgrims. All the hardships that they faced year after year.
   As much as I learned in school, it would be like explaining "The Lord of the Rings" as, A hobbit named Frodo recieved a special ring and was told to destroy it. He found some friends to help him, together they faced much danger, but in the end it was destroyed.
   The book is a very thorough explanation, with many quotes, of the hardships the Separatists faced before they came, as they came, and after they arrived. I was amazed at the fortitude of the Pilgrims in general. I don't believe many people today would have held on to their faith or striven against such unjustices with such faithfulness and patience.
   I will definetly be using this book again in the future. It was an excellent primary source.

5 comments about John Brown (Modern Library Classics).

1. If you want to learn about John Brown's life and thought, and about the context and impact of his raid on Harper's Ferry, you should read historian David. S. Reynolds's "John Brown: Abolitionist", a passionate, dispassionate biography of the man and his times. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote his biography of Brown in 1909, at a time when Jim Crow ruled even the profession of history and when Brown was almost universally scorned as a madman and a fanatic. Du Bois wrote of him as a Promethean hero, the "necessary man' of American history. In doing so, he was not the revisionist. Rather, he was reviving the perception of Brown that had prevailed during the Civil War, the perception cultivated by the Transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau and by the poets Whitman and Melville. Du Bois's biography is more an eloquent mythic epitaph than a work of simple scholarship. To read it is to understand Du Bois and the demands of African-Americans for respect and social justice, projected onto the one 'white' man of the antebellum Land of the Slave who sincerely shared his humanity with "black" men and women. Du Bois is an eloquent writer; his final chapter, on the Legacy of John Brown, is addressed to the segregationists and colonialists of his own era, but its appeal for justice - sadly - is as pertinent now as then. Here are Du Bois's concluding sentences:
   
   "John Brown taught us that the cheapest price to pay for liberty is its cost today. The building of barriers against the advance of Negro-Americans hinders but in the end cannot altogether stop their progress.... Nor can the efficiency of gree as an economic developer be proven -- it may hasten development but it does so at the expense of solidity of structure, smoothness of motion, and real efficiency. Nor does selfish exploitation help the underdeveloped; rather it hinders and weakens them.
   "It is now a full century since this white-hired old man lay weltering in the blood which he spilled for broken and despised humanity. Let the nation which he loved and the South to which he spoke, reverently listen again today to those words, as prophetic now as then:
   "'You had better -- all you people of the South -- prepare yourslves for a settlement of this question. It must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it, and the sooner you commence that preparation, the better for you. You may dispose of me very easily -- I am nearly disposed of now; but this question is still to be settled -- this Negro question, I mean. The end of that is not yet.'"



2. Please note that the substance of the following review has been
   used in the review of Stephen Oates's book To Purge This Land in Blood reviewed elsewhere (click see all my reviews). Both books offer a good prospective on the life of John Brown and can be profitably read together. Dubois's book is a decent historical narrative of Brown's life from an earlier time and in a more partisan perspective. Oates book reflects more modern academic methods of analysis and research and tackles the weaknesses in other interpretations. In that sense, Oates book is close to the definitive study of John Brown's life. Most importantly, both books reflect a Northern view of Brown exploits previously long absent from the historical record. My review reflects the need to study an important American fighter for justice and for today's generation to learn some lessons from his life.
   
   
   I would like to make a few comments on the role of Captain John Brown and his struggle at Harper's Ferry in 1859 in the history of the black liberation struggle. This appropriate as I am writing this review during Black History Month of 2006. Unfortunately John Brown continues to remain one of the very few white heroes of the struggle for black liberation.
   
   From fairly early in my youth I knew the name John Brown and was swept up by the romance surrounding his exploits at Harpers Ferry. For example, I knew that the great anthem of the Civil War -The Battle Hymn of the Republic had a prior existence as a tribute to John Brown. I, however, was then neither familiar with the import of his exploits for the black liberation struggle nor knew much about the specifics of the politics of the various tendencies in the struggle against slavery. I certainly knew nothing then of Brown's (and his sons) prior military exploits in the Kansas wars against the expansion of slavery. If one understands the ongoing nature of his commitment to struggle one can only conclude that his was indeed a man on a mission. Those exploits also render absurd a very convenient myth about his `madness'. This is a political man and to these eyes a very worthy one. In the context of the turmoil of the times he was only the most courageous and audacious revolutionary in the struggle against the abolition of slavery in America.
   
   Whether or not John Brown knew that his strategy would, in the short term, be defeated is a matter of dispute. Reams of paper have been spent proving the military foolhardiness of his scheme at Harper's Ferry. This missing the essential political point that militant action not continuing parliamentary maneuvering advocated by other abolitionists had become necessary. What is not in dispute is that Brown considered himself a true Calvinist avenging angel in the struggle against slavery and more importantly acted on that belief. In short, he was committed to bring justice to the black masses. This is why his exploits and memory stay alive after over 150 years.
   
   Brown and his small integrated band of brothers fought bravely and coolly against great odds. Ten of Brown's men were killed including two of his sons. Five were captured, tried and executed, including Brown. These results are almost inevitable when one takes up a revolutionary struggle against the old order and one is not victorious. One need only think of, for example, the fate of the defenders of the Paris Commune in 1871. One can fault Brown on this or that tactical maneuver. Nevertheless he and the others bore themselves bravely in defeat. As we are all too painfully familiar there are defeats of the oppressed that lead nowhere. One thinks of the defeat of the Chinese Revolution in the 1920's. There other defeats that galvanize others into action. This is how Brown's actions should be measured by history.
   
   Militarily defeated at Harpers Ferry, Brown's political mission to destroy slavery by force of arms nevertheless continued to galvanize important elements in the North at the expense of the pacifistic non-resistant Garrisonian political program for struggle against slavery. Many writers on Brown who reduce his actions to that of a `madman' still cannot believe that his road proved more appropriate to end slavery than either non-resistance or gradualism. That alone makes short shrift of such theories. Historians and others have misinterpreted later events such as the Bolshevik strategy which led to Russian Revolution in October 1917. More recently, we saw this same incomprehension concerning the victory of the Vietnamese against overwhelming military superior forces. Needless to say, all these events continue to be revised by some historians to take the sting out of there proper political implications.
   
   
   From a modern prospective Brown's strategy for black liberation, even if the abolitionist goal he aspired to was immediately successful reached the outer limits within the confines of capitalism. Brown's actions were meant to make black people free. Beyond that goal he had no program. Unfortunately the Civil War did not provide fundamental economic and political freedom. That is still our fight. Moreover, the Civil War, the defeat of Radical Reconstruction, the reign of `Jim Crow' and the subsequent waves of black migration to the cities changed the character of black oppression in the U.S.from Brown's time. Black people are now a part of "free labor," and the key to their liberation is in the integrated fight of labor and its allies to establish a government in the intersts of working people. And as Malcolm X said by whatever means it takes Nevertheless, we can stand proudly in the revolutionary tradition of John Brown (and of his friend Frederick Douglass). We need to complete the unfinished democratic tasks of the Civil War, not by emulating Brown's exemplary actions but to moving the multi-racial American working class to power. We must know our history. Read this book and find out why.



3. The story of John Brown depicts the life of the famous abolitionist as a loving father of more than a dozen children, husband, and anti-slavery hero. His plots at Harper's Ferry and Kansas are described in great depth, making you feel as if you were a part of his heroic effort to abolish slavery.
   From his youth when he first encounters a slave, to his brave efforts to save Kansas, up until his death as a martyr he is portrayed as the very passionate man. While reading, I especially enjoyed the interactions John Brown had with other abolitionists. In particular, the first time he meets Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass and Brown's first encounter is in Brown's house, John's tells Douglass of his plans at Harper's Ferry. Douglass says of Brown, " some men made such display of rigid virtue, I should have rejected it as affected, false, and hypocritical, but in John Brown, I felt it to be real as iron or granite." It was neat to see that such celebrated people had so much respect for one another.
   The numerous quotes and references make it seem as though you are sitting in the same room as the famed abolitionist. However, with all the dates, people and places it is easy to lose track of everything.
   Du Bois's biography is perfect for the history buff or anyone who is studying the Civil War in general and I highly recommend it. Read it to find out the truth behind the failed revolt at Harper's Ferry and learn more about a man who shaped our country.



4. John Brown is often times overlooked as one of America's greatest heroes. His raid on Harper's Ferry was one of the most influential causes for the outbreak of the Civil War. Although the immediate effects of the war were greatly devastating, it hurtled the U.S. over the slavery issue and forward into the future.
   
   Du Bois's biography gives a lengthy & descriptive account of the rebel's life and touched on a lot of info that I was unaware of. Definitely a must-buy for all those studying John Brown specifically, or the Civil War in general.



5. good book. he uses a lot of good quotes directly from john brown. recommended

5 comments about Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy.

1. Robert Kennedy is one of my heroes. I believe his death did not take away the meaning of his life, which is excellently expressed in this book. I have about 20 books on RFK and this is my runaway favorite. If you own only it should be this; you will learn everything you need to know about how and why he lived his life.



2. I liked this book. I give this book 5 stars. This book gave me the chance to read some of his thoughts that he had recorded in his personal journal(daybook). One quote that I really liked is " I know there is a God and that he hates injustice. I see the storm coming and I see His hand in it. If He has a place and part for me, I am ready". For me, it has renewed my sense that I as well as my country need to get up from the sleep or the spell we our under that has led us down the wrong path, and get active again in trying to get this country on the right path.



3. This is an excellent selection of Robert F. Kennedy's words. It's amazing how applicable RFK's ideas are to our own times.



4. Anyone who is ever at a point in their life where they are doing any type of soul-searching would find the thoughts and words expressed here invaluable. After experiencing the worst tragedy, Robert Kennedy makes an incredible change....inside and then outside. Those of us who were not alive or old enough to remember do have books and videos to try and tell us his story. But his son goes beyond that and really gives us something more by sharing all the ideas that made up the man.
   
   If you are looking for info about RFK, well, you'll get something here....BUT...even more, this book will help you grow and become a better human being...and maybe even become that "tiny ripple of hope" in your world.



5. For those who missed the time in which those now called "Reagan Democrats" and those opposed to the ongoing war in Vietnam were inspired by the same voice, especially who cannot even begin to imagine how that could be, this small book is a must-read that will enable you to experience what is possible through inspiring [rather than angry divisive cynical] leadership.
   
   Some quotes from the book, which seems as if it could have been written this morning:
   
   "An understanding of what America really stands for is going to count far more than missiles, aircraft carriers, and supersonic bombers."
   
   "Insurgency aims not at the conquest of territory but at the allegiance of man. ... Counterinsurgency might best be described as social reform under pressure...any effort that becomes pre-occupied with gadgets and techniques and force is doomed to failure."
   
   "Thus does false principle destroy the credibility of our wisdom and purpose that is the true foundation of influence as a world power."
   
   "America was a great force in the world, with immense prestige, long before we became a great military power. That power has come to us and we cannot renounce it, but neither can we afford to forget that the real constructive force in the world comes not from bombs but from imaginative ideas, warm sympathies, and a generous spirit.
   These are qualities that cannot be manufactured by specialists in public relations.
   They are the natural qualities of a people pursuing decency and human dignity in its own undertakings without arrogance or hostility or delusions of superiority toward others, a people whose ideals for others are firmly rooted in the realities of the society we have build for itself."
   
   "Whatever the costs to us, let us think of the young men we have sent there: not just the killed, but those who have to kill; not just the maimed, but those who must look upon the results of what they do."
   
   [AND, to remind us not to sink into frustrated despair at our current mean-spirited divisive administration, RFK's words spoken in courage during the dark days of Apartheid in South Africa:]
   "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
   
   "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of those acts will be written the history of this generation."

5 comments about The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Einstein, Second Edition.

1. Einstein was a little boy with a big brain who never quite grew up. Thank gosh! His curiosity never waned and he continued to ask tough Physics questions that many other Physicists wouldn't touch.
   
   Einstein's ability to create "Thought Experiments" set him apart from many others and helped him change the face of Physics. He explored space, time, matter, relativity, quantum particles, the big bang and came up with concepts that Physicists are still scratching their heads over.
   
   The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Einstein by Gary Moring is an excellent introduction to this amazing human and his accomplishments. The book also explores many major scientific developments and other prominent Physicists. In the end of each chapter there is a:"The Least You Need to Know" section which is very helpful...especially with this material!
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking



2. Understanding Einstein almost sounds like an oxymoron. Is it really possible to understand one of the most brilliant people of the 20th century? Well, this book goes a long way in trying to provide the reader with an understanding of Einstein and his contributions to science and other areas of human endeavor. The author places Einstein in the context of our unfolding history of ideas as seen from the perspectives of science, psychology and philosophy, just to name a few. Since the "Idiot Guide" series are meant to be introductions to topics and not graduate level thesis', I was amazed at how much material was actually covered in a book of this kind. Being a big fan of Einstein's and having read most books out there about him, this book goes a long way in bringing together a wide diversity of material available on his theories and life. His most important discoveries ae cleary explained and even his shortcomings are touched upon. Like the author's other book on the "Theories of the Universe", he brings an interdisciplinary approach to the material, that always gives you more than just either his theories or biographical material. You will definitely be much closer to "understanding" Einstein after you read this book.



3. "Understanding Einstein" attempts to cover major scientific developments from Aristotle to post-Einstein, as well as details of Einstein's life - all in 432 pages! Clearly anyone but a COMPLETE IDIOT would know this is not possible in any meaningful way - especially one attempting to understand relativity.
   
   Material is mostly presented as givens, with little/no insight as to the "Why?" Further, even the examples used are not necessarily correct.
   
   Example 1: Einstein's conclusion that acceleration and gravity are equivalent is first postulated, and the example utilized (a moving spaceship in which light from outside hits the spaceship's interior at a lower level - ergo it is bent by gravity - is a non sequitur because the spaceship need not be accelerating for this to occur.
   
   Example 2: Moring mentions a glitch in Mercury's orbit that is not explained by Newtonian mechanics, but is by Einstein's gravitational mathematics. That's all - no details, no insight, no understanding, and no value.
   
   Example 3: Moring ends up referencing post-Einstein theories that assert variations in the speed of light, contrary to Einstein. That's all we get - no explanation or resolution. Further, the book doesn't even reference recent experiments that have brought light to a complete stop, or attempt how this meshes with Einstein.
   
   Bottom Line: Read something else if you want to understand much of anything in the physical sciences.



4. I haven't finished the whole book, but it is already my favorite. It is a trip through history. The author builds science theory, and discovery through the ages, social climates, and general thinking in the given era. It's a great quick reference for scientist, and dates of discoveries. I highly recommend this book for anyone interest in digging deeper in to science. It is fascinating.



5. Positive: A fairly easy read, well written.
   Good biographical material dealing with Einstein's work, social, and political views.
   Non-mathematical accounts of general & special theory of relativity, and quantum theory.
   
   Negative: discursive, somewhat superficial accounts of the history of physics.
   The thread of the author's arguments are frequently lost through his excursions into philosophy, religion, and the psychology of the unconscious. Some of this is pretty superficial and the comnnecttions made between these fields and contemporary physics is, in my opinion, a real stretch.
   The discussion of time and relativity is at times confusing because the distinction between the observer and the event is not made clear.

5 comments about Joshua and Isadora: A True Tale of Loss and Love in the Holocaust.

1. This is a true story of the author's grandparents' determination to survive in the face of horrible conditions during World War II and their desperate efforts to hold on to their families, their dignity, their hope for a future. It is a loving retelling of their stories by their grandson against the backdrop of his travels to the same places they had journeyed through, struggling towards freedom and security. This is a beautifully written, absorbing tale of their two journeys, separated by 60 years and extraordinary hardships. Definitely worth reading.



2. Benanav is a talented writer, turning a family history and personal journey into a page-turning adventure. He helps the reader understand the horror of the era, yet does so without sounding either maudlin or unsympathetic: a delicate balancing act made all the more difficult given the family connections. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book.



3. This was an incredibly heartfelt book. It was extremely informative and added some new thoughts about how tenacious and courageous these people were. It was flawlessly written.
   
   Michael Benanav is a gifted young writer. His compassionate writing of this story made it a wonderful reading experience about a time in history that should NEVER be forgotten.
   
   KL



4. A chronicle of the author's grandparents who were married in a refugee train en-route from the Nazis, without speaking a language in common. True life fairy tale? Uplifting tale of people recovering from incredible oppression? Really it's so much more than this. This book is part history lesson, as the roots of European Jewry are explained, part travelogue, as the author travels to the places his grandparents were, and part historical narrative, the personal thread that ran through Europe convulsing during the war.
   
   Joshua, Isadora, and several generations are given life as real people. Foibles when the young grandmother gets into a horse-drawn carriage accident while sneaking out for sweets. Heroic moments when a Jewish school is set up against a backdrop of pogroms and discrimination. Questionable decisions when disassembled weapons are hidden beneath the baby father of the author's bedding as British soldiers come searching. Heartwarming moments when children forge friendships in fetid refugee camps. A nuanced view of a now gone Europe is presented without easy moralizing. The same peasants that ransack corpses as they fall out of forced marches provide a starving young girl with life saving food. Life in concentration camps is presented starkly. Skill with sewing uniforms brings double rations and points out the absurdity of who lived and who died.
   
   The book is mindful to be honest about the limitations of being based on old memories forged during difficult times. Ways that reality could have differed from recollection are noted. This breathes humanity into the people who made these memories. It makes them less idealized icons who shined at their moment in history, and more humans doing their best in a difficult time.
   
   It is a pleasure to be welcomed into the life of the author and introduced to the people in his history. This is really a magnificent work.



5. A sad story beautifully written by a loving grandson. All very true and actuate. Very touching.

5 comments about The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody: Great Figures of History Hilariously Humbled.

1. When I was in college, on vacation, I ran into a new paperback of "Decline." I loved it. It was the first book I ever read where I looked forward to reading the footnotes.
   
   As others have observed, the book is a series of essays of historic figures, but all observed from a humorous perspective. Starting to read any essay makes most hooked, and they just have to read another and another until the book is mostly devoured. Others have taken an iconoclastic view of historic figures, but this adds humor that makes it memorable.
   
   My favorite footnote of the entire book concerns Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. After pointing out that his wife, Olympias, had a thing for snakes, Cuppy notes, "Having real snakes at home does an alcoholic no good. It just complicates matters." Fantastic!
   
   Will Cuppy has written a number of books, but this is a high point. Anyone who wants to gain a good perspective of historic figures as being human, this is a good introduction.
   
   I have given many copies to friends as presents. Nodody who got one was disappointed.



2. Something for everyone from streetwise to suede patched elbows.
   Whodathunk? Pithy LOL footnotes? It is a valuable lesson on how one has to be disciplined before breaking away from conventional frameworks.
   You'll laugh at the first footnote thinking you perhaps misread it
   or surmise in awe of the incredible double entendre within the intellectual capacity of the latter day bard named Will.



3. This is the first book about which I've felt compelled to write a review, which means that I loved it! I came across an old hardback copy in a local bookstore as I was looking for worthwhile history books for my trivia whiz daughter to study. Within a minute I was laughing out loud (Christopher Columbus was the page I flipped it open to) and disturbing the other bookstore customers. My first thought was, "I didn't think that anyone from the 50s had a sense of humor, or at least one that i can appreciate!" I love the footnotes; Mr Cuppy obviously spent some time on this tome. My only complaint: I wish it were 5 times as thick with information. To that end I am now going to look for more Will Cuppy books. Any recommendations?



4. It is the funniest History lesson one can ever hope to get. I wish I had Cuppy as my high school teacher. My brother and I would not have skipped school to hang out in the railroad station. From Pericles to Attila the Hun to Charlemagne to Nero to the Sun King all reduced to ordinary average Joe, making a living as an emperor, conqueror or just your garden variety Pope of the Dark Age. Every sentence is dripping with irony, sarcasm and is laugh out loud funny. I read it while flying 30,000 feet cross country and could not control myself laughing and my wife disowned me while deplaning.
   
   Just go buy this book. No need to thank me.



5. This book is historically accurate, funny, satirical, informative, entertaining - in a single word "wonderful". It has been an inspiration to me. When I found out that there was no more Willy Cuppy I was so disappointed that I started my own series on Famous Folks. I have temporarily entitled my book Hobo Notes on Famous Folks.
   Obviously I loved the idea and the style of Willy Cuppy. Of course Will is much smarter than I am, but hopefully I can make up for my inadequacy in other ways.
   Willy inspires me to sit down and start writing as does Robert Service and Mark Twain.
   You can't miss with anything by Willy Cuppy - this is probably his most well known publication.

5 comments about A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence.

1. While searching for literature on the man in the movie `Lawrence of Arabia', otherwise unknown to me other than knowing him as the brother of D.H. Lawrence, I stumbled across this most authoritative biography on the man who David Lean so magnificently portrayed in his film. He is one of the men who could be placed in par with other great leaders of Britain during the early part of the 20th century.
   
   While Lawrence's autobiography, `Seven Pillars of Wisdom' gives gory picture of his life in the desert and his adventurous war campaigns, Mack's book gives more insight into the man's psyche just as Judith Brown did on Gandhi in her book `Gandhi - A Prisoner of hope'. His many questionable traits (exhibitionism, homosexual tendancies, overemphasis of his achievements) are wonderfully analyzed with information gleaned from tons of historical materials. While the west looked at him as a great war commander (though some question his contributions during the great desert wars), the east, even the people who worked with him, do not consider him as a man who helped Arabs gain their freedom from Turks other than agreeing to the fact that he helped king Faisel in wars.
   
   Lawrence's genius is considered twined with his behavioral disorder, a not so common association among people who have schizophrenic symptoms except may be for rare cases of autistic geniuses like Peter Guthrie (not the Scottish mathematician but a not so well-known artist). There have been debates during his later years as whether Lawrence was in fact an autistic. At any rate, as reflected in one of his most famous quotes, he was a `dangerous' daydreamer who dreamt with open eyes and made things happen unlike night dreamers who dream in their dusty recesses of their minds only to wake up in the morning to see they are vain.
   
   T.E. Lawrence's life and his untimely death (by motorbike accident) left us with lot of questions as who was he and what was he doing in the middle east and what made him to completely depart from the politics of middle east and lead a secluded life of 23 years in the Royal Air Force (not forgetting his contributions to the invention of new types of speed boats). His appearances in Arab's traditional attire in Versailles during 1919 Paris Peace Conference with the King Faisel and with other western dignitaries draw a stark similarity with Gandhi's appearance in loin cloth and shawl during the Round Table Conference at London. Though Faisal trusted him as his benevolent, he did not entrust Lawrence completely as he always thought him as a British spy.
   
   I would suggest anyone who is inquisitive of T.E. Lawrence, also see David Lean's much acclaimed epic motion picture `Lawrence of Arabia'. If the movie `Lawrence of Arabia' captivated me, Mack's biography enthralled me with its abundance of well researched information. As with any other great men, Lawrence's life also is worth researching into. And these biographers are the ones who make legends live and help sustain the new generations' interest on these great people. A great biographical work!
   
   Mere coincidence or not, John E. Mack died of a car accident in New York in 2004.



2. I have now read several books both on T.E. Lawrence, the Middle East, World War I and English governmental history. This is by far the best biography on T.E. Lawrence and the situation in the Middle East that I have read. John Mack did an outstanding job of researching Lawrence for this book. One of the most interesting sections of the book was reading the endnotes. They provide even more information about Mack's research as well as to clarify some previous misstatements about Lawrence.
   
   Although Lawrence suffered greatly from depression and other disorders he was a truly great man. That he was able to be an outstanding friend to so many people while enduring personal suffering is amazing. John Mack portrays Lawrence in an honest light which actually makes Lawrence and his achievements all the more spectacular because of his personal struggles.
   
   John Mack's biography shows us that great people are not perfect nor does their greatness make them happy. He also shows that people who, if truth were know, live outside of societies norms can do world changing things and be loved by society. Lawrence seemed to have been very accepting of all people, other than himself.
   
   To call Lawrence's life tragic in some way diminishes his accomplishments. Was Lawrence a great man because of his problems or in spite of his problems? I think that Lawrence was capable of being a legend because of his problems. The psychological struggles he endured were who he was. Society is so quick to discount a person because of psychological problems, whether they are great people or not. If society were honest with itself, it would realize that everyone has some problem or other. Some, as Lawrence was, are open (relatively) and honest about their problems while most choose to act as if they don't exist.
   
   Winston Churchill, a contemporary of Lawrence's, also suffered greatly from depression and probably some other things as well. Churchill was also hero and a legend and was largely responsible for keeping the world free from Nazi Germany when few noticed the threat or appropriately dealt with it.
   
   It appears to me, that the greater the leader and the more astounding his or her abilities, the more "different" they are from what society believes is normal. A good thought to ponder.
   
   John Mack does an excellent job of providing a well-documented biography of T.E. Lawrence as well as an outline of his psychological makeup. Mack does not claim to understand Lawrence or to explain every behavior. I had expected to read more of a detailed psychological report and was, at first, a bit disappointed. However, the longer I read the more apparent it was that Mack was portraying Lawrence's personality through an accurate telling of his story rather than trying to lecture on "who Lawrence really was" and "why he did everything he did". John Mack also did not fall into the overly Freudian theory that Lawrence did everything because of sex. Sex obviously played a role in his psychology but did not appear to be the overriding theme.



3. Dr. John Mack's study of Lawrence is one of the most absorbing reads I've ever enjoyed in my lifetime. As Irving Howe wrote, "What finally draws one to Lawrence, making him not merely an exceptional figure, but a representative man of our century, is his courage and vulnerability in bearing the burden of consciousness." The impact that the trial by fire in Arabia appears to have had on his post-war life is shocking, and teaches us once again not to envy our great heroes. Lawrence wrote of General Allenby that great men cannot be judged by ordinary standards, anymore than the sharpness of the bow of an ocean liner can be judged by the sharpness of a razor. After reading "A Prince of Our Disorder," I recognize now that Lawrence was probably thinking of himself while writing those kind words about his former master, asking that he not be be judged by his hidden afflictions, torments, and self-doubts, all the while laying out those same imperfections for all the world to read. Lawrence warned us,"The documents are liars ... No man ever yet tried to write down the entire truth of any action in which he has been engaged." No man is truly capable of understanding his own subconscious motivations, but I doubt that anyone has ever struggled harder than Lawrence to achieve self-understanding. We will have to try to read between the lines, learn what we can, and apply that knowledge to enrich our own poor lives.
   
   So sad for all of us that our leaders are not of the same introspective type. Dr. Mack comments in his introduction that "The destructive leader, and the eagerness of a large segment of the population to identify with him, comprise one of the central threats -- if not the greatest threat -- that faces human society. There is perhaps an increasing unwillingness to entrust our well-being and our lives to individuals and characters we do not understand and whose ultimate purposes we are ignorant of." Let's hope so.
   
   Jeremy Wilson's massive biography "Lawrence of Arabia" may better satisfy military readers interested in extensive contemporary document citations, and includes much more detail on Lawrence's Cairo years. Wilson also has a better set of photographs. The 1922 Oxford full text of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," edited by Jeremy and Nicole Wilson and available from Castle Hill Press in the UK, is most highly recommended to all who find "T.E.L." fascinating.



4. For years, I have studied the life and works of T. E. Lawrence. My research has lead me across the pages of hundreds of books including his own Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but the best biography and analysis of Lawrence I have yet encountered is A Prince of Our Disorder.

   Dr. Mack's thorough examination and explanation of the effect of Lawrence's childhood on his adult life and mentality is brilliant. Instead of merely stating his opinions, he touches on those of other biographers as well and then proceeds to state how and why he feels they are accurate or inaccurate, providing quotes from military reports, other Lawrence books, interviews with Lawrence's relatives and friends, and Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

   If you read A Prince of Our Disorder, I can almost 100% gaurantee that you will have a better understanding of Lawrence's personal role in the Hejaz Campaign and the lasting effects of his experiences in Arabia on him physically and psychologically. Thankfully, it is beautifully written, and not at all confusing.

   From the moment Mack "introduces" you to Lawrence you will have a desire to learn more about him, and as Mack walks you through his troubled life, you will feel pity and awe for this untouchable man.

   I think that A Prince of Our Disorder clarifies the line between the legend of the indestructable, hero-Lawrence and the lost, soul-searching man Lawrence really was.




5. I've been studying the life of Lawrence nearly all of my own 50 years, since I was thirteen. I've read and reread all I could find about him, especially his own Seven Pillars of Wisdom. How refreshing it was to read Professor Mack's excellent book which covers so much more than I'd ever found before and with surprisingly brilliant insight. A fresh look at this enigmatic figure with modern eyes and a richer understanding. A great read.

5 comments about Shakespeare: The Biography.

1. I'm surprised by the number of five-star reviews: I feel I'm being rather generous with four. This "biography" is a collection of very short chapters dealing with aspects of Elizabethan life nominally connected with specific periods or events of Shakespeare's life--aspects political, economic, cultural, religious, moral, aesthetic, economic, literary, theatrical, architectural, sartorial, legal, familial, pedagogical, erotic, hygienic, pathological, psychological, sociological, and linguistic (among others). Some of this is quite interesting: I found the book generally held my interest. But these lucubrations--they often amount to a kind of noodling--are almost never tied to a real argument, and while they sometimes seem to enlighten, they rarely allow a strong sense of a Shakespearian personality to coalesce.
   
   Still, I'm grateful to Ackroyd for some insights, among them: the collective, open-ended nature of the process of composition as well as of the performance of the plays; the influence of legal education and practice upon Elizabethan theater in general and Shakespeare's work in particular; the improvisational nature of his writing; they way in which the plays' unity is often mainly a matter of language and image rather than theme.



2. Peter Ackroyd is the greatest living biographer. Simple as that. Unfortunately, this is probably his least satisfying biography. This is not to say that the book is not an enjoyable read, for it most assuredly is. But it is not up to Ackroyd's usually outstanding snuff.
   Part of the reason for this is that there is so little evidence of Shakespeare's life available to the researcher beyond the plays themselves. We just don't know that much. Mr. Ackroyd also presents the book in numerous very brief chapters, which tends to make the work choppy, and lends itself to occasional repetition.
   Still, the book is well worth the effort. Ackroyd's prose remains a rich, sumptuous meal, highly satisfying, yet easily digested. As the evidence is so thin, Ackroyd frequently speculates about what Shakespeare may have done, or what he may have been thinking at any given time. One gets the impression that Mr. Ackroyd's speculations are right on target. The book gives tremendous insight into what life was like in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This is probably its greatest strength.
   In short, Shakespeare: The Biography is an excellent book. It's just not quite as excellent as what I've been used to with Peter Ackroyd.



3. Of course, any biography of Shakespeare is mostly a biography of Renaissance England, since so little is known of his actual life, but Ackroyd pulls together every scrap of fact and weaves it all together in a way that makes the era and the man full of life and energy. He uses a lot of "evidence" from the plays, but that's okay. Did Shakespeare follow the dictum "write what you know?" I loved this biography; I feel like I know Shakespeare the man as well as I possibly can! (I listened to it on CD; very well done.)
   Bobbye Larson



4. The following is a review of the Audiobook version of Peter Ackroyd's "Shakespeare: The Biography" read by Simon Vance.
   
   The hallmark of a good biography is the author's ability to breathe life into both his subject and the time and place his subject lived. It isn't enough to tell the story of a man if you fail to put that man in his proper context Peter Ackroyd has a gift for bringing both his subject (for example, see The Life of Thomas More) and a time and place (for example, see London: The Biography) alive.
   
   In "Shakespeare: The Biography" Ackroyd brilliant re-creates the milieu of both Stratford-on-Avon and London by culling a great deal of source material. Ackroyd captures both the startling seditious plots against Elizabeth I as well as the mundane land transfers and legal court cases of the day.
   
   In rendering Shakespeare, Ackroyd makes amply sure the reader is aware that there is not much material (other than his collected works) to which to draw from. When Ackroyd is positing a hypothesis about the whereabouts or the attitudes of Shakespeare, he alerts the reader that he is doing so. He provides the evidence for which he posits his hypothesis and even offers alternatives and allows the reader to choose.
   
   "Shakespeare: The Biography" turns out to be just as much a "biography" of the collected works of Shakespeare as it is a biography of the man. All of Shakespeare's "accepted" works are represented and some it is speculated that he wrote.
   
   The narration by Simon Vance is phenomenal. By the end, I easily concluded that if Simon Vance were to read the local phone book, I would probably listen to it. Vance's voice is clear and distinct. His diction is spot on.
   
   All in all, I would highly recommend "Shakespeare: The Biography" in any format you could get your hands on.



5. A very readable book that perhaps repeats what thewriter believed to be shakespeare's many facets and qualities. Chapters are very short and invite the reader to carry on reading. It is an easy read book, filled with lots of fascinating information and one that i would recommend to someone wanting not just to find out a lot about Shakespeare but someone who wanted him set into his slot in history.