Amazon.com
Talk about an audacious title! But Suze (pronounced "Suzie") Orman means business in this anecdote-rich compendium of tips on 401(k)s, marriage, homes, and happiness. The PBS star/financial adviser has made plenty of the mistakes she warns against, like getting a 30-year mortgage instead of a cheaper 15-year, using Visa cards as magic carpets to calamity, and losing $20,000 in borrowed bucks to bum investment advice. Then she became a Merrill Lynch broker and an author capable of selling 10,000 books in 12 minutes on QVC.
Orman's point--in this and her No. 1 bestseller The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom--is that you'd better face fiscal facts and avoid fear, denial, and the self-fulfilling low expectations the novelist William Wharton called "the Poverty Mind." America is a nation of check-bouncing, late-fee-incurring, guilty bad planners. How long will it take to pay off that $3,000 Visa bill with minimum payments? Thirty years, you poor, dear fool! What would you gain if you bought stocks instead of your daily latte for 30 years? $165,152! Her book might've been titled The Courage Not to Be a Self-Sabotaging Neurotic.
Orman is the Andrew Weil of money health--she yearns to enrich your life emotionally, too. If you can't stand discussions of the psychological origins of fiscal decisions, or self-help lingo like "money is attracted to people who are strong and powerful, respectful of it, and open to receiving it," you'll want a more nuts-and-bolts adviser. If you want pep talk, true tales of woe and makeovers, and a jolt of a true pop culture phenomenon, Suze is for you. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
With honesty, empathy, and a dazzling knowledge of how money works, Suze Orman invites us into a realm where our lives and finances can prosper in harmony. Practical, spiritual, and above all financially sound, The Courage to Be Rich takes us through the financial milestones of our lives and shows us how to:
* Clear away financial clutter
* Break debilitating patterns
* Protect finances when entering marriage or romantic partnerships
* Start over after divorce or death of a spouse
* Differentiate between good and bad debt
* Invest for the future
* Give generously, live richly
* Learn and teach the value of money
"Orman prods the fearful, the angry and the impoverished to dig deep into the pockets of their souls for spiritual and financial riches. [A] holistic approach...Orman offers sound advice on money market funds, IRAs, estate planning and financing big-ticket items such as homes and autos, but her most compelling advice hits us in the emotional pocketbook." (USA Today)
"The reigning shaman and high priestess of personal finance... The Courage to Be Rich is another blockbuster." (San Francisco Examiner)
Customer Reviews:
It helped me!.......2007-07-30
I'm a little sorry to see all of the negative reviews this book has gotten, since I found it to be one of the most eye-opening things I've ever read and, by following some of its advice, have gotten my finances into better shape than they have been in years.
Let me clarify some things. This is not a book for the financially advanced, for professionial money managers or financial advisors, or for stock brokers. The intended audience here is the "Average Person" who works at something else every day but wants to better understand how to handle their money. This person probably has credit card debt, spotty savings, and some bad financial habits. I had none of those things when I picked up this book and I still learned tons from reading it.
The principal message here is that being rich begins with your thoughts. They way we think about money determines to a huge degree what we do with it, how we invest it, and how we spend it. I think no one will deny that fundamental truth, but Suze's gift is finding the ways to connect our thoughts with practical advice to change bad habits for the better. Many people could make a few simple changes in their lives and end up with a lot more money, and over time, that could mean real wealth.
It is true that some of the conclusions here will seem obvious to the financially savvy. But I question the idea that this is all "repackaged common knowledge." It isn't. Her messages are of the kind that bear repeating. How many people still buy a $3.50 latte every morning, stick thousands of dollars in a bank savings account at 1% interest, and have credit card debt well beyond what they can afford? If it were so obvious that these are unwise things to do with money, fewer people would do them! Suze shows that it's not enough just to recognize financially unhealthy behavior, you must also understand your personal history with money, the way you have been taught to think about it and value it, and understand how that history influences your financial decisions. Her recognition of the emotional value of money gives her the edge over other financial how-to books, which typically assume that money is a raw numbers game. It's much more than that, and Suze is right on insisting so.
Her most controversial advice is that you, and not a financial planner, must ultimately be responsible for your money, and I think a lot of the one-star ratings below are from frightened financial planners who know that Suze is onto their game. She does not, for the record, say that you should never work with one, but simply acknowledges that the ultimate responsibility for your money is with YOU and not someone you pay to organize your investments. I think she's right, and with all of the online resources available today, there's no reason to be ignorant about how money works in our society. A little more attention from you can mean a lot more peace with your money, and being responsible makes it much easier to make money grow.
One of the best sections of this book comes at the end, when she talks about the importance of giving. I just loved her discussion of how important it is to give and wish everybody would read it! In our greedy world, it's a message that needs to be heard.
I found this book lifechanging and hope others can too.
Repackaged Common Knowledge.......2007-05-17
Suze Orman's Book is well written and thoughtful, that being said, she doesn't provide anything beyond common sense and basic knowledge: Stop accruing debt, live within your means, pay off those high interest credit cards, distinguish between good and bad loans, save money, INVEST YOUR MONEY. All this is the same material you will find in every beginning personal finance book, and online for free. The problem is that after peddling all these little trinkets of knowledge, with an over indulgent helping of self-pity, she doesn't help you make a plan or answer some fundamental questions. Like...HOW? This book does not provide the basic mechanics of how to do what she says, and gives no details on how (in financial basics) she got where she is. How do I redistribute my debt so I can pay it off (what is a good time horizon), how should I save money so I don't get burned out by saving, how do I mentally control my spending, and most importantly how do I invest the darn money? If you tel people to save and invest, you need to give them a hint of a plan (e.g., save 10% of every paycheck, but no more, so you grow to hate saving money) or maybe also just a single chapter on where to invest the money beyond, use your 401(k). Maybe one on why being too risk averse is bad. Ultimately, this book simply provides abstract goals, that require you to go out and get another book to help you get perspective on getting there. So just skip it, and get the next book.
First step to getting rich.......2006-08-29
This book is so important. I swear she should write school courses for children K-12 & beyond because she is so wonderfuly full of knowledge and sound advice. I strongly urge everyone to buy this book if not for yourself then for someone you love. It is so enlightening you will not want to put it down.
Commen Sense Not Courage.......2006-08-03
This book is concisely written and reader-friendly.
The question and answer format in Chapters 8, 9 and 10 are pointed and helpful. There was obviously a lot of thought into choosing which questions to ask, because they're pertinent things we need to know, but most of us don't know.
Orman deserves credit not only for her advice but for her attitude and viewpoints on many financially related cultural aspects of our lives. One quote I liked on page 104 about carsis : "It's not a component of the American dream. It's certainly a component of our collective consumer machismo." Her following formula of investing at +X percent vs. a car payment at -X percent lead to some serious numeric differences. Meaning if you add it up, you may have placed your Opportunity Cost of car ownership (with monthly payments) to be about +$500,000 or a loss of -$500,000 dollars.
Most of the points in this book are for the neophyte. Or those who haven't thought much about incoming and outgoing expenses recently as our routine in life gets busy and complex. Many anecdotes are basically short-story case stories about some of the situations her past clients have been in, how they got there, and what was done to get them out of their predicament. You can read the chapters in any order. It's a good thing. The only thing I would change is the title. Instead of the "Courage to be Rich," I might call it the "Courage to Have a Manageable Debt-ratio." :)
LAW OF ATTRACTING MONEY.......2006-06-01
I have long been a fan of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC so I do not know why it took me so long to read one of her books. Her advice is always right on the mark about finances and this book is perfectly in line with that. She has plenty of great advice on buying a home, explaining mortgages, and how to decide which life insurance policy, annuity, or bonds are best for you. The book will be very useful for anyone who needs easy to understand descriptions of these financial concerns.
Most financial books I have read are mind-numbingly dull, and written by experts who appear to have nothing but money on their minds. Suze's book is written for everyone and it reflects a sincere concern for people and bettering the quality of their lives by helping them understand the world of money. The great warmth of her personality makes you sincerely believe she wants you to have the Courage to be Rich.
The book lives up to its fantastic title. What is most striking about Suze Orman's approach to finances is she talks about the emotional reasons why we end up with credit card debt or are afraid to spend money on a vacation. She looks at the deep psychological beliefs we all have about money, and she teaches how to think in terms of abundance rather than scarcity to allow money its proper place in our lives. Although she does not mention the Law of Attraction (see my review on Lynn Grabhorn's Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting) her principles are largely the same. She is also a women of great heart. She ends the book by telling us what to do with the money once we have had the courage to be rich. She talks about giving to charity and how generosity only increases our financial, and more importantly, our spiritual abundance. I wholeheartedly trust Suze Orman's advice, not simply because she knows about money, but because her sincerity and generosity of character shine forth on every page. Read this book no matter how much money you have. You won't be disappointed.
Tyler R. Tichelaar, author of Iron Pioneers, The Marquette Trilogy: Book One
Average customer rating:
- For the record
- I like this book - Great Read
- Great Book Mark
- ANOTHER WASTE OF PAPER FROM HAROLDSON
- ANOTHER WASTE OF PAPER FROM HAROLDSON
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Courage to Be Rich
Mark O. Haroldsen
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0553251201
Release Date: 1985-07-01 |
Customer Reviews:
For the record.......2003-09-01
As someone who became very familiar with the FTC and the case against Mr. Haroldsen - It is worthy to note that 1.) The FTC attempted to freeze the funds of the companies run by Mr. Haroldsen, however the judge found that the FTC's evidence was lacking. After the course of the trial, not only did the FTC lose the case on the grounds that Mr Haroldsen was found to be operating his business in accordance with all laws. The judge, from my reading of the court transcript, criticized the FTC for pursuing the case that the FTC had learned during their investigation was invalid. They were also ordered to pay Mr. Haroldsen a large portion of this lawyer fees. My point - don't take what you read to be the truth without investigating it for yourself. For your reference the Case was closed in favor of Mr. Haroldsen in January of 2002 and the information can be found at the FTC's webpage ...
I like this book - Great Read.......2002-04-22
I found a copy of this in my local library. It is a great read. Some information is dated, mostly tax info, but the basic principles are still intact.I am looking forward to other books by Mark Haroldsen.
Great Book Mark.......2002-04-21
I first purchased Mark Haroldsen's "How to Wake Up the Financial Genius" way back in 1977. Using his techniques, I was able to build credit (I didn't have bad credit, just no credit) lines from 0 to over a $100,000. I bought rental properties and created a net worth of $500,000 (in 1977 dollars) within a years time."The Courage TO BE RICH" is excellent and goes beyond Goals, Guts and Genius.I like this book much better than the version by Suze Orman which only covers conservative personal finance strategies. The fact that someone like Suze Orman would copy this title should tell you something of the effect that Mark Haroldsen had back in the 70's and 80's.This is a good book and I highly recommend it. Some of the techniques are dated. Others are timeless. The overall message was worth over $500,000 to me.Good book Mark.
ANOTHER WASTE OF PAPER FROM HAROLDSON.......2001-05-21
ANOTHER WASTE OF PAPER FROM HAROLDSON! THE GUY GOT RICH FROM TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE UNSUSPECTING....HIS COMPANY WAS EVEN SHUT DOWN BY THE FTC. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY.
ANOTHER WASTE OF PAPER FROM HAROLDSON.......2001-05-21
ANOTHER WASTE OF PAPER FROM HAROLDSON! THE GUY GOT RICH FROM TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE UNSUSPECTING....HIS COMPANY WAS EVEN SHUT DOWN BY THE FTC. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY.
Book Description
?????An American icon for more than half a century, Elizabeth Taylor continues to fascinate the American public. From the mainstream media to the tabloid press, no other celebrity has received such overwhelming scrutiny, stirred so much scandal, or alternately been the target of both worldwide worship and condemnation. And yet just when we thought we knew everything about this screen siren, Ellis Amburn blows the lid off of Hollywood's best-kept secrets-secrets that have allowed Hollywood's most beautiful woman to remain its most misunderstood celebrity.
?????In The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, Ellis Amburn taps into previously unexplored primary sources to reveal the tragedies and triumphs of Elizabeth Taylor's exciting and tumultuous life. This wonderful new biography poignantly recounts the successful removal of a golf-ball size brain tumor; her courageous recovery after breaking her back twice within two years; the exciting launch of her fragrance line, which became an instant success; and her loving relationship with Rod Steiger, who nurtured her back to health after a nervous breakdown. Amburn also reveals Taylor's tragic and heartbreaking affection for Montgomery Clift and James Dean and explores Taylor's disastrous marriage to the abusive and philandering Nicky Hilton, who abandoned Liz on their honeymoon to be with another woman. And then there is the infamous and cunning Eddie Fisher, who forced Liz to appear at his Las Vegas shows in order to bring in capacity crowds, as well as accounts of Richard Burton's homosexual activities and his exploitation of Taylor.
?????With explosive new revelations about her love affairs and marriages, Ellis Amburn creates a portrait that will redefine everything we thought we knew about Elizabeth Taylor. The most significant and overlooked truth in Taylor's life that all of her major loving relationships have been with gay men, while all of her self-destructive love affairs have been with straight men-is an insight that is destined to deepen our love and understanding of the world's most beautiful woman.
Customer Reviews:
UH-OH.......2006-10-09
This bio is mostly interesting and included some things I didn't know before. However, I found a glaring mistake that makes me dubious about the rest of the book. The author says Earl Holliman played one of the sons in the movie Giant. This is not so. Earl Holliman played the eldest Benedict girl's husband. This irritates me no end and makes me wonder if the book is well-enough researched.
How is really the World's most Beautiful Woman?.......2005-05-17
I found the book very enchanting and interesting. I was unable to put it down. I have always been a huge fan of Elizabeth Taylor, she was mesmerizingly beautiful in her prime of life. I would not quote that she is the World's most beautiful woman because that title also belongs to:
1. Model Beau-Latasha (being the most beautiful of all time)
2. Model Cindy Crawford
3. Actress Raquel Welch
4. Actress Aishwarya Rai
5. Actress Sophia Loren
6. Sportcaster Jayne Kennedy
7. Singer Lena Horne
8. Singer Vanity
9. Model Gia Carangi
10. Actress Angelina Jolie
Salacious, outrageous and nauseating.......2005-03-06
One sentence came to mind as I closed Ellis Amburn's biography of Elizabeth Taylor: "Why didn't Liz sue?" Amburn puts new meaning into "bad taste" with his biography, which revels unashamedly in gory details, sex secrets and every diva moment that Taylor ever had. It's embarrassing just to read.
Taylor's childhood is treated with more or less indifference -- it's her teen years that begin to spark Amburn's interest. She studies the relationships she had with men from adolescence onward, particularly the asexual ones that she had with attractive heterosexual men, and the "a-loving" ones that she had with gay ones.
That tendency, Amburn argues, took her through several unhappy marriages and plenty of explosive relationships, including ones that shattered assorted marriages. In the midst of all this, she also weathered health crises and worldwide censure with plenty of guts, becoming a sort of grande dame of the filmmaking business.
Love her or hate her, Elizabeth Taylor is a larger-than-life figure, and there's plenty in her life to fuel a biography. Many biographers have managed to describe her lifetime with grace and taste, despite her sailor's mouth and tumultuous love life. She doesn't have to be portrayed as squeaky clean, just human.
Unfortunately, Amburn usually chooses to focus on the more grotesque aspects of Taylor's life. She delves into the sex lives (complete with sometimes disgusting details) of everyone who had been involved with Taylor, especially the gay men. Which, by the way, make up a lot of the book -- Amburn attaches the "gay" tag to quite a few men, the only way that she manages to pay any attention to them. That particular preoccupation hangs over the entire book like a stormcloud. Don't the heterosexual men in Taylor's life deserve equal scrutiny?
Taste is nowhere to be found here -- Amburn has an almost obsessive interest in Taylor's breasts, and the sexual and penile details of her husbands, lovers and pals. What these things add to the history, she doesn't bother to say. The sledgehammer writing is that of a tabloid reporter, but without the restraints of an editor, Amburn appears to have gone wild.
Taylor herself comes across as a blowsy diva, without a single redeeming characteristic except her acting skills. Amburn, don't bother writing a biography if you don't have any liking or respect for your subject. Not that she's alone; her husbands are all portrayed as walking disasters of alcoholism, gambling and physical abuse, and her kids are nonentities. The only person Amburn seems to have any liking for is Taylor's costar and friend Montgomery Clift, who is shown as a suffering saint.
Ellis Amburn's "Elizabeth Taylor" is practically a how-to guide on how NOT to write a biography. Don't even bother, except for a laugh.
A Stormy Sexual History of Hollywood.......2000-10-02
This book is the tabloid version of an Elizabeth Taylor biography, reading like stiched-together daily exposes in such a newspaper. It displays in endless detail the sexual orientation of virtually everyone she ever spent time with, any arguments she ever had where someone else was present, and any unladylike things she may have said or done. Her movie work is discussed in terms of how it related to her marital relationships and financial problems. Occasionally, the book also criticizes her for having a healthy sexual appetite.
Normally, biographers either like the person they write about or want to create a more accurate account of the person. Mr. Amburn did not seem to fall into either of these categories. His objective seems to be to portray some of the other people in Ms. Taylor's life more sympathetically.
The book's main thesis is that Ms. Taylor has had loving relationships in her adult life with people who are gay or bisexual and unloving ones with everyone else. This connection is also made to Ms. Taylor's relationship with her father, despite the fact that she did not have a good relationship with him. But the book doesn't get beyond that into much of the motivation. Many men were attracted to Ms. Taylor like moths to the flame, and this attraction did nothing to bring out their better qualities. She seems to have lived in a world where her physical attractiveness made her a target for fans, men, and exploiters of all sorts. Little is made of the potential to see her as victim of peoples' perceptions of someone who is physically attractive. She also doesn't seem to get enough credit for generally being an open-minded person, which may explain her lack of sexual-orientation prejudice.
According to press reports and this book, Ms. Taylor has had more than her share of illness, injury, and physical and emotional pain. Yet she has led a generally productive artistic life, and has played an increasingly important role in bringing sympathy and support to the cause of overcoming AIDS. It would have been natural to have focused on these positive reflections of her underlying character, and the difficulties involved in overcoming ceaseless, searing pain addiction. No one is going to be perfect under such circumstances. Yet the book wallows in her use of drugs and drinking to soften the pain, in endless tales that add little to the biography.
Naturally, Ms. Taylor is famous in part for her marital difficulties. Those should have been in the book, but they became too much of the book to be rewarding to the reader.
As someone who was a working actress for most of her life, another aspect of the book you might expect would be extended dicussions of her work. You will find relatively little of that. It is as though the author thinks that her work is of virtually no importance. I certainly was moved by her performances in National Velvet, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I liked her performances in many other movies. I would have liked to have read much more about her work in these roles where she was more successful.
The best part of this book is the beautiful color photograph of Ms. Taylor on the cover.
If you are wondering why I did not give the book a one star review, it is because the photographs are good and the writing style is perfectly adequate. The three star downgrade is for misfocus, exploitation, and a hidden agenda.
After you finish looking at Ms. Taylor's cover photograph, consider what you would like to know more about public figures. Then when you are thinking about reading a biography about that person, check to see if the biography focuses on the areas you care about before reading them. That will save you a lot of time.
Also, ask yourself how we should consider someone's life. To what extent should we consider good deeds? Bad deeds? Repentance? Motives? Physical appearance? Obstacles to progress? Ms. Taylor's life raises these issues rather nicely.
By the way, if you find a biography of Ms. Taylor that you like, please do write to me. I'd like to read it.
There's nothing like a DAME.......2000-07-10
As another reviewer said, I have read most ot the biographies written about Elizabeth Taylor, and I am usually disappointed! They seem to never capture the woman; the authors tend to rehash old news clippings, or scandal sheet gossip.In doing this, the authors never do this woman justice. Not only is Elizabeth an icon of our time, but she has become one of countries greatest AIDS activists.This in itself took tremendous courage! There is more to this woman than celluloid, and ex-husbands. Face it, she's one great dame! I wish to some day read a biography of her that truly celebrates the woman that is Elizabeth Taylor!
Product Description
THIS AUDIO PRODUCTION IS BRAND NEW...STILL IN ITS SHRINK WRAP!
Customer Reviews:
From the back of the package . . ........2007-08-12
6 HOURS / 4 CASSETTES
Bestselling author and financial expert Suze Orman helped millions of Americans turn toward their money and embark on a true path to wealth with her #1 bestseller The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom and her national bestseller You've Earned It, Don't Lose It. Now she returns, with a book that goes beyond the fundamentals of her earlier work in challenging and inspiring us to realize our full financial potential, and to realize as well that the bottom line of life is comprised of much more than money.
Practical, spiritual, and above all soundly financial, The Courage to Be Rich addresses the rites of passage we all must face -- marriage, divorce, death; spending (and overspending) on life's necessities and luxuries; taking control of our financial tomorrows today. From the business of love to buying a home; from imparting proper values to our children to defining our own self-worth; from starting over to staking a claim to our future, Orman shows us how to find the clarity, conviction, and courage to meet the obstacles and opportunities of a lifetime.
Average customer rating:
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Courage to Connect: A Journey Towards Intimacy in Relationships
Rich Hurst
Manufacturer: Chariot Victor Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Psychology
| Religious Studies
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Inspirational
| Spirituality
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0781454727 |
Book Description
This book is not for the faint hearted! If you choose to embark upon this journey toward intimacy you will find yourself moving from a passive victim to an active participant in life. You will discover intimacy is a journey, not a destination.
Everyone wants intimacy, but time and disappointing relationships have dulled its meaning. This book is about:
and #149; Discovering intimacy is a journey, not a destination
and #149; Understanding expectations and creating the life you want
and #149; Principles that matter in building an intimate lifestyle
and #149; Overcoming myths that destroy relationships
Courage to Connect will help you to open the doors of your heart and receive God's promise of an abundant life. It will bring you a deeper understanding of who you are and how to freely receive God's gifts.
Average customer rating:
- Don't waste your time reading this book
- This story discloses how ordinary persons can be deceived
- Excellent mindboggling journey into oblivion
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Evil Web: A True Story of Cult Abuse and Courage
Mary Rich , and
Carol Jose
Manufacturer: New Horizon Press Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Criminology
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Murder & Mayhem
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
True Crime
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Comparative Religion
| Religious Studies
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Witch: The True Story of Las Vegas' Most Notorious Female Killer (Berkley True Crime)
ASIN: 0882821393 |
Book Description
Mary Rich allows her family to be drawn into a twisted cultist's evil web.
Customer Reviews:
Don't waste your time reading this book.......2004-01-27
This book is supposedly written by one of its victims, Mary Rich. She begins by telling the story of her devout desire to be closer to God, and how she and her husband meet this charismatic, intense man, Ron Larrinaga who cast his evil spell on them. It's obvious right from the start that Mary Rich rook one look at Ron Larrinaga and fell completely, infatuatedly in love with Ron Larrinaga.
I have talked to several people who have read this book, some of them actuallly closely related to Ron Larrinaga. He is, without a doubt, insane, and he deserves to be in jail for 180 years. None of those people disagree with that. Nor do they disagree with my opinon that Mary Rich herself, her husband and the other adults involved in this horror should be in jail right along with the evil leader Ron Larrinaga.
Don't misunderstand me. Of course there are bonfide cult victims. We've read and heard about many of them. However, it is my honest opinion, after reading this book that it is painfully obvious that the author/victim willingly went along with Larrinaga and dragged her family with her. She was obviously very much in love, or LUST or simply infatuated with Larrinaga. Her selfishness compelled her to go along with this man while he repeatedly raped and beat her and worse yet, her children. And oh, did I mention that she kept having children? The writings are very vague and superficial. It was very obvious to me just by reading the book that once the authorities REALLY got wind of these nuts (author included), that only then did she play the 'victim' card. As far as I'm concerned, she deserves to be in jail with him and the rest of the adults involved here. All of the adults involved in this case were free to go on, leading 'new' lives, leaving in their paths about twenty tortured, messed up kids to figure out what the hell happened to their lives.
One of the reviews here on Amazon is supposedly written by one of the daughters/victims of the writer called "Louise". I guess she is trying to incite some interest in the hope of generating some revenue in the way of sales for her nutball mother. I cannot believe the woman even has the gall to show her own photo in the book. I don't mean to sound so cynical. I know there are indeed victims of cults out there. But as I mentioned earlier, several other people who read this account, and further more, people who actually KNOW these nuts (I have never meet any of the people in the book, but they have) came away with the same thought I did: why is the author not in jail as well? It's a travesty of justice that she, along with the other adults involved are not. The idea that she or they are getting any money for this book is preposterous. The law SHOULD only give any monies earned from it to the REAL victims: the children.
This story discloses how ordinary persons can be deceived.......1999-04-19
The book was difficult for me to read, but good for me as well. I needed to know the beginning of the story. The beginnings are so important, because the ending is never reached without a beginning. Like sudden accidental death, people think being involved in a cult could never happen to them. This is especially true of devout Christians. But this story is of an ordinary family who unintentionally spiraled into the destructive cult whirlpool through entirely good intentions. Thus, I believe all people who live above the plane of cynicism must take heed to the beginnings of such stories, and not just the gruesome inner-story details. They must understand how good intentions can be misused by evil people intent on achieving their own malicious ends. I should know because in the book, I am the daughter, Louise. I needed to know the beginning, because I saw the middle and the end.
Excellent mindboggling journey into oblivion.......1997-04-03
The Evilweb This true story ( a must read )saga starts out innocent enough, and progresses slowly into a mindboggling descend into the quagmire of mindcontrol, and the
unbelievable relinquishing of self will. Mary Rich and her husband, apparently normal people leading successful lives, allowed the diabolical charismatic figure Ronald Larrinaga to assert his will on them to the point of diabolical madness, involving physical, mental, and depraved sexual abuse on Mary Rich, and her children. All the while her
husband remained inert to what was engulfing his wife and children, as he drowned in an automaton state. This family criss crosses the country growing into a group of 30 or more
men, women, and children. Some how Mary's husband manages to leave the cult, and eventually convince's Mary to also abandon Larrinaga and his flock, however, the scars ingrained on them and their children will follow then for the remaining days of their lives.
Mary then seeks to pursue criminal charges against Larrinaga, and subsequently Larrinaga is brought to justice and sentenced to served 180 years in a Texas prison. This story makes one wonder what personalities is susceptible to total domination, and subjugation to the most deprived living conditions beyond the realms of reality. The recent San Diego Heaven Gates Cult mass suicides of 39 people reveals such anomalies are still breeding in our society, and the evilweb may be spinning right next door to you.
Product Description
2 Book Set By Suze Orman; the Courage to Be Rich; the Money Book for the Fabulous & Broke.
Customer Reviews:
a very limited success.......2000-10-22
The notoriety of this book rests on two pretty shaky pillars: first, the initial section of the book is supposed to reveal the effects of segregation and desegregation battles on children, mainly through their drawings, which have become almost iconographic; second, the book was the first major effort to look at segregationists as if they were normal human beings and not vile mutants. But the child studies seem dubious and the novelty of the even handed treatment of white Southerners is more of an indictment of the prevailing intellectual hegemony of the 60's than a recommendation for this book in particular.
The pederastic preschool hysteria and recovered memory of Satanic rituals scare have amply demonstrated (if Freud himself hadn't) that child psychologists/psychiatrists tend to find whatever they expect to find when they head into child interviews. So I think we have to question the validity of Coles child research.
As for examining segregationists fairly, while it may have been revolutionary at the time Coles wrote, we now live in a political culture that is so thoroughly racialized that the attitudes of segregationists seems fairly unremarkable. After all, how different is the Alabama parent of 1956 who wanted his kids to go to an all white school from the 1990's inner city parent who wants her kids to go to a Black Muslim school? How different is the all white police force from the force that has to meet rigid racial quotas? Race is still the determinative factor in these distributions of power, we've just tweaked the distributions a little.
I suppose Coles deserves some credit for undertaking such a project, which clearly ran counter to popular perceptions of his day, but the most important conclusion in the book is the following:
We all have our hates, but most of us do not get them involved with social and political issues to a degree that becomes frantic and all consuming. It is remarkable and almost frightening to see how quickly a new generation can abandon the ruthlessly indoctrinated and maintained ideology of its predecessor. In the South, as segregationist customs have collapsed, most white people have yielded to what they once said they could never accept.
Duh! Whites fought tooth and claw to keep power in the South, but when they lost, they accommodated to the new reality.
For some reason, race and sex have the capacity, like The Shadow, to cloud men's minds. It should be, and should have been, perfectly obvious that segregation was simply a political arrangement whereby one group sought to maintain their own power. Take power away from the Southern Whites, as the Federal government did, and the need for a racial theory to support that power disappears. (Books like C. Vann Woodward's The Strange Career of Jim Crow (1955), had amply demonstrated the fundamentally political background of segregation.) But somehow the focus on race gave the whole deal a peculiar resonance that made logical discussion nearly impossible and still affects our ability to consider these matters, even with historical perspective.
A great book is waiting to be written about Desegregation; one that combines Woodward's understanding of the historico-political roots of segregation, with the epic scope and mundane detail of Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters, and with the intellectual honesty to examine the consequences of race based solutions to race based problems that authors like Thomas Sowell and Charles Murray have demonstrated. This is not that book; it succeeds only on the very limited terms that it sets itself.
GRADE: C
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