Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

Book Description

Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.

But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing?

Same Kind of Different As Me is the emotional tale of their story: a telling of pain and laughter, doubt and tears, dug out between the bondages of this earth and the free possibility of heaven. No reader or listener will ever forget it.

Customer Reviews:

What a Great Read!.......2007-10-10

This book was recommended by a colleague and I could not find it here in Key West. I ordered two copies from Amazon and gave them both to friends (after reading). I was moved to tears by parts of the book. If anybody has any concerns about homeless issues, this book will renew one's faith in what can be done. It is one of the finest books on homeless issues that I have read in many years.

Very touching.......2007-10-01

This is a very readable book. It is also extremely touching. Several times as I read,I found tears streaming down my face. It will restore your faith in mankind and that there is more to a person than meets the eye.

A must read book.......2007-09-29

I don't have proper words to express this "amazing" book.

I can now better understand how it used to be in Slave times,
and feel a better understanding of my own faith and life after death.

I cried at moments of revealation! Would help anyone become a believer.

This book changed my life!.......2007-09-25

It's very easy to forget that this is a true story - it is such an amazing story that it could be fiction! It's a beautiful, poignant, touching book and it changed the way I view the homeless and how I share my resources with others. LOVED IT and I've been telling everyone I know to read it too!!

book.......2007-09-18

I ordered this book for my husband who had heard it was wonderful. He thought it was the best book he had ever read and he highly recommends it!!

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81)

Average customer rating:

It's a fun book.......more helpful than most diet books!!
The Philosophy of Personal Change
Something different to change your viewpoint
weight loss, common sense, and taking charge of your life
Not recommended for long-term weight loss

The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81)
Richard A. Watson
Manufacturer: David R Godine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1567920845

Product Description

This toothsome classic takes on the combined challenges of discovering the meaning of the universe and eliminating fat at the same time. Its topic sentence contains a promise that should sell millions: "In this book, I tell how to take weight off and keep it off." He doesn't stop there, but continues, "The book also embodies a philosophy of life. The weight program is the content of the book, the philosophy of life is its form." If Descartes had sat down to write a treatise on losing weight as a metaphor for maintaining discipline amidst life's vicissitudes, it would have read much like this.

Clearly, Mr. Watson has not written a low-fat, new-age, easy-fix solution for the weight challenged. After all, losing weight is hard work. But for our money, it is the most erudite, fascinating, and eccentric book ever written on the subject of weight control, a combination of common sense (driven by human experience), Cartesian philosophy, and the presumption that understanding the mysteries of weight loss and the universe are somehow compatible, even sympathetic, ambitions.

The author is (of course) a professional philosopher, and this extraordinary exegesis is at once a moral manifesto, a philosophical discourse, and a practical manual (although the chapter on "How to Live" and "How to Die" take it a few steps beyond the ordinary). We love this book for its humor, its iconoclasm, and its weird and wacky mixture of high seriousness and low humor. Read it. Even if you're not overweight, it's a book to treasure.

Customer Reviews:

It's a fun book.......more helpful than most diet books!!.......2006-09-17

What an enjoyable book. This may be helpful to both lighthearted (myself) dieters as well as those more serious ones. Thanks to Mr. Watson, counting calories doesn't seem so boring or even restrictive anymore. It may be my newest noble pursuit to build my character and along with exercise I will strengthen my spirit and eventually my cause...to change the world.
Loved this book. And by the way, 900 calories is just a number. I think most readers can make the leap that depending on your age, activity level, muscle mass, metabolism, ect., one may need more calories per day. I mean, the author is a philosopher for goodness sake!

The Philosophy of Personal Change.......2006-07-03

Do not buy this book expecting a regular diet/nutrition book! Rather buy this book if you are interested in an intelligent writer's musings on personal change interspersed with amusing and moving thoughts and anecdotes. I enjoyed this book very much and got some great new insights into an approach to personal change which just might include some dieting as well.

Something different to change your viewpoint.......2003-12-23

If you've been falling on and off the diet and exercise wagon for awhile now, you may be beginning to realize that the problem isn't your plan, but your ability to stick to it - and that your ability to stick to it is low because you HATE doing it. How do you change the way you view diet and exercise? Can you ever come to see it in a way that you'll like it, rather than view it as something you MUST do but hate doing? If you're looking for a new viewpoint, I highly recommend this book. It isn't about "how-to" stuff so much as it's about WHY to, and a new way of looking at things. It's an easy read, and well worth your time and money. You will particularly enjoy it if you like philosophy, but that's by no means a prerequisite.

weight loss, common sense, and taking charge of your life.......2002-12-17

There is so much to love about this little gem. The author speaks to you like a curmudgeonly uncle who takes you seriously enough not to coddle you or offer you comforting excuses. You want to lose weight? Fine. It's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done, but here's how you go about it. While everyone else is counting calories and grams of this and that, he cuts straight to the point: cut calories (900 may be too few for some people, but he gets your attention with the dramatically low figure) and exercise (again, 4 miles in 30 minutes may be a bit much to ask for some of us penguins, but he doesn't set the bar too low to be a challenge). His voice, while caring, is uncompromising. He is not sympathetic in the cloying manner of many self-help gurus, but in the manner of a teacher who is confident that you can do what you set out to do - as he has - and if you don't succeed, it's because you don't really want to. Some people have medical conditions that may contribute to weight gain, and his simple approach does not address those complexities. I think the author would suggest that you know enough to take care of yourself, which is what this is all about anyway. He removes the weight loss/diet genre from the gnostic realm of medical professionals, and returns it to the accessible realm of common sense, where it belongs. The book is a metaphor for how you can take charge of your own life, give meaning to your own life, without waiting for someone with credentials to tell you you're doing it all wrong if you don't do it his/her way. If you're looking for more complexity, you may be looking for a program that's so difficult to follow that it comes with its own built-in excuses. You won't find excuses here, but encouragement and prodding. Americans are not fat and slovenly because we've failed to eat nothing but protein or failed to find The Zone, but because we eat too much and don't get enough exercise. Do something about that, and then, with the discipline you develop in the process, go change the world, why don'tcha. Lose the weight, and get over it.

Not recommended for long-term weight loss.......2002-10-28

I have to admit I didn't make it past the first chapter of this book, for two reasons. First, his insinuation that people who are drastically overweight (which by his definition appears to be more than 30 pounds) don't really care and aren't serious about losing weight. Now THAT's motivation! Second, his recommendation of a draconian 900-calorie-a-day diet, when it's been proven time and again that deprivation diets (just like the fad "grapefruit and steak" diets to which he refers) don't work in the long run. Mr. Watson may be a professional philosopher, but he is obviously not a weight-loss expert (and if he consulted with any while writing this book, I didn't see that referenced anywhere). So while the book may provide some entertaining and perhaps even valuable advice on behavior and life in general, its diet advice should be taken with a grain of salt. Most important, check with your doctor before beginning ANY weight-loss program!!

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Average customer rating:

first-hand-account, fast-paced, fascinating
A short but complete walkthrough
Some insight, some disappointment
Thirteen Days : A Review
On the Brink of Nuclear War

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Robert F. Kennedy
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Russia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0393318346

Book Description

The unique, gripping account of the perilous showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In a clear and simple record, he describes the personalities involved in the crisis, with particular attention to the actions and attitudes of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. He describes the daily, even hourly, exchanges between Russian representatives and American. In firsthand immediacy we see the frightening responsibility of two great nations holding the fate of the world in their hands.

Customer Reviews:

first-hand-account, fast-paced, fascinating .......2007-09-12

Read up on one of the most terrifying moments in history, the near destruction of the world by nuclear holocaust. This quick read takes you inside the White House where policy makers decided how best to react to the Soviet Union's establishing a nuclear missile base on the island of Cuba. This is a first-hand-account, fast-paced, fascinating page-turner of a history book.

A short but complete walkthrough.......2007-03-23

I picked this book up as research for a speech I gave, and found I didn't have to look much further for an understanding of the events. RFK's account--from any source--is very accurate and detailed. It goes right along with the movie "13 days" but, as any book would, offers a much more accurate portrayal of the events. If you do get this book (which I highly recommend for anyone interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis, or history for that matter), you should also look in to the Havana Conference, which really shines some light on the full gravity of the situation.

Some insight, some disappointment.......2005-10-31

I was looking forward to reading this book on what I thought would be a keen insider's look at the Cuban missile crisis, and was somewhat disappointed. I realize that RFK was not able to complete the text, and perhaps that is reflected in it's length (100 pages of narrative). A large part of the printed material, about 1/3, is made up of supporting documents. I had hoped for more detail about the minute-to-minute events of those 13 days. The strength of the book is its undeniably interesting topic and author. There was insight to the crisis that I had not previously known, and reading it here was interesting and informative. For a mid-1900's buff, this might be one piece of a collection and its uniqueness may prove worthwhile. This is the first book I read on the Cuban missile crisis, and I am left wanting a lot more.

Thirteen Days : A Review.......2005-08-02

This is a riveting firsthand account of a period of intense confrontation between 2 superpowers that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. It is a short, intense read followed by additional material from other authors that rounds out the edges of the story. This book clearly shows how good President Kennedy was a balancing the military option with diplomacy to save us from nuclear war. It is hard to imagine how this could have beeen handled better by any other President.

On the Brink of Nuclear War.......2005-05-21

Thirteen Days recounts the days that the United States seemed to be on the brink of a nuclear war. The author Robert F. Kennedy chronicled his role in the think-tank that steared the United States out of this crisis in the book. It is a tragedy that the book was never truly completed as Kennedy intended to add a section that questioned the ethics of war and nuclear war. It is a shame that the world was robbed of the view point of his scholarly mind.

In the era of the cable news networks , much of the information in this book seems thin. There is so much Kennedy could have elaborated on in this book. In its time, the book gave Americans their deepest look into the Kennedy White House. Many other books have more indepth accounts of the Cuban Missle Crisis, but none have the personal touch of a Kennedy. Learning from the disaster caused by groupthink that caused the failure of the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy surrounded himself with a diverse group that was willing to debate all sides of the issue. All ideas were encouraged, but only one was selected. Seeing multiple view points allowed them to explore all the aspects of the issue, including how the Soviets might react/feel. Great thinkers traditionally explore topics in very open forums such as this. There is no narrow minded partisanism here, just a quest for peace. Though slight, this is a great account of one of the finest hours in the Kennedy administration.

Average customer rating:

Forever a classic
an exciting nonfiction book!
One of the best memoirs ever written
I will always love this book
We recommend this book

Down These Mean Streets
Piri Thomas
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679781420
Release Date: 1997-11-25

Amazon.com

The 30th anniversary edition of this classic memoir about growing up in Spanish Harlem includes an afterword reminding us that its streets are even meaner now, thanks to crack cocaine and the dismantling of government poverty programs. As a dark-skinned Puerto Rican, born in 1928, Piri Thomas faced with painful immediacy the absurd contradictions of America's racial attitudes (among people of all colors) in a time of wrenching social change. Three decades have not dimmed the luster of his jazzy prose, rich in Hispanic rhythms and beat-generation slang.

Book Description

Thirty years ago Piri Thomas made literary history with this lacerating, lyrical memoir of his coming of age on the streets of Spanish Harlem. Here was the testament of a born outsider: a Puerto Rican in English-speaking America; a dark-skinned morenito in a family that refused to acknowledge its African blood. Here was an unsparing document of Thomas's plunge into the deadly consolations of drugs, street fighting, and armed robbery--a descent that ended when the twenty-two-year-old Piri was sent to prison for shooting a cop.

As he recounts the journey that took him from adolescence in El Barrio to a lock-up in Sing Sing to the freedom that comes of self-acceptance, faith, and inner confidence, Piri Thomas gives us a book that is as exultant as it is harrowing and whose every page bears the irrepressible rhythm of its author's voice. Thirty years after its first appearance, this classic of manhood, marginalization, survival, and transcendence is available in an anniversary edition with a new Introduction by the author.

Customer Reviews:

Forever a classic.......2007-08-12

Down These Mean Streets is the story of Piri Thomas' journey into adulthood. The book is set in Spanish Harlem in the 1940s. The author's writing style is refreshing and lyrical. He uses some Spanish words here and there(readers might find the glossary in the back of the book helpful), and kicks in a few slang words as well, which makes the dialogs that much more genuine.

Piri struggles through poverty, family troubles, and desperately wanting to belong. He fights with being a dark skinned Puerto Rican during a time when racism was strong, and trying to find his place as neither black nor white. Piri did some not-so-good things in his life, being in a gang, drug addiction, and armed robbery among other things, but throughout it all it is easy to tell that Piri is a good guy at heart.

Overall, this is a captivating story. You might find yourself wondering what you would have done faced with the same situations. I even found myself rooting for Piri at times. This book is still a very accurate depiction of "the hoods" of New York, despite being published for the first time about 40 years ago.

I was sad to have to finish the book, and in the end I felt like I knew Piri. I look forward to re-reading this book over the years. It is truly a classic. Everyone should read it. Anyone can find something in the story that they will be able to relate to.

an exciting nonfiction book!.......2007-06-28

This book really told me what it was like to live in Harlem in the 40s. The discrimination and racism is real and raw (although Mr Thomas does get a little jaded and think all white people are bad). The way he describes coming off heroin is realistic, colorful, and explosive. This whole book is very alive, as a memoir. It was funny to see the slang they used back then!

One of the best memoirs ever written.......2007-05-10

I've read this book more than a few times and have taught it to different level readers a few extra times. There was one high school student who came to me after the book was done and told me, "This is the first book I ever finished." Even if it's not the first book you've read, you'll find writing that is fearless, honest, and powerful. You won't forget it, and if you're really lucky, you'll get to share it with someone else.

I will always love this book.......2006-12-28

Grabbed it off my english teachers shelf junior year of high school, loved it so much I never gave it back. This is an amazingly wonderful book. Vivid writing style...I could see every last detail in my head. It was like a movie in my brain. Love it.

We recommend this book.......2006-12-07

Book Review: Down These Mean Streets

We recommend this book because Piri Thomas wrote the book in a way that you can visualize the story. This book is interesting because it talks about a young Latino's life growing up in the streets of Harlem New York in the 30's. However Piri the main character in the story gets discriminated throughout his young life for being a black Puerto Rican. We think this book has some strong scenes suitable for children under 13. Little by little the story gets interesting to the point where you don't want to stop reading. To conclude, this story is a good autobiography to learn from

Average customer rating:

varied classics make good reading for the writer of nonfiction
The Art of the Personal
Absolutely imaginative and colorful composition

Modern American Memoirs

Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0060927631

Book Description

In Modern American Memoirs, two very discerning writers and readers have selected samples from 35 of the finest memoirs written in this century, including contributions by such diverse writers as Margaret Mead, Malcolm X, Maxine Hong Kingston, Loren Eisely, and Zora Neale Hurston. Chosen for their value as excellent examples of the art of biography as well as for their superb writing, the excerpts present a broad range of American life, and offer vivid insight into the real-life events that shaped their authors. Here, readers can learn about the time when Harry Crews, playing as a boy, fell into a vat of boiling water with a dead hog; Chris Offutt joined the circus and watched a tattooed woman swallow a fluorescent light; and Frank Conroy practiced yo-yo tricks.

Customer Reviews:

varied classics make good reading for the writer of nonfiction.......2005-09-29

Annie Dillard, the editor of this collection, is widely considered one of the foremost American writers of nonfiction. Akin to the sophisticated, peerless, but somewhat dry,"The Art of Fact, " a fabulous, though now somewhat-dated anthology for those journalists who wanted to expand their rule-driven pieces, these are only somewhat relevant as contemporary examples, mostly useful to the writer studying how the genre of creative nonfiction has evolved over the last century into modern-day anthologies, such as the "Best American Magazine Writing," or even, "Literary Journalism." The writing is, line by line, richly artistic (far too many people are misusing the word "artful" lately--my pet peeve, but maybe I should just give up and start using it to mean "full of art"). On a positive note, Dillard has carefully chosen varied forms to show the genre's possibilities. Loren Eiseley's, "The Star Thrower," depends heavily on symbolism and theme to great effect, while Chris Offutt's stunning piece is one of the more contemporary. All have heart and emotional honesty; every writer here showed great courage. Scholars and writers of creative nonfiction should have this on the shelf, and certainly there is much to learn from studying these ("study" being the operative word; all are investments of time). A better selection for the younger writer in the genre looking for a quicker fix of literary gems might be Dave Eggers new anthology, "The Best American Nonrequired Reading," (not exclusively nonfiction but a winner) for more new and exciting experimental techniques. Nevertheless, a valuable and well-chosen classic work. Extra half-point for nice cover art. (This is not a yearly anthology). Also see "In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction," ed. Lee Gutkind, for peerless, and more contemporary, work in the genre.

The Art of the Personal.......2002-07-02

This wonderful collection of autobiographical pieces is extraordinary in the variety of lives that are represented. I cover my eyes from Wallace Stegner's Saskatchewan dust and then I open them to witness the East River sunset from Barry Lopez' window. I sneak books out of a Memphis library with Richard Wright and then I'm with Cynthia Ozick digging out of a crate from the Traveling Library. The book's radiance comes not only from the rainbow of lives reflected but from the craftmanship, the nuts and bolts of changing the stuff of life into art. So many ways, so many self-less, ego-less ways to transform the personal into the universal, to say I am you and you are me and we are all.

Absolutely imaginative and colorful composition.......2000-05-01

This is one of the most intoxicating books I have ever read. Annie Dillard, one of America's most well known authors for her detailed illustrations of nature, has magnificently compiled a book of memoirs that colorfully describes the American society and its struggles throughout history. This book gives you the bitterness of struggles by various well known figures such as Malcolm X and Maxine Hong Kingston. It builds an intense image of the daily life in the most detailed and delicious way possible.

In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War

Average customer rating:

a good memoir to read if you want more information on the Vietnam War
The war in Vietnam
Wolff Is a Master Storyteller--Period!
Gave me valuable insight and focus into a confusing part of my own life.
Welcome home, SF...

In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War
Tobias Wolff
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679760237
Release Date: 1995-09-26

Amazon.com

In This Boy's Life Tobias Wolf created an unforgettable memoir of an American childhood. Now he gives us a precisely and sometimes pitilessly remembered account of his young manhood - a young manhood that become entangled in the tragic adventure that was Vietnam. Mordantly funny, searingly honest, In Pharoah's Army is a war memoir in the tradition of George Orwell and Michael Herr.

Book Description

Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic.

Customer Reviews:

a good memoir to read if you want more information on the Vietnam War.......2007-08-29

I read the back of this book and got very interested in it. I have read a few other books about the Vietnam War and this book was mentioned. It was a good experience reading this book from the man's point of view. I really felt like I was there with him and his platoon--in the mud, in the gungle, in a helecopter--where ever the author was.

The war in Vietnam.......2007-08-27

Wolff manages to bring the war in Vietnam into focus with sharply observed events from his tour there. As merciless with himself as he is with the entire US effort, he shows us just how foreign Vietnam was and still is for us, how brutish our presence was even when well meaning, and how doomed it was, probably from the start.

Wolff Is a Master Storyteller--Period!.......2007-04-02

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it--if you are not reading Tobias Wolff you are only cheating yourself. The man simply does not write anything less than absolutely mesmerizing. I assure you, that is not an exaggeration.

This latest work of Wolff's I've read is called In Pharaoh's Army. It is a memoir offering us what lead to his taking part in the Vietnam War, his actual tour, and then the aftermath. Now having read all of Wolff's work, I purposefully saved this one for last because I mistakenly believed I'd like it the least.

I loved this book. Those of us born after the war have a notion of what Vietnam was like thanks to Hollywood movies, but Wolff gives us a totally different perspective, though no less horrific. Wolff's memoir deals with the one thing nobody likes to talk about too much--fear. He was afraid to go. He was afraid while he was there. And when he got back, he was afraid of what he'd become. Wolff is not a weak man, you'll gather that from his recounts, he simply does not bother to hide the fact that he was counting down the minutes until he got home, and he just wanted to stay alive.

Each of Wolff's chapters are like mini-stories, and they each offer the hilarity, absurdity, and sometimes tragedy of his life during that time. I was surprised at how much of the book is spent leading up to his deployment and then his eventual return. I'd say only half of the book actually deals with his actual time in Vietnam.

As I've said, I've never experienced anything like this book and I completely recommend you read it if you are interested in either Wolff himself, the Vietnam War, or in the form and style of a masterly rendered memoir.

Please, do us both a favor--read something by Tobias Wolff.

Gave me valuable insight and focus into a confusing part of my own life........2007-01-03

The VietNam War, the politics, social uproar, confusion, riots, protests, etc. formed the background--on TV-- of my young teen years, yet since I was at the tail end of the baby boom, none of my peers were old enough to be drafted or enlist. I grew up feeling like "Viet Nam" was a bad movie I wandered into during the middle of and thought it would never end. I'd been too young to participate, but not too young to avoid a lingering and draining sense of guilt and anger.

Somehow,reading Wolff's book helped me look back at that period in my life and see more clearly, and helped me to put "Viet Nam" in a context and make use of the guilt by feeling gratitude for those who carried out their missions in spite of it all, and to use the anger to try to prevent our old men(and women)from sending more young men and women on a useless mission. (Looks like we're going down that road again, though).

Although it's not an absolute necessity, I think I understood Pharaoh's Army more deeply by having read This Boy's Life. As others have mentioned, Wolff's writing is lean, direct and honest. He has an ability to be objectively observant about himself.

Welcome home, SF..........2006-11-06

The intriguing title of Tobias's 'tour guide' captures the feel that fellow Nam combat vet Joe Haldeman also captured in his Sci Fi classic, and Vietnam War allegory, The Forever War.

In Joe's novel, the Government back on Earth were so far removed from the deep space battles that were daily occuring many light years away, that the absence of real-time command and control made the war a fiasco for the troops at the end of the line.

Likewise, if you talk to any Nam vets, the Vietnam War was being run by a totally out of touch (in every sense) Government that was attempting to run things from 12,000 miles away. The constant and erratic political interference with the tactical situation (Vietnam was never fought as a strategic war until the Linebacker II air campaign in December, 1972) seems to have reminded Tobias of the way the Egyptian Army of old became so remote from the commands of the Pharaoh that their war also felt pointless for the combat soldier in the field.

A wonderfully honest book, that examines the war up close, for good or for bad, and which is a welcome addition to the many fine books penned by combat vets and military nurses (please check out Army Nurse Susan O'Neill's magnificent Don't Mean Nothing) that really put you in the middle of war in all of its madness and futility.

Bravo.

The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel

Average customer rating:

To be or not to be
Idealist
Thinking Person's Catcher in the Rye
A beautiful and moving novel of ideas

The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel
George Santayana
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0262193280

Book Description

Published in 1935, George Santayana's The Last Puritan was the American philosopher's only novel. It became an instant best-seller, immediately linked in its painful voyage of self discovery to The Education of Henry Adams. It is essentially a novel of ideas, expressed in the birth, life, and early death of Oliver Alden.

The Last Puritan is volume four in a new critical edition of The Works of George Santayana that restores Santayana's original text and provides important new scholarly information. Books in this series - the first complete publication of Santayana's works - include an editorial apparatus with notes to the text (identifying persons, places, and ideas), textual commentary (including a description of the composition and publication history, along with a discussion of editorial methods and decisions), discussions of adopted readings, lists of variants and emendations, and line-end hyphenations.

Irving Singer's new introduction to this edition takes up Santayana's philosophical and artistic concerns, including issues of homosexuality raised by the depiction of the novel's two protagonists, Oliver and Mario, and of the relationship between Oliver and the rogue character Jim Darnley. In his thoughtful analysis Singer finds the term "homosexual novel" too reductionist and imprecise for what Santayana is trying to achieve. Singer brings to light the author's skillful and inventive methods for perceiving and interpreting reality, including ideal forms of friendship, and his success in exploring the pervasive moral problems that people face throughout their existence.

Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., is Head of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at Texas A&M University. William G. Holzberger is Professor of English at Bucknell University. Irving Singer is Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Customer Reviews:

To be or not to be.......2004-03-18

Our hero has everything - intelligence, beauty, wealth, education, wisdom, steadfastness, imagination, an athlete's grace and strength - but somehow that is not enough and this is the story of his unfolding consciousness and gradual recognition of fatal spiritual strengths and weaknesses. This sounds very dull, but one is wonderfully swept along from an overprotected childhood in New England, to his father's yacht and to English student life at Oxford. Oliver cannot be called a wit, a social lion or a womanizer; but he admires those who are, and two of his close friends are merry, sophisticated men of the world. A thoughtful, well-endowed young man with time on his hands, he seeks the meaning of life from a certain distance, and we explore this theme with him from many fascinating angles. He does suffer. His father considers him weak and indecisive and his mother thinks him heartless and inconsiderate; he fights to gain his independence from them both and succeeds. He despairs and agonizes over his course of action, scrutinizes his motives for hypocrisy, dishonesty and self-delusion. Aesthetic beauty, ethics, the spiritual life and poetry are centrally recurring themes. Love also is explored. Our poor hero who has everything turns out to be the most awkward, ungainly, pathetic wooer imaginable. But Oliver is worth it all, and you emerge heartened and profoundly enriched by having known him and survived the various turns of his exacting life.

Idealist.......2003-11-11

THE LAST PURITAN is a sort of education of Oliver Alden. The atmosphere of the work is that of a Henry James novel. Initially the chief subject is Nathaniel Alden. Unitarianism has replaced prayers at breakfast with wholesome food. The book is cool and funny. Nathaniel Alden is an awful snob and is supernaturally quiet and unengaged. He has vowed to abstain from carriage travel and so must walk. He lives in Boston in the Back Bay.

His younger brother Peter is being sent to camp in the west prior to beginning preparation for Harvard at Exeter. The camp life in Wyoming is to Peter a godsend after living under the dictates of Nathaniel. Genuine cowboys would sometimes ride into the camp. Peter grows up to attend Harvard and to acquire a medical degree. He never practices medicine. His son Oliver is born. His wife is from Great Falls, Connecticut. Oliver manages to escape almost all the ills of childhood. He has a foreign governess, a German woman.

While boating with his father, Oliver is given THE LEAVES OF GRASSS to read. Oliver and his father visit an old kinsman, Caleb Wetherbee. During the winter Caleb resides on Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill. He is a cripple and has adopted the Catholic religion and has become highly knowledgeable about European matters. He invites Oliver to to participate in his Sunday evening parties when Oliver attends Harvard. Observers find Caleb's deep religious interests to be a clear case of sublimation.

Olivers's mother is apt to take no notice of genius or style, she is concerned with social propriety. Oliver, invited by his father to spend a year abroad, makes a decision to stay at his day school in Connecticut and live with his mother for the final year before college. He also decides that Williams College is good enough for him. He fears that universities are filled with snobs. Football more than anything else restores Oliver's conventional tone after spending time with his father and his father's companion Jim.

Oliver does spend the summer with his father and learns that his will has been ripped up and that the older man fears he is dying. Oliver promises Jim he will take care of him notwithstanding the fact that some of Jim's conduct shocks him. Oliver learns to punt. He meets his cousin Mario at Eton. Mario's grandmother is Peter Alden's sister. Oliver and Peter are detained at Eton when Peter falls ill. Peter is pleased to see that his son is so wide awake intellectually. Oliver feels a need to justify his natural sympathies theoretically. Peter dies.

Two years later Mario and Oliver see each other in Manhattan and in Cambridge. Both of the cousins are attending Harvard. Oliver, spending three years at Williams, suffers a football injury and decides to rededicate himself to his studies in the wider academic setting of Harvard. Oliver never flinches in his determination to pursue higher things. At Harvard through chance Oliver occupies the room occupied previously by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Santayana himself is a character in this tale, a member of the philosophy department at Harvard. Oliver joins in the fighting of World War I. He is described as an ascetic without faith. When Oliver dies, Mario is the executor of Oliver's will. Mario tells the supposed biographer of Oliver in the epilogue that he idealizes Oliver and makes him too complex.

The book is very satisfying. It raises issues that are still pertinent. It is scarcely dated at all.

Thinking Person's Catcher in the Rye.......2000-06-05

This is the finest coming of age novel in the known and unknown universe. It has everything..philosophy, memoirs of a world gone by, lots of quirkiness, and a great sense of heart. The best thing of all..is to have a copy of the 1936 edition. The yellowed pages of the edition are a perfect touch for a book written about time gone by.GREAT

A beautiful and moving novel of ideas.......1998-10-14

One of the finest books of the 20th century, The Last Puritan was a sensation when published in the 1930's. It tells the triumph and tragedy of Oliver Alden, a youth born into a strict, "Progressive" Unitarian family in late 19th Century Boston. As his life progesses, he struggles to reconcile the harsh idealism in which he was raised with the beautifully chaotic nature of the real world. This conflict gives Santayana the ability to discuss God, love, morality, politics and the permanence of human nature all without ever losing sight of one man's heroic and tragic attempt to find his place in a world not meant for him. The Last Puritan remains the only book that has ever driven me to tears, and the only novel that has ever truly changed my life. If you've ever counted yourself a "lost soul" in the world, this book will hit home like nothing you've ever read.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Library of Latin America)

Average customer rating:

Brilliant
Brazil's upper class changed almost nothing, in 130 years
Wanna know about life after death? Wrong way!
Ahead of its time
A hilarious remembrance of things past

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Library of Latin America)
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis , and Gilberto Pinheiro Passos
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195101707

Amazon.com

Fans of Latin American literature will be thrilled by Oxford University Press's new translations of works by 19th-century Brazilian author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. His novels are both heartbreaking and comic; his limning of a colonial Brazil in flux is both perceptive and remarkably modern. The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas is written as an autobiography, a chronicle of the erotic misadventures of its narrator, Brás Cubas--who happens to be dead. In pursuit of love and progeny, Cubas rejects the women who want him and aspires to the ones who reject him. In the end, he dies unloved and without heirs, yet he somehow manages to turn this bitter pill into a victory of sorts. What makes Memoirs stand up 100 years after the book was written is Machado's biting humor, brilliant prose, and profound understanding of all the vagaries of human behavior.

Book Description

"Be aware that frankness is the prime virtue of a dead man," writes the narrator of The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. But while he may be dead, he is surely one of the liveliest characters in fiction, a product of one of the most remarkable imaginations in all of literature, Brazil's greatest novelist of the nineteenth century, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. By turns flippant and profound, The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is the story of an unheroic man with half-hearted political ambitions, a harebrained idea for curing the world of melancholy, and a thousand quixotic theories unleashed from beyond the grave. It is a novel that has influenced generations of Latin American writers but remains refreshingly and unforgettably unlike anything written before or after it. Newly translated by Gregory Rabassa and superbly edited by Enylton de Sa Rego and Gilberto Pinheiro Passos, this Library of Latin America edition brings to English-speaking readers a literary delight of the highest order.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant.......2007-07-08

brilliant, savage, heart-wrenching, hilarious, post-modern a century before its time -- there are simply not enough words to describe this novel's genius. It is a masterpiece of social criticism. If you're waffling about reading this novel, waffle no more: it will shake your world.

Brazil's upper class changed almost nothing, in 130 years.......2007-04-24

I read this book, here in Brazil, about twenty years ago.This book even being a fiction, could have be a biography, about a brazilian upper class man.
Being writen in XIX Century, this book remains usefull.Since when this book was writen, slavery became over and tecnology changed the brazilian life.The best in this book is to show, how almost nothing was changed, in brazilian upper class' mentality in almost 140 years later.Such as brazilian upper class today, Bras Cubas hates the poors, he doesn't like to work, everything he does is bad or a failure,etc.

Wanna know about life after death? Wrong way!.......2004-03-09

The story begins by the end, literally,by showing the end of the narrator's life. From this moment on we are compelled to see how his life had been, his evaluations, regrets and happy moments. Read to whom (or "which") he dedicates the book. There's a movie version that is perfect and hillarious! A must read if you like dark, but still extremely intelligent, humor.

Ahead of its time.......2003-05-17

Although most people identify Brazilian literature with the vivid regionalism of Jorge Amado or (more recently) the mystical blabber of Paulo Coelho, Brazilian critics have long hailed Machado de Assis as the country's greatest writer and with good reason. This book is vivid proof of Machado's genius: deeply perceptive of human nature as in much of his work, but also radically innovative in style, displaying many traces of modernism some 30 - 40 years ahead of time. How else to characterize the chapter on the "Ancient Dialogue between Adam and Eve" (LV), written solely with punctuation? Or the one-sentence "useless" chapter (CXXXVI): "Unless I'm very much mistaken, I've just written an utterly useless chapter." The style is not without substance. Machado's trenchant insights on human nature and unabashed social criticism are brilliantly displayed in this work.

Machado's own view of the book was that it was too serious and deep for the frivolous and too playful and radical for the erudite readers of the time, and concluded in his usual pessimism that it would have "perhaps five" readers. Since the book continues to accumulate "fives and fives" of readers, perhaps humankind, like the flawed Brás Cubas, is also a "small winner" after all.

Factoid about the chapter size: As other reviewers noted, the book has numerous short chapters. One chief reason for this was that Machado was afflicted by epileptic attacks and could not write for extended periods.

A hilarious remembrance of things past.......2001-02-23

This excellent and extremely original novel marked the transition from Romanticism to an authentically Brazilian literature. Written in very short chapters, it is the autobiography dictated from his grave, of a wealthy bachelor, his love affairs, his rompy relationship with his family, his friendship with the extravagant philosopher Quincas Borba (the subject of another novel), his political ambitions and delusions and his -very- particular view of the world. The style is concise, sarcastic, hilarious, cynical and he's constantly sustaining a dialogue with the reader. In a way, it is a novel rewritten in every read, since it seems to be written by the author AND the reader.

This novel accurately portrays the enivronment of upper classes in Rio de Janeiro in the middle XIX century. But note that, despite being funny and comical, in the background there is always a tone of sadness and pessimism. It is an intelligent, bittersweet and excellent work of literary art. Read it and you'll be much rewarded.

Average customer rating:

Buffett, Always entertaining and feel good

fantastic story teller

bad book

Tales from Margaritaville, by Jimmy Buffett

Tales from Margaritaville

Tales from Margaritaville: Fictional Facts and Factual Fictions
Jimmy Buffett
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Where Is Joe Merchant? A Novel Tale

A Pirate Looks at Fifty

A Salty Piece of Land

The Jolly Mon: Book and Musical CD

Don't Stop the Carnival: A Novel

ASIN: 0151879834

Book Description

"Entertaining...The whole volume is a tribue to Buffett's storytelling skills and his essentially sunny, manana-influenced worldview."
THE HOUSTON POST
Just where is Margaritaville, anyway? It's not on a map, that's for sure. But it does exist, in the brilliantly creative imagination of singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. TALES FROM MARGARITAVILLE is a collection so vividly packed with restless dreamers, wild wanderers, and pure gypsy souls that just reading it is an adventure itself.

Customer Reviews:

Buffett, Always entertaining and feel good.......2007-03-29

if you are expecting deep thoughts and thoughtful prose, close the cover! Jimmy breathes his homespun, key-lime pie and cool breeze style to a cast of delightful characters and enchanting settings. Fun to read!

fantastic story teller.......2007-03-09

Jimmy Buffett is a fantastic story teller and I love his books and songs. He is a complete entertainer, I haven't yet seen any of his concerts due to they a very pricey. The price is usually a lot out of my price range but I have a lot of his tapes and CDS. I have a cassette deck in two vehicles and a CD player in the other, so I have his music in two forms.

bad book.......2007-02-10

First of all, I love Jimmy Buffett. I've been to a bunch of concerts, and I am a big Parrot Head. But Jimmy Is a lousy writer. I mean, his writing skills are simply terrible. I felt like I was reading a book written by a 12 year old. Not only that, but the story line is terrible. I know other Parrot heads will tear me apart over this review, but honestly the man can't write. Sorry Jimmy and friends.

Tales from Margaritaville, by Jimmy Buffett.......2006-11-06

Very good read. I learned more about a wonderfull lifestyle.

Tales from Margaritaville.......2006-09-15

I loved this book! The first third is made up of a series of short stories that are linked together by characters and locations. They are also tied to Where is Joe Merchant?, a novel by Buffett that I highly recommend. The second third are stories that are probably somewhere between fiction and fact. The main character is clearly Buffett but the events don't add up or are presented as dream sequences. The final third are clearly non-fiction memories of Buffett. All of these stories are entertaining and fun to read.

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