Book Description
From the most highly respected analyst of foreign policy writing today, a story of wasted opportunity and squandered prestige: a critique of the last three U.S. presidents' foreign policy.
America's most distinguished commentator on foreign policy, former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, offers a reasoned but unsparing assessment of the last three presidential administrations' foreign policy. Though spanning less than two decades, these administrations cover a vitally important turning point in world history: the period in which the United States, having emerged from the Cold War with unprecedented power and prestige, managed to squander both in a remarkably short time. This is a tale of decline: from the competent but conventional thinking of the first Bush administration, to the well-intentioned self-indulgence of the Clinton administration, to the mortgaging of America's future by the "suicidal statecraft" of the second Bush administration. Brzezinski concludes with a chapter on how America can regain its lost prestige. This scholarly yet highly opinionated book is sure to be both controversial and influential.
Customer Reviews:
The idealism is better than the realism .......2007-08-29
Intelligence is no substitute for integrity. In surveying the world - situation and the role three U.S. Presidents had after the fall of the Soviet Union Brezinski fails to give prominent place to one major development he himself had considerable responsibility for i.e. the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. It was he who as Carter's foreign policy chief - advisor supervised the fall of the Shah in Iran, and did nothing to prevent the rise of the radical Islamic regime there. He also helped put into place the Mujadeen in Afghanistan, and they have been a key element in the rise of Global Islam worldwide.
In this book he focuses on what he considers the missed opportunities of the U.S. after the fall of the Soviet Union. He is especially critical of the current President.
Brezinski does have interesting things to say about current American weaknesses including the balance of payments problem, the problem of a loss of kind of moral discipline.
His idea of the United States leading mankind to a new era of dignity and freedom is a good one. And for his 'idealism' expressed most fully in the final chapter the book is worth reading.
DR. BRZEZINSKI SHOULD BE RUNNING THIS COUNTRY.......2007-07-25
I feel strongly, that this book says what most rational people in the "world!" are thinking. It is pure and clear truth. It could have been a lot less disasterous for our country, if Dr. Brzezinski could have tutored bush/cheney/rice, on how to lead a great nation with "integrity, honor and some backbone." Can we find a way for a man like Dr. Brzezinski,(who was born in Europe/Poland), to run for President?! Fantastic book! I read it in one sitting.
Second Chance: 3 presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower.......2007-07-21
Grim yet fairly non-biased assessment of the administrations since the fall of the wall. There is some hope at the end of the book, but it will take an extraordinary turn of events to keep America from losing its place in global stature.
His critical eye on the current administration is no nonsense and, sadly, accurate.
J'Accuse.......2007-07-08
This is nothing more than a scathing indictment on eight years of GWB misrule.
To distinguish his indictment from other partisan rhetoric, ZB has placed his argument in a much wider and rational perspective. He has reviewed also the missteps of the previous two US Presidents in the foreign policy arena, and the lost chances of securing and cementing a true global leadership position for USA.
What is so different with the current regime is of course not just a matter of lost chances but colossal cost to US interests abroad. Not to mention lack of any significant progress in any key domestic agenda issues to balance it all.
ZB tries to make the argument at the end that all is not lost, and US still has a chance to regain its leadership position following certain steps.
His argument is not very credible though. He ignores the fact that US, as a nation, thinks and feels very differently than the one of 50s and 60s which put US on a moral path to global leadership. Things are indeed different, and second chance seems to be wishful thinking mostly.
Writing is excellent as expected, delivery and reasoning forceful and complete. Interesting reading for those of us contemplating the next chapter.
Brilliant. A must read as we approach the future election they are boring us with ..........2007-06-28
I happen to hear this guy on Charlie Rose the other night and went out and bought his book. The book isnt as interesting as he is in an interview live but its well worth the read.
His analysis of the past three administrations is superb. It is balanced and I think offers great insight into the hits and misses of our leaders. He goes on to explain his views on the world post Russia and our missed opportunites. His close of post 2008 I would love to hear discussed by him and others.
An important book for this country. Get it and read it and act.
Book Description
By the early l940s, when Ukrainian-born Irène Némirovsky began working on what would become Suite Française—the first two parts of a planned five-part novel—she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz: a month later she was dead at the age of thirty-nine. Two years earlier, living in a small village in central France—where she, her husband, and their two small daughters had fled in a vain attempt to elude the Nazis
—she’d begun her novel, a luminous portrayal of a human drama in which she herself would become a victim. When she was arrested, she had completed two parts of the epic, the handwritten manuscripts of which were hidden in a suitcase that her daughters would take with them into hiding and eventually into freedom. Sixty-four years later, at long last, we can read Némirovsky’s literary masterpiece
The first part, “A Storm in June,” opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. They share nothing but the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of privilege, others struggling simply to preserve their lives—but soon, all together, they will be forced to face the awful exigencies of physical and emotional displacement, and the annihilation of the world they know. In the second part, “Dolce,” we enter the increasingly complex life of a German-occupied provincial village. Coexisting uneasily with the soldiers billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants—cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration, and as their community is transformed by these acts, the lives of these these men and women reveal nothing less than the very essence of humanity.
Suite Française is a singularly piercing evocation—at once subtle and severe, deeply compassionate and fiercely ironic—of life and death in occupied France, and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art.
Download Description
Irène Némirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 into a wealthy banking family and emigrated to France during the Russian Revolution. After attending the Sorbonne, she began to write and swiftly achieved success with her first novel, David Golder, which was followed by The Ball, The Flies of Autumn, Dogs and Wolves and The Courilof Affair. She died in 1942.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
France and the French during the German Occupation-a portrait, not a snapshot.......2007-10-10
Irene Nemirovsky-a superb author. Her historical novel is well written, well conceived, and ceretainly presents a true and real picture of France and the French people during the German Occupation. The world lost a wonderful woman of letters when she was murdered at Auschwitz.
Not Up to the Hype.......2007-10-06
I really wanted to like this book. I read it after reading Vasily Grossman's LIFE AND FATE, a masterpiece of WW2 literature if there ever was one. And maybe it was the juxtaposition of that book with this that caused my disappointment. Where Grossman's book at 800 pages is taut and serious throughout, Nemirovsky's seems trivial by comparision. Had it been published soon after it was written, it would have been considered an interesting popular novel containing interesting observations of occupied France but ultimately lightweight in its' often pedestrian storyline and execution. It often reads like a mass paperback romance set within the larger context of the war, and too often devolves into hackneyed popular novel tropes - the cowardess and duplicities of the moneyed classes set against the native nobility of the poor, love amidst the ruins of war etc.
Interesting light reading, but a "classic?" Sorry.
Enjoyable and Interesting.......2007-10-05
A really enjoyable read and extremely interesting. It was such a good book! Highly recommend. The ending leaves you trailing though...
A magnificent, tragic fragment........2007-09-29
Irene Nemirovsky's "Suite Francaise" will stand with "The Diary of Anne Frank" as one of the most poignant literary monuments of World War II and the insanity of the Holocaust. But whereas Anne Frank was a young girl whose hopes and dreams ended forever at Belsen, Irene Nemirovsky was a novelist of enormous talent who would have been recognized as one of the greatest European writers of the 20th century had her life not been extinguished at Auschwitz. Considering all she suffered during the war, and how she was murdered in the very middle of it, it is amazing that Nemrovsky completed as much of it as she did, and that what she completed is of such a high order. "Suite Francaise" consists of the first two parts of a projected five-part novel depicting the fall of France to the Nazis, the panicked flight of Parisians and the return to something vaguely resembling normalcy under German military rule. The first section, "Storm in June," gives readers a panoramic view of several groups of fleeing Parisians, representing every class of society and every conceivable moral and mental attitude; the second, "Dolce," depicts life in a French village under the Germans, bringing back some of the characters from the first book and making it plain that Nemirovsky planned to reintroduce more of them in the following three books. Superbly translated by Sandra Smith, "Suite Francaise" is a swift and graceful read, depicting the characters and action with breathtaking clarity and excitement. Many of the characters are presented only in a few sentences, yet all live and breathe with total realism. What is really astonishing about "Suite Francaise," however, is Nemirovsky's authorial impartiality and clear-eyed sympathy for all her characters. There are no saints and no monsters in Nemirovsky's universe, just people--some more likable than others, but even the most despicable among them are given sharp moments of deep and moving humanity. Even the Germans are human--they have their faults, but also their virtues. To be able to write such panoramic fiction in the midst of war, with such a detached and pragmatic yet sympathetic eye, is truly amazing, even more so from an author who rightly feared she would be arrested and deported to the death camps at any moment. A Russian-Jewish emigree to France who moved in the highest literary and societal circles, Nemirovsky was an exceptionally keen observer of the French class system and how it warps individuals, in that sense (and in others) the equal of Balzac, Flaubert and Proust. The argument in Chapter 16 of "Dolce" between the snobbish, sickly-sentimental Vicomtesse de Montmort and the brutish peasant Benoit Sabarie stands out: both are sympathetic, as people and as representatives of their social classes, and both are utterly despicable. Nemirovsky sums up their fight neatly: "What separates or unites people is not their language, their laws, their customs, their principles, but the way they hold a salad fork." This argument has repercussions that promise to ripple across the rest of the story, except that Nemirovsky, alas, never had a chance to show us how. Appendices to the book include Nemirovsky's copious notes on how she planned to continue the story; correspondence to, from, and about her; and the preface to the French addition, included as an afterword here, which tells the poignant story of Nemirovsky's life and death, and of how Nemirovsky's daughter discovered the manuscript of "Suite Francaise" more than sixty years after her mother's death. "Suite Francaise" is a magnificent fragment and an eternal testimonial to the genius of its author. We can only mourn that the book, like her life, will remain unfinished.
A taste of things to come.......2007-09-26
It's a known fact that this work has gotten much attention due to the circumstances that surrounded Irene Nemirovsky's life. Left in a suitcase as she attempted flight, the author found her demise at the hands of the Nazis before this manuscript could be published.
Who knows what she might have added or excluded or expanded? And I could not help but think this as I read along.
There are two novellas under one umbrella here--depicting day in the life scenes of how things were in these troublesome times. I certainly found this to be gratifying reading, but it did not take me out of myself in that complete way I enjoy when I read truly remarkable fiction.
Will recommend, but for a story that brought me to that special place of compelling fiction, I recommend the lesser-known, SIM0N LAZARUS, a book more should know about.
Average customer rating:
- NIGHT
- Night
- Chilling and Incredible
- A powerful and compelling account of a horrific time
- This book is burned in my memory
|
Night (Oprah's Book Club)
Elie Wiesel
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
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Binding: Paperback
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Day: A Novel
ASIN: 0374500010
Release Date: 2006-01-16 |
Amazon.com
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.
Book Description
A New Translation From The French By Marion Wiesel
Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.
Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.
Customer Reviews:
NIGHT.......2007-10-03
This new translation of NIGHT is not just a book, it's a gift. A gift of Elie Wiesel's memory, memory of such horrific atrocities committed against him, his family, and others. We can use this gift as a tool to evolve as a human race - or not.
Night.......2007-10-02
This book was both wonderful and disturbing. The translation was smooth and easy to read. The body of the book gives a further glimpse into the terrors of that war, and the suffering people had to endure; especially children. I finished this book in less than a day, and when I was done, I was able to appreciate my life even more, and be grateful for everthing I have.
Chilling and Incredible.......2007-10-01
This book is very scary filled with all of Mr. Wiesel's experiences in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. The book covers from when the man, Moishe, warning them about the coming German soldiers to the undefinable ending.
What Mr. Wiesel saw during this time was what most people don't even dream of seeing. He even saw a father getting killed by his own son for a small crust of bread. What he went through is horrific.
This book may be one of the most touching books you may ever read. It is amazing how this man went through all this without freaking out. This book will deepen your sadness for the Jewish people and it will increase your hate for the man named Hitler.
A powerful and compelling account of a horrific time.......2007-09-29
First of all, let me say that this is the very first book about the Holocaust I've ever read. I've seen documentaries about the holocaust, images, and newspaper articles, but I've never read a first-hand account until now. This book completely blew me away. I read it continuously over 2 days and learned about determination, love, loss, cruelty, compassion, and of the lucky few who survived. Like many, I had some idea that the holocaust was about gas chambers and furnaces used to kill and cremate human beings. I had no idea, however, of the many other hardships imposed on the Jews during the Holocaust, both before, leading up to, and - for the lucky few - after the mass killings. I'd recommend this book without reservation to anyone interested in learning about this horrific, brutal period of human history, as told with great honesty by someone who lived through it. As Elie Wiesel writes, "we must never forget". -5/5
This book is burned in my memory.......2007-09-29
This book is a must read, especially for young people, as we move further away in time from the Holocaust. It is very well written; you almost feel like you are right there beside the author enduring all the emotional and physical pain that he felt. This book chronicles the author's life from a young child until the day he was released from a concentration camp. He describes his living conditions in the camp, the behavior and attitude of the prison camp guards, and his relationship with other prisoners around him. He also recalls how his father died right before his eyes. This book brought tears to my eyes more than once.
Amazon.com
The crowning achievement of Jimmy Carter's presidency was the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and he has continued his public and private diplomacy ever since, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work for peace, human rights, and international development. He has been a tireless author since then as well, writing bestselling books on his childhood, his faith, and American history and politics, but in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, he has returned to the Middle East and to the question of Israel's peace with its neighbors--in particular, how Israeli sovereignty and security can coexist permanently and peacefully with Palestinian nationhood.
It's a rare honor to ask questions of a former president, and we are grateful that President Carter was able to take the time in between his work with his wife, Rosalynn, for the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity and his many writing projects to speak with us about his hopes for the region and his thoughts on the book.
A big thank you to President Carter for granting our request for an interview.
An Interview with President Jimmy Carter
Q: What has been the importance of your own faith in your continued interest in peace in the Middle East?
A: As a Christian, I worship the Prince of Peace. One of my preeminent commitments has been to bring peace to the people who live in the Holy Land. I made my best efforts as president and still have this as a high priority.
Q: A common theme in your years of Middle East diplomacy has been that leaders on both sides have often been more open to discussion and change in private than in public. Do you think that's still the case?
A: Yes. This is why private and intense negotiations can be successful. More accurately, however, my premise has been that the general public (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) are more eager for peace than their political leaders. For instance, a recent poll done by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that 58% of Israelis and 81% of the Palestinians favor a comprehensive settlement similar to the Roadmap for Peace or the Saudi proposal adopted by all 23 Arab nations and recently promoted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tragically, there have been no substantive peace talks during the past six years.
Q: How have the war in Iraq and the increased strength of Iran (and the declarations of their leaders against Israel) changed the conditions of the Israel-Palestine question?
A: Other existing or threatened conflicts in the region greatly increase the importance of Israel's having peace agreements with its neighbors, to minimize overall Arab animosity toward both Israel and the United States and reduce the threat of a broader conflict.
Q: Your use of the term "apartheid" has been a lightning rod in the response to your book. Could you explain your choice? Were you surprised by the reaction?
A: The book is about Palestine, the occupied territories, and not about Israel. Forced segregation in the West Bank and terrible oppression of the Palestinians create a situation accurately described by the word. I made it plain in the text that this abuse is not based on racism, but on the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land. This violates the basic humanitarian premises on which the nation of Israel was founded. My surprise is that most critics of the book have ignored the facts about Palestinian persecution and its proposals for future peace and resorted to personal attacks on the author. No one could visit the occupied territories and deny that the book is accurate.
Q: You write in the book that "the peace process does not have a life of its own; it is not self-sustaining." What would you recommend that the next American president do to revive it?
A: I would not want to wait two more years. It is encouraging that President George W. Bush has announced that peace in the Holy Land will be a high priority for his administration during the next two years. On her January trip to the region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for early U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. She has recommended the 2002 offer of the Arab nations as a foundation for peace: full recognition of Israel based on a return to its internationally recognized borders. This offer is compatible with official U.S. Government policy, previous agreements approved by Israeli governments in 1978 and 1993, and with the International Quartet's "roadmap for peace." My book proposes that, through negotiated land swaps, this "green line" border be modified to permit a substantial number of Israelis settlers to remain in Palestine. With strong U.S. pressure, backed by the U.N., Russia, and the European Community, Israelis and Palestinians would have to come to the negotiating table.
1/18/2007
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From Publishers Weekly
The term "good-faith" is almost inappropriate when applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a bloody struggle interrupted every so often by negotiations that turn out to be anything but honest. Nonetheless, thirty years after his first trip to the Mideast, former President Jimmy Carter still has hope for a peaceful, comprehensive solution to the region's troubles, delivering this informed and readable chronicle as an offering to the cause. An engineer of the 1978 Camp David Accords and 2002 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Carter would seem to be a perfect emissary in the Middle East, an impartial and uniting diplomatic force in a fractured land. Not entirely so. Throughout his work, Carter assigns ultimate blame to Israel, arguing that the country's leadership has routinely undermined the peace process through its obstinate, aggressive and illegal occupation of territories seized in 1967. He's decidedly less critical of Arab leaders, accepting their concern for the Palestinian cause at face value, and including their anti-Israel rhetoric as a matter of course, without much in the way of counter-argument. Carter's book provides a fine overview for those unfamiliar with the history of the conflict and lays out an internationally accepted blueprint for peace.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine.
President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2005 and 2006.
In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism.
The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy, and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal of a just agreement that both sides can honor.
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a challenging, provocative, and courageous book.
Customer Reviews:
full of misrepresenations.......2007-10-10
this book should be labeled fiction. Jimmy has refused to debate (or even appear on the same stage) of critics who have questioned statements in the book he has presented as fact. very sad.
THE BRAVEST PRESIDENT EVER.......2007-10-10
In a country where a minimal critic against Israel would be labeled as "Anti-Semitism, " by writing this book, President Jimmy Carter shows his commitment to the principles of human rights. As usual, he is attacked by Israelis because of telling the truth.
GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS JIMMY CARTER!
Great Book - Easy to Read and Understand - Thanks Jimmy!.......2007-10-09
I am neither Christian, Jewish or Muslim, so I have no religious-based biased. I am influenced by Buddhism, however, and so it is very hard for me to understand the belief that the happiness and security of one person could ever be accomplished by denying the happiness and security of another person. I read this book after watching Christiane Amanpour's CNN special called "God's Warriors." Carter's book is easy to read and understand - which is a relief b/c I always thought the Israel/Mid-East conflict was too complicated to understand. Now I suspect that that belief is part of the effort to keep U.S. citizens from trying to influence U.S. policy in the Mid-East. Prior to watching the CNN special, I honestly never knew about the radical Jewish settlers in the occupied territories. It seems that the word terrorist has been so heavily linked to the word Muslin in this country, that the idea of Jewish terrorists was surprising to me. I also didn't know that George Bush, Sr. was the first and only president to attempt to restrict U.S. funding to Israel if any of the funds went to the establishment of settlements in occupied territories (in other words, if the Israel government continued to violate International Law and U.N. resolutions by increasing the settlements) -- unfortunately, the massive criticism that resulted forced him to back down or risk his political standing. This is why I think Carter's book is so important - no politician can disagree with Israel without accusations that they are anti-Semitic or senile or too liberal. It's not like Carter is saying that the Palestinian violence isn't reprehensible or that the denial of the holocaust and the desire to irradiate the Jewish state aren't insane. It appears that the new definition of the term "anti-Semite," however, is "disagreement with anything that the Israeli government does."
This is exactly the type of feedback that Carter seems to be getting from this book -- luckily he isn't a politician anymore and doesn't have to back down. It is clear that unfortunate choices have been made on both sides. The Palestinians and neighboring Arab countries have used violence and extremism against Israel, seriously threatening the existence of Israel; conversely, Israel has responded to Palestinian violence and Arab aggression with disproportional violence and aggression, time and time again, (e.g., the 6 day war, the recent attacks on Lebanon, killing hundreds of Palestinians in retaliation for Palestinian attacks that killed dozens), and Israel just can't seem to commit to getting settlers out of occupied territories.
I am very grateful that Carter took the risk of writing this book. Clearly, this is just his opinion and there are people who would look at the same facts and come to different conclusions. But you can't say that a former president of the U.S. and key participant in the camp david peace accord is misinformed on the facts -- as some reviews here have attempted to claim. I suspect that Carter, who has participated in private conversations with most of the key players here, just might be a little bit more informed regarding the details and facts than the Amazon reviewers here who claim they know more than Carter! I think it is more likely that they just disagree with Carter's opinions, and, like the participants in the Palestinian/Israel conflict, just can't manage to be civil and respectful towards anyone who disagrees with their own opinions. I heard on a news report that George Bush, Jr. once flew over the Palestinian refugee camps and commented that they were horrible, but opinioned that there was nothing that the U.S. could do - that the Israelis and Palestinians just had to be left to kill each other (which explains why his administration has done nothing to address the conflict). I don't support his position, but I can understand why he is so discouraged. Both sides appear to believe that their happiness and security rests on the destruction of the other side's happiness and security, which, I believe is fundamentally mistaken. Jews and Israelis will not be safe and happy until Palestinians and Arabs are safe and happy; Palestinians and Arabs will not be safe and happy until Jews and Israelis are safe and happy. Since we all drink from the same well, you can't poison the well water for someone else without poisoning it for yourself.
Shows a lot of thought, reflexion, and prayer.......2007-09-24
You can tell President Carter has a true passion for world peace and a desire to truly understand what drives people, both individually, and as a people to become who they are and do the things they do. What drives the human psyche and soul is affected by things, events, people, time, and place in history, and things beyond what we can imagine. No one can truly judge someone else without prejudice without at least attempting to walk a mile in his subjects shoes; and yet he is humble enough to know that even in doing so he has still only walked a mile in someone else's shoes. He has still not lived someone else's life or struggled that person's plight whatever it may be consist of. He takes responsibility for his opinions and explains his points of view and what got him to those conclusions. We are all entitled to form our own. I like that his reflect deep thinking and prayer.
Great book!!!.......2007-09-19
This book needs to be read by everybody out there for whether you believe it or not, we areall affected by what's happening in the Middle East. Every right mind would agree that it there wasn't this rage in the East, the world would have been a much different place. Safer, I don't know about that. Any way, Mr. Carter take a very unusual look at the situation. The look is impartial and that's what makes it unusual. One of the point Mr. Carter argues about, which I am very greatful for, is that Israel has confiscated lands that are not theirs making the world believe that's it's for military security, whereas in reality it's for geographical expension.
I do belive that Israel shouldn't be going anywhere for, like all people, they've gotta have a place to live for they are, like all people, citizens of the planet Earth. But at the same time, Israel needs to respect the Palestine rights to exist and be a nation. And until we have a group of people to think like Mr. Carter and make Israel understand all of that, we'll still be sitting on an eastern hot pot ready to explode.
Book Description
Stanley Kubrick The first book to explore Stanley Kubrick's archives is also the most comprehensive study of the filmmaker to date
Part 1: The films
In 1968, when Stanley Kubrick was asked to comment on the metaphysical significance of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he replied: "It's not a message I ever intended to convey in words. 2001 is a nonverbal experience…. I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic content." The philosophy behind Part I borrows from this line of thinking: from the opening sequence of Killer's Kiss to the final frames of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick's complete films will be presented chronologically and wordlessly via frame enlargements. A completely nonverbal experience.
Part 2: The Creative Process
Divided into chapters chronologically by film, Part 2 brings to life the creative process of Kubrick's filmmaking by presenting a remarkable collection of material from his archives, including photographs, props, posters, artwork, set designs, sketches, correspondence, documents, screenplays, drafts, notes, and shooting schedules. Accompanying the visual material are essays by noted Kubrick scholars, articles written by and about Kubrick, and a selection of Kubrick's best interviews.
Customer Reviews:
Whoa!.......2007-09-16
Lucky me! I scored a copy of this and I have to say it is the best book on an artist I've ever seen. The previous reviewers weren't kidding--this thing is huge! Too large and heavy to be read anywhere but on a large flat surface, but that's not a complaint, unless you're lugging it across an airport like I did.
A spectacular book that you'll refer to repeatedly. I pored over it for hours. The first half is devoted to an incredible array of pristine stills from each film. The second half is focused on every film with a plethora of on-set photos and interviews with cast & crew. The book is helpfully tabbed by film.
A stunning look into one of the greatest of all filmmakers. So well designed that my friends were awed by its beauty. And that 70MM film strip--holy cow! IMHO, it's worth the price for just for that.
Do you like perfection???.......2007-08-12
One of the most beautifully produced books I have ever seen!!! Worth every cent. This is the kind of book you set aside in a special place, so you can revisit it and continually discover something new. Five stars is not enough. An essential addtion for anyone who is interested in the work of Stanley Kubrick!!!
PERFECT!!!
Genius.......2007-06-01
The book is definetely a work of art. Congrats, Taschen, for such a well done job. You will find photos, storyboards, interviews, texts, articles and sorts of wonders from the Stanley Kubrick universe. The strip from a 90mm copy of 2001: A Space Odyssey is a delightful gift for appreciators of his masterpiece.
Absolutely worth-having.
Beautiful luxury item.........2007-05-17
As others have mentioned, this is a tremendously well put together book, with the tab system making it easy to get to the sections on the particular film you've just seen or are interested in. The essays, for the most part, are well written and engaging, and do a good job of enhancing the movies and giving you a context for the circumstances under which the movies are made. I've been using the book while watching each of one of Kubrick's movies, and it's a great way to get more out of each.
The size of the book is impressive from a collector's perspective but frustrating from an reader's - you do really have to read the book in a particular position, otherwise you may damage it. That said, the size of the book does enhance the tome's first half, featuring shots from the movies themselves. This might seem a bit dull, but for Kubrick, who actually grew up a photographer, it's well worth the time to flip through and marvel at the compositions.
Finally, I had wondered before buying the book if it was still in its first run with the filmstrip - as of May 2007, it is. I recommend sending a question to Amazon to ask - they quickly got back to me to let me know that the book I was buying did have the film strip.
Of course, the book is a bit pricey, so you certainly do need to be a devoted Kubrick follower to make it worth it. There are a number of other quality books with similar essays to the ones you'll find here, but the whole package - filmstrip, largeness of the book, screen shots, and the essays - combine to make the overall item something very special, and well worth it for those who can't get enough of Stanley.
LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK.......2007-03-28
The other reviews of this remarkable book have more or less summed up what I would say so I've approached it from another angle: I've uploaded eight photos to give you an idea of what this highly visual (and costly) book looks like. Amazon doesn't display images numerically so you'll have to see them at random. Click 'customer images' under the cover.
If you are buying a used first-run copy do check with the seller that Mr Kubrick's film strip is in its sleeve and the CD is also included, photo one shows them in position. Some reviewers have rightly said that owning a bit of '2001' from Kubrick's personal collection gives the book extra kudos.
Photo two will give you an idea of how the book is organised. There are two sections, each with a series of colored tabs. His twelve movies have a tab each and in the first section there are eight hundred stills, black and white and color depending on the film. Photos three, four and five are some of the spreads from Dr Strangelove. The second part of the book covers each movie in detail with an amazing collection of visual material to back up the text. Photos six, seven and eight show some pages about the background and production of Dr Strangelove.
The back of the book has a fifty page Appendix A, B and C. A covers three unmade movies: Napoleon, AI and Aryan Papers. B has three essays. C is a chronology of Kubrick's life.
This is a BIG book, opening to thirty-three inches wide and at over fourteen pounds in weight it really can only be read on a table. Needless to say being a Taschen book it is beautifully designed and printed and if you do buy a copy the Kubrick experience will be quite overwhelming and long lasting.
Amazon.com
Film Directing Shot by Shot offers a good introduction to the rudiments of film production. Steven D. Katz walks his readers through the various stages of moviemaking, advising them at every turn to visualize the films they wish to produce. Katz believes that one of the chief tasks of filmmaking is to negotiate between our three-dimensional reality and the two-dimensionality of the screen. He covers the number of technical options filmmakers can use to create a satisfying flow of shots, a continuity that will make sense to viewers and aptly tell the film's story. Katz provides in-depth coverage of production design, storyboarding, spatial connections, editing, scene staging, depth of frame, camera angles, point of view, and the various types of stable compositions and moving camera shots.
Book Description
A complete catalogue of motion picture techniques for filmmakers. It concentrates on the 'storytelling' school of filmmaking, utilizing the work of the great stylists who established the versatile vocabulary of technique that has dominated the movies
since 1915. This graphic approach includes comparisons of style by interpreting a 'model script', created for the book, in storyboard form.
Customer Reviews:
Chicken scratches vs. Detailed Storyboards.......2007-08-19
I have used this book numerous times for my teachings in which students go through the process of making a short film with certain limitations being imposed. It is part of a process that I call "fast filmmaking". I like the examples that Katz presents, specifically that it is not the quality of the drawing, but how the drawing communicates the director's vision to the rest of the crew. I will usually have a student "explain" their storyboard to the class, and it is amazing how a few chicken scratches can give as much details as a fully detailed storyboard. Kudos to Katz for explaining the creative aspect of directing, and Michael Weise Productions for publishing these types of books.
of moderate interest to readers of video magazines.......2007-08-13
as a long-time reader of videographer's magazines, I didn't find much of interest in this book. If I were new to the trade, I'd probably have found it more useful. For that reason, I gave it a rather high rating of 4 stars
Mind-opening, even if you aren't interested in directing.......2007-06-30
I've worked in the graphics design business for years, but more recently I've grown interested in working with video, primarily shorts and documentary work. I was looking for a book that could help teach me the "language" of motion and visual storytelling, and this book fit the bill. In fact, I found it to be incredibly inspiring as a student of art in general. It's extremely well-written, chock full of practical examples, and contains numerous time-worn techniques as well as cutting-edge experimentation. One funny thing: since it was written a few years before the desktop digital video revolution began, it talks about some of the difficult aspects of shooting which are now in many ways moot. But it's good to hear about the history of the craft.
If you have any interest in all in shooting, directing, or producing any kind of motion picture, show, or short, you'll definitely want to buy this book. However, be forewarned: you'll never be able to watch movies the same way again. You'll begin to pick up all the subtle nuances of filmmaking without even realizing it, so don't feel bad if you have to force yourself to re-engage with the actual story as you're watching!
Useful, pleasurable.......2007-05-07
I'm a college student, not at film school, who makes videos as a serious hobby. I thought this book was much better than other titles in the same market, because it's so specific. Instead of telling you what anyone with common sense knows, like "keep continuity" and "composition can affect the mood of a scene," this film lays it all out in detail. I recommend this for everyone who wants to improve. Even if you're not particularly interested in storyboarding, you'll learn how to think about your sequences in advance much better.
Learning the Rules Before You Break Them.......2007-01-13
Even though many of the great filmmakers may have not utilized storyboards, every one of them has pre-visualized their films.
Pre-visualization is the essence of what it means to be a director. A director can only be effective if he/she properly prepares for each scene. Even if one does not have every shot precisely planned out, they will still have an idea of the look and the flow of the process.
There are certainly many people who feel directing should be intuitive, that there should be no structure to the process or else creativity is stifled. This is a valid point from the perspective of the artist.
What is wonderful about this book is that it gives extensive insight into WHY one should cover a scene in a certain way. Directing as a profession requires a certain amount of preparation and PROOF that you have a handle on the film. Producers want reassurance that you have a vision worth pouring tens of millions of dollars into. Armed with the ability to properly express yourself in regard to your vision, you will have a much easier time convincing others to follow you.
So, in the end, if you are interested in studying the language of film and the methodology behind classic film composition and editing, then this book and the accompanying Film Directing: Cinematic Motion are essential.
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful story for old and young alike!
- A Simple but Moving Story
- A teacher told me about this book.
- great book!!
- The hiding place
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Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
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ASIN: 0440227534
Release Date: 1998-02-09 |
Amazon.com
The evacuation of Jews from Nazi-held Denmark is one of the great untold stories of World War II. On September 29, 1943, word got out in Denmark that Jews were to be detained and then sent to the death camps. Within hours the Danish resistance, population and police arranged a small flotilla to herd 7,000 Jews to Sweden. Lois Lowry fictionalizes a true-story account to bring this courageous tale to life. She brings the experience to life through the eyes of 10-year-old Annemarie Johannesen, whose family harbors her best friend, Ellen Rosen, on the eve of the round-up and helps smuggles Ellen's family out of the country.
Number the Stars won the 1990 Newbery Medal.
Book Description
Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful story for old and young alike!.......2007-10-09
I really enjoyed "Number the Stars" not only because it was a great story, but it was also educational. I have to admit that I have been ignorant to the effect WW2 had on Denmark, until I read this book. I have heard and read so much about the other European countries, but I have hardly heard a thing about Denmark. Thus, I liked how the author weaved in the reasons for Denmark not fighting the Germans, and how the king of Denmark remained uncontrolled during the occupation. I also enjoyed learning little facts about the Danish Resistance.
As far as the fictional side of the book, I found it to be an easy read that young and old alike could enjoy. Lowry has such a good imagination, that you can't help but be captured by the characters bravery and courage. At times when reading this book, I asked myself if I could have made the same courageous choices.
A Simple but Moving Story.......2007-10-09
This is a moving story ~~ written simply for the younger audience and it's perfect for all ages who want to remember the lost and the forgotten of World War II. This is a simple story of "What Should You Do?" in times like this ~~ where the Jews are forced underground or to leave their homes. This is a story of a young girl who delivered a life-saving package to her uncle who was about to be boarded on his fishing boat by the Germans. He was smuggling his niece's friends and other people to Sweden.
It is a simple story ~~ there are other stories out there that are better written and more well-rounded but this is a perfect start for young kids who want to learn more about history. It's written beautifully and simplistically and yet realistically. It is a story of courage and defiance and strength even in moments of sheer terror. It is a story that honors the old commandent: "Thou Shall Love Thy Neighbors."
It is a must-read for all serious readers.
10-9-07
A teacher told me about this book........2007-09-24
I really enjoyed the book. I went on a trip to Washington D.C. and visited the Holocaust Museum. Since then I have been interested in WWII and mostly the Holocaust. A teacher told me about this book. I read the book very quickly, it was so interesting. My mom liked it too, and read with me. I'm reading it again!
great book!!.......2007-07-12
My granddaughter,11, read this on our vacation, and she told me she absolutely loved it!
The hiding place.......2007-07-01
Annamarie has to hide her best friend away from the Nazi`s by going to Uncle Henrick`s and trying to flee Ellen and her family to Sweeden. This book is filled with adventure and excitement and reminds you of what happened during the Nazi`s reign.
You`ve got to read this.
Average customer rating:
- Ann Frank
- Amazing diary of a young woman
- A Powerful and Intimate Portrait
- Book Report: Diary of a Young Girl
- Very interesting
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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
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ASIN: 0553296981
Release Date: 1993-06-01 |
Amazon.com
A beloved classic since its initial publication in 1947, this vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime (scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic -- a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
Customer Reviews:
Ann Frank.......2007-10-05
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition is the diary Anne Frank a young Jewish girl growing up during World War II and the holocaust. Anne lives in Amsterdam with her mother, father, and sister Margot. When Anne is 13 she and her family must go into hiding to escape the Germans call ups, particularly one for Margot. They hide in the back of a warehouse where Otto (Anne's father) works. There are seven people at the beginning including the three van Daans an Anne and her family.
The diary reminds me of The Breadwinner which is about a young girl growing up in Afghanistan during the Taliban's rule. The main character must dress up as a boy when her father is arrested to earn money for her family. Unlike Anne's diary however this was written in modern day. They both had trouble getting food that they needed and lived in fear of getting arrested. Although they lived in different times the experiences of the girls were similar
After a bit Albert Dussel, a dentist, joins the group in, as it came to be known, the Secret Annex. Dussel became a bit annoying when he starts hiding food when the rest of the group need to get coupon books through the black market and are eating rotten potatoes and other foods. He did however give them dental checkups. Anne shared a room with Dussel when he came (before she shared with Margot) and was frequently woken up when he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. "Mr. Dussel's Toilet Timetable" is some thing that Anne tacks to the bathroom door. "I might well have added "Transgressors will be subject to confinement!" Because our bathroom can be locked from both the inside and the outside." Is something Anne writes after the timetable.
Anne also makes friends with Peter van Dan and spends quite a few evenings in his attic bedroom because it has the only window that's not covered by a curtain. They become valuable resources for each other.
All in all this is a very good book and I highly recommend it.
Amazing diary of a young woman .......2007-10-01
Anne Frank is remembered for being a sweet young girl that went into hiding during the holocaust only to be found and sent to a concentration camp where she died 3 months befroe her 16th birthday. The time in between these two horrible events is full of fear, fights,learning, and love, basically life. This version of the diary has more material than the orginal, which some people think is too much, but it is what she wrote left alone. It has what she intended the book to be. It includes story from the restrictions put on her while she wasn't in hiding because she was Jewish to her chores that she did quietly in the Secret Annex such as peeling potatoes and rubbing beans. It is not always the most interesting book, but it does provoke thought. It's sad in the fact that you know how its going to end before you start, but Anne does not as she's wrting it. Anne Frank's writing surpass her age, she writes not as a stuborn teenager, but as an intelligent young woman.
A Powerful and Intimate Portrait.......2007-09-30
You know the storyline - a Jewish girl, her family, and some friends go into hiding for two years during the Nazi regime in Holland. Said girl writes her thoughts and observations of her life during this time in a diary, which is found and published after her death in a concentration camp. It has become a classic, and it was written by a young teenager.
My favorite aspect of this book will forever be Anne's powerful narrative voice. Her words speak, and more than that they smell and taste and touch. She gives her diary, "Kitty," an intimate portrait of life in the "Secret Annexe," both public and private - of the ups-and-downs of people's relationships, of her inner struggles and growth, of her love. Reading her diary is like looking through the window at the war from two perspectives - one from the outside in, at the life of a girl and a family who were sucked into the Nazi vacuum through no fault of their own; and the other from the inside out, at the crazy world war swirling around the epicenter of one fourteen-year-old girl.
Book Report: Diary of a Young Girl.......2007-09-30
This book tells an amazing story of a young girl living in Germany in World War II. And to think it was all a journal is amazing. Anne Frank, a brave young Jewish girl, spends two years hiding in the secret annex from the Nazis. Anne Frank started to keep this diary on her thirteenth birthday. She called her diary, Kitty. At the start of her diary, Anne describes fairly typical experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys.
Later, the Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. They were forced into hiding with another family, the van Daans. There, they listened closely to the radio and everything that happened during the war. Anne kept up with everything that happened while she was there. It was very hard for her because she was separated from all her friends and her normal life style.
I suggest this book for all ages. It is a very inspirational story. It gives a different perspective on life.
-Hayley Robertson
6th period
10/4/07
Very interesting.......2007-09-26
Very interesting. I bought it for my sister. I already read the book, it is very nice and it has all the information need it.
Amazon.com
When it came time to select a Guest Reviewer for Sarah Thyre's Dark at the Roots, a debut memoir laced with plenty of dark humor, Haven Kimmel was at the top of our list. Her own debut, the groundbreaking memoir A Girl Named Zippy, offered readers an unforgettable coming-of-age story that sparkled with originality, heralding the arrival of a writer to watch. Check out Haven Kimmel's review below of Sarah Thyre's Dark at the Roots.
Guest Reviewer: Haven Kimmel
Haven Kimmel is the author of the bestselling memoir A Girl Named Zippy, and its sequel, She Got Up Off the Couch. Her novels include The Solace of Leaving Early and Something Rising (Light and Swift), and she is the author of the children's book, Orville: A Dog Story. Her next novel, The Used World, will be published in September 2007.
So much has been written, said, and expectorated about the memoir genre in the past five years there remains little to say. And it's true, the memoirs worth reading are rare--the ones that jolt or enlighten or delight with craft. Sarah Thyer's Dark At The Roots is a stand-out for countless reasons. Her sentences compel like electricity: the reader moves from one to the next as if being shocked, but pleasantly, or with the pathological love of the tongue for the toothache. Thank God I have this toothache, you think, because otherwise my life would be a pit of stupid. Her dialogue is dead-on (and having lived in both Mississippi and Louisiana I can tell you it isn't easy to replicate and virtually everyone gets it wrong). She is shameless and unembarassable and she makes a foreign world so concrete you can feel the shag carpeting and smell the extinct shampoo. Thyer handles a shadowy relationship with her father with a grace that both reveals and conceals, simultaneously. Most of all, from beginning to end she remains as consistent a character as one looks for in fiction: she is the best friend you wish you'd had, and the girl your mother warned you about (as if those two things don't always go hand in hand). My own sister recently said to me, as we were having a swinging contest at the park--I am 41 and she is 51--"I swing higher, I'm smarter and funnier than you, and people like me better." I can think of no better description for Sarah Thyer, or for her memoir, which was crafted with an edge razor-fine. She's gifted enough to write anything: fiction, another memoir, pamphlets about the dangers of hitting electric lines with your Rototiller. I can't wait for whatever comes next. --Haven Kimmel
Book Description
The story of one girl's heroic struggle to overcome the lower-middle class obstacles that stood between her and the world she knew she could call her oyster, Dark at the Roots limns the absurdities of growing up funny in the deep south.
When Sarah Thyre was barely out of diapers, her father started referring to her as the "family liar," though no particular incident had provoked this designation. Undaunted by her label, Sarah started referring to herself as Renee and creating scenarios that would help her assimilate up from her chaotic family into a higher social calling. But even as she was clipping an alligator logo off of one shirt to sew onto another, her place in the middle - of her family, her neighborhood, her school, her country - kept humbling her back to just plain Sarah.
In Dark at the Roots, Sarah is catapulted from the relative safety of a nuclear family, through the years of her mother going it alone with five mouths to feed with a steady diet of pasta and fried eggs, to the teenage years where wearing a school uniform was a godsend to a girl unable to afford the latest fashions ... if only she would have admitted it. In this telling, Sarah's inimitable sense of humor and resolve are both honed to a fine, sharp point. And though it is occasionally young Sarah who is skewered, she manages to turn her pain into punch lines, leaving little room for doubt that this is how a true humorist is built.
Whether it is a scene where small Sarah accidentally goes "poddy" in the garage during a game of hide-and-seek or medium-sized Sarah survives a fishing trip with her volatile father, or full-sized Sarah wrestles with a tooth she calls "Uncle Wiggly" and all he represents, grown-up Sarah tells her story with self-effacing sincerity and a seemingly invincible sense of humor. With its spare, razor-sharp prose and precision timing, Dark at the Roots emerges as not just a humorous memoir, but a powerful, universal testament to surviving one's rearing and living to laugh in the face of it all.
Customer Reviews:
Not that great........2007-09-11
The only thing I liked about this book was the picture on the cover. I thought this was a boring book.
From one Izod lover to another....LOVED IT!.......2007-08-15
Loved this book! I wanted a book for my book club that was going to make everyone laugh...and I think it will. We meet this Thursday night to discuss the 70's and this hilarouus book. I could relate so much to the trendy must have's of the 70's...I had one Izod shirt and a pair of Calvin Klein pants that I wore whenever they were clean. I thought I was so cool!
Thanks Sarah for the memories...
A fantastic read for anyone who remembers (?!) the 70's.......2007-08-08
I've often pondered in amazement myself at what I know now was the "hands off" parenting style of the 70's. I went through it and still sometimes can't believe how we managed to survive... my sisters and I would go out early in the morning and not come back until all the mothers in the neighborhood yelled "DINNER" or well after dark. It was exciting, fun, funny, scary and joyous all at the same time. I didn't experience the South that Sarah writes about, unless you count Southern California the south. I loved all the references to the pop culture of the time, the TV shows, the music. It's a thoroughly entertaining, disturbing and funny account of a spunky, funny kid who manages to thrive in spite of her upbringing. I loved all the references to Catholic schools, priests (I know nothing of these things but they fascinate me anyway), and Disneyworld. It's a wonderful book and I highly recommend it!
Disappointed.......2007-06-28
I really enjoyed Thyre in Strangers with Candy, was raised Catholic myself, and lived a few years in the dirty South, so I was looking forward to reading this book. I was hoping to find her tales observant, amusing, and slightly touching.
Instead, I found the novel to be wholly unentertaining. It was definitely dark, but in the Welcome to the Dollhouse sorta way, and not very funny. To be honest, I didn't think her writing was very good or "compelling." Most of the stories were centered from her POV as a child, not as an adult looking back at the events.
The situations she reminiscences about not only make her seem like a jerk as a child, but not even a loveable jerk. The executions of each story lack oomph in the chapter endings and are very anti-climatic. I had no desire to finish it.
I DEMAND A SEQUEL!.......2007-06-12
I finished reading this lovely tome set in my illustrious home state of Louisiana last night and sat straight up in bed and shouted, "I DEMAND A SEQUEL!" As it was 2 a.m., my husband sat straight up in bed, too, and said "WTF?" Even the dog barked! LOL!
This is one of THE best memoirs I've read in years. Sarah Thyre is a born comedian and a fantastic writer. She captures the essence of the Coonass culture and the hidden joys of a dysFUNctional Louisiana childhood like no one else I've ever read. (I was born in south Louisiana and have lived here most of my life, so I know a good story when I read one.) Ahem...
My only regret was that she ended the book too soon. I'm dying to know what happened to her after high school (and the convenience store job so deliciously described) and if she really did go to LSU. So, Sarah, if you read this, please, please, please consider a sequel to this hilarious, touching, bittersweet story of your childhood.
I think it deserves ten stars after some of the dry, boring memoirs I've recently read. Buy this book if you need a good laugh and a summer read that you won't soon forget.
Book Description
Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.
Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller's Air Force band, which toured U.S. air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943, an American bomber crewman stood only a one-in-five chance of surviving his tour of duty, twenty-five missions. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps.
The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America -- white America, anyway. (African-Americans could not serve in the Eighth Air Force except in a support capacity.) The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the "King of Hollywood," Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men.
The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.
Strategic bombing did not win the war, but the war could not have been won without it. American
airpower destroyed the rail facilities and oil refineries that supplied the German war machine. The bombing campaign was a shared enterprise: the British flew under the cover of night while American bombers attacked by day, a technique that British commanders thought was suicidal.
Masters of the Air is a story, as well, of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.
Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world's first and only bomber war.
Customer Reviews:
A "must read" for all those interested in WW II........2007-10-10
This monumental work covers the bomber war in Europe in a more complete way than any other book I have read including anything the great Martin Caidin has written. Mr. Miller tells the story from the perspectives of the tail gunners, waist gunners, radiomen, bombadiers, navigators, co-pilots and pilots as well as the generals who devised the strategys. All aspects of the war are covered from the original construction of the air bases to airplane maintenance to training to missions to time-off at local village pubs. Unlike other books, this one covers the POWs and their horrendous plight especially as the war is winding down and the Nazis more them from location to location ahead of the advancing Allies. Miller also includes stories about Capt. Tibbets of Hiroshima fame and a fascinating story of Chuck Yeager's escape from occupied Europe through Spain and his subsequent return to combat, something almost never allowed because re-patriated flyers knew too much about the french underground that would jeapordize lives if they were shot down a second time. Also of interest was information about what happened to crewmen who elected to land in "neutral" Switzerland in wounded ships. I recommend this book highly.
Masters of the Air.......2007-09-11
A marvelous story about the WW II air war over Europe. Full of interesting details and descriptions. I have shared it with friends that did their 35 missions, and they concur.
The Story of the "Mighty Eighth".......2007-09-08
This well-written and exhaustively researched book chronicles the rise of the American Eighth Air Force from its early days in England to VE Day in 1945.
At the outset of the war, the British believed that night bombing was the best way to attack German cities and industry. However, once America entered the war, they chose a philosophy different from that of the British. The Americans believed that daylight precision strategic bombing was the only way to defeat the Germans. The British, on the other hand, still favored nighttime area bombing. This difference of opinion between the Americans and British was never really settled, but by combining the "round the clock" attacks of American planes during the day and British planes at night, the Germans faced an unending stream of planes and bombs.
When the Eighth flew their first mission in the fall of 1942, they could barely muster thirty planes,
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