Interviews Books

Importantly, this is an "easy" read. Since it is a compilation of stories told by people who had been slaves, it is not full of theory or the writing of historians demonstrating their ability to use obscure words. It is obviously all the more powerful and interesting as a result. If you know people and how to read between the lines, you walk away from this book with an understanding of just how complex slavery was and how different the treatment of slaves based simply on who was the slave owner. The author tried to balance selections, but I am suspicious of how balanced these accounts can be since I assume the slaves treated the worst were less likely to survive into their 80s and 90s, the ages of slaves interviewed. Nevertheless, it seems like a full range of individual experience is shown even if possibly not in proportion. I have seen filmed interviews and read the stories of concentration camp survivors. To me, the tales told in this book comes the closest to that learning experience in terms of understanding what slavery was like for the slaves.

I found this book to be eye-opening. Very informative. You really find out what slavery was like out of the mouths of those who were,or knew,slaves. I was intrigued at the accounts. The bad and the good of an era long gone--thankfully.

This book is probably one of the best I've read.

To learn about slavery from those who went through it is incredibly worthwile because it ensures we do not make the mistakes of the past.

The narratives are so powerful they bring you back to that time. For some of the people interviewed in this book being a slave wasn't as horrible as it was for others, but all of the narratives in this book have a common thread--freedom. They did not take their newfound freedom for granted; as we do now.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the foundaton of this country. It is a validaton of the ravages of slavery from the voices of those who were born into it. It demonstrates how far African Americans have come through faith, education and family after the systematic attempt to destroy the human spirit of many of those responsible for building this nation.

It is an outstanding work of the WPA and one of its projects. These narratives are, along with many more, in the United States National Archives. However, Norman Yetman includes more than fifty important additonal pages of introduction, background information and other important details that make this collection invaluable.

The powerful photographs take you into some of the lives of other slaves, allowing them to speak visually.

Norman Yetman has done every researcher of African American history a great service by his splendid compilation in "Voice from Slavery: 100 Authentic Slave Narratives." Yetman used a precise formula for inclusion and/or exclusion in order to compile these 100 narratives out of more than 3000 interviews performed by the WPA in the 1930s. They are clearly representative of the entire 3000, while at the same time of greater length and providing more detail than the 2900 others.

Here the reader hears first-hand the voices of the ex-enslaved African American--telling his or her story with startling imagery and amazing detail. This is a one-of-a-kind collection well worth buying, reading, and re-reading.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." He has also authored "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming "Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors."

This book is very insightful, readily applicable and fun to read.

Joe's format is perfect for those new to PR or professionals in need of a refresher.

Tell your friends and colleagues to buy this book.

Even with a marketing background, a straight public relations agency position still requires a significant learning curve. This book has been the best tool that I have come across in providing a quick, easy and useful way to learn the basics. Don't let the title mislead you to believe that it's a heavy read...it's light and enjoyable. I read it in one sitting.

As a career public relations professional, I highly recommend this book for any level practitioner. The author's tips reflect a practical and proven approach to effective public relations that can quickly guide a beginner through solid fundamentals as well as wisely remind the seasoned pro to "keep it real." Have a client or internal executive who considers themself a "PR Expert?" This book provides a credible third-party resource to help you train "the experts" in the amount of time it takes to travel from Manhasset to Framingham. The author's style is entertaining, engaging and creative.

As a PR professional and former journalist, I've heard the old adage good, fast, cheap -- pick any two, many times. With this book, you can get all three. The beauty of these tips is that the author has managed to condense what would normally take years to learn through experience and gives a consise and well written summary of pr fundementals. Not only would I encourage business people to read it, but for students interested in pursuing a pr career, it could help put you on the fast track.

This book is a must-read for PR practitioners who are either getting up to speed, or for seasoned professionals who could use a quick refresher. Well-written and humorous, it's as useful as it is enjoyable.

Most informative and helpful book, I recommend this book to anyone looking for any job. Halina R.

Wow! Tony Beshara's book is a godsend for job-seekers going through the emotional, sometimes defeating process of looking for the right job. Beshara obviously has many years of real world experience at dealing with employers and candidates. This book provides realistic scenarios of how the candidate should prepare for the interview and what they can expect when they walk into the employer's office. Beshara helps you step into the interviewer's shoes and forces you to take a hard look at yourself, your presentation and your experience. He provides dozens of questions that you should ask and be prepared to answer. Concrete, no-nonsense interviewing tips from a pro.

What a great guide to taking control of the interview in a positive way - when and how to.

How to pick up on key phrases indicating where you stand in the process and how to move yourself from candidate to employee without offending or coming across too aggressive.

Excellent book on when and how to be assertive in a hiring situation where most feel like a helpless victum or rag doll without any control of the process.

More importantly - exactly what to say to get the interviewer on your side and a call to action on your behalf.

WHAT AN EASY BOOK TO READ!
Great writing.

Interviewing is one of the most stressful things a person can do. I have been out of the workforce for 3 years. My children are grown and I decided to go back into the field of Administrative Secretary or Executive Assistant. Something I have always enjoyed and never got bored. Just being off the market for only 3 years, there were so many things that had changed about interviewing and I was extremely nervous about this. Of course all this information was coming from my family and friends. I know they all meant well, but I needed an expert. While searching on Amazon, I came across the book by Tony Beshara, "Acing the Interview." After reading this book, I have never felt the confidence in myself that I feel right now about going on a professional interview. I didn't even feel this relaxed 10 years ago. Tony Beshara's book is absolutely easy reading, down to earth and straight to the core of what you need to know about interviewing. I would recommend this book to anyone that is struggling with the thought of going on an interview, whether you have been out of work awhile or just ready for a change.

Sincerely,

Judy Turner

The title Acing the Interview doesn't really describe the breadth of knowledge Tony Beshara communicates in his latest book. If one does not venture to the Table of Contents, the book's cover tagline stating its inclusion of "450 Sample Questions" sounds very much like a dozen other self-help books for job seekers. But make no mistake, Tony is not pandering to the insecurities of those suffering from interview phobia with a warmed over collection of typical interview questions. As in his first book, "The Job Search Solution," Tony wants you to look inside yourself, and to question the common precepts about the job search process. Tony's "questions" include those you ask yourself and those you ask the employer, in addition to the questions asked of you in the interview.

Tony leverages his experience from interviewing more than 24,000 candidates in a 30-year career to make you understand that `acing the interview' is more about the research, planning, and practice you execute before the interview than it is about regurgitating rote answers in the interview.

Acing the Interview is a very strong sophomore performance from the acknowledged King of Recruiters. Those who viewed any of Tony's appearances on the Dr. Phil Show will recognize his conversational tone and sincere passionate concern for matching employers to employees. Not many recruiters can claim more than 6,700 placements in their career. Unlike most authors in this genre, who have very little, if any, real world experience in getting a job - Tony has done it, and is still doing it, every day.

I was given "Bears on Bears" as a gift, and read it from cover to cover with interest and excitement. As a self-described bear who has been in a relationship with another self-described bear for 23 years, I thought "I had seen or knew it all." I was wrong. Ron's book opened my eyes to a much wider world, filled with diversity, a sense of history, and evolution. His interviews with a wide spectrum of men (and even a couple of women!) gave me comfort in knowing that my own experiences were not as unique as I once thought, and allowed me to learn more about the people and events that enable me to live the life I currently enjoy (as well as better understand myself). I highly recommend this book to anyone who is part of or interested in the "bear scene" not only in the United States but also around the world. It's a great read and a great learning experience.

Bears on Bears looks at the bear sub culture by using interviews with those who started the movemnt, live it and hover around the fringes. Ron Jackson Suresha lets this subject matter speak with its own words. For those familure with the Bear clasification, you will delight in the retelling of the history form those who were there at the beginning. For those of you whoare new to the subject matter you will learn of a whole culture sitting under your nose.
This work is refreshing considering the gay culture is obssessed with thin blond eastern europen look.
This work allows men to be men and revel in it. Even if they do not fit the Gay Media mold.

Bears on Bears is an insightfull, well executed seires of interviews about the gay bear subculture.
Mr. Suresha's interviewing style is both intellegent and facilitory.
It a scholarly, fluid and enjoyable read without being too academic or popularist.
I recommend this book for people from all walks of life who are intersested in who people are and what makes them tick.
Bravo Mr. Suresha.

the best of the 'bear' books so far. some of the interviews are quite thought-provoking. though there are plenty of critical things said throughout the book, it's the affirming comments that i remember. bear culture has been in the past a path for some gay men to grow and learn more about themselves and others. the book suggests that this phenomenon has not completely passed....

Though I have only been exposed to the gay sub-culture, know as BEARS, for almost 4 years, it was fascinating to read the history of how this wide spread community began. Ron Suresha seems to have opened a whole new realm in the way I look at this group of masculine, "regular Joe"group of men.
The interviews in this book really get to the heart of what makes up the psychy of a BEAR man. And suprisingly, we are not much different than any other man..gay or straight!
These are very candid interviews and even give some insight into the author's 1st encounters with the BEAR sub-culture, back in its infancy!
GRRRRRRRReat job Ron & I am anticipatorily waiting for your next book!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Good the religious doo daa stuff really spoke to me. I was stunned at how good this book was. I couldn't put it down. The fighting scences were well done and ddescribed perfectly. I could definetly tell the bond between the author and Joe was tense but loving.

Douglas Todd, the highly respected Vancouver Sun journalist, has examined the spirituality of Canadian writers and artists in his important book, Brave Souls.
Remarks by Reginald Bibby, Canada's leading religion pollster, in his 2002 book, Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada

This Book was soooooooooooooooo good. The religious doo daa really spoke to me. The fight scenes were buetiffully decribed with lots of detail. The bond betwen the author and Joe really stode out.

By Carolyn Purden, Toronto Star
Moral issues, ethical concerns and spiritual matters are themes in the work of many contemporary North American writers, singers, painters and sculptors. Religious imagery and symbolism abound.
Yet how much do these themes and literary devices reflect the artists' beliefs?
This is the question posed by Douglas Todd, author of The Soul-Searcher's Guide to the Galaxy.
In Brave Souls, he questions 28 artists about their work and the philosophy and beliefs central to their lives. The eclectic group includes film director Paul Verhoeven, sculptor Bill Reid, cartoonist Lynn Johnston, Inuk singer Susan Aglukark and writer Carol Shields.
Nearly all attended worship in their youth, and a few still attend occasionally. But all are troubled by religious orthodoxy and their spiritual search is taking place outside institutional religion.
Their responses provide a range of spiritual insights that Todd groups in four sections: the atheists; the doubters; the new ancients, whose faith is rooted in organized religion, and the emerging mystics.
Some common themes emerge. Johnston speaks for several artists when she says she cannot accept Christ's divinity. "I'm starting to see other people as divine, too -- such as saints and exceptional people," she says.
Many artists echo Shields' belief in the centrality of love.
"It's your basic molecule," she comments. "Why else would we make an effort to be sort of good in the world and with one another, if it weren't for this kind of mystical connection that holds us together?"
Robertson Davies, interviewed shortly before his death, talked of his lifetime interest in the Christian heresy of Gnosticism, which led him to a belief in God's feminine aspect. Singers Susan Aglukark and Bruce Cockburn reveal they have continuing conversations with God.
Timothy Findley has felt the presence of God in the vast Arctic barrens.
Writer Laurence Gough says he experienced the presence of God while keeping a deathbed vigil. Of his stepfather's death, Gough recalls "a real sense of rustling in the air -- a sense he had risen up out of himself, of something leaving him when he died. And not just life itself. but something far more powerful than that."
Todd has skilfully culled the essence of each artist's beliefs. It all makes fascinating, and, at times, thought-provoking reading.

I first encountered this book about a decade ago in a course called Faith Quests RS 100C. During the course of the term we had about a dozen books to read. From this volume each student had to select two of the people profiled and present a seminar using this book as the beginning point and doing further research. I personally loved the book, and read not only the profiles we needed to have prepared for seminars but the whole volume. I even gave away a few copies. The sad part is that the book is now out of print because Stoddart went under a few years ago.

Todd, a long time writer and columnist for the Vancouver Sun, created the book by doing a series of interviews and then crafting those pieces into this volume. He breaks the Participants into four categories: The Atheists, The Doubters, The New Ancients and Emerging Mystics. The people profiled in each group are:

The Atheists
o Mordeccai Richler
o W.P. Kinsella
o Bill Reid
o Jane Rule
o Robert Munsch

The Doubters
o John Irving
o Paul Verhoeven
o Laurence Gough
o Evelyn Lau
o Wade Davis
o Douglas Coupland

The New Ancients
o Lynn Johnston
o Susan Aglukark
o Ann Copeland
o Tony Hillerman
o Robertson Davies

Emerging Mystics
o Timothy Findley
o Peter C. Newman
o Robert Bly
o Robert Fulghum
o Sylvia Fraser
o Loreena McKennitt
o Farley Mowat
o Barry Lopez
o Nick Bantock
o Alex Coville
o Carol Shields

This book was great for a number of different reasons. They include the fact that many of these people are famous - or infamous in the way these profiles present them in a new and different light. Also some of them have since passed away and the interviews done for this book will have been among some of their last, and maybe most in-depth in regards to their religious and spiritual views. It is truly a pity it is out-of-print, which makes it all the more worth tracking down.

I have read both of Timuel Black's books and recommend both highly. Black is the right person for this job, having a nearly perfect memory for a past that includes important work as an activist, educator and scholar. He knows what his subjects are getting at and knows how to tweek the most out of them. Timuel Black's memories intertwine with the memories of his subjects and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is truly living history

This is a book that everyone should read but can particularly important to young people, black and white, who don't quite understand that they are standing on the shoulders of giants.

I loved Bridges of Memory Volume 1... and this book doesn't dissapoint either. I love his interviewing style and the variety of people he has choosen to interview about their personal Chicago experiences. This is a well written book and I am looking forward to reading the next volume when it is released.

Here's my bias. I like history. I like to hear people talk about their lives. I like intelligent, articulate, effective language. And I loved this book. The people interviewed are fascinating, and Timuel Black helps them tell their stories in an unpretentious but by no means diffident way. I learned a great deal and enjoyed myself for many evenings.

What a gift this collection is!

In 1988, Timuel Black began to record and preserve the recollections of people who had lived in Chicago a long time, particularly the first generation of the Great Migration. When he wrote the introduction to this book, he had recorded over 125 conversations and still had "many , many more people with whom I would like to speak." Thirty-six of those conversations are presented here, with two more volumes planned to follow.

The interviews are conducted using the "participant observer" technique, and since Dr. Black - a long time resident himself - is an "insider" these interviews are essentially honest, intimate conversations among old friends, many of whom have now passed. As Dr. Black makes clear, this book is not intended to be a history of Black Chicago and its institutions, but rather a collection of oral memories from people who participated in shaping those institutions. But his field work provides invaluable data for future researchers attempting to compile that history.

If this book contained nothing more than the biographical information about each of the 40 participants (some are joint interviews), it would make fascinating reading. But the interviews bring each vividly to life. We meet people from all walks, including civil servants, educators, politicians, jazz musicians, railroad workers, business people, even two generations of South Side Chicago represented by mother and daughter Mildred Bowden and Hermene Hartman. Some, like George Johnson, tell a story of "from rags to riches." Others fall into a category of "just keep on keepin' on."

But all are riveting. I look forward to the next two volumes!

The strength of this book is in its informality. Mr. Black is friends with nearly all of his interviewees (he has known several of them for over 40 years), and the sessions read as a conversation rather than an interview. This book is especially useful for one looking for supplimental material about the neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago, segregation (from an individual perspective rather than scholarly leaning), and smaller aspects of city history and social change that are often forgotten. Some of his interviewees include a man that owned a company that distributed hair straightener around the U.S., a man that started what would become the Illinois state lottery, well respected teachers, and military servicemen.

There is a great deal of repetition that could have been eliminated regarding DuSable High School, locations of buildings, boundaries of the neighborhood, and references to people that are not elaborated upon; it is possible that Black chose not to edit this out to keep the interviews intact. It would have been extremely helpful for maps of Bronzeville throughout the past 80 years were inserted among the small selection of pictures that are included, in order to help those unfamiliar with the neighborhood navigate through some of the interviewees' memories of businesses, theaters, and homes.

The Celts have a term for people like Studs Terkel. Mr. Terkel is one of our cultural Shanahee. In the world of the ancient Celts, the story around the fire was the way in which cultural values, community and family history was transmuted to future generations. The role of the Shanahee was to keep the family tales and pass them on to future generations. That is exactly what Mr. Terkel does with this book. Wisdom and the values of the past are not something that younger generations today value so I fear that Mr. Terkel's book, although very interesting and informative may not be read by many nor the great pearls of wisdom discovered and carried forward.
Over sixty elders were interviewed by Studs Terkel. After reading about their lives, their adventures, their hopes and dreams for the future, and their indomitable spirits, there are some that I would really like to have had the opportunity to meet and other that I did not find as interesting.
Since this book is a collection or oral history interviews, it is not a typical book that a gerontologist would use for research yet the book is helpful to those desiring to know more about the life experiences of older persons. As I read the book and entered the life experiences of those interviewed, I was moved and challenged and delighted as I read about people whose lives impacted and created the world I live in today.
After reading Terkel's book, and this was the first book that I read written by Terkel, I think that oral history is an under utilize in teaching history and makes a contribution to understanding the lives of people, common people, who were part of making the history we learn about in text books. In many ways oral histories make history come to life.
I don't believe that Studs Terkel set out to write this book as a means of making a contribution to any one particular academic field. I think his motivation was two fold. The first purpose was to give the reader insight into the common person's impact into the events that formed the 20th Century. The second purpose was to allow those who he interviewed to tell their story and in recording their story, allow that person to leave their legacy to the world. Coming of Age contributes to gerontology as a field because it elevates the art of oral history, it highlights the importance of oral history in understanding the life experiences of older adults, and it allows a means of informally testing formal theories of aging by comparing and contrasting those formal theories with the actual life experiences of real people.

Studs Terkel captures in this volume what few children of the new millennium will ever learn about or experience: how our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents grew up, grew old, and left footprints on the twentieth century. His vignettes of life throughout the century, focused on the lives of amazing Americans from coast to coast, are quite profound. Terkel did not profile famous athletes, politicians, and CEOs; his interviews capture the lives of those who have made - and continue to make - an impact on our local communities.

It did not take very long to become addicted to this book. Terkel captures some of the most valuable American minds at just the right moment. The interviews give a first-hand look at history while capturing pearls of wisdom for the future. I recommend this volume as a gift and as a textbook for students. What Studs Terkel has captured here is worthy reading for any generation.

Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel, widely known for his oral histories on World War II, work, race and the Great Depression, here offers an oral history of the twentieth century. The 70 people on record range in age from 70 to 99 and represent a wide variety of endeavors from labor organizers to CEOs, cops, lawyers, philanthropists, doctors, environmental crusaders, artists, clergy, farmers and more.

In addition to a zest for life, which they all share (few, despite physical infirmities, consider themselves "retired"), a few common themes emerge in these recollections. Whatever their background, almost all were affected by the Depression and World War II and a surprising number felt the blight of McCarthyism.

Yet most view the young today as facing a tougher road than they did. And while they all claim to find younger people invigorating, most deplore the modern lack of community feeling, the emphasis on self, the ignorance of history and unwillingness to learn from the struggles of the past.

The Catholic priest who was a gung-ho soldier in World War II, learned about race in a poor southern parish and went on to join the Berrigans in protesting the Vietnam War, says that what's "lacking today is a national cause in which all can join." You could say he spoke too soon or those were the days.

Jazz musician Milt Hinton's grandmother was a slave of Jefferson Davis. He recalls the apprenticeship of his youth, sitting in with the greats. When prompted he cites the more absurd of racial indignities faced touring the south but prefers to dwell on the good times, voicing regret that those opportunities don't exist for today's young black musicians.

All of these oldsters have strong convictions about what's wrong with the world, although surprisingly few sound cranky about it. "I'm deeply accustomed to giving advice that is not heard," says economist John Kenneth Galbraith, a long time critic of "private affluence and public squalor."

Many of them find a new freedom in old age. "Young people don't have this liberty," says environmental activist David Brower. "They can't alienate themselves too much from the system."

Some seem to live almost wholly in the present. A Nisei school teacher who spent World War II in an internment camp spends her entire interview enthusing about the young children she teaches and the future before them.

An admiral who directs the Center for Defense Information, a whistle-blowing group, was a model naval officer. "My fervor and dissent has increased....as you get older, you realize that whether it be a justice of the Supreme Court or the president of the United States, he's just a human being subject to human foibles."

Terkel, a feisty fighter himself, has naturally picked a large proportion of social and political activists - people who see the world as imperfect then and imperfect now - but always worth fighting for. This is an invigorating and thoughtful collection and a fine perspective on the last century.

American society suffers from collective Alzheimer's, says Studs Terkel, "and the young are suffering from it the most severely. We don't know anything aboout the past and we don't seem to want to know." The author of widely-praised, bestselling books like Hard Times, Working, Race and The Good War, Terkel interviews 70 strong minded and outspoken Americans, the youngest of whom is 70, the oldest 99. Nearly every page is mesmerizing. Particularly delightful are his interviews with art critic Katherine Kuh (at age 89) and Sophia Mumford (at 94), the widow of Lewis Mumford.

A host of compelling stories marks COMING OF AGE as one of the top efforts from oral historian Studs Terkel. We hear from dozens of outstanding senior citizens, each one giving their personal remembrance of American life in the 20th Century. The mostly liberal interviewees range from ordinary citizens to baseball activist Marvin Miller, Congressmen Henry Gonzalez and (the late) Charles Hayes, and Chicago medical director Quentin Young. Readers get a strong personal sense of major events like the Depression, World War II, McCarthyism and Civil Rights - something one seldom gets from dry academic texts. The book also lends credence to tales many of us once heard from older and often now-departed relatives.

I gave COMING OF AGE just four starts because Terkel's increasing rigidity in sticking with liberal interviewees deprives readers of an honest cross-section of views. Despite this flaw, COMING OF AGE remains a moving effort.

I am 47.
I started to see Allen's movies a long time ago.
Every year, 90 minutes with an unknown friend,
sometimes fun, sometimes tragic, always entertaining.
Every important moment of my life could be associated with a Woody's film.
Every sentimental feeling, as well.
I have the habit to discuss a movie, after having seen it, usually in a "Pizzeria" with my friends.
I want to reassure Mister Allen that this habit is alive.
The book shares with us his professional story along the years, from the sixties right now.
It's a fantastic way to live all the emotions from the opposite point of view,
and it is a real pleasure.
I share also more of Mister Allen's reflections about life and death, and i was very
disappointed when his italian voice (Oreste Lionello), in a recent TV interview on an italian network,
used Mister Allen face to express ideas completely different from the author.
Explicitly, but anycase a sort of violence against Mister Allen.
Woody, life is very difficult, but it would have been worst without you.
Thanks a lot.

This is a great way to learn about Woody Allen, his craft, and his films. Organized thematically and chronologically, you see what films Allen really cares about and what he did just to fill the time. Some of his films were clearly throwaways for him. He made them because he's always working, but hardly remembers them and doesn't care to (Scoop, Small Time Crooks, Sleeper). Others are passions, like The Purple Rose of Cairo or Husbands and Wives. Allen is also, not surprisingly, self-depreciating, believing that his career is mostly self-indulgence that only a small audience appreciates. Of course, this underestimates himself and how impressive it is that he can have a regular output of one or two movies a year that, regardless of whether they are one of his best, are always well made, well acted, and interesting. The insights into how Allen works and how quickly, are interesting for fans. It also makes those of us who fancied ourselves writers realize what a true talent is. The best part of this book, there is no diversion into Allen's personal life which may be of interest to some, but not this reader. This is a great way to read about Allen's career, his collaborators, and his methods.

If you are a die hard Woody Allen fan you will love this book. It's a ringside seat to what goes on in his brain from writing to casting to directing to when the film is released. If you aren't a die hard fan, but simply like some of his movies you will appreciate him as a writer and a filmmaker. It's a really interesting book about Woody and his movies over a 30 year period!!

This is one of those rare books where we actually get a clear insight into the creative process of a great filmmaker. Techniques, style, philosophy and approach are covered in great detail. Gives awesome insight into the man and the movies he made. I really enjoyed it.

Ok I don't like Mr. Allen...I simply thrive upon his presence in this universe.

I never just saw a Woody Allen movie, read a Woody Allen short story or listened to a Woody Allen monologue...I was a participant in them. No I don't think I am psycotic, maybe a semi-adjusted bipolar person, who is cynical and overly critical about most things in this life, however swimming in the wake of Mr. Allen I somehow manage to smile at the "awful grace" of this existance. I do feel guilty since he does the heavy lifting and I benefit from it.

Recalling his movies is like recalling my first kiss, scoring my first touchdown, pineing my first broken heart or noticing death for the first time.

I recall each flick; when, where, who I saw it with, and the state of mind I left the theater to pursue the endless nuances of the adventure.

To the book. I hesitated picking it up as it is four hundred pages and did I really want to be mesmerized by Mr. Alllen and Mr. Lax during this very busy time. I resisted for almost four days then I was seduced, trapped and on my way to an intellectual orgasm that seems to continue when I turn each page.

These two guys are like friends you wish you had who made you totally comfortable hearing them talk and thilled that you are allowed to just be in the room and honored to be listening.

If you are an educator you must study it, if you are a doctor you must examine it, if you are performing artist you must value it, if you are a writer you must consume it and if you are, like myself an everyday person you gotta love it.

Bravo guys you gave me a great holiday gift.

Accounts of the US Air Force and US Navy air engaments.
A good book on the subject, though it can be a bit "dry" to a reader with little knowledge about air warfare.

I was not sure how good of a read this book would be, and figured it would be something I'd shove under the coffee table after a bit and only look at it from time to time. I was wrong. I haven't been able to put it down. There's no better way to hear these stories than to get them directly from the pilots, and that's exactly the idea the author had.

Thanks for a great read, Quizmo.

In this invaluable 2007 volume, ex-USAF fighter pilot Craig Brown presents blow-by-blow accounts of all 56 successful air combats fought by U.S. air units between 1981 and 1999. In terms of accuracy and excitement, Brown's book can't be beat since, in almost all cases, the accounts were supplied by the aircrew involved in the engagement. Air combat enthusiasts will want to add this exciting, well-illustrated book from Schiffer Publishing to their collection post-haste.

The engagements covered in DEBRIEF are a real smorgasbord of aircraft types and geographic locations. Not unexpectedly the Air Force and Navy's top-line fighters - the F-14, F-15 and F-16 - were the main players not to mention the occasional odd-duck like the A-10! Likewise their opponents were a mixed bag of MiGs, Mirages, Sukhois, helos, transports, trainers, etc. With few exceptions the kills were made with AAMs, mainly AIM-7 Sparrows, which may surprise some readers considering the Sparrow's dismal record over North Vietnam.

Though I gave DEBRIEF five stars, to be honest I felt 4 1/2 stars a more appropriate rating. Don't get me wrong: DEBRIEF is a great read and stands as THE definitive account of post-Vietnam War engagements. The air combat junkie in me loves this book. The first-person accounts, though heavy with fighter pilot techno-babble, put you right in the cockpit for some very exciting missions. Then too the narratives are illustrated with hundreds of photographs, mostly in color, of aircrew, aircraft, in-flight formations, ships, squadron patches, etc. and ten artworks depicting specific engagements.

The amateur historian in me, though, wishes Brown had done more with his material. Having compiled all this raw data, he could have made the book much more useful by doing some basic analysis of all those engagements. Specifically, what do all those combats MEAN in terms of modern air combat?

Reading through DEBRIEF, several points easily come to mind: what a killer machine the F-15 is, what a dominant role U.S. AWACS platforms play in modern air combat, the outstanding performance of the AIM-7, etc. So why did the F-15 perform so well? How have AWACs aircraft reshaped air combat? How come the Sparrow performed as well as it did and so on?

Then too I wondered if there were unsuccessful engagements during that timeframe and, if so, why did they fail? When I was doing the research for my MIG KILLERS OF YANKEE STATION I felt it was equally as important to discuss the failures as well as the successes to get the complete story. I would have enjoyed reading Brown's take on fighter combat in the 1980-90 timeframe.

In any case, if you like reading about air combat, pick up a copy of DEBRIEF asap. You won't regret it!

This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in modern military aviation - it covers every successful Air to Air engagement by the US military since the Vietnam war through the present day. Full of first hand accounts and personal photographs of the aircrew and aircraft involved, this is the most comprehensive book on this topic to date. The only thing that would have made this book better would be the addition of the unsuccessful engagements during the same time period, like Michael O'connor's 'Mig Killers of Yankee Station' does. I also recommend - MIG Killers of Yankee Station, Aces Against Japan, Aces Against Germany

I found Debrief to be a excellent collection of First hand accounts of US Air to Air Combat Victories covering the period of 1981 to the Present. The text and photos are first rate. A must have book for anyone interested in Military Aviation history. I am a proud and very satisfied owner of the Debrief book.

We Americans tend to forget that Vaclav Havel was an Artist, poet, writer and existentialist thinker long before we seized upon him as our own private "anti-communist hero extraordinaire." And as with most other things, we in the West tended to "fixate" on Havel as just the one-man anti-Communist sideshow: the singleton hero of the Prague Spring. That is to say, we saw in him only what we wanted to see -- only what was comfortable for our myopic vision and only what tended to calm our democratic sensibilities. For had we looked and drank just a bit deeper, there was a lot more of this self-made "artist turned political activist," to see than just our knee-jerk recreation of him through our own eyes as our own larger-than-life anti-Communist hero.

This book offers another vision of him that looks deeper into his very troubled, but nevertheless very important soul. Having had this book on my bookshelf, left unread for almost 20 years, this oversight alone makes me as guilty of seeing only the "shadow Havel as anti-Communist caricature," as the rest.

In this very thoughtful series of autobiographical interviews, the "deeper Vaclav Havel," comes through loudly and clearly. And here I mean of course the one just beyond the popular anti-Communist Western created veneer. Havel has always used his very subtle, supple and artistic mind to become more than just an Anti-Communist firebrand. In the grand tradition of other Europeans, and more than anything else, he is an existentialist humanist thinker, with much practical advice for democrats. However his primary concerns have never been just with the fetishized political games that superpowers play. Whether they be the brutal class-based politics of Communism which, before it committed suicide, had morphed into a softer form of equally fetishized version of socialism; or about the equally brutal racist-based capitalist consumer-driven democracies, which as they begin to see their own self-inflicted deaths just over the horizon, have also morphed into a "kinder and gentler" form of American racism, or what amounts to about the same, Mandela's softer version of South African Apartheid: Either way, none of these has been Havel's primary concern.

In this book we see Havel's real concerns spread out on the table, as he tells us how his keen sensibilities evolved until he learned to reject his own bourgeois class-based Communist upbringing. He learned to reject it because as he puts it "it gave me unearned privileges and alienated me from myself and from the rest of society in ways that could not be undone until I became aware enough to develop a refined sense of fairness, and until I could develop a "social emotion" that was antagonistic towards the class privileges I had inherited." Havel's "social emotion" was one that was also antagonistic towards unjust social barriers, and towards any pre-determined status awarded at birth, or based on the "false consciousness" of race superiority or any other forms of unearned status whose existence is designed specifically to humiliate, dominate and dehumanize others.

Although Vaclav rebellion against his parent's wealth is classic and familiar to us in the U.S., he did not blame them -- as he saw them as decent people merely caught up in and locked into the social customs and way of life of their time, perhaps in the same way that we Americans do when we use the same lament to excuse our own parent's evils of Jim Crow and slavery. Like his American counterparts, Havel too, even as a member of the bourgeois, preferred a sensibility that sided with the oppressed rather than with the ruling class of which, through inheritance, he was a member in "good standing."

However, unlike the typical American or South African racist, who would never grant moral superiority to those they oppress, even though classism was his natural inheritance, Havel opposed his social station at an almost instinctual level because with all of its undeserved advantages it was seen by him as morally inferior to those it oppressed. He also opposed it because of its inherited privileges, the sponging off of the powerless, due to its social injustices and the immoral barriers that tended to degrade man and condemned those it oppressed to the status of sub-humans. Havel said that by the time of the 1968 uprisings, he had become what he called "an emotional" and a "moral socialist." But even this was just a half way house on his journey to greater personal awareness and enlightenment.

As his social consciousness evolved he began to see the crisis of the world as deeper than just particular ways of organizing the economies, their respective peculiar social arrangements, or the politics of a particular system. What he saw long before it became obvious to the rest of us, is that both the East and West are suffering from the same dilemma: a crisis of alienation, a malaise in which man is isolated from himself; a conflict between an impersonal, anonymous, irresponsible, corrupt and uncontrollable juggernaut of power (the power of mega-corporations, mega-technology, and mega-dollars in politics and mega-churchs), and the elemental and original interests of man as a concrete individual.

In this sense, Havel sees this conflict in the same terms that Ernest Becker saw them: as a nostalgic loss of metaphysical certainties, a lack of a capacity to experience the transcendental, of any super-personal moral authority, or any kind of higher moral horizon. As he puts it: "As soon as man begins to consider himself the source of the highest meaning in the world he begins to lose his human dimension, and control of his humanity. We are going through a great departure from God, which has no parallel in history: we have become the first atheistic civilization."

But again, as in the case with Becker, we must resist the temptation to force these comments about God and the need for a return to spiritualism, into our own facile, lifeless and morally compressed Procrustean Beds. His reference to God and an "extramundane authority" is similar to that of Professor Cornel West's version of his own self-styled version of "Chekovian Christianity:" They both represent "Existentialist revolutions" more than they represent traditional rearrangements of existing religious norms of morality. Anyway you cut it, both West and Havel's versions of "God" seek to drive the moneychangers from the Temple.

Havel, Becker and West all put at the foot of our collective dilemma, man's arrogant anthropomorphism, in which he attempts to know and control everything. As we go about, bouncing between obscene consumption on the one hand and novel but obscene repression on the other, these great men all agree that we need to find a deeper sense of responsibility to the world and to something higher than ourselves. We need a new moral order based on returning man to his genuine human dimension, which can eventually lead to new social structures where personal humanity may again begins to rule supreme.

Far be it for me to suggest that these great men and their shared vision may have missed an important point: that man's humanity is not what it used to be. It has changed and been transformed in fundamental, perhaps even in irretrievable, ways. We cannot "walk the cat back" to an earlier more pristine moral time. Moral ground zero has changed, perhaps forever. Like everything else, our humanity too has been corrupted. We can't un-ring that bell; there is no way to back.

Sadly, the new humanity that we have created is what it is, period. There is lots of practical advice for democrats here, but Havel's larger message is, in my view, much more important.

Ten Stars

Edit of 17 Apr 08 to add links.

This book should be read as an adjunct to the author's other major book along these lines on power to the powerless.

The most gripping and troubling conclusion that I drew from this book is that the United States of America is today much closer to where Czechoslovakia was in 1968 than anyone other than the Chomsky's and Vidal's might be willing to admit. We have both a federal government and a national corporate economy that thrives on elitist secrecy and blatant lies--even our non-profit sector is corrupt, from the Red Cross to United Way to many others. The people, the citizen-voters, truly have lost all power, as well as access to the information that might give them back the power, and this is indeed a black, absurdist-realist situation.

On a more positive note, the author offers up, in the course of a long series of interviews, a number of ideas that are relevant to America today, as well as to any other emerging or re-emergent democracies in the making.

1) Model of behavior. When arguing with the center of power, do not get side-tracked with ideological debates over right or wrong. Focus on very specific concrete things (e.g. term limits, campaign finance reform, neighborhood economics) and stick to your guns.

2) Popular coalitions. Non-violent non-partisan popular coalitions are the core means of taking back the power. They represent a means for bring together groups of people from widely divergent backgrounds, with genuine social tolerance.

3) Informal networks. Even under conditions of repression and censorship, informal networks of dissidents and quasi-dissidents can be effective in sharing information through samizdat publications. [With the Internet, these possibilities explode, although caution must be taken on the fringes since the Internet is easily monitored and the more radical leaders could be declared seditionist "combatants" ineligible for their rights as citizens...speaking of the Soviet Union, of course, not America.]

4) Man versus Machine. Havel reaches his own conclusions founded in Czech literature and his own experience, with respect to the urgency of restoring the kinship and human connections that used to drive politics, economics, and other aspects of organized living. He is at one with Lionel Tiger among many others, with respect to the terribly consequences of the industrial era in terms of de-humanizing decision-making and allowing remote elites to treat individual workers as dispensable cogs in the machine, whose lives matter not a whit.

5) Neighborhoods, Politics "From Below". He joins the authors of the Cultural Creatives (Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson) and of IMAGINE: What America Could be in the 21st Century (Marianne Williamson) in emphasizing the vital role that neighborhoods must play in any democracy. From political self-governance to sustainable economics to low-cost healthy agriculture to cultural cohesion, neighborhoods are the sin qua non of democracy--without active neighborhoods, one can go so far as to say, national democracy is a sham, a false theater, fully equivalent to the centralized, repressive, inefficient totalitarian control states of earlier eras.

6) Small Numbers Can Make a Difference. I was struck by how few were the original dissidents and organizers--in some cases, 20-30 in number, in others 70-80. Earlier studies have suggested that Hitler took power over millions with just 25,000 people. One can only hope that the anti-thesis is true, and that the 50 million cultural creatives can take back the power by getting serious about organizing across neighborhoods and into a national network.

7) Art and theater matter. Even under conditions of severe censorship and control, art and theater can be the manifestation of uncensored life, "life that spits on all ideology and all that lofty word of babble; a life that intrinsically resist(s) all forms of violence, all interpretations, all directives....here stood truth..."

8) Absurdity is a warning. Nihilistic and absurd theater or other works of art are a caution. They "do not offer us consolation or hope (but) merely remind( ) us of how we are living: without hope.

9) Truth can be misappropriated. The author experienced the misappropriation of his words and was both hurt and enlightened, ultimately creating a play about truth, the circumstances in which it is said, and the whom, why, and how of it.

10) Great men doubt themselves. Most touching are the author's many retrospective and current references to his insecurities, to his doubting himself even as he made history and became President of Czechoslovakia.

11) Writers live to tell the truth. This is certainly not true of most American writers who write for money, but it reflects the ideal and merits thought.

12) Change the atmosphere. If you can do nothing else, strive for a moral mobilization and a change in the atmosphere of governance, at any level. We cannot even begin to conceive the magnitude of the positive changes that can occur overnight if the people begin to speak truth among themselves. Work toward a process "in which people's civic backbones (begin) to straighten again."

13) Role of the intellectual. While I the reviewer would churlishly doubt that America has many intellectuals right now, the author's concluding words on the role of the intellectual strike me as very important: "...the intellectual should constantly disturb, should bear witness to the misery of the world, should be provocative by being independent, should rebel against all hidden and open pressure and manipulations, should be the chief doubter of systems, of power and its incantations, should be a witness to their mendacity."

Any person concerned about the corruption and misdirection of their government and their corporate as well as non-profit entities, will be provoked and inspired by this book. It speaks to the future of human life as it might be, were we willing to stand up straight and be counted at citizen-voters, active at every level beginning with our own neighborhoods.

Living in Truth: 22 Essays Published on the Occasion of the Award of the Erasmus Prize to Vaclav Havel
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Other reviews are right on the money in terms of this being a very good book and of course it covers many key elements of the events and times during the changes in Czechoslovakia. However the are several key messages, and lessons for anyone interested in managing, motivating and leading people; particularly through difficult or uncharted changes. There are also some good reflections on the role, character and nature of theater and other individual and group activities in the arts.

This is a fine book about an amazing man. I was truly inspired by Vaclav Havel after reading this book. This book is an "easy read" even though it is largely about weighty matters. It is an interesting and enlightening book.

Whenever I need a moral boost I go back and reread Vaclav Havel's
"Disturbing the Peace". This book is a series of essays by the
dissident Vaclav Havel that were smuggled out of communist
Czechoslovakia and translated by a Havel friend in the West. Vaclav
Havel was a playwright who became a Czech dissident who became leader
of the Velvet revolution (which ousted the communists) and who finally
became president of the republic.

Vaclav Havel was the foremost
dissident under the communist regime. He openly challenged the ruling
government with such essays as "Power to the Powerless" and
"The Soul of Main under Communism". (Actually I forgot the name
of the latter essay. I think "The Soul of Man under Communism"
is an essay written by Oscar Wilde. But Havel did address this theme
in "Disturbing the Peace" and in essays he forwarded to the
communist rulers.)

One of the most exciting parts of the book is
where Havel describes the dissident communitie's efforts to publish a
Havel essay advocating that the Czech government adhere to the terms
of the Charter 77 human rights accord to which they were a signatory.
The story is spine tingling thriller complete with car chases and
obscure drop points. It reads like a John le Carre novel except it is
real.

After you read "Disturbing to Peace" I also recommend
"The Magic Lanten" by Timothy Garton Ash. This is a first hand
account of the fall of the communism as the democratic revolution
rolled across Czechoslovakia, East German, Hungary, and Romania.
Garton Ash was privy to the inner circle of people who plotted and
executed these bloodless coups. (Bloodless everywhere except, of
course, in Romania.)