5 comments about Audrey Hepburn.

1. Having read most of the other books about Audrey Hepburn, a woman whom I respect and admired since my youth, I chose this particular one by Mr.Paris as the most engaging (besides the book by Sean Ferrer which I thought was essential). I could never tire of anything A.H., with that being said it was important to me that I had a sense of how she lived. This book was hard to put down and wasn't full of colorful writing like some of the other so-called biographies done on her. For me, it brought me closer to this person as if she were someone I knew personally and combined with her son's book provided me with an insight into the world that was Audrey. She was and still remains a huge inspiration for me, and this book should be read by every young 'actor' out there today. Kudos to Mr.Paris!



2. Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was born in Brussels the daughter of a Dutch woman and an English father. She was raised in Arnhem Holland suffering through the Nazi occupation. Audrey was a thin, sensitive child who excelled at ballet.
   As a young woman she migrated to London appearing in British films until she was exploded into fame with her first US film
   Roman Holiday (for which she won as Oscar as Best Actress)
   Hepburn appeared in such films as "Charade"; "My Fair Lady"
   (her singing voice being dubbed by Marni Nixon"; "Two for the
   Road"; "Breakfast at Tiffanys"; "Sabrina: "Robin and Marion" :
   "Wait Until Dark" and several other films.
   Her gamin pixish face and figure was a revelation in the 50s era of Monroe, Ava Gardner; Sophia Loren and other well endowed film goddesses.
   Audrey had a long but troubled marriage with stolid Mel Ferrer and had other husbands and a few affairs along the way most notably with film star Albert Finney.
   She worked with such noted directors as Willie Wyler, George
   Cukor and Stanley Donet. She lived in Switzerland in an isolated
   village where she raised children and loved animals.
   There is little dirt to plow in these pages1 Audrey was an
   adorable and kind person! Her work with starving children on behalf of the UN is heartwarming.
   Barry Paris (previous biographer of Louise Brooks and Greta
   Garbo) does a fine job in this well documented biography.
   The most exciting chapter deals with life in Holland during
   the horrible Nazi occupation,
   This is a good biography of the film star.



3. A book so well researched and written that it flows like a meandering river. The prose is wonderful. Very difficult to stop reading the book until the reading is completed.
   
   May Audrey Hepburn be in the Kingdom of God as I surely want to meet her and talk with her.



4. What is the true test of a biographer's skill? Creating a riviting, insightful book about a subject who had no scandal in her life and who seems to have be beloved by everyone. Material that, in lesser hands, could have been saccherine or written with the usual "movie star bio" template is instead moving, wise, very informative, and beautifully written. Check out Mr. Paris' other biographies of Garbo and especially Louise Brooks for more great writing.



5. A biographer shouldn't lower your opinion of the person they're writing about (as if you could ever
   have a low opinion of Audrey Hepburn!) and Barry Paris certainly does a brilliant job of depicting
   Audrey's life from age 15 until her death (age 64). The author blends his words so you don't loose
   interest even once. The book has lots of quotes, from and about Audrey, and several pictures of
   her throughout her life. There isn't a down side to this book, except for a few subjects where the author
   should have elaborated on a bit more than he did. You can clearly see that Audrey was a truly
   wonderful person, a real lady. After you read about what a hard childhood she had, in the middle
   of WW2 and the miscarriages she suffered and basically being deprived of love from her parents,
   it is amazing that she was still such a beautiful person, a beautiful soul. She traveled to countries to
   help dying people and did things that few other people would do...she seems to have been an
   angel, and certainly was to several people. This is a book that you don't need to read before buying, it's wonderful.

5 comments about You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny.

1. I've been around a different group of rich-and-famous (old money) and can vouch for the author's insights. Her class-consciousness (Hollywood vs. Oregon loggers) adds insight to the tale. Yes, class does exist, and she is proud of where she comes from.
   
   What is it with parents who don't parent? My only complaint is that she should have disguised the Ovitz family because they are really typical of the scene, so why personalize the story? Nannies, along with other help-for-the-wealthy, are often underpaid, under appreciated, and treated as slightly less than human. What is the State of California doing to improve their workers' rights?
   
   Being a teenager when she took the job, the author is unable to assert herself with the Ovitz employers, and that reticence adds to her troubles. She does not blame them, but recognizes her own insecurities as complicating their relationship. I really enjoyed her stories from other nannies, such as that of the family that has locks on its refrigerators. You will never envy the wealthy after reading this. (I know a woman who used her husband's firm's employees to order her underwear.)
   
   The prose is crisp, the tales well-organized. A fun and revealing read, moreso than the usual "tell-all" books. It doesn't, which adds to its veracity. Imagine not making love the way you were used to because the nanny might hear you--and no, it isn't anyone this woman worked for. Her headline chapter quotations are almost worth the price!



2. I bought this for the airplane, and it's a perfect airplane book - light and easy to read and instantly forgettable.
   
   A 19 yo is hired to look after the Ovitz's 3 children. Unfortunately, even though she is well beyond 19 at the time of writing, her insights are that of a 19 yo and not that interesting or original. This is not a well written book, it could have been far funnier or cleverer. You never read it for the heroine, only for the far more famous/intersting people that she meets and she doesn't really have much of interest to say about them (I met Tom Cruise, I could have died!) I left it at the airport for some other traveller to read...



3. I loved this book! I received it as a gift from a fellow nanny who met Suzanne at a Nanny Convention in Boston. I was a nanny for ten years and the relationships she describes in her book were very familiar to me. I may not have been in Tinseltown, but having worked with many families there were shades of each in her characters. I found her writing to be real and honest. She wasn't writing a 'tell-all' book. She was telling you about her life and the experiences she had. She had me laughing out loud with her and enjoying every minute of what felt like 'our' adventure. Two thumbs up!



4. I couldnt put the book down, I laughed so hard tears would be rolling down my face - I was not shocked by the DIVA attitude in California, but this author tells it well - highly recommend



5. I started reading this book in Target while my kids looked at videos and couldn't leave without buying it. I like this author's style...she puts you right in the mansion with her. I could really relate to her thoughts and experiences. A good read.

5 comments about My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan.

1. grace dalrymple elliot,was the real paris hilton of georgian era.she married young ,divorce faster for adultery.slept her way to the top.her only child may had been fathered by prince of wales.she also had a romance with french royality during french revolution that almost cost her ,her head.this is a fun read.like reading scandel sheets of today.



2. This is a thoroughly well-researched and well-written biography of a fascinating personality who lived at one of the most interesting historical periods: England and France during the time of the American and French Revolutions. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves biographies or has a fascination with this period of history.



3. I have recently read several biographies of famous/infamous British women, from Nell Gwynn to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Due to my great interest in the Regency period, I ordered "My Lady Scandalous". I'm sorry to say I cannot recommend this book.
   
   There was much more content about Grace Dalrymple's family and the Regency period than there ever was about Grace, and the information was very helter-skelter. The book seemed to be mostly "sidebar" articles about topics the author had researched, like condoms, hot air balloons, and so forth.
   
   I took it along on a trip and left it behind, unfinished. I hope the author is blessed with a better editor, in future.



4. But, it was an enjoyable read that had me laughing out loud on more than one occaision. It's definitely packed with lots of information that you'd never read in a "proper" history book.
   
   It was exhaustively and lovingly researched and, contrary to an earlier review, I could definitely see how current events and social mores could easily be connected to the wild times of Daly the Tall.
   
   I passed this one on to my dear friend MarJane who has informed me that should she get reincarnated, she wants to come back as a Courtesan just like Grace! She could definitely do worse and come back as Savonarola...
   
   Hmmmm....now THAT would have been an interesting meeting - Grace and Savonarola...how the world could have turned out differently...



5. This book has little to do with the woman in the title. The writing style reminds me of sixties free flow writing that people did after they were stoned. The author dashes off on one tangent after another that is difficult to follow and you forget what the chapter was supposed to be about to begin with. Not even worth checking out of the library much less owning.

5 comments about Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America.

1. Stripping is a misunderstood and incredibly complex profession. So says Lily Burana.
   
   Rather than the lascivious and trashy book most would expect about this issue, we are treated to a meditation on women's roles in society, sexual politics, the history of stripping as a profession, and Burana's autobiography.
   
   I found myself thinking a lot about strippers and what they do. Burana shows us all the different types of strip clubs. Some are all nude, some are only topless. In some clubs, the dancers move the patrons through as if on an assembly line, and in some the dancers and patrons treat each other like old friends. Above all, Burana dispels the stripping myth. Even in the best clubs, the cloud has no silver lining. Burana is unapologetic about stripping, but she doesn't sugarcoat it or defiantly proclaim that stripping is her right. In that way, this book is very poignant.
   
   Burana is also a woman in transition. She interposes vignettes of her earlier stripping days with her current life as a writer and someone's fiance. It's a true testament that she is able to tell these stories without dragging down the overall narrative.
   
   I haven't read any other books on stripping, but I doubt you will find one as honest and thoughtful as Burana's.



2. Little or nothing is more fascinating than human sexuality, especially when the sexuality involved is on the edge. In the past few years, a number of highly literate women have written books describing in substantial detail their experiences in various aspects of what is called the sex industry. Among the best of these books is Lily Burana's "Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America." (2001). Lily Burana (b. 1968) has become a well-known essayist, and she the author of a recent novel, "Try". But her memoir of her life as a stripper established her fame.
   
   Burana grew up in New Jersey as a rebellious daughter of highly-educated parents. She dropped out of high school and ran off to New York City where she was determined to establish her independence and her own character. In order to support herself she began to work at Times Square's notorious "Peepland", dancing nude for men in the grimiest atmosphere behing a two-way mirror. She gradually becomes involved in the industry and moves to San Francisco where she works as a nude dancer for two major clubs, the "Lusty Lady" and "Mitchell Brothers" for five years. During this time, she was teaching herself to write and finding a market for her writing. She spearheaded a lawsuit against Mitchell Brothers for which she worked trying to secure the status of "employee" rather than "independent contractor" for the dancers and better pay and working conditions.
   
   When the book opens, Burana has been away from stripping for several years and is supporting herself as a writer. On assignment in Wyoming she meets and falls in love with Randy, a rodeo worker and cowboy who is comfortable with her past. Before settling down with Randy, Burana finds she needs to get stripping out of her system. She takes up dancing again in a variety of clubs across the country. This new period of life as a stripper differs from the first in that Burana determines to dance topless rather than nude. She discusses at length the differences in exposure both the dancers and their customers see between nude dancing and dancing with even the tiniest g-string.
   
   The book moves back and forth in Burana's life from her childhood, to her first experiences as a dancer, to her decision to go back to the business and then again to give it up, apparently for good. The book offers a picture of the externalities of a life of a stripper in its pictures of countless clubs and of the endless details of buying costumes, hustling customers, and trying to maintain one's physical and sexual allure. Burana has also done research on her topic and offers portrayals of the Pure Talent School of Dance, a school for strippers that Burana attended at the outset of her second tour in the profession, and the Exotic World Museum in California, among other places.
   
   A great deal of the book is internal, as Burana attempts to describe the complex factors that led her into stripping, and the factors that led her to leave it. Burana discusses her relationship with her parents and their reactions to her career and with her sister who had taken a different path in life and become a minister. Many of the best moments of the book involve Burana's relationship with other women in the profession. Burana obviously feels close kinship to many of these women as they are joined in a life that they perceive as beyond the accepted pale for the expression of female sexuality.
   
   Burana remains deeply ambivalent about stripping. Clearly, she enjoyed the money and, unlike many women, had the prudence to save wisely. She also found a rewarding relationship with a man (She doesn't much describe her personal romantic life before meeting Randy.) and a permanent career as a writer. She also seems to enjoy dance, the sexual allure of her profession, and the feeling of power she received from knowing men's attentions and desires were riveted on her when she was, ultimately, unattainable. But Burana also realizes that stripping is a difficult, dangerous, and emotionally-damaging business, as she is wrung-out from her nightly dancing, incessant sexual come-ons, disrespect, rejections, and mutual objectification, of herself and of the men. Burana remains attracted to the business and does not advocate its elimination. But she becomes open to those who criticize and who ask her if she made the best choice in pursuing it. In short she becomes less defensive and more aware of the pitfalls of the life she had led for many years. She made her second tour as a stripper and presumably wrote her memoir as a sort of catharsis to get the profession out of her system for good. She herself realizes that she only partly succeeds.
   
   "Strip City" is a well-written, thoughful, and I think, largely candid account of Burana's experiences as a stripper and of her responses to these experiences. It teaches a great deal about the sex industry and about what Burana calls the sexual underside of life in the United States -- and probably in most other highly-developed nations, at the least, as well.
   
   Robin Friedman



3. Don't ask me how a book on a stripper could be boring, but it was. Maybe I have become jaded after reading Jenna Jameson's and Traci Lord's autobiographies. If you haven't read those yet, they are far more exciting, although you have to hide in your room to read them.
   This book somehow made stripping boring, and for that I must give it one star.



4. I loved this book. What a truthful and accurate description of all the places she has traveled to and worked at. I should know because I've worked at several of the same places!
   I felt like we were one of the same person and it opened a door of powerful memories. This book is exciting. Your on the Journey to Peepland in NewYork City, then to the School of Dance in Clearwater, Florida; then off to the famous O'Farrel Brothers theater in San Diego and so much more. If anyone wants a non-fiction view of the real world of a feature exotic dancer this would be the best choice.
   The only thing I didn't like is when she would talk about her personal relationship with her now husband, which I thought was boring and I would rush to the parts about the clubs and dancing. I probably thought is was boring because I'm already married...LOL.



5. ...with her book, Strip City.
   
   As someone with over 10 years in the business, I was pleased to read an account that is so close to my own experience. Burana explains the appeal of dancing better than any other author I've read. When she explains "the zone" she goes into on stage in Texas it was like reading my own thoughts. And the same stands true for her explanation of how she stopped dancing. I think all dancers have experienced that same feeling at some point.
   
   I also enjoyed Burana's interviews with other dancers and the history she gives of stripping and of burlesque. I really think it is great that she took the time to add those things into the book. It gives it something deeper than just her personal experience.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who has curiosity about the exotic dancer experience. Lily Burana is a class act!

1 comments about Enduring Lives: Portraits of Women and Faith in Action.

1. What an intriguing title! Is this book about immortality? The cover of Enduring Lives intimates a book about Catholicism. But it would be a mistake to catalog this book under Religion. Enduring Lives belongs more with Women's Studies, an evolving discipline in which Carol Lee Flinders breaks new ground.
   
   Speaking generally, men are not keen readers of Women's Studies. However, if they can overcome this disinclination, in this book they will uncover a new perspective on women's sexuality and social organization. For, who best to understand the role sex hormones play on a woman's psyche than those who are denied a sexual partner, either involuntarily or by intent? The question may be: How are biological impulses transmuted into a socially acceptable existence? Scientists often look at aberrations to discover the boundaries of what we assume is the norm. In Enduring Lives we look at some of these boundaries.
   
   There is much to be learned from this well written, edited, and designed book. On the surface, Enduring Lives is a set of distilled biographies of four women who, at first glance, have nothing in common; not in the times they lived, the location, not their religious upbringing, nor in their contribution to our society. Only a scholar with the knowledge of Carol Lee Flinders could weave the biographies of a concentration camp victim, a Ph.D. from Cambridge who studied the Chimpanzee, a recluse from Tibet who started life in war-torn London, and a woman whose work was featured in the movie Dead Man Walking, into an exciting, cohesive account of the amazing evolution of human spirit. The author is informed by her own scholarship, a well argued (non-defamatory) critique of Catholicism, and most of all by a deep understanding of how spirit allows us to survive in a troubled world that seems increasingly to deny opportunity for our very existence

5 comments about The Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Native Memoir.

1. As a white 48 year old women I now realize how ignorant I have been to indigenous peoples of America. It left me yearning for more knowledge. This book expanded my mind. It is well written and easy to understand. Very straight forward.



2. I read this book in a class about violence in society. it really brought home the nessesity for violence but a productive way to turn it into a positive thing in your life and still have good energy surround you. this book especially hit home with me because i have experience with foster children that can't bond. it really helped me to understand how to deal with that. Plus Linda Hogan Rocks!!



3. Life is a journey form fragments to wholeness. Hogan's memoir tries to reveal her steps and processes of having harmony in her life. She divides her memoir into eleven sections with various topics to express her different experience of life. Each part of her personal experience is the part of life journey, though in the journey, no absolutely direction is shown to tell her when to go or what to do. In "Geography: An Introduction," Hogan says there is no maps of direction in life, even she wish to direct her life to others by saying "This way," (14) but she couldn't. From receiving the broken pieces of the clay woman named "The Woman Who Watches over the World" that she bought in the museum, Hogan starts to illustrate her journey of broken past in "Water: A Love Story," which narratives how she falls in love with a sergeant army in German, and how she decides to come back to America by through the sea. Then she says "through our time life-times it is water that sustains us, water that is the human substance, the matter of cells"(31). In her years of falling, Hogan concludes "falling isn't always bad. Sometimes it is better into world" (66). As the topics go, readers seem to have steps to penetrate Hogan's inner floating. From piecing the following topics together, including "Silence is My Mother," "Fire," "Dreams and Visions: The Given-Off Light," "Span: Of Time and Stone,¡¨ ¡§Mystery,¡¨ ¡§Bones, and Other Precious Gem,¡¨ and ¡§Phantom Worlds,¡¨ we gradually finish the journey made by Hogan's personal events by the topic steps she gave us. Reading Hogan's memoir is like playing jigsaw puzzle, which is the game from fragments to wholeness. The process of the play jigsaw puzzle is like the process of facing many events in journey life. As she describes herself from the broken past to the harmony in the living world, Hogan's memoir also reveals the situation of Native American today. Therefore, it is not only a memoir of self, but a reflection of her tribes.



4. Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.



5. Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.

1 comments about Greta Garbo: Divine (Movie Icons).

1. I purchased this small book on Greta Garbo because Greta is my favorite actor. She radiated a quality unlike any other actor, past or present. I've seen all of her movies, except for "Torrent" and "Love" and this little book is like a perfect summation of her cinematic career. The photos are amazing. I've purchased other Garbo books and personally speaking, this one beats them all because it contains such amazing collection of photos from her movies or behind the scenes production shots. Garbo, more than any other star, was extremely photogenic and this kind of book was made just for a star like her. It's like a little pocket bible on the career of Garbo.
   
   My favorite photos are on page 37 from Torrent; page 62 beautiful candid shot of Garbo and John Gilbert at a piano; page 77 from A Woman of Affairs, 92-93 Garbo with Lew Ayres; all the photos from Anna Christie: page 112-113 from Inspiration; pages 116 and 118-119 from Susan Lenox; all the photos from Mata Hari, certainly the one on page 125; page 140-141 from Queen Christina, which perfectly captures the tone of the movie. The photo on the back cover is also great. I wish I had a poster of it. The book is chock full of beautiful photos that it's difficult to say which one is the best.
   
   What's surprising is that some of the text was more informative than big wordy biographies on her. With quotes from actors who worked with her or even reprints of a couple of movie magazine articles, I learned a few extra things about Garbo and her films that I never knew about.
   
   Anyway, I actually carry this book around with me and whenever I'm bored or have time to kill, I just look at it and I'm swept away.

5 comments about In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith.

1. I had to and am STILL a member!
   Ok, so I now know the truth. NO man is perfect, even the prophets and apostles. This church is about the PRINCIPLES...PERFECT and true!! We all fall short of living this religion properly...so what! As long as we are trying to be and do better each day. They (the principles) have never failed me and never will!!! No one will ever do everything right or for that matter most things right.
   If you can't handle the truth, don't read this! That's why we have been told half truths...because people CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
   Stop putting your trust in the arm of flesh and go out and live and teach correct principles and let people govern themselves....wow, who said that??? Oh yeah, Joseph Smith.



2. First of all, I found out about Joseph Smith's polyandry in this book. The discovery was devastating to my "testimony" in the dogmatic claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or rather, it was devastating to any continued efforts on my part to believe in those claims. I don't see how anyone reading this book could come away with the same perspective on Joseph Smith that they had before. Compton is so spare in his prose, yet so complete in his details and research. His copious notes and sources make disbelief impossible to anyone honestly reading to become informed. Cognitive dissonance can only sustain so much!
   
   This is NOT an anti-Mormon book. Comption was for years a BYU professor, and co-editor for the FARMS Hugh Nibley collected writings project. He remains still (the last I heard) a member of the LDS church in good standing. In any case, he wrote this book with a clear, honest intent to pursue the full truth: and not just produce another "faith-promoting" version of Joseph Smith and early church history. This is important to distinguish: anti-Mormon books typically are written by either apostates or non-member writers already antagonistic toward the LDS church. Compton, et al. the other writers of this genre, of full church history, are seekers after truth, and their pursuit leads them where the truth will. So it is with this reader. I do not give anti-Mormon books any attention. Why try and learn church history from people never inside the church, or people who hate it and leave, then write "all about it?" That makes no sense to me. But writers of Compton's capability and purpose have my fullest attention. And when they produce a book like "In Sacred Loneliness", they have all my respect as well.
   
   I especially enjoyed the way Compton laid out his book, devoting an entire holistic chapter to each wife; or pair of wives in the cases where Joseph Smith married sisters.



3. jodepsh smith said in his own words you can only have one wife, after joseph smith was killed by a gang while he was in jail , b. young led the mormons to utah and thats were the teachings of having more than one wife began. i have read the true documents on joseph smith. this book should be thrown away for it's lies.



4. Since it seems to be something of a prerequisite in reviewing Mormon history books, allow me to state what everyone wants to know up front: yes, I'm LDS; yes, I'm active; yes, I will remain active after reading this book. Now, on to my comments--
   
   1. This book is not really about Joseph Smith, at least not much. As other reviewers have noted, each chapter is a mini-biography of one of Joseph's plural wives. Thus, in every chapter, Joseph appears, marries the woman, is martyred at Carthage, and that's that. In most cases, there are few details about Joseph's relationship with the particular woman.
   
   2. If you can get past the fact that Joseph married women who were still married to other men, there's not much "weird" stuff in this book to wrap your head (or testimony) around. (Compton calls this "polyandry." I think "bilateral polygamy" would be more accurate.) Compton briefly explain this phenomenon by stating that Joseph began to see the ordinance of marriage just like that of baptism: if it wasn't done right, it didn't happen. I was hoping Compton would elaborate on that, but he doesn't. In any event, there's interesting circumstantial evidence that the husbands of some of these already-married wives knew of and perhaps endorsed Joseph's marriage to that wife.
   
   3. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is the women who remained faithful in the Church. Many of these women reeled when Joseph proposed to them, but many of them reported profound spiritual experiences confirming that God approved. These women, after making it to Utah, would often gather on Joseph's birth or death date to talk of their experiences with Joseph. They clearly saw it as a symbol of honor to have been married to him.
   
   4. Compton is VERY repetitive. You have to get used to that. That's why I can only give this three stars.
   
   All in all, a worthwhile read, if only to gain appreciation for the amazing lives that many of these women led.



5. The information that is presented in the book will give a perspective into the lives of early mormons that will open your eyes to the trials and problems associated with polygamy and polyandry. Modern mormons will find their eyes opened to information that the church would rather leave buried. The secret lives lived by these early mormons will sadden and inspire as you read the day to day happenings of those who are brought to light in this wonderful book. If you are looking for an honest and open view of mormons this is the book for you.

5 comments about Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America.

1. This was required reading for a nursing class. I was completely engrossed in Rosa's story and the system. It really gives the reader a terribly rude awakening to a completely different world within our own country. Maddening and enlightening at the same time-



2. This book draws you in, in every way. Exceptionally writen to the point where you feel a true connection to the story whether or not you agree or disagree - it will bring out emotion either negative or positive from its reader. Dash delves deep into the real lives an urban family and their struggles and sheds light on situations that many don't realize are the everyday lives of some Americans. This book will make you think deeply about poverty and the decisions that some are forced to make on a daily basis. Whether you agree or disagree with the issues in the book, it is DEFINATELY worth reading.



3. Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family In Urban America shows what can really happen if an individual does not require a successful education. The problems of Rosa Lee were dropping out of school because her own mother says that education is a waste of time and gets her nowhere in life. Other problems were growing up in the projects selling and shooting heroin, tricking, and shoplifting her way through life. The biggest problem of Rosa Lee were knowing six out of your eight children are doing the same activities as herself. Her number one quote of getting through life, "To Survive", is the worst way to live through life as a poor individual. Leon Dash really shows what it's like growing up in one of poorest ghettos of Washington D.C. The Rosa Lee book is astonishing and I encourage everyone to read it so they are influenced. I give it two thumbs up!



4. If the measure of a good book is that it exposes you to new information and makes you think, then this a great book! I enjoyed Mr Dash's even-handed writing style, it wasn't overly critical or sympathetic. Rosa Lee has made some very poor decisions in her lifetime, ones that will have far-reaching effects on the generations that come after her. The book gives you the insight as to why she made those decisions without excusing her actions. I came away from this book with more questions than I had when I started reading. It's almost a "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" scenario...it makes you wonder if Rosa Lee created her own problems or if her problems created her? As a Sociologist I have always been interested in urban blight and deviant behavior and try to read as much on the topic as possible, and I must say that this is one of the better books that I have read. I would also highly recommend "The Corner" as another book that explores the issues facing the urban underclass. Thank you Mr. Dash for daring to uncover an ugly part of America that some people wish would stay hidden!



5. This book made me incredibly angry. In a nutshell, it is the horrifying story of one woman's life and legacy of ignorance, immorality, illegality, and vice. It's a very compelling read and well-written in terms of the subject matter, but there is a consistent theme throughout the book of "failure of the system," which I found insulting considering Rosa Lee and her family's grave manipulation, exploitation, and abuse of every helping hand extended.

5 comments about The Tulip and the Pope: A Nun's Story.

1. When 19 yr-old Mary Deborah Maertz entered the convent in Dubuque, Iowa, in the early sixties it was with every intention of staying. But the best-laid plans and all that. Times changed, the Church changed, but most of all, she changed. After five years - in Dubuque and Chicago - Sister Mary Deborah left the convent, emerging into a radically changed world, once again just Deborah Maertz, older and wiser. But this is an intimate and detailed look back at those days of habits, daily prayers and rigid rituals, and what she thought then - and thinks now - about those times. I spent a year in a minor seminary once at the end of the fifties, when I was only fourteen, so maybe I could relate to Larsen's THE TULIP AND THE POPE better than some. The most unexpected aspect of Larsen's memoir was the dry wit and humor which kept cropping up on nearly every page. I chuckled through much of the book. Here's a small sample in which Larsen briefly outlines some of the convent's rules of pesonal conduct and comportment, as listed in a printed handout to the postulants -
   
   "Avoid throat clearing, scratching, cleaning out the ears, picking the face or teeth, spitting and similar unpleasant acts in public. All those gross acts named in one patch of prose on a convent handout struck me as funny. The handout may as well have read, 'This is not a zoo, girls.' ..."
   
   And there's plenty more of this kind of stuff. Of course there is all the expected serious stuff too, about how Larsen came to gradually question her vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as the months and years wore on. Make no mistake, Deborah Larsen is a gifted writer who knows how to keep her story moving. I read this book in just a couple of sittings. If you are a Catholic, an ex-Catholic, an anti-Catholic or a "recovering Catholic," you will relate to Larsen's story. An excellent memoir. - Tim Bazzett, author of Reed City Boy



2. Rarely do I read a book as quickly as I tore through this one. It took me four bedtime readings to read this book, which is extremely rare for me. Since, as a child and early teen, I longed to be a nun myself, I found this book to be compelling and intensely interesting. I spent many years amongst the cloistered nuns (what an honor!) at the Benedictine convent near my childhood home, and I yearned to become one of them myself. By the time I was old enough to consent, I had found my commitment to God outside of this arena. Besides, I wasn't even Catholic! But I digress. This book gives a very personal glimpse inside the convent of cloistered nuns in the early `60's - a turbulent time within society and within the Church. I was very glad that there was an epilogue that told of her life forty years later, and how she lives her life now.
   
   I found the writing to be lacking at times - she writes as she probably speaks, and sometimes I can't follow her though process. However, this is a book NOT to be missed, regardless of your religious orientation.



3. This was an autobiographical story of a former Sister which brought back memories of my early life as a Sister. I was sorry to read that the author left her community because it seemed as though she had great potential.
   
   aAyone who wants a "bird'eye" view of convent life will enjoy this work



4. My wife ordered this book and loves it. The book seems to cover the subject well.



5. The book is a good read, a smooth and lovely read. It is the product of the perfect nun. Deborah Larsen disappoints in the sense that she does not reveal any emotional reaction to her life. She does a service by making it plain why convents are not getting recruits these days. As beautiful as the prose is it can not hide the emptiness of the life.
   But I hope it encourages many more ex nuns to write and publish because we have not yet gotten a true glimpse into this life.