5 comments about The Hillary Trap: Looking for Power in all the Wrong Places.

1. I do not like Hillary ether, But this book crosses the line of informative, on her and her politics, to an I hate Hillary rant.



2. Let's face it the only reason this Ms. Ingram has a career is that she is sort of attractive and conservative, a combination that apparently filled a need in our Faux media universe. (Also nice to be able to trot out Laura so as to prove that the fear of women embodied in Rush's quaking "femi-nzai" doesn't entirely translate into male Star War fan level of female company.) And let's also be fair she's no worse a hack than Hannity and is at least a bit more coherent than Ann Coulter. Her book on Hillary is just plain fatiguing, throw out some carefully spun ideas that Hillary supposedly represents than trash the straw woman Laura has created. Repeat this exercise endlessly and you have this book. Even while skipping a fair bit I was beginning to crave a little Coulter lunacy to keep things from getting too drab but no such luck. Ms. Ingram, unlike Ann, actually looks good in a leopard skin mini skirt, so why not some photos of that to keep one awake? Or are we supposed to pretend this is a serious book?



3. As a disclaimer, let me say that I am a fan of Laura Ingraham's, but I am NOT a fan of Hillary Clinton. You might think that would translate into a rave review for this book, but it doesn't. The basic construct of each chapter is to take a liberal position, demonstrate how Hillary embodies it, and then offer a body of evidence rebutting the position and proving that Clinton is anti-democratic, anti-woman, anti-choice and anti- nearly everything else good and decent. It should be a devastating critique, but it isn't--what comes across is a loosely connected series of chapters with talking points and arguments that suggest Hillary is the personification of what's wrong with America today. And that's the problem--Ingraham would have been more persuasive if she had focused on the most egregious of Hillary's flaws instead of trying to indict Clinton on everything under the sun. Despite the fact that Ingraham litters the book with facts and data (most of which are nice tidbits for any argument you may get into with a Clintonista), it all gets monotonous very quickly and can even seem a little petty at times. All in all, it is a quick, readable political book (think "beach book") with several very good standalone chapters, but it doesn't deserve a place on the conservative bookshelf pantheon. Save that for something from Bork, Schlafly or Buckley.



4. The Hillary Trap is a reader which exposes the failed feminist theory still being pushed by the victim fanfare of the Hillary Clan. In it are seven sections each titled with a different trap. "The sisterhood trap," "The Education Trap," "The Work Trap," etc. which are all traps utilized by Hillary and her group-thinkers to spread the disease of victimhood thinking, lesson individual responsibility and freedom, and gain more government control for "The Village," theory.
   
   An important read for anyone who wishes to clarify the underpinnings of feminist group-thinking, victimization attitudes, or social theory concerning personal responsibility and the tacits of personal freedom.



5. Laura Ingraham poses an interesting thesis: Hillary Clinton uses the language designed to "liberate" the masses of women in America, yet her policies are less likely to do so. For instance, low-class Sen. Hillary Clinton often speaks of a need for a "village" to raise a child, but in doing so, Ingraham points out, this means taxes must be higher, which decreases the independence of women, and places one's child in a stranger's hands--a child-care provider, which is a necessittee considering our high-tax system (reaching a federal income tax maximum of 35% as of this writing, but was 39.6% when Ingraham published her book).

   Similarly, it is also true with other areas--such as self-defense. Hillary Clinton believes that women should not be able to defend themselves, and should instead, while being raped or abused, to accept their victimhood or try to call the police by dialing 9-11, which is not practicle considering police officers cannot be everywhere. Of course, in Hillary's world, this is not a problem since she has Secret Service protection and lives in an upscale neighbhorhood in New York.

   The prose is not of the highest quality in this book. It seems that the writer is using the same tone that she would on her radio show, which takes away from the quality of the book. There is a difference between a spooken and written voice, and that is a major defefiency here.

   Also, it is important to recognize that while Ingraham is talking about Hillary Clinton, her focus is not necessarily exclusively on her. She is criticizing elite women--those who subscribe to the views of the National Organization for Women, the university professors, female anchors at major news networks (excluding Fox News), and those who work for liberal think tanks or female Democratic Members of Congress.

   Overall, it is a good book, although it does lack the quality I have experienced in other conservative books such as Ann Coulter. It lacks the superb logic, researched material, and ability to seriously call one's political opponents for what they are: usurpers of power.

   -- Michael Gordon

5 comments about Daughter of China: A True Story of Love and Betrayal.

1. Meihong Zu grew up during the horrors of the Cultural Revolution which saw tens of millions of people in China ruthlessly murdered by the Communists.
   
   She recalls one of her schoolteachers being sent to a labour camp for crossing out an incorrect letter ,written by a schoolgirl, of Mao Tse Tung's name and correcting it.
   She also recalls the loud hateful chanting against individuals accused of being "class enemies" and "rightists" at rallies to humiliate these unfortunates and prepare for them for imprisonment or execution.
   The author describes the horrors of public executions and where condemmned innocents were shot to death to the vicious chanting of red mobs.
   Very often after the executions, the murdered victims were rushed to a nearby room or tent to have their organs removed for transplant.
   Organ harvesting of dissidents and minorities (such as the Tibetans and Fang Gong Buddhists) is massive industry in Communist China today.
   Education in Red China was and remains today nothing other than brainwashing, indoctrination and memorization. In referring to the public executions Meihong recounts that "All of us- adults and children- had been so steeped in hysteria and group thinking for so long that what we witnessed seemed necessary and natural. We believed that we could save ourselves only by sacrificing the lives of our alleged enemies. We never imagined for a moment that we were being manipulated by our own leaders".
   
   She also recounts the massive killing of pets by dog-killing squads that moved from house to house and village to village as owning a pet was seen by the Communist authorities as a carryover from the old order, a bourgeois practice.
   
   Meihnong was inducted into the "People's Liberation Army" at a very young, becoming a member of an elite intelligence corps. She was sent to spy on a visiting American professor, Larry Engelman, but soon found her old loyalities divided as she got to know him.
   She refused to continue activities against him and was so imprisoned and tortured. This is her story.
   
   She also recounts the the 1989 Tianmen Square massacre in which the PLA killed thousands of students, old people, women and children and randomly fired into apartments where they saw lights and movements.
   Communist China remains today one of the most evil, bloodthirsty and ruthless tyrannies, since Nazi Germany.



2. China, 1963: in the small village of Lishi, Meihong Xu is born. It is a difficult birth, and even in her adult life she carries the impressions of her grandmother's fingers on her forehead. Confined to a small, unheated room years later, Meihong remembers Lishi.
   
   In this, her beautiful memior, Meihong tells the story of her life, and through her life she tells the story of China. Through the flowing narrative stories are scattered. They are the stories of how her grandmother lost a daughter; of how her mother's sister came to be known as the Red Aunt; of how Meihong first fell in love. It is a book that encompases every aspect of life anywhere on the planet. Sweet, sad, sometimes comical; always knowing that things could have been different, yet never full of regret--- This is the story of the Daughter of China, and it is beautiful.



3. This book was well written in the sense of giving the reader an in-depth look at how the PLA works (or worked since this was written years after Mao Zedong). The order of the book was a bit confusing. It starts with the author in prison and then goes into a history of her village. Then, she describes her interrogation and then back to her past and how she became a PLA soldier. Yet, despite this minor annoyance, I couldn't put the book down.
   
   However, it is not a love story. I never got the sense that Meihong Xu was ever in love with Larry Engelmann. The reader has to keep in mind that their marriage was ending at the time the book was written, so that could be a reason why the "love" was downplayed.
   
   Overall, I would recommend reading the book to get a first person perspective on what life is like as a PLA soldier, but not because this is a love story.



4. I found this little gem of a book while on vacation in England. I have a fasination for Chinese fiction and non friction. This book engrossed me from the moment I started reading it. The love story between the characters is amazing. The best part is that it is a true story. The love that is shared between the two characters is something only found in fiction or if one is lucky enough once in a life time. I highly recommend this book. This book also gives a realistic view China, the good, the bad and the ugly. I adored this book. It is a must read!



5. I started reading this book because my sister recommended it. By the time I finished it, I was deeply touched, and at some instances even felt like I was there. The story of survival, deception, betrayal, and of course love tangled many strong emotions through me as I read about the world of Communism, the strive to survive. Excellent book, compelling read to those who's been to China.

5 comments about Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoir.

1. As a younger woman i typically prefer books that hook you in within the first two pages--yes, i know i should give them more of a chance, but hey, the first impression is what always gets you.
   
   Owning many books that I just could NOT keep going past chapter ONE, this book was finally a breath of fresh air!
   
   Well, I took home this book, started reading, and couldn't stop until i read it all, finishing it in a few hours. This book is a look into more than just your stereotypical suburbia-- it is a look into a woman's past and the process of growing older, having time sneak up on you.
   
   The writing style of this book is phenominal! i loved it--it's not in paragraph form, yet not quite paragraph. It's like a mix between the two, and keeps you reading, instead of tedious paragraphs!
   
   verdict?
   an excellent buy.



2. I finished "Blue Suburbia" in about 2 hours. It was brilliant and frightening and realistic. Please do yourself a favor and purchase this. It will make you take a second look at life in "the country"



3. I started reading Blue Suburbia in bed, late one night. I read until my eyes were burning. I picked the book up again the next morning and sat outside with my coffee, reading until I reached the last page.
   
   This book a marvelous break from same-old/same-old. The structure is unique and fresh. Albanese's judicious use of white space and line breaks forces the reader to pause and put emphasis in exactly the places she would have if she were speaking the words out loud. Her technique provides perfect timing.
   
   The tone of the book is deeply personal, confidential really. The author's presence is palpable. You are pulled into her reality, listening to her share her life experiences over a cup of coffee, then she looks up at you and says, "So you see now why I forgave her?"... "...Do you get the picture now?" Her feelings resonate on the page.
   
   I recognized some of the people in her world. The father who uses the belt to communicate and then, as an old man, edits his memories (an ex-husband's father). The cold, unhappy mother whose children would never be able to do the right thing, to make her happy (my friend's mother). And this (not using her spacing):
   " Some folks say in the land of opportunity that the starting line doesn't matter, but let me ask, what was expected of you at fifteen? How wide was your horizon? Where were you destined? Who set the course? What were you told to dream of? How far was too far to imagine? What joy was yours to attain?"
   I saw myself here. You can only appreciate how far you've come when you know where you started.



4. Laurie Lico Albanese has written a book of great beauty, which raises the quotidien and everyday to the level of great literature. In her final poem she asks, "Is anything ever truly ordinary?" and invites the reader to see their own lives in a new light. In her "almost-memoir" Albanese chronicles both the large and small events which shape her as a person, from her childhood in suburban working-class Long Island, to her initiation into sexuality, art, love and loss. Throughout, Lico has a brilliant eye for the telling detail, that make her poems breathe with life, even as she takes on the most compelling questions of existence. The reader's heart races along with Albanese as she experiences acute anxiety, crippling self doubt and crushing boredom. Her ability to experience life with such vivid force--from her overpowering love for her child, to her reignited passion for her husband, to her triumph as a writer--redeem her and reward the reader. That the arc of a life can be so well captured in a slim volume of free verse poetry, as accesible and haunting as a Bruce Springsteen album, is an incredible thing to behold.



5. I felt like Laurie Albanese was writing my story, and it's not one I've read before -- a look at growing up in blue-collar suburbia and the struggle, only sometimes successful, to get out. Her poem about riding to college with her parents is seared into my mind and heart forever. This is a memoir for every girl who grew up too smart for her family.

5 comments about The Woman Who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Dona Gracia Nasi--A Jewish Leader During the Renaissance.

1. Imagine my thrilled surprise when I saw a thorough biography written about one of my favorite Jewish heroines, Gracia Nasi.
   
   I felt the book was very well-researched. For example, it discusses the mysterious figure of David Rubeni who pops up in Jewish history texts. Based on linguistic usage of the time, the author makes a strong case for Rubeni having been an Ethiopian Jew. Light is shed expansively and objectively on the difficult relationship between Gracia and her younger sister, Brianda. Also, the medallion often labelled as a profile of Gracia is actually of her niece who shares the same name.
   
   Though the author covers the subject in detail, even the most complicated parts read as pleasantly as a novel.
   
   The descriptions of how Gracia held on to her Jewish identity during the Inquisition are impressive and inspiring. Throughout all her personal trials and business challenges, she never forgot her people and maintained a courageous generosity toward them at all times.
   
   There were only two aspects that bothered me:
   1) Lack of pictures. There are some, but I would've liked to have seen more graphics of 15th/16th century Spain, Turkey, etc. and the kind of dress, utensils, homes, synagogues, churches, etc, to get more of a sense of those times.
   2)The author tries to spice things up by indicating love affairs even where there is no evidence for them. While the author gives good evidence for assuming that, as a young widow, Gracia may have fallen in love with her late husband's brother (who married Brianda), there isn't any evidence of affairs regarding her or anyone else. To me, this is a cheap trick to make the reading more exciting, something that's done a lot nowadays. For example, the author mentions that Gracia's niece was pseudo-married to a cousin and rumors were spread that the marriage was consummated - both actions taken in order to save the niece's life, something the author herself states was a common ploy in those times. But then, the author implies that they actually had this one-night stand. Since the male cousin would likely not dishonor a close female cousin this way, and since he would know that the girl (following the set marriage pattern of the family) would likely be married off to his own brother (as she certainly was at a later date), it is illogical and even insulting to assume that they would've had this fling. Given the close and respectful family ties, it is clear that they would've done nothing dishonorable to each other or to their family members.
   
   But overall, I did love the book, and I highly recommend it.



2. This was a great read for many reasons: it is an inspiring tale of a courageous and intelligent businesswoman who knew how to "work the system" as well as any modern politician; it allows those interested in the time of the Inquisition to learn some details about the period without seeming like a history lesson; it allows you to imagine what life may have been like, especially for Jews, in the time of the Inquisition as well as any work of historical fiction (though it appears to be more fact than fiction); and it is an enjoyable read simply on the basis of its enticing writing style. Do not be discouraged by the length of the book -- despite its bulk it is a fast read.



3. The subject of this book is a reasonably interesting person, even though the book is not that well done.

   Garcia Nasi (aka Beatrice de Luna) was a woman of a well to do Jewish merchant family who married into one of the great banking families of her era, the mid 16th century (born 1510 -- died 1569). Her husband, Francisco Mendes, and brother in law, Diogo Mendes, were very successful bankers. Garcia Nasi was an asset to her family business and after her husband and later her brother in law died, she took on greater and greater responsibilities in running the business. She was also a generous patron to fellow Jews and conversos in a time of inquisition and repeated expulsion. Her ability to stand up to powerful authorities in matters of commerce, and in her own legal struggles is laudable. Her travels through the great commercial centers of the age give a good picture of the activities of members of her class of society.

   The virtue of this book is that it is thoroughly footnoted and has an extensive bibliography. Therefore, if you have further interest in this lady, you have a list to take to the library.

   One problem I have with this work is the same one I have with any historian with an obvious mission. For example, a Marxist historian sees everything in terms of economics and class warfare. The author of this work is a Jewish historian and sees everything in terms of Jewish history. While Jewish bankers and merchants were a great factor in the commercial changes that paid for the Renaissance, not all bankers and merchants of the time were Jews or conversos. You would not know that if this work were your only source of information.

   The other points that remove my faith in the extent of the author's background knowledge of the period are three glaring mistakes.
   1) She drags out that ancient canard that pepper was widely used in the cooking of the time to cover up the taste of rotten meat. Bushwa.
   2) She says that serfs were used for military levees. I'm not sure whether she doesn't realize that there is a difference between serfs and peasants or that she doesn't realize that military skills were the last thing a landowner would encourage his low level tenants to acquire. But, it is a jarring note.
   3) She says that the Portuguese invented Marine Insurance in the 15th century. I've been working in the Marine Insurance business for longer than I care to admit and I know that the Phoenicians invented Marine Insurance in classical times.

   If you have an interest in commercial arrangements, litigation, the situation of Jews and conversos in Portugal, Antwerp, Italy and Turkey, or in Garcia Nasi, then you should read this book. If you want an entertaining read from an author who knows her history (rather than one who falls down when she strays too far from her footnotes) find something else.




4. Acclaimed journalist Andrée Brooks has painstakingly delved into the deepest recesses of European history to produce a compelling account of the life of Doña Gracia Nasi, an extraordinary and powerful businesswoman of the Renaissance. I was utterly swept away by the story of this courageous humanitarian who managed to rescue thousands of her people from the terror of the Inquisition. Fascinating reading for the layperson, this definitive work of scholarship is enhanced by more than sixty pages of notes and an extensive and carefully prepared index. Brooks' engaging prose makes the sixteenth century come alive as few other books do. This dramatic page-turner should be made into a movie!



5. This story of a Renaissance heroine reads like a novel: A brave young Jewish widow takes over her husband's international banking business, lends money to kings and dukes, exacts the freedom to flee from one country to another to escape the Inquisition, and rescues thousands of Jews. Yet the story is true, based on documents discovered by Andree Brooks in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, France, Italy, Jerusalem and Istanbul. Her research is tucked seamlessly into a racing narrative that takes the reader into the life and turmoil of the 1500's. It's the stuff movies are made of--we hope.

5 comments about The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult (The Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law).

1. I found Ms. Faith's book quite interesting. I have worked in law enforcement and corrections at both the state and federal levels.
   
   I do find some fault with Ms. Faith's application of feminist ideology to the case; the main theme of the book seems to be that Leslie and her co-defendants committed their crimes because they had been socialized by the culture to behave in a "feminine" manner, thereby making the girls prime candidates for Manson's diabolical brainwashing techniques. Although the girls were certainly indoctrinated, it seems evident to me that they joined the cult for the same reasons that many join young men and women continue to join cults and gangs-to find a surrogate family and acceptance.
   
   The book raises the very important issues of justice and rehabilitation as they pertain to those who commit heinous crimes. Certainly, Leslie and most of the other Manson followers seem to have changed their lives in prison (I am including Atkins, Krenwinkel, Watson and Davis), but their crimes are so severe that justice seems to demand that they spend the rest of their lives in prison. If any of the defendants deserve release, it is Leslie (she was 19 at the time of the crimes and had a relatively minor role as compared to the others). Given the publicity and political climate, I do not believe that Leslie will be released during her natural life. Manson and his followers were such a bizarre and frightening cast of characters that any parole board or Governor (who must ultimately agree to parole in CA) would face severe repercussions and ridicule if they released anyone connected with these crimes back into society.
   
   Ms. Faith has an important story to tell and I recommend her book to anyone interested in how our society deals attempts to balance the issues of rehabitation and justice for high profile offenders in the information age.



2. I read this book, as well as the other reviews by other customers, and I am appalled that anyone with any amount of reasonable intelligence believes that Leslie Van Houten deserves to be paroled! The Tate-LaBianca murders are perhaps the most horrible murders ever committed in the recorded annals of crime. Seven innocent people were savagely slaughtered over one weekend in August, 1969 for no reason at all by a bunch of depraved, drug-addicted misfits of society on the orders of their demented leader, Charles Manson. Let's look at the facts and see whether Leslie Van Houten truly deserves parole or not:
   
   1. Leslie admits that she WANTED to go along on the second night of murder and that she believed in what Charles Manson said needed to be done to bring about his warped version of a race war to be ignited as "Helter Skelter". She knew full well and has said in interviews "I knew there would be killing".
   
   2. She unlawfully entered the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca along with Charles "Tex" Watson and Patricia Krenwinkle on orders from Charles Manson to "don't let them know you're going to kill them".
   
   3. Leslie admits that she held a screaming Rosemary LaBianca down so Patricia Krenwinkel and Tex Watson could stab her to death. She then was given the knife and told by Tex to "do something". By her own admission, she stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 16 times in the lower back and buttocks. The coroner concluded that 13 of these stab wounds were post-mortem and that one of the wounds to the lower back was in and itself fatal. So Leslie's argument that she stabbed a woman who was already dead is a crock. She also admitted that she wiped the house down for fingerprints, took a shower with the other murderers and helped herself to food from the LaBianca's refridgerator.
   
   4. She bragged to other family members that she took part in the slaughter of the LaBianca's and "the more you stab the more fun it is".
   
   5. During the trial she testified that she did indeed stab Rosemary LaBianca and that she had no remorse for what she had done.
   
   She was found guilty of 2 counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for what she so willingly did. When her death sentence was overturned a year later she received a gift that the LaBiancas never will.
   
   I agree with most of the other reviewers of this book - the bottom line is that this women deserves to spend the rest of her life behind bars for mercilessly slaughtering two innocent people!



3. I was a young woman of 25 when these murders occured. My newly married husband and I attended a seminar on the Manson murders a few years after that . I enjoyed the book , but have to say, NONE of the players in these brutal murders should EVER ,EVER, EVER be released under ANY circumstances. They should all die in prison. At least they are still alive, unlike their victims. I don't care if they live to be 100 years old, they should never taste freedom again. It is befitting that they be incarcerated until death claims them all. Watch what you do in your youth and be careful the decisions you make , because you may just pay for them with your entire life.



4. I was pretty disappointed in this book. Karlene Faith relies on an overabundance of clichés and a meager sprinkling of insight into the character of Leslie Van Houten and Van Houten's involvement in the Manson murders. Although published in 2001, the book reads as if it might have been written thirty years ago, at the beginning of the feminist movement. Leslie and her fellow murderesses are given every consideration: they were victims of "cultivated femininity", they "never lost their innocence", they were so brainwashed they relinquished all control and thought; however, Faith contradicts herself when excusing Leslie's involvement in the Manson Family as, "...Although part of his inner circle, Leslie was never part of Manson's inner, INNER circle. She would lapse into thinking for herself...". So in one fell swoop, the author denies Leslie's culpability and recognizes it.
   
   In spite of that, one gets the feeling that Leslie herself has taken on more responsibility for her involvement than the author gives credit for. What Leslie seems to recognize, which the author does not, is that the Manson murders branded themselves on the American psyche, and society demands a price be paid. The author becomes downright offensive when she coyly alludes to other murders and murderers since then who have not received the notoriety of the Manson girls, suggesting perhaps that we are being a tad unfair in having the audacity to remember the shock and horror of the Tate-LaBianca deaths.
   
   The author spends much time on Charles Manson and his responsibility as leader of the "cult." What she forgets is that members were free to come and go, and various people DID walk away from Manson and his personality. Faith also takes pains to mark how the Manson girls are exceptional in their good behavior in prison, apparently without noting the irony that they were exceptional members of Manson's inner circle, and before that Van Houten was an exceptional student and twice prom queen. It makes me wonder if these women's ability to get along in the unnatural atmosphere of prison is linked to their ability to have gotten along in the bizarre world of Manson's philosophy...and just how well they would be able to integrate themselves outside of the rigidly controlled environment of prison should any of them meet another guru.
   
   In the end, this book gives more insight into the author's embrace of victim ideology, and quite a bit less into the mindset and maturity of a major participant in the crime of the century. I cannot imagine this book helped Leslie Van Houten's case for parole.



5. Well, I have. They can't change their spots.
   
   I'm so sick of Leslie Van Houten et al, and I'm sick of the media giving these people (and I use that word very loosely) unwarranted attention and celebrity when they butchered people they didn't even know who had done nothing to them. Leslie van Houten went along with the others that night knowing full well what was going to happen and what the deal was. She even said in a 1994 TV interview "I knew there would be killing involved. I knew that people would die."
   
   She made terrible choices in her life and has to live with the consequences. I for one am not going to waste any sympathy I have on her. No, that will go to the victims of the Tate/LaBianca murders and their surviving loved ones who suffer to this day.
   
   Lets remember the victims not the criminals!

No comments about Miracle in the Hills: The Lively Personal Story of a Woman Doctor's Forty-Year Crusade in the Mountains of North Carolina.

5 comments about Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots.

1. The book came and it was like new--maybe it was new. I thought it took a bit longer to get to me than usual, and, if so, it's no big deal



2. This is an amazing and detailed story - and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has not read it - suffice it to say that 'discovering ones roots' is neither an easy nor a direct path to tread - the brave people who undertake this quest never cease to amaze me .......



3. I look through thousands of books a year as a reseller, but I read about 2 books a year. This one got my attention because I have a son who is 1/2 Navajo. His mother suffered the same sort of fate as Yvette. "voluntarily" seperated from brothers and sisters at the age of 5, sent to Utah, a mom she has not met, alcohol, violence etc etc etc . . .
   
   This book does a very good job of relating what rez life is really like, and gives a good insight into Navajo culture.
   
   I am a classically stoic, but I had tears in my eyes all the way through this book. I encourage anyone who is interested in the journey of the Navajo to spend some time on the reservation. Drive around, meet the people. Western culture has a lot to learn from this society.
   
   Read Ward Churchill's writings too, don't judge him by what the media has said about him.



4. Looking For Lost Bird:
   A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots.
   Yvette Melanson with Claire Safron
   Bard Books. 233 pages. $22.00
   By Elliot Fein

   Looking For Lost Bird is a true story that is disturbing yet compelling. A Native American Navajo Indian woman gives birth on her reservation home in Arizona to twins, a girl and a boy. During their infancy, both children get sick. The mother takes the children to the nearest local hospital for a diagnosis.

   Hospital staff members instruct her that they will need to keep the two children over night for observations. When the mother returns the next day, the children are gone. The hospital has no record that they were ever admitted.

   The kidnapped infant children are each adopted in Florida by two different families. One of the families is a young Jewish couple that lives in a New York City suburb. Looking for Lost Bird is the story of the Navajo girl, Yvette Melanson, who is raised in that Jewish household.

   As an adult, Melanson discovers her Navajo origins and searches for her family roots. She finds her family (minus her mother, who died of a broken heart grieving for two lost children) still living on the Navajo reservation in which she was born. At the age of forty-three, Melanson decides first to visit her birth family in Arizona, then to move there permanently with her husband and two children.

   While adjusting to the reservation, Melanson learns and begins practicing the religion, culture, and way of life of her birth family. In this process, she abandons many of the Jewish cultural practices (but not necessarily Jewish values) in which she was raised.

   Melanson's Jewish parents (particularly her mother) provide a loving and caring environment for their daughter. In Yvette's recollection of how she was raised, their warts do surface, particularly the shortcomings of her father. After her mother becomes ill and eventually dies during her teen years, the father changes into a different, less appealing character.

   Melanson never reveals whether her Jewish parents knew about her Navajo origins. The reader is left to speculate whether the knowledge, if known by her Jewish parents that she was stolen from a Native American Indian family would have impacted their decision to adopt.

   What is surprising in the telling of this life story is the absence of any form of anti-Semitism by the author. When Melanson writes critically about her mother and father, she writes about them as individuals. She does not associate her criticism of them with Judaism as a faith tradition.

   On the reservation, when she begins taking on Native American Indian ways, Melanson naturally compares Navajo culture to Judaism. In this comparison, Melanson writes with respect, affection, and even admiration about the religious tradition in which she was raised.

   Melanson tells her life story (with the help of Claire Safron) with compassion, humor, and eloquence.

   I recently led a book club at my synagogue. A member of the club recommended that I read Looking for Lost Bird. After reading it, we immediately decided to include Looking for Lost Bird one of our featured selections. The book provides a great opportunity to learn about Navajo culture and to see how it compares to Judaism as a religious tradition. The book is also a true gift for adopted individuals, particularly native American Indians, seeking to uncover their past.

   Elliot Fein teaches Jewish Studies in the Tarbut V'Torah School in Irvine.




5. Like many of the readers I couldn't put the book down until I read it from cover to cover. While reading the story I found out these people were my extended family! I know everyone mentioned in the book. As a youngster I remember the crusade of Aunt Desbah, Uncle John and others in finding the twins who were stolen as babies. I wept at the end when Yvette participated in the holy Hozhoji ceremony to be reunited with her birth place, family, culture, and environment. Very moving!

   Aunt Betty, Yvette's biological mother lived a very brave life as she longed and searched everyday of her life wanting to be reunited with her twins. May God bless her soul.

2 comments about At Eighty-Two: A Journal.

1. Sarton's last several journals are, in my opinion, not worth the money. That she attempted to continue writing when she had to dictate her thoughts put much too much of a strain upon her, I feel. Sarton was a competent, sometimes excellent, writer in her earlier years, but these final few journals are more painful to read than illuminating. House By the Sea began the decline of quality of her journals, it seemed to me, perhaps due to my frustration with Sarton's apparent inability to comprehend how dangerous allowing Judy Matlack, her longtime lover and companion, to wander about unsupervised was when it was clear to any reasonably perceptive reader that Matlack was so senile that she needed near-constant supervision. Sarton, however, clearly alternated between concern for Matlack and frustration with her that arose from denial of the seriousness of Matlack's condition. In the end, it was quite sad to witness such clear evidence of Sarton's inability to consider realistically the needs of others, which ultimately foreshadowed her eventual inability to stop trying to write when doing so was clearly beyond her sadly diminished capabilities.
   
   The succeeding journals, chronicling Sarton's gradual deterioration and accompanying fury and frustration at her decline, are wrenching and not particularly enlightening unless witnessing a once-effective writer's diminishment intrigues you for some perverse reason.
   
   Stick with Sarton's earlier works, Plant Dreaming Deep or Journal Of a Solitude.



2. At Eighty-Two is an incredible though painful final journal from Sarton. If you are reading Sarton for the first time, read Journal of a Solitude or (my favorite) Recovering first, and then turn to this one. Sarton deals in this journal primarily with the diminishment of old age. Being quite ill at the time, she occassionally comes accross quite bitter, but perhaps this is what makes this journal so poignant and so important for a society that either forgets about or romantizes old age.

5 comments about Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years 1960-1975.

1. Outlaw Woman is one of literally hundreds of books that describe the "movement" in its varied forms during the 60's and 70's, but it shines among all of them. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's honesty, courage, and commitment to self-definition and truth are a shining example of what the movement could have been and could still be.



2. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is from Oklahoma--a story told beautifully in her earlier volume, RED DIRT: GROWING UP OKIE. But her views, both in the 1960s and now, don't fit the Okie image. Yet, paradoxically, she would be the first to acknowledge that her Oklahoma background--poor, part Native American, a socialist grandfather--helped in some ways to shape her radicalism. (To be accurate, her radicalism probably resulted in part from reacting AGAINST her Oklahoma background.)
   Dunbar-Ortiz has a remarkable ability to place the story of her life in context with "historical events" going on at the time--in this volume, the women's movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, the "radical underground," etc. I recommended this book to my daughter, herself something of an activist (anti-nuclear power). She read it, loved it, and said one thing that was obvious was that Dunbar-Ortiz had kept a journal, thus enabling her to tell her story in rich detail.
   She also has a remarkable ability to grab you and shake you and make you think, to make you reconsider stuff you thought you knew. I've been an Okie for 40 years, wear the label proudly, was an activist to some extent in all four major movements of the 60s (civil rights, anti-Vietnam War, environmental, women's). But I was by no means as radical, AM by no means as radical, as Dunbar-Ortiz. Which is part of why this was such a good book for me to read. You should read it too, whatever your political orientation!



3. Outlaw Woman: A Memoir Of The War Years, 1960-1975 by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is the personal and autobiographical testimony of a dedicated anti-war organizer, feminist, and New Left activist who rose from a poverty-stricken childhood to dedicate herself to making a difference. Outlaw Woman is very highly recommended reading as a forcefully told, openly honest, and strongly charged saga of one woman's daily struggle to get her message out to and change society itself.



4. OUTLAW WOMAN is a vivid and compelling account of the author's journey through the upheaval, hope and ultimate implosion of the 1960s. With a keen eye for detail and a crisp prose style, Dunbar-Ortiz evokes the heady combination of idealism and trauma that defined that era and transformed her from an apolitical, married college student into a notorious feminist leader and later, an underground revolutionary. This is fascinating history, and especially important for young people who are trying to make sense of the socio-political moment in America today. OUTLAW WOMAN is an honest and courageous attempt to examine and reclaim some of the history of an era that still divides and perplexes us thirty years later. A wonderful and
   important read.



5. From Chris Crass, anti-racist and anarchist activist/organizer:
   Dunbar-Ortiz takes us into the heart of the women's liberation movement, grassroots anti-war organizing and solidarity work with third world liberation struggles around the world and in the U.S. Outlaw Woman is a fierce and honest narrative about organizing, resistance, and a passion to remake the world.

4 comments about Girl in the Curl: A Century of Women in Surfing (Adventura Books).

1. "There have probably been hundreds of books written about surfing, but not one...has been written about women in the sport. Until now, 'Girl In The Curl - a Century of Women in Surfing' by Andrea Gabbard, finally fills the substantial void.

   'I could have gone on and on and on,' Gabbard says of her experience writing 'Girl In The Curl,' which begins with a note on the ancient Hawaiian legend of Pele learning to surf, and takes us through the early days at the Makaha International contests, to the 'Gidget' phenomenon, to the birth of the pro circuit, and on through the `90s, when surf culture was changed forever by a clothing company (Roxy), a new magazine (in your hands), a surf shop (Water Girl) and a battalion of courageous women like Izzy 'Surf Diva' Tihanyi who dare live there surfing dreams. Along the way we meet Marge Calhoun (in a rare interview), Linda Benson, Lynne Boyer, Frieda Zamba and others who give historical context to all the rising stars on the WCT today.

   The book is graced by the likes of Rell Sunn, whom Gabbard never met but of whom a poignant tribute is included, by Robin 'Zeuf' Janiszeufski. Like Rell, Zeuf was diagnosed with breast cancer. She communicates the thing all surfers know, certainly Rell: 'Surfing removes the need to close my eyes and seek the voice inside.'

   Gabbard, author of 'No Mountain Too High: A Triumph over Breast Cancer' (1998), 'Da Bull: Life over the edge' (1990) and others, began writing this book just a year ago at the urging of her publisher, the feminist Seal Press....'I got back in the water when I began writing this book.'

   Much of her research was culled from sources like Wahine, 'tons of old surfer mags,' and the vast collection of surf memorabilia amassed by Randy Hild at Roxy/Quicksilver. Along the continuum of women's surfing, 'Girl in the Curl' is an historical moment in itself. It arrives in bookstores around Thanksgiving. --Elizabeth Glazner, Wahine Magazine




2. "'Despite the organization of a pro tour and the advent offinancial sponsors, professional women surfers have always suffered afate similar to that of other female athletes, pursuing their sportwith far less promotion, prize money, and media coverage.' -Fromthe Intro

   While the above statement is inescapably true, I mustadmit I was a little worried that Girl in the Curl was going to be nomore than a feminist tirade on the unfair nature of sexism insurfing-a worthy argument, to be sure, but a battle that needs tobe fought in the water and on the beach, not in a coffee-table book.Fortunately, author Andrea Gabbard understands that a history ofwomen's surfing deserves more than a hundred pages of pettywhining.

   The introductory timeline chronicling the major milestonesof women's surfing could give a few folks (men and women alike) a bitof a shock as to the sweeping presence of the Y chromosome in thewater. It ain't just Gidget to Lisa Andersen, dude. While it'sfairly widely known that the first Australian surfer was a woman(Isobel Letham, 1915), not many are aware that Marge Calhoun won theMakaha International Surfing Championships in 1958 or Margo (Godfrey)Oberg won her first world title at age 15. Rich stuff, even for thenon-history-philes.

   What follows is essentially a series ofwell-written and relevant profiles on women who've made majorcontributions to the sport. It's put together more like an organicherstory told by the participants than a consecutive series of eventswritten by some third-party narrator up in the sky. From MargeCalhoun to Rell Sunn to Joyce Hoffman to Pam Burridge to LayneBeachley and the rest of the 21st century pros, it's obvious Gabbardhas done her homework.

   Each woman profiled has a slightly differenttake on what it means to be a woman surfer, and while some may have alittle bitterness about lack of exposure or unfair financialcompensation, the whole picture is bigger than its parts and if Girlin the Curl is accurate-which I suspect it is-it's worth a hellof a lot more than a thousand words." --Marcus Sanders...




3. "Girl in the Curl is the book we have all been waiting for-whether we know it yet or not. Never before has such a comprehensive history of the women who have impacted surfing been put together.

   Gabbard, the author of the Greg Noll biography, Da Bull, weaves together the women of surfing through insightful interviews of those who have shaped the sport. Starting with the ancient Hawaiian waterwomen, continuing through the likes of Marge Calhoun, Gidget, Mary Setterholm, Frieda Zamba, Lisa Anderson, Layne Beachley, Sofia Mulanovich, and Kirstin Quizon, I think one would be hard pressed to find a woman surfer who has made an impact on the sport of surfing not mentioned.

   Girl in the Curl is organized in a series of short, easy to read chapters that explain the hardships and brilliance of each woman. Gabbard does not shy away from the dark side of women's surfing. She presents the chilling inequality of prize money and sponsorship. "The total prize money for the men's 2000 World Championship Tour is $2.1 million; for women, it's just under $500,000." The book does not turn into a man-bashing why aren't things better book. Gabbard simply presents the truths of all aspects of the sport as told by the athletes themselves. Gabbard also does a wonderful job of presenting unusual facts, such as mentioning Pam Burridge recorded a hit single in 1984 called "Summertime all Round the World." The highlight of the book, and very well surfing itself, is the chapter on Rell Sun. Rell's life is celebrated through her wonderful accomplishments for women, children, and surfing.

   From the timeline at the start of the book, to the brief biographies of the professional surfers, and those surfers making a career in the industry, to the glossary and index of resources, I can't think of anything the book is missing. I have been wishing someone would write this book for years-I am thrilled my wish has been fulfilled!

   Girl in the Curl is a beautifully written and illustrated book of women's surfing. Photographs are mainly the work of Jim Russi and are no doubt some of the best women's shots available today. This book will not only inspire the reader, but also fill wahines everywhere with pride. Women surfers who did not have the advantage of being there for the events of the past century will finally be able to learn of and feel what has happened, and further appreciate their mothers, grandmothers, and sisters of the sea. I would recommend every surfer buy this book and read it again and again. Girl in the Curl is the centurybook of women's surfing. I know I will keep this book with me at all times in hopes of having it signed by all the heroes of women's surfing." --Sunshine Makarow, Editor of Girls Surf Life Magazine




4. I grew up on the beaches of Southern California. How I envied the surfersÑtheir freedom, their agility, their inherent rebellion. But just as "people on Ôludes should not drive," chicks did not surf. "Girl in the Curl," Andrea GabbardÕs stunning pictorial documentation of a century of women in surfing, proves that is BUNK. In glorious Technicolor, Gabbard displays women surfers as ballsy as their male counterparts. In addition to the gorgeous photosÑjust put-Ôem-on-your-wall-and-sigh gorgeousÑGabbard can really write! Her essays are short and compelling, taking us from the dawn of womenÕs surfing (ancient Hawaiian waterwomen) to present-day champions. Along the way, she lets you in on interesting little-known-ers. If you didnÕt know that Pam Burridge recorded a hit single in 1984, you need this book. If like me, you didnÕt even know who Pam Burridge was, you REALLY need this book.