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In prose as straightforward and at times as brutal as his style in the ring, former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta wove together an unforgettable autobiography: first published in 1970, Raging Bull was violent, candid, primitive, smart, and altogether powerful. It still is. His story, adapted for the screen in 1980 by Martin Scorsese in the Oscar-winning film starring Robert De Niro, is filled with anger--at his father for beating him, at the neighborhood he grew up in, at the petty criminal he became, at the Mob that tried to keep him from the title because he wouldn't take a dive--and real candor about the dive he did take (out in the real world when his boxing career was over). While most of LaMotta's anger was self-directed, he harnessed enough of it to power him to 83 victories in 106 fights, and a two-year hold on a championship belt. His recounting of his ring wars with Sugar Ray Robinson and Marcel Cerdan remain as convincingly primal on the page as they were in the arena.
Customer Reviews:
A written TKO.......2007-01-10
"Bull" is one of the most powerful biography's written. La Motta went step by step relaying his life story, in a transparent way. He not only draws us in round by round to him being on the top of the world, he also clearly gives the reader his blow by blow decent into hell, and even worse for a showman, anonymity. He became a nobody, because of his unhealthy actions.
I for one give La Motta a tremendious amount of credit, for coming to terms with his greatest opponent and knocking him on the mat, himself.
The movie is equally as engrosing.
Great read.
A Page Turner - More Like A Page Pounder.......2004-09-19
A Page Turner - More Like A Page Pounder
Reading this book I felt like Sugar Ray Fighting La Motta - couldn't put it down -
OK - that's a stretch, but you get the idea. I could not put this book down. It reads like a bull charges. A little bit of wind up - I'd say the first 19 pages - then it's a charging bull.
Jake's story is much more than what the movie shows and is different.
As we all know and heard so many times - the book is always better than the movie and again it's very true here - the book is Jake's exact story not changed one hair for Hollywood. It's such an intense, real and gritty story.
It starts off in Jake's childhood as a tuff Bronx kid taking a beating from his father and the world - and as he got older the beatings continue and get worse - the biggest beatings coming from himself.
La Motta is brutally honest and doesn't try to hide anything or paint himself in a special light. It's a powerful and straightforward look at his life, his heart and a candid look at the sport of boxing back then.
It's a great book, you'll pound through the pages like a raging bull.
The Greatest Sport Yarn Ever Told.......2004-04-06
There just isn't another biography/autobiography involving an athlete that can measure up to RAGING BULL.
The book depicts self-hate and the self-destruction that goes with it in the kind of succinct style you expect from a ghetto-bred boxer. What sets it apart though is that what one finds between the lines is often more revealing than the lines themselves.
Jake's method of confessing to grotesque acts without the vocabulary of rationalization says volumes about the pathologies behind them. Instead of getting lost in Freudian buzzwords, La Motta recounts his life in terms that sum up and surpass every treatise on self-destruction ever written.
No need for Psychology 101. RAGING BULL is the real textbook on the subject.
Raging Bull, an unblievably believable sad and joyous story.......2004-02-10
Jake La Motta is a vicious monster. Both inside the ring and outside the ring. Growing up in the slums of the Bronx,
Jake was not loved or cared for by his father, who frequently beat him for no reason or explanation. His mother
was loving to Jake, but his father beat her too. Jake channeled all this abuse, both physical and neglect, and turned
into a thug as a teenager because what else could he do. He believed he was to have been a murderer, for bashing a bookie over the head with a pipe,and suffered for many years afterwards with self inflicting torment and abuse and anguish to all around him. While as a teen, Jake the thug turned into a life of petty crime and was sent to a reform school. While at reform school, the only thing Jake could find interesting was the gym, where he practiced and developed as a boxer. When Jake was released from reform school, he vowed to himself never to go back to jail and to try and change his way. Jake soon began to compete amateurishly with boxing, and then shortly
thereafter turned pro. While he was a freight train inside the ring, Jake was a train wreck in his personal life.
Jack's life consisted of no one he could trust. Not his best friend Pete, his wives, his brother, and especially the mob.
He battered his boxing opponent into oblivion, he battered his wives unconscious, and battered his friends if you would
even call them friends. Yes Jake was this violent. His second wife Vickie, is main wife in this book was a saint, during and after their marriage. Jake beat everyone in the ring he could. Sometimes he'd lose, not on purpose, but as a result to his mannerisms prior to a fight, which were mostly self inflicting. After 8 years of boxing pro, and going no where, Jake relented to turning to the mob for a shot at the middleweight
belt. In 1949, Jake was champ. They day after he was champ, he life went into the gutter. A good for nothing bum kid from
the Bronx, he was destined to never amount to not even spit on the sidewalk, was now the champion of the world! How was this. Well Jake's demons came forth the night he won the championship, and what he feared he'd done as a kid, was not true. Believed to be a murderer as a teen, Jake drove himself insane with pain, fear, guilt, and anger, and the only way he could channel all that negative energy was to box. Well, who he thought he killed long ago was actually alive and well and he couldn't believe it. From there on, Jake lost the spark and the fire to what drove him to be the champ, and a year and a half later after defending his title twice was belted by quite possibly
the bloodiest boxing match my eyes ever seen on February 14th 1951 to Sugar Ray. Jake got massacred by the 13th round. (if you ever get a chance to actually see that fight, seeing is believing!!!). Jake's trip into hell began in Oct 1949, after winning the belt, and he took his first steps descending into hell after he retired from boxing in 1953. His move to Miami added to the catastrophe, his wife divorced
him, he fooled around alot, he ballooned to well over 200 lbs, drank and dabbled with drugs, his business crumbled due to a prostitution charge of a minor, and once again Jake ended up in jail. Serving 6 months, Jake finally prayed to the man upstairs for forgiveness, and released from prison, Jake wanted to vindicate himself. Leaner, cleaner, and this time for certain destined to clean up his act. After prison, Jake was a whistle blower in boxing and spilled the beans about the fight set up he needed to do to become the champ. After that, Jake remarried, although it ended up unsuccessful, Jake tried, and it appears he was not abusive to his 3rd wife. After dabbling
in acting and plays, Jake found solace in performing again, but on stage instead of a ring. There were some set backs. But nothing as shocking and more disturbing as the first 22 chapters. And by 1970 Jake was acting in b-films.
In conclusion, Jake La Motto is a vicious monster. But who could blame him. I don't. Jake will blame himself, and yes, many of the horrific things he did in his youth were unacceptable and just downright unethical. But Jake never was given a chance at life. Not by his family anyways, he was raised by the mean streets of the Bronx, his family was the streets, and it was mean, and Jake was meaner. Jake was never loved as a child, and without that love, he never trusted
anyone, ever! Many success stories, or dreams come true stories are about love and trust. Jake has neither. This is a sad story, a truly sad story, of a man who struggled to make it on his own, and did make it on his own, and just threw it all away because he didn't any know better because no one showed him.
Personally, I believe Jake LaMotta to be the best middleweight boxer ever! I mean ever! For all his wrongs, he did something right, and box right he did. Jake gave boxing so many memorable upsets, so many memorable knockouts, and most importantly memorable comebacks, both inside the ring and outside the ring. Jake is a champ, and a monster, but I would never say that too his face unless I want to keep mine on my head.
Onto Raging Bull II, the continuing story...Highly Recommended!
Brutally Honest!.......2003-09-27
The life of Jake LaMotta was brought to the screen by Martin Scorcese in 1980, and gained immense respect for the gritty life of boxer Jake LaMotta. The book written several years prior is a roller coaster emotional ride by a very disturbed individual trying so hard to make the best of his life. Very well written and descriptively perfected.
From his tough upbringing, to his escapades as a young man, to his fight for boxing fame, LaMotta punched his way thru leaving victims behind and not too many friends to show for. Like many movies, book facts were left behind that should have been included. Here are few:
His friend Pete, (who was fused in the movie with his brother Joey) was an important person in LaMotta's life. Their wild times as petty thieves, to their separation.
Jake's brief time in prison (Juv), where he and fellow boxer Rocky Graziano meet up. This is where Jake decides to become a boxer.
And unfortunately, Jake's despicable side; the murderer and the rapist.
Jake LaMotta's book portrays his life so honest and brutal, that you almost feel like you are his sidekick during his highs and lows. One rejoices when Jake wins the title, but is horrifed at his domestic actions. Jake is an easy guy to dislike while reading this book, but the nature and feel of this book does its job.
Book Description
Twentieth-Century America offers a succinct, comprehensive, and objective examination of recent American history. From Progressivism and the New Deal up to the present, Reeves covers all aspects of American history without burying students in unnecessary detail and trivia. This allows students to grasp the major developments and continuities of American history and to come away with a cohesive picture of the twentieth century. From William McKinley and the Wright Brothers to Michael Jordan and Monica Lewinsky, Reeves lays bare the whole of the twentieth century with an interpretation that strives for an unbiased and accurate presentation of the real story of American history. The author conveys vivid accounts of the changes in the political arena, public policy, popular culture, industry, economy, race, gender, and class that defined the times, and explores the great strides made in technology, living standards, working conditions, and education. He stresses social as well as political and economic history, emphasizing the roles played by all Americans--including immigrants, minorities, women, and working people--and pays special attention to such topics as religion, crime, morality, public health, national prosperity, and the media. Reeves presents both sides of controversial subjects and is careful to point out which interpretations were most strongly supported. The recommended readings at the end of each chapter have been specifically selected to appeal to students and to acquaint them with the most readable and provocative books on each era. For a clear and fascinating look at the often exciting and always important history of the United States, Twentieth-Century America is an indispensable text for all students interested in a lucid historical overview of this country's past one hundred years.
Customer Reviews:
Brief History.......2007-05-07
I was unsure I could get much from such a brief history of 20th century America. It was exceedingly comprehensive and hit upon the key events of the century. The book was not a complicated read so those without a large American History background would find it interesting and well paced.
it was good for what i needed it for.......2001-11-05
i needed the book for a project and it really helped me for that particular reason. the content was full of interesting and helpful facts pertaining to the history of the united states. i was looking for a book of this exact format, one that was not too long but still held all the important information i sought out. i was looking for a book that would still leave me time for everything else in my busy schedule, yet still provide me with all the great info. i am definatly not a college student, which is for whom the book was made. but i found that it still helped me out quite a bit. so if u have a project or if you just plain are interested in learning the history of your country, i would reccomend this book. Reeves is a great author for a younger people as well.
100 years in 300 pages.......2000-01-23
Kirkus acts as if Reeves' book is biased, when it is clear ITS' critic has the ax to grind. The book is actually noteworthy for its objectivity - impossible in any written history - but this may be as close as it gets. Try to sum up 100 years of dynamic history in 300 pages sometime. Reeves has done an exemplary job.
Solid History Solidly Told.......2000-01-16
The first thing I wanted to know, after reading this fine book, was who in the hell reviewed it for Kirkus and how often do they let him out of the state hospital to rant and rave like that. The hatchet job done by the Kirkus review of Reeves fine study seems unethical and self-indulgent. Somebody remind that writer that the 60s are over. Reeves' view of the 50s is hardly unconventional. As for Rosa Parks, in the 50s she felt confident enough to stay in her seat on that Birmingham Bus and the boycott ended in integration of the bus system. Brown vs. Board of Education was in the 50s, a polio cure was found, and on and on. This is a noteworthy and highly readable and provocative book.
Kirkus is wrong!.......1999-11-25
I took classes with Thomas Reeves while an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. I know Thomas Reeves. Kirkus, obviously, does not. Nowhere in this splendid read have I found the zealot that Kirkus makes him out to be! Are we reading the same text?
Reeves takes us on a "brief" trip through 20th century America, providing short, useful bibliographies for more in depth analysis at the end of each chapter. His writing is sharp and easily digestible. And, given that this is written by an elder historian at the height of his craft, it is a welcome relief to not be stopped every five minutes by a footnote, a sign that tells us the author knows his subject matter.
Like stepping in the classroom all over again . . . and loving it!
Customer Reviews:
utterly amazing!.......2007-03-09
One of the most original and surprising pieces of writing I've read in a long time. If you like daring, inventive work that's often completely hilarious, don't pass this one up.
Read this rubbish if only to know what the "other side's" cooking up..........2007-01-07
Yeah, sure, I'll admit that author Patrik Ourednik knows his stuff.
Even in translation, the crux of his argument shines through. Power to Mr. Gardner for the witty translation into English, and for keeping the spirit of the piece alive from the original Czech language. I enjoyed the style of this write, and Ourednik definitely takes the enjoyment of his audience seriously. Not only does he know his stuff, but he also knows how to present it in a form which is not merely informative, but entertaining as well. You can just tell from the opening lines that this one's going to be a winner.
But not all entertainments are just. Ourednik puts across a manipulative agenda, "par excellence," folks, inside these here pages.
And so that's where my enjoyment of his EUROPEANA ended. My interest suddenly wore off as the number of liberties Ouredink took with his false prose shot up into the stratosphere.
In that style so typical of his countrymen--and by "countrymen," I'm referring to France, not the Czech "Republic" (
<--whatever the you-know-what *that* means?)--Ourednik is obsessed by the Jewish phenomenon. So great is Ourednik's fascination with Jews, that he puts across a number of alarming presumptions that--left to the whims of a potentially impressionable young and hungry readership--would lead an ignoramous to believe that what Ourednik jots in black and white is actually true.
In proportions which totally stagger, Ourednik invests inordinate amounts of time debunking what he seems incontrovertibly convinced is the false attribution of the Holocaust by the global Jewish collective as one of the 20th century's singularly heinous crimes committed in Europe. Jews are deluded, Ourednik says, and so is the world lobby of the Jewish community for instituting ritualized rememberance of the tragedy.
Shocking.
So let's see...does Ouredink concentrate at all on the atrocities committed in the following locales:
** Cambodia and Pol Pot of the late 1970s?
** Nigeria, and the 1960s civil war (Biafra)?
** Argentina's "dirty war" during the late 70s?
** Idi Amin's purges of Uganda's then populous Asian community?
** Aceh in Indonesia?
** the Balkans?
Nope.
In that xenophobic style which is the so-called French "republic's" perennial calling, Ouredink has gobbled up the Gallic drivel "hook, line, and sinker" and prances these various falsehoods around within the pages of this short read like a proud peacock. Masquerading as scholarly discourse, Ourednik's take on Jews would make the likes of David Irving, Norman Finkelstein, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Noam Chomsky proud. All of them together in a hottub, in fact.
Why is Europe so obsessed by Jews? Destroying, persecuting, baiting, emasculating and obliterating the precious Jewish communities which dwelled in its midst for centuries doesn't seem to be enough. Leaving Jews to their own devices in their homeland of Israel isn't enough either.
Ourednik performs the maestro's work of dragging the memory of the millions perished over the centuries through the proverbial muck--couching his clear-cut Jewish resentments in high-falootin' discourse that dare to appeal to the intellect. The most dangerous kind of propaganda, in my opinion. And who else but the French, yet again, who are the most strident proponents of this of this doctrine?
So I have the following things to say in conclusion.
France? Thank your lucky stars for Uncle Sam. Without him, your goose would have been cooked several times over during two global conflagrations.
The rest of you? Read this piece of garbage, but don't buy it. See if you can get someone else to shell out the funds for you, preferrably some clueless boob, or perhaps even get Ourednik to send you a copy at his expense, complete with autograph. Don't waste money on this (and wait until I take my copy back to the man who recommended it to me...and I'm going to place it where photosynthesis doesn't happen!).
Read this yarn to know how the "other side" thinks.
Read it to know how--if left to the devices of men like Patrik Ourednik--the world would go on thinking that the Holocaust never happened, and it was one big falsehood which so-called World Jewry wanted to lay over the rest of us, and how Jews are responsible for every single miserable thing that goes down in the world, or how when you can't find a suitable enough causation for why something bad happens, just pluck the old Jewish bugaboo out of the ether and suffocate poor embattled (or isolated) Jewish communities with it.
A four-star read, only for its salaciousness. EUROPEANA is pure rubbish. Ourednik--jdi do prdele (muzu tykat, hajzl?)--and go back to school.
Where is Masaryk when we need him?
--ADM in Prague
Genre-Bending.......2006-08-23
Europeana -Patrik Ourednik
At the end of Europeana Ourednik observes that, "memory is renewed wheras history removes the legitimacy of the living past by fixing it in time." I say observes because hardly in this unique work could I say that Ourednik writes, yet, at the same time, his observations have such ringing aesthetic dignity to them that this is undoubtedly a work of art rather than a textbook or any other expository chuck at history. Ourednik has created a memorial rather than a museum, living in the flux of memory rather than the stronghold of history. His observations are so quick and poignant that they are more caustic than nauseating (MTV) and more unsettling than tedious (CNN). I compare him to television not because he resembles it, but because he comes close to what in television is possible yet rarely attained.
Ourednik attends detailed horrors and tongue-in-cheek sidebars with the same cool, glib composure, for example, "Above the entrance to the Buchenwald concentration camp was the sign EVERYONE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES." A note that is read so quickly and so deeply ensconced in a two-page paragraph that it is almost glossed over. But it's not. Rather than glossing over these thousand and one facts, it is the unpartisan details that gloss over the reader, showering us in horror and humor alike. The potency of the Buchenwald sign is given no precedence over, "And no one wanted to be poor anymore and everyone wanted to have a refrigerator and a cordless telephone and a dog and a cat and a tortoise and a vibrator and take part in sports and attend psychoanalysis."
or,
"And young people looked toward the future and the wind ruffled the ears of corn and the sun rose on the horizon."
And the book reads in about two maniacal hours.
An unforgettable trip through the 20th Century.......2005-04-30
Born in 1957, Ourednik grew up in Prague under the Communist regime. This short volume is a history of the 20th century; the narrative is presented from the point of view of one who has lived under politcal duress. The plot: the relationship between the individual, institutional and political events that determine his or her interaction and place. Ourednik does a fantastic job of describing a large scale event, the Holocaust, and then descends into the particular. One of the most horrifying moments is when a young man, German returning from the war, discovers that his ex was Jewish. His friends tease him that he has been washing himself with fat made from her dead body. He goes mad and is institutionalized. A cheery bedtime story for all.
Note, this is a narrative, not a "novel," but is well worth the read.
Book Description
Written by a diverse group of scholars who bring their regional expertise together, this unique and comprehensive text uses organization as a key tool to help students appreciate this important period in global history. Its clear prose weaves basic factual information and analysis to create a ‘student-friendly' text while still allowing for professors' personal interpretation. An introductory chapter introduces five key topics or themes whose influence on the various developments and events in the twentieth century are chronologically discussed throughout the text. More analysis, less detail and refined prose combine with new and retained features to make the 6th edition of 'The Twentieth Century: A Brief Global History' a best selling text for the 20th Century World course.
Customer Reviews:
Good book.......2006-11-23
I bought this book for a college course and ended up reading almost all of it. It presents the subject matter very well and is well-written. I don't even really like History all that much and this book had me reading it.
Book Description
Twentieth Century Europe, A Brief History is a concise, affordable text in one volume. Though mainly political in focus, the narrative is enriched by thoughtful descriptions of major artistic movements--introducing readers to important figures in literature, visual arts, music--and the emergence and growth of popular culture in its many forms.
Other features include twenty-six photographs, some appearing for the first time in print, original maps, charts, annotated lists of books and films at the end of each chapter, and two appendices, one on additional sources for European history--including mention of helpful CD-Roms, videotapes, and web sites--and the other providing a handy reference to abbreviations and acronyms.
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Brief Lives: Twentieth-Century Pen Portraits from the Dictionary of National Biography
Colin Matthew
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
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General
| British
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Women
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General
| Business & Investing
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20th Century
| British
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ASIN: 0192800892 |
Book Description
Drawn from the archives of The Dictionary of National Biography and collected for the first time in a single volumes, Brief Lives consists of 150 sharply drawn profiles of the men and women who have helped shape British national life this century. From Harry Lauder to Jacqueline du Pre, W. H. Auden to the Duchess of Windsor, these profiles combine wit and insight with lively and entertaining prose, anecdote, and private information. Discover: Kingley Amis on Sir John Betjeman Michael Kitson on Sir Anthony Blunt Stephen Spender on W. H. Auden Richard Ellmann on T. S. Eliot Yehudi Menuhin on Jacqueline du Pre Alan Bennett on Russell Harty Donald Trelfold on Sir Len Hutton David Cecil on Virginia Woolf
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Notes on American literature: From colonial times to the twentieth century, with a brief anthology
Susana C Barrancos
Manufacturer: Acme Agency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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General
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| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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United States
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ASIN: B0007BMBIQ |
Books:
- Requiem for Battleship Yamato (Bluejacket Books)
- Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
- Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms: A Lifetime of Memories from Striking Out the Babe to Teeing It Up With the President
- Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume II (5th Edition)
- Strength And Honor: The Life Of Dolley Madison
- Taking Responsibility for the Past: Reparation and Historical Injustice
- The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East)
- The Alamo: An Illustrated History
- The Apprentice Mage, 1865-1914 (W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. 1)
- The Bear's Embrace: A True Story of Survival
Books Index
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