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Average customer rating:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A lovely journey into the China of the 1800's
Captivating
Fascinating
Loved this book!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
Lisa See
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Water for Elephants: A Novel
The Glass Castle : A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards))
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Suite Francaise
A Thousand Splendid Suns

ASIN: 0812968069
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Book Description

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Download Description

Lisa See is the author of Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.......2007-06-30

This is the July selection chosen by the Book Group I am in. I wanted to have a copy to read on the plane trip to visit families in Colorado. (One of our daughters-in-law was born in Hong Kong and I am interested in learning more about Chinese history and customs.) The story is told by one Chinese woman, her life from early childhood to her eighties. Back then footbinding of young girls was the custom, and girls' activities revolved around preparation for their future wedding and joining the family of their arranged-for husband. For a little girl, another Chinese girl who shares the same birth year is chosen to become lifetime good friends, sharing hopes, dreams, sorrows and happiness. The narrator is Lily. Her lifelong friend is Snow Flower, and they share secret messages by writing on a fan that is passed back and forth from one house to the other. Many customs of yore are described in this book.

A lovely journey into the China of the 1800's.......2007-06-27

This story of friendship was fascinating and moving. The secret language of the women of China was something that no one could take away from them and their stories and experiences could be shared with others. The lessons to be learned are numerous. I really loved reading this book and hated the story to end. It was told beautifully.

Captivating.......2007-06-27

The story was fascinating. I have to say it was great place to visit-read about-but I wouldn't want to have lived there. Three cheers for liberation and the abandonment of foot-binding.

I most enjoyed the camaderie of the women.

Fascinating.......2007-06-27

This story was a most interesting - even fascinating - book. It was a sort of historical novel that took place in China. I really enjoyed it even though much of it was appalling because is really is about the way it was.

Loved this book!.......2007-06-27

This was a book that was selected for my book club and we all loved it. It was a super fast read and very entertaining.

Average customer rating:

Life happens
wow
Passive writing
Whats in a Name...
Great book!

The Namesake: A Novel
Jhumpa Lahiri
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Interpreter of Maladies
Water for Elephants: A Novel
The Glass Castle : A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards))
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
The Memory Keeper's Daughter

ASIN: 0618485228

Amazon.com

Any talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a first name at all. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.

Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world. There's a lovely section where he dates a wealthy, cultured young Manhattan woman who lives with her charming parents. They fold Gogol into their easy, elegant life, but even here he can find no peace and he breaks off the relationship. His mother finally sets him up on a blind date with the daughter of a Bengali friend, and Gogol thinks he has found his match. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian-American world she inhabits. She has found, however, a circuitous escape: "At Brown, her rebellion had been academic ... she'd pursued a double major in French. Immersing herself in a third language, a third culture, had been her refuge--she approached French, unlike things American or Indian, without guilt, or misgiving, or expectation of any kind." Lahiri documents these quiet rebellions and random longings with great sensitivity. There's no cleverness or showing-off in The Namesake, just beautifully confident storytelling. Gogol's story is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's simply that ordinary, hard-to-get-down-on-paper commodity: real life. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

Jhumpa Lahiri's debut story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, took the literary world by storm when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Fans who flocked to her stories will be captivated by her best-selling first novel, now in paperback for the first time. The Namesake is a finely wrought, deeply moving family drama that illuminates this acclaimed author's signature themes: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the tangled ties between generations. The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of an arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ashoke does his best to adapt while his wife pines for home. When their son, Gogol, is born, the task of naming him betrays their hope of respecting old ways in a new world. And we watch as Gogol stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With empathy and penetrating insight, Lahiri explores the expectations bestowed on us by our parents and the means by which we come to define who we are.

Customer Reviews:

Life happens.......2007-06-27

For anyone who has ever been torn between two cultures, between love and family responsibility, between tradition and trail-blazing, this book will resonate. On one hand, it's a colorful and honest depiction of a family torn between native Calcutta and suburban Massachusetts, later New York City, but on a deeper level, this story is about the joy, regret, wonder and frustration of being part of a tight-knit family (both nuclear and manufactured). The characters are wonderfully real--and flawed--to the point where you understand that while Lahiri doesn't hand you a happy ending, she gives you something infinitely more satisfying.

Life happens. And this book is written as if it has been lived.

wow.......2007-06-21

I was so moved by the movie that I had to buy the book. The book was so much better than the movie. The movie I loved but this far surpasses it. I couldn't put it down and when I was done I wanted to start all over again!

Passive writing.......2007-06-21

I haven't read all the other reviews, so I may be repeating what others have said. The plot of this story is interesting, as are the characters. However, the author's writing style creates such a distance between the reader and the story that it's hard to get too connected to it. The story is mostly narrative, with very little conversation. Not much seems to happen directly, it is all told in the passive voice. This makes it really hard to feel for the characters. I would've liked this book much more if the writing style were different.

Whats in a Name..........2007-06-11

This is one of the few books that I have read that did not have to tie the title back into the story as it was inter woven all throughout the book. Its a effortless read and provides quite a bit of insight into struggles of immigrants and provides a very good perspective of understanding completely different priorities through the eyes of 3 completely different persons that share a very strong blood bond.

If you have liked the Kite Runner, Shantaram, The Bee Keepers Daughter, you will definitely appreciate this book.

I would recommend the book, but not the movie, the screenplay does not do justice to the literary content of the book.

Great book!.......2007-06-08

I loved this book. Great look into Indian culture. Couldn't put it down!

Average customer rating:

BUY IT!
Lush, deceptively poetic tripe.
Sensuous writing, loose construction
This should have been a short story
My favorite book of the past year

The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Suite Francaise
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March
The Sea (Man Booker Prize)
Snow

ASIN: 0802142818

Book Description

Kiran Desai's first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was published to unanimous acclaim in over twenty-two countries. Now Desai takes us to the northeastern Himalayas where a rising insurgency challenges the old way of life. In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga lives an embittered old judge who wants to retire in peace when his orphaned granddaughter Sai arrives on his doorstep. The judge's chatty cook watches over her, but his thoughts are mostly with his son, Biju, hopscotching from one New York restaurant job to another, trying to stay a step ahead of the INS, forced to consider his country's place in the world. When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai's new-sprung romance with her handsome Nepali tutor and causes their lives to descend into chaos, they, too, are forced to confront their colliding interests. The nation fights itself. The cook witnesses the hierarchy being overturned and discarded. The judge must revisit his past, his own role in this grasping world of conflicting desires-every moment holding out the possibility for hope or betrayal. A novel of depth and emotion, Desai's second, long-awaited novel fulfills the grand promise established by her first.

Customer Reviews:

BUY IT!.......2007-06-27

If you like excellent writing, character development from the inside out or a geopolitical canvas that stretches across time and space, buy it, read it, enjoy it.

Lush, deceptively poetic tripe........2007-06-25

The only reason I was able to finish this utter mess of a novel was the often sumptuous nature imagery, and even that had a vacuous core, for it possessed no connection to the characters and did nothing to create a cohesive tapestry of images that would ultimately make for memorability. Just a collection of pretty descriptions. And that, alas, is not enough to salvage this despicable, muddled excuse for literature.

The writing is pretentious and very one-sided- Kiran Desai is either lacking in the ability to produce more sophisticated descriptions, or deems her readers unworthy of more complex writing- writing that actually requires some thinking. Everything is spelled out. If someone is angry, Desai comes right out and says "he was drowning in anger". If someone is sad or lonely- well, you get the idea. Good writers don't do this. They are far more specific, more attuned to the minute details that actually bring a character to life and cause the reader to empathize with him/her, or at least to develop an idea of what the character is going through. There is also not enough justification- this book is filed with many 'lonely' or 'sad' or 'angry' characters, and yet, Desai never probes deep enough into their psyche- we never really come out with a clear indication as to WHY they characters are so damn miserable. That, to me, is lazy, careless writing. Vapid clichés abound on nearly every page, along with sweeping generalizations that are meant to tug at the heartstrings of the foolish, simple-minded reader.

All of the characters are one-dimensional caricatures. Desai fails to realize that empathizing with your characters- whether the reader chooses to or not- is one of the keys to successful writing. Otherwise, the novel falls flat- as is the case with The Inheritance of Loss.

This novel also aims to tackle far too much in very little space: revolutionary upheavals, love, betrayal, marital abuse, illegal immigration, racism, blahblahblah. Dostoyevsky spent 630 pages depicting the cause and effect of a single crime, and yet Desai seems to feel that one novel is enough to tackle about 50 different thematic issues. Needless to say, the subjects are handled in a very superficial manner- nothing is really developed, or brought to a close. At the end, I really didn't know (or care, for that matter) what this book was trying to say.

I honestly do not know what warrants a Booker Prize nowadays. But it sure isn't pure literary merit.

Sensuous writing, loose construction.......2007-06-20

From the first page the reader is struck by the extraordinary richness and brilliance of the author's imagery (though this is less consistent as the novel proceeds), and soon afterwards by the delineation the characters who are living in or near Kalimpong, under Kanchenjunga, the Himalayan peak on the border between India and Nepal. Living in an isolated house outside Kalimpong are Jemubhai Patel, a crusty, embittered and rage-filled retired judge who had withdrawn into this remote corner of India; his orphaned granddaughter Sai, for whom he needs has to provide a home and a tutor to teach her; and the judge's long-serving cook, who basks in the reflected glory of what the judge once was, and, above all, in the pride that he has a son, Biju, `working for the Americans', unaware of the menial jobs he is doing in New York as an illegal immigrant, along with the flotsam of other illegals from all over the Third World. With the exception of the cook, none of the book's main characters, especially the western-educated ones, really know where they belong when the clash of cultures becomes an issue.

For in that particular corner of India the Nepalese are the majority population, and the area is plagued by the rise and increasing activity of the Gorkha National Liberation Front with its demands for an independent Gorkhaland. Class is also an issue here. In the second half of the book, the activities of these people impinges on all the characters in the book: on the elderly middle-class and anglicised Indians in the area, but also on the unnamed poor caught between the violence of the rebels and the brutality of the police. The young are also affected: Gyan, Sai's tutor, is a poor but educated Nepali; and initially they are very much in love. One central part of the story is how Gyan becomes drawn into the liberation movement and what that does to the relationship between him and Sai.

All this could have made for a very strong story line; but around it are pages and pages which contribute nothing to the plot, but mainly paint people and places, mostly in India, but also in New York where the cook's son is working.

At the end, one strand of the story finds a moving resolution; but many other strands are left as loose ends: perhaps a symbol that for such conflicted lives as are pictured in these pages there is not likely to be a resolution.

Kiran Desai writes engagingly, and I did enjoy reading this book; but I found it rather self-indulgent, meandering, and too loosely constructed to be really satisfying. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2006, so the judges obviously did not feel the same.

This should have been a short story.......2007-06-20

This book dragged on and on and on. The entire novel consists of character development until the last couple of chapters. This book ends in the same style as her book "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard"; there is no resolution, but it doesn't seem at all like she takes this tack in order to leave things up to the reader... she merely ends the book about 3 chapters shy of the actual end of the story. Unlike Hullabaloo, however, this book wasn't much fun, wasn't very clever, blah blah blah. The only reason I didn't give it one star is because I learned a little bit about Indian history.

My favorite book of the past year.......2007-06-18

Lyrical prose, excellent eye for detail, and great depth of insight and sense of nuance in human behavior. Don't bother with this book, though, if you regularly find yourself complaining about other works of 'high literature' that "nothing much happens" or "it's too depressing" -- you'll surely feel the same way about this book (but it is a wonderful piece of fiction, nonetheless).

Average customer rating:

For open minded persons only
Refreshingly Truthful
Very informative book.
He's walked the walk
Anti-Semitism Has Reached An Ultimate High

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
Jimmy Carter
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach
Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis
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The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

ASIN: 0743285026
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Amazon.com

The crowning achievement of Jimmy Carter's presidency was the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and he has continued his public and private diplomacy ever since, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work for peace, human rights, and international development. He has been a tireless author since then as well, writing bestselling books on his childhood, his faith, and American history and politics, but in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, he has returned to the Middle East and to the question of Israel's peace with its neighbors--in particular, how Israeli sovereignty and security can coexist permanently and peacefully with Palestinian nationhood.

It's a rare honor to ask questions of a former president, and we are grateful that President Carter was able to take the time in between his work with his wife, Rosalynn, for the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity and his many writing projects to speak with us about his hopes for the region and his thoughts on the book.

A big thank you to President Carter for granting our request for an interview.

An Interview with President Jimmy Carter

Q: What has been the importance of your own faith in your continued interest in peace in the Middle East?
A: As a Christian, I worship the Prince of Peace. One of my preeminent commitments has been to bring peace to the people who live in the Holy Land. I made my best efforts as president and still have this as a high priority.

Q: A common theme in your years of Middle East diplomacy has been that leaders on both sides have often been more open to discussion and change in private than in public. Do you think that's still the case?
A: Yes. This is why private and intense negotiations can be successful. More accurately, however, my premise has been that the general public (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) are more eager for peace than their political leaders. For instance, a recent poll done by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that 58% of Israelis and 81% of the Palestinians favor a comprehensive settlement similar to the Roadmap for Peace or the Saudi proposal adopted by all 23 Arab nations and recently promoted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tragically, there have been no substantive peace talks during the past six years.

Q: How have the war in Iraq and the increased strength of Iran (and the declarations of their leaders against Israel) changed the conditions of the Israel-Palestine question?
A: Other existing or threatened conflicts in the region greatly increase the importance of Israel's having peace agreements with its neighbors, to minimize overall Arab animosity toward both Israel and the United States and reduce the threat of a broader conflict.

Q: Your use of the term "apartheid" has been a lightning rod in the response to your book. Could you explain your choice? Were you surprised by the reaction?
A: The book is about Palestine, the occupied territories, and not about Israel. Forced segregation in the West Bank and terrible oppression of the Palestinians create a situation accurately described by the word. I made it plain in the text that this abuse is not based on racism, but on the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land. This violates the basic humanitarian premises on which the nation of Israel was founded. My surprise is that most critics of the book have ignored the facts about Palestinian persecution and its proposals for future peace and resorted to personal attacks on the author. No one could visit the occupied territories and deny that the book is accurate.

Q: You write in the book that "the peace process does not have a life of its own; it is not self-sustaining." What would you recommend that the next American president do to revive it?
A: I would not want to wait two more years. It is encouraging that President George W. Bush has announced that peace in the Holy Land will be a high priority for his administration during the next two years. On her January trip to the region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for early U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. She has recommended the 2002 offer of the Arab nations as a foundation for peace: full recognition of Israel based on a return to its internationally recognized borders. This offer is compatible with official U.S. Government policy, previous agreements approved by Israeli governments in 1978 and 1993, and with the International Quartet's "roadmap for peace." My book proposes that, through negotiated land swaps, this "green line" border be modified to permit a substantial number of Israelis settlers to remain in Palestine. With strong U.S. pressure, backed by the U.N., Russia, and the European Community, Israelis and Palestinians would have to come to the negotiating table.

1/18/2007

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Our Endangered Values

Sharing Good Times

An Hour Before Daylight

From Publishers Weekly
The term "good-faith" is almost inappropriate when applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a bloody struggle interrupted every so often by negotiations that turn out to be anything but honest. Nonetheless, thirty years after his first trip to the Mideast, former President Jimmy Carter still has hope for a peaceful, comprehensive solution to the region's troubles, delivering this informed and readable chronicle as an offering to the cause. An engineer of the 1978 Camp David Accords and 2002 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Carter would seem to be a perfect emissary in the Middle East, an impartial and uniting diplomatic force in a fractured land. Not entirely so. Throughout his work, Carter assigns ultimate blame to Israel, arguing that the country's leadership has routinely undermined the peace process through its obstinate, aggressive and illegal occupation of territories seized in 1967. He's decidedly less critical of Arab leaders, accepting their concern for the Palestinian cause at face value, and including their anti-Israel rhetoric as a matter of course, without much in the way of counter-argument. Carter's book provides a fine overview for those unfamiliar with the history of the conflict and lays out an internationally accepted blueprint for peace.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description

Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine.

President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2005 and 2006.

In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism.

The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy, and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal of a just agreement that both sides can honor.

Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a challenging, provocative, and courageous book.

Customer Reviews:

For open minded persons only.......2007-06-28

I like the calm and reasonable analysis methodology Mr. Carter uses in his book to describe the root causes of this conflict, those same root causes that the mainstream media neglect to mention when reporting news from Palestine.

Refreshingly Truthful.......2007-06-27

Finally, we have a truthful account of the situation in Palestine from a high profile US personality and a Noble Peace prize winner. I wish that ACTIVE politicians will have the courage to speak the same level of truth but unfortunately, I do understand that speaking the truth can mean political suicide for them.

This is a great book and must-read for anyone who wants to know and understand that why the Arabs in particular and wider Muslim world in general dislikes American foreign policy in the Middle East. I would highly recommend this well-written book.

Very informative book. .......2007-06-27

Not everyone that criticizes Israel is an anti-semite. So stop calling him that. Don't forget Arabs are Semites too whether they are Christians or Muslim.
I think that in this book Carter points out a lot of things that overlooked by the media.
He also describes the UN resolutions which Israel was supposed to follow but never did and still continue to break with the support of western governments.
Overall this book is full of information and it should be read by anyone looking to understand the Israeli-Arab conflict which affects all of us.

He's walked the walk.......2007-06-22

Carter is one of the leading humanitarians of our time. He is the one person who won lasting peace between Egypt and Israel and won a nobel prize for it. If there is anyone more qualified to talk about peace and justice, it is president Carter. All the naysayers who've never even stepped foot in Israel or the Palestinian territories are blowing hot air, president Carter need not worry, his record speaks for itself! This is a great book if you'd like to learn and understand the realities on the ground, and real steps to bring peace to the region.

Anti-Semitism Has Reached An Ultimate High.......2007-06-20

This book clearly shows how Jimmy Carter is an anti-Semite, a racist, and a bigot. The problem in Israel is the Palestinians, not the Israelis.

Average customer rating:

A Ten-Star Book that Is Without Parallel
Agra the Extraordinary

The Complete Taj Mahal
Ebba Koch
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857
Taj Mahal: Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire
Princely Rajasthan: Rajput Palaces and Mansions
Taj Mahal
Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797

ASIN: 0500342091

Book Description

The greatest monument to love, and the lost world of the Agra gardens and their characterful owners, re-created through superb scholarship and evocative illustrations.

The Taj Mahal is the epitome of Mughal art and one of the most famous buildings in the world. Yet there have been few serious studies of it and no full analysis of its architecture and meaning.Ebba Koch is the only scholar who has been permitted to take measurements of the complex. She has been working on the palaces and gardens of Shah Jahan for thirty years and on the Taj Mahal itself—the tomb of the emperor's wife, Mumtaz Mahal—for a decade.

The tomb represents the house of the queen in Paradise, and the author shows how its setting was based on the palace gardens of the great nobles that lined both sides of the river at Agra. She leads the reader through the entire complex of the Taj Mahal, with an explanation of each building and an account of the mausoleum's urban setting, its design and construction, its symbolic meaning, and its history up to the present day.

The book features hundreds of new photographs plus drawings by the Indian architect Richard Barraud that include plans and reconstructions of Agra and the Taj complex as they looked in Shah Jahan's time.

Customer Reviews:

A Ten-Star Book that Is Without Parallel.......2007-04-15

Having read a number of books about the Taj Mahal, including the recently published "Taj Mahal: Passion and Genius...," I would bet good money that if given a copy of Ebba Koch's book to preview, those truly interested in India's national treasure will buy "The Complete Taj Mahal," even if they have to skip lattes or lunches to afford it, even if they have already done so to afford Okada/Joshi/Nou's "Taj Mahal" with its stunning photography.

One reason, of course, is that TCTM is so complete. To others' overviews of the material covered, I would add only that Koch does not neglect the human element. For example, in eight introductory pages of text, Koch provides excellent background information about Shah Jahan, his wife and his predecessors; later, she details Jahan's passion for building. Koch also includes interesting information about the artisans, craftsmen and laborers who did the actual work as well as details about others associated with the Taj-related structures/gardens of Agra. Further humanizing the story of this garden city are colorful Mughal paintings of its nobility and rulers.

Another aspect of TCTM that makes it a must-have are the many photographs of sites, structures and architectural ornamentation, photographs "The Hindu" declared "often brilliant" as well as "judiciously chosen." Just how apt these descriptions are is suggested by the following: There were only seven pages of O/J/Nou's photographic extravaganza of the Taj complex that I photocopied to tuck into Koch's book, and of them, five were additional close-ups of floral inlays and calligraphy. Adding to the appeal of TCTM is that the camera goes beyond the splendors of the Taj complex. Of special interest to those who have been in Agra, for instance, will be the realistic photographs of the Taj Mahal peeking above the "agglomeration of haphazard constructions" that have "almost obliterated" its bazaar and caravanserai. Shown, too, are its architectural precedents as well as artisan workshops and quarries. Though most of the photographs in this book are in color, even those in black and white are revealing.

Also making TCTM next to impossible to resist are the "company drawings," most of which are in color as well. Forerunners of postcards, they were "made by local artists in the early days of the Raj" for European tourists, who bought them "to illustrate their journals." Works of art in themselves, often the drawings are so detailed that they could easily be photographs. But they do not serve as mere eye candy: many are of Taj-related structures that no longer exist or have been stripped of all that made them magnificent; some are juxtaposed with recent photographs to show the toll time has taken on the brilliance of color and intricacy of design. Evocative paintings and watercolors of the Taj Mahal by foreign artists are included as well.

What may ultimately sell people on TCTM, however, is that it is a book they will actually enjoy reading much if not all of. Not only is Koch's narrative writing fluid and easy-to-digest. Even her descriptions of architecture will be relatively easy for laymen to understand, provided that they are willling to refer to the glossary of terms and look at the many visual aids, including Barraud's "precise and clear" line drawings, that accompany the text. So well done is this book, in fact, that as "The Hindu" noted, even "information which is more technical and not at face value so interesting to general readers will, in fact, be found by them to be equally absorbing." (All I would personally exclude from this are the two pages of precise measurements of the Taj complex.)

The fastest way to learn even more about TCTM is via Wikipedia: Ebba Koch. Once at the site, scroll down to External Links to find 1) The Hindu Review, 'Ethereal Beauty,' 2) The Sunday Times 'Design Divine' and 3) India eNews 'Love is fine but...' The first review goes into more detail about the book; the other two quote Koch at length. Finally, to another reviewer's assertion that TCTM is a book that "should be in the library of anyone fascinated by the Taj Mahal, not just historians and architects," I add a thousand "Amen's."

Agra the Extraordinary.......2007-03-16

A superlative volume showing in detail and with historic drawings, maps, and photos, as well modern illustrations and reconstructions the unsurpassed achievements of the Mughal in residential garden architecture. The riverbanks of the Yamuna River as it passes through Agra was where this artistic impulse achieved culmination in the seventeenth century garden residences and tombs sponsored by the nobles and rulers of the Mughal state and built by the craftsmen of India. One of the signal contributions of this book is the inclusion of the stories of the architects, carpenters, and masons who left their signatures and marks on the individual elements of the overall project. The residential and tomb gardens which stretched along the river and are now mostly gone gave way at midpoint to the grandest residence of all, the Red Fort which remains today the second greatest landmark of Agra. And at the southern end of the development stands today the greatest tomb ever built, one of the architectural wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal. The work is so complete that it documents not only the construction efforts but also the tourism that followed and the depth to which the Taj Mahal became embedded in the consciousness of the world. The culmination of three decades of meticulous research this substantial volume tells an engrossing story of the planning, development, and eventual decline of a unique garden city. It more than fulfills the adjective "complete" and should be in the library of anyone fascinated by the Taj Mahal, not just historians and architects. A truly extraordinary accomplishment.

Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

A way of Life
Indeed a Classic
Molly Stubbs
Useful but not exact
An information-packed read.

Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (3rd Edition)
Paul Pitchford
Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1556434308
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Amazon.com

The information on Chinese medicine is useful for helping to diagnose health imbalances, especially nascent illnesses. It's smartly paired with the whole-foods program because the Chinese have attributed various health-balancing properties to foods, so you can tailor your diet to help alleviate symptoms of illness. For example, Chinese medicine dictates that someone with low energy and a pale complexion (a yin deficiency) would benefit from avoiding bitter foods and increasing "sweet" foods such as soy, black sesame seeds, parsnips, rice, and oats. (Note that the Chinese definition of sweet foods is much different from the American one!)

Pitchford says in his dedication that he hopes the reader finds "healing, awareness, and peace" from following his program. The diet is certainly acetic by American standards (no alcohol, caffeine, white flour, fried foods, or sugar, and a minimum of eggs and dairy) but the reasons he gives for avoiding these "negative energy" foods are compelling. From the adrenal damage imparted by coffee to immune dysfunction brought on by excess refined sugar, Pitchford spurs you to rethink every dietary choice and its ultimate influence on your health. Without being alarmist, he adds dietary tips for protecting yourself against the dangers of modern life, including neutralizing damage from water fluoridation (thyroid and immune-system problems may result; fluoride is a carcinogen). There's further reading on food combining, female health, heart disease, pregnancy, fasting, and weight loss. Overall, this is a wonderful book for anyone who's serious about strengthening his or her body from the inside out. --Erica Jorgensen

Book Description

Used as a reference by students of acupuncture, this is a hefty, truly comprehensive guide to the theory and healing power of Chinese medicine. It's also a primer on nutrition--including facts about green foods, such as spirulina and blue-green algae, and the "regeneration diets" used by cancer patients and arthritics--along with an inspiring cookbook with more than 300 mostly vegetarian, nutrient-packed recipes.

The information on Chinese medicine is useful for helping to diagnose health imbalances, especially nascent illnesses. It's smartly paired with the whole-foods program because the Chinese have attributed various health-balancing properties to foods, so you can tailor your diet to help alleviate symptoms of illness. For example, Chinese medicine dictates that someone with low energy and a pale complexion (a yin deficiency) would benefit from avoiding bitter foods and increasing "sweet" foods such as soy, black sesame seeds, parsnips, rice, and oats. (Note that the Chinese definition of sweet foods is much different from the American one!)

Pitchford says in his dedication that he hopes the reader finds "healing, awareness, and peace" from following his program. The diet is certainly acetic by American standards (no alcohol, caffeine, white flour, fried foods, or sugar, and a minimum of eggs and dairy) but the reasons he gives for avoiding these "negative energy" foods are compelling. From the adrenal damage imparted by coffee to immune dysfunction brought on by excess refined sugar, Pitchford spurs you to rethink every dietary choice and its ultimate influence on your health. Without being alarmist, he adds dietary tips for protecting yourself against the dangers of modern life, including neutralizing damage from water fluoridation (thyroid and immune-system problems may result; fluoride is a carcinogen). There's further reading on food combining, female health, heart disease, pregnancy, fasting, and weight loss. Overall, this is a wonderful book for anyone who's serious about strengthening his or her body from the inside out.

Customer Reviews:

A way of Life.......2007-06-27

When you make the decision to get your health back, this book is a great start, I am amazed at how often the principles my mother employed 50 years ago pop up in this book. Beside my Mums guiding hand Mr Pitchford lays it out as it is, My thanks to him.

Indeed a Classic.......2007-05-12

I got this book 3 or maybe 4 years ago and I still use it for reference AND still reading it from time to time- each time learning something new. This book is like a giant sign-post pointing you to investigate deeper whatever dietary advice you might be interested in...
It is not perfect, but as compassionate and non-dogmatic (as much as a vegan-orientated book can be), I'd say it is very close.

Molly Stubbs.......2007-04-25

I bought this book six years ago in the Unity Church bookstore and have referred to it regularly ever since. I was having gastro-intestinal problems at the time, and several (mainstream) doctors had said they couldn't help me. I believe this book has helped my manage some of my health issues, but not all. The book is very thorough, and gives the reader a good sense of the healing properties of almost all commonly-used foods.

Having said that, I think there are some serious downsides to this book and Mr. Pitchford's approach. First, I think he is very extreme and biased, and too quick to refer to every frightening or negative study that shows why you should not eat a certain food or product. For example, he advocates avoiding any food or cookware with aluminum, citing a study done several decades ago liking aluminum with alzheimer's disease. After going into a panic, I threw away all my aluminum cookware. As it turns out, the results of that study were never repeated, and even the Sierra Club is no longer supporting that theory. He cites countless other frightening studies as well, many of which have not been vetted by the scientific community or the community of nutritionists and dietitians.

Another major problem with the book is that no normal person could possibly follow his recommended diet plans. I am a pretty disciplined person when it comes to food and cooking, but I could not in a million years follow all of his recommendations. For one thing, I would never be able to eat out or travel again. By the way, I lived in Japan for four years, and they sure as heck don't eat like this.

Finally, The recipes in the book are bland and boring. Hats off to anyone who can actually eat that stuff.

Useful but not exact.......2007-04-20

This book can be very informative and contains a great amount of information but misses the mark especially in context to Traditional Chinese Medicine's(TCM)approach to nutrition and treatment with food. The author seems to advocate vegetarianism--which has never been a philosophy of TCM. Pitchford has also confused or flipped many of the energetic qualities of foods. On a lesser note the recipes lack flavor and vitality themselves.
This is a good reference book, but by no means should this be your only reference to nutrition from either a western or eastern perspective.

An information-packed read........2007-04-20

I attended the Heartwood Institute for massage therapy in 2003-04, where Paul Pitchford teaches and resides, for six months. I turned down an opportunity for a personal assessment and nutrition counseling with the author himself. I look back now and know the reason - I wasn't ready to make a change in my lifestyle. I am still not a 100% "health-nut," but I have been educated beyond words by this book. It can be a very slow read, due to the amount of information packed onto each page. There is so much to know about the properties of foods and the direct impact they have on one's body. Coming from a society where meals are generally rushed through, animal products are deemed "essential," and foods low in calories and fat are considered "healthy," no matter how stripped they are of natural content, I found this to be fresh air to clean out previous assumptions on healthful eating.

Average customer rating:

Confuscious Say: BUY THIS BOOK!
Great fable!
Impressive Across the Storyboard
Too bad for fundamentalism
Born in the USA

American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang , and Gene Yang
Manufacturer: First Second
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1596431520
Release Date: 2006-09-05

Amazon.com

Indie graphic novelist Gene Yang's intelligent and emotionally challenging American Born Chinese is made up of three individual plotlines: the determined efforts of the Chinese folk hero Monkey King to shed his humble roots and be revered as a god; the struggles faced by Jin Wang, a lonely Asian American middle school student who would do anything to fit in with his white classmates; and the sitcom plight of Danny, an All-American teen so shamed by his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee (a purposefully painful ethnic stereotype) that he is forced to change schools. Each story works well on its own, but Yang engineers a clever convergence of these parallel tales into a powerful climax that destroys the hateful stereotype of Chin-Kee, while leaving both Jin Wang and the Monkey King satisfied and happy to be who they are.

Yang skillfully weaves these affecting, often humorous stories together to create a masterful commentary about race, identity, and self-acceptance that has earned him a spot as a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People. The artwork, rendered in a chromatically cool palette, is crisp and clear, with clean white space around center panels that sharply focuses the reader's attention in on Yang's achingly familiar characters. There isn't an adolescent alive who won't be able to relate to Jin's wish to be someone other than who he is, and his gradual realization that there is no better feeling than being comfortable in your own skin.--Jennifer Hubert

Customer Reviews:

Confuscious Say: BUY THIS BOOK!.......2007-06-28

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL EVER. Unbelievable. I won't give away the plot, but it's SO true to life and the plot twist at the end.... WOW. Better than any kung-fu movie. ROCK AND (egg)ROLL!

My husband is half-Chinese and came to America to go to college. He's told me stories of ABC and how they treat the FOB International Students. His experience mirrors that of Jin-Wang in the book.

I highly recommend this book. I was entranced by the storyline to such a degree that I couldn't put it down.

Great fable!.......2007-06-08

Worth the prizes it received, it's a well written story with great artwork.
The story is exactly about stereotypes, and that's why it uses them.
Instead of running from/avoiding it, the story show stereotypes do exists, but you don't have to care about them, as they mean nothing.
Some people just plain missed the point on the story.
Yes, the protagonists "cousing" is offensive, and is a stereotype... only it was all inside the protagonists mind. He saw himself that way, when he really didn't need to. It was all part of himself.

And imigrants tend to have problems exactly like that, growing up in foreign countries where people will treat him like he was some stereotype.

Read it, and don't think too much. Sometimes people will try to extract/read things the author didn't meant, and that will really ruin the whole experience.

Impressive Across the Storyboard.......2007-05-21

This book is a success on so many levels, it's hard to know where to begin singing its praises. Given its format, maybe I'll point out that Gene Yang's craftmanship and artistic skills are top-notch; he has strong lines and great layouts.

But of course, even the best-drawn comic can still be banal, which is where the congruent plot lines and emotional honesty of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE come into play. Yang tackles racial stereotyping and issues of ethnic identity in a personal way which is much more appealing and thoughtful than the ultra-ironic hipster stance of someone like Sarah Silverman. And while it all leads to the hoary theme of being comfortable in one's own skin, the lead-up (read-up?) to this revelation is well worth your time.

Sidenote: I see that a previous reader is outraged by this book's mixture of Chinese deities with Christianity (the latter sullying the former), and felt ripped off in the process. ("It should have been titled 'American Born Chinese Christian.'") So I will point out that while this book is not pious in any way, Gene Yang does work at a Catholic high school.

Too bad for fundamentalism.......2007-05-19

First, the good: the artwork is very good. The art of the storytelling is very good. I liked the fact that he took on a difficult subject, and I applaud Yang for doing a good job in covering the subject.

Second, the neutral: A few people have said that his use of caricature in the character of Chin-Kee, who is the embodiment of Asian stereotypes, is racist. I disagree. I thought that the character helped to expose stereotypes. I honestly don't think the character adds or detracts to the storyline; it's just the way Yang decided to do it, and it really isn't offensive at all, especially given the number of other admirable Asian American characters in the book.

Third, the bad: I can only give this book three stars because I was extremely offended by the Christian religious undertones. Yang blends the story of the Monkey King with a monotheistic God who rescues him from his folly. On page 215, he portrays the Monkey King's Journey to the West as a trip to see Jesus in Bethlehem. How offensive is that? I've seen fundamentalist Christianity destroy Asian American communities with its neo-Confucian emphasis on obedience and submission. How does this help Asian Americans? As Asian Americans, we need liberation from submission, not more submission cloaked in religion.

So in sum: Good artwork, but maybe the title should have been "American Born Chinese Christian." At least I would've known not to buy it.

If you're interested in Asian American comics, though, there's another book coming out soon called Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine. I've read the three comic series, and it's excellent.

Born in the USA.......2007-05-09

Maybe our parents were too busy figuring out a red-black tree algorithm or worrying about getting a job after graduation that they never bothered to figure out who Bob Dylan was.

Although we were born in the US our growing process was rather systematic. We must play the piano, we must take our SATs, we must enter Harvard, we must drive nice cars, we must get a big house, we must... Somewhere in the process it becomes shocking how disconnected we are from the rest of the world. So instead of being confused or angry this book explains why it's OK to be an outcast, a minority, a weirdo, a nerd, and an outsider by combining three different stories together.

I recommend this book to any "weirdos" out there.

Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers--and How You Can Too

Average customer rating:

We Tried It ... and It Worked!
Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers
I'm Asian and find the book offensive. I will not read it nor recommend to friends.
Good ideas, but emphasis on financially stable careers may turn some readers off
Racist and Elitist and Invaluable

Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers--and How You Can Too
Soo Kim Abboud , and Jane Y. Kim
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425205614

Book Description

Asians and Asian-Americans make up 4% of the U.S. population...and 20% of the Ivy League. Now find out how they do it.

The numbers speak for themselves: 18% of Harvard's population; 25% of Columbia's; 42% of Berkeley's; 24% of Stanford's; 25% of Cornell's...

What are Asian parents doing to start their kids on the road to academic excellence at an early age? What can all parents do to help their children ace tests, strive to achieve, and reach educational goals? In this book, two sisters-a doctor and a lawyer whose parents came from South Korea to the U.S. with two hundred dollars in their pockets-reveal the practices that lead Asian-Americans to academic, professional, and personal success.

The authors contend that Asian-Americans are no more intelligent than any other race or ethnic group. They say, "the reason Asian students out-perform their peers in the classroom has nothing to do with how they

Customer Reviews:

We Tried It ... and It Worked!.......2007-06-01

As an American temporarily living in Tokyo, I have been very impressed with the high achievements and standards set by the Japanese children around me. For example, at my daughter's school, which encompasses a large international group of children, I noticed that the Japanese and Korean children do seem to take home not only the majority of the academic awards, but also a great majority of the music and sports prizes also.

After a little investigating on my part, I found the American parents often hold the attitude that children should come home and relax or play after school, and that the Asian parents pushed their children too hard to achieve. American children on the most part did not study beyond doing the required homework, played whatever sport was available for the three month sport season, and had no required practice time for music or other skills. However, after school many Japanese children attend extra school tutoring. Rather than play a different sport every three months, they concentrate on one sport, practicing year round to achieve greater competence. It is expected that homework, music or sports practice, or whatever be done to the best of one's ability.

After reading this book, I applied several of the ideas to my daughter. I have just left her end of the school year award ceremony, where she just increased her reading book count from last years minimum, to this year being the second highest reader of the school. She also just received an award for her new musical accomplishments. As for after school activities, she recently won several trophies for big wins in swimming competitions. She is so proud of herself, sees what a little extra work can do, and wants to accomplish more. This summer we are adding extra math work to bring that score up to the reading score, and two weeks at swim camp.

The ideas work. Read with an open mind, and I am sure you can find several ideas you can apply with your child also.

Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers.......2007-05-15

I thought it was very poorly written. The authors claimed that one of the reasons that American children are not as successful in school as Asian children is because they are involved in too many extracurricular activities. While I agree that extracurricular activities should not cut into study time, I believe that there should be a balance. There are many American parents who have found this balance and their children are the ones that do well in school. I want my daughter to be successful, but I also want her to be happy.

I'm Asian and find the book offensive. I will not read it nor recommend to friends........2007-04-18

I read excerpts and numerous articles published about this book and am horrified by the broad generalization these two sisters make. My understanding is that they are not trained in Asian-American history, sociology or psychology. They just happen to be a doctor and a lawyer and seem to be full of themselves to think success (even academic success) is measured by labels.

What I don't like about the book most of all is that it is so scandalous and racist. I do not find their approach Asian at all.

I guess they will sell books and make a lot of money but it will be at the expense of other Asians who will get the backlash. Already, many are countering "positive" stereotypes about Asians with stupid negative stereotypes.

I hope this book flops.

Good ideas, but emphasis on financially stable careers may turn some readers off.......2007-03-10

How many of us haven't stereotyped Asian-Americans as amazing students? But if you chalk up those good grades to race or genetics, you're wrong. The secret, according to Kim and Abboud, lies in following 17 principles and ideas that their own parents, who immigrated from Korea to the United States, implemented.

While some of the suggestions are what you would find in most other articles or books about raising smarter kids, others are unique and introduce a more "Eastern" approach to making children high achievers. One of these is the role that the whole family plays in any of its member's success, academic or otherwise. This contrasts with a generally Western approach that pushes and praises individual effort and achievement over that attained with the help of family.

I appreciated the way the authors shared concrete examples of how their parents dedicated great effort in teaching their children to not only get good grades but to really love learning, first and foremost by being good role models. One great example was how their father spent one whole summer reading and going over the novel Jane Eyre with one of his daughters so that she could improve her English score on the SAT. Another is how their mother tailored her efforts to teach her kids the alphabet according to their own learning style, like when she had a very young Kim read the names of candy bars in the grocery aisle during shopping trips.

One issue that was rather difficult to digest was the authors' emphasis on helping children choose careers they are not only passionate about, but that also offer financial stability. As an example, they share the experience of Kim, who wanted to be a writer, but on her parents' strong insistence, became a lawyer instead. While she has been able to incorporate her love of the written word into her career, this push towards a field that offers a higher salary runs against the trend of letting kids choose their area of interest, regardless of the financial rewards or lack thereof. What would their parents have said if Kim had wanted to be a passionate, dedicated but underpaid middle school teacher? Should she have sacrificed her talents and passion solely for the sake of a six-figure salary? I say, no way.

Overall, this book offers some unique ideas on how your children can not only get better grades, but truly love learning. And that, despite its flaws, is why reading Top Of The Class is worth the time and implementing its ideas worth the effort.

Racist and Elitist and Invaluable.......2007-03-10

As other reviewers have commented, I did find this book to be both racist and elitist....but it also opened my eyes to how success is achieved. I have adapted the ideas in the book to fit our family - less intense than what is described but way more intense than what we were doing previously - and I have already seen amazing results from my 8 year old. He actually seems much happier and self confident to be challenged and to have his parents really interested and involved in what he's learning. I really felt like we were interested and involved before I read this book but BOY was I underestimating what could be done. His teachers have remarked about the change enthusiastically as have my peers.

Take what you want from the book but it is most definitely worth a read.

American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs

Average customer rating:

Loss and hatred on opposite paths
Unfair to both sides
American Mourning was a great book
American Mourning
A picture of the real heart of Americans.

American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs
Catherine Moy , and Melanie Morgan
Manufacturer: WND Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1581825404
Release Date: 2006-10-16

Book Description

American Mourning is the story of two American families whose sons died in the war on terror. Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson had been best friends since they first met at Fort Hood in Texas; they were killed within five days of each other in separate ambushes in Sadr City, Iraq, during Holy Week of 2004.

As the Sheehan and Johnson families have mourned their unimaginable loss, they have had little else in common and have taken entirely different paths as they mourned. Justin's father, Joe Johnson, followed his son to Baghdad, slogging through the open sewers of Iraqi slums to see where Justin had died and to avenge his death.

Cindy Sheehan wanted another kind of revenge. Blaming President Bush for Casey's death, she called the Muslim radicals who killer her son "freedom fighters" and brought an entourage of antiwar activists and a coalition of the willing press to the president's ranch outside Crawford, Texas. Demanding that the president meet with her in the sweltering Texas summer, she became a media phenomenon and America's best-known antiwar activist since Jane Fonda.

The Sheehans and the Johnsons represent the extremes of grief-stricken parents in war, both families reflecting the gap in how Americans view the war on terror. The Johnson family has bonded closer. Justin's parents have grown nearer; their faith has been strengthened; and their support for the war is stronger than ever. Meanwhile, the Sheehan family has fractured, and Casey's parents have divorced. Cindy says she is no longer a Christian, and her opposition to the war is deeper an dmore bitter than ever.

The bodies of Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson lie in their hometown graves. Justin's final resting place is decorated with handmade flags and miniature Uncle Sams. Casey's had no marker for two years to tell the world that he lived, fought, and died a hero.

Both Joe and Cindy are shooting at ghosts. Cindy still is. This is their story. The story of American Mourning.

Customer Reviews:

Loss and hatred on opposite paths.......2007-03-22

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (2/07)

Justin Johnson was raised in Georgia where boys are taught how to use a gun from an early age. Justin enlisted after 9/11. "Mom, things aren't good. It's scary. You wouldn't believe this place. It's messing with our heads. Mom, you just never know. There are kids, ten- to-twelve year-olds and they got machine guns. You don't know: are they friendly or are they the enemy."

Casey Sheehan was raised in California. Casey's mother discouraged her son from enlisting in the army. He was loyal and loved his country. She offered to take him to Canada so that he could avoid Iraq, but he declined.

Casey and Justin met at Fort Hood, Texas. The two became quick friends although they didn't have a lot in common. "Both were quiet, strong, patriotic, and God-loving young men." "Both young men prayed to God and hoped they would make it home to their moms and dads, sisters and brothers."

Justin and Casey were both killed by radical Muslims.

Joe Johnson wanted revenge on the terrorists. He signed up with a unit shipping to Iraq and "swore to God and to Justin that I would go to Iraq and kill as many of them as I could." Joe was filled with hatred. "I could kill all the insurgents and it would never bring Justin back, I don't think I'll really get anything out of it except for maybe that one moment of satisfaction when I finally kill somebody. But as far as long-lasting feelings of satisfaction, I don't think I'll find it in Iraq. There's hardly a day goes by that I don't wish I hadn't a spent more time with him."

Cindy Sheehan was also filled with hatred but she took it a different direction. "She blamed President George W. Bush for Casey's death and called the Muslim radicals who killed Casey and Just "freedom fighters." "Cindy posted herself outside the president's Crawford ranch. She became a media phenomenon, thanks to a campaign by well-paid media experts from the Left." Her grief and the media destroyed her family.

"A parent should never have to bury a child."

Catherine Moy & Melanie Morgan expressively share the tragic story of two young men killed in Iraq, two families torn apart. Moy and Morgan capture and convey the pain and anguish the families are suffering. I found myself in tears as I read this book. The bravery of Justin and Casey is celebrated on these pages. I want to be careful not to state an opinion of the actions of the families for I would not add to their pain. After reading this book, the deaths become more than a news story. This book gives Justin and Casey a face and brings them into you heart. This book describes the divide in American opinion concerning the War on Terror. Regardless of which side of the divide you stand we must never forget the young men and women who are fighting this war. Ms Moy and Morgan are to be commended on their presentation of the heroic lives of these two young men. I highly recommend "America Mourning" to all.

Unfair to both sides.......2007-03-02

This book is one of the saddest pieces of "journalism" I have ever read. It is a smear job on both families. Not just Sheehan, but the ridiculous amount of personal stuff thrown out there on the Jackson's makes the reader wonder: What does any of this have to do with argument? All in all, a book that appears to be profiting from the death of two brave men. I am thoroughly appalled by the words and tactics of the authors. I am apolitical, so maybe I didn't enter this book with the frame of mind necessary to feel good about the dragging through the mud of two brave and decent soldiers families. Is this what they fought and died for? Flat ridiculous.

American Mourning was a great book.......2007-01-10

I mostly read just Stephen King books, but this book was one that I had heard about and decided to purchase. I was very glad to read about one family that cared so much for their son that his father enlisted to avenge his son's death. Unfortunatly, reading about Cindy Sheehan only wanted me to get a gun and shoot her. She did nothing but lie and kept her family from mourning their son's death. I really enjoyed this book.

American Mourning.......2007-01-10

If the authores would of just stuck with the story it would of been a 5 star for me. It had too many political judgements but all in all it was a good story. I heard they are thinking of making a movie out of this book. That I would like to see but I hope they focus more on the Soldiers and not so much on the politics.

A picture of the real heart of Americans........2007-01-10

A 'must read' for those who are only hearing the anti-America retoric of the liberal minority. There are still Americans who are proud of what our country still stands for. GP

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What would this "better land" really look like? Look at today's newspaper!
Stunning
BRAVE AND RIGOROUS TESTIMONY vs MEDIA SILENCE
A masterpiece of scholarship. Should be read aloud to the US Congress.
Among the first Israeli scholars to admit that there was Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Ilan Pappe
Manufacturer: Oneworld Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1851684670

Book Description

Since the Holocaust, it has been almost impossible to hide large-scale crimes against humanity. In our communicative world, few modern catastrophes are concealed from the public eye. And yet, Ilan Pappe unveils, one such crime has been erased from the global public memory: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948. But why is it denied, and by whom? The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine offers an investigation of this mystery.

Customer Reviews:

What would this "better land" really look like? Look at today's newspaper!.......2007-06-26

I am amused by the statement by the Times Literary Supplement:
"It has at times an elegiac, even sentimental, character, recalling the lost, obliterated life of the Palestinian Arabs and imagining or regretting what Pappe believes could have been a better land of Palestine."

Yes, the better land of "Palestine", as recently brought to life by
the Hamas/Fatah feuding in Gaza. Does anyone seriously think that if
the land had remained under "Palestinian" control, that this kind of
behavior would not have simply started in 1945 and continued until today?

Stunning.......2007-06-01

At long last, here's the definitive history of the Palestinian Nakbah. Ilan Pappe wrote a stunning document that Zionist historians will never be able to dispute.

BRAVE AND RIGOROUS TESTIMONY vs MEDIA SILENCE.......2007-05-28

It takes great courage and a lot of rigorous research to write, as Dr. Pappe has done, such a compelling and at times chilling account of how hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were brutally dispossessedd of their homes and land in order for a Jewish State to be created in 1948. The beneficiaries of this initial violent chapter of ethnic cleansing by Israel were mostly jewish european immigrants most of whom had never stepped foot in Israel before.

Tragically this ethnic cleansing continues to day albeit in a more wicked and subtle form: systematic daily abuses and untold misery inflicted on millions of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation declared illegal by numerous UN resolutions. Israel shows its contempt for humanitarian laws and conventions by its thieving Wall, its settlements for Jews only on Palestinian land, its indiscriminate bombardment of civilian infrastructure and killing of innocent people (always described in the pro -Isfael media as confronting militants or terrorists). Recently it has even been taking hostage democratically elected Palestinian MPs, Mayors all tactics intended to make life so miserable for Christians and Moslems living on what is left of original Palestine to make them leave in despair.
Dr. Pappe is the honourable face of Israel and his cry for truth and justice in Palestine should be heard by the ruling elite in Jerusalem and Washington.

A masterpiece of scholarship. Should be read aloud to the US Congress........2007-05-25

The brilliant Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has performed a great service by recording, with the utmost care and integrity, the events in Palestine of the past century. In doing so, he has helped protect fact from the mythology of the latter-day Zionists, and provided a sound basis for a learned examination of the current situation in Israel/Palestine. He is not the only person to have undertaken this task, but his book is perhaps the finest. If Americans knew what was being done in their name and with their money and support, the truth would quite literally set them free.

Among the first Israeli scholars to admit that there was Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine.......2007-05-16

This book along with Benny Morris, Tom Segev, and others who are termed the New Historians from Israel admit that during the formative years of the establishment of the nation-state of Israel, a great injustice was done to the Palestinians. Professor Ilan Pappe courageously and meticulously recounts the ethnic cleansing that took place in historic Palestine. Using sources from the great scholars in the field both Israeli and Palestinian, he makes it clear that despite some writers have claimed, this type of ethnic cleansing and transfer of the indigenous population to make way for the Zionist Jewish settlers was deliberate and well planned out. This casts a new light on how we view people like David Ben Gurion and others.

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