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 Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice.

1. Therapist have an insatiable habit of attempting to bring the one being counseled to a point where they revisit the primary emotion behind the secondary emotion that tipped them into therapy. In this same vein Curtiss De Young points one on a path of discovering faith that inspires social justice by illuminating the deepest passion that drove three mystic-activist, in three different eras, on three different continents to be agents of reconciliation for social justice. De Young defines mystic-activist as the person who sees clearly the causes and implications of injustice and oppression, and combined with their compulsive quest for the divine, their activism makes its way into the world as a by-product of their deep faith.
   
   De Young uses the metaphor of spirit of revolution to weave the stories of Suu Kyi, Malcolm X, and Bonhoeffer together. Aung San Suu Kyi envisioned a "spirit of revolution" where human rights would be set free. Malcolm X claimed that the proper solution to world governments that abuses power by debilitating the spirit and soul of humanity is to give birth to governments guided by a "religion of the spirit." Also, Bonhoeffer, who dealt specifically with the plight of the Jew, based his "revolution" on a reconfigured view of God the Son, the second person of the trinity, saying, "An expulsion of the Jews from the west must necessarily bring with it the expulsion of Christ. For Jesus Christ was a Jew."
   
   With ample story and narrative interpretation De Young leaves the reader spellbound, awaiting the next compelling story of faith inspiring social justice. In the epilogue De Young challenges "those who seek to link the worlds of activism and contemplative faith to build more bridges of reconciliation across the chasm of religious division." Such an embodiment of reconciliation "may be our only hope for greater peace in the world."
   
   Ultimately the commonality in these three stories is the focus on the primary concern of any who seek to do social justice - human rights. May we have the resolve to be as pointed in our efforts at recognizing from the bottom up that every human being has inalienable rights, that the revolution required to unleash these rights is a revolution of the spirit, and the duty of all humanity is treating oneself as another.



2. Written by Christian ethicist Curtiss Paul DeYoung (Professor of Reconciliation Studies, Bethel University at St. Paul, Minnesota) Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice is a remarkable examination of how religious belief can fuel a lifelong passion dedicated to social justice, as exemplified by Mohandas Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., among other remarkable figures. Chapters discuss worldview and perception from the margins of society, how mystic faith can push an individual to transcend conventional boundaries, the ethics of stirring people up in a call to revolution, and much more. "The spirit of prophecy shapes the ethics of the revolution. The authenticity of any new society is built on the foundations of the ethics of that revolution." A welcome examination of motivating spiritual principles and moral values that push both leaders and followers to work for social change.



3. This is one of the very best books I have ever read on the relationship between faith and social justice. Through the lives of Bonhoeffer, Malcom X, Aung San Suu Kyi and many others, this book shows how a spirited belief in a better world for all can be a foundation for lives of justice. It is in plain english and very readable. It has short sections in each chapter, so it can be a great source for daily reflection.

2 comments about Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John G. Nicolay and John Hay.

1. The book was very short and only covered areas of limited interest on Lincoln's Presidency. Beside other titles on Lincoln that I have bought this was a major disappointement. There was no flow of quality prose to create interest in specific story lines which were too sketchy. The book's objectives were too limited from the outset and it's main merits are that it may serve as a useful reference book for later purchases. It will do little to add or detract to the legacy of Lincoln.
   Lorenzo
   Ireland



2. A book for the person with an existing fair understanding of the White House years of Abraham Lincoln.
   
   Professor Burlingame provides a great service to those of us who are keenly interested in this great president, but who do not have the time to read the imposing and very dated ten-volume history produced by his two close aides, Nicolay and Hay. This book fills a specific void; it certainly should not be confused with a full biography.
   
   While it is surprising that so little was directly said by Nicolay and Hay about their chief in their history, I am happy that Professor Burlingame did the hard work of mining its ten volumes for the benefit of lazy readers like me.

5 comments about A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan.

1. I must say -truthfully- that that is the best political biography I've ever read (and there have been many).
   
   I accidentally happened into discovering William Jennings Bryan. He is a figure who is given only a brief mention in any grade or high school history book, and that is a shame. While reading a biography of William McKinley (Bryan's rival for the presidency during the election of 1896) I found myself wondering, "Who is this man Bryan?" I wanted to know more. How did a man rise to the head of his party and lead three unsuccessful bids for the presidency? He had to have been a considerable figure. Only Grover Cleveland (who won the popular vote in three elections) and later Franklin D. Roosevelt held such a command over their party. Bryan had to have been just as dynamic.
   
   Thankfully, the author, Mr. Kazin, provides his readers with a deep, very well-researched and enjoyable account of Bryan. Turns out that Bryan WAS a considerable figure. Though he might seem very distant and certainly out-of-place when seen in the context of current events and attitudes, William Jennings Bryan was a perfect fit for the times...someone who could -without apology- campaign for the highest office as a common man of deep faith, extolling the romance "of Jefferson and Jesus." One is left to question what it would have been like had Bryan attained the Presidency of the United States.
   
   The events covered in the pages of this book occurred during the late 1800s/early 1900s...right around the time when many students in their history classes begin to daydream with heavy eyes. (The tariff debate of the 1890s for example, can't possibly hold as much interest as say the question of secession leading up to the Civil War during the 1860s). It would take a pretty determined writer, then, to engage his audience into discovering William Jennings Bryan. Michael Kazin proves to be such a writer.
   
   I can't be sure whether it was Mr. Kazin's strong writing, which given the subject matter could have been very plodding and boring in lesser hands, or the subject himself (Bryan deserves to be remembered for the role he played in our nation's history, even if he did fail to acheive the Presidency)...but I enjoyed the hell out of this book. And that is saying something.



2. There isn't much of substance that I can add to the many excellent reviews already posted here. But perhaps I can provide some comments in minimalist fashion that can get this important book into the hands of "a wider audience." I think there is much we 21st century Americans can learn from William Jennings Bryan. I will divide my comments into two sections: the first dealing with the literary value of the book and the second noting things we can learn from Bryan's life.
   
   The Book -
   1. The organization and pacing is excellent. Nine of the twelve chapters are divided into discreet time periods that correspond to the various political episodes of his life, which was largely defined by his participation in the political life of America. The other three chapters - his early years, his career on the Chautauqua public speaking circuit, and the response of his political admirers - work very well, never losing the focus of the book, politics and evangelical Christianity.
   
   2. This is a good read. The level of diction and writing style is just right for a popular audience. Best of all, Kazin does not "get in the way" of his subject, Bryan. Some academics seem to want to display ALL their knowledge, whether it fits into the narrative or not (are you listening, Joseph Ellis?), but Kazin resists the temptation. I am quite certain that Kazin knows a lot more about Bryan and his times, but, thank God, he is keeping it to himself. I read a lot of history and biography and this effort would have to be in my top 10% in terms of its literary value.
   
   William Jennings Bryan -
   1. He is a very important figure for the history of the Democratic Party, but I am not sure why, even after reading this biography. Certainly, he was an important figure in the Democratic Party during an era when they transformed themselves from the conservative laissez-faire era of Grover Cleveland into the liberal activist times of FDR. If you can overlook his racism and support of prohibition (more on that below), almost all of his positions would be cheered by 21st century liberals. Was Bryan responsible for helping the party make this remarkable transition, or was he simply in the "right place at the right time", fortuitously carried along by other leaders or social forces beyond his control? In either case, he is far more important in the making of modern America than historians have heretofore recognized.
   
   2. He is important for evangelicals who want to be engaged in politics(Self-disclosure: I am an evangelical who is vitally interested in American politics). I think he lived an exemplary life, one that other evangelicals could emulate, but what does that look like for me? It seems to me that 19th century evangelicals generally favored an activist government, working for reforms like abolition, temperance, education, care of the mentally ill, etc, yet that seemed to die after Bryan left the scene. The social gospel seemed to suck them into a new paradigm of seeking "salvation" only in this world and ignoring the next. They turned formerly evangelical denominations - Presbyterian, Methodist, American Baptist, Evangelical Lutheran, etc. into sects that seemed to downplay Christ's gospel for the social gospel. Personally, I am disappointed in their religious direction, yet I am also disappointed in the path taken by those who stayed "true" to evangelical principals. They largely abandoned politics until the abortion controversy of the 1970s and since then, have all too often been used by economic conservatives for purely electoral purposes. I think there is a "third way", in which one defends the gospel in spiritual matters, yet also sets an independent course in political matters, all the while using scriptures as the guide to best "love your neighbor."
   
   3. He is important for today's Democrats. He was obviously deeply committed to many issues that 21st century Dems feel are important, yet he came at these concerns from a Christians perspective. Can Dems allow this type of person to have an important place at their "table"? I'm not talking about phony rhetoric. That will not work because it will be obvious that it is not sincere. I am talking about being serious about making people of faith feel welcome in the Democrat Party. For example, could a Pro-Life Democrat ever be allowed by party bosses to run for President? Not in the past, but perhaps in the future. Secularists and secularism has controlled the party for many, many years. I feel it hurts the party very much in "fly-over" land.
   
   4. A word about his racism and silence about the KKK. Indefensible in our day, but in his? Wilson was certainly racist, and did much to deepen Jim Crow. Why is he given a pass? (For that matter, why is Sen. Robert Byrd of West Va., former KKK organizer, given a pass on his embarrassing past?)Most people were very racist in Bryan's times, including most of the Democratic Party. So why is he singled out for censure? I think a lot has to do with his evangelical identity, and his role in the Scopes trial. Some secularists loathe evangelicals and, I think, have trouble thinking in a balanced way about someone like Bryan. Take a look at the ridiculous review of this book by Publishers Weekly on this site. How does someone read this book and produce that review?



3. If you want to know more about William Jennings Bryan, this is the book for you.
   
   Very well done!



4. Why read a book about a politician who lost the US presidential election three times in a row, and was a white racist to boot?
   
   More than just retelling an American history story, Kazin's masterpiece of US political history does an excellent job of bringing back to life a political scene that has long since passed and mostly forgotten. I burned through this book in one sitting.
   There has not been a WJB biography of this magnitude for quite some time.
   
   Kazin himself in the introduction admits mixed feelings about his protagonist, and there are certainly warts to Bryan's character seen through our 21st century lens. He does an excellent job pointing these issues out, despite the title of the book that makes Bryan sound like a saint. He wasn't - he profited impressively from his public speaking, and like many of his party, was a racist.
   
   What makes Bryan's life worth studying is one sees the start of the 20th century Democratic party in terms of their economic issues. Additionally, one also sees echoes of Bryan's religious bent to politics in modern politics today (think: what recent presidents have invoked the name of God repeatedly, and managed to win overwhelming majorities in rural areas? hmm). No wonder many politicians like him, at least pieces of him...



5. William Jennings Bryan is somewhat of an enigmatic figure in American history. Many of his contempories saw him as a dangerous radical while today he is often seen as a fundamentalist reactionary. How in the world can one man be thought of in such vastly differing ways? In this book Michael Kazin has attempted to answer this question and at the same time he has gone a long way toward clearing the reputation of this great man.
   
   To be sure, Bryan had his flaws and Kazin does not try to gloss over them at all. As a product of his time Bryan was not a friend of African-Americans but how many politicians of his time were? Bryan was also had a terrible problem ever admitting that he was wrong as did his fellow progressive Woodrow Wilson and both men ran into trouble because of it. Still though, when one looks at his entire career Bryan looms as a very large presence in the history of the reform movements of early twentieth century America.
   
   Of course the biggest thing that Bryan is remembered and reviled for is the famous Monkey Trail in Dayton Tennessee. It is all too easy to look at this episode and see a reactionary rather than a progressive thinker but even on the issue of Darwinism this book shows that in some ways Bryan was very much ahead of his time. Bryan critics often fail to mention that many of the early proponents of Darwinism used Darwin's theory to justify eugenics, which is the idea of taking the weakest people out of society so that only the strongest genes will be passed on. Bryan foresaw the serious implications of this idea and it was one of the key reasons that he fought Darwinism so fervently. It was almost as if Bryan could already see Hitler and Stalin with their death camps and this aspect of Bryan's stance on this issue should never be forgotten.
   
   Mr. Kazin has with this book given us the most balanced biography of William Jennings Bryan that I have ever come across. His close association with race bating bigots like Ben Tillman and Tom Watson is not the least bit whitewashed but then again neither are his accomplishments. This book shows us the Bryan who had his warts but who also fought long and bitter fights to gain equal rights for women, to see that free enterprise run amuck would not trample the rights of the average wage earner, and who is as responsible as anybody for the adoption current Federal Reserve System. People all over America owe Bryan a debt of gratitude every time they get their Social Security check and every time that they go to the bank feeling secure because their money is insured. Yes, this author points out Bryan's flaws but he also takes pains to remind the reader of all the positive good that Bryan did and he does so in a very pleasing way. There is not in fact a single boring page in this book. The author's arguments are clear and well defended, his writing style and research are superb and most importantly he has taken up this project with an open mind and because of this he has turned out what I consider the authoritative biography of William Jennings Bryan.

5 comments about Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant.

1. Just wanted to weigh in here as a liberal who also teaches Spanish.
   I loved both books, the one on Che and this one. I teach my advanced students not to buy into the mythology of Motorcycle Diaries. We study Cuba and Latin America, and the history of dictators such as Peron and Pinochet. We study the Dirty War and students come away with a much better idea about these two men who somehow have become symbols of freedom or revolution instead of the oppressors they are.
   
   So be careful of buying into the propoganda that all liberals love Che and Fidel.



2. Back in the early 80's I was a stupid liberal who believed the propaganda in the media (agitprop) regarding Fidel being a "benevolent" dictator after reading a glowing book extolling his many virtues and painting a picture of a utopian Cuba. When my Nicarguan and El Salvadoran immigrant friends vociferously disagreed with me, I read "Against All Hope" by Armando Valladeros, my first book on Communist dictatorsip, which shook me to the core. I began to question my preconceived notions and embarked on a journey through the rich genre of anti-Communist literature by those who actually LIVED under the brutal regimes--Nien Cheng, Haing Ngor and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, among others. Their stories are distressingly similar, harrowing and painful to read, about the malignant ideology which crushes the human spirit and justifies beatings, murder, incarceration, and all manner of evil while masquerading as good, just and humane. I also read books by American authors who had been Communists, had second thoughts and left the "progressive" faith: Collier and Horowitz, Whittaker Chambers, etc. These wonderful authors turned me around politically and philosophically, and helped me to start thinking critically. I now apologize to the Cuban people (and all the victims of Communist repression and genocide in the 20th Century) for my previous naivete, but in my defense I was young, Democrat and had tried hallucinogens and marijuana, all of which clouded my judgement back then. Plus, I used to believe Mike Wallace and the liberal media. Big mistake! For some reason they are vested in their "progressive" fantasies and do not let the truth disturb them...and they all seem to hate this country which has given them so much. Very sad.
   
   "Fidel, Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant" by Herbert Fontova is a very important addition to this genre because it offers history, facts, and story after story by witness after witness, about Cuba, Che, Fidel, and many of the prominent American sycophants who toady up to this corrupt, murderous, barbaric dictator. Did you know Fidel is one of the world's richest men (Forbe's magazine) and a master of propaganda, having learned from the masters (Soviets). This is a bitingly funny, touching and comprehenive book. Fontova is clearly passionate about this subject, which to me makes this book even more enjoyable. It is sorely needed because Fidel is finally going to his just reward in the netherworld--and the Cuban people may finally get a reprieve after 50 years (a half century!) of suffering and countless deaths. What happens next--in the very near future--is history in the making. I will be watching closely, hoping and praying for Cuban freedom, for the USA and the rest of the free world, and to see how the liberals in Hollywood and the media react. Will they hysterically mourn his passing or finally TELL THE TRUTH about this monster? Their reactions will say more about them than Fidel. Who do you believe--a rich American who flies to Cuba on a private jet and has a "personal audience," with Fidel, sumptuous food and living accommodations for a few days--or the average Cuban who has actually lived the nightmare? It will be very illuminating, especially when the obituaries and books are written and hidden stories emerge, as they always do after the death of a tyrant...Can anyone now alive remember how sweet life was before the revolution?



3. I love this book and cannot wait for Humberto's next book on Che. I find his information very well researched and reflective of his extensive and informed studies in Latin American History in which he has his Masters degree from Tulane University.
   
   I am a first generation American. My mother left Cuba in 1960 at age 15 and she, like so many other Cuban exiles,have in fact been back to visit Cuba recently, and we have had several family members in Cuba visit and keep in touch.
   
   Before Castro, Cuba was a very enlightened country. As indicated in Humberto's book, the per-capita income was high and the standards of living were high also. This was because Batista encouraged unionization and established a minimum wage in Cuba.
   
   This did not go over well with the wealthy property owners or business owners. When Castro came about and promised reform, it was primarily the upper classes that supported him. They wanted to do away with the unions and minimum wage for their own economic gain.
   
   The people that supported Castro were not the poor farm workers or laborors. The poor people opposed Castro as indicated in Humberto's book. They had more to gain by keeping Batista then they did by having Castro take over the country.
   
   The Cuban people that backed Castro and Che were expecting socio-economic reform, not the political reform that was the end result.
   
   I think more people should read this book. Hollywood glamorizes Che and Castro as heros that liberated the poor people of Cuba. Reading this book may help people to the realization that Castro and Che took this beautiful, tourist magnet of a country and turned it into a third world country that "not even Hatians" (per Humberto) ant to immigrate to.



4. This author is incredibly biased and left Cuba when he was a child- too young to remember or understand anything. I don't know his family's story, but the truth is that most of the Miamians have never even been to Cuba and are 2nd and 3rd generation, and that the first wave of Cubans was not poor people on rafts- it was fascists who supported Batista, rich brothel and casino owners, mobsters, etc. Not a great crowd, to say the least. People love Fidel Castro throughout the world for a reason... check out "Fidel, the Untold Story" for a good documentary that gives the other side. I'm not saying Fidel hasn't done some bad things, but he's not even close to the Stalin that the liars in Miami paint him as. For all my anti-Communist sentiment, I have to say, this book is ridiculous. Anyone who actually believes that Cuba was better under Batista had better think twice about the sources they are hearing.



5. "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant" is the kind of radical right-wing piece of hate speech so commonly published and rarely ever read or taken seriously except by radical right-wingers who've already made their mind up about the subject. Do the research and you will see that most of Humberto Fontova's facts are completely off. Che Guevara for example was not a Stalinist, he was a Marxist, true, but he even cautioned against implementing EVERY Marxist idea to a society (this is outlined in "The Che Guevara Reader"). Fontova's claims of the Cuban system are also off, Cuba has the highest life expectancy rate in Latin America and even the purest water sources for the population. Fontova obviously belongs to the hateful Miami Cuban Mafia that would be happy to see Cuba return to it's previous status of a virtual U.S. colony and racist state. Fontova rarely ever touches upon the fact that the United States waged an illegal terrorist campaign on Cuba that has killed hundreds (unlike the false "genocide" numbers Fontova provides here which are ludicrous), in fact, one of the key terrorist, Luis Posada Carrilles, is in U.S. custody and has admitted to blowing up a Cuban airliner with 75 civilians onboard, the Bush White House refuses to extradite him. Fontova calls popular figures such as Oliver Stone "idiots," eventhough he probably couldn't hold his own on a debate with Stone and goes on to lash at other cultural figures (I suppose Fontova also considers Nobel-Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez to be a half-wit for his friendship with Castro). To make matters worse, Fontova has a dead writing style that borders on the monotone. The use of language is bare and simplistic, throwing accusations without facts, attacking others without valid reason and supporting terrorist actions against a sovereign nation. For the real facts on Cuba I would recommend the titles published by Ocean including "Fidel: My Early Years," "Che Guevara Reader," "Latin America: A Continent Awakens" and many others. If you want to read radical right-wing propaganda that would make the likes of Oliver North and Pat Robertson proud, this is the book for you.

1 comments about My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Dover Value Editions).

1. Today we expect political memoir writers to take part in a game of show and tell about the most intimate details of their private personal lives on their road to celebrity. Refreshingly, you will find no such tantalizing details in Russian Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky's memoir written in 1930 just after Stalin had exiled him to Turkey. Instead you will find a thoughtful political self-examination by a man trying to draw the lessons of his fall from power in order to set his future political agenda. This task is in accord with his stated conception of his role as an individual agent at service in the historical struggle toward a socialist future. Thus, underlying the selection of events highlighted in the memoir such as the rise of the revolutionary wave in Russia in 1905 and 1917, the devastation to the socialist program of World War I and the degeneration of the Russian Revolution especially after Lenin's death and the failure of the German Revolution of 1923 is a sense of urgency about the need for continued struggle for a socialist future. It also provides a platform as well for polemics against those foes and former supporters who have either abandoned or betrayed that struggle.
   
   At the beginning of the 21st century when socialist political programs are in decline it is hard to imagine the spirit that drove Trotsky to dedicate his whole life to the fight for a socialist society. However, at the beginning of the 20th century he represented only the most consistent and audacious of a revolutionary generation of Eastern Europeans and Russians who set out to change the history of the 20th century. It was as if the best and brightest of that generation were afraid, for better or worse, not to take part in the political struggles that would shape the modern world. As Trotsky notes this element was lacking, with the exceptions of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and precious few others, in the Western labor movement. Trotsky using his own experiences tells the story of the creation of this revolutionary cadre with care and generally proper proportions.
   
   Many of the events such as the disputes within the Russian revolutionary movement, the attempts by the Western Powers to overthrow the Bolsheviks in the Civil War after their seizure of power and the struggle of the various tendencies inside the Russian Communist Party and in the Communist International discussed in the book may not be familiar to today's audience. Nevertheless one can still learn something from the strength of Trotsky's commitment to his cause and the fight to preserve his personal and political integrity against overwhelming odds. As the organizer of the October Revolution, creator of the Red Army in the Civil War, orator, writer and fighter Trotsky he was one of the most feared men of the early 20th century to friend and foe alike. Nevertheless, I do not believe that he took his personal fall from power as a world historic tragedy. Moreover, he does not gloss over his political mistakes. Nor does he generally do personal injustice to his various political opponents although I would not want to have been subject to his rapier wit and pen. Politicians, revolutionary or otherwise, in our times should take note.

3 comments about Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman.

1. I bought this to introduce Emma to a young lady and, after looking in it,
   decided it would cancel any interest she might have had. Stick to Living My Life and imagine the visuals.



2. Emma Goldman is one of the big name names of American anarchists, as well as one of the earlier to contribute to free speech, birth control, and the labor movements. She was an amazing public speaker, something that is lost in this day of television and radio, and her writing still ranks amongst the classics of Anarchist thought for a free and just society. From her involvement in the shooting of Frick (though Alexander Berkman was a lousy shot) to free speech fights to labor struggles in Massachusetts to getting deported by Edgar Hoover, all the way to being amongst the first radicals to denounce the government of the Bolsheviks (which ostracized her amongst the left), and finally working to raise funds for the Spanish Revolutionary cause. She was jailed for fighting against the draft, advocating for birth control, and for "inciting a riot." In a lot of ways, the stuff she said then was visionary for the time period. She remains one of the most amazing people in history, and someone who gave her all so others could be free and live in a just world.
   
   "Dangerous Woman: A Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman" can be best described as a graphic novel version of "Living My Life", and it's a real treat. The artist, Sharon Rudahl, does a great job capturing Goldman's turbulent and unique life, growing from a fiery Jewish peasant girl fleeing Russia to an active Anarchist speaker and organizer hated by the government, to the patron-saint of the American Anarchist movement, though small by the time of her death. She spares no detail, especially the parts about Emma's sex life and her many partners over the years. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when she has been sent by her mentor, Johann Most, on a speaking tour "Against the 8 Hour Day" (it was too little and was too reformist and not revolutionary enough.) She encounters an older man in the Chicago stop of the tour who tells her that while he understands why young people would be impatient with small demands, but "I won't live to see the revolution. Will I never have a little time for reading or to walk openly in the park?" After this encounter, Emma vowed never to let doctrine or ideology get in the way of a good fight that brought real change to real people's lives. That's a lesson that a lot of radicals then and now could learn and take to heart.
   Today, the closest we in the United States have to an Emma Goldman is academics in ivory towers, as loud mouth voices in the sea of state and corporate rule. The speaking tours of yesterday is the youtube, internet, music albums and television of today, which is much more controlled than speaking in public used to be, though less prone to violent disruption by people who disagree with the author. It's hard to imagine a story like hers again where someone from such a humble beginning devotes her entire life, to the point where she refused to correct health problems like infertility, to the cause of fighting the existing order, and becoming such an international figure as she did. Maybe a new Emma Goldman of the internet or TV or music like hiphop will arise to become an inspiration to people's movements everywhere, like Subcommader Marcos in Chiapas has, or elsewhere. It's hard to say. Either way, check out Emma's life in graphic novel comic form, because she's a real life superhero in a way that Superman never could be.



3. Sharon Rudahl's "A Dangerous Woman" covers the life of a well-known anarchist around the turn of the century. Sharon's art is very appropriate for a fiery speechmaker; the plot as presented by Sharon never drags, and you get a book and a movie at the same time!
   
   I had heard about Emma Goldman, but my political youth was spent in the socialist movement, not the anarchist movement, so I never researched Ms. Goldman's life or work. One piece I found interesting was Ms. Goldman's opposition to the amendment granting women the right to vote, and why she opposed it. Since my grandmother was a prominent suffragette, I approached this part of the book with some skepticism, but it was presented with such passion that I found myself agreeing in principle with some parts of Ms. Goldman's philosopy on this particular topic. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and it's difficult to go back in time to try to understand things with the perspective in effect at that time, but Ms. Rudahl does a fantastic job with her art of helping to build that paradigm.
   
   I found it difficult to put the book down, it was so entertaining, and in a way that enlightens. Emma Goldman didn't live her life as an audition for a reality show, so you probably won't get that kind of stilted melodrama from it. What you WILL get is a fascinating historical presentation with Ms. Rudahl's art, and a dialog that both complements the art and creates it's own story.
   
   A very fine book, and I heartily recommend buying it.

No comments about Bitter Harvest: Zimbabwe and the Aftermath of its Independence.

5 comments about The Kennedys: An American Drama.

1. I was pretty disappointed. I have read a lot on individual Kennedys, and was looking for something to tie them all together. This book is very surface level, and practically ignores the women in the family. I know it is more interesting to cover the successful politicians (all male at the time of first publishing in 1984) and the drug abusers (apparently also all male, but still not sure), but a word or two about some of the other Kennedys would have been nice. For example, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the special olympics, gets only passing mention. All in all an interesting read, but mostly because the family (faults and successes) is so compelling, not because of the writing.



2. Heard the taped version of THE KENNEDYS: AN AMERICAN
   DREAM by Peter Collier and David Horowitz.
   
   This was a controversial NEW YORK TIMES bestseller when
   it was published in 1984, and I can see why . . . it tells the
   story of a dysfunctional family over three generations, centering
   around the elder Joseph Kenney and his wife Rose Fitzgerald . . . it then
   moves on to tell how his sons Jack and Bobby moved into the
   limelight via their careers in elected politics . . . and the book
   concludes with an account of Teddy's troubles, as well as those
   of the younger Kennedy children.
   
   Along the way there was adultery, drug usage (particularly by
   Jack during his presidency), alcoholism, and a variety of characters
   who mostly come across as not very lovable . . . perhaps only Lem
   Billings, JFK's best friend and subsequent family advisor, comes
   across in any sort of favorable light.
   
   My main criticism of THE KENNEDYS had to do with the last
   part . . . many of the younger Kennedys were portrayed in a negative
   fashion and though they may have had their difficulties while in
   school, several settled down and went on to careers in public
   service . . . consequently, I could have done without some
   of the dirt that seems to have been found.
   
   Yet that is probably what gives this book its appeal, so I'd
   recommend it if you want both the good and the bad about the
   Kennedy family . . . in addition, the narration by Joseph
   Campanella was outstanding and added to my enjoyment
   of listening to this tale about a dynasty that had to face
   so much tragedy over the years.



3. I read this book in 1984 and found it quite relevant and enlightening at the time. I am glad that the third generation has gotten itself together and are doing good things.
   
   I have also notice that any books written after Jackie's death have a wealth of information! President Kennedy is a real person (not some far off statesman). Jackie's plus and minuses are explored and she becomes human too! The way she raised Caroline and John was amazing and they seemed to have avoided any of the pitfalls of their other cousins. Except the most devastating one of course and that was will always be a great tragedy of a young life unfinished.
   
   Another excellent book written at the same time is Doris Goodwin's: The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga. John B. Davis, Jackie's first cousin has written serveral books on Jackie, Kennedy's and the Mafia. You will not be disappointed.



4. Well written and engaging, the book surveys three generations of Kennedys over four sections, beginning with how Joseph Patrick Kennedy shaped his family and gave his sons a calling (Architect of Their Lives) then moves on to how his sons Jack and Bobby developed their public careers following Joe, Jr.'s death in WWII (The Stand In) then moving to the peak Kennedy years of Jack's Presidency and Bobby's campaign (Brothers Within). The drama ends as both a sad farce describing Teddy's troubles and as a tragedy invading the lives of the lost generation of Kennedy children (The Lost Boys).
   
   The book centers, as did the family, around the elder Joseph Kennedy and his wife, the queenly Rose Fitzgerald. JPK's generosity and his sincerity surprise the reader given his raw ambition, his selfishness, his manipulation of people, his womanizing, and his incompetence as a diplomat. All this was equaled only by his talent as a business man and in the end surpassed by his devotion as a father. On the other hand, Rose comes off rather dry and unappealing, which is a little difficult to believe given that she had nine children.
   
   A disturbing revelation of the book was how high on drugs (usually prescribed) Jack was during his presidency. His awful health mandated pain killers and other drug therapies to allow him to function, but at the same time must have affected his judgment and his ability to work. Given the confrontational character of the Kennedys, one shudders to think of how badly the Cuban crisis could have turned out.
   
   I have two strong criticism of the book. First, not enough space is given to JPK's most important contribution to the United States: he created and established the Securities and Exchange Commission, which gave the USA for decades a virtual monopoly on fair and transparent financial markets. (President Roosevelt apparently responded to critics of this appointment that "it takes a crook to catch a crook".)
   
   Second, in the interest of protecting privacy, the material on the last Kennedy generation should have been left out. The book was published in 1984 when the lost Kennedys were still in their teens and twenties. The authors needlessly (though with sympathy) sensationalized sad stories, at too early a time in those lives to pass any sort of critical judgment.
   
   The most interesting discovery for me was Lem Billings. He basically followed all three generations: best friend to Jack Kennedy, reassuring JPK that his son had someone supporting him outside the family, and surrogate father to some of the young Kennedys after Bobby's assassination until his death in the early 80s. A short book on Billings would be welcome.



5. One of the first things you will see are family-trees at the beginning of every part, where you can see all the members of the family, their children and their birth- and deathdates. Unfortunately for the Kennedy family many died prematurely, as is well recognized.
   
   Most Kennedy books will be focused on John F and his brother Robert F who were both shot. But in this book they still play main parts, but not the only ones. The book starts when the Kennedy's, and Fitzgeralds, came to America and how they quickly rose in first Boston and later American society, even though they had one big disadvantage; they were Irish.
   
   JFK's grandfather Honey Fitz became mayor of Boston by using the Irish vote. Joe Kennedy Sr. started out selling newspapers but was soon a movie producer, even having an alleged affair with movie star Gloria Swanson, something his sons would later copy with Marylin Monroe of course.
   
   Then came the biggest move in Joe Kennedy's life; he became Ambassador in England under Roosevelt, with whom he had a somewhat strained relationship. He would ever since be referred to as the Ambassador, even in his own family.
   
   Collier and Horowitz make it clear that the Ambassador is the most important member of the Kennedy family and that every child's actions are in some way related to him. The story is sometimes a little TV-movie sentimental, but whould would you do if you lose 4 children when you are still alive. The oldest son Joe dies in a WWII plane crash, his oldest daughter marries but loses her noble husband soon and dies herself in a plane crash a few months later.
   
   And of course there are the deaths of JFK and RFK.
   
   It's certainly not a hagiography telling how great the Kennedy's were. Old Joe Kennedy is sometimes shown as a towering figure who completely dominated his family's life until his stroke. JFK got his last rites twice and was often very sick with pain in his back and Addisson's desease. His medication is mentioned in the book and also are his numorous flings with women in the White House, his own house, even Airforce One. RFK seems to have been the most moral person and I believe the authors feel that way too. They explain his religion, his fight against organized crime and Jimmy Hoffa and also his meetings with minorities all over the world. He seemed to have had the Kennedy promise even more than his brother Jack or later Ted.
   
   The last part of the book is devoted to the next generation who cannot seem to deal with their heritage and often get into trouble, it seems as if everyone in the family is doing drugs, the last Kennedy death in the old edition, even loses his life because of it.
   
   It's a gripping story that sometimes reads like a novel. I think it gave a balanced story of the family with the good but also the bad, which made them even more human. It's a lot clearer now why the family was so loved and hated at the same time.
   
   A must-read for Kennedy-admirer and Kennedy-hater alike.

2 comments about Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War.

1. A very solid and balanced recounting of the career in power of one of the most important diplomatic figures of the past one hundred years. In his book, Professor Beisner wisely concentrates almost entirely on the twelve years Dean Acheson was in power in Washington, D.C.
   
   The great issues grappled with in the immediate years after World War II still live with us today: Russia, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, France, and China/Taiwan. If you are curious to know why some things are the way they are in today's world, read this book. The number of key foreign policy challenges that flew at this talented Secretary of State is astonishing.



2. Mr. Beiser is the author of several books on diplomacy ("American Foreign Relations Since 1600" -- 2003). This definitive and long (800 pages) biography of Dean Acheson, a Democratic player (through the Roosevelt and Truman administrations) and foreign affairs genius. As Truman's Secretary of State, he was present at the start of the post-war era and created the framework for the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, the occupation of the Axis countries and NATO. As a result, Mr. Acheson titled his memoirs, "Present at the Creation." The writing is engaging and interesting as is Mr. Acheson himself (he managed to alienate President Roosevelt). Though this book obviously can not be read at one setting, it is a good history tale.