Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder - 5 Stars

  The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment |

 The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher

 Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink

 The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz

Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 96 used & new from $8.32 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Denise George Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 178 used & new from $0.65 2 of 4 people found the following review helpful Badly Needs Editing, April 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (Paperback) This is not the Christian version of the Diary of Ann Frank. Before the reader of this review becomes defensive, let me assure you that I am horrified by the holocaust. I believe that all the horrors including the horrors mentioned in this book happened. They may not have happened exactly at the places or on the dates Nonnie mentions in her diary, but I believe that substantively they happened as described. This book badly needs editing. Further, these diaries, documents, and notes should have been given to an expert author and not a Christian book author as was done here. I understand why the editors were conflicted. This is a diary that spans perhaps 20 years and includes the notes and entries of a very young girl. Some of the recorded "facts" were incorrectly recalled and in some cases the correct version may not have been an accurate description of the author's life experience. Instead of a messy and definitely imperfect work of non-fiction, an expert author could have written a fictionalized version based heavily on Nonnie's diary entries and memories. Further, almost everyone who survived the holocaust finds some distant Jewish relative to claim. Perhaps, Nonnie's father had a Jewish grandfather in his background, but I doubt he was Jewish. Spoken Yiddish and German are very closely related. Yiddish is a dialect of German. They are written differently. Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet and German is written with an alphabet similar to the English version. Had her father's family done extensive business in Poland, it is likely that they did business with Jews. Before the holocaust there were 2 million Jews living in Poland, many of them in business. They may have learned Yiddish so that they could do business with them. However, I also suspect that Nonnie's father had at least one Jewish relative other than a mother or father. Feodosija, Nonnie's beloved grandmother idolized the Cossacks. Her husband was one and she wanted her son to be one as well. It was the Cossacks that raided the Jewish Shtetyls raping, burning, looting and murdering Jews. They are the soldiers that chase the Jews out of their village in Fiddler On The roof. So idolizing them without seeing them in reality and context was indeed a fantasy. It is true that Nonnie and her mother suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. However, until Anna was sent to Ravensbruck, what she suffered was nothing compared to what the Jews suffered. Nonnie never suffered the privations the Jews suffered. They lived far longer. The typical lifespan for a Jewish inmate of a concentration camp if the inmate was not killed immediately and could work was 6 months. Nonnie and Anna lived for years in German custody. Few if any nuns concealed Jews as German orphans in hospital settings with hospital food reserved for Germans. Nonnie's children should consider hiring a novelist to turn her diaries and documents into a novel based on fact but in part fictional and labelled as fiction. Television shows called docudramas serve this function in film. We don't have a similar venue in literature. Do not be fooled by all the strong reviews. Most of them were written by Christians who are persuaded to do so by her frequent mention of her faith in God and Christ to pull her through. Certainly her faith helped her survive. Christians will call this book a testament to the human spirit. They will call it a testament to faith in God and our savior, Christ. If those kinds of books do not interest you, you might skip this book. If you are a student of the holocaust, this book gives insight into how the Nazis treated Russian labor volunteers and Poles. However, there must be better choices out there. Further, this book will suffer on the kindle. There are many photos and documents that enrich the book and should be seen in print. This book should sell for far less than its current price. Nonnie wanted the world to know of the Nazi horrors she experienced so they would never happen again. The estate should look upon this as a donation to society and not hope to earn anything more than the expenses of publishing it. It is not a professional effort though it pretends to be one. The poems and entries are those of a young girl and a young woman with far less writing talent than Ann Frank. I can tell that Nonnie was a wonderful person forever scarred by her holocaust experiences. I am sure she was a loving and caring wife and mother. Clearly her husband and children adored her. I do not wish to offend them with this review. I hope they take my suggestions to heart and hire an author to turn these diaries into a first rate book of fiction inspired by and based on Nonnie's life and her diaries. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 281 used & new from $0.01 A Feast For the Reader, April 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel (Paperback) After the first 25 pages this became a page turner. I was invested in the characters Bohjalian created, and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to them. The heroine of the novel is Anna, a pretty blonde eighteen year old German girl. I am always suspicious of a male author who thinks he can write from a woman's point of view. However, it seems that Chris B. has made a career of that. He does a respectable job even in the love scenes. He must have researched these areas by interviewing women. However, the development of his female characters is still a little thin. The German characters who lived a cushy affluent life style were surprised at the barbarity of the Russians. Their attitude that the Russians were barbarians who were cruel with no basis for their cruelty was surprisingly naive. Had they put their heads in the sand for the entirety of the war? The Germans were horrendously cruel to the Russians in both their warfare and their treatment of Russian POWs. Many German soldiers raped Russian women and their superiors did nothing to curtail this behavior. The looting and German barbarity were well known. That these Germans did not know or chose not to know of their countrymens' cruelty was absurd. They admit to listening to the BBC broadcasts which detailed the horrors that the Germans visited on the Jews and the Slavs. Yet they chose to believe that these were exaggerations. They heard "rumors" but chose not to believe them. Of course, they did not participate in the horrors perpetrated by Germans on the Jews. Anna's father even wrote a letter for one Jewish family he knew. However, they never actually hid a family for even one night. Instead they hung a personally signed picture of Hitler in their living room. The entire family belonged to the Nazi party. Innocent germans- Please. I don't buy it. I was disappointed with the story's ending. ( spoiler alert) It would have been much more interesting if Anna had been intimate with Uri as well as Callum. This would have been entirely plausible because she found him more attractive than Collum. Then had she become pregnant with Uri's child instead of Collum's, the end could have had a bit of a twist. I am fascinated with novels set during WWII so I enjoyed this book. I have never before read a novel from the perspective of the Germans fleeing the Russian invaders. I could understand their fear, but could not feel sorry for them. This book was a decent effort. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.78 75 used & new from $8.39 Like Drinking A Fine Riesling Wine, March 24, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance (Hardcover) This saga or memoir tracing a collection of Japanese netsukes is really the story of the wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family from its humble roots in Russia to Odessa, Paris, Vienna and finally flung to all corners of the earth. The author Edmund de Waal is the recipient of the netsukes through a bequest of his great uncle living in Tokyo. In 1870 de Waal's great grandfather's first cousin Charles Ephrussi became an ardent art collector. All of the Ephrussis became art collectors, but Charles was the most influential and the one who purchased the netsukes. The Ephrussi family was wealthy on the order of the Rothchilds operating one of the biggest and most successful banks in Europe, the Paris branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were given titles and were now part of the nobility. Because they were Jewish they could join certain clubs but could not become officers of those clubs. Still they believed they were largely accepted and were full citizens of their adopted countries whether that was France or Austria. Charles was a gay man living as if he were straight. Via his close friendship with a married woman he allowed the appearance of an affair with her. Rumors of their affair were prevalent. However, he had close friendships with Proust and other gay men living as gay. It was obvious that he too was gay. Proust even used Charles as the inspiration for his character, Swann. Charles began collecting works of art by Renoir, Manet and many other great artists of the impressionistic school. Charles also helped the impressionist artists financially loaning them money and arranging commissions for them. Renoir's girl in blue was probably the result of one of these commissions. Early in his collecting experience Charles purchases an entire collection of Netsukes and places them in one vitrine. He did not acquire them piecemeal searching out different subjects to complete the collection of 264 miniature works of art. There was a fashion of collecting Japanese artworks in Europe and Paris at the time. Charles participated early in that period by purchasing the netsukes from a well known and respected Paris art dealer. Charles circle of friends included great authors, thinkers and artists. The Ephrussis believed that their wealth, financial power,patronage of the arts, charitable works, and noble titles overshadowed their Jewishness, but it did not. Throughout their life in Paris they were exposed to anti-Semitism in words and deeds. They brushed it off as unimportant. Finally, Charles sends the entire netsuke collection with the vitrine to his young newly married cousins Emmy and Victor Ephrussi of Vienna as a wedding gift. Along with the netsukes the story moves to Vienna. The Vienna branch of the family ran the equally rich and powerful Vienna branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were equally wealthy living in palatial homes in the best neighborhoods on the ring. They were friends with the nobility and Ephrussi bore the title of Baron. They participated handsomely in all the arts and became ardent supporters of the symphony and Opera. They purchased tapestries and paintings, donated money for hospitals, their synagogue and other charities. Here like in Paris the Ephrussis deemed their sophisticated art interests and charitable works washed them of their Jewishness. It did not. Emmy held weekly salons where she entertained famous artists, thinkers, writers and musicians. Many famous musicians, doctors and lawyers were Jewish. Yet the Ephrussis noticed that their non-Jewish guests were always bachelors. None of the Christian women attended. Once the bachelors married they too stopped attending. Victor was a member of many clubs and associations, but in some he could not hold office. He served with distinction as an officer in WWI. The Versailles treaty left Austria and the other axis powers bankrupt and Vienna suffered from the poverty. Victor believed that Austria would win the war and all his banking and investment decisions were made with that in mind. Victor lost about 90% of his fortune because he refused to place his funds in Switzerland in Swiss francs during the war. He refused to buy dollars or pounds. He was a loyal patriotic Austrian citizen and wanted to demonstrate his patriotism to his country. After WWI the Ephrussi family of Austria had to reduce its expenses. They had to cut out several routine expensive vacation trips. Their country home in Czechoslovakia was not kept up to the same degree. The swimming pond was allowed to return to its natural state of being surrounded by encroaching reeds. It was no longer swimmable. By 1933 public anti-Antisemitism began to rear its ugly head. There were vocal antisemetic diatribes. In 1933 there were 145,000 Jews in Austria. Of those 59% of all the physicians, 65% of the lawyers, and 50% of the journalists in Austria were Jewish. The economy became terrible with beggars and other poor refugees flooding Vienna looking for work. It was the depression and there was no work. People like the Ephrussis even though they lost most of their fortune were resented and doubly so because they were Jewish. They still lived in their palace on the ringstrasse. Maybe they had fewer servants and vacations, but to the great population of the impoverished and downtrodden who didn't have enough to eat, they were unbelievably wealthy. Like every time in history when bad luck, war or disease befell a population, they blamed the Jews for their predicament. It did not matter that many Jews lost their money and property and were also impoverished by WWI and the depression. They were still blamed for the poverty and hopelessness. In the middle ages when the bubonic plague swept through Europe, the Jews were blamed. Even though Jews died in equal numbers from the disease carried by rats and spread by fleas, the Jews were blamed for it. In some locales they were murdered for it. Irrationality of this belief did nothing to stop the hatred and violence. Similarly Jews were hated and blamed for the economic disaster brought on by the loss of WWI and the Versailles Treaty. The depression followed and the hatred and resentment became even more extreme. In 1933 the Nazi party came to power in Germany. Now anti-semitism became rampant in Austria. Victor had to step down as head of the bank in favor of his Christian partner who held a minority of the shares. At this point the reader wants to shake him by the scruff of his neck and tell him to get out while he still can. Three of his four children have left Austria. Iggy has gone to the U.S. for a career in fashion design. Elizabeth is studying in France. Gisella is living with her husband in Spain. Only the last of their children, Roland is still living with them. When Emmy and Victor married Emmy was 20 years younger than Victor. The marriage was engineered by two wealthy and powerful Jewish families. For Emmy it was not a love match. History indicates that she entertained a few lovers and it is possible that Roland is a result of one of these affairs. However, though Emmy was not thrilled by this pregnancy so long after her third child was born, Victor treated him with acceptance and love. Since Emmy married Victor she was cared for by a loyal and loving maid named Anna. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria and the Nazi Nuremburg laws befell even the rich and powerful Ephrussis. Victor was forced to sell his bank stock for 10 cents on the dollar to his Christian partner. Roland fled to the U.S. before the annexation. After the annexation Emmy and Victor fled to their summer home in Czechoslovakia. The Nazis loot the art collection, tapestries, rugs, silver and china. However, while they are working so hard to catalogue all the finery, Anna who has been assigned a room in the palace smuggles and hides the netsukes from Emmy's dressing room. She hides them under her mattress for the whole of the war. Elizabeth at the age of 27 has married a Christian Dutchman named de Waal. He is from a dutch shipping family but he is not rich. Elizabeth was the first female lawyer to graduate from the University of Vienna. She has also earned a Phd. She has published articles and essays in periodicals of note. She writes poetry. She is the brightest of all of Victor's and Emmy's children. She has her father's face with the big Ephrussi nose and dark eyes overhung with heavy eyelids and bushy brows. She was not a beauty and probably did not have many suitors. Perhaps, too her scholarship was intimidating to young men. Elizabeth and her husband were now safely residing in England. After the Nazi annexation of Austria Victor but not Emmy joined them. Elizabeth began attending de Waal's church and she raised her two sons in the Christian faith. One of them, Edmund de Waal's father, became a protestant minister. Now the story moves to Tokyo. Iggy Ephrussi enlisted in the military as did his other stateside brother Roland. Because Iggy was fluent in three languages he served in military intelligence. After the war he was recruited by an international company who offered him a post in Japan. Iggy did not want to be in postwar Europe with all the reminders of Naziism. He did not return to see his home in Vienna. He became an executive in Tokyo where he took a young Japanese man as his lover. They made a home for themselves together. Elizabeth traveled to Vienna after the war to see what was left of her home and to determine if any of their collections or property were salvageable. Almost nothing was left and the palace had been turned into military occupation offices. She met with Anna who told her how she saved the netsuke. She was apologetic that it was all she could hide. However, she wanted to be able to preserve something for the family when they returned. Elizabeth was grateful and she returned to England with the netsukes. Later she sent them to her brother Iggy. Iggy had a vitrine built for them and kept them in his Japanese home. On his death bed he bequeathed them to Edmund de Waal now a successful ceramic artist in London. The author explores the history of his bequest in this novel. His language is beautiful and lyrical. It is natural and unforced. I could not put it down. However, I purchased this in the kindle edition. There are numerous photographs in the book . I believe the reader would be better served by an illustrated version of this book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 206 used & new from $4.32 Nature vs. Nurture and Criminality, March 11, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Defending Jacob: A Novel (Hardcover) Defending Jacob directly confronts the issue of whether character traits are predetermined by nature or molded by nurture. The jury is still out on the issue, but the consensus is that it is a combination of both. Jacob's father, Andy Barber is the local D.A. He is successful in his chosen field. The community in which the Barber's live and work is Newton, Mass, a safe affluent and highly educated community. When Ben Rifkin one of Jacob's classmates is found murdered in the park, the town is shocked. Jacob is identified as the prime suspect after others are ruled out. Andy Barber has never revealed to his wife his checkered family background. His father is in jail for murder. His grandfather was also convicted of murder. He is concerned that there is a murder gene and that he has passed it on to Jacob. His wife is angry that he chose to conceal these facts. The trial and the strains it puts on this family are the heart of the novel. How does a family survive the isolation, financial burdens and fear that a murder trial produces. Their only child, Jacob is the accused. Andy is put on paid leave because of the potential for a conflict of interest. Thus, he has no work to occupy his time. The people who were once close family friends such as Duffy, the police inspector assigned to the D.A.'s office, suddenly must distance themselves from the family. Alone and frightened Laurie Barber, Andy Barber, and Jacob Barber face this tumultuous experience. A psychiatrist is contacted for consultation. Her job is to identify whether or not Jacob has any inherited traits that might make him more likely to engage in criminal activity. She does identify some of those traits and she then begins to construct evidence of mitigation should Jacob be convicted. The traits she identifies include lack of empathy, an inability to form normal parental attachments as an infant and impulsivity. For lack of a better description, these could be called "murder genes." Jacob has a sketchy history of cruelty to small animals. He also has a history of "rough" or physically violent behavior with other small children his own age. Andy and Laurie believe that they have successfully dealt with his tendency to be "rough" with other small children and that the trait disappeared by the time Jacob was 5. Both his mother and father avoid characterizing his behavior as anything but ordinary growing pains. Parents can identify with Andy and Laurie Barber and the daily horror they must face as the court case moves along. Andy correctly articulates the problems they are facing. Even if Jacob is adjudicated as not guilty, that does not mean he is innocent. It merely means that the evidence does not prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I do not want to create a spoiler here. Spoiler alert: However, someone else confesses to the crime and commits suicide. There is some indication to Andy that it is a false confession. Andy, Laurie, and Jacob flushed with relief take a much needed family vacation to Jamaica. They stay at a luxurious beach resort. Jacob meets and befriends a teen girl who is also a guest at the resort. Andy and Laurie are thrilled that Jacob is returning to the normal activities engaged in by 14 year old boys. Then the girl Jacob has befriended disappears. She is discovered seven weeks later when her body washes ashore. She has drowned, but her windpipe has also been crushed as if she were strangled. The Jamaican police cannot clearly call her a victim of homicide. However, Laurie now knows that in spite of the confession her son is a murderer, and he has killed twice. What happens next is the twist in the tale. Defending Jacob is a fast paced legal thriller. Men as well as women will be entertained by the story. I had trouble identifying with the mother. The characters were somewhat well drawn, but the mother especially was not drawn with much depth. I found it hard to believe that in spite of the fact that her family was willing to sit with her at trial she chose to suffer further by sitting alone. This story will make a better movie than it has a book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) by The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.D Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.49 64 used & new from $22.73 A Readable Texbook on the Science of Cooking and Baking, March 8, 2013 This review is from: The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) (Hardcover) This wonderful book breaks down the science of cooking and baking into 50 major concepts. Once learned the food maven can apply them to other dishes and experiment often with good results. I love the scientific testing behind these recommendations and concepts. They don't just taste meat to determine which method or cut produces the juiciest result, they measure the juice extruded. Many of these recipes and instructions have appeared in other publications. However, here they are organized around the concepts they illustrate. For the dedicated cook who wants to improve his/her results, this is an excellent resource. It would also make a wonderful gift. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Baking Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 94 used & new from $12.10 A Bakers Bible, March 8, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Baking Illustrated (Hardcover) I bought this book before I bought the New Best Recipe book. All the recipes turn out if you follow the instructions exactly. This book explains the science behind baking too. If you read the recipe through before beginning you won't be tempted to vary it before trying it their way first. Even if the book has some redundancies, it is handy to look only through a book dedicated to baking when one is preparing a baked dessert etc. This tome would make a fine gift to someone who enjoys baking. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.46 81 used & new from $1.54 Another Winner From Cooks Illustrated, March 8, 2013 This review is from: More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) (Hardcover) The other reviewers are correct. Many of the recipes have appeared in their magazines or on their TV shows. However, all of the recipes I have tried turn out well. Also the instructions are excellent. As usual they find the easiest and best way to cook everything. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Rules of Civility: A Novel by Amor Towles Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 276 used & new from $1.03 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Wasp Rules of Boredom, March 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Rules of Civility: A Novel (Paperback) I too cannot understand the excitement over this book. There is no passion. Every slight real or imagined is treated with the wasp elixir- a dry martini. Food is often an after thought as is substance in this novel. The female voice is not credible, perhaps, because it is written by a man. Why do men think they can write from the female point of view. Why not tell a story from the point of view of a similarly situated young man. Katy, our heroine, obviously wants to marry into the world of the wealthy wasp. An educated christian girl from a blue collar family she thrusts herself head long into the wasp world hoping to find herself permanently ensconced therein. She finds herself tricked into love with a fellow with all the trappings of wealth whose family has lost everything. He now is the kept man of a wealthy woman whom he introduces as his godmother. It is hard to feel sympathy for Katy or her friend, Eve. The opportunities that come their way were not available to Jews or members of other ethnicities. Katy does end up with a high profile job and married to a very wealthy New Yorker. Had I found myself in one more trying cocktail party with a Bitsy or a Tinker - those telling Wasp monikers, I think I would have choked. I could not wait for this novel to end. Will someone tell me what all the hoopla is about? The sentences are well crafted. The vocabulary is good. However, the story is "meh." I can't recommend this. For a book about New York and its glitter try Bright Lights Big City. The Great Gatsby is better on the jazz age in New York. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel by Dr. Rafael Medoff Edition: Paperback Price: $13.14 35 used & new from $9.89 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Publish or Perish Book You Can Skip, February 19, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel (Paperback) I believe Wentling wrote this book as a response to the pressure put on career academics to publish. Her part of the book details Hoover's early history. She has found every statement, phrase, and nuance that could conceivably be determined to be favorable to Jews and she has cataloged it here. Hoover was a Quaker. He came from a tradition of charity, humanitarianism, and tolerance for minorities and the creeds of others. He found like minded people among the wealthy Jews. During his work as head of the ARA which distributed food to Europeans starving after WWI, he found like minded wealthy Jews like Felix Warburg and Marshall. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee funded much of the work done by the ARA. I doubt he ever met a Jew until he became an adult. He probably never shared a meal with a Jew until he began working with the ARA. Hoover was an engineer who made his money in mining. He was a self made man and he believed in the importance of persistence and hard work. He also believed in volunteerism and good organization. As part of his tradition of tolerance Hoover urged European countries to put a stop to the pogroms and other discrimination against their Jewish communities. The actions he took to foster religious tolerance in Europe did not produce much fruit, but he did try. However, the book also glosses over the fact that as president he appointed an anti-Semite named Stinson as his secretary of state. The assistant secretary of state was also anti-Semitic. Further,Hoover supported the new immigration quotas which were designed to fall most heavily on Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and other Eastern European nations. It should be pointed out that both Warburg and Marshall also supported the restrictive quotas for their own personal reasons. The book finally takes off when Medoff writes the chapters on Hoover's response to the holocaust. Hoover actively supported rescue and was critical of the administration's failures in that regard. He saw avenues of rescue which were ignored. Both he and Harold Ickes were prominent people who supported finding ways to rescue the Jews of Europe. I have no doubt after reading this that he felt a heartfelt sympathy for these persecuted people. Further, he saw it as his Christian duty. He supported Israel as did a number of other republicans for a number of reasons including sympathy for the survivors of the holocaust. Some also saw it as a bulwark against communism and extremism in the middle east. Clearly the fact that so many republicans favored supporting and recognizing the state of Israel put pressure on the Truman administration to do so as well. Administration action or non-action on rescue and recognition and support of the state of Israel gave rise to the "Jewish vote." Prior to that Jews almost unanimously voted democratic. If the reader is willing to read through 64 pages of tedium to get to the fun stuff, then this is a book you will enjoy. A far better book on the American response to the Holocaust is: While Six Million Died: A Story of American Apathy by Morse. That book is a page turner from start to finish. I am also sure there must be a better book about the crystallization of the "Jewish vote." There should also be something excellent on bipartisan American support for the state of Israel. I felt that this book repackaged other publications to create a new publication by categorizing all the facts surrounding Hoover. If you are a Hoover scholar than you may want to read this. If not there are other better books on the central subjects: U.S. response to Europe's persecution of its Jews, rescue during the holocaust or rather lack of it, and bipartisan support of Israel. Certainly the information contained in the first 64 pages could have been dealt with swiftly in a 10 page essay. Also Hoover's sympathy for the Jews probably stopped at the door of his restricted country club. I doubt Hoover's beliefs and feelings about the Jewish people would have led him to put a stop to "restrictions" in private clubs, hotels, and residential neighborhoods that allowed only white Christians. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Hardcover 22 used & new from $1.73 Dreams of Love, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Dreams of Joy: A Novel (Hardcover) Dreams of Joy is a story about love- a mother's love for her child. This novel is the sequel to Shanghai girls. Joy ,Pearl's daughter and May's niece learns that May is her true biological mother and Pearl is her aunt. She also learns that the father she adored was not her real father. Her biological father is a handsome, charming and talented artist named Z.G. who has carved out his own career in communist China. Joy also feels responsible for her purported father's suicide. He too never knew that Joy was not his biological daughter. Joy an idealistic University of Chicago student who has become a communist. The enchanting philosophy of communism appeals to her sense of charity and justice. She runs off to China both to escape the reality of her discovery, her guilt over her purported father's death, to find her biological father, and to participate in the new China. Both Pearl and May are horrified. They realize nineteen year old Joy's mistake and Pearl takes off after her while May stays home to look after their business interests. Joy finds her father,marries an illiterate and poor country boy, makes her home in the countryside, and gives birth to her own daughter in rustic impoverished circumstances. Shortly after her marriage, she realizes she made a mistake in choosing her spouse. He quickly becomes unfaithful and uncaring. Further, he becomes out right cruel to her when she bears him a daughter instead of a son. Even though the communists have tried to improve the status and importance of women in the culture, the strong Chinese bias in favor of sons persists especially in rural areas. Yet none of Joy's letters about her changed feelings and circumstances reach Pearl. By the time Joy realizes that Communism does not work and that she has made a terrible mistake, she is trapped in a famine in rural China. She and her child as well as all the villagers are starving. People die every day. They have taken to killing and eating their female infants and Joy realizes her daughter's very existence depends on her escape from the countryside. Correspondence is strictly censored. Pearl who is now living in Shanghai has no idea that her daughter is living in such dire circumstances. During his failing leap year program Mao tries to hide the famine rampant in China from the world. Hence Pearl cannot get a travel permit for the countryside even though she has never seen her grandchild who is only a one day's journey away. Even though food shortages have reached Shanghai, Pearl and Z.G. have no idea how dire Joy's circumstances are. None of her letters arrive in Shanghai and all the little correspondence Joy receives is strictly censored. The food and goods Pearl sends along with her letters are stolen before they reach Joy. Joy does not understand why her mother has not responded to her many requests for help, but she assumes that Pearl has not received her letters. Finally Joy finds a way to surreptitiously notify Pearl. Once Pearl learns of the disastrous conditions in which Joy is living, she and Z.G. devise a way to rescue her. Z.G. is a prominent communist artist and has been in the movement since before Japan's invasion of China. Together they rescue Joy and her daughter. They also rescue her husband. After saving Joy and her child from starvation and the privations of the countryside, Pearl and Z.G. begin to devise a method to get her and themselves out of China. May finances all of the work by running Pearl's cafe and her business in Los Angeles. She awaits them in Hong Kong. Meanwhile Pearl has truly fallen in love with the professor living in what was once her family home and where she now occupies one room. They marry before the escape plan is hatched. He is her true love. I will not tell the ending here. See pulls the bamboo curtain back and we see communist china with all its warts. This book is well written. These may not be pulitzer prize winning novels, but they are every bit as satisfying when read together as Snowflower and the Secret Fan. See has an excellent command of the English language. She paints a clear picture of life in pre-World War II Shanghai, war torn Shanghai, life for the Chinese immigrant in the U.S. and life in Mao's communist China. This story about life, love, betrayal and war covers all the emotions and is a satisfying read. Sure there are some contrived events, but sometimes that is just good story telling. See is a master story teller. Most readers will be truly satisfied. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.42 951 used & new from $0.01 Half of the Story, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Shanghai Girls: A Novel (Paperback) This book followed by Dreams of Joy is a 5 star read. It ends abruptly with much left to tell and tell it Lisa See does in Dreams of Joy. Shanghai Girls is the tale of May and Pearl, two calendar models or "beautiful girls" as they were called. May is the more beautiful of the two but both are in demand. Their father loses everything just prior to Japan's invasion of China. He sells his daughters in marriage to two stateside Chinese or so they believe. The girls try to avoid their forced marriage. However, Japan invades Shanghai and their only means of escape is through these marriages. Their escape is horrific and includes the tragedies that were so common in occupied Shanghai. They believe they will be going to an affluent and easy life in the U.S. However, their living conditions are not as expected. Both must work very hard everyday. May was pregnant when they left China. In order to conceal this fact and to protect themselves and the child, Pearl pretends to be the child's mother. Pearl's marriage is consummated while May's is not. The child whom they name Joy is born in the immigration holding area, and Pearl delivers the child in the communal bathroom. Once allowed to enter the U.S. as wives of Chinese Americans they both live in the same household. May pretends to be the child's aunt and Pearl is truly Joy's mother. May married to the only biological son of the family scion, Vernon, develops a career as a bit player in films. She is also a casting agent for people of Chinese origin and she supplies props and costumes. She never gets the speaking roles she really wants. Vernon is both mentally and physically disabled and May's marriage is never consummated. The Scion's only hope for a grandson is through Pearl. However, because of the injuries she sustained during the escape, Pearl is never able to conceive and bring a baby to term. The only child she has dies shortly after birth. This book ends with only half the story told. The reader will also have to read Dreams of Joy to finish the story. Otherwise as one reviewer states the ending is unsatisfying. I agree. My 5 star rating is given only under the assumption that the purchaser will also read the sequel. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ On Gold Mountain by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.94 126 used & new from $2.16 Excellent History of the Chinese Immigrant Experience, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: On Gold Mountain (Paperback) I loved reading about Fong See and his family. I knew that Chinese Americans faced discrimination daily, but I had no idea they were not permitted to own land. I don't know whether this was a California law or a federal one. The author doesn't say. Perhaps, like residential areas that were "restricted" or rather off limits to Jews, blacks, or any non- whites or non-Christians, these were regional laws. I thought my Jewish ancestors faced a great deal of discrimination and they did. However, the chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans faced much more bias. Notably the Asian Americans have not sought affirmative action redress even thought they deserve it. Like Jews they did well in spite of the discrimination. However, they would have done better. There should be cultural and financial redress in the form of affirmative action for our Asian Americans previously discriminated against because of their ethnicity or race. I am ashamed that my country behaved in such a way to Chinese immigrants. Lisa See's photo is on the back of her book. Even though I bought the kindle version, I did see her photo. She looks caucasion with her blue eyes and red hair. She is only 1/8 th Chinese and describes herself as caucasian in appearance but Chinese in her heart. She certainly is. The depth of her feeling for the struggles of Fong See, her grandparents, her parents and all their siblings and relatives is palpable. This history presents a good and probably accurate example of the Chinese immigrant experience in California. We rarely hear complaints from this stoic group. Therefore, it is left to books like this one to educate us about injustices heaped on this remarkably resourceful immigrant group and their progeny. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 199 used & new from $4.39 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Rehash of Books of Others, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Hardcover) This history of Lyndon Johnson from his 1960 run for president until March of 1963 after Kennedy's assasination derives too much from the published work of others and the author's own previous books. Caro was under pressure to publish either from himself or his publisher/agent and to fulfill a promise of a certain number of pages. The machinations of Robert Kennedy's attempts to try to get Johnson to turn down his brother's offer of the vice presidential slot on his ticket was tedious and uneccessary. Clearly Bobby Kenedy did not want LBJ on his brother's presidential bid. It was uneccessary to spend so many pages on the details and speculation of those privy to the events. There were too many "according to..., this is what occurred." It would have been enough to say that Robert Kennedy tried in every way possible to prevent his brother from offering Johnson the vice presidency and when that didn't work, he tried to get Johnson to turn his brother down. Instead we waste a great deal of time reading every possible speculation of what transpired between the two. I had no idea that Robert Kennedy hated Johnson so much. Johnson publically critisized Joseph Kennedy with a clearly justifiable critisizm during a speech he gave long before the 1960 campaigns. Joseph Kennedy wanted to placate Hitler rather than joining the allies in WWII. He was also an anti-semite. Jack Kennedy knew that he would have to distance himself from his father due to his wrong headedness when it came to these issues. As ambassador to England before and during WWII, Joseph Kennedy made serious and startling diplomatic errors in his assessments of the facts on the ground. Johnson was justified in his critisizms. It appears that Bobby was not that well regarded by his father. Perhaps, because he could not psycologically confront his father over his favoritism, he substitued Johnson. I suspect that his over reaction and hatred of Johnson was really the embodiment of his hatred for his own father. The author could have explored this issue and given the reader some insight into Bobby Kennedy's unjustifiable hatred of Johnson instead of merely hinting at it. Johnson and the Kennedys really were of one mind when it came to equal rights for minorities. Only Johnson lived these ideals as soon as he was in a position to do so. Johnson did more for blacks and other minorities than the Kennedys ever did. Much of this book quoted other works like Master of the Senate and other biographies and autobiographies gathering them under one heading about Johnson's transition period. Caro explored the self sabatoging reason for Johnson's failure to win the 1960 candidacy for president. He well understood the psycological forces that prevented Johnson from declaring in a timely fashion. However, he failed to identify the psychological forces behind Bobby Kennedy's pathological hatred for Johnson. Clearly Johnson took a traumatized nation and led it to stability and continuation. He was a masterful leader and probably one of our best presidents in spite of his failures and deceit about Viet Nam. Had Kennedy lived it is doubtful that he would have gotten either the needed tax bill or the equal rights bill passed. For all his charisma he did not understand how the legislature worked well enough to get them passed. Johnson on the other hand knew how to acheive these goals. With a mastery of political manipulations, Johnson with barely a vote to spare did know. He put his knowledge to good use even though he inherited an uneccessary complication from his predessesor. He managed to save both bills. He also lived his belief that minorities should have equal rights to public accomodation. I doubt that Jack Kennedy would have integrated a segregated club by walking into it with his black secretary on his arm. Johnson did when he attended a new year's eve party and birthday party for a politician at a segregated private club in Austin with his black secretary . This book should have continued through his 1964 nomination and inaugauration. The pages could have been taken from the tedium of his vice-presidential period. We needed more of the descriptions of Johnson's successes with his western and southern country charm. The description of Johnson's successful diplomacy with the German chancellor whom he entertained at his ranch was masterful. The rehashing of his time as vice-president was not. Caro filled pages here instead of giving us history of substance. If the reader skims those parts then the book is worth reading. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Edition: Paperback Price: $14.49 122 used & new from $6.15 Good but Not Great, December 15, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman (Paperback) Catherine truly was great. She increased Russian territory, population, and influence in the world. She began the great art collection in the hermitage and built it every chance she could get. She brought the philosophies of the enlightenment into the Russian court and propelled Russia forward into progressive values and states of being whenever it was possible. Massie draws from Catherine's own memoirs and her extensive correspondence with a variety of enlightened thinkers including Diderot, Voltaire, and Grimm. He also draws from her correspondence with Orlov, Potempkin, and her other lovers and partners. However, Catherine destroyed the correspondence she received from them so those letters were not available to the biographer. Thankfully,the people she wrote to kept her letters for posterity. However, we have only half the conversations. We have her half. We have her thoughts edited and filtered for the reader she wrote to. Had Catherine continued her memoirs after she took the throne, I think this biography would have been better. Secondary sources often mean comprommise. Had she kept a private diary while she was Empress, we would have had her unfiltered personal thoughts. We do not nor did the biogrpaher. Massie quotes heavily from these letters to support his conclusions. That is helpful for the reader. The first third of the book drags at times as the reader waits for Princess Catherine to become the Empress. The middle of the book is exciting and moves along quickly. The last third of the book is also slow at least in part because is is anti-climatic. Princess Sophia had a difficult relationship with a mother who never treasured her. However, she was deeply loved by her father, a minor German nobel who lacked substantial resources. She returned his love and internalized many of his values. She was really torn when she had to give up her Protestant faith to marry the heir to the Russian throne, but give it up she did. She promised her father she would not relinquish her faith, but she reconciled her conversion to Greek Orthodoxy by finding council who would confirm that in substance there was no difference between her protestant faith and Greek Orthodoxy. They both believed that Jesus was the messiaah who was born of a virgin birth. She was ambitious at an early age, and she understood the opportunity that was presented to her. Her mother always ambitious and disappointed with her lot in life sought to aggrandize herself by marrying her daughter to an important throne. She saw the opportunity to marry Sophia to Peter III as her way to riches, respect, influence and importance, something she never acheived in her own marriage. She cared nothing for her daughter's happiness, but that was the culture and habit of all nobels of the era. Marriages were like business partnerships. Husbands who sought the companionship of lovers were tolerated. It was often expected. Peter the Great in addition to his spouse had a peasant woman lover who bore him three children including Empress Elizabeth who inherited his throne. Peter the Great married the peasant woman when he could and made her his duchess. Peter the Great brought Russia into the modern age. Russia was considered a backwater by Europe. Peter unified some of the tribes, established a capital in St. Petersberg on the gulf of Finland, developed a navy which landlocked Russia did not need at the time and built Peterhof with its trick fountains and lovely landscaped gardens down to the sea. He brought modern European education, music and art to the Tartars and other tribes that made up the Soviet Socialist Republic we knew as Russia. His daughter Elizabeth who took no official husband and bore no children sought to continue her father's Romanov dynasty. She loved and admired her father, Peter The Great. It is believed that one of her longtime lovers was in fact a true husband, but there is no proof. I don't understand why a Russian empress could not marry without serious repercussions to her power. Maybe a commentator can explain it to me. Thus Elizabeth brought a nephew, the son of her beloved deceased sister to the court when he was eleven to groom him to become the emperor. His father had also died. She then began to look for a proper wife for the future Tsar in order to ensure the continuation of the Romanov dynasty. She took note of Sophia, the daughter of a minor and impoverished German nobelman. She wanted someone she could dominate both with her position and fortune. She found that person in Sophia. At age 14 she was promised to Duke Peter III then 15 or 16. She was not beautiful, but she was pleasing to the eye. She was clever but also sufficiently respectful and subservient to the Empress. She truly admired Elizabeth and thought her someone to emulate. She appreciated Elizabeth's intelligence, her education and her command of her empire, and she wanted to be like her. Unfortunately Peter III, an immature, self centered youth who had none of the characteristics found in a proper monarch was Sophia's only path to the throne. She converted to orthodoxy, became Catherine and was married to him when she was 15 and he was 17. Niether one knew about sex and no one explained sexual intercourse to either of them. Even when Catherine asked her mother what to expect, her mother refused to tell her. Sophia's grandmother failed to explain the facts of life to her own mother on the eve of her wedding. Her mother was introduced to the sex act by her father on their wedding night. But no one had explained the sex act to young Peter III, and he had no experience. So while Elizabeth waited patiently for Catherine to give birth to an heir following the marriage, Catherine was still a virgin and so was her nephew, Peter III. In all the dithering among Elizabeth and her advisers over what the problem could be, no one thought to explain the sex act to either one. Peter was very immature. He chose to play with his toy soldiers and to parade around in his soldier's uniform in lieu of developing a relationship with his young wife. She remained a virgin for nine years after the marriage. Elizabeth was beside herself. After nine years of marriage there was still no pregnancy. It did not occur to anyone that neither Peter III nor his wife knew how to conceive, and everyone was too embarrassed to discuss it. Finally, an experienced lothario was employed to give things a start. A handsome Polish nobelman, Count Stanislow caught Catherine's attentions and introduced her to the joys of the marriage bed. At some point Peter and Catherine must have had sex because Duke Peter III accepted her firstborn, Paul as his son. To this day no one knows if he fathered Paul or if Stanislow fathered him. It is more likely that all of her children were fathered by one of her lovers which changed over the years. Though Paul, her firstborn, like her husband did not have the qualities that would have made him an effective Tsar. Since so many of the European peerage were inbred, it is difficult to tell from portraits. Many of them bore the receeding chin evident today on Prince Charles and the long aquiline nose. Peter III had a longtime lover now. She was a rough and not well educated nobelwoman who was not well thought of at court. When Catherine finally bore a son, Paul she had fulfilled her duty. She was to give birth to a few spares as well. Elizabeth took the child immediately and controlled his education and upbringing. Cruelly, Elizabeth only allowed Catherine to see her child once a week in supervised visits. She did not see his first smile, his first steps or hear his first word. The relationship between Paul and Catherine was forever marred by this early deprivation. Elizabeth deprived Catherine of these joys, but Catherine knew she had to tolerate these cruelties in order to ascend the throne one day. However, she also loved and admired Elizabeth and wanted with all her heart to please her. Catherine gave birth to other children presumabley by her other lover, Orlov. Finally, in 1762 the Empress, Elizabeth died. Peter III attempted to marginalize Catherine and put forward his lover. He attempted alliances with the much hated German king Frederick. Hence, the military turned against him. He sought to be crowned tsar but the ceremony never took place. With Catherine and her supporters behind a coup, Peter III was imprisoned in a garrison where he was presumably to be kept alive. Catherine then ascends the throne with the backing of most of the Russian nobility, the Russian military and the Russian church. Like Ivan before him who Elizabeth kept imprisoned but alive, no harm was to come to Peter III. However, in a garrison skirmish he was killed. The jury is out on whether Catherine approved of this or whether it was truly an accident. However, Paul believing Peter III to be his true father resented his mother Catherine throughout his life because he believed she conspired with her lover Orlov to kill his father, Peter III. Small Pox and plague were the scourages of the time. Catherine feared small pox. The empress Elizabeth lost her fiance to small pox. Peter III was striken with small pox as a teenager and nearly died. Elizabeth personally and at great danger to herself nursed him through his illness which he survived tho scarred for life. Catherine learned of the small pox vaccination theory and program. It was controversial at the time. People were afraid they would contract small pox from the vaccine. To prove to her people that it was safe, she and her young son Paul allowed themselves to be vaccinated. The Russian court and people watched. Once they saw that Catherine and her son not only survived, but did not contract any form of small pox, many of her people were willing to undergo the life saving vaccinations. Catherine led by example. In Russia there was much land mass. Riches were accumulated not so much by owning the land but rather by working it. The ability to work the land depended on serf ownership. Hence wealth was valued according to the number of serfs one had. In certain concessions in mining etc there were serfs assigned to those dangerous industries. Serfs much like slaves in this country could not marry or change jobs at will. They were owned by their lords. Catherine saw serfdom as regressive and she hoped to eradicate the institution. Her first reforms resulted in strikes at mines and forges where work came to a standstill. She realized quickly that she would lose the support of many of the productive, influential and wealthy people in her ocuntry. She had to be content with other reforms. She further back treaded after the Pugachev rebellion led by a pretender to the throne who was himself a serf. She put down the rebellion with the help of her longtime lover Potempkin. He was a great military and political strategist and most probably her husband. After this revolt there was no more talk of elevating or freeing the serfs. Additionallly, she was influenced by the excesses of the French revolution which frightened her as it did many sitting monarchs of the era. She was an intellectual who supported the arts financially as well as with her interest. When Voltaire ran into financial difficulties, she bought his library allowing him to keep it for his lifetime. Only upon his death was it to come to Russia where it is still housed to this day. She recognized that the philosophers of the day, Diderot, Voltaire and Grimm were not merely treasures of their own lands. She saw them as world treasures. This view was unique in her day. Catherine was also known for taking several lovers who were often much younger. She was a lustful woman who sought to fulfill her needs in this way. They did not have power as Orlov and Potempkin did. However, she rewarded them with money, property and land. They always were dismissed with their fortunes intact. Today she would be called a "cougar." This conduct has been tolerated and even romanticised when it occurs with powerful men and their mistresses. For some reason nobelmen, church hiearchy, and populations look askance when a woman behaves this way. She never took advantage of a man who was not willing. When she died her less able son Paul took the reins for a short while, but he was no match for Catherine. One point of interest is that unlike Elizabeth Catherine did not deprive her son and his wife from the companionship of their young children. While Catherine took a central interest in their training and education, she allowed the parents to make many decisions about their care and to be witnesses to their first steps, their first words and their love. Thus, her grandchildren did not bear the scars and deprivation of a mother's love that her own son Paul did. She was not vengeful in that way and sh learned from the mistakes of her forbears. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Deception: Betraying the Peace Process by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Edition: Paperback 4 of 11 people found the following review helpful A Research Resource Not a Book for a Leisure Reading, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Deception: Betraying the Peace Process (Paperback) My book club selected this book. It is inappropriate for a book club selection. It is not a book to sit and read through. It is a research resource. Political scientists writing in this field could read through it and use it as a resource. It is an eye opener on the true goals of the Palestinean leadership. Clearly they have no intention of making peace with a two state solution. They want one state and they want an Islamic state with the Jews pushed into the sea. The resource material is excellent to prove this point and it is unsettling for those who believe peace in the mideast can be accomplished. I no longer believe it can unless the Jews give up and leave completely. Since that will not happen and should not happen, it is obvious that with the current Palestinean leadership peace is impossible. So if you are looking for good documentation to support the fact that the Palestinean leadership has no intention of negotiating in good faith, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a non-fiction resource for a book club book, find something more readable. Most of our members did not read this through and that includes the reviewer. Also it is expensive and difficult to obtain. You need a month lead time for it to arrive and it is not light reading.. Comments (3) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Mar 8, 2013 5:07 PM PST ________________________________________ Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) Offered by Balego USA Price: $16.25 7 used & new from $14.00 Finger exerciser, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) I bought this to help me recover from an injury I did to my right ring finger about a year ago. I dislocated it downward in a way that is difficult to fix. It was fractured in several places and tendons and ligaments were torn. It is still crooked and I cannot straighten it fully yet. The large knuckle has 3 dislocated fractures. The entire finger is weak. I was in PT until July. Now I am trying to strengthen the finger that is still weak and painful. This exerciser allows me to isolate the ring finger structure so I know just how much it can do. I use all 4 fingers to depress this, but I can tell just how much each individual finger can do. This is the lightest exerciser in the group. Since the other fingers are much stronger, I must concentrate to force myself to use the ring finger, but it is possible with this since each finger is isolated. I am using this for P.T., but pianists, violinists and other musicians might use it to strengthen fingers needed for musical play. There are tighter more challenging ones in the series and they are color coded. This seemed expensive, but for my purposes it was worth the money. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder MAN Fire Engine Price: $52.09 26 used & new from $44.87 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Hit With My 4 year old Grandson, November 26, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder MAN Fire Engine (Toy) My grandson now has 5 of these big German made trucks. His first was the garbage truck. He loved it so much that he slept with it in his bed. When he received the fire engine, he put that in his bed too. These trucks are accurately built with doors that open and close and parts that function just like the real deal. They are very expensive even tho they are plastic. The plastic is thicker and more durable than the less expensive made in China models. However, they are not as durable as the metal models available over 30 years ago. Trucks like these don't have much educational value. They are simply fun for boys and a right of passage for them. Every toy does not have to be educational. It probably teaches about the design and function of pulleys, levers and extension ladders. We bought our grandson the big crane for his birthday. Of all the trucks that one is probably the most educational b/c it has a functioning crane with a pulley etc. Try one of these. If your little guy likes it, you can add to the group for special occasions. These are special occasion gifts. The more expensive ones are very large. Read the dimension descriptions. This fire truck would be a lovely Xmas or chanukah gift for your little guy. Of all the trucks, the garbage truck, the crane and the cement mixer are the best choices. If you put water and sand in the cement mixer, a muddy cement like substance is extruded. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish Price: $31.02 5 used & new from $29.17 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Minimalist Functional Soap Dish, November 26, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish (Misc.) I bought this for all the shower stalls and tubs with shower in our house. We have minimalist hardware. Most bathrooms are outfitted with the dornbracht Tara faucet set in brushed platinum. The tile is either marble, limestone or travertine. The soap dish has sturdy rubber feet which keeps it balanced on shower stall shelves or tub surrounds. The soap drains easily onto the shelf or surround instead of sitting in the draining water as in most soap dishes. This allows the soap to dry so that it doesn't melt as fast. My only complaint is that the price has more than doubled since I first bought it at $12. I suspect that this does not reflect an increase in manufacturing and delivery cost. There are very few inexpensive soap dishes. I think that the sellers just figured that they could get this much per dish because there is nothing out there that is as functional. Does this give a potential designer pause? I think a similar design done in clear or colored but translucent lucite would work great. Instead of feet, it could have a perimeter rim and a hollow underneath with the slits for draining in the top of the dish. For easier cleaning, the lucite could be in non-transparent bright or neutral colors or in a sandblast like transclucent material. The fingerprints in clear things are awful on soap dishes. That is one reason this design in SS is so functional. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Korbel Albright Edition: Hardcover Price: $20.48 199 used & new from $1.76 A History of Czechoslovakia Before During and After the War, November 19, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (Hardcover) This book was a remarkable explanation of why Czechoslovakia turned toward Russia and became a communist satellite state. As another reviewer pointed out, Czechoslovakia was thrown under the bus any time such action would placate Hitler. Neville Chamberlain and the French allowed Hitler to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia in a an attempt to satisfy Hitler. Today we all know that nothing was going to placate Hitler and a war was inevitable. The British were not prepared for a full scale war and by abandoning the Czechs, they bought time to build their military. None of the big countries like England, France,or Russia were willing to go to war to honor treaties they signed with the Czechs to guarantee them protection. The English and French were blatant in their disregard of Czech rights and the treaties they signed at the Munich conference. Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the Munich conference where her very existence was decided. Since Russian involvement depended on French action, the Russians were off the hook. Only french involvement in Czech defense would have given rise to a Russian obligation to defend Czechoslovakia. Thus their treaty with Czechoslovakia did not operate merely because Hitler intended to invade and occupy the country. Even tho Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, its treaty with Russia did not require Russia to defend them. Hence, Russia was not in violation of any agreement the Czechs had with it when it was occupied by Germany. Because the British and the French both ignored their treaty with the Czechs and allowed Germany to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia, many Czechs had a bad taste in their mouth about the western European countries and hence the U.S. There was also an incident at the end of the war during which the Czech population fought the remaining German troops. They requested arms and military help from the U.S. army. For a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the deservedness of their cause, aid was witheld. Many Czech lives were needlessly lost and perhaps, this too gave rise to anti-U.S. feelings. In any case the Czechs no longer trusted the U.S., Britain or France. Therefore, it was probably more palatable to work with the Russians after the war than the west. Further, most Czechs were peasants. They were poor. The notion of communism offered a romantic ray of hope in a country impoverished by a depression and a war it did not want. I have been to Prague and Terezenstadt. The cities survived the war intact because there was very little bombing. It contained few essential resources for military needs so it was primarily spared. However, I had hoped that Ms. Albright would examine her Jewish roots more meaningfully. Clearly her parents were secular Jews who even put up a Xmas tree b/c Xmas was a national holiday. Being Jewish in the diplomatic core could not have been easy. At the time our own state department had few if any Jews and was outwardly anti-semetic. So it would be understandable if Korbel, Albright's father tried to hide his Judaism. Further, he lost so many relatives in the holocaust merely because they were Jewish. One could forgive concealing one's Judaism in a future life for that reason alone. However, the author tells us none of these things. She also does a rather superficial investigation. It is true that most of her relatives including her three living grandparents perished under horrific conditions in the holocaust. However, her telling of their fate was a dry unemotional history. Under Jewish law her mother was Jewish and she is Jewish. Since she is Jewish so are her children. Did she investigate the faith to see if she was drawn to it? Did she encourage her siblings or her children to learn about Judaism to see if the Jewish faith might be more fitting for them than Christianity. I don't think there was any encouragement in this direction. She claims that she has no material in her father's papers from which to draw any conclusions, because she didn't learn of the issue for 6 decades. However, her cousin , Dasa was alive. Surely she remembered Jewish rituals performed by her aunts. There is no explanation about any communication with Dasa over their Jewish history. Surely Dasa was aware that she was sent to live in England with her cousin Madeline and her aunt and uncle because the situation in Prague was becoming dangerous for Jews. She could not have believed herself to be catholic. Had she been catholic there would have been no reason to flee. I find the book lacking in this area. I'd like to see Ms. Albright study the religion, attend a few synagogue sermons and bible classes and consider her reaction. I suspect she is not a person of faith. However, her mother must have prepared typically Jewish dishes for the family when she was growing up. This is a cultural issue. Did her mother prepare the meat filled and boiled dumplings called "Kreplach"? How about the fruit filled cookies called "rugalach?" Did she ever make a matzoh ball? Gefilte fish? Did she make a beef short rib and cabbage soup called "cabbage borscht" without adding the sour cream? Non Jews often ate the soup with sour cream but Jews typically did not. Does she remember if her mother ever made a pork roast? If not doesn't she find that odd. Even if they ate it at the homes of others, did the family ever prepare it at home. I bet that other than during wartime shortages they didn't. In Britain during WWII everyone including Jews ate an American canned meat(pork) product called spam. During the blitz London survived on it. Since refrigeration could be sporadic, spam was the only "meat" available. So eating spam does not count in this evaluation. Often even though a family is not religious, festival foods are still lovingly remembered and prepared. Eating habits may not change though the religious ritual or reason for them has vanished. Now even non-Jews eat these dishes in Jewish style restaurants located in big cities all over the U.S. Yet Ms. Albright did not mention even one of these. Judaism values teaching and learning. It values the individual's right to self determination. Were any of her values traceable to her Jewish roots? She doesn't touch on this and we will never know. Note: I have just learned that one of her daughters married into a Jewish family and that her youngest grandson is preparing for his bar mitzvah. I wish she had mentioned this in her book and described to what extent her daughter has either become Jewish or decided to raise her children Jewish. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman Edition: Paperback Price: $11.49 106 used & new from $3.81 1 of 5 people found the following review helpful A Page Turner, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (Paperback) This memoir portrays the Hasidic sect of Satmar Jews as a cult. The Satmars and Hasidic Jews are angry and aghast over this book and the realities it brings to light. Many of the negative reviews have been filed by Hasidic Jews who are angry with Feldman's portrayal of Hasidism as a cult. Because Jews have been persecuted over the centuries by non-Jews many Jews feel it is a betrayal to critisize other Jews and their observances. Unfortunately Jews must and should be critical of their fundamentalist co-relgionists just as Muslims and Mormons should be of theirs. Deborah Feldman was a constructive if not an actual orphan being raised by her grandparents. Because of her orphan status the community members looked down upon her. Her parentage was questionable. Her father was mentallly ill or retarded. He wanders the neighborhood in inappropriate dress making inappropriate announcements. He was probably schizophrenic. His parents never sought proper treatment for him because it did not comport with their fundametalist religious beliefs. Because the Hasids do not believe in birth control, there is a high percentage of down syndrome and retardation in their community. Women have children well into their forties when birth defects increase as a percentage of all births. It is not unusual for a 49 year old woman to become a mother. Yet these children are cared for and schooled by the community. This does not prevent the community from requesting and receiving extra funds from public coffers to educate their special needs children. Mental Illness in this community is looked upon as something shameful. In order to find Deborah's mentally ill father a wife, the family had to seek out a poor girl from London who had poor prospects and whose family would not be aware of their son's strange behavior.This was Deborah's mother. Of course, this marriage failed. In fact Deborah's mother left the sect to live a secular gay life. In the community Deborah was viewed as not as good as others with a regular family. Further, her stingy granfather who could well afford to feed and cloth Deborah dressed her in her cousins' hand me downs. She never got to go to a store and select her own school clothes. This fact made her feel unworthy among her peers. Deborah is a bright and intellectual girl. These traits are not valued in the Hasidic community. Women are only valued as a support for men and as mothers. To discourage these traits Hasidic women cannot read most secular books and magazines. They are barred from learning about the outside world. Even their New York state required English grammar lessons are censored. There are lines of black out in the English grammar book. To comply with state law, girls are kept in school until age 16, but they do not earn New York City high school diplomas. Their religious observance precludes them from learning subjects like geometry which are required for a New York City high school diploma. AT 17 Deborah is married to a man she has met only once. He is not an intellecctual man. He works as a laborer in a warehouse. Deborah is an English teacher in the Satmar version of a high school. She should have been matched with someone who was an intellectual like her. That notion never occurred to her grandparents who looked only at the level of religious observance and financial support that could be expected of the family. Eli was from a humble albeit reverent and religious family, and that was good enough for their grandaughter. The marriage was doomed from the start. Deborah had a vaginal abnormality that precluded normal completion of sexual intercourse. Of course, she was personally blamed for the failure. A gynecologist identified the abnormality and recommended minor surgery. The family refuses to accept the diagnosis and surgical recommendation. Instead they take her from one talk therapist to another. A biofeedback specialist cannot fix a structural defect. Her husband is not the least bit supportive. He even leaves her temporarily over her failure. Finally Deborah finds a solution on the internet. She orders a manual dilation kit. This kit helps her deal with her double hymen which is rigid and inflexible. She finally completes intercourse and becomes pregnant. Once she becomes pregnant she is treated much better by her husband and his family. She and Eli have now moved out of Williamsburg into or north of Westchester county where they are not subjected to constant observance and critisizm. Deborah and her spouse have a little more freedom here. This freedom means she is not critisized because she doesn't shave her head in addition to wearing a wig. Still she must wear a wig and she must observe sabbath rules and participate in the Mikvah. She regularly attends the mikvah which she detests. She finds it dehumanizing and invasive which it is. When she decides that she must leave the sect for her own personal sanity and for the good of her son, Yitzy, the mikvah is one of the first observances she gives up. When she leaves the apartment ostensibly to attend to the mikvah she takes a magazine and reads in front of the Starbucks. She realizes that the purpose of many of these observances is to oppress women. They are designed to keep women ignorant of the ouside world and incapable of fending for themselves outside the sect. The hasidic education deprives all its students of more than a rudimentary acquaintance with algebra. There is no geometry, advanced algebra, trigonometry, calculus, or physics. Only Jewish subjects are taught. Geometry and other higher mathematics are of Greek origin so they aren't taught. Modern chemistry is not taught though chemical analysis that existed in biblical times is taught. The ancient Hebrews had not mastered modern chemistry or physics. Gallileo is not taught. Children learn history lessons with objectionable material removed. They do not learn about the women's movement for example. Only subjects which comport with their religious views are allowed. Thus, they are ill prepared to attend any college or university. Ultra-orthodox Yeshiva students who want to pursue college degrees in anything other than Judaic studies must participate in some sort of remedial or self taught education. The Hasidic view toward education is probably similar to the tea party regulars who want creationism taught alongside Darwin. Christians who want creationsim taught as an accepted theory of the origin of the species alongside Darwin are just as nuts. Christian fundamentalists who don't want birth control taught in sex education classes are cultish too. Christian fundamentalist may not dress in funny clothes like the Hasids, but they can be just as dangerous and just as regressive. The Duggans in the reality show 21 kids and counting come to mind. Members of cults can be pleasant, charming and nice. The amish are an example of a cult as are other Christian fundamentalists. The Lubuvitcher group of Hassidic Jews are an example too. Even if some of the examples of hasidic excesses are "embroidered" or not totally factually accurate, they do serve to demonstrate the danger of this particular religious cult. Further, they are an accurate account of the author's perception at the time. Her perception may have been inaccurate, but that was her perception. A boy is molested by his elderly bar mitzvah teacher. The community comes to learn that he has molested many boys and has a hoard of children's pornography in his house. Do they report him to the police? No. He is too old to go to jail. He disappears from the community for several weeks and returns. Presumably he participates in tutoring boys once again. Is he again in a position to molest? We are not told. What happens to the boy? He is forced to leave his Yeshiva because his presence will disrupt the class. No other Yeshiva will take him because they know what happened to him. This is a case of a ten year old victim being punished for being a victim and speaking out. How is this different from the Muslims who blame their daughters because they were raped. How is it so different from family members killing a victim of rape, because she was raped. It is accepted as an honor killing. We are horrified when we hear about these Muslim extremists. How are muslim honor killings so different from the fallout of an ultra orthodox Jewish boy being raped by his teacher. Then there is the horrific murder of a ten year old boy caught masterbating by his father. Masterbation is prohibited in the ultra orthodox sect. The community does not report the murder. Instead a specious death certificate is issued by the hassidic ambulence service. A quick burial follows. If you think this is impossible then read Postville where another murder is covered up by a Hasidic community. Deborah was fortunate to have been able to leave this sect on the tails of the publication of her book. She received an advance which gave her the financial suppport she needed to take her son and leave. She cuts his Paises so he will look just like all the other children at the playground, and it gives her great pleasure to do so. She begins teaching him in English instead of the favored Yiddish. Other women who are not as talented as Deborah and who wish to leave the sect are not so fortunate. She was lucky that a professor at Columbia's law school fought for Deborah's right to have custody of her son. She probably fought for and won child support from Eli as well. I do wish the book explained about any sister she may have had and which was referred to in some of the reviews. If she had been in multiple schools and been expelled, I wish she would have explained that in the book too. She has written a memoir so it should be factually correct. Otherwise she must label it as fiction based on fact. I wish I had the opportunity to ask her myself. In any case I loved this book. It sheds light on the danger of cults. Whether a society is a cult or not is really based on a continuum with some groups being more cultish than others. I view some modern Jewish orthodox communities as cultish without going all the way. This Satmar sect is a total cult. The only more cultish act they could have perpetrated would have been to murder Deborah becuase of her Hymen defect. I think some Muslim groups would go that far. Still hasidic groups do perform many charitable acts. They run the volunteer ambulence service in their community. They support free apartments for people who come to major medical centers for treatment. Some of these people including non-Jews could ill afford the cost of traveling to a major medical center for treatment of a serious illness were it not for these free apartments. They provide kosher meals for patients who are kosher in hospitals that cannot do so. They provide kosher meals and passover seders for Jewish inmates in correctionsl institutions. They do perform charitable acts and services for the community. Further, they are nearly single handedly responsible for raising the Jewish birth rate and providing a balance for the diappearance of Judaism in the secular community. If it weren't for these religious Jews, Judaism would probably die out in a few generations. However, Jews that don't believe these are cults should live in NYC for a few years. As a non-observant Jew walking in their communities you will be subjected to insults and even spitting. They may even throw stones. Still unlike the Muslims murdering people because they don't believe as they do is a sin. It is not allowed. In Islam fundamentalists believe that if they cannot force the infidel(non-believer) to believe, they should slay him. This is not the Jewish belief fundamentalist or otherwise which holds all life sacrosanct. In Judaism you cannot kill or maim a non-believer because they don't believe. I have had the opportunity to learn why the author fails to acknowledge the existence of her sister or the fact that she attended more than one secondary school. She knew that by writing about her life, she brought community disapproval on her family for their failure to control a child and a female child as well. Eli, her husband was ostracized for failing to control his wife. He has since left the community and now wears blue jeans though he is still observant. She felt her 11 year old sister was a child who did not decide to leave the sect. She did not feel she had the right to expose her younger sister to the ostracism she knew would occur if she was mentioned in the book. She felt her sister had the right to decide for herself whether or not she wanted to remain in the community. Eli, her husband is an adult and presumably can fend for himself. She did not mention the different secondary schools, because in her mind her educational experience culminated in the last school and mentioning the others did not advance the points she was trying to make about her education or lack there of. These rationales seem reasonable to me and should satisfy all the Hassidic nit pickers and nay sayers who have written negative reviews about her memoir. To them all I say- If this expose reveals destructive traits of these religious practices then maybe it is time to moderate them. It is time to free the slaves or rather the women. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Masada by Yigael Yadin Edition: Hardcover 31 used & new from $1.99 Great Photographic Reference of this Battleground, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Masada (Hardcover) I bought this book to help me understand the historical fiction book, the Dovekeepers. Having this pictorial reference at hand was helpful in envisioning life at the time. Several hundred secular Jews holed up in this mountain fortress to protect themselves from the Roman invaders. They lived here for about 3 years until the Romans engineered a ramp that allowed them to invade the mountain top. The Jews slew their own rather than fall prey to the roman hoards. The Romans tortured and raped their captives before putting them to death in painful and horrible ways. The Jews of Masada were determined that if death was upon them, it would be a merciful one. Only 2 adult women and 5 children escaped (I may be incorrect on the actual numbers here, but I am close). The Dovekeepers and many scholarly books written on the massacre at Masada used the same archaeological findings pictured in this book to come to their conclusions or to substantiate their work. The book is filled with helpful color plates. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Where Danger Lurks by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Paperback Price: $12.56 15 used & new from $5.09 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Absolutely Amateurish, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Where Danger Lurks (Paperback) I think this book was published because the publisher published her first novel, Texas Justice. Texas Justice was probably published because it was the only novel based on a riveting true murder case in Houston. A handsome Jewish boy, the son of middle class parents walked into a wig shop and shot and killed one of the employees and seriously wounded others. He did not know the people and seemed to have no motive for the crime. His mother is an attorney in Houston. His parents were divorced. No one else wrote a book about this crime. So when Judith Finkel wrote a second book about a pediophile, the same publisher published it. However, the more Finkel strays from a real life crime the less professional is the attempt. This effort seemed so amateurish that I was embarrassed for the author. She is a genuinely nice woman who willingly attends book clubs reviewing her books. Our book club chose this as well as her first book for that reason. Additionally she is a good friend of one of our members who proposed this book as well as her first. I gave that book 3 stars. Unfortunately, when the author attends the book club no one feels free to offer frank critisizm. If they choose a third book by her, I will chose not to read it or attend the discussion. I really like Ms. Finkel so I hope she does not read this. I really don't want to hurt her feelings. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Texas Justice by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Perfect Paperback Price: $12.09 29 used & new from $0.01 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Mediocre Fictionalization of a True Event, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Texas Justice (Perfect Paperback) Garfinkel wrote a fictional story based on a true event which occurred in Houston, Texas. However, the fiction is so closely based on the facts that this author would have done a better job had she written a nonfiction book based on the exact facts. For example, one of the real witnesses was a podiatrist and in her rendition the witness is a chiropracter. The quality of the writing is mediocre. Further, rather than give the book an ending, she left it unended so the reader could fashion one for himself or herself. I don't care for books that end like this, and I think it is an author cop out. The real story had an ending. The young man was the son of two Israelis who became naturalized U.S. citizens. They maintained dual citizenship as did their two sons. The young man fled to Israel with the Houston police hot on his heels. Israel agreed to extradict him to the states as long as Texas took the death penalty off the table. Israel does not have the death penalty and will not extradict a wanted criminal who is subject to the death penalty. The perpetrator pled guilty to 1 count of murder and more than one count of attempted murder. He is doing life in prison. What is interesting in the real story is that this semmingly normal, attractive and clean cut young man walked into a wig shop and gunned down its owner and employees. He did not know these people and he appeared to have no motive to commit the crime. The wig shop catered primarily to cancer patients who had lost their hair from chemotherapy. Other clients had hair loss due to brain surgery for serious conditions. The owner and employees were compassionate and caring people who delicately handled this troubling situation. Neither the Houston newspapers nor the book ever found an explanation for the boy's criminal conduct. His parents were divorced, and his mother was an attorney. He was clearly troubled. Had he been seen by a psychologist before the incident? Had any teacher or school counselor recommended psychiatric intervention before the incident? Did he select murder as his method of acting out his anger, because his mother was an attorney and knowledgeable about the legal system? Was he trying to get her attention for some reason? None of this is examined in the book. A normal healthy young man does not pick up a gun and shoot at people he doesn't know killing and injuring them for no reason. Why weren't these questions explored? Was this one of those families that saw danger signs or was told by school personnel to get the boy psychiatric help, but who rejected the notion of psychiatric help? How receptive was the family to suggestions for psychiatric treatment for their clearly troubled son? Additionally, an interesting legal argument arose as a result of this case. Israeli courts recognize a parent child privilege. That is any communication between a child and parent is privileged. Neither the parent nor the child can be compelled to divulge what is said in these conversations. They need not testify about these conversations. U.S. courts recognize spousal privelege, attorney client privilege, clergyman church member privilege, and doctor patient privilege. U.S. courts do not recognize a parent child privilege. After the crime, the young man sought help from his parents who helped him flee to Israel. When the authorities were looking for him, the parents seeking to conceal his whereabouts asserted a parent child privilege based on their reliance on it as Israelis. Of course, that argument did not work. The Texas court compelled the parents to reveal the conversations they had with their son after he committed this horrendous crime. Yet the book did not mention this novel legal argument. I don't think the young man will ever get out of prison, but it would be nice to know what psycological factors caused this boy to murder one woman and seriously wound others he did not know. Was he seriously depressed? Was he a manic depressive experiencing a psychotic break? The author provides us with not one clue. Surely his defense team explored psychiatric issues which might mitigate his punishment. There would be court records of this. Had the issue been totally ignored by his defense team then there was a record of that too. However, the court itself could have ordered psychiatric evaluation. Did it? The author is silent on these issues. This novel was a selection made by my book club, because the author is a friend of one of the members. That is one of the worst reasons to select a book. The author was present at the book club meeting to answer questions about the book. Hence, I could not say what I really thought about it. The author is a very nice woman who is well liked. Unless she sticks to nonfiction, she isn't worth reading. I think most of her readers will be women. I am surprised by all the accolades she has received in customer reviews, and I find them suspect. I am sorry if this hurts the author's feelings because I really liked her. Defending Jacob which is complete fiction is about a young man from a good family who is accused of murder and who must go through the criminal justice system. The boy is 14 as is his victim and his father is a D.A. This is a much better book and far more well written. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 195 used & new from $1.30 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Holocaust Love Story, October 6, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Lost Wife (Paperback) I wish I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars. Amazon you should add this feature to your customer reviews. The writing is adequate and the story plausible. This story is about Jewish European lovers who are victims of the Nazi holocaust. Lemka and Josef fall deeply in love in pre-WWII Prague just as the Nazi threat is looming. Josef's family secures U.S, visas for the family including Lemka as Josef's wife. They are unable to include Lemka's family in the group. The sponser, a cousin in the U.S., is only willing to sponser the 5 of them. Josef & Lemka marry. Josef knows that he is unable to secure visas for Lemka's family, but Lemka does not. Her father is aware of the problem but urges Josef to marry Lemka and take her to the U.S. with them. Lemka who loves her family deeply refuses to leave them even though her family including her beloved father urges her to go. Josef and his family are scheduled to be in England for two months before sailing for America. Josef continues to try to convince her to join them as does Lemka's father while it is still possible. She steadfastly refuses. I am sure these scenarios really occured in pre- WWII Europe. These dramatic events are believible. We as the reading audience are clammoring for her to join him. We see only trouble ahead. The author quickly makes minced meat out of our frustration at this turn of events. (Spoiler Alert). However,the ship on which the family sails sinks at sea and only Josef survives. Had Lemka joined them she would have been on the lifeboat with Josef's sister and mother and she would surely have perished. Lemka is informed that the whole family died and that Josef is dead. Josef's many letters never reach Lemka who has now been excluded from Prague's social and economic life because she is a Jew. The family survies in the ghetto mainly on the handouts of their prior maid, Lucie, a country girl who left them when she married. They considered her part of their family and she thought of them as family. The Jews had been ordered to turn over their radios and anything of value. However, they entrusted Lucie with a few momentos of jewelry to hold for them until after the war. Lemka and her family are ordered to Terezinstat, the show ghetto which the Nazis would doll up every now and then for Red Cross inspectors from Switzerland. They would start out by transferring all of the elderly, sick , and feeble inhabitants to Auschwitz so that the ghetto would not look as crowded as it really was. The thinnest inhabitants were transferred to death camps so that only the fittest were on view for the inspection. As soon as the inspection was over, the Nazis would bring in more trainloads creating the terrible overcrowding that was its consistent characteristic once again. Lemka was an artist. She was assigned to indoor sedentary work creating individual painted postcards for Nazi soldiers. Other artists were charged with painting larger canvases. Some painted portraits for the soldiers from photographs, and they received extra food for those. One created fabulous copies of great paintings used to adorn Nazi homes. They also surreptiously created paintings and drawings of camp life depicting sickness, torture, and death among its inhabitants at great personal risk. These they hid within the ghetto walls. The children also created art with the miniscule amount of supplies surreptitiously provided by these artists. Some 4500 children's drawings were also hidden within these walls. They are now on display in various museums on the holocaust including the Jewish museum in Prague. I have been to the Jewish museum in Prague which is in one of the few remaining intact synagogoues in Europe. Most of them were burned often with their Jewish members locked inside. It was allowed to stand, because Hitler planned a museum on Europe's extinct Jewish culture. Only a few of the paintings and drawings are on display. A better use would be to donate the great majority of them to the Holocaust museum in D.C. and Yad Vehem, the holocaust museum in Israel. I am sure some have been donated. They have far more display space and more of them deserve to be displayed. I remember crying at the display of children's holocaust art in Yad Veshem. Lemka enters Terezenstadt with her family. Her father, a coal deliverer in the ghetto, is given orders to be on the next transcript to Auschwitz. Everyone knows it is a death camp. It is understandable that her mother , his wife, would volunteer to go with him. However, when Lemka and Lemka'sister and brother volunteer to accompany their father too, it strains the imagination. Lemka again believes that the family has never been separated and should not be now. Of course, the reader is screaming "don't go." Her father again tries to discourage his children from accompanying them to no avail. Lemka and her family transfer to Auschwitz. Her parents are quickly gassed. Her sister dies from the deprivation. She survives and at the end of the war is tranferred on foot to various camps. She survives the forced marches and ends up in a DP camp. She believes herself to be alone in the world. Carl, a Jewish American soldier befriends her and provides her with extra rations and goodies. He courts her and asks her to marry him. Lemka marries Carl because he has saved her. She has no great love for him as she did for Josef. Of course, there is nothing like a first love. She returns to Prague and seeks out her former home where she hopes to spend the night. The people now living in her apartment are angry and flabbergasted that she dares to return to her home. They refuse to let her in and will not allow her to spend the night. Lemka now exhausted takes a train to Lucie's village where she visits a grateful Lucie who cries upon learning of all the family deaths. Lemka finds a warm bed for the night. Lucie returns the 3 pieces of jewelry to Lemka including the gold wedding band Josef gave her. They are the only momentos she has of her family. Carl takes her to NYC where they remain married for over 50 years until his death. They have one child. Her child has a red headed daughter with a long swan neck just like her great grandmother who perished in the camps. Josef has a grandson. The grandson is about to marry Lemka's grandaughter. At the rehearsal dinner he meets his grandson's fiance for the first time and recognizes the red hair and neck. The author does not explain why a beloved grandfather would not have met the fiance earlier. When he is seated neck to Lemka who has now taken the Americanized name, Lanie, he recognizes a birthmark on her arm next to her Auschwitz tatoo. They realize they were the Lemka and Josef who loved each other and married in Prague. Then the book ends. The ending is disappointing and frustrating. The reader wants to know if they strike up their reltionship again, if they move in together, if they have great satisfaction from finding each other at last. Or is it a bust? Is the memory far greater than the relistic living love? That happens so often when rediscovering old loves. Josef married, but he never really loved his wife of many years with the passion he had for Lemka. He and his wife married for the same reasons many holocaust survivors married. They wanted to stop the lonliness and to recreate a family. He did love her and nurse her through her final illness, but something was always missing. Are we going to get a sequel? The writing quality in this book was 4 star. It was a page turner because the reader wanted to know about the rekindled relationship, but the author does not give us that. I downrated the book because the ending was frustrating. Are we going to get a sequel? I would read that. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) by Isabel Allende Edition: Paperback Price: $12.08 178 used & new from $0.01 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful An Allende Page Turner, September 23, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback) I bought this in the Kindle format. However, I looked through the hard cover edition. The story would have been easier to follow had there been a set of maps of Haiti showing elevations, plantations, mountains, forests and towns that were important to the first half of this tale which takes place in Haiti. Maps were unavailable in any edition I saw. They would have really helped the reader understand the action that takes place during the Haitian slave revolts. The book follows the life of the slave girl Zarite (Tete). She is the product of a white father and an African slave. The slave is raped en route from Africa to Haiti by one of the white sailors. Tete is herself raped twice by the French plantation owner who hires her to care for his mentally ill spouse. Tete's first child by Valmorain is a boy, Jean claude and the second is a girl, Rosette. These offspring would be termed Quadroons. The boy, Jean Claude, is removed quickly from Tete's possession and placed in the care of Violette and her white French army officer husband. Violette is a mulatta woman who is likely also a Quadroon. Violette was Valmorain's mistress before he married his Spanish born wife. She is unable to conceive. Violette and her white spouse raise Jean Claude as their own son. Valmorain and his wife have a son, Maurice. Tete who has milk from the birth of Jean Claude becomes his wet nurse. Valmorain's wife descends into madness, and Tete becomes the only mother Maurice knows. Yet Valmorain continues to rape Tete. He does not view it as rape, because he views Tete as his property. Tete becomes pregnant again and when Maurice is about 3, she gives birth to her daughter, Rosette. By now Valmorain's wife is completely out of touch with reality.Thus Valmorain does not need to remove Rosette from the plantation to hide her existence from his wife. Valmorain allows Rosette to remain on the plantation in the care of her mother, Tete. Maurice and Tete grow to love each other much to Valmorain's chagrin. Valmorain dotes on Maurice who is his only white child and legitimate heir. Maurice also grows to love Rosette. He protects her as he would a younger sister. Since there are no other white children on the plantation, Maurice plays almost exclusively with Rosette who appears to many as if she is a white child of Spanish origin. Rosette and Maurice become very close and love eachother dearly. At some point they become aware that they have the same father. Valmorain and Maurice's must leave Haiti abruptly when violent slave revolts erupt. The rebellious slaves murdered many whites on the island during their revolt. Tete helps Valmorain and Maurice escape risking her own life to do so. She saves their lives on more than one occassion. Valmorain, Valmorain's brother-in-law, Santos, Tete, Maurice, Violette, Jean Claude, and Rosette all make their escape to New Orleans via Cuba. Even mulattos were in danger. Dr. P., Valmorain's physician friend eventually joins them with his "colored' wife, Adele and his mulatto children. This story is an indictment of slavery, an institution which brings suffering and debauchery to both slave and master. The brutality of the institution in Haiti may have been without equal. It was one of the reasons the slave rebellion there came to fruition resulting in the first black government in the western hemisphere. Valmorain was not as evil or brutal as many of the other slave owners, but he was cruel enough. His overseer, Prosper Chambray, a mulatto himself was more brutal than many of the white slave owners. Dr. P who saw the value of Tante Rose's native African home remedies was one of the few really decent white men. He was a physician who saw the futility of European medical practices like bleeding to effect cures. Yet he hid his relationship to his children by Adele and even his relationship to Adele from the other whites on Haiti and to some extent in New Orleans. In New Orleans Valmorain who reinvents himself as a wealthy plantation owner remarries a wretched woman named Hilda who bears him only daughters. Thus his only son is still Maurice. As children Maurice and Rosette have grown to love each other. They share the same father, Valmorain. They part just before adolescence. Valmorain sends Maurice to a liberal boarding school in Boston. He pays for Rosette to be educated in New Orleans by nuns who run a school for girls who have some negro blood. Rosette looks like a white girl of Spanish descent but she is 25% black. She rejects that identity and does not identify as the daughter of her mother Tete, a slave. She sees Tete as Valmorain's possession and feels herself to be free even though she is not. All of these narrative threads are headed for disaster. Maurice attends school among abolitionists and he hates the institution of slavery. Valmorain is appalled at his son's ideas which Maurice shares when he returns to New Orleans. For without slavery his father's fortune would be lost. Until this point Allende's tale is filled with adventure, romance, suffering, love and sadness. However, here is where she loses me. Spoiler alert here. Maurice and Rosette who have loved each other since childhood fall in love romantically, and wish to marry. To me this is over the top. A very liberal priest would have married a white boy to a girl of color. But when he learns that they share the same father he refuses. Tete finds a way to accomplish the marriage on a ship in front of the ship's captain. They marry and Rosette gives birth to their child, Justin, Valmorain's second heir. I found this incestuous act too over the top for me. I did not think Tete was compassionate or clever by virtue of her method of accomplishing the marriage. If these children had been worth admiring, they would have seen the wisdom of a rule that precluded incestuous unions. While Tete could have been sympathetic and compassionate about their love and devotion to each other, she should not have helped them marry legally. Of course, such an act would and did doom them. This story would have made a terrific movie. I think it would have been a better movie than a book. The translation from Spanish is excellent. Allende is also fluent in English so she could carefully supervise the translation. Allende is a translator herself and Allende's translator is also an author so these facts make for an excellent translation. Haiti devolves into a chaotic and violent society because 1) The simultaneous occurance of the French revolution prevented France from devoting enough troops to stabilize Haiti with its myriad problems, 2) The unstable new French republic sent confusing messages about its policies regarding states of freedom and class for the different degrees of coloreds and slaves in Haiti 3) There was a large multiple of blacks relative to the number of whites in Haiti. Populations in the U.S were not so skewed. 4) The geographic and climatological characteristics of Haiti vs. The Dominican Republic placed Haiti at a disadvantage for commercial success. Comments (2) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jul 25, 2013 2:46 PM PDT ________________________________________ Women: A Novel by Charles Bukowski Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 100 used & new from $6.90 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful Alcohol Fueled Misogynistic & Souless Sexual Romp Thru Life, September 12, 2012 This review is from: Women: A Novel (Paperback) First this author can write. However, my copy arrived in a brown paper binding which was a clue to its content. This is as close to pornography as one can get and still call it literature. The author Charles Bukowski had an unhappy childhood. In high school he was awkward and unattractive. He was plagued with acne and this caused permanent scarring and disfigurement. Therefore, girls paid little attention to him. Though he was a critical success with his poetry and other writing, he was not a financial success. He worked at the U.S. Post Office and other menial jobs for years to support his first love, writing. He is not a materialistic man and money is not important to him. In fact the picture of him in the book could have just as easily been that of a homeless man. This book is semi-autobiographical. Henry, the main character and narrator has finally acheived some critical success with his raw sexual poetry in certain hip and intellectual circles. He is paid to give readings of his poems at University campuses, book stores, and other venues that usually include bars. Henry is in his mid-50's. Yet when he gives readings often in worn out clothing and with long wavy unkempt hair and a beard, young women or even girls fall at his feet and worship him in an unhealthy way. They throw themselves at him and often fall into bed with him sometimes two at a time right after these readings. Henry is a lonely man. He is busy with the sophmoric pursuit of making up for lost time when girls in his high school ignored him. But c'mon here. He is 55 years old plus and he never got over being unpopular with high school girls? Maybe if he chose a girl or woman who was less physically attractive, he might have found a sweet heart. Maybe if he gave attention to an over weight girl with acne he might have found a soul mate in high school and thereafter. But of course he does not. Even with Lydia, one of the women he claims to love, he really doesn't have a soulmate. In fact I saw no evidence in the book even at the hopeful end that he ever formed meaningful object relations. All of these women were much younger than he even as young as 18. The age difference did not bother him , and he relished their young bodies. Rarely was a woman unattractive enough that he was uninterested in sex. There was one older (38) woman who he found unattractive, but he still had sex with her. The "F" word appears on every page. The "C__T" word appears on every other page and the word "bitch appears every 10 pages. I think this book could have been written with less use of such offensive language. He never uses the term "making love" even with a woman he claims he loves. Everything is "f----ing." It becomes monotonous and old. Several times I thought of putting the book down. I just don't like to leave something unfinished. This catalogue of Henry's "unrepentant and miserable descent into carnal pursuits" was just offensive. I did not begin noting memorable passages as I do in every book until page 202. And then there was not much more of substance until page 238 in a 290 page novel. The same points could have been made in a less vulgar tome and it would have been more appealing. I suspect that men will appreciate this book more than women. In fact, I don't know if that many women have finished this book. Reading his vulgar poems is different. What the reader can appreciate in short blurbs is different than what one can enjoy in a solid book form. Henry has many psycological problems. It would be interesting to learn whther he ever had therapy for them. Before each reading he must get high on booze and vomit in the alley or street behind the venue. He prefers alchohol to drugs, and he is an alcoholic. He smokes a joint now and then. After all he lives in Los angelos where he grew up. He doesn't really get involved with snorting coke or taking other mind bending drugs. He takes advantage of the hippy female flower children who adore him. He doesn't consider "anything but my own selfish cheap pleasure...like a spoiled high school kid... I was truly no good...the worst part of it was that I passed myself off for exactly what I wasn't-- a good man."pg.236 I don't recommmend this book for female readers. Men who wish to read a sophmoric sexual romp with offensive language will be pleased. This is good literature, but there much good literature that is not offensive. Time is too short to spend reading this. Still it does make me curious to read some of his poems. If I can find one in the library, I may read a few. It is not likely to be anything I'd read completely. Perhaps, I am curious to understand what sorts of poems make book smart young women sacrifice their dignity for a broken down drunk writer. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck Price: $85.45 15 used & new from $85.45 Another Winner from Bruder, September 12, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck (Toy) this is a complicated working model that our grandson loves. He loves to work the crane and other movable parts. This is a very well made sturdy toy truck. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green Price: $83.99 6 used & new from $74.98 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Great gift for boys, September 7, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green (Toy) I rate toys on how much children play with them. My grandson selected this truck as a gift for himself when he was 3. He loves it so much that he sleeps with it as well as the Bruder fire truck. He loves great big toy trucks. This truck is true to scale and true to life with doors and compartments that open and close. I don't understand why it costs as much as it does except that it is made in Germany where labor is expensive. It is a big plastic truck, but it is more durable than other plastic trucks. It is a heavy weight plastic and not the least bit flimsy. All the doors etc work. Even tho it was suggested for children over 3 or 4, our grandson was 3 and he didn't break it. After months of play he still loves it and considers it his favorite toy. Other than teaching a child how a garbage truck works, I don't see any educational value in this item. However, my prime purpose for purchasing a toy is for fun. If it happens to be educational then that is fine too. We have since purchased a fire truck and he recieved a small tractor. He loves them all. We will be buying the crane for his birthday and the cement truck for his holiday gift. His older brother took to the WOW trucks instead. I'd buy this again and recommend it for any boy who loves trucks and contruction vehicles. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand Edition: Hardcover Price: $14.83 665 used & new from $3.99 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Really a 3&1/2 Star If It Were Offered, July 30, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Hardcover) This non-fiction biographical book about Louis Zamperini's life told the story of a remarkable American hero. Reared during the depression, he was a peck's bad boy who was guilty of mischief, stealing, and poor school performance. He could have been dyslexic or suffering from some other learning disability. He found his salvation in running. He was not a stellar student, but he was a champion runner. He received allcolades for his competitive running in Torrance California. For that reason he stayed in school and even enrolled in U.S.C. He was one of the youngest and most inexperienced runners to compete at the Berlin olympics in 1938. Yet he made a decent showing and shook Hitler's hand. He continued to run competitively thereafter until Pearl Harbor. After December 1st 1941 he enlisted. Because he had some college and was an olympic athlete he was given a commission in the Army Air Core. This was the forerunner of today's air force. Louis was a bombadier. His team was highly successful and flew many more successful runs than the average Air Core team. Still on their last mission his team was forced to fly a less than flight ready aircraft. As a result it plummeted into the Pacific. Three soldiers survived including the pilot who sustained a non-lethal head injury. They survived in two rafts eventually reduced to one that were not properly fitted with survival gear. The rafts had fishing line but no hooks, a few water cans, but not enough and nothing that could be used to collect fresh rain water. They had no knife and little first aid. Japanese fighters strafed their two rafts requiring them to reduce to one raft. Sharks circled their raft day after day even jumping into the raft on more than one occassion. Yet they survived 46 days on the open water, a new record, and traveled over 2000 miles well into Japanese territory. They found a small Japanese island and rowed ashore. There they were "rescued" by the Japanese inhabitants. Soon a Japanese freighter arrived to take them to a POW camp. They were then interred in various Japanese prisoner of war camps. The Japanese viewed those that surrendered rather than fighting to the death as dishonorable. For every allied soldier killed four were captured. For every 120 Japanese soldiers killed only one was captured. The contempt and revulsion that the Japanese felt for those who surrendered or were captured extended to allied servicemen. Unbroken pg. 195. For this reason most Japanese fought to the death even when they knew a battle could not be won. It was for the same reason that we had to drop 2 atomic bombs before the Japanese surrendered. Surrender was considered so terribly dishonorable. Their thinking created an atmosphere in which to abuse, enslave, starve or even murder a POW was considered acceptable and even desirable. Unbroken pg.195 The captured allied soldiers were severly mistreated by their Japanese captors. The allied POWs captured in Europe did not suffer the same fate. Louis was transferred to various POW camps with one worse than the next. One particular corporal nicknamed "The Bird" by the prisoners was particularly sadistic. He hated Louis and seemed to take out his daily frustrations on him. He was passed over for a commision at the beginning of the war. Coming from an influential and wealthy family he was very offended by this faux pas and he took out his frustration on the prisoners. He beat Louis repeatedly, and no one not even his superiors tried to stop him. Even when he exceeded what Japanese officers thought were the bounds of propriety, they did not intercede. Louis and some of his friends, including the pilot who survived the crash with him, survived the war and returned to their families. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome often called "battle fatigue" was poorly understood at the time. Often people believed the sufferer could just "snap out of it." Nothing was further from the truth. It was a real psychiatric condition that manifested itself in troubling physical symptoms as well as nightmares, an inability to hold a job, an inability to form lasting relationships and a host of other problems. Louis met and married his wife Cynthia,but he had trouble earning a living and he became an alcoholic. His wife nearly left him. Then he "discovered Jesus" and became a born again Christian in Billy Grahams' church. The religious devotion and the love from his congregation saved his psyche. He and Cynthia, who had become a born again Christian before Louis, stayed together. Louis also found salvation in teaching troubled boys out door survival skills such as repelling. Our government initially hunted and punished the POW guards and others who had committed crimes against humanity such as "The Rape of Nanking." The allies sought "The Bird" for war crimes for 7 years. He was on the run successfully hiding from the soldiers. He could not see his mother, take a high profile job, or marry. He did manage to see his affluent mother about once every 2 years. She was watched carefully so she really could not help him. His subsistence life was really unpleasant compared to his afluent lifestyle before the war. By March 1952 Japan and the Allies signed a peace treaty that would end allied occupation of Japan. As part of this treaty the U.S. and other allies would not seek criminal prosectutions or meaningful reparations for war crimes. This was part of a foreign policy geared to the allied defense from the red menace, Russia and her allies. It was believed that the threat from communism was so great that we had to "bury the hatchet" with prior enemies to form a steadfast alliance against a nuclear Russia. Watanabe, "The Bird" could go home. He did, and he built a life with a wife and family. Finally, Louis realized "The Bird" was only a man and let go of his consuming hatred. This book was too long. Many of the sections could have been shortened including the sections on Louis' POW experiences. Another reviewer wrote that his time in the army air core before his crash could have been condensed. I agree. This book of 398 pages needs to be edited and condensed. What saves it are the pictures. It is a page turner. All readers will want to learn what happens to Louis Z. He is a compelling and attractive persona so most readers will be charmed. I almost gave this book 4 stars, but the writing simply does not rise to 4 star quality. The author's research was excellent. Of course, the subject was still living and had already written his own memoir. His own memoir was not nearly as successful as Unbroken, but , of course, it did not have Random House's marketing budget or contacts. Louis Z appeared on the Jay Leno show to stump this book etc. This was a book club choice and I probably would not have chosen it myself especially not until it appeared in paper back. Readers will want to see the photos so it would be better to buy the book. Versions on the ereaders will probably not contain quality photos. Louis' story would probably make a better adventure film than a book. I hope that it will become a WWII movie. We need more coverage of what the Japanese did to our soldiers in the POW camps. I know we had Bridge on the River Kwai, but those actors looked too healthy. With todays technology the creators may be able to make them look sufficiently starved without actually starving them. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Anya: A Novel by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.81 112 used & new from $1.93 1 of 4 people found the following review helpful A Difficult Read, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Anya: A Novel (Paperback) If I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars I would have. It is not a 4 star book. I am usually fascinated by holocaust fiction or memoirs. However, I had trouble getting into this one. I made a rule that if I do not get into a book by page 50, I will put it down and quit reading it. Because of the subject matter, I gave this 100 pages. By then I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to find out what happened to them. Anya is a bright student who is admitted to medical school and dreams of becoming a doctor. She had to be special because in the 1930's women and Jews were discriminated against in the admission process. Anya has two younger brothers and a younger sister, Vera. She is the oldest. Her family was Russian but living and working in Vilno, Poland. Jews experienced pogroms and anti-Semetic bias throughout history in both Russia and Poland. However, they always believed the animosity would blow over and typically it did. Yet I do not understand how they could not see that most Christian Poles hated them. On one occasion Anya's father is warned to keep her home from the University. Anya stays home that day. She returns to learn that some of her Christian colleagues placed iron nails between their fingers and drew them across the faces of some of the Jewish girls causing an ugly long cut and a disfiguiring scar. Yet she sits among them in class again. She realizes that what they did to her jewish classmates was terrible, but she doesn't leave school. That incident should have been a signal to her and her family that Jews did not have a future in Poland. The reader just wants to shake them and say "apply for a visa to the U.S. and leave now." The family does not consider such a move because of cultural and language differences. It would be painful for the parents to start over in a tenement in a foreign land when their material life in Poland was so comfortable. It was easier to ignore the issue and believe that it would soon blow over. Anya meets Stajoe who is from Warsaw during a stay at a summer resort. He courts her long distance during the winter. Finally, he convinces her to marry him and she does. She moves to Warsaw but promises her parents that she will finish medical school one day. She only needs one more semester. However, she is employed by physicians and health centers giving injections and providing medical care under the supervision of her superiors. She is really dispensing medical care as if she were a doctor. She does not however perform any type of surgery. Anya becomes pregnant. She and Stajoe are very happy about the impending event, but Anya assures her family that after her baby is born, she will return to medical school. Stajoe is arrested and imprisoned . The charges and cause are vague but they have something to do with shirking his military service. Bribes had to be paid and other issues had to be resolved before he can be released. Meanwhile, Anya climbs steep stairs daily to visit him. He does not appear to be the most thoughtful husband. Anya gives birth to a girl she names Ninka. Again after he is relased they should have left Poland for the west. But they do not. Then Germany invades Poland in 1939. Warsaw is badly bombed. Polish Jews have learned about all the anti-Jewish laws passed in Germany. They are clearly aware that Jews are being physically harmed and discriminated against by their fellow Germans citizens. Yet most including Anya and her family make no attempt to leave before the invasion. Anya wants to return to Vilno to see if her family is alive and well. After making sure Stajoe's family is safe, they make the arduaous trip to Vilno. Vilno is not as damaged as Warsaw. However, the Russian soldiers who occupied the village while fighting the Germans stripped the residents of many of their possessions. By the time the Germans invade little of the furniture and clothing remains. Anya and her family slept on the floor as they had no beds. I don't recall when Vera, Anya's sister loses her beloved piano, but it may have been during the Russian invasion. Vera is a talented pianist who earns money as a piano teacher. In any case bereft of most of their physical comforts they await the German menace. When the Germans arrive they begin discriminating against the Jews, beating them up and robbing them of what little they have left. Anya's father is arrested and beaten but he survives and returns home. Now they try to leave Vilno ,but no one will give the family all the visas it needs. Anya's father is again arrested and beaten but this time he does not return. Anya searches for him and finds him very badly beaten in a pile of bodies in the Botanical gardens which have been surrounded by barbed wire. She hands him a jar of fresh strawberries thru the fence. He does not recognize her, but he takes the berries. As a medical student she realizes that his head is so badly damaged that he will not survive for long. He will certainly never recover. She returns to announce he died in German custody. The Germans round up the Jews and force them to perform slave labor for minimal rations. Stajoe obtains 3 passports and visas that will allow Anya, Ninka and Stajoe to emigrate to a Carribean island. Anya refuses to leave her mother and siblings. The reader just wants to shake her and force her to go. Her father is dead. The family is on starvation rations. She has a child to consider. However, she remains steadfastly loyal to her mother and siblings. Stajoe tries to convince her to leave to no avail. Finally after a few weeks the visas and passports expire and their salvation vanishes into thin air. Then they are rounded up and placed in a ghetto where the living conditions are crowded and horrible. Everyone is being starved. The family's long time Christian maid brings food to the fence on various occassions to try to save them. Disease is rampant. Anya works at the hospital but there is little medicine available. Her pregnant childhood friend, Rachel is interred in the ghetto after her husband and child are killed and asks to stay with the family. She is very ill with some kind of uterine infection in addition to her pregnancy. However, she suffers abnormal sudden abdominal swelling. Anya puts her in the hospital. The surgeon performs neccessary surgery to save her life. The pregnancy is ended. He finds enough antibiotics to save her life. She returns to the family in a terrible and weakened state. Anya brings Rachel to work with her in the hospital because the other work duties would kill her. Anya makes the decision to place Ninka who is blue eyed and blond with a Polish Christian family to save her. Stajoe is killed. One by one Anya loses all her siblings and she, Rachel and her mother are shipped to the concentration camps. Her mother dies there. After grueling work and living condititons in the camp, Anya is offered a job tending the house of the camp commandant. A young SS officer takes a liking to her and brings her extra food. He also makes available the potatoes in the cellar. Anya shares some of her bounty with Rachel, and she begins to recover some of her health. Finally he offers her a chance to escape. She is incredulous and suspicious of the offer. Then he reveals that he is a Jew hiding as a member of the German army. Like Anya he does not look Jewish. Anya leaves her boots for Rachel, dons the clothes the officer has provided her and she successfully escapes. She survives the war, reunites with her daughter and emigrates to the U.S. They are the only members of her family to survive. Anya never completes medical school. Instead she completes the courses required to become an R.N. and she earns her living as an R.N. Rachel, however, who also survives and is not encumbered by a child completes medical school and becomes an M.D. This book is terribly long. Some of the repetition is uneccessary. It could do with a good editing. The print is very small, and at nearly 500 pages it is a long read. I did not feel that Stajoe's character was well developed. Had he survived the war, it is not clear that their marriage would have survived. Something was missing in this marriage. If you love reading about the holocaust you may want to read this book which is at least based on a true story. Otherwise, I would skip it. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 1120 used & new from $0.01 1 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Guy Book Gals Will Love, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel (Paperback) This tale about a kind and decent young man whose goal in life is to become a professional race car driver is told through the eyes of his beloved dog Enzo. Both Denny's wife, Eve and daughter, Zoe love Enzo and he loves them too. Many of Denny's life conflicts are analyzed in terms of race car wisdom and jargon. Denny works as a mechanic in a shop that specializes in high end European cars. He moonlights as a race car driving instructor, a racer and performing in advertisementss. This is why guys will love it. What guy doesn't dream of putting the pedal to the metal in a souped up Ferrari. Unfortunately, Denny faces a terrible tragedy compounded by the selfish meddling of his wealthy in-laws. His beloved wife dies after a grueling battle with brain cancer. Denny is kind enough to agree to leave his wife in her parents care when she is released from the hospital and told she has 6 to 8 months to live. Because his 5 year old daughter, Zoe will lose her mother at such a young age, he agrees to also leave her in their care so she can spend as much time as possible with her dying mother. Denny returns to the small but comfortable Seattle home with Enzo his beloved dog. He is terribly distraught and lonely. He loves his wife, Eve and cannot bear to think of losing her. Still he suffers alone without the light of his life, Zoe, to brighten his mood. He takes her home on occassion and she tells him how she would rather stay with him. Her grandparents give her many material things and a beautiful girly bedroom in their spacious Mercer Island home, but she would still prefer to be with Denny. She understands the situation as much as a 5 year old can. She loves her dying mother too. Denny and Eve were wonderful and responsive parents to Zoe so she is a lovely little girl. After Eve dies, her parents ask Denny to give up custody of Zoe so that they can raise her amid all the material things they can give her. They want to send her to private school and later college, but Denny steadfastly refuses. When he does so the grandparents file a petition for custody alleging that Denny committed statutory rape with a 15 year old girl. The charge is false, but Denny must contend with the reality of it nonetheless. He hires one of his well to do successful attorney clients to represent him. After 3 years Denny is penniless. He borrowed on his house and finally was forced to sell it. He moves with Enzo into a small apartment without a backyard. Because of the criminal charges against him, Denny cannot leave Washington State. Thus his racing career which was about to take off was stymeid. Penniless and at his wits end, financing comes thru an unexpected source. Denny wins his criminal case and the custody battle. Enzo was his steadfast mainstay throughout his ordeal. Enzo and Denny were together before Denny met his wife. By age 8, Enzo was suffering from hip problems and arthritus. Then he was hit by a car. The impact was not enough to kill him, but it did hurt him. By age 10 he had trouble walking and controlling his bladder. He was living a very undignified life. Yet he held on because he knew Denny needed him. He was able to let go when Denny won his legal battles. Yes this book is a bit schmaltzy as one critic observed. However, it is a page turner and a fast and easy read. It is highly entertaining. It would be nice if every book could be as good as Cutting For Stone, but mainly a book should be entertaining. I think most readers will find it so. Yes, it has a Hollywood ending, but any book told from the point of view of the family dog has to be a bit Hollywoodish. Also for those of you who still read paper copy books, the print is larger than usual. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Bride by Anna Solomon Edition: Paperback Price: $6.00 41 used & new from $0.90 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Little Life, June 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Little Bride (Paperback) This novel follows Minna from her shtetyl near Odessa to her home in America. The option to travel to America as a bride held the only promise for her. Minna lacks a moral compass. She lacks compassion. These traits are understandable. Minna's mother deserted the family when she was about 5. Her younger brother died. The family was always poor and struggled to get by. When she was 11, her father died. Her aunts who inherited her father's property, kicked her out of her house. At age 11 she was forced to take a job as a maidservant for a difficult spinster in Odessa. Once she turned 16, her days were numbered there as well. Her employer, Galina, would seek a younger servant whom she could intimidate. An agency seeking young healthy yiddish speaking Jewish women for Jewish grooms in America was interviewing or rather doing "looks" of potential brides. Minna applied to become a bride. She had very few options and Jews were being killed in the Ukrainian pogroms. Traveling to the U.S. to become a bride represented hope and opportunity to a young girl who had no opportunities. Minna submitted to an invasive humiliating personal exam and was accepted as a bride. She traveled in steerage in a miserable crossing to reach New York. In Minna's imagination a fully furnished house in town awaited her as did a willing groom. She imagined having her own kitchen, stove and sink. Here was a place where no one cared if she came from nothing. This opportunity would be a fresh start. She never thought that her deprivations in America would be worse than those in Odessa, but in fact they were. After a long journey to NYC, Minna was met by a young man a little older that she. He escorted her via rail and wagon to his father's sod hut in the Dakota territory. Her escort, Soloman, was one of her groom's two grown sons. Her husband, Max, who was more than twice her age was a religious Jew who knew nothing about farming. He also had little interest in learning to farm or actually working the farm. His main interest was prayer and Jewish observance to the point of starvation. His first wife left after a few days on the prarie. This desolate life was not for her. As for Minna there was no sink or fine stove. There were no fine bed clothes nor trousseau. Minna and Max shared a single room with Jacob and Soloman, Max's two grown sons. Their life was spartan. Further, Minna falls for Soloman, the young man who escorted her from the ship to his father's home. This setting does not bode well for Minna's future. We are left with a sense of hopelessness from the moment of her arrival in her new home. I could not identify with Minna. Further the other characters were not appealing either. Soloman used his "stepmother" sexually, but did not care about her welfare. Soloman lacked empathy. Max allowed his obsessive religious observance to ruin his harvest and starve his family. Jacob was so poorly drawn that I have little feeling for him. However, after a terrible nearly fatal winter, he joined the circus without even saying goodbye to his family. One of the circus wagons en route to town asked for permission to stay on Max's property for the night. When they left, Jacob went with them. The family feels a sense of betrayal but not from Jacob. They feel betrayed by the circus people who stayed without charge on their land and then lured Jacob away. These characters have a poor set of priorities. Many of thier values are misplaced. For readers who are looking for stories about the American West, I think there are better options. For those looking for novels on the Jewish experience in Victorian America, I think there are more satisfying reads. Not every story can have a happy ending, but the ending should satisfy the reader. This one does not. When the reader does not care about the characters in a novel, it is hard to maintain interest or find the book satisfying. Also this book is about small lives. Not every life is lived large and surely there are good stories in small lives, but there has to be something to engage the reader. One issue not previously mentioned was the establishment of "The Colony". Max disapproved of the settlement, but it was successful. To me the arrangement was much like a kibbutz. It was financed by a wealthy Jewish American, "The Baron." I thought it was interesting and was new to me. I never heard of such a movement before. Clearly, the author did an excellent job researching the applicable history. One can see her extensive work in this regard. Still if the author cannot make me care about the characters, I simply won't enjoy the book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 216 used & new from $1.65 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Magical Masada, May 21, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Dovekeepers: A Novel (Paperback) For me this book was a page turner. Still it did not rise to the level of a 5 star book. The literary quality was just not there. There are no histories of woman on Masada, the settlement of 960 Jews who committed suicide rather than be captured alive by the brutal Roman soldiers. They killed themselves to escape horrible and torturous deaths at the hands of the Romans. When it was clear that the Romans would soon capture thier city, they set fire to all their stores, all their weapons and all their buildings to make sure the Romans did not benefit by their deaths. A similar theory was demonstrated in modern day Israel. When the Jews unilaterally abandoned Gaza and returned control to the Palestineans, they left their green houses so the Palestineans could earn a living. However, they bulldozed their houses. They did not want the Palestineans to benefit to that extent from their refusal to negotiate and their refusal to recognize the state of Israel. Still out of their intense hatred for the Israelis, the Palestineans shot themselves in the foot and destroyed the green houses themselves. This is not so different from the philosophy of the Jews on Masada. However, the Romans would have used whatever was left for them. Hoffman created the four characters of the women herself. Women were not mentioned in the ancient histories of Masada. Hoffman created them out of her imagination. She did use the only source created at the time of the massacre, Flavius Josephus account of the seige and battle. While some stories of the event claim that the inhabitants of Massada were religious Jews who died rather than be forced to violate the laws of their faith, this one did not. There was a group of relgious or fanatacal Jews called the Essenes who lived in the settlement but also apart. Like the ultra-orthodox Jews of today, they wore different garb and prayed several times daily. They were marked by their distinctive all white clothing. They wanted to pray and study all day. They did not believe in fighting even if attacked. Does this remind the reader of other cultish sects? When they sought refuge on Massada, the settlement leaders informed them that they would have to work as much as anyone and fight the soldiers along with the secular Jews who inhabited the settlement. They agreed to do so. Yet they left just before the Roman onslaught and were killed in their caves. They did not defend themselves so it was an all out slaughter. Hoffman's version depended heavily on Josephus history of the battle. He was a contemporary Jewish scholar who spoke Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and other languages. He saved his own life by offering to record the history of the event much as a modern day reporter might. He wrote a history in Latin to please the Roman generals. He wrote a slightly different one in Aramaic. Scholars choose to use the Aramaic version as a resource today. It is thought to be more accurate because it did not cater to the Roman generals as much. If Josephus had written an unflattering view of the Roman legions, he might have been executed. His account must be taken with a grain of salt. Still it is the only history we have even today. Hoffman also relied on the book, Masada by Yadin which had photographs of the archeological finds at the location. Hoffman wove these archeological finds into the story. This feature was especially admirable. Archeologists have found pieces of tartan plaid worn by Scottish mercenaries in the Roman army. The settlement coined its own money and some of the shekals have been found. They used a ceramic calling card in lieu of our paper business cards. Some of these were found. I agree with much of the critisizm that finds this book too long. It is too long for a book that does not rise to a certain level of excellence. The print is small too. If you have trouble reading small print, buy this on the kindle and increase the font. Magic and mysticism had a featured role in the story but I liked it. I also liked the character, Shira, who was a medicine woman. Other members of my book club did not care much for her. She believed in spells and amulets and she was trained in creating them. Of all the characters I found her the most interesting. I suspect that the people of the time also believed in magic, spells, and amulets. Life was very harsh and unpredictable. People living in such conditions try to gain control of their lives with magic and spells etc. It gives them comfort. As recent as the 1940's some Jews believed in the "evil eye." Others followed local suspicions in spitting or throwing salt over a shoulder to protect one from bad luck or evil. These were not neccessarily Jewish beliefs. More likely they were local or ethnic custtoms and superstitions. Even today "evil eye" jewelry is available and worn by some to ward off evil. Worn by others it is just a historical curiosity. Some of the medicinal herbs used in ritual magic became the basis of modern pharmeceuticals. The settlers also appeared to worship an idol from time to time though the idols were secondary to Adonai, the one true god. I found this a bit odd because the central theme of the Jewish faith is that there is but one God. Still it is possible that people hedged their bets in their attempts to control the outcome of their lives. Some of the characters like Yael were magical too. She could approach birds and they would not run from her. Rather they would alight on her arms. Some of the other characters had magical traits. Trained assasins had the ability to become "invisible" or hide in plain sight. These traits could have been explained with reality. The assasin could have been learned in the art of stealth. Instead there was a hint of magic created with a special cloak. An example of one of the book's weaknesses is Hoffman's use of the uncommon word"plait" or "plaited" rather than the more common word "braid." I think the best writers explain things simply. So Hoffman receives demerits for that. Still she has several quotable phrases of truism that I would repeat. For example, she explains why the female survivors codle their donkey." I make certain this creature is well cared for, ready if we should ever need to depart suddenly. Our people never know when we may have to flee..." also "Here is the riddle of love: Everything it gives to you, it takes away." These are true statements that are worth savoring and repeating. This book is worth reading if you have read most of the better literary efforts on your list. It is a good beach book, travel book or summer read. I liked the magic in the story, but it might be a bit heavy handed for some. The book was too long and the print was small. Many Jews will give this book a high rating becuase they believe it is a betrayl to offer critisizm of a Jewish author writing about a Jewish subject in a public forum. I do not. Had it been available I would have given theis book 3&1/2 stars. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy by Arthur D. Morse Edition: Paperback 20 used & new from $34.58 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Shame On The U.S., May 11, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy (Paperback) This book was very upsetting to read. Our anti-Semitic state department knew exactly what was happening to Jews in Europe in WWII and what did they do? They made it even more difficult for Jews to come to the U.S. Only 10% of the available visas were given out to Europeans before WWII. The state department and most Christian Americans did not want Europe's Jews to make homes even temporarily in our land. Franklin Roosevelt knew as well and did nothing. He bombed chemical plants 5 miles from the train tracks that took Jews to Auschwitz, but he declined to even make the small effort needed to bomb the tracks. This simple act alone would have saved thousands of Jews from the ovens. Roosevelt knew the state department was anti-Semetic and engaged in obstructionist conduct, but he did nothing about it. It was clear to me that Roosevelt himself was anti-Semetic. We willingly took in 10,000 British children escaping the London blitz, but would not do the same for Jewish children seeking to escape the ovens and certain death. Other countries were equally guilty. Britain could have used the man power of able bodied adults who could have provided agricultural labor, factory labor, and even soldiers in their time of need. Still other than the Kindertransport which took in 1000 Jewish children, they too did nothing to help the fleeing Jews. Austrailia with its vast lands was always seeking to attract populations to develop them. However,they too closed their doors to the Jews. Latin America which could have benefitted the most from the skills of physicians, engineers, professors, silver and goldsmiths, businessmen, accountants, musicians, composers, artists etc refused them entry as well. The tale of the condemned ship, the St. Louis is a testament to the Cuban betrayal of its promise to a few hundred Jews who paid dearly for entry permits that were not honored. A corollary to the Latin American anti-Semitism has to be that the Catholic church encouraged this discrimination and hatred. Think of all the inventions, medical treatments, pharmeceuticals, musical compostions, theatrical shows and art that were lost to humanity forever because so many educated and talented people were murdered. Today that anti-Semitism arises in anti-Israeli speech and propaganda. So much of the critisizm of Israel is merely anti-Semitism dressed in different clothes. The bar for Israel is set higher than for any other country. They are supposed to accept rocket attacks on their citizens and issue only a "proportional response." They are not supposed to win the skirmishes. What is that if not anti-Semitism. When a country without provocation attacks another country seeking to destroy it and push its people into the sea, it is the attacked country's right to fight with all its might. Then when the victim country wins territory previously under the perpetrator's control, the attacked country has never before been asked to return the territory. Only Israel is being asked to return to its 1967 borders. Why should it? Has any other similarly positioned country in the history of the world returned territory won in a war it did not start? We must rethink international opinions on Israel through the lens of an anti-Semitic bias. As for the U.S.- Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Hungry Yearning to Be Free... as long as they are white Christians is our true motto. Ironically, this Poem was written by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American. I wonder how many similarly beautiful poems were lost forever because we did not let their potential authors seek sanctuary in the U.S. This book should be required reading in any school course on the holocaust. Students should see American history even in this unflattering light. In the past we were always taught that the U.S. wore the white hat. The U.S. was always the hero and the beacon of hope. We were founded on idealistic principals that focused on the good of mankind. We were founded on the ideals of freedom of religion, assembly and speech. It is important to see America in a more critical and realistic light in various areas including our shameful treatment of American indians and Japanese Americans. This book offers a critical look at America's shameful response to the holocaust. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 516 used & new from $1.95 In The Garden Of Monsters, January 31, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Hardcover) Larsen's rendition of ambassador Dodd's sojurn in Berlin just before WW II was a page-turner. Even though I knew the outcome of our policies toward Germany before WW II I could not put this book down. The factual history of a naive family of 4 who served U.S. interests in Berlin was fascinating. This is also the history of an anti-semitic U.S. president, state department and population that really did not care to trouble themselves over the plight of Europe's Jews even as they were burning in Hitler's ovens. Growing up all I ever heard about FDR was praise. He wasn't so great. He led us into the destructive path of the nazi machine and the empire of Japan. Roosevelt could have eased the plight of Germany's Jews simply by ordering the German ambassador to readily give out U.S. visas to the fleeing Germans. Instead the state department's policy was to discourage the immigration of Jews. Only 10% of the allotted European visas were given out during Hitler's reign. Roosevelt met with Dodd privately when he returned to D.C. He could have made a personal appeal without going through the notoriously anti-semitic state department. It is true that people were calling Roosevelt "president Rosenberg" behind his back and accusing him of being too sympathetic to the Jews. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Even though we made many bombing forays within 5 miles of the train tracks to Auschwitz, Roosevelt and the war department refused to bomb the tracks. I think Elenore Roosevelt would have assured more humane policies had she been president. Even more fascinating was Dodd's pretty, bright and charming daughter, Martha. Her many liasons with the rich and powerful which included the head of the gestapo were highly entertaining. Was she a woman of loose morals or was she merely the very attractive daughter of the ambassador who drew powerful charming men to her? It is easy for plain or dull witted women to complain of her loose morals, but then they haven't been so tempted. Politics did not affect her choice of bed mate. She too was a mild anti-semite who looked the other way when violence was visited on German Jews. Her "boys will be boys" attitude was shocking and troubling. I wonder if she would have agreed had the object of opprobrium been non-lutheran protestants. I doubt it, but it is possible. She didn't let the facts interfere with her good times even when the object of her affections was married. While her father never gave up his anti-semitic beliefs and feelings even when raising the alarm over Hitler and the Nazis, she did. After she returned to New York engaging in even more liasons, she married a wealthy Jewish communist and lived out her life with him in a grand house in Prague. For anyone who believes Jews were not hurt economically by the anti-semitism prevelent in the U.S., one needs only to read this book. There were deliberate steps taken to preclude Jews from wholly participating in the U.S. economy. Often real estate in the best neighborhoods excluded Jews. Certain fields excluded Jews. The Ford automotove empire had not one Jewish employee or sub-contrator. Jews succeeded not because there were few economic roadblocks but rather in spite of the roadblocks. That is just how talented the Jewish people are. Charles Lindbergh was an example of a prominant anti-semite who sympathized with the Nazis. Anti-Jewish sentiment was often the reason some Jews themselves opposed taking too public a stance against Germany. Privately, they all opposed Hitler. Dodd convinced the Chicago Jews to give up plans to try Hitler publically as they had in NYC. One wonders why they agreed to his request. U.S. Jews were fearful of anti-Jewish sentiment in the U.S. They did not want to have to leave their own homes and businesses in order to flee violence directed against them. Though Non-Jewish leaders thought Rabbi Weiss too pushy on the issue of the fate of European Jews, many Jews in the U.S. thought he gave in too readily to Roosevelt's personal interests and popularity. Roosevelt was often thought of as the Jewish presidential candidate, but that was only because the republican candidate was even more anti-semitic. I also read Issac's storm and found it to be tedious reading. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this effort by Larson. I own but never read Devil in the White City. I will be reading that in the near future. For any of you who read "Newlies" comments to some of the favorable reviews, he is a holocaust denier, an arab sympathizer and very angry about our war in Iraq. He is probably an anti-Israel Iraqi. So if you are reading through his comments wondering where he got his opinions, I doubt they were from this book. Somewhere in his diatribe he mentions he hasn't read it. Does anyone besides me think that Jews and Asian Americans who also were precluded from economic opportunities be entitled to affirmative action and/or reparations? Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 82 used & new from $4.25 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Needs Editing, January 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival (Paperback) This is the haunting memoir of Clara Schwartz who along with her family hid in a bunker beneath a house during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Three other Jewish families hid with them in the same small bunker. No adult could stand upright in the space. The living conditions were deplorable and dirty. All of the people suffered skin sores from excessive sweating and the inability to properly bath. They all starved barely surviving on the meagre food available to them. The families were hidden by the Becks a Polish family who acted courageously by concealing and supporting the lives of 18 Jews living below their house. This book also demonstrated what could have been done by even deeply flawed Poles to rescue Polish Jews during the holocaust. Too bad there were so few of them. Much of the book was overly repetitive. I understand the author's desire to convey the terrible tedium and constant fear of being discovered for their 18 months in hiding. However, this book could benefit from tighter editing. The memoirist has an important story to tell, but it could have been told more artfully. Still for those who like to read Holocaust fiction and non-fiction, this will be a good choice. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Traitor DVD Price: $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Charming Tale, October 24, 2011 This review is from: The Little Traitor (Amazon Instant Video) This is the story of a friendship that blooms between Sgt. Dunlop, a British soldier and Proffy, a Jewish boy born in 1947 Palestine. The British and the Jews of Palestine were opposing forces in 1947. The British opposed the Jewish occupation of what became the state of Israel in 1947. The British opposed and prevented the Jewish refugees fleeing WWII Europe from emigrating to Palestine, the Jewish homeland. Jewish armies fought the British soldiers so a friendship between a member of the British occupying forces and a young Jewish boy was unusual. Proffey was a member of a group of 3 boys called the FOD for Forces of Death that tried to sabotage the British by setting off home made bombs with the goal of blowing up a British motorcade. They weren't successful. Proffey and Sgt. Dunlop studied and discussed the book of Samuel from the Old Testament. Proffey was criticized by his fellow Jews and even tried in a Jewish court for espionage. He was acquitted, but he was viewed with suspicion from then on. He paid dearly for what was an innocent and lovely friendship. Sgt. Dunlop sympathized with the Jews who celebrated when the U.N. gave them their state. Sgt. Dunlop was tranferred home and because of mishaps, neither got to say their goodbyes. I won't write about a spoiler, but the film ends charmingly. I highly recommend it. There is a very good film based on this book. I don't know its name, but it too is highly recommended. The acting is first rate, and the script is first rate. The character actor who plays Sgt. Dunlop is excellent. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Edition: Hardcover Price: $17.46 264 used & new from $0.01 3 of 5 people found the following review helpful Extremely Tedious Incredibly Conceited, October 17, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Hardcover) This novel is an intellectual conceit. Oskar, a precocious nine year old boy lost his devoted father in the world trade center on 9/11. He finds a key in a blue vase in his father's closet. The key is in an envelope marked "Black." Oskar assumes that "Black" is the name of a person to whom the key belongs and that it has something to do with his father's life. In an attempt to make sense of his father's life and to learn about him, he visits every person named "Black" in the NYC phone book to ask about the key. Oskar is also haunted by the fact that while his father was in the tower at Windows of the World restaurant he phoned his home to assure his family that he was O.K. and expected to be rescued. Oskar hearing his father's voice asking him to pick up the phone did not pick it up. He let the message go to voice mail. Additionally, he did not tell his mother of the three times his father phoned and left a message. One wonders why he did not pick up the phone. Did he know his father could not be rescued from the images on the T.V.? He as well as all the other children were told what happened and sent home from school. He feels guilty for refusing to pick up the phone and for failing to tell his mother about the messages. One wonders why she would not have seen the message light and listened to the messages even if Oskar failed to tell her about them. Early in the novel Oskar visits an art supply store where he tests a marker on the pads of paper left for that purpose. On the pad he sees his father's name, Thomas Schell, written twice. He thinks his father recently wrote his name there and that maybe he is alive and roaming around New York. He believes that the written name has something to do with his father or the meaning of his life. Seeking information about his father he visits all the "Blacks" in the phone book. After visiting a few himself, he enlists the aid of an elderly neighbor who never leaves his apartment. For some reason he leaves his apartment to help Oskar. This novel like Foer's prior novel is surreal. It is intellectual and designed to appeal to an intellectual reader. I had no trouble reading it. I just did not enjoy it or find it entertaining. I finished it because my book club is reading it. I did want to find out what Oskar learns, but I don't recommend it. Further, this is not a suitable book for the Kindle. There are several pages of illustrations and odd writing. So buy the book. The paperback is fine. This is an intellectual conceit. It is deliberately not designed for the average or casual reader. I read constantly and had no trouble understanding the point of the book. I just didn't think it was worth my time. No one in my book club found it satisfying either. They did think it was good literature. They just did not like it. Find something else. Comment (1) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Nov 9, 2011 2:06 PM PST ________________________________________ The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona Golabek Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 128 used & new from $0.01 A Tale Of Inspiration and Survival, October 14, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Paperback) Lisa Jura is a talented 14 year old living in Vienna when Hitler comes to power and invaded Austria. Her father is a simple tailor and the family lived in a working class ghetto of Vienna. They are not rich. Lisa is a talented and promising pianist who studies piano with a prominent teacher in this city of music. It is Lisa's dream to play a concert in the much loved Vienna State Opera House. The first consequence of the Nuremberg laws which discriminated harshly against the Jews was that her much loved Music professor, Dr. Isseles could no longer teach her piano. Non-Jews could no longer teach Jewish students. It was with great regret that professor Isseles has to dismiss his promising student, Lisa. Lisa returns home downtrodden. The whole neighborhood was inspired by Lisa's gift and was hopeful that she would arise from the ghetto and make something of herself. Her music loving mother was her inspiration and constant encourager. After crystalnacht, when her father was beaten, forced to undress to the waist and ordered to scrub the street, Lisa's mother recognized the danger for her family. A seat on the Kindertransport became available and was offered to the family. Rosie, who was 18 was too old. Lisa at 14 qualified and her mother sent her. With tears and sadness Lisa left her family with a small suitcase which contained a photo of her famiily and a sparkling evening bag that belonged to her grandmother. She removed the tiny gold necklace with the piano charm that she always wore and put it around the neck of her 11 year old sister, Sonia. Lisa was placed in the country home of a wealthy military officer and his much younger wife. Lisa was a servant in the house and the house did not have a piano. After 6 months of loneliness and isolation in the country, she ran away to the Jewish agency in London which then placed her in an orphanage for these children run by a Viennese matron who also fled Austria. She had camaraderie among the other children most of whom were from Germany or Austria. They all spoke German. However, the matron, Mrs. Cohen, an educated and previously wealthy Viennese matron required that only English be spoken so that the children became fluent in English, the tongue of their adopted land. Ten thousand Jewish children were saved by the English. Many of them opened their homes to these children. Not all of the homes were Jewish. The orphanage had a piano and Lisa played it beautifully and regularly. All the residents of the house were entertained by her music. She worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory during the day to earn money for her food and lodging. She was allowed to keep 25% of her earnings for personal expenses. She tried to find ways to save her family. Sonia needed a sponser and Lisa searched for one everywhere. Life was becoming desperate for Lisa's family and Sonia. Finally, she asked a quaker widow who had been charitable when a bomb damaged the orphanage and Lisa needed a place to sleep. The widow could not keep Sonia, but she found another quaker family in the country who could. Sonia was on the last train of the kindertransport before England declared war on Germany and the trains stopped running. Sonia was allowed to study in the morning and work only in the afternoon. She was lucky as most had to work all day. Mrs. Cohen recognized Lisa's talent and encouraged her to apply to the prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Lisa won a spot and a scholarship. She attended the academy, but worked mornings at the factory making supplies for the army. She sewed heavy fabric into back packs etc. Her piano teacher noticing the stress on her fingers arranged for her to have a job playing the piano in the evenings at local club where there was drinking and dancing. Lisa was an attractive girl with red hair, and all the soldiers wanted to buy her drinks and flirt with her. She only saw her sister once every 6 months because the train tickets from the countryside were expensive and Sonia could not leave her work or school very often. They lost contact with their married sister,Rosie and their parents. No one in the orphanage had contact with their parents. The Jewish agency heard the rumors about the death camps, the deportations, and the mass killings. No one wanted to believe it. The stories were so horrific that they were unblievable. Lisa graduated from the music school and the school financed her debut recital. It was heavily attended. One attendee was a French Jewish soldier,Michael Golabek, who had heard her play in the club and was impressed by her talent. After the war, Sonia and Lisa were reunited with their sister Rosie who was now wearing the chain with the piano charm. Rosie her husband Leo, and their four year old daughter, Esther survived by escaping from France into Switzerland. They all emigrated to the U.S. where Lisa again met up with Michael Golabek. Lisa and Michael married. All three sisters and their spouses moved to California. Lisa's parents were deported to Lodz and then Auschwitz where they died. Lisa's daughters and granddaughters are all talented pianists. Her daughter, Mona Golebek one of the authors is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, the host of a classical music radio show and grammy nominated recording artist. This story was a page turner. I could not put it down. However, it was sentimental. The characters lacked dimension. They were usually good people with few negative qualities. Because of that they were not realistic. They all seemed to be kind and good, tolerant and understanding of each other. For teenagers they had relatively few issues. All but one lost their whole family. One boy had a mother who survived. These children spent their teen years in the children's home and grew to adulthood there. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace DVD ~ Ulrich Tukur Offered by FaithMovies Price: $12.99 24 used & new from $10.97 2 of 7 people found the following review helpful Boring Docudrama, September 22, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (DVD) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor during the third reich. He was from a wealthy, noble, and highly educated family full of intellectuals. Tha Nazi dogma did not fit into his idea of Christianity. He enjoyed the company of blacks and Jews and did not have a hatred for any ethnic group. His twin sister's husband was Jewish and he advised them and their children to flee Germany early on or risk being murdered. He also helped other Jews escape to Switzerland. According to this film he did not have a passionate love life though he does become engaged to a 17 year old girl who has been deeply sadened by the loss of her brother and father on the Eastern front. This film could have been an exciting drama of the planning and execution of escapes. It could have been about his consiparcy to negotiate a seperate peace early with the allies much to the chagrin of Hitler and his henchmen. Instead it attempted to document his inner spiritual struggle within the Nazi state. He too could have left and made a life for himself in the U.S., but he returned to Germany to be with his people and country in their time of need. He was a good person, but inner spiritual struggles do not make good entertainment unless the struggle is reflected in something physical like an escape plan and execution. This film nearly put us to sleep. If you are looking for a film about Christianity during the nazi era then this film is for you. If you are looking for a hero's tale during the nazi reign,, you will be disappointed. There is no action or adventure in this film. He was a Christian hero in the intellectual biblical and religious scholar sense. I am sure he was part of various escape plans but the film only touches on this aspect of his life. This film could have been so much more. Too bad. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Get to Know Us • Careers • Investor Relations • Press Releases • Amazon and Our Planet • Amazon in the Community Make Money with Us • Sell on Amazon • Become an Affiliate • Advertise Your Products • Independently Publish with Us • ›See all Amazon Payment Products • Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card • Amazon.com Store Card • Shop with Points • Credit Card Marketplace • Amazon Currency Converter Let Us Help You • Your Account • Shipping Rates & Policies • Amazon Prime • Returns Are Easy • Manage Your Kindle • Help • Brazil • Canada • China • France • Germany • India • Italy • Japan • Spain • United Kingdom 6pm Score deals on fashion brands AbeBooks Rare Books & Textbooks AfterSchool.com Kids’ Sports, Outdoor & Dance Gear AmazonFresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door AmazonLocal Great Local Deals in Your City AmazonSupply Business, Industrial & Scientific Supplies AmazonWebServices Scalable Cloud Services Askville Community Answers Audible Download Audio Books BeautyBar.com Prestige Beauty Delivered Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide Bookworm.com Books For Children Of All Ages Casa.com Kitchen, Storage & Everything Home CreateSpace Indie Print Publishing Made Easy Diapers.com Everything But The Baby DPReview Digital Photography Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities Junglee.com Shop Online in India Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital Publishing Made Easy Look.com Kids' Clothing & Shoes MYHABIT Private Fashion Designer Sales Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands Soap.com Health, Beauty & Home Essentials • • • • Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting Book Reviews Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder 5 Stars This is the story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his campaign to equalize medical treatment for the world’s poor and rich. He regularly compares the treatment received by patients at Boston’s Brigham Hospital and care received by the poor in Haiti, Peru, Russia’s prison inmates, and the inhabitants of the low class Roxbury section of Boston. Primarily concerned with T.B. especially MDR T.B.( multi-antibiotic resistant strains of T.B.) and HIV, Farmer builds nascent health care providers in the central plains of Haiti, Lima Peru, and the Russian prison system into state of the art dispensers of T.B. and HIV treatment in these patient population centers. He hears the same discouraging words that all do gooders do, but he ignores them and forges full steam ahead. While still in medical school at Harvard, he dispenses medical care while studying for exams on flash cards. I still haven’t figured out how he made up for missed anatomy classes and labs. He clearly had many sympathetic professors who were willing to bend the rules for him. They also keyed him into sources of funds for his endeavors. One man, Tom White, almost single handedly financed the early and even later efforts. Paul lived frugally on a shoe string to be sure. He paid for medicines out of his own pocket. At long last he was a recipient of 25 million U.S. $ from the Gates Foundation. He sacrificed his own family life and found a mate, a Haitian woman, who would be willing to live a much reduced life style to support Paul’s goals. He was ingenious and would not take “no” for an answer. When state of the art drugs were too expensive for third world use, he found ways to lower those prices markedly. He wrestled with standard WHO policies and convinced them to change. He fought the WL(white liberal) notions of best policies. He was a diplomat and mining from his own upbringing, he found ways to convince doctors driven by their own egos to change their views. He was able to convince them that the ideas arose from their own policies and notions. We could all learn from Dr. Farmer. I think schools attempting to get recent immigrants/and or their parents to comply with school ideals could learn from him. Similarly, schools attempting to gain compliance from Americans in the lower socio –economic groups could too. He managed to preserve the dignity of his patients, his foes, those who presented obstructions to his view of proper delivery of health care for the poor and world policy makers. Men who can successfully communicate with the lowly and the powerful are rare and Paul Farmer is one. If you are looking for an inspirational read, you will love this book. The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald 2 stars Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 96 used & new from $8.32 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Denise George Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 178 used & new from $0.65 2 of 4 people found the following review helpful Badly Needs Editing, April 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (Paperback) This is not the Christian version of the Diary of Ann Frank. Before the reader of this review becomes defensive, let me assure you that I am horrified by the holocaust. I believe that all the horrors including the horrors mentioned in this book happened. They may not have happened exactly at the places or on the dates Nonnie mentions in her diary, but I believe that substantively they happened as described. This book badly needs editing. Further, these diaries, documents, and notes should have been given to an expert author and not a Christian book author as was done here. I understand why the editors were conflicted. This is a diary that spans perhaps 20 years and includes the notes and entries of a very young girl. Some of the recorded "facts" were incorrectly recalled and in some cases the correct version may not have been an accurate description of the author's life experience. Instead of a messy and definitely imperfect work of non-fiction, an expert author could have written a fictionalized version based heavily on Nonnie's diary entries and memories. Further, almost everyone who survived the holocaust finds some distant Jewish relative to claim. Perhaps, Nonnie's father had a Jewish grandfather in his background, but I doubt he was Jewish. Spoken Yiddish and German are very closely related. Yiddish is a dialect of German. They are written differently. Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet and German is written with an alphabet similar to the English version. Had her father's family done extensive business in Poland, it is likely that they did business with Jews. Before the holocaust there were 2 million Jews living in Poland, many of them in business. They may have learned Yiddish so that they could do business with them. However, I also suspect that Nonnie's father had at least one Jewish relative other than a mother or father. Feodosija, Nonnie's beloved grandmother idolized the Cossacks. Her husband was one and she wanted her son to be one as well. It was the Cossacks that raided the Jewish Shtetyls raping, burning, looting and murdering Jews. They are the soldiers that chase the Jews out of their village in Fiddler On The roof. So idolizing them without seeing them in reality and context was indeed a fantasy. It is true that Nonnie and her mother suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. However, until Anna was sent to Ravensbruck, what she suffered was nothing compared to what the Jews suffered. Nonnie never suffered the privations the Jews suffered. They lived far longer. The typical lifespan for a Jewish inmate of a concentration camp if the inmate was not killed immediately and could work was 6 months. Nonnie and Anna lived for years in German custody. Few if any nuns concealed Jews as German orphans in hospital settings with hospital food reserved for Germans. Nonnie's children should consider hiring a novelist to turn her diaries and documents into a novel based on fact but in part fictional and labelled as fiction. Television shows called docudramas serve this function in film. We don't have a similar venue in literature. Do not be fooled by all the strong reviews. Most of them were written by Christians who are persuaded to do so by her frequent mention of her faith in God and Christ to pull her through. Certainly her faith helped her survive. Christians will call this book a testament to the human spirit. They will call it a testament to faith in God and our savior, Christ. If those kinds of books do not interest you, you might skip this book. If you are a student of the holocaust, this book gives insight into how the Nazis treated Russian labor volunteers and Poles. However, there must be better choices out there. Further, this book will suffer on the kindle. There are many photos and documents that enrich the book and should be seen in print. This book should sell for far less than its current price. Nonnie wanted the world to know of the Nazi horrors she experienced so they would never happen again. The estate should look upon this as a donation to society and not hope to earn anything more than the expenses of publishing it. It is not a professional effort though it pretends to be one. The poems and entries are those of a young girl and a young woman with far less writing talent than Ann Frank. I can tell that Nonnie was a wonderful person forever scarred by her holocaust experiences. I am sure she was a loving and caring wife and mother. Clearly her husband and children adored her. I do not wish to offend them with this review. I hope they take my suggestions to heart and hire an author to turn these diaries into a first rate book of fiction inspired by and based on Nonnie's life and her diaries. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 281 used & new from $0.01 A Feast For the Reader, April 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel (Paperback) After the first 25 pages this became a page turner. I was invested in the characters Bohjalian created, and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to them. The heroine of the novel is Anna, a pretty blonde eighteen year old German girl. I am always suspicious of a male author who thinks he can write from a woman's point of view. However, it seems that Chris B. has made a career of that. He does a respectable job even in the love scenes. He must have researched these areas by interviewing women. However, the development of his female characters is still a little thin. The German characters who lived a cushy affluent life style were surprised at the barbarity of the Russians. Their attitude that the Russians were barbarians who were cruel with no basis for their cruelty was surprisingly naive. Had they put their heads in the sand for the entirety of the war? The Germans were horrendously cruel to the Russians in both their warfare and their treatment of Russian POWs. Many German soldiers raped Russian women and their superiors did nothing to curtail this behavior. The looting and German barbarity were well known. That these Germans did not know or chose not to know of their countrymens' cruelty was absurd. They admit to listening to the BBC broadcasts which detailed the horrors that the Germans visited on the Jews and the Slavs. Yet they chose to believe that these were exaggerations. They heard "rumors" but chose not to believe them. Of course, they did not participate in the horrors perpetrated by Germans on the Jews. Anna's father even wrote a letter for one Jewish family he knew. However, they never actually hid a family for even one night. Instead they hung a personally signed picture of Hitler in their living room. The entire family belonged to the Nazi party. Innocent germans- Please. I don't buy it. I was disappointed with the story's ending. ( spoiler alert) It would have been much more interesting if Anna had been intimate with Uri as well as Callum. This would have been entirely plausible because she found him more attractive than Collum. Then had she become pregnant with Uri's child instead of Collum's, the end could have had a bit of a twist. I am fascinated with novels set during WWII so I enjoyed this book. I have never before read a novel from the perspective of the Germans fleeing the Russian invaders. I could understand their fear, but could not feel sorry for them. This book was a decent effort. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.78 75 used & new from $8.39 Like Drinking A Fine Riesling Wine, March 24, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance (Hardcover) This saga or memoir tracing a collection of Japanese netsukes is really the story of the wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family from its humble roots in Russia to Odessa, Paris, Vienna and finally flung to all corners of the earth. The author Edmund de Waal is the recipient of the netsukes through a bequest of his great uncle living in Tokyo. In 1870 de Waal's great grandfather's first cousin Charles Ephrussi became an ardent art collector. All of the Ephrussis became art collectors, but Charles was the most influential and the one who purchased the netsukes. The Ephrussi family was wealthy on the order of the Rothchilds operating one of the biggest and most successful banks in Europe, the Paris branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were given titles and were now part of the nobility. Because they were Jewish they could join certain clubs but could not become officers of those clubs. Still they believed they were largely accepted and were full citizens of their adopted countries whether that was France or Austria. Charles was a gay man living as if he were straight. Via his close friendship with a married woman he allowed the appearance of an affair with her. Rumors of their affair were prevalent. However, he had close friendships with Proust and other gay men living as gay. It was obvious that he too was gay. Proust even used Charles as the inspiration for his character, Swann. Charles began collecting works of art by Renoir, Manet and many other great artists of the impressionistic school. Charles also helped the impressionist artists financially loaning them money and arranging commissions for them. Renoir's girl in blue was probably the result of one of these commissions. Early in his collecting experience Charles purchases an entire collection of Netsukes and places them in one vitrine. He did not acquire them piecemeal searching out different subjects to complete the collection of 264 miniature works of art. There was a fashion of collecting Japanese artworks in Europe and Paris at the time. Charles participated early in that period by purchasing the netsukes from a well known and respected Paris art dealer. Charles circle of friends included great authors, thinkers and artists. The Ephrussis believed that their wealth, financial power,patronage of the arts, charitable works, and noble titles overshadowed their Jewishness, but it did not. Throughout their life in Paris they were exposed to anti-Semitism in words and deeds. They brushed it off as unimportant. Finally, Charles sends the entire netsuke collection with the vitrine to his young newly married cousins Emmy and Victor Ephrussi of Vienna as a wedding gift. Along with the netsukes the story moves to Vienna. The Vienna branch of the family ran the equally rich and powerful Vienna branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were equally wealthy living in palatial homes in the best neighborhoods on the ring. They were friends with the nobility and Ephrussi bore the title of Baron. They participated handsomely in all the arts and became ardent supporters of the symphony and Opera. They purchased tapestries and paintings, donated money for hospitals, their synagogue and other charities. Here like in Paris the Ephrussis deemed their sophisticated art interests and charitable works washed them of their Jewishness. It did not. Emmy held weekly salons where she entertained famous artists, thinkers, writers and musicians. Many famous musicians, doctors and lawyers were Jewish. Yet the Ephrussis noticed that their non-Jewish guests were always bachelors. None of the Christian women attended. Once the bachelors married they too stopped attending. Victor was a member of many clubs and associations, but in some he could not hold office. He served with distinction as an officer in WWI. The Versailles treaty left Austria and the other axis powers bankrupt and Vienna suffered from the poverty. Victor believed that Austria would win the war and all his banking and investment decisions were made with that in mind. Victor lost about 90% of his fortune because he refused to place his funds in Switzerland in Swiss francs during the war. He refused to buy dollars or pounds. He was a loyal patriotic Austrian citizen and wanted to demonstrate his patriotism to his country. After WWI the Ephrussi family of Austria had to reduce its expenses. They had to cut out several routine expensive vacation trips. Their country home in Czechoslovakia was not kept up to the same degree. The swimming pond was allowed to return to its natural state of being surrounded by encroaching reeds. It was no longer swimmable. By 1933 public anti-Antisemitism began to rear its ugly head. There were vocal antisemetic diatribes. In 1933 there were 145,000 Jews in Austria. Of those 59% of all the physicians, 65% of the lawyers, and 50% of the journalists in Austria were Jewish. The economy became terrible with beggars and other poor refugees flooding Vienna looking for work. It was the depression and there was no work. People like the Ephrussis even though they lost most of their fortune were resented and doubly so because they were Jewish. They still lived in their palace on the ringstrasse. Maybe they had fewer servants and vacations, but to the great population of the impoverished and downtrodden who didn't have enough to eat, they were unbelievably wealthy. Like every time in history when bad luck, war or disease befell a population, they blamed the Jews for their predicament. It did not matter that many Jews lost their money and property and were also impoverished by WWI and the depression. They were still blamed for the poverty and hopelessness. In the middle ages when the bubonic plague swept through Europe, the Jews were blamed. Even though Jews died in equal numbers from the disease carried by rats and spread by fleas, the Jews were blamed for it. In some locales they were murdered for it. Irrationality of this belief did nothing to stop the hatred and violence. Similarly Jews were hated and blamed for the economic disaster brought on by the loss of WWI and the Versailles Treaty. The depression followed and the hatred and resentment became even more extreme. In 1933 the Nazi party came to power in Germany. Now anti-semitism became rampant in Austria. Victor had to step down as head of the bank in favor of his Christian partner who held a minority of the shares. At this point the reader wants to shake him by the scruff of his neck and tell him to get out while he still can. Three of his four children have left Austria. Iggy has gone to the U.S. for a career in fashion design. Elizabeth is studying in France. Gisella is living with her husband in Spain. Only the last of their children, Roland is still living with them. When Emmy and Victor married Emmy was 20 years younger than Victor. The marriage was engineered by two wealthy and powerful Jewish families. For Emmy it was not a love match. History indicates that she entertained a few lovers and it is possible that Roland is a result of one of these affairs. However, though Emmy was not thrilled by this pregnancy so long after her third child was born, Victor treated him with acceptance and love. Since Emmy married Victor she was cared for by a loyal and loving maid named Anna. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria and the Nazi Nuremburg laws befell even the rich and powerful Ephrussis. Victor was forced to sell his bank stock for 10 cents on the dollar to his Christian partner. Roland fled to the U.S. before the annexation. After the annexation Emmy and Victor fled to their summer home in Czechoslovakia. The Nazis loot the art collection, tapestries, rugs, silver and china. However, while they are working so hard to catalogue all the finery, Anna who has been assigned a room in the palace smuggles and hides the netsukes from Emmy's dressing room. She hides them under her mattress for the whole of the war. Elizabeth at the age of 27 has married a Christian Dutchman named de Waal. He is from a dutch shipping family but he is not rich. Elizabeth was the first female lawyer to graduate from the University of Vienna. She has also earned a Phd. She has published articles and essays in periodicals of note. She writes poetry. She is the brightest of all of Victor's and Emmy's children. She has her father's face with the big Ephrussi nose and dark eyes overhung with heavy eyelids and bushy brows. She was not a beauty and probably did not have many suitors. Perhaps, too her scholarship was intimidating to young men. Elizabeth and her husband were now safely residing in England. After the Nazi annexation of Austria Victor but not Emmy joined them. Elizabeth began attending de Waal's church and she raised her two sons in the Christian faith. One of them, Edmund de Waal's father, became a protestant minister. Now the story moves to Tokyo. Iggy Ephrussi enlisted in the military as did his other stateside brother Roland. Because Iggy was fluent in three languages he served in military intelligence. After the war he was recruited by an international company who offered him a post in Japan. Iggy did not want to be in postwar Europe with all the reminders of Naziism. He did not return to see his home in Vienna. He became an executive in Tokyo where he took a young Japanese man as his lover. They made a home for themselves together. Elizabeth traveled to Vienna after the war to see what was left of her home and to determine if any of their collections or property were salvageable. Almost nothing was left and the palace had been turned into military occupation offices. She met with Anna who told her how she saved the netsuke. She was apologetic that it was all she could hide. However, she wanted to be able to preserve something for the family when they returned. Elizabeth was grateful and she returned to England with the netsukes. Later she sent them to her brother Iggy. Iggy had a vitrine built for them and kept them in his Japanese home. On his death bed he bequeathed them to Edmund de Waal now a successful ceramic artist in London. The author explores the history of his bequest in this novel. His language is beautiful and lyrical. It is natural and unforced. I could not put it down. However, I purchased this in the kindle edition. There are numerous photographs in the book . I believe the reader would be better served by an illustrated version of this book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 206 used & new from $4.32 Nature vs. Nurture and Criminality, March 11, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Defending Jacob: A Novel (Hardcover) Defending Jacob directly confronts the issue of whether character traits are predetermined by nature or molded by nurture. The jury is still out on the issue, but the consensus is that it is a combination of both. Jacob's father, Andy Barber is the local D.A. He is successful in his chosen field. The community in which the Barber's live and work is Newton, Mass, a safe affluent and highly educated community. When Ben Rifkin one of Jacob's classmates is found murdered in the park, the town is shocked. Jacob is identified as the prime suspect after others are ruled out. Andy Barber has never revealed to his wife his checkered family background. His father is in jail for murder. His grandfather was also convicted of murder. He is concerned that there is a murder gene and that he has passed it on to Jacob. His wife is angry that he chose to conceal these facts. The trial and the strains it puts on this family are the heart of the novel. How does a family survive the isolation, financial burdens and fear that a murder trial produces. Their only child, Jacob is the accused. Andy is put on paid leave because of the potential for a conflict of interest. Thus, he has no work to occupy his time. The people who were once close family friends such as Duffy, the police inspector assigned to the D.A.'s office, suddenly must distance themselves from the family. Alone and frightened Laurie Barber, Andy Barber, and Jacob Barber face this tumultuous experience. A psychiatrist is contacted for consultation. Her job is to identify whether or not Jacob has any inherited traits that might make him more likely to engage in criminal activity. She does identify some of those traits and she then begins to construct evidence of mitigation should Jacob be convicted. The traits she identifies include lack of empathy, an inability to form normal parental attachments as an infant and impulsivity. For lack of a better description, these could be called "murder genes." Jacob has a sketchy history of cruelty to small animals. He also has a history of "rough" or physically violent behavior with other small children his own age. Andy and Laurie believe that they have successfully dealt with his tendency to be "rough" with other small children and that the trait disappeared by the time Jacob was 5. Both his mother and father avoid characterizing his behavior as anything but ordinary growing pains. Parents can identify with Andy and Laurie Barber and the daily horror they must face as the court case moves along. Andy correctly articulates the problems they are facing. Even if Jacob is adjudicated as not guilty, that does not mean he is innocent. It merely means that the evidence does not prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I do not want to create a spoiler here. Spoiler alert: However, someone else confesses to the crime and commits suicide. There is some indication to Andy that it is a false confession. Andy, Laurie, and Jacob flushed with relief take a much needed family vacation to Jamaica. They stay at a luxurious beach resort. Jacob meets and befriends a teen girl who is also a guest at the resort. Andy and Laurie are thrilled that Jacob is returning to the normal activities engaged in by 14 year old boys. Then the girl Jacob has befriended disappears. She is discovered seven weeks later when her body washes ashore. She has drowned, but her windpipe has also been crushed as if she were strangled. The Jamaican police cannot clearly call her a victim of homicide. However, Laurie now knows that in spite of the confession her son is a murderer, and he has killed twice. What happens next is the twist in the tale. Defending Jacob is a fast paced legal thriller. Men as well as women will be entertained by the story. I had trouble identifying with the mother. The characters were somewhat well drawn, but the mother especially was not drawn with much depth. I found it hard to believe that in spite of the fact that her family was willing to sit with her at trial she chose to suffer further by sitting alone. This story will make a better movie than it has a book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) by The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.D Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.49 64 used & new from $22.73 A Readable Texbook on the Science of Cooking and Baking, March 8, 2013 This review is from: The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) (Hardcover) This wonderful book breaks down the science of cooking and baking into 50 major concepts. Once learned the food maven can apply them to other dishes and experiment often with good results. I love the scientific testing behind these recommendations and concepts. They don't just taste meat to determine which method or cut produces the juiciest result, they measure the juice extruded. Many of these recipes and instructions have appeared in other publications. However, here they are organized around the concepts they illustrate. For the dedicated cook who wants to improve his/her results, this is an excellent resource. It would also make a wonderful gift. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Baking Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 94 used & new from $12.10 A Bakers Bible, March 8, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Baking Illustrated (Hardcover) I bought this book before I bought the New Best Recipe book. All the recipes turn out if you follow the instructions exactly. This book explains the science behind baking too. If you read the recipe through before beginning you won't be tempted to vary it before trying it their way first. Even if the book has some redundancies, it is handy to look only through a book dedicated to baking when one is preparing a baked dessert etc. This tome would make a fine gift to someone who enjoys baking. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.46 81 used & new from $1.54 Another Winner From Cooks Illustrated, March 8, 2013 This review is from: More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) (Hardcover) The other reviewers are correct. Many of the recipes have appeared in their magazines or on their TV shows. However, all of the recipes I have tried turn out well. Also the instructions are excellent. As usual they find the easiest and best way to cook everything. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Rules of Civility: A Novel by Amor Towles Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 276 used & new from $1.03 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Wasp Rules of Boredom, March 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Rules of Civility: A Novel (Paperback) I too cannot understand the excitement over this book. There is no passion. Every slight real or imagined is treated with the wasp elixir- a dry martini. Food is often an after thought as is substance in this novel. The female voice is not credible, perhaps, because it is written by a man. Why do men think they can write from the female point of view. Why not tell a story from the point of view of a similarly situated young man. Katy, our heroine, obviously wants to marry into the world of the wealthy wasp. An educated christian girl from a blue collar family she thrusts herself head long into the wasp world hoping to find herself permanently ensconced therein. She finds herself tricked into love with a fellow with all the trappings of wealth whose family has lost everything. He now is the kept man of a wealthy woman whom he introduces as his godmother. It is hard to feel sympathy for Katy or her friend, Eve. The opportunities that come their way were not available to Jews or members of other ethnicities. Katy does end up with a high profile job and married to a very wealthy New Yorker. Had I found myself in one more trying cocktail party with a Bitsy or a Tinker - those telling Wasp monikers, I think I would have choked. I could not wait for this novel to end. Will someone tell me what all the hoopla is about? The sentences are well crafted. The vocabulary is good. However, the story is "meh." I can't recommend this. For a book about New York and its glitter try Bright Lights Big City. The Great Gatsby is better on the jazz age in New York. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel by Dr. Rafael Medoff Edition: Paperback Price: $13.14 35 used & new from $9.89 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Publish or Perish Book You Can Skip, February 19, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel (Paperback) I believe Wentling wrote this book as a response to the pressure put on career academics to publish. Her part of the book details Hoover's early history. She has found every statement, phrase, and nuance that could conceivably be determined to be favorable to Jews and she has cataloged it here. Hoover was a Quaker. He came from a tradition of charity, humanitarianism, and tolerance for minorities and the creeds of others. He found like minded people among the wealthy Jews. During his work as head of the ARA which distributed food to Europeans starving after WWI, he found like minded wealthy Jews like Felix Warburg and Marshall. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee funded much of the work done by the ARA. I doubt he ever met a Jew until he became an adult. He probably never shared a meal with a Jew until he began working with the ARA. Hoover was an engineer who made his money in mining. He was a self made man and he believed in the importance of persistence and hard work. He also believed in volunteerism and good organization. As part of his tradition of tolerance Hoover urged European countries to put a stop to the pogroms and other discrimination against their Jewish communities. The actions he took to foster religious tolerance in Europe did not produce much fruit, but he did try. However, the book also glosses over the fact that as president he appointed an anti-Semite named Stinson as his secretary of state. The assistant secretary of state was also anti-Semitic. Further,Hoover supported the new immigration quotas which were designed to fall most heavily on Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and other Eastern European nations. It should be pointed out that both Warburg and Marshall also supported the restrictive quotas for their own personal reasons. The book finally takes off when Medoff writes the chapters on Hoover's response to the holocaust. Hoover actively supported rescue and was critical of the administration's failures in that regard. He saw avenues of rescue which were ignored. Both he and Harold Ickes were prominent people who supported finding ways to rescue the Jews of Europe. I have no doubt after reading this that he felt a heartfelt sympathy for these persecuted people. Further, he saw it as his Christian duty. He supported Israel as did a number of other republicans for a number of reasons including sympathy for the survivors of the holocaust. Some also saw it as a bulwark against communism and extremism in the middle east. Clearly the fact that so many republicans favored supporting and recognizing the state of Israel put pressure on the Truman administration to do so as well. Administration action or non-action on rescue and recognition and support of the state of Israel gave rise to the "Jewish vote." Prior to that Jews almost unanimously voted democratic. If the reader is willing to read through 64 pages of tedium to get to the fun stuff, then this is a book you will enjoy. A far better book on the American response to the Holocaust is: While Six Million Died: A Story of American Apathy by Morse. That book is a page turner from start to finish. I am also sure there must be a better book about the crystallization of the "Jewish vote." There should also be something excellent on bipartisan American support for the state of Israel. I felt that this book repackaged other publications to create a new publication by categorizing all the facts surrounding Hoover. If you are a Hoover scholar than you may want to read this. If not there are other better books on the central subjects: U.S. response to Europe's persecution of its Jews, rescue during the holocaust or rather lack of it, and bipartisan support of Israel. Certainly the information contained in the first 64 pages could have been dealt with swiftly in a 10 page essay. Also Hoover's sympathy for the Jews probably stopped at the door of his restricted country club. I doubt Hoover's beliefs and feelings about the Jewish people would have led him to put a stop to "restrictions" in private clubs, hotels, and residential neighborhoods that allowed only white Christians. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Hardcover 22 used & new from $1.73 Dreams of Love, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Dreams of Joy: A Novel (Hardcover) Dreams of Joy is a story about love- a mother's love for her child. This novel is the sequel to Shanghai girls. Joy ,Pearl's daughter and May's niece learns that May is her true biological mother and Pearl is her aunt. She also learns that the father she adored was not her real father. Her biological father is a handsome, charming and talented artist named Z.G. who has carved out his own career in communist China. Joy also feels responsible for her purported father's suicide. He too never knew that Joy was not his biological daughter. Joy an idealistic University of Chicago student who has become a communist. The enchanting philosophy of communism appeals to her sense of charity and justice. She runs off to China both to escape the reality of her discovery, her guilt over her purported father's death, to find her biological father, and to participate in the new China. Both Pearl and May are horrified. They realize nineteen year old Joy's mistake and Pearl takes off after her while May stays home to look after their business interests. Joy finds her father,marries an illiterate and poor country boy, makes her home in the countryside, and gives birth to her own daughter in rustic impoverished circumstances. Shortly after her marriage, she realizes she made a mistake in choosing her spouse. He quickly becomes unfaithful and uncaring. Further, he becomes out right cruel to her when she bears him a daughter instead of a son. Even though the communists have tried to improve the status and importance of women in the culture, the strong Chinese bias in favor of sons persists especially in rural areas. Yet none of Joy's letters about her changed feelings and circumstances reach Pearl. By the time Joy realizes that Communism does not work and that she has made a terrible mistake, she is trapped in a famine in rural China. She and her child as well as all the villagers are starving. People die every day. They have taken to killing and eating their female infants and Joy realizes her daughter's very existence depends on her escape from the countryside. Correspondence is strictly censored. Pearl who is now living in Shanghai has no idea that her daughter is living in such dire circumstances. During his failing leap year program Mao tries to hide the famine rampant in China from the world. Hence Pearl cannot get a travel permit for the countryside even though she has never seen her grandchild who is only a one day's journey away. Even though food shortages have reached Shanghai, Pearl and Z.G. have no idea how dire Joy's circumstances are. None of her letters arrive in Shanghai and all the little correspondence Joy receives is strictly censored. The food and goods Pearl sends along with her letters are stolen before they reach Joy. Joy does not understand why her mother has not responded to her many requests for help, but she assumes that Pearl has not received her letters. Finally Joy finds a way to surreptitiously notify Pearl. Once Pearl learns of the disastrous conditions in which Joy is living, she and Z.G. devise a way to rescue her. Z.G. is a prominent communist artist and has been in the movement since before Japan's invasion of China. Together they rescue Joy and her daughter. They also rescue her husband. After saving Joy and her child from starvation and the privations of the countryside, Pearl and Z.G. begin to devise a method to get her and themselves out of China. May finances all of the work by running Pearl's cafe and her business in Los Angeles. She awaits them in Hong Kong. Meanwhile Pearl has truly fallen in love with the professor living in what was once her family home and where she now occupies one room. They marry before the escape plan is hatched. He is her true love. I will not tell the ending here. See pulls the bamboo curtain back and we see communist china with all its warts. This book is well written. These may not be pulitzer prize winning novels, but they are every bit as satisfying when read together as Snowflower and the Secret Fan. See has an excellent command of the English language. She paints a clear picture of life in pre-World War II Shanghai, war torn Shanghai, life for the Chinese immigrant in the U.S. and life in Mao's communist China. This story about life, love, betrayal and war covers all the emotions and is a satisfying read. Sure there are some contrived events, but sometimes that is just good story telling. See is a master story teller. Most readers will be truly satisfied. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.42 951 used & new from $0.01 Half of the Story, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Shanghai Girls: A Novel (Paperback) This book followed by Dreams of Joy is a 5 star read. It ends abruptly with much left to tell and tell it Lisa See does in Dreams of Joy. Shanghai Girls is the tale of May and Pearl, two calendar models or "beautiful girls" as they were called. May is the more beautiful of the two but both are in demand. Their father loses everything just prior to Japan's invasion of China. He sells his daughters in marriage to two stateside Chinese or so they believe. The girls try to avoid their forced marriage. However, Japan invades Shanghai and their only means of escape is through these marriages. Their escape is horrific and includes the tragedies that were so common in occupied Shanghai. They believe they will be going to an affluent and easy life in the U.S. However, their living conditions are not as expected. Both must work very hard everyday. May was pregnant when they left China. In order to conceal this fact and to protect themselves and the child, Pearl pretends to be the child's mother. Pearl's marriage is consummated while May's is not. The child whom they name Joy is born in the immigration holding area, and Pearl delivers the child in the communal bathroom. Once allowed to enter the U.S. as wives of Chinese Americans they both live in the same household. May pretends to be the child's aunt and Pearl is truly Joy's mother. May married to the only biological son of the family scion, Vernon, develops a career as a bit player in films. She is also a casting agent for people of Chinese origin and she supplies props and costumes. She never gets the speaking roles she really wants. Vernon is both mentally and physically disabled and May's marriage is never consummated. The Scion's only hope for a grandson is through Pearl. However, because of the injuries she sustained during the escape, Pearl is never able to conceive and bring a baby to term. The only child she has dies shortly after birth. This book ends with only half the story told. The reader will also have to read Dreams of Joy to finish the story. Otherwise as one reviewer states the ending is unsatisfying. I agree. My 5 star rating is given only under the assumption that the purchaser will also read the sequel. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ On Gold Mountain by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.94 126 used & new from $2.16 Excellent History of the Chinese Immigrant Experience, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: On Gold Mountain (Paperback) I loved reading about Fong See and his family. I knew that Chinese Americans faced discrimination daily, but I had no idea they were not permitted to own land. I don't know whether this was a California law or a federal one. The author doesn't say. Perhaps, like residential areas that were "restricted" or rather off limits to Jews, blacks, or any non- whites or non-Christians, these were regional laws. I thought my Jewish ancestors faced a great deal of discrimination and they did. However, the chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans faced much more bias. Notably the Asian Americans have not sought affirmative action redress even thought they deserve it. Like Jews they did well in spite of the discrimination. However, they would have done better. There should be cultural and financial redress in the form of affirmative action for our Asian Americans previously discriminated against because of their ethnicity or race. I am ashamed that my country behaved in such a way to Chinese immigrants. Lisa See's photo is on the back of her book. Even though I bought the kindle version, I did see her photo. She looks caucasion with her blue eyes and red hair. She is only 1/8 th Chinese and describes herself as caucasian in appearance but Chinese in her heart. She certainly is. The depth of her feeling for the struggles of Fong See, her grandparents, her parents and all their siblings and relatives is palpable. This history presents a good and probably accurate example of the Chinese immigrant experience in California. We rarely hear complaints from this stoic group. Therefore, it is left to books like this one to educate us about injustices heaped on this remarkably resourceful immigrant group and their progeny. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 199 used & new from $4.39 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Rehash of Books of Others, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Hardcover) This history of Lyndon Johnson from his 1960 run for president until March of 1963 after Kennedy's assasination derives too much from the published work of others and the author's own previous books. Caro was under pressure to publish either from himself or his publisher/agent and to fulfill a promise of a certain number of pages. The machinations of Robert Kennedy's attempts to try to get Johnson to turn down his brother's offer of the vice presidential slot on his ticket was tedious and uneccessary. Clearly Bobby Kenedy did not want LBJ on his brother's presidential bid. It was uneccessary to spend so many pages on the details and speculation of those privy to the events. There were too many "according to..., this is what occurred." It would have been enough to say that Robert Kennedy tried in every way possible to prevent his brother from offering Johnson the vice presidency and when that didn't work, he tried to get Johnson to turn his brother down. Instead we waste a great deal of time reading every possible speculation of what transpired between the two. I had no idea that Robert Kennedy hated Johnson so much. Johnson publically critisized Joseph Kennedy with a clearly justifiable critisizm during a speech he gave long before the 1960 campaigns. Joseph Kennedy wanted to placate Hitler rather than joining the allies in WWII. He was also an anti-semite. Jack Kennedy knew that he would have to distance himself from his father due to his wrong headedness when it came to these issues. As ambassador to England before and during WWII, Joseph Kennedy made serious and startling diplomatic errors in his assessments of the facts on the ground. Johnson was justified in his critisizms. It appears that Bobby was not that well regarded by his father. Perhaps, because he could not psycologically confront his father over his favoritism, he substitued Johnson. I suspect that his over reaction and hatred of Johnson was really the embodiment of his hatred for his own father. The author could have explored this issue and given the reader some insight into Bobby Kennedy's unjustifiable hatred of Johnson instead of merely hinting at it. Johnson and the Kennedys really were of one mind when it came to equal rights for minorities. Only Johnson lived these ideals as soon as he was in a position to do so. Johnson did more for blacks and other minorities than the Kennedys ever did. Much of this book quoted other works like Master of the Senate and other biographies and autobiographies gathering them under one heading about Johnson's transition period. Caro explored the self sabatoging reason for Johnson's failure to win the 1960 candidacy for president. He well understood the psycological forces that prevented Johnson from declaring in a timely fashion. However, he failed to identify the psychological forces behind Bobby Kennedy's pathological hatred for Johnson. Clearly Johnson took a traumatized nation and led it to stability and continuation. He was a masterful leader and probably one of our best presidents in spite of his failures and deceit about Viet Nam. Had Kennedy lived it is doubtful that he would have gotten either the needed tax bill or the equal rights bill passed. For all his charisma he did not understand how the legislature worked well enough to get them passed. Johnson on the other hand knew how to acheive these goals. With a mastery of political manipulations, Johnson with barely a vote to spare did know. He put his knowledge to good use even though he inherited an uneccessary complication from his predessesor. He managed to save both bills. He also lived his belief that minorities should have equal rights to public accomodation. I doubt that Jack Kennedy would have integrated a segregated club by walking into it with his black secretary on his arm. Johnson did when he attended a new year's eve party and birthday party for a politician at a segregated private club in Austin with his black secretary . This book should have continued through his 1964 nomination and inaugauration. The pages could have been taken from the tedium of his vice-presidential period. We needed more of the descriptions of Johnson's successes with his western and southern country charm. The description of Johnson's successful diplomacy with the German chancellor whom he entertained at his ranch was masterful. The rehashing of his time as vice-president was not. Caro filled pages here instead of giving us history of substance. If the reader skims those parts then the book is worth reading. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Edition: Paperback Price: $14.49 122 used & new from $6.15 Good but Not Great, December 15, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman (Paperback) Catherine truly was great. She increased Russian territory, population, and influence in the world. She began the great art collection in the hermitage and built it every chance she could get. She brought the philosophies of the enlightenment into the Russian court and propelled Russia forward into progressive values and states of being whenever it was possible. Massie draws from Catherine's own memoirs and her extensive correspondence with a variety of enlightened thinkers including Diderot, Voltaire, and Grimm. He also draws from her correspondence with Orlov, Potempkin, and her other lovers and partners. However, Catherine destroyed the correspondence she received from them so those letters were not available to the biographer. Thankfully,the people she wrote to kept her letters for posterity. However, we have only half the conversations. We have her half. We have her thoughts edited and filtered for the reader she wrote to. Had Catherine continued her memoirs after she took the throne, I think this biography would have been better. Secondary sources often mean comprommise. Had she kept a private diary while she was Empress, we would have had her unfiltered personal thoughts. We do not nor did the biogrpaher. Massie quotes heavily from these letters to support his conclusions. That is helpful for the reader. The first third of the book drags at times as the reader waits for Princess Catherine to become the Empress. The middle of the book is exciting and moves along quickly. The last third of the book is also slow at least in part because is is anti-climatic. Princess Sophia had a difficult relationship with a mother who never treasured her. However, she was deeply loved by her father, a minor German nobel who lacked substantial resources. She returned his love and internalized many of his values. She was really torn when she had to give up her Protestant faith to marry the heir to the Russian throne, but give it up she did. She promised her father she would not relinquish her faith, but she reconciled her conversion to Greek Orthodoxy by finding council who would confirm that in substance there was no difference between her protestant faith and Greek Orthodoxy. They both believed that Jesus was the messiaah who was born of a virgin birth. She was ambitious at an early age, and she understood the opportunity that was presented to her. Her mother always ambitious and disappointed with her lot in life sought to aggrandize herself by marrying her daughter to an important throne. She saw the opportunity to marry Sophia to Peter III as her way to riches, respect, influence and importance, something she never acheived in her own marriage. She cared nothing for her daughter's happiness, but that was the culture and habit of all nobels of the era. Marriages were like business partnerships. Husbands who sought the companionship of lovers were tolerated. It was often expected. Peter the Great in addition to his spouse had a peasant woman lover who bore him three children including Empress Elizabeth who inherited his throne. Peter the Great married the peasant woman when he could and made her his duchess. Peter the Great brought Russia into the modern age. Russia was considered a backwater by Europe. Peter unified some of the tribes, established a capital in St. Petersberg on the gulf of Finland, developed a navy which landlocked Russia did not need at the time and built Peterhof with its trick fountains and lovely landscaped gardens down to the sea. He brought modern European education, music and art to the Tartars and other tribes that made up the Soviet Socialist Republic we knew as Russia. His daughter Elizabeth who took no official husband and bore no children sought to continue her father's Romanov dynasty. She loved and admired her father, Peter The Great. It is believed that one of her longtime lovers was in fact a true husband, but there is no proof. I don't understand why a Russian empress could not marry without serious repercussions to her power. Maybe a commentator can explain it to me. Thus Elizabeth brought a nephew, the son of her beloved deceased sister to the court when he was eleven to groom him to become the emperor. His father had also died. She then began to look for a proper wife for the future Tsar in order to ensure the continuation of the Romanov dynasty. She took note of Sophia, the daughter of a minor and impoverished German nobelman. She wanted someone she could dominate both with her position and fortune. She found that person in Sophia. At age 14 she was promised to Duke Peter III then 15 or 16. She was not beautiful, but she was pleasing to the eye. She was clever but also sufficiently respectful and subservient to the Empress. She truly admired Elizabeth and thought her someone to emulate. She appreciated Elizabeth's intelligence, her education and her command of her empire, and she wanted to be like her. Unfortunately Peter III, an immature, self centered youth who had none of the characteristics found in a proper monarch was Sophia's only path to the throne. She converted to orthodoxy, became Catherine and was married to him when she was 15 and he was 17. Niether one knew about sex and no one explained sexual intercourse to either of them. Even when Catherine asked her mother what to expect, her mother refused to tell her. Sophia's grandmother failed to explain the facts of life to her own mother on the eve of her wedding. Her mother was introduced to the sex act by her father on their wedding night. But no one had explained the sex act to young Peter III, and he had no experience. So while Elizabeth waited patiently for Catherine to give birth to an heir following the marriage, Catherine was still a virgin and so was her nephew, Peter III. In all the dithering among Elizabeth and her advisers over what the problem could be, no one thought to explain the sex act to either one. Peter was very immature. He chose to play with his toy soldiers and to parade around in his soldier's uniform in lieu of developing a relationship with his young wife. She remained a virgin for nine years after the marriage. Elizabeth was beside herself. After nine years of marriage there was still no pregnancy. It did not occur to anyone that neither Peter III nor his wife knew how to conceive, and everyone was too embarrassed to discuss it. Finally, an experienced lothario was employed to give things a start. A handsome Polish nobelman, Count Stanislow caught Catherine's attentions and introduced her to the joys of the marriage bed. At some point Peter and Catherine must have had sex because Duke Peter III accepted her firstborn, Paul as his son. To this day no one knows if he fathered Paul or if Stanislow fathered him. It is more likely that all of her children were fathered by one of her lovers which changed over the years. Though Paul, her firstborn, like her husband did not have the qualities that would have made him an effective Tsar. Since so many of the European peerage were inbred, it is difficult to tell from portraits. Many of them bore the receeding chin evident today on Prince Charles and the long aquiline nose. Peter III had a longtime lover now. She was a rough and not well educated nobelwoman who was not well thought of at court. When Catherine finally bore a son, Paul she had fulfilled her duty. She was to give birth to a few spares as well. Elizabeth took the child immediately and controlled his education and upbringing. Cruelly, Elizabeth only allowed Catherine to see her child once a week in supervised visits. She did not see his first smile, his first steps or hear his first word. The relationship between Paul and Catherine was forever marred by this early deprivation. Elizabeth deprived Catherine of these joys, but Catherine knew she had to tolerate these cruelties in order to ascend the throne one day. However, she also loved and admired Elizabeth and wanted with all her heart to please her. Catherine gave birth to other children presumabley by her other lover, Orlov. Finally, in 1762 the Empress, Elizabeth died. Peter III attempted to marginalize Catherine and put forward his lover. He attempted alliances with the much hated German king Frederick. Hence, the military turned against him. He sought to be crowned tsar but the ceremony never took place. With Catherine and her supporters behind a coup, Peter III was imprisoned in a garrison where he was presumably to be kept alive. Catherine then ascends the throne with the backing of most of the Russian nobility, the Russian military and the Russian church. Like Ivan before him who Elizabeth kept imprisoned but alive, no harm was to come to Peter III. However, in a garrison skirmish he was killed. The jury is out on whether Catherine approved of this or whether it was truly an accident. However, Paul believing Peter III to be his true father resented his mother Catherine throughout his life because he believed she conspired with her lover Orlov to kill his father, Peter III. Small Pox and plague were the scourages of the time. Catherine feared small pox. The empress Elizabeth lost her fiance to small pox. Peter III was striken with small pox as a teenager and nearly died. Elizabeth personally and at great danger to herself nursed him through his illness which he survived tho scarred for life. Catherine learned of the small pox vaccination theory and program. It was controversial at the time. People were afraid they would contract small pox from the vaccine. To prove to her people that it was safe, she and her young son Paul allowed themselves to be vaccinated. The Russian court and people watched. Once they saw that Catherine and her son not only survived, but did not contract any form of small pox, many of her people were willing to undergo the life saving vaccinations. Catherine led by example. In Russia there was much land mass. Riches were accumulated not so much by owning the land but rather by working it. The ability to work the land depended on serf ownership. Hence wealth was valued according to the number of serfs one had. In certain concessions in mining etc there were serfs assigned to those dangerous industries. Serfs much like slaves in this country could not marry or change jobs at will. They were owned by their lords. Catherine saw serfdom as regressive and she hoped to eradicate the institution. Her first reforms resulted in strikes at mines and forges where work came to a standstill. She realized quickly that she would lose the support of many of the productive, influential and wealthy people in her ocuntry. She had to be content with other reforms. She further back treaded after the Pugachev rebellion led by a pretender to the throne who was himself a serf. She put down the rebellion with the help of her longtime lover Potempkin. He was a great military and political strategist and most probably her husband. After this revolt there was no more talk of elevating or freeing the serfs. Additionallly, she was influenced by the excesses of the French revolution which frightened her as it did many sitting monarchs of the era. She was an intellectual who supported the arts financially as well as with her interest. When Voltaire ran into financial difficulties, she bought his library allowing him to keep it for his lifetime. Only upon his death was it to come to Russia where it is still housed to this day. She recognized that the philosophers of the day, Diderot, Voltaire and Grimm were not merely treasures of their own lands. She saw them as world treasures. This view was unique in her day. Catherine was also known for taking several lovers who were often much younger. She was a lustful woman who sought to fulfill her needs in this way. They did not have power as Orlov and Potempkin did. However, she rewarded them with money, property and land. They always were dismissed with their fortunes intact. Today she would be called a "cougar." This conduct has been tolerated and even romanticised when it occurs with powerful men and their mistresses. For some reason nobelmen, church hiearchy, and populations look askance when a woman behaves this way. She never took advantage of a man who was not willing. When she died her less able son Paul took the reins for a short while, but he was no match for Catherine. One point of interest is that unlike Elizabeth Catherine did not deprive her son and his wife from the companionship of their young children. While Catherine took a central interest in their training and education, she allowed the parents to make many decisions about their care and to be witnesses to their first steps, their first words and their love. Thus, her grandchildren did not bear the scars and deprivation of a mother's love that her own son Paul did. She was not vengeful in that way and sh learned from the mistakes of her forbears. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Deception: Betraying the Peace Process by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Edition: Paperback 4 of 11 people found the following review helpful A Research Resource Not a Book for a Leisure Reading, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Deception: Betraying the Peace Process (Paperback) My book club selected this book. It is inappropriate for a book club selection. It is not a book to sit and read through. It is a research resource. Political scientists writing in this field could read through it and use it as a resource. It is an eye opener on the true goals of the Palestinean leadership. Clearly they have no intention of making peace with a two state solution. They want one state and they want an Islamic state with the Jews pushed into the sea. The resource material is excellent to prove this point and it is unsettling for those who believe peace in the mideast can be accomplished. I no longer believe it can unless the Jews give up and leave completely. Since that will not happen and should not happen, it is obvious that with the current Palestinean leadership peace is impossible. So if you are looking for good documentation to support the fact that the Palestinean leadership has no intention of negotiating in good faith, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a non-fiction resource for a book club book, find something more readable. Most of our members did not read this through and that includes the reviewer. Also it is expensive and difficult to obtain. You need a month lead time for it to arrive and it is not light reading.. Comments (3) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Mar 8, 2013 5:07 PM PST ________________________________________ Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) Offered by Balego USA Price: $16.25 7 used & new from $14.00 Finger exerciser, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) I bought this to help me recover from an injury I did to my right ring finger about a year ago. I dislocated it downward in a way that is difficult to fix. It was fractured in several places and tendons and ligaments were torn. It is still crooked and I cannot straighten it fully yet. The large knuckle has 3 dislocated fractures. The entire finger is weak. I was in PT until July. Now I am trying to strengthen the finger that is still weak and painful. This exerciser allows me to isolate the ring finger structure so I know just how much it can do. I use all 4 fingers to depress this, but I can tell just how much each individual finger can do. This is the lightest exerciser in the group. Since the other fingers are much stronger, I must concentrate to force myself to use the ring finger, but it is possible with this since each finger is isolated. I am using this for P.T., but pianists, violinists and other musicians might use it to strengthen fingers needed for musical play. There are tighter more challenging ones in the series and they are color coded. This seemed expensive, but for my purposes it was worth the money. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder MAN Fire Engine Price: $52.09 26 used & new from $44.87 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Hit With My 4 year old Grandson, November 26, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder MAN Fire Engine (Toy) My grandson now has 5 of these big German made trucks. His first was the garbage truck. He loved it so much that he slept with it in his bed. When he received the fire engine, he put that in his bed too. These trucks are accurately built with doors that open and close and parts that function just like the real deal. They are very expensive even tho they are plastic. The plastic is thicker and more durable than the less expensive made in China models. However, they are not as durable as the metal models available over 30 years ago. Trucks like these don't have much educational value. They are simply fun for boys and a right of passage for them. Every toy does not have to be educational. It probably teaches about the design and function of pulleys, levers and extension ladders. We bought our grandson the big crane for his birthday. Of all the trucks that one is probably the most educational b/c it has a functioning crane with a pulley etc. Try one of these. If your little guy likes it, you can add to the group for special occasions. These are special occasion gifts. The more expensive ones are very large. Read the dimension descriptions. This fire truck would be a lovely Xmas or chanukah gift for your little guy. Of all the trucks, the garbage truck, the crane and the cement mixer are the best choices. If you put water and sand in the cement mixer, a muddy cement like substance is extruded. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish Price: $31.02 5 used & new from $29.17 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Minimalist Functional Soap Dish, November 26, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish (Misc.) I bought this for all the shower stalls and tubs with shower in our house. We have minimalist hardware. Most bathrooms are outfitted with the dornbracht Tara faucet set in brushed platinum. The tile is either marble, limestone or travertine. The soap dish has sturdy rubber feet which keeps it balanced on shower stall shelves or tub surrounds. The soap drains easily onto the shelf or surround instead of sitting in the draining water as in most soap dishes. This allows the soap to dry so that it doesn't melt as fast. My only complaint is that the price has more than doubled since I first bought it at $12. I suspect that this does not reflect an increase in manufacturing and delivery cost. There are very few inexpensive soap dishes. I think that the sellers just figured that they could get this much per dish because there is nothing out there that is as functional. Does this give a potential designer pause? I think a similar design done in clear or colored but translucent lucite would work great. Instead of feet, it could have a perimeter rim and a hollow underneath with the slits for draining in the top of the dish. For easier cleaning, the lucite could be in non-transparent bright or neutral colors or in a sandblast like transclucent material. The fingerprints in clear things are awful on soap dishes. That is one reason this design in SS is so functional. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Korbel Albright Edition: Hardcover Price: $20.48 199 used & new from $1.76 A History of Czechoslovakia Before During and After the War, November 19, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (Hardcover) This book was a remarkable explanation of why Czechoslovakia turned toward Russia and became a communist satellite state. As another reviewer pointed out, Czechoslovakia was thrown under the bus any time such action would placate Hitler. Neville Chamberlain and the French allowed Hitler to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia in a an attempt to satisfy Hitler. Today we all know that nothing was going to placate Hitler and a war was inevitable. The British were not prepared for a full scale war and by abandoning the Czechs, they bought time to build their military. None of the big countries like England, France,or Russia were willing to go to war to honor treaties they signed with the Czechs to guarantee them protection. The English and French were blatant in their disregard of Czech rights and the treaties they signed at the Munich conference. Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the Munich conference where her very existence was decided. Since Russian involvement depended on French action, the Russians were off the hook. Only french involvement in Czech defense would have given rise to a Russian obligation to defend Czechoslovakia. Thus their treaty with Czechoslovakia did not operate merely because Hitler intended to invade and occupy the country. Even tho Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, its treaty with Russia did not require Russia to defend them. Hence, Russia was not in violation of any agreement the Czechs had with it when it was occupied by Germany. Because the British and the French both ignored their treaty with the Czechs and allowed Germany to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia, many Czechs had a bad taste in their mouth about the western European countries and hence the U.S. There was also an incident at the end of the war during which the Czech population fought the remaining German troops. They requested arms and military help from the U.S. army. For a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the deservedness of their cause, aid was witheld. Many Czech lives were needlessly lost and perhaps, this too gave rise to anti-U.S. feelings. In any case the Czechs no longer trusted the U.S., Britain or France. Therefore, it was probably more palatable to work with the Russians after the war than the west. Further, most Czechs were peasants. They were poor. The notion of communism offered a romantic ray of hope in a country impoverished by a depression and a war it did not want. I have been to Prague and Terezenstadt. The cities survived the war intact because there was very little bombing. It contained few essential resources for military needs so it was primarily spared. However, I had hoped that Ms. Albright would examine her Jewish roots more meaningfully. Clearly her parents were secular Jews who even put up a Xmas tree b/c Xmas was a national holiday. Being Jewish in the diplomatic core could not have been easy. At the time our own state department had few if any Jews and was outwardly anti-semetic. So it would be understandable if Korbel, Albright's father tried to hide his Judaism. Further, he lost so many relatives in the holocaust merely because they were Jewish. One could forgive concealing one's Judaism in a future life for that reason alone. However, the author tells us none of these things. She also does a rather superficial investigation. It is true that most of her relatives including her three living grandparents perished under horrific conditions in the holocaust. However, her telling of their fate was a dry unemotional history. Under Jewish law her mother was Jewish and she is Jewish. Since she is Jewish so are her children. Did she investigate the faith to see if she was drawn to it? Did she encourage her siblings or her children to learn about Judaism to see if the Jewish faith might be more fitting for them than Christianity. I don't think there was any encouragement in this direction. She claims that she has no material in her father's papers from which to draw any conclusions, because she didn't learn of the issue for 6 decades. However, her cousin , Dasa was alive. Surely she remembered Jewish rituals performed by her aunts. There is no explanation about any communication with Dasa over their Jewish history. Surely Dasa was aware that she was sent to live in England with her cousin Madeline and her aunt and uncle because the situation in Prague was becoming dangerous for Jews. She could not have believed herself to be catholic. Had she been catholic there would have been no reason to flee. I find the book lacking in this area. I'd like to see Ms. Albright study the religion, attend a few synagogue sermons and bible classes and consider her reaction. I suspect she is not a person of faith. However, her mother must have prepared typically Jewish dishes for the family when she was growing up. This is a cultural issue. Did her mother prepare the meat filled and boiled dumplings called "Kreplach"? How about the fruit filled cookies called "rugalach?" Did she ever make a matzoh ball? Gefilte fish? Did she make a beef short rib and cabbage soup called "cabbage borscht" without adding the sour cream? Non Jews often ate the soup with sour cream but Jews typically did not. Does she remember if her mother ever made a pork roast? If not doesn't she find that odd. Even if they ate it at the homes of others, did the family ever prepare it at home. I bet that other than during wartime shortages they didn't. In Britain during WWII everyone including Jews ate an American canned meat(pork) product called spam. During the blitz London survived on it. Since refrigeration could be sporadic, spam was the only "meat" available. So eating spam does not count in this evaluation. Often even though a family is not religious, festival foods are still lovingly remembered and prepared. Eating habits may not change though the religious ritual or reason for them has vanished. Now even non-Jews eat these dishes in Jewish style restaurants located in big cities all over the U.S. Yet Ms. Albright did not mention even one of these. Judaism values teaching and learning. It values the individual's right to self determination. Were any of her values traceable to her Jewish roots? She doesn't touch on this and we will never know. Note: I have just learned that one of her daughters married into a Jewish family and that her youngest grandson is preparing for his bar mitzvah. I wish she had mentioned this in her book and described to what extent her daughter has either become Jewish or decided to raise her children Jewish. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman Edition: Paperback Price: $11.49 106 used & new from $3.81 1 of 5 people found the following review helpful A Page Turner, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (Paperback) This memoir portrays the Hasidic sect of Satmar Jews as a cult. The Satmars and Hasidic Jews are angry and aghast over this book and the realities it brings to light. Many of the negative reviews have been filed by Hasidic Jews who are angry with Feldman's portrayal of Hasidism as a cult. Because Jews have been persecuted over the centuries by non-Jews many Jews feel it is a betrayal to critisize other Jews and their observances. Unfortunately Jews must and should be critical of their fundamentalist co-relgionists just as Muslims and Mormons should be of theirs. Deborah Feldman was a constructive if not an actual orphan being raised by her grandparents. Because of her orphan status the community members looked down upon her. Her parentage was questionable. Her father was mentallly ill or retarded. He wanders the neighborhood in inappropriate dress making inappropriate announcements. He was probably schizophrenic. His parents never sought proper treatment for him because it did not comport with their fundametalist religious beliefs. Because the Hasids do not believe in birth control, there is a high percentage of down syndrome and retardation in their community. Women have children well into their forties when birth defects increase as a percentage of all births. It is not unusual for a 49 year old woman to become a mother. Yet these children are cared for and schooled by the community. This does not prevent the community from requesting and receiving extra funds from public coffers to educate their special needs children. Mental Illness in this community is looked upon as something shameful. In order to find Deborah's mentally ill father a wife, the family had to seek out a poor girl from London who had poor prospects and whose family would not be aware of their son's strange behavior.This was Deborah's mother. Of course, this marriage failed. In fact Deborah's mother left the sect to live a secular gay life. In the community Deborah was viewed as not as good as others with a regular family. Further, her stingy granfather who could well afford to feed and cloth Deborah dressed her in her cousins' hand me downs. She never got to go to a store and select her own school clothes. This fact made her feel unworthy among her peers. Deborah is a bright and intellectual girl. These traits are not valued in the Hasidic community. Women are only valued as a support for men and as mothers. To discourage these traits Hasidic women cannot read most secular books and magazines. They are barred from learning about the outside world. Even their New York state required English grammar lessons are censored. There are lines of black out in the English grammar book. To comply with state law, girls are kept in school until age 16, but they do not earn New York City high school diplomas. Their religious observance precludes them from learning subjects like geometry which are required for a New York City high school diploma. AT 17 Deborah is married to a man she has met only once. He is not an intellecctual man. He works as a laborer in a warehouse. Deborah is an English teacher in the Satmar version of a high school. She should have been matched with someone who was an intellectual like her. That notion never occurred to her grandparents who looked only at the level of religious observance and financial support that could be expected of the family. Eli was from a humble albeit reverent and religious family, and that was good enough for their grandaughter. The marriage was doomed from the start. Deborah had a vaginal abnormality that precluded normal completion of sexual intercourse. Of course, she was personally blamed for the failure. A gynecologist identified the abnormality and recommended minor surgery. The family refuses to accept the diagnosis and surgical recommendation. Instead they take her from one talk therapist to another. A biofeedback specialist cannot fix a structural defect. Her husband is not the least bit supportive. He even leaves her temporarily over her failure. Finally Deborah finds a solution on the internet. She orders a manual dilation kit. This kit helps her deal with her double hymen which is rigid and inflexible. She finally completes intercourse and becomes pregnant. Once she becomes pregnant she is treated much better by her husband and his family. She and Eli have now moved out of Williamsburg into or north of Westchester county where they are not subjected to constant observance and critisizm. Deborah and her spouse have a little more freedom here. This freedom means she is not critisized because she doesn't shave her head in addition to wearing a wig. Still she must wear a wig and she must observe sabbath rules and participate in the Mikvah. She regularly attends the mikvah which she detests. She finds it dehumanizing and invasive which it is. When she decides that she must leave the sect for her own personal sanity and for the good of her son, Yitzy, the mikvah is one of the first observances she gives up. When she leaves the apartment ostensibly to attend to the mikvah she takes a magazine and reads in front of the Starbucks. She realizes that the purpose of many of these observances is to oppress women. They are designed to keep women ignorant of the ouside world and incapable of fending for themselves outside the sect. The hasidic education deprives all its students of more than a rudimentary acquaintance with algebra. There is no geometry, advanced algebra, trigonometry, calculus, or physics. Only Jewish subjects are taught. Geometry and other higher mathematics are of Greek origin so they aren't taught. Modern chemistry is not taught though chemical analysis that existed in biblical times is taught. The ancient Hebrews had not mastered modern chemistry or physics. Gallileo is not taught. Children learn history lessons with objectionable material removed. They do not learn about the women's movement for example. Only subjects which comport with their religious views are allowed. Thus, they are ill prepared to attend any college or university. Ultra-orthodox Yeshiva students who want to pursue college degrees in anything other than Judaic studies must participate in some sort of remedial or self taught education. The Hasidic view toward education is probably similar to the tea party regulars who want creationism taught alongside Darwin. Christians who want creationsim taught as an accepted theory of the origin of the species alongside Darwin are just as nuts. Christian fundamentalists who don't want birth control taught in sex education classes are cultish too. Christian fundamentalist may not dress in funny clothes like the Hasids, but they can be just as dangerous and just as regressive. The Duggans in the reality show 21 kids and counting come to mind. Members of cults can be pleasant, charming and nice. The amish are an example of a cult as are other Christian fundamentalists. The Lubuvitcher group of Hassidic Jews are an example too. Even if some of the examples of hasidic excesses are "embroidered" or not totally factually accurate, they do serve to demonstrate the danger of this particular religious cult. Further, they are an accurate account of the author's perception at the time. Her perception may have been inaccurate, but that was her perception. A boy is molested by his elderly bar mitzvah teacher. The community comes to learn that he has molested many boys and has a hoard of children's pornography in his house. Do they report him to the police? No. He is too old to go to jail. He disappears from the community for several weeks and returns. Presumably he participates in tutoring boys once again. Is he again in a position to molest? We are not told. What happens to the boy? He is forced to leave his Yeshiva because his presence will disrupt the class. No other Yeshiva will take him because they know what happened to him. This is a case of a ten year old victim being punished for being a victim and speaking out. How is this different from the Muslims who blame their daughters because they were raped. How is it so different from family members killing a victim of rape, because she was raped. It is accepted as an honor killing. We are horrified when we hear about these Muslim extremists. How are muslim honor killings so different from the fallout of an ultra orthodox Jewish boy being raped by his teacher. Then there is the horrific murder of a ten year old boy caught masterbating by his father. Masterbation is prohibited in the ultra orthodox sect. The community does not report the murder. Instead a specious death certificate is issued by the hassidic ambulence service. A quick burial follows. If you think this is impossible then read Postville where another murder is covered up by a Hasidic community. Deborah was fortunate to have been able to leave this sect on the tails of the publication of her book. She received an advance which gave her the financial suppport she needed to take her son and leave. She cuts his Paises so he will look just like all the other children at the playground, and it gives her great pleasure to do so. She begins teaching him in English instead of the favored Yiddish. Other women who are not as talented as Deborah and who wish to leave the sect are not so fortunate. She was lucky that a professor at Columbia's law school fought for Deborah's right to have custody of her son. She probably fought for and won child support from Eli as well. I do wish the book explained about any sister she may have had and which was referred to in some of the reviews. If she had been in multiple schools and been expelled, I wish she would have explained that in the book too. She has written a memoir so it should be factually correct. Otherwise she must label it as fiction based on fact. I wish I had the opportunity to ask her myself. In any case I loved this book. It sheds light on the danger of cults. Whether a society is a cult or not is really based on a continuum with some groups being more cultish than others. I view some modern Jewish orthodox communities as cultish without going all the way. This Satmar sect is a total cult. The only more cultish act they could have perpetrated would have been to murder Deborah becuase of her Hymen defect. I think some Muslim groups would go that far. Still hasidic groups do perform many charitable acts. They run the volunteer ambulence service in their community. They support free apartments for people who come to major medical centers for treatment. Some of these people including non-Jews could ill afford the cost of traveling to a major medical center for treatment of a serious illness were it not for these free apartments. They provide kosher meals for patients who are kosher in hospitals that cannot do so. They provide kosher meals and passover seders for Jewish inmates in correctionsl institutions. They do perform charitable acts and services for the community. Further, they are nearly single handedly responsible for raising the Jewish birth rate and providing a balance for the diappearance of Judaism in the secular community. If it weren't for these religious Jews, Judaism would probably die out in a few generations. However, Jews that don't believe these are cults should live in NYC for a few years. As a non-observant Jew walking in their communities you will be subjected to insults and even spitting. They may even throw stones. Still unlike the Muslims murdering people because they don't believe as they do is a sin. It is not allowed. In Islam fundamentalists believe that if they cannot force the infidel(non-believer) to believe, they should slay him. This is not the Jewish belief fundamentalist or otherwise which holds all life sacrosanct. In Judaism you cannot kill or maim a non-believer because they don't believe. I have had the opportunity to learn why the author fails to acknowledge the existence of her sister or the fact that she attended more than one secondary school. She knew that by writing about her life, she brought community disapproval on her family for their failure to control a child and a female child as well. Eli, her husband was ostracized for failing to control his wife. He has since left the community and now wears blue jeans though he is still observant. She felt her 11 year old sister was a child who did not decide to leave the sect. She did not feel she had the right to expose her younger sister to the ostracism she knew would occur if she was mentioned in the book. She felt her sister had the right to decide for herself whether or not she wanted to remain in the community. Eli, her husband is an adult and presumably can fend for himself. She did not mention the different secondary schools, because in her mind her educational experience culminated in the last school and mentioning the others did not advance the points she was trying to make about her education or lack there of. These rationales seem reasonable to me and should satisfy all the Hassidic nit pickers and nay sayers who have written negative reviews about her memoir. To them all I say- If this expose reveals destructive traits of these religious practices then maybe it is time to moderate them. It is time to free the slaves or rather the women. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Masada by Yigael Yadin Edition: Hardcover 31 used & new from $1.99 Great Photographic Reference of this Battleground, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Masada (Hardcover) I bought this book to help me understand the historical fiction book, the Dovekeepers. Having this pictorial reference at hand was helpful in envisioning life at the time. Several hundred secular Jews holed up in this mountain fortress to protect themselves from the Roman invaders. They lived here for about 3 years until the Romans engineered a ramp that allowed them to invade the mountain top. The Jews slew their own rather than fall prey to the roman hoards. The Romans tortured and raped their captives before putting them to death in painful and horrible ways. The Jews of Masada were determined that if death was upon them, it would be a merciful one. Only 2 adult women and 5 children escaped (I may be incorrect on the actual numbers here, but I am close). The Dovekeepers and many scholarly books written on the massacre at Masada used the same archaeological findings pictured in this book to come to their conclusions or to substantiate their work. The book is filled with helpful color plates. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Where Danger Lurks by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Paperback Price: $12.56 15 used & new from $5.09 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Absolutely Amateurish, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Where Danger Lurks (Paperback) I think this book was published because the publisher published her first novel, Texas Justice. Texas Justice was probably published because it was the only novel based on a riveting true murder case in Houston. A handsome Jewish boy, the son of middle class parents walked into a wig shop and shot and killed one of the employees and seriously wounded others. He did not know the people and seemed to have no motive for the crime. His mother is an attorney in Houston. His parents were divorced. No one else wrote a book about this crime. So when Judith Finkel wrote a second book about a pediophile, the same publisher published it. However, the more Finkel strays from a real life crime the less professional is the attempt. This effort seemed so amateurish that I was embarrassed for the author. She is a genuinely nice woman who willingly attends book clubs reviewing her books. Our book club chose this as well as her first book for that reason. Additionally she is a good friend of one of our members who proposed this book as well as her first. I gave that book 3 stars. Unfortunately, when the author attends the book club no one feels free to offer frank critisizm. If they choose a third book by her, I will chose not to read it or attend the discussion. I really like Ms. Finkel so I hope she does not read this. I really don't want to hurt her feelings. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Texas Justice by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Perfect Paperback Price: $12.09 29 used & new from $0.01 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Mediocre Fictionalization of a True Event, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Texas Justice (Perfect Paperback) Garfinkel wrote a fictional story based on a true event which occurred in Houston, Texas. However, the fiction is so closely based on the facts that this author would have done a better job had she written a nonfiction book based on the exact facts. For example, one of the real witnesses was a podiatrist and in her rendition the witness is a chiropracter. The quality of the writing is mediocre. Further, rather than give the book an ending, she left it unended so the reader could fashion one for himself or herself. I don't care for books that end like this, and I think it is an author cop out. The real story had an ending. The young man was the son of two Israelis who became naturalized U.S. citizens. They maintained dual citizenship as did their two sons. The young man fled to Israel with the Houston police hot on his heels. Israel agreed to extradict him to the states as long as Texas took the death penalty off the table. Israel does not have the death penalty and will not extradict a wanted criminal who is subject to the death penalty. The perpetrator pled guilty to 1 count of murder and more than one count of attempted murder. He is doing life in prison. What is interesting in the real story is that this semmingly normal, attractive and clean cut young man walked into a wig shop and gunned down its owner and employees. He did not know these people and he appeared to have no motive to commit the crime. The wig shop catered primarily to cancer patients who had lost their hair from chemotherapy. Other clients had hair loss due to brain surgery for serious conditions. The owner and employees were compassionate and caring people who delicately handled this troubling situation. Neither the Houston newspapers nor the book ever found an explanation for the boy's criminal conduct. His parents were divorced, and his mother was an attorney. He was clearly troubled. Had he been seen by a psychologist before the incident? Had any teacher or school counselor recommended psychiatric intervention before the incident? Did he select murder as his method of acting out his anger, because his mother was an attorney and knowledgeable about the legal system? Was he trying to get her attention for some reason? None of this is examined in the book. A normal healthy young man does not pick up a gun and shoot at people he doesn't know killing and injuring them for no reason. Why weren't these questions explored? Was this one of those families that saw danger signs or was told by school personnel to get the boy psychiatric help, but who rejected the notion of psychiatric help? How receptive was the family to suggestions for psychiatric treatment for their clearly troubled son? Additionally, an interesting legal argument arose as a result of this case. Israeli courts recognize a parent child privilege. That is any communication between a child and parent is privileged. Neither the parent nor the child can be compelled to divulge what is said in these conversations. They need not testify about these conversations. U.S. courts recognize spousal privelege, attorney client privilege, clergyman church member privilege, and doctor patient privilege. U.S. courts do not recognize a parent child privilege. After the crime, the young man sought help from his parents who helped him flee to Israel. When the authorities were looking for him, the parents seeking to conceal his whereabouts asserted a parent child privilege based on their reliance on it as Israelis. Of course, that argument did not work. The Texas court compelled the parents to reveal the conversations they had with their son after he committed this horrendous crime. Yet the book did not mention this novel legal argument. I don't think the young man will ever get out of prison, but it would be nice to know what psycological factors caused this boy to murder one woman and seriously wound others he did not know. Was he seriously depressed? Was he a manic depressive experiencing a psychotic break? The author provides us with not one clue. Surely his defense team explored psychiatric issues which might mitigate his punishment. There would be court records of this. Had the issue been totally ignored by his defense team then there was a record of that too. However, the court itself could have ordered psychiatric evaluation. Did it? The author is silent on these issues. This novel was a selection made by my book club, because the author is a friend of one of the members. That is one of the worst reasons to select a book. The author was present at the book club meeting to answer questions about the book. Hence, I could not say what I really thought about it. The author is a very nice woman who is well liked. Unless she sticks to nonfiction, she isn't worth reading. I think most of her readers will be women. I am surprised by all the accolades she has received in customer reviews, and I find them suspect. I am sorry if this hurts the author's feelings because I really liked her. Defending Jacob which is complete fiction is about a young man from a good family who is accused of murder and who must go through the criminal justice system. The boy is 14 as is his victim and his father is a D.A. This is a much better book and far more well written. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 195 used & new from $1.30 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Holocaust Love Story, October 6, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Lost Wife (Paperback) I wish I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars. Amazon you should add this feature to your customer reviews. The writing is adequate and the story plausible. This story is about Jewish European lovers who are victims of the Nazi holocaust. Lemka and Josef fall deeply in love in pre-WWII Prague just as the Nazi threat is looming. Josef's family secures U.S, visas for the family including Lemka as Josef's wife. They are unable to include Lemka's family in the group. The sponser, a cousin in the U.S., is only willing to sponser the 5 of them. Josef & Lemka marry. Josef knows that he is unable to secure visas for Lemka's family, but Lemka does not. Her father is aware of the problem but urges Josef to marry Lemka and take her to the U.S. with them. Lemka who loves her family deeply refuses to leave them even though her family including her beloved father urges her to go. Josef and his family are scheduled to be in England for two months before sailing for America. Josef continues to try to convince her to join them as does Lemka's father while it is still possible. She steadfastly refuses. I am sure these scenarios really occured in pre- WWII Europe. These dramatic events are believible. We as the reading audience are clammoring for her to join him. We see only trouble ahead. The author quickly makes minced meat out of our frustration at this turn of events. (Spoiler Alert). However,the ship on which the family sails sinks at sea and only Josef survives. Had Lemka joined them she would have been on the lifeboat with Josef's sister and mother and she would surely have perished. Lemka is informed that the whole family died and that Josef is dead. Josef's many letters never reach Lemka who has now been excluded from Prague's social and economic life because she is a Jew. The family survies in the ghetto mainly on the handouts of their prior maid, Lucie, a country girl who left them when she married. They considered her part of their family and she thought of them as family. The Jews had been ordered to turn over their radios and anything of value. However, they entrusted Lucie with a few momentos of jewelry to hold for them until after the war. Lemka and her family are ordered to Terezinstat, the show ghetto which the Nazis would doll up every now and then for Red Cross inspectors from Switzerland. They would start out by transferring all of the elderly, sick , and feeble inhabitants to Auschwitz so that the ghetto would not look as crowded as it really was. The thinnest inhabitants were transferred to death camps so that only the fittest were on view for the inspection. As soon as the inspection was over, the Nazis would bring in more trainloads creating the terrible overcrowding that was its consistent characteristic once again. Lemka was an artist. She was assigned to indoor sedentary work creating individual painted postcards for Nazi soldiers. Other artists were charged with painting larger canvases. Some painted portraits for the soldiers from photographs, and they received extra food for those. One created fabulous copies of great paintings used to adorn Nazi homes. They also surreptiously created paintings and drawings of camp life depicting sickness, torture, and death among its inhabitants at great personal risk. These they hid within the ghetto walls. The children also created art with the miniscule amount of supplies surreptitiously provided by these artists. Some 4500 children's drawings were also hidden within these walls. They are now on display in various museums on the holocaust including the Jewish museum in Prague. I have been to the Jewish museum in Prague which is in one of the few remaining intact synagogoues in Europe. Most of them were burned often with their Jewish members locked inside. It was allowed to stand, because Hitler planned a museum on Europe's extinct Jewish culture. Only a few of the paintings and drawings are on display. A better use would be to donate the great majority of them to the Holocaust museum in D.C. and Yad Vehem, the holocaust museum in Israel. I am sure some have been donated. They have far more display space and more of them deserve to be displayed. I remember crying at the display of children's holocaust art in Yad Veshem. Lemka enters Terezenstadt with her family. Her father, a coal deliverer in the ghetto, is given orders to be on the next transcript to Auschwitz. Everyone knows it is a death camp. It is understandable that her mother , his wife, would volunteer to go with him. However, when Lemka and Lemka'sister and brother volunteer to accompany their father too, it strains the imagination. Lemka again believes that the family has never been separated and should not be now. Of course, the reader is screaming "don't go." Her father again tries to discourage his children from accompanying them to no avail. Lemka and her family transfer to Auschwitz. Her parents are quickly gassed. Her sister dies from the deprivation. She survives and at the end of the war is tranferred on foot to various camps. She survives the forced marches and ends up in a DP camp. She believes herself to be alone in the world. Carl, a Jewish American soldier befriends her and provides her with extra rations and goodies. He courts her and asks her to marry him. Lemka marries Carl because he has saved her. She has no great love for him as she did for Josef. Of course, there is nothing like a first love. She returns to Prague and seeks out her former home where she hopes to spend the night. The people now living in her apartment are angry and flabbergasted that she dares to return to her home. They refuse to let her in and will not allow her to spend the night. Lemka now exhausted takes a train to Lucie's village where she visits a grateful Lucie who cries upon learning of all the family deaths. Lemka finds a warm bed for the night. Lucie returns the 3 pieces of jewelry to Lemka including the gold wedding band Josef gave her. They are the only momentos she has of her family. Carl takes her to NYC where they remain married for over 50 years until his death. They have one child. Her child has a red headed daughter with a long swan neck just like her great grandmother who perished in the camps. Josef has a grandson. The grandson is about to marry Lemka's grandaughter. At the rehearsal dinner he meets his grandson's fiance for the first time and recognizes the red hair and neck. The author does not explain why a beloved grandfather would not have met the fiance earlier. When he is seated neck to Lemka who has now taken the Americanized name, Lanie, he recognizes a birthmark on her arm next to her Auschwitz tatoo. They realize they were the Lemka and Josef who loved each other and married in Prague. Then the book ends. The ending is disappointing and frustrating. The reader wants to know if they strike up their reltionship again, if they move in together, if they have great satisfaction from finding each other at last. Or is it a bust? Is the memory far greater than the relistic living love? That happens so often when rediscovering old loves. Josef married, but he never really loved his wife of many years with the passion he had for Lemka. He and his wife married for the same reasons many holocaust survivors married. They wanted to stop the lonliness and to recreate a family. He did love her and nurse her through her final illness, but something was always missing. Are we going to get a sequel? The writing quality in this book was 4 star. It was a page turner because the reader wanted to know about the rekindled relationship, but the author does not give us that. I downrated the book because the ending was frustrating. Are we going to get a sequel? I would read that. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) by Isabel Allende Edition: Paperback Price: $12.08 178 used & new from $0.01 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful An Allende Page Turner, September 23, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback) I bought this in the Kindle format. However, I looked through the hard cover edition. The story would have been easier to follow had there been a set of maps of Haiti showing elevations, plantations, mountains, forests and towns that were important to the first half of this tale which takes place in Haiti. Maps were unavailable in any edition I saw. They would have really helped the reader understand the action that takes place during the Haitian slave revolts. The book follows the life of the slave girl Zarite (Tete). She is the product of a white father and an African slave. The slave is raped en route from Africa to Haiti by one of the white sailors. Tete is herself raped twice by the French plantation owner who hires her to care for his mentally ill spouse. Tete's first child by Valmorain is a boy, Jean claude and the second is a girl, Rosette. These offspring would be termed Quadroons. The boy, Jean Claude, is removed quickly from Tete's possession and placed in the care of Violette and her white French army officer husband. Violette is a mulatta woman who is likely also a Quadroon. Violette was Valmorain's mistress before he married his Spanish born wife. She is unable to conceive. Violette and her white spouse raise Jean Claude as their own son. Valmorain and his wife have a son, Maurice. Tete who has milk from the birth of Jean Claude becomes his wet nurse. Valmorain's wife descends into madness, and Tete becomes the only mother Maurice knows. Yet Valmorain continues to rape Tete. He does not view it as rape, because he views Tete as his property. Tete becomes pregnant again and when Maurice is about 3, she gives birth to her daughter, Rosette. By now Valmorain's wife is completely out of touch with reality.Thus Valmorain does not need to remove Rosette from the plantation to hide her existence from his wife. Valmorain allows Rosette to remain on the plantation in the care of her mother, Tete. Maurice and Tete grow to love each other much to Valmorain's chagrin. Valmorain dotes on Maurice who is his only white child and legitimate heir. Maurice also grows to love Rosette. He protects her as he would a younger sister. Since there are no other white children on the plantation, Maurice plays almost exclusively with Rosette who appears to many as if she is a white child of Spanish origin. Rosette and Maurice become very close and love eachother dearly. At some point they become aware that they have the same father. Valmorain and Maurice's must leave Haiti abruptly when violent slave revolts erupt. The rebellious slaves murdered many whites on the island during their revolt. Tete helps Valmorain and Maurice escape risking her own life to do so. She saves their lives on more than one occassion. Valmorain, Valmorain's brother-in-law, Santos, Tete, Maurice, Violette, Jean Claude, and Rosette all make their escape to New Orleans via Cuba. Even mulattos were in danger. Dr. P., Valmorain's physician friend eventually joins them with his "colored' wife, Adele and his mulatto children. This story is an indictment of slavery, an institution which brings suffering and debauchery to both slave and master. The brutality of the institution in Haiti may have been without equal. It was one of the reasons the slave rebellion there came to fruition resulting in the first black government in the western hemisphere. Valmorain was not as evil or brutal as many of the other slave owners, but he was cruel enough. His overseer, Prosper Chambray, a mulatto himself was more brutal than many of the white slave owners. Dr. P who saw the value of Tante Rose's native African home remedies was one of the few really decent white men. He was a physician who saw the futility of European medical practices like bleeding to effect cures. Yet he hid his relationship to his children by Adele and even his relationship to Adele from the other whites on Haiti and to some extent in New Orleans. In New Orleans Valmorain who reinvents himself as a wealthy plantation owner remarries a wretched woman named Hilda who bears him only daughters. Thus his only son is still Maurice. As children Maurice and Rosette have grown to love each other. They share the same father, Valmorain. They part just before adolescence. Valmorain sends Maurice to a liberal boarding school in Boston. He pays for Rosette to be educated in New Orleans by nuns who run a school for girls who have some negro blood. Rosette looks like a white girl of Spanish descent but she is 25% black. She rejects that identity and does not identify as the daughter of her mother Tete, a slave. She sees Tete as Valmorain's possession and feels herself to be free even though she is not. All of these narrative threads are headed for disaster. Maurice attends school among abolitionists and he hates the institution of slavery. Valmorain is appalled at his son's ideas which Maurice shares when he returns to New Orleans. For without slavery his father's fortune would be lost. Until this point Allende's tale is filled with adventure, romance, suffering, love and sadness. However, here is where she loses me. Spoiler alert here. Maurice and Rosette who have loved each other since childhood fall in love romantically, and wish to marry. To me this is over the top. A very liberal priest would have married a white boy to a girl of color. But when he learns that they share the same father he refuses. Tete finds a way to accomplish the marriage on a ship in front of the ship's captain. They marry and Rosette gives birth to their child, Justin, Valmorain's second heir. I found this incestuous act too over the top for me. I did not think Tete was compassionate or clever by virtue of her method of accomplishing the marriage. If these children had been worth admiring, they would have seen the wisdom of a rule that precluded incestuous unions. While Tete could have been sympathetic and compassionate about their love and devotion to each other, she should not have helped them marry legally. Of course, such an act would and did doom them. This story would have made a terrific movie. I think it would have been a better movie than a book. The translation from Spanish is excellent. Allende is also fluent in English so she could carefully supervise the translation. Allende is a translator herself and Allende's translator is also an author so these facts make for an excellent translation. Haiti devolves into a chaotic and violent society because 1) The simultaneous occurance of the French revolution prevented France from devoting enough troops to stabilize Haiti with its myriad problems, 2) The unstable new French republic sent confusing messages about its policies regarding states of freedom and class for the different degrees of coloreds and slaves in Haiti 3) There was a large multiple of blacks relative to the number of whites in Haiti. Populations in the U.S were not so skewed. 4) The geographic and climatological characteristics of Haiti vs. The Dominican Republic placed Haiti at a disadvantage for commercial success. Comments (2) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jul 25, 2013 2:46 PM PDT ________________________________________ Women: A Novel by Charles Bukowski Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 100 used & new from $6.90 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful Alcohol Fueled Misogynistic & Souless Sexual Romp Thru Life, September 12, 2012 This review is from: Women: A Novel (Paperback) First this author can write. However, my copy arrived in a brown paper binding which was a clue to its content. This is as close to pornography as one can get and still call it literature. The author Charles Bukowski had an unhappy childhood. In high school he was awkward and unattractive. He was plagued with acne and this caused permanent scarring and disfigurement. Therefore, girls paid little attention to him. Though he was a critical success with his poetry and other writing, he was not a financial success. He worked at the U.S. Post Office and other menial jobs for years to support his first love, writing. He is not a materialistic man and money is not important to him. In fact the picture of him in the book could have just as easily been that of a homeless man. This book is semi-autobiographical. Henry, the main character and narrator has finally acheived some critical success with his raw sexual poetry in certain hip and intellectual circles. He is paid to give readings of his poems at University campuses, book stores, and other venues that usually include bars. Henry is in his mid-50's. Yet when he gives readings often in worn out clothing and with long wavy unkempt hair and a beard, young women or even girls fall at his feet and worship him in an unhealthy way. They throw themselves at him and often fall into bed with him sometimes two at a time right after these readings. Henry is a lonely man. He is busy with the sophmoric pursuit of making up for lost time when girls in his high school ignored him. But c'mon here. He is 55 years old plus and he never got over being unpopular with high school girls? Maybe if he chose a girl or woman who was less physically attractive, he might have found a sweet heart. Maybe if he gave attention to an over weight girl with acne he might have found a soul mate in high school and thereafter. But of course he does not. Even with Lydia, one of the women he claims to love, he really doesn't have a soulmate. In fact I saw no evidence in the book even at the hopeful end that he ever formed meaningful object relations. All of these women were much younger than he even as young as 18. The age difference did not bother him , and he relished their young bodies. Rarely was a woman unattractive enough that he was uninterested in sex. There was one older (38) woman who he found unattractive, but he still had sex with her. The "F" word appears on every page. The "C__T" word appears on every other page and the word "bitch appears every 10 pages. I think this book could have been written with less use of such offensive language. He never uses the term "making love" even with a woman he claims he loves. Everything is "f----ing." It becomes monotonous and old. Several times I thought of putting the book down. I just don't like to leave something unfinished. This catalogue of Henry's "unrepentant and miserable descent into carnal pursuits" was just offensive. I did not begin noting memorable passages as I do in every book until page 202. And then there was not much more of substance until page 238 in a 290 page novel. The same points could have been made in a less vulgar tome and it would have been more appealing. I suspect that men will appreciate this book more than women. In fact, I don't know if that many women have finished this book. Reading his vulgar poems is different. What the reader can appreciate in short blurbs is different than what one can enjoy in a solid book form. Henry has many psycological problems. It would be interesting to learn whther he ever had therapy for them. Before each reading he must get high on booze and vomit in the alley or street behind the venue. He prefers alchohol to drugs, and he is an alcoholic. He smokes a joint now and then. After all he lives in Los angelos where he grew up. He doesn't really get involved with snorting coke or taking other mind bending drugs. He takes advantage of the hippy female flower children who adore him. He doesn't consider "anything but my own selfish cheap pleasure...like a spoiled high school kid... I was truly no good...the worst part of it was that I passed myself off for exactly what I wasn't-- a good man."pg.236 I don't recommmend this book for female readers. Men who wish to read a sophmoric sexual romp with offensive language will be pleased. This is good literature, but there much good literature that is not offensive. Time is too short to spend reading this. Still it does make me curious to read some of his poems. If I can find one in the library, I may read a few. It is not likely to be anything I'd read completely. Perhaps, I am curious to understand what sorts of poems make book smart young women sacrifice their dignity for a broken down drunk writer. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck Price: $85.45 15 used & new from $85.45 Another Winner from Bruder, September 12, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck (Toy) this is a complicated working model that our grandson loves. He loves to work the crane and other movable parts. This is a very well made sturdy toy truck. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green Price: $83.99 6 used & new from $74.98 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Great gift for boys, September 7, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green (Toy) I rate toys on how much children play with them. My grandson selected this truck as a gift for himself when he was 3. He loves it so much that he sleeps with it as well as the Bruder fire truck. He loves great big toy trucks. This truck is true to scale and true to life with doors and compartments that open and close. I don't understand why it costs as much as it does except that it is made in Germany where labor is expensive. It is a big plastic truck, but it is more durable than other plastic trucks. It is a heavy weight plastic and not the least bit flimsy. All the doors etc work. Even tho it was suggested for children over 3 or 4, our grandson was 3 and he didn't break it. After months of play he still loves it and considers it his favorite toy. Other than teaching a child how a garbage truck works, I don't see any educational value in this item. However, my prime purpose for purchasing a toy is for fun. If it happens to be educational then that is fine too. We have since purchased a fire truck and he recieved a small tractor. He loves them all. We will be buying the crane for his birthday and the cement truck for his holiday gift. His older brother took to the WOW trucks instead. I'd buy this again and recommend it for any boy who loves trucks and contruction vehicles. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand Edition: Hardcover Price: $14.83 665 used & new from $3.99 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Really a 3&1/2 Star If It Were Offered, July 30, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Hardcover) This non-fiction biographical book about Louis Zamperini's life told the story of a remarkable American hero. Reared during the depression, he was a peck's bad boy who was guilty of mischief, stealing, and poor school performance. He could have been dyslexic or suffering from some other learning disability. He found his salvation in running. He was not a stellar student, but he was a champion runner. He received allcolades for his competitive running in Torrance California. For that reason he stayed in school and even enrolled in U.S.C. He was one of the youngest and most inexperienced runners to compete at the Berlin olympics in 1938. Yet he made a decent showing and shook Hitler's hand. He continued to run competitively thereafter until Pearl Harbor. After December 1st 1941 he enlisted. Because he had some college and was an olympic athlete he was given a commission in the Army Air Core. This was the forerunner of today's air force. Louis was a bombadier. His team was highly successful and flew many more successful runs than the average Air Core team. Still on their last mission his team was forced to fly a less than flight ready aircraft. As a result it plummeted into the Pacific. Three soldiers survived including the pilot who sustained a non-lethal head injury. They survived in two rafts eventually reduced to one that were not properly fitted with survival gear. The rafts had fishing line but no hooks, a few water cans, but not enough and nothing that could be used to collect fresh rain water. They had no knife and little first aid. Japanese fighters strafed their two rafts requiring them to reduce to one raft. Sharks circled their raft day after day even jumping into the raft on more than one occassion. Yet they survived 46 days on the open water, a new record, and traveled over 2000 miles well into Japanese territory. They found a small Japanese island and rowed ashore. There they were "rescued" by the Japanese inhabitants. Soon a Japanese freighter arrived to take them to a POW camp. They were then interred in various Japanese prisoner of war camps. The Japanese viewed those that surrendered rather than fighting to the death as dishonorable. For every allied soldier killed four were captured. For every 120 Japanese soldiers killed only one was captured. The contempt and revulsion that the Japanese felt for those who surrendered or were captured extended to allied servicemen. Unbroken pg. 195. For this reason most Japanese fought to the death even when they knew a battle could not be won. It was for the same reason that we had to drop 2 atomic bombs before the Japanese surrendered. Surrender was considered so terribly dishonorable. Their thinking created an atmosphere in which to abuse, enslave, starve or even murder a POW was considered acceptable and even desirable. Unbroken pg.195 The captured allied soldiers were severly mistreated by their Japanese captors. The allied POWs captured in Europe did not suffer the same fate. Louis was transferred to various POW camps with one worse than the next. One particular corporal nicknamed "The Bird" by the prisoners was particularly sadistic. He hated Louis and seemed to take out his daily frustrations on him. He was passed over for a commision at the beginning of the war. Coming from an influential and wealthy family he was very offended by this faux pas and he took out his frustration on the prisoners. He beat Louis repeatedly, and no one not even his superiors tried to stop him. Even when he exceeded what Japanese officers thought were the bounds of propriety, they did not intercede. Louis and some of his friends, including the pilot who survived the crash with him, survived the war and returned to their families. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome often called "battle fatigue" was poorly understood at the time. Often people believed the sufferer could just "snap out of it." Nothing was further from the truth. It was a real psychiatric condition that manifested itself in troubling physical symptoms as well as nightmares, an inability to hold a job, an inability to form lasting relationships and a host of other problems. Louis met and married his wife Cynthia,but he had trouble earning a living and he became an alcoholic. His wife nearly left him. Then he "discovered Jesus" and became a born again Christian in Billy Grahams' church. The religious devotion and the love from his congregation saved his psyche. He and Cynthia, who had become a born again Christian before Louis, stayed together. Louis also found salvation in teaching troubled boys out door survival skills such as repelling. Our government initially hunted and punished the POW guards and others who had committed crimes against humanity such as "The Rape of Nanking." The allies sought "The Bird" for war crimes for 7 years. He was on the run successfully hiding from the soldiers. He could not see his mother, take a high profile job, or marry. He did manage to see his affluent mother about once every 2 years. She was watched carefully so she really could not help him. His subsistence life was really unpleasant compared to his afluent lifestyle before the war. By March 1952 Japan and the Allies signed a peace treaty that would end allied occupation of Japan. As part of this treaty the U.S. and other allies would not seek criminal prosectutions or meaningful reparations for war crimes. This was part of a foreign policy geared to the allied defense from the red menace, Russia and her allies. It was believed that the threat from communism was so great that we had to "bury the hatchet" with prior enemies to form a steadfast alliance against a nuclear Russia. Watanabe, "The Bird" could go home. He did, and he built a life with a wife and family. Finally, Louis realized "The Bird" was only a man and let go of his consuming hatred. This book was too long. Many of the sections could have been shortened including the sections on Louis' POW experiences. Another reviewer wrote that his time in the army air core before his crash could have been condensed. I agree. This book of 398 pages needs to be edited and condensed. What saves it are the pictures. It is a page turner. All readers will want to learn what happens to Louis Z. He is a compelling and attractive persona so most readers will be charmed. I almost gave this book 4 stars, but the writing simply does not rise to 4 star quality. The author's research was excellent. Of course, the subject was still living and had already written his own memoir. His own memoir was not nearly as successful as Unbroken, but , of course, it did not have Random House's marketing budget or contacts. Louis Z appeared on the Jay Leno show to stump this book etc. This was a book club choice and I probably would not have chosen it myself especially not until it appeared in paper back. Readers will want to see the photos so it would be better to buy the book. Versions on the ereaders will probably not contain quality photos. Louis' story would probably make a better adventure film than a book. I hope that it will become a WWII movie. We need more coverage of what the Japanese did to our soldiers in the POW camps. I know we had Bridge on the River Kwai, but those actors looked too healthy. With todays technology the creators may be able to make them look sufficiently starved without actually starving them. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Anya: A Novel by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.81 112 used & new from $1.93 1 of 4 people found the following review helpful A Difficult Read, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Anya: A Novel (Paperback) If I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars I would have. It is not a 4 star book. I am usually fascinated by holocaust fiction or memoirs. However, I had trouble getting into this one. I made a rule that if I do not get into a book by page 50, I will put it down and quit reading it. Because of the subject matter, I gave this 100 pages. By then I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to find out what happened to them. Anya is a bright student who is admitted to medical school and dreams of becoming a doctor. She had to be special because in the 1930's women and Jews were discriminated against in the admission process. Anya has two younger brothers and a younger sister, Vera. She is the oldest. Her family was Russian but living and working in Vilno, Poland. Jews experienced pogroms and anti-Semetic bias throughout history in both Russia and Poland. However, they always believed the animosity would blow over and typically it did. Yet I do not understand how they could not see that most Christian Poles hated them. On one occasion Anya's father is warned to keep her home from the University. Anya stays home that day. She returns to learn that some of her Christian colleagues placed iron nails between their fingers and drew them across the faces of some of the Jewish girls causing an ugly long cut and a disfiguiring scar. Yet she sits among them in class again. She realizes that what they did to her jewish classmates was terrible, but she doesn't leave school. That incident should have been a signal to her and her family that Jews did not have a future in Poland. The reader just wants to shake them and say "apply for a visa to the U.S. and leave now." The family does not consider such a move because of cultural and language differences. It would be painful for the parents to start over in a tenement in a foreign land when their material life in Poland was so comfortable. It was easier to ignore the issue and believe that it would soon blow over. Anya meets Stajoe who is from Warsaw during a stay at a summer resort. He courts her long distance during the winter. Finally, he convinces her to marry him and she does. She moves to Warsaw but promises her parents that she will finish medical school one day. She only needs one more semester. However, she is employed by physicians and health centers giving injections and providing medical care under the supervision of her superiors. She is really dispensing medical care as if she were a doctor. She does not however perform any type of surgery. Anya becomes pregnant. She and Stajoe are very happy about the impending event, but Anya assures her family that after her baby is born, she will return to medical school. Stajoe is arrested and imprisoned . The charges and cause are vague but they have something to do with shirking his military service. Bribes had to be paid and other issues had to be resolved before he can be released. Meanwhile, Anya climbs steep stairs daily to visit him. He does not appear to be the most thoughtful husband. Anya gives birth to a girl she names Ninka. Again after he is relased they should have left Poland for the west. But they do not. Then Germany invades Poland in 1939. Warsaw is badly bombed. Polish Jews have learned about all the anti-Jewish laws passed in Germany. They are clearly aware that Jews are being physically harmed and discriminated against by their fellow Germans citizens. Yet most including Anya and her family make no attempt to leave before the invasion. Anya wants to return to Vilno to see if her family is alive and well. After making sure Stajoe's family is safe, they make the arduaous trip to Vilno. Vilno is not as damaged as Warsaw. However, the Russian soldiers who occupied the village while fighting the Germans stripped the residents of many of their possessions. By the time the Germans invade little of the furniture and clothing remains. Anya and her family slept on the floor as they had no beds. I don't recall when Vera, Anya's sister loses her beloved piano, but it may have been during the Russian invasion. Vera is a talented pianist who earns money as a piano teacher. In any case bereft of most of their physical comforts they await the German menace. When the Germans arrive they begin discriminating against the Jews, beating them up and robbing them of what little they have left. Anya's father is arrested and beaten but he survives and returns home. Now they try to leave Vilno ,but no one will give the family all the visas it needs. Anya's father is again arrested and beaten but this time he does not return. Anya searches for him and finds him very badly beaten in a pile of bodies in the Botanical gardens which have been surrounded by barbed wire. She hands him a jar of fresh strawberries thru the fence. He does not recognize her, but he takes the berries. As a medical student she realizes that his head is so badly damaged that he will not survive for long. He will certainly never recover. She returns to announce he died in German custody. The Germans round up the Jews and force them to perform slave labor for minimal rations. Stajoe obtains 3 passports and visas that will allow Anya, Ninka and Stajoe to emigrate to a Carribean island. Anya refuses to leave her mother and siblings. The reader just wants to shake her and force her to go. Her father is dead. The family is on starvation rations. She has a child to consider. However, she remains steadfastly loyal to her mother and siblings. Stajoe tries to convince her to leave to no avail. Finally after a few weeks the visas and passports expire and their salvation vanishes into thin air. Then they are rounded up and placed in a ghetto where the living conditions are crowded and horrible. Everyone is being starved. The family's long time Christian maid brings food to the fence on various occassions to try to save them. Disease is rampant. Anya works at the hospital but there is little medicine available. Her pregnant childhood friend, Rachel is interred in the ghetto after her husband and child are killed and asks to stay with the family. She is very ill with some kind of uterine infection in addition to her pregnancy. However, she suffers abnormal sudden abdominal swelling. Anya puts her in the hospital. The surgeon performs neccessary surgery to save her life. The pregnancy is ended. He finds enough antibiotics to save her life. She returns to the family in a terrible and weakened state. Anya brings Rachel to work with her in the hospital because the other work duties would kill her. Anya makes the decision to place Ninka who is blue eyed and blond with a Polish Christian family to save her. Stajoe is killed. One by one Anya loses all her siblings and she, Rachel and her mother are shipped to the concentration camps. Her mother dies there. After grueling work and living condititons in the camp, Anya is offered a job tending the house of the camp commandant. A young SS officer takes a liking to her and brings her extra food. He also makes available the potatoes in the cellar. Anya shares some of her bounty with Rachel, and she begins to recover some of her health. Finally he offers her a chance to escape. She is incredulous and suspicious of the offer. Then he reveals that he is a Jew hiding as a member of the German army. Like Anya he does not look Jewish. Anya leaves her boots for Rachel, dons the clothes the officer has provided her and she successfully escapes. She survives the war, reunites with her daughter and emigrates to the U.S. They are the only members of her family to survive. Anya never completes medical school. Instead she completes the courses required to become an R.N. and she earns her living as an R.N. Rachel, however, who also survives and is not encumbered by a child completes medical school and becomes an M.D. This book is terribly long. Some of the repetition is uneccessary. It could do with a good editing. The print is very small, and at nearly 500 pages it is a long read. I did not feel that Stajoe's character was well developed. Had he survived the war, it is not clear that their marriage would have survived. Something was missing in this marriage. If you love reading about the holocaust you may want to read this book which is at least based on a true story. Otherwise, I would skip it. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 1120 used & new from $0.01 1 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Guy Book Gals Will Love, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel (Paperback) This tale about a kind and decent young man whose goal in life is to become a professional race car driver is told through the eyes of his beloved dog Enzo. Both Denny's wife, Eve and daughter, Zoe love Enzo and he loves them too. Many of Denny's life conflicts are analyzed in terms of race car wisdom and jargon. Denny works as a mechanic in a shop that specializes in high end European cars. He moonlights as a race car driving instructor, a racer and performing in advertisementss. This is why guys will love it. What guy doesn't dream of putting the pedal to the metal in a souped up Ferrari. Unfortunately, Denny faces a terrible tragedy compounded by the selfish meddling of his wealthy in-laws. His beloved wife dies after a grueling battle with brain cancer. Denny is kind enough to agree to leave his wife in her parents care when she is released from the hospital and told she has 6 to 8 months to live. Because his 5 year old daughter, Zoe will lose her mother at such a young age, he agrees to also leave her in their care so she can spend as much time as possible with her dying mother. Denny returns to the small but comfortable Seattle home with Enzo his beloved dog. He is terribly distraught and lonely. He loves his wife, Eve and cannot bear to think of losing her. Still he suffers alone without the light of his life, Zoe, to brighten his mood. He takes her home on occassion and she tells him how she would rather stay with him. Her grandparents give her many material things and a beautiful girly bedroom in their spacious Mercer Island home, but she would still prefer to be with Denny. She understands the situation as much as a 5 year old can. She loves her dying mother too. Denny and Eve were wonderful and responsive parents to Zoe so she is a lovely little girl. After Eve dies, her parents ask Denny to give up custody of Zoe so that they can raise her amid all the material things they can give her. They want to send her to private school and later college, but Denny steadfastly refuses. When he does so the grandparents file a petition for custody alleging that Denny committed statutory rape with a 15 year old girl. The charge is false, but Denny must contend with the reality of it nonetheless. He hires one of his well to do successful attorney clients to represent him. After 3 years Denny is penniless. He borrowed on his house and finally was forced to sell it. He moves with Enzo into a small apartment without a backyard. Because of the criminal charges against him, Denny cannot leave Washington State. Thus his racing career which was about to take off was stymeid. Penniless and at his wits end, financing comes thru an unexpected source. Denny wins his criminal case and the custody battle. Enzo was his steadfast mainstay throughout his ordeal. Enzo and Denny were together before Denny met his wife. By age 8, Enzo was suffering from hip problems and arthritus. Then he was hit by a car. The impact was not enough to kill him, but it did hurt him. By age 10 he had trouble walking and controlling his bladder. He was living a very undignified life. Yet he held on because he knew Denny needed him. He was able to let go when Denny won his legal battles. Yes this book is a bit schmaltzy as one critic observed. However, it is a page turner and a fast and easy read. It is highly entertaining. It would be nice if every book could be as good as Cutting For Stone, but mainly a book should be entertaining. I think most readers will find it so. Yes, it has a Hollywood ending, but any book told from the point of view of the family dog has to be a bit Hollywoodish. Also for those of you who still read paper copy books, the print is larger than usual. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Bride by Anna Solomon Edition: Paperback Price: $6.00 41 used & new from $0.90 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Little Life, June 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Little Bride (Paperback) This novel follows Minna from her shtetyl near Odessa to her home in America. The option to travel to America as a bride held the only promise for her. Minna lacks a moral compass. She lacks compassion. These traits are understandable. Minna's mother deserted the family when she was about 5. Her younger brother died. The family was always poor and struggled to get by. When she was 11, her father died. Her aunts who inherited her father's property, kicked her out of her house. At age 11 she was forced to take a job as a maidservant for a difficult spinster in Odessa. Once she turned 16, her days were numbered there as well. Her employer, Galina, would seek a younger servant whom she could intimidate. An agency seeking young healthy yiddish speaking Jewish women for Jewish grooms in America was interviewing or rather doing "looks" of potential brides. Minna applied to become a bride. She had very few options and Jews were being killed in the Ukrainian pogroms. Traveling to the U.S. to become a bride represented hope and opportunity to a young girl who had no opportunities. Minna submitted to an invasive humiliating personal exam and was accepted as a bride. She traveled in steerage in a miserable crossing to reach New York. In Minna's imagination a fully furnished house in town awaited her as did a willing groom. She imagined having her own kitchen, stove and sink. Here was a place where no one cared if she came from nothing. This opportunity would be a fresh start. She never thought that her deprivations in America would be worse than those in Odessa, but in fact they were. After a long journey to NYC, Minna was met by a young man a little older that she. He escorted her via rail and wagon to his father's sod hut in the Dakota territory. Her escort, Soloman, was one of her groom's two grown sons. Her husband, Max, who was more than twice her age was a religious Jew who knew nothing about farming. He also had little interest in learning to farm or actually working the farm. His main interest was prayer and Jewish observance to the point of starvation. His first wife left after a few days on the prarie. This desolate life was not for her. As for Minna there was no sink or fine stove. There were no fine bed clothes nor trousseau. Minna and Max shared a single room with Jacob and Soloman, Max's two grown sons. Their life was spartan. Further, Minna falls for Soloman, the young man who escorted her from the ship to his father's home. This setting does not bode well for Minna's future. We are left with a sense of hopelessness from the moment of her arrival in her new home. I could not identify with Minna. Further the other characters were not appealing either. Soloman used his "stepmother" sexually, but did not care about her welfare. Soloman lacked empathy. Max allowed his obsessive religious observance to ruin his harvest and starve his family. Jacob was so poorly drawn that I have little feeling for him. However, after a terrible nearly fatal winter, he joined the circus without even saying goodbye to his family. One of the circus wagons en route to town asked for permission to stay on Max's property for the night. When they left, Jacob went with them. The family feels a sense of betrayal but not from Jacob. They feel betrayed by the circus people who stayed without charge on their land and then lured Jacob away. These characters have a poor set of priorities. Many of thier values are misplaced. For readers who are looking for stories about the American West, I think there are better options. For those looking for novels on the Jewish experience in Victorian America, I think there are more satisfying reads. Not every story can have a happy ending, but the ending should satisfy the reader. This one does not. When the reader does not care about the characters in a novel, it is hard to maintain interest or find the book satisfying. Also this book is about small lives. Not every life is lived large and surely there are good stories in small lives, but there has to be something to engage the reader. One issue not previously mentioned was the establishment of "The Colony". Max disapproved of the settlement, but it was successful. To me the arrangement was much like a kibbutz. It was financed by a wealthy Jewish American, "The Baron." I thought it was interesting and was new to me. I never heard of such a movement before. Clearly, the author did an excellent job researching the applicable history. One can see her extensive work in this regard. Still if the author cannot make me care about the characters, I simply won't enjoy the book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 216 used & new from $1.65 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Magical Masada, May 21, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Dovekeepers: A Novel (Paperback) For me this book was a page turner. Still it did not rise to the level of a 5 star book. The literary quality was just not there. There are no histories of woman on Masada, the settlement of 960 Jews who committed suicide rather than be captured alive by the brutal Roman soldiers. They killed themselves to escape horrible and torturous deaths at the hands of the Romans. When it was clear that the Romans would soon capture thier city, they set fire to all their stores, all their weapons and all their buildings to make sure the Romans did not benefit by their deaths. A similar theory was demonstrated in modern day Israel. When the Jews unilaterally abandoned Gaza and returned control to the Palestineans, they left their green houses so the Palestineans could earn a living. However, they bulldozed their houses. They did not want the Palestineans to benefit to that extent from their refusal to negotiate and their refusal to recognize the state of Israel. Still out of their intense hatred for the Israelis, the Palestineans shot themselves in the foot and destroyed the green houses themselves. This is not so different from the philosophy of the Jews on Masada. However, the Romans would have used whatever was left for them. Hoffman created the four characters of the women herself. Women were not mentioned in the ancient histories of Masada. Hoffman created them out of her imagination. She did use the only source created at the time of the massacre, Flavius Josephus account of the seige and battle. While some stories of the event claim that the inhabitants of Massada were religious Jews who died rather than be forced to violate the laws of their faith, this one did not. There was a group of relgious or fanatacal Jews called the Essenes who lived in the settlement but also apart. Like the ultra-orthodox Jews of today, they wore different garb and prayed several times daily. They were marked by their distinctive all white clothing. They wanted to pray and study all day. They did not believe in fighting even if attacked. Does this remind the reader of other cultish sects? When they sought refuge on Massada, the settlement leaders informed them that they would have to work as much as anyone and fight the soldiers along with the secular Jews who inhabited the settlement. They agreed to do so. Yet they left just before the Roman onslaught and were killed in their caves. They did not defend themselves so it was an all out slaughter. Hoffman's version depended heavily on Josephus history of the battle. He was a contemporary Jewish scholar who spoke Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and other languages. He saved his own life by offering to record the history of the event much as a modern day reporter might. He wrote a history in Latin to please the Roman generals. He wrote a slightly different one in Aramaic. Scholars choose to use the Aramaic version as a resource today. It is thought to be more accurate because it did not cater to the Roman generals as much. If Josephus had written an unflattering view of the Roman legions, he might have been executed. His account must be taken with a grain of salt. Still it is the only history we have even today. Hoffman also relied on the book, Masada by Yadin which had photographs of the archeological finds at the location. Hoffman wove these archeological finds into the story. This feature was especially admirable. Archeologists have found pieces of tartan plaid worn by Scottish mercenaries in the Roman army. The settlement coined its own money and some of the shekals have been found. They used a ceramic calling card in lieu of our paper business cards. Some of these were found. I agree with much of the critisizm that finds this book too long. It is too long for a book that does not rise to a certain level of excellence. The print is small too. If you have trouble reading small print, buy this on the kindle and increase the font. Magic and mysticism had a featured role in the story but I liked it. I also liked the character, Shira, who was a medicine woman. Other members of my book club did not care much for her. She believed in spells and amulets and she was trained in creating them. Of all the characters I found her the most interesting. I suspect that the people of the time also believed in magic, spells, and amulets. Life was very harsh and unpredictable. People living in such conditions try to gain control of their lives with magic and spells etc. It gives them comfort. As recent as the 1940's some Jews believed in the "evil eye." Others followed local suspicions in spitting or throwing salt over a shoulder to protect one from bad luck or evil. These were not neccessarily Jewish beliefs. More likely they were local or ethnic custtoms and superstitions. Even today "evil eye" jewelry is available and worn by some to ward off evil. Worn by others it is just a historical curiosity. Some of the medicinal herbs used in ritual magic became the basis of modern pharmeceuticals. The settlers also appeared to worship an idol from time to time though the idols were secondary to Adonai, the one true god. I found this a bit odd because the central theme of the Jewish faith is that there is but one God. Still it is possible that people hedged their bets in their attempts to control the outcome of their lives. Some of the characters like Yael were magical too. She could approach birds and they would not run from her. Rather they would alight on her arms. Some of the other characters had magical traits. Trained assasins had the ability to become "invisible" or hide in plain sight. These traits could have been explained with reality. The assasin could have been learned in the art of stealth. Instead there was a hint of magic created with a special cloak. An example of one of the book's weaknesses is Hoffman's use of the uncommon word"plait" or "plaited" rather than the more common word "braid." I think the best writers explain things simply. So Hoffman receives demerits for that. Still she has several quotable phrases of truism that I would repeat. For example, she explains why the female survivors codle their donkey." I make certain this creature is well cared for, ready if we should ever need to depart suddenly. Our people never know when we may have to flee..." also "Here is the riddle of love: Everything it gives to you, it takes away." These are true statements that are worth savoring and repeating. This book is worth reading if you have read most of the better literary efforts on your list. It is a good beach book, travel book or summer read. I liked the magic in the story, but it might be a bit heavy handed for some. The book was too long and the print was small. Many Jews will give this book a high rating becuase they believe it is a betrayl to offer critisizm of a Jewish author writing about a Jewish subject in a public forum. I do not. Had it been available I would have given theis book 3&1/2 stars. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy by Arthur D. Morse Edition: Paperback 20 used & new from $34.58 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Shame On The U.S., May 11, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy (Paperback) This book was very upsetting to read. Our anti-Semitic state department knew exactly what was happening to Jews in Europe in WWII and what did they do? They made it even more difficult for Jews to come to the U.S. Only 10% of the available visas were given out to Europeans before WWII. The state department and most Christian Americans did not want Europe's Jews to make homes even temporarily in our land. Franklin Roosevelt knew as well and did nothing. He bombed chemical plants 5 miles from the train tracks that took Jews to Auschwitz, but he declined to even make the small effort needed to bomb the tracks. This simple act alone would have saved thousands of Jews from the ovens. Roosevelt knew the state department was anti-Semetic and engaged in obstructionist conduct, but he did nothing about it. It was clear to me that Roosevelt himself was anti-Semetic. We willingly took in 10,000 British children escaping the London blitz, but would not do the same for Jewish children seeking to escape the ovens and certain death. Other countries were equally guilty. Britain could have used the man power of able bodied adults who could have provided agricultural labor, factory labor, and even soldiers in their time of need. Still other than the Kindertransport which took in 1000 Jewish children, they too did nothing to help the fleeing Jews. Austrailia with its vast lands was always seeking to attract populations to develop them. However,they too closed their doors to the Jews. Latin America which could have benefitted the most from the skills of physicians, engineers, professors, silver and goldsmiths, businessmen, accountants, musicians, composers, artists etc refused them entry as well. The tale of the condemned ship, the St. Louis is a testament to the Cuban betrayal of its promise to a few hundred Jews who paid dearly for entry permits that were not honored. A corollary to the Latin American anti-Semitism has to be that the Catholic church encouraged this discrimination and hatred. Think of all the inventions, medical treatments, pharmeceuticals, musical compostions, theatrical shows and art that were lost to humanity forever because so many educated and talented people were murdered. Today that anti-Semitism arises in anti-Israeli speech and propaganda. So much of the critisizm of Israel is merely anti-Semitism dressed in different clothes. The bar for Israel is set higher than for any other country. They are supposed to accept rocket attacks on their citizens and issue only a "proportional response." They are not supposed to win the skirmishes. What is that if not anti-Semitism. When a country without provocation attacks another country seeking to destroy it and push its people into the sea, it is the attacked country's right to fight with all its might. Then when the victim country wins territory previously under the perpetrator's control, the attacked country has never before been asked to return the territory. Only Israel is being asked to return to its 1967 borders. Why should it? Has any other similarly positioned country in the history of the world returned territory won in a war it did not start? We must rethink international opinions on Israel through the lens of an anti-Semitic bias. As for the U.S.- Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Hungry Yearning to Be Free... as long as they are white Christians is our true motto. Ironically, this Poem was written by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American. I wonder how many similarly beautiful poems were lost forever because we did not let their potential authors seek sanctuary in the U.S. This book should be required reading in any school course on the holocaust. Students should see American history even in this unflattering light. In the past we were always taught that the U.S. wore the white hat. The U.S. was always the hero and the beacon of hope. We were founded on idealistic principals that focused on the good of mankind. We were founded on the ideals of freedom of religion, assembly and speech. It is important to see America in a more critical and realistic light in various areas including our shameful treatment of American indians and Japanese Americans. This book offers a critical look at America's shameful response to the holocaust. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 516 used & new from $1.95 In The Garden Of Monsters, January 31, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Hardcover) Larsen's rendition of ambassador Dodd's sojurn in Berlin just before WW II was a page-turner. Even though I knew the outcome of our policies toward Germany before WW II I could not put this book down. The factual history of a naive family of 4 who served U.S. interests in Berlin was fascinating. This is also the history of an anti-semitic U.S. president, state department and population that really did not care to trouble themselves over the plight of Europe's Jews even as they were burning in Hitler's ovens. Growing up all I ever heard about FDR was praise. He wasn't so great. He led us into the destructive path of the nazi machine and the empire of Japan. Roosevelt could have eased the plight of Germany's Jews simply by ordering the German ambassador to readily give out U.S. visas to the fleeing Germans. Instead the state department's policy was to discourage the immigration of Jews. Only 10% of the allotted European visas were given out during Hitler's reign. Roosevelt met with Dodd privately when he returned to D.C. He could have made a personal appeal without going through the notoriously anti-semitic state department. It is true that people were calling Roosevelt "president Rosenberg" behind his back and accusing him of being too sympathetic to the Jews. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Even though we made many bombing forays within 5 miles of the train tracks to Auschwitz, Roosevelt and the war department refused to bomb the tracks. I think Elenore Roosevelt would have assured more humane policies had she been president. Even more fascinating was Dodd's pretty, bright and charming daughter, Martha. Her many liasons with the rich and powerful which included the head of the gestapo were highly entertaining. Was she a woman of loose morals or was she merely the very attractive daughter of the ambassador who drew powerful charming men to her? It is easy for plain or dull witted women to complain of her loose morals, but then they haven't been so tempted. Politics did not affect her choice of bed mate. She too was a mild anti-semite who looked the other way when violence was visited on German Jews. Her "boys will be boys" attitude was shocking and troubling. I wonder if she would have agreed had the object of opprobrium been non-lutheran protestants. I doubt it, but it is possible. She didn't let the facts interfere with her good times even when the object of her affections was married. While her father never gave up his anti-semitic beliefs and feelings even when raising the alarm over Hitler and the Nazis, she did. After she returned to New York engaging in even more liasons, she married a wealthy Jewish communist and lived out her life with him in a grand house in Prague. For anyone who believes Jews were not hurt economically by the anti-semitism prevelent in the U.S., one needs only to read this book. There were deliberate steps taken to preclude Jews from wholly participating in the U.S. economy. Often real estate in the best neighborhoods excluded Jews. Certain fields excluded Jews. The Ford automotove empire had not one Jewish employee or sub-contrator. Jews succeeded not because there were few economic roadblocks but rather in spite of the roadblocks. That is just how talented the Jewish people are. Charles Lindbergh was an example of a prominant anti-semite who sympathized with the Nazis. Anti-Jewish sentiment was often the reason some Jews themselves opposed taking too public a stance against Germany. Privately, they all opposed Hitler. Dodd convinced the Chicago Jews to give up plans to try Hitler publically as they had in NYC. One wonders why they agreed to his request. U.S. Jews were fearful of anti-Jewish sentiment in the U.S. They did not want to have to leave their own homes and businesses in order to flee violence directed against them. Though Non-Jewish leaders thought Rabbi Weiss too pushy on the issue of the fate of European Jews, many Jews in the U.S. thought he gave in too readily to Roosevelt's personal interests and popularity. Roosevelt was often thought of as the Jewish presidential candidate, but that was only because the republican candidate was even more anti-semitic. I also read Issac's storm and found it to be tedious reading. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this effort by Larson. I own but never read Devil in the White City. I will be reading that in the near future. For any of you who read "Newlies" comments to some of the favorable reviews, he is a holocaust denier, an arab sympathizer and very angry about our war in Iraq. He is probably an anti-Israel Iraqi. So if you are reading through his comments wondering where he got his opinions, I doubt they were from this book. Somewhere in his diatribe he mentions he hasn't read it. Does anyone besides me think that Jews and Asian Americans who also were precluded from economic opportunities be entitled to affirmative action and/or reparations? Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 82 used & new from $4.25 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Needs Editing, January 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival (Paperback) This is the haunting memoir of Clara Schwartz who along with her family hid in a bunker beneath a house during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Three other Jewish families hid with them in the same small bunker. No adult could stand upright in the space. The living conditions were deplorable and dirty. All of the people suffered skin sores from excessive sweating and the inability to properly bath. They all starved barely surviving on the meagre food available to them. The families were hidden by the Becks a Polish family who acted courageously by concealing and supporting the lives of 18 Jews living below their house. This book also demonstrated what could have been done by even deeply flawed Poles to rescue Polish Jews during the holocaust. Too bad there were so few of them. Much of the book was overly repetitive. I understand the author's desire to convey the terrible tedium and constant fear of being discovered for their 18 months in hiding. However, this book could benefit from tighter editing. The memoirist has an important story to tell, but it could have been told more artfully. Still for those who like to read Holocaust fiction and non-fiction, this will be a good choice. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Traitor DVD Price: $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Charming Tale, October 24, 2011 This review is from: The Little Traitor (Amazon Instant Video) This is the story of a friendship that blooms between Sgt. Dunlop, a British soldier and Proffy, a Jewish boy born in 1947 Palestine. The British and the Jews of Palestine were opposing forces in 1947. The British opposed the Jewish occupation of what became the state of Israel in 1947. The British opposed and prevented the Jewish refugees fleeing WWII Europe from emigrating to Palestine, the Jewish homeland. Jewish armies fought the British soldiers so a friendship between a member of the British occupying forces and a young Jewish boy was unusual. Proffey was a member of a group of 3 boys called the FOD for Forces of Death that tried to sabotage the British by setting off home made bombs with the goal of blowing up a British motorcade. They weren't successful. Proffey and Sgt. Dunlop studied and discussed the book of Samuel from the Old Testament. Proffey was criticized by his fellow Jews and even tried in a Jewish court for espionage. He was acquitted, but he was viewed with suspicion from then on. He paid dearly for what was an innocent and lovely friendship. Sgt. Dunlop sympathized with the Jews who celebrated when the U.N. gave them their state. Sgt. Dunlop was tranferred home and because of mishaps, neither got to say their goodbyes. I won't write about a spoiler, but the film ends charmingly. I highly recommend it. There is a very good film based on this book. I don't know its name, but it too is highly recommended. The acting is first rate, and the script is first rate. The character actor who plays Sgt. Dunlop is excellent. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Edition: Hardcover Price: $17.46 264 used & new from $0.01 3 of 5 people found the following review helpful Extremely Tedious Incredibly Conceited, October 17, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Hardcover) This novel is an intellectual conceit. Oskar, a precocious nine year old boy lost his devoted father in the world trade center on 9/11. He finds a key in a blue vase in his father's closet. The key is in an envelope marked "Black." Oskar assumes that "Black" is the name of a person to whom the key belongs and that it has something to do with his father's life. In an attempt to make sense of his father's life and to learn about him, he visits every person named "Black" in the NYC phone book to ask about the key. Oskar is also haunted by the fact that while his father was in the tower at Windows of the World restaurant he phoned his home to assure his family that he was O.K. and expected to be rescued. Oskar hearing his father's voice asking him to pick up the phone did not pick it up. He let the message go to voice mail. Additionally, he did not tell his mother of the three times his father phoned and left a message. One wonders why he did not pick up the phone. Did he know his father could not be rescued from the images on the T.V.? He as well as all the other children were told what happened and sent home from school. He feels guilty for refusing to pick up the phone and for failing to tell his mother about the messages. One wonders why she would not have seen the message light and listened to the messages even if Oskar failed to tell her about them. Early in the novel Oskar visits an art supply store where he tests a marker on the pads of paper left for that purpose. On the pad he sees his father's name, Thomas Schell, written twice. He thinks his father recently wrote his name there and that maybe he is alive and roaming around New York. He believes that the written name has something to do with his father or the meaning of his life. Seeking information about his father he visits all the "Blacks" in the phone book. After visiting a few himself, he enlists the aid of an elderly neighbor who never leaves his apartment. For some reason he leaves his apartment to help Oskar. This novel like Foer's prior novel is surreal. It is intellectual and designed to appeal to an intellectual reader. I had no trouble reading it. I just did not enjoy it or find it entertaining. I finished it because my book club is reading it. I did want to find out what Oskar learns, but I don't recommend it. Further, this is not a suitable book for the Kindle. There are several pages of illustrations and odd writing. So buy the book. The paperback is fine. This is an intellectual conceit. It is deliberately not designed for the average or casual reader. I read constantly and had no trouble understanding the point of the book. I just didn't think it was worth my time. No one in my book club found it satisfying either. They did think it was good literature. They just did not like it. Find something else. Comment (1) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Nov 9, 2011 2:06 PM PST ________________________________________ The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona Golabek Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 128 used & new from $0.01 A Tale Of Inspiration and Survival, October 14, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Paperback) Lisa Jura is a talented 14 year old living in Vienna when Hitler comes to power and invaded Austria. Her father is a simple tailor and the family lived in a working class ghetto of Vienna. They are not rich. Lisa is a talented and promising pianist who studies piano with a prominent teacher in this city of music. It is Lisa's dream to play a concert in the much loved Vienna State Opera House. The first consequence of the Nuremberg laws which discriminated harshly against the Jews was that her much loved Music professor, Dr. Isseles could no longer teach her piano. Non-Jews could no longer teach Jewish students. It was with great regret that professor Isseles has to dismiss his promising student, Lisa. Lisa returns home downtrodden. The whole neighborhood was inspired by Lisa's gift and was hopeful that she would arise from the ghetto and make something of herself. Her music loving mother was her inspiration and constant encourager. After crystalnacht, when her father was beaten, forced to undress to the waist and ordered to scrub the street, Lisa's mother recognized the danger for her family. A seat on the Kindertransport became available and was offered to the family. Rosie, who was 18 was too old. Lisa at 14 qualified and her mother sent her. With tears and sadness Lisa left her family with a small suitcase which contained a photo of her famiily and a sparkling evening bag that belonged to her grandmother. She removed the tiny gold necklace with the piano charm that she always wore and put it around the neck of her 11 year old sister, Sonia. Lisa was placed in the country home of a wealthy military officer and his much younger wife. Lisa was a servant in the house and the house did not have a piano. After 6 months of loneliness and isolation in the country, she ran away to the Jewish agency in London which then placed her in an orphanage for these children run by a Viennese matron who also fled Austria. She had camaraderie among the other children most of whom were from Germany or Austria. They all spoke German. However, the matron, Mrs. Cohen, an educated and previously wealthy Viennese matron required that only English be spoken so that the children became fluent in English, the tongue of their adopted land. Ten thousand Jewish children were saved by the English. Many of them opened their homes to these children. Not all of the homes were Jewish. The orphanage had a piano and Lisa played it beautifully and regularly. All the residents of the house were entertained by her music. She worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory during the day to earn money for her food and lodging. She was allowed to keep 25% of her earnings for personal expenses. She tried to find ways to save her family. Sonia needed a sponser and Lisa searched for one everywhere. Life was becoming desperate for Lisa's family and Sonia. Finally, she asked a quaker widow who had been charitable when a bomb damaged the orphanage and Lisa needed a place to sleep. The widow could not keep Sonia, but she found another quaker family in the country who could. Sonia was on the last train of the kindertransport before England declared war on Germany and the trains stopped running. Sonia was allowed to study in the morning and work only in the afternoon. She was lucky as most had to work all day. Mrs. Cohen recognized Lisa's talent and encouraged her to apply to the prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Lisa won a spot and a scholarship. She attended the academy, but worked mornings at the factory making supplies for the army. She sewed heavy fabric into back packs etc. Her piano teacher noticing the stress on her fingers arranged for her to have a job playing the piano in the evenings at local club where there was drinking and dancing. Lisa was an attractive girl with red hair, and all the soldiers wanted to buy her drinks and flirt with her. She only saw her sister once every 6 months because the train tickets from the countryside were expensive and Sonia could not leave her work or school very often. They lost contact with their married sister,Rosie and their parents. No one in the orphanage had contact with their parents. The Jewish agency heard the rumors about the death camps, the deportations, and the mass killings. No one wanted to believe it. The stories were so horrific that they were unblievable. Lisa graduated from the music school and the school financed her debut recital. It was heavily attended. One attendee was a French Jewish soldier,Michael Golabek, who had heard her play in the club and was impressed by her talent. After the war, Sonia and Lisa were reunited with their sister Rosie who was now wearing the chain with the piano charm. Rosie her husband Leo, and their four year old daughter, Esther survived by escaping from France into Switzerland. They all emigrated to the U.S. where Lisa again met up with Michael Golabek. Lisa and Michael married. All three sisters and their spouses moved to California. Lisa's parents were deported to Lodz and then Auschwitz where they died. Lisa's daughters and granddaughters are all talented pianists. Her daughter, Mona Golebek one of the authors is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, the host of a classical music radio show and grammy nominated recording artist. This story was a page turner. I could not put it down. However, it was sentimental. The characters lacked dimension. They were usually good people with few negative qualities. Because of that they were not realistic. They all seemed to be kind and good, tolerant and understanding of each other. For teenagers they had relatively few issues. All but one lost their whole family. One boy had a mother who survived. These children spent their teen years in the children's home and grew to adulthood there. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace DVD ~ Ulrich Tukur Offered by FaithMovies Price: $12.99 24 used & new from $10.97 2 of 7 people found the following review helpful Boring Docudrama, September 22, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (DVD) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor during the third reich. He was from a wealthy, noble, and highly educated family full of intellectuals. Tha Nazi dogma did not fit into his idea of Christianity. He enjoyed the company of blacks and Jews and did not have a hatred for any ethnic group. His twin sister's husband was Jewish and he advised them and their children to flee Germany early on or risk being murdered. He also helped other Jews escape to Switzerland. According to this film he did not have a passionate love life though he does become engaged to a 17 year old girl who has been deeply sadened by the loss of her brother and father on the Eastern front. This film could have been an exciting drama of the planning and execution of escapes. It could have been about his consiparcy to negotiate a seperate peace early with the allies much to the chagrin of Hitler and his henchmen. Instead it attempted to document his inner spiritual struggle within the Nazi state. He too could have left and made a life for himself in the U.S., but he returned to Germany to be with his people and country in their time of need. He was a good person, but inner spiritual struggles do not make good entertainment unless the struggle is reflected in something physical like an escape plan and execution. This film nearly put us to sleep. If you are looking for a film about Christianity during the nazi era then this film is for you. If you are looking for a hero's tale during the nazi reign,, you will be disappointed. There is no action or adventure in this film. He was a Christian hero in the intellectual biblical and religious scholar sense. I am sure he was part of various escape plans but the film only touches on this aspect of his life. This film could have been so much more. Too bad. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Get to Know Us • Careers • Investor Relations • Press Releases • Amazon and Our Planet • Amazon in the Community Make Money with Us • Sell on Amazon • Become an Affiliate • Advertise Your Products • Independently Publish with Us • ›See all Amazon Payment Products • Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card • Amazon.com Store Card • Shop with Points • Credit Card Marketplace • Amazon Currency Converter Let Us Help You • Your Account • Shipping Rates & Policies • Amazon Prime • Returns Are Easy • Manage Your Kindle • Help • Brazil • Canada • China • France • Germany • India • Italy • Japan • Spain • United Kingdom 6pm Score deals on fashion brands AbeBooks Rare Books & Textbooks AfterSchool.com Kids’ Sports, Outdoor & Dance Gear AmazonFresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door AmazonLocal Great Local Deals in Your City AmazonSupply Business, Industrial & Scientific Supplies AmazonWebServices Scalable Cloud Services Askville Community Answers Audible Download Audio Books BeautyBar.com Prestige Beauty Delivered Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide Bookworm.com Books For Children Of All Ages Casa.com Kitchen, Storage & Everything Home CreateSpace Indie Print Publishing Made Easy Diapers.com Everything But The Baby DPReview Digital Photography Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities Junglee.com Shop Online in India Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital Publishing Made Easy Look.com Kids' Clothing & Shoes MYHABIT Private Fashion Designer Sales Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands Soap.com Health, Beauty & Home Essentials • • • • Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting Book Reviews Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder 5 Stars This is the story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his campaign to equalize medical treatment for the world’s poor and rich. He regularly compares the treatment received by patients at Boston’s Brigham Hospital and care received by the poor in Haiti, Peru, Russia’s prison inmates, and the inhabitants of the low class Roxbury section of Boston. Primarily concerned with T.B. especially MDR T.B.( multi-antibiotic resistant strains of T.B.) and HIV, Farmer builds nascent health care providers in the central plains of Haiti, Lima Peru, and the Russian prison system into state of the art dispensers of T.B. and HIV treatment in these patient population centers. He hears the same discouraging words that all do gooders do, but he ignores them and forges full steam ahead. While still in medical school at Harvard, he dispenses medical care while studying for exams on flash cards. I still haven’t figured out how he made up for missed anatomy classes and labs. He clearly had many sympathetic professors who were willing to bend the rules for him. They also keyed him into sources of funds for his endeavors. One man, Tom White, almost single handedly financed the early and even later efforts. Paul lived frugally on a shoe string to be sure. He paid for medicines out of his own pocket. At long last he was a recipient of 25 million U.S. $ from the Gates Foundation. He sacrificed his own family life and found a mate, a Haitian woman, who would be willing to live a much reduced life style to support Paul’s goals. He was ingenious and would not take “no” for an answer. When state of the art drugs were too expensive for third world use, he found ways to lower those prices markedly. He wrestled with standard WHO policies and convinced them to change. He fought the WL(white liberal) notions of best policies. He was a diplomat and mining from his own upbringing, he found ways to convince doctors driven by their own egos to change their views. He was able to convince them that the ideas arose from their own policies and notions. We could all learn from Dr. Farmer. I think schools attempting to get recent immigrants/and or their parents to comply with school ideals could learn from him. Similarly, schools attempting to gain compliance from Americans in the lower socio –economic groups could too. He managed to preserve the dignity of his patients, his foes, those who presented obstructions to his view of proper delivery of health care for the poor and world policy makers. Men who can successfully communicate with the lowly and the powerful are rare and Paul Farmer is one. If you are looking for an inspirational read, you will love this book. The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald 2 stars Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 96 used & new from $8.32 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Denise George Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 178 used & new from $0.65 2 of 4 people found the following review helpful Badly Needs Editing, April 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (Paperback) This is not the Christian version of the Diary of Ann Frank. Before the reader of this review becomes defensive, let me assure you that I am horrified by the holocaust. I believe that all the horrors including the horrors mentioned in this book happened. They may not have happened exactly at the places or on the dates Nonnie mentions in her diary, but I believe that substantively they happened as described. This book badly needs editing. Further, these diaries, documents, and notes should have been given to an expert author and not a Christian book author as was done here. I understand why the editors were conflicted. This is a diary that spans perhaps 20 years and includes the notes and entries of a very young girl. Some of the recorded "facts" were incorrectly recalled and in some cases the correct version may not have been an accurate description of the author's life experience. Instead of a messy and definitely imperfect work of non-fiction, an expert author could have written a fictionalized version based heavily on Nonnie's diary entries and memories. Further, almost everyone who survived the holocaust finds some distant Jewish relative to claim. Perhaps, Nonnie's father had a Jewish grandfather in his background, but I doubt he was Jewish. Spoken Yiddish and German are very closely related. Yiddish is a dialect of German. They are written differently. Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet and German is written with an alphabet similar to the English version. Had her father's family done extensive business in Poland, it is likely that they did business with Jews. Before the holocaust there were 2 million Jews living in Poland, many of them in business. They may have learned Yiddish so that they could do business with them. However, I also suspect that Nonnie's father had at least one Jewish relative other than a mother or father. Feodosija, Nonnie's beloved grandmother idolized the Cossacks. Her husband was one and she wanted her son to be one as well. It was the Cossacks that raided the Jewish Shtetyls raping, burning, looting and murdering Jews. They are the soldiers that chase the Jews out of their village in Fiddler On The roof. So idolizing them without seeing them in reality and context was indeed a fantasy. It is true that Nonnie and her mother suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. However, until Anna was sent to Ravensbruck, what she suffered was nothing compared to what the Jews suffered. Nonnie never suffered the privations the Jews suffered. They lived far longer. The typical lifespan for a Jewish inmate of a concentration camp if the inmate was not killed immediately and could work was 6 months. Nonnie and Anna lived for years in German custody. Few if any nuns concealed Jews as German orphans in hospital settings with hospital food reserved for Germans. Nonnie's children should consider hiring a novelist to turn her diaries and documents into a novel based on fact but in part fictional and labelled as fiction. Television shows called docudramas serve this function in film. We don't have a similar venue in literature. Do not be fooled by all the strong reviews. Most of them were written by Christians who are persuaded to do so by her frequent mention of her faith in God and Christ to pull her through. Certainly her faith helped her survive. Christians will call this book a testament to the human spirit. They will call it a testament to faith in God and our savior, Christ. If those kinds of books do not interest you, you might skip this book. If you are a student of the holocaust, this book gives insight into how the Nazis treated Russian labor volunteers and Poles. However, there must be better choices out there. Further, this book will suffer on the kindle. There are many photos and documents that enrich the book and should be seen in print. This book should sell for far less than its current price. Nonnie wanted the world to know of the Nazi horrors she experienced so they would never happen again. The estate should look upon this as a donation to society and not hope to earn anything more than the expenses of publishing it. It is not a professional effort though it pretends to be one. The poems and entries are those of a young girl and a young woman with far less writing talent than Ann Frank. I can tell that Nonnie was a wonderful person forever scarred by her holocaust experiences. I am sure she was a loving and caring wife and mother. Clearly her husband and children adored her. I do not wish to offend them with this review. I hope they take my suggestions to heart and hire an author to turn these diaries into a first rate book of fiction inspired by and based on Nonnie's life and her diaries. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 281 used & new from $0.01 A Feast For the Reader, April 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel (Paperback) After the first 25 pages this became a page turner. I was invested in the characters Bohjalian created, and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to them. The heroine of the novel is Anna, a pretty blonde eighteen year old German girl. I am always suspicious of a male author who thinks he can write from a woman's point of view. However, it seems that Chris B. has made a career of that. He does a respectable job even in the love scenes. He must have researched these areas by interviewing women. However, the development of his female characters is still a little thin. The German characters who lived a cushy affluent life style were surprised at the barbarity of the Russians. Their attitude that the Russians were barbarians who were cruel with no basis for their cruelty was surprisingly naive. Had they put their heads in the sand for the entirety of the war? The Germans were horrendously cruel to the Russians in both their warfare and their treatment of Russian POWs. Many German soldiers raped Russian women and their superiors did nothing to curtail this behavior. The looting and German barbarity were well known. That these Germans did not know or chose not to know of their countrymens' cruelty was absurd. They admit to listening to the BBC broadcasts which detailed the horrors that the Germans visited on the Jews and the Slavs. Yet they chose to believe that these were exaggerations. They heard "rumors" but chose not to believe them. Of course, they did not participate in the horrors perpetrated by Germans on the Jews. Anna's father even wrote a letter for one Jewish family he knew. However, they never actually hid a family for even one night. Instead they hung a personally signed picture of Hitler in their living room. The entire family belonged to the Nazi party. Innocent germans- Please. I don't buy it. I was disappointed with the story's ending. ( spoiler alert) It would have been much more interesting if Anna had been intimate with Uri as well as Callum. This would have been entirely plausible because she found him more attractive than Collum. Then had she become pregnant with Uri's child instead of Collum's, the end could have had a bit of a twist. I am fascinated with novels set during WWII so I enjoyed this book. I have never before read a novel from the perspective of the Germans fleeing the Russian invaders. I could understand their fear, but could not feel sorry for them. This book was a decent effort. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.78 75 used & new from $8.39 Like Drinking A Fine Riesling Wine, March 24, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance (Hardcover) This saga or memoir tracing a collection of Japanese netsukes is really the story of the wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family from its humble roots in Russia to Odessa, Paris, Vienna and finally flung to all corners of the earth. The author Edmund de Waal is the recipient of the netsukes through a bequest of his great uncle living in Tokyo. In 1870 de Waal's great grandfather's first cousin Charles Ephrussi became an ardent art collector. All of the Ephrussis became art collectors, but Charles was the most influential and the one who purchased the netsukes. The Ephrussi family was wealthy on the order of the Rothchilds operating one of the biggest and most successful banks in Europe, the Paris branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were given titles and were now part of the nobility. Because they were Jewish they could join certain clubs but could not become officers of those clubs. Still they believed they were largely accepted and were full citizens of their adopted countries whether that was France or Austria. Charles was a gay man living as if he were straight. Via his close friendship with a married woman he allowed the appearance of an affair with her. Rumors of their affair were prevalent. However, he had close friendships with Proust and other gay men living as gay. It was obvious that he too was gay. Proust even used Charles as the inspiration for his character, Swann. Charles began collecting works of art by Renoir, Manet and many other great artists of the impressionistic school. Charles also helped the impressionist artists financially loaning them money and arranging commissions for them. Renoir's girl in blue was probably the result of one of these commissions. Early in his collecting experience Charles purchases an entire collection of Netsukes and places them in one vitrine. He did not acquire them piecemeal searching out different subjects to complete the collection of 264 miniature works of art. There was a fashion of collecting Japanese artworks in Europe and Paris at the time. Charles participated early in that period by purchasing the netsukes from a well known and respected Paris art dealer. Charles circle of friends included great authors, thinkers and artists. The Ephrussis believed that their wealth, financial power,patronage of the arts, charitable works, and noble titles overshadowed their Jewishness, but it did not. Throughout their life in Paris they were exposed to anti-Semitism in words and deeds. They brushed it off as unimportant. Finally, Charles sends the entire netsuke collection with the vitrine to his young newly married cousins Emmy and Victor Ephrussi of Vienna as a wedding gift. Along with the netsukes the story moves to Vienna. The Vienna branch of the family ran the equally rich and powerful Vienna branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were equally wealthy living in palatial homes in the best neighborhoods on the ring. They were friends with the nobility and Ephrussi bore the title of Baron. They participated handsomely in all the arts and became ardent supporters of the symphony and Opera. They purchased tapestries and paintings, donated money for hospitals, their synagogue and other charities. Here like in Paris the Ephrussis deemed their sophisticated art interests and charitable works washed them of their Jewishness. It did not. Emmy held weekly salons where she entertained famous artists, thinkers, writers and musicians. Many famous musicians, doctors and lawyers were Jewish. Yet the Ephrussis noticed that their non-Jewish guests were always bachelors. None of the Christian women attended. Once the bachelors married they too stopped attending. Victor was a member of many clubs and associations, but in some he could not hold office. He served with distinction as an officer in WWI. The Versailles treaty left Austria and the other axis powers bankrupt and Vienna suffered from the poverty. Victor believed that Austria would win the war and all his banking and investment decisions were made with that in mind. Victor lost about 90% of his fortune because he refused to place his funds in Switzerland in Swiss francs during the war. He refused to buy dollars or pounds. He was a loyal patriotic Austrian citizen and wanted to demonstrate his patriotism to his country. After WWI the Ephrussi family of Austria had to reduce its expenses. They had to cut out several routine expensive vacation trips. Their country home in Czechoslovakia was not kept up to the same degree. The swimming pond was allowed to return to its natural state of being surrounded by encroaching reeds. It was no longer swimmable. By 1933 public anti-Antisemitism began to rear its ugly head. There were vocal antisemetic diatribes. In 1933 there were 145,000 Jews in Austria. Of those 59% of all the physicians, 65% of the lawyers, and 50% of the journalists in Austria were Jewish. The economy became terrible with beggars and other poor refugees flooding Vienna looking for work. It was the depression and there was no work. People like the Ephrussis even though they lost most of their fortune were resented and doubly so because they were Jewish. They still lived in their palace on the ringstrasse. Maybe they had fewer servants and vacations, but to the great population of the impoverished and downtrodden who didn't have enough to eat, they were unbelievably wealthy. Like every time in history when bad luck, war or disease befell a population, they blamed the Jews for their predicament. It did not matter that many Jews lost their money and property and were also impoverished by WWI and the depression. They were still blamed for the poverty and hopelessness. In the middle ages when the bubonic plague swept through Europe, the Jews were blamed. Even though Jews died in equal numbers from the disease carried by rats and spread by fleas, the Jews were blamed for it. In some locales they were murdered for it. Irrationality of this belief did nothing to stop the hatred and violence. Similarly Jews were hated and blamed for the economic disaster brought on by the loss of WWI and the Versailles Treaty. The depression followed and the hatred and resentment became even more extreme. In 1933 the Nazi party came to power in Germany. Now anti-semitism became rampant in Austria. Victor had to step down as head of the bank in favor of his Christian partner who held a minority of the shares. At this point the reader wants to shake him by the scruff of his neck and tell him to get out while he still can. Three of his four children have left Austria. Iggy has gone to the U.S. for a career in fashion design. Elizabeth is studying in France. Gisella is living with her husband in Spain. Only the last of their children, Roland is still living with them. When Emmy and Victor married Emmy was 20 years younger than Victor. The marriage was engineered by two wealthy and powerful Jewish families. For Emmy it was not a love match. History indicates that she entertained a few lovers and it is possible that Roland is a result of one of these affairs. However, though Emmy was not thrilled by this pregnancy so long after her third child was born, Victor treated him with acceptance and love. Since Emmy married Victor she was cared for by a loyal and loving maid named Anna. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria and the Nazi Nuremburg laws befell even the rich and powerful Ephrussis. Victor was forced to sell his bank stock for 10 cents on the dollar to his Christian partner. Roland fled to the U.S. before the annexation. After the annexation Emmy and Victor fled to their summer home in Czechoslovakia. The Nazis loot the art collection, tapestries, rugs, silver and china. However, while they are working so hard to catalogue all the finery, Anna who has been assigned a room in the palace smuggles and hides the netsukes from Emmy's dressing room. She hides them under her mattress for the whole of the war. Elizabeth at the age of 27 has married a Christian Dutchman named de Waal. He is from a dutch shipping family but he is not rich. Elizabeth was the first female lawyer to graduate from the University of Vienna. She has also earned a Phd. She has published articles and essays in periodicals of note. She writes poetry. She is the brightest of all of Victor's and Emmy's children. She has her father's face with the big Ephrussi nose and dark eyes overhung with heavy eyelids and bushy brows. She was not a beauty and probably did not have many suitors. Perhaps, too her scholarship was intimidating to young men. Elizabeth and her husband were now safely residing in England. After the Nazi annexation of Austria Victor but not Emmy joined them. Elizabeth began attending de Waal's church and she raised her two sons in the Christian faith. One of them, Edmund de Waal's father, became a protestant minister. Now the story moves to Tokyo. Iggy Ephrussi enlisted in the military as did his other stateside brother Roland. Because Iggy was fluent in three languages he served in military intelligence. After the war he was recruited by an international company who offered him a post in Japan. Iggy did not want to be in postwar Europe with all the reminders of Naziism. He did not return to see his home in Vienna. He became an executive in Tokyo where he took a young Japanese man as his lover. They made a home for themselves together. Elizabeth traveled to Vienna after the war to see what was left of her home and to determine if any of their collections or property were salvageable. Almost nothing was left and the palace had been turned into military occupation offices. She met with Anna who told her how she saved the netsuke. She was apologetic that it was all she could hide. However, she wanted to be able to preserve something for the family when they returned. Elizabeth was grateful and she returned to England with the netsukes. Later she sent them to her brother Iggy. Iggy had a vitrine built for them and kept them in his Japanese home. On his death bed he bequeathed them to Edmund de Waal now a successful ceramic artist in London. The author explores the history of his bequest in this novel. His language is beautiful and lyrical. It is natural and unforced. I could not put it down. However, I purchased this in the kindle edition. There are numerous photographs in the book . I believe the reader would be better served by an illustrated version of this book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 206 used & new from $4.32 Nature vs. Nurture and Criminality, March 11, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Defending Jacob: A Novel (Hardcover) Defending Jacob directly confronts the issue of whether character traits are predetermined by nature or molded by nurture. The jury is still out on the issue, but the consensus is that it is a combination of both. Jacob's father, Andy Barber is the local D.A. He is successful in his chosen field. The community in which the Barber's live and work is Newton, Mass, a safe affluent and highly educated community. When Ben Rifkin one of Jacob's classmates is found murdered in the park, the town is shocked. Jacob is identified as the prime suspect after others are ruled out. Andy Barber has never revealed to his wife his checkered family background. His father is in jail for murder. His grandfather was also convicted of murder. He is concerned that there is a murder gene and that he has passed it on to Jacob. His wife is angry that he chose to conceal these facts. The trial and the strains it puts on this family are the heart of the novel. How does a family survive the isolation, financial burdens and fear that a murder trial produces. Their only child, Jacob is the accused. Andy is put on paid leave because of the potential for a conflict of interest. Thus, he has no work to occupy his time. The people who were once close family friends such as Duffy, the police inspector assigned to the D.A.'s office, suddenly must distance themselves from the family. Alone and frightened Laurie Barber, Andy Barber, and Jacob Barber face this tumultuous experience. A psychiatrist is contacted for consultation. Her job is to identify whether or not Jacob has any inherited traits that might make him more likely to engage in criminal activity. She does identify some of those traits and she then begins to construct evidence of mitigation should Jacob be convicted. The traits she identifies include lack of empathy, an inability to form normal parental attachments as an infant and impulsivity. For lack of a better description, these could be called "murder genes." Jacob has a sketchy history of cruelty to small animals. He also has a history of "rough" or physically violent behavior with other small children his own age. Andy and Laurie believe that they have successfully dealt with his tendency to be "rough" with other small children and that the trait disappeared by the time Jacob was 5. Both his mother and father avoid characterizing his behavior as anything but ordinary growing pains. Parents can identify with Andy and Laurie Barber and the daily horror they must face as the court case moves along. Andy correctly articulates the problems they are facing. Even if Jacob is adjudicated as not guilty, that does not mean he is innocent. It merely means that the evidence does not prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I do not want to create a spoiler here. Spoiler alert: However, someone else confesses to the crime and commits suicide. There is some indication to Andy that it is a false confession. Andy, Laurie, and Jacob flushed with relief take a much needed family vacation to Jamaica. They stay at a luxurious beach resort. Jacob meets and befriends a teen girl who is also a guest at the resort. Andy and Laurie are thrilled that Jacob is returning to the normal activities engaged in by 14 year old boys. Then the girl Jacob has befriended disappears. She is discovered seven weeks later when her body washes ashore. She has drowned, but her windpipe has also been crushed as if she were strangled. The Jamaican police cannot clearly call her a victim of homicide. However, Laurie now knows that in spite of the confession her son is a murderer, and he has killed twice. What happens next is the twist in the tale. Defending Jacob is a fast paced legal thriller. Men as well as women will be entertained by the story. I had trouble identifying with the mother. The characters were somewhat well drawn, but the mother especially was not drawn with much depth. I found it hard to believe that in spite of the fact that her family was willing to sit with her at trial she chose to suffer further by sitting alone. This story will make a better movie than it has a book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) by The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.D Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.49 64 used & new from $22.73 A Readable Texbook on the Science of Cooking and Baking, March 8, 2013 This review is from: The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) (Hardcover) This wonderful book breaks down the science of cooking and baking into 50 major concepts. Once learned the food maven can apply them to other dishes and experiment often with good results. I love the scientific testing behind these recommendations and concepts. They don't just taste meat to determine which method or cut produces the juiciest result, they measure the juice extruded. Many of these recipes and instructions have appeared in other publications. However, here they are organized around the concepts they illustrate. For the dedicated cook who wants to improve his/her results, this is an excellent resource. It would also make a wonderful gift. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Baking Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 94 used & new from $12.10 A Bakers Bible, March 8, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Baking Illustrated (Hardcover) I bought this book before I bought the New Best Recipe book. All the recipes turn out if you follow the instructions exactly. This book explains the science behind baking too. If you read the recipe through before beginning you won't be tempted to vary it before trying it their way first. Even if the book has some redundancies, it is handy to look only through a book dedicated to baking when one is preparing a baked dessert etc. This tome would make a fine gift to someone who enjoys baking. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.46 81 used & new from $1.54 Another Winner From Cooks Illustrated, March 8, 2013 This review is from: More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) (Hardcover) The other reviewers are correct. Many of the recipes have appeared in their magazines or on their TV shows. However, all of the recipes I have tried turn out well. Also the instructions are excellent. As usual they find the easiest and best way to cook everything. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Rules of Civility: A Novel by Amor Towles Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 276 used & new from $1.03 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Wasp Rules of Boredom, March 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Rules of Civility: A Novel (Paperback) I too cannot understand the excitement over this book. There is no passion. Every slight real or imagined is treated with the wasp elixir- a dry martini. Food is often an after thought as is substance in this novel. The female voice is not credible, perhaps, because it is written by a man. Why do men think they can write from the female point of view. Why not tell a story from the point of view of a similarly situated young man. Katy, our heroine, obviously wants to marry into the world of the wealthy wasp. An educated christian girl from a blue collar family she thrusts herself head long into the wasp world hoping to find herself permanently ensconced therein. She finds herself tricked into love with a fellow with all the trappings of wealth whose family has lost everything. He now is the kept man of a wealthy woman whom he introduces as his godmother. It is hard to feel sympathy for Katy or her friend, Eve. The opportunities that come their way were not available to Jews or members of other ethnicities. Katy does end up with a high profile job and married to a very wealthy New Yorker. Had I found myself in one more trying cocktail party with a Bitsy or a Tinker - those telling Wasp monikers, I think I would have choked. I could not wait for this novel to end. Will someone tell me what all the hoopla is about? The sentences are well crafted. The vocabulary is good. However, the story is "meh." I can't recommend this. For a book about New York and its glitter try Bright Lights Big City. The Great Gatsby is better on the jazz age in New York. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel by Dr. Rafael Medoff Edition: Paperback Price: $13.14 35 used & new from $9.89 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Publish or Perish Book You Can Skip, February 19, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel (Paperback) I believe Wentling wrote this book as a response to the pressure put on career academics to publish. Her part of the book details Hoover's early history. She has found every statement, phrase, and nuance that could conceivably be determined to be favorable to Jews and she has cataloged it here. Hoover was a Quaker. He came from a tradition of charity, humanitarianism, and tolerance for minorities and the creeds of others. He found like minded people among the wealthy Jews. During his work as head of the ARA which distributed food to Europeans starving after WWI, he found like minded wealthy Jews like Felix Warburg and Marshall. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee funded much of the work done by the ARA. I doubt he ever met a Jew until he became an adult. He probably never shared a meal with a Jew until he began working with the ARA. Hoover was an engineer who made his money in mining. He was a self made man and he believed in the importance of persistence and hard work. He also believed in volunteerism and good organization. As part of his tradition of tolerance Hoover urged European countries to put a stop to the pogroms and other discrimination against their Jewish communities. The actions he took to foster religious tolerance in Europe did not produce much fruit, but he did try. However, the book also glosses over the fact that as president he appointed an anti-Semite named Stinson as his secretary of state. The assistant secretary of state was also anti-Semitic. Further,Hoover supported the new immigration quotas which were designed to fall most heavily on Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and other Eastern European nations. It should be pointed out that both Warburg and Marshall also supported the restrictive quotas for their own personal reasons. The book finally takes off when Medoff writes the chapters on Hoover's response to the holocaust. Hoover actively supported rescue and was critical of the administration's failures in that regard. He saw avenues of rescue which were ignored. Both he and Harold Ickes were prominent people who supported finding ways to rescue the Jews of Europe. I have no doubt after reading this that he felt a heartfelt sympathy for these persecuted people. Further, he saw it as his Christian duty. He supported Israel as did a number of other republicans for a number of reasons including sympathy for the survivors of the holocaust. Some also saw it as a bulwark against communism and extremism in the middle east. Clearly the fact that so many republicans favored supporting and recognizing the state of Israel put pressure on the Truman administration to do so as well. Administration action or non-action on rescue and recognition and support of the state of Israel gave rise to the "Jewish vote." Prior to that Jews almost unanimously voted democratic. If the reader is willing to read through 64 pages of tedium to get to the fun stuff, then this is a book you will enjoy. A far better book on the American response to the Holocaust is: While Six Million Died: A Story of American Apathy by Morse. That book is a page turner from start to finish. I am also sure there must be a better book about the crystallization of the "Jewish vote." There should also be something excellent on bipartisan American support for the state of Israel. I felt that this book repackaged other publications to create a new publication by categorizing all the facts surrounding Hoover. If you are a Hoover scholar than you may want to read this. If not there are other better books on the central subjects: U.S. response to Europe's persecution of its Jews, rescue during the holocaust or rather lack of it, and bipartisan support of Israel. Certainly the information contained in the first 64 pages could have been dealt with swiftly in a 10 page essay. Also Hoover's sympathy for the Jews probably stopped at the door of his restricted country club. I doubt Hoover's beliefs and feelings about the Jewish people would have led him to put a stop to "restrictions" in private clubs, hotels, and residential neighborhoods that allowed only white Christians. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Hardcover 22 used & new from $1.73 Dreams of Love, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Dreams of Joy: A Novel (Hardcover) Dreams of Joy is a story about love- a mother's love for her child. This novel is the sequel to Shanghai girls. Joy ,Pearl's daughter and May's niece learns that May is her true biological mother and Pearl is her aunt. She also learns that the father she adored was not her real father. Her biological father is a handsome, charming and talented artist named Z.G. who has carved out his own career in communist China. Joy also feels responsible for her purported father's suicide. He too never knew that Joy was not his biological daughter. Joy an idealistic University of Chicago student who has become a communist. The enchanting philosophy of communism appeals to her sense of charity and justice. She runs off to China both to escape the reality of her discovery, her guilt over her purported father's death, to find her biological father, and to participate in the new China. Both Pearl and May are horrified. They realize nineteen year old Joy's mistake and Pearl takes off after her while May stays home to look after their business interests. Joy finds her father,marries an illiterate and poor country boy, makes her home in the countryside, and gives birth to her own daughter in rustic impoverished circumstances. Shortly after her marriage, she realizes she made a mistake in choosing her spouse. He quickly becomes unfaithful and uncaring. Further, he becomes out right cruel to her when she bears him a daughter instead of a son. Even though the communists have tried to improve the status and importance of women in the culture, the strong Chinese bias in favor of sons persists especially in rural areas. Yet none of Joy's letters about her changed feelings and circumstances reach Pearl. By the time Joy realizes that Communism does not work and that she has made a terrible mistake, she is trapped in a famine in rural China. She and her child as well as all the villagers are starving. People die every day. They have taken to killing and eating their female infants and Joy realizes her daughter's very existence depends on her escape from the countryside. Correspondence is strictly censored. Pearl who is now living in Shanghai has no idea that her daughter is living in such dire circumstances. During his failing leap year program Mao tries to hide the famine rampant in China from the world. Hence Pearl cannot get a travel permit for the countryside even though she has never seen her grandchild who is only a one day's journey away. Even though food shortages have reached Shanghai, Pearl and Z.G. have no idea how dire Joy's circumstances are. None of her letters arrive in Shanghai and all the little correspondence Joy receives is strictly censored. The food and goods Pearl sends along with her letters are stolen before they reach Joy. Joy does not understand why her mother has not responded to her many requests for help, but she assumes that Pearl has not received her letters. Finally Joy finds a way to surreptitiously notify Pearl. Once Pearl learns of the disastrous conditions in which Joy is living, she and Z.G. devise a way to rescue her. Z.G. is a prominent communist artist and has been in the movement since before Japan's invasion of China. Together they rescue Joy and her daughter. They also rescue her husband. After saving Joy and her child from starvation and the privations of the countryside, Pearl and Z.G. begin to devise a method to get her and themselves out of China. May finances all of the work by running Pearl's cafe and her business in Los Angeles. She awaits them in Hong Kong. Meanwhile Pearl has truly fallen in love with the professor living in what was once her family home and where she now occupies one room. They marry before the escape plan is hatched. He is her true love. I will not tell the ending here. See pulls the bamboo curtain back and we see communist china with all its warts. This book is well written. These may not be pulitzer prize winning novels, but they are every bit as satisfying when read together as Snowflower and the Secret Fan. See has an excellent command of the English language. She paints a clear picture of life in pre-World War II Shanghai, war torn Shanghai, life for the Chinese immigrant in the U.S. and life in Mao's communist China. This story about life, love, betrayal and war covers all the emotions and is a satisfying read. Sure there are some contrived events, but sometimes that is just good story telling. See is a master story teller. Most readers will be truly satisfied. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.42 951 used & new from $0.01 Half of the Story, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Shanghai Girls: A Novel (Paperback) This book followed by Dreams of Joy is a 5 star read. It ends abruptly with much left to tell and tell it Lisa See does in Dreams of Joy. Shanghai Girls is the tale of May and Pearl, two calendar models or "beautiful girls" as they were called. May is the more beautiful of the two but both are in demand. Their father loses everything just prior to Japan's invasion of China. He sells his daughters in marriage to two stateside Chinese or so they believe. The girls try to avoid their forced marriage. However, Japan invades Shanghai and their only means of escape is through these marriages. Their escape is horrific and includes the tragedies that were so common in occupied Shanghai. They believe they will be going to an affluent and easy life in the U.S. However, their living conditions are not as expected. Both must work very hard everyday. May was pregnant when they left China. In order to conceal this fact and to protect themselves and the child, Pearl pretends to be the child's mother. Pearl's marriage is consummated while May's is not. The child whom they name Joy is born in the immigration holding area, and Pearl delivers the child in the communal bathroom. Once allowed to enter the U.S. as wives of Chinese Americans they both live in the same household. May pretends to be the child's aunt and Pearl is truly Joy's mother. May married to the only biological son of the family scion, Vernon, develops a career as a bit player in films. She is also a casting agent for people of Chinese origin and she supplies props and costumes. She never gets the speaking roles she really wants. Vernon is both mentally and physically disabled and May's marriage is never consummated. The Scion's only hope for a grandson is through Pearl. However, because of the injuries she sustained during the escape, Pearl is never able to conceive and bring a baby to term. The only child she has dies shortly after birth. This book ends with only half the story told. The reader will also have to read Dreams of Joy to finish the story. Otherwise as one reviewer states the ending is unsatisfying. I agree. My 5 star rating is given only under the assumption that the purchaser will also read the sequel. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ On Gold Mountain by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.94 126 used & new from $2.16 Excellent History of the Chinese Immigrant Experience, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: On Gold Mountain (Paperback) I loved reading about Fong See and his family. I knew that Chinese Americans faced discrimination daily, but I had no idea they were not permitted to own land. I don't know whether this was a California law or a federal one. The author doesn't say. Perhaps, like residential areas that were "restricted" or rather off limits to Jews, blacks, or any non- whites or non-Christians, these were regional laws. I thought my Jewish ancestors faced a great deal of discrimination and they did. However, the chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans faced much more bias. Notably the Asian Americans have not sought affirmative action redress even thought they deserve it. Like Jews they did well in spite of the discrimination. However, they would have done better. There should be cultural and financial redress in the form of affirmative action for our Asian Americans previously discriminated against because of their ethnicity or race. I am ashamed that my country behaved in such a way to Chinese immigrants. Lisa See's photo is on the back of her book. Even though I bought the kindle version, I did see her photo. She looks caucasion with her blue eyes and red hair. She is only 1/8 th Chinese and describes herself as caucasian in appearance but Chinese in her heart. She certainly is. The depth of her feeling for the struggles of Fong See, her grandparents, her parents and all their siblings and relatives is palpable. This history presents a good and probably accurate example of the Chinese immigrant experience in California. We rarely hear complaints from this stoic group. Therefore, it is left to books like this one to educate us about injustices heaped on this remarkably resourceful immigrant group and their progeny. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 199 used & new from $4.39 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Rehash of Books of Others, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Hardcover) This history of Lyndon Johnson from his 1960 run for president until March of 1963 after Kennedy's assasination derives too much from the published work of others and the author's own previous books. Caro was under pressure to publish either from himself or his publisher/agent and to fulfill a promise of a certain number of pages. The machinations of Robert Kennedy's attempts to try to get Johnson to turn down his brother's offer of the vice presidential slot on his ticket was tedious and uneccessary. Clearly Bobby Kenedy did not want LBJ on his brother's presidential bid. It was uneccessary to spend so many pages on the details and speculation of those privy to the events. There were too many "according to..., this is what occurred." It would have been enough to say that Robert Kennedy tried in every way possible to prevent his brother from offering Johnson the vice presidency and when that didn't work, he tried to get Johnson to turn his brother down. Instead we waste a great deal of time reading every possible speculation of what transpired between the two. I had no idea that Robert Kennedy hated Johnson so much. Johnson publically critisized Joseph Kennedy with a clearly justifiable critisizm during a speech he gave long before the 1960 campaigns. Joseph Kennedy wanted to placate Hitler rather than joining the allies in WWII. He was also an anti-semite. Jack Kennedy knew that he would have to distance himself from his father due to his wrong headedness when it came to these issues. As ambassador to England before and during WWII, Joseph Kennedy made serious and startling diplomatic errors in his assessments of the facts on the ground. Johnson was justified in his critisizms. It appears that Bobby was not that well regarded by his father. Perhaps, because he could not psycologically confront his father over his favoritism, he substitued Johnson. I suspect that his over reaction and hatred of Johnson was really the embodiment of his hatred for his own father. The author could have explored this issue and given the reader some insight into Bobby Kennedy's unjustifiable hatred of Johnson instead of merely hinting at it. Johnson and the Kennedys really were of one mind when it came to equal rights for minorities. Only Johnson lived these ideals as soon as he was in a position to do so. Johnson did more for blacks and other minorities than the Kennedys ever did. Much of this book quoted other works like Master of the Senate and other biographies and autobiographies gathering them under one heading about Johnson's transition period. Caro explored the self sabatoging reason for Johnson's failure to win the 1960 candidacy for president. He well understood the psycological forces that prevented Johnson from declaring in a timely fashion. However, he failed to identify the psychological forces behind Bobby Kennedy's pathological hatred for Johnson. Clearly Johnson took a traumatized nation and led it to stability and continuation. He was a masterful leader and probably one of our best presidents in spite of his failures and deceit about Viet Nam. Had Kennedy lived it is doubtful that he would have gotten either the needed tax bill or the equal rights bill passed. For all his charisma he did not understand how the legislature worked well enough to get them passed. Johnson on the other hand knew how to acheive these goals. With a mastery of political manipulations, Johnson with barely a vote to spare did know. He put his knowledge to good use even though he inherited an uneccessary complication from his predessesor. He managed to save both bills. He also lived his belief that minorities should have equal rights to public accomodation. I doubt that Jack Kennedy would have integrated a segregated club by walking into it with his black secretary on his arm. Johnson did when he attended a new year's eve party and birthday party for a politician at a segregated private club in Austin with his black secretary . This book should have continued through his 1964 nomination and inaugauration. The pages could have been taken from the tedium of his vice-presidential period. We needed more of the descriptions of Johnson's successes with his western and southern country charm. The description of Johnson's successful diplomacy with the German chancellor whom he entertained at his ranch was masterful. The rehashing of his time as vice-president was not. Caro filled pages here instead of giving us history of substance. If the reader skims those parts then the book is worth reading. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Edition: Paperback Price: $14.49 122 used & new from $6.15 Good but Not Great, December 15, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman (Paperback) Catherine truly was great. She increased Russian territory, population, and influence in the world. She began the great art collection in the hermitage and built it every chance she could get. She brought the philosophies of the enlightenment into the Russian court and propelled Russia forward into progressive values and states of being whenever it was possible. Massie draws from Catherine's own memoirs and her extensive correspondence with a variety of enlightened thinkers including Diderot, Voltaire, and Grimm. He also draws from her correspondence with Orlov, Potempkin, and her other lovers and partners. However, Catherine destroyed the correspondence she received from them so those letters were not available to the biographer. Thankfully,the people she wrote to kept her letters for posterity. However, we have only half the conversations. We have her half. We have her thoughts edited and filtered for the reader she wrote to. Had Catherine continued her memoirs after she took the throne, I think this biography would have been better. Secondary sources often mean comprommise. Had she kept a private diary while she was Empress, we would have had her unfiltered personal thoughts. We do not nor did the biogrpaher. Massie quotes heavily from these letters to support his conclusions. That is helpful for the reader. The first third of the book drags at times as the reader waits for Princess Catherine to become the Empress. The middle of the book is exciting and moves along quickly. The last third of the book is also slow at least in part because is is anti-climatic. Princess Sophia had a difficult relationship with a mother who never treasured her. However, she was deeply loved by her father, a minor German nobel who lacked substantial resources. She returned his love and internalized many of his values. She was really torn when she had to give up her Protestant faith to marry the heir to the Russian throne, but give it up she did. She promised her father she would not relinquish her faith, but she reconciled her conversion to Greek Orthodoxy by finding council who would confirm that in substance there was no difference between her protestant faith and Greek Orthodoxy. They both believed that Jesus was the messiaah who was born of a virgin birth. She was ambitious at an early age, and she understood the opportunity that was presented to her. Her mother always ambitious and disappointed with her lot in life sought to aggrandize herself by marrying her daughter to an important throne. She saw the opportunity to marry Sophia to Peter III as her way to riches, respect, influence and importance, something she never acheived in her own marriage. She cared nothing for her daughter's happiness, but that was the culture and habit of all nobels of the era. Marriages were like business partnerships. Husbands who sought the companionship of lovers were tolerated. It was often expected. Peter the Great in addition to his spouse had a peasant woman lover who bore him three children including Empress Elizabeth who inherited his throne. Peter the Great married the peasant woman when he could and made her his duchess. Peter the Great brought Russia into the modern age. Russia was considered a backwater by Europe. Peter unified some of the tribes, established a capital in St. Petersberg on the gulf of Finland, developed a navy which landlocked Russia did not need at the time and built Peterhof with its trick fountains and lovely landscaped gardens down to the sea. He brought modern European education, music and art to the Tartars and other tribes that made up the Soviet Socialist Republic we knew as Russia. His daughter Elizabeth who took no official husband and bore no children sought to continue her father's Romanov dynasty. She loved and admired her father, Peter The Great. It is believed that one of her longtime lovers was in fact a true husband, but there is no proof. I don't understand why a Russian empress could not marry without serious repercussions to her power. Maybe a commentator can explain it to me. Thus Elizabeth brought a nephew, the son of her beloved deceased sister to the court when he was eleven to groom him to become the emperor. His father had also died. She then began to look for a proper wife for the future Tsar in order to ensure the continuation of the Romanov dynasty. She took note of Sophia, the daughter of a minor and impoverished German nobelman. She wanted someone she could dominate both with her position and fortune. She found that person in Sophia. At age 14 she was promised to Duke Peter III then 15 or 16. She was not beautiful, but she was pleasing to the eye. She was clever but also sufficiently respectful and subservient to the Empress. She truly admired Elizabeth and thought her someone to emulate. She appreciated Elizabeth's intelligence, her education and her command of her empire, and she wanted to be like her. Unfortunately Peter III, an immature, self centered youth who had none of the characteristics found in a proper monarch was Sophia's only path to the throne. She converted to orthodoxy, became Catherine and was married to him when she was 15 and he was 17. Niether one knew about sex and no one explained sexual intercourse to either of them. Even when Catherine asked her mother what to expect, her mother refused to tell her. Sophia's grandmother failed to explain the facts of life to her own mother on the eve of her wedding. Her mother was introduced to the sex act by her father on their wedding night. But no one had explained the sex act to young Peter III, and he had no experience. So while Elizabeth waited patiently for Catherine to give birth to an heir following the marriage, Catherine was still a virgin and so was her nephew, Peter III. In all the dithering among Elizabeth and her advisers over what the problem could be, no one thought to explain the sex act to either one. Peter was very immature. He chose to play with his toy soldiers and to parade around in his soldier's uniform in lieu of developing a relationship with his young wife. She remained a virgin for nine years after the marriage. Elizabeth was beside herself. After nine years of marriage there was still no pregnancy. It did not occur to anyone that neither Peter III nor his wife knew how to conceive, and everyone was too embarrassed to discuss it. Finally, an experienced lothario was employed to give things a start. A handsome Polish nobelman, Count Stanislow caught Catherine's attentions and introduced her to the joys of the marriage bed. At some point Peter and Catherine must have had sex because Duke Peter III accepted her firstborn, Paul as his son. To this day no one knows if he fathered Paul or if Stanislow fathered him. It is more likely that all of her children were fathered by one of her lovers which changed over the years. Though Paul, her firstborn, like her husband did not have the qualities that would have made him an effective Tsar. Since so many of the European peerage were inbred, it is difficult to tell from portraits. Many of them bore the receeding chin evident today on Prince Charles and the long aquiline nose. Peter III had a longtime lover now. She was a rough and not well educated nobelwoman who was not well thought of at court. When Catherine finally bore a son, Paul she had fulfilled her duty. She was to give birth to a few spares as well. Elizabeth took the child immediately and controlled his education and upbringing. Cruelly, Elizabeth only allowed Catherine to see her child once a week in supervised visits. She did not see his first smile, his first steps or hear his first word. The relationship between Paul and Catherine was forever marred by this early deprivation. Elizabeth deprived Catherine of these joys, but Catherine knew she had to tolerate these cruelties in order to ascend the throne one day. However, she also loved and admired Elizabeth and wanted with all her heart to please her. Catherine gave birth to other children presumabley by her other lover, Orlov. Finally, in 1762 the Empress, Elizabeth died. Peter III attempted to marginalize Catherine and put forward his lover. He attempted alliances with the much hated German king Frederick. Hence, the military turned against him. He sought to be crowned tsar but the ceremony never took place. With Catherine and her supporters behind a coup, Peter III was imprisoned in a garrison where he was presumably to be kept alive. Catherine then ascends the throne with the backing of most of the Russian nobility, the Russian military and the Russian church. Like Ivan before him who Elizabeth kept imprisoned but alive, no harm was to come to Peter III. However, in a garrison skirmish he was killed. The jury is out on whether Catherine approved of this or whether it was truly an accident. However, Paul believing Peter III to be his true father resented his mother Catherine throughout his life because he believed she conspired with her lover Orlov to kill his father, Peter III. Small Pox and plague were the scourages of the time. Catherine feared small pox. The empress Elizabeth lost her fiance to small pox. Peter III was striken with small pox as a teenager and nearly died. Elizabeth personally and at great danger to herself nursed him through his illness which he survived tho scarred for life. Catherine learned of the small pox vaccination theory and program. It was controversial at the time. People were afraid they would contract small pox from the vaccine. To prove to her people that it was safe, she and her young son Paul allowed themselves to be vaccinated. The Russian court and people watched. Once they saw that Catherine and her son not only survived, but did not contract any form of small pox, many of her people were willing to undergo the life saving vaccinations. Catherine led by example. In Russia there was much land mass. Riches were accumulated not so much by owning the land but rather by working it. The ability to work the land depended on serf ownership. Hence wealth was valued according to the number of serfs one had. In certain concessions in mining etc there were serfs assigned to those dangerous industries. Serfs much like slaves in this country could not marry or change jobs at will. They were owned by their lords. Catherine saw serfdom as regressive and she hoped to eradicate the institution. Her first reforms resulted in strikes at mines and forges where work came to a standstill. She realized quickly that she would lose the support of many of the productive, influential and wealthy people in her ocuntry. She had to be content with other reforms. She further back treaded after the Pugachev rebellion led by a pretender to the throne who was himself a serf. She put down the rebellion with the help of her longtime lover Potempkin. He was a great military and political strategist and most probably her husband. After this revolt there was no more talk of elevating or freeing the serfs. Additionallly, she was influenced by the excesses of the French revolution which frightened her as it did many sitting monarchs of the era. She was an intellectual who supported the arts financially as well as with her interest. When Voltaire ran into financial difficulties, she bought his library allowing him to keep it for his lifetime. Only upon his death was it to come to Russia where it is still housed to this day. She recognized that the philosophers of the day, Diderot, Voltaire and Grimm were not merely treasures of their own lands. She saw them as world treasures. This view was unique in her day. Catherine was also known for taking several lovers who were often much younger. She was a lustful woman who sought to fulfill her needs in this way. They did not have power as Orlov and Potempkin did. However, she rewarded them with money, property and land. They always were dismissed with their fortunes intact. Today she would be called a "cougar." This conduct has been tolerated and even romanticised when it occurs with powerful men and their mistresses. For some reason nobelmen, church hiearchy, and populations look askance when a woman behaves this way. She never took advantage of a man who was not willing. When she died her less able son Paul took the reins for a short while, but he was no match for Catherine. One point of interest is that unlike Elizabeth Catherine did not deprive her son and his wife from the companionship of their young children. While Catherine took a central interest in their training and education, she allowed the parents to make many decisions about their care and to be witnesses to their first steps, their first words and their love. Thus, her grandchildren did not bear the scars and deprivation of a mother's love that her own son Paul did. She was not vengeful in that way and sh learned from the mistakes of her forbears. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Deception: Betraying the Peace Process by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Edition: Paperback 4 of 11 people found the following review helpful A Research Resource Not a Book for a Leisure Reading, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Deception: Betraying the Peace Process (Paperback) My book club selected this book. It is inappropriate for a book club selection. It is not a book to sit and read through. It is a research resource. Political scientists writing in this field could read through it and use it as a resource. It is an eye opener on the true goals of the Palestinean leadership. Clearly they have no intention of making peace with a two state solution. They want one state and they want an Islamic state with the Jews pushed into the sea. The resource material is excellent to prove this point and it is unsettling for those who believe peace in the mideast can be accomplished. I no longer believe it can unless the Jews give up and leave completely. Since that will not happen and should not happen, it is obvious that with the current Palestinean leadership peace is impossible. So if you are looking for good documentation to support the fact that the Palestinean leadership has no intention of negotiating in good faith, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a non-fiction resource for a book club book, find something more readable. Most of our members did not read this through and that includes the reviewer. Also it is expensive and difficult to obtain. You need a month lead time for it to arrive and it is not light reading.. Comments (3) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Mar 8, 2013 5:07 PM PST ________________________________________ Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) Offered by Balego USA Price: $16.25 7 used & new from $14.00 Finger exerciser, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) I bought this to help me recover from an injury I did to my right ring finger about a year ago. I dislocated it downward in a way that is difficult to fix. It was fractured in several places and tendons and ligaments were torn. It is still crooked and I cannot straighten it fully yet. The large knuckle has 3 dislocated fractures. The entire finger is weak. I was in PT until July. Now I am trying to strengthen the finger that is still weak and painful. This exerciser allows me to isolate the ring finger structure so I know just how much it can do. I use all 4 fingers to depress this, but I can tell just how much each individual finger can do. This is the lightest exerciser in the group. Since the other fingers are much stronger, I must concentrate to force myself to use the ring finger, but it is possible with this since each finger is isolated. I am using this for P.T., but pianists, violinists and other musicians might use it to strengthen fingers needed for musical play. There are tighter more challenging ones in the series and they are color coded. This seemed expensive, but for my purposes it was worth the money. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder MAN Fire Engine Price: $52.09 26 used & new from $44.87 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Hit With My 4 year old Grandson, November 26, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder MAN Fire Engine (Toy) My grandson now has 5 of these big German made trucks. His first was the garbage truck. He loved it so much that he slept with it in his bed. When he received the fire engine, he put that in his bed too. These trucks are accurately built with doors that open and close and parts that function just like the real deal. They are very expensive even tho they are plastic. The plastic is thicker and more durable than the less expensive made in China models. However, they are not as durable as the metal models available over 30 years ago. Trucks like these don't have much educational value. They are simply fun for boys and a right of passage for them. Every toy does not have to be educational. It probably teaches about the design and function of pulleys, levers and extension ladders. We bought our grandson the big crane for his birthday. Of all the trucks that one is probably the most educational b/c it has a functioning crane with a pulley etc. Try one of these. If your little guy likes it, you can add to the group for special occasions. These are special occasion gifts. The more expensive ones are very large. Read the dimension descriptions. This fire truck would be a lovely Xmas or chanukah gift for your little guy. Of all the trucks, the garbage truck, the crane and the cement mixer are the best choices. If you put water and sand in the cement mixer, a muddy cement like substance is extruded. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish Price: $31.02 5 used & new from $29.17 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Minimalist Functional Soap Dish, November 26, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish (Misc.) I bought this for all the shower stalls and tubs with shower in our house. We have minimalist hardware. Most bathrooms are outfitted with the dornbracht Tara faucet set in brushed platinum. The tile is either marble, limestone or travertine. The soap dish has sturdy rubber feet which keeps it balanced on shower stall shelves or tub surrounds. The soap drains easily onto the shelf or surround instead of sitting in the draining water as in most soap dishes. This allows the soap to dry so that it doesn't melt as fast. My only complaint is that the price has more than doubled since I first bought it at $12. I suspect that this does not reflect an increase in manufacturing and delivery cost. There are very few inexpensive soap dishes. I think that the sellers just figured that they could get this much per dish because there is nothing out there that is as functional. Does this give a potential designer pause? I think a similar design done in clear or colored but translucent lucite would work great. Instead of feet, it could have a perimeter rim and a hollow underneath with the slits for draining in the top of the dish. For easier cleaning, the lucite could be in non-transparent bright or neutral colors or in a sandblast like transclucent material. The fingerprints in clear things are awful on soap dishes. That is one reason this design in SS is so functional. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Korbel Albright Edition: Hardcover Price: $20.48 199 used & new from $1.76 A History of Czechoslovakia Before During and After the War, November 19, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (Hardcover) This book was a remarkable explanation of why Czechoslovakia turned toward Russia and became a communist satellite state. As another reviewer pointed out, Czechoslovakia was thrown under the bus any time such action would placate Hitler. Neville Chamberlain and the French allowed Hitler to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia in a an attempt to satisfy Hitler. Today we all know that nothing was going to placate Hitler and a war was inevitable. The British were not prepared for a full scale war and by abandoning the Czechs, they bought time to build their military. None of the big countries like England, France,or Russia were willing to go to war to honor treaties they signed with the Czechs to guarantee them protection. The English and French were blatant in their disregard of Czech rights and the treaties they signed at the Munich conference. Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the Munich conference where her very existence was decided. Since Russian involvement depended on French action, the Russians were off the hook. Only french involvement in Czech defense would have given rise to a Russian obligation to defend Czechoslovakia. Thus their treaty with Czechoslovakia did not operate merely because Hitler intended to invade and occupy the country. Even tho Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, its treaty with Russia did not require Russia to defend them. Hence, Russia was not in violation of any agreement the Czechs had with it when it was occupied by Germany. Because the British and the French both ignored their treaty with the Czechs and allowed Germany to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia, many Czechs had a bad taste in their mouth about the western European countries and hence the U.S. There was also an incident at the end of the war during which the Czech population fought the remaining German troops. They requested arms and military help from the U.S. army. For a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the deservedness of their cause, aid was witheld. Many Czech lives were needlessly lost and perhaps, this too gave rise to anti-U.S. feelings. In any case the Czechs no longer trusted the U.S., Britain or France. Therefore, it was probably more palatable to work with the Russians after the war than the west. Further, most Czechs were peasants. They were poor. The notion of communism offered a romantic ray of hope in a country impoverished by a depression and a war it did not want. I have been to Prague and Terezenstadt. The cities survived the war intact because there was very little bombing. It contained few essential resources for military needs so it was primarily spared. However, I had hoped that Ms. Albright would examine her Jewish roots more meaningfully. Clearly her parents were secular Jews who even put up a Xmas tree b/c Xmas was a national holiday. Being Jewish in the diplomatic core could not have been easy. At the time our own state department had few if any Jews and was outwardly anti-semetic. So it would be understandable if Korbel, Albright's father tried to hide his Judaism. Further, he lost so many relatives in the holocaust merely because they were Jewish. One could forgive concealing one's Judaism in a future life for that reason alone. However, the author tells us none of these things. She also does a rather superficial investigation. It is true that most of her relatives including her three living grandparents perished under horrific conditions in the holocaust. However, her telling of their fate was a dry unemotional history. Under Jewish law her mother was Jewish and she is Jewish. Since she is Jewish so are her children. Did she investigate the faith to see if she was drawn to it? Did she encourage her siblings or her children to learn about Judaism to see if the Jewish faith might be more fitting for them than Christianity. I don't think there was any encouragement in this direction. She claims that she has no material in her father's papers from which to draw any conclusions, because she didn't learn of the issue for 6 decades. However, her cousin , Dasa was alive. Surely she remembered Jewish rituals performed by her aunts. There is no explanation about any communication with Dasa over their Jewish history. Surely Dasa was aware that she was sent to live in England with her cousin Madeline and her aunt and uncle because the situation in Prague was becoming dangerous for Jews. She could not have believed herself to be catholic. Had she been catholic there would have been no reason to flee. I find the book lacking in this area. I'd like to see Ms. Albright study the religion, attend a few synagogue sermons and bible classes and consider her reaction. I suspect she is not a person of faith. However, her mother must have prepared typically Jewish dishes for the family when she was growing up. This is a cultural issue. Did her mother prepare the meat filled and boiled dumplings called "Kreplach"? How about the fruit filled cookies called "rugalach?" Did she ever make a matzoh ball? Gefilte fish? Did she make a beef short rib and cabbage soup called "cabbage borscht" without adding the sour cream? Non Jews often ate the soup with sour cream but Jews typically did not. Does she remember if her mother ever made a pork roast? If not doesn't she find that odd. Even if they ate it at the homes of others, did the family ever prepare it at home. I bet that other than during wartime shortages they didn't. In Britain during WWII everyone including Jews ate an American canned meat(pork) product called spam. During the blitz London survived on it. Since refrigeration could be sporadic, spam was the only "meat" available. So eating spam does not count in this evaluation. Often even though a family is not religious, festival foods are still lovingly remembered and prepared. Eating habits may not change though the religious ritual or reason for them has vanished. Now even non-Jews eat these dishes in Jewish style restaurants located in big cities all over the U.S. Yet Ms. Albright did not mention even one of these. Judaism values teaching and learning. It values the individual's right to self determination. Were any of her values traceable to her Jewish roots? She doesn't touch on this and we will never know. Note: I have just learned that one of her daughters married into a Jewish family and that her youngest grandson is preparing for his bar mitzvah. I wish she had mentioned this in her book and described to what extent her daughter has either become Jewish or decided to raise her children Jewish. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman Edition: Paperback Price: $11.49 106 used & new from $3.81 1 of 5 people found the following review helpful A Page Turner, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (Paperback) This memoir portrays the Hasidic sect of Satmar Jews as a cult. The Satmars and Hasidic Jews are angry and aghast over this book and the realities it brings to light. Many of the negative reviews have been filed by Hasidic Jews who are angry with Feldman's portrayal of Hasidism as a cult. Because Jews have been persecuted over the centuries by non-Jews many Jews feel it is a betrayal to critisize other Jews and their observances. Unfortunately Jews must and should be critical of their fundamentalist co-relgionists just as Muslims and Mormons should be of theirs. Deborah Feldman was a constructive if not an actual orphan being raised by her grandparents. Because of her orphan status the community members looked down upon her. Her parentage was questionable. Her father was mentallly ill or retarded. He wanders the neighborhood in inappropriate dress making inappropriate announcements. He was probably schizophrenic. His parents never sought proper treatment for him because it did not comport with their fundametalist religious beliefs. Because the Hasids do not believe in birth control, there is a high percentage of down syndrome and retardation in their community. Women have children well into their forties when birth defects increase as a percentage of all births. It is not unusual for a 49 year old woman to become a mother. Yet these children are cared for and schooled by the community. This does not prevent the community from requesting and receiving extra funds from public coffers to educate their special needs children. Mental Illness in this community is looked upon as something shameful. In order to find Deborah's mentally ill father a wife, the family had to seek out a poor girl from London who had poor prospects and whose family would not be aware of their son's strange behavior.This was Deborah's mother. Of course, this marriage failed. In fact Deborah's mother left the sect to live a secular gay life. In the community Deborah was viewed as not as good as others with a regular family. Further, her stingy granfather who could well afford to feed and cloth Deborah dressed her in her cousins' hand me downs. She never got to go to a store and select her own school clothes. This fact made her feel unworthy among her peers. Deborah is a bright and intellectual girl. These traits are not valued in the Hasidic community. Women are only valued as a support for men and as mothers. To discourage these traits Hasidic women cannot read most secular books and magazines. They are barred from learning about the outside world. Even their New York state required English grammar lessons are censored. There are lines of black out in the English grammar book. To comply with state law, girls are kept in school until age 16, but they do not earn New York City high school diplomas. Their religious observance precludes them from learning subjects like geometry which are required for a New York City high school diploma. AT 17 Deborah is married to a man she has met only once. He is not an intellecctual man. He works as a laborer in a warehouse. Deborah is an English teacher in the Satmar version of a high school. She should have been matched with someone who was an intellectual like her. That notion never occurred to her grandparents who looked only at the level of religious observance and financial support that could be expected of the family. Eli was from a humble albeit reverent and religious family, and that was good enough for their grandaughter. The marriage was doomed from the start. Deborah had a vaginal abnormality that precluded normal completion of sexual intercourse. Of course, she was personally blamed for the failure. A gynecologist identified the abnormality and recommended minor surgery. The family refuses to accept the diagnosis and surgical recommendation. Instead they take her from one talk therapist to another. A biofeedback specialist cannot fix a structural defect. Her husband is not the least bit supportive. He even leaves her temporarily over her failure. Finally Deborah finds a solution on the internet. She orders a manual dilation kit. This kit helps her deal with her double hymen which is rigid and inflexible. She finally completes intercourse and becomes pregnant. Once she becomes pregnant she is treated much better by her husband and his family. She and Eli have now moved out of Williamsburg into or north of Westchester county where they are not subjected to constant observance and critisizm. Deborah and her spouse have a little more freedom here. This freedom means she is not critisized because she doesn't shave her head in addition to wearing a wig. Still she must wear a wig and she must observe sabbath rules and participate in the Mikvah. She regularly attends the mikvah which she detests. She finds it dehumanizing and invasive which it is. When she decides that she must leave the sect for her own personal sanity and for the good of her son, Yitzy, the mikvah is one of the first observances she gives up. When she leaves the apartment ostensibly to attend to the mikvah she takes a magazine and reads in front of the Starbucks. She realizes that the purpose of many of these observances is to oppress women. They are designed to keep women ignorant of the ouside world and incapable of fending for themselves outside the sect. The hasidic education deprives all its students of more than a rudimentary acquaintance with algebra. There is no geometry, advanced algebra, trigonometry, calculus, or physics. Only Jewish subjects are taught. Geometry and other higher mathematics are of Greek origin so they aren't taught. Modern chemistry is not taught though chemical analysis that existed in biblical times is taught. The ancient Hebrews had not mastered modern chemistry or physics. Gallileo is not taught. Children learn history lessons with objectionable material removed. They do not learn about the women's movement for example. Only subjects which comport with their religious views are allowed. Thus, they are ill prepared to attend any college or university. Ultra-orthodox Yeshiva students who want to pursue college degrees in anything other than Judaic studies must participate in some sort of remedial or self taught education. The Hasidic view toward education is probably similar to the tea party regulars who want creationism taught alongside Darwin. Christians who want creationsim taught as an accepted theory of the origin of the species alongside Darwin are just as nuts. Christian fundamentalists who don't want birth control taught in sex education classes are cultish too. Christian fundamentalist may not dress in funny clothes like the Hasids, but they can be just as dangerous and just as regressive. The Duggans in the reality show 21 kids and counting come to mind. Members of cults can be pleasant, charming and nice. The amish are an example of a cult as are other Christian fundamentalists. The Lubuvitcher group of Hassidic Jews are an example too. Even if some of the examples of hasidic excesses are "embroidered" or not totally factually accurate, they do serve to demonstrate the danger of this particular religious cult. Further, they are an accurate account of the author's perception at the time. Her perception may have been inaccurate, but that was her perception. A boy is molested by his elderly bar mitzvah teacher. The community comes to learn that he has molested many boys and has a hoard of children's pornography in his house. Do they report him to the police? No. He is too old to go to jail. He disappears from the community for several weeks and returns. Presumably he participates in tutoring boys once again. Is he again in a position to molest? We are not told. What happens to the boy? He is forced to leave his Yeshiva because his presence will disrupt the class. No other Yeshiva will take him because they know what happened to him. This is a case of a ten year old victim being punished for being a victim and speaking out. How is this different from the Muslims who blame their daughters because they were raped. How is it so different from family members killing a victim of rape, because she was raped. It is accepted as an honor killing. We are horrified when we hear about these Muslim extremists. How are muslim honor killings so different from the fallout of an ultra orthodox Jewish boy being raped by his teacher. Then there is the horrific murder of a ten year old boy caught masterbating by his father. Masterbation is prohibited in the ultra orthodox sect. The community does not report the murder. Instead a specious death certificate is issued by the hassidic ambulence service. A quick burial follows. If you think this is impossible then read Postville where another murder is covered up by a Hasidic community. Deborah was fortunate to have been able to leave this sect on the tails of the publication of her book. She received an advance which gave her the financial suppport she needed to take her son and leave. She cuts his Paises so he will look just like all the other children at the playground, and it gives her great pleasure to do so. She begins teaching him in English instead of the favored Yiddish. Other women who are not as talented as Deborah and who wish to leave the sect are not so fortunate. She was lucky that a professor at Columbia's law school fought for Deborah's right to have custody of her son. She probably fought for and won child support from Eli as well. I do wish the book explained about any sister she may have had and which was referred to in some of the reviews. If she had been in multiple schools and been expelled, I wish she would have explained that in the book too. She has written a memoir so it should be factually correct. Otherwise she must label it as fiction based on fact. I wish I had the opportunity to ask her myself. In any case I loved this book. It sheds light on the danger of cults. Whether a society is a cult or not is really based on a continuum with some groups being more cultish than others. I view some modern Jewish orthodox communities as cultish without going all the way. This Satmar sect is a total cult. The only more cultish act they could have perpetrated would have been to murder Deborah becuase of her Hymen defect. I think some Muslim groups would go that far. Still hasidic groups do perform many charitable acts. They run the volunteer ambulence service in their community. They support free apartments for people who come to major medical centers for treatment. Some of these people including non-Jews could ill afford the cost of traveling to a major medical center for treatment of a serious illness were it not for these free apartments. They provide kosher meals for patients who are kosher in hospitals that cannot do so. They provide kosher meals and passover seders for Jewish inmates in correctionsl institutions. They do perform charitable acts and services for the community. Further, they are nearly single handedly responsible for raising the Jewish birth rate and providing a balance for the diappearance of Judaism in the secular community. If it weren't for these religious Jews, Judaism would probably die out in a few generations. However, Jews that don't believe these are cults should live in NYC for a few years. As a non-observant Jew walking in their communities you will be subjected to insults and even spitting. They may even throw stones. Still unlike the Muslims murdering people because they don't believe as they do is a sin. It is not allowed. In Islam fundamentalists believe that if they cannot force the infidel(non-believer) to believe, they should slay him. This is not the Jewish belief fundamentalist or otherwise which holds all life sacrosanct. In Judaism you cannot kill or maim a non-believer because they don't believe. I have had the opportunity to learn why the author fails to acknowledge the existence of her sister or the fact that she attended more than one secondary school. She knew that by writing about her life, she brought community disapproval on her family for their failure to control a child and a female child as well. Eli, her husband was ostracized for failing to control his wife. He has since left the community and now wears blue jeans though he is still observant. She felt her 11 year old sister was a child who did not decide to leave the sect. She did not feel she had the right to expose her younger sister to the ostracism she knew would occur if she was mentioned in the book. She felt her sister had the right to decide for herself whether or not she wanted to remain in the community. Eli, her husband is an adult and presumably can fend for himself. She did not mention the different secondary schools, because in her mind her educational experience culminated in the last school and mentioning the others did not advance the points she was trying to make about her education or lack there of. These rationales seem reasonable to me and should satisfy all the Hassidic nit pickers and nay sayers who have written negative reviews about her memoir. To them all I say- If this expose reveals destructive traits of these religious practices then maybe it is time to moderate them. It is time to free the slaves or rather the women. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Masada by Yigael Yadin Edition: Hardcover 31 used & new from $1.99 Great Photographic Reference of this Battleground, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Masada (Hardcover) I bought this book to help me understand the historical fiction book, the Dovekeepers. Having this pictorial reference at hand was helpful in envisioning life at the time. Several hundred secular Jews holed up in this mountain fortress to protect themselves from the Roman invaders. They lived here for about 3 years until the Romans engineered a ramp that allowed them to invade the mountain top. The Jews slew their own rather than fall prey to the roman hoards. The Romans tortured and raped their captives before putting them to death in painful and horrible ways. The Jews of Masada were determined that if death was upon them, it would be a merciful one. Only 2 adult women and 5 children escaped (I may be incorrect on the actual numbers here, but I am close). The Dovekeepers and many scholarly books written on the massacre at Masada used the same archaeological findings pictured in this book to come to their conclusions or to substantiate their work. The book is filled with helpful color plates. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Where Danger Lurks by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Paperback Price: $12.56 15 used & new from $5.09 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Absolutely Amateurish, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Where Danger Lurks (Paperback) I think this book was published because the publisher published her first novel, Texas Justice. Texas Justice was probably published because it was the only novel based on a riveting true murder case in Houston. A handsome Jewish boy, the son of middle class parents walked into a wig shop and shot and killed one of the employees and seriously wounded others. He did not know the people and seemed to have no motive for the crime. His mother is an attorney in Houston. His parents were divorced. No one else wrote a book about this crime. So when Judith Finkel wrote a second book about a pediophile, the same publisher published it. However, the more Finkel strays from a real life crime the less professional is the attempt. This effort seemed so amateurish that I was embarrassed for the author. She is a genuinely nice woman who willingly attends book clubs reviewing her books. Our book club chose this as well as her first book for that reason. Additionally she is a good friend of one of our members who proposed this book as well as her first. I gave that book 3 stars. Unfortunately, when the author attends the book club no one feels free to offer frank critisizm. If they choose a third book by her, I will chose not to read it or attend the discussion. I really like Ms. Finkel so I hope she does not read this. I really don't want to hurt her feelings. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Texas Justice by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Perfect Paperback Price: $12.09 29 used & new from $0.01 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Mediocre Fictionalization of a True Event, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Texas Justice (Perfect Paperback) Garfinkel wrote a fictional story based on a true event which occurred in Houston, Texas. However, the fiction is so closely based on the facts that this author would have done a better job had she written a nonfiction book based on the exact facts. For example, one of the real witnesses was a podiatrist and in her rendition the witness is a chiropracter. The quality of the writing is mediocre. Further, rather than give the book an ending, she left it unended so the reader could fashion one for himself or herself. I don't care for books that end like this, and I think it is an author cop out. The real story had an ending. The young man was the son of two Israelis who became naturalized U.S. citizens. They maintained dual citizenship as did their two sons. The young man fled to Israel with the Houston police hot on his heels. Israel agreed to extradict him to the states as long as Texas took the death penalty off the table. Israel does not have the death penalty and will not extradict a wanted criminal who is subject to the death penalty. The perpetrator pled guilty to 1 count of murder and more than one count of attempted murder. He is doing life in prison. What is interesting in the real story is that this semmingly normal, attractive and clean cut young man walked into a wig shop and gunned down its owner and employees. He did not know these people and he appeared to have no motive to commit the crime. The wig shop catered primarily to cancer patients who had lost their hair from chemotherapy. Other clients had hair loss due to brain surgery for serious conditions. The owner and employees were compassionate and caring people who delicately handled this troubling situation. Neither the Houston newspapers nor the book ever found an explanation for the boy's criminal conduct. His parents were divorced, and his mother was an attorney. He was clearly troubled. Had he been seen by a psychologist before the incident? Had any teacher or school counselor recommended psychiatric intervention before the incident? Did he select murder as his method of acting out his anger, because his mother was an attorney and knowledgeable about the legal system? Was he trying to get her attention for some reason? None of this is examined in the book. A normal healthy young man does not pick up a gun and shoot at people he doesn't know killing and injuring them for no reason. Why weren't these questions explored? Was this one of those families that saw danger signs or was told by school personnel to get the boy psychiatric help, but who rejected the notion of psychiatric help? How receptive was the family to suggestions for psychiatric treatment for their clearly troubled son? Additionally, an interesting legal argument arose as a result of this case. Israeli courts recognize a parent child privilege. That is any communication between a child and parent is privileged. Neither the parent nor the child can be compelled to divulge what is said in these conversations. They need not testify about these conversations. U.S. courts recognize spousal privelege, attorney client privilege, clergyman church member privilege, and doctor patient privilege. U.S. courts do not recognize a parent child privilege. After the crime, the young man sought help from his parents who helped him flee to Israel. When the authorities were looking for him, the parents seeking to conceal his whereabouts asserted a parent child privilege based on their reliance on it as Israelis. Of course, that argument did not work. The Texas court compelled the parents to reveal the conversations they had with their son after he committed this horrendous crime. Yet the book did not mention this novel legal argument. I don't think the young man will ever get out of prison, but it would be nice to know what psycological factors caused this boy to murder one woman and seriously wound others he did not know. Was he seriously depressed? Was he a manic depressive experiencing a psychotic break? The author provides us with not one clue. Surely his defense team explored psychiatric issues which might mitigate his punishment. There would be court records of this. Had the issue been totally ignored by his defense team then there was a record of that too. However, the court itself could have ordered psychiatric evaluation. Did it? The author is silent on these issues. This novel was a selection made by my book club, because the author is a friend of one of the members. That is one of the worst reasons to select a book. The author was present at the book club meeting to answer questions about the book. Hence, I could not say what I really thought about it. The author is a very nice woman who is well liked. Unless she sticks to nonfiction, she isn't worth reading. I think most of her readers will be women. I am surprised by all the accolades she has received in customer reviews, and I find them suspect. I am sorry if this hurts the author's feelings because I really liked her. Defending Jacob which is complete fiction is about a young man from a good family who is accused of murder and who must go through the criminal justice system. The boy is 14 as is his victim and his father is a D.A. This is a much better book and far more well written. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 195 used & new from $1.30 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Holocaust Love Story, October 6, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Lost Wife (Paperback) I wish I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars. Amazon you should add this feature to your customer reviews. The writing is adequate and the story plausible. This story is about Jewish European lovers who are victims of the Nazi holocaust. Lemka and Josef fall deeply in love in pre-WWII Prague just as the Nazi threat is looming. Josef's family secures U.S, visas for the family including Lemka as Josef's wife. They are unable to include Lemka's family in the group. The sponser, a cousin in the U.S., is only willing to sponser the 5 of them. Josef & Lemka marry. Josef knows that he is unable to secure visas for Lemka's family, but Lemka does not. Her father is aware of the problem but urges Josef to marry Lemka and take her to the U.S. with them. Lemka who loves her family deeply refuses to leave them even though her family including her beloved father urges her to go. Josef and his family are scheduled to be in England for two months before sailing for America. Josef continues to try to convince her to join them as does Lemka's father while it is still possible. She steadfastly refuses. I am sure these scenarios really occured in pre- WWII Europe. These dramatic events are believible. We as the reading audience are clammoring for her to join him. We see only trouble ahead. The author quickly makes minced meat out of our frustration at this turn of events. (Spoiler Alert). However,the ship on which the family sails sinks at sea and only Josef survives. Had Lemka joined them she would have been on the lifeboat with Josef's sister and mother and she would surely have perished. Lemka is informed that the whole family died and that Josef is dead. Josef's many letters never reach Lemka who has now been excluded from Prague's social and economic life because she is a Jew. The family survies in the ghetto mainly on the handouts of their prior maid, Lucie, a country girl who left them when she married. They considered her part of their family and she thought of them as family. The Jews had been ordered to turn over their radios and anything of value. However, they entrusted Lucie with a few momentos of jewelry to hold for them until after the war. Lemka and her family are ordered to Terezinstat, the show ghetto which the Nazis would doll up every now and then for Red Cross inspectors from Switzerland. They would start out by transferring all of the elderly, sick , and feeble inhabitants to Auschwitz so that the ghetto would not look as crowded as it really was. The thinnest inhabitants were transferred to death camps so that only the fittest were on view for the inspection. As soon as the inspection was over, the Nazis would bring in more trainloads creating the terrible overcrowding that was its consistent characteristic once again. Lemka was an artist. She was assigned to indoor sedentary work creating individual painted postcards for Nazi soldiers. Other artists were charged with painting larger canvases. Some painted portraits for the soldiers from photographs, and they received extra food for those. One created fabulous copies of great paintings used to adorn Nazi homes. They also surreptiously created paintings and drawings of camp life depicting sickness, torture, and death among its inhabitants at great personal risk. These they hid within the ghetto walls. The children also created art with the miniscule amount of supplies surreptitiously provided by these artists. Some 4500 children's drawings were also hidden within these walls. They are now on display in various museums on the holocaust including the Jewish museum in Prague. I have been to the Jewish museum in Prague which is in one of the few remaining intact synagogoues in Europe. Most of them were burned often with their Jewish members locked inside. It was allowed to stand, because Hitler planned a museum on Europe's extinct Jewish culture. Only a few of the paintings and drawings are on display. A better use would be to donate the great majority of them to the Holocaust museum in D.C. and Yad Vehem, the holocaust museum in Israel. I am sure some have been donated. They have far more display space and more of them deserve to be displayed. I remember crying at the display of children's holocaust art in Yad Veshem. Lemka enters Terezenstadt with her family. Her father, a coal deliverer in the ghetto, is given orders to be on the next transcript to Auschwitz. Everyone knows it is a death camp. It is understandable that her mother , his wife, would volunteer to go with him. However, when Lemka and Lemka'sister and brother volunteer to accompany their father too, it strains the imagination. Lemka again believes that the family has never been separated and should not be now. Of course, the reader is screaming "don't go." Her father again tries to discourage his children from accompanying them to no avail. Lemka and her family transfer to Auschwitz. Her parents are quickly gassed. Her sister dies from the deprivation. She survives and at the end of the war is tranferred on foot to various camps. She survives the forced marches and ends up in a DP camp. She believes herself to be alone in the world. Carl, a Jewish American soldier befriends her and provides her with extra rations and goodies. He courts her and asks her to marry him. Lemka marries Carl because he has saved her. She has no great love for him as she did for Josef. Of course, there is nothing like a first love. She returns to Prague and seeks out her former home where she hopes to spend the night. The people now living in her apartment are angry and flabbergasted that she dares to return to her home. They refuse to let her in and will not allow her to spend the night. Lemka now exhausted takes a train to Lucie's village where she visits a grateful Lucie who cries upon learning of all the family deaths. Lemka finds a warm bed for the night. Lucie returns the 3 pieces of jewelry to Lemka including the gold wedding band Josef gave her. They are the only momentos she has of her family. Carl takes her to NYC where they remain married for over 50 years until his death. They have one child. Her child has a red headed daughter with a long swan neck just like her great grandmother who perished in the camps. Josef has a grandson. The grandson is about to marry Lemka's grandaughter. At the rehearsal dinner he meets his grandson's fiance for the first time and recognizes the red hair and neck. The author does not explain why a beloved grandfather would not have met the fiance earlier. When he is seated neck to Lemka who has now taken the Americanized name, Lanie, he recognizes a birthmark on her arm next to her Auschwitz tatoo. They realize they were the Lemka and Josef who loved each other and married in Prague. Then the book ends. The ending is disappointing and frustrating. The reader wants to know if they strike up their reltionship again, if they move in together, if they have great satisfaction from finding each other at last. Or is it a bust? Is the memory far greater than the relistic living love? That happens so often when rediscovering old loves. Josef married, but he never really loved his wife of many years with the passion he had for Lemka. He and his wife married for the same reasons many holocaust survivors married. They wanted to stop the lonliness and to recreate a family. He did love her and nurse her through her final illness, but something was always missing. Are we going to get a sequel? The writing quality in this book was 4 star. It was a page turner because the reader wanted to know about the rekindled relationship, but the author does not give us that. I downrated the book because the ending was frustrating. Are we going to get a sequel? I would read that. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) by Isabel Allende Edition: Paperback Price: $12.08 178 used & new from $0.01 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful An Allende Page Turner, September 23, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback) I bought this in the Kindle format. However, I looked through the hard cover edition. The story would have been easier to follow had there been a set of maps of Haiti showing elevations, plantations, mountains, forests and towns that were important to the first half of this tale which takes place in Haiti. Maps were unavailable in any edition I saw. They would have really helped the reader understand the action that takes place during the Haitian slave revolts. The book follows the life of the slave girl Zarite (Tete). She is the product of a white father and an African slave. The slave is raped en route from Africa to Haiti by one of the white sailors. Tete is herself raped twice by the French plantation owner who hires her to care for his mentally ill spouse. Tete's first child by Valmorain is a boy, Jean claude and the second is a girl, Rosette. These offspring would be termed Quadroons. The boy, Jean Claude, is removed quickly from Tete's possession and placed in the care of Violette and her white French army officer husband. Violette is a mulatta woman who is likely also a Quadroon. Violette was Valmorain's mistress before he married his Spanish born wife. She is unable to conceive. Violette and her white spouse raise Jean Claude as their own son. Valmorain and his wife have a son, Maurice. Tete who has milk from the birth of Jean Claude becomes his wet nurse. Valmorain's wife descends into madness, and Tete becomes the only mother Maurice knows. Yet Valmorain continues to rape Tete. He does not view it as rape, because he views Tete as his property. Tete becomes pregnant again and when Maurice is about 3, she gives birth to her daughter, Rosette. By now Valmorain's wife is completely out of touch with reality.Thus Valmorain does not need to remove Rosette from the plantation to hide her existence from his wife. Valmorain allows Rosette to remain on the plantation in the care of her mother, Tete. Maurice and Tete grow to love each other much to Valmorain's chagrin. Valmorain dotes on Maurice who is his only white child and legitimate heir. Maurice also grows to love Rosette. He protects her as he would a younger sister. Since there are no other white children on the plantation, Maurice plays almost exclusively with Rosette who appears to many as if she is a white child of Spanish origin. Rosette and Maurice become very close and love eachother dearly. At some point they become aware that they have the same father. Valmorain and Maurice's must leave Haiti abruptly when violent slave revolts erupt. The rebellious slaves murdered many whites on the island during their revolt. Tete helps Valmorain and Maurice escape risking her own life to do so. She saves their lives on more than one occassion. Valmorain, Valmorain's brother-in-law, Santos, Tete, Maurice, Violette, Jean Claude, and Rosette all make their escape to New Orleans via Cuba. Even mulattos were in danger. Dr. P., Valmorain's physician friend eventually joins them with his "colored' wife, Adele and his mulatto children. This story is an indictment of slavery, an institution which brings suffering and debauchery to both slave and master. The brutality of the institution in Haiti may have been without equal. It was one of the reasons the slave rebellion there came to fruition resulting in the first black government in the western hemisphere. Valmorain was not as evil or brutal as many of the other slave owners, but he was cruel enough. His overseer, Prosper Chambray, a mulatto himself was more brutal than many of the white slave owners. Dr. P who saw the value of Tante Rose's native African home remedies was one of the few really decent white men. He was a physician who saw the futility of European medical practices like bleeding to effect cures. Yet he hid his relationship to his children by Adele and even his relationship to Adele from the other whites on Haiti and to some extent in New Orleans. In New Orleans Valmorain who reinvents himself as a wealthy plantation owner remarries a wretched woman named Hilda who bears him only daughters. Thus his only son is still Maurice. As children Maurice and Rosette have grown to love each other. They share the same father, Valmorain. They part just before adolescence. Valmorain sends Maurice to a liberal boarding school in Boston. He pays for Rosette to be educated in New Orleans by nuns who run a school for girls who have some negro blood. Rosette looks like a white girl of Spanish descent but she is 25% black. She rejects that identity and does not identify as the daughter of her mother Tete, a slave. She sees Tete as Valmorain's possession and feels herself to be free even though she is not. All of these narrative threads are headed for disaster. Maurice attends school among abolitionists and he hates the institution of slavery. Valmorain is appalled at his son's ideas which Maurice shares when he returns to New Orleans. For without slavery his father's fortune would be lost. Until this point Allende's tale is filled with adventure, romance, suffering, love and sadness. However, here is where she loses me. Spoiler alert here. Maurice and Rosette who have loved each other since childhood fall in love romantically, and wish to marry. To me this is over the top. A very liberal priest would have married a white boy to a girl of color. But when he learns that they share the same father he refuses. Tete finds a way to accomplish the marriage on a ship in front of the ship's captain. They marry and Rosette gives birth to their child, Justin, Valmorain's second heir. I found this incestuous act too over the top for me. I did not think Tete was compassionate or clever by virtue of her method of accomplishing the marriage. If these children had been worth admiring, they would have seen the wisdom of a rule that precluded incestuous unions. While Tete could have been sympathetic and compassionate about their love and devotion to each other, she should not have helped them marry legally. Of course, such an act would and did doom them. This story would have made a terrific movie. I think it would have been a better movie than a book. The translation from Spanish is excellent. Allende is also fluent in English so she could carefully supervise the translation. Allende is a translator herself and Allende's translator is also an author so these facts make for an excellent translation. Haiti devolves into a chaotic and violent society because 1) The simultaneous occurance of the French revolution prevented France from devoting enough troops to stabilize Haiti with its myriad problems, 2) The unstable new French republic sent confusing messages about its policies regarding states of freedom and class for the different degrees of coloreds and slaves in Haiti 3) There was a large multiple of blacks relative to the number of whites in Haiti. Populations in the U.S were not so skewed. 4) The geographic and climatological characteristics of Haiti vs. The Dominican Republic placed Haiti at a disadvantage for commercial success. Comments (2) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jul 25, 2013 2:46 PM PDT ________________________________________ Women: A Novel by Charles Bukowski Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 100 used & new from $6.90 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful Alcohol Fueled Misogynistic & Souless Sexual Romp Thru Life, September 12, 2012 This review is from: Women: A Novel (Paperback) First this author can write. However, my copy arrived in a brown paper binding which was a clue to its content. This is as close to pornography as one can get and still call it literature. The author Charles Bukowski had an unhappy childhood. In high school he was awkward and unattractive. He was plagued with acne and this caused permanent scarring and disfigurement. Therefore, girls paid little attention to him. Though he was a critical success with his poetry and other writing, he was not a financial success. He worked at the U.S. Post Office and other menial jobs for years to support his first love, writing. He is not a materialistic man and money is not important to him. In fact the picture of him in the book could have just as easily been that of a homeless man. This book is semi-autobiographical. Henry, the main character and narrator has finally acheived some critical success with his raw sexual poetry in certain hip and intellectual circles. He is paid to give readings of his poems at University campuses, book stores, and other venues that usually include bars. Henry is in his mid-50's. Yet when he gives readings often in worn out clothing and with long wavy unkempt hair and a beard, young women or even girls fall at his feet and worship him in an unhealthy way. They throw themselves at him and often fall into bed with him sometimes two at a time right after these readings. Henry is a lonely man. He is busy with the sophmoric pursuit of making up for lost time when girls in his high school ignored him. But c'mon here. He is 55 years old plus and he never got over being unpopular with high school girls? Maybe if he chose a girl or woman who was less physically attractive, he might have found a sweet heart. Maybe if he gave attention to an over weight girl with acne he might have found a soul mate in high school and thereafter. But of course he does not. Even with Lydia, one of the women he claims to love, he really doesn't have a soulmate. In fact I saw no evidence in the book even at the hopeful end that he ever formed meaningful object relations. All of these women were much younger than he even as young as 18. The age difference did not bother him , and he relished their young bodies. Rarely was a woman unattractive enough that he was uninterested in sex. There was one older (38) woman who he found unattractive, but he still had sex with her. The "F" word appears on every page. The "C__T" word appears on every other page and the word "bitch appears every 10 pages. I think this book could have been written with less use of such offensive language. He never uses the term "making love" even with a woman he claims he loves. Everything is "f----ing." It becomes monotonous and old. Several times I thought of putting the book down. I just don't like to leave something unfinished. This catalogue of Henry's "unrepentant and miserable descent into carnal pursuits" was just offensive. I did not begin noting memorable passages as I do in every book until page 202. And then there was not much more of substance until page 238 in a 290 page novel. The same points could have been made in a less vulgar tome and it would have been more appealing. I suspect that men will appreciate this book more than women. In fact, I don't know if that many women have finished this book. Reading his vulgar poems is different. What the reader can appreciate in short blurbs is different than what one can enjoy in a solid book form. Henry has many psycological problems. It would be interesting to learn whther he ever had therapy for them. Before each reading he must get high on booze and vomit in the alley or street behind the venue. He prefers alchohol to drugs, and he is an alcoholic. He smokes a joint now and then. After all he lives in Los angelos where he grew up. He doesn't really get involved with snorting coke or taking other mind bending drugs. He takes advantage of the hippy female flower children who adore him. He doesn't consider "anything but my own selfish cheap pleasure...like a spoiled high school kid... I was truly no good...the worst part of it was that I passed myself off for exactly what I wasn't-- a good man."pg.236 I don't recommmend this book for female readers. Men who wish to read a sophmoric sexual romp with offensive language will be pleased. This is good literature, but there much good literature that is not offensive. Time is too short to spend reading this. Still it does make me curious to read some of his poems. If I can find one in the library, I may read a few. It is not likely to be anything I'd read completely. Perhaps, I am curious to understand what sorts of poems make book smart young women sacrifice their dignity for a broken down drunk writer. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck Price: $85.45 15 used & new from $85.45 Another Winner from Bruder, September 12, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck (Toy) this is a complicated working model that our grandson loves. He loves to work the crane and other movable parts. This is a very well made sturdy toy truck. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green Price: $83.99 6 used & new from $74.98 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Great gift for boys, September 7, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green (Toy) I rate toys on how much children play with them. My grandson selected this truck as a gift for himself when he was 3. He loves it so much that he sleeps with it as well as the Bruder fire truck. He loves great big toy trucks. This truck is true to scale and true to life with doors and compartments that open and close. I don't understand why it costs as much as it does except that it is made in Germany where labor is expensive. It is a big plastic truck, but it is more durable than other plastic trucks. It is a heavy weight plastic and not the least bit flimsy. All the doors etc work. Even tho it was suggested for children over 3 or 4, our grandson was 3 and he didn't break it. After months of play he still loves it and considers it his favorite toy. Other than teaching a child how a garbage truck works, I don't see any educational value in this item. However, my prime purpose for purchasing a toy is for fun. If it happens to be educational then that is fine too. We have since purchased a fire truck and he recieved a small tractor. He loves them all. We will be buying the crane for his birthday and the cement truck for his holiday gift. His older brother took to the WOW trucks instead. I'd buy this again and recommend it for any boy who loves trucks and contruction vehicles. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand Edition: Hardcover Price: $14.83 665 used & new from $3.99 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Really a 3&1/2 Star If It Were Offered, July 30, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Hardcover) This non-fiction biographical book about Louis Zamperini's life told the story of a remarkable American hero. Reared during the depression, he was a peck's bad boy who was guilty of mischief, stealing, and poor school performance. He could have been dyslexic or suffering from some other learning disability. He found his salvation in running. He was not a stellar student, but he was a champion runner. He received allcolades for his competitive running in Torrance California. For that reason he stayed in school and even enrolled in U.S.C. He was one of the youngest and most inexperienced runners to compete at the Berlin olympics in 1938. Yet he made a decent showing and shook Hitler's hand. He continued to run competitively thereafter until Pearl Harbor. After December 1st 1941 he enlisted. Because he had some college and was an olympic athlete he was given a commission in the Army Air Core. This was the forerunner of today's air force. Louis was a bombadier. His team was highly successful and flew many more successful runs than the average Air Core team. Still on their last mission his team was forced to fly a less than flight ready aircraft. As a result it plummeted into the Pacific. Three soldiers survived including the pilot who sustained a non-lethal head injury. They survived in two rafts eventually reduced to one that were not properly fitted with survival gear. The rafts had fishing line but no hooks, a few water cans, but not enough and nothing that could be used to collect fresh rain water. They had no knife and little first aid. Japanese fighters strafed their two rafts requiring them to reduce to one raft. Sharks circled their raft day after day even jumping into the raft on more than one occassion. Yet they survived 46 days on the open water, a new record, and traveled over 2000 miles well into Japanese territory. They found a small Japanese island and rowed ashore. There they were "rescued" by the Japanese inhabitants. Soon a Japanese freighter arrived to take them to a POW camp. They were then interred in various Japanese prisoner of war camps. The Japanese viewed those that surrendered rather than fighting to the death as dishonorable. For every allied soldier killed four were captured. For every 120 Japanese soldiers killed only one was captured. The contempt and revulsion that the Japanese felt for those who surrendered or were captured extended to allied servicemen. Unbroken pg. 195. For this reason most Japanese fought to the death even when they knew a battle could not be won. It was for the same reason that we had to drop 2 atomic bombs before the Japanese surrendered. Surrender was considered so terribly dishonorable. Their thinking created an atmosphere in which to abuse, enslave, starve or even murder a POW was considered acceptable and even desirable. Unbroken pg.195 The captured allied soldiers were severly mistreated by their Japanese captors. The allied POWs captured in Europe did not suffer the same fate. Louis was transferred to various POW camps with one worse than the next. One particular corporal nicknamed "The Bird" by the prisoners was particularly sadistic. He hated Louis and seemed to take out his daily frustrations on him. He was passed over for a commision at the beginning of the war. Coming from an influential and wealthy family he was very offended by this faux pas and he took out his frustration on the prisoners. He beat Louis repeatedly, and no one not even his superiors tried to stop him. Even when he exceeded what Japanese officers thought were the bounds of propriety, they did not intercede. Louis and some of his friends, including the pilot who survived the crash with him, survived the war and returned to their families. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome often called "battle fatigue" was poorly understood at the time. Often people believed the sufferer could just "snap out of it." Nothing was further from the truth. It was a real psychiatric condition that manifested itself in troubling physical symptoms as well as nightmares, an inability to hold a job, an inability to form lasting relationships and a host of other problems. Louis met and married his wife Cynthia,but he had trouble earning a living and he became an alcoholic. His wife nearly left him. Then he "discovered Jesus" and became a born again Christian in Billy Grahams' church. The religious devotion and the love from his congregation saved his psyche. He and Cynthia, who had become a born again Christian before Louis, stayed together. Louis also found salvation in teaching troubled boys out door survival skills such as repelling. Our government initially hunted and punished the POW guards and others who had committed crimes against humanity such as "The Rape of Nanking." The allies sought "The Bird" for war crimes for 7 years. He was on the run successfully hiding from the soldiers. He could not see his mother, take a high profile job, or marry. He did manage to see his affluent mother about once every 2 years. She was watched carefully so she really could not help him. His subsistence life was really unpleasant compared to his afluent lifestyle before the war. By March 1952 Japan and the Allies signed a peace treaty that would end allied occupation of Japan. As part of this treaty the U.S. and other allies would not seek criminal prosectutions or meaningful reparations for war crimes. This was part of a foreign policy geared to the allied defense from the red menace, Russia and her allies. It was believed that the threat from communism was so great that we had to "bury the hatchet" with prior enemies to form a steadfast alliance against a nuclear Russia. Watanabe, "The Bird" could go home. He did, and he built a life with a wife and family. Finally, Louis realized "The Bird" was only a man and let go of his consuming hatred. This book was too long. Many of the sections could have been shortened including the sections on Louis' POW experiences. Another reviewer wrote that his time in the army air core before his crash could have been condensed. I agree. This book of 398 pages needs to be edited and condensed. What saves it are the pictures. It is a page turner. All readers will want to learn what happens to Louis Z. He is a compelling and attractive persona so most readers will be charmed. I almost gave this book 4 stars, but the writing simply does not rise to 4 star quality. The author's research was excellent. Of course, the subject was still living and had already written his own memoir. His own memoir was not nearly as successful as Unbroken, but , of course, it did not have Random House's marketing budget or contacts. Louis Z appeared on the Jay Leno show to stump this book etc. This was a book club choice and I probably would not have chosen it myself especially not until it appeared in paper back. Readers will want to see the photos so it would be better to buy the book. Versions on the ereaders will probably not contain quality photos. Louis' story would probably make a better adventure film than a book. I hope that it will become a WWII movie. We need more coverage of what the Japanese did to our soldiers in the POW camps. I know we had Bridge on the River Kwai, but those actors looked too healthy. With todays technology the creators may be able to make them look sufficiently starved without actually starving them. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Anya: A Novel by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.81 112 used & new from $1.93 1 of 4 people found the following review helpful A Difficult Read, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Anya: A Novel (Paperback) If I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars I would have. It is not a 4 star book. I am usually fascinated by holocaust fiction or memoirs. However, I had trouble getting into this one. I made a rule that if I do not get into a book by page 50, I will put it down and quit reading it. Because of the subject matter, I gave this 100 pages. By then I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to find out what happened to them. Anya is a bright student who is admitted to medical school and dreams of becoming a doctor. She had to be special because in the 1930's women and Jews were discriminated against in the admission process. Anya has two younger brothers and a younger sister, Vera. She is the oldest. Her family was Russian but living and working in Vilno, Poland. Jews experienced pogroms and anti-Semetic bias throughout history in both Russia and Poland. However, they always believed the animosity would blow over and typically it did. Yet I do not understand how they could not see that most Christian Poles hated them. On one occasion Anya's father is warned to keep her home from the University. Anya stays home that day. She returns to learn that some of her Christian colleagues placed iron nails between their fingers and drew them across the faces of some of the Jewish girls causing an ugly long cut and a disfiguiring scar. Yet she sits among them in class again. She realizes that what they did to her jewish classmates was terrible, but she doesn't leave school. That incident should have been a signal to her and her family that Jews did not have a future in Poland. The reader just wants to shake them and say "apply for a visa to the U.S. and leave now." The family does not consider such a move because of cultural and language differences. It would be painful for the parents to start over in a tenement in a foreign land when their material life in Poland was so comfortable. It was easier to ignore the issue and believe that it would soon blow over. Anya meets Stajoe who is from Warsaw during a stay at a summer resort. He courts her long distance during the winter. Finally, he convinces her to marry him and she does. She moves to Warsaw but promises her parents that she will finish medical school one day. She only needs one more semester. However, she is employed by physicians and health centers giving injections and providing medical care under the supervision of her superiors. She is really dispensing medical care as if she were a doctor. She does not however perform any type of surgery. Anya becomes pregnant. She and Stajoe are very happy about the impending event, but Anya assures her family that after her baby is born, she will return to medical school. Stajoe is arrested and imprisoned . The charges and cause are vague but they have something to do with shirking his military service. Bribes had to be paid and other issues had to be resolved before he can be released. Meanwhile, Anya climbs steep stairs daily to visit him. He does not appear to be the most thoughtful husband. Anya gives birth to a girl she names Ninka. Again after he is relased they should have left Poland for the west. But they do not. Then Germany invades Poland in 1939. Warsaw is badly bombed. Polish Jews have learned about all the anti-Jewish laws passed in Germany. They are clearly aware that Jews are being physically harmed and discriminated against by their fellow Germans citizens. Yet most including Anya and her family make no attempt to leave before the invasion. Anya wants to return to Vilno to see if her family is alive and well. After making sure Stajoe's family is safe, they make the arduaous trip to Vilno. Vilno is not as damaged as Warsaw. However, the Russian soldiers who occupied the village while fighting the Germans stripped the residents of many of their possessions. By the time the Germans invade little of the furniture and clothing remains. Anya and her family slept on the floor as they had no beds. I don't recall when Vera, Anya's sister loses her beloved piano, but it may have been during the Russian invasion. Vera is a talented pianist who earns money as a piano teacher. In any case bereft of most of their physical comforts they await the German menace. When the Germans arrive they begin discriminating against the Jews, beating them up and robbing them of what little they have left. Anya's father is arrested and beaten but he survives and returns home. Now they try to leave Vilno ,but no one will give the family all the visas it needs. Anya's father is again arrested and beaten but this time he does not return. Anya searches for him and finds him very badly beaten in a pile of bodies in the Botanical gardens which have been surrounded by barbed wire. She hands him a jar of fresh strawberries thru the fence. He does not recognize her, but he takes the berries. As a medical student she realizes that his head is so badly damaged that he will not survive for long. He will certainly never recover. She returns to announce he died in German custody. The Germans round up the Jews and force them to perform slave labor for minimal rations. Stajoe obtains 3 passports and visas that will allow Anya, Ninka and Stajoe to emigrate to a Carribean island. Anya refuses to leave her mother and siblings. The reader just wants to shake her and force her to go. Her father is dead. The family is on starvation rations. She has a child to consider. However, she remains steadfastly loyal to her mother and siblings. Stajoe tries to convince her to leave to no avail. Finally after a few weeks the visas and passports expire and their salvation vanishes into thin air. Then they are rounded up and placed in a ghetto where the living conditions are crowded and horrible. Everyone is being starved. The family's long time Christian maid brings food to the fence on various occassions to try to save them. Disease is rampant. Anya works at the hospital but there is little medicine available. Her pregnant childhood friend, Rachel is interred in the ghetto after her husband and child are killed and asks to stay with the family. She is very ill with some kind of uterine infection in addition to her pregnancy. However, she suffers abnormal sudden abdominal swelling. Anya puts her in the hospital. The surgeon performs neccessary surgery to save her life. The pregnancy is ended. He finds enough antibiotics to save her life. She returns to the family in a terrible and weakened state. Anya brings Rachel to work with her in the hospital because the other work duties would kill her. Anya makes the decision to place Ninka who is blue eyed and blond with a Polish Christian family to save her. Stajoe is killed. One by one Anya loses all her siblings and she, Rachel and her mother are shipped to the concentration camps. Her mother dies there. After grueling work and living condititons in the camp, Anya is offered a job tending the house of the camp commandant. A young SS officer takes a liking to her and brings her extra food. He also makes available the potatoes in the cellar. Anya shares some of her bounty with Rachel, and she begins to recover some of her health. Finally he offers her a chance to escape. She is incredulous and suspicious of the offer. Then he reveals that he is a Jew hiding as a member of the German army. Like Anya he does not look Jewish. Anya leaves her boots for Rachel, dons the clothes the officer has provided her and she successfully escapes. She survives the war, reunites with her daughter and emigrates to the U.S. They are the only members of her family to survive. Anya never completes medical school. Instead she completes the courses required to become an R.N. and she earns her living as an R.N. Rachel, however, who also survives and is not encumbered by a child completes medical school and becomes an M.D. This book is terribly long. Some of the repetition is uneccessary. It could do with a good editing. The print is very small, and at nearly 500 pages it is a long read. I did not feel that Stajoe's character was well developed. Had he survived the war, it is not clear that their marriage would have survived. Something was missing in this marriage. If you love reading about the holocaust you may want to read this book which is at least based on a true story. Otherwise, I would skip it. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 1120 used & new from $0.01 1 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Guy Book Gals Will Love, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel (Paperback) This tale about a kind and decent young man whose goal in life is to become a professional race car driver is told through the eyes of his beloved dog Enzo. Both Denny's wife, Eve and daughter, Zoe love Enzo and he loves them too. Many of Denny's life conflicts are analyzed in terms of race car wisdom and jargon. Denny works as a mechanic in a shop that specializes in high end European cars. He moonlights as a race car driving instructor, a racer and performing in advertisementss. This is why guys will love it. What guy doesn't dream of putting the pedal to the metal in a souped up Ferrari. Unfortunately, Denny faces a terrible tragedy compounded by the selfish meddling of his wealthy in-laws. His beloved wife dies after a grueling battle with brain cancer. Denny is kind enough to agree to leave his wife in her parents care when she is released from the hospital and told she has 6 to 8 months to live. Because his 5 year old daughter, Zoe will lose her mother at such a young age, he agrees to also leave her in their care so she can spend as much time as possible with her dying mother. Denny returns to the small but comfortable Seattle home with Enzo his beloved dog. He is terribly distraught and lonely. He loves his wife, Eve and cannot bear to think of losing her. Still he suffers alone without the light of his life, Zoe, to brighten his mood. He takes her home on occassion and she tells him how she would rather stay with him. Her grandparents give her many material things and a beautiful girly bedroom in their spacious Mercer Island home, but she would still prefer to be with Denny. She understands the situation as much as a 5 year old can. She loves her dying mother too. Denny and Eve were wonderful and responsive parents to Zoe so she is a lovely little girl. After Eve dies, her parents ask Denny to give up custody of Zoe so that they can raise her amid all the material things they can give her. They want to send her to private school and later college, but Denny steadfastly refuses. When he does so the grandparents file a petition for custody alleging that Denny committed statutory rape with a 15 year old girl. The charge is false, but Denny must contend with the reality of it nonetheless. He hires one of his well to do successful attorney clients to represent him. After 3 years Denny is penniless. He borrowed on his house and finally was forced to sell it. He moves with Enzo into a small apartment without a backyard. Because of the criminal charges against him, Denny cannot leave Washington State. Thus his racing career which was about to take off was stymeid. Penniless and at his wits end, financing comes thru an unexpected source. Denny wins his criminal case and the custody battle. Enzo was his steadfast mainstay throughout his ordeal. Enzo and Denny were together before Denny met his wife. By age 8, Enzo was suffering from hip problems and arthritus. Then he was hit by a car. The impact was not enough to kill him, but it did hurt him. By age 10 he had trouble walking and controlling his bladder. He was living a very undignified life. Yet he held on because he knew Denny needed him. He was able to let go when Denny won his legal battles. Yes this book is a bit schmaltzy as one critic observed. However, it is a page turner and a fast and easy read. It is highly entertaining. It would be nice if every book could be as good as Cutting For Stone, but mainly a book should be entertaining. I think most readers will find it so. Yes, it has a Hollywood ending, but any book told from the point of view of the family dog has to be a bit Hollywoodish. Also for those of you who still read paper copy books, the print is larger than usual. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Bride by Anna Solomon Edition: Paperback Price: $6.00 41 used & new from $0.90 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Little Life, June 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Little Bride (Paperback) This novel follows Minna from her shtetyl near Odessa to her home in America. The option to travel to America as a bride held the only promise for her. Minna lacks a moral compass. She lacks compassion. These traits are understandable. Minna's mother deserted the family when she was about 5. Her younger brother died. The family was always poor and struggled to get by. When she was 11, her father died. Her aunts who inherited her father's property, kicked her out of her house. At age 11 she was forced to take a job as a maidservant for a difficult spinster in Odessa. Once she turned 16, her days were numbered there as well. Her employer, Galina, would seek a younger servant whom she could intimidate. An agency seeking young healthy yiddish speaking Jewish women for Jewish grooms in America was interviewing or rather doing "looks" of potential brides. Minna applied to become a bride. She had very few options and Jews were being killed in the Ukrainian pogroms. Traveling to the U.S. to become a bride represented hope and opportunity to a young girl who had no opportunities. Minna submitted to an invasive humiliating personal exam and was accepted as a bride. She traveled in steerage in a miserable crossing to reach New York. In Minna's imagination a fully furnished house in town awaited her as did a willing groom. She imagined having her own kitchen, stove and sink. Here was a place where no one cared if she came from nothing. This opportunity would be a fresh start. She never thought that her deprivations in America would be worse than those in Odessa, but in fact they were. After a long journey to NYC, Minna was met by a young man a little older that she. He escorted her via rail and wagon to his father's sod hut in the Dakota territory. Her escort, Soloman, was one of her groom's two grown sons. Her husband, Max, who was more than twice her age was a religious Jew who knew nothing about farming. He also had little interest in learning to farm or actually working the farm. His main interest was prayer and Jewish observance to the point of starvation. His first wife left after a few days on the prarie. This desolate life was not for her. As for Minna there was no sink or fine stove. There were no fine bed clothes nor trousseau. Minna and Max shared a single room with Jacob and Soloman, Max's two grown sons. Their life was spartan. Further, Minna falls for Soloman, the young man who escorted her from the ship to his father's home. This setting does not bode well for Minna's future. We are left with a sense of hopelessness from the moment of her arrival in her new home. I could not identify with Minna. Further the other characters were not appealing either. Soloman used his "stepmother" sexually, but did not care about her welfare. Soloman lacked empathy. Max allowed his obsessive religious observance to ruin his harvest and starve his family. Jacob was so poorly drawn that I have little feeling for him. However, after a terrible nearly fatal winter, he joined the circus without even saying goodbye to his family. One of the circus wagons en route to town asked for permission to stay on Max's property for the night. When they left, Jacob went with them. The family feels a sense of betrayal but not from Jacob. They feel betrayed by the circus people who stayed without charge on their land and then lured Jacob away. These characters have a poor set of priorities. Many of thier values are misplaced. For readers who are looking for stories about the American West, I think there are better options. For those looking for novels on the Jewish experience in Victorian America, I think there are more satisfying reads. Not every story can have a happy ending, but the ending should satisfy the reader. This one does not. When the reader does not care about the characters in a novel, it is hard to maintain interest or find the book satisfying. Also this book is about small lives. Not every life is lived large and surely there are good stories in small lives, but there has to be something to engage the reader. One issue not previously mentioned was the establishment of "The Colony". Max disapproved of the settlement, but it was successful. To me the arrangement was much like a kibbutz. It was financed by a wealthy Jewish American, "The Baron." I thought it was interesting and was new to me. I never heard of such a movement before. Clearly, the author did an excellent job researching the applicable history. One can see her extensive work in this regard. Still if the author cannot make me care about the characters, I simply won't enjoy the book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 216 used & new from $1.65 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Magical Masada, May 21, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Dovekeepers: A Novel (Paperback) For me this book was a page turner. Still it did not rise to the level of a 5 star book. The literary quality was just not there. There are no histories of woman on Masada, the settlement of 960 Jews who committed suicide rather than be captured alive by the brutal Roman soldiers. They killed themselves to escape horrible and torturous deaths at the hands of the Romans. When it was clear that the Romans would soon capture thier city, they set fire to all their stores, all their weapons and all their buildings to make sure the Romans did not benefit by their deaths. A similar theory was demonstrated in modern day Israel. When the Jews unilaterally abandoned Gaza and returned control to the Palestineans, they left their green houses so the Palestineans could earn a living. However, they bulldozed their houses. They did not want the Palestineans to benefit to that extent from their refusal to negotiate and their refusal to recognize the state of Israel. Still out of their intense hatred for the Israelis, the Palestineans shot themselves in the foot and destroyed the green houses themselves. This is not so different from the philosophy of the Jews on Masada. However, the Romans would have used whatever was left for them. Hoffman created the four characters of the women herself. Women were not mentioned in the ancient histories of Masada. Hoffman created them out of her imagination. She did use the only source created at the time of the massacre, Flavius Josephus account of the seige and battle. While some stories of the event claim that the inhabitants of Massada were religious Jews who died rather than be forced to violate the laws of their faith, this one did not. There was a group of relgious or fanatacal Jews called the Essenes who lived in the settlement but also apart. Like the ultra-orthodox Jews of today, they wore different garb and prayed several times daily. They were marked by their distinctive all white clothing. They wanted to pray and study all day. They did not believe in fighting even if attacked. Does this remind the reader of other cultish sects? When they sought refuge on Massada, the settlement leaders informed them that they would have to work as much as anyone and fight the soldiers along with the secular Jews who inhabited the settlement. They agreed to do so. Yet they left just before the Roman onslaught and were killed in their caves. They did not defend themselves so it was an all out slaughter. Hoffman's version depended heavily on Josephus history of the battle. He was a contemporary Jewish scholar who spoke Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and other languages. He saved his own life by offering to record the history of the event much as a modern day reporter might. He wrote a history in Latin to please the Roman generals. He wrote a slightly different one in Aramaic. Scholars choose to use the Aramaic version as a resource today. It is thought to be more accurate because it did not cater to the Roman generals as much. If Josephus had written an unflattering view of the Roman legions, he might have been executed. His account must be taken with a grain of salt. Still it is the only history we have even today. Hoffman also relied on the book, Masada by Yadin which had photographs of the archeological finds at the location. Hoffman wove these archeological finds into the story. This feature was especially admirable. Archeologists have found pieces of tartan plaid worn by Scottish mercenaries in the Roman army. The settlement coined its own money and some of the shekals have been found. They used a ceramic calling card in lieu of our paper business cards. Some of these were found. I agree with much of the critisizm that finds this book too long. It is too long for a book that does not rise to a certain level of excellence. The print is small too. If you have trouble reading small print, buy this on the kindle and increase the font. Magic and mysticism had a featured role in the story but I liked it. I also liked the character, Shira, who was a medicine woman. Other members of my book club did not care much for her. She believed in spells and amulets and she was trained in creating them. Of all the characters I found her the most interesting. I suspect that the people of the time also believed in magic, spells, and amulets. Life was very harsh and unpredictable. People living in such conditions try to gain control of their lives with magic and spells etc. It gives them comfort. As recent as the 1940's some Jews believed in the "evil eye." Others followed local suspicions in spitting or throwing salt over a shoulder to protect one from bad luck or evil. These were not neccessarily Jewish beliefs. More likely they were local or ethnic custtoms and superstitions. Even today "evil eye" jewelry is available and worn by some to ward off evil. Worn by others it is just a historical curiosity. Some of the medicinal herbs used in ritual magic became the basis of modern pharmeceuticals. The settlers also appeared to worship an idol from time to time though the idols were secondary to Adonai, the one true god. I found this a bit odd because the central theme of the Jewish faith is that there is but one God. Still it is possible that people hedged their bets in their attempts to control the outcome of their lives. Some of the characters like Yael were magical too. She could approach birds and they would not run from her. Rather they would alight on her arms. Some of the other characters had magical traits. Trained assasins had the ability to become "invisible" or hide in plain sight. These traits could have been explained with reality. The assasin could have been learned in the art of stealth. Instead there was a hint of magic created with a special cloak. An example of one of the book's weaknesses is Hoffman's use of the uncommon word"plait" or "plaited" rather than the more common word "braid." I think the best writers explain things simply. So Hoffman receives demerits for that. Still she has several quotable phrases of truism that I would repeat. For example, she explains why the female survivors codle their donkey." I make certain this creature is well cared for, ready if we should ever need to depart suddenly. Our people never know when we may have to flee..." also "Here is the riddle of love: Everything it gives to you, it takes away." These are true statements that are worth savoring and repeating. This book is worth reading if you have read most of the better literary efforts on your list. It is a good beach book, travel book or summer read. I liked the magic in the story, but it might be a bit heavy handed for some. The book was too long and the print was small. Many Jews will give this book a high rating becuase they believe it is a betrayl to offer critisizm of a Jewish author writing about a Jewish subject in a public forum. I do not. Had it been available I would have given theis book 3&1/2 stars. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy by Arthur D. Morse Edition: Paperback 20 used & new from $34.58 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Shame On The U.S., May 11, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy (Paperback) This book was very upsetting to read. Our anti-Semitic state department knew exactly what was happening to Jews in Europe in WWII and what did they do? They made it even more difficult for Jews to come to the U.S. Only 10% of the available visas were given out to Europeans before WWII. The state department and most Christian Americans did not want Europe's Jews to make homes even temporarily in our land. Franklin Roosevelt knew as well and did nothing. He bombed chemical plants 5 miles from the train tracks that took Jews to Auschwitz, but he declined to even make the small effort needed to bomb the tracks. This simple act alone would have saved thousands of Jews from the ovens. Roosevelt knew the state department was anti-Semetic and engaged in obstructionist conduct, but he did nothing about it. It was clear to me that Roosevelt himself was anti-Semetic. We willingly took in 10,000 British children escaping the London blitz, but would not do the same for Jewish children seeking to escape the ovens and certain death. Other countries were equally guilty. Britain could have used the man power of able bodied adults who could have provided agricultural labor, factory labor, and even soldiers in their time of need. Still other than the Kindertransport which took in 1000 Jewish children, they too did nothing to help the fleeing Jews. Austrailia with its vast lands was always seeking to attract populations to develop them. However,they too closed their doors to the Jews. Latin America which could have benefitted the most from the skills of physicians, engineers, professors, silver and goldsmiths, businessmen, accountants, musicians, composers, artists etc refused them entry as well. The tale of the condemned ship, the St. Louis is a testament to the Cuban betrayal of its promise to a few hundred Jews who paid dearly for entry permits that were not honored. A corollary to the Latin American anti-Semitism has to be that the Catholic church encouraged this discrimination and hatred. Think of all the inventions, medical treatments, pharmeceuticals, musical compostions, theatrical shows and art that were lost to humanity forever because so many educated and talented people were murdered. Today that anti-Semitism arises in anti-Israeli speech and propaganda. So much of the critisizm of Israel is merely anti-Semitism dressed in different clothes. The bar for Israel is set higher than for any other country. They are supposed to accept rocket attacks on their citizens and issue only a "proportional response." They are not supposed to win the skirmishes. What is that if not anti-Semitism. When a country without provocation attacks another country seeking to destroy it and push its people into the sea, it is the attacked country's right to fight with all its might. Then when the victim country wins territory previously under the perpetrator's control, the attacked country has never before been asked to return the territory. Only Israel is being asked to return to its 1967 borders. Why should it? Has any other similarly positioned country in the history of the world returned territory won in a war it did not start? We must rethink international opinions on Israel through the lens of an anti-Semitic bias. As for the U.S.- Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Hungry Yearning to Be Free... as long as they are white Christians is our true motto. Ironically, this Poem was written by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American. I wonder how many similarly beautiful poems were lost forever because we did not let their potential authors seek sanctuary in the U.S. This book should be required reading in any school course on the holocaust. Students should see American history even in this unflattering light. In the past we were always taught that the U.S. wore the white hat. The U.S. was always the hero and the beacon of hope. We were founded on idealistic principals that focused on the good of mankind. We were founded on the ideals of freedom of religion, assembly and speech. It is important to see America in a more critical and realistic light in various areas including our shameful treatment of American indians and Japanese Americans. This book offers a critical look at America's shameful response to the holocaust. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 516 used & new from $1.95 In The Garden Of Monsters, January 31, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Hardcover) Larsen's rendition of ambassador Dodd's sojurn in Berlin just before WW II was a page-turner. Even though I knew the outcome of our policies toward Germany before WW II I could not put this book down. The factual history of a naive family of 4 who served U.S. interests in Berlin was fascinating. This is also the history of an anti-semitic U.S. president, state department and population that really did not care to trouble themselves over the plight of Europe's Jews even as they were burning in Hitler's ovens. Growing up all I ever heard about FDR was praise. He wasn't so great. He led us into the destructive path of the nazi machine and the empire of Japan. Roosevelt could have eased the plight of Germany's Jews simply by ordering the German ambassador to readily give out U.S. visas to the fleeing Germans. Instead the state department's policy was to discourage the immigration of Jews. Only 10% of the allotted European visas were given out during Hitler's reign. Roosevelt met with Dodd privately when he returned to D.C. He could have made a personal appeal without going through the notoriously anti-semitic state department. It is true that people were calling Roosevelt "president Rosenberg" behind his back and accusing him of being too sympathetic to the Jews. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Even though we made many bombing forays within 5 miles of the train tracks to Auschwitz, Roosevelt and the war department refused to bomb the tracks. I think Elenore Roosevelt would have assured more humane policies had she been president. Even more fascinating was Dodd's pretty, bright and charming daughter, Martha. Her many liasons with the rich and powerful which included the head of the gestapo were highly entertaining. Was she a woman of loose morals or was she merely the very attractive daughter of the ambassador who drew powerful charming men to her? It is easy for plain or dull witted women to complain of her loose morals, but then they haven't been so tempted. Politics did not affect her choice of bed mate. She too was a mild anti-semite who looked the other way when violence was visited on German Jews. Her "boys will be boys" attitude was shocking and troubling. I wonder if she would have agreed had the object of opprobrium been non-lutheran protestants. I doubt it, but it is possible. She didn't let the facts interfere with her good times even when the object of her affections was married. While her father never gave up his anti-semitic beliefs and feelings even when raising the alarm over Hitler and the Nazis, she did. After she returned to New York engaging in even more liasons, she married a wealthy Jewish communist and lived out her life with him in a grand house in Prague. For anyone who believes Jews were not hurt economically by the anti-semitism prevelent in the U.S., one needs only to read this book. There were deliberate steps taken to preclude Jews from wholly participating in the U.S. economy. Often real estate in the best neighborhoods excluded Jews. Certain fields excluded Jews. The Ford automotove empire had not one Jewish employee or sub-contrator. Jews succeeded not because there were few economic roadblocks but rather in spite of the roadblocks. That is just how talented the Jewish people are. Charles Lindbergh was an example of a prominant anti-semite who sympathized with the Nazis. Anti-Jewish sentiment was often the reason some Jews themselves opposed taking too public a stance against Germany. Privately, they all opposed Hitler. Dodd convinced the Chicago Jews to give up plans to try Hitler publically as they had in NYC. One wonders why they agreed to his request. U.S. Jews were fearful of anti-Jewish sentiment in the U.S. They did not want to have to leave their own homes and businesses in order to flee violence directed against them. Though Non-Jewish leaders thought Rabbi Weiss too pushy on the issue of the fate of European Jews, many Jews in the U.S. thought he gave in too readily to Roosevelt's personal interests and popularity. Roosevelt was often thought of as the Jewish presidential candidate, but that was only because the republican candidate was even more anti-semitic. I also read Issac's storm and found it to be tedious reading. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this effort by Larson. I own but never read Devil in the White City. I will be reading that in the near future. For any of you who read "Newlies" comments to some of the favorable reviews, he is a holocaust denier, an arab sympathizer and very angry about our war in Iraq. He is probably an anti-Israel Iraqi. So if you are reading through his comments wondering where he got his opinions, I doubt they were from this book. Somewhere in his diatribe he mentions he hasn't read it. Does anyone besides me think that Jews and Asian Americans who also were precluded from economic opportunities be entitled to affirmative action and/or reparations? Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 82 used & new from $4.25 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Needs Editing, January 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival (Paperback) This is the haunting memoir of Clara Schwartz who along with her family hid in a bunker beneath a house during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Three other Jewish families hid with them in the same small bunker. No adult could stand upright in the space. The living conditions were deplorable and dirty. All of the people suffered skin sores from excessive sweating and the inability to properly bath. They all starved barely surviving on the meagre food available to them. The families were hidden by the Becks a Polish family who acted courageously by concealing and supporting the lives of 18 Jews living below their house. This book also demonstrated what could have been done by even deeply flawed Poles to rescue Polish Jews during the holocaust. Too bad there were so few of them. Much of the book was overly repetitive. I understand the author's desire to convey the terrible tedium and constant fear of being discovered for their 18 months in hiding. However, this book could benefit from tighter editing. The memoirist has an important story to tell, but it could have been told more artfully. Still for those who like to read Holocaust fiction and non-fiction, this will be a good choice. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Traitor DVD Price: $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Charming Tale, October 24, 2011 This review is from: The Little Traitor (Amazon Instant Video) This is the story of a friendship that blooms between Sgt. Dunlop, a British soldier and Proffy, a Jewish boy born in 1947 Palestine. The British and the Jews of Palestine were opposing forces in 1947. The British opposed the Jewish occupation of what became the state of Israel in 1947. The British opposed and prevented the Jewish refugees fleeing WWII Europe from emigrating to Palestine, the Jewish homeland. Jewish armies fought the British soldiers so a friendship between a member of the British occupying forces and a young Jewish boy was unusual. Proffey was a member of a group of 3 boys called the FOD for Forces of Death that tried to sabotage the British by setting off home made bombs with the goal of blowing up a British motorcade. They weren't successful. Proffey and Sgt. Dunlop studied and discussed the book of Samuel from the Old Testament. Proffey was criticized by his fellow Jews and even tried in a Jewish court for espionage. He was acquitted, but he was viewed with suspicion from then on. He paid dearly for what was an innocent and lovely friendship. Sgt. Dunlop sympathized with the Jews who celebrated when the U.N. gave them their state. Sgt. Dunlop was tranferred home and because of mishaps, neither got to say their goodbyes. I won't write about a spoiler, but the film ends charmingly. I highly recommend it. There is a very good film based on this book. I don't know its name, but it too is highly recommended. The acting is first rate, and the script is first rate. The character actor who plays Sgt. Dunlop is excellent. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Edition: Hardcover Price: $17.46 264 used & new from $0.01 3 of 5 people found the following review helpful Extremely Tedious Incredibly Conceited, October 17, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Hardcover) This novel is an intellectual conceit. Oskar, a precocious nine year old boy lost his devoted father in the world trade center on 9/11. He finds a key in a blue vase in his father's closet. The key is in an envelope marked "Black." Oskar assumes that "Black" is the name of a person to whom the key belongs and that it has something to do with his father's life. In an attempt to make sense of his father's life and to learn about him, he visits every person named "Black" in the NYC phone book to ask about the key. Oskar is also haunted by the fact that while his father was in the tower at Windows of the World restaurant he phoned his home to assure his family that he was O.K. and expected to be rescued. Oskar hearing his father's voice asking him to pick up the phone did not pick it up. He let the message go to voice mail. Additionally, he did not tell his mother of the three times his father phoned and left a message. One wonders why he did not pick up the phone. Did he know his father could not be rescued from the images on the T.V.? He as well as all the other children were told what happened and sent home from school. He feels guilty for refusing to pick up the phone and for failing to tell his mother about the messages. One wonders why she would not have seen the message light and listened to the messages even if Oskar failed to tell her about them. Early in the novel Oskar visits an art supply store where he tests a marker on the pads of paper left for that purpose. On the pad he sees his father's name, Thomas Schell, written twice. He thinks his father recently wrote his name there and that maybe he is alive and roaming around New York. He believes that the written name has something to do with his father or the meaning of his life. Seeking information about his father he visits all the "Blacks" in the phone book. After visiting a few himself, he enlists the aid of an elderly neighbor who never leaves his apartment. For some reason he leaves his apartment to help Oskar. This novel like Foer's prior novel is surreal. It is intellectual and designed to appeal to an intellectual reader. I had no trouble reading it. I just did not enjoy it or find it entertaining. I finished it because my book club is reading it. I did want to find out what Oskar learns, but I don't recommend it. Further, this is not a suitable book for the Kindle. There are several pages of illustrations and odd writing. So buy the book. The paperback is fine. This is an intellectual conceit. It is deliberately not designed for the average or casual reader. I read constantly and had no trouble understanding the point of the book. I just didn't think it was worth my time. No one in my book club found it satisfying either. They did think it was good literature. They just did not like it. Find something else. Comment (1) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Nov 9, 2011 2:06 PM PST ________________________________________ The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona Golabek Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 128 used & new from $0.01 A Tale Of Inspiration and Survival, October 14, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Paperback) Lisa Jura is a talented 14 year old living in Vienna when Hitler comes to power and invaded Austria. Her father is a simple tailor and the family lived in a working class ghetto of Vienna. They are not rich. Lisa is a talented and promising pianist who studies piano with a prominent teacher in this city of music. It is Lisa's dream to play a concert in the much loved Vienna State Opera House. The first consequence of the Nuremberg laws which discriminated harshly against the Jews was that her much loved Music professor, Dr. Isseles could no longer teach her piano. Non-Jews could no longer teach Jewish students. It was with great regret that professor Isseles has to dismiss his promising student, Lisa. Lisa returns home downtrodden. The whole neighborhood was inspired by Lisa's gift and was hopeful that she would arise from the ghetto and make something of herself. Her music loving mother was her inspiration and constant encourager. After crystalnacht, when her father was beaten, forced to undress to the waist and ordered to scrub the street, Lisa's mother recognized the danger for her family. A seat on the Kindertransport became available and was offered to the family. Rosie, who was 18 was too old. Lisa at 14 qualified and her mother sent her. With tears and sadness Lisa left her family with a small suitcase which contained a photo of her famiily and a sparkling evening bag that belonged to her grandmother. She removed the tiny gold necklace with the piano charm that she always wore and put it around the neck of her 11 year old sister, Sonia. Lisa was placed in the country home of a wealthy military officer and his much younger wife. Lisa was a servant in the house and the house did not have a piano. After 6 months of loneliness and isolation in the country, she ran away to the Jewish agency in London which then placed her in an orphanage for these children run by a Viennese matron who also fled Austria. She had camaraderie among the other children most of whom were from Germany or Austria. They all spoke German. However, the matron, Mrs. Cohen, an educated and previously wealthy Viennese matron required that only English be spoken so that the children became fluent in English, the tongue of their adopted land. Ten thousand Jewish children were saved by the English. Many of them opened their homes to these children. Not all of the homes were Jewish. The orphanage had a piano and Lisa played it beautifully and regularly. All the residents of the house were entertained by her music. She worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory during the day to earn money for her food and lodging. She was allowed to keep 25% of her earnings for personal expenses. She tried to find ways to save her family. Sonia needed a sponser and Lisa searched for one everywhere. Life was becoming desperate for Lisa's family and Sonia. Finally, she asked a quaker widow who had been charitable when a bomb damaged the orphanage and Lisa needed a place to sleep. The widow could not keep Sonia, but she found another quaker family in the country who could. Sonia was on the last train of the kindertransport before England declared war on Germany and the trains stopped running. Sonia was allowed to study in the morning and work only in the afternoon. She was lucky as most had to work all day. Mrs. Cohen recognized Lisa's talent and encouraged her to apply to the prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Lisa won a spot and a scholarship. She attended the academy, but worked mornings at the factory making supplies for the army. She sewed heavy fabric into back packs etc. Her piano teacher noticing the stress on her fingers arranged for her to have a job playing the piano in the evenings at local club where there was drinking and dancing. Lisa was an attractive girl with red hair, and all the soldiers wanted to buy her drinks and flirt with her. She only saw her sister once every 6 months because the train tickets from the countryside were expensive and Sonia could not leave her work or school very often. They lost contact with their married sister,Rosie and their parents. No one in the orphanage had contact with their parents. The Jewish agency heard the rumors about the death camps, the deportations, and the mass killings. No one wanted to believe it. The stories were so horrific that they were unblievable. Lisa graduated from the music school and the school financed her debut recital. It was heavily attended. One attendee was a French Jewish soldier,Michael Golabek, who had heard her play in the club and was impressed by her talent. After the war, Sonia and Lisa were reunited with their sister Rosie who was now wearing the chain with the piano charm. Rosie her husband Leo, and their four year old daughter, Esther survived by escaping from France into Switzerland. They all emigrated to the U.S. where Lisa again met up with Michael Golabek. Lisa and Michael married. All three sisters and their spouses moved to California. Lisa's parents were deported to Lodz and then Auschwitz where they died. Lisa's daughters and granddaughters are all talented pianists. Her daughter, Mona Golebek one of the authors is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, the host of a classical music radio show and grammy nominated recording artist. This story was a page turner. I could not put it down. However, it was sentimental. The characters lacked dimension. They were usually good people with few negative qualities. Because of that they were not realistic. They all seemed to be kind and good, tolerant and understanding of each other. For teenagers they had relatively few issues. All but one lost their whole family. One boy had a mother who survived. These children spent their teen years in the children's home and grew to adulthood there. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace DVD ~ Ulrich Tukur Offered by FaithMovies Price: $12.99 24 used & new from $10.97 2 of 7 people found the following review helpful Boring Docudrama, September 22, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (DVD) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor during the third reich. He was from a wealthy, noble, and highly educated family full of intellectuals. Tha Nazi dogma did not fit into his idea of Christianity. He enjoyed the company of blacks and Jews and did not have a hatred for any ethnic group. His twin sister's husband was Jewish and he advised them and their children to flee Germany early on or risk being murdered. He also helped other Jews escape to Switzerland. According to this film he did not have a passionate love life though he does become engaged to a 17 year old girl who has been deeply sadened by the loss of her brother and father on the Eastern front. This film could have been an exciting drama of the planning and execution of escapes. It could have been about his consiparcy to negotiate a seperate peace early with the allies much to the chagrin of Hitler and his henchmen. Instead it attempted to document his inner spiritual struggle within the Nazi state. He too could have left and made a life for himself in the U.S., but he returned to Germany to be with his people and country in their time of need. He was a good person, but inner spiritual struggles do not make good entertainment unless the struggle is reflected in something physical like an escape plan and execution. This film nearly put us to sleep. If you are looking for a film about Christianity during the nazi era then this film is for you. If you are looking for a hero's tale during the nazi reign,, you will be disappointed. There is no action or adventure in this film. He was a Christian hero in the intellectual biblical and religious scholar sense. I am sure he was part of various escape plans but the film only touches on this aspect of his life. This film could have been so much more. Too bad. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Get to Know Us • Careers • Investor Relations • Press Releases • Amazon and Our Planet • Amazon in the Community Make Money with Us • Sell on Amazon • Become an Affiliate • Advertise Your Products • Independently Publish with Us • ›See all Amazon Payment Products • Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card • Amazon.com Store Card • Shop with Points • Credit Card Marketplace • Amazon Currency Converter Let Us Help You • Your Account • Shipping Rates & Policies • Amazon Prime • Returns Are Easy • Manage Your Kindle • Help • Brazil • Canada • China • France • Germany • India • Italy • Japan • Spain • United Kingdom 6pm Score deals on fashion brands AbeBooks Rare Books & Textbooks AfterSchool.com Kids’ Sports, Outdoor & Dance Gear AmazonFresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door AmazonLocal Great Local Deals in Your City AmazonSupply Business, Industrial & Scientific Supplies AmazonWebServices Scalable Cloud Services Askville Community Answers Audible Download Audio Books BeautyBar.com Prestige Beauty Delivered Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide Bookworm.com Books For Children Of All Ages Casa.com Kitchen, Storage & Everything Home CreateSpace Indie Print Publishing Made Easy Diapers.com Everything But The Baby DPReview Digital Photography Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities Junglee.com Shop Online in India Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital Publishing Made Easy Look.com Kids' Clothing & Shoes MYHABIT Private Fashion Designer Sales Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands Soap.com Health, Beauty & Home Essentials • • • • Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting Book Reviews Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder 5 Stars This is the story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his campaign to equalize medical treatment for the world’s poor and rich. He regularly compares the treatment received by patients at Boston’s Brigham Hospital and care received by the poor in Haiti, Peru, Russia’s prison inmates, and the inhabitants of the low class Roxbury section of Boston. Primarily concerned with T.B. especially MDR T.B.( multi-antibiotic resistant strains of T.B.) and HIV, Farmer builds nascent health care providers in the central plains of Haiti, Lima Peru, and the Russian prison system into state of the art dispensers of T.B. and HIV treatment in these patient population centers. He hears the same discouraging words that all do gooders do, but he ignores them and forges full steam ahead. While still in medical school at Harvard, he dispenses medical care while studying for exams on flash cards. I still haven’t figured out how he made up for missed anatomy classes and labs. He clearly had many sympathetic professors who were willing to bend the rules for him. They also keyed him into sources of funds for his endeavors. One man, Tom White, almost single handedly financed the early and even later efforts. Paul lived frugally on a shoe string to be sure. He paid for medicines out of his own pocket. At long last he was a recipient of 25 million U.S. $ from the Gates Foundation. He sacrificed his own family life and found a mate, a Haitian woman, who would be willing to live a much reduced life style to support Paul’s goals. He was ingenious and would not take “no” for an answer. When state of the art drugs were too expensive for third world use, he found ways to lower those prices markedly. He wrestled with standard WHO policies and convinced them to change. He fought the WL(white liberal) notions of best policies. He was a diplomat and mining from his own upbringing, he found ways to convince doctors driven by their own egos to change their views. He was able to convince them that the ideas arose from their own policies and notions. We could all learn from Dr. Farmer. I think schools attempting to get recent immigrants/and or their parents to comply with school ideals could learn from him. Similarly, schools attempting to gain compliance from Americans in the lower socio –economic groups could too. He managed to preserve the dignity of his patients, his foes, those who presented obstructions to his view of proper delivery of health care for the poor and world policy makers. Men who can successfully communicate with the lowly and the powerful are rare and Paul Farmer is one. If you are looking for an inspirational read, you will love this book. The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald 2 stars Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him. Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs Edition: Paperback Price: $13.29 96 used & new from $8.32 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Verbose Rehashing and Re-collation of Previously Published Works, July 30, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (Paperback) The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a precis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president. When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome. Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct.They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders. Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club"meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review. We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with Dubya's choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled a "racist." Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Garden: A Novel by Kate Morton Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 620 used & new from $0.01 Anglophile Chic Lit, July 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (Paperback) This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well. This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) by Alexander McCall Smith Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 97 used & new from $5.66 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Yenta of Botswana Wins Again, June 27, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (Paperback) I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert)we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Forgotten Refugees DVD ~ Michael Grynszpan 13 used & new from $0.86 The Story of the Recent Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, June 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Forgotten Refugees (DVD) Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestineans. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morroco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and more well educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants , they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to emigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection by Graham C. Boettcher Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.63 43 used & new from $21.33 Many Gorgeous Photos, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection (Hardcover) I have been fascinated by the lovers' eye brooches ever since I learned about them. I'd love to have the means neccessary to collect them. They are so rare that I don't even have one. So instead I look at the beautiful pictures of this one collection of many often spectacular examples of this interesting and exotic jewelry. This book contains photos of this one extensive collection which features examples of all forms of this type of jewelry. I judged this book the way I judge all books on collections by the number and quality of the photos. This book contains many gorgeous and clear photos cataloguing this one collection of lovers' eye jewelry. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz Edition: Paperback Price: $13.88 89 used & new from $9.00 3 of 10 people found the following review helpful The Best of the Book Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments (Paperback) Like all the other ice cream cook books this one has beautiful pictures and clear instructions. It also contains recipes for basic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I suspect that most ice cream cooks are interested in exotic flavors not easily available commercially. I and my minions have no desire to eat green tea ice cream or any other exotic like mango mint etc. I just wanted to make something that tasted better than the commercially available premium ice creams. That is simply not possible. Ice cream preparation is a science which requires special machinery and the proper use of stabilizers to create a full flavored ice cream. None of these recipes instructs in the use of stabilizers. In fact had I not followed a thread online which dealt with the issue of stabilizers, I would not have learned why none of the ice cream books recommends keeping ice cream more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Homemade ice cream becomes "icy" from the softening and refreezing of same over time. Only the use of stabilizers prevents this. None of the online recipes in the threads instructed on when to add these stabilizers to the mix. One could guess that one should add them just before placing the mix in the freezer. The best available recipe which deals with the "iciness" issue and stabilizers by substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar is a Cooks illustrated online recipe. You must subscribe to the online service since I did not fine the recipe in any of their myriad books and I have over 10 of them. Further, you cannot make anything that tastes as good as Graeters of Ohio, Marble Slab, Ben & Jerrys, or Baskin Robbins. Save yourself the time, trouble and money and buy your ice cream commercially prepared. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer Edition: Hardcover Price: $16.86 111 used & new from $10.78 4 of 8 people found the following review helpful There are Better Options, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Hardcover) If you are looking for a book that provides the basic flavors and some exotic options skip this book. Buy The Perfect Scoop by Leibovitz instead. Better yet subscribe to Cooks Illustrated online service which has one of the few recipes which deals with the issue of stabilizers to prevent iciness. If you wish to make an unusual exotic flavor for a special occassion then by all means go ahead and try. Because of rapid deterioration, you can't prepare this far in advance and freeze it. For that you need stabilizers or the ice cream will turn icy and unpalatable. None of these recipes offer any suggestions for stabilizers. Some should in case the cook wishes to make something that will keep for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Several threads online deal with these issues and I found "organic" stabilizers but few recipes that include exact amounts and how to vary flavors using them. Cooks Illustrated did the best job so save the book money and subscribe to Cooks online. Unfortunately, none of their many books contained an ice cream recipe and I have most of them. I did learn that making ice cream is best left to the professionals. You really can't make a better tasting ice cream than Graeters of Ohio, Marble slab, Ben & Jerrys or Baskin Robbins. Comments (6) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jun 18, 2013 3:43 PM PDT ________________________________________ Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions by Pippa Cuthbert Edition: Spiral-bound 22 used & new from $1.94 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Exotic Flavors I Did Not Like, June 16, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Ice Cream!: Delicious Ice Creams for all Occasions (Spiral-bound) I was looking for a basic ice cream recipe book that would help me make basic flavors like vanilla and vanilla chocolate chip. Further, like none of the other books this had no instructions on the successful use of stabilizers or alternatives to deal with the iciness resulting from the periodic softening and refreezing of all ice creams. Of all the available books The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz best satisfied this need. Still the best recipe for vanilla ice cream and a successful way to deal with the issue of iciness formation was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated which uses corn syrup as part of the sugar to prevent iciness. Save your money and buy the Leibovitz book and use the basic recipe from Cooks Illustrated by buying a subscription to the online service. Further, I have learned that the commercially available ice creams are superir to anything you can turn out from your home freezer. Graeters from Ohio, Marble Slab and Ben & Jerrys have it all over homemade. Further, they have lots of unusual and exotic flavors. So unless you wish to make a specific exotic flavor for a special occassion, you would be better off buying another book, getting the Cooks Illustrated recipe, or buying a commercial ice cream. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The 19th Wife: A Novel Offered by Random House LLC Price: $11.99 2 used & new from $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Modern Day Murder Mystery Woven With Its Historical Past, June 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The 19th Wife: A Novel (Kindle Edition) The story opens with Jordan Scott, the excommunicated gay son of a modern day Mormon plural wife. She is number 19. When Jordan was 14 he dared to hold the hand of one of his similarly aged stepsisters. For this act he was expelled from the community. His mother and father left him on the side of a highway with $17 and nothing more. Jordan succeeded in making a life for himself in L.A. doing construction work and partnering with another gay young man. Now fast forward about 5 years. Jordan sees on TV that his mother is accused of murdering his father. In spite of the hard feelings he has in being abandoned at 14 with so few resources he is sure his mother is incapable of murder and he returns to Mesadale, the fundamentalist , polygamous Mormon town in which he was raised to defend her. The author David Ebershoff weaves this murder mystery in and out of the true history of another 19th wife, Brigham Young's rebellious spouse, Ann Eliza Young. He uses several narrators to tell her tale including reporters, a woman writing a master's thesis, her son, Lorenzo, and Ann Eliza Young herself. Ann Eliza was a beautiful actress living in Salt lake City. She married a man and had two children by him. He failed to support her and she divorced him. Brigham Young was smitten with her and using various means of financial control, he forced her to marry him. He was much older than Ann Eliza, and she did not want to be a plural wife. He mistreated her and she left him escaping the polygamous community under cover of darkness. She then crusades to end polygamy claiming the practice to be barbaric and harmful to wives and their children. She travels on a very successful speaking circuit which is how she supports her two young sons. Lorenzo, the youngest boy accompanies her. She has audiences with congress and president Grant and she accomplishes her goal of outlawing plural marriage in the U.S. and its territories. In 1875 she publishes a best selling memoir criticizing the Mormon sect and their polygamous customs. Brigham Young is furious with her, and he and the church minions are aghast that she would expose the church to ridicule. So we have the tale of an early 19th wife interwoven with the tale of a modern day 19th wife accused of murdering her polygamous spouse. These polygamous fundamentalist Mormon sects are really cults that have brain washed their members. We see the danger of cults such as this through the modern day murder mystery. Unlike other reviewers I found the historical fiction of Ann Eliza's life to be more interesting than the modern mystery story. I am not a fan of novels that alternate between different narrators and time periods. For that reason I downgraded this book to 4 stars. However, this author changed the narrator and the time period as seamlessly as possible. The changes were not nearly as annoying as they could have been. I did enjoy the book, and I could not put it down. I'd like to see a film version. I understand there is a Lifetime channel film of this novel. This review is for the kindle version. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Denise George Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 178 used & new from $0.65 2 of 4 people found the following review helpful Badly Needs Editing, April 7, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (Paperback) This is not the Christian version of the Diary of Ann Frank. Before the reader of this review becomes defensive, let me assure you that I am horrified by the holocaust. I believe that all the horrors including the horrors mentioned in this book happened. They may not have happened exactly at the places or on the dates Nonnie mentions in her diary, but I believe that substantively they happened as described. This book badly needs editing. Further, these diaries, documents, and notes should have been given to an expert author and not a Christian book author as was done here. I understand why the editors were conflicted. This is a diary that spans perhaps 20 years and includes the notes and entries of a very young girl. Some of the recorded "facts" were incorrectly recalled and in some cases the correct version may not have been an accurate description of the author's life experience. Instead of a messy and definitely imperfect work of non-fiction, an expert author could have written a fictionalized version based heavily on Nonnie's diary entries and memories. Further, almost everyone who survived the holocaust finds some distant Jewish relative to claim. Perhaps, Nonnie's father had a Jewish grandfather in his background, but I doubt he was Jewish. Spoken Yiddish and German are very closely related. Yiddish is a dialect of German. They are written differently. Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet and German is written with an alphabet similar to the English version. Had her father's family done extensive business in Poland, it is likely that they did business with Jews. Before the holocaust there were 2 million Jews living in Poland, many of them in business. They may have learned Yiddish so that they could do business with them. However, I also suspect that Nonnie's father had at least one Jewish relative other than a mother or father. Feodosija, Nonnie's beloved grandmother idolized the Cossacks. Her husband was one and she wanted her son to be one as well. It was the Cossacks that raided the Jewish Shtetyls raping, burning, looting and murdering Jews. They are the soldiers that chase the Jews out of their village in Fiddler On The roof. So idolizing them without seeing them in reality and context was indeed a fantasy. It is true that Nonnie and her mother suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. However, until Anna was sent to Ravensbruck, what she suffered was nothing compared to what the Jews suffered. Nonnie never suffered the privations the Jews suffered. They lived far longer. The typical lifespan for a Jewish inmate of a concentration camp if the inmate was not killed immediately and could work was 6 months. Nonnie and Anna lived for years in German custody. Few if any nuns concealed Jews as German orphans in hospital settings with hospital food reserved for Germans. Nonnie's children should consider hiring a novelist to turn her diaries and documents into a novel based on fact but in part fictional and labelled as fiction. Television shows called docudramas serve this function in film. We don't have a similar venue in literature. Do not be fooled by all the strong reviews. Most of them were written by Christians who are persuaded to do so by her frequent mention of her faith in God and Christ to pull her through. Certainly her faith helped her survive. Christians will call this book a testament to the human spirit. They will call it a testament to faith in God and our savior, Christ. If those kinds of books do not interest you, you might skip this book. If you are a student of the holocaust, this book gives insight into how the Nazis treated Russian labor volunteers and Poles. However, there must be better choices out there. Further, this book will suffer on the kindle. There are many photos and documents that enrich the book and should be seen in print. This book should sell for far less than its current price. Nonnie wanted the world to know of the Nazi horrors she experienced so they would never happen again. The estate should look upon this as a donation to society and not hope to earn anything more than the expenses of publishing it. It is not a professional effort though it pretends to be one. The poems and entries are those of a young girl and a young woman with far less writing talent than Ann Frank. I can tell that Nonnie was a wonderful person forever scarred by her holocaust experiences. I am sure she was a loving and caring wife and mother. Clearly her husband and children adored her. I do not wish to offend them with this review. I hope they take my suggestions to heart and hire an author to turn these diaries into a first rate book of fiction inspired by and based on Nonnie's life and her diaries. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian Edition: Paperback Price: $11.46 281 used & new from $0.01 A Feast For the Reader, April 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Skeletons at the Feast: A Novel (Paperback) After the first 25 pages this became a page turner. I was invested in the characters Bohjalian created, and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to them. The heroine of the novel is Anna, a pretty blonde eighteen year old German girl. I am always suspicious of a male author who thinks he can write from a woman's point of view. However, it seems that Chris B. has made a career of that. He does a respectable job even in the love scenes. He must have researched these areas by interviewing women. However, the development of his female characters is still a little thin. The German characters who lived a cushy affluent life style were surprised at the barbarity of the Russians. Their attitude that the Russians were barbarians who were cruel with no basis for their cruelty was surprisingly naive. Had they put their heads in the sand for the entirety of the war? The Germans were horrendously cruel to the Russians in both their warfare and their treatment of Russian POWs. Many German soldiers raped Russian women and their superiors did nothing to curtail this behavior. The looting and German barbarity were well known. That these Germans did not know or chose not to know of their countrymens' cruelty was absurd. They admit to listening to the BBC broadcasts which detailed the horrors that the Germans visited on the Jews and the Slavs. Yet they chose to believe that these were exaggerations. They heard "rumors" but chose not to believe them. Of course, they did not participate in the horrors perpetrated by Germans on the Jews. Anna's father even wrote a letter for one Jewish family he knew. However, they never actually hid a family for even one night. Instead they hung a personally signed picture of Hitler in their living room. The entire family belonged to the Nazi party. Innocent germans- Please. I don't buy it. I was disappointed with the story's ending. ( spoiler alert) It would have been much more interesting if Anna had been intimate with Uri as well as Callum. This would have been entirely plausible because she found him more attractive than Collum. Then had she become pregnant with Uri's child instead of Collum's, the end could have had a bit of a twist. I am fascinated with novels set during WWII so I enjoyed this book. I have never before read a novel from the perspective of the Germans fleeing the Russian invaders. I could understand their fear, but could not feel sorry for them. This book was a decent effort. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal Edition: Hardcover Price: $25.78 75 used & new from $8.39 Like Drinking A Fine Riesling Wine, March 24, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Hare with Amber Eyes (Illustrated Edition): A Hidden Inheritance (Hardcover) This saga or memoir tracing a collection of Japanese netsukes is really the story of the wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family from its humble roots in Russia to Odessa, Paris, Vienna and finally flung to all corners of the earth. The author Edmund de Waal is the recipient of the netsukes through a bequest of his great uncle living in Tokyo. In 1870 de Waal's great grandfather's first cousin Charles Ephrussi became an ardent art collector. All of the Ephrussis became art collectors, but Charles was the most influential and the one who purchased the netsukes. The Ephrussi family was wealthy on the order of the Rothchilds operating one of the biggest and most successful banks in Europe, the Paris branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were given titles and were now part of the nobility. Because they were Jewish they could join certain clubs but could not become officers of those clubs. Still they believed they were largely accepted and were full citizens of their adopted countries whether that was France or Austria. Charles was a gay man living as if he were straight. Via his close friendship with a married woman he allowed the appearance of an affair with her. Rumors of their affair were prevalent. However, he had close friendships with Proust and other gay men living as gay. It was obvious that he too was gay. Proust even used Charles as the inspiration for his character, Swann. Charles began collecting works of art by Renoir, Manet and many other great artists of the impressionistic school. Charles also helped the impressionist artists financially loaning them money and arranging commissions for them. Renoir's girl in blue was probably the result of one of these commissions. Early in his collecting experience Charles purchases an entire collection of Netsukes and places them in one vitrine. He did not acquire them piecemeal searching out different subjects to complete the collection of 264 miniature works of art. There was a fashion of collecting Japanese artworks in Europe and Paris at the time. Charles participated early in that period by purchasing the netsukes from a well known and respected Paris art dealer. Charles circle of friends included great authors, thinkers and artists. The Ephrussis believed that their wealth, financial power,patronage of the arts, charitable works, and noble titles overshadowed their Jewishness, but it did not. Throughout their life in Paris they were exposed to anti-Semitism in words and deeds. They brushed it off as unimportant. Finally, Charles sends the entire netsuke collection with the vitrine to his young newly married cousins Emmy and Victor Ephrussi of Vienna as a wedding gift. Along with the netsukes the story moves to Vienna. The Vienna branch of the family ran the equally rich and powerful Vienna branch of the Ephrussi bank. They were equally wealthy living in palatial homes in the best neighborhoods on the ring. They were friends with the nobility and Ephrussi bore the title of Baron. They participated handsomely in all the arts and became ardent supporters of the symphony and Opera. They purchased tapestries and paintings, donated money for hospitals, their synagogue and other charities. Here like in Paris the Ephrussis deemed their sophisticated art interests and charitable works washed them of their Jewishness. It did not. Emmy held weekly salons where she entertained famous artists, thinkers, writers and musicians. Many famous musicians, doctors and lawyers were Jewish. Yet the Ephrussis noticed that their non-Jewish guests were always bachelors. None of the Christian women attended. Once the bachelors married they too stopped attending. Victor was a member of many clubs and associations, but in some he could not hold office. He served with distinction as an officer in WWI. The Versailles treaty left Austria and the other axis powers bankrupt and Vienna suffered from the poverty. Victor believed that Austria would win the war and all his banking and investment decisions were made with that in mind. Victor lost about 90% of his fortune because he refused to place his funds in Switzerland in Swiss francs during the war. He refused to buy dollars or pounds. He was a loyal patriotic Austrian citizen and wanted to demonstrate his patriotism to his country. After WWI the Ephrussi family of Austria had to reduce its expenses. They had to cut out several routine expensive vacation trips. Their country home in Czechoslovakia was not kept up to the same degree. The swimming pond was allowed to return to its natural state of being surrounded by encroaching reeds. It was no longer swimmable. By 1933 public anti-Antisemitism began to rear its ugly head. There were vocal antisemetic diatribes. In 1933 there were 145,000 Jews in Austria. Of those 59% of all the physicians, 65% of the lawyers, and 50% of the journalists in Austria were Jewish. The economy became terrible with beggars and other poor refugees flooding Vienna looking for work. It was the depression and there was no work. People like the Ephrussis even though they lost most of their fortune were resented and doubly so because they were Jewish. They still lived in their palace on the ringstrasse. Maybe they had fewer servants and vacations, but to the great population of the impoverished and downtrodden who didn't have enough to eat, they were unbelievably wealthy. Like every time in history when bad luck, war or disease befell a population, they blamed the Jews for their predicament. It did not matter that many Jews lost their money and property and were also impoverished by WWI and the depression. They were still blamed for the poverty and hopelessness. In the middle ages when the bubonic plague swept through Europe, the Jews were blamed. Even though Jews died in equal numbers from the disease carried by rats and spread by fleas, the Jews were blamed for it. In some locales they were murdered for it. Irrationality of this belief did nothing to stop the hatred and violence. Similarly Jews were hated and blamed for the economic disaster brought on by the loss of WWI and the Versailles Treaty. The depression followed and the hatred and resentment became even more extreme. In 1933 the Nazi party came to power in Germany. Now anti-semitism became rampant in Austria. Victor had to step down as head of the bank in favor of his Christian partner who held a minority of the shares. At this point the reader wants to shake him by the scruff of his neck and tell him to get out while he still can. Three of his four children have left Austria. Iggy has gone to the U.S. for a career in fashion design. Elizabeth is studying in France. Gisella is living with her husband in Spain. Only the last of their children, Roland is still living with them. When Emmy and Victor married Emmy was 20 years younger than Victor. The marriage was engineered by two wealthy and powerful Jewish families. For Emmy it was not a love match. History indicates that she entertained a few lovers and it is possible that Roland is a result of one of these affairs. However, though Emmy was not thrilled by this pregnancy so long after her third child was born, Victor treated him with acceptance and love. Since Emmy married Victor she was cared for by a loyal and loving maid named Anna. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria and the Nazi Nuremburg laws befell even the rich and powerful Ephrussis. Victor was forced to sell his bank stock for 10 cents on the dollar to his Christian partner. Roland fled to the U.S. before the annexation. After the annexation Emmy and Victor fled to their summer home in Czechoslovakia. The Nazis loot the art collection, tapestries, rugs, silver and china. However, while they are working so hard to catalogue all the finery, Anna who has been assigned a room in the palace smuggles and hides the netsukes from Emmy's dressing room. She hides them under her mattress for the whole of the war. Elizabeth at the age of 27 has married a Christian Dutchman named de Waal. He is from a dutch shipping family but he is not rich. Elizabeth was the first female lawyer to graduate from the University of Vienna. She has also earned a Phd. She has published articles and essays in periodicals of note. She writes poetry. She is the brightest of all of Victor's and Emmy's children. She has her father's face with the big Ephrussi nose and dark eyes overhung with heavy eyelids and bushy brows. She was not a beauty and probably did not have many suitors. Perhaps, too her scholarship was intimidating to young men. Elizabeth and her husband were now safely residing in England. After the Nazi annexation of Austria Victor but not Emmy joined them. Elizabeth began attending de Waal's church and she raised her two sons in the Christian faith. One of them, Edmund de Waal's father, became a protestant minister. Now the story moves to Tokyo. Iggy Ephrussi enlisted in the military as did his other stateside brother Roland. Because Iggy was fluent in three languages he served in military intelligence. After the war he was recruited by an international company who offered him a post in Japan. Iggy did not want to be in postwar Europe with all the reminders of Naziism. He did not return to see his home in Vienna. He became an executive in Tokyo where he took a young Japanese man as his lover. They made a home for themselves together. Elizabeth traveled to Vienna after the war to see what was left of her home and to determine if any of their collections or property were salvageable. Almost nothing was left and the palace had been turned into military occupation offices. She met with Anna who told her how she saved the netsuke. She was apologetic that it was all she could hide. However, she wanted to be able to preserve something for the family when they returned. Elizabeth was grateful and she returned to England with the netsukes. Later she sent them to her brother Iggy. Iggy had a vitrine built for them and kept them in his Japanese home. On his death bed he bequeathed them to Edmund de Waal now a successful ceramic artist in London. The author explores the history of his bequest in this novel. His language is beautiful and lyrical. It is natural and unforced. I could not put it down. However, I purchased this in the kindle edition. There are numerous photographs in the book . I believe the reader would be better served by an illustrated version of this book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Defending Jacob: A Novel by William Landay Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 206 used & new from $4.32 Nature vs. Nurture and Criminality, March 11, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Defending Jacob: A Novel (Hardcover) Defending Jacob directly confronts the issue of whether character traits are predetermined by nature or molded by nurture. The jury is still out on the issue, but the consensus is that it is a combination of both. Jacob's father, Andy Barber is the local D.A. He is successful in his chosen field. The community in which the Barber's live and work is Newton, Mass, a safe affluent and highly educated community. When Ben Rifkin one of Jacob's classmates is found murdered in the park, the town is shocked. Jacob is identified as the prime suspect after others are ruled out. Andy Barber has never revealed to his wife his checkered family background. His father is in jail for murder. His grandfather was also convicted of murder. He is concerned that there is a murder gene and that he has passed it on to Jacob. His wife is angry that he chose to conceal these facts. The trial and the strains it puts on this family are the heart of the novel. How does a family survive the isolation, financial burdens and fear that a murder trial produces. Their only child, Jacob is the accused. Andy is put on paid leave because of the potential for a conflict of interest. Thus, he has no work to occupy his time. The people who were once close family friends such as Duffy, the police inspector assigned to the D.A.'s office, suddenly must distance themselves from the family. Alone and frightened Laurie Barber, Andy Barber, and Jacob Barber face this tumultuous experience. A psychiatrist is contacted for consultation. Her job is to identify whether or not Jacob has any inherited traits that might make him more likely to engage in criminal activity. She does identify some of those traits and she then begins to construct evidence of mitigation should Jacob be convicted. The traits she identifies include lack of empathy, an inability to form normal parental attachments as an infant and impulsivity. For lack of a better description, these could be called "murder genes." Jacob has a sketchy history of cruelty to small animals. He also has a history of "rough" or physically violent behavior with other small children his own age. Andy and Laurie believe that they have successfully dealt with his tendency to be "rough" with other small children and that the trait disappeared by the time Jacob was 5. Both his mother and father avoid characterizing his behavior as anything but ordinary growing pains. Parents can identify with Andy and Laurie Barber and the daily horror they must face as the court case moves along. Andy correctly articulates the problems they are facing. Even if Jacob is adjudicated as not guilty, that does not mean he is innocent. It merely means that the evidence does not prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I do not want to create a spoiler here. Spoiler alert: However, someone else confesses to the crime and commits suicide. There is some indication to Andy that it is a false confession. Andy, Laurie, and Jacob flushed with relief take a much needed family vacation to Jamaica. They stay at a luxurious beach resort. Jacob meets and befriends a teen girl who is also a guest at the resort. Andy and Laurie are thrilled that Jacob is returning to the normal activities engaged in by 14 year old boys. Then the girl Jacob has befriended disappears. She is discovered seven weeks later when her body washes ashore. She has drowned, but her windpipe has also been crushed as if she were strangled. The Jamaican police cannot clearly call her a victim of homicide. However, Laurie now knows that in spite of the confession her son is a murderer, and he has killed twice. What happens next is the twist in the tale. Defending Jacob is a fast paced legal thriller. Men as well as women will be entertained by the story. I had trouble identifying with the mother. The characters were somewhat well drawn, but the mother especially was not drawn with much depth. I found it hard to believe that in spite of the fact that her family was willing to sit with her at trial she chose to suffer further by sitting alone. This story will make a better movie than it has a book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) by The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.D Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.49 64 used & new from $22.73 A Readable Texbook on the Science of Cooking and Baking, March 8, 2013 This review is from: The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks) (Hardcover) This wonderful book breaks down the science of cooking and baking into 50 major concepts. Once learned the food maven can apply them to other dishes and experiment often with good results. I love the scientific testing behind these recommendations and concepts. They don't just taste meat to determine which method or cut produces the juiciest result, they measure the juice extruded. Many of these recipes and instructions have appeared in other publications. However, here they are organized around the concepts they illustrate. For the dedicated cook who wants to improve his/her results, this is an excellent resource. It would also make a wonderful gift. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Baking Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 94 used & new from $12.10 A Bakers Bible, March 8, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Baking Illustrated (Hardcover) I bought this book before I bought the New Best Recipe book. All the recipes turn out if you follow the instructions exactly. This book explains the science behind baking too. If you read the recipe through before beginning you won't be tempted to vary it before trying it their way first. Even if the book has some redundancies, it is handy to look only through a book dedicated to baking when one is preparing a baked dessert etc. This tome would make a fine gift to someone who enjoys baking. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) by America's Test Kitchen Edition: Hardcover Price: $26.46 81 used & new from $1.54 Another Winner From Cooks Illustrated, March 8, 2013 This review is from: More Best Recipes (America's Test Kitchen) (Hardcover) The other reviewers are correct. Many of the recipes have appeared in their magazines or on their TV shows. However, all of the recipes I have tried turn out well. Also the instructions are excellent. As usual they find the easiest and best way to cook everything. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Rules of Civility: A Novel by Amor Towles Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 276 used & new from $1.03 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Wasp Rules of Boredom, March 1, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Rules of Civility: A Novel (Paperback) I too cannot understand the excitement over this book. There is no passion. Every slight real or imagined is treated with the wasp elixir- a dry martini. Food is often an after thought as is substance in this novel. The female voice is not credible, perhaps, because it is written by a man. Why do men think they can write from the female point of view. Why not tell a story from the point of view of a similarly situated young man. Katy, our heroine, obviously wants to marry into the world of the wealthy wasp. An educated christian girl from a blue collar family she thrusts herself head long into the wasp world hoping to find herself permanently ensconced therein. She finds herself tricked into love with a fellow with all the trappings of wealth whose family has lost everything. He now is the kept man of a wealthy woman whom he introduces as his godmother. It is hard to feel sympathy for Katy or her friend, Eve. The opportunities that come their way were not available to Jews or members of other ethnicities. Katy does end up with a high profile job and married to a very wealthy New Yorker. Had I found myself in one more trying cocktail party with a Bitsy or a Tinker - those telling Wasp monikers, I think I would have choked. I could not wait for this novel to end. Will someone tell me what all the hoopla is about? The sentences are well crafted. The vocabulary is good. However, the story is "meh." I can't recommend this. For a book about New York and its glitter try Bright Lights Big City. The Great Gatsby is better on the jazz age in New York. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel by Dr. Rafael Medoff Edition: Paperback Price: $13.14 35 used & new from $9.89 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Publish or Perish Book You Can Skip, February 19, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel (Paperback) I believe Wentling wrote this book as a response to the pressure put on career academics to publish. Her part of the book details Hoover's early history. She has found every statement, phrase, and nuance that could conceivably be determined to be favorable to Jews and she has cataloged it here. Hoover was a Quaker. He came from a tradition of charity, humanitarianism, and tolerance for minorities and the creeds of others. He found like minded people among the wealthy Jews. During his work as head of the ARA which distributed food to Europeans starving after WWI, he found like minded wealthy Jews like Felix Warburg and Marshall. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee funded much of the work done by the ARA. I doubt he ever met a Jew until he became an adult. He probably never shared a meal with a Jew until he began working with the ARA. Hoover was an engineer who made his money in mining. He was a self made man and he believed in the importance of persistence and hard work. He also believed in volunteerism and good organization. As part of his tradition of tolerance Hoover urged European countries to put a stop to the pogroms and other discrimination against their Jewish communities. The actions he took to foster religious tolerance in Europe did not produce much fruit, but he did try. However, the book also glosses over the fact that as president he appointed an anti-Semite named Stinson as his secretary of state. The assistant secretary of state was also anti-Semitic. Further,Hoover supported the new immigration quotas which were designed to fall most heavily on Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and other Eastern European nations. It should be pointed out that both Warburg and Marshall also supported the restrictive quotas for their own personal reasons. The book finally takes off when Medoff writes the chapters on Hoover's response to the holocaust. Hoover actively supported rescue and was critical of the administration's failures in that regard. He saw avenues of rescue which were ignored. Both he and Harold Ickes were prominent people who supported finding ways to rescue the Jews of Europe. I have no doubt after reading this that he felt a heartfelt sympathy for these persecuted people. Further, he saw it as his Christian duty. He supported Israel as did a number of other republicans for a number of reasons including sympathy for the survivors of the holocaust. Some also saw it as a bulwark against communism and extremism in the middle east. Clearly the fact that so many republicans favored supporting and recognizing the state of Israel put pressure on the Truman administration to do so as well. Administration action or non-action on rescue and recognition and support of the state of Israel gave rise to the "Jewish vote." Prior to that Jews almost unanimously voted democratic. If the reader is willing to read through 64 pages of tedium to get to the fun stuff, then this is a book you will enjoy. A far better book on the American response to the Holocaust is: While Six Million Died: A Story of American Apathy by Morse. That book is a page turner from start to finish. I am also sure there must be a better book about the crystallization of the "Jewish vote." There should also be something excellent on bipartisan American support for the state of Israel. I felt that this book repackaged other publications to create a new publication by categorizing all the facts surrounding Hoover. If you are a Hoover scholar than you may want to read this. If not there are other better books on the central subjects: U.S. response to Europe's persecution of its Jews, rescue during the holocaust or rather lack of it, and bipartisan support of Israel. Certainly the information contained in the first 64 pages could have been dealt with swiftly in a 10 page essay. Also Hoover's sympathy for the Jews probably stopped at the door of his restricted country club. I doubt Hoover's beliefs and feelings about the Jewish people would have led him to put a stop to "restrictions" in private clubs, hotels, and residential neighborhoods that allowed only white Christians. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Hardcover 22 used & new from $1.73 Dreams of Love, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Dreams of Joy: A Novel (Hardcover) Dreams of Joy is a story about love- a mother's love for her child. This novel is the sequel to Shanghai girls. Joy ,Pearl's daughter and May's niece learns that May is her true biological mother and Pearl is her aunt. She also learns that the father she adored was not her real father. Her biological father is a handsome, charming and talented artist named Z.G. who has carved out his own career in communist China. Joy also feels responsible for her purported father's suicide. He too never knew that Joy was not his biological daughter. Joy an idealistic University of Chicago student who has become a communist. The enchanting philosophy of communism appeals to her sense of charity and justice. She runs off to China both to escape the reality of her discovery, her guilt over her purported father's death, to find her biological father, and to participate in the new China. Both Pearl and May are horrified. They realize nineteen year old Joy's mistake and Pearl takes off after her while May stays home to look after their business interests. Joy finds her father,marries an illiterate and poor country boy, makes her home in the countryside, and gives birth to her own daughter in rustic impoverished circumstances. Shortly after her marriage, she realizes she made a mistake in choosing her spouse. He quickly becomes unfaithful and uncaring. Further, he becomes out right cruel to her when she bears him a daughter instead of a son. Even though the communists have tried to improve the status and importance of women in the culture, the strong Chinese bias in favor of sons persists especially in rural areas. Yet none of Joy's letters about her changed feelings and circumstances reach Pearl. By the time Joy realizes that Communism does not work and that she has made a terrible mistake, she is trapped in a famine in rural China. She and her child as well as all the villagers are starving. People die every day. They have taken to killing and eating their female infants and Joy realizes her daughter's very existence depends on her escape from the countryside. Correspondence is strictly censored. Pearl who is now living in Shanghai has no idea that her daughter is living in such dire circumstances. During his failing leap year program Mao tries to hide the famine rampant in China from the world. Hence Pearl cannot get a travel permit for the countryside even though she has never seen her grandchild who is only a one day's journey away. Even though food shortages have reached Shanghai, Pearl and Z.G. have no idea how dire Joy's circumstances are. None of her letters arrive in Shanghai and all the little correspondence Joy receives is strictly censored. The food and goods Pearl sends along with her letters are stolen before they reach Joy. Joy does not understand why her mother has not responded to her many requests for help, but she assumes that Pearl has not received her letters. Finally Joy finds a way to surreptitiously notify Pearl. Once Pearl learns of the disastrous conditions in which Joy is living, she and Z.G. devise a way to rescue her. Z.G. is a prominent communist artist and has been in the movement since before Japan's invasion of China. Together they rescue Joy and her daughter. They also rescue her husband. After saving Joy and her child from starvation and the privations of the countryside, Pearl and Z.G. begin to devise a method to get her and themselves out of China. May finances all of the work by running Pearl's cafe and her business in Los Angeles. She awaits them in Hong Kong. Meanwhile Pearl has truly fallen in love with the professor living in what was once her family home and where she now occupies one room. They marry before the escape plan is hatched. He is her true love. I will not tell the ending here. See pulls the bamboo curtain back and we see communist china with all its warts. This book is well written. These may not be pulitzer prize winning novels, but they are every bit as satisfying when read together as Snowflower and the Secret Fan. See has an excellent command of the English language. She paints a clear picture of life in pre-World War II Shanghai, war torn Shanghai, life for the Chinese immigrant in the U.S. and life in Mao's communist China. This story about life, love, betrayal and war covers all the emotions and is a satisfying read. Sure there are some contrived events, but sometimes that is just good story telling. See is a master story teller. Most readers will be truly satisfied. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.42 951 used & new from $0.01 Half of the Story, February 17, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Shanghai Girls: A Novel (Paperback) This book followed by Dreams of Joy is a 5 star read. It ends abruptly with much left to tell and tell it Lisa See does in Dreams of Joy. Shanghai Girls is the tale of May and Pearl, two calendar models or "beautiful girls" as they were called. May is the more beautiful of the two but both are in demand. Their father loses everything just prior to Japan's invasion of China. He sells his daughters in marriage to two stateside Chinese or so they believe. The girls try to avoid their forced marriage. However, Japan invades Shanghai and their only means of escape is through these marriages. Their escape is horrific and includes the tragedies that were so common in occupied Shanghai. They believe they will be going to an affluent and easy life in the U.S. However, their living conditions are not as expected. Both must work very hard everyday. May was pregnant when they left China. In order to conceal this fact and to protect themselves and the child, Pearl pretends to be the child's mother. Pearl's marriage is consummated while May's is not. The child whom they name Joy is born in the immigration holding area, and Pearl delivers the child in the communal bathroom. Once allowed to enter the U.S. as wives of Chinese Americans they both live in the same household. May pretends to be the child's aunt and Pearl is truly Joy's mother. May married to the only biological son of the family scion, Vernon, develops a career as a bit player in films. She is also a casting agent for people of Chinese origin and she supplies props and costumes. She never gets the speaking roles she really wants. Vernon is both mentally and physically disabled and May's marriage is never consummated. The Scion's only hope for a grandson is through Pearl. However, because of the injuries she sustained during the escape, Pearl is never able to conceive and bring a baby to term. The only child she has dies shortly after birth. This book ends with only half the story told. The reader will also have to read Dreams of Joy to finish the story. Otherwise as one reviewer states the ending is unsatisfying. I agree. My 5 star rating is given only under the assumption that the purchaser will also read the sequel. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ On Gold Mountain by Lisa See Edition: Paperback Price: $11.94 126 used & new from $2.16 Excellent History of the Chinese Immigrant Experience, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: On Gold Mountain (Paperback) I loved reading about Fong See and his family. I knew that Chinese Americans faced discrimination daily, but I had no idea they were not permitted to own land. I don't know whether this was a California law or a federal one. The author doesn't say. Perhaps, like residential areas that were "restricted" or rather off limits to Jews, blacks, or any non- whites or non-Christians, these were regional laws. I thought my Jewish ancestors faced a great deal of discrimination and they did. However, the chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans faced much more bias. Notably the Asian Americans have not sought affirmative action redress even thought they deserve it. Like Jews they did well in spite of the discrimination. However, they would have done better. There should be cultural and financial redress in the form of affirmative action for our Asian Americans previously discriminated against because of their ethnicity or race. I am ashamed that my country behaved in such a way to Chinese immigrants. Lisa See's photo is on the back of her book. Even though I bought the kindle version, I did see her photo. She looks caucasion with her blue eyes and red hair. She is only 1/8 th Chinese and describes herself as caucasian in appearance but Chinese in her heart. She certainly is. The depth of her feeling for the struggles of Fong See, her grandparents, her parents and all their siblings and relatives is palpable. This history presents a good and probably accurate example of the Chinese immigrant experience in California. We rarely hear complaints from this stoic group. Therefore, it is left to books like this one to educate us about injustices heaped on this remarkably resourceful immigrant group and their progeny. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro Edition: Hardcover Price: $23.49 199 used & new from $4.39 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Rehash of Books of Others, February 4, 2013 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Hardcover) This history of Lyndon Johnson from his 1960 run for president until March of 1963 after Kennedy's assasination derives too much from the published work of others and the author's own previous books. Caro was under pressure to publish either from himself or his publisher/agent and to fulfill a promise of a certain number of pages. The machinations of Robert Kennedy's attempts to try to get Johnson to turn down his brother's offer of the vice presidential slot on his ticket was tedious and uneccessary. Clearly Bobby Kenedy did not want LBJ on his brother's presidential bid. It was uneccessary to spend so many pages on the details and speculation of those privy to the events. There were too many "according to..., this is what occurred." It would have been enough to say that Robert Kennedy tried in every way possible to prevent his brother from offering Johnson the vice presidency and when that didn't work, he tried to get Johnson to turn his brother down. Instead we waste a great deal of time reading every possible speculation of what transpired between the two. I had no idea that Robert Kennedy hated Johnson so much. Johnson publically critisized Joseph Kennedy with a clearly justifiable critisizm during a speech he gave long before the 1960 campaigns. Joseph Kennedy wanted to placate Hitler rather than joining the allies in WWII. He was also an anti-semite. Jack Kennedy knew that he would have to distance himself from his father due to his wrong headedness when it came to these issues. As ambassador to England before and during WWII, Joseph Kennedy made serious and startling diplomatic errors in his assessments of the facts on the ground. Johnson was justified in his critisizms. It appears that Bobby was not that well regarded by his father. Perhaps, because he could not psycologically confront his father over his favoritism, he substitued Johnson. I suspect that his over reaction and hatred of Johnson was really the embodiment of his hatred for his own father. The author could have explored this issue and given the reader some insight into Bobby Kennedy's unjustifiable hatred of Johnson instead of merely hinting at it. Johnson and the Kennedys really were of one mind when it came to equal rights for minorities. Only Johnson lived these ideals as soon as he was in a position to do so. Johnson did more for blacks and other minorities than the Kennedys ever did. Much of this book quoted other works like Master of the Senate and other biographies and autobiographies gathering them under one heading about Johnson's transition period. Caro explored the self sabatoging reason for Johnson's failure to win the 1960 candidacy for president. He well understood the psycological forces that prevented Johnson from declaring in a timely fashion. However, he failed to identify the psychological forces behind Bobby Kennedy's pathological hatred for Johnson. Clearly Johnson took a traumatized nation and led it to stability and continuation. He was a masterful leader and probably one of our best presidents in spite of his failures and deceit about Viet Nam. Had Kennedy lived it is doubtful that he would have gotten either the needed tax bill or the equal rights bill passed. For all his charisma he did not understand how the legislature worked well enough to get them passed. Johnson on the other hand knew how to acheive these goals. With a mastery of political manipulations, Johnson with barely a vote to spare did know. He put his knowledge to good use even though he inherited an uneccessary complication from his predessesor. He managed to save both bills. He also lived his belief that minorities should have equal rights to public accomodation. I doubt that Jack Kennedy would have integrated a segregated club by walking into it with his black secretary on his arm. Johnson did when he attended a new year's eve party and birthday party for a politician at a segregated private club in Austin with his black secretary . This book should have continued through his 1964 nomination and inaugauration. The pages could have been taken from the tedium of his vice-presidential period. We needed more of the descriptions of Johnson's successes with his western and southern country charm. The description of Johnson's successful diplomacy with the German chancellor whom he entertained at his ranch was masterful. The rehashing of his time as vice-president was not. Caro filled pages here instead of giving us history of substance. If the reader skims those parts then the book is worth reading. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Edition: Paperback Price: $14.49 122 used & new from $6.15 Good but Not Great, December 15, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman (Paperback) Catherine truly was great. She increased Russian territory, population, and influence in the world. She began the great art collection in the hermitage and built it every chance she could get. She brought the philosophies of the enlightenment into the Russian court and propelled Russia forward into progressive values and states of being whenever it was possible. Massie draws from Catherine's own memoirs and her extensive correspondence with a variety of enlightened thinkers including Diderot, Voltaire, and Grimm. He also draws from her correspondence with Orlov, Potempkin, and her other lovers and partners. However, Catherine destroyed the correspondence she received from them so those letters were not available to the biographer. Thankfully,the people she wrote to kept her letters for posterity. However, we have only half the conversations. We have her half. We have her thoughts edited and filtered for the reader she wrote to. Had Catherine continued her memoirs after she took the throne, I think this biography would have been better. Secondary sources often mean comprommise. Had she kept a private diary while she was Empress, we would have had her unfiltered personal thoughts. We do not nor did the biogrpaher. Massie quotes heavily from these letters to support his conclusions. That is helpful for the reader. The first third of the book drags at times as the reader waits for Princess Catherine to become the Empress. The middle of the book is exciting and moves along quickly. The last third of the book is also slow at least in part because is is anti-climatic. Princess Sophia had a difficult relationship with a mother who never treasured her. However, she was deeply loved by her father, a minor German nobel who lacked substantial resources. She returned his love and internalized many of his values. She was really torn when she had to give up her Protestant faith to marry the heir to the Russian throne, but give it up she did. She promised her father she would not relinquish her faith, but she reconciled her conversion to Greek Orthodoxy by finding council who would confirm that in substance there was no difference between her protestant faith and Greek Orthodoxy. They both believed that Jesus was the messiaah who was born of a virgin birth. She was ambitious at an early age, and she understood the opportunity that was presented to her. Her mother always ambitious and disappointed with her lot in life sought to aggrandize herself by marrying her daughter to an important throne. She saw the opportunity to marry Sophia to Peter III as her way to riches, respect, influence and importance, something she never acheived in her own marriage. She cared nothing for her daughter's happiness, but that was the culture and habit of all nobels of the era. Marriages were like business partnerships. Husbands who sought the companionship of lovers were tolerated. It was often expected. Peter the Great in addition to his spouse had a peasant woman lover who bore him three children including Empress Elizabeth who inherited his throne. Peter the Great married the peasant woman when he could and made her his duchess. Peter the Great brought Russia into the modern age. Russia was considered a backwater by Europe. Peter unified some of the tribes, established a capital in St. Petersberg on the gulf of Finland, developed a navy which landlocked Russia did not need at the time and built Peterhof with its trick fountains and lovely landscaped gardens down to the sea. He brought modern European education, music and art to the Tartars and other tribes that made up the Soviet Socialist Republic we knew as Russia. His daughter Elizabeth who took no official husband and bore no children sought to continue her father's Romanov dynasty. She loved and admired her father, Peter The Great. It is believed that one of her longtime lovers was in fact a true husband, but there is no proof. I don't understand why a Russian empress could not marry without serious repercussions to her power. Maybe a commentator can explain it to me. Thus Elizabeth brought a nephew, the son of her beloved deceased sister to the court when he was eleven to groom him to become the emperor. His father had also died. She then began to look for a proper wife for the future Tsar in order to ensure the continuation of the Romanov dynasty. She took note of Sophia, the daughter of a minor and impoverished German nobelman. She wanted someone she could dominate both with her position and fortune. She found that person in Sophia. At age 14 she was promised to Duke Peter III then 15 or 16. She was not beautiful, but she was pleasing to the eye. She was clever but also sufficiently respectful and subservient to the Empress. She truly admired Elizabeth and thought her someone to emulate. She appreciated Elizabeth's intelligence, her education and her command of her empire, and she wanted to be like her. Unfortunately Peter III, an immature, self centered youth who had none of the characteristics found in a proper monarch was Sophia's only path to the throne. She converted to orthodoxy, became Catherine and was married to him when she was 15 and he was 17. Niether one knew about sex and no one explained sexual intercourse to either of them. Even when Catherine asked her mother what to expect, her mother refused to tell her. Sophia's grandmother failed to explain the facts of life to her own mother on the eve of her wedding. Her mother was introduced to the sex act by her father on their wedding night. But no one had explained the sex act to young Peter III, and he had no experience. So while Elizabeth waited patiently for Catherine to give birth to an heir following the marriage, Catherine was still a virgin and so was her nephew, Peter III. In all the dithering among Elizabeth and her advisers over what the problem could be, no one thought to explain the sex act to either one. Peter was very immature. He chose to play with his toy soldiers and to parade around in his soldier's uniform in lieu of developing a relationship with his young wife. She remained a virgin for nine years after the marriage. Elizabeth was beside herself. After nine years of marriage there was still no pregnancy. It did not occur to anyone that neither Peter III nor his wife knew how to conceive, and everyone was too embarrassed to discuss it. Finally, an experienced lothario was employed to give things a start. A handsome Polish nobelman, Count Stanislow caught Catherine's attentions and introduced her to the joys of the marriage bed. At some point Peter and Catherine must have had sex because Duke Peter III accepted her firstborn, Paul as his son. To this day no one knows if he fathered Paul or if Stanislow fathered him. It is more likely that all of her children were fathered by one of her lovers which changed over the years. Though Paul, her firstborn, like her husband did not have the qualities that would have made him an effective Tsar. Since so many of the European peerage were inbred, it is difficult to tell from portraits. Many of them bore the receeding chin evident today on Prince Charles and the long aquiline nose. Peter III had a longtime lover now. She was a rough and not well educated nobelwoman who was not well thought of at court. When Catherine finally bore a son, Paul she had fulfilled her duty. She was to give birth to a few spares as well. Elizabeth took the child immediately and controlled his education and upbringing. Cruelly, Elizabeth only allowed Catherine to see her child once a week in supervised visits. She did not see his first smile, his first steps or hear his first word. The relationship between Paul and Catherine was forever marred by this early deprivation. Elizabeth deprived Catherine of these joys, but Catherine knew she had to tolerate these cruelties in order to ascend the throne one day. However, she also loved and admired Elizabeth and wanted with all her heart to please her. Catherine gave birth to other children presumabley by her other lover, Orlov. Finally, in 1762 the Empress, Elizabeth died. Peter III attempted to marginalize Catherine and put forward his lover. He attempted alliances with the much hated German king Frederick. Hence, the military turned against him. He sought to be crowned tsar but the ceremony never took place. With Catherine and her supporters behind a coup, Peter III was imprisoned in a garrison where he was presumably to be kept alive. Catherine then ascends the throne with the backing of most of the Russian nobility, the Russian military and the Russian church. Like Ivan before him who Elizabeth kept imprisoned but alive, no harm was to come to Peter III. However, in a garrison skirmish he was killed. The jury is out on whether Catherine approved of this or whether it was truly an accident. However, Paul believing Peter III to be his true father resented his mother Catherine throughout his life because he believed she conspired with her lover Orlov to kill his father, Peter III. Small Pox and plague were the scourages of the time. Catherine feared small pox. The empress Elizabeth lost her fiance to small pox. Peter III was striken with small pox as a teenager and nearly died. Elizabeth personally and at great danger to herself nursed him through his illness which he survived tho scarred for life. Catherine learned of the small pox vaccination theory and program. It was controversial at the time. People were afraid they would contract small pox from the vaccine. To prove to her people that it was safe, she and her young son Paul allowed themselves to be vaccinated. The Russian court and people watched. Once they saw that Catherine and her son not only survived, but did not contract any form of small pox, many of her people were willing to undergo the life saving vaccinations. Catherine led by example. In Russia there was much land mass. Riches were accumulated not so much by owning the land but rather by working it. The ability to work the land depended on serf ownership. Hence wealth was valued according to the number of serfs one had. In certain concessions in mining etc there were serfs assigned to those dangerous industries. Serfs much like slaves in this country could not marry or change jobs at will. They were owned by their lords. Catherine saw serfdom as regressive and she hoped to eradicate the institution. Her first reforms resulted in strikes at mines and forges where work came to a standstill. She realized quickly that she would lose the support of many of the productive, influential and wealthy people in her ocuntry. She had to be content with other reforms. She further back treaded after the Pugachev rebellion led by a pretender to the throne who was himself a serf. She put down the rebellion with the help of her longtime lover Potempkin. He was a great military and political strategist and most probably her husband. After this revolt there was no more talk of elevating or freeing the serfs. Additionallly, she was influenced by the excesses of the French revolution which frightened her as it did many sitting monarchs of the era. She was an intellectual who supported the arts financially as well as with her interest. When Voltaire ran into financial difficulties, she bought his library allowing him to keep it for his lifetime. Only upon his death was it to come to Russia where it is still housed to this day. She recognized that the philosophers of the day, Diderot, Voltaire and Grimm were not merely treasures of their own lands. She saw them as world treasures. This view was unique in her day. Catherine was also known for taking several lovers who were often much younger. She was a lustful woman who sought to fulfill her needs in this way. They did not have power as Orlov and Potempkin did. However, she rewarded them with money, property and land. They always were dismissed with their fortunes intact. Today she would be called a "cougar." This conduct has been tolerated and even romanticised when it occurs with powerful men and their mistresses. For some reason nobelmen, church hiearchy, and populations look askance when a woman behaves this way. She never took advantage of a man who was not willing. When she died her less able son Paul took the reins for a short while, but he was no match for Catherine. One point of interest is that unlike Elizabeth Catherine did not deprive her son and his wife from the companionship of their young children. While Catherine took a central interest in their training and education, she allowed the parents to make many decisions about their care and to be witnesses to their first steps, their first words and their love. Thus, her grandchildren did not bear the scars and deprivation of a mother's love that her own son Paul did. She was not vengeful in that way and sh learned from the mistakes of her forbears. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Deception: Betraying the Peace Process by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Edition: Paperback 4 of 11 people found the following review helpful A Research Resource Not a Book for a Leisure Reading, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Deception: Betraying the Peace Process (Paperback) My book club selected this book. It is inappropriate for a book club selection. It is not a book to sit and read through. It is a research resource. Political scientists writing in this field could read through it and use it as a resource. It is an eye opener on the true goals of the Palestinean leadership. Clearly they have no intention of making peace with a two state solution. They want one state and they want an Islamic state with the Jews pushed into the sea. The resource material is excellent to prove this point and it is unsettling for those who believe peace in the mideast can be accomplished. I no longer believe it can unless the Jews give up and leave completely. Since that will not happen and should not happen, it is obvious that with the current Palestinean leadership peace is impossible. So if you are looking for good documentation to support the fact that the Palestinean leadership has no intention of negotiating in good faith, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a non-fiction resource for a book club book, find something more readable. Most of our members did not read this through and that includes the reviewer. Also it is expensive and difficult to obtain. You need a month lead time for it to arrive and it is not light reading.. Comments (3) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Mar 8, 2013 5:07 PM PST ________________________________________ Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) Offered by Balego USA Price: $16.25 7 used & new from $14.00 Finger exerciser, December 4, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Cando Digi-Flex hand/finger exerciser, 1.5 pounds, yellow (1 each) I bought this to help me recover from an injury I did to my right ring finger about a year ago. I dislocated it downward in a way that is difficult to fix. It was fractured in several places and tendons and ligaments were torn. It is still crooked and I cannot straighten it fully yet. The large knuckle has 3 dislocated fractures. The entire finger is weak. I was in PT until July. Now I am trying to strengthen the finger that is still weak and painful. This exerciser allows me to isolate the ring finger structure so I know just how much it can do. I use all 4 fingers to depress this, but I can tell just how much each individual finger can do. This is the lightest exerciser in the group. Since the other fingers are much stronger, I must concentrate to force myself to use the ring finger, but it is possible with this since each finger is isolated. I am using this for P.T., but pianists, violinists and other musicians might use it to strengthen fingers needed for musical play. There are tighter more challenging ones in the series and they are color coded. This seemed expensive, but for my purposes it was worth the money. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder MAN Fire Engine Price: $52.09 26 used & new from $44.87 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Hit With My 4 year old Grandson, November 26, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder MAN Fire Engine (Toy) My grandson now has 5 of these big German made trucks. His first was the garbage truck. He loved it so much that he slept with it in his bed. When he received the fire engine, he put that in his bed too. These trucks are accurately built with doors that open and close and parts that function just like the real deal. They are very expensive even tho they are plastic. The plastic is thicker and more durable than the less expensive made in China models. However, they are not as durable as the metal models available over 30 years ago. Trucks like these don't have much educational value. They are simply fun for boys and a right of passage for them. Every toy does not have to be educational. It probably teaches about the design and function of pulleys, levers and extension ladders. We bought our grandson the big crane for his birthday. Of all the trucks that one is probably the most educational b/c it has a functioning crane with a pulley etc. Try one of these. If your little guy likes it, you can add to the group for special occasions. These are special occasion gifts. The more expensive ones are very large. Read the dimension descriptions. This fire truck would be a lovely Xmas or chanukah gift for your little guy. Of all the trucks, the garbage truck, the crane and the cement mixer are the best choices. If you put water and sand in the cement mixer, a muddy cement like substance is extruded. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish Price: $31.02 5 used & new from $29.17 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Minimalist Functional Soap Dish, November 26, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Zack 40101 Abbaco Soap Dish (Misc.) I bought this for all the shower stalls and tubs with shower in our house. We have minimalist hardware. Most bathrooms are outfitted with the dornbracht Tara faucet set in brushed platinum. The tile is either marble, limestone or travertine. The soap dish has sturdy rubber feet which keeps it balanced on shower stall shelves or tub surrounds. The soap drains easily onto the shelf or surround instead of sitting in the draining water as in most soap dishes. This allows the soap to dry so that it doesn't melt as fast. My only complaint is that the price has more than doubled since I first bought it at $12. I suspect that this does not reflect an increase in manufacturing and delivery cost. There are very few inexpensive soap dishes. I think that the sellers just figured that they could get this much per dish because there is nothing out there that is as functional. Does this give a potential designer pause? I think a similar design done in clear or colored but translucent lucite would work great. Instead of feet, it could have a perimeter rim and a hollow underneath with the slits for draining in the top of the dish. For easier cleaning, the lucite could be in non-transparent bright or neutral colors or in a sandblast like transclucent material. The fingerprints in clear things are awful on soap dishes. That is one reason this design in SS is so functional. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Korbel Albright Edition: Hardcover Price: $20.48 199 used & new from $1.76 A History of Czechoslovakia Before During and After the War, November 19, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (Hardcover) This book was a remarkable explanation of why Czechoslovakia turned toward Russia and became a communist satellite state. As another reviewer pointed out, Czechoslovakia was thrown under the bus any time such action would placate Hitler. Neville Chamberlain and the French allowed Hitler to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia in a an attempt to satisfy Hitler. Today we all know that nothing was going to placate Hitler and a war was inevitable. The British were not prepared for a full scale war and by abandoning the Czechs, they bought time to build their military. None of the big countries like England, France,or Russia were willing to go to war to honor treaties they signed with the Czechs to guarantee them protection. The English and French were blatant in their disregard of Czech rights and the treaties they signed at the Munich conference. Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the Munich conference where her very existence was decided. Since Russian involvement depended on French action, the Russians were off the hook. Only french involvement in Czech defense would have given rise to a Russian obligation to defend Czechoslovakia. Thus their treaty with Czechoslovakia did not operate merely because Hitler intended to invade and occupy the country. Even tho Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, its treaty with Russia did not require Russia to defend them. Hence, Russia was not in violation of any agreement the Czechs had with it when it was occupied by Germany. Because the British and the French both ignored their treaty with the Czechs and allowed Germany to invade and occupy Czechoslovakia, many Czechs had a bad taste in their mouth about the western European countries and hence the U.S. There was also an incident at the end of the war during which the Czech population fought the remaining German troops. They requested arms and military help from the U.S. army. For a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the deservedness of their cause, aid was witheld. Many Czech lives were needlessly lost and perhaps, this too gave rise to anti-U.S. feelings. In any case the Czechs no longer trusted the U.S., Britain or France. Therefore, it was probably more palatable to work with the Russians after the war than the west. Further, most Czechs were peasants. They were poor. The notion of communism offered a romantic ray of hope in a country impoverished by a depression and a war it did not want. I have been to Prague and Terezenstadt. The cities survived the war intact because there was very little bombing. It contained few essential resources for military needs so it was primarily spared. However, I had hoped that Ms. Albright would examine her Jewish roots more meaningfully. Clearly her parents were secular Jews who even put up a Xmas tree b/c Xmas was a national holiday. Being Jewish in the diplomatic core could not have been easy. At the time our own state department had few if any Jews and was outwardly anti-semetic. So it would be understandable if Korbel, Albright's father tried to hide his Judaism. Further, he lost so many relatives in the holocaust merely because they were Jewish. One could forgive concealing one's Judaism in a future life for that reason alone. However, the author tells us none of these things. She also does a rather superficial investigation. It is true that most of her relatives including her three living grandparents perished under horrific conditions in the holocaust. However, her telling of their fate was a dry unemotional history. Under Jewish law her mother was Jewish and she is Jewish. Since she is Jewish so are her children. Did she investigate the faith to see if she was drawn to it? Did she encourage her siblings or her children to learn about Judaism to see if the Jewish faith might be more fitting for them than Christianity. I don't think there was any encouragement in this direction. She claims that she has no material in her father's papers from which to draw any conclusions, because she didn't learn of the issue for 6 decades. However, her cousin , Dasa was alive. Surely she remembered Jewish rituals performed by her aunts. There is no explanation about any communication with Dasa over their Jewish history. Surely Dasa was aware that she was sent to live in England with her cousin Madeline and her aunt and uncle because the situation in Prague was becoming dangerous for Jews. She could not have believed herself to be catholic. Had she been catholic there would have been no reason to flee. I find the book lacking in this area. I'd like to see Ms. Albright study the religion, attend a few synagogue sermons and bible classes and consider her reaction. I suspect she is not a person of faith. However, her mother must have prepared typically Jewish dishes for the family when she was growing up. This is a cultural issue. Did her mother prepare the meat filled and boiled dumplings called "Kreplach"? How about the fruit filled cookies called "rugalach?" Did she ever make a matzoh ball? Gefilte fish? Did she make a beef short rib and cabbage soup called "cabbage borscht" without adding the sour cream? Non Jews often ate the soup with sour cream but Jews typically did not. Does she remember if her mother ever made a pork roast? If not doesn't she find that odd. Even if they ate it at the homes of others, did the family ever prepare it at home. I bet that other than during wartime shortages they didn't. In Britain during WWII everyone including Jews ate an American canned meat(pork) product called spam. During the blitz London survived on it. Since refrigeration could be sporadic, spam was the only "meat" available. So eating spam does not count in this evaluation. Often even though a family is not religious, festival foods are still lovingly remembered and prepared. Eating habits may not change though the religious ritual or reason for them has vanished. Now even non-Jews eat these dishes in Jewish style restaurants located in big cities all over the U.S. Yet Ms. Albright did not mention even one of these. Judaism values teaching and learning. It values the individual's right to self determination. Were any of her values traceable to her Jewish roots? She doesn't touch on this and we will never know. Note: I have just learned that one of her daughters married into a Jewish family and that her youngest grandson is preparing for his bar mitzvah. I wish she had mentioned this in her book and described to what extent her daughter has either become Jewish or decided to raise her children Jewish. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman Edition: Paperback Price: $11.49 106 used & new from $3.81 1 of 5 people found the following review helpful A Page Turner, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (Paperback) This memoir portrays the Hasidic sect of Satmar Jews as a cult. The Satmars and Hasidic Jews are angry and aghast over this book and the realities it brings to light. Many of the negative reviews have been filed by Hasidic Jews who are angry with Feldman's portrayal of Hasidism as a cult. Because Jews have been persecuted over the centuries by non-Jews many Jews feel it is a betrayal to critisize other Jews and their observances. Unfortunately Jews must and should be critical of their fundamentalist co-relgionists just as Muslims and Mormons should be of theirs. Deborah Feldman was a constructive if not an actual orphan being raised by her grandparents. Because of her orphan status the community members looked down upon her. Her parentage was questionable. Her father was mentallly ill or retarded. He wanders the neighborhood in inappropriate dress making inappropriate announcements. He was probably schizophrenic. His parents never sought proper treatment for him because it did not comport with their fundametalist religious beliefs. Because the Hasids do not believe in birth control, there is a high percentage of down syndrome and retardation in their community. Women have children well into their forties when birth defects increase as a percentage of all births. It is not unusual for a 49 year old woman to become a mother. Yet these children are cared for and schooled by the community. This does not prevent the community from requesting and receiving extra funds from public coffers to educate their special needs children. Mental Illness in this community is looked upon as something shameful. In order to find Deborah's mentally ill father a wife, the family had to seek out a poor girl from London who had poor prospects and whose family would not be aware of their son's strange behavior.This was Deborah's mother. Of course, this marriage failed. In fact Deborah's mother left the sect to live a secular gay life. In the community Deborah was viewed as not as good as others with a regular family. Further, her stingy granfather who could well afford to feed and cloth Deborah dressed her in her cousins' hand me downs. She never got to go to a store and select her own school clothes. This fact made her feel unworthy among her peers. Deborah is a bright and intellectual girl. These traits are not valued in the Hasidic community. Women are only valued as a support for men and as mothers. To discourage these traits Hasidic women cannot read most secular books and magazines. They are barred from learning about the outside world. Even their New York state required English grammar lessons are censored. There are lines of black out in the English grammar book. To comply with state law, girls are kept in school until age 16, but they do not earn New York City high school diplomas. Their religious observance precludes them from learning subjects like geometry which are required for a New York City high school diploma. AT 17 Deborah is married to a man she has met only once. He is not an intellecctual man. He works as a laborer in a warehouse. Deborah is an English teacher in the Satmar version of a high school. She should have been matched with someone who was an intellectual like her. That notion never occurred to her grandparents who looked only at the level of religious observance and financial support that could be expected of the family. Eli was from a humble albeit reverent and religious family, and that was good enough for their grandaughter. The marriage was doomed from the start. Deborah had a vaginal abnormality that precluded normal completion of sexual intercourse. Of course, she was personally blamed for the failure. A gynecologist identified the abnormality and recommended minor surgery. The family refuses to accept the diagnosis and surgical recommendation. Instead they take her from one talk therapist to another. A biofeedback specialist cannot fix a structural defect. Her husband is not the least bit supportive. He even leaves her temporarily over her failure. Finally Deborah finds a solution on the internet. She orders a manual dilation kit. This kit helps her deal with her double hymen which is rigid and inflexible. She finally completes intercourse and becomes pregnant. Once she becomes pregnant she is treated much better by her husband and his family. She and Eli have now moved out of Williamsburg into or north of Westchester county where they are not subjected to constant observance and critisizm. Deborah and her spouse have a little more freedom here. This freedom means she is not critisized because she doesn't shave her head in addition to wearing a wig. Still she must wear a wig and she must observe sabbath rules and participate in the Mikvah. She regularly attends the mikvah which she detests. She finds it dehumanizing and invasive which it is. When she decides that she must leave the sect for her own personal sanity and for the good of her son, Yitzy, the mikvah is one of the first observances she gives up. When she leaves the apartment ostensibly to attend to the mikvah she takes a magazine and reads in front of the Starbucks. She realizes that the purpose of many of these observances is to oppress women. They are designed to keep women ignorant of the ouside world and incapable of fending for themselves outside the sect. The hasidic education deprives all its students of more than a rudimentary acquaintance with algebra. There is no geometry, advanced algebra, trigonometry, calculus, or physics. Only Jewish subjects are taught. Geometry and other higher mathematics are of Greek origin so they aren't taught. Modern chemistry is not taught though chemical analysis that existed in biblical times is taught. The ancient Hebrews had not mastered modern chemistry or physics. Gallileo is not taught. Children learn history lessons with objectionable material removed. They do not learn about the women's movement for example. Only subjects which comport with their religious views are allowed. Thus, they are ill prepared to attend any college or university. Ultra-orthodox Yeshiva students who want to pursue college degrees in anything other than Judaic studies must participate in some sort of remedial or self taught education. The Hasidic view toward education is probably similar to the tea party regulars who want creationism taught alongside Darwin. Christians who want creationsim taught as an accepted theory of the origin of the species alongside Darwin are just as nuts. Christian fundamentalists who don't want birth control taught in sex education classes are cultish too. Christian fundamentalist may not dress in funny clothes like the Hasids, but they can be just as dangerous and just as regressive. The Duggans in the reality show 21 kids and counting come to mind. Members of cults can be pleasant, charming and nice. The amish are an example of a cult as are other Christian fundamentalists. The Lubuvitcher group of Hassidic Jews are an example too. Even if some of the examples of hasidic excesses are "embroidered" or not totally factually accurate, they do serve to demonstrate the danger of this particular religious cult. Further, they are an accurate account of the author's perception at the time. Her perception may have been inaccurate, but that was her perception. A boy is molested by his elderly bar mitzvah teacher. The community comes to learn that he has molested many boys and has a hoard of children's pornography in his house. Do they report him to the police? No. He is too old to go to jail. He disappears from the community for several weeks and returns. Presumably he participates in tutoring boys once again. Is he again in a position to molest? We are not told. What happens to the boy? He is forced to leave his Yeshiva because his presence will disrupt the class. No other Yeshiva will take him because they know what happened to him. This is a case of a ten year old victim being punished for being a victim and speaking out. How is this different from the Muslims who blame their daughters because they were raped. How is it so different from family members killing a victim of rape, because she was raped. It is accepted as an honor killing. We are horrified when we hear about these Muslim extremists. How are muslim honor killings so different from the fallout of an ultra orthodox Jewish boy being raped by his teacher. Then there is the horrific murder of a ten year old boy caught masterbating by his father. Masterbation is prohibited in the ultra orthodox sect. The community does not report the murder. Instead a specious death certificate is issued by the hassidic ambulence service. A quick burial follows. If you think this is impossible then read Postville where another murder is covered up by a Hasidic community. Deborah was fortunate to have been able to leave this sect on the tails of the publication of her book. She received an advance which gave her the financial suppport she needed to take her son and leave. She cuts his Paises so he will look just like all the other children at the playground, and it gives her great pleasure to do so. She begins teaching him in English instead of the favored Yiddish. Other women who are not as talented as Deborah and who wish to leave the sect are not so fortunate. She was lucky that a professor at Columbia's law school fought for Deborah's right to have custody of her son. She probably fought for and won child support from Eli as well. I do wish the book explained about any sister she may have had and which was referred to in some of the reviews. If she had been in multiple schools and been expelled, I wish she would have explained that in the book too. She has written a memoir so it should be factually correct. Otherwise she must label it as fiction based on fact. I wish I had the opportunity to ask her myself. In any case I loved this book. It sheds light on the danger of cults. Whether a society is a cult or not is really based on a continuum with some groups being more cultish than others. I view some modern Jewish orthodox communities as cultish without going all the way. This Satmar sect is a total cult. The only more cultish act they could have perpetrated would have been to murder Deborah becuase of her Hymen defect. I think some Muslim groups would go that far. Still hasidic groups do perform many charitable acts. They run the volunteer ambulence service in their community. They support free apartments for people who come to major medical centers for treatment. Some of these people including non-Jews could ill afford the cost of traveling to a major medical center for treatment of a serious illness were it not for these free apartments. They provide kosher meals for patients who are kosher in hospitals that cannot do so. They provide kosher meals and passover seders for Jewish inmates in correctionsl institutions. They do perform charitable acts and services for the community. Further, they are nearly single handedly responsible for raising the Jewish birth rate and providing a balance for the diappearance of Judaism in the secular community. If it weren't for these religious Jews, Judaism would probably die out in a few generations. However, Jews that don't believe these are cults should live in NYC for a few years. As a non-observant Jew walking in their communities you will be subjected to insults and even spitting. They may even throw stones. Still unlike the Muslims murdering people because they don't believe as they do is a sin. It is not allowed. In Islam fundamentalists believe that if they cannot force the infidel(non-believer) to believe, they should slay him. This is not the Jewish belief fundamentalist or otherwise which holds all life sacrosanct. In Judaism you cannot kill or maim a non-believer because they don't believe. I have had the opportunity to learn why the author fails to acknowledge the existence of her sister or the fact that she attended more than one secondary school. She knew that by writing about her life, she brought community disapproval on her family for their failure to control a child and a female child as well. Eli, her husband was ostracized for failing to control his wife. He has since left the community and now wears blue jeans though he is still observant. She felt her 11 year old sister was a child who did not decide to leave the sect. She did not feel she had the right to expose her younger sister to the ostracism she knew would occur if she was mentioned in the book. She felt her sister had the right to decide for herself whether or not she wanted to remain in the community. Eli, her husband is an adult and presumably can fend for himself. She did not mention the different secondary schools, because in her mind her educational experience culminated in the last school and mentioning the others did not advance the points she was trying to make about her education or lack there of. These rationales seem reasonable to me and should satisfy all the Hassidic nit pickers and nay sayers who have written negative reviews about her memoir. To them all I say- If this expose reveals destructive traits of these religious practices then maybe it is time to moderate them. It is time to free the slaves or rather the women. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 Masada by Yigael Yadin Edition: Hardcover 31 used & new from $1.99 Great Photographic Reference of this Battleground, October 14, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Masada (Hardcover) I bought this book to help me understand the historical fiction book, the Dovekeepers. Having this pictorial reference at hand was helpful in envisioning life at the time. Several hundred secular Jews holed up in this mountain fortress to protect themselves from the Roman invaders. They lived here for about 3 years until the Romans engineered a ramp that allowed them to invade the mountain top. The Jews slew their own rather than fall prey to the roman hoards. The Romans tortured and raped their captives before putting them to death in painful and horrible ways. The Jews of Masada were determined that if death was upon them, it would be a merciful one. Only 2 adult women and 5 children escaped (I may be incorrect on the actual numbers here, but I am close). The Dovekeepers and many scholarly books written on the massacre at Masada used the same archaeological findings pictured in this book to come to their conclusions or to substantiate their work. The book is filled with helpful color plates. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Where Danger Lurks by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Paperback Price: $12.56 15 used & new from $5.09 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Absolutely Amateurish, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Where Danger Lurks (Paperback) I think this book was published because the publisher published her first novel, Texas Justice. Texas Justice was probably published because it was the only novel based on a riveting true murder case in Houston. A handsome Jewish boy, the son of middle class parents walked into a wig shop and shot and killed one of the employees and seriously wounded others. He did not know the people and seemed to have no motive for the crime. His mother is an attorney in Houston. His parents were divorced. No one else wrote a book about this crime. So when Judith Finkel wrote a second book about a pediophile, the same publisher published it. However, the more Finkel strays from a real life crime the less professional is the attempt. This effort seemed so amateurish that I was embarrassed for the author. She is a genuinely nice woman who willingly attends book clubs reviewing her books. Our book club chose this as well as her first book for that reason. Additionally she is a good friend of one of our members who proposed this book as well as her first. I gave that book 3 stars. Unfortunately, when the author attends the book club no one feels free to offer frank critisizm. If they choose a third book by her, I will chose not to read it or attend the discussion. I really like Ms. Finkel so I hope she does not read this. I really don't want to hurt her feelings. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Texas Justice by Judith Groudine Finkel Edition: Perfect Paperback Price: $12.09 29 used & new from $0.01 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful Mediocre Fictionalization of a True Event, October 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Texas Justice (Perfect Paperback) Garfinkel wrote a fictional story based on a true event which occurred in Houston, Texas. However, the fiction is so closely based on the facts that this author would have done a better job had she written a nonfiction book based on the exact facts. For example, one of the real witnesses was a podiatrist and in her rendition the witness is a chiropracter. The quality of the writing is mediocre. Further, rather than give the book an ending, she left it unended so the reader could fashion one for himself or herself. I don't care for books that end like this, and I think it is an author cop out. The real story had an ending. The young man was the son of two Israelis who became naturalized U.S. citizens. They maintained dual citizenship as did their two sons. The young man fled to Israel with the Houston police hot on his heels. Israel agreed to extradict him to the states as long as Texas took the death penalty off the table. Israel does not have the death penalty and will not extradict a wanted criminal who is subject to the death penalty. The perpetrator pled guilty to 1 count of murder and more than one count of attempted murder. He is doing life in prison. What is interesting in the real story is that this semmingly normal, attractive and clean cut young man walked into a wig shop and gunned down its owner and employees. He did not know these people and he appeared to have no motive to commit the crime. The wig shop catered primarily to cancer patients who had lost their hair from chemotherapy. Other clients had hair loss due to brain surgery for serious conditions. The owner and employees were compassionate and caring people who delicately handled this troubling situation. Neither the Houston newspapers nor the book ever found an explanation for the boy's criminal conduct. His parents were divorced, and his mother was an attorney. He was clearly troubled. Had he been seen by a psychologist before the incident? Had any teacher or school counselor recommended psychiatric intervention before the incident? Did he select murder as his method of acting out his anger, because his mother was an attorney and knowledgeable about the legal system? Was he trying to get her attention for some reason? None of this is examined in the book. A normal healthy young man does not pick up a gun and shoot at people he doesn't know killing and injuring them for no reason. Why weren't these questions explored? Was this one of those families that saw danger signs or was told by school personnel to get the boy psychiatric help, but who rejected the notion of psychiatric help? How receptive was the family to suggestions for psychiatric treatment for their clearly troubled son? Additionally, an interesting legal argument arose as a result of this case. Israeli courts recognize a parent child privilege. That is any communication between a child and parent is privileged. Neither the parent nor the child can be compelled to divulge what is said in these conversations. They need not testify about these conversations. U.S. courts recognize spousal privelege, attorney client privilege, clergyman church member privilege, and doctor patient privilege. U.S. courts do not recognize a parent child privilege. After the crime, the young man sought help from his parents who helped him flee to Israel. When the authorities were looking for him, the parents seeking to conceal his whereabouts asserted a parent child privilege based on their reliance on it as Israelis. Of course, that argument did not work. The Texas court compelled the parents to reveal the conversations they had with their son after he committed this horrendous crime. Yet the book did not mention this novel legal argument. I don't think the young man will ever get out of prison, but it would be nice to know what psycological factors caused this boy to murder one woman and seriously wound others he did not know. Was he seriously depressed? Was he a manic depressive experiencing a psychotic break? The author provides us with not one clue. Surely his defense team explored psychiatric issues which might mitigate his punishment. There would be court records of this. Had the issue been totally ignored by his defense team then there was a record of that too. However, the court itself could have ordered psychiatric evaluation. Did it? The author is silent on these issues. This novel was a selection made by my book club, because the author is a friend of one of the members. That is one of the worst reasons to select a book. The author was present at the book club meeting to answer questions about the book. Hence, I could not say what I really thought about it. The author is a very nice woman who is well liked. Unless she sticks to nonfiction, she isn't worth reading. I think most of her readers will be women. I am surprised by all the accolades she has received in customer reviews, and I find them suspect. I am sorry if this hurts the author's feelings because I really liked her. Defending Jacob which is complete fiction is about a young man from a good family who is accused of murder and who must go through the criminal justice system. The boy is 14 as is his victim and his father is a D.A. This is a much better book and far more well written. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 195 used & new from $1.30 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful A Holocaust Love Story, October 6, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Lost Wife (Paperback) I wish I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars. Amazon you should add this feature to your customer reviews. The writing is adequate and the story plausible. This story is about Jewish European lovers who are victims of the Nazi holocaust. Lemka and Josef fall deeply in love in pre-WWII Prague just as the Nazi threat is looming. Josef's family secures U.S, visas for the family including Lemka as Josef's wife. They are unable to include Lemka's family in the group. The sponser, a cousin in the U.S., is only willing to sponser the 5 of them. Josef & Lemka marry. Josef knows that he is unable to secure visas for Lemka's family, but Lemka does not. Her father is aware of the problem but urges Josef to marry Lemka and take her to the U.S. with them. Lemka who loves her family deeply refuses to leave them even though her family including her beloved father urges her to go. Josef and his family are scheduled to be in England for two months before sailing for America. Josef continues to try to convince her to join them as does Lemka's father while it is still possible. She steadfastly refuses. I am sure these scenarios really occured in pre- WWII Europe. These dramatic events are believible. We as the reading audience are clammoring for her to join him. We see only trouble ahead. The author quickly makes minced meat out of our frustration at this turn of events. (Spoiler Alert). However,the ship on which the family sails sinks at sea and only Josef survives. Had Lemka joined them she would have been on the lifeboat with Josef's sister and mother and she would surely have perished. Lemka is informed that the whole family died and that Josef is dead. Josef's many letters never reach Lemka who has now been excluded from Prague's social and economic life because she is a Jew. The family survies in the ghetto mainly on the handouts of their prior maid, Lucie, a country girl who left them when she married. They considered her part of their family and she thought of them as family. The Jews had been ordered to turn over their radios and anything of value. However, they entrusted Lucie with a few momentos of jewelry to hold for them until after the war. Lemka and her family are ordered to Terezinstat, the show ghetto which the Nazis would doll up every now and then for Red Cross inspectors from Switzerland. They would start out by transferring all of the elderly, sick , and feeble inhabitants to Auschwitz so that the ghetto would not look as crowded as it really was. The thinnest inhabitants were transferred to death camps so that only the fittest were on view for the inspection. As soon as the inspection was over, the Nazis would bring in more trainloads creating the terrible overcrowding that was its consistent characteristic once again. Lemka was an artist. She was assigned to indoor sedentary work creating individual painted postcards for Nazi soldiers. Other artists were charged with painting larger canvases. Some painted portraits for the soldiers from photographs, and they received extra food for those. One created fabulous copies of great paintings used to adorn Nazi homes. They also surreptiously created paintings and drawings of camp life depicting sickness, torture, and death among its inhabitants at great personal risk. These they hid within the ghetto walls. The children also created art with the miniscule amount of supplies surreptitiously provided by these artists. Some 4500 children's drawings were also hidden within these walls. They are now on display in various museums on the holocaust including the Jewish museum in Prague. I have been to the Jewish museum in Prague which is in one of the few remaining intact synagogoues in Europe. Most of them were burned often with their Jewish members locked inside. It was allowed to stand, because Hitler planned a museum on Europe's extinct Jewish culture. Only a few of the paintings and drawings are on display. A better use would be to donate the great majority of them to the Holocaust museum in D.C. and Yad Vehem, the holocaust museum in Israel. I am sure some have been donated. They have far more display space and more of them deserve to be displayed. I remember crying at the display of children's holocaust art in Yad Veshem. Lemka enters Terezenstadt with her family. Her father, a coal deliverer in the ghetto, is given orders to be on the next transcript to Auschwitz. Everyone knows it is a death camp. It is understandable that her mother , his wife, would volunteer to go with him. However, when Lemka and Lemka'sister and brother volunteer to accompany their father too, it strains the imagination. Lemka again believes that the family has never been separated and should not be now. Of course, the reader is screaming "don't go." Her father again tries to discourage his children from accompanying them to no avail. Lemka and her family transfer to Auschwitz. Her parents are quickly gassed. Her sister dies from the deprivation. She survives and at the end of the war is tranferred on foot to various camps. She survives the forced marches and ends up in a DP camp. She believes herself to be alone in the world. Carl, a Jewish American soldier befriends her and provides her with extra rations and goodies. He courts her and asks her to marry him. Lemka marries Carl because he has saved her. She has no great love for him as she did for Josef. Of course, there is nothing like a first love. She returns to Prague and seeks out her former home where she hopes to spend the night. The people now living in her apartment are angry and flabbergasted that she dares to return to her home. They refuse to let her in and will not allow her to spend the night. Lemka now exhausted takes a train to Lucie's village where she visits a grateful Lucie who cries upon learning of all the family deaths. Lemka finds a warm bed for the night. Lucie returns the 3 pieces of jewelry to Lemka including the gold wedding band Josef gave her. They are the only momentos she has of her family. Carl takes her to NYC where they remain married for over 50 years until his death. They have one child. Her child has a red headed daughter with a long swan neck just like her great grandmother who perished in the camps. Josef has a grandson. The grandson is about to marry Lemka's grandaughter. At the rehearsal dinner he meets his grandson's fiance for the first time and recognizes the red hair and neck. The author does not explain why a beloved grandfather would not have met the fiance earlier. When he is seated neck to Lemka who has now taken the Americanized name, Lanie, he recognizes a birthmark on her arm next to her Auschwitz tatoo. They realize they were the Lemka and Josef who loved each other and married in Prague. Then the book ends. The ending is disappointing and frustrating. The reader wants to know if they strike up their reltionship again, if they move in together, if they have great satisfaction from finding each other at last. Or is it a bust? Is the memory far greater than the relistic living love? That happens so often when rediscovering old loves. Josef married, but he never really loved his wife of many years with the passion he had for Lemka. He and his wife married for the same reasons many holocaust survivors married. They wanted to stop the lonliness and to recreate a family. He did love her and nurse her through her final illness, but something was always missing. Are we going to get a sequel? The writing quality in this book was 4 star. It was a page turner because the reader wanted to know about the rekindled relationship, but the author does not give us that. I downrated the book because the ending was frustrating. Are we going to get a sequel? I would read that. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) by Isabel Allende Edition: Paperback Price: $12.08 178 used & new from $0.01 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful An Allende Page Turner, September 23, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback) I bought this in the Kindle format. However, I looked through the hard cover edition. The story would have been easier to follow had there been a set of maps of Haiti showing elevations, plantations, mountains, forests and towns that were important to the first half of this tale which takes place in Haiti. Maps were unavailable in any edition I saw. They would have really helped the reader understand the action that takes place during the Haitian slave revolts. The book follows the life of the slave girl Zarite (Tete). She is the product of a white father and an African slave. The slave is raped en route from Africa to Haiti by one of the white sailors. Tete is herself raped twice by the French plantation owner who hires her to care for his mentally ill spouse. Tete's first child by Valmorain is a boy, Jean claude and the second is a girl, Rosette. These offspring would be termed Quadroons. The boy, Jean Claude, is removed quickly from Tete's possession and placed in the care of Violette and her white French army officer husband. Violette is a mulatta woman who is likely also a Quadroon. Violette was Valmorain's mistress before he married his Spanish born wife. She is unable to conceive. Violette and her white spouse raise Jean Claude as their own son. Valmorain and his wife have a son, Maurice. Tete who has milk from the birth of Jean Claude becomes his wet nurse. Valmorain's wife descends into madness, and Tete becomes the only mother Maurice knows. Yet Valmorain continues to rape Tete. He does not view it as rape, because he views Tete as his property. Tete becomes pregnant again and when Maurice is about 3, she gives birth to her daughter, Rosette. By now Valmorain's wife is completely out of touch with reality.Thus Valmorain does not need to remove Rosette from the plantation to hide her existence from his wife. Valmorain allows Rosette to remain on the plantation in the care of her mother, Tete. Maurice and Tete grow to love each other much to Valmorain's chagrin. Valmorain dotes on Maurice who is his only white child and legitimate heir. Maurice also grows to love Rosette. He protects her as he would a younger sister. Since there are no other white children on the plantation, Maurice plays almost exclusively with Rosette who appears to many as if she is a white child of Spanish origin. Rosette and Maurice become very close and love eachother dearly. At some point they become aware that they have the same father. Valmorain and Maurice's must leave Haiti abruptly when violent slave revolts erupt. The rebellious slaves murdered many whites on the island during their revolt. Tete helps Valmorain and Maurice escape risking her own life to do so. She saves their lives on more than one occassion. Valmorain, Valmorain's brother-in-law, Santos, Tete, Maurice, Violette, Jean Claude, and Rosette all make their escape to New Orleans via Cuba. Even mulattos were in danger. Dr. P., Valmorain's physician friend eventually joins them with his "colored' wife, Adele and his mulatto children. This story is an indictment of slavery, an institution which brings suffering and debauchery to both slave and master. The brutality of the institution in Haiti may have been without equal. It was one of the reasons the slave rebellion there came to fruition resulting in the first black government in the western hemisphere. Valmorain was not as evil or brutal as many of the other slave owners, but he was cruel enough. His overseer, Prosper Chambray, a mulatto himself was more brutal than many of the white slave owners. Dr. P who saw the value of Tante Rose's native African home remedies was one of the few really decent white men. He was a physician who saw the futility of European medical practices like bleeding to effect cures. Yet he hid his relationship to his children by Adele and even his relationship to Adele from the other whites on Haiti and to some extent in New Orleans. In New Orleans Valmorain who reinvents himself as a wealthy plantation owner remarries a wretched woman named Hilda who bears him only daughters. Thus his only son is still Maurice. As children Maurice and Rosette have grown to love each other. They share the same father, Valmorain. They part just before adolescence. Valmorain sends Maurice to a liberal boarding school in Boston. He pays for Rosette to be educated in New Orleans by nuns who run a school for girls who have some negro blood. Rosette looks like a white girl of Spanish descent but she is 25% black. She rejects that identity and does not identify as the daughter of her mother Tete, a slave. She sees Tete as Valmorain's possession and feels herself to be free even though she is not. All of these narrative threads are headed for disaster. Maurice attends school among abolitionists and he hates the institution of slavery. Valmorain is appalled at his son's ideas which Maurice shares when he returns to New Orleans. For without slavery his father's fortune would be lost. Until this point Allende's tale is filled with adventure, romance, suffering, love and sadness. However, here is where she loses me. Spoiler alert here. Maurice and Rosette who have loved each other since childhood fall in love romantically, and wish to marry. To me this is over the top. A very liberal priest would have married a white boy to a girl of color. But when he learns that they share the same father he refuses. Tete finds a way to accomplish the marriage on a ship in front of the ship's captain. They marry and Rosette gives birth to their child, Justin, Valmorain's second heir. I found this incestuous act too over the top for me. I did not think Tete was compassionate or clever by virtue of her method of accomplishing the marriage. If these children had been worth admiring, they would have seen the wisdom of a rule that precluded incestuous unions. While Tete could have been sympathetic and compassionate about their love and devotion to each other, she should not have helped them marry legally. Of course, such an act would and did doom them. This story would have made a terrific movie. I think it would have been a better movie than a book. The translation from Spanish is excellent. Allende is also fluent in English so she could carefully supervise the translation. Allende is a translator herself and Allende's translator is also an author so these facts make for an excellent translation. Haiti devolves into a chaotic and violent society because 1) The simultaneous occurance of the French revolution prevented France from devoting enough troops to stabilize Haiti with its myriad problems, 2) The unstable new French republic sent confusing messages about its policies regarding states of freedom and class for the different degrees of coloreds and slaves in Haiti 3) There was a large multiple of blacks relative to the number of whites in Haiti. Populations in the U.S were not so skewed. 4) The geographic and climatological characteristics of Haiti vs. The Dominican Republic placed Haiti at a disadvantage for commercial success. Comments (2) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Jul 25, 2013 2:46 PM PDT ________________________________________ Women: A Novel by Charles Bukowski Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 100 used & new from $6.90 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful Alcohol Fueled Misogynistic & Souless Sexual Romp Thru Life, September 12, 2012 This review is from: Women: A Novel (Paperback) First this author can write. However, my copy arrived in a brown paper binding which was a clue to its content. This is as close to pornography as one can get and still call it literature. The author Charles Bukowski had an unhappy childhood. In high school he was awkward and unattractive. He was plagued with acne and this caused permanent scarring and disfigurement. Therefore, girls paid little attention to him. Though he was a critical success with his poetry and other writing, he was not a financial success. He worked at the U.S. Post Office and other menial jobs for years to support his first love, writing. He is not a materialistic man and money is not important to him. In fact the picture of him in the book could have just as easily been that of a homeless man. This book is semi-autobiographical. Henry, the main character and narrator has finally acheived some critical success with his raw sexual poetry in certain hip and intellectual circles. He is paid to give readings of his poems at University campuses, book stores, and other venues that usually include bars. Henry is in his mid-50's. Yet when he gives readings often in worn out clothing and with long wavy unkempt hair and a beard, young women or even girls fall at his feet and worship him in an unhealthy way. They throw themselves at him and often fall into bed with him sometimes two at a time right after these readings. Henry is a lonely man. He is busy with the sophmoric pursuit of making up for lost time when girls in his high school ignored him. But c'mon here. He is 55 years old plus and he never got over being unpopular with high school girls? Maybe if he chose a girl or woman who was less physically attractive, he might have found a sweet heart. Maybe if he gave attention to an over weight girl with acne he might have found a soul mate in high school and thereafter. But of course he does not. Even with Lydia, one of the women he claims to love, he really doesn't have a soulmate. In fact I saw no evidence in the book even at the hopeful end that he ever formed meaningful object relations. All of these women were much younger than he even as young as 18. The age difference did not bother him , and he relished their young bodies. Rarely was a woman unattractive enough that he was uninterested in sex. There was one older (38) woman who he found unattractive, but he still had sex with her. The "F" word appears on every page. The "C__T" word appears on every other page and the word "bitch appears every 10 pages. I think this book could have been written with less use of such offensive language. He never uses the term "making love" even with a woman he claims he loves. Everything is "f----ing." It becomes monotonous and old. Several times I thought of putting the book down. I just don't like to leave something unfinished. This catalogue of Henry's "unrepentant and miserable descent into carnal pursuits" was just offensive. I did not begin noting memorable passages as I do in every book until page 202. And then there was not much more of substance until page 238 in a 290 page novel. The same points could have been made in a less vulgar tome and it would have been more appealing. I suspect that men will appreciate this book more than women. In fact, I don't know if that many women have finished this book. Reading his vulgar poems is different. What the reader can appreciate in short blurbs is different than what one can enjoy in a solid book form. Henry has many psycological problems. It would be interesting to learn whther he ever had therapy for them. Before each reading he must get high on booze and vomit in the alley or street behind the venue. He prefers alchohol to drugs, and he is an alcoholic. He smokes a joint now and then. After all he lives in Los angelos where he grew up. He doesn't really get involved with snorting coke or taking other mind bending drugs. He takes advantage of the hippy female flower children who adore him. He doesn't consider "anything but my own selfish cheap pleasure...like a spoiled high school kid... I was truly no good...the worst part of it was that I passed myself off for exactly what I wasn't-- a good man."pg.236 I don't recommmend this book for female readers. Men who wish to read a sophmoric sexual romp with offensive language will be pleased. This is good literature, but there much good literature that is not offensive. Time is too short to spend reading this. Still it does make me curious to read some of his poems. If I can find one in the library, I may read a few. It is not likely to be anything I'd read completely. Perhaps, I am curious to understand what sorts of poems make book smart young women sacrifice their dignity for a broken down drunk writer. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck Price: $85.45 15 used & new from $85.45 Another Winner from Bruder, September 12, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bruder Mack Granite Liebherr Crane Truck (Toy) this is a complicated working model that our grandson loves. He loves to work the crane and other movable parts. This is a very well made sturdy toy truck. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green Price: $83.99 6 used & new from $74.98 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Great gift for boys, September 7, 2012 = Durability: = Fun: = Educational: This review is from: Bruder Scania R-Series Garbage Truck - Red/Green (Toy) I rate toys on how much children play with them. My grandson selected this truck as a gift for himself when he was 3. He loves it so much that he sleeps with it as well as the Bruder fire truck. He loves great big toy trucks. This truck is true to scale and true to life with doors and compartments that open and close. I don't understand why it costs as much as it does except that it is made in Germany where labor is expensive. It is a big plastic truck, but it is more durable than other plastic trucks. It is a heavy weight plastic and not the least bit flimsy. All the doors etc work. Even tho it was suggested for children over 3 or 4, our grandson was 3 and he didn't break it. After months of play he still loves it and considers it his favorite toy. Other than teaching a child how a garbage truck works, I don't see any educational value in this item. However, my prime purpose for purchasing a toy is for fun. If it happens to be educational then that is fine too. We have since purchased a fire truck and he recieved a small tractor. He loves them all. We will be buying the crane for his birthday and the cement truck for his holiday gift. His older brother took to the WOW trucks instead. I'd buy this again and recommend it for any boy who loves trucks and contruction vehicles. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand Edition: Hardcover Price: $14.83 665 used & new from $3.99 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Really a 3&1/2 Star If It Were Offered, July 30, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Hardcover) This non-fiction biographical book about Louis Zamperini's life told the story of a remarkable American hero. Reared during the depression, he was a peck's bad boy who was guilty of mischief, stealing, and poor school performance. He could have been dyslexic or suffering from some other learning disability. He found his salvation in running. He was not a stellar student, but he was a champion runner. He received allcolades for his competitive running in Torrance California. For that reason he stayed in school and even enrolled in U.S.C. He was one of the youngest and most inexperienced runners to compete at the Berlin olympics in 1938. Yet he made a decent showing and shook Hitler's hand. He continued to run competitively thereafter until Pearl Harbor. After December 1st 1941 he enlisted. Because he had some college and was an olympic athlete he was given a commission in the Army Air Core. This was the forerunner of today's air force. Louis was a bombadier. His team was highly successful and flew many more successful runs than the average Air Core team. Still on their last mission his team was forced to fly a less than flight ready aircraft. As a result it plummeted into the Pacific. Three soldiers survived including the pilot who sustained a non-lethal head injury. They survived in two rafts eventually reduced to one that were not properly fitted with survival gear. The rafts had fishing line but no hooks, a few water cans, but not enough and nothing that could be used to collect fresh rain water. They had no knife and little first aid. Japanese fighters strafed their two rafts requiring them to reduce to one raft. Sharks circled their raft day after day even jumping into the raft on more than one occassion. Yet they survived 46 days on the open water, a new record, and traveled over 2000 miles well into Japanese territory. They found a small Japanese island and rowed ashore. There they were "rescued" by the Japanese inhabitants. Soon a Japanese freighter arrived to take them to a POW camp. They were then interred in various Japanese prisoner of war camps. The Japanese viewed those that surrendered rather than fighting to the death as dishonorable. For every allied soldier killed four were captured. For every 120 Japanese soldiers killed only one was captured. The contempt and revulsion that the Japanese felt for those who surrendered or were captured extended to allied servicemen. Unbroken pg. 195. For this reason most Japanese fought to the death even when they knew a battle could not be won. It was for the same reason that we had to drop 2 atomic bombs before the Japanese surrendered. Surrender was considered so terribly dishonorable. Their thinking created an atmosphere in which to abuse, enslave, starve or even murder a POW was considered acceptable and even desirable. Unbroken pg.195 The captured allied soldiers were severly mistreated by their Japanese captors. The allied POWs captured in Europe did not suffer the same fate. Louis was transferred to various POW camps with one worse than the next. One particular corporal nicknamed "The Bird" by the prisoners was particularly sadistic. He hated Louis and seemed to take out his daily frustrations on him. He was passed over for a commision at the beginning of the war. Coming from an influential and wealthy family he was very offended by this faux pas and he took out his frustration on the prisoners. He beat Louis repeatedly, and no one not even his superiors tried to stop him. Even when he exceeded what Japanese officers thought were the bounds of propriety, they did not intercede. Louis and some of his friends, including the pilot who survived the crash with him, survived the war and returned to their families. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome often called "battle fatigue" was poorly understood at the time. Often people believed the sufferer could just "snap out of it." Nothing was further from the truth. It was a real psychiatric condition that manifested itself in troubling physical symptoms as well as nightmares, an inability to hold a job, an inability to form lasting relationships and a host of other problems. Louis met and married his wife Cynthia,but he had trouble earning a living and he became an alcoholic. His wife nearly left him. Then he "discovered Jesus" and became a born again Christian in Billy Grahams' church. The religious devotion and the love from his congregation saved his psyche. He and Cynthia, who had become a born again Christian before Louis, stayed together. Louis also found salvation in teaching troubled boys out door survival skills such as repelling. Our government initially hunted and punished the POW guards and others who had committed crimes against humanity such as "The Rape of Nanking." The allies sought "The Bird" for war crimes for 7 years. He was on the run successfully hiding from the soldiers. He could not see his mother, take a high profile job, or marry. He did manage to see his affluent mother about once every 2 years. She was watched carefully so she really could not help him. His subsistence life was really unpleasant compared to his afluent lifestyle before the war. By March 1952 Japan and the Allies signed a peace treaty that would end allied occupation of Japan. As part of this treaty the U.S. and other allies would not seek criminal prosectutions or meaningful reparations for war crimes. This was part of a foreign policy geared to the allied defense from the red menace, Russia and her allies. It was believed that the threat from communism was so great that we had to "bury the hatchet" with prior enemies to form a steadfast alliance against a nuclear Russia. Watanabe, "The Bird" could go home. He did, and he built a life with a wife and family. Finally, Louis realized "The Bird" was only a man and let go of his consuming hatred. This book was too long. Many of the sections could have been shortened including the sections on Louis' POW experiences. Another reviewer wrote that his time in the army air core before his crash could have been condensed. I agree. This book of 398 pages needs to be edited and condensed. What saves it are the pictures. It is a page turner. All readers will want to learn what happens to Louis Z. He is a compelling and attractive persona so most readers will be charmed. I almost gave this book 4 stars, but the writing simply does not rise to 4 star quality. The author's research was excellent. Of course, the subject was still living and had already written his own memoir. His own memoir was not nearly as successful as Unbroken, but , of course, it did not have Random House's marketing budget or contacts. Louis Z appeared on the Jay Leno show to stump this book etc. This was a book club choice and I probably would not have chosen it myself especially not until it appeared in paper back. Readers will want to see the photos so it would be better to buy the book. Versions on the ereaders will probably not contain quality photos. Louis' story would probably make a better adventure film than a book. I hope that it will become a WWII movie. We need more coverage of what the Japanese did to our soldiers in the POW camps. I know we had Bridge on the River Kwai, but those actors looked too healthy. With todays technology the creators may be able to make them look sufficiently starved without actually starving them. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Anya: A Novel by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.81 112 used & new from $1.93 1 of 4 people found the following review helpful A Difficult Read, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Anya: A Novel (Paperback) If I could have given this book 3&1/2 stars I would have. It is not a 4 star book. I am usually fascinated by holocaust fiction or memoirs. However, I had trouble getting into this one. I made a rule that if I do not get into a book by page 50, I will put it down and quit reading it. Because of the subject matter, I gave this 100 pages. By then I cared enough about the characters that I wanted to find out what happened to them. Anya is a bright student who is admitted to medical school and dreams of becoming a doctor. She had to be special because in the 1930's women and Jews were discriminated against in the admission process. Anya has two younger brothers and a younger sister, Vera. She is the oldest. Her family was Russian but living and working in Vilno, Poland. Jews experienced pogroms and anti-Semetic bias throughout history in both Russia and Poland. However, they always believed the animosity would blow over and typically it did. Yet I do not understand how they could not see that most Christian Poles hated them. On one occasion Anya's father is warned to keep her home from the University. Anya stays home that day. She returns to learn that some of her Christian colleagues placed iron nails between their fingers and drew them across the faces of some of the Jewish girls causing an ugly long cut and a disfiguiring scar. Yet she sits among them in class again. She realizes that what they did to her jewish classmates was terrible, but she doesn't leave school. That incident should have been a signal to her and her family that Jews did not have a future in Poland. The reader just wants to shake them and say "apply for a visa to the U.S. and leave now." The family does not consider such a move because of cultural and language differences. It would be painful for the parents to start over in a tenement in a foreign land when their material life in Poland was so comfortable. It was easier to ignore the issue and believe that it would soon blow over. Anya meets Stajoe who is from Warsaw during a stay at a summer resort. He courts her long distance during the winter. Finally, he convinces her to marry him and she does. She moves to Warsaw but promises her parents that she will finish medical school one day. She only needs one more semester. However, she is employed by physicians and health centers giving injections and providing medical care under the supervision of her superiors. She is really dispensing medical care as if she were a doctor. She does not however perform any type of surgery. Anya becomes pregnant. She and Stajoe are very happy about the impending event, but Anya assures her family that after her baby is born, she will return to medical school. Stajoe is arrested and imprisoned . The charges and cause are vague but they have something to do with shirking his military service. Bribes had to be paid and other issues had to be resolved before he can be released. Meanwhile, Anya climbs steep stairs daily to visit him. He does not appear to be the most thoughtful husband. Anya gives birth to a girl she names Ninka. Again after he is relased they should have left Poland for the west. But they do not. Then Germany invades Poland in 1939. Warsaw is badly bombed. Polish Jews have learned about all the anti-Jewish laws passed in Germany. They are clearly aware that Jews are being physically harmed and discriminated against by their fellow Germans citizens. Yet most including Anya and her family make no attempt to leave before the invasion. Anya wants to return to Vilno to see if her family is alive and well. After making sure Stajoe's family is safe, they make the arduaous trip to Vilno. Vilno is not as damaged as Warsaw. However, the Russian soldiers who occupied the village while fighting the Germans stripped the residents of many of their possessions. By the time the Germans invade little of the furniture and clothing remains. Anya and her family slept on the floor as they had no beds. I don't recall when Vera, Anya's sister loses her beloved piano, but it may have been during the Russian invasion. Vera is a talented pianist who earns money as a piano teacher. In any case bereft of most of their physical comforts they await the German menace. When the Germans arrive they begin discriminating against the Jews, beating them up and robbing them of what little they have left. Anya's father is arrested and beaten but he survives and returns home. Now they try to leave Vilno ,but no one will give the family all the visas it needs. Anya's father is again arrested and beaten but this time he does not return. Anya searches for him and finds him very badly beaten in a pile of bodies in the Botanical gardens which have been surrounded by barbed wire. She hands him a jar of fresh strawberries thru the fence. He does not recognize her, but he takes the berries. As a medical student she realizes that his head is so badly damaged that he will not survive for long. He will certainly never recover. She returns to announce he died in German custody. The Germans round up the Jews and force them to perform slave labor for minimal rations. Stajoe obtains 3 passports and visas that will allow Anya, Ninka and Stajoe to emigrate to a Carribean island. Anya refuses to leave her mother and siblings. The reader just wants to shake her and force her to go. Her father is dead. The family is on starvation rations. She has a child to consider. However, she remains steadfastly loyal to her mother and siblings. Stajoe tries to convince her to leave to no avail. Finally after a few weeks the visas and passports expire and their salvation vanishes into thin air. Then they are rounded up and placed in a ghetto where the living conditions are crowded and horrible. Everyone is being starved. The family's long time Christian maid brings food to the fence on various occassions to try to save them. Disease is rampant. Anya works at the hospital but there is little medicine available. Her pregnant childhood friend, Rachel is interred in the ghetto after her husband and child are killed and asks to stay with the family. She is very ill with some kind of uterine infection in addition to her pregnancy. However, she suffers abnormal sudden abdominal swelling. Anya puts her in the hospital. The surgeon performs neccessary surgery to save her life. The pregnancy is ended. He finds enough antibiotics to save her life. She returns to the family in a terrible and weakened state. Anya brings Rachel to work with her in the hospital because the other work duties would kill her. Anya makes the decision to place Ninka who is blue eyed and blond with a Polish Christian family to save her. Stajoe is killed. One by one Anya loses all her siblings and she, Rachel and her mother are shipped to the concentration camps. Her mother dies there. After grueling work and living condititons in the camp, Anya is offered a job tending the house of the camp commandant. A young SS officer takes a liking to her and brings her extra food. He also makes available the potatoes in the cellar. Anya shares some of her bounty with Rachel, and she begins to recover some of her health. Finally he offers her a chance to escape. She is incredulous and suspicious of the offer. Then he reveals that he is a Jew hiding as a member of the German army. Like Anya he does not look Jewish. Anya leaves her boots for Rachel, dons the clothes the officer has provided her and she successfully escapes. She survives the war, reunites with her daughter and emigrates to the U.S. They are the only members of her family to survive. Anya never completes medical school. Instead she completes the courses required to become an R.N. and she earns her living as an R.N. Rachel, however, who also survives and is not encumbered by a child completes medical school and becomes an M.D. This book is terribly long. Some of the repetition is uneccessary. It could do with a good editing. The print is very small, and at nearly 500 pages it is a long read. I did not feel that Stajoe's character was well developed. Had he survived the war, it is not clear that their marriage would have survived. Something was missing in this marriage. If you love reading about the holocaust you may want to read this book which is at least based on a true story. Otherwise, I would skip it. Public Reviews Written by You Show: Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11-16 The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein Edition: Paperback Price: $11.48 1120 used & new from $0.01 1 of 3 people found the following review helpful A Guy Book Gals Will Love, July 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel (Paperback) This tale about a kind and decent young man whose goal in life is to become a professional race car driver is told through the eyes of his beloved dog Enzo. Both Denny's wife, Eve and daughter, Zoe love Enzo and he loves them too. Many of Denny's life conflicts are analyzed in terms of race car wisdom and jargon. Denny works as a mechanic in a shop that specializes in high end European cars. He moonlights as a race car driving instructor, a racer and performing in advertisementss. This is why guys will love it. What guy doesn't dream of putting the pedal to the metal in a souped up Ferrari. Unfortunately, Denny faces a terrible tragedy compounded by the selfish meddling of his wealthy in-laws. His beloved wife dies after a grueling battle with brain cancer. Denny is kind enough to agree to leave his wife in her parents care when she is released from the hospital and told she has 6 to 8 months to live. Because his 5 year old daughter, Zoe will lose her mother at such a young age, he agrees to also leave her in their care so she can spend as much time as possible with her dying mother. Denny returns to the small but comfortable Seattle home with Enzo his beloved dog. He is terribly distraught and lonely. He loves his wife, Eve and cannot bear to think of losing her. Still he suffers alone without the light of his life, Zoe, to brighten his mood. He takes her home on occassion and she tells him how she would rather stay with him. Her grandparents give her many material things and a beautiful girly bedroom in their spacious Mercer Island home, but she would still prefer to be with Denny. She understands the situation as much as a 5 year old can. She loves her dying mother too. Denny and Eve were wonderful and responsive parents to Zoe so she is a lovely little girl. After Eve dies, her parents ask Denny to give up custody of Zoe so that they can raise her amid all the material things they can give her. They want to send her to private school and later college, but Denny steadfastly refuses. When he does so the grandparents file a petition for custody alleging that Denny committed statutory rape with a 15 year old girl. The charge is false, but Denny must contend with the reality of it nonetheless. He hires one of his well to do successful attorney clients to represent him. After 3 years Denny is penniless. He borrowed on his house and finally was forced to sell it. He moves with Enzo into a small apartment without a backyard. Because of the criminal charges against him, Denny cannot leave Washington State. Thus his racing career which was about to take off was stymeid. Penniless and at his wits end, financing comes thru an unexpected source. Denny wins his criminal case and the custody battle. Enzo was his steadfast mainstay throughout his ordeal. Enzo and Denny were together before Denny met his wife. By age 8, Enzo was suffering from hip problems and arthritus. Then he was hit by a car. The impact was not enough to kill him, but it did hurt him. By age 10 he had trouble walking and controlling his bladder. He was living a very undignified life. Yet he held on because he knew Denny needed him. He was able to let go when Denny won his legal battles. Yes this book is a bit schmaltzy as one critic observed. However, it is a page turner and a fast and easy read. It is highly entertaining. It would be nice if every book could be as good as Cutting For Stone, but mainly a book should be entertaining. I think most readers will find it so. Yes, it has a Hollywood ending, but any book told from the point of view of the family dog has to be a bit Hollywoodish. Also for those of you who still read paper copy books, the print is larger than usual. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Bride by Anna Solomon Edition: Paperback Price: $6.00 41 used & new from $0.90 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful The Little Life, June 7, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Little Bride (Paperback) This novel follows Minna from her shtetyl near Odessa to her home in America. The option to travel to America as a bride held the only promise for her. Minna lacks a moral compass. She lacks compassion. These traits are understandable. Minna's mother deserted the family when she was about 5. Her younger brother died. The family was always poor and struggled to get by. When she was 11, her father died. Her aunts who inherited her father's property, kicked her out of her house. At age 11 she was forced to take a job as a maidservant for a difficult spinster in Odessa. Once she turned 16, her days were numbered there as well. Her employer, Galina, would seek a younger servant whom she could intimidate. An agency seeking young healthy yiddish speaking Jewish women for Jewish grooms in America was interviewing or rather doing "looks" of potential brides. Minna applied to become a bride. She had very few options and Jews were being killed in the Ukrainian pogroms. Traveling to the U.S. to become a bride represented hope and opportunity to a young girl who had no opportunities. Minna submitted to an invasive humiliating personal exam and was accepted as a bride. She traveled in steerage in a miserable crossing to reach New York. In Minna's imagination a fully furnished house in town awaited her as did a willing groom. She imagined having her own kitchen, stove and sink. Here was a place where no one cared if she came from nothing. This opportunity would be a fresh start. She never thought that her deprivations in America would be worse than those in Odessa, but in fact they were. After a long journey to NYC, Minna was met by a young man a little older that she. He escorted her via rail and wagon to his father's sod hut in the Dakota territory. Her escort, Soloman, was one of her groom's two grown sons. Her husband, Max, who was more than twice her age was a religious Jew who knew nothing about farming. He also had little interest in learning to farm or actually working the farm. His main interest was prayer and Jewish observance to the point of starvation. His first wife left after a few days on the prarie. This desolate life was not for her. As for Minna there was no sink or fine stove. There were no fine bed clothes nor trousseau. Minna and Max shared a single room with Jacob and Soloman, Max's two grown sons. Their life was spartan. Further, Minna falls for Soloman, the young man who escorted her from the ship to his father's home. This setting does not bode well for Minna's future. We are left with a sense of hopelessness from the moment of her arrival in her new home. I could not identify with Minna. Further the other characters were not appealing either. Soloman used his "stepmother" sexually, but did not care about her welfare. Soloman lacked empathy. Max allowed his obsessive religious observance to ruin his harvest and starve his family. Jacob was so poorly drawn that I have little feeling for him. However, after a terrible nearly fatal winter, he joined the circus without even saying goodbye to his family. One of the circus wagons en route to town asked for permission to stay on Max's property for the night. When they left, Jacob went with them. The family feels a sense of betrayal but not from Jacob. They feel betrayed by the circus people who stayed without charge on their land and then lured Jacob away. These characters have a poor set of priorities. Many of thier values are misplaced. For readers who are looking for stories about the American West, I think there are better options. For those looking for novels on the Jewish experience in Victorian America, I think there are more satisfying reads. Not every story can have a happy ending, but the ending should satisfy the reader. This one does not. When the reader does not care about the characters in a novel, it is hard to maintain interest or find the book satisfying. Also this book is about small lives. Not every life is lived large and surely there are good stories in small lives, but there has to be something to engage the reader. One issue not previously mentioned was the establishment of "The Colony". Max disapproved of the settlement, but it was successful. To me the arrangement was much like a kibbutz. It was financed by a wealthy Jewish American, "The Baron." I thought it was interesting and was new to me. I never heard of such a movement before. Clearly, the author did an excellent job researching the applicable history. One can see her extensive work in this regard. Still if the author cannot make me care about the characters, I simply won't enjoy the book. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman Edition: Paperback Price: $12.09 216 used & new from $1.65 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Magical Masada, May 21, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Dovekeepers: A Novel (Paperback) For me this book was a page turner. Still it did not rise to the level of a 5 star book. The literary quality was just not there. There are no histories of woman on Masada, the settlement of 960 Jews who committed suicide rather than be captured alive by the brutal Roman soldiers. They killed themselves to escape horrible and torturous deaths at the hands of the Romans. When it was clear that the Romans would soon capture thier city, they set fire to all their stores, all their weapons and all their buildings to make sure the Romans did not benefit by their deaths. A similar theory was demonstrated in modern day Israel. When the Jews unilaterally abandoned Gaza and returned control to the Palestineans, they left their green houses so the Palestineans could earn a living. However, they bulldozed their houses. They did not want the Palestineans to benefit to that extent from their refusal to negotiate and their refusal to recognize the state of Israel. Still out of their intense hatred for the Israelis, the Palestineans shot themselves in the foot and destroyed the green houses themselves. This is not so different from the philosophy of the Jews on Masada. However, the Romans would have used whatever was left for them. Hoffman created the four characters of the women herself. Women were not mentioned in the ancient histories of Masada. Hoffman created them out of her imagination. She did use the only source created at the time of the massacre, Flavius Josephus account of the seige and battle. While some stories of the event claim that the inhabitants of Massada were religious Jews who died rather than be forced to violate the laws of their faith, this one did not. There was a group of relgious or fanatacal Jews called the Essenes who lived in the settlement but also apart. Like the ultra-orthodox Jews of today, they wore different garb and prayed several times daily. They were marked by their distinctive all white clothing. They wanted to pray and study all day. They did not believe in fighting even if attacked. Does this remind the reader of other cultish sects? When they sought refuge on Massada, the settlement leaders informed them that they would have to work as much as anyone and fight the soldiers along with the secular Jews who inhabited the settlement. They agreed to do so. Yet they left just before the Roman onslaught and were killed in their caves. They did not defend themselves so it was an all out slaughter. Hoffman's version depended heavily on Josephus history of the battle. He was a contemporary Jewish scholar who spoke Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and other languages. He saved his own life by offering to record the history of the event much as a modern day reporter might. He wrote a history in Latin to please the Roman generals. He wrote a slightly different one in Aramaic. Scholars choose to use the Aramaic version as a resource today. It is thought to be more accurate because it did not cater to the Roman generals as much. If Josephus had written an unflattering view of the Roman legions, he might have been executed. His account must be taken with a grain of salt. Still it is the only history we have even today. Hoffman also relied on the book, Masada by Yadin which had photographs of the archeological finds at the location. Hoffman wove these archeological finds into the story. This feature was especially admirable. Archeologists have found pieces of tartan plaid worn by Scottish mercenaries in the Roman army. The settlement coined its own money and some of the shekals have been found. They used a ceramic calling card in lieu of our paper business cards. Some of these were found. I agree with much of the critisizm that finds this book too long. It is too long for a book that does not rise to a certain level of excellence. The print is small too. If you have trouble reading small print, buy this on the kindle and increase the font. Magic and mysticism had a featured role in the story but I liked it. I also liked the character, Shira, who was a medicine woman. Other members of my book club did not care much for her. She believed in spells and amulets and she was trained in creating them. Of all the characters I found her the most interesting. I suspect that the people of the time also believed in magic, spells, and amulets. Life was very harsh and unpredictable. People living in such conditions try to gain control of their lives with magic and spells etc. It gives them comfort. As recent as the 1940's some Jews believed in the "evil eye." Others followed local suspicions in spitting or throwing salt over a shoulder to protect one from bad luck or evil. These were not neccessarily Jewish beliefs. More likely they were local or ethnic custtoms and superstitions. Even today "evil eye" jewelry is available and worn by some to ward off evil. Worn by others it is just a historical curiosity. Some of the medicinal herbs used in ritual magic became the basis of modern pharmeceuticals. The settlers also appeared to worship an idol from time to time though the idols were secondary to Adonai, the one true god. I found this a bit odd because the central theme of the Jewish faith is that there is but one God. Still it is possible that people hedged their bets in their attempts to control the outcome of their lives. Some of the characters like Yael were magical too. She could approach birds and they would not run from her. Rather they would alight on her arms. Some of the other characters had magical traits. Trained assasins had the ability to become "invisible" or hide in plain sight. These traits could have been explained with reality. The assasin could have been learned in the art of stealth. Instead there was a hint of magic created with a special cloak. An example of one of the book's weaknesses is Hoffman's use of the uncommon word"plait" or "plaited" rather than the more common word "braid." I think the best writers explain things simply. So Hoffman receives demerits for that. Still she has several quotable phrases of truism that I would repeat. For example, she explains why the female survivors codle their donkey." I make certain this creature is well cared for, ready if we should ever need to depart suddenly. Our people never know when we may have to flee..." also "Here is the riddle of love: Everything it gives to you, it takes away." These are true statements that are worth savoring and repeating. This book is worth reading if you have read most of the better literary efforts on your list. It is a good beach book, travel book or summer read. I liked the magic in the story, but it might be a bit heavy handed for some. The book was too long and the print was small. Many Jews will give this book a high rating becuase they believe it is a betrayl to offer critisizm of a Jewish author writing about a Jewish subject in a public forum. I do not. Had it been available I would have given theis book 3&1/2 stars. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy by Arthur D. Morse Edition: Paperback 20 used & new from $34.58 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Shame On The U.S., May 11, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy (Paperback) This book was very upsetting to read. Our anti-Semitic state department knew exactly what was happening to Jews in Europe in WWII and what did they do? They made it even more difficult for Jews to come to the U.S. Only 10% of the available visas were given out to Europeans before WWII. The state department and most Christian Americans did not want Europe's Jews to make homes even temporarily in our land. Franklin Roosevelt knew as well and did nothing. He bombed chemical plants 5 miles from the train tracks that took Jews to Auschwitz, but he declined to even make the small effort needed to bomb the tracks. This simple act alone would have saved thousands of Jews from the ovens. Roosevelt knew the state department was anti-Semetic and engaged in obstructionist conduct, but he did nothing about it. It was clear to me that Roosevelt himself was anti-Semetic. We willingly took in 10,000 British children escaping the London blitz, but would not do the same for Jewish children seeking to escape the ovens and certain death. Other countries were equally guilty. Britain could have used the man power of able bodied adults who could have provided agricultural labor, factory labor, and even soldiers in their time of need. Still other than the Kindertransport which took in 1000 Jewish children, they too did nothing to help the fleeing Jews. Austrailia with its vast lands was always seeking to attract populations to develop them. However,they too closed their doors to the Jews. Latin America which could have benefitted the most from the skills of physicians, engineers, professors, silver and goldsmiths, businessmen, accountants, musicians, composers, artists etc refused them entry as well. The tale of the condemned ship, the St. Louis is a testament to the Cuban betrayal of its promise to a few hundred Jews who paid dearly for entry permits that were not honored. A corollary to the Latin American anti-Semitism has to be that the Catholic church encouraged this discrimination and hatred. Think of all the inventions, medical treatments, pharmeceuticals, musical compostions, theatrical shows and art that were lost to humanity forever because so many educated and talented people were murdered. Today that anti-Semitism arises in anti-Israeli speech and propaganda. So much of the critisizm of Israel is merely anti-Semitism dressed in different clothes. The bar for Israel is set higher than for any other country. They are supposed to accept rocket attacks on their citizens and issue only a "proportional response." They are not supposed to win the skirmishes. What is that if not anti-Semitism. When a country without provocation attacks another country seeking to destroy it and push its people into the sea, it is the attacked country's right to fight with all its might. Then when the victim country wins territory previously under the perpetrator's control, the attacked country has never before been asked to return the territory. Only Israel is being asked to return to its 1967 borders. Why should it? Has any other similarly positioned country in the history of the world returned territory won in a war it did not start? We must rethink international opinions on Israel through the lens of an anti-Semitic bias. As for the U.S.- Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Hungry Yearning to Be Free... as long as they are white Christians is our true motto. Ironically, this Poem was written by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American. I wonder how many similarly beautiful poems were lost forever because we did not let their potential authors seek sanctuary in the U.S. This book should be required reading in any school course on the holocaust. Students should see American history even in this unflattering light. In the past we were always taught that the U.S. wore the white hat. The U.S. was always the hero and the beacon of hope. We were founded on idealistic principals that focused on the good of mankind. We were founded on the ideals of freedom of religion, assembly and speech. It is important to see America in a more critical and realistic light in various areas including our shameful treatment of American indians and Japanese Americans. This book offers a critical look at America's shameful response to the holocaust. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson Edition: Hardcover Price: $18.09 516 used & new from $1.95 In The Garden Of Monsters, January 31, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Hardcover) Larsen's rendition of ambassador Dodd's sojurn in Berlin just before WW II was a page-turner. Even though I knew the outcome of our policies toward Germany before WW II I could not put this book down. The factual history of a naive family of 4 who served U.S. interests in Berlin was fascinating. This is also the history of an anti-semitic U.S. president, state department and population that really did not care to trouble themselves over the plight of Europe's Jews even as they were burning in Hitler's ovens. Growing up all I ever heard about FDR was praise. He wasn't so great. He led us into the destructive path of the nazi machine and the empire of Japan. Roosevelt could have eased the plight of Germany's Jews simply by ordering the German ambassador to readily give out U.S. visas to the fleeing Germans. Instead the state department's policy was to discourage the immigration of Jews. Only 10% of the allotted European visas were given out during Hitler's reign. Roosevelt met with Dodd privately when he returned to D.C. He could have made a personal appeal without going through the notoriously anti-semitic state department. It is true that people were calling Roosevelt "president Rosenberg" behind his back and accusing him of being too sympathetic to the Jews. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Even though we made many bombing forays within 5 miles of the train tracks to Auschwitz, Roosevelt and the war department refused to bomb the tracks. I think Elenore Roosevelt would have assured more humane policies had she been president. Even more fascinating was Dodd's pretty, bright and charming daughter, Martha. Her many liasons with the rich and powerful which included the head of the gestapo were highly entertaining. Was she a woman of loose morals or was she merely the very attractive daughter of the ambassador who drew powerful charming men to her? It is easy for plain or dull witted women to complain of her loose morals, but then they haven't been so tempted. Politics did not affect her choice of bed mate. She too was a mild anti-semite who looked the other way when violence was visited on German Jews. Her "boys will be boys" attitude was shocking and troubling. I wonder if she would have agreed had the object of opprobrium been non-lutheran protestants. I doubt it, but it is possible. She didn't let the facts interfere with her good times even when the object of her affections was married. While her father never gave up his anti-semitic beliefs and feelings even when raising the alarm over Hitler and the Nazis, she did. After she returned to New York engaging in even more liasons, she married a wealthy Jewish communist and lived out her life with him in a grand house in Prague. For anyone who believes Jews were not hurt economically by the anti-semitism prevelent in the U.S., one needs only to read this book. There were deliberate steps taken to preclude Jews from wholly participating in the U.S. economy. Often real estate in the best neighborhoods excluded Jews. Certain fields excluded Jews. The Ford automotove empire had not one Jewish employee or sub-contrator. Jews succeeded not because there were few economic roadblocks but rather in spite of the roadblocks. That is just how talented the Jewish people are. Charles Lindbergh was an example of a prominant anti-semite who sympathized with the Nazis. Anti-Jewish sentiment was often the reason some Jews themselves opposed taking too public a stance against Germany. Privately, they all opposed Hitler. Dodd convinced the Chicago Jews to give up plans to try Hitler publically as they had in NYC. One wonders why they agreed to his request. U.S. Jews were fearful of anti-Jewish sentiment in the U.S. They did not want to have to leave their own homes and businesses in order to flee violence directed against them. Though Non-Jewish leaders thought Rabbi Weiss too pushy on the issue of the fate of European Jews, many Jews in the U.S. thought he gave in too readily to Roosevelt's personal interests and popularity. Roosevelt was often thought of as the Jewish presidential candidate, but that was only because the republican candidate was even more anti-semitic. I also read Issac's storm and found it to be tedious reading. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this effort by Larson. I own but never read Devil in the White City. I will be reading that in the near future. For any of you who read "Newlies" comments to some of the favorable reviews, he is a holocaust denier, an arab sympathizer and very angry about our war in Iraq. He is probably an anti-Israel Iraqi. So if you are reading through his comments wondering where he got his opinions, I doubt they were from this book. Somewhere in his diatribe he mentions he hasn't read it. Does anyone besides me think that Jews and Asian Americans who also were precluded from economic opportunities be entitled to affirmative action and/or reparations? Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 82 used & new from $4.25 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Needs Editing, January 25, 2012 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival (Paperback) This is the haunting memoir of Clara Schwartz who along with her family hid in a bunker beneath a house during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Three other Jewish families hid with them in the same small bunker. No adult could stand upright in the space. The living conditions were deplorable and dirty. All of the people suffered skin sores from excessive sweating and the inability to properly bath. They all starved barely surviving on the meagre food available to them. The families were hidden by the Becks a Polish family who acted courageously by concealing and supporting the lives of 18 Jews living below their house. This book also demonstrated what could have been done by even deeply flawed Poles to rescue Polish Jews during the holocaust. Too bad there were so few of them. Much of the book was overly repetitive. I understand the author's desire to convey the terrible tedium and constant fear of being discovered for their 18 months in hiding. However, this book could benefit from tighter editing. The memoirist has an important story to tell, but it could have been told more artfully. Still for those who like to read Holocaust fiction and non-fiction, this will be a good choice. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ The Little Traitor DVD Price: $11.99 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Charming Tale, October 24, 2011 This review is from: The Little Traitor (Amazon Instant Video) This is the story of a friendship that blooms between Sgt. Dunlop, a British soldier and Proffy, a Jewish boy born in 1947 Palestine. The British and the Jews of Palestine were opposing forces in 1947. The British opposed the Jewish occupation of what became the state of Israel in 1947. The British opposed and prevented the Jewish refugees fleeing WWII Europe from emigrating to Palestine, the Jewish homeland. Jewish armies fought the British soldiers so a friendship between a member of the British occupying forces and a young Jewish boy was unusual. Proffey was a member of a group of 3 boys called the FOD for Forces of Death that tried to sabotage the British by setting off home made bombs with the goal of blowing up a British motorcade. They weren't successful. Proffey and Sgt. Dunlop studied and discussed the book of Samuel from the Old Testament. Proffey was criticized by his fellow Jews and even tried in a Jewish court for espionage. He was acquitted, but he was viewed with suspicion from then on. He paid dearly for what was an innocent and lovely friendship. Sgt. Dunlop sympathized with the Jews who celebrated when the U.N. gave them their state. Sgt. Dunlop was tranferred home and because of mishaps, neither got to say their goodbyes. I won't write about a spoiler, but the film ends charmingly. I highly recommend it. There is a very good film based on this book. I don't know its name, but it too is highly recommended. The acting is first rate, and the script is first rate. The character actor who plays Sgt. Dunlop is excellent. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Edition: Hardcover Price: $17.46 264 used & new from $0.01 3 of 5 people found the following review helpful Extremely Tedious Incredibly Conceited, October 17, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Hardcover) This novel is an intellectual conceit. Oskar, a precocious nine year old boy lost his devoted father in the world trade center on 9/11. He finds a key in a blue vase in his father's closet. The key is in an envelope marked "Black." Oskar assumes that "Black" is the name of a person to whom the key belongs and that it has something to do with his father's life. In an attempt to make sense of his father's life and to learn about him, he visits every person named "Black" in the NYC phone book to ask about the key. Oskar is also haunted by the fact that while his father was in the tower at Windows of the World restaurant he phoned his home to assure his family that he was O.K. and expected to be rescued. Oskar hearing his father's voice asking him to pick up the phone did not pick it up. He let the message go to voice mail. Additionally, he did not tell his mother of the three times his father phoned and left a message. One wonders why he did not pick up the phone. Did he know his father could not be rescued from the images on the T.V.? He as well as all the other children were told what happened and sent home from school. He feels guilty for refusing to pick up the phone and for failing to tell his mother about the messages. One wonders why she would not have seen the message light and listened to the messages even if Oskar failed to tell her about them. Early in the novel Oskar visits an art supply store where he tests a marker on the pads of paper left for that purpose. On the pad he sees his father's name, Thomas Schell, written twice. He thinks his father recently wrote his name there and that maybe he is alive and roaming around New York. He believes that the written name has something to do with his father or the meaning of his life. Seeking information about his father he visits all the "Blacks" in the phone book. After visiting a few himself, he enlists the aid of an elderly neighbor who never leaves his apartment. For some reason he leaves his apartment to help Oskar. This novel like Foer's prior novel is surreal. It is intellectual and designed to appeal to an intellectual reader. I had no trouble reading it. I just did not enjoy it or find it entertaining. I finished it because my book club is reading it. I did want to find out what Oskar learns, but I don't recommend it. Further, this is not a suitable book for the Kindle. There are several pages of illustrations and odd writing. So buy the book. The paperback is fine. This is an intellectual conceit. It is deliberately not designed for the average or casual reader. I read constantly and had no trouble understanding the point of the book. I just didn't think it was worth my time. No one in my book club found it satisfying either. They did think it was good literature. They just did not like it. Find something else. Comment (1) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Nov 9, 2011 2:06 PM PST ________________________________________ The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona Golabek Edition: Paperback Price: $10.88 128 used & new from $0.01 A Tale Of Inspiration and Survival, October 14, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Paperback) Lisa Jura is a talented 14 year old living in Vienna when Hitler comes to power and invaded Austria. Her father is a simple tailor and the family lived in a working class ghetto of Vienna. They are not rich. Lisa is a talented and promising pianist who studies piano with a prominent teacher in this city of music. It is Lisa's dream to play a concert in the much loved Vienna State Opera House. The first consequence of the Nuremberg laws which discriminated harshly against the Jews was that her much loved Music professor, Dr. Isseles could no longer teach her piano. Non-Jews could no longer teach Jewish students. It was with great regret that professor Isseles has to dismiss his promising student, Lisa. Lisa returns home downtrodden. The whole neighborhood was inspired by Lisa's gift and was hopeful that she would arise from the ghetto and make something of herself. Her music loving mother was her inspiration and constant encourager. After crystalnacht, when her father was beaten, forced to undress to the waist and ordered to scrub the street, Lisa's mother recognized the danger for her family. A seat on the Kindertransport became available and was offered to the family. Rosie, who was 18 was too old. Lisa at 14 qualified and her mother sent her. With tears and sadness Lisa left her family with a small suitcase which contained a photo of her famiily and a sparkling evening bag that belonged to her grandmother. She removed the tiny gold necklace with the piano charm that she always wore and put it around the neck of her 11 year old sister, Sonia. Lisa was placed in the country home of a wealthy military officer and his much younger wife. Lisa was a servant in the house and the house did not have a piano. After 6 months of loneliness and isolation in the country, she ran away to the Jewish agency in London which then placed her in an orphanage for these children run by a Viennese matron who also fled Austria. She had camaraderie among the other children most of whom were from Germany or Austria. They all spoke German. However, the matron, Mrs. Cohen, an educated and previously wealthy Viennese matron required that only English be spoken so that the children became fluent in English, the tongue of their adopted land. Ten thousand Jewish children were saved by the English. Many of them opened their homes to these children. Not all of the homes were Jewish. The orphanage had a piano and Lisa played it beautifully and regularly. All the residents of the house were entertained by her music. She worked as a seamstress in a clothing factory during the day to earn money for her food and lodging. She was allowed to keep 25% of her earnings for personal expenses. She tried to find ways to save her family. Sonia needed a sponser and Lisa searched for one everywhere. Life was becoming desperate for Lisa's family and Sonia. Finally, she asked a quaker widow who had been charitable when a bomb damaged the orphanage and Lisa needed a place to sleep. The widow could not keep Sonia, but she found another quaker family in the country who could. Sonia was on the last train of the kindertransport before England declared war on Germany and the trains stopped running. Sonia was allowed to study in the morning and work only in the afternoon. She was lucky as most had to work all day. Mrs. Cohen recognized Lisa's talent and encouraged her to apply to the prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Lisa won a spot and a scholarship. She attended the academy, but worked mornings at the factory making supplies for the army. She sewed heavy fabric into back packs etc. Her piano teacher noticing the stress on her fingers arranged for her to have a job playing the piano in the evenings at local club where there was drinking and dancing. Lisa was an attractive girl with red hair, and all the soldiers wanted to buy her drinks and flirt with her. She only saw her sister once every 6 months because the train tickets from the countryside were expensive and Sonia could not leave her work or school very often. They lost contact with their married sister,Rosie and their parents. No one in the orphanage had contact with their parents. The Jewish agency heard the rumors about the death camps, the deportations, and the mass killings. No one wanted to believe it. The stories were so horrific that they were unblievable. Lisa graduated from the music school and the school financed her debut recital. It was heavily attended. One attendee was a French Jewish soldier,Michael Golabek, who had heard her play in the club and was impressed by her talent. After the war, Sonia and Lisa were reunited with their sister Rosie who was now wearing the chain with the piano charm. Rosie her husband Leo, and their four year old daughter, Esther survived by escaping from France into Switzerland. They all emigrated to the U.S. where Lisa again met up with Michael Golabek. Lisa and Michael married. All three sisters and their spouses moved to California. Lisa's parents were deported to Lodz and then Auschwitz where they died. Lisa's daughters and granddaughters are all talented pianists. Her daughter, Mona Golebek one of the authors is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, the host of a classical music radio show and grammy nominated recording artist. This story was a page turner. I could not put it down. However, it was sentimental. The characters lacked dimension. They were usually good people with few negative qualities. Because of that they were not realistic. They all seemed to be kind and good, tolerant and understanding of each other. For teenagers they had relatively few issues. All but one lost their whole family. One boy had a mother who survived. These children spent their teen years in the children's home and grew to adulthood there. Comment | Permalink ________________________________________ Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace DVD ~ Ulrich Tukur Offered by FaithMovies Price: $12.99 24 used & new from $10.97 2 of 7 people found the following review helpful Boring Docudrama, September 22, 2011 Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (DVD) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor during the third reich. He was from a wealthy, noble, and highly educated family full of intellectuals. Tha Nazi dogma did not fit into his idea of Christianity. He enjoyed the company of blacks and Jews and did not have a hatred for any ethnic group. His twin sister's husband was Jewish and he advised them and their children to flee Germany early on or risk being murdered. He also helped other Jews escape to Switzerland. According to this film he did not have a passionate love life though he does become engaged to a 17 year old girl who has been deeply sadened by the loss of her brother and father on the Eastern front. This film could have been an exciting drama of the planning and execution of escapes. It could have been about his consiparcy to negotiate a seperate peace early with the allies much to the chagrin of Hitler and his henchmen. Instead it attempted to document his inner spiritual struggle within the Nazi state. He too could have left and made a life for himself in the U.S., but he returned to Germany to be with his people and country in their time of need. He was a good person, but inner spiritual struggles do not make good entertainment unless the struggle is reflected in something physical like an escape plan and execution. This film nearly put us to sleep. If you are looking for a film about Christianity during the nazi era then this film is for you. If you are looking for a hero's tale during the nazi reign,, you will be disappointed. There is no action or adventure in this film. He was a Christian hero in the intellectual biblical and religious scholar sense. I am sure he was part of various escape plans but the film only touches on this aspect of his life. This film could have been so much more. Too bad. 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