No comments about The China Diary of George H. W. Bush: The Making of a Global President.

2 comments about John McCain - A Man of Straight Talk (Biography).

1. John McCain is going to be the Republican nominated Presidential candidate. It is important to know all we can about the candidates, and this book is helpful in understandng his life and beliefs. I enjoyed the information on his military career and also have become more well educated on what he has accomplished as a United States Senator. I most of all enjoyed reading this book, and have shared my copy with friends.



2. This is just a light overview of McCain's life. Save your money and read the Wikipedia article about him. It contains the same information. And this book just randomly leaves out the first letter of words. No rhyme or reason behind it. Aren't books supposed to have editors? this isn't just a one time occurrence, it is throughout the book! just poor workmanship.

5 comments about Realities of Foreign Service Life.

1. I've bought several books for my study of the Foreign Service and the vast majority are hard to slog through. This one was engaging, written by numerous personalities about their experiences from different relationships with a Foreign Service Officer. I was able to finish it in one evening.



2. This book was invaluable for people interested in joining the foreign service. I was considering doing so myself, but after reading this book - and much, much more information and reading matter on the life of a FSO - I was able to decide that it was just not for me. Then again, someone could read this book and be quite moved by it. I certainly hope so. This book did not diminish the great respect I have for FSOs and their families, and in fact I think it increased said respect.
   
   The one qualm I had with this book should not really be considered as such. I had one issue in that it was heavily weighted towards stories of the wives of FSOs, and that domestic partners of all other kinds were seriously underrepresented. However, through reading this book, its introduction, and numerous websites on the issue, the truth seems to be that this is one of those facts about life in the FS right now: the demographics are frighteningly skewed towards a three to four person family with the husband the FSO and the wife following him and taking care of the children. If that offends you in any way, then read this book and see if you could live with it - this will give you some idea of what the FS experience is.



3. This book is full of relatively worthless and obvious quips about living abroad.
   There is an entire section devoted to grocery shopping and how it is different in various countries.. no duh. There is also a massive section about Foreign Service wives carrying on about their kids.
   Most of the accounts in this book are written by Foreign Service spouses and provides very little insight into the Foreign Service.



4. This book is simply key in helping you understand what a life in the Foreign Service is like. Several essays provide different insights into the ups and downs of living overseas and the unique challenges of the Foreign Service. You simply must read this before considering that career, and more importantly your spouse must read it also. Arguably, the spouse gives up more to join the Foreign Service. Until I read this book I was on the fence but not too far into the text I decided this wasn't for me or my family, which is really a great thing. If I relied on the State Department view I would have exerted significant time and effort only to find out later or too late. Some critics complain the book is too whiny, and it does come across like that at times. But look at it this way: if you read all the negatives and are still motivated, then the Foreign Service would be incredibly dense to NOT take you.
   
   One of the interesting takeaways for me was that your will likely be evacuated sometime in your career. If you or your spouse can't deal with the thought of flying the wife and kids out of a dangerous country, sitting on C-130 troop seats while the other stays in a dangerous situation, the Foreign Service isn't for you. If you don't mind living like a king overseas and living like a pauper in Washington, the Foreign Service may be for you. If you have to have fast access to pop-tarts you may think twice. If the thought of you or your kids contracting dysentery or other crazy diseases with less than great medical care bothers you, think again. If your spouse has career aspirations you need to seriously consider this option. Before you order that subscription to The Economist, get this book first.



5. I found that this book did a good job showing what life in the Foreign Service is like. I am in the military and there are a lot of similarities. Highly recommended for perspective Foreign Service family members, friends and applicants.

5 comments about Free Ride: John McCain and the Media.

1. John McCain is a marketing phenomenon who has been able to project an image that entirely belies his real self according to the authors Brock and Waldman. He sells it to the press who sell it to the rest of the nation.
   
   He is styled as a self-effacing war hero who never likes to bring up his captivity in public, except he continually manages to do so. Phrases like: "I haven't been asked so many questions since I was interrogated in Hanoi," or "I missed Woodstock, I was someplace else," or "Well, the longest place I lived was in Hanoi for five and a half years." (He actually grew up in the suburbs outside of D.C.). Even though the Senate and the House of Representatives are filled with people who served honorably and bravely, their names are never associated with their experience. For John McCain, the press will mention this experience of yesteryear almost as if it is a subtitle every time his name is written or spoken. On the other hand, if John Kerry mentions his service to his country, it won't be long before the media will accuse him of trying to exploit his record for political gain--not so for the Arizona senator.
   
   John McCain is a maverick and a moderate. If a maverick is defined as a person who goes against the grain and is willing to take risks, particularly political ones, he isn't it. John McCain has only bucked his party on issues that have already been popular with the public such as finance reform, immigration, and tobacco. His bill at finance reform was toothless to the point of being ineffectual except in helping republicans. Although against lobbying, McCain has a number of lobbyists who have, and are working on behalf of his campaign.
   
   Real mavericks such as Russ Feingold who was the only one to vote against the Patriot Act, a truly unpopular thing to do shortly after the attack of 9/11, is never referred to in the media as a maverick. Other republicans such as Lincoln Chaffee, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe have voted against their own party far more often than the "media-labeled maverick."
   
   McCain, the "moderate" has voted more often with his party than almost anyone else, and that means voting conservative. Over his legislative lifetime, he has averaged 80% voting the party line. The "Christian Coalition of America," as well as "Concerned Women of America," who want to bring "biblical principles into all levels of public policy," gave him high ratings. This is hardly the mark of a centrist. Surprisingly, the media make the excuse that McCain is making these concessions to achieve a worthy goal. According to the media, this is pandering to the party base by other politicians, but since their "intuition" is that it makes McCain "uncomfortable," it is a measure of his strength and character.
   
   He is a straight-shooter. Unfortunately, no one has waffled or flip-flopped more than a large stack, in the past eight years than McCain on tax cuts, ethanol, intelligent design, marriage, and anti-gay discrimination. The only thing he hasn't appeared to change his mind on is Roe v. Wade because no one knows for sure exactly where he stands having flip-flopped from against repeal, to indifference, to for its repeal.
   
   Legislators in both houses frequently work both sides of the aisle to come to agreement and pass laws. When McCain has done it, it was because he was putting principle above party, when it has been others, the media reports how they have been pandering to the right or left e.g. Hillary Clinton said that reducing abortions could happen by providing greater funding for birth control, an issue she has always held. However, it didn't take long for the media to claim that she was pandering to the right, and sacrificing her principles.
   
   The other free ride is that McCain is a man of character, which has been summed up by his experience as a prisoner of war. Nothing is mentioned of McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal where he tried to quash an investigation into the savings and loan malfeasance against his good friend and political campaign contributor, John Keating. There was considerable evidence that John McCain's office then leaked information to the press, which made the others involved appear to have played a larger role than McCain. He would later lie about the leaks under oath.
   
   Finally, Brock and Waldman talk about the pack mentality amongst the media. They travel on the same planes and buses. They eat in the same restaurants and sleep in the same hotels. They talk and share notes. A pack mentality begins to form. When new media members hear the adulation of McCain from those who have been with him, the "Halo Effect" begins to form.
   
   Yesterday, I watched Tim Russert mention McCain, the maverick on "Meet the Press." I think these authors might be on to something. See how many times between here and November you will hear or read about John McCain as a maverick, and John McCain, as a former P.O.W."
   
   Brock and Waldman wonder when those in the media will be introspective enough to ask themselves if they are judging candidate McCain by a different standard than others, and if such thinking is a disservice to the public. To quote the authors: "One might even say the reporter who was willing to ask those questions might even be a maverick."
   
   I couldn't have said it better.
   
   
   
   Also Recommended:
   
   Welch, Matt, "McCain: the Myth of a Maverick."
   
   Waldman, Glenn, "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics."
   
   I recommend googling "Pygmalion Effect," or "Halo and Horns Effect" for those of you who might not be familiar with it.



2. This book is not a puff piece for Democrats (Obama or Clinton), nor does it portray presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain as an entirely hollow man.
   
   But it convincingly makes the point that however likable many of McCain's personal qualities are, the media has focused on them to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Including his values as expressed through his actions in office, and his less-likable qualities.
   
   As a book, it's not written to stand the test of time (which is why only four stars), rather a quick, undemanding but not insulting read. One that may arouse responses of "really?" as it shows you things about John McCain that, whichever party you support, I'd be willing to bet you didn't know.
   
   For example, that his South Carolina spokesman was a critic of making Martin Luther King's birthday a holiday, and praised *David Duke* as a...heh..."maverick."
   
   I didn't know that.



3. A Media Matters for America review found that since February 27, the date that televangelist John Hagee endorsed Sen. John McCain for president, The New York Times and The Washington Post combined have published more than 12 times as many articles mentioning Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and Sen. Barack Obama as they have mentioning Hagee and McCain. Now you know why this extreme asymmetry in media attitude and coverage obtains - and why reporters know, and make sure McCain has access to his favorite snacks (Dunkin Donut with Sprinkles) and just how to fix his coffee (cream and sugar).
   
   Getting media traction has been a mystery up to now, but this book details the cogs in the machine that Hillary Clinton described as the "vast right-wing conspiracy" .



4. John McCain's carefully cultivated -- and totally fabricated -- image with the Traditional Media is exposed in this extraordinary book. Our current President is a creation of a cowed and obedient media. Learn about the GOP's nominee, and his obedient press, by reading this great book.



5. It's a fact: The Media loves them some McCain. What seems apparent at first or second glance becomes nauseatingly obvious and borderline criminal when all the evidence is gathered in once place, as in this book. The phoenix-like rise of McCain's campaign from the ashes is not so bizarre and miraculous when one faces reality and recognizes that the media was pulling for McCain through those dark days, and now that he's the nominee, they can slip into their old habits without making it seem so obvious.
   
   The book is depressing and heartening at the same time - while the media arrogantly goes about preening their favorites, facts be damned, it's long overdue that this Beltway circle jerk is illuminated.

5 comments about Fear No Evil.

1. In this classic, in the tradition of The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956, Prisoner of Zion, Natan Sharansky, one of the greatest Jewish heroes of our time, tells of his nine years in Soviet prisons and gulags, because of his desire to live in the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.
   Sharansky was first denied an exit visa to Israel in 1973. Seperated from his wife, Avital, a day after thewir marriage, in 1974, Sharansky fought for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union as well as the rights of other persecuted minorities such as Pentecostals, Catholics, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and ethnic Germans, which disproves the repulsive charge by anti-Semites that Zionists only care about their own people.
   He worked as a translator for Soviet dissident and human rights champion Andrei Sakharov, and his spokesman.
   Sakharov never stopped fighting for Sharanky's freedom, for human rights and for the Jews of the Soviet Empire.
   Sharanky describes his life in the preface as a Jews growing up in Russia, and his mental liberation from Soviet thought slavery, by his discovery of his Judaism and Zionism. He then details his 1977 arrest, and his nine years of brutal incarceration.
   He never bowed to his captors and refused to have anything to do with the perfidious KGB.
   A variety of mental and physical tortures were used to try to break Sharansky, but he never flinched.
   Always given courage by the word of the G-D of Israel, and particularly guided by Psalm 23:
   "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
   I will fear no evil
   For though art with me..."
   Indeed he did not fear the evil of the Soviet tyranny.
   His wife Avital tirelessly fought for his release as his cause became known in the free world, and fought for by all freedom-loving people.
   The book ends with Sharansky's release in 1986 and his aliyah to Israel, where he was reunited with his wife.
   The book is a testament to the evils of a one party tyranny.
   It is a testament to the eternal endurability of the Jewish people, and their unbreakable bond wit the Land of Israel.
   Unltimately it is a testament of hope and of freedom of the human spirit.
   Today the same Communist ideology that persecuted Sharansky is waging a jihad of intellectual terrorism against Israel and her people.
   But the courage of people like Sharansky and the people of Israel has shown that Israel can and will prevail.



2. Natan is a hero to the human race. He is wise beyond his years and his wife really proved what true love is. No wonder our Oresident sticks to his convictions. We should all be like Natan



3. "[Saul] put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on [David's]head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around... "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached [Goliath]".
   
   So begins the story of the famous battle between the future King David of Israel and the giant Phillistine during Biblical times. In Natan Shcharansky's "Fear No Evil" (the title taken from one of David's own psalms), the author is less equipped even than young David in battling the ubiquitous and evil KGB, which maintains an illegal presence in the prisons he's held in (again, illegally), accused of spying for western countries. But because of decisions he makes early in his arrest, he is the victor in the struggle waged over his soul by men who would like him to acknowledge he is wrong, who would like him to implicate others in his "crimes" in order for favors from them, or who would simply like him to stop being the delightful fly in the prison ointment he is.
   
   Shcharansky's only weapons during his trial and during his following prison term, consist of his personal integrity, which remains unsullied; his faith and trust in his family and friends; and a tiny book of psalms that he will spare nothing in reminding prison officials he is entitled to. He sometimes has to wage a hunger strike for these things, but always wins. It is true that his wife, who managed to reach Jerusalem before Shcharansky's arrest, is on a worldwide campaign for his release, resulting in no less than two sitting US presidents mentioning him by name in speeches heard by Soviet officials as a political prisoner, as well as global support, but Shcharansky does not learn this until later, and so believes he is virtually alone in the fight.
   
   This gritty autobiography is a lovely example of human survival, and how one can keep his humanity in a horrific place. Shcharansky's relationships with his fellow "zeks" (prisoners) is especially touching, and we're able to get a glimpse of how even the guards in the system have surrendered their souls in this "police state".
   
   A great read for anyone questioning how to survive while it seems suffering and injustice are towering overhead. Very inspiring.



4. Having met Sharansky in Israel (Birthright alumni!), and having had a long time interest in the Soviet Jewry dissident movement - which allowed my own (Jewish) family to emigrate from the Soviet Union in '91 - I had little doubt as to the outcome of Sharansky's imprisonment. As someone who has read a number of books on similar subjects - in particular the Alexander Solzenytsin "Archipelag Gulag" series - I was a bit dissapointed with "Fear no Evil". (Nevermind that Solzenytsin is widely believed to be an anti-semite; I'm speaking of the literary aspect only.)
   
   In contrast to Solzenytsin's breathtakingly vivid literary style and powerful analysis of the core of the Soviet regime and it's criminal code, Sharansky's book read rather like an eagle's eye view of a convoluted social and political order. "Fear no Evil" reads instead like a game of mental swordsmanship, with a self-inflicted narrow focus quite removed from breadth and depth of a much needed analysis on the Soviet system as a whole.
   
   However, Sharansky does not proclaim himself to be a literary guru. This book is a poignant (if dry) portrayal of one man's fight for freedom - both for himself and 2 million of his people. The uncompromising stance taken by the author with the Soviet regime throughout his imprisonment - his life, family and future hanging in the balance - is awe-inspiring in its simplicity and effectiveness.
   
   It has become a cliche in our time that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". Yet the Sharanskys of the world have proven that one need not be a terrorist to be a freedom fighter. Where are such men today?



5. Natan Sharansky's book "Fear No Evil" is a readable account of his time in the Soviet gulag for his dissident activities. The book is detailed and inspirational. Sharansky's courage in facing the KGB is a lesson that we can all learn from.
   
   The book itself reads fast, thanks to Sharansky's ability to make the read interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain insight in what life was like for a political prisioner in the USSR; to anyone who wishes to be inspired by ones courage, or to anyone who wishes to just sit down and read a thoroughly enjoyable book.

3 comments about La audacia de la esperanza: Reflexiones sobre cómo restaurar el sueño americano (Vintage Espanol).

1. En su libro "La Audacia de la Esperanza", Barack Obama revela sus pensamientos e ideas políticas, su visión sobre la vida y sus vicisitudes, las expectativas de la gente, empleando un estilo literario que sorprende por lo atildado y agradable, sin dejar de ser profundo por los temas que abarca.
   
   Todo un hallazgo; lo leí y lo recomiendo como lector que gusta de contar con buenos libros en su biblioteca.



2. It is common knowledge that Hispanics have not supported Obama. And that is not likely to change, particularly when you consider such obvious ploys as this one. If a group of voters won't support you...have your book translated into Spanish and they WILL. A nice idea in theory...but it is not working and it will not. Few Hispanics are interested in Obama's message regardless of the language. Another failed political strategy from the crumbling Obama campaign...



3. I am a Republican and plan to vote for John McCain, but this is a great translation--definitely one of the best Spanish books available on Amazon.
   
   Mr. Obama's writing is lofty. The translator has done a remarkable job with this book.
   
   Much of his beautiful rhetoric, unfortunately, will not translate into action if he is elected president. Obama is a great speaker and a fine writer, but he is not a magician.

5 comments about Emergency Sex: And Other Desperate Measures.

1. Interesting account of what it takes mentally to do humanitarian work. Slow at first but a good read.



2. The title is enough to make you inquire the story. Don't be disappointed that it's not a contempory Kuma Satra. The real characters and subject matter are too compelling not to read. It's a real life account of events we all saw on the news from a viewpoint you may not expect. It's quite well written with appropriate character/story development, told from each of the 3 player's point of view. Their maturation through the story lends hope that the need for people with extrodinary talents and passion can be utilized in a world more dignified. They lived it and survived, as did their friendship. As friendships do; on mutual respect & trust. I know people like them. You do too!



3. I have read more than my fair share of travel books, and this is by far one of the most accurate accounts of the lives of relief workers I have seen yet. It shows both the positive and the negative, and does a great job of illustrating the intensity found in these types of emergencies. As someone who has spent some time working in the field, I would STRONGLY recommend this to anyone considering going into a career in crisis environments. Really fantastic.



4. Saving lives while putting yours under risk sounds like the perfect material for a compelling memoir and the juicy title of this one sounds like it would deliver in spades. However I was ultimately disappointed by "Emergency Sex".
   
   The book is written by three aid workers: Ken, a recent Harvard graduate; Heidi, a social worker from New York; and Andrew, an idealistic doctor from New Zealand. The three meet initially when they are all working in Cambodia and their stories intersect as they work together and separately on assignment in various `90s trouble spots: Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia. The book is written by each of them in turn and the pace is quick and lively. Parts are exciting (the description of being in Somalia when the Black Hawk helicopter was downed) or very moving (the description of the terrible atrocities in Rwanda and Liberia).
   
   So it's an interesting read but somehow it failed to grab me. The book does convey what its like to be an aid worker: alternating fear, adrenalin, exhaustion, hopelessness, cynicism and only very occasionally the sense that you've made a small difference to the world. It certainly gives the flavor of how terrible things were in these places and how the UN could have done things better. However the three personalities never rang true for me. I didn't feel that I got to know these people. As another reviewer has commented, they all sounded curiously alike and I got the sense that Ken perhaps penned all three stories. Heidi's story was too much Ken's fantasy of the girl with the limpid eyes and the active sexual appetite. Andrew's story was also Ken's fantasy of the heroic and noble doctor who windsurfed in his spare time. I'm not saying that these aren't real people, just that they never leapt off the page and became real to me.
   
   Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because the nature of aid work is such that it's one long grind, the book dragged along for me. While I didn't mind it, I never felt the urge to pick it up and read more. I felt several times that I could have skipped 100 pages here or there and it wouldn't have made much difference. Really, you could flip open the book in a bookstore, read a few pages here and there, and get the flavor of the entire piece. It's not a bad book by any stretch, but it could have been better with judicious editing.



5. I really enjoyed this book. I was hard-pressed to put it down. I am an avid reader and politics/history person yet at times I still found my self appauled that some of the things discussed in the book never made it to light in the media. We all know how the media is - they report locally not globally. It was so refreshing to hear the personal accounts of 3 individuals about what their lives were really like living in these war-torn areas. Average citizens should be so lucky to be informed of these unfortunate events. It's a huge wake up call....

1 comments about Yeltsin: A Life.

1. Colton has provided a smart, well-researched and well-written account of a pivotal figure in Russian history.

5 comments about The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family.

1. For anyone who has read anything about the Kennedys, this is the ultimate glimpse into what it was like at the begining of the '60's. Shot soon after the election, the photographs illustrate the youth, the promise and the elegance of the incoming First Family.
   
   Knowing their fate makes each picture more poignant and almost heartbreaking. Caroline with her father, tenderly holding her brother or JFK tenderly caressing his son's infant head touch the hearts, even these many years afterwards.



2. I have been an admirer of the Kennedys for more years than I care to remember.They are both my heroes
   and I have read literally dozens of books on the family.This book was totally captivating.The pictures were taken in Palm Beach before the inaugeration .Its pictures were bittersweet and brought back waves of nostalgia.Caroline as a 3 year old toddler and John Jr as a tiny infant.They brought back feelings of that Golden Era and the hope for what might have been .There were pictures I'd never seen and I would Highly recommend this book.



3. If you're a photography lover like i am then you appreciate great coffee table books. This one just didn't do it for me. For anyone who finds the Kennedy's interesting this is a decent book with average pictures. I wish that i could recommend a different book to look at but this is the only one that i have. Look around, i'm sure there are better out there.



4. Not inpressed and was disappointed in the book. It's good if you want a record of the Kennedys. I found the photos too stiff and lacking in feeling. They left me cold. Avedon could have done better this was handled too much like a fashion shoot.



5. I have read nearly every JFK-Jackie book ever printed. This one was beautiful. I especially loved the baby photos of John and Caroline.

5 comments about Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement.

1. John Lewis' memoir tells of his pivotal role in the civil rights movement as , literally, its most prominent "fall guy." John Lewis was physically at the forefront of the major civil rights events-getting beaten, arrested, and ultimately, prevailing in the struggle to desegregate the south. He was one of the original Freedom Riders as well as the first person across the Pettis Bridge in Selma. He explains all of his actions and ethics through a mirror of highly disciplined non-violence that leaves the reader in awe of his amazing achievements. In sum, this book is a "must-read" for anyone interested in the civil rights movement.



2. The junior standard-bearer for civil rights during the era of segregation recounts his rise through those times toward his own national recognition. It's an intimate and introspective offering. It's a unique perspective.
   After his Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, crashes, he self-imposes exile as an "invisible man" in New York working as a grant officer for a private charity:
   (p398) "New York was just too big for me. I didn't feel as if I could get my hands around it. In the South, communities seemed comprehensible, manageable, workable. You could see where things started and ended. You could get a grasp of the place and the people, as well as their problems. And you could respond to those problems with solutions that might work...."
   He always has the South on his mind where there remains "a spirit instilled by the civil rights movement that is still felt and remembered today, a spirit that was not and is not felt in the same way in the North. That, I believe, is the huge difference between the legacy of the civil rights movement in the North and the South. All the great battlegrounds of the civil rights movement were in the South. That fact is cherished and remembered by the people there." (p 208).
   There is confusion in "Feel Angry with Me". The chapter describes the fall of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney. Their violent deaths in defense of the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law during Freedom Summer (1964) fixed the nation's eyes on racist brutality in Mississippi. The confusion is in character casting and mixing the ridiculous partying with his friend, actress, Shirley MacLaine and his virginity in the same chapter with the sublime. Here, especially, the book sacrifices continuity to rigid chronology.
   In and out of church - and on both sides of the pulpit - his cast of characters is most colorful, including a prominent one (not MacLaine) today facing bizarre criminal charges. So many stories within the author's story could make for a better book than a strict chronology.
   The author alludes to his motivation to influence the masses, (p 400) "I felt the spirit, the hand of the Lord, the power of the Bible -- all of those things -- but only when they flowed through the church and out into the streets. As long as God and His teachings were kept inside the wall of a sanctuary, as they were when I was young, the church meant next to nothing to me." Like a good, "whooping" preacher, he is, at times, poetic. It's some of his best stuff.
   Congressman Lewis is no great hero, though he has a measure of both -- greatness of association to the movement he led until the times turned violent -- and heroism for holding to his sometimes politically incorrect beliefs, though not sufficiently incorrect for this reviewer. And his book is not great literature. It is his gift to us with an interest in non-violent social change.



3. John Lewis's powerful and moving retelling of his journey through the
   Civil Rights years, much of it in leadership positions, is a walk through
   important American history. His clarity of purpose, values, honed by the
   beatings and jailings of those years shine through it all. This personal
   insight into events we read about in history makes it real, and makes us
   admire the courage and persistence of people like John Lewis. In our present
   times of struggle over issues of war, environment and economic fairness,
   we need both a reminder of this historical struggle and a next generation
   to press us to make changes, to make a difference. A must read for anyone
   concerned about our present times.



4. Ever since I came to the U.S. I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his philosophy of non-violence, I always wanted to learn more about the civil rights movement because of the way African American citizens overcame their obstacles in a non-violent way.
   
   
   Walking with the wind is a memoir of the author John Lewis, the book begins at his home town where he was raised and learned the meaning of discrimination at an early age. The book describes his whole life how he was discriminated and how became involved with the movement, and how he later on became chair man of the SNCC.
   The book also has a part where it only describes the life of John Lewis after the movement, what he does and what happens to all of his close friends, this is at the end of the book, but also talks about how he tries to become something important in U.S. politics.
   
   
   My favorite part of the whole book is when John Lewis is watching the presidential elections of 1976, when he sees that Jimmy Carter was elected he begins to cry because like he says, he finally sees the hands that picked cotton, picking a president, he cries because he sees that all his hard work pays off, by the government counting the black vote.
   
   
   The knowledge that John Lewis wants to pass down to readers is the struggle of all African American people to gain freedom and rights, he wants the new generation of people of color to know how much the old generation had to go through to gain all the freedom kids posses these days.
   
   
   This book is boring, there is almost no action, it is mostly talking about politics, so do not read this book if you are not hooked by memoirs. It takes time to get into the good stuff, like for example, there are parts where the author describes the way police responded in a violent way to a non-violent protest, there are many occasions like this through out the whole book.



5. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis' broad range of experiences gives the reader a glimpse into nearly every facet of the 1960's part of the movement. However, it is also useful for the specific study of the Nashville student movement and the study of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).