5 comments about From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey.

1. This book converted me from a skeptic of opposition politics in Burma to an ardent believer in the democracy movement there. I grew up in the magnificent Shan State with bitter distrust of urban Burmese elites and their political dominance. I was persuaded to read this book after finding out that for the first time I had a chance to discover someone from a village close to my home town. His book swept me away and brought me to understand and sympathize with the central Burmese people's courage and devotion to democracy and freedom. They have taught me to love as a human being in Burma amidst the poverty and deprivation. I owe my soul to that land and grateful to Khoo Thwe for his gift of writing. May he be strong enough to write many more books for Burma and the Kaya State.



2. It's definitely well written, and it's a very personal account of the author's journey. It's not as dramatic as I thought it'll be but then, I guess that's real life at times. It's definitely as honest as it can be. It does give a good account of what's going on in Burma, especially in the rural parts too. I'll recommend it for those interested in learning about Burma from a Burmese person, and from the native's perspective. Easy to read but by no means a simple writer. It's a literary piece for sure.



3. 
   Pascal, alias Khun Sa, has created an interesting autobiography of his life as a Padaung tribesman from the Shan States of Burma, who is picked up by a Cambridge don visiting Mandalay, where he is a student working in a restaurant. He later finds his way to England and Cambridge after his stint as an rebel insurgent - through the kindness and intervention of his British friend and the British embassy in Thailand.
   
   He writes well in English when you consider that most of his youth was spent in Shan States of Burma where English was not his language. However, one can feel the strong hand of his English and religion instructors or perhaps his editor in the content of much of the book. His mentor, Dr. John Casey, admits in the foreword that he was `at first diffident' when asked to revise and cut the manuscript for publication, yet his input can be felt strongly in the final version. Pascal points out in one of the final chapters that Dr. Casey indulged in nostalgia for the imperial past of Burma. This prejudice comes through clearly when Pascal writes of becoming an insurgent to fight against the Burmese government which had replaced the `golden age' of the `old British Raj'. Burma/Myanmar has been involved in a civil war ever since the British completed their occupation of the country and several rebel groups would like to have the country return to the British colonial era or become Communist. This feeling comes through as Pascal consistently characterizes the government soldiers of Burma as the 'enemy'. His strong anti-government bias even comes through against the government of Thailand, which had protected him and his fellow insurgents in refugee camps there.
   
   Pascal's Grandmother is hauled out to amplify the anti-government screed and tell us what a paradise Burma was during the age of the rule by the British. She says: "We were prosperous under the British, but when they went, they took the prosperity with them." She fails to point out that the British were replaced by the Japanese, who after a lot of killing were replaced by Nationalists looking for independence.
   
   We learn early on that Pascal's family introduced him to the Christian God and the Catholic Church. From that point on his writing is peppered with Christian religious euphemisms and often his religion causes him to rebel against the culture of his tribe. You can almost spot when Pascal is writing in the voice of his religious teachers; he uses words like `ululation' "assiduous to novenas' `impeccably' or he pokes fun at his own culture and animist religion. When speaking in the voice of his Cambridge dons, he misses no opportunity to demonize the `regime' in Burma.
   
   When Pascal writes in his own voice he can be quite down-to-earth and when he writes of his time as a young rebel soldier, shooting and being shot at, he is quite believable. As a poetic lament the book seems to be coming from Pascal, but as a political statement it seems more to originate from his handlers.
   
   No good anti-Burmese government book would be complete without a mention of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the wife of the late Michael Aris of Oxford. Pascal mentions her several times.
   
   "from the land of the green ghosts' is a fine book, if read with a good knowledge of the history of Burma. May I recommend reading The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma as a preliminary to this work.



4. I just finished reading this book and I can't stop thinking about it, it is wonderful! It's beautifully written and reads like a novel. The only thing that I felt it was missing was some sort of follow up on the secondary characters. Since Burma is still struggling, I wasn't expecting a totally happy ending but I was curious if he knew what became of some of his friends. Other than that, this is a fantastic, beauuuutiful book!



5. If you enjoy the pleasure of reading a fascinating autobiography written by someone with consummate skills in composition as well as an incredible story to tell- GET IT! This is one of the best reads of 2006 for me. Or, for that matter, of any other year.

5 comments about Texas in the Morning: The Love Story of Madeleine Brown and President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

1. Yet another book that adds to the evidence that Lyndon Johnson and his Texas backers were behind the Kennedy assassination. Yes, you will learn more than you ever wanted to know about Johnson's bedroom skills. You will also catch a glimpse at some of the people who hated JFK and wanted him dead.
   
   This book is also a reminder that there were plenty of people in Dallas who came forward and told their stories about that day in November, knowing that it was the right thing to do. Perhaps one day America will have the courage and face the fact that Johnson took office in a coup d'etat with the suppoert of high government officials.



2. This book reminded of me a child telling a story about the excitement and fun of a carnival, and while I might appreciate the child's viewpoint and comprehension of the carnival, I had the adult's perception of knowing better and wanting more. This is a very incomplete and undocumented tale, like a child's leftover cotton candy -- a bad-tasting remnant from a trip to the carnival and a reminder of the flashing lights, the excitement, and a ride on the ferris wheel. And like a child, the author told her story without a mature understanding of what a carnival really is -- a lot of flashing bright lights, games and rides, crowds, noise, dirt, and smoke and mirrors. This book is at best, a foggy and romanticized rendition of historically important events. I truly believe that posterity will demand a clearer picture and better documentation of the claims made by the author.



3. I purchased "Texas in the Morning" directly from Madeleine Brown at her home in Dallas. She was kind enough to invite myself and the Senior Class of 2000 from Roberts High School in Roberts, Montana to her home for lunch. Madeleine was a very gracious host, seemly honest and forthright. I read her book thoroughly on the airplane on the return trip home. It was intriguing and very interesting. I question her having so much patience, but not her commitment to both this relationship and her book. An excellent book for a person with an open mind!



4. The author is no word beater when it comes to writing skills, but she obviously knew President Lyndon Johnson very well. No one reading this book could not take her seriously. Madeleine Duncan Brown was part of history. She was indeed a secret lover of LBJ. In fact, she bore and raised his only son. The most interesting passage in the book takes place on Thursday night in Dallas, Texas, November 21, 1963, at the home of Clint Murchison. Read the book for the details of that night as Johnson whispers in the author's ear, "After tomorrow those goddamn Kennedys will never emparrass me again--that's no threat--that's a promise." A must read for JFK assassination researchers.



5. If you are interested in political biography skip
   Texas in the Morning. This book reads like a bad
   dime-store romance.

   I was hoping that Madeleine Brown would have some
   insight into the character of LBJ. She doesn't.

   Don't read this book unless you are interested in
   what LBJ was like in bed.

5 comments about Benjamin Franklin Unmasked: On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought (American Political Thought).

1. I am interested in comparing the 5 best biographies of Benjamin Franklin that have been written (thus far) in the new millennia, emphasizing Weinberger's account.
   
   THE BEST 5 BIOGRAPHIES ARE (in order of publication date)
   Edmund S. Morgan's Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene S.)
   H. W. Brands's The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
   Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
   Gordon S. Wood's The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
   Jerry Weinberger's Benjamin Franklin Unmasked: On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought (American Political Thought)
   
   
   The first 4 of these biographies are presented as in the typical historically (and chronologically) biographical approach. There are 24 pictures in Morgan's book, no pictures in Brands's book, 32 pictures in Isaacson's book, 25 pictures in Wood's book, and no pictures in Weinberger's book.
   I am not going to write about how great Franklin was or what he did (he was great and he did so much). I want to write primarily about how each of these authors portrays Franklin's character differently by highlighting different aspects of his life.
   
   In London (1725) Franklin wrote "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," which seemed to show that Franklin was a young radical Deist. In the pamphlet, he denied free will, denied the existence of vice and virtue and merit, and rejected particular providence. Later, when the pamphlet was reprinted in Boston, Franklin became a social outcast of sorts and he wrote that he was "inclined to leave Boston" because people were calling him "an infidel or atheist." When Franklin fled Boston he was 17 years old. He later wrote about that pamphlet that Ï began to suspect that this doctrine, though it might be true, was not very useful."
   Later, after becoming rich from his printing presses, writings, and scientific discoveries, Franklin became a statesman, diplomat, Founding Father, and icon.
   At the end of his life he wrote his "Autobiography," where Franklin said that he "never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity, that he made the world, and governed it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service to God was the doing of good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter; these I esteemed the essentials of every religion".
   
   If you've read Leo Strauss's "Persecution and the Art of Writing" then you'll be familiar with Weinberger's hermeneutic. Weinberger sees a contradiction: Franklin seriously doubted as a young man what he says to have never doubted as an old man (compare the 1725 pamphlet to the aforementioned quote from the "Autobiography"). Weinberger notes, "...to my knowledge, this flat contradiction has remained unnoticed by everyone who has written..." on Franklin (pg. 49). According to Weinberger, Franklin's treatment in Boston and his belief that George Whitfield should not have written anything that would leave him open to attack, created a Franklin who wrote subtly for those who take the time to peal back the shades of meaning in his own texts. Indicators are contradictions and contradictions are dissolvable when we find something deeper which ties things together.
   Franklin is a "radical skeptic" according to Weinberger. The philosophical Franklin is hidden behind his humor (often debauched). Weinberger's Franklin is a true anomaly among the other historians. He attacks Isaacson's pragmatist-Franklin as "always look[ing] on the bright side of things because they are not really pragmatists" (pg. 289; my brackets). He attacks Wood in a 2 and ½ page footnote, where Wood's presentation of an "angry Franklin" is (somehow) incompatible with Franklin's proposed skepticism (pg. 314-317). Weinberger says that as a philosopher Franklin could not have sustained anger as a part of his political motivations because the skeptical Franklin would be "able to reflect philosophically on the perfect irrationality of anger as the wellspring of moral and political commitments" (pg. 223, see also pg. 288). In fact, Brands might agree, he said that Franklin was a skeptic by temperament (Brands, pg. 94). However, Weinberger sees Franklin's skepticism as "even more radical and more thoughtfully grounded..." (pg. xiii). Because Franklin is supposedly a skeptic he could not agree with Spinoza and Hobbes who appear as dogmatic as the religious leaders (begin with materialist assumptions and end with their conclusions and visa versa for spiritualists...see pg. 75-59 and 277). However, Franklin does follow Hobbes insofar as Hobbes was the protégé of Francis Bacon. Weinberger calls Franklin's politics "political Baconianism: the view that politics is an artful game aimed at getting things to work right and not a matter of setting things `right' in the sense of justice" (pg. 234-235). Hobbes "outlined the most powerful version of political Baconianism" (pg. 235). Yet Franklin could not follow Hobbes all the way because Hobbes became a materialist-dogmatist and Franklin remained a skeptic. Franklin, in a sense, tried to take on Socratic Ignorance, Franklin was "first the careful, dialectical philosopher..." (pg. 290). The historians, on the other hand, who follow loosely Morgan's notion that "charity" was the "guiding principle of Franklin's life" (Morgan, pg. 24) continue along with Wood who says Franklin "came to realize that science and philosophy could never take the place of service in government" (Wood, pg. 66).
   
   One of Weinberger's best summaries of Franklin's quasi-political machinations may be that "for all his real efforts to foster his minimalist `creed' that would not `shock the professors of any religion,' he always included divine punishment in that creed and was quite willing both to shock believers and to side with enthusiasts, whichever prudence required. Franklin's concrete religious politics could be well described as inclined towards `managed enthusiasm'" (pg. 279).



2. This book was recommended to me by a friend. And since reading the book, both she and I have recommended it to everyone we know. All that was left was for me to write a review here and to start recommending it to strangers. I fear though that I cannot do this particular book justice with my meager reviewing abilities. The book is the most enjoyable scholarly biography I have ever read. It is both profound and laugh-out-loud funny. It deftly leads the reader through the complexities of Franklin's philosophy, helping one arrive at a new and deeper respect for one of this country's worthiest heroes. And it allows one a comical glimpse at the whimsical workings of a genius's mind. I'm currently rearranging a course I'm planning to teach in order to make room for this fascinating contribution to the study of our forefathers.



3. I have read a great many books on the founders-including several on Franklin-and this stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. Weinberger combines historical knowledge with political insight and philosophic depth in a way that I've never seen. The resulting interpetation was a revelation, changing not only how I view Franklin, but how I view the world. If you've never encountered a book of this sort, you owe it to yourself to read it. It's a rare treat to find one first-rate mind exploring and exhibiting the labyrinthian delights to be found in another. Bonus: the book is also extremely funny, perhaps the funniest political biography ever written.



4. Jerry Weinberger has truly revealed the real Franklin behind the masks. First, this book is truly hilarious...Franklin's scatalogical humor, his idea to create sweet-smelling flatulence, or his advice to bed older women who will be more grateful, makes reading this also-serious work a laugh riot!!
   
   Second, Weinberger has taken Franklin more seriously than anyone else to date and lays bare the real intent behind his though. The review by "Dave" here completely misses the point of the book. Franklin mocked everything and everyone, including himself, so one has to look beyond the words written to the true meaning, which is revealed by Weinberger to lie in numerous contradictions, confusing language and re-worded poems. For example, the "contradiction" that "Dave" fails to see is that Franklin at one point in his Autobiography mentions that he never stopped believing in god; something that completely contradicts an earlier claim by Franklin that he did indeed stop believing, only to return to religion later in life. As Weinberger mentions, is it believable or possible that a religious person could forget that he once did not believe, or forget the very moment at which he became a believer? Hardly. Weinberger's task is to unravel this mystery...and he does so masterfully.
   
   If you want to know Benjamin Franklin beyond what is presented in the biographies (and I have read those by Brands and Isaacson) to see the true depth and power of his thoughts, Weinberger's book is excellent!!!



5. This book presents Franklin in a novel and truly compelling light. The style is lucid and witty, the content is persuasive and intriguing. A first-rate tour de force.

No comments about Daniel Webster, "The Completest Man": Documents from The Papers of Daniel Webster.

No comments about Think Only Whites Are Racist? Think Again!: A Blackman's Perspective.

No comments about My Journey with Terrorists: Read with Dr. Eid: Between the Lines ~ Book One.

5 comments about George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage.

1. This book is wonderfully written, very insightful, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who was looking to learn more about the lives of the President and First Lady. I was so enthralled while reading it, I could hardly put it down.



2. A puzzling minor error: page 42 says "Blacks (in Midland, TX) went to their own schools, not to Sam Houston Elementary. There were separate waiting rooms for them at the courthouse..." However page 46 says "there were no blacks in town then -- I mean none."



3. The best part of this wonderful tribute to commercial marriage was the sound effects CD. I mean how often do you get to hear Laura and George grunt. I tell you, it gave me the shivers. Then, when I thought it couldn't get any better I found the scratch and sniff section. That was too much. I was beyond redemption at that point. Frankly, I don't know how they are able to sell this gem for so little. I suppose they stiffed the ghost writer. (Do you think it was Lynn Cheney?) Anyway, if you want a presidential grunt and sniff fest for you very own bedroom then this is the book for you. I've literally gotten minutes of pleasure from this book and so has my peeping Tom neighbor, Alonzo, downstairs.



4. A wonderfully written book, showing that old fashion marriage, love & respect are still alive In America.
   The love and respect they have for one another is so evident. Being in the spotlight doesn't stop this beautiful couple from showing the love and respect they have for one another. It shows a book will hold your interest without it having to be filled with sexual thoughts and actions. Loved the book and believe others will as well. Good old fashion love story.



5. I started reading this book on a Friday night and finished it on Saturday. It is such a welcoming look at a real marriage portrayole. It reminded me so much of my husband and myself, who also will be married 27 years this July. My Daughter read it first, brought it to me, now my son and husband are agruing who gets to read it next! Christopher Andersen did a great and explicit job of portraying these two intoxicating, loving, yet determined individuals in this book. Hats off to you. What a great read. I recomment this one at 5 stars!

2 comments about Red Dust and Broadsides: A Joint Autobiography.

1. OKAY, I GAVE THIS BOOK 5 STARS, NOT BECAUSE IT WAS A GOOD BOOK, IT WAS NOT, BUT BECAUSE I REALLY WANT PEOPLE TO READ IT. I GREW UP WITH PEOPLE LIKE "SIS" CUNNINGHAM AND GORDON FRIESEN AND WAS MYSELF ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN MANY OF THE SAME MOVEMENTS DISCUSSED. I AM AN OLD MAN AND CAN LOOK BACK WITH SOME AMOUNT OF OBJECTIVITY. YES, WE HIT UPON CAUSES THAT WERE JUST AND MADE COMPLETE SENSE. WHO WOULDN'T TRY TO STOP LYNCHINGS, RACISM, CORRUPTION IN POLITICS AND CORRUPTION IN BIG BUSINESS AND THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR, ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS. AT THE SAME TIME THESE PEOPLE WERE IN EFFECT ORGANIZERS FOR THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND THEIR AVOWED PURPOSE, WHICH IS HISTORICAL FACT, WAS THE OVERTHROW OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM AND IN EFFECT THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. THEY WERE PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKERS, NOT PARTICULARLY INTELLIGENT,OR HISTORICALLY CENTERED, WHO REALLY CARED MORE ABOUT THE "MOVEMENT" OR "REVOLUTION" THAN THE PEOPLE THEY PURPORTED TO BE HELPING. THEIR ETHICS WERE AT BEST AMORAL AND LYING OR CRIMINAL ACTS TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR ENDS WERE TOTALLY JUSTIFIED. I WAS THERE, I KNOW. IT IS A DREARY, BORING, DEPRESSING ACCOUNT OF SOCIAL MALCONTENTS AND MISFITS WHO PROJECTED THEIR OWN MISERY ON THE ENTIRE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE. IMAGINE THESE PEOPLE BEING IN CONTROL AND IMAGINE HOW MUCH FUN IT WOULD BE TO LIVE IN A SOVIET STYLE STATE. READ THE BOOK, IT WILL SCARE YOU, OR AT LEAST IT SHOULD.



2. After 55 years of intense and rabid anti-communism, most people can be excused for accepting the old cliches about American Communists: dour, unfeeling and fanatical in their devotion to Moscow's orders. This joint autobiography of Agnes (Sis) Cunningham and Gordon Frieson shows us that, instead, Communists tended to be pretty much like all of us. Driven by a desire to create a better America and repelled by the "everything's for sale" attitude of the two main political parties, they labored through poverty, blacklisting, lynch mobs and government sabotage towards that better America. And they did it all with a song on their lips and in their hearts. An excellent book for those who want to know more about a period when only the very brave questioned the government and the system we live under.

1 comments about Oscar W. Underwood: A Political Biography (Library Alabama Classics).

1. This volume is put together the way a good biography should be. While the analysis is not profound, the reader gets a good idea of how Underwood attained the positions he did. While it is a little startling that as late as 1907 he would still call for the repeal of the 15th Amendment, contemporary Southern politicians were taking even more extreme anti-Negro positions; e.g., James K. Vardaman, in Mississippi, was crusading for no money for schools for Negroes, and Pitchfork Ben Tillman was condoning lynching! The account of the early days that Underwood was in Congress is a bit dry, detailing as it does legislative events of little significance today. The account of the 1912 Baltimore Democratic Convention, where Underwood was a candidate for President, is full of interest. This is also true of the account of his bid for President in 1924, when he became a household name because of the 103 ballots taken at the 1924 Democratic Convention in New York which started with the booming cry: "Alabama casts 24 votes for Oscar W. Underwood." Underwood is almost unique (only Henry Clay's career is comparable) in American history in that he attained a leadership position in the United States House of Representatives (in which he served for almost 20 years) and then was elected to the Senate where he again became Democratic leader, albeit his two-term Senate career was not as successful as his House career. The account of his two campaigns for the Senate, in 1914 and in 1920, are full of interest. Anyone interested in the political history of the first quarter of the 20th century in the United States will find reading of this book of value. I know I found it easy to read and consistently attention-holding. The research is carefully done and the footnotes are appropriately detailed. The bibliography is adequate. It is always good to see a biographer who has used the Congressional Record in the way that it should be in order to relate a congressional career. This is a good book, and throws light on a fascinating period of American political history.

No comments about A BEARSKIN'S CRIMEA: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Percy VC and his Brother Officers.