United States Books

This is quite a good book that really allows the reader to get behind the author and penetrate the subject matter in a slow, moving way. There are quite a few elements of humor in it, one of which lead to a friend of mine who was walking the streets of NY fall into a manhole while I was reading it on the phone to him (he was o.k.). The book ends with quite an explosive passage that might make many gag, but, for this reader, I swallowed it up.

I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed reading the book. It was very enlightening and I learned a lot.

"What Color Is Your Scarf?" is by a man who came out late in life, has recognized his frailties and is attempting to make himself better. In the book, Brown tells you how he is attempting to overcome his imperfections. He has a plan and he makes the telling of it interesting.

I see no reason why the wisdom Brown inculcates wouldn't be useful to anyone as a coming-out guidebook. I would recommend it, especially to people just going through the coming-out process, regardless of their age.

I related to a lot of things that you mentioned. Thanks for the words.

Your book and web page are a delight. I'm a 60 year old man, came out 15 years ago and am as happy as can be.

This is a book people might shy away from since it deals with the 1988 campaign, and those candidates are basically ancient history (except for Biden). However, what the book really describes it literally 'what it takes' for any man or woman to believe they can be President.

We look at the people running today, and we see them as TV characters and sometimes buffoons, but forget that in their youth they were probably the smartest, most popular, most driven people we would have known. Just to get to a place where one can entertain the idea of running for President takes a life of very, very few wasted opportunities.

So, while this book doesn't talk about Obama or Clinton or Huckabee, etc., you can read it and at least get sort of a sense of what the candidates are like behind the masks they put on.

The best thing that can be said about "What It Takes" is that you will read it and you will appreciate that Presidential candidates actually are qualified, and while they might make terrible decisions, they really are the best we have.

"What It Takes" is an antidote for cynicism.

It's a great insight into the psyche of candidates, the jargon of campaigns -- and a demonstration of just how tough campaings are. (The author of this book is also a frequent contributer to Rolling Stone and Esquire. Some of the language in this book certainly isn't appropriate for younger readers).

Ben Cramer follows the major candidates in their races to become president in 1988. He reproduces their speaking and thinking styles in such an incredible way that you will never be able to think of any of these people (Bob Dole, GHW Bush, Jesse Jackson) in quite the same way you did before.

His intense focus on how the candidates act differently when in private than they do when they're out giving their stump speech makes for fascinating reading. If you're tired of dry books that are "nothing but the facts, ma'am," you'll love this well-written story.

No study of modern American politics is complete without reading this book. At the center of the political universe is the presidency. What kind of people seek this office, and all of the attendant scrutiny and hardship that even the most fortunate candidates endure? What personal attributes set one candidate above the rest?

Essentially, one of these men will be the most powerful man in the world, and have a chance at shaping history. This book answers the questions "why" and "how."

Cramer understands his subjects, and the profiles of each candidate would be excellent stand-alone biographies. Extremely readable and well written, without sacrificing substance.

A truly unique and indespensible work. To find out what it takes, read this book.

As a lifetime Democrat, I was horrified to read this book and feel not only sympathetic towards Bob Dole, but also admiration.

Of course, the author goes on to confirm my worst fears about George H.W., Reagan and some of the Democratic party's candidates from the era.

A stunning work. It is inspring and depressing at the same time.

Whether you have an opinion or not about prostitution , I think it's a good idea to read this book. By reading Dolores' book I can tell she is intelligent and well educated and she tells a very interesting story about her life as a prostitute without trying to convince the reader of what is *right* or *wrong*. She eventually became one of the most recognized prostitutes in America at one point. She fought for women's rights and appeared on television shows. It's interesting to learn of the different types of *clients* she came across in different countries, as well as other hookers, and how she handled certain dangerous situations. I've learned that prostitutes aren't that different from a lot of women, they aren't just dirty, AIDS infected low life people. Many of them really do like their jobs and feel they are helping people. This is a great book, I think every woman should read it.

This book is all about the use of (sexual) power in the struggle for survival: 'Women choose to go into prostitution because they need money'; or, 'because it is the best way to make a living.'
As the author says: 'There should be laws forbidding poverty, but no laws forbidding a woman to accept money from a man for her company.'

The numbers are staggering: alone in the US, there are approximatively 1300000 prostitutes.

A main theme in this book is hypocrisy.
Of the people arrested in the sex trade only 10 % are clients.
Sexual 'entertainment' is written off as a business expense.
Condoms are distributed freely to the military.
In the Philippines doctors blamed prostitutes for introducing AIDS into the country ... not the American servicemen.

This book is a worth-while documentary about an important aspect of human behaviour. It shows that human beings are not primarily rational.

This is a great book. I met Dolores at a Mensa convention we were both speaking at. I am a member of Mensa; Dolores is not. I attended her lecture out of curiosity and then stopped for a chat afterwards. That chat turned into a friendship that lasted for most of the 12 years that I lived in Atlanta. I read this book: Working: My Life as a Prostitute, about 4 months after having met her and it is genuine. Dolores is also genuine. Don't ask her a question unless you want the straight truth as your reply. Dolores is a smart businesswoman who has led quite an interesting life. My many talks with her gave me insight into differing perspectives; many of which I wouldn't have had, had I not known her. I can honestly say that reading her book opened my eyes about many aspects of life as a woman. How men see us; even if we don't want to think that it is true. It is a MUST read for all women past the age of 16.

Dolores French is warm-hearted, wise and has much to say. This book should not be out of print, and it should be in stock... I hate it when a good book take 4 weeks to obtain! I hope it will be reprinted soon.

I fully agree with the author. I know best about prostitution as my mother was prostitute from age 15 to 61, my sister,wife,2 daughters are also in same business.We all are very happy & proud of this business.We have never cheated any customer. We donate for charity too.I hope that our future generation will continue this business with same honesty & dedication.We never refused aged or bad looking clients.

Picked up a copy of this book for our beach trip, and couldn't put it down. Alexander's comedic look at America's white / blue collar societies will make you laugh out loud, while giving pause to reflect upon your own lives. Highly recommended.

I heard about this book when the author appeared on CSPAN-BookTV. I liked the author, loved his background as ad man and ex-marine, and wanted to learn more.

The book itself reminded me of Barbara Ehrenreich's ventures into minimum wage jobs. Ehrenreich gets serious about the injustices that force some people to remain in those jobs and really work.

On the other hand, it's a nice counterpoint to Gill's How Starbuck' Saved My Life, a euphoric ode to his service as helper and barista.

The best part of the book for me came at the very beginning, with Alexander's description of his life as in advertising. His description of clients and the lack of respect for marketing expertise were very accurate.

The second best part was getting behind the scenes of a pizza delivery company, an ice cream shop and more. I didn't realize it was so hard to get jobs at the Big Box store.

Of course, we don't know how typical the author's experiences are. Why would a pizza delivery person keep delivering pizza when he spends more for gas than he earns? Was the ice cream store a franchise, like a Baskin Robbins?

The hospital example seemed a little over the top. Apparently Alexander was assigned just one type of case, courtesy of his doctor friend who got him the job. I was disturbed when the doctor put a patient through an uncomfortable and unnecessary procedure because he didn't want to embarrass the nurse, who had set up the room.

I was sorely tempted to give this book just 3 stars for one reason. On television, Alexander was asked how he came to write the book. It turns out he didn't really try out the minimum wage life. He had a book contract and he was not living on the earnings from those jobs...ever.

Not a problem, but I believe Alexander should have disclosed his intentions up front, as Ehrenreich does in her books.

Still, every career coach talks to clients who fantasize about reducing stress by taking a lower level job. Usually it doesn't work. And now we can see why.

I almost busted a gut reading about the dad in the ice cream shop. Alexander is a master at using humor to foster the empathy so many of us "fat" Americans seem to lack. Way to go Prioleau!

This was a really funny book that got me in trouble on an early morning flight out of town. I save some things to read when traveling, and this seemed just the sort of book. I cracked it just after take-off and began having a tough time controlling my cackles of laughter; much to the annoyance of my neighbor. Prioleau's insights into the minimum wage workforce and the retail customer rang true for me. I have been in that world for more years than I care to remember and there is lots of humor to be had there! Prioleau found huge gobs of it and feed it to me one pink spoonful at a time, and I could not put the book down. I will be waiting for his next one.

In the last couple of years I've read many books by folks who abandoned their unsatisfying routine lives in search of fulfillment. These stalwart individuals embraced risk by leaving secure jobs to realize a long-buried passion. Some moved to a distant locale vastly different from their longtime home, others subjected themselves to some sort of extreme physical test like climbing a mountain or walking an ancient pilgrimage trail. In the end, most of them felt they made the right decision and were happier and better off as a result. However, Prioleau (pronounced Prew-Lowe) Alexander tells otherwise in this humorous and interesting look at the dark side of life renovation.

As part of the rite-of-passage that characterizes a middle-age existential crisis, Mr. Alexander decides that he has had enough of the advertising field. Despite a lucrative salary, a high-end position, and the misgivings of his wife, he quits. His next downwardly-mobile move is to embrace the simple life. Part of that strategy involves diving into the shallow end of the job pool. "You Want Fries With That?" documents his journey through the minimum-wage world of delivering pizza, jerking ice cream, doing clean-up at a home improvement project, sliding through icky bodily fluids as an ER technician, jockeying a fast-food cash register, and riding herd on a dude ranch.

Our idealistic hero figures that he'll find contentment doing an honest day of service-oriented work. But his dream gives way to disillusionment as he discovers the unromantic nature of these jobs. For example, after tallying up the costs of delivering pizza he finds that he's basically paying for the privilege of feeding his customers. Impolite and unhealthy shoppers make scooping ice cream an exercise in torment. Cleaning up patient leftovers in the ER grosses him out so bad that he finally flees in disgust. And riding a horse on a wagon trail day after day takes a harsh toll on his middle-aged body.

Despite these tribulations, the author manages to dredge humor out of each occupation. Sometimes the customers are his target, but often he pokes fun at himself, bad management, or the oddball workplace procedures he encounters. Indeed, I laughed out loud a couple of times while reading. Be advised that Mr. Alexander's a self-proclaimed "conservative-libertarian religious gun-nut wacko," so his humor has a refreshing lack of political correctness. But in the midst of the laughs, he shatters the myth that the simple life is a noble one. The hours are long, the work is mind-numbing, prestige is non-existent, and the pay sucks. In the end, he abandons ship and returns to the comforting familiarity of white-collar work - much to the relief of his longsuffering spouse and their deteriorating household financial situation. Looking back on his experience, he provides a thoughtful and non-judgmental analysis of why people wind up in these jobs for the long term.

"You Want Fries With That?" was a fun book to read. I'm the same age as the author, and that, along with a shared Marine background, helped me to identify with him. As an aside, I enjoyed how he wove his military experience into his adventures, such as using the SMEAC acronym to describe HVAC work and comparing riding horseback in boxers to getting jacked up by large Samoan dudes. As they say, once a Marine, always a Marine. Dogmatic liberals, the stridently politically-correct, and diehard fans of the book "How Starbucks Saved My Life" may not appreciate Mr. Alexander's take on things, but everyone else will appreciate his lighthearted insights. Recommended with an enthusiastic "Ooh-rah!"

Naylor's style of writing is much like Judy Blume, in which it draws you in and you ache, laugh and sympthasize with the character. With every "Alice" book, it feels like you get to know a friend. I'm sure every girl can relate to the everyday things she has to go to. Because the Alice series is so realistic, each time a new installment is realeased, you get the feeling that you're just learning new stuff about an old friend.

This insallment of the series is a little less chirpy, like past might have been. Gone are the silly 6th grade "what will I wear?!" chrisis that everyone can probably relate to. Now, it's about becoming woman of the house, and dealing with deeper problems. For example, Alice encounters a loner. She invites her to her dad's party and they start a bond. Well, just a few days later [I haven't read the book in 2+ years so forgive me!], the friend commits suicide, and in comes the feelings of "I could've done this...It's my fault".

A solid book for kids of most ages.

This book is about how Alice gets used to being the woman of the house. When she finds out that a man docter is going to examin her she starts to freak out but then reilizes that it isn't so bad. The boys are naming girls after states according to how big their breasts are.

About to turn 13, Alice McKinley is preoccupied with her aunt's statement about needing to be the "Woman of the House" for her widowed father and older brother Lester. Her best efforts, however, usually turn to disaster...

To make matters worse, the seventh-grade boys are naming the girls after various states...depending on the size of their chests! Alice lives in terror, uncertain which would be worse: getting dubbed the name of a flat state, or being overlooked altogether.

Readers will enjoy hearing about Alice, who is just an ordinary girl going through ordinary things, but in such a humorous and interesting way, they can't help wanting things to turn out okay...

Alice in April is about a girl who is having trouble with boys giving the girls at school nicknames of a state by it's geography, in other words ,"hills or no hills". If you like books that are funny, maybe even true life, Alice in April is the book for you.

I just read this a few days ago, and I started reading it at 9:30 p.m. that night and it was done the next day at about 1:30 p.m.!! I love this book, it is so believeable I think Alice IS ME!!(except for my mom didn't die). I love this book and all the other books in the series!!

Outstanding description of Freemasonry by the former curator of the American History Museum in Lexington, MA.

This book was an excellent read and was difficult to put down. Intriguing view of history of the organization as well as many other organizations such as Rotary, Elks, etc. It definitely answered many questions I had regarding Freemasonry and is written in layman terms so those without knowledge of Freemasonry going in can grasp the subject matter fairly easily.

As mentioned by at least one other reviewer I did detect a slight bit of bias, but then again every author has some bias based upon experience and beliefs. However, the book provides so many references that I would have difficulty doubting the credibility. The book also provides beautiful illustrations that accent the points in the text.

My recommendation is to purchase the hardcover as this book is a beautiful bookshelf reference. Whether you are interested in the organization or just a history buff I highly recommend this work.

National Heritage Museum curator Mark A. Tabbert has written an informative, easy-to-read study of the history of Freemasonry in the United States and how Freemasonry inspired the creation of several fraternal, civic, and service organizations. To show that rich history, the book contains several photographs of Masonic and other fraternal artifacts from the National Heritage Museum.

Tabbert cover many Masonic topics including Freemasonry's influence on the Founding Fathers, the anti-Masonic hysteria that followed the Morgan scandal, Masonry during the Civil War, the Golden Age of Fraternalism in the late 19th Century, the founding of service organizations during the early 20th Century, Freemasonry's boom years following WWII, the state of Freemasonry today, the York and Scottish Rites, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the youth orders, Prince Hall Freemasonry.

American Freemasons is a superb work that was written for both the Mason and non-Mason alike. It would be an excellent addition to your lodge library, your home library, and your public library. Would make a great gift for a new Mason or a prospective candidate. You will enjoy this book!

I wish I had this volume years ago. It tells more truths about Freemasonry than most masons get in a life time. Mark A. Tabbert Is well qualified to write the History of Masonic good work. He has done a superb job.

This book is a bit repetitive in the things it says. The information is good.

"The space program's grip on the public imagination had begun to fade even before the first moon landing," write Charles Murray and Catherine Cox in their can't-put-it-down history of the engineering side of the American manned space program.
They add, "Whether this was inevitable or an unlucky juxtaposition of Apollo with Vietnam and domestic upheaval will never be known." Or maybe the main reason was NASA's insistence on two phony images: one, squeaky clean (and boring) personalities for all hands; and, two, the no-sweat attitude to crises.
Had NASA told the stories Murray and Cox tell, the public would have been thrilled and appalled.
We have long known that the astronauts were not squeaky clean. Astro Walt Cunningham let that cat out of the bag in the mid-'70s in "The All-American Boys." In "Apollo" we learn that the engineers were humans, too. One is described as "Butch Cassidy born 100 years too late," which is probably overstating it, but you don't operate the most complicated mechanical system in history by being timid.
"Apollo" also reveals that the "no-sweat" attitude was false. There was plenty of sweating, although NASA's engineering culture required everyone to remain composed at all times.
The really terrible crises were known to the public, if poorly understood: the testing fire that killed three astronauts and the fuel system failure that nearly stranded Apollo 13 in orbit.
Other problems that were potentially just as serious were successfully covered up by NASA, a bad habit that cost it its reputation later on.
But the unraveling of the causes of these engineering dustups reads like a mystery novel, or, a closer comparison for those who have read it, the epidemiological reporting of Berton Rouche.
What, for example, would make a rocket lift two or three inches off the pad, then shut its engines off and settle back? The answer: A technician had filed a tiny bit off one prong of an electrical plug.
Anyway, the people who designed and built spaceships were emphatically not computer nerds -- once you understand what they were up to, scientists and engineers are always interesting. This is certainly the case with the launcher specialist Werner von Braun, a mass murderer.
Murray and Cox say, "no such charges were substantiated" against Hitler's rocket scientist. They are wrong.
Von Braun's V-weapons were built by 30,000 slaves at an underground factory camp called Dora. Thousands of these slaves were worked to death, starved or slaughtered. This factory was not run by Braun's team but it could not have functioned without the intimate advice of the rocket scientists. With complicity goes guilt.

This story will pull you in and make you feel part of the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century.

This book vividly demonstrates and proves just how incredibly creative and focused AMERICANS can be when focused on a single goal of beating someone(Thank God for the Russians back then)when we didn't care about being so"POLITICALLY CORRECT". We as a nation could really use these people's dedecation and hard word as an example and work to fix this "POLITICALLY CORRECT" country now.

We used some parts of this book in our Systems Engineering lecture, at Turkish Military Academy Defense Sciences Institute (I was a student at the lecture). Later I purchased the book and read the whole book.

Of course I am not in a position to state the correctness and completeness of the contents. I rely on other people's comments on these criteria. But accepting the contents as correct and complete, the book clearly describes how a huge R&D project can be run (or can not be run), from every point of view. It is the next best thing after participation in a such project.

I believe every engineer and technical administrator has many things to learn from the book.

I highly recommend the book. I do not know whether it is also used as a lecture aid in other academies. If it is not so, another recommendation the the lecturers: The book contains one of the best case studies.

This is an excellent book covering the inner workings of the Apollo program. It does not focus on the astronauts or the missions themselves, but more about the people on the ground in Mission Control, the engineering challenges of Apollo, the management of the program, and NASA / Washington politics about space exploration at that time. Some chapters are so well done, they read like a thriller and you can't stop turning the pages. It also covers well the most important personalities of Apollo.

After reading this book, I realized how much we have lost the memories of what is probably the most incredible achievement in humankind's history. Shockingly enough, most people think about Apollo about being a thing of the past, while it is in fact our future.

Reflecting back on the sad end of the Apollo program (the plug was simply pulled in the mid-70s without any kind of follow up), it is a shame that we have lost all these years. Just imagine if we would have persevered with more missions, the eventual setup of a moon base in the 80s, moon exploration of resources, etc... Who knows where we would be now in 2007 ? Perhaps on the verge of a Mars mission, or Jupiter ? We would have impressed new generations with the same sense of awe-inspiring achievements and exploration that Apollo did 40 years ago. These emotionally inspiring achievements are the ones that elevates humankind to new heights, and this is probably the strongest feeling I felt about Apollo after reading this book.

This is a very informative book. It certainly shed light on a shameful slice of American history.

This is history book in the purest sense of what a history book should be yet this book is much more than a history of American Violence against African Americans, it's a history of how civilization can be repressive and savage despite it's seemingly enlightened ideology. Philip Dray doesn't hold back in painful details of lynching, the dynamics and psychology behind the mob mentality, and how people actively seek to uphold an illusion of law and order from the bigoted vigilantes to the unsympathetic courts. Collectively we have tried and still continue to try to supress the history of slavery and the bloody history subsequent racial violence. This book needs to be required reading in our schools as a counter to other so-called history texts admonishing certain fathers of the nation.

Dray's account, while often disturbing reading, is an essential for anyone who seeks to understand the lynching phenomenon in the United States. Scholarly, but accessible, the history's gruesome recountings of lynchings are balanced by the tales of those individuals and organizations that fought, often at great personal peril, to bring an end to this national disgrace. This meticulously researched volume is recommended for the professional as well as the lay historian. It is a cautionary tale, but ultimately one not without hope.

This book was not only shipped within 2 days but in new condition. The book itself is very informative about other things than lynching. It talks about various people related to the anti-lynching movement tons of other things. I'm currently using this as a text book for a college class. This is a great teaching resource! Buy the book, you won't forget it!

Quite possibly the best, most well-researched book I've ever read. A smooth read, impeccable use of historical sources, and a clear narrative account of the most tragic era in American history. For scholars who research or teach in the area of social control, legal, and extra-legal punishment, you *cannot* have a full grasp of the topic unless you read Dray's work. A fine work of history...the author is to be commended.

"Autumn Lightning" by Dave Lowry appeared to me as a combination of biographical sketch mixed generously with Japanese History, and Spirituality.

The book (for me) was in itself, a "Fair Read," but not necessarily one that will become part of my spirit. Much of this could however, be due to my age. While reading this book, I was often reminded of the movie; "The Karate Kid." In that movie; "Daniel Larusso" becomes "Miyagi-fied" and is turned into a great Marshal Artist. Likewise, Dave Lowry in this book becomes "Kotaro-fied" and emerges as a great Occidental swordsman.

I own one other book by Mr. Lowry on the "Art of Kendo" complete with photographic examples, and many teaching comments that have been very helpful to me.

Mr. Lowry writes and teaches out of sheer devotion and love of the subject, and for this; I truly applaud and respect him! I believe this to be a worthy book but, probably for a younger individual looking for a mentor of desciplines that help to develope spirit and physical attributes.

Dave Lowry offers a perspective in his books not often available to the Western martial arts practitioner - a considered interpretation of modern martial arts in the context of traditional (koryu) arts.

Written in a exceptionally approachable style, Lowry tells the story of his introduction to martial arts, interspersed with anecdotes from Japanese martial history.

Lowry's books provide me with insights into my own training and have helped me grow as a martial artist. Rather than the simple discussion of technique, his essays delve into the "-do" of the arts

One of my all-time favorites, it's recommended reading for all of my students. Mr. Lowry's story is similar to my own. He tells his tale with crisp and humorous writing that has you on the edge of your seat and then lets you sit back and chuckle. A wonderful classic.
If you don't have a copy, you're really missing out.

This is a great read for anyone interested in learning about the history of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu of swordmanship. Woven into this history are the events that lead Lowry into studying this Ryu and his dynamic interaction with his Sensei.

I've recently reread all the books I have on martial arts, Japan, Japanese culture and history. When I find a passage that really strikes me, I underline it and dog-ear the page. After finishing the handful of books I already have, I came to Amazon to find more. Dave Lowry's book seemed interesting from reading the first few pages available online. Little did I know I would be underlining and dog-earing most of the pages in the rest of the book! An excellent read for new or experienced readers in Japanese history, culture and/or martial arts. I highly recommend it!

The book was interesting although I do have to admit I wish there were better photos and close-ups in the book. Seemed to focus too much on the negative, hear say of this wonderfully talented gentleman. I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the actor. It saddens me that his contributions have gone mostly unnoticed in the film industry. The proof is that there are hardly ANY DVD's or even VHS available of his best films? It would be fantastic if there were a film made today of this great actor, that is as long as it was as close to the real Mr Novarro as possible. I'm afraid it would focus too much on the negative, gossipy parts of his most private life.

This what saddens me when any person passes away, others can swoop in and destroy their reputations and if no living relatives are around to stop it. the story becomes gospel truth. Such an injustice.

The book is worth buying but lacks movie still, etc that most BIO's have.

Re: Krebsman comment:

In "Beyond Paradise," it is stated that Franklin was located just north of El Paso del Norte, not El Paso. (We're talking 19th century here.)

It says in the book that El Paso del Norte would be renamed "Ciudad Juarez" or "Juarez." Needless to say, Franklin would turn into (or become a part of) what is today known as "El Paso."

If silent movie star Ramon Novarro is remembered at all today, it is for two things: his starring role in the original film version of BEN-HUR and his brutal murder in 1968 by two alleged male hustlers. Andre Soares' biography of Novarro, BEYOND PARADISE, is intelligently written and sympathetic towards its subject. Novarro seems to have been a nice Mexican boy who was devoted to his family and his religion. He was also homosexual, which caused him a great deal of spiritual torment in a time when such things were not even mentioned among nice people. He had a rapid rise to stardom in the embryonic motion picture industry and was one of the few silent screen stars to survive the transition to talking pictures (despite his Spanish accent), when he played opposite Greta Garbo in the sound feature MATA HARI. But miscasting combined with a conflicting desire to become an opera singer brought about a slow decline and ultimate obscurity. He also became an alcoholic and, perhaps because of his homosexuality, a virtual recluse. This is a sad story.

There are some factual errors early in the book that made me doubt the accuracy of the other points in the book. For example, he says that Franklin, Texas is slightly north of El Paso when it is actually 300 miles to the East. However, he does set the record straight about the means of Novarro's death. In the 1975 book HOLLYWOOD BABYLON, Kenneth Anger states that Novarro choked to death when his art deco styled artificial phallus was stuffed into his mouth by his assailants. Soares gives the lie to this myth when he quotes official evidence that Novarro not only died from being bludgeoned to death, but that no such object was found among Novarro's possessions, nor did it ever exist.

The trouble I had with the book is that actor biographies are all fairly similar. After reading dozens of them over the years, I don't find most of them very interesting. The best parts of the book for me were the final chapters dealing with the murder and its aftermath. But for those who already have a keen interest in the silent movie era of Hollywood and are already familiar with the actors and directors of the period, BEYOND PARADISE could be compelling reading.

I bought this book at the behest of a friend and have since reread it twice. I am a severe critic of biographies, having read more than I can number. Happliy, Andre Soares' book is a well-written, intelligent and well-balanced account of the life of a man who was both complex and not always very smart in his choices. The book does what all good biographies SHOULD do: make you want to go out and find out more about the subject.

Among the many positive attributes to BEYOND PARADISE are:

* A balanced appraisal of Novarro's personal and professional strengths and weaknesses (this is a hopeless, gushing tome by a misguided fan)
* A willingness to analyze the facts without sensational exploitation of them
* Detailed research and substantive factual foundations
* A sincere (thought not always likeable) portrayal of Mr. Novarro
* A well researched documentation of the studio system that made and ultimately destroyed one of it's brightest stars who is, today, largely forgotten

I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it is one of the best biographies I have read in some years.

This is an incredibly riveting compelling read, and beyond being entertaining and informative, it's also a balanced thoughtful sensitive portrait of a fascinating human being and actor. Some celebrity biographies seem to have been written by people who can't stand their subject and some are written by people who are too in love with the subject to think clearly, but this one gives a nicely balanced account. We see here a man who was a very fine gifted talented actor, but who eventually became a has-been, for various reasons, who didn't always give his all to selecting the best projects because of his conflicting desire to have a career as an opera singer, and who was deeply torn over his genuine deep committment to his family, his Mexican roots, and his Catholic faith, and how he was also a gay man in a time and a society where that subject was strictly taboo. Even at the time of his murder by two young hustlers, gayness was still considered a psychiatric disorder. Because Ramon kept so much of his life private, this biography can't tell us everything about his personal life, but it is made clear he was:

A very talented actor (he was allowed more range and depth of roles than some of his other romantic leading man counterparts), a man who played to perfection a number of dream roles, most notably that of Judah Ben-Hur in the 1925 version of the screen adaptation of the General Lew Wallace novel, as well as starring with a number of great leading ladies;

A talented singer (even though his acting and singing careers conflicted multiple times and mutually hindered one another);

A devoted family man, deeply religious (he seriously wanted to enter a religious order at several points in his life), becoming the head of the household after his family immigrated to America, as the oldest surviving son in a family of originally twelve children, stepping into the shoes of his father, who had once been a successful dentist but became too ill to support his family during much of his life;

A good human being in spite of natural human flaws (such as his problems with drinking in his later years and several car accidents caused by his heavy drinking);

Someone who sometimes wasn't always the most agreeable person, as evidenced by when he was touring a play in England in the Thirties and getting catcalled by the audience who couldn't hear him, since Ramon had never learnt how to project his voice, being a screen and not stage actor, and actually stepped out of the play to catcall back, "Now, *I* can't hear *you*!"

Even though he is most remembered today for playing the title role in 'Ben-Hur' and for being murdered in his home on Halloween Eve 1968 by two young hustlers, which finally exposed to the public that which he had worked so hard to keep hidden and private (i.e., the fact that he was gay), he was so much more than either of those things, a deeply talented and flawed man. This biography truly does his life and character justice.