Book Description

Although she claims to have been an outsider in her native land -- "I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me" -- Isabel Allende carries with her even today the mark of the politics, myth, and magic of her homeland, Chile. In My Invented Country she explores the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping her life, her books, and that most intimate connection to her place of origin.

The military coup and violent death of her uncle, Salvador Allende Gossens, on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a writer. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on her newly adopted homeland, the U.S., brought forth from Allende an overdue acknowledgment that she had indeed left home. My Invented Country speaks compellingly to all of us who try to retain a coherent inner life and a sense of humor in a world full of contradictions.

Reviews (15)

An Eloquent Giant
Because Isabel Allende is one of my absolute favorite and most admired writers (bar none), I pride myself in having read all her published novels and stories --in the original Spanish, then the English translations. With the publication in 1982 of la casa de los espíritus [The House of The Spirits], Allende merged as one of the most important literary voices of her generation. Her works are characterized by a deliberate recurrence of certain pronounced elements: realism, family, history, fantasy. This delicately balanced admixture produces the fusion of realism and fantasy [el realismo mágico]--the artfully narrative world reminiscent of Alejo Carpentier and Gabriel García Márquez. Additionally, the predominance of female protagonists in her novels and stories is readily evidenced. Strong, independent, and intelligent, Allende's women know how to enjoy life and don't fear men in the least. Nor do these bold female protagonists allow themselves to be defeated by their circumstances --all this is quite revolutionary in Latin American literature. Totally, Allende's feminine perspective dramatically alters and enriches the horizon of contemporary Latin American fiction. So, any work by Isabel Allende is a treasure. She is an eloquent giant of a talent. MY INVENTED COUNTRY [Mi país inventado: un paseo nostálgico por Chile], while certainly not a work of fiction, is nevertheless very valuable in any Allende collection and worth reading.

Alan Cambeira
Author of AZUCAR! The Story of Sugar

A reawakening of memories
If you are interested on an "Idiot's Guide to Understand a Chilean" read this book.

I immigrated to the US from Chile about 25 years ago. College was the reason to come. Opportunity let me stay.

Reading this book brought up all kinds of memories about my upbringing and the quirkiness of my native land and people. At times, I thought that she was writing about my family. Episodes like my father driving someone who asked for directions or my grandmother resewing my frayed white shirts.

I am not sure if my recommendation applies to understanding younger Chileans.

I share with Ms. Allende her view of the new Chile. Consumerism and Chicago Boys policies may have changed the way Chileans are now. But for those of us who saw it before it, it was nice to remember. Bravo, Ms. Allende. You brought emotions that I have long forgotten.

almost Faulknerish
Allende's original work must be beautifully and well written in Spanish or else the translator did an excellent job. Seems to me that her writing is almost Faulkner-ish... a kind of classical ranting while accounting for family history and characters through personal experience and skewed perspectives... almost what is called stream of consciousness with many threads off tangent. Her style comes across more like she is thinking out loud instead of just telling a story. Sometimes it seems as if she is singing. Her words boast of a personality stronger than cultural traditions and expectations. Allende displays a personality ready to face the world, yet unwilling to forgo a staccatto past.

Not the best of Allende
This book tells us the story of the author's life in a short version. I personally liked the way she portraits Chile, past and present. But I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has already read "Paula". In "Paula" she writes the story of her life while she is taking care of her daughter, who has a fatal disease, in "My invented country" she tells us the story of her life (again), because of the nostalgia she feels when her grandson asks her a question about being old, only in a shorter way and contributing with facets about her country. So when I read this book a lot of times I thought "I remember this" or "I knew this already". As another reviewer said, "she is loosing her touch". I hope she comes up with a brand new idea next time.

Introduction to Chile and Allende
"My Invented Country" is an enjoyable, highly personal view of Chile, interesting for anyone (like me) wanting to find out more about that country, and I suppose for readers familiar with Isabel Allende's fiction. Not only does Allende try to explain her country and its people, she also tells how they both inspired her writing.

Chile comes over as a diverse place; in topography, fauna, flora, climate and history. It seems to possess great beauty (even great food) yet it has violent colonial and recent pasts: although the brutality of treatment accorded to its indigenous inhabitants hardly makes it unique.

According to Allende, Chileans are the most reticent and understated of South Americans, seeing themselves as being close in temperamental terms to the British. Never having met a Chilean, I can't pass judgement on this, and I always become nervous whenever nations are reduced to stereotypes - individuals have a habit of upsetting preconceptions. Whether Chileans should be comforted or reassured that one of their number thinks they are like the British, I don't know. I suspect we British would not care one way or the other.

Allende fills her book with anecdotes from her past to illustrate her more general observations - as such the book is full of what a foreign reader would regard as eccentrics. All very entertaining, but a deep sense of regret runs throughout the book too. The fact that Allende fled Chile following the CIA-inspired coup, only to return much later to a country which had changed greatly in the intervening period, makes it almost inevitable that nostalgia for a "lost country" dominates her thoughts.

The title of the book gives this away, and Allende's absence could merely have accentuated (in her case) the feelings of affection for childhood and youth that sometimes comes with growing older. Nostalgia can be a dangerously misleading state of mind, but I felt that Allende critique of modern Chile's obsession which market economics and consumerism at the cost of widnening social inequalities hit home not just for Chile.

I expected a thorough condemnation of the Pinochet regime. However, Allende trys to be fair (as far as anyone can be fair to such a brutal dictatorship). She argues that Salvador Allende's government was by no means a perfect one - far from it. Although this does not excuse the coup, it contradicts the myth that the coup was a Chilean version of Paradise Lost.

Don't expect a straightforward history of modern Chile, or a autobiographical essay. Rather, it's a mixture of impressions and recollections, both on a personal and national level. What you see is what you get as far as the title of the book is concerned.

G Rodgers ... Read more

Book Description

THE LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT is a groundbreaking series where America's finest writers and most brilliant minds tackle today's most provocative, fascinating, and relevant issues. Striking and daring, creative and important, these original voices on matters political, social, economic, and cultural, will enlighten, comfort, entertain, enrage, and ignite healthy debate across the country.
... Read more

Reviews (18)

a friendly essay
Anna Quindlen has always written in a friendly, accessible style, and in this essay she explores a topic dear to [our] hearts: reading. Furthermore, she articulates what many of us feel -- that reading is not just for literary critics and deconstructionists; that there is as much validity in reading for pleasure as in reading for improvement; that there is a delicious paradox in such a solitary activity leading to a sense of community.

Through her personal anecdotes, Quindlen relates shared experiences: of having a professor sneer at a book she loved (I had the same thing happen with Michener -- a wonderful author who has never been taken seriously by the literati); of the first book that made her look at the world in a new way (for me it was The Hobbit); of being the only kid in the neighborhood who'd rather be reading than playing kick-the-can (oh, yes!); of the joy of sharing good books with others.

The author includes 11 top-ten lists (e.g. Books That Will Help a Teenager Feel More Human, Books I Would Save in a Fire).

Quindlen's work in general, and 'How Reading Changed My Life' in particular, is the stuff at the soul of [...] a joyful community of readers. As she says, "Reading has always been my home, my sustenance, my great invincible companion". There are so many gems; [...], you will probably enjoy this little book.

A nice reminder that it's OK to read instead of doing stuff
I hesitated to shell out $8.95 plus tax for such a slim volume, but I am glad I did. I had recently skimmed an old copy of Mortimer Adler's How To Read A Book and found it utterly utilitarian. Ms. Quindlen's short but insightful book, on the other hand, succeeds in conveying the pleasure of reading for no particular reason other than the pleasure of reading. She gives a heart-warming account of her own history and experiences as a reader. This part of her book makes a wonderful story for young readers. (Her thoughts on technology are less convincing. Kids today are so much more at ease with computers than we are that it won't be hard for them to make the switch to electronic books-the size of which will shrink while their capacity expands within the next few years.) Definitely recommended by this reader.

Manifesto for the bookworms of the world
It is impossible not to feel the kinship that this book provides. The title, for one thing, is spot on. Books do change your life, and the love of reading is one of the greatest gifts i have received. Like Quindlen, i remember discovering books as a little girl, and what a wonderful window into the world they were (and continue to be). She verbalizes what i'm sure many of us had felt for ages. Thank you for doing that!!!

She Understands Your Need to Read
This book is a wonderful way for readers to understand themselves, if they don't already. Quindlen shows that we're NOT weird because we read, we're NOT escapists who can't handle the real world, and we're NOT anti-social. We're just in love with words and the power of stories. In only 84 pages, Quindlen tackles the reasons why we read, reading and technology, why classics should not be crammed down our kids' throats, and much more. Her Top Ten lists alone are worth the price of the book. As great as this book is for readers, it makes an even better gift for friends and family members who DON'T understand our need to read. A must read, a must-have.

A love letter to readers from a sister reader
Anna Quindlen's "How Reading Changed My Life" is a charming and inspiring blend of autobiography and informal cultural criticism. In the book Quindlen reflects on books, reading, and readers.

Quindlen notes, "While we pay lip service to the virtues of reading, the truth is that there is in our culture something that suspects those who read too much, whatever reading too much means, of being lazy, aimless dreamers [...]." These, and many other insights in this book, really resonated with me. Throughout the book, Quindlen celebrates what she calls a "lively subculture" of truly serious readers.

Quindlen reflects on differences in men's and women's reading practices, on book groups, on skirmishes over "The Canon" of great books, on banned books, and on other topics. She tells how reading helped her keep her sanity during the "year of disarray" after the birth of her second child, and recalls how she fell in love with John Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga." Ultimately, she explains why she believes that new technologies will not make old-fashioned books (versus online books) obsolete.

HRCML is full of wonderful passages, such as a remembered epiphany over D.H. Lawrence. This short book concludes with a few reading lists: "10 Nonfiction Books That Help Us Understand the World," "The 10 Books I Would Save in a Fire (If I Could Save Only 10)," etc. If you are a serious reader, I predict that, like me, you will recognize a kindred spirit in these pages, and will rejoice. ... Read more

Reviews (35)

Challenging and inspiring portrait of an incredible life
The reader will find this book personally challenging, inspiring, and moving. Even for those unfamiliar with the incredible (yet short) career of Keith Green cannot help but feel a certain level of conviction as well as a measure of inspiration in the life of this disciple of Christ. This biography tells the story of Keith Green's life from a variety of angles, but perhaps the most significant is the account it gives of his growth in faith. I read this book and was spiritually and emotionally moved to know the God that Keith Green worshipped in a personal and intimate way. Highly recommended.

This Book Will Change Your Life
This is one of the best books I've ever read, it's my favorite book next to the bible. Keith's music changed my life and so has his story. I've read the book at least 3 times now, and every time I read it, another area of the book stands out and ministers to me. This book shows Keith as he matures in his christian walk,which is really helpful to any maturing Christian, to see the details of another's walk with Christ.
Keith Green was a sold-out man to Jesus, like we all should be. It's a book of inspiriation, challenge, and it will change you.

Finding the real man behind the legend
There is no doubt that Keith Green has had a profound ministry. Even more than twenty years after his death, people are still being touched by his music and message. I know that I am a different person because of my exposure to this bold man of God.

"No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green" follows Keith from failed teen idol to the tops of the Christian music carts to a fiery plane crash in Texas. We see his early days as a struggling musician whose life was one of constant seeking but never finding until the day that Jesus put an end to the search. Along the way, Melody Green (with David Hazard) paints a picture of the early Jesus Movement of the late Sixties and early Seventies, showing how she and Keith were in the midst of it. Anyone who has been a Christian for a long time will be fascinated by how God put the Greens into the right places at the right time. There is a look at the nascent days of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship; friendships with classic Christian musicians like Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman, Barry McGuire, and Phil Keaggy; radical days of ministry highlighted by long nights ministering to anyone who would listen; and a sense of destiny shared by a small group of people with a common vision. It is almost a textbook-worthy look at a post-hippie Christianity finding its way.

To say that Keith Green is revered in certain circles is an understatement. One of the nicest features of this book is that it demythologizes the man himself. The "shoot first and ask questions later" perspective of Keith that made so many consider him a prophet is examined more closely, revealing feet of clay that some might find surprising. Often the hard-hitting songs that we have taken for granted were written as much for Keith himself to hear as for anyone else, the stinging messages a form of self-discipline for the author as much as his audience. Yet even in the correction of bad eating habits and too much TV, we are shown a prophet who examined his own life and often found it wanting. Finally, we get to see how Keith's self-defining brashness often backfired and how he came to a more gentle place in his ministry shortly before his death.

All these revelations are helpful in understanding the man behind the myth. Still, there are lapses. Very little is said about the recording sessions that led to the amazing albums. They come and go and we learn little. Certain anecdotes don't seem to lead anywhere, either, leaving the reader to merely surmise how or why Keith came to a certain place in his thoughts, actions, and spiritual development. Short excerpts from his journals are included, but more would still have been better. I know that I wanted to probe further into the subtle changes in the spiritual life of the man that led him into the situations outlined here, especially in the last year of his life--a year that zips by in the book. I suppose a wife can only know so much, and for those of us who want to know exactly how everything fell into place, I can only say that this book serves to drive us closer to God in order to ask Him those unanswered questions for our own ministries.

That said, this is still a very good biography of a man that practically packed a whole lifetime of spiritual growth into twenty-eight all too short years. Anyone who loves biographies of the great saints of God would be remiss to skip over this one. It definitely got me thinking and praying.

Amazing
It is really quite amazing the way God used Keith Green for his 7 years as a Christian. It's an amazing the impact his ministry made in such a short time before the Lord took him home at the ripe old age of 28. This is a pretty powerful biography.

I was a little worried though over John Dawson coming into Keith's life. He seemed to be feeding Keith some bad doctrine, even if very subtly, and seemed to be a flatterer, trying to tell Keith how big he was going to be. His prophecies were proven false though when Keith suddenly died in a plane crash. It's amazing how Keith, Melody, or Keith's mentors never seemed to see this.

Overall though, this book is a powerful testimony of what God will do with a willing vessel. How God can raise a man out of obscurity to be a prophetic voice that, though he be dead still speaks.

Do you have 'ears to hear' this message?
NO COMPROMISE is just that; a powerful, straight forward telling of the life of child musical prodigy come 70's-era preacher Keith Green. For as long as I can remember I have heard his music. I was practically raised on it. Yet it took me until 2002 to actually read this book. The experience was well worth it; his wife Melody did a good job considering lyric composition seems to be her forte.

The book is not too short and not so long as to scare away the somewhat-interested. As I think back on the book, it really is quite an amazing summation of Keith's short 28 years. Melody has included many small stories throughout the prose; stories of personal revalations, hilarious experiences, and tragic occurances. We see the human side of this man who was so often held up as God-like figure in Christian music. How fascinating it was for me-a fan of Keith's music for two decades-to read all these little anecdotes, diary clippings, journal entries, and especially information behind the writing of so many powerful songs. The scope of the book is impressive just because of the number of people drawn into Keith and Melody's circle. Many, many well known people are referred to and quoted. I had no idea there was a Bob Dylan connection and friendship for example.

NO COMPROMISE is a powerful book that follows Keith from his infant Christianity thru his maturing process and eventually, his untimely death. The end of the book is difficult if only because it seems so sudden, but that's how it really was. This is the story of how God worked in the lives of two young people and changed millions for the better. Thankfully, the story did not end on that July day in Texas, it went on, and continues today.

Recommended. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Who would've thought that Eddie Fisher, cheesy pop singer, pipsqueak Mouseketeer to the Rat Pack, speed freak and coke fool, AWOL daddy, discarded Liz Taylor boy toy, and husband from hell, could pen a memoir as entertaining as his talented daughter Carrie's? Granted, he has the help of autobiographer to the stars David Fisher (no relation), but still, it's startling how sleekly readable Fisher's misadventures are, and shocking that he comes off with raffish charm and a sense of humor.

Don't worry, there's not too much about Eddie's dull, madly successful singing career--he wasn't that interested in it either. He preferred women. Warning: as is the case with Robert Evans's comparably entertaining sex-and-drugs tell-all, The Kid Stays in the Picture, we can't know whether it's all true. Some of Eddie's alleged women have denied dalliance. Did he really get naked with Joan Collins ("the British Open") in Dean Martin's pool, screaming along with Dino and Brando until the cops came? Did he share Sue Lyon with Richard Burton and Judy Campbell with Sinatra, JFK, and Sam Giancana? (Eddie doubts Campbell's story that she passed documents from JFK to mobster Sam.) Did Jackie turn JFK onto amphetamine fiend Max Jacobson, the famed "Dr. Feelgood" who destroyed his own life and 30 years of Eddie's? Were Bob Hope's military-base shows really "sex tours"? His bitterness makes one doubt he gives first wife Debbie Reynolds ("the Iron Butterfly") a fair shake. Did Liz Taylor drive away, naked and hysterical, in her Cadillac when Eddie suggested she see a psychiatrist? Did Burton beat her, and did she try to steal My Fair Lady from her friend Audrey Hepburn? In a Munich suite once used by Mussolini to entertain Hitler, did Liz bite Eddie as he dug pills out of her mouth to save her life? Did Liz bed Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift? Read Fisher and see what you believe. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Defending Eddie Fisher
When this book came out six years ago, Eddie Fisher was doing a promotion which included performing in my town. His ex-wives, daughter Carrie, and various alleged lovers had nothing good to say to the press. I have never heard Eddie Fisher sing nor seen him act. But it sounded like a good read in the Hollywood gossip arena.Now, 6 years later, I have read it.

I guess that Eddie Fisher is the kind of guy that many people love to hate. Many of the Amazon reviews of this book are negative, although it was a best seller at the time of release.I really enjoyed this autobiography and I am generally suspect of celebrity autobiographies. Most celebrities write only the good about themselves.I don't believe that they are always truthful. They want good publicity. Not so, Eddie Fisher. Although he is now in his 70's, Eddie seems to want to set the record straight, at least as to how he feels about his life.I felt that he was truthful about his less than perfect life, his motivations, his feelings about everyone that he writes about including his ex-wives and children, and his tremendous problem with drug addiction.

I particularly enjoyed the beginning section where he describes his early life in Philadelphia and his quick rise to fame.

I had never known how Eddie felt about Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds during those scandals of the late 1950's and early 1960's. I was a child during those times, but I have read all of the negative publicity. Debbie Reynolds, Elizatbeth Taylor, and Richard Burton were frequently quoted saying negative things about Eddie Fisher. Now Eddie has had his say and none of it is that much of a surprise. Although I am a fan of Richard Burton, his alcoholic and physically abusive relationship with Elizabeth Taylor was never a secret.And since Carrie Fisher has been writing her own autobiographical novels, the over the edge movie star mother (Debbie Reynolds) is no secret either.

I, personally, am glad that Eddie Fisher has finally gotten it together with regard to finding a loving and successful marriage, even though it took him so long to do so. I'm sorry that he's on bad terms with his over the edge celebrity daughter, Carrie, whose success as an actress and writer is intimately connected with her over the edge celebrity parents.I love her books but, by her own admission, her life is a mess. She must crave the lime light herself (like Eddie and Debbie) because she could leave any time and chooses to stay.

As a final note, I have enjoyed the work of all three of Eddie's ex-wives. No one has ever been more beautiful than Velvet, more perky than Tammy, or cuter than Cricket. But to be perfectly fair, these women married him and must have known something of what he was like, particularly with regard to his drug use. After some 40-50 years, these women should give him some credit for attractiveness or charm or whatever it was that attracted them to him when they married him.If he is expressing what he feels now about those long ago marriages, it can't hurt their careers now.I agree with Eddie's mother who blames Elizabeth Taylor for much of what happened to her son.I agree with Eddie Fisher that Debbie Reynolds is the one woman that he should never been married to. And I believe that Carrie Fisher, in spite of all the pain that she has endured by having a non-present, drug addicted father, is responsible for hew own life and that many have endured far worse.I know because I work in the field of child abuse.

Debbie Dycaico, San Diego, California

Sleazy, Slimy and Degrading
This guy is such a joke.It's no fun to read about a has-been dishing dirt when you aren't even sure what details are true and which aren't. Plus he's so incredibly self-involved and egotistical - his head is so swollen that it would be impossible to measure its circumference. Carrie Fisher, by her own admission, has refusedto speak to Eddie since the publication of this book, and I can't say as I blame her.I don't consider him to be all that self-effacing.Even when he tries, it comes out as whiny and defensive.The only way that this book ever could be considered as a good, interesting read is to go through and try to imagine how someone this conceited ever made it as huge as he claims to have done.Rubbish.

Disgusting and petty
Fisher is a class A jerk. Don't spend even a penny on this book, unless you just particularly enjoy sordid and vindictive, self-glorifying and absurd "versions" of truth.I get the impression that Fisher was jealous of a great many of the people he smears in this book, and that he didn't have enough sense or decency to keep his mouth shut.He hurt himself more than anyone else by writing this book, and I don't see how anyose, especially his ex-wives or children could ever have ANY respect for him again---if they ever had.

One interesting and troubled man
This is one of the hardest reviews I've written because I honestly wasn't sure when I finished this book if half of what I had just read was true or said merely for revenge. While the story of Eddie Fisher's career is interesting there is so much malicious gossip that it detracts from the basic story.
Starting as a talented child and then through a very up and down career Mr. Fisher never had any doubts about his abilities professionally. Through his version of his marriages to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Connie Stevens and so forth we get all the dirt that we ever wanted to hear and then some. While I like a good "Hollywood" biography as much as the next person I've never read one that gave me so many details on people that I really didn't WANT to hear. Sometimes petty, sometimes shocking and frequently doubtful there's a lot of stuff in this book that really could and should have been left unsaid. A strong proponent of freedom of speech I also believe that much of what Mr. Fisher had to say was simply unkind and people who have since died like Montgomery Clift and Roddy McDowell are no longer able to defend themselves and to deny what is printed about themselves.

Although he never had any doubts about his singing ability Mr. Fisher is also quite self-effacing about his shortcomings as a husband, father and speaks openly about his addictions. What is probably the best aspect of the book is when the reader realizes how much Eddie Fisher has learned along his journey.

I wish him peace but I wish he didn't have to be so just plain mean in this version of his life.

EDDIE AT LEAST TRIED TO BE HONEST ABOUT HIMSELF!
I read Mr. Fishers book TWICE I loved it.While i certainly concede he is no great star at least give him credit.He is honest about he's drug addiction and hisnot so great role as a father.i dont understand Liz Taylor's displeasure in the book.
He writes about her in glowing terms. Of course,I could see why
Debbie Reynolds would not like it.THAT part is understandable.
But at least,Eddie took the blame for most of his mistakes unlike other books who try to shift the blame.I recently bought a CD of him at the Winter Garden.He WAS NOT BAD AT ALL>
And years ago I saw Debbie in a show in Charlotte and she was great but at the end SHE DID DO WHAT EDDIE STATED IN HIS BOOK>
(SHE put her finger down her throat when she said "Fisher") If his daughter Carrie cared anything about her father she would not have liked that disrespect (he might have been an absentie father but,he was not an abusive one -like i had)
Anyway, I liked it and thought it was so readable.

Thanks Eddie ... Read more

Book Description

Charles Kuralt's classic bestseller is now on audio!

Featuring Charles Kuralt with an introduction by Wallace Kuralt

"To read the front pages, you might conclude that Americans are mostly out for themselves...but you can't travel the back roads very long without discovering a multitude of gentle people doing good for others with no expectation of gain or recognition."

In this collection of short audio essays, Charles Kuralt takes us from the countryside to the big cities to introduce us to the fascinating people and places that only he could find. Kuralt captures the humor and compassion of ordinary people leading extraordinary lives.

From the best selling book On The Road With Charles Kuralt, these classic stories represent Kuralt's defining, and perhaps finest, work. Never before released on audio, this collection ensures that his unforgettable voice will be heard by generations to come. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Like a ride with an old friend
Charles Kuralt had the gift of seeing a story in the littlest thing. He took the thread of everyman's life and wove a tapestry of America and then gave it as a gift to us.

I loved re-discovering America with Charles Kuralt!
After reading this book, I felt a sense of renewal and satisfaction that there are still candles lending their beams to the world. I picked up this book for a report at school. I thought that it would be just another boring book that we are often forced to read in school. Wrong-O! I loved it! From the team that had lost every single one of its games to the train depot that served soldiers during WWII, I found myself emersed in each of the stories. Each of these average Americans had a not so average story to tell...

Great stories of everyday people who inspire and amuse
This is a wonderful book that recaptures the many stories from his on the road segments for TV. He finds the most interesting people and places; his stories tell of the inner passions of ordinary people. Another great book with similar stories--and great pictures--is Positively Connecticut by Diane Smith. She says she was inspired by Kuralt's work.

Terry ... Read more

Book Description

Read by the author
4 cassettes/ 6 hours

Mary Karr told the prize-winning tale of her hardscrabble Texas childhood with enough literary verve to spark a renaissance in memoir.The Liar's Club rode the top of The New York Times bestseller list for more than a year, and publications ranging from The New Yorker to People picked it as one of the best books of the year.But it left people wondering: How'd that scrappy kid make it outta there? Cherry dares to tell that story.Karr picks up the trail and dashes off into her teen years with customary sass, only to run up against the paralyzing self-doubt of a girl in bloom.

In this long-awaited sequel, we see Karr ultimately trying to run from the thrills and terrors of her sexual awakwening by butting against authority in all its forms.She lands all too often in the principal's office and--in one instance--a jail cell.Looking for a lover or heart's companionwho'll make her feel whole, she hooks up with an outrageous band of surfers and heads, wannabe yogis and bona fide geniuses.

Karr's edgy, brilliant prose careens between hilarity and tragedy, and Cherry takes readers to a place never truly explored--deep inside a girl's stormy, ardent adolescence.Parts will leave you gasping with laughter.But its soaring close proves that from even the smokiest beginnings a solid self can form, one capable of facing down all manner of monsters. ... Read more

Reviews (54)

A Joyless Memoir
First of all, let me echo other reviewers in saying not to expect anything like The Liar's Club. Mary Karr is still an enormously gifted writer, but while The Liar's Club had it moments of joy interspersed with various traumas, Cherry is just plain dank. Mary's exploits as a child weren't hopeless -- she had a resiliancy about her that assured the reader that she'd be all right, or some version thereof, in the end. The adolescent Mary descends deeper and deeper into a darkness that she manufactures for herself with the help of a pharmacy's worth of drugs and a heapin' helping of teen angst thrown in for good measure. I found it extremely interesting that Karr resorted to telling her story in second person in the last part, in which her relationship with drugs begins. I wondered to myself as I was reading whether she was using the second person narrative as a way of distancing herself from her high school self. In any case, the book is a much more difficult read than The Liar's Club, and I would definitely recommend that book before dipping your toes into this one. The reader emerges thoroughly saddened by Karr's own outright and between-the-lines admissions of her mistakes. I found her relationships with people especially dismaying -- but perhaps that was simply the way she chose to tell the story. The adolescent Karr is far from the precocious child of The Liar's Club. Her story is told from the bottom of an abyss -- I read an interview with Karr where she said that while writing Cherry, she would write for an hour and a half and then just collapse on the floor and fall asleep from exhaustion. I don't doubt it. A difficult yet rewarding book.

Angst of adolescence with a hard-edged sense of humor
Mary Karr is a fine writer. When I read her memoir, "The Liar's
Club" about her rough and tumble childhood in a working class
Texas town, I loved every word. That's why I was so anxious to read
this sequel, which deals with her adolescence. There are definitely
some differences between the two books, but I wasn't
disappointed.

The voice of the young Mary Karr comes through loud
and clear. It's honest and foul-mouthed and disrespectful. It's a
sharp-tongued blade that dares to illuminate the angst of adolescence
with a hard-edged sense of humor. And yet it brings the bittersweet
sadness of disappointments and awakenings to the page. The reader
cannot help but love her.

This book tells her story from age 11
through 17. It's about her friendships and boyfriends and coming of
age. As it takes place in the 1970s, there are a lot of drugs. Mary
is sent to the principal's office for not wearing a bra. Mary hangs
out with long-haired surfers and does drugs. Mary gets arrested.
Mary's sister takes a different path than Mary.

In this book, Mary's
parents take a back seat to the peer group. The story of their
tumultuous marriage, psychological breakdowns and heavy drinking has
been explored in "The Liar's Club". By this book their
eccentricities and foibles are already accepted as givens. Again,
their love shines through.

I'm glad that Ms. Karr decided to
continue her story. It might have been a little more episodic than
the first book and the events not as traumatic. But the strength of
her writing is not in the events, but in her view of them. And that
is why I enjoyed this book so much.

The book ends when Mary is 17.
Hopefully, they'll be yet another book that will follow her through
the years.

A Remembrance Of Innocence Lost
What does Mary Karr have left to prove? She already wrote the definitive memoir of a child's life in an East Texas hellhole, "The Liars' Club," which as a first-person narrative remains better than anything I've ever come across. Why risk another trip to the well? Can you exceed expectations when so many of them, like mine, are off the charts?

I'm in a funny position writing this, because I expected to come here and write about my disappointment with "Cherry," why it wasn't up to par with "Liars' Club." But reading all the one- and two-star reviews, some of which raise valid points, others of which are just all wet, I feel a little more protective about what I just read.

No, it's not as involving as "Liars' Club." Karr isn't the passive youngster anymore, and she takes on a wider swath of her life, from just before sixth grade all the way up through high school, meaning there isn't the concentration of time that worked with "Liars' Club." Our narrator is changing this time, and quickly.

More problematic, there is Karr's use of the second-person singular for the bulk of the book, describing her actions as if you are her. It doesn't work, feeling arch and odd instead of inclusive. Karr's budding sensibilities as a poet also come into play, with the help of a friend suspiciously named Meredith Bright, and you either will identify with their precocious conversations on absurdist theater or, like me, feel distanced by it. But it's her life, and she should tell it as it is.

The best part of the book is its first third, with its account of elementary and junior high school life. Karr's sharp eye for detail and her fluidity with language, so stunning in "Liars' Club," doesn't fail her here. She recalls the posture of a picked-on classmate "till her whole body became a sort of living question mark, the punctuation with which she responded to every mean sentence we could construct." Then there's her fear when approached by a boy she likes: "Part of me is also crazily rewinding to play back my whole walk across the field, for surely I did some stupid thing. I wouldn't pick my nose or anything...but I could have been skipping or singing some goofy song under my breath."

Later, she will find herself recruited to give this same boy a long leg massage, in a riotously funny passage in which she gets hot and bothered learning the critical distinction between gastrocs and hamstrings.

While people here note the presence of drugs, in all fairness they don't show up for more than a hundred pages, and she doesn't exactly turn into Ozzy Osbourne. She smokes some joints, and tries a few other things, but seems a bit removed from the drug culture even as she writes about it. Actually, I was glad to have the drugs come into play, as it beat reading about her reading Howard Nemerov. She has sex, too, but is shier about describing that than I would have expected from "Liars' Club."

Karr is a virtuoso at description, and tying up the loose ends of a disorderly life. She makes for exciting, vivid company. If you liked reading Stephen King's "The Body," or Russell Baker's "Growing Up," you will like "Cherry." Even if you didn't like "The Body" or "Growing Up," you will like "Cherry."

But you will like "Liars' Club" so much more.

The summer you and Meredith reread Franny and Zooey together
I am so glad I thought of doing this or was compelled to do this or whatever. I have just finished reading this book and I felt so strongely that I had to do something, give it to the perfect person or leave it in the perfect spot so the perfect person would come along and scoop it up or send it across the country to my Meredith who no doubt read it already and will tell me so quite flatly apon it's arrival. If you were ever a girl, or wanted to understand one especially the akward, angry or teenage type here is your book. It is totally unlike my youth and is an exact description of it all at once.....I laughed...I cried....I read until 4am because the truth hurts. I may be a "young adult" now but the things that happen to you in that part of your life stay, what's the line--the first cut is the deepest. I do not doubt that if some day I am with child, the teenage type, I will hand it to them if only to remind them I might not be very cool now but once believe it or not we were all a flutter. And whatever it is I can't say to their face about how hard it will be and how fun and seemingly pointless it will all seem is in this book just far enough away to seem like a dumpy town fairy tale. Simply remembering the sheer hilarity and cruelty of your own youth will mezmerize you as Karr weaves around you the stories of hers.

Touching remembrance
A touching remembrance of a 1970s adolescence. Karr made me both want to go back to the innocence and exploration and made me so relieved to be independent and no longer affected on a daily basis by the disfunctioning parental bodies. Startlingly honest, Karr makes one feel the joys and pains of adolescence as if they were currently going through it. Recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

Read by the author, Larry Heinemann

The Nation Book Award-winning author of Paco's Story returns with a haunting memoir of his year as a combat soldier in Vietnam—and the ghosts he encounters on his return 30 years later.

In 1966, just as the American military buildup in Vietnam was going into overdrive, a working-class 22-year-old from Chicago was drafted into the army. Larry Heinemann serviced one year of combat duty with the 25th Infantry Division, most of it in the vicinity of Cu Chi. It was the most horrific and consequential year of his life, and it served as the raw material for his two classic war novels, Close Quarters and Paco's Story.

The memoir chronicles a 1992 railway journey Heinemann took from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City as the guest of the Vietnam Writers' Association. Along the way, he encounters Vietnamese war veterans and views sites that trigger powerful memories. His journey ends with a crawl through the tunnels of Cu Chi and a climb up the sacred mountain that is this book's namesake. A work of mourning and an act of reconciliation, Black Virgin Mountain considers the psychic costs of a war that is still taking its toll. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Amy Tan begins The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings, a collection of essays that spans her literary career, on a humorous note; she is troubled that her life and novels have become the subject of a "Cliff’s Notes" abridgement. Reading the little yellow booklet, she discovers that her work is seen as complex and rich with symbolism. However, Tan assures her readers that she has no lofty, literary intentions in writing her novels--she writes for herself, and insists that the recurring patterns and themes that critics find in them are entirely their own making. This self-deprecating stance, coupled with Tan’s own clarification of her intentions, makes The Opposite of Fate feel like an extended, private conversation with the author.

Tan manages to find grace and frequent comedy in her sometimes painful life, and she takes great pleasure in being a celebrity. "Midlife Confidential" brings readers on tour with Tan and the rest of the leather-clad writers’ rock band, the Rock-Bottom Remainders. And "Angst and the Second Book" is a brutally honest, frequently hysterical reflection on Tan’s self-conscious attempts to follow the success of The Joy Luck Club.

In a collection so diverse and spanning such a long period of time, inevitably some of the pieces feel dated or repetitious. Yet, Tan comes off as a remarkably humble and sane woman, and the book works well both to fill in her biography and to clarify the boundaries between her life and her fiction. In her final, title essay, Tan juxtaposes her personal struggles against a persistent disease with the nation’s struggles against terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11. She declares her transformative, artistic power over tragedy, reflecting: "As a storyteller, I know that if I don’t like the ending, I can write a better one."--Patrick O’Kelley ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Witty, Engaging and Well-Written Gems
Amy Tan is without question a gifted writer.In this book of essays/musings as diverse as the erroneous interpretation of "The Joy Luck Club" by Cliff Notes or Tan's debilitating and horrifying bout with Lyme disease, the author writes with zest, humor and insight, and she engages the reader from the first page.In some ways, writing essays about one's craft is more difficult than writing a novel because essays are generally less creative and inspiring than fiction, and the reader usually suffers as a result.But Tan's "The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings" is like O'Connor's "Mystery and Manners" and "The Habit of Being" in that both authors are able to inform their essays with clever and profound insights that are contained in their works of fiction.Above all, this book is about the relationship of mother and daughter that is at the core of Tan's works.A must read.

The good stuff is good, and the rest is...
As a few others have indicated, there are some really moving pieces here about family and memory, as well as some good looks at the life of a writer in many arenas (at the keyboard, on tour, etc.). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to have been enough of that stuff to fill a book, and so we get a lot of filler, including e-mails that are not that riveting and the essay she wrote about the library when she was 8 (no, I'm not kidding). There is a LOT of repetition; many of these pieces were written and published previously, and that's fine, but when you sit down to edit them into a collection that hangs together, you really need to go through and make sure that things like her father's and brother's deaths, moving to Switzerland, first boyfriend, etc. are not repeated 15 times.

I still love this book for the good parts, but would have been just as happy checking it out from the library.

Really nice
I enjoyed reading Amy Tan's essays, the same enjoyable style of writing, although I think her essays are a little more complex than her fiction and this is not a criticism.Observations, some personal history, although this is her thoughts and experiences, it is not "all about her."She isn't full of herself at all.Her experience with Lyme Disease is horrific.And informative!Amy Tan seems to be a very nice person and I am glad she wrote this book.It is one that I will keep on my book shelf and re-read.

Many enjoyable essays
I've read and enjoyed all Amy Tan's fiction and was very excited when Opposite of Fate showed up at my local bookstore.I love reading autobiographical pieces from my favorite writers.It's so intriguing to find out where their magic comes from and how they go about tackling the writing process.Amy Tan truly invites us into her life with the essays in this book, with subjects ranging from her thoughts on writing, her upbringing, her favorite author, battling Lyme Disease, hanging out with Steven King and Dave Barry, and (my favorite) turning the Joy Luck Club into a movie.She also gives us background information on some of her novels, which any fan of hers will find interesting.

This book appeals to the side of me that enjoys the candid celebrity photos in People Magazine--the side of me that likes to see personal, private glimpes of how the most wealthy, famous, and successful people live.But this book is guilt-free.No paparazzi stalked Amy Tan to give us this intimate portrait--she voluntarily offers it to us.I recommend.

Setting the Record Straight on Amy Tan
I would highly recommend this book to anyone, and not just  writers, women, North Americans with Asian heritage or people with any such specific demographics. A charming and well-written book that is true to the memoir genre where you get to know the author rather than the events of his/her life. There are enough interesting stories from Ms Tan's past, especially the cultural and cross-cultural ones - the former involving her Chinese ancestry and the latter involving her American and Chinese heritage. The reader knows plenty about the events of her life, but only the ones which matter to her, which, ultimately, are the ones that really matter in getting to know someone. However, Ms Tan's goal and focus was to set the record straight on Amy Tan, what she's like and where she stands on many issues, and that she did. There are many enlightening essays with Ms Tan's views and questions on a variety of interesting topics, with notes on how they've impacted her life. The writing style, vocabulary and organization of stories are very typical and symbolic of Ms Tan's ways. I feel like I partly know her now, as in having a feel of the gist of what she is like, how she thinks and sees the world, and that I would find her very amiable if I met her. I only wish every memoir could tell me as much about the writer. PS If you are writing essays on Ms Tan's books and/or her, take her advice and avoid using Cliff's Notes. Cliff never met her. Net sources are even worse! ... Read more

Book Description

PAT CONROY–AMERICA’S MOST BELOVED STORYTELLER -- IS BACK!

“I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one. . . .There was a time in my life when I walked through the world known to myself and others as an athlete. It was part of my own definition of who I was and certainly the part I most respected. When I was a young man, I was well-built and agile and ready for the rough and tumble of games, and athletics provided the single outlet for a repressed and preternaturally shy boy to express himself in public....I lost myself in the beauty of sport and made my family proud while passing through the silent eye of the storm that was my childhood.”

So begins Pat Conroy’s journey back to 1967 and his startling realization “that this season had been seminal and easily the most consequential of my life.”The place is the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, that now famous military college, and in memory Conroy gathers around him his team to relive their few triumphs and humiliating defeats.In a narrative that moves seamlessly between the action of the season and flashbacks into his childhood, we see the author’s love of basketball and how crucial the role of athlete is to all these young men who are struggling to find their own identity and their place in the world.

In fast-paced exhilarating games, readers will laugh in delight and cry in disappointment.But as the story continues, we gradually see the self-professed “mediocre” athlete merge into the point guard whose spirit drives the team.He rallies them to play their best while closing off the shouts of “Don’t shoot, Conroy” that come from the coach on the sidelines.For Coach Mel Thompson is to Conroy the undermining presence that his father had been throughout his childhood.And in these pages finally, heartbreakingly, we learn the truth about the Great Santini.

In My Losing Season Pat Conroy has written an American classic about young men and the bonds they form, about losing and the lessons it imparts, about finding one’s voice and one’s self in the midst of defeat.And inhis trademark language, we see the young Conroy walk from his life as an athlete to the writer the world knows him to be.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Reviews (89)

Wonderful!
I am so glad that I read this book and wish mr. Conroy had even more books to read.

I was hesitant to read a basketball memoir, but this was much more. The sports motif was really an allegory of so much more. I learned a lot about the author's life, education and childhood. This gave me more insight into his other novels particularly Beach Music and Lord's of Discipline (both excellent).

This was so well written. Everything become lyrical when described by pat Conroy. He is so reflective, honest and insightful. I am not sure about the conversation between the author and the protagonist from Lord's of Descipline, but it was an interesting diea.

I had to go back and savor passages that were just so beautitful.

I loved it and thank the author for sharing so much of his spirit and craft!

My Losing Season a Winner!
"My Losing Season" by Pat Conroy is a reflective catharsis of the author's yearning to understand his past from an emotional distance that only the passing of the years can provide. Drawing upon interviews with former basketball teammates, family members, and friends, Conroy paints a picture that, while framed within his senior basketball season, spills over into his whole composite canvas of experiences in life. It is the mixture and texture of his past that create a book that is both haunting and, ironically, uplifting.

Pat Conroy's father was physically and verbally abusive against a helpless son, mother, and family. The monster that was his father hated himself so much that he punished his son for all of his unfulfilled dreams. The glimpses into the abuse are brief yet tangible enough that the reader wishes he could reach through the pages and retaliate for the injustices. Yet out of this abuse, the author chose to not only persevere, but to excel against the odds. Too short and too average to be an exceptional athlete, Conroy instead fused all of his intensity into being the best basketball player he could possibly be. His coach at The Citadel in his "losing season" mirrors his own father in that there was never much communication, especially positive. Conroy, having been told that he will not start any games in his senior season, does not quit; instead, he plays even harder as a point of pride and determination. The quality of not letting others define us and of not allowing other to control our lives is, by itself, a monumental theme for all regardless of the reader's age or gender.

If there's room your book collection for a story that is uplifting and will make you reflect upon your own life's destination, I would highly recommend this as a "must read book."

Loss, Survival and Truth
Pat Conroy is a true literary artist and like all artists he needs to take his art into places he hasn't been before. No, this is not Prince of Tides revisited; this is a different kind of book, an insightful book about athletes written by a sensitive genius, but it asks one of the same questions as Prince of Tides. It asks about survival.

Early on there is a telephone call, a friend has committed suicide. In the background children are crying. So begins the story.

Later, a teammate mentions that he always knew he would have to come back to that awful year and revisit it. Since Pat Conroy is the writer he is we are all able to go with him through all the disappointments. Who else has the stamina to tackle a subject as painful as a losing senior year?

This book is not for the weak of heart. This book hurts. Still there is great value in being able to examine losing in an age where athletes and the reality of loss are infrequently paired for public viewing.

Against the norm this book exposes a necessary truth: it isn't and never will be, all about winning.

the prince of ambivalence
Pat Conroy is a pretty decent basketball player - but unless you read very closely, you won't come away with that impression. According to him, his main strengths are persistence and perhaps a bit of blind loyalty to a coach who even the most non-judgmental reader will realize is a walking personality disorder. Perhaps Conroy's strength as a player in college is the same as his strength as a writer - i.e. a willingness to show up, take notes, invest much time doing so, and finally, bear witness for his team and school.

Those who have read Conroy's "The Lords of Discipline" will have a sense of deja vu in many places, and it may be fascinating to see how Conroy first shaped his time at the Citadel into fiction. You get to meet the real people whom the characters in "Lords" were based on, and also get a good sense of why Conroy kept his protagonist's father deceased.

He, himself, may disagree with this, but I believe that the early abuse Conroy received at the hands of his military father, may have kept him from seeing his college coach as the monster he was. The book is well-written but charts a lot more humiliation than triumph, and the reader may become unsure as to whether Conroy is exaggerating or under-stating. One page, X is a monster, the next, he is singing X's praises. So the read as a whole, keeps your interest, but in many places can be somewhat grueling to get through. As a writer, he is both acutely self-aware and maddingly blind to other people's character.

Towards the end, Conroy states that his father eventually changed, and became closer to the idealized father his "The Great Santini" book/movie. Yet he leaves out the details of this transformation. That was a disappointment. But maybe that's the subject of a future book.

My Losing Season
Pat Conroy is arguably the best writer of our times. His character development, attention to detail, and turns-of-the-phrase are to be praised and esteemed. I am also arguably the most devoted Conroy fan, having read, loved, and memorized every one of his novels. However, this book was an extreme disappointment.
First, there is the structure. For the most part, Conroy describes every single game the Citadel Bulldogs played his senior year on the basketball team. Additionally, at the beginning and the end of the novel--fittingly as this is in flash-back form--Conroy talks about the current status of his old team-mates and coach. Yet, there are parts of the book that do not seem to fit.
Conroy spends a good many pages describing his elementary, middle and high school basketball careers; while this would be fitting if the book were an autobiography or even if it were solely about Conroy's love of basketball, it seems pointless as the novel claims to center around a single season. He also talks about his multiple marriages, frequent mental breakdowns, previous novels (at one point even talking to characters from his novels) and other aspects of his life that, while interesting, again break away from the main idea of the single season. Also, like in all Conroy books, there are the "I hate my father and the military" statements, which--I hate to say--grow a bit old after a while (though, admittedly, he says he later grew to love his father and reconciled with his alma mater).
Second, there is the language of the text. While Conroy is known for his mastery of the English language, it seemed that he was "trying too hard" in this book; the sentences were longer and more dramatic than they had to be, and at some points I was laughing at Conroy's word selections.
I suppose my main problem with this novel was that I didn't understand his purpose in writing it until the last ten pages. He wrote the novel to show that everyone has "losing seasons" and to show that while winning is great, it is our mistakes that teach us our greatest lessons. While this is certainly an admirable, and sound argument, it was not apparent until the last ten pages, forcing one to wonder many times "What's the point?!"
In conclusion, this was an "OK" read. If you are a true Conroy fan, I don't even know why you're skimming these reviews, because you know you're going to read the book anyway. If you are merely interested in reading Pat Conroy's work, that's wonderful, but don't let this mediocre novel be your first exposure to a truly exceptional author who can and has written better (read Beach Music or The Prince of Tides instead). ... Read more

Book Description

4 cassettes / 4 hours
Read by the Author

Locked in the Cabinet is a close-up view of the way things work, and often don't work, at the highest levels of government--and a uniquely personal account by the man whose ideas inspired and animated much of the Clinton campaign of 1992 and who became the cabinet officer in charge of helping ordinary Americans get better jobs. Robert B. Reich, writer, teacher, social critic--and a friend of the Clintons since they were all in their twenties--came to be known as the "conscienceof the Clinton administration and one of the most successful Labor Secretaries in history. Here is his sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant chronicle of trying to put ideas and ideals into practice.

With wit, passion, and dead-aim honesty, Reich writes of those in Washington who possess hard heads and soft hearts, and those with exactly the opposite attributes. He introduces us to the career bureaucrats who make Washington run and the politicians who, on occasion, make it stop; to business tycoons and labor leaders who clash by day and party together by night; to a president who wants to change America and his opponents (on both the left and the right) who want to keep it as it is or return it to where it used to be. Reich guides us to the pinnacles of power and pretension, as bills are passed or stalled, reputations built or destroyed, secrets leaked, numbers fudged, egos bruised, news stories spun, hypocrisies exposed, and good intentions occasionally derailed. And to the places across America where those who are the objects of this drama are simply trying to get by--assembly lines, sweatshops, union halls, the main streets of small towns and the tough streets of central cities.

Locked in the Cabinet is an intimate odyssey involving a memorable cast--a friend who is elected President of the United States, only to discover the limits of power; Alan Greenspan, who is the most powerful man in America; and Newt Gingrich, who tries to be. Plus a host of others: White House staffers and cabinet members who can't find "the loop ; political consultant Dick Morris, who becomes "the loop ; baseball players and owners who can't agree on how to divide up $2 billion a year; a union leader who accuses Reich of not knowing what a screwdriver looks like; a heretofore invisible civil servant deep in the Labor Department whose brainchild becomes the law of the land; and a wondrous collection of senators, foreign ministers, cabinet officers, and television celebrities. And it is also an odyssey for Reich's wife and two young sons, who learn to tolerate their own cabinet member but not to abide Washington.

Here is Reich--determined to work for a more just society, laboring in a capital obsessed with exorcising the deficit and keeping Wall Street happy--learning that Washington is not only altogether different from the world of ordinary citizens but ultimately, and more importantly, exactly like it: a world in which Murphy's Law reigns alongside the powerful and the privileged, but where hope amazingly persists. There are triumphs here to fill a lifetime, and frustrations to fill two more. Never has this world been revealed with such richness of evidence, humor, and warmhearted candor.
... Read more

Reviews (38)

An uncanny personal account of a liberal's struggle in DC
This is one of the finest personal accounts of the daily struggles of being a Washington insider. Mr. Reich is equally critical of himself and those around him and tells a compelling story of the divergence of classes in society and his efforts to actualize change in a self-interested Washington. While I do not agree with many of Mr. Reich's economic theories, he does have a seemingly endless passion for ideas and argues from the heart. The book is a brilliant commentary on how the powerful stay powerful in Washington, while demonstrating who really influences the direction of the White House. This is a thoughtful read even for those not interested in politics and really is a page-turner, despite being a memoir of one man's four year stint in Washington.

Fantastic inside account written for the general reader...
I loved this book...most Cabinet history that I've read describes somewhat the inner workings of that particular administration and the policies associated with it, but Reich takes them and makes them great reading. Honest and straight-forward, Reich describes the government and the early Clinton administration in easy, real-people writing along with much anecdotal humor uncommon in the accounts that I mentioned above. As the previous reviewer mentioned, just reading him describing how slow and sluggish the decision making process is or how hard it is to get close to Clinton to convince him that his (Clinton's) economic policies are misguided is, if not surprising, at least entertaining. One of the few political books I've read that I would describe as hard to put down.

As entertaining as it is insightful.
I was reading this book at the beach when two security officers appeared on the scene and carted off two rather attractive women. They had been sitting less than ten feet in front of me, and apparently had caused a significant disturbance by smoking marijuana. I was so deeply buried in the text, however, that I was completely oblivious until the officers showed up. Needless to say, I found this book to be highly entertaining and engrossing.

I started this book hoping to get a better sense of the internal workings of the Clinton administration. On that count it delivered, but the book also provided an insightful look into many of the other element driving Washington - Congress, the media, lobbyists, unions, political consultants, Alan Greenspan, etc. While I don't agree with all of Reich's views, I really appreciated his wonderful sense of humor and his keen insights into both people and policies. Except for the most jaded of conservatives, I think anyone who has even a passing interest in politics would enjoy this book.

The Washington DC political process revealed
In 1992 Robert B. Reich joined his friend Governor Bill Clinton's Presidential election campaign. Dr. Reich intended to explore a new territory -- a nation where Government subsidized the training of young and displaced workers for modern *better* jobs. Upon President Clinton's election Dr. Reich was appointed Secretary of Labor, a Cabinet post that Dr. Reich held until after President Clinton's successful re-election. "Locked In The Cabinet" chronicles Dr. Reich's workers' advocacy.

Dr. Reich was an able Labor Secretary with tangible accomplishments (e.g., a minimum wage increase and enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act). He supported NAFTA while *strongly* advocating Federal subsidies to train new and displaced United States' workers -- ***better jobs for all Americans***.

"Locked ..." chronicles idealism, hard work, personal sacrifice, salesmanship, compromise and frustration. Dr. Reich brought his workers' agenda to Washington at a time when the poor and middle class had lost employment and real income for two decades. During his four years as Labor Secretary, Dr. Reich increasingly saw his workers' agenda tabled as other, more powerful constituencies (e.g., Wall Street and the military) got priority. Dr. Reich did not achieve his workers' agenda -- his agenda remains tabled today.

Dr. Reich is an *extremely* intelligent man and an able author. "Locked ..." is his story told with a sharp and depreciating wit. Dr. Reich's strong wit occasionally obscures his message: Continuity of Government is each Administration's goal and everybody must support the Administration, yet politics hinders 'team play' by dissecting, analyzing and criticizing *every utterance*. One day you are 'locked in'. If something happens the next day you are 'locked out'.

I believe that after his resignation Dr. Reich wrote "Locked In The Cabinet" to place his experiences in perspective. I highly recommend this serious book both for its wit and also for its important message.

An interesting behind-the-scenes tour
It was interesting to have Robert Reich lead a tour-view behind the scenes of the first four years of the Clinton administration. He confirmed much of what many suspected: the administration was disorganized, Clinton was undisciplined, the people he brought to help him run the government meant well but were not as effective as they ought to have been.

Mr. Reich's frustration with the administration of which he was a very visible part shows through. He was starkly realistic and frank. When he criticized the President (whom he called simply "B" throughout most of the book) or Hillary Clinton, he wrote as disappointed friend not a destructive enemy. But when he criticized those whom he did not like, such as political guru Dick Morris, Mr. Reich did not hold back. He was unapologetically blunt.

Much of the real Bob Reich comes through in his book: a very nice guy who loves his family, extremely intelligent, fair-minded with a realistic grasp of what has been consistently wrong with the American economy. He became Clinton's Secretary of Labor hoping to correct the course of the flow of capital which allowed the very rich to increase their millions and billions, while the poor and middle class continued to struggle merely to stay afloat.

He was not entirely successful in his efforts, though he did achieve an increase in the minimum wage and enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act. He was also an advocate of the enactment of NAFTA over the strong objections of labor unions and which he may ultimately regret.

Though he writes of his political and economic views with sober dedication, he does not take himself seriously. He constantly pokes fun at himself because of his four-foot ten-inch size. Those humorous jibes were not overdone and added an occasional light touch which makes Mr. Reich's book a worthy addition to a library of political memoirs.
-o0o- ... Read more

Book Description

Abridged, with an Introduction, by Bergen Evans, The Powell-Hill text ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Must buy. And read.
This book will redefine your concepts of biography, of philology and of intellect. However critically James Boswell is rated as a writer, the fact remains that his biography of Johnson remains the standard by which all others are judged, and by which they ultimately fall--flat on their condescending faces.

Who was Samuel Johnson? He was, in one sense, the first literary celebrity. His fabled dictionary of the English language was, a few years down the road, superceded and greatly improved upon by the dictionary written by Noah Webster. His tour of Scotland and the book that ensued from it hardly rank with the other literary giants of English. And his essays, indisputably brilliant, remain sadly that: forms of literature seldom read, and lacking the artistic force of the play, the novel, the poem.

What Boswell shows us about Johnson is that he was the sharpest conversationalist of his time in a society that cultivated the very finest of witty speakers. Living off the beneficence of friends, off a royally-provided pension, and leading what he readily acknowledged to be a life of idleness, Johnson was a sought-after personality invigorated by one of the brightest literary minds ever.

Boswell introduces the genius, his pathos, his melancholy, his piety, his warmth, and most of all his stinging wit. That he loved and respected Johnson, and sought to honor his memory, can only be doubted by an utter cynic or someone serving a lifetime of durance in academia.

"All intellectual improvement arises from leisure..." "You shall retain your superiority by my not knowing it." "Sir, they [Americans] are a parcel of convicts and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." "He was dull in a new way, and that made people think him great." "...it is our duty to maintain the subordination of civilized society..." "It is wonderful, when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession." Boswell: "...you are an idle set of people." Johnson: "Sir, we are a city of philosophers." "We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards."

And best of all, and immortal to boot, is this: "No man but a blockhead writes, except for money."

Buy this book. Read it. It's humanity at its wittiest and most complex.

Great Book (Bad Edition)
Needless to say, Boswell's LIFE OF JOHNSON is one of the preeminent works of biography and should be read by anyone interested in Johnson or the genre. It is a great book (also great is W. Jackson Bate's SAMUEL JOHNSON [1st published 1975]which is a MUST for anyone interested in Johnson). But although I love the Everyman's Library, I do not recommend this edition of Boswell. Unlike the usual quality of the Everyman's Library, its Boswell is rife with typographical errors (there's even missing text!). Though it's the only edition of Boswell I've read, I regret that a correct edition is not on my bookshelf. That being said, if this is the only affordable hardcover version you can find -- and you buy only hardcovers -- go ahead and purchase the Everyman's despite the numerous and distracting errors.

An Epic Friendship
Charged with everything from homosexuality to hatred of his subject, Boswell gives us a great gift in this monumental work. What must be the greatest document of a friendship besides being a fine piece of biography and an important resource for social historians, The Life of Johnson should not be missed by any student of eighteenth-century English literature. Other than Johnson's literary opinions, you can learn about his days's thoughts on anxiety and religious doubts. So turn your TV off for a month and read a great book and become acquainted with some truly interesting and intellectual people.

Opens An Intellectual Window To 18th Century London
I chose the 1,000 or so page Wordsworth Classics paperback edition of The Life Of Johnson (ISBN 1 85326 797 x) and was very pleased I did. The book had a nice heft to it, and the print was large enough for a comfortable read. My only major beef with this edition is that Boswell's text is replete with quotations from a variety of languages including Latin, Greek, French, Italian and others, and very few of them are translated into English. Whether the editor assumed that the average modern reader is a polyglot, or was unable to provide the translations for some other reason, I feel deprived at not having had access to this portion of the book's material, particularly as the quotes are most often used to gild the lily of one of Johnson's witticisms. Nevertheless, the book rewards the diligent reader with a wealth of intellectual stimulation, and offers a fascinating look into the England of the period including: polite London society, Oxford University, and jaunts around the British and Scottish countryside. Johnson's somewhat eccentric life and personal habits are lovingly and affectionately relayed by his close friend Boswell, who somehow managed to preserve a vast amount of Johnson's conversation without the aid of a tape recorder. With everyday life as a backdrop, we see how Johnson, a self-described lazy man, managed to produce such an abundant literary legacy, not the least of which was his groundbreaking dictionary. I recommend this book highly to people with an interest in 18th century England, the literary society of the period, or who simply love a great biography.

nice but heavily abridged
I liked this but prefer the unabridged edition published by Oxford University Press (in their Oxford World's Classics series). If you're willing to read Boswell, spend a few dollars more for the OUP edition. ... Read more

Book Description

From Robert James Waller comes a wonderful collection of 19 essays--all of them as romantic, reflective, and timeless as readers have come to expect from the author of The Bridges of Madison County--a celebration of life and loss, of what things still can be. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The wind beneath Robert Kincaid's wings...
If you ever read "The Bridges of Madison County" and wondered how could someone create such an amazing story,or how it would be wonderful to know a person like Kincaid - You will be excited to find out that Robert Kincaid is actually Robert James Waller himself! In this autobiographic book Waller lets us all take a glimpse into his personal life and discover what a special person he is.You'll learn about his childhood,growing up adventures,family and hobbies. And you'll see Kincaid is not just an imaginary figure but a side of Waller's personality. I was fascinated to learn so much about Waller and his "reclusive life of words and imagination".