5 comments about Just Desserts p Martha Stewart: The Unauthorized Biography.

1. I must say, Jerry Oppenheimer's book is definitely a page-turner. The whole Martha Stewart phemonenon always made me a little queasy; after reading his book, I know exactly why. Some reviewers have said that this book is mean-spirited or overly negative. That's not Oppenheimer's fault. During the course of the book he interviewed family members, colleagues, and former friends/business associates of Stewart's. The portrait they unanimously paint is of a really awful human being; a petty, vindictive, greedy woman who clawed her way to success frequently on the stolen ideas and hard work of others. At best, she comes across as cold, aloof, and distant. Nevertheless, truly villainous people are fascinating in their way, and Martha Stewart is no exception. I always had the feeling she had a closet full of skeletons, and Oppenheimer's book colorfully brings them to light. It's not a deep intellectual read, but it's definitely a fun one.



2. Before the story broke about the insider trading scandal involving Martha Stewart, I did not have a good idea of who she was. I was curious to find out so I purchased "Just Desserts". The book did not seem to be a "hit piece", as others have portrayed this book. What I found was a writer who disected the image from the the real person. It is a very interesting study on Martha Stewart's troubled past regarding her domineering father and Martha's need to become rich and famous no matter what the cost and no matter who got in the way. I came away feeling very sorry for her. Whether you are a fan of her's or not, the book does a very good job of showing the fake from the real. The onscreen personae and her real actiions behind the scenes will shock and astound. The author also delves into the fantastic business savy that Stewart displayed throughout her career. She was very often underestimated, but always a step ahead of the competition. A real modern day Jeckyl and Hide story.

   Not only does the book describe the interesting antics and unreal behavior of Stewart, it also touches on the gullibility of the people who surrounded her and how they naively followed her every whim. It is an interesting study of how people will believe in the image of a person and cling onto it no matter what the true reality is. In the case of several people such as her former husband and several business associates, they finally saw past the facade and saw the real person behind the disguise. This is a tragic story but very revealing on what motivates some people towards ultimate fame and power.




3. Ok, first off, let me say that I have nothing wrong with a woman that is independent, hard working and creative.

   What I do have a problem with is a woman that won't get therapy for her lack of people skills due to her lousy childhood.

   Look Martha, not all women feel "inadequate" becaue they don't spend lots of time on silly compulsive activites such as gathering fall leaves from the backyard and matching them! (when you're rich and have a staff, then you can do these things)

   Do I feel rage or jealousy becaue I don't do these things? No.

   Do I realize that Martha would be nobody without her PR machine and spin doctors? Yes.

   Does she make pretty stuff? Yes,

   Does she have some serious interpersonal problems? Yes.

   Good book all around.

   I do feel sorry for her family.

   And yes to some reviewers, even men have to contend with this.




4. WOW, was this a ruthless illustration of Martha Stewart! She's described as an obsessive-compulsive insomniac (she would only sleep for 2-4 hours a night, then get up and paint her entire house in one day), who's main goal is to be on top through ruthless power and manipulation (she stole business ideas, designs and didn't give credit to friends, coworkers... to the point where if a person demanded royalties, she would find some loophole in the legal system to prevent them from getting any profits -- Me-YOW!) This depiction is a far cry from the soft-spoken homemaker you see on her show. She's described by family and friends as dominating, cold, sadistic, abusive and absolutely ruthless. She even cuts down her elderly mother in front of her family: "She only makes peasant food!" she snipes. I've never read anything like it.

   It starts with Martha's family and where she came from in New Jersey. Apparently, Martha's father was a perfectionist who shoved his beliefs, anger and attitude down her throat; nothing was good enough in his eyes and because of him, the Monster-Martha is what is alive today. Even as a child, she sabotaged a little girl's cake recipe in order to take her little business away for herself. Signs that a powerful, heartless woman was going to surface.

   Martha was cutthroat and vindictive. She pretty much screwed over anyone and everyone around her to further only herself -- she didn't even care about her family, including her daughter and husband, whom she brow-beated to death in front of family and friends until he (who was just wimpy from the start) finally had the nerve to leave her, prompting incredible stories of stalking, vandalism and public screaming fits -- till he had a restraining order put on her.

   Martha is depicted as someone who never learned affection, or at least had an incredible dark side that was calculating and vindictive. She would purposely hire people who were creative and brilliant, but they either had low self-esteems to begin with or she broke them down. She DEFINITELY was masochistic and manipulated everyone who came in her path on her rise to power. The only time her affections seemed to be positive, were when sex was involved, and then she came across predatory. She's also illustrated as an incredible liar; family and friends reflect on her writings of her "happy past" and say all of them are either exaggerated or completely fabricated.

   After reading what a terror she was in the past, I can actually believe the insider trading stories -- it just fits. Oh and the new edition adds that little chunk in the end.

   Upon finishing this, I'm blown away at what a terror she was and has become. She is obviously a person who will stop at nothing to be on top, including her cheapness and just downright vicious scheming. She's also obviously brilliant, with a chip on her shoulder about her poor past and is also considered racist, sexist and as the book says: "WASPy in true form."

   Martha Stewart is a nightmare in this book! I wouldn't want to come within 20 ft. of her (much less meet her in a dark alley) after reading this. Personally, I think she's mentally screwed up something fierce, but the fact that she concentrates all of it into her work is phenomenal.

   4 stars -- one missing due to some anonymous sources (which I don't always trust as true) and the fact that it pretty much had NOTHING positive to say about her; I would have liked to see a little positive stuff. You know, to kind of balance it out. Then again, maybe there wasn't anything positive. This woman is the anti-Christ!

   Otherwise, good trash to read!




5. Certainly one of the greatest uses of biography is to learn from someone else's mistakes. For that reason alone it's worth it to read Just Desserts. I have been in awe of the curious Martha Phenomenon since it first began many years ago. Martha could not have made her climb to the top had she not been pandering to a generation of women not unlike herself, women who were scarred by the aftermath of World War II. These women, bereft of family structure and traditional roots, were particularly vulnerable to Martha's opportunistic nature. As an astrologer, I understand many of the dynamics of Stewart's personality. That she fantasized her past was but an extension of her ability to turn common lead in to gold on a daily basis. The emergence of her dark side might be understood as the obsessive wrath and demonic unresolved self hatred of her father, whose aspirations she was doomed to pursue because he had not been able to. And more. Dear Reader, read ye and learn! Like another commentator before me on this website, I decided by page 38 that I was glad I was not Martha!

5 comments about Great Big Beautiful Doll: The Anna Nicole Smith Story.

1. I found this book GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL DOLL: THE ANNA NICOLE SMITH STORY to be the most accurate and informative biography out on the market today about this beautiful blonde. I also found it to be an easy read and very to the POINT. I was pleased with learning the facts....AND JUST THE FACTS! Sad to see that ANNA is gone from our lives now....but at least not forgotten.



2. Shocking. Absolutely shocking book. That gal would do anything. I just pray that Dannielynn never reads this book.



3. thought the book was very well written. it makes me wonder who can really be a fan of anna nicole. she absolutely seem to be out of control her whole life and used people(yes male and female) for what she could get out of them and step on them on her way to the next. poor daniel didnt have a chance. she exposed this young man to things he should have never seen or known about from a very young age. this story covers her life from about junior high until her death. exposes her lifestyle and the spend spend ways she lived her life.if someone gave her 100,000 she spent 1,000.000. out of control! it is a wonder she lived as long as she did, since she drank and took drugs from 16 till the end. reveals to what lengths she would go to get her hands on money....married men, single men, good men,bad men without ONE BIT OF GUILT!! shocking what depths she would go to. very good read....to bad it is a true story!!!



4. I thought this book was well written but thought there were parts that didn't need to be in the book. I didn't think the nude pictures needed to be in the book to sell it.
   The book gave a good sense of how Anna Nicole lived and what a weak person she was. She let herself be lead around by people just because she wasn't educated and she loved money and fame. It is worth reading if you were a Anna Nicole fan.



5. GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL DOLL: THE ANNA NICOLE SMITH STORY couldn't be more timely: it's released in a newly updated edition to provide a biography of Smith's rise to fame and her glitzy, bright life. The authors aren't outsiders to her life, either: Redding is the photographer who helped launch her career with his Polaroid's; his life was Smith's hairstylist. Their personal relationship with Smith spices her biography and the inclusion of many rare photos makes for a 'must' acquisition for any general lending library; especially those where biographies of celebrities are in demand.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

5 comments about Diana Vreeland.

1. Diana Vreeland was born homely into a family where beauty was rife. So what did she do? She invented herself! This is the most important lesson on style that she has bequeathed us: we are not born with style, we can acquire it. Diana Vreeland is an example of self-improvement, of how to do the most of your poor features and blow yourself up into a lady through the sheer force of your uniqueness. She taught herself poise and class and strived hard to render the world around her more beautiful in her personal, exquisite way. Apart from that, she led a very interesting life. From long sojourns in Europe as a child, where she had the chance to attend performances of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes to our times, where she hobnobbed with the rich and famous and was privy to the backtages of the fashion world as editor of Vogue magazine, in this all-out, thoroughly researched and profusely illustrated biography we get to know better this inspiring woman whose positive outlook on life and strong personality make her a role model of style to women from all walks of life. Very entertaining reading and very thought-provoking.



2. She was,is and still to this day considered an Icon in the Fashion industry.



3. This book could easily have become another banal coffee table "picture book for grown-ups"; big on visual display and short on commentary. It did not. The author has expended a great deal of effort into capturing the essence of a woman who single-handedly revolutionized the concept of fashion magazines.
   
   The book simultaneously chronicles the events in Ms. Vreeland's life among the international glamor set and showcases her astounding professional achievements. Dwight's prose is so evocative that we feel that we are in the Vogue office or at a fashion shoot, while Ms Vreeland makes her trademark dramatic pronouncements with theatrical gestures. As madcap as her ideas seemed, they captured the imagination of the fashionistas and people in the industry, sky-rocketing sales of the avant garde Vogue (previously a staid, niche publication).
   
   Ms.Vreeland comes across as someone who approached everything she did with wholehearted passion. Shown in the book are photographs of Ms.Vreeland with her suavely attired husband and sons, with friends, models and designers. In every photograph we see her totally in the moment, a larger-than-life but also very human diva. She was a genuine original, a woman of extraordinary talent and vision. It would be hard-put to do justice to her life and spirit, but Dwight has stepped up to this demanding task. Bravo!



4. Immediately after finishing D.V., I ordered this book. I will warn you that reading both of these books will make you absolutely besotted with the divine Mrs. Vreeland. On the face of it, it doesn't seem possible that a book mainly about someone's professional life could hold so much interest. You are happily wrong if you thought that. There is just something about Diana V that gets under your skin and works it's way into your psyche, until you are absolutely mad about the woman. She is absolutely fascinating, entrancing, and possibly one of the most aggravating women of all times. But that is all part of her considerable charm. Even years after her death, she continues to fascinate. The story itself is first rate, and the stuff of dreams and motion pictures. Homely girl marries handsome man, lives beyond her means, and becomes one of the most influential people in the worlds of fashion and culture. I read the book in two days, but the day I recieved it, I spent a good hour devouring photographs. The one quibble I had with Vreeland's autobiography was that there weren't enough pictures. There are almost enough in this wonderful book to satisfy even the most diehard Vreeland fanatic. And oddly enough, the writing and pictures are more personal and informative than in Vreeland's book. She influended nearly all the fashion people of her time and beyond. I am only sorry that I finished the book so quickly. I would have been happier had the book been longer and not found it the least bit tedious. Despite the fact that many of the pictures are from definite time periods, you can see people today that dress the same way. Vreeland's taste was impeccable, classic, timeless, and iconoclastic. She knew what suited her, and she knew what she suited. What a fabulous character. Vreeland is like a fine wine in that she grows better with time. The presentation is wonderful. When you open the box, you see a bright red book that almost looks like a lacquered box. Then after you sigh with pleasure over visual impact, you open the covers, and are lost in her fascinating world. This book is worth any price you have to pay for it. I suppose some people might consider this a coffee table book, but I wouldn't. I would never put this out where people would see it, because then they would want to borrow it, and that is never going to happen! Engaging, well written, and perfectly executed. I am going to see what other Vreeland books are available. Too much is never enough of this delightful woman. Her friends and acquaintances would fill a who's who of American culture in the 20th century. While certainly not classically beautiful, she was attractive, and her face had great charm, intelligence, and nobility. She was vain, theatrical, and always the little girl who revered beauty and created her own instintice and personal beauty. It will last forever. Her mother told her that she was a very ugly little girl, and when I read that, I wanted to shake her nasty conceited mother until her teeth fell out. Definitely that incident shaped Diana for life, and probably went a long distance towards making her what she was. But all the same, her mother was a monster, and I can not think of her with less than contempt. Vreeland herself noted that it took her many years to come to terms with her mother. I applaud her for making the effort, and being gracious and truthful at the same time. That's a difficult feat at best. What a wonderful, delightful woman. While living a very public life, she was an intensely private person. A delightful enigma. Nobody will ever know the real Diana Vreeland, but this book will help get you as far as you can go.



5. I too, waited on pins and needles as Ms. Dwight's book was delayed and delayed. I had preordered it and it was a considerable wait. It was worth the wait. I bought it and read it in a couple of sittings, loved it so much I bought copies and sent to dear friends. One sent me a thank you card which read "WHY DON'T YOU hire a jet plane and fly to see me so I can thank you for this wonderful (struck out) NO, DELICIOUS book. Id' say that pretty much sums it up.

   It was great to read about her lower profile, but still dramatic homelife. Her husband was equally style conscious and quite the fashion plate himself. Their children grew up remarkably well adjusted. I wish we had more Diana Vreelands in this world. She spurned a half loaf. She did it her way!

   You will love this book!

5 comments about After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor.

1. I have read everything that has been published about the British Royal Family, past and present, for years. I have read a load of Diana books but this is my favorite. It is almost like talking to someone who was there.



2. I am offended by the new term "Diana fanatics" to describe people around the world who believe Diana was treated poorly by her royal husband and royal in-laws as well as courtiers. We merely suppport her and feel she was abused by a cold unfeeling royal system. Naturally any woman who exposed her husband as a cheat would be described as "mean or a trouble-maker" by her husband, her in-laws and the other woman.
   In this book I sensed the author is padding the truth so as not to offend the royal family. Like many authors, the writer of this book went to great links to recognize that Diana, Princess of Wales was no longer a member of the royal family and that the Spencers were her next of kin.
   Yet I am puzzled why no author to date has explained why Diana's ex-mother-in-law and ex-husband were the first to be notified!
   Diana was not a member of the royal family any more so any excuse that protocol demanded the Queen to notified first does not wash.
   If it was because of the boys, the decision was to let them sleep. And they were minors and had no say in the decisions concerning Diana body or anything else.
   The proper adults to notify would have been Diana's brother, sisters or mother.
   After all this, the Windors decided Diana being a commoner again was the Spencers' responsibilty and she did not deserve a public funeral.
   There has always been too many inconsistancies surrounding Diana. She gets a bad rap for being inconsistant with her life but she cannot hold a candle to the media or the royal family.



3. After having read at least 8 Diana books, which were starting to get repetitious with the same information, this one was refreshing with new information and more information on topics I read previously. After Diana......and what transpired was very interesting. I personally can't see how anyone would be disappointed in its details.



4. This is a gift which has not been given to the person yet. It would be premature to rate it until it has been viewed.



5. I found this book to offer an interesting perspective less on the death of Princess Diana and more on the way that this death has changed the Monarchy and the way the media has reported on it. The book also reports in some detail on the lives of the two princess and offers insights into how their behavior may have been different, or not, had the Princess not died so young.
   
   Still the work is weak because it relies on too many third party news article sources as well as unnamed parties. This in turn makes this work one of the weaker ones as the London tabloids are well known for being exploited by palace intrigue to bash one member of the Royal family for benefit of another. Not a bad read but basically fluff and not even close to a good biography or journalism.

5 comments about Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives.

1. I am extremely pleased with the book. I had no idea it was an autographed copy so that was a huge surprise and it arrived in mint condition. Thanks.
   
   Rebecca
   Leonardtown, MD



2. This is not an analysis of home, or the concept of home. It is a series of essays that reminisce on what childhood homes were like. Some of the essays are by famous people, others by less famous average people types.
   
   Although the book provides a few insights into personal meaning for each of these people, it does not approach the larger issue of Home and what it might mean to us as a people. This is a coffee table book at best, not one for reading through and through.
   
   It's not that the book is bad, it's just that I found little meaning in it apart from understanding these people's history a little better. It didn't challenge me to examine, to understand, it was listening to friends reflect on the smell of bread in the kitchen. Not a bad activity at all, but don't expect great significance to arise from such a down home exercise.
   
   If you want something that explores the subject deeply, I highly recommend "House As A Mirror of Self."



3. I enjoyed reading about the family of well known people and seeing snapshots of their growing up years.



4. THIS IS A LOVELY COFFEE TABLE BOOK. THE STORIES THAT ARE RELATED ARE PRICELESS AND BRING BACK CHILDHOOD MEMORIES.



5. Heartwarming and poignant stories told by people from all over America about their childhood homes and what the home and the family means to them.I loved this book.

5 comments about Diana.

1. If you're like me and just want to know Princess Diana's whole story, this is the book you need to read. It tells her life story in such an intertaining way that i just couldn't stop reading it until the very end. Sarah Bradford's work is remarkable. I highly recommend it.



2. I wasn't sure about "Diana" by Sarha Bradford when I picked it. I thought that it would be a Diana hate fest or love fest. But this book was either. I was a balance book about Princess of Wales. Ms. Bradford should that Diana was just everyone else in the world. She had her up and downs with family and friends and all that she was looking for was her place in world, but unlike the rest of us the whole world was watching her do it.
   If you are a fan of the late Princess of Wales this may be the book for you.



3. Bradford sounds like a fan of the Princess. She gives Diana the benefit of the doubt at every juncture. In a way, this makes for a pleasant and poignant read. Diana is portrayed as misunderstood and misused by "the establishment," the press, her family and most of her lovers. The only ones who didn't let her down were us (her public) and Hasnat Khan, the Pakistani surgeon who loved her dearly but couldn't/wouldn't marry her. Diana's more destructive impulses are portrayed as being the flip side of her strength. The thing of it is, though, very little of this information is new and much of it is hard to believe. Diana did bring much of her heartache onto herself. As Tina Brown's superior book exhibits, Diana's real story -- objectively told -- is just as compelling and heartbreaking as this more rose-colored version.



4. I've read many biographies of Diana written by the usual suspects and wasn't going to read this one. It was recommended to me by a friend and I'm so glad I bought it.
   
   It is a very well written biography by an author who obviously knows her craft. She touches on some events that are well known, but treats them in a different way---crisply and to the point. I'm learning some new things, too.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a good book about a subject that seems will never be over.



5. Ms. Bradford is a celebrity biographer! She certainly did not bring anything memorable to the enigmatical Princess but she dragged it out forever. As Americans, we know little of the British system of royalty or those priveleged to be titled. I'm not certain that dragging every name and title connected with the late Princess brought anything at all interesting to this writing but it certainly filled pages with useless information. The only fact that was of any interest to me was that Diana Spencer's English lineage is absolute while that of Prince Charles is notably flawed! Diana's ideas concerning Prince William's elevation to King in place of Prince Charles has much value to the British people if the sequence of events reveal themselves to be in the best interests of the Monarchy. Diana would have liked William to be 'a very English King' who brings the Monarchy into the 21st century with she taking on the role of Queen Mother and aiding him in this huge endeavor. The Princess wished William and Harry to be a part of comtemporary English life by knowing his people and not reigning from afar in isolation. She wished him to be a democratic King to the people he would rule and to the extent that she was able, already had William and Harry on the road to that end. After reading almost 400 pages of information, this was the only enlightenment I came away with. I much preferred the biogaphy written by Paul Burrell to this one although the comparison is, more or less, one of apples to oranges.

5 comments about Citizen Hughes : The Power, the Money and the Madness.

1. In his blacked-out Desert Inn Las Vegas suite, with only Mormon aides under the strictest of rules. Eating only canned goods after the most precise label removed sterilization routines. And the continuous viewing of the movie "Ice Station Zebra" morning, noon and night. This is the unshaved, rarely bathed Howard Hughes in his final years. Las Vegas because of its heat; heat representing in his mind cleanliness and purity. My how the mighty have fallen! Should be a sequel to the film "The Aviator".



2. Howard Hughes is a tragic figure.
   
   This book exploits the desire of gossip-mongers to "get the inside scoop" on the private life of the celebrity Hughes.
   
   Nevertheless, I found the book highly credible and a great source of research information for more than just Hughes.



3. The movie was exceptionally good. As always the book is better. It really gives you a lot of insight into his life.



4. A startling glimpse inside the life of a disturbed Howard Hughs.
   The book does not outline a pretty picture of Hughs in his latter years. The corruption,the paranoia,the insanity,is quite compelling. The author however,does tend to repeat several things over and again in the book. Still, I found it a great read and a disturbing look into the life of Howard Hughs during his final years.



5. Shut away in a hotel room in Las Vegas, with the windows blacked out, and a TV and six aides as his only connection to the outside world, Howard Hughes rules the world, if only in his mind.
   
   During the late 1960's and early 1970's, Hughes, who hasn't been seen in public in almost ten years, lives the life of a total recluse, in a "germ free" prison he has built for himself. Naked, only bathing maybe once or twice a year, with hair down to his backside, beard down to his navel, eating maybe once a day at the most, and storing his urine in Mason jars, Hughes writes out memos to his Mormon aides detailing to them, among other things, how to "sterilize" canned fruit to be served to him, despite the fact that his hotel room hasn't been cleaned in years. He also schemes about his plans to make Vegas in his image, including ways to allow people from all over the world to phone in to bookies to place bets and win big.
   
   Howard Hughes, in his final years, lived only for self. He considered himself the perfect man, a megalomaniac who shoots up with enough drugs to kill a horse, and writes out his orders on legal pads instead of picking up a phone or showing up at board meetings in person.
   
   
   "The Dating Game"
   
   For example, as Hughes is poised to buy the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the deal dies in less than thirty minutes, due to his racist tendencies (out of fear, not hatred). He tunes in to "The Dating Game", to see a black man have to choose a date between what Hughes thought was two black women and one "white" woman. The man chooses the "white" woman, who in fact is not white but is actually a very light skinned black woman. But it doesn't matter to Hughes: out of his bizarre fear, the deal is off.
   
   In conclusion...
   A wacky story of a genius who became so afraid of the world that he "tried" to control it through his TV and his henchmen.

5 comments about A Private Family Matter: A Memoir.

1. Victor Rivers is a handsome man. Movie star, college educated, Football player.
   A big, strong, tough man who was reduced to weeping when taken back to his horrific childhood in countless nightmares. So terrifying, so brutal for his wife to endure, she could only cry as he fought the demons of domestic violence.
   Countless women have told their stories. Hoping to save, `just one person.' Reliving their own personal hell with each word. You will relive Mr. Rivers personal hell. He takes the reader from a little boy to a full grown man, still fighting the little guys fight. He tells his story to help others. I believe it will.
   If you know nothing of domestic violence, you will have a better understanding after you read this book. You may find it hard to comprehend. You will ask yourself, `How do people let this happen?' `Why not just leave?' Read on.
   If you're a victim or a survivor, it is graphic. Mr. Rivers does not soften his story. He shouldn't. You will ask yourself how every domestic violence story can be so similar. You will cry many times. You will laugh a few times. You will love him when his son is born.
   No one looks at Victor Rivers, with all of his successes, and thinks of domestic violence. He was a victim, he is a survivor. For all of these reasons I thank him, and his family, for telling his story. I respect him for wanting to help, `just one person.'



2. Victor's talent for writing and impressive memory brings you right into his story. You feel as if you are there, witnessing it all. All the while, I became was his personal cheerleader in my mind, encouraging him to succeed, which he does. Victor has lead a tragic and exciting life, but most important, he became a survivor and a champion for all who are like him. Breaking the chain of abuse is a long hard road, but it is possible. I hope those who struggle with breaking that chain will hear his story and know it can be done.



3. This is an incredibly well written book!! It's hard to believe anyone can survive such circumstances and even more impressive is the man Victor turned into. He has overcome terrible abuse to become a loving father and husband. If only everyone who experienced abuse could break the cycle! He goes on to become a national spokesman against violence to help other families and other children like himself.
   There isn't a boring page in this book, very highly recommended!!



4. We all grew up in dysfunctional families. But some might be called suicidal rather than dysfunctional. How does a child who starts being beaten when he is fifteen months old grow up to be even sane? How does a child grown up into manhood and break the only pattern he has seen while growing up?
   
   Perhaps the answer comes when you see the photograph of the author first holding his own new born son in his arms. He says, "The moment I held Eli in my arms, I knew I could never hurt him the way that my father hurt me." The day you first hold your own new born is a kind of magic day in your life. I remember it well.
   
   This is a story of great sadness. This is a story that happens all too often. And all too often the cycle of violence continues from one generation to another. This is also a story of great triumph as the author preports on how he managed to overcome a childhood from hell. This part of the story doesn't happen often enough, it's glorous when it does.



5. A PRIVATE FAMILY MATTER takes up the story of one of Hollywood's leading actors, whom you have seen in so many TV shows and movies, and strips off the surface to reveal that behind the handsome mask he wears, a nightmare of terror and horror will forever haunt Victor Rivas, as the demons that have haunted him since childhood keep whistling through his mind like witches on broomsticks. He never has had a day without reliving the traumas of his difficult youth, particularly standing in the shadow of an abusive Dad, whose beatings he endured on a regular basis. Sometimes the father seems so wound up he's unreal, but through the eyes of a child, evil often wears a human face, and all too often, as Mr. Rivas demonstrates, that evil is in the father.
   
   I liked all the Cuban stuff, an area I know little about. The family left Cuba when Castro came to power, because his father's family occupied important positions in the cabinet of the corrupt dictator Bautista (still fondly remembered, it seems, by many anti-Communist Cuban Americans). When you read A PRIVATE FAMILY MATTER perhaps you, like I, flashed back to the great novel by Reinaldo Arenas, BEFORE NIGHT FALLS, with its odd mixture of a longing for indigenous culture and a fleeing from its misogynist and anti-child aspects. The smells and sounds come out at you in waves of sensuous description.
   
   Most of all, however, you feel the boy's pain. His father was truly a monster, and his mother was completely cowed by what amounts to the abuse he meted out to whoever got in the way of his anger and machismo. Beyond that, Victor reveals what it took to get him to become a productive adult. There had to be a lot of repair work done on this man. Next time you see him in the movies, think of how much his acting talent comes from the resources it took for him to find the light in a dark world of abuse. And now he helps others who have suffered some of the same syndromic abuse. Highly recommended.

3 comments about Arnold Palmer: Memories, Stories, and Memorabilia from a Life on and Off the Course.

1. I was extremely surprised that Arnold didn't mention meeting me in the parking lot of Houston's Memorial Park one evening after he'd finished a round of golf and I was returning to my car after running on the track there. We had a memorably joyful conversation -- I asked him how he was doing, and he said fine, and he asked me how I was doing, and I said fine, and we both smiled. He should have mentioned that episode, but he didn't



2. This is another type of book that any Arnold Palmer fan will love to read. This edition not only had my interest from Palmer's written words, but the clever inserts of about a dozen or so Palmer collectibles made it all the more intriguing. It was a book that once I picked it up could not put down. The story of his career and family life that was extremely interesting and insightful, yet entertaining. From a personal perspective I liked 'A Personal Journey' but was even more impressed with this one !



3. Before there was Governator Arnie there was Arnie the golfer. It seems like golf has always had a shining star or two that go beyond the game to making a lasting impression on the world at large. And Arnie certainly fit that. He generated an image for a generation of people, inspiring to do better in their work, in their life. Not the world's best golfer, he's simply Arnie, the world famous guy next door. His approachability and down-home humility have secured his status as one of the most admired people in and out of sports.
   
   This book could almost be his scrapbook. It combines stories, both personal and professional, rare photos from his private collection and removable facsimilies of twelve collectibles from his archives.
   
   This is a fascinating book with which to curl up during the long winter months. A good Christmas present for the golfer in the family.

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