I was interested in reading this because I found Hutchinson totally fascinating during her January 6 hearing, and I wanted to know more about her. TheI was interested in reading this because I found Hutchinson totally fascinating during her January 6 hearing, and I wanted to know more about her. The present tense throughout put me off at first, but she did this at the hearings, too, so this must just be her style.
Knowing about her personal background and childhood adds depth to the story of how she got to the White House in the first place, a place where many of the employees were young, attractive women. And she was young to be in such a place--young, naive, and star-struck. But finding out about her very abusive father gave understanding as to how she could be so wrong about so many dominant males in the political world. Reading about her very capable, organized role model single mother provided insight into how her organizational skills were so honed that she could pay attention to many details, keep track of who she was meeting, and run the office as she did in the White House. It also explains how she knew to keep copious notes of what went on there. Without her extraordinary recordkeeping, her testimony and witnessing would have been weakened. I loved that when she first met her Trump-camp funded lawyer, she wanted a calendar so she could tell him what happened when, and he responded that she would not need to be that detailed in her responses.
Being a Congressional intern over several summers as she was must be heady to anyone who is interested in politics, but it can also put blinders on those people to what the real world is like. I can't excuse her being taken in by Trump, but it is riveting to read about how she finally realized what was happening and then had to work through the process of getting real lawyers and then being ready to tell the truth at the hearings. Regardless of what one thinks of her, her life has been transformed--it just remains to be seen if it will be for good or ill....more
This was a NYT notable book for 2011 or 2012, but I had not heard of it. Picked it up because I have just been reading in a WWII mystery series about This was a NYT notable book for 2011 or 2012, but I had not heard of it. Picked it up because I have just been reading in a WWII mystery series about the various factions of resistance France during WWII. This was not so much about the political differences of the factions but the stories of women who were trying to resist the Gestapo. Moorehead has done wonderful research on a group of 230 women--ages teens to 60's--who worked with different groups of resistors right after Germany invaded Franch and the Vichy capitulated to them. They were eventually identified and hauled off on a train to a holding jail in France and then sent in January 1943 to Auschwitz and some eventually on to Ravensbruck. Only 49 of these women survived. These women were idealistic and strong and put their lives on the line to maintain French ideals.
The initial introductions to some of the women was interesting-- what they did and how they got caught, but there were so many that it was hard to keep them straight. And that was true on throughout the book, although the stories were still painfully riveting and hard to read. The strength and saving grace, if that is the word that should even be used, for the women who survived was that they did really pull together and care about each other as much as they cared about their own survival, and that sense of them as all being together gave them a better chance of survival even over the male prisoners.
What was also very hard to read was what happened when they came back. Many of their fellow citizens did not really want to hear what they had been through, and in fact, many of their fellow citizens had actually supported the German infrastructure in the country in order to survive themselves. How does one have a community relationship with people who collaborated with the Germans when those self-same Germans were absolutely inhumane to the people in the work camps.
The very last quote from one of the survivors expressed how totally traumatic all of these events were to the victims and moved me greatly: " 'The life we wanted to find again, when we used to say "if I return" was to have been large, majestic full of colour.'" But the reality of life back in France was not at all that because the survivors felt they would be betraying the women who died if they could manage to enjoy life. And the survivor went on to say "'Looking at me, one would think that I am alive....I am not alive. I died in Auschwitz but no one knows it.'"
Hard to read but well researched. An important book....more
Fascinating and very detailed history of the 18 months or so before the U.S. was bombed at Pearl Harbor and finally got into WWII. The thrust of the bFascinating and very detailed history of the 18 months or so before the U.S. was bombed at Pearl Harbor and finally got into WWII. The thrust of the book is the battle between the isolationists who did not want to go to war with Germany and the interventionists who believed that if we did not help our British friends, we would be next to fall to Hitler. That is simplified, of course. Olson frames this battle as between FDR on the interventionist side and Lindbergh on the isolationist side, but there were many other players on both sides, and Olson gives many details and background on all those people.
This book came out in 2013, and what struck me over and over as I was reading it was just how many similarities there are to our country's history over the past 5 or 6 years. There was an isolationist organization with the name of America First. This is the group that Lindbergh was affiliated with--more than affiliated, in fact, as he used his heroic reputation to write op-ed pieces and give speeches in favor of not giving any aid to Britain. He exhibited anti-Semitism in some of these public statements, as well. There were fist fights in Congress over the issue of conscription. Dirty tricks and backstabbing among government officials went on all the time. Lindbergh does not come off well in this book, in case readers do not know much else about him after his famous trans-Atlantic flight. I came away from this book knowing a great deal more about and having a much more positive impression of Wendell Wilkie than I started with.
I like Olson's style in writing history, and this is the fourth title by her I have read in the last few years. She gives lots of background details, some may feel a bit too many details, perhaps, but it does flesh out the personalities of the people who were involved in making policy in these critical times. Not all of them come off well. Lindbergh certainly does not, but the details presented about his life after his son was abducted clarify some aspects of his later personal opinions.
I definitely understand much more about this time period and the arguments on both sides of the discussion about how much aid to offer Britain, etc. ...more
Really really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend to all. I really did not know much about rowing but have always thought it elegant and gracReally really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend to all. I really did not know much about rowing but have always thought it elegant and graceful. And now I know how absolutely physically challenging it is when done for competitions.
The story focuses on one of the members of the 1936 American Olympic rowing teams, but his story is representative of many of the young Washington college men on the team. The book reads like fiction in its interest level. Interspersing the rowing story with the timeline of the German activities carried out to put on this Olympics in the midst of Hitler's taking over the country is riveting. I have long been fascinated by the Olympia and Triumph of the Will films done by Leni Riefenstahl, and parts of the book are devoted to her and those films. Also featured is a history of the rowing rivalry between the Ivy League schools and the West Coast colleges who took it up as a sport. The Ivy League, of course, is where rowing landed in the US when it first came from Cambridge and Oxford universities. The West Coast teams from Washington and California were primarily made up of students who were sons of more working class parents and who, in many cases, did not know anything about rowing until they signed up for a sport in college. The intense rivalry between these two parts of the country was interesting.
The best parts are the inspiring stories of the coaches and crew members and of the lovely English boatbuilder George Pocock. Pocock seemed to have such insights into the personalities of the student crew members, and his love for and appreciation of the wood he build the boats with for crew teams all over the country was truly moving. I wished I could have met him. Brown's writing style added a great deal to the book's flow. His descriptions of the "oneness" the crew needed to not only win but support every other member of the team was almost poetic....more
A very compelling and interesting memoir by an author I really like. I was able to hear Winspear speak once at a library event, and she talked then (aA very compelling and interesting memoir by an author I really like. I was able to hear Winspear speak once at a library event, and she talked then (and this was much earlier in her Maisie Dobbs series) about how her grandfather's WWI experience influenced her writing of her series. Reading this enhanced the series for me. So many tidbits that are in the books have come from her and her family's own personal experiences.
Winspear's family had some very hard financial times, and as with anyone who was born in the 40's or 50's in more rural parts of the country (Britain or the US), the amenities of 2oth century life were just not there. It is interesting to see how she got to where she is now from a fairly rough beginning. Winspear picked hopsand all sorts of other produce even as a very young girl, she had to carry trees and chop wood for the stove, worked several jobs at one time as a teen, and she seems to have taken all that in her stride. Interesting, too, to hear about the conflicts she had with her mother.
I definitely think it would be best to read this after reading most of her Dobbs series, but it definitely deepens the enjoyment of the fiction....more
Fact: The body wears out over time, and death is a part of life. Fact: People fear losing their sense of selves and independence in some ways more thaFact: The body wears out over time, and death is a part of life. Fact: People fear losing their sense of selves and independence in some ways more than they fear death itself. Fact from Gawande's book: "In the United States, 25% of all Medicare spending is for the 5% of patients who are in their final year of life, and most of that money goes for care in their last couple of months that is of little apparent benefit."
This book addresses many issues around aging, how to live with disease and illness, how doctors should talk with people who have severe issues for which the treatments may in fact be far worse than the measures needed to treat them, ideal (if there can be such things) facilities to enable residents to retain a sense of themselves as they face their ends, and more. Workers in our health care system find it easy to address specific problems, but treating the personhood of the patient in front of the doctors is often hard and not actually taught in medical schools. Or perhaps, since this book came out in 2014, more of this is now being addressed.
Very powerful book, which so many others have reviewed in more and better details.
Reading his stories of people he has met along his career path as well as personal experiences of family members dealing with cancers, dementia, etc. was moving. This is an important for people in their senior years to read and to share with their children.
Something he says near the end was especially touching: "Technological society has forgotten what scholars call the 'dying role' and its importance to people as life approaches its end. People want to share memories, pass on wisdoms and keepsakes, settle relationships....and ensure that those who are left behind will be okay. They want to end their stories on their own terms. This role is, observers argue, among life's most important, for both the dying and those left behind." Everyone, no matter their age, should have the chance to end their story on their own terms. ...more
There is so much to pull one into this book! Another one I have wanted to read for a couple of years. I was born in Oklahoma but had never been there There is so much to pull one into this book! Another one I have wanted to read for a couple of years. I was born in Oklahoma but had never been there until I have had the occasion to drive through several times in the past few years. I was surprised by how lovely parts of it are and by how many different Indian nations the highway goes through. I was only superficially aware of the history of the tribes there, and I finally wanted to read this because there is now going to be a movie, and I wanted to come to this with no preconceived ideas.
Yes, there are many characters and names, but author Grann does a great job of bringing all the various threads of stories together into one spell-binding read and which left me with an "enraged" (as one of my book club friends called it) response to the handling of the Osage tribal murders over many years. So many injustices done at many levels.
Other people have written good analyses of the book, but I need to stress just how impressive Grann's research was in putting this together. As a librarian, it is always impressive to see someone appreciate, list and pay homage to the National Archives and Record Services, various state historical societies, etc. in their books. The research was amazing, and it was so moving that Osage members kept giving Grann documents they had pulled together in the hopes he would finally be able to provide some answers to their questions.
This was a compelling read and should be widely read....more
Finally picked this book up after being curious about it for years. As someone whose own children never knew their grandparents, I appreciate his effoFinally picked this book up after being curious about it for years. As someone whose own children never knew their grandparents, I appreciate his efforts in trying to provide life context for his children since he will not be able to do it for them as they get older. What would any of us want our children to know about us and our time learning our own life lessons if we knew we would not be there to tell them? And even when we are there and talk to our children and try to share things we think are important, do these things really sink in with the same magnitude that they will from being in a published bestseller?
The book is a fast read. Randy definitely seemed like a geeky guy even when young and even by his own admission. At the same time, Randy was a product of a specific social status and ethnic group, and his childhood experiences would not be everyone's. I can see that some readers might not have the same sympathy for his life lessons.
Having said that, I cannot fault Randy's lessons. He provides good background on each of the specific lessons he lists in how to best live your life. My favorites were the lost art of thank you notes, no job is beneath you, the $1000,000 salt and pepper set, and always show gratitude.
Maybe the book struck such a chord with the public, not only because of the death of a father of three but because these life lessons are what used to be considered a basic part of how to treat people. We seem to have gotten away from those more manners-driven, unentitled feeling, un-socially mediated times. Even in 2008 when the book came out, people were becoming more politically and socially divided. It certainly does serve to make us think about what is important to us in our lives....more
Excellent book on so many levels. Anyone interested in the history of broadcast journalism should read this, as should anyone wanting to know more aboExcellent book on so many levels. Anyone interested in the history of broadcast journalism should read this, as should anyone wanting to know more about Edward R. Murrow and the group of journalists he gathered and mentored to cover the war in Europe for CBS radio. William Paley hired him and let him more or less have free reign with setting up original foreign coverage of Europe for the CBS radio network, something that most networks were not doing in 1937.
I had heard of this group but had no idea how really small the group was or who was in it, and I certainly did not know anything about where these journalists came from and how they ended up being rather cast aside when television really came into its own. Paley, once a positive force for the group, became a henchman to them in their later lives. But the personal stories of Murrow and the Boys are fascinating reading.
This is the third book I have read fairly recently about WWII history by Lynn Olson, who was a journalist earlier on and co-wrote this with her husband, also a journalist. Their (and her) style of writing non-fiction --compels one to keep reading. There are many facts, but they are told in such an engaging and personalized way that the reader really gets a sense of the people being discussed as real humans. This band of journalists went through life-threatening events together in some cases, some went through the horrors of the Blitz together, and they were true friends with their own sets of issues, jealousies, professional scores to settle. Some of what happened to them as people, as with any group of people, was poignant and painful to read.
Americans listening to these men (and 1 woman) on the air really trusted what they were being told, they listened and reacted to the facts that the journalists gave them, and then they formed their own opinions of the facts. The book traces how television ratings and sponsor issues really diminished what the public thought about how they got their news. It became more about entertainment, good looking faces, etc. This book came out in 1996, and of course, cable news has diminished news casting even more.
I found this history of WWII American-British--and other Allied-- political and personal relationships engaging and interesting. Olson uses three wellI found this history of WWII American-British--and other Allied-- political and personal relationships engaging and interesting. Olson uses three well-known (at the time) Americans (John Gilbert Winant, Avril Harriman, and Edward R. Murrow) who were in London and in Churchill's daily circle during much of the lead-up to the war and during the Blitz and other bombing periods as the focus for a cultural history of London in WWII. Not only were all three men involved in the war policy evolution of the U.S and Britain during this critical time, but all three men were romantically involved with different women in Churchill's family. The interpersonal relationships author Olson describes illustrate the very intense, life-on-the-edge sense of the times in London. She describes how the three Americans and Churchill felt the drabness of life once the war was truly over.
The book was not just about these three men but the time in general, and Olson's description of daily life and its deprivations for the British citizens as the war progressed and how it contrasted to the way most of the Americans could live in the same city was painful to read.
I had never heard of Winant, who replaced Joseph Kennedy as American Ambassador to Britain. I am sure I am not alone in not knowing his name. That is too bad, because he really did epitomize how a truly altruistic public servant should live and represent America. Murrow, of course, set the standard forever for journalists. The impression of Harriman one comes away with is that he was shallow and always looking out for himself, unable to recognize or admire the qualities and good ideas in others if it did not include burnishing his own reputation.
These were not the only Americans Olson discusses and includes in her history. Many of the other principals in the Roosevelt administration, including the president himself, and in the British Cabinet are also extensively covered. I particularly enjoyed the sections on Eisenhower, who really seemed to mirror Winant's "we are truly in this together" attitude instead of the Anglophobic or anti-American views of many of the upper levels of government representatives on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, in some ways, it is a wonder the Allies won the war as there were so many jealousies, poor communication, misguided and incompetent efforts in various areas of the military efforts.
Olsen's style is engaging and makes the period come alive. Highly recommended even if people have read other titles on this time period....more
I heard Lesley Blume interviewed on a radio show two years ago, and it prompted me to buy and read her book. It is a very interesting, extremely readaI heard Lesley Blume interviewed on a radio show two years ago, and it prompted me to buy and read her book. It is a very interesting, extremely readable story about how journalist John Hersey and New Yorker editors Harold Ross and Wallace Shawn unfolded in a "scoop" manner to American (and eventually the world) readers just how damaging the bomb at Hiroshima had been in 1945. Her book, which has exhaustive footnotes at the end, presents the history of the bomb itself and the attempts to cover up its horrific effects on the civilian population by the military and government administrations following the bombing.
The book has three threads: the history and damage of the atomic bombs in Japan that supposedly ended the war, the history of John Hersey as a journalist and then that of how he decided to focus on six Japanese individuals to personalize the bomb's damage (instead of a straight news type story with facts and figures), and then last but not least the efforts of the New Yorker to present a major untold story to the world before any other news organization did.
All three parts of the story are fascinating. There was definite government hiding of and lying about the scope of the damage as well as successful attempts to keep journalists from visiting Hiroshima to actually see the damage. Blume believes strongly in open access by the press to government information, and she uses the facts of this story to argue that case. Anyone who reads the New Yorker and knows its reputation will find the high level of secrecy of the story's publication riveting. Instead of putting the story out in four parts serially over four weeks, the decision was made to devote the entire issue of the magazine to the story. This had never been done before. Only the three principals (Hersey, Ross and Shawn) knew of the plan, and Shawn drove the final draft of the story to the printers to make sure no one else found out.
History brought alive anew. I have never read Hiroshima by Hersey, but I will now. Highly recommended.
Updated review from August, 2023. Just reread this book after seeing the movie Oppenheimer. Leslie Groves, the overseer of the Manhattan Project also figures in the story of the aftermath reporting John Hersey did for his book Hiroshima. This is a fairly quick read, and it will resonate with most people who see the movie in fleshing out what happened after the bomb was exploded August 6, 1945 in Japan. Still highly recommended....more
Back in 1982--a lifetime ago--we moved to Kansas City, MO from western New York and ended up living close to where Calvin Trillin went to and graduateBack in 1982--a lifetime ago--we moved to Kansas City, MO from western New York and ended up living close to where Calvin Trillin went to and graduated from high school. He was known for his writing then, was famous as a local boy made good, and in 1983 he wrote a hugely long but very informative New Yorker column on the American Royale, an annual horse show that was held in Kansas City at the time and even in 1983 seemed a bit of an anachronism. That column really solidified for me the identity quandary of Kansas City we noticed upon moving there--too far north geographically to be southern, too far south to be northern, to far west to be eastern, and too far east to be western-- and I still have that copy of the article in my files.
Because he was on our radar, his food books (American Fried, Alice, Let's Eat and Third Helpings) many of which covered iconic restaurants in Kansas City, were devoured and laughed at. They definitely included stories about his wife. She was singular, Calvin adored her, and they seemed to have had a very happy life together. This brief book is his tribute to her after she died. I read it when it first came out, given to me by my husband. When I came across it recently while weeding my shelves, I decided to sit right down and read it again. It was as lovely this time as the first time. It's a very short read, and anyone who has enjoyed Trillin's writings in the New Yorker or the Nation or his books would relish this. We all should have someone who could love and describe us in our marriages as Calvin did Alice. ...more
When someone defines themselves as stoical, he or she generally means they can bear hardship or pain without displaying negative feelings or complaintWhen someone defines themselves as stoical, he or she generally means they can bear hardship or pain without displaying negative feelings or complaints. This very accessible book explains why that is really much more negative than what the philosophy of Stoicism is all about. Author Irvine is or was a philosophy professor who had not read widely about Stoicism but felt the need to fashion a philosophy of life for himself that would allow for meaning and thoughtfulness before he came to die and wonder if he had wasted his time on earth. After studying Greek and Roman Stoics, he came to feel that this philosophy can lead one to fashion a life one can look back on happily. It can fit with religious or non-religious world views--it is more attitude than a set of strict beliefs. Irvine feels Stoicism is more conducive to fashioning a philosophy for a good life than Zen Buddhism, with which he was more familiar originally.
Stoicism allows followers to appreciate what they have when they have it and to not be concerned about what they don’t have. Tranquility comes with an absence of negative emotions and the presence of positive ones. It comes when we accept the impermanence of everything--thus we can enjoy those moments, things, people we have right now. Another aspect of this is the graceful acceptance of aging and infirmity and death as just more steps along the path of life.
An interesting book. It would serve as an introduction, probably, to deeper reading, and Irvine has suggestions for that at the end of the book. I did feel it could have been better edited for repetitive ideas, but it was easy reading....more
Poems by Victoria change on her mother's death by pulmonary fibrosis, her father's dementia and decline, and her own thoughts on death as she cares foPoems by Victoria change on her mother's death by pulmonary fibrosis, her father's dementia and decline, and her own thoughts on death as she cares for her parents and daughters. The poems are not so poetic in form as poetically written obituaries, even in the same format as those you would see in the paper.
The title came recommended in a list of books on grieving, and it was lovely, moving, expanding to read them....more
Just saw this on the library shelf. I do not aactively seek out Berg books for some reason, but I enjoy them when I have them. This is her memoir of aJust saw this on the library shelf. I do not aactively seek out Berg books for some reason, but I enjoy them when I have them. This is her memoir of about a year dealing with her aging parents as they get to the inevitable position of having physical and mental health issues which meant major life changes would be taking place for them. You know from the beginning how it will end. But in this it really is a case of "the journey not the arrival matters." (Leonard Woolf)
Elizabeth Berg and I are the same age, and I found some of her memories of her early life with her mother and mother's sisters very familiar--especially when she describes "spot" washing in a big pan in the kitchen, using the wringer washing machine, and ironing sheets and even the uncle's underwear. All of those things brought back memories.
My parents were much older than her parents and both died over 30 years ago, but we went through the same hard conversations and emotional roller coasters that Berg describes about her parents. I just did not have them around as long as she did, nor did I always have the understanding of their situation that I would have now, just being older myself. I guess even though I am done with doing all that for my parents, I picked it up to see how someone else might fare with the situation.
It was poignant and certainly worth reading whether it is because you are dealing with parents yourself or because you want to learn what to avoid or how it will be as you get g closer to the same point in your own life. Doesn't take long to read, and it shows a lot of humanity....more
This is a hard book to describe--part memoir, part nature-writing, part self-help, and part just explorations of topics of interest to the author. TheThis is a hard book to describe--part memoir, part nature-writing, part self-help, and part just explorations of topics of interest to the author. The thrust of it is how to deal with difficult times--which could be illness, grief, depression, job anxieties, etc. I am not sure this is something I would normally have picked up to read, but it was a gift from a person very important to me. And even then, the first few pages left me wondering if the author was someone I could really sympathize with. But as I read and digested what May was saying about many subjects, I was really drawn in by her very lovely writing style, literary allusions and connections, and by what she was going through in her life.
She lives in Britain, she seems to have money to travel (to colder climes, generally), and she certainly has experiences in her daily lives for which most of us have not scope for, but her meditative way of writing and thinking about things was calming and enlightening to me. One comment really spoke to me (of several I noted) : "...that's what grief is--a yearning for that one last moment of contact that would settle everything."
Just as I was finishing the book, she was interviewed on a Krista Tippett's "on Being" radio show, which I listened to the unedited version of, and I found that very enjoyable, too. She discusses how she was diagnosed with Asperger's when she was 38 years old in the book, and that is interestingly fleshed out more in the interview. Knowing that fact made me feel a bit different about my initial perceptions of the book. Several other parts of that interview also added to the depth of thoughts I had about the book.
This title would not be for everyone. Reading about difficult times for strangers is not always uplifting for some readers. I am glad I persevered. I will be thinking about some of this for awhile....more
The author was recommended by a grief counselor through a friend of mine. It was helpful, although some parts were repetitive. Still, I was trying to The author was recommended by a grief counselor through a friend of mine. It was helpful, although some parts were repetitive. Still, I was trying to read through it in a fairly short time since I borrowed from another library through ILL and I did not want to buy. There is a workbook that goes with it, but for me that would not be so helpful. And it did provide some very good insights I noted for later referral....more
Very useful to read other people's experiences in losing a child. The women whose stories were told were members of Compassionate Friends, and so theyVery useful to read other people's experiences in losing a child. The women whose stories were told were members of Compassionate Friends, and so they are somewhat used to talking about their bereavement experiences. But they all had different stories and different experiences, and they were all comforting. One can see oneself in many parts of these stories....more