5 comments about A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures.

1. A superior autobiography by the managing editor of the WASHINGTON POST. Bradlee spent a good part of the latter half of the 20th century at the center of some of the most historical first amendment controveries, from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate (for which he served as mentor/father figure to ace reporters Woodward and Bernstein and later was portrayed by no less than Jason Robards in the now classic film ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN). His book is written in a very conversational style, easy to digest and chock full of insights into Bradlee's life and career, his friendships with JFK and POST owner Kay Graham as well as an honest depiction of his often less than peaceful home life (he's been married three times). There's the heartfelt as Bradlee recollects the mysterious death of his sister-in-law Mary Pinchot Meyer (she was shot to death in a Washington DC park and her belongings were sought by the CIA) as well as the comical (Bradlee and ROLLING STONE editor Jann Wenner stalking Richard Nixon & Bebe Rebozo on a beach in St. Maarten). A good life and a great read.



2. Mr. Bradlee's book is a crisply written and most entertaining look at his family life and his life in journalism, from the period leading up to World War Two on through the Watergate Era. This is autobiographical writing at its best; honest, informative, funny, sad, hopeful, and never boring. I learned a lot from reading this book. I hope high schools and colleges are using this fine work as part of any course on post-WW2 U.S. history.
   
   A great book by a great writer.



3. Ben Bradlee and wife Tony lived on the same side of the same Washington, D.C. block as Senator John Kennedy, which is how they became friends with him and Jackie. After JFK's election to the Presidency, their friendship continued. He invited the Bradlees to Camp David, the family compound at Hyannis and for private dinners. At one glamorous White House function, Kennedy sat between Tony Bradlee and her sister Mary, who was also his friend. How close the two were was revealed much later.
   
   Some time after Kennedy's death, Mary was walking along a D.C. canal when she was grabbed from behind. Her assailant stuck a gun under her chin and pulled the trigger; she died instantly. Shortly after the funeral, Mary's best friend phoned Tony Bradlee, inquiring after Mary's personal diary, which she said had been promised to her. When the Bradlees went to Mary's home to locate the book, they encountered inside it the friend's husband, a CIA operative known as "The Locksmith." He said his wife had sent him to retrieve the diary.
   
   When they eventually found it, Ben and Tony were appalled to discover details in the diary of sister Mary's affair with JFK, one that lasted from early 1962 until his Nov. '63 death. They innocently handed the book over to their CIA friend, who promised to destroy it, and never at the time considered the implications of the two violent deaths and an interested CIA.
   
   This is just one of many remarkable stories in Ben Bradlee's A GOOD LIFE. From his teenaged recovery from polio, Harvard graduation, service on a WWII destroyer in the hazardous South Seas off Guadalcanal, City Editorship of a New Hampshire paper, a brief stint at the Washington Post then as a Paris-based foreign correspondent who traveled all over Europe and the Middle East, to a job as assistant to the American ambassador in Paris, to Newsweek and again the Washington Post, Ben Bradlee's "good life" was a full and eventful one, as well. A most fascinating and well-written autobiography. Highest recommendation!
   
   
   ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, details their investigation as Washington Post reporters under Ben Bradlee of the biggest Presidential scandal in American history, that of Watergate, which led to the resignation in disgrace of Richard Nixon.



4. Here's the magic mathematical formula for writing your very own version of "A Good Life." Even better, you don't have to set foot in a newsroom:
   
   ("I banged famous chick")x 51 + ("I met famous person") x 2,453, divided by the number of times you tell your boss how things should be done ("0"), and - viola (an allusion to your time in France) - you've got your own self-serving autobiography! And it doesn't come larded with any of Bradlee's prose, something which should be apparent from the formula.
   
   Good luck with your work!



5. Ben Bradlee's book, "A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures", is a warm, candid and entertaining look back over a remarkable career and personal life. His writing is honest, revealing and to the point. He indeed has had an interesting life. The Watergate and the Pentagon Papers experiences are covered in detail. I became interested in reading this book after reading the book "All the President's Men" and watching the movie of the same title. I would highly recommend this book! Ben comes across as an smart, honest and decent man who worked very hard to earn his achievements.

3 comments about Me, Myself and Paris: One Toe Under the Eiffel Tower, The Other In the Grocery Store.

1. An enjoyable memoir about an American woman living in Paris. Ruth's writing is funny and a bit irreverent at times. But, she captures the essence of a woman looking for and discovering passion for life. The book is written as a series of vignettes and we read her experiences of day to day life in Paris. The metro, the store, museums and parks and people. She gives a great, funny, insider's view of Parisians.
   
   I've visited Paris, but I've never lived there nor stayed for a long period of time. I think it would be a lot of fun to do.



2. If you have always wanted to travel to Paris and just have not had the time, money or ability, this book is like taking the country around with you in your back pocket! Take it out and read it whenever you feel the inclination to connect to the French! Filled with details, accurate descriptions, streets, buildings, people accounts, humor, and just plain sophistication, this book has it all...
   
   Ruth Yunker has a way with words, making the mundane seem extraordinary and when the ordinary is in French or among those in Paris, the mundane becomes even more extraordinary! This book was hard to put down, because I, myself, have wanted to go to Paris for so long and have been able to yet. Even if your from Paris, you may find this book enjoyable!
   
   I recommend it!
   Reviewed by Ami Blackwelder, author of The Hunted of 2060
   Hot Gossip Hot Reivews



3. This is a delightful read. An admiring ode to the City of Light, while not overlooking the challenges and irritations for a foreign temporary resident.
   Ms.Yunker exhibits a lively and feisty persona, tempered by a fundamentally sympathetic view of the foibles of human nature.
   She evokes the highs and lows of a resident stranger to the city and the language, while striving to understand and adapt to unfamiliar and and sometimes unfeeling local ways.
   While regaling us with some activity she observes, Ms.Yunker can suddenly develop a story which fits the scene and enlivens it. Some of these vignettes end with a surprising twist worthy of O. Henry.
   Her take on the Parc Monceau's statues of famous authors, all male, each with an adoring Muse draped around his feet, is hilarious and perceptive.
   Ruth Yunker's Paris is very much alive and memorable.

5 comments about Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National ReviewPM.

1. Willam F. Buckley was a Genius, Hilarious and intellectual. A Conservative Pioneer and A Catholic hero for me.Although I am 27,I sense these modern times can use Someone Like Mr.Buckley,His wit and Wisdom along with Replies to readers of National Review are in this book.Nevermind Chomsky,Mailer and other washed out so-called intellectuals.



2. I miss William F. Buckley. This book is a wonderful collection of his best. It's so nice to hear an intelligent conservative speak on the issues, rather than the crackpot nutjobs that I occasionally listen to on the radio now.



3. Bought Mr. Buckley's latest offering and read it in one sitting. Of course, I was sitting in front of the computer the whole time so that I could look up terms and latin quotes.
   
   Love the way that most of his writings (can't stand his fiction) exercises my mind. I agree with none of his foreign policy positions but most of his economic stands. However, setting aside ideology, simply reading this collection of "Notes & Asides" from National Review made for great entertainment and an increase in my personal lexicon.
   
   Interestingly, just before receiving this book, I had written an essay and submitted it to a friend for review. The review comments included "Well, I did find it a bit dense, discursive and anti-climactic." One of the first Notes & Asides in Mr. Buckley's book pointed out similar failings in one of WFB's articles. "One way of putting the problem is that it's not discernibly heading anywhere; it ambles along, stuffing more and more odds & ends into its elastic bag, until it simply decides to sit down." Yet another quote that WFB includes is from Lee Barnes, the, then, editor of the Fort Pierce (FL) Tribune who explained his decision not to carry Buckley's column - "We have a policy here that we will only use columnists who write in English." WFB's response? "Qualis anus equi!"
   
   I told my still-current-friend-in-spite-of-his-review, "Although I'd love to be considered very like WFB in intellect and wit, my resemblance to him in sentence structure is less gratifying."
   
   So many things about this book appealed to me (but I hate the title):
   
   1) A very young man started writing to WFB but, after receiving his help to enter and graduating from College (Yale, I think) and taking a position with the State Department with a letter of recommendation, never contacted WFB again. I am so curious about this. I even tried to find this young man (no longer so young) on the web and was unsuccessful. Wonder why the correspondence stopped?
   
   2) I don't care how many times WFB explained it, I still don't understand "Immanentize the eschaton". I don't care that I know what the words mean - the phrase makes no sense to me.
   
   3) Similarly, WFB states that his favorite saying and motto is "Quod licet Jovi, no licet bovi." Well hell, it seems intuitively obvious to me that Jupiter (God) has more license and power than an ox but what does WFB find so meaningful in this saying?
   
   4) LOVED the correspondence with Art Buchwald!
   
   5) Yes, I am very strange but I lifted my fist in a "YES!!" gesture when WFB instructed the NR editorial staff with (according to him) his only mandate during his term as Editor:
   
   "A ukase. Un-negotiable. The only one I have issued in seventeen years. It goes: "John went to the store and bought some apples, oranges, and bananas." NOT: "John went to the store and bought some apples, oranges and bananas." I am told National Review's Style Book stipulates the omission of the second comma. My comment: "National Review's Style Book, effective immediately, makes the omission of the second comma a capital offense!"
   
   I, too, come to a full halt when that second comma doesn't appear in such sentences and was just overjoyed to find WFB of the same mind - although I would have said "non-negotiable" rather than "un-negotiable."
   
   6) The give and take between WFB and John Kenneth Galbraith, the far ends of the ideological spectrum, demonstrates the pinnacle of Civil Discourse.
   
   7) WFB's eulogy and last words re colleague Bill Rickenbacker made me cry. Mr. Rickenbacker had come alive in this book to me as I knew of him only by name prior to this reading. What a fascinating person he must have been.
   
   8) Although Rickenbacker's final days brought tears to my eyes, my real sorrow was plumbed by why the Notes & Asides feature was eventually removed from regular appearances in NR:
   
   "I regretfully conclude that `Notes & Asides' can't continue as a regular feature of National Review. The reason is: We aren't getting enough letters that qualify as N&A material - inquisitive, zany, confused, annoyed, piquant."
   
   That is truly sad. The readership, both fans and foes, had grown stale and less erudite. I think that is true for our nation overall. That, IMO, is cause for real sorrow.
   
   If Mr. Buckley's book sells well, perhaps that means that this state of affairs is on the mend. His recent passing further reduced the nation's collective intellect.



4. "National Review" magazine began publishing November, 1955. After awhile, Buckley began to set aside unorthodox letters sent for publication, and this brings together material chosen from that collection. The material is presented chronologically, divided into four sections. Section I runs up to Nixon I, II goes through Watergate and the Carter malaise, III brings in the Reagan years, and IV goes through the end of the Cold War and on to the next set of challenges.
   
   Buckley's equanimty and good humor are astounding - funnier than any comic. Early on the fun begins when he founds the "National Committee to Horsewhip Drew Pearson" for besmirching Shirley Temple, establishing honorary members, selling buttons, etc. Some of his critics are pretty erudite and witty themselves - eg. an English professor tongue-in-cheek's critiquing Buckley's grammar and sentence structure.
   
   It's all pretty much apolitical, and at times even a bit irreligious, but almost all (except for a bit of spite back and forth with Arthur Schlesinger) light-hearted. If only I could write half as well!



5. I can highly recommend this book if you are a fan of William F. Buckley, Jr. It is just so typical of him. Read and enjoy.

5 comments about Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.

1. 
   This is an amazing book that weaves the history of the Girl Sleuth into the fabric of American society, showing the impact the series had on women's culture and the impact our culture had on it! It delves deeply into the actual creation and writing of the mystery series, with emphasis on the Stratemeyer family who gave birth to her, as well as the other ghost writers who served as surrogate mothers (and fathers!) to Nancy.
   
   But it goes far beyond just a history of the book series. It also gives fascinating insights into the mores of the day, from the 30s all the way to the 80s. I found it fast moving, interesting, and extremely well written. Highly recommended!!!



2. For all you Nancy Drew lovers! This book will surprise and delight you.
   Many interesting facts. This book really tells a very unique story, about a very unique and gentle man...Edward Stratemeyer. Carolyn Keene is actually 3 different women! Bet 'cha didn't know that!! You will enjoy this book.



3. Carolyn Keene wrote Nancy Drew. Carolyn Keene was a publication syndicate pseudonym. Who was the real Carolyn Keene? Anybody, who remembers Nancy Drew fondly, will love this book.



4. Like many other adults whose life consists of books and then the rest of it, in my early years I read whatever I found, including--for purposes of this review--the Hardy Boys escapades and one or two volumes in the Nancy Drew series. I never asked myself who the ostensible authors, Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene, were. Only when by chance I dated a girl whose mother wrote the Cherry Ames narratives did I realize with full force that these were contract books from the Stratemeyer Institute, a professional book packaging service creating titles designed to appeal to pre-adolescents.
   
   Now in _Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her_ Melanie Rehak gives an accounting of the Stratemeyer story, from the Rover Boys and Bobbsey Twins to Nancy Drew. It is a reasonably good yarn, with three main characters, Edward Stratemeyer (1862-1930), his daughters Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1892-1982), who carried the enterprise into the middle sixty years of the twentieth century, and Edna, plus Mildred Augustine Wirt (1905-2002), who wrote many of the early Drew books from outlines supplied by Harriet and Edna.
   
   It is--to use another American myth--a Horatio Alger story of American publishing. Stratemeyer had devised a successful enterprise when he died at the start of the Depression. His daughter Harriet, a Wellesley graduate, quick on the uptake, sussed out the species of narrative being produced. She employed talents, such as the tireless Mrs. Wirt, her father had discovered and quickly understood his business methods. Nancy Drew (and to a lesser extent other series the Stratemeyer group developed), as Rehak points out, were perfect for their times. Up until 1960 or so, when the ideas of liberation and independence tentatively advanced by Carolyn Keene came on in full fury, the old books were cash cows. Grosset and Dunlap made millions. Mrs. Adams, though not a shrewd bargainer, did well too. By the time she and Mrs. Wirt had died, commercially inspired Nancy Drew was a cultural icon.
   
   Rehak's book is good on details of the Stratemeyer operation, a little long on the historically and sociologically obvious, and a short on extended analysis. It provides more than needed on the atmosphere and women's rights in Wellesley, privations in World War II, and, at the end, the greater radicalism of the 1960's. I might have liked as much data on the finances of the 1940's and 1950's as was given for the latter half of the twentieth century. Even more, I craved more about why the public particularly seized on Nancy Drew. What made her as appealing a figure as Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Marple, or Adam Dalgleish for a certain group of readers?
   
   I have my own theory. These escape figures are necessary for sanity; they represent the possibility that life can be worked out successfully--unlike, say, the detectives of Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald. (None of those writers lived as long or as well as Harriet Stratemeyer and Mildred Wirt.) I do not mean that Melanie Rehak had to come to my conclusion. I do say that the book needs more intellectual oomph. On the other hand, such a sensibility might not have the patience to follow the Stratemeyer saga or the requisite belief in the relevance of Nancy Drew to sustain the writing of _Girl Sleuth,_ which is informative and enjoyable as far as it goes.



5. Good-natured true-mystery history of the men and women responsible for the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series of juvenile fiction.
   
   The "Stratemeyer Syndicate" was a group of ghostwriters who created the kids books based on titles and detailed outlines prepared by Edward Stratemeyer, for anywhere from $85 to $150 per book! This system lasted for over 40 years, until the small-town 19th century economics and the cult of Carolyn Keene meant the ending of the syndicate system. The main role of Carolyn Keene was then taken over by Harriet Adams, Stratemeyer's daughter, who had taken over the company upon his death, and kept it going and healthy into the 70s.
   
   Poignantly enough, as Adams grew older, and her family aged and some passed away, she took on the persona of Keene and adopted Nancy Drew as her own--even though Mildred Wirt Benson, the ghostwriter responsible for the early classics was still very much alive and very indignant about the slight.
   
   Still, all ends well as Nancy Drew lives on in the 21st century.

5 comments about A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and <I>National Lampoon</I> Changed Comedy Forever.

1. Ultimately cocaine could be considered the villain in this book that made it impossible for personal greatness to last a lifetime. I sympathize totally with Doug Kenney being able to understand any book as a concept that he could identify from a single page and write himself in a continuation of what was on that page. I had limited access to books for much of my life because I spent my college years following equations on blackboards for science, math, engineering, plus singing in a church choir in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 40 years ago when I was in Vietnam, I was carrying more books than anyone I ever met out in the bush. Having my picture taken with a book in Cambodia in May, 1970, in an attempt to look intelligent the morning after being rained on in the puddle that was also in the picture I sent to Walter Kaufmann in 1980, shortly before Doug Kenney and Walter Kaufmann died, I can appreciate how those times were a bummer for anyone who had a lot of books on his mind. I liked rock and roll so much that I was able to use information in this book to locate a video of John Belushi singing that it is lonely at the bottom of the barrel for a National Lampoon show called Lemmings.
   
   There are an incredible number of people meeting each other in this book. Doug was not afraid to tell someone to get on a plane and fly back to Hollywood so the people who were filming Caddyshack could continue filming for a few more weeks. Doug was disappointed that Caddyshack did not turn out to be the best movie ever because key people did not have the experience it took to make Animal House such a big success, a big hit movie seemed to reach everybody. I spent as few weeks reading this book because it heads in so many different directions that I wanted to be able to think about many of the situations described before jumping into a whole new cast of characters. Chapters that started with a summary of what happened in years like 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979 reminded me of the awful truth.



2. If you're under 60 years of age and have a sense of humor*, you'll absolutely love this book.
   
   *you appreciate National Lampoon, SNL and Second City sensibilities



3. "The Life & Death of a Comic Genius"...so said the October 1981 cover of Esquire magazine about its story about Doug Kenney. As a huge fan of National Lampoon, "Saturday Night Live," and NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE, I was just starting my freshman year of college and looking forward to living my own Toga Party.
   
   Doug Kenney died in August of 1981. Then John Belushi died of an overdose in March 1982. The party was quickly racking up a death toll.
   
   But American humor would never be the same.
   
   If you were a fan of anything I've mentioned, you should enjoy this book. As sad as Kenney's story ultimately is, I still found myself laughing at the memories of Lampoon stories. The 1964 NATIONAL LAMPOON YEARBOOK parody is one of the funniest things I've ever seen (fortunately, a reprint is available and I definitely recommend it).
   
   I really didn't get too much more than I did from this book that I already got from the Esquire article. Kenney's novel "Teenage Commies from Outer Space" didn't survive and he obviously spent a lot of time alone so there are a lot of pages chronicling the bickering and backstabbing at the Lampoon offices while Kenney ran off to live in a tent or make millions of dollars in Hollywood.
   
   There have been millions of laughs in the years since Lampoon and ANIMAL HOUSE...it's just too bad Bluto and the Stork weren't here to hear them.



4. I'm incredibly happy that I read this book, but I found it a ragged read.
   
   Karp's research appears to be fabulously comprehensive. Cobbling together all these recollections and many years of social and cultural history into a unified whole must have been quite a job. The result is a book that never quite decides if it is biography of Kenney or of the magazine.
   
   Karp is at his weakest when moves away from reportage he enters into analysis of Kenney. He lacks the insight and the prose of a sophisticated biographer and for every insightful chunk of prose, there is a clunky deposit of pop psychology.
   
   Still, the book is an utter success at creating much of the present-at-the-creation of the magazine and its many children (radio projects, theatre projects, films, tv...)



5. Josh Karp's biography of Doug Kenney is as meaningful as it is engaging. He ressurects the memory of the almost forgotten humorist Doug Kenney. Mr. Kenney, perhaps most easily recognized for playing Stork in ANIMAL HOUSE, was also one of the principle authors of said film and a comedic giant in his own right. Karp's biography chronicles the many ways in which Kenney shaped American comedy in the late 20th century and then thoroughly recounts the mysterious circumstance surrounding his untimely death in 1980. The book is a must read for any student or devotee of THE HARVARD LAMPOON, THE NATIONAL LAMPOON, SECOND CITY, SNL and of course ANIMAL HOUSE.
   
   Thank you for this long overdue story of this brilliant and complicated man who brought us so much joy in the form of unbridled laughter.

5 comments about The Curse of Lono.

1. This is Hunter Thompson, alright, but it lacks the punch of the good Doctor's other, more well-known books. 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' is about the last refuge of the American Dream and those who were crippled in pursuit thereof. 'Hells Angels' is about a group of outcasts who redefined the American Dream for themselves when they realized that, for one reason or another, it was out of their reach. 'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72' is about the American Dream in action (and the twisted failure the author saw in the result). Dr. Thompson's best work was done in the service of grandiose, ridiculous themes, which allowed him to be true to his own grandiose, ridiculous spirit. 'The Curse of Lono' is a skillfully researched and written Gonzo journalistic account of the author's miserable experience in Hawaii, but I think only the most dedicated of fans would find this essential reading. I'm glad I have it. I'm glad I read it. But, unless you want to read how you can spend the hellish storm season in Hawaii if you have nearly unlimited credit and almost no reservations about what chemicals go into your body, you'll be alright without it.



2. I looked for a while for this rare book and found it just in time to give it as a Christmas gift. It arrived in good condition and the recipient was very happy. Thank you.



3. I bought this book one month ago and still waiting for it...It will be a late Christmas present this time.....



4. The book arrived promptly and in good condition. However it must have been sitting stored somewhere for a LONG time because it was incredibly musty smelling. I did everything I could to try to air it out and remove the smell but to no avail.



5. I haven't read this book yet but the artwork looks amazing. In regards to Amazon's transaction it was flawless and can't wait to shop here again...thanks.

1 comments about Oriana Fallaci: The Woman and the Myth.

1. This unauthorized biography provided a rare view into the unusual life and career of one of the finest journalists of the 20th century. Oriana Fallaci has jealously guarded her own privacy, while making a career out of revealing often unflattering views of the movers and shakers of the 20th century. Oriana Fallaci's take her influence from her anti-fascist, intellectually idealistic upbringing. She worked tirelessly to break out of the limited existence most often reserved to a woman of her era. Her great political interviews and masterpieces like "A Letter to a Child Never Born" and "Inshallah" attest to her incisive, unconventional insight. I always wished to know more about her and now have had the opportunity.

   Santo Arico is to be congratulated for finally shedding light on the incredible life journey of the most influential female journalist of our time.

5 comments about Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience.

1. Jill Nelson is the modern day Harriet Tubman, leading the mentally enslaved from the chains of industrial oppression to the freedom of self-determined realization. If you read this missive and don't ask yourself if you've ever compromised your integrity to further someone else's capitalist agenda, you've missed the point of this brilliant body of work. Angst, inner turmoil, and introspection abound on the pages and tell the tale of a woman trapped in the web of office politics and backstabbing that eat at your joy, that erode your sense of self-worth. What is the price of voluntarily whitewashing your identity to please people with an agenda that does not validate or acknowledge the talents you bring to the table as a person of color? It's so much more than the reflections of a sista who got a position with the Washington Post who got a case of buyer's remorse and didn't like her job. This is the impetus to assess what it is that is important in life and to run towards freedom.



2. It is ironic yet predictable that most of the people who don't "get" this book, tend to be individuals who are either not female, African American or both. Jill Nelson wrote an honest critique of the experience that many African American women go through when trying to attain the proverbial golden rings in corporate America. I am sorry some folks could not relate or understand Ms. Nelson's book because the points she brings up are true and still reflective of the socialogical culture most African Americans live in today--approximately twenty years later. The patriarchal blindness that many in this culture experience that prevents them from understanding or relating to another individual or cultures experiences is sad yet expected The best that Ms. Nelson and other writers like her can do is just tell the story and let those who get "it" get it.

   Were some of her experiences hard to hear? Most definitely. Were the experiences unique to her? Absolutely not. Ms. Nelson says on in chapter 2, that she has been doing the standard Negro balancing act which is "blurring the edges of [her] being so that they [white people] don't feel intimidated." There are few African Americans, I would venture to guess, who haven't experienced this feeling at one time or another, yet it is virtually impossible to communicate this experience in a way that is understandable to someone who hasn't had to always be "aware" of how they are perceived and how those perceptions can affect other African Americans as well. Ms. Nelson does an excellent job explaining these details and if some people are still clueless, well, it's through no fault of her skill as a writer.

   Keep on shedding a spotlight on these issues Ms. Nelson. There are a few out there who are truly looking for the light.




3. Volunteer Slavery is STILL the book! Family, friends and coworkers are probably sick and tired of hearing me raving about the revealing, blistering and gossipy tell-all memoir! It's been nearly 10 years since the book was published, but I still regularly reread certain passages when I need inspiration, a good laugh, or a clearer understanding of the journalistic imbroglio with which I frequently have to deal with--after more than 15 years in the business!! Celebrate the anniversary of the BEST book EVER written about what it's REALLY like being a black journalist on the plantation...the newsroom at a daily newspaper!!



4. As an African-American journalist, I found Jill Nelson's book to be very real. Those who criticize the book because Nelson strikes them as naive are missing the point, on at least two levels.

   In the first place, though she naturally gets into certain generalities, the book is primarily about HER experience. It's not intended to be a handbook for reporters who are climbing the corporate ladder. Given her past, and her particular personality, this is the story of how she happened to react to a specific set of circumstances. How one judges her actions should be different from the way someone judges the book itself.

   And secondly, to the extent that the book does have a larger intent, it calls for the dismantling of an outrageously unfair system. Should we all just accept the status quo, and find clever ways to navigate our way past pettiness and stupidity, or strive for a sane alternative?

   The fact is that Nelson has done just fine since she left the Post. Viewed in that context, the book is a testament to her courage, and her insistence on personal dignity.




5. The only other author I ever read who so effectively combined self-pity and wry humor was Erica Jong. Jill Nelson turns a wicked phrase and makes her characters and her situations jump to life. I laughed aloud at her description of her teenage daughter telling her "Mom, get a life!" in response to her lecturing about black conciousness. All through the book I kept wondering where Ms. Nelson's gripes came from. Because her dad left her mom for a white woman, as recounted in the book? She grew up in plush surroundings, with summers on Martha's Vineyard. As the number of unread pages shrank, I kept wondering if Ku Kluxers in white sheets were going to suddenly show up in the book to explain her bitter feelings about white males. Ms. Nelson said that white men are priveleged, but believe me, we too can be put through the grinder. I'm also a former newspaper reporter, born the same year as Ms. Nelson. When she complained about her reporting duries at the Washington Post, saying "I was too old to chase fire engines," I had to laugh. That's exactly what I was doing at another paper at the time she said that. I don't buy what Jill Nelson says, but I did enjoy the way she tells it.

5 comments about More Than Money: True Stories of People Who Learned Life's Ultimate Lesson.

1. This author has such a positive outlook about life, and salutes quality and determination, throughout all his writings. Though beset with some individual and personal adversities, he remains most self-effacing; to extoll the virtues of others, about whom he writes and effuses about their accomplishments, rather than his own. A distinct pleasure to read his writings, (and to hear him speak, as well).



2. Stories of the rich and famous (mostly the rich) who were hit during their richness with a disease, usually a serious disease.
   Cavuto speaks lovingly of them, hard to say whether it was because they were rich and successful or because they didn't go into a tailspin when bad news hit. No great insight, however, comes from his reviews, or interviews, or analysis. The possibilities were there but the book fell short. Sadly, so many people do good things AFTER they are hit by MS or their child is hit by a drunk. Not to minimize their good deeds, but motivation is easier than it would be for Joe Schmoe who simply feels the need to aid the Lepers or feed the hungry or get rapists off the street. While these people took action, it took personal loss to get them off their seats, and as I said, admirable, but motivated by self. Some of what I read between Cavuto's lines is the shock that this could happen to rich people- duh- it happens to all of us and most of us don't have the means to do things about it.



3. It is very nice to see someone talk about business in a way that is touching and human. After all the huge scandals of rich business people screwing the little guy, reading about these heros is quite refreshing. It gives you hope that maybe there are still a lot of GOOD people left in this world.
   
   The stories are very personal, touching, and uplifting. I highly reccomend this book to everyone.



4. I watch this dude every time I get a chance. He's cool. His show is intelligent and balanced. It's relaxed but not lazy. He's firm but not overbearing.
   
   For some reason, one of my books is always listed on his amazon page and this one is listed on mine "The Wisdom of Shepherds." (I also wrote The Greatest White Trash Love Story Ever Told,where my email address is displayed). I am honored that my book is connected to Neil's. I would like nothing more than to be on his show-- heck I might even offer up my controversial social-policy opinions or something like that.
   
   Anyway, Neil is the man. Watch him. Buy this book. Seriously, buy this book.



5. This is an inspiring collection that relates the stories of numerous people who have overcome.
   
   The people included have overcome serious diseases, paralysis, family deaths, business failures, and more. It included stories of well known people such as NY Yankees Manager Joe Torre and former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro.
   
   Cavuto himself has struggled through cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. He doesn't spend a lot of time on his own story, but definitely illustrates that he knows how to overcome. His attitude about his own troubles is really amazing. He talks about how his illnesses have helped him to become more of a human being. Speaking of that, he said: "It's one of the reasons I tell people I'm lucky to have come down with cancer and now MS."
   
   He makes the point that we all struggle and suffer with various issues throughout life. It is the way that we deal with them that makes all the difference.
   
   The only part of it that I didn't appreciate was a section where he was discussing a Congressman who is a quadriplegic. This person has accomplished a lot, which is great. The bad part is that Mr. Cavuto goes into an anti gun diatribe while discussing it. I think that the book would have come across a lot better without that unnecessary rant.
   
   Nevertheless, this is pretty good and has lots of inspiration for those struggling with something. It is a worthwhile read.

5 comments about Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson.

1. You have to hand it to McKeen. He managed to portray Hunter Thompson without glorification or condemnation. After reading Jann Wenners sadly demeaning "Gonzo: the life of Hunter S. Thompson" I had thought it to be an impossible job. The subject matter just about demands taking a stand! Unfortunately - and I don't know if it was just my edition (Aurum Press, London) - but the book seemed to be edited in classic Hunter style: chapters pages and even sentences seemed crudely taped together. Spelling mishaps and simple errors abound. But who cares? The flaws only add to the honesty of the experience. Thank you Mr McKeen for portraying Hunter without an ax to grind!



2. Some brilliant insights here into what made the famous Gonzo journalist tick. You wouldn't want a dry, academic biography of someone like Hunter S. Thompson, and McKeen, happily, gives the reader a rousing and picaresque ride for his money.



3. An essential read for anyone wanting to obtain a deeper understanding behind the madness of Hunter S Thompson's life and writing. In fact, his life was based on numerous personas, many of which were created to uphold his public image. The way he chose to live his life, as well as its tragic end, bore a striking similarity to that of one of Hunter's greatest idols, Ernest Hemingway.
   Mc Keen summarizes Hunter's life best when he writes."He was a work beast, and it shows in the quality of anything he wrote in that period. But then came fame, and cocaine, and the suffocating persona he had created...Fame cost him the ability to lose that gift."



4. [...]. I warned you not to write that vicious trash about me. Now you better get fitted for a black eye patch in case one of yours gets gouged out by a bushy haired-stranger in a dimly-lit parking lot. How fast can you learn Braille? You are scum. HST."
   
   High praise for William McKeen from The Good Doctor using his own unique mode of expression. Thompson was referring to the William McKeen's book called "Hunter S. Thompson" written in 1991. This was the first book aboutThompson and by far the most popular, perhaps until now with the release of McKeen's new book about Thompson called "Outlaw Journalist."
   William McKeen first met Hunter in the late 70s when he interviewed him on stage at Western Kentucky University. No doubt this meet must have been an important one for McKeen who had been a fan of Thompson, and still is. "When I met him, I was struck by his manners and his genuine interest in me and everyone else he met that night." McKeen told me. Though they didn't become what you'd call "close friends" McKeen did have an impact on Thompson later on. As Anita Thompson (Hunters' widow) said "William was a good friend to Hunter" and as Hunter said himself of McKeen "He understands me." To write about a writer like Thompson must have been a daunting task but McKeen came up trumps with his 1991 account of Thompson's life, and considering HST liked it, that in it's self is no mean feat.
   
   When I heard "Outlaw Journalist" was in the works my first thought was; oh no, not another biography about the good Doctor. I was of the opinion that the Thompson`s life story had been squeezed dry, it didn't occur to me that this one could be different. I read it in two sittings and was surprised by how sharp and savvy it was. I am a fan of Hunter Thompson, I'm also a proponent of keeping his memory alive, and I enjoyed this bio as a fan, but it's also very readable for someone new to the sometimes complex journalistic style, and life of HST.
   
   This is the second trip McKeen takes into the world of HST. He leads us down a fine line between the crazy behaviour, and the exceptional writing talent of the Gonzo commentator. It's done with a skill that has eluded Hunters' other biographers. McKeen explores the undesirable side of Thompson whilst his focus is on the writing skills, and aptitude for perfection that Thompson put into most of his work. We are also shown some of the more disappointing times in his life as a journalist, like his failure (and utter lack of interest) to write about the Ali vs. Foreman fight in Zaire where he chose to float in a swimming pool full of sodden marijuana (which he had dumped in himself.) George Plimpton is quoted in the book as saying "Thompson's readers were not interested in the event at all-whether it was the Super Bowl or politics or a championship fight in Zaire but only how the event affected their author." From a fans point of view Hunters' lack of interest was a huge disappointment and regrettably not the only one in his writing career.
   
   The people interviewed for the book were the ones closest to Thompson, the ones who knew him and spent most time with him, not the hangers-on. Folks like some of his high school friends, Deborah Fuller his long time assistant, Anita Thompson, Bob Braudis, Ralph Steadman, Jann Wenner, and many more, all of which serves to tighten the purpose of the otherwise well researched book.
   
   From birth to death to blasted from a cannon. We get an ordered and honest account of his life with many details that will be new to most Hunter Thompson fans. An attention-grabbing look at how Thompson operated, disrupted, succeeded and failed. His health gradually went downhill before his own eyes and he was helpless to stop it. He conceded. Finishing off, McKeen gives a moving account of the blast-off service held at Hunter's "Fortified compound" where his long time wish of his ashes being shot from a huge cannon was honoured by his friends and family, with the bill footed by Johnny Depp, and attended by 150 guests including Senators and stars. A fitting send off for Hunter. And if this is to be the last biography about HST I could live with that.



5. I lived on the property next to Thompson in the 80's and knew him as portrayed in this book. I sold him the Pontiac convertible that is in a couple of the photos. The writing here is tight and moves along well. From my experiences with Hunter this has a BS-factor of about 1 on a scale of 5, good job.