5 comments about From Rage To Reason: My Life in Two Americas: My Life in Two Americas.

1. I recieved the book very fast and it was in excellent condition.



2. for having the courage to tell your story about your rise from the projects of Indianapolis to being a member of a power elite. Yours is a story of struggle, guts and determination to make a name for yourself. Your interracial marriages did create a lot of controversy in the elite, for they don't accept the idea of black/biracial black women marrying elite, upper class nonblack men such as your husband.
   
   You made a name for yourself in modeling early on. I have to give it to you for having kept your face and figure, but that's not all. You have a mind of your own that sometimes conflict with the prevailing views of the establishment, which isn't too accepting of smart, assertive women like you. But then again times has changed.
   
   All I have say is that you rose above it all.



3. This is an autobiography so you'd expect Janet Cohen to present herself in a good light. She doesn't. Instead Cohen comes off as a very bitter, self absorbed woman who doesn't seem to have learned anything over the years.



4. Janet's book is very excellent, she deserves a standing ovation for a book well written. This book is so interesting and captivating. This is the first time, i have seen someone so clear-cut honest. Janet Cohen is a beautiful woman who deserved all the good things in life. She has broken down racial barriers like Oprah to become of the greatest African-Americans of this era. I strongly recommend this book to people who haven't read it.



5. This book is so mistitled on two accounts. First, I would agree with the reviewer below; "From Rage to Reason" was for me, too, "From Rage to Disgust." How can anyone who is writing their OWN story come off so nauseatingly unlikeable? The more you read, the more arrogant, self-centered, and disengenuous Janet Langhart Cohen becomes. Maybe it should be "From Rage to Sickenly Manipulative." Second, this is clearly not a book about "My Life in Two Americas." Her story is simply not about the experience of being black in America. Forget that she's white skinned with caucasain features, she is astonishingly and uniquely beautiful. Perhaps, in her case, the two Americas could more adequately be described as the "few privileged with astounding beauty and the rest of us ordinary-looking people." Now, I have a great admiration for beauty and nothing against a woman using it to her best advantage; we should all put our assets to their best use. But this woman has done nothing to help the plight, the image, the future hopes and dreams of anyone but herself. As the old saying goes, for some women beauty is the biggest disadvantage because they have no need or motivation to develope any skills beyond dressing well and flirting when necessary. Janet Cohen has not proved that race has been a disadvantage for her, only that beauty paired with selfish ambition can produce a hollow, grating, selfish personality. Her "blackness" is used as a convenient excuse when she doesn't get her way or people don't like. People don't like her, obviously, because she is unlikeable. This woman is a horrible role model for any young woman, black, white, or whatever.

5 comments about What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love.

1. This book is so boring, I can't get past the first CD. In fact it's the first book I've felt this strongly about as to put a comment in about it.



2. A vacuous book - and its main focus, whom Radziwill still seems to have a kind of schoolgirl crush on (just as she was awestruck by glamorous twins at high school) - Carolyn Bessette - emerges as a shockingly vacuous woman.
   
   The latter only has opinions on the clothes and makeup people wear. She herself bought a wardrobe of Prada clothes for what she thought would be her role as "Mrs Kennedy" - a role that never materialised, Bessette herself seemingly having no cultural, historical or charitable interests whatsover.
   
   Carole's and Carolyn's cultural references are "Thelma and Louise" and Wendy's. Well into their thirties, they exchange secret friendship rings in a way most females are over by their late teens. Bessette, in England with her husband, can't be bothered to learn about the Runnymede memorial to his father and whines about the trip. Radziwill opines that "Europeans" use titles the way Americans say "Mr". You can't take the wide-eyed, gullible, lower class girl out of her. In fact, titles are illegal in Germany and rarely if ever used in, for example, France.
   
   Carole and Caroline, conversely, seem to be convinced that Carole and Anthony are somehow "royal". In fact, Upon becoming a British citizen, Radziwill was unable to use his former noble (not royal) title without special license from the Queen. He did not receive such a dispensation, so he was legally Mr. Radziwill, but was called Prince out of courtesy only.
   
   The copious name-dropping adds to the irritation factor and to the feeling that the author is an airhead dazed by cheap celebrity.



3. This is a beautiful memory of four fabulous people who were lucky enough to meet and spend a portion of their lives together. Carole Radziwell wrote a very specific, revealing account of her relationships--with her loving husband, and his famous cousin and wife.
   
   It must have taken a lot to examine her early life and sharply contrast that with the fairytale life with a prince. It had to be very difficult to go through the illness of her husband and lose him and her best friends, but she gently recalls their story without pity.
   
   I couldn't put the book down. I read it first thing in the morning and right before bed at night, fitting it in as often as I could until I finished the story.
   
   I hope that Carole can look back and be glad that it happened instead of sad that it ended. She's an exquisite woman. I highly recommend this book.



4. I didn't really care for it, from reading the front flap I thought this book would be much more intresting than it really was. I was never able to really get into the book, and was seen forcing myself to finish it. The only reason I made myself finish the book was to read the ending, about John and Carolyn's accident and the way Anthony passes away.



5. I just finished this book and I loved it. i love carole Radzwill's story telling style, loved it! Her stories are poignant and honest. There is much humor here also. She loves information and she gives it out to others who want it too. I hope she will continue to write.

5 comments about Uncivilized Beasts and Shameless Hellions: Travels with an NPR Correspondent.

1. Burnett recounts his career as a journalist and, along the way, raises some important questions -- are we just reporters? do we shape the news we report? -- about his profession. He is both an entertaining writer and reflective beyond the press of the daily deadline. For anyone who has ever wondered where stories come from and how they get pitched in print or sound, check out his comments on "fixers." While he has been in many of the globe's most wrenching places, Burnett's best, I think, is in his story of his work in New Orleans on Katrina and in his character profiles, particularly in Mexico with a retired bullfighter and an elderly man who makes music with leaves in a crowded Mexico City train stattion.



2. I couldn't put John Burnett's book down. It gives you a behind the scenes, human look at recent events like Katrina, Iraq, Guatemala. His writing is smooth as silk.



3. This book by veteran NPR reporter Burnett is divided into three sections which really boils down to two: seven places you wouldn't want to be and four human interest stories. The seven places are: immediate post-Katrina New Orleans, heading into Iraq for Gulf War II, the early '90s Branch Davidian standoff outside Waco, Guatemala's 1983 coup, post-ethnic cleansing Kosovo, immediate post 9/11 Peshawar (Pakistan), and immediate post-Taliban Afghanistan. To be sure, anyone who's likely to buy a book like this probably pays attention to the news, and is probably reasonably well informed about these various events (Guatemala being the most obscure). However, Burnett is less interested in retelling the specific details of each of these incidents than he is in reflecting upon them, especially how the media (himself included) reported on them.
   
   Certainly, the opening piece, on the aftermath of Katrina is chock full of the sights and smells of the wreckage, but it's his personal reactions that make it worth reading. the Iraq piece is rather less effective, as he lukewarmly admits the inherent problems of being embedded. The Waco "incident" is particularly worth of reexamination, and Burnett's exploration of the semantics of the story are a nice basic case study in the pitfalls of journalism. The Guatemala chapter is very good, as Burnett weaves the story of his unlikely presence as a stringer (with his wife) with the sorry tale of Guatemala's brutal counterinsurgency campaign (which killed more people than the vastly better known cases of Nicaragua and El Salvador combined). The chapters on Kosovo, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are briefer and much more pedestrian pieces about life as a foreign correspondent. While definitely of interest to those fascinated by the mechanics of how foreign news is gathered and reported on the ground, these chapters aren't as compelling. While they are commendable for shining the spotlight on support staff like translators and facilitators, readers looking for a really interesting version of similar material should seek out Joe Sacco's "The Fixer."
   
   The four human interest stories that round out the book are perfectly serviceable examples of the genre, but not essential reading. The first covers a Texas death row chaplain, both during his duties, and then ten years after his retirement. It touches on the usual death penalty debate topics, but doesn't offer anything particularly new. "The Bull Killer" is about a legendary Mexican bullfighter, and, quite frankly, the piece is highly romanticized and the one part of the book where Burnett utterly loses his way (he says up front that he's always been fascinated by bullfighting). One doesn't have to be an animal rights supporter to see through the hypocrisy of those who wax poetic about the the wonderful character and spirit of a bull, and then turn around and ritually kill it for the entertainment of others. Next is a fairly forgettable piece about a Honduran pioneer in small-scale sustainable agriculture. Rounding things out is a piece about how a chance encounter with a an elderly street musician in Mexico City led to Burnett's trying to get him royalties for a recording of him.
   
   In the end, the individual events and people covered are no more or less interesting than any good newspaper or magazine story. Where the book gets interesting is in those episodes where Burnett is rethinking how he acted in the role of reporter and how a story was framed. So read it for these occasional moments of insight into the profession.



4. A consistently engaging set of accounts of major recent newsworthy events from the author's perspective. It's interesting to see the story behind the news headlines from such places as post-Katrina New Orleans, Waco, and post 9/11 Pakistan and Afghanistan, each told with wit and intelligence.
   
   His account of Guatemala during the 1980s is a highlight. A great blending of the facts around what the government sponsored terrorism and the personal impact it had on people there, including eventually himself.
   
   The stories on some of the "heroes" in the second half of the book seem a bit flat. And there's a question of how journalism maintains it's humanity in the midst of so much human horror which gets asked but not satisfyingly answered. But those are small nits for an otherwise great book.



5. A riveting first hand account of this NPR correspondent's experiences/observations at such events as Waco, Katrina, Kosovo,Iraq, Afghanistan, and more. Having heard John Burnett speak in person I was eager to read his accounts. I was not disappointed.

1 comments about China Ink: The Changing Face of Chinese Journalism (Asian Voices).

1. (with apologies to WS, Twelfth Night II:5)
   
   This is a wonderful book - a testament, really, to karma, commitment, compassion, and surrender to the personal tao. It is also an easy and engaging read - easy, that is, when one is prepared for the flood of evocations inevitable when such universal stories are recounted so intimately.
   
   The book comprises a well-orchestrated score of lively reminiscences by Chinese journalists in diverse positions and media (from Finance & Economics Magazine to call-in radio), each a unique and yet broadly applicable path to service. Since the personal dramas are set on the largest of national stages, the dynamism of recent Chinese decades naturally infuses and enriches the subject matter.
   
   This volume could be read profitably as a book on the startling evolutions in expression and other freedoms, turmoil in power politics, subtle and gross international relations and influences. For the non-historian (and non-journalist), there emerges a portfolio of powerful recountings of the one Hero's Journey: variously driven by intention, led by happenstance, entrained in strange eddies and whorls as the energies of empire expand into capitalism and post-Confucian self-determination, all following the ancient pattern of Separation from swaddling role - Initiation - Existential challenge - Transformation - Return with gifts to the tribe. In every case, the subject-speakers tell nakedly honest stories (eliciting them is only part of the genius of the author) of how speaking for the many happened to and through them, rather than something admitting of solipsistic or egotistic ownership. The power of this narrative is both greater and more subtle than that of narrator or subject.
   
   Is this a guide to good journalism? I wouldn't know; I aren't a journalist, and don't even take the papers. Is it a guide to great story-telling, in the sense of unadorned truth told warmly and compellingly? Unexceptionably.
   
   More than both, and the magic of its universality, it is an engaging guide to trusting both inner wisdom and evanescent opportunity in honor (not pursuit) of life and meaning that could not even be imagined in anticipation. It calls itself a book about Change, China and Journalism. Like the I Ching, it is also a book about Being, Life and Humanity.

5 comments about Tell Them I Didn't Cry: A Young Journalist's Story of Joy, Loss, and Survival in Iraq.

1. Jackie Spinner's absorbing account of her Iraq wartime coverage is a courageous story, not just in the obvious sense of exposing herself to danger, but in exposing the vulnerabilities of herself, her family, and friends. The Iraqi staff and Washington Post colleagues became her family, drawing her closer than even her twin sister back in the states. This refreshing honesty is rare in a journalistic account of a war. She avoids the temptation to give canned histories of the region and plunges into the daily grind of finding news on the streets and homes of an ancient country torn apart.



2. This one is a good read. It was hard to put it down. Spinner does a good job in talking about the people of Iraq, those whom she worked closely with in the Post bureau. It was interesting to see how she grew a relationship, sometimes obviously close.



3. This is a great read. This gives you the personal view of an American journalist in Iraq - you see the pathos, the terrible results of war, the friendships, the fear, the drive and risks of journalists, the love. And you may lose sleep over this book, since it is very hard to put down - until you have devoured every page!



4. "Tell Them I Didn't Cry" is a great book, and well worth the read. Although Jennifer Spinner gets a co-author credit, the vast majority of the book is her twin sister Jackie's story of her 10 months as a foreign correspondent in Iraq.
   
   This is not an in-depth analysis of the Iraq war. Rather, it is a deeply personal account of Jackie's growth from junior reporter for the Washington Post to acting bureau chief in Iraq, while dodging bombs, mortars and kidnappers. Jackie tells an unbiased story, pointing out the good and bad of Iraq, "calling them as she sees them." The book is full of interesting stories, including a poignant account of her Christmas in Baghdad, part of which was spent looking for a church safe enough to attend for mass.
   
   Although I am slightly biased (like Jackie, I am an alumnus of Southern Illinois University) I think this is a great read.



5. When I married my husband, a reporter, I told him I'd follow him anywhere his career took him, as long as he promised never to be the kind of reporter who went into war zones to cover battles. He agreed, and we got married, and thankfully, he's never gone back on that promise. So, it was with some trepidation that I picked up Spinner's book, which had been recommended to me by a friend of mine -- do I really want to read about a reporter doing exactly what I've always worried my husband might want to do someday? But boy, am I glad I did. This is a wonderfully written and extremely personable book, detailing Spinner's ten month experience as a reporter covering the Iraq war for the Washington Post. And I don't know if it's the woman's eye, or what, but more than anything else I've read about Iraq, this is the book that really gave the whole thing some life for me, turning numbers into people, and bringing home some of the enormous problems people on all sides are facing right now in that messed up country.
   
   Highly recommended to anybody who is interested in A) journalism, B) current events, or C) understanding what the hell is going on in Iraq. And then after that, highly recommended to the rest of you. Read this book!

5 comments about The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family.

1. The Everlasting Stream, by Walt Harrington, is a hunting book that isn't a book about hunting. I had read a brief review about this book being a good addition to the pro-hunting literature. Well, it was, in a sense. Harrington is a fine writer, and most pro-hunting books tend to focus on the charismatic megafauna like deer and elk. Harrington's focus is on the common and ordinary, the prolific cottontail. No trophy hunting here; this is all about hunting for meat.
   
   What does Harrington say in defense of hunting?
   
   "Animals bleed. Live with it" (p. 146).
   
   "It doesn't matter to a rabbit what kills him - fever, flukes, worms, weather, hawks, or me. The rabbit is dead" (p. 184).
   
   "Killing an animal doesn't deaden the human conscience; it enlivens it" (p. 184).
   
   "Hunting isn't golf or tennis, which demand only technical mastery. Hunting isn't merely an exercise in male bonding, as so many believe. Hunting has moral gravitas" (p. 185).
   
   "It is people who enjoy the fruits of the kill without feeling the ominous responsibility of the killing who are morally delinquent" (p. 186).
   
   "I'm not supposed to hunt without guilt. I'm supposed to hunt despite the guilt" (p. 187).
   
   "Long ago, a woman at my table said to me, 'I can't believe you killed those little bunnies.' I now know what I should have said in response. 'I can't believe you ate those little bunnies without killing one'" (p. 189).
   
   
   Harrington isn't perfect. He confesses a time when "I fire, and the rabbit tumbles, heels over head. When I reach down, the rabbit suddenly kicks his hind legs violently and drubs my hand twice before I can pull away... I use the butt of my gun like a deadfall and club the rabbit's head. After I do, his left eye dangles from its socket. I take out my knife that I will give to Matt at Christmas, slice the eye free, and put the rabbit in my bag" (p. 214).
   
   I certainly hope he removed the shells from his shotgun before using it as a club. And although Harrington did not appear to be apologetic for his act, there is a line between killing an animal and torturing it. It is this line that society scrutinizes. He hints at its existence with his "It doesn't matter to a rabbit what kills him..." comment; however, it does matter to society, and I would say it should matter to the hunter as well.
   
   With this said, this book is much, much more than a book about hunting. Harrington explores issues of manhood (and boyhood), parenting, memories, and livelihoods. He discusses race relations (Harrington's hunting buddies are black while he is white), politics, friends, and folklore. He reflects on his passions, and eventually makes some drastic, life-altering decisions.
   
   All in 217 pages. The subtitle says it all: The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family.
   
   Harrington's father repeatedly said to him, "Everything's beautiful if you look at it right." I'd say this IS the theme of the book.
   
   If you are not a hunter, keep reading through the hunting scenes. Harrington keeps springing new topics and ideas upon the reader.
   
   There is something here for everyone.



2. 
   brand new book for a great price
   
   a most excellent book
   my husband is enjoying



3. Having married an African-American woman, journalist Walt Harrington found himself expected to maintain the family traditions by going rabbit hunting with his father-in-law, and his friends, every Thanksgiving. At first, Walt looked down on these course, back-country men as throwbacks to an earlier, more primitive way of life. With time, though, he came to realize that these men shared a different, stronger bond than he had ever known. Unconsciously, they showed him what being a man could be all about, and he learned many lessons as he (and later him and his son) hunted rabbits in the hills of Kentucky.

   This book came as quite a surprise to me. I tripped across it by accident, and am quite glad that I did. It's written in a stream-of-consciousness style, which allows the author to skip forward and backward through time, showing his development throughout. Indeed, if you are interested in men's books (such as those by Robert Bly), then I highly recommend that you get this one. It is a fascinating look at life and being a man.




4. A thoughtful, beautifully written, almost poetic meditation on hunting, tradition, friendship, nature and human nature. It is ostensibly about rabbit hunting, but that is not where this book's meaning lies nor where the heart of its story is. Its story and meaning lie with the people, and Harrington writes in a voice so personal that you feel you know him and his family and friends. This is not a book for the PETA crowd, or for those who call rabbits "bunnies." If you've ever hunted, or if you understand the true nature of Nature, you'll enjoy The Everlasting Stream. (Note: This review has been written by a woman who, although she does not hunt, has shot the occasional rabbit when its depredations in her garden have become intolerable and the Hav-a-Hart trap proved ineffectual.)



5. "The Everlasting Stream" is a tale about male relationships, about self discovery and about hunting that does justice to all three subjects. While many books use one story as a vessel to carry another, this develops all three stories simultaneously and completely.

   Author Walt Harrington portrays himself as a snobby Washington Post reporter who finds himself tramping around Kentucky fields, shooting rabbits with his father-in-law's hunting buddies to prove he is not above them.

   Through the Thanksgiving hunts, Harrington comes to respect the men. He comes to understand himself and to wonder how he so misplaced himself. He grows up with his son and reconsiders his relationship with his late father. Through it all, he thinks deeply about the experience of hunting, turning inside out his initial revulsion to it. In the end, the hunts lead him to make a profound change in his life.

   Harrington finds answers, real-life answers, and not the clear-cut, no-regrets answers of cardboard stories.

   As Harrington re-evaluates his life, male friendships and hunting, you will, too. It's a journey worth taking, and Harrington is an engaging guide.

5 comments about The Sound of No Hands Clapping: A Memoir.

1. Toby Young is still starstruck. Following on from his ill fated adventures at society gloss mag, Vanity Fair in Manhattan, chronicled in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (the movie based on that coming out later this year), Toby returns to London with aspirations to make it as a screenwriter.
   
   Unfortunately for Toby, he lacks either the talent or the dedication to achieve genuine success. On the cusp of fatherhood, he muses greatly on the 'pram in the hall' theory of literature, how his family commitments will deny him the time to write, even though he has no great literary ideas anyway - the sure fire symptoms of a wannabe writer who sure as hell ain't gonna make it. Toby sort of knows this, and compensates by being a brat in the media establishment with a hysterical penchant for getting people's backs up and saying the wrong thing.
   
   In this volume, Toby is older and wiser, and his voice in self deprecating status anxiety hits a nice tone (some great riffs, such as when his wife drags him away by the ear from a mid air champagne rendezvous with Gordon Ramsay) . The only trouble is - now that he is so good at it, can he really continue to parlay this brand of loser lit and not make it seem affected?
   
   He is truly mingling with the high life now, with movie on the way. As Boris Johnson (one of the many media luminaries portrayed in this book) said, when removing his 'no life' Spectator column, the jig on that is well and truly up.



2. While not quite at the level of "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times while reading this one. However, I must say I was almost disappointed to see Toby becoming somewhat more of a nice guy towards the end!



3. Boring, not as good as the first one. Would make you think the first one was a bore too. Sorry Toby.



4. After reading first book, "how to Lose friends ..." Disappointed with second book from Toby Young. thru out book references to "my First" book. and what was humorous in his first becomes annoying in the second.



5. We learn in this witty self-deprecating memoir that it is vulgar and uncool to say "the Industry" when referring to Hollywood films; we must say "the Business." This is one of many funny lessons Toby Young learns when, minding his own business in London, he gets a strange call from a mysterious unnamed Hollywood producer who, having read Toby Young's first book How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, wants Young to write a screenplay about an obscure entertainment figure. Enticed at the prospect of making millions in Hollywood, Young disgruntles his new wife with his chimera quest. The book alternates between Young's Hollywood fiascos and his marital tumult, including the birth of of his first child. The most priceless moments are his correspondences with his friend, the Hollywood writer Rob Young, who teaches him, among other things, how to take a Business Lunch and the "vast repertoire of hand gestures" needed for equals, higher ups, and super bigwigs. These funny moments are part of Young's growing-up process as he becomes disenchanted with the Hollywood Beast. This has the same self-deprecating humor as his first book. For another memoir of disenchantment, check out The Working Stiff's Manifesto by Iaian Levison.

3 comments about Portrait of the Artist As a Young Dog,.

1. This memoir is painful, beautiful, rugged. He shows himself to be proud, horrid, loving, sentimental. It is a small collection of short, powerful stories that span from childhood to young adulthood. He refers to himself at times in first person, other times in third (so you have to pay attention!). Growing into manhood, observing others and being observed. He expresses experiences of personal pride and humiliation with equal relish. Portraits of others in his life are humorous, admiring and at times sad. Hanging out with odd-balls; learning about women. It may have been a simpler time for technology, but the emotional struggles, the economic realities, the physical exertion required in a life in early 20th century Wales were harsh. All-in-all, this book is unforgettable.



2. I would rather read this book than any by James Joyce. Thomas may be remembered for his wonderful poems, but his short pieces are, under no circumstances, to be ignored.

   Thomas writes of his youth, which is a subject that many writers have attempted to write about, and where they fall short he excells. The stories are nothing but fun. Actually, they are more than fun; they are often beautiful. By all means, READ THIS!




3. It's been a while since I read this book, but I wanted to be the first one to review!! The book was filled with small excerpts from Dylan Thomas' life, many of which dealt with surreal type encounters. The first part of the book seemed to lag somewhat, but the last story got me hooked and then ended in a very odd way, which was really cool. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this, I'm no lit expert. I'd reccommend it though.

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

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



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



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



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



5. Say the name "Doug Kenney", and you're likely to draw blank stares and numerous "who"s from the average comedy fan. But say "Animal House", "Caddyshack" or "National Lampoon", and they'll likely know what you're talking about. That's the time to tell them why the first name is so important.
   
   Doug Kenney was a shadow figure in the history of comedy, a magazine writer and co-founder of the Lampoon's national version who managed to write some great articles, the scripts for two legendary comedy classics, and numerous other artifacts of his time all before his death in 1980, of an apparent suicide or accidential fall from a cliff in Hawaii. The fact that he died so young and so unheralded outside the insular world of comedy is a shame, especially considering what a legacy he left.
   
   In Josh Karp's book, Kenney is even a minor character in his own life story, as whole portions of the book focus on the hangers-on at the Lampoon (various writers and other talents whose lights shined more brightly than that of Kenney or his co-founder, Henry Beard). But this is not a fault of the biographer: Kenney's own story is inevitably tied to the magazine and entertainment empire he helped found, and which owes him more than the current crop of "direct to DVD" releases and smarmy Paris Hilton cash-ins currently under the banner of "The National Lampoon".
   
   Kenney's gift and his curse was his talent, one which produced masterpieces like "Animal House" and Nancy Reagan's "dating tips" but also let him down when it came to writing his "great American novel" of TACOS (Teenage Commies From Outer Space). Karp gives us a peek inside the mind of this elusive character and reveals a man of deep contradictions whose short, happy-sometimes-sad-othertimes life was offset by the impact he and his cohorts made on the world of American humor in the Seventies.
   
   If you're an admirer of the Lampoon's golden era, or simply curious thanks to Animal House or Caddyshack, do yourself a favor and get this book. Whereas Tony Hendra's memoir of his time at the magazine (Going Too Far) is grandiose and self-congratulatory, this book offers a great history of one of the leading lights of American humor, and a man who arguably should be listed with the greats.

4 comments about I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg.

1. There are now many biographies of Allen Ginsberg. Shumacher's Dharma Lion stands out as a particular favorite, and the book-length poem by Ed Sanders is not to be overlooked. Most take a bird's-eye view of this poet and his life. Because of his long personal relationship with Ginsberg as his archivist and bibliographer, Morgan stood closer to his subject, both personally and through his access to the prolific journals Ginsberg diligently kept from the age of eleven to the end of his life, than any previous biographer has, or any future biographer is likely to.
   
   The result is a biography whose intimacy and authority are unparalleled. For or some at least, this will be a decidedly mixed blessing. Those with a strong aversion to sexual revelation and description will be distracted if not put off, for Ginsberg was possessed of a ruthless, at times self-defeating, candor in all matters sexual, as readers familiar with his poetry will know. But, as Morgan shows, he was equally candid in all other areas of his life and feeling.
   
   He was also deeply flawed, persistently naive and hopeful about the numerous lifelong friends he made in his days at Columbia and shortly thereafter: Kerouac, a drunk Republican mama's-boy and anti-semite, whose friendship Ginsberg treasured and whose work he championed to long after Kerouac's death; Huncke, who mooched and stole from him repeatedly; Burroughs, who, for a time lusted after him, but at others was inaccessible and gratuitously mean to Ginsberg's life partner, Peter Orlovsky; Cassady, an insatiable womanizer and artful dodger, or worse; Corso, who embarrassed and abused him often; and Orlovsky himself, heterosexual, chronically unstable and addicted to alcohol and amphetamines, and not infrequently interpersonally and physically destructive. To all of these, and to scores if not hundreds of others, Ginsberg's loyalty, generosity, and his efforts to support them financially and promote their work and enhance their lives never wavered. In his close personal relationships, Ginsberg could be, and often was, a fool, but he was not a fair-weather friend. Among the flaws that Morgan addresses and clarifies was Ginsberg's peculiar and persistent blind spot for women, their strengths, virtues, and talents. Even those close to him, not rarely in love with him, could in important ways escape his notice.
   
   In fairly documenting his flaws, however, Morgan's treatment does not throw Ginsberg's virtues into shadow. His intense interest in all things human, his passionate commitment to free speech and unfettered thought and social justice and, some will be surprised, his patriotism, all come through. But what comes through most powerfully is the loving pains he took to care for others, more often than not one-at-a-time. Undivided attention, a meal, a place to stay, the reading of a poet's work brought to him for comment, his personal responses to virtually all the letters sent to him, from friend and stranger alike; Ginsberg cared and gave.
   
   Until the last very few years of his life, and despite the popularity of his books, readings, and recordings, Ginsberg was chronically close to poverty, on many occasions simply broke, and sometimes temporarily stranded. Even when his income was nominally adequate, he bought his clothing in second-hand stores, rescued his friends again and again and again, and made up the difference. As he supported his friends, sometimes over many years, he supported numerous younger poets and writers, as well as working tirelessly to benefit the many causes, programs, and institutions he cared about; he gave and gave and gave.
   
   In the end, Morgan's biography, its chapters proceeding year by year, covers the life of a great poet who was not less a man of truly heroic love and candor, a flawed human being who can stand as a model and a beacon for that which is most tender and dear in each of us.



2. Bill Morgan's new book about the poet Allen Ginsberg, "I Celebrate Myself", rates at the top of my favorites list. I was immediately captivated when I read in the Introduction about an incident where Ginsberg saw a poor woman who was about to be attacked by an angry dog.Ginsberg went to her and asked,"Would you like a fig newton?" From then on I couldn't stop reading.
   The book is full of many interesting facts about Ginsberg's life and poetry.His writings represent the turbulence of the cultural revolution of the time and this book is a wonderful testament to this eccentric and unique writer's talent. I applaud and congratulate Bill Morgan for his superb book.



3. Its obvious that Bill Morgan had access to alot of primary materials in writing this biography of Allen Ginsberg, which is clearly a labor of love for the author. And rightly so. Ginsberg's humanity shines thru on these pages - generosity, kindness, creativity, eccentricity, but mostly a dedication to live fully and richly without excuse.
   
   I didnt know much of Ginsberg before I read the book; he seemed at best a minor talent in a discipline I knew little about, at worst a mentally ill crank. But Morgan's book drew me in deeper and deeper, and I soon saw the genius of Ginsberg, a genuis manifested in both his art and his life, which I assume Ginsberg would say were one and the same. In this age of greedy hucksters passing as 'artists', Ginsberg was the real deal. A fascinating human being in the best sense of the word.
   
   Thank you Mr Morgan for such a labor of love.



4. I highly recommend Bill Morgan's "I Celebrate Myself", a biography of the late poet, Allen Ginsberg, a "Beat Generation" writer. Bill Morgan allows the reader to understand and appreciate, in such an interesting narrative, Ginsberg's unique style of poetry. I was truly captivated by this poet's life and work that the book seemed to be much shorter than it actually was. In addition to the title "I Celebrate Myself" from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," I especially enjoyed Bill Morgan's innovative approach of describing occurrences in Ginsberg's personal life that influenced his writing by placing in the margins of the book, the titles of the poems that Ginsberg was writing at the time. This creates for the reader an immediate interest and desire to read Ginsberg's poetry. "I Celebrate Myself" was a joy and adventure to read, and I learned so much about this sensitive, brilliant, and compassionate poet of the twentieth century. Fascinating Book!!