Book Description
This is the first complete, critical biography of Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), one of America's finest playwrights and the author of (among many important works) The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer, and The Night of the Iguana. Award-winning biographer Donald Spoto gives us not only a full and accurate account of Williams's life, he also reveals the intimate connections between the playwright's personal dramas and his remarkably autobiographical art. From his birth into a genteel Southern family, through his success, celebrity, and wealth, to his drug addictions, promiscuity, and creative struggles, Tennessee Williams lived a life as gripping as his plays. The Kindness of Strangers, based on Williams's own papers, his mother's diaries, and interviews with scores of friends, lovers, and professional associates, is, in the author's words, a portrait of "a man more disturbing, more dramatic, richer and more wonderful than any character he created."
Customer Reviews:
The Broken World of Tennessee Williams.......2000-04-29
The last words of the book, "at last there was stillness," exemplify Spoto's ability to capture the chaos of this genius's life. Although the book is somewhat fast paced and races over portions of Williamss life, it is meticulously researched and digs up every facet of Tennessee Williams. Spoto reveals the glory days of the pulitzer prize winning playwright and the nightmare of his last two decades in which he watched success wane as fastidious critics, ignorantly demanding that Williams continue to deliver plays in the vein of Glass Menagerie and Streetcar Named desire, beat him literally to death. One must have emotions of steel to get through the book's later chapters, in which Williams suffers a miserable descent into drug addiction and madness. Despite Williams's wealth and fame, the man lived a terribly difficult life. From his chaotic childhood to his drugged, alcoholic and lonely end, Williams's life was perhaps his greatest drama, as Spoto reveals.
A thorough life tour of "10," but with a sour thesis........2000-03-18
Yes, Tennesee Williams signed some of his letters as "10." That's just one of the many things you'll learn from reading Spoto's 1985 biography of this famous American playwright. More complete, thorough and sympathetic biographies have been issued since this one, but Spoto's is still worth reading. It has the virtue of concision (it runs about 400 pages, which for a crowded life like Williams had isn't long), at least. I don't argue with Spoto's view that Williams lived a largely miserable life, sank into rampant substance abuse, and hurt most of the people who cared for him. By the time he died, he couldn't get a good review for any new play he wrote. No one in the theater world liked him. It took his death for his career to start to recover, but at this point the late plays are getting better-reviewed productions, and the scope of his entire achievement (including his work in fiction and poetry) is finally being assimilated. From this distance, the only American playwright of the 20th century who might be put into the same class is O'Neill. I would vote for Williams. Anyone who reads this book will have to be willing to take Spoto's unsympathetic reading of Williams's life. At times he lectures the dead subject of the book like a prim schoolmarm (he did the same in his Hitchcock biography). The book is still a gripping portrait of one of the greatest, and saddest, literary giants America has produced. I believe the tragedy of his genius rivals Poe's.
Book Description
Bernard Fall wrote the classics Street Without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place, which detailed the French experience in Vietnam. One of the first (and the best-informed) Western observers to say that the United States could not win there either, he was killed in Vietnam in 1967 while accompanying a Marine platoon.
Written by his widow Dorothy, Bernard Fall: Memories of a Soldier-Scholar tells the story of this courageous and influential Frenchman, who experienced many of the major events of the twentieth century. His mother perished at Auschwitz, his father was killed by the Gestapo, and he himself fought in the Resistance. It focuses, however, on Vietnam and on two love stories. The first details Fall’s love for Vietnam and his efforts to save the country from destruction and the United States from disaster. The second shows a husband and father dedicated to a cause that continuously lured him away from those he loved. With a foreword by the late David Halberstam.
Customer Reviews:
If Only...........2007-07-15
If only the policy makers had paid attention to Bernard Fall during the run up to the full American combat involvement in the Vietnam war. So many lives could have been saved from destruction. Both Vietnamese and American. The basic ignorance and willfulness of the American leadership and their advisers led to this disastrous outcome.
Dorothy Fall has written a very loving and realistic account of her life with the great French/American war journalist, Bernard Fall. He was a man of great courage and many accomplishments. However, she also gives a full picture. Not only his virtues, but some of his shortcomings as well, are depicted in book.
I served briefly in Vietnam during 1968. I did so grudgingly with my eye on the exit sign during my abbreviated tour. Even at that time when I was at a very young age, I thought that the war effort by our side was probably doomed. The obvious hostility of the base workers from the local village--and this was supposedly a "friendly village"--did not bode well for the future. The lack of trust was a mutual condition. The average GI's attitude to the Vietnamese, that I heard, was often one of contempt colored with racist overtones. I think I heard "gook" used more often than "Vietnamese" in describing the Vietnamese. Hardly the stuff of "winning hearts and minds."
The winning of hearts and minds, though, was the only way the war was going to be won by our side. We won the battles with our great military power, but the Vietnamese, in general, did not want to abide us or the corrupt South Vietnamese government.
Bernard Fall understood all of this well before I had ever heard the name, "Vietnam." He knew that the French had lost their colonial war and that the Americans were making a colossal blunder of stumbling into the former role of the departed French. Ho Chi Minh was revered by most Vietnamese as the nationalist freedom fighter of Vietnam--much in the manner that we view George Washington. I think, we, the Americans were viewed by most Vietnamese as the new intruders and invaders of Vietnam. They saw us as the new, white colonialists. We really weren't though.... Instead, we were the great anti-Communist crusaders and containers of the Chinese. This motivation of ours is amusing given the great distrust and dislike of the Chinese by the Vietnamese because of the Chinese's long history of trying to control Vietnam. Another case of historical illiteracy on our part. Given the fierceness of Vietnamese nationalism and pride, I believe there really could only be one likely outcome from our involvement in the war.
Relating this to the Iraqi war, it's also tragic that we've had such incredibly poor leadership in this country from the Bush administration. A competent administration would have informed themselves more thoroughly about Iraqi culture and history and understood likely outcomes. An honest administration would not have lied the country into the Iraqi war in the first place. A similar, if less blatant charge of lying, could also be directed to the Johnson administration for our entry into Vietnam.
Dorothy Fall had a front row seat to view much of the follies of that Vietnam War era. Her husband, Bernard, should be honored by all of us who value hard work, clear and insightful thinking, courage, and absolute integrity. He was really an inspirational man. A very good book, well recommended.
A Book for Generations.......2007-03-04
This intimate portrait of Bernard Fall by his wife is a detailed reflection on the author and his collected works that will be read for generations by many of the world's military as well as politicians, reporters and others. It offers a personal vantage point into Fall's insights regarding the nature of insurgency warfare in Vietnam. This work leads the reader to reflect on why American leaders did not have the foresight to heed the author's warnings about the necessity to learn the history, culture and politics of a nation before leaping into war. In the latest case, Iraq. The profound depth and originality of Fall's work is confirmed by the detailed insights into the man and motives by his wife. One powrful aspect of this book is that is not pretentious. Jack Casserly longtime war correspondent and author of 10 books
A Unique View of a Fascinating Life.......2006-10-04
This book is a taut, lucid, sometimes emotional, but never sentimental account of a fascinating life - that of Bernard Fall. Of course, I had heard of Bernard Fall. What literate adult during the Vietnam War had not? But, unlike many, I had not read his books and certainly did not know his story. In his widow's eyes, the author of this book, Bernard was a soldier-scholar who devoted his life to the unyielding pursuit of truth. He was a tough guy. From age sixteen until age nineteen he fought against the Nazis as a member of the French resistence and then served in the French army. At age twenty he worked as an investigator assisting the Nuernberg tribunal. But during the Vietnam War, while popular with the military, he was a misguided missile in the mind of FBI Director Hoover. His phones were tapped. FBI surveillance was openly conducted. Government officials who spoke with Fall were subjected to FBI interviews suggesting that care should be taken with their associations. A lesser man would have been intimidated. Not Fall. And, of course, then as now the efforts to silence political critics with labels of "aid and comfort" to the enemy were wrong to the point of lunacy. For example after describing the Vietminh death march of French prisoners following the fall of Dien Bien Phu - Ms. Fall quotes Bernard's outraged response, ". . . it turns my stomach over what the Commies have done to our men. And it is kept secret for fear it'd upset the delicate apple cart in certain situations. Like hell - I'm gonna get some of this out and politics be damned. " [p. 118]
This book reveals some unmistakable lessons of history. Now, as a result of reading this book, I have purchased Street Without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place, which are venerated as Fall's masterpieces. I expect that the story of that terrible time will, in some ways, be more richly revealed in them. But Ms. Fall's book discloses personal details that will not be found in her husband's books. These give added meaning to her late husband's writings - and to his life. If you are interested in which lessons from the Vietnam era that should have been studied before and after America's invasion of Iraq, you definitely should read this book.
George W. Shadoan
Outstanding Scholar Portrayed by Outstanding Widow.......2006-09-21
I was lucky in that I got to see the first book presentation by Dorothy Fall on the day this book came out, September 18.
I used a number of Fall's books in my thesis on Vietnam over 20 years ago. As Dorothy stated, there are many lessons to learn regarding the war in Iraq and modern issues from what happened to Bernard Fall.
I was surprised to read how Bernard's mother was deported to Auschwitz, where she died. They were Jewish and living in Austria, fleeing to initially to France. They were given up by the Jewish community leaders, something Bernard never forgot. He claims to have murdered the French Jews responsible as the worst kind of collaborators. His father was eventually caught and killed by the Gestapo, which was why Bernard joined the resistance at 16. He made some interesting observations, in that killing Germans resulted in 50 French being killed in retaliation. the resistance switched to killing traitors and collaborators, which was much more effective. Toward the end of the war, Bernard was in the regular French Army and fighting with the Moroccans.
I was surprised that Bernard then worked for the Nuremberg Trials as a researcher, specifically the Krupp trials. He seemed to have come up with a great idea of producing maps and diagrams like a statistician. He would later use this technique to prove VC domination in Vietnam. He made maps that showed areas where the villagers did not pay taxes and also where the most assassinations were taking place.
The chapter "Howard" was another revelation. He really planted the seed with black students at this prestigious black university. Even Stokely Carmichael wrote glowingly about Fall as an influence. Even the late Ron Ridenhour, the Vietnam War soldier who broke the My Lai massacre by writing to congressmen (who blew him off), said he was inspired by Fall and had read his book Street Without Joy.
I was also surprised that Dorothy, an extremely gifted painter, drew the diagrams, maps, and pictures in that book. When Bernard interviewed Ho, he mentioned that his wife had drawn a picture of him for the book. Ho got excited and had him show it. He was impressed, then took the flowers out of the vase on the table, gave them to Bernard, and told him to kiss Dorothy on the cheek for him. Unfortunately, Bernard was killed in 1967 at age 40 when he stepped on a mine while on patrol with Marines.
The chapter Surveillance shows how out of control this government was. He was watched and the phone tapped by the FBI, just because he told the truth about the war and how badly it was going. The FBI tried to get the military to stop inviting him to speak, but they always stuck by him. Many job opportunities and visa rejections were put out by the FBI. Even many big national newspapers refused to print his reports. Dorothy, however, still seemed not to understand why the Washington Post refused to print his stories, while one Post reporter called Bernard a traitor.
Dorothy says there are many lessons for today. I totally agree. It's all here: positive spin over truth, a government out of touch with reality, corrupt politicians, and a weak American media. Strange how history repeats itself.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting and important
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Do Justice and Let the Sky Fall: Elizabeth F. Loftus and Her Contributions to Science, Law, and Academic Freedom
Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0805852328 |
Book Description
For more than 30 years, renowned psychological scientist Elizabeth F. Loftus has contributed groundbreaking research to the fields of science, law, and academia. This book provides an opportunity for readers to become better acquainted with one of the most important psychologists of our time, as it celebrates her life and accomplishments. It is intended to be a working text—one that challenges, intrigues, and inspires all readers alike.
Do Justice and Let the Sky Fall collects research in theoretical and applied areas of human memory, provides an overview of the application of memory research to legal problems, and presents an introduction to the costs of doing controversial research. The first chapter gives a sketch of Loftus’ career in her own words, and the remaining chapters color in that sketch. The final chapters of the book are more personal, and put a human face on a person who is held in such high esteem.
This multipurpose volume is intended to serve as a valuable resource for established scientists, emerging scientists, graduate students, lawyers, and health professionals.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and important.......2007-04-24
This is an edited book which includes articles by a fair number of well-known friends and colleagues of Beth Loftus. Some articles provide reviews research topics while others provide personal details.
The list of authors is impressive. Most of them are well-known cognitive scientists. I might add that these are REAL cognitive scientists, and not the over-zealous activists who pose as scientists in order to combat Loftus' solid scientific conclusions about memory. Here is a list of the authors/chapters: Preface (the editors). (1) Elizabeth Loftus, "Memory Distortions: Problems Solved and Unsolved." (2) Gordon Bower, Tracking the Birth of a Star. (3) Greg Loftus, Elizabeth F. Loftus: The Early Years. (4) M.S. Zaragoza, R.F. Belli, K.E. Payment, "Misinformation Effects and the Suggestibility of Eyewitness Memory." (5) Stephen Ceci, M. Bruck, "Loftus's Lineage in Developmental Forensic Research: Six Scientific Misconceptions About Children's Suggestibility." (6) H. Hayne, "Verbal Recall of Preverbal Memories: Implications for the Clinic and the Courtroom." (7) Henry Roediger, III, M.A. McDaniel, "Illusory Recollection in Older Adults: Testing Mark Twain's Conjecture." (8) D. Strange, S. Clifasefi, M. Garry, "False Memories." (9) J. McMurtrie, "Incorporating Elizabeth Loftus' Research on Memory Into Reforms to Protect the Innocent." Mahzarin Banaji, "Elizabeth F. Loftus: Warrior Scientist." Carol Tavris, "The Cost of Courage."
The cover is amusing, It includes a photo of BL (beaming, beautiful, highlighted in purple) with a bunch of her colleagues --all men and most now famous -- from Stanford in the 1960s. Fortunatetly, the editors fall short of calling this a Festschrift (it's a "Bethschrift.").
Many of the chapters provide excellent new summaries of research on specific topics. For instance, the Roediger & McDaniel chapter provides an excellent, brief discussion of research on memory distortions in older adults. The chapter is not about Loftus, but rather it is about a line of research that she inspired.
Loftus has had a powerful effect on cognitive and clinical psychology. The ongoing controversies and debates surrounding recovered/repressed memories are understandable. As a cognitive scientist and a clinician, I can certainly understand why these are volatile topics because I find myself in the middle of them frequently. But Loftus remains one of my heros, even when I don't like what she has to say. She's a first-rate cognitive scientist and experimentalist, and she tackles tough, important issues with insight and guts. All this was true BEFORE she took on the recovered/repressed memory issue, but she essentially stepped on a land mine when she took on that topic. She's one of the greatest psychologists of our generation, as far as I'm concerned.
Some of the following media (some of which I use in my classes) may be helpful when you are reading this book.
"False Memories" - (~1999), Discovery Channel, Films for the Humanities & Social Sciences (51 minutes, DVD)
Quicktime video of Loftus, UCI Today website (~2006) 2 minutes
"Beyond Belief" (Session 6), Quicktime video, Edge website, Bingham's The Science Network, 2006 ~20 minutes
"Contributions from the Study of Law and Psychology: Memory Research Applied to Real World Problems" 120 minutes, 1994, Quicktime, CCDL libraries
There's an Alan Alda special featuring Loftus, which may be available online...
There are plenty more... To be continued
Average customer rating:
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A Sheep Falls Out of the Tree: How Anyone Can Develop a Fantastic Memory
Christiane Stenger
Manufacturer: Cyan Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 190487925X |
Book Description
Frazzled students and harried workers will value this advice from a self-described "totally lazy" teen, who became motivated to train and develop her memory skills in order to have more free time away from school. Contending that a keen memory is not only essential for students and an asset in test-taking but also a major factor in confidence and self-esteem, the book's breezy tone and simple exercises invite anyone who feels anxious about memorization to relax and practice with the included activity charts and simple memory tests. The author's struggle to rise above her "below average" academic performance as a child to become a teen protégé, excellent student, and world champion in memory performance will offer inspiration to anyone who worries about memory lapses or the stress of trying to remember important details under pressure.
Customer Reviews:
Personal Opinion.......2005-10-10
The historical information in this book is fascinating. I loved the style of writing. I would recommend this book to any one interested in Irish history.
Memoir of a Vanishing Place.......1996-12-07
Falls Memories is really more of a collection of short pieces on
life in the Western corner of Belfast than a novel or history with
any coehsive theme. It is literally things Gerry Adams, President
of the political party Sinn Fein, remembers about the neighborhood
in which he grew up, or memories of those who lived in the area.
There is some attempt to give a brief history and political context
for the memories, but these sections are poorly integrated into the
narratives about his boyhood adventures, the characters in the area,
and the traditions of the Falls. The context pieces sound driven
(perhaps appropriately) by anger and frustration while the narratives,
even when describing violence or sectarian harassment, have a softer
feel to them.
Falls Memories is a valuable book, despite these shortcomings.
First of all, it chronicles life in an area that has literally
been obliterated in the last 25 years. As the Northern Ireland
government has torn down unfit housing and replaced it with more
sanitary and comfortable abodes they have erased many streets
from the map, replacing them with new layouts which meet new
security standards and are less emotionally charged with history.
Secondly, much of the book deals with day to day occurances which
might happen anywhere in the world - young boys sneaking into
movies, girls playing jump rope, adults telling stories abuot the
"good old days." Falls Memories serves as a reminder that the
people affected by the Troubles are not so much different than the
rest of us.
Book Description
With his extraordinary memory for detail, this 99-year-old first-time author and Cedar Falls native has painted a vivid word-picture of his childhood and youth in the small town of Cedar Falls, Iowa, population 5,012, during the earliest part of the 20th Century.
This chronicle bears witness to the unfolding of modern history, from childhood memories of Civil War veterans, the arrival of the first automobiles, aircraft, and radios in the midwest, the Buffalo Bill Wild West show, and working as a sound effects boy at screenings of the D.W. Griffith film, "Birth of a Nation", to the author's days as a Chicago cabbie in the Roaring Twenties, working his way to Europe on a cattle boat, Detroit during the Great Depression, running a store at Disneyland, and, finally, "retiring" and travelling the world.
Product Description
Stories, Poems, and Reviews.
Books:
- The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
- The Motley Fool's Investing Without a Silver Spoon: How Anyone Can Build Wealth Through Direct Investing
- The Mystic in the Theatre: Eleonora Duse (Arcturus Books, Ab108)
- The Royal Palaces of Spain
- The View from Here: Conversations With Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers
- The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Tenth Annual Collection
- Traveling Music : The Soundtrack to My Life and Times
- TV Repair for Beginners
- Two Amish Folk Artists: The Story of Henry Lapp & Barbara Ebersol
- Unreliable Memoirs (Picador Books)
Books Index
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Tom: The Unknown Tennesse Williams
Memoirs (New Directions Paperbook)
Tennessee Williams: An Intimate Biography
Conversations With Tennessee Williams (Literary Conversations Series)
Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937-1955 (Library of America)
