Book Description

A profoundly moving childhood memoir by a noted poet, essayist, teacher, and journalist

A not uncommon story is here captured with astonishing beauty-the childhood of a gifted daughter whose immigrant parents must struggle in order to provide her with the educational and social opportunities not available to them or, for that matter, to most blacks of her generation.

In vivid prose that re-creates the heady impressions of youth, June Jordan takes us to the Harlem and Brooklyn neighborhoods where she lived and out into the larger landscape of her burgeoning imagination. Exploring the nature of memory, writing, and familial as well as social responsibility, Jordan re-creates the world in which her identity as a social and artistic revolutionary was forged. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

This is a woman I'd like to know.
I don't read autobiographies because they're usually self-serving. I wait until someone with distance does justice to a life.

Soldier, though, is the exception to my rule. June Jordan is able to look back over what seems a chaotic and sometimes cold, cruel childhood, and put it into the context of her life.

The style is many times lyrical and poetic. The words draw you in and keep you reading. The story works back and forth between what's actually happening to June, the child, and what she's thinking about as it unfolds. It's quite different from most autobiographies.

While I understand her father's quest to make sure his child is never a victim, his methods seem too brutal for words. It was a different time, and reality for an African-American is different, too, but reading about it is grueling.

I did have a problem with the fact that June's memories seem much too clear. I may be missing the point, but I don't know anyone who can remember her childhood with such clarity and from the age of six months. Perhaps this is literacy license. If so, fine. The problem, then, is mine.

No matter, this book is a fabulous read. I whipped through it in two hours.

A childhood testimony of courage and perserverance
June Jordan, African American Studies professor at UC Berkeley, has written a moving testament to her chaotic, challenging, and bittersweet childhood. This memoir written in a poetic manner is reminiscent of Sandra Cisneros' "House on Mango Street". The daughter of West Indian immigrants who revered education and hard work, she endured almost daily verbal assaults on her gender and physical abuse from her father. He was on one hand a supporter of Marcus Garvey and on the other hand felt the need to put down the American black at every turn. Her mother was a submissive, silent woman who realized that her daughter was her husband's son. Jordan's memories of the people who made an impact on her life and character, her Nanny, her Uncle Teddy, her camp friend, Jodi along with tales of childhood death-defying accidents, academic excellence, and first crushes are just bits and parts that serve to make this memoir a compelling read.

Charming and Powerful
Sure to be a classic. A wonderfully charming and moving series of memories, observations, and poetic passages about a childhood at turns sweet, innocent, and difficult. Sometimes children make the most clear-eyed and wise observers, and it is the rare adult, such as June Jordan, who can recapture and communicate the experience of childhood in both its wonder and bewilderment. Although the elements of Jordan's childhood are specific - 19302/1940s, brusque, occaisionally-violent immigrant father, Harlem and Brooklyn neighborhoods, racial and social inequity - the themes are universal. Wonderful!

Excellent, simply excellent.
Over the past 40 years civil rights has come a long way and progress has been made in areas that makes life easier. But imagine if you had to struggle with poor education, terrible living conditions, and even segregation. Now imagine trying to get ahead in a world and society that was making all this an impossible task.

June Jordan takes you on a twelve year journey through the eyes of one person who life was given these circumstances and somehow managed to succeed and become one of the most successful people, her own. June Jordan tells a story through words and poems that has you stopping and thinking throughout the entire 260 pages.

The book is one of the first I have read that makes a clear representation of how a child caught up in turmoil can block out what they see and find something good in the life they have been given. Jordan's ability to capture the reader makes this book one of the most impressive I have read so far this year.

After reading this book and seeing how the tough and often overbearing father along with the serine and religious mother were at odds, I gained a deeper understating of how difficult it must have been for any African American to try to make and succeed in the white man's world.

Jordan has written several other books and has won a number of prestigious awards over the years. I found this book enjoyable and easy to read. Take time out and follow through the 12 years with a child who I found dealt with the same things I did as a child, only Jordan had them magnified. An excellent book!

a story that does justice to a difficult childhood
June Jordan is not a victim. She shows us that difficult childhoods aren't as straightfoward as that. Her violent father may have taught her to solve problems with violence, but he also taught her to be observant. The best part of this book is that we hear the words and see places that influenced Jordan's writing style: her father, her Uncle Teddy, New York of the 30's and 40's. ... Read more

Book Description

Joe Gere said he died on the afternoon his twelve-year-old daughter Brenda disappeared.It was left to Brenda's mother Elaine to sustain her stricken family, search for her missing child, and pressure the authorities for justice.From the first minutes of the investigation, suspicion fell on Michael Kay Green, a steroid-abusing "Mr. Universe" hopeful, but there was no proof of a crime, leaving police and prosecutors stymied.

Tips and sightings poured in as lawmen and volunteers combed the Cascades forest in the biggest search on Northwest history.Years passed with no sight of the blue-eyed girl or the bright clothes she'd worn on the day she disappeared, but Elaine remained undaunted.

Salt of the Earth is the true story of how one woman fought and triumphed over life-shattering violence and how she healed her family-and herself.
... Read more

Reviews (13)

The Best True-Crime Book Ever Written
I have read extensively in the true-crime genre, and in my opinion "Salt of the Earth" is the absolute best true-crime book written to date (all of Jack Olsen's books are good, by the way!).

Olsen's spare yet compelling prose communicates the lives of the characters in a way that makes them seem fascinating and representative of humanity on a larger level. I can't say enough about his talents of communicating entire conecpts through one simple sentence, much like Hemingway. His writing is subtle yet it communicates volumes.

Even if you hate the true-crime genre, you will like this book. If you have never read true-crime, read this book. It is well worth the money and time!

The Write Stuff
Written by a master craftsman, Jack Olsen tells a story that still has be gripped.Skip the fotos until the very end(they won't help you much anyway) or the jacket back "give it away" and be patient though he first part, as the author builds the characterization of this all-too-American family, the salt of the earth. Until I got through that part, I still wasn't certain of what the crime would be or who committed it. The crime has to be one of the most despicable immaginable; the story has a familiar ring, how criminals and their advisors so often manipulate and frustrate the justice system. In the end, the perpetrator was rendered justice, but no punishment could ever match the pain he gave to the victims. Without giving away any of the story, I do wonder whether the family would have disintegrated eventually with our without the crime; in one way the grief held it together.

Here's a strong read of an entirely different genre: dated a bit but absolutely a book that will give you pause:

The Hot Zone

Both books were so good that a 12 hour flight to and from Paris passed quickly.

Jack Olsen Does It Again
I eagerly awaited the arrival of this book. Once again, Jack Olsen doesn't disappoint. This true crime novel will take you through a range of emotions. The story line keeps your interest until you reach the last page. Mr. Olsen has a unique way of telling the story that keeps you wanting more. Fantastic!

One of the best....
Jack Olsen is great at true crime. He leaves no stone unturned, yet you never get bored. I have to agree with a fellow reviewer when he said that more time should have been spent on Michael Kay Green. The story, nonetheless is riveting. I could not put the book down. Elaine Gere is one tough lady, you sometimes feel like you are reading ficton yet it is real! I highly recommend "Salt".

Bearing Up
All in all, this is a gripping narrative and an unusual entry in the true crime category. The murder itself, though horrifying, seems rather incidental to the book's main thrust that centers around a family's struggle for survival amidst harrowing circumstances. Reader's looking for true crime staples such as police methods, false leads, revelation and eventual capture, will be disappointed. On the other hand, those looking for suspense of a different--more sociological--kind will be richly rewarded by the resiliency and fortitude of a seemingly average American family. While very readable, the book has a few defects. A more astute editor could have shaved 15-20 pages from a sometimes repetitve narrative, providing a sharper, more focused, impact. Also, the killer represents an unusual and fascinating study in criminal pathology that deseves more attention than a cursory background profile. I get the impression that the author spent 90 percent of his interview time with Elaine, and productive though this is, more time filling out the killer's truly strange persona would have been illuminating--after all, the bone-cushing damage to a small girl's face by a big man's fist cries out for explanation. At a deeper level, the book stands as a fascinating glimpse into the traditional culture of patriarchy and machismo, and their destructive tendencies, with results that are both tragic and harrowing. Recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Wonderful reminiscence of a poor English child circa 1918
This will warm the hearts of all with ties to England ... Read more

Book Description

In 1959, at the age of eleven, Michael Keith left a relatively stable life with his mother and sisters in Albany, New York, and surreptitiously set off for California with his irresponsible alcoholic father. For the rest of Michael's childhood, the two crisscrossed America, perpetually en route to someplace else. His memoir, told in the fresh, funny, world-wise voice of the young boy he once was, describes their bizarre encounters hitchhiking the nation's highways. In the rundown rooming houses and homeless missions where they hole up as Michael's father works odd jobs to make enough money for them to move on, or in the AA meetings they attend in every city for a decent doughnut, we glimpse a different America. Pushed onward by Michael's unceasing thirst for new adventures and his father's dreams of the next better place, the careworn twosome live far outside convention.

But despite their peculiar, often dysfunctional life, there is real love between this father and son, and they share the glorious freedom of the peripatetic life. That such happiness exists in a lonely marginal universe doesn't overshadow the fact that a Greyhound bus is the closest Michael comes to experiencing the idea of home. THE NEXT BETTER PLACE explores the fine line between wanderlust and compulsion, between running away and arriving, and leaves us with the understanding that the journey is often more powerful than the destination. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A Triumph of Memory, a Tempest of Imagination
Smiling ghosts of Mark Twain and Jack Kerouac hover over many pages of Michael Keith's "The Next Better Place." This captivating book places Keith squarely in the same row with America's finest writers of the road adventure story. Which is to say that "The Next Better Place" is so much more than a memoir-cum-novel of a precocious son traversing America's great expanses with an ageing picaro of a father. Keith knows when to embroider his book's perfectly intoned dialogue, tremulous details, and charming teenage bravado with both lyrical pathos and hints at the perverse. The greatest American road novel, Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," also came to mind as I devoured Keith's book, and I can only hope that Keith will soon reward his readers with another one.

Sadly overlooked masterpiece
This is a gentle yet tightly written account, both more poetic and thoughtful than the okay but over-hyped Running With Scissors. Really amazing work coming from a writer who has apparently limited himself previously to technical books about the media .

the next better place
I ENJOYED THIS BOOK VERY MUCH,HOWEVER I'M A LITTLE CONFUSED ABOUT MR. KEITH'S DATES. HE SAYS THESE EVENTS TOOK PLACE IN 1959, WHEN HE WAS 11 YEARS OLD. HOWEVER ON THE "AUTHORS NOTE" PAGE IT GIVES HIS YEAR OF BIRTH AS 1945, WHICH WOULD HAVE MADE HIM 14 YEARS OLD AT THE TIME OF THESE EVENTS. ALSO HE MENTIONS SEVERAL TIMES THE SONG FROM THE MOVIE "THE MAGNIFICANT 7". HOWEVER THAT MOVIE WASNT RELEASED TILL THE EARLY 1960'S. NO BIG DEAL. JUST BAD PROOF READING BY THE PUBLISHERS.

Nostalgic review of a traveling boyhood
This delightfully written novelized memoir will hold your interest throughout. Now a professor of electronic media at Boston College, Keith takes us back to his boyhood and the always-on-the-road travels he shared with his well-meaning but ill-fated father who was always in quest of "the next better place" to find acceptance if not a viable livelihood.

Along the way we meet a perfectly amazing cornucopia of characters and places and situations all of which were more typical of a 1950's America before Interstate highways made everything the same. Keith's descriptions and characterizations are both visual and compelling showing that, though he was only briefly in formal schools, he surely learned a lot about life with this seemingly aimless bus and hitchhiker mode of travel.

Keith's tale combines a sometimes wistful tone with the insight that comes early when you are forced on your own resources for lack of much parental guidance. He has done well in recreating his thoughts and ideas in the context of a twelve-year-old amidst an adult world into which he is thrust all too quickly. The writing is compelling---you want to know what place is coming next, and what people he (and we) will meet along the way.

Recommended!

what a life . . . and then some!
I had a chance to see a preview copy of this wonderful book. Never read anything quite like it. The author writes with a unique poetic flare about his childhood, which at once is bend over funny and lump on the throat sad. In both cases it is a marvelous read. He strikes the perfect note in the portrayal of his rogue dad. What an outrageous character! This is a story that really sticks with you. I think it will achieve the stature of classic in the memoir category. Hope the author is writing a sequel. I'll be the first one in line to buy it. ... Read more

Book Description

Part inspirational guide for dealing with poor family dynamics, part side-splitting memoir, THE F WORD picks up where Louie Anderson's New York Times bestseller Dear Dad, a series of letters to Louie's late alcoholic father, left off. Here, with his trademark sense of humor, Anderson focuses on how his dysfunctional upbringing still informs his relationships with his many siblings.Amid the hilarious anecdotes that will keep readers laughing the disastrous family gatherings, the squabbles, the systematic torture of his younger brother Mikey Louie details darker times as well.In what is ultimately a story of survival, he reveals how he grew up, got out, and learned to make peace with the past, enough so that he could finally think of his crazy family and smile. ... Read more

Book Description

When Bob Greene went home to central Ohio to be with his dying father, it set off a chain of events that led him to knowing his dad in a way he never had before--thanks to a quiet man who lived just a few miles away, a man who had changed the history of the world.

Greene's father -- a soldier with an infantry division in World War II--often spoke of seeing the man around town. All but anonymous even in his own city, carefully maintaining his privacy, this man, Greene's father would point out to him, had "won the war." He was Paul Tibbets. At the age of twenty-nine, at the request of his country, Tibbets assembled a secret team of 1,800 American soldiers to carry out the single most violent act in the history of mankind. In 1945 Tibbets piloted a plane--which he called Enola Gay, after his mother -- to the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where he dropped the atomic bomb.

On the morning after the last meal he ever ate with his father, Greene went to meet Tibbets. What developed was an unlikely friendship that allowed Greene to discover things about his father, and his father's generation of soldiers, that he never fully understood before.

is the story of three lives connected by history, proximity, and blood; indeed, it is many stories, intimate and achingly personal as well as deeply historic. In one soldier's memory of a mission that transformed the world -- and in a son's last attempt to grasp his father's ingrained sense of honor and duty -- lies a powerful tribute to the ordinary heroes of an extraordinary time in American life.

What Greene came away with is found history and found poetry -- a profoundly moving work that offers a vividly new perspective on responsibility, empathy, and love. It is an exploration of and response to the concept of duty as it once was and always should be: quiet and from the heart. On every page you can hear the whisper of a generation and its children bidding each other farewell.

Reviews (54)

A Tribute From a Son to His Father
Bob Greene has written a touching and emotion-filled book about two men who influenced the outcome of World War II; his own father and Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay. Greene's father served as an infantry soldier in Italy, while Tibbets was training his men in Wendover, Utah for a mission which would hopefully end the war.

Tibbets and Robert Greene, Sr. lived in the same town in Ohio, but had never met. Bob jr. writes about how his father would speak of Tibbets and call him "the man who won the war". While Bob jr. was back in Ohio to be with his dying father, he drew on his memories of Tibbets. Finally, Bob went to meet Tibbets. What occured was the beginning of an unlikely friendship that spanned a generation and allowed Bob to discover things about his father and his father's generation that he never understood before.

Bob found Tibbets to be a very honest and straight-forward man. There was no nonsense from him; everything was in plain terms. Tibbets talked frequently about his mission to Hiroshima on that fateful day in August, 1945. He said several times that he had no regrets for what he did and he always slept easy at night. Tibbets' stories enabled Bob to see that his father and many other men just like him also played large parts in winning the war. Tibbets never liked the phrase "the man who won the war". He was always quick to give credit to the soldiers as the real heroes, just like Robert sr.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book is the several chapters which deal with the trip to Branson, Missouri. Bob, Tibbets, Tom Ferebee (bombardier), and "Dutch" Van Kirk (navigator) took a trip to Branson over Memorial Day weekend and they were treated like conquering heroes by the public. But what impressed me was the candor and openness that these men spoke with. I learned a lot about the Hiroshima mission that I never knew before.

I found this book a little slow at the beginning, but it definitely picks up over the second half. Read this book and learn about the generation of men who won the war.

A Generation and Its Children Saying Goodbye
Greene is a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Life and is the SON;FATHER is Bob's father, once a Major in the 91st Infantry Division of WW II -famed for Its role in the Italian campaign; THE MAN WHO WON THE WAR is retired Brig. General Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, the B29 that took the A-bomb to Hiroshima. The father lived in Columbus, Ohio and Bob had grown up there. Father would announce now and then: "That man going(standing)there is Paul Tibbets". Bob contacted Tibbets and they became friends just days before the father died . Not stated, but clear to the reader: Bob is going to be writing articles in the Tribune and, finally, this book. His quest was to understand his father's generation and to find out Paul's feelings about dropping the bomb. Bob learns about the disgust and disappointment his father's generation has for those whose freedom they preserved with such devotion to purpose. The current and older generation have quite different rules for societal conduct and that accounts for a lot of the differences. But in my view the most salient point Paul makes in their many discussions is the one about discipline. To do great things, he said, you must have discipline. We had it. Much of today's society doesn't have it and it shows in so many ways. No, Paul didn't lose any sleep over dropping the bomb. It was an 1,800 man project which he was under orders to organize and lead. Countless men and their relatives wrote him to express their thanks for saving them from a bloody invasion of Japan's home islands. The toughest people for him to make understand were those who would say, "why didn't you just tell them you didn't want to do it." But he did want to do it.

A book about a hero and a father and how much are alike
A great book about a true hero and other's worthy of the same label. A very easy and engaging read. I highly recommend this book.

A disappointment .
I have seen Bob Greene on some of the news stories on TV. I like his wit and sentiment. I was prepared for a great book on the great generation that produced his and my father. I was disappointed.
First, the book is disjointed. It goes from sentiment to sentiment, and then reverts back again. In his talks with General Paul Tidbitts, I thought he kept dwelling on the same emotions of a hard military decision. That decision was made long ago, and why keep hammering away at it. Bob, just get over it. The U.S. had to bomb Japan to spare the lives of American soldiers and sailors.
Another problem I have with this book is its lack of history. It tells a little of the history of his father, some of Tidbitts, and then a little on the Doolittle Raiders. Other than that, it is pure sentiment, repeated again and again. For a 300 page book, this could have been cut to 80 pages. I read this book, and it was a disappointment. If one wants to remember the Greatest Generation, read something from Ambrose.

decent memoir, bad history book.
I started to read this book and at first, found it interesting. THen gradually, I became aggravated because this is really NOT a history book, but a memoir. If you are looking for information about the war and the man who dropped it, a sample of it is in the book, nothing more. I couldn't finish it. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Real life, real advice, real inspiration
I'm a 32 year old white upper middle class female and picked up this book that was on my 16 year old sister's high school reading list (from a private catholic school ~can only hope they're mature enough to benefit from its powerful messages!).... WOW is this a good one! I like to read biographies, non-fiction, true stories and this is an awesome tale! It made me laugh, feel angry about injustices and ultimately cry (at the end when Mr. and Mrs. Thornton's lives were coming to an end....they had accomplished so much with dignity and acceptance. Unselfish, determined to do the right thing! ) I felt disappointed and sad , too, because I did not have the encouragement & advice from Mr. Thornton throughout my life! Sure, many parents struggle of all races and backgrounds, but how many so persistently insist on such lofty goals? not many...they give up...the children give up, too..... I would like to one day sit down & write each bit of advice from Mr. Thornton's wise, witty, and endless supply, I would have quite a stack to refer to! I'm encouraged to be a better person and a better parent under circumstances that will probably never ever be as a challenging as those of the Thornton's. Way to go Dr. Yvonne Thornton...p.s.Maria Shriver's latest best seller should step aside! It doesn't compare to The Ditchdigger's Daughters!

A dad you love to hate and hate to love....
As a book reviewer I get several books to read, review, and sometimes return. Some of these books are so good I do not want to return them. Ditchdigger's Daughters is one of those books. When I first picked this book up, I was feeling a little defeated and exasperated about my job. This book gave me Donald Thornton wisdom to be the best, never mind that my colleagues are faster and younger. As Donald Thornton would say find the brightest rabbit, catch up to him/her, and pass him.

Donald Thornton passed away in 1993. What he left behind for his daughters to peruse is his wit and wisdom. Still today, I bet his daughters have every lesson stored so they can pass it on to their children. He had no education but somehow he raised six girls to become accomplished black women. He used resources within himself that some people would never think of. To finance his children's education they each paid for the other, with the proceeds from their band. The band was called the Thornettes and later changed to the Thornton Sisters, they played for students at Princeton and various other Colleges.

Donald Thornton's six splits as family and friends affectionately called him and his girls went on to become more than what anyone expected of them. Betty became a nurse, Linda a dentist, Rita is the head of the science department in a private school, the author of The Ditchdigger's Daughters Yvonne, is an OB/GYN, Donna is a court stenographer and Jeanette has a doctorate in counseling psychology. Their story is not so much about what they have become but how they got there. The Ditchdigger's Daughters will astound and amaze you. You will think twice before you express what you cannot do in your personal life. The history in this book was wonderful and it was a quick read. Thornton Ladies, I am sure your mother is happy that her wish has come true, to have her family's story told in a book that is in the library. What a hidden treasure, The Ditchdigger's Daughter is a must read.

Missy

Masterpiece on Childrearing
It is unfortunate that the previous reviewer felt this book was "garbage". Perhaps, she is very young and has not put herself back in the 1950s when is wasn't so great for black people. Or she has not had enough life experiences. All I know is that I am 76 years old and I think the book is a marvelous template for parents and childrearing as well as a model for instilling a work ethic in children and others.

All I have to say to Jennifer from Medina, Ohio is to GROW UP!!

Garbage
I'll readily admit that every book has its place and that nothing should be censored no matter what the content may be, but the pity-me story that Ms. Thornton decided to tell the world should have been censored. The world does not need one more tragic story with a nice pretty ending. To quote a review from above, "This is basically an "Oh, poor me. I was born with nothing except for God's grace and good parents" story." To say that this book was original or even worthwhile would be a gross overstatement, possibly even leaning towards a humorous hyperbole.

From an early and the first page, it is quickly revealed that this whining is not new. The line, ""Daddy, don't you love us?" we wailed," is a prime example. The question is not formed to allow the asked to answer how he would like, but begs a yes answer. Frequently used by children to get what they want, this explains the tone that this book takes despite it being written by an outside source. Even the word 'wailed' is highly dramatic. It has a way of seeming like someone is being abused and to demonstrate the inequity of it all. Had the word 'wailed' been changed to 'said' the entire scene would have changed considerably. It would have lessened the seeming pain that these girls experienced. But dramatic was what was wanted.

Donald Thornton doesn't yell. He roars. Or at least that's what the narrator would have you believe. There is no decibel level given for how loud he spoke or an audio recording of their lives to make sure that the wording was exact. How else can you demonstrate two extremes of the same man? Scenes are set up to disarm the reader. Take the sick child incident for example. If Donald arrived at home to find a sick child, he would 'gently suggest, "You want Daddy to fix you some nice fruit salad and maybe a nice piece of cake?". He wouldn't demand, persuade, or order. He would 'gently suggest.' Of course, when he found that the child was able to eat such treats, "then he'd roar, "Okay, you're well! Get outa that bed!"" The contrast from the beginning of that scene to the end was sharp and was designed to knock the reader off kilter.

Then just to throw a bit metaphor in with the rest, Thornton describes a scene in which the news that must be presented to Donald was a grenade. "And then, as though her news was a grenade, she pulled the pin." No one would describe the delivering of news as similar to pulling a pin, unless they were doing so to purposefully demonstrate what was to come. But, again with the throwing the reader off, Donald doesn't explode. Thornton makes Jeanette out to be the bad guy, as if she had purposefully chosen to change majors just to harm Donald. He was "stunned and devastated," and when he did speak he said it weakly.

But Jeanette didn't stop there. No, of course not, she "was destroying the family joke, and it made us all ache with sadness...Our castles in the air were being dynamited."
Thornton assumes that the family was devastated over the loss of a tacky family joke. And there she goes again with the dynamite. Everything is just exploding around them. Even after tossing in a grenade and crushing the family dream, Jeanette is still not done being the bad guy. Or at least, Thornton is not done making her the bad guy. Donald then begins to react in the manner first expected, "He outlined...how cruelly she was letting him down." So much for the theme of, "It's all for the children." No, Jeanette wasn't doing herself a disservice, she was letting him down. Also, the word 'outlined' lends a sense of preparation. Perhaps Donald was ready for this led-down, perhaps he knew that Jeanette would fail. Or maybe that's just what Thornton wants you to believe.

There is a certain amount of cruelty in this novel written by one of the two children out of five to actually succeed in obtaining Donald's goal for the girls. She has to lend at least a certain amount of loyalty to him because she wouldn't, in fact, be where she is without him. There would be no point to a book about a black woman who didn't succeed, about a woman who did exactly what her father wanted. This is precisely why Jeanette didn't write this book.

Energizer Bunny
I have been following this book with much interest over the past eight years and it has become a true classic with respect to overcoming obstacles and focusing on your goals. Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are true heroes. This book is required reading in many of our schools and universities.

The message of giving your children a "work ethic" is something that more of us should do today. The book is an inspiration to us all. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Love in the Driest Season
I read this book in one day and it gripped me from the 1st page. I ran the gammot of emotions from pity to outrage, to happiness, and excitement. Neely and Vita are strong and very determined people who allowed nothing to stop them in their quest to make Chipo their daughter. If I thought I COULD I would be adopting a child so desperately in need but the government needs to make SWEEPING changes in order to give these poor sick deglected babies even the smallest chance at life and love. You will come away deeply affected by this book,

Many fascinating stories in one..... too rushed...
I recommend this book but be warned....
Neely Tucker's life as a foriegn correspondent required he write quick short summaries and that habit left this book choppy and somewhat confusing. There is so much more that could be said about his historic childhood, his rise from poverty, his heroic life as a foreign correspondent, his brave marriage and then his life with his daughter. Neely lived 'large'. This was a big life and needed a bigger book.
Glad I read it ...would like to read more.

For the love of a child.
Neely Tucker, a white journalist posted in Zimbabwe, and his wife Vita, a black woman, fall in love with a female infant in an orphanage in that country. The baby's name is Chipo, which means "gift" in the local language. The story, a family memoir, details the couple's attempts to adopt this baby with whom they have fallen in love. The story also explains the political situation in Zimbabwe, which is unstable and volatile, especially toward foreign journalists. There is also a great deal of information about the AIDS crisis in Africa, and how this dread disease has impacted so many families and created millions of orphans. These three topics were interwoven in the book to make a fascinating and extremely interesting story. I could feel the Tuckers' frustration with the bureaucratic red tape they had to wade through in order to someday adopt Chipo. I admired their tenacity--all because of their intense love for this beautiful baby. It would be interesting to follow this little girl into adulthood, and I hope Neely Tucker has such a possibility in mind.

A Wrenching, Ultimately Wonderful Story
Despite being a wonderful book, LOVE IN THE DRIEST SEASON was difficult to read. Or maybe I should say, "Because it is a wonderful book."

This is a wrenching, ultimately wonderful tale of an American couple who adopts a child. Most, if not all, adoption stories are unique and traumatic at times. This one surpasses a lot of assumptions. For one thing, Neely and Vita Tucker are anything but an average married couple. Both raised in rural Mississippi, they carry with them memories and experiences of American racism. Neely is white; his wife Vita, eleven years his senior, is black. Neely is an experienced war correspondent who has worked for years at the Detroit Free Press, covering the horrors of war, torture and ugliness all over the world. When he and Vita (who has a degree in liberation theology and a background as a paralegal and researcher) move to Zimbabwe so that Neely can serve as the Free Press's African correspondent, they search for something to do in their community.

Ultimately, they end up at an orphanage that is overwhelmed with abandoned children. Many, indeed most of the children at Chinyaradzo Children's Home, have been orphaned by parents who died of AIDS. In past times, children were not abandoned, but taken in by extended families; now, there are few families that can take up the burden. A baby girl named Chipo, or "gift," catches Neely and Vita's eyes and they decide to try to adopt her. They cannot have children of their own, which is seen as a tragedy by the people they meet in Zimbabwe.

Realizing the irony of trying to save one child in the face of the devastation of AIDS, an uncaring and massively overburdened government and the amazing disdain (even paranoia) of President Robert Mugabe, Neely, during this story, is still traveling all over Africa as a reporter. Unlike some reporters who are almost too good at being objective, Neely relates every spin, every defeat, every feeling that these people went through in order to save Chipo's life. They took Chipo in not knowing if she had AIDS, and fought month after month to keep her healthy. But they're not saints, and they don't pretend to be. This is the strength, and pain, of the book. These are somewhat ordinary people --- but with extraordinary patience, resolve and heart.

Neely's job takes him away and often Vita spends weeks alone with a child who wakes up crying hour and hour. At one point, when Neely comes home, he describes his wife as having that thousand-yard stare because she is so sleep-deprived. But neither of them ever thinks of quitting.

The determination of Neely and Vita astounded me. I cannot imagine doing what they did. Some Zimbabwe officials were extremely skeptical of Americans (especially white Americans) wanting to adopt a black baby from Zimbabwe --- it's not done, and sometimes it's seen as some form of kinky sexual gratification. Some assumed that the Tuckers must have bribed someone, which is ludicrous considering all of the work they put in, but apparently not uncommon with the horrid bureaucracy that people seem to deal with in the Mugabe government.

It was so hard to read of the losses, the deaths and the failures at the orphanage --- Vita and Neely more than once decide that they must take in a second child, only to witness that child's death. They already have challenges in their own lives. Neely's parents would not attend their wedding; coming from a racist culture, his parents could not and would not accept that their son would marry a black woman, not to mention an older black woman. And yet one of the finest moments in this story is when Neely's father states (in front of his 50th high school reunion class) that he is proud to have a granddaughter from Zimbabwe named Chipo.

The Tuckers lived in the midst of chaos in Zimbabwe; as Robert Mugabe's regime collapsed, they got out just before the worst chaos. But over and over, they encountered apathy, suspicion, hate and bias; as a journalist Neely was often targeted as someone who reported lies. He was in Nairobi within hours of the embassy bombing, and his descriptions are pure hell to read. He and Vita both dealt with anger and despair, the most amazing stress and depression.

Fortunately, their story ends well. I have nothing but admiration for Neely and Vita, who went all out to save one life. And they are aware of the irony --- that that was all they could do in the face of poverty, indifference and the most astonishing bureaucratic meltdown I've ever seen (it makes some of the bureaucracies I've dealt with seem like models of efficiency). This is a story that must be read and understood, so that these people's lives can be seen and admired.

--- Reviewed by Andi Shechter

LOVE, RED TAPE, AND A CHILD'S SMILE
"There are defining moments in your life, in which your measure is taken for good and you remember it always. So it was for me then." The reason for this quote is manyfold as it encompasses the whole experience of what this book is about..a reading experience that should please anyone that likes non fiction. The author, a news reporter...white, married to a black woman living in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) wanting to adopt an orphan. This is the premise of the whole book, but you would not believe what they had to go through to accomplish this mission. In fact, the story of how this child came to be is a story all by itself as covered in the Prologue. A fine read with a reminder of what it is like in countries other than the U.S.A. ... Read more

Book Description

Through their dynastic control of The New York Times, the Ochses and Sulzbergers have been the most powerful family in twentieth-century America. Not only have they owned the Times for more than a hundred years, but a family member has always been at the paper's helm, a position that has given them enormous influence and has been passed down as a birthright through four generations. Yet by design they have always been intensely private, shunning the visibility their stature inherently commands. The Trust is the first full-scale portrait of this modern monarchy, a dramatic saga set against a backdrop of world events and the burden and privilege of wealth and power. Here is the story of Adolph Ochs, a visionary dedicated to presenting the news objectively, a man who appeared supremely confident yet was often racked by depression and insecurity; of his daughter, Iphigene, an exceptional woman whose gender prevented her from achieving official authority at the Times but who used her position as family matriarch to foster and guard its mystique; of her husband, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who began his career at the Times as an unpromising son-in-law but went on to become a brilliant and controversial publisher, steering the paper through the crises of World War II, the Holocaust, and the excesses of McCarthyism; of his only son, Punch, who came to the publisher's job with little discernible talent, yet proved tough enough to guide the paper to its greatest journalistic and financial heights; and of the paper's most recent leader, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who struggles daily with the task of preserving his forebears' values amid the uncertainties of a digital age.

With novelistic drive and detail, The Trust tells the story of how the domestic dramas of one extraordinary clan shaped the pages of the greatest newspaper in the world; of a Jewish family that found itself under attack for its policies from both anti-Semites and Jews alike; of succession battles, human frailty, and tremendous affluence; and of the legacy of public responsibility that has driven the family to serve as devoted stewards of a trust they hold sacred.

The Trust was written with the full cooperation of the Ochses and Sulzbergers and unconditional access to The New York Times' archives, but with the authors retaining complete independence. The result is not only a richly detailed portrait of an American dynasty but a fascinating chronicle of the twentieth century.--This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Thoroughly entertaining family biography
This exhaustively researched and really gripping book tells the story of Sulzberger/Ochs family and their relationship to the New York Times. As the family behind the Times, they were players on the stage of American history for most of the twentieth century. The family itself and the characters in it are fascinating-- the subjects range from Iphegene Ochs frustration that she as a woman would never be considered the heir to the throne, to the way that Adolph Ochs wheeled and dealed his way into building the NYT, to the hard family choices behind the publication of the Pentagon papers, to modern attempts from within the company to break the family power. It's a wonderful glimpse at one of the most powerful families of our time. It's worth noting that this book is not a business case history and that the reader will not find an explicit overview of any of the strategies that made the Times what it is.

Beside the Times
This massive chronicle of the Ochs-Sulzbergers and their stewardship of the New York Times gets off to a fascinating start, dramatizing Adolph Ochs' purchase of the then nothing New-York Times and detailing his wildly successful efforts to build a paper of note.

But once Ochs vanishes from the narrative, bequeathing the editorship to son-in-law Arthur Sulzberger, the book slowly loses steam. Focus shifts from the newsroom to the myriad Ochs-Sulzberger relatives and their beside-the-Times activities, in response to which a reader can only offer a heartfelt shrug.

In defense of The Trust it has been pointed out that the authors set out to write about the family rather than the paper, but apparently there's little of inherent interest in the Ochs-Sulzbergers outside the Times. Down the backstretch, the authors seem as bored as the reader, dutifully recounting the gossipy infighting among far-flung cousins.

The Trust, excellent as much of it is, comes to seem unfortunately conceived -- the newsroom coverage is exemplary, but the beside the Times gossip grows quickly tiresome.

Grand and compulsively readable
This is a monumental work of multiple biography and institutional history.

It is cumpulsively readable, like a good novel. This book became my trusted companion during many relaxing evening hours and solitary restaurant meals.

It is also admirably crafted. As in their previous book The Patriarch (about the Bingham family of the Louisville Courier-Journal), Tifft and Jones write beautifully and with great skill for handling detail and narrative.

They also have the ability to balance candor and fairness, steering a sober, high-minded course between warts-and-all skepticism and obsequious hagiography. As a reader you sense you are getting a careful portrait of each major character's personality, strengths, foibles, fond traits, and character flaws, while never getting the feeling the authors are doing either a flack job or a hatchet job.

That's not to say certain characters don't come off better than others. For example, the authors seem consistently sympathetic toward the modestly talented, often hapless but usually wise "Punch" Sulzberger, the dominant figure at the Times from the mid 60s through the mid 90s, while casting his wife Carol as a shallow, cold-hearted Nancy Reagan type. But the book rings of truth and authority, and so one generally trusts the authors' assessments.

While this book overwhelmingly is concerned with people, not events, it provides a valuable account of the internal debates over whether and how to publish the Pentagon Papers. It also illustrates the paper's vigorous post-war anti-communism, its cozy relationship with the Eisenhower administration, its internal battles over editorial voice during the political and cultural upheavals of the 1970s, and its generational differences over homosexuality (contrasting Punch's bigotry with his son and successor Arthur Jr.'s determination to make the Times a progressive place for gays to work). Two consistent threads run throughout the book: the Sulzbergers' ambivalence over their Jewish heritage, and their determination to place journalistic excellence and family control of the paper over the business strategems and high profits necessary to please Wall Street.

This book will be of great interest to journalism junkies. But it also commends itself to all lovers of serious biography.

Shame on Alex Jones and Susan Tifft
The only positive comment one can make about this sorely disappointing excavation of the Sulzbergers and their newspaper is that it's written in fluid, clear prose. That's it! This is quite surprising given the credentials of these two supposedly fine journalists; they did a wonderful job excavating another newspaper dynasty -- the Binghams. But this time, little insight is offered; instead, the reader is loaded down with gratuitious gossip. Historic and psychological contexts are shabbily rendered. One can't help but wonder if Mr. Jones, who comes from a newspaper dynasty himself, albeit of a much smaller scale, was not dealing -- negatively dealing -- with his own issues in this book. The Sulzbergers, particularly, Arthur jr, a brilliant, progressive, and humane publisher, and deserve better.

The Kennedys of Journalism
Tifft and Jones rip the gown off the old Gray Lady to reveal the hidden secrets of the family that made the New York Times the respected powerhouse it is today. The story of the Ochs/Sulzburger clan appeals on two levels. First, it is the story of the making of the newspaper, the ethical and financial decisions required to make the Times both reputable and profitable. And second, it is a good old scandal story, filled with affairs and family altercations, and Times Square palace intrigues. While the book remains superficial about the journalism, it delves deeply into the characters, who are of course the most fun part of the tale. ... Read more

Book Description

It is the genius of actor Carroll O'Connor that millions of fans will forever confuse him with his most unforgettable creation, Archie Bunker. But O'Connor has lived the kind of rich, momentous life that Archie could never have imagined. Now, emrerging from gehind the actor's mask for the first time, O'Connor writes eloquently and intimately about his great triumphs and terrible tragedies—and a career that has been immortalized in television history.

Growing up in Depression-era New York, Carrol O'Connor made his way armed with the quick wit, mischievous bent of mind, and engaging Irish charm that flow through these pages. From his rough and tumbel days in the merchant marine during World War ll—marked by big dreams, bar brawls, and bloody noses he moved on to salad days in Dublin. There he received an education in literature and in life, found his true calling in the theatre, and married his wife, Nancy...a fifty year success story that's still going strong.

O'Connor was soon invitied to Hollywood, the scene of his greatest achievements. His unique persective on the creation of All in the Family —and his certainty at the start that is was destined for ratings disaster—reveals television history in the making. And O'Connor vividly recalls scores of classic moments with Noman Lear, Rob Reiner and Jean Stapleton, as well a numberous other colleagues, including Howard Rollins (In the Heat of the Night), Clint Eastwood (Kelly's Heroes), and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra).

But Hollywood was also the source of O'Connor's most painful memory: the cocaine addition and suicide of his son, Hugh. As a grieving father, O'Connor was forced to asssume the most poignant and powerful role of his life, and he speaks honestly here about both his loss and his efforts to educate others about the horror of drug abuse.

Candid and insightful, spirited and funny, this is the story of all the families Carroll O'Connor has been able to call his own. And in a career graced with landmark achievements, I Think I'm Outta Here stands as on of the most moving and memorable of all. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

This Book Was Good
I liked this book on tape. I usually prefer reading the book, but after reading the book, THEN listening to it, it was more interesting to hear Carroll O'Connor read it his way!

Interesting, but not about All in the Family
I'm a huge fan of that show, and believe O'Connor's long portrayal of Archie is the greatest and most groundbreaking acting performance in television history. So the fact that he offers almost no insight into that work in this memoir is a major letdown.
Still, he had a fascinating life and this is a very good read, even though he certainly doesn't always come off as a likeable or tolerant fellow. He has deep, strident beliefs, little affection for those who differ, and he bluntly tells us so.

The final chapter about his beloved son's descent into addiction, madness, and suicide, and a father's inability to stop it, is truly wrenching. That could have been a book by itself.

All In The Mind
I'm not going to say much here; Only that this book may be the least interesting autobiography I have ever read. You know Carrol from "All In The Family" moreso than any other role he has portayed, yet he avoids discussing his tenure on that ground-breaking show from the 70's, instead telling us many things about his early history.
It appears he may feel the show overshadowed everything else he did, so to answer that, left it out of his book.
I was disappointed reading it and would not recommend the book to anyone.

I loved this book!!
It tells the whole story thru the eyes of Carroll O'Connor!
It is a wonderful book to get lost in.
I started out a fan of All in the Family and ended a fan of O'Connor!!

Not any of the Family
I love Archie Bunker and still consider him one of the best TV characters ever created. But I do not like Carroll O'Connor. I THINK I'M OUTTA HERE is a convoluted, self-centered work showing O'Connor to have been a man oblivious to the world around him. This book is dreadful. His belligerence likely sent his editor into hiding, for what else could explain why O'Connor was allowed his digressions into Irish history and his ridiculous footnotes about nothing? At one point, he tells of the "Divil" on his shoulder (with a footnote explaining how the "Divil" is another form of the "Devil") who speaks with an Irish accent, and how this Divil helped steer him through life.

I'm sure that O'Connor worked very hard to get where he did, to get the roles he did. But he makes it seem as if he deserved everything: he was born to his roles, and everyone in Hollywood thought so, too. I'd admire the man more if he told us how hard he did work to become a star. I'd enjoy hearing more about his friends in entertainment, and what he thought of working with Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers.

O'Connor follows the path of others who are known for doing one great thing and then write about it: he skirts around his most important accomplishment. He tells us how brilliant he was when he recreated Norman Lear's Archie Bunker, about how great Jean Stapleton was as Edith (no argument there), but then says something like "Those of you looking for a rehashing of what happened during the production of that show won't find it here," then jumps to his life post-cancellation of the show. Nothing new here.

The final chapter of this book is pitiful, but also made me pity Carroll O'Connor, which I'm sure would have angered the man greatly. His son, Hugh, succumbed to his drug habit, committing suicide after O'Connor attempted numerous interventions with his family at his side. It wasn't enough. Only in this final chapter do we see O'Connor as just another person -- vulnerable, powerless to control the lives of others -- a real man. It's sad that he could not have broken free of the reins of pretentiousness and told us his whole story with such emotion.

If you're a fan of All in the Family, steer clear. If you're a fan of Carroll O'Connor, rent some of his movies, watch episodes of All in the Family and In the Heat of the Night, then turn off your TV. This book does him no justice. ... Read more

Book Description

In this elegantly crafted, engrossing memoir, the acclaimed author of On Mexican Time chronicles his journey from a 1950s Hollywood childhood as the son of a fading showbiz figure to a bohemian life in Europe and back to his native state of California, where he faces the man who had driven him away.

Summoned to California from a life abroad to attend to the dying ninety-four-year-old father he'd never been close to, author and musician Tony Cohan reflects on his peripatetic life,tracing a kaleidoscopic journey from California's sunny post-World War II promise through the burnt end of the 1960s to the final days of the last century.  A tangled, rueful, revelatory reconciliation with memory and identity, love and desire, art and fate, Native State vividly portrays Cohan’s attempts to escape the confines of a celebrity-filled, alcoholic family through music, writing, and travel.His eventual encounters with the jazz and literary geniuses and lowlifes, divas and crooks, Zen masters and culture gods of Paris, Tangier, London, Copenhagen, Barcelona, San Francisco, Kyoto, and Los Angeles coalesce into a distinctive, intimate depiction of a pivotal cultural era.

Poignant, lyrically written and often funny, Native State is an indelible portrait of the artist as a young man, and—as son and dying father grope toward acceptance—a coming-to-terms with self, family, origins, and the elusive American idea of home.

Reviews (2)

slow read, not particularly gratifying
I purchased this book based on the author's experiences with many artists that have touched my life. I found this to be a slow read and not particularly thought inducing. Perhaps someday as my father is aging I will re-read it and find a new appreciation for it, but until then I would suggest avoiding this one.

The voyage of a generation
Tony Cohan, an incredibly gifted writer - his account of finding a new life in Mexico, 'On Mexican Time', is a superior contribution to the genre of literary travel memoir - has written a sort of early prequel to that book, a fascinating and heartrending story of one man's search for a meaningful life. This is played out in retrospect as he watches his father die in present day Los Angeles. He takes us back to his boyhood in the shadow of a belittling and domineering man, who shaped him for all that was to come. Young Cohan was an accomplished jazz drummer playing with greats like Dexter Gordon in Copenhagen - and pre-Ringo Beatles in Hamburg! - but he gave this up to follow a trickier path of self-expression as a writer. This led him through the early days of the counterculture that began in the late 1950s and flowered into the sex,drugs, rock and roll, Buddhism of the 60s. Cohan hung out with Paul Bowles in Morocco, Jim Morrison in LA, Burroughs in Paris. But this is much more than a name-dropping memoir. It's the paradigm voyage of a generation, and Cohan is its very best, most moving explicator. A great and moving book. ... Read more

Reviews (73)

Christina tells story of child abuse by the rich and famous.
Christina Crawford tells a story that has gone on for years in this country. Child abuse can happen to any family. Unfortunately some narrow minded folks seem to think this only happens in poor or uneducated families. It can and does happen to anyone. Thousands of children are abused and/or killed in this country each year. We hardly hear enough stories about it to scratch the surface. It's a sin and a shame on this whole country that rich people can buy anything, even children. Some have called Christina a "cry baby". Is that perhaps because you feel that since she seemingly lived in a wonderful mansion and had every little frill a child could dream of? You can live in the most marvelous of mansions and have everything your little heart desires. It would still be a living hell if you had to share it with an abusive and/or mentally ill person who controlled your every move.

Someone who has never seen the movie or read the book called it, "Sickening and an abomination" that she would do this to her "foster" mother. I'd like to remind you that she was SUPPOSED to be a little more than her "foster" mother. She legally adopted these children which means she was supposed to love and protect them as any mother would. If she was unfit mentally then she shouldn't have used them to make a publicity splash or at least realized that she wasn't giving them the love they deserved. The only thing sickening and an abomination was that there were people around who witnessed all this and chose to turn their heads and a deaf ear because she was "Joan Crawford. Hollywood Glamour Star."

I too was abused but I don't have the courage that Christina has because most people don't want to "get involved" or they simply don't want to believe that someone could act so nice in public and be so different behind closed doors. So the victims go on in silence. Ms. Crawford spent 60 years developing her film career? Well, good for her. I'm so glad she was so narcissistic that she chose to spend all her time on her selfish vain needs and "bought" these poor children to live in misery for her own selfish vain need to be looked upon with respect. It only took Hitler 14 years to rise to dictator of Germany and only a few years to kill 6 million Jews and 5 million other people he considered to be mentally deficient or political enemies. So what? It doesn't take hard work to be vain.

Sickening and abominable? Yes that this country will turn it's head and let these things happen because we are so enamored with the rich and famous. I will go on in silence working behind the scenes at abuse shelters and charities. I can sleep at night. Good for you Christina. God bless you. I hope you too can sleep at night now, without fear of a drunken crazed woman coming in to wake you up with her latest torture. God bless America, and thank you for trying to open some of our eyes to the facts of child abuse and to this horrible habit of worshiping people with money and fame.

A sad tale...
I really enjoyed this well written account of the childhood of Christina Crawford. But I do wonder why it is so hard to believe that it is true? Is it so hard to comprehend that a famous actress is not the greatest person she pretends to be? Some people are blinded by the glitz they see on screen and refuse to see that the actress tried so hard to gain publicity she adopted two children, verbally and physically abusing them when the cameras were turned away. It is a sad, tear-jerking at times, story...one that is too impossible to be a lie.

Where is the Joan Crawford memorial?
It is sad as a fan we have to search around endlessly for any movies by someone who has made over 50 yrs worth. There isn't even a official website, no memorial, not even a fan club.
This book is a hideous slap in the face to one of the greatest female actors of all time. Joan made her mark and earned the right to a legitimate memorial to such an achievement.
Coming from a family with abuse myself I chose to give my own perspective here.
It is VERY SAD this book/movie is what the public have chosen to remember Joan Crawford by.
If anyone has seen Joan Crawfords movies there are several parrallels between her movies and Mommie Dearest. From IMDB.COM-The producers of "Mommie Dearest" clearly took copious notes

from the real-life Crawford canon; traces of everything from

"Mildred Pierce" to "Harriet Craig" to "Strait-Jacket" show up in that

biopic-from-hell, but the film it most closely resembles is the 1955

cult classic, "Queen Bee."

Scenes of an imperious Crawford being served coffee in bed;

destroying a bedroom with a riding crop (wire hanger?); and her

children crying out in the dark are lifted directly from this movie;

and Crawford's stunning appearances in various Jean Louis

gowns--descending a grand staircase, posing in a doorway,

preening in front of a mirror--are a harbinger of the demented

fashion show Faye Dunaway would put on in her Crawford

assasination.
Too many to make me think it is anything more than an overexaggerated piece of crap. Watch her movies then watch Mommie Dearest and any fool can see what I'm talking about. Christina Crawford was nothing but a spoiled Hollywood brat right up there with all the ones there are today etc etc etc, except she never could achieve her own fame so she threw her mothers life long reputation in the trash to make a few bucks, so she could go into reclusion and live in the Idaho boon docks. I hope she never finds peace and is bothered until one day she finally comes clean with the truth.
Until then Joan Crawford I love you and hope you rest in peace!
Chris in NC

I believe her!
I am one of the people who thinks every word of "Mommie Dearest" is absolute truth. Not just because I love the story and it is so brilliantly written, with humor and honesty. But I like Christina Crawford as a person. All one has to do is watch her speak publicly, like the documentary on the "Mildred Pierce" DVD, or any Joan TV biography. She is very genuine and sincere and is not avaricious at all. I do not believe she wrote this book before her mother died, but even if that were true, GOOD! The reason this book was written, I believe, was to dispel the myth about Hollywood fantasy. She recieved a lot of abuse after this book came out, and in her book Survivor she writes "why is it so wrong to defend one's self?". I agree. Joan must have known the language in the will would become public and embarrass Christina and Chris. I applaud Christina for coming forth and sharing her story. I would love to meet her some day.

KACHING~! Christina cashes in...AGAIN
The most ABOMINABLE thing that I associate with this wretched and sensationalized autobiography, is just how willingly and gleefully people swallow it's "facts" whole, and then feel justified in trashing a human being who was never able to tell her own side of the story. I would never condone child abuse, or any kind of cruelty, and that includes the treatment that is dished out in this tabloid style "tell all".

Readers of this book seem to be divided into two camps:

1) Those who consider it to be the gospel truth. Some then feel justified in demonizing Joan Crawford. Somehow I think, this makes them feel better about themselves, and their own short comings.

2) Those who consider it to be a pack of lies, designed to make buckets of money for Christina...who, motivated by greed or not, is protected by the safety umbrella of being a victim of abuse.

Personally, I feel that the real truth lies somewhere between these two extremes.

Joan Crawford was not a saint, but she was not a monster either. Clearly the woman had issues, as so many Hollywood stars of her era did. If you know anything about her life at all, you would understand why she became the person that she became. Christina herself says that she believes that her mother was bipolar, in a time when such a condition was not well known as it is today. Crawford did become an alcoholic, and I believe that definatley affected how she raised her children. People don't want to admitt it, but physically punishing a child used to be common place. That is no excuse, but it is true.

MGM trained it's actors to live their lives as press fodder, so it must have seemed as natural as breathing to Crawford to work the motherhood angle for publicity. It is being done by politicians and media stars even today, and ever shall be. But I truly believe that she wanted children to love, and that like many people she screwed up royally...especially in the case of her first two children.

I don't mean to say Crawford was justified in her behavior, but it makes more "sense" if you really look at her life. And it MUST be noted that her two younger adopted daughters (who are indeed twins, although not identical), speak very lovingly of their late mother. They have said that she was tough as nails, but loving and nurturing. Clearly she had learmed some lessons from the first time around, yes?

Christina has often stated that her mother was sometimes jealous of her budding acting career, and when Crawford was in her declining years, that is no doubt a fact. But the reverse seems to be even more true, and who could blame Christina? Her mothers film career is legendary.

I think Christina's story has much truth, but it definately smacks of being sensationalized...and embroidered with fiction. Take the entire "Box Office Poison-Joan trashes the Rose Garden Night Raid" story (TINA! Bring me the AXE!). When that article was published, Christina hadn't even been born! The inconsistencies in Christina's tome are NUMEROUS. There are many facts that she presents that simply do not match actual history.

And indeed, and most tellingly, the book "Mommie Dearest" was written and sold to a publisher a FULL YEAR before Joan's death, and Crawford caught wind of it. Christina was removed from the will, and Christina and Christopher CONTESTED, and won several thousand dollars each.

It is interesting to note too, that Christina tried her hand at all-out fiction, with a book called "Black Widow" (with a very Crawford-esque type villianous). That is very telling, isn't it? The book bombed, so Christina wrote her true follow-up to "Mommie...", called "Survivor".

Christina continues to tour promoting "Mommie Dearest", and at times with a female impersonator in full Joan drag. She has survived very richly on the money made from her National Enquirer style story (they mix fact with fiction, too).

The "little girl who never got any love" is pushing 60 now, and she is doing more than well, thank you. I would never deny her the right to tell of her life, and to heal, as I believe she suffered things no child ever should. But if you don't think she isn't laughing all the way to the bank, or if you believe every last thing she has written is the unvarnished truth, then I have some oceanside property in Kansas that I'd like you to consider buying. The woman has much to answer for.

In the wake of "Mommie Dearest" much attention has been brought to the world issue of child abuse and that in itself in invaluable. It is unfortunate however that persons of low self esteem choose to throw stones at a dead woman who cannot defend herself. Speak up for Joan, and you are condoning child abuse, as far as they are concerned. Question Christina's motives, and you are said to be blinded by Joan's status as a MOVIE STAR. What a shallow and self serving way to look at this complicated, and multi-faceted situation.

Even for all of it's tragedy (and it is there, no matter how you choose to look at it), crucifying Joan Crawford is not the answer. Damning Christina as a liar, or making an angel out of either of them is a mistake too. Trying to UNDERSTAND both of these willfull, wonderful and seriously flawed women...would serve you far better than buying and reading this trashy-epic of half-truths and tall-tales ever will. The fact that a great many people think that it is more "fun" to believe the worst of Joan, and actually take pleasure in rading the violent passages of the book over and over again, makes them every bit as sick as the person that they are damning in the first place!

It's time to grow up, and move on. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the book that in hardcover won unanimous praise from reviewers, who called it"beautiful and transcendent" (The Boston Globe), a book that "measures the arc of a culture's mortality in small, personal increments" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), is written "in a poker-faced style that always seems on the verge of exploding into manic laughter or howls of pain" (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

They're right. Tony Earley is a writer so good at his craft that you don't read his words so much as inhale them. His first book of nonfiction is one of those unexpected classics, like Ann Lamott's Traveling Mercies, in which a great writer rips open his/her heart and takes the reader inside for a no-holds-barred tour.

In a prose style that is deceptively simple, Earley confronts the big things-God, death, civilization, family, his own clinical depression-with wit and grace, without looking away or smirking. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Really good book!
Tony Earley is a really great writer and this is a really great book! I first encountered Tony Earley in the pages of The Oxford American and his essay, A Worn Path, which is included in this book. He is a wonderful writer and reading his essays brought back countless memories of my own life. i can't say enough about this book!

Shooting the Cat, etc.
I met Tony Earley yesterday during the Festival of Southern Cultures at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Our group had the unique opportunity to sit with him once yesterday and once today and pick his brain about this book. It is a very amazing piece of literature, with metaphors hidden just below the rocky surface. His short stories include very insightful mantras...especially the ones about shooting the cat (not for cruelty, but out of pity) and hunting deer. I don't really know how else to describe this book, so all I can say is that you should buy it and read it as soon as possible! Also, he teaches at Vanderbilt University in Nashville if any of you go/are thinking of going there.

A Part of Some Family
Tony Earley's book drew me in immediately...from the first page, the writing is captivating. As he walks the reader through his life from a prepubescent age until he becomes much of the man he is today, it is hard not to see his family, hear their laughter and their tears. His writing is easy to identify with...we all remember having emotions like those that he goes through. There is a face the reader can visualize for every character that appears. There is a voice for every person. This book is amazing.

A Truly Wonderful Book
In the first essay in this amazing book, Somehow Form a Family, Tony Early writes; "I wanted to tell her that no one in my family ever raised their voice while the television was on, that late at night even a bad television show could keep me from hearing the silence in my own heart." That sentence caused my own heart to stop for a second. I put the book down and returned to it the next day. Tony Early writes in simple, concise English. There are no glossy, shiny adjectives. Each word is exact and to the point and utterly perfect. Jim the Boy was one of my most favorite books last year. Somehow Form A Family will I think, become a fixture in my home. One to be read and re-read for years to come. I better get another copy!

TV Turn-Off Life
Are we born with Tabula Rasa minds ready to absorb whatever TV shows happen to be on? Or do we come equipped with Jungian categoricies into which The Brady Bunch, Gomer Pyle, USMC and Hawaii Five-O naturally fit and are recognized (having been created by fellow-sufferers of the same categories)?

How would Faulkner have re-written the opening lines of Sound and Fury if he had lived in the age of, say, the Guiding Light? Luster could have then watched soaps, instead of plain old golf.

After getting re-acclimated to the TV shows of the 60s, 70s and 80s, this book does in