No comments about Lamentations of Youth: The Diaries of Gershom Scholem, 1913-1919.

3 comments about The Don.

1. Brashler wrote one of the best books ever about Sam Giancana. I was suprised by how much that was written in this book has been repeated in other books without being sourced. A lot of so-called "inside stories" about Sam Giancana were no more than situations referenced out of "The Don." He gives the best description of the 42s ever--a gang of young toughs from Chicago's Little Italy that terrorized its own citizens and the Second City at large with murder and mayhem . . . a gang that Sam Giancana was a leader of.
   
   If you want an indepth, true-as-it-can-get biography on the violent life and sordid crimes of Sam Giancana and his "friends" then this book is it--and more! Even though it was written nearly 30 years ago, I found nothing in it that isn't true and accurate. He interviewed a lot of people and researched a ton of information to come up with THE book on Sam Giancana.
   
   Buy this book and you will be satisfied!



2. Although this book is titled for Sam Giancana, I found it more interesting as a history about the Chicago mob. Written only two years after Giancana's death, Brashler goes into detail about the mob's rise and fall, obviously focusing on Giancana and his rise and fall as well. Whether it was a matter of not knowing it at the time or not wanting to know, as of 2002 there seems to be so much more detail involving Giancana, the mob, and it's history, that the book and Brashler seemed cautious in writing about Giancana at times, especially when it came to his possible involvement with Kennedy and his relationship with Sinatra and Campbell. And Giancana's murder and possible suspects is not explored at all, though there may not have been much to go on only two years after his death, when the book was written, or it was a taboo, touchy subject. I believe the latter of the two. Although an entirely interesting book and thoroughly enjoyable, this book could be retitled "Sam Giancana and the Chicago Mob". There is a definite lack of Giancana information out there only available piecemeal in more current Rat Pack books and in other mob books, but this one will satisfy and pique your interest about the little man named "Mo".



3. Mr Brashler's book is the best work yet at a detailed look into the Chicago "Outfit"(MOB); he describes the life and times of one of Chicago's most-feared mobsters.

1 comments about St. Athanasius.

1. I own this book and it is a great and inspiring story of this courageous saint. The author goes into great detail and I truly got to know and love Saint Athanasius through this book. I am 15 and love it!!!
   God Bless and always in Christ J.M.J.,
   Joy Marie Murphy

No comments about Royal Monastic: Princess Ileana of Romania.

1 comments about The Prince of War: Billy Graham's Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire.

1. The title comes from Graham's support for every American war since Korea, but I found the civil rights material most interesting.
   
   Cecil Bothwell portrays Graham as the political opposite of Martin Luther King and says the historical record does not support Graham's recent insistence that he was a friend of King's and of integration, pointing out that Graham "was absent from every civil rights march, rally or celebration over the years."
   
   Sample paragraph: "Graham's frequent claims about King's approval are at odds with King's widely circulated exhortation from the Birmingham jail, in which he categorically condemned the position of clergymen who opposed civil disobedience, took them to task for obeying unjust laws, and spoke at eloquent length about the necessity for those of faith to demand change. He could have been directly rebutting Graham when he wrote, `You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.' "
   
   Bothwell notes that when King was killed 200,000 people attended the funeral. A long list of notables from every field came, the Academy Awards were postponed, and the start of major league baseball was delayed, but Billy Graham did not attend.
   
   I found The Prince of War to be well worth reading.

No comments about The Autobiography of Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul (Dover Books on Western Philosophy).

5 comments about In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family.

1. Nansook Hong paints a painful picture of her marriage to HyoJin Moon, but she does not own up to the full truth of her parents' machinations to get her married into the Moon family. Eyewitnesses tell of Nansook visiting the Moon household and knowing full well of HyoJin's excesses in advance of her marriage. The Hongs wanted desperately for their family to be entwined with the Moon family, and after arranging for one child to be wed to the first Moon daughter, they pushed Nansook to marry a Moon son. Though I don't know all the motives, the point is that there was an agenda behind her marriage and probably this book that Ms. Hong has not been honest about. It is only too easy to paint an unflattering portrait of Rev Moon and his wife but at least some of this is suspect, given her own deceit.



2. The only people who can dismiss a book like this are the misguided followers of the hypocritical cult leader, Sun Myung Moon. As an atheist who currently attends the University of Bridgeport, I ate this book up in a day. It bears striking resemblance to Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven," which documents the underpinnings of another cult, Warren Jeffs' FLDS of Colorado City, AZ.
   
   I should be careful in my use of the term 'cult,' however. What is a cult? What is a religion? They are the same entity. That judgment simply lies in the eyes of the beholder. Just as Nansook Hong points out in the epologue, all religions claim that their way is the true path to heaven. The only difference between major religions like Roman Catholicism and Judaism, and 'cults' such as the FLDS, Jonestown, and the Unification Church is their size and level of acceptance by the public. In this way, the Pope and Sun Myung Moon are both equals. They are both equally nothing.
   
   It is clearly obvious that Sun Myung Moon is a madman who takes advantage of the socially vulnerable. This is he has such a hatred for communism - he preys on those affected by tragedy by giving them some type of bright future to look forward to. He prays on the weak. He is a con man. He claims to have spoken directly to Jesus in Korea as a young man, and has duped thousands around the world into believing he IS the second coming.
   
   The extremely brave Nansook Hong stood up for herself and left the Moon Compound to have a better life for herself and for her children. Any unificationist who claims to be a loving human being who would argue with her motives needs to look deep inside themselves. Sun Myung Moon's son Hyo Jin is an awful person. Nansook writes about being arranged in a marriage as a 15 year old girl, being coerced into coming to America as an illegal alien, being held against her will at East Garden, being abused, raped, and cheated on by the supposed 'Son of the Second Coming of Jesus,' and having to put up with drugs, alcohol abuse, and neglect for fourteen years of her life. Sun Myung Moon preaches to his followers about the importance of family and lineage, while his own dysfunctional family is the only one he should be paying any attention to. It is even documented in this biography as well as many other publications that Sun Myung Moon himself cheated on his wife and has a child with another woman. Both Sun Myung Moon and his eldest son are criminals, and need to be locked up. In my opinion, Moon got off light with his one year in prison for tax evasion.
   
   Unfortunately, I can hear the unificationsists already in my mind dismissing this book as 'the work of satan,' as I am going to try to show it to them next week. All I can really do is educate as many people as possible about how mentally ill and irresponsible Sun Myung Moon is and hope that his end is nearing...before more unfortunate people like Nansoon Hong are forced into a world of destruction at the hands of this 'True Family.'



3. == quote
   But, as Nansook Hong reveals in this devastating tell-all account, Sun Myung Moon does not live up to his own teachings. He has frequent affairs, which he rationalizes as "providential", that is, mandated by God.
   
   == end quote
   
   == quote
   
   "My own parents saw no evidence of sexual misconduct when they were each recruited independently to join the church in Seoul."
   (In the Shadow of the Moons, pp. 26-27)
   
   == end quote
   
   I know the UM since the mid 1970's and for a quite a long time the only accusation leveled against Rev. Moon was that he was married 4 times (while in fact he is only married 2 times) later those allegations of just being married 4 times was changed to having had sex with female followers.
   
   Chung Hwa Pak, one of Rev. Moon's first disciples, caused
   considerable controversy by confirming these accusations in a text widely circulated by critics (and later published in Japanese) called The Tragedy of the Six Marys. Pak, who had left the Unification Church, claimed that Rev. Moon practiced during the church's early years sex rituals with, among others, six married female disciples ("the six Marys") who were to have prepared the way for the virgin who would marry him and become the True Mother. The church vehemently denied the allegations. Pak eventually returned to the fold and, shortly before dying, recanted all the accusations in a second text he authored in 1995, called The Apostate.
   
   Similar accusations were discussed earlier in libel cases in Korea and not proved. In 1989, after a ten-year legal case, the Seoul District Criminal Court (79 ko dan 3372) convicted a protestant minister, Rev. Shin Sa-hun, of criminal libel after his accusations of sexual misconduct could not be proved. In another case decided by the Seoul District Civil Court (83 ga hap 3012), damages were paid by Tak Myung-hwan, a well-known critic of the Unification Church, to a woman who had been accused of having an illegitimate son with Rev. Moon and to her son.
   
   Corrections were published by the Christian newspapers Gidok Shinbo on October 8, 1983, and Hanhook Gidok Gongbo, on October 1, 1983, after printing similar accusations of sexual misconduct in the early Unification Church. Part of the retraction stated, "The article 'The Secret Sexual Practices of the Unification Religion' was a repetition of information published during the 1950s, and we have found it to have no basis in fact."



4. === quote
   
   Pay no attention to the negative criticisms by those who are obviously Moonies. This is should be required reading. Nansook Hong had the courage to endure and to finally escape the clutches of this dangerous cult led by the Korean flake who thinks he's God.
   
   === end
   
   Funny, so people should not listen to the story of those who are still within the UM, why is this?
   
   Also Rev. Moon himself doesn't claim to be God, this is always said by others, Rev.Moon stresses the point without God he would be nothing...



5. Pay no attention to the negative criticisms by those who are obviously Moonies. This is should be required reading. Nansook Hong had the courage to endure and to finally escape the clutches of this dangerous cult led by the Korean flake who thinks he's God. Not only is it run by one of the worlds most selfish and greediest families, they stand to gain even more under the President's Faith-Based program. Your tax dollars at work.

2 comments about Billy Graham: His Life and Influence.

1. There's little doubt that Billy Graham has had a significant impact on culture and world evangelism. In the book Billy Graham: His Life and Influence, David Aikman explores Graham's life and philosophies that led him to become one of the most influential voices of our time. What I appreciated most about Aikman's work is that he doesn't attempt to paint Graham as the perfect saint who could do no wrong. Like all men, Graham had his struggles and trials...
   
   Contents:
   A Life Of Influence; A Child of the 1920s; Conversion and the First Steps; A National Phenomenon; Harringay and the World; Theology and Race; Communism - A New Approach; The Presidents - Part 1 - Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon; The Presidents - Part 2 - Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan; The Presidents - Part 3 - George H. W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush; National Consoler; Family and Legacy; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index
   
   Aikman defines his territory and goal for the book and sticks with it very well. Rather than attempt to be a comprehensive biography of Graham's life, he recommends you read William Martin's A Prophet with Honor. Instead, he delves into how Graham grew from a small-town fundamentalist evangelist to become a globally-known evangelist and respected statesman, with regular access to every president since Eisenhower as well as many world leaders. Graham's ever-present goal was to be able to preach the gospel wherever he was, with no restrictions on what he could and couldn't say. That's easier said than done, as he broke new ground by being allowed to preach in Russia and China, places where freedom of religion was not practiced. The balancing act was trying to not offend his hosts by denouncing their governments, while trying not to offend the American government who didn't want him to be used as a propaganda tool during the Cold War. While ultimately he was able to preach, his attempts to balance those conflicting forces were not always well executed.
   
   Within American culture, he gained a level of accessibility to presidents not duplicated by any other single person in history. While his relationships with each president varied in terms of closeness and trust, he was always there to provide counseling and wisdom when needed. In his later years, this counseling and consoler role played out in public during the 9/11 tragedies and his addresses given during national remembrances. Given the American public's disdain for mixing politics and religion, it's amazing that Graham was accepted in this role. If you were to try and replicate his experience in today's society, my guess is that the media would shred him over any minor misstep or misstatement. But given that his stature was developed and earned in a much different atmosphere than today, he's been able to retain his dignity and honor in these more cynical times.
   
   Aikman is sympathetic to Graham's image, but he's not afraid to look at areas where things didn't work out as Graham would have believed. For instance, Graham was very close friends with Richard Nixon, and still has problems reconciling the Nixon he thought he knew as a friend with the Nixon revealed on the Watergate tapes. Overseas trips to communist countries often had him giving views on religious freedom that didn't accurately portray the reality of the persecution that was occurring. Aikman summarizes many of these issues as the outcome of Graham's apparent need to be liked by people. Rather than be blunt and confrontational on issues where it might have been warranted, he often sidestepped the issue to avoid dissension. But measured against the whole person, Graham comes across as a sincere man of God, far from perfect, but always willing to follow God's leading and commands to share the gospel with others.
   
   I'd recommend this book for both Christians and non-Christians who are interested in Billy Graham, the person. You'll come away with a much deeper appreciation for someone who has given their life for what they believe...



2. Billy Graham: His Life and Influence
   David Aikman, former Time Magazine senior correspondent, has written a very readable and comprehensive life of the famous evangelist. Graham's progress from farm boy to friend and counselor for presidents is an American success story on one level. On another, his career illuminates the Protestant religious temper of a majority of the people in the United States during the twentieth century. That temper contributed to Graham's success, but as an evangelist, Graham also shaped the spirit and direction of his times.
   
   The book is well balanced. Aikman notes both Billy Graham's strengths and weaknesses as he chronicles Graham's life and its impact on society in America and in other nations over more than fifty years. He also portrays Ruth Graham Bell, Billy's remarkable wife, and gives the reader insights into the partnership which enabled Graham to succeed.
   
   The book is fascinating reading whether one is a devoted Graham admirer or not since it offers a remarkable analysis of Graham's influence on culture and events during the last century

1 comments about Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits.

1. This is not a biography of the humble young Mohawk woman whose courage, holiness, faith, and purity earned her (as thousands who know and love her truly believe) that place in Heaven. This book, in the author's own paraphrased words, is meant to "bring Tekakwitha down from heaven." (And it is part of a gloomy trend to do just that - to as much as one can to bring one's subject down.) And, thankfully, despite over two hundred pages of trying, he has not succeeded in dragging her down.
   
   There are people who were primarily historic figures and those whose lives are mainly of religious significance. Blessed Kateri (or Catherine, as the author prefers to call her) Tekakwitha was very clearly the latter. But this book approaches her from the former point of view, making her a postmortem pawn in the Jesuit's missionary work among the natives in Canada. The mystical and the supernatural (from a religious view) are ignored. The author seems even unwillingly to use the title of "Blessed" in reference to her.
   
   At one point, the author even seems - in a very subtle way - to imply the Kateri and her closest friend (Marie-Therese Tegaiaguenta)were lovers. If, as he writes, there is "no reason to think they were lovers," why mention it at all? What does it serve?
   
   The author dwells on each and any discrepancy in the original accounts by the two missionaries who knew Kateri during the last years of her life. (Even the Bible - in all its various popular translations - has its discrepancies.) Any story of any person, any account of any event is bound to have differences when told by two different witnesses. That alone is not enough reason to discount the differences.
   
   His grim portrait of Kateri in no way accounts for the great numbers of people (not only Native Americans, but from around the world) who have a profound love for this holy young woman.
   I can speak from my own experiences and observations that she has had a great impact even on people who knew little or nothing of her.
   
   Historians may find this book of interest, but for those who have a devotion to this wonderful saint-to-be, there is little to recommend it.
   
   On a personal level, I have been studying the life of Blessed Kateri for a number of years. My personal collection includes nearly a hundred works of literature on her. These range from reprints of the original biographies by Fathers Chauchetiere and Cholonec to fluffy, sentimentalized (to the point of being quite ridiculous) books for young readers.
   
   I am also the creator of the web site mentioned on page 241 of this new book. I work for and look forward to the day when she is finally declared a saint.
   
   I pre-ordered this book many months ago and read it with an open mind as I am always eager for new details on her life. For me, it was a dull read (the narrative flow seems uneven) with left me unimpressed (not with Catherine Tekakwitha) and with a very unpleasant taste.
   
   Historians, cultural anthropologists, and the politically correct may find something of interest in this dry and dreary book, but for those who have a devotion to this wonderful saint-to-be, there is little to recommend it.
   
   (I gave it one star because there is no lesser option and, well, my site was mentioned in the Notes to Chapter 9. I suppose I owe it something.)

No comments about More Than Conquerors: Portraits of Believers from All Walks of Life.