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by Sheila Isenberg
ISBN: 0375502211
Hardcover: 368 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Book in very good condition with VERY LIGHT reading wear. EX LIBRARY copy which did not spend much time in circulation before being released. Library markings present but no further markings or imperfections.
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Customer Reviews
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Isenberg's "Fry" inspires our own activism
Rating  (5)
Date: 2002-03-01
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a must book for book clubs and reading groups! Isenberg's writing is engaging as she tells of Varian Fry's dramatic actions that saved so many people from harm. But, more thrillingly, through skillful use of private documents, she shows her readers how a man who showed little previous signs of special distinction, not content to stay a bystander, was willing to put himself at risk to help strangers whose lives were in danger. The book will spark discussions, not only of the holocaust, but of our continuing search to lead ethical lives today in the face of widespread violence, famine and continuing human rights abuses.
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a perfect book club choice
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-02-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
this story, of a true 'hero,' makes a compelling read. how amazing that fry managed to save so many important artists of the last century and was little known until isenberg's book. a good read while learning an important bit of our history. i will definitely recommend this to my book club.
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An Inspiring Page-Turner
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-01-30
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read Sheila Isenberg's marvelous book, A Hero Of Our Own, in one sitting. What made it compelling was the author's logical, step-by-step approach to the stunning chaos of her hero's dilemma.
Varian Fry's defining year in Marseilles came alive line by line, stroke by inspiring stroke in clear logical matter of fact tones. The work is poignant and powerful, mythic documentary proof of a bona fide hero and his heroic friends confronting the petty viciousness of evil with clear-eyed will. A beautiful important book. This is History as it ought to be written. Should be required reading in high schools and colleges round the globe.
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"A Hero of our Own" by Sheila Isenberg
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-01-30
4 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
For someone like myself, who enjoys a really exciting story, preferably about a real person,one need go no further than to read "A Hero of Our Own" by Sheila Isenberg. Varian Frye, a not-so-ordinary American, feels impelled to leave his comfortable life as a writer and editor and go to France as a member of the Emergency Rescue Committe (ERC) and risk his life to save as many refugees (mostly Jews) as he can from the Nazis. Frye is the only American to be honored at Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust Memorial) because of his work in saving thousands of Jews. If I didn't know it was a true story, I'd think it was fiction because his adventures read like a fast-paced thriller, a veritable realization of the classic "film noir" of the forties. In fact, I feelthe book cries out to be made into a movie which I would be happy to see. Of course some of the book's revealed facts about our own State Department trying to keep refugee Jews from entering the United States when they knew it mean certain death was quite shocking and disturbing. However, all in all, I'd recommend the book to anyone who enjoys reading a fast-paced book about real heros and history.
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a biography that's a page-turner
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-01-29
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Varian Fry was an American hero, risking his life to save others, unrecognized during his lifetime, but, fortunately, with Isenberg's new biography, now about to become a well-known figure. Called the artists' Schindler, Fry saved about 1,500 artists, writers, teachers, labor leaders, activists, and others from Hitler -- Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, and Hannah Arendt among the group. A Hero of Our Own tells Fry's story in a lively, compelling style. One can't wait to turn the page to find out what happens in Nazi-ridden, Vichy-controlled Marseille 1940. Who will be saved? Who will be turned over to the Gestapo? Why did Fry risk his life? This book answers all these questions in a fascinating story that is well worth reading -- as Fry is well worth remembering and honoring.
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by Sheila T. Gregory
ISBN: 0761812857
Hardcover: 174 pages
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. EX LIBRARY copy in a good condition. Library markings present. The first page, which had library stamps, was removed by the library.
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by John Baxter
ISBN: 0312317255
Hardcover: 432 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Book in very good condition with VERY LIGHT reading wear. EX LIBRARY copy which did not spend much time in circulation before being released. Library markings present but no further markings or imperfections.
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Customer Reviews
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Breezy Anecdotes of a Life in and Around Books
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-08-05
I've been on a kick lately where I'm reading lots of "books about books," and/or "books about reading," which led me to pick this one up. The subtitle "Confessions of a Book Addict" is an apt one, as this is essentially a rambling memoir whose only unifying theme is the author's love of books. And while it does delve into the rarefied (and often grubby) realm of book collecting and collectors, that's not really the focus. Actually, other than the author's lifelong love of books and telling a good story, there is no real focus -- which really isn't a problem, since Baxter is able to maintain the breezy entertaining cadence of born raconteurs. And although like many raconteurs, his stories sometimes veer in unexpected directions and digressions, they are rarely unwelcome ones.
Baxter (a sometime fiction writer and noted film biographer) begins at the beginning, outlining his drab and dreary Australian childhood. Like so many bored kids, he found an outlet in books, films, and eventually pulp magazines. As a teen and young man, he grew up something of a science-fiction fanboy, joining the inner circle of Australia's minuscule sci-fi community, while working a dreary job for the national railroads. After some initial forays into writing (including bios for a porn mag), he heads to London, where his love affair with books turns him from a consumer into a collector. The reader tags along with Baxter as he hobnobs with the weird-but-true characters of the used book trade in London, before he heads off to Roanoke, Virginia to teach, then Los Angeles, and eventually Paris, accumulating and then shedding books along the way.
One has to accept that a lot of the authors and personalities he encounters and discusses aren't exactly household names -- especially for American readers. But the point is not name-dropping (well, maybe that's a little bit of the point), but to recall the bon mots and funny moments he's has around the literati and the scrubby "runners" who formed the backbone of the pre-internet used book trade. And as Baxter ages, the anecdotes shift from bidding on books off the back of a cart in a filthy London back lane, to the high tech book trade now conducted on Albiris and eBay. Collectors of any ilk will thrill along with Baxter as he recounts finding treasure troves of rarities in places overlooked by others -- hope springs eternal! And even if you're not a collector, it's hard not to smile at his colorful descriptions of such disparate scenes as outback movie theaters, '70s orgies (not something I expected in a book about books!), the peculiar nature of Paris bookshops, and the proper decor of one's office in a small Southern college.
To be sure, this is a book by a book lover and for other book lovers. That said, it's not 100% about books by any stretch, and the meandering prose has its dead spots. But on the whole, it's a pretty entertaining memoir, full of unexpected scenes and insights.
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Australian Book Lover
Rating  (3)
Date: 2005-03-15
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
The book is a mixture of tidbits about famous collectors, the author's coming of age in Australia, obscure collectibles/authors, and whatever else came to the author's mind. Maybe a hardcore collector could keep up with this account.
I gave it up after 118 pages. I love books and was interested in the Australian descriptions, but became discouraged by the disjointedness of the book.
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Discombobulation
Rating  (1)
Date: 2004-09-02
19 out of 24 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was a terrible disappointment. More of a memoir than anything about book-collecting, it was so disjointed it is hard to say what it was about or what the point was. There seemed to be no context or fabric to the book.
There were, however, HUNDREDS of references to obscure authors, actors, film-writers, magazines and books. There were pages at a time where I was completely lost because I had no idea about whom the author was speaking, but he wrote as if the person was well-known to the reader.
Baxter leads the reader around the world from his beginnings in Australia, thence to Britain to the US and ending in France. Again, there is no context. He would flip from a reference to the obscure artist, to an anecdote about himself or some bookseller or collector and then perhaps mention how he had acquired a book.
If viewed as a book about collecting books, you will not learn much. If viewed as a memoir, there was little that was interesting about the author's life and there was precious little about his life other than acquisitions.
There were a very few nuggets about what makes a book valuable or diminishes its worth to a collector, but they were too few and far between.
If you could not tell by now, I can not see much reason to read this book. I think Mr. Baxter flattered himself to think that either he or his collection would be of general interest.
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Memoir and Peek at the World of Book Collecting
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-08-18
9 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
I am a book collector and I enjoy my passion very much. Many people would say I'm obsessed but it only takes a book like this one to remind myself that I'm in the minor leagues.
Part memoir and part peek into the world of book collecting, Baxter tells of his youth in the wilds of Australia where, like many of us, he delved into the world of comic book and science fiction collecting. He matured along the way with an interest in Graham Greene before dumping that collection and moving onto other literary interests.
And he did not stay in the wilds of Australia forever. He travelled and made his way up in the world of film and publishing. Baxter has had the fortune as a film critic, writer and collector to meet a number of interesting people, from the writers he collected to eccentric bookmen like Martin Stone. The book has a definite British flavor, though Baxter has made some forays into the United States. Still, any book collector will see things he recognizes in Baxter's experiences and, in some cases, things we wished we could have experienced ourselves.
Let's face it, a person with a passion for book collecting will feel some jealousy when reading of some of Baxter's finds and encounters. Unfortunately, most of us do not have the means and/or opportunity to do some of the things Baxter has done. But this does not totally diminish the fun in seeing how he was able to come to have the experiences he had and it makes for a great read for anyone interested in books.
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A Literary Lesson
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-08-12
7 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
I rated this book 5*'s but not in the normal fashion.The title got my attention as I like "books about books";of which there are a varied lot.To start with,this book is well titled;A Pound of Paper,how unpretentious can you get?
Now, as to my rating:
As an overall book,I enjoyed it at times,at other times I found it a drag,I skipped a lot;but still couldn't put it down.
I rated it 5*'s;but only by adding up 5 single *'s:
1*-As a biography,for anyone who knows the author;I had not
heard of him.
1*- Stories about experiences of buying books and searching
for 1st.editions,inscribed tomes,etc.
1*-Telling what makes a bibliophile "tick".I noted many of
the same traits in myself.
1*- Description of book buying and selling in France.
1*- For the three appendicies.
Each of these areas was overshadowed by his experiences;but so many writers and books were of no interest to me and the whole of Sci-Fi leaves me cold as I don't tend to read much of it;although one with that interest would probably rate the book a 5*,for that material alone.Also,the book is heavily slanted to British and Aussie books and hardly mentions anything else.This is understandable as this was where he lived and where his interests lie.
Nevertheless any bibliophile will enjoy the book and it is really a 5*.I plan to keep it ,mainly for the appendicies.
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by Ruth E. Heidrich Ph.D.
ISBN: 193005100X
Paperback: 192 pages
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No writing, no highlighting, binding is firm. This is an EX LIBRARY copy with the usual library markings on the outside. The first page, which had library markings, was removed by the library. This is a decent reading copy, but not gift quality.
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Customer Reviews
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Disappointing
Rating  (2)
Date: 2004-07-22
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book had a lot of hype. The book was not what I expected. This is really more of how to triathlon book than anything else.The cancer and the food changes are mentioned but exercise is really the main focus. I think the regular reader would definitely have trouble relating to this book.
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Very inspirational
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-12-29
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I found the start of this book, which is a brief story of the author's life and healing from cancer through diet and natural means to be very inspiring. What she has gone through, what she has learned, and then what she has accomplished is truly inspirational and something we can each learn from and use in our lives.The rest of the book discusses various items of health and training, perhaps written more for the person new to the search for answers about health, training, and cancer in this confusing culture. I have been involved with triathlon for a couple of years now, and been on a plant based vegetarian diet for about six. And definitely sold on both of them for improving the quality of one's life. I would also like to recommend a couple related books on health and the prevention/curing of cancer. Those would be John Robbins books "The Food Revolution" and "Reclaiming Our Health". A couple recommendations for the athelete would be "The Inner Athlete" by Dan Millman and Dave Scott's "Triathlon Training". Dave's book is a little outdated, but inspirational as well since he has won 6 Ironman championships on a vegetarian diet, and also took 2nd by mere minutes when coming out of retirement in his 40's!
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Inspirational!
Rating (5)
Date: 2001-02-12
11 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
If you're looking for inspiration to lead you to a healthier lifestyle, you'll find it in this book, an autobiographical account of Ruth Heidrich's amazing journey from breast cancer and a double mastectomy to radiant health through a low-fat vegan diet and extensive fitness training. Contrary to medical advice, after her mastectomy, she immediately resumed running and refused treatments of chemotherapy and radiation. Instead, she chose to work with Dr. John McDougall on in experimental diet program. One of the first changes she noticed after starting a vegan diet was improved race times. She soon added biking and swimming to her regimen and in four years, she completed her first half marathon. Ruth's health and fitness level only went up from there to find her today as one the world's most impressive athletes. She completes an unbelievable four triathlons a year (for a total of over 60 races annually!), was inducted into the Gold's Gym Hall of Fame and, in 1999 was included in Living Fit Magazine's list of the 10 fittest women in America. Ruth is in her 60's now, and she's in better shape physically and emotionally than most people half her age. She travels the world today, running races, speaking, and inspiring young and old to take food and fitness seriously. She is a glowing example of the healing power of the human body when it is treated with the utmost respect.
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by Paula F. Pfeffer
ISBN: 0807120758
Paperback: 336 pages
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Used copy in very good condition. No writing, no highlighting. Moderate reading wear.
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by David Matthews
ISBN: 0805081496
Hardcover: 320 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Book in very good condition with VERY LIGHT reading wear. EX LIBRARY copy which did not spend much time in circulation before being released. Library markings present but no further markings or imperfections.
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Customer Reviews
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LOVING THIS
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-10-02
I'm only half way through the book and I'm absolutely loving it. Originally, I thought it was going to be a bit too heavy in subject matter and consist of things that are either over my head or that I can't relate to at all... but I don't want to put the book down! With the cleverness of Woody Allen and David Sedaris, and the earnestness of J.D. Salinger, Ace of Spades, is basically the perfect book.
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Sadly disappointed....
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-09-08
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I had seen the author on several talk shows and found his life story to be very interesting and inspiring. Unfortunately, that didn't translate into writing very well for me personally. I was excited to buy this book but found that I didn't get near the prospective I had gotten from his television interviews and felt more like there were others ways I could have spent that time. Sorry if I am offending anyone but this guy should stick to television because his story is one more people should hear, but they won't get it or learn from it if they only read the book.
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A compelling literary memoir, a singular treasure!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-03-08
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I've written a lengthier review of the book on the hardcover link, but purchased the kindle version for my husband. There's little doubt that Matthews' story is harrowing, and indicative of life in 20th century america, in terms of race, but also class, and family. I would suggest to the reviewer above, who found it too difficult to look up words he/she didn't understand, to stick to less challenging material. This memoir is a challenging read, and the author seems to me to enjoy recruiting words from an earlier, more baroque era. A playful, "man out of time" feeling persists. And what, pardon my ignorance, determines a "fifty cent word?" Just because a word is unfamiliar, doesn't mean it doesn't have a specific meaning, and in Ace of Spades, words matter-- a lot. It is a book for those who love the written word and consider the english language a rich and varied treasure. Matthews employs words in a playful manner, confounding the readers' expectations. At least mine. Your mileage may vary. I for one, love to finish a book knowing more than I did when I began.
Matthews asserts in the book that words, books, literally saved his life, so to my mind it's no sin if he chooses to use words from parts of the dictionary that others can't be bothered to mine.
To dismiss a story as unique and heartbreaking as this one because it's an unabashedly literary--as opposed to movie of the week accessible--memoir, is intellectually lazy.
By the "50 cent word to tell a five cent story" logic, if we extrapolate, then a chef who uses arucola instead of iceberg lettuce is making a nine dollar variation on what should be a 2.50 blue plate special. Words have value beyond their individual meanings. The way they sound, the way they look on the page, the way they create a sense of time, place, rhythm. They should not read like AP reports. David Matthews' story is important, and the telling is unforgettable. I could have done with two or three less footnotes, but Matthews is a writer who goes for it; and not many aspire to those heights these days. I highly recommend it to those who don't mind grabbing a thesaurus every once in a while. Words is good. Don't be afraid.
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Not worth it.
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-02-20
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Not worth it. I'm sure Mr. Matthews has something to say, but I only made it to page #75 before I finally gave up on this book. If you don't have a dictionary to carry around with you while reading this book, you'll soon find out what I mean. Mr. Matthews uses $100 words far too much to tell a fifty cent story.
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Author's extreme anger displaces possibility of resonance
Rating (1)
Date: 2007-08-21
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
The last pages of this memoir are beautiful in their simplicity and completeness. The author wraps up the strands of numerous themes in a sentimental manner.
That said, the anger he displays in thought and action in several incidents does cause the reader to wonder if he shares a few similarities with his mother. One of the most grotesque incidents is found on page 258 when he responds to a racial epithet from a child -- a child! -- with an imagined rape of the child.
This is not just a book about racial identity;it is also a man's problem with anger that just as readily could have come from a place before race.
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by Armando Valladares
ISBN: 1893554198
Paperback: 423 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No writing, no highlighting. This is a used copy with reading/ shelf wear.
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Does more for freedom and faith in God than all the books by intellectuals
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-05
Mandatory reading for humans, along with Jorge Masetti's In the Pirate's Den, which allows to see the other side: the middle-class, comfortable punk turned communist, the appropriate accolyte for Castro's genocide.
This book is a victory of faith and resistance against totalitarianism. Castro deceived the poor, the peasants of Cuba, he perverted the revolution those humble people were expecting. Castro had declared a thousand times that he was not a communist and that the revolution was "greener than palm trees", but when he got the power he proclaimed unashamedly the true nature of his beast.
This books stands as an invaluable monument to the Cubans whom Castro broke but never bent. Those who refused to say: "Yes, Commissar, I have done wrong. I accept Political Rehabilitation because I see now that communism is the only just system, and it alone can bring happiness to humanity" (p.358).
Notes on communism: "The authorities thought, moreover, that weeding out the cabecillas (leaders) would leave the less educated, less 'dangerous' prisoners, lacking leadership, easier to manipulate ... but if there is any ideology based completely on a misunderstanding of human behavior and the workings of men's psyche, their motivations, that ideology is without doubt marxism ... time would show that every man's conscience, system of values, and personal pride were what led him to resist. No man needed another to show him the way" (p.219).
"A communist always seems to prefer an angry, blurted, uncontrolled manner (of speech from their opponents). The truth, spoken calmly to his face always exasperates him. As what I said was unarguable, the two men turned angrily and walked away." (p.477).
I have to encourage the reader to get hold of this astounding book if only for the story of Alfredo Izaguirre (pp.239-242): "The only prisoner I know of who never performed any forced labor for his jailers -not even a minute's. It is fitting that his name go down in the history of the rebellion of the Cuban political prisons."
On Castro's true revolutionary companions: (Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo) "led the bloody fighting against Batista's Army (in the mountains of Escambray), he had the sympathy of every peasant there -but Eloy had fought to establish a truly democratic system in Cuba, not another dictatorship. Therefore when he saw that Castro was becoming a tyrant, he fled the country; a while later he came back with a small group of armed men who tried to reach the mountains to continue the struggle. But he was trapped, captured and sentenced to 30 years in prison".
"Rafael del Pino had been one of Castro's closest allies when Castro was in Mexico preparing the Granma landing. One night Castro confided his plans for Cuba to Rafael, and Rafael was so shocked at their totalitarian aspect that he abandoned Fidel. Castro never forgave Rafael that 'betrayal' ... Rafael was jailed". In 1977 he died in jail. "No one ever saw the body. The Ministry of the Interior flatly refused to turn it over to his family."
"Ex-commander Mario Chaves, who had assaulted the Moncada barracks with Castro, been in prison with him, and accompanied him on the Granma landing, was brutally beaten (in jail) and literally dragged to the punishment cells" (p.458)
Pierre Golendorf, a French marxist intellectual who had come to Cuba and worked for the Cuban government ... realized that the island was one big farm that Castro ran like a slave plantation ... he wrote letters about the lie the revolution had turned into ... the political police accused him, like everyone who stood up to the revolution, of being an agent of the CIA. He got 3 years and 2 months in prison. "The tribunals do nothing but read sentences (imposed by politicians)". Spain is not very different today. See how judge Gómez de Liaño was disposed of his toga for sentencing a big pro-government media shot (the El País media group).
Children of the Devil: "One would naturally assume him to be a doctor, but he wasn't. He had been a traveling salesman for medical supply companies. This man, "Dr" Herrera Sotolongo, a Spanish communist, had fled to Cuba because of the civil war in Spain, and thanks to the solidarity of the Cuban revolution with Spanish communism, he had become chief of all medical services of all jails and prisons in Cuba. And you always had to call him doctor, or he wouldn't answer you. He knew nothing at all about medicine, of course, but he was a man the leader could trust." (p.233-234)
The Western world's ignominious role: Conversation between Martha, Valladares' wife, and Pierr Schori, social-democrat big shot in Sweden: "-So if you know there's an implacable dictatorship in Cuba, if you know all liberties have been suspended, why don't you speak out? -Because that would be giving the Americans a publicity weapon." (!!) "Schori warned her not to speak to the press about this interview. Perhaps he didn't want to provoke Fidel."
This undescribable book by Valladares, who should be the president of Cuba and give Castro a tour of his own jails and lacks, ends by remembering one of the anonymous victims in this genocide, a Christian martyr at his moment of death: "a heart overflowing with love, raising his arms to the invisible heaven and pleading for mercy for his executioners. 'Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.' And a burst of machine-gun fire ripping open his breast."
Valladares writes beautifully, and even through all the horrors od more than 20 years of torture described here he keeps a tone of hope, of mysterious sanity and confidence all along, and which assures him that what he's doing is write, according to his conscience and to the power the Almighty God sustains him with. Why is this book unpublished in Spanish-speaking countries or so hard to find? That's another ignominy.
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It Will Change You, For Sure
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-06-06
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this book in Spanish, in condensed form, when I was fourteen years old. (1987, to be exact) Twenty-one years later, I still think about it. It made an anti-Communist out of me, and made me absolutely abhor what Fidel and Raul have done to such a beautiful island as Cuba, and to its people, for almost fifty years.
Sure, you might say they have "free health care". Trust me: they have paid a terrible price for "free."
It should be a must-read, together with Vaclav Havel's essays, for those who need to know what Communism really is: the rottenness of the soul, and an ideology borne out of the bowels of hell itself. Nothing else can describe it.
Viva Cuba Libre! (And this from a boricua.)
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One of the saddest and most horrifying memoirs I've read!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-02-24
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
A beautiful and terrifying memoir of Castro's Cuba. This man suffered unspeakable injustices at the hands of Castro's servants. The honesty and heartfelt memories of this man persecuted by the Communists is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Wonderful testimony to the bravery and courage of the human spirit in the face of horrible odds.
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Makes Shawshank seem like a Club Med
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-10-15
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Another Amazon reviewer got it right when he wrote that this book should be given to all one's deluded friends sporting hip "Che" T-shirts. This eye-opening, stomach-churning account of the author's 22 years in Cuban prisons, the conditions of which make Shawshank seem like a Club Med, demolishes the romanticized memory of "freedom fighters" like Che and exposes the lie that Castro's Revolution created a socialist paradise. And it highlights Communism's inability to understand or erase one of the most important traits of human nature: our hunger for individual freedom and personal dignity.
Valladares wastes no time plunging us into a hell Dante himself could barely have imagined - on page one he is abducted in the middle of the night by the political police on trumped-up charges (having been denounced, he feels, by a jealous coworker for his disapproval of Castro's embrace of Communism), and before his prison odyssey is over, he endures and observes the worst extremes of totalitarian repression. The tension and the drama never let up, and often reach the breaking point. The litany of sadistic human rights abuses goes on page after page, every page; the degree of physical and psychological cruelty is so incomprehensible as to nearly defy belief. And yet Valladares and others maintain an almost superhuman strength of character and will to live that are inspirational and humbling. Amazingly, there are even flashes of humor and an ultimate triumph in this maddening and disturbing memoir.
Against All Hope is one of the most gripping books you will ever read. It has a compelling social conscience and an inspirational message of hope, faith, courage, determination, and even love, and it will leave you with a changed perspective on yourself and the world.
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Cuban paradise
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-07-05
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Give a copy of this book to all your friends wearing Che t-shirts. After so many descriptions of beatings and hunger strikes, you become numb to the next ones. I recall the AI campaigns in the 70s-80s to send letters and postcards to the Cuban and Soviet embassies just to remind them that the world was watching. Sadly today AI has degenerated into just another wacko outfit. The UN comes in for a beating of its own in this book, as it just sat back and closed its eyes, passing resolutions against Israel and other nonsense instead of putting pressure on Cuba. This continues today with Zimbabwe, NK, and others.
Take a look at "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" for a look at the same song, different verse.
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by James Srodes
ISBN: 0895262231
Paperback: 576 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Gently read copy in like new condition. No reading/ shelf wear.
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Customer Reviews
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Serious Book for Serious Professionals
Rating (4)
Date: 2000-05-28
7 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a book that had to be written and needs to be read by those who seek to understand Allen Dulles in greater depth. The author does break new ground and add valuable new detail to the history of Allen Dulles, and his hard work in bringing us this book merits appreciation. Having said that, I confess to three disappointments: 1) the use of years to demarcate the chapters, rather than meaningful titles, is both boring and representative of the book's lack of presentational "zing"; 2) the book obsesses on Allen Dulles as the center of the earth and leaves out the context within which Dulles achieved his successes-casual references to how he operated two additional French networks, for example, without covering the arduous and detailed path that led to the creation and maintenance of those networks, leave one feeling as if Dulles simply waved a magic wand to create networks whole-bodied and in full force; and 3) the conclusion of the book, purportedly a review of what Allen Dulles would see and feel if he examined today's intelligence community, is generally on target but rather terse-nothing that one could take to an incoming President to energize him into revitalizing and enhancing our national intelligence community. There are some gems in this book that reflect the author's dedication and merit notice: Richard Helms reflecting on how America came much too close to losing World War II; Walt Rostow on calming the Kennedy's and preventing a rash counter-attack once the Bay of Pigs was known to be a disaster-this is the stuff of history, and I therefore heartily recommend this book as a valuable contribution to our understanding of Allen Dulles' place in history.
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The best yet on Allen Dulles and his creation.
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-07-14
5 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a phenomenal book about both Allen Dulles and the intelligence world. If you have any interest at all in the subject, then put your pennies on the counter for a great read. Clearly Srodes has an inside track with the intel community and the reader benefits.
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Fascinating biography that rips right along
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-06-15
3 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a wonderful biography -- lots of drama and dirt, spycraft and sleaziness. Srodes paints a vivid picture of Dulles -- he gets into the pores of the man as well as the young CIA. A great read.
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by Alan Wolfe
ISBN: 0472098659
Hardcover: 336 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No publisher marks, no shelf wear.
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by Amiri Baraka
ISBN: 1556522312
Paperback: 496 pages
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. EX LIBRARY copy in an acceptable condition with reading wear. Library markings present, but no additional markings.
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Customer Reviews
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The Dutchman
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-02-23
I've read the script and seen the video. Fascinating, well-written examination of behavior, race, and social standards. Should be more well recognized as a great black writer.
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frankness, humor, self-examination ....
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-08-13
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Autobiographies, even by poets, rarely reach the depths of honest self-examination one finds in their poems. One has only to think of Kenneth Rexroth's tall stories or William Carlos Williams' evasions.
But Mr. Baraka's is different. His has been a journey from a middle class background in Newark (keeping in mind that it was not a white middle class), through Howard University's elitist social structure, the racism of the Air Force; his beginnings as a poet & his drift into Charles Olson's powerful gravity. Many of America's best white poets were among his friends & he did much to promote their careers along with his own. Then his turn toward leadership of the great Black Awakening of the Sixties, his move "uptown," his embrace of socialism & subsequent return to Newark where he continues to influence young writers & activists of all colors & ethnic backgrounds.
There are also his controversial plays, his feuds, marriages & arrests. Also his witnessing of the Newark Rebellion (the full deadly story never accurately reported in the press), his deep understanding of American culture & respect for authentic expression.
That's a lot to cover, but Baraka does so with frankness, humor, self-examination & an occasional willingness to admit error without loading up on pointless regrets.
A fine account of a fallible man who, even in his most angry moments, gives the world beautiful things. & that anger is usually over our failure to see the beauty of justice.
Bob Rixon, WFMU-FM
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