No comments about Home Town News: William Allen White and the Emporia Gazette.

5 comments about Atravesando Fronteras: Un Periodista en Busca de Su Lugar en el Mundo.

1. Hopefully anyone who speaks spanish has a chance to read this book, it allows you to share into some of his extraordinary experiences, it also allows you to see a glimpse of what it's like to be one of many latinos that hopefully will create a certain level of tolerance on anyone who reads it.
   
   Yo recomiendo este libro a cualquiera que este buscando un buen libro que hace mas que entretener.



2. This book is an amazing account of a man who has gone through a very distinct childhood which has shaped his current status as arguably the world's most influential latino reporter. This is a must read for everyone, whether you read it in spanish or its english version "No boarders," everyone will get something out of this book.



3. El libro habla de una dicotomia de las personas que aunque son de un lugar las circunstancias y la vida misma las ha llevado a estar en otro lugar como en el caso del autor. Es bien grafico en sus comentarios y a las personas como Yo, latinos que vivimos en el mismo lugar que nacimos nos da una perspectivas de las vicisitudes que pueden enfrentar en muchas areas de sus vidas nuestros hermanos residentes en los Estados Unidos continentales. Lo recomiendo especialmente a los puertorriquenos como Yo para que se identifiquen con los problemas de nuestros hermanos latinos.



4. Leer a Ramos es ameno, un libro lleno de anectodas y vivencias que solo un inmigrante lo puede entender a cabalidad, empezar desde cero como lo hizo el y como lo hacen a diario los miles de inmigrantes en el mundo es sin duda un paso muy importante de cualqier ciudadano que emigra. Algo muy interesante de este libro es la claridad de sentimiento descrito en sus paginas, es muy facil identificarse con el, precisamente por que dice lo que siente. Ya entrando en detalles sobre el libro, te ensena sin presion lo que un periodista es capaz de construir con su profesion y personalidad y mas que todo sus principios inquebrantables. Es un excelente libro que delinea el futuro de la minoria mas importante de los EEUU y de la creciente influencia de la misma en todos sus aspectos. Muy bueno por nosotros, muy bueno por Jorge.
   Comprar este libro es una excelente eleccion



5. Parece que este libro no ha llamado la atencion de los estadounidenses, aparte de los latinos que vean las noticias en espanol. Eso representa una falta de interes total, francamente, porque el libro fue traducido en ingles. Han dicho ultimamente que pasamos los afroamericanos como la menoria mas grande de los EEUU. Creo que ya es la hora para establecer un dialogo entre la mayoria (o sea, los anglos) y nosotros, porque llegara el dia en que seremos la mayoria en muchos estados.

   Jorge demuestra una sensabilidad enorme aqui. A traves de sus cuentos, podemos compartir la tristeza de un joven "exile" que no se comprometiera para nada, un esposo que lucha para balancear la matrimonia con su individualismo, un padre melancolico que duda del futuro de sus hijos, etc. Hay momentos en que podemos sentir la nostalgia que provoca en ciertos momentos, como cuando habla de las canciones que representan los momentos importantes de su vida. Siempre recordare "Africa" y los ochenta. Y creo que el momento en que escucho "Music" despues de 9/11 fue un momento poetico.

   Hay mucho que admirar en este libro. La unica critica que tengo es que como periodista cuenta las cosas de una manera muy chronologica a veces.

   Gracias, Jorge Ramos, por ser una persona tan honesta con si mismo. Eres una inspiracion.

No comments about Uncle Henry: A Documentary Profile of the First Henry Wallace (Henry a Wallace Series on Agricultural History and Rural Studies).

5 comments about Under a Sickle Moon: A Journey Through Afghanistan.

1. If you are looking for a war story then this is not the book.



2. I agree with the other reviewers.

   More important for me was the perspective Hodson gives concering Islamic attitudes and beliefs. That those fighting the Russians often saw Russia and the US as similar is sobering and can help us to better appreciate Islam and its adherents.

   As a WASP, personal experience and books like "Under a Sickle Moon" have contributed to my recognizing that the concerns expressed in the Middle East and elsewhere have validity and must be addressed before many thorny issues can be fully resolved.




3. Hodson succeeds because he avoids the self congratulatory tone of many of this kind of travel narrative. He suffers with acute diarrhea, fever and eventually contracts hepatitis as a result of his arduous trip through the mountainous regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, mostly the latter. This account avoids taking sides and does an excellent job showing what everyday life in the 80's in Afghanistan was like. Interesting how the "common" people often resented the Mujahedin for bringing attacks to their home turf. Sometimes the rebels are treated as heroes, sometimes as villains, but in any case we view all the contradictions, narrow point of view (one group thought Hitler was a great man simply because at one point he fought the "evil" Russians who were at war with their country) and fanatical devotion to the Islamic ideal. Though not as literary as other travelogues, Hodson achieves a gritty, down and dirty tone that serves his narrative well. An excellent read and an impressive journey into a dangerous and complicated land.



4. This book is really great. I loved travelling with Peregrine Hodson (figuratively) as he walked the walk through Afghanistan. He describes the people and landscape very poignantly. We see the war with Russia from their eyes. If you want to understand the mindset of typical Afghans, as they fight to defend their country, and struggle to survive a war they don't understand, this book is very helpful.



5. As a cousin of the author, I read with interest Peregrine Hodson's first-hand account of his travels through the Afgan hinterland. Reminiscent of "The Great Game", Hodson's accounting of the Afgani resistance leaves one with a keen appreciation of the struggles and hardships they encountered. Well worth the read! Douglas Mavor Armour. (armour@inforamp.net)

1 comments about As I Saw It: How a TV Cameraman Covered News in Bygone Days.

1. From Danish merchant seaman to the Mexican movie industry and, for three decades, one of broadcast journalism's top combat cameraman, Carl Sorensen covered some of the toughest and most meaningful stories of the late 20th century. Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, wherever hot news was breaking, Sorensen was there, armed with camera, a good memory and a sly sense of humor. His book tells of some of the leaders and the lowlifes he met. It's a book for historians, students, arm chair adventurers and anyone who likes a good story about real people and real events.

1 comments about The Wit in the Dungeon: The Remarkable Life of Leigh Hunt?Poet, Revolutionary, and the Last of the Romantics.

1. It wasn't really a dungeon -- that was Byron's conceit -- but a snug little apartment with a small garden.
   
   Nevertheless, the imprisonment of Leigh Hunt -- and of his brother John at a different, less cozy calaboose -- was an important step toward modern conceptions of personal and political freedom in Britain and, by extension, the rest of the civilized world.
   
   Hunt is more famous now as the friend of Keats and Shelley -- briefly Byron and Dickens -- and as the author of Abou ben Adhem, but the Hunt brothers' bold assertion of the right to a free press is, to me at least, his most important and meaningful venture.
   
   The circumstances were more congenial than for modernizers in most other countries. That two impecunious upstarts could take on the Prince of Wales with no worse damage than a lifetime of poverty from heavy fines was a tribute to the fact that England was considerably liberalized before they got started.
   
   Anthony Holden seems more interested in Hunt's sponsorship and criticism of and feuds with literary stars of the Second Romantic Period. The feuds, like politics on condo boards, were bitter in proportion to their inconsequence. The Romantics and their foes were a touchy bunch.
   
   Since they dwelt in the literary world of the Regency and Victorian decades, they scribbled endlessly, and Holden appears to have waded through stacks and stacks of letters that -- judging by the numerous excerpts -- were unbelievably tedious and pretentious. Few men of even modest attainments did not leave enough correspondence to fill at least a double-decker volume, and a real pro like Byron left letters that fill dozens of volumes.
   
   As a result of a hand-to-mouth lifestyle, Hunt emitted a vast amount of journalism, plays, poems, essays, collections, biographies etc. Most of it was windy, as if he were being paid by the column-inch.
   
   His importance was as a facilitator and encourager and publicist. Holden admits that even Eng. Lit. pros often have never heard of him.
   
   The puzzle of this book is that Hunt seems to have been a lovable man, although a jerk.
   
   He had nine children and a drunken wife, who lived in modest style (for a middle class family, they were far better off than a working man's family), although Hunt got through hundreds of pounds a year at a time when a skilled craftsman got about a pound a week.
   
   Some he earned only modestly by his restless writing, much came from literary friends who admired and -- inexplicably, at least from the evidence here -- loved him.
   
   Only the extracts from Nathanial Hawthorne's letters give any sense of what it was that attracted the sophisticates. Surprisingly, it was his childlike attitude.
   
   He doesn't come across as someone I'd have liked for a friend. Holden finds him "one of the finest essayists in the language," and I find him almost unreadable.
   
   But if your taste is English Romanticism, "The Wit in the Dungeon" will be a page-turner.

2 comments about My Own Cape Cod.

1. After reading this book, you feel as though you've just spent a summer on the Cape and can't wait to go back next year. It's like a vacation without leaving home. An excellent read!



2. This book is a wonderful escape for anyone who picks it up, but if you are familiar with Cape Cod or the coastline of New England you'll find it even more appealing. The people and places so accurately described in Taber's work will make you a convert and read all of her books. Her prose is so superb that you forget you're reading at all and feel that you're having a conversation with Gladys herself. Gone from this world for over two decades, Gladys is still alive with such a presence in these pages that I open her books when I need comfort and I feel as if I'm speaking to my grandmother. An accomplished professor of Writing, a Wellesley grad, a naturalist, and a New Englander, Gladys Taber will remind you that all is and can be right with the world.

1 comments about The Rise and Fall of the Press Box.

1. When it comes to sports books a book by writers such as Roger Kahn, Roger Angell, Fred Lieb, or Leonard Koppett you can be fairly certain you are in for a book that will educate as well as entertain you. If his final effort before his death Leonard Koppett tells us how the importance of the press box in which so many writers brought fans the news of the events on the field has changed over the last several decades. Print was the medium in which information was initially passed from reporter to fan. The advent of radio brought a new medium which supplemented newspapers. Now television brings information to us practically instantaneously, and many of the newspapers that used to serve the major cities in previous decades have gone out of business. The book is sprinkled with humorous anecdotes regarding some of the literary giants who populated the sporting scene throughout the 20th century. Koppett popularized the use of statistics in his columns written as a correspondent for The Sporting News, but he also provides examples how statistics can be misused or misleading. Ron Fairly and Koppett were discussing the high batting average of bunter Brett Butler when Fairly stated, "If you took away his bunts and dribblers he'd be hitting .260." Koppett answered, "Sure, and if you took away his outs, he'd be hitting 1.000." Pitch counts citing the number of strikes and balls is also deceiving, because it assumes every pitch swung at is a strike. He says the correct statistic should say, "96 pitches, 32 hit fair, 27 strikes (called or swung at and missed) or fouls, 37 balls." Koppett also covers the New York teams in all sports that he covered for the New York Times. After working in New York for several years he then moved to Palo Alto, California, and covered the New York teams when they came to play in California. This is not a traditional sports book, but concentrates on a newspaperman's view of the sporting scene and how the coverage of sports has changed over the years. The book contains 53 chapters, but each one is only from five to eight pages long. If you feel this subject would be of interest to you, I'm sure you would enjoy the book since you are reading it from a quality author.

5 comments about 182 Days in Iraq.

1. I, too, am a 46 Romeo, or Broadcast Journalist in the Army. I am on my second tour in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade. I have read both positive and negative comments on Kiver. Although I do not know him personally, I can relate to his story. Sometimes you do feel like the smartest guy in the room when no one else really knows your job. This isn't to say that you are better or even truly smarter than the next guy, but I can tell where Kiver's feelings are coming from. You are the only one out of thousands on a FOB that can actually do your job. Yes, it can be both stressful and frustrating. I can tell you that being a Journalist in the Army is not as easy as it looks. I work 18 hour days and find myself many nights locked away trying to finish the next big Army project while other soldiers (both combat arms and combat support) are out playing cards or the newest X-Box game. I hear soldiers complain about a 12 hour work day. For Army Journalists, especially broadcast, the day is long - whether inside or outside the wire. I have respect for all soldiers, but "Sam" - please do not tell these people that Army journalists do not actively engage the enemy. That is an outright blanket statement without much research because I, and many of my Army counterparts, have been actively engaged. You can take that to the bank. To Kiver - at least you got your story out there man, no matter what anyone says. Hearts and minds, right? You may or may not be as egotistical as these people say you are, but you are what your environment has made you. For the Army, sometimes you have to be a little strong in the ego to deal with everything going on. I completely understand brother. God Bless.



2. This self-published work is a "diary" of an enlisted Public Affairs soldier written during his six-month Iraqi tour in late 2004 (with additional material describing events subsequent to the author's discharge). It would have benefited from the attention of an experienced editor as the raw prose and gratuitous editorializing detracts from the work.
   
   The author clearly believes in the mission, and is interested in emphasizing the positive aspects of the coalition presence, such as building schools and roads, as well as facilitating elections. Unfortunately, he fails to elaborate on these events and instead focuses on himself, conveying an almost false bravado that left this reader uncomfortable. I have no doubt that the author covered the missions described, but there is a nearly narcissistic perspective that prevades the commentary indicating a direct rather than indirect involvement in the events.
   
   The entries provide glimpses into the author's personality, and occaisionally the reader gets the impression that he is describing a genuine personal experience (sadness, depression, elation). However, one can't help but feel that it is somehow "scripted," and when the author encounters something that is outside his expectations, he attacks -- and he attacks his fellow soldiers.
   
   A particular favorite is SPC Birmingham, whose opinions he invectively dismisses without the courtesy of indicating what they are or the reasoning behind them. If the chronology is accurate, it is apparent that the author judges and pigeon-holes his fellow soldiers within hours of making their acquaintance. The author appears disingenuous in that he often claims not to "point fingers" when he is clearly "pointing fingers!"
   
   Another thing that made this reader suspicious of the journalistic value of this work is the liberal use of inflammatory language. For example, rather than referring to the "enemy" there are repeated references to "savages" and "terrorists." The author leaves no doubt that he is ready, willing, and able to take the fight directly to the "savages." There is a clear message that he wants to mix it up, and kill these terrorists. According to the author, he is in top physical shape, an expert marksman, and knows what has to be done. One can't help but to wonder why he didn't opt for a stint in the infantry. The satisfaction that the author received from pulling the lanyard on a Marine artillery piece and taking care of the terrorists borders on perverse. The Marines that were actually doing the job did not appear quite as "thrilled" as the author, but then the author does not really seem to care what others think. Again, the author journals himself, rather than the situation, to the detriment of the work.
   
   The author's assignment as a broadcast journalist obviously demanded his presence at many events involving officers that would ordinarily not be attended by junior enlisted personnel. Furthermore, one could imagine there being a slightly less degree of formality in interactions with members of the officer corps under these circumstances; but the author gives the impression that he acted as their peers. Perhaps the most shocking was the author's attempt to embarass his CO in front of a junior officer. The CO had apparently offered the author a drink, and rather than being gracious, he "grabbed the arm" of an LT in order to show off that the CO was getting HIM a drink. If this is true, there is no wonder that his bosses, including the sergeant major would get on his case, but the author seems oblivious to the significance of these events; including being passed-over for promotion.
   
   "182 Days in Iraq" could be sub-titled "What NOT to do in the Army (a recruit's guide)," in that it documents the demise of a specialist who despite his good intentions for "getting the message out" in Public Affairs, instead took the "Army of One" slogan to the wrong extreme.



3. Having lost a son in this war, I am thirsty for any accounts of the "real" feedback of some one who has been there, and Phil has. I have met the author in person just recently and wanted to hear more of his story. I find it hard to put down, so much that the average American nevers hears of, about this war, is found in the pages of Phil's journal.It is written from the gut, no flowery adjectives, just the real story, so refreshing when it comes to accounts of what has and continues to happen. I wish that the media would tell the stories of the hope, renewal and justification of our troops finishing the job they were sent to do, with pride and honor.



4. This is a great, easy read. In journal form, it makes it easy to follow. I felt like I could image what it would be like to become accustomed to being in Iraq, in a war zone. Written from the point of view of a "regular guy".



5. i worked with this guy for almost 2 years and i have to say he is one of the worst people i ever met.
   he was always sneaking out of work to hit the lake so he could ride his wave runner. his work load was pretty easy compaired to other jobs in the army and he did it poorly. the stories he sent back from Iraq (all two of them) were about his time at the pool getting a tan. there is a pattern here.
   i am glad the army doesnt want him anymore and he is no longer serving this great country.
   there are better books, written by better people who actually did some REAL good in Iraq. read them.

1 comments about A Passage to Africa.

1. Now, I had my reservations when my mother bought me this book, I don't tend to read biographies, least of all of C list celebrities. However I was surprised by this book - it is excellent. George Alagiah has an engaging writing style full of wit with a deeply humanistic sentiment, his experiences in Africa from the time he emigrated from Sri Lanka (as a Tamil) to Ghana up until his time as a BBC reporter are used as background to the history of a number of countries and their adjustment to a post-colonial world. He offers explanations of their frequent failures, examples of their successes and his optimistic hopes for the future.