Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 434423 times)

Jonathan · « **Reply #1480 on:** December 16, 2010, 09:48:01 PM »

TO NONFICTION BOOK TALK

What are you reading? Autobiographies, biographies, history, politics?

Tell us about the book; the good and the bad of it.

Let's talk books!

Discussion Leader: HaroldArnold

'The ancients are suddenly hot.'

Quite so, Ginny. And so is royalty. And not only Cleopatra. Just look at how much attention The King's Speech is getting.

So I'm happy to see Tories: fighting for the king on Ella's list.

I was ten when the King and Queen came to Canada in June, 1939, as the war clouds were gathering. I was standing on the curb with all my classmates as the royal couple slowly approached in their open limousine. What a thrill when I found the Queen looking into my eyes the whole time it took to pass, even turning her head, to make it seem like an eternity. With what a lovely maternal look. I have never doubted in the many years since, that I was the boy she always wanted.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1481 on:** December 16, 2010, 10:48:49 PM »

Quite so Marj. I have several friends who have left Afghanistan to go to Pakistan to escape the dreaded Taliban. Most of them live in a place called Quetta, South West Pakistan, in their own township called "Hazara Town". The Taliban drop in and out of Pakistan with impunity. Non recognition of a border (as you quoted) allows that to happen. Also fear and tribal fealty. The Taliban and other assorted member of Al Qaida all ride around on motor bikes, causing havoc and shooting Hazaras at will both in Afghanistan and Quetta.

In the beginning when the Taliban were being formed, many of the Mujahaddin joined them, whether for good or bad reasons, no one seems to know. Many, indeed, most of the Taliban were members of Pashtun families, who had previously been members of the Muj. Hamid Karzai is Pashtun and was an active member of the Muj. Work it out.

That long black beard is a dead give away, but is easy to conceal that under robes.

This topic is very very depressing, because all that you wrote and perceive, Marj, is only too true.

ANNIE · « **Reply #1482 on:** December 17, 2010, 07:27:10 AM »

Marj,
That's a spot on article and a spot on comment on your part. Have you read "Three Cups of Tea" and all the problems that the school builder had when although he was focused on building schools for girls in the Pakistan area, when the cousin tribes in NE Afganistan heard about them, they wanted him to do the same for them? Yes, cousins helping cousins probably fits.

marjifay · « **Reply #1483 on:** December 17, 2010, 08:33:09 AM »

No, Adoannie, I have not read Three Cups of Tea. But I've heard so much about it, I almost feel as if I had. It is so sad the way women and girls are treated there. I am torn between feeling that we should stay and try to help them, and the somewhat stronger feeling that we should get out of there.

Marj

Babi · « **Reply #1484 on:** December 17, 2010, 09:23:23 AM »

The December issue of Smithsonian had an excellent article on Cleopatra. The
stories passed about by Octavian after defeating her at Alexandria really
distorted the image we generally have of her. She was a highly competent and
beloved ruler for some 18 years. I hope the new biographies give her the
credit she deserves.

ANNIE · « **Reply #1485 on:** December 17, 2010, 10:14:18 AM »

Another book that blew me away was "A Thousand Splendid Suns" which I led a discussion of in January 2009 on S&F's website. The cruelty to women is just unimaginable!

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1486 on:** December 17, 2010, 02:18:39 PM »

Perhaps we should consider discussing this book:

GANDHI AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA by Kamrah Shahid - http://www.dukandar.com/gandhipartition.html

The first few sentences:

"Fifty-Nine years down the road and the story of partition is still a political ideological dilemma for many. Numerous views abound when westerners, Indians or even Pakistanis write about this political event. Objectivity stands to be an 11 letter word guarded by nationalistic endeavour. In this environment of political disdain, a historian, Kamran Shahid, who is rather young for the title, manages to create a niche for his individualistic thinking.

Shahid claims, "In order to get white, one needs to explore black." Thus, in order to know about Pakistan's independence one must first try to understand the Indians. Shahid's maiden venture into book writing, Gandhi and the Partition of India, is a scorecard of who actually was responsible for the partition of the subcontinent

HaroldArnold · « **Reply #1487 on:** December 17, 2010, 02:26:23 PM »

Ella you might recall that we did discuss a book on Gandhi and the partition of India some 10 years ago. That along time ago so it might be time for a new discussion of a different book.

maryz · « **Reply #1488 on:** December 17, 2010, 02:40:17 PM »

Harold, et al - on a whim, I checked BookTV.org to see if they had interviewed S. C. Gwynne (Empire of the Summer Moon). And indeed, he did speak at the 2010 Texas Book Festival this fall. It's about 45 minutes. Click here to get to the site where you can listen to the interview.

HaroldArnold · « **Reply #1489 on:** December 17, 2010, 02:46:24 PM »

Everyone is invited to join Ella and I as we discuss S.C. Gwynne's "Empire of the Summer Moon" beginning Feb.1st.

This is a great book about the Comanche Nation particularly its later years when it was led by a half bread Chief who carried his mother's family name, Parker. It is the story of the band of Shoshone who left their northwest mountain homeland to wander south and a bit east to the prairie where they became buffalo hunters expert horsemen, and the finest light guerrilla Calvary this word has ever known. Particularly it is the story of Quanah Parker the tragedy beginning with the 1836 massacre of much of the Parker family, the abduction of 9 year old Cynthia Ann Parker who grew up a Comanche, marrying a Comanche Warrior bearing his son Quanah who became the last great Comanche War Chief. It was he who in the end led his people into the reservation and a new life in 20th century America.

The book is available in both print and digital editions from both B&N and Amazon.com. Currently we have three participants committed to this discussion so 4 or 5 more are definitely desirable. Click the following URL for more information and sign-up. http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2003.0

marjifay · « **Reply #1490 on:** December 18, 2010, 04:31:57 PM »

There is an interesting book being discussed tomorrow on CSpan's BookTV (Sunday, Dec. 19, at 1 PM, Eastern Time): THE FIERY TRIAL; ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND AMERICAN SLAVERY by Eric Foner.

Publishers Weekly's review of THE FIERY TRIAL, says, "A mixture of visionary progressivism and repugnant racism, Abraham Lincoln's attitude toward slavery is the most troubling aspect of his public life, one that gets a probing assessment in this study . Columbia historian and Bancroft Prize winner Foner traces the complexities of Lincoln's evolving ideas about slavery and African-Americans: while he detested slavery, he also publicly rejected political and social equality for blacks, dragged his feet (critics charged) on emancipating slaves and accepting black recruits into the Union army, and floated schemes for colonizing freedmen overseas almost to war's end."

I just finished reading AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION by Richard Hofstadter regarding Lincoln and his views on slavery (pages 136 - 154). Hofstadter says that Lincoln was a very good politician. His dilemma was how to find a formula to reconcile the two opposing points of view held by great numbers of white people in the North. Lincoln's success in 1860 was due in no small part to his ability to bridge the gap, a performance that entitles him to a place among the world's great political propagandists.

Hofstadter says "Most of the white people of the Northwest were in fact not only not abolitionists, but actually--and here is the core of the matter--Negrophobes. They feared and detested the very thought of living side by side with large numbers of Negroes in their own states, to say nothing of competing with their labor. Hence the severe laws against free Negroes, for example in Lincoln's Illinois. Amid all the agitation in Kansas over making the teritory a free state, the conduct of the majority of Republicans there was colored far more by self-interest than by moral principle. In their so-called Topeka Constitution the Kansas Republicans forbade free Negroes even to come into the state, and gave only to whites and Indians the right to vote. It was not bondage that troubled them-- it was the Negro, free or slave."

So I think the book discussion on BookTV tomorrow should be interesting.

Marj

HaroldArnold · « **Reply #1491 on:** December 21, 2010, 10:28:14 AM »

See my comment on History books published in Comic Book format posted on the "Empire of the Summer Moon" Discussion. Click the following URL for this post: http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2003.msg98933#msg98933

Also we still need at least severa more readers to make this discussion. Are any of you interested?

Babi · « **Reply #1492 on:** December 21, 2010, 03:54:53 PM »

IN case I haven't already said so, I'm definitely planning on joining the discussion. I do have some Cherokee blood, tho' it was fairly thin by the time it got to me. I've always found the various tribal cultures thought-provoking. Some, such as the Navajo, I find especially
moving. The horsemen of the Plains, such as the Comanche, seem very romantic to us today.
I doubt, though, that I would have thought so had I been living there at the time.

Frybabe · « **Reply #1493 on:** December 21, 2010, 10:24:16 PM »

Well, I just finished The Forgotten Man. I was surprised that it was not about ordinary citizens, but mostly about the power people in big business and politics. The book was very readable. I got a better insight into what was going on with the movers and shakers (or controllers and manipulators) during this period, but it left me wanting more detail in some areas. I thought the Coda at the end of the book was a nice touch. She cited Ron Chernow in her acknowledgments. I have one of his books, unread at this point (not Washington).

serenesheila · « **Reply #1494 on:** December 22, 2010, 01:21:21 AM »

"The Forgotten Man" is one of the best non fiction of 2010, for me. I never wanted to stop reading. I am looking forward to reading others, by the author, FRYBABy.

Sheila

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1495 on:** December 22, 2010, 05:33:42 PM »

The book sounds very good, FRYBABE and SHEILA, I must look it up but I dare not bring it home from the library. I have so many books to read all of a sudden with a time to be read. I'm not sure how that happened. I usually do not have a "time to be read" on books.

Did you learn new information about the depression? If you are like me you know some of the hardships endured and I have read way too much about FDR (books about him, Eleanor, his staff, etc.) and have been to his Hyde Park home and museum.

There is an excerpt from the book on my library site. I can't bring it here, darn, but I was amused at the phrase that Hoover was so popular that his name became a verb - to "Hooverize"

There's another meaning behind the word "hoover" and it involves cleaning, doesn't it?

Frybabe · « **Reply #1496 on:** December 22, 2010, 06:07:58 PM »

Ella, while Hoover began as an American company, that brand of vacuum became so popular in England that they very often referred to the act of vacuuming as "hoovering". I don't know if they still use the term, but I knew some who did back in the 60s.

If you've already read about FDR, his appointees, and his opponents, then you probably know most of what is in Shlaes' book. I think the title and cover are a bit deceptive. There is a lot about the TVA and its' opponents, some narrative about Tugwell's farm communes, the "war" on big business, and people like Insull, Eccles, Ickes, Mellon, Chase, Moley, and Frankfurter. I can't say I saw anything "new", but the book did fill in the gaps in my knowledge about who was responsible for some of the programs and agencies that sprang up at the time and some of the court cases against citizens who didn't comply with the minimum wage law. I didn't know that Mellon footed the bill for the National Gallery even though he was being prosecuted at the time, nor did I know that a law was passed to punish big business by taxing "undistributed profits". Of course, that backfired. FDR changed his tune just before we got into the war when he realized that big business was in the best position to provide products for the war effort.

Wasn't there a book discussion about the book here last year? Too bad I passed on it at that time.

maryz · « **Reply #1497 on:** December 22, 2010, 06:30:14 PM »

I read, and we talked about (not a formal discussion), a biography of Frances Perkins a while back. She was FDR's Secretary of Labor, and the first female cabinet member...an interesting lady and time.

Frybabe · « **Reply #1498 on:** December 22, 2010, 06:46:50 PM »

Almost forgot! I just started a slim volume called Where America's Day Begins: Confessions of a Jungle Journalist by my cousin, Janet Go. Janet spent more than a dozen years on Guam as a civil servant and journalist. She has updated this book to a 2nd edition and has written several novels. Last I heard, she was moving back to Hawaii.

MaryZ: Oh, okay, my memory was a little fuzzy since I didn't participate.

serenesheila · « **Reply #1499 on:** December 22, 2010, 09:06:16 PM »

Well, ny memory isn't nearly as good, as FRYBABY's. I do not remember what I learned in reading "The Forgotten Man", but I DO remember learning quite a few new things. I like the style of the author.

I feel the same way about the book I am now reading. "American Ceasars", by Nigel Hamilton. It begins with FDR, and ends with George W. So far I have learned a lot about what was happening in America during each man's Presidency. My view of Harry Truman has been altered a bit. My view of Ike has improved, a lot. I am now in the middle of the life of Nixon. One of the things that has surprised me the most, is how cooperative most of these men have been with a previous President. I can hardly wait until I reach "W's" story!

Sheila

Babi · « **Reply #1500 on:** December 23, 2010, 08:12:09 AM »

Quote

One of the things that has surprised me the most, is how cooperative most of these men have been with a previous President

I can well imagine that, SHEILA. Nothing makes you appreciate and understand a person
better than stepping into the same tough job.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1501 on:** December 23, 2010, 10:52:06 AM »

The month-long discussion of FDR's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins: We were very pleased that the the author, Kirsten Downey, participated to some extent in our discussion.

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=587.0

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1502 on:** December 26, 2010, 06:51:55 PM »

Do any of you - all of you - remember the book SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand; that delightful book from which the movie of the book was made? I must look it up, but I think it was perhaps 15-20 years ago that she wrote it and now she has a new book by the title of UNBROKEN. I got the book for Christmas and started reading it; it's unbelievable for many reasons.

One, of course, is that it is so well written that one doesn't want to put it down and, secondly, it is unbelievable that a woman wrote it!!! A WW II book, detailed about the Air Force men and their aircraft, their terrifying missions in the Pacific Theater (as we call it today), the problems with the aircraft, these huge lumbering machines, their differences.

But, the main thrust of the book is a story of "survival, resilience and redemption" of men who were downed by the Japanese Zero fighters and survived in a raft.

What a book! I'm fascinated by it. The author says that when she finished her first book, SEABISCUIT, she felt certain she would never find another subject as interesting to write about until she met Louis Zamperini who has kept records, scrapbooks, photos of his entire life. - many of his photos are in the book. Needless to say, he was one of those on the raft.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1503 on:** December 26, 2010, 08:40:42 PM »

Ella Gibbons Thanks for that recommendation of "Unbroken".

I visited Guadalcanal once and the whole place including Ironbottom Sound; Henderson Field and surrounding areas were places that had the heavy atmosphere of death still present. It had the most tragic air of any place I had been before. I will never forget it.

FlaJean · « **Reply #1504 on:** December 27, 2010, 12:56:56 PM »

I loved the movie "SeaBiscuit". The Book, "Unbroken", sounds like it would make another good movie. I'll check my library for the book.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1505 on:** December 27, 2010, 06:14:52 PM »

The south Pacific, as long as any around remember WWII or read any nonfiction history book, it is surely one of the parts of the book that is very interesting. I'm halfway through UNBROKEN and am wondering how the Japanese feel upon reading this kind of history. What a difference 60 years can bring in the world opinion America's opinion. Enemies are friends and, at times, the reverse is true. The human spirit, patriotism, nationalism, greed, poverty, power, all play a part. Big stories.

HaroldArnold · « **Reply #1506 on:** December 27, 2010, 10:49:56 PM »

Our Seniornet/books group discussed the Seabiscuit book in 2002. Click the following for the archive.
Ella were you a DL on that project?

http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/archives/nonfiction/Seabiscuit.html

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1507 on:** December 28, 2010, 02:26:01 PM »

So far, I've downloaded only non-fiction books on my ipad.......there are so many free books on line......on Gutenberg, on Questia, and many other sources. I'm reading Women in Industry, published in the early 20th century w/ a lot of history and stats of women's occupations and i found a great women's history text that's used in colleges and is huge and comprehensive, Inventing the American Women. I'm also reading a memoir of a woman who was married to a Goveneur at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century and knew EVERYBODY in NYC and national society......it's just plain fun. What a find!

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1508 on:** December 29, 2010, 09:52:32 AM »

YES, I WAS, HAROLD. I loved it. Incidentally, you would like UNBROKEN very well, WWII, campaign in the S. Pacific, the Japanese, the veterans of the campaign afterwards, both Japanese and Americans. My husband was on a carrier in the S. Pacific and would never, never buy anything Japanese afterwards and wouldn't even speak of them or the war.

My daughter, a nurse, works with discharged veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan war; it's just terrible. Why must we be so engaged?

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1509 on:** December 29, 2010, 09:54:57 AM »

JEAN, sounds like fun to me, also. I have yet to get an e-book reader but one will probably be in my furue.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1510 on:** December 29, 2010, 01:04:45 PM »

UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand, is #2 on the NYT list of nonfiction best sellers. It deserves to be, in my opinion. What a great amount of research the author has done.

PatH · « **Reply #1511 on:** December 30, 2010, 02:06:42 PM »

Something to remember about Seabiscuit and Unbroken: the author, Laura Hillenbrand, wrote both books while suffering from an extremely bad case of chronic fatigue syndrome. There were many days when even getting out of bed was almost beyond her strength, and she had to force herself to write. Her husband has been totally supportive of her.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1512 on:** December 30, 2010, 08:57:28 PM »

I dudn't know that about Hillenbrand.

(I tho't i had mentioned this, but i don't see the posting, so forgive me if i'm repeating myself) I'm listening to Andrea Mitchell's memoir titled Talking Back, which i'm enjoying very much. She started her broadcasting career in Phila, and tho i must have seen her, i didn't remember. She tells some stories of the infamous mayor, Frank Rizzo, which are so typical of his blustering and meaness. It's reminding me of all the news stories from the 70's thru to a few yrs ago. One of the most interesting parts is how she and Alan Greenspan have juggled their relationship and her role as a journalist. It would have probably been better for me to have read her book so i could hear "her voice" in my head, the reader sounds very much like Katie Curic and i have to keep reminding myself that this is Andrea Mitchell's story.

I know i wrote this somewhere before, maybe in another section............senior moment.......Jean

ginny · « **Reply #1513 on:** December 31, 2010, 10:30:38 AM »

On Unbroken, wasn't Zamperini, who is still alive, just on 60 Minutes? A fascinating program whatever it was, I am so glad he lived to see this day.

I'm half way through Pearl Buck in China by Hilary Spurling and have just reported on it in the Library if you'd like to look, rather than repeat it here, it's also pretty jaw dropping, in different ways.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1514 on:** January 09, 2011, 09:14:07 AM »

JEAN, I didn't know Andrea Mitchel has a memoir out, should I read it? She looks younger all the time, I wish I knew her secret; I have never liked her breathy way of talking but she must be a good reporter.

GINNY, I'll get Pearl Buck in China, did I ever tell you we went to her home in Bucks County, Phil. and one of her adopted children spoke to us? A rather modest home to house all those children, how many were there? 11 or 12 adopted children from many countries but as I remember she never got interested in any of them, but left them up to a staff to raise.

I have spent some delightful hours reading RIVER TOWN, Two Years on the Yangtze, by Peter Hessler. He went to China as a Peace Corp volunteer and wrote this book while there. He must have fallen in love with the country as he new lives in Beijing. A neighbor, who taught in China for two years, would retire there if not for her family living here. Hmmmm!

My sister has left me, boo hoo, after spending some weeks here. I shall be lonely but will have more time to read. This afternoon my daughter and I are going to see SOCIAL NETWORK. Has anyone an opinion of this movie?

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1515 on:** January 09, 2011, 12:41:30 PM »

Ella, i found Andrea Mitchell's memoir interesting, many behind the scenes tidbits abt events we all know abt.......i recommend it......jean

serenesheila · « **Reply #1516 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:57:59 PM »

JEAN, I love the quote on your last posting!

ELLA, I just ordered UNBROKEN, on your praise of it. My late husband was on flying status in WWII, stationed on Saipan. I haven't read much about the Pacific Theater. That part of WWII interests me.

Sheila

FlaJean · « **Reply #1517 on:** January 16, 2011, 12:34:09 AM »

I just started Stones into Schools, I believe it is going to be even better than Three Cups of Tea.

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #1518 on:** January 16, 2011, 09:22:33 AM »

And, speaking of new books, whether they are new just to you or not, there is one that folks have been waiting for. David McCullough's next book, due in May, is titled Greater Journey and is about Americans in Paris. Sounds great doesn't it? As he has said, I believe, it takes him 10 years to research and write a book, so how many more can this 77-year old author keep at it?

What is your favorite McCullough book?

When I think of Americans in Paris, Edward R. Murrow comes to mind; his news team included those in Paris; and then there was the humorist and author, Art Buchwald who was a correspondednt in Paris and wrote a book about it. If you have never read his books, do read them. You'll love them. His first one was about being a Jewish orphan - he wrote about all phases of his life, including one when he was dying. A darling man.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1519 on:** January 16, 2011, 11:40:27 AM »

Murrow's Boysby Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud, a husband and wife team, was a good read, about the group of reporters that Murrow groomed in Europe and yes they were almost all boys. You will recognize most of their names.

A quote from one Amazon reader is thoughtful:

"The names Murrow, Sevareid, Collingwood, and Shirer have created standards that have been forgotten. Thought has been replaced by good looks. Read this book to see how CBS News became a news operation of mythic proportion with brilliant, yet terribly troubled men creating such high standards that have become forgotten. (You'll see no one on your local five pm television news here.) For these men, the importance was in writing, not pictures. You'll also see how these legendary men were racked with insecurities and self-torture. It's also uncanny

in terms of how each had a rise and fall at CBS. Sadly, it's all true. The authors didn't need to
resort to poetic license. (Read other accounts of these figures and you'll learn that.) When
you're done with this book, you'll wish Howard K. Smith or Robert Trout were still on television
today. You'll wish that instead of having happy talk on the news, you had thoughful, intelligent
people who respected their audience doing reports that provoked the viewer's intellect and
not pander to him. Read how Howard K. Smith was fired from CBS, what prompted it way
back then, and realize the standards have been steadily declining since then on all networks.
It's an enjoyable, easy-to-read book that describes the creation and erosion of impeccable
standards."

I love the comment....."thought has been replaced by good looks" and i agree that it is an"enjoyable, easy-to-read book".

Jean

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Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 434423 times)