Reviews (153)

An Extraordinary African Childhood
Alexandra Fuller's "Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight" will bring you into her world of a childhood spent in the wilds of Africa.Hers is a colorful memoir that you won't soon forget.While reading this book, I literally carried it with me everywhere I went so that I could read it during any spare moments I had during the day.Run, don't walk, to purchase this book and buy a spare to share with everyone you know!

Great Book
I like this book a lot I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed her stories . For anyone who wants to know about growing up in Africa. A must read

Being born in an interesting part of the world should not be an excuse for just anybody to write
Alright, so her childhood was a bit different than your average white middle-income childhood.
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Subjects:  1. 1969-    2. Africa - General    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Childhood Memoir    8. Childhood and youth    9. Fuller, Alexandra,    10. Girls    11. Historical - General    12. Literary    13. Zimbabwe    14. Biography & Autobiography / General    15. Reading Group Guide   

Editorial Review

You probably enjoy eating codfish, but reading about them? Mark Kurlansky has written a fabulous book--well worth your time--about a fish that probably has mattered more in human history than any other. The cod helped inspire the discovery and exploration of North America. It had a profound impact upon the economic development of New England and eastern Canada from the earliest times. Today, however, overfishing is a constant threat. Kurlansky sprinkles his well-written and occasionally humorous history with interesting asides on the possible origin of the word codpiece and dozens of fish recipes.Sometimes a book on an offbeat or neglected subject really makes the grade. This is one of them. ... Read more

Reviews (88)

Cod, who would have thunk it?
This book was utterly full of suprises.Man, how one little fish has altered and played a role in so much political and economic attitudes towards the sea and its treasures.The book also stands as a cautionary tale of what can happen when a natural resource such as cod are recklessly exploited to the point of having the inability to recover their numbers.As a marine biology teacher I was faascinated with this book and plan on having my classes read it to see how the ocean world affects life on land.

A real keeper!!
I just finished reading a borrowed autographed copy of Kurlansky's Cod and decided that this is a book that I must have in my shelf to read it over again. I like fish and I like history. This book has the perfect match to gain my favor. I purchased my own copy.
Cod
This book is better than great. The older I get, it never ceases to amaze me how little I know and how much I have to learn.
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Subjects:  1. Cod fisheries    2. Codfish    3. Cookery (Codfish)    4. Fish    5. History    6. Literary collections    7. Nature    8. Nature/Ecology    9. World - General    10. Biography & Autobiography / Historical   

Reviews (164)

Heart-Warming, Moving Account of the Holocaust
The story of Corrie ten Boom and her family and their work in the Dutch underground during World War II has been around 35 years but this is the first time I've sat down to read this amazing story.I am so glad I did!Built on the premise that love will conquer all, the story shows what relatively normal people can accomplish in extraordinary times.
A Tale Of Love, Courage, And Compassion
In Corrie Ten Boom's book "The Hiding Place", she gives an exciting account of how during the terrifying years of the Holocaust and World War 11 her entire family strove to hide as many Jews as they could from Nazi forces.
A Moving Tale
This is a beautiful, beautiful book. I could read it over and over, and feel touched, inspired, and renewed again. I first tried to read it when I was about twelve years old, but it was two heavy for me. Then I read it a few months ago, and it came alive. This is one book I would definately want to add to my library soon. I love the Ten Boom family - especially Betsy. I am looking forward to meeting them all in heaven someday. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Historical - Holocaust    4. Personal narratives, Dutch    5. Ravensbruck (Germany : concentration camp)    6. Religious    7. Ten Boom, Corrie    8. Women    9. World War, 1939-1945    10. Biography: general    11. History / Holocaust   

Features

• Box set

Reviews (151)

vgmani
I dont know how to rate this!! The book... I am yet to read! But I received collectorS edition within a collector edition! The book is printed upside down while the cover page is printed straight!

The Life of Vladek
The combination of volume one and volume two of Maus instills emotion, unfelt by any Holocaust story.Spiegelman (hey that's me; so of coarse it's a must read) implements humor, details, and characters that allow for a stunning plot of the life of his father Vladek. The relationship between Mala and Vladek, is humorous and tragic at the same time. I don't want to reveal too much plot, but would like to end writing the animals characterizations of personalities is ingenious.

Excellent Book
I am ordinarily very uninterested in graphic novels. Just seems like a stupid format to me. BUT, this was a great book. It is just the right story and right presentation for someone like me to enjoy. I highly recommend it and will probably give other graphic novels a chance ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Children of Holocaust survivors    6. Comic books, strips, etc    7. General    8. Historical - General    9. Holocaust    10. Holocaust survivors    11. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    12. Poland    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Literary    15. Biography: general    16. Jewish studies    17. The Holocaust   

Editorial Review

A beloved classic since its initial publication in 1947, this vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime (scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss. Read more

Reviews (560)

'Anne Frank, better than ever'
'The Diary Of A Young Girl: The Definitive edition' is more or less the un-cut version of the book that was originally published in the late 1940's. it contains approx. 30% more material, and in my opinion makes Anne more relatable than ever, particularly to adolescents.
Diary of Anne Frank
Anne Frank "The Diary of Anne Frank"
Unbelivable story
I have just finished the Diary Of a Young Girl and i have the strong feeling that i was moved back in time, as if it was 1944.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - General    5. Historical - Holocaust    6. Holocaust    7. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    8. Jews    9. Women    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. History / Holocaust   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (298)

Highly recommended for those interested in history
"Wild Swans -- Three daughters of China" is the true story of 3 generations of Chinese women.The front of the book boasts a review by the NY times, saying "the importance of this book cannot be overstated," and I think they are right.Simply by following the lives of these three women and extended family you get to see the sweep of history -- the helplessness of the avereage person in traditional China, the abuses that women were exposed to, the financial predations of the ruling classes, the warlord (post ming) era, why and how communism took hold on China, how the war for a communist China was fought, and how they (being individuals) slowly woke up from fighting rampant abuses in their society to being prisoners of a revolution of their own making.I would literally say "If you read one book this year, Wild Swans by Jung Chang should be it."Far from being just about the Chinese experience, it really has a lot to say (indirectly) about culture, human foibles, the making of good and bad societies, human relations, and I can not help seeing all of it through a prism of today's political reality.

Who?
I have taught English in several universities in southern China, students and adults. When Chinese students ask, "What do Americans think of China?", I reply that "We learn about China from writers like Jung Chang". I show them my copy of Wild Swans. None of the students have ever heard of Jung Chang, but they seem eager to read it. Recently, I saw four copies in an English language bookstore in Guangzhou.

Mao's China-Tales from the Dark Side
If you've never encountered a full historical biography of what China was before, during, and after Mao, then, this is the book to read.I was suprised at the level of violence against its own people, under the disguise of the "Cultural Revolution", the "Great Leap Forward", and other such titles.China did not have a much better "quality of life" prior to Mao (many warlords fighting over territories, women treated as possessions, etc), but it did not get that much better with Mao heading the Red Guards, or their numerous cultural "cleansings".Millions have died under dire circumstances, and we are only now beginning to realize the inhumane treatment brought on by the mind of one man.Communist China was an experiment, of the most sordid kind.The writer points out how they just "stopped thinking", they just obeyed "the system" because it had been engrained in their brains by so much propaganda, that they just repeated the slogans and no longer thought if they were true or not.It is surprising to me, that this "experiment" was brought onto so many millions of people, albeit, the vast majority illiterate and peasants.This is why the "peasant revolution" caught on... I could not tear myself away from this book, from this well told story of three generations of women (and their men), with their unfortunate set of circumstances, and their small but meaningful victories.Their voices deserve to be heard.The uncompromising ideals of one man eventually have the ability to sink the whole family into chaos.It is from this chaos that the offspring realize that there must be more to the "revolution", than the level of sacrifice and commitment asked of them, which seem insane.It is also the realization of the parents, that bought into the "revolution" that is so poignantly told in this story.The awakening of the ideas, of the self; amidst all the collective sharing and the collective appartus, which was really the mask of Mao (again, one man).
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Subjects:  1. 1909-1969    2. 1931-    3. 1952-    4. Asia - China    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Chang, Jung,    9. China - History - 20th Century    10. Historical - General    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Women    13. Xia, De-hong,    14. Yang, Yu-fang,    15. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (43)

Typically PC
Plenty of detail and typically PC. Written by a couple of liberals who bring us yet another re-hash of the "official" outlook on Oppenheimer as flawed god who strayed off the reservation as defined by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Dripping with cliches and the the whole array of baggage that entails. Good as a source of information, decently written, but oh so tired. Why did they bother? Why should you?

A first rate biography
This is such a good biography of such a complex individual who had an everlasting impact on our world.Do yourself a favor and get and read this excellent book...You will not regret it and you will learn a lot about the past, the present and the future of our country.

Good read
I was very much looking forward to reading this book, and it didn't disappoint.The authors have done an excellent job of sifting through an enormous mass of evidence.Their use of this evidence is judicious, and their portrait of the man compelling.It is well worth reading.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Atomic bomb    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Historical - General    8. History    9. Nuclear Physics    10. Physicists    11. Political aspects    12. Science    13. Scientists - General    14. Scientists - Inventors    15. United States    16. Biography & Autobiography / Historical   

Reviews (4)

Fascinating and thought provoking
There is something to be said of a person who can go through a horrific journey such as the atrocities of Auschwitz and recall it with such clarity in order to help others. I was completely emotionally overwhelmed by the first half of the book-which is a narrative of what he experienced and fascinated with the next half which is an explanation of logotherapy.
viktor frankl wrote this book in 8-9 days; you can read it in 2 ~
a Best Seller through the 1950s and 1960s, this is one of the 20 top books to read before you try to live your life...
A must read!
I'm surprised there aren't a lot more reviews on this book. It might just be the best book I've ever read (and it's really short and easy to read).
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Historical - Holocaust    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Psychology    5. Psychotherapy - Counseling    6. Social Psychology    7. Psychology & Psychiatry / General   

Reviews (17)

Terrific Views of Founders
This book is a series of essays on several of our Founders such as Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Burr, Hamilton, etc.The essays address how each fit into his generation and treatment by contemporaries and historians.It is not, by any means, a recitation of dates and events.
Sets the Players in Their Time

rtaylor
For any reader of the Revolutionary period, this is a must read.Gordan Wood distills the thinking of the period and gives the reader a understandable idea of the dynamics of the era that even those who participated did not fully comprehend at the time.The clashing of ideas and those who held them are in the end notable in the key element to the genius of America; the ability to reach consensus and compromise when it is needed.Note the world today to see what results when that is not achieved or here with the American Civil War. Thank you Gordon Wood, and please keep writing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1775-1783, Revolution    2. Biography    3. Historical - General    4. History    5. History - U.S.    6. History: American    7. Political Doctrines    8. Revolutionaries    9. Statesmen    10. U.S. History - Revolution And Confederation (1775-1789)    11. United States    12. United States - 18th Century    13. United States - Revolutionary War    14. History / United States / General   

Reviews (10)

From Slavery to the Senate- an incredible history
Mr. Otis Graham spins an engrossing tale about the rise of a former slave to become a millionaire and U.S. Senator, and the descent of his intended "dynasty" into destitution and petty crime. As equally fascinating as the family's personal story, is the national backdrop against which the drama is played out. This is the story of an entire black elite which could not relate to, and even disdained poorer and darker blacks but which could not gain the full acceptance it so desperately sought from upper class whites. It is the story of a time when black people had to try to navigate their way in a truly foreign America where race meant absolutely everything.
Please don't tell the whole story in your reviews!!!!
I usually find the reviews extremely helpful, but several of the reviews go into so much detail that essentially it ruins the reading experience for everyone else. It's obnoxious and unneccessary to tell the whole story in the process of reviewing a book. Providing a critique does not require giving away the story. I honestly feel I've been cheated by the previousreviews and I don't need to buy the book!!
Intriguing look into early black America
First of all you should know that The Senator and the Socialite reads like a novel as opposed to a history book. Those of you who would not normally venture into the non-fictional history section at your local library will enjoy this book as much as those who would.
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Subjects:  1. African American legislators    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Blacks In The U.S.    7. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    8. General    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Legislator's spouses    11. Legislators    12. People of Color    13. Political    14. U.S. Senate    15. United States    16. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (7)

skip this biography
avoid books where the author's personality and florid prose obscure the subject. besides, what precisely does jenkins have against short sentences and one-dollar words?

Good, short, reverential biography
The late Roy Jenkins, in assessing Roosevelt, rates him in the top three of all American Presidents, along with Washington and Lincoln. Whether you like FDR or whether you are one of his critics, it is hard to dispute Jenkins' conclusion. Jenkins believes that had FDR not run for a third term, he would have been one of the better, near great Presidents, but that it took WWII to make him the icon he became. Jenkins fails to point out that FDR did not create any appreciable number of private sector jobs prior to WWII and that, in fact, unemployment was almost as high as it was eight years earlier, when he took office. The reason may be that Jenkins had been a Labour Party member of the House of Commons, accordingly, his world view was that of a government interventionist. However, I ultimately agree that nontheless, FDR was, at least, a better than average President during the depression years, due to the great optimism that he conveyed.
The Good Brief Book on Roosevelt
This is a very good brief introduction to Roosevelt, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a brief understanding of Roosevelt. It is very easy to read and suitable for high school students. Being written by a man from Britain, it also shows how the world views FDR - as one of the most important leaders in world history.
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Subjects:  1. (Franklin Delano),    2. 1882-1945    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Historical - U.S.    8. Political    9. Presidents    10. Presidents & Heads of State    11. Roosevelt, Franklin D    12. Roosevelt, Franklin D.    13. United States    14. United States - 20th Century/Depression   

Editorial Review

In the epilogue to her biography of Mao Tse-tung, Jung Chang and her husband and cowriter Jon Halliday lament that, "Today, Mao's portrait and his corpse still dominate Tiananmen Square in the heart of the Chinese capital." For Chang, author of Read more

Reviews (156)

So Horrific It's Unbelievable
Mao: The Unknown Story is one of those books that is hard to believe. It is hard to believe someone caused the death of so many millions of people, yet little is known about it. It is hard to believe Mao did not care if over half of the earth was killed in a nuclear war as long as he became a dominant world leader. It is hard to believe that Richard Nixon's visit to China was responsible for our withdrawl from Vietnam, the entrance of China into the UN and the security council, and that Nixon traded prestige by his vist (and subsequent votes in the US) for assistance in the modernization of Chineese arms. Ping pong for respect of a terrible tyrant - a poor trade.
Very Powerful
A very engaging book, I read it daily until I finished it.Though it was a biography of Mao, it was also a well researched, very revealing look at how Communism (the Maoist version in particular) works.Mao made Hitler look like an amateur (as did Stalin) yet there are those who still defend him.Its amazing to me that no one can defend Hitler without being marginalized as a nut (and rightly so) yet people who defend Mao and Communism in general are seen as having a valid point of view.This book makes that impossible to continue to do.Everyone should read it in my opinion.The world will see more men like Mao and as the saying goes, if we don't understand history we're doomed to repeat it.
Great history of modern China
The biography of Mao Tse-Tung is the history of modern China. The authors' extensive research into the life of Mao has produced a gripping story not only of an important historical figure, but also an interesting portrait of a megalomaniac who would stop at nothing to seize complete and total power. On the one hand the story is inspiring because Mao succeeded where many had failed inspite of repeated failures and aggregious mistakes along the way. On the other, this man was pure evil: inhumane to his subjects, un-fatherly to his children, unloving to his many wives and distrustful of anyone and everyone. He modeled a state in his own image with disasterous consequences.
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Subjects:  1. 1893-1976    2. Asia - China    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. China    8. China - History - 20th Century    9. Heads of state    10. Historical - General    11. Mao, Zedong,    12. Political    13. Psychohistory    14. Biography & Autobiography / Political   

Editorial Review

A biography of the woman who, indirectly, was the catalyst for many of the troubles in the Middle East, including the Gulf War. In 1918, Gertrude Bell drew the region's proposed boundaries on a piece of tracing paper. Her qualifications for doing so were her extensive travel, her fluency in both Persian and Arabic, and her relationships with sheiks and tribal and religious leaders. She also possessed an ability to understand the subtle and indirect politeness of the culture, something many of her colonialist comrades were oblivious to. As a self-made statesman her sex was an asset, enabling her to bypass the ladder of protocol and dive into the business of building an Empire. ... Read more

Reviews (42)

It's still about oil
When Gertrude Bell was helping draw the lines for what is now present day Iraq it was about oil then and it's about oil now. Anyone wanting to understand a little bit about the culture of the Middle East should read this. A very interesting book about the female "Lawrence of Arabia."

Now we know who to blame
This is an interesting book, the most popular biography of one of the most interesting people of the early part of the last century. Gertrude Bell is largely lost to history, which is a shame. She was an expert on Arab affairs and Middle Eastern politics, a true polymath back when you could be such a thing. She spoke numerous languages, wrote "travel" books (accounts of travels she'd had in exotic places), was an accomplished historian and archaeologist, and worked during World War I as what amounted to an intelligence agent, serving further as an advisor after the war, liasing with the Arabs in Iraq. In addition to all of the above, she mapped out the boundaries of the country that became Iraq, and late in life founded the first museum for antiquities in Baghdad. All this in a man's world, where women weren't supposed to venture.
A woman who was a vital player in the modern history of the Middle East
This book was chosen for discussion by a member of our non-fiction book group. Along with other courses intended for continued learning, the group is affiliated with a local college. I would not have been interested in this bookotherwise, because I had never heard of Gertrude Bell.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Colonial administrators    6. Great Britain    7. Historical - British    8. History Of Women (General)    9. Middle East    10. Middle East - General    11. Middle East - History    12. Political    13. Women    14. Women Orientalists    15. Biography & Autobiography / Women   

Editorial Review

Left to his own devices, John Adams might have lived out his days as a Massachusetts country lawyer, devoted to his family and friends. As it was, events swiftly overtook him, and Adams--who, David McCullough writes, was "not a man of the world" and not fond of politics--came to greatness as the second president of the United States, and one of the most distinguished of a generation of revolutionary leaders. He found reason to dislike sectarian wrangling even more in the aftermath of war, when Federalist and anti-Federalist factions vied bitterly for power, introducing scandal into an administration beset