Book Description

In the 16th century, Erasmus was one of the most celebrated figures in Europe—a man of such vast learning that both royalty and universities petitioned for his services. In this very readable biography, a noted scholar traces Erasmus’s youth, his years as an itinerant scholar, sojourns in England, France, Switzerland, and Italy, friendship with Sir Thomas More, and disputes with Martin Luther. The author also probes Erasmus’s mind and character and discusses his writings, including In Praise of Folly and his great translation of the New Testament.
... Read more

Reviews (3)

"An Intimate Portrait of the Great Erasmus"
Of all volumes of study which concern the learned scholar Desiderius Erasmus, it must be said, quite simply, that Johan Huizinga's work stands out among the greatest. Huizinga skillfully and colorfully weaves the many aspects of Erasmus' life together into one intimate portrait which places the man respectfully within the setting of his time. In this work, the reader will find that Huizinga always seems to surface the inmost sentiments of Erasmus, even amidst all the triumph, turmoil, and controversy which marked the age he lived in. From Erasmus' early years as an Augustinian canon, to his final days as an accomplished and conscientious scholar, the same underlining genius will be discovered by anyone who comes to grips with this classic work. Huizinga's, Erasmus and the Age of the Reformation, is a work worthy of praise, even eighty years after its first publication. Also, found here are several valuable letters of Erasmus', which display his dutiful correspondence with individuals like St Thomas More and Martin Luther. Any study of Desiderius Erasmus is not complete without Huizinga's timeless masterpiece at hand.

Man in the Middle
Of particular value to the reader is the preface of this work, penned in 1952 by the then Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, G.N. Clark. The brief preface introduces not only the work but the author, Johan Huizinga, perhaps as a halting effort at rehabilitation. Clark reminds the readers that Huizinga had suffered through two world wars and was imprisoned by the Nazis, and died in February, 1945, literally days before his beloved Holland was liberated: an apologia of sorts for a most controversial scholar.

Huizinga had shaken the European and American historical and religious establishments with the publication of his most famous work, "The Waning of the Middle Ages," in 1919. In that work Huizinga introduced a novel gestalt for interpreting the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, upsetting historians of his day who still clung to the traditional strictures of epochs, and Churchmen, notably Catholic, for his candor in debunking ecclesiastical mythology of that era. ["The Waning" was actually placed on the Index of Forbidden Books for a time.] Clark argues that the Erasmus text is a companion piece to "The Waning," a useful point to remember in assessing this biography.

For all the energy generated by their respective forces, neither the Renaissance nor the Reformation was particularly rich in seminal philosophical inquiry. In fact, the sixteenth century was in many respects quite conservative, with its veneration of Classical thought, Aristotelian scientific method, and religious interest in primary sources. Erasmus's lifespan, 1466-1536, was an age of application, where orthopraxis was making a run at orthodoxy. Erasmus has always enjoyed reputation as the consummate "Renaissance Man," literary giant, man of letters, humane reformer, diplomat. In this work he is still the preeminent Renaissance man, but in the Renaissance of Huizinga's making, when being a "Renaissance Man" was a dicier proposition than popularly held. He was after all, a friend of both Thomas More and Henry VIII. Huizinga's Erasmus is brilliant, though not particularly original, and he was often broke, sick, insecure, unemployed, displaced-at the height of his reputation, no less.

The original literary works of Erasmus demonstrate scholarship, mastery of the pen, satire, wit, and synthesis. As Huizinga observed, Erasmus wrote less from piety than from humanistic reasoning. Despite the fact that his "Praise of Folly" is his best remembered original work, Erasmus had little patience for folly, which he would have defined in real life as extremism, violence, or pretension. His satire could be pointed, but he was never mad at the world per se, only those who would deface it needlessly. Theologically, he espoused "low church Catholicism" stripped of both spiritual and practical indulgences. His satire poked fun at Church excess, but this was hardly earthshaking at a time when many intellectuals laughed down their sleeves at ecclesiastical pomp.

His major gift to the Renaissance and subsequent ages, in my view, is his application of philology to the Sacred Scriptures, an effort that would also cause his greatest friction with Catholicism. With the reverence of antiquity so common to his age, Erasmus mastered Latin and Greek to the point where he was able to discover major linguistic flaws in the official Catholic translation of Scripture, St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate edition. Erasmus, an eminently reasonable man, assumed that his Church would tolerate-in fact, welcome-a cleaner, more accurate rendering of the Bible, and he proceeded to edit the Vulgate with available Greek manuscripts. Pascal was yet to be born, so perhaps Erasmus can be excused his shock that the loyal faithful remained devoted to the Vulgate "for reasons of the heart." The Vulgate translation in 1500 enjoyed an almost sacramental reverence; it was the official text for the sacraments and, in fact, for all of the great body of scholastic medieval theology that synthesized orthodox Catholicism and the cosmos.

As every contemporary Scripture scholar is painfully aware, every translation is in fact an interpretation, a point not lost upon the Roman Curia. Given his known temperament, one would have to concede that Erasmus, who routinely fled from confrontation, was rather innocent of the charge that he was undermining things sacred. But worse, Erasmus had opened the door to doubts regarding the credibility of a sacred work which was in its own right a part of antiquity, having been composed around 400 A.D. He had given fuel to Protestant reformers and added Jerome's masterpiece to the growing list of accretions that needed purging. Luther, a scripture scholar himself, recognized the value of Erasmus's work and courted him for years, mostly by mail. The winning of Erasmus's hand by Protestant suitors would have been a major symbolic victory.

But Luther came to discover that even the most rational "Renaissance Men" have reasons of the heart. The reasonable Erasmus was traumatized by the irrationality of division. Perhaps the executions of his friends Thomas More and John Fisher or the general polemic and bloodshed that accompanied religious revolution led him to do the unthinkable for a humanist: make a decision. He threw his lot with Roman Catholicism. The reaction of both sides tells the stakes: Luther excoriated Erasmus in the choicest terms of his rich vocabulary. The Curia forgave Erasmus his translations and offered him a red hat shortly before his death. Both gestures indicate that we may never capture, at this distance, the reasons of the hearts of those who admired Erasmus as a man, a writer, and a symbol. But Huizenga makes a noble effort.

Informative Historical Perspective
In the preface, G. N. Clark tells us of Johan Huizinga that his "great success and reputation came suddenly when he was over forty. Until that time his powers were ripening, not so much slowly as secretly."

Huizinga starts his history of Erasmus with his childhood. He was born in Rotterdam, Holland in 1466. His years in the monastery are covered in the second chapter. We're told he was well read in Jerome. Furthermore he was consumed with the works of St. Augustine. In the summer of 1495 his studies carried him to the University of Paris. It was on this campus that a struggle of ideas was occurring. The story continues as Erasmus goes to England.

Erasmus was a true wandering scholar at times with no home of his own. In describing his travels, his studies, his love of God, his calling, the modern Christian scholar can sense the continuity of the personalities who went ahead to pave the way for our contritutions. ... Read more

Book Description

This English translation of Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken offers a rare, intimate view of the philosopher by Lou Salomé, a free-thinking, Russian-born intellectual to whom Nietzsche proposed marriage at only their second meeting.

Published in 1894 as its subject languished in madness, Salomé's book rode the crest of a surge of interest in Nietzsche's iconoclastic philosophy. She discusses his writings and such biographical events as his break with Wagner, attempting to ferret out the man in the midst of his works.

Salomé's provocative conclusion -- that Nietzsche's madness was the inevitable result of his philosophical views -- generated considerable controversy. Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, dismissed the book as a work of fantasy. Yet the philosopher's longtime acquaintance Erwin Rohde wrote, "Nothing better or more deeply experienced or perceived has ever been written about Nietzsche."

Siegfried Mandel's extensive introduction examines the circumstances that brought Lou Salomé and Nietzsche together and the ideological conflicts that drove them apart. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A personal psychological expert on Nietzsche
The German version of this book, published in 1894, about 108 years ago, was among the first books written about the books of Nietzsche. The photograph on the cover was taken in May, 1882 and a portion of it (as shown on p. 132) appeared in her book with the caption, "Friedrich Nietzsche, formerly professor and now a wandering fugitive" (p. ix), as Nietzsche had described himself in a letter to the third person in the picture in 1879, "referring to the severance from his ten-year position at the University of Basel." (p. ix). These people are all dead now. When she was 20, Lou wrote a poem "To Sorrow" (pp. xlviii-xlix) which praises it as "the pedestal for our soul's greatness." (p. xlix).

Lou reported a conversation about the changes in his life in which Nietzsche raised the question, "When everything has taken its course--where does one run to then?" and told her, "In any case, the circle could be more plausible than a standing still." (p. 32). She described his books as the product of "his last period of creativity, Nietzsche arrived at his mystical teaching of the eternal recurrence: the picture of a circle--eternal change in an eternal recurrence--stands like a wondrous symbol and mysterious cypher over the entrance to his work." (p. 33).

This book does not have an index, and the notes on pages 160-8 merely clarify a few things, such as the date of the letter from Nietzsche to Lou at the beginning of Part III Nietzsche's "System" on page 91 which Lou used without the final comment, "be what you must be." The possibilities might not be considered so great. "In that regard, if the sickliness of man is, so to speak, his normal condition or his specific human nature itself, and if the concepts of falling ill and of development are seen as almost identical, then we will naturally encounter again the already mentioned decadence at the culmination of a long cultural development." (p. 102). The ascetic ideal "is also a third kind of decadence which threatens to make the described illness incurable and threatens the possibility of recovery. And that form of decadence is embodied in a false interpretation of the world, an incorrect perception of life encouraged by that suffering and illness. . . . every kind of intellectualism extols thinking at the expense of life and supports the ideal of `truth' at the expense of a heightened sensation of living." (p. 103). "In respect to Nietzsche's own psychic problem, it is of less interest to determine correctly the historicity of master morality and slave morality than it is to ascertain the fact that in man's evolution he has carried these contrasts, these antitheses, within himself and that he is the consequent sufferer of this conflict of instincts, embodying double valuations." (p. 113). Ultimately, "Nietzsche's thought of the Dionysian orgy as the means for release of the emotions" (p. 127) are considered "the necessary conditions for the creative act out of which one shapes the luminous and godly." (p. 127). Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are tied to "the deeply pessimistic nature of the Greeks because their innermost life, as revealed through the orgiastic, was one of darkness, pain, and chaos." (p. 127). Art is the answer, here. "The highest or the most religious art is the tragic because within it the artist delivers beauty from the terrifying." (p. 128). Modern society can hardly be comprehended without accepting that much of what is popular is produced in the attempt to satisfy that desire for art.

An Important Addition to Nietzsche Studies
To scholars and admirers of Nietzsche, Lou Andreas-Salome has always been seen as his Irene Adler, the intellectual equal who got way or was driven away, depending on one's point of view. Although their affair lasted for only a few months, it left an indelible mark on both, for it came at a turning point in Nietzsche's life where he would leave the realtively safe nests of academia and the Wagners for a peripatetic life in the Eupopean Alps.

Over the years we have heard from almost everyone who was anyone in Nietzsche's life, except Lou Salome. This makes the published reprint of her 1894 even more important for those involved in Nietzsche studies. To say that Salome brings a unique perspective to her work is a bit of an understatement, but those who simply expect this to be memoir of the man she knew will be, I think, somewhat joyfully disappointed. Instead she has written what well may be the first attempt to view the persona behind the works. After giving us an excellent analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy, she comes to the conclusion that perhaps Nietzsche's madness was the inevitable result of his philosophy. Was this, as Nietzsche's sister said, merely a fantasy of female revenge? Then simply compare the last page of her book with the events of Nietzche's last days in Turin, events which she cannot have known. Hers is a provactive and illuminating look at Nietzsche, made more powerful by the fact that she was first to the gate and that the strength of her book is the analysis, not the memories.

As with any book on Nietzsche that comes to us in a foreign language, translation is most important if we are to have not only a working understanding, but also a deeper understanding than we would ordinarily expect. That the translator should be the late Siegfried Mandel is only to the reader's advantage. His translation is crisp and clear. His excellent introduction makes it all the more clear to me that this man is, or should be at least considered, one of the formost Nietzschean scholars of his time. (For further reference, see his excellent "Nietzsche and the Jews.")

This is a book every serious student of Nietzsche should have in his or her library and a book that may contribute to a new vision of the tortured harbinger of the overman. ... Read more

Book Description

A startling look at one of this century's most influential philosophers, the book chronicles every stage of Foucault's personal and professional odyssey, from his early interest in dreams to his final preoccupation with sexuality and the nature of personal identity. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Pure Garbage- Why Not Illuminate the Man's Thought Instead?
This book had been recommended me, as a Foucault freak, and I must say that I was immensely disappointed. As one of the above reviewers said, he's just digging up a bunch of dirt that doesn't have much redeeming value in the end. I love S&M myself but 200 pages detailing Foucault's odd and disturbing behaviors in his personal life did nothing whatsoever to illuminate, for me, the connections between his personal life and his works. Follow Martin Heidegger's advice here: don't learn anything about the life of the philosopher you seek to know, let his works speak for him! A lot of academics were offended when Heidegger taught Plato this very way- way back in the 1920s- but believe me, it is an approach which is not yet outdated.

Passionate Truth?
This book, based on the "philosophical life" of the late French philosopher Michel Foucault, reveals the mind of a man who was, says Miller, "one of the most original---and daring---thinkers of the century." Far from being just another biography of Foucault's life, Miller's thoroughly researched project demonstrates time and again the intimate interconnection between the way a life is lived and the thinking and writing that can come from that life. But this is much more than just an intellectual history. One Can't help but share in the passion that speaks through Miller's writing, powerfully earning this book its title.

Foucault said, "...there is not a book I have written that does not grow, at least in part, out of a direct, personal experience." Each chapter of Miller's book gradually unfolds the truth of this statement, beginning with Foucault's earliest writings on madness and mental illness, through his works on knowledge and criminality, to his final opus on the nature of human sexuality. Foucault's unorthodox approach to history is made clear, revealing a revolutionary philosophy based not on structured logic and reason, but growing instead from the realm of experience, in keeping with the "great Nietzschean quest [to] become what one is."

I personally found this book quite disturbing, still accepting as I do many principles of existential humanism, especially those of free will and personal responsibility. But humanism as a whole is a philosphy Foucault and his contemporaries emphatically reject as "a diminution of man," made up of "everything in Western civilization that restricts the desire for power" and "every attitude that considers the aim of politics to be the production of happiness." In reality, says Foucault, happiness does not exist---and the happiness of man exists still less."

"The individual," he is reported to have said, "is contingent, formed by the weight of moral tradition, not really autonomous." And we "can and must make of man a negative experience, lived in the form of hate and aggression."

Somewhat stunned, I've nevertheless gained from Miller's book a new understanding of the world I live in, and of myself as part of that world. "Under the impact of civilization," he summarizes, "the will to power (Freud's 'death instinct') has been driven inward and turned against itself---creating within the human being a new inclination: to destroy himself." So, if Foucault is right, the basic truth that society tries to make humans homogenously "tame" is itself the very root of the violence and decadence of our times. If we are to point to the cause of these problems, we can only point at ourselves and at our structured ways of thinking. The problem is not what we have allowed to be, but rather what we have tried to deny and eliminate. "I am referring," says Foucault, "to all those experiences that have been rejected by our civilization, or which it accepts only within literature." This view throws the current move toward increased artistic censorship into new and unexpected relief.

For Foucault, then, the issue is the same, whatever the subject at hand: the concept of madness, our systems of language and knowledge, law and the punishment of crime, or the idea and expression of our individual sexuality. Regardless of our lifestyle, history has told us the limits of what we can be, and as individuals and as a culture we are paying a great price for believeing it. According to Foucault, the solution can only be to "free ourselves from...cultural conservatism, as well as from political conservatism. We must see our rituals for what they are: completely arbitrary things." We must find the "limits" of our thinking and learn to transcend them. Says Foucault, "...the unity of society [is] precisely that which should...be destroyed."

Miller's book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Was it all a dream?
I assume Miller is trying to demystify Foucault from the deifying result of the author function surrounding his subject. Despite Foucault's writing about it and his advocacy of a nameless or faceless book, I am aware that Foucault was aware of his author function. Books like "The Passion Michel Foucault" by Miller as well as works by Eribon and Macey serve the same function to perpetuate Foucault's own author function.

I am not convinced either that Foucault's es muss sein can be essentialized as a Nietzschean project per se. Foucault is the great synthesizer. Rather than build on his academic successes, Miller pokes around looking for dirt on Foucault using the same technique that proved successful for Foucault - the archives. Read all three biographies to get an idea of his work but make sure to read his TEXT to get an idea of his thought.

Miguel Llora

Lets Get Real about this Biography
I give 2 stars because Miller is uncritical and his premise is excellent, looking at Foucault's life as a Nietzean exercise, but his execution of it is rather clunky. 1)His interpretation is overdetermined. Reading this biography flattens Foucault's works into being about the same thing. Foucault, in Miller's hands, appear to never have had shifts in his thinking. 2)Reader beware! Miller quotes Foucault out of context. One will always have to compare Miller's quotes against the original. 3) He overpersonalizes the philospher failing to provide a context of which Foucault's ideas had arisen. If you want a well-balanced biography try David Macey. Macey respects the reader's intelligence, he allows us to decide for ourselves unlike, Miller who imposes his interpretation on us.

A brilliant exercise in critical biography
The one time that Noam Chomsky met Michel Foucault, on a Dutch TV discussion programme in 1971, the discussion took some turns that Chomsky found disturbing. Chomsky is a man who believes in freedom and justice, and was perturbed to find the baldy Frenchman defending the right of proletarians to engage in violent revolt against the ruling class. "One makes war to win, not because it's just," declared Foucault in his best Class Enemy manner, and the linguist Chomsky found himself at a loss for words. He told James Miller that while he personally liked Foucault, it was "as if he was from a different species, or something."

Now that the revolutionary fervour of the Seventies is becoming little more than hearsay, most people seriously concerned with injustice and freedom might well be inclined to side with Chomsky. As would I. James Miller's book is an astonishing act of sympathetic inquiry, in which he makes a persuasive case that many of Foucault's most provocative ideas are arguably more significant when seen as outgrowths of a highly singular spiritual project, rather than a rational process of argumentation.

Foucault didn't like the idea of biography, but since his death we've had three - Didier Eribon's pedestrian life story, James Macey's (which I haven't read) and Miller's. I'm willing to bet that, even with Macey's unseen, Miller's is the best book. His Foucault is the opposite of a detached intellectual; he's an almost shamanistic quasi-hero, a voyager beyond the bounds of the ordinary, who when he's not campaigning for better prison conditions is taking LSD in Death Valley and revelling in the leather bars of San Francisco. I personally find it hard to take many of Foucault's ideas seriously, especially as Miller demonstrates that there's occasionally an element of pose and display in Foucault's wackier remarks, but this book certainly increases my respect for him, even if I remain unconvinced.

Foucault has probably given rise to more dreary would-be subversive po-mo drivel than any other French intellectual, with the possible exception of Jacques Derrida, but he makes a great story. No doubt he made major contributions to certain fields of historiography and Queer Theory. "Discipline and Punish" is a brilliant, if infuriatingly elliptical book. Some essays, such as "What is an Author?", remain vital and suggestive. The rest of it...I dunno. But Miller's book is a strong contribution to hauling his legacy out of the academy and onto the street. ... Read more

Book Description

This important work marks the first attempt to look at Khayyam's impact on the worlds of science, philosophy, and poetry. Uniting a personal journey with scholarly ambition, Aminrazavi's work debunks the myths surrounding the legend to uncover the real Khayyam. ... Read more

Book Description

The dramatic and warmly human story of the first woman to earn a university degree ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Review from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"This well-researched biography of the first woman to earn a university degree...conveys the majesty of the Italian baroque period and [the Lady Cornaro's] astonishing scholarship." (Donald Miller, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Senior Editor)

LADY CORNARO: Chosen as "Book Lover's Calendar" Feature
I recently noticed that the popular "Book Lover's Page-a-Day Calendar" chose to include THE LADY CORNARO as its featured "star" for December 11, 2002.

"You've probably never heard of Elena Cornaro," observes the calendar entry, "yet she holds a unique place in history. In 1678, she became the first woman in Europe to receive a Ph.D. Jane Howard Guernsey's book is the first full-length biography of this remarkably accomplished woman . . . an inspiring story."

I believe that it is highly appropriate for THE LADY CORNARO to be included in a book lover's daily calendar described as "365 days of good authors, good books and good reading . . . the calendar of passionate recommendations." Truly, THE LADY CORNARO is an outstanding book, worthy of a passionate recommendation!

One of the 100 most important people of the last 1000 years.
Although it is unlikely to happen, Elena Cornaro really should be nominated one of the hundred most important people of the last thousand years. In this carefully researched and highly readable book, Jane Howard Guernsey has successfully reconstructed the story of the Lady Cornaro's astonishing achievements and raised the questions they invite. The author has added to the recoverable information about the life of "The Cornaro," as she was affectionately known to her fellow Venetians, valuable contextual details about the life and milieu of Venice and Padua and about her tutors and contemporaries. These details elucidate both the uniqueness of the opportunities granted her and the enormous stress under which she lived as she labored to do the will of her earthly and her heavenly fathers. (Professor Rizzo's more extensive review of "The Lady Cornaro: Pride and Prodigy of Venice" may be found in "Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature," Vol. 19, No. 1, Spring 2000.)

A Joy to Read
This book is a must-read for anyone who has studied under the Cornaro Window in Thompson Library at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. As you may know, the stunning Cornaro Window at Vassar celebrates Lady Elena Cornaro, the first woman to be awarded a Ph.D (University of Padua in 1678). This book describes Elena's life in 17th century Venice, including her relationships with her parents, teachers, and friends. It was refreshing to read a biography about a humble and formidable person. I highly recommend The Lady Cornaro - Pride and Prodigy of Venice. ... Read more

Book Description

Rudolf Steiner has been called "the best kept secret of the twentieth century." Who was the unique individual behind the personality of this individual? Who was the man who introduced the the world to the spiritual path of anthroposophy? What was behind the ideas that formed what we know today as Waldorf education? What led this teacher to approach inner development as a science that uses thinking as a path to inner freedom?

In this unique and fascinating autobiography, Rudolf Steiner recalls the first thirty-five years of his life as he wrote of them in seventy weekly installments for a newsletter. Although he seldom spoke of personal matters, here he offers us a rare opportunity to view the intimacy of his inner life, his personal relationships, and the events that shaped him. Steiner doesn't focus on life's successes and failures; rather, this is an autobiography of a soul, and we are allowed to witness the evolving consciousness of a modern spiritual master.

Steiner possessed a precise and probing scientific mind aided by his natural clairvoyant ability to see into the spiritual world. He recognized the integrity and importance of modern scientific methods and, as a result, developed a modern discipline he termed "spiritual science." Since then, his insights have touched and enriched many areas of life in ways that continues to change lives.

This book is the self-portrait of a man whose ideas remain ahead of our time-and whose ideas are sorely needed in an increasingly chaotic and materialistic world. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Place to Start with Steiner
If you are wondering how to approach the work of Rudolph Steiner, this autobiography is a great place to start. It gives an excellent presentation of the development of Steiner's ideas, including how he was influenced and who he worked with and why. The extensively researched endnotes lead to an endless array of avenues for further study of people and ideas associated with Steiner. Steiner's methodology for his own studies serves as inspiration for anyone who wants to delve more deeply into his work. ... Read more

Book Description

The life and activities of an important mystic and philosopher who influenced the 18th century.Overshadowing all is the figure of Christian Rosenkreutz and the work of the Rosicrucians, Alchemists and Masons during this period. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A remake or update of her original book
This book is essentially the same as her original work- The Comte de St.Germain, The Secret of Kings. The older book was a spiral bound book done by Mrs. Oakley. This newer book was picked up by Kessinger Publishing. This is an excellent book for those who are interested in studying the historical evidence of the great Immortal, St. Germain known as The Wonderman of Europe. He was ageless and deathless and held the secret to the philosopher's stone. This book gives the reader details about St. Germain's interaction with the great Royal houses of Europe from their own diaires. Packed with plenty of intrigue, drama, and secret meetings you will enjoy reading the memoirs and diaries of those who met and interacted with this great man. If you wish further study of St. Germain I suggest buying these two books: Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence by Godfre Ray King. I have personally met St. Germain as well as many other Immortals and I can assure you they are very real.

Was the Count of Saint Germain ageless or a charlatan?
From what I gathered from this very fine research into a very mysterious person of history, who was a born Count Ragoczy of Siebenbuergen=Transylvania, approx. 1712, who suffered much intrigue by the Austrian Royal Court. He was in Russia when Catarina the Great, a German Princess, ascended the Russian Throne in St. Petersburg. He was in Paris closely associating with Madame de Pompadour in Versailles, later warning the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, daughter of the Austrian Emperess Maria Theresia, of the approaching danger of the revolution. It is astounding how careless and fete-loving this Royal, Marie Antoinette was. After the French Revolution of 1789, she and Louis XIV were executed at the scaffold 1792. There appear to be eye witnesses, who saw the Count still alive and looking well in 1822. The book deals with so many details, historically founded, that it is a jewel when it comes to a big part of European history during this era and the mysterious involvement of Count Saint Germain. Gerborg
gerborguta@hotmail.com ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

This is not only the story of one person. It is the story of the relationships of J. Krishnamurti and people closely involved with him, especially Rosalind Williams Rajagopal and D. Rajagopal, my mother and father, and of the consequences of this involvement on their lives. Recently there have been biographies and a biographical film on Krishnamurti that have left areas, and a large span of years, in mysterious darkness. It is not in the interest of historical integrity, especially where such a personality is concerned, that there be these areas of obscurity. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

don't be fooled so easily
Alright, I'm gonna say what the rest of you are apparently to naive to see: this book was written for the sole purpose of making money. That's right. Ya know, people are often motivated by the desire to make money (as Krishnamurit often points out to us), and what better way to do so than to attack the apparent character flaws of, or better yet, flat out lie about, a famous and mysterious personality. To those of you that have bought into this money making scheme, congratulations. YOu have been duped.

Krishnamurti is one of the greatest spiritual teachers to ever walk this earth, and if you heed his message, you too will go on to experience a spiritual transformation within yourself. Also, there are no contradictions in what he said. When he says things like "don't try to understand me; you never will" he is right. We don't understand him because he has had experiences of a nature that are completely alien to most of us. We simply do not have an intellectual or experiential framework for interpreting the behavior of such a unique human being. So, don't be so easily fooled by those who will detract from this great, great man. Remember, the human race has always found a reason to persecute the greatest human beings amongst us: Jesus Christ, socrates, JFK, Martin Luther King, etc. The same is happening here.

I will leave you with the wisdom of Albert Einstein. "Great spirits have always been persecuted by mediocre minds."

Reply to John-on-maui: Who could set us free?
In 1929, Krishnamurti said, "Organizations cannot make you free. No man from outside can make you free; nor can organised worship, nor the immolation of yourselves for a cause, make you free; nor can forming yourselves into an organisation, nor throwing yourselves into work, make you free."As far as I could see, he was consistent with his theory through out his life.
My own finding about a great teacher is that after your emotional moment faded for him/her, the most valuable thing remains with you, and that valuable thing is the inspiration and the effect of his/her teachings.Once you realize the truth in the teaching, you are able to walk your own path independently.And that truth remains true regardless what perception you have toward your teacher.
This book is a good challenge to Krishnamurti's usual readers, which forces you to re-think K's teachings in many levels, and for that reason I gave it 5 stars.

An Honest Historical Account of Fascinating People!
Radha Rajagopal Sloss's unique book is something of an unofficial biography of 20th century philosopher J. Krishnamurti and the events surrounding his career as a religious/philosophical teacher.The daughter of Rosalind Williams Rajagopal and husband D. Rajagopal, Radha Rajagopal Sloss's book is not a sordid expose, it is not graphic or insulting.It is simply a sincere account of her very real experiences growing up in amazing circumstances among amazing people.There is a lot of information here which isn't included in "official" biographies of philosopher J. Krishnamurti, which helps the reader get a better idea of the politics and humanness which even great men may be affected by.Author Sloss in fact, mentioned this tendancy of official biographies to ignore or excuse certain parts of Krishnamurti's life as a reason for penning this work.

Some of the controversy this book generated is due to the fact that certain students and followers of Krishnamurti believe that he was a living example of a perfect human.This volume disspells that myth, indeed, he looks quite human throughout this writing.It was interesting to find how Krishnamurti dealt with some of his biggest stressors, including financial disagreements with friend D. Rajagopal, and the pregnancy (by him) of his dear lover Rosalind Williams Rajagopal.Radha describes her love of "Krinsh" (Krishnamurti), who was like a second father to her, and how his increasing unwillingness to deal with problems damaged many relationships and people.Included are numerous letters to and from Krishnamurti, D. Rajagopal and Rosaling Rajagopal, and numerous other individuals who were active on the Theosophical movement or Krishnamurti's teachings.A very worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in history, philosophy, or the full history of J. Krishnamurti.

I enjoyed it but didn't take it seriously
Well, I read this and enjoyed it.Of course, I kept in mind the woman who wrote it, and her mother, had an axe to grind.

Krishnamurti was raised on money provided to him and two other people as future leaders of the theosophical society.The two other people were the parents of the woman who wrote this book. The three of them lived together, or at least in physical proximity, for decades.

Krishnamurti never preached celibacy for others that I ever heard.Sometimes he seemed to imply he was celibate.But if you really listened to him he basically said it didn't seem to matter in his life whether he was or wasn't.

Which clearly told me he was not celibate.I don't know why some people thought he was.

So, it turns out he had an affair with this woman's mother for twenty years.He was monogamous to that relationship and they admit he was very attentive and considerate.There was nothing tawdry about it AT ALL.Later, they broke up and this is where the bad blood comes in

Krishnamurti's life stayed bound up with these two people (sloss's mom and pop) through contractual ties, even after he broke up with his girlfriend (the mom).Too much familiarity breeds contempt and the people around krishnamurti in the sixties, seventies and eighties complained these two (sloss's parents) treated krishnamurti with contempt and were ultra bossy and overbearing to him.Some of these allegations about her parents were written in books (by Mary Lutyens).

Finally he managed to sever all ties with them after a court battle and endless negotiations.

It was the printed attacks on her parents that sloss is responding to in this book.She loved her parents, as rightly she should.However, she clearly twists some facts but can't completely quit being fond of krishnamurti as well.

Some things she says are darned strange.Krishna (please, I don't want to keep typing his whole name) had a full-blown kundalini process going most of his life.I saw him in person once (about a year before he died) and you'd have to be a real rhinoceros (thick skinned) not to feel the energy (prana/chi/shakti whatever you want to call it) radiating from him; yet at one point sloss and mommy dearest imply they thought it was fake.bizarre!

If they're serious then they spent all that time living with him and got basically nothing out of it.Weird.Like living with Picasso for twenty years but never bothering to pay any attention to that painting stuff.

Some of her attacks on him have merit.No one is perfect and he never claimed to be.If you want to know what they were, read the book.

Anyway, I just read this for the second time and I can't help liking krishnamurti a lot.This would make him throw up (his whole philosophy was to live without role models) but i find him a really excellent role model for sane, peaceful living.

He did hatha yoga (two hours worth!) every single morning, followed by a half hour of pranayama (yogic breathing), followed by meditation.(Kind of a shock to people who took his attacks on meditation too seriously).He also did "power walking" and was a strict vegetarian.

What struck me most about the three people whose lives are chronicled here is this: they weren't physically related to one another (the woman was american, the two men Indian), they were all vegetarian from early on and...they all lived to be over ninety years old!I read this book and quit eating meat.

This will remove stars from eyes...
I read this book many years ago and was quite shattered by it. It paints a vastly different picture of Krishnamurti the man than the one we are presented in the comparitively hagiographical accounts of Lutyens et al. However over time my view has changed.Krishnamurti never encouraged followers or worshippers of himself or anyone else.He never extolled chastity as an ideal and had a relatively liberal attitude to sexual relations.So I no longer feel that this account makes him a hypocrite. Also the author is plainly, clearly biased.She has an ax to grind and a score to settle.This, obviously, affects the entire account. Finally, however, the lesson is - don't project your ideal of perfection on ANYONE.It is reassuring for us to have a hero, someone we can tell ourselves has 'made it' and whose accomplishments we can hope to emulate. Well, don't!Krishnamurti himself always deprecated this.Much or even most of what he taught still stands.Just don't expect anything from it - which is a major part of the teaching.The hard part of modern spirituality is NOT to have beliefs WITHOUT falling into nihilism or materialism.This book is part of that hard teaching.There is the 'middle way' between the extremes of adulation, on one hand, and cynicism, on the other.This is what we must find. [If that sounds Buddhist, it is.] ... Read more

Reviews (2)

That's some Spicy Tofu
The interesting thing about Zen is that a humor book about Zen can be just as enlightening as a normal book about Zen. Zen has a strong tradition of humor and self-parody. Susan Ichi Su Moon has a warm heart which shows through her gentle and hilarious book. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Zen parody hits home
Tofu Roshi is the alter ego of Susan Moon, a longtime Zen practitioner and writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tofu Roshi's advice to the lovelorn, instructions on meditation, and overall guidance on life gave me many, many belly laughs. Roshi's words are complimented by photos of his (or is it her? Tofu Roshi's gender is rather questionable!) students hard at work to get enlightened. If you know anything about Buddhism, or are involved in a Buddhist group {sangha), and are prone to taking yourself and the practice too seriously, this book is just the right medicine for you. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Herzen is the Culmination of Russian Romantic Thought
In the years before Lenin and the harsh, bleak application of socialist thought to autocracy there existed a group of philosophers who believed in the beauty of the commune and its cooperation with a Republican government. Britain had Robert Owen and his factory town, the French had Fourier (the phalanstery) and Proudhon among others, and the Russians had Herzen. Here existed a time where the leading academics saw folly in violent revolution, and Herzen was by no means a demogogue willing to mobilize the Russian peasants in a siege of Moscow like a simple Pugachev or a Decembrist.

This perhaps explains Herzen's stern dislike of Marx and Engels, for he saw too much of the Robespierre in them and their ideas.

Herzen believed in democracy almost in a modern American sense. Indeed, much of the work is laced with arguments in disfavor to the flowering of socialism in Europe, citing particularly the cruelty of the police in France during 1848: "The Latin world does not like freedom, it only likes to sue for it." Certainly the tendencies of the Germans were no more progressive either. Instead at one point in the text the author suggests that those who "can put off from himself the old Adam of Europe and be born again a new Jonathan had better take the first steamer to some place in Wisconsin or Kansas."

The selections and abridgement of the text emphasize Herzen's basic belief about reform: revolution is gradual. One has to breed engrained stupidity out of the ruling class and make laws that better everyone, like the English and Americans. Laws make a better society, not people: "The Englishman's liberty is more in his institutions than in himself or his conscience. His freedom is the 'common law.'"

The text covers the demise of Herzen, culminating in his rejection on his deathbed by the new revolutionary ("terrorist") camps in Russia, headed ideologically by Chernyshevsky and best seen in the widespread incendiary and murderous practices of Sergei Nechaev. These are all topics of the years after Herzen's death, the tragic history of the latter half of the nineteenth century and the prelude to the pall of 1917.

Another great writer than Americans never get exposed to....
Herzen is one of the many authors whom Americans never are exposed to and rightfully should be. He was a great thinker; he writes lucidly (although tending toward personal speculation.... you've got to remember-- he was living at a similar time to Tolstoy who does the same thing....) and CAN BE surprisingly contemporary for someone so long dead....

It's understandable why Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Solzenitzen (sp?) are much more widely read than he is: they are better novellists and never got cursed by the fact that they were socialists (such a dirty word in the US!) BUT, Herzen is definately someone whom anyone trying to pawn themselves off as a psuedo-intellectual should read.

One problem with this book: some of his best stuff is obviously just not in here (as it is his memoirs....) His philosophy is brilliant; some of his letters to his son are as moving as any I can think of (excepting perhaps Rilke's to the young poet...)

His memoirs are a definate must-read.... for whomever is reading this review.... Just buy the book!

It's lucid and evokes an era
A worthwile read for anyone with an interest in 19th century history - or Russian thought. Herzen's narrative begins with Napoleon's retreat from Moscow and winds on through Nichlos II's reign to the larger events of Napoleon the III's Europe. At times a witty and fascinating account of both Russia and Europe during a crucial era, Herzen occasionally drifts off into somewhat tedious personal speculation. ... Read more

Book Description

Though the catalyst for much of his poetry, Robert Burn's sex life has often been denied and glossed over.This book seeks out the truth about Burns to show a man who was much less secure than his actions suggest, one for whom sex was an act of rebellion as well as love. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

A Lion of the Church
"The Soul of a Lion" is a very moving account of the life of Dietrich von Hildebrand, one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century. Since it was written by his lovely wife, Alice, she does not pretend to be an unbiased observer. However, while she clearly writes from a heart filled with deep love and affection, she also recounts his mistakes and character faults without attempting to whitewash them.

Some of the highlights of the book include the sections detailing his very cultured, very European uprbringing; his conversion to Catholicism; and his courageous, outspoken opposition to Nazism, resulting in his dangerous escape to America with his family.

My one disappointment with the book is the ending-- Alice von Hildebrand ends her account with his arrival in the United States. This necessarily leaves untold the story of how the first Mrs. von Hildebrand (Gretchen) died, and how Alice had the great good fortune of meeting and eventually marrying Dietrich. Surely this is another moving tale which deserves to be told! Perhaps, someday, a continuation?? ... Read more

Book Description

In 1733, the lovely, intelligent, and married Marquise du Chtelet commenced her romance with one Franois-Marie Arouet, a philosophe who had made a name for himself as "Voltaire." Mitford deftly and engagingly recounts their exemplary affair, whether in studious exile in the country, on the run from the censor, or in the "thoughtless circles of high society." Her portrayals of the "scamp" philosopher, his mistress who was "excessive in everything," and their "irregular century" are delightful portraits in themselves and as a group, a fascinating fresco of the French Enlightenment. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

dissapointing
it is NOT a biography. It is a bounch of events glued together. At times I felt lost because she jumps from one topic to another and makes the reader confused when she throws a few strange sounding names without explaining who they were. As for the research of the subject I can't comment on the french part, however, on the polish side, the author didn't do a whole lot research because she couldn't even spell the name of an ex-King of Poland correctly! It's Stanis³aw Leszczyñski, not Stanislas Leczinski!!! She also undermines the linguistic abilities of the readers, thinking maybe that no-one but the French can really figure out the french language. I would not recommend this book if you really want to learn something about Voltaire and his love life, because there was no love life in that book!!

This is the book that hooked me--and inspired my book
When I set out to write a book, "A Visit From Voltaire" imagining the return of Voltaire to the 21st century, this is the book that hooked me before I moved into the primary sources. And it remains one of the best books to date, despite a few little hitches in her facts, for readability, entertainment and capturing the spirit of Voltaire's middle years. Anybody who reads it will finish with a wonderful understanding of the man's energy, resilience and courage. A must.
Dinah Lee Küng

The Candid Voltaire
Nancy Mitford was a brilliant writer, and the bedrock of virtually all her works - even the histories - was satire.And, true to the first law of all satirists, she takes no prisoners, even in dealing with such luminaries as Voltaire and his lover, Mme du Chatelet.From the very start, for instance, she tells us that Voltaire rarely had any original thoughts: his true genius was in his turn of phrase.In fact, to Mme du Chatelet's great embarassment, he was likely impotent, was virtually banished from Versailles, flirted outrageously with the openly gay King Frederick of Prussia and, later, developed an infatuation for his own niece.

Mme du Chatelet does rather better in Mitford's estimation - she is portrayed as a gifted scientist and an independently important literary figure - but as a lover, she too is deeply flawed.Time and again, she drove Voltaire close to bankruptcy with her gambling debts.And her premature death was brought on by childbirth - not Voltaire's baby, mind, but those of her "toy boy" lover.Yet it is clear that, for all that, she had met in Voltaire her true life partner, and within their own adulterous union, they tolerated each other's infidelities with good grace.

A classic chronicle of human foibles by an author who is utterly unintimidated by her biographical subjects.

Solid biographies::the love story is the backdrop
I couldn't put this book down, and tore through it in a matter of days.Despite being a voracious reader, it's (sadly) seldom that such a book comes along for me.The main draw for me in purchasing this book is being an avid fan of Voltaire.I had wondered just how strongly the "love story" element of the book would play out, as I'd known prior to purchasing this book that all of the intimate correspondence between Voltaire and Emilie has been lost.I'm not a "love story" kind of person, and was hoping this book would provide more of a strong picture into the personalities, foibles, strengths, habits, and routines of Voltaire primarily, and Emilie secondarily.I was not disappointed.

If you count yourself a lover of Voltaire -- the man and his writings -- then this book is truly a must-read for you.I've read much of his essays, philosophy, short stories, et cetera, and finally (to my immense delight) feel I "know" the man.

The personalities and temperaments of both Voltaire and Emilie were rather as I'd figured they would be, although there were a couple of genuine surprises -- some flattering, some not so flattering.

What continues to make me curious is how these two persons defined the word "love"...the dynamics of their relationship and love was interesting, and sometimes confusing, to say the very least.Ah well, I'm speaking of dead persons here.Respect for their personages and for the deceased prohibit me from going further.And besides, after nine years of marriage, I too admit the word "love" has a myriad of nuances.

Please enjoy this book!Ecrasez l'infame!

MITFORD-IZED !!!
A real 'Talent To Annoy' Nancy Mitford brings to light a Voltaire that the classic historian normally omits. However, it is to her credit that she superbly presents a view of history thru a man and an era of events in a real sense of humanist expression. Ms. Mitford's social perception of Voltaire is unequaled ! Her attention to detail and it's colourization is incrediable, although perhaps not entirely historically accurate, but why complain at all....especially when her very style of writing just entraces the reader in such a manner that one shall want to read and reread as much as possible any book by Nancy, or for that matter any written work by any of the fascinating Mitford sisters....! ... Read more

Book Description

The mother of gifted education has been forgotten, even though her words of 100 years ago are still as relevant today as they were back then.

Born in rural Nebraska in 1886, Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886-1939) rose above a traumatic childhood and prejudice to become an influential psychologist, feminist, educator, author, and advocate for gifted children.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of Nebraska, she helped form the Heterodoxy Club in New York City, joined the faculty at Columbia University, founded the Speyer School for the Gifted, and published numerous articles and books that provide insights into the education and special needs of gifted children and adults.

-Early education of gifted students

-Feminist and other social causes

-New sources, including interviews

-Previously unpublished photos

-Needs of profoundly gifted children ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Biography, history combine for an insighful book!
Far more than a biography, this book is also a history of gifted education and a snapshot of the life of the exceptionally gifted in our society. I learned a great deal while reading it, not only About Leta Hollingworth and her contemporaries in gifted, but about myself, and my fit within my world.

As a biography, "Leta" captures the imagination, taking you to turn-of-the-century Nebraska during the westward expansion. Life was not easy then, and Leta had a harder time of growing up than most. They say "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger," and this certainly applies to Leta's young life. Continuing to college at an early age, Leta faces a new challenge: she is a young woman in a man's world. While she is highly successful there, many still will not accept her, and her struggles continue.

As a history book, "Leta" is just as interesting, and should be required reading for any education or psychology degree program. The relationships between many of the leading historical figures in gifted psychology and education are explained, and the reader learns how their theories and experiences intertwine to form the basis of gifted theory of today.

And most importantly, Ann Klein has done a terrific job combining the elements of Leta Hollingworth's life into an enjoyable volume. Don't miss this book!

Challenging Myths
A Forgotten Voice: A Biography of Leta Stettler Hollingsworth
By Ann G. Klein, Ed.D

Which of us remembers when female students were not expected to excel in academic endeavors because of a belief that female physiology stood in the way of logical thinking and reasoning? Who of us can recall the time when equality in education meant that all children must learn the same things, at the same rate, and by the same processes of learning? Early in the 20th century, an exceptional young woman, Leta Stettler Hollingsworth, challenged those myths.
In her book, A Forgotten Voice: A Biography of Leta Stettler Hollingsworth, Dr. Ann G. Klein describes the hardships of Leta's early life and her struggle to take advantage of every educational opportunity possible to her. Leta's husband, Henry Levi Hollingsworth (Holly) was her constant companion, support and mentor. Together they moved from rural Nebraska to New York where each would find success and satisfaction though their involvement in the relatively new field of psychology at Columbia University's Teacher's College and at Barnard.

After a stint of baking lemon pies and researching the effect of caffeine in Coca Cola, Leta completed her graduate studies and had the opportunity to work with such eminent researchers and scholars as John Dewey, Lewis Terman, Edward Lee Thorndike, and Naomi Norsworthy. In addition to becoming an active feminist, Leta studied and worked with school children, primarily focusing on those who demonstrated very high intelligence. She was instrumental in founding the Speyer School, a New York City School for Exceptional students. Leta Hollingsworth served as educational advisor of the Terman classes for those students who scored 130 or above on the Stanford Binet IQ test.

In working with the Terman students, Leta introduced cooperative and thematic studies, observed the "special perplexities" (social and emotional needs) of gifted children, noted the frequency of uneven (asynchronous) development, and recognized the benefits of grouping gifted students to provide stimulus and challenge.

While the life of Leta Stettler Hollingsworth was cut short, her influence lives on. I thank Dr. Ann G. Klein and Great Potential Press for sharing her with us.

A Private Life
BOOK REVIEW
by
Bob Heckel

A Forgotten Voice: A Biography of Leta Stetter Hollingworth

by

Ann G. Klein, Ed. D.
Great Potential Press, Inc. 2002

Psychologists have rarely been the subjects of published biographies, or autobiograhies, for that matter. The few published exceptions have had little to do with their psychological contributions, but much to do with their personal lives. Elitist Henry Murray rated an extended biography and even a review in The New Yorker, not for his psychological contributions, but rather for his affair(s) and his social connections.

So it is a rare treat to find a biography of one of the early important female contributors to the areas of clinical, school and developmental psychology, Leta Stetter Hollingworth(1886-1939). Dr. Ann Klein has produced a major contribution in her work, despite the extreme difficulty of tracking down information on a very private, independent, determined, taciturn midwesterner(some might have called her "feisty"). Dr. Klein's effort took 12 years to completion, during which time she sought every possible source and visited the few living relatives, as well as the places of Leta' s early life, the small towns and rural areas of Nebraska.
Her task was made doubly difficult because her husband, eminent psychologist Harry Hollingworth, destroyed her letters, and gave her research papers to her colleagues. Some of her poetry remains, and are presented in the book.

This work documents and describes the triumph of Leta's overcoming the traumas of her mothers death when she was three, an errant and neglectful father, a cruel stepmother, life in the primitive conditions of prairie living in a sod cabin. From this she rose, through her determination and extremely high level of ability to successfully complete her college training at Nebraska. There she met her husband, Harry and together they sought degrees in psychology at Columbia. Leta faced the problems of all women of that time, a psychological community that felt higher education was inappropriate for them. The book rercounts her struggles, the important figures who played major roles in her academic life and interests, Thorndike, Terman and others. Well documented are the flowering of her intersts and work with the gifted which resulted in a number of books, papers and research projects, many still highly relevant 64 years after her death.

Her efforts on behalf of female equality brought her in contact with some of the most outspoken and radical feminists of the time. She a active participant in their work, though she was not a political liberal. She also held conservative views on eugenics, heredity and other topics, not unlike many eminent psychologists of that time( Cattell, Terman, Yerkes, Hall). In many ways reading about her views suggests positions not unlike Libertarians of today.

What is missing in this work is a glimpse of the inner person. Leta was very private, and if she left any of the kinds of notes which would help us understand her long illness with cancer(10 yrs.), her feelings about not having children, or a deeper insight into her relationship with her husband, this was not to be.What does come through is a triumph over incredible odds, and the achievement of the highest level of success by a very determined woman.

This is a book well worth reading. Thoe interested in the gifted might become acquainted with the press publishing this work. They offer a number of interesting works in this area.

Very enjoyable
As a history buff and a lover of biographies with an interest in the studies of human potential, I found this book fascinating. What a great opportunity it was to get to know Leta Stetter Hollingworth from her own perspective as well as the perspective of her husband, family, co-workers, friends, and rivals. The book was nicely rounded, and the balance of personal information combined with historic and academic information was satisfying. Well, almost anyway. The book definitely left me wanting to learn more about Leta.

A Voice to be Remembered
"A Forgotten Voice" is not just one more "I've got to read this because I should" biography. Dr. Klein has woven the threads of Leta Hollingworth's life and the strands of educational philosophy (both past and present) into a cloak well worth the trying on. I highly recommend this volume to anyone with an interest in gifted education/psychology and/or the lives of influential women. You will not be disappointed. ... Read more