Book Description
With the nation at war in the 1940s, twenty-two-year-old Jack Valenti flew fifty-one combat missions as the pilot of a B-25 attack bomber with the 12th Air Force based in Italy. In the 1960s, with the nation reeling from the assassination of a beloved president and becoming embroiled in a far different kind of war in Vietnam, he was in that fateful Dallas motorcade in 1963, flew back to Washington with the new president, and for three years worked in the inner circle of the White House as special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson. Then, for the next thirty-eight years, with American society and popular culture undergoing a revolutionary transformation, Valenti was the public face of Hollywood in his capacity as head of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Been there, done that, indeed. Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Valenti has led several lives, any one of which could have provided ample material for an unforgettable memoir. As it is, This Time, This Place is the gripping story of a man who saw the terrible face of war while fighting with skill and bravery for his country; who was in the room, listening, participating, and remembering, as political decisions were made that would benefit or devastate countless lives in this country and on the other side of the world; and who championed the interest of the vast and globally influential movie industry with tenacity and vision. The list of boldface names whom Valenti knew and with whom he worked is as varied as it is astonishing in number. Aside
from LBJ, there were Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Robert McNamara, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Julia Roberts, Cary Grant, Lew Wasserman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty, and Bill Clinton, to begin a very long list.
The life of a man who earned both the Distinguished Flying Cross and his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is inherently intriguing, but Valenti’s warm, sometimes rueful, always engaging account gives this memoir a depth of humanity and a taste of life’s unpredictability that will linger long after you turn the final page. From growing up poor but largely oblivious to that fact in a hardscrabble neighborhood of Greek and Italian immigrants in Houston to rising to the highest summits both of national government and Hollywood, This Time, This Place is a candid and clear-eyed reflection of the joys and sorrows, ambitions and disappointments, of a life fully recognizable in its extraordinary variety. It is also a sweeping and important historical record, written by a brilliantly successful man who helped to shape politics and entertainment in the second half of the twentieth century, and who always found himself in the center of the current storm.
Customer Reviews:
I respect, don't necessarily agree with, his defense of LBJ .......2007-10-19
Yes, his descriptions of his childhood and family life as an Italian-American in Houston were interesting, especially after Valenti flashed back from Nov. 22, 1963 and shortly thereafter. Certainly, his remembrances of pilot service in Europe also were compelling. That said, and don't anyone take this wrong, neither of the above were particularly unique reading experiences. As much as I acknowlege our appreciation of our WWII veterans was long delayed and overdue, and I eat up those sort of memoirs, I had read similar recollections before. But as a backdrop and a context to his service with LBJ, it all was appropriate. That's the part I found fascinating, because as near as I can tell, Mr. Valenti's political leanings are the same as mine, and I tend to go along with the conensus -- that LBJ's unfortunate decisions to deepen our involvement in Vietnam outweighed all the good he did with the Great Society, because much of that involved ideas whose times were coming...sooner or later. LBJ deserves marks for courage and skill in pushing them through when he did, and we all should salute him. But it was going to happen at some point. I am open-eyed enough to take Mr. Valenti's defenses of LBJ's overall record with grains of salt, but I admire them. In describing the meetings in 1965, Valenti makes it clear, as others have, that Mike Mansfield and George Ball were the lone wolves in saying we should get out instead of get in deeper. Valenti runs down the roster of the LBJ advisers whose views turned out to be woefully off-target. Darn it, great leaders sense and see through misguided and bad advice, so I'm not letting LBJ off the hook, and Valenti did that a little too easily. I would have been interested, too, to know more about what he was thinking as he heard all these exchanges he describes. And he describes them in such depth -- virtual transcripts -- he either had a tape recorder, took great notes, or is taking some license in the reconstruction. But all that said, I did find that portion of the book fascinating. And if an obviously good man, such as Valenti, could be so passionately loyal to LBJ, who often has been treated unfairly (e.g., Caro), it gives me a bit of pause for thought. The rest of the book is interesting and as an overall work, I recommend it. It's funny, though, I got the sense he pulled the most punches in the movie portion.
And why do people quote from the book jacket here? I would rather read what people think of the book, and why.
Saint Jack.......2007-09-21
One must be a very dedicated movie or Jack Valenti watcher to plough all the way through this tome. Apart from the timing which cannot be faulted - he died shortly after the book was published: the book is more a diary than a literary work. Except for the opening chapter on the assassination of JFK, which is good and compelling writing, the remainder stretched incredulity a little too far.
If we are to believe what Mr Valenti tells us about himself, we should not be surprised that at the books completion, the Almighty whisked him off to heaven to be at his right hand. A more Saintly man never lived beyond the Vatican.
We learn that he started life very poor - not even any shoes. We also learn that his close relatives were very rich. That confused me. I thought these old Sicilian families stuck together. Or is that only in the Mafia? One of these relatives who did not feel able to buy little Jack any shoes, did give him a job however. The salary was not sufficient for the future $1.3 million a year boss of MPAA, so he lied to take the time off to solicit work at Humble Oil which was successful. Little Jack clearly had a talent for ingratiating himself into the affections of those who could help him. First it was the HR lady who gave him his first job at Humble. Then it was the head of the advertising department who put him to work there. Work: I use the word loosely as he seems to have spent his time travelling around the country keeping his boss from being lonely. He must have been a very seductive little chap.
Then the war intervened. Now I thought, this is where it gets interesting. He reminds us frequently that he was a war hero, so I was very keen to learn more. Unfortunately modesty prevented him from sharing with us any daring-do that he was involved in. Other than telling us that the Luftwaffe fighters held no terrors for him - indeed, he actually says that they were no problem to him. Well that's a first. I must have more than 30 books on WWII aerial combat, and I never read that before. Could it be that all the others were spoofing? We do learn at great length his mile by mile journey back to America from Italy. The war was over by this time, but low cloud and rain was more formidable than the Luftwaffe it seems.
Once back to civilian life, he takes advantage of the GI Bill and goes to Harvard. If he goes on about his time at Harvard to his everyday listeners as he does in his book, there can be few American who don't know that Jack Valenti went to Harvard. Upon completion of his course he goes back to Humble Oil. This is the second time they have him back. He learns as much as he can from them, sets up a company with a partner and promptly leaves Humble Oil. Using what he learnt from Humble he solicits business from Humble competitors. This is a life long habit of Jack's. He ingratiates himself with people until they are of no more value; then he drops them. He did that with President Johnson after he learnt that Johnson was not going to seek re-election. He would have done it to MPAA and gone to Columbia Pictures, but his devoted wife of God knows how many years wouldn't go to Los Angeles with him. Washington was more important than Jack it seems. She did offer to let him commute once a week from DC to LA.
It is at this point in the book that one loses the will to live. It becomes a page after page catalogue of the rich and famous who Jack loved deeply, and they him. Pick at random any Name from the A List, and they - and of course their gorgeous spouses, were close personal friends of the Valenti's. There is not an enemy in sight - he even had a good word for the Luftwaffe! But then this is a work more interesting for what it doesn't say than for what it does. He never mentions that he lead a crusade to prevent VCRs being introduced into America. He takes full credit for the `original' introduction of a film rating system. He expects the readers not to notice that the British Board of Film Censors has been rating movies since 1912. It is also interesting that Jack never ever mentions the British film industry. He mentions, and praises British actors and directors, but never identifies them as such. He does every other country that has a film industry. Perhaps under the overcast skies of grey old London lurk a few skeletons that Jack would prefer to keep in the cupboard.
After one has waded through pages and pages of Hollywood's `Who's Who', the book is completed with the unsurprising information that all of his three children are `...movie star beautiful, and they are all outstandingly successful.' No kidding. He even tells us that his grandchildren are perfect.
Jack Valent's life story could have been an enthralling read had it been an `unauthorised version' by Kitty Kelly or similar. Instead, it is a very boring exercise in self aggrandisement. It is said that before one writes a book, one should identify your audience. The only audience for this book is the Hollywood Hoorays who will enjoy what is written about themselves, and think kindly about Jack - and of course his children.
Well done Jack. Not so much a book, more an advertising brochure for the Valenti dynasty.
Good Read but Lacks Bite .......2007-07-15
In a sense this is two books in one. Valenti (apart from his war years) had two very different careers - as a valued aide to President Lyndon Johnson and latterly as President Motion Picture Association of America. He did sterling work in both roles.
Almost anything written about Johnson is fascinating and Valenti keeps that legend going. The author never fails to see good in people and like other Johnson aides such as Joe Califano, seemed to have a genuine love for the towering Texan.
Valenti's opening chapter on the dreadful events of November 22nd 1963 is compelling reading. The author also writes well on the meetings and decision processes that encouraged LBJ to enlarge the war in Vietnam. For those with rose tinted glasses who believe JFK would have taken the US out of Vietnam before it became a quagmire, Valenti makes it quite clear that the bulk of LBJ's Vietnam advisors were Kennedy people. Overall the section on Johnson and the White House years is enjoyable reading. The same can not be said for his MPAA memoir.
Part of the problem is that Valenti is so gushing in his praise of everyone. The number of "radiantly beautiful" or "dazzling" wives he met with adorable offspring is mind-blowing. This man would have something good to say about the devil! He alludes very gingerly to the excesses of and infatuation with Hollywood, but never provides any depth.
Valenti - who wrote a book on communication - is a wonderful writer with a flowing style that is a joy to read. It is a pity that he did not bring greater depth and I think honesty to his MPAA career.
A Truly American Story.......2007-07-05
Jack Valenti's memoir "This Time, This Place: My Life in War, The White House, and Hollywood" tells an authentically American story. Valenti, the grandson of a Sicilian immigrant, rises from his working class roots to:
* win the Distinguished Flying Cross (WWII)
* attend Harvard Business School (Veterans Bill)
* start his own successful business
* become the aide de camp to a US President (Lyndon Johnson)
* and, become the chief lobbyist and defender of the motion picture industry for four decades.
Valenti's book opens with a flashback to Dallas, Texas on November 23, 1963 as he rode in the fateful Presidential motorcade that passed the Texas Book Depository with Lee Oswald's rifle pointed at President John Kennedy. Before the day was over, he was THE confident and consigliore to a new US President, Lyndon Johnson, overseeing the president's speeches, decided whom he would see and where he would go to speak. His chronicle of his White House years reads like a fast-paced novel and has plenty of detail to satisfy historians.
"This Time, This Place" provides important events in Valenti's early formation which were the underpinnings of a remarkable life. As a working class kid from Houston, he watched his grocer grandfather practice local politics and made his own first speech at the age of 10, advocating the reelection of the Sheriff. He worked as movie usher during high school, and got himself elected class president as a night student at the University of Houston.
In 1943, he joined the Army Air Corps, taking his first solo flight only after nine hours of instruction. He piloted 51 bombing missions over Europe in a B25 winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. His descriptions of these years are among the most vivid in this book. His prose throbs with memories of an experience that was simultaneously exhilarating, terrifying and "brutal."
The section on the Hollywood years is looser. Valenti's good-old-boy Texas story-telling comes out. He is more willing to tell tales, poking fun at some of the pompous behavior and trappings of the Motion Picture Industry's celebrities.
"This Time,This Place" is told straightforwardly, acknowledging debts, sketching people he knew and giving a not entirely flattering view of himself. His self-portrait is one of restlessness, and a strong commitment to advancement.
This is a man that senators, congressman and presidents readily took calls from. His formula was simple, "It is rooted in the ability to engage in courtship, to cosset talent, to understand the human condition and to make decisions fast." He exuded charm and was able to establish relationships by being everyone's pal but he never left empty-handed.
Jack Valenti died two years after his retirement from the Motion Picture Association of America in April, 2007.
Outstanding.......2007-07-04
Jack Valenti was both a witness to, and an instrument of, history and his autobiography presents the fascinating elements of his life and all those that he came across. Written in a very easy to read, yet eloquent, style (you can hear Valenti speaking these words)the book should be read by anyone interested in the Washington, the Great Society, and movie industry scenes.
Book Description
Kids grown? Mortgage paid? Career topping out? What now? In My Time, best-selling author Abigail Trafford answers the questions more and more 50-somethings are asking themselves. Thanks to the longevity revolution of recent decades, today's 55- to75-year-olds are living and working longer and healthier than ever before. This generation is the first to experience the period of personal renaissance in between middle and old age-what Trafford calls "My Time." Defining this period as a whole new developmental stage in the life cycle, Trafford skillfully guides readers through the obstacles of My Time and offers them the opportunity to take full advantage of the bonus decades. With the same wit, compassion, and vivid storytelling that made Crazy Time one of the best-loved books ever written on the subject of divorce, Trafford blends personal stories with expert opinions and the latest research on adult development. From the psychoanalyst who gave up his practice to write self-help books, to the widowed mother of three who reinvented herself as a successful photographer, true tales of crisis and triumph sparkle on every page of this inspiring and insightful book. Like Gail Sheehy's Passages, My Time profoundly impacts the journey through our adult years.
Customer Reviews:
Worth Reading, But Missing Key Aspects.......2006-11-22
I was (and am) a big admirer of Trafford's earlier book on divorce, "Crazy Time." Also, I was a long-time reader of her Washington Post health care column. I am a Baby Boomer, in my middle fifties, and I was delighted to find that Trafford had written a book about the "Second Adolescence."
But I have some concerns about "My Time." The people used as examples in this book are not Baby Boomers (who are the people currently entering their forties and fifties) -- the people in "My Time" are, as shown from details in their life histories, members of the preceeding generation, the Silent Generation. They are mostly talking to Trafford while they are in their 60s and 70s about how they experienced their 50s.
Now their "looking back on it" perspective provides much useful advice to those of us now entering our 50s or in our 50s. But their life stories are so different from those of Baby Boomers that there is not enough help for us on key issues.
For example, everyone in this book -- typical Silent Generation folks -- settled down to careers and married and had children very young. Nearly all the women in the book were traditional homemakers with children who did not start careers until much later in life. Nearly all the men went directly from college to jobs as lawyers and doctors.
So their "My Time" experiences are very different from those of Baby Boomers.
Her focus on the Silent Generation also ignores the major issues Baby Boomers face as we enter our fifties -- her interviewees all have secure pensions, paid-off homes, built-in medical insurance, and their worst problem is losing too much money from their 401ks during stock market crashes.
Baby Boomers have lost their social safety nets -- many of us will have to continue working the rest of our lives because we have been deprived of secure pension plans, and unlike the Silent Generation, we will have to fight for medical care and Social Security.
Which brings me to another problem with this book -- nearly everyone in it, even the people who were born into the working class -- are now upperclass professionals, and mostly white.
Where are the middle class and the poor? where are the racial minorities? where are the gay people? where are the Asians? where is everybody else? Not everyone reaches their fifties married, white, with kids, and well-off.
I kept feeling like Trafford and I were living on different planets.
Sure, there were a few -- maybe two -- interviews with people who had started out poor -- and who also happened to be African-American/Latino -- but that made the enormous "whiteness" and "moneyied" aspects of the other interviewees glaringly apparent.
Also, while her interviewees have a few problems, they don't seem to have nearly as many as the rest of the population. Her interviewees had some divorces -- a few cases of alcoholism -- but where were the druggie kids? the people with chronic illnesses? the people in wheelchairs? the mentally retarded or autistic children? The families all seem to have perfect, college-educated, married offspring who are producing grandchildren. Most of the people who become ill in Trafford's book don't linger -- they die quickly, within about two paragraphs.
Trafford mentions her mother's and siblings' illnesses -- but almost everyone else in this book -- until they drop dead of a heart attack -- seems set to keep playing tennis forever in, say, the wealthy Georgetown area of DC.
So why should Baby Boomers buy this book? I am reading it because it has useful discussions of the emotional turbulence that set in during the fifties, a second adolescence, and how Trafford's interviewees entered and left relationships, moved to new cities, coped with (a few) deaths in their families, and started new careers.
While Boomer life trajectories and problems are very different from those of her Silent Generation interviewees, we can learn from some of their coping stratgies.
Those aspects of the book were extremely helpful, and why I have given the book three stars instead of one.
So please, Ms. Trafford, if you see this review, please rewrite the book for its second edition, and include the Baby Boomers, and include people in dire straits where things aren't working out neatly -- people who have serious chronic illnesses, or are still workingclass, etc. I'm a big fan of the rest of your work!
Indispensable guide to those of us who have reached 50.......2006-09-17
Trafford combines her own life experience, the personal stories of many typical Americans whom she has interviewed, and psychological research in constructing this guide for the later years of life. These days, age 50 is only the beginning of life for many people whose children are grown, whose careers are set, and whose health is good. Many Americans will have 30 years or more in this new stage of life. Not all of them will sail around the world or start a new career helping battered women, but most or all will make changes in their lives. This book is her guide to making the most of these years.
Trafford recognizes that for many people, these years will involve some difficult choices and even some anguish. She doesn't pretend that these years will be easy -- she even refers to them as a "second adolescence" with all the angst that that implies -- but she wants to tell her readers how fulfilling this time of life can be. Hardly anyone these days is retiring from work and settling into life on the front porch, nor should we. Life presents too many possibilities -- for helping others and ourselves and for establishing our legacy.
This can be a life-changing book.
Worth Reading.......2006-08-27
A helpful short book which adddresses issues of middle age for both men and women. A good read...
A Must Read for People Even Thinking about Retirement.......2005-10-17
This is a glorius book about how and why to make the best of your "bonus years." Ms. Trafford has an easy yet humorous way of making us look at what we have before us. This is an important time in ours lives and needs the attention that this book speaks about. Those of us who are baby boomers need to be aware of this stage of life and put energy into designing what we wish. This is not a time to sit back and wait and see what happens. Ms. Trafford speaks to this honestly and to the point.
Excellent book on what to do next.......2005-05-16
I'm turning 50 this year - this is the BEST book to read about the subject. She has great ideas on how to make your "bonus decades" (years after 50) better than your first 50 years! Very inspiring and insightful. I'm going to buy it as a birthday gift for all my friends that are turning 50.
Book Description
For a generation of teenage girls, Sassy magazine was nothing short of revolutionary—so much so that its audience, which stretched from tweens to twentysomething women, remains obsessed with it to this day and back issues are sold for hefty sums on the Internet. For its brief but brilliant run from 1988 to 1994, Sassy was the arbiter of all that was hip and cool, inspiring a dogged devotion from its readers while almost single-handedly bringing the idea of girl culture to the mainstream. In the process, Sassy changed the face of teen magazines in the United States, paved the way for the unedited voice of blogs, and influenced the current crop of smart women’s zines, such as Bust and Bitch, that currently hold sway.
How Sassy Changed My Life will present for the first time the inside story of the magazine’s rise and fall while celebrating its unique vision and lasting impact. Through interviews with the staff, columnists, and favorite personalities we are brought behind the scenes from its launch to its final issue and witness its unique fusion of feminism and femininity, its frank commentary on taboo topics like teen sex and suicide, its battles with advertisers and the religious right, and the ascension of its writers from anonymous staffers to celebrities in their own right.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant concept, but not the memory lane I was looking for........2007-10-05
Seriously... I *CHERISH* Sassy Magazine.. all of the back issues, xeroxes of back issues... It did change my life...and when I got this book, there was no pictures, except for some on-the-cover-spineline-shots, and artsy rolled magazine shots... I really wanted to reminice, and I got gossip, and analysis and it kinda made me sad. For such a visual magazine... there's nothing to look at in this book.
Once Upon A Time.......2007-07-27
Long, long ago (not really, just the early 1990's, but it feels like forever!), there was the most fantastic teen magazine ever: SASSY!!! For girls like myself (this is William's wife Jen writing, by the way, in case anyone is wondering "Huh?") who were not the upper class WASPs of America with money to burn, perfect tans and bleached hair and New Kids lust, Sassy was such an amazing outlit for our social, political, and emotional frustrations. I was a girl who didn't gave a darn about 90210, Debbie Gibson, Prada, Calvin Klein, social conformity, and Sassy really helped to open up a whole nother world. The staff at Sassy became like our cooler older sisters in the hip underground: they knew all of the cool bands, fashions, actors, etc before the mainstream media had a clue. Also, I must add, that Sassy was the first place where I had read about Wicca which is now my spiritual path in life. In a time which I was an outcast demiJew interested in paganism and Buddhism but forced to going to a very Conservative Catholic school full of the standard cheerleader types (their solution to life was just to follow whatever nonsense the nuns and their parents proclaimed, no matter how braindead, and never to think for themselves), Sassy was literally a Goddess send where I finally felt connected.
On another note, I was very happy to see that they added a bit about how many girls felt alienated by the ultra- underground and alternative aspects of Sassy. Towards the end of the magazine, it seemed to me (and after reading, I'm glad I'm not the only one) that if you liked any song that managed to get on the radio, any show that had appeared in TV Guide, or wanted to dye your hair with Clairol instead of funky Kool Aid colours, then you were deemed terminally uphip (I remember as if it were yesterday how they trashed my then favourite band Roxette). I think that that exclusiveness, rather than any boycotts about the sex columns, were the cause of Sassy's demise. Still, it was an amazing magazine and so uplift and often soulsearching for its readers and sadly no magazine has come close to filling that void for today's young women (although B*tch is great. Check it out if you can).
Media Revolution Girl Style.......2007-07-01
Before female adolescents in America had Oakland/Portland's Bitch or Chicago's VenusZine for feminism 101, there was New York City's Sassy. In How Sassy Changed My Life, readers are given a magazine-size book that reads like a nostalgic love letter chronicling one of women's crucial marks in journalism's history. Known as the 80s lovechild of founder Sandra Yates of Australia's Dolly and then 24-year-old Jane Pratt, the youngest editor-in-chief of a magazine, Sassy shunned the "come get me boys" themes of teen publications with blonde, blue-eyed, bulimic models. For the first time, two female writers carefully analyze Sassy's impact on insecure, teenage girls seeking refuge from YM and Seventeen through interviews with former staff members and the many readers that created an online cult following.
How Sassy Changed My Life starts off by answering the frequently-asked question: why would anyone write a book about a teen magazine? While Jesella and Meltzer give a brief, but convincing explanation for exploring Sassy's rich, cultural history in American media, the chapters remain faithful in giving an in-depth look behind the magazine's main competitor. With Seventeen's "Where to Spy Guys" and "Learn How to Be a Secretary" ads, Walter Anneberg, the publication's owner (who had a gold-plated toilet seat in his private plane), surely wasn't risking his sales with features on homosexuality, AIDS and premarital sex. Yet, when Sassy arrived at 1 Times Square in 1988, they covered "The Dirty Scummy Truth on Spring Break (or, Where The Jerks Are)," included ads for Doc Martens and featured pixie-haired models with bandanas. Jesella and Meltzer manage to successfully show with crisp, tight language, the staff's many personalities that collectively provided a voice for those wanting to learn about their inner girl power with "13 Reasons Not to Diet." Former reader Sarah Kowalski commented, "The magazine was so personal it felt like a community, like people that you hung out with-that was very important. I was kind of an outsider type. I didn't have a lot of friends in school. You wanted to find your people."
One of the major concerns in How Sassy Changed My Life was Pratt's portrayal in the magazine's birth and downfall. Pratt, initially viewed as "the extremely charismatic leader," who made her writers "go through as many as 15 story drafts," was detested by Sassyites for the betrayal known as Jane magazine. Jesella and Meltzer spoke with Jane's arch-nemesis, Lisa Jervis from Bitch, who retaliated against Pratt's vision for a more girl-friendly periodical that even included a column by Pamela Anderson. In responding to Bitch's "10 Things I Hate About Jane," Jervis explained, "Those of us salivating in front of the newsstand were hoping for something that took Sassy's early vision of self-confident girl power and critical thinking a step forward." Ultimately, How Sassy Changed My Life concluded with Pratt being a pretentious publisher whose feud with Bitch magazine seems more appealing than her celebrity-fueled glossy. While the conclusion leaves readers torn, Jesella and Meltzer lets their audience decide whether Pratt should be celebrated for her role in leading Sassy or hated for her false promise in keeping the dream alive.
Whether you grew up reading Sassy or are just discovering its famous April 1992 cover of grunge's Sid and Nancy, How Sassy Changed My Life is a cultural tour de force that embodies the best of modern feminist writing. Readers will finish Jesella's and Meltzer's testimonial feeling confident about their femininity and hopeful for womankind's future, just as Sassy did for six years.
One to check out from the library.......2007-06-04
Read it in two sittings - it's fast, with more gossip in it than I expected. It was surprisingly balanced in terms of pointing out how Sassy may have just promoted a new alterna-girl conformism with their backlash against the Seventeen ethos.
I am sort of surprised that there was no mention that lots of readers' political views matured beyond the ones pushed by Sassy. Perhaps that's because the authors' views are still stuck in teenage years, too? (The tone of approval given by the authors to Ian Svenonius's Marxism was another cringe-worthy moment.)
My only wish: A scrapbook of clippings from various issues, or at least pictures of the staff, and a where-are-they-now? chapter. Okay, that was three wishes. With those features, the book would have been worth purchasing. Now I just wish I'd sent the money to charity instead.
A celebration of the magazine which influenced a generation of liberal, activist young women.......2007-05-21
The central thesis of How Sassy Changed My Life is that the one-of-a-kind teen magazine created a club of kindred spirits during its short 6-year tenure, and that it has had a lasting effect on a generation (or two) of American women. Authors Jesella and Meltzer write "Upon meeting a fellow Sassy fan, we feel like we understand something essential about that person: their life philosophy, what their politics might be like, what their artistic preferences are, what they were like in high school, what kind of person they wanted to grow up to be. (By contrast, we find non-fans of a certain age slightly suspect.)"
Since this title is about how Sassy changed our lives, it is necessary for me to reflect on my own Sassy readership. I picked it up for the first time at age eleven, when the magazine was just two years old. My best friend and I were immediate converts, and even created our own short-lived dozen-wide-circulation `zine in the Sassy tradition. I have all my Sassy back issues. When the magazine was sold to the owners of Teen magazine in 1994, the editorial staff was fired, and the name was repackaged as standard bubblegum fare, I never knew why my magazine died such a horrible death. I cancelled my subscription to the "Stepford Sassy" and every time I got a renewal notice, I would write an angry letter about my disgust with the new magazine (my boyfriend at the time could never understand why I had such passionate distaste for renewal notices).
Finally, the story of the rise and untimely death of Sassy is told, in this fine collection with chapters about the conception of the magazine, its rise, its relationship to the competitors, the lives of the staffers, the feminism of the publication, and its catastrophic fall from grace.
Sassy was the first magazine in which I read bylines, in which I reflected on what I knew about the writer of each piece, and how his or her personality and life experience played into the end product. Sassy poked fun at the celebrity worship and body-flaw fixing so central to other teen magazines. It talked frankly about sex in a voice completely opposite from that of your curmudgeonly gym teacher. Jesella and Meltzer's book is not only a delightful trip down memory lane, it also reveals important behind-the-scenes tensions and political maneuverings, as well as the cultural significance of the periodical. Highly recommended.
Book Description
Meet Mike Greenberg, the popular host of ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning, the highest-rated drive-time sports talk show on the dial. To his three-million-plus listeners, Greeny is the guy who’s equally as comfortable dissecting zone defenses as he is discussing cashmere sweaters. He’s been to Super Bowls and World Series, All-Star Games and Final Fours. He’s interviewed Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, and Wayne Gretzky. He gets paid to enthuse about sports, which means he’s the envy of most men in America.
This is the hilarious, sometimes touching, and endlessly entertaining debut of one of America’s fastest-rising sportscasters, a wry and revealing look at one man’s good-hearted but mistake-prone attempt to grow up before his children do. Marriage, fatherhood, manhood, fame, athletes, crazed aunts with gambling problems, the true significance of sports, the worst possible thing to say in a room full of pregnant women–no topic is beyond his reach. But don’t take our word on it, read what Greeny has to say about:
• Dating: “People who reminisce fondly about dating are blocking out all the disasters and focusing only on the few great nights. If that is all you choose to remember, fine. But be aware that no experience is without good moments. I’m sure during the sacking of Rome there were a few decent nights; maybe they put on a play.”
• Life on the road:
“Wife + television = no sleep.”
“No wife + no television = no sleep.”
“Wife + no television = sleep.”
“No wife + television = porn.”
• Keeping things in perspective: “Never assume you know more than the guy in the camouflage tux.”
• And, of course, marriage: “All of us are married to women who think we’re idiots.”
Whether he’s talking trash on the radio or talking dirty diapers over a fancy dinner, Greeny’s determined to reconcile two halves of a whole. So if your enthusiasm has ever been curbed, or you’re feeling remote without the remote, or you’re just wondering what exactly goes on in a guy’s brain, Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot will be a source of comfort and unadulterated laughter.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book even for non sports fans!.......2007-07-23
I bought this book for my nonreader husband. He loved it and quoted from it so much that I had to read it for myself. Mike is fun, lighthearted, and says everything that everyone else is thinking, but never say. He is refreshingly honest. We couldn't put the book down. This is a must read for newly weds, new parents, sports fans, or any woman who thinks her husband is an idiot!
Awesome book, can't wait to see him milk the cow.......2007-05-04
This book was excellent. I acctually bought it on kind of an impulse buy, but when I got it I couldn't put it down. Finished it in about 2 days. Never gets boring. Inspirational for someone like me who wants to go into sports broadcasting. The stories where he talks about meeting starts such as Michael Jordan will leave you in awe and you can acctually relate to his everyday stories with his family(just funny as hell). One of the best books I've read in a while. His personality on his radio show matches exactly to what is in the book and if you love sports and lots of stories, you'll love this book.
Quick read, faily interesting.......2007-04-26
I've listened to Mike and Mike a lot over the past few years and very much enjoy their program. This book is a quick little insight into the life of Greeny and the format make the book a very quick read (I completed the whole thing on a round trip flight from Hartford, CT to Washington, D.C.). I think the overriding theme of dealing with being a minor celebrity and what it took to get to that point made it quite interesting and in the end I would recommend it for anyone looking for a pseudo-sports book without getting into a lot of technical aspects.
Work Versus Family.......2007-04-12
This humorous autobiography tells about one sportscaster's quest to balance work with his family life. If you don't mind foul language, this book will entertain you.
Reads Like Paul Reiser's Books.......2007-03-19
Mike Greenberg mines the same material as Paul Reiser did back in the "Mad About You" heyday. Greenberg might be a sportscaster, but this book is really about the battle of the sexes, and the difficulty in combining work and family. What makes it a little hard to believe is that Greenberg and his wife are both loaded financially, and actually have a live-in nanny.
Still, the writing is crisp, and Greenberg's voice comes through loud and clear. You won't find as many sports anecdotes as you might be hoping for, but the book is entertaining.
Book Description
The role we each play in our own downfalls create the profound--and profoundly entertaining--basis for this series of linked "meditations" as the author of The Abilene Paradox takes another irreverent look at the nature of life on the job. In this work, Harvey explores the ethical, moral, and spiritual dilemmas we all face in the modern world of work. But he does it in a most unconventional way. His is an approach that mixes equal parts humor, philosophy, and insight to make us laugh, think, and examine organizational behavior in a brand new light. The twelve essays themselves carry such spirited titles as "What If I Really Believe this Stuff," "On Tooting Your Own Horn," and "Ode to Waco." Altogether, it's an enthralling collection of wise and witty parables that illustrate the redemptive value of the truth in a voice that is ultimately understanding of human shortcomings.
Customer Reviews:
Harvey Tells It Like It Is.......2007-04-01
A must read! Harvey begins the book by relating and analyzing an event that happened when he was six years old. At once, the windows of my mind opened, and I began to be able to understand a lot of what has happened in my own life. I laughed out loud after reading on page 36 about the organizational back stabbing victim: "Blood flowing, he [ the Potential Victim] continues his journey into Real Victim status by retreating to the security of the organization's infirmary, which usually is located in the Human Resource Department, for an extended period of recovery." Been there, done that!
The views of a sage.......2006-09-01
I don't know what posessed me to pick up this book at the library. I'm not an avid reader and I was doing research on an unrelated topic. I suppose the title just grabbed me and I needed a break from my regular study. When I started reading this book, however, I didn't want to put it down. At age 39, I'm only just beginning to appreciate the wisdom 50+ years develops in some people. So when I started reading this very easy-to-read book, filled with "smart" humor and just the right amount of antedotal support, I was just soaking in everything I could. Maybe you have to be older to appreciate this book...but wouldn't it be great if you were smart enough to learn from it much younger....
Interesting ruminations on ramanagement.......2004-12-30
The book centers on a key concept - we victimize ourselves. Work is a political place, but most of the time, we see problems coming. If someone stabs us in the back, usually we get a warning, but are complicit by not assertively contacting the person doing us in. This idea of defeating poor office behavior through open and honest discussion is developed in depth throughout the book.
There are two downsides. First, this book perhaps has too much text for such a simple concept. Although this is good reading for a fan of Jerry Harvey (I am one!) the Abilene Paradox is a much more efficient (more ideas, less words) introduction to his material. Second, Jerry is perhaps oversimplifying the world. Office politics is best beaten by open book confrontation of problems, but life sometimes is more complex than that.
That said, this is still a worthwhile read.
Only for those who think..........2004-08-02
Jerry Harvey is great. The Abiline Paradox was wonderfully insightful and helpful and this one is also wonderful. His insights into spirituality, morality and human psychology are profound and helpful. This book is easy to read, it is fun and funny, but it is not a cookbook that tells you to do A, B, and C. It just helps you think deeply. If you want a cookbook there are a thousand books out there, I'm tired of them. Even the title of this book is thought provoking as is the rest of the book. Think for a change!
Open ended musings with no conclusions.......2004-05-24
As you've probably noticed from the other reviews, J. Harvey does a good job raising questions about morality related management decisions, e.g. backstabbing or betraying a co-worker.
My own enjoyment of the book suffered because there are no answers to the questions posed. Morality is not the sort of topic where one expects to the THE answer. However, I do require a speaker/writer to at least propose their answers, so I may compare and contrast them to my own views.
I recommend this book if you prefer an open-ended discussion with no suggested or implied solutions.
For new managers with their first inkling they might have a few misconceptions about what they've just gotten into, I recommend "Becoming a Manger: How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership" by Linda Hill.
Book Description
The music of Frank Sinatra, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and many other artists provides the score to the reflections of a musician on the road in this memoir of Neil Peart's travels from Los Angeles to Big Bend National Park. The emotional associations and stories behind each album Peart plays guide his recollections of his childhood on Lake Ontario, the first bands that he performed with, and his travels with the band Rush. The evocative and resonant writing vividly captures the meanderings of a musical mind, leading rock enthusiasts to discover inside information about Rush and the musical inspirations of a rock legend.
Customer Reviews:
Indispensible for the Rush Fan or Musician.......2007-08-13
After having read all of Neil Peart's drumming and travel-related books, I have to say that this is my favorite. The book is divided into two main (but interspersed) sections. One deals with a particular car trip Peart took in 2002-03 and his thoughts on the music he chose to provide the soundtrack to this journey. It quickly became clear that Neil's tastes are a lot more diverse than my own (his include Madonna, Sinatra, and Linkin Park), and I had a tough time relating to this portion of the book -- although Peart's reflections on the industry were quite engaging.
The other half of the book details the influence of music on Peart's life from childhood, right up through shortly after he joined Rush. It is almost a partial autobiography, and if you are interested in a previously-undetailed account of the drummer's early career, you will find this portion of the book priceless.
If you are a Rush fan who found himself partly put off by the tone of some of Peart's other books (specifically "Roadshow"), I would still recommend giving this book a try. This is one of the industry's best sticking to two subjects he knows better than most -- music and drumming.
Disguised As a "Travel Book".......2007-08-04
This book is by far the best book Neil Peart has written. This book is more biographical, in a very musical sense, than a travel book. What I mean by this is that Neil writes about his travels to the Big Bend area in South West Texas, several excursions he took while on that trip, such as a bird watching tour, and a hike up Emory Peak, etc. But the bulk of the content in this work is about his life and how certain songs, musicians, and bands have affected his life.
Neil details his early childhood, how his father's music was something he ignored as a child but embraced it as his own later in life. Moreover, he describes how he eventually took up drumming, his earliest bands in his own hometown, and how he progressed as a drummer from childhood to the last current tour, Vapor Trails, at the time this book was published. He describes certain details from various bands he "passed through" for a certain time, his experiences in London, England as a young adult, and how touring with Rush and playing a typical 76 or so show stopping tour affected him; all these details are great, and make the book that much more interesting.
However, the underlining greatness of this work, I think anyway, is Neil's descriptions of the music he is listening to throughout all these other details mentioned above. The way Neil describes how his "radar music" or his play list that is contained in the back of his mind resurfaces on occasion is the most interesting aspect of this work, since this is where Neil gets more personal opening himself up more than merely describing events. He details songs like they are personal parts of his life, exposing these parts with a serious vulnerability that is quite opposite to his personality, which is introverted and a bit hidden.
What happens when you read Neil's descriptions of bands and their songs, is that you will find yourself searching for these bands, if you have not listened to them before, and sampling them for possible purchases. At least I found myself doing this. He should get paid for promoting these bands, since several of them gained a new listener and buyer of their music. All this being said, this is an excellent book, especially if you are a music lover, it is well worth the price, and if you are a Rush fan, then this book is a must to take a peak inside the life, mind, musical taste and musical influences of one of the greatest drummers in rock and roll history, I highly recommend this book.
So anyway...........2007-01-25
I find it particularly amusing that - not having read ANY of Neil Peart's works - that I would have such a strong opinion on something he wrote. I have been INTO Rush since Fly By Night, an album I bought new and nearly wore off the turntable. I was 14 at the time. No band, before or since had the effect on me that Rush had. I just HAD to learn to play bass BETTER than before. The bar was put THAT HIGH...
However, (and now we come to the somber part...) I don't even have to read this (or any other) book by Neil Peart - nor anyone in Rush - to know that these guys have LOST IT..... I mean, actually having DISDAIN for the fans that admire and adore the music you make, and that has made you FAMOUS?? How absolutely WRETCHED a person must you be? And you can tell by the interviews I've heard them give that they totally DON'T GET IT.... They have actually put themselves so high on pedestals that they don't realize that their music S**KS. I am totally not surprised to hear that people like Neil Peart have nothing good to say to fans that want to praise him and pay homage. This is, after all ,the ultimate form of dishonor. It must suit him and the other guys to a "T".
Especially when you consider the absolutely LOUSY excuse for music it is that they spew today. Last album I nearly broke my eardrums listening to - "Vapor Trails". All you have to do is listen to a few seconds of the opening tracks and you go, "WHO IS THIS??" This is certainly not a band deserving of calling themselves "Rush". Not in my wildest imagination anyway.
One could imagine that losing a wife and daughter could make somoeone wanna jump off a bridge or something, but this is a man who has enough money and resources at his disposal to FIND A WAY to get some help. Sounds like, unfortunately, that the therapy didn't make him a better person. Still a complete lack of humility, according to these reviews. What a shame. Some people just never get it, do they?
Just think of how un-self indulgent Neil Peart would get to be if he weren't a "star" and no one would even know who he was....hmm.... No one - outside of Rush fans - would even know who he is nor care. Therefore, all this book-writing would be completely in vain.
Music is the Message.......2006-11-19
Many of the reviews I've read regarding Neil Peart's "Traveling Music" treatise seem to focus on either a) his seeming arrogance at not wanting to have regular interactions with fans, or b) a seeming lack of eloquence in this work. I think those reviews are missing a vital element here.
To be sure, Mr. Peart is not Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck or any of the countless other revered novelists in history. I'm also pretty sure that he doesn't want to be any of them. I also don't think that people should hold him in low regard because he is so shy. No, I think the focus here should be on the central message of his book: That, whatever the genre...rock, country, jazz, classical...music helps us to understand the textures and feelings that pervade us as we live and breathe in this world. No matter what your mood, there is a song out there to describe it. No matter how fond your memories, there is a song out there that can engage those memories as if they just happened.
Mr. Peart probably shares more than he needs to about his shyness with people. I will never be famous, but I know that many famous people are far more animated about having their space invaded. Note that he is also very uncomfortable lying about who he is when "outed" by someone. It's clearly a difficult thing for him, and I admire his honesty and courage in how he addresses it, so give him his space, and give him a break.
Focus on the notion that music is the message here. The wonderful diversity that it provides us, and the many emotions and themes it elicits, whenever we plug in and listen.
Top 500 Drummer of All-Time.......2006-10-17
Not the God, but a god ... lowercase g. I would have to say he is the god of drumming. He's easily in my top 500 list of all-time drummer. He's somewhere between the drummer from Dexy's Midnight Runners whose name I cannot recall and the original Chris on The Partridge Family ... a/k/a "The Ugly Chris."
If you like your books written by someone who has a hard time writing coherently, then you are going to LOVE this book. I have a theory that Mr. Peart typed this book by using his drumsticks on the typewriter. Which goes to show that he's not as coordinated as he would have us believe. Be careful, Mr. Peart or you're going to find yourself off of my top 500 drummers list and on my Bottom 500 Typists List! LOL.
Just kidding Neal, Rush is as vibrant and vital today as it as ever been and just because young people don;t listen to it and it's not on the radio anymore does not mean that the music isn't still not great.
Book Description
The painful pieces of Mary's life help us to get through our own rough-edged moments. We see how she too questioned what was confusing and unclear, how she needed others was confusing and unclear,how she needed others to be with her in her pain,how she reflected on her experiences in order to find meaning.
Customer Reviews:
wordsthattranspire.......2007-04-27
I would just like to say to any woman out there contemplating the purchase of this book, don't wait, hit "purchase with one click" now! Not only will you enjoy every word, the message will be imprinted on your heart forever. It is the most transforming lesson from Mary's perspective any woman can hope to gleen while living in this world.
A kinship with Mary will develop and you will never look at motherhood the same way again. Enjoy.
Your Sorrow is My Sorrow.......2007-03-11
This book does give an amazing outlook for hope & the strength to carry on during the difficult times of life.
For The Heavy of Heart.......2004-09-22
Your Sorrow is My Sorrow is one of those once in a lifetime books. I happened to pick this up by accident, or should I say by divine Providence. The words are comforting whether you have lost a loved one, to death, drugs or mistrust...this book will carry you through. The words of Mary come striking through to the heart and lay to rest in the lap of comfort and solace. The prayers are simple yet heartfelt. This is a book that will get you through the rough times. Thank you Joyce Rupp!
A Timely Book.......2000-06-29
Mary has always been upheld as a model for women who wish to follow God's will, as the ideal mother who will comfort her children. But sometimes it is too easy to look merely at the joyous seasons of her life - the birth of her baby and the awe at what she had brought forth. But Mary also suffered greatly. What this book points out is that we are not alone in our pain. A wondrously loving heart has known sorrow, as much as a human should bear, and still feels pain through us, her children. But there is strength and an eternal promise of hope in the knowledge that there is understanding and love, and another heart to bear your burden with you. This book lovingly points out that we are not alone. So often we think we are, when we are suffering greatly. We feel that those around us do not understand, or we feel isolated in our grief and pain. But the truth is, we are never alone, and there is always someone to cling to. That is the message this book quietly and reverently portrays. A timely book, indeed, in a society that has more pain and sorrow than it should.
Book Description
Jazz fans get the inside story of New York's legendary club. At age 83, Lorraine Gordon is a jazz icon who has lived more than a few lives: downtown bohemian, uptown grande dame, music business pioneer, wife, lover, mother, and finally - at a point when most women her age were just settling into grandmotherhood - owner of the most famous jazz club in the world, the Village Vanguard. The trajectory of her journey has been remarkable. The details are a Jackson Pollock-like swirl of fierce colors shot through with larger-than-life creative figures: not just jazz figures but luminaries from every point on the political, social and entertainment spectrum: from Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk to Lenny Bruce, Norman Mailer and Barbra Streisand. - The legendary Village Vanguard has been an international jazz mecca since 1935. According to New York Magazine, "A musician hasn't truly arrived in the jazz world until he's played at the 'Carnegie Hall of Cool,' the Village Vanguard." - There have been over 100 "Live at the Village Vanguard" recordings by premier artists from John Coltrane to Wynton Marsalis.
Customer Reviews:
A 'must' for any avid jazz fan who relishes a 'you are there' experiential survey........2007-02-06
Alive at the Village Vanguard: My Life In and Out of Jazz Time captures the life of jazz artist Lorraine Gordon, who knew virtually all the big names of jazz. She was not only a business woman and mother, but owned the most famous jazz club in the world, the Village Vanguard: this is the story of the rise of that club, her encounters with Miles Davis, Monk, and more, and vignettes of their personalities and encounters. Black and white photos blend with music history and cultural insights to make for a lively survey of the Village scene and the artists who made up the jazz world. A 'must' for any avid jazz fan who relishes a 'you are there' experiential survey.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Alive at the Village Vanguard.......2007-02-01
Very interesting and informative. An honest woman, dedicated to jazz and jazz musicians.
Mildly interesting from a history of jazz/ philosophy of jazz point of view.......2007-01-25
Lorraine Gordon has led an interesting life and one well worth reporting. She does an admirable job in this autobiography. If, however, one seeks information about jazz events that occurred at her club in any sort of detail, one needs to look elsewhere.
Wonderful read.......2006-12-08
This book is a wonderful read for any jazz fan! It goes through the life of Larraine Gordon and has some wonderful insights as to why the Village Vanguard is what it is! It's an easy read and I highly recommend this book!
Book Description
"Some Pow'r did us the giftie grant/ To see oursels as others can't." With that play on Burns' famous line as a preface, Willard Van Orman Quine sets out to spin the yarn of his life so far. And it is a gift indeed to see one of the world's most famous philosophers as no one else has seen him before. To catch an intimate glimpse of his seminal and controversial theories of philosophy, logic, and language as they evolved, and to hear his warm and often amusing comments on famous contemporary philosophers.
From his beginnings in Akron, Ohio in the early 1900s, Quine takes us on a tour of over 100 countries over three-quarters of a century, including close observations of the Depression and two world wars. Far from a philosophical tract, it is an ebullient, folksy account of a richly varied and rounded life. When he does dip into philosophy, it is generally of the armchair sort, and laced with a gentle good humor: "There is that which one wants to do for the glory of having done it, and there is that which one wants to do for the joy of doing it. One can want to be a scientist because he wants to see himself as a Darwin or an Einstein, and one can want to be a scientist because he is curious about what makes things tick .... In normal cases the two kinds of motivation are in time brought to terms .... In me the glory motive lingered ......
In this book, Quine approaches the details of his life the way he has always approached them with a sharp sense of interest, adventure and fun. And he has a skill for picking a word that is just off-center enough to pull an ordinary event out of the humdrum of daily life and evoke its personal meaning. The result is a book of memories that is utterly mesmerizing.
Willard Van Orman Quine is the author of numerous books, including Word and Object, published by The MIT Press in 1960.
A Bradford Book.
Amazon.com
Born in 1920, Helen Thomas was one of United Press International's very few female journalists for years. She promoted herself to UPI's White House Press Corps in 1960 ("I just started showing up every day") and has reported on eight administrations. Her episodic, old-fashioned autobiography contains anecdotes about each president, their first ladies, and their staff. Her stories are often funny, and she doesn't mind when the joke's on her: "Isn't there a war somewhere we can send her to?" Colin Powell inquired after being buttonholed at a party; President Carter's mother said the greatest lesson she learned in 80 years was, "Never to open my mouth around Helen Thomas." She's also fair: even the press secretaries get balanced treatment, though Thomas criticizes the White House's growing efforts to "manage" the news. (Her most affectionate political portrait is of the unmanageable Watergate wife Martha Mitchell.) Thomas pays loving tribute to her parents, hardworking, religious Syrian immigrants, and to her late husband, Associated Press reporter Doug Cornell, but she keeps the focus on the people and public events she covered. Scrupulously impartial when reporting the news, she feels free here to be bluntly opinionated, especially in her unrepentant advocacy of the media's responsibility to ask uncomfortable questions, even when the public condemns them as intrusive. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
"Thank You, Mr. President."
From the woman who has reported on every president from Kennedy to Clinton comes a privileged glimpse into the White House -- and a telling record of the ever-changing relationship between the presidency and the press.
Helen Thomas wanted to be a reporter from her earliest years. She turned a copy-aide job at the Washington Daily News into a powerful and successful career spanning thirty-seven years and eight U.S. presidents. Assigned to the White House press corps in 1961. Thomas was the first woman to close a press conference with "Thank you. Mr. President." She was also the first female president of the White House Correspondents Association and the first woman member, later president, of the Gridiron Club.
In this revealing memoir, which includes hundreds of anecdotes, observations, and personal details. Thomas looks back on a career spent with presidents at home and abroad, on the ground and in the air. Providing a unique view of the past four decades of presidential history. Front Row at the White House offers a seasoned study of the relationship between the chief executive officer and the press -- a relationship that is sometimes uneasy, sometimes playful, yet always integral to the democratic process.
Download Description
From the earliest age, Helen Thomas wanted to be a reporter. Raised in Depression-era Detroit, she worked her way to Washington after college and, unlike other women reporters who gave up their jobs to returning veterans, parlayed her copy aide job at the Washington Daily News into a twelve-year stint as a radio news writer for UPI, covering such beats as the Department of Justice and other federal agencies. Assigned to the White House press corps in 1961, Thomas was the first woman to close a press conference with "Thank you, Mr. President, " and has covered every administration since Kennedy's. Along the way, she broke down barriers against women in the national media, becoming the first female president of the White House Correspondents Association, the first female officer of the National Press Club, and the first woman member and later president of the Gridiron Club. In this revealing memoir which includes hundreds of anecdotes, Thomas evaluates the enormous changes that Watergate brought and how they have affected every president since Nixon. Providing a unique view of the Last four decades of presidential history, Front Row at the White House offers a seasoned study of the relationship between the chief executive officer and the press -- a relationship that is sometimes uneasy, sometimes playful, yet always integral to democracy.
Customer Reviews:
"Mr. President?".......2007-10-13
If you've ever wondered about the woman who for years asked the first question at presidential news conferences and also ended each one, then this memoir will be entertaining. Thomas had a long career and got to know every president since JFK pretty well, or so you'd think from this book which is chock full of interesting anecdotes and opinions. It is a bit repetitious and would have benefited mightily from tighter editing. One wonders if the publisher was a little too reverential to use the red pencil. Somewhere along the line, UPI, her employer, lost a lot of its power and impact, due to business turmoil. Still, Thomas soldiered on. She doesn't say much about UPI in the memoir, probably because she's still working, though for Hearst. If you follow the journalism biz, you'll want to read this one.
Great read!.......2007-01-09
The book is a true reflection of who Helen is and her commitment to the ideals and responsibility of being a "reporter". Whether or not you agree with Helen's political views; it is hard to argue with her views regardig the responsibility of the press corps.
Incredible life...........2006-07-16
It's one thing to be a history buff and read about events of our country and the world. It's another to live it. Thomas has been an active part of almost every major historical event our country has seen for decades. It's a life the rest of us could only dream about. I thank her for giving me the opportunity to read about the behind the scenes events that have made up our history. The writing is very newspaper-like ie short and to the point. It's perfect for the busy adult who wants to pick it up for short spans.
Everthing you didn't want to know about Helen and very little about anything else.......2006-02-18
I was looking forward to reading this book but was sadly very disappointed. Helen Thomas takes great pains not to rock the boat. She is in a position to make intelligent insider analysises, but she chooses instead to sit on the fence. She seems tickled pink that various presidents noticed her! And her birthday!!!! Sheesh!
white house years.......2005-01-25
I wanted to give this book at 5 star rating but the first two thirds of the book are written too much in the style of a quick note taking journalist and I found the writing needing of more narrative. The ' I was there and they thought I was a female tiger amongst men' message over and over again gets tired after a while. The photos of the author with the presidents are ok but Ms. Thomas should have included those moments in history that she was a part of, Nixon's resignation, Clinton intern scandal, Reagan--Iran-Contra, etc. Ms. Thomas' final third of the book is excellent. The writing changes. She elaborates and the book excels.
Books:
- Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)
- Walk In Hell (The Great War, Book 2)
- Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn
- Wild Irish Roses: Tales of Brigits, Kathleens, and Warrior Queens
- With Chennault in China: A Flying Tiger's Story (Schiffer Military/Aviation History)
- Wizard 6: A Combat Psychiatrist in Vietnam (Texas a & M University Military History Series)
- WORDS THAT WORK: IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT'S WHAT PEOPLE HEAR
- Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the Modern World (1300 to the Present)
- Young Child in the Family and the Community, The (4th Edition)
- Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942 (Modern War Studies)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook & Bouchon
- In the Province of Saints: A Novel
- How Democracies Lose Small Wars: State, Society, and the Failures of France in Algeria, Israel in Le
- Jokelopedia: The Biggest, Best, Silliest, Dumbest Joke Book Ever
- Quarks, Leptons and Gauge Fields
- Risk Assessment Methods
- Flagler, Rockefeller Partner and Florida Baron
- Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model
- Washington Business Directory 2002: The Ultimate Sales & Credit Tool
Entertainers
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Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton
Rickles' Book: A Memoir
