3 comments about True West.

1. I didn't like TRUE WEST. But there's nothing wrong with it that could be blamed on this particular production of the play. The actors are good considering the flimsy material that they have to work with. The music is used sparingly, but is very effective at setting the scene. I just couldn't get over the shallow development of the characters and a script that was constantly attempting to be deeper than it was.

   The story has one location. Two brothers sit in their mother's house, yelling and screaming at each other until the parental unit herself appears near the end of the play. I like the idea behind the story, which is to put two people in a confined area and see what happens to them. Unfortunately, most of what we learn about these two is quite dull. One brother is a moderately successful screenwriter while the other makes his living as a petty burglar. I had hoped that we wouldn't get soppy scenes of each brother revealing that he secretly envied the other's lifestyle, but that's exactly what we get here. The successful brother is the one without good people skills and the streetwise brother really wants to make it big, but doesn't have the proper school learning to do so. You've probably seen this sort of thing played out in films, television and theatre thousands of times before; I know I have. The problem here is that there is virtually nothing else going on in the script to distract from the banality of the characters.

   The humor comes across as being forced -- very forced -- especially in the second half. The play is billed as a tragicomedy, but the transition from the funny scenes to the dramatic is shockingly jarring. You can almost hear the goofy, "Hey, this is funny!" music in the background every time a supposedly lighthearted moment comes up. It's possibly attempting to be a black comedy, but I just can't really see it that way. People who moan and whine and complain constantly could very well be hilarious, but I just wasn't amused by them. The comedy didn't flow naturally from the drama, and the drama just hung limply by itself out in No Man's Land.

   If you already know that you like the play, then you will probably enjoy this particular staging of it. The various sound effects and music are used in moderation, and are very efficient at placing the audience right inside that house. The script does have one or two nice lines about the falseness of the Hollywood lifestyle and the boundary between the life that we see in pop culture compared to the reality that we drive through every day. They aren't the most original observations that you'll ever hear, but the wording of them and the acting of the principals really make those short sequences work. It's a pity that the rest of the script wasn't as sharp as these moments, because they really had me longing to hear more.

   At one point near the end, the hardened brother (who is attempting to write a screenplay, just like his sibling) asks, "What do you call it when something's been said a thousand times before?" The answer that he receives is, of course, "a cliché". And unfortunately that sums up almost this entire production. Other dramas that have utilized these rather basic elements haven't made the mistake of not including anything else. But TRUE WEST is just one big cliché.




2. in True West , Sam Shepard's method is a kind of allegorical realism, where the use of everyday items such as golf clubs, houseplants and toasters is not at all intended to suggest us reality.
   In this play, Shepard illustrates the duality of human personality, and our primitive instincts for violence against the unavoidable family ties that usually discourage an individual from acting as wanted. In this case, two brothers, Austin and Lee, who experience the typical good boy vs. bad boy sibling rivalry unexpectedly meet. As a result a series of emotional angry outbreaks take place as Austin can't defined himself: Is he frightened of Lee or does he admire his brother's willingness to break the rules? Austin graduated college, got married, has a family to whom he will return soon. He is disciplined, striving and ambitious. Quite the opposite, Lee is uneducated, violent, envious and resentful.
   Austin, a Hollywood screenwriter, is housesitting his mother's home while she is on a sightseeing trip to Alaska. His brother, Lee, has appeared all of a sudden and wants to share the house. Lee is a tramp and small-time criminal, who has just spent the previous six months in the Mojave Desert with their alcoholic father.
   The filthy and foul Lee invites Austin's Hollywood producer for a round of golf, and ends up selling him on a story idea for a modern Western film, totally displacing his hard-working brother, who as a result crumples into a chaotic and violent wreck.
   Shepard's focus is not on verisimilitude, but on the intensity of the conflict that is revealed. For instance, the main action in the play is the reduction of the mother's neat household into a garbage dump. This includes the destruction of Austin's typewriter with a golf club, vomiting into the desiccated remains of a philodendron and squashing fresh toast into the linoleum. Additionally, Lee had stolen several toasters from the neighborhood, "There's gonna be a general lack of toast in the neighborhood this morning..." he says.
   In various occasions, Austin seemed to be afraid of his brother as he winds up doing what Lee asks him, such as lending him his car or typing the script of his imaginary screenplay. However, what Austin mostly seems to fear is not Lee, but his own deep-set, self-destructive impulses as he lives out the paranoiac nightmare of being displaced by his brother. "You think you are the only one in the brain department?" Lee questions him.
   When Lee is dictating Austin the lines of his screenplay, he narrates the story of two characters that are running after each other -- actually referring to themselves. He says: "The one who is chasing, doesn't know where the other one is taking him, the one who is being chased, doesn't know where he is going." The two brothers are constantly competing with each other; even though, they head in opposite directions in life. Austin has a career and a family while Lee doesn't but he has the ability to break the rules, his brother strictly follows.
   Towards the end of the play, both brothers who are very intoxicated from having being drinking alcohol the night through, start to act both wild and silly at the same time. Under the influence of alcohol, repressions and taboos are forgotten and one acts and says things that would not normally do. As in Fool for Love, the protagonists confess their deepest fears and feelings when drunk, in True West, Austin reveals how he feels lost and lonely despite of his accomplishments, he says:" there's nothing real down here... streets look like a postcard..." He is living his dreams (he is becoming a playwright, has a wife, etc) but he seems not to get acquainted with his reality and does not know anymore what is real and what is not.
   Then, decides to "try" the toasters and make some toasts, which Lee steps over and smashes on the floor as he criticizes him: "you're making that toast like salvation or something...I don't want any toast..." to what Austin replies: "...I love the smell of toast...it's salvation...". While this argument goes on, their mother comes back doesn't surprising much when finding out the disaster her sons had made to her house. But, she tells them they'll both end up in the same dessert.
   At the end of the play the phrases: "...Something to keep me in touch" and "It's easy to go out of touch" made me realize that one must hold onto something that will keep one focused in order to go on -- either focus on one's reality or on one's dream(s). Everyone needs that toast of salvation!



3. this play is great, buy it!

1 comments about America's Presidents: Facts, Photos, and Memorabilia from the Nation's Chief Executives.

1. Colorful images, removable memorabilia, and authoritative but easy-to-understand text combines to tell the story of all of America's Commanders in Chiefs from George Washington to George W. Bush-their personalities, their politics, and their significant contributions.

1 comments about Robert F. Kennedy And the Death of American Idealism (Library of American Biography Series) (Library of American Biography).

1. I happen to personally know Professor Joseph Palermo and I greatly respect the work he does, so this leaves me with a bias when reviewing his books. However, Professor Palermo is a solid writer, and this is one of the best concise biographies on Robert Kennedy that is available. Palermo paints a moving portrait of America's last great leader of the 1960's (and indeed only great generational leader in terms of modern presidential candidates). The book is especially good at recounting Kennedy's political career and the divisions within the Democratic Party and the nation that he attempted to heal. Palermo's previous book-- "In His Own Right"-- is a more complete study of Kennedy's political life, but this is a solid biography in its own right. Highly recommended for those looking for a quick and informative read on a great man.

5 comments about America's Constitution: A Biography.

1. For decades I've been wandering about with a mish mash of semi-contradictory ideas about the constitution. Mr. Amar has managed to correct, justify, and reframe most of them into a (_thoroughly_ documented) coherent whole.
   
   Where the constitution is unclear, he quotes the debates and letters of the founders explaining what they meant. Where there is modern debate, he footnotes where to look for different viewpoints. Where there was debate during the writing of the constitution, he tells you who said what and why.
   
   That would probably be enough to earn 5 stars, but he somehow managed to turn an erudite treatise on the history of one government into a page-turner. I don't know how, but there it is...



2. Wow, I learned more about the consitution then I ever could have imagined. I didn't have any idea about many of the themes and debates over the constitution and it's amendments. I'm a novice at political thinking, before the presidential campaign I could've care less about politics. Some of this is a bit over my head since I don't have a background in law or political history. However, Mr. Amar explains it well enough that most should understand. I can't recommend it enough for anyone interested in the constitution.



3. Although there are some tedious places, the book has a number of very valuable and interesting insights - especially the topics of the Second Amendment, the Eleventh Amendment, and the "privileges and immunities" clause stood out for me. He does a good job interweaving historical context and the text of the document. There are some unexpected emphases and omissions:for example, it emphasizes slavery more often and more heavily than I expected for an issue that was resolved 140 years ago, and there was a little less on the Bill of Rights and on executive power than I was expecting, although those are more contemporary issues. His chapter on the path, pre-Civil War to the 13th amendment, was terrifically concise but there is very little discussion on the issue of habeas corpus during the war. These aren't complaints, just notifications; overall it was very stimulating. Like most constitutional scholars, he has some outside-the-box interpretations that are obviously developed to accomplish a particular outcome but these are fruitful to reflect on as well.



4. What an absolutely fantastic reference! Much of this book's praise has been sung by previous reviewers, but I'd like to add that I especially appreciate Amar's powerful paradoxes and equally profound "what-ifs." Buy the man's book so he blesses all of our futures with even more jewels of his erudition.



5. This book is at once a very scholarly and entirely accesible history of the US Constitution and 27 Amendments. It can be read by pretty much anybdy, without any revious knowledge of the law or history required. Reed prevides the reader with an engaging story, as well as giving an ample number of endnotes that add extra insight and pieces of information to the reader.

5 comments about The Book of Honor : The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives.

1. As much information as this book provides, it only scratches the surface. We lost my Uncle in Angola in 1989...he was close enough in age to me to be like an older brother. As heart-wrenching as his untimely, unwarranted death was for our family, it was compounded by the secrecy surrounding the crash (even with other family members in the Agency, it was a nightmare to piece together any semblance of the truth regarding what happened, even over a decade after it happened). While we are well-aware, and totally respect and understand the imperative to maintain control over the flow of information to protect other operatives on current missions, surely there is a way to give the family more truthful, accurate information specific to their loved one, without risking others or leaving us to imagine even more horrifying scenarios, especially after the sacrifice these men and women make. Most Americans have no idea of the sacrifices being made by these agents and their families every day, and if they are killed in the line of duty, their funerals usually can't even feature appropriate honors due to the need for secrecy, so you have even less closure because you are left to grieve, but also expected to maintain a fictional story regarding the death. Anyway...I hope this book will give people a little insight into some of the sacrifices made on their behalf every day without their knowledge. I know many people think this sort of thing doesn't really go on at this or other agencies, but they need to understand just how much they don't understand about everything that goes into making their world as safe as it is (though it doesn't always seem so safe, they should realize how much worse it could be).



2. By far the best book that I have every read. Ted Gup does an excellent job of painting the picture of the lifestyle and dedication of the people that worked with or for the CIA.
   Within the book, he tells various accounts of those that sacrificed all for love of the country and not recognition or money.



3. The problem is that this book is biting off more than it can chew. (There also happen to be at least a couple of factual errors in it, though that may not be the fault of the author, I wonder about some of his sourcing.) Gup is trying to give us real insight into the lives of these fine folks who died in the service of their country and the world.
   
   But, try as he does, he is missing critical context around many of the stories. The context is key to filling out what ends up otherwise as flat. The author's bias seems to be towards enlightening the world about convert operations - as if that in itself is a higher good. Unfortunately, while I must admit that at times the "government" paints with a broad brush when it "secretizes" things, nearly everything that has to do with clandestine service needs to be kept in the dark.
   
   The fact is, that these men understood the "deal". They volunteered. They were heroes because they went willingly to do harder work than most people can imagine because they believed in it. They understood they might "win a goald star". They knew what it meant to win a medal only to have it stored it in a box at HQ.
   
   But they didn't give a damn about the kind of recognition Gup wants to give them. Is it hard on the families? You're damn right it is. That's why the families are true heroes as well - sacrificing so much for something bigger than themselves. But that is also besides the point.
   
   The context is where it's at. Tell the story of each of these people by explaining what THEY understood about the life and death of the geopolitics in which they operated - and WHY they chose to operate in it, Guppy, and maybe YOU'LL earn another star.
   
   By the way, both the Agency and a reviewer got the quote out of context: It does say, "Know ye the truth and the truth shall set you free" but what follows is, "I am the way and the Truth and the life. Whoever believes in me shall not die but shall have eternal life." It is a quote from Mathew's Gospel. The truth is always more complex than it may seem.



4. When imagining the deaths of those CIA employees fallen in the line of duty, each symbolized by a star engraved in the Book of Honor at Agency Headquarters, images conjure up of Hollywood-style gunfights between shadowy figures in a European capital or of a heroic American spy being tortured to death by his Russian captors. The reality of the matter, however, is that these fantasies couldn't be further from the truth.
   
   In a stunning feat of investigative journalism, Ted Gup reveals the powerful, untold stories of the lives led by these nameless stars and their less than glorious deaths. Some were victims of terrorist atrocities, others lost in plane wrecks while covertly participating in proxy wars, and one was even left to rot away in a Chinese prison for almost two decades. What is most surprising, however, is that so many of these deaths were due to simple accidents and nothing more.
   
   Gup also tells the stories of those family members left behind, of those grieving spouses, parents, and siblings who were often told fairy tales about their relative's death. In most cases, the CIA publicly disavowed all knowledge of their existence, and family members were left to mourn in silence.
   
   This book serves as a somber reminder of the risks involved with intelligence work overseas, and how those affiliated with the security services must accept the possibility of being "left out in the cold" should the public reputation of their country be put on the line as a result of their actions.
   
   On a side note, Ted Gup brags about previously uncovering "extremely sensitive" government secrets and publishing them in the Washington Post, specifically, that of a "top secret government installation... [where] Congress was to go as a kind of government-in-exile in the event of an impending nuclear war." The last time I checked, jeopardizing national security was a treasonous act, and I therefore see no reason why he should feel proud to have damaged our nation's ability to defend itself. While I fully understand and support Gup's argument about combating unnecessary government secrecy, there must be limits about what can and cannot be revealed (like conservative columnist Robert Novak's politically motivated publishing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's name in a major US newspaper).
   
   All in all, this is definitely a book to be examined and kept in any quality collection of literature dealing with intelligence history. Well worth the read.



5. I haven't read the book but the 6 hour audiobook was fairly slow for what could have been much more interesting considering the subject matter. It seemed like the author really has an axe to grind against the CIA. The stories seemed overly focused on any mistakes the CIA made. The author lost credibility with me when he said he was the one who revealed the presence of the secret nuclear bunker that was to be used by the US Congress in the instance of a nuclear strike.

5 comments about George Washington: The Founding Father (Eminent Lives).

1. Johnson appears to be quite the patriot. It's natural that he would offer a very favorable position of Washington in this narrative. As an African American and a student of history, it's hard for me to swallow this portrait of Washington whole. Johnson at times snidely derides recent historical efforts to show negative aspects of Washington's slaveholding that undermine his eventual emancipation of slaves. Johnson also appears to be very favorable toward centralizing federalists such as Hamilton, who he gives credit for saving the American economy, and Washington at the expense of Jefferson and Madison. In Johnson's view, it's Washington who's doing the work and saving the country and those idealistic Francophile Democrats who are flirting with its destruction. As one of those who would have been 3/5 of a person back in the Constitutional times, I have to be a little more critical of the compromises that created the racial conflict. I do applaud Johnson's recognition that Washington missed some opportunities to stem the tide of slavery as president.
   
   The best part of Johnson's analysis is the compare and contrast aspects to Napoleon. Showing the tightrope that Washington walks between choosing democracy that sacrifices Napoleon's power and seeking a strong executive branch that occasionally exceeds Napoleon's power is very helpful indeed. Napoleon is only as strong as his last battle. Washington is always as strong as his elected position and well-earned prestige. There's a very cogent statement in the middle of the book at how the British were stupid in not offering Washington a major position in their military soon after his successes in the French and Indian War. As we reflect on our military and politicians in present times, it's important that we realize that when we become self-satisfied and scorn merit for promotions, we risk birthing the revolutionaries who may overturn our social order and way of life.
   
   Washington's quite a figure and this is a satisfactory introduction. I look forward to pursuing more of the resources described in other reviews such as Giordano's especially helpful review recommending David Hackett Fisher's "Washington's Crossing".
   
   3.5 stars
   
   --SD



2. A fascinating look into one of the most fascinating and important characters in American history - George Washington. If you're looking for a good, brief overview of why George Washington was such an integral part of the foundation of our country, this little book is a good place to start. Johnson examines the early life of Washington, including his early military career and how that coupled with his surveying acumen played greatly in this vision for this nation. The one concept I took away from this book was that Washington was a man of vision. He was constantly looking westward with an eye on expansion and the English and French efforts to contain the early colonies was a key factor in the revolution. Washington was also a man of significant means and status in the early colonies - but, one of the greatest commentaries on his character is his constant refusal to remain as president beyond the first two terms. He was a man who had a vision for a great republic and a man who surrounded himself with the best and the brightest of his day. Washington was a great leader and was the man for the job for just such a time.



3. Paul Johnson has written one superb book, The Birth of the Modern, one monstrosity, Intellectuals, and quite a shelf of books well worth reading even when they are blinkered by ideology. This chapbook biography of George Washington, unfortunately, is one of his shallower efforts.
   Johnson declares his intention of portraying Washington as less of "a remote and mysterious figure" than others have. The Washington that he gives us, however, is such a paragon that I for one long for a little flesh to contain all that noble blood. Johnson's Washington is above all an English land-owner of the early 18th C, a properly insular squire, a gentleman of much Whiggish convictions but Tory instincts, much like Johnson himself. It's not an inconsistent portrayal. However, Johnson is dead wrong about some very significant aspects of Washington's thought and about pre-revolutionary America.
   
   Johnson correctly focuses on Washington's self-interest in westward expansion of Virginia into the Ohio Valley as a prime reason for the rebellion against English rule. But with his ever-present British chauvinism, Johnson completely misrepresents the situations of the French and the Indians in the 1760s, and fails to grasp the important conflicts that already separated Americans of the seacoast like Washington from Americans of the interior. For a thorough and intelligent examination of these matters, I strongly recommend: The Middle Ground, by Richard White.
   
   Johnson is quite far from the mark on the question of the role of slavery among the causes of the revolution. His is the old-fashioned apologetic position, that slavery was already on the wane at the time of Washington, that the Founding Fathers foresaw its gradual extinction, and that only the cotton gin made later events tragic. In fact, the defense of slavery as an economic institution and the fear of British emancipationism were significant motivators for Southern participation in the Revolution. See: Forced Founders, by Woody Holton
   
   Johnson is also altogether too willing to credit Washington with sincere humantitarian impulses toward his own slaves. The truth is that Washington took less-than-kindly steps to retrieve runaways, was outraged by the efforts of the English to recruit slaves to run away and fight against their 'masters', and made every possible effort to seize runaways and free Blacks from their English protectors, after the end of fighting, before such 'property' could be carried beyond his reach. For a powerful account of the Revolutionaries' hypocrisy toward the rights of man, see: Rough Crossing, by Simon Schama, which also tells the story of the fate of the expatriated African-Americans in Canada and eventually in Sierra Leone.
   
   One amusing aspect of Johnson's book, by the way, is his hardly-concealed contempt for Thomas Jefferson -- another of those "Intellectuals" Johnson so thoroughly detests. Washington apparently developed quite an open scorn for Jefferson also, in his later years, a scorn I've come to share with both the author and his subject. The title to read on this matter: Jefferson's Secrets, by Michael Burstein.



4. This is a great small book on Washington, things I didn,t know about him.
   Easy to read, too, in a short time.



5. In "George Washington: The Founding Father," the eminent British historian Paul Johnson supplements the level of outstanding scholarship found in his other great works (Modern Times, Napolean, Intellectuals)with a European view of this greatest American. Despite its brevity, this illuminating biography of George Washington places the great man as the prototypical late 18th century figure. In contrast with American biographers who tend to think of the American Revolution as a discrete beginning, Johnson shows the American Revolution to be both revolution and evolution resulting from the confluence of the Age of Reason, English tradition and values and the long independent history of the American colonies prior to King George.

5 comments about Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House.

1. the book arrived in good condition and in a timely matter. I am a very satisfied customer!!



2. Recently a foreign journalist interviewing George W. Bush asked the President of the United States to turn out his pockets. What an interesting, humanizing thing to ask of the most powerful man on Earth. And exactly the kind of thing that never occurs in the burlesque of today's 24 hour electronic news cycle. The contents of our pockets, those little handy nooks that serve as contingency storage for our day-to-day indispensables, speak wonderful, accessible volumes about us as people. Show me what you have in your pockets and, whether or not I know WHO you are, I get a glimpse what KIND of person you are. In Secret Lives of the First Ladies, Cormac O'Brien has politely turned out the pockets of the spouses of each of our presidents, and it's a neat-o treasure trove he uncovers. His style is neither lewd nor exploitative, though, to be sure, there's plenty of juicy stuff here. His project is a sort of cameo portraiture of some forty seven intriguing and often remarkable women. The only flattery in these portraits is a consistent, entertaining, and often astounding disclosure of each woman's individual humanity. It is tempting to read the book in little chunks (as I did at first) owing to its concise chaptering. However, it's a real pleasure go back and review long stretches, watching how the public appearance of the First Lady has evolved over time while her private role has remained remarkably consistent: she is the president's wife. Which is to say, sometimes she is a loving yet diminutive spousal anchor and sometimes she is a headstrong engine of scandal and outrage. Sometimes she is a fully enfranchised partner in even the weightiest decision-making at the executive mansion, including public policy. That there were first ladies fitting all these descriptions in every era since the founding of the republic, to me, was quite amazing. If you know any married couples, you will find the First Ladies, good and bad, tragic and heroic, satisfyingly and entertainingly familiar. Predictably, a frustrating aspect of The Secret Lives of the First Ladies is the rigid brevity of its entries, particularly in chapters describing women whom one would like to examine more closely. The challenge is to keep track of those First Ladies whose full biographies you now want to find and read. Alas, one has the nagging fear that those biographies won't be as frank and entertaining as these admittedly brief introductions. But, such is the nature of this omnibus beast. O'Brien's prose is a yummy balance of richness and skim-ability with very few false notes. The design and illustration are a constant reassurance that this is a social visit and not a college text. You're here to make friends and there is no requirement to pass a final exam. A pleasure to read cover-to-cover or simply to table hop as you meet these one-of-a-kind ladies. Of its genre, this is an A+.



3. If you like trivia, you'll enjoy this book. If you have only enough time to read short chapters or a few pages at a time, again, you'll like this book. Each chapter, which is about one first lady, is only a few pages in length -- perfect for bedtime reading for tired moms like me. There was enough information about each first lady to pique my interest, and make me want to find more in-depth biographies about many of the women.



4. A very good read! Interesting facts about all the first ladies. It is sure to make you laugh. You will find out things you did not know. Entertaining.



5. Warning: Do not buy this book for an elderly person, people with bifocals or people who wear glasses to read - unless you can get it in LARGE print.
   
   I bought this book for my mother. However, the typeset is soooooo small and light weight that the words literally just looked like lines on the page to her.

5 comments about Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams.

1. The only thing I really knew before reading this book is that Hershey chocolate has been around a long time and there is a town themed after it somewhere in Pennsylvania near Amish country. Boy was I undereducated in this realm.
   
   Milton S. Hershey or M.S. as he was later known was the epitomy and poster-boy for American capitalism at it's grandest hour. Starting off as an apprentice to a Confectioner he was able to start learning the tricks of the trade. He found his life's calling and tried his hand at a few candy businesses primarily focusing on caramel chews. At this time in America, chocolate was not like the chocolate we have today (which is due almost entirely to M.S.) it was a rough texture that wasn't that tasty. The only people in the world that understood how and mastered the making of milk chocolate at the time was the Swiss and they guarded their secret with a passion. Eventually, after a few failed attempts at businesses in both Philadelphia and New York, he returned to his home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was then that he started experimenting with trying to master milk chocolate. In fact after he had begun construction on his new factory in what would be known as the Town of Hershey, he still had not gotten it right, he was experimenting with a chemist up until the time the factory was completed when he got it right.
   
   The book is wonderfully written, It makes you really take a step back and think about not only the history of Hershey, but America itself. A time when companies and products were an explosion onto the American scene more than any other time in our Country's history. The book also takes a very intricate look at Hershey and his drive to support the Orphans that were taken in by Hershey's Industrial School, that, on paper own the Hershey company which has been a major issue over the years.
   
   I was so enthralled by this book that I am going to be picking up another book on the same industry called "The Emperor's of Chocolate" about the wars between Hershey and the Mars Candy Company. If you are looking for a great read and knowledge of corporate American history this is a wonderful book to read.



2. Michael D'Antonio has given us a serious biography of a complicated, but highly admirable, man. A "chocolate king" who founded a town and created and endowed schools and home for orphans is not a figure to be treated lightly, and D'Antonio does not fail. While there is no question that D'Antonio likes his subject, Hershey is not given a free pass. His enormous philanthropy is described right alongside irrational temper tantrums and firings. Spying on worker's drinking habits is described alongside his own gambling habits. The rise of the Hersey empire, and the town he founded, is described in great detail. The book opens with the drama of a challenge to the Trust of his school for orphans and the reality of business in this day and age. "What would Milton do?" is the question. What the book tells us is that it is by no means certain what Milton would do. He had contemplated selling his empire at more than one point, ensuring the resources for the continued care of the orphans in his charge. We see the rise and life of the Hershey empire, and Milton's relationships with others. The possibility of the true nature of his wife's illness is mentioned and described. Some have been offended by this, I'd suggest they get over it. It has no bearing on what type of person she was, or how much he loved her. We see the evolution of the business, the international interests, the town and school. It is a satisfying read. The only additional material I would have liked is some more description of Hershey's interactions with some of the other business and political leaders of the day. We are told of a feud with Wrigley, and the suspicion that Wrigley had cheated in gambling, but little else. We know of TR's trust busting, and that Hershey was considered to be quite apart from the Robber Barons of the day. Did TR and Hershey ever interact beyond the one or two mentioned invitations? If so, how? This historical information may not exist in the archives, but was the only gap I felt while reading.



3. "This book is almost as good as the chocolate bar. This biography of Milton S. Hershey and the chocolate company shows how hard work, ingenuity, and just plain luck produced the world's largest chocolate factory. The only thing that would have made this book better would have been a free sample of the product."



4. Michael D' Antonio has written a wonderful biography of Milton S. Hershey, the man who became a multi-millionaire by making milk chocolate a five-cent treat in the United States.
   
   Very much to his credit, D' Antonio delivers a biography of a complex man from another era without super-imposing contemporary politically correct value judgments. D' Antonio deserves a gold star or two for that.
   
   Milton Hershey's life is not an easy one to document; he was not an overtly public man. Rather, he led two lives. The first as reservd tycoon in his native Pennsylvania locale, the other as a a sometimes free-spending bon vivant traveling the United States, Europe and Cuba.
   
   D' Antonio chronicles Hershey's beginnings with his stern, no-nonsense mother with her Mennonite background and Milton's dreamy, never successful father. Backed with the unwavering faith of his mother and aunt and funds from his extended family, Milton pursued a career in confectionary. One business failure followed another, but Milton's faith in himself never faltered. Then he discovered caramels - and became the caramel king. Working with clearly limited resources, D' Antonio weaves an interesting story of an interesting man that becomes still more interesting when Hershey sees that the caramel market is limited.
   
   He sells out and could have easily retired to a life of luxurious ease.
   
   He had surprised everyone and married Catherine Sweeney, some fifteen years younger, whose actual background remains a mystery. She may, according to some, have been a "working girl".
   
   Though rich, Hershey pursued the dream of creating an inexpensive milk chocolate candy - and through native ingenuity and peristence succeeded. He built a multi-million dollar business that at one time controlled more than 90% of the U.S. market.
   
   The story of Hershey is fascinating. He built a town, Hershey PA, incorporating his utopian beliefs - and it worked. He created a sugar empire in Cuba that almost bankrupted him. He set up a unique orphanage and then endowed it with all his wealth. He was a mercurial man who could fire long-time employees in a moment of pique. He overlooked the failings of favorites.
   
   But no one (except perhaps some left-wing academics) could call Hershey a bad man. Almost alone among the mega-rich of the era, Hershey was animated by a true humanism and D' Antonio fully describes this without turning Hershey into a saint.
   
   Hershey is an exceptional biography. It describes an American original, Milton S. Hershey, a self-made man who shared himself with his workers, his community and his nation. Quite a guy and he has found himself in the hands of a very competent biographer.
   
   Jerry



5. The book provides a good description of Milton Hershey's life - his early struggles, his later success, the Cuban sugar business, his generosity and the building of the community in Pennsylvania and his relationship with it. Unfortunately, Hershey gave few interviews and wrote little so everything is one step removed and heavily filtered by the Hershey public relations machine. The author does a good job trying to dig for details and paint a balanced picture, but in the end the picture of Milton Hersey is blurry and the story is not engaging.

5 comments about The Jew Store.

1. The Jew Store was both charming and telling. The author was insightful, but always kind and her humor was gentle.



2. This is an exquisitely written memoir that reads like fiction. What a talent to take what is true and create a story! In the 1920's, my grandparents ran a "Jew store" in Lawrenceville, Virgina, but left after a year during which the KKK made it known they were unwelcome. My grandfather became a "Jew peddler" in North Carolina, and much of this story rang true with the tales I was told as a child. Residents looked on the "Jew peddler" with suspicion, but also with awe because he brought the big city with him. He was expected to be sophisticated; his opinions were taken seriously. During the Great Depression, one North Caroina farmer gave his daughter to my grandfather because she was starving. He took her home to Norfolk, Virginia, to raise with his own five children, and a life-long relationship ensued.
   
   My book club enjoyed this book and had a lively discussion.



3. This was a definite surprise me novel. I picked it up for no other reason than the shocking title. This has become one of my favorite books, and she, a favored writer. I love how she brings the people from her childhood to life in the reader's mind, the language, the sayings, a delightful Southern Yiddish flavor. This book has been passed among friends and allowed us to have an interesting discussion with 3 generations of Southern women.



4. The authenticity of detail hit me over and again, describing not only how it felt to be Jewish in white anglo-saxon Prodestant Tennessee, but the way everyone was: open armed but not altogether open minded, graciously phrasing back-talk, helpful when you least expected it, back-stabbing the same way, and sugar-coating every topic but money. When it came to money, you didn't pay protection after the fact, like industrial cities; you first worked for permission. Fabulously The Jew Store tells this tale! True to my own memory is the white woman whose lemon merangue pie was acclaimed, only it was her cook's. The cook, called that but doing cleaning, gardening, child rearing, and everyting else. Learning to listen backwards if you wanted to know what someone was actually saying, as in "we're so glad you came over and didn't even call!" The sugar-coated talk from mean, angry men. The social standing that harked to who-knew-where... This was the small mill town I grew up in in NC, too. It produced the fragile sounding Southern-belle diction that was good for date bait 'up north,' as her daughter found out; but that belied the resolve of strong, smart women with wonderful senses of humor, as shown in her characters. Anyone who grew up in a small mill town in the South prior to -- say 1970 --- met plenty of folks just like these. How glorious to have this touching volume of remembrances.



5. The Jew Store is a wonderful, absorbing memoir, rich with detail about a Jewish family's experiences in a tiny, "dot on the map" southern town. Stella Suberman's vivid descriptions of her Russian immigrant parents' adjustment to this life include unflinching examinations of the prejudices and imperfections of the community they join as well as those the couple bring with them. So much happens to the family in the course of this memoir that the narrative is as compelling as a good novel. The dilemmas the family faces are so convincingly rendered--Where will Joey get the training necessary for his bar mitzvah? Will Miriam marry a gentile?--that I was occasionally moved to tears. By the time you reach the end of the book, you will miss some of these people, as if they have become part of your own story.

5 comments about Hemingway: The Paris Years.

1. Isn't it strange that having lived up with Hem's books and later with all the student's stuff on him - every book and most writers take you back to those early day's good feeling which you had after having read his shortstory stuff?? And having read almost everything which is written about Hem until today, this is still one of my absolute favourites. I like his style and I appreciate the accuracy and all the work that is behind every project he publish on Hem. I recommend this book.



2. Here's the thing with most biographies...they're biographies. I'm a lover of fiction, the crafted tale, the sculpted language. There is a certain freedom of the word that seems to only exist in the "made up" story. A freedom almost never captured in the strict confines of an accurate and truthful biography. Enter Michael Reynolds. He tells the tale of Hemingway's Paris years with so much fluidity and grace you'd swear he fabricated this Hemingway guy out of his own gorgeous imagination. This reads like a novel and a damn good one. It's peppered with minute historical facts ie: the value of the dollar, the franc, the German mark, the pound, at any given time. Political unrest, social change, fashion, food, and most importantly...the state of literature at that point in time. All of this swirls around the incredibly multi dimensional main character. You'll read it three times.



3. This is an engrossing book that makes you feel like you are actually walking alongside Hemingway during his early years in Paris. I could feel the cold that he felt on his cheek, I could see the smile that Hadley gave him every time he walked into their dark little apartment after a hard day of writing in the cafes. This is due to Michael Reynolds superb, painstaking research, the photographs, and the copies of original manuscript that he included in this biography. I cannot stress enough how unlike an usual biography this is...Hemingway literally leaps out at you from the first sentence and pulls you into his world, lets you experience his poverty and first marriage in Paris, the birth of his son, the arrival of his first mistress, and the amazing literary scene in Paris that has now apparently died for good. Hemingway has amazing quotes on writing, life, living through your failures, and it was a pleasure to get to read the library list of every book he checked out during this time period. This is an amazing book, and the best biography I have EVER read in my life.



4. Ah, this is one of those books that a reader savors. This is one of the most enjoyable books for the student of Hemingway or for those writing prose fiction in general. Many, many of Hemingway's techniques are explained here. Also, for those of us who have been putting up a good fight--writing short stories and novels all these years--it helps seeing what a beating Hemingway took when he started. This is a fabulous book and the only thing that mitigated its conclusion was the knowledge that Michael Reynolds wrote another three more books in this series. They too are great but this is the best one.



5. I've been trying to read two other books, on top of The Paris Years, but put them both down yesterday so that I could finish this one. The biggest thing that stands out about it is the excellence of Michael Reynolds' prose. He has the rare skills which enable readers to successfully jettison themselves back in time.
   
   This is the perfect companion to A Moveable Feast and elucidates the historical nature of the characters present in The Sun Also Rises as well. Reynolds, although sometimes pretending to do otherwise, is a psychologizing narrator. The good news is that most of his observations have the ring of truth. The biographer seems to understand his subject which is of great benefit to the rest of us. Hemingway's first marriage is discussed extensively and the coming of Pauline Pfeiffer is also elucidated at the very end. Hemingway had Ford and Pound as his philandering role models, and, eventually, he proves to be a most capable student.
   
   What I liked best about the book was the way in which Reynolds lets us know what Hemingway's writing process was; the daily habits he undertook which allowed him to excel at his craft. He struggled mightily to master the short story and, throughout this work, his emergence as a novelist is far from certain. The scenes in Pamplona are vivid as is the depiction of the cafe life in Paris. You may well want to go back and tour it as badly as I do by the time you're done. Ah, the past. Anyway, it is unfortunate that more on F. Scott Fitzgerald was not included, but you'll understand Ford Maddox Ford almost as well as Hemingway once the last page is turned. Overall, it was simply outstanding, I may well read the other editions of the biography now based on what I discovered here.