1 comments about On Green Spring Farm: The Life and Times of One Family in Fairfax County, Virginia, 1942-1966.

1. Green Spring Farm is nine miles south of Washington, DC, and is a colonial era manor house complete with a garden and surrounded by a public park operated by the Fairfax Country Park Authority. Scores of volunteers work with the Green Spring Farm staff and thousands of visitors each year admire the garden and landscaping. On Green Spring Farm: The Life And Times Of One Family In Fairfax County, Virginia 1942-1966 is an impressive and memorable anthology of anecdotal vignettes which based upon original journal entries which aptly portray the true stories of an ordinary family whose history and individual lives had a lasting impact on everyone around them. A number of notable individuals appear in these historical anecdotes ranging from Dean Acheson (Secretary of State); to Ralph Bunche (Nobel Peace Prize winner); to Felix Frankurter (U.S. Supreme Court Justice); to John F. Kennedy (U.S. President); to J.RR. Tolkien (author and academician); among a host of others. A thoroughly heartwarming and eclectic collection, featuring everything from stories of family pets to vacations, illnesses, and eyebrow-raising exploits, On Green Spring Farm is unique, personally rewarding, and very highly recommended reading.

No comments about Mark Twain - Life and Times of the Novelist (Biography).

5 comments about JFK: Reckless Youth.

1. In the description of this book it says, "-a book that will astonish, entertain, and inform all those interesed in the life of America's thirty-sixth president." John F. Kennedy was the 35th president not the 36th. I was doing a report on JFK and when i saw this i decided i obviously should not use this book!



2. Excellent book...Still waiting for Mr. Hamilton to come out with his second volume. I highly recommend the movie starring Patrick Dempsey. Mr. Hamilton we are still waiting for volume 2...



3. Our fascination with JFK continues. Even now, there are still aspects of his life and career which remain hidden from public view.
   
   This book relies on meticulous research and avoids speculation. It acquaints us with a brutal and psychotically competitive family, an aloof and cold mother of too many children who accomodates her husband's self-centeredness by a peculiarly Catholic form of emotional abandonment. This remove, however, strikes her own children as collateral damage from her intended assault on her husband.
   
   A family of highly competitive people, with singular ambition. The theory is not hard to establish: the ambition is to attain mom's love (which is unattainable) and to impress dad.
   
   The story is archetypal of American in the mid-20th century. We achieved so much because of qualities of competition, ruthlessness and self-interest. We also learned to worship glamour and celebrity. Wasn't Kennedy the best-looking president by far?
   
   I never understood him better than after reading this book. I also believe that he was addicted to sex, and that we knew way too little about how to treat that addiction back then.



4. Anyone who truly loves John Kennedy (as I do) owes it to themselves to delve deeper into the formation of the character of this fabulously flawed human being. Nigel Hamilton's minutely-detailed "JFK: Reckless Youth," which recounts Kennedy's early through his first run for Congress, is one helluva place to start.
   
   The myth of Camelot has suffered death by a thousand cuts -- shredded by the disclosure of presidential affairs, murder plots and political machinations. But while other celebrities have generated renewed interest and sympathy by openly airing dirt and scandal, the Kennedys have endlessly recycled the Camelot myth of the heroic young president slain before his time. Hamilton's book is the antidote to this pious tripe, serving up a John Kennedy fighting against (and sometimes embracing) forces that should have destroyed him. Young John Kennedy suffered from a mystery ailment that landed him in the hospital countless times. He courted disaster and scandal with a string of amours. He chose to fight the Japanese on a "plywood coffin" known as a PT boat rather than sit out the war in a safer place. He was saddled with a father whose pre-WWII appeasement policies undercut the national interest. Kennedy, from a young age, was one familiar with the knife's edge between life and death, learning to skate the blade with grace and aplomb. Hamilton exhaustively chronicles these episodes using interview material and an extraordinary trove of personal letters to and from Kennedy himself.
   
   It's a shame that the Kennedy family blocked Hamilton's access to additional JFK material. The next volumes would no doubt have shown the moral excesses and almost suicidal risk-taking increasing as JFK grew older. While this material might have threatened the maudlin serenity of Camelot, I would have welcomed the change. Paradoxically, my love and admiration for John Kennedy did not wane as I read the incredible details of his life. Instead, I was amazed that such an extraordinary, compassionate and visionary man arose from the chaos of a life lived as a constant roll of the dice.



5. JFK RECKLESS YOUTH has only one drawback: It covers only the part of his life up to his election to Congress. Hamilton has promised two more volumes, but they have so far not appeared. That said, it is the only negative that can be said for this remarkable volume, for my money the best JFK bio anywhere (including the new but hardly impressive JFK: AN UNFINISHED LIFE by Robert Dallek). There isn't an aspect of Kennedy's life that goes unexplored. Hamilton, however, did not have the access to JFK's medical records that Dallek did -- therefore he probably did not realize how very serious JFK's health issues were. (Of course, he is writing about JFK's early life, when he was obviously a lot healthier than he was later.)

   What is made painfully clear here is that JFK became president not because of his parents, but frankly, in spite of them. It was the force of his intellect and personality, more than his father's money, that made him who he was. Hamilton spends a lot of time in comparisons between Joe Jr. (the heir apparent) and Jack, the second son. According to him, Joe Jr. was ponderous, prejudiced, hardworking but abrasive and often nasty, and in general, simply did not attract people to him as Jack did. Jack, on the other hand, for all his natural rebelliousness (almost certainly fed by his parents' endless hectoring and marital issues), had enormous charm, warmth and endless humor. Hamilton even uncovers evidence of a surprisingly tender heart and his attempts to hide his concern for his friends with sarcasm and wit. His friends note that he constantly looked for new friendships and never lost a friend, even when the friends treated him with less than kindness and respect. He was loyal to a fault.

   Hamilton does reserve tremendous ire (and who can blame him?) for JFK's parents, two of really the most awful parents it's possible to imagine. Rose was a mother who constantly went off and left her children with the help, never home even when her oldest children were babies, and was never, never affectionate or even perhaps very interested in them, due to her unending though silent opposition to her husband's abuse and philandering. While she inspected them daily for missing buttons or loose threads, she was completely uninvolved in their interests, games and problems. Their father Joe was, as Hamilton makes clear, good at only one thing: manipulating stocks in order to steal himself a fortune. Every other thing he tried, including banking, shipping, movies, politics and diplomacy, was a failure. (Joe was so unscrupulous that even during his stint as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, he had people buying stocks he had inside information about. It says something that when FDR appointed him the first chairman of the newly formed Securities and Exchange Commission, and FDR's cabinet protested vigorously, FDR's answer was, "Set a thief to catch a thief.") What made Joe rather insidious (and this only in comparison to Rose) is that if he did have a good point, it was his genuine love for his children, misguided as his childrearing experience was. Unfortunately, he taught them to win at any cost and that women were to be treated with contempt and used like tissue. But because he expressed affection and care for them, even dropping his own work schedule to appear at their schools when Rose wrote letters but never bothered to visit her sons even when Jack was deathly ill in boarding school, Joe comes off as, ironically, the much better parent. He was loving and affectionate, though his affection came with a price: That they think as he thought and do as he did, which Jack simply rebelled against.

   Hamilton has to be commended for his sense of balance. While never shirking his responsibility to point out Jack's flaws, he is careful also to show from where they sprang -- the terrible, dysfunctional union of his parents and their awful sense of what raising a family meant. The children were socially isolated (partially because of his parents' desperation to enter Boston's WASP society while being Irish Catholics themselves), turning to each other for comfort and thus becoming close, but then separated when Rose decided she couldn't handle them anymore and sent them to boarding school, some as young as age eight.

   There is so much in this book that has value, but what I personally appreciate the most is Hamilton's constant underlying (though silent) thesis that Jack's gifts were so many that had he been born to different parents, he still would have been remarkably successful, yet probably been a less tormented and far less complex personality. For Hamilton sees his sexual yearnings as nothing less than looking for the love he missed in his mother, yet unable to express his need for it because of her coldness during his formative years and what that coldness did to his ability to express and receive affection.

   I could go on and go (actually, I have), but I do heartily recommend this. It's an absorbing read about the formation of a remarkable and pivotal personality in American history. I'd love to see the next volume -- imagine what he'd do with the marriage of Jack and Jackie? -- but must wait till he gets there. Meanwhile, this volume is a five-star, fifty-carat gem. Don't miss it.

No comments about Tales from the Country Estates (Ulverscroft Nonfiction).

2 comments about Life With an Indian Prince: By Archives of American Falconry.

1. The fact that this book is so richly illustrated is amazing. The images were printed, using slides of photos that the Craighead brothers took over 60 years ago, yet they are absolutely beautiful. (a testament to the legitimacy of their involvement with National Geographic)
   The experience of reading this book is truly like tagging along on the adventure vacation of a lifetime. You will yearn for time in India, and for time with enthusiastic naturalists.
   If you're in need of a cheap vacation... buy this book.



2. This is the best book I've ever read! It's the next best thing to time travel. The Craigheads were invited to visit India as the special guest of a Maharaja's brother, with National Geographic footing the bill. They kept daily logs of their, thoughts, experiences, observations and political debates as they traveled to and from India by ship, just before the US entered World War II. The Craigheads were young collage students who were defining the state of the art in wildlife photography. They experience falconry in India a level that is no longer possible, hunt with Cheetah and attend a lavish royal wedding.

No comments about Untitled Memoir.

2 comments about Famous Love Letters: Messages of Intimacy and Passion.

1. This compilation of letters is divided by the editor into four major categories: Love Down the Ages, Passionate Love, Star-Crossed Lovers, and Joys & Consolations. It features letters from Goethe, Napoleon, Lord Byron, Frida Kahlo, Catherine of Aragon, Kafka, Mozart, Churchill, and many others. It is filled with pictures and the editor provides at least one page of backstory for each couple. My only complaint about the book is that it contains only one letter per couple and, in several cases, the example used is only an excerpt rather than the letter's full text. The lush illustrations and the history lessons make up for this flaw in the end, but if you are shopping for a truly prolific collection of letters, this book would probably not be the right selection.



2. This is a great reference book for when you're in a romatic mood. I can't believe it's out of print!

2 comments about The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, And Faith of an American Legend, Library Edition.

1. This is the CD for you. I found it very entertaining and informative. I've listened to it twice, and I'll probably listen to it again. Great for when you're driving a long distance and have nothing to think about.



2. heard the first three chapters online bookclub, just had to hear the rest of the story of his life.

No comments about John F. Kennedy, Jr.: The FBI Files.

5 comments about Woman in the Water.

1. "Delighted to read "Woman in the Water", especially the insights into the life of Elmer Clifton .
   While the aforementioned writing is much appreciated one would like to prevail upon Ms Clifton to author a definitive book of her father as his is a story that should be chronciled"
   Chris Collier



2. Dorinda Clifton's book is neither an autobiographical remininscence of the golden days of Hollywood involving her late father nor a fictional exploration of her personal development. It is, instead, a mutifaceted work involving many strands of what is today regarded as creative writing whereby fact, fiction, personal reminiscences of the past, and contemporary reinterpretations of what that past involved, are all interwoved in a highly creative and imaginative manner. Copiously illustrated with drawings, reproductions, and personal family photographs all of which are highly integral to the text, this work represents a sterling achievement in the area of creative writing and a firm foundation for the other books the author has promised.
   
   She is also a highly delightful person whom I had the pleasure of meeting two months ago at the 2006 Memphis Film Festival.



3. WOMAN IN THE WATER is a poetic book, filled with personal memories of Dorinda Clifton. Dorinda is Elmer Clifton's daughter. Her father worked as a director with David Wark Griffith in the beginning of the 20th century. He was once famous, directing a big success in the twenties, DOWN TO THE SEA WITH SHIPS. He directed comedies played by Dorothy Gish, and disappeared in the thirties in Hollywood Powerty Row,until he was rehabilitated by Ida Lupino in the late thirties. Often depicted as a "Jack London" movie director, his career is still very mysterious, and these pages help to lift the veil. Thanks Dorinda, for this nice book which brings back your past and how it is alive within you, in a very rich illustrated way !.



4. Loved, loved, loved this book and am waiting for the sequel. I met Dorinda Clifton while camping on the Oregon Coast summer of 2004....she is a remarkable and gifted woman who I aspire to be like when I'm her age! I had been waiting to recieve word that she finished this book, and was pleasantly surprised to find it to be such a wonderful written piece of work I would recommend to anyone! I stayed up until 2AM reading it and couldn't put it down wanting to know more about her and her family. She gives insight into the Hollywood scene of yesterday and it would make a wonderful movie! It is rare that I find books I can truly recommend...there is so much junk written now! Thank You Dorinda--well done! Becky Rosinbum



5. I LOVE Dorinda Clifton's book,WOMAN IN THE WATER: a Memoir of Growing Up in Hollywoodland!
   
   Wow! She dived thru colored smoke for Esther Williams, starred with Hopalong, danced with Fred Astaire, and had a heart breaking life in her disfunctional family with a dad who starred in D.W. Griffiths films and then made his own epic movie. This BOOK would make a wonderful movie ala Chicago or Moulin Rouge.
   
   A woman's book. A Hollywood book. Delightful.