1 comments about Daughters of Tunis: Women, Family, and Networks In A Muslim City.

1. This study is an engaging often humorous read that does not follow the stereotypical media representation of the Muslim women. In this easy to read yet scholarly study, Holmes-Eber invites us to meet tens of real Muslim women. Not the mistreated and oppressed media cartoon, but women that we can relate to and understand. If you are looking for yet another sensationalized depiction of downtrodden Arab women find another book. If, however, you would like to discover what real Muslim women are like, this is one of the few and far between books that you should read.
   I read the book in two nights and found it utterly refreshing! Especially in light of recent events this book will help all of us Americans to see Arabs and Muslims as people first, making us question the Arab enemy image that we are continually bombarded with. This book is truly a contribution to cultural understanding and hopefully world peace.

5 comments about After Silence: Rape & My Journey Back.

1. A friend loaned this book to me but it is likely a book I will never forget. Nancy Venable Raine tells her important story in a very accessible way. As a nurse who took care of rape victims in the middle 80's and now a school nurse, I am aware that the secret of abuse and assault reverberates in too many lives. And while I would never say that my experiences as a young nurse were equivalent to those of my patients, I vividly remember hearing my victim-patients stories and identifying with them. Many of my victim-patients were not that different from me--young, single, living alone. During that time, I _usually_ slept with the lights on because I wanted to try to be able to identify my perpetrator, if that ever happened to me.
   
   Raine shows us her story, how it echoes in her life. Coming back from and integrating the experience in life is not, cannot be easy but one cannot help but feel she is one of the minority of individuals who gets the needed help to do so.
   
   Now, in year 2007, I was acutely aware that at times Raine paired the rape experience and the torture experience. It is a source of sadness to me that we, as a nation, are perpetuating that experience for so many. There is something profound about her description of the rape victim as a container for her perpetrator's anger. And that is far from the only profound idea.
   
   Having also read "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, I would say they are both very important books but this book is a far better glimpse into the recovery aspect.



2. I had to read this book for one of my Woman's Studies classes at Western Illinois University. I think this is a must read book for everyone (especially those who are in recovery or have been convicted of a violent crime of this nature). It is a bit graphic and I don't recomend that anyone under high school age read it. I had to set it down a couple of times due to that, but, it was nessessary to truely understand Ms. Raine's story. You don't truely understand what someone goes though after rape without going through it yourself.



3. "Throw away the lights, the definitions
   And say of what you see in the dark" - Wallace Stevens
   
   "Speech is civilization itself. The word . . . preserves contact - it is silence which isolates." - Thomas Mann
   
   Following her rape, this author became a completely different person, a person who lived "with sudden fear the way others live with cancer. The fear was always there." It took seven years before she could begin writing about her experience. She states that the anniversary of her rape "was more significant than my own birthday, and yet there was only silence . . . I had become, the one who marked her anniversaries in silence . . . Could I celebrate my survival in silence and alone? Not according to Webster's, which defines the verb "to celebrate" this way: "to perform (a sacrament or solemn ceremony) publicly and with appropriate rites" . . . It pained my family and friends to remember. To acknowledge my experience might bring up what they hoped I had forgotten . . . for me to remind them that I had not forgotten seemed unkind, even cruel, because I knew they needed to believe I had. Our rite was, therefore, silence."
   
   "I thought about Wittgenstein's observation that the limits of language are the limits of reality. Was rape off limits to our most distinctly human attribute - language? . . . I could no longer consent to silence."
   
   Another friend and rape victim asked her, "How do I tell people who don't know, people who might become close friends? If I don't tell them, it makes it a secret, like something to be ashamed of. When I do tell them, they make it worse. They never ask me about it. It'a a part of me, part of who I am now, but they don't want to know about it. It's no-win. Just no-win."
   
   "But silence has the rusty taste of shame. The words 'shut up' are the most terrible words I know. I cannot hear them without feeling cold to the bone. The man who raped me spat those words out over and over during the hours of my attack - when I screamed when I tried to talk him out of what he was doing, when I protested . . . The real shame, as I have learned, is to consent to them."
   
   So she wrote an essay "Returns of the Day" in The New York Times Magazine in 1994. In response "Without exception, all of the letters from survivors described the isolation of the aftermath of rape, its life-altering transfromations."
   
   "The victims of rape must carry their memories with them for the rest of their lives. They must not also carry the burden of silence and shame."
   
   If you have friend or family member dealing with these issues (and the odds are that you do), here are other books that are also excellent on this and related topics, "Lucky" & "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, & "Siolence" edited by Susan McMaster - all written by women. Rape victims and victims of relationship violence and abuse often hide their experiences and the behaviors of their abusers, feeling ashamed for even being involved with the abusive patterns. All of these books suggest women become more free and mentally at ease when they realize there is nothing to be ashamed of about being victimized. And they suggest the causes of our silences and the things we hide probably deserve more attention, new perspectives, and reconsideration.



4. It was shipped to me within 2 days, great service and great product.



5. Ms. Raine describes the trauma and recovery of rape in clear and helpful terms and I appreciate the references to other works about rape recovery and feminism. Raine's AFTER SILENCE inspired me to read another landmark TRAUMA AND RECOVERY by Judith Herman, MD. It is hard to find books about rape recovery and people who can and will talk calmly, rationally, compassionately (or at all) about this subject. Raine's AFTER SILENCE should be required reading in high school for both boys and girls! Rape is so widespread that it should be addressed more often by family and friends; local, state, national, and world leaders; educators and news media. Raine also references I NEVER CALLED IT RAPE by Robin Morgan, another excellent source for raising awareness of the frequency and extent of rape in society. My own childhood incest and young adult rape were not known to my parents, siblings and doctors for decades even though the symptoms were so obvious that I was hospitalized for months. Can't praise Raine's work enough. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Raine and all those who made her work possible. Healing may be slow in coming, but it does come, after the silence, with the help of authors like Raine.

No comments about No Man's Land.

5 comments about Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave.

1. Excellent historical review. Now have a much better understanding of Mary Todd Lincoln's personality as well as a greater appreciation for the difficulties of slavery that were experienced by Elizabeth Keckly. Both were intelligent women who struggled against the limitations of their culture and upbringing.



2. After reading this book I feel as if I know the two ladies, their lives and their times.



3. Going back and forth between biographical chapters of the two ladies for a good portion of the book left me tireless and bored. Almost rejoicing when the book finally picked up after what seemed to be an ad infinitum of the two woman's seemingly ordinary lives, nothing really there to surprise from previous knowledge of both a white and black's reality of that particular time period, I in all honestly could have done without the meticulously detailed first half of the book. On the contrary I did find that the many similarities between the two such as same birth year and rather close birthplace, both in the south to be rather ironic in conjunction with their very different social standing and contrasting, perhaps even a bit complimenting personality traits. This is possibly the only helpful information I was able to take from the first half of the book.
   
   Fleischner does appear to know plenty on each individual, but enough's enough, I picked up the book for an interesting read about such an odd friendship between the pair.
   Forcing myself to get through these lackluster chapters, the meeting and companionship of the two very different women at long last appeared! Before getting to this point of the book I would have been generous in giving the book two stars, however after their first encounter, the day before Abe Lincoln's Presidential inauguration in 1861 I actually found myself enjoying my time reading it.
   
   Keckly, a mulatto, grew up in a harsh life of slavery, eventually independently able to buy her way out and prosper in the seamstress business. Thus being the reason, lavish and somewhat peculiar Lincoln called upon the former slave for her distinguished dress-making skills. The last chapters did seem rushed, and I was left wanting more details on the actual societal aspects of the South in the nineteenth century. I enjoyed the mentioning of how times were back then, always being captivating to me. The prices, fashions, and entertainment of Civil War times really absorbed my interest, however short-lived those parts were. The association and reference of historical people and events i.e. W.E.B Du Bois, Cassius Clay, Bleeding Kansas allowed me to relate the reading to History class, always bringing unexpected excitement to a learning student.
   
   The brilliantly unlikely friendship between Mrs. Keckly and Mrs. Lincoln did get its justice in Jennifer Fleischner's double biography. If you have patience for dullness, and are willing to stick it out for what turns out to be a great story of two apparently opposite woman who grow together in a historic tale of true friendship, then don't hesitate to pick this book up. Three stars for getting two bios for the price of one, the book might have dragged on, but turning out rather compelling, and nicely done.



4. I was disappointed in the viewpoint of the author who seemed less interested in the relationship of the two women than in the social problems of a free Black woman who was the confidant of Mary Lincoln. I began reading the book in an attempt to understand both women and the circumstances in which their friendship occurred. The book, however, leans heavily toward Mrs. Keckley & portrays Mrs. Lincoln at her best as a spoiled White woman & at her worst as a lunatic. The final paragraph sums up the author's reasons for writing the book in a complaint that Mary is buried in the Lincoln vault with President Lincoln (where else would she have been put?)& Mrs. Keckley's unclaimed body lies in an unmarked grave..."like those of her mother, slave father and son". The book is not about Mary Lincoln or Mrs. Keckley; it is a social commentary.



5. The characters in this book and their stories are interesting at times, but the author takes far too much time imparting their stories. I am reading this book for a church cirle book review, and I am having trouble reading it. If I want a nap that day, all I need to do is pick up this book and read it a while!

No comments about Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Campaign.

2 comments about Women in Russia, 1700-2000.

1. Engel tackles a vast subject. It sprawls across three centuries of turmoil and revolution. Plus it spans a vast geographic area and a multitude of ethnicities and religions.

   The care she has taken with this book starts in the very title, "Women in Russia". It does not say "Russian Women", for that can be taken to connote ethnic (Christian) Russian. Whereas she includes in her study Muslim women, Jewish women, the women of the Volga Germans, and Finnish women. Probably out of praticality, she omits discussion of the Russian Far East (Siberia), which has enclaves of Korean, Mongolian, Japanese and Chinese.

   The later chapters that deal with Communist rule may owe much of their detail to the fall of Communism, and the subsequent accessibility of many documents. This may have been further eased by these documents undoubtedly being seen as having no military value. Unlike say a history of Soviet rocketry or microbiology.

   I found the most interesting sections to be on the Communist period. They did put the first female astronaut (V. Tereshkova) into orbit, and proudly trumpeted this. But, as Engels makes clear, inside the Soviet Union, women were commonly relegated to traditional family rearing roles, not so different from the US at the time.

   A very commendable survey by Engel. One that an interested reader might then wish for her to write more detailed analyses of the various aspects she discusses here.




2. Engel¡¯s history of women in Russia is a fascinating glimpse at an otherwise overlooked part of Russian history. It is a great addition to any personal library.

5 comments about Playing for Time.

1. This is the story of a French singer who spent 2± years in a Nazi concentration camp. Saved because of her musical abilities, FF spent her internment as a member of an all-women's orchestra which played for the camp's leaders. It is a strange tale, not especially well or clearly written--essentailly stuff for a holocaust junkey. Compared to Martin Goldsmith's The Unestinquishable Symphony, this book is definitely second tier.



2. The story has been known for many years, but this book puts in focus, by a survivor, the insanity of a lesser known action then the case at Auschwitz. A well told personal experience by someone willing to put down for history something that needed to be said. No matter how many years I've studied, and the many survivors I've known who have shared fragments, this clear telling in print for generations to come is a treasure.



3. This is an absolutely incredible book. An already powerful story it is taken to a new level by the constant reminder that this is first hand experience.

   It is perfect for nearly anyone, the musician will relate to the music, the historian to the accuracy and the avid reader will simply latch on and be unable to let go.

   It brought tears to my eyes.




4. Playing for Time, a grade-A book by Fania Fenelon, is a document not only about the Holocaust, but one that goes deeper: it shows how music brought redemption of spirit in the Hell of Hells. When Fania and her friend are brought to the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, she is recognized by a girl in the camp's orchestra as a Parisian caberet singer. She is accepted in to the orchestra, where she is forced to sing the opera Madame Butterfly for the SS. Fania does not let the hardships of the camp take over her spirit, though. She uses music as a weapon, and, as an orchestrator as well as singer for the group, she orchestrates marches by Jews and anti-Nazis right under the noses of her captors, who never catch on. Fania's love of music allows her to survive Auschwitz, and when she is sent with the rest of the "Orchestra Girls" to Bergen-Belsen near the end of the war, her passion for life pulls her through a severe case of typhus. One day she learns that the Nazis are going to shoot the prisoners of Bergen-Belsen at 3:00 that afternoon. The English arrive at the camp at 11:00 that same morning. Fania just barely survived the war, and afterwards she returned to Paris and started again as a caberet singer. She died of cancer in her hometown in 1983. Playing for Time teaches us many things. It teaches us that the human spirit cannot be killed. It teaches us that good always wins over evil. And it teaches us that if you have a love, stick to it. One day it might just save your life.



5. I read this book a number of years ago. It left an indelible mark. It is the story of women survivors in a concentration camp. They literally "played for time," with musical instruments. The movie "Life is Beautiful" brought this book to mind this week. That is why I looked it up. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about courage in the face of adversity. The remarkable will to survive demonstrated by the women portrayed in this book is inspiring and unforgettable.

5 comments about Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire.

1. capturing napoleon iii heart and becoming empress of france would lead you to think her life would be happy ever after.but eugenie had a difficult birth of her only child made made it dangerous for another child ending her sex life with husband who carry on affairs that cause her great angry and pain.she became a fashion plate ,but also put reforms to help the poor and disavantage of france.after fall of empire she lived in england for 50 years losting her husband and son.



2. I had very little knowledge on Eugenie other then she was Empress of France and lost her only child. I've never been interested much in Napoleon III's reign or his consort but decided to give this book a try. I was pleasently surprised by what I read. Like the Eugenie was Spanish or that she was probably a better politican then her husband. Eugenie went from being bascially a no body to Empress of France and only to end up in exile after her husband was defeated. It must have been heartbreaking to lose her only child. A wonderful bio.



3. From the professional reviews, I had expected a well-written, scholarly book. This is neither. The writing is sometimes poor, and never eloquent or outstanding.
   
   The real problem, however, is the material. The portraits of Eugenie & Napoleon III are favorably one-sided. I don't feel as thought I could tell you the character of either after reading this book. Eugenie is impetuous is stated again & again but very few examples are given. Napoloen III is "pathologically secreative" but again no examples are given to support this statement. A very light-weight book.



4. I've always been interested in the lives of royal women, especially when I discover that they were more than just royal spouses or fashion plates. While such women as Elizabeth I of England, Mary of Scotland, and Catherine the Great of Russia have gotten plenty written about them, all too often, women with lesser notoriety tend to be forgotten or passed over by historians.
   
   One such woman was Eugenie, the Empress of Napoleon III of France. Author Desmond Seward, a long-time biographer of royalty, takes what at first appears to be a woman of little notice and turns her into someone to be reckoned with. At first I was rather skeptical, remembering that most of what I had read of Eugenie was that she was Spanish, a fashion setter who was known to have never worn the same evening gown twice and who was a patron of Worth, and that most of history regarded her as a conniving, bad woman who frittered life away. To say that I was in for a surprise was an understatement.
   
   Born Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augusta de Montijo , Eugenie grew up in an Europe that was going through revolutionary changes. Her father had fought with Napoleon's armies, and Eugenie soon developed a fascination with all things having to do with the Bonapartes . Clever, beautiful, and with the ability of being able to say the right thing in the right situation, Eugenie should have been wed quickly, but even after a tour of Europe with her wealthy mother didn't manage a good catch, and at twenty-three she was facing the prospect of spinsterhood. But it seems that Eugenie already had someone in mind -- the nephew of the formidable Napoleon, who had just managed to create himself Emperor of the French, by a coup-de-stat.
   
   Napoleon III, as he was known, was also charming, but also short, rather ugly, and inscrutable. An able politician, that side of his personality has been mostly overlooked for historians, focusing instead on his insatiable need for women, and his lack of military leadership. He was also an innate showman, knowing how to catch people's imagination, and able to push through schemes and ideas that most would never take seriously.
   
   Together, Napoleon and Eugenie formed a partnership that managed to survive for more than seventeen years, recreating Paris from an aging medieval slum to the magnificent City of Lights that we know today. Eugenie gave European fashion a chic flair with her patronage of the coutiere Worth, the artist Winterhalter, and her own innate sense of design.
   
   But there were also serious flaws to the couple as well -- Eugenie had a vicious temper, and one that got worse as it got older; Napoleon's infidelities drove her to jealous rages, especially after the difficult birth of her only child. For his own part, Napoleon backed the feeble attempt to turn Mexico into a monarchy, found himself embroiled in a war with Prussia and dwindled into history as a laughing stock. As for Eugenie, besides losing her throne, she would face a long, lonely exile from Paris that stretched to nearly fifty years, and was emotionally devastated by the loss of her only child at a young age.
   
   It's an intriguing look at a woman who was both villified and worshipped during her lifetime and afterwards, much as Marie Antoinette had been in an earlier generation. Indeed, Eugenie was fascinated by her predecessor, and would avidly collect any sort of memorabilia and objects that were associated with that unfortunate queen. In fact, Eugenie's life would eeriely echo that of Marie Antoinette in many ways, and she always lived in fear of the Parisian mob seeking to overthrow her.
   
   Despite the book being a bit light in treatment -- gossip is constantly recounted, and Seward often repeats himself -- this was an engaging, enlightening read. I had known very little about the Second Empire, and discovered that most of my preconceptions of this period were wrong. Seward draws on the memoirs, newspaper accounts and Eugenie's own letters and recollections for his source material. At just under three hundred pages, it's a quick read, and a good start to exploring this period of French history. A selection of engravings and photographs are included in a black-and-white insert, and there are copious notes and bibliography.



5. Desmond Stewart's biography does an excellent job of rehabilitating Eugenie's reputation. In earlier accounts, she has been portrayed as a vicious airhead, a bigoted zealot, or a clueless encumbrance on the Second Empire. Stewart's elegantly written, well-organized book shows Eugenie's strengths--her intuitive grasp of French politics, her social liberalism, and her dignified life in exile after the deaths of her husband and her only child. Stewart's research is impressive, and he provides a helpful Bonaparte genealogy as an appendix. I came away from this book with heightened respect for Eugenie and a much clearer sense of the historical importance of France's Second Empire and its legacies: the Suez Canal, the music of Waldteufel and Offenbach, the literary splendor of Flaubert and the Goncourts, as well as France's disastrous defeat by Prussia in 1870 and Eugenie and Napoleon III's ill-fated Mexican adventure. This book is an excellent introduction to Eugenie the woman and to the world of international diplomacy in the Victorian era.

5 comments about Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track.

1. Roller derby is back, but very different from the banked track derby that many people remember from the 70's. The reimagination of derby as a flat track, skater-run sport started with a single league in Texas in 2003. Today, there are leagues of smart, strong women all over the country ready and willing to step into their skates and knock a bitch down.
   
   A fascinating history of flat track roller derby, starting with the founding of the Texas Rollergirls in 2003, and continuing through th Dust Devil National Championship in 2006. Quotes, stories, and profiles from real rollergirls, in addition to fast-paced derby action, make this a book that will be almost impossible for skaters or fans of derby to put down.
   
   Melicious describes her immediate enchantment with the sport after seeing a bout and her subsequent trip to the rink for her first practice. I could relate because I had the same reaction. Even though I hadn't been on skates since middle school, my local team has welcomed me and is patiently teaching me how to hold my own on eight wheels.
   
   HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.



2. This book was so hard to put down that I read it in one day. It explained the inner workings of derby and motivated me to skate even faster and hit even harder!
   
   -Madame Switchblade #75
   Rogue Rollergirls, Fayetteville, NC



3. While Melicious' book does provide some insight into the modern roller derby revival, "Totally True" it's not. It is factual - that is to say there is nothing "made up," but she was under no obligation to apply journalistic standards of balance and integrity to her book. The facts that she did select reflect this.



4. This book was just what I needed. I just started as freshmeat with the Philly Roller Girls and read this book before I went to tryouts. It gave me an inside look at what I might expect in the derby world. Reading about Melissa's experience coming into her league and starting from scratch was really inspiring. She explains what it takes to be a derby girl, what to expect, how tough it all really is, and how rewarding it and the derby community can be. I definitely recommend this book if you're at all interested in the most recent derby revolution. It's taking over and it's awesome!



5. Amazing, witty and informative. Melicious' book taught me new ways to practice, ways to perfect my persona and even how to develop an awesome signature for autographs. This book is amazing for girls just starting their derby adventure and for girls that have been in the "biz" for years. I ate it UP! Ace Face, Star City Rollergirls. Roanoke, VA.

5 comments about Seeking Enlightenment... Hat by Hat: A Skeptic's Guide to Religion.

1. I've read all Nevada Barr's books not so much for their stories/plots but because I love Ms. Barr's, and her protagonist Anna Pigeon's, attitudes and views on life. I first took it out of the library, read it twice, and then decided I wanted my own copy so I could reread it whenever I wanted.
   
   For me, this book is about Ms. Barr's journey to reconcile and integrate spirituality, without becoming a religious fanatic, with her down-to-earth psyche and firm footing in physical reality. This is something I've been working on for most of my life, and I'm astonished how similar my thoughts have been to Ms. Barr's. The thought paths she takes you through in this book, and the clarity of her conclusions, helped me focus on who I am and how to make the best of my time here. I am so glad I found this book.



2. Having read all of Nevada's novels, I didn't expect to be surprised by her spiritual journey, but I was. It was interesting to find out how much of Anna Pidgeon's personality and personal history was based on Nevada's own and how much was very different. Her insights are very real, down to earth and unlike most spiritual guides. I didn't always agree, but she made me examine some assumptions from a new viewpoint.



3. This book touches deeply and lovingly on many of today's spiritual issues. I bought copies of this book for all the people in my life that I care about.



4. I found Nevada's book to be honest, well written, with a subtle sense of humor so needed in works dealing with religion and enlightenment. One of my favorite lines: "... I would occasionally run across someone who seemed to truly know God, and I realized that religion, like a bad toupee or a face-lift gone sour, is only obvious when it's done badly." This book did not do well commercially because honest well-written books dealing with things that really matter don't sell. But this book is very good, very important. It helped me on my return journey to God.



5. In this collection of short essays, Ms. Barr shares her spiritual experiences which are sometimes witty and sometimes thought-provoking. Some of the stories may even inspire readers to do some soul searching of their own, as they relate to some of the deeper issues Ms. Barr shares. These issues include social conciousness and responsibility to the global community; the importance of keeping commitments to others as well as to oneself; and striving to be a good person, not only for the hope of redemption of one's soul in the hereafter, but for the benefits received during one's lifetime.
   
   Ms. Barr shares some unusual thoughts regarding spirituality that other seekers might also find enlightening. Those readers who are already on a well-defined spiritual path may not agree with some or many of the ideas Ms Barr presents, but reading this book is still a good opportunity to explore the musings of a fellow traveler on the spiritual journey of life.