5 comments about A Man Called Peter: The Story of Peter Marshall.

1. Peter Marshall was a man of God and yet he contemplated suicide in the play, "A Man Called Peter," based on this book. One of the school plays during the year I took Dramatics class and we were able to watch rehearsals. He was an inspiration to all who knew him. Some of his sparkling observations in our country are expressed here where he had a great ministry as minister to the presidents (before Billy Graham), he began in Birmingham, Alabama, as a newspaper reporter. He believed that each of us is responsible for helping our Christian brothers and sisters, especially the weaker ones.
   
   In one of his soul-searching, gut-wrenching sermons, he compared America to his native Scotland: "We have in the United States today a higher standard of living than in any other country, or at any other time in the world's history. We have more automobiles, more picture shows (movies), more telephones, more money, more swing bands, more radios, more television sets, more night clubs, more crime, and more divorce than any other nation in the world." In another, this truism based on Jesus' teachings" God speaks through our circumstances and guides us, closing doors as well as in opening them." All things work together for good for those who love God. The promises of God found in the Bible can give us hope, but many times we do not claim them as our own until we face a crisis.
   
   Andrew was chosen to be the Patron Saint of Scotland, and Saint Andrew's cross, a diaganol white cross on a blue ground, is the foundation on which St. George's cross of England and St. Patrick's cross of Ireland were laid to make the Union Jack. Alec, my youngest (son of the oldest son) was born on March 17 and reportedly looks just like Geoffrey (named after Chaucer). "A tired-ooout rail splitter, crouched over his tattered books, by candlelight at the day's end, preparing for his future, instead of snoring or sky-larking like his co-laborers, Abraham Lincoln cut out his path to later immortality in his spare time. Georgia Sharpe, an admirer of Peter Marshall, wrote: "A stranger entered a church during the sermon and took a seat in the back row. After a while, he leaned forward and asked the elderly man in front of him, "How long hs he been preaching?" "For about forty years, I think," the man replied. "I'll stay then," said the stranger;" he must be almost finished.
   
   Peter Marshall left behind just such home-spun philosophy in his teaching and ministering to the members of government at First Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and a wonderful wife who shared (as did JoNell Allen) her husband's sermons with the public.



2. Dr. Peter Marshall's story about his rough childhood with the endless desire to go to sea,
   his eventual immigration to America after the LORD's calling him into the ministry,
   his seminary education,
   his marriage to Catherine Marshall (then Catherine Wood),
   his pastorate at N.Y. Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington
   D.C.,
   the birth of his son Peter John Marshall,
   his appointment to the position of Chaplain to the U.S. Senate,
   and his tragic death in 1949,
   are all wonderfully brought to life in this amazing biography of one of America's greatest preachers.
   Catherine Marshall has been a blessing to my life and has brought me closer to Christ through her many Christian books. Dr. Marshall himself has allowed me to probe deeper into the meaning of salvation by faith alone and his audio tape entitled "Can You be Wrong?" available at Peter Marshall Ministries - have been instruments used by God in the event of the salvation of many. His sermons included at the end of this book, especially the one entitled, "The American Dream", has been especially pertinent to issues that still exist in the USA today, and served as my Speech and Debate piece as a high school senior. Although Dr. Marshall was more of a story teller, rather than an exegetical minister, his sermons are up there with Dr. John MacArthur and other ministers who I love and trust. I would recommend this biography over the biographies of any other minister I have read to date.
   If the LORD had this much in mind for a poor Scottish immigrant with nine and a half dollars in his old brown wallet when he arrived at Ellis Island almost 90 years ago...imagine what he could have in store for you and me!



3. I have both the movie and the book. I saw the movie when I was a child and it made an impression on me. I never forgot it. I have a grandson who is becoming a minister and I wanted him to see the movie. I haven't read the book yet, but I will soon. I feel sure it is better than the movie. I believe Peter Marshall was an outstanding minister and we can learn a lot from him. I am now 60 years old. This man has touched many lives over the years even since he died. I also have the book of his sermons. Catherine Marshall has kept his memory going and she is an awesome writer.



4. As someone related to those who have served in the clergy, I found Catherine Marshall's ardent tribute to her late husband, Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall particularly heartwarming and inspiring.
   As her husband (who became affectinately known as "Twittering-Birds Marshall" because of the flowery phrasing he gave to his wonderful sermons) painted vivid imagery with the parables he told, she paints a vivid image of his all-too-brief life.
   Through her words, we see the winsome Scottish lad who suffers the tragic loss of his father at age four, whose hardscrabble experiences and humble beginnings would lead him to have great compassion for others in similar circumstances, the spiritual depth he developed on the occassions when his Inner Voice saved him from accidental death, the inspiration he received from fellow Scottish churchman Eric Liddell, his Scottish wit, and fun-loving style. He was a man I feel I would have liked, as did many, and had he lived a few more years, he might have been highly instrumental in the struggle for Civil Rights, judging from the deferrence he gave to the writings of African American men of faith, James Weldon Johnson, and George Washington Carver, and his expressed concern for underpriviledged minorities. His sermon, "The American Dream", is still very timely in the modern world.
   Readers follow him through his immigration to the United States, his entrance into the clergy, his meeting of Catherine, the difficulty of finding time to spend with her due to mounting ministerial duties, his marriage, his camaraderie with other ministers, the high emotion of embracing U.S. Citizenship, the use of his sharp sense of humor to win people over to Christ, his enthusiasm for board games, sports, life itself, and also his great love for his family and humanity in general.
   I can hear the melodic trill of his brogue when his quotes appear in the story as his wife recaptures the rhythm of his speech patterns, and each chapter is headed with appropriate Biblical verses that summarize their contents.
   Dr. Marshall was nonimated as Senate Chaplain while serving in the church where Abraham Lincoln once worshipped, and upon his election became a much-loved confidant of Senators on both sides of the aisle. Michigan Senator, Arthur Vandenberg (who himself passed away around the time of this book's publication in 1951), affectionately called him, "Dominie", the Dutch word for "Parson".
   We share the couple's delight at the birth of their son, "Wee Peter" in the years prior to Dr. Marshall's rise to the Chaplaincy of the Senate, the challenges to their faith brought on by Catherine's bout with tuberculosis, and Peter's heart trouble, and see how much prayer meant in their lives at such time. We also see how Peter's illness inspired others to pray. But we are also made aware that not everyone admired the Marshalls and that the Good Reverend was subjected to anti-immigrant backlash as well as misinterpretations of the meaning of his sermons. He had his moments of self-doubt, as does everyone.
   Dr. Marshall's instinctiveness in changing his sermon for the graduating class of the Annapolis Naval Academy, which he gave just hours before the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor is formidable, and through his warm, consoling mannerisms, Christ became warm and alive in the hearts and minds of many. Through Marshall's example, many lives were changed for the better.
   We also see how this spiritually attuned couple helped produce some of Peter's best sermons in joint ventures that made their life's pilgrimage a real partnership.
   Five days after his attendance of President Truman's second inaguration, this fine representative of Christ on Earth was lost to the world. But his sweetness, and love for his wife were evident until the very end. As he passed from this life, the Holy Spirit gave Catherine the strenghth to carry on with her life, and to console others. As she worked on her late husband's story, he appeared to her in a dream, providing encouragement, but still letting that sparkling Scottish wit shine through, perhaps more eminently, in the afterlife.
   The last words he spoke to her, "See you in the morning", would carry her through the years.--Through the acclaim of this biography, the 1955 film of the same name in which Richard Todd gave an adorable performance as Peter, an eventual second marriage, the entrance of her son into the Presbyterian ministry, her own success with the novel, "Christy" and other religious literature, and eventually, her own undoubtably happy reunion with Peter in March, 1983.
   Her son honors the rich spiritual legacy of his parents by continuing the family tradition. As did his own father, Peter John Marshall lost his father in childhood, and perhaps strives to know him by following in his footsteps. Perhaps he knows the Senate Chaplain who was his father better than the elder Dr. Marshall knew his father through the availability of the Senate Chaplain's recorded sermons and writings.
   Christ said"...Whosover liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"--John 11:25, 26
   As the life of Dr. Marshall continues to inspire many all these years later, I'll say that I do.



5. The works of both Peter and Catherine Marshall live on even though they are no longer among us. Fortunate for us that their legacy is still available, as we're richer for it.
   Peter was Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, a position he had not sought. He was a Scottish immigrant to this country. This book describes how God orchestrated the circumstances that led to a life of accomplishment from an eternally significant perspective.
   On page 15 she tells us, "Peter Marshall did not grow up wanting to be a minister. That was God's idea--not his." She says often God has to shut a door in order for us to go through the door he wants us to go through.
   Eric Liddell was a significant influence in Peter's younger years. He was the Scottish olympian who was more committed to Jesus than to winning international acclaim.
   I underlined what was said about dreams in the part of the book on Peter's early years. "I learned that just because God loves us so much, often He guides us by planting His own lovely dream in the barren soil of a human heart," she notes. Later on she adds that if the dreams are really of God, even though they may be carried a long time, they often suddenly become reality.
   I also love what the way she describes the book-lined place Peter inhabited. "Books lined one wall--good books--inspiring and instructive--good books--good friends."
   One of several idiosyncrasies I share with Peter Marshall is that we're both "night owls." She says he was usually his best and brightest around midnight.
   Throughout this book on her late husband, Catherine puts her thoughts into a reflective framework. She talks about Jesus and living life with the long view in mind. Along those lines she talks about Jesus, noting that he never refused anyone who came to Him for help. She says even if we lack faith, we can ask Him for it because faith is a gift of God.
   She modifies the phrase which is so commonly cited, "God helps those who help themselves," by writing that actually, "God helps those who trust Him to solve their problems."
   This is a well-researched, well-written, inspiring, faith-building, positive book that will make you a better person from having read it.

1 comments about Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography.

1. 
   This book recounts the life of Nelson Mandela beginning in childhood up to the present age. It is written by Mandela himself - it's honest, straightforward style seems to be an honest attempt by Mandela to portray himself objectively, avoiding the tendency to be self-serving.
   
   A fascinating book. It begins with Mandela in his young childhood living in a pre-industrial society of native Africans in the countryside of South Africa where white settlers have dominated industrialized society. It is an engaging society, - perhaps more advanced than our own - as one must reconsider what it means to live in harmony and in cooperation; A true democracy, based on the ideals that all are equal.
   
   Mandela undergoes culture shock when he runs away from his traditional homeland to seek his fortunes in the big city of Johannesberg. Here is encounters white society up close, and is mortified at the inequity that exists between the native blacks, and the immigrant whites that make every attempt to dominate their country and exploit its indigenous peoples.
   
   Mandela encounters a small group of educated, free-thinking educated blacks, and joins the African National Congress. Here he encounters several other oppressed peoples: Indians, Communists, and liberal whites. He slowly makes his life's objective to be a freedom fighter. A fighter for civil rights for all people. A life of struggle, where one must be willing to pay the ultimate price. And he nearly does.
   
   He becomes the inspiration for downtrodden average black citizen, nearly enslaved within their own country. He willingly faces grave danger, is tried several times for his political ideals, denounced as "treason" and is eventually sent to prison "for life."
   
   Mandela's life in prison is austere. But he and his colleagues never yield in their commitment to freedom for all South Africans. His wife, Winnie is an example of true dedication - equally a woman of integrity and worthy of the highest praise. She undergoes severe hardships being married to a "freedom fighter."
   
   Mandela avoids the tendency to give up in the face of severe conditions, showing true mettle as he remains dedicated to the rights for all people to live free in racist South Africa. 27 years later having risked his life and surviving harsh prison conditions, he emerges a national hero.
   
   A must read for anyone - Mandela is history in the making.

5 comments about Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games.

1. I beleive it was a great insight to management. Learnt a lot from the book!



2. When I started reading this book, I thought that I had made a big mistake in buying it. After reading about half of it, I decided that I was learning much about the man in reading about how he accomplished things and why he was successful. There are probably better books to tell about Mitt Romney, but this one will do if you have the time to wade through much detail (simply scan part of it)and like to read about methods of achieving success.



3. The basic concept of this story was interesting. The Olympics are exciting... unfortunately, 150 pages dedicated to a line-by-line analysis of an Olympic budget is not exciting. Nor is the constant name-dropping of international CEOs and executives. Nor is the re-affirmation every 40 pages that Mitt sacrificed a lot by leaving his multi-billion dollar private equity firm to work for the Olympics and the accompanying statement that he was blessed enough in his life to be able to afford to make that sacrifice.
   
   I gave this book two more stars than I wanted to because a) Amazon won't let me give a book zero stars and b) I like the Olympics.
   
   This book does accomplish one thing: It's a 400-page long example of just how detached from the average voter Mitt really is.



4. If you want to know how Mitt Romney approaches business this is a valuable book to read.
   
   Mitt Romney was doing really well in the business world until his dear wife Ann told him that God had been good to them and now it was time to give back. Romney did just that and turned around the Olympics. After that challeng he sorted out Massachusettes and now he has got his eye on the White House.
   
   If you're American and qualified to vote you've got to read this book to find out who Mitt Romney is. A lot of people crticize him because of his faith. This guy has a great relationship with his wife, a great family, has been very successful in business and politics too. The President of the USA should be a man for everyone to look up at. Don't most people dream of being happily married to a beautiful woman, have great kids, become a Millionaire and then President of the USA? Maybe Mitt Romney is the man for the White House...read this book and it will help you decide!



5. Amazing what Mitt Romney can do with numbers. If in doubt, do without. He pulled the 2002 winter games off on a no frills budget and turned a scandal into a triumph.
   
   It seems he gets so much grief just because he is a Mormon, but I'm amazed at what he can do and mostly impressed by his get up and go, can do attitude. His wife says he loves emergencies and crisis situations of any kind. He turns the financing of the games from a huge millions of dollars deficit into a millions of dollars profit. Throughout the whole crisis leading up to the games, he made it the mission of the whole team to be honest and forthright with each other and the public. It's blatantly apparent that he always makes an honest million and demands integrity of his team whoever they be. This book was truly inspirational in many ways. If you don't want to read the book or even hate Mitt Romney, at least read the "Prologue" and the first chapter. I love the story of the American flag from the World Trade Center bombing being brought into the Olympic stadium during opening ceremonies. It's really awesome!
   
   There have been other budget inversions in our nation's history. The most remarkable one happened on the eve of this country's founding and was repaired by Alexander Hamilton, our nation's first Treasury Secretary. That tale is best told by Forrest McDonald in his biography of Hamilton.
   
   These are great stories and must reads for government financiers!

5 comments about President Reagan The Role Of A Lifetime.

1. The second of the 2 part series is by far the weaker of the two books.
   
   First, the second book appears to be written as almost a standalone. It continually rehashes happenings in the first book like the reader either doesn't remember or didn't even read the first book. This gets in the way of what is happening in the Reagan Presidency and tended to get me offtrack. I would suggest that Cannon should not make it easy for readers to be lazy. Anyone willing to read 700+ pages on the Reagan Presidency is probably willing to read the first volume so don't rehash things.
   
   Second, I couldn't figure out what method Cannon was using to tell this story. It jumped around quite a bit. At times, it seemed chronological and it times it seemed more subject based. The only part of the second book that really captivated me was the 100+ pages describing in detail the Iran-Contra affair. I was in high school when this took place and appreciated Cannon's detailed account. I though he was even handed with this account, but I can't say that for the rest of the book.
   
   Clearly Reagan was in over his head but haven't most Presidents been in the too too deep end throughout history. Reagan may have had his cue cards and his talking points, his stories and his jokes, but the President is a figurehead more than anything else and Reagan was a great figure who knew more than Cannon gave him credit for.
   
   I wish Cannon would have spent more time dealing with the Cabinet, specifically those not named Donald Regan or James Baker. He spent way too much time talking about these guys. It got to be a chore rehashing what a bad job these guys did at times. How about Reagan's relationship with Bob Dole, GHWBush, Margaret Thatcher, others... not enough analysis there.
   
   Cannon's liberalism shines through in the second book. I didn't think it was untrue but I did think it was unfair. Reagan was a figurehead but Cannon thinks that made him a bad President... I think that was what made Reagan a very good President. He didn't get bogged down in the details and instead gave the country something to get excited about as we emerged from the Hell that was the Carter administration.
   
   I'm not saying Reagan was the best President ever but he sure deserves more credit than Cannon gives him. Familiarity breeds contempt and that is the only thing that can explain Cannon's interpretation in the second book.
   
   You still should read it to complete the series but make sure you pack plenty of grains of salt with that highlight pen.



2. This book is filled with blatant lies, half-truths and hearsay. There is nothing credible to this guy's ludacris accusations and slander. If you are a thinking person then put this book down and save yourself the trouble of reading this liberal hatchetjob. But if you believe aliens are stealing your thoughts, JFK and Elvis are still alive and dogs are telepathic then this is the book for you.



3. Those who read this account of Reagans two presidencies in the year 2008 will doubtlessly be disappointed when they compare the lavish praise for the book with what they actually find in it.
   
   Lou Cannon is a Washington Post journalist who followed Reagan already since he became governor in California. As can be expected from an author with this background, he accurately recounts the day by day events, press briefings, cabinet gossip, reshuffles. His sources are therefore his personal memories, countless on- and off-record interviews with all members of Reagan's inner circle and cabinet. This accurate account of the events of Reagan's presidencies is the real merit of the book for which the author deserves praise.
   
   The lavish praise of the book as the definite account of Reagan's presidencies is however undeserved. For such an accomplishment the author should have focused more on the long-term and lasting effects of the presidencies. Having written the book shortly after Reagan left office and updating it ever since, it has by construction a short-term view.
   
   From today's perspective the extremely detailed (but also interesting) account of the Iran-contra affair takes too much prominence. By comparision other areas are not covered in detail: the Reagan tax reform for example. The whole issue of Reagonomics is also analysed from a journalist's perspective: recounting the contradictory remarks of what others have said about them instead of offering an analysis from an own (economic) perspective.
   
   I also doubt that the book is unbiased. According to the author, Reagan held a small set of firm believes, which happened to be right. But in general, Reagan was totally uninterested in governing if apt at all. He was an actor in the White House performing for the American people the role of his lifetime. Whithout doubt there is some merit to this account. But it is difficult to imagine that such a president would have been able to run one of the most successful presidencies of modern times.
   
   As Reagans achievements become generally accepted over time, we see Lou Cannon updating his book with all these achievements, while maintaining his critical assessment of Reagan as a mere actor. Reagan appears like one of these monkeys that happened to draw wonderful pictures of modern art - at least according to some experts. As was the case with those monkeys, rather than blaming or praising them, one should question the assessment of those experts.



4. Cannon covers Ronald Reagan in his last starring role in this heavy biography of the man and survey history of his time as President. It is an effective follow up (though written earlier) to Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power, which I also review here.
   
   Cannon has a great feel for the man, spending the first third of the book laying out Reagan's personality, psyche, and personal history before turning to application of what we learned about Reagan the man into how he performed his greatest role. And Cannon is mostly sympathetic to Reagan in this role--he finds him consistent with his personality, his vision, and his ability to represent American ideals. Cannon finds that Reagan was consistently underestimated throughout his political career, but was still a consummate leader:
   
   "While he needed more assistance than any other modern U. S. president in the day-to-day operations of the presidency, Reagan held firm to a core of unshakable opinions . . . . It was Reagan, not his staff, who set the agenda and established the priorities for the major accomplishments and debacles of his presidency. It was Reagan who wanted the tax cuts and the military buildup. It was Reagan, although not Reagan alone, who wanted to negotiate with Mikhail Gorbachev. And it was Reagan, again not alone, who advocated the sale of U. S. arms to Iran in exchange for American hostages."
   
   And in these quotes we also see the Reagan who was distant from his staff, tired easily, and had little grasp of government and the technical issues of the implementations of his visions in budget and spending decisions, governance, and foreign policy. Cannon does not shy away from these problems, and in fact shows how Reagan, both the man and the role, were responsible for the signal failures of his presidency--the failure to deal effectively with terrorism against American's in Lebanon, and the Iran-Contra scandal. Cannon seems to spend comparatively too much time in Lebanon, confusingly tied up in arcane names and actions, perhaps to set the scene for the history of Iran-Contra, which he tells much more clearly and concisely. In fact, as one who remembers Iran-Contra as journalism unfolding daily over years in bits and pieces of newsprint, Cannon provides an excellent synopsis of the decisions, actions, and lack of oversight that became a political, legal, financial, and constitutional disaster.
   
   Fortunately, Iran-Contra wasn't the last act for Ronald Reagan, as he showed his leadership abilities in dealing with the Soviet Union, and Cannon is able to conclude his study with "Visions and Legacies" mostly positive, and always honest. For me, a college graduate in 1982 who entered a world overshadowed by economic disaster at home and imminent specters of terrorism, Soviet Russia, and nuclear war abroad, Ronald Reagan was the President whose leadership and policies made my world and and my country strong again. Looking back over 20 years of history with Cannon's assessment, I can better appreciate the strengths and recognize the weaknesses of the man who still remains in my mind one of our greatest Presidents.



5. This book written by Lou cannon, states that its goal is to examine Ronald Reagan the man and hos presidency in an unbiased view, to d othis he claims that he states both stregths and weakness. However the language that is used and the manner in which it is used makes Canno lose all credibility within thefirst 60 pages. All weakness on Reagans part are over exagerated with unecessarily strong language, and are presented as fact above all facts, where as his strengths are only slightly mentioned and are discussed as possible strengths that can be greatly debated. All in all the book serves as a wonderful example of how a completly one sided view can besugar coated to appear on the surfe as an unbiased one. This technique imployed everyday by the media, is well illustrated by Cannon. This is to be expected however as Canon is a Media reporter and not a historian, analyst or a physcologist. In his writting however he attempt quite poorly at that to be al three. The writting style is also not very compelling, after the first 20 pages or so , it settles into a monotonous tone that prevents reading through a large chunk at one sitting. All in all This book should not be read by anyone that wants a historical view on Reagan or his presidency. However it is an excellant example of nonprofessionalism in todays media and its members.

No comments about Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination.

5 comments about Character Makes a Difference: Where I'm From, Where I've Been, and What I Believe.

1. Mike Huckabee is an amazing man, he continues to inspire me with his insight. This book is a must read.



2. Governor Huckabee seemed to have come out of nowhere during the campaign season, to have won Iowa in the Republican Primary. Sometimes that success gets credited to the media (or even to Steven Colbert, Conan O'Brian, and others whose shows he frequented- and who jokingly fought over who "created the Huckabee phenomenon"), but after reading this autobiography on Mike Huckabee, you will understand how he got where he is, why he won Iowa, and how he would lead. It is obvious from reading this autobiography and learning where Governor Huckabee comes from, that he will continue to be a major player in politics.



3. First let me say I'm a Democrat who was raised by social-conservative Republican parents in Texas. That being said I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book last year, but I was half expecting a self-serving bit of prose from a man who was expecting to run for the presidency the following year. But, with summer reading largely consisting of romance novels and cookbooks, I thought I'd give this one a try. I'm glad I did.
   
   Governor Huckabee doesn't pull any punches in telling you where he came from. He embraces his religious roots, talks about his human weaknesses as well as his strengths, and talks openly about the political bickering that goes on in churches and how exposure to such an atmosphere prepared him for a career in politics. Due to his humble beginnings he has a real empathy for the little guy. I think that's why he scared so many neocons when he had some early success in the Republican primaries. A REAL compassionate conservative??? The national Republican party can have none of that! A FAIR tax??? Life isn't supposed to be fair unless you're a CEO!
   
   Mr. Huckabee could be the future of the Republican party given his natural likability and gift for oratory. However, his religious views will no doubt scare off the secular Northeast and West Coast. I'm sure he realizes that, yet he doesn't shrink from his background nonetheless, which is a sign of character in itself. Compare this to Mitt Romney, the blow-dried poll-tested candidate who went down in flames. If you've wondered just what makes Mr. Huckabee tick, try this book. I think you'll come away admiring him regardless of whether or not you agree with his legislative goals.



4. I enjoyed this book very much. Huckabee is a man of character and in this book he tells us what character should look like in our leaders. It also caused me to pause and evaluate my own life. What kind of example am I setting?



5. This book is very well written and comes across as sincerely from the heart. It's a great perspective at an event in recent history where you can hear "the rest of the story", or at least the behind the scenes part. Mike Huckabee just comes across as that guy we've all been searching for who embodies the values missing in our present society and spotlight today. If the phonecall from God dosn't push you off the fence, Character Makes a Difference will.

5 comments about Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein.

1. 
   Mayada Al Askari was born in Iraq, in 1955, to a prominent Iraqi family, and is the granddaughter of Jido Sati, an important Iraqi politician and statesman in the first half of the 20th century, and of former Iraqi Prime Minister Jafar al-Askari.
   This biography tells of her experiences growing up in the hellish cage of Baathist Iraq under Saddam Hussein's rule of fear.
   Mayada was born, grew up, was married in, and gave birth to two children in Iraq.
   She detested the Hitler of the Euphrates Saddam Hussein, and her one dream in life was to live to see the end of his rule.
   The author Jean Sassoon visited a children's ward in a Baghdad hospital with Mayada, and knew that Saddam, who brought on the wares and sanctions, was the reason for these children's suffering. Saddam was so eager to lay the blame for infant deaths on the sanctions that he was known to hold back medicine from the hospitals- he might, for example, allow only one cancer drug to be issued for leukemia patients, who clearly required tow or three different drugs to battle certain cancers.
   Saddam was also known to have placed empty baby coffins on the street to inflame world opinion against the United States (The international left lapping up Saddam's propaganda with enthusiasm , while never one uttering a word against his genocidal reign of terror).
   Mayada ran a printing shop and was arrested on false charges that opposition material had been printed with her facilities.
   She was imprisoned in Baladiyat, the headquarters of Saddam's secret police which also served as a prison cell.
   Here she was tortured and witnessed deaths and maiming of the women in her cell by the most horrific tortures.
   Many of these were imprisoned for no certified reason at all, and another was imprisoned, for example, for organizing a litter cleaning campaign, as this was then seen as an implicit criticism of the Saddam regime's administration.
   Every woman was taken at least once a day for a torture session.
   These women were beaten, whipped, burned, mutilated, dismembered, and gassed and electrocuted.
   One method used was to insert a pipe into the victim and burn their insides with gas.
   Were where the hypocritical 'anti-war' activists who hysterically pour venom against President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair for liberating Iraq, when Saddam was torturing his own people and murdering hundreds of thousands of others.
   When American forces humiliated Iraqi Baathists, involved in terror, while doing nothing like what Saddam's cohorts did to thousands, the international left and media broke again into hysteria, but where were they when Saddam was involved in perpetration of these horrors.
   In true Orwellian style they compared President Bush and Blair to Hitler when it was so clear that Saddam was the Hitler of the equation, and millions of Iraqis were jubilant at Saddam's downfall. The book, through detailing Mayada's conversation with some of her fellow prisoners, relates the cruelty of the Saddam Hussein family, including Saddam's torture and starvation of a pet dog, tied up next to a pool of water while being killed with thirst, all the while being given electric shocks by Saddam's sadistic son, Uday.
   Everyone who has ever had an interest or comment in the Iraq War or who says that they do not know why President Bush removed Saddam would do well to educate themselves on something of Saddam's excesses.
   This book gives us an insight but it is only the tip of the iceberg of the horrors perpetrated by the Saddam regime.



2. Mayada is an essential book for any historian of what the United States is actually doing in Iraq. The history is fascinating, and Mayada bears witness to horrible suffering in one of the most perverted dictatorships since that of Idi Amin.
   
   That being said, there are a few criticisms. The author attempts to mix Mayada's account of her time in an Iraqi prison with flashbacks as an attempt to put the Iraqi situation into the appropriate context. This could easily be done -- as has Daniel Jonah Goldhagen in Hitler's Willing Executioners. I don't think that the author is successful so sometimes the reader is left with the feeling that some organization was necessary.
   
   That doesn't change the fact that every American should read this book.



3. I am an Iraqi woman and I read this book. It is complete non-sense. She clearly was one of the people who got the greatest advantage of Saddam Hussein being in power. Don't you read that in between the lines? She met Saddam and Chemical Ali (she wrote an article in an Iraqi magazine about how handsome Ali was, and how great his personality was). You are no "oppressed woman" if you are allowed in the presence of these criminals and murderers. She knew every single powerful man then! In Iraq, you couldn't get that close if you were not the first one who cheered and clapped for that brutal system. Ask me about Iraqis who really suffered, not this woman! She probably wants to get another high rank in the new government and that is why she is listing her "suffering" story. This woman didn't suffer, she was one of the most pampered women during Saddam Hussein's time and she will still be pampered no matter how the Iraqi government changes. If you really want to read about the suffering of Iraqi women, read the book named "Baghdad Burning". It is a stunning book that is wonderfully written and truly depicts how everybody still suffers in Iraq.



4. wow...what a book. could not put it down. if you want to know what living under the regime of saddam was like this says it all!! these women were so courageous. the imprisonment of women, children and men and what they suffered is in grafic details here. this is a story that breaks your heart. should be must reading for all. shocking shocking read. my thoughts are still with these women and what has become of them. this is the fourth book by this author i have read; each book has been a page turner. this one the most disturbing. but they are all written as if you are right there at the moment and watching it with your own eyes, it is so discriptive. that this is a real story is horrifing!!!



5. When it comes to autobiographical or biographical books, like this one, and the events recounted are mainly dramatic and very sad, the impulse is to rate it with 5 stars. However, I find that this particular book, or rather, its narrative, seems to be lacking that something or other which would put the whole thing into a more tangible perspective. Of course one cannot but sympathise with Mayada and all the "shadow women" and what they went through as described (imprisonment and torture in Iraq).
   
   However this time, and unlike some previous work I read by the same author, I felt that the book lacks in substance a bit, some points have not been explained clearly and, in my opinion, the frequent descriptions of Mayada's fortunate background blur some more fundamental issues.

3 comments about You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can't Make Him Think: Ten Commandments for Texas Politics.

1. The book is good--very funny--bit it's all stuff that was already published in Texas Monthly. If I had read "Friedman's just another word for nothing left to lose" for the first time, I'd be laughing for months. If you're a real fan of his, don't bother. Otherwise, I'd recommend it.



2. It is the American myth that any boy, now girl, can grow up to become President of the United States. It would stand to reason that the same rule applies to Texas. So why couldn't a politically incorrect Jewish country music singer and fiction author toss what he calls his "ten gallon yarmulke" into the ring and become governor of Texas?
   
   "Why the hell not?" became the slogan of Kinky Friedman as he waged his way, way uphill, independent run for the Texas governorship in 2006. YOU CAN LEAD A POLITICIAN TO WATER, BUT YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM THINK is Kinky's chronicle of that campaign. And in the true Kinky way, it is laugh-out-loud funny.
   
   Politics makes strange bedfellows and all that, but 2006 was a strange year even by American standards. Nationwide, the Democratic Party swept into control of Congress on a pledge to end the war. We see how well that worked out. And Kinky sensed the winds of change blowing in the Texas Hill country. Perhaps he could unseat Rick Perry, George W. Bush's successor, in the governor's mansion.
   
   His model was Minnesota, which several years back elected as governor a former wrestler, and California, which elected a former body builder turned actor governor in 2003. Both well-built men waged insurgent campaigns against entrenched professional politicians. Although, as Kinky points out, Jesse Ventura "didn't realize that wrestling is real and politics is fixed."
   
   An independent candidate had not even gotten on the ballot in Texas in 154 years. But this did not deter the Kinkster.
   
   After all, Friedman writes, Texas "has a tradition of singing governors. I thought back to Pappy O'Daniel's successful race for that esteemed office in the 1940's. He had a band called the Light Crust Doughboys. I had a band called the Texas Jewboys. His slogan was `Pass the biscuits, Pappy.' One of my most popular songs is `Get Your Biscuits in the Oven (And Your Buns in the Bed).' The parallels are uncanny."
   
   Indeed. But, still, the odds against Kinky were steep. Then something interesting happened. Friedman went around the state declaring that he was a "dealer of hope" and fighter for the "Alamo of the Mind."
   
   He launched a populist campaign and railed against the corruption of the two-party system. And people started paying attention. The 62-year-old king of the one-liners --- "too young for Medicare and too old for women to care" --- was delivering a dead serious message about America in 2006.
   
   "Because now, as politics as usual rolls across America like a noxious vapor," Kinky writes, "I'm no longer sure it matters whether the Democrats or Republicans run the country. It's just a different swarm of locust moving into Washington. In the words of the Reverend Goat Carson, `The Republicans and the Democrats have become the same guy admiring himself in the mirror.'"
   
   He decried a system where Texas was 46th in the nation in kids going to college, second in people going to bed hungry, first in executions and now imported energy. Yet the section of the state legislature reserved for lobbyists is called by some "the owner's box."
   
   His message resonated with the larger truth. As Bill Moyers pointed out a few years ago, there are now 34,785 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. spending $200 million a month to influence legislation. In the U.S. Congress there are 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. Talk about the owner's box!
   
   Kinky was able to put together a campaign where everybody on his staff "seemed to be either a hairdresser or bass player." They were able to raise $5 million, enough to get him on the ballot --- a feat that took the notarized signatures of 170,258 people --- but not enough to buy crucial TV ads for the general campaign.
   
   And although he received half a million votes, that was not enough to win the election. Indeed, only 28% of the populace voted, down 1% from the previous statewide election. For insurgents to have any chance of winning, turnout has to be huge. Ventura's race had a turnout of 62%.
   
   YOU CAN LEAD A POLITICIAN TO WATER, BUT YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM THINK reminded me of the work of the late, great gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson. Like Thompson, Kinky uses sometimes outrageous humor to convey the scary, deeper truth. For example, the politically incorrect Kinkster was bound to have trouble with the media for many things, such as his habit of consuming 8-10 Cuban cigars a day. So he took to not lighting them.
   
   Kinky recalls, "This of course caused people to constantly come up to me and ask, `Do you ever smoke that thing?' or `Is that thing lit?' To the latter question I would often respond, `Which thing are you referring to?' which was, of course, a veiled reference to my penis. This response, I suspect, may have cost me some votes in the suburbs."
   
   His deeper message comes through a few pages later when he writes, "The media are essentially lazy and it is much easier to resort to `Got ya!' journalism than it is to speak up for the truth."
   
   Amen!
   
   Another author with a wonderful wit also waged a failed independent campaign for governor in 2006. Malachy McCourt ran for governor of New York on the Green Party ticket. Their accents might be different, but the message was basically the same: something has gone terribly wrong with the American Dream when politics is so far removed from the people that the people can vote for one thing and the politicians give them something else.
   
   Kinky Friedman is sending America a warning in this book. Message delivered, he can now fire up that cigar.
   
   --- Reviewed by Tom Callahan



3. I live in Texas and I am very proud to say that I was one of the 12 % of us here in the Lone Star State who voted for Kinky for governor. Kinky is a true Texan, as this book shows. He loves the state of Texas. His comment that politicians are "by nature shallow and superficial" is very true. In contrast, true Texans have an independent spirit, and that is what makes Texas great. A sense of humor is also what makes Texas great, and Kinky has that, of course, too. How is it that Texas is one of the richest states, and yet, has one of the worst education systems of any state ? (6 % below the other states in pay) ? How is it that we have a dysfunctional death penalty system that makes this state a mockery around not just the U.S., but the world ? We have more people in prison in Texas than there are people in Alaska, as the "Kinkster" points out. How did it come to this ? We allow politicians to jerrymander districts to allow the perpetual re-election of their party ? Is this democracy ? We make casino gambling illegal, even though the typical Texan likes to gamble (they do it in Louisiana). We are a state run by a governor who has almost no power, and a legislature run by lobbies and big money. Kinky's book is full of funny anecdotes about him with Willie Nelson. I remember Kinky at the St. Patrick's Day parade here in Dallas. He was handed a Guiness in the back of a car, and took a couple of sips. One would think the world had ended. Kinky points out how two groups are ruining Texas: the politically correct Left, and the Religious Right. One main theme of the book is, musicians and other Texans are real people, with warmth, humor, and independence. Politicians in Texas are the opposite: superficial and fake. Who can argue with that ?

5 comments about Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York.

1. William M. Tweed didn't exactly invent voter fraud, patronage jobs, and grafting, but he made those shameful New York mainstays yield greater gains than ever before. In "Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York", Kenneth Ackerman revisits the dark side of the Gilded Age, a time when robber barons and shady financiers like Jim Fisk and Jay Gould hatched plots that nearly demolished the U.S. economy, such as Black Friday 1869.
   
   `Boss' Tweed's own underhanded bill-padding nearly bankrupted the city of New York, but unlike Fisk or Gould, he served the public while stealing from it. Recognizing that the influx of Irish and other European immigrants represented a tidal wave of voters, Tweed championed the working class and the poor, and turned Tammany into a semi-official welfare organization. He succeeded in accomplishing home rule for the City of New York and backed the development of Central Park and other beautification projects. But this appealing veneer was a smokescreen for his abuse of public funds, vendettas against political rivals, and gratuitous awarding of expensive `no show' jobs to friends. One especially flagrant abuse was the construction of the `Tweed Courthouse', which was budgeted in 1858 at $250,000 and ended up costing $12 million, with the surplus being pocketed by Tweed and other agents of the Tammany machine. It took the combined effort of New York Times owner George Jones, iconic cartoonist Thomas Nast, and future governor Samuel Tilden to expose him and put him behind bars.
   
   Ackerman has handled Tweed's story well. He resists the temptation to portray his subject as "Santa Claus with a diamond pin" as one contemporary dubbed the cagey politician, but doesn't dismiss him as a total villain either. "Boss Tweed" is a balanced look at an era when New York's political arena was a circus, and the corpulent Tweed was its ringmaster.



2. Riveting, powerful biography of the life and times of Boss Tweed. Somehow this relentless recitation of the rise and fall of a politician both modernly generous and corrupt captures the spirit of the man and his contemporaries with humor and compassion. Couldn't put it down.



3. The story of Boss Tweed, one of the greatest political swindlers of all time, and how the New York Times and a cartoonist named Thomas Nast brought him down makes for a real page-turner of a book.
   
   This book is illustrated with many of Nast's cartoons and excepts from the Times (including the table showing the routing of money through various bank accounts--discovered through painstaking researxch and tracing of money and vouchers across many accounts and ledgers--which was the astounding smoking gun that finally did Tweed in) giving the reader a real feel for the story.
   
   Fascinating to see the man in all his complexity, he may have swindled millions from the New York coffers (at a time when you could live in comfortable affluence on around $5,000 a year) but he was also responsible for a great many public works, including the Brooklyn Bridge, and for helping the poor of his city.
   
   Those in power over his arrest and confinement don't acquit themselves with honours either making Tweed's tale even more morally complex, especially as none of his co-conspiritors were ever jailed. An interesting man living in interesting times.



4. Great book for those who love New York History. Or US history for that matter. From Sheriff of NYC to the White House! This book is an eye opener on how corrupt politics were and currently are.
   
   Question: Can this or does this still happen?



5. William Tweed needed a book written about him. It is interesting to see how the city used to be run and how much more difficult it is to be corrupt today compared to then. Tweed changed america with his ways and I liked the fact the author points out in many ways he was the fall guy for many others.

5 comments about Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President.

1. So what if he could not deliver on all of his campaign promises? He did not have the majority in Congress to do so.
   
   He did start making changes which his successor felipe calderon must continue in order for Mexico to be succesfull in the modern world. Free trade, privatization of certain elements of the oil industry, increased government accountability, drug trade, etc.
   
   A lot of people hate him and hated President Zedillo, but without them both, Mexico ould still be stuck in its old political and presidentialist system that brought us nothing but economic crises after economic crises.
   
   A good read, very entertaining outlook at the personal life, back ground, upbringing, career in the private and public sector.



2. When learning a language such as Spanish, it is important to learn the culture of native speakers. Unfortunately, most books on culture are either vague (e.g. Mexicans are macho.) or trivial (such as focusing on a timeline of rulers without making the dates meaningful). Revolution of Hope adds context to Mexican history. When an event happens, the suffering or the improvement of lifestyle of the Foxes is chronicled. Likewise, aspects of culture are illustrated with real-life stories.
   
   I do not agree with all of Vicente Fox's politics, but this book is well-written and a great help in my quest to learn Spanish.



3. In order to read this book you should be objective not subjective. Have an open mind and try to listen to the man. I believe too many people have read(or lied and claimed to have read the book to push their own agenda)this book letting their own prejudices cloud their judgement of the book. It is a memoir of sorts, an autobigraphy if you will. It is not literature. Many authors who are first and foremeost not authors write with the help of a professional, for example, Lance Armstrong has enlisted the help of columnist Sally Jenkins in his books It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life and Every Second Counts. I mention this because some reviewers here have dismissed this book saying he did not write it. So what is this book about? It is one man's account of his rise to the Presidency in 2000 breaking the one-party rule of the PRI that had a stranglehold on the Mexican people for the previous seventy-one years. This in itself was a monumental accomplishment. But this book is much more than than just his personal rise to power. It is about his struggles, his parents and grandparents struggle to achieve a better life, an ongoing theme that seems to irritate many people when it comes to the immigration issue. BTW, his paternal grandfather emigrated in 1898 to Mexico from the United States (Ohio), seeking a better life because his business failed and his father was an American citizen! So you see, immigration goes north and south, with results that can often be amazing. Vicente Fox chronicles his youth and what it was like to live on the family ranch in San Cristobal in Guanajuato. He discusses his parents decision to send him to school in the U.S. and the effect that had on his youth. Like many Americans or Mexicans of Mexican descent,this traversing of the border can create conflicts on both sides of the border. As children we go where our parents tell us to go because they know best. In the end this was good for Vicente Fox as it allowed him to compare and take the desireable qualities of American life and later apply them to his leadership, first as the youngest CEO of Coca-Cola, on to Governor of Guanajuato and ultimately as President of Mexico. I found President Fox to be a man of integrity, commitment, strength, leadership and vision. People can agree to disagree, as Fox does with Bush but a bond is there between people who are seperated by a border. There is a mutual respect that these two leaders have for each other as the book indicates. His life is fascinating but his desire to create a better world is even more admirable. Politics aside you cannot be other than impressed with his commitment to the betterment of mankind. I was very impressed with his denuciation of the dictator, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and his good reltionship with President Bush. These two leaders were making progress with regards to immigration until 9/11. The summit meetings in San Cristobal prior to 9/11 were historic in many reagrds, not the least of which was the fact that this was President Bush's first foreign destination. If you do not let your personal views on immigration cloud your judgement I think you can find this autobiography quite compelling. His narration his part history lesson, part vision of the future. He incorporates the lessons of today, compares them with the past and creates a unique observation to the future. He cites examples from Europe on how through a common market the economies of the poorer European nations have leveled the playing field with the richer European nations. The Euro is stronger than the U.S. dollar. He believes that much can be done within our own hemisphere to create prosperity for all nations in the Americas. Canada,the United States and Mexico can be the torchbearers of this vison of economic unity and vitality. Vicente Fox's vison is honest, whether or not it will occurr in our lifetime is another question but naysayers should not write him off so quickly. He achieved the unthinkable, he defeated the PRI'S reign, so don't sell the man short, besides he's very tall, 6'5". Seriously though, Fox doesn't sugar coat his countries problems and presents Mexcio with all it's warts. He discusses the role of narcotrafficers and the devasting effect they have had on both sides of the border. Mexico's attempt to clamp down on these gangs and the cooperation between nations to prosecute. The key word here is cooperate, that is what neighbors must do. Hostility between neighbors, whether it is with regards to immigration or any other "hot" button issue will not solve anything, cooperation will. President Fox continues to fight the good fight with the Centro Fox and the expansion of Vamos Mexico Foundation by getting the help of the Carters, the Clintons and others to combat AIDS in Africa, preventing election fraud, raising funds for disaster relief and working for global democracy, peace and social justice. This is a good book about a good man. Recommended for those who envision a better tommorrow and like current events and autobiographies.



4. Ordered this on Dec. 2 and was told that it shipped Dec. 11. It is now Dec. 23 and I have not received book or any info. as to what is going on since Dec.11. Not happy with this service at this time.



5. I will strongly recomend this book for people that are interested in The Americas' integration of cultures.