5 comments about Black Ice.

1. This book is interesting, and the author actually spoke at my school (Temple University) which was awesome. She goes into detail within the book and leaves you guessing.



2. This book is horrible. The writing is badly done, and it is so drawn out and boring. It felt like one hour to read one chapter it was so bad.



3. 
   This review is for the students. The title of the book is Black Ice and the author of the book is Lorene Cary. To me I say this book was very interesting. The reason why was interesting, because it talked about how blacks and whites used to be segregated. They were both segregated and both races were treated differently. For example, the whites had better facilities then the blacks. That is why I thought the novel was interesting, but others who might have read this book over the summer maybe they did not think this book was as interesting. Therefore, I say this book is not made for everyone to read the masterpiece, just because one person may like the book does not mean that everyone likes the story. If someone who has not yet read the novel but would like to it would be better if they asked someone who has already read the book if the text would be a good novel for them to read or not to read. The student who has not yet read the publication would need to know what the text is about so they can determine if they would like to read the novel or not read it.
   The students who may like to read about how people different races are treated differently. They might like to read this novel to learn more about all of their backgrounds.



4. Dear peer,
   The first thing that you need to know about Black Ice is the author which is Lorene Gary. I liked this book because I learned that you can make mistakes of doing drugs, but you can quit just in time to have a better future.
   This book is about a girl named Libby; she went to a boarding school at St. Paul's High
   School. She once went to a forest to smoke weed and pot with a group of friends. Also in this text Libby was forced to have relationship with this boy. He gave Libby a necklace of engagement, because he really liked her a lot. But Libby did not like him, so she threw the necklace away and Libby's mom picked it up and she wore it on her neck.
   This story is short in length, but difficult to read. It was difficult because, a lot of event happens in every chapter and you have to read it carefully so that you could know what is happening.
   My opinion about this text is that it is very interesting and it kept me entertained while I was reading the story. That is my opinion and the reason I think this book is very interesting because, I like reading Auto-Biographies. I really enjoyed reading this publication about Libby life.
   Thank you peer for taking your time and reading this essay. I hope you make your decision and read this book. So that you could know everything that happens in this master pieace.



5. The author of Black Ice is Lorene Cary. This book is mostly about racism, and a young girl named Lorene being highly educated] and working with whites in a restaurant. I think anybody older than twelve and up will enjoy this text; Black Ice was mostly talking about Lorene's childhood.
   This book was quiet interesting. In order to see if a book is going to be good, read the reference page. If its interesting then read the first page. If you not, ask for assistance.
   This novel will be a good book for fifth graders. It will help them know more about the past between blacks, and whites. It will help increase your vocabulary, and give you more history out of the story. By a chance, you will probably enjoy reading Lorene Cary's autobiography of her childhood life.

5 comments about The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci.

1. Not being interested in Christian missionary work in China, I had resisted reading this book for years. That was a terrible mistake and another example of how you can't judge a book by its cover or title. The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci is not so much a book about Matteo Ricci or missionaries as it is a look at the two continents of Europe and Asia in the late 1500's to 1610 (when Matteo Ricci died). It covers subjects such as crusades, plagues, theology, the arts, travel, China leading up to the fall of the Ming (1644), corruption, punishments, dress, the role of Buddhism in Chinese society, slavery, sodomy, food and so much more.
   
   Yes, it is a book for historians or those interested in historical times, especially the Inquisition and Christianity's outreach to foreign shores, but its breadth of topics is so unusual, and its treatment of these subjects through the eyes of one man who left his native Italy to travel to Rome, Portugal, Goa, and eventually China so detailed, that the rewards of reading this book were wholly unexpected and thus a wonderful surprise--like opening a tin to discover a jewel box.



2. This book had some wonderful nuggets about Ricci and China, but there were so many tangents and mind-numbing details that it was challenging to read. The main issue is that the book is thematic in nature rather than chronological. On one page Spence is talking in detail about China in 1582 and the next he's talking in detail about Portugal in 1567. He flips back and forth across the decades and the continents enough that it's very difficult to get a picture of Ricci's life. A lot of Spence's content seems pulled from history books on Europe, having little or nothing to do with either Ricci or China. If you want a random, panoramic view of life in the late 1500's this book is for you. If you're looking for a comprehensive, orderly look at Ricci or China or his memory system you may be disappointed. It's worth the read, but with appropriate expectations.



3. You can find a summary below with floors for chapters, http://olivierinshanghai.free.fr/npds/chinois/ricci.pdf



4. I wrote my BA of Humanities thesis on Matteo Ricci and found Spence's book valuable for its information but mildly frustrating. "Memory Palace" is an excellence source for facts about Ricci's life for those who are not fluent in multiple languages or do not have access to the research material that Spence does. I turned to Spence for his commentary on Ricci's various writings that I did not have access to and for various tidbits of facts. Furthermore, Spence does a good job of illustrating the world that Ricci lived and worked in. For example, I was enlightened on the relationship of the Jesuits to the Portuguese King and how the Portuguese port of Macao in China operated. It was good background information to supplement the primary text I was using.

   However, the frustrating part of this book is its organization. While it's an interesting idea to organize it according to the first four Chinese characters in his mnemonic system (or "memory palace"), it makes for a near meaningless train of thought; I ended up skimming the lengthy chapter on "water." I'm still disappointed by the end because Spence offers no real conclusion or summary, just an enigmatic statement. I had previously read Spence's "Death of Woman Wang" and I realize that it is Spence's style to amass historical information with unorthodox organization (I think it's his selling point). It's creative, but not very useful. Fortunately, the book has an excellent index, so it's fairly easy to re-find significant passages.

   For those that want to read an actual narrative of Ricci's mission, I highly recommend the English translation of Trigault's transcription of Ricci's mission journals; this was the primary text for my paper. I found it very interesting and suprisingly high in entertainment value, considering its origin.

   Trigault, Nicolas S. J. "China in the Sixteenth Century:
   The Journals of Mathew Ricci: 1583-1610."
   trans. Lous J. Gallagher, S.J. (New York: Random House, Inc. 1953).

   Also recommended for his examination of the religious issues involved with Ricci and the other Jesuits preaching Christianity in China is Jaques Gernet's "China and the Christian Impact." To sum up, it answers this question and more, "What happens when you try to insert the Christian God into the ancient writings of a sophisticated society?"

   Gernet, Jaques, "China and the Christian Impact." (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).




5. Having been hipped to the existence of the phenomenon of memory palaces by the books of Thomas Harris, (I'd forgotten all about them after reading one of Tom Wujec's earlier books) I was looking forward to finding a how-to book on the subject. The Memory Palaces Of Matteo Ricci, however, is, again not it. I already felt burned by Francis Yates' "Art Of Memory", which is more about Hermeticism than the purported subject.
   
   Interesting though it may be, the book is mainly about Ricci's life and times as a Jesuit missionary in China, something I would have gotten from any biography about the man, which in fact this is. There is some cursory mention made of the principles of using loci for the purpose of memory, but that's it. Not even Ricci's own method is analyzed or discussed in great detail.

5 comments about The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle.

1. You gotta sing as you kick them, that's the message of the 20th century. The low expectations of the "Great Expectations School" stand out, but the author persuades us that all is not lost. This author goes a long way toward adding some realism back into the great fantasy known as "all children can learn." When you stop laughing at that, let the author's humor take you even further into the nightmare of public education. Wit is one of the first things to go when you enter this profession. Brown's possession of it is the first sign that this guy wasn't born to be a teacher but rather an observer and commentator. So be it, his astute observations bring out the best and the worst of finest prison system known to man, the New York Public Schools.



2. Beware this is not Dan Brown the auther of "The Da Vinci Code". Different people!!!!!!!!!



3. Dan Brown surpasses the similarly named charlatan by the second page of this tender recollection, so enough conversation about how one is not the other, eh? Anyone comparing the two (myself included) is drawing a tenuous, superficial connection. Simply put, it would be a discredit to this Mr. Brown to be associated with that one.
   
   The Great Expectations School is a story from the intersection of reality and idealism. Mr. Brown acts as interlocutor between an impoverished section of society and those too caught up in disbelief or willful refusal to recognize it. Harsh conditions are much easier to stomach when they are limited to 30 seconds on the news.
   
   Mr. Brown is brave to harrow the experience that he reports, but the more courageous act by far is to then report on it, in all of its bleak grandeur. This reader is very thankful that he did.



4. As a second year New York City Teaching Fellow, I can attest that the stories Dan tells in this book are still stories that we as teachers face every day. From the students living in shelters and floating from address to address to the micro-management of such things as bulletin boards, it's all very much the world in which I live. The book is heartbreaking in its realism ~ but it gives me hope to know that I am not alone.
   
   I definitely second the motion that this become required reading for anyone entering aternative certification programs. It's less Pollyanna-ish than "Ms. Moffett's First Year" which, while somewhat realistic, doesn't really get to the heart of the matter, and more realistic than "Educating Esme", which, unless you ARE Esme, really isn't realistic at all. While I wouldn't change my path into teaching, I wish I'd had someone really tell it like it is before I started as Dan has done here.



5. While it is laudable that Dan Brown chose a particularly challenging forum for his debut teaching job, he appears much too susceptible to the influences of his tag team book tour partner, Jonathan Kozol.
   
   The character Richard Dadier, as played by Glenn Ford, in the 1955 film "The Blackboard Jungle," was no proponent of the Kozol educational ideology. While Dadier believed in discipline and order in the classroom, Kozol prefers recalcitrance and anarchy. Kozol is of the impression that education must not be politically neutral. Guess which political ideology he prefers? Considering he wrote "On Being A Teacher," after his return from Cuba, the answer is self evident.
   
   Let's hope that Mr. Brown stays true to his own ideals and does not embrace the radicalism of Kozol, at least not while he has a captive audience in a public school classroom. It is one thing to act the martyr in a low-paying, essentially thankless job as an inner city teacher, expecting the students to follow you to the stake is counter productive. To paraphrase Kozol, there is nothing worse then soporific socialism to "deaden children's souls."

5 comments about The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (Campbell, Joseph, Works.).

1. This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. This is a great book written about a very engaging storyteller. Joseph Campbell describes the monomyth in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces as embodying all the necessary elements of the hero's journey in the many myths in human history. Campbell discovered through extensive research that humankind shares a universal monomyth in its various religions and legends especially pertaining to the creation of the world and humankind. Campbell borrowed the term monomyth from James Joyce's book Finnegan's Wake. Campbell's intuitive insight in human myth proves that for thousands of years these myths display a certain standard structure, which he summarizes beautifully in his book.
   
   A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a
   region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there
   encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back
   from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons
   on his fellow man (Campbell 30).
   
   There are at least four major stages that a monomyth has however, in his book, Campbell goes on to describe seventeen stages that some monomyth's posses. The four stages making up the cycle of a monomyth are "passage: separation-initiation-return:" In the passage stage the hero is summoned to journey or embark on an adventure by some kind of event that takes place or from a message, he receives. The hero may embark on this passage willingly or reluctantly. During the separation stage, the hero meets with a mentor or wise man who gives the hero either an amulet or some words of wisdom to be of help to the hero on the adventure. It is during this stage that the hero will go through his first transformation, also known as "crossing the first threshold," as he crosses over to another world or dimension leaving behind the old world. In the initiation stage, the hero goes through several trials or tests. The hero often receives help in these ordeals along the way by allies or from a supernatural force. As the hero completes these ordeals successfully, he proves himself more worthy to continue the adventure. Most importantly, during this stage the hero must pass through a major ordeal that will expand his consciousness, and thereby change his character forever. Often, this ordeal entails the death of an ally or enemy. Once the hero successful accomplishes his ordeal he is rewarded with a gift, it could be intrinsic like the "holy grail, or it can be new found knowledge to better the world with. The last stage the hero travels is that of the return whence he came. Often the hero will undergo further trials on his return before he is permitted to cross the threshold back to the world he left. During his return journey, the hero will use his newfound wisdom or gift to make a safe return home. Once home the gift is used to cure some ill in the hero's home or to impart new wisdom to his neighbors.
   
   Campbell points to the significance of the monomyth in the fact that it describes the cycle that Moses, Jesus, and Buddha had gone through according to their religious adherents. This is not to mention the hundreds of other monomyths told throughout human history. The monomyth proves that humankind shares a common creation DNA in a sense. The monomyth is the perfect vehicle for one to study the Humanities by.
   
   Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy.



2. I read this as one who was unfamiliar with Joseph Campbell and his remarkable insights into myths and their role in our lives.
   
   The claim is made in the book that at some time in the 1980s, seven or eight of the top ten grossing films of all time were in some way based on material originating in Campbell's books. That makes Campbell a man whose thoughts are worth learning about.
   
   The book is in general fairly easy reading, since much of it is transcribed from conversations involving Campbell. Quotable quotes abound: "myths have to do with how you live your life", "the young male is a compulsively violent piece of biology", "when people say they're looking for the meaning of life, what they're really looking for is a deep experience of it", "the best thing I can say is follow your bliss".
   
   If you want to be inspired by a life lived thoughtfully and well, you should find this book rewarding.



3. This book was well designed. The introduction by Phil Counsineau alone is worth the price. Instead of hidden away in some appendix, the Chronology of Joseph Campbell is up front before reading the details. The book is written mostly in a question and answer format.
   
   Next striking thing is the pictures that accompany the text makes you feel that some one knew that Joseph was going to be some one of interest and sent a professional photographer to follow his life. He has pictures with and/or (Buffalo Bill Cody, Black Elk, James Joyce, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Thomas Mann, Karlfried Graf Dürkheim, Carl Jung, Linda Ronstadt...) of all kinds of people that you would think came from different eras, most impressive is his portrait University of Paris.
   
   One thing you will notice of Joseph Campbell is that he has a way of looking at life that most people do not until it pointed out. Some times he will seem to be just telling you the most mundane information and all of a sudden ties it to a point that was overlooked.
   Reading this book on his life will give you a better insight as to his works.



4. Those are the only words I can think of to describe this fabulous book! Not only do you get a picture of Campbell the man in a way you can't elsewhere, except maybe in the diaries of his Asian trips, but you also get a wonderful insight into the mythology that was his life's work. It's like being able to look through both sides of a lens at once!

   There are lovely pictures of Campbell, his friends and family that are literally breathtaking--they are part of that lens.

   The book itself is made up of a series of conversations and panel discussions involving Campbell and a number of his friends and colleagues--including his wife, choreographer Jean Erdman and artists like George Lucas, Robert Bly and Richard Adams. It is structured so that it follows Campbell's life story in the shape of his Hero Journey, as laid out in Hero with a Thousand Faces.

   The cover announces this as the Centennial Edition, which alerted me to the fact that Campbell would have been 100 this upcoming March. What a wonderful way to celebrate the life of a man whose joy (bliss) has inspired so many, and to take more inspiration from his ideas.




5. For those who once bemoaned there being no autobiography by (or biography of) Joseph Campbell this book fills a void. For those who have watched The Power of Myth videos, and read several Joseph Campbell books, this collection of high-power dialogues with Campbell is no disappointment. No intimate details are given of Campbell's life, however, When asked for autobiographical details during one session, Campbell responds (more or less): "That's biography, and I don't do biography". Campbell relays several anecdotes of his friends Robinson and Zimmer, and gives honorable mention to the Bollingen Press and Sarah Lawrence College for crucial assistance in his career development. Particularly of interest are the frequent remarks concerning, and discussions with, his wife (and former student) Jean Erdman. While many of Campbell's remarks are near-verbatim replies heard in The Power of Myth videos, some are unreleased gems: There are two kinds of people in this world - those who know their myth is a fact (the orthodox religious) and those who know their myth is a lie (the atheists)- both KNOW that their myth is most certainly NOT a metaphor.
   
   Good book.

No comments about By My Own Reckoning.

5 comments about Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan.

1. "I came to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese Ministry of Education . . ." indeed! Feiler has a very high opinion of himself. And isn't it a bit inappropriate for a teacher to kiss the hand of a junior high girl, let alone a junior high girl of another culture? I've been reading a lot of Japanese non-fiction and travel essays since a recent visit to Japan and so far this book ranks low in terms of enjoyment, educational value and insight because of its pretentious tone.



2. As I made my way through Feiler's account, I was primarily amused by his humorous initial encounters with Japanese culture: the often awkward questions frequently posited him by his friends, coworkers, and students; the stark dissimilarities between the Japanese and the American-style classroom; the extent to which Feiler's foreign appearance and personality caused him to stand out amid an otherwise fairly uniform populace. In nearly every chapter, I found myself laughing out loud. As the book progressed, however, I became disturbed by the author's general exclusion of personal reflections on his experiences. For example, it remains ambiguous whether the author is interested in trying "nanpa"--a procedure in which strangers "pick up" on women in bars, discos, or similar environments, mostly popular among young Japanese men--out of a genuine desire to procure a Japanese girlfriend, or merely in demonstration of a detached cultural curiosity. He interjects almost no explicit discussions of his feelings or emotional reactions toward the many shocking, challenging, and even tragic events that he encounters throughout the narrative. As someone interested in going to Japan to teach English, and curious about the types of experiences had by Americans who have done so in the past, this particular quality of Feiler's narrative was a bit disappointing.
   
   By the end of the book, however, I came to the realization that the very inclusion of certain information in Feiler's memoir speaks volumes on the nature of the clash between Western and Japanese culture. The details that Feiler includes on the overbearingly autocratic leadership style of his school principle, the structure of a seventh-grade fieldtrip to Disneyland Tokyo, and the reaction of Japanese students toward his unorthodoxly American pedagogical style all attest to the impression that Feiler was deeply moved and challenged by his interactions with Eastern culture. And the laughter and tears that several of his anecdotes drew forth compel me to conclude that these passages were not written without emotional affectation.
   
   In my preparation to move overseas to teach and live among an unfamiliar society, I found this book deeply enlightening and encouraging. As previous experiences abroad have taught me, being a foreigner in a new country can be a direly lonely and often stressful experience. Feiler has given us an insightful and meaningful account of what Americans moving to Japan ought to expect from the culture clash, as well as detailed many interesting aspects of Japanese society that outsiders interested in the country might not otherwise consider. I highly recommend it.



3. Many of the previous reviews have pointed out Mr Feller's haughty condescension but what really makes his book a drag is how breathtakingly boring it is. Naked with other men in a hot spring bath? Good gracious me! As another reviewer pointed out, anybody who comes to Japan will experience virtually everything in this book in the first week; what that other reviewer failed to mention is that nobody else will decide to write a tedious book about it all. Filled with shallow 'insights' and yawn-inducing 'adventures', Feller's book is a soporific account of a dull year as lived by a dull individual who managed, somehow, to con a publisher into releasing this dull book. The fact that it's still in print boggles the mind.
   
   If you're interested in a good read on Japan look for either of Alan Booth's books (Looking For The Lost & The Roads To Sata), John Morley's Pictures From The Water Trade, Will Ferguson's Hokkaido Highway Blues, or anything by Lafcadio Hearn. All of those authors deliver. Mr Feller's book might be useful for chronic insomniacs but everybody else should steer well clear.



4. This book by Bruce Feiler is not just about the Japanese educational system but about the Japanese themselves. While it does touch on how students and teachers work together, teen suicide and cram school, it also deals with the problems of racism, the way the Japanese balance their lives and their duties to society, and even a few chapters on Japanese dating and marriage. It is full of humor, insight and clear thinking. Mr. Feiler clearly but a lot of thought into his visit and is just as clear in explaining to us what he feels is the important and major issues that Japan has to deal with - not just then but now and in the future. A must for any library on Asia or Japan.



5. Bruce Feiler shares his experience as a new teacher in Japan and how he accommodates himself to the culture of Japan and its school system. The book includes many humorous episodes as well as studies in how to adapt to new surroundings and to people who have different behaviors from those of our own. The reader will develop a greater appreciation for the way in which the Japanese education system works at the levels described in the book and in how one must develop a thick skin and a great sense of humor in order to be accepted when traveling or working overseas. The characters in this book are real and are brought to life on paper quite effectively. This is a story of shock, adaptation, and, ultimately, but with a lot of hard work - success.

5 comments about I Will Bear Witness 1942-1945: A Diary of the Nazi Years.

1. One should read this book only after the first volume covering the years 1933-41. The story of Victor & Eva's survival of detention in the Jews' house, the Dresden bombing and subsequent wanderings stunned me. But Victor's courage in continuing his secret diary for 12 years comes through - as does his humanity ad personal growth.
   
   The diary jotting sryle means you pick it up and read a section at a time, but you will most likely be drawn into finishing it within a short time.



2. And I will get the other years of this author's diary. This is not a fast paced WWII battle book; this is the diary of a poor soul who had to live through every moment of a terrible regime, to endure even more when he thought he'd reached his limit. If you're interested in what it was like to live day to day in Hitler's Germany (as a Jew or a gentile)--to understand what it was like to watch it begin and grow and eventually implode--this is an excellent read. I would say it is for those deeply interested in the psychology of the times; not a passing interest. I'll get the other books and read them in order of the years they cover. I really want to understand how the Third Reich could ever BE.



3. This is actually the second volume of Klemperer's diaries, published in two volumes. I highly recommend that you buy both volumes as a set and read from the beginning how a bureaucratic mindset advanced towards ultimate evil.
   
   In the end, Klemperer's diary doesn't fully answer the haunting question, "How could it have happened?" But you will find some definitive answers here to questions that Holocaust scholars have debated over the years.
   
   For example, Klemperer's experience answers the charge that virtually all Aryan Germans knew from the beginning exactly what the Third Reich's intentions were towards the Jews. Klemperer's actual interactions stand as refutation of this blanket indictment. Often when he visited Aryan acquaintances to conduct business - he would then jovially be invited to come back that evening for schnapps. Klemperer had to explain that he couldn't come back later for schnapps - that as a Jew, he was prohibited from boarding any vehicle of public transportation after 6:00 PM, that he had a general curfew, and that of course, he had long since been banned from owning his own car.
   
   Klemperer was always circumspect in recounting these laws he labored under to his "Semitophile" acquaintances. (That's an awkward translation of the German phrase Klemperer probably used to refer to Aryans who were sympathetic to Jews. But it is perhaps the only word that was available to Martin Chalmers, who otherwise has produced a generally fluid translation of Klemperer's journals.) At any rate, Klemperer was careful never to appear too whining or too critical of the restrictions placed on him. He didn't want to alienate these Aryan allies. Nevertheless, he repeatedly found himself in the position of having to enlighten them about the government's latest round of restrictions. And his listeners were almost always genuinely surprised to hear about these laws. Their ignorance in the face of all the anti-Semitic propaganda blared daily from radios, blazoned from the newspapers, seemed to be more a function of people's tendency towards plodding self-preoccupation than an indication of any active complicity with the advancing evil.
   
   I think you'll find that Klemperer's account also carries a very relevant warning to us in our current pursuit of terrorists at all costs. Klemperer survived the early rounds of call-ups for the concentration camps because he was a decorated World War I hero, and because he was married to an Aryan. For these reasons, he was given some initial grudging dispensation from the worst Nazi reprisals. However as the War progressed, his past service to Germany and his Aryan affiliation came to count for less and less. Finally his number was up and he, along with the last handful of Jews remaining around Dresden, were scheduled for transport. The only thing that saved him was the Allied bombing of Dresden. Most local Nazi records were destroyed in this notorious bombardment. So Klemperer and his wife, having survived the bombing, were also able to survive those last most brutal months of the Nazi regime by assuming new identities and wandering through the German countryside from town to town, passing themselves off as a typical displaced Aryan couple. If the Nazis' meticulous records (documenting family lineages and confirming who was where) had remained intact, Klemperer would certainly have been deported to the gas chambers.
   
   So if you don't already have doubts about the increasing surveillance measures being taken in the U.S., presumably to guard against terrorists and other "evildoers" - reading these journals will give you pause. One of the lessons of Klemperer's journal is how tyranny proceeds by little increments of paperwork. Its power is in keeping tabs.
   
   Klemperer risked his life to write the entries in these journals, because it eventually became a capital crime for a Jew to possess paper or any pen/pencil. So it feels almost sacrilegious to make any criticism of this supremely brave and literate account. However I do have one small criticism. And that is Klemperer's common masculine tendency to put his wife in the background of his life. Eva Klemperer comes off in the diary as a shadowy adjunct to the importance of Victor's work producing these pages.
   
   She is mentioned, more frequently in the first volume of the diaries, but this mention is usually limited to reports of the fact that she had another hysterical fit that day, or that she engaged Victor in another round of angry lamentation, or that she suffered some physical malady. He does acknowledge her collaborative bravery. She also risked her life every time she smuggled the pages of his work out of their small assigned apartment into the hands of friends for safekeeping. But we never directly hear Eva's voice in all this. The reader is only left to guess at the actual substance of her outbursts.
   
   You will probably feel impelled to read between the lines to flesh her out. Perhaps Eva wasn't the prettiest girl in school, so she took the one marriage proposal that came her way. She married the intellectually accomplished Victor. Victor was available because Aryan prejudice, even in those early years, already limited him socially. We can imagine her outbursts of recrimination as the Nazi noose grew tighter around their yoked necks. Why did you have to be Jewish? Why have you dragged me down with you? I could have led such a happy life. And instead, look at me - scrounging for rotten potatoes, under constant threat of beatings and death - and all because of you!
   
   If only Eva had written her own diary, we might have had some additional fascinating insights into why and how a couple stays together under such trying circumstances. We might have gained a greater understanding of the ties of love and the chains of having nowhere else to go. As it is, we have only Victor's side of the story. But that is a powerful, must-read insight into how tyranny grows, brick-by-brick, petty edict by petty edict.



4. Because my friends all know what a book-hound I am, people often ask me what my all-time favorite book is. Admittedly the answer to this would change over time, but, at present, "I Will Bear Witness" is the one that first pops into my mind.
   
   I found this very personal account of the days and nights of a German Jewish man--an inoffensive and formerly rather conservative German nationalist academic married to a Gentile--during the Nazi terror regime to be absolutely breathtaking. Indeed, I was so caught up in his account that I took an unexpected day of vacation from work just to not interrupt my reading once I had started.
   
   Further, I found myself sprawled on my bed, as is sometimes customary with me, surrounded by ancillary books, atlases, and maps --a behavior that signifies I'm reading a book that has utterly gripped me and a book that is expanding my horizons.
   
   Klemperer was (just barely) saved from being sent to a concentration camp due to his marriage to a non-Jew. However, he lived every day under the threat of torture and deportation to a camp and his journal tells of the years of grinding anxiety over his fate and the fate of his wife, friends, and relatives-many of whom were taken. It also speaks to the minutiae of life under the Nazi's--such things as their penchant for legalisms to justify their treatment of the Jews embodied in his incessant embroilment in Nazi demands that he take part in the legalisms of their confiscation of his property. Moreover, as the war draws to a close, he draws a stunning portrait of life as a war refugee--a picture that applies to war refugees the world over throughout time.
   
   Kudos to those who elevated this book to number one among the history choices-it deserves it and in my mind deserves even more.



5. Victor Klemperer's diary of the years of the Hitler dictatorship and his recording of the day-to-day lives of the Jews of Dresden, his thoughtful and insightful commentary on the methods (particularly the language of the propaganda) of the Third Reich, the heart-wrenching stories of those who were taken away never to be seen again, his experience in the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 and his miraculous journey home should be required reading for everyone about the horrors of tyranny and war. It is also a tribute to the true human spirit and the power of the intellect. Klemperer never lost his determination to live, despite all the blows of terror that were aimed at him, his family, and his friends. That he believed there was something to live for--in the midst of utter barbarity--should inspire all of us to work for a better world. It did me.
   
   A remarkable record of a dark time. Reading it gives one the courage to carry on in the dark times that have come again.

5 comments about The Headmaster: Frank L. Boyden of Deerfield.

1. John McPhee's second work is part of a dynasty that currently stands at twenty-seven works of uncannily good non-fiction. Rarely in the annals of modern literature has such a feat been approached. Stephen Jay Gould's record-breaking essay streak is the only comparable feat of what Richard Rhodes aptly terms "verity". The so-called non-fiction novel was invented during the 60's with Truman Capote's brilliant "In Cold Blood", but the book devoured Capote, leaving John McPhee with a twenty-six book lead and a magnum opus entitled "Annals Of The Former World."
   
   "The Headmaster" is a 1966 profile of a remarkable educator called Frank Boyden and follows McPhee's first work "A Sense Of Where You Are" (1965), a prescient college-basketball biography of Bill Bradley who went on to have a successful pro-basketball and political career. McPhee's third work "Oranges" is the next book in the series. Not only does each and every John McPhee book receive 5 stars over four decades; the majority of McPhee's work is actually about the state of New Jersey, where he resides.



2. I read this book when it was first published in 1966. Not long afterward, I had the privilege as well as pleasure of visiting Deerfield Academy and was given a tour of it by its headmaster, Frank Boyden. At that time, I was a Master of English at Kent School (Kent, CT). I recently re-read this book and another of John McPhee's, A Sense of Where You Are. The title of the latter work correctly describes Boyden's total understanding of his relationship with a once tiny school (founded in 1797) located in what remains a rustic village. Throughout his years as headmaster (1902-1968), he knew exactly where he was as well as where exactly he wanted Deerfield to be (and remain) under his leadership. Just as Mr. Boyden gave me a tour of Deerfield Academy during my visit so many years ago, McPhee enables his reader to take a comprehensive "tour" of the unique and compelling relationship between a remarkable educator and the school community he headed for 66 years.
   
   Of special interest to me is what McPhee reveals about Boyden's style of leadership (autocratic but compassionate) and his obsession with maintaining "proper" appearances (e.g. manicured grounds, only the very best athletic equipment, the most impressive-looking athletes first off the bus). With regard to his relationships with faculty members, "The more you cooperate with the headmaster, the more he imposes on you," according to a teacher who had been at Deerfield for 25 years. "He expects a fantastic commitment. If you give it, he expects more. If you don't give it, he carries you, but you don't exist."
   
   As a father of four and a grandfather of seven, I also found many valuable lessons to be learned from Boyden's relationships with Deerfield's students. For example, his emphasis on courtesy in athletics. "No matter how able a Deerfield player was or how close a game had become, if he showed anger he was benched." For Boyden, athletic competition must demonstrate "a moral force." He played on Deerfield teams until he was about 35, and was head coach of football, basketball, and baseball until he was nearly 80. He loved sports. He often observed that "it's better to lose in a sportsmanlike way than to win and gloat over it." Point made, he would then add, "Now, boys, let's not let up on [the given opponent] for a minute. Let's win this one, if possible, by forty points." Frank Boyden had a sense of where he was as well as of where everyone else associated with Deerfield Academy should always be. The values to which he dedicated his life often require personal sacrifices which -- apparently -- many parents, educators, and young people today are unwilling and/or unable to make.



3. Being business-oriented, I wish this book had talked more about how he had built up this school and ran it. It does do that but not to the level where this could be considered a business biography. From a business standpoint, this is a book about leadership and how great leadership can do great things for an institution.

   Oh, and the drawings spread throughout the book really help convey the man. There's a number of photographs as well, but the drawings add nice touch.

   If this man was really as good as the book portrays him, this won't be the last book about him and, if so, I look forward to reading those as well.

   While not a great book, I would recommend it. It is a thin book of nice light reading.




4. McPhee has written a highly readable account of the impact of a single individual on one of New England's important boarding schools. This work is particularly interesting when juxtaposed against similar works on the history of Groton School, St. Paul's School, or Exeter/Andover when viewing how one person can cause an entire school culture to take root. Found most often in schools where strong headmasters have either founded the school or contributed a life of service, Deerfield Academy comes across in McPhee's work as the true child of Boyden whose various quirks in no way detracted from his personal mission of making a difference in boys' lives. While by no means a critical work, "Headmaster" is nevertheless an important document in understanding the history of an important boarding school.



5. From 1902 to 1968, Frank Boyden was the Headmaster of Deerfield, a private boy's school in the countryside of Massachusetts. When Boyden arrived, the school had 14 students, transportation was by foot or horse drawn wagon, and he intended to stay only long enough to get enough money. 66 years later, Deerfield was one of the leading prep schools in America, the equal to Exeter and Andover. Best of all, the school wasn't an imitation of British schools, as so many prep schools of the first half of the 20th century were. Boyden had turned Deerfield into an outstanding educational institution while keeping it uniquely American. Demanding, even a bit of a despot, Boyden shaped the school and its students into something special, a school where the students come first, then the faculty.

   Only John McPhee could tell the story as it deserves. Boyden and all the other residents of Deerfield come alive under McPhee's pen. The little touches, like the Headmaster's rejuvenating midday naps, followed by letter writing and inspections tours, make it seem as if the reader is there.

   I doubt you'll be able to read this book, and not wish you could have been a student under Boyden. For several generations, Deerfield under his leadership was what a school should be.

5 comments about The Thread That Runs So True: A Mountain School Teacher Tells His Story.

1. Twenty-two years ago (in 1986) I was a freshman in high school. My English teacher assigned The Thread That Runs So True as part of our summer reading. I am now a college professor & I thought that it would be fun to reread the book now that I have classes to teach.
   
   Stuart's book is powerful. He explains the limited circumstances of his Kentucky pupils in a way that makes you think about the lack of opportunities many Americans face. Stuart will also force you to take off your rose-colored glasses about how wonderful things used to be. He recounts stories of students beating up teachers, indifferent administrators, and students literally walking barefoot in the snow to get to school. The good-old days weren't so great.
   
   One of the best aspects of the Thread That Runs So True is that Stuart has tremendous faith in humanity - and in education's ability to improve each of us and our society. He recounts many instances in which students from the most-impoverished families dramatically improved their lives by going to school. Even a cynic will find it difficult not to feel a little inspired by reading this book.
   
   In my opinion, the book is not perfect. Stuart's argument that education funding is the panacea to cure society's ills is dated; we now know that money for education is very important, but that money alone does not always promote student achievement. Also, I don't want to give anything away, but I thought that the ending of the book was very unsatisfying.
   
   While The Thread That Runs So True has a few drawbacks, it is an inspiring story that will teach you a lot about education early in the 20th Century U.S.



2. This book and story takes the reader into the world of education at the grass roots rural level. From the one room school house with 20 year old students still mired in the first grade to brilliant students from impoverished backgrounds. A terrific review and account of cultural conditions in the 1930's, from the depression to WWII. A must read for educators/teachers. Many of the methods and means used by the author will shock and surprise today's readers, but this is Kentucky in the 1930's. Imagery depicted is fantastic.



3. When I was in Junior High I found Jesse Stuart's book "Hie to the Hunters" in the school library. It remains one of the best books I have ever read. Stuart was at the same time a tough man's man and a sensitive poet. His love of the natural beauty of Kentucky and his people shines through in all his writing, as does his toughness, hard work and perseverance. He was born in the hill country of Kentucky to a father who was not literate and a mother who had only completed a few years of grade school, yet he and his brothers and sisters learned the value of education and became school teachers. "The Thread That Runs So True" is the story of his career in education, beginning when he was a 17-year-old teaching a rural one-room school in the 1920s, through stints as a principal and superintendent of schools, and finally as a farmer, author, and lecturer. "The Thread That Runs So True", written in 1949, remains probably his best-known book, but parts of it are almost too painful to read. Stuart's first year of teaching was at a country school where his older sister had been badly beaten up and driven from the school by a tough male student. Stuart wrote poignantly of the beautiful and the ugly in this book, and it is very worthwhile reading.



4. This was the book I read in high school that made me want to be a teacher. Jesse Stuart's experiences as a young Kentucky teacher in the hill country are classic.
   
   His writing is sincere and full of the love of education. Both of his parents were good hard-working people who could barely read.
   
   Only a true writer could have conveyed the sense of adventure, the wonder, and above all, the sense of accomplishment that inspiring young minds gives to the true teacher.



5. I am not one that usualy likes the books teachers require me to read, but this book was great. The story was captivating and fun. The reading was light and I wasn't a fan of the choppy "chaptering" of the book, but I did enjoy it very much.

1 comments about Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education: A Biographical Introduction (4th Edition).

1. The book is average for texts of this type. However, Amazon's presentation of the book for prospective customers is terrible! Unlike many other books they sell, they DO NOT allow you to see a table of contents, index, or sample pages. They seem to want the customer to "buy a pig in a poke." That's Amazon's fault--not the author's. I passed on purchase, not because the book is bad, but because Amazon does not seem to want to share what's in this particular book.