Book Description
When Canadian journalist Stephanie Williams set out to discover her Russian grandmother’s long-lost history, what she unearthed was this stunning, sprawling portrait of a life lived on the grand stage of the 20th century.
Born in remote Siberia in 1900, Olga Yunter was the youngest of five children. As a teenager during the Revolution, she was a courier and arms-runner for the White Russians. After learning of the execution of her brother at the hands of the Red Army, which drew nearer every day, her father sent her to China with rubies and gold sewn into her petticoats. She would never see her family again.
The life of a Russian exile in China meant poverty and fear. But Olga was lucky. She met and married Fred Edney, and gave birth to their daughter, Irina, the author’s mother. But the creeping Japanese occupation and invasion of China forced Olga to flee with Irina to Canada, leaving Fred behind to continue working. For five years she heard almost nothing of her husband, save that he was alive in a Japanese prison camp. At the end of the war she returned to China to find him broken by his internment. The family was driven out of the country for good by the Chinese Revolution in 1949. They settled in Oxford, where Olga and Fred lived out the rest of their days.
Drawing on letters, diaries, government documents, and interviews, Stephanie Williams brings to life this gripping historical drama, sweeping in scope and illuminated by the intimate details of one woman’s extraordinary life.
Customer Reviews:
Compelling Story, Fascinating Woman.......2006-01-04
I have never read a more compelling story. The author's grandmother Olga was a fascinating woman who led a remarkable life spanning three continents. Ms. Williams has woven the stories Olga told her over the years together with extensive research to create a vivid biography. It is filled with human drama and rich history -- much of it unfamiliar to Westerners. Lively, artful writing enhances this extraordinary book which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.
An engrossing narrative of the 20th Century in turmoil.......2005-08-25
The machinations of war and revolution come alive as the threads of one family's life are interwoven throughout the history of two World Wars, the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of Communism.
This book was especially poignant for me: my grandmother too was born in Russia. White Russian or Red, ordinary people were capriciously affected by the power struggle. Coincidentally,I read the book while on a two week trip to Shanghai, China and walked along the Bund (where some of the old buildings still remain standing) imagining the countless people affected by the Japanese invasion and by Mao's rise to power. I've also visited Victoria in beautiful British Columbia, Canada where Olga temporarily took refuge.
This book has given me an understanding at how quickly events change. I pray that the free world will never again be overrun by those who wish to impose their views on society.
Average customer rating:
- A notable contribution to World War II literature
- A MUST READ ON THE TOPIC OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY
- Great Pick-me-up for strong women and the men who love them!
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One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the Wac (Texas a&M University Military History Series, No 12)
Charity Adams Earley
Manufacturer: Texas a & M Univ Pr
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To Serve My Country, to Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African-American WACS Stationed Overseas During World War II
ASIN: 0890963754 |
Customer Reviews:
A notable contribution to World War II literature.......2005-01-01
"One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC," by Charity Adams Earley, is a memoir by a pioneering African-American soldier of the Women's Army Corps (WAC) of the United States Army. The bulk of the book focuses on the period from July 1942 to December 1945, and details her service both in the continental U.S. and in the European theater of operations.
The author looks back at the assignments she held, which included being on the staff of the WAC training center in Des Moines and commanding a battalion-size postal unit overseas. She also recalls the time when the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was transformed into the WAC, thus becoming "an official branch of the army."
Earley tells her story in a straightforward manner. She recalls many humorous and/or ironic incidents that happened along the way, as well as some appalling examples of racial prejudice and insensitivity that she faced. I was also very interested by the leadership challenges that she encountered as she rose up the ranks. She also looks at some of the very practical issues regarding the incorporation of women in the military, such as providing them with proper uniforms.
The book is richly illustrated throughout. There are photos of some of the historic documents from the author's career. There are also over 40 photos detailing her service and showing many of the other soldiers--black and white, male and female, officer and enlisted--with whom she served. I particularly enjoyed the photos showing the African-American women soldiers in action. Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley was a true military trailblazer, and I was absolutely fascinated by the story she tells here. Inspiring and educational, this book is a valuable contribution to the fields of women's studies, African-American studies, and military history. Recommended companion text: "A Black Woman's Civil War Memoirs," by Susie King Taylor.
A MUST READ ON THE TOPIC OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY.......2004-10-22
This is one of the outstanding memoirs written by women who have served in the US Army. Charity Adams Early was the first African American woman to receive a commission in the WAC during World War II, and later became the commander of the 6888th Central Postal Directory, the only black WAC unit sent overseas. She frankly discusses the problems faced by black WACS, including segregation in training and unit assignment, and the prejudices she faced. Highly recommended.
Great Pick-me-up for strong women and the men who love them!.......2001-02-26
I am a terrible reader and don't often finish books I start. This book interested me through and through. If you are a woman in the military, or know a woman in the military, then you need to read this book. The perspective on life in Charity Adams' Army is a wonderful change from the Hollywood versions of wartime service we see all around us. This book brings you inside and behind the scenes of very important and worthwhile missions. Reading about the strides Charity Adams made in her time (and now with this book) make me so proud of her not only as a negro WAC officer, but as a soldier and a leader! I highly recommend this book for yourself and for a gift to other strong women in your life!
Book Description
At the end of her life, Frances Osborne’s one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother Lilla was as elegant as ever–all fitted black lace and sparkling-white diamonds. To her great-grandchildren, Lilla was both an ally and a mysterious wonder. Her bedroom was filled with treasures from every exotic corner of the world. But she rarely mentioned the Japanese prison camps in which she spent much of World War II, or the elaborate cookbook she wrote to help her survive behind the barbed wire.
Beneath its polished surface, Lilla’s life had been anything but effortless. Born in 1882 to English parents in the beautiful North China port city of Chefoo, Lilla was an identical twin. Growing up, she knew both great privilege and deprivation, love and its absence. But the one constant was a deep appreciation for the power of food and place. From the noodles of Shanghai to the chutney of British India and the roasts of England, good food and sensuous surroundings, Lilla was raised to believe, could carry one a long way toward happiness. Her story is brimming with the stuff of good fiction: distant locales, an improvident marriage, an evil mother-in-law, a dramatic suicide, and two world wars.
Lilla’s remarkable cookbook, which she composed while on the brink of starvation, makes no mention of wartime rations, of rotten vegetables and donkey meat. In the world this magical food journal, now housed in the Imperial War Museum in London, everyone is warm and safe in their homes, and the pages are filled with cream puffs, butterscotch, and comforting soup. In its writing, Lilla was able to transform the darkest moments into scrumptious escape.
Lilla’s Feast is a rich evocation of a bygone world, the inspiring story of an ordinary woman who tackled the challenges life threw in her path with an extraordinary determination.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
The Rise and Fall of a British Colonial .......2007-07-09
"Lilla's Feast" describes a time not so very long ago that seems impossibly distant. The world-wide expansion of European colonialism in the 19th century caused thousands of people, especially British, to seek their fortunes in the colonies and the trading emporiums in the exotic East, especially India and China. Lilla, the great-grandmother of the author was one of them. She was born in Chefoo, China in 1882 and spent most of her life in China or India.
Lilla never did anything of great importance, but she stands for all the Brits born and raised abroad who felt a bit foreign when they returned "home" to England on visits. During the course of her 100-year life Lilla was present during the peak of Western power and prestige in the Orient before 1900 and its rapid decline thereafter culminating in World War II in which Lilla and her family ended up in a Japanese concentration camp.
We follow Lilla through marriages, births,deaths, family troubles in India and China, the hardships of Weihsien internee camp in China during World War II, and finally back to an uneasy old age in England -- the money, power, and prestige of life as a privileged Westener in China now gone. It's a good story to be read about a class of people who saw their pleasant lives and lucrative livelihoods destroyed by war and politics. We don't feel all that sorry for Lilla, nor even that fond of her, but we are interested in her experiences. Along the way we get some fascinating pictures of the life of Brits in China -- and especially the hardships of Weihsien, a concentration camp that has catalyzed a sizeable body of literature. See "The Call" by John Hersey, a novel about a missionary who is interned in Weihsien and "Shantung Compound" by Lawrence Gilkey, a sociological classic about people under the stress of imprisonment.
Smallchief
A Remarkable Story.......2006-12-06
This is one of the most amazing stories that I have recently read. The book is beautifully produced, and the Author has gone to an enormous amount of trouble in collecting photographs and information concerning her Great Grandmother, who defied every hardship she faced. This incredible Lady lived to the age of 100, having survived a Japanese concentration camp in World War 2, preceded by other trials and tribulations. Her story is an object lesson to us all, in how not to give in, how to keep going whatever the circumstances that life brings to us. The early days of her first Marriage tell us how to keep a man happy even though she had a miserable time with him!!!This is a book to be read again and again, a wonderful read and most inspiring.
Split decision.......2006-10-03
What we have here is a woman's life spanning just over 100 years. Lilla is not a particularly likeable woman, but if you digest the details you can see why (possibly). She is an interesting woman who weathered particularly exhausting situations and managed her life so that she did what was expedient.
This book has numerous photographs.
The book isn't well-written or edited. That aside, the details of survival, one way or another, are quite out of the ordinary and at times fascinating. It became even more so when I realized I had actually seen this cookbook when I was lucky enough to come across it several years ago at the Imperial War Museum. It was a nice , unexpected connection. And I have never before read of the Japanese prison camp existence within China. An easy read of eras gone by.
The story of Lila's life will stay with you..........2006-05-19
The previous review which reviles the colonial bias of this biography has little relevance ... this is the world as it was then and the story is not being told to address the right or wrong of it, but rather to tell the story of the author's great grandmother in the grand sweep of WWII. The woman in this incredible story makes the best of deprivations and a bad marriage and far flung family, circumstances take her from her beloved China to England, India, all of this in that bygone time with none of todays conveniences and she remained a figure of dignity and elegance who also has experiences of sublime beauty and love... I think this little masterpiece will make its way into your heart and stay there, it did with me.
A very good read if you're in the mood to feel sympathetic .......2005-05-29
But I for one was not. The book is steeped in a bias towards colonialism. The tone of the book encourages the reader to think of the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians as faceless "others" surrounding the more civilised and elegant British and European populations, only to be depicted in elementary-school-textbook-like passages about historical events.
Although the author's inclination to view her great-grandmother as a victim of nearly everyone and everything (fate as well!)is certainly understandable, it hardly makes for captivating reading. The writing style is a dry mix of "facts" derived from personal effects and sheer speculation.
This book is based upon a recipe book which was donated to a British museum.... as opposed to the priceless artifacts which Britain so self-righteously helped itself to during it's tyrannical episode of colonization... and still doesn't feel the need to return.
I suppose it's hardly possible to expect an unbiased view of colonization from the wife of the youngest conservative member of Parliament, but one can hope.
Book Description
In September of 1939, Countess Karolina Lanckoronska, wealthy landowner and professor of art history, watched the Soviet army march into Poland. After joining the resistance, she was arrested, sentenced to death, and held in Ravensbrueck concentration camp. There she taught art history to other women who, like her, might be dead in a few days. This brilliantly written memoir records a neglected side of World War II: the mass murder of Poles, the serial horrors inflicted by both Russians and Nazis, and the immense courage of those who resisted.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing book!.......2007-07-04
This is a missing link in WW2 history taught in the US.WW2 wasn't just about Jews. They suffered a lot and everybody knows it but nobody have any idea that during that war 25% of Polish nation was killed by Germans, Russians and Ukrainians.
Should serve as an inspiring, outstanding addition to Holocaust literature.......2007-06-09
In 1939 the author was a wealthy landowner and professor of art history, and also witness to the Soviet army's march into Poland as the Nazis staged their invasion from the west. She joined the resistance and was captured and sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp - there to teach art history to other women who believed they would soon die. Her account discusses the mass murder of Poles and the ability to survive the most inhumane conditions, and should serve as an inspiring, outstanding addition to Holocaust literature for any collection seeking expanded views from eyewitness survivors.
A Gentile's concentration camp experience.......2007-06-02
Having read numerous accounts of the Holocaust, primarily from the Jewish point of view, I felt this book was a valuable addition to World War Two & even Holocaust literature, even though it is from a Gentile's point of view. It details the wartime [World War Two] experiences of a Polish aristocrat, Karolina Lanckoronska who was actively involved in resistance activities against the Nazis. Quite a bit of the book is devoted to detailing her resistance activities. These eventually get her labelled an undesirable and she gets sent off to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Her indefatigable spirit is evident in her lively outlook despite the horrors and bleakness around her. Her account of life in Ravensbruck is immensely valuable to enhancing our understanding of Nazi atrocities...female prisoners being subjected to horrific medical experiments, the infamous selections that make day to day living unberable for no one knew when death would come knocking, the rampant diseases that besieged the camp, all these horrors are vividly described in Countess Lanckoronska's account. Despite the worst living conditions imaginable, she was able to bring some measure of hope and light by teaching art etc. Her courage in standing up to the Nazis is inspiring and her account is a valuable addition to anyone interested in World War Two history & Nazi atrocities.
A Polish Countess defies the Nazis.......2007-05-27
This well written book is a cliff-hanger, a tear jerker and the most frightening lesson in the behaviour of supposedly civilized races.
It should be mandatory reading for all schools and universities in the free world. The bestial atrocities detailed in its pages need to be shown in the light of day so that public conscience ensures that they never be repeated.
The author's incredible faith and determination shine through, as does the spirit of the Polish people.
This might be the most comprehensive and detailed report ever written by a survivor.
An Arresting Tale, Calmly Told.......2007-05-11
Let's clear the air first.
It is a shame that Amazon has decided to highlight Susie Lindfield's rather unfortunate review of "Michelangelo in Ravensbruck" from the Washington Post's Book World. While Ms Lindfield's credentials would appear suitable to the task, her product (the review) certainly leaves one wondering by what tortured lens she viewed Karolina Lanckoronska's book.
If you have read the Lindfield review, consider then this passage from the second paragraph of the book's prologue: "My memoir is meant to be a report -- and only a report -- of what I witnessed during the Second World War. I know that others have lived through a great deal more than myself. I was never in Auschwitz or Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, I also know that every first-hand account contributes fresh detail to the picture of those years."
If only Lindfield demonstrated an understanding of those few words.
Those are the words of an historian -- because that is what Lanckoronska was. This book clearly demonstrates the historian's perspective, and the understanding that individual narrative has great value to researchers, those passionate about history and learning, and perhaps even the merely curious.
The puzzling thing about the Lindfield review is that it seems she would be more satisfied if this was a work of fiction that she could complain about for not fitting into her concept of history. The problem is that the events in this "story" happened -- and to the storyteller, not Ms Lindfield. To that extent, Ms Lindfield shows herself to be in a mild state of denial. Additionally, her review shows me no understanding of the importance of teasing out individualized threads of experienced history, and then placing them in context within that complex fabric of history -- not macerated into a homogenized "pour" of history.
I strongly recommend that you read John Carey's review from the Sunday Times (of London), published 12 FEB 06, or on the web at:
[...]
(If that link doesn't work, go to the Timesonline site and search for "Lanckoronska".) Carey's review has the advantage of actually telling you more about the book than about the reviewer.
The book itself? You certainly won't find flowery passages and gripping drama. But not so fast. Lanckoronska is a historian -- an art historian by education who later turned her talents to Polish art and culture. So perhaps her prose is a little dry. You can almost imagine a woman, speaking aloud from notes, going through this part of her life for you step by step. But as you become accustomed to her style, events emerge that surprise. Something as innocuous as a car breakdown is delivered in the same tone as a later scene were she realizes that she is witnessing fellow Poles being herded into lorries and heading for the execution grounds in the woods. More than once I had to stop reading just to let those scenes sink in.
This book is valuable because it snatches our attention away from the homogenized pour of World War Two and Nazi history that we have been spoon fed all these years. It understands the enormity and incomprehensibility of the Holocaust, while taking you into the places that Western European and North American histories are only just beginning to touch -- over 60 years after the fall of Hitler's Berlin.
At the back of the book are endnotes for each chapter (which, in future editions, I wish they would convert to footnotes) by the author or the editors. Fascinating too are the appendices which include the names of the Lwow professors that were murdered, and short biographies of major characters in this book. Just within those short biographies is a chilling reminder of the overt criminality of the Nazi regime, and all those that chose to follow it.
For students of recent Polish history, this is a must-have volume. And for anyone who would like another perspective on what happened in Poland, the Ukraine, and Germany between 1939 and 1945 -- especially to provide richer context for understanding the depths to which humanity seemed to plunge during that period -- I highly recommend "Michelangelo in Ravensbruck".
And let's make this very clear: A better understanding of this period of time from Karolina Lanckoronska's perspective in no way (at least for a moderately intelligent reader) diminishes the totality of those horrible years.
Book Description
The story of Stella Goldschlag, whom Wyden knew as a child, and who later became notorious as a "catcher" in wartime Berlin, hunting down hundreds of hidden Jews for the Nazis. A harrowing chronicle of Stella's agonizing choice, her three murder trials, her reclusive existence, and the trauma inherited by her illegitimate daughter in Israel.
16 pages of B&W photographs.
Customer Reviews:
A Question of Guilt.......2006-07-13
Wyden mixes personal reminiscences about his youthful schoolboy infatuation with schoolmate Stella with a history of the persecution of Jews in Berlin and Stella's ever duplicitous role in it. Ultimately, he portrays a pathetic, lonely and isolated woman who refuses to acknowledge any guilt, real or alledged, or personal responsibility in betraying Jews to the Gestapo.
This book is history and personal anecdote while concurrently begging thought provoking questions about guilt and capitulation. One could easily conclude that had Stella been born in a different place at a different time she would have been a totally ordinary person living out an uneventful life. Sometimes it almost seems that Wyden wants to believe this too. For her part, she claims that even had there been any cooperation with the Gestapo it was to spare the lives of her parents. Is she guilty out of concern for her parents (they ultimately perished) and therefore somewhat forgiven by the "I was just obeying orders" defense so frequently echoed throughout World War II and VietNam; or is she guilty because an ordinary person was born into and negatively impacted by the truly bizarre and cruel world of 1940s Berlin?
Stella is ultimately a disturbing portrait of a truly personal human tragedy; her own and those who suffered for it.
Blond Betrayer.......2006-04-30
Few can match the infamous Blond Poison, Stella Goldschlag, who stalked the alleys of Berlin seeking former friends, School Classmates and neighbers as as well as total strangers not out of loneliness but in order to betray them and send them to the Gas Chambers to be murdered in her place during the Holocaust. She well deserves her reputation as a Judas to the Jews of Berlin, the men, women and children whom she betrayed by the score to preserve her own life.
This book is basicly her story. Written by a former classmate.
It details much of her early life to the best of the author's knowledge. It then goes on to describe her career as a Griefer, one of the scores of Jews who openly chose to assist the Gestapo finding the Jews in hiding so to deport them to the death camps in exchange for their own survival.
A career in which Stella Goldschlag was one of the Gestapo's best.
One could compare her to the infamous Blond Irma Grese (who is not mentioned in this book) but Wyden shows her life was a far cry from nightmare that of the infamous Blond Beast's. She was not mistreated. Her mother spoiled her. Her father hardly interfered. She certainly had contact with better men in the beginning. A far cry from the horrors of Irma Grese's nightmare life that ultimately exploded with deadly fury upon the inmates of Auschwitz with all the savagery of a mistreated dog.
When one looks at the infamous Blond Poison and her Domestic Partner Rolf Isaacson one finds no reason to sympathise with them at all. They did what they did as a matter of choice. Wyden even reports the infamous Blond Poison enjoyed her work.
This is the story of one woman's choice in Evil.
Mr. Wyden finds the painful truth about a childhood friend........2000-09-07
I do not wish to hurt anyone who has suffered from the holocaust by writing this review, nor do I want dishonor anyone who was destroyed by it. I am only making an observation about what happened to this woman named Stella. Stella was a beautiful blonde girl who reached early maturity during WWII in Berlin. She was Jewish, but with her blue eyes she could easily pass for a gentile. When Hitler started his personal war against Jews, he initiated the most horrible and beastly experience that could happen to human beings. With his henchmen, and their vicious attacks on Jews and other peoples, he pushed people into emotional dungeons, and it is at these dark, these lowest levels, that we discover what we are really capable of doing. In his painful memoir of his experiences of the holocaust, Elie Weisel, shows us in Night, that when the Nazis tossed tiny bits of bread to starving Jews, many of them killed for that one morsel of food, sometimes ending the lives of their loved ones for a chance to put something in their mouths. For me, this book was about survival. No one knows what they are capable of unless they are taken to that horrifying nightmare place of doom, and unless one has been there, there is absolutely no way of knowing what our choices would be. Many would argue that Stella did not get to the extremes that occurred in the death camps. But we do know that she was beaten over and over and over again. And then she was offered a chance to have it all end by being a "catcher" for the Nazis. We know that other Jews committed suicide to avoid the beatings and the offer of becoming a catcher to stay alive. I can only thank God that I have never had to be in such a situation, because I don't know what I would do. How could I know? I do know that I have a very strong instinct to live, and I think that may have been why Stella took the path that she did. I believe, that in making that choice, she did lose her "soul." I think that is the only way that a human being could do what she did. For Stella did not only "catch" Jews for the Nazis, many eyewitnesses said she seemed to enjoy it. I think for anyone to make that "choice" you would have to put your entire being into it in order to perform those horrible crimes. In the end, I think Stella suffered far more than if she had allowed herself to die at the hands of the Nazis. At the age of about 21, she began the life of a person who is hated by virtually everyone she had ever known and anyone she would ever meet. She lives her life constantly attempting to convince herself that she didn't do anything wrong. She lives in total seclusion, with the lights always dim, year after year with no one to love her, no one to hold her, no one to console her. And still she survived into old age. Survival was Stella's strongest urge. It kept her alive to live a lifelong death, the death of her humanity, with the destruction of hundreds, perhaps thousands on her hands. Would I choose survival? In retrospect, had I been a "Stella," I can only pray that I would have had the ability to accept my death at the hands of the Nazis.
A gripping and unforgettable book.......1999-02-23
This book is well worth seeking out, even if it is out of print.
What makes it all the more fascinating is that the author grew up with the subject of the biography. The text seems meandering at first, but the interweaving of his story -- and that of Stella -- comes sharply into focus, as the writer shares his innermost thoughts.
Although he does not make Stella blameless, he does demonstrate empathy for her -- in the end, she lives but has lost her soul. She is an unforgetable character. Striking, too, are the many `supporting' characters Wyden introduces to us, brave and courageous Jews who survived in Berlin through much of the war and, in some cases, all of it. These individual stories are striking, heart-warming, sometimes funny, and always unforgetable. I found the book as engrossing as a fictional thriller, truly a `can't put down' item! Don't miss it!
A sickening but outstanding account.......1998-09-15
When I first read this book I was sickened that someone could do this to their own people. It also shows the weaknesses of the Nazis and their "ideal" person because many Jews fit the profile of the "perfect Aryan". In the end God works in wonderous and mysterious ways. Stella got what she deserved when her daughter was taken from her by the Jewish community of Berlin and raised as a Jew. It is a must read for those interested in World War II and the Holocaust.
Book Description
Anne wrote weekly letters to her parents back in Minnesota, chronicling a familiar yet uncommon wartime story of patriotism, travel, homesickness, army procedures, off-duty high jinks, family bonds, and boredom. Her eye for detail and her easy, candid style make these letters a treasure for those who want to know about the war years-and for those who remember them all too well.
Book Description
In an outspoken memoir -- all the more powerful in light of recent discoveries -- Janis Karpinski reveals the true story of the tragic and shameful events of 2004 from her first-hand experience as commanding general in Iraq.Karpinski was the only female general officer commanding troops in a combat zone in Iraq. Although she had no training in handling criminal prisoners, she was selected to run Abu Ghraib. Now Karpinski takes us inside the prison walls and describes what it was like to interact with the Iraqi prisoners, the corruption within the armed forces, and her meeting with Saddam Hussein, who refused to believe that a woman could be in charge.Co-written with Newsweek correspondent Steven Strasser, she forcefully argues that the bulk of the blame for the Abu Ghraib scandal goes to the very top of the chain of command -- to Lieutenant General Sanchez, Ambassador Bremer, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- and tells why she has been made the scapegoat. Hers is a story of military leaders run amok and a moving portrait of a woman who spent her life defying the odds.
Customer Reviews:
An look from the top.......2007-06-21
General Janis Karpinski, commander of the U.S. military prison in Iraq, provides her personal account of the corruption and failures in the chain of command that permitted prisoner abuse to occur. She discusses her inexperience in running a prison, lack of disciplined guards, and use of private firms.
Though she spends a bit of the book on the army's preference for male soldiers in combat related arms, the book rings true. You can see how Karpinski and her people had too many responsibilities and too few people. The cover-up lasted for three months and then she contends that the blame was shifted to her. She feels she was the sacrificial lamb because of the fact that she was not regular army and an expendable woman. Yet the army did think she earned a star, so how expandable was she before this incident happened. The book is a fast read.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.......2007-04-26
As far as an entertaining read, it was great! I loved the large font, color photos, and of course, the interesting anecdotes. What everyone is forgetting is that we are reviewing the BOOK, not her, or her message. Though personally, I find her to be extraordinary. If you are looking for a light, interesting read, pick this book up. If you started off hating her, you might be blindsighted by your emotions anyway so no amount of information is going to help you. Just don't bother reading it. If, however, you feel neutral about her role in the scandal, by all means, read it, listen to her message, pay attention that she mentions several times her faults in the scandal, and enjoy the fast paced read.
A recommended pick for any female who would understand - or enter - the military........2006-12-12
ONE WOMAN'S ARMY: THE COMMANDING GENERAL OF ABU GHRAIB TELLS HER STORY considers the events of 2004, offering General Karpinski's first-hand account of not only her command of troops in a combat zone, but her experience of being a commanding female leader in the modern army. From how the scandal destroyed her career to her rise in the ranks, ONE WOMAN'S ARMY is a recommended pick for any female who would understand - or enter - the military.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
She tells the story that needs telling.......2006-09-19
First the book reads smoothly and quickly, providing a sense of the grit, determination, and personal integrity required to move up the chain of command as a woman in the army. Second, Janis reveals a peak behind the curtain of what is really going on on the ground in Iraq, and the decisions that were made which led us into our current intractable position in the Middle East. It's a sad commentary on our current administration that a woman who led with integrity was set up to take the fall for decisions that were made by General Sanchez and Donald Rumsfeld. Several of the men who made the decisions that led to the torture at Abu Ghraib were given medals for their service while she was stripped of her Commission. Janis Karpinski represents exactly the kind of person we want in our Army (I've actually met her in person and found her to be strong, intelligent, and concerned about the direction our country is heading). This book should be required reading for every citizen who cares about the future credibility of the United States on the world stage. The truth doesn't change and eventually we will come to understand how badly we have treated this brave woman who served her country with honor. More importantly we will understand how badly we have fumbled our responsibilites to the world in our mishandling of Iraq and the problems in the Middle east.
Ain't it the truth.......2006-09-04
She gives a believable insight to the nonchalant attitude of the higher military leaders that continue to this day. Many of us have fell victim to leader's incompetence and quest for promotion and the details she gives are accurate.
Her background is impressive and that alone should have been enough to get her through this deployment without incident. She knew what had to be done but could not get the male commanders to care about the situation. She broke testosterone barriers throughout her career but still took the hit when the male officers bailed after everything hit the fan.
Her book explains her elaborate and extensive background without gloating. Any commander in her position would have a difficult time and she describes in detail the walls and curtains put before her while she maintained her unit the best she could.
Beautiful insight to military leadership during an American occupation.
Product Description
A Beirut Heart is the unforgettable story of an American woman who lived amidst the Lebanese Civil War for eight years and through it all attempted to sustain a life with her Lebanese husband and two small children. Written by Cathy Sultan, the memoir offers a unique illustration of the unsung heroes of war the women who assume the awesome task of keeping the family united during war time. The book tells the story of how Sultan moved with her family in 1969 to Lebanon. For six years they led an ideal life experiencing the rich culture, exotic food and breathtaking landscape of the city located along the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. After the war began in 1975, their lives changed forever. Sultan recounts how she held the family together by comforting her children after bomb blasts and consoling her physician husband who spent his days treating wounded civilians. To keep sane, she used cooking as her tranquilizer. The unique narrative places us uncomfortably inside something we seldom consider the domestic element of civil war and leaves a permanent impression of the destroyed city and its resilient people.
Customer Reviews:
One woman's story.......2006-11-15
A Beirut Heart is a poignant memoir adeptly intertwining the political climate of Lebanon with the delicate and often mine-filled relationships that cross-cultural families experience. Cathy Sultan relates her experiences with vivid honesty.
In 1964 Cathy is drawn to the exotic culture of her soon to be husband, a Lebanese medical student. After their marriage and his residency, ignoring her family's apprehension and paying little attention to world politics, she and her husband move to Beirut with their two young children.
In 1975, after six delight-filled years war erupts, neighbors and life-long friends turn on each other, her neighborhood becomes a war zone and Cathy's life is irreversibly changed.
As she attempts to provide a secure home environment for her family, the dichotomy of trying to maintain a normal routine and a secure home environment for her family--while adjusting to newly acquired survival skills--doesn't escape her!
But, this is much more than a story of survival through war, it's about a family who discovers they are more alike than different, it's about their finding freedom to express themselves in their politics, their profession and their religion in the country they least wanted to identify with.
Armchair Interviews says: Very interesting perspective on cultural issues.
Life in an Arab civil war, here in Lebanon, now in Iraq.......2006-10-31
This book by an American who married a Lebanese doctor and lived in Beirut as the Lebanese civil war began and raged, describes in detail how people survived. The war was not constant; it flared violently for days and weeks and then lulled for days and weeks. Throughout her story, you are struck by the tragic and surreal aspects of it.
Sultan also describes the political machinations of Lebanon, and how each of the groups protected its own and came to hate the other groups. You also read stories that are very similar to what is now happening in Iraq. One group kills members of another group and then the other group retaliates. People are brutally tortured to death for nothing other than being in another sect or religion.
Sultan is hard on most of the groups who were politically involved in Lebanon. She strongly criticizes the Palestinians, Syrians, and Israelis and speaks about how simple the American thinking was. Lebanon was then and remains now a proxy battlefield where stronger nations pursue their interests.
The most disturbing part of the book is when she meets a French mercenary. Full of manners, he discloses that he has been hired as a sniper to randomly shoot people. His comment that it is nothing more than "a well-paying job" is unnerving. He has no political motives at all; his goal is to kill unknown innocents in order to satisfy the blood lust of his employer. The fact that the people he is currently talking to could be in his gun sights tomorrow seem to be inconsequential. I could not help thinking that as long as there are people with his attitude, war will never disappear.
The civil war in Lebanon was a tragedy, but it was also a precursor to what is now happening in Iraq. Large numbers of people are being killed as a consequence of the people splitting into factions, and right now there appears to be no end in sight. Read this book and learn how people try to cope with daily bombings and shootings and the occasional senseless death of a friend.
Good book, misleading title.......2006-03-15
Cathy Sultan offers a personal account that looks more like a biography. Since Sultan had spent most of her life in Beirut and remains nostalgic to that Middle Eastern city, the book is misleadingly called Beirut's Heart.
Sultan, an American who married a Lebanese studying in the US at young age and went to Beirut where she lived with him and his family, records her experience from days of her adolescence. Sultan was as rebellious as all young people her age at the time. When she married Sultan, she accompanied him on a new adventure as she went and lived in Beirut.
Shortly after she arrived, the Lebanese civil war started in 1975 and soon the country was divided into East Beirut and West Beirut. Cathy was living in the Eastern side.
Even though the book is a memoir, Cathy's style enriches it and makes of it a beautiful novel especially with her meticulous description of Lebanese items, food, lifestyle and other issues.
The book is entertaining yet it could have been much better had Cathy paid attention more to the political details and made sure to put each one of the horrible experiences that she told that she lived during the civil war in its political and historic context.
Average customer rating:
- Gripping story
- where is my review????
|
Stella : One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany
Peter Wyden
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Refuge in Hell: How Berlin's Jewish Hospital Outlasted the Nazis
ASIN: 0671673610 |
Customer Reviews:
Gripping story.......2005-03-14
The power of this book comes from the pity one feels for Stella, despite that she is guilty of a thousand betrayals of her fellow Jews.
She was an ordinary person caught in an extraordinary circumstance. Might any one of us have behaved better? The author seems to understand this perfectly.
I came away from this book with the feeling that Stella was as much a victim of Nazi Germany as any other Jew. It was Nazi Germany that created her; twisted her.
Very powerful book & highly recommended. For the other side of the coin, I also recommend "When Courage was Stronger Than Fear".
where is my review????.......2003-03-27
I wrote a review already, where is it? how come it's not listed? you let people write reviews with no intention of putting it there?
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