1 comments about The Intentional Leader.

1. I used Shaw's book as the text for my graduate Foundations of Educational Leadership course last spring and will use it again this fall. Shaw's book provides students with an opportunity to self reflect and analyze their skills. As one of my students stated, "Self-reflection and making an honest analysis about my leadership skill development is something that I truly struggle with. I've learned a great deal using Shaw's text this semester." Another student stated, "The ideas in Shaw's book were quite eye opening. As I read, I found myself saying, Yeah, that makes sense."
   The Intentional Leader provides a comprehensive look at leadership skills and abilities. The book is very user friendly and well written.

No comments about 1000 Erotic Works of Genius.

1 comments about People: Yearbook 2006 (People Yearbook).

1. This is a great magazine to have! It has all kinds of interesting stories and people. This is definitely something to keep on your coffee table! It's full of great pictures as well. If you love People magazine, you need to get the Yearbook 2006! A great collector's item.

5 comments about Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days.

1. My husband claims that I've never met a book I didn't like. But two Edward Klein books that I've recently read have to be the exceptions. The Kennedy Curse was bad enough, but Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days is a true dog.
   
   Klein gives us the details of the diagnosis of Jackie's fatal illness and follows through to her death. In between, he regales us with short stories about her childhood, her lovers, her husbands, her children, her friends and her job. Jackie was fiercely protective of her privacy, and one thing that she demanded of her friends was complete loyalty. Edward Klein used to be a friend, until he wrote an article about her. After that, she cut him off completely. As a result, we're not really getting his "inside" story, but the story of dozens and dozens of Jackie's "anonymous" friends. I question how many would willingly provide him with intimate details of Jackie's deathbed scene (one that he called "her masterpiece").
   
   Farewell, Jackie isn't much of a book. Weighing in about just a little over 200 pages, the chapters are short, the pages are small, and there are often two or three blank pages between each chapter. I read Farewell in a little over two hours, and I'm not a speed reader. At least with The Kennedy Curse, Klein provided us with some interesting information about the little-known Kennedy-Fitzgerald patriarchs. Unfortunately, Farewell, Jackie has little to redeem it. I think Klein has milked this cash cow (the Kennedy's) to the extent that the cow has run dry. It's time for him to find some new material.



2. The author was once a friend of Jackie's, until he had the audacity to break one of her cardinal rules...writing an article on her for Vanity Fair in 1989. Like many people, he has cashed in quite nicely on noteriety of the Kennedy's, and Jackie in particular. Hence, Jackie banished Klien from her circle as she did with many people that she felt breached her privacy. You can hardly consider Klien a true insider, he is more like a vulture picking at scraps already chewed over by many, many other gossip columnists, writers, and fans like myself.
   This book is really just a re-hashing of many things that have already been published and little of it is new. I must add that most of the details in this book on her illness and treatment h were widely published in tabloids like "Enquirer" and "Star" when she died 10 years ago. The chapters on Jackie's private moments during the last months of her life-when she is in church, in the doctor's office, with her children, and even on her deathbed are hard to believe, if only because we know Jackie would not have allowed Klien within a block of her presence. Most of his sources for these are a "secret" and I really have to wonder if anyone that Mrs Onassis truly considered a friend would speak with Mr. Klien.
   
   This book, I hate to admit, is a guilty pleasure but one that I regret indulging in, knowing disgusted the subject would have been with it.



3. I enjoy reading books about the Kennedys and Jackie Onassis, but this book, which was supposed to give a chronicle of sorts of the last 10-11 years of Jackie's life, did not do a very good job of that. It was a cut-and-paste biography from previous books and interviews. I didn't learn anything new from this book, and that's the biggest disappointment. It will be a nice addition to my extensive library, but it won't be the first one I pull off the shelf for anyone who wants a good narrative of her life and on who Jackie really was. This is an "okay to read if you're lonely" kind of book.



4. I think that this book was a well writen portrail of Jackie's final days, with a moderate vocabulary it well conveys the beliefs of the author



5. Edward Klein needs to find a new family to write recycled books about. After peddling such ghastly books as "The Kennedy Curse" and "Just Jackie," Klein engages in literary graverobbing with the putrid "Farewell Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days."

   His primary focus is the final illness and death of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, of non-lymphoma cancer that seemed easily treatable. By this time, Ms. Onassis had transcended her tabloid-speckled former lives and had a good job, a man she loved, and grandchildren she adored. But when her cancer spread, Onassis tried to die with the illusion of dignity she had maintained in her life.

   Reading "Farewell Jackie" is a bit like watching someone break open a grave to frisk the bones of the dead. Padding the story of Jackie's illness and death are stories of her earlier life -- primarily her second marriage, and various love affairs she had (one of which has been denied by the man involved). Dirt-dishing, anyone?

   Jackie Kennedy Onassis is portrayed as downright saintly in this book; Klein glosses over the hypocrises and flaws in her personality, such as being "religious" yet ignoring tenets of that religion. Even the volatile nature of her relationship with her second husband. Oddly enough, this adoration doesn't extend far enough, especially at the end. Any semblance of dignity is shredded when Klein goes into grotesque detail about Onassis's final mental and physical deterioration.

   What's more, Klein's writing is deplorable. He transcribes private conversations and moments when Onassis was alone -- all obviously faked. Not to mention that Klein is in desperate need of an editor for this book's many errors. On one page, Klein informs us, "Jackie a wreck." Verbs? We don't need no stinkin' verbs.

   Farewell, Jackie. Too bad Klein had to write this book and peddle it as a memorial volume for you. "Farewell Jackie," thankfully, is clearly destined to sink into the mire of obsequious, poorly-written Kennedy books.

5 comments about Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (Walker Large Print Books).

1. I was sorry to be reminded, on page 787 of this long and often interesting autobiography, that my famed arch-rival, the Rev. Billy Graham, has retired from the ministry, with full pay. Having helped so many for so long to be forgiven for so much, and to obtain for themselves so great a promised reward in Heaven, Dr. Graham has said that he will soon be called home to meet his Maker.
   
   (Billy, piece of advice: Don't go. I've already met your Maker and He's not worth the trip.)
   
   I've known quite a few evangelists in my day. Billy Graham was the best of the lot, both as a preacher and as a human being, Lord, how I loved to hear Billy in his heyday, years ago, before he became a billionaire. How he thundered out the gospel in those days, to the lost sheep of the world! Come the Final Judgment, thousands of forgiven ne'er-do-wells will settle forever in Heaven, a gated community, in private mansions on five-acre lots, along boulevards of transparent gold, with Crystal River frontage out back. They'll have the Rev. Billy Graham to thank for the everlasting real estate. And if the projected housing shortage never materializes down there in my own maximum-security neighbourhood, well, I guess we can thank Billy for that, too.
   
   The Rev. Jerry Falwell has explained to his television audience, loud and often, that the "Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan in America." Don't take that complaint too literally. Rival evangelists ever since saints Peter and Paul have engaged in Jerry's brand of gentle teasing. Nor would I call Jerry Falwell or Billy Graham my "servants." I would just call them valued allies in my Coalition of the Willing. The exact truth is that Billy never worked for me. I actually owe more to Jerry, whose TV show, The 700 Club, has done me a world of good.
   
   It is true, however, that I used to be one of Billy's biggest fans. I actually attended several of his Greater World Evangelistic Crusades over the years; and I found them all quite entertaining, spiritually speaking. It wasn't just me: back in the 1950s, everyone on the planet wanted to see Billy! hear Billy! talk Billy! By my own lowball estimate there were some 2.4 million women in the U.K. alone who wanted to DO Billy! (but he was not that kind of evangelist).
   
   Most of you won't remember the final meeting of the 1954 Greater London Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusade; but I do, I was there. England, in those days, was still a Christian nation and this was the single largest Christian gathering in British history, dwarfing the previous record-setting event, the domestic crusades of 1264-1290 CE, when tens of thousands of English Christians united as one man to kill English Jews, or drive them into the sea.
   
   So to Wembley Stadium they came, 25 May 1954, from every white Anglican-Saxon Protestant corner of Britain. Winston Churchill said that he and Marilyn Monroe, combined, could not draw a big enough crowd to fill Wembley Stadium (Graham, p. 253); but Billy and the Lord were able to do it. And they DID do it.
   
   What a day! What a night! Billy Graham preached the gospel that night, in a cold, soaking rain, to 120,000 Brits at Wembley, and to a spill-over crowd of 65,000--all 185,000 of whom came voluntarily, most of whom would not have paid tuppence to see the Archbishop of Canterbury on the sunniest day of the year. But at Billy's invitation, they came, they saw, they heard, they believed. And they got drenched to their knickers.
   
   The good Lord supplied the guest speaker from America. I supplied the weather.
   
   Weirdly, Billy doesn't seem to blame me for that 1954 tempest. But I sure get blamed for everything else. At a Crusade in Altoona, a black woman in the all-volunteer choir kept shouting "HALLELUJAH!" and "PRAISE JESUS!", right in the middle of Billy's sermons. Bouncers evicted her, "but she kept coming back. We could not help but sense that Satan was on the attack" (p. 134).
   
   --But I had nothing to do with it! In fact, I was in Kathmandu that week!
   
   In the course of this book I get blamed for Billy's travel glitches (p. 207), kidney stone (244), a satirical newspaper cartoon (312), a Hippie demonstration ("400 Satan-worshippers," p. 370), and I even get blamed for "all [Billy's] sins going all the way back to childhood" (742). Is that fair?
   
   But hey, I forgive the man. I'm just glad he didn't blame me for those 1972 Nixon tapes, released in 2002, in which Billy flames the Jews for their "stranglehold" on the nation, a monopoly that "has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain!"
   
   "Oh, boy," said Nixon. "I can't ever say that, but I believe it!"
   
   "No, but if you get elected a second time, then we might be able to DO something," replied Billy--and he didn't just mean let's bomb Cambodia, or let's scrap the U.S. Constitution. He meant, In your second term, Dick, let's break the Jewish chokehold, or else, swoosh! this great nation is going right down the toilet!
   
   But then Nixon got impeached, and Billy had do work instead with President Jerry Ford, who thought the Jews were okay. So there went that plan.
   
   What Billy hated the most, he said, was having to play the hypocrite with Jews who "swarm around" him like insects, "and are friendly" to him. Billy hated that! He confided to Nixon, "They don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country!"
   
   In the 798 pages of _Just As I Am_, Billy neglects to mention those Jew-bashing tapes he made with Richard Nixon--and I'm glad for the omission: because I know whom he would blame for the embarrassing fact that the tapes were never erased...
   
   Yours truly,
   --L



2. I really enjoyed this autobiography by Billy Graham. It was a very pleasant read. In this autobiography, Graham shared his life struggles and victories. He tells of his childhood experiences on the farm, and how he grew up in a christian home without atually accepting it. He then explained how his life was changed once he dedicated his life to Christ. As the book continues, the reader discovers Graham's world-wide experiences, and how he helped to bring millions to the Lord.
   
   Although the book was enjoyable overall, some parts of the book seemed a little drawn out and uneccesary. Some events seemed to be a little too insignificant to include in the book. He could have also opened up a little bit, and shared more of his personal feelings. Since it is an autobiography, Graham could have personalized the events a little bit more. But despite its flaws, this book was very inspirational, and I recommend it to all who are interested in learning more about this great christian icon.



3. Unless Billy did a fantastic job in hiding all of the difficult and trying times of his life (as I suspect in the case of his troubled relationship with his son Franklin), WHAT A LIFE this man had!!! Who would not want to have what he had: travels; meetings with the rich, the famous, the wise; success; financial stability; a loving wife; great kids; and most of all, the honor and privilege to lead millions to Christ. Can you imagine the party they'll throw in heaven when he gets there? However, the book was very mediocre in my view. Very seldom the author opened his heart and expressed his true feelings...Lots of anecdotes, details, insignificant (to the reader) stuff; it was not a total waste of time, because you always get the feeling that this man loves his Lord and truly wants to serve Him. Not much to say against that...I just wish he could have made deeper remarks about people and events in general.



4. i'm very excited with this purchase. I received the product in very well condition and in good time.



5. Let me first preface this by saying that I've never actually heard a Billy Graham message but was curious to learn about him given his wide influence both in the religious and political realm. It's obvious why he is so popular he has a great sense of humor and a way of telling storys that while amazingly simple does not insult the intellegience of the listner. Also the fact that his life was good material to work with didn't hurt at all. He's a fascinating character while on one hand he is a throw back to the old school evangelists like Billy Sunday who preached with exuberant energy and strength against the evils of such things as alcohol and secularism but on the other hand he hurdled christianity into the future in the way he worked with several different church denominations and revolutionized evangelism through mass media a feat that has never been equaled sense. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Billy Graham is how such an immedeatly plain spoken individual made such headway with the secular media and goverment heirarchy this is something Billy Graham himself admits belwilderment to on the back cover of the book. His popularity would explain somewhat his influence in government it's clear that politicians thought and rightfully so that his views represented those of a lot of Americans. However there is never really any explanation as to why or how for example he became the first minister to speak at the London School of Business he himself admitted that he wasn't the most intellectual of his peers. Perhaps it is as Billy Graham claims the power of the gospel.
   A couple of the things I admired were Billy Grahams honesty when it came to dealing with such things as money and women. I also personally liked the fact that he didn't try to pretend he was more pompous than he really was he's open about experiences that some ministers would no doubt be embarassed by such as going to movies with a lot of nudity at young age, being hit on by a girl in high school, and acting like a bumbling fool around presidents Truman and Eisenhower. As some people on here have alluded to already it does sort of seem like he was an absintee father. I was a bit disturbed by this as a Christian I think God calls married men to be husbands and fathers first and foremost. I have to admit though I think a lesser man wouldn't have disclosed such details as his young daughter not being able to recognize her mother.

5 comments about The DD Group: An Online Investigation Into the Death of Marilyn Monroe.

1. Great book. If you are interested in theories and thoughts of other Marilyn fans, this is the book to read.



2. This book made me re-examine my opinion as to the death of the great Marilyn Monroe. The book was so well researched (by so many), debated and documented. I actually changed my opinion as to the mode of her tragic demise because of it...I still don't believe that MM intended to commit suicide, which correlates to BOTH of the author's final speculations as to how she died, but I am swayed by the opinion that others were (innocently) responsible for her death, due to gross negligence. This negligence made it absolutely necessary to hide the real way MM died. (it saved careers)...Her Dr.'s. had an unknowing hand in her death, and even Mrs. Murray, which would fit in to why she said, "Why, oh why, after all these years, do I have to keep hiding this..." Marilyn did not intentionally commit suicide...That is my opinion after reading this excellent book. Your opinion may be different...That is what is so great about this novel...It leaves room for the reader to formulate their own opinion based upon the facts presented...Read and enjoy!



3. 
   Just finished the book this morning. Couldn't put it down since I purchased it a couple of days ago! I believe it has demystified so much here about Marilyn that it has to be very close to the last word on the subject. I took an interest in MM a few years ago and read many books on her. I was so impressed with her life that I wrote a three-act play called "Bye Bye Baby" about her last thee days. It hasn't been staged yet but one lives in hope! It was heavily biased by the Slatzer, Wolfe angle [murder] but since I read this book I'll have to re-write it removing this bias. After I read it I immediately went to Matthew Smith's Last Words to see if the DD Group's versions matched in any way. I believe, with a little bit of editing, it has second-guessed the Marilyn's tapes which weren't published at the time! It all makes sense now!!! However, although I really believed all along that she had been murdered, I now believe she did kill herself and that she made her mind up after RFK'S visit. It would seem that her whole world caved in then. When she asked Dr. Greenson "Did you take my Nembutal?" I think she was calling his bluff. She probably told him earlier that she only had one or two left and hid the 24 or 25. He may well have given her a shot of a small, controlled amount of Nembutal, with this knowledge in mind, when he returned, advising her to go to bed immediately. [I think most psychiatrists can and do give shots]. Remember that her total well-being depended almost entirely the esteem in which the Kennedys held her. If that was lost irretrievably, MM was lost. And it looked pretty final at 4.00 that Saturday. Dr. Greenson alone couldn't keep her from ending her life, even though he was indispensable to her in many ways. She was too intelligent for them all but must have made up her mind that afternoon.
   MM must have felt lonelier that evening than any other time in her life and in that lonely bed in Brentwood she must have sobbed herself into that deep, deep sleep. I do believe now that she did say "Say goodbye to Jack..." to Peter Lawford. It's so, so tragic.
   This book is a wonderful, intelligent and compassionate insight!!! I am forever in their debt.
   
   
   Seoirse O Dochartaigh, Donegal, Ireland



4. I liked the format of this book, researcher sharing comments and formulating their opinions. Perhaps a better way of looking at what happened than individual writers have done. Worth a look see.



5. David Marshall's "The DD Group: An Online Investigation Into the Death of Marilyn Monroe" is a must-read for anyone interested in learning the truth about the premature demise of Hollywood's most enduring star. The book examines all aspects of Miss Monroe's death by carefully reconstructing her final hours and analyzing the facts in a logical, detailed, and organized manner. Medical and forensics evidence is carefully dissected, and the possible agendas and questionable credibility of several key associates of Miss Monroe's {as well as a number of contemporary biographers} is presented for consideration. The book contains numerous startling new facts never revealed in any other Monroe biography, information which is compelling, ground-breaking and startling in the extreme. The intense research conducted by the participants of the group is impressive and unprecedented, and Mr. Marshall did an admirable job condensing what must have been an intimidatingly vast amount of information into a concise, well-written and thoroughly gripping investigative report. I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for the truth about what happened to Marilyn Monroe on the night she died. Fact and fantasy will become very easy to discern, and readers will arrive at a possible conclusion which is credible, realistic, and devoid of sensationalism. This book is a tremendous accomplishment, and you will never look at the death of Marilyn Monroe the same way again.

No comments about Sugar Baron: Manuel Rionda and the Fortunes of Pre-Castro Cuba.

5 comments about Camilla: Her True Story.

1. A woman who broke up the marrige of Princess Diana along with her husband Prince Charles.Who admitted to never loving Diana on a TV special.Charles & Camilla consorted to make Diana appear as Diana would say Looney.Diana dies a suspicious death in paris almost one year to the date of her divorce from charles.Diana sealed her fate when she went on Al Fayed's yacht.The establishment as Diana called the royals said she was a liability to the crown.Diana was & would never be free to live the life she allways wanted.The royals seen to that Diana came up removed by death.So Camilla the Horseface & Charles the Pig got married.Never in a million years would i buy anything from these two people.Give this book a -20 forever?????



2. In response to some who run to the defense of Diana, and regard any other view as gossipy, there are other sides to a story, and the fact was that there were many, many more than three in this marriage, Diana bringing into it an enormous amount of "lovers", starting early in her marriage with her own infidelities, and after reading about every book there is on this triangle, and Diana herself, it is nice to see some authors presenting Charles and Camilla's side to the story in a decent, mature way. Diana used the media to trash this woman for years, not considering what her actions would to do others, while the entire time she was dabbling in numerous adulterous affairs, so in all fairness, it is nice to read a study into the other side of the story, written with compassion to the other players in this scenario, compassion that Diana and her journalists never gave them, while covering her own indiscretions, which were to numerous to imagine. Diana was a master of using the media to put out the story that she wanted a naieve public to believe, and sadly there are too many followers of hers that still will not believe that there is another story to be told, and am glad to see authors that are willing to give us the other side to this story, and if they tend to put Camilla in a good light, perhaps the woman merits some of that, goodness knows she has been trashed enough by Diana and the journalists that she had eating out of her hand!!! Good for Ms. Graham.



3. They met when they were young; now some thirty years later, they are still together, and still very much in love. How long will it take for their love to be fully accepted by the public? This is a great love story, yet Prince Charles and Camilla still deal with slurs and scorn every day. Haven't they earned our respect? In my opinion, they have. How many people do you know who are still so much in love after thirty years? They deserve the fondest and best wishes from everyone. Even Diana, if she were still here, would have agreed, by now.



4. She will justify anything coming from Camilla and Charles, gossiping like Lady Campbell and attribute every single fault to Diana. Where is your moral? Camilla was pestering this couple for all these years, insincere in wanting their best. Why she didn't get a life ? Leave the poor couple to live peacefully? She really stole another woman's husband. I imagine how much Camilla is paying to this wretched author to write this sordid book. Diana should have sent or hire someone to eliminate this bothering woman in the first place. This will put her in her right place. But Diana was decent in just getting out of this sham marriage instead of persisting it despite all the privileges of royal life. She was being far more honest in wanting to terminate it than many women who will stay in this sordid marriage just for the food.



5. This is just an update of an earler Caroline Graham book, The King's Mistress. I dont beleive that the author was being very objective in her treatment of the subject matter. The late princess Diana is not portrayed in a good light, whilst Camilla is seen as just a woman in love. She comes across as so very caring, kind, giving and loving, its a wonder her own ex-husband didn't hold on to her. Overall though, the book is well written and does give some insight into the woman who may or may not be queen.

3 comments about Prince Of The City: The True Story Of A Cop Who Knew Too Much.

1. This is a dazzling work of nonfiction that traces the story of Robert Leuci, a young detective with the New York City Police Department who came to a crossroads in his life and found himself confronted with whom he had become and, apparently, did not like what he saw. As a team leader in the elite and now defunct Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Narcotics division during the late nineteen sixties and early seventies, Leuci was involved in many large narcotics takedowns and, consequently, the corruption that then often ensued.
   
   In early 1971, Leuci was called to appear before the Commission to investigate Alleged Police Corruption, which was known as the Knapp Commission. Although the commission had no evidence of wrongdoing by Leuci, it had called him in to ask about some of the detectives that he had worked with in SIU. Leuci, at the time, refused to give up his fellow officers, claiming that the whole criminal justice arena, including the lawyers and the courts, were corrupt. Leuci was interviewed by Nicholas Scoppetta, a former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney with the Knapp Commission (and now the current New York City Fire Department Commissioner). After interviewing him, Scoppetta decided to leave the Knapp Commission and persuaded the federal government to undertake a probe into the entire criminal justice system of New York City with Detective Robert Leuci as its linchpin, an investigation that the federal government agreed to undertake.
   
   The book details Detective's Leuci's personal exploits, as he fearlessly helped the federal government make its cases against lawyers, bail bondsmen, and other cops. For years, Leuci walked a fine line, continuing his work as a NYPD detective while working as a confidential informant for the feds, often at great risk to his life. The details of his exploits are riveting, as they expose the seamy side of a criminal justice system that, at the time, was truly corrupt at so many levels. Moreover, Leuci's personal angst in trying to keep his detective friends from becoming embroiled in the investigation is palpable throughout the book, as is Leuci's innate sense of fair play.
   
   Leuci himself had previously been on the take, a fact of which the feds were aware. It was the extent to which Leuci had been on the take that the Feds were unaware. Leuci's perfidy was not revealed in its entirety until the government had made many arrests, grand juries had handed down indictments, and defendants had been tried and convicted. Leuci had worked with Rudolf Giuliani, who was then a young Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of the State of New York. It was to Giuliani that Leuci eventually unburdened himself. I have to commend Giuliani for the compassion that he extended to Leuci, a man who was clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown after leading a double life for years and who, for so long, had internalized his anxiety over his own and his friends' involvement in the corruption that was at the heart of the investigation.
   
   This is a well-written and moving true story of a cop who knew too much and was eventually made to sing. This is a great book upon which the wonderful, gritty film, "Prince of the City", starring Treat Williams, was based. Those who are interested in the criminal justice arena or are cop buffs will especially enjoy this book, as well as the film. Bravo!



2. The true story of a cop who knew too much.
   1978 hardcover. 311 page published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
   Author's note: All of the events depicted in this book are a matter of factual record, and the people are real. No names have been chenged. The dialogue has either been taken from concealed tape recordings made at the time the events took place or been carefully reconstructed through interviews with the participants.



3. Prince Of The City: The True Story Of A Cop Who Knew Too Much is the dramatic true story of Detective Robert Leuci, a deep cover sleuth who assembled corruption cases against lawyers, bail bondsmen, mob figures, and even some of his own, putting his own life in peril for the sake of law and justice. Written in the style of a novel, Prince Of The City offers an unflinchingly honest portrait of the rigors of policework, the toll it can take, and the horrors it encounters all too often. An introduction by Rudolph Giuliani rounds out this mesmerizing chronicle of courage and duty.

No comments about Journeys: The Gamaches in the New World.