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- A guest of the Emperor
- Interesting personal account
- One man's gut-wrenching and nearly fatal three and a half year tenure as a slave laborer for the Japanese army
- One man's gut-wrenching and nearly fatal three and a half year tenure as a slave laborer for the Japanese army
- A different view of the Pacific war.
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Long Way Back to the River Kwai: Memories of World War II
Loet Velmans
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Edith's Story
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The Glass Castle: A Memoir
ASIN: 1559707410 |
Book Description
Loet Velmans was 17 when the Germans invaded his native Holland in 1940.Almost immediately, he and his family decided to escape to London, which they did on board the Dutch Coast Guard cutter, Seaman's Hope.Deciding theyt would be safer in the Far East, the family sailed to the Dutch East Indies-now Indonesia-where Loet joined the Dutch army.In March 1942, the Japanese invaded the archipelago, conquered it in a week, and made prisoners of the local Dutch soldiers.For the next three and a half years Loet and his fellow POW's were sent to slave labor camps to build a railroad through the dense jungle on the Burmese-Thailand border, to invade and conquer India.Some 200,000 POW's and slave laborers died in building this Railroad of Death.Loet, though suffering from malaria, dysentery, malnutrition, and unspeakable maltreatment, never gave up hope...and survived.Fifty-seven years later he returned to revisit the place where he should have died and where he had buried his closest friend.From that emotional visit came this stunning memoir.
Customer Reviews:
A guest of the Emperor.......2007-06-13
Loet Velmans fled Holland with his parents in a small boat during the Nazi invasion. They escaped Hitler's persecution of the Jews only to undergo three and a half years of brutal treatment by the Japanese. On reaching England the family decided to continue to the Dutch East Indies, where the parents could find work, and Loet could finish high school. After graduation Loet was drafted into the Dutch Army. On Holland's surrender in Java, he became a prisoner of war. After nine months confinement on Java, Loet was sent to Singapore, where he was confined at Changi. Loet dabbled in the black market, and even opened a 'restaurant' called the Flying Dutchman. In May 1943 he left Changi with 'H' Force, bound for the Burma Railway. After reaching Bangpong Thailand by train, Loet and his group had to march 86 miles to Spring Camp. Loet felled trees, built a section of the access road, removed boulders from the railbed with a hammer and chisel, and lost many friends. After being felled by malaria and dysentery Loet was admitted to the camp 'hospital'. Upon recovery he was assigned to duties as a medical orderly. In discussions with his fellow prisoners Loet formed the opinion that their brutal Japanese guards were representative of Japan as a whole. What the prisoners could not fathom was "...how an entire nation could get its kicks from beating and torturing its prisoners." Upon the completion of their section of the railroad the men from Spring Camp were sent to Kanchanaburi. After a month or two there Loet returned to Singapore. After several months at Syme Road Camp Loet returned to Changi. There he shared a cell in Changi Jail with Rabbi Nussbaum,(a Dutch Army Chaplain) and another Dutch POW. Following liberation Loet spent 5 months in Singapore working on a Dutch newspaper, The Oranje, which was printed on the Straits Times press. In February 1946 Loet returned to Holland where he attended Amsterdam University. There he met his wife, Edith. Edith has written Edith's Story, an account of her life as a hidden Jew in Nazi occupied Holland. In the 1950's the Velmans emmigrated to America, where Loet went to work for the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton. From the beginning Loet was heavily involved in Hill and Knowlton's far east business, and frequently found himself traveling to Japan. It is unclear whether Loet ever informed his hosts that he had spent the war as 'a guest of the Emperor.' What is clear is that the Japanese produced a "visceral reaction" in Loet. He felt that: "...the entire Japanese nation had overlooked, papered over, trivialized or forgotten the atrocities committed in the name of its Emperor." During a business trip to Tokyo in the mid seventies Loet spent a night on the town with some Japanese business executives. At a bar in the Ginza district his hosts joined the other patrons in belting out a Japanese song between rounds. After repeated inquiries one of the businessmen finally revealed to Loet that the song was a patriotic military march from World War Two that soldiers sang to raise morale. Loet quickly found himself stone cold sober. Loet reports that in his dealings with the Japanese he "...never lost my compulsion to keep a wary eye on them." He believes that westerners and Japanese still find each other incomprehensible, but has hopes that perhaps his grandchildren's generation might bridge the gap. Readers seeking to learn more about what happened to their relatives on the Burma Railway or in Changi should be advised that Loet uses only the first names of his friends who died in captivity.
Interesting personal account.......2006-07-05
My grandfather was a POW in Burma and came back with stories that make you shudder and I bought this book to see if there was more I could learn. Although there is preamble on how Velmans escaped from the Netherlands and then moved to Indonesia and his life after the war, the account of treatment by the Japanese and working on the Burma railroad is quite insightful. There is not much on what happened to the Japanese after the war (war crimes) and Velmans does not really give you his opinion of the treatment he received. However, as a personal account, it is an interesting book.
One man's gut-wrenching and nearly fatal three and a half year tenure as a slave laborer for the Japanese army.......2005-07-06
The inspiration for the classic book and film "Bridge Over The River Kwai", Long Way Back To The River Kwai: Memories Of World War II is the painfully honest true story of one man's gut-wrenching and nearly fatal three and a half year tenure as a slave laborer for the Japanese army during World War II. A prisoner of war. An insert of black-and-white photographs illustrate this testimony, which presents the unvarnished truth about inhumane, brutal, and ultimately deadly torments the POWs suffered during the course of the war. Long Way Back To The River Kwai also tells of the war's end, the author's rescue and slow recovery from near-death, and his gradual readjustment. The final section tells of the author's business dealings in modern-day Japan, his reflections and friendships, and his observance of the Japanese "cultural amnesia" concerning the war and the atrocities it committed during that era. Highly recommended reading and an impressive contribution to the growing library of World War II combatant memoirs.
One man's gut-wrenching and nearly fatal three and a half year tenure as a slave laborer for the Japanese army.......2005-07-06
The inspiration for the classic book and film "Bridge Over The River Kwai", Long Way Back To The River Kwai: Memories Of World War II is the painfully honest true story of one man's gut-wrenching and nearly fatal three and a half year tenure as a slave laborer for the Japanese army during World War II. A prisoner of war. An insert of black-and-white photographs illustrate this testimony, which presents the unvarnished truth about inhumane, brutal, and ultimately deadly torments the POWs suffered during the course of the war. Long Way Back To The River Kwai also tells of the war's end, the author's rescue and slow recovery from near-death, and his gradual readjustment. The final section tells of the author's business dealings in modern-day Japan, his reflections and friendships, and his observance of the Japanese "cultural amnesia" concerning the war and the atrocities it committed during that era. Highly recommended reading and an impressive contribution to the growing library of World War II combatant memoirs.
A different view of the Pacific war........2004-04-06
The author gives a stirring and very readable story as told from the eyes of a Dutch soldier captured by the Japanese during the invasion of Java in 1942. Velman gives a very interesting story of his backgound as a Jew in prewar Holland and his families escape from the Nazis only to fall into the hands of the Japanes later.
Most of his time as a POW was spent helping to build the Thai-Burma railroad. During this period, hundreds of thousands of Aliied prisoners and native slave labors died due to disease, famine, loss of spirit, and, of course, the direct mistreatment of them by the Japanese. All this for a railraod that was barely used and is now overgrown and torn up.
It is a compelling book and the author is still trying to come to terms with the Japanse to this day.
I also highly recommend Ernest Gordon's "Beneath the Valley of the Kwai". This book was written much earlier but tells the story from the British point of view. It is now available under the title "To End All Wars".
Average customer rating:
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Werner Heisenberg : A Bibliography of His Writings, Second, Expanded Edition
David C. Cassidy
Manufacturer: Whittier Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1576041158 |
Book Description
A complete bibliography of all of the scientific and non-scientific writings of German physicist Werner Heisenberg from 1922 to 2001. Heisenberg was the inventor of the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics. The listing contains cross-references to all reprints, translations, and excerpts of his writings, as well as guides to his collected works and to the essential Heisenberg writings for technical and non-technical audiences.
Book Description
In this ambitious follow-up to Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay uses the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the pitfalls that trap many veterans on the road back to civilian life. Seamlessly combining important psycho- logical work and brilliant literary interpretation with an impassioned plea to renovate American military institutions, Shay deepens our understanding of both the combat veteran's experience and one of the world's greatest classics.
Customer Reviews:
Returning Veterans.......2007-10-07
As those of us who live and work with war trauma know, for many, the Vietnam War is not over.Jonathan Shay writes:
"The Vietnam veterans that I have worked with were treated shabbily by both the political right - who scorned them as 'losers'...and by the political left, who held them responsible for everything vile or wrongheaded that led us into the war, was done during the war, or came after the war."
I encountered a similar situation in my work with Russian veterans of their war in Afghanistan. Dr. Shay's book provides his readers with valuable insights into the challenges facing soldiers returning from a controversial war.His book is a must read for those who care about the mental and physical health and well being of our returning veterans.
Anngwyn St.Just Ph.D. Director of the Arizona Center for Social Trauma and author of " Relative Balance in an Unstable World:The Search for New Models for Trauma Education and Recovery ( 2006 Carl-Auer Verlag, Heidelberg)
Believe neither the gloom and doom ...nor the infantilization in popular lore.......2007-09-20
The author is an expert on the return of combat veterans. The literary references are terrific. For instance, the 'Siren Song' cliche' is generally misunderstood. The Sirens are NOT singing flowery or sentimental or erotic or false lyrics to weary sailors. No, the story goes that only THOSE WHO WERE IN COMBAT would recognize the Sirens' stories as exactly truthful, therefore absolutely hypnotic and magnetic. (I did not know the importance of the particular mythology until this book described the context.) That and much much more...
Support our troops . . ........2006-11-03
Shay's decades of work with Vietnam veterans, as described and explained in this book, helped formalize the syndrome of behavior that came to be known as post traumatic stress disorder. It afflicts soldiers living in mortal danger for long periods of time, leaving them afterwards in a near-permanent state of hyper-vigilance. They have suffered what Shay characterizes as a moral injury, which like other disabling war injuries prevents them from returning fully to civilian life. He calls it a moral injury because what has been injured is the ability to trust - even those closest and dearest - and living in the civilian world is impossible without it.
The ancients, Shay argues, understood the psychological dangers of combat for those who fight, survive, and return home. The combination of both cunning (necessary for survival) and the predictable errors in judgment among those who both give and take orders are reflected in the character of Odysseus, who returns with his men from the Trojan War in Homer's "The Odyssey." There is, Shay asserts, good reason why his name means literally, "he who makes trouble for others." The loss of all of his men and then the bloodbath that follows his arrival in Ithaca, as he eliminates Penelope's suitors, illustrate how violence and death follow him long after the war is over.
The fault lies not in individual men, Shay argues, but in a kind of military command that treats them as replaceable parts of a large fighting machine, instead of as groups of soldiers who train and fight together and then are demobilized together. The communal aspect of this supportive group process helps men and women make the return safely and helps them overcome the aftermath of war's traumatizing impact. Again and again, Shay argues that it is our responsibility as citizens to be sure that those who have risked their lives to serve in the armed forces are provided in turn with the vital services they need to re-enter the world they left behind and to live once again at peace with themselves and others. His argument gives new and urgent meaning to the phrase "Support Our Troops."
Required Reading for CLR-25 Officers returning from Iraq.......2006-01-22
This book was chosen as required reading for Combat Logistics Regiment-25 Officers returning from Iraq. The following is my personal comments and do not necesarliy reflect the view of CLR-25, the United States Marine Corps or the United States Government.
Dr. Shay M.D uses the story of Odysseus 10 year trip home from the Trojan War as an allegory for Vietnam Veterans return home. It is interesting reading with lots of good "war stories" to keep the pace lively. However the book can be quite academic at times. The allegory is very plain. Odysseus is a soldier having trouble getting home and adjusting. Some Vietnam Veterans had trouble adjusting.
Dr Shay defines Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as persistence of valid adaptations to danger into a time of safety afterward. In other words the Veteran with PTSD that freak's out in crowds is doing so because "crowds draw mortar fire". He lists some of the skills that combat veterans learn are:
* Control of fear
* Cunning, the arts of deception, the arts of the "mind f--k."
* Control of violence against members of their own group.
* The capacity to respond skillfully and instantly with violent, lethal force.
* Vigilance, perpetual mobilization for danger.
* Regarding fixed rules as possible threats to their own and their comrade's survival.
* Regarding fixed "rules of war" as possible advantages to be gained over the enemy.
* Suppression of compassion, horror, guilt, tenderness, grief, disgust.
* The capacity to lie fluently and convincingly.
* Physical strength, quickness, endurance, stealth.
* Skill at locating and grabbing needed supplies whether officially provided or not.
* Skill in the use of a variety of lethal weapons.
* Skill in adapting to harsh physical conditions.
With the expectation of physical fitness all of these can cause problems in civilian life.
The book is completely Vietnam biased, which is to be expected, because all of Dr Shay's patients are Vietnam Veterans. However the book contains a strong bias that he shares from his patients views. In particular there was an overall opinion that officers were incompetent and not to be trusted. It is noteworthy that none of his patients were officers.
The solutions that he recommends are hardly novel. Cohesion, Leadership, and Training. He makes a strong case that the individual rotation method used in Vietnam left a returning veteran alone to deal with his demons without the support. However he does come to a conclusion that I am sure surprised him given what seems to be his natural "anti-war' tendencies and hopes that war can be abolished. In the end he comes to the conclusion that it is a moral responsibility for Officers to train themselves and their men to the highest level possible, because the quicker the war, the fewer the physical casualties, the fewer the psychological traumas.
Personally I did draw some conclusions from the book. First, survivors are superstitious. Second, reservists should deploy as a unit in company or larger size.
Excellent.......2005-09-15
A terrific text. The only thing that kept it from getting five stars were his recommendations at the end of the book. Other than that, an excellent book for returning soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines and their families and friends.
Book Description
The complete handbook for the world of the concierge. This book was written from first hand experience and addresses all situations involving a hotel concierge from the philosophy to the the paper clips. It is a comprehensive guide to the hotel concierge. It can be used as a textbook or for training purposes as it has lesson plans and workshhets included.
Customer Reviews:
A "Must Read" for the "Five-Star Minded" hospitality professional (or, future professional)!.......2007-09-13
I found this book by chance as I was browsing titles and was very taken by its title. I was very pleased with its content. I found it to be textbook-instructional regarding concept and practice, as well as a general guide for setting up one's own concierge operation - whether that be in a hotel, corporate office building, or other high-profile "hub" service environment. After having spent more than 20 years as a NYC hotel manager, I found this book a refreshing read. It helped me reaffirm within myself the reasons why I pursued a hospitality career in the first place. I was additionally pleased to have discovered that I had actually worked with some of the hospitality professionals given credit by the author during my own career!
OK for beginners...........2007-07-12
This is a good "starter" book for a new Concierge. I have been a Concierge for 10 years and purchased this book to keep me "fresh". It was not useful at all. If you want to become a Concierge, you can't learn what you need to know from a book - it takes A LOT of hands on experience in a busy hotel to be able to adapt to any Concierge situation. But, if you are starting up a new Concierge desk, the forms are helpful.
a very useful book for people in hospitality industry.......2007-01-12
The book is very useful especially for the professionals in the hospitality industry and guest services. Easy to understand and follow, full of real case studies. Can be referred in trainings of concierge clerks.
Comprehensive Guide. Price Varies: from 30 to 3,000.......2006-12-22
I bought this book for my brother who is a Chef Concierge. As I was looking for a title, I came across some interesting findings about "Ultimate Service", which I share in this review. I am not a professional in the field, but this handbook seems indeed very comprehensive and effective. It is not about setting up a small business, but what the profession actually is and how it is managed on a daily basis. My two main points are as follows.
First, nowhere on the internet I could find the content list showing the book structure. So, as I now have the book, regrouping its 17 chapters, these are the main topics in panoramic view: 1) philosophy and ethics; 2) the profession in general; 3) relationships and mentality; 4) routine management (huge part); 5) dealing with the press, and coping with stress and angry customers; 6) industry, technology and the future of the profession; 7) appendix with management forms.
Second, you need to consider buying this book asap. I phoned Prentice Hall (publisher) to get the content list (above), and found out that the book is out of print, and that they no longer have rights over it. I then realized why the publisher has no memory of the book, when I came across one of Holly Stiel's websites: a very elegant, New Agey business project focusing on customer service, now selling a repackaged version of the same ideas in a book with CD-ROM for $3,000 (no typo here). So, think hard and answer: why pay $3,000 if you can get the essence for $30 (while it lasts)?
In sum, I recommend this book, both for its substance and price.
Excellent .......2006-11-04
I feel that this book was exactly what I was looking for in relation to pursuing a career as a concierge in a hotel. It was very thorough and is already saving me a ton of time on research and gives a great feeling of authenticity and enthusiasm in how to deal with the public.
Average customer rating:
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Antarctic Wildlife Adventure
National Geographic Vvwa G51481
Manufacturer: National Geographic Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Animal Care & Pets
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General
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Antarctica
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ASIN: 0792219619 |
Book Description
From frosted animal cookies to a silly circus bear, these adorable quilt designs will brighten any child's day. Whether stitching a shower gift or getting ready for a birthday, you'll find whimsical ideas for babies and beyond!
· Stitch twelve huggable quilts plus six mini projects, including a doll quilt and pillow
· Spotlight zoo animals, spotted dogs, crazy cats, and more with easy patchwork and appliqué
· Choose from a range of fun designs, such as fuzzy flannel quilts for babies and pocket quilts that hide secret treasures for tots
Customer Reviews:
Polka-Dat Kids' Quilts.......2007-03-20
The patterns in this book are vivid and exciting for newborns and babies. I made the monkey quilt and will give it to my daughter. Although the quilt is small it is the perfect size for the basinet or for a cheery wall hanging in the nursery.
I found the patterns in this book to be great for the not so seasoned quilter (like myself) and fun to do!!!!
Book Description
Secrets to growing big, juicy, prize-winning vegetables using common household products such as beer, dish soap, and cola are revealed in this book of gardening tricks, tips, and tonics. Beginning and experienced gardeners alike will learn easy but effective techniques for growing, protecting, storing, and saving vegetables, from asparagus and beets to rutabaga and zucchini. Topics include planning a plot; weeding, feeding, and watering; and keeping plague and pests at bay. Revealed are secrets for fighting fungus with molasses, spreading wood ashes to grow a glorious garden, using herbs to protect against cabbage moths and carrot flies, and starting veggies in containers with coffee grounds.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read!.......2007-09-03
This is a great book with tons of tips to help you grow the best possible garden!!
Jerry Baker's Terrific Tomatoes et al.......2007-04-04
Great book with a lot of sound advice. The tonics work really well on the new seedlings we planted.
Great read.......2006-05-24
Very informative and entertaining. I liked the "down home" stories and practical advise. Growing my own fruits and vegetables is very important in my attempt to establish a more self sufficient lifestyle. This book is a very enjoyable read from start to finish. Finding answers is also quick and easy. I'm looking forward to trying some of the tonics and also buying more of Mr. Bakers books.
Book Description
Everything you need to know about selecting, growing, and preparing delicious tomatoes.
Customer Reviews:
GOOD but not a first book........2007-07-27
if you are not a really good gardener, and maybe don't understand the standard lingo, then this good book could disappoint. it helped me diagnose an illness in one of my tomatoe plants, but i disagree with the comments on pruning. but the biggest problem is that it does not have pictures. so, if you are new to gardening, you also should buy the vegetable gardener's bible by edward smith. together, i think a beginner can do well. (if you don't prune, make sure you have LOTS of room. and stake, stake, stake!)
Book Description
After providing a brief history of the tomato, THE TOMATO HANDBOOK gets down to the nitty-gritty of tomato cultivation, with advice on planting, stages of growth, support methods and pruning.
Average customer rating:
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Tomatoes for Everyone: A Practical Guide to Growing Tomatoes All Year Round
Allen Gilbert
Manufacturer: Hyland House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Fruit
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ASIN: 1864470194 |
Book Description
Introduction to growing tomatoes.
Customer Reviews:
A plum book.......2000-04-03
This is THE book for anyone who wants to know virtually everything about what rates as the world's most popular vegetable among home gardeners. Although the tomato itself originated in South America this book tells how varieties now include the Black Russian, Colossal Yellow and Dwarf Wax as well as many more familiar red tomatoes found in Europe, the US and the author's native Australia. There are plenty of pictures telling us how to grow, graft and keep healthy tomatoes in our own backyards and Mr Gilbert even shows how they manage to cultivate them in China's Gobi Desert. Hints on harvesting and storing are followed by a very useful, easy to read 'everything you want to know' chart detailing more than 120 varieties. In between are the gardeners' prizes - recipes to help you savour the fruits of your labours! In short almost anyone can grow (and eat) tomatoes and this compact book is the ideal reference work for enthusiasts everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Extensive Tomato List & Suggestions.......2005-08-11
Although this author seems to have personal tomato growing experience, this book is primarily based on detailed questionnaires that the author had experienced tomato growers from around the nation fill out. This has the most extensive tomato variety listing that I have seen. Usually with insightful comments & often with ratings, from these tomato gardeners around the nation. Many times the ratings vary around the nation. The drawings are good. Many good suggestions.
Average customer rating:
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Growing Tomatoes
Ian G. Walls
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Fruit
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| Home & Garden
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General
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Vegetables
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Tomatoes
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ASIN: 0715391283 |
Average customer rating:
- A Woman's Journey
- The Jo I didn't know
- Our Generation
- A book that touched my heart
- Lessons on taking a journey.
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The Dandelions of Woodlawn Avenue: "A woman's search for meaning and purpose in life"
Jo Singel
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Women
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Memoirs
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Personal Transformation
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ASIN: 0595360920 |
Book Description
Everyone has an intimate view of his or her own life. At times people are truthful with what they reveal about themselves. But more often than not, a personÂ's innermost thoughts, desires, and dilemmas remain hidden from others—including close family and friends.
People rarely reveal their past mistakes, but in The Dandelions of Woodlawn Avenue, author Jo Singel shares her unsent letters and her journal and diary entries with the world. If you have ever felt alone—emotionally in the dark, afraid and with no one to turn to—her story will connect you, soul-to-soul, with the everyday struggles, discoveries, joys, and challenges of an ordinary woman who wants to free herself of the imposed restrictions of society, culture, family, relationships and work demands.
JoÂ's world is inhabited by disturbing portraits of people and relationships that go beyond the surface and explore the basic emotions of love, fear, anger, shame, and denial. The Dandelions of Woodlawn Avenue examines life and looks at what happens, what doesnÂ't happen, and what might have been.
Customer Reviews:
A Woman's Journey.......2006-11-16
Having perceived Jo to be confident, successful and
calm, I was completely surprised to find in her book
the doubts, search and struggles Jo had gone through
to reach the stage of peacefulness. She was
courageous to reveal the secret of her life and the
deepest emotions. By doing so, she not only helped
herself to reconcile with her past, but also helped
many who may be in the middle of the struggle. I
appreciate her candidness and reflection on life in
this book.
The Jo I didn't know.......2006-10-01
I have formed many business friendships over the last 30 years but none have been more honest or insightful than the one I have with Jo. I met Jo in the late 1980's, not knowing anything about her upbringing, knowing only her reputation as an excellent businesswoman, motivator and teacher.
After reading about her Mom, Dad, the "hood" in Philadelphia, her first marraige, and then the journey to restart her life, I was in awe. These experiences were the DNA of her wisdom and they are powerful and moving.
For those of us boomers, who survived the 60's and our upbringing, Jo brings us candidness and honesty, letting us revisit all the testing, trumoil, and love of finding oneself.
Our Generation.......2006-04-25
A generation of women will relate to Jo's situation as a woman in the 1960's who was ready to fly but got no clear signal from the air traffic controller. Jo's powers of description enable you to feel what it was really like to grow up in the Philadelphia of the 50's and to be raised by a Mother whose dreams for her resulted in mixed signals and a Father who liberated her...yet kept her back at the same time.
Jo takes you through a panoply of life shaping experiences and many will recognize their own feelings and fears as she describes the dragons that have shown up on her path.
Her experience as a New Yorker who went through 9/11...on site...as it was happening...was the fork in the road that left her unable to go on without facing the choices she can and must make. The only thing lacking in this touching work is...the sequel.
A book that touched my heart.......2006-04-20
what a wonderful gift this book is to anyone who reads it. I am in awe of Jo's willingness to share so much with her readers...to allow herself to be so vulnerable. In doing so she allows her readers to connect with her in a soul to soul way that is very rare in books or in life. Her description of her " diving moments" reminds of my own - and how critical it is to be conscious and present in my life.
Lessons on taking a journey........2006-04-03
Everyone's life journey is unique. Reading about pivotal moments and life choices of others can provide insights into our own choices and choice points. To read the unsent letters and journal entries that provide glimpses into most private thoughts was amazing. Thank you for sharing these intimate details so that others can learn. Your journey is an inspiration and I look forward to reading about the next evolution in your journey.
Book Description
Jelly's Blues recounts the tumultuous life of Jelly Roll Morton (ca., 18851941). A virtuoso pianist with a larger-than-life personality, he composed such influential early jazz pieces as "King Porter Stomp" and "New Orleans Blues." However, by the late 1930s, he was nearly forgotten. In 1992, the death of an eccentric memorabilia collector led to the unearthing of a startling archive, revealing Morton to be a much more complex and passionate man than many realized. An especially immediate and visceral look into the jazz worlds of New Orleans and Chicago, Jelly's Blues is a definitive biography, a long overdue look at one of the twentieth century's most important composers.
Customer Reviews:
Useful,provides a correcting insight.......2007-07-09
Very much of Morton's life and legacy remain in controversy, controversy in part created by Morton's own assertiveness about his seminal role in creating Jazz and the often blunt defense he made of himself against rivals like WC Handy. Reich seeks to come to Morton's defense by using recently available documents including letters from Morton to a long time collaborator and the newly-found manuscripts of Morton's compositions of the late 1930s and 1940. Along the way he presents a fairly accurate and useful picture of Morton's youth than other reporters.
Reich's strength is his depiction of Morton's last years when money ran out, his health declined, and the recording industry felt that Morton was out of fashion. He provides a great explanation of how the Melrose Brothers cheated Morton and others out of millions of royalty dollars. He also describes very well the way that ASCAP limited membership for Black composers like Handy and then provided them a pittance of the money it collected off of their compositions during the 1930s and 1940s. For those concerned about the controversies between Handy and Morton, it must be pointed out that Handy's autobiography written in 1941 ends with a paen to ASCAP, without mentioning the struggle that Morton and other Black composers had with that organization.
Morton was one of the great musicians and composers in American history. However, American capitalism's ability to milk his creativity without paying him anything reached its bleak end in his final illness. Morton could not afford decent medical attention as heart problems assailed him. He could afford only a few days in a rest home where he was told that months of such care could have lead to his survival.
One of the areas that this book provides a corrective is in relation to the Alan Lomax interviews with Jelly Roll Morton. In the mid 1930s, Morton, living in Washington spent hours being interviewed by Lomax for the library of country. Reich explains that Lomax brought a bottle of whiskey to each session and encouraged Morton to drink, knowing that Morton's comments would be come more exaggerated and pugnaciou, the more whiskey Morton drunk. This coincides with Lomax's behavior throughout his career of trying to make sources he found reflect what he wanted. Very much of Morton's reputation as an unreliable braggart comes from these interviews.
Chapters Six through Eight Make This Book.......2005-06-05
The great trumpeter Rafael Mendez once said that he lived by one golden rule his father taught him: "Never boast. Someone better than you may be lurking around the corner, waiting to take your place." This was a lesson that Jelly Roll Morton (1886-1941) didn't learn until bad luck, lack of opportunity and rivals who DID take his place (particularly Ellington and Art Tatum) humbled him into reassessing his talent and his place in contemporary music. But, as this remarkable book points out, he not only learned his lessons but learned from them, remaking both his image and his music in the face of near-total indifference.
When reading through this bio, I had reached about page 148 and had some reservations as to its worth over Alan Lomax's half-bio, half-autobiography, "Mister Jelly Lord." It seemed to me that the authors had bent over backward to excuse Morton's past as a pimp, gambler and hustler simply because he was the first to codify jazz in written music, and indeed even seemed to claim his superiority as a jazz musician over such luminaries as Bunk Johnson, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Chapter Five, in particular, had several errors in both fact and judgment, consistently referring to Morton making his early acoustic recordings in front of "microphones" (they used a big metal horn to focus the sound into a steel cutting needle, no microphones were used at all, hence the term "acoustic"), renaming Bing Crosby as Bill (a typo so glaring that even a modern yuppie proofreader should have spotted it), and their astounding demotion of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings to "a rinky-dink ensemble" in their records without Morton. (In plain truth, the NORK was the first band to actually swing on records, even from their very first records in 1922, by virtue of their rolling, "loping" beat, similar in feel to that of Sidney Bechet's New Orleans Feetwarmers of a decade later. Listen and hear for yourself.)
At this point, then, I was going to give this book 3 stars, mostly for factual accuracy but not for value judgments or style. But then something happened. They began chronicling, in full detail, the meeting and eventual partnership of Morton and Roy Carew. They fully documented, as Lomax had not, all of Morton's personal, medical and legal battles with their results in his lifetime and after. They described in full Morton's second and last stay in New York, quoted what he really said to black musicians on the street corners of Harlem, and told just how he re-evaluated the musical value of contemporary musicians and planned to compete with them. And they described in detail his sad last months in California and the creative new music he had written for large orchestra, something far beyond his greatest accomplishments of the 1920s.
Morton, then, is truly given his just due as a man and musician. The loudmouthed "braggart" is revealed as a man who did not proselytize his music above all others in Harlem, but warned younger black musicians not to trust the powers that be in the music business of their time because they would get railroaded as he had. The quixotic dreamer who Lomax described as wanting to create carbon-copy Red Hot Peppers bands across America to push his name above all others is shown as a man who truly cared about finding work in the Depression for good musicians who deserved better. And the "moldy fig" whose stomps and blues were already outdated by 1939 is shown as a vital creator who was still coming up with startling new material. So much is already evident to Morton fans from a few of the 1939-40 General recordings, but this book also describes his innovative large-band scores "Mr. Joe," "Oh Baby" (not to be confused with the pop `20s song of the same name), "Why?" and especially "Ganjam." More satisfyingly for the reader, it chronicles how Morton's "loudmouthed" complaints of the early 1940s eventually led to real reform in the 1950s and `60s of the entire music business and the rules it had to follow.
As a result, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Forget the sometimes stiff and schoolbookish writing style. Forget the occasional errors in fact and judgment. The overall picture it paints of Mr. Jelly Lord, especially in his last years, is a fine and noble one. If you think you know the Morton story, I'm here to tell you you DON'T, at least not until you read this book. I always had the utmost respect for Morton's musical mind, one of those rare organs that was able to remember with photographic precision everything it heard and synthesize it into a unique and personal style. Now I have respect for Morton the person as well, at least the Morton of his last years. Jelly Roll had indeed redeemed himself, and you WILL be startled by some of the things you read here. I guarantee it.
A disappointment.......2005-03-29
The book contains a number of careless errors. For example, it repeatedly states that King Oliver recorded Morton's "Wolverine Blues" (which he didn't--they're confusing it with "Weatherbird Rag," written by Louis Armstrong). Regarding "solo tunes... recorded on July 8, 1929," the authors mention "'Pop' (a revisiting of 'Seattle Hunch')." The correct title, "Pep," bears some similarity to the earlier "Stratford Hunch," not to "Seattle Hunch," which was recorded after "Pep." Other mistakes are evident...
Also, the focus on Morton's health and financial problems comes at the expense of his musical achievements--his monumental Library of Congress sessions receive a single paragraph in the main text. For those interested in Morton, I'd recommend the great "'Oh, Mister Jelly' - A Jelly Roll Morton Scrapbook" by William Russell and "Mister Jelly Lord" by Laurie Wright (neither are easy to find), as well as "Dead Man Blues" and the landmark "Mister Jelly Roll."
Entertaining, valuable book works on many levels.......2004-12-17
This book offers a great look into the world of jazz's beginnings as well as telling a highly engaging and emotional story. It works partly because, even though you know the outcome is not going to be a happy one, you find yourself pulling for Jelly, hoping that somehow the ending at least has some happiness to it. Whenever there's a ray of hope, though, there is a but or however right around the corner.
The book is also a lucid portrait of the type of discrimination that existed in the American music industry at the time.
Tastefully written and not maudlin in its sympathy for Jelly. There are also nice descriptions of what technically set his music apart and ahead of its time.
A sad tale of genius, robbed by Melrose.......2004-08-30
I've read a good bit about Morton, how he was a "braggart" and a story-teller. Indeed, he was a story-teller but once you read this book, telling how Jelly was robbed by his music publishers as well as his on again/off again wife, you'll have a greater and deeper appreciation of the artist known as Jelly Roll Morton.
A wonderful read, a sad story and thank goodness all the papers were found in that apartment/home in New Orleans less Morton end up no more or no less respected than his former reputation.
The inventor of jazz? Pretty darned close.
Now, if someone would only release the COMPLETE Lomax LOC recordings - that would be something! Mosaic, where are you when we need you?
Average customer rating:
- I discovered the fate of my family from someone who saw it first hand
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Never the Last Journey
Felix Zandman , and
David Chanoff
Manufacturer: Schocken
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0805241280
Release Date: 1995-05-16 |
Customer Reviews:
I discovered the fate of my family from someone who saw it first hand.......2005-10-06
For many years my mother's family was presumed completely obliterated by the Holocaust until I found Dr. Zandman and his book. I was finally able to put fates with the faces of the people I knew only through aging photographs.
This is a book of horrors and of triumph over adversity. That Dr. Zandman was able to survive what he did and still go on to become the fine international businessman that he did is nothing short of miraculous. Where others would have just ceased to go on he found the courage and the strength to live his life to it's fullest.
The personal stories that he tells of his Great Aunt Sonya and his Grandfather Nochum are absolutely heartwrenching and leave you wondering simply how so many people could hate so much.
Incredible Holocaust Story.......2003-05-05
An ageless and inspiring story of determination, survival, and ultimately triumph. Zandman's story brings home minute details about being Jewish during this horrific period of time--right down to the mindset of most Jewish families in Poland. This book clearly illustrates how subtle, calculating, and conniving Hitler was as he, not all at once, but gradually moved the Jews from their homes, to the ghetto and finally the death camps.
After I read this, the first time, I wanted nothing more than to meet Felix Zandman personally. Even the title inspired me to always push forward and to never give up.
Inspiring.......2000-06-07
As a stock analyst, I've seen many CEO's and heard many success stories. This is a heartwarming story of dedication and triumph unlike that of any other business executive. Despite spending his youth in hiding from Nazis, Dr. Zandman manages to get a PhD., move to America and found a small engineering company that ends up being one of the world's largest suppliers of electronics components.
Very Interesting!.......2000-03-14
Zandman's historical part of this book is great. It gives you a great perspective of his life during the Holocust. More background would have been great. Got the feeling that his business associates have been less than desirable chaps.
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