5 comments about Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American.

1. This biography of Sherman is a study of the man Liddell Hart believes to be the great strategic thinker of the American Civil War. It is more a study of his psychology, much of it derived from original sources such as telegraphic messages, than an account of battles. Sherman was a complex man with a background in banking and commerce that served him well in planning his campaigns in the Confederacy. At the outbreak of hostilities, he was headmaster of a military academy in Louisiana and the local people tried to induce him to stay in spite of his open Union sympathies. He was offered a positon as Assistant Secretary of War but declined to seek a military command. His contempt for politicians was later expressed in his famous refusal to accept a nomination for the Presidency. He was the most intellectual general of the war and Liddell Hart is very interested in his thinking. This is a valuable book for those interested in leadership.



2. This is a classic written by Liddell Hart in highly readable compact detail. Hart, an English veteran of WWI, was a 20th century military expert who had a great appreciation for Sherman's strategic ability and understanding of an enemy morale. In contrast to what Hart calls a game of "shuttle cock" in the east, Sherman's strategic maneuvers and splitting of command out frequently force Johnson to give up ground while shedding very little blood. Hart notes that he does not spend too much analytical detail on where every "man stood" in reference to regimental history but Hart provides the reader the necessary detail to appreciate the battles and over all campaign. Hart's appreciation of Sherman's ability to take the war to the Deep South, live off the land and take a great risk of literally disappearing from his line of communications is well detailed here as Sherman's penetration through three states eventually undermines Lee's great efforts in Virginia. Hart, the veteran of the stalemate battle of trenches that featured great loss appreciates Sherman's successful plan of warfare. Of course, there are many historians who believe that General Joe Johnston's propensity to retreat may have made him a weak opponent but Johnston did keep a strong army in the field until Hood decimated the Army of Tennessee. This is a great book written by a man who not only lived through "The Great War" but was highly capable of writing about a war that was very similar in the eastern theater by late 1864.



3. When I first began to read this book I was concerned that it might be outdated. However, I found much of the subject matter to be quite timely. Of particular interest was the impact that Sherman's successful (albeit violent) trek through Georgia had on the 1864 elections. I never realized how close the Copperhead (Peace) Democrats came to winning that election and perhaps bringing the Civil War to a far differnet conclusion . Hart bring Sherman to life. He also vividly illustrates the behind the scene politics that almost prevented Sherman (not to mention Grant) from their historic roles in the Civil War. Don't be put off by the subject matter or the age of the book. It's worth the read.



4. Sherman was both the most original genius of the Civil War, and "the typical American". His career provides lessons to the modern world and to modern warfare. It was his conscious exploitation of the economic and psychological factors of war in his "March through Georgia" which helped to end the Civil War. The long and expensive battles in Northern Virginia were replayed on the battlefields of France in the Great War.

   The Union attempted to take Richmond by the shortest and most direct route; but this way was blocked with natural obstacles. If the Confederates fell back they would be closer to their reserves, supplies, and reinforcements. These facts favored the entrenched defenders.

   The western campaign ended in the capture of Vicksburg and control of the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans. Liddell Hart contrasts the maneuvers here to the stalemate back east. But the conditions, or politics, did not allow a wide flanking invasion through West Virginia or North Carolina. The threat to Richmond kept Confederate troops there. Longstreet proposed an invasion of Kentucky, a far flanking attack, but was turned down by Lee.

   It explains how Sherman out-maneuvered Johnston from Chattanooga to Atlanta. By threatening to outflank Johnston, the Confederates fell back. His replacement by Hood did not prevent the capture of Atlanta. This revived the hope of victory for the North, and helped to re-elect Lincoln.

   Sherman then abandoned his supply and communication lines (vulnerable to attack) and marched on to Savannah and the ocean. His army lived off the land. This enabled his army to be resupplied by the Navy. He then marched north, seeming to attack other cities, but passed between and continued to destroy railroads and bridges.

   The end came soon after this, as other armies invaded the South. Sherman designed an armistice and amnesty where the Confederates would be disbanded, and their arms turned over to the states. The latter would allow repression of bandits and guerillas. He was criticized for this.

   Sherman was a man of modest habits. When admirers raised [money]to buy him a house, he refused to accept unless he received bonds that would pay the taxes! He lived within his means. The resisting power of a state depends more on the strength of popular will than on the strength of its armies, and this depends on economic and social security (p.429).

   Liddell Hart gave preference to contemporaneous correspondence rather than Official Reports (which are written for history to justify a policy). Some of the ideas in this 72-year old book may not coincide with more recent history.




5. I will start by saying Liddel Hart is my favorite military historian/author and I own half a dozen books by him, and regard them as gospel. However I felt that Liddel Hart was not as well versed in this area as he is in European History. He lets his ingrained contrariness run away with him. He wants to create a "great captain" where there is none. He also, I believe, wants to convince the reader of the genius of the "inderect approach" which he expounds in his excellent book "Strategy". However I think considering Sherman's campaign as indirect is like calling D-Day indirect because the allies invaded Normandy as opposed to Calais. ( I must admit that I am biased because I am a Lee fan) Like every other book by Liddel hart though, it is a very quick and pleasant read. I would recommend his book on Scipio as a great intro to his work.

5 comments about Hemingway: The Final Years.

1. There is little I can add to the above reviews. Long before this final volume of Michael Reynolds' masterpiece came out, he had already taken his place as our finest Hemingway scholar and one of the five or six greatest literary biographers of our time. This last volume merely confirms his position. Tragically, he succumbed to cancer shortly after this book appeared, but he left us a daunting legacy as a scholar. I doubt anyone ever understood the infinitely complex Hemingway as well as Professor Reynolds did. It is a cause for celebration when a major writer and a great biographer come together; these volumes will never grow old.



2. Reviewed by TOMA 1999

   Here's one to add to your Hemingway collection. Michael Reynolds tells us the story of Ernest Hemingway's last score years from the era of World War II to his suicide in Ketchum, Idaho on July 2, 1961. We have here the Hemingway hero we love and wish we personally knew: the articulate man full of high sentence, the man among men, the behemoth drinker, the virtuoso hunter, the dedicated idealist to his craft, the continent jumper, the fun-loving and cherished father especially to his three boys, the husband now going on his third wife in Martha Gellhorn and the literary lion in his last years where the Victor finally reaps the spoils of a lifetime pitted against the dragon called writing. Icon would be too small a word for such a colossal figure. Hemingway through all his own growling, fist-fighting, taunting of literary figures, strutting in and out of wars, promenading through world events, and arguing with his own publisher in Charles Scribner remains like the figure of the Greek Odysseus, the figure as Tennyson put it who set his life "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." This is why many admire this American son while others see him as full of sh--, a braggart, and fraud for having never truly experienced the larger than life adventures he immortalized in his war books: For Whom The Bell Tolls, To Have and Have Not, and A Farewell To Arms not to mention his slew of other relevant stories set in exotic locations. At the date marking the century of his birth and with the latest Hemingway piece-meal work to be drawn together by his son Patrick in True at First Light, and the dozen or so other "timely" biographies, fancy-covered reprints, and photobooks presented during the summer of 1999, Reynolds does his duty to his subject with skill, organization, and insight. Although sentiment is not always unbiased, for it is obvious this research has been a labor of love, this book marks Reynolds' fifth and apparent last volume in a series of the chronologically-based Hemingway biography. In this final version, Hemingway is never idolized but shown in the somewhat balanced color of black and white where Hemingway can not but create his own shadow like some vibrant oak towering above Finca Vigia in Cuba or with his skeleton crew of "agents" monitoring the inland waterways for German submarines or as the bespectacled ancient literary lion much like his own tiger at Kilimanjaro, worn and heavy, resting within the expanse of Idaho country far below the mountains at his Sun Valley Lodge. Other exotic landscapes nicely slip into view along the journey: Hong Kong, Venice, Paris, Key West, New York, and Mombasa like a set of snapshots upon a reel. We find the sensitive Hemingway trying to keep together a marraige that seems over just as it has begun. We have a vivid image of Martha Gellhorn, the reluctant housewife and bonafide journalist torn between the woman Hemingway wishes and the one she desires to be. We feel him sparring with Scribner's over language in his novels and courtroom battles. We get a feel for the atmosphere of Finca Vigia with its bug-ridden sunburnt rooms, and for the silent, pine-washed Ketchum ranch where the echo of a rifle blast stills remains today. Characters saunter in and out of the story like locals into their corner bar. The quoted material from various personages of the times has been expertly chosen to move the Hemingway legend along its way. These haunting voices create such atmosphere and setting that the imagination has little to do but continue to create a story that unfolds in cinemagraphic slow motion. Moreover, we seem to capture a panoramic view of our literary past so important to reflect upon as we step over the century divide. This is a joyous read especially for summer reading not only for the enthusiast but for the academic who wishes to gain a fuller insight into the one of our greatest literary figures this nation has ever produced.




3. In all respects -- in terms of research, sensitivity, perception, analysis, and style -- Mr. Reynolds has written the finest biography of one of the most fascinating and complex personalities the world has ever known.

   Three citicisms, if I may: First, though very well written, there are occasional lapses in editing. Second, Mr. Reynolds owes it to his appreciative readers, as well as to himself, to provide somewhat more in-depth and revealing final thoughts than he has. My final "gripe" is admittedly extremely trivial. It irritated me, though -- in such a superbly researched endeavor, such a silly mistake should have been easily avoided. Hold on to your hats, ladies, because here it is: At one point, Mr. Reynolds mentions that Hemingway met Barbara Stanwyck and her husband, Robert Montgomery. Well, Robert Taylor, not Mr. Montgomery, was Miss Stanwyck's husband. A trivial mistake, to be sure, but why make it?

   Despite the mix-up with the Roberts (which can be easily made right in future editions), this is an outstanding biography, which I heartily recommend.




4. Michael S. Reynolds' "Hemingway: The Final Years" is excellent and a worthy addition to any library, as are the previous volumes. I have read every Hemingway biography (I even have such paperback quickies as HEMINGWAY: LIFE AND DEATH OF A GIANT and THE PRIVATE HELL OF HEMINGWAY that were published shortly after Papa's death) since my father, twenty-two years ago, gave me a copy of Carlos Baker's 1967 authorized biography (which I also recommend; it gives you the a great overview of Hemingway's life and work and is very readable), and I have found Reynolds biographies to be wonderful and informative.



5. The story of Hemingway's last years lets you enter a world of desillusion, faked grandeur and, ultimately, madness.

   It seems as if the reader was present at the scenes which are brilliantly depicted by Reynolds.

   Getting to know the life of Hemingway lets you add a supplementary dimension to the reading of his works.

1 comments about Herndon's Lincoln (Knox College Lincoln Studies Center).

1. This is a reprint of the Lincoln biography published in the 1880s by his former law partner, Billy Herndon. Lincoln biographers have spent 95 years telling why Herndon was mistaken about this or that--until recently. Now they are beginning to say the earlier historians were wrong and Herndon was probably right. I had never read Herndon, but only had seen him quoted selectively. Billy comes through as a very honest man and a bit like Lincoln. One can see why the latter asked him to be his partner, and stuck it out in partnership with him for a good 20 years. The editors say Herndon was a better back-room lawyer than Lincoln, but Lincoln a much better courtroom lawyer, and the partnership complemented itself that way. Billy was better at research, and that suggests Billy did very good research on his Lincoln biography, too. Shortly after Lincoln was shot Herndon interviewed and corresponded with scores of people from Lincoln's family and his early life. It's easy to see why the law firm was successful, because Billy was a real bulldog. But his book was not well received in the 1880s when first published, largely because many thought it too crude in those days to point out Abe's mother's illegitmacy, etc. But Herndon was going to put down whatever the facts bore out. He adored Lincoln, and believed his greatness would be enhanced more by the truth than by lies... I now have a much higher regard for Herndon than formerly... On the other hand, the editors and publisher deserve low marks for the smallness of the type face, which goes down even smaller in the footnotes, making this important book more difficult to read than it should be. Don't be put off by the first Preface, either, which should be either buried at the end of the book or deleted.

5 comments about Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America.

1. A lot of good detail is presented in this biography, a lot of moral force worth bringing to our attention.
   
   Many of us are curently such spoiled and cowardly workers that we need historians like Ellliott J. Gorn to give us a dose of a truth that most of our employers, politicians and media don't want us to be exposed to. Is "American Idol" on? I suppose we do need someone else to shake up.
   
   From the historical record, it may not have been possible to uncover more of what made Mary Jones into Mother Jones: what it seems, as a historian and not a psychologist, Gorn has wisely done is to show how the conditions of Mary Jone's times presented her with challenges which she responded to bravely. You or I may have dodged the same challenges but not Mother Jones. It is well worth Mary Jones and Gorn showing us what is possible.
   
   Mother Jones eschewed religion, socialist parties, and the IWW. If without an answer, she demanded answers of those who we might have thought could help us. She knew what common folk were capable of but she also insisted on leaders being leaders and not servants of the rich.
   
   Hard times are upon us. Globalization and war machinery of unprecended strength and concentrations of wealth threaten all working people, whether in the United States, Mexico, India, China, Uganda, Peru, or Antarctica. Mother Jones did not cater to national or religious boundaries. I hope I can rouse myself from my reading of this book as I suggest you do. We have hope if we don't delay.



2. Elliott J. Gorn has written a well-researched biography of one of Labor's greatest spokesperson. Gorn writes a complete book on Mother Jones, Mary Jones, and even Mary Harris -- the person AND the persona. His objectivity allows him to correct Mother Jones' revisionist history of her own life and her achievements, even as he praises her deep committment and her probable rationale for exaggerating her achievements. One slight criticism is that Gorn on occasion follows one aspect of the Labor movement (or Mother's) struggle, then goes back in time to pick up another thread. In his great favor, though, Gorn details the incorrect details and unfair attacks of other authors, both of her day and later. If you read only one book on Mother Jones, this should be it.



3. This biography recalls early American radicalism and the efforts of one Mary Jones, a force in the early labor movement. She traveled throughout the country lobbying for civil rights, labor laws and basic worker's rights: her career, life, and long-ranging effects on American labor are recounted in a lively coverage.



4. Elliott Gorn has written an excellent biography of Mary Harris Jones, better known as Mother Jones. Gorn has applied critical analysis to his meticulous and quite impressive research--this was not an easy woman to pin down, and Gorn has managed with limited materials to convey the essence of her life. In doing so, he tells three simultaneous stories, all significant for a broad view of American history. First is the story of Mary Jones herself. Her life was both tragic and triumphant, and Gorn treats it with sensitivity and a light touch, conjecturing at times to what she must have felt, but never presuming to be inside her head or heart. The second story is the story of the American labor movement, particularly that of the United Mine Workers, and their struggle against BIG CAPITAL. Gorn does not overemphasize the uneven nature of this struggle, nor does he dwell on the massive injustices against the mine workers by mine owners, coal interests, and even the Federal Government. He gives it to us straight. The facts speak for themselves. But Gorn presents the facts in the context of Jones's life and her struggle, and never preaches. He lets the history--a history too seldom told--be revealed through the contours of Jones's life. Which leads to the third story: the story of American self-invention. Mary Jones invented herself, and went to great lengths to sustain an identity that would allow her, as a woman and a mother, to become one of the toughest and most feared labor organizers in American history--not a normal or accepted role for women, generally during her lifetime. Throughout these three stories, Gorn engages the notion of gender in late Victorian and early twentieth century US history. This, too, he does with a subtle hand and a light touch, totally without jargon. The book is thoroughly enjoyable, accessible to all readers, and interesting in its own right. Plus it sheds light on important processes in American history. I highly recommend it.



5. Mother Jones was a character of mythic proportions, created by the all-too-human Mary Harris Jones. The author takes the position that while many of the details of her life - as portrayed in Mother's speeches, writings and autobiography - are impossible to verify or demonstrably false, they stood for a larger truth.

   Gorn obviously has sympathy for Jones and does a good job of putting her life in its context, but this book is no easy read. It is written in the dry verbiage and cadences of academia.

   An unequivocally positive addition to the library of labor history, but don't try to read it at night before bed unless your aim is to hasten sleep.

1 comments about Eminent Lives: The Presidents Collection CD Set: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ulysses S. Grant (Eminent Lives).

1. This was a joy to listen, as I learned a great deal about Washington, Jefferson, and most of all, Grant, in this very entertaining and at times engrossing audio book.

2 comments about A Benjamin Franklin Reader.

1. This is a fine selection from Franklin's writings, including the entire 'Autobiography'. All texts have been judiciously chosen by the editor, arranged in chronological order and prefaced by intelligent, concise and well written introductory notes. Franklin's importance and permanence clearly emerge from the reading.
   
   I only wish there were more excerpts from Franklin's delightful 'Poor Richard's Almanac'. The selections presented in this edition come from the Almanacs for the years 1733, 1734, 1736, 1737, 1738 and 1739, and they barely fill 15 pages. Nonetheless they might well satisfy the reader and in any event there is plenty of rarely published letters and articles from the Pennsylvania Gazette to make up for the possible lack of material from the almanacs signed by 'Richard Saunders'.
   
   This is the perfect book to discover Franklin and also a very good one for those who already know him, thanks to the editors insightful notes and to the opportunity to review Franklin's writings in chronological order, from a historical and biographical perspective.



2. This is a great collection of the writings of Benjamin Franklin. For me, the real value here lies not so much in the fact that he was a self-made man, but in the advice he gave about connecting with people and interacting with others both from a business and from a personal point of view. His ability in that area led directly to his success (along with some luck). I wish more people read the Autobiography and other papers just for that reason alone. In the long run, that may be the greatest contribution made by Ben Franklin.

5 comments about Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas Ranger.

1. I am an avid reader of true Indian/pioneer books. This was new to me in format because only the first story I had read written by an adult captive and a male.
   
   Most of the books seem to be about young children or perhaps a young woman. The treatment and thoughts of an adult male were interesting. I kept wondering if I could have gone thru the ordeal. A quick read and makes you appreciate today! If you like history you will enjoy this true story.



2. The author relates actual events in Texas Ranger history as though he was present. However, the Texas State Historical site has no record of him ever being on Ranger rolls.



3. I have read the book and most of the negative comments as well.
   As an author and a person that have lived among the Indians,I am familiar with a lot of what Lee has declared. Indian culture, no matter the tribes, has a great deal of weired beleifs, witchcraft included. They like smoking the weed and getting high.I suggest you buy the story, I assure it walks with truth.



4. Interesting anecdotes of a white man living among the indians, the hardships and struggles, but it's obviously a biased tale. Quite a stretch for the reader to believe that a man- Texas Ranger no less- would be unable to "escape" before 3 years. Personally I don't believe it. Anyway, while one reviewer highlights a particular commanche torture to an infant, it's best to keep everything in perspective and acknowledge the extreme brutality whites displayed against all tribes in the western hemisphere- for example, Sand Creek, Wounded Knee. That said, if you like stories similar to this, try Nat Love's autobiography.



5. Nelson Lee's straightforward account of his life as a Texas Ranger and then an Indian captive is enthralling. He also offers a valid critique of how the US govt was misguided in their approach to the Indian problem. Moreover, he pleads for the govt. to do something about those still in captivity. Fewer people might have gone West had they known what was really going on and the dangers ahead. This first-hand account is highly recommended.

5 comments about Helen Keller: A Life.

1. My grandfather saw Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan on one of their vaudeville tours in the early 1920s in St. Louis, and never forgot the experience. Helen never achieved her lifelong goal of speaking in a way that was pleasing or comprehensible to the average person. One intimate called her voice "the loneliest sound in the world," but that night she did recite some of the Lord's Prayer, perhaps as a way of demonstrating that truly, all things are possible, if sometimes imperfect.
   
   Herrmann's book is well organized, accessible and a nice companion to the superior "Helen and Teacher" by Joseph P. Lash. She includes anecdotes I had never read before, some of which are fascinating.
   
   Everyone knows the dining room scene from "The Miracle Worker," in which Annie and Helen fight to the death to teach the child table manners. In adulthood, Ms. Herrmann notes, when Helen was the guest at an elegant luncheon or dinner party, when she was shown to her seat Helen would pass her hand once lightly over her table setting, memorize its layout, and proceed to eat with manners equal to those of her sighted companions. But she would occasionally interrupt the conversation she could not hear to ask a question, with sometimes awkward results.
   
   All her long life, the manual alphabet was Helen's continual link to the outside world; it named objects, gave her directions, and described occurring events or those about to happen. The manual alphabet itself is rudimentary and maddeningly limited. So it was through books that Helen's spirit took flight. Her comprehension of Braille came quickly, and it was through her reading that Helen learned abstract and intangible concepts. Teacher gave her nothing to read but the classics, which captivated Helen, but after Teacher's death she occasionally enjoyed the guilty pleasure of a silly romance novel. Helen learned to do what sighted people do -- which is to read whole words, not individual letters. Teacher insisted that she gain a lot of her knowledge through context, just as a sighted person does. Annie set for Helen a demanding course load, even prior to Helen's entering college, (she graduated with honors from Radcliffe in 1904) which insured that Helen was far more well-rounded academically than the average sighted and hearing woman of her day. (I've long felt that Annie should have received a diploma alongside Helen. After all, she had to learn and understand the same subject matter she translated and interpreted for her pupil. What a feather in her cap that would have been.)
   
   Helen acknowledged that exclusive reliance on the manual alphabet for direct communication with others made her a poor conversationalist. She also said late in life that she was still childish in many ways. But these things can be said of many people without her physical limitations.
   
   There is an extraordinary section devoted to restoring eyesight to the blind, particularly those who lost their sight in infancy and early childhood. Such operations have been performed only about 20 times, and the end results have not been the gift many patients hoped for but more often a curse. The world they have imagined for years, even though they had tantalizing glimpses of it as small children, bears little or no resemblance to what they are at last able to see. Herrmann notes that had Helen been a candidate for restoration of her sight, she might not have even been able to recognize Teacher. Some patients have no concept of spatial relationships, no understanding of relative sizes of objects; they cannot attach the names of the nouns they have learned to the physical objects they see before them. The process has been so frightening some have attempted suicide.
   
   Almost all people with physical disabilities become defined in terms of their limitations, both by others and sometimes themselves. The fascination that Helen Keller held and still holds for people all over the world is rooted in the fact that she refused to accept being deafblind as the sole measure of her identity.
   
   Helen Keller was not a genius nor was she a "plaster saint." There was something enigmatic and haunting about her. She was also seemingly without artifice, and possessed of an unquenchable interest in philosophy, other cultures, even music. The reasons she will continue to be studied by schoolchildren and admired by practically everyone are as numerous as the obstacles this remarkable woman overcame.



2. Many or most nondisabled peoples' only knowledge of Helen Keller's life is the events of William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker". If you only know of the events from this play you would think Helen, Annie Sullivan, and Helen's family lived happily ever after. This is far from the case. Helen's disablities took quite a toll on how much she and her family loved each other. Annie became quite possessive and controlling of Helen during her childhood. Annie had a troubled personality as a result of the horrors of her childhood. Apparently she was never as psychologically stable as she might've been had she had a far better childhood. Throughout Helen's life, both when Annie was alive and after her death in 1936, she was surrounded by people and groups who sought to use her for their own purposes or goals. John Macy, after several years of marriage to Annie, saw the mistake of falling in love with her. It's easy to see why John eventually became an alcoholic, given that his second significant other passed away after only 5 years of living with each other. In the mid 1950's when Helen and Polly Thomson were living together Polly's behavior toward Helen became obsessive enough that Helen was cut off from virtually all human contact except Polly herself. In 1959/1960 Helen terminated a friendship with editor Nella Henney, perhaps as a result of being surrounded since childhood by people and groups who sought to use her for their own purposes or goals.
   
   An irony about "The Miracle Worker" is that while it's a happy tale, the true story of Helen Keller is quite a sad tale. "The Miracle Worker"
   is not Helen's "real life" at all.
   
   However, given the time Helen lived in, I can see why her life story went the way it did. I wish she'd never become disabled during childhood and wished she'd been able to live a normal life. But this biography is more believeable than previous biographies of Helen Keller.



3. The Helen Keller most of us are familiar with is the beligerent and frustrated little girl who in that fateful Spring of 1887, became docile, loving, and all of a sudden able to understand things when she put her hand under the water pump. But little was always written about her adult life. I always thought she had perfect features for a woman who was 100% blind and deaf. I recall Annie Sullivan's description of Helen when she first met her was that she was "noticeably blind with one protruding eye" and I thought her eyes looked perfect and beautiful, if not unfocused, for a blind woman, but then again I looked at photographs of her from her twenties on down and they were always right profile pics, with the exception of her photo on the front cover revealing her protruding left eye. It gives me the heebeejeebees that she had them removed and replaced with prosthetics. Anyway, they should make a movie about this detailing her life from Radcliffe college to her death.



4. This is a wonderful addition to all the bios on these two remarkable women. While the definitive is "Helen and Teacher," by Joseph Lash, this book adds lots of interesting details. I had no idea that Helen had her eyes replaced with plastic ones (hence the full face photos in adulthood) or that she enjoyed martinis, high heels and fur coats. What a woman! This is a very enjoyable book with plenty of great photographs. I wonder how much of Helen and Annie's fame was based on their youthful beauty?



5. Anne Sullivan (Helen Kellers teacher) is probably my biggest hero.
   She endured a life of harsh physical pain from various ailments. Any direct exposer to sunlight caused her eyes agonizing pain. She was also plagued with intense emotional trauma, Orphaned, Anne and her younger brother both were shipped to an asylum where they played with rats as toys and frequently were housed in the room where they kept the dead bodies. The year Anne stayed there 70 babies were admitted, 60 died, as did Anne's brother. Anne had seen more death and pain by age 7 then many hardened solders. It was difficult for most people to understand her cantankerous personality and tendency to fly off the handle. It was said at the school she attended she would have been expelled many times, if they had someplace to expell her to. Despite these setbacks she saw Helen Keller, another girl people gave up on and showed her the world of language and communication. This new biography strips away all the well meaning sentimentality and shows us two souls, bruised and scared, but beautiful

5 comments about My Bondage and My Freedom (An African American Heritage Book).

1. THIS BOOK IS POWERFUL, ITS SHOCKING, AND IT IS ASPIRING. THERE IS NOTHING ON CHANNEL 11 THAT BRINGS THE HONEST, INSIGHTFUL, VERY REAL ACCOUNT THAT MR.DOUGLASS DOES IN HIS BOOK. FROM SLAVE TO FREE-MAN, THIS IS TRUELY AN AMERICAN SUCCESS. SKIP THE INTRO, AND JUMP INTO IT.



2. Douglass's second, and lengthier, narrative fills in many of the gaps left in his first autobiography: we learn about his mother, his siblings, and more details about his psychological transformation from brute to man. It's quite insightful, as Douglass is careful to relate each of his personal experiences to the innate evil of the peculiar instituition, for both the slave and the slave holder.



3. Having read a biography of Douglass many years ago, I thought I knew his story. Hearing through his pen was an entirely different matter. What a master of the language and insighful set of observations on human nature.
   
   I am a man of many words, but words fail me in my endorsement of this book. The letter to his former master in the appendix is worth the price of the book by itself.



4. Standing in line at the Lincoln Memorial, a book beckoned to me that I previously hadn't seen before. The face of Frederick Douglas grabbed my attention; a man that I've respected for many years, encountering him mainly through my study of Abraham Lincoln. On the spur of the moment, I snatched up a copy of "My Bondage and My Freedom", and within a few days, my admiration in Frederick Douglass was transformed from interest to awe.

   Frederick Douglass orginially penned his book as a response to people's accusations that someone as articulate and composed as he couldn't possibly be a former slave. With that goal in mind, Douglass wrote his memoirs, in a straight forward, powerful way. In the book, he painfully and honestly documents the path his early life took; the memories of being owned, how slaves coped during these times, and how he managed to pull himself out of it all.

   While Douglass' life in itself is amazing, (as he describes the amazing process he undertook to learn how to read), what amazed me even more are Douglass' discourses that he sprinkles through the book, discussing relevant issues during the time. In one instance, he addresses the concern about why slaves simply didn't run away from their oppressive situations. It's almost as if you can actually hear the people talking to Douglass and he responding to them.

   This book does not only tell the tale of a truly amazing American, but gives us a unique insight to the times. This book should be required reading in every high school in this country.




5. What are your impressions of Frederick Douglass? What would you say about Douglass observation that "conscience cannot stand much violence? Do you think it was possible to be a good slave owner?Why or why not? Why does Douglass view slaveholders as well as slaves as victims of slavery? Why is education incompatible with slavery? Why do you think the white children's attitude toward slavery is different from that of their parents? How would you describe Douglass attitude towards Mrs. Auld?

1 comments about Iconoclast: Abraham Flexner and a Life in Learning.

1. Professor Thomas Neville Bonner who is a distinguished historian and has authored several books about medical education has produced a real literary gem in "Iconoclast-Abraham Flexner and a life in learning". Abraham Flexner and his brother Simon were true giants in reforming medical education and introducing scientific medical research respectively in the USA at the beginning of 20th century. Abraham Flexner's life story is traced with marked clarity and precision of details in this remarkable book. Professor Bonner informs us about his fascination with Abraham Flexner's work in the Introduction by reading his first book "The American College" followed by the famous "Flexner Report- Medical Education in the US and Canada" published in 1910. He then takes us through Abraham's early years growing up as the youngest son of poor Jewish immigrant parents in late 19th century in Reconstruction Louisville, Kentucky, his graduation from high school, attendance at the newly opened Johns Hopkins University and coming back to Louisville at age 19 to become a teacher at his alma mater, Louisville Male High School. Thereafter he becomes principal of his own highly successful preparatory school. At age 42, he " breaks free" from Louisville and enrolls at Harvard and subsequently at Oxford in Britain and then at Berlin University in Germany. On his return back to the U.S.A, he is commissioned by Henry Pritchett of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to survey 155 medical schools in North America. Flexner Report was a scathing critique of the deplorable conditions of the then extant medical schools and catapulted him into an education specialist status overnite.After being hired by the Rockefeller Foundation, Abraham Flexner was in a unique position to implement medical education reforms, start full-time plan and improve university-hospital affiliations by being able to disburse huge sums of Rockefeller largesse.Bonner points out the immense influence Abraham Flexner enjoyed being at the helm of an epochal reform movement in medical education. He was an author, a negotiator, a highly effective fund-raiser and a philanthropist. He established the Instiute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ which became an intellectual powerhouse , through the philanthropy of Louis Bamberger and was solely responsible for Albert Einstein's immigration to the USA. Abraham Flexner's long life was a multi-faceted and highly eventful one. Professor Bonner has done an admirable job in writing this thoroughly researched and definitive biography which will serve as a highly dependable reference work for future researchers. He writes with great clarity and conviction. The book reads like a novel with tremendous intrigue and drama. I recommend this book as a required reading for medical students, physicians and medical educators.General public will also find this book extremely enjoyable and informative