5 comments about Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music.

1. This was an enjoyable and informative read about Mozart. It was interesting to learn more about the women in his life since we usually learn much about his relationship with his father. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a casual interest in Mozart but doesn't feel the need to become an expert.



2. This was an excellent read (I'm certainly glad I purchased it on a whim). The writing was detailed to an extent that I felt I was following the family around for Wolfgang's entire life. I've read most of his letters before, but this book nicely connects them together and gives more depth. And even after the account of his death, the story is still engaging. The section titled 'Mozart's Women' is particularly entrancing; the author's meticulous descriptions of his operas make one feel as if the author was right there during its premiere. I certainly recommend this to any Mozart fan.



3. Impresario Glover has a global view of Mozart, most tellingly through her deep understanding of his music as well as her conscientious attention to the voluminous correspondence among his sister, his parents, and his other women friends and associates. Comparing her remarks with those of more academically oriented biographers, Ms Glover often offers the superior insight and the clinching detail. No matter how many biographies of Mozart you have already studied, I would recommend this work as an essential addition to the bibliography.



4. I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end. "Mozart's Women" examines the lives of Mozart, his family and friends, giving the reader clear insight into the relationships they had with one another, and how these relations carried over into Mozart's brilliant compositions. Jane Glover sensitively describes all of the people in Mozart's life to the point where it's as if they could be living among us today. Humanizing Mozart and those he loved helps the reader better understand the circumstances under which Mozart's music was inspired and written (especially his operas, whose plots and female characters especially are all explained in depth) and give the reader a solid historical context which will undoubtedly change the way we listen to Mozart's scores, even if we've heard them countless times already.



5. Jane Glover, a well known conductor and Mozart expert does not claim that she has written an original book on her admired and adored composer genius. She admits: "The Mozart field has been enormously well mined, and for this book I have done no original research". It is a new angle that she presents on Mozart, looked at through the eyes of the women who brought him up, grew up with him, loved him and with whom he worked in the world of music.
   
   After reading many books on Mozart this book still gave me a lot of pleasure and a new insight to the life of this likeable genius of music.
   
   The book is divided in to two major parts. The first on Mozart`s life with his two families, the second on the singers of Mozart`s operas and how the composer created music, blending and integrating the individual talents and capabilities of these singers with his music.
   
   This analysis is highly technical, but never boring and can contribute to the better understanding and enjoyment of Mozart`s music.
   
   The end of this second part tells the reader about the lives of Mozart's women after his death. It is a good ending, satisfying the readers curiosity about how Mozart, the penniless, ignored and poorly treated composer, at the time of his death, suddenly became the most durable and popular composer, generating a handsome income, that was denied to him in his lifetime, - for his widow and two sons. This, interestingly, had a lot to do with his widow's business talents.
   
   This well written book will bring satisfaction and a new insight on Mozart's life and works, even to those who are familiar with the large Mozart literature

5 comments about Desert Dawn.

1. This book show me the incredible journey that Ms. Dirie went through. And no matter how she lived throughout her life she could not forget how she was raised. Great book



2. Waris Dirie is my favority author. I think she writes honestly about her life experiences and gives a different perspective than the average writer does. I would recommend everyone read this book.



3. This book was most useful to me by showing the life of a tribal family in Somalia from the viewpoint of someone who has experienced western life but is still sensative to the viewpoint of tribal nomadic life. It provides a really interesting insight rarely seen.



4. Once started to read I just couldn't stop. Just so amazing how Waris was caught between her home in somalia and New York. I support her courage



5. Desert Flower was a fantastic book giving insight into a culture that blindly follows old fashioned and cruel rituals. Desert Dawn however repeats most of Desert Flower and just gives a bit of additional information about the further life of Waris. Sadly enough Waris has not learned much from her own mutilation, which she documents in circumcising her own son. Waris seems to forget that women play an important role in culture and rituals through upbringing and education of their own children. Circumcision and mutilation is not in nature's nor in any god's plan, otherwise they would have taken care about it.

5 comments about The Language of Blood.

1. Using an interesting, if not always successful, mish-mash of styles and narratives, Korean adoptee Trenka tells of the experience of a violent stalker in Minnesota, her experiences of racism, going to Korea to find her birth mother, an older sister, and ultimately, love. It is her personal search for American, Korean, and Korean American identity. The prose is as luminous and carefully beautiful as the reviews say. I came away with a sense of the writer's youth, and how her search has perhaps, only now, really begun.



2. There were two negative reviews for this book (the third is a repeat and is unfair). Frankly neither of them show any kind of knowledge bout the psychology of an adoptee. First of all being an adoptee and a Korean national are different. Second being a parent and an adoptee is different. I've clashed with many more adoptive parents than I have with adoptees (in views of adoption).
   
   I didn't find that this was atypical of a Korean adoptee. I was isolated from Korean culture as well and this was in the 80's. I was only able to research and find anything on Korea until recently. This book proves that point--that it's hard to find something to root you to your birth culture.
   
   The book traces a view of adoption. It does not make judgments. It merely tells what happened and in what fashion. It tells the truth as she saw it. It tells about her struggle with identity, her triumphs, her sadnesses, the humor she saw. It also tells about her regret and efforts to try to get her adoptive parents to understand.
   
   As a Korean adoptee I found parts that I could and couldn't relate to, but I don't think this any less valid than my story of adoption. Adoption is individual as the search for identity is. I believe that this book showed that without telling anyone what to think. That's to be admired.



3. I find it interesting that three of the negative reviews for this book all use the same language but the writer/s claims to be the parent of Korean children, a Korean with no connection to adoption and a Korean adoptee. Um...okay? If you are going to write an angry review it would be advisabe to pick an identity and stick with it .



4. The story is a about a young Korean adoptee, raised in a small Minnesota town, who struggles to find identity. Although growing up with Asian skin (but American in every other way) in a small, rural community was difficult, her self-identity becomes even blurrier as she becomes reacquainted with her Korean birth mother.
   
   While the book mostly follows a linear progression through Jeong Trenka's life from her early childhood to her post-collegiate days, each chapter's place in that timeline is rather fluid, including elements from her past, her present, her future, as wells as bits and pieces from myths and stories. What adds to the story's chaotic feel, is that Jeong Trenka also uses such devices as screenplay text, poems, and even crossword puzzles to help drive the story.
   
   The major internal conflict in this book is that Jeong trenka's struggle to identify herself as one something. Just as she struggles with what name to put on her marriage certificate, so she struggles with incorporating the various parts of her identity into one being.
   
   Having wanted to escape from her small hometown, Harlow, from an early age, and having dealt with the prejudices of the people around her for most of her life, it is not surprising that her first visit to larger-than-life Korea should instantly feel right to her.
   
   What was lacking in this story, however, was any juxtaposition of American prejudices measured against Korean prejudices. The author never mentions the "foreign-ness" that many overseas-raised Koreans feel upon visiting their birth country for the first time. No mention of the snickers and snide remarks by the Korean people towards Koreans unable to speak their mother language or those who have now become too Western.
   
   In any case the story is Jeong Trenka's to tell, and it is a deeply emotional one for the author. Despite its rather frenetic pace, her story telling ability is lovely, and the book finds it's strength in Trenka's poetic choice of words.
   
   While many of Jeong Trenka's struggles are internal and not necessarily ones that the reader may identify with, this is still a great story about the difficulties of not fitting in, and finding contentment within oneself, where ever it may come from. Jeong Trenka's melodic writing abilities are enough to keep the reader with her as she tries to figure out who she really is.
   
   Reviewed at OnceWritten.com



5. Five beginnings in two pages - she lost me. Too bad because the opening was terrific - a letter in broken English about the dysfunction that led to the adoptions in the first place. She changed voices, times, places; should have stuck with letter and taken it from there.

5 comments about Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen.

1. Ms Dennys unfortunately, through what can only be a very biased view, makes all her seemingly excellent research go to waste. She distorts it all to fit her point of view. I have few doubts she uncovered new evidence to prove that not all was "black and white", but with her determination to make Anne and her father true saints it just does not read true.
   And agreeing with an excellent review I read here, to argue that Catherine of Aragon was a shrew (aactually treacherous!) for not accepting her marriage as not valid and her daughter as bastard, right at the beginning of the book, just makes one want to close the book and go do something more interesting.And somehow I also do not believe the idea that Boleyn also married the king in order to bring forth the new religion sticks, not with all that was known about Henry and his court



2. So many biographies already of this fascinating woman, & I'm always happy to read one more. Perhaps Anne appeals to us as the most modern of Henry's wives, with her wit, intelligence & ability to make a life for herself as best she can. I enjoyed this book, probably because the author presents her views so firmly that it makes you think through all the alternate ways of analysing the information. I agree with her conclusions about Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador, & I've never been a fan of Thomas Moore. Anne with auburn hair? All the historical descriptions I've seen say she was very dark, with swarthy skin. I thought a very good case was made for Anne truly believing that Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid, for genuine religious reasons. It is of course genuinely tragic that Catherine was also a deeply religious woman, with a diametrically opposed view. This book also happily confirms my personal opinion of Jane seymour - you only have to look at those mean little eyes in her portrait! Do buy this book - its very readable, whether you agree with all the author's opinions or not. It's a great addition to the shelf for those of us who are Anne fangirls.



3. Joanna Denny provides the 'white legend' of Anne Boleyn. Anne had deep religous scruples, therefore, God used her influence on King Henry to bring England out of the clutch of Rome -- and therefore, Anne could do no wrong and all who opposed her influence opposed God. That seems to be the premise of the book. Katharine of Aragon was a liar and perverter of truth. Thomas More was a persecuting pervert. Henry was a tyrant before he married Anne; but he was coming closer to grace until he was duped by the Seymours and Cromwell into falling for Jane. Anne had to be labelled an adultress to soothe Henry's ego, and a witch because she was a Protestant, and she had to be killed because 1) she was a threat to the Catholic party; 2) she knew that Henry wasn't so virile; 3) Cromwell saw political advantages in mending fences with the Holy Roman Emperor and the supplanter of the Emperor's aunt was a liability.
   Now, Anne did a lot for the 'new religion' by encouraging reformist preachers, promoting their writings to the King and protecting them from Chancellor More at home and the Inquisition abroad. I don't see that she was as radical a Protestant as Denny writes. She sponsored them mainly because they were pro-King and anti-Pope as religious shepherd, and thus supported her over Katharine. That Anne saw her queenship as a divine mission makes some sense to her conduct toward her former mistress and the Princess Mary. But Anne was not 'Saint Anne' with the Sword of the Spirit in her hand. Denny plays down that she bedded the King before she wedded him. She plays down her invective against Katherine and Mary by accusing the one of living a lie about her chastity (and this living in sin) and accusing the other of being disobedient and rebellious because she refused to brand her mother a whore and her faith idolatry. Denny is hostile to all the Catholics in this story. For example, I grant that Thomas More was a zealous persecutor of 'heretics'. He was proud of it. Of all people, I would have expected him to see another person's point of view; but he did not. He was so concerned that these heretics would not corrupt other, more ignorant souls, and damning them to hell that he would not see their sincerity or the good in their different beliefs. I warn Ms Denny she is much like him by despising other views of the faith than that of the radical Protestant. [I'm from the Anabaptist sector of Christianity. Sir Thomas would have burnt me alive, so I have no brief for his brand of Catholicism; but I appreciate his concern.]



4. Anne Boleyn (1501-1536) was the second of the notorious Henry VIII's wives. She was the first of his wives to be beheaded (Katherine Howard was the second and final wife to die in this manner). Anne was the first crowned Queen of England to die by the executioner's sharp blade as a public spectacle, Her often told story is retold by the late Joanna Denny. Denny published this book in 2004.
   Henry VIII became infatuated by the seductive, highly intelligent and multilingual Anne as his marriage to the dour Catherine of Aragon turned sour. Anne refused to give in to the old king's sexual desires until she had a wedding ring on her pert finger. Henry divorced Catherine claiming she had engaged in sexual intercourse with his older brother the late Arthur Prince of Wales. Henry believed this sin was based on the statement in Leviticus that it was evil to wed the spouse of a deceased brother. Henry believed this was God's curse on his inability to sire a male heir to the throne. He did not want Mary his female child by Catherine of Aragon to sit on the throne. Mary was a devoted Roman Catholic as was her mother. Henry did not want England to become a part of the Holy Roman Empire. As a result of Henry's marriage to Anne the English national church was established and the tie with Rome broken. Anne was an evangelical Protestant whose downfall was engineered by Henry's Lord Chancellor the evil Thomas Cromwell. Anne was accused of adultery with her own brother and several other young bucks at court. She died in 1536 but not before giving birth to Elizabeth I who would reign following the deaths of her half sister Mary and half brother Edward VI. Elizabeth would become one of the greatest rulers in British history.
   What are the problems with Denny's biography of Anne?
   a. She is an advocate of Anne who in her eyes can do no wrong. This is a viewpoint contrary to the assessment of many other scholars who saw Anne as a schemer seeking power for herself, her family and her faith.
   b. The Roman Catholics are all portrayed as bad. Denny has bad things to see about Thomas More who was executed when he refused to agree to the wedding of Henry and Anne. She did prove to me that More was a bigot who sought the death of as many heretics to Roman Catholicism as possible.
   c. Her style is dry reminding one of a textbook account.
   The book can be read but the biases of the author need to be noted. I did learn things I didn't know about this well documented tragic tale of love and death and betrayal in Tudor England.



5. After reading "The Other Boleyn Girl," I wanted to learn more on Anne. Somehow I had reached twenty-five years old without knowing much on Tudor history. This book happened to be on sale here on Amazon, and I bought it. After reading many fiction and non-fiction stories of Queen Anne, I still go back to this book.
   
   It explores every aspect of her life, from before her birth to after her death. It includes many pictures. It is a little heavy to read all in one sitting, and I usually just take in a couple chunks at a time.
   
   Many of the other reviewers hated it for opposing the "facts" that have been known about Anne. Denny does a wonderful job of stating how Anne was most likely tarnished after her death, leading to the many negative things still being written on her. The truth is, we will never the all the facts about Anne, or anything in history, as we were not there. Something that happened yesterday could be told from a friend, and you would get their point of view, as it is told from a person.
   
   What Denny does is give other possible explanations of Anne's life. This book is not for those that have an opinion of Anne as a whore who destroyed England and who only wish to remember her that way. If you have an open mind about events we will never know the whole truth about anyways, pick up this book.

1 comments about Mary Colter: Architect of the Southwest.

1. Mary Colter was a woman ahead of her time --- an architect and interior designer when few women attempted it. She interwove rustic techniques, local materials and American Indian themes into buildings and designs well before that was accepted by others in her professions. Her rustic buildings at Grand Canyon National Park still survive to the delight of many visitors. Colter was at times a prefectionist, hard to get along with, a workaholic and extremely demanding of herself and her co-workers. Yet the author shows us her life and work with sympathy as well as depth. This book is well illustrated with color and black and white photos. Well researched. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It answered all my questions!

5 comments about Won by Love: Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe V. Wade, Speaks Out for the Unborn As She Shares Her New Conviction for Life.

1. Norma is a gifted writer. Like her first book, this one is interesting and thought provoking. I didn't want to put it down once I got started.
   
   However, I was disappointed at her portrayal of the abortion debate as a simple conflict between the "good guys" and the "bad guys." According to Norma, most everything ever said or done by the pro-choice camp is the result of malicious motives. The pro-lifers on the other hand are saints who, by definition, never do anything wrong.
   
   Some of her criticisms of abortion providers seem legitmiate. She correctly notes that abortion is not subjected to the same regulations as other similar medical procedures. She accurately points out that pre-abortion counseling is often perfunctory and slanted in favor of abortion. Patients who go to clinics for counseling are not encouraged to consider other options.
   
   On the other hand, Norma's claim that all pro-choice advocates are child-haters who want to live in a childless world populated only by adults is simply absurd. She also claims that the legalization of abortion is the cause of all the tragically "empty playgrounds." She makes this claim after observing an empty playground at a school which she acknowledges was closed for the summer. She makes it sound as if everyone stopped having kids when Roe v. Wade was decided.
   
   According to Norma, most, if not all, doctors who perform abortions do it out of pure greed and for no other reason. She refuses to recognize that many abortion providers and pro-choice advocates sincerely believe in the moral correctness of their actions.
   
   I also question the accuracy of some of her claims. She reports one incident where a woman came in and had an abortion at 6 months gestation because she found out she was carrying a girl and she wanted a boy. I suppose it could happen but it sounds far fetched.
   
   It is also clear from the book that Norma is often prone to volatile behavior and angry outbursts. She gleefully recounts one incidents when she stood next to a heating vent in the office of Operation Rescue. At the time, OR shared a wall with the clinic where Norma had been employed. She turned on a vacuum cleaner and shouted comments to the clinic doctor about "killing babies." This from the woman who claims she was "Won by Love" and that the pro-lifers always treat their opponents with nothing but love and kindness.
   
   Norma correctly notes that she was often manipulated and treated badly by the movers and shakers of the pro-choice movement. I'm not saying they drove her to the other side, but it is obvious that Norma was desperate for compassion and community. When she started hanging out with the folks from Operation Rescue she was seeking friendship and love.
   
   I keep wondering if there isn't some reasonable middle ground concerning abortion. Most of the folks on both sides are good hearted, sincere individuals who truly want to do the right thing and make the world a better place. I wish we could find some kind of compromise where abortion would be truly safe, legal, and rare. Where unwed mothers could get the help and support to make adoption a more viable option and where 2nd and 3rd trimester abotions would be unheard of except in cases of true medical necessity. This book won't do anything to advance such a compromise. But if you are troubled by the issues and want to explore different viewpoints, I recommend this book.
   
   I also feel compelled to point out that Christian is not synonamous with pro-life and pro-choice is not synonamous with anti-Christian. Pleanty of Christians are pro-choice and some non-Christians are pro-life.



2. I didn't know much about Norma McCorvey ('Jane Roe' of Roe v. Wade) until just a couple years ago, and I knew absolutely nothing of Sandra Cano ('Mary Doe' of Doe v. Bolton - the case which extended abortion rights to the ninth month of pregnancy) until I read this book.
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about abortion in this country - anyone who wants to know the history of it, how we could go from the Hippocratic Oath to willfully taking the lives of 40+ million (and counting) innocent babies.
   
   There are facts and insights which this book revealed which will forever be written on my heart - life-changing and mind-changing information.
   
   I am thankful that Norma McCorvey was willing to tell the good, the bad, and the ugly - that she was willing to be honest and transparent. She is to be commended for not pulling any punches, but simply telling it like it was and is.
   
   This passage from her book stood out to me:
   
   "In the abortion movement, we always assumed that Christians were mean-spirited, judgmental, pleasure-hating radicals. If they opened their mouths at all, we thought, it was only to condemn sinners and deliver a sermon about the wages of wickedness.
   
   In fact, I found out we [the abortion movement] were the ones who were mean-spirited, self-righteous, and judgmental. It was those in the abortion movement who were ruled by hatred and spite. My entire frame of reference had changed."
   
   page 168 - Won by Love, by Norma McCorvey



3. After reading S. Fatina's review I was compelled to write this in response.
   
   Why must people make hateful remarks such as " rabid abortion-rights activists " and " Feminist-in-Chief Hillary Clinton ", as highlighted here? Its rude and discriminatory. Hillary Clinton doesn't represent the feminist movement, which isn't a outlandish idea at all. Feminism is derived from the (at the time) radical idea that women are people too. That we have hopes and dreams that aren't limited to running a household or being a parent. That we want the option of independence and opinion in society, just like men. That's all feminism is based on. And, FYI, there is no stance that I know of that is "pro-abortion" as you put it. That says too me that people haphazardly believe every pregnancy should be terminated, and thats just rediculous. It's called pro-choice for a reason. Women have and should continue to have, in my opinion, the fundamental right to choose a life of happiness whatever that may mean to them, under our laws and be free of persecution for that choice.
   
   I doubt that anyone having to make a choice of this magnitude is exbuerant or enthusiastic about having terminating a pregnancy, however, I also don't believe that a child born to a mother who is ill-prepared for the serious undertaking of becoming a parent before her time will have the opportunities or life that it deserves. The life and happiness of not ONLY the mother are at stake, the potential child must also be considered. The problem with doing away with abortions in our society is that we haven't addressed the issue at hand or the driving force to terminate a pregnancy. There is for some women no other forseeable option. When we as a nation are allowing government cut backs or the complete elimination of federally funded family planning organizations, which help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies to begin with, where we teach 'abstinence only' sex education, which is proven many times over not to be effective, where we cut wellfare programs for un-wed parents, we ignore reality and leave no fit option in many peoples lives. It's not a tax issue. The amount of money we are spending supporting a war that kills many innocent civilians and young soldiers is by far more than is spent or has EVER been spent supporting family planning organizations or wellfare recipients.
   
   How do you suppose, if all fetuses were born, they should be cared for? A teenage mother with no high school diploma has very little chance of gaining decent employment. Walmart and fast food restaurants in most parts of our nation don't pay a living wage. Many young, single fathers aren't held responsible for their actions and if they are, $200 a month for child support doesn't buy much more then diapers. So other than writing a check every month, he's off the hook. There is no such thing as forced visitation and I certainly don't see many young men jumping from their seats, biting for the responisiblity of caring for the child on their own. The parents of the unprepared or unwilling mothers should not be forced into having to financially, and most likely physically, care for these unintended newborns. Adoption is an option but the trauma of giving birth and moments later not seeing the child again is heart wrenching and pregnancy has far more potential health risks then receiving an abortion from a licensed provider. In addition, the average cost of a hospital delivery and 24-hours of care to the mother and a healthy child ALONE is around $9000, double that for cesarians. The average cost of an abortion and after care is $300-600. Besides if every child was born and placed for adoption in similar circumstance there would be far too few willing families to take in these children. The foster programs would be more overwhelmed than they already are. In my county alone there are multiple hundreds of children in the foster system available for adoption or placement with no person or family to take them in and thats just to put a roof over their heads. Those are just the monetary issues.
   
   Should a child, born to a young mother, have to bare the guilt or shame that is often associated with the life they had no choice in creating? Who will love and care for this child emotionally? Will they be doomed to repeat the mistakes of their parents if they are raised in situations where their mother has to compromise what's best for the family vs. what is feasible? Until society, individual states and the federal government address the reality of unintended pregnancy and come up with acceptable programs to address those issues, I feel that it is a choice of the potential mother or both parents that matter most and not the choice of a man, standing behind an alter, preaching about an issue he would never have to face, nor that of a man in a suit on capital hill. It is the decision of the potential mother and father; end of story.
   
   One last side note: "Jane Roe" never had the opportunity to have the abortion that she fought for. Her pregnancy came full term and she delivered the child during litigation. As for her not being invited to attend major pro-choice functions, perhapse being that she used a fictional name during her court battles it was believed that she wished to maintain her anonimity and privacy, not becoming a poster child for the issue. Though her opinion on the matter at hand has changed as she "found god", she still never had an abortion. I believe that the vast majority of women who terminate a pregnancy continue to believe in a womans right to choose, even years later, and do not regret the decision they made. Though the circumstances themselves are regretable, at the time, it was their decision to make and was made so they might be better able to achieve their hopes and dreams.



4. This book is a good read. It discusses the whole issue of abortion in very detail begining from its roots. Its also about abortion and how Norma McCorvey's life revolves around it. Pro-life vs Pro-choice is a never ending controversial debate. But Norma is a good writer. She is sometimes very humourous (she uses a lot of her dark funny side). She also discusses how she fought with pro-life leaders in the begining and eventualy became their friend. The debate between pro-life and prochoice is written so that a layperson can understand. She has clearly depicted how abortion industry has killed babies. Nonsensical abortions should come to an end in the States.



5. I think it's swell that Norma McCorvey has found Jesus and all that but some of the world (including me), well, we're not Christian and as sinful as some see it, we're not huge believers in God.
   
   Based on the reviews I've read here, the majority of readers are Christian. I'm not going to criticize them for their beliefs but it seems that they feel it's ok to criticize mine and put legislation on my body.
   
   Before Norma found religion she was ok with making her own medical decisions. Now that she's found it, she doesn't think I should be able to make my own medical decisions.
   
   I applaud her for choosing not to abort the fetus she carried. That was the right decision for HER. Abortion is the right decision for some people and not all of those people suffer the grief claimed by anti-choice advocates.
   
   Congratulations on finding God, if that's your desire. Some of us are happy believing in a version of God that doesn't espouse hate and dictation over women's bodies. Some of us don't believe in God.
   
   Your religion should not dictate my medical decisions. And neither should Norma McCorvey's. My medical decisions should be left to me, my doctor and my god, IF I have one.
   
   TY & GN.

5 comments about Hell's Belles: A Tribute to the Spitfires, Bad Seeds & Steel Magnolias of the New and Old South.

1. I bought this Book as a GIFT for a relative that read the Margaret Mitchell Books.
   If your buying this book, I wouldn't say its for everybody.
   Because not everyone has an appreciation for a short BIO. on
   a variety of women. And it truly is a VARIETY of women.(even a
   few drag queens)
   THIS book has a short BIO. on 200 women of the South.
   AND ALSO, it does make a BREIF mention of LOTS of other women
   (Una Merkel, Cheryl Prewitt)(Susan McDougal, Sally Perdue, Gennifer Flowers Shelnut)(Elizabeth Greenfield Taylor, Tanya Tucker)(Dorothy Shaver, Bette Claire Nesmith)> and others.
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   The author chose to call them: "BEALLES"
   I don't think its a big deal, its better than some other REFERENCE
   for a female.
   I love the cover. What a great picture of VIVAN LEIGH.
   The Front Cover just helps sell the Book because the Book has a
   catchy Title. I say: "ITS FITTIN' " (translation: appropriate)
   
   This book may be the perfect thing for a GUEST BEDROOM or whoever appreciates some insight on these particular " BELLES".
   Also people that enjoy looking into their family tree may find this
   somewhat helpful even though it brings out some of the skeltons some of these women have.
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   So here are some of the 200 women that fell under this title
   " HELL'S BEALLES". ...
   PG. 2] FLANNERY O' CONNOR - in a Chapter titled: LITERATURE'S ODD BIRD
   PG. 4] HARRIET ANN JACOBS - in a Chapter titled: THE LONG ROAD to FREEDOM
   In this chapter, it says some background history on Harriet Jacobs.
   " Born of slave parents in North Carolina in 1813, "
   " She founded the Jacobs Free School to educate the children of freed slaves" (pg. 5)
   
   [pg.12] MAYA ANGELOU - in a chapter titled: A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH
   [Pg. 30] MARGARET MITCHELL
   
   [Pg. 38] NANCY HART - ( a woman possibly related to Daniel Boone)
   " born in 1735, who was the scourge of the BRITISH during the REV. WAR."
   
   PG. 43] VARINA JEFFERSON DAVIS - " THE FIRST LADY of DIXIE"
   Pg. 47] BELLE BOYD - " SIREN of the Shenandoah"
   PG. 58] Hattie McDaniel - - " HONORARY SOUTHERNER"
   "hattie, born the youngest of thirteen children of former slaves around 1895 in Kansas.."
   
   [Pg. 64] KIM BASINER --- "BOXED into a Corner"
   [Pg. 71] AVA GARDNER
   ( in this chapter - I loved the background info. given about how
   she was discovered. (pg. 71-Ava Gardner)
   " When she was 18, a MGM scout saw a photo of her in the window of her brother in law's photography studio in New York City..."
   
   [Pg. 76] Oprah Winfrey " THE PRIDE of KOSCIUSKO"
   -----------------------------------------------------------------
   [Pg. 95] LILLIAN CARTER
   " In 1923, at age 25, the feisty Lillian Jackson married James Earl Carter, ..."
   -------------------------------------------------------
   [Pg. 103] HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
   -------------------------------------------------------
   [Pg. 106] DOLLEY MADISON " ADOPTED BELLE"
   "born into a PENNSYLVANIA QUAKER family, ... became a Southerner by Marriage"
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   [Pg. 119] DOLLY PARTON
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   Pg. 161] MARY LOU RETTON
   
   [Pg. 173] COINCOIN
   " Former Lousiana slave..long time concubine of Claude Metoyer with whom she had 10 children..."
   This short bio is kinda impressing since it is mentioning a woman
   that lived roughly between 1770-1844.
   The only year that gives a glisp into her ERA is 1786.
   
   [pg. 174] (this is an example of what makes it a FUN read)
   ELIZA LUCAS PINCKNEY --- (a teenager in the 1740 era)
   Okay here's a teenager home alone with Dad's 5000 acres.
   She has to take over and manage things. Well, Dad tells her
   try some new "crops" because he has to go away on business.
   So she does. Somehow lucks up on the INDIGO seed. Certainly a wise choice - was said to be the 2nd most Vital EXPORT.
   
   PG. 185] Priscilla Beaulieu PRESLEY
   pg. 192] HARRIET TUBMAN
   " the bravest and most daring conductor on the Underground Railroad"
   " born around 1821... her parents, descendents of the ASHANTI, named her Araminta.."
   
   Pg. 201] (just a title-for this native ammerican woman)
   QUEEN of the CORACHIQUI (in the 1540 era)
   
   Pg. 210] HELEN KELLER
   
   Pg. 220] ANNE BONNY
   (1720 era); a "Buccaneer Belle" - was a daughter of a SC. attorney -deceided be apart of a pirate crew
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
   pg. 222] ERMA ABRAHAM
   a brief bio about a SOUTHERN murderous Belle in 1966 Leland, MISS.
   "killed her husband,... claimed he was impotent."
   -----------------------------------------------------------------
   Pg. 222] RUTH DICKINS (another murdering Souther Belle)
   " 1948 chopped her 70 yr old mother to pieces with hedge clippers" (claiming someone else did it)
   " she got life imprissonment, but was granted 2 (10 day Holiday Leaves)
   to attend the presentation of her daughters at the DELTA Debutante Ball"
   and she was granted a 3 month MEDICAL LEAVE because she was allergic to the Prison diet."
   --------------------------------------------------------
   Pg. 226] BLAZE STARR (pka: FANNIE BELLE FLEMING)
   " Born during the depression"; left home at 16 to Washington D.C. and became a FAMOUS stripper named: Blaze Starr"
   eventually moving to New Orleans, still in the stripping business, "buys a CLUB and Hires many of her neices and siblings to work for her."
   ---------------------------------------------------
   [pg, 229] BONNIE PARKER
   ----------------------------------------------------
   pg. 233] MARIE LAVEAU
   'married in 1815. died in 1881'; By 1830 "she was the dominant voodoo force in the city ( NEW ORLEANS).."
   ----------------------------------------------------
   Pg. 242] TAMMY FAYE BAKKER
   
   ----------------------------------------------------
   AT THE END OF THE BOOK- a note about the WILD WOMENS ASSOCIATION
   (located: Berkeley, CA.)
   "Conrai Press founded the WILD WOMEN ASSOC. The Associations primary purpose is to rediscover and rewrite our wild foresisters back into history."
   
   
   



2. I bought this book because I loved the cover. Admittedly, I didn't do much research about it, but wish I had. This book is anything but about true Southern Belles. There are a few women in this book who might fit the real description, but even they are marred by the author's insistence on revealing all the negative and dark side of these women. Don't be fooled..this book is not about true Southern Belles. I was born, and raised partially, in the South and was taught that a true Southern Belle is a woman who embraces her feminity, is proud of her heritage, passes on traditions and always conducts herself like a lady. That definition seems to upset the author because she includes many women who are anything but Southern Belles. Just because a person was born in the South doesn't make them a Southern Belle. The author seems to think that just by virtue of being Southern born, that makes one a "Belle." Her book proves just the opposite. Then when I finished the book, I saw that the publisher is located in Berkeley, CA (surprise!) and is associated with a group called The Wild Women Association, also out of Berkeley. If you are looking for a book about true Southern Women, a.k.a, Belles, I suggest you read Ronda Rich's book, "What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should)" or Deborah Ford's "G.R.I.T.S. - Girls Raised in the South."



3. I picked this book up at the Margaret Mitchell Museum in Atlanta. Being a southern woman I found the title and the subject matter interesting. Boy am I ever glad I read this little book! It was pretty intriguing to read 2-3 page summaries about historical and current southern women who've made an impact or just made there presence known. I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It's a quick and enlightening read.



4. This is a great little find. There are some great quotes and it's just plain fun. Who ever knew that there were pirate belles or native american belles, American revolution and confederate spy belles.



5. A glorious book - a celebration of southern women, and all that they stand for, from their notorious southern charm to their unique and equally-infamous 'darker' side. They're all here - Tallulah Bankhead, Scarlet O'Hara, Priscilla Presley, as are many lesser-known but just as 'potent' southern belles. Photos, tributes, anecdotes, photos. The entertainment quotient is high and what a history lesson!!!

5 comments about Having It All: Love, Success, Sex, Money Even If You're Starting With Nothing.

1. I purchased this book for my social research (got it for 33 cents in a used book bin!) As most reviewers have noted, the writing style is pretty bad, and I think it was written that way, in part, to appeal to the readership of Cosmo, which HGB edited. I think the content is far shabbier
   
   The best thing I can say about this book is that it gives you a good picture of what life was like in the 40's, 50's, and 60's for a woman who didn't want a family, wanted a high paying job that didn't require education, and had no sexual inhibitions other than what was physically unpleasurable. It wasn't a common type of woman back then, and it isn't common today. That said, as a guide book, its not suited to most people.
   
   The title 'having it all' is poorly chosen; a given in this book is that any woman reading it doesn't want a family (a HUGE concern for women today is how to balance career and family). I think it should have been titled 'having some of it'. Not to disparage HGB for her choices, but from the tone of her writing you can tell she assumes there are many women who would understand her, and there aren't. One reviewer called her a fruitcake, that sums it up for me too.
   
   As a sex guide, her advice on sleeping with married men and juggling is bad advice, to say nothing of her ignorance of STDs. As a career guide, it's way out-dated. In her day you could move up from the secretarial pool into the ad agency boardroom; no college degree, no internships, no technological savvy, no art training required. I don't see that happening today, but the book gives a great historical view of career climbing. I gave it 2 stars for that.
   
   I don't recommend this book as a personal guide, it makes a bad gift too. even your most liberated uber feminist friends ( and I put myself in that category) would think it basically weird.



2. I agree with the other 1 & 2 star reviewers. This book had potential, but got lost in the authors endless sentences & Narcissism. This is basically padded common sense. It was at least 100 pages too long, & somewhat repetitive. This is a find-yourself before you can be happy with a mate type of self-help book. The only thing new & refreshing was that this author unlike many feminists did not spend much time bashing, or trying to fix men. Read Camille Paglia, Susan Faludi & Norah Vincents books if you want some insights that have more than the authors opinions to base their points on.



3. What a weird little skeletal-like woman. Starving herself, giving up sugar (though she admits going back on in later books), working constantly, never having kids and dismissing them as tiresome, expensive burdens to one's career, bragging incessantly about dinner at the "Cap De Ville" (some tres elegant locale) while in Granada (some tres elegant locale), enthusiastically endorsing sleeping with married men while stating she'd die if hubby did, geez!



4. This book is incredible. Reading this book was like talking to my hip girlfriend. HGB writes about finding your path in life. This book is filled with good, solid common sense advice. This is one of those books that you will refer to time & time again!



5. After seeing an entertaining Biography special on Helen Gurley Brown, I thought I'd track down one of her books. Unfortunately, Ms. Brown's overuse of italics and endless sentences make this book tiresome and impossible to read. She has basically sound advice, but finding her pearls of wisdom is like finding a needle in a haystack -- her nonstop jabbering over several hundred pages is a witless mess, rather than a useful guide for the modern woman.

5 comments about Carole Lombard, the Hoosier Tornado (Indiana Biography Series).

1. This book read as if the author just accumulated facts from other writers and listed them in a sterile "here are the facts and only the facts" type of way. Not fun. Not very interesting. Very little insight into Carole Lombard.
   
   Really a disappointment.



2. Reviewed for H-Indiana by Randy Roberts (rroberts@sla.purdue.edu), Department of History, Purdue University

   Nobody did it better. She did not invent the type, the scatterbrained blond who spoke faster than she thought, but Carole Lombard made it her own. When I think of her my mind wanders first to My Man Godfrey (1936), a film that without Lombard would be forgotten today. Except for a few fine character performances, and a couple patches of nice writing, it is not really that good of a film. But her breathless charm, her inability to finish a sentence without gasping for air or mouth a sentence that seems to contain a period, carries the entire production. Five minutes into the film the viewer is hooked. How could William Powell, or anyone else, resist her? I cannot imagine another actress in the role without wincing, nor can I picture anyone but Lombard being able to carry Ernst Lubitsch's brilliant, sardonic, and poignant To Be or Not To Be (1942). The two films illuminate another vital aspect of Lombard: She brought out the best in her leading men. William Powell and, particularly, Jack Benny were never better. Although Lombard lacked the range of Barbara Stanwyck, she is like Stanwyck in the respect that their finest films are ageless, as fresh today as they were in the 1930s and 1940s.

   Wes D. Gehring's Carole Lombard: The Hoosier Tornado is a brief, valuable examination of Lombard's life and films. Part of the recently inaugurated Indiana Biography Series, it reminds us that she was born Jane Alice Peters on October 6, 1908, in Fort Wayne, though Indiana only played the part of bookends in her life. Her mother relocated the family--sans husband--to California when the future star was still a young girl, and, of course, Lombard was returning from Indianapolis to Los Angeles after a war bond drive appearance when the plane she was in crashed west of Las Vegas. She died on January 17, 1942, three months after her thirty-third birthday. What was most important about her life, the films she dominated as an actress in the years between 1934 and 1942, had almost nothing to do with Indiana.

   Gehring, a professor of film, does not take a fashionable academic approach to Lombard's career. Today, more than ever before, writing about movies is divided between two poles: the theoretically oriented and the biographically inclined. Gehring largely goes the biographical route. He traces Lombard's early career, her automobile accident that scarred her face (never very noticeable) and changed her conception of herself, her marriages to William Powell and Clark Gable, and her salty language and fine sense of humor. But most of his biography is devoted to her films, her relationships with cast members and directors. What emerges is the portrait of an actress caught between worlds. We use the word "Hollywood" with exquisite imprecision. Is it a place, an industry, a product, or a state of mind? It is all these things--and more. It is worlds inside worlds--worlds of agents and producers, directors and stars, the Cocoanut Grove circle and the Ronald Colman clique. Lombard maneuvered through these various worlds, attempting to define herself when everyone else (mostly powerful men) wanted to control her. It all makes for an interesting story--a Hollywood story about Hollywood.




3. ... but, as some reviewers have noted, it's not for the die-hard fan. That's because the book is basically a rehash of well-known anecdotes and draws heavily upon other biographies and articles. As for the lack of photos/thin volume, one must keep in mind that this was published by the Indiana Historical Society. It's very expensive to get the rights for photos, not to mention print them on high quality, glossy paper. Like another reader however, I give high marks just for getting a book on Lombard published - and that can be attributed to the Indiana Historical Society. I've published books and I have been pitching a biography of Carole Lombard for YEARS. I even have a complete outline and have chalked up years and years of research ... but publishers don't want to touch it. They just don't think she'd sell. There needs to be an angle, etc.

   So this is the first book in a long time to be devoted solely to Lombard. In fact, it's been over 30 years since there has been any great interest in her. In the early and mid-70s there were a rash of books: Frederick Ott published 'The Films of Carole Lombard', Warren Harris published 'Gable and Lombard' - a poor film adaptation was made with Jill Clayburgh and James Brolin. Joe Morella published, 'Gable & Lombard & Powell & Harlow' and Leonard Maltin published 'Carole Lombard'. Then Larry Swindell published 'Screwball' - the only true biography of Lombard, which was also published during a time when so many of her peers were still around to be interviewed. Lyn Tornabene's bio of Clark Gable, 'Long Live the King' was published during this time and contains perhaps the best descriptions of Carole Lombard ever - sort of a bio within a bio. Several years ago, there was a glimmer of hope when Robert Matzen published a bio-bibliography of Carole Lombard. It was a rather dry read and suffered from odd print - but it was afterall, a bio-bibliography and so it was good in that respect. So, Gehring's book is really the first of its kind since Swindell's 'Screwball.'

   I agree that Carole Lombard deserves so much more - and she should be able to stand alone (not just as the star-crossed, glamorous appendage of Clark Gable). I haven't given up hope yet! Although this book is not the best read, having it out there is very important and fans must keep in mind that the author was probably limited to the publishing house's resources. If you enjoy Lombard's movies and don't know much about her, this book is a good starting point.




4. The book was poorly written. It started with her death, but shed no new light to what the average movie fan already knew. It seemed that the writer went on the internet, found some old articles and put them together and called it a book. I read it in one hour and just finished it simply because I started it.



5. I'm giving this 3 stars just for existing. Actually writing and publishing a book on Carole Lombard, a great comedienne unfortunately best remembered today for being the blonde half of "Gable and Lombard"(if you asked most people under 50 to identify her picture-or conversely, tell you what she looked like, they probably couldn't, unlike Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers or any number of other 1930's greats), gets the author points from me. Also commendable is the lack of breathless, over-the-top language "movie star" bios are so often filled with, being more "fan fiction" than fact. Too bad, then, that this book is so slim, as it's unlikely another publisher will put out anything else on her for some time; this one only made it into print on the basis of Lombard's being born in Indiana-and this is apparently one of a proposed series of "Hoosier"-film-related biographies to come. That said, while the author has done some research, there's not nearly enough here, either biographically or contexually and critically, to justify owning this for any but the most die-hard Lombard fans...of which I'm one. The photograph selection is particularly sparse and uninspired, criminal when writing about such a beautiful, photogenic woman as Lombard was.
   There are almost NO candid shots, there's exactly ONE, often-printed "personal" photo of Lombard when she was 8 years old...many films are passed over, and there are a few glaring mistakes(note to Mr. Gehring: sir, any casual viewing of Carole's films will show that her famous scar (received in an auto accident in her teens, almost preempting her film career before it started) was on the LEFT, NOT the right side, of her face. What a weird error for a man to make who claims to have "lived surrounded" by Lombard memorabilia for years!). In sum, I'm disappointed that this book, which had the chance of being so much more, amounts to a long magazine article rather than a complete and definitive biography. The author does, however, have a deep affection for his subject, and does offer a few new insights-a few.
   My recommendation for best-to-date stories and reflections on this great, great performer would be David Chierichetti's "Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director", an oral history of one of Carole's best directors, who also was an intimate friend of hers. Go for that one instead. if you must choose. And certainly check out "Nothing Sacred", "My Man Godfrey", "Hands Across the Table", and "To Be Or Not To Be", to name a few of her peerless films.

No comments about Business As Unusual: My Entrepreneurial Journey, Profits With Principles.