When Money is the Drug : Understanding and Changing Self-Defeating Money Patterns

Customer Reviews:

Something for Everyone.......2000-06-10

This book addresses the many different types of fears that we all have around money. There is something for everyone. If one chapter doesn't apply to you - don't worry, the next will. VERY HELPFUL and enlightening.

Book Description

The transcribed letters of Charles McDowell and his wife, Nancy, display remarkable devotion, and offer readers a unique perspective of the Civil War. Read little known details about: hangings; prostitution; amputations; desertions; theft and murder among Union troops; personal contacts with Lincoln and Seward (of "Seward's Alaskan Folly"); battles of Cold Harbor, Jerusalem Plank Road, Monocacy, Opequon, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, the Siege of Petersburg, Moseby's Men, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. This story is cohesive and informative yet charming and romantic in a very personal way. Vintage photographs enhance the text. 2004, 5½x8½, paper, 202 pp.

Customer Reviews:

History Brought to Your Door.......2007-02-09

EVER TRUE sweeps the dust off history, reading makes one look forward to the next letter as if we were waiting for the postman.

Can't put it down!.......2006-06-29

A really great read for the Civil War history buff. Highly recommended, very readable and hard to put down. Excellent work by Lisa Saunders.

GREAT BOOK.......2004-04-23

I started reading yesterday and could not put it down. It is so interesting to have a look at the Civil War through the eyes of those that lived it, and Saunders' historical notes are facsinating. It amazes me to think that those letters were waiting for her to find and bring back out to the light of day. I am eagerly looking forward to being able to read more later today!

Ordinary folks in extraordinary circumstances.......2004-04-19

"Ever True" is a stunning account of ordinary folks in extraordinary circumstances, folks who never lose their down-to-earth qualities while they learn the ways of a more sophisticated world.

David Sisson, Professor of English and avid genealogist

Book Description

Hollywood Blondes: Golden Girls of the Silver Screen examines the lives and careers of Tinseltown's most memorable blonde bombshells. Twenty-two classic actresses are profiled including Marilyn Monroe, Jean Harlow, Carole Landis, Betty Grable, Marie McDonald, Thelma Todd, Lana Turner, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Payton, Veronica Lake, Grace Kelly, Alice Faye, Mae West, Carole Lombard, and Judy Holliday. Each chapter has a complete filmography. There are more than one hundred rare photographs featured throughout the book.

Customer Reviews:

Great news for the Marie McDonald fans.......2007-09-28

I was beyond thrilled when someone told me there was a chapter about Marie McDonald in this book. I have been a huge Marie fan ever since I saw her in Promises Promises but there is not a lot of information about her out there. Thank goodness for Hollywood Blondes! This has to be the most detailed and accurate look at Marie's turbulent life. I thought they picked some stunning photos of Marie too. I wasn't surprised when I learned the authors started MarieMcDonald.org

I also like the other chapters in Hollywood Blondes. It was a good mix of bombshells from the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

A True Winner.......2007-09-25

I didn't like this book - I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!! If you think the stars today live crazy lives you should see the messes these classic stars got themselves into. I like to consider myself a classic film expert and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I learned. There is a lot of information packed into this book. There are tons of quotes sprinkled throughout the book which made you feel like you were hearing the actresses tell their own story. Adding a detailed filmography at the end of every chapter was a great idea too. Also most books like this give you one or two pictures of each actress but this one is filled with dozens of great photos (some were a little dark). The best part for me was discovering actresses like Carole Landis and Barbara Payton who I didn't think much about before.

You can tell the authors have a lot of respect for these actresses because they are all written about in a mostly positive way. I hate books that treat the stars like they were saints but Hollywood Blondes doesn't do that. It gives you all the real dirt about their bad marriages, their drug problems, and their sad endings. Fanatics probably won't like seeing their idols exposed but you have to face the fact that celebrities are human beings. These blondes may have been gorgeous and talented but they were also very flawed women. After reading it you really feel sorry for them yet you still want to run out and rent their films.

I did find some factual errors but that is true with every book. There are definitely not as many errors as some of these other reviewers claim. The Jayne Mansfield and Jean Harlow chapters were actually two of my favorites. I am looking forward to Michelle Vogel and Liz Nocera's next book!

Michelle Vogel Hits Another Mark.......2007-08-16

This book is sensational. From the gorgeous cover to the well written text. Vogel andher co-author, I do not know but am now a fan of, have really been great in their work. This book went into why Hollywood Blondes lived such tortured lives. Sure there are things in here, that some reviewers can and will disagree with. But it's unfair and tasteless to claim facts are wrong and you (the reviewer) knows more about a star like Jean Harlowe than the writer. Maybe the writer got information from someone other than you. Maybe if you are such a Jean Harlowe nut, you should write a book yourself. I found this book to be more than 99% accurate, sometimes writers have their own way of doing things and finding research and you shouldn't assume they didn't do their homework. These authors most certainly DID do their homework and the book is written brilliantly! I enjoyed the Lana Turner chapter most of all. The way Vogel writes it, gives you the feeling of almost being in the room as an observer in many dramatic and shattering scenes played out in this blonde beauty's life. Great job, Ms. Michelle Vogel. Looking forward to your next book.

Young Kid Who Appreciates Old Films.......2007-06-26

My mom and I have been reading one chapter of this book each night. Now that I'm on vacation from school we watch a movie from the actress we read about the night before the following day. My mom has always talked about these actresses and I've enjoyed knowing more about their personal lives. It gives me a better understanding of their acting when I know who they were in real life.

All the famous ones are covered in "Hollywood Blondes" - My favorites are Marilyn Monroe, Judy Holliday, Betty Grable and Jean Harlow. The detailed filmographies have helped us track down which movies we want to see too. It's a real bonus to have the filmographies of each actress after their chapter.

Not all of the movies are available anymore but old movies are being found and restored all the time so hopefully some of the lost films will become available in the future. If you're a fan of the blonde actresses from many years ago, whatever your age, this is a really fun and enjoyable book to read :) :)

If you think famous people of today like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Nicole Ritchie have their problems, after reading this book, it seems that old Hollywood celebs had the same pressures, addictions and problems. Many of the women in this book were addicted to drugs and alcohol. They had so many marriages and men in their lives, I found it hard to keep up and there were even some murders! I also found it interesting that as beautiful as they all were, their self esteem was very low. Probably the reason why they used drugs and alcohol to feel better about themselves.

Well, that's it. I just really liked this book and wanted to let you all know about it. Thanks!!!!!

Hollywood Blondes Doesn't Deliver The Goods.......2007-06-11

Hollywood Blondes is the title of a new but highly superficial and unoriginal book on the flaxen actresses of the silver screen by Michelle Vogel and Liz Nocera. Weaving the reader in from silly hair color commercial catchphrases, to the history of how blonde hair was revered throughout the ages, (throughout the centuries women have use horse dung, horse urine, and saffron to lighten their hair) to the introduction, these two self-proclaimed "film historians" do themselves in and let the reader know what they are in for....which certainly is NOT knowledge of famous blonde actresses.

From telling the readers about the psychological effects that blondes are supposed to be lovelier, and that only a few percentage of the world's population are naturally blonde, one gets the idea that they are over-wording just to use up more space in the book.

I will limit myself discuss the Jean Harlow chapter and add a couple of notes here on other actresses I am familiar with, so others can write their reviews on other stars they know more about.

While Jean Harlow's hair did become damage from over-bleaching, it wasn't true that, "She had no other choice but to wear a platinum blonde wig in her last seven films." In fact, Harlow was not a platinum blonde since 1935. She opted for a platinum colored wig in 1935's China Seas, as she was letting her own hair grow in. The only two films that she wore wigs after that were in Riffraff----the movie that introduced Harlow to the world as a "brownette"in 1936, and in Wife vs. Secretary. Harlow wore her own natural hair color of honey blonde hair in her other films from 1935 on, including Saratoga, her last film in 1937.
Here are some mistakes about Jean Harlow that were written on this book.

--Jean Harlow was not born in St. Louis, Missouri. It was Kansas City Missouri. Betty Grable was the one born in St. Louis.

--Harlow's mother was never referred to as "Mama Jean"; she was known as "Mother Jean."

--Jean's grandfather, Skip Harlow, was not an architect; he was a real estate broker.

--Clara Bow did not make a film called The Love Parade with Harlow. It was The Saturday Night Kid, in which Jean had a minor part.

--Charles McGrew did want Jean to have their child at the time she was pregnant.

--Howard Hughes was never "infatuated" with Jean; he was never interested and neither was she. There was no romance between the two.

--Canine star Rin Tin Tin did not die "cradled in her (Jean''s) arms." That is just a myth added to the Harlow legend.

--MGM Mogul Louis B. Mayer was not "obsessed" with Harlow; he never offered her a mink coat to have sex with her. That is a tall tale fabricated by novelist, Irving Shulman, who wrote an unaccountable, undocumented, un-researched, and false account on her life.

--Paul Bern, Jean Harlow's second husband, did not buy Jean "a mansion on Easton Dr, in Benedict Canyon." after they got married. That house was already his.

--Jean was never suspected of "being the killer" in Paul Bern's death; that is a plot from one of Jean''s movies.

--Jean did not "witnessed" Dorothy Millete killing Paul Bern. Jean was at her mother's house where she had spent the night.

--It was not "one of the biggest mistakes" for Jean to turn down King Kong, as we know it Fay Wray did nothing but scream and scream in it since the star of the picture was and will ever be: Kong!

--The character of Lola Burns in Bombshell is not patented after Jean Harlow, as the writers claim, but after Clara Bow. However, this was Jean's favorite role.

--While John Barrymore was in Dinner at Eight where Harlow was featured, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford were not. The authors were thinking of Grand Hotel, in which Jean never appeared.

--Jean did not buy" a big mansion." She purchased the lot and her mother build it. It was called the ``White Palace," not "the big white house."

--MGM never tried to "destroy all copies" of Harlow's novel Today is Tonight. Mother Jean sold MGM the book after Jean''s death. MGM bought it help out Mother Jean economically.

--Reckless was not "loosely based on Jean and Paul Bern's real story." It was a script patented after Broadway star Libby Holman, whose husband, Zachary Smith Reynolds, had killed himself the same year that Bern did.

--Jean and her mother did not move in "a modest bungalow on North Palm Drive." It was a beautiful, Spanish styled, two-storied large home in Beverly Hills.

--Jean did not "collapsed into his (Clark Gable''s) arms" on May 24. The time was May 29 and the actor was Walter Pidgeon.

--Gable did not call "William Powell who took Jean home." She was driven in a limo back to her house by herself.

--William Powell died in 1984 not "1980."

--Mary Dees was not Jean's "long-time stand-in." Dees was hired to complete Saratoga. She never met Jean Harlow.

--Mother Jean did not die in "the same room at Good Samaritan Hospital," and she did not die on June 7th either; Mother Jean died of a massive heart attack on June 11, 1958.

As for Marilyn Monroe, the authors inform us that, "Without a doubt, Marilyn Monroe's persona was a creation of men, for men." That's part of the Monroe legend but it isn't true. By taking on Harlow's favorite color of white dresses to Lana Turner's hair styles, and Betty Grable's make up, Monroe presented her own version of the dumb blonde in the 1950's.

The misquote attributed to director Billy Wilder, where Marilyn said she was the only blonde in the films, didn't happen in Some Like It Hot (1959). The incident to what the writers are recalling was from Something's Got To Give (1962), Monroe's last and uncompleted film, and the director was George Cukor. If people watch Some Like It Hot, they can see that Monroe was in an all-blonde-girls-band. Another misquote attributed to Colombia Pictures' mogul Harry Cohn; he never said "Get me another blonde!," when he heard that Monroe had died in 1962. Monroe made only one film at Columbia when she was a starlet in 1948. She was never a contract player at Columbia; they had their own bombshell in Kim Novak. Any Monroe fan knows that she attained stardom at 20th Century Fox Films with the release Niagara in 1953, and had been that studio's contract player from 1951 till 1962.

According to the authors, Jayne Mansfield was "the poor man's Marilyn Monroe." In all my years of researching the library's microchips newspapers on Mansfield I never read that she was referred to that way. Mansfield was a Broadway star, given a highly-paid contract by Fox. Mansfield was that studio's premiere blonde star of the late 1950's. The only two films Monroe made at Fox, after her departure, were Bus Stop in 1956, and her last, Something''s Got To Give. Jayne''s market value at 20th Century Fox was twenty million dollars in late 1950's and early 60's money, which is about one hundred million in today''s money.

In a grave error the authors state that Lana Turner's Cheryl Crane "...shot and killed her (Turner's) gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato..." and then telling us that "Cheryl stabbed him with the knife" in the Lana Turner chapter. At this rate one wonders, who did this book's editing? I found most of the chapters that I read to be careless, rehashed stuff from similar and equally badly written books. The authors use unverified websites as reference, quote sensationalist books, and worse, misquote a lot and resort to tabloid-trash writing. I would advise any reader to skip this book at all costs, not even for the photographs, which are studio-standard photos that any fan is probably familiar with. The writers just didn't care or know about reporting fresh, insightful, and true accounts of these stars' lives.

Betty Grable: The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs

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Extended loving fan letter
A vain testament to Ms. Grable
Great book!
A Personal Insight into Hollywood's Box Office Champ
Grable could not deserve better, fabulous

Betty Grable: The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs
Tom McGee
Manufacturer: Vestal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1879511185

Book Description

This is a newsy, respectful, affectionate tribute to a trouper...-- Booklist

Customer Reviews:

Extended loving fan letter.......2006-05-18

Just as some biographies emphasise the negative qualities and scandals of some stars, this valentine to Betty Grable does the opposite. It is a detailed and loving tribute to the star. The author became a personal friend of Grable and was able to draw on talks with her over an extended period so we get many quotes from Grable herself.

The photos are excellent. If there is any criticism to make it, it is that the book does gloss over Grable's problems. It is a pity, as the author states, that her daughters did not participate. While she was obviously a warm, modest and funny woman, it would seem that while she may have wanted to be a good mother, she really wasn't equipped to be. Her own childhood was hardly normal since she began performing at age 12. Also, there is no doubt that her husband Harry James was a louse. Grable should have been financially secure, allowing her more time for her family but she was cleaned out supporting James's gambling habits, not that her own love of the horses etc did not have a bearing too. Whether she wanted to continue to work or not, she certainly had to.

The author captures what an excellent all round entertainer Grable was and there are plenty of personal details about her films, her exploitation by Darryl Zanuck, her eventual resistance to this exploitation and her own lack of ego.

An interesting and enjoyable read.

A vain testament to Ms. Grable.......2005-11-08

I have been a Betty Grable fan since I was small. It is odd for a kid today to rather watch old movies than new ones. I am now in my twenties and interested in bios. Betty and Ginger Rogers have always been my favorites. After reading this book, I do not like Betty Grable. It seems as if the author and Ms. Grable are both very stuck on HER. She seems VAIN from my understanding of the book. I could not finish it because the more I read, the more I disliked her, and I want to enjoy her movies. Ginger Rogers "Ginger: My story" and Ester Williams "Million Dollar Marmaid" autobiographies were much more interesting. I suggest those over this one any day.

Great book!.......2003-10-29

A wonderfully researched and well-written book about a trully magnificent woman.

A Personal Insight into Hollywood's Box Office Champ.......2001-11-23

Betty Grable was the star whose pinup photograph was the most popular among World War Two servicemen. The vibrant blonde star also set a record that has never come close to being equaled in reigning as Hollywood's female box office champ for an incredible ten years. What made movie fans throughout the world love Betty Grable?

Scottish author Tom McGee supplies the answer to that question in his entertaining biography of the popular film great. A personal friend of Grable's who had the opportunity to interview her at length on many occasions, McGee etches an enduring portrait of a wholesome, caring woman who always put warmth as a human being and loyalties to family and friends above star persona. Ego was never a problem with the popular superstar in an industry often overcome by it. When one sees such a warm and totally unaffected woman emerge in the pages of "The Girl With The Million Dollar Legs" it becomes obvious that people the world over loved Betty Grable because of the vibrance, warmth, and sweetness they saw in her.

McGee's book is also rich in photographs capturing Grable and the luminous era in which she starred. There is also a warmly affecting Foreword by fellow Twentieth Century Fox blonde glamour girl, Alice Faye. Grable and Faye became great friends with no animosity or jealousy ever emerging.

This book is a must for Grable fans and all those who love the exciting cinema era of the forties and fifties. It is so refreshing to read a movie biography devoid of trashy gossip and petty commentary.

Grable could not deserve better, fabulous.......2001-11-17

A lovely written book a bout Betty Grable a 5 Star treat

Betty Grable: A Bio-Bibliography (Bio-Bibliographies in the Performing Arts)

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Complete

Betty Grable: A Bio-Bibliography (Bio-Bibliographies in the Performing Arts)
Larry Billman
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313281564

Book Description

This reference work provides a comprehensive record of the life and career of Betty Grable. The book begins with a biography that presents and discusses the most significant events in Grable's life. The chronology that follows summarizes her career in capsule form. The succeeding chapters provide a detailed account of Grable's performances in various media, including films, television, radio, stage, nightclubs, videos, and records. The entries in these sections succinctly present the facts concerning each of Grable's performances and offer insightful commentary. The volume concludes with a list of Grable memorabilia, a section of miscellaneous information, and an annotated bibliography of books and articles containing extensive or unique material about Grable and her career.

Customer Reviews:

Complete.......1999-10-12

Don't let the price of this book scare you. It is worth every penny. If you love, like or just want to find out the facts of this star's life this is the book to own. I mean own because you will refer to it time and time again. I will admit when I first receiverd the book I was disappointed. For that price I thought it would be a big book full of color photographs. All one has to do is read that lovely dedication and you know you are in for a treat. The only thing Mr. Billman left out was how to request to have Betty Grable put on a U.S. Postage Stamp. I don't think he will mind if I give you that information. All you have to do is write your request and send it to: The Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 5670 Washington, DC 20260

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Long overdue tribute to Grable's input to the cinema

The Films of Betty Grable
Ed Hulse
Manufacturer: Riverwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1880756064

Customer Reviews:

Long overdue tribute to Grable's input to the cinema.......1999-11-01

I was very happy to purchase this tribute to the film career on one of Hollywood's most durable musical comedy actresses. Long overdue, but well worth the wait. Masses of photographs, some of which I had never seen before, and a well catalogued screen career - including long-forgotten shorts she made under the name of Frances Dean. The reviews on her many films provided an insight into the golden years of Hollywood. An excellent addition to the "Films of..." series.

DF43 PIGSKIN PARADE Betty Grable RARE original '36 LC. HereÂ’s a terrific PORTRAIT lobby card from the original release of PIGSKIN PARADE featuring a great image of BETTY GRABLE. JUDY GARLAND is listed on the film credits. Lobby card is in excellent plus condition. A few pinholes, no stains, no tears, a small ding on the upper border.

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DF43 PIGSKIN PARADE Betty Grable RARE original '36 LC. HereÂ’s a terrific PORTRAIT lobby card from the original release of PIGSKIN PARADE featuring a great image of BETTY GRABLE. JUDY GARLAND is listed on the film credits. Lobby card is in excellent plus condition. A few pinholes, no stains, no tears, a small ding on the upper border.
dna
Manufacturer: dna
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards
ASIN: B000VKLMF6

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DF43 PIGSKIN PARADE Betty Grable RARE original '36 LC. HereÂ’s a terrific PORTRAIT lobby card from the original release of PIGSKIN PARADE featuring a great image of BETTY GRABLE. JUDY GARLAND is listed on the film credits. Lobby card is in excellent plus condition. A few pinholes, no stains, no tears, a small ding on the upper border.
napp
Manufacturer: napp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards
ASIN: B000VVB1GK

Book Description

Home inspectors must understand how heat is generated, how it is spread around, how it is controlled and how it is made safe. This text also discusses how to discard the waste products of heating, how much heat is needed, and why homes can be uncomfortable even when enough heat is provided. This in-depth book addresses these issues for two of the most common home heating methods--gas and oil furnances.

Amazon.com

But Kurth has that claim on good authority, namely Duncan herself, who recalled, "I was possessed by the dream of Promethean creation that, at my call, might spring from the Earth, descend from the Heavens, such dancing figures as the world had never seen." Never shy of self-promotion, Duncan captivated audiences wherever she took the stage, earning a following--but also stirring controversy--in her native United States, and even greater exaltation and stormier criticism in Europe, where she made her home for most of her adult life. There she emerged as a textbook bohemian, avidly practicing and preaching free love and other convention-flouting doctrines, breaking hearts, taking up with political radicals and some of the great artists of the day, and drinking far too much. She also defined the figure of the artist as celebrity, living each day, as one Russian critic remarked, "as though bewitched by music" and unconcerned by the mundane. She even died spectacularly, done in by a fashion accessory and bad timing.

Toward the end of her life Duncan remarked, "I am not a dancer. I have never danced a step in my life." She was a dancer, of course, and one whose influence has endured. She was also an original, self-aware and certain of her greatness. Kurth tells her story well in this vivid biography, one of value to students of modern dance and the history of the Lost Generation. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

It's a bit of a stretch to suggest, as Peter Kurth does in his biography of the expatriate artist, that Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) single-handedly invented modern dance, a claim that Vaslav Nijinsky and George Balanchine, among others, would almost certainly contest.But Kurth has that claim on good authority, namely Duncan herself, who recalled, "I was possessed by the dream of Promethean creation that, at my call, might spring from the Earth, descend from the Heavens, such dancing figures as the world had never seen." Never shy of self-promotion, Duncan captivated audiences wherever she took the stage, earning a following--but also stirring controversy--in her native United States, and even greater exaltation and stormier criticism in Europe, where she made her home for most of her adult life. There she emerged as a textbook bohemian, avidly practicing and preaching free love and other convention-flouting doctrines, breaking hearts, taking up with political radicals and some of the great artists of the day, and drinking far too much. She also defined the figure of the artist as celebrity, living each day, as one Russian critic remarked, "as though bewitched by music" and unconcerned by the mundane. She even died spectacularly, done in by a fashion accessory and bad timing.Toward the end of her life Duncan remarked, "I am not a dancer. I have never danced a step in my life." She was a dancer, of course, and one whose influence has endured. She was also an original, self-aware and certain of her greatness. Kurth tells her story well in this vivid biography, one of value to students of modern dance and the history of the Lost Generation. --Gregory McNamee

Customer Reviews:

SOS.......2006-01-15

Yes...save our souls. I realize that Morse Code is sadly no longer in use but for a perspective of women denied, degraded, diminished, deadened by cultures throughout history both metaphorically and literally insofar as their vast contribution to art, this book is simply divine! It is not only a page-turner, it is a classic and stellar contribution to understanding a complex soul, who sought dignity and got the back-of-the-hand from many in the world of her time. Her courage alone is worth reading about. I cannot judge her. I didn't know her! But this is a fine work and brings the reader into a realm of both this woman's glory and grief such that it really focuses the lense on how hard human beings can be with one another. Even with an "Isadora."

This book brings her back to life.......2002-09-20

Isadora Duncan was a larger than life figure of the first part of the century. Both her work and her lifestyle guaranteed her the attention of the world. Mr. Kurth's biography brings the innovative dancer back to life clarifying many details at the same time. Ms. Duncan tended to either gloss over or sensationalize various aspects of her history and this book separates fact from fantasy. The photographs are very good, as is the narrative.

She Was Large...She Contained Multitudes.......2002-01-03

Here is an excellent biography of someone whose life combined artistic achievement with personal dysfunction. Arguably the creator of what we now refer to as "modern dance," Isadora Duncan certainly filled her "sensational" personal life with a series of adventures and misadventures while struggling to sustain a career during which so many of her knowledgeable contemporaries praised her artistic talents and achievements. Consider these comments:

"I got an impression of enormous grace, and enormous power in her dancing -- she was very serious, and held the audience and held them completely." (Frederick Ashton)

"She moved with those wonderful steps of hers with simplicity and detachment that could only come through the intuition of genius itself." (Tamara Karsavina)

"She incarnated music in her dance." (Serge Kousevitsky)

"The soul becomes drunk with this endless succession of beautiful lines and groupings [of movement]." (Ernest Newman)

"The greatest woman I have ever known....Sometimes I think she is the greatest woman the world has ever known." (Rodin)

Impressive accolades indeed which, for me, increase the poignancy (at times the tragedy) of her poor judgment and irresponsible behavior when not performing before an always adoring audience. Even for those who know little (if anything) about dance, Kurth has written an absorbing, at times compelling biography of a woman who (in the words of a contemporary, Janet Flanner) embodied "the grandeur of permanent ideals...[but was] too expansive for personal salvation."

By the time I approached the final chapter of Kurth's biography, I had observed a number of similarities between Isadora's life and the lives of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sylvia Plath. For example, their original and substantial talent, their excessive self-indulgences, their passion for experiencing (both physically and emotionally) as much as possible each day, and their vulnerabilities which so many others exploited shamelessly. With Whitman in mind, Robert Gottlieb observes: "For Isadora there were no rules, there was only the Song of Herself; she lacked the discipline, the emotional and moral resources, to keep liberty from lapsing into license." Such is often the fate of a genius which, by most accounts, Isadora Duncan was. "Sensational" indeed.

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Isadora: A Sensational Life
Peter Kurth
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Co.,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0965040275

Book Description

This is the story of an anthropologist's encounter with a Huichol Indian known as “Mad Jesus.” Jesús was an artisan, a shaman, a self-styled prophet, a mad messiah, and a murderous mystic. Timothy J. Knab was a young anthropologist soliciting life histories from Huichols in Mexico City when they met. The life story of Jesús may have been the ravings of a madman, but it also embodied the Huichol anticipation of the return of Santo Cristo, the savior who will restore the Huichol to their place as masters of the world around them. Neither Knab's studies in anthropology nor his experiences in the world of counterculture prepared him to understand this strange Indian and his violent history and behavior.

A narrative of frightening encounters with a charismatic deviant, the tale culminates in the quest to discover what really happened when Jesús was killed in a police shootout thirty years after Knab's last disturbing confrontation with him. The book provides an overview of the Huichol and the plight of Mesoamerican Indians. It also sheds light on traditional religion, indigenous Catholicism, messianic cults, urbanization, and indigenous conflicts with the modern Mexican state.“The subject is fascinating and Knab's technique of phrasing it in the form of ethnographic fiction will, I think, be welcomed by specialists. . . . it tells an unknown or little-known story that illustrates the conflicts and strains of acculturation, and does it in very readable form.”—Peter Furst, author of Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens and co-author of People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History, Religion, and Survival (UNM Press).

This is the story of an anthropologist's encounter with a Huichol Indian known as “Mad Jesus.” Jesús was an artisan, a shaman, a self-styled prophet, a mad messiah, and a murderous mystic.

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Knab, Timothy J. Mad Jesus: The Final Testament of a Huichol Messiah from Northwest Mexico.(Book Review) : An article from: International Social Science Review
Joseph Andrew Park Wilson
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B000BGK34Q
Release Date: 2005-09-15

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This digital document is an article from International Social Science Review, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1083 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: Knab, Timothy J. Mad Jesus: The Final Testament of a Huichol Messiah from Northwest Mexico.(Book Review)
Author: Joseph Andrew Park Wilson
Publication: International Social Science Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 80 Issue: 1-2 Page: 71(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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