5 comments about The Bag Lady Papers: The Priceless Experience of Losing It All.

1. I found the book to be a fast, quick, easy read. It held my interest. No it's not going to win any awards or accolades but it was interesting. Granted she didn't Lose it all, and yes she was a very successful artist and writer who from an early age, worked hard and saved and invested, owned multiple properties but she did lose over half a million in the Madoff scheme. Her parents were well off, and provided college education, but were cold and distant. Her childhood lonely . When she was about 6, and about town with her mother, she remembers seeing a bad lady, and that traumatized her and she had this illogical fear of becoming poor, lonely and homeless.. hence the title. I didn't fee she came across as poor pitiful me. In fact, just the opposite. In a way, the book was something of a self help book. I liked some of her axioms, like SNT- stop negative thinking and AAA, activity alleviates anxiety. Not a great read, but a good read.



2. The author first wrote of her Madoff experience in her blog at The Daily Beast. This book reads a bit like a padded version of that blog.
   
   A lot of reviewers evidently see her as a spoiled, pampered whiner. And it is true that not everyone who loses their life savings gets to bemoan the fact over a dinner of risotto laced with black truffles at the Four Seasons. I don't understand the New York social scene, so I try not to judge. She repeatedly states that she does not want our pity at any rate. But this woman is who she is, and if you approach her experience with Madoff as an example of what many, many other people were going through at this time, then it has a certain appeal. I thought it was interesting that the author mentioned phone calls she (and others) received from buyers wanting to purchase their jewelry - like sharks circling around the drowning.
   
   One thing I found odd was her mention of The Hampton Inn Hotel chain; Popeye's and Special K. She gushed so much about the Hampton Inn that it reminded me of the product placements you see in the movies - only in this case transferred to print.
   
   This was a very fast read; maybe stretched a bit too long. I thought she represented herself truthfully (for good or bad) and I found it interesting.



3. At first I was sympathetic with Penney when she received such harsh comments from readers of her blog on the DailyBeast. After finishing the book, I agreed with them. This woman was never in any fear of living on the streets. Talk about connections!? She had more than a Peruvian Coke Lord. She stays in Florida at a rich friend's house & gets an offer to be Editor of "Self" magazine?! She pitches a magazine story that she turns into a best selling book, that leads to another & another...?! Of course, all this happened BMF, but have all these connections dried up? What about her shrink that turned her on to MF? She spent thousands in therapy with him & he never called to make sure she was okay? No, she has to call him. Does he offer a hand? No. Sure, he has his own problems, but as a shrink, wouldn't he feel a bit responsible for getting her into this mess? I know I would. Then, there's the housekeeper. Why does she even need one? When she's in a funk, she scours her house operating room clean, unlike me who would never get dressed & watch tv & eat cheetos until I exploded if I was in Penney's loafers. No, this is a book of fantasy from a woman who is so unlike most of us. For example: eat an egg white omelette, followed by a piece of carrot cake? Why eat the disgusting egg whites to begin with? What did her anorexic friend say who only managed to choke down half her egg-white fare? Pretty cruel in my book. What if the friend had bought six Hermes bags while shopping with HER? That's a pretty apt simile'. Anyway, like me, get this book at the library, but don't buy it!



4. My review really simple: BOO Hoo NOT! I agree she writes well, but should consider fiction.



5. This is not even a coherent book. It's just pages and pages of lists. Pages and pages about her past wealthy life (who cares). Pages and pages about her rich fabulous friends who buy her pity lunches. Plus a lot of weirdness about loving to photograph plastic blow-up sex dolls. SKIP IT & SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! Then you won't have to try and make bucks by writing a whiny boring book about yourself.

3 comments about Days of Fear: A Firsthand Account of Captivity Under the New Taliban.

1. The book describes the harrowing experiences of an Italian journalist under the Taliban. While the book does include several grisly and heartbreaking moments, it also provides invaluable insight on the Taliban and its leaders. Highly recommended!



2. "In the name of Allah Most High and All-Merciful, Sayed Agha, Ajmal Naqshbandi and Daniele Mastrogiacomo are sentenced to death for acts of espionage within Taliban territories."
   
   In 2007, Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi and his driver Sayed Agha hope to interview a Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah. Instead, they are take prisoner by the Taliban, Agha is killed, and Mastrogiacomo is held for two weeks. (Ajmal Naqshbandi was later killed as well.)
   
   This book is an exceptional description of the psychological terror Mastrogiacomoa feels -- except for his chains and two blows from a rifle butt he was not physically mistreated -- his certainty that he will be killed, and then "Then, suddenly, I feel that they won't kill me. I'm certain of it. I don't know why. My instincts tell me so. I want to believe it. Maybe my death is too absurd an eventuality for me to imagine, or perhaps I'm too important for our captors. I know that they won't do it. Not yet, not now."
   
   Between his capture and his release, Mastrogiacomoa learns a great deal about himself and very little about the Taliban from his young guards. He is able to describe the execution of his driver on a river bank; his account is written in a flat, descriptive manner. The terror described in this book comes from Mastrogiacomoa himself, and he makes that terror come alive for the reader in an extraordinary manner.
   
   Mullah Dadullah eventually tells Mastrogiacomo: "In the end, you have obtained much more than an interview. You have seen how we live and how we think. Do you think yourself capable of telling the truth about us? You journalists never do. You owe your life to our Supreme Commander. It was Mullah Mohammed Omar himself who suspended your death sentence. He decided not to have your head cut off."
   
   This book describes a terrifying ordeal and Mastrogiacomo's human reactions to his captivity.
   
   
   Robert C. Ross 2010
   
   Note: Francis X. Rocca has published a superb review of this book in "The Wall Street Journal" which is free online at the link set forth in the first Comment. B.



3. Daniele Mastrogiacomo (b. 1954, Karachi, Pakistan) is a courageous Italian correspondent for the "La Repubblica" newspaper in Italy. He has been an active reporter in the Middle East and in 2007 was kidnapped by Mullah Dadullah's henchmen inasmuch as the brutal Taliban thought that Mastrogiacomo worked for the British military. Once the Taliban found out that he was a reporter for an European newspaper, to release him they stipulated that Italy withdraw their military force in Afghanistan. As the Italian government stood firm, the Taliban made a recording of Mastrogiacomo, his driver and another colleague, kneeling and blindfolded before armed Taliban terrorists. The video also had a recording of one of his colleagues being beheaded by sawing off his head with a sword by Muslim combatants. This resulted in Mastrogiacomo pleading to help him....
   
   I will not provide the ending and ruin the captivating, yet disconcerting story, but I recommend this book as a moving and revealing work on the mindset and culture of the Taliban.
   
   Readable, interesting, powerful, fascinating, and unforgettable. Great book for a long flight or vacation read.
   There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies

1 comments about Oriana Fallaci: I'll Die Standing on My Feet (Libro verita).

1. Riccardo Nencini is a scholar, author and politician, currently premier of the Italian region of Tuscany. His essay recounts a day spent with Oriana Fallaci shortly before her death on 15 September 2006. Nencini chronicles their final dialogue moment by moment. They smoked a lot, alone in that small room in Florence in which there was almost nothing besides champagne and cigarettes. The author thinks that in preparing for death, Oriana wanted to prove that she did not need much more from this life, not even food.
   
   They discussed many things: how to face death, the decline of the West, the peril of terrorism, the role of the USA and the sorry state of Europe. The specter of Eurabia recurs in the conversation, considered from many angles. Living in New York City in retirement, Oriana was universally popular with the media until the publication of The Rage and The Pride, her blistering response to the 9/11 atrocity. In her own words, she was trying to 'open the eyes of those who refuse to see, unplug the ears of those who refuse to hear and ignite the thoughts of those who refuse to think'. That made her fall foul of the politically correct media and the multicultural elites of Europe.
   
   Undaunted, she continued speaking out in articles and interviews in both the Italian and American media. She contemptuously referred to her choir of critics as "cicadas," called the European Union a "pit of Pontius Pilates" and railed against European antisemitism and its return under the mask of anti-Zionism. Although in her earlier career she had harshly criticized the Israelis, she became one of Israel's most courageous defenders, publishing articles like the eloquent and inspired "I Stand with Israel, I stand with the Jews."
   
   The aforementioned book was translated into all the major European languages and sold in the millions despite the insults, legal actions and death threats from various quarters. She followed it up with La Forza della Ragione which was finally published in English in 2006 as The Force of Reason. It is another tour de force, more measured than the previous book but not entirely devoid of her trademark fury and sense of humor. In essence, The Force of Reason is a comprehensive analysis of the perilous intellectual climate in the democracies and the alarming spread of terrorism, a much-needed antidote to a set of widely held false beliefs, and an impassioned wake-up call to the West.
   
   With Nencini she also spoke of her famous interviews with politicians, the city of Florence, her childhood, the Second World War and her illness which she called "the alien." Defiant to the end, she refused to give her killer any recognition. It was the same Oriana that Nencini had always known: passionate, intelligent and sharp of mind & tongue yet witty, capable of tenderness and fragile at times. The room she chose for her last conversation with her friend is situated in a part of Florence overlooking the Arno River where her father's group of partisans fought against Mussolini and the Germans in World War II.
   
   Nencini provides a moving portrait of the brilliant Italian author who represented the golden decades of Europe. The dialogue captures her essence, her intelligence, passion and convictions as well as her kindness, her concern for the oppressed and her courage. Until a proper biography appears, this little booklet will do. To learn more about Oriana's fear for the future of civilization, I recommend Menace in Europe by Claire Berlinski who mentions Fallaci in her book, While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, Icarus Fallen and The Unlearned Lessons of the Twentieth Century by Chantal Delsol, Eurabia by Bat Ye'or and The Last Days of Europe by Walter Laqueur.

5 comments about Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq.

1. Title: Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq
   Author: Farnaz Fassihi
   Rating: ****1/2
   Tags: iraq, war, insurgency, daily life
   
   I wish every American would read this book. It is about the daily life of Iraqis from the time the U.S. invaded into 2006. The author is Farnaz Fassihi, an Iranian American journalist.who covered Iraq for the Wall Street Journal. She traveled around Iraq and told the stories of everyday Iraqis.
   
   If it an't broke, don't fix it. Iraq was broken, but it wasn't our responsibility nor in our power to fix it. Instead we brought death, sectarian violence, poverty, forced migration, loss of basics such as electricity, adequate hospitals and schools... and so on. One particularly effective chapter imagines what New York would be like if it had gone through what Baghdad has.
   
   Fassihi shows the complexities of the situation. There were Iraqis who welcomed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. For the Sunnis, though, Saddam's overthrow meant a loss of power and prestige. After the invasion, Iraqis knew that the U.S. Army protected only the oil ministries, and it led them to conclude the war was for oil. As their lives descended into chaos and terror, hatred for Americans grew.
   
   Here's Fassahi's summary of her time in Iraq:
   
   "I've borne witness as people's lives have unraveled around me. I recall a poignant quote from Martha Gellhorn, a pioneer female war reporter, from her book The Face of War: "War happens to people, one by one." War doesn't just happen to the military, whose soldiers are fighting, or to the government, who wages it. It happens to people, one by one, house by house, and family by family. I have not met a single Iraq whose life hasn't been touched by tthe war or altered because of everyday violence. I have heard this sentence from Iraqis, over and over, "until now, we are waiting". What are they waiting for, I wonder. Perhaps for just an ordinary day." (p. 272-3).
   
   Too much war coverage in Iraq has focused on America, and seems to not consider Iraqis as important. They are. They are human beings who have suffered at our hands. We need to be reminded of that, whenever we thing we know what is best for the world, and whenever we think we have unlimited power to change the world.
   
   Publication PublicAffairs (2008), Edition: illustrated edition, Hardcover, 304 pages
   Publication date 2008
   ISBN 1586484753 / 9781586484750



2. 
   The daily life in Iraq as described by Farnaz Fassihi shouldn't surprise those who are disposed to reading this book. I think it would be a surprise to those who only experience the Iraq War through cable TV news.
   
   The overwhelming TV reporting on Iraq has been sound bites on the US troops, individual heroic efforts, sports, smiling people with purple fingers and the effectiveness of "the surge". If there are stories about the total loss suffered by people Amal al-Khudeiry or how people like Fatin cope after a twin sister has been "gunned down" they are drowned out by the frequency of the "experts" who talk about winning, tactics, strategies and politics. We've read about high profile kidnappings but has there been a story about a middle class family who sold everything only to have a dead body returned to them? Has there been a personal follow up story on a released Abu Ghraib inmate? I read in this book and elsewhere that there have been two million refugees, but do not recall one TV media story on any refugee in these past 5 or so years.
   
   The Wall Street Journal has Farnaz Fassihi who faced enormous risks and Daniel Pearl who did not return. They did their part and Fassihi praises her company. On p. 208 another picture emerges. Her editors ask how can she call Iraq a "disaster" with the US election at hand. They tell her she would "validate" the "critics". This is Orwellian logic. A 5 car auto wreck can be called a "disaster", but the destruction of total neighborhoods cannot because there is an election at hand. The news should be cleansed or withheld so criticism will not seem valid. This, for me crystallized the state of our media. It has great technology, courageous reporters and access to support (security, translation, etc.) but its self censorship distorts its accuracy. As long as accurate reporting is considered "validating" "critics" the public will never get a straight story.



3. Farnaz Fassihi is a great reporter with an eye for all the details that transform an ordinary narrative into something superb. She tells the story of a "cursed ambulance", whose driver laments that since the American invasion, people die in his vehicle regularly. It only takes her a few carefully chosen words to describe how Iraqi shoulders seem more relaxed in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, or how the exhiliration of one of her Iraqi co-workers at voting in Iraq's first "free" elections fades and he wraps his purple-stained finger (the sign that he has voted) in a bandaid so that Sunnis in his neighborhood won't kill him for collaborating. She also deftly draws attention to the more familiar issues -- reported everywhere from her own contributions to the Wall Street Journal to the New Yorker -- such as the different definitions of "security" and "democracy" held by American administrators and the Iraqis themselves.
   For all those reasons -- and many more, including Fassihi's ability to chronicle not just what she sees around her but also be a memoirist, writing about her own life and its gradual deterioration (from restaurant outings and parties to life under siege in a hotel suite ultimately destroyed in a bombing) -- this should have been an extraordinary book. The author has the reporting skills, the insight and the courage to step outside the boundaries imposed by North American journalism -- the rule of objectivity at all costs -- to call it as she sees it, a trait first noticed publicly when an e-mail decrying the real state of affairs in Iraq to friends and family became public in the fall of 2004. Perhaps it is unrealistic in view of her youth and relative inexperience compared to this veteran, but I had hoped I would find something as powerfully moving as Robert Fisk's recent opus, The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. I didn't.
   Fassihi has been badly let down by her editors at Public Affairs on a number of fronts. At the most basic level, very obvious and jarring errors in spelling and grammar have crept into the narrative repeatedly. Husayn and his "aids" (rather than aides) are slaughtered by Sunnis, people have an opinon "on" Saddam (rather than of), she "diffuses" a compliment. Even more frequent are awkward phrases that jar or sometimes simply don't make sense, from "electronic-mailing websites" to her description of the words "jihad" and "resistance" as being, simultaneously wobbly ideas and profound words. (It's hard to imagine those descriptions coexisting.) She gives a "smiley explanation", while "palm groves swish". (Well, the fronds of palm trees may do that, but swishing groves eludes my imagination.) These aren't occasional; they are omnipresent.
   I don't lay these problems at Fassihi's door -- many great reporters are less-than-great editors. (And while Fassihi learned English while a child, her first language is Farsi.) Which is why the Wall Street Journal has at least three editors and one copy editor read, if not thoroughly review, every bylined story by any staff reporter that is published in the paper. That level of care wasn't taken here, with the result that anyone who is conscious of these spelling, style and grammatical issues will find their level of irritation growing.
   Another problem is the structure. Fassihi doesn't get into her stride until about a third of the way into the book, after the American invasion. A good editor would have caught that and found a way to incorporate the earlier material -- which serves as a great contrast to the crumbling lives of ordinary Iraqis -- within the rest of the narrative, rather than adhere to a strictly chronological approach. It's a tried and tested strategy for just this kind of writing problem in narrative non-fiction.
   Finally, there is the vignette approach. While we get to know some characters throughout the book (mostly Fassihi, her staff and her partner, although also one Iraqi Christian family), each chapter reads like dressed-up material from her reporter's notebook. One literary agent I know would describe this as being too "episodic", meaning that while each of the chapters individually is compelling, they don't contribute as much as each needs to to the overall narrative arc.
   I feel like Scrooge or the Grinch mentioning these issues in this review. But they felt all the more jarring because of the overall merit of this book and Fassihi's reporting skills. This could have been a great book -- should have been a great book. It's not. That does not mean that you shouldn't read it, however, because the experiences she recounts will drive home to you as few others have managed, what it is like to live, day by day, in a war zone as a civilian -- those who, in modern warfare, tend to suffer disproportionately with little or no control over the horrifying events with which they must cope.
   Fassihi concludes by wondering, as so many others who have experienced war have done, what can possibly be accomplished by so much carnage? For anyone interested in delving further into that perennial question, I strongly recommend a book that appeared immediately prior to the invasion of Iraq by another war correspondent, Chris Hedges. War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning



4. In her book, Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq, Farnaz Fassihi presents a heart-wrenching portrait of the Iraqi people as they come to terms with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the rebuilding of their war-torn country. Drawing on her experiences as a Wall Street Journal senior correspondent living in Iraq, Fassihi portrays a compelling story of the struggles of the regular citizens and their families. At first they cheer the Americans for tumbling a brutal dictator, but then weep in despair as the free life they dreamed about becomes a nightmare.
   
   This book is not a discourse on military tactics and political blunders, but readers need to know that many of the Iraqi people interviewed relate disturbing stories with heavy overtones of anti-Americanism and criticism of the President, and at times, Fassihi finds herself voicing her agreement. Descriptions and conversations, framed by the author's own pain and compassion, focus on the lives of people she has befriended. Many are affected by the overthrow, occupation and subsequent collapse of an Iraqi society that blames not only the two major ruling religious sects (Sunni and Shi'ite), but also the foreign occupiers. In Fassihi's words, "Sometimes I find myself wanting to cry while I'm interviewing people and other times I feel detached, like a machine recording misery and death."
   
   During all this turmoil, Fassihi finds love with a fellow correspondent in this war-torn land. When they are on separate assignments, she is tormented by fears of separation. Her family begs her to come home and give up her position as head of the Baghdad bureau of the Wall Street Journal, but she is drawn in by the plight of the Iraqi people and was even accused of being addicted to the job's constant threats of bombings, shootings and bloodshed. She is persecuted as a woman, shunned for being American, but loved because of her compassion for the people. Under threats of kidnapping, murder, torture, Farnaz attempts to take care of her workers and friends while dodging bullets and car bombs.
   
   The Iraqi people dedicate their lives to regaining their dignity, preserving their art and culture, sustaining their religious beliefs and most of all hoping that some day they will indeed see an ordinary day. Their homes are bombed and searched while loved ones are forcefully detained and spirited away at the slightest rumor. Those detained often don't return, leaving families desparate to know their fate. If they do return, months later, the tales of torture, persecution and deprivations are horrendous. Fassihi's employee, Munaf, sums up their daily lives with the comment, "We are like animals in the wild. We eat, sleep and try not to get killed each day."
   
   This powerful account of life in Iraq helps us understand why stability has been so elusive to the people of a beleaguered country. The details are rich, the story well written, and throughout the book, the true voices of the Iraqi people are heard because of the an empathetic, insightful woman who is not afraid to put herself into the middle of the story.
   
   by Rhonda Esakov
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



5. Farnaz's account of events are heart breaking. I have been following the incredible sad story of Iraq before the war started. No news of the war over the years have brought the sadness and misery of the war home so clearly. Farnaze's understanding of the culture, traditions and religion particularly makes her account of the events easier to understand. The fundamental factors which the war architects have so badly overlooked and foolishly underestimated and as foolishly they continue the rhetoric's for an even worst war with Iran.

5 comments about Trailer Trashed: My Dubious Efforts Toward Upward Mobility.

1. I have three books by Hollis. This one has the magic like her first book. It brings me to tears. She is an excellent writer. People ask me what I'm reading before work. I tell them. I love Hollis. She is great!



2. I have toyed with the idea of trailer living since it seems so cost-efficient and sensible. I attribute this to watching too many episodes of The Rockford Files.
   
   While researching the subject a bit I stumbled across Hollis Gillespie's book, Trailer Trashed.
   It's a fun and colorful read with a strange band of quirky characters, in and out of her life. I suppose one could call her a latter day Erma Bombeck. She explains that as a child, her father was a trailer salesman and that she grew up in a world of trailers. When she described one rolling home as a "canned ham" trailer, I knew instantly the design she surely meant.
   
   I still think trailer life makes a lot of sense for some but probably not for me. In the meantime, I highly recommend Miss Gillespies book as a fun read and required reading for those contemplating making their life simpler by endorsing trailer life. Apparently, it does't work.



3. When I began the book at first I didn't think it was going to live up to the hype. The more I read the more I laughed, out loud! There is a note of seriousness but I really loved it, I am going to get her other books.



4. I really do like this book. I've met Hollis and my boys love Grant at the Local but honestly - potty mouth aside -many of her stories are very touching. Then take a breath as the next one is as likely to make you laugh out loud. Now if you don't have a an open mind and if you can't appreciate other's lifestyle choices - then maybe another book choice would be better. But if you like David Sedaris - I'd say there is a good chance you will like this one too. Me for one, I'm a fan of both but then I like to laugh!



5. You know, Hollis is the one author that I wish were my neighbor and good friend! What fun it would be to "hang" with her and her band of weird friends. I've read all of her books and laughed so hard that many times I had to put the book down because I had tears in my eyes and couldn't read the words on the page.
   
   Through all the humor, there shines the real Hollis, who is a kind and sincere person...a bit off center, but wonderful just the same. You will love this book!

5 comments about Rising from Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All and Found What Mattered.

1. Award-winning broadcast journalist Kathleen Koch presents Rising from Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All and Found What Mattered, a testimony of the devastation that the notorious 2005 hurricane wreaked upon the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Katrina's own home, as well as many others and entire communities were literally leveled in the wake of Katrina's destruction. Yet Rising from Katrina is about more than the fury of the storm; it is about the struggle to rebuild, to make sense of disaster and tragedy, and the heartwarming random acts of kindness that human beings are capable of even in the most dire circumstances. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrates this inspirational, compelling and powerful blend of judicious reporting and heartfelt sympathy.



2. Rising from Katrina is a powerful narrative. First you are in the storm experiencing the terror, helplessness, and roar of the wind and water. The aftermath brings out humor, courage, and compelling humanity.



3. Rising from Katrina is a beautiful tribute to the very wonderful people of Mississippi and the horrendous ordeal they have been dealt. It is a story of hope and love, and a story of strength and faith. It is very well done and beautifully written. If you care about what has happened along the Gulf Coast and fear forgetting, buy this book. Kathleen Koch is a superb writer and she brings us into the world of the characters who are Mississippi, and I mean that in a very positive way. Thank you Ms Koch for giving your time and energy to help your hometown and for sharing this incredibly personal and powerful book with us.
   A fan of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and all of her residents,
   Kate



4. Rising from Katrina is a tremendous book. Reading it, I ran a gamut of emotions. Kathleen's account of the hurricane and the re-building of lives was truly the first time that the people of the Gulf and especially Bay St. Louis became real. Watching the TV coverage allowed me to distance myself, but while reading Rising from Katrina, I felt as though I was there and now understand what these people have endured. Reading on, I was able to see how the hard work and determination of the people in this region paid off. The book really brings it home. Because Kathleen grew up in Bay St. Louis, I can feel her love and compassion for her friends, old neighbors, and the people of Bay St. Louis. This is a book I will give to my friends and family with the hope everyone will take something from it as I did.



5. Kathleen Koch has written a book that recounts the aftermath of Katrina from the perspective of an objective, seasoned reporter, as well as the very personal and emotional side of this disaster as experienced by someone who loves the area. By sharing the stories of some of the families living in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the book paints a vivid portrait of how life was changed dramatically for everyone who survived Katrina - and how they came together to rebuild their beloved city and their lives. The fact that the author grew up in this idyllic setting and has ties with many of the families makes this an even more compelling read. While reading this book, I found my emotions ran the gamut - suspense wondering who survives and how; anger at the incompetence of the government bureaucrats; sadness over the loss of so many lives; and finally amazement at the strength and optimism of so many of the townspeople. I thought that I knew a lot about Katrina, until I read this book - it gave me new insight and compassion for the people in the Gulf Coast who are still rebuilding their towns and lives in the aftermath of this horrible disaster.

5 comments about Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb.

1. THE STORY OF GARY WEBB AND THE DETAILS OF HIS DEATH ARE FRIGHTENING...AND TRUE.
   HIS INVESTIGATION INTO THE DRUGS FOR GUNS CONNECTION IN LATIN AND CENTRAL AMERICA INVOLVED VERY HIGH LEVEL GOVERNMENT OFFICES...HE PROVED THEIR COMPLICITY AND DARED
   TO WRITE ABOUT IT. THE CONSPIRACY REACHED TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF OUR GOVERNMENT AND WEBB WAS A HERO FOR THE TENACITY WITH WHICH HE PURSUED THE TRUTH....WEBB'S BOOK 'A DARK ALLIANCE' FOLLOWS THIS WEB OF DECEIT BY THE C.I.A. AND THE D.E.A.,FROM START TO FINISH...WEBB PAID A TRAGIC PRICE FOR HIS COURAGE...HIS LIFE!! READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT HOW MANY LEVELS OF AUTHORITY CONSPIRED TO END THIS REPORTERS' LIFE.



2. The previous reviewer caused me to check out Pulitzer Prizes. I have followed many stories by the author and have found him to be an excellent reporter and I couldn't believe he would make such a mistake. The reviewer is wrong, Schou is right. Webb was indeed awarded a Pulitzer. It was as part of a team, but he had one none the less. Do ball players have any less stake in a championship win because they are on a team?
   
   Officially:
   (1990) Pulitzer Prize, in General News Reporting, awarded to the Staff of the San Jose Mercury News for its detailed coverage of the October 17, 1989, Bay Area earthquake and its aftermath. Webb worked with a team of 6 reporters including himself, on the Loma Prieta earthquake.
   
   The take away here is that the government forced corporate media to kill this true story. They then went on to destroy Webb. There is no liberal media. Everything you see on your television or in print from corporate media has been approved by the Ministry of Truth.



3. Technically, Schou's biography squeaked off the press at the end of 2006, but it was 2007 before it garnered much attention in the jubilant crowing of the alternative media and a few mea culpas from the mainstream newspapers who shunned Gary Webb (ending his career and eventually driving his 2004 suicide), after he broke the story of CIA-backed Nicaraguans who funneled crack cocaine into Los Angeles to fund the Contras. Despite the widespread denouncement of Webb by most of the press, the CIA inspector general confirmed most of his story two years after it first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996. "We now live in a country where reporters dread becoming Gary Webb," notes the introduction, "God help us."



4. Schou refers throughout this book to Gary Webb winning the Pulitzer Prize. There's one little problem with this -- it never happened. It would have taken 30 seconds to check the Pulitzer's web site and discover this.



5. As the editor of the Applegator Newspaper, I have many books crossed my desk. I was captivated from the beginning to the end. And the story confirmed many of my fears. If one has any interest on the CIA, I highly recommend this book.
   
   J.D. Rogers
   Editor of the Applegator Newspaper

5 comments about Straight from the Source: An Expose from the Former Editor in Chief of the Hip-Hop Bible.

1. If you're into hip hop and the magazines and follow what goes on in that world you'll love this. It's another hip hop tell al but this one is only laced with sex not all about it. It gives you a little peek behind the scenes of what started a lot of rap's beefs. I enjoyed it.



2. Kim Osorio is best known for being the former editor-in-chief of The Source Magazine. She was the editor of the magazine when hip-hop was at it's peak. Artists such as Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I., Puff Daddy, 50 Cent and The Game were reaching their peak while Osorio was at the helm of the magazine. As of late, as in the past few years, Kim Osorio was in the headlines for her sexual harassment case which involved The Source Magazine, Dave Mays and hip-hop star Benzino. With the case behind her, Kim Osorio has released a book titled "Straight From The Source." In the book Kim details her life inside of the hip-hop industry. Kim details her involvement in the magazine's hip-hop beefs and she details her friendships with people in the entertainment industry. As a reader I'm glad that Kim wrote an autobiography. She had the opportunity to tell her life story in her own terms and she was able to clear up a lot of the bad rumors that had been spreading on blogs the past few years. Near the end of the book she mentions the defamation case in which she was involved with. Kim Osorio mentions towards the end of the book that she enjoys talking to other women about the case. Being that she was the first female editor-in-chief of a major hip-hop publication Kim Osorio's life is an inspiration to people. Fans of entertainment and hip-hop culture will enjoy this tell all book.



3. This is dull book, owing largely to the lack of actual story. Instead Ms. O strings together ~long~ litanies of hip-hop celebrity names. Taking out the name dropping would likely shorten this book by a good 100 pages.



4. I was disappointed in how Ms. O focused so much negative energy on her bosses. Granted they were some 'buttholes' and deserved far more harsher verdicts. I expected more self actualization and responsibility on her part. She seemed to be placing the blame and having a lot of anger verses spiritual enlightening (physically & emotionally) regarding her lack of family.



5. Kim Osorio is the Eve of hip-hop journalism. She is the first woman ever to rise to power as editor in chief of a major hip-hop publication; was ordained servant to the patriarchal master that is the hip-hop industry; and was banished from the garden of hip-hop when she fully awakened to conscience. However, contrary to popular literal interpretations, Kim is not a simplistic temptress. Instead, her autobiographical "Straight From The Source" is a story of how all good journalists, all people, are wisdom seekers longing to reveal that there is more to life than a hedonistic paradise of celebrity parties, lush hotel suites, and an abundance of rich foods.
   
   "I had learned about some of the violence, staff walkouts, and injustices that had made the history of the Source an untold story waiting to be made public."
   
   Kim was born in the 70's and grew up in Bronx, New York. Main Source, A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC scored the cinematic version of her early life. Although she had a law degree, she realized her calling was to be a hip-hop journalist ("...I always wrote as a hobby. I figured that I'd turn it into a profession..."). She worked as a freelance writer for industry mainstays, Billboard, Vibe, XXL and in 2000 became Associate Music Editor for the internationally sold, highest circulated hip-hop lifestyle magazine, The Source, "The Bible of hip-hop."
   
   "By the year 2000," Kim writes, "the hip-hop industry was comparable to a male football locker room. Most of the top music executives were men, the majority of hip-hop artists were male, as were almost all of the producers, video directors, engineers, and DJs." Her destiny to expose just how pervasive gender inequality is in mainstream hip-hop was beginning to surface. So pervasive, though, that much of "Straight From The Source" is Kim's confessional of how she ignored her own judgment, disbelieved her own power as a woman in hip-hop, for fear of retaliation.
   
   The subplot is, of course, her union with her Adam, the remix. Like in Kamitic mythology, Kim has to first piece him together. Her on-again-off-again relationship with Mush taught her the joy and pain of childbirth; she shares intimate conversations with Nas, God's Son, about their mutual unadulterated feelings for hip-hop; and spends enough behind-the-scenes time with 50 Cent to learn just how calculating a man will be to harvest his hustle. All the while, her heart was guarded ("`Treat her like a prostitute' was the mandate from Slick Rick that seemed to resonate with most men in hip-hop."); she was looking for her equal.
   
   Once Kim achieved the most exalted editorial position (a job she worked many months before actually being granted the title), her ideas helped spawn the highest selling issue of the magazine's nearly two-decade history, and her fears helped cultivate the downfall. She became a pawn in the battles between The Source's publishers Dave Mays and Raymond "Benzino" Scott, them and their staff, and them and Eminem. She witnessed the men of the magazine denigrate the intelligence of women, she was physically threatened by a co-worker who suffered no disciplinary action from her bosses, and was publicly disgraced for her personal relationships. But still, she did not yet take a bite from the tree of conscience. She suffered in silence. "By the middle of 2004, I lost my soul right along with it [hip-hop]. I forgot what my purpose was."
   
   "Straight From The Source" ends just as Kim finds her soul again. In one of the biggest lawsuits in hip-hop, she won $7.5 million in damages for defamation and a retaliatory firing (in 2005 she filed a formal complaint of gender discrimination to The Source's HR department and was subsequently exiled, her fears, apparently, were prophetic). However, nothing was awarded on the basis of her being a woman. The man who was the judge did not rule, and the man who was who lawyer did not prove that the male-dominated perspective of women in hip-hop was in need of some conscious womanly editing. And so, this book serves as Kim's uninterrupted testimony of how difficult it is to get the tables to turn for a woman in a kingdom. She recalls each moment of proof with a sometimes self-deprecating honesty, no longer afraid to expose the contradictions of even her own mind. Her sarcastic sense of humor (that, by the way, is the guardian of her heart) sheds light on the inner tension, and the way she punctuates her thoughts as though she's typing notes to herself on her SkyTel pager rings true to the times in which she writes. One can only pray that a sequel will reveal her original sin of awakening conscience is a humble start of a new-age revolution for women in mainstream hip-hop and beyond.

5 comments about Right Turns: From Liberal Activist to Conservative Champion in 35 Unconventional Lessons.

1. This is a great book! I love the stories and the lessons that Mr. Medved gives in this book. It is very interesting and some parts are hilarious. The way Mr. Medved writes is also very witty and insightful.



2. I am a fan of Medved's radio show, and agree with most of his opinions, so it was interesting to see how he developed those views.



3. Right Turns: From Liberal Activist to Conservative Champion in 35 Unconventional Lessons
   
   What an amazing life story. What I found so profound, was my own life experiences, in going from a jewish democrat to jewish conservative republican.
   
   I found his life story quite compelling, and inspiring, to help me find my own jewish identity.
   
   Sadly, being a republican is highly discouraged as a jew. It's rather sad, there are no local places in Minnesota, where you can pray, and not have to worry about being silent, rather than being a part of a good community.
   
   Thank you, Michael Medved, for such an inspiring and heart-warming autobiography.



4. Michael's book is an example of what happens when adolescents mature. When one starts working and has a family to support they cannot remain liberal unless they are insane. Liberalism is a mental disorder but it can be healed with the right amount of encouragement and soul searching by the sick one.



5. Heard Michael Medved read his autobiography, RIGHT TURNS:
   FROM LIBERAL ACTIVIST TO CONERVATIVE CHAMPION
   IN 35 UNCONVENTIONAL LESSONS and must say I was
   impressed--though I don't agree with all his political beliefs.
   
   Yet that's what makes the book so interesting; i.e., that
   Medved gets you to think . . . he has always done that
   for me, even since I started to watch him back when he reviewed
   movies on PBS . . . his opinions were often funny, but they
   were also much more honest than those of his colleague
   Jeffrey Lyons (who could find something admirable in almost any
   film). . . I also got a kick out of his "Golden Turkey Awards,"
   presented to the very worst efforts in filmmaking.
   
   When he described his early liberal leanings, I could
   relate to much of what he said--particularly when he talked
   about Allard Lowenstein, one of my political heroes . . . how
   he transformed to become conservative kept my attention,
   as did his becoming increasingly aligned with Orthodox
   Judaism . . . and when he followed-up an unsuccessful
   first marriage with a loving second one, I found myself
   feeling glad for Medved.
   
   Parts of RIGHT TURNS are funny; much of it is thought-provoking.

5 comments about The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, and Fate.

1. This is the only essay-compilation volume that I have ever read cover to cover. Engaging, illuminating, thought-provoking. I had not known the author until after her death.
   
   The end-piece, about 50 pages dealing with her diagnosis and journey with liver cancer, is the best cancer memoir I have ever read, and I've read more than a few of them.
   
   She was some kind of woman -- tragic that it must be written "was."



2. Thanks to editor Timothy Noah, for compiling this collection of his deceased wife's writings - a legacy of getting to the heart of the matter, whether the topic is why feminists didn't flinch at Clinton's flagrant womanizing, to her own unflinching fight against liver cancer.
   
   The book has three sections:
   1) Profiles of Washington Insiders, that could have been dry if written by another, but instead sparkle with insights into personality, behind-the-scenes machinations, and human drama;
   2) Essays, including one on another feminist fiasco -- makeup advertorials in Ms. Magazine;
   3) Time and Chance, memoirs of dealing with a deadly diagnosis and how, as a mother of two young children, she made her final four years as meaningful and as normal as possible. Her final story, "The Halloween of My Dreams," describes how her almost-nine year old daughter dresses in the glitter of a teenage rock star, letting her see into the future that would never be for her as a mother.
   
   This volume is written brilliantly, and more importantly, cuts a searing flash of life-and-death insights into your mind and heart that you won't soon forget.



3. I have given this book to two friends who have enjoyed it. I enjoyed this writer's insight into life in Washington, especially her view with famous people like Al Gore and Barbara Bush. Her own personal stories dealing with her terminal illness were very touching and leave you with feelings that you will never forget.



4. Marjorie Williams wrote political profiles in Washington for a number of years, before her death from liver cancer in 2005. She was a wife, a mother, and a keen observer of the political scene and the players. This book is a collection of her columns, essays, and profiles compiled by her husband, Timothy Noah, after her death. It is a valuable, informative, and poignant legacy.
   
   Among the profiles are people who were largely little known -- e.g., Gwendolyn Cafritz -- outside of Washington social circles, and those who were in the headlines daily at one time or another -- e.g., Bill Clinton -- and about whom much is known, but not all. Others, such as Jeb Bush, are familiar but mysterious figures. These are not profiles that flatter or ignore the faults which, had many voters known, might have given pause at the polls.
   
   Another aspect of this collection are essays about Williams, her family, and in the end, her diagnosis of cancer. The ensuing battle to know all, to survive the disease, is poignant and tells much about her and her relationship with her family, with life, and finally with death. One might call the book schizophrenic in this regard. However one views the differing subjects, it is an interesting read, especially in retrospect, after all has been said and done in this people's lives.
   
   Yet many of them live on, as in the case of Bill Clinton, who along with George Bush, just won't go away. Women should read the essay on the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas and the pilloring of Anita Hill, even by the women and their groups that should have supported her. There are still lessons to learn here, people and events of which we should be reminded.
   
   People who read and enjoy this book might also enjoy The Nine by Toobin or Losing the News by Alex Jones.



5. What an entertaining book written by an extremely bright and talented person. Her insight into politics and Washington D.C. were spot on and very entertaining! She tells great stories, sad we lost her too soon. Thankful her husband put this book together - it's a great tribute to Ms. Williams.