Customer Reviews:
Nice insight.......2007-02-07
It is not as easy a read as Stone's van Gog biography Lust For Life, but for fans, it's a deep book.
Vincent tells of how he went into the fields to paint, and then a rain storm came. He sought meager shelter behind a big tree while it lasted, and then resumed. And because he had started with a low vantage point, he now had to stand on his knees in the mud! He seems to merely mention this to point out why he considers common workman's clothes to be the artist's best friend...
He also tells how he went out to paint the sea, in a storm so strong he could barely stay on his feet. One painting got so full of sand from the beach that he went to a nearby inn and retouched it... and then went back out into the storm to finish it with fresh impressions!
Today, most of us: "Go out with the camera today? Nah, it's a bit nippy, and I just got the Sopranos on DVD..."
Irving Stone edited Dear Theo, and while he may have done a good job generally, I think it was a disservice to the material to not indicate where he cut it. It is just one long text, no dates and no indication where each quote starts or ends.
Let the reader beware - this is more novel than letters.......2005-04-22
I, like the many reviewers of this book, was enthralled and inspired by this collection of letters when I first read it 25 years ago. I have recommended it to many friends. At the time I would have given it five stars or even more if they were available. Irving Stone writes in his preface "My aim has been to edit the 1670 pages of material down to a swiftly flowing, continuous normal-sized book..." He succeeded but even 25 years ago I was a little disturbed by the complete absence of indications where exactly Mr. Stone had done his cutting, or his editing. Today, in the age of internet we can now do some easy checking. The unabridged letters are on the net and reveal that basically what this Dear Theo is, is another novel written by Irving Stone. There is almost no resemblance to the original letters. The novelist has used his talents and the raw material to create a beautiful saga. Worth reading, but let the reader beware.
A fire starter.......2002-11-03
These letters speak the truth of van Gogh. This book opens a window of knowledge on a man so misunderstood to the world. At 14, I absolutely am in love with this book. "Dear Theo" has ignited a fire in my soul, a burning desire to study art and the men behind the works.
Interesting and revealing.......2001-01-15
Vincent Van Gogh was a great painter, but not a writer. So these letters are of interest in terms of history and painting. The life of Van Gogh is better exposed here than it would have been in a "real" autobiography, because Theo, his younger brother, was the only real friend Vincent ever had. He was his supporter, admirer and listener, and in fact Vincent had an emotional dependence on his brother. People interested in the process of artistic creation and creativity will find this book of enormous value and interest, since Van Gogh speaks a lot about that process in himself, one of the greatest painters of all time. But it is true, as one reviewer said, that these letters include, each and every one, eternal whining and begging from Vincent to his brother. He was, of course, always out of money and, as a genius really disconnected from the common world, unable to make a living by conventional activities. So he depended almost entirely on Theo. I would like to insist in that, although by no means a literary accomplishment, these letters are worth reading, since they expose naked the soul of a great artist and an extremely sensitive man, certainly a tortured and twisted soul.
here's your unadulterated chance to see just how screwed..........2000-12-13
here's your unadulterated chance to see just how screwed up van gogh was. letter after letter after letter sitting on the pity pot writing to his younger brother whining for money, crying for assistance, guilting his brother into supporting his art...his art habit...his art addiction. ya know, after reading this book my perspective on van gogh changed. he struck me as an ultra-martyr (in the icky sense of the word), so big into self-pity. now, having since read a little more of his history - screwy parents, etc. - i have some more compassion for the guy and for why he was so screwed up, but these letters are honestly nothing short of tedious. one after the other, whining for money, then waxing eloquent about his art, which actually struck me often as quite manipulative - like he was justifying his existence and his productivity to theo.
anyway, i still think van gogh is a wonderful artist, but what a messed up life - can't miss that from these letters. but god, i wish they'd been even more edited. and one other thing - irving stone (the editor) thinks van gogh is one of the world's greatest writers and philosophers of all times, in addition to being the honcho primo artist. well, as for philosopher, sorry irving, no. the guy was miserable and depressed and lonely, and seemed to philosophize in his letters to just keep contact with the world, but his philosophy gets under my skin.
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Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story
Theo Aronson
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312051352 |
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Theo: The Other Van Gogh
Marie-Angelique Ozanne , and
Frederique De Jode
Manufacturer: Vendome Press
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ASIN: 0865652368 |
Book Description
Would Vincent have been Vincent without Theo?
Theo: The Other Van Gogh is a revealing biography of Vincent's stubbornly loyal younger brother. Shedding light on their profoundly intimate relationship, born in boyhood, the authors tell the poignant story of two brothers who had a profound impact on the art world.
Theo van Gogh, like Vincent before him, followed in the family tradition of art dealing and joined Goupil & Cie, one of the leading international art dealers in 1873. Goupil, recognizing his ability, transferred Theo from The Hague to Paris in 1880, where he developed influential friendships with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, and other emerging stars of the Parisian avant-garde. Shrewdly, Theo persuaded Goupil to exhibit Seurat, Signac, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Redon, Sisley and Degas, and purchased works by Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec for his own collection. His keen instincts regarding art would only be recognized long after his death when the world would discover and eventually greatly admire the artists he exhibited and supported.
In 1881, following a rupture with their father, Theo became Vincent's sole source of financial support despite his meager salary. Following the death of their father in 1886 Vincent and Theo lived together in Montmartre, the wild neighborhood in Paris that was home to scores of cafés and cabarets frequented by artists and writers. Theo's private life in Paris was extremely dissipated even by the Bohemian standards of the fin-de-siècle, and it was during this period that Theo presumably contracted syphilis, symptoms of which plagued him his entire life. Despite health problems and financial difficulties, he never deviated from his devotion and support of his brother. Their voluminous correspondence reveals Theo's encouraging words, giving his brother advice regarding his life and his art.
Backed by previously unpublished letters from the Van Gogh Museum archives, the publication of Theo brings a fresh eye to the family dynamics from which these two extraordinary beings emerged, and explores the unwavering, but complex affection between the two brothers. Once the younger brother who looked up to his successful elder but over time Theo became Vincent's caretaker and ally. If today we know the transcendent works of Vincent van Gogh, it is only because of Theo. Theo: The Other Van Gogh brings out of history's-and Vincent's shadow-a man as fascinating for his character and ability to love, as for his unique contribution to the history of art.
Average customer rating:
- Flawed Package
- Well written
- A diplomats reaction to the pressure of saving lives.
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Dangerous Diplomacy: The Story of Carl Lutz, Rescuer of 62,000 Hungarian Jews
Theo Tschuy , and
Simon Wiesenthal
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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Binding: Hardcover
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Saving the Jews
ASIN: 0802839053 |
Customer Reviews:
Flawed Package.......2004-01-14
After returning from a tour of Budapest last summer I returned eager to pick up the story of other diplomats, besides Wallenberg, and others involved in the rescue of jews during the Holocaust. Wallenberg seems to get the most attention probably due to his tragic end but we must remember all who acted in face of great danger. People such as Anger, Lutz, Perlasca and other who were denied proper tribute in the period immediately following the war. My problem with this book is that it lacks notes and an index. Tschuy's account of Lutz published in German may include the needed footnotes but you will not find them here. Readers looking for a documented account should look elsewhere.
Well written.......2001-07-20
Well written and intense story of a true hero. Theo Tschuy spent numerous years and traveled behind the iron curtain to conduct research for this book. He met Carl Lutz personally and considered Mr. Lutz's story too tremendous to not write about
The book flows easily and is a must for history buffs everywhere. Thanks, Uncle Theo!
A diplomats reaction to the pressure of saving lives........2001-01-31
This book represents a very thorough research into the exact details of a rescue operation. As we have been fed countless stories with vastly inflated numbers, this book is a breath of fresh air. The author utilizes his research of archives held by the Swiss government and never before available. The story unfolds of the efforts made by Carl Lutz in saving lives in what is possibly the largest rescue operation of World War II. Without embellishing the heroics of Consul Lutz we are given the details of this story in a very readable fashion. This book authenticates the real number of survivors in Budapest, Hungary based upon the known number found following the war. Prior to this we have been given arbitrary numbers that always total more than the actual number of survivors. This book is a breath of fresh air for the serious reader of Holocaust activities This leaves the reader feeling that indeed there are good people in this world, and that Carl Lutz was one of them. I strongly recommend anyone interested in Holocaust or humanistic stories to read this book.
Customer Reviews:
Into the King's bedroom we go.......2006-06-03
You just can't go to the source and find out what it was like to have an affair with King Edward VII in the height of the Gilded Age. Those women wrote books about their lives, but left out all the juicy details. So this is the book that gives you interesting details about how to conduct oneself as the King's "favorita.' The King himself was such an interesting character, nothing like his workaholic mother (Queen Victoria) and father (Prince Albert). In fact, he was a playholic, earning the nickname "Edward the Caresser." He loved hanging out with nouveau riche and "society," and loved to see women partying in their dazzling thousand-dollar Worth dresses, but King Edward politely decreed that women should wear new dresses at ever ball. One of the book's funniest anecdotes is told byh actress Lillie Langtry, who described the only quarrel she ever had with the king: She wore a silver and white gown to two balls in success, not knowing the king would be at both. When he saw her at the second one, he said "That damned dress again!"
Book Description
Here is a touching and funny memoir of how one mans life became interwoven with the Royal family. While also a reflection on royalty and writing, the gems youll discover along the way are hilarious descriptions of lunching on a scotch egg (and Scotch) with Margaret, bizarrely gracious teas with the Queen Mother, tales of the ageing aunts in Kensington Palace and much more.
Customer Reviews:
Royal Subject is "Revenge".......2001-12-28
After hearing Theo Aronson talk about the pending publication of his latest book on a radio show, I hastened to order it. It sounded like it would be a lively insider's account of less-known incidents and anecdotes about the British Royal Family. Instead it turned out to be a thinly-disguised autobiography of Mr. Aronson with very few interesting stories and some very hissy jabs at the Windsor family. Perhaps his other biographies may be more interesting, but this one was very disappointing.
An Affectionate But Realistic View.......2001-10-15
Theo Aronson is a well known biographer of European royalty past and present. Royal Subjects is a description in diary form of twenty years or so of contacts with British Royals both well known (The Queen Mother, Prince Charles) and almost unknown (Colonel Sir Henry and the Lady May Abel Smith). Aronson clearly enjoyed meeting these people and likes most of them quite a bit, but he is not blind to their character flaws and is on the whole refreshingly unidolatrous. (Not to say he isn't loyal, as he obviously has little truck with republican sentiment)
Royal Subjects will appeal to you even if you are not a royal aficionado because Aronson very humorously describes the day to day sillinesses he puts up, from inane phone calls and letters to being interviewed by people who have obviously not read his books. Most appealingly of all, Aronson never takes himself or his subjects too seriously, even when he has to deal with prostate cancer. He has had a full life which he has enjoyed immensely, and you will enjoy this glimpse of part of it, too.
"A Jewel of a Book" says the Sunday Times of London..........2001-08-24
Based on the annotated information in the journals he's kept for years, Theo Aronsono has written a light and interesting book on the English Royals. As he's interviewed many of them for his other books, this is a chronoligical walk through his memories (from 1979 to the present). It's fascinating. I ordered this book after I heard an interview with him on the radio. It arrived yesterday, and I read it in its entirety last night. If you're interested in the Windsors, this is a slice of life from a man who doesn't pull any punches. And yet he still remains a gentleman. I really enjoyed it.
Average customer rating:
- Fantastic! An outstanding book. Read this Now. 10+
- A great read. Great writing, great stories, & funny, too!
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Headline Justice: Inside the Courtroom : The Country's Most Controversial Trials
Theo Wilson
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1560251085 |
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic! An outstanding book. Read this Now. 10+.......1997-04-22
Theo Wilson covered the great trials in this country from the 50's through the 80's. She spent 10 years preparing this book. Sadly, she died just as the promotional tour was scheduled to begin with an appearance on Tom Snyder's show.
Theo's voice, a delight to her many friends, comes through loud and clear. It's hard to decide which is more enjoyable, the many funny annecdotes or the numerous pithy and insightful comments on some of the most famous trials in our lifetimes.
Theo was maybe 5 feet tall, but she was a giant as a writer. She lit up every room she was ever in. She also didn't take any guff. While covering Charlie Manson's trial, he tried to intimidate her during a recess in the trial. She said "Oh, Charlie. Grow up!"
You owe it to yourself to get this book. Ignore the hard-to-get warning. I saw the publisher yesterday (4-20-97) at the LA Times Festival of Books, and they still have plenty of them. Look for Linda Deutsch, Theo's best friend, on the Today show next week. Linda has decided to complete the promotional tour for the book since Theo is unable to. Linda is the AP's premier court reporter. You'll recognize her from the O.J. trial where she was the only journalist not to get kicked out by Judge Ito.
A great read. Great writing, great stories, & funny, too!.......1997-04-07
Theo Wilson was the best reporter of her time, and this book gives her insight into major stories she covered: Jack Ruby, Charles Manson, Patty Hearst and many others. Wilson has a way of making you feel you are right next to her in the courtroom, noticing the details that make a story come alive. When heiress Hearst was on trial, for example, Wilson noted that her millionaire parents sat close to the defense table, but "there never was, during those long weeks, a spontaneous gesture of affection, a hug, a kiss, a hand reached for...They were living through the same nightmare but they could not share its terrors." Theo Wilson was known as the dean of reporters over a 40-year period, most of them for the New York Daily News. Journalists are not held in high regard today, but this book shows how honorable and responsible reporters can be. At the same time, she brings into view the reporter's world while the story is being chased and after the deadlines met. Theo Wilson had many adventures -- some funny, some poignant-- during her career. Reading about them is just plain fun
Book Description
Get an inside look at the fun, the fights and the loves as these young Marine Radiomen work on Vieques Island, PR, and pull liberty in New York, San Juan, Havana and other ports.
Customer Reviews:
Vieques Island, A Few Good Men on Radio Hill.......2005-05-04
Notice: This book is not for kids. Now that the US Navy has pulled out of Vieques Island, one of the highest peaks on the Island will never be the same. Reports are that Vieques has never developed as it was anticipated. A comparison to Vieques Island might be Dominica, however Vieques certainly had more night life in the dark than Dominica has today under the lights. Just reading the chapter titled "The Woman in the Red Dress," will set the average female reader aflame with passion. This is the perfect book for your Pastor's wife to keep at her bedside, because the cover does not give away the passionate life of the young, hot-blooded Marines of the Cold War, serving in the years 1952 and 1953. Vieques is just a short hop from San Juan or St. Thomas, and any time a small Navy boat headed for these weekend liberty ports, a few of the Marines from Radio Hill could be seen boarding, dressed in their class A khaki uniforms, ready for a hot time in Hispanic Caribbean towns. The things these young men did would have them court-maritaled for years if they were serving in Iraq. Read about old John, the native of Vieques, who brought them bananas, soda pop, Don Q Rum, and other contraband, as well as hot Hispanic Senoritas from Isabel Segunda. You'll want to catch the next flight to San Juan!
Five Stars for History that Otherwise would be Lost.......2005-03-23
Memoirs like this one provide the only look available on small bits of American military life. Generally, they are privately published and done many years after the fact at the request of friends or family.
Two other examples are The Belles of Shangri-La and Korea Between the Wars.
Belles of Shangri-La, The by George Abraham is a memoir by a U.S. Army doctor stationed with black American soldiers in Liberia during WWII. They were guarding the Firestone rubber plantation.
Korea Between the Wars: A Soldier's Story by Fred Ottoboni is a memoir about a young man serving during the post war US military occupation of what became the Republic of Korea.
I appreciate the service done by the authors of these books in writing them. Five stars for history that otherwise would be lost.
There are many books available about WWII and the Korean War but you won't find many about GIs in Liberia or the 1945-48 US military occupation of Korea. And this book is the only one that includes a view of what it was like being a young marine assigned to Vieques 50 years ago.
The military bases on either end of Vieques are gone now leaving the former military land--purchased from its owners shortly before the US entered WWII--almost entirely pristine and still under federal care, meaning no development. Not surprisingly, and in a typical Pyrrhic victory for the looney left, Naval Station Roosevelt Roads closed soon after the Navy left Vieques, devastating the economy of eastern Puerto Rico. Nice going, guys.
Customer Reviews:
What a mob. . . ........2005-09-17
There's a famous painting by Tuxen (reproduced on the jacket of this fat volume) of Victoria's family gathered around her at the time of her Golden Jubilee in 1887; the crowd fills the royal drawing room. During those celebrations, the women of the family filled ten carriages while the men, including a number of ruling and future monarchs, made up an impromptu cavalry troop. Aronson is an old and skilled hand at producing popular biographies of European dynasties and he uses Victoria's position as matriarch of a vast royal clan to construct an overview in the late 19th and early 20th century of Europe's ruling families on ten thrones, from London and Madrid to Athens and St. Petersburg. This is also a personal and domestic study, focusing on court life, rather than a political history, and it is limited to only the first generation, not their heirs to the present day -- which also means that, except for the future Edward VIII, the author is concerned mostly with Victoria's daughters and granddaughters who married into other royal houses. The author's style is easy and his insights and judgments are astute, making this a good introduction to the modern monarchies of Europe.
An excellent overview of the lesser know branches.......1998-10-27
This book has helped me on more than one occasion, to sort out Queen Victoria's huge family. The book only rates four stars, because I dislike the way it is organized. But the information, as well as the detailed lineage is wonderful. Many of Mr. Aronson's books are out of print, but I find them quite frequently at the Strand in NYC or other used bookstores.
Average customer rating:
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Cartas A theo/ Letters to Theo (Biografias Y Testimonios / Biographies and Testimonies)
Vincent Van Gogh
Manufacturer: Adriana Hidalgo Editora
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 9879396316 |
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The Village of Longing
George O'Brien
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0140113495 |
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The Village of Longing
George O'Brien
Manufacturer: Blackstaff Press
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ASIN: 0856405191 |
Books:
- Draw Me a Star (Paperstar Book)
- El Principe de los mendigos (Debolsillo)
- Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America
- Everything and Nothing : The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy
- Evita - Imagenes de Una Pasion
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
- Flyboys: A True Story of Courage
- Gary Cooper: American Hero
- Gaudi - the Complete Buildings (Midsize)
- Giacometti: A Biography of his Work
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- Irish Lace: A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel
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- Conceiving Companies: Joint-stock Politics in Victorian England
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Lust for Life
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh (Penguin Classics)
Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings (Klotz)
Stranger on the Earth: A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh
Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh
