Book Description

In this remarkable book, 103-year-old George Dawson, a slave's grandson who learned to read at age 98, reflects on his life and offers valuable lessons in living as well as a fresh, firsthand view of America during the twentieth century. Richard Glaubman captures Dawson's irresistible voice and view of the world, offering insights into humanity, history, hardships, and happiness. From segregation and civil rights, to the wars, presidents, and defining moments in history, George Dawson's description and assessment of the last century inspires readers with the message that-through it all-has sustained him: "Life is so good. I do believe it's getting better." ... Read more

Reviews (69)

A Book For Students and Teachers of All ages
George Dawson is a remarkable man. He was the son of a slave and grew up in Texas. At the age of four he began working the family farm. At twelve he was sent out as a hired hand to help earn money for his family. He left home at twenty-one and traveled the country by rail. He worked hard all his life and encountered many hardships but there is no bitterness in this book as there is in so many memoirs today. This book is like a mini lesson in American history from a black respective. I loved this book because it showed so much perserverance and determination. George Dawson never was able to go to school as a child because he always had to work but at the age of 98 he learned to read! At 103 he was working on his G.E.D. He died in June of 2001. I read part of his story to my first grade class this year and they were fascinated. It shows how it is never too late to learn. This is the best book I have read all year.

An inspiring, true story
This book is about the life of George Dawson, a remarkable 101-year-old man who is the grandson of slaves. Born in 1898, he tells of what life was like in Texas before integration. He turned away racial hatred by his gentle manner and kept his dignity during the most trying circumstances. He did manual labor from the time he was 4 until he was 90, and at age 98 he began to look for new challenges and so decided to go to Adult Education classes and learn to read. When he was growing up, he was always working,and as the oldest son he was depended upon to contribute financially to his family. His younger brothers and sisters went to school, but he never had a chance until someone knocked on his door and offered him the chance to learn to read. His quiet dignity shines through the pages as his story is told to co-author, Richard Glaubman. Glaubman is an elementary school teacher from Washington who became fascinated with a newspaper article he read about Dawson in a Seattle paper. The two became good friends over the course of the writing of this book and it is told in a narrative style of two friends chatting about the past. Some of the most interesting stories involve Dawson's early years and the times in his 20's when he traveled around the country just to satisfy his wanderlust. This is a wonderful book and in the course of reading it I felt as if I'd gotten to know a very special person

104 and still going¿
Imagine being the grandson of slaves, learning how to read at the age of 98 and living through one whole century. A rare life like this is proudly owned by one very lucky man named George Dawson. A writer named Richard Glaubman and George wrote a book together called "Life is so Good". This book takes you on an amazing adventure through this man's life. He lived all the way back to the awful times of segregation between blacks and whites, and the Depression at the beginning of the 20th century. Fast forward the date all the way to the 21st century, he is still as healthy and active as ever at the age of 104. One of the things I enjoyed the most about Mr. Dawson's book was that he would always do his very best and never gave up even when things were really tough.

The most interesting book Iv'e ever read!
When my teacher said that we were going to read a book outloud I thought oh no another baby book! but when I heard the first chapter I couldn't wait to read the rest it was so exciting and to know that this really happened it was like taking a trip to a virtual tour through history! Maybe it isn't the best book ever. Maybe the fact that my PE teacher is the author inched me to think it was great I love it! When I heard that Gorege Dawson was coming to our school I was thrilled I even got to shake Goerge Dawsons hand! This book is probably the best book I've ever read! It's true.

After 5 years, I still think about this book
I read this book about 5 years ago and have never forgotten it. I wanted my grandson to read it, but I couldn't remember the title and was so glad after trying many searches to find it. This is one of those quiet books. I found it very engaging and soulful when I read it, but I have only come to understand recently how much it affected me. I still think about it often. This is a sign of a great book. ... 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

Book Description

"An Italian ROOTS."The Washington Post Book World

At long last, Gay Talese, one of America's greatest living authors, employs his prodigious storytelling gifts to tell the saga of his own family's emigration to America from Italy in the years preceding World War II.Ultimately it is the story of all immigrant families and the hope and sacrifice that took them from the familiarity of the old world into the mysteries and challenges of the new.

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Reviews (7)

Nonfiction, or facts based on perspective?
Like most everyone who lives in the United States, our ancestral heritage may contain an assortment of interesting stories of people, places and events that make us who we are today. The heritage of Gay Talese is yet another of those interesting stories. Talese chronicles his family's past . The majority of the tale discusses the effects of World War I and II on both his and his extended family in his former home of southern Italy.

Dear reader must be prepared for two major overbearing characteristics of this book. First, the paperback novel is more than six hundred pages of small print. Second, this book is published under the auspices of being questionably "non-fiction." One may find much of the book required a large degree of imagination to recreate actual conversations and events. Like any other person who is affected by world events, we may only surmise how history has influenced our own individual positions. Although the book is in some ways informative, it is as much an opinionated characterization of facts. Sadly, the ending doesn't so much as conclude, as it just runs out of steam. Even with all of these downfalls, it remains an informative and interesting read.

Unto the Sons
As an Italian reader I found this book very involving and enjoyable.

It's a passionate, well written story of emigration, and it's a story about roots and identity.

In my opinion the only fault of this book is that it isn't the story of the whole family, but only of half of it.

The Talese saga depicts a world crowded with very interesting and well-portrayed male characters. It's the story of their dreams and their disappointments, of their failures and their achievements and of the risks they dared to take in the struggle for a better life in the old and in the new world throughout a century. It's a story about the troubles of a double loyalty and, to some extent, it's a journey home.

And I must say I found very interesting to look at a piece of italian history through the eyes of a second generation Italian-American.

In sharp contrast, the female characters are pale ghosts, barely sketched shadows wandering in the narrow space of an old house, of a narrow Southern Italian village, of an American store. Even Ippolita, the grand-grandmother, the only non-conventional woman of the family, remains hidden to us. And I happened to wonder whether Talese is not able to find anything really worthy of attention in these women and in their lives,portrayed as just spent in the shadow of their men (fathers, husbands, sons), or if they live in a world of their own, completely impenetrable to him. Whatever the answer, Talese seems to be aware of this imbalance: the title of the book is "Unto the Sons" and the sons are the male children.

An epic tale
This is a sweeping epic about an Italian family. Gay Talese has a rich family history and he tell's their story (in a way it is his story) with the voice of a novelist.

There are many characters who might appear uniteresting if we were to "meet them on the street," but Talese's ability to get under their skin, as it were, gives them individuality, personality and humanity. And this is the story of the characters: it is not contrived by the author--though, of course, he tailers their stories to fit HIS book.

This is not a romanticized tale. Sometimes it is dark, with stern, superstitious ancestors and bleak events. Yet when it was over I felt a warmth for most of the characters in it.

This is the epic of many Americans. My own ancestors had many similar experiences. My ancestors are fairly recent German and Swedish immigrants, but much of their story is the story of the Talese family. It is the story of our own individuality striving against our heritage and either coming to terms with it or rejecting it.

Gay Talese has helped my understand myself in terms of my own heritage through this excellent book.

Revealing background to immigration to the USA
This magnificently written portrait of the extraordinary spirit of the Italian people, and the decision of some of them to leave Southern Italy, skillfully portrays the life and customs of small towns in pre war Calabria and New Jersey.

It introduces us to many fascinating and industrious people, and their struggle in the two world wars.

It also shows us to what it felt like to be an immigrant in the United States before the last war, and what it meant to see your children grow up as citizens of a country that was actively allied against your beloved homeland.

It is a superb account of the role Italian people have played in the development of this country, the richness of their culture and the expertise they have brought with them.

A definate "Must Read" for anyone interested in Italy and the dynamics of the USA.

Historical Perspectives/Politcal Messages
Gay Talese's work on his family's journey from Italy to America is an involved tale that delves into a difficult historical period for both the United States and Italy. Revolution, social upheaval, racism, and war color Talese's story from start to finish. These themes give the tale a characteristically depressing bent which tends to ramble in certain places. In addition, there is a decided social message which the author appears to be trying to put forth during the entire story. These perspectives, and those on Italian history, should be viewed in the context of interpretations of an Italian American writer and not be taken as those of traditional native Italian scholars. Still, the book is in a bold attempt at telling the story of one family's struggle, on both sides of the Atlantic, during the social upheaval of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Book Description

Fernando Pessoa was many writers in one. The Portuguese author attributed his work to literary alter egos that he called "heteronyms," each of which had a fully developed identity. When Pessoa died, he left behind a trunk filled with disorderly scraps of unpublished poems and unfinished works, among which was The Book of Disquiet. Published for the first time some fifty years after his death, this unique collection of short, aphoristic paragraphs comprises the "autobiography" of Bernardo Soares, one of Pessoa's alternate selves. Part intimate diary, part prose poetry, part descriptive narrative, captivatingly translated by Richard Zenith, The Book of Disquiet is one of the greatest works of the twentieth century.

Edited and Translated with an Introduction by Richard Zenith ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A book which will change the way you think
It's not a book based on plot or persuasion; merely a book which presents incredible feelings and ideas in a fantastic way. Often we have all wondered about the true nature of simply BEING. Often we feel as though the world passes us by, or hunts us, or seeks to confuse us. Pessoa simply puts these feelings into beautifully flowing prose. Complex ideas and feelings are written of so skillfully that I feel as if we had been the same person. This book is well worth reading.

Change your life - read Pessoa
This book is amazing. I had never heard of Pessoa before I spied the book at Shakespeare & Co here in Paris, read the attached reviews and thought it must be worth the 10 Euros to see what I was missing.

Pessoa is unlike any other writer you will ever read. The closest match to this book that I can think of is Augustine's Confessions, albeit a more lovely written, more moving, post-modernist, secular version of that classic. It is existential philosophy, literary theory, diary, poetry, dream journal and confession all wrapped into one. A profound and profoundly moving book which will leave you wondering why such an incredible writer and thinker remains so obscure. The book is written in snatches, better to be dipped into at leisure than read straight thru. You'll find yourself annotating passages, writing down qoutes, rereading sections endlessly. You'll begin to question the reality of your existence, if not your own sanity, if you read it too thoroughly.

This is truly Art of the highest order and should be read by every thinking person. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

the struggle to put into words
AKIN TO reading A DIARY, SUBMERGED, TURNED WRITTEN WITHIN, NOT NECCESARY easy.O THINKING[SPINNING] godlikea I AM ]}KING Ones own entity CUT OFFNESS TOLD IN MATTER OF FACTNESS, this is like a fresh aproach to the use of words to create an ACUTUALNESS THE I WISHES TO STIMULATE WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WRITE A MORE REAL WORLD USING THE INTERNAL,what it would be like to have multiple LIVES IN THIS LIFE. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

C'est magnifique!
I have just finished reading The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater and it was nothing less
than fabulous. I found it to be honest, sincere, humorous and incredibly moving. After
reading Ms. Drinkwater's work, I feel as though I know her. I want to visit her and Michel
and help work on their farm, drink wine with them and explore the south of France. It is
as if one were actually there and privy to all their joys, successes, failures and secrets. It
has been a very long time since I have read a book that I wanted more of. I was actually sorry
to have finished it. Bravo Ms. Drinkwater! Bravo!

Sweet life in southern France
When we came home from our vacation in southern France this summer my sister in law gave me this book. I have read Frances Mayes' books about Tuscany several times and love them so much, I though, oh, just another writer trying to write like her. But I was totally wrong. Carol Drinkwater buys a farm in southern France just like Mayes does in Tuscany, but there stops the similarity.

Carol Drinkwater's style of writing is unique in the way she let us take part in her life. The book is so much more than a book about buying a farm, it is a love story to the man in her kife she has just met, it is the story of how to adjust in the life of being a step mother, it is a story of adapting another country and it's inhabitants. And her writing is so good you just melt into the book, can't put it down, feel you are there at the farm with her.

What I liked most about the book si that it shows several aspacts of the "sweet life". Not everything is romantic, we also meet the shadows of the life of buying the farm. Drinkwater opens her heart to the readers for good and for worse, and this way she makes to book a masterpiece of the love story literature.

Thanks for this book. I have already ordered it's sequel and know that when it arrives I will need to put aside anything else for some reading hours.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

On the Fence
Hours after listening to the last installment of Drinkwater's The Olive Farm on unabridged audio cassette, I vacillate between liking and disliking this offering. The narrative, although an interesting recount of actress Carol Drinkwater's purchase of and initial rennovations on a run-down olive farm in the South of France, lacks the sparkling energy of Peter Mayle's 'A Year in Provence'. Instead, Drinkwater's tale mingles oh-so-sweet recollections that tiresomely wax on the poetic with bald reenactments of her lowest emotional moments--moments that transform her dream of a working farm producing rich and succulent olive oil into nothing more than a meaningless childish fantasy. The result never quite gels to produce an even story---instead the reader wants to either fast-forward through the author's awkward poetry to get to an action sequence, or fast forward through the melancholy action to reach an enjoyable idyll in the Midi sun. Unfortunately, the idylls in the sun are few and far between--Drinkwater only sparks with life when she writes about the numerous dogs that stray onto her newly-acquired property.

One gets the sense, that this book started out as a series of essays rather than a fully planned out book--the ending was rushed and I would have thought that as the book began with the idea of working towards and owning the farm, an appropriate ending would have been the actual purchase of the property outright after all the trials and tribulations both Drinkwater and her husband labored through. Instead, a murky resolution of the author's feelings about her father's death and the troubles regarding a television production seem to overshadow the book's original theme and premise.

Recommended only to those who cannot read enough about the south of France, especially those who enjoy the 'Under the Tuscan Sun' genre of travel literature.

An experience to be envious of
Carol Drinkwater is a British actress. She is in a relationship with Michel, a French television producer. Together they decide to buy a neglected olive farm in the south of France. The book revolves around their eventful purchase of the farm and their even more eventful attempts to change the farm into a place where they can live. The book provides some insight into the lifestyle of the French, especially the rural communities. The characters they meet during these eventful times add much colour to the already fascinating tale - from the old lady from whom they buy the farm to the variety of workers and contractors that help them to fix the place.

Carol refers only where necessary to her and Michel's more glamorous entertainment careers, which I appreciated as I have bought the book for the story around the farm. I was easily drawn into the story by her writing and enjoyed their successes with them and stressed through the downturns with them. Her description of the countryside and their rather romantic excursion to the islands off the coast, south of Cannes, add to the enjoyment of the book.

The struggle to retain the farm and the typical human interactions between the various characters maintain a tension that holds throughout the book and it actually pulls the reader through it. I thought it was well written and well edited. Actually, similar to other reviewers, I would not mind a follow-up to learn how their lives and the farm developed further!

I read the book because of the olive element in it and the fact that I am jealous of people doing things that I want to do but am too scared to do! I am comfortable that I got value for my money and was inspired by the book, although I have still not bought my olive farm! People who enjoy biographies will not be disappointed by this book. Readers who read travel stories will also find it enjoyable. A few months ago, I have also read Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes, a similar story and also enjoyable. However, if I have to choose between the two, I will go for The Olive Farm.

As warm as the Mediterranean sun.
Carol Drinkwater, actress in my all-time favorite television show, "All Creatures Great and Small," takes us with her on a warm and wonderful journey to the south of France where we experienced first-hand with her the toils, traumas, tears, and triumphs of pursuing one's dream. In this case the initial dream was to make a go of a dilapidated olive farm near Cannes and Nice, and ultimately, it led us on a voyage with the author to find her (and vicariously our) heart's desire. The farm is just a stage -- it is the people, their warmth, caring, and interdependence, that make life worth living. The story is very interesting, with plenty of ups and downs, interesting people and experiences, writing that touches all our senses (I can almost smell those orange-scented breezes), genuinely moving events and realizations, lots of heart and humor, and very importantly, excellent writing. Her descriptions are very clear, the story keeps moving forward at an interesting pace, and there were a number of passages that I re-read several times to fully appreciate her excellent use of language. (Peter Mayle could take some lessons here.) I regretted having to finish the book and stepping back out of Ms. Drinkwater's world, and I hope we will have a sequel to sink our minds and hearts into. It's enough to make me (almost) forgive the actress/author for relinquishing her role in the final episodes of "All Creatures.." I highly recommend this book, I thank the author for inviting us into her world, and I look forward to OF2. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Another great book
This is a hard book to comment on, as it is both excellent and incomplete. As all memoirs- to an extent- probably feel somewhat unfinished, "Giving Up the Ghost," is particularly hard to reflect on with any sense of conclusion. Whether this adds to or detracts from the book's strength changes from day to day after reading it, but the work, and its content, does keep you thinking for a long time afterwards.

Having read all of Mantel's novels, it seems that, with the exception of "A Place of Greater Safety," this is a quality shared by her fictional works and, here, her non-fiction. In a few cases, as in "An Experiment in Love," the ending feels abrupt rather than simply inconclusive. This is preceded by a good 200-odd pages of bulldozer honesty, however, and the force of the revelations are only never quite relieved. Her shorter books read most of the way through as if you are being pushed blindly towards a cliff, and are only pushed off in the last few pages. The final paragraphs, then, which seam up an ending, feel like the thoughts you are having on the way down. In theory, the novel would be incomplete, but while they don't feel settled, you never exactly complain that you haven't reached the bottom yet.

"Ghost" is more gradual, even measured. Her insights are both condemning and self-questioning, and the most beautiful writing finds itself where she returns to previous conclusions and reevaluates them. I am probably stupidly young to be applying a critical view to the majority of the book's described experience, but Mantel creates a familiarity with her characters, and herself, that is at once both painful and comforting in its imperfection. Any perceived fault in her writing is never in character development or settling you into their place, but in adhering to the arc defined as "fiction making sense". She seems to stick to a disarming incoherence, which follows and develops with each novel. If her shorter works feel incomplete in themselves, there is continuity between them as a whole. There are great truths, but nothing didactic upon which to hang an definitely instructive ending. This is true in "Ghost," where she gives an honest experience that cannot be constructed into a moral, so there is none made of it. What we do want at the end, though, is a connection between the experiences she presents us with. In "A Place of Greater Safety," the length allowed for a thorough examination of the incongruities within and between characters, which gives a shape to the irresolution. I recommend buying "Ghost", simply because it is a great book, but I found myself here again wishing Mantel's work had been longer. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This first volume of the correspondence of Hunter S. Thompson begins with a high school essay and runs up through the publication of Thompson's breakout book, Hell's Angels. Thompson apparently never threw a letter away, so the reader has the treat of experiencing the full evolution of his pyrotechnic writing style, rant by rant. The letters--to girlfriends, to bill collectors, to placers of "Help Wanted" ads, to editors and publishers--are usually spiced with political commentary. The style and the political animus always seem to drive each other.For instance, an 11/22/63 letter to novelist and friend William J. Kennedy about the day's cataclysm is apparently the birthplace of the signal phrase "fear and loathing." (Thompson summed up the Kennedy assassination thus: "The savage nuts have shattered the great myth of American decency.") And the willingness to write strangers is stunning: this collection includes Thompson's letter to LBJ seeking appointment to the governorship of American Samoa. You might have thought Garry Trudeau was exaggerating in his Doonesbury characterization of the Thompson-based character Duke. He was not. ... Read more

Reviews (41)

I Guess I'll Let Myself Out Now
I read this book a few years ago, but never felt motivated to write a review until this sad day.HST killed himself last night--a tragic end to a savage, but noble, life.I have read several of HSTs books and articles.They are all wildly original, fearless, brilliant, and (above all) LOL funny.Proud Highway is a fascinating read because it shows the evolution of HST's genius, from teenager through his maturation as a writer.You can see from the letters, all amazingly sharp and intelligent, the hardship, sacrifice, and hard work Thompson went through to become the legendary, "gonzo" journalist he was.Despite his talent and humor, years of fear and loathing must have finally gotten to him.Rest in peace, Raul Duke.You were a true American original and the world will be a poorer place without you.

The Great Gonzo Education Course
I first picked up this volume when it was brand new and I was a freshman at USC, just entertaining the notion of becoming a writer. Now, some seven years later, I finally got around to getting my own copy and finishing it recently, I can say it was worth the wait.

Hunter S. Thompson may have only been thirty when the book comes to a close, but he does so much living in the 12 years detailed that one can't help but feel envious. From his stint in the Air Force to his various travels cross-country and to South America, Thompson remains a fiercely independent creature throughout his letters, heaping scorn and praise upon those he corresponds with as he sees fit. The bulk of the first part concerns Thompson's unfruitful look for a steady writing assignment early on, and one feels the sense of desperation and (dare I say) fear and loathing he builds up for the workaday world. Thompson's muse carries him far and wide, to outposts both remote (the heart of deepest South America) and wellknown (New York, San Francisco). Through it all, Thompson never loses sight of his original passion for the written word.

Some of the letters are to family or friends, with some fiery dispatches to entities Thompson felt had hurt him or America in some way (imagine writing a letter to Dubya like the ones Thompson wrote to LBJ without getting the Secret Service breathing down your neck). The friends that Thompson collects range from obvious (Hells Angels, other struggling literati), to the baffling (I had no idea Charles Kuralt and Thompson knew one another). Throughout, Thompson's savage wit and fiery temper burn through even the most customary notes to landlords or editors.

In some ways, Thompson's constant refrain of the "n-word" is disturbing to more modern readers, but like the great writers of the past he is a product of his times. To omit the phrase or other derogatory terms Thompson used in the original letters would be to deny the authenticity of his feelings, and once any initial shock wears off it becomes apparent that Thompson may not even be using the term to refer specifically to African-Americans. That was my only qualm with the content, and it's a credit to his maturity over the course of the years contained that Thompson seems to be far more liberal than his peers from Kentucky.

The first volume made me want to go out and buy the second right away, if only to see what predicaments the Great Gonzo finds himself in. No one wrote letters quite like HST, letters that could stand in their own right as bizarre snapshots of an America in transition. I've even found my own e-mail length increasing mightily since I began the book (for which I apologize to anyone from here on out who I send an unusally long e-mail to). You'll come away from this book with a deeper appreciation for the work Thompson has done to document the death of the American Dream. Captured within these pages are his first inklings that such a thing has come to pass.

From fellow journalists like William Kennedy and Tom Wolfe to LBJ and the NRA, Thompson's letters reflect the wide spectrum of Sixties personalities. Perhaps the most engaging character throughout is Thompson himself. For all his egotism, he is a great writer. The proof is in this book.

Literary to His Finger Tips
William J. Kennedy writes that odd things happen when you intersect with Hunter Thompson.Kennedy's introductiondescribes him as a masterful prose sylist.Douglas Brinkley, the editor, notes that Hunter Thompson took over Kierkegaard's phrase 'fear and loathing'.Thompson, Brinkely reports, had a ritual of typing letters at night.Brinkley believes that Orwell was a supreme influence of Thompson's style.

The letters written during Thompson's service in the Air Force evidence a young person literary to his finger tips.The editor uses notes to orient the reader by saying, for instance, now he is reading F. Scott FitzGerald, or John Dos Passos.Like many young people suffering from maladjustment, he was also reading with great interest THE OUSIDER and THE FOUNTAINHEAD.Thompson worked as a copy boy at TIME.Henry Luce set up a free bar for the employees on Sunday evenings.Hunter details in one of the letters how he took some of Henry Luce's things.

After being fired by TIME for insubordination, Thompson went to work at the MIDDLETOWN DAILY RECORD.He lost that job when he abused the candy machine.He thought LIE DOWN IN DARKNESSwas great and wrote a letter to William Styron. (Actually, by reading this collection I learned to take a more charitable view of the journalistic posturing and strutting engaged in by Ernest Hemingway as his way of overcoming the terrible resistance of the blank white page to literary production.)

Thompson moved to San Juan to write for a bowling newspaper.Photographs show Thompson the Outlaw of Big Sur and Joan Baez, his neighbor.It was 1961 and he was 33.Thompson had a piece on Big Sur accepted by ROGUE.When his piece was published he was evicted for spreading gossip in a smutty magazine.Thompson sold a short story to ROGUE.

In 1962 he was in Bogata, Colombia.He went on to Peru, Equador, Bolivia, and Brazil doing pieces for THE NATIONAL OBSERVER.Carey McWilliams of THE NATION had Hunter Thompson cover the Free Speech Movement.By 1966 Thompson had his book on the Hell's Angels ready for publication by Random House.In a letter to Tom Wolfe Thompson described Colorado as one of those squalid-shaped states.

The writing is very lively and energetic.The editor's presentation of Hunter Thompson is fair and sharp.

HST at his best
Hunter S. Thomson came to the conclusion at a very young age that he was brilliant, and as a result made a point of saving his letters to prove it.Before Gonzo was Gonzo there was Hunter S. Thomason the lover of the written word, and this collection of letters lets you in on the adventure of an author coming of age.Like the readers of Hemmingway and Kerouac, if you are a lover of Hunter S. Thompson's writing you are more than likely a lover of Hunter S. Thompson - This book is for you.Anyone not familiar with HST will find in this book the archetypical American idealist: self reliant, self directed and uncompromising.However what makes Thompson unique is that he is able to write very, very well, and in so doing his journey is told with vibrancy and power that can only be told by a man who has done much, thought a lot, and wrote even more.

Editor Douglas Brinkley has done an outstanding job arranging Thompson's "trunk load of letters" from a mix of miscellaneous correspondences into a brilliant historical look at the history of America over latter half of twentieth century.

Simply awesome!
This is a must for every wannabe author.This is not simply for the diehard HST fan.The author speaks to everybody but for those born before 1964 it is particularly poignant, a real coming-of-age story.If this had been fiction, it would not have been published because it would have simply been too outrageous to accept.I'm sure in this case 90% of it is true, but only HST would know for sure -- and even he probably forgets much of it.(If you can remember the 1960's, you weren't there.)The softback copy has a great feel and look to it, the paper and the font. A great book to keep in your carry-on baggage even if it is a bit heavy. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A brilliant meditation on an author's passions
I first discovered Carlos Fuentes in college with The Death of Artemio Cruz and Where The Air is Clear and he has been a touchstone ever since. Although many of his subsequent novels have fallen short of my expectations, this autobiograophical collection of essays on a variety of subjects is intellectually engaging and insightful into the development of Fuentes the man and the author. A thousand stars! ... Read more

Amazon.com

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

Reviews (25)

A disappointment; pretty mundane.
Wolff is a fine writer, and the book is certainly readable, but it added barely anything to my understanding of war, Vietnam, the soldier's life, etc. Frankly, I was disappointed, based on the previous work I'd read by him. Other Vietnam books, such as "Chickenhawk", "The Things They Carried" (the latter billed as fiction) and "We Were Soldiers Once, And Young" really put this one to shame, and I strongly recommend all of them, without reservation, to anyone who might be interested in this subject. This one you can skip.

Simply excellent
I read this after This Boy's Life which was terrific. In this book you get the same honesty the same dazzling writing. It's hard to pin down but the way Mr. Wolff writes you REALLY feel like you know him. There is no pretension, no hype to his writing. No bs. Wolff has alot of anecdotes to tell about his youth. Off the top of my head I can recall his experiences watching Bonanza on tv. in Vietnam. It was quite a story believe me. And it touched on things like, the savvy of his second in command, the day to day life of a soldier... This book is filled with telling stories like this. You won't see this sort of thing in your usual Vietnam memoir. Least I wouldn't think so. I will say one thing though. Before I read any of Wolff's work it seemed, from the reviews and the book jacket that I was in for a kind of dull book that had a way of obliging the reader to acknowledge it. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book has all the colors of the rainbow, chills, thrills, laughs, I mean this book has it ALL.

Unbelievably great story of a special forces officer
This is far from your typical war memoir. Tobias Wolff found himself in Vietnam almost accidently, but as a highly trained special forces officer. His experiences there are anything but gung-ho. Lots of powerful vignettes.

Everyone should read this book. It's that good.

Well written but ultimately a letdown
I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. Wolff is a gifted writer, but it doesn't seem like he's got a whole lot to talk about when it comes to his time in Vietnam. Wolf portrays himself as an inept soldier, someone who got his officer's commission by an idiotic stroke of luck. He even gives examples to back it up. A great example is a practice parachute insertion, when he mistakes a garbage dump for his intended drop zone and orders his team to jump.

The more I read, the more I began to dislike Wolff. After reading the combat memoirs of men like Frank Miller (Reflections of a Warrior), Robert Mason (Chickenhawk), Bruce Norton (Force Recon Diary), and others, it's hard to feel otherwise. He comes off as an extremely self-centered individual-not only in 'Nam, but in every aspect of his life.

On a side note, the book ends with a truly bizzare paragraph explaining the type used to print the book and a brief biographical note about the type's creator. I have no idea what purpose this paragraph serves, but I mention it here because it is, by accident or design, one of the books most memorable parts.

An Honorable Man
"In Pharaoh's Army" is not your average war memoir, nor even your average Vietnam war memoir. Wolff joined the army because he wanted to be a man of honor and he trusted the government to use its soldiers well. Instead, he finds that while he is a better soldier than some, he is not the "wily, nerveless killer" that the Army wants him to be. He gets through Officer Candidate School (at the bottom of his class) only because he has the talent to produce the satirical revue for graduation night. New assignments repeatedly have little or nothing to do with his immediate prior training. When Wolff finally gets to Vietnam, he is sent to act as the American advisor to a Vietnamese unit, but with very little guidance as to what he is to advise them about. Tet is the only pitched battle Wolff describes, but the day-to-day challenges of mines, snipers, and being a white man in an Asian world make getting to the end of each day a triumph. Each day and every trip are endless until they are over. Survival has more to do with luck than with being a good soldier. Wolff's title is apt: "Here were pharaoh's chariots engulfed; his horsemen confused; and all his magnificence dismayed."

Wolff finds his honor in honesty. From the opening epigraph to the final paragraph, Wolff attempts to set it all down honestly, the lost war that is neither glorious nor action-packed. His prose is spare, straight to the point and yet poetic. The irony, when it comes, is devastating (and aimed at himself, as often as at others). Many of the stories would lend themselves to a more comic telling, but while the book is often humorous, Wolff always subtly reminds us that this is a deadly serious matter. The book is superbly structured, the selection and ordering of the stories designed to reinforce Wolff's points. Wolff gives us a real sense of the uncertainty and terror that pervaded every day, that led men to do things they can no longer imagine or explain. "How do you tell such a terrible story? Maybe such a story shouldn't be told at all. Yet finally it will be told." I'm glad Wolff did the telling. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (35)

A painfully honest account of one man's conversion
This is not a novel and not really an autobiography, but rather a first-hand account of one man's journey from atheism to a belief in God (Christianity came much later and is not covered in this book--for that read his many religious works). I discovered this little gem while living and working as a graduate student in Scotland, at a time when I was neck-deep in the pit of atheism and feeling almost totally lost. I don't know why I was moved to take it off the shelf and buy it, but it was to be only the first of Lewis's books that I read. It's still my favorite because its theme is so close to me.

What makes Lewis's book so remarkable is its unashamed honesty and willingness to shed all masks in the face of reality, no matter how unpleasant or frightening that reality may seem. Lewis did not want to find God, and we feel with him that burning desire to run away once God has been discovered. The wonderful lightness and love that characterize many of Lewis's later works are not found here. Instead we see his defenses against God shattered one by one as he follows an intellectual path to belief. He tries his best to argue his way out of it, fighting every step of the way and using all the trivial excuses that human beings do, but we feel God's presence bearing down on him step by step like a great weight until he realizes that there is no escape. Lewis sees that it IS a burden at first if one has come to it honestly, because with it comes the realization that we are required to abandon ourselves and submit to God's will in order to find eternal peace. This is not an easy road for a human being to follow--indeed, it is the most difficult thing in the world for us to do, and Lewis knew that very well. We feel with him the pain and weight that came when he realized that there IS a God: the account of his final days as an atheist is absolutely excruciating for a reader who has had the same experience. One must actively and willingly choose to become what one is not by his very nature--what could be more difficult, particularly in this secular world?

Lewis's account of his spiritual journey shows that God can be discovered in the most unlikely places and in the most unlikely ways, no matter how hard we try to avoid Him. When we think we have trumped God, we find that He has in fact trumped us, always remaining well ahead of us on the path. Lewis's account often reads like a great chess match between one man and God, but it remains familiar because it is a match that we play again and again. As always, Lewis's honesty is disarming, his insight staggering, and his humor refreshing. I cannot recommend this book enough, but if you are looking for a biography of Lewis's life, this will not provide it. For that I recommend George Sayer's "Jack," but the best way to find out who Lewis was is to read his books.

A Masterpiece: One Man's Journey to God
C.S. Lewis has written a masterpiece on the subject of one man's conversion to Christianity. Not only that, it is a must-read for any fan of Lewis, for it sheds a great deal of light on his early life and biography. It follows Lewis from childhood to his conversion to Christianity as an adult professor, tracing the influences on his philisophical and religious thinking along the way. It is in my mind a modern Augustine's "Confessions". Lewis writes, as usual, with great candor and his usual lucid, easy to follow prose that takes complex issues and makes them understandable to everyone. This style has made him one of the finest Christian authors. His 'Mere Christianity' and 'Screwtape Letters' are other examples of his books that challenge a reader's religious philosophy. Of course, Lewis is more famous in most circles for his 'Narnia' books, which are also great, but it is his philisophical and deeply personal treatment of Christianity that makes him one of the greats.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to see how one man made his journey to belief and/or wants to learn more about C.S. Lewis, the man.

Disappointing
A disappointment, though not without interest. Lewis's purpose is to tell the story of his conversion from atheism to Christianity. But there is little here to challenge or even interest the open-minded atheist. It seems to me that Lewis converted largely for emotional reasons, apparently because he believed in some kind of Hegelian Absolute. The last two chapters are so vague and poetic (or perhaps poetically motivated...?) as to be very tough to read when trying to find out why he believes and what relevance his conversion might have to me. I never really got clear answers to these questions. Lewis is always readable, but this was disappointing on intellectual grounds (which is true of all his apologetics).

a must read
one of the best books by my fav author of all time. well worded, insightful, instructive, inspirational - how many more 'i' words do you need? please, take my word, and read this book.

A lovely and perennially absorbing book
This is a great book by a great writer, telling both of CS Lewis's life, including his education and his experiences as a front-line soldier in World War I, and his discovery of "Joy" and the sense of the scared, and his final conversion from Athiesm to Christiantiy. Full of wisdom, humor and fascinating historical description. His descriptions of his father, mother and brother, including his reaction to his mother's early death, are poignant and moving. He tells, also, of what it was really like to be a yong officer in the trenches of World War I, in which he was seriously wounded. In another key, how to really learn a difficult foreign language. This is a book to treasure and to read again and again. ... Read more

Book Description

This Companion consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. They provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and controversial American writers. Specially tailored to the needs of undergraduates, the essays examine all of Poe's major writings, his poetry, short stores and criticism, and place his work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. This volume will be of interest to scholars as well as students. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

re: Ms. Knapps death
just an fyi.Ms. Knapp died in 2002,not 2001

How she died
In answer to readers' questions about how Caroline Knapp died, she was diagnosed with advanced-stage lung cancer in the spring of 2001 and died shortly thereafter. During the final weeks of her life, she married her longtime companion whom she talks about in her writings, and left Lucille in his loving care.

Heartbreakingly educational
(...)Knapp's willingness to thoroughly examine herself and her demons-- drinking, anorexia-- has provided many of us with a precious resource and lifeline in dealing with our own troubles. Her insights on her relationship with her parents, and her close bond to her dog, provide the reader with thoughtful reflections on the nature of human connections.

Why can't I find...
anything about HOW she died? I love this book and wish I had known her. Have found many references to her date of death but no mention of how. Anyone know? Thanks. Feel a bond as my middle name is Lucile...but I'm a cat person.

Wonderful Book!
I love Caroline Knapp. I have read all of her books, including Drinking: A Love Story, despite not having any problems with alcohol.
These essays are insightful, poignant, and they wonderfully express emotions that everyone can connect with. Caroline Knapp wrote with humor and seemed to invest her whole soul into all of her writing.
I disagree with the reviewer who said that some of the lighter essays were out of place, each essay provided a broader look of the author and allowed me the connection of humor as well as other connecting on more serious levels.
I especially liked Lucille vs Stumpy, Letter to Zoe and Speaking out for shyness.
I believe that anyone who enjoys good writing, reflective thinking and has a sense of humor will enjoy these essays. ... Read more

Book Description

In the early 1960s Jackie Kennedy wrote to Diana Vreeland: "you are and always will be my fashion mentor." Vreeland helped the young First Lady create her famous "Jackie look" which was imitated all over America. She had inspired readers of Harper Bazaar's with her brilliant tips from the mid 1930s to the early '60s and ran Vogue as editor-in-chief in its most innovative years (1963-1972). Then for thirteen years she organized the hugely successful annual costume history shows at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Known for her flamboyant personality, her striking looks, and impeccable taste, Diana Vreeland changed fashion forever. Now, we can begin to assess her immense contribution in Diana Vreeland.

This lavishly illustrated biography includes more than 300 full-color and black and white photographs many from Vreeland's own family scrapbooks and collection which have never been seen before, of family and friends and the talented people in the fashion world whom she inspired -- designers, models, and celebrities.

Diana Vreeland herself was not beautiful. Her appearance was so striking, however, that it revealed nothing of her beginnings as an awkward and difficult child who was born in 1903 into a socially prominent New York family. How she succeeded in transforming herself and developing a brilliant career is chronicled in this fascinating biography by Eleanor Dwight, the author of the highly praised Edith Wharton -- an Extraordinary Life.

We see the ambitious ingénue marrying the strikingly handsome Reed Vreeland in 1924, and embarking on a six-year sojourn in England where during frequent trips to Paris she learned how to change herself into a soignée and sophisticated young matron.

Vreeland began her fashion career at Harper's Bazaar in 1936, writing a playful column entitled "Why Don't You." At the magazine Vreeland thrived, asking questions like "Why don't you rinse your blond child's hair in dead champagne to keep its gold as they do in France? Or pat her face gently with cream before she goes to bed as they do in England?"

Vreeland exerted great power over the magazine's content working with editor-in-chief Carmel Snow and legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch. When Snow left Bazaar, Vreeland did not get her job. The fashion world waited in anticipation; surely, Vreeland would move on to something important. In 1963 she became the editor-in-chief of Vogue, a phenomenally powerful position.

She transformed Vogue from a ladylike, conventional publication to one incredibly daring and electric. Her sensitivity to the rebellious energy of the sixties and her understanding that fashion was theatre and that she should give readers large doses of fantasy -- "what they never knew they wanted" -- enlivened Vogue. She sparked reader's imagination by sending leggy, vibrant models to the far corners of the earth to be photographed on the edges of cliffs or in picturesque settings on tropical islands.

In Diana Vreeland, we see her in the midst of varied and elite social circles -- from the British aristocracy and literati of her London days, to her glamorous New York and Southampton set, to the talented fashion world of designers, editors and photographers, to her friends in France who lived in villas and chateaus and included the Windsors and Rothschilds, to Andy Warhol's set of young rebels in the seventies. She fostered the careers of many youthful figures whose talents she immediately spotted including Lauren Bacall, Mary McFadden, Issey Miyake, and Richard Avedon.

We see her attending Truman Capote's famous Black and White Ball to celebrate his book In Cold Blood, where she discovered a beautiful teenager named Penelope Tree whom she made into a famous model. We see her partying with Jack Nicolson, lunching at Warhol's Factory, and entertaining Garbo for tea. Her social calendar read like a Who's Who of the New York intelligentsia, and included lunch dates with powerful women like Katherine Graham and Suni Agnelli.

We see her enthroned in her famous red apartment, the "Garden in Hell" and strutting through Vogue's offices terrifying adoring protégés. We see her frustrating the staff of the Metropolitan Museum as she piped music and perfume through the ventilation system to create the exotic atmosphere for her costume shows. Along the way we meet and see the work of photographers like Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Cecil Beaton, and David Bailey, spot her encouraging designers like Oscar de la Renta, Christian Dior, and Elsa Schiaparelli and mothering models like Carmen, Lauren Hutton and Marisa Berenson.

Vreeland's profound influence left its imprint on culture and society. Ultimately, the flamboyance that made Vreeland a success would bring about her sudden downfall at Vogue. But, always able to reinvent herself, she took a position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. While there, she masterminded costume extravaganzas -- drawing on all her knowledge, enthusiasms and using her fabulous eye.

Elegant, insightful, strikingly beautiful, and filled with amusing anecdotes, Diana Vreeland reveals the complex, intelligent, and caring woman behind the famous persona. When Diana Vreeland became blind before her death in 1989, she said it was because she had seen so many beautiful things in her life. And when she died she became a legend.

Reviews (5)

Mad about her boldness!!!
I too, waited on pins and needles as Ms. Dwight's book was delayed and delayed. I had preordered it and it was a considerable wait. It was worth the wait. I bought it and read it in a couple of sittings, loved it so much I bought copies and sent to dear friends. One sent me a thank you card which read "WHY DON'T YOU hire a jet plane and fly to see me so I can thank you for this wonderful (struck out) NO, DELICIOUS book. Id' say that pretty much sums it up.

It was great to read about her lower profile, but still dramatic homelife. Her husband was equally style conscious and quite the fashion plate himself. Their children grew up remarkably well adjusted. I wish we had more Diana Vreelands in this world. She spurned a half loaf. She did it her way!

You will love this book!

What becomes a legend most? This book.
i anxiously awaited this book for more than a year, when it was finally released, i could not wait to see it, then read it.

having been a great admirer of diana vreeland, and having read her autobiography, i could not seem to find much else about her life and her work. but then eleanor dwight came along with the most information you could ever want to read about the legend, diana vreeland.

the book covers diana's entire life, and her work, right up until the end, nothing is missed. the book is full of hundreds of never before seen pictures, of diana with her family, and at work.

if you are interested in reading about others colorful lives, then this book will not disappoint. reading the book sure makes you wish you could have known diana vreeland, if only for a moment, thats all it would take to pull you in. the book does a wonderful job of just that, but nothing beats meeting the real thing, unfortunately ms vreeland is no longer with us, but her legend lives on, and this book helps a new generation to become familiar with her.

this is one of the best biographies i have ever read. i strongly recommend this to anyone interested in fashion.

She Was the REAL Deal
So it's come to this: The New York Times wrote some months back of a hot designer who got a summons from Vogue--yes, Vogue, of all magazines!--at a time when a shot of publicity would have done him a lot of good. The deal fell through. The designer was willing to co-operate, but only up to a point. He just couldn't bring himself to give the magazine his "signature" outfit. No; that was too much--he would not give his signature creation to what he called "that comic."

It was not ever thus, as amply and inspiringly proved by Eleanor Dwight's biography of Diana Vreeland, that grandest of grande dames.

Diana Vreeland was a homely girl born into a beautiful family; in fact, her mother once told her, "It's too bad . . . that you are so extremely ugly." Her response was a program of self-improvement. Dwight says "she emulated her classmates in how to dress; she worked on becoming tidy, enlarging her vocabulary, improving her manners." Eventually, having not found the ideal girl to model herself upon, she decided, "I shall be that girl."

If her mother exaggerated, it is nevertheless true that Vreeland was definitely not beautiful or even pretty. She was plain at best. But that was merely the surface nature gave her to re-make, and re-make it she did. She made herself original, arresting, witty, slightly madcap and rather amazing. She didn't have mere fashion--she had style, her own sensibility. By the time she took over the top spot at Conde Nast's Vogue, in 1963, she had been many years at Harper's Bazaar, where she had re-invented the job of fashion editor. At Vogue, she re-invented fashion magazines, hiring and nurturing (and occasionally driving crazy) the very best photographers and sending them and models to shoot in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. She also sent astonishing and urgent memos to her staff. One read simply, "Bring me shoes with chains on them." Another said all of the staff should wear bells at the office. Fashion editor Carrie Donovan explains: "You know the sort of bells. Bells little kittens wear so they don't get lost in closets." So they all bought and wore little bells immediately and, Donovan says, "By the time she came in, we were all walking around with bells on. She pretended she didn't notice anything."

She appear to notice everything else and to express it inimitably: "Pink is the navy blue of India! The best thing about London is Paris! Without emotion there is no beauty! The only real elegance is in the mind. If you've got that, the rest comes from it. Never fear being vulgar, just boring."

She did not shrink from spending Conde Nast's money, though in time Conde Nast did, and in 1971 she was abruptly fired. Down but hardly out, she went on to take on and take over the Costume Institute at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. She re-invented that, too. Finally, in 1989 and after a long illness, she--well, it's impossible to say that she died. Ordinary people die. Vreeland simply passed into legend, where she can be found today. In this book and in the literally hundreds of websites that spring up if you type her name into Google.

Through Eleanor Dwight's excellent writing, Vreeland comes alive in this book, and a fresh, clean breeze blows through it with the help of hundreds of photos that express what Vreeland was all about: beauty, style, elegance, allure. The real stuff--not the plated. If that's what you want, buy this book. If, for some perverse reason, you want the opposite--want mere fashion, sullen faces, heroine chic and such--then go to a newsstand and get "that comic."

Diana Vreeland", by Eleanor Dwight
Diana Vreeland", by Eleanor Dwight, Book Design by Elizabeth Avedon, Review by Greg Zinman
One of the most influential figures of twentieth-century fashion receives her due with this beautifully designed book that celebrates the former Harper's Bazaar scribe and Vogue editor in chief's singular and often eccentric vision. Dwight packs her book with over 300 photographs, prime examples of Vreeland's "Why Don't You" column and extensive interviews. At once authoritative and breezy, Diana Vreeland tells the tale of the woman who helped dress Jackie O, ran the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum and used her iron will to shape American dress from the '40s through the '70s.

Why Don't You ... Buy This Book!
Of course, you've read D.V. Now get ready for what really happened. Lots of previously unpublished material. Lots of photos. Lots of fun.

What a woman! ... Read more

Book Description

Winner of the 2002 Kiriyama Prize in Nonfiction

In 1988 Dr John Casey, a Cambridge don visiting Burma, was told of a waiter in Mandalay with a passion for the works of James Joyce. Intrigued by this unlikely story, he visited the restaurant, where he met Pascal Khoo Thwe. The encounter was to change both their lives.

Pascal grew up as a member of the tiny, remote Kayan Padaung tribe, famous for their 'giraffenecked' women. The Padaung practiced a combination of ancient animist and Buddhist customs mixed with the Catholicism introduced by Italian missionaries. Theirs was a dream culture, a world in which ancestors were worshipped and ghosts were a constant presence. Pascal was the first member of his community ever to study English at university. But in Burma, English books were rare, and independent thought was discouraged. Photocopies of the few approved texts would be passed from student to student, while tuition consisted of lecturers reciting essays that the students learned by rote.

Within a few months of his chance meeting with Dr Casey, Pascal's world lay in ruins. Successive economic crises brought about by Burma's military dictatorship meant he had to give up his studies. The regime's repression grew more brutal, and Pascal's student-lover, who had become involved in the movement for democracy, was arrested, raped and finally murdered by the armed forces. Pascal fled to the jungle, becoming a guerrilla fighter in the life-or-death struggle against the government and seeing many of his friends and comrades die in battle. At a moment of desperation, he remembered the Englishman he had met in Mandalay and wrote him a letter, with little expectation of ever receiving a reply.

Miraculously, the letter reached its destination on the other side of the world. Not only that, it would lead to Pascal's being rescued from the jungle and enrolling to study English at Cambridge University, the first Burmese tribesman ever to do so.

From the Land of Green Ghosts is the autobiographical tale of a remarkable triumph of hope over despair, and of an encounter between two very different worlds. Hauntingly and poetically written, it unforgettably evokes the realities of life in modern-day Burma and one young man's long journey to freedom despite almost unimaginable odds.

Reviews (12)

Highly Recommended
Culture, family, tradition, humorous or more severe anecdotes followed by a harrowing clash with a corrupt and brutal military government characterize From the Land of the Green Ghosts. Meanwhile, the story is told so gracefully that one feels eased into a desperate life and death struggle rather than abruptly confronted by it (as one might be with a Western writer.) The advantage is that when the author, the gifted Pascal Khoo Thwe, punctuates his narrative with a precise, violent detail, it stands out (as it should) in the reader's mind. At the same time, such frightening scenes are so immediate that they feel neither moral nor immoral, just simply horrifying, indicative of the repressive violence inflicted upon the people of Burma by the military junta controlling the country.

The author is unpretentious, highly perceptive, and graced with a gift for language and writing few possess (all the more remarkable because English was not his first, second or even third language.) Mr. Thwe is also candid about his fears that none of these qualities exist in him. He is mistaken. Moreover, what might seem an apparent pipe dream or convenient rationale for escaping jungle warfare -- that of "helping" his people through receiving an education at one of the world's most elite colleges -- is undone by the book itself. Certainly, it is easier to write beautiful prose while sitting in England than to dodge bullets and mortars (or succumbing to malaria) in the hot jungles along the Thai-Burmese border; but it would be impossible to conclude that any rebel fighter could have better informed the world about Burma's plight than has been done here by Pascal Khoo Thwe.

A Beautiful Book
This is a wonderful book and a very interesting read. It offers a both a detailed description of life growing up in a hill tribe in Burma and a broader look at the tragic consequences of years of totalitarian rule by the corrupt and failed government of Burma (now "officially" Myanmar). The author's journey to the border and subsequent escape from the country almost reads like a fiction novel. However, this true story is written with the respect and insight of a man well aware of the gravity of his country's plight. His book does the reader, and the people of his troubled country, a great service.

Great Memoir
Extraordinary memoir by a gifted writer with an extremely unusual story to tell.

A truly inspiring read
I don't post reviews, but this book was such a great one that I had to add my opinion.

The author's very personal insights into the Burma's struggles are profound. His early memories growing up in a tribal Padaung culture present a fascinating look at how the Catholicisim taught by missionaries coexisted with tribal myths (a favorite quote, from his grandmother: "The gods are like government officials. If you want things done quickly, you have to bribe the small ones.")

As his education progressed, so too did the unbelievable repression of the various Burmese regimes of the day (1960s to 80s). His experience as a student freedom fighter are gripping, as is his remarkable account of how a chance meeting with a Cambridge professor led to his eventual escape to England.

For me, this book did 3 things. First, it helped me glimpse the contemporary history of Burma (aka Myanmar), a nation that's always intrigued me, but a place of which I had very little knowledge. Second, it opened my eyes to some of the feelings and courage behind rebels and freedom fighters in oppressively-ruled nations, which allows me to read contemporary accounts of world events in a much richer context. Finally, it made me re-examine my own role in the world. While Pascal was fighting for his life as he made an unimaginable transition (to me anyway) from tribal to contemporary cultures, I was hawking software at trade shows or enjoying the tourist face of neighboring Thailand -- all with no idea of what was really happening in Burma. It was stunning that I could have been so ignorant to what was happening there at a time when I considered myself to be pretty aware of what was going on in the world.

A fascinating and extremely well-written book.

A Voice from the Burma Nobody Knows
Burma (aka Myanmar) is a country of many, many different ethnic and tribal groups. While the majority (69%) are Burman, there are many others including Karen, Kachin, Shan, Mon, and the author's own Padaung tribe. (The Padaung are most famous in the West for their "giraffe women" who wear golden rings about their necks that elongate their profile to freakish dimensions.)

Pascal Khoo Thwee's book is a narrative of his life as an ambitious young Padaung man trying to negotiate his way through the brutal, murderous, politically-dysfunctional culture that is modern-day Burma. It is an incredible story, cinematic in its dimensions and bizarre, fortuitous coincidences. Thwe gives voice to the Burma that nobody knows, i.e., life as experienced by one of its minority tribal groups.

Thwe's descriptions