5 comments about Annapolis Autumn: Life, Death, and Literature at the U.S. Naval Academy.

1. This is just a terrible book. Poorly written, and filled with mush. No wonder the USNA is producing a bunch of politically correct graduates who do everything they can to get out of actually serving as a warrior. Don't waste your money on this--and think twice about sending your child to a school that could employ this touchy-feely teacher of mumbo-jumbo.
   
   Jim Webb's "A Sense of Honor" is still the best book about what the Naval Academy USED to be. This things reads like it was written by a flower child from Woodstock.



2. Amidst many informative and entertaining pages about Annapolis, Prof. Fleming reveals two very shocking facts. One: About 50% of midshipmen do not meet the USNA minimum academic requirements, but are let in anyway, because of perceived needs in athletics and affirmative action. Two, clearly unqualified midshipmen, even those with serious psychological disablities, are allowed to graduate and assume potentially disastrous command positions because to prevent their graduation would reflect badly on the decision to admit them in the first place. Sounds like Catch 22, but it is unfortunately not fiction. There may be some broader social value in weighing factors other than character and ability in civilian schools, but in the military, I would think we would want the very best making command decisions, and not someone there for any other reason. When war is upon us, and lives are at stake, does anything else really matter?



3. In Annapolis Autumn, Professor Bruce Fleming gives the reader a rare look into Naval Academy culture with dignity, humor, and occasionally, the kind of candor that makes the brass blush. Having been not only a student, but as well, a staff member at Annapolis, I can tell you that Fleming hits the nail on the head.
   
   Fleming points out that while the US Naval Academy at Annapolis is a fine institution with a rich heritage, there are some glaring warts that could be easily removed, yet political pressure, stereotypes, and conformity all conspire to maintain a status quo beneath the brilliantly polished veneer. Considering the environment he operates, his courage in pointing out the proverbial emperor's new clothes is laudable, yet in my mind he has, without doubt, given something far more praiseworthy: the challenge of critical thought to his midshipmen - students who are indoctrinated daily into a military gung-ho dogma.
   
   Annapolis Autumn is not an exposé and although Fleming is not a dissident, his opinion periodically takes exception with the administration's official stance. He encourages today's military leaders to consider facets of culture and society that might have otherwise in the past been merely academic. Fleming pushes midshipmen to think outside their Academy boxes and use their highly developed minds to be better people on the whole as well as the exceptional naval officers the Academy is famed to produce.
   
   As an alumnus, I genuinely enjoyed Annapolis Autumn. As a free-thinking veteran, I applaud Bruce Fleming's willingness to speak his mind. Well written, eloquently supported, and easily digested, Fleming's book was a both a challenge and a pleasure.



4. An interesting book. Despite his critics, Prof Fleming provokes some thought about the how and why of the Naval Academy, and in the process, he puts some interesting, fundamental questions out in the open. Is it enough that the Academy churns out Military officers? And if it were enough, why isn't it simply reduced to an extended Officer Training / Basic Training "curriculum"?
   
   In an on-going period of "battle hardening," it is commendable for an "insider" to continue to challenge a notion of single-mindedness in the context of the Naval Academy curriculum. While there is a conservative / liberal pendulum that is currently (and clearly) leaning toward the conservative side, simply accepting that the curriculum (and training) "is what it is" only promotes (and exacerbates) the notion that there is a single solution for producing an Officer. A Military Commission mandates an Officer's fidelity to the Constitution and its principles. It is beneficial for the individual to understand the reasons why this is the case as well as what those principles are. Without that understanding, we could quickly diverge into the blind leading the blind (for an enlistment demands the individual's obligation to those Officers). While some of the criticisms have merit and deserve consideration, it is a good thing that Prof Fleming is able to cogently articulate his opinions and bring to light the necessity of the midshipmen's complete development - rather than adhere to a one size fits all, single solution.
   
   While I'm still not sure I agree with all aspects of the book / Prof Fleming's thoughts (I plan to read it again), it is at least worth the discussion(s) necessary to see all sides of these arguments.
   USNA '96



5. I graduated from the Academy in 73 and it seems as if it hasn't changed a bit. It is as accurate a picture of what goes on inside that an outsider can have. If I didn't know better I would have thought that he was a graduate himself. I recommend it highly; not only for the picture that it gives of the Academy and the Midshippeople (I DON'T CARE IF IT IS A RANK) but because it is an accurate portrayal of much that is going on in this country today.

1 comments about Both Sides of the Ocean: A Biography of Henry Adams, His First Life, 1838-1862 (Biography of Henry Adams).

1. This book is not an ordinary biography. The author's extraordinary talent and insight bring forth the living principle that is Henry Adams. It will draw the attentive reader into Adams' world and one will come face to face with an original genius. And I would like to paraphrase Schopenhauer's definition that genius is the capacity to bring forth some light into this world of ignorance and darkness.
   
   We experience the catastrophe of the American Civil War through the mind of Adams. We are given the usual dates and events, but at a deeper level we encounter "the inside narrative:" the petty bickering, plotting, blundering and revenge. On the other side we see skill and diplomacy; acts of kindness and compassion. It rises to the level of something Shakespearean, and leaves a strong impression of powerful collective forces to be reckoned with. So the book is not merely about individuals and events at a particular time in the past. It delves deeply into the great mystery of human nature.
   
   Another thing I can say is that Dr. Chalfant's conversational style is so pleasant to read that I frequently get pulled into it and have trouble putting the book down. Something someone once wrote about Robert Burton comes to mind. "While reading this book, one feels as if he is in the company of a good friend."

No comments about A Glowing Dream: A Memoir.

No comments about Scraping By in the Big Eighties (American Lives).

No comments about Founding Mothers and Others: Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era.

5 comments about On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language.

1. I read this book and I found that the author had been extremely careless in its writing. Even though it is an autobiography, the author makes reference to "historic facts" which are false. If this book reflects the author's cavalier attitude towards accuracy (in historic facts as well as in language accuracy) then this book casts a shadow on the author's intellectual integrity. Otherwise the book is an "easy read" and it is entertaining.



2. Ilan Stavans, Mexican/American Jewish writer, wrote a book about his experience as an insider/outsider. This is a condition shared by many in our times of high geographical mobility. It is a condition his/my people have known for at least two thousand years. The difference is that he, as many in the present, is not running away from persecution -- much as he might find himself in a somewhat more tolerant environment on an American campus than he did in his native Mexico City -- but one that moved from one culture to another by choice. The thing to note is that in both, the cultural context of his birth as well as his present cultural environment, he is still not quite mainstream. When it comes to language, this becomes a much more complex matter. It runs into the impossibility to render thoughts with mathematical precision in translation but it means more than that: translation has power over that which is translated, in a very active way.
   
   This multi layered predicament is liberating and a bonus for those who know how to take advantage of it.
   
   Ilan Stavans writes in a very readable and crisp and clear way. If you are a person with stakes in many cultures and languages, if you are a Jew at that, you will feel over and over again that you should have written this book. If you are not, you will come very close to understanding this predicament which will make so many things clear to you. In either case, read this book. It is so well written that you will be enriched by it and will enjoy the experience.



3. As an American Jew with insider knowledge of the Mexico City Jewish community, I was startled and later heartwarmed by this book, and in the end proud of Stavans' courageous autobiographical outpouring. He has expressed facts about the Mexico City Jewish community and its effect on how one grows up there and how one views the world from this shtetl within one of the largest cities in the world.

   I am enormously proud of how he has expressed himself in a language still somewhat foreign to him. He has given the reader some food for thought on how we all sometimes live on immigrant islands trying so ferociously to protect our languages and cultures while our offspring yearn to find a meaning in the country of their birth.

   I suppose I'm a bit prejudiced since there are family ties here, but this book is outstanding and worth your reading. It definitely deals with the great questions of the humanities. His "let it all hang out" style must have cost him dearly amongst the family and the community, but as a writer he is definitely true to himself. I admire him greatly. This is a must read.




4. Ilan Stavans' On Borrowed Words flows nicely. It is at once an autobiograpical account of Stavans' intellectual journey, a rich detail on the literary works that have shaped his worldview, and a commentary on the influence, power, and limitations of language. The reader will develop a greater awareness of the books and influences that form one's belief system after reading Stavans' memior.
   Credit Stavans for not unnecessarily dwelling on his past as a minority, but for developing (though his detail of language in his life) his own persona.



5. This book is a well-written, fascinating memoir of a childhood and young adulthood of a Jewish childhood in Mexico city. The characters are memorable - Bobbe Bela from Russia, the actor father, the talented and unstable brother, and the author himself seeking home and identity. A significant component of his seeking identity is found in language - Spanish, Yiddish, Hebrew, English. He compares multiple languages with masks of an actor, one of many elements in his tale that cause the reader to reflect. Another component is the author's finding his calling as an author - the influences (and absence of encouragement) that shape his writing, the language and the content. Another component is his searching for his Jewishness - in Israel, in Spain, in theology books (and classes), in Yiddish literature.

   This memoir is excellent reading on being human - the reader gains insight into human experience as a whole through the detailed exposition of what it means to be a specific human, Ilan Stavans.

2 comments about The Diary of an Isle Royale School Teacher.

1. I enjoyed this written journal by a schoolteacher who spent the winter isolated on the island of Isle Royale, because it is the history of my mother and her family. They were commercial fisherman and spent the winters on Isle Royale, with only a ham radio for communication. It gives a very true picture of the hardships they endured, the amusements they created to combat boredome, and the personalities of the Johnson family



2. An excellent book giving an insight of how one person experienced the isolated life of Isle Royale during one winter of 1932-33. This is a fast-reading book which is not easy to set down. Anyone who has visited the beautiful island of Isle Royale National Park should find this diary interesting and captivating. Book's epilogue and editorial notes by author's son add special insight.

No comments about A Sixty-Year Ride through the World of Education.

5 comments about An Englishman in the Court of the Tsar: The Spiritual Journey of Charles Syndney Gibbes.

1. Like most people who would be interested in this book, I was expecting some insight into the life of the last tsar and his family, as seen by someone close to the family. But, as the title implies, it's his SPIRITUAL journey the book chronicles, with a few well-known anecdotes on the imperial family thrown in. If your looking for a book on the Romanovs or Imperial Russian history, don't buy this book.



2. Although this book is one of many written about the tragic deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, it is different than those which often appear explotive. Gibbes's relationship with the Tsar and his family provides us with a deeper insight into the family life, and the unshakable rich faith of this noble family. The book is one of a kind, and an "easy" read. As one who has read many books on the subject of Russian hsitory, I could not recommend it more highly.



3. I bought this book expecting its majority to discuss the life of Charles Sydney Gibbes, but it's more of an ill-researched portrait of history twisted to fit the author's opnions. Although the first and last few pages are devoted entirely to Gibbes, the rest is about this mass conspiracy that lead up to the revoultion that rarely mentions Gibbes at all (at least a hundred pages do not even relate to his journey or him in any way). I prefer a favorable picture of the imperial family, but even I cannot believe these "facts" presented, espcially since Ms. Benagh doesn't even to refute other opinions; moreover, she seems to say the starving peasants could have lingered on for a few more days. She uses a maximum of eight sources to support her book, all published and most are famous first-hand sources written in the 20s-40s that have been prooven to have some major falacies. Do not believe its claims to be using new resources from the collapse of the Soviet Union because unsolved mysteries in here have been solved and thoroughly explianed in many other books. This book does a decent job as presenting Gibbes as an affable person but is primarily conncerned on trying to rewrite history. If you decide to purchase this book, I want to forewarn you to read a good Romanov or Russian history book beforehand to be able to identify An Englishman in the Court of the Tsar's faults.



4. American author, Christine L. Benagh, has written a moving biographical and historical journey of an Englishman who went to Russia in 1901 to escape the disillusionment of his faith-shattering theological education. As Charles Sydney Gibbes' reputation as an English tutor in St. Petersburg grows, he comes to the attention of the royal family, whom he eventually serves for ten years until their tragic demise. Through Gibbes' letters and papers, we catch an intimate view of the Tsar, the Empress and their children in their home or on vacation, having tea, doing their studies, playing games and going to Russian Orthodox services. Their lives are placed into historical context with quotes from the biographies, letters and papers of people who knew them.

   Sadly, Gibbes is among the first to investigate the fateful Ipatiev house in Ekatarinburg, where the Romanovs and their entourage were murderously slaughtered by the Bolsheviks. Due to his intimate knowledge of the Romanovs, as well as his command of the Russian language, Gibbes continues working in Russia for a time for the British High Command. He eventually ends up in Manchuria, working for the Chinese Maritime Service, during which time he adopts a teenaged Russian orphan and studies firsthand various Eastern religions.

   At the age of 52, Gibbes decides to return to his Christian roots, but he is once more shattered by politics in the Anglican Church. After a much soul searching, he embraces the Orthodox Church, where, back in England, he is tonsured as a monk and then ordained into the priesthood.

   As Father Nicholas Gibbes, he spends the remaining years of life devoted to the Orthodox faith in England, and to preserving the memory of the Romanov family with the many artifacts and relics he personally collected.

   While this outstanding book is called a "spiritual journey," the spiritual journey is actually a pretty slender thread through these turbulent times until the last two chapters. It works as an interesting biography within this period of history, as an intimate portrait of the royal family, as a small slice of Russian (and English) history, and finally as a spiritual odyssey. I'd recommend this to those interested in the Romanovs, the Bolshevik Revolution, spiritual journeys or the Orthodox Church.




5. If you would like a good, honest, brief explination of the events leading to the fall of the Romanovs, this is a great source. Nicholas II is one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented historical figures. Written from the perspective of Mr. Gibbes we have an insider's view of the events discribed. This book is well written, and presented in an interesting manner that keeps the reader turning the pages. Having read many books on the subject of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, I find this to be one of the better ones. Read this and Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" and you will have a good picture of what really happened. Thank you Chiristine for this excellent study!

No comments about No Boundaries: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS VIGNETTES.