Editorial Review

Uniquely personal gift book that expresses to the recipient the elegant sentiment: "Your life is important to me. I value where you've been, what you've done and who you are. Please tell me more." Enables the recipient to write his or her life story and perspective with ease by answering almost 500 thought-provoking questions right in the book. Passes along a legacy of wisdom and knowledge gained from experience. Preserves special memories and instills appreciation for family history. Enhances personal growth and strengthens bonds with loved ones. Deepens understanding and communication in the present. Creates a priceless heirloom for future generations. ... Read more

Reviews

All the questions you've ever wanted your kids to know.
The story of a lifetime is a wonderful book. Not only is the flow of the book very easy to follow, it can be started at any point in life. Whether you want to keep an ongoing story of your life, or just want to remember and leave behind a legacy. The questions are clear and simple yet very thought provoking. An excellent gift to or from parents. I love the fact that all of the questions are already there, it's up to the writer to answer the questions he or she wants. I am definitely looking forward to leaving this reminder of me to my family.

Fantastic, An extremely thoughtful gift
Far and away the best way I have come across to bring out all the hidden and forgotten memories of a lifetime, some of which may bring tears as well as smiles to your face. I can now pass on to my children, and their children my experiences and thoughts. I intend to purchase one for my wife as soon as I can squeeze it into my Social Security budget. Many thanks to the author.

Best gift I ever received.
This book is the most unique gift I have ever received. Ever since my daughter gave it to me, I can't put it down. I was touched by her wish to have me preserve things about my life. It is such a wonderful idea and the questions have brought a flood of memories. Now I feel I can say everything I want to say to my children and grandchildren. I recommend it for anyone.

The most thoughtful gift!
I discovered the story of a Lifetime book in a quaint little store in Chicago and bought 3 copies for friends and relatives. The response I received was unexpected, each individual seperatly shared with me that it was either the nicest gift or the most touching gift they had ever recieved. I opened a unique store of my own in Michigan in Dec. 2000 and decided to carry The Story of a Lifetime book as one of my gift items, 8 months later the book is still my # 1 selling gift item! Enough said!?!

Great way to learn about your family & your self!
I gave this book to my Grandmother for Christmas last year. She was a little overwhelmed by it at first, because of its thickness. After I assured her that she didn't have to answer all the questions, that she could skip around and do a little at a time, she began to tackle it. When I visited her for Thanksgiving, I found the book on her coffee table, with several pages of questions answered. I learned about her parents and grandparents, and then some--one of my anscestors fought in the Revolutionary War! What she wrote about her childhood helped me understand her better and appreciate what she went through. I look forward to reading what else she has to write, and I'm sure this book will become a family treasure for years & generations to come!

The best gift I've ever given (from my mother-in-law!).
I got this book for my mother-in-law and she loves it. The first day she had it, she spent almost the entire day writing. She's told all of her friends and they are now wanting the book for themselves and their parents who may still be living. What better way to tell someone you care than to let them know you want to know all about their lives and want your children to know as well, so it will never be forgotten how wonderful they are. Now the only problem is, which grandchild gets the book when she's done!

A Book of Memories that Will Never Die
I bought this book for my grandmother when she was 80 years old. The many hours spend talking about her answers and then writing them for her when writing got difficult was the most rewarding time I have ever spent with her. She died when she was 92, so her funeral was a celebration of a fulfilled life. The book was the center of the family gatherings. The answers and stories in it brought back forgotten memories, gave us hours of laughter and tears, and informed her childen of things they never knew-- such as the time she got stuck in the barn and her first kiss. My next project is to work through the book with my husband's grandmother and to look forward to reading the stories in years to come. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.

In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin's life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the spunky runaway apprentice who became, during his 84-year life, America's best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard's Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation's alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.

Above all, Isaacson shows how Franklin's unwavering faith in the wisdom of the common citizen and his instinctive appreciation for the possibilities of democracy helped to forge an American national identity based on the virtues and values of its middle class. ... Read more

Reviews

Discover Franklin and Discover America!, November 8, 2003
Ben Franklin An American Life by Walter Isaacson is a book that should be required reading for all American high school students. I wish I had read this book thirty years ago for this book has transformed my cartoonish, single-dimensioned view of Benjamin Franklin into the multi-dimensional, sometimes controversial, and at all times entertaining historical figure he actually was. And while we view Mr. Franklin through the eyes of Author Walter Isaacson, his opinions are mostly invisible throughout almost 600 pages of text, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions.

We know Ben Franklin today mostly as one of the founding fathers. But his presence in our lives comes mostly to us through companies that either bear his name or use his likeness in advertising. Generally we think of Franklin as a wise man whose Poor Richards Almanack and thirteen virtues remind us to work hard to improve ourselves. His character is affiliated with savings, with insurance, with investments and a whole host of products, which we buy because we should. Because it would be the right thing to do, if not the most desired thing to do. After reading Isaacson's book, I believe Franklin would get a chuckle out of what we have turned him into.

I don't mean that Isaacson portrays Franklin as a fool. He certainly was not that. Isaacson allows us to see Franklin as so much more than his own Autobiography would have us know of him. Mr. Franklin was a great man, great in science, printing, writing, diplomacy, and democracy. Indeed he was the first great promoter of the middle class in America. He believed in the ability of man to make himself better. Certainly he was a self-made man.

But he was also great in the way he lived his life. He loved to travel. As postmaster, he saw more of America probably than any American of his era. His wanderlust did not stop on this side of the Atlantic. He also visited most of Europe. For that matter he lived most of the second half of his life in Europe.

Perhaps what I enjoyed so much about Isaacson's book was learning what Franklin was not. For example, he was not American, as we think of him, until very close to the actual Revolution. For most of his life, Franklin saw himself as a loyal citizen of the throne of England and worked mightily to avoid the very Independence Day in which Americans remember him so highly. He viewed the problems with England as a problem first with the Proprietors, then with the Legislature, and only finally with the king himself. If it had been possible to maintain America as an expanded part of England, with equal rights and responsibilities, Franklin would have happily supported such a plan.

Also while Franklin was great in many endeavors, he was not a particularly good family man. He married his wife more out of expedience and necessity than out of romantic inclination. He needed a mother for his newborn son, William, and Deborah (not William's mother) was a willing candidate. Franklin lived fifteen of the final 18 years away from Deborah: he lived in Europe and she lived in Philadelphia. While he was always fond of Deborah, he was also fond of other women as well. Isaacson does not paint Franklin so much as an adulterer, though he may have been, but rather as more of a flirt.

Franklin did not have many close relationships either. He was estranged from his son, when William remained loyal to the crown. The fact that William remained loyal was not such a shock when one considers that he was raised in England by Franklin when Franklin considered himself first and foremost a British citizen. While Franklin knew more great men of his generation than anyone, he was not particularly close to any of them. He was closer to the women in his life. This closeness was more of companionship and conversation than anything more lurid.

My intention here is to write a book review, not another biography. But I have to admit that one of the great things that has happened in my life as a result of Isaacson's biography of Franklin's life is that I am more keenly desirous of knowing about the minds and the lives of the founding fathers of our great country. Benjamin Franklin An American Life helps me to understand who we are as Americans, as well as who we aren't. Understanding more of what happened 250 years ago helps me to understand more about today.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Isaacson's biography of Franklin. It is a long read. But near the end I was saddened to have to finally finish it. When I read the chapter of Franklin's death I was saddened as if I had lost someone close to me. I was pleased to turn the page and discovered that Isaacson wrote another entire chapter about Franklin after his death. Many writers and thinkers have commented on Franklin's life throughout American history. Franklin has gone through many recreations throughout the past two centuries and reading what has been written at various times also tells us something of those times and the changes in our country.

I give Benjamin Franklin An American Life by Walter Isaacson my highest recommendation of five stars out of five stars. Read it. Enjoy it. Benefit from it. This book of Franklin's yesterdays can change your tomorrows.

A Serious and Fully Enjoyable Read, December 10, 2003
If you are looking for a holiday gift that is both serious and enjoyable while capturing much of the spirit of America's founding, you need go no further than "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life."

Isaacson understands something about the American Revolution and the founding fathers that many students of the era never quite get. Each founding father plays an essential role in our becoming an independent republic. Washington is the titan of moral authority on whose integrity our nation rests. Jefferson is the brilliant writer and theorist who helped create modern politics. Madison's systematic hard work created the system of legislative power and constitutional authority that protects our freedoms. Hamilton's understanding of economics and social forces established the capitalist structure, which has made this the wealthiest society in history.

Yet in the deepest sense, these great men were pre-American. They belonged to an earlier, different era where most were landed gentry. Even Hamilton longed for the stability of monarchy.

Only Franklin personified the striving, ambitious, rising system of individual achievement, hard work, thrift and optimism found at the heart of the American spirit. Only Franklin worked his way up in the worlds of business and organized political power in both colonial and national periods. Only Franklin was a world-renowned scientist, founder of corporations, inventor of devices and creator of the American mythos of the common man.

Gordon Wood's "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" caught intellectually this sudden shift from the stable, serious gentry who dominated the founding to the wild, energetic, boisterous Jacksonians who came to define the American ethos.

Franklin is the precursor to the Jacksonians. He personified, literally lived, the American dream and then captured it in an amazingly self aware, fun to read autobiography, which may be the first great book of the American civilization.

Isaacson has captured and portrayed Franklin in all his glory and complexity. This is a book worth giving any of your friends who would better understand America or any foreigner who wonders at our energy, our resilience, our confidence and our success.

3 1/2* Informative, but Narrative Lacks Appeal, November 7, 2003
This is a factual, but sometimes unimaginative biography of the famously multi-talented Benjamin Franklin: Statesman, philosopher (indeed, perhaps the founder of American "pragmatism), politician, writer, scientist, diplomat, community organizer, publisher, and self-help pioneer. (Isaakson writes that Franklin was motivated by the belief that "to put forth benefits for the common good is divine"). Franklin played an important role in treaties with England and France, and was an initially reluctant but thereafter adamant proponent of independence from England. His Albany Plan (1754) and Articles of Confederation (1775) were early and eventually influential efforts to balance federal sovereignty and union with states' interests.

The fault of the book, then, is its subject, but how Isaacson writes about him. Its chief fault is the lack of narrative flair: With the notable exception of the first and last chapters, we have a chronological account broken into small sections. Here's one particularly mundane succession: "Constitutional Ideas" (a mere 2 pages)," "Meeting Lord Howe Again (5 pages)," "To France, with Temple and Benny (4 pages)." A more satisfying approach would have traced Franklin's domestic political thought in one larger chapter, but this would violate Isaakson's chronological imperative. At times the book's equally weighted, well-ordered facts yield a pace that is both plodding and boring. The book is best when it manages to integrate larger themes with the strictly biographical details.

Comparing this biography with David McCullough's popular "John Adams," shows that McCullough's book is more fully realized and more "modern," as he interprets themes and implications within broader contexts. Isaacson, at his worst, reads more like a chronicler as he emphasizes neatly compartmentalized facts that tend to obscure larger themes. McCullough simply writes with greater narrative flair: His book contains both precision and drama, and, contrary to this book, it's never a struggle to get through. Although Franklin's pragmatism perhaps limits how analytic Isaakson can be, there is, generally speaking, not enough about the larger context of American intellectual and cultural history (with the exceptions noted above). For example, there is only superficial discussion of whether Franklin's dream of a great middle class has been realized. Moreover, while some critics claim that McCullough is too admiring of Adams, Isaakson somewhat glosses over Franklin's negative personal qualities. Franklin was a great political compromiser, but he appears somewhat rigid in other matters.

Only in the last chapter does Isaacson fully delve into larger themes. He accomplishes this in 17 excellent pages showing American intellectual reaction to him from the time of his contemporaries through the present. He describes the variations in criticism, such as the great esteem for Franklin among rationalists (during the Age of Enlightenment) and American pragmatists, but also describes the Romantics' disdain of bourgeois practicality, and the critiques written by early 20th century intellectuals (e.g., Max Weber wrote "All Franklin's moral attitudes are colored with utilitarianism."). In October 2000, however, critic David Brooks wrote that our "founding Yuppie" would be comfortable in today's middle class, sharing their "optimistic, genial, and kind" values and their secular and religious-based activism. At the conclusion of the book, Isaacson briefly weighs the evidence, and, not surprisingly, praises Franklin's values and his deeply felt "faith in the wisdom of the common citizen." Had the rest of the biography been written with more of the insight and depth shown in this chapter, the book would have been much better.

The Soul of America, July 14, 2003
Benjamin Franklin typified the soul or virtues that most of us Americans hold dear. He rose from being a poor boy to becoming wealthy and distinguished in many fields. He extolled the virtues of the middle class, merchants, and business people over the nobility and titled gentry of Europe. He courageously called for the independence of America when many people still wanted to retain a loyalty to Great Britain. Putting on another hat, he successfully negotiated with first France and than Britain during the Revolutionary War to gain America's independence. Franklin was a successful writer and printer, an inventor, a civic-minded citizen, and a statesman.

Walter Isaacson's book is successful in portraying the wide diversity of Franklin's efforts and achievements. He also delves into Franklin's personal life which included beliefs in Deism as opposed to traditional Christianity. Franklin fathered a child out of wedlock and Isaacson explains how despite this Franklin took responsibility for his actions and did his best to raise this son.

Nevertheless, Isaacson's book is not free from criticism. It is not as interesting or well written as other books about this same period of history. For example, "John Adams" by David McCullough is far more captivating. "American Sphinx" by Joe Ellis is another book that does a good job of keeping the attention of a novice reading about the founding fathers. Finally, "Thomas Jefferson: an Intimate History" by Fawn Brodie is another fascinating account of the men who made America. One gets the idea Isaacson is so determined to cram our heads with details that the book loses some of its allure.

Books like these remind us that the founding fathers were human beings with faults and not deities. Depending on how harsh a critic one is, one could argue Franklin had few friends because he was not loyal to them. One could contend he mistreated his wife leaving her for years by herself in America while he carried on in Great Britain arguing over various colonial issues. One could say he treated his son William, unduly harshly, because he chose to side with the British instead of those in America seeking independence. One could also argue Franklin was a poor team player as a diplomat and couldn't get along with either John Adams or Mr. Lee who were also appointed to negotiate with the French.

However, on the balance it is clear Franklin's virtues far outweighed his faults. This is an authoritative book about one of the most significant Americans who has ever lived.

Breezy Franklin Biography Sure to Fly Kites, September 2, 2003
Walter Isaacson's new biography of that "love him or leave him" American icon, Benjamin Franklin, is nowhere near as comprehensive or as original as the recent biographies by H.W. Brands and Morgan. Nonetheless, Isaacson's contribution is extremely readable and doesn't stray too deeply into the many rivers that fed Franklin's life. It is, in no small part, the breeziness of Isaacson's prose and his colloquial use of language in the narrative that will surely make this a popular biography.

From the outset, it's clear that Isaacson is a Franklin Fan, though he does a credible job of presenting a balanced history and known facts, from letter excerpts to reproductions of paintings and diagrams. Isaacson's partiality toward Franklin seems to interfere in only a few places -he's almost too ready to excuse or not delve into some of Franklin's more minor (albeit speculative) faults, or explore more mercenary motivations for some things Franklin did. Nonetheless, this biography of Benjamin Franklin is the one I would recommend to the uninitiated and particularly to younger and adolescent readers. Isaacson provides a nice buffet for the casual reader and new discoverer of Benjamin Franklin, if a little heavy on the politics at times.

This book very nicely compliments the towering biography "The First American" by H.W. Brands, a magnificent book that requires somewhat more digestion, but Isaacson shouldn't be dismissed as a lightweight: He should be lauded as a man who has again tried to bring Franklin the man down from the mountain and give us the man rather than the myth. By and large, he succeeds very well indeed. Definitely worth the read, and a great book for "anytime" reading.

A few miscellaneous comments, July 10, 2003
This is a well-written, detailed, and overall very impressive biography of Franklin, very reminiscent of the recent John Adam's bio. I've read numerous articles about the great founding father over the years, and one other biography, and have read his autobiography, but nothing so extensive as this. As others have already written very detailed reviews, I just had a few miscellaneous comments.

The author does a fine job of showing what a Renaissance man Franklin truly was. Most people are familiar with his greatest accomplishments, such as his research into electricity and his roles in the founding of the nation, but he had many other less well-known achievements as well that were also interesting and important. He founded the Saturday Evening Post, which ran for almost 200 years until it finally died in the 70's or 80's, if I remember correctly. He emphasized practical education rather than the Latin-based curricula popular at the time in schools, and founded academies to implement his ideas. He invented bifocals and a flexible urinary catheter which helped people with kidney stones. He invented Daylight Savings Time and originated the Farmer's Almanac, which still survives today. He invented a more efficient iron furnace stove and an early odometer for measuring distance, which he attached to his carriage. He was responsible for the creation of the U.S. Post Office, and invented the lightning rod, which was the invention Franklin was most famous for during his lifetime, since it saved numerous tall structures from damage.

I'll mention only other of his scientific accomplishments, since it's not as well known as his work in electricity. Franklin observed that northeast storms begin in the southwest, and thought it was strange that storms travel in a direction opposite to their prevailing winds. Today we know this is because of the the way in which cold and warm fronts are affected by high and low pressure zones that form in the atmostphere, but Franklin anticipated these advances by predicting that a storm's course could be plotted. He once rode his horse through a storm and chased a whirlwind 3/4 of a mile during his research on storms. So Franklin was even something of a meteorologist. After witnessing the Montgolfier bothers balloon flight in 1783 in Paris, he predicted that ballons would be used for spy surveillance and for dropping bombs.

Franklin had a significant influence on my own life. Coincidently, I discovered and read Franklin's autobiography when I was 12 years old, which was how old Franklin was when he left home. I took many of his principles to heart as a young boy, and they've served me well. His values of hard work, moderation in all things, and insatiable intellectual curiosity were ones that influenced me strongly as well. In college, I studied and eventually did advanced work in both the humanities and the hard sciences, although that meant a lot of extra homework for myself, since the advanced math courses were quite difficult, since I claim no great talents in that area. But I believe it made me a better scholar and researcher, even if my real scholarly talents lay elsewhere. But if nothing else it exemplifed Franklin's emphasis on practical education and useful knowledge and skills as opposed to impractical ones.

Overall, a fine new addition to scholarship on Benjamin Franklin and a man whose ideas had an important influence on my own life.

Good, but doesn't supplant previous biographies, November 29, 2003
This is a serviceable biography and provides a easy-to-read account of Franklin's life, but does not, in my mind, the shorter but better biography by Morgan or the slightly earlier biography by Brands, or the much earlier--and slightly hagiographical biography--of Van Doren. I find Isaacson good at finding the trees--especially the unflattering trees--but not so good at describing the forest. As a result, while the volume is excellent at acquainting the early 21st century reader with the questions that most early 21st century readers would ask about Franklin, he falters somewhat at answering what it all means. In other words, it is a biography without a very good sense of history, and is likely to have less interest for future generations, who are less interested in a tailored-to-the-moment biography,

I did want to make a reply to one especially negative review below where Franklin was rounding criticized for 1) being arrogant, 2) ignoring men and women of African descent, and 3) having had the audacity to rewrite the Declaration of Independence. It is very helpful in writing a negative review to at least have read about the individual in question. If the reviewer in question had, he would have know that Franklin held some of the most enlightened views towards Americans of African descent in America. His last public controversy, in fact, was to call for the abolition of slavery and write a piece excoriating its evils. Unfortunately, he died only a couple of months after engaging in this controversy.

As far as arrogance, I'm not sure where that impression comes from. He certainly had a high and exceedingly well justified opinion of his own self worth, but arrogance was not a word that people who actually dealt with him used. It is not an exaggeration to say that many people in Europe considered him to the world's most remarkable man (much of his representation in art prior to the Revolutionary War--when his public image necessarily becomes politicized--bears this high regard out). But Franklin was never dictatorial in his wishes, never browbeat his intellectual opponents, never lauded his merits over others. If one reads accounts of the constitutional congress, Franklin's greatest contributions was as promoter of compromise, not as arrogant declaimer.

Now, about his rewriting sections of the "constitution" that Jefferson wrote. There are multiple confusions at work here. First, Jefferson was not involved in the writing of the constitution at all, actually being in France while it was being written. In fact, Jefferson wrote NONE of the constitution. Obviously, the reviewer meant the Declaration of Independence. Facts confused again. Those assembling to declare independence from Britain appointed a committee to undertake the writing. It was expected that the committee would produce the Declaration as a committee and not as the work of one person, and that Franklin, as the most famous writer in the colonies, would contributor a great deal. But because of his gifts as a prose stylist, it was agreed that Jefferson should write the first draft. Franklin, whose gifts as a writer were regarded more highly than anyone excepting Jefferson, made some light but on the whole very helpful changes, but otherwise stated his opinion that Jefferson had done the committee's work for them. Franklin, Adams and the others agreed to accept Jefferson's slightly amended draft.

I am not, however, a big fan of Isaacson's biography. I felt uncomfortable with many of the emphases on Franklin's life as a businessman, and didn't, I believe, sufficiently emphasis Franklin's enormous sense of responsibility that he felt American's bore their society. Furthermore, he was not the entrepreneur that Isaacson portrays him to be. In fact, he repeatedly turned down entrepreneurial opportunities, most famously in refusing the patent for his stove, which would have netted him a fortune. I still prefer Van Doren's perhaps too praiseworthy biography or either of the more recent biographies of H. W. Brands and Edmund Morgan.

Terrific Biography, August 1, 2003
This is simply a terrific sweeping biography. Its primary sources are Franklin's voluminous writing and the letters and writings of his contemporaries. Mr. Isaacson added some pertinent observationss by historians. The mix makes for not only interesting and well-researched reading, but entertaining reading as well.

Mr. Isaacson ties his themes (or theories) of Franklin from the begginning to the end. Thus one can see characteristics of the man that started in his youth and carried through to old age sometimes with no or minor changes, a few times with significant metamorphes. The end result is that the biography flows naturally.

The author also used well chapter and sub-chapter delineations which aid the reader throughout.

The perspective is a unique one. Therefore if you have read another Franklin biography, do not hesitate to pick this one up. It is strongly recommended for both those who are familliar with the man and those who know little of Franklin.

This the best bio of BF out there, July 5, 2004
I'm giving Walter Isaacson's biography five stars for its fairness, its comprehensiveness, accuracy, the incisiveness of its insights, but most of all, for its readability. I think this is what puts it above other Franklin biographies I've read - it somehow manages the feat of being a very engaging, pleasant read, from the first page to the last, while plumbing each interesting depth of Franklin's life.

In particular, I admired how Isaacson explored the nature of Franklin's religious belief, letting Franklin speak for himself on what he felt man's duty to God and his neighbor consisted of. I also appreciated the seriousness with which Isaacson dealt with Franklin's often underappreciated scientific achievements, clarifying just how beneficial the effects of his experiments with lightning and electricity were almost immediately (within a very short time, many lives were saved around the world just because of Franklin's lightning rod, etc.). Lastly, as readers of Franklin's autobiography know, he was very funny, and I was glad that Isaacson allowed that charm and humor to be displayed.

Edmund S. Morgan's recent biography of Franklin, for all its strengths, has to take second place to Isaacson's outstanding book. I know this review probably sounds like it was written by Walter Isaacson himself under a pseudonym or something, but the truth is, I can't really think of a single criticism to make of this one.

A rewrite of the Brands biography, August 13, 2003
The H.W. Brands biography, "The First American: The Live and Times of Benjamin Franklin" came first, covers all that this biography covers, and -- most important of all -- is far better written. It commences in epic fashion with Franklin being in the "cockpit" to be harangued and humiliated by an English version of a McCarthy hearing. The incident we were told helped lead up to Franklin's abandoment of his long-held belief that the colonies should NOT separate. Then, our appetites whetted (i.e., Why this attack? What was its nature?), the biography begins.

If Brands is the superior writer and was first, why then all the excitement about the Isaacson biography? Well, Isaacson has Time Warner behind him and he did do a good job of recasting the H.W. Brands biography in his own words. And Franklin's astounding list of accomplishments certainly makes for interesting reading even in the hands of a lesser-skilled writer. The content itself makes up for the Cliff Notes approach to writing.

I first read the H.W. Brands biography. Then, I ordered this one for some new insights or quotes or examples. The fact is that Brands said it all and said it all better. Isaacson may have a greater appeal to those who like a bulleted list approach and frequent summaries to help them through a thick book. But, those who enjoy good prose, a biographer with a good if non-intrusive sense of humor, and seeing the victory of merit over a publicity machine, are best advised to get their hands on Brands's even more enjoyable biography.

I take Isaacson at his word that he has read a host of books other than the Brands book that is conspicuously absent from his bibliography. But, all he needed to read for his preparation the Brands biography of Franklin. (The sole examples that I can find of some original material are some quotes he made from Van Doren's biography of Franklin. Those, at least, didn't appear in the Brands book. So, I stand corrected by this exception. There is a little value added by the Isaacson version -- very little, but something.)

Good news: Franklin's inventiveness, dirty trick campaigns, wisdom, leadership, and flirtations are sure hits no matter which biography you pick up. But, if you want to see a truly five-star performance, do check out the Brands biography. The difference between the two is the difference between a work of literature and the Cliff notes, between the art of the biographer and the sterility of the summarizer. ... Read more

Editorial Review

An unstoppable collection of the most hardcore figures who ever strapped on chain mail and ran screaming into battle

Throughout history—from the bone-crushing age of antiquity to the sack-tearing modern era—there have been larger-than-life ass-kickers with a natural talent for unleashing their epic bloodlust on anyone who crossed them. They built empires, smashed armies, and ravaged civilizations for wealth, glory, and ultimate supremacy. Sometimes villains, sometimes heroes, sometimes criminally insane, they had one thing in common: They were all . . . Badass!

Chandragupta Maurya
An Indian warlord who commanded an army of drunken war elephants and employed an elite detachment of highly trained female bodyguards

Peter Francisco
An unsung hero of the American Revolution, this powerful giant battled the British with a massive five-foot-long broadsword

Wolf the Quarrelsome
A mysterious barbarian leader who only appears in history twice—and both times he’s kicking someone’s ass

Bhanbhagta Gurung
A fearless Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross by clearing out six Japanese foxholes with nothing more than grenades, a bayonet, and a knife

From Alexander the Great to George S. Patton, from Genghis Khan to Bruce Lee, this pantheon of ass-kicking awesomeness should inspire you to quit your stupid job and dive headfirst into a new career as a professional badass.

Reviews

Testosterone in paper form., November 19, 2009

Warning: this book will suck the estrogen right out of you. I would say it was the chronicles of manliness but some of the people covered are women who are apparently more manly than I can ever hope to be. My pregnant wife read this book and the baby spontaneously turned from a girl to a boy. Just sayin'.

The writing style is humorous and light, but admittedly it sometimes borders on juvenile. There are obvious embellishments (I've never actually seen someone crushed under the weight of testicles, but there are things on earth I haven't seen). However, I give the writing style a thumbs up because the author presented a lot of good history in a form that would even keep the attention of a 13 year old boy.

The author does have an odd fetish with faces. He mentioned "face" 105 times in the book, mainly accompanying words like "crush", "stab", or "burn." Oorah!

This book changed my life (for the better), October 29, 2009
Attention Universe: BADASS: A relentless onlaught of the toughest warlords, vikings, samurai, pirates, gunfighters and military commanders to ever live is the greatest work of literature in the history of the written word.

#1: BADASS is very, very good. So good, it is as though Odin himself reached into Valhalla, chose the 40 best heros of history and penned their history into this wonderfully illustrated tome.

#2: After I purchased BADASS, I opened the book to the Library of Congress page. I was immediately slapped in the face by the sheer awesomeness of it. I was transported through history and witnessed, FIRST HAND, the amazing exploits of the legendary historic characters. Once I regained consciousness I actually read it.

#3: This book is so funny that I laughed until my nose bled. I got blood on the pages of the book (it seemed appropriate), but the blood was absorbed by the pages. I think the book was feeding on it.

#4: The information in this book is all historically accurate. And I should know. I work at a university.

[...]

awesome, November 15, 2009
I love this book and the website! It is a great mix of real life and screen/literary badasses, told in a very entertaining, lively fashion. The style is such that you actually feel like the author is sitting in the room with you, telling the story and acting it out at the same time. Some of the real life historical people he mentions are seriously badass, performing such incredible acts of crazy courage that it seems foolhardy, and only sheer luck allowed them to be remembered as heroes and not fools. The website is a must - lots more stories and some are expanded over the book (one personal fave - Voytek the soldier bear). Can't wait for a volume 2!

Can a bibliography be badass? If so, this book's is., April 1, 2010
While this book's considerable merits have been praised by a variety of reviewers, I want to point out something about it that is easily ignored yet most exemplary:

Its bibliography.

Author Ben Thompson has clearly done his research. His list of sources stretches for a glorious ten pages, thus granting his work a credibility that most nonfiction books for younger readers lack.

This, combined with the fact that reading this book will make even the most thin-blooded milquetoast reach for his short sword, means that this book rocks like Wolf the Quarrelsome.

Finally a history book for teenaged boys!, April 6, 2010
I love reading history books, as long as they were not approved by the Texas Board of Education(because then they aren't worth a damn, apparently). However, I understand that not everyone shares my love of historical events. A lot of history books are pretty dry, at best. At worst, they are downright boring. This is not that kind of a book. This is one of the coolest history books I've ever read. I had originally bought it for my nephew, but once I actually started perusing the pages I realized that his mother would have a massive coronary if she saw the language. Even if said language adds to the ambience.

The author, Ben Thompson, runs a site called [...]. He searches the history books for badasses. Not all of the badasses are men, nor are they all from the 20th century, which is refreshing. Thompson relates the stories with gusto, like a teenaged/college aged boy would describe a videogame boss fight to his friends--and this generates interest. The stories of these people maintain that interest. The humor seals the deal. There may be a bit of 'embellishment' in relating the stories, but this doesn't detract in the least. And each chapter is only at most five pages long--perfect for a short attention span or when you only have a minute here or there to read. So of course, I read the whole thing in a couple of hours, with a pause here and there.

This might be a good book for a person who doesn't read a lot to improve their reading skills with a high interest book. It would be perfect for a reader who has trouble with maintaining attention when reading. In short, this is a perfect book to encourage reading in older teenaged boys. The language is really the only thing I think that a parent might take issue with, but since the profanity is a part of the schtick and not specifically gratuitous, I wouldn't have a problem if my 15 year old decided to read it.

Fun, but accurate?, April 14, 2010
OK, so I don't have the book in front of me, so I can't be specific. BUT, there are quite a few historical inaccuracies in this book. Other than that, it's a fun read and made me want to learn more about some of the BADASSES in the book. I am going to go by a ghurka knife and ship off to Iraq tomorrow! Seriously, if you're looking for history, start here, then go read the real stories. There's enough truth to acknowledge the true badassery of all the dudes (and badass chicks) in this book. A fun read!

Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever, February 7, 2010
I'll admit, I wanted to review this mostly because I thought it would be awesome to carry around a book called //Badass//. At the very least, it would spark some conversations, right? Lucky for me, this was a book I should have judged by its cover: //Badass// kicks ass.

Ben Thompson, author of the Badass of the Week blog, has collected stories about some of the fiercest, most ruthless characters in history and peppered their biographies with his own hilarious commentary. From Ramses II and William the Conqueror to Anne Bonny and Bruce Lee, Thompson revels in what are sometimes the utterly ridiculous exploits of people who were completely over the top and obviously out of their minds.

If you like your history straight from the source, //Badass// is not for you. Some accounts are mere rumors more than verifiable facts. But if you don't mind your history delivered in the epic style of, say, //300// mixed with a healthy dollop of //History of the World, Part I//, this book is a hell of a lot of fun.


Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell

History redux, with extra spice, January 6, 2010
This book read as if Quentin Tarantino and Hunter S. Thompson got hold of a high school history text, or maybe a compilation of biographies, and said, "Hey! This is boring! Let's rewrite it!" It is heavy on over-the-top comparisons of historical death dealing to pecker jokes. That doesn't detract from its mission, to talk about well known military figures and not so well known sidelights and why they kicked butt. Our gaming group passed it around, with lots of laughter.

History teacher that loves it, January 4, 2010
I am a history teacher and usually am pretty picky about what I read. I saw this book at my local bookstore and thought it looked really interesting. While the writing is juvenile I find that is what gives the book its greatest appeal. Granted I am a young guy that gets most of the jokes and the words used but I think that this would be an awesome book for some high school kids to read. I would not most likely let my kids read it because of the language but it speaks to them. It teaches the content greatly and I learned about a lot of different badasses that I have never bothered with learning in the past. I really don't see much of a problem with the book at all other than he loves to use face bashing analogies which get a little old but it didn't detract from the book. Overall I would say anyone willing to take a little humor with their history would love this book. If you are looking for what us history lovers are accustomed to reading then you should run away fast!

Haters, October 21, 2010
Pretentious sackless haters are the only ones that find this book off-putting. reserved only for those with the utmost testicular fortitude, don't hate when this guy tells it like it is and does a good job doing it. forget conventional writing, this is the future of the good king's language. take shots because you are not worthy ... Read more

Editorial Review

The team behind the New York Times bestseller The Book of General Ignorance turns conventional biography on its head—and shakes out the good stuff.
 
Following their Herculean—or is it Sisyphean?—efforts to save the living from ignorance, the two wittiest Johns in the English language turn their attention to the dead.
 
As the authors themselves say, “The first thing that strikes you about the Dead is just how many of them there are.” Helpfully, Lloyd and Mitchinson have employed a simple—but ruthless—criterion for inclusion: the dead person has to be interesting.
 
Here, then, is a dictionary of the dead, an encyclopedia of the embalmed. Ludicrous in scope, whimsical in its arrangement, this wildly entertaining tome presents pithy and provocative biographies of the no-longer-living from the famous to the undeservedly and—until now—permanently obscure. Spades in hand, Lloyd and Mitchinson have dug up everything embarrassing, fascinating, and downright weird about their subjects’ lives and added their own uniquely irreverent observations.
 
Organized by capricious categories—such as dead people who died virgins, who kept pet monkeys, who lost limbs, whose corpses refused to stay put—the dearly departed, from the inventor of the stove to a cross-dressing, bear-baiting female gangster finally receive the epitaphs they truly deserve.
 
Discover:

* Why Freud had a lifelong fear of trains
* The one thing that really made Isaac Newton laugh
* How Catherine the Great really died (no horse was involved)
 
Much like the country doctor who cured smallpox (he’s in here), Lloyd and Mitchinson have the perfect antidote for anyone out there dying of boredom. The Book of the Dead—like life itself—is hilarious, tragic, bizarre, and amazing. You may never pass a graveyard again without chuckling. ... Read more

Reviews

Makes dead people decidedly lively!, September 5, 2010

From da Vinci to Buckminster Fuller (in no predictable order), August 31, 2010

An Assortment of (Bite-Sized) Tasty Treats., October 27, 2010

If Will & Arial Durant wrote the New York Times Obituary Section..., December 17, 2010

Perfect Christmas gift--lots of fun, October 3, 2010

Rich in Detail is This Lively Book of the Dead, October 14, 2010

Not what I expected; exponentially better, September 14, 2010

Interesting, just not all at once, September 13, 2010

Excellent trivia, November 6, 2010

Unexpectedly awesome! (Is unexpectedly even a word?), October 21, 2010

Editorial Review

Reviews

Easy, Fun Pick Up, November 11, 2009
Interesting people with interesting answers to the questions. This book is easy to pick up and choose a page or person to read about. Good for a coffee table.

Vanity Fair 's Proust, December 15, 2009
I enjoyed this book very much. I always turn to the last page of VF to read the Proust interview before I read the magazine. This is a collection of same. Insightful in some cases, frivolous in others..all are cool!

Smart questions, surprising answers, December 15, 2009
Proust did not lose any time, when he wanted to understand human nature. Almost a century later, his questionnaire still elicits amazing insights ! For some reason, people tend to try to beat the smartness of the questions, by circumventing them or issuing outrageous answers.

The result: you get to know the true personalities of the answerers better than through any other means.

It is great fun !

Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, October 24, 2010
The very best part of Vanity Fair in one book. Brilliant Character drawings of some of the world's most popular people sharing some of their inner self.

hilarious, December 1, 2009
really entertaining what successful, famous people have to say. tinge of psychosis; and you realize sometimes how similar they are to you.

If You Like Proust's Humor & Insight, October 9, 2010
Nice book, attractive and high quality.
Enjoy the monthly questions asked in Vanity Fair so this book was a gift to myself.
I doubt most people have asked themselves, or answered, the questions Proust made famous as parlor games. Some of the celebrity answers are insightful, some irreverent, some surprising.

Vanity Fair's PROUST Questionnaire, February 14, 2010
Despite the rather pretentious title, this book does have 101 (a pretentious number too) luminaries (pretentious) pondering (in one page capsules) "love, death, happiness and the meaning of life." A must have book for the person that likes to dip into deeper things. The best part of the book? The illustrations by Risko of all the luminaries--and on quality paper.

Boooring, December 20, 2009
This should have been interesting but blame the respondants, they blew off the questions with breezy, funny answers. The flipness might make for a SNL skit that doesn't quite work (but do any of them?) or for a VF article but except for the interesting drawings there's nothing here. Skip this lemon. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

He had great wit and great courage and he helped save the free world, April 1, 2010
There are a number of collections of the Wit of Churchill. This one calls itself the definitive collection. It has twelve chapters: Thrusts and parries, Maxims and reflections, Stories and Jokes, Churchillisms, Great communicator, People, Britain,Empire and Commonwealth, Nations, War, Politics and Government, Education ,Arts and Science, Personal.It has a small appendix on 'Red Herrings'.
I eagerly bought this book in part because in the back of my mind are a number of remarkable quotations by Churchill, including those of the Great War Speeches. Those utterances were not simply 'remarks' but were world- shaping historical events. The hero Churchill who rallied the British at their darkest hour and made it into their finest hour is one of the great human heroes. One of his quotations here is in praise of Courage, the first of all virtues and no one in those dark days exemplified and inspired it more than him.
Nonetheless despite my great admiration for him and the power of his language at the most critical historical times I was somewhat disappointed in the tenor and quality of many of the quotations here. Perhaps even a great man must be allowed his trivia. But should it be gathered in the collection of his most notable utterances? Is it possible that his truly memorable and great utterances are not in the thousands or even the hundreds, but rather in the tens?
I too do not think isolating utterances and presenting them on a wide variety of problems, people and situations really helps us understand Churchill's view on a particular matter.
But enough crabbing.This book does contain many gems from one of mankind's greatest heroes. Here are a few gems from a book in which there are no doubt more than I have noticed.

"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because, as has been said,it is the quality which guarantees all others."

"Death is the greatest gift God has made to us"

"Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war"

"It is always more easy to discover and proclaim general principles than to apply them."

"Fearthought is futile worrying over what cannot be averted or will probably never happen."

"But you ought to let the Jews have Jerusalem; it is they who made it famous."

"In war,Resolution. In defeat, Defiance. In victory,Magnaminity. In peace,Goodwill."

"All wisdom is not new wisdom."

"One always measures friendships by how they show up in bad weather."

"The power of man has grown in every sphere , except over himself." ... Read more

Editorial Review

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“[This] may be as close as Vonnegut ever comes to a memoir.”
–Los Angeles Times

“Like [that of] his literary ancestor Mark Twain, [Kurt Vonnegut’s] crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted. . . . [Reading A Man Without a Country is] like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend.”
–The New York Times Book Review

In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this age–or any age–holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of America’s soul. From his coming of age in America, to his formative war experiences, to his life as an artist, this is Vonnegut doing what he does best: Being himself. Whimsically illustrated by the author, A Man Without a Country is intimate, tender, and brimming with the scope of Kurt Vonnegut’s passions.

“For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations . . . this is what he is like in person.”
–USA Today

“Filled with [Vonnegut’s] usual contradictory mix of joy and sorrow, hope and despair, humor and gravity.”
–Chicago Tribune

“Fans will linger on every word . . . as once again [Vonnegut] captures the complexity of the human condition with stunning calligraphic simplicity.”
–The Australian

“Thank God, Kurt Vonnegut has broken his promise that he will never write another book. In this wondrous assemblage of mini-memoirs, we discover his family’s legacy and his obstinate, unfashionable humanism.”
–Studs Terkel ... Read more

Reviews

Crouching Essayist, January 4, 2006
In my review of "Timequake," I labelled Vonnegut as "Novelist Emeritus," noting that his writing is still enjoyable, you read it with half a smile on your face. But you are laughing and smiling with polite respect towards the old master.

I picked up "A Man without a Country" at the Coop and opened at random, and read this paragraph:

"In case you haven't noticed, as the result of a shamelessly rigged election in Florida, in which thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily disenfranchised, we now present ourselves to the rest of the world as proud, grinning, jut-jawed, pitiless war-lovers with appallingly powerful weaponry- who stand unopposed."

He continues on in this vein, and draws parallels between the current worldview of America and the way the world viewed Germany as the Nazis rose to power. He has the clarity and honesty to refer to the characters running the Bush administration as psychopaths.

Wow! I take it all back. Perhaps, in "Timequake" he was burdened with the artifact of a failed novel, but wanted to make something out of it, colored it with his unique perspective but ended up with a softer version of his usual fare. It felt a little lazy, like Vonnegut imitating Vonnegut.

But here, freed from the artifice of fiction, we get classic Vonnegut. In fact, more than a return to form, but better than ever. This book finds him clever and witty, but also very angry and indignant, and righteously so. I have the same concerns and emotions but lack the ability to formulate it and express it in words so beautifully. So it's refreshing to read Vonnegut, and it's inspiring to know that he is not the doddering old professor but a wise old lion with still plenty of bite left.

I won't try to tell you it's all great, that there are none of the soft, self-indulgent moments that detract from his later novels, but there is plenty of greatness on display. Buy it, read it, enjoy it. Thank you for listening.

Everything Was Beautiful, September 28, 2005
Reviews like the one below by the 23-year-old who never had read Vonnegut before this current volume remind me of Mr. V.'s statement (I paraphrase, perhaps grotesquely) that the cumulative effect of the Vietnam-war protests and of '60s activism in general was that of a banana-cream pie hurled off a stepladder: here is unquestionably the Greatest of contemporary American novelists, whose work and vision as a whole provide clarity, wisdom, and guidance with humor and love for both the survival of the species and for America--yet he remains largely ignored and neglected by the current American demos, for whom democracy is named, and reviewed by only 24 or so while the latest potboiler gets 345 Amazon reviews the very day it's published.

Certainly Vonnegut himself is well aware of these vagaries of fame and influence.

But let me heartily proclaim the obvious--that we truly should declare Mr. V.'s birthday a new national holiday (strapping it firmly to the one, for some, it already is on 11/11); schoolchildren should compete in Vonnegut Declamation Contests, vying to repeat from memory the longest and most salient passages from his works; we should have Vonnegut Festivals, Seminars, Television sitcoms, toothpaste, bottled water--even a Vonnegut Party in national, state, and local elections, which might well take the place of the corrupt and anemic Democrats.

Alas, it seems we are repeating the past as the Old Reliables (Studs Terkel, John Leonard, and company) trot out their appropriate praises; some teevee interviews are conducted; the bored Harvard and Yale crowds clap politely; the schoolchildren continue with their videogaming and baby-producing; and New Orleans is reduced to a new Love Canal, Iraq civil-wars, the wealthy bolt their gated enclaves, and the rest of us, debt-torn and grief-fatigued, stew in our own juices.

Look: if you haven't done so recently, go back and reread (or first-read) SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, CAT'S CRADLE, HOCUS-POCUS, GALAPAGOS, GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER, and MOTHER NIGHT (among others: but start with these).

Think about what the man is saying. Look around you. Maybe turn off your television for a moment of silence.

Here is the real deal, folks.

This is our guy. Ignore him at your peril.

Let's get those "Sermon on the Mount" plaques up in every corporate lobby.

Let's get tap-dancing. There's not much time left for a party.

The perfect epilogue., September 13, 2005
Kurt finally concludes the half-century journey on which he has taken us with this hilarious, heartfelt, charming epilogue. Vonnegut gives us literary polaroids of his childhood and day-to-day life, places us at the dinner table with Mark Twain, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, and Eugene Debs, and manages to answer the question: "What does it mean to be human?" All the while single handedly battling George W. Bush, H-Bombs, and the "Guessers."

Getting Educated, October 1, 2005
After reading Mr. Wolfensburger's review, my Vonnegut juices got stirred up.
How is it possible for a person to be "educated" in this country through college and not have even heard of Kurt Vonnegut Jr, much less having never read any of his books? Start off with "Slaughterhouse Five", then "Breakfast of Champions", then any and all of the rest of them.
After you finish Vonnegut, continue with Joseph Heller's "Catch 22", and go on to Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
After these warmups of how this country functions, you can begin your education.

Thank you Kurt., September 20, 2005
If you are a humanist, you will probably dig Man Without A Country. I've read the Amazon reviews, and I'm astounded by people who take offense to Vonnegut's humanistic perspective. One reviewer below suggests that A Man Without A Country contains talking points straight from the Democratic National Committee. I checked the DNC website and couldn't identify any lines from Vonnegut's book. So it goes.

Yes, Vonnegut draws connections between Bush and Hitler-they both called themselves Christians despite what many "liberal" documentaries suggest about Hitler being a pagan. But being opposed to Bush doesn't make Kurt a Democrat. Read Kurt's words, HE'S A HUMANIST. For those of you that are anti-humanists, there are plenty of sentences to be taken out of context to exploit towards your own divisive agendas. Vonnegut reminds us of a line by Shakespeare: "The Devil will quote scripture for his purpose."

When did respecting each other become politically divisive? I've often wondered why respecting science is politically divisive. Kurt sheds some light on these topics among others.

Look, if you think the world is all hunky-dory, this won't be your cup of tea. Or, if you dug Vonnegut's earlier work solely for his humor, you may be disappointed with this read. Vonnegut grapples with his grasp on turning out humor, about how other humorists loose their humor as they age. Vonnegut still has his humor, but he is pissed off--many readers haven't known when he has been joking and when he has been serious. For the remedial readers he annotates his jokes by saying, "I'm kidding."

Just because Kurt loves humans, he isn't beyond shaking his finger at those who preach love as they drop bombs and enslave little brown folks. If you object to this assessment of our current world order, and you have read the books Vonnegut suggests every non-twerp has read, then, I'm open to reading your objections to the content of Kurt's assertions. Seriously, do you consume much non-American media?

Fellow humanists, it's time to take these ideas seriously. Enough of the politicians spewing their accusations at the other party. Kurt would prefer politicians stop partying and work on real peaceful, humanitarian efforts, like providing drinkable water.

Kurt begins his penultimate book: "There is no reason good can't triumph over evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the mafia."

Here's to Bokonon. * Kurt, I look forward to reading your next novel. I hope you do find a way to write its ending.

Excellent., September 15, 2005
I came across this book via an unlikely source: John Stewart's interview with Vonnegut on the Daily Show. While I'd heard the name Vonnegut before, I never really knew anything about him or his views, nor his comedic look on certain pressing issues.

At the same time, I found myself (as I dazed in a tired stupor at the boob-tube) wondering why and how this overtly charismatic man, a potential American literary icon, had escaped my knowledge. As I thought more and more, I realized that whether I liked his writings or not, or whether or not I disagreed with him, I needed to read through some of his works -- a sort of "Obligation of the American Soul�" if you will.

And so, as a 23-year old recent college graduate, I ponied up the money and headed to the local Border's shop to pick up the latest (and supposedly final) of his books, A Man Without A Country. I'm not sorry I did.

Vonnegut employs a very readable, conversational style of writing, which lends a sort of friendly "Hey, here's what I think, you go mull it over while I do something else" attitude. While I don't find myself in complete agreeance with everything he says, I believe his general ideas provoke thought and consideration, and his experience and wisdom should not go unnoticed. Any man or woman who has lived to the ripe age of 82 should have some important points to make about life, and one who is as politically charged and sassy as Vonnegut makes several excellent arguments.

I'm not (at this point) familiar with his earlier works, and so I cannot say whether or not he's repeating himself or pulling the same old stunts. What I can say is that if you have a couple hours on hand, you should buy or borrow this book and take a peek through its pages.

The genuine article sings a misanthropic somewhat sad swan- song, September 20, 2005
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is the rarest of writers, a genuinely funny and unique person, with a voice like no other, and a way of seeing things all his own. All his books have his own strange combination of truth- telling , fantasy, crazy fact,jibe, reflection, and original insight.
In this one written when he is eighty- two he does a hatchet - job on the Bush Administration, the consuming -carelessly gas- guzzling American, and humanity in general. The title of the work is explained by Vonnegut,""I am a man without a country, except for the librarians and a Chicago paper called In These Times."
He criticizes humanity for being chimpanzees in love with their own power. But as always with Vonnegut there is some lurking hint of redemption and cockeyed affection in the pages. In these essays one center of that is his essay on extended families which he favors. He is dismayed at the thought that most people today are so self- centered that they give little time to planning and acting for generations ahead.
With Vonnegut the diatribe can be tiresome but it is most often redeemed with some flash of crack- up humor.In explaining why he wrote the book at his advanced age when his own father retired at fifty- five,he says " I've lived a long time . I didn't plan to live so long. It was a graceless thing to do. But what am I going to do with myself. This is what I do."
In reflecting upon humanity , he says " Only a nut case would want to be a human being, if he or she had the choice"
This kind of stuff may be tiresome, but I don't think Vonnegut should be taken so literally. The humor tells us that despite all the condemnations he has a bit of hope at least for some of us.
Vonnegut's writings have given a lot of people pleasure through the years. That he is disenchanted with most of us does not mean that we should be disenchanted with him.
I think instead we should take the best of what he has to give, and consider seriously his criticisms of us, even if a good share are judged by us to be unfair.
The planet is helped a bit by having this kind of old codger and his writings around.
You may not like us so much Mr.Vonnegut, but some of us sure do like you.

Hilarious look at America today, April 12, 2007
Before I go on with my review, I have to say R.I.P. to the late Kurt Vonnegut. He is one of the greatest authors of our generation, and he will be missed.

A Man Without A Country is one of the greatest pieces of non-fiction I have ever read, and I do not enjoy non-fiction much. Kurt Vonnegut tackles a wide variety of subjects including politics, (he has a scathing portrayal of George Bush, which cracked me up) sex, literature, war, religion, and even writing, and he says it with such confidence and a lot of humor to boot. A Man Without A Country is a fantastic swan song from a great writer. The only gripe I have with this excellent piece is that it is far too short (I read it in less than an hour.)

I would give this book 4.5 stars, but I'm rating it a 5 to help try to bump the overall rating to a 4.5.

'The good Earth - we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy.', January 14, 2006
For the many of us who are currently disillusioned about the state of the world, nearly caught in the same mud that caused Mark Twain and Albert Einstein to give up on the human race, this joyous little book by veteran American writer Kurt Vonnegut is an elixir. Never one to hold his tongue in pointing out the foibles of mankind, Vonnegut rambles on about the Bush Dynasty, the outrageous abuse of natural resources, the plight of the poor, the essential good of Socialism in its pure state, deriding a country that demands the placement of the Ten Commandments in the classrooms but simultaneously completely ignores the Beatitudes of the sermon on the mount - all the hypocrisies that flood our planet and point toward a gloomy end if we remain oblivious.

And yet acerbic and wise though Vonnegut's observations are, he remains funny and gently in praise of music and the arts and especially of the importance of human kindness. In the end this is a memoir of a one of our great writers who gives us a tasty history of his life from his vantage in Indiana to his post of letters in universities, a man who is able to make his observations that sting like napalm, point our attention to the government abuses, tickle our need for love and concern of our natural resources with the master stroke of humanism.

So for those who truly care about tomorrow, read this little book, then read it again. It is smart, funny, bracing, and very important. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, January 06

Quick, nice read for fans - send novices elsewhere, January 8, 2006
Full disclosure: I am a big Vonnegut fan. Breakfast of Champions is possibly my favorite book (top 5, definitely), so I naturally had to grab what is probably going to be his last book.

First reaction: Meh. It was a breezy, generally enjoyable read, but Vonnegut doesn't really hit up any new topics. Lots of contemplating the fact that he wrote Slaughterhouse-Five, lots of jabs at the Bush administration, lots of talk about how we are dependant on oil.

It's just an unfocused pile of scribblings - not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Vonnegut fans will enjoy the quick read, but just send novices to his classics. I recommend Player Piano, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, Welcome to the Monkey House, and of course, Breakfast of Champions. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Just enough tidbits to make you want to learn more., May 24, 2010
Although it is not an indepth analysis of each of the people it does give you enough information to want to learn more. I enjoy all of The Intellectual Devotionals and like getting to at least learn a little bit about a lot of famous people that I would never have time to read a full biography on. Well done and an excellent overview of some very interesting people.

Learning in a hurry, July 22, 2010
I bought the book for each of my high school graduating grandchildren. They will be off to college and have little time for pleasure reading. So, I thought it would be enjoyable, yet informative,short reads that might inspire them to learn more about that person.

No bookmark!, July 11, 2010
I love this series, and the biographies edition is no exception. I'm sad to learn that this is last book in the series though. I feel that they could have continued for several more editions. That being said, my singular complaint with the biographies edition is that there is no ribbon bookmark! All of the four previous versions of the Intellectual Devotional have very nice, color coordinated ribbon bookmarks. This volume looks out of place on my shelf, and I've had to resort to using a regular bookmark. Sounds trivial, and it is, but one would think that they would have continued the same format for this last volume. I still highly recommend this book as well as the others in the series. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In this practical guide to capturing those memories that have been stored away, Linda Spence provides the questions that are the keys to unlocking the memories that make up a life.Beyond the vital statistics are the personal stories that tell what it was like, what we did, and why we did it, how we feel about our choices, and what our circumstances were. Through encouraging coaching, shared memories, and open-ended questions, the process of producing a personal history becomes intriguing and engaging.With Legacy the possibilities expand: a personal record is preserved—with its myths, traditions, joys, pains, gains, and losses; a family opens a potential dialogue that will last for generations; the writer has an opportunity for insight and resolution; the culture of a time and place is noted; the tradition of personal story is revitalized, and our present and future find nourishment and knowledge in the past.Either as a gift that can act as a shared experience as the memories are recounted or as a personal way to take account of one’s experiences, often long since forgotten, Legacy is indeed a way to get one’s story down. Linda Spence writes and collects Legacy stories in Mill Valley, California, where she lives and works as a consultant. ... Read more

Reviews

While There Is Still Time!, March 13, 2000
This book is a valuable resource for families to use when preserving the legacy of a loved one who is dying. My mother has brain cancer, yet has full use of her faculties and has LOVED going through the book of questions and leaving behind a history of her life. We have used the book as a guide for a *very long* audio interview. I ask the questions from the book - she reaches back and tells the stories. It has been a wonderful experience for me and my mother in these days we know will be cut short due to her illness. Preserve the legacy of your loved ones now - before it's too late! Thank you Linda Spence for helping my mother leave us a wonderful gift.

Gets You Started, February 27, 2006
This book is a step-by-step guide to writing your life's stories as a legacy for other family members. The author has worked with seniors for many years, gathering their stories and helping them document their life histories. In this book, she presents a simple methodology that anyone can follow to help them get over the hardest step in the process-getting started. In the introduction, she urges the reader to set aside some time and space for writing, in a notebook, on an audio cassette, on a typewriter, or on a computer, whichever is most comfortable and convenient. Then she provides lists of reflective questions to get the juices flowing. The questions are organized by topic, including earliest memories, school life, young adulthood, marriage, children, grandchildren, and later adult years. Interspersed with these questions are quotations from unknown as well as famous published memoirists whose writing illustrates the topic at hand.

Everybody has had life experiences which are fascinating, amazing, or potentially edifying for others. The trouble is, so few of these stories ever get passed on because it's so hard to actually sit down and write them. With this book, Spence makes the task seem easy. Writers can sit down with the book, open to a page at random, and begin writing responses to her prompts. Or they can begin with the first question and work methodically through the book. Each question can easily require an entire essay to answer in full. Once the individual essays start collecting, the raw material is ready to edit into a book. Or, the answers can simply be left as drafts in the writer's notebook to be passed on to others as a legacy. It should be noted that Spence's goal is to help readers to document their life histories in a positive way so as to create a product that can be passed on to other family members, rather than to explore negative memories as a means of self-growth. The book is not about style, grammar, or esthetic qualities of writing. Spence finds it more important for writers to use their own voices naturally rather than to adopt formal stylistic attributes. The book would make an excellent gift for older family members who have stories to tell but just haven't gotten around to writing them down yet.

Excellent guide, July 27, 2004
I taped 16 hours of memories using Spence's book to interview my 87 year old father. It was a wonderful way of connecting as he lived more in the past as he aged. He was delighted to have my full attention and I enjoyed hearing his life story. The book helped me to organize material for the interviews. Last year I transcribed, edited and published the memoir as a gift for his children and grandchildren. He had seen a draft of it before his death and was thrilled that his life was recorded for posterity.

Quoted from "Booklist" 10/15/97, Vol.94, No.4, pp.380, November 14, 1997
This review was written by Alice Joyce. As memoirs become increasingly popular reading material, so do individuals of the baby-boomer generation increasingly hunger for details about their own multigenerational family histories and the long-buried stories that, in accumulating, make up an essential heritage. Spence creates a compelling context for recording the stages of one's life. In each section, from childhood through grandparenting, Spence compiles a wealth of penetrating questions to help guide the novice and more skilled writer alike. An inward journey, it is meant to uncover intimate memories and experiences that shape the very foundation, walls and interior spaces of a personality. Quotes from authors associated with a style of mesmerizing and revelatory writing illustrate just how moving are the episodes and scenes that create the fabric of our everyday lives.

Enough questions to last a lifetime, September 4, 2005
I am teaching a life history class for the first time and am using Linda Spence's book as part of my curriculum. She literally has hundreds and hundreds of questions to ask which can be a little daunting, but just remember to take only a few at a time and know that not all questions will pertain to you. In the end, the answers will give a lot of good information to your children or grandchildren that you can leave as is or refine in "book" form. This book is also good for audio or video testimonials as you can just answer the questions for a more informal feeling.

Literally Step by Step, August 13, 2003
This is a great book for writers whether or not you really intend to write a personal Legacy. I bought it on a whim (because I liked the concept) at Restoration (yes, the furniture store). I read through it and started writing. While working in through the book, an idea for a story I was already woriking on came to me. I became side-tracked with that idea and finshed the story which then became a series of short stories. In the meantime, I passed the book on to a friend who had retired and was thinking about writing something. I went back to some of the notes I had made while browsing through Legacy and decided to use the exercises and questions to build a set of characters, that intertwined. I used that as the base of a novel I am working on now. (I did a similar thing with the short storeis). Eventually, I do plan to go back and write a "personal" history about my family (sans me), but in the meantime, I bought another copy of Legacy for myself to use when building characters and another to spare in case I decide to pass the book on to someone else, I'll still have a copy of my own. It will get anyone writing and better yet, talking to your family. It will get you to learn about your family in a way we never really do. It's a very touching way to connect yourself to your family, yourself and to the world through great periods of time. You'll be surprised by what you learn and more so by how easy the writing comes to you. Thank you Linda for writing the book.

A GIFT ONLY YOU CAN GIVE YOUR DESCENDANTS, July 20, 2007
What were you like as a child? What did you think? What did you do?
Not many of us escape these questions from our children and grandchildren.
This wonderful book enables us to leave a legacy of memories and history for our descendants. It gives step by step instructions on how to write
a personal history. The process also brings back many memories and gives the writer a clearer picture of his/her life experiences. At 78 I hope I have enough time to finish my gift to my family. Wish I'd had this book 20 years ago.

Great to Share, October 24, 2009
The first copy of this book came as a gift from a daughter to my husband. She wanted her dad to tell his life's story. It took a while, but now my husband and I are "Writing," as the author said, "for our great grandchildren who will never know us." I've bought several copies to give to friends. It's full of fun ways to start your life story. Mine began, "Horses I have known." That chapter may not make the book, but it was a beginning.
I have a diary written by my great grandfather during his first year in the War Between the States, and I know how precious his account has become to our family. Buy this book and share your story. Dig up those good--and yes, bad memories from the past and get them in print. You will be glad you did. OK, you can leave it to be published or read after you die, but it's a way to live on. ... Read more

Editorial Review

His father is a white trapper, his mother an Athabascan Indian who walks a thousand miles in winter to reunite with her family. Thus, Jimmy Huntington learns early how to survive on the land. Huntington is only seven when his mother dies, and he must care for his younger siblings. A courageous and inspiring man, Huntington hunts wolves, fights bears, survives close calls too numerous to mention, and becomes a championship sled-dog racer. ... Read more

Reviews

On the Edge of your seat reading these Adventures, June 1, 2005
This is a great read. I read it in two sittings because I couldn't stop.

Jim Huntington's brother Sidney also wrote a book many years after this one called "Shadows on the Koyokuk" which was as good as this and in fact has a bit more details of their shared youth.

Jim Huntington's story was terrific. Lot's of bush adventures with attacking Bears, Wolves, Injuries, etc. Did you know that the Eskimos and Indians of Alaska hated each other so much prior to American Law and Order that they killed each other on site? I didn't.

I really liked the admission that sometimes he succumbed to his human desires. In his circumstance I might well have done the same. If this was written now, this sexy morsal would surely have been ommitted for the sake of political correctness.

If you are a stickler for chronological stories, this may try nyour patience. It's more like your Grand Dad sitting by the fire recounting the days of yore. The Dog Sledding adventures were very good too and kept me on the edge of my seat. His contributions to his village and eventually the state of Alaska are well worth knowing about (especially if you are an Alaskan).

If I was going to read this and his brothers book, I would read this first. However, if I were going to read one or the other, I would favor Sidney's book. Though they aren't the same story, many parts are.

I highly recommend this.

I can't say enough good things about this book, July 9, 2005

My dad read this book to me and my brother when I was 8 years old. We would come home from school and plead for him to read more about the Edge of Nowhere and adventures of Jimmy Huntington. We could have read it ourselves, but it was just that much more real when we heard the words aloud.

I now read "On the Edge of Nowhere" every couple years to remind myself of what it means to be a real Alaskan and a good human being. The reading is fast-paced and it's easy to get caught up in. I still smile, laugh, and cry right along with Jimmy when I read about his triumphs and losses.

People of all ages - whether Alaskan or not - will thoroughly enjoy this exciting and masterfully written account of the life of Jim Huntington.

Anyone who enjoys this book would do well to read "Shadows on the Koyukuk" by Jim's brother Sidney Huntington. There are some of the same stories with a different perspective, plus a lot of new stories from Sidney's own exciting life.

this man did not live a soft life, August 20, 2007
First I kind of feel like apologizing for only giving this four stars. I really did like this book, and I really did find it well written, but five stars is kind of where I put Brothers Kharmazov. Having said that, this is a great story of life growing up in the wilds of northern Alaska. It begins with the 1,000 mile overland survival walk of the author's Indian mother across the tundra to return home after testifying in the trial of the murderer of her first husband. From there the hard fought life of her trapper son gets chronicled as he and his brother virtually raise themselves in the wilds of the frozen country. The beauty and wildness come through, but more than that the spirit of the author and his family in not only pulling themselves up with the own bootstraps, but doing it time and time again after losing everything to floods, fire, disease, and even peculiar laws.

There was so much territory to cover, fitting in a way for a book about Alaska, that some stories such as his dogsled races (Iditarod precursors) that the author won could've filled a whole book but get only enough ink here to leave the reader wanting more. In any case, it's a great book, and well worth your time. The story of a miner, trapper, dogsled racer, merchant and eventually politician. To use a cliche, among the last of a fading breed.

Wonderful and fast read!, June 24, 2005
I love this book. It was a very quick read and kept me interested at all times. As one reviewer noted, it is like listening to an elder relative recounting their life story. After spending 3 weeks around Alaska, it was just wonderful to hear about the author's experiences in the wilderness. I can't say enough about this book. It really brings home how the "simple" but not "easy" life can be more rewarding and enriching than our current fast-paced lives.... I highly recommend this for a weekend read!

An inspiring, awesome true tale of adventure, December 24, 2003
Considering the few reviews this book has received, and the long wait to get the book if you order it (one-two months as of now), I have to say this is a very overlooked book. If it had the right marketing and promotions I could easily see it becoming a bestseller. If you like true life adventure, than this book is for you. The first chapter is about Jim's mother's 1000 mile trek on foot by herself from Nome to her home to be with her children. Her incredible spirit and drive is so inspiring--you have to keep reminding yourself this is a true story. If it wasn't, you would never believe it. Jim's story of his own life is just as captivating. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure, true stories, tales of Alaska and frankly, anyone who likes to read!

Order the book now and even if it takes two months to arrive, it will be a treat when it does.

Great reading, February 11, 2001
Jim is my uncle and unfortunately he passed away a several years ago; I didn't know him as well as I would have liked but heard much about him from my mother. Sidney, Jimmy's brother; wrote "Shadows on the Koyukuk" an Alaskan Native's Life along the River by Sidney Huntington as told to Jim Rearden (you'll note he also did Jimmy's book as well); Alaska Northwest Books. another 5 star book and not just because they are relatives; you'll find this when you read them yourself.

Wild rollercoaster ride!, May 11, 2006
From the minute I opened it, this book took me on a wild ride. What a great storyteller!!!
I live north of Anchorage in a rural/urban area, so I don't completely know what it is like where he lived. I do, however, understand his personality better after knowing many sourdoughs like him.
What a great guy and loved by his family.

On The Edge of Nowhere, September 27, 2000
This is one of the best books I've ever read. It is one that you will want to read over and over and you will never feel as though you have read it before. Full of real life adventure in the native bush. Wonderfully written.

Best book I've read in years., September 15, 2000
I actually heard of this book shortly after it was written in 1969 when I was stationed in Galena Air Force Station, Alaska in 1971. However, I never did get a chance to read it then, forgot about it and eventually found an original copy of it in an old book store. It brought back memories of my one year at Galena and decided I had to buy it. Boy, I could not put this book down and read it every spare moment. I had even read it at stop lights (not recommended)while driving to work. The endurance and hardships Jim and the peoples of Alaska had at that time in history was incredible. Makes our silly problems seem so trivial. I did briefly meet Sydney Huntington dury my stay in Galena, I just wished I'd had a chance to meet his brother Jim. I too wonder if they are still around, they would be in their eightys by now. Great book, I highly recommend it.

GREAT Story!!, March 26, 2001
I am a storyteller in Fort Worth Texas and found this book absolutely facinating. Wonderfully and simply written in the voice of Jim Huntington. I used the story recently at a Library that was focusing on Alaska of Jim's brush with the wolves and the kids loved it. I noticed in the other reviews that a relative of Mr. Huntington had left a review of the book, Martha S. Barker. I would love to talk to Mr.s Barker about Jim. If she would contact me at storymantales@hotmail.com I would be honored. It's an adventure from beginning to end and a wondrful personal story, Worth the time. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Far more than a dictionary of saints, this beautifully illustrated book is an informative chronicle that explores the mysterious conditions of sainthood and tells the lives of the saints in a comprehensive and modern approach to this fascinating subject. ... Read more

Reviews

Good Reference Bood For Catholic Art Lovers, December 15, 2009
This is a beautifully illustrated reference book. It was exactly what I was expecting by seeing it on Amazon. Anyone, like me, who loves Renaissance art, will enjoy reading up on the Catholic Saints. However, this being a recently written reference book, there are also modern saints covered, such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Those who are searching for a reference book covering a larger number of saints, I would recommend "Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints" Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints This product briefly covers about 10,000 saints.

Great book!, March 15, 2010
I bought this wanting to brush up on some of the saints I'm familiar with and learn more about popular saints. This is a great book with just the right amount of info and beautiful pictures.

Sainthood never looked so sexy!, April 14, 2010
I'll keep this short and sweet. Practically anything you want to know about saints (modern-day and days-of-old) is packed into this book. From The Archangel Michael to Mother Teresa, it's all here. The art brings you right to each individual saints era. It stangely provides a sense of nostalgia...

My Ebert and Roeper are pointed to the sky. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Now in paperback

Many of the illustrious contributors to The New York Review of Books have had deep and abiding relationships–both personal and intellectual–with other poets, writers, artists, composers, and scientists of equal stature. The Company They Kept is a collection of twenty-seven accounts of these varied friendships–most of them undeniably fraught with “idiosyncratic complexities.” From Anna Akhmatova’s dreamlike description of wandering through Paris with the impoverished Modigliani to Joseph Brodsky’s account of his first meeting with Isaiah Berlin (from which he returned to report, around the kitchen table, to Stephen Spender and W. H. Auden), these pieces are tantalizing glimpses into the lives of those who have made The New York Review of Books into what Esquire magazine calls “the premier literary-intellectual magazine in the English language.” ... Read more

Reviews

Mirrors of our soul, June 9, 2010
This is a fine collection of specific episodes and times in the lives of well known men and women, written by well known men and women who knew or had met them. 27 lives were covered in 289 pages. The characters discussed include Igor Stravinsky, Albert Einstein, Isaiah Berlin, Gertrude Stein, Edmund Wilson, Octavio Paz, and Francis Bacon. The famous contributors included Robert Oppenheimer whose piece came from the lecture he delivered to UNESCO in December 1965. His poignant description of Einstein had the clarity of the scientist that Oppenheimer was as well as the sincerity that comes only from a true admirer, as Oppenheimer was. He said of Einstein: "He was almost wholly without worldliness. I think that in England people would have said that he did not have much 'background', and in America that he lacked 'education'. This may throw some light on how these words are used. I think that this simplicity, this lack of clutter and this lack of cant, had a lot to do with his preservation throughout of a certain, pure, rather spinoz-like , philosophical monism, which of course is hard to maintain if you have been 'educated' and have a 'background.'

Joseph Brodsky wrote about his meeting with Isaiah Berlin when the former was thirty-two years old and the latter, sixty-three. "Still, I think I was sitting in front of him on that sunny July afternoon not only because his work is the life of the mind, the life of ideas. Ideas of course reside in people, but they can also be gleaned from clouds, water, trees; indeed, from a fallen apple. And at best I could qualify as an apple fallen from Akhmatov's tree. I believe he wanted to see me not for what I knew but for what I didn't - a role in which, I suppose, he quite frequently finds himself vis-a-vis most of the world." Brodsky, in turn, was depicted in Tatyana Tolstaya's melancholic description of how she and other Russians tried to persuade the exile to return to Russia.

I personally found the essays on the persons I like to be illuminating and heart-warming although those on persons I do not know much (such as Jerome Lindon and Djuna Barnes) invoked in me a latent curiosity; and Lindon's words (quoted by Richard Seaver, the contributor) had a universal ring: "..if one is lucky enough to live in a free country, to enjoy the extraordinary privilege of total freedom of expression, you have to speak out when that freedom is threatened." (sic)

This is a deeply personal book, written by thoughtful writers about thoughtful men and women. ... Read more

Editorial Review

A revised edition of the internationally acclaimed biography of the prophet

• Includes important additions about the prophet’s spread of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states

• Contains original English translations from 8th and 9th century biographies, presented in authoritative language

• Represents the final updates made on the text before the author’s death in 2005

Martin Lings’ biography of Muhammad is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the life of the prophet. Based on the sira, the eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies that recount numerous events in the prophet’s life, it contains original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

Scrupulous and exhaustive in its fidelity to its sources, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources is presented in a narrative style that is easily comprehensible, yet authentic and inspiring in its use of language, reflecting both the simplicity and grandeur of the story it tells. This revised edition includes new sections detailing the prophet’s expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states. It represents the final updates made to the text before the author’s death in 2005. The book has been published in 12 languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the prophet in English at the National Seerate Conference in Islamabad.
... Read more

Reviews

A Reflection of Islamic Tradition, September 4, 2001
It would seem that Muhammad is gradually succumbing to the same fate as Jesus, in that each generation feels an urgent need to reinterpret him in light of their own understanding. Quite a few biographies of the prophet are already on the market, from such diverse writers as the military man John Glubb to the atheist Maxime Rodinson.

This one is different. As the title indicates, it is a life of Muhammad based on the earliest sources. The "sources" in question here are the sirat, or biographies of the prophet, which were written a couple of centuries after his death. These original biographies were compiled based on the traditions handed down regarding what the prophet did, much the same as the hadith are a transmission of what the prophet said. The contents of these biographies are canonical; their position in Islam is somewhat analogous to works of the fathers of the church in Christianity.

Which explains the air of piety about this book, which unfortunately may throw some readers off. What this book achieves, and achieves greatly in my opinion, is a reflection of how the Muslim world traditionally thinks of Muhammad. It does not attempt to break new ground or provide new interpretations of Muhammad's life and mission; rather it assists the Western reader in understanding the traditional interpretation of his life and mission. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in understanding Islamic belief and the position that Muhammad occupies in traditional Islamic values; I have come across no other book in English that conveys it as well as this one does.

The finest traditional biography available in English..., June 10, 2005
Martin Lings, scholar of both English and Arabic, has gone back to the original Arabic sources for this biography. It is fortunate for English speaking readers because he has been able to translate the Arabic himself including some writings not previously translated into English. The man knows his stuff.

It is told in the form of a story that is nothing short of mesmerizing and there is an air that borders on myth that radiates through the book. This is not to say it is false; this is to say that there is a very high degree of reverence. Those unfamiliar with his life may not get this but at least the reader comes closer to understanding.

This is not your typical scholarly biography though it quite obviously does not lack the credentials. Extensive footnotes tracing the sources can be found throughout. What is also remarkable is the way the verse from the Qur'an are woven into the story. If you've read the Qur'an and are baffled by its non-linear structure, this will help immensely.

What is refreshing about this book is his life is presented for what it is. There is no apologetic, no 'modern' scholarship attemtping to dismantle and dissect the sources and no attempt to ease a Western audience through this material. The Prophet is revered for who he is and what you find here is the traditional Muslim view and reverence of his life. It is what it is. Anyone genuinely seeking to understand Muhammad and how he is viewed by those who follow Islam must start here.

The Prophet in perspective..., August 5, 2006
I have often found it difficult to find any good biographies regarding the Prophet of Islam, but this one is truly a gem. Martin Lings has done an amazing job of taking the life of this Man from the most earliest and reliable sources, then turning it into a narrative that is such a pleasure to read. It feels as though one as reading a novel, and it is difficult to put this book down once one has picked it up. The author shows real talent and i can only imagine how great and difficult a task it was to have done research to such a deep level, and then taking it all and writing it in story form. If i remember correctly i think Martin Lings is a Professor at the famous University of Cambridge, England.

There are many strong points of this book, it will give one a thorough understanding of who Muhammed was, his beliefs, mindset and what he was attempting to achieve. The story is given in it's true context without any real interpretation, rather that is left to the reader.

I found the begining chapter slightly confusing with all the arab names i was bombarded with. It was a little difficult trying to keep up with who was who. But that problem fortunately was restricted to only the begining of the book. I had no such problems with the rest of it.

I feel this is the best work ever written in the english language regards such a topic. It is thoroughly enjoyable. It is intelligent and extremely fascinating. I highly recommend it to all, both non-muslims and muslims alike. This is a must read.

Another excellent source of information if one wishes to take another prespective via a reliable source is, the documentary made by PBS titled 'Islam the Empire of Faith'. This documentary was made drawing mostly from an orientalist approach (from non-muslim scholars of Islam).

An exellent book, best of its kind in English, April 10, 2007
Well written band based on historical sources this is probably the best biography of the Prophet Muhammad that you can buy. Mr Lings has been criticized by some Muslims of the Salafi/Wahabbi school of thought (Bilal Philips to name one) who were critical of a number of points in the book. Mostly on the passage where he says on the conquest on Mecca when all images inside the Kaba were erased Muhammad placed a protective hand over that of Abraham. He does point out in the footnotes that according to other sources all images were removed so I do not understand why Mr Philips was so critical of him.

The book is extreamly well written and covers all of the historical details of Muhammads life including events leading up to his birth and a brief history of Mecca.

Highly recomended for anyone who seriously wants to know about the Muslim religion.

an excellent study of early islam, July 8, 1998
while teaching english in casablanca, morocco, i read several books and spoke with many muslims about islam. the most lucid, unbiased presentation of the life of muhammad that i came across is lings's. muslims that i've met since then are generally pleasantly surprised at my knowledge of early islam -- practically all of which comes from this book. i avidly recommend this book to anybody who wants to know how islam was founded, knowledge of which is key to understanding much of what is happening in the islamic world today.

The Best Biography Written in the English Language, August 31, 2000
This book is great! Well, big deal, everyone says that! The actual reason why this book is so appreciated is because unlike some other writers who tend to "objectize" Muhammad(PBUH) life, Mr lings has immersed himself into the subject. At times, so close that the reader feels like a shadow of the Prophet(PBUH). I have read all the books on Mustafa(PBUH) written in English, but no one comes close to expressing in such an intense and personable manner, the life and times of the man(PBUH) that all Muslims want to emulate...

I have bought 5 copies of this book over the course of the last two years but given them all away to close friends and family.....

Almost perfect biography of the Beloved Prophet in English., August 22, 2000
I read Martin Lings' wonderful biography of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam --may Allah bless him and give him peace) for the first time when I was a teenager from the local library; what attracted me then was the caption on the cover which said, "based on the earliest Islamic sources". I loved the book the very first time I read it and since then I have read it a few times and bought my own copy. It is a book I always recommend to anyone interested in Islam as I believe it is the best introduction one can have to Islam. After all, if one does not know the Messenger, how can one ever accept the Message?

This book is wonderfully written and although the English is slightly archaic, I think that in this instance it actually adds to the books qualities, as such noble language is totally concommitant with the grandeur and theme of the book. The quality of the language used is indeed one aspect of this book which sets it apart from other biographies of the Beloved of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) written in English and for that alone it is superior to the others. As the facts of the Messenger's blessed life are known in great detail, it is obvious that any biography will cover the main events including the blessed birth, the childhood events, the meeting with Bahira the Monk, the outward proclamation of Prophethood at the age of 40 (note I did not write the acquisition of Prophethood--this is a subtle point worth noting especially for Muslims which I'll briefly mention here although it does not detract from the overall quality of the book: it is this: the orthodox classical Sunni belief about all Messengers and Prophets is that they are Prophets from the moment of their creation by Allah and they are Prophets when they are born and they know about their status but they only proclaim it to the world when they are ordered to by Allah. Thus, for example, Prophet Jesus (Sayyedina Isa alayhi salaam) was ordered to announce his Prophethood [nabuwwat] soon after his blessed, immaculate, birth whilst still an infant of a few days as the Qur'an tells us (surah Maryam)whereas Our Beloved Prophet was only ordered to proclaim his Prophethood at the age of 40.In Urdu this is called izhaar-e-nabuwwat. Most books written by Western authors do not go into such details of Muslim aqeedaH [doctrine] as it is not necessary for the general reader to know but given that this book by Martin Lings' is so widely read by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, I thought it would be worth mentioning), the time in Makkah, the emigration to Madina, the Miraj journey, the battles, the conquest of Makkah, the farewell pilgrimage etc. but it is the style in which this book covers them that is so captivating--one feels one is actually there! Subhan Allah! Glory to Allah!

In addition however Martin Lings' book covers the personal and spiritual aspects of the life of the Greatest Messenger in the most beautiful and moving way. Many passages in the book moved me to tears such as the one during the preparations for the Battle of the Trench when one of the Companions sees the Beloved of Allah in a red cloth wrapped around the waist and comments on how beautiful the Master of The Prophets alayhi salaato salaam looked!

Also, Martin Lings' book is filled with intimate incidents from the life of Allah's darling Messenger which show his perfect humanity, his humbleness, humility, greatness of character and, above all, spirituality as well as his day-to-day personal interactions with his family, companions and friends as well as the foes of the Messenger of Allah. Above all, the book is saturated with the Prophet's constant and uniquely intimate relationship with Allah and it really shines through almost on every page. This biography emphasises the spirituality of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and in this way one can catch glimpses of the teachings of sufism as well which formed the highest level of the Prophet's teachings.

As others have mentioned he does not comment on any of the hadiths or events which has both advantages and disadvantages in that it is possible that some people may misinterpret a saying and not understand it as it is meant to be understood or as it is understood by Muslims wordwide. However most of the hadith used are clear and unambiguous and so this problem only arises a couple of times. (And it is only for those totally new to Islam--those with a little background in sufism will not have this problem at all.)

I could write pages for this book but I will end here by saying that it is one of the few books I would consider a "must buy". It is the (almost) perfect introduction to the amazing life of Allah's final and most beloved Messenger and the best written. Once you have read this you can then graduate to more specialist texts such as the Shifa' of Qadi Ayad al Maliki which is *the* definitive classical book about the Prophet's character and qualities of perfection (and it is now available in an excellent English edition too by Aisha Bewley) or the Sira of Ibn Hisham (very detailed but not as readable English translation by A. Guillame) or the myriad other biographies available in the islamic languages such as Arabic and Urdu.

It might be worth noting that Martin Ling's great work has won many prizes from all over the Muslim world for being the best biography of the Beloved Prophet in English including from Egypt and the government of Pakistan.

The life of Allah's Beloved is, in reality, like an endless ocean from which everyone can take whatever he wants and it will not diminish and only Allah Most High truly knows the exalted status of His Prophet, but books like this one make it possible for us mere mortals to catch a glimpse of that Prophetic majesty and to bask in his exaltedness.

I challenge anyone to read this book through to the end and not fall in love with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

May Allah reward him.

Epic, April 26, 2003
This book has been described as the best biography of the Prophet in English. This is partly because unlike other modern biographies which seek to draw insights and unique conclusions, this one is just a seamless narrative (saying in effect "the traditional view was the right one").
It is also more detailed than most, and integrates insights about the spirituality of what the Prophet taught (Lings also wrote books on Sufism), rather than merely depicting the political side of the story. Being based entirely on "the earliest sources," it includes a huge number of miracle stories as well as the prophecies of his coming which add a suspenseful dimension to the tale. Major themes: the prophet's constant state of trust and certainty in his Lord throughout his life. Another was that while he didn't start conflicts he could be a bold, courageous lion (as the Burdah states) when pursuing the enemies who were after all intent upon destroying his mission and were a threats to the security of his community. He was stern against treachery (the Jewish tribes, Bani Bakr), though forgiving of conquered enemies (Hawazin, Bani Mustaliq, the Quraysh, etc.). His general love for humanity and desire for their salvation can be seen in his prayers over Ubayy as well as in the siege of Taif.
Very graceful, literary style with a timeless aspect, which Lings accentuates by not including any form of introduction or preface. I read this in conjunction with HAmza Yusuf's commentary which I found extremely helpful- including his occasional sharp criticisms.
But I suggest that someone new to Islam read other works first (see my listmania).

writing at its best!, July 16, 1999
this is by far the best bio i have ever read on the prophet of islam (pbuh). lings brings ancient arabia to life with vivid details and colorful characterizations--all based on factual evidence and hadiths. he gives importance to women as well. aisha is a fascinating woman. and until i read this book, i had never heard about the prophet's daughters, other than fatima. an absolute must-read!

Great read - goes through A to Z in great detail, October 29, 2007
Most books of this nature are more often than not loosely translated from Arabic-written texts ensuing in bad grammar, and a dire story line. But as this is written in English it thankfully avoids all of the above. What I love about this biography is that Ling's explains in great detail not only the life and mission of Prophet Muhammad, but also the fundamentals of Islam. It begins with the significance of the Kabaa and ends with the death of the Prophet whilst illuminating everything in between. This book is also broken down into several chapters allowing for an easy read.

Even though this is a great source of Islamic knowledge, it may be a difficult read for some non-Muslim readers. As advice, I would recommend this as a follow up to a simpler biography [of which I don't know any that Amazon or a ordinary bookstore would sell -- sorry].
... Read more

Editorial Review

She was a beautiful doelike child, with an intense, graceful fragility. In her first year, she picked up words, smiled and laughed, and learned to walk. But then Anne-Marie began to turn inward. And when her little girl lost some of the words she had acquired, cried inconsolably, and showed no interest in anyone around her, Catherine Maurice took her to doctors who gave her a devastating diagnosis: autism.
In their desperate struggle to save their daughter, the Maurices plunged into a medical nightmare of false hopes, "miracle cures," and infuriating suggestions that Anne-Marie's autism was somehow their fault. Finally, Anne-Marie was saved by an intensive behavioral therapy.
Let Me Hear Your Voice is a mother's illuminating account of how one family triumphed over autism. It is an absolutely unforgettable book, as beautifully written as it is informative.
"A vivid and uplifting story . . . Offers new strength to parents who refuse to give up on their autistic children." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Outstanding . . . Heartfelt . . . A lifeline to families in similar circumstances." -- Library Journal
... Read more

Reviews

Seminal Work on ABA method, family style, March 31, 2000
When my fourth child was diagnosed with "PDD", I was happy. That was how ignorant I was--I thought it meant he wasn't autistic! Six years and one more autistic child later, I still credit this book with giving me a foothold and a way of grasping how to deal with the educational interventions that I feel continue to remain most viable for so many autistic children. I had nothing but my own gut feelings, one other book called "Children with Autism", and this book to guide me in the beginning stages of what would prove to be the longest, most incredible journey I have ever made in my life. It's still evolving, and so are we, in my family.

Because of this book, I garnered the strength to look into educational intervention for my first autistic son in the way of a "home program". I didn't know anything about what a "home program" entailed until I read this book. I didn't know that the optimal time you must devote to a program such as this has been set at 40 hours a week! I didn't know that there wouldn't be any trained therapists available--I had to be trained myself, in fact! I found babysitters, one high school girl, you name it--at one point I was so desparate I dissolved in tears and said, "I CAN'T DO THIS! " But you have to. YOU JUST HAVE TO. And you will, too, because you must.

As my supervisor said to me when she "okayed" us for the program, "Look at it this way--two years of your life will make such a difference." And it did. Not the sucess story the author had, but at least a sense of control over things and an awareness of my son's potential.

This book gave me something to hang on to. I realize now, especially after having a second autistic son, that not all things go as planned, and not all "programs" turn out as ideally as Maurice's did. On the other hand, you must have hope when you are an autistic parent. This book gave me that. And it gave me an understanding of an invaluable way of teaching young autistic children that is still the primary way they are taught most sucessfully (it is called Applied Behavioral Analysis now)that I needed, just to get started in the right direction. Buy it and read it. Use your brain when you read it and accept the fact that all these kids are different and you are not this woman. But be thankful. She wrote THE GROUNDBREAKING BOOK on this type of intervention.

best wishes, Jean

Fabulous!!, January 7, 2002
When I read some of the comments about this book I was really saddened. I can agree that there is no "cure" for autism, but I must also note that Applied Behavioral Analysis, being the therapy of choice for the Maurice family, has given my child a new life.

This book is different because it offers parents hope: It clearly describes the trials a family endures as they struggle to bring their autistic child into their world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with fighting this disorder. After all, we should all want the very best for our children. We should all want our children to be able to function normally in society.

I have patiently read through every review and wish to make a few comments of my own, having implemented an ABA program with my now 3-year old son, for nine months. ABA is rigorous therapy. It requires time and effort on everyone involved. But, it is worth every struggle, be it financial or otherwise. In no way has ABA therapy, as described in this book, harmed my child. I have not met anyone, nor have I heard of a family, who was not thrilled with the progress made by his/her/their child through ABA therapy. Our child has gained two years worth of development within a six-month period of having ABA therapy. In fact, my child scored a 37.5 (a half point above severely autistic) on the CARS (childhood autism rating scale) and is now considered to have "no autistic symptoms." We are also advocates for the Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Dietary Intervention; both ABA and dietary intervention are responsible for our son's miraculous progress...backed by lots of prayers.

My husband and I cannot technically "afford" ABA therapy. We cannot afford to hire endless nannies and therapists. But I'll tell you what we have done, we have FOUND a way to do this therapy. Where there is a will, there is a way. We took out a home equity loan, got a newspaper article, had fundraisers, sold our cars, did craft shows, bake sales...and we're still pursuing our insurance companies. We even asked our families for help. We pay our bills week-by-week. And we do it for our son. We cannot put a price tag on his future. This therapy takes some getting used to, but it is worth any effort one can give. Our child hasn't had 40 hours every week. In fact, he's made steady progress with 20-32 hours every week. Don't make excuses for your child's autism when you can do something about it. The progression of autism CAN be reversed. There are many ways to cut costs and do this therapy. But it does require effort, dedication, consistency, and time.

I love this book and I recommend it to anyone who wants a true account of what it is like to see one's child break out of autism. You may decide that the therapies implemented by the Maurice family are not for you...but that should not hinder you from at least pursuing the possibility of implementing ABA therapy. Read the book. It is a great reference, and if you wish to do the therapy, good for you. Your child will thank you one day.

An extraordinary book., March 16, 2000
Six months ago my 3 year-old son was correctly diagnosed as having PDD. The experts that examined him told us that there was no cure for it, and the best thing we could try would be play therapy. I read the books that they recommended on that subject, but I was not convinced by them. Fortunately, via the internet I found this book and the other one by C. Maurice, that is, "Behavioral intervention for young children with autism". Everything looked so convincing that I decided to try ABA right away. I did not hire any therapist, but started to work with my son several hours a day following the suggestions of those two books. My son made an extraordinary progress. In six months all the signs of PDD were gone, acording to new evaluations, and in some areas he is above average, like in cognitive skills. Thank you Catherine Maurice. Without your books I would probably have lost my son forever.

a touching mother's story, February 2, 2005
My son has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS (on the autism spectrum, but milder), and so I have read a great deal of books on autism spectrum disorders, some more of a scholarly textbook variety and others that were memoirs of raising an autistic or PDD child. This book falls into the latter category, and it is one of the more hope-inspiring such memoirs that I have read.

This book has many strengths. Perhaps the most important is its emphasis on seeking early intervention. If there is one thing that the literature on treating autism shows, it is that early intervention is absolutely critical. I would urge all parents who are harboring even vague suspicions that there might be something "wrong" with their child to initiate the evaluation process, speech therapy, and other interventions. The interventions that have been shown to be successful (the ABA behavioral modification approach highlighted in this book and Greenspan's Floor Time method) can, as this book shows, make an amazing difference in a child's social and intellectual outcomes. More to the point, they can't hurt... so even if your child turns out not to have a full-blown autism spectrum disorder, speech therapy and ABA can only help in terms of normal development.

A second important strength of this book is to point out the weaknesses in psychodynamic approaches to treatment of autism. Perhaps the most harrowing sections of the book were Maurice's description of the holding sessions conducted at the Mothering Center. I hate to think how many families have put themselves through such a self-defeating and pointless exercise, especially if it reduced the likelihood that they would try interventions that actually have scientific evidence in their support.

The part of the book that rang the truest for me was Maurice's description of the long period of doubts and the journey toward a definitive diagnosis. One of the most frustrating things about autism spectrum disorders is that they are not obvious at birth, nor does a simple diagnostic test exist. Instead, it generally takes several months or years of doubts first suppressed and then whispered to one's spouse, then voiced to a pediatrician, and ultimately to multiple specialists who are consulted. I know that in my experience, the year or so it took our family to go from "I'm beginning to worry that our son's speech and social development is a little delayed" to the official PDD-NOS diagnosis was a time of great stress, uncertainty, and fear. In retrospect, of course, it all seems so obvious--just as it did to Maurice. But we don't have the luxury of going through life with the benefit of hindsight and must muddle through as best as we can. Perhaps the greatest service this book can provide is to help other families deal with their fear and uncertainties as they face an autism spectrum diagnosis in one of their children.

Maurice's story of (apparently) full recovery in not one, but two, autistic children thus stands as a beacon of hope. But there is one sense that this can perhaps be considered one of the drawbacks of the book. Perhaps it should be accompanied by the disclaimer one sees in ads for weight-loss products: "Results not typical." The fact is that even the best clinical tests of the ABA method show only about 50% "success," defined as significant improvement of the child's social and linguistic behavior and placement in regular educational settings. Maurice's book may have the unfortunate effect of raising unrealistic expectations in parents and exacerbating their guilt when their child does not fare as well as Anne-Marie or Michel did. On balance, I do not view this as a serious weakness. Early intervention does help, and anything that inspires parents to try these techniques early on is a good thing, even if their children do not show the same degree of recovery. I would also rather parents try the interventions that have been shown to be effective than not try anything at all. Twenty or 40 hours a week of ABA may not result in a full recovery for your child, but doing nothing surely will not help.

This book is well-written and often moving. The passage describing the very first time Anne-Marie called out "Mommy" brought tears to my eyes. However, I would recommend "A slant of sun" by Beth Kephart, as an even more beautifully written and moving memoir. Maurice's book does a better job of describing the nuts and bolts of ABA and the advantages and disadvantages of various therapeutic interventions for autism. But the Kephart book does a better job of capturing a parent's emotions--the raw grief and anguish that accompanies the realization that one's child has an autism spectrum diagnosis. I highly recommend both of these books. Lastly, for those parents who are contemplating reading this book because your child has just been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, or you are worried he or she might have one, I strongly recommend you read "Quirky Kids" as a scholarly reference on these disorders.

Engaging and Inspiring, October 18, 2002
I began my journey into the world of autism when my 3-year-old son was diagnosed with PDD. At the time, you could have fit my knowledge of autism onto the head of a pin. LET ME HEAR YOUR VOICE was one of several books I purchased on Amazon and the first one I read once they arrived.

My son's diagnosis left me utterly devastated. By the time I finished reading this book, I felt someone had turned on the light so I could begin to find my way. I was buoyed by the simple fact that recovery IS possible and this book served as a roadmap for me. I had also purchased Making a Difference: Behavioral Intervention for Autism - also by Catherine Maurice and began my own ABA program at home while awaiting my son's admission into a Special Ed preschool program. By the time my son began school 2 months later, the teachers and therapists were wondering why he'd been diagnosed with PDD as he was markedly different from other PDD kids. Now, less than 2 years later, his score on the CARS is in the non-autistic range.

ABA is not the only treatment or cure and it is not for every child, but I believe it can bring about improvements that otherwise would not occur spontaneously. While the book is a strong advocate of ABA, it is a wonderful book to read for those who are new to the world of Autism. Giving this book as a gift would be one of the most thoughtful things you could ever do. If I had not read this book, it is doubtful I would have acquired the knowledge of autism I now have - this book was a primer for the sort of education I hope NO parent needs, but if they do, LET ME HEAR YOUR VOICE is the place to start.

A retrospective on how far we've come..., January 21, 2006
I've read some of the other reviews of this book and overall agree with some of the issues raised (hours of very strict ABA to make an autistic child 'normal' at all costs, dismissing special interests as 'perseverations', etc.) but I want to point out that this book was first written years ago. First published in 1993, and at that point the author is looking back in time by several years, so the actual events probably took place in the mid to late eighties. At that point in time there weren't the online support groups, the various autism organizations, the plethora of well-known therapies from Floortime to Affective Based Language to RDI, or in general much awareness of what autism was at all. Parents were left to their own devices to do the best they could and, even if I disagree on some points, who out there could start from square one like that and still manage to come up with every answer, something we still haven't managed today?

I will say that, having worked with dozens of autistic children, I find the recovery aspect of the story highly unusual. I've seen children that make tremendous progress in functioning, however, I've never witnessed a child going from totally autistic to totally not-autistic in the span of about two or three years. I'm not saying the diagnosis wasn't correct (although there do seem to be a subset of children who do some really classically autistic things as toddlers and yet do not end up being autistic,) just that I don't think this is typical, even with the best therapy programs.

Overall, I applaud this book as a touching story of a family's strength and as a breakthrough in people's thinking on autism treatment. Stories like this one helped more people to see that there are ways to work with and teach autistic children. We may have refined our approach since then, but this realization was an important moment in treatment history.

A word from one of the "lucky" ones., July 26, 2002
As the mother of a daughter who was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder just after her second birthday, I felt especially raw when I read this book.

If I hadn't read this book, I may have delayed ABA therapy for my own daughter. My home-based, daycare-based program has shown better results than any other therapy that we had tried before I found out about ABA. Although I have not had heard the words "recovered" or "cured", I have seen a marked improvement in my child's language, behavior and social skills. Her pediatrician remarked that the outstanding progress that we've seen is typical in about 5% of children who are diagnosed with ASD.

Thank goodness for this book. It gave me hope and set me in motion. It showed me that I could use ABA in combination with other ongoing therapies. I didn't need to choose a single path.

I don't have the funds nor the lifestyle of the author. What I do have is a drive to find a way to bring my daughter back into the world of human contact.

With great appreciation to Catherine Maurice, September 23, 2003
I can not begin to express the amount of appreciation I have towards Catherine Maurice. Many people who have autistic children may read her book and wonder why this woman was deemed lucky enough to save not one, but two of her children from autism. I believe that she was successful not only for completely dedicating herself to her children, but also because of the book she would write for others as well. After finding out that our daughter has PDD our lives changed. If it weren't for Catherine's book, I don't know where I would have found the strength to help our daughter. Although we are greatful that her diagnosis was on the mild end of the spectrum we still had no idea how to help her. She was already in a special ed play group and receiving tons of speech OT and PT. I had never heard of ABA therapy. It was friend of mine who put me in touch with someone who runs an ABA program that I got my first real education in ABA. By some miracle I connected with a two fantastic ABA therapists who was trained by a top professional. My daughter had an immediate connection with her, and in the short six months that have past we have seen a dramatic difference in her behaviors. No two people have the same experiences in life and no two parents will have the same reaction when their child is diagnosed with PDD. What I have learned from this book is that we owe it to our child to pull ourselves together as quick as possible so that we can perhaps foster our own "miracle." Throughout this process I have encountered countless kindred spirits who have intentionally or coincidentally came to our rescue. I do count Catherine Maurice as one of those spirits.

This Book Saved Us From Dark Aged Autism Treatment, April 21, 1999
Thank God for Catherine Maurice and sharing her story.This was the most accurate book that explained autism to me.As a nurse practitioner I find It difficult many pediatricians,to whom parents first turn can not recognize the early symptoms of this disorder.This book was my story also.I asked many so called experts what they thought and was told this treatment forced them to be normal,it was adversive,the treatment was expensive.I lost 1 year of my son's life listening to these people who also told me that my child would never speak.The shell of a child that was in my home is now a little boy.He talks in sentence's, read's, write's and attend's a typical kindergarten class.YES ABA/DT is a long hard road to be on but if your determined to save your child with a method of scientifically proven therapy for the most effective result's this is it.I tried the DARK AGED WAY first for 1 year,what a wasted year it was.My son will always have autism he isnt one of the recovered children,but the effectiveness of this method has worked for this family and his level of functioning has improved dramatically. Remember science work's and I have the data (4 yrs now)to prove it.I owe ton's of gratitude to Catherine Maurice as if you never shared your story we'd still be in the dark ages.Please Catherine help us Advocate and Educate the public and medical professional's so NO more children get lost in the DARK AGES.

Autism is not a "fate worse than death", March 27, 1999
This is a well-written and interesting book. Catherine Maurice's devastating criticisms of the fraudulent therapies which attempt to make mothers feel guilty for their children's autism would alone make the book worth reading.

However, I have three very major concerns about the book.

The first is that Maurice presents Lovaas's version of ABA as the only possible option, ignoring the fact that there are other educational methods (such as TEACCH, Greenspan, or the various other techniques within the behavioural field such as the Koegels' modifications of ABA), which also have solid scientific evidence backing them.

Secondly, she also ignores the experts who have raised doubts about Lovaas's claim to have effected complete "recoveries" from autism, and who have pointed out that greatly improving a child's level of functioning, while vitally important, is not the same as a "cure". I've seen too many parents who read Maurice's book and immediately start to plan on the basis that after a few years of Lovaas treatment, their child will be completely normal. The overwhelming balance of evidence is that as a rule autistic children grow up to be autistic adults. We (I have high-functioning autism) may grow up to be independent, happy and successful adults, such as Dr. Temple Grandin, but we remain "different", and often experience great stress from the constant pressure placed on us by families and society to be more "normal".

Thirdly, I was worried by the way in which she constantly treats autism as a tragedy and a fate worse than death, and speaks of dragging her children kicking and screaming out of autism, forcing them to be "normal". Autism certainly doesn't make life easy (and I work with kids with severe autism combined with severe mental retardation, so I know just how difficult it can be), but nonetheless it's also part of who I am, not a "shell" in which there is a normal person hidden away. How would you feel if you found out that your parents viewed who you are as a tragedy to be cured at all costs?

ABA can be a very useful way of teaching, but I'm worried about people who use it not to teach children but to try to "force" them to be normal. There's a big difference between trying to help someone learn and function better and trying to "fix" them by turning them into someone else completely.

I'd recommend that people who read this should not make it their only book on autism - they should also read a more general account of autism giving information on the condition itself and on various methods of educating autistic children, and also a first-person account such as those written by Dr. Grandin. ... Read more

Reviews

Who Is My Brothers Keeper?, May 22, 2001
Robert ParkeHarrison is an outstanding photographer, who creates disturbing images from photographs using sculpture, painting and aspects of theater to produce a surreal image. He appears in every photograph, acting as explorer, victim and conjurer performing actions that evoke a sense of ritual and metaphor, and frequently leave the viewer dazzled.

His is a magical world, lightning strikes, huge flowers explode and clouds and dark holes spin across the horizon. This is a mystical world that recalls to me the world of the major arcana of the Tarot. The figure vacillates between Mage, Fool and Hierophant. Who is the Architect, I wonder. Is his brother an assistant or an opponent? Many of the images are ambivalent, touching on both darkness and light, making a clear decision impossible. The figure seems melancholy, engaged in strange almost hopeless acts. But he persists, carrying on a quest intended to heal or repair a desolate world.

Despite a great difference in subject matter, these images remind me a great deal of Joel Peter Witkin, who is another Twin Palms photographer. Witkin's images also evoke a sense of myth and legend and have many readings. Both photographers manipulate their images extensively (with their wives as co-conspirators as well). And both have wonderful imaginations that seem to flourish against the somewhat humdrum backdrop of today's world.

A slipcased, signed edition exists, but is becoming quite rare. This edition and the trade edition are beautifully produced by Twin Palms, who manage to capture the real spirit of this work. By all means buy the "The Architect's Brother" if you are interested in non-traditional photography. You won't be disappointed.

Indefatigable Dreams of Ordinary Men, September 26, 2002
THE ARCHITECT'S BROTHER is one of the most beautiful monographs of photography to be released in years. These 'constructions' created by the husband/wife team under the name of Robert ParkeHarrison meld painting, sculpture, stage props, photo-manipulation, collages of natural debris, and megatons of inspired genius to create staged photomontages that are at times amusing, melancholic, wistful, and spiritualy uplifting. Speaking to the earth through a huge megaphone made of bark, anchoring clouds, flying suspended by lassoed birds - let your imagination take you there. The quality of the book is up to the luxurious standard of format of Twin Palms Press. There is an added three brief pages of comment in the form a quotaton by W.S. Merwin entitled 'Unchopping a Tree' which is what this entire collection is about - man's attempt to mimic nature....and the sweet sadness of the knowledge that he can't.

Buy This Book, December 5, 2000
Buy this book for your local library. Parke Harrison, a husband and wife team create spellbinding photographs that take days to prepare. Inspired by an individual spiritual drive the photographs depict characters portrayed by Robert that interact with the earth, usually through some fantastic contraption like a cloud machine.

The effect is other worldly and haunting. The effects created photographically are enhanced by handpainting over the photos. Originally working with beeswax and pigments, travelling and the wear induced led to exploration of acrylic mediums. This is a dream for mixed media minded people.

Surprised, December 16, 2005
This is one of the weirdest photography books I have ever read...and enjoyed looking!

The author drives the reader through an interesting dream-like world created meticulously just for the shots in this book.

All these stupendous images generate lots of meditations and new ideas not only related to the topic of photography but to the way we experience life.

Simply Beautiful, September 5, 2008
The Architect's Brother is a beautiful compilation of photographic art by photographer Robert ParkeHarrison. The photographs are splendidly composed and executed and each is a work of art capable of evoking responses of awe, wonder, joy and sadness.
The book itself is well composed: the paper and pictures are very high quality and the book is well bound and cloth covered.

Gorgeous and ethereal, May 19, 2007
This book plays with reality, is beautiful, is provocative (in certain ways), and encourages revisits.

Photographic Art, March 30, 2007
Recently on PBS, I saw a small clip of the collaboration work of the photographer (who is also the subject in the photographs) and his painter wife. The artistic creation of staging and dark room manipulations were something no one produces but these two. Results are reminiscent of a strange dream or turn of the century photography of catastrophic Earth events. I had to find a book of their work. The first books I found were $300. but fortunately found a much better priced one. I not only wanted it for myself and friends, but also to hand it down to one of my grandkids. Thank you Mr/Mrs. ParkHarrison for your unusual vision and I hope to see your future productions.

parke harrison, January 24, 2005
This book presents you with beautiful images of Parke Harrison's new endeavors. A great book showing the possibilities of the photographic medium. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Frank Lloyd Wright exerted perhaps the greatest influence on twentieth century design. In a volume that continues to resonate more than seventy years after its initial publication, Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography contains the master architect's own account of his work, his philosophy, and his personal life, written with his signature wit and charm.

Wright (1867-1959) went into seclusion in a Minnesota cabin to reflect and to record his life experiences. In 1932, the first edition of the Autobiography was published. It became a form of advertising, leading many readers to seek out the master architect--thirty apprentices came to live and learn at Taliesin, Wright's Wisconsin home/school/studio, under the master's tutelage. (By 1938, Taliesin West, in Arizona, was the winter location for Wright's school.)

The volume is divided into five sections devoted to family, fellowship, work, freedom, and form. Wright recalls his childhood, his apprenticeship with Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, the turmoil of his personal life, and the background to his greatest achievements, including Hollyhock House, the Prairie and the Usonian Houses, and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. ... Read more

Reviews

Great Book, September 5, 2008
I am an architect and I am familiar with most of Frank Loyd Wright's buildings but knew very little about his life. A heart felt book, that made me realise the importance of doing what you beieve in. I decided to read this, after reading "Loving Frank" and getting a taste of what his life was like.

See the world through Wright's eyes, April 13, 2008
This book is actually my first study on this amazing man, so I can only guess how much of it is honest and how much he is deceiving himself. But one thing's for sure: it is truly fascinating. One can't get much closer to understanding his creative perspective, and why he chose to design certain projects the way he did. If you are interested in the creative process, this book is a great read.

great story, March 13, 2006
Not just for architects.... the autobiography of Frank Loyd Wright it's a great story for everybody who's interested in passion for life.

A testimony to his ego, November 10, 2009
Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect, but he was never a writer. This book is more a testimony of one man's enormous ego than it is an insightful look into his own life. Wright was more obsessed with his legacy than anything else, and this book was his way of solidifying his reputation in a world that was being increasingly dominated by European modern architecture. He delivers copious lectures along the way as well, provides a spirited defense of "free love," in regard to his notorious affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, and reinvents his childhood (in third person) to suit his image of himself. It takes a tremendous amount of patience to make it through this book and unless you are determined to make the effort I would go for one of the many biographies, like Meryle Secrest's Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography or Robert Twombly's Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture.

FL Wright, February 24, 2010
Eccentric as one would expect from Wright. His view of himself and the world is unigue, as complicated and cluttered as his praire houses are open and elegant. ... Read more

Editorial Review

One of art's purest challenges is to translate a human being into words. The New Yorker has met this challenge more successfully and more originally than any other modern American journal. It has indelibly shaped the genre known as the Profile. Starting with light-fantastic evocations of glamorous and idiosyncratic figures of the twenties and thirties, such as Henry Luce and Isadora Duncan, and continuing to the present, with complex pictures of such contemporaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Richard Pryor, this collection of New Yorker Profiles presents readers with a portrait gallery of some of the most prominent figures of the twentieth century. These Profiles are literary-journalistic investigations into character and accomplishment, motive and madness, beauty and ugliness, and are unrivalled in their range, their variety of style, and their embrace of humanity.


... Read more

Reviews

An outstanding collection of profiles., March 23, 2000
It's easy, I suppose, to knock 'The New Yorker' as effete and self-satisfied. Certainly its left-wing bias looks a bit strange surrounded by all those ads for expensive imported whisky and porcelain figures. This book demonstrates, however, that for seventy-five years the magazine has been turning out splendid profiles of a very disparate group of people. And, what's even more important, they're written so beautifully. Even an oddball piece like Ian Frazier's 'Nobody Better, Better than Nobody' is lucid and full of fine sentences. Every one of the profiles in this book has something to recommend it. You needn't admire or be familiar with the subject of the profile. I harbour an intense dislike for Roseanne Barr, for example, but John Lahr's profile of her had me enthralled; and I enjoyed Roger Angell's piece on Steve Blatt, despite my never having seen a baseball game. David Remnick states in his introduction that he gave pride of place to Joseph Mitchell's 'Mister Hunter's Grave', and that's understandable: it's a masterpiece. But Richard Preston's long story about the Chudnovsky brothers and their search for pi, or Mark Singer's tale of the amazing sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay, would distinguish any anthology. I think that Remnick could easily compile another volume as strong, and I hope he does so in the future -- he should include something by himself next time.

For All You People Watchers, April 5, 2002
You have heard of the obnoxious person who, upon meeting a biographer who has given up the last 25 years of his life to write the definitive biography of say Queen Elizabeth II, asks, "Now tell me, what's she REALLY like??" Friends, I am that person, which is one reason I always find New Yorker Profiles an unalloyed delight. Rightly or wrongly, I always believe I am getting the real insider stuff.

David Remnick makes thoughtful selections in this anthology. He has covered a time period from the `30s to the present, some very famous people and some you have never heard of, and the same is true for the authors of the Profiles. I fully intended to make a leisurely tour through the book, picking and choosing a Profile here and there for a short read. Once I read the very first one, Joe Mitchell's "Mr. Hunter's Grave," I was hooked and read the whole book from start to finish. So much for leisurely reading!

It is hopeless to attempt to select a favorite; all have their own merits. I was particularly fascinated by Truman Capote's insightful piece on Marlon Brando. Capote's flamboyant personality frequently overshadows his tremendous skills as an interpretive writer. Jean Acocella's study of Mikhail Baryshnikov is an excellent in-depth study of both the man and the artist. John Lahr's Profile on Roseanne is almost scary (or at least Roseanne is!) Joe Mitchell's, "Mr. Hunter's Grave" is so beautifully rendered you can understand why The New Yorker never took him off salary even after Joe suffered the granddaddy of all writer's blocks; he didn't submit an article for fourteen years! The New Yorker always said Joe had a "work in progress."

"Life Stories" is worth it at twice the price. Some of these profiles are unobtainable (unless you have a roomful of old New Yorkers). This is a book you will go back to again and again.

Profiles from (and of) The New Yorker, January 22, 2002
It is expected that the profiles contained herein are what they are: insightful, well-written vignettes of interesting, often celebrated, lives. What isn't expected, and what I found most appealing, is that the collection achieves a certain unity, a distinct flow, from one profile to the next. It makes the reading experience less like an irrelative tour through a picture gallery, and more like a deconstruction of the human community.

Not willing to arrange this "greatest hits" package chronologically, editor David Remnick structures the book to create pregnant dichotomous pairings. In some cases they are rather obvious, as Mikhail Baryshnikov follows Isadora Duncan. But in other cases, the order enhances both pieces: A dissection of a man passing himself off as a descendant of the Romanoff's is followed by one of Anatole Broyard, a black literary critic trying to pass himself off as white. These two pieces, which on their own didn't hold my attention, came into full view once I'd read both (furthermore, Broyard is followed by Floyd Patterson, much reviled by Muhammad Ali for being a black boxing champion easily digested by white audiences).

Connections are made in other ways. Roger Angell's piece on Pittsburgh Pirate Steve Blass is followed by a profile of legendary New Yorker editor Katherine White, Angell's mother. The outcome of the 2000 U.S. Presidential election is made more palatable -- in hindsight -- by back-to-back profiles on Bush and Gore, both done by Nicholas Lemann. And a fascinating troika of profiles -- on Johnny Carson, Marlon Brando, and Richard Pryor -- pull along the notion that reaching the heights of ones profession, in the field of entertainment, does not necessarily bring peace of mind (furthermore, profiles on Carson, Pryor, and Roseanne Barr advance my own hypothesis that a comedian must lead the life of a Cassandra for a while, before the spoils come to ruin them for good; Carson is said to have "painted himself not into a corner but onto the top of a mountain.").

At times, the book takes on a secondary function: detailing the lengthy and lofty history of The New Yorker magazine itself. Following the life of Katherine White, and her correspondences with New Yorker founder Harold Ross, made Nancy Franklin "giddy with a feeling of discovery, as if I'd suddenly hit upon the structure of The New Yorker's DNA -- almost as if I'd been present at the creation." This is a fantasy that others appear to share. Remnick admits that an early skewering of Time publisher Henry Luce (itself a marvel of gymnastic prose) was in response to Time giving the same treatment to Ross. At many other times throughout the collection, a subject is caught recognizing the magazine's reputation, making the accuracy of the profile presented (in Heisenbergian lingo) quite uncertain. More often than not, though, the author presciently notes when this has happened.

So hermetically, the collection works. Now let me note a few of its high points.

Mark Singer's illumination of sleight-of-hand master Ricky Jay portrays the man (who I'd only known as an enjoyable bit player in David Mamet's movies) as a tireless perfectionist, an undiscovered genius, and an unabashed curmudgeon. It is a treat to follow Jay through his magical world, and hear of his principled theories. Richard Preston spent many uncomfortable hours in a hot, cramped New York apartment, in order to bring back a fascinating portrait of Gregory and David Chudnovsky. The brothers, obsessed with finding the meaning of Pi (to the point where they've built their own supercomputer out of FedExed spare parts!), engage in myopic dialogues with each other that Preston only has to present verbatim to complete his profile. And in one of the few profiles of non-celebrities, Adam Gopnik hilariously recounts a five-year relationship with his shrink. It's simple, riotously funny, and at times quite poignant.

"Life Stories" has few missteps (most notable: Janet Malcolm's piece on the '80s wunderkind painter David Salle tries too hard to be a piece of postmodern art itself; its efforts ultimately proved distracting). It is a mostly precise retelling of the lives of some of this century's most interesting people. It's urbane, without ever being excessively insular, and will be easily enjoyed by even those who've never folded over the pages of the magazine from whence it came.

uneven greatness, May 29, 2000
this collection is worth the price of admission to two profiles--johnny carson and marlon brando. thoughtfully assembled, this "greatest hits" made me not feel so bad when i threw out old, favorite issues of the new yorker, only to discover some of those much beloved profiles in this collection. yet for some space reasons, many of the multipart profiles (i.e.the schizophrenic "slyvia frumpkin" or the psychiatrist "aaron") don't have a home here. my plea, as a reader, is that the new yorker should annually produce these anthologies. oh yeah, the cover is absolutely brilliant.

"The Noooo Yawkuh" George W. Bush, campaign 2000, April 16, 2002
The well-known New Yorker writer, Nicholas Lehman's profile of George W. Bush on the campaign trail would be an atmospheric, perhaps poignant look at the country previous to the Supreme Court decision and 9/11, except for one thing. On the campaign bus, Bush came up to Lehman and said, "So who you writin' this piece for Nicky?" - (NICKY?) Lehman answered, with the name that Bush already knew. And Bush replies, "The Noooo Yawkuh, don't see why any of those readers would be interested in me." That, no matter what your political viewpoint or opinion about the magazine and its readers may be, is an indicator of the power of the magazine via its writing. The authors of the selected pieces are sometimes the primary reason to read the article. Perhaps the most famous example is Capote writing on Brando making Mitchener's Sayonara, an impossible thing to imagine today. The grandiosity of Brando doing something that he would no doubt later be ashamed of is not lost over time. Capote always boasted of his ability to keep himself out of an interview, something that I found amazingly untrue and part of his attraction. In this case, he managed to find the comedy in the Japanese girls calling, "Marron" while remaining deferential to the star. Capote innocently notes every plate of high calorie food consumed like Henry VIII and the serious tone Brando took about his own artistic endeavors. The result was that upon reading the article, Brando vowed to kill the author. Every reader will find their particular famous people who are no longer interesting, and that itself is instructive. For me, those were Johnny Carson, an early Roseanne, Baryshnikov and perhaps sadly, Al Gore. Others, eternally fresh are Isadora Duncan, Richard Pryor and Ernest Hemingway drinking champagne with Dietrich, who was passing around pictures of her grandchild. Papa mentioned that he'd like to see a Dietrich grandson in the ring.
The best, I think most New Yorker fans will agree are the otherwise unknowns, sometimes to everyone, and sometimes just to you. These are those pieces that seem to bring on Buddha-like powers of concentration where time stops and you can't account for the hours, the stuff's been so good. The pieces that will be the most deeply memorable for me are, "Mr. Hunter's
Grave," a 1956 favorite of David Remnick, the editor who placed it first. It's about a lost, secret community of black Oystermen and a mystery solved in graveyard fashion. There are the `Chudnovsky Brothers' and their entire apartment and life spent studying Pi, A piece of Henry Luce that was a savage, sarcastic and hilariously wicked perspective that quite naturally infuriated the tyrant. Nancy Franklin's profile on the infamous Katherine White was an unexpected source of female pride, without the attachment of doctrinaire feminism.
This is a sure thing for future journalists with an interest in the ubiquitous personality piece. Plenty here for those that may aspire beyond People Magazine but still can't quench the thirst for celebrity. For readers just seeking a good read however, it is a promise that life abounds with intriguing characters, subject of course to the eye and the voice of the finest
No matter the proportion of those who deplored reading a campaign piece about the future president, he managed to spark our interest once he shared his opinion about us.

The New yorker Strikes Again, April 8, 2000
If you have read Joseph Mitchell's New Yorker Profile "Joe Gould's Secret" (now in book and movie form)you know how interesting life can be. If you haven't read Mitchell, here's your chance to visit his talent along with a score of other superb New Yorker writers who are so good they make most biographys look simple by comparison.

Delightful and Revealing Profiles, August 2, 2002
Hemingway, Baryishnikov, and Henry Luce are the subjects of some of my favorite celebrity profiles in this wonderful book. But topping my list is "Man Goes to See a Doctor", the awesome Adam Gopnik's sweet and funny rendering of his shrink. Here's a snippet: "Your problems remind me of" - and here he named one of the heroes of the New York School. "Fortunately, you suffer from neither impotence nor alcoholism. This is in your favor." Highly recommended!

"Life Stories" Hit the Mark, July 22, 2002
This is a compilation of some of the best Profiles to appear in the New Yorker over the last 80 years. Sometimes you will be familiar with the person being profiled, sometimes not, but in all cases you will find the stories entertaining and the writing, superb.

My favorite Profile happens to be of one of the non-famous persons, George H. Hunter ("Mr. Hunter's Grave," by Joseph Mitchell). It is a story not so much about a person but of a long-forgotten community, and a way of life. Despite being the longest entry in the audio collection, I rewound the tape three or four times to listen to it again and again - it was that good.

Some of the celebrity stories are just as compelling, although, being celebrities, many aspects of their lives are already well known. But this sometimes opened a window into foreshadowing that could not have been appreciated by the reader (or even the writer) at the time the piece was done. One example of this concerns Ernest Hemingway ("How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?", by Lillian Ross). Hidden somewhere in the middle of the Profile, Ross mentions the fact that Hemingway's father had committed suicide. This had no major relation to the story in general, and was probably forgotten by most readers at the time, but we have the perspective of history. And it becomes more than just a tidbit when we realize that Hemingway, too, committed suicide 10 years later, in 1961.

Another eyebrow-raising instance came when hearing about Marlon Brando ("The Duke In His Domain," by Truman Capote). Capote was on location with Brando in Japan as Brando was taking part in the filming of "Sayonara." Brando at one point confesses to Capote that he had to lose weight for the part, and that he wasn't there yet. He still had 10-15 pounds to go. Despite this, the dinners delivered to Brando's hotel room are not those of one looking to cut down; to the contrary, Brando could only gain weight eating the food being sent up to him! Hearing Brando fuss about what he should and should not eat and Capote take note of the rich foods on the tray, it almost seems fake, as if Capote knew how Brando was going to end up. But, of course, he didn't. The story was written in 1957!

But what makes this collection great, though, is the quality of the writing itself. It matters not the subject: actor, comedian, dancer, writer, boxer, even a dog! The common thread running through all the Profiles is the way in which each story is told. Always lucid, always interesting, the stories are less stories and more like works of art.

If you enjoy exceptional writing, this collection is for you. Highly recommended. Five stars.

The New Yorker Strikes Again, April 8, 2000
Anyone who has ever read Joseph Mitchell's fascinating profile "Joe Gould's Secret" (now a book and a movie) knows what the New Yorker does with "Profiles". If you haven't read Mitchell, here's your chance, plus an unbelievable collection of life rendered beyond simple biography by a stable of superb writers. It's a must for any serious reader ! ... Read more

Editorial Review

With unprecedented access to all four members of KISS-including their private archive of 30 years of photographs-here is the complete story of one of the most influential hard rock bands of all time. Dressed like leather-clad rock 'n' roll warriors from another planet and adorned in colorful greasepaint, KISS has sold more than 80 million albums and transfixed audiences around the world. In this shockingly revealing and comprehensive biography, the group unveils all the previously untold details of their struggling birth in New York City, to the breakthrough success of their seminal 1975 album, Alive!, to the triumphant reunion that propelled them right back to the highest ranks of music superstardom. ... Read more

Reviews

Not bad, 3 1/2 to 4 stars, October 14, 2003
What makes this book a must-get for Kiss fans is the first section. During this segment, a never-before-released text from 1979 reveals an incredible amount of commaraderie and friendship among the members of Kiss, even during their most difficult era. It actually illustrates the sweeter side of the band and how much they genuinely cared for one another as individuals. It was also refreshing to be able to read quotes from Gene Simmons that were not practiced hype intended to promote the Cult of Simmons to the market. This first segment was written before Gene became GENE SIMMONS INC. and is a poignant snapshot of what the man - hopefully - is really like. But also, the vulnerability of a young Paul Stanley, the wit, charm and intelligence of a young Ace Frehley and the sentimentality of a young Peter Criss shine in the opening of the book.

To their credit, the band,in authorizing this bio, have allowed the inclusion of a number of credible sources from outside the realm of the band's influence that add an authenticity to the book. The quotes and stories from Bill Aucoin, Sean Delaney, Joyce Bogart, Bob Kulick and others dispute many myths surrounding the band and help clarify many hazy aspects of the band's history. It is clear that Kiss is not the House That Simmons Built. Rather, it was - and has always been - a group effort, culling from the talents of dozens of people at a time.

The second section has the band members and various insiders quoting on thoughts about almost every Kiss song and album recorded. I say almost because many details about Peter Criss' and Ace Frehley's 1978 solo albums were excluded - from the onset, a minor flaw, but one that becomes a tragic omission when bearing in mind that every song from "Hot in the Shade" is covered. A better biography would have paid particular attention to those two solo albums, since their releases were the catalysts to the band's eventual split. Ace Frehley's was the most successful of the four - clarifying the idea that he did not need Kiss - while Peter Criss', possibly the most melodic and creative - was the least successful - clarifying that Kiss was keeping him from a wider audience. But all of this is ingnored while the drummer from Gene's solo album is allowed to wax philisophic about the sessions in England.

Among other things this book shows the brilliance of Bill Aucoin. Indeed, until Doc McGhee took over as manager, Kiss floundered after Aucoin's dismissal. So paying homage to Aucoin earns this book one star. Giving Peter Criss and Ace Frehley a fair amount of the spotlight earns it two stars. Dispelling the many concocted myths created by the Simmons Propoganda Machine earn it one and a half more.

While Kiss is gradually become more and more of a band comfortable release newer compilation albums, this book may be arriving at just the right time. With Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley both working on solo albums and Kiss reduced to nothing more than a touring act (we can hardly call them a band anymore, with anyone able to be replaced - it's more like the best circus you've ever seen. And why not?), we may have seen the last of any new material from the band. If that's the case, and even if it isn't, this is a book that's worth it's price and then some.

A treasure for KISS fans., April 2, 2004
The key factor of the success of this book is that the first half was written in 1979. KISS was the biggest band on the planet, had peaked in their popularity, and was just about to start a tremendous career slump. The manuscript lay dormant fro a few decades until renewed interest sparked it's release.

The second half of the book consists of edited comments from band members, producers and sundry musicians, regarding all of their albums, songs and career choices. This half is fairly dry and clinical, but for those of you unfamiliar with their later phases, indispensible.

Let me return to the first portion of the book. What struck me was the singlemindedness displayed by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons from day ONE.
These guys had a plan and despite all odds, took themselves to the top. They were driven. I found their biographies to be fascinating...how they got be who they are.

I was the perfect age to be a KISS fan in the seventies. I loved comics. I was in junior high. My father took me to the L.A. concert that was recorded for "Alive II"
I still have the "I Was There" button.
I am the person this book was written for.

Having said that, I loved following the development of their "act".
Wanting only to "rock". Wanting only to entertain. Wanting to do something that no one had ever seen. I was impressed by their dedication to the concept of KISS.
I was also impressed by their candid comments. When they screw up, they're the first to speak up. When they got a bit too full of themselves, they tell you exactly when that happened.
The tensions between the two "factions" within the group, Paul/Gene vs. Ace/Peter is well described, and all of them are brutally about the faults of their bandmates as well as themselves.

Business ruthlessness or substance abuse, everybody's vice is on display here. Not in any tabloid sensationalistic fashion, but as clear sober history.

The album-by-album, track-by-track notes section is awesome for fans like myself. I joined the "KISS Army" between the "Alive" albums. "Destroyer", "Rock and Roll Over" and "Love Gun" were albums I knew inside and out. Played them 'til they were grooveless. I've developed a new appreciation for that era of their music. There's stuff here I didn't know or hadn't considered.

I enjoyed this book far more that I anticipated, and I anticipated that I was gonna like it a lot.

The story behind the band, January 3, 2004
This is a very detailed book. It's so detailed, in fact, that I was exhausted after reading it. The first section makes it clear that the two masterminds behind the band, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, wanted to be pop stars, not respected musicians. That's great, of course, especially when they make it clear that their gimmicks are just a little more honest than other rock stars.

Stanley and Simmons, two Jewish New Yorkers who grew up on television and British bands, joined together to form Wicked Lester. They got a record contract and recorded an album, but the deal fell through. Then they met Ace and Peter, two guys with a little more interest in music (and getting really loaded). They changed their name to Kiss and started experimenting with makeup. The decision to disguise themselves and create four alter egos was a stroke of genius. Even if you never buy a Kiss album, you know Kiss and you'll never forget them.

But they needed songs to go with the image --- products to sell and music to play in concert. When you get into the third section, an album-by-album (and, at times, track-by-track) review of the entire output of the band, you see how Ace and Peter complimented (and frustrated) the two masterminds. This section is a long list of co-writers for the songs, album producers, and new band members who replaced Ace and Peter. By the end of the book, your head is spinning with names. Gene and Paul are at the center of it all, trying to keep their entertainment empire going.

Even if you have no interest in Kiss, you'll learn a lot from this book. It's as much about the music business as it is about the band. Even for those who don't care for Kiss' music, the phenomenon is worth reading about. You'll learn about overdubbing live albums, following trends to stay on the charts, and paying radio to play your songs and turn them into 'hits.' If you like Kiss, you have to read this book. There's so much information here, you'll have trouble putting it down.

For All the Spacebears and Curly fans out there!! BUY IT!!!, November 27, 2003
Where do I even begin to start in my review of this book? This is my first venture into reviewing books so bare with me.

Kiss - Behind The Mask is simply the be all, end all of books out on the market talking about the real history of the band. This isn't KISSTORY where Paul And Gene are the ones basically telling you their side of the story. This book has some of the best quotes ever seen in a KISS book. Put it this way, the small entry in part 2 of the book about Bob Kulicks recording experience with Paul and Gene on KILLERS had me laughing and clamoring for more info.

The book is broken into two parts. The first part, an unreleased piece done by David Leaf circa 1979. It's not explained as to why this wasn't released in 1980 but after reading it I can tell why this wasn't released to the public back then. This would've damaged KISS at a time where they were basically marketing themselves to a younger audience. The Quotes about the band by great bands such as THE WHO, THE RAMONES, THE REPLACEMENTS and OZZY were very cool additions to a book that was a classic upon page 1 being read. Someone mentioned Gene Simmons's quotes not being contrived and planned out diatribes and this is very true indeed. Peter Criss is let loose in this portion of the book as well as Ace. The background stories of the original 4 band members from this perspective is the best pre-KISSTORY document I've ever read. It's more interesting coming from the original band members themselves rather than from some ghost author attempting to tell their stories. It's nice to see Gene Simmons And Paul Stanley shown in a completely different light than what we're used to seeing lately. Thankfully, Ken Sharp convinced David Leaf to unearth this Gem because KISS fans finally get what they've wanted for a long time. A truthful document on the story of the band without Gene Simmons and Paul Stanleys mitts all over it (ie: KISSTORY, Gene Simmons 2 books)

The second part of the book is where you think to yourself, "As if it wasn't enough reading the first part of the book, now I get THIS!!?". This is because you get an incomplete but 95% complete history of KISS's studio/Live and Complilation albums (with the exception of KISS MY ASS, GREATEST KISS and ALIVE 4). Only on a few of the albums are songs left out. Most likely due to the lack of information about albums such as Peter Criss's solo album and Ace's Solo album as well. I doubt this was intentional at all but this is a moot point. In this section of the book you get quotes from Producers, band members, Session musicians, management, you name it, they're in this book. This was hands down my favorite part of the book because there is so much info thrown out there for the first time. stuff that Gene and Paul would rather have kept behind closed doors, studio doors that is. This was great and disappointing at times. Disappointing only in that once you read certain things about certain albums you felt betrayed in a way. KISS fans have always known that since Dressed To Kill the members of KISS wouldn't always play on the records but what Part two of this book reveals is simply amazing at times. You'll lose count as to who played on what for who and where it was done. This extensive coverage is as amazing as it gets. Ken Sharp should be given awards for this piece that he offered to the book. I can only imagine the amount of work that went into the writing of this book.

No Matter what the price is on this book here on Amazon, this is a MUST BUY for all fans but especially DIE HARD Kiss fans like myself. This will make you see the band differently than you've ever seen them before and alot of times make you laugh out loud. This is a brilliant and well written book that's destined to become the Must own book about the band. I don't know who's going to top this but his name starts with BILL and ends with AUCOIN. That's not likely to happen anytime soon so this will serve as the BOOK to own about KISS.

My top 3 Favorite Books about KISS:
1. KISS - BEHIND THE MASK
2. KISS - ALIVE FOREVER - The Complete Touring History
3. KISS N SELL by C.K. Lendt

BEST KISS BOOK EVER!, October 9, 2003
"Kiss: Behind The Mask" stands as the best book ever written about Kiss. The 431-page book has it all, amazing information, extensive interviews with the Kiss, and members of their inner circle. It's packed with many rare photos that I've never seen before, both in color and black & white. These include shots of Ace from 1968, alternate pictures of the "Alive!" album cover and the "Alive II" inner sleeve, the band without makeup from 1974 posing for Creem magazine, the infamous "Hotter Than Hell" party photo, Paul and Gene in the studio sans makeup from the late 70's and more. The comments from the band's peers is incredible too with The Who, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ozzy, and many more talking about the band.

It's easy to pick my favorite part of the book. It has to be the spectacular album by album, song by song section. This could be a whole book on its own. Every Kiss album and Kiss song features quotes from the band, producers, engineers, songwriters, musical sidemen and more. Yes, that includes "the Elder"...The sections on Wicked Lester, and the "Destroyer" album are real standouts, so much new info is revealed for the very first time. Kiss has let me down a lot in the past but not with this book. "Kiss: Behind The Mask" is the ultimate book for the Kiss Army, and an indispensable resource for fans of the group. Highly recommended.

5 Stars for KISS fans, and who cares what anyone else thinks?, February 1, 2007
You might have mixed feelings about the format of the book. On one hand, it makes it very easy to skip to a specific album, period or band member if that's how you want to get your information. Because it's broken up that way, it doesn't flow like a traditional biography. Every member of the band, as well as managers, producers, and celebrity fans each step up to offer a comment on specific topics. It will come as no surprise that the show is run by Gene and Paul, but Ace and Peter...no matter how many petty squabbles and stories of substance abuse are laid bare...contributed mightily to the zillions of bucks sitting in Gene and Paul's bank accounts. No disrespect intended to Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John, Bruce Kulick, the late Eric Carr or Eric Singer, BUT...the heart and rock 'n' roll soul of KISS will always be Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter. Tommy Thayer has the right to wear Ace Frehley's Space Ace makeup onstage because Gene and Paul own the rights to it, but he'll never be more than Tommy Thayer wearing Ace's makeup. Maybe Thayer helped Ace re-learn HIS OWN LICKS in preparation for the "Psycho Circus" reunion tour (don't do drugs, kids), but who cares? The band members rightfully acknowledge "Alive!" and "Destroyer" and the two albums to own, and it's nice to hear Paul Stanley fess up to the fact that the last Kulick album, the grunge-wannabe "Carnival Of Souls," was "second-rate Soundgarden, Metallica, and Alice In Chains." Gene, on the other hand, apologizes to no one, because when you're adding up the numbers on your bank statement, it's easy to get distracted if you're apologizing. Once you make it through this entire book you will find yourself having a "Spinal Tap" moment...while KISS has had its ups and downs, no one can deny the band's enduring popularity. The fact that their maturity level never rose above the maturity level of stunted adolescence (at best) while they became multi-multi-millionaires just makes Rob Reiner's "mockumentary" all that more dead-on, between-the-eyes accurate. Favorite quote? Raspberries singer Eric Carmen witnessing Gene swallowing a paper cup of Scope mouthwash mixed with Kerosene prior to fire-breathing onstage and whining to his manager "If this is what I have to do to make it in rock and roll, I quit!" KISS didn't quit, and you wanted the best, and you GOT the best...KISS.

This Book Is Priceless - Behind the scenes of every song!!!, July 16, 2004
I got this book a few weeks ago. All I have to say is the section that goes over every Kiss album and every song is priceless. You find out which songs and albums the band loves and which ones they hate. This is a dream book if your into this type of thing. The bible of info on every Kiss song. Thats all that has to be said.

KISS; Behind the Mask, October 14, 2003
Just got the book last week and haven't been able to put it down. The book is packed with tons of unknown information and candid interviews with everyone from the band to their manager, Bill Aucoin to the Who and Led Zeppelin. This book is an absolute must for any KISS fan. I love it!!!!!!

Great book...packed with information on songwriting, tours, etc., October 13, 2008
A lot of other rock writers could--and should--take "Behind the Mask" as their model. The first section, written during the "Dynasty" tour in 1979, is readable but has a fawning, cutesy-poo quality that wears thin pretty quickly; it's very similar to Robert Duncan's unauthorized KISS bio from the year before. "KISS is awesome and they'll go on being awesome forever. There will be more movies and solo albums! Peter will assemble and conduct a 300-piece jazz band! Gene will play a cross between Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera, and Mr. Spock in a major motion picture!" Whatever. The other two sections of the book are rock-solid, though, documenting the band's rise, fall, and comeback(s) in great detail. I love the various accounts of how KISS's songs were written, especially the early ones. Gene and Paul are characteristically catty: Wow, Ace recorded a good solo album! We honestly didn't think he had it in him. (Paul McCartney said something very similar to this when discussing George Harrison's contributions to "Abbey Road".)
If you appreciate the KISS phenomenon as a whole, you'll love this book. If you're only interested in groupie-banging stories, look elsewhere.

Hotest book about the hotest band in the world!, May 3, 2006
KISS:behind the mask is by far the most detailed KISS biography made up to this point.The first part written by David Leaf was originaly written years ago but was never released until not too long ago as co-author Ken Sharp read the original script and wanted to have it released so KISS fan could read this biography.

The book is the most detailed book ever made on KISS all you need to know is here.From the beggening to the reunion,its all covered.You get to know things like what happened at Ace and Peter`s auditions how they meet , the hard way to make a record,the wicked lester era ,ratings on albums and much,much more.

You think you know everithing of course but this book has imformation you dont have.They go behind each records they made and tell the stories behind each song wrote and what happened during the records.They have the members talk about the records the production and more and its really cool to know what are their toughts about the albums as they give ratings.

What i like is the first chapters focusing on one member ex:chap 1 is gene.They talk about their childhood what interrested them in the musical scene their background where they lived.I like when Peter talks about him,how he was badly treated at catholic school that he was in a gang,he took drum lessons from gene krupa ect.Thats a really interresting part the first chapters alone are great.

There is also places where rock stars talk about KISS and give commentaries on them and stuff for exemple the ramones gave comentaries about them,the who and many others.Also they really go to the early days like the first show,first demo and the makeup begening.Also they talk about effects such as the smoking guitar and such.

The book is long as it has about 400 pages but is worth reading for all the imformation it has and is a great reading as it is the hotest book in the world about the hotest band in the world.

Overral:5 stars easyly the best KISS book out there if you wanna buy a KISS book then buy this one there are a lot out there but this one is a great one.It has everithing a KISS fan needs to know and more overral this is highly recommended. ... Read more

Editorial Review

From a rediscovered collection of priceless autobiographical accounts written by hundreds of pioneer women, Joanna Stratton has made a remarkable and widely celebrated book. Never before has there been such a detailed record of women's courage, such a living portrait of the women who civilized the American frontier. Here are their stories: wilderness mothers, schoolmarms, Indian squaws, immigrants, homesteaders, and circuit riders. Their personal recollections of prairie fires, locust plagues, cowboy shootouts, Indian raids, and blizzards on the plains vividly reveal the drama, danger and excitement of the pioneer experience.

These were women of relentless determination, whose tenacity helped them to conquer loneliness and privation. Their work was the work of survival, it demanded as much from them as from their men -- and at last that partnership has been recognized. "These voices are haunting" (New York Times Book Review), and they reveal the special heroism and industriousness of pioneer women as never before. ... Read more

Reviews

Frontier Kansas, June 21, 2006
I read somewhere that a statistically large number of prominent Americans were born in 19th century Kansas. That was perhaps a result of the hard, but ultimately rewarding pioneer life that is described in these pages. Kansas and the West a century ago were in the vanguard of social innovation and progressive politics in the U.S.

Author Stratton re-discovered the oral histories of 800 Kansas pioneer women collected by her great-grandmother in the 1920s. She has taken this mountain of material and organized it into 15 themes in 15 chapters, giving background on each theme and quoting the pioneer women. For example, one chapter details the long journey to the frontier of Kansas undertaken by many of the women and their families. Blizzards, fatal disease, fear of Indians and other dangers greeted them. Other chapters describe the social life of the pioneer women, the education of their children, frontier churches, and the famous Kansas crusades for suffrage and temperance.

It would also be interesting to read some of the 800 oral histories. The author doesn't tell us where they are or if they are available to the general public. Certainly they should be made available as they are irreplaceable primary sources

The role of women on the frontier has been a popular subject of women writers for two or three decades now. This is one of the better books on the subject -- and one that can be enjoyed by readers of either sex.

Smallchief

Gritty, eye-opening look at lives on the frontier., January 8, 1999
I read this book many years ago and still revisit the memories of how women and children lived during those frontier years.I'm ordering another copy to pass on. I have recommended this book to many, including adolescent students in my classrooms. Rather than the romantic, Hollywood views of these times, this book offers raw images of the harshness of life from the actual women who struggled on the frontier. The book is a compilation of letters the author's grandmother requested and received from these women. If you want to validate how fortunate we are to live in these times, read this book!

Haunting, July 17, 2000
I read this book when it was first published, and then recommended it to friends and, ultimately, passed it on and it has never been returned. Year after year the story comes back to me as one of the finest I have every read. J. Stratton wrote this novel after finding a stash of letters in a family attic, and there's nothing like true life for gripping drama. A gem.

It was women like these that made this country strong!, July 30, 2001
A fast, facinating read. The courage these women had to have just to live day to day, brought tears to my eyes! Without their strength, courage, and resourcefulness the frontier would never have been tamed! This should be required reading for every woman from these United States!

Thank you Pioneer Women and thank you Joanna Stratton for sharing these incredible stories!

Great book!, February 4, 2000
Stratton is great at combining research done by the author and first-hand accounts from written diaries and letters. It also has great pictures that give the reader a clear idea of what life was like in the pioneer days. This book makes you want to read and learn more about the little-know lives of pioneer women.

Pioneer Women:Voices From the Kansas Frontier, Wonderful Film Stolen Women,Captured Hearts(1997) Was Based On This Book, December 3, 2008
Anyone wishing to experience what Pioneer life [on any frontier] was like for their Grandmothers, Great Grandmothers, etc. and their families, this is a must read! There are interesting descriptions of how the Kansas Pioneers built their Sod Homes on the Great Plains. [Pages 54-55]. The description of the Great Blizzard of New Year's Day 1886, that my Grandfather weathered and loved to tell the story [mid Page 92], was an accidental verification I had sought for years. Family researchers might glean some everyday 'Pioneer life' tidbits, tweeked to fit their state's history, to enliven their family stories. Afterall, all of these amazing Pioneer women experienced the same happenings of their day!

A rare and different perspective....., February 24, 2007
In a world where history is written by the winners, we often don't find accounts of history from a womans' perspective. This is a compilation of 800 verbal histories of women that lived through all the well documented times. It paints an intimate picture through the voices of the remarkable women that helped to build this country. The book is well written, with good flow. The chapters are formed well, and it ushers the reader smoothly through time. It would be a worthwhile read for a re-enactor. I bought the book at a local goodwill, and can't imagine giving it up. It has a permanent home in my library. I only wish there was a complete, unabridged, publication of the verbal histories available.

". . . the legend wears its Sunday best.", January 11, 2005
As Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s says in his forward to Stratton's Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier our historical record is built upon "important" people. People who leave records of their lives. For years, women, for the most part, left no such records (Unless of course, they were infamous, Americans seem able to recall the names of Lizzie Borden and Typhoid Mary without trouble.) In Pioneer Women, Stratton attempts to rectify this historical oversight by presenting scores of memoirs written by women who inhabited and helped push Kansas along from being a synonym for a luckless hardship filled land (We need to look no farther than Baum's using it for the earth-bound, twister-prone setting for his book, The Wizard of Oz) to a state whose women urged farmers to "raise less corn and more Hell" politically (13).
Stratton's introduction to her book is excellent, providing us with an unusual example of proto-womanism: a rich woman, Lilla Day Monroe (Stratton's grandmother) worked to preserve the words, thoughts and experiences of the hard-scrabble settlers who were the first Anglos to arrive in Kansas. Monroe, publisher of The Kansas Woman's Journal and the first woman in Kansas to be admitted into practice before the Kansas Supreme Court in 1895, began collecting the stories of pioneer women in the 1920's. It was a job that soon mushroomed into an almost insurmountable task. Monroe kept with the project, even at the expense of her health, using the women's experiences to document the growth of Kansas from frigid forbidding land to birthplace of the Temperance movement and stronghold for Suffrage.
The tone of the memories is jarring. In a very matter of fact way, they tell stories of rescuing dead bodies from wolves, children narrowly escaping all sorts of looming death and wars fought over abolition, along with their descriptions of everyday life as a pioneer. Exotic to the late Twentieth century reader, even though they occurred little over a hundred years ago, the stories remind one how young this country really is.
The chapters build upon one another to form a narrative history of Kansas. In the first chapter, "To the Stars Through the Wilderness", the memories are of death along the trail to Kansas- the small weather worn stones marking the graves of those who didn't or couldn't survive the journey westward. The hardships of travel are detailed, the freezing blizzards and the stress of so many strangers being crammed into the narrow confines of a Conestoga wagon. Chapter Two details the building of homes once arrival was made, containing instructions on how sod houses were constructed (and the unwelcome co-tenants of these homes, such as bull snakes that showed up in rafters) and slowly we begin to see the changing of the prairie, the plowing and inhabitation (51). Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, the only time we hear of any pioneers getting help or supplies from back-East is within the gentle fun poked at the wealthy Englishmen who came to settle a thousand acre tract of land in the early 1870s and continued to receive canned food from the old country (229). The legacy of disdain for the civilization back East, still found today in the West, is clear in these recollections.
We are treated to long discussions of how lonely it was on the prairies, but more interestingly, we begin to see how the settlers all worked together. Their sharing is a far cry from our media-drawn image of the rugged individualist, one man going for years without seeing anyone else. Stratton opens Chapter 3 with a quotation, asking "What was the work of a farm woman in those early days?"(57). The answer quickly becomes evident: What wasn't? Inequality was not an option since it was literally do or die when it came to helping men with the plowing, planting, gathering of wood, and helping with livestock, in addition to their traditional feminine role.
Part Two details the problems the settlers had after homestead completion. Stratton presents memoirs that portray fires, wolves, and most interesting, the grasshopper plagues (102) that tormented the pioneers with Biblical ferocity.
Part Three details the few small opportunities for pioneer women to work outside the home. We also see the impact of religion, depicted by the ladies as much more laid back, less fundamentalist, than would be expected by the contemporary reputation of the Midwest as the Bible Belt.
By Part Four, the frontier cabins have joined together to form frontier towns. With the banding together comes a whole new set of problems. Drunken cowboys and pioneer justice which consisted, as portrayed by Stratton's writers, of lynching the guiltiest looking fellow presented previously unheard of problems that now demanded attention. At the same time, the wild cattle drives of Texas longhorns flattened homeowners' crops and led to a growing animosity between settlers and cattle drivers.
Finally in Part Five, Stratton's writers create a vivid and disturbing picture of the horrors that went on in Kansas during the Civil War. Burning, looting, and the murder of civilians are the images that predominate. The section ends with Kansas finally enough at ease with itself to start working on issues of Suffrage and Temperance (Kansas was, after all, the first state to institute Prohibition). No longer having to worry about bull snakes falling into their beds, Kansas women wanted the logical extension of the side by side work they had done with the men in the settling days, equal voting rights. Kansas women would have just as much trouble extracting those rights from those in charge as they had eking out an existence from the unforgiving prairie.
If there's a fault to Pioneer Women, it's the very nature of the writing. Memoirs, as Stratton notes (25-26), are suspect because they tend to be colored by time. Sometimes the stories do seem a bit stretched, like one woman's recollection of sitting out a fierce blizzard in a Prairie Clipper, calmly slicing up mince pies that she had brought from home (40). It seems like the prospect of freezing to death in a strange land would have produced a more emotionally charged atmosphere. Also, as Stratton herself notes, there is no ultra-marginalized voices - prostitutes or slave women. There were also topics that the women would not discuss, due to decorum. In discussing Indian raids and her own experience of being taken captive by Native Americans, Anna Morgan adds a terse, "There were many things that I have not spoken of" (125).
Stratton stays away from comparing the women's recollections to that of "official" history, probably to reduce confusion on the part of the reader. However, these are minor complaints, and ones that Stratton addresses in the foreword. They do not discolor the beauty and importance of her collection of long silenced voices from the Kansas frontier, but as Stratton herself writes, ". . . the legend wears its Sunday best."(222).
... Read more

Editorial Review

What was eating them? And vice versa.
 
In What the Great Ate, Matthew and Mark Jacob have cooked up a bountiful sampling of the peculiar culinary likes, dislikes, habits, and attitudes of famous—and often notorious—figures throughout history. Here is food
 
• As code: Benito Mussolini used the phrase “we’re making spaghetti” to inform his wife if he’d be (illegally) dueling later that day.
• As superstition: Baseball star Wade Boggs credited his on-field success to eating chicken before nearly every game.
• In service to country: President Thomas Jefferson, America’s original foodie, introduced eggplant to the United States and wrote down the nation’s first recipe for ice cream.
 
From Emperor Nero to Bette Davis, Babe Ruth to Barack Obama, the bite-size tidbits in What the Great Ate will whet your appetite for tantalizing trivia. ... Read more

Reviews

Fun Food Vignettes, July 20, 2010
The Jacobs' book What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food and Fame is packed full of fun food stories. I'm not a foodie, but I quite enjoyed it.

In a casual writing style the authors bring together anecdotes from around the world. These are tiny morsels rather than a five course narrative meal, so the book would be perfect for very light beach reading (despite being a little over 250 pages, it only took me a couple of hours to breeze through), or better yet, something for the teenage kids (anecdotes appear in two or three paragraph sections--about one page a piece). Some parents might appreciate its reinforcement of messages about avoiding dangerous behaviors. For example, there is a story about Robert Downey Jr. "kicking his illegal drug habit" after a tragic visit to Burger King.

Although it is basically a collection of food-related trivia, the authors generally do a commendable job of introducing a wide range of figures, explaining their historical significance, and relating their relationships with food in an interesting way. Readers looking for critical engagement with the dietary quirks (what rationale did John D. Rockefeller come up with for preferring milk from "wet nurses" to that of cows?), or parents who want to avoid some of the potentially uncomfortable conversations that will inevitably result from all of this talk about food (bouts of diarrhea, cannibals, dog eating, and so forth) will probably want to look elsewhere. ... Read more