Biography Books

To be a wife of Henry VIII would be great if you were content to not to be an individual with any rights.You would want for nothing.On the other hand if you wanted to express your self and be seen as an equal you would be treading on thin ice.

Alison Weir provides a fascinating, richly detailed and penetrating human history of the life of King Henry VIII and his six wives. The work is meticulously researched and provides a deep and intelligent understanding of these six fascinating ladies and of King Henry himself.

While Henry VIII was responsible for some great achievements for England, he developed into a cruel tyrant; anyone who aroused his suspicion or displeasure was likely to be be executed and those who died included nobles, ministers, prelates and 2 of his six wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

Catherine of Aragon was a proud Spanish princess, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and a deeply pious Roman Catholic. She was betrothed at three years of age to the first son of King Henry VII, Arthur Prince of Wales and became Prince Arthur's wife at 16. Arthur died six months after their marriage and Catherine spent 7 years in poverty and insecurity, abandoned by Spain and despised by Henry VII, robbed of her dowry and never sure of what her fate would be. Catherine bore these years with great faith, strength and dignity.
After Henry VII's death, in 1509, the newly crowned Henry VIII made her his wife, and they lived together for eighteen years.
Of the five children born to Catherine, only Mary lived. She became Queen Mary I ("Bloody Mary"). Henry desperate for a male heir and enchanted by Anne Boleyn, decided to annul his marriage to Catherine.
Catherine resisted the annulment as long as she could, while always declaring her loyalty and love to the king.
After Henry broke with the Roman Catholic Church to divorce her, Catherine lived in retirement.

Anne Boleyn was a chamber maid to Catherine of Aragon when the king became interested in her.
Henry secretly married Anne in January, 1533. Henry's Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer pronounced Henry's first marriage null and void.
Anne Boleyn was crowned queen in June and because of circumstances beyond her control was unpopular with the English people and had many enemies.
Anne gave birth to Elizabeth in June.
But Henry a cruel and selfish man had wanted a boy and soon tired of Anne.
After she repeatedly failed to produce a male heir, Henry and his chief minister Thomas Cromwell had Anne framed for adultery and executed.
Anne was an intelligent and courageous women, as well as ambitious and capable at times of ruthlessness.
She was a strong adherent to the Protestant cause and well read in Protestant theology at a time when it was dangerous to do so.
The author reveals that Anne was not however the scheming wanton that some historians have painted her as.

Jane Seymour by contrast was not the good hearted innocent some have seen her as. she copied Anne Boleyn's methods of witholding her sexual favours to the king until she was Queen. She was favoured by the Catholic camp.
She seemed to have remained on the King's good side and bore him his long wanted male heir to be Edward VI.
She died of illness soon after Edward's birth.

Henry was then maneuvered into a marriage by his chief minister Thomas Cromwell, to the Protestant German princess, Anne of Cleves, to bolster the Protestant cause.
Henry had only soon seen Anne of Cleves in a portrait but when he met her he found her unattractive exclaiming "I like her not".
He soon divorced her but because Anne of Cleves did not resists the divorce and was amenable she avoided a tragic fate and lived out a comfortable retirement with a large inheritance, the longest living of Henry's wives.
Ironically the Protestant princess Anne of Cleves was converted to a devout Catholic, by Princess Mary, who became her close friend.

After that the powerful Howard family manipulated one of their young daughters, the 15 year old Catherine Howard to marry the king, and was supported by the Catholic faction. The aging Henry's large ego was thrilled to betroth an attractive girl over thirty years his junior. When he married her, Henry described Catherine Howard as his "rose without a thorn"
Catherine was good hearted, but simple and sexually promiscuous. Described as giddy girl."

The machinations of the court destroyed her and she was not shrewd enough to survive.
She was accused of adultery, whether she was guilty is not known, but she never stood a chance and was executed on the orders of the cruel and vengeful Henry,a truly tragic tale.
Catherine Howard was a powerless pawn used by powerful and unscrupulous forces.

Henry's last wife was the level headed and highly intelligent Catherine Parr. She managed to outlive the king, and befriended the young Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward, showing a kindly character. She was a strong Protestant and believed in church reform (she had secret Lutheran sympathies) and the author believes she would have made a mark as a great thinker in times when women were encouraged to think independentally and make an intellectual contribution.
Her strong religious convictions led her to argue with King Henry about religion, and the author writes that she may have been lucky the King died when he did.

Catherine Parr, later married Sir. Thomas Seymour and was a great friend to the Lady Jane Grey.
she also foretold that the young Princess Elizabeth was destined by Heaven to be a great Queen of England, when she had told Elizabeth to leave her house after Elizabeth had been seduced by Thomas Seymour, showing her powers of vision and her non vengeful nature,
She was a visionary and a good woman.

An interesting historical anecdote. Friar Peto predicted in 1532 that if King Henry cast off Katherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn he would be as Ahab and the dogs would lick his blood.
After Henry's death his lead coffin weakened by the motion of the carriage burst open, and liquid matter from the body seeped out onto the church pavement. A dog was with the plumbers who came the next morning to repair the coffin, and it was seen to lick up the blood from the floor just as Friar Peto had predicted.

Like all of Alison Weir's works this volume combines detailed history with a thrilling and smooth read. Everything you could want in a factual history volume.
It is social and personal history at it's best and captures the essence of the time of Henry VIII's reign and the wider events involving England at the time.

The book is excellent. So much interesting drama! I am Korean and Korea's Chosun Dynasty is also full of Queens and deceit and back stabbing and I realized how England's Kingdom was very similar to Korea's. I suppose King & Queens are kind of similar in their nature to keep the power given to them. Anyway, I bought 2 other Alison Weir books because she just writes wonderfully. Knowing this is history which can be boring, but not so for this wonderful book. If you are a history buff like myself, you will love this book. One thing though, I read my book on subway trains and on buses while I commute to work, and this book too heaaaaaaaaaaaavvvvvvvvvy! I guess that would be only minus for this book.

This is a great book and very interesting. After seeing The Other Boleyn Sister I was anxious to read what really happened. A little drawn out between his marrage to Katherine and Anne but considering it took almost 7 years I can see why. He was a tyrant!

Alison Weir's well-written, easy to read book about the Six Wives of Henry the VIII is an outstanding work of history about England in the 1500s, Henry's six wives, and the role they play in English politics and international relations with Spain, France and Germany. It is definitely a five star work of scholarship and entertainment.

If you feel like you're not enjoying all life has to offer, than get this book.

This book explains how managing your energy, not your time, is far more productive.

Focusing on the 4 elements of power usage/renewal (spiritual, mental, physical and emotional) can help you become a more productive professional, no matter your field. The idea of renewal, that we all need pause, from micro pauses (taking a deep breath and closing your eyes), to sustained removals (two-week hiking trip for example), is one you don't hear about much. Far more often (managers in particular) people tend to think you need to work long hours almost as if it were a badge of honor to work more than the person in the cube next to you. This is a myth, the most successful people are the ones who bring high energy to their work - not the most hours. Renewal, and recharging, are the keys to keeping a healthy level of productivity.

Time is NOT money; this old saying was from our parents generation. It is wrong through and through. Focusing on your energy, and how and when you use it, will provide far more success and productivity. This book tells you how to do it and for this reason I highly recommend this book.

I originally purchased this book a few years ago and never read past the first chapter. Earlier this year, I found myself on the brink of a serious work burnout and picked it up to read again. It is amazing! While the basic philosophy behind this book is not new (life balance) the way it is framed is. I love all of the case studies--they demonstrated how burnout and under/overtraining in one or more of the four areas (physical, mental, emotional, spriritual) manifests itself in our daily lives.

In order to turn things around, the authors suggest developing "rituals" around changes that one wishes to make in order to make them a part of lives. I have found these to be particularly helpful--even suggestions that I've heard a thousand times before--when I actually do it, the results are amazing. For example, it suggests that one make an "appointment" for exercise and put it in your calendar, treating it as you would any other appointment. Now, at the beginning of every week, I look at my calendar and put in times for exercise and meditation--the two areas I was seriously undertraining in. I find myself actually adhereing to the schedule more often, and looking forward to those time.

All in all--I think this is a great read with really helpful, down to earth suggestions to help one be fully engaged.

This book introduces a totally new concept for most of us. While we have always viewed time as being a very valuable resource, I think we have overlooked the concept of energy as a resource we can manage. The authors put forth the arugment that what we really need to manage is our energy, more so than our time.

They further state that there are natural cycles of expending and recovering energy. We are all very good at expending energy, but very few have any specific techniques for recovery. Like anything else in life, if we are going do it effectively, we need to create habits and aid in the recovery of energy. The authors call it rituals. We need to work riturals into our daily routines so we automatically take breaks that aid in the recovery of energy.

While we all think of physical energy, there are other areas of our lives where we need to manage the energy: the emotional, mental and spiritual.

As I said the concept is new for most of us, but it has actually been around for some time. Leonardo da Vinci said, "The greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more when they work less. It is a very good plan every now and then to go way and have a little relaxation. ... When you come back to the work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgment."

There is also a significant discussion about intrinsic purpose. "Nowhere are the limits of an external source of purpose so clear as with money. While money serves as a primary source of motivation and an ongoing preoccuptaion for many of us, researchers have found almost no corelation between income levels and happiness. ... Between 1957 and 1990, per person income in the US doubled. Not only did people's reported levels of happiness fail to increase at all during the same period, but the rates of depression grew nearly tenfold. The incidence of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse also rose dramatically."

They further write, "The point is that we feel more passion for and derive more pleasure from doing what we freely choose and most enjoy."

The book is well written, with plenty of examples. I highly recommend it.

I'm a huge fan of this book. Granted, I'm the type A, corporate athlete that the book is aimed at. And I was focused on outworking the competition and drove my teams to put in more hours than the teams we are competing with. This book made me see things very differently. It gave me an opportunity to find a way more balanced life and I'm convinced I'm much better at what I do because of the book.

I was pretty surprised by some of the other reviews. While a lot of people appreciated this book as much as I did, it seems that those who have read a lot of self help books were less impressed. To be candid, I don't read many self help books and can't comment from that perspective. But if you are burning the candle at both ends and wondering if there might be a better way, this book offers a real solution and the authors back their prescription with data I found quite compelling.

I've given this book as a gift more than a dozen times. And more than half those people told me it changed their lives in a dramatic way. The book takes about two hours to read cover-to-cover and you will know in 30 minutes if this is going to change your life or not. On a risk/return basis, I can't imagine a more attractive investment opportunity...

PS. My sister is a writer in NYC and couldn't be further from a corporate athlete...and she loved the book as well. It didn't change her life like it changed mine, but she was able to gain real value from the book.

Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was born in the eighteenth century and died in the early nineteenth century, but her life was very modern in many ways. She was an open activist at a time when women were supposed to stay behind the scenes, a bold and flamboyant hostess who used her social prestige to advance her political agenda, and a beautiful but ultimately self-destructive woman whose emotions helped shape British history.

Georgiana was born into one wealthy and powerful aristocratic family and married into an even wealthier and more powerful one. The Cavendishes were bastions of the Whig oligarchy, which governed Britain almost continuously through the eighteenth century until the 1760s, when King George III forced them out of power. In opposition the Whigs became the progressives or liberals of the day, calling for curbs on the King's powers, protection for the liberties of the people, and for progress and social reform (with the ultimate aim of regaining power for themselves, of course). Georgiana was married to the Duke of Devonshire, who was retiring where she was outgoing, far more interested in living a quiet life with various mistresses than in helping to advance the Whig cause. Georgiana, frustrated with a husband who did not appreciate her, threw herself into politics, becoming a friend of Whig leaders like Charles James Fox and campaigning openly for him and others.

Georgiana's private life was complicated. She and her husband were involved in a years long menage a trois with Lady Elizabeth Foster, who was simultaneously Georgiana's best friend and the Duke's mistress and mother of his illegitimate children. Georgiana was addicted to gambling and lost enormous sums which she feared to reveal to the Duke. Eventually Georgiana herself had a love affair which nearly caused her marriage to end and forced her temporarily out of sight. Although she returned to political life after some years, her health broke down and her influence remained diminished.

Amanda Foreman has produced a work of great scholarship which reads like a novel. Georgiana's life is so fascinating that I've read this biography several times just to see what she would get up to next and how she would get out of one scrape after another. Foreman makes the good point that Georgiana epitomized many women of the eighteenth century, who were far more active and involved in politics than is generally supposed, as well as being a harbinger of the kind of power base to which women in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries still aspire.

I was never a biography fan until this book. Foreman does a dazzling job of bringing Georgiana to life. I could read this book over and over again!

if some one told me what really happen 18th century upper crust i would not believe them.money,sex,adultery,hidden preganacy,lesbianism,royality,gambling and drug addiction.fashion theather social scandals,politics,betrayal, blackmail and war.it's a soap opera that really happen.even a evil bestfriend who bears two childern by georgina husband is through in.this book is addictive.i didn't put it down till last page.

I was wanting more of a historical novel but this book reads more like a text book. Almost every page has notes at the bottom of the page, this makes for very "choppy" reading. Interesting subject but not a cozy read. I had to make myself finish the book.

I am currently obsessed with Jane Austen, came across a glowing review of "Georgiana: Duchess..." in the New Yorker, and couldn't resist reading this story of Regency England. Unlike Austen's heroines, the Duchess has a very dark side - she's a gambler, adulteress, liar, drug addict...I found myself wanting her to be happy (and to win against the evil Bess) in spite of (or because of?) these qualities. In the end, her charisma, beauty, fashion, gentleness, vulnerability, wit, privilege, and political engagement endear her.

I loved the book, the story, the characters, the history, and the politics. Unlike some other reviewers, I found Foreman's writing incredibly engaging and easy to read.

For anyone waiting for a China adoption, or thinking about it, this is a must read. You'll laugh and cry, but you will be informed. For those whose children are already home, it will give you insight into their needs. A very important book.

Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage
What a eay read... but a hard emotional one!! This gives you a glimse of life inside a Chinese Orphanage. The good, the bad, the customs and conflicts. It has helped me put a clearer picture of my son's orphanage in my minds eye. It also has helped explain things in his lfe. I would recomend this for anyone wondering what a child's life is prior to adoption. I would immagine not all orphanages are like this one so you would have to judge that.

As the parent of a daughter adopted from the same province in China, I was anxious to read Silent Tears. I have always thought my daughter came from a fairly good situation in the orphanage (and I still do), but this book opened my eyes as to how children can be treated. Special needs children often have a difficult existence there, with many of them not surviving. The book heartbreakingly details the stories of many of these children, the volunteers' struggles to help them, the nannies' kind and cruel behaviors, and the other world life that exists inside China's orphanages.
If you are wanting a rose-colored world of orphanage life, then this book is not for you. Children live and die, children struggle to survive, some are adopted and some are to live their lives in orphanages or on the street. It was an incredibly compelling read -- one that often brought tears to my eyes. It was a very worthwhile book and, in my opinion, a recommended read for parents who have adopted from China.

As a China Adoptive parent, I felt compelled to read this book. I had done my own research before completing our adoption, so most of what I read was not surprising-- although still heart breaking.

I most appreciate the beginning entry that describes what one birth mother experienced prior to leaving her daughter-- the events that lead to her decision.

This book tells an important story and I am glad that I read it. I highly recommend it especially for folks touched by Chinese adoption.

Kay Bratt writes about her experience volunteering in a Chinese Orphanage with honesty and sincerity. While some reviewers have criticized her reaction to the Chinese Culture as being condescending, I appreciate her honest uncensored views. Sometimes we all try to be too politically correct--Kay tells it like she experiences it as an American brought to a strange land with strange customs/foods/etc. She evolves over time to find meaning behind her initial reactions.

As an adoptive mother of 2 Chinese daughters, I was fascinated with the details of the behind the scenes daily orphanage life that we never got to see (it seems for good reason). In both cases, my girls were brought to us at a hotel and we did not get to see the orphanage on either trip. We were told that the Chinese love their children and that the staff at the orphanages lack the resources to provide much more than basic care for the children. However, we thought the Ayi's were just doing the best they could with limited resources--never thought about abuse and blatant mistreatment.

My first daughter was 9 months old when when we adopted her in 1997. We believe she spent most of her time on her back in a crib. She could bearly hold up her head and had no muscle tone in her legs. She had a bald spot on the back of her head from laying on her back in her crib. Her grip was very strong from grasping the sides of her crib!! Best of all, she was a very happy baby!! We believe from her happy disposition that her basic needs were met and she was not mistreated. We were amazed that she learned to roll over and sit up (propped with pillows) while with us in China. Once home, she fast forwared through many developmental milestones. This supports Kay's experiences in describing how quickly the children thrive with a bit of love and attention.

My second daughter adopted in 1999 was 10 months old and could stand up in her crib and crawl, so we knew she was at least taken out of her crib during the day. Both of our daughters had minor illnesses when we brought them home, but recovered quickly with proper treatment. It seems a few bottles of tylenol would be so helpful to make the kids comfortable when they have fevers at the orphanages.

Silent Tears reminded me that not all orphanages are receiving the assistance from outside sources like Half the Sky Foundation who set up pre-schools and train the ayi's in providing love and affection.

Kay has made a huge difference in this particular orphanage through her hard work and it is a wonderful story of hope and a reality check for those of us who didn't know what happens behind the scenes.

Thank you!

I greatly enjoyed this book, which gave a truly unique and rare perspective into female life in early Colonial New England. Thoroughly absorbing the chapters is truly co-dependent on simultaneously reading through the footnotes at the back, so know in advance that there will be a lot of flipping back and forth, but that this will enrich and enhance the interpretation and absorbability of the diary. I love firsthand historical accounts, and now have a renewed appreciation for early colonial life, particularly that of the female voice in this era, and even moreso women in childbirth in rural Maine in the winter (!). It almost seems voyeuristic to read Martha's diary, knowing that she likely never intended for it to be read by anyone else, let alone 220+ years later, but her voice is fluid, peaceful, humble, and dutiful to her family and her society. If you enjoyed this, also rent or buy the PBS documentary video of it by the same name, which has period re-enactments, and live narration by the author as she explains the journey of putting this work together. A fabulous read, ripe for discussion particularly in examining the parallels between this life so long ago, and our own today.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwifes' Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 demonstrates that an ordinary person's life can shed light and produce a more rich historiographical picture of a time period than solely focusing on prominent figures and events of history. The main thrust of this work is to debunk previous opinions of the diary that found the work not very useful in presenting important matters of historical interest of colonial times such as historian James W. North's comment "brief and with some exceptions not of general interest" or Charles Elventon Nash's comment ""trivial and unimportant...being but a repetition of what has been recited many times" and concluded "Like many diaries of farm women, it is filled with trivia about domestic chores and pastimes." (pp. 8,9) Ulrich debunks these previous interpretations of Martha Ballard's diary by showing that the diary exposes the social history of not only women in rural colonial times but addresses the bigger picture of colonial life in general through the daily activities of herself, her family, and neighbors in the community. Ulrich compares Martha Ballard's diary with three other documents from the community and time period Martha Ballard lived in. These documents were specifically from Daniel Cony who was a medical doctor, William Howard a wealthy businessman, and Henry Sewall who was the town clerk. She uses these documents to fill in information not mentioned in Martha Ballard's diary and also as a counterbalance of the men's perspective of events in Hallowell and what they felt was important to document verses a women's perspective of what Martha Ballard thought was worth documenting in her diary. Ulrich then extrapolates from these sources an interpretive picture of colonial life. On the one hand the heavy interpretive nature of this book forces the reader to wonder if this interpretation is close to the mark of accuracy or flawed in someway. On the other hand Ulrich heavily used other documented evidence to support her interpretation which lends credibility to her interpretation. An amateur historian would have a difficult time painting this picture of colonial life; however, Ulrich seems to do this with great expertise and eloquence. The expertise and eloquence is obviously derived from her academic career which has focused on the social history of women during the United States colonial era.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's academic life has consisted of previously being a professor of American history at the University of New Hampshire and is currently a Phillips Professor of Early American history at Harvard University. Ulrich's main research area has been in the fields of early American social history, women's history, and material culture. Some of Ulrich's work in this area include Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Early New England, 1650-1750 (1982), A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (1990), In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Making of an American Myth (2001), and Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007). Ulrich certainly has over twenty years of research in the area of social history in the colonial era to make her an authoritative author on the subject and this is demonstrated in her work A Midwife's Tale in which she not only used evidence from documents from that particular community in the time period, but also used her historical imagination, (sometimes used to heavily), to interpret the diary entries to give a vivid depiction of both Martha Ballard's life and colonial rural life in general.

Ulrich formatted each chapter by presenting excerpts from Martha Ballard's diary and then spent the remainder of each chapter comparing these entries with the other written accounts from that time and using an interpretive approach to decipher what the significance of Martha Ballard's entries meant with regards to the life of Martha Ballard and the community she lived in. Ulrich didn't include the entire diary of Martha Ballard in her book and selectively pulled excerpts from different parts to illustrate the different social factors playing out in the daily life of Martha and the Hallowell community, but did include other entries from the dairy within her evaluation to support her interpretation. Obviously Ulrich could not have included all the entries of Martha Ballard's diary and analyzed all sections due to the constraints a book length imposes, however, some interpretations were based on an entire reading of the diary and the reader is not privy to this broader context of information. Ulrich acknowledges this fact when she stated, "Someday the dairy may be published. What follows in no sense is a substitute for it; it is an interpretation, a kind of exegesis." (p. 34) Ulrich admittedly states this is only an interpretation in which Ulrich seems to read in between the lines and/or provides an interpretation based on what was not said verses what was explicitly said due to the fact the entries were brief, mostly lacked an opinionated tone, and were mostly matter of fact daily details. Even though the other sources of evidence backing her interpretations were thorough there is no true way to know if Ulrich's interpretations are mostly correct, somewhat correct, or completely flawed unless the reader had read the entire dairy and other documents she consulted herself. This leaves the reader to just take Ulrich's word for it that her interpretation of the diary entries are as accurate as they can be. Ulrich in some cases may have used her historical imagination a bit excessively, but overall she presents enough evidence from other sources to make her interpretation for the most part as credible as it can be and never the less very enjoyable to read.

I know this is a well respected book but in all honesty I found it to be very repetitious and boring. There are only so many times you can listen to complaints about colic and very similar sounding births before you get bored to tears. While writing the history of ordinary people is important, Ballard lived a boring and uneventful life. Unless you want to hear about the stories of dozens of births steer clear. And i'm a phd student used to dry books.

Please disregard the 2 stars in the rating. It is a 5 star book. The system automaticaly put 2 stars and would not let me change it.

I can't say enough about how wonderful this book is and how much I enjoyed reading it. This book would be a wonderful gift for anyone in the medical profession. It is a fascinating account of an amazing woman facing the challenges of life in early Maine as well as the every day facts of life necessary for survival. She contributed immensely to life itself as she was the midwife to hundreds of, if not more, women and the birth of their children.

For myself, I used it as a genealogical tool because that is the area of the country where all of my ancestors came from. It is facinating to know the trials and tribulations as well as the joys of our ancestors.

Priscilla Paul
Memphis

Interesting diary of a Maine midwife. Not the easiest read but enjoyable.

A friend had given me a copy of "The Bondwoman's Narrative" (great read) written by a slave that passed for white and escaped to the north. It was so surprising and full of things they never teach about when you cover the topic of American slavery in school. even some native americans could (and did) keep slaves.I couldn't put that book down and wanted to read more accounts of how things were, so I found this book.

It's such a small representation of slavery, but significant, none the less. It's several first hand accounts put into a collection. A very surprising read, I learned so many things I just had no idea about. It's sad and scary what these people went through, what was conditioned to them to be "normal" just to name a couple:

slave mothers being seperated from their children, them being considered "property" for sale

women being mistreaded by plantation owners wives because of their husbands affections for (and fathering children with) slaves

religion (Christianity) being permitted and used a tool to keep slaves "in their place"

It should be required reading. This is not a modern day account of what we should know. There is no agenda, no glossing over details, nothing is made to be outrageous and shocking just for the sake of it (although it certainly is). It's just raw, honest truth.

You are a jackass. No one "sold us to the US". We were STOLEN and taken back. Who is to say what changes there would have been if we had not been. Africa might be a better place today.
I say BE THANKFUL for what you have, but don't be a self-righteous a$$hole about it.

Expand your mind and buy this book!

You speak of enslavement in the US--who sold you to the US???Never is THIS mentioned. In Africa today, people are dying in the thousands of AIDS. Could the African Americans of today not thank our forefathers for coming over and sacrificing for our legacy?? What are you thinking?? We have it made now, we are not in Africa with disease, pestilence, violence, and an anscetory that sold us to the US. Go ahead with your pitifullness--I am grateful that our own people sold us out. We are now successful, healthy, and for me--I am thankful to be here. Sometimes, things happen for a reason, no matter how bad things might be. Give thanks to your grand-parents, great grand parents and to the US for making your life so much better. Above all-----------THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND don't lick wounds--they are long gone.

Henry Louis Gates provides readers with an important contribution to the many first-hand accounts of enslavement. His scintillating introduction ties together the life and times of four African Americans who narrated their own story of slavery: Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs. The diversity chosen by Gates allows readers to gain a comprehensive perspective of the horrors of slavery: women/men, South/North, born in African/born in America. Readers desiring additional first-hand accounts are encouraged to consider compilations by Yetman of the slave interviews.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D. is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Soul Physicians.

The practice of enslavement in the Americas is a phenomenon of staggering proportions. It is also one of the most thoroughly documented systems of human rights abuse in history. "The Classic Slave Narratives" brings together four powerful testaments of individuals who survived enslavement in the Americas. The book also contains an insightful introduction by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

As Gates notes in the introduction, it has been estimated that more than 6,000 ex-slaves left some form of written testament between 1703 and 1944--an amazing body of literature. "The Classic Slave Narratives" is thus just a tiny part of a vast genre. Specifically, this anthology contains "the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano," "The History of Mary Prince," "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

Each of the four powerful texts offers an effective complement to the others in the collection. In other words, each narrative illuminates at least one unique and important aspect of the American slave experience. Olaudah Equiano, for example, tells what it was like for a native African to be enslaved and transported across the Atlantic in a slave ship. Prince illuminates the life of a slave woman on the Caribbean islands. Douglass, born to a slave mother and a white father, describes in detail his quest for literacy. And Jacobs offers an incisive window into the sexual pathology of the slaveowning society.

These four texts are both valuable historical documents and fascinating works of literature. Much American literature--autobiography, poetry, novels, essays, and other genres--demonstrates the influence of, or parallels to, these pivotal texts. "The Classic Slave Narratives" is a necessary text for those interested in United States and Caribbean history, in American literature, in literacy, or in human rights.

My favorite book by an American author is Lonesome Dove. The other books in that series are also wonderful.

"Books" is not fiction but a look at the author's love of books and collecting books. This may be of more interest to the people with similar interests.

Larry McMurtry's "Books" is very focused on his career as a Bookman, and, as he intended, gives little insight into his life other than as related to this part of his profession. For lover's of books it is a delightful, fast read. I enjoyed finding out about this part of Larry McMurtry's thinking and the fascinating details of "Bookmanship."

It was fascinating to discover that an author of western novels, Larry McMurtry, is also a used book dealer! With a title like this and the McMurtry name, this book will be bought by every librarian looking for a book that encourages readership. Unfortunately, it is a little more specialized than the average reader would expect. If you enjoy collecting, it's a book to borrow from the library. A more accurate title would have been Reminisces of an Antiquarian Book Dealer. From that standpoint, this is a great book! And the format is one that any dealer in antiques and rarities could utilize in writing their memoirs.

After selling over a million used books and still having an inventory approaching 400,000 books (including 28,000 in his personal residence), at age 72, Larry McMurtry must have realized he needed to move some more books or risk a haunting fear that the remaining stock could go for four cents a book! What better way to advertise his bookstore than this description of his book dealing days and his comment that lots of desirable books are still sitting on his shelves carrying prices that are a quarter century old.

What makes this book worthwhile is learning why people collect books and what makes a great library. To Larry, the fun is coming across an important or exciting book he has never owned! This is probably how most dealers in antiquities feel. As he states, "First one has to find such a book; then one has to recognize it for what it is." Unfortunately, rare book investing may not be for everyone. McMurtry gives the example of a book by a Belgian surrealist that he bought as part of a collection of several thousand exhibition catalogues. He quickly resold it for $36. Today, an inscribed copy is estimated to bring at auction, $60,000 to $80,000! Unfortunately, the book may not be for everybody, it is about an exhibition of dolls wrapped in barbed wire!

As often is the case, no dealer can know everything. Sometimes, a rare book is nothing more than a pamphlet. Other times, it's the dust wrapper that brings great value. An example given was a dust wrapper copy of The Great Gatsby that Larry bought forty years ago for $12; just as the most sought after modern books began their spectacular rise. With America now having 946 billionaires running around with money to spend on things of value, McMurtry feels there can be no ceiling and this pricey rarity recently hit $168,000!

McMurtry describes buying real libraries containing thousands of books as alchemy, "One looks, one guesses...." Making a bid you can live with and the seller will accept. Case in point, when starting out, Larry had $1500 in the bank, offered $1500 for a library and when all was done realized $10,000 reselling the books. Another example was hastily appraising a library of 16,000 books at $200,000 for the IRS - a little more than $12 a book. What keeps the reader whipping through is his chapters are so short that you think, "Why not read one more?" After reading this book, the collector/investor realizes it is pretty difficult for the average book lover to put together a rare book library that will grow in value.

Larry McMurtry has had as great an influence on books and movies as any living writer over the last half-century. From THE LAST PICTURE SHOW to LONESOME DOVE, he has penned 30 novels and 41 books, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. As a Hollywood screenwriter he won an Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain and has written 70 scripts.

Who would have guessed, as he tells us in BOOKS: A Memoir, that by the mid-1970s "Writing was my vocation, but I had written a lot, and it was no longer exactly a passion." And this was years before LONESOME DOVE and decades before Brokeback Mountain.

BOOKS: A Memoir is the story of McMurtry's real passion in life: book buying and selling. Over the years he has handled at least a million volumes as a bookseller. He owned a bookstore in Washington, D.C. for 36 years and now has turned his hometown of Archer City, Texas, into a book town where he owns six buildings, five of them filled with books. Indeed, you have a choice of 300,000 volumes to purchase when you enter his store, the appropriately titled Booked Up.

But you probably won't be able to find a latte or scone for sale in the joint. BOOKS: A Memoir is a beautifully written look into the still existing but little known world of antiquarian book dealers. And unfortunately, it soon might be a Lost World, grinded down beneath chain stores and a generation raised on Gameboys, not the Hardy Boys.

This work also gives us insights into the making of a great American writer. Who but McMurtry could write such a perfect sentence: "I don't remember either of my parents ever reading me a story --- perhaps that's why I've made up so many."

There were no books around his Texas ranch house in his earliest years, but then at the age of six, a cousin going off to World War II gave him a treasure --- a box containing 19 books. His life was forever changed. In his isolated rural setting, he tells us, "I came to reading before I came to American popular culture generally..."

McMurtry devoured his cousin's books multiple times and soon, as a young man, was searching through musty old bookstores, looking for books to read. He describes coming across shelves of Modern Library classics in Lovelace's Bookshop in Archer City and being filled "with a mixture of awe and fear." I was reminded of Pete Hamill's description of the awe he felt as a young boy exploring the Brooklyn Public Library and discovering THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. I wonder how much kids lose today when they don't have a similar experience. Not to mention our cultural life.

Soon McMurtry progresses from book scout to bookseller. As a young writer, Hollywood buys one of his early books and turns it into the movie Hud. And instead of purchasing a jazzy car and fancy house, like many of us writers would, his work in films will help him buy all or part of 30 bookstores over the years.

The antiquarian bookseller is like a deep sea fisherman, searching through garage sales, estate sales and auctions for the profitable find. And there is always the big fish that got away, such as when McMurtry sells a rare book, unknowingly for $45, and it ends up later being sold for $5,000.

We meet some of the wonderfully eccentric characters in this world, characters who could easily fill a McMurtry novel. For example, there is the English bookseller Anthony Newnham. McMurtry writes:

"Anthony Newnham tended to marry against type. His first wife, I am told, was a proper English housewife --- thus, in America, he usually went for wild, drug taking, motorcycle girls...Anthony's method...was to marry wild American girls and turn them into proper English housewives --- if they submitted to this change he rapidly lost interest. He was a very attractive man, even though, for a time, he had no front teeth, these having been knocked out by a cricket ball when he was nine. He lost his bridge and, for some years, didn't bother to replace it."

There are gems of great writing like this throughout the book. And we learn that in all his decades of operating a major bookshop in the Georgetown district of the nation's capital, "we sold only one real book to a member of Congress." Now there is a shock!

But for as much joy as there is in this book about books, there is also a subtle sadness. After all, the antiquarian book dealer makes his living when people die and their precious libraries are broken up and sold by relatives. McMurtry calls this "the silent migration of books." Then, there is the death of independent bookstores all over the country, driven out of business by the ubiquitous chains. Great old stores like Discover in San Francisco, the Heritage Book Shop in Los Angeles and the Phoenix Bookshop in New York City appear in these pages. All gone forever, part of the Lost World. Even McMurtry's own shop in DC eventually gave way to a Pottery Barn of all insults.

McMurtry writes a simple yet beautiful sentence to describe when family members end up breaking up personal libraries that took years of hard labor to amass and gave endless satisfaction to their owners: "Something was over, and that was that."

But for those of us who have made a living in the word business, McMurtry's wonderful little book comes at a time when we, unimaginably, find ourselves thinking not about retirement plans but whether books and their cousins in serving civilization, newspapers, may be the thing that is over. So far in 2008, 6,000 journalists have lost their jobs and some newspaper stocks have dropped by 84% over the past year. The San Francisco Chronicle is losing $1 million a week. The business is dying.

And for those of us who must supplement our writing income not by selling books but by teaching college kids, we soon learn the depressing truth of America in 2008: young people are not reading either newspapers or books. McMurtry acknowledges this:

"I nowadays have a feeling that not only are most bookmen eccentrics, but even the act they support --- reading --- is an eccentricity now, if a mild one." But he remains optimistic about the future. He writes, "Very quickly, once I had my 19 books, I realized that reading was the cheapest and most stable pleasure in life. Sometimes books excite me, sometimes they sustain me, but rarely do they disappoint me --- as books, that is, if not necessarily the poetry, history, or fiction that they contain."

One can only hope that another young person will one day wander into one of the musty old bookstores remaining, pick up a book that has existed for centuries and be filled with awe and captivated by the magic that is books. Upon that child, the fate of this democracy and perhaps even our civilization may just depend.

For anybody who loves books and reading, BOOKS: A Memoir will be a great read and a treasured addition to your personal library.

--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan

The IDEA of a book about books by Larry McMurtry is utterly compelling. The moment I saw it, I "one-clicked" it. The editorial reviews which describe the book as being what the common McMurtry lover (me) expected, must have scanned the first 30 or so pages and written on reputation. This is a bewilderingly awful book, for all the negative reasons mentioned in other reviews.

I have told people that war is the Second worse thing that could happen to a human. The first? Slavery - which is the battlefront against Hitler's National Socialists and the Imperial Japan in World War II.

That's where this story takes place. I have read few books that convey the realism and horror of war so well, without reservation. This is one.

Eugene B. Sledge, an Alabama boy, heads into War in the Pacific as a member of the U.S. Marines. He lands with the famous 1st Marine Division - 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. His training was concentrated and intense - but still nothing prepares one for the onslaught of Pelilieu. He was a vet when he hit Okinawa where the fighting got even tougher. The image that sticks with me about Okinawa is a Marine who has to head back to get ammo. He slips in the mud and slides down the hill, rising to discover that he was covered in the maggots uncovered by his slid that were gnawing away at the dead bodies in the mud. This Marine, inured to death and destruction, is rattled badly. That image has stayed with me to understand the horror of this generation's sacrifice and their quiet acceptance of Duty.

By the time Sledge hit the hell of Okinawa, he was a combat vet, still filled with fear but no longer with panic.

I have wanted this book for some time. The seller gave a fair price and good service. I received the book in good shape, as advertized.

I was very satisfied with the level of customer service that I received from Amazon.com. As a college student I am always looking for cheaper books, so this has become one of my new favorite websites.

I heard about this book and was able to find it easily online and at a great price.

I never fully understood my grandfather till I read this book as part of a collage class on WWII. He never talks about the war. He has storys of his time in boot camp, and his time in Japan after the war ended, but none during the war its self.

I never understood what he went through, or how it made him who he is till I read this book. I knew he was a marine, and that he was stationd in the South Pacific, and I knew a few of the names of the battles he was in, but until I read Sldege's book I had no idea what he had gone through there.

I consider this book a must for anyone that has had family in the military, and for everyone else who does not know what our military has done, and continues to do for the American people.

I'm not a huge fan of football...but, when I read this book a year ago, I handed out copies to quite a few people! I just bought another copy for myself because I keep giving them away! I'm sure I'll have to order more.
Read this book.

Joe Eherman has captured what is wrong with sports. This is a must read for all coaches.

I had heard that this was an amazing book from so many people and I was definitely not disappointed - what a great story of what God can do through the life of one man wholly sold out to His glory! Marx is a journalist who grew up as the ball boy for the Baltimore Colts. One larger-than-life figure on that team of the 70s and 80s was Joe Ehrmann whose life took a radical turn when his younger brother passed away from cancer. After years had passed, Marx once again reunited with Ehrmann and was struck by what he found - the flamboyant football star was now a coach and mentor to young men using the game of football to teach about the necessities of life. Ehrmann's life was now invested in the lives of others teaching these young boys how to be men - Building Men for Others is the name of his program, but it's much more than a program or a set of principles, it's a way of life, a way to see others, a way to live that completely transforms others around you. The book was a great read and should be near the top of "must reads" for every father and coach.

It has been such a long time since anything I have read has spoken to me like this book did. The writing itself was run of the mill, usual sports cliches (some parts read like a sports illustrated piece) - but the message is its strength. After reading it, this book would not leave my consciousness. Days later I had to go back and read passages again, Joe Ehrman's "Building Men for Others" concepts invading my thoughts at all hours. Honestly, I do not even know how this book ended up on my bookshelf. One day I needed something to read and found it sitting there. Only hours later I am left dumbfounded, reflecting on who I am and ultimately determining that I could be doing much more with my life and perhaps finding satisfaction I never knew possible. Please read the book, you'll be glad you did.

I purchased this book for my husband for Christmas. My husband does not read books normally, but he loves sports, so I felt this one was fitting. He read it within a week or two and passed it on to a co-worker. It is a book about life, and he actually was quoting from it after he read it. He loved it and wants our boys to read it too.