Book Description
The last Tsaritsa of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna, was murdered with her family on the night of 16-17 July 1918 by agents acting on behalf of the revolutionary Bolshevik government. The recently declassified 1918 diary of Alexandra-published here for the first time in its entirety-provides something no other account could do: a glimpse of the Tsaritsa`s thoughts and activities from 1 January 1918 until the night of her death. The introduction by Robert Massie places Alexandra in the historical context of the Revolution, her marriage to Nicholas, and the tragic events that encompassed her, her family, and her nation.
Customer Reviews:
what i think.......2002-06-20
Alix's diary is a most important document,
it reveals her , but in a very different way to say
how her letters do.in her diary, it is of chief importance
to note the things she leaves out, and how laconic the
text itself is.this tells as much about her at the time
than had she written pages about her feelings and experiences.
This is an extremely important book, the last page is
agonising - the "ex-Tsarina" has written in a fine and clear
hand "July 17th" - but the page is blank. We have to read
what Alexandra didnt write - between the lines.her last
diary reveals her final states of mind, her humaness, her fear,
in those last terrible words, in the entry for July 16th.
Alix has written her own memorial here, and it is a just tribute.
Final Record Invaluable to Romanov Enthusiasts.......2000-01-26
It is ironic that, being the most private of persons, many of the last Tsarinia's most intimate thoughts are now available in several books, including this recently declassified diary of her final days. However, readers who search out this book are probably sympathetic, and will find her daily entries of interest and sometimes moving. Alexandra wasn't writing a best-selling novel -- simply a daily account of the tedium of their imprisonment, and how she, her family, and attendants passed the time -- but for those interested in Alix, her husband, and children, this book is a valuable link to their final days. The introduction, essay by Jonathan Brent, and other sections are all appropriate accompaniment. It will be interesting to see if excerpts from the children's diaries also are eventually published; several books compiled and edited by Russian archivists already have quoted from some of those diaries.
If you are interested in the last tsar and his family, I invite you to contact me at whitcombj@juno.com.
Fascinating but only for the true fanatic.......1999-07-04
As many reviewers have said, the very monotony of Aleksandra's last diary gives it an eerie significance. However, beyond that, there is little to recommend it. Entries, spaced one to a page, mostly consist of a single brief paragraph, and the content is boring-- notes on the weather, her health, the health of her children. "Sat for 10. m[inutes] on the balkony [sic]." It is a very short book, and a very quick read. Only for the true Romanov fanatic (of which I am one), I'm afraid. Aleksandra's letters and the letters & diaries of the others who shared her captivity are far more interesting.
Chilling monotony.......1998-01-07
Tsaritsa Alexandra had no idea, of course, that this was her last diary or that anyone besides herself would ever read it. Since we know the ultimate fate of this unhappy woman the banality and monotony of the last few months of her life have an unintentional sense of tragedy. How sad, for example, that she took the time to note the birthdays of various royal connections, people she would never see again and who in some cases (such as George V of England) had abandoned her and her family to their fate. A brief but compulsive read
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful way to learn history!
- Awesome Book
- Love it!
- Anastasia Romanov
- Not that good
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Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914 (The Royal Diaries)
Carolyn Meyer
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
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ASIN: 0439129087 |
Amazon.com
Anastasia is a carefree young duchess, daughter of Nicholas Alexandrovitch Romanov, tsar of all the Russias in 1914. While her father attends to the turbulent affairs of a vast and complex country, Anastasia's major concerns are how to get out of her detested schoolwork to play in the snow, go ice skating, or have picnics. She wears diamonds and rubies, and every morning her mother tells her which matching outfit she and her three sisters shall wear that day. Slowly a hint of future trouble enters her happy, pampered life. Anastasia's younger brother, the future tsar, is a hemophiliac--a "bleeder" who cannot stop bleeding if he is cut or bruised. Anastasia begins to learn that all is not well in the outside world, either. Not everyone in Russia worships her father as she does, and the Germans are about to declare war on Russia. Anastasia's world gradually deteriorates, as reported in her youthful, often playful journal.
As Russia entered World War I, hunger and poverty grew among the peasants, and the Romanov ruling family began to lose favor, culminating in their murders--including Anastasia's--by Bolshevik revolutionaries. This fictionalized diary of the mischievous youngest daughter's last four years gives a fascinating glimpse into a life of unlimited wealth--and the subsequent downward spiral. Historical notes, family trees, and photographs round out Carolyn Meyer's compelling contribution to the popular Royal Diaries series. (Ages 9 to 14) --Emilie Coulter
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful way to learn history!.......2007-09-28
We have really learned history from the Royal Diary series. It gives a wonderful time frame to set history in. It really helps you to remember what you need to know!
Awesome Book.......2006-11-28
I'm a fan of the Royal Diaries series, and this is the best of the books. I read this book over and over again. I liked the way that you could tell that the children, especially Anastasia and Alexei, grew up throughout the four years that the novel took place. I also liked the glimpse it gave of the lavish lifestyle that the Romanovs led, and I was extremely saddened to learn of their fate. I do not believe that Anna Anderson was really Anastasia. I think that Anastasia died along with her family that fateful day in July. But if you would like to read the Royal Diaries series, this is a great book to start off with.
Love it!.......2006-11-27
I liked this book A LOT Cos it showed Anastasia life befor she was killed.And Cannot understand why Anna Anderson Would Pretend to be Anastasia! (DNA says so) Sometimes the Plot would get a little boring but it always went back up to Good.I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Anastasia Romanov.......2006-07-04
This book gets only exciting at the end when the Romanovs get arrested. 'till then, Anastasia led a boring life. I do not recommend this book to anyone, and do not be fooled by the other reviewers, this book is definitely not good. ( But gets slightly better at the end)
Not that good.......2006-07-03
I do not think this book is as good as I thought it would be. It is a very boring diary and definitely the Marie Antoinette book is better.I do not like the book about Cleopatra much either.The book on Anastasia just talks about when she goes to picnics and other palaces and when she went on yatchs. Since I heard so many good reviews on this book, I thought on buying this book, but it turnes out it is'nt that good. I cannot believe people actually like this book even. Anastasia led a boring life and she recorded it in her boring diary.
Book Description
At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. At times raw, at times lyrical and youthfully sentimental, her voice transcends cultures to speak of her dignity and compassion and of her challenges in the face of the war’s ceaseless fury.
The American officer who discovered the diary soon after Dr. Tram’s death was under standing orders to destroy all documents without military value. As he was about to toss it into the flames, his Vietnamese translator said to him, “Don’t burn this one. . . . It has fire in it already.” Against regulations, the officer preserved the diary and kept it for thirty-five years. In the spring of 2005, a copy made its way to Dr. Tram’s elderly mother in Hanoi. The diary was soon published in Vietnam, causing a national sensation. Never before had there been such a vivid and personal account of the long ordeal that had consumed the nation’s previous generations.
Translated by Andrew X. Pham and with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Frances FitzGerald, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace is an extraordinary document that narrates one woman’s personal and political struggles. Above all, it is a story of hope in the most dire of circumstances—told from the perspective of our historic enemy but universal in its power to celebrate and mourn the fragility of human life.
Customer Reviews:
A tender and wise book.......2007-09-30
This is a poignant and sad book. The perspective, the daily survival experience of a guerrilla force fighting a technologically sophisticated army, is unique in literature. This perspective obviously speaks to many similar experiences around the world (Chechyna, Iraq, Timor, South Sudan, etc.) --that reaches beyond the political labels that get attached to the various partisans.
Yes, the book is somewhat tendentious and overwritten but that is the charm of the honesty of her writing. After all, she was not writing for us, she was writing for herself about her lost love, the sexual tensions in medicine, the fear, the fatigue, the disappointments both political and medical. The reader should accept this voice as one might listen to any young person coming and talking about how confused this crazy destructive madness is. And yet, despite her voice--here is a barely trained doctor--operating without infrastructure, making medical judgments far beyond her experience and training. In this sense, she is older than most of us.
A view of military medicine from the other side.......2007-09-29
Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
Two years ago my colleagues at the Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi gave me a copy of the recently published diary of Dang Thuy Tram. It was apparent that they were very moved by the contents of that diary. Unfortunately for me, the diary was written in Vietnamese. I could do little more that wait for a translation of the text.
Working and teaching at the Bach Mai Hospital Department of Intensive Care Medicine since 1997, I knew why I was given the copy of the diary. During my association with my Vietnamese colleagues, I had often lamented that unlike American military physicians, Vietnamese military physicians didn't write about their military medicine experiences. A frequent response to my queries had been that the experiences of Vietnamese physicians in the wars were so difficult, so harsh and so painful, over such extended periods, that Vietnamese physicians who survived the conflicts didn't wish to recall those devastating hardships. I tried to point this out in my recently published book - A DOCTOR'S VIETNAM JOURNAL, and credit the brave physicians who labored for the other side.
The recent arrival of the translation of the diary of Dang Thuy Tram - LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE, provides us with the story of a young female physician's personal hardships and struggles to provide medical care under extremely difficult conditions and with inadequate resources. Like most military physicians working with patients in battle-zone settings, the respect, gratitude and in her case, the love of her patients, appeared to carry her through the most difficult times.
This brave and compassionate young lady suffered much during the two years of her military service, which ended with her own traumatic death.
Fortunately, her story survives through her diary which introduces us to a noble, idealistic and heroic young physician.
Timeless Concerns.......2007-09-24
Read LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE, keeping in mind her words are from a diary, not an edited book. Dang Thuy Tram says her diary "... is not only for my private life. It must also record the lives of my people and their innumerable sufferings, these folks of steel from this Southern land." Her latter purpose is apparent when she quotes Party (communist) rhetoric as she scolds herself for acknowledging her "natural" feelings of loneliness, fear, sadness, confusion, self doubt, pride, love, and so on. Why should she complain when her countrymen are dying for the cause? She doesn't want to appear less than fully vested in the "revolution" against U.S. presence, which indicates it's clear her diary could be read at any time. (Unfortunately, lack of privacy is the reason most people who write in diaries censor what they say.)
Tram speaks for many young women when she asks Who am I? and What do I have to do to be accepted and respected? or What is the proper way to express love? She was a doctor who treated soldiers and civilians in South Vietnam in the late 1960s, but she could have just as easily been in Iraq in 2006. Her universal concerns are what kept me reading the book.
Tram's "flowery literary style" is irritating but tolerable, because, as the translator notes, that was the "style of her era."
Please note the book design: Beautiful cover. The end sheets are pages from Tram's diary, and the title page features a design from a bookmark in her possession when she was killed.
A memoir about war for all to learn from.......2007-09-18
(Translated from the original Vietnamese by Andrew X. Pham)
April 8, 1968 is the first date in the diary of Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, a lovely, twenty-five year-old woman from Hanoi, who works as the chief medical officer in a field hospital in the mountains of central Vietnam. It is only two months after the Tet offensive and while hers is a civilian facility, she also treats many wounded soldiers.
Her first entry describes an appendectomy, "Operated on one case of appendicitis with inadequate anesthesia. I had only a few meager vials of Novocain to give the soldier, but he never groaned once during the entire procedure. He even smiled to encourage me."
Under conditions that were much less than optimal, she strives to give her patients the care she feels they deserve for devoting their lives to the cause of Vietnamese reunification under the banner of Ho Chi Minh's Party. In North Vietnam, she grew up in a somewhat privileged family and thus works extra hard to become a Party member. Yet she doesn't give up on the literature and music she was raised with. During nights in underground shelters, waiting for the end of American bombing raids, she discusses the works of Russian novelists with some of her friends. Her diary contains quotes from some of those works as well as quotations from well-known Vietnamese poetry.
Thuy, as she refers to herself, writes poignantly about the soldiers and villagers that she encounters. She also is very real in her musings about her own life - how she misses her parents and sisters who are still back in Hanoi, about her struggle to maintain proper sisterly affection for the young men who profess to love her. She seems naïve about love while harboring a passionate hatred for the Americans who are destroying her country and killing and maiming so many of her countrymen.
This book is not easy. The names and places are difficult to remember. Thuy Tram does not survive the war. This diary was found by an American soldier and returned to her family in March 2005. It was published in Hanoi in July 2005 and surprised everyone by being a major bestseller.
Andrew X. Pham enlisted the help of his father, who grew up in Hanoi, as well as Thuy's sister Kim Tram, to translate this book as accurately as possible. It also includes family pictures.
Armchair Interviews says: A vivid point of view written by a very sympathetic person.
deep diary.......2007-09-12
In 1968 in a Viet Nam twenty-four years old Dr. Dang Thuy Tram joined the Viet Cong as a physician at a battlefield hospital. In 1970 American soldiers shot and killed her. In those two years that she served as a battlefield doctor, she kept a diary. Military Intelligence officer Fred Whitehurst found the tattered hand sewn journal in 1970; preserved it (against orders); and eventually in 2005 presented it to Dr. Tram's dairy to her family.
The diary is a deep look at the destructive impact of the Viet Nam war on the country and its people from the perspective of a young medical volunteer who was zealous towards healing her patients. Dr. Dang Thuy Tram provides insight into the horrors of war as she struggles with saving lives and not having great success. Although difficult to read at times as this is a journal filled with short concise commentary (remember this was not intended to be published as a book three decades later), LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE is a powerful indictment of those who rush others to war from a safe distance as the innocent suffer for years afterward.
Harriet Klausner
Book Description
Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs is the most intimate book ever written by William S. Burroughs, the author of Naked Lunch and one of the most celebrated literary outlaws of our time. Last Words is a complex portrait of Burroughs at the end of his life, coming to terms with aging and death. While laid out as simple diary entries of the last nine months of his life, Last Words spans the realms of cultural criticism, personal memoir, and fiction. Classic Burroughs concerns - his rants on U.S. drug policy, his contempt for the state of the human race, his love for his cats - permeate the book. Burroughs breaks into classic "routines" and provides frequent commentary on whatever he is reading - from high literature to low-brow thrillers. Whether occupied with the banalities of life (housekeeping, dealing with doctors) or the glories (shooting a video with U2, opening a museum show of his paintings), the "Old Man" emerges as frequently comical, sometimes meditative, and always engaged-a commentator on the state of the world and the self. Most significantly, Last Words contains some of the most brutally personal prose Burroughs has ever written. His reflections on the deaths of his friends Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary provide a window onto the preparations Burroughs was making for his own death - a quest for absolution marked by a profound sense of guilt and loss. Last Words is unlike anything else in the oeuvre of William S. Burroughs. It is the purest, most personal work ever presented by this writer, and a poignant portrait of the man, his life, and his creative process-one that never quit, even in the shadow of death.
Customer Reviews:
The diary of a genius........2005-11-17
This diary of a genius in his last weary days is a beautiful gift. An explosively brilliant visionary with insight reaching far into the future, but also a kind man who loved his cats.
The pathetic rantings of a scared old man.......2004-11-22
I remember when Burroughs did an interview with Jerry Casale. And Casale spoke of midwestern misanthropy and the sense of shame about being a human. Well, in this diary, Burroughs gave full voice to his midwestern curmudgeon persona.
I almost croaked when I came across the following passage: "I must tell James: Please never conceal from me any nasty letters or reviews. I want the names of these creeps. The addresses, so I can put one of my curses on them. It will give me something to do. And jog a few higher-up elbows hiding behind the nameless a--holes. I will make a list and cross names off one after another. Like the new rich in St. Louis. At his daughter's coming-out party. Nobody showed. She went mad. He made a list of all the invitees who didn't show. And ruined them one after another. It gave meaning to his life. He crossed off the last name on his deathbed, gave a contented belch and died. He was a fully fulfilled evil old man."
The anti-drug-prohibition rants are tedious enough. But what's surprising is that he begrudges atheists just for being atheists. As if their mere existence was a personal insult to his non-denominational theistic yearnings: "I believe in God. Not omnipotent. He needs help now."
The cat-sentimentality is pretty icky. Burroughs ended up valuing humans only insofar as they're capable of being caretakers of cats: "If a plague should or will kill a third of the population, I can only pray that it affects not only humans but domestic animals, with special reference to dogs and cats. The picture of trillions of dispossessed cats is too horrible to be confronted."
poignant writings.......2003-01-31
Touching, amusing entries in the life of an intellectual pioneer.
Burroughs revealed so much in his fiction but the journals are a more probing way we can peer into his mind and see what he was thinking in the last days.
One often wonders where good psychedelicists are headed in their final corporeal days, so works like this provide a certain insight not gleaned from their main body of work.
Burroughs was quite a character.
Three and a half stars, really.......2002-12-23
These last words of Burroughs will have great poignancy for his fans, but might not be all that meaningful to the casual reader. He writes about mundane everyday occurrences, memories of his eventful life, makes extensive literary references and provides loving descriptions of his cats. For me, the Burroughs magic is here in abundance and this book helps to complete the big picture of his life and work. It's not all smooth sailing, though, as his repetitive railings against the "war on drugs" can become a bit tedious. Obscure references are explained in the explanatory Notes: I was interested to see he was a member of IOT (International Order of Thanateros - see the books Liber Kaos and Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter Carroll) and friends with V. Vale (See Re/Search Publications like Industrial Culture Handbook and Incredibly Strange Music). Some sections are funny, some are sad (especially where he writes about Joan Vollmer and his family) and some very interesting from a literary perspective. There are powerful passages of great beauty that stick in the mind. His love for his cats and for other animals like lemurs is very moving and shows that he may have been larger than life, but in the end he was very human. So, to wrap it up: Last Words is essential reading for the Burroughs enthusiast and the Burroughs scholar, to finally understand the man and his writing. Phew ... I am relieved, to know how much he loved some people and his pets, in the end.
What's missing?.......2001-01-29
It will be good in the future to see the orginal notes--one really wonders what has been edited out to protect the image. Any journal is a problem to read--but when the editing is done by those with the most to protect (family, lovers, etc), historians must be really concerned. Probably not worth buying new, but it will be out in paper soon. Get the cheap copy.
Average customer rating:
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The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer: The Last Years 1857-1864
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Manufacturer: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
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- Literary anthropologist
- The winter of an intellectual lion
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The Sixties: The Last Journal, 1960-1972
Edmund Wilson
Manufacturer: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
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Binding: Hardcover
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Customer Reviews:
Literary anthropologist.......2006-11-23
The introduction notes that Wilson's journals are a collage. He was always the critic. In his gift for portraiture he is the equal of Dr. Johnson, Taine, and St.Beauve.
Wilson died at age seventy-seven at his desk, in the manner of Karl Marx. In the beginning of the decade he is at Harvard. He realizes that he drinks too much to get himself out of a depression. His wife Elena enjoys talking with their friend, Dawn Powell. Wilson feels, after watching Malraux at a dinner at the Kennedy White House, that Malraux practiced deception as a matter of course.
In Toronto, EW sees Morley Callaghan and his two sons. Callaghan had worked with Ernest Hemingway on the TORONTO STAR. Wilson travels to Quebec in the early sixties for the first time since a childhood stay in 1906.
Dickens, Kipling, and Upstate New York were matters of importance in EW's childhood, and Quebec falls into the category, too. Wilson finds he likes Isaiah Berlin's international personality better than his Oxford aspect. EW reads some Balzac who specialized in brazen cynical careerists. Zola and Proust were influenced by Balzac.
In Italy with Elena and his daughters Helen and Rosalind, Ew sees Lampedusa and Mario Praz. In Hungary he learns the inhabitants don't want anything having to do with Russia mentioned. The state controls housing. Everything is censored. Wilson believes that Hungarian, for reason of its stresses, is particularly appropriate for translating Greek and Roamn poets. Visiting Hungary, he is saddened because the 1848 Revolution was crushed and the same fate awaited the Revolt of 1956.
In London Wilson sees Sonia Orwell, Natasha Spender, Wystan Auden, and V.S. Pritchett. Wilson likes Hemingway's MOVEABLE FEAST because it shows his younger brighter self. He cites Hemingway's capacity to bring out personalities.
Wilson is appointed to the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan. The Wilsons find Middletown to be down at the heels and Hartford, by way of contrast, a happening place. Wilson learns from Brendan Gill that the gold dome in Hartford memorializes the fact that Russia was the first customer of the Colt factory located there.
When Dawn Powell visits Wilson at Talcottville, his family house in New York, she takes an interest in the events in the village. Dawm Powell dies in 1965. EW believes that dinner and drinks in Boston tend to be skimpy. He comments on this apropos a discussion of a dinner he attends at the American Academy of Arts and Science.
Wilson is cheered by reading the diary of Anais Nin. He is a kind of Literary anthropologist in many respects including a task he sets for himself of indentifying novelists and others in the region of Talcottville. He remarks that art centers are coming into vogue as the mid sixties mark the beginning of government subsidies for the arts.
When EW goes to the funeral of Waldo Frank in Cape Cod he thinks the undertaker is paying attention to some of the funeral-goers with a lecherous eye. Near the end of his life, EW visits Lily Dale where only spiritualists may buy property.
The winter of an intellectual lion.......1999-12-29
Meticulous account by Wilson of his coming to terms with old age. His precise observations of his increasing enfeeblement, and of the "glitterati" with whom he socialized, make for fascinating reading. His restless movement from Manhattan to the countryside to the beach to Europe contrasts with the subtle melancholy of his narrative; it's a page-turner with a wintry mood. Disappointed by the surprising shabbiness of the Princeton Club, for example, Wilson says, "I doubt that I shall go there again," and it's as much an acknowledgment of his own mortality as a comment on the flaking plaster. The occasional summer breeze blows through, as when he indulges his passion for Hungarian culture in a suprisingly jaunty European excursion. Gossipy and detailed insider's glimpses abound: Wilson shows us the "Camelot" White House, visits Scottie Fitzgerald, and comments on the star-crossed relationship of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. (A bonus: The paperback is beautifully "packaged." Fine design, wonderful photographs, and the heft and feel of an expensive hardbound book.)
Average customer rating:
- Who were the Remains and what happened to them?
- Nice pictures, but nothing new to add
- Little to add
- Fab book from the great Barry Tashian
- A very good musician's account of the 1966 tour
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Ticket to Ride: The Extraordinary Diary of the Beatles Last Tour
Barry Tashian
Manufacturer: Dowling Pr
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Customer Reviews:
Who were the Remains and what happened to them?.......2002-01-14
This little book is an extraordinary chronicle of the Beatles' second tour in 1966 as told by the leader, Barry Tashian, of the opening band, The Remains. Tashian's father, anticipating the potential historical importance of the tour, sugggested he keep a journal. Tashian did that and also took photos. In the book, he builds a story line around the chronology of the concerts, presenting for each concert a photo of the city, tickets, journal entries, photographs of the musicians, fan mail and incidental information from a variety of published sources. I got the clear view of a traveling troup presented by an insider, and I could imagine what it must have been like making this trip as one of the entourage.
Barry and the Remains were unknowns to the music world, their selection for the tour being something of an accident. Tashian's journal entries tell of the group feeling themselves catapaulted into a realm beyond their abilities. During the course of the tour, he developed the closest relationship with George Harrison and began to get a glimpse of him as a real person. It would be interesting for Tashian follow up this book with the story of this experience.
The Remains had a tremendous opportunity to make it big following this tour. But instead Barry disbanded the group, believing that they were not ready for touring. Tour life is very stressful, being confronted with amazing temptations. One can only speculate what the Remains might have become if they had stayed together.
Interestingly enough, the Remains recordings are still available. And it turns out that the original band has been playing over the past two years. There is a new CD in the works.
The interested reader will have the opportunity to hear for themselves their music.
I enjoyed this book very much. It adds to the corpus of Beatles material some important details and perspective.
Nice pictures, but nothing new to add.......2001-08-11
If you are buying this book for an "insiders" view on the Beatles tour, you will be very disappointed. Mostly this is rehash of newspaper articles and fan rememberances. It is not a bad book, just rather innocuous. The most inside information shared is the brand of cigarettes George Harrison smoked. If you are a Beatle novice you will enjoy this book, but there is nothing new for long time fans.
Little to add.......2000-12-16
For someone who "ate, drank, smoked, and talked with the Beatles daily, and shared some very close personal moments with them," the author doesn't have much to say about his experiences, and what little he does have to say is superficial and unrevealing. Original material is scant: the bulk of the book consists of reprints of 1966 articles from teen magazines, redundant contemporary newspaper accounts, and (often inaccurate) fan reminiscences. I can't say there was anything substantial here I hadn't already read dozens of times before.
Fab book from the great Barry Tashian.......2000-11-04
This book is a must if you are a Beatles fan. It's also a great book about the era itself. This tour made histiry and Barry Tashian (aka Barry from Barry and the Remains) does a concise and wonderful job in telling the saga. Plus, if you haven't already, you must go buy any of the Remains albums. BRAVO!
A very good musician's account of the 1966 tour.......2000-10-09
An excellent book. To tell you the truth, before reading this book (and, believe me, I've read a lot of books about the Beatles), I didn't even know that the Beatles had opening bands on their American tours; I just assumed that the Beatles played for 30 minutes and that was the whole show. Barry Tashian's book gives a very good fellow musician's perspective on the Beatles' 1966 summer tour.
The most refreshing part of the book was learning that the Beatles (George, particularly) were quite friendly to their fellow musicians and not stand-offish. Particularly interesting is an account Tashian gives of playing a new Tim Hardin album for John and being fascinated by Lennon's musical analysis of it.
Book Description
No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery & Desertion is a groundbreaking study of life during the final sixteen months of the Confederacy.
Civil War studies normally focus on military battles, campaigns, generals, and politicians, with the common Confederate soldier and Southern civilians receiving only token mention. Using personal accounts from more than two hundred seventy soldiers, farmers, clerks, surgeons, sailors, chaplains, farm girls, nurses, nuns, merchants, teachers and wives, author Jeff Toalson has created a compilation that is remarkable in its simplicity and stunning in its scope.
These soldiers and civilians wrote remarkable letters and kept astonishing diaries and journals. They discussed disease, slavery, inflation, religion, desertion, blockade running, and their never-ending hope that the war would be over before their loved ones died. As in all wars, these are the people who suffer the most-and glory is hard to find amid lice, dysentery, starvation, and death.
A significant contribution to Civil War literature, No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery & Desertion will open vistas to a side of the war with which most are only mildly familiar. The words of these individuals are an honest, powerful, and poetic portrayal of the war's effect on their lives.
Customer Reviews:
No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery, & Desertion.......2006-12-20
Spectacular work; the most revealing and human depiction of the Civil War I've ever read. The realities of the day explode accross the pages straight from from the folks who lived them. This is the honest stuff; edited to a flow that keeps the reader engaged throughtout.
A Must Read for Civil War Buffs.......2006-10-28
This is a poignant book filled with letters from the heart during a troublesome time in our country's history. Very readable and beautifully edited.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting
- My Cool Reveiw 2
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Mission 10: Last Stand (Mars Diaries)
Sigmund Brouwer
Manufacturer: Tyndale Kids
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Mission 5: Sole Survivor (Mars Diaries)
ASIN: 0842356347 |
Book Description
Set in 2039-2040, this best-selling series features 14-year-old Tyce Sanders, the only child who's ever been born on Mars. He lives under a dome on the red planet with 200 scientists and tekkies, including his mother, Kristy Sanders, a Christian biologist. Tyce is confined to a wheelchair, but virtual reality and robotics allow him to experience life beyond his physical boundaries. Kids love the cool, high-tech gadgets and great plot twists in this exciting series. Includes a science-faith essay at the end of each book.
In Mission 10: Last Stand, a Manchurian invasion threatens as Tyce returns home to the red planet.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2005-07-08
Our family has the first three books and i really liked them. My friend then got the tenth which i borrowed and read today. I think this is as good as the first three. It has an interesting plot.
My Cool Reveiw 2.......2002-09-07
I liked this book it was very entertaing.This book has a very interesting plot and a chilling ending. Tyce Sanders who has been visiting earth was the first kid born on Mars.He is now coming home.Tyce has also been in a wheelchair all his life,and now he might be able to walk for the first time since he was a baby.Of course, there is a down side to all of this.Tyce might lose robot control as a result to the operation he had done.Wait!This plot gets better.An evil Manchurian fleet is folowing their spaceship.What will happen? I happen to think this is not the very best Mars Diaries book,but it is interesting.
Book Description
After her dramatic release from quarantine and reunion with her family, Sofia moves to the North End of Boston, where the Monaris start their new lives in their new country. While her parents struggle to make ends meet, Sofia must adjust to her American school, friends and job.
Customer Reviews:
Sofia's story continues........2003-10-19
Nine-year-old Sofia has finally been reunited with her family after a month in quarantine on Ellis Island, and now they have traveled to Boston to build their new life in America. Sofia's father finds a job in a grocery store, and Sofia begins attending school. She enjoys learning English and making new friends, although she misses her best friend from quarantine, Maureen, whose family has settled in New York City. Sofia describes in her diary her life over seven months as her family adjusts to their new lives in America and sees their dreams begin to come true. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy the My America series and have read Hope in My Heart, Sofia's first diary.
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- The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition) (Pie)
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Books Index
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