Biography Books

Corrigan's ability to explain things that some of us know and others are yet to find out is astounding. She hones in on those crucial moments that make us who we are, but surrounds us with great memories that make up our lives.

So well written and funny that I read it straight through both times and plan to make sure everyone I grew up with reads it too.

If you have a child or have lost a parent, The Middle Place speaks to you, bringing to life the things deep in your heart.

Add me to the chorus of praise. I'm an over-scheduled mom of two young kids who works full-time but I stayed up all night (literally) reading The Middle Place. I so admire Kelly Corrigan's ability to put her family experience into words.

There's too much to say to capture how much I enjoyed it (and I am somewhat less than eloquent), but I tell all of my friends it's a "must read."

I absolutely adored the Middle Place. As the mother of two young daughters (3-1/2 and 18 months), I was incredibly moved and touched by Kelly's incredible story and the heartfelt, funny and authentic way she writes.

After hearing about this book from a friend, I picked it up at a local book store. From the moment I opened the first page, I couldn't put it down and was literally reading it in line at pre-school pick up, when I was stopped at stoplights, any free moment I could find.

The Middle Place is a story that every mother and daughter should read. It is a book that makes you think, makes you feel and alters the way you see the world.

Kelly is an incredible writer and I certainly hope she writes more.

This book reminded me why I love memoirs. Fantastic, resonant content written with wit, style and precision. The story is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time - which is quite a feat. You want to know her family and be a part of Ms Corrigan's life. And she writes about her own illness (breast cancer) and dealing with her father's (bladder cancer) with such honesty, clear eyed candor and clean prose, that you don't want to ever put it down. I was disappointed when it ended.
Hurray! Read this book!

As a 40-year old mother of a preschool-aged child, I didn't ever consider the possibility of being faced with cancer. During my horrible breast cancer "scare", I found Kelly Corrigan's website, Circus of Cancer (http://www.circusofcancer.org/) which lead me to her book THE MIDDLE PLACE. This is a must read for everyone and anyone who encounters cancer or the possibility of cancer. You will cry and laugh out loud!

If you want to hear the truth about the old days, here it is. This was a perfect example of what many people in El Barrio saw and/or did. Its so real that if you read certain passages slowly, and then close your eyes, you could actually see how it went down. This book can help you look deep and realize that we, in this day and age, have it 50 times better than our fathers and grandfathers. Lets thank our stars and our parents. Praise to you "Don" Piri.

Down These Mean Streets is the story of Piri Thomas' journey into adulthood. The book is set in Spanish Harlem in the 1940s. The author's writing style is refreshing and lyrical. He uses some Spanish words here and there(readers might find the glossary in the back of the book helpful), and kicks in a few slang words as well, which makes the dialogs that much more genuine.

Piri struggles through poverty, family troubles, and desperately wanting to belong. He fights with being a dark skinned Puerto Rican during a time when racism was strong, and trying to find his place as neither black nor white. Piri did some not-so-good things in his life, being in a gang, drug addiction, and armed robbery among other things, but throughout it all it is easy to tell that Piri is a good guy at heart.

Overall, this is a captivating story. You might find yourself wondering what you would have done faced with the same situations. I even found myself rooting for Piri at times. This book is still a very accurate depiction of "the hoods" of New York, despite being published for the first time about 40 years ago.

I was sad to have to finish the book, and in the end I felt like I knew Piri. I look forward to re-reading this book over the years. It is truly a classic. Everyone should read it. Anyone can find something in the story that they will be able to relate to.

This book really told me what it was like to live in Harlem in the 40s. The discrimination and racism is real and raw (although Mr Thomas does get a little jaded and think all white people are bad). The way he describes coming off heroin is realistic, colorful, and explosive. This whole book is very alive, as a memoir. It was funny to see the slang they used back then!

I've read this book more than a few times and have taught it to different level readers a few extra times. There was one high school student who came to me after the book was done and told me, "This is the first book I ever finished." Even if it's not the first book you've read, you'll find writing that is fearless, honest, and powerful. You won't forget it, and if you're really lucky, you'll get to share it with someone else.

Grabbed it off my english teachers shelf junior year of high school, loved it so much I never gave it back. This is an amazingly wonderful book. Vivid writing style...I could see every last detail in my head. It was like a movie in my brain. Love it.

This book is more than a story of Isabella's murder, in fact, very few pages are devoted to the actual murder. The murder is the culmination of the family relationships that brew from page one.

Through this story we learn of the people and their times. We come to appreciate Cosimo Medici, who rebuilt his family dynasty through politics and strategic marriages. We come to appreciate even more his extraordinary daughter.

Not being steeped in the history of Italy at this time, I found the first few chapters hard going. The genealogies of Medicis and the other European monarchs are complex and difficult to follow. After this, as the personalities get drawn and the story unfolds it becomes a page turner building to the actual murder.

The book built my interest Italian history. I will be reading more Italian history.

At first, I scoffed at the title, thinking that this might be a work of fiction, and a real potboiler at that. And to be honest, despite my fondness for historical novels, nearly every other novel set in the sixteenth century seemed lately to be centered on either Tudor England or Renaissance Italy -- and both of them done to death.

But in spite of my misgivings, this turned out to be a stunning read. Caroline Murphy, author of a previous book on women and politics, has continued her stories of women who played an influental role in the backgrounds of Italian history. This time, the focus is on the city of Florence and the powerful Medici family.

Begining with the fall of the Medici, the book focuses on a member of the junior branch of the family who brought the glory back to Florence. Cosimo de' Medici was a consummate politican and manipulator, but also a fervid patron of the arts and architecture. With his wife, the beautiful Eleonora di Toledo (who was known as La Fecundissima) they had eleven children, many of them sons, but Cosimo's favourite was his daughter Isabella.

A middle child in a huge brood of offspring, she was closest to her brother, Giovanni, and they could be found together constantly, playing games and partnering each other in dancing lessons. Several paintings survive of the princess, a lovely dark haired child with expressive eyes and nearly a smirk on her lips as she surveys the world before her. Clearly she is her father's darling, and knows it. When it came time for her to marry, her father brokered a deal with the Orsini family, based in Rome, and a wedding to Paolo Giordano d'Orsini, a young man with an itch for power and money, and seemingly in love and adoration with Isabella to judge from his letters.

But Cosimo slipped a small clause into the wedding contract -- Isabella would only accompany her husband to his home in Rome if she wanted to. It was a curious condition to the marriage, especially in a time where women were considered to be not much more than two legged birthing machines and subject to abuse and violence from their spouses. For a time, all went well between the couple -- Paolo was off working for advanage of both the Medici and the Orsini, with Cosimo supplying plenty of money for his spendthrift son, and keeping his daughter by his side. He indulged her as best he could, supplying her with the trappings of the high life in the artistic capital of the world.

Isabella created a world of poets and music, sending a steady supply of letters to her husband, letters that were filled with assurances of her love and devotion. But read between the lines, and something else emerges. There's a sly quality to the letters, something that bothers the reader, and if read carefully enough, it becomes clear that Isabella doesn't care very much for her absent husband, and is determined to live her life as she chooses. Even if that means having a lover or two.

The story takes on a much darker tone as it progresses. Her beloved brother, Giovanni, dies of malaria along with another brother and their mother, word comes of Paolo's affairs with various prostitutes in Rome, and Isabella's own growing irritation of her husband. And when Cosimo dies, Isabella tries to keep her glittering fantasy of a life going, but it might already be too late...

This is a tale that is not for the squeamish, as Murphy doesn't hold back on the lives, and especially the deaths, of various members of the Medici family, and also of more ordinary folks. The book is filled with details about daily living, clothing, food, the art of spectacle, and the role of servants and those unseen. What I found very interesting was that the book shifts the focus to women, who usually get shoved to the background of most history. And the subject of the book, Isabella de' Medici, I had never heard of before.

I happily recommend this book for anyone interested in Renaissance Florence, especially for life after the heyday of Lorenzo di Medici. Caroline Murphy has created a story full of life here, creating a woman that is very vivid and aware. The use of family letters is very effective, giving insights into how their minds works, their hopes and moving them beyond the surviving images that have come down through the centuries.

Along with the story, the book is full of black and white drawings taken from the time, which give little snapshots of the world that the Medici moved in. A map of Florence at the time give a sense of place. A genealogical chart sorts out the many branches of the Medici family, and helps to keep everyone straight. Along with the illustrations in the text, there is a gorgeous collection of colour plates, with several paintings of Isabella along with the other players in the story. An extensive bibliography gives enticing suggestions for further research, along with footnotes and an index.

I suspect that this is a book that is going to hit one of my top-ten book lists for 2008. It is a stunning story that breathes new life into what I had thought was a stale topic, and has renewed my interest in Renaissance life and culture.

Caroline Murphy has also written The Pope's Daughter, which does have a tie-in to this story, as Paolo is the grandson of Felice della Rovere, another woman of the Renaissance who was able to hold her own and more in what was very much a man's world.

Five stars overall.

Caroline Murphy's new book is another "must have" for lovers of remarkable lesser-known royal stories. One is taken into the extraordinarily "ahead-of-her-time" life of Isabella de Medici, a Renaissance princess and daughter of the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. A thoroughly gifted, cultured and independent individual with an interesting personality that still resonates after 500 years, Isabella was unique among female royal women of the time in her ability to live her life on her own terms, even as a married woman, which truly defied all convention. From the title, obviously things do not go well in the end, and with recent tomb excavations mentioned in passing at the end, the full extent of murderousness in this generation of the Medici is only nowadays fully coming to light. If you think your family is dysfunctional, you will feel as though you grew up in the very bosom of normality after learning what eventually happened within this once-upon-a-time "big happy family."

I knew very little of this family and this book is easy to read, easy to follow and yet, it was FILLED with history and facst. WONDERFULLY written!

This is the fascinating true story of Isabella de Medici, the spunky socialite of Renaissance Florence. She seems like the type of girl you'd want as a friend--independent, interested in the arts, and quite a flirt. The writing is very fluid--you cheer as Isabella runs the show and gasp at her husband's bold violence.

The author really captures his feelings in words. He brings spirituality to real life circumstances. My best friends just lost their 16 year old son very unexpectedly and I bought this book for them. Very relatable.

This book is such a comfort for anyone who has lost a loved one. I'd recommend it to anyone grieving and their close friends and relatives. The theology and prayer in this book is uplifting.

I have not lost a child. In fact, I'm not a parent. So, admittedly, much of the power of this book, as expressed by other reviewers, is simply lost on me. I cannot empathize with the author's experience in any way.

However, I am still glad to have read this compact book. Though one reviewer suggests that it is too academic, it is no such thing. Intelligently written? Yes. Academic? No. Instead, it is a strikingly authentic expression of the pain and suffering that the author experienced immediately after and further past the event of losing his 25-year-old son to a mountain climbing accident.

The greatest asset of this book is the author's brutal honesty. All Christians would do well to follow his example of opening our emotional landscape for God and others to see, rather than somehow trying to stuff our most "unChristian" feelings behind some facade of strength. When things hurt, I am confident that God allows His people to hurt. In fact, Wolterstorff suggests that God hurts with us.

This book is not filled with Christians platitudes, so spiritual sounding but ultimately so silly, that we often offer to each other to try to help with despair. Instead, it sits in that grief, analyzes that grief, admits the brokenness, and still reaches for the comforting hand of a loving God. Especially for those who have lost a child but even for any Christian who wants to learn how to honestly grieve, I recommend this book as worthwhile.

Having lost our son last year, this book was recommended to us. You think you understand what a loss means, but you really don't until you are there. This book identified so many emotions I have been through and touched my heart at the love and compassion shared. If you know anyone who has lost a child, read this book and then you will have a better understanding to walk with them through this journey of grief.

This book was recommended to me by a wonderful lady by the name of Mary who owns a bookstore in Sandwich, MA on the Cape. I was curious as to how it would fare due to how thin it was but I began reading it immediately. I could NOT put it down. I read it in one sitting as it's very easy to read due to it's journal style. Nicholas Wolterstorff is a master at writing about all the feelings one goes through after a loss. Feelings that leave you scratching your head and wondering how you arrived at them and yet mange to still function as part of society. Feelings that leave you numb and wounded from the heavy burden and pain. Feelings that if you wanted to capture you would struggle to form concise sentences from the sheer overwhelming nature of them. Nicholas manages all of the above and more. He will touch you with his heart-wrenching understanding of grief. I cried, I nodded my head, I marveled at just how much my pain was not only recognized but acknowledged and validated. My pain is still with me, you will never be rid of it nor should you want to be (a notion mentioned in the book) but I have a feeling of peace more so than before I read it. This peace I think comes from not being alone in my pain. And while I wouldn't wish the loss of a child on anyone, I'm so blessed to have had the chance to read Lament for a Son because it has allowed me to feel part of a community of mourners. A community where I am allowed to suffer and grieve, but also clearly be aware of why I suffer and that is because I LOVE. Sadly in the real world we are made to feel we must 'get over' our loss and as a result are outcast in society. Through his words Nicholas Wolterstorff shows just how much of a force death and grief affect the loved ones left on earth. This book is a gift for those in pain from loss and is also a gift for those who want to help family or friends but don't know what to say. My son was stillborn and while this loss is diffeent from losing a 25 year old child, it is still a loss that has forever changed me. Lament for a Son has helped me in my grief, and I hope it helps your pain too.

Daughter of a full-blooded Navajo father and white mother, Lori Arviso Alvord grew up on a New Mexico reservation in a family that took pride in its native heritage, but followed few of the traditional ways. She attended Navajo schools but never learned the language; she knew her clan relationships and enjoyed the security of tribal connections but seldom attended ceremonies or understood the depth of meaning in the Navajo concept "Walk In Beauty."

Such a person might expect to shed the remnants of tribal culture on leaving the reservation to become a high-powered surgeon, a career that by its very nature flies in the face of Navajo precepts like privacy and self-effacement.

Indeed, throughout her memoir, co-authored by Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt, Alvord seems to straddle two worlds separated by an uncomfortable gulf. She first looked upon the deepness of that gulf at Dartmouth.

"For a girl who had never been far from Crownpoint, New Mexico, the green felt incredibly juicy, lush, beautiful and threatening." Unable to see the horizon, she felt claustrophobic. But the culture shock was worse. "I thought people talked too much, laughed too loud, asked too many personal questions, and had no respect for privacy." Navajos do not put themselves forward and cooperation is valued over competition. Not a good prescription for success at an Ivy League school.

At Dartmouth she began to feel her tribal identity more strongly and wonder if a kinaalda ceremony (a celebration of womanhood) would have helped empower her in such alien surroundings. But not until after medical school at Stanford, where she was forced to break numerous taboos (Navajo never touch the dead, for instance) and joined a profession where it is essential to ask prying, intimate questions and invade another's personal space at will, did Alvord really begin to explore the philosophical grounding of Navajo culture.

Becoming a surgeon at the Gallup Indian Medical Center, close to the reservation, Alvord notices that her patients do better when they are calm and relaxed, that harmony - even in the operating room when the patient is unconscious - is important for recovery.

She grows more interested in the Navajo philosophy that "everything in life is connected and influences everything else." To "Walk in Beauty" a person strives to live in balance, symmetry and harmony with everything and everyone else.

While this is an ancient precept, held in common with many other cultures and enjoying something of a renaissance in American medicine today, Alvord comes up with a particularly striking example. One of her surgery patients, a young woman, was the first to die of a strange illness that swept through the Navajo nation, killing 11.

A doctor working for the Centers for Disease Control, Ben Muneta, visited a medicine man, a hataalii, who told him "the illness was caused by an excess of rainfall, which had caused the pinon trees to bear too much fruit." There was "a significant deviation from the natural harmony of the world."

The medicine man showed a sand painting of a mouse and said that twice before in years of excess rainfall a similar disease had struck. " `Look to the mouse,' " he said. Weeks later the CDC determined that the Hantavirus was contracted from the droppings of infected deer mice. The deer mouse population had surged due to an excess of pinon nuts. "It was the rain."

Alvord's tone is quiet, reserved. It does not seem easy for her to describe the alcoholism of her charming father or the difficulties and generosity of her (married at 16) mother. Though she takes us to a nightlong ceremony for the sick and celebrates the strength her patients draw from medicine-man visits, she never explains why it takes her so long to visit a hitaalii during her own pregnancy. Or why she never approaches a medicine man to discuss cross-cultural treatments despite her growing conviction of the efficacy of the "whole body" approach.

While most of the book concentrates on her work and her struggle to reconcile cultures, she provides a wide, sad look at reservation life, beset by poverty and "white mans'" diseases. The long grief of history resides in the alcoholism and the self-loathing of so many - a balance that can never be put right.

At last Alvord leaves. Seeing it as the next natural step in her own "life trail", she returns to Dartmouth as a surgeon and a dean of minority and student affairs. At Dartmouth, she hopes, she can teach the Navajo "Walk In Beauty" principles to new doctors as well as working within the established system to bring better care to her own people.

I am full-blooded Navajo, I was taught to believe in my traditonal ways and it disappoints me that she has talked about very scared ceremonies.

Lori Arviso Alvord walks in two worlds. Raised on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico -- "the rez" -- she is the daughter of a Navajo man and a white woman. Carrying this dichotomy into her education and career, she went from the reservation high school to Dartmouth College, then found her path to Stanford University School of Medicine and a surgical residency in New Mexico.

As the first Navajo woman surgeon, she learned to integrate the science-based world of medicine and the spirit-based Native American culture. The importance of the singing cures, native healing practices, and other spiritual traditions was brought home to her when she observed her patients' outcomes. Surgical skill was often not enough when delivered without respect for the language, culture and spirituality of the Navajo patients.

The main focus of this memoir is Dr. Alvord's path to acceptance of the first Navajo principles: balance, harmony and wholeness, known as "Walking in Beauty." Along the way we learn a great deal about Native American history and culture, sensitively presented.

Dr. Alvord speaks of the cultural bases for Native American alcoholism and the prevalence of gang culture, monumental threats to the health and well-being of her people. The healing of these ills will never be achieved in the operating room alone, and many patients' stories illustrate this lesson effectively.

The outcome of Dr. Alvord's journey is signaled from the beginning, as is often the case with a memoir. While this may dilute the dramatic tension of her story, we're rewarded with a thoughtful and inspiring look at one woman's life and work, in all its contexts. I recommend this book to readers young and old who have an interest in the cultural aspects of medical care.

Linda Bulger, 2008

I picked up this book and I could NOT put it down. What a wonderful journey described here....how she interlocks traditional medicine with Navajo, how harmony and positive spirit is such a process in the healing world. You will not be disappointed with this read. I have shared this with all those close to me. Make it part of your list

--Dr Alvord writes about her journeys as a Native American student and physician. The book seems clearly designed for non-technical readers rather than the professional medical community, and there's little medical jargon. She uses her own difficult pregnancy and the death of a beloved grandmother as case studies in integrating Western medicine and Navajo ideas.
--On the one hand, it's worth reading this book just to hear such an inspirational story from such a role model. Dr Alvord tells her story with dignity and courage and she has many good ideas about listening to patients and integrating Balance and Harmony in our profession (although these ideas don't seem as radical or as rare within the medical community as she seems to imply, and I don't think she does anyone a great service by implying they are).
--On the other hand, the authors remained disappointingly abstract, even given the limitations of confidentiality and space. The stories of Navajo healing barely scratched the surface and the book was pretty scanty with practical advice that would help non-Native healers understand Native American patients. I'd love to have heard her perspectives on the magnitude of Native American health problems, how she handled the constant pressures of time and funding, or how she successfully used traditional Native American methods to help manage serious medical-social problems (i.e. alcohol use, diabetogenic diets, family pressures, basic compliance and responsibility issues, etc). In short, I'd like to have heard more about her successes.
--The book's perspective gives a good counterpoint to those who criticize Western medicine as too impersonal/sterile/uncaring/whatever, while they fail to demonstrate how to predictably improve things and still efficiently deliver technically competent health care to people with different levels of motivation and understanding. Western medicine works beautifully in its own niche, but it will be made to work less efficiently if we mess around with the wrong things. Perhaps medicine will improve if we balance the responsibilities of patients to live a healthy lifestyle with the responsibilities of healers to carefully listen to patients and then help them heal.
--This book did not practically help me to do this, so I cannot give it five stars despite my respect for her credentials. I do look forward to a sequel.
--Other books which may be of interest include Blessings (by Dr. A. Organick), The Dancing Healers, and Primary Care of Native American Patients.

I received this book in EXCELLENT condition in a timely manner. Very happy with the service. Thank you

If we could have one ounce of the relationship she had with the risen Christ our lives would be truly transformed.

This book is a treasury of wisdom from one who lived a radical life of poverty and service so that she could be more effective at bringing Jesus to "the poorest of the poor in their holes on the streets."

Easily read, and with pictures from her life, this book is well organized. While "Mother Teresa: Come Be my Light" would be a much more complete and in-depth book on this (probable) saint, that one is also a much heavier read.

This book, "In My Own Words," is much more easily digested and serves as both a good introduction to this saintly life, and as a source of pithy pearls of wisdom in readily grasped and inspirational morsels.

This book belongs on the shelf of all Christians to serve as inspiration and guide in our treatment of others, and indeed, of any who desire, no matter their religious affiliation (or lack thereof), to serve their fellow human beings.

MOTHER TERESA'S WAY OF LIFE IS A DIRECT PATH TO INNER PEACE ,JOY &HAPPINESS. THIS BOOK IS INSPIRATIONAL!! SHE TRULY IS "A SAINT FOR OUR TIMES" B.C.

Even though this book is a very quick read, if you take the time to put yourself in her place through some of these short stories I think it will make you have a great respect for a person who did not write a book herself on how to make the world a better place, but rather inspired others to write about her ACTIONS, which no doubt affected countless numbers of people in one way or another. Overall, it is almost a prelude to learning more about her and, if you're so inclined to take her actions to heart, ask yourself why you aren't doing more good in the world yourself. Definetly would recommend, particularly as a companion to a biography.

This is a very good book for anyone(including adults) who want the facts about Barack Obamas life. Easy read, nice pictures.

This is not a children's book. It is a work of propaganda. It should be titled, "How to Win Voters and Influence the Media By Playing the Race Card".
1. Obama's only real-world experience during his legal and political career is playing the race card. But for the race card, he would still be a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He has no experience whatever as an executive, manager, or trial atorney. As president his total lack of executive experience would damage America the same way that Mayor Ray Nagin's lack of executive experience has damages New Orleand, But if anyone criticizes Obama, he, his wife, or his surrogates in the media (e.g. Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell) will play the race card.
2. Obama's sonorous voice and million dollar smile are not a substitute for his lack of judgment. His decisions on almost every political, economic and social issue have been wrong, and have caused him to lip-flop. He lacks the gravitas required of a president.
3. Obama's so-called policies are jive talk. Like Hitler, he is a charismatic speaker. Like Hitler, he believes that he is the messiah. But like Hitler, he has refused to articulate the "changes" that his political, economic and social policies will cause to America . There is no evidence to support his apocryphal claims. One recent example of his jive talk is his position on the military. Although he has consistently voted against the military, he argued to the VFW that he was pro-military because his relatives had served in the military! Only Democrats can accept the "logic" of his
argument.
4. Obama is a de jure but not a de facto American. He grew up in the alien and exotic cultures in both Hawaiiand Indonesia. After law school, he worked in the hate-filled neighborhoods of South Chicago. As Mark Penn, Hillary's strategist, said, he does not have "roots in America". He does not share our values and culture. His anti-American conduct speaks louder than his pro-American words. The disconnect between his words and actions is like that of his colleague John Edwards who's love affair with a TV producer contradicted hisrhetoric on marital fidelity and family values.
5. Like Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, Obama is a black separatist. For 20 years, he and his wife approved and supported the hate-speech and hate-ideas of Rev. Wright. Although he is bi-racial, he has chosen to align himself with the Black Establishment and the Congressional Black Caucus. If elected president, he will protect their interests, not the nation's interests. The undisputed evidence supports these claims of his racial animus. First, during the primaries he threw his white grandmother under the bus during the debate about race. If elected, he will do the same to white Ameriica. Second, even now he and his campaign are working to register black voters, but not white voters. How could a man who acts like that unite all Americans?
6. Obama's wife Michelle is an open and notorious anti-American. She speaks and acts as if she was the wife of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. She has spent her academic and professional life scorning American values and culture. Her senior thesis proves that she eschewes American values.Even though she is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, and is campaigning for her husband, Obama has made veiled threats to send "boz from the hood" to beat up anyone who dares to criticizes Michelle.
7. The Democrat's lust for the presidency is so great that they are willing to wink at Obama lack of qualification to be President of the United States and Commander in Chief of our armed forces. Like the German industrialists in 1930s Germany who thought that they could control Hitler, they think that in 21st
Century America that they can control Obama. They are wrong. Only Democrats would put their party's interests ahead of the nation's interests, and place our nuclear arsenal in the hands of an unqualified and untested person like Obama.
8. Independent voters should read this book in conjunction with two other books: Obama Nation and The Case Against Barack Obama. They should weigh the evidence. Then they should decide whether they and the nation should assume the risking of electing as president a person like Obama who is not "of the people, by the people, or for the people".

This is really great biography for school-aged children. I've read it with my 7 year old son a couple of times now, and now when he hears or sees Barack Obama on tv, he feels like he knows a bit about him as a person. It's a short book, but is easy to read, and the pictures and illustrations make it very engaging.

I originally bought this little book for my granddaughter, a kindergartener who idolizes Barack Obama, and one copy for myself. When the book arrived, I quickly read it because I always do the grandmother-preview of all the books I buy for the grandkids. Lo and behold - I found a primer for adults who may just be getting to know Obama and who want to know the basics about who he is, where he's from, and how those circumstances molded him into the Presidential candidate he is today. This (along with the H. Clinton counterpart) should be required reading for all voting Americans. I shared it with several others (adults) and all of them wanted to purchase copies.

Roberta Edwards is a prolific writer -- unless several authors have the same name! Her titles range from INTRODUCING CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY through FIVE SILLY FISHERMEN and SPACE KID to 2008's 48 page children's biography: BARACK OBAMA: AN AMERICAN STORY.

Half or more of those 48 pages are well presented sketches, photos or maps. I suspect that there are many children from ages eight to 14 who would enjoy the book. For adults almost totally unfamiliar with the U.S. Senator from Illinois (if such there be!), Ms Robert's book need not take up more than ten minutes of skimming. There are no big words. There is, to my surprise, no treatment of religion -- anybody's religion. But there is much about race and the white and black ancestors of Barack Obama.

High points of the Senator's life to date include being first black American chosen to be president of the Harvard Law Review, his 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, being sworn in as a U.S. Senator in 2005 by Vice President Richard Cheney and a vigorous campaign for President of the USA which began in February 2007.

I am glad I read the book. It is unpretentious, skillfully put together, succinct and well illustrated. -OOO-

This is a masterful book that powerfully refutes the bible using logic and reason. Powerfully written, this book should stand in the way in many of those Christian missionaries who preach the bible as an infallible book at face value.
What is also great about this book is that it uses intelligence and common sense as opposed to emotions.
This book serves as a big wake-up call to many Christians who never seriously questioned their faiths.

Dan Barker has the apparent talent in writing with an entertaining, lucid, live, and humorous way. He also has gathered a wealth of knowledge on the subjects of preaching, the bible, and Christianity and became an enthusiastic Evangelical Christian at an early age. Insomuch he became an Evangelical preacher as well as a Christian songwriter for many years. It wasn't until a later age where Dan approached his Christian beliefs by reason and thought, and thus cost him his faith altogether. It's worthy here to note that Dan is part of the "Prometheus society" which requires an extremely high IQ entrance.

With depth and clarity this book sheds light on the ignored side of Christianity that many people who adhere to this faith seem to have no real knowledge about. In this thought provoking book, you'll end up realizing that there is no real reason to believe that Christianity is greater than say, Buddhism.
Dan tells his amazing story in a very interesting and an easy to read way. He explains the various conflicts in Christian doctrines, the fallacies in Christian reasoning ( e.g. resurrection, atonement, ... etc), and the various inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible, as well as the morality behind many of its teachings. This book is a powerful evidence that many of the Christian Preachers today preach at face value.

Here's what I think spawned this book: A brilliant historian with such a wealth of knowledge about the American Revolution had all these thoughts and opinions in his head, and he just had to get them out. So he wrote them down, and poof, there was "Revolutionary Characters" by Gordon Wood.

I made the mistake of reading this book soon after it was released, and I just wasn't ready for the depth of the material because it had been a while since I was in college. After reading biographies on most of the key participants, I recently looked at this book again and got more out of it. It's a very interesting analysis of eight significant figures of the era -- I believe Aaron Burr was included over John Jay because he's more interesting, not because he was more important.

If you're expecting short bios on these eight men, you'll be disappointed; it offers no such thing. It's almost all analysis, and to further that point, two of the longest sections in the book are the introduction and epilogue, which are essentially all analysis. The book is incredibly wordy at times, and it often reads like it was written for history professors.

Basically, this is a useful book for those with knowledge of and interest in the late 1700s and early 1800s. But it's not for the average reader, and it in no way compares to Joseph Ellis' "Founding Brothers," or even "American Creation."

Wood's argues that the difference is that these Revolutionary leaders (the usual phalanx, plus Paine and Burr as exemplars of contrast) were set apart by the first-generation gentility, expressed in 18th Century Enlightenment terms, on the outskirts of the empirical centers in London and Paris, in the formation of their public character in a country where the government became not a derivative of the populace but a lent lease from the populace who retained it.

In this way, expanding literacy and political discussion and voting rights empowered and raised public opinion to the level of gentlemanly discussion (if you were a Jeffersonian Republican), or dragged discourse down to the level of the common herd (if you were a Hamiltonian Federalist), which word to describe the common mass quickly became verboten.

Not that well argued or written, Woods progresses from OK thumbnail biographies to his single-chapter conclusion in generalities instead of tightly-argued theses.

Read "Revolutionary Characters" in combination with "Founding Brothers" for an excellent duo, and compare and contrast the two in their approaches and content. This is not a history of the revolution or a detailed analysis of our form of government. Wood has done what he claimed - a look at the character of the subjects, how that influenced their work, and how they were a reflection of, or an exception to, their times.

Wood's work combines expansive praise and cold analysis. Each of the founders (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, and Madison) is portrayed as a "great man", which of course each deserved, as well as a flawed individual or thinker. The praise and the more negative comments are done with a suitable tone, neither being excessive. For example, Wood describes how Washington was not an intellectual and how that affected his role and strategy, but not in a demeaning way, as Washington obviously contributed greatly in other ways.

To me, the freshest perspective was on Madison, as Wood questions Madison's actual contribution to the Constitution, with an end result that bears little similarity to Madison's intent. Wood also tackles the apparent changes in Madison's thinking about the relationship of the government and the people. In fact, elite thought vs. public opinion is one of Wood's recurring themes.

Hamilton comes across as the most modern of the founders, which is hardly original, so Wood points out some areas where Hamilton may be overrated in claims regarding his vision. Hamilton obviously outshined the others in his ability to turn vision into governmental reality.

Jefferson gets the least positive treatment of the six. Wood recognizes TJ for his brilliance, yet Wood considers Jefferson overrated in American culture, as his vision of the American future was hopelessly impractical and outdated.

Aaron Burr takes his lumps in a succinct assessment that will be familiar to readers of Chernow's Hamilton bio. Wood includes Burr as a counter-example to the positive character of the others, with Burr as a schemer void of known intellectual political thought or vision. No detachment for the good of society for Mr. Burr.

The unexpected chapter on Thomas Paine was a surprising plus, explaining why Paine is not considered a true "founder". Paine was not the gentleman or the politician that his cohorts were, instead being an early modern intellectual and professional writer according to Wood. The chapter also served as a hint of the analytical final chapter, which emphasized the transition from the brilliant gentleman founders debating among themselves to the rise of the general public as part of the political process.

As Wood said in his apt closing sentence, "In the end nothing illustrates better the transforming power of the American Revolution than the way its intellectual and political leaders, that remarkable group of men, contributed to their own demise."

4.5 stars

The chapters on each of the founding fathers Woods wrote on included a lot of detailed character information in this book. The book provided background information on each person as well as information on their character. It was interesting to read about the contributions these men made that still affect America today such as the banking system, election policies, etc.

First, this is more of an academic work than a popular one. If you are looking for a collection of engagingly told short bio's of some of the founders, this is not it. This is more of an academic work. It contains analysis and summary of scholarly opinion. For what it intends to be it is nicely done. Due to its nature, I found it less interesting in places, but it was beneficial to see what the current ideas are on these men.

The book is largely a collection of previously published reviews or articles and it shows in places. For one, the choices of whom to include seems odd in places. Why include Thomas Paine and Aaron Burr but neglect Patrick Henry? Sure Paine was a key figure early on but in the end he was not much of a "Founder." Aaron Burr's chief qualities are negative ones as Wood points out. Henry, however, was perhaps the key early voice calling for independence- his resolutions reprinted throughout the colonies defined the issue and galvanized support. In addition to other examples that could be given of his oratory his role as governor of Virginia- the richest and most populous colony- during the war and his efforts in supplying Washington's troops were very significant. He is typically neglected due to his opposition to the Constitution, but this is actually another significant contribution to the shaping of the country since his criticisms helped to produce the Bill of Rights.

In the end, if you want an engaging synopsis of the lives of the Founders, this is not it. If, however, you want one historian's analysis of their life and work this is a fine one. A good supplement on the issue of which Founders are most remembered and why is Daniel Dreisbach's essay "Founders Famous and Forgotten" in The Intercollegiate Review 42 (Fall 2007): 3-12. For just as scholarly but more positive assesment of Washington see Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition (ISI Books, 1999).

Have never been a big Chuck Liddell fan - I always felt he was overrated; seeing him get destroyed by Quentin Jackson in Pride kind of confirmed my feeling - but I enjoyed this book immensely. Lots of good stories told throughout - though he does repeat one or two - and plenty of detail on his fights. I was definitely entertained - I read the last 200 pages of the book in a single sitting, something I never do anymore.

My only knock would be that there's lots of filler or empty space throughout. The book is divided into a whopping *47* chapters (one of which is a single page!) Each chapter comes with a blank page. So right away you've got 47 pages of nothing in a 300 page book. The chapters also include a half-page header on them that's essentially worthless - so another 23 pages of nothing. 70 pages of nothing in a 300 page book is a lot, IMHO.

Still, that criticism is only enough to knock the book down to 4 stars. This is an excellent read for any fan of Liddell or MMA in general. Recommended.

If you are a fan of MMA or just the UFC then you will LOVE this book. It does not just inform you about Chucks life or the UFC but it informs about MMAs growth! Make sure you have plenty of time because you will be just like me, on a couch all Sunday reading the whole book! ENJOY!

Chuck Liddell is a great fighter and his fights are entertaining. The contradiction of his ferocity in the Octagon to his mild-mannered nature outside of it is fascinating. I wish the book had more depth and exposed more of the real Chuck. But after reading about how Chuck was raised and getting a glimpse into his demeanor and lifestyle, it makes sense why the book is rather shallow. I enjoyed and appreciated the insight Chuck gives into each of his fights (e.g., his opinions on this opponents, his disposition towards the fight, the technical breakdown and strategy employed, etc.). But I could do without his bragging, the awkward-at-best and poor-at-worst writing, and the general lack of biographical meat.

This book tells a good story and gives you a peek at the explosively popular world of MMA. Chuck Liddell is an example for America's youth to look up to. Honest, hardworking and straight to the point. Very happy with this purchase.

I read Chuck Liddell's book in about a 3 week span, inbetween work and working out and other activities. Although it was a quick read, it was a very insightful and entertaining book. Growing up in SLO and his problems with his father not being in the picture. To playing HS football and then being a near perfect student-athlete at Cal Poly. Until his fighting days in obscure bare knuckle fights in Brazil to what we have as the UFC today, with all the highlights and lowlights pinpointed and brought to life in a fun way. Kickass Book!