5 comments about My Story.

1. I never thought of Marilyn Monroe as being a deep, self reflective type of woman. However, this book reveals a side of her that is much more complicated than her public persona and is hidden by her glamour. I thought this book was great, I wish though there were less pictures of her Hollywood persona and more of her past.



2. "I was full of a strange feeling, as if I were two people, one of them was Norma Jean from the orphanage who belonged to nobody. The other was someone whose name I didn't know, I knew where she belonged, she belonged to the ocean and the sky and the whole world."
   -Marilyn Monroe
   Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson in 1926. She was raised by an assortment of families. Each family she ever lived with was paid five dollars a week by her biological mother, the money was to pay for little Norma Jean's food and clothing. She proved to be an assset to the home she lived with because she could do housework. Her mother visited her occasionally. Every time Norma spilled the salt or forgot to wash the dishes, she was sent back to the orphanage until a new family adopted her. When her mother was taken to the insane asylum, she lived with her Aunt Grace between families. One day, when Norma Jean is sixteen, she and her aunt decide that she should get married to avoid having to go to new families all of the time. When she was nineteen, she and her husband divorced and she moved to an apartment in Hollywood t look for work. She made enough money modeling for advertisements and layouts to get by. She got on the payroll t 20th Century Fox, they gave her the name Marilyn Monroe and they told she was going to be a star, but they never hired her for any movies. Then, one day a magazine wrote an article about a calendar she had modeled for years before. Letters began to pour into the studio until, as Ms. Monroe puts it "They had to stop ignoring me." so they put her in a movie and she became a hit. When attending a party that the studio sent her to for publicity, she meets Joe DiMaggio, whom she later marries. Marilyn goes on to star in many movies, she dies in 1962. I really liked this book and I would recommend it to any Marilyn Monroe fan.
   One thing that I liked about this book was that she wrote it the way a friend would talk about their life. Marilyn wrote more about her rough childhood rather than each of her individual movies. She talked about life in Hollywood living in poverty, being surrounded by phony agents and young talent unable to find a some work. People judged her for being beautiful, women were always suspicious of her and she couldn't get a real job interview with a man because they were crazy about her looks. She wrote about the strangers' proposals that she turned down. She even wrote about the hopes, dreams and desires she once had that she has now fulfilled
   I liked how Monroe cleared up all of the gossip that had always been present in magazines and spread by word of mouth. She did this without an angry or accusatory tone. Often when a celebrity attempts make it known that the gossip isn't true, they go into an angry rant about the press, Monroe did nopt do this. The words were written in a cool, casual manner, almost as if she were look back on it and laughing. Throughout the entire book she conveys a message saying that she is more grown up than people have made her out to be and is still more mature than she once was.
   I also liked some of the metaphors and descriptions she used. Some of the metaphors made me laugh but for the most part I got a really good idea of what she was describing. I would have never thought of some of the ways she described objects and situations. She described phony agents as wolves howling in the night for someone to come and work for them.
   I did get a little bit confused when she kept referring to past future occurrences. She could be talking about her childhood and refer to marriage to Joe Dimaggio, or dhe could be talking bout a publicity party she went to but refer back to the orphanage she went as a young child
   I belive that this is a very good book which speaks the truth and exposes a new side of Marilyn Monroe that is very different from the characters she plays on the screen. Inside are thoughts, hopes, dreams and ghosts of the past.



3. this was just okay the same old lies once you read here i am mother by nancy miracle the real story censored for so long yopu'll know it all the old hollywood story is over the real one lives see here i am mother by her daughter nancy miracle



4. I really enjoyed reading My Story. I admire Marilyn the actress/model, and as I am primarily interested in her life because of the real challenges she faced and overcame, most biographies of her (written by other people) do not interest me.
   
   I think My Story may have been part publicity stunt, part accurate portrayal of the star's beginnings, but this is probably the closest thing we will ever get to a personal account of her life story. At least we know that she had some hand in writing it. The editor admits that the book was cut short as Marilyn left the manuscript unfinished. Her career, at the point that the book leaves off, was at its peak: she had just married Joe DiMaggio and was preparing to entertain the troops in Korea.
   
   At least the reader can glean some truths about Marilyn's life before her fame. I do not think that the first-person, sensitive description of her experiences as a budding young woman and courageous tenacity in the face of struggles could be entirely fabricated. This is the picture of Marilyn that few would believe, or would want to see. The real loneliness and self-awareness cultivated by a sole struggle for love and notoriety is at the heart of her accounts. Touching passages describe her unique mix of ambition, courage, and Achilles-heel insecurity; there is a traumatic description of what happened when a police officer followed her home and attempted to rape her (an event that was later subject to sensational rewrites); she has to set internal lines and limits as numerous men attempted to exploit her in exchange for a shot at mostly non-existent "movie opportunities".
   
   For a long time, the public has been fed the glamorized image of Marilyn as the sex icon, the tragic actress, the most famous golden-era Hollywood starlet. In my opinion this short book represents the diamond-in-the-rough version of Marilyn's life- before she was "Marilyn", before the waif became the star, and the legend became the myth.



5. I bought this book when it first came out in the 1970s, so it's not a new revelation. Marilyn's writing is self-conscious and stiff at times, and the book is light on facts. The worst part is Andrea Dworkin's predictable "woman as eternal victim" foreward, and I was disgusted that she repeated Norman Mailer's confessed fiction that Marilyn had had multiple abortions. Mailer admitted that he made that up! And Dworkin repeats it here as if it were a known fact. This calumny gives you a clue as to the stringency of her scholarship. This book is pretty much useless.

4 comments about The Union That Shaped the Confederacy: Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens.

1. Davis has written many books and this is one of his better. Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens are both important figures in the Confederacy and in American political history of the ante-bellum period. The book points out the intimacy of these two and gives an insight into the background of the Confederacy. It should not replace a biography of either of these two statesmen.



2. Toombs and Stephen examplify the problems within the Confederate
   government. These incredibly close friends of the strong Georgia delegation were powerful national political figures whose bitterness over personal issues, Toombs, and Stephens' strict constitutional views undermined the Davis administration. Stephens never seriously worked with the dominating Davis and was later opposed to the administration over constitutional issues in the face of bigger war emergencies. Toombs loses the opportunity to become the first President by his bellicose enthusiams for the office coupled with drink which lowers his place in the new government and raises Stephens' star. Excellent description of both men including Toombs rise as Secretary of State, his anti-Davis stance and his mercurial and short military career. The author also covers the end of the era of both men including Stephens' attempts to rewite history in a light more favorable to him then his actions were in reality. These two powerful men and closest of friends could not see the big picture of the war seeking their narrow views in spite of the war effort. Together with Governor Brown of Georgia, they represented a crisis of independence within the Confederacy that no doubt contributed to the fall of the Confederate government.



3. What a delightful little book! And frankly, I don't often use the term "delightful" in a book review. *The Union That Shaped the Confederacy* is a swiftly-paced, lightly written work that details the friendship of a pair of Georgians - Robert Toombs and "Little Alec," Alexander Stephens.

   It is very important to know exactly what you are not getting with this book. You will not get a standard biographical treatment of Stephens and Toombs, and author Davis makes this abundantly clear from the outset. You will not receive great insights into the minds and thinking of these two men, but will come to appreciate the antebellum, war-time, and post-bellum periods of American history as these two men saw it.

   William C. Davis does not attempt to make his subjects either heroes or villains on the Confederacy's stage. They were what they were - friends who for the most part held similar political beliefs, worked for the same ends, and became, as the war progressed, more and more bitterly opposed to the administration of Jefferson F. Davis.

   Because of the nature of the work, the reader receives a slice of Civil War-era history from a perspective he or she would not likely get. Along the way, one receives insights into the functioning (and dysfunction) of the Confederacy's Executive Branch, as well as the building of the "loyal opposition" to Davis's administration. We see the strengths and weaknesses of these two prominent Georgians, as they struggled to establish a new nation out of the old.

   Davis's writing style is loose and fast, and almost reads as if a good friend is telling a story of another pair of friends. To some, this may be distracting, but I found it to be just part of the story. *The Union That Shaped the Confederacy* can be read quickly, with a great sense of satisfaction. This book comes highly recommended.




4. This book documents the friendship and political careers of two of the Confederacy's most important statesmen. Davis does a nice job of providing historical detail while also weaving a readable story. However, at times, the prose is too informal and almost needlessly dramatic. Moreover, much of the history is quite derivative, as I learned very little new information about the men in question or the political tenets of the Confederacy. His previous book, "A Government of Our Own," is a much better historical treatment.

5 comments about RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy.

1. I picked this up for $2 used. I paid too much. This book is an offensive hatchet job, full of ridiculous claims that the author makes no attempt to substantiate. People simply make claims about RFK, and Heymann prints them. I know Bobby was no saint, and I don't expect hagiography. But this biography goes way too far in the other direction. One source compares Bobby to Caligula. At that point, I stopped reading the book. Save your money -- even if it is just $2.



2. Mr Heymann has an interesting interpretation of the word 'integrity'. I was simply aghast at some of the bizarre assertions that the author seems to accept as fact. Check the sources (and I did!) and you'll not find much to back up his rather bold claims. Many of those interviewed or quoted have rather questionable motives and a lot is second hand information or hearsay.
   
   Also many of RFK's own comments were taken completely out of context. When asking "Where are all the women?" on the '68 campaign trail this was not in a sexual context. As far back as the early '50s while running JFK's senatorial campaign Bobby would often say that he preferred women in a campaign because he thought they tend to work harder.
   
   This is NOT an unbiased biography. For a completely unbiased account of Robert Kennedy's life I refer you to Evan Thomas' 'Robert Kennedy: His Life'. It takes a look at both 'Good' and 'Bad' Bobby but sticks strictly to the facts.
   
   The most exhaustive and indepth RFK biography is of course Arhtur Schlesinger's 'Robert Kennedy and His Times'. Not from a completely objective standpoint as it's written by a Kennedy friend but ultimately reliable and informative.



3. RFK fans may not like this biography because it ain't a biased one. And this may be the first attempt to write a cruel and honest account of RFK's life. I've read some reviews here, and people who did not like this book are commeting that it is just gossip plain and simple. It must be remember that Heymann spent 7 years researching for this book. RFK was not the liberal icon that many thought he was. Many of the things he did wasn't only because he cared (I do believe he did care) but also for political ambition. He had a dark side (which he did use a lot with LBJ) and also a good side. The dark side is shown exhaustively in this book, and in the end, as amanzingly as it seems, Heymann writes a sympathetic image of RFK. Another thing, just because it is shown that RFK was not very different from his brothers when it came to sex doesn't mean that it is not truth (and who says otherwise must known that Heymann did much more researched in this subject than the others biographers did), this is a "candid" biography after all. People who bought this must not be naive and have an idea of what they'll find when they read it.



4. My title tells it all and to spent too much time on a review is to assign this an importance it does not merit. If you are interested in any thoughtful analysis of RFK you will not find it here. The focus is on lurid one source and second hand tall tales and obviously the author has an axe to grind. If you love the National Enquirer and Fox News you will probably like this and there's no saving you. If you want to learn more about this complicated man and his era, this will fill you with disgust.



5. one star is too much, the book doesn't do anything tern RFK?s legacy. the arguments are false, and the book is boring.
   DONT SPEND EVEN ONE CENT ON THIS BOOK.

3 comments about Fifty Years on the Old Frontier As Cowboy, Hunter, Guide, Scout, and Ranchman.

1. This is a very great book. I am actually reading it again; it's that good. I wish that James H Cook and his son Harold were still alive to meet. If only there were more books this good. James Cook's second book Longhorn Cowboy goes into even greater detail about his experiences with the cattle. His son Harold's book Tales Of The 04 Ranch makes another suppliment to go past this one. This family had an amazing life. There is another supplimental book called Bones Of Agate by Ron Cockrell which can be read on line. I have not been able to find the actual book. If you like this book you will also like Trails Of Yesterday by John Bratt.



2. While there have been many books written about the settlement of the American West, relatively few of them have been first-person accounts. And though I had never heard of Fifty Years on the Old Frontier or its author until a recent visit to the Nebraska State Park which occupies the site of James Cook's old Agate Springs Ranch, after reading I came to the conclusion that Cook's book is one of those that are essential reading for anyone who wants a fairly unbiased close-up view of frontier life.
   Though Cook came to the Plains and to the West as a relatively uneducated greenhorn, by the end of his life he had developed into a man of much empirical knowledge and understanding. His writing style is not at all dry and the reader will find Cook to be a very engaging writer whose observations are leavened with a wry humor that makes him want to finish the book in one sitting.
   Maybe I like it so much because I've been to all the places of which he writes and I can visualize the countryside as I read along. Cook was a real polymath as far as practical living went, and his abilities served him well in an environment which demanded so much of every person. I enjoy most his stories of the cattle drives as he learned the hard way how to be a cowboy, and those of his time as a ranch manager in Southwestern New Mexico, a country I know well. But I also enjoy reading of his interactions with the leaders of the Plains Indians, many of whom saw in Cook a kindred spirit.
   Cook's life in the west spanned the period from when the Central Plains and the Southwest were first being settled and everything was wide open, to the time where everything was settled, fenced-in, and criscrossed with railways and highways. He saw the buffalo, the antelope, and the grizzly nearly eliminated and he saw the Indians go from being masters of the Plains to being reduced to living on puny reservations and reliant on the whim of the white man for basic necessities. He writes of this with wisdom gained through hard experience, balance, and a tinge of sadness for the passing of the old days and the old ways.
   If you love the West and would like an authentic, unvarnished look at the way it once was, then this book is for you. Judging by the sales ranking on amazon, it appears to have been almost forgotten. Many thanks to the University of Oklahoma Press for keeping it alive.



3. James Cook's "Fifty Years on the Old Frontier" is an autobiographical narrative of his life experiences in the American West. Cook's endeavors during the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century encompassed a whole host of occupations: cattle drover, tour guide, hunter, rancher, and military scout. Cook eventually married into money and retired to a ranch near Agate, Nebraska where he consorted with Red Cloud and other old Sioux warriors. He also collaborated with several university professors on fossil digs located around his ranch, eventually becoming an amateur scientist in his own right. Cook's accounts of his adventures in the Old West provide a compelling insight about the realities and myths of America's movement across the North American continent. James Cook died in 1942.

   The beginning chapters of the book outline the author's work as a cattle popper and drover along the old cattle trails through Texas and Kansas. The dangers that threatened the well being of these tough as nails trail hands constitutes the bulk of Cook's narrative. What quickly becomes apparent is that these guys were not the dapper dandies we see in films and fiction; they worked hard everyday to get those longhorns up to Kansas and to the railroad. Cook recounts the disagreements amongst drovers, an experience with hail and a tornado, stampedes, the threat of wild animals, and the dangers posed by Indians. A separate chapter discusses the fate of the wild mustangs, yet another sad chapter in the annals of the conquest of the West. Once the businessmen moved in and discovered a market for horses, they rounded up the mustangs by the thousands through crude trapping techniques and by depriving Indians of their stocks. Horses injured in the process were ruthlessly shot by the trappers. The picture that emerges from the author's narrative about trail life is one of greedy exploitation leading to environmental damage.

   Relations with Indians are a central theme of the book. The movie image of tremendous battles between natives and American military forces does not find expression in this story. Instead, Cook portrays Indians as just another obstacle to the settlement of the West. Cattle drivers had to pay attention to Indian raiders who sought to steal horses and cattle, but it was more important to worry about weather and stampedes. In the last section of the book, Indians play a bigger role in the story. The author outlines in detail his relationship with the Sioux after they had been confined to the reservation. Another chapter deals with the Geronimo uprising in New Mexico, an incident Cook experienced first hand during his tenure as a ranch manager in the area. He takes the opportunity of the uprising to tell the truth about the Indians and the military forces during the campaign. According to the author, Geronimo and his Apache warriors did not fight the military head on, but relied on hit and run tactics with strategic retreats to Mexico to stay one step ahead of the law. The military relied heavily on scouts, often mixed blood Indians, in order to track down the rogue Indians. Geronimo eventually surrendered when an army officer talked him into giving himself up.

   Cook's interest in the West is not a broad picture of western history, but rather groupings of anecdotes about his individual experiences in the area. The reader often has to read between the lines of these engaging stories in order to ascertain the reality of the situation on the frontier. For example, Cook discusses in depth the time the Sioux on the reservation asked him to be their government appointed agent. The author provides several letters of endorsement written on his behalf by politicians and bankers in Nebraska and Wyoming. The letters praise Cook as a man of the West on excellent terms with the local Indian population. A cynic can see the larger dynamic tensions between East and West in these letters. The locals want one of their own in the job because up to this point the position was always held by someone from back east. Moreover, a western agent could deliver lucrative supply contracts to western businesses and perform favors for western politicians. Why else would bankers take the time to write a recommendation letter to the government? It certainly had little to do with goodwill towards the Sioux Indians, especially since this wheedling went on at roughly the same time as the Ghost Dance fiasco.

   I am astonished that no one else has reviewed this book. This is a great text for the Old West history buff or those interested in Indian/White relations during the late 19th century. James Cook's "Fifty Years on the Old Frontier" is an entertaining, yet at some times sad, account of the realities of our frontier days.

5 comments about Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations.

1. I had the good fortune to catch an interview of Craig Nelson on CSpan on one of the booknotes shows. The story he told of Thomas Paine was fascinating so I decided to buy the book and I am glad I did. He is the unsung hero of the American Revolution, the French Revolution and of democracy and Republics today. Few men have done more and gotten so little credit for it. How many of us know he was the one that communicated to THE WORLD the ideals of freedom and democracy to the point that his books, at a time when far fewer people where literate, sold millions of copies. They were read by everyone and read to the masses. Written in a level of language that sparked ideas and ideals in most who read or heard them. He kept Washington supplied with money by not taking any compensation or royalties for the books. He was welcome in the homes and parlors of most of the major players in the American revolution (expect John Adams' home.)
   
   He was a hero in France and had the distinct honor to be asked to represent a district of France in the new revolutionary government. Imagine that, an Englishman turned American, representing a French state, even though he did not speak or write French??? The power of ideas and ideals. He was feted in many a French aristocrats house and was companion to many intellectuals of the time.
   
   Yet today, few of us know anything about him because he made powerful enemies who proceeded to try to strike his memory from existance. Few people who were heros got such bad press. He died in America, yet his bones ended up being spread around the world.
   
   What a story! Read this book to appreciate the power of Common Sense, The Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. Appreciate a true American Hero, if not a world hero.



2. I loved it. It is a well written and very detailed book about one of our founding fathers. Very easy to read and I finished it pretty quickly despite its in depth and thorough account of his life. It was unbiased in reporting both the good and the bad. I highly recommend it.



3. This was a very enjoyable book on a fascinating and under explored subject. At least it was fascinating once it got past what I felt to be a fairly slow start. For a while I was wondering if I had made a poor selection as the book seemed to focus little on Paine and more generally on the times and the other characters of the day. I was suspecting the author might have been padding due to some lack of research material.
   
   In good time my fears were allayed and the book began to carry forth under its own steam and from then on out as the pace was set the story became captivating and enriching to read.
   
   Thomas Paine of course plays at minimum a cameo role in any history of the nation's founding or in any biography of its founders. I love to read of the lives of our founding fathers and have read multiple biographies on most of them. I am ashamed to say that I waited this long to read a book fully dedicated to this most indispensable of founders.
   
   The author succeeds in portraying Thomas Paine in all of his human character - enlightened, passionate, abrasive, loyal and vain. I didn't get the sense, as often happens, that the subject was placed upon a pedestal by his historian without blemish, rather by simply cataloguing the life of this amazing and faulty character the reader has but little choice to hoist him upon that pedestal under the test of virtue.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who, like me realizes there is a hole in the story where Thomas Paine is concerned, and seeks to fill said hole with knowledge of his life.



4. "Thomas Paine" by Craig Nelson is a thoughtful yet entertaining biography of the Revolutionary War hero Thomas Paine. Positioning Paine within the intellectual vanguard of the Age of Enlightenment, Mr. Nelson demonstrates the crucial role that Paine played in inspiring the colonists' radical struggle for independence. This carefully researched and accessible work succeeds in reintroducing readers to a remarkable man who dedicated his life to human progress through politics.
   
   Mr. Nelson bookends the narrative with the strange tale of Paine's bones which were first recovered by William Cobbett and then sold and resold many times over. This particular narrative serves as a metaphor underscoring the changing opinions that posterity has attributed to Paine; indeed, we learn that Cobbett was virulently opposed to Paine's democratic principles during Paine's lifetime only to later became an ardent admirer after Paine's death. No doubt Cobbett was not unusual for his varying reactions to a message that helped set in motion a series of profound socio-political changes throughout the transatlantic world.
   
   Mr. Nelson's solid scholarship and vivid prose helps us imagine Paine passionately debating the great issues of the day with his fellow revolutionaries. Paine appears as one of the boldest and most visionary of his peers, publicly calling for an end to slavery, supporting women's rights and envisioning a welfare state at a time when most others were silent on these issues. Of course, it was Paine's remarkable talent in transcribing Enlightenment ideals into fiery populist rhetoric that made him indispensible, helping to win broad support for a cause that faced significant challenges and memorably rallying the soldiers at a particularly dark moment in the war.
   
   But Mr. Nelson takes Paine's story well beyond this familiar terrain to England and France, where Paine continued to risk all for the principles he held dear. Mr. Nelson makes clear that Paine was immersed in the kind of political turmoil and intrigue that makes today's world seem rather tame by comparison, including a narrow escape from England after authoring the seditious 'Age of Reason' and a remarkable stint in the French legislature where his principled stand for human dignity and democracy ended with a brutal imprisonment. Through it all, Paine became the 18th Century's most widely read author, pointing the way forward for the great mass of people through the Age of Revolution into today's democratic world that, in many ways, has yet to fulfill Paine's utopian vision.
   
   Tragically, Paine's unyielding defense of reason earned the enmity of small-minded religious demagogues who propagandized against the defenseless Paine in posterity. Fortunately, Mr. Nelson's book joins several other more recent works that correct this unjust historic distortion, helping to restore Paine to his proper place among the Founding Fathers as one of their most uncompromising and important leaders.



5. Nelson does a thorough job in exploring Mr. Paine's life. Of interesting note is that the pace of the book seems to mimic the waxing and waning of Mr. Paine's alleged mental illness and bouts with alcohol....as do Mr. Paine's writings. No doubt Thomas Paine's inability to sustain consistent relationships had something to do with his personality and mental illness. One of the few criticisms of the book I have is Nelson's jumping back and forth in the time period without putting in the occasional date as a point of reference. I also wished he had explored the contentious relationsip between Gouverneur Morris and Paine a little more thoroughly. Overall the book is a good read. Not only does it give the reader a better view of this important figure in American History it also provides a glimpse into the difficult lives of people during that period in regards to living wages, debt, and travel.

1 comments about The Diary of Opal Whiteley.

1. A lovely and unique book but there's unfortunately lots of evidence that she didn't write it till she was a lot older: see Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness. Still worth a read but please take it with a grain of salt.

5 comments about An Echo in My Blood: The Search for My Family's Hidden Past.

1. Weisman is a good writer, with an amazing true story to tell. A journalist traveling to the Ukraine to investigate the Chernobyl disaster (an amazing story in its own right), he decides to visit his ancestral town of Elizavetgrad (Yelisavethgrad). This takes him on an unexpected odyssey of self-discovery and family history.

   His insights into Jewish life (in Chicago and Russia) are especially engaging. Some readers will tire of his sometimes relentless left-wing agenda, but I was glad I didn't let that distract from the really fine cultural portrait he has composed.




2. I surpsed myself and finished this
   book as I was going to stop on several
   ocassions. His vinettes of imprtant
   history(the Russian civil war,the Chicago
   convention,the Unamerican Committee) were
   incredible. I take issue with the extent
   of his family history which was confusing
   and tiring.



3. How deeply moved my wife and I have been by this momentous, beautiful book, which both of us have found to be truly unforgettable. Echo in the blood, indeed. Weisman has found a way to widen a story that is essentially "personal" and familial by ramifying that story in multiple dimensions -- geo-politically, ecologically, historically and racially (the euphemism is "culturally," but this is a book that is unabashedly concerned with the complex meanings of racial inheritance). Most staggering to me are the book's accounts of visiting the weirdly transformed Ukrainian landscape around Chernobyl, the passages that combine the author's father's letters from combat in World-War-Two-era Europe with descriptions of the ongoing lives of relatives at home in Minnesota, and the chapters detailing (with intricate, agonizing subtlety) the deaths of his parents, one then the other. My wife's strongest response was a whole-body recognition of a certain truth, in which the book immerses its reader: As a people, as a species, we are making war on each other and on the living earth. Every one of us carries the burden and the damage of that war into our future. This is extraordinary writing, extraordinarily difficult to make sing, and Alan Weisman has brought it to song.



4. I am a descendent of the family that Mr Weisman writes about. How ironic, that I discovered this book through a distant relative who knew I was looking for information on my great grandparents, on my mother's side. I am named for Bess Goldman, a relative of Mr. Weisman. I asked hundreds of questions about my family while my grandparents were alive, and most were stonewalled. After resigning myself to never knowing the truth, I read this book, and many mysteries are finally solved. I am now 56 and for most of my life the story of my family was concealed from me, I never knew why. In those days, living in denial saved you from the truth. I must be a distant cousin to Mr. Weisman, I had many relatives my grandparents would never tell me about, I never knew why they fled the Ukraine. this book has provided answers to lingering questions, echos, so to speak. I will be sending each my two children this book and will share it with remaining family members. Mr. Weisman's research is inspiring. I admire his tenacity in delving into the past with such enthusiasm. This book could be anybody's family, it is a microcosm of our journey from elsewhere to America. Pamela Price Lechtman



5. This book goes far beyond conventional memoir. The author's story shows how our world today is tangled with the past, and that we drag the past along with us, whether we know it or not. Through vivid personal stories, the writer shows how events as disparate as the Jewish pogroms in Russia, the McCarthy blacklist, and the current environmental crisis are all connected. He reminds us that we all share the inherited pain of immigration. A beautifully written, sad and funny, important book.

5 comments about A Golfer's Life.

1. Biographies by old warriors and old jocks usually are just not that good. This one is different. I have followed Mr. Palmer's career from the start, and after reading this work, felt I knew him much better. It was pure Palmer. The book is well written, informative and actually rather inspiring. As I suspected, I could not find one line in the book to lead me to a different opinion, one I have held for years, that this is a true gentleman. Wish there were more like him in the world of sports today. On the other hand, as hinted at above, Mr. Palmer has been one of my "heros" since I was eight years old or so, so, in my eyes, he could do little wrong, including writing his autobiography. Recommend the read for anyone.



2. This is fine book about a man with deep principles that have continued to deepen and nourish his life. What a life! From golfing legend to aviator to business entrepeneur to course designer to philantropist to family man to cancer recoverer et al.

   One of the true heroes of our time. Growing up with this guy, we baby boomers need one like this to exude what it truly is about -- not the titles or record or such, but how one played the game and treated others.

   Such neat memories from AP's life: earning nickels hitting over the ditch for ladies when young; his detest for media's microscopic view; his leaving the French Open after being mistreated by the Frogs (guess things never change); his opinion of the PGA's historical problems; his committment to his word; his enjoyment of piloting immediately after tournament, whether win or lose.

   Guy is first class and leaves us with much to emulate and pass on. His family roots run deep and it's evident. Maybe influence some parents to such as well.

   More enjoyable read than assumed. This guy has given so much to the development of the sport we love. His views should not be lightly glanced over.




3. I have to give this five stars because Arnold Palmer is my all time, all time sports idol, but I think the writing could have been better. That is evident in the people who thought Arnie was not candid about his feelings on Jack. In numerous other accounts, those feelings are explored in depth, so if there is a problem in that regard it is a failing in the author, not in Arnie. Also, I disagree that he doesn't see Jack as the best of all time, because he's said that numerous times. If there was rancor there on Arnie's part, it was probably because he felt that in Jack's younger days he didn't respect the fans enough, which is probably why I sense some rancor in some of the things Arnie now says about Tiger. In any event, this is a purely classy guy, who deserves all the accolades he's gotten, and this book gives a good glimpse into his soul.



4. Palmer deserves his reputation as one of the most respected figures in professional sports. This book, with its down-home style is far above the mind-numbing blow-by-blow accounts of careers hardly justifying the ink and paper which clog the sports book shelves. For this, his collaborator, golf writer, James Dodson, must be due for a large share of credit. Arnold Palmer looks back over a fantastic career with no lack of humility, but with personal glimpses in sufficient depth to maintain the interest at all times. But more than this, Palmer gives fascinating insights to his business life and associations with the famous in other fields, from presidents to show business personalities, to his fellow-golfers over six decades, always making it clear that his first love is his family. Palmer may be a little old-fashioned in his outlook for some of today's readers and indeed the schmaltz might be a little thick at times, but this still rates as a sports book of excellent quality.



5. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, by its candor and by how well-written it was. It minimized many warts, but there is still some bite to it.

   Arnold Palmer defines what charisma is. Charisma has nothing to do with skill, he certainly was not the most skilled or accomplished golfer. His talent and achievements fall short of those of Nicklaus, Hogan and even Gary Player. Yet Palmer with his amazing charisma can arguably be considered the most important golfer in the last 50 years.

   A few years ago I was watching a Senior tournament. My wife came by and became enraptured by what was on. That was extremely odd, she usually does not watch golf. She asked me who the man on the screen was that was so fascinating. It was Arnold Palmer.

   The portraits that Palmer draws of his parents, especially of his father, are wonderful. His stories of growing up are wonderful and I feel a good sense of the man and his roots. And he spares no words in discussing the death of his best friend while he was at school at Wake Forest, a death he still somewhat blames himself.

   However, the story about the Ku Klux Klan meeting and his mother's reaction to it (live and let live) is rather naïve.

   Palmer brings up an interesting theory about his career, that his decision to stop smoking played a factor in it. Nicotine creates a dependency, physical and psychological, no doubt about it. Palmer feels that cigarettes helped him concentrate. But I admire him for not starting again, even if it cost him some strokes. So do his grandchildren and his fans, if he had not stopped, he would not be here today.

   Palmer talks about several people in the golf world at length. He speaks highly, yet evenhandedly, of Clifford Roberts and the Masters. I daresay that there are others who would not agree with that opinion.

   It is obvious that Arnold did not get along with Ben Hogan, but few people did. Hogan was a hard man and while Palmer speaks highly of Ben's skills, you can see that he did not like him personally.

   The section about Nicklaus is fascinating. There is a major rivalry in many ways between the two of them, there is no question about it. Palmer makes some very astute observations about their divergent styles and personalities.

   There is much greater kinship with Gary Player and the stories about Player are quite funny.

   People have tried to analyze Palmer's appeal for years. One of the ideas is that he comes across as a blue-collar worker in a rich man's sport. It was him that drew fans across income and class lines.

   To many people, Arnold Palmer is old-line establishment. He was a close friend of Eisenhower, and of Bob Hope. The book slows when he talks of the rich people he is friends with.

   In particular, I was repulsed by a golf course he built with an airstrip within, so one can land one's private plane and then tee off. Give me a break!

   And his apparent tolerance for many of the racist policies of the PGA is galling as well. Palmer could have done more to bring the PGA into the 20th Century. His decision to keep quiet and "work within the system" again shows naivity beyond belief.

   But Palmer has some wonderfully nice things to say about President Clinton, so he is even-handed.

   Palmer is not overly introspective, so he does not try analyzing his popularity very much. He does say that he loves to perform, to show off and entertain people. He talks of his joy the first time that happened.

   A section of Feinstein's "A Good Walk Spoiled" discusses Palmer from a fan's perspective and also from a fellow player's. It gives a different perspective on the man.

   Palmer has always been treated well by the press. But he deserves a lot of the credit himself. He tells a great story about Jim McKay getting all noisy and excited in the 1960 Masters and interrupting Palmer's concentration. Palmer could have snarled or been nasty. Instead, he just smiled and McKay realized what was going on. You can get more with the carrot...

   At the time this book was written, his wife Winnie had just been diagnosed with cancer. She is no longer with us and my heart aches for Mr. Palmer and his loss. Palmer also talks little of his own fight with cancer and the remarkable recovery he has made. Nor does he talk about all the money he has raised for research of prostate cancer.

   There is very little about his daughters as well, or his family life beyond his early married days.

   In an ESPN show, one of those daughters said on-camera that her dad loved being Arnold Palmer. There are countless people who can testify of how nice a man he is.

   Good book!

3 comments about A Diary Of Battle: The Personal Journals Of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865.

1. The Edward Porter Alexander of the Union Army
   Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, artillerist, is the Edward Porter Alexander of the Union army. His recollections from 1861-1865, as presented in A Diary of Battle edited by Allan Nevins, is an amazing in-depth memoir of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of someone who fought in most of the major battles of the Army of the Potomac. He was for all practical purposes Confederate Col E.P. Alexander's Union memoir counterpart. He knew all the major figures and did not hesitate to comment on each one. He held nothing back, writing in explicit and descriptive prose. His analysis of both battles and personalities is both insightful and illuminating.
   This is a must read for anyone who wants to get a more in-depth understanding of the real American Civil War from a front line participant.
   Highly recommended especially for serious Civil War buffs.



2. There are many diarries and personal recollections of the Civil War. There are a handful of these that rate as classic writings that can be used as reliable first hand accounts of the war, and this is one of them. Possibly the best diary from the Army of the Potomac. Great detail, well written and very intersting.



3. Gets low marks for editing. The editor has excised parts he thinks are repetitive or boring, but in some cases these clearly dealt with the technical details of handling artillery, and would have been of great use to the reader.

   The colonel of the 1st NY Artillery, Wainwright is interesting as an anti-abolitionist and a fan of McClellan up to the very end. His comment that he wouldn't trust Massachusetts or Pennsylvania not to secede if conditions were reversed (p. 207) is interesting, reflecting the strong allegiance to state in the North as well as the South. His views on the cynicism of abolitionists are intriguing as well; he believed that the radicals were deliberately prolonging the war to gain political power. His account of the fighting on Culp's Hill at Gettysburg is quite detailed.

5 comments about The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865.

1. I found the introduction to this book to be a strange mix of distain and apologia, as if Ms. Berlin liked her subject but not what she believed. Why this is I leave for others to discern, but I found it off-putting.



2. Frances Andrews's War-time Journal of a Georgia Girl is a classic in the genre of non-combatant Civil War era diaries. With this 1997 release, the diary has been republished twice since the original 1908 edition.

   The War-time Journal is a graphic, first-person portrayal of the turmoil and tragedy of the Southern secession. The diary was written as a personal record not intended for publication. Its tone is honest, sometimes brutally so; and Fanny's observations reflect the social and cultural realities of the mid-nineteenth century.
   
   Also of significance is the journal's prologue and epilogue. Andrews added these elements in 1908, forty years after the events and opinions recorded in the 1864-1865 diary. The 1908 comments reflect wisdom gained through maturity and experience. Andrews was 25 when she wrote The War-time Journal. She was a matron of 68 when the diary and her commentary were published.
   
   Jean Berlin's foreword to the 1997 reprint of The War-Time Journal criticizes the young Fanny Andrews for what Berlin terms Andrews's class consciousness and her insensitivity to the plight of the Southern lower classes and Andrews's "unabashed racist beliefs." Berlin takes special note of Fanny's description and reaction to a "cracker" family written on February 13, 1865, when Andrews described her visit with another woman to recruit children for a Sunday School. Berlin writes in her introduction that Fanny's diary observations revealed Andrews's "complete insensitivity" towards white people less fortunate than herself. Fanny admitted to the correctness of the Berlin's criticism when, in her 1908 introduction to the journal she wrote: "To use a modern phrase, we were intensely 'class conscious' and this brought about a solidarity of feeling and sentiment almost comparable to that created by family ties..."

   Andrews's attitudes, her values, her beliefs recorded in the diary are those of the nineteenth century; and those views, and her honesty of opinion, make the diary valuable. The War-time Journal provides a window into the culture, the politics, and the society of the period. Together with the 1908 material, the 1864-1865 views and attitudes are tempered with the reflection and wisdom of time.

   Andrews's descriptions of the events surrounding the last days of the Southern Confederacy coupled with her reactions to the collapse of her aristocratic world make this diary valuable to anyone seeking first-person witness to a tragic time in the country's history.




3. What a wonderful account of the South during the War between the States. Eliza's Diary makes you feel you are there. The first thing to do when you get the book is to tear out the distorted introduction by Jean Berlin. If you want to know of the experiences of Southern people during this war, get this diary, written at the time by one who was there, Eliza Andrews. Also check out "The Children of Pride", another great first person account.



4. Oh, come on! Margaret Mitchell could not have done better in romanticizing the horrors of enslavement and decrying the promise of Reconstruction. Ms. Berlin's introduction seems oblivious to this.



5. Eliza's diary is more cogent than any novel ever written about the Civil War. General Sherman laid a track, and ELiza had to follow his footsteps through Georgia as she sought respite in her relatives' home. Her insights into war and the havoc it wrought in the South are accompanied by her own editorial comments forty-four years later. In 1864, her heart burned with hatred for the Yankees who burned houses, appropriated food and horses, and stole jewelry; in 1908, she shudders at the thought of slavery and finally begins to understand the viewpoint of her abolitionist father.

   I started reading this book for information; but Eliza Frances Andrew had a captivating writing style, and I was moved along by her "big picture" observations as well as the small details, such as being out of brandy--their only medicine--and the Colonel's bride, who thought her silk parasol would protect her from the rain.

   I haven't read a better book about the end of the COnfederacy and the beginnings of the New SOuth.