5 comments about The Boy Who Would Be King: An Intimate Portrait of Elvis Presley By His Cousin.

1. Earl Greenwood was no relation to Elvis nor was he an employee or press agent - his account of himself is a fabrication from start to finish. I'm not sure what is more appalling - that Greenwood/Tracy invented this book, or that the Library Journal (and David M. Turkalo) would publicly laud such a blatantly false work.



2. If you are not a big Elvis fan this is not the book to read because there is so many untruths in it, you will get the wrong impression of the man Elvis was. I have read a great number of books on Elvis and this one has to be the worst one. No one that knew Elvis even knows who this guys is??? He made numerous errors in telling his story. Such as he said Gladys, Elvis's mom went to Germany with him and then died in 1960!! Untrue - she died in 1958 before he left for Germany. He dated Dixie Locke before he made it big but was still dating her when he was signed to Sun Records. She did not break up with him because he asked her to marry him. They had talked of marriage but unforuntaely it did not last long because he was gone so much. He dated Anita before going to the army and for a while after he was discharged. He did not play in Vegas while he was making movies in the 1960s!!! And so on and so on. There are to many to mention here but I can say that this was a BIG DISSAPPOINTMENT and a waste of my money. DO NOT WASTE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY ON THE PIECE OF TRASH BELIEVE ME YOU WILL BE SORRY.



3. I've read many books on Elvis as I'm always trying to gain new information to help me understand his complex personality. I had high expectations for this offering because of its focus on Elvis' early life and relationship with his mother. However, I found the general tone of the book to be sensational. The sex "revelations" don't seem to be anything more than lurid details the like of which can be found in any tabloid. Everyone knows Elvis was a wonton womanizer. It's hardly news at this point. I found there to be many mistakes and inconsistancies throughout the book. One is so careless as to describe Elvis' first girlfriend, Dixie Locke, as a blond then two pages later she is in picture showing a girl with black hair. The whole thing just read like a trashy novel to me.



4. I read Mr. Greenwood's book and found it very informative and personal. The book takes the reader through Elvis' personal life and marriage and numberous love affairs. It depicts the Colonel's control over Elvis and possible black mail. It depicts how the people he was associated with over the years were mainly there for the gravy. An excellent book.



5. EARL GREENWOOD PRIMARILY FOCUSES ON ELVIS' HUMBLE BEGINNINGS AND HIS TRAGIC CHILDHOOD FROM THE PERSPSCTIVE OF SOMEONE WHO KNEW THE FAMILY INTIMATLEY. HE EXPLAINS ELVIS' GUILT OVER HIS TWIN BROTHER'S DEATH AND HIS INCONSOLABLE SADNESS OVER HIS MOTHER'S DEATH. GREENWOOD TELLS OF AN ELVIS WHO NOBDY REAALY KNEW, A BOY WHO WAS BULLIED AND RIDICULED AND WHO EVENTUALLY BECAME ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS ARTISTS IN HISTORY. IN SHORT THIS BIOGRAPHY IS TOLD WONDERFULLY.

1 comments about Wheat Flour Messiah: Eric Jansson of Bishop Hill.

1. In 1850, Eric Jansson of Sweden, a charismatic leader confident in his divine mission, led some 1,200 followers to the United States, marking the beginning of the exodus of emigrants from Sweden to North America. This book tells Jansson's story, from his birth in Biskopskulla, through his receiving his diving mandate, his conflict with the Lutheran state-church, his emigration to the United States, and his eventual death. Along the way, Paul Elmen, a Professor of Moral Theology at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, looks at Jansson's theology and its roots, what made conflict between it and Swedish Lutheranism inevitable, and how it differed from Wesleyan theology.

   If you are interested in Eric Jansson, or the commune he formed at Bishop Hill, Illinois, USA, then you really must read this book. It covers Eric Jansson's life in greater detail than I have ever seen it covered. Also, Professor Elmen's examination of Jansson's theology was quite fascinating, and gave me a greater understanding of what he and his followers believed. Overall, I thought that this was an excellent book on Eric Jansson, one that I highly recommend.

1 comments about A Milwaukee Woman's Life on the Left: The Autobiography of Meta Berger.

1. Meta Schlichting Berger was a Wisconsin wife, mother, schoolteacher, and politician at a time when women's role in public life (including their right to vote) were as contested as they were restricted. Ably edited by Kimberly Swanson, A Milwaukee Woman's Life On The Left is Meta Berger's autobiography and takes us through her transformation from a traditional wife and mother to a political activist who held elective office for thirty years. Married to Victor Berger in 1897, she saw her husband being elected to Congress as their first Socialist member. She was to eventually launch her own political campaign that would place her on the Milwaukee School Board and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. She was an activist in the peace and women's suffrage movements of the day, all while serving as confidant and advisor to her Congressman husband. Her husband was faced with twenty years in prison and denial of his Congressional seat because of his opposition to World War I. Meta helped him to win his eventual vindication before the United States Supreme Court. After her husband's death in 1929, Meta became even more radicalized than her husband ever was and embroiled in left-wing politics during the turbulent decade of the 1930s. A Milwaukee Woman's Life On The Left is a fascinating and informative contribution to women's studies in general, and Wisconsin history in particular.

1 comments about John Muir: Magnificent Tramp (American Heroes).

1. The AMERICAN HEROES series was created to provide solidly researched popular biographies of heroic American icons for a wide audience, especially for younger readers who are "exploring the rich tapestry of American history for the first time." Rod Miller, a popular writer of the American West, has done this job magnificently in JOHN MUIR: MAGNIFICENT TRAMP. John Muir comes alive as the immigrant from Scotland who rose from farmer, to sawmill worker, to one of the most revered authorities on the botany, glaciers and forestry of the American West. Rod Miller's JOHN MUIR pays tribute to the father of the American conservation movement and its resulting seeds of environmental awareness, and honors the founder of the Sierra Club. From Muir's humble beginnings to his later more visionary belief in nature's rich resources, Miller's prose uncovers an amazing historical tale for all Americans to feel pride in. Highly Recommended for readers of all ages.

3 comments about Ironclad Captain: Seth Ledyard Phelps & the U.S. Navy, 1841-1864.

1. Jay Slagle has done an excellent job of detailing S. Ledyard Phelps' career in the Navy and on the Mississippi. Unfortunately, the work appears to be biased in favor of the author's family connection with the subject. Notably, Phelps's relations with the rest of the officers of the Western Gunboat Flotilla are obviously skewed in favor of Phelps... Henry Walke of the Carondelet is portrayed in a decidedly poor light, while the highly controversial William D. "Dirty Bill" Porter is seen to be almost heroic. A potentially fine biography is partially sabotaged by the author's obvious sympathy for his ancestor.



2. Jay Slagle has produced a book that offers so much. It gives the reader a real feel of what life was like for a young officer in the pre-Civil War Navy and how the development of the sectional conflict was perceived. This book is also one of the best accounts of the Western Flotilla/Mississippi Squadron that I have read. I couldn't put it down for two weeks. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the naval events of the Civil War or life in 19th-century America..



3. I believe that Mr. Slagle is to be commended for the very detailed accurate research that went into this fine histoical account of naval history on inland waters during the War Between The States. After reading this book you will have a better understanding of the use of naval forces to short- en this conflict.

No comments about Eyewitness to Gettysburg: The Story of Gettysburg As Told by the Leading Correspondent of His Day.

2 comments about Fox And the Whirlwind: General George Crook And Geronimo: a Paired Biography.

1. I am a Phoenix, Arizona native and I Loved This Book! I bought 3 copies to share with family and friends for Christmas.

   Although I have lived in Phoenix and the White Mountains of Arizona all of my life and have known of the diverse Native American nations sharing our community, I had never heard the fascinating histories told with such depth and detail. I enjoyed the dual biography format of the book which allowed the reader to see General Crook and Geronimo side by side as men in opposing political environments.

   The descriptive, creative language Aleshire uses makes the scenes come to life as if I were there. His story makes the history of the White Mountains, Chirichauas, San Carlos areas rich, deep and vivid with history.

   Many thanks to Peter Aleshire from an Arizona native.




2. What a sorry mess of a book. This a shallowly researched retelling of the lives of these fighters, based on outdated secondary sources. In fact, it reads like apologia for Crook. It is well known today that only 500-750 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors faced Crook (and his 1300 men) and beat him at the Rosebud, yet Aleshire tries to claim that the two sides were of equal strength. And later, the role of Crook in conspiring with Red Cloud to remove Crazy Horse as a potential rival to Red Cloud (who had no civil authority with the Oglala except that handed to him by Americans) is not even mentioned. Instead, Crook is portrayed as innocent of having anything to do with the death of Crazy Horse. I freely admit to knowing much more about the Lakota than about the Apaches. But if Aleshire can not get these details right, why should I trust anything he has to say about the Apache aspects? Again, this seems like a book designed to gloss over Crook's moral lapses, perhaps as a counter to recent books that expose these sad events.

No comments about Prison Life Among the Rebels: Recollections of a Union Chaplain.

4 comments about Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars.

1. British stage idol Fanny Kemble (1809-93) married a wealthy American slave-owner in 1834. Although the marriage turned out disastrously, it provided a bonanza for historians. No shrinking violet and a prolific writer, Fanny wrote profusely on slavery, America, and women's issues till her death.
   
   The Kembles were England's leading theatrical family. Sarah Siddons was her aunt, but Fanny became equally celebrated. Despite this, her family were chronically in debt, and the American tour was one of innumerable unsuccessful efforts to make money. Soon after arriving she fell in love with Pierce Butler, a Georgia plantation owner, who made her stop working after they married. She quickly regretted her decision, but there was little a woman could do in that era. When Butler moved to his plantation, Fanny encountered slavery first hand and did not like what she saw. She complained bitterly and protested the slaves' treatment. Worse, she outraged her husband and the neighbors by expressing her opinions in print and in the north. Perhaps her most impressive accomplishment was getting a divorce, a nearly impossible feat in the nineteenth century. It took fifteen years. Except for public readings she never acted again, but her personality and writing sustained her celebrity until the end of the century.

   Like many nineteenth century figures, Kemble seemed to spend half her day writing. She kept a journal, sent and received a torrent of letters, published a dozen books and scores of articles and essays. Catherine Clinton, Professor of History at Baruch College (The Plantation Mistress, 1982) has obviously read it all and transformed it into an entertaining account of one of the most colorful women of her time.




2. A combination of excellent writting and the fascinating subject -Fanny Kemble - make this a book you'll find difficult to put down. After reading this book, I, too, long to know more about this charismatic woman. Regardless of whether or not your interests lie in learning more about women during the Civil War, Fanny Kemble's life and times is a thoroughly compelling story.

   I originally saw Catherine Clinton on C-Span Book TV (yes, I admit I do watch it! LOL). Her enthusiasm regarding Fanny Kemble was clearly evident and the book does not disappoint. I do want to point out that I've chosen to read Clinton's book before I've read the journals which she edited.

   With respect to Fanny Kemble, I find her to be a study in contrast. On the one hand she craved independence of thought and financial means yet she appears to have despised the very things that would bring her either independence, financial security or both. For example, she clearly was an excellent performer - something which would have allowed her independence of both thought and financial security - yet it appears she in many instances indicates she disliked performing.

   After reading Catherine Clinton's book, I can't help but wonder what the literary world lost when she married Pierce Butler. Would we have another Jane Austen if she had remained unmarried or if she had a supportive or better match for a husband? Unfortunately, we're only left to guess.




3. I checked this book out from the library and read it the week prior to our family's vacation to Charleston, SC. I found it very informative and I enjoyed recognizing the names of families, towns and historical landmarks mentioned in the book, especially St. Simon's Island, which I enjoyed reading about in Eugenia Price's series of books on that particular area. I have a great interest in women's experiences, pre and post-civil war, and would not think twice about adding this book to my ever-growing collection of that era.



4. In 1836, just two years after famed British actress Fanny Kemble married Pierce Butler, he inherited the second largest plantation in Georgia. Her memoir of planter-society life, published in 1863 as Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation, provided, according to Author Catherine Clinton, "a disquieting glimpse into the world the slaveholders made." Clinton holds the Ph.D. in history from Princeton University, and she has taught at several colleges and universities including Brandeis, Brown, and Harvard. She is widely regarded as one of the preeminent historians of the antebellum south and of American women in the 19th century, and her expertise and erudition come through on every page of this fascinating book. In the interest of fairness, I must disclose that Clinton and I were college classmates, and I took several courses with her. She was a brilliant student, and her success as a professional historian was predestined.

   Kemble belonged to a family of prominent British Shakespearean actors, and her earliest fame came as the title heroine in Romeo and Julie and in performances in other classics in London beginning in 1829, when she was only 19. In 1832, she arrived in the United States for a two-year theatrical tour. We are, however, primarily interested in Kemble's life after her 1834 marriage to Pierce Butler, who inherited the plantations on Georgia's Sea Islands in 1836. Kemble and Butler lived for their first years together in Philadelphia, but Butler tenaciously held onto extreme social attitudes. In Southern antebellum culture, according to Clinton, "the white male patriarch ruled unchallenged, and "Fanny could best demonstrate her loyalty, Butler maintained, by agreeing with him in every regard." That was virtually impossible for the spirited Kemble, who found her husband to be "rude and unkind" and his mental faculties "lackluster." In contrast, the portraits of Kemble in this book show her to be a woman of obvious intelligence and seriousness of purpose. The Butler-Kemble union failed from the beginning and, in 1835, according to Clinton, Kemble expressed willingness to give Butler custody of their infant daughter if he would allow her to leave. Butler rejected the idea, and Kemble remained miserable until their divorce in 1849.

   From an early age, Kemble had imagined herself to be a "literary lioness," and, in despair, she turned to writing. In the spring of 1835, Kemble wrote a "long and vehement treatise against negro slavery." According to Clinton, Kemble was "[a]lways given to social commentary with a theatrical flair." Clinton observes that "Kemble's vivid writings [are] replete with insights on women's rights, slavery, and race," and they offer valuable insights into the realities of plantation life. But Clinton notes that "[a]s Mrs. Pierce Butler, the wife of the second largest slaveholder in Georgia," Kemble "found herself in a precarious position." The peculiar institution afforded her a life of leisure, but, according to Clinton, she "found herself increasingly drawn to the plight of the slaves." After arriving in Georgia in 1838, Kemble established a slave hospital and a slave nursery, and, in defiance of state law, she taught the alphabet to a bright slave. It was not until 1863, however, that Kemble consented to the publication of Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation, which Clinton describes as "the vivid and haunting diatribe against human bondage composed during her stay on the Butler plantations in the winter of 1838-39." According to Clinton: "Fanny Kemble...characterized Butler as a despot; Butler's friends portrayed him as a peerless master. The truth lay somewhere in between." A review in the Atlantic Monthly called Kemble's Journal "the first ample, lucid, faithful, detailed account, from the actual head-quarters of a slave plantation in this country, of the workings of the system." Horace Greeley's Tribune also had high praise for Kemble's Journal. But Kemble's younger daughter, who supported the Confederate States during the Civil War, wrote in 1881 that "nothing would ever induce me to have [the Georgia Journal] in my house....I never can forgive it." According to Clinton: "One intimate of both women complained that Fanny Kemble thought all the South's problems stemmed from slavery, while [the younger daughter] believed all the problems of the South were created by African Americans." Clinton remarks that "the book has more greatly influenced twentieth-century historians than Civil War-era politicians," and she notes that, beginning in the 1950s, slavery scholars began citing Kemble as an authority.

   Clinton makes extensive use of Kemble's memoirs and correspondence, but I was a bit surprised that Clinton did not quote more extensively from the Georgia Journal in this book. Clinton may have hoped to inspire readers to delve more deeply into Kemble's impressive oeuvre in the original, including Fanny Kemble's Journals, edited by Clinton and published earlier this year by Harvard University Press. That book offers selections from Kemble's 11 volumes of autobiographical writings and is, I suspect, fascinating. I do not understand precisely why this book is subtitled "The Story of America's Most Unlikely Abolitionist." Early in the book, Clinton writes that Kemble developed a "renowned affinity for `plain folk,' and she clearly had a gift for social commentary. So, her marriage to a wealthy planter notwithstanding, I do not find it surprising that Kemble took a public position on the most serious question in mid-19th century America. But I consider this point a quibble: Despite the subtitle, this book is wonderful. Although generally devoted to significant political and social questions, cameo appearances by Kemble's circle of noteworthy friends and acquaintances, including Washington Irving, Louis Agassiz, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Henry James, make it fun as well. So does the fact that Kemble's elder daughter married a Pennsylvania physician in 1859, and their son, Owen Wister, Jr., achieved fame in his own right as the author of the novel The Virginian and the commentary for a famous volume of illustrations of Frederic Remington. This biography details a remarkable 19th-century life. I recommend Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars and everything else written by Catherine Clinton without qualification.

5 comments about A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell.

1. Agent Larsen and Agent Larsen produce a comprehensive database for tracking the network connections established by Matrix Meister, Joseph Campbell in upgrading the virtual reality of daily existence for current generations of citizen believers. Agents Larsen and Larsen provide a compelling and vivid account of Campbell's genius in reformatting the work of earlier master technicians such as Meisters Plato, Paul, Augustine and Eckhart, in maintaining viability of the First Principle of Matrix Management: that the self and its passions must be transcended for the attainment of ultimate bliss. In formulating this upgrade version of the First Principle, Larsen and Larsen carefully document the development of Campbell's ties with Robert Bly, John Cage, Maya Deren, Bob Dylan, Mircea Eliade, Jerry Garcia, Marija Gimbutas, Stanislav Grof, Joan Halifax, Jean Houston, Al Huang, Carl Jung, Sam Keen, Stanley Keleman, Jiddu Krishnamurti, George Lucas, Paul & Mary Mellon, Michael Murphy, Bill Moyers, Swami Nikhilananda, John Steinbeck and Alan Watts, along with institutions that include the Bollingen Foundation, Esalen, the Young President's Organization and the United States Information Service. A remarkable achievement, even Morpheus concedes, despite being largely facilitated, as Agents Larsen and Larsen record, by the estate of industrial/financial magnate Andrew Mellon. AI Central is honoring Agents Larsen and Larsen with benevolent termination. The forthcoming generation of Sentinels will be known as the Meister Campbell. A must read for all novice agents.



2. An excellent book. The contents of this book made for some of the most interesting reading I have ever done. This will be a treasured hardcover book on my shelves for the rest of my life. Campbell not only taught us during his life, but is stepping over the threshold of time to continue teaching us lessons on what life can hold for those who are willing to follow their Bliss. I have only felt this strongly about a book a dozen times in my life. As for availability, business has never had enough vision and foresight to make available what feeds ones soul. Have this book reprinted for yourself if you can't purchase it!



3. You state that this book is out of stock. Boarders got it for me in three days.



4. FROM THE BIG SUR AND ROBINSON JEFFERS TO THE MYSTERY WORLD OF JAMES JOYCE'S FINNIGAN'S WAKE, THE LARSENS TAKE US TO ALL THE PLACES IN MIND AND LOCATION THAT CAMPBELL FREQUENTED. HIS LONG-TIME CONNECTIONS TO GREAT NOVELISTS LIKE JOHN STEINBECK AND NEW THOUGHT THINKERS LIKE MICHAEL MURPHY OF THE ESALEN INSTITUTE REVEAL THE ECLETIC PANORAMA THAT WAS THIS GREAT, AND SOMETIMES UNDER-APPRECIATED, MAN'S PURVIEW.

   IT IS VERY SAD THAT THE PUBLISHER NO LONGER BELIEVES THAT THERE IS AN AUDIENCE FOR THE DETAILS OF THIS WONDERFUL MAN'S LIFE.




5. Not one for biographies I nevertheless enjoyed this one tremendously. It is quite an intimate account of Campbell's life presented in an interesting format of his personal journal entries and recollections of others inbetween the Larsens' well written flow. Who could not marvel at this man's brilliant life? The only problem with this biography is that in light of its length it loses a bit of the focus on Campbell's vision near the last few decades of his life. The many anecdotes of friends he accumulated in the 70's and 80's are nice but I would've liked to have kept more with Campbell's journal entries (if he did indeed keep up with personal writings). The last several chapters show Campbell living his life in the parasitic throes of 'new-agers', and portray them (unintentionally) as enjoying his company for their own benefit to the point where he probably was unable to get much of his own work done. Of course, who could blame people for wanting to be near the man and hear his erudition? But I would like to know more about his personal thoughts in his last years. Joseph Campbell lived a truly enchanted life and will be the teacher for the next century in more ways than one.