2 comments about Fireweed: A Political Autobiography (Critical Perspectives On The P).

1. Gerda Lerner, one of our most important historians, has written a magnificently honest and perceptive autobiography. She takes us through her youth in Vienna, her imprisonment by the Nazis, her escape to the United States where she married, raised children and built a new life, her years in Hollywood and New York, and her experiences as a radical during the McCarthy period. It is an engrossing, very human story that will touch and enlighten all who read it. We can only hope that Lerner will follow it with a volume that relates the story of her years as a historian who helped to create modern women's history.



2. An honest, courageous and illuminating account of a radical life. Also a reminder that our current troubles are not unique. Lerner's account of the persecution of members of the Communist Party USA during the 1950's, the abrogation of their civil rights and the threat to their livelihood should be a warning to us today.

5 comments about Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea.

1. I did my best with this book but I couldn't finish it. I was underwhelmed by the writing, which seemed geared toward young adults and readers of romance fiction. The numerous description of the author's vanished consort and the cliched snippets of erotica that went with them were too much for me. I felt at times that I was reading one of those books that people leave behind on airplane seats. This doesn't detract from my admiration of Ms. Ashcraft and her journey. I just wish she'd chosen a different collaborator.



2. A man would probably never write this story. But don't let that stop you from reading it. I'm guessing the negative reviewer who gave this book a measly 1 star is someone who never faced danger or had to deal with extreme loneliness and loss.
   
   This is a painfully honest and sometimes embarrassing look back at the experiences of a young woman who survived at sea after her boat was knocked down and dismasted in a hurricane and her soul mate swept overboard.
   
   In fact, it's the savage honesty and emotion that makes this book unique in the genre, which is why I say no man who survived at sea would write it. I've read many survival at sea stories, and many solo-circumnavigation stories, from both men and women. Thinking back to the other stories, I can't say for sure if the authors were as forthright in their description of mental anguish and emotional pain. Let's face it, some people may not want to admit these weaknesses, and others, well, they just don't have them.
   
   It happened a couple of times, while reading "Red Sky...", I was on the verge of saying, "Sheesh, OK already. It happened. Get over it." But because I recently experienced a tragic loss, and perhaps because of my frame of mind, I understood what she was going through and never actually reached the cringe factor breaking point. The truth is, her age, her isolation, and her loss, made me think her method of coping was actually logical and healthy -- and also instructive to others who have experienced a tragic loss, regardless of where, how, or when.
   
   This is a part nautical survival, adventure romance and self-help grief book. If you want a primer on how to survive a knock down at sea, you'll need to buy something else. If you want to read how a guy survived by making a fish net out of his underwear, or built a still from his jacket lining, you might want to pass on this one. Believe me, there are great books written by people who survived a lot longer on a lot less than Tami Oldham Ashcraft. Yes, this one has plenty of authentic boat talk and adventurous sailing and ports of call; there's also plenty of gushy romanticizing and therapeutic purging, a lot of the latter in the form of inner voices.
   
   Some people might find the inner voice references a bit too metaphysical. I found them logical and introspective. They made sense to me, given her situation, and, obviously, it's not such an uncommon theme. Look at the movie with Tom Hanks, Castaway, in which he befriends a soccer ball named, Wilson. I, myself, have spent a good deal of time in isolation. I know about inner voices.
   
   If you want an honest first person account of a young woman's mental and physical trials at sea after a terrible loss, written by a spiritual, adventurous, emotionally-bare person, this is one I would recommend.
   
   -seabgb



3. As a cruising sailor I was hesitant to read this book - knowing that it would not have a happy ending. However, it was truly a fascinating story because it takes you through a journey that had to be real and not fiction. It makes you contemplate whether you would have had the strength and knowledge to survive under such terrible circumstances. A must for all cruisers to read - it will make all of you be much more concerned about safety and weather conditions and teaches the importance of boat knowledge. This book teaches that you can't take life for granted.



4. The title is a paraphrase of the old saying, "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning," but the sky was gray and stormy when the Hazana capsized, throwing Tami Oldham¹s fiance overboard. Losing Richard Sharp was just the beginning of Tami¹s forty-one-day struggle to survive. This is the story of how she overcame her intense grief and loneliness, found the will to go on alone and, despite her physical and emotional wounds, sailed the crippled Hazana over 1500 miles to safety.
   
   The story begins on September 23, 1983, as Tami and Richard leave Tahiti for what they believe will be a side trip on their cruise around the South Pacific and New Zealand. A British couple has hired them to deliver their boat to San Diego while the couple flies home on a family emergency. What happens after Tami and Richard leave Papeete Harbor will have you absorbed until the last page.
   
   Tami¹s descriptions of her fear and despair are so real that you can almost feel these emotions yourself. Though you know that she will make it through, you keep reading to see how she does it and to be reassured that she finds happiness again.
   
   The story moves back and forth between her early sailing days, her romance with Richard, and the journey that she ultimately survives alone. The idyllic scenes of their lovemaking on the boat and islands in the South Pacific make the final outcome especially poignant.
   
   As they fight to sail through a hurricane, Richard sends her below deck, saving her life. The last thing she hears is Richard¹s scream before she is knocked unconscious. When the storm has passed, Tami awakens to find that Richard is gone, the Hazana¹s motor and radio are useless, and all the masts are broken. She manages to figure out her position at sea using the stars, a map and some plotting instruments. Then she rigs a makeshift sail and heads for Hawaii.
   
   Alone and questioning her fate, she is answered by what she calls The Voice--leaving the reader to decide if The Voice is God, Tami's inner self, Richard, or the universe. The Voice ultimately talks her out of suicide and keeps her going on to find land or a rescue vessel. When she finds a box of cigars and a case of Hinano beer--Richard¹s and her favorite--and goes up on deck to smoke a cigar and drink the warm beer, you know she has turned the corner. Somehow, this woman will survive.
   
   It is not a direct path, however, from grief to hope. Tami slid into suicidal despair several times during her journey--even within sight of land at her journey's end. When she realizes the island within her view is not her imagination, her relief and joy break through on the page.
   
   As a Japanese research vessel spots her approaching and tows her into the harbor at Hilo, Tami wonders who will meet her. The days that follow are full of interviews, Coast Guard investigations, and reunions with family and friends. In her attempt to regain a normal life, she looks for someone to untangle her matted hair without cutting it off--a job which took three beauticians two days.
   
   For readers unfamiliar with sailing, there is a glossary in the back of the book. I must admit that I got tired of flipping to it for definitions of boat parts and sailing techniques, but providing definitions within the text probably would have taken away from the narrative tension. For instance, brightwork is the term for the unpainted, wooden boat parts that must be cleaned and varnished. I learned that people like Tami make a living doing this.
   
   The writing overall is smooth and engrossing. The story provides a fascinating look at the world of people who live on boats and sail around the world for weeks or even months in search of adventure.
   
   Perhaps most important, Red Sky In Mourning is a strong testament to the human spirit, the will to live, the voice within, and what one strong woman can do.
   
   From a review previously posted at www.storycircle.org/BookReviews.



5. This book was way overdue, it should have been on the market in the 80's, but I am not surprised this author needed years to digest the experience. I read the book in one sitting at first, but have been going back and back through it for the details. We live near the Atlantic shore and thought about buying a boat this summer. As each new "pre-boat" research book arrives through Amazon, that day we sail on anything we call our own is justifiably getting bumped another season, and then perhaps even another. There is just so much to learn.
   
   The part that stands out for me most is Tami's emphasis on the traditional science of celestial navigation - she and Tania Aebi together bring home that it wasn't so long ago (the 80's) that not everyone had a GPS, and that in the case of some catastrophic satellite failure in the future, basic survival skills (how to make fire) should never be taken for granted. A book for anyone contemplating or owning a sailboat, for certain ... for anyone owning a power boat, a smart buy ... for anyone who loves a great read .. that it is, too.

3 comments about Holy Woman: The Road to Greatness of Rebbetzin Chaya Sara Kramer.

1. A friend of mine who teaches Jewish studies, knowing my interest in hasidic spirituality, recommended Sara Rigler's Holy Woman to me. It's a fascinating portrait not only of the tzaddikah to whom the title refers, Chaya Sara Kramer, but also of her husband, Yaakov Moshe Kramer, whom many believe to have been one of the lamed-vav tzaddikim, one of the 36 undivulged holy men whose merit sustains the world.
   
   Chaya Sara, born in Carpathia, survived Auschwitz (alone of her family) and migrated to Israel in 1946. There she met and married Yaakov Moshe and settled in a small farming community. Their lives were devoted to acts of devotion and chesed (loving-kindness, the chief characteristic of God). Living in voluntary poverty (which shocked many of their visitors), they gave unstintingly of money and time. Having no children of their own, they opened their home to a number of severely mentally and handicapped children, raising them with love and dedication. (In reading Rigler's account of their devotion to children that the world rejects, one's reminded of Jean Vanier's L'Arche communities.) Worried about diminished opportunity for children of once-hasidic families to benefit from an orthodox education, Yaakov Moshe dedicated years of his life to raising tuition money for indigent Jewish kids. In all these acts of charity, Yaakov Moshe tried to encourage "mutual givers": getting together people who could give financial help with needy people who could give prayers and blessings in turn.
   
   One of the most fascinating points in the book is the story of Avramele, the retarded lad that the Kramer's raised from a toddler, and who was still living with Chaya Sara at her death. Chaya Sara and Yaakov Moshe considered Avramele a tzaddik in his own right, even though he had the intellect of a 5 year old. (In the Christian tradition, Avramele might be called a "holy fool.") For them, caring for Avramele was not only a loving joy. It was also an honor.
   
   Rigler's writing is fresh and engaging. She makes me very much wish I could've met Chaya Sara and Yaakov Moshe, and that I could've received their blessing. In only one way is the book a bit flawed. Rigler violates her own principle, stated early on, that saints are exemplary: merely observing their behavior is a spiritual tonic for the rest of us. Instead of letting her wonderful stories about the Kramers speak for themselves and letting us observe them through her descriptions, however, she breaks the narrative flow with "signpost" interruptions in which she offers spiritual reflections. In all honesty, I began to find the signposts intrusive, and stopped reading them after awhile. Aside from this, though, the book is highly recommended.



2. I'm not finished with it yet but I'm enjoying this book thoroughly. I feel like I'm learning a lot through the good deeds of this amazing woman. I often wonder at her outlook on life and how she decided on it. Especially after everything she lived through (i.e. Holocaust and watching her sister's murder at a death camp, among so many other things). The reason is that she gives Hakadosh Baruch Hu complete and total credit for everything. Sarah Rigler is an amazing writer and I'm already looking forward to reading her next book, "Lights from Jerusalem."



3. Ms. Rigler has produced a lovely first published work. Her style is very personal and warm, with her own thoughts at certain points in italic font.
   
   Portraits of two wonderful human beings striving to be the best individuals they can be. Something for all of us to take heart in and look at our own lives for reflection.

4 comments about Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War.

1. Stephen Oates is an outstanding narrative historian and a first-rate biographer. In this volume, he explores the life of one of the most remarkable woman in American history. Clara Barton was absolutely unwilling to accept the limited, simplistic role 19th Century society designed for women. Well-educated and dedicated to public service to the detriment of any personal life, she accomplished more in a lifetime than most women would a century later when opportunities were much easier for them to find. One of the finer qualities of Oates' writing is a complete unwillingness to pass judgement. Viewed from the perspective of her time, Clara Barton was pushy, ambitious, and entirely too willing to do things that were inappropriate or "unfeminine" in the pursuit of her goals. Viewed from a more modern time, these qualities are less objectionable, but at times she still seems to be an overpowering force that many men today would find difficult to endure. Oates offers few if any opinions on Clara's personality but gives us a completely honest and utterly objective look at a woman who was absolutely unwilling to conform to society's expectations. One can only wonder to what heights of government service she would have aspired if she were born in the 20th century. I suspect from reading Oates' account of her personality and ingenuity that she would have won my vote.



2. The book is wonderful. Every woman should read it. It shows that anyone can stand out in a crowd and lend a hand no matter what form it takes. An inspiration to women everywhere! A very real account of her life, feels as if you are there with her. Please read it!



3. As a nurse I have heard and read about Clara Barton for years. This book finally reinvents the tired images - melodramatic icon of female self sacrifice and courage, angel on earth and of the battlefield - and offers the reader a compelling, warm and very real picture of the person and personality of this famous individual. We see all aspects of Clara's character and the impact of the many choices she makes. We even get to see a few of the skeletons in her closet. Without this book, I doubt we would know that there were any! The amount of detail - and it is considerable - is so beautifully woven into the historical narrative that the story, like the Civil War, sweeps the reader from one new experience to the next. Read this and you will feel the jolting of army wagons along rutted roads, struggle to rest as the canvas flaps of your tent crack and strain in storms, gallop with joyful abandon along the beaches at Hilton Head - and much more. I purchased my copy at Gettyburg and it is the best "souvenir" purchase I ever made. Bravo to Stephen Oates!



4. Mr. Oates has done it again. You will know Clara Barton ambitions, downfalls, her emotions as well as her eager drive and personal duty to serve those who suffered so much during the Civil War years. The contents of this book will jump out at you and you'll feel that you're right next to the personalities involved. Oh, what women had to go through to pursue a dream or an ambition to contribute to society. Clara has a heart of gold as her patients in and off the field well knew, yet she was being torn apart on the inside by the constant fear that she wasn't doing enough for "her boys". Her personal life was put on the back shelf as she persued her one desire, to help those who were less fortunate. You'll follow Clara as she goes through the blood, sweat, tears, agony and the horrors of the war. This is a true story of a dark chapter in our american history when brother fought against brother literally. It is also of a dream turned into reality that Clara Barton followed with a sincere robust ambition to pursue the betterment of her fellow man. By caring for the soldiers on the battlefield, she proved to the Union Army that those suffering needed love, compassion and of course medical care where it was most needed - on the front lines of battle. This is a must read book for those interested in hero's, Civil War history or nursing history. Stephen B. Oates is the author of other fine books in history and ranks right up there with the big boys in the writings of history

5 comments about This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace.

1. This is yet another attempt to water down the real cause of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reader will conclude that the agressor was not Serbia and Monteneagro, but....some crazy local politicians who succeded in fomanting the heatred after coming to power. Reader is fooled into beleiving that this heatred had nothing to do with previous history, which is full of bloodshed caused by this monsterous project of Greater Serbia. Personal tragedies of these woman are masterfully twisted into illusion that "we lived like a brothers during Marshall Tito", who by the way was one of the biggest criminals and dictatiors in the recent history. If I wrote this when this communist Tito was alive, I'd be in the gulag before this message treavelled from my computer to amazon's server. Poor book, full of illusions and lies! Stay away.



2. Swanee Hunt was the US ambassador to Austria for the later stages of the Bosnian war and the immediate aftermath, and one senses that as an outsider - a political appointee in the US diplomatic service - she was trying also to bring other outsider voices into the process. But she keeps herself largely in the background, and the book is a collection of interviews with twenty-six Bosnian women of diverse backgrounds, with the interviews edited and assembled by theme, to give a rounded picture of, say, perceptions of history, actual wartime experience, the chance of reconciliation.



3. Feeling utterly betrayed by their leaders, twenty-six women from all over Bosnia meet with Swanee Hunt, former US Ambassador to Austria and Chair of Women Waging Peace, a global policy initiative. In their own words, they describe the war which ravaged their country and reduced it to rubble. As they make clear from the outset, this war was not a result of age-old ethnic antagonisms in the Balkans, where city after city had been peacefully multi-ethnic and where most families had loyalties to more than one group. It was the direct result, they believe, of the nationalism fomented by unscrupulous politicians, especially Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic, as they seized power and wealth in the vacuum which existed following the death of Marshall Tito.
   
   The twenty-six speakers are Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, atheists (former Communists), and Jews, all bright, articulate women who are, and have been, working to heal their society. They include engineers, several journalists and physicians, a teacher, a member of the Bosnian Parliament, a professor at the School of Economics, a landscape architect, a member of the seven-member shared Presidency, a farm wife, a flower shop owner, a teenage student, and an art gallery owner, and they represent all areas of Bosnia, from Srebrenica to Mostar, Tuzla, and Sarajevo.
   
   With one voice, they blame their politicians for the atrocities of the war, pointing out that their leaders' manipulation of the international press and their sectarian chauvinism led to ethnic fundamentalism in a country which had previously been multicultural. The imposition of traditional roles on women led to their enforced withdrawal from decision-making, and they universally agree that that they might have been able to influence the direction of the country toward more cultural understanding and better communication if they had been allowed to continue their previous political, professional, and social roles.
   
   The stories here are lively, personal, often incredibly sad, and absolutely unforgettable. Beautiful color portraits of the women, along with brief biographies, make each woman a "living" voice, and the reader is struck by how much these women typify women around the world. Most remarkably the women, despite the losses of parents, husbands, sons, and friends, all continue rebuilding their country, ignoring ethnic labels as they work to get housing for all refugees, find medical supplies and equipment, establish a women's collective, work with rape victims, plan conferences to bring together women from all over the country, make radio broadcasts, organize news agencies, write books, promote international awareness of the atrocities in Bosnia (especially in Srebrenica), care for the elderly, become ambassadors, and run schools.
   
   Hunt's book and the words of these remarkable women are a major achievement in the understanding of this terrible war, a war far different from what most of us have been led to believe. Fourteen magnificent photographs, in addition to the women's portraits, will wring the heart--an unrecognizable national library, a snow-covered Sarajevo soccer field which is now a cemetery, and a decimated dormitory in the Olympic village. Yet amidst the carnage are smiling women who are changing the face of Bosnia. As Kada tells Hunt, "Thank you for telling my story. What's written down will last." n Mary Whipple



4. I found this book to be unbelievably moving, especially the pictures of the women, which helped me realize that these women are just like you and me, and that this could happen to any one of us. I can not imagine the strength required and exhibited by each of these women, and thank Ms. Hunt for sharing their stories. Every woman in America should read this book!



5. This is an exquisitely executed book about the struggles of women in Bosnia to survive the ravages of a war fuelled by political expedience and glamorized as an ethnic struggle. Swanee Hunt's own tone of moral outrage never eclipses the voices of the women she has interviewed. She writes of them with love, and also finds much love in them, a love only more startling for having survived such intense hatred. This book is a great, great achievement, both for its singular mix of empathy and for its clarity. As Primo Levi and Viktor Frankl found meaning in the Holocaust without diminishing its horror, so Hunt finds a language of strength and power in these compromised lives. This is a book about the very best and very worst of humanity.

5 comments about Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern.

1. I love the 1920's, the whole era was such an amazing time of transformation for women and the whole US. The 1920's were really the first modern era and the girls who called themselves flappers were the antithesis of their parents Victorian ideals. In our modern world few relize what a change it was for the United states that women were all of a sudden smoking, drinking gin, voting, wearing short skirts and having sex, but it was more then just jazz and gin and petting parties, it was a change of mind, a shattering break from the Victorian ideals and the beginning of the modern woman. The author sites important women of the time including Coco Chanel and Zelda Fitzgerald ( wife of the author) in illustrating the woman that was the flapper.



2. Yes, yep, ok - there is quite a lot here in the way of anecdotal and downright gossipy juicy goodness. Lots of little-known facts about political and social figures and about the Flapper as her own peculiar demographic.
   
   However, the author's assertions that Reconstruction was a good thing and that the Volstead Act achieved what it set out to do both give rise to the inevitable suspicion that if he was wrong on both these counts (as he very clearly was), then the veracity of his work and indeed his believablily as an historian is in serious doubt.



3. This book was such an enjoyable read. I was excited to get it after reading the good reviews and was not disappointed. I highly recommend it.



4. I found this book extremely fascinating. I often read literature about feminism and women, but hadn't ever read much about the 1920s. Although this book does center on F. Scott Fitzgerald for the first one-third or so, most of it deals with women of the so-called "flapper" era.
   
   Something that took me by surprise was the detail the author goes into regarding fashion of the day. The surprising part was that I found it fascinating! I'm not a big fashion buff, but think the idea of cultural critique via fashion is a very interesting one.
   
   The book is divided into thirds, with the first one-third being about, as I said, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, the "quintessential flapper couple," as well as various prominent figures of this era, including Lois Long, a writer for the fledgling "New Yorker"--which, interestingly, was not always as highbrow as it is now. These people had lives which could (and probably do) all fill books individually, so some of the mini-biographies feel a bit superficial, but I'm sure a book that was exhaustive would be several hundred pages long. The second portion of the book is devoted to fashion, and the final one-third of the book is dedicated to the films of the era. An epilogue describes the eventual fates of each of the book's main players.
   
   This is definitely a book well worth reading, but it has a couple of flaws. It does get dry in some portions, and you have to just "power through" to get back to the interesting parts. Obviously, these will vary from reader to reader, as I'm sure not all people would be as interested in the fashion portion as I was. One other fundamental problem, though, is that this could be subtitled "A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the WHITE Women Who Made America Modern." The author alludes to the fact that the flappers looked down on black women as not being "true" flappers--indeed, he derisively describes an article in which Lois Long mentions that black women in Harlem were doing the Charleston, and doing it not as well as white women, although African-Americans invented the Charleston themselves. He also includes a picture of an Asian-American actress who, according to the caption, "challenged the notion that flappers had to be white and native-born." That is as much of a mention as other cultures get in the book. It seems strange to touch on this subject of non-white flappers and then never say another word about it. If he was going to focus on whites, that's fine, but to bring up other races and not delve into those cultures seems strange. Better to leave it out entirely.
   
   This book is rarely dull and I learned a great deal about an era which has always had a degree of fascination for me, but about which I had never read. You will be entertained and you will learn something--what a great combination!



5. I picked up the hardcover of this as a fun, quick, summer read. I wasn't disappointed; it's very much like _Only Yesterday_despite the 75-year difference in publishing dates.
   
   I think that, overall, this is a good book, and I think that it makes many valid and interesting points about what made the 1920's so "revolutionary" and why the decade marked the beginnings of modern American culture.
   
   My two minor complaints were that--and this is mostly a matter of taste--I wanted a little more in-depth information, and I was disappointed that the section describing women's clothing of the preceding century was either carelessly researched or carelessly generalized. The description of the layers was inaccurate and, at best, reflected only that of the closing decades of the century. There was quite a lot of variation in dress between 1800 and 1910 and it was both unfair and misleading to lump the relatively comfortable clothing of the Regency era in with the extremely restrictive clothing of the second half of the century and the early 20th century. Regency women did wear corsets but they were not the waist-crushing monstrosities to which later generations were subjected; many were not even boned and served to smooth out the body beneath the dress rather than torque it into an entirely new shape, not unlike the Spandex foundation garments many women wear today. Regency clothing and undergarments in many respects had more in common with 1920's clothing than with that of any other era in recent history.
   
   It does make you want to run out and bob your hair, though!

3 comments about Manchurian Legacy: Memoirs Of A Japanese Colonist.

1. I ended up reading the book, Manchurian Legacy, in one sitting even though I had a lot of other things to do. That is rare for me. The story mesmerized me as I felt like I was learning something about my roots, my mother.
   
   My Japanese mother, to get away from the merciless firebombing of her city, at the age of 19 volunteered as a member of a repatriation team assigned to travel to Manchuria and to help in the repatriation of Japanese colonials there. After training for about a month, she flew to a city in the center of Manchuria on what happened to be the same day that the Russians invaded. She had quite an adventure hiding, being captured, incarcerated, starving, transported by rail in box cars and then force marched thru Korea, to be saved ironically by the enemy American soldiers that she was trying to escape. I am amazed at what she had to go through to get back to Japan.
   
   Not only did this book gave me an insight to what life was like in Manchuria for the Japanese during the end of World War II, it also gave me a glimpse of post-war Japan where both my father and father-in-law were stationed as part of the occupation forces. The stories about the period during the Russian invasion and how they and the local Chinese treated the Japanese colonials was very revealing. Even though Mrs. Kuramoto's experience was not so harrowing as my mother's adventure, the description of the area and the everyday life of the colonials helped me to understand this period of history in this part of the world.
   
   Even though the second part of the book about post-war Japan did not relate to my mother since she had a support system in place when she returned to Japan, the description of Mrs. Kuramoto's experiences with members of the American occupation force helped me to understand the situation that my father lived through during his term of duty in Japan.
   
   Enough of how the book impacted me. Here is a synopsis of the book: The Manchurian Legacy is a story about the life of a young woman born in Manchuria to Japanese parents living there during World War II. Her father is a minor Japanese government official which gave the family trappings of luxury which were not enjoyed by the local occupied Chinese residents. Kazuko was a patriotic 17 year old and to her parent's dismay, volunteered to join the Red Cross to aid in the war effort against the corrupt capitalists and communists. When Japan surrendered, the Russians invaded and the Chinese revolted, sending the Japanese colonialists into hiding. How the colonialists fared over the next year is a testament to their entrepreneurship and tenacious desire to survive in a culture hostile to their former oppressors. The post-war portion of the book focused on how Kazuko coped in Japan after being shipped there on U.S. transport ship and after being rejected by other relatives. This is also a story of her relationship with soldiers and contractors with the American occupation forces, and her struggles in a country not so accepting of the returning colonialists.
   
   A great read and highly recommended.



2. Recently I was given this book to read by a friend who is preparing to teach a university course on Japanese culture and women's narrative. I am voraciously reading the books that she is considering for her course and giving her feedback. I couldn't put this book down and cried at the end. What more can one say? I sit here now as a foreigner living in Japan and find this book offers me a window into Japanese history, culture and the voice of women that is not normally acknowledged. Everyone should read this book.



3. Manchurian Legacy is the book,I wished that I could have read when I was in the sixth grade.Readers of that age group could easily identify with the character of Kazuko as a young woman. It is rare to find a book that can appeal to both young and old readers. The author, Kazuko Kuramoto apologizes for her writing, as English is her third language. I believe, this is what makes the book so readable. She does not bog the reader down with flowery language. What Kazuko does give the reader is a feeling of what it was like to have lived in Manchuria as a colonialist before and doing WW II.The real charm of the book is that it does not assume the reader has any knowledge of the historical events that shaped the narrative.A brief explanation that doesn't bog down the story gives you a context to understand and enjoy her memoir. The immense popularity of a book, "Angela's Ashes" shows that readers have a desire for personal stories of the ordinary man. Kazuko's story deserves to be read by as wide a audience as "Angela's Ashes"

5 comments about The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War.

1. This is a wonderful book. It is interesting in the discussion of village life in Viet Nam during the war. It is also an interesting retelling of the physical, emotional, and spiritual journey of the little girl, so well known from the photo. The entire story of what happened to this little girl is quite readable and in fact inspirational. I did not find it to be sappy in any way, and in fact quite moving. I highly reccomend the book.



2. This is the life story of Kim Phuc, with supporting coverage of the horrors of Vietnam and the endless legacy of pain and sorrow caused by the war. Kim was captured on film in the devastating news photo form 1972, as she ran naked and screaming from a napalm attack (which turned out to be a friendly-fire accident, to boot). While reading this book, I was unable to stop flipping it over to look at the famous photo on the cover again and again, as writer Denise Chong does an outstanding job of bringing Kim and her story to life. Granted, the book does have a few weaknesses. Chong obviously saw the need to add background information about the war to support Kim's story, though in the attempt to summarize or introduce the issues and politics of the war, Chong's coverage seems simplistic and perfunctory. Also, as Kim's biography progresses, Chong is trying too hard, and inconsistently, to make the book "inspirational," with Kim's inner thoughts and reflections on her ongoing struggles coming across as forced and sappy in places.
   
   But these weaknesses do not damage the overall success of the book, because Kim's life story is definitely compelling, and her postwar struggles are especially informative. We learn about the wartime travails of Kim's middle-class Vietnamese family, culminating in the horrific day when she was injured and barely survived. Kim has suffered through chronic pain and constant health problems stemming from here severe napalm burns. Meanwhile the incompetent new Communist regime in Vietnam used her for years as a pawn in propaganda schemes, and ruined her once successful family. Kim spent most of her teen and young adult years trying to escape the regime's clutches and finish her schooling; and interestingly, she observed the collapse of two Communist systems, both at home and as an exchange student in Cuba. (She now lives as an activist in Canada.) Chong's coverage of the postwar hardships of those affected by the Vietnam War is especially valuable, because you see little of this type of material in standard war texts. And you will surely root for Kim Phuc as she slowly puts her lifetime of horrors behind her. [~doomsdayer520~]



3. I liked this book because it gave me a portrait of one girls struggle with the affects of war, how she was used by both side of the struggle as a poster child and how she got through it all. I am close in age to Kim Puc and the photograph of her affected me when I was young. I had not heard about this book when I came across it at the library. It turned out to be a good story and an informative lesson in a story of living through the Vietnam War and beyond. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a story of survival.



4. You don't really enjoy a book like this. It's a story of almost unremitting suffering. I found the story riveting, well written and troubling. Of course, I knew the picture and I'd seen the documentary when I was in England several years ago, but the details in the book and the evident research provide a much deeper understanding.

   It is a very human story, the suffering of one girl in particular, but also her family, and she is one of many. The book gives a concise account of the historical background to the bombing. It will serve as a good introduction to those that do not know about these events, and will be useful for visitors to Vietnam.

   The author also narrates the stories of members of Kim Phuc's family and their struggle for existence during those hard times. I've been to Vietnam, including Saigon, not far from where the awful atrocity took place, so I feel a closeness to the place. I saw the famous photograph in the American War Crimes Museum (now renamed) in Saigon.

   My life in Bali cannot compare to Kim Phuc's, but I understand a little some of her family's difficulties - the paranoid fear of Communism in the 1960s (there was an alleged Communist coup in Indonesia in 1965), the hard work involved in running a small restaurant (I started mine from scratch in 1974 just like Kim's mother did) and the hassles of dealing with officials (the author describes these well).

   It is doubly distressing that Kim Phuc was so cruelly used and cheated by others for their own purposes. Governments, officials, journalists. One can only have contempt for them and wish Kim Phuc a better life in Canada.

   I would certainly recommend this book to anyone. It has 370 pages and there are several pages of photographs.




5. I have read hundreds of books on Vietnam. This is one of the best. It really gets across the point of view of those poor peasants in the rural areas caught between the communists on one side and the government on the other side. That the girl survived was a miracle. All the pain and suffering that resulted after the communists took over is well documented. This young lady because of the photo was helped from time to time by those on both sides. She became a personal friend of Pham Van Dong the Communist leader of Vietnam. Yet this did not stop her or her family from suffering under the communists.

1 comments about One Day He Beckoned: One Woman's Story of the Difference Jesus Made.

1. One Day He Beckoned is the moving testimonial of one woman's personal experience with Jesus' holy and healing influence. Presenting a legacy that blends real-life considerations with practical understanding of how the world works and an enduring spiritual connection, One Day He Beckoned is Christian inspiration at its highest. Antoinette Bosco is to be commended for her candor and her willingness to lay open the tragedies of her personal life for the benefit of the larger Christian community.

5 comments about Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage.

1. I read this book one winter day tucked safely and warmly under my bed covers. In the summer I signed up for a kayak trip with the author. Did the book inspire me--you bet! And I've been going on adventure trips ever since. I've bought the book for friends who love it as well. It's an exciting read but more importantly, for me, a life changer. Marilyn McLauchlan Bainbridge Island, Wa



2. For those who have ever dreamed of taking a trip through Alaska's Inside Passage, Jennifer Hahn's Spirited Waters might be the closest thing to making that dream come true. With every page reader's can feel the freedom, the thrill, even the tension and moments of fear that Hahn experiences--whether cause by acts of nature (predictable and unpredictable) or acts of people along the way (well-intentioned or otherwise).
   
   Motivated in part by the untimely deaths of her mother (when Hahn was a young girl) and then her brother when he was just 32 and in part by the persistent "whispers" of her own dreams, Hahn knew "it was time." "Dreams," Hahn says, "I've learned have the patience of Job. Like mushroom mycelium, they can live underground for years, laying a vast framework while awaiting an opportune rainstorm to waggle their fruits. Unbeknownst to me," she continues, "such a storm was approaching as I strode into my early thirties...Whatever dreams lay sleeping inside me; my intuition said I'd better roust them ASAP. For all I knew, like my adventurous mom and my brother, I might not live past my mid-thirties, either."
   
   Armed with the survival skills she had learned over the years and had been teaching for almost 15 years, as well as the tools of survival she could fit into her kayak, Yemaya, she set off--alone!
   
   "Kayaking, "she says, "offers the traveler one of the most holistic and sensual rides," largely because one can move "at a walking pace" in a kayak. At maybe three miles per hour (if there's no wind or current) the traveler can observe--see, hear, feel--the smallest details in the water, the flora, the fauna, even the wind and the water current.
   
   Hahn's adventure--72 days on the water--spanned two summers and two springs with breaks in between during the most unrelenting Alaskan climate. While she spares no details, readers flow through the pages and the chapters as smoothly and adventurously as Hahn flowed through the Inside Passage.
   
   As impressive as the thoroughly engaging and often poetic prose are Hahn's delightful, detailed maps and illustration of birds, plants, flowers, and animal tracks. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book, laden with wonderful insights, tales of trials and trails, and exciting accounts of seemingly endless adventures.



3. I just finished reading Jennifer Hahn's Spirited Waters. I admire courage where ever I see it especially in the water since I can't swim! But Hahn's book is about more than courage. It's about the beauty of nature and the loneliness of a solitary adventure.
   
   I felt as though I was with Jennifer in that kayak experiencing the grandeur of the Inside Passage and navigating unknown treacherous waters at every turn. I loved her ability to convey her fear during a storm and her strength in rallying her inner resources to conquer it.
   
   Most of all, it was Jennifer's writing style and observations of things such as the wildharvesting and my amusement in her description of plucking seaweed for a snack.
   
   I will probably never be in a kayak much less traveling 750 miles in one in seventy days but Jennifer Hahn brought the experience to me in Spirited Waters. I marvel at her ability to breath life into her experience through the written word as well as the drawings that enhance the story. Reading about her adventure put me in the story with her.



4. Spirited Waters is not just another run of the mill, macho adventure story. Don't get me wrong, you'll find plenty of excitement, danger, and a wonderful guide to roughing it in the remote Pacific Northwest, but this book offers so much more. This is a moving journey of self discovery in one of the last great wildernesses of the Pacific Coast. Hahn is a true wild woman whose love of the natural world makes her stories lush with detail, a succulent feast for your mind's eye. I've finally found my ideal wilderness adventure reading, a beautiful narrative inspired by a passion for all things wild, and written from the heart.



5. From the title I was expecting to read about a solo kayak trip from Alaska to Washington. What we get in the book is a series of shorter trips over a few years where the author is not even going in the same direction. As soon as any discomfort is looming the author heads to the nearest B&B, boat or lighthouse to scrounge a place to sleep for the night and a meal. She always introduces herself to strangers as paddling from Alaska to Washington which seemed to be a bit of an ego trip when in reality she was on a 1 or 2 week paddling trip. There were endless descriptions of seaweed to pad the book out. I ended up skimming the book faster and faster looking for something interesting to actually happen but it never really did. There are plenty of inspirational books on expeditions or trips, not this one though which is just one big disappointment.