5 comments about The File: A Personal History.

1. This book was one you couldn't put down. It was such an interesting look into such an intriguing time. Especially contrasted against today's era of homeland security it makes you wonder what does go on in "civilized" countries.
   
   The insights from the informers, Stasi Agents, and MI5 are riveting. I am waiting for a book totally from their perspective.



2. In The File Timothy Garton Ash confronts the people who informed on him after opening a file that the Stasi kept on him during his time in East Germany (GDR). He gains access to the files of the individuals who informed on him to the Stasi and also to the informants themselves by first stating that he has a professional interest as a historian and secondly, a personal interest because they participated in keeping records on him. When questioning the informants he often inquiries whether they remember informing on him, how they became informants, what these informants felt about informing and themselves while they were doing it, and how do they feel about informing and the East German government now. Often when confronted the informants seem to want to project blame elsewhere. To them they either did no harm or they were just doing their job. It was the Stasi or GDR who deserved to be blamed.
   
   The only thing that within the book that I wish was done differently was the author's placing blame on people or to find them as either good or bad. The questioning of whether they felt blame or guilt was quite different then him asserting these characteristics on these individuals. Although it is unfair to fault him for this, his personal investment somewhat diminishes the historical, objective approach I desired from the book. I would have preferred him to allow the reader to decide for him/herself the guilty or not guilty verdict.
   
   The File is a historical analysis of one file and one person's experience with the Stasi and East German Government. Because the author is analyzing his own life there is a deal of personal bias when it comes to how an particular informant/person should be viewed, however, this does not diminish from the book. Instead, it offers greater insight into how this individual felt about the GDR, the role of the Stasi in East German society, and the role of the East German citizens as informants. Furthermore, the personal approach The File offers allows the audience to experience for themselves the emotions and events of the author's life.
   All in all The File is an excellent case study into East German Society, the East German Government, the Stasi and the experiences of a captalist foreigner residing temporarily within a communist government/society.



3. This well written book describes the author's encounter with the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. In the late 70s, Garton Ash worked, and for a short period of time, lived in East Berlin. Not surprisingly, he was under surveillance by the Stasi. At this time, East Germany had the most elaborate internal secret police system in the world. The Stasi itself had thousands of employees and an estimated 2% of the population of East Germany were informants for the Stasi. After re-unification, most of the Stasi files became available for review by the former subjects of Stasi surveillance. Garton Ash obtained his file, over 300 pages in length, and compares it with his recollection of events and the apparently extensive diaries he kept during this period of his life. He also sought out and interviewed several of the individuals listed in the file as informants for the Stasi, and the Stasi officers overseeing the informants. The result is an revealing look at the nature of life in a totalitarian state. The discussions of, and interviews with the former Stasi informants and Stasi officers are the most interesting parts of the book. These sections show well the mixture of intimidation, appeal to careerism, and even residual idealism about socialism that underlay the whole system. Even these revealing anecdotes fail to convey the extent of moral corruption that pervaded East Germany. As Garton Ash points out, he did not really suffer from the Stasi and as a Westerner, he could leave or be expelled. The unfortunate citizens of East Germany were trapped in failing society shored up by implied violence, systematic undermining of family and professional ties, and hypocritical lip service to Communist ideals.



4. This is essentially an internal adventure story: it is the story of one man returning to his past and revisiting his younger self by reviewing his East German security service (Stasi) file. Ash, a Briton, was a graduate student at Humboldt University in the late 1970s-early 1980s. As a foreigner in East Germany, he was monitored by the ever-thorough Stasi, which managed to keep records on millions of East German citizens as well. Reading his Stasi file (made available after German unification) forces Ash to remember incidents from his past and reveals to him the identities of numerous Stasi informants -- some of whom were his friends. Ash then visits these informants and confronts them with evidence of their collaboration. In perhaps the most interesting part of the book, Ash visits the Stasi officers in charge of his case.
   
   While Ash's writings caused him to be banned from East Germany, he was never imprisoned, nor was he subject to the depradations faced by average citizens of the GDR. Ash acknowledges that as a foreigner, he was always free to leave, and this makes his file less interesting than those of true dissidents. Ash describes, however, the story of an East German dissident who discovered that her own husband was informing the Stasi of her activities and discusses his friendships with brave East Germans who bucked the regime, and paid the price for it.
   
   This is not the definitive work on the Stasi. It provides some background of the agency, but if you are looking for a more thorough treatment, look to "Stasi: The Untold Story of East Germany's Secret Police," by John Koehler. This book is worth reading, however, to understand, through the file of one man, why men joined the Stasi and how the Stasi turned so many ordinary East Germans into informants. Ash also raises important moral questions about spying and intelligence agencies, which are relevant to free societies as well.



5. While this book provides detail to what everyone knows (the Stasi spied on everyone, including the sixth of the population that worked for it) it offers very little else. Missing is any sense whatsoever of the psychological effects of living in this kind of society or any kind of nuanced understanding of what it has meant to confront these files. Ash gives some small indications of what his own responses were, but as a Westerner who expected to be spied on for his activities, his experience is not very instructive. Garton Ash has many things to be proud of, but this book is not one of them.

5 comments about Messages From My Father: A Memoir.

1. This is a lovely endearingly funny book. I read it in just an evening but I'm sure it's a book I'll go back to in the future.



2. Such is Calvin Trillin's caliber of work you don't realize how good he is, and he is really good. This book touched me deeply; Mr. Trillinsky was not an emotional man and given to the touchy feely sort of stuff so espoused these days, but he gave his son everything he would need to have a fulfilling life, one of the main components being a deep, abiding and unconditional love; how lucky Mr. Trillin was.
   
   My father was an evil and stupid man who never learned from his mistakes and is now reaping the whirlwind; I believe Mr. Trillinsky would have I.D.'d him in five minutes flat, and would have had mercy on him, much more than I can manage now. If you are raising a child, or trying to figure out what in God's green earth happened to you during your childhood, read this book. Mr. Trillin's artistry is a delicious extra.
   
   I have read "Remembering Denny" and it has seared a place in my mind since. It explained so much to me. This is another book that is going to go on my mental bookshelf, probably till the end of me.



3. This book was a disappointment to me. Although it is only a slight volume I found it to be heavy going and very uninteresting. Avoid.



4. I don't know anyone in the Trillin family personnally, but I recognize them very well. I learned something I didn't know--that Jews landed some place other than Ellis Island. As a father myself, I appreciate what Abe did for his son. So did Calvin.



5. Humorist, journalist, food maven, the author of numerous books and a writer for The New Yorker, Trillin brings his blend of self-deprecating humor and thoughtful observation to this affectionate memoir of his father.

   Abram Trilinsky emigrated to St. Joseph, Missouri, from Russia at the age of two. When his wife hinted at a trip to Europe, his terse response was, "I've been." He was resolutely a mid-western American, a man who changed his name to Abe Trillin, and at the end of his life exhibitted the only prejudice his son ever observed - an impatience with "refugees," by which he meant people who clung to the language and customs of their country of origin.

   He was a stubborn man, like most of his family, described by his wife as "Mules!" "I sometimes imagined my father as swearing off things just to keep in practice," his son observes.

   He never swore although he collected colorful curses - "May you have an injury that's not covered by workman's compensation." His honesty was absolute - when a child turned 12 he paid full price at the movies even if he looked 9.

   He was unassuming. When Calvin was in high school, his father opened a restaurant and took to wearing yellow ties. "He said something about how most people don't stand out from the crowd, and how it helped to have a sort of signature." This seemed embarrasing to his adolescent son. "What was so great about having someone say, 'Oh, yes, Abe Trillin - the guy with the yellow ties'?" But years later at Abe's funeral, he's touched by how many friends asked for a yellow tie as a remembrance.

   His father was not a talker. One of his favorite jokes concerned a Jewish actor who finally gets a real part playing a Jewish father. The actor asks his father why he seems disappointed. " 'Of course I'm proud of you son,' " the father says, " 'But we were hoping you'd get a speaking part.' "

   Calvin writes, "What strikes me as odd now is how much my father managed to get across without those heart-to-hearts that I've read about fathers and sons having." Without it being talked about, Calvin knew his father was ambitious for him. "It was a given in our family that my father was a grocer so that I wouldn't have to be."

   One of their biggest arguments concerned Calvin's joining the Boy Scouts. He hated Boy Scouts but Abe regarded it as essential to American boyhood, a necessary step on the way to Yale, Trillin senior's university of choice, an idea he'd gotten from a novel read as a boy - Stover At Yale.
   
   Calvin went to Yale. Yale launched him out of Kansas City, never to return (also as Abe expected). The grocer's son would never be a grocer.

   In one (somewhat unrealistically) ingenuous chapter Trillin goes to a dinner of prominent writers and realizes that they all went to Ivy League schools as he did. Was there a connection? (Puleeeeze). "For the first time, I realized that my father's vision of how all of this was supposed to work out might not have been as simplistic as I had always assumed."

   This slim volume is deeply captivating and affecting. His father emerges as a man of indomitable will, will so strong he imposed it simply by being. He was a man who could afford to be easy going and funny, all the while adhering to a plan of grand ambition which embraced cross country automobile trips to broaden the horizons of his children and simple pronouncements: "You might as well be a mensch." Much of the book's power lies in the author's recognition of himself as his father's ambition fulfilled - a successful American who does his best to "be a mensch," a real human being.

2 comments about Les Brownlee: The Autobiography of a Pioneering African-American Journalist.

1. The book is amazing! It's like a visit with our good friend Les Brownlee. You sense his reassurance we can make anything of our lives. You can almost hear his rich laughter and storytelling that made us smile.
   
   The life Les lead in his turbulent time offers an insight into a life well lived. There are photos, recipes and a wonderful article "The most lethal poison is doubt." Les explained that "the challenge for us is to keep presenting a positive image of success in front of all who are afflicted..." Well, Les, I'm ready "now on this next play..." Thanks!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   



2. I just bought Les Brownlee's autobiography and read it in a day, as I couldn't put it down once I cracked it open. I was a former student of Brownlee's and good friend and reading his book was like listening to one of his great stories --of which he had millions!
   
   At the bookstore this book is located in African-American Studies. It should be located in American History because Les' story transends race. I'm not going to rehash Les Brownlee's lifestory -- buy and read the book for that. I just want to say only in America can someone overcome what Brownlee went through with courage and grace and then move on to help others who came after him!
   
   This book really is a must read for anyone who needs a little inspiration. I only wish the book was longer! Of course, I also wish my friend was still around to sign it for me.
   
   -Bob Chiarito

5 comments about Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent.

1. Great present for anyone interested in Viet Nam, reporting, true spy stories, and the like.



2. I might not be as forgiving as some people, but I certainly would have felt betrayed by this man. He seeks to justify everything by stating that he felt the Americans did not belong in Vietnam. Maybe so. But what he did was so deceiful.To just look at the fact that he often helped those closest and known to him from suffering any harm, neglects the hundreds of thousands who died and were wounded as a result of his actions. To top it all off he sent his family to the US when the Communists came !! No doubt for a better life !!This fellow must have been of fairly limited intellect , or at least uneducated.And don't tell me was educated in the US - they let him do some courses... big deal! Did he really believe the Americans would attempt to rule Vietnam the way the French did ? Yes, they would take advantage of economic opportunities ( who does'nt), but what did he think they would have done if the South succeeded ? A good insight into blind nationalism and deceit by one of the most two faced people I have ever encountered. I still cannot understand his mindset.



3. This book is nothing but full of communist propaganda. To most of the Vietnamese people, I say not including the 2% of the communist population, An is a betrayer. Don't waste your time being brain-washed by communist ideology.



4. Pham Xuan An was recruited by the Communist Party in Vietnam and sent to the U.S. in 1957 to learn journalism as a cover - long before the U.S. took a major role in the conflict. An quickly came to admire the U.S., did well in his studies (Orange Coast College) and internships, and was had several attractive offers for permanent work upon their completion. Yet, despite fear that he would be arrested by the South Vietnamese government upon returning to Vietnam, An returned, first reporting French troop actions, then also working for various government military figures (eg. teaching English to future VN spies; helping set up the Vietnamese spying service), and finally for various American publications - Time magazine in particular. Several times the CIA even tried to recruit An, with no success.
   
   Early in his career An risked exposure to save the life of a Time reporter captured by the VietCong in Cambodia because he knew the reporter had saved a number of Vietnamese children's' lives from various Cambodian army massacres. This conflict between his spy role and friendship with Americans continued up to America's last day in Saigon when An helped a Vietnamese friend who had worked for the Americans escape. These actions, however, did not dull An's effectiveness - his insights and reports based on conversations and documents played key roles in VietCong/NVA tactics and strategy development. After the war ended, An was promoted to Maj. General, and collected his ten top-level medals.
   
   An received no formal spy training - instead, he read a number of books by others who were past masters. Communications involving An were almost entirely one-way - towards nearby VietCong and much farther away NVA leaders in Hanoi. His methods were to use melted rice as invisible ink (revealed by pouring iodine over the paper), and secreting both the paper and film rolls in food materials handed off to a vendor.
   
   An's career spanned 30 years - longer than any other spy. Consequently, after the war there was considerable suspicion by the communists that this was due to his having played both sides. He was even forbidden from leaving VN to attend a post-war correspondent's conference in NYC.
   
   Some of the most impactful portions of "Perfect Spy" involved stories about eg. another VietCong spy who pushed the Vietnamese government to move peasants into more defensible self-contained villages. His rationale - he knew this would greatly upset the peasants and turn them against the government. An himself declared several times that the U.S.'s biggest failure was to develop a new cadre of leaders after Diem was deposed. It was also quite jarring to read details from the "other side" about so many areas that I had been to - Nha Trang, Siagon, Ban Me Thuot, Pleiku, Vung Tau, Khe Sanh.
   
   My one wish is that "Perfect Spy" included more planning details from the VietCong and NVA side. Unfortunately, even the author (Larry Berman) sensed several times that An left much more unsaid than revealed.
   
   Bottom Line: I was taken aback by An's working against the U.S. after having made so many friends here, how well the VietCong/NVA infiltrated U.S. planning, and how long ahead their thinking ran. The book also brings an eerie sense of wondering what is happening along these same lines now in Iraq.



5. It was a good read, but it just followed the line of typical Communist propaganda.
   
   It is laughable for anyone to think An spied for his "country", that he was a "patriot", or a "nationalist" for that matter. An was a Communist through and through. Communist propaganda and the book want you to think that the Vietnam war was about fighting off foreign invaders/aggressors.
   
   Make no mistake. An and his comrades fought for one sole purpose: put the entire country of Vietnam under Communism, and strip the Vietnamese people of freedom and basic human rights.
   
   Hanoi successfully exploited the American involvement to justify their aggression in South Vietnam, and masked their communist proliferation campaign under a "patriotic" theme: war against foreign invaders.
   
   It was Communist activities in South Vietnam that brought in US soldiers, and they made it looked like the American invasion of Vietnam that forced them to start the war to save the country.
   
   An was lying when he implied that he didn't know how bad the Communists were when they took over the country. He fought for a regime that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent land-owners in North Vietnam in the late 50's during the bloody land reform campaign. He fought for a system with outdated economic (communism) theories that turned Vietnam into one of the poorest countries in the world. He fought for a totalitarian state that took away the people's basic freedom and human rights, where free-thinking was not allowed. If An had any doubt during his spying days, he just had to look to the iron curtains of the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba, East Germany, ... where the people were oppressed, and all would leave if they had a chance.
   
   As well informed as he was, An surely must have known how brutal the Communists were, and still chose to be on their side. Instead of helping to promote freedom in Vietnam, he worked hard to crush it. If An was truly disillusioned after the war, then he was a fool to fight for a system that he knew nothing about.
   
   
   I am shocked and appalled that many freedom-loving Americans failed to see this, and continued to think of An as a patriot, a nationalist, and that they would probably do the same if they were An. Naive Americans.
   
   Also, the book repeatedly mentioned An's American acquaintances admired him for being a spy without injecting any pro-communist ideas onto them. Are you kidding? That's what he was supposed to do to keep his cover. To this day, many Americans still love this guy and be fooled by his deceiving charm, buying into his Communist propaganda line that he was just fighting foreign invaders to save his country. Naive Americans.
   
   An was responsible for thousands of American and hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese deaths during the war. After the war, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands more died in re-education camps, or during their escape journey from Vietnam.
   
   Unification without freedom is worst than death. To this point, An helped kill his fellow Vietnamese and the country. He was a traitor!

No comments about The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and the World of Immigrant America.

5 comments about Betting on Myself: Adventures of a Horseplayer and Publisher.

1. Great read for anyone even casually interest in playing the ponies. Horse racing is the only betting opportunity were all of the answers are given to you in the Daily Racing Form, before you make a bet. All one has to do is factor in what's important and throw out what's not. That is the trick.
   Crist has a great conversational writing style and makes it a fun read.



2. Crist took the racing form into the present & future. It was in the hands of guys frozen with a 1930s outlook (sorry Saul Rosen et al)and Crist pumped his energy and intelligence into a moribund product. Congratulations Steve.



3. Steven Crist, Betting on Myself: Adventures of a Horseplayer and Publisher (DRF Press, 2004)
   
   Crist's surprisingly readable "my life thus far" autobiography is probably stuck with a built-in limit to the numbers of readers who are going to be intrigued by it. This is a mistake not by Crist, but by those readers who don't think they're going to like a "horse book."
   
   Crist traces the path he took from his years at Harvard, when he first discovered greyhound racing, to his present position as the owner of the Daily Racing Form. In between there's a lot of other fun stuff to interest both the horseplayer and the general reading audience: a stint with the New York Times, various discussions of economics (as it pertains to horse racing, granted, but money is money), the political scene in Albany, and all the other good stuff a dirt-dishing autobiography is supposed to have. (Kitty Kelley readers, however, will be depressed to note that Crist has been married to the same woman since Methuselah was a pup, and if there's any steppin' out involved, it never gets mentioned. Which may explain why Crist, and not Kelley, wrote this book.) It's also exceptionally readable for non-fiction, and a lot of fun in the bargain. A lot of fun. ****



4. The nearby review - Well Written Memoir from a Fascinating Person - got all the details of a review right, so I don't need to repeat them. Enthusiastic individual believes in himself, makes good, but fails (hardly by accident) to reveal some of the "secrets" of parimutuel betting success. Kind of like that magician who just won't explain how he cut the lady in half.



5. It's always interesting to read and learn about the behind-the-scenes action that takes place during the business ventures of which the general public is not usually aware. In BETTING ON MYSELF, Steven Crist is a horseplayer who had ideas to improve the information provided to gamblers by creating an alternative publication to The Daily Racing Form (DRF). Instead, as this well written memoir details, Crist became chairman and publisher of DRF. His story serves as another example of a person who fulfills his goals and proves that luck is directly proportional to hard work applied to opportunity.

5 comments about Taking Heat: The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House.

1. The value of this book to me, quite frankly, was no more than a dollar. Most of it is complaining about how stressful his job was. There is no insight into how the Bush administration works, no apology for Fleischer's years of deliberately hazy answers to important questions during the Iraq invasion, and almost no memorable content.
   
   The one chapter which made this book worth a dollar was a long transcription of his favorite repartees with Helen Thomas. Even Fleischer had to admit she was the toughest character in the press room. I give him credit for having that deep respect for news reporting, and I give her credit for making his book interesting. Helen, I'd pay much more than a dollar for a book by you. Keep it up!



2. Ari provides an interesting book in his autobiography as President Bush's White House Press Secretary. I always hate to review books like this because they are so politically charged and ideologues on either side tend to get in a huff over what you say. I will endeavor to keep this as neutral as possible. This book sets out to accomplish many objectives but only hits half of them. First and foremost it is one of the best looks at the role of the press secretary and the sheer stress the job has on a person. Whether you like or hate President Bush there is no one who can deny that the role of press secretary is a hard job especially under a tight lipped and secretive white House. Andy Card's goal as chief of staff was to keep leaks to a minimum which frustrates the press leaving their only source of information the press secretary. When the press secretary is instructed not to discuss military matters it becomes even more adversarial. One of the interesting things learned from the book is what viewpoint the Press Secretary is supposed to have. I found it fascinating that he is only there to represent the views of the president and that does not necessarily have to be the wishes of the branches of government that report to the president.
   
   One of the other objectives was to provide a critical narrative of the press and give insight into the White House Press Crops. I found his look at the White House Press fascinating and he really does put you inside the room of the toughest reporters in the United States. He illustrates well his points about the adversarial nature of the press and the desire of the press to create conflict which leads to stories. Many times the same questions are asked over and over hoping for a slip that the Press Secretary cannot afford to give. One of the angles that I think he does handle poorly is the bias of the press. While there are voluminous studies to show that the press is slanted right Ari seems to not acknowledge that all media is biased in one direction or another. The White House press does not give passes to any president. People today do not trust the news they get from the press and rightly so due to the biases that are present be they Fox News or MSNBC. While he highlights the point of on the liberal media it is done far better by Benard Goldberg in his book Bias.
   
   Finally Ari tries to make a defense of President Bush and his policies/leadership style. Some of his book seems to be aimed at knocking down the arguments in the Price of Loyalty. While this is another viewpoint again the truth probably lies in the middle. Some of his defenses of trying to shift blame to the press for starting up the Iraq war are fairly ludicrous. Ari does not sit in on any of the national security briefings and the president preferred himself to comment on those matters leaving Ari in a hard position to comment on them after the fact. One of the things he does refute well that many agree with is the loyalty that Bush shows to those who are loyal to him. There is a clear look that Bush's leadership style does work within his White House and he is respected by the staff. Ari also seems to take it upon himself to set the record straight and show the country that Bush did not think of the war in Iraq in a vacuum that many other people including the press also had the same idea along the way. He is largely successful in this although he glosses over one of the critical mistakes. The landing on the USS Lincoln with the banner Mission Accomplished was one of the great errors in the press of fighting the war and it is skipped over here. I think Ari is right in saying that the press views any war that is long as a quagmire and Vietnam and any war where we win quickly is Desert Storm and must be over in a week. There is a lack of reality by the press which filters to the country.
   
   Overall an excellent book and very well done. Ari provides unique insight into the Bush White House and while it is biased it does not make it useless. He raises critical questions that require issues to be reexamined and while he is loathe to critize his former boss for the things he did wrong we still see a good look at Bush the man and the President.



3. When I found this book (on CD) in the sale rack I thought maybe I'd found a rare jewel. Figuring the early Bush years were old news and this book was sent to the sale rack been because of that.
   
   First off Ari should have never read his own book. He came off as a real complainer. A man who had written a book to continue to make excuses for his decisions. Notice I didn't say mistakes. He rarely stated a move of his without showing us how he was forced to do so. It was very sad. Even at one point the old Clinton administration pushes him around.
   
   The few moments he gives us of true inside action where wonderful. There may have only been three in the whole book. The Colin Powell condom story was one of them. Ari that's what the reader wanted in the book.
   
   What scared me was that Ari came off as extremely angry at the press. There is one woman reporter who he mocks endlessly in his vocal impersonation of her. I hope she doesn't hear the CD version or she is going to be super mad. Ari spends a very long chapter expaining how the press is unfair and bias. He uses graduation numbers instead of true stories. We all saw the press eat Bill Clinton alive...so it was hard to believe they were nicer to Bill then they were to George. That chapter should have met the shreader.
   
   Ari did show some spots of careless reporting but his use of "you should have believed the White House" was a weak response. After past White House administrations trying to "out sly" the press Ari should have known the press would not simply take him at his word. He came off sounding like a naive high school student.
   
   Several of the world stituations that happened while Ari was in office where handled with amazing skill in real life but Ari made it sound like he was rolled over. The moment where Bush took the megaphone in NYC was the most powerful moment in his presidency. Luckily I saw it because Ari barely mentioned it.
   
   Ari ducked and dodged the press for years. He's mad that he did it. He's still mad at them. The amazing strategies the Bush administration used to keep the American people informed are not mentioned in this book. I wanted to learn something. Instead I see Ari scolding a press member for a inaccurate story that hurt the White House then giving the same guy a hot breaking story in the next breath by accident AND letting the guy run it. What was his reasoning? It sounded weak and also like bad management.
   
   Was Ari out of his league? The book makes it appear so. Luckily I watch all this on television as an American citizen. I know the book paints the wrong picture. To the public Ari did a stand up job and he worked well to keep the American people informed. So next time you write a book Ari stick to your guns and be proud of what you did. It would make for a much better read.



4. Absolutely rip-roaring hilarious!! It appears that he is actually not trying to be comedic but when one reads "I will always admire the President's calm and self control" (pg. 140, referring to Bush listening to "My Pet Goat" after being informed that his contry is under attack), it should be obvious that we are in the presence of a comedic master or an idiot who manages to be very funny. Either way, one of the funniest books I have read! Minus one star for some tedious passages trying to show himself in a good light without being funny.
   The dialogues of george bush that are presented are totally unrealistic and seemed to be calculated to put him in a good light. For eg., he says Bush was a superb military commander as he left all the major decisions to the generals but then conveniently ignores Shinseki. In fact, most of the Iraq war dialogue is very funny now that we know more about what actually happened.



5. Did my opinion of the president change after reading this book? Not really. I read the book with a somewhat-open mind, in that the book is written from the personal perspective of someone who was there. Fleischer wrote from his perspective; gave his testimoy; in that respect, the books is very well written. We're also talking about someone who trusts the President implicitly, so he's going to defend him. So I can't consider this a totally "objective" account of what was going on in the White House during the time the war was being debated.
   
   I don't particuarly appreciate President Bush's policies and his way of thinking, but I do appeciate the fact that he doesn't change his mind once he makes a decision. (Most might say he won't admit he's made a mistake - that's a risk that's run with standing your ground.)
   
   What I did appreciate about the book was the insight into President Bush's character. It explains to me why he thinks the way he does, and helps me understand why he says what he does. Doesn't mean I appreciate what he says, but understanding a person goes a long way in formulating an opinion.
   
   I also appreciated the behind-the-scenes view into what was going on in the White House during the tense fall of '01.
   
   I loved the insight into the media. Do I think they're biased? Absolutely! The book explains the media as much as it does the White House. Being interested in journalism, I was wrapped up in that part of the book. Doesn't excuse their recent behaviors....but the atmosphere of pressure to get the news out as it happens makes people take corners. I can understand that too.
   
   Bottom line: if you're a Bush supporter, you'll love the book. If you a Bush loather, I don't see this book changing your mind. I wish, however, that you might be able to read it to understand why he is how he is...

5 comments about Unlikely Destinations: The Lonely Planet Story.

1. I recommend this book to all fans of the Lonely Planet travel guides. I love how the travel guides are organized. I also loved the TV series and even their calendars so I couldn't resist opening this book when I saw it. Reading this book tells you how the business of Lonely Planet started. It's a story of survival and courage. It's also brutally honest at times. Tony mentions which books were a success and which ones weren't and why. Sometimes the Wheelers meander in their discussions (much like how they meandered in their travels), but you won't mind because the overall story is so captivating. The most amazing thing is how Tony and Maureen managed to travel and raise two children all while running a business. Lonely Planet has always been an inspiration and will doubtless continue to be to its readers.



2. While the book is well written and covers many fascinating travels throughout the world, including obscure places in Southeast Asia, it is offensive by describing "September 11th and all that." September 11th may have been a joke to wealthy people who live their lives travelling and being paid for travelling, but it was not a joke to the people who lost their lives and the only thing this author can do is complain that there was a "Sept. 11 downturn" in donations to a Lonely Planet Charity. Give me a break. There are more important things than seeing the next 'exotic' destination and playing drums with the natives. While travel is important, and who does'nt love it, is it not the end all, be all. There are times to judge and there are times to take a moment out and say "where did I come from? Did 3,000 of my countrymen just get murdered." There are times and by poking fun at 9/11 and complaining that it led to less donations and pretending that the deaths of people is a joke this book does a disservice both to travelelrs who have morals and to the world. Civilians don't deserve to be murdered and making fun of them is degrading and offensive. Eveyrthing else in this book is interesting but the 9/11 rant spoils it all.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



3. Lonely Planet Publications began in 1973 when the authors self-published a unique travel guide ACROSS ASIA ON THE CHEAP. What began as a one-time publication evolved into an entire publishing company specializing in places where few conventional tourists traveled. UNLIKELY DESTINATIONS is a wonderful addition to any travel library: it blends autobiography, business history and travel and covers the authors' personal story and the evolution of their budget travel guide business. Armchair travelers and any familiar with the Lonely Planet lineup of excellent independent-travel guides will relish this expose of how they came to be.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. Tony and Maureen Wheeler talk about all the places they have visited so far, how they built Lonely Planet as a publishing house, and share their personal views on several topics.
   
   The Wheelers' have travelled so widely that even the names of all the places they have been to can be tough to follow! They understandably have to rush through them. The most interesting part of the travel memoir section is the comparison between how the places were in the 70s/80s and how they are now, something the Wheelers' always point out.
   
   Besides being a travel memoir, this is book about building a boot-strapped busines. The Wheeler's show that building a business is more than just pursuing your dreams, it is about keeping a tight leash on finances, building a good team, competing with similar and larger competitors, staying ahead on the technology curve and reacting to external changes. The chapter "All about guidebooks" is an interesting introduction to how guidebooks are produced - from writing them to getting them printed. As a business book, it is similar to the Starbucks story (Howard Schultz, "How Starbucks built a company..").
   
   The book does not come together as a captivating story. In the first few chapters, the authors describe a chronological order, but that breas down in the later part of the book. Chapters like "All about guidebooks", though very interesting on their own, do break the flow of the story. In addition, there are topics that the authors pick up but do not do justice to (e.g. comparison with competitors is incomplete).
   
   An interesting book overall about travel, how travel is changed over the last three decades, and the challenges of building a business even if it is your dream business.



5. If you love to travel and love the idea of making your passion pay for itself, then this is a must read. An open and honest look at the creation and evolution of Lonely Planet!

5 comments about The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons.

1. This book was surprisingly interesting about the life of screen gossip Louella Parsons and her shenanians in tinseltown. I thoughoutly enjoyed it. This would make an interesting movie.



2. I grew up the the 1950s and bought every movie magazine with articles by Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper that my meager allowance would afford me. Dr. Barbas has produced an academic, thoroughly researched work (there are a ton of footnotes)with the ring of authenticity to it. Fingers crossed that she devotes equal time to Hedda Hopper.



3. In the Fifties, there was a rivalry of sorts between gossip queens Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons -- take your pick. Ms. Parson was a premier movie gossip columnist until 1960 for the Randolph Hearst yellow journalism media. She was a tough woman who used blackmail when it aided her gossip mongering during the studio control of the industry's publicity; it is thought that she was also involved in the blacklisting of some of the major stars during the McCarthy fiasco.
   
   Working for Hearst, a superego who built a mansion at San Simeon for his mistress, Marion Davies, Louella was involved in every aspect of their lives there on Route 1 of California and L. A. He was a silly old man. Her husband, Dr. Martin died at the age of 61, though his photo showed him looking twenty years older due no less to the kind of lifestyle they lived. She went into decline and relied on alcohol to keep going. Hearst's daughter lived dangerously for a while on drugs before marrying her bodyguard.
   
   Hedda Hopper's popularity was mainly on television although her syndicated gossip columns appeared in Chicago and New York papers, like Landers and Abby. Now, would you believe, the gossip queens are Joan and Melissa Rivers! Who would have thought it? Walter Winchell may have been a columnist back then, but not the gossipy kind like goday's Oliver Reed and Truman Capote. No one was sancasant from these monsters of divulging confidential information about any and every movie actor/actress except for their sexual leaning. That was not allowed in the 30s, 40s, and 50s by the big studios who kept everyone in the closet and presented false images for most if not all of them.



4. I have waited over twenty years for an indepth book of Louella Parsons, and while there were alot of "the usual supects" including the deaths of Thomas Ince and Paul Bern- Ms. Barbas did a great deal of homework and the beginings of Louella's life has stuff I never heard before. While she generously throws in all the contrary things said about Louella's career, she also gives this journalist her due,and does not act like someone pulled her teeth to do it.



5. For Christmas a good friend gave me this exceiting biography (Hi there Mac!) and ever since New Years I've been on a race to finish it. But some books are so good you don't like them to end, and for the past few weeks I've been envying my former self who still had the whole book in front of him instead of a rapidly dwindling few.
   
   Louella Parsons was a woman or iron determination who summoned up the inner strength to leave her shame behind in the small town where she'd grown up, and go to New York where nobody would know her. With her she had a second husband and a small daughter, Harriet, who quietly like a pet, watched her mother with a mixture of fondness and venom. I wonder if Harriet the Spy was named after her! It sounds improbable on the face of it but both HTS author Louise Fitzhugh and Harriet Parsons formed part of the same glamorous Lesbian New York underground in the late 1950s, early 1960s, the years of Harriet's inception. Anyhow Louella soon rose to the top of the Hearst newspaper empire by a unbeatable combination of loyalty, native smarts, and an earnest brown-nosing that is almost endearing to view today, although how it must have irked her professional rivals way back then.
   
   Samantha Barbas is no John Didion but she lays out the facts with a great deal of skill. She has done her homework (and even conducted a handful of new interviews, such as one with Mamie Van Doren, a Hollywood starlet who claims to have been one of Louella's victims. For Louella (I suppose I should call her "Parsons") was very much a bogeyman, a prop employed by the studio system to keep errant stars in line. She crucified Orson Welles, who had the temerity not only to make a jackass out of Hearst in CITIZEN KANE but also to lie about it to Parsons' face. "It deals with a dead man," he told her when she pressed him about the rumors that KANE was going to be a demolition of Hearst. She never forgave left-wing leaning stars like Chaplin. And yet she had a soft side and people could cozy up to her, particularly the unpleasant songwriter Jimmy McHugh. Samantha Barbas shows us how McHugh "dated" Parsons for years, always stringing her along, never actually taking her emotional needs seriously but palming her off with a ditty called "Louella" which made her feel like a schoolgirl. It's a shame a once distinguished press like UC Berkeley can't afford a proofreader nowadays. Or else Dr. Barbas isn't very familiar with the stars of Hollywood--Parsons' beat--otherwise she wouldn't have written "Frederic March," would she?
   
   But what she's terrific at is discovering the roots and the extent of Parsons' feminism, which went far and wide and early. Even before women's suffrage (1920) Parsons was in there fighting for women's rights, and she did help a lot of women journalists find their way. Good for her, too bad she turned into a tragic old harridan figure, half Miss Havisham, half Cassandra, nearly forgotten by the time of her death. I feel sure that THE FIRST LADY OF HOLLYWOOD will remain the standard biography for at least the next few years, for what could supplant it? Anyone writing in the future on Parsons will be like a pygmy standing on the shoulders of a giant.
   
   I hope Dr. Barbas continues to give us more, perhaps next she should turn to the life of Harriet Parsons and clear up the speculations about "Harriet the Spy"?

5 comments about No Momma's Boy: How I Let Go of My Past and Embraced the Future.

1. Dominic Carter has written a deeply moving memoir framed around the horrific physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a young child. No Momma's Boy is not for the faint of heart. Some of the descriptions of the abuse that Mr. Carter suffered at the hands of his mentally ill mother, Laverne, are almost unbearable to read.
   
   Yet, ultimately, Dominic Carter's story is one of triumph over adversity. Laverne sexually abused Carter and tried to kill him when he was a toddler. Born with heart defects and pneumonia, Mr. Carter grew up in poverty on the mean streets of Harlem and The Bronx. Under these circumstances, it is remarkable that he survived, let alone thrived. "Prisons and mental institutions are full of people with backgrounds similar to mine," Carter opines.
   
   In a fast-paced, conversational style, Carter takes readers through the darkest days of his inner city childhood, his escape from poverty via graduate school in upstate New York, and his meteoric rise to journalist extraordinaire at one of New York's top cable television stations.
   
   A key factor in young Dominic's survival was the support he received from his grandmother, Anna Pearl, and his Aunt Inez. Laverne was in and out of mental institutions, and Dominic's father was absent most of the time. Anna Pearl and Inez stepped in to fill the parental void, providing love and putting steel in Dominic's spine, which served him well growing up and later in the cutthroat profession of television journalism.
   
   Mr. Carter is brutally honest about his volcanic temper and the subsequent emotional breakdown following Laverne's death which nearly ended his career. No Momma's Boy is not only an eye-opening read, it represents a cathartic healing of Carter's pain. After a lifetime of holding back powerful negative emotions relating to childhood trauma, Mr. Carter has found the courage to admit that "talking about issues that shame you is like giving CPR to your soul."
   
   Mr. Carter proudly displays bravado and does a lot of name-dropping. This trait is a double-edged sword. It is initially off-putting, but as Carter cogently notes, it is also a critical source of self-confidence that enabled him to overcome extraordinary adversity.
   
   He brags, but he has a lot to brag about. Mr. Carter is a top reporter at NY1, a premier cable television station in the nation's largest media market. He has interviewed world figures such as Bill Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, and Nelson Mandela. This would be a monumental achievement for anyone; it is absolutely amazing for someone who grew up poor and abused in The Bronx.



2. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has included this as one of the best books of 2007. It probably did't hurt that Dominic Carter--a colorful media celebrity--served as grand marsal for the NAMI New York City walkathon, but the book deserves the distinction in its own right.
   
   It is an incredible book by a person who has lived an incredible life, and overcome odds that would defeat most people.
   
   Carter is a character written in bold and an inspiration. He grew from a childhood of poverty in the Bronx to become one of New York City's best-known news anchors and political reporters, interviewing Nelson Mandela and President Clinton and sparring with former New York City mayor Rudy Guliani. (If Guliani does become president, let's hope that one of the national television networks assign Carter to the White House press room; it would be great theater to watch and a service to the nation).
   
   Carter also lived with a secret of physical and sexual abuse as a child. After his mother died in 2001, he collected 620 pages of medical records and learned for the first time of her life-long struggle with paranoid schizophrenia. "I got hit with a double-barreled shotgun," he said in recent newspaper interviews. "As a child, I didn't know what was going on,"
   
   His autobiography is therapeutic. "I've been running from the ghetto...I've been running from my mother, and I didn't want to run anymore."
   
   In confronting the past, Carter comes to terms with his mother's mental illness and his own emotions. "My mother was not a demon, but she saw demons," Carter writes. "If a demon exists in this story, it is society's collective mistreatment and misunderstanding of mental illness."
   
   "In spite of her tragic life, I celebrate my mother for this one thing," Carter concludes. "She was a survivor...I am proud of my mother for not giving up...You become a real winner in life when the winds of fate knock you down and you manage to get back up. Many people, rich or poor, cannot get back up, but my mother did."
   
   "I am not ashamed to be called her son."
   
   The book is self-published and candid. To his credit, Carter resisted suggestions by mainstream publishers to sensationalize his story, because the basic facts and description of his childhood are upsetting enough. It is a memoir marked by pain, but also, an enduring love. It details Carter's successful career, but the unifying theme throughout is one of family. Its candid disclosures are also an act of courage, not unlike Mike Wallace's disclosure of long history of depression, or that of actor Joe Pantaliano, whose 2003 autobiography similarly reflects his mother's mental illness.
   
   Frankly, I'd love to see Dominic, Wallace and "Joey Pants" discuss their childhoods together sometime. They have much in common. They have much in common. They are larger than life characters, who love a good scrap and rarely censor themselves, except perhaps to usually hide the softer hearts of their nature.



3. All I can say is thank you Dominic for opening up your heart and allowing me the opportunity to read about your family secrets. From start to finish I was captivated by this story and I must say what a delightful person he is when you meet him in public. This was one gem of a read......you go New York 1 Political Commentator!



4. NY1's top reporter/political analyst gives a painful recollection of his childhood with a schizophrenic mother and how he was able to overcome it to become successful, careerwise and personally. I thought his writing was sincere, not showy, and gave insights into the people and institutions that influenced him in a positive way. An interesting read.



5. Often the family history of some one who has a mental illness is covered up. This almost happened in this mans family. His story lets us all know that to seek the truth brings healing to deep hurts. Leaving the truth covered never gets to forgiveness. As a Black family member this is particularly true. The unspoken code of Black families is to not ever uncover mental illness, just pray to deal with the issues. Additionally, most men do not speak of a difficult past, espically one in the public eye as this important well known news personality. The book was easy to read, and tells of wonderful forgiveness, and can help anyone bring their own hidden truths of abuse and mental illness into the sunshine of healing. Thank you Dominic Carter for telling your story.