Customer Reviews:
good biography...........2004-06-24
I considered Edward Longacre's biography on George Pickett to be a pretty good one. The author goes into considerable length to show the reader what kind of man Pickett was behind his "Gettysburg persona" that most Americans know him from. The picture we get is one of strange contradictions of a man who can do a dishonorable thing like abandoning his own son to a brave and couragous soldier.
The author proves to be very sympathic toward his subject. However, not even Longacre can excuse Pickett for his foolishness at Five Forks. It was interesting that the author did not investigate the effects of post traumatic stress disorder which must have affected Pickett after Gettysburg. That may have answered many of unusual downgrading of Pickett's abilities as commander. (Another famous combat leader, Marshal Michel Ney of Napoleon's army also suffered from it after Russian Campaign of 1812 and his performance suffered thereafter.)
However, the book come highly recommended and it proves to be well written, nicely researched and very informative.
Good Book For Anyone Wanting to Know More About Pickett.......2003-08-05
I enjoyed Longacre's book on George Pickett. I often read "on the go" and liked the way he broke down each chapter in brief segments which I could read and stop conveniently. The author does a good job of portraying Pickett evenly and sifting thru the legends and myths. I appreciated Longacre's discussion on Gettysberg as that is one thing I have always wondered about. Was it wrong for Pickett not to accompany his men on this heroic and futile assault ? Pickett himself proved to be a complex man and all too human. After reading this book I felt that Pickett's military career was a quest for respect and secondly for glory and not the other way around.
Well Done.......2002-06-07
This is a good work. Other than the Gettysburg charge, before reading this book I did not know George Picket very well. I only got glimpses of him from various readings: Chapultepec, the Penninsula Campaign, Bermuda Hundred, Five Forks, etc. And in those various readings never once did anyone take him to task, making him account for himself like Longacre does.
What we have here is a complex aristocrat, a fighter, whose personal attributes estranged the majority of his superiors (Lee and Jefferson Davis to name a few) but one whose loyalty and devotion to Confederate Independence made him indispensable to their efforts .
He is difficult to like. He deserts a son, is a heavy drinker, is a panderer and is a political maneuverer in the worst sense of the concept. But we also have a person who personifies loyalty, who serves to the very end, under privation, while absorbing every imaginable insult from his superiors along the way. He may have made some serious errors but he always obeyed orders, remained steadfast, even when he must have known he had been identified as expendable. Above all else he served, served, served.
Longacre does a remarkably good job of brining Picket to life. Even more important than Picket is the wonderful glimpse we get into the workings of the Confederate High Command. A very valuable additional plus is the myriad of interesting historical antidotes that will make the most serious student of the Civil War stop and say, "I didn't know that."
No Lost Cause apologia, here you get all the warts. This one is definitely worth the time.
Read this book........2002-01-24
Growing up in the south I always held the same general opinion of Pickett that most southerners and indeed most Americans hold. The playboy image seen in the movie "Gettysburg" has always been what came to mind at the mention of General Pickett. Thanks to this book I see that the well known image is false.
Pickett does indeed seem to have been a glory hound and playboy but he was also a brave soilder who exposed himself to deadly fire in the Mexican War and was wounded early in the Civil War. Longacre handles the fact that Pickett didn't actually lead his men to the angle at Gettysburg in just the way he should have handled it.
I found most interesting Pickett's work at Petersburg to hold that city until Beauregard and then Lee could arrive on the scene. Pickett is not in general given his due for Petersburg probably because after the war the "cult of the lost cause" was so protective of General Lee that they kept to a minimum Pickett's role. In fact, Lee made a mistake and Pickett and then Beauregard saved the day. Without Pickett's contribution at Petersburg the war might have ended several months sooner. Richmond simply could not have been held without Petersburg.
A great book that puts a new and interesting face on George Pickett. It belongs in any Civil War library.
The Irony Of Striving For Greatest.......2000-12-23
Traces George Pickett's life from military school to Military Academy and on to his career in first the Union Army and then Confederate. As did many of Lee's Generals, Pickett saw service in Mexico with Scott and also tours in the Far West. Pickett's first assignment in the Confederate Army was to the Northern Neck of Virginia where his forces were mostly militia. He repeatedly complained that these forces and portion of Virginia failed to rally to the high standards of support for the Confederacy that he expected. When a more senior officer arrived in the area Pickett responsibilities were relegated to an even lesser position. Clearly this man was not a rising star but more of a place holder. In fact throughout his career he was constantly trying to position himself for higher visibility.
The author makes a careful analysis of Pickett's actions at Gettysburg and concludes that while they were nether heroic nor cowardly they were in keeping with the actions expected of someone in his position.
After the war Pickett had a difficult time "fitting in" and after several pursuits became a life insurance salesman in Richmond. Perhaps a testimonial to what he is best known for...leading (as directed) thousands of men to their slaughter.
I found this book to be well written and documented but a little disjointed at times.
Average customer rating:
- Psychoanalytical Approach To Leonardo's Life and Works
- An Infectious Book
- One Slip and a Century of Repercussions
- Freud, Leonardo, and the Vulture's Tail
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Freud, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Vulture's Tail: A Refreshing Look at Leonardo's Sexuality
Wayne V. Andersen
Manufacturer: Karnac Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Leonardo Da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood (Freud, Sigmund, Works.)
ASIN: 1892746824 |
Book Description
Freud initiated psychobiography with his 1910 Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood, but was mislead by translators of Leonardo's recollection. Leonardo recalled having been visited by a hawk while still in his cradle. Freud was led to identify it as a vulture. Because the vulture was believed to be always female and self-impregnating, the vulture was the perfect mother symbol. The fact that in Leonardo's dream the bird had inserted its tail into the infant's mouth, Freud interpreted as an insertion of the mother's nipple that would fuse later in Leonardo's mind with the insertion of a male member, thus forming the basis of Leonardo's homosexuality. The mistaken identity of the bird aroused severe criticism that effectively damned Freud's book.
Andersen proves that the mistake was not Freud's. After bringing to light information that Freud could not have known about Leonardo's illegitimate birth and the circumstances of his infancy and youth in Florence, Andersen provides a new reading, seamlessly fusing psychoanalysis with fifteenth-century Florentine art history. He explodes one myth after another, taking issue with tenacious beliefs about Leonardo's sexuality, his vegetarianism, and tenderness toward animals. After laying Leonardo's recollection parallel to a dream by Freud's most famous patient, the Wolf Man, Andersen offers an entirely new interpretation of Leonardo's sexuality. In so doing, he exposes Freud's self-interest in how he constructed his analysis of both the Wolf Man and Leonardo da Vinci.
Customer Reviews:
Psychoanalytical Approach To Leonardo's Life and Works.......2003-05-06
Freud had developed many theories on human sexuality and behavior, that he'd based on his main theme of sexual tensions present in human's nature. His terms, such as 'ego', 'superego', 'libido', are widely used today, for all sorts of explanations to our psychological and social problems. Some societies disregard Freud's work for its simple, non-scientific, unprovable approach, whereas some think that the path Freud had opened in the field of psychology - and not necessarily his works - should suffice for his appraisal by the world. In my opinion, his works were limited to a certain extent, but involved a lot of insights and creativity, which is essential in arts and sciences.
In this book, Freud examines the childhood of Leonardo da Vinci, to explain his psychological inclinations toward certain people, with reference to a particular dream Leonardo sees when he was about five years old. It is a vulture, that Freud associates Leonardo's fright in his early life. He goes on to say that due to this initial dream that builds the base for his psychological growth, Leonardo becomes more inclined towards men, both socially and physically. Freud supports his idea with the fact that Leonardo did not admit any female students to his studio, and his male predecessors showed also indications of gay sexual orientation later on, in addition to producing work similar to Leonardo's. This also hints at why none of Leonardo's students was well known; Leonardo, for some reason, was limiting and ordering to his students. I'm a little confused by Freud's assertions, which refrain me from giving a clear account of his explanation.
Nevertheless, the book is interesting. Thinking that Freud is one of the few people, who examined Leonardo's life and works closely from a pyschological perspective, this book should be considered as a valuable source. Even though some of Freud's ideas are not engrossing, it is still interesting to learn about Leonardo's life, which Freud largely depicts by factual references he's found.
An Infectious Book.......2002-05-20
Wayne Andersen is an infectious writer and an infectious thinker. His book on Leonardo and Freud has all the ingredients that makes for an excellent read, where one learns as much about Freud as about Leonardo, and about Andersen himself in the bargain. James Beck, Professor of Art History, Columbia University, New York.
One Slip and a Century of Repercussions.......2002-05-20
It has taken some 90 years for someone, namely, Professor Wayne Andersen, to reveal that one author after another, including Freud and Meyer Schapiro, failed to read Leonardo's reminisence of the "vulture" visitation to his cradle, but depended on a 1900 faulty transscription. And every book and essay devoted to the so-called "Freudian Slip" repeated each other's errors. Andersen absolves Freud from the "error." He provides an accurate transcription of what Leonardo wrote, and in a detailed and flawless manner unravel's the case for Leonardo's homosexuality. As a bonus, Andersen also unravels Freud's case of the Wolf-Man. It's quite a book. Nothing like it available in the literature.
Freud, Leonardo, and the Vulture's Tail.......2001-12-27
Wayne Andersen is an infectious writer and an infectious thinker, His book has all the ingredienets that make for an excellent read, where one learns as much about Freud as about Leonardo, and about Andersen himself in the bargain.
Average customer rating:
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The Body Mind Workbook: Explaining How the Mind and Body Work Together
Deb Shapiro , and
Debbie Shapiro
Manufacturer: Vega
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Your Body Speaks Your Mind: Decoding the Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Messages That Underlie Illness
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The Bodymind Workbook: Exploring How the Mind and the Body Work Together
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You Can Heal Your Life (Gift Edition)
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The Sevenfold Journey: Reclaiming Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Chakras
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Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self
Accessories:
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Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3)
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
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RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device
ASIN: 1843331470 |
Book Description
With the new understanding of the mind-body connection, you can heal and even prevent a surprising range of illnesses ranging from high blood pressure and heart trouble to nervous disorders, headaches, and even cancer. All you have to do is redirect the way you think. Follow the helpful workbook checklists and charts to zero in on your own particular problem areas, all presented in A to Z order from Abcesses to Ulcers. Try the simple exercises that help you overcome the negative attitudes, feelings, and fears that affect your mental and physical health. As you learn the language of body-mind patterns, you can go beyond treating symptoms and experience a whole new philosophy of life that puts you in touch with the healing powers of the universe.
Customer Reviews:
Classy Queen of Magnalite Creole Cookery.......2007-01-04
I loved both of Leah Chase's companion cook books, but particularly enjoyed the prints of her invaluable pieces of art work which adorn her spectacular restaurant. The receipes in the two books are mostly duplicative, but they are simple and excellent! She is a Queen in her own right and an outstanding mentor to so many in our country.
The Dooky Chase Restaurant.......2006-08-30
I just ordered this book and if it is anything like her restaurant, then this should be a great book. I visited her restaurant in May 2005 and I had the best catfish po'boy, red beans & rice, and jambalaya. Her husband "Dookie" was there and he asked me where I was from. I told him Chicago and he told me stories about Ramsey Lewis and when he use to tour with different bands. He was the most pleasant person to talk to and he walked me out to my car when the order was complete. I will not go back to New Orleans until they rebuild Dooky Chase. The food is worth the drive to New Orleans and the hospitality is among the best of any city that I have traveled.
Great Creole food!.......2006-07-28
It has some wonderful recipes that sound mouthwatering! I would really like a copy of this book! Most of the recipes are fairly easy. Even the vegetable loaf sounds good and I tend to stay away from foods that sound like meat replacement.
New Orleans National Treasure.......2005-08-25
As an official honorary citizen of New Orleans, I have enjoyed many a meal at Dooky Chase. Since I live in Los Angeles I was delighted to be able to get some of Mrs Chase's wonderful recipes. They are practical, easy to read, and absolutely delicious--though of course no one can duplicate her particular genius by themselves.
I also loved reading her anecdotes of the restaurant and the stories behind some of the recipes. I think the "culture" around a cuisine is a major part of the pleasure.
Leah Chase is major figure in our country's heritage. I mean it. The book is a delight.
Cookie's review of Dooky Chase Cookbook.......2002-10-17
After watching Leah and Ron on the Discovery Channel, I had to own this book. The receipes are the same as I use in my kitchen, but with a little more finesse. Just love it.
Average customer rating:
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Oceans in Danger (Protecting Habitats)
Moira Butterfield
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Environment
| Nature
| Science, Nature & How It Works
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Oceans & Seas
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ASIN: 0749658185 |
Book Description
Have you explored the ocean's coral reefs or seen a volcano erupt? Have you visited a mummy's tomb or dreamed of riding on a space shuttle? Here's an exciting series that transports you there --
On the Spot. See-through windows and interactive features like pop-ups or flaps bring your favorite real-life topics to life. Get ready for an
On the Spot adventure!
Average customer rating:
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Protecting Ocean Habitats (Protecting Habitats)
Anita Ganeri
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
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ASIN: 0836849922 |
Book Description
For novices and seasoned needleworkers alike, this book guides crafters through the process of creating stunning works of art using a needle as a paintbrush and a vibrant collection of threads as a palette. Needleworkers are shown how to achieve the visual effects that combine the rich texture of tapestry with the dynamic color and composition of paintings. Step-by-step instructions for performing a simple satin stitch are provided, followed by advice for using hand drawings and a collage technique to develop ideas into finished embroidered pieces that retain the spontaneity of the original concepts. A gallery includes examples of portraits, creatures, landscapes, flowers, and abstract designs, all accompanied by line drawing patterns so needleworkers can try their hands at re-creating them as projects or samplers.
Customer Reviews:
beautiful eye candy, nonexistant instruction..........2007-03-28
while I give this book three stars, the price is so low in the used seller offerings I would suggest it to those who love fabric art if for no other reason than eye candy alone. The authors fun, bright childlike style is fantastic but this is no craft book as there are almost no instructions or projects. That being said-you can still glean alot from the photos and since it's dirt cheap I'd say it's a great book to keep on hand for inspiration.
3 stars.
Painting with Thread.......2005-09-10
Lovely photos of a very knowledgeable artist's embroidery techniques. Inspiration galore. Glad to add this book to my library.
gorgeous work.......2004-08-04
I love the author's loose free style and the photography of the embroidery is excellent, with many, many full-sized photos. The cover photo of the multi-colored dog is representational of the work on the inside. Nice section on inspiration. My main quibble is that there is very, very little instruction for the actual stitching: five pages (mostly pictures) are it. Too much space is wasted on line drawings of the author's own work. Rather thin for the price, but beautifully executed.
A bold, colorful yet somewhat abstract flavor pervades.......2004-05-16
Painting With Stitches: Creating Freestyle Embroidery By Hand is a guide deftly prepared by Sue Dove for advanced embroiderers seeking to create a needlecraft project unrestricted by rigid motifs. A bold, colorful yet somewhat abstract flavor pervades the example embroidered creations, which adapt original artwork to fabric and are displayed with appealing photography. The "materials and techniques" tutorial is informative but brief, with most of Painting With Stitches being devoted to the sample vivid art creations and diagrams that captivate the imagination. A superb guide and a highly recommended source of inspiration for any experienced embroiderer who is looking to create something daring and different.
Average customer rating:
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Roses: 1001 Gardening Questions Answered
Garden Way Publishing
Manufacturer: Storey Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0882665324 |
Average customer rating:
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1001 Garden Questions Answered
Carl Alfred Hottes
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 141798306X |
Product Description
Heavily revised and reset 4th Printing
Product Description
Small 295 pages with blank sheets in the back for garden notes.
Amazon.com
Some parents in the post-Spock generation may think that when it comes to basic childcare instruction, Heidi Murkoff's What to Expect series is the only game in town. But there are alternatives, and this one has a considerable advantage--especially from the viewpoint of parents with more than one small child--in that it covers birth-to-5 in a single, manageable volume. Laura Walther Nathanson, M.D., FAAP, also serves up loads of useful information--everything from breastfeeding to the impact of divorce on a child--in a writing style that's authoritative without being pompous. She sounds less like a medical expert who happens to deal with children, and more like a fellow-parent who happens to be a medical expert. She refers to 3 and 4 year olds simply as Threes and Fours, pee is pee, and poo is poo. There are a couple of drawbacks, however. A minor complaint is the shockingly poor quality of the line illustrations, which manage to make smiling toddlers look deranged at best and demonic at worst. A more major issue is the book's bland layout--there is lots and lots of plain gray text and very little has been done to make the most important information leap to the eye. Nonetheless, this is such an excellent source of information that it is a must for every parent's shelf. --Richard Farr
Book Description
A step-by-step guide to the first five years of life for parents who want the most balanced coverage of behavioral and medical issues -- from the pen of a highly esteemed pediatrician.
Customer Reviews:
Best Parent Friendly Book I've Seen.......2003-04-19
This book is the most parent friendly reference book about small children that I have read. It far surpasses the concept that the "What to expect" series format popularized. It is easy to read. (Doesn't read like a medical textbook.) I particularly enjoyed the limits section and the essay on oppositional behavior as I have been having difficulty with my son with a strong personality since my second son was born. I have read Dr. Dobson and Dr. Brazelton extensively and understood concepts when dealing with a strong-willed child, but Dr. Nathanson's book provides vebatim examples and also includes how to look, what to make the child think and what your goal is in discipline. Her examples have helped enormously, and I am beginning to enjoy my 4-year old again instead of constantly engaging in a battle of wills with him all day long.
The book combines medical advice with behavioral information that I do not get at my well-child visits. (Which makes me question the quality of our visits...)
I must have the newer edition (white and blue), because mine does not have the horrible illustrations mentioned in previous reviews. I have already recommended this book to several fellow parents. And I was excited to see today that there is an older version for kids 5-12 as my oldest son is 4 and I was sad that the first book was ending at age 5. I would recommend the second book sight unseen just by how much I have liked the first volume.
great medical & behavioral advice.......2003-03-11
In addition to great advice about health and first aid, it
has good explanations of what kids are going through
developmentally at different ages. These helped us to deal
with sleep issues, among other things.
I purchased a bunch of books, and even read most of several of them.
This is the one I keep going back to over and over again.
One of the Best.......2002-11-10
Wanting to be as well informed as possible when it came to raising my kids, I read just about every child-care book out there. I found this book to be the most comprehensive, easy to understand and reasonable. She gives the most extensive information concerning common(and not so common)childhood illnesses AND how to deal with them, and her views on child psychology are right on the mark. As with any author on this subject, you may not agree with EVERYTHING she says, but at least she provides explanations with possible solutions for most problems you'll encounter with children. I find myself referring to this book almost everytime I need information concerning my kids.
Her sense of humor is a real boon, and this is the book I give to anyone I know having a child. I saw she was criticized for the "illustrations" and lack of color, but if you need to be entertained and/or dazzled while reading a book of this nature maybe the welfare of your kids isn't your top priority!
Here's a doctor who respects a parent's instincts.......2002-04-30
I have 3 children and half-a-dozen parenting books. This is the only one I continue to use. It has great information to help you figure out when you actually NEED to call a doctor, and Dr. Nathanson talks like someone who actually likes to hear what parents think. This book has helped me catch some pretty significant illnesses early on, before they became more serious. I highly recommend it for anyone with young children, whether they are first time parents or more experienced. I give this book as a gift at every baby shower I attend.
Great resource for parents.......2002-03-15
I will admit, I am a little biased as I am a good friend of Dr. Nathanson's daughter. Even with this in mind, I have really used and enjoyed this book. Unlike many of the other parenting books in my possession (ranging from Dr. Sears to Dr. Dobbs), I feel this book offers a balanced approach to parenting issues. She's upfront as to where she stands, and often provides info on both sides. While not as touchy-feely as Dr. Sears, she really captured some of my feelings (her infant section talks about falling in love with your baby), and still tells stories while still staying to the point(my husband disliked Sears Baby Book because of the large amounts of stories).
The book is not meant as a substitute for medical care. Rather she tries to help clarify when a situation is something worth calling the doctor about, or running to the E.R. As a first time mom I find this very useful as I am never sure if I am overreacting or not.
Each section describes the babys emotional,physical, and skills development. She also discusses common illness for that age, and what to expect at the baby well-visit. She also has a profile on special issues like divorce and "if we get pregnant now", and how it would affect that age group. There is also several sections in the back that apply to all ages: letters to give to interferring relatives about the latest baby info like not smoking around baby, breastfeeding etc, more detailed illness information, and first aid.
My only complaint are the illustrations which are weird, and the fact that its slighly out of date in relation to some of the latest AAP recomendations.
Overall, I think its a great addition to a new parents library.
Average customer rating:
- Machiavellian Sexual Predator?
- two too short lives ...
- All you need to know about Phillipa's life.
- Excellent!!!
- Partly dark but riveting story of a mulatoo virtuoso
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Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler
Kathryn Talalay
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Black No More : A Novel (Modern Library Paperbacks)
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Quicksand and Passing (American Women Writers Series)
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The Pursuit of Happyness
ASIN: 0195113934 |
Book Description
George Schuyler, a renowned and controversial black journalist of the Harlem Renaissance, and Josephine Cogdell, a blond, blue-eyed Texas heiress and granddaughter of slave owners, believed that intermarriage would "invigorate" the races, thereby producing extraordinary offspring. Their daughter, Philippa Duke Schuyler, became the embodiment of this theory, and they hoped she would prove that interracial children represented the final solution to America's race problems. Able to read and write at the age of two and a half, a pianist at four, and a composer by five, Philippa was often compared to Mozart. During the 1930s and 40s she graced the pages of Time and Look magazines, the New York Herald Tribune, and The New Yorker. Philippa grew up under the adoring and inquisitive eyes of an entire nation and soon became the role model and inspiration for a generation of African-American children. But as an adult she mysteriously dropped out of sight, leaving America to wonder what had happened to the "little Harlem genius." Suffering the double sting of racism and gender bias, Philippa had been rejected by the elite classical music milieu in the United States and forced to find an audience abroad, where she flourished as a world-class performer and composer. She traveled throughout South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia performing for kings, queens, and presidents. By then Philippa had added a second career as an author and foreign correspondent reporting on events around the globe--from Albert Schweitzer's leper colony in Lamberene to the turbulent Asian theater of the 1960s. She would give a command performance for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium one day, and hide from the Viet Cong among the ancient graves of the Annam kings another. But behind the scrim of adventure, glamour, and intrigue was an American outcast, a woman constantly searching for home and self. "I am a beauty--but I'm half colored...so I'm always destined to be an outsider," she wrote in her diary. Philippa tried to define herself through love affairs, but found only disappointment and scandal. In a last attempt to reclaim an identity, she began to "pass" as Caucasian. Adopting an Iberian-American heritage, she reinvented herself as Felipa Monterro, an ultra-right conservative who wrote and lectured for the John Birch Society. Her experiment failed, as had her parents' dream of smashing America's racial barriers. But at the age of thirty five, Philippa finally began to embark on a racial catharsis: She was just beginning to find herself when on May 9, 1967, while on an unauthorized mission of mercy, her life was cut short in a helicopter crash over the waters of war-torn Vietnam. The first authorized biography of Philippa Schuyler, Composition in Black and White draws on previously unpublished letters and diaries to reveal an extraordinary and complex personality. Extensive research and personal interviews from around the world make this book not only the definitive chronicle of Schuyler's restless and haunting life, but also a vivid history of the tumultuous times she lived through, from the Great Depression, through the Civil Rights movement, to the Vietnam war. Talalay has created a highly perceptive and provocative portrait of a fascinating woman.
Customer Reviews:
Machiavellian Sexual Predator?.......2007-09-02
I had a newspaper cut out of the picture that is on the cover of this book for years. It is faded and delicate but I never rid myself of it because I found the beautiful face that was on it so enchanting. All I knew was that this girl was called Philippa. I thought she was Indian or an old Bollywood star. Then I saw the photo again but on the cover of a biography in a bookshop called Foyles in London.
Composition in Black and White: Life of Philippa Schuyler by Kathryn M. Talalay is a very well written and comprehensively researched biography about a child prodigy. The opening chapters are compelling and written with such confidence that it suggests that this biography is going to be a classic. Unfortunatly the subject matter lets Talalay down as the middle section of the book demonstrates because it is simply an extended list of her engagements and travels. That said the book sparks back into to life in the later chapters as the mature Philippa is explored. I would like to have known when she had her first real sexual encounter, as this would have put the later exploration into her sex life into context.
There are some questions that are left unresolved which I supposed adds too the mystery of this difficult character. Also as Philippa grows she becomes more selfish and self-centred. Less sympathetic. Her world really does revolve around her and only her even if she is in a war-zone. My personal view is that in latter life she became something of a Machiavellian sexual predator. I can't see how she can be labelled a humanitarian. Her main concerns were solely for herself. She had an abortion simply because the baby came from a Blackman. Yes she was brave, talented and beautiful yet she was also cruel, stupid and brutal. Someone who had too much emotion baggage to be around for long.
Where is Philippa's music now? Was it really any good? Are there any recordings of it?
I can find none available. Maybe that speaks for itself.
two too short lives ..........2005-12-22
Richard Powers puts Philippa Schuyler (1931-1967) to the centre of his novel "The time of our singing". Halle Berry (this time as a producer instead of as an actress) wants to film her life ["Composition in Black and White"] and has found Alicia Keys as a principal actor -- also a coloured pianist and an admirer of Philippa Schuyler by whom Alicia feels deeply inspired. These two current marginal notes should already unlock us to read this book written by Kathryn Talalay about Philippa Schuyler. If one has started to explore the facts of this extraordinary biography, then one quite surely will be tied up of what this exemplarily strong woman experienced: At the beginning of her life she was, aged 11, on tour as a "child prodigy" celebrated on concert stages in about 80 countries -- also America needs his Mozarts (at first the present U.S. Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice was on this track, too, before she still discovered more essential). Philippa Schuyler (got adult) changed her name because of the racialist injustices , which made the USA particularly to the axis of the bad in the Mccarthy era -- for children from mixing marriages absolutely also. Philippa Schuyler tried to award a South American Spanish touch to herself with the pseudonym Felipa Monterro. (Jennifer Lopez today is an example, too, that this sort of identity absolutely gets more acceptance than a clear origin from a black American ghetto. ) Philippa Schuyler started with a second life as a (very successful) journalist, getting more awake for political discussions. She, an "American Sheroe" -- she died at the age of 35 years... at a report refund over Vietnam during a helicopter crash in 1967.
All you need to know about Phillipa's life........2005-08-12
This book is PACKED with details. The author really did her homework on this book. The author takes you on a journey beginning with the lives of her parents, Phillipa crossing the world on adventures and finally ending in pure tragedy. Phillipa was a very gifted child pianist. She grew up in New York as a multi-racial child. Her mother was a white southern heiress, her father was a talented black journalist. The two fell in love in a time where inter-racial couples were worse than taboo.
Phillipa traveled the world performing for royalty. Sometimes at dilapidated venues in fourth world counties. Although some times were rough for Phillipa (when she was older) she continued touring to get away from her demanding mother.
The book is packed with dates, locations, pictures and names. You can tell that the author, Kathryn Talalay, put a lot of effort into this book to give you the full picture of this girl's life. This is the reason why I gave it 3 stars and not 4 or 5. From reading so much info the book kind of lost its momentum.
NOTE: Be on the look out for the motion picture of "Composition in Black and White" staring Alicia Keys as Phillipa.
Excellent!!!.......2004-06-21
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. Very well written and researched. Philippa Schulyer was a fascinating woman! I highly recommend this book.
Partly dark but riveting story of a mulatoo virtuoso.......1999-09-02
As a social historian and african-american writer I enthralled when I read the NY Times Book Review of Kathryn Talalay's bio of phillippa Schuyler. Schuyler made her mark as a musical child prodigy and later, as an adult, a celebrated composer-pianist. Schuyler's life as an international performer in one sense mirrors that of another but more recognized "tragic mulatoo", Dorthy Dandridge. And her last career as a grounbreaking war correspondent in South Vietnam is particularly entriguing. Overall, Talalay's book is marvelous but the high brow and sordid realities of Schuyler's life are especially deserving of a major made-for-cable TV treatment. Similiarly to what recently afforded Dandridge. That way Talalay's thought provoking examination of Schuyler's achievements could be made accessible to a greater number of african-americans and others alike.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Black Issues Book Review, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2005. The length of the article is 558 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Page to screen.(between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)
Author: Angela P. Dodson
Publication:
Black Issues Book Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 7
Issue: 4
Page: 8(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
One of the most eagerly awaited biographies of recent years: a searching life of the great Italian writer and witness to the Holocaust
Perhaps the most important writer to emerge from the death camps, Primo Levi spent sixty-five of his sixty-seven years in Turin, Italy, where he worked as a chemist by day and wrote at night in a study that had been his childhood bedroom. Thanks to his memoirs, which include Survival in Auschwitz, The Reawakening, and the classic The Periodic Table, he became widely known and loved as a supremely moral man, one who had transmuted the agonies of persecution into understanding and clarity. The whole world was shocked when he died in 1987, apparently having thrown himself into the stairwell of the house in which he had been born.
Carole Angier has spent nearly ten years writing this meticulously researched, vivid, and moving biography, which illuminates the design of Levi's interior life : how he lived as a man divided, not only between chemistry and writing but between hope and despair, and how the duty to testify released him to communicate, which was his deepest need.
Customer Reviews:
Needs an Editor.......2004-09-30
If I were to take you on a tour of my home town and tell you the life story of everyone we met (going back several hundred years in instances) you would quickly overload. "Now who is this again?" you would say. Or "why exactly does that matter?"
So will you find yourself in Ms. Angier's sprawling parade of peripheral characters, all dredged up, it seems, in apology for the blaring fact that all those whose testament would really matter here aren't talking, for whatever reason.
Imagine your own life story told from the fragments of those who really only knew you in passing - a girl you dated once, a bully, a high school teacher, a distant cousin. All called upon to comment on your reasoning, your justification in certain actions. All treated as expert witnesses. Some, you might be forced to admit, will come painfully close to the truth. Others way off the mark - only laughable speculations. But who, in your absence, could sort out the one from the other.
A good biographer, you would hope.
Ms. Angier is quite capable of writing beautifully, as witnessed in her preface to this book. She has a blazing passion for all things Levi. And she is obviously capable of extensive research. Which leaves us with mountains of detail, oh so much detail. And some convincing passages.
But actually, after several hundred dry, dry pages, I find myself looking, again and again, for Primo. That vitality of soul demonstrated in his own writings.
And that is, alas, where I am returning. The horses's mouth. With the wheat already separated from the chaff.
Kind of crazy, in a world crazier than he was.......2003-04-01
As awful as current events seem to be, with unsettled questions about who is most likely to die next dominating much of the news, this book takes a look at how a great writer managed, as best he could, for a time. Applying political psychology to figures who assumed some importance in our evaluation of the most catastrophic events in the twentieth century can still be disconcerting, as I myself might be the worst example. Part of the joke of MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK was that a 19-year-old G.I. grunt in Nam might say things that you would never expect to hear from the kind of genius who survived Auschwitz and wrote about it in the manner of Primo Levi in THE PERIODIC TABLE, which was an American best-seller when it was translated into English.
Carole Angier seems very English and aiming for an audience at a university level of views, far removed from the concerns of those Americans who need a little more control over what is happening in the world, as expressed in an article in The New York Times of March 31, 2003, of a situation which is assumed to be temporary:
Eleven days into the American-led war here, the narrow, once fertile crescent of territory that gives Iraq its only outlet to the sea remains a land of insecurity and ambivalence, devoid of the euphoria that American and British soldiers hoped to encounter in southern Iraq.
People who experienced a sense of euphoria in reading Primo Levi's reflections on life as an understanding of chemical elements are sure to find THE DOUBLE BOND by Carole Angier dismal evidence that Primo Levi's life remained "a land of insecurity and ambivalence," and that the inability to write which marked his final days was primarily a lack of the sense of euphoria that newspaper reporters Marc Santora and Craig S. Smith, writing for the Times, had assumed that Americans would expect for those encountered in great historical events.
This is a big book with a tremendous index, but most people will find that few of the people listed in the index are familiar to them, though two lines are required for the pages on "Americans," as distinct from the three lines for "America/United States." There are also listings for "Britain" and "England," but no extended discussion of the controversy there, in which David Irving is listed for a single page, on the book, HITLER'S WAR. American and England are such outlying areas in the scope of Levi's concerns that the description of his "barrage of articles" (p. 603) trying to counter Holocaust denial seems obsessed with the French. THE DOUBLE BOND is hardly neutral, but mentions such disconcerting facts as that Louis Darquier de Pellepoix was Vichy's commissioner of Jewish affairs. "Darquier was eighty-five years old and clearly senile, he said; since he himself had sent 70,000 French Jews to their deaths, he was hardly a disinterested party." (p. 603). The word "disinterested" here must primarily mean disinterested in the truth. I just received news that a newsman, Peter Arnett, (I am the face), was fired by an American network for talking in Baghdad on Iraqi TV. The standard applied in his case was hardly whether he was still capable of thinking of interesting things to say, but more along the lines of whether other people ought to be given the opportunity to believe what he was thinking.
In these interesting times, MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK is the worst possible point of view because its interest is primarily in laughing. Primo Levi could never have written MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK, because he did not have the personal interest in pursuing that situation past its most absurd conclusion, that geopolitics could be responsible for the deaths of 3,000,000 Vietnamese without ultimately accepting any responsibility for the fate of the survivors. Levi had math for Europe: "There had been 17 million Jews in Europe in 1939, and 11 million in 1945: where were the missing 6 million?" (p. 603). There might be fewer people in Iraq in a few months than there were a month ago, but Levi is a poor candidate (he's dead, you know) for thinking that anyone could be more disinterested in that than he is.
On the question of therapeutic value of trying to provide attention to those who need it most, the tangled web in this book is tied to older lives: "from 1978 onwards his depressions were triggered very largely by his mother's decline, and by its consequences. But it was also not true, because neither was natural or external. The truth is that his own relationship with his mother was pathological; and so was the level of care Lucia required them both to give. These together were quite enough to depress him on their own." (p. 602). This is entirely like his relationship to "those who denied the crimes he had devoted his life to recording. They, and they alone, brought out in him absolute intolerance; and a violence of language (`senile', `stupid', `mad') which was to him the essence of the Lager, and normally beyond the pale. The appearance of Faurisson and his ilk was the deepest shock to him: perhaps as deep as the shock of Auschwitz itself. These new Nazis lived in peace and safety, unlike the original ones." (p. 604). Having experienced a bit of shock ourselves, it is not too surprising that some governments have an interest in bringing a bit of shock to Iraq, but hardly like the shock Levi brought when he died in the house where he had been born, Corso Re Umberto 75, "built in the good middle-class areas of Turin around the turn of the century." (p. xxiv). This book honors his life, and is a profound appreciation of the nature and meaning of his death, too.
The Best-ever Biography of Primo Levi........2002-06-23
Carole Angier deserves the thanks of anyone seriously interested in the life of this strange and amazing man who helped and continues to help mankind to deal with the massive trauma of World War II and, further, with all attempts since then to kill the soul. She has spent years in attempting to discover him, in assessing what is factual, what can be conjectured, and what is unlikely about this man who was so reticent and whose family and friends are devoted to respecting his privacy and that of his family. However, it is true that a great man belongs to the world too.
Unfortunately the world will not tolerate the fact that he was human and seems not to want to forgive him for taking his own life, as appears likely, especially in view of his call for help to Rabbi Toaf shortly before his death. Myth does not grow well in the presence of fact, and the facts that Carole Angier has tirelessly gathered will enrich our understanding immeasurably but have disappointed some. This seems true too regarding her altogether modest and to my mind reasonable and well-founded speculations as to his motivations and of the emotional flow of his life. Levi himself saw this coming, said that he was not a "guru" and could not bear the weight of such a role.
She seems to me to have come to central and moving understandings of his surroundings. One can only stand in awe of the amount of information she has absorbed in her attempt to make the most accurate portrayal of the influences impinging upon him. Her depiction of the Auschwitz environment is as complete as I have ever seen; her understanding of how there could be non-shameful fellowship there which would turn to shame when viewed by the outside world; her understanding of the sad fate of the Samaritan Lorenzo, who could not tolerate his life after Auschwitz, that this is how heroism is, "a historical glory but a personal burden." True for Lorenzo and for Primo Levi as well.
It has become fashionable in Primo Levi circles to reject absolutely studies of him, as the previous biography by Anissimov, which are in any way flawed. But the truth is we owe a debt of gratitude to her as well; she roughed in the picture and indicated areas that need to be understood. Primo Levi induces in his readers a protective possessiveness; everyone who reads and loves him wants to rescue him from the imperfect perception that has just been promulgated. This is sainthood in formation. But he was not a saint; he was an imperfect and therefore all the more amazing human being.
Carole Angier has given us a relentlessly factual, moving, and gracefully written portrayal of this complex man. This is the best of biography. She deserves our thanks also for rendering him as we feel he would have liked, in shades of gray, but gray composed of flashes of brilliance mixed with the most horrifying black. Levi was a true Perseus, able to look at the face, see down the throat, of the terrifying Gorgon, able to return and to summon up the courage to tell us the revolting horror. Carole Angier in her remarkable book has helped us to understand the formation of the man who did it, how he could stand it, and what it cost him and those around him.
Seeing Levi whole.......2002-06-22
Judging from the wildly differing reviews that have appeared in newspapers in the past few weeks, this book seems to inspire either passionate admiration or something akin to personal rage. It isn't hard to understand why: Angier has written a highly unconventional, imaginative biography, in which she is herself a character at times, and tells us almost as much about what it's like to write a biography as about the life of Primo Levi. She has also dared to use her own intuition -coupled with, and informed by, her scrupulous research and reflection -- to deduce things that Levi, a very private man, did not himself talk about. Finally, she has clearly angered the people who do not want to believe that Levi killed himself; it is impossible to believe, after one has read her, that his fall from the landing of his apartment building in Turin was accidental. Perhaps even more disturbing to those who saw him as some kind of radiantly sane figure is her sorrowful conclusion that he did not do it because, or primarily because, of what he had suffered in Auschwitz.
The portrait of him that emerges is of a man who was not the secular saint, the avatar of reason, that his readers have supposed, but something greater: a tragically repressed man who struggled with overwhelming depression all his life (except, ironically, as Angier tells us, when he was in Auschwitz), triumphing not so much in his person as in the great books in which he refused to give way to it. It seems a more amazing accomplishment that a deeply troubled, self-doubting, conflicted man should have produced those masterful works of illumination and sanity than if he had simply been the serene figure of his readers' imaginings. And it should come as no surprise to anyone that literature of the high order of Levi's does not come out of an effortlessly serene mind. Angier makes it clear what a conscious artist he really was.
Though she sometimes hammers her point home rather than allowing the reader to arrive at his own conclusions about the conflicts that lay at the heart of Levi, it seems impossible that anyone will ever come closer to penetrating the mystery of the man.
Don't buy this book (sorry Amazon).......2002-06-16
I thought the concept of writing psychobabble books had gone out of style in the 1970s -- that is the concept of a biographer who did not know his/her subject personally, did not interview most of the subject's contemporaries (especially family members) and did not have access to any psychoanalytic records, writing an utterly speculative, fiction-laden account of a "great man's (or woman's)" life. This book by Angier is just such a pile of speculative junk. And poorly written and poorly organized to boot.
Mind you, I am a fan of "analytical" biography & history. Where the author does not just narrate but attempts to interpret the facts & to tease out conclusions. Angier has gone so much farther than that. Since she speculates without facts and ignores existing facts (which is to say, the material in Primo Levi's own wonderful writings). She turns an interesting man, a fascinating man into a pathological man, who is no more than her (made up) aggregation of psychological complexes.
I am so disappointed in the NY Times Review of Books for having featured this volume on the cover of their publication this weekend. Angier should pay me for having read it. Instead, I paid her.
Instead of wasting your money on this junk, buy a complete set of Primo Levi's works [...]. And if you own them already. There is nothing better, I think, than reading the Periodic Table again.
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- Pizza and Motars: Ba- Muoi-Ba & Body Bags
- Prince of Edisto: Brigadier General Micah Jenkins, CSA
- Private Smith's Journal: Recollections of the Late War (The Lakeside Classics)
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- Reconciliation Road: A Family Odyssey
- REMF: A collection of short stories about serving in the rear in Vietnam
- Rogue's March: John Riley and the St. Patrick's Battalion
- Sexual Harassment Undercover: What Happens
- "SIEG - HELL!"
- Spy-Bate: Memoirs of a Covert Agent
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