4 comments about The Spy Who Loved Us: The Vietnam War and Pham Xuan An's Dangerous Game.

1. Before I read this book I had great animosity for Pham Xuan An. But, after reading this well written account of his life, I've reconsidered. Now I think I better understand him and have a good bit of respect for him. This was such a great read. I finished it in just two days. It was that engrossing. The only question left unanswered is if Pham truly ended up regretting the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Did he expect more than his communist victory delivered? Other than that, a thoroughly researched, fascinating tale.



2. This relatively short book is easy to read in a day's time. This is not because it lacks substance--indeed, the author does a good job of presenting his subject, a man who was a long-time agent of the Vietnamese struggle against American subversion and aggression against their country. What is most striking about this is the common humanity of the man whose life and personality are presented to us: on multiple occasions, he went out of his way--even at cost and danger to himself--to save people from imprisonment or death. Contrast this, if you will, with the smirking sadists who too often occupied our government then and now, for whom out-of-hand killing is simply business as usual. This spy for Vietnam provided intelligence that helped win battles, but he never celebrated the deaths of anyone. Indeed, he saw no way out of the dilemma he faced: that he loved and wanted to defend his country and its people, while at the same time being genuinely fond of the Amercians he befriended.
   
   The complexity and the contradictions that he embodied are part of the value of a book of this type. It shows life as more than the good-vs.-bad cartoon that we typically get from politicians and our kept press. Mr. An lived a life of hard choices, and it is to his credit that, though he chose to serve his country first, he did not simultaneously discard his responsibility to do what he could to save from harm those threatened by the surrounding conflict.



3. Americans can be, it seems, simplistic saps in both love and war. This is the message of THE SPY WHO LOVED US, a new book by Thomas Bass, which describes the amazing career of Pham Xuan An, a man who served as both a senior reporter for Time Magazine in Saigon, and one of North Vietnam's top spies.
   
   An's saga is a cautionary tale, however, that raises serious questions about the American press during the Vietnam War. More on that later, but this review should note from the beginning that this book describes the life of an incredible man who successfully bridged the gap between Vietnam and America during one of our most contentious wars.
   
   An was a man of conflicting loyalties. He was, most of all, a Vietnamese nationalist. But he was also a communist whose mission was to love America - in order to destroy its military adventure in South Vietnam. Because he became immersed in the American way of life (on orders from Hanoi, An spent two years at a California college in the late 1950's), he was able to provide valuable guidance to the North Vietnamese hierarchy in Hanoi (and elsewhere) as they fought to defeat America in Vietnam.
   
   The author, Thomas Bass, a journalist and college professor, gives An full credit for the American defeat in Vietnam. An not only gave Ho Chi Minh valuable insights into the American psyche, the North Vietnamese agent also provided tactical and strategic planning for the battle of Ap Bac in 1963 (where the Viet Cong first defeated the South Vietnamese army that were equipped for the first time with U.S. helicopters) and the 1968 Tet offensive (An actually played a key role in identifying the targets in the communist attacks). In addition, An's analysis of American bargaining strategy at the Paris peace talks laid the basis for the eventual North Vietnam takeover of South Vietnam. That he did this while working full time for Time Magazine only enhances the legend that An, who died in 2006, left behind. Certainly Time Magazine founder Henry Luce must be spinning in his grave. One also has to wonder about Henry Kissinger's opinion of An's role in the war.
   
   An got away with his secret role because he established himself as a savvy, bon vivant reporter working for foreign news organizations in the war-time Saigon. He had high-level contacts within both the South Vietnam and American communities (including a close relationship with American counter insurgency expert Edward Lansdale). He held court daily at such hangouts as the Continental Palace shelf bar and the Givral Café where key players from the government, diplomatic and press communities hung out to exchange gossip. And, of course, he provided valuable reporting of the war and Saigon politics for Time Magazine (An worked for Reuters before moving to Time).
   
   But that was his daytime job. At night, An wrote lengthy reports (in invisible ink) analyzing events in Saigon for the Hanoi leadership who eagerly looked forward to his voluminous reports. A courier, and sometimes An himself delivered the reports to the Viet underground base at Cu Chi, which neighbored the massive U.S. airbase at Long Bien, 25 miles outside Saigon. An was extremely disciplined and smart enough to realize that he could not compromise himself by fiddling with the truth - in either of his jobs as a reporter or a spy. He constantly worried about getting trapped by a misstep, in either his reports or his activities.
   
   One decisive intelligence report that originated at a Saigon dinner party alerted the North Vietnamese to the overthrow of Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the invasion of Cambodia by South Vietnamese forces. The North Vietnamese evacuated their strongholds inside Cambodia so that the SVN invasion went for naught.
   
   So how was it that Pham Xuan An was able to establish his dual role of a Time Magazine correspondent and his spying for North Vietnam? In the aftermath of the North Vietnamese victory, many have said that the American press in Saigon was both naïve and gullible, or both, to allow one of the highest ranking North Vietnamese agents to establish himself among their ranks.
   
   If truth be known, however, An was an excellent reporter, for both Time Magazine and Hanoi, and his success in both journalism and espionage was due to the fact that he reported the truth. One has to wonder about the moral implications of deceiving the Americans in such a role, given that tens of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were killed due to his undercover work. But one also has to remember that An was a dedicated Vietnamese nationalist who believed that communism offered the best avenue towards independence, even if it was dominated by the North Vietnamese.
   
   Bass reports that some American reporters were suspicious of An (Ray Herndon of UPI, for one); others were disappointed, once they discovered the truth. Peter Arnett told Bass, "Even though I understand him as a Vietnamese patriot, I still feel journalistically betrayed. There were accusations all throughout the war that we had been infiltrated by the Communists. What he did allowed the right-wingers to come up and slug us in the eye. For a year or so, I took it personally. Then I decided it was his business.'
   
   But there were several prominent Americans journalists who counted An as among their most important Vietnamese contacts. Bob Shaplen of the New Yorker was one of the most influential correspondents covering Vietnam who spent inordinate amounts of time with An when Shaplen was in Saigon. David Halberstam of the New York Times was another who was close to An, as was Neil Sheehan of UPI. These journalists were the most prominent critics of the American conduct of the war in Vietnam. Did An turn them against the war effort as part of his Hanoi portfolio? That's a subjective question, and we'll probably never know the true extent of his influence on the American journalists.
   
   But the real failure by the Americans was not inside the media. One has to ask what happened to the American CIA that played a dominant role in the Vietnam War? How is it that the best and the brightest American spies failed to undercover a top agent who was operating right under their noses? Indeed Bass quotes American CIA agent Frank Snepp as saying that the U.S. intelligence service used An to feed information to American journalists. As such, An was the beneficiary of invaluable intelligence from the CIA itself -- which he, of course, passed onto Hanoi.
   
   In his introduction to the book, trying to explain the man he has chosen to write about, Bass makes the following analysis that pretty well sums up An's role in the war:
   
   "During the twenty years it fought the Vietnamese, the United States never understood the people or the culture of Vietnam...America's disregard for its enemy cost it dearly. It lost the war with fifty-eight thousand soldiers killed and hundreds of thousands wounded, and it lost its naiveté about its invincible military might. America's enemy did not make the same mistakes. The Vietnamese studied their adversary. They cultivated an agent who could think like an American, who could get inside the American mind to learn the country's values and believes...They needed a strategic spy, a poetic spy, a spy who loved Americans and was loved by them in return."
   
   Bass's new book is not the only study of An's role in the Vietnam War. In 2007, Larry Berman wrote THE PERFECT SPY: THE INDREDIBLE DOUBLE LIFE OF PHAM XUAN AN, which gives perhaps a more strategic view of An's career as a double agent. Both Berman and Bass had direct access to An in the 1990's and early 2000's, so there are plenty of valuable insights in both books from the man himself.



4. He passed information about American troop movements and strategy which he gathered while posing as a journalist for Time and other US media to the VC and NVA, enabling them to win several major engagements and kill thousands of US troops. The American journalists he worked with think there was nothing wrong with this and started a scholarship fund to benefit his son and enable him to study in America. This book inadvertently tells you an awful lot about the bias of the media in Vietnam which was a major contributing cause to the abandonment of South Vietnam and the ensuing misery suffered by millions of Cambodians. Laotians and Vietnamese which followed 1975. Don't forget them or the troops killed by Pham Xuan An's treachery when you read this book, as it is very one-sided. Ask yourself as you read through it what the author would have said about an ethnic German working for the US press in 1939-45 who passed valuable military intelligence on to Hitler.

3 comments about Paris, Moi, and the Gang: A Memoir...of Sorts.

1. Paris, Moi and the Gang is far more than entertaining. It's author, Frances Gendlin, graciously invites the reader to follow the daily routines of expatriates, herself included, living in one of the most beautiful and inspiring cities in the world. The travels and events that Fran shares with us are at once exhilarating, mirthful, fascinating and enviable. She takes us to a Paris rarely seen by tourists, and through her, the reader is given the opportunity to meet and assimilate the true City.
   
   I grew to adore each member of the "Gang". Fran brought each character to life with in-depth descriptions of their personalities and peculiarities. What a fascinating crowd to be with, in a group setting or as individuals.
   
   Even the author's "affairs of the heart" held intrigue, happiness, passion then sadness once ended, for they had to end. Fran was lyrical in her treatment and I was pleased she found love, however brief, in the City of Light and Love.
   
   Paris, Moi and the Gang held my interest throughout. The style of writing, so easy going, conversational, replete with amusing, and wry opinions offered as asides, is such that I felt I was a part of the story...one of the gang. What a privilege. This is a book I will keep, cherish and reread, at least in part, again and again.



2. Paris, Moi and the Gang is part faux memoir, part travel guide, and part romance novel and is absolutely entertaining. Frances Gendlin is a veteran travel author; she writes with a friendly, conversational style that will quickly have you feeling like you and she are old friends.
   
   The story is told from protagonist Frances' point-of-view as she researches and writes her latest Paris guide. Paris, Moi and the Gang follows an eclectic group of friends affectionately known as the Gang. This group of American Expatriates truly cares about and supports each other through the successes and failures of daily life in "the city of light." The gang's number grows and shrinks as members travel abroad or return from stints in the US. There's Caroline, the historian, who is researching the history of famous Americans who lived in Paris for her own book; and Sandra, the divorced pianist, and a connoisseur of everything Parisienne from the shopping to the men. Men are not left out of this club and we meet the recent widower, wine aficionado and master of high finance, Richard. Paul and Klaus are the self-professed Oldest Queens in Paris. "The boys" have an endearing uncles-niece type relationship with Frances and are never far when needed for advice on men, failed relationships, and the best spots to lunch. The chain-smoking Alice and her husband, the crusty Findlay, who have called Paris home for over 60 years, round out the circle.
   
   Life in Paris appears simple enough; write a little, greet friends with a warm kiss, sit down for great food, wine and conversation at a wonderful locale. However, as Frances often remarks, "everything in Paris is an event." Gendlin shows how seemingly simple tasks like sorting out a cell phone glitch or having new house keys cut become a prolonged adventure sure to test even the most reserved temper, as customer service is non-existent. This is where the guide portion of the book shines as Gendlin gives helpful hints for dealing with cashiers, repairmen, and shop owners in procedures differing from that in the States. Throughout the book are sidebars containing a wealth of useful hints, history, and advice. From the best cheese, bread, and wine, to a unique recipe for scrambled eggs with truffles, to a full restaurant guide and a helpful look at accents.
   
   Frances has an appreciation for living in Paris and a romance, so to speak, with the city, not that she doesn't see her fair share of attention from men. She picks her male "projects" and then goes with the flow as events unfold as they may, much like she does everyday.
   
   From this book, I take away a belief that visiting Paris for a few weeks of vacation is like taking a single sip of a fine wine; you get a nice taste but not the full experience. Whether Paris, Moi and the Gang is fiction or memoir, it is an exceptional book with characters and scenery so well written and described that you are captivated from the first chapter and your interest is held until the final pages. Anyone contemplating a move to life in Paris must read this book. Think of it as a test-drive! This book is easy to enjoy; if you add it to your summer reading list, it won't disappoint.
   
   Highly Recommend by William Potter for Reader's Choice Book Reviews



3. Reading this book is like having a conversation with the author, as you sit in a cafe in Paris and watch life unfold around you. She has caught all the nuances of shared confidences between friends, you feel as if you know her and are part of her world. You care about her life, her friends, her activities, her "projects." I loved every moment of reading this. I looked forward to getting home from work so I could spend a few more minutes with my Parisian "friend," and hear more stories of the Paris that only denizens of that city know.
   Because she knows the city so well, her "memoir" creates an atmosphere shared only by those who live in Paris. The frustrations and delights that expats invariably experience slip into the narrative quite naturally, providing humor, gentle irony, and a fair dash of self-mockery. For people who have only visited the city, the depth of cultural awareness and the intimate acquaintance with the small streets and tiny cafes will provide a new and welcome dimension to the experience. For those planning to visit--the same. And for those of us who live here--a welcome and sometimes surprising take on the way a sensitive and observant compatriot views our chosen home.
   This is an excellent book. I couldn't put it down!

4 comments about Alexey Brodovitch.

1. To stay as the Art Director of one magazine, as Brodovitch did, at Harper's Bazaar for twenty-four years must be some sort of record. Creative folk in the publishing world tend to change like the wind. Part of the success of the magazine must surely be because he stayed for so long and what a wise choice it was by the new Editor Carmel Snow to hire him in 1934.
   
   Look through the life-size spreads in this book and I think it becomes apparent that the Brodovitch layout are wonderful examples of less is more. The actual ingredients: photos; headlines and text seem so effortlessly placed on the spread because he encouraged photographers to shoot for the page leaving him the relatively easy task of completing the layout by positioning the other elements. Nearly all the spreads shown use photos and taken by the best: Richard Avedon; Irving Penn; Hiro; Lillian Bassman; Bill Brandt; Eugene Smith and others. When Brodovitch got prints from these photographers for a spread there wasn't much left to do, though he take a lot of time with photostats to help get the size of the images just right.
   
   The book unfortunately has some editorial weaknesses. All of Brodovitch's work is presented as individual spreads surrounded by very wide back margins. Where are the fashion and beauty features that ran over several pages? To see these would have added to a greater appreciation of his work. There are no page numbers and the captions are at the back of the book with a thumbnail of the spread. These really should have been placed in the wide margins on the relevant page. Most of the material is in black and white but this is printed in four colors and rather annoyingly only with a 150 screen. The mono material really should have been duotones with a minimum 200 screen to bring out the beauty of Brodovitch's creativity.
   
   Luckily there are two other books about him which do a better job than this book. Brodovitch (Masters of American Design) by Andy Grundberg, published in 1989 by Abrams, is a proper visual biography which covers all of Brodovitch's life. Plenty of Bazaar spreads, including sequences, a section on Portfolio magazine and a look at many other examples of his print creativity. The other book is Alexey Brodovitch by Kerry William Purcell (which I haven't seen).
   
   ***LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   



2. This beautifully produced and historically important book is a unique tribute to the great designer, Alexey Bradovitch, in that it concentrates on the format of the double page spread which was arguably the master's most significant area of innovation in magazine and book design. Reproduced in the large format book are many of Bradovitch's most notable spreads. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in graphic design, typography, photography, and the printed page. It is valuable both as visually fascinating volume to page through, and as a reference work to be studied and inspired by.
   Russell Munson



3. Alexy Brodovitch is one of the best art directors of the 20th Century. This book is worth every penny because it really allows you to see his work in the same scale that he created it at. Thus when you are looking at a magazine spread from the master, you are seeing it full size - and not as a little pretty icon that decorates too many design annuals. In addition there are examples of his raw layouts, which really let you see a genius at work. This book is a must for any fan of graphic design, photography and fashion.



4. This book represents one of the very few studies of one of the masters of American advertising and graphic design. Brodovitch served as mentor to such photographic luminaries as Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, and his distinctive and very modernistic style of layout and use of the grid are exemplary. He was integral to magazine design in the middle of this century, and yet has fallen into relative unknown. Unreasonably so. Any student of graphic design, its design or current practice, would do well to own this book. In this age of busy, frantic graphic pages, Brodovitch's work reflects a serene, yet knife-edged clarity.

5 comments about An Alphabetical Life: Living It Up in the World of Books.

1. "An Alphabetical Life" is Wendy Werris' memoir of her time in the book trade. As the book business changes so does her life She works for an independent book store, signs on with Rolling Stone's Straight Arrow books, becomes a publisher's rep and then an author escort. Readers awaiting next week's publication of "Freedom" will find her account of squiring around Jonathan Franzen entertaining. Ms Werris gives one a great sense of the day to day workings of her various jobs and delineates in a personal way the history of the book business. She also has good insights into the problems of being a woman in a male dominated field
   The writing wasn't always sharp as it could have been and I thought a careful copy editor could have helped. My guess is that Ms. Werris is a fabulous talker and that's the sprit in which I read this book. I felt like I was having a chat with a friend whose had a very interesting life.
   I would recommend this to anyone who loves books, book gossip and histories of vanishing trades



2. Look, if Wendy Werris had been my mom, I would have found this an absorbing and delightful read. It details how she got into the business of flogging books and contains a few lively anecdotes of the famous people she ran into during her decades of work in this field.
   
   But she's, uh, not my mom. Therefore, the book's claim on my attention as somebody who doesn't even know Ms. Werris is unclear. What do I care if she once sat down next to George Harrison? What do I care about the upheavals and intrigues in the publishing industry? What do I care about the time Werris unwisely told an editor to increase the print run of a book?
   
   It was my impression that this book was an account of Werris's life as a reader, detailing all the books she loved and why, how she got into reading and what it meant to her. No, nothing like that.
   
   Instead, it talks about the book publishing business. Literally.
   
   For year Werris was a slave to corporations whose goal was to make a gizmo for a dollar and sell it for two. To Werris, however, since the gizmo in question was books (sacred, sacred books!), the industry is therefore holy and deserving of our reverential attention and admiration.
   
   Here's just a sample of the compelling tale you're in store for:
   
   "It was our job to combine the branch orders to get the best discounts possible, place the orders with the publishers, and then have them drop-ship the books to the individual Pickwick locations in Southern California. This was an extremely efficient system that Mr. E had initiated years earlier. Joni and I also worked closely with the publisher's reps who called on us, so I became familiar with their titles, discount schedules, return policies, and customer service departments." (p. 25)
   
   Engrossing! I just can't get enough of it! Oh, if only she had written more about the discount schedules!
   
   Given that the high point of Werris's life was her getting porked by Richard Brautigan, she would have done well to reconsider releasing her memoirs to the public.



3. I'm a big sucker for books about bookstores. Or books about books in general. Needless to say, when I stumbled across Werris's memoir on sale, I snatched it up immediately. Werris begins her narrative by introducing her readers to the world of Pickwick Books, where her long career in the book business so humbly began at the tender age of 19.
   
   Werris's father, Snag Werris, was a writer for the Jackie Gleason Show and between his famous friends and Werris's job in Hollywood, quite a bit of name-dropping goes on in the book which initally irked me. However, it was interesting to read about the book buying habits of Alfred Hitchcock, Mick Jagger and Joni Mitchell. In time, Werris becomes a publisher's rep in a time where few women held such a position. In 1976, she was one of two women book reppers in the country. She was something of a trailblazer in the field and often faced frustration as independent bookstores closed in the face of chain megastores.
   
   
   Recommended for anyone who loves books about books, as well as lovers of autobiographies and women's studies.



4. A good start and a great finish, but lagged a bit in the middle. You have to be very interested in hearing about people in the book business that you've never heard of to enjoy all of this book, but it is overall a good read. It seems to be an honest memoir, and perhaps that naturally leads to some low points.
   
   You'll hear comparisons to "84 Charing Cross Road", but Hanff was a book reader/lover and that makes a big difference. Werris is a book lover, but this memoir is really about loving bookselling/promoting, and it just doesn't have the natural warmth that Charing Cross Road has.



5. This is a memoir about Werris's life journey through the book world. Werris started by working for her local, indie bookstore and eventually moved into the male-dominated world of publishers' representatives. Certain aspects of this story were interesting, including the inner workings of book stores and the relationships between book buyers and publisher's reps. Other incidents described in the book, however, seemed to be included only as a way for Werris to drop in names of famous people she's met along the way. This was not a bad book, but there are better choices (Lewis Buzbee's The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop).

5 comments about The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's.

1. This Alzheimer's memoir expands into a portrait of old age, dying and dementia. But you won't be horrified by it, you'll be fascinated.
   
   After John Thorndike takes his ninety-year-old father to visit a friend in a nursing home, his father makes one request: "Don't ever put me in place like that." And the author never does. Instead, he moves to his father's house and looks after him for the last year of his life, as Joe Thorndike grows more forgetful and more distant.
   
   The author describes, in beautifully-written passages, the crushing progress of dementia. But he also explores his parents' marriage. He writes about his mother's mischievous years, about his father's devotion to his children, and about Joe Thorndike's fear of "broken hearts, emotions and feelings." It's a rich, disarming portrait of family life.
   
   It comes to a close at Joe Thorndike's death, with the author's hand on his father's chest at the moment his heart stops beating. I've read and reread this scene. We're all headed for something similar, and while death remains a mystery, Thorndike describes it--and his father--with a mixture of tenderness, dismay and elation. Sometimes this book lifted me right out of my seat: I had to stand up and walk around, just to think it over.
   
   And while on the first level this is a book about dementia, it also applies to other diseases. I've been through something similar with my husband, who died at 59 of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease.) The complex demands of caregiving, all of which I experienced with my husband, are all called up in this memoir, and with surprising candor. When the author is frustrated or annoyed or downright angry, he doesn't hide it. We hear, through his completely understandable reactions, how painful this job can be. But also how rewarding.
   The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's



2. I first heard of writer John Thorndike years ago in Santa Fe. A friend of mine at the public library called and said--I just read a great novel by a guy who lives here...It was THE POTATO BARON, which indeed I did love.
   I just read Thorndike's memoir about moving to Cape Cod to live with his father who is dying of Alzheimer's. I admit I like books about extremis--death on Everest, survival--and books abut disease. So this would have intrigued me in any case.
   But really the pleasure in THE LAST OF HIS MIND is the writing and sensibility. The author is both honest and kind. The strange peace and claustrophobia of taking care of someone who is dying is a lot like being home all day with an infant, and Thorndike captures that. He loves his father, but hopes he won't die before the writer is finished with his subject, not just the son with his father.
   Too many such books tend to lament--how could such a brilliant person, oh what a terrible disease. By contrast, Thorndike seems more to observe. It isn't exactly acceptance but rather the writer's narrow path between wanting things to be one way and seeing how they really are.
   John Thorndike has written another book about caretaking, an earlier one about raising his son Janir---ANOTHER WAY HOME. This book is a kind of companion to that one. Full of insight, secrets, wishes, fears, and an understanding of what it means to be a person--and superb writing.
   ***
   For more reviews see the literary blog Miriam's Well ([...])



3. The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's comes from a managing editor of Life who at age 92 in the space of six months stopped reading, writing or carrying on detailed conversations. His one wish was to remain in his home - and his son John left his own home and moved in to help care for him in the face of Alzheimer's. His son's final year with his father offers a candid survey of the disease's progression and makes for a survey perfect for any general lending library.



4. 
   The Last of His Mind is Thorndike's account of caring for his father during his final year before dying of Alzheimer's. It is much more than a book about dementia, though there is plenty of information about it. It is an examination of his father's life -- he was an author and the editor of Life magazine in its glory years; his parents' inner lives and his own upbringing. When I saw it, I was not inclined to read it, thinking that a book about about Alzheimer's would be depressing and slow going. I picked it up and was immediately drawn into it. I read it in the next day -- a real page turner. The lives described -- Thorndike's and his parents' are interesting and moving. It is as good a memoir as I have recently read.



5. It is a noble truth that we all die and that the moment of our death is unknown. John Thorndike explores this essential inevitability with searing honesty, fierce grace, deep compassion, and a journalist's curiosity. By guiding his father on the 92-year-old's final journey, the author confronts nagging and unresolved questions about his own childhood while simultaneously entering a powerful realignment with the constellation of his entire family--and the trajectory of his own life. Thorndike displays a novelist's love of language, a storyteller's eye for detail, a detective's instinct for sleuthing, and a son's enduring love for the man who molded him in ways that have John alternately smiling and fuming. If you've ever lost a parent to dementia, as I have, you will identify at once with the harrowing experiences the author describes in this elegant and compelling book. More importantly, you will recognize and appreciate the cascade of profound challenges, both physical and mental, that unavoidably befall the caregiver as well as the patient. It is from this rich and freshly disturbed psychic soil that John Thorndike, a life-long farmer in addition to being a talented writer, grows in ways that he is brave enough to share. We are wiser for it. And Joe would be proud.

No comments about Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee.

5 comments about The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington.

1. The late Robert Novak leaves us a fascinating history of the l957 to 2007 era. As a 71 year old political junkie, I can remember or was reminded of the events and trends of the period. Novak shares his memories of interviews with newsmakers and his sources (often revealed for the first time). Not hesitating to describe his own weaknesses for alcohol and gambling in those days, Novak provides the inside story of presidents, senators, reporters, and cabinet members. One may not agree with the author on every judgement, but it will not fail to help the reader understand the era as Bob Novak provides his "first draft of history."



2. Novak and I are from the same generation same state and same political views. Brought back alot of what was going historically in DC and up to present day.
   thoroughly enjoying read.



3. Columnist and commentator Robert Novak chronicles fifty years of our nation's political development from Eisenhower to the re-election of George W. Bush. He tells the leaks and names the leakers.
   
   He describes engrossing behind the scenes encounters with LBJ, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, James Baker, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, among many others.
   
   Novak pulls no punches. He tells the good, the bad, and the ugly about the famous and powerful of Washington, politicians and journalists, enemies, friends, and former friends. His personal insights into flawed characters such as Howard Baker, Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, David Stockman, Paul Volcker, Newt Gingrich, John McLaughlin, Bill Kristol, Rich Lowry, Richard Armitage, and the CNN suits are fascinating.
   
   Then there is the Plame affair. Novak details his interrogations by the FBI, Patrick Fitzgerald, and his testimony before the grand jury. His personal assessment of Joseph C. Wilson IV is priceless.
   
   Novak narrates his autobiography as an only child growing up in a working class family in Illinois, through college at the University of Illinois, and on to Washington. He describes his career ascent in journalism, unintended partnership with Rowland Evans, private business, and television. He relates his development into a conservative. He recounts his personal triumphs and failings. His first marriage ended early in divorce, but his second (and last) was quite fruitful. He survived alcoholism, three battles with different cancers, two broken hips, and spinal meningitis with a stroke, which he kept secret. Raised a secular Jew, he converted later in life to Roman Catholicism. Throughout the book, he chronicles his personal wealth and income, something I haven't seen before by an author, but which I greatly appreciate. Finally, he recites how he voted in each presidential election.
   
   The book is 662 pages, paired down from the original 1400. There are forty-six chapters, each of which can be easily read in one sitting. The prose is quite readable and riveting.
   
   I highly recommend.



4. Highly recommended. This book (an excellent read) was delivered much faster than I expected. Keep up the good work.



5. He was there from Eisenhower to Bush 43. Starts and ends with the Plame story, excuse me the truth about the Plame story you wont get from Americas own Pravda the New York Times, official newspaper of the left or the state-controlled networks. Covers all administrations and you get the inside story of what was going on. He doesn't hold back and certainly doesn't carry water for the Rockefeller aka RINO Republicans who controlled the GOP before and after Reagan. Liked JFK didn't care for RFK didn't care for Nixon. If your a political junkie or a fan of Presidential history you'll love this book.

5 comments about Forever Young: My Friendship with John F. Kennedy, Jr..

1. This is a good book, filled with personal anecdotes about JFK, Jr. and his life. The narrative is intimate and frank which makes it feel authentic. An interesting take on an interesting guy, who left us way too soon.



2. After reading the book ( and then the Amazon reviews ) I feel justified in rating it "no stars".
   
   Noonan has penned a self aggrandizing, utterly tiresome, story of his imagined friendship with John Jr.
   
   His elitist tone is downright irritating. How nice for him that he can float around the Cape Cod islands on his pal's yachts. Like he contributed Something to the welfare of man.
   
   From any standpoint this book is a "Dont Buy"



3. I enjoyed this book tremendously. I could imagine JFK Jr. and Billy Noonan conversing just like it was described on these pages. Very realistic and true to life. I appreciated the fact the events were not glossed over, and glamorized. Worth reading. I've read it a couple times already.



4. I loved this book! It was well written and had a lot of humor in it. I loved reading about his college years and the time he spent living in NY. It is very apparent that Jackie Kennedy Onassis did an AWESOME job raising her children...as John is grounded, ambitious, loyal, and dedicated enriching the lives of others...on top of being some serious guy candy (there were pictures in the book). I definately recommend it as it is a testament to this great man from one of his closest friends.



5. Difficult to stay awake or believe this slow-paced / grueling 7 CD's set. It quickly becomes obvious that Billy is selling Billy as John's "best friend" (BFF!) - even though John did not ask Billy to be his best man. Hummmm.
   
   I do not doubt Billy knew John, however, there are many more clues that caused one to believe his story is embellished.
   
   Seriously, what a disappointment.

5 comments about Diana Vreeland.

1. Fun and an adventure through the fashion world of the great Vreeland. A must read for any Vreeland-ophile...which I am!



2. I'll keep this short & sweet. Before reading this amazing book, I had a very positive opinion of Diana Vreeland based on various articles I'd read in many publications over time. After reading Ms. Dwight's great book, it only makes me wish I had the privilege of knowing Ms. Vreeland while she was alive even more. Thankfully, through this book, I feel as though I have.
   
   She was truly in a class of her own.
   
   Well done!



3. Diana Vreeland was born homely into a family where beauty was rife. So what did she do? She invented herself! This is the most important lesson on style that she has bequeathed us: we are not born with style, we can acquire it. Diana Vreeland is an example of self-improvement, of how to do the most of your poor features and blow yourself up into a lady through the sheer force of your uniqueness. She taught herself poise and class and strived hard to render the world around her more beautiful in her personal, exquisite way. Apart from that, she led a very interesting life. From long sojourns in Europe as a child, where she had the chance to attend performances of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes to our times, where she hobnobbed with the rich and famous and was privy to the backtages of the fashion world as editor of Vogue magazine, in this all-out, thoroughly researched and profusely illustrated biography we get to know better this inspiring woman whose positive outlook on life and strong personality make her a role model of style to women from all walks of life. Very entertaining reading and very thought-provoking.



4. She was,is and still to this day considered an Icon in the Fashion industry.



5. This book could easily have become another banal coffee table "picture book for grown-ups"; big on visual display and short on commentary. It did not. The author has expended a great deal of effort into capturing the essence of a woman who single-handedly revolutionized the concept of fashion magazines.
   
   The book simultaneously chronicles the events in Ms. Vreeland's life among the international glamor set and showcases her astounding professional achievements. Dwight's prose is so evocative that we feel that we are in the Vogue office or at a fashion shoot, while Ms Vreeland makes her trademark dramatic pronouncements with theatrical gestures. As madcap as her ideas seemed, they captured the imagination of the fashionistas and people in the industry, sky-rocketing sales of the avant garde Vogue (previously a staid, niche publication).
   
   Ms.Vreeland comes across as someone who approached everything she did with wholehearted passion. Shown in the book are photographs of Ms.Vreeland with her suavely attired husband and sons, with friends, models and designers. In every photograph we see her totally in the moment, a larger-than-life but also very human diva. She was a genuine original, a woman of extraordinary talent and vision. It would be hard-put to do justice to her life and spirit, but Dwight has stepped up to this demanding task. Bravo!

5 comments about Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression.

1. Shoot the Damn Dog is so on target. I suffer from depression as do many in my family. I read it in one sitting after taking in out of the library. Found the book on Amazon & purchased 2 of them. one to keep & the other I gave it to my sister to read.
   She recently passed but I hope she gave it to her daughter & son to read.



2. Light reading it is not but if you want an honest and intelligent book about the soul's dark times, you have found it. There is no need to agree with everything that is being said in the book, but it does bring some relief to know that depression is not solely your own personal woe. It is also interesting as a very open and sincere account of this half-mysterious illness in today's world.



3. I have to admit I didn't know much, ok anything, about Sally Brampton, before picking up this book. Brampton was a successful writer, columnist and founding editor of (British) "Elle" magazine. Then her world fell apart.
   
   In "Shoot the Damn Dog" (326 pages), the author brings her harrowing tale of descending into a full-blown depression, and the harrowing and life-changing consequences it had on her, and it has on many people. In the early part of the book, Brampton retells how she managed to be so successful. As Brampton makes clear, her depression came about by not just one singular event, but by many. She was let go as the editor of "Red" magazine, a devastating event, that was then compounded by other events, including a failed marriage and the death of a close event. On the termination of het stint at "Red", the author observes "So the failure of my editorship at "Red" was not simply the failure of a job. It was the destruction of an absolute truth about myself". The author's tales of her numerous visits and stays into various hospitals are equally devastating. At one point she observes "I thought that if I went into hospital, I would become well. I thought a pill could make me better. The failure of both to do either was almost more catastrophic for me than the illness itself". Wow.
   
   This book is not for the faint of heart, although having emerged from her long bout, the author shares with us that "It;s two years since I emerged from depression and I no longer want myself dead. I want myself alive. I am no longer my own enemy." That's about as 'uplifting' as this book gets, but then again this book is not so much about uplifting as it is about making us understand that depression is an illness, a very serious one, yet one from which one can emerge victoriously, albeit one day at the time.



4. Ms. Brampton has written the book that all depressive people and their families have been waiting for. She writes the truth about therapy and medication in a clear and readable manner. She tells her story without trying to make you feel sorry for her but to encourage others who face the darkness of depression.



5. This book about depression tells of the writer's personal experience, holding back nothing. I imagine she must have used the words "I cried" on every other page. It is a hard story to read emotionally-speaking but decently written.
   One thing I had a problem with was that she had enough money to live on without working when she was severely depressed, which is not true for most sufferers. Due to the sale of her and ex-husbands' home as well as the ex-husband being "there" for her through all of this, she was able to remain in her depressive state for several years, getting help from several therapists, a psychaistrist and 2 hospitals. Many don't. Most sufferers lose insurance and if they do get hospitalized it's in sub-standard facilities for the poor. Families are shattered.
   I also had questions as to why her severe depression could be 5 days of intense suffering and near suicide when her child was NOT on her child custody watch but with her dad, and then when it was time for HER to have the child for 5 days she could cleanup up her depression and alchoholism and be "Mom". Depression does not work like that! When you are in a severe depression you are that way day after day and cannot rally around for a few days and be lightly depressed! She seemed to also think that her child didn't know about how sick she was, but I dare say I'd like to read the book this child will write as a grown-up of these years with her sick mom!
   I felt sorry for her, especially that her depression was of the resistant-type to all medications, and understood a lot of what she was going through but just feel that any reader should read this book knowing that while the symptoms maybe similiar, Sally Brampton's experience is not a typical experience and that her finanacial status brought her many advantages in deaing with her depression that most do not and will not have.