5 comments about Fireman Wife, The.

1. My uncle was a Fireman in San Francisco for over 30 years and the realization of his job hit home to me as I read this book I have recommended it to everyone its an awesome story of Love Courage and family and Gods promise to see us through any trial even a fiery one .Lynnette Davis



2. I am the wife of a Fire Captain and I could relate to so much that Susan writes about. Thank you Susan for telling such a wonderful story! I read this book over a 24 hour period, no easy task with a 7 week old baby and a 3 year old, and with my husband at the fire station. I could not put the book down and didn't want it to end, I laughed and cried and totally enjoyed every page. This is a must read for any wife, or family, of a fireman.



3. Loved this book. It was past around for the wives of the fire academy to read. With my brother on for a few years, I thought I knew a lot about what this journey would entail. But this book was insight, funny, heart wrenching. It was a easy, quick read. I will know give this to all the new wives entering this department. It really opens you eyes on what to expect, from the shift to your husband's second family. Worth your time.



4. This is one of the best books that I have read! Susan really knows how to express what all fire wives feel. This book made me laugh, cry, and say "yep, I've seen (heard, felt, done) that!" so many times. I think anyone married to a fireman would love this book. I really appreciate the awareness it has given me. I only wish I read it sooner. As a 9-year fireman's wife myself, I highly recommend it!



5. This book was given to me by my firefighter fiancee soon after he proposed. What a Godsend! I consider this my "bible". Susan summed up the feelings we as wives have about our firemen husbands and does it in a funny, thoughtful and wonderful way. I recommend this be required literature for every fireman to hand out when they decide to propose!! LOL. Thanks Susan for sharing our side of the story!

1 comments about Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad from the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the Rights of Women and Workers, ... Planet, and Shook Up Politics Along the Way.

1. This is my first Amazon review. I felt I had to write a review for this wonderful book. On one hand, this is an inspiring account of the passion and vigor that catalyzed the civil rights and feminist movements in this country (in stark contrast to much of the hollow rhetoric these days). On the other, it is an entertaining and poignant portrayal of an incredibly complicated character in American history. The form of the book, something of a round table discussion between Abzug and those who knew her, helps the reader to get a sort of 360 degree history with multiple views of single events. It is a finely wrought and powerful portrayal of Abzug and of the history of our country. I hope particularly that young women (and men) will read it and be inspired.

5 comments about Things We Couldn't Say.

1. I bought this book at the American Book Center in The Hague, Netherlands, a few years ago. As I knew many of the places mentioned in the book, it took on an even deeper meaning for me. I love this book, and I list Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma as heroes. Definitely 5+ stars!



2. The true story of true Christians, and Dutch patriots, Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma, and their courageous risk of everything to resist Nazi tyranny and hide thousands of Dutch Jews.
   True Christians always love the Jewish people and Israel, and true nationalists are opposed to both Communism and Nazism, both the antithesis of national self-determination.
   Diet recounts her own life, and experiences and what she saw and heard, as well as her deep faith in G-D, that guided her in all she did and thought.
   Diet recounts her experiences in Scheveningen prison, where she describes how Jewish families, who were caught in hiding, were hauled into the prison, mothers, fathers and children: 'On the nights the guards brought Jews in, we always heard the children crying all through that place. It was bad enough for us to have to suffer through a place, like Scheveningen, but it was terrible to hear those poor innocent children crying.'
   It is up to true Christians and righteous gentiles to stand by the State of Israel today, in the struggle for her survival and that of her children, against the monstrous Islamic-extreme leftist hate machine.



3. Excellent book. The book is fast paced, exciting and touching.
   
   The risks and sacrifices that the author and her fiance went through for their beliefs and for unkwown people amazed and inspired me. Highly recommended.



4. The account of the author and her experiences fighting the German occupation of Holland during WWII is harrowing. It is hard to imagine that any human being can display so mush courage at such a young age.



5. I have read more than 75 books of this genre depicting this period of history. "What would I have done under the same circumstances?" That is the question I am always asking of myself whilst reading these stories. This is the story of a group of people with the courage of their convictions...Diet's story is inspiring and touching. It illustrates perfectly that the power of prayer is undeniable and when 'all one can do is pray' one has done everything.

5 comments about Drinking the Rain: A Memoir.

1. This book has become one of my all time favorites-- I am sending it to all my 50+ year-old friends for them to enjoy! It was recommended to me from a woman 83 years old- she was right on! I encourage every woman to read this!



2. Drinking the Rain, as one might guess from its beautiful title, can be described as a novel-length prose poem. I think of it as an ode to nature and to a particular time in the life journey of its author. It is a time when Shulman's children are grown; her husband, Jerry, and she have become estranged; the feminist movement to which she had been devoted seems dormant and a thing of the past. In short, a time when the author loses the passions that had driven her and, sadly, loses sight of the significance of her life. Having recently turned fifty, she feels a new urgency. Then something happens to bring about her firm determination to "begin a new chapter."
   
   While exercising one morning, Shulman is seized by an intense and frightening vertigo. Her vertigo continues in the days and weeks ahead, but the doctors can find no explanation. Certain that this is the beginning of the end of her life, she seizes the day and listens to her heart, which urges her to remove herself from obligations and pressures that have filled her life. She wants only solitude and silence.
   
   In the past, she has been afraid to spend time alone at her family's isolated cabin on a promontory in Maine--not even with her children during summer vacations. The cabin has no plumbing, heat or electricity, no neighbors, no phone, not even a road should she need help for some reason. She wonders if she can get the fridge started and imagines disasters such as lightning striking the tinderbox cabin or a slasher steeling his way into her bedroom in the dead of night. But her need to slow her life down, to get away from her mailbox stuffed with announcements and invitations, and to escape the incessant ringing of the telephone takes her to this cabin. Her fears go with her.
   
   Shulman learns to begin her days without an agenda. Her many fears loom large. I confess to identifying with all of them. Where we part company is in her ingenuity to find sustenance on this "nubble," as she calls the promontory. I would see the nubble as a beautiful place to visit for an afternoon before going in search of a cozy restaurant for a warm dinner. Not so for Shulman. She remains at the cabin for months on end, unearthing a daily fare for herself that is nothing less than delicious and healthy. She scours the shoreline and coves for mussels, clams, periwinkles, even the occasional scallop and lobster. She recognizes every herb, every edible berry, and knows just how to cook them.
   
   Drinking the Rain is the author's honest account of surviving on this isolated stretch of beach and, in time, transforming herself. Eventually, her fears diminish. She begins to feel safe and even protected in the ever-changing vastness of her simple ocean dwelling.
   
   But this is not an account of an easygoing change of lifestyle. The challenges are intimidating... such as a warning she hears on the radio about a red tide--a deadly organism that attacks the nervous system and paralyzes the vital organs. That bit of news certainly would send me scurrying back to my city habitat. Yet Shulman does not flee when unexpected difficulties overwhelm her. Among other things, she seeks out a native dweller to learn more.
   
   When an old friend and free spirit, Margaret, comes to visit, they take long walks and enjoy meaningful conversations Shulman has been craving. They explore the beauty of nature and the complexities of their own inner natures. When it is time for Margaret to leave, the author is "... both relieved and sorry to see her go: relieved to resume my experiment in solitude, but sorry to lose the company of the one person I know whose sympathy for my chosen life is incontestable, though she'd never choose it for herself."
   
   Soon after the departure of her friend, Shulman is served with divorce papers. The shock is great. It is one thing to choose a solitary life, another to have it thrust upon you. Her first fear is that she may lose the cabin which she has come to love as she never did in all her years of marriage. What happens now to our brave protagonist? A great deal. Her new life requires earning money, achieving an understanding with her embittered children, her continued determination to avoid the materialism that consumes those around her, and the challenge of a love affair.
   
   Drinking the Rain is an illuminating memoir. It reminds me of the importance of taking risks, of trying new things, of following my heart. But most of all, it piques my curiosity about and sustains my interest in this fascinating author who is willing to share herself with such honesty in this eloquently crafted work. Shulman's book is an excellent choice for those women who wish explore their potential and travel new ground.
   
   by Duffie Bart
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



3. This book was a fair book. Not my favorite, but did make some very valid life conclusions that I needed to hear. Drinking in the Rain takes some patience to read due to the overwhelming about of discussion about herbs. But if you are into plants and solitude, this book is for you.



4. Ten years ago Shulman went to her family's primitive cabin on Long Island, Maine, for a summer of solitude. A New Yorker through and through, she was apprehensive and fearful, but also excited and determined. Her life was vaguely dissatisfying and she was looking for a change.

   Reading her memoir is like having a personal conversation with the author. Her tone is personal and intimate. When she stands back for a moment, picturing herself through a passing stranger's averted eye - a middle-aged lady in floppy hat and mismatched tennis shoes, gathering weeds in a basket - we too are startled and amused, having been looking from the inside out.

   Shulman, recognized for her novels and feminism, reaches her cross-roads at age 50. Her children are grown, her relationship with her husband is a distant truce, the feminist movement has stalled, and her life is overfull of busyness.

   But the birth of a new passion in her life is serendipitous. Always an adventurous cook, she finds her lengthy trips to the uninspiring island grocery a jarring intrusion on her pleasing solitude and a chore contrary to her new motto, "Do only what you like, nothing you don't!"

   From years before she remembers mussel gathering, one of the few pleasures of the hurried vacations she had always hated. In those years, with small children and a domineering, orchestrating husband, the summer cabin, with no electicity or plumbing had meant a round of endless drudgery.

   Now that she has only to please herself, mussel hunting is merely the first of her pleasures. Around her a world unfolds. Armed with Euell Gibbons and determination, she reaps the bounty of wild things, spending her days in exploration and discovery.

   She finds in herself a new tranquility and simplicity which, as she feared, is invaded by New York's cosmopolitan pace and abundance. The reader is a bit ahead of her here, exhorting Shulman to enjoy what the city has to offer, just as she enjoys her island.

   And when the author does absorb our advice (given to her by an old childhood friend at a party), she embraces it fully, applying this tactic to her whole life. Thus, when she accepts a position at the University of Colorado, she plunges into an exploration of New Age mysticism, health foods, mountain hiking and Buddhism. You don't have to share her interests to find her open-minded approach admirable.

   There are upheavels too. Her children are less than thrilled in the back-to-nature changes in their New Yorker mother. Her husband shatters a summer's idyll at the island by sending divorce papers. And romantic love, with all its joy, threatens to disrupt her solitary self. As I said, you don't have to agree.

   But through it all, Shulman struggles to maintain her equilibrium, making deliberate choices, letting her thoughts range free. She is enchanted by the wholeness of things - how all of nature interrelates - and then dismayed as pollution from the cities and radiation from Chernobyll threatens her island haven.

   This is a memoir of continuous awakening and endless dialogue with the self and the world. There's helplessness, anger, hope and love and inspiration. It's a joy to read.




5. I must confess I almost couldn't get through "Drinking the Rain". Kates Shulman's account of a citified feminist's return to nature seemed an unintential parody, not helped by the comically overstated title. But midway through Ms. Shulman's story I became hooked. What seemed at first a pretentious and self-important rant transformed into a thoughtful and evocotive musing on what it is to be an artist. Ironically, it's only after Shulman returned to the city (and later goes to teach in Colorado) that the book came alive for me. Her descriptions of dinner with an old feminist friend left me teary eyed at their simple eloquence, and the descriptions of a snowy Colorado reunion with her kids kept me reading. By the end, I adored this story.

2 comments about Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace.

1. In an opening letter to her readers, Kathryn ("Kitty") Slattery says, "All of us have a story to tell. When we choose to share our stories, extraordinary things can happen." Most memoirs focus on a certain theme --- a thread that runs through the author's life. And here Slattery draws out "the story of my mother and me --- two very different people." In these pages, there is keen insight for daughters who have wished for better mothering. It's not that Kitty had a stereotypically abusive mother, but one with a perfectionist bent, a self-absorbed view.
   
   Kitty's childhood home looked a lot like that of other baby boomers --- a successful corporate father and a devoted wife who tended her family. (Did she really wear pumps as she vacuumed?) Kitty's one sibling was 10 years her senior, which plays into the family dynamics. One day young Kitty discovered a document that implied that her older sister was a step-sister, that her mother had been divorced before marrying Kitty's father. But Kitty's mother wouldn't answer her questions. "Don't be a snoop," she said. And, "This is none of your business... And it's certainly nothing for you to worry about." But Kitty was a worrier. "With the discovery of the birth certificate in the breakfront, my world had been turned upside down and inside out. The fact that things were out of order, and that things might not be as they seemed, scared me to death."
   
   Kitty obviously needed a mother who would listen to her, explain mysteries rather than withhold information, encourage her rather than ridicule. As Kitty saw it, "she was not exactly the kind of mother I wanted and needed." Nor was Kitty the perfect daughter, primed to catch the perfect man. "Oh, Kitty," Mrs. Mother said one day. "You think too much... Boys don't like girls who think too much." A little overweight (having once bought clothes in the "`Chubbette' department at Sears") in high school, Kitty felt parental pressure to take off the extra pounds. Dieting led to self-purging --- and this in the late 1960s, before magazine articles explained the phenomenon, before eating disorders took Karen Carpenter's life. It was Kitty's dark secret --- like her father's chronic drinking.
   
   In college Kitty committed her life to Christ, a turning point in her life, though not the end of her struggle with bulimia. That abated only after she realized it was a not uncommon disease; she no longer felt uniquely dysfunctional and found the inner resources and community support --- principally a secure relationship with the man she married --- to live on an even keel.
   
   In the last third of LOST & FOUND, after Kitty has children of her own, she works on mending her relationship with her mother, even bringing her into a "mother-in-law apartment" in her suburban home. Here she comes to a new understanding of her mother that one can hope for in middle age. She sensed God saying, "I'm giving you this time with her." For what purpose? Kitty wasn't sure, but, looking for grace, she eventually found out.
   
   --- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence



2. Each of us experience times in life when we feel alone and disconnected. The lack of relational intimacy with the people we love can be especially painful. It often contributes to unhealthy behaviors as a means to cope with the pain. In the stories of individuals who break their addiction, you will nearly always find one person or a group of people who helped heal the wounds of the addicted with love and encouragement.
   
   Lost & Found is the poignant story of Kathryn Slattery, a contributing editor of Guideposts magazine and author of several books. In the book, Kitty describes her disconnection with her mother and father, the onset of bulimia, how her husband Tom's love and encouragement helped her overcome bulimia, and finally how Kitty reconnected with her parents.
   
   I enjoyed this book. As a writer and speaker about the importance of connection in organizations, I was interested to see that some of the same dynamics that affect relationships in the workplace were also at play in Kitty's story. Lost & Found helped me see several examples of how connections are diminished and how they can be restored. Excessive criticism, lack of transparency, perceived indifference, geographic dislocation and alcohol are the agents of disconnection in Kitty's story. Kitty's husband Tom becomes the primary agent of re-connection and it is his affection, steady optimism and encouragement that help heal her wounds and give her the strength to overcome bulimia. Eventually, with time, healing and self-reflection, Kitty is able to reconnect with her mother and father.
   
   I recommend this book. On one level, this is Kitty's story; on another, it is a study of the powerful effect of relationships and connection in our lives. It will be especially valuable to those who feel disconnected from their parents or other family members. I imagine most of us feel that way with at least some of our family members. It will help you think about what contributed to disconnection in your own life and how to restore it. Lost & Found is an ideal book for a book group. It would stimulate a lot of discussion around the connections and disconnections in our lives. These conversations tend to be healing too.

5 comments about Joan of Arc: Her Story.

1. This book gives a good overall view of Joan of Arc. It is a easy read and informative.



2. This biography is a great choice for both new students of Saint Joan of Arc as well those already familiar with her story. Régine Pernoud was considered to be one of the great authorities on medieval history and Joan of Arc. She spent her life researching Joan of Arc and being French she was able to utilize all of the original source materials that still exist. Her writing style is straightforward and honest and, most importantly, made heavy use of historical documentation.
   
   The one problem I have with this biography is that it is a little tough to read in places. I think the problem comes from it being a translation. The old phrase "loses something in translation" comes to mind. That said if you can get though the dry parts you will have a great understanding of Saint Joan's life as well as some idea about the people in which she interacted during her life. If you read this book and Pernoud's other great biography, Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses, you should come away knowing most of the known history of Saint Joan of Arc.



3. I got this book for two reasons: 1) none other than Winston Churchill said that to try to understand the meaning of sainthood one had to read Joan of Arc's trials, and 2) I have become an ardent fan of Regine Pernoud's work. This book disappoints on both fronts: 1) References and quotations from both of Joan's trials are scant, which is truly inexcusable given the wealth of information available, and 2) Mme. Pernoud's incomparably lucid descriptions and illuminating analyses of the Middle Ages are sorely lacking in this book.
   
   The proceedings from both of Joan of Arc's trials have survived almost intact. As a result, there is no other saint (and almost no other historical figure for that matter) of whose life we have such meticulous firsthand documentation. This book gives such shorthrift to coverage of the trials, that one will need to seek elsewhere for a glimpse of Joan's brilliance.
   
   I'd venture to speculate that since this book was published close to Mme. Pernoud's death, she did not have much of a hand in its' writing, but her co-author did. Pernoud's name was left on the cover to capitalize on her prestige, which is why I'm calling this book a ripoff.
   
   If you know absolutely nothing about Joan of Arc you might get something out of this book, but I advise potential readers that a better bet may be Pernoud's other book on Joan of Arc which has no co-authors.



4. Regine Pernoud was a rare type of author: equally respected among scholars and laymen. As conservator of the Archives of France she brought a great deal of documentary information within reach of the general public, enhanced by her own impeccable research and insightful analysis. She is remarkably fair to divergent historical theories, yet not shy about calling some ideas patent nonsense and then demonstrating in plain language why they fail to stand up to analysis. Her prose style is witty and sharp, well preserved in this translation, and you may laugh out loud as she deflates a few fringe theories.
   
   I confess a preference for "Joan of Arc by Herself and Her Witnesses" as my favorite Pernoud book. Joan of Arc: Her Story is among Pernoud's final works and the narrative portion is slender. The exceptionally rich indexes are the real treasure. If you've ever looked at Joan of Arc's name and wondered, "Where the heck was Arc?" you'll be surprised and engrossed by the discussion of her name. If you're familiar with the outline of her life and wondered what became of all those other people she encountered, you'll find biographical essays on every significant figure.



5. This historical research about one of the most incredible events in human history, establishes its analysis on many authentic documents. We go step by step, accompanied by the relevant papers and letters, through the short tragic history of Jeanne D'arc. This method gives this book a tremendous reliability; the reader feels almost at hand with Jeanne, and as he proceeds reading, he enters deeper and deeper into her soul. By the end, you feel that you have lost a friend, a true person of high spirit and blazing convictions.

2 comments about A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (Dover Value Editions).

1. This is one of the best known and most highly respected travel accounts of a foreigner to the western region of the United States during the 19th century. Isabella Bird, a spinster world traveler, upon returning to her native England from an excursion to Hawaii, decided to stop in America and make a three-month tour of the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado. In a series of letters written to her sister in England, Ms. Bird told in fascinating detail her experiences during this "tour."
   
   Going by train from San Francisco to Cheyenne (except for a brief hiatus near Truckee Pass, which she traversed by horseback), she was in Fort Collins, Colorado, by September 10, 1873. Her travels took her to Denver, Colorado Springs, South Park, Boulder, and Estes Park, where she climbed Longs Peak. Her observations, whether about the people she encounters or the natural wonders all about her, are acute, objective, and highly personal. She will complain about the annoying insects in one letter and then calmly relate taking a tumble off her horse when surprised by a bear in another. She is astounded by the natural beauty of the region and never seems to get enough of it; she also believes, as the saying then went, that "there is no God west of the Missouri," and that the "almighty dollar is the true divinity" (these observations made while in Denver). She recognizes the (especially) English prejudice against all things American, and refuses to go along with it. What makes Ms. Bird's book so enduring is the direct though lighthearted tone she maintains: she is an astute observer but never gives the impression she's "studying" the people or places she sees. The book can be read often and will remain entertaining each time. It's a classic - in a good sense of that word. Highly recommended.



2. In 1873 a middle-aged Lady Bird, acklaimed horsewoman, spent the fall through winter travelling in the Rocky Mountains. As a 10 year resident of Colorado Springs and growing up riding, I was intrigued by her travels. What most people find amazing about this book are her very detailed and beautiful descriptions of what she saw. I have to agree, I did find myself wallowing within what she saw. Especially, since I have seen many of the places (in modern day) that she went. What I, myself, found truly interesting was how she describes in her rather off-hand, like it's mundane, way about the daily hardships she and the settlers had to endure. This isn't the old Grandpa had to walk 10 miles, up hill, in 10 feet of snow, in 60 below weather, both ways to school. It's a true representation of what "Grandpa" had to endure. It breeds a new-[t][/t]found respect for our ancestors and makes one wonder, "Could I endure it?".

5 comments about Letters from the Dust Bowl.

1. This book is best read quickly, if not at a sitting, then over a weekend. In that way Henderson's prose gets its power, and it will take you from youthful optimism to euphoria, then to despair, and then to a sort of middle ground in which she makes peace with herself and the land. She's at her best when she describes her mental and verbal battles with intolerant churchmen: she just couldn't buy into the vengeful God of the itinerant evangelists of the time, and she was not shy about expressing her opinions. This book will make the Great Plains and Dust Bowl come alive, not as a scholarly, "objective" tome, but as a woman's journey of the heart. A very nice read.



2. This is trying. The personal letters presented in the book convey a manner with which Caroline uses to overcome life stresses that come with homesteading a difficult land in a fickle environment. The Hendersons live quite alone in No Mans Land. The welfare of the Henderson family depends strictly on their ability to manifest a steady resource of food substances for nutrition and for trade. The letters from Caroline Henderson are written in a very flowery style that worked well in the early half of the 20th century. Digesting the text isn't easy if you've become adapted to the pace of life today.
   
   However, the reader is treated to an infinite barrel of wisdom. Certainly, Caroline had to deal with much more in her life than overcoming writing styles, so it helps knowing this just to get through the book. It is easy to miss what is really going on here. Homesteading requires a harvest of food for nutrition and another harvest of food for the soul. The book talks very little about dust storms. More is spoken of the planted gladiolas, the harvest, the songs of birds, and of Christmas. Letters are torn up in frustration, and rewritten to be positive. Each response to a letter opens with words of thanks for encouragement offered.
   
   This little book is terrific - the kind of book that changes lives. If you enjoyed Victor E. Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" you might also love this. Though not analytical and direct as Frankl, it quietly relates shared personal values. In contrast to Frankl, Henderson lives very much in freedom, but within the shackles of her environoment.



3. Caroline Henderson's letters are historic and illustrative and heart-wrenching. You get to know this truly remarkable person and how life was in this era through her writings and see the progress from youth and hope and optimism to age and despair. Losing her at the end of the book was like losing a dear grandmother. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in studying The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl. I read it as a companion to "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan.



4. Deftly edited for contemporary readers by Alvin O. Turner, Letters From The Dust Bowl is a collection of letters and published materials written by Caroline Henderson (1877-1965), a woman who lived through the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Her articles on the Dust Bowl first began appearing in "Atlantic Monthly" in 1931, drawing the woes of American farmers into the public eye. Her correspondence and articles, which date from 1908 to 1966, offers insight into the daily struggle to put food on the table, and her descriptions of the dust storms that covered the Plains are unforgettable. Enhanced with a biographical essay and precise annotations supplementing this extraordinary compilation, Letters From The Dust Bowl is highly recommended for students of 20th Century American History.



5. Alvin Turner likes to quip that "Letters from the Dustbowl" is the "best written book" that the University of Oklahoma Press will publish this year. Indeed, Caroline Henderson, the author of the columns and letters it contains, may be the most quoted authority on the social aspects of the dustbowl. Her views on Oklahoma farm life were disseminated across the country both in her columns for "Ladies' World," and her "Letters from the Dustbowl," were published in "Atlantic Monthly." In selecting material for this book, Turner told me that he had twice as many columns and letters than would fit. Alvin Turner is the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.

   Caroline Henderson moved to a farm near Eva, Oklahoma, in 1907. During the next six decades, she and her husband, Will, endured the hardship of depressions and the dustbowl on their farm, with really only one bumper crop to show for their labors. Turner's overall introduction, as well as his introduction to each section, does well to place Henderson's life in context. She had great dreams for her life, both as a literate woman and as a farmer but by the end of her life, she is disillusioned and considers herself a failure.

   Most of Henderson's farming experience demonstrates that dreams can save a person from an otherwise mean life. In 1917 she wrote, "The fact that we cannot see the end does not relieve us of our obligation to push forward, to gain every inch we can in humanity's forward march." As a young farm wife, she met challenges with inventiveness, and hardship with strong will. Even as crops withered and neighbors moved away, she finds beauty in flowers and friendship in animals. However, too many failed crops and dried-up dreams took their toll on Henderson's optimism. In 1952, she wrote in a letter to her daughter, "Every day seems to bring some new sorrow in these last years of fruitless effort and disappointment." With dreams dashed, Henderson loses all sense of proportion and she reads each setback as catastrophe.

   "Letters from the Dust Bowl" is as heartbreaking as it is inspirational. Al Turner is right; it's a very well written book.

5 comments about Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks).

1. After finishing this book I felt that I had had an education and brief introduction into modern Persian literature which is actually quite vast; which is something the "new orientalists" who write books like "Reading Lolita in Tehran" are happy to deny the existence of in order to pander to the self serving preconceptions held by the West about the paucity of great writing and novels in an Islamic country.
   
   I was so intrigued by learning from Fatemeh Keshavarz's book about contemporary authors like Moniru Ravanipur, Shahryar Mandanipur, Simin Daneshvar and Shahnush Parsipour that I started to research modern Persian authors and at last count I have found over 46 considered great by their countrymen and many internationally.
   
   I have come to the conclusion that the only thing missing from contemporary Iranian literature is enough translations into English and other European languages to educate the Western world that Iran is in a literary renaissance rather than a Dark Age. Yes many Iranian writers have served time in jail under the Qajars, under the Pahlavis and under the IRI for writing things critical of the regimes but nothing can stop the writers and the film makers who like water encountering an obstruction flow under it, around it, over it, through it or when split up into a thousand rivulets regroup where ever they find the deepest hole.
   
   As we concluded in my interview with film maker, Parvin Ansary a few years ago, great literary and artistic periods of creativity do not come from times of prosperity and comfort but rather fluorish in times of chaos and suffering like Italian cinema after World War II when Italy was broken before it became too affluent to be driven to creativity, like the earlier Italian Renaissance which people from today's perspective forget was a time of struggle, intrigue, internecine wars and chaos...it is from a struggle for identity, a unique identity both on an individual basis and as a society and nation that great works of art are born...it is not from micmicry of the West.
   
   Iran has made contributions to world literature from the second millenium BC, all the way to the present day and continues to do so. We have Ferdowsi,Al Ghazali, Nizami, Attar, Rumi, Khayyam and many others from the past but we also have Forough Farrokhzad,Akhavan Sales,
   M.A. Jamalzadeh, Sadeg Hedayat, Bozorg Alavi, Beh' Azin, Sadeg Chubak, Ebrahim Golestan, Iradj Pezeshkhzad, Jalal Mir-Sadegi, Gholan Horayu Nazari, Esma'il Fasih, Gholam Hosayn Sa'edi, Nader Ebrahimi, Bahram Sadegi, Hushang Golshiri, Fereydun Tonokaboni, Goli Taruggi, Mahsid Amir-Shahi, Mahmud Dowlatabadi, Nasim Khaksar, Amin Faqiri, Hushang Ashurzadeh, Farahnaz Abassi,Taghi Modarresi, Ali-Mohammad Afghani, Abbas Marufi, Hormoz Shahdadi, Reza Baraheni,Ghazaleh Alizadeh,Fereshteh Saari,Farideh Farjam...the list goes on and on and contemporary Persian literature is huge and still growing right now as we speak... to see photos of these writers, whom I emphasize are both genders, go to:
   
   [...]
   
   The amazing thing to me is that a person like the author of Reading Lolita In Tehran, could be satisfied ignoring her own country's stellar literary inundation of talent taking advantage of the relative ignorance of the West about Persian writing, to suggest that the novel doesn't exit in the IRI, what Keshavarz refers to as a continuation of the Bakhtinian perception that the written form of a novel is of Western origin, to focus on a few Western authors like Fitzgerald, James, Austen and Nabakov,not even contemporary anymore
   , and by inference and omission, present her own countrymen as if they are void of writers on issues of birth, death, puberty, virginity, adolescence, women's rights, marriage, divorce, love, crime, rape,anger, sorrow, jealousy,guilt, ambition, greed, spirituality and the whole array of human experience and emotion...but rather would have us believing they only write religious doctrines...and argue over how many angels can sit on the head of a pin...or whether men can have sex with chickens as long as they don't eat them for a week after...at one of her lectures which I attended she suggested that trying to reason with the IRI was like playing chess with a monkey who at a certain point grabs your queen and swallows it. How very convenient to over simplify, dehumanize and demonize an entire nation of 70 million people 70 % of whom are under age 30. You have to question the motives of any of these "new orientalist" writers who pick the worst moment in time or a particular slice of society and freeze the shot for eternity to represent that people. Any people can be skewed in this manner. If we froze the "Reign of Terror" after the French Revolution and presented it as the epitome of France...what would people think of France? If we dwell on the prison population per capita and crime rates and statistics in the USA, we would come to the conclusion that there is no freedom, that there is anarchy and people live in constant fear of being victims of random crime. This is propaganda not literature.
   
   I am forever grateful to Fatemeh Keshavarz for lifting a veil from my eyes with her book. I am now on a rampage to read every modern Persian writer I can find in translation especially the ones still living.
   
   Brian H. Appleton
   aka
   Rasool Aryadust
   www.zirzameen.com



2. This book is a combination of two things. One is a polemic against Azar Nafisi's flawed masterpiece Reading Lolita in Tehran (RLT). This polemic is deeply dishonest, with quotations lifted from RLT in clear violation of their meaning.
   On the other hand, the author's memoirs of her highly educated family is charming and she has profound insights into Persian mysticism and its literature.
   The problem is that the author walks on eggshells to portray her country in the best possible light. Even the brutal Islamic Republic gets the kid-glove treatment. A little intellectual honesty would have been appreciated by this reader.
   For a more detailed review, please visit my blog article on it and leave a comment. http://iranwrites.blogspot.com/2007/12/jasmine-and-stars-reading-more-than.html



3. I absolutely would recommend this book to anyone who is from Iran, thinks they understand Iran, or wants to understand that complex nation.
   
   This book is by far the most balanced, honest, and unvarnished assessment of the complexities that escape so many analysts and authors who attempt to write about that country.
   
   It also disassembles the perturbing pattern of modern day 'neo-orientalism' that is exemplified by Azar Nafisi's unfortunately best-selling "Reading Lolita in Tehran".
   
   I HIGHLY recommend this book.



4. I just finished "Jasmine and Stars". I have recommended it to many of my friends and relatives. Keshavarz weaves anecdotes from her own life with excerpts and summaries from Persian literature. It is simply a fascinating and humanizing text especially if you are not familiar with Persian literature. It is a great introduction. After finishing it, I went back and wrote down the names of the text and authors Keshavarz cites. I am excited about reading these works in the future thanks to this text.



5. Jasmine and Stars is a compelling novel, warmly presented through the very personal narrative of Fatemeh Keshavarz, who explores the different voices of Iran, including two modern Iranian women writers and people of many statures. It does so in response to novels whose narratives present a paradigm of the world by which the existence of such people is improbable.
   
   "What does the elephant look like?" poses Keshavarz. Jasmine and Stars begins by recounting the ancient Persian fable about villagers encountering an elephant for the first time and in the dark. One feels its trunk, the other its legs, and the other its ears. Later, when asked what the elephant looked like, one says the elephant is like a thin pole. The other says, "No, it is thick like a tree." The third says that the elephant is neither - instead the elephant is flat and round like a fan. Unable to see the whole picture, no one had truly learned what the elephant was. If only the villagers had a single candle, notes Keshavarz, they could have begun to learn its true nature. And so her book begins, in sincere search for a candle to help enlighten for us America's own elephant - Iran and the broader Middle East.
   
   What is it about Iran that seems to elude our grasp? Why are we having so much trouble understanding the elephant? In fact, to many it would seem that there is nothing to understand beyond that which we already know. The media is filled with stories covering Iran, its president, the nuclear standoff, and - most significantly - the possibility of war. The internet is even more densely packed with stories and opinions. So, what is the problem?
   
   The problem is that while there is a lot of monologue from twenty-four hour news feeds of sound bites and talking heads, there is almost no dialogue. The voices of Iranians themselves have been shut out. This essential humanizing factor of one culture speaking for itself to the other is strangely absent. How do they live? What do they value? And what is the interplay of their culture upon their lives? Iran is always spoken for instead of listened to. The product of this is a very distorted and narrow perception of what the elephant is. Even worse, it creates the grounds for the dehumanization of a nation, facilitating the path to conflict.
   
   These missing voices, the cause of their absence, and the anecdote for their return are the subjects of Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than Lolita in Tehran.
   
   The author, Fatemeh Keshavarz, is an accomplished professor of Persian and comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis, currently serving as the chair of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. An Iranian American, she was born in the city of Shiraz, Iran, and has lived and worked in the United States for nearly three decades, visiting Iran every year. Keshavarz describes herself as "a Muslim, a feminist, a literary scholar, and a poet, though not always in that order."
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand Iran and the Middle East.

5 comments about Uppity Women of the Renaissance.

1. The idea for this book is wonderful and the research exhausting. However, Ms. Leon tries so intensly to be clever that it is terribly annoying. Examples: "The case spread faster than Lyme disease at a tick convention." Or "Mother Eulaia might have been called on to apply a little spiritual soft soap of her own-some extra innings at the cathedral, praying to her namesake." Or "Born into a Jewish family so tight with Catholic bigwigs." Every page has to have one or more of her display of forced cotemporary pseudo wit that shocks the reader out of his/her Renaissance mood. It is a shame.



2. This book is more like bathroom reading than anything else. Each Uppity Woman is given one or two pages of text. The text is full of not-funny puns and not-very-clever comments. At times it felt disrespectful of the women who, in some cases, were dealing with incredible hardships. The good thing about the book is that it covers a lot of women, so at least it gives you a starting point to further your reading.



3. Prior to reading "Uppity Women of the Renaissance", I'd only ever heard of Vicki Leon's "Uppity Women" series, but hadn't read any of them. I found the title to be both intriguing and amusing. Having finished "Renaissance", I'm not really sure whether I want to read the other books in the series or not. In only 300 pages, Leon covers the lives of 100 of the Renaissance's most uppity women. As you can imagine, 100 women crammed into 300 pages doesn't leave much room for a lot of detail. Many of the women discussed seemed to have been mentioned briefly in old records and not much is actually known about them, other than the fact that they may have, for example, owned a successful business.
   
   Leon attempts to weave modern jokes and cynicisms into the stories, as in "Busier than a two-career car-pooler with three kids, La Grosse Margot was one of many women who...". Sometimes I found these dashes of humor to be laugh-out-loud funny; other times, they were annoying.
   
   It was really nice to read about so many interesting women. I'd never read or heard anything about most of them before. I just wish there had more detail...a lot more detail. Much of the time, the brief stories seem like sketches or outlines for a wonderful full-length book. Won't some kind-hearted author out there please write a nice full-length book on one of these women? The life of Christian Davies would be a good one to start with!



4. Another entertaining collection of mini biographies of women from the well-known to the obscure. one or two of the stories slightly puzled me. For instance, there is an interesting story about a doctor trying to concot a remedy for the plague out of badgers, but his wife's role seems to consisted of dying of the plague, not a particularly uppity thing to do, couldn't quite see what she was doing there. Also Vicki leon, rather oddly ,seems to have swallowed all that nonsense about the Renaissance being a time when individuality was born etc, it's as if she hasn't read her earlier book 'Uppity Women of Medieval Times' which is full of individuals. @Renaiisance' was a term invented in the 19th century to describe something that never actually happened, individuality, art.learning etc flourished throughout the Middle Ages, there was no 'Renaissance'. Also she is still going on about witchhunts being a 'holocaust'(insulting to vicitms of the real holocaust. The number of people executed as witches wasfar fewer than she claims, they were not all women, and the imputus for witchhunts came from commoners, not from the church or the state. But anyway, these stories of interesting women are fun to read, and I always find lots of women I'd never heard of before. Another fun read.



5. Uppity Women of the Renaissance by Vicki Leon is a pleasure to read and it's a book you'll keep going back to. Leon knows how to make history fun and she has a knack for finding the most interesting characters from the past, and then bringing them back to life.
   If you've never read one of Vicki Leon's books, you're in for a real treat. Give one as a present to a reluctant reader, give one to yourself!
   Ms Leon is not just an excellent writer, but is also a fine historian. She has made it her mission to discover long lost women with spunk and brains, and to bring them to the public's eye. I'm a big fan of her's and have every book she's written. I especially like to give them as gifts since they are that rare combination of spirit, fun, frolic, sassiness, seriousness, and real history. Uppity Women of the Renaissance is one of Ms. Leon's very best. Highly recommended.