5 comments about Angela's Ashes: A Memoir.

1. i have heard about this book for years and decided to pick it up at my paperback exchange store. i can't finish it. am a third of the way through, and it's all the same- poverty, starving children, abusive catholic teachers, alcoholic father, dead tired mother. it's just events. no character, nothing to grab onto. it's heartbreaking that this is life in so many places for so many people. but i already know that and see it. and contribute to help. i don't think it's worthy of a prize, it just seems a rambling narrative and nothing more. conditions like this need action, not reporting.



2. I'd definitely recommend this to a friend. I might even re-read it since it has been a couple years.



3. Written with verve and plenty of style, plus inundated with a lot of dark humour. This is a modern Dickens-like autobiography of poverty first in New York and then in Ireland. This is no sociological study and there is little self-pathos - thankfully. Much of their poverty would have been alleviated if their father was not drowning in pubs. If there is anyone despicable in this story it is Frank's father - a man who father's children with no moral rectitude for their upbringing. But the remainder of the family battle onward and not necessarily upward - at the end the author is back in New York with a new life to begin.
   
   All the characters are colourfully depicted. The poverty, more so at the beginning, is rather unrelenting. When the author enters school his world begins to diversify. Some of the anecdotes (particularly the sexual ones) do seem apocryphal.
   
   In Ireland, as one character narrates, the Irish dancing style is akin to having a `pole up your arse'. This restrictive dancing becomes a metaphor for the country which is plagued by tribalism and Catholic indoctrination. Fortunately the author sees beyond this limited horizon and we have a magnificent story.



4. Book was in excellent shape. As described in listing. Shipped quickly & reasonably. Great deal!



5. I'm an avid reader, and after much critical and popular acclaim, I read Angela's Ashes, and was not disappointed. By now most people know what the story is about. I for one didn't love the style in which it was written, almost as a stream of consciousness, with not much use for puncutation and I found that distracting at first. It written in the first person present tense, which I agree with other reviews gives the reader the notion that this is happening now, and the events are described to you through the eyes and voice of this child.
   I came away with the impression that Angela is the reluctant hero in the boy's eyes. She was not, it seemed to be, a mother who moved mountains with her sheer will and determination for her family, but rather she did what had to be done, knowing there was noone else who would do it besides her, since her husband was an alcoholic who could not keep down a job for very long and drank what little money he made. I found curious the comment that young Frankie made about how they may not have had enough money to buy a little food, but that "Mam always had her" cigarettes. I also found it interesting that Frankie didn't make similar comments about his father. He speaks of his father as if he understands he is a broken man, and that he doesn't mean to disappoint his family, that he doesn't intentionally do the things he does. Frankie reminisces fondly of the time he spends with his father on his lap, listeneing to his very imaginative stories, or spending time with him early in the morning before everyone else gets up, so he has his father all to himself. He never speaks of his mother that way, and I wonder why. Is it because he knows his mother is too consumed with misery and worry over where their next barely adequate meal will come from, where the rent money will come from, to be able to enjoy such moments with her children? I suppose that's what we are meant to infer. I didn't appreciate the ending, the not knowing what happens to his mother and his brothers after Frankie leaves for America. It seemed rather abrupt the way the novel ended, with him saving enough money for his boat trip to America. We don't know what becomes of him afterwards, but i suppose that's so we will buy the next book 'Tis.
   All in all, I did enjoy this memoir. It is an uplifting story, one that should make 90% of us in this country hug our children closer and thank God in Heaven that we didn't share Frank McCourt's background.

5 comments about The Royals.

1. It's a good read, but it's obvious that Ms. Kelley has bought into the woe-is-me victimization ploy used by the former Princess of Wales that nearly brought down the British monarchy. Being an American, I admit to a certain curiosity and wonder when thinking of the Royals. I was almost seventeen when the former Princess of Wales was killed in Paris and while I was sad for the humanitarian and mother who had been in over her head with the royal establishment, I boasted no particular affinity for a woman whose face had saturated every tabloid paper for nearly a decade before that.
   
   Ms. Kelley has a style of writing that's very easy to get through, but once I got through it (having thoroughly enjoyed the experience as well), I found myself with questions as to sources. Ms. Kelley is obviously no fan of the Royal Family, aside from the afore-mentioned Princess of Wales and though she did occasionally refer to Diana's dark side (her continuing vindictiveness toward her ex-husband, her blatant ploys to turn her sons against their father, insinuating that Prince Charles is not fit to be King, her behavior to anyone who dared to call her out on her attention-whoring ways, her treatment of her stepmother following her father's death), she never once deviated from the erroneous supposition that the Princess of Wales was somehow "driven" to that level of vindictiveness in her private life.
   
   It was a very well-done, very enjoyable piece of historical fiction, emphasis on the fiction.



2. I enjoyed this book very much, I travel a great deal and therefore am very appreciative to good authors and only give five stars to those I believe tell a good story, have a great ending and have me wanting more. I don't always need all the sex or blood and gore, sometimes a romance, a love story or a drama is what I need. I highly recommend this book. And have recommended it to our book club in New York and Aspen,..I also recommend reading....The Boy He Loved - Obsession Into Darkness (Gay Suspense), Reflections In The Looking Glass - A Murder Mystery That Will Surprise you (Gay Murder Mystery), My Gay Socks (Gay Romance)and From Boys to Men (Gay Classic), you may also want to read,The Crane & Pelican (Gay Romance).



3. Kitty Kelly collected anecdotes about the Windsors, drawing on everyone who hated them. I bet she got most of the info from the guys who created the "Spitting Image" series.
   
   Kitty Kelly's books are great if you like cheap gossip at the National Inquirer level, and are a little too smart for the Weakly World News. Read this if you're stuck in an airport during a snowstorm.



4. If you ever wondered about how human the "Monarchy" of the U.K. is, here's a great answer. Imagine letting your close cousins die because of the inconvenience, changing your family name to avoid prejudice, and redefining what "integrity" means with "Because I said so."
   Wow- so good to be a mortal in the world and not a figurehead. Perhaps King William, if U.K. survives, will prove to be enlightened and not end up a social/party figure like so many descendants of the former European Royal Families.



5. This is fun and gossipy. Four stars considering the genre. I wish Kindle handled pictures better. I learned a lot of the German history of the family, which I didn't know. A really good history of British royalty is On Royalty: A Very Polite Inquiry into Some Strangely Related Families.

5 comments about All Souls: A Family Story from Southie.

1. The book looked like it was a college student text book with highlighting and pen marks. Not good condition.



2. I can`t tell you how the book is yet, because I haven`t started reading it. But a few of my friends & family members have, and said it is a VERY good book. This book was chosen by my son`s school ( High school) for required summer reading. Although he is not interested in reading it at all.
   As far as ordering, delivery & cost, no complants at all.



3. MacDonald's tale of a two-sided city is a compelling and unconventional love story. It is impossible not to become immersed in his story-telling and the world of Southie.
   
   Besides the love for his family, MacDonald relates his love for Southie. And like any relationship, it is complex, deep, and sometimes dysfunctional. He explores what it means to have a sense of place and belonging. As much as Southie is a place of pain for MacDonald, it is also so deeply ingrained in who he is that it is irresistible. I found his relationship and conflict with this city most fascinating.
   
   MacDonald's writing style is straightforward and unadorned. He tells it like it is, which I feel is appropriate for nonfiction, especially with the content he covers. The story-telling is still compelling. I clearly felt the anxiety, panic, and sense of suffocation that he battles with while growing up alongside the violence and depravity of Southie.
   
   MacDonald shows people at their best and worst. It is impossible not to be moved by the losses his family endures, by the strength and charm of his mother, by the manipulation of those in power, many of whom one should be able to trust, and by the long list of lives cut short.
   
   I have deep respect for MacDonald and his mother. They didn't just "get out." They broke the silence that held so many lives hostage, empowering them to feel and speak of their grief and to counteract the violence that reigned far too long as law.
   
   After reading this memoir, I have a new appreciation for the quiet, peaceful view out my front window where kids play safely in the street.



4. It took a week and a half to read through Michael Patrick MacDonald's "All Souls:" a week and three days to read up to the chapter titled "August," and one night to not be able to let go and have to finish a heart wrenching tale of life in Southie. MacDonald has brought Southie to life for those on the outside of that world, putting down to paper his observations of the best and worst that he grew up with in this Boston enclave.
   
   From the "August" chapter forward "All Souls" is unstoppable. This reviewer grew up north of Boston and daily heard the news reports of deaths in Boston's inner city areas. What MacDonald has done with "All Souls" is show that those victims had mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and friends who loved them and cared about them. Here in the story of MacDonald's growing up in Southie and the unraveling of his family the statistics become names, and the names become flesh and blood people whose time was tragically cut too short.
   
   "All Souls" isn't all heartbreak. The author also fondly recalls growing up in a very tightly-knit community in the 1970s, where kids ran around in groups that kept themselves endlessly self-entertained, not always with the best of activities--dumpster fire anyone?--but always with something to do. His childhood recalls a simpler time that any adult can relate to, a time when the world was seen through largely innocent eyes. An unforgettable memoir.



5. Although I grew up in Brooklyn, this book reminded me of my own childhood in many ways.It was almost like reading a well written account of our own large family,albiet with only a small fraction of the horrible tragedys that this family bravely endured.
   
   Great job Mr.Mc Donald.I really enjoyed it(as well as Easter Rising.) and look foward to your next book.

5 comments about Darwin (Norton Critical Editions) (3rd Edition).

1. The Norton Critical Edition of Darwin is superb. Besides ample collections of Darwin's writings, this work also includes scientific thought before Darwin; religious arguments for and against evolution; contemporary scientific attacks and praise for Darwin and his theories; glances at the political, social and economic impact that Darwin had; and many other topics. Phillip Appleman should be commended for editing this collection. While he makes no secret of his biases in favor of Darwin, Appleman also includes a great deal of material against Darwin. Appleman also includes a number of his poems and, in the third edition of his collection, produced a masterful essay about Darwin sightings in modern literature. When you get down to it, Darwin and his discoveries impacted just about everything and the Norton Critical Edition of Darwin reflects this. This is book can be read by anyone with an interest in science, the humanities, religion, and just about anything else Darwin impacted. This is a rare text which can be enjoyed and used inside and outside of the classroom. It holds a special place of honor on my bookshelf. Highest recommendation.



2. Thank you so much!!
   the item that i ordered has come in a really nice condition
   that i expected.
   thanks again.



3. I have not read the 2nd or 3rd editions of this book. But based on the table of contents that I have seen they are even better. Appleman does a great job of organizing the material. I've often thought that the amount of religious material was a little bit overwhelming. I will probably try to pick up the 3rd edition when I can because of the addtional material. One thing that I thought was a weak point of the first edition that came out in 1970 was that there was a serious lack of current scientific thought. That seems to have been shored up in the later editions and, with some New Humanists thrown in, I definitely think this would be a very good pick.



4. Natural selection is the idea that shaped a science and altered our understanding of life. It is also, unfortunately and too often, misunderstood and/or used to justify moral beliefs. This book, edited admirably by Philip Appleman serves two purposes. First, the reader is given Darwin's idea of evolution and the context in which it developed, from the scientific environment before the publication of "The Origin of Species" to selections from Darwin's various works. Second, there are a number of excerpts that show how natural selection influenced later thought. This includes not just the fields of science and theology, but also sociology, philosophy, and literature.

   It can be difficult to just sit and read Darwin if you are not a biologist because it seems a little dated and obvious (at least if you are familiar with natural selection, as you should be). Additional material provides perspective and helps to see in what ways Darwin's work was revolutionary. Such material can also show how evolutionary ideas have been modified over time by different people. Appleman has obviously read widely on Darwin and evolution, and the readings he provides represents an array of influential and important works. With this book, a person can develop a much deeper appreciation of Darwin's ideas than from simply reading Darwin alone.

   I am reviewing the second edition. The third edition is 100 pages longer and includes more recent material, especially concerning the dispute between creationism and evolution. I would not hesitate to recommend even the dated second edition to anyone interested in Darwin and Darwin's influence on scientists and other thinkers; this third edition should be a must-have.




5. I agree with Gould that this is the best Darwin anthology on the market. It contains a significant amount of new material and details the profound change in scientific and intellectual thought in the past few decades. Darwin is constantly misquoted by creationists, but this book sets the record straight. For example, the chapter on "mainstream Religious Support for Evolution" includes leading religious opinions on evolution, illustrating that many mainline Christians and Jews do NOT subscribe to the antiscientific propaganda of the fundamentalists and creationists. New threats to Darwinism and science are also covered. This is an enthralling read and I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968.

1. In UNDER A CRUEL STAR, Heda Margolius Kovaly tells of her experiences in Czechoslovakia from 1941 through 1968. To simplify somewhat, the phases of these experiences are: 1) Heda, the only survivor in her family of the Nazi concentration camps, establishes a normal postwar life; 2) Heda, a young illustrator, wife, and mother, provides emotional support for her husband Rudolf, who is a hardworking idealist committed to socialism; 3) the communist government of Czechoslovakia forces Heda and her wee son to live as impoverished pariahs after Rudolf, who was the deputy minister of foreign trade, is executed following a show trial; 4) more than a decade after Rudolf's death, the government recants all charges against him, vindicating the loyal Heda, who never doubted her husband's innocence; and 5) Heda experiences the spirit of humane socialism--the vision of her murdered husband--in the brief Prague Spring.
   
   Since UaCS is a memoir, Heda's content is mostly the story of her personal and professional interactions. Much of this content is bleak, since only a few ordinary people--a nanny and a salt-of-the-earth neighbor--stand by Heda when times are bad. Instead, Heda's troubles seemed to bring out the worst in her friends and colleagues. After she escapes from Auschwitz, for example, most of her friends are cowardly and will not shield her from the Nazis. And after her husband is arrested, Heda copes with severe illness alone, her social network in collapse.
   
   UaCS is a successful memoir because Kovaly connects her own experiences to larger themes. These are life under an oppressive and incompetent government and the treachery that emerges as people maneuver within this political system for personal safety and material gain. At its best, this memoir is a dark and bottom-up view of life behind the Iron Curtain.
   
   At times, Kovaly writes with great insight, especially about the idealists who stayed with communism even as the system revealed itself to be ineffective, corrupt, and oppressive. I won't say this is the best memoir I've ever read. But it's good and tells the story of a woman who resisted totalitarianism with great courage, dignity, and decency.



2. In response to the confusion about titles and editions of this book, here's a clarification: I translated and retitled Under A Cruel Star together with the author in 1985, sitting side by side with her at our dining room table in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Heda was working as a librarian in Harvard University' Law School library then. Her original text had been written in Czech and then translated into English by Erazim Kohak, a philosophy professor whose native language was not English. This early version was first published in 1973 together with his own work in a volume titled THE VICTORS AND THE VANQUISHED. I was a working journalist, born in Prague after the second world war, who had emigrated to the United States soon after the Communist putsch of 1948. I had already written Children of the Holocaust: Conversations with Sons and Daughters of Survivors. My mother Franci had become very sympathetic to Communism during the war: she said, echoing Heda, that in the concentration camps, the only organized resistance came from the Communists. I was very interested in what had happened to those Holocaust survivors who had not emigrated in 1948 but who remained in Czechoslovakia under Stalinism. I read the book and met the author. I then persuaded her to work further on the text. She rewrote parts of it; I edited parts of it; and our translation was published as Under A Cruel Star. My husband and I published it first through our own small press, Plunkett Lake Press. We mailed out 6000 copies from that same dining room table. We then sold the rights to Penguin and then to Holmes& Meier -- the current publisher. Gollancz in the UK then bought our translation and titled it Prague Farewell, adding to the confusion. The translation has also been used for the French, Dutch, German and Japanese editions, each of which have different titles. In German it's titled A Jewess in Prague; in French, Prague's Second Spring. Working with Heda sharpened my interest in the history of women and Jews in the Czech lands and I subsequently wrote Where She Came From : A Daughter's Search for Her Mother's History



3. UNDER A CRUEL STAR: A LIFE IN PRAGUE, 1941-1968 is a first-person account by a victim of the two most notorious totalitarian systems of the 20th-Century -- Nazi Germany and Stalinist Communism. Clive James, in his book "Cultural Amnesia" (whose principal preoccupation is 20th-Century totalitarianism), says of UNDER A CRUEL STAR: "Given thirty seconds to recommend a single book that might start a serious young student on the hard road to understanding the political tragedies of the twentieth century, I would choose this one."
   
   Kovaly's maiden name was Bloch. She was transported from Prague to the Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1941. She spent most of the war in various concentration or work camps, including time in Auschwitz. In 1944, while part of a group of inmates being marched from Poland to Germany, she escaped and made her way back to Prague, where, aided by the Resistance, she hid in various spots until the Germans were ousted. She then learned that she was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust. Against long odds, her fiancee, Rudolf Margolius, also survived, and shortly after the War, they married.
   
   Rudolf succumbed to the siren song of communism/Marxism, and eventually he rose to high positions in the Czech Ministry of Foreign Trade. But he was arrested in 1952 and was one of 14 defendants in a show trial, the Slansky conspiracy trial. With ten others, he was executed (and his ashes were used for traction under the wheels of a police car on an icy road). His wife heard his confession, as delivered at the trial, broadcast over the radio while she herself was in critical condition in a hospital. In 1963, Rudolf Margolius was "rehabilitated" -- i.e., posthumously declared innocent. The end of Kovaly's memoir covers the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Soviet invasion of August 1968, ending the reform regime of Dubcek. At that time, Kovaly left Czechoslovakia for the West.
   
   Her book is a wrenching account of her double whammy: incarceration by the Nazis and then persecution (and murder of her husband) by the Communists. More of the book is devoted to the second story, and, strange to say, it seems almost as horrific as the first. Indeed, the account of her life after her husband was arrested is Kafka-esque; as she goes around Prague trying to get some sort of sensible explanation for what is happening to her and to her husband, she is a female Joseph K., thirty years later and oh so distressingly real. In addition to the historical account of the two gruesome systems -- and the courage, endurance, and luck that saved Kovaly from their successive maws -- UNDER A CRUEL STAR is noteworthy for Kovaly's analysis of communism and its attractions for so many similarly situated eastern Europeans of the post-War years, including Nazi concentration camp survivors like her husband.
   
   The negatives, which in the grand scheme of things are rather minor: At times, Kovaly's account is overly dramatic, or melodramatic (although given her experiences, that obviously is understandable); on a few occasions, her observations or speculations strike me as positively loopy, akin to resorting to astrology; and her frequent use of verbatim dialogue, most of which surely must have been imaginatively re-constructed, undermines slightly the overall credibility of her account, at least as reliable history. But these are cavils. UNDER A CRUEL STAR is one of the historical artifacts by which the 20th Century is likely to be known to the 22nd and 23rd Centuries, if civilization as we know it lasts that long.



4. Book arrived in good condition in a very timely manner. Very satisfied. Moving story and recommended reading before a trip to the Czech Republic.



5. An excellent book that is easy to read, you can easily get through it on a transatlantic flight or something similar.
   
   I have one quibble - at one point in the book Heda Kovaly states to her son Ivan that his father Rudolf died "for his beliefs." Well, sadly I think the truth is that he died BECAUSE of his beliefs, not FOR them, a subtle but important distinction. There is ample evidence throughout the book to suggest that Rudolf - particularly since he was a concentration camp survivor - should have seen what the communist regime was becoming. Heda certainly saw it. Nevertheless Rudolph continued to strive to do his best for the communist regime, continuously excusing the obvious atrocities that began to unfold. At one point Heda timidly points out that many of the people being arrested are Jews, and Rudolph yells at her and rejects the idea. *sigh* I suppose that is precisely the behavior of so many Nazis, and it is horribly ironic that it happened to a Jewish holocaust survivor, and it is a vivid reminder that the Germans of Nazi Germany were not specially evil, they were just . . . average. No, Rudolph died BECAUSE of his beliefs, not FOR them. You would have thought that his experience with the Nazis would have enabled him to better recognize the danger. If he couldn't, what chance would the rest of us have had?

5 comments about The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

1. This book is a must read. I recommend it to anyone interested in Tudor History. Very detailed, easy reading and very intriguing. Excellent!



2. Words cannot express how wonderfully written and interesting this book is! I was cautious when I saw its length but, trust me, it reads very well and will keep you enthralled. Ms. Weir is a masterful writer. I'm almost at the end of the book and I feel as if I'm biddng farewell to a friend!



3. This is my first book from Alison Weir and I could not put it down!! It is so well written and easy to read. She makes sense of some confusing situations. This book is full of detail and I could not recommend it more! 5 stars for sure!!



4. I was interested in reading this since it covered all 6 wives. The first half of the book is Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, since they are probably the most interesting/most well known of the wives. I thought this was easy to read, although it took a while. Not because of the subject or style but that it's a large book. I think it would be difficult for someone with little to no knowledge of the subject to read this as it would be difficult to keep people/stories straight. I think Alison Weir is biased toward/against all of them and I'm not so sure the opinions are factually based. Interesting read if you are interested in this subject though. As for a history book, it's not boring or slow at all. I would gladly read more of Weir's work.



5. I LOVE this book! I have had it for about 2 weeks and don't have much time to read but I'm already almost finished. It is very detailed and is written so that the 'average' history lover can still read and enjoy!

4 comments about A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (Norton Critical Edition).

1. My second Joyce, after Ulyssess some six months prior. This novel is a vastly more direct and comprehensible text, benefiting from a clarity of presentation that allows intense absorption in psychology. It's a highly effective novel on multiple levels, excelling at showing an unconventional proccess of transition into adulthood and through it a biting analysis of society, modernity, religion and art. It works to the way it shows the protagonist with deep intimacy and emotional acuteness, but yet refuses to grant him any easy outs or transcendence. His status as a future artist doesn't bring him enlightenment or greater intrinsic natural worth, and it doesn't free him from the nusances and challenges of the society he inhabits. It's a very intense account, never more so than when it engages with the protagonist's struggle with his religion, his sexuality and their intersection. There's an intricate and gorgeously vivid presentation of what the tenets of traditional Catholicism feel like to someone who believes in them yet doesn't live up to their moral code. His absorption with intellect as well as sex, and the tortured guilt he derives from the later, make for a perspective that is so convincing it's hard not to assume strong autobiographical motifs. It's a level of intimacy combined with quality of writing that often feel more real than reality, and that turn a very sophisticated eye on questions of faith, politics and the modern world. The debates on Irish nationalism are particularly intense, and are of a specific content that I feel the need for more historical conext before I can really situate the literary incorporation here. The novel gives a strong sense of the basic appeal and tensions inherent in the desire for an autonomous society, in that respect functioning very similarly to the whole spirituality/sensuality axis, generalized to a more collective level. It's indisputably potent stuff.
   
   And yet the book in the end suffers by comparison with Ulysses, not having anywhere near that volume's power or raw, disorienting literary expertise. It's still a wonderful novel however, and points up the great things that can be done with well crafted writing.
   
   Worse than: Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
   Better than: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy



2. If you're going to buy 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' as a paperback, I strongly advise you to buy this--the Norton Critical Edition. It's depressing to see that the Penguin Classics edition is the number one selling version of this wonderful book.
   
   This book is TWO DOLLARS more than the Penguin version. For that $2 you get better quality paper, ink, and binding. More importantly you get Editorial notes that explain Joyce's obscure terms, ultimately making the book more readable. You also get over a dozen other writings dealing with Joyces text. These extras (200 pages worth) provide background information on Joyce's three major themes--Irish politics, Roman Catholicism, and "Aesthetic". Also, there are critical essays which range from general interpretations of the book to specified studies (ie feminist perspective). Being a difficult book, the supplemental material greatly enhanced my appreciation for 'Portrait'.
   
   For ONE DOLLAR -LESS, you could go with this: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners (Barnes & Noble Classics). Here, not only do you get Portrait of the Artist_, but also you get the collection of short stories, Dubliners. Not to mention better editing. You still get footnotes. And there's some (not a lot) of suplimental material.
   
   For FIVE DOLLARS more than you would spend on the Penguin book, you could get A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Everyman's Library (Cloth)). If you're going to buy a book, why not get one that will last the rest of your life? Well then, that would be the Everyman's Clothbound you seek.



3. I read somewhere that readers should start with a book like this as opposed to simply jumping right in to Ulysses. Well, that may be true. This book was not difficult to read. But, it really wasn't that interesting. I found myself less willing to put forth the energy to get through Ulysses after reading this.



4. A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (Norton Critical Edition)
   
   This edition includes poignant commentary, essays, and contextualization. Great for anyone who is reading the book for the first time (like I was).

5 comments about Churchill.

1. Purchased for my father-in-law as a birthday gift, he's a Churchill fan. He was delighted but wanted more.



2. The Washington Post review is on target. This adoring biography subjects Churchill's policies to uncritical scrutiny, excusing every blunder as the fault of others. Most egregious--he blames the success of Nazism on the unwillingness of Churchill's colleagues to support intervention in the Russian civil war following the Bolshevik takeover. According to this interpretation, if Britain had sent more troops, the Communists would have been defeated, Stalin would never have happened, and fascism would not have succeeded. The causal link there is not spelled out but evidently in his view Europeans supported fascism to escape Communism.



3. Johnson, the "great explainer" of modern times and expert dissector of the pretensions of modern intellectuals, has been coasting on his reputation of late. ART: A NEW HISTORY was robust (and colorful) enough, but I wasn't particularly taken with either CREATORS or HEROES. With this engaging "quick sketch" of the life of Winston Churchill, the author is back on form. Some snarky reviews to the contrary, this is not a hagiography, though it certainly gives Churchill the benefit of the doubt more often than not. Its simple goal is to explain why Churchill must be regarded as a major historical figure, regardless of what one thinks of the man and his policies.
   
   The book divides neatly into two sections. Part one is a more or less straightforward biography which takes us up to the point at which Churchill first became Prime Minister in 1940. Johnson avoids the cliche of saddling Churchill with all the responsibility for the failure of the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16, instead focusing on other, rather less dramatic examples of Churchill's tendency for occasional lapses in judgment. Foremost among the latter is Churchill's bull-headed defense of King Edward VIII during the 1936 Abdication Crisis. This stand had severe consequences for Britain, as Churchill became so unpopular that his (increasingly heeded) warnings of the menace of a rearming Germany were tossed aside as a result.
   
   Johnson then devotes the bulk of the remainder of the volume to an analysis of Churchill's record as a war leader. Johnson sees Churchill as the "indispensable man," the key to Britain's survival, and lays out the reasons why. These reasons are generally convincing, though I wish that even more was made of the salient fact that Churchill regarded both forms of 2oth century totalitarian tyranny -- Fascism and Communism -- as equally evil. While always willing to "jaw-jaw" to preserve peace whenever practicable, he did not fall into the trap of "pas d'ennemis a gauche (ou a droit)" that hinders a sense of moral clarity. One wonders how history would have been altered had Britain and the U.S. heeded Churchill's advice and met the Red Army as far to the East as possible.
   
   The book's ending is its weakest point. Johnson skims over Churchill's second premiership (1951-54) with indecent haste and concludes with a list of "lessons Churchill teaches us today." The latter has the tone of a particularly uninspired business seminar, while it is telling that Johnson prefers to tell us what Churchill did not do during his second turn at the top. (A.N. Wilson's OUR TIMES treats the second Churchill government in a considerably harsher manner, and, given the state of the war-ravaged country and Churchill's own age and weariness, Wilson's treatment rings a bit truer to me.) Happily, in an afterword, Johnson is generous enough to recommend more in-depth treatments of Churchill and his times. If CHURCHILL encourages the reader to forge ahead to these other works, then it will have done its job.



4. I liked this breezy essay by Paul Johnson on just how great Churchill really was, but was left wondering what exactly was the point of the exercise?
   
   Johnson's praise for all things Churchill is so lavish I'm not certain "worshipful" really captures it. Johnson speaks of his own childhood remembrances of Churchill's speeches and deeds, and at times the book indeed feels like an intellectual fan letter, steeped in nostalgia and memories of youth.
   
   I'm not taking anything away from as titanic and large a figure as Churchill -- he looms over the 20th century, deservedly so.
   
   But Johnson's short look adds little to the historical record and remains the kind of thing you would like best if you were both a Churchill and Johnson fan.



5. I am a Paul Johnsom fan and for me 3 stars is a disappointment. this book was brief but thrilling. I fear Johnson may have researched and written it in haste.

5 comments about There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.

1. The title somewhat confused me when the book initially came out in 2008. I failed to sense the impending worldwide crisis now threatening the economies of the Western World. It is now two years later---and Claire Berlinski has turned me into a total convert. Margaret Thatcher clearly understood the benefits of the free market. She realized that any compromise with members of the Labor Party or the squishy moderates within her own party hurts the British citizenry. The woman was not for bending. Thatcher committed herself to achieving her goals regardless of the costs. She would push aside and irritate in countless other ways anyone who got in her way. Thatcher was not known for always being gentle. Winston Churchill was a wartime prime minister. He never got to serve during peacetime. Thatcher is therefore the role model for today's challenges.
   
   The author interviewed individuals who were not hesitant in revealing Thatcher as a strong willed lady that may have even occasionally rubbed them the wrong way. France's Francois Mitterrand even described her as "Brigitte Bardot with Caligula's eyes." She was also born and raised in modest middle class surroundings---and the elites never forgave her. One is also readily reminded of the friction between the American Sarah Palin and her big government Republican detractors. Mrs. Thatcher worked closely together with President Ronald Reagan to defeat the Soviet Union. This same sort of focus and vision is currently needed to combat Islamic extremism. Claire Berlinski has successfully made her case. The title of the book says it all. Margaret Thatcher still matters and there is no alternative. Great Britain is experiencing an existential crisis that may destroy its democratic institutions. Can it find another Thatcher before it is too late?



2. Reading the book, I felt that Mrs. Thatcher had landed in my living room, handbag included. Reading about the Frost interview, her stand towards the unions, or her thumping of the famous bag, I started understanding the Iron Lady's thought process and the roots behind her (admittedly strong) convictions especially on fiscal policy. You may not like Mrs. Thatcher after reading this book, but you will certainly appreciate her leadership.



3. Superficial and disappointing. The best parts are when the author is actually quoting Thatcher. Overall the author seems to find herself more important than Thatcher. Vast amounts of the text consist of uninformative digressions about the author -- for example the time she (an American) spent at Balliol during the Thatcher years, and discussion about the process of researching and writing the book, including unnecessary details about the logistics of arranging to lunch with interviewees at various London clubs. Particularly weird and irritating is the author's penchant for including large chunks of verbatim transcipt of mealtime interviews, including placing food orders and other interactions with waitstaff. You can tell from the transcribed comments that her interview subjects were not very impressed by her. The author's longwinded attempts to answer the question in her title are glib and unconvincing.



4. Better biographies and writings on Thatcher and Thatcherism exist out there. Earl Reitan's book and Lady Thatcher's own writings are better than this condescending exercise in egotism by the author. The style is lazy, the editor must have been asleep at the keyboard when it came to the interviews in this book, and if I had to read one more time the author make reference to her time at Oxford (in the sense of 'see I'm smart, really.'), I'd send this book through the shredder. Margaret Thatcher matters because while socialism has its faith in man and history, Thatcher had hers in the power of the market. And with that faith, she transformed the United Kingdom. But how she put that faith into action is not given its due in this book. The more interesting question than the one the author concludes with is this: would Thatcher have bailed out The City in the current economic crisis? Would her absolute faith in the market been tested?



5. A very interesting book about Margret Thatcher. Certainly not a scholary biography but has some interesting ancedotes about her. If the book has a fault she could have edited her interviews a little more. Is it really necessary to know what they had for lunch when she interviewed her sources? But the book is easy to read and has a bit of depth to it.
   
   This book remimds me of When Character Was King the story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan. It is along the same vein but the Reagan bio is surperior.

2 comments about When London Was Capital of America.

1. Some interesting facts about the numbers of Americans were like visiting
   London in the 18th century, but it does go on like gossip. Lots of sentences
   repeated. It could have been cut down by 40% and been a better book rather
   than being like a run-on sentence. What happened to the people at Yale that
   they would not do this.



2. A keen look at London from the perspective of resident colonial Americans. How this great imperial city absorbed the many goods and impacted the numerous visitors from its New World possessions are themes of Julie Flavell's informative and well-written history. Those especially interested in our American revolutionary period, or who simply enjoy acquiring special insights into 18th century London, should buy and read it.
   
   John Wilkes is mentioned in this book. For readers seeking more on Mr. Wilkes' vibrant political life, I highly recommend "John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty" by Arthur H. Cash (2006).