The Plant Seed, Development, Preservation, and Germination: The Proceedings of a Symposium on the Development, Preservation, and Germination of the Plant Seed Held at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, March 21-23, 1978

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The Plant Seed, Development, Preservation, and Germination: The Proceedings of a Symposium on the Development, Preservation, and Germination of the Plant Seed Held at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, March 21-23, 1978
Irwin; University of Minnesota Rubenstein
Manufacturer: Academic Press Inc.,U.S.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OH3XC6

Book Description

Twelve-year-old Sumiko feels her life has been made up of two parts: before Pearl Harbor and after it. The good part and the bad part. Raised on a flower farm in California, Sumiko is used to being the only Japanese girl in her class. Even when the other kids tease her, she always has had her flowers and family to go home to.

That all changes after the horrific events of Pearl Harbor. Other Americans start to suspect that all Japanese people are spies for the emperor, even if, like Sumiko, they were born in the United States! As suspicions grow, Sumiko and her family find themselves being shipped to an internment camp in one of the hottest deserts in the United States. The vivid color of her previous life is gone forever, and now dust storms regularly choke the sky and seep into every crack of the military barrack that is her new "home."

Sumiko soon discovers that the camp is on an Indian reservation and that the Japanese are as unwanted there as they'd been at home. But then she meets a young Mohave boy who might just become her first real friend...if he can ever stop being angry about the fact that the internment camp is on his tribe's land.

With searing insight and clarity, Newbery Medal-winning author Cynthia Kadohata explores an important and painful topic through the eyes of a young girl who yearns to belong. Weedflower is the story of the rewards and challenges of a friendship across the racial divide, as well as the based-on-real-life story of how the meeting of Japanese Americans and Native Americans changed the future of both.

Customer Reviews:

Internment.......2007-07-10

I really liked Weedflower, as it as very descriptive about lfe for Japanese-Americans bfore and after Pearl Harbor. It would be nice if Cynthia Kaohata wrote a sequel, too.

-Emma D. (for a school project)

A Strong Portrayal of Life for Japanese Immigrants during WWII.......2007-02-19

Weedflower is told from the perspective of Sumiko, a young girl born to a Japanese immigrant family in the U.S. during World War II. Weedflower chronicles the treatment of Sumiko's family, as the older men not born in the U.S. are shipped off to a virtual prison, and the rest of the family is sent to a detention camp in the desert. Their property, not to mention their dignity, are stripped away because of fear caused by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Sumiko, however, maintains hope through her passion for growing flowers.

This book is written in a simple, easily accessible style, but tells an important story. Although set in the 1940's, Weedflower carries implications for today, in how we treat people of Muslim descent. The story is a window into what it's like for people to be mis-treated, at the hands of their own country, simply because of their ethnicity. It shows how unfair and greedy people, including the government, can be (as when the Japanese were forced to sell their possessions for pennies on the dollar). It also illustrated what can happen to people when their rights, and their ability to strive for success, are taken away. Some of the children run wild, and steal things. Some of the young men give up hope, and lie around all day. Here is an example of the boredom and hopelessness of the camp overtaking Sumiko:

"Sumiko felt the ultimate boredom closing in on her. The ultimate boredom wasn't dread of the next year or of what the government might do next; it was dread of your own mind, dread of the next day, the next hour, the next minute. You could lose your mind at any time. Like one morning, for no good reason, Sumiko actually stomped on a butterfly that landed in the dust. After she moved her foot, she saw the squished bitterly and wondered what had come over her. She hadn't thought about it beforehand, but had just suddenly stomped on the poor butterfly. She figured maybe she'd had a sudden attack of the ultimate boredom, and then when she'd seen the dead butterfly she snapped out of it."

There are examples of non-Japanese Americans who do the right thing, too. A young woman volunteers to teach the Japanese kids at the internment camp, despite difficult surroundings. A woman takes time to write to the Japanese woman whose house she is now living, to let the Japanese woman know that the other woman is taking good care of her dog. The Japanese woman sobs with happiness. Christmas presents are donated to the detention camp for the kids. The examples stand out, like the flowers that the Japanese grow from the dusty ground of their camp.

The characterization in Weedflower is quite strong. Many of the characters, especially Sumiko, her friend Frank, and her cousin Bull, feel real. Their characters are mostly revealed through action, rather than being described. This is especially true of Bull, Sumiko's quiet, strong cousin, who intervenes when he see the opportunity, to keep things running smoothly.

A scene that I think will resonate with kids occurs early in the book, before the family is sent to a detention camp. Sumiko, the only Japanese girl in her class at school, is excited to be invited to her first birthday party. She dresses up, and her uncle spends precious money for her to buy a present. However, when the parents at the party learn that she's Japanese, they quietly and politely ask her to leave. Here is what Sumiko thought afterward:

"Like anyone, Sumiko had known momentarily embarrassing moments, but right now she felt so overwhelmingly humiliated that it was as if nothing in her life would ever be the same again, as if everything she did -- disbudding flowers, heating the water, cooking rice -- would be different from now on. In the future, she wouldn't be Sumiko who was disbudding flowers, she would be Humiliated Sumiko disbudding flowers. She wouldn't be Sumiko heating water and cooking rice, she would be Humiliated Sumiko heating water and cooking rice. And right at this moment she wasn't just Sumiko sitting along on the bench, she was Humiliated Sumiko."

Overall, I think that Weedflower is strong on theme and character, and a detailed portrayal of life among Japanese immigrants during World War II. It's an enjoyable read, but it doesn't have a strong "what happens next?" sort of plot. I think that it's a book that adults will like, and that some kids will enjoy, but that others may find a bit slow-paced.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on February 17, 2007.

Excellent for kids and adults!.......2007-01-16

I "read" this book on CDs in the car and loved it. Ordered it for my grandkids, 8 and 10, and for friends of Japanese descent! Highly recommended as an important bit of history most Americans know little about!

WeedFlower Student Review.......2006-12-07

We don't agree that Weedflower deserve four and a half stars. We all agree giving Weedflower 3 stars. We recommend this book to people who want know what happen to the Japanese during World War 2. We didn't like the beginning of the book because it started with 1, 2, and 3. This book grabs our attention because it gave a lot of information but we won't gibe it 5 starts because we did it like the ending we did it know what happen to Frank or Sumiko but we till like the book.

Great Second Novel.......2006-08-01

Cynthia Kadohata's first novel, Kira-Kira, was an impressive book. And Weedflower is equally impressive. This time the novel is set in the Southwest before and during World War II. Sumiko is a typically happy twelve-year old. While she feels awkward that she's the only Japanese-American in her class at school, she has not yet felt the harsh stings of discrimination...until a vicious birthday party. Soon after, I believe the same weekend, Pearl Harbor is bombed. Her normal life vanishes, no more school...no more social life...only fear and anxiety as they wait to see what will become of them all.

It is a very heart-felt story of one girl's experiences in a Japanese-American internment camp. Definitely recommend it to everyone!

The Captivity of the Oatman Girls Among the Apache and Mohave Indians (Dover Books on the American Indians)

Average customer rating:

A decent read for those of you interested
Interesting--if One-Sided--Captive Narrative
A hard read for the American English
Permanently Changed My View of American History

The Captivity of the Oatman Girls Among the Apache and Mohave Indians (Dover Books on the American Indians)
Lorenzo D. and Olive A. Oatman
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0486280780

Book Description

Riveting true-life story of two sisters taken by Indians, their life in captivity, and their brother's search for them.

Customer Reviews:

A decent read for those of you interested.......2007-04-07

I liked the book somewhat, but it dragged on so at some points I just had to skip paragraphs at a time. It actually was very boring at some points and very very drab at others. I would have a hard time recommending this book to others but I wouldn't say it was that bad. Just didn't have a good flow and it was very hard to get into. It was the type of book that you read 4 pages a night and fall asleep without remembering anything if you can identify with that...

Interesting--if One-Sided--Captive Narrative.......2007-02-27

This book is a "captive narrative" about two children abducted by a breakaway (p. 105) tribe. While some reviewers have classified it as "racist," it's only reasonable that Olive would feel resentment toward her kidnappers and the people who killed her family, regardless of race or creed. Olive, as the narrative progresses, chides herself for originally lumping all Indians together as one, because she learns that each person is an individual (p. 147). However, because some of the language is harsh, and this is a one-sided account, it would be helpful to read this in conjunction with an Indian narrative. The author (the book wasn't written by the Oatmans), when narrating, does come across as racist and as trying to make a point--the conclusion is especially biased and an illustration of "Manifest Destiny."

As another reviewer mentioned, the language and writing style can be difficult to follow (and Dover's text spacing is somewhat difficult to read, as can be witnessed in the preview) but once you catch the flow of how three voices have been combined (that of the narrator, Olive, and her brother Lorenzo), it becomes easier to read . . . and quite fascinating.

A hard read for the American English .......2006-09-17

Don't buy this book unless you have a good understanding of the way journals were written in that time. It is not for everybody. It is hard to keep track of where they are in the story, it jumps around too much and is written in religious code.

Permanently Changed My View of American History.......2005-10-10

I found this book in a Souix Indian Tribe Bookstore in the Dakotas a long time ago. (For the reviewers who think it is racist, why do Indian bookstores feature this book then?)

After reading the amazing story of the Oatman family and what happened to them, I understood the reason why Americans rose up and insisted that the government squelch Indian uprisings in the West and Southwest. This book destroyed many popular myths in my mind about Indian culture and American English culture in the 19th century. It also reveals a lot of detail about the way these two sub tribes of the Apache & Mohave Nations lived. The good and the bad are depicted side by side. For example, the Oatman girls were apparently never molested by the Apache or the Mohave, but they were treated pretty harshly at times (not to mention the unprovoked murder of their parents).

It shows that the tribes varied quite a bit, and that America was reluctant to send out the Cavalry. But this book may have been the trigger that changed the reluctance into a righteous indignation.

I think it also reveals something about one Mormon family who travelled (or tried to travel) to California...and what happened to them on the way.
The spirituality of the family (if the account is accurate) is remarkable.

This book shows how the US government was slow to rescue our own people who were captives...and how the power of the free press turned that around. For when this book was first published, it was a best seller in the USA. Apparently it created a groundswell public outcry that the military provide safer passageways across this vast land.

I think every American should be required to read this as part of a US History class. I'm sure some of the accounts are hyped a bit...but one cannot help but feel they are looking into history from the authentic eyes of a 19th century history shaping author.

I highly recommend this book!

Mojave Pottery, Mojave People: The Dillingham Collection of Mojave Ceramics

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gift for Southwestern Friends

Mojave Pottery, Mojave People: The Dillingham Collection of Mojave Ceramics
Jill Leslie McKeever Furst
Manufacturer: School of American Research Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Pottery & Ceramics | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0933452659

Book Description

Despite the centrality of ceramics to Mojave culture, Mojave pottery is virtually unknown today. Museums have mostly small, unrepresentative, and largely undocumented collections, and the works have received little attention from scholars and collectors.This comprehensive volume brings to light the wondrously inventive clay people, mythological creatures, and effigy vessels of the Mojave people, recording this Southwest Indian ceramic art in more than 50 full-color plates, 25 color and black-and-white illustrations, and a complete catalog of the Dillingham Collection of Mojave Ceramics, one of the largest and most complete Mojave assemblages in the world, at the Indian Arts Research Center of the School of American Research. Jill Leslie Furst takes an ethnohistorical approach here, drawing on written literature about the tribe that ranges from seventeenth-century Spanish documents to ethnographic accounts from the 1970s.

The stories of the Mojaves-along with descriptions of family life, gender roles, subsistence activities, clothing and personal adornment, shamanism, and the afterlife-form the context for Furst's exploration of the Mojave ceramic tradition.

Customer Reviews:

gift for Southwestern Friends.......2007-03-07

Our friends, who were raised on an Indian Reservation, loved this book and told us they learned a lot from it.

Average customer rating:

Mojave (Native Americans)

Mojave (Native Americans)
Barbara A. Gray-Kanatiiosh
Manufacturer: Checkerboard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1577659368

Customer Reviews:

Mojave (Native Americans).......2005-10-26

Good starter book for young people who want to learn about some Southwestern tribes or are beginning research for school projects but should be followed up with more complete readings.

DESERT TREASURE : A Story of Adventure and the Mohave Desert, Its People, Plants and Animals

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DESERT TREASURE : A Story of Adventure and the Mohave Desert, Its People, Plants and Animals

Manufacturer: Harr Wagner Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HNXHIW

DESERT TREASURE A STORY OF ADVENTURE AND THE MOHAVE DESERT ITS PEOPLES PLANTS AND ANIMALS

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DESERT TREASURE A STORY OF ADVENTURE AND THE MOHAVE DESERT ITS PEOPLES PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Manufacturer: Harr Wagner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H1T8O6

Desert treasure,: A story of adventure, and The Mohave desert, its people, plants and animals; with work plans for reading comprehension, word pictures, word building and word clues

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Desert treasure,: A story of adventure, and The Mohave desert, its people, plants and animals; with work plans for reading comprehension, word pictures, word building and word clues
Helen Heffernan
Manufacturer: H. Wagner Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Mohave people
Fulsom Charles Scrivner
Manufacturer: Naylor Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Mojave Pottery, Mojave People: The Dillingham Collection of Mohave Cer

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Mojave Pottery, Mojave People: The Dillingham Collection of Mohave Cer
Jill Leslie Furst
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UYAC8G

The archaeology of Yellowstone mesa, Mohave County, Arizona (Technical series / Brigham Young University, Museum of Peoples and Cultures)

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The archaeology of Yellowstone mesa, Mohave County, Arizona (Technical series / Brigham Young University, Museum of Peoples and Cultures)
James R Allison
Manufacturer: Office of Public Archaeology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

Antique Furniture of Québec brings together hundreds of sumptuous full-colour photographs illustrating every phase in the history of Québec furniture and an authoritative text written by Michel Lessard describing and analysing that history. The result is a book that is both a beautiful object and an unparalleled resource.

Lessard emphasizes the cosmopolitan and eclectic nature of Québec society and its openness to outside influences. He draws upon both textual and photographic sources to demonstrate that Quebeckers, from the first years of settlement to the present time, have adopted craft and design ideas from abroad. The three cultures that have historically shaped Québec society, that of France, Great Britain, and the United States, have naturally been the most powerful influences. Lessard traces their effect while, at the same time, demonstrating the often original and creative response to these influences by Québec designers, artists, and craftspeople.

It’s all in these pages: from the ornate and often heavy furniture of eighteenth century France to the primitive, Shaker-influenced pine furniture of rural Québec, to William Morris and Art Deco and, finally, the Modern era.

Of particular interest is the series of homes that the author has tracked down, each typical of a particular era and each preserved with furnishings appropriate to the era in place. By this and other means, Michel Lessard masterfully combines an appreciation of the historical and social context in which furniture is made and used with a thorough understanding of the craft and business of furniture-making.

“Furniture,” writes Michel Lessard, “is an open book containing a multitude of stories.” This lavish and authoritative book is certain to continue telling its stories for years to come.

Average customer rating:

Ok, but would merit further attention

Unique book of rarely seen trees with unique information

Plants That Merit Attention: VOLUME I: TREES (Plants That Merit Attention)
Horticultural Committee of the Garden Club of America , Janet Meakin Poor , and Nancy Peterson Brewster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Garden, Nancy | ( G ) | Authors, A-Z | Teens | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia

Trees, Shrubs and Vines; A Pictorial Guide to the Ornamental Woody Plants of the Northern United States Exclusive of Conifers

Landscape Plants for Eastern North America: Exclusive of Florida and the Immediate Gulf Coast, 2nd Edition

The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses: Sedges, Rushes, Restios, Cat-Tails and Selected Bamboos

Japanese Maples

ASIN: B000I0RT6A

Customer Reviews:

Ok, but would merit further attention.......2003-01-15

The first thing to strike the eye when taking this book to hand is the full color and the beautiful glossy paper (no expense spared at the printer's!). The second thing to be noticed is the lay-out which is only just short of crummy (looks as if this was farmed out to India or the like). It looks pretty silly to have beautiful color pictures printed on expensive glossy paper and then having to look hard to make out the details. Without extra expense or effort the pictures could have been printed 25 to 50% bigger and this would have made the book twice as valuable. The quality of these pictures varies. There are some really great pictures here while others are ... mediocre.

The text was written by a committee and it looks it. This makes for easy comparison and reference, but for an uninspiring read. This fact distinctly decreases its value as a coffee-table book or as an object for delicious browsing. I am hoping the contents of the text are allright (I only browsed through it, but did spot some errors)

The botanical names appear mostly in order (I noticed only a few slips), which is not always so in horticultural books. Still these look a little silly because of the lay-out. Pity. Also the age of the book means that recent name changes have not been incorporated (I assume the reader will compensate for this).

I guess this is an OK book, that will look decent on the bookshelf, but that falls well short of what it could be.

Unique book of rarely seen trees with unique information.......1999-10-25

I am very impressed with this unique book of rarely seen trees that will add interest to any garden. The book starts with a glossary of botanical terms with b/w illustrations of the anatomy of leaves, flowers, fruits & conifers.

Information includes botanical name, common name, zone, native habitat & date introduced. There is a general description of size, spread, & shape as well as descriptions of leaves, flowers, & fruit.

Culture, including soil quality, ideal sunlight, & disease tolerance, as well as transplanting & propagation advice are included also. Three clear photos include the full-size tree & two others show close-ups of leaves, flowers or trunk.

It also gives information on winter appearance & landscaping value. Even gardens where the trees can be seen are listed. I really appreciated this type of information. It is so rarely seen in most reference book.

The appendices are extremely helpful they list botanical gardens & nurseries. A source for each species can easily be found. Trees are also listed by characteristics. Some include zone, light requirements, soil conditions, resistance, color of bloom & fragrance.

Average customer rating:
Plants That Merit Attention - Volume I - Trees
Janet Meakin - Editor; Brewster, Nancy P. - Photographic Editor; Pratt, Jan Offutt; Raymond, Ramsay L. - Assistance Poor
Manufacturer: Timber Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IN9PEQ

Book Description

This book is the thirteenth volume in the series Altbabylonische Briefe in Umschrift und Ubersetzung, which wants to make the many -- often dispersed -- letters from the Old Babylonian period available in transliteration and translation. Volume 13 is the second in a short series of hitherto unpublished material in the British Museum. One more volume is planned. The letters presented in this volume come from various collections and form different groups. The most important of these groups contains 45 letters dealing with the administration in Larsa at the time of king Hammurabi. A large portion of these letters was sent by Hammurabi himself. Of the other groups of letters two are of special interest. The first one consists of just four letters which give a vivid picture of the problems around the building of a house at Sippar. The second contains letters sent either to or from the city of Kish. The senders are partly known from other texts, specifically the ones published in volume 10. Orientalists and specialists in Assyriology as well as historians will benefit from this publication.

Book Description

Marlene Dietrich never threw away anything.

She kept her good-luck black rag doll (it appeared with her in The Blue Angel and followed her to dressing tables on every movie set). She kept the letters (every last one) she received from her lovers and her husband of fifty-three years. She kept every article of clothing made for her by the great French couturiers and the legendary Hollywood costume designers. She kept everything.

And she believed in storage. Six storage companies, from New York to California, London, and Paris, held pieces of Miss Dietrich’s life, locked away for decades like the pieces of the life of Charles Foster Kane. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid in rental fees. After Dietrich’s death, the articles were gathered together—twenty-five thousand objects and eighteen thousand images. Some were auctioned at Sotheby’s in Los Angeles. The major pieces of Dietrich’s vast collection were assembled in an archive and given to the FilmMuseum Berlin.

Now, her treasures are brought together in 289 photographs from her own collection, with extended captions by her daughter, Maria Riva.

We see Dietrich as a child, in velvet dress and golden ringlets...Dietrich as a young actress in Berlin...as the newly married Mrs. Rudolf Sieber, standing proudly with her husband. We see love letters and letters marking the ends of affairs. We see Dietrich in Hollywood...with Chaplin...with Fritz Lang...at the Paramount commissary...Dietrich captured in snapshots by her movie-creator, Josef von Sternberg...Dietrich as a mother.

We see her at war...in never-before-published photographs of a USO tour...in uniform (tailor-made for her, of course) disembarking from a transport plane...Dietrich with the 82nd Airborne...Dietrich rolling into Germany in
a U.S. tank.

Here she is with her directors and fellow actors: Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Ernst Lubitsch, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power. Here are portraits of her by Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst, Milton Greene, John Engstead. And here is Marlene, shimmering, in Las Vegas, the consummate performer, and at the Palladium in London, triumphant!

Customer Reviews:

Marlene Dietrich's picture appears in the dictionary next to the term "pack rat" :D.......2007-06-23

Seriously. This lady apparently never threw away ANYTHING. She didn't even throw away the "Glorious Aryan Motherhood" medal she got from the Nazis in 1938 in an effort to entice her back to the Third Reich, though she was much offended by the "award" and described her displeasure in pithy terms. Conversely, she proudly told her daughter, Maria Riva, that whereas most daughters inherit medals from their fathers, Maria would inherit medals from her mother, and these decorations (including the U.S. Medal of Freedom and two degrees of the French Legion of Honor) are displayed in one of the book's many color photographs.

This splendid book is a Marlene Dietrich museum all by its lonesome. Gorgeous photographs from every stage of her career (including some very sexy and risque ones displaying her famous legs to best advantage!) are coupled with a visual catalogue of the most interesting of her clothing and possessions, including her famous good-luck rag doll, which appeared in several of her movies, and a pair of matched pistols she received from General George Patton (with whom she is rumored to have had an affair) during World War II.

Speaking of which, Marlene's WWII service, one of the great defining experiences of her life, gets full attention in this book, with many very striking photos of herself at the front. My favorite pictures from this period show her watching a training drop by the 82nd Airborne Division, the unit closest to her heart, in Holland in early 1945.

Marlene, of course, is famed as one of the great style-setters of the 20th century, and we see many, many photos of her outfits and accessories, both as display items and when she was wearing them.

Can I use the word "splendid" twice in one review? :) Because that is exactly what this book is. It's a bargain at any price you care to name, and one of the best retrospectives on any great film star I've ever seen.

La Dietrich.......2003-06-24

If you were a fan of Dietrich and were allowed to own only ONE book about this woman, then this should be the book to own. To reiterate another reviewer's thought -- it is EXQUISITE.

Am amazing book!.......2002-12-30

This is a dream of a book. Full of glorious photos and facts. I highly reccommend this to all Dietrich and film fans. All public figures should be the subject of a book like this.

Photographs of Beauty.......2002-06-29

A delicacy! The best book of photographs I have seen on Dietrich and a compendium of beauty, not only hers but all that was created through and with her. A must have book.

A vulnerable, more open Marlene.......2001-12-04

Here are images we've never seen before. The ones of her life on the front in W.W. II are amazing. Brave woman fighting for the US soldiers. And the picture of her in the bathtub is worth the book alone. The private dresses, her lingerie, her jewels -- these are amazing.

Marlene Dietrich: Photographs and Memories

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Marlene Dietrich: Photographs and Memories
Marlene Dietrich Collection
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7A4BK

Average customer rating:

Forbidden Fruit

Painfully Honest & Heartfelt Book

There ARE really true love somewere

Note to ATM, "Put It To Rest"

Put It to Rest

Forbidden Fruit: True Story of My Secret Love Affair with Ireland's Most Powerful Bishop
Annie Murphy , and Peter De Rosa
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0446365238

Customer Reviews:

Forbidden Fruit.......2003-10-30

I felt this was an important story in the oncoming tital wave of scandals broken. This woman who rocked the cradle then rocked a nation. I don't think the story did justice to magnitude of the theme. In telling of the tale and her "voice" did not flow through this story. I feel her river would have flowed differently if she had been allowed to do that. I do respect her honesty in baring both the dark and light which propelled her forward and just as the Bishop did some dastardly deed so did she. I feel this story could have been shorten and thus stronger. It posssed the ingredients of abuse, love, regret, devilish humor, revenge,loss and hope. But it was told in primary colors-without shading one can be blinded but perhaps that was the main idea-just get it out there and the heck with the rest. But these are people we are talking about not just Bishops and pawns....

Painfully Honest & Heartfelt Book.......2003-08-14

I read this book during the 1990's while I was still a practicing Roman Catholic. At that time, I was having trouble with many of the church's teachings and practices. This book confirmed some of what I already knew and also opened my eyes to some bigger issues, too. This was an excellent book, but more than in just 1 way.

First, it's a wonderful autobiography. Annie Murphy bears her ver soul and lays her heart on the line for all to see. Some autobiographies do that, others don't. I must applaud Annie for being as brutally honest as she was about everything-the love affair w/Bishop Casey, the chold out of wedlock, the bishop's lengthy silence about the whole ordeal, and of the bishop's refusal to see his son.

This book also exposes the whole double life issue. Many priests around the world have struggled with lust. Any Catholic that knows or has investigated the church's history will tell you that. Due to the behind closed door struggles with lust, many priests live and lead a double life. What they do privately and publicly are often vastly different. This book would lend a lot of support to the argument of why priests should be able to get married. The Catholic Church in Ireland still have trouble acknowledging this story. When asked, the Catholic clergy in Ireland will tell you what they know of it. But they rarely ever talk about it voluntarily without being asked. It's a blackmark on their record to which I'm not sure they've ever recovered from.

In addition, this book is also good at examining the faults of the Catholic Church in general. Even though she was born and raised Catholic in the U.S., Annie also brings up many of the Catholic Church's problems. For example, why does the Catholic Church have certain teachings and doctrines but many Catholics live and believe something to the contrary and still remain Catholic? She cites many examples of this issue. I will say this for Annie. She didn't just disagree with the church and stay like so many others have and still do. She did actually leave rather than stay and complain.

If anyone out there is thinking about joining the Catholic Church, I'd suggest reading this book. It will open your eyes, set you straight, and reveal many things you probably weren't aware of.

One final note-Bishop Casey is no longer the bishop of Ireland. While he did admit publicly that he did have a child out of wedlock, he has never seen his son Peter that he fathered with Annie. My prayer is that Peter will forgive his father, Eammon Casey, if he hasn't already. In addition, my prayer is that Annie Murphy and Eammon Casey will also find a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if they haven't done so already. He is there for any and all who earnestly seek him and will forgive them, no matter who they are and what they've done.

Sincerely,
Pastor Roger

There ARE really true love somewere.......2002-08-07

If some of you really read between the lines and get the knowledge of the pain and true love that goes through the whole book, you will feel the pain of all the 'forbidden' couples in the world have to go through and the environment's judgement on all that is 'forbidden';The true love! I'm sure that every one, man or woman can recognise the pain for both of them. Please open your hearts! Feel for them! Get the comfort for all your own unhappiness -By the environment judgements! I'm sure God DID wan't them to be happy, but the Catholic earth was so filled with historic traditions. Forgive them too! Read it! Feel it! I recognise their pain, but mine is more of unhappy ending! I wish that I could share it with you, Another time maybe..

Note to ATM, "Put It To Rest".......2001-10-18

My guess is this post is Ms. (ATM) Murphy's most recent, final word regarding her tumultuous past.

Bravo!

Glad to see that she's alive and at peace with the past. Hope Peter is well and am wondering if he completed law school? I even hope the former bishop is okay too and at peace with his paternity as well as finding fulfillment in life outside the narrow view and confines of the church.

All three, in their respective fashions, have served as martyrs to necessary change and should be retired, with compassion.

May the peace of the Lord which surpasseth all understanding (and still eludes the church that claims to have the market on Christian salvation, cornered in their favor) be with you all.

By the way, Ms. Murphy, I am now going to A.A., as well, after being dumped by a Jesuit, two years ago. He engaged in the added pretense of saying he wanted to marry me and have a child, right before his superior ordered him into treatment at a sex offender clinic.

Maybe, I too, will write a book about that experience as well, one day. But in the meantime, all I can really manage is working on sobriety, one day at a time.

Put It to Rest.......2001-09-21

Alright it's been awhile so let them all rest....but really folks did not Ireland benefit from the restrictions of the Church being loosened and perhaps the Bishop and Annie (the pawn) were used well on this chess board of politics emeshed in religion. I lean towards givin them a break-- they served Ireland well. The Bishop is doing his work, Annie, foolish in her choices, has paid a dear price. Perhaps you might remember before ever going public, Annie took Peter to Ireland for 6 months just so the Bishop could be given the chance to approach his son which he obviously choose to ignore--- so ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!!--- So all of you who point the finger soley at one or the other STOP. ATM and that doesn't stand for automated teller machine

Forbidden Fruit: The True Story of My Secret Love Affair with Ireland's Most Powerful Bishop (Book Club Edition)

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Forbidden Fruit: The True Story of My Secret Love Affair with Ireland's Most Powerful Bishop (Book Club Edition)
Annie Murphy with Peter deRosa
Manufacturer: Little, Brown & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000SUZD0E

Product Description

After 18 years of secrecy, culminating in one of the greatest scandals ever to befall the Catholic Church, here at last is the true...and the only authorized....account of Annie Murphy and her love affair with Eamonn Casey, Bishop of Galway, Ireland. Romantic, spellbinding, and often shocking, the haunting passion of this profound love story is quite simply unforgettable and rivals any in recent fiction.

Forbidden Fruit: The True Story of My Secret Love Affair With Ireland's Most Powerful Bishop

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Forbidden Fruit: The True Story of My Secret Love Affair With Ireland's Most Powerful Bishop
Annie; De Rosa, Peter Murphy
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OU1VTK

Average customer rating:

Forbidden Fruit: The True Story of My Secret Love Affair with Ireland's Most Powerful Bishop
Annie with De Rosa, Peter Murphy
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFGKR0

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