1 comments about A History of Women Photographers.

1. This book deserves all of the praise it has earned. Dr. Rosenblum is passionately involved in the art and craft of photography. She has a world view that she puts to great use here. One of the best and most respectful things about this survey, aside from its obvious profusion of well-chosen photographs and the assured and authoritative commentary, is the effectiveness of Dr. Rosenblum's knowing method of assemblage. In the arrangement of these photographs there is ample room for readerly associations, emotions, and thought. The commentary, both in form and content, reinforces this. We are in the hands of a gifted teacher, in fact. Whether it is a series of photos of human hands, folds of clothing, leaves, children's faces, natural forms - the reader is taken on a deeply affecting, associative journey, and the results run deep. This is in addition to this book's obvious workhorse usefulness as a terrific reference work.

   One hundred pages at the book's end are devoted to notes, careful and thorough biographies of the photographers, a selected bibliography, and an index. The production values are first-rate. A wonderful book.

5 comments about Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses: Maud Gonne, Moina Bergson Mathers, Annie Horniman, Florence Farr.

1. This was a well-written and entertaining book. I have read other books which gave information on each of these five women, but this was the first which gave such great information on their occult lives. I was impressed by the historical research done on these impressive women. O! To have lived in London,Dublin and Paris during those times.Florence Farr seemed to me to be especially appealing; intelligent,talented and brave at same time. Ms. Greer has written a work to be proud of. It actually caused me to learn the Tarot.



2. This well written and extensively researched book gave me great insight into the Women of the Golden Dawn. One gets very accustomed to reading only about the male Golden Dawn figures such as Aleister Crowley and Samuel MacGregor Mathers. Finally, a book about the women and what interesting lives they led!
   I liked the way Mary Greer divided the 4 featured women into different archetypes, thus explaining the different roles they had within the Golden Dawn. It also gives contemporary women role models and a deeper understanding of our own psyches.
   The book was a fascinating read into these women's lives, what they accomplished and how powerful they truly were during the Victorian era!



3. The role of the women who were involved in the Birth and Death of the Order has largely been overlooked.

   It is highly recommendable if you would like a differing view of the rise and fall of the Order; it is an interesting combination of romance, drama, gossip, and historical information (Although I cannot attest to its accuracy). You are exposed to the flaws of the founders, and their weaknesses. While some of the interaction between members could come right out of Jerry Springer, it is still highly commendable.

   I must admit I had a difficult time putting this book down.




4. Women of the Golden Dawn addresses a subject that is rarely touched on in other books on the Occult Revival: the role of the women in this movement. Mary K. Greer weaves a tapestry of astrology, tarot, metaphysics, biography, and history. The book elucidates many magickal principles as skillfully as it recounts the story of four uncommon women. The extensive endnotes are especially intriguing; tarot readers will be very interested at the in-depth records of Golden Dawn tarot readings and interpretations.



5. The Golden Dawn magical order was founded in 1888. Although it admitted women, they have been often overlooked in histories of the GD.Mary Greer redresses this oversight.The four women in question are Annie Horniman, actress and writer Florence Farr,freedom fighter for Ireland Maud Gonne and the mystical Moina Bergson Mathers.Greer claims that these women were the true heart and soul of the Golden Dawn, and it is hard not to agree with her.Each woman had exceptional talents, and each made her own unique contribution to this magical Order.Much research has gone into this book and it is packed with information not easily found on the subjects.Interesting details of some of the magical workings are given, including some by Maud Gonne and W.B.Yeats.The personal relationships, the bickering, the magic--it's all here.

4 comments about Covered Wagon Women 3: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails 1851 (Covered Wagon Women Vol. 3).

1. More heartfelt, lively accounts from the Oregon Trail during the year 1851.
   Harriet Talcott Buckingham's diary is both poetic and colorful, describing prairies, mountain passes, river crossings, flora, Indians and other travelers met along the way.
   Amelia Hadley's writing style is very sincere. She not only visually describes streams, buffalo, landforms and Indians, but along with counting the number of graves they encounter, she also puts names to these graves (very historical).
   Susan Amelia Cranston talks much about the availability, or lack of, water, fuel and grass.
   Lucia Loraine Williams's party had quite an exciting but also quite dispirited journey. She lost her ten year old son due to a runaway wagon; had an Indian offer to swap her child for Lucia's three year old; thievery surrounding Fort Hall; etc. Her letter is just, truthful and illustrative of life on the trail.
   Esther Lockhart was also in Lucia's wagon train and her reminisces are both vivid and picturesque of the trek.
   The diaries of Elizabeth Wood and Eugenia Zieber are a delight to read.
   The jewel of the book lies in Jean Rio Baker's diary. A Mormon widow with seven children, she leaves England to make the pilgrimage to Salt Lake City. A fascinating read of courage, tenacity and nerve.
   Excellent book.



2. This is a treat to listen to in the car on the way to work. An extraordinary story - women, migration, inner strength. I shared this with four other librarians who all enjoyed the tapes and proclaimed this one of the best audio books they had ever listened to.



3. In COVERED WAGON WOMEN, the diaries & letters of three mature women on the journeys of their lifetime, record their trek west into the sun; across oceans, towns, rivers, farms, forests, prairies & deserts; friendly & hostile Indian territories until, at last they reach their journeys' ends.

   As you listen to actors Georgia Goodwin & Jane Merrifield-Beecher read the thoughts, observations & feelings of these three mother ancestors, you catch glimpses of how we used to live. They take us through springs of ground-level thunderstorms & sudden floods, summers of dust, mosquitos & enervating heat, & autumns of mild beauty & the biggest harvests they've ever seen. We learn of broken wagons, dying companions, days of endless trudging & nights of immense beauty. Over mountains, through rivers & down defiles, these intrepid women take us there with their simple, evocative words.

   COVERED WAGON WOMEN is truly a record of an adventure that shaped our nation & our psyche. The only thing missing are sound effects!




4. The latest release in the "Living Voices of the Past" series, Covered Wagon Women 1851 is drawn from the diaries and letters of women who experienced the travails of the wagon trails west in 1851. Edited and compiled by Kenneth L. Holms and used with the permission of the University of Nebraska Press, we are treated to excerpts from the diary of Lucia Williams and the epilogue of Esther Lockhart (superbly narrated by Jane Merrifield-Beecher) describing their trip from Ohio to Oregon. Also featured are excerpts (dramatically narrated by Georgia Goodwin) from the diary of Jean Rio Baker, a Mormon who traveled from Liverpool by Windjammer and to Salt Lake City by Prairie Schooner. Surviving exposure to attacks from Native Americans, the scourge of cholera and smallpox, and the many hardships and deprivations of a pioneer excursion in a covered wagon, Covered Wagon Women 1851 is an outstanding "living history" audio recording and strongly recommended for personal, school, and community library collections.

5 comments about Big Girl in the Middle.

1. when you first look at ms. reece, you wonder how a woman like her has problems. she's tall, she's pretty; not only has she excelled at sports and modelling, but she has also made movies...but like anybody else, she has her "down days" and her book " big girl in the middle" points them out as well as her good ones.
   
   The book, co-written with Karen Karbo, points out Ms. Reece's career as a professional volleyball player, and as a professional model. it also talks about her childhood in the carribean (trinidad) new york, and florida.
   
   just her childhood would be enough for a book. part trinidadian, reece moved around alot,growing up with other relatives and sometimes her mom.later she would discover sports and learned that she was good at it, getting a scholarship to play volleyball in college. she would go on to play professional volleyball for team nike,(she had a shoe named after her) which is the subject of this book. ms. reece also talks alot about being a big girl and how being a big girl gives her power, which she stresses strongly that she uses in a good way.
   
   personally,ms. reece could've written this book herself. not to take anything away from ms. karbo ( she's a good writer ) but ms. reece seems like she's smart enough to sit down and put her own story together. i thought it was cool that she played down her "glamazon" image. i think the main reason she played sports was because she didn't want people to think that she was a prissy barbie-doll type,which ms. reece shows is far from what she is.ms. reece claims to have a strong belief in god, which is refreshing;she never proselytizes her belief on anyone. she comes off as confident, not arrogant. her views on men and sex were bold. i won't repeat them here, you just have to read for yourself. she was featured in a usa today article a few years ago, which she was at the time giving advice to people. ms. reece has lived an interesting life. and it's worth reading about.



2. How would you feel if you were torn between two careers; modeling, and volleyball? That's what Gabrielle Reece encountered in her journey through life. This book, written by Gabrielle herself, was to tell the story of an extremely tall girl growing up mocked and taunted. I believe that this book is important for all vertically enhanced women.
   "Big Girl in the Middle" is basically about a girl named Gabrielle that grows up not knowing she is any different than anyone else, and is hit in the face with the fact of her abnormal height at the age of fourteen when she realized she was 5' 11". She does a few modeling contracts but likes playing volleyball for a living a little more enjoyable. She is on Team Nike and throughout her careers does horrible, many times not even winning one game out of tournament. This book is non-relational for many people of average height, and can be difficult to understand the stress she endured her entire life.
   I thought the book had its good moments but overall lacked the excitement that I feel it needed. I did like the moments in which the volleyball game was actually occurring and thought it was very descriptive and easy to visualize. The majority of the book was about her everyday life on the off seasons and her booming modeling career that she didn't want to pursue. If I could change this book I would change the random descriptions of her everyday life style. Overall, this book was a little boring and it annoyed me that she didn't take up modeling.



3. I thought Big Girl in the Middle would be a wonderful book to read. It's about a girl who is a professional volleyball player, and I really love volleyball. But when I began to read it, "Boy was I wrong!" I hate books that try to make you feel sorry for people and it seemed like that's all this book was doing. It was quite depressing, and I dreaded the thought of having to pick it up again each day to read another chapter. I like to read about some obstacles people have to overcome to achieve their goals, but this was a little extreme. It seems as though nothing good ever happened to Gabrielle Reece in her life, and when something finally did, it was taken away from her. Life is not easy (we all know that), so why make it worse for other people by writing about it?
   I also thought the book was difficult to follow. One minute they'd be taken talking about her childhood and the next thing you know they were in the middle of one of her games. She didn't always give her ages; she would just say that she did things after this and this. I also never really knew when or where they were talking. For example, I never knew if the conversations happened at her home, on the phone, on at the beach. It was just really tough to follow.
   The only good thing about the book is Gabrielle Reece. She is what every girl, at some point in her life, wants to be! She's been a model as well as a professional athlete. Most girls want to be idolized for their looks and /or praised for their athletic ability. Gabrielle Reece is both. She is a role model for many women around the globe.
   I would not recommend this book for those who are looking for a laugh, or an exciting or interesting story. I don't think it's a really good book at all. There was absolutely no humor in it. It was depressing and hard to follow. I wouldn't want to read it again!



4. I loved reading BIg Girl in the Middle! I was amazed to find that Gabrielle Reece was more fascinating than I thought she'd be. The girl is witty, beautiful, and she has some pretty deep thoughts on a lot of things-and a great deal of insight to back it all up! I think she should seriously be considered as a good example of a role model for girls, and some people out there would probably be better off if they acted more like her!



5. When I bought this book I was looking for inspiration in my everyday training/fitness. I found it, I think Gabby Reece is someone who has a lot of confidence and while reading her book I developed a likeness toward her and I enjoyed her openess and spunk.

4 comments about Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America.

1. This is a well thought out, organized and very important historical document/autobiography.



2. I was assigned Quiet Odyssey for an Asian American studies class, and I was riveted by the clean, simple prose. But the story is far from simple, I admire Mary Paik Lee for her incredible endurance and courage. As a second generation Asian American, my family's roots in the United States are relatively new, but now I realize, that it has been due to Asian Americans like Mary Paik Lee that allow me to lead and pursue the life I wish. Not only is Quiet Odyssey the story of her life, it is also the story of California. It's eye opening to see how much Los Angeles and the rest of California have changed since she first landed here. And lastly, Mary Paik Lee has some incredible spunk to do and say some of the things she did. Impressive.



3. I read this book in highschool while living in in Seoul, Korea. I am a Korean-American woman and I found the information in this book to be _invaluable_. Unlike similar historical works such as John Okada's 'No-No Boy' or Sui Sin Far's 'Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Writings', this is pure autobiography (or ethnobiography if you want to be technical). I cannot believe how lucky we are as Americans to get a first-hand account of a Korean-American living in turn of the century America, when there were literally only a handful living in the country at the time. The 'memoirs' are not only highly satisfying in themselves, they serve as anchors to the past in which to begin tracing a discernable branch of Asian-American history. Adds perspective in which to view today's world of American race relations. I think this is necessary reading for anyone who is interested in race, American society, and/or history. Will also appeal to minority activists.



4. I am a student from San Francisco State University and this is one of the books that I have to read for my Ethnic Studies Class. I really think this is a book made for student of Ethnic Studies and I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about history of Asian American.

5 comments about My Kitchen Wars.

1. This is a terrific memoir, intelligent and bitchy and gripping.



2. Fussell's book is entertaining. Her chapter title can make you laugh out loud. I think she might be fun to have as a guest at a party, but that's as close as I would want to get to her.

   In this book, Fussell recounts her life story -- leading up to her successful career writing about food. Mostly it's a story of how people did her wrong, from the wickedest of wicked stepmothers who readers could easily envision wielding an axe -- to her atrocious husband, Paul Fussell. Betty Fussell, according to her version of the story, has been surrounded by mean, vicious, cruel people whose main purpose in life was to smother her spirit. Even innocent bystanding neighbors and party guests are not spared her sniping.

   The people are so unremittingly awful in her story, that I quit believing a word she had to say about them before I was half way through the book. However, it did get me to read Paul Fussell's memoir as an antidote. It truly was an antidote -- with greater honesty and integrity and more human kindness, compassion and decency.




3. This is a war story of a different sort where the warrior is a woman & the battleground is her kitchen. Her weapons evoke a lifetime's need to make dinner, love & war. Betty Fussell has pried open the past, giving voice to a generation of women whose stories were shaped & silenced by an era of domestic strife & global conflict, the Elysian Fields between World War II & Vietnam.

   Fast, frantic & often tartly funny, where the author will snap your funny bone & suck out the marrow even as she prepares you a satisfying feast!




4. This author and her husband are bright people with untold years of schooling, obviously. First half of the book was more interesting to me as it described her formative years in California. I stopped reading at page 191 because it started reading more like a textbook than a memoir. There is no doubt this lady is supremely talented, particularly as to food preparation and giving parties. The last fourth of her book has about 25% French words due to the gastronomic nature of the narrative. There were so many of them they were like land mines and it became too dangerous to wade through the French vernacular. I quit; that's all.



5. As I read this book, my mouth dropped open more and more---not so much because of all the mouth-watering food descriptions, as because it seems like a tale from another time, as remote from my own as Chaucer's stories. Betty Fussell is original and engaging; her work is detailed and sensuous like that of the medieval bard. At one point she quotes an even more famous bard, Shakespeare, "An expense of spirit in a waste of shame," referring to the obsessive amount of time and energy she and her faculty-wife peers spent on their elaborate party meals.

   One doesn't have to be overly perceptive to realize how good food became such a priority in her life, as she tells us how all the food was "mush" in her childhood; or to realize that, however odd it may seem, she was relieved, even "euphoric"(her own word) at the loss of her third and last baby, since from an early age, she lacked a loving mother herself.

   Most of her book is about the postWWII era, an anomaly in American life, a time of great prosperity when even English professors made very good money and were able to acquire large, lovely houses and to make frequent trips to live for months at a time in Europe. Denied a career of her own in those pre-feminist times, she poured her efforts into cooking and became an "amateur" expert. (She even moaned the invention of the Cuisinart food processor, which made obsolete all those whisks and grates and sieves she had worked so hard to collect.) In an era of outwardly conservative conformity, she tells us of the troubled marriages and casual adulteries that seemed to be the norm in her circle. She had her heart broken twice: By a writer with whom she carried on an affair that lasted years, and by her husband, whom she caught in a homosexual encounter with one of his students.

   I love my Cuisinart. I have been a "faculty wife" now for as long as she was, and, like all my friends, my time has been taken up with wider causes than gourmet wooden spoons and garlic presses. Yet my heart goes out to this articulate woman, born less than twenty years before I was, whose life was so constrained and frustrating. There is a wrenching sadness about this book, despite the easy and prosperous era of its setting.

5 comments about Tomorrow to Be Brave: A Memoir of the Only Woman Ever to Serve in the French Foreign Legion.

1. I just finished reading Tomorrow to Be Brave a few minutes ago. What a fantastic book! I couldn't put it down. I will skip summarizing the book because others have done a fine job in doing just that. What I will say is that if you want to read a biography that reads like a novel - a novel that is full of excitement, adventure, and history - then this is a great choice. I had never learned much about the North Africa theater of WWII and it was very interesting to read about it. Especially, the section on Bir Hakeim. A final opinion, I have to completely disagree with a reviewer who said that Susan Travers was sometimes whiny. Ms. Travers was anything but whiny. For any person who has been far from home, far from the normal every day routine (to say the least), who is smelly and hungry and doesn't feel well, they can probably appreciate Ms. Travers fantasizing about a good meal and a hot bath. I honestly don't know how Ms. Travers did it. She wasn't whiny, just honest. That being said, I would strongly encourage both men and women, regardless of whether or not they have any interest in military history, to read this book. It will be time well spent.



2. This memoir of Susan Travers, "The only woman ever to serve officially in the French Foreign Legion" (book jacket) is an intriguing glimpse into the Second World War in North Africa. Travers, who in her younger life admittedly "acquired something of a reputation" (33), found the outbreak of WWII a turning point; determined to use her driving skills for a good cause, she signed up for the Croix Rouge (Red Cross). To be an ambulance driver, however, she had to become a nurse first, something Travers admits was never her strong point. Sent first to Finland, then West Africa, Sudan and the Eastern Mediterranean, Travers' driving adventures are entertaining, and the struggle between Vichy France and the Free French (led by de Gaulle) is riveting. The author does not claim to be a saint, and in fact at one point has one former lover sneaking into bed with her while she is covering up an affair with her employer - all staying in the same house! The great love of her life, according to this book, is General Marie-Pierre Koenig, commander of the North African outpost in Bir Hakeim. This is not an affair of equals, and frankly the picture of Koenig in the book seems to indicate a man who needs to be in power all the time, and will not tolerate any difference of opinion - Travers openly admits this, and by her own admission, is not always happy with the relationship. That aside, the sections on North Africa are illuminating: what the Free French forces were able to do in holding Bir Hakeim is laudable, especially with few supplies and little respect from their allies. Travers later life doesn't take up many pages, and the reader hopes that, after failed love affairs, when she finally marries, she will be happy. For a time, that's true; however, after she and her husband are sent to Vietnam after WWII, things fall apart, and after a brief separation in which he takes ill, their marriage is never the same. I found it interesting that despite her well-deserved heroics, there are many times in this book where Travers is, well, whiny - she complains about no baths or clean clothes, while it's obvious there are more important things to worry about...war is war, after all. I guess you could say these character traits are what makes the book entertaining on another level, but at times, the winging was annoying. Definitely worth reading, you'll learn a lot.



3. I'm a student of military history. I read a good deal of stuff on the Second World War, studying various battles and campaigns. A few months ago I read John Bierman and Colin Smith's book on the battle of Alamein, and it included information about a woman who'd been in the French Foreign Legion, and served during the battle of Gazala as General Pierre Koenig's driver, enduring the bombardment and siege of Bir Hakeim. I was interested in this, and obtained a copy of the book. Whoa! Susan Travers, now in her 90's, has a story to tell.

   The daughter of well-to-do English parents who lived in France for most of her adolesence, Travers spent most of the thirties on the continent, playing tennis, gambling, and cavorting with a series of lovers who were all uninterested in settling down with her. When World War II began, she decided to turn her independant streak (which had led to her learning to drive a car) into an asset, and join the armed forces, fighting for the Allies somehow. She wound up in the French army, trained as a nurse, drove an ambulance briefly in Finland, and then wound up in Africa.

   There she served briefly in the campaign in Ethiopia, then was moved to Syria. Here, the doctor that she usually drove for was greviously wounded, and his replacement couldn't stand the thought of a female driver. He complained to his superior, and the next thing Travers knew she was driving for Pierre Koenig, who at the time was a colonel in the Free French army fighting in Syria. Soon the campaign was over, and Travers could set up house with the married Koenig for several months, because the colonel's wife was conveniently absent.

   Their affair, however, had to remain secret for the most part. She stayed his driver when the unit he commanded was transferred to the Western Desert in Libya. Soon, the British ordered all women out of the Front lines, but she contrived to make her way back, and was at the post the Free French brigade held for most of the battle. This was Bir Hakeim, a crossroads in the desert that had been fortified with trenches and bunkers dug in the desert floor. Bir Hakeim was the southernmost part of the Allied position at the Battle of Gazala, and it was an important one. After initially attempting to take it quickly by storm, the Germans bypassed it and left its capture to the Italians, who repeatedly failed. The Germans then returned and also failed, and when the post was finally worn down to the point defense was no longer an option, the garrison surprised everyone by breaking out and escaping in their vehicles.

   The Bir Hakeim battle makes up the middle quarter or so of the book, and it's a marvelous story. Travers was Koenig's driver for the whole battle, which means that when the breakout occurred, she drove the general's car. The car was hit by numerous bullets, but she and her passengers survived without being harmed.

   After the battle, she and the general had to separate (the German propaganda machine made a thing of their affair) and she spent most of the rest of the war driving an ambulance or doctors. When the war ended she managed to enlist in the Foreign Legion, and served several years in overseas posts. Eventually she married a legionnaire, had children, and left the legion herself. When her husband finally passed away, she decided it was time to tell her story. I'm very glad she did.




4. Wow, what a life! Let's be thankful that there were people who kept insisting that Susan Travers' story be written while she was still alive. And thanks to Wendy Holden that story makes such fascinating reading that you find it hard to believe this is the story of a real life. I did not know much about the events of the Second World War that took place in Africa. So, while having been interested in the personal story of this fascinating woman, I got quite a bit more insight into the political events of that time as well. This part is definitely Wendy Holden's second major contribution.



5. You read this book and ask yourself, "Is this true, did this really happen?" But of course it's true. Only an honest person could bare their soul as does Susan Travers, with the brilliantly sensitive prose of co-author Wendy Holden.

   The story is spell-binding as our heroine bounces from battlefield to boudoir with breathtaking élan. So many words fall short- courageous, brave, intrepid, relentless, passionate and others- as she and her fellow Legionnaires take their stand on faraway battlefields, most notably Bir Hakeim in the desolate desert of North Africa.

   But the most appropriate word to describe ajudant-chef Travers is probably "driven". She sums it up on page 267 as she bids farewell to her dying father: "I'd spent so much of my life seeking his approval that having never really obtained it, his death only left me feeling more empty. Any chance to impress him now was gone and I felt cheated".

   'Tomorrow To Be Brave' is a work and a life. It speaks for itself. This woman knows herself and to herself she is true. How ironic and poignant that the "driven" hero of Bir Hakeim was in fact a driver (chauffeur) in the French Foreign Legion. Susan dodges pot-holes and pot-shots as she valiantly drives her paramour, the General, through the desert sands. She is truly an "angel of mercy" as she man-handles her ambulance in the muddy mountains of Italy.

   So much history. So much romance. So much intrigue. So much honest pride. So much heartbreak. It's all there. Who needs fiction with a story like this! A little knowledge of French is helpful but read it anyway even if you don't know what "ma cherie" means.

   Bon courage, La Miss. Merci!

No comments about Who in the World Was the Acrobatic Empress?: The Story of Theodora.

5 comments about The Extreme Makeover of Hillary (Rodham) Clinton.

1. I have never been a fan of Hillary Clinton. I found this book well written. I was not sure that she really thought the American people were so gullible but this book stripped away all those doubts. It certainly made my voting decision easier for this coming election.



2. This book is all about trashing Hillary Clinton which will appeal to some readers; however, the research is limited to information easily located with a fifteen minute Google search. The writing is sophomoric; as a result, Hillary comes off as a cardboard cut-out. I get the feeling Buchanan wrote this in a two hour stint on a Sunday afternoon when she was bored. Or maybe needing a little extra spending money. I am not a big Hillary fan, but she, like any literary subject, deserves fairness and accuracy. Read Hillary's Choice by Gail Sheehy instead. Carl Bernstein's book is also good but not as readable as Sheehy, although the Bernstein volume is more recent and addresses issues salient to Senator Clinton's bid for the presidency.



3. THE EXTREME MAKEOVER OF HILLARY CLINTON is a partisan sermon to the conservative choir. Bay Buchanan roasts "the old gal" for her stands on everything from national health care to the Iraq War and foreign policy. Unfortunately for the Clintons, they themselves have given her every reason to do so.
   
   I think Buchanan would agree that Hillary and Bill Clinton have lied about so much, so often, that they have come to believe the lies are true and the truth is a lie.
   
   Whitewater, cattle futures, travel-gate, 911 interviews about Chelsea, the vast right wing conspiracy, and on and on play into the hands of those who relish in her demise. The Clintons have lied to the press and the public about their transgressions; they shirk responsibility for their corruption. Hillary blames a "vast, right-wing conspiracy" for her husband's troubles as well as her own.
   
   Buchanan asserts that there is nothing Hillary Clinton will not lie about to further her ambitions. The truth seems to bear her out. Hillary has even lied about her name and where it came from! (Sir Edmund Hillary, her erstwhile namesake, climbed Everest six years after Clinton was named.)
   
   The central thesis of the book is that, in an effort to win the Presidency, Hillary Clinton has undergone a phony transformation from the left wing of the liberal party toward the center. Her real nature and values and views, however, remain militantly liberal. America is being presented a phony caricature: Hillary as a moderate candidate - in touch with and supportive of America's core values.
   
   Hillary Clinton is a liberal feminist, devoted to the cause of left wing economics: redistribution of the wealth through higher taxes and bigger government programs. She supports socialism although it has been discarded onto the ash heap of history by most thoughtful nations. He supports unrestricted abortions. She believes government is the answer for society's ills. She thinks the rightful role at the head of the family is the liberal vanguard (she and her friends) and the government.
   
   Americans are a forgiving group, by and large. Watchdogs like Bay Buchanan help us remember and recognize the obfuscation of history and be on our guard against the wiles of the enemy, lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.



4. This book was very helpful to my understanding of what makes Mrs. Clinton tick. It focuses more on her psychology than her behavior in public life. It claims that her overriding character trait is insecurity. It's especially strong in explaining how her mind works. According to it, she is a memorizer and regurgitator of information; she has an unchanging "consummate student" mindset, always eager to learn facts; and she tends to automatically make herself an expert on any subject she needs to understand (such as healthcare, in 1993). (From other reading, I know that this is exactly how Jimmy Carter worked. he was compulsive about memorization and preparation.)
   But the book goes on to say that this habit is Hillary's compensation for her weakness: she is not an original thinker, not a visionary (Bill is the opposite). Also, all her life she has been extremely impressionable; this is why, when in the White House, she was always taking advice from political advisors, New Age gurus, psychics, etc.
   
   The author of Extreme Makeover, Bay Buchanan, is conservative upfront (she is Pat Buchanan's younger sister), but is fair-minded and polite. It's not like reading an Ann Coulter book. Ms. Buchanan uses a folksy tone that gets slightly annoying at times, but it's not hard to ignore.
   
   I recommend this book, along with the late Barbara Olson's book *Hell to Pay*, if you seek to better understand Mrs. Clinton.



5. For some reason this country has made a sport out of hating the Clintons and eradicating all memory of the good they have done while recycling every twisted, malicious rumor. At least some of it has to do with the fact that she's a woman in power, and absolutely loathed for it. (Countries around the globe, from Pakistan--a MUSLIM nation--to the Philippines and the Ukraine--have or have had women leaders, but this hypocritical misogynist nation can't abide it. Too bad.) I think anyone who reads this should at least read "Living History" by Hillary Clinton, and get it from the horse's mouth--then they can make up their minds.

5 comments about As I Am: Abba Before & Beyond.

1. Agnetha Faltskog started her memoirs in 1983 with the help of Brita Ahman. She suspended their collaboration to become a recluse for a number of years. With the ABBA revival in the 1990's, Agnetha's book was finally released. Basically, Agnetha comes off as an airhead with little to say. She wants her privacy, will not discuss her many past and present lovers and dwells on death. Maybe I expected too much from this book, or maybe I wanted to create Agnetha in my own image, being a huge fan of ABBA music. Agnetha insists that she is a normal person, like everybody else. I doubt, however, that average people are so sensitve and conscious of their celebrity.



2. The lady's beauty is so astonishing, it may be hard to capture in a mass appeal project; may be something which actually clouded appreciation of her singing, dancing, and writing talent.
   Here we have a good career overview, with personal commentary and insights, plus a very useful discography.
   A reasonable presumption is that many more photos exist which really bring out her incredible onstage sensuality and charisma; her assertive femininity in an era of militant *feminism* presentiment. Her personae, through these pages, displays a total artist, a deeply philosophical one, who nonetheless knew her job was to make great music with a great group, and dazzle the senses.



3. Listen but once please to me, girl. When I was a punk in the mass company of punkhoodship in the seventies, no-one dared like you, because it would have been social suicide!
   Today, all those punks - YES! AND ME! - love you and your music to bits. I challenge YOU, AGNETHA - to listen to any daytime English (yeah, 'popular') radio station and NOT find it at least refreshing to listen to those great ABBA songs again. Just for one song, pretend it isn't you and appreciate the plaintiff gutsy calls of those two girls - never dated; maybe never will. Then compare it for a moment to the slack, indifferent, monotone garbage of today? Please don't get ten years down the line and decide I was right! You're gorgeous! Come back to us?
   
   Tom Hathaway (author, 'FULL BACON JACKET') XXXXXXXXXXX



4. As a huge fan of all things ABBA (really) I was excited to pick up this book, as, for once, I would have loved to have heard Agnetha really stand up for herself and clear up any and all misconceptions about her that she has always said exist. Alas, with this book, it just shows how uncomfortable she is speaking about her life. The pictures are amazing, yet they are just pictures and without any revealing print, show the shallowness that is AF. I mean, if you're going to write an autobiography, then WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY! She just comes off as a poor little whiner, scared of her own shadow and distressed by the fact that she was (and still is, reluctant as she is) an enigmatic star. She doesn't like to fly, doesn't like to talk about her relationships, and, until recently, just liked to stay home or take long walks (which does not make compelling reading...she seems more like a boring, dull-as-dishwater housefrau than your typical celebrity!) But I think there is much more to Agnetha than she has let on; I just refuse to believe that she is this flat and boring. This book asks more questions than it answers. Re-write, please!



5. I have read parts of different books about ABBA, but I have never liked to read the books about my favorite group.. for different reasons - and the main one is because in all these books it was not ABBA members' points of view, but the different person's. This is why I decided to try "As I Am" - not only because Agnetha Faltskog has been my favorite star for 10 years. I started the book the very day I took it in my hands and I was not able to put it aside and go to sleep until the next morning, when I finished it. I just could not go to sleep until I finished!
   The book is interesting, it is really very interesting. The style is nice and easy to read, although never plain. The authors shared their opinion on many points and revealed many questions one, who is interested in ABBA or Agnetha, can feel the need to ask. There are some funny and witty momnets that can easy make you smile. And which was the main point, for me at least, you can see the author's thoughts, her opinion on many things, her attitude to many problems. Agnetha really shares a lot with this book. It is not thrue that this book is empty - it is just fuul of deep thoughts of the wonderful woman, she shared with readers.
   Oh, yes, and pictures - the pictures are great! This book alone is enpgh to feel in love with the author. Thank you, Agnetha.

   Sincerely,
   Tatiana