2 comments about Leading Between Two Worlds: Lessons from the First Mexican-Born Treasurer of the United States.

1. "The American Dream is the fundamental story of this country, and my life is a grateful reflection of its reality." This quote on the back cover of the paperback edition of the book sums up the heart of this true-life story.
   
   Rosario Marin, coming to America as an immigrant child via Mexico, had no expectations that her life would be any different than the path that her family, culture and fate had laid out for her. Yet the beauty of the American dream, and the heart of Rosario's true-life story, is that someone can come here, with nothing, not even speaking a word of English, and can find herself becoming an influential person in state and national politics within a matter of a few years.
   
   The wonder of the California dream imbedded within the larger American dream is that in the Golden State, one can rise to greatness even without family connections, a famous last name, money or influence. California, especially Los Angeles, where Marin spent the last of her childhood, is the one place where anything is possible, and even an immigrant who arrived without any particular dreams of greatness would find herself truly living out the best of the American dream. With the words Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! Rosario Marin ends the preface to this wonderful book.
   
   This book is truly inspirational and well worth reading.



2. Rosario's story was a well-written, easy read. I could feel the heart she put into it. She revealed a lot of sensitive, personal information without coming off as maudelin. Many of the stories within the story contained useful advice for any one, especially any woman, wanting to break into politics.

4 comments about American Indian Stories.

1. Wonderful book; fascinating stories; important for women and men. Especially important for the significance of minority women writers.



2. I have never read any Native American literature before but, I had to read these stories for a Literature class and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

   I would recommend this reading to anyone who is somewhat interested in the history of Native America or who is interest in great story telling. The stories are so visual and Zitkala Sa takes the reader through her childhood memories with passion, emotion, depth and sincerity. Her stories shed light on what happened in that era for those who aren't as familiar with the history of Native Americans. Her experience compels us as humans to take a closer look at our actions and strive to preserve the beauty and differences of all cultures not just of the Native American. Zitkala Sa emerges from her tragic experiences and her loss of culture and spirit to become one of the most notable Native American Activists fighting for the rights of her people and stressing the importance cultural preservation.

   All these short stories are beautiful and moving.




3. I have never read any Native American literature before but, I had to read these stories for a Literature class and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

   I would recommend this reading to anyone who is somewhat interested in the history of Native America or who is interest in great story telling. The stories are so visual and Zitkala Sa takes the reader through her childhood memories with passion, emotion, depth and sincerity. Her stories shed light on what happened in that era for those who aren't as familiar with the history of Native Americans. Her experience compels us as humans to take a closer look at our actions and strive to preserve the beauty and differences of all cultures not just of the Native American. Zitkala Sa emerges from her tragic experiences and her loss of culture and spirit to become one of the most notable Native American Activists fighting for the rights of her people and stressing the importance cultural preservation.

   All these short stories are beautiful and moving.




4. Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) collected her autobiographical narratives from the Atlantic Monthly (1900-1902), and some fictional folktales, in this 1921 book. Obscure and out of print for decades, it was rediscovered in the 1970s and in 1985 was issued in this facsimile of the first edition, with a helpful forward by Dexter Fisher. It's tempting to call Zitkala-Sa the Native American Zora Neale Hurston, but Zitkala-Sa is too original to be seen as a version of anyone else. The story of her upbringing, and the deceptive luring of her to a missionary-sponsored school in the east, where she found herself held down as her hair was cut (a scene that reads with the intensity of a rape), is riveting and heartrending. Although bitter about her experiences, she achieved a full education in English, expertise on the violin (she performed in Paris), and finally the presidency of the National Council of American Indians, which successfully promoted a law making Native Americans citizens of the United States. The book as a whole reflects her empowerment, but also speaks eloquently in a conquering culture's language of what it is to have no power over your destiny or selfhood. Her integration of several competing selves led her to write this, in "The Great Spirit": "The racial lines, which once were bitterly real, now serve nothing more than marking out a living mosaic of human beings." I for one feel richer for having read this book, and knowing the story of an American hero in her own words. Very highly recommended to all.

2 comments about Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1868 (Library of Southern Civilization).

1. Like Mary Boykin Chesnut, Kate Stone wrote her diary during the Civil War. They were both members of the slaveholding planter class and at the start of the war both were surrounded by servants who met their every need. But twenty year old Kate Stone's life would be more directly affected by the war. Her young uncles and brothers went to join up at the onset and before the war ended several were dead of injuries or disease. Kate Stone's Louisiana home was occupied by the Yankees forcing the family to flee to Texas. Both describe the deprivations of the war years, lack of shoe leather, lack of cloth and the unavailability of new books, and both were at times cheered by false reports of great southern victories. The two diaries complement each other.



2. Kate Stone is one of my favorite Civil War diarists. She is an admixture of a great privilege, passionate beliefs, lover of literature, keen social observations and amazing fortitude. Her Civil War was dangerous, turbulent and life changing.

   Brokenburn was a large plantation containing over 150 slaves in Madison Parish, LA. From 1862 on, it was in the center of the Union Army's fierce assault to gain control of the Mississippi River and divide the Confederacy in half. Plantations were commandeered and slaves were encouraged to revolt. The civilian population was helpless before the demands of military control. Madison Parish had a population of approximately 9,000 of whom 7,000 were slaves. After 1861, the Parish was emptied of able-bodied white men, most of whom had been sent to far-off Virginia and Tennessee, leaving none to protect the civilians.

   In 1861, Kate was 20 years old, her immediate future being beaus, courtship, and a gay social life before she settled down to become a proper southern matron. She was unsure whether this route was ideal, as she remarked, "women grew significantly uglier in wedlock and ignored and abandoned their former female friends." This comfortable world was turned upside down, never to reappear again. With great enthusiasm and some trepidation, she watched her three older brothers go off to war. Her widowed mother made it clear that 14-year-old James was now in charge of the running of the plantation and the protection of the rest of the family. I was amazed at the serene assumption that a young teenager was thrust in this role, but it seems that was the custom of the times. If you had to grow up fast, you did. Yellow fever was a constant in the area, and longevity was not a norm. Both Generals Grant and Lee wanted their troops out of these areas during "the seasons of pestilence." This was not to be, and both armies suffered devastating losses to disease. Kate treated the "fever season" as a fact of life, and planned around it with remarkable briskness.

   By 1862, the Stone family was desperate. The Federal leadership demanded that they stay on their property; yet there were serious slave insurrections that threatened the lives of the plantation holders. Those slaves who were not hostile were running off, and there was no labor to farm the crops. Many southerners could not believe that their "loyal" slaves would run away. Kate was not among them, saying, "If I were in their place, I'd do the same." She was by no means sympathetic, just practical.

   The family finally escaped through the bayous in a rickety canoe with nothing, not even underwear, and finally made it across the border into Texas. They were refugees along with many other prominent Louisiana families. Kate was convinced they had arrived at "a dark corner of the Confederacy." Upon noting the barefoot but hoop skirted frontier ladies, she sniffed "there must be something in the air of Texas fatal to beauty."

   Kate agonized over the increasingly bad war news and was devastated by Lee's surrender. Kate is one of the most vivid, perceptive diarists of the Civil War. Her diary is one of social history, a time of calamitous change and invaluable for understanding this crucial time in American history. Kate is a natural writer and observer. A highly enjoyable read.

3 comments about Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914.

1. My purpose in reading this volume of Gertrude Bell's diaries was to learn about this powerful Englishwoman's adventures and discoveries in the Middle East written in her own words.
   Rosemary O'Brien did an excelllent job of editing this material which I used as part of a book report on THE DESERT QUEEN. It helped me understand both Bell's professional life in which she helped create the modern Mesopotamia. It includes descriptions of life on the desert and in the city, and letters and the passions of her love life. The book also included many interestng photographs taken by Gertrude Bell.



2. This is a book you cannot read like a novel; even as a diary, it is hard to understand, because entries are short and there are many unintelligible initials and half-words. It is a book for scholars, not for the average reader.



3. Gertrude Bell was an English woman who lived an extraordinary life of adventure. She rode with bandits, braved desert shamals, was captured by Bedouins, and sojourned in a harem. The counselor to kings and prime ministers, her illustrious colleagues included Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Very highly recommended reading for women's studies, and 20th century studies reading lists and library collections, Gertrude Bell: The Arabian Diaries, 1913-1914 is wonderfully illustrated with her photography and exemplifies her elegant, vibrant prose, as well as documenting her on of the 20th Century's most daring, resourceful, independent, and larger-than-life characters.

5 comments about Considering Doris Day.

1. The author really raves about Doris Day even when she is not that good, he'll defend her work. Doris is a very talented singer/actress who has done some very notable work. He is pretty honest about her clunkers, in movies/music, even though I might have liked that movie. However, he gives a good luck at her career through music, movies, and tv. He also provides a good overview of the era in which she worked, discussing how studios made movies in the 50's. It's a good, unvarnished book that you'll enjoy. There are a few lists at the end detailing all her movies/music along with his personal comments.



2. This is not a biography or even a basic history. It is one man's thoughts about the life and career of Doris Day. It is a pseudo-critical analysis of a woman's life, singing and movie acting. Much of it is sophmormic, self-edifying and generally self-indulgent. Anyone to cares about Ms. Day can generally make up their own minds about the value of her varied acting roles and choices. Certainly, there are none (beyond the present-day hearing-impaired youth) who will deny her singing talent, skill and performances. Yet, the author believes that he -- with a sense that only "HE" -- can provide that complete insight in to Ms. Day's work, successes and failures. It is a waste of money for anyone to cares about Ms. Day...



3. Today, forty years after her last film, how many would name Doris Day as the #1 female movie star of all time in terms of box office? This book definitely has value as a reference for Day fans particularly for its comprehensive catalog of her recordings. The author rates all her films, records, and TV shows. His opinions, of course, are subject to question. He tends to be repetitious and I sometimes found his overly personal and informal style to be annoying. It should be understood that the book is a detailed analysis of her career rather than her personal life.



4. I do think Tom Santopietro is a flavorful writer. I'm a journalist and journalism teacher and editor and I've had a separate life in the music business and, Lord oh Lord, the terrible reporting and writing I've seen. Santopietro isn't terrible and is often quite delicious to read. And he's bright. But, as with his Streisand appraisal, everything here has been said before somewhere else and his meager quotes from Day herself come from the few sentences she spoke on a PBS documentary and published sources. I'm not sure that's a problem as Day never has been much of a commentator on her films or her music or her art. I think that is a consequence of her having always been a natural, instinctive talent with a strong honest streak. But in truth any of hundreds of Day fans could have written this book. That's not to take away from the fact Santopietro actually DID it and has gotten great reviews for it but I'm still wondering how--unless I'm missing something--he never noticed that the song "The Glass Bottom Boat," which he loathes, consists of new lyrics to the great standard "Soft As the Starlight," one of Day's great recordings. The great Day book is still down the road.--Wayne Brasler, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, wbrasle@ucls.uchicago.edu.



5. Still, there is not a biography worthy of Doris Day to (this `day' - sorry). Mr. Santopietro goes into great length about Ms. Day's career from child to adult, including a big emphasis on her singing career (who knew?). But it doesn't rise to the status that any fan would hope for. This is the woman who spent more time in bed with Rock Hudson than any other woman in history! It's great to read the accolades of her singing career, but the observations on her film career fall short. While not Oscar material, Doris Day certainly had the attention of the world during her film career. There's not much dirt or insight here and I look forward to the next biography due in 2008, but it was sort of fun to hear about people who knew about Doris Day "before" she was a virgin!

5 comments about Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs.

1. Oh my. If the cover doesn't clue you in to what kind of book this is ~ check out the cat in the wig & specks ~ then you're in for a wild ride. This book is a trip. Ms. Peck has a sharp sense of humor and isn't above poking fun at anyone, including herself.
   
   Originally self-published for her friends, her family, and her cat (a woman after my own heart!), this book is a fun romp through someone else's life. She pulls no punches in recounting the way she terrorized her younger sisters and peers by being driven to be the "first, fastest, loudest and best" in everything, and it's so refreshing to read about an overweight woman who isn't trying to fit into the heroin-chick mold everyone else strives to fill. She has no qualms telling it like it is, makes no excuses and offers no apologies, and you can't help but love her for that.
   
   In regards to the title, she says, "No self-respecting fat girl ever really trusts a lawn chair." She tackles everything from weight issues to peeing in the woods ~ nothing is sacred to her, nothing is out of bounds. And cat lovers will enjoy the few essays written from the point of view of Babycakes, her spoiled feline friend.
   
   One of the better memoirs I've read in a while. So many women will relate to Ms. Peck, regardless of their own personal sexuality. I look forward to reading more of her work.



2. I think everyone is way too hard on this book. Sure, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, either. I guess based on the cover I was expecting the sections to be hilariously, uproariously funny like Laurie Notaro. But once I got past my preconceived notions, I was reading a warm, entertaining book.
   I found the poetry to be poignant, and I didn't think her usage of "girlchild," or her attitude towards her brothers was flippant or annoying. I just enjoyed it, and I will be buying her second book.



3. In Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs, Cheryl Peck breezily writes about the innocence of childhood, the perks of being the oldest sibling (i.e. tormenting her younger siblings), and loving herself no matter her size or age. This book is a delight. Peck has a charming way with words. She'll make you nostaglic for simpler days and remind you to see the humor in everyday situations. Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs should be on everyone's summer reading list.



4. While this book is not an utter garbage, there's nothing remarkable about it either, at least in my opinion. There's a certain wit and charm to "Fat Girls...", but that in itself doesn't save it from being mediocre. Even though miss Peck says that she's not a professional writer, by any means, it still feels as if though you need be a part of her family in order to enjoy this book. There's no humor in here, despite whatever reviews are saying - its just a number of observations on life, good ones at that, but I was looking for something else.
   Bonus points for an excellent books cover.



5. Be prepared to be unable to stop laughing! The title story was my favorite, tied with "Litter String" (which is one of several stories written from the POV of Babycakes the cat). I can't wait to read more by this fantastic writer!

5 comments about That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist.

1. Rako found the title of this wonderful memoir, "That's How the Light Gets In," in a song by Leonard Cohen. The whole line is "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." For those of us who wonder what life experiences might lead a person to become a psychiatrist, I can recommend this book as a fascinating disclosure of one woman's journey -- and as an inspiration to the reader to follow one's dreams. I read the book in one sitting. Couldn't put it down.



2. overall not what I expected, and not interesting to me. agree with PW in that "the narrative's natural flow is often stopped up with word jams, bumpy prose and sometimes grueling therapeutic jargon"



3. Although this book is a biography on the life of psychiatrist Susan Rako, I found the most moving content to be in the insights and advice of her mentor Dr. Semrad that Susan shares during the last third of the book. Susan's life story does have its interesting moments, but, I have to admit that the details of her childhood days, life choices, and failed marriages were not nearly as compelling as the insights she passed on from her mentor. For me, these hand-me-down perspectives were the light that got in (the book).



4. As I was engrossed in reading That's How the Light Gets In, I tried to think of the one world that would describe it, and I think that word is elegant. One expects all kinds of "dishy" stuff in memoirs, but in this instance the author artfully circumvented this hazard without skimping on any of her feelings or struggles. I say, Bravo ! I identified in so many places, which made reading this book that much more pleasurable and validating for me. It is a fine piece of literary work.



5. This book left me befuddled. What was the point? I was expecting thoughtful essays about the meaning of life, as filtered through the experiences of the author, a psychiatrist. Instead, the book had little more depth than a sixth grader's "What I did On My Summer Vacation" essay. I was amazed when Rako spent more time on watching her granddaughter feed birds than she did on the breakup of either of her marrriages.
   
   It's a disappointment because Rako's life seems to be a full and vivid one, but little of that wholeness and color made it onto the page. I finished knowing more about her mentor than I did about her.

5 comments about The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town.

1. This book was as interesting as my professor said. It was hard to put it down at night. Steven Ozment does a phenomenal job of interweaving history, politics, religion, and actual firsthand accounts of life in the sixteenth century.



2. My son is a history major at college and needed this book for class. The price was affordable and a book he will have for many years to use in his teaching career.



3. 
   There are few stretches of the imagination by which Anna Büschler can be called typical of her time and place. First, she was a member of the embryonic bürger urban middle class in a society that was overwhelmingly rural and peasant. Secondly, she had the audacity consistently, and vocally, to defy authority. And finally, but most importantly by the standards that early modern historians, there is actually a fairly large record of what she did and what historian Steven Ozment argues was the consuming passion of her life: undoing the wrong done to her by her father disinheriting her in 1527. Through Ozment's interweaving of the social, political, and legal minefield which Anna was forced to navigate in her attempt to redress the wrong done to her by her father--an extremely interesting man in his own write--after he found a cache of love letters she both wrote and received. The reader is also given a bird's eye view into the workings of a fairly typical German town during the renaissance, Swabian Hall, and how its residents felt about the operation of the legal system in her regards. This is micro-history at its best.
   
   Anna Büschler should have been able to enjoy as comfortable a life as a middle class woman was able to have by sixteenth century standards by the time she was thirty years old. Instead, she found herself locked in her father's home, perpetually chained to a table leg. The chain of events that led her to this unhappy situation begins with interpretations of her past behavior. By her father's account, the legendary bürgermeister of Hall who had twenty years before brazenly petitioned the Holy Roman Emperor on behalf of the common people of Hall, the sexual relationships she had with a member of the local nobility and a mercenary were enough for him to label her as poisonous snake--imbued with the moral character of a whore. By her interpretation, she behaved as she did because her father had shirked his paternal duties and had not found a suitable suitor for her. After escaping from his clutches, Anna began a quarter century long fight to be compensated for the wrong he had done to her which would ultimately climax with the large cross section of Hall society which knew her interpreting her actions.
   
   Ozment's brilliance lies in how he explains Anna's behaviors in the light of sixteenth century moral and legal norms. While Anna was cavorting with her lovers, she was also playing with fire hot enough to consume her completely, and thoroughly burn her father's reputation. By modern standards, and the standards of several centuries preceding the sixteenth, the punishments for premarital sex were draconian in their treatment of the people who engaged in it. Furthermore, the reputations, and often livelihoods, of parents who were exposed as having promiscuous children could be completely destroyed by their behavior. These facts go a long way in describing the extremity of Hermann Büschler's initial banishment of his daughter from his home and then a bold, brazen, and extralegal kidnapping of her after she began legal proceedings against her father. What it does not explain is why a man with such large reputation takes such an action when he certainly had a political future to think about. Ozment thankfully does not dwell on the possibility of incestuous behavior between the two of them because he can not marshal the evidence for any such argument, but it is a question that he nonetheless raises.
   
   Throughout the narrative, Anna rightly comes of as rebellious, strong willed, and nonconformist in her behaviors. But, it is after she escapes from her father's imprisonment that the metal of her character becomes the most visible. She constantly and consistently fought against the marginalization which her disinheritance and her status as a woman imposed upon in every venue that she could gain a hearing in--even initially receiving a 5,000 gulden judgment against the city of Hall for its allowing her to be kept captive in her father's home under extremely suspect circumstances. Though this judgment would be overturned upon appeal and would have to spend the rest of her life fighting in the courts gain any of the money which she felt entitled to--and then only after she had found husbands who were willing to represent her and follow her through the murky recesses of 16th German law. Though only to a limited degree, Anna's story shows that women were not completely at the mercy of men during what is being increasingly regarded as one of the nadirs of women's status in the European history. As the court records which Ozment musters show though, Anna was not the only one, male or female, who questioned this status at least with regard to her.
   
   A retelling of Anna's story to the degree which Ozment was capable would not have been possible were it not for the fact that dozens of her letters between her lovers and herself as well as the depositions from the legal proceedings she used had not survived to the present. In this respect, Ozment has a leg up on other early modern historians because of a relative cornucopia of evidence. Where the extremely good micro-historical biographies written by Natalie Z. Davis and Carlo Ginzburg ultimately have to invoke some very imaginative connections to close their works, Ozment simply does not. For that reason alone he deserves to be read.



4. Stephen Ozment is my favorite historian, and this is my favorite of his books (closely followed by Three Behaim Boys). The story of Anna, both the love story and the tragedy of her later life, are fascinating. Ozment has a talent for making history real, present, and accessible, and this book is a shining example of what an in-depth historical study can be. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in 16th century history, women's history, or the history of law.



5. The Burgermeister's Daughter is a fascinating and highly readable study of a ... scandal that errupted in the German city of Schwabish Hall during the early years of the Reformation. The central figure, Anne Buschler, the daughter of a former Burgermeister and long-time city councilman, was a girl who liked to test the limits and would often have tongues wagging over her--for that day and age, at least--wild behaviour. It came to the point where she was having intimate relations with two guys, Erasmus of Limpurg and Daniel Treutwein. When this was discovered by her father, he disinherited her; but instead of allowing herself to be cast adrift in this manner, she fought back and thus ensued a protracted legal battle against her father, and, after his death, her siblings. In the end, we are presented with an extra-ordinary glimpse into the lives of (upper class) Germans during this era, German culture and society, the status of women, and the intricacies of the German legal system. It's a rare treat to find a book that is so meticulously researched but so readable. Highly recommended.

5 comments about The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Love, Race, and War in the Nineteenth Century.

1. Eunice was an ordinary white woman who had financial difficulties. She married hoping to improve her financial status, but her husband wasn't a good earner and he died, to boot. So she had to work, and she worked really hard. Then she married again; this time a black man who owned a fishing boat. They moved to the Cayman Islands, where he'd made his home.
   
   So, what's to learn here? That 19th century women had little earning power. That race relations were not good. That the Civil War had a major impact on American families. Don't we already know all that? Of course we do.
   
   What's interesting in this book is getting to read Eunice's mail. Her family story is pretty interesting, sibling rivalry and all that stuff. Eunice is not boring either. She moves from north to south to north to the Caribbean. Read it for Eunice's story; otherwise, it's not worth reading.



2. The story has the potential to be fascinating - the book is anything but. Though the author's fellow historians may appreciate it, it contains little to appeal to the general reader. A novel based on this family's history may have been worthy of all the praise and attention this book has garnered. As written, it is tedious, unsatisfying, and falls far short of the expectations engendered by the title.



3. I do agree with most of the stellar reviews of the book. The thing that somewhat disappointed me was the following: Through more than half the book we follow the story of somebody's life that was not unusual at all in the 19th century, namely the life of a poor New England woman who is struggling to support herself and her two children.
   
   The Sea Captain appears for the first time once you are more than halfway through the book. In an obvious effort to somehow "insert" him into Eunice's life at an earlier stage, the author embarks upon a completely unfounded speculation about the paternity of Eunice's younger child.
   
   The main problem that the author naturally can't overcome, is that we know virtually nothing about Eunice's life as the sea captain's wife. Only a few letters have survived on which the author builds her account of Eunice's life once she had left for the Cayman Islands. Not surprisingly, the theme of the book does not come alive.



4. I tremendously enjoyed this telescopic view of a "slice of life" 150+ years ago-- and during the civil war-- of a young woman, her children, and her extended family. I found myself interested and emotionally moved by the heavy labor that she performed daily just to maintain a near-below subsistence level of living.
   
   She made some momentous and courageous decisions to pull herself up from abject poverty, choosing directions that went against society's norms and finally, against even what she had thought were her own beliefs. It was so inspiring to read that the happiest days of her life followed as a result of her own earlier choices.
   
   The true life of this young woman is such an inspiration for us here today. A fascinating, inspiring read that has left its' mark upon me long after I have put down the book.



5. A wonderful book that will leave you longing for more! Eunice is a real heroine struggling as many women have to raise a family in desperate times and looking for a haven for her children. Not only an engaging story about one woman's search for her place in the world but the times in which she resides. Food for the brain and soul. Well written by a noted historian.

5 comments about After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood and the Life that Came Next.

1. This book is beautiful.
   
   Having briefly visited East Berlin in 1959, I was impressed with its cleanliness and dullness in contrast to the chaos, colour, mess and joy of life in West Berlin. Hensel explains the difference with skill and personal example: East Germany, the most successful and prosperous of the Soviet satellites, was a collection of industrious, intelligent and obedient ants.
   
   In many ways, her life until the collapse of "The Wall" was marvelous, packed with activities, programs, events and adults intended to uplift, enlighten and motivate youngsters to do good for others. The frightening aspect of her life was the unrelenting pressure to support these organizations to do good for others. East Germany was a cult without charisma, a ritual without religion in a minutely organized system designed to eliminate every element of chaos from the otherwise free human spirit.
   
   She is acutely aware of her parents' and grandparents' generations who lived a rigidly controlled life for almost 60 years, during which even so much as smiling at the wrong event would bring suspicion and possible punishment. When very young, Hensel knew it was dangerous to pick up a discarded Western chocolate bar wrapper from the street; but, she also knew the pure joy of such rebellion. As a teen, she suddenly plunged into a free lifestyle in which almost everything was possible and nothing was unlikely.
   
   This is a beautiful portrait of her astonishment at the democratic freedom -- much the same sense of astonishment I feel, having lived all my life in the luxury of such freedom -- the chaos and pure joy of "leaving people alone". In today's politics, too many talk about creating an inspiring sense of purpose for their country; Hensel deftly and with chilling starkness portrays the cost of such enforced "purpose", and the wondrous freedom and peace of mind that comes from respecting the rights of others.
   
   The happiness of Americans is the ability to celebrate or condemn their consumer culture without restraint; this book is a warm, human and personal memoir of what it is to not have such freedom. This book is everything anyone could want in a good book; it's well written, concise, poignant and utterly relevant to American society and the world at large.
   
   Thank you, Jana Hensel, for a marvelous explanation of what I saw in Berlin almost 50 years ago but didn't fully understand until now.



2. 
   The book is written as an extended essay. There is very little observation of actual events. The author's account of life in the GDR lacks realism and is really quite shallow.



3. I recently spent 2 1/2 months in the former GDR working at a university. My trip was a great experience and I was really struck by the historical remnants and stories of those that had grown up and moved into the former GDR after the fall of the wall. When the wall fell I was only 9 years old and many of my friends there were in my age range and we had few memories of this time. Jana Hensel's book provided me with an in-depth understanding of what life was like for my friends and their siblings during the reunification. It was interesting to hear stories of her childhood that were similar to my friend's stories.
   
   "After the Wall" was fabulous and a must-read for those interested in the real-life of former East Germans.



4. Whereas one of the previous reviewers may not have "gotten" this book, I did. I visited East Germany right after the fall of the wall, and then five years later. What a change there was. Not only could you tell the difference on the outside, but the people changed too. Hensel writes about these changes and how it affected her. Then she relates how it affected the older generations. Hensel is a little flip, but maybe she has a right to be. There were big changes, and the young adapt to change. Older people do not. This is a story about one young lady changing to the new landscape. East Germany no longer exists physically, but does emotionally in millions of Germans.
   
   This is a nice read for those interested in Germany. I found myself laughing at some of Hensel comments. I can relate how she experienced life.



5. When I was born in 1945, my mother, a German armed forces helper on the way from Prague (deep South) up to an isle named "Ruegen" (in the very North), in the middle of her long journey through a breaking down Germany: she came down with me and, after one day in hospital, she stuffed me away into a children's home (in a town called "Wuppertal", West-Germany) - and left me to my fate. So she robbed me (among others) the experience of a childhood in the GDR, German Democratic Republic, "Wuppertal" should be "West-Germany" (American sector), the isle of Ruegen became Russian sector, behind the "Iron Curtain". So I did not learn anything about "Young Pioneer meetings", socialism, communism, STASI (the secret police) or summer camps of young "Pioneers". In the Western hemisphere I grew up, drinking Pepsi Coke, receiving American Care packages, later on: listened to the Beatles, noticed the students movement in 1968, had no Ulbrich or Honecker, but chancellor Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl. But I tried to find out the place, where the woman could live, who had born me in that dark year 1945. After 40 years of persistent search, 1985, before the Berlin Wall fell (1989), I found out: She was living behind the "Iron Curtain" on the isle of Ruegen. And I started to look at this lost childhood, which I did not enjoy: She showed me her photo album: summer beach near "Kap Arkona" at the north-point of the isle, snowy winters on Hiddensee, flight ducks, cranes - but on the other hand coal heaps on washed-out sidewalks. Color films (Orwo), books, Trabi substitute parts: only hard to get. Nevertheless, I wanted to make up for my life in the GDR - in 1990 when the Berlin Wall was fallen: A schools inspector on the island pointed into a corridor, filled with former Stasi employees (security police) and informed me in this manner in an almost dumb "cadre conversation", he unfortunately (thanks to the "reunification" of East and West-Germany) would have to hide many people in the teaching profession now (in hastiest kind). I should return please to West-Germany, where I just had come from. The direction of my journey seemed to be absolutely atypically, out of character, and not recommendable. No "Ossi" (vs. "Wessi") - no job. As a result my mother, noticing, that all her dreams collapsed, joined an acute epidemic disease at that time: She committed a so-called balance sheets suicide. I was deprived of the chance to become a "zone child" a second time. Did I miss really much? Because the book of Jana Hensel has stimulated me to these thoughts - maybe her sometimes nostalgic "Ossi" writings (of course very different to my "Wessi"-point of view) are not as superficial, simple, banal, as I thought in the first moment? Compare her point of view ...