Book Description
The extraordinary saga of Mother Angelica, founder of the multimillion-dollar Eternal Word Television Network and “the most influential Catholic woman in America” according to Time magazine
In 1981, the year after Ted Turner founded CNN, a simple nun, using merely her entrepreneurial instincts and $200, launched what would become the world’s largest religious media empire in the garage of a Birmingham, Alabama, monastery. Under her guidance, the Eternal Word Television Network grew at a staggering pace, both in viewership and in influence, to where it now reaches over a hundred million viewers in hundreds of countries around the globe.
Born Rita Rizzo in Canton, Ohio, in 1923, Mother Angelica was abandoned by her father and raised in poverty by a mother who suffered from suicidal depressions. As a young woman, Rita developed severe abdominal pain that doctors dismissed as a “nervous condition,” but when she sought the prayers of a local mystic, her symptoms disappeared. Awakened to the power of prayer, she vowed to dedicate her life to God and became a cloistered nun, expecting to spend her life hidden from the world. But Rita’s faith soon compelled her to unlikely endeavors, from establishing a monastery in Alabama to starting the world’s first Catholic cable network. Relying solely on “God’s providence,” Mother Angelica built an empire without concern for budgets or fund-raising campaigns, achieving what even the highest levels of the Catholic Church had been unable to do.
Raymond Arroyo combines his journalist’s objectivity and eye for detail with more than five years of exclusive interviews with Mother Angelica. He traces Mother Angelica’s tortured rise to success and exposes for the first time the fierce opposition she faced, both inside and outside of her church. It is an inspiring story of survival and proof that one woman’s faith can move more than mountains.
Customer Reviews:
Mother Angelica saved me from the depths........2007-09-07
Seven years ago a very rare disease put me in bed for 6 months. I could not stand up on my own. I could walk with a cane once I got up on my feet. Mother Angelica via EWTN saved me from the depths of depression and helped me with my anger about being ill. This book tells her story about how she faced and overcame many illnesses and hardships. Yet, Mother Angelica always loves the people around her. Well written and an excellent read.
See what Trust in God can do in just one life..........2007-07-12
If you want to see what radical love of God can do in a life - this is the book to read. It does not matter if you are Catholic, Orthodox, or of any Christian denomination - this book is a road map of how to "work for God."
The book is written by someone who not only loves her, but acknowledges her faults - and just like all of us, she has many. This is a REAL living breathing human being who encounters the same difficulties we all face. The same emotions, hurts, fears, ailments. And yet, maybe it is because of all this that she could talk to anyone (rich man, poor man, beggar, thief) and help them to see that life is never hopeless.
You'll need to be careful though, one reading of this book will have you pondering a big question -- "Do I really trust God enough to find out his will, and do it?"
I highly, highly recommend this book.
Once you start you won't be able to stop!.......2007-07-04
I meant to listen to the audio CDs over weeks in my car during my commute. Over the first weekend I took all the CDs back into my home and listened to the rest of the book while painting a room. The wonderful thing about the audio is Raymond Arroyo's PERFECT imitation of Mother.
The book is so hopeful - even among the many physical and spiritual trials. Her faithfulness is stunning; it calls all of us to the same faithfulness.
Thank-you Mother.......2007-06-07
I really enjoyed this book and found Mother Angelica to be quite a complex and interesting person. I think Raymond Arroyo did a remarkable job in telling her story without getting in the way. Thank-you Mother Angelica for your passion and the fruits prove your source.. and Thank-you Raymond for a job well done!
messenger of hope.......2007-05-25
It was an easy read, written by a dowm to earth person. You can laugh at some of her witty wisdom and sympathize with her burdens. It gives me a lift to know that special people like Mother Angelica are praying for us all everday.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Amazon.com
"Literacy has promoted the subjugation of women by men throughout all but the very recent history of the West," writes Leonard Shlain. "Misogyny and patriarchy rise and fall with the fortunes of the alphabetic written word."
That's a pretty audacious claim, one that The Alphabet Versus the Goddess provides extensive historical and cultural correlations to support. Shlain's thesis takes readers from the evolutionary steps that distinguish the human brain from that of the primates to the development of the Internet. The very act of learning written language, he argues, exercises the human brain's left hemisphere--the half that handles linear, abstract thought--and enforces its dominance over the right hemisphere, which thinks holistically and visually. If you accept the idea that linear abstraction is a masculine trait, and that holistic visualization is feminine, the rest of the theory falls into place. The flip side is that as visual orientation returns to prominence within society through film, television, and cyberspace, the status of women increases, soon to return to the equilibrium of the earliest human cultures. Shlain wisely presents this view of history as plausible rather than definite, but whether you agree with his wide-ranging speculations or not, he provides readers eager to "understand it all" with much to consider. --Ron Hogan
Book Description
Is it sheer coincidence that the European witch hunts quickly followed the invention of the printing press? In his groundbreaking work The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, Leonard Shlain proposes that the invention of writing, particularly alphabetic writing, rewired the human brain, causing profound cultural changes in history, religion, and gender relations. While the advent of literacy brought innumerable benefits to society, the switch to left-brain thinking upset the balance between men and women. The rise of male dominance led to a corresponding decline in goddess veneration and the status of women. Ending on a positive note, Shlain notes that the return of an image-oriented culture - through the media of photography, film, television, and the Internet - has brought about a sharp rise in the feminine values denigrated during the 5,000-year reign of patriarchy and literacy.
Customer Reviews:
Thought provoking.......2007-04-09
At first it seems like an absurd idea, that the printing press could have had a bad effect on society and culture; it becomes completely engrossing and intriquing. If you can open your mind, this book isn't negative towards women at all, it is just the opposite. Very well researched.
Quasi-science at best.......2007-02-13
This book is awful. It is full of speculations and just bad science. I am going to quote one egregious example. The comments in brackets [ ] are mine:
"Like the brain, the human eye also evolved opposite [really!] but complementary functions. Each human eye is a perfect mirror image of the other; yet within the each retina there resides two functionally different types of cells. With elegant symmetry, the contrasting functions of the rods and cones correspond to the division of tasks between the right and left brain [that is quite a comparison].
"Rods named for their cylindrical shape, are extremely light sensitive.
Distributed evenly throught the periphery of each retina, they see in dim light and appreciate [the rods have feelings??] the totality of the visual field, seeing images as gestalts. Rods share with the right brain the ability to perceive [the rods can think??] reality all-at-once [as opposed to what, a little bit at a time?].
Cones, in contrast congregate densely in a small spot in the central part of the retina...Cones have two attributes. They appreciate [there he goes again] color and intensify clarity [whatever that means]. Concentrating on one aspect of reality at a time, [huh?] cones view the visual field as if through a tunnel. [Actually cones and rods sense light together, at the same time, and your brain integrates and intreprets all that information into a perceived image. But the most fantastic statement is the last sentance of this quote:] Like rods, cones report to both hemispheres, but the left is metaphorically best suited to process their input. [That is such an absurd statement that Shlain gives a footnote, right on the same page, contradicting his non sequitor.]"
And so it goes on for page after page of drivel, I finally gave up after 6 chapters. A lot of reviewers find this book to be thought provoking. I think it is a sad state that our appreciation of science is so dim that people can actually find this nonsense to be of interest.
Provocative thesis, interesting facts, readable style, sensible call for balance.......2007-01-23
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess is a valuable work. From the depths of the human brain to ancient religions to scientific advancement to modern times, Dr. Shlain has molded a fascinating thesis, bringing together much complex human behavior in a large-scale synthesis. If you are willing to open your mind to his numerous ideas, you may find yourself convinced that the rise of the alphabet and wide-spread literacy did indeed spark humans to an imbalance between the genders and the masculine/feminine values of society. If you are willing to understand what I believe he means to teach, you will see that this reoccurring problem in human history has a cure, and it is balance.
There are many facets of his claims and research that merit thought and attention. I personally was inspired to research further into brain characteristics and examine that aspect of the book. You may disagree with which values in the mind are masculine and feminine or even anything from certain historic dates to the discussion of the Bible, but whether or not every fact is unquestionably true is not the entire point. The ancient myths are gruesome at times, the periods of madness horrifying, the suppression of women dismaying, and the final message--hopeful. Dr. Shlain loves words, and it is apparent in his writing (which is readable and flowing), so clearly this work is not an attack on literacy; it is a new and unique examination of patterns throughout history.
Pleased and surprised.......2007-01-23
I picked up this book after seeing numerous references to it on websites I was searching. As a writer and an avid reader since, well, forever, I opened this book fully prepared to completely disagree with everything it was going to present. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the author was well aware 1) the contradiction of using literary media to discuss a theory of historical social disruption based on literacy 2) that the evidence he was presenting to support his theory was highly subjective, though I must say compelling.
Rarely have I encountered such a well written work about a controversial idea. I found the writing provacative and the subject matter well handled. I have read other reviews saying this book tells the reader literacy is evil/bad..I am wondering if those reviews read the same book I did? It is clear from the first page that Mister Shlain loves reading and writing. He is aware of the power and magic of the written word and it is the historical reprecussions of that power that he is discussing. The notion of literacy as a tool of social upheaval is fascinating in and of itself even without the idea that the physiological effects of the act of reading and writing contributed to the demise of goddess worship.
As woman I was prepared to be disturbed by a "poor women" approach - but this book turned out to be bigger than that. Nothing I was reading felt trivialized or stereotyped.
I don't agree with every premise set forth in this book, and I don't think every example Mister Shlainuses 100% proves his theory, but this is a book about new, big and challenging ideas and it is well worth a read by anyone interested in seeing a different perspective!
Why is there no zero stars option?.......2007-01-05
As a woman (who incidentally learned to read when I was two years old), I found this book to be apalling and insulting. What the book boils down to is that we'd be better off if we didn't read, but the evil patriarchy has imposed literacy on us so we need to know how to read, but reading is against the female nature so we're even worse off.
Please don't waste your time and money on this dreck.
-The Arizona Republic
"A thread of truth can weave a powerful story. Plumb powerful, as Sarah Prine might say....Taking great-grandmother Sarah's diary as an inspiration, Tucson novelist Nancy E. Turner has spun a frontier novel that teeters on the fine edge of truth and fiction...simply place an 1880's map of the Southwest next to the book and enjoy the ride."
Customer Reviews:
These is My Words.......2007-09-30
Book was just what I expected. One of the best books I've ever read. It's right up there with Jane Eyre.
Great western romance/historical ficiton.......2007-09-28
This is a great book about a headstrong young woman settling in the Southwestern US in the 1880's. I almost put it down after the first 50 pages because it was filled with so much sadness, death, and depression. It is admittedly hard to get into the book at first, because it is all the writings of her diary. That is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I am so glad I finished it though, because her romance with Captain Elliot is one of the sweetest I have read. This a wonderful book about overcoming obstacles, and the power of love.
Historical fiction at its best.......2007-09-17
This book was selected within the book club that I belong. To be honest, I wasn't that excited about it, as historical fiction isn't usually my favorite, but this book was truly a pleasant surprise. I was riveted to it from the moment I picked it up. I remember glancing down at the page number and realizing that so much had happened in just the first 26 pages alone---I knew I was in for a good ride. Not only was it a window into another time, a beautiful love story was interwoven throughout and showed how much of what defines us as women is timeless through the generations. A must-read for women. A great selection for book club discussions.
I absolutely adored this book!.......2007-09-09
I read this novel nonstop, at home, on the bus to work, and while I was at working, sneaking off to read it and on the bus again and back home. When I was finished, I started it all over from the beginning. It is simply and beautifully written, and it made me care about every character, especially Sarah. I loved her strength, innocence and sincerity. I would recommend this book to anyone, young and old alike. I absolutely adored it.
Engaging book.......2007-08-14
This engrossing book portayed a strong and independent woman in the early settlement days of the Arizona Territory from her teenage years to maturity. The reader gets a perspective on the history of the region as well as a good story. It was very believable and interesting.
Book Description
Peace Pilgrim walked and spoke continuously across America from 1953 until her death in 1981. "Walking until given shelter and fasting until given food," she carried a simple yet powerfully enduring message of peace. A few of her friends later gathered her writings and talks into this first-person account of her experiences and beliefs. Peace Pilgrim has become a spiritual classic, with over half a million copies in print in nine languages. Includes news clippings, questions and answers, photographs, index.
Customer Reviews:
Woman Sage.......2007-05-01
She's got a beautiful message to pass along, one for our modern age. It's the same wisdom and insight of Buddha and Jesus as well as all the others. I gotta tell you though, this book is offered, free of charge, on the website.
Peace Pilgrim - Review by Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope and South State Street Journal.......2006-12-13
From 1953 until 1981, this lady walked more than 25,000 miles carrying in her blue tunic her only possessions. For nearly three decades she crossed America bearing the simplest of messages: this is the way of peace--overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. Peace Pilgrim talked about peace among nations, between people and the most important, inner peace. "I talk to groups studying the most advanced spiritual teachings and sometimes these people wonder why nothing is happening in their lives," said Peace Pilgrim. "Their motive is the attainment of inner peace for themselves--which of course is a selfish motive. You will not find it with this motive. The motive, if you are to find inner peace, must be an outgoing motive. Service, of course, service. Giving, not getting. Your motive must be good if you work is to have good effect. The secret of life is being of service. ... I've met a few people who had to change their jobs in order to change their lives, but I've met many more people who merely had to change their motive to service in order to change their lives." She talks of purification of thought, motive and desire and relinquishment of self will, the feeling of separateness and the attachment of material things. She says, "No one is truly free who is still attached to material things, or to places, or to people. ... It's all right to use them, that's what they are for. But when they've outlived their usefulness, be ready to relinquish them and perhaps pass them on to someone who does need them. Anything that you cannot relinquish when it has outlived it's usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions. We are not free." And about trying to control people she says," Anything that you strive to hold captive will hold you captive--and if you desire freedom you must give freedom." Peace Pilgrim speaks of relinquishment of negative feelings. She says of worry, "Worry is not concern, which would motivate you to do everything possible in a situation. Worry is a useless mulling over of things we cannot change." She says no one can hurt you psychologically unless you let them. It is a choice. She says of her steps toward inner peace, "There is nothing new about this. This is universal truth." She says she speaks of them in everyday words in terms of her own personal experience with them. She speaks of living in the highest light you have and you will receive more light. She said the higher self and the lower self war against one another. The higher self has been given names by religious leaders as inner light or the indwelling Christ. When Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is within you, he was referring to the higher self. She said Jesus was called the Christ because his life was governed by this higher governing power. She speaks of the oneness of all creation and oneness with that which many call God. She states that the struggle is over when you will to always do the right thing. She says if your life is overcrowded, you are doing more than is your job to do in the total scheme of things.
She says if your life is overcrowded, you are doing more than is your job to do in the total scheme of things. Submission to good is to be plugged in to the source of universal energy. Peace Pilgrim states that she took no money for speaking and if money was mailed it was used for printing materials that were given away to people seeking the truth. She says you cannot obtain truth by buying it. Nor should it be sold. "Those who have the truth would not be packaging it and selling it, so anyone who is selling it, really does not possess it," she says. I suspect many of the later gurus like made themselves rich from reiterating her concepts with a more sophisticated twist. Friends of Peace Pilgrim give this book away free of charge.
Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope and South State Street Journal.
A great source of wisdom.......2006-11-09
A good read and a handy source of both inspiration and wisdom.
namaste!
Her Life and Work are Compelling Right Now.......2004-07-03
Peace Pilgrim walked alone and penniless "as a prayer" more than 25,000 miles across America to inspire others to pray and work for peace. Her message was simple-"This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." Her 28-year pilgrimage started in 1953. She would not tell you her real name this silver-haired lady with penetrating blue eyes "Peace Pilgrim" is the only name she wished to carry. And she would not tell you the years that she had spent in this world although a friend said she was probably around 80 when she died in a car accident in Indiana in 1981 on her way to a speaking engagement. After walking 25,000 miles, which took her until 1964, she stopped counting the miles. Although she mostly slept under the stars without a sleeping bag she never had another headache or pain or cold once she started her pilgrimage. Carrying in her tunic pockets her only worldly possessions: a comb, a folding toothbrush, a ball point pen, her current correspondence she vowed, "I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food." She talked with people on dusty roads and city streets, in churches, colleges, to civic groups, on TV and radio discussing peace within and without.
Her pilgrimage covered the entire peace picture: peace among nations, groups, individuals, and inner peace-because that is where peace begins. She believed that world peace would come when enough people attain inner peace.
Since many of us are in deep despair about the human cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan the life and teachings of Peace Pilgrim are particularly compelling right now. The press continues to report the grim tally of American soldiers killed in action in Iraq-922 killed and 5,457 wounded. But there are figures neither the Pentagon nor the press talks about-the more than 11,000 American soldiers that came home disabled injured and sick in what the Pentagon considers non-combat circumstances. Nor do we know the number of Iraqi and Afghanistan soldiers and civilians deaths and wounded.
Peace said, "All present wars must cease-we need to find a way to lay down our arms together. We need to set up a mechanism to avoid physical violence in the world." We people of the world need to learn to put the welfare of the whole family above the welfare of any group. The means determines the end-only a good means can really attain a good end. Real peace is more than the absence of war: it is the absence of the cause of the war. Have as your objective the resolving of conflict not the gaining of advantage and live to give instead of get.
Peace said the cause of all difficulties is immaturity. If we were mature, war would not be possible and peace would be assured. In our immaturity we do not know the laws of the universe, and we think evil can be overcome by more evil. One symptom of our immaturity is greed, making it difficult for us to learn the simple lesson of sharing. Then there are symptoms of symptoms like access to pure food, water and air. You don't have to be very good at arithmetic to figure out that if the nations of the world would stop manufacturing implements of destruction, the conditions for a good life could be provided for all people. Immaturity leads to a negative mind for example, a military mind set usually has only military answers. The animal nature thinks in terms of using `the jungle law of tooth and claw' to eliminate all opposition. But this law solves no problems for humans; it can only postpone the solution, and in the long run it worsens things. All war is bad and self-defeating.
Peace suggests America established a Peace Department in our government. It would research peaceful ways to resolve conflicts, war prevention measures and economic adjustments to peace since America's economy seems to work more smoothly in a war or war preparation period. It would ask other nations to establish similar departments and come and work with us for peace. Communications among Peace Departments would be a step towards peace in our world. She said the military forces could clean up the air, the oceans and rivers or take on drainage projects to prevent disastrous floods and other such benefits for humankind.
Many people from other countries told Peace that they considered America the biggest menace to peace in the world because it is the only nation that used the nuclear bomb to kill people and there is no evidence that America will not do it again. Other countries do not always see our kind heart when they look across the sea.
Peace recommends a four-part Community Action Group in every town. The first meeting would teach and focus on inner peace, the second on harmony among individuals, the third on harmony among groups and the fourth on harmony among nations. The sequence would be repeated.
Concerning war Peace consoles "Remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn." She explains, "There is within the hearts of people a deep desire for peace on earth. It is the job of the peacemaker to inspire out-of-harmony people from apathy, ignorance and fear." Knowing that all things contrary to God's laws are transient we must continue to pray, speak, and act for peace in whatever way we can; to inspire others we must continue to think of peace and know that peace is possible. As Peace said in her book, "One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time can make history."
INCREDIBLE!!!!.......2003-02-25
I read this book several years ago and was stunned to think that such a remarkable person could have actually existed! Her friends have done a wonderful job of compiling the materials for this book. I have read and reread this book. I imagine I will wear it out before I am through. Her message was simple, her thoughts were clear. Her 28 year pilgrimage was awe inspiring!
Book Description
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the 1950s and 1960s. Standing up to the church, her alcoholic husband, and antiquated ideas about women, Evelyn turned every financial challenge into an opportunity for innovation, all the while raising her six sons and four daughters with the belief that miracles are an everyday occurrence. The inspiration for a major motion picture, Evelyn Ryan's story is told by her daughter Terry with an infectious joy that shows how a winning spirit and sense of humor can triumph over adversity every time.
Download Description
Stepping back into a time when fledgling Madison Avenue ad agencies were active partners with consumers and everyday people saw possibility in every coupon, Terry Ryan tells the story of her mother, Evelyn, who kept her family afloat writing jingles and contest entries. It is a compelling drama of a woman who defies the church, her husband, and antiquated views of housewives to seize every opportunity to secure a happy home for her ten children. Entering contests on TV, on the radio, in newspapers, and through the mail, Evelyn Ryan won every appliance her family ever owned, not to mention bicycles, watches, a jukebox, cars, even trips to New York, Dallas, and Switzerland. But it wasn't just the winning that was amazing; it was the timing. If a toaster died, one was sure to arrive in the mail from a forgotten contest. Days after the bank called in the second mortgage on the house, a call came from the Dr. Pepper company: Evelyn was the grand prize winner of their national contest -- and had won enough to pay the bank. From the frenetic supermarket shopping spree to the clever entries that captured the imagination of contest sponsors everywhere, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is about one woman whose joy for life overshadows both lean times and her husband's alcoholism to raise children who seek out their own winning ways.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read.......2007-08-28
Well written true account about a family of 12. Mother is creative in her ways to keep the family feed and happy. Do not pass up this book for a great read.
An incredible family.......2007-06-04
This is a story that just shines with hope for the underdog. What a resourceful mom to keep her family afloat while her husband's alcoholic self destruction rages on. A highly intelligent and witty woman, Terry Ryan's mom is an everyday hero! This a very funny, funny book!
The Truth about Alcoholism.......2007-04-28
A great movie, based on a true story. All comments aside regarding the acting (although I thought Moore and Harrelson were at their best) I saw it as a sad portrayal about the effects of alcoholism - I would highly recommend it as an "eye opener" for young people who are dealing with drug and alcoholism issues. It is pretty clear about the life-long ill effects of one's choices. It reminded me of the book, "The Glass Castle", by Jeannette Walls.
To Be Chewed and Digested.......2007-04-24
I heard random references to this movie a while back, and I've seen the DVD on the shelves at Blockbuster. The cover of the movie makes it look like some kind of "Yours, Mine, and Ours" farce (not the older version, which is still solid gold, but the lame, slickened-up, modern version of a story that didn't need modernizing) so I've purposely avoided renting it. But while looking through the nonfiction section at the library recently, I saw it in the biographies: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. I was intrigued - not just because I didn't know the movie was based on a biography, but also because I hadn't heard the subtitle before. What do you mean "25 Words or Less?," the writer in me wondered (I was less interested in the 10 kids part). I grabbed the book and entered the world of 1950's and 60's midwestern America. The world of the "contest era." The world of the poor, put-upon, persistant Ryan family.
Contests today are, by and large, contests of luck. You pull the instant win cap off your Sprite. You get Park Place on the McDonald's Monopoloy Board. You're the 3rd caller in to the radio station. In the 1950's and 60's, though, major corporations sponsored contests with *huge* payoffs, the bounty going to entries written (typically) with 25 words or less. Jingles, limericks, you name it. Dial soap, Jello, Burma Shave. And many, many others. Send in proof of purchase with your cleverly written entries, and you might win big. Evelyn Ryan sure did. LOTS of times!
Evelyn Ryan always had a knack for writing, and enjoyed a short career writing the op-ed column at her step-grandmother's newspaper when she was a young woman. But then came marriage - to a hard-drinking, hard-working Irish Catholic man named Kelly - and one by one, ten active children. A career in journalism was out of the question, but Evelyn kept her writer's fire alive by filling mountainous piles of notebooks with quick poems and anecdotes, many of which she sold to area newspapers. She also spent countless hours at the ironing board, combining her everyday household chore with the inspiration to write catchy jingles for major contests. For Lucky Strike cigarettes:
Send me laundry, send me dough
Send me Luckies to send my beau
I'm true to him, he's true to me
And we're true to Luckies, eternally.
She won $25 for that entry, money crucial to the care of such a large family, and with a father that typically drank the better part of his weekly paychecks.
Terry Ryan, one of Evelyn and Kelly's daughters and the author of this biography, includes many of the little jingles that won her mother some big and not-so-big prizes. She tells of a housefull of won appliances, the trip to New York for her mother and brother after a particularly large win, the Christmas her mother bestowed the kids with won presents she had been stashing in her closet all year long. Terry writes of some close calls - medically, financially, domestically. Her writing is so totally engaging that you laugh and cry and feel every little emotion just like you would if you were just one more child in that brood of Ryan kids. You want to cheer when they cheer for another prize win, you want to yell and scream when their father loses his judgement to the beer (again), you feel the anxiety of waiting every day for the postman - Pokey - as they wait to hear from the bank (on the foreclosure) or the brand (for the contest win that just might save the day).
It's not all serious, though. There are many moments of clear gaiety. Like when they learn their cat can open doors (by turning the KNOB!). Or when that same cat adopts an orphaned chick as a member of her newest litter. The frequency with which Evelyn forgets she has hidden food in the dryer (and fuses cake donuts, bananas, you name it, into the fibers of the clothes!). Or Evelyn's method for mending her girdle, keeping the oven door on, fixing the melted gears in the family car. I laughed loud and long at the story of their garbage disposal - a tempermental beast that only worked on occasion. They kept it switched "on," and whenever they heard the trap start to churn - day or night, tragedy or no - all the kids would clamor into the kitchen and start feeding the piles of trash into the sink. There are also moments of pride, like when two of the Ryan boys are selected to play minor league baseball, or when some of the other kids get scholarships for school.
Almost all of Evelyn's writing came from the ready-made material all around her - her family. As a result, many of her poems portray the wonders and worries of family life, and I really identified with them. For instance:
Lawn Time No See
When I survey
my barren plot...
Long stamping ground
For tyke and tot...
I must conclude
It's clear (alas!)
One cannot grow
Both kids and grass!
I also love this one she wrote about her boys, whom she helped as often as she could with their progress and success in sports:
Fielder's Choice
There are moms who can cook,
And moms who can sew,
And moms who will come
When they're beckoned;
But give me that pearl
Of a mom-type girl...
A mom who can slide
Into second.
And finally, letting her guard down just a little to vent:
Complaint
Forgive me if I mutter, Lord,
Against my bitter cup;
But why can't bread `n' butter
Ever land with the butter up?
These types of poems often earned her anywhere from $1-$25, but it was the corporate contests that really kept this family afloat. The whole affair was a business to Evelyn, as it was to many (many!) people in those days. There were 4 unofficial "rules" to any entry, above and beyond filling out the necessary forms and making sure to include the proofs of purchase. All entries needed to be written thus:
1. Make your statement.
2. Use a conjunction like "yet," "while," or "so."
3. Use a series of three nouns ("the mystic three").
4. Include an unusual word or turn of phrase (called a "Red Mitten"), preferably at the end.
There were societies formed for the improvement of a contester's skills or for the socialization of people hooked on this lucrative hobby. Evelyn herself joined a charming group of women called the Affidaisies (a play on the word "affadavit," documents necessary for winners to claim big prizes). In the book, Terry begins to see her mother as a person as she learns what contesting means to her. It's the fulfillment of a dream, really, that makes Evelyn so passionate about what she does. It may not be the writing career she envisioned, but in a way, the contesting life allows Evelyn to be outspoken, independent, and keep her mind engaged on more than just cleaning up after 10 children.
I found this book to be funny, inspiring, sometimes sad, but altogether uplifting. Terry dedicated the book to her late mother, but also "the little bit of Evelyn in all of us". I'd like to think there IS a little bit of Evelyn Ryan in me. I'd like to think that I could have the same passion for my family and for writing that she lived every day. I'd like to think that I have the wits about me to survive just about anything. I'd also like to think that I have some of the faith she showed in getting through some very rough times. I'll leave you with one last poem, something Evelyn wrote in her final days and that Terry read aloud to her siblings as they were gathered around Evelyn's deathbed. It gives an idea of just what may have fueled this amazing woman through more than 80 years of an incredible life:
Every time I pass the church
I stop and make a visit
So when I'm carried in feet first
God won't say, "Who is it?"
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.......2007-03-11
An absolutely wonderful story, well written and hard to put down. I've shared this with family and friends who all enjoyed it immensely.
Customer Reviews:
A bit on the juvenile side, but a good intro to Mother Angelica........2005-07-07
Dan O'Neill, Mother Angelica: Her Life Story (Crossroad, 1986)
As I write this, Mother Angelica has recently turned eighty-two years old. I was mildly surprised to find out she's still alive, but she's soldiering on, as always. O'Neill's thin tome on Mother Angelica's life, published almost twenty years ago, is crying out for a revised-and-updated edition to bring us up to speed on what the woman's been up to for the past two decades besides keeping Mother Angelica Live one of the highest-rated religious programs on television, but the 1986 edition is a halfway decent start.
The book's title accurately reflects it contents: a brief life of Mother Angelica, the Franciscan nun who, if you've been living in a cave for the past quarter-century, made headlines all over the place by starting the Eternal Word Television Network, the first Catholic mouthpiece of its kind. One has to wonder at how accurate some of the reflections are here; O'Neill states more than once that much of the text for the book came from interviews with Mother Angelica, and never mentions doing much legwork to back any of it up. Ironically, Mother Angelica's life reads, in this text, rather like one of the Lives of the Saints which she disparages because they make the saints seem too saintly; "we need to see more of their human side," she says. Such is also the case here. Mother Angelica's pre-convent life is painted as a truly dire set of circumstances, which (aside from trials of faith) makes a complete reversal upon her becoming a nun. Not to say that's not exactly what happened; Mother Angelica spent her childhood and youth during the Great Depression and World War II, and circumstances were dire for many people. But were the convents really that much better off?
The book ends up sounding like your typical tale of inspiration, which probably has much more to do with O'Neill's writing style-- the language used and the sentence structure read more like a young adult biography than one written for the over-18 crowd-- than it has to do with Mother Angelica herself. Still, as far as tales of inspiration go, this one's a pretty easy read. And you can't help but admire the woman.
Love Mother.......2004-11-12
What a fabulous story of a life. God does such amazing things. Let's thank Him
Velvet
Book Description
Abby Knight is the proud owner of her hometown flower shop, but a new low-cost competitor is killing her profits-and a black SUV just rammed her vintage Corvette in a hit-and-run. She's determined to track down the driver, but when the trail turns deadly, the next flower arrangement might be for her own funeral.
Customer Reviews:
Has Potential.......2007-07-20
At first I didn't think I would get past the first chapter of this book - but, having purchased it, I pushed myself to read it. As I moved through the book, my interest increased and I have now decided that I will read the next to see if indeed it is a worthwhile series. The main character isn't the brightest, and that is my biggest issue. I love to read about smart, together women. Abby fauns all over the hot guy, takes quite a while to put two and two together, and takes risks that suspend belief. Her good qualities though, include her caring heart and her willingness to help people. If in the next book, she is written a little smarter - and less droolly over the hot guy, and maybe a bit more info about flowers and flower shops -I will continue to read these.
Book 2 of the Flower Shop Mysteries.......2007-05-10
In Book 2, Abby deals with some cut-rate competition. When her beloved vintage yellow 'Vette gets smashed in a hit-and-run, Abby is determined to find out who is responsible (a girl can't live without her car, right?) Unfortunately, she steps on some toes .. and her next questions may be her last ...
MUMS THE WORD.......2007-05-10
HAVE JUST READ 4 OF COLLINS BOOKS AND ENJOY ALL.......SEXY WITHOUT SEX...VERY NICE....LOVE THAT HUNK MARCO.....WITTY AND KEEPS YOU WANTING TO KEEP READING
Quick Read.......2007-04-21
The Flower Shop Mysteries are a quick sugar-coated read that leaves you laughing out loud. Though some points of the plot were trite and useless, they are a fun read when you just want to kill some time or take a break in the middle of another book. I really enjoyed reading them, even if Abby's interference in the case did not make sense.
Light, Breezy Read.......2007-04-10
Kate Collins's new mystery sleuth Abby Knight has found her way onto my shelves. My wife and I love watching BBC movies (FOYLE'S WAR, MURDER IN SUBURBIA, and the new MYSTERY WOMAN series) together and trying to figure out whodunit. The Abby Knight series gives us a whole new bunch of books to read and talk about.
The characters are thin, but they're supposed to be. These are people that you know enough about to guess the rest and they become real in that respect. There's not a lot of history here, but there's plenty of relationships that make a nice family to come home to from book to book.
One thing that Collins does really well is keep the story moving. Something is always happening. It strained credulity a little with the way Abby kept getting her Vette bashed, but I think it was a tip of the hat to Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum character who is notorious for the way she treats cars.
The mystery is almost a no-brainer as well, but you can feel smart for putting all the pieces together. That's the true joy of a mystery: getting to solve it just a chapter or two ahead of the author.
Since this is Collins's first book and she's making some awfully good moves for a beginner, my wife and I are going to keep an eye on her and see where she goes with her series. This book is perfect for a day at the beach or a lazy stay-at-home Sunday afternoon when it's raining. Also, the titles are really catchy!
Customer Reviews:
Depicts the social issues conflicting many younger Koreans.......1999-05-11
In Kang Sok-Kyong's short story, Days and Dreams, she is able to delineate an entirely new society that exists within Korea. A society that formed as a result of blatant geopolitical decisions imposed by a foreign country. She describes the lifestyle and culture of the female Korean prostitute communities that have developed around American military bases. Kang accurately depicts the nothingness that many of these women, such as the main character have come from, and the equally poor and yet more dehumanizing lifestyle they live out now. The narrator of the story came from a family ravaged by the war and ironically makes a living now by exploiting herself to these soldiers, apparently keeping peace and security for her country. Yet for many of these women in the story, that individual sense of security is what is lacking from many of their lives. Even one of the characters, Sun-ja goes to extreme circumstances to pose as a lesbian just to marry an American woman to relieve herself of her the situation she was currently in. Kang accurately describes the inhumane treatment that many of these women are put up, sometimes even by their own family members in order to pay a sibling's tuition or something of the sort. The narrator describes the tragic rape and murder of a friend who was killed by a Korean man. When upon asking what his motives were in the killing, he simply said that "she'd lived it up with the GIs and then give him leftover sex." All she essentially gave him was some leftovers by foreigners. Kang basically centralizes her story on the notion of Korea, being a country dependent upon "living off other countries' leftovers." And ultimately the lifestyle's that many of these women lived was to sustain themselves economically, while in the meantime exploiting their bodies in order to fulfill this requirement. Meanwhile the foreigners there, such as Overton, the playmate of the narrator, was a womanizer and philanderer, and at the same time was apparently married back in the US. Kang is able to bring to the reader the harsh rituals that many of these women must endure in order prevent themselves from becoming fully impoverished, but in the meantime, selling their souls out to the hearts of the foreigners. In Kang's novella, A Room in the Woods, she is able to depict a modern day Korean family influenced by neo-Confucian doctrine, yet each individually upholding different social values and had different notions of thought of their roles within society. The story focuses on the differing behavior of three daughters within the household of a clearly patriarchal family. The father is a successful businessman with an educated and intelligent wife who acts as homemaker. They have four children, the three daughters, and the youngest being a son, who is never mentioned, but as a signification favor he must endure being the only male child, and also the youngest. Amongst the three daughters, the older, the narrator of the story is the typical Korean woman. She graduated majoring in piano, plans to get married and not even work, yet she seems practical enough to always be looking after herself and her sister. Hye-Yang, the next eldest sister is the proverbial daughter, studying to go to medical school, she is smart and intelligent. The youngest of the daughters is So-Yang, the street-savvy and rebellious daughter who had just dropped out of college, she was sick of Korean standards of social qualms and was never afraid to speak against Korean society. Since the story focuses on the whereabouts and concern of So-Yang, since we she has left college, Kang muddles the reader with excerpts from her diary that her oldest sister falls upon. We learn through her diary of the possibility that she could be a manic-depressive. She also seems slightly suicidal, yet what seems to worry her sister the most is her tenacity at being sexually active and possibly promiscuous. Unlike the situation of the women in Days and Dreams, So-Yang uses sex as an instrument to her advantage, not as a means of economic power. Sex for her is a means of empowering herself, since she seems to have nothing else to fallback on. Yet she isn't the conventional Korean daughter, a product of a middle-class family. She is an active social demonstrator, smokes blatantly outside in public, serves as a hostess in a bar, but all the while does not submit to the languid and crass behavior to the men she encounters. She quits her job out of disgust when a man tips her down her shirt. What also complicated her situation were the stark differences she had with her father, a man clearly dependent upon Confucian thought and traditional behavior of the family. Her failure to enroll in college as well as her nightly prowling and partying enraged her father who out of frustration became abusive. Meanwhile her mother played the role of the silent, submissive type well by not being active in disciplining her children, but merely watching her husband do it all. Kang describes these tensions that assumably are evident in many Korean households as a potentially dangerous environment in which an outcome may be similar to that of the So-Yang's.
Thoughtful and Potent For Those Who Have Experienced Korea.......1997-11-11
Having spent 1988-1993 in Korea with IBM, I began the collection of short stories with a strong cultural understanding. The stories vary from prostitution and the US Military (rate 5) to the very well crafted "A Room In The Woods" (definite 10) which uncovers the generation gap in modern Korea. "A Room In The Woods" is well worth the price of the book. A must for those interested in Korean culture.
Book Description
This classic paperback is available once again--and exclusively--from Harvard University Press.
This book is the story of the life of Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of hunter-gatherers from southern Africa's Kalahari desert. Told in her own words--earthy, emotional, vivid--to Marjorie Shostak, a Harvard anthropologist who succeeded, with Nisa's collaboration, in breaking through the immense barriers of language and culture, the story is a fascinating view of a remarkable woman.
Customer Reviews:
Very inteA very interesting book on the lives of !Kung Sun (Bush People)...........2006-02-22
The book is written by Shostak a woman, about Nisa also a woman, and that makes it more appealing because it deals with a lot of women issues. I know that Marjorie Shostak is now dead and Nisa is dead too. When you live with the author and the person she is writing about all this time it suddenly becomes a part of your life and you begin to mourn their death. I really admire Nisa and all these !Kung women and how courageous they live but I also know they don't live according to this book anymore. Long a go they changed their lifestyles.
What was Nisa all about, and did I like it?.......2006-01-20
Nisa is an autobiography of a young girl who is part of the Kung tribe. I feel that this book was a very easy read, and some parts of it were interesting but others weren't.
The Kung people have many cultural customs and traditions, such as a woman should give birth alone and in silence, or you shouldn't drink your mother's breast milk if you have a younger sibling. But, Nisa is sort of a rule breaker, or as we would call her, a rebel. Nisa had three husbands, I think. Now, many women in America have had multiple husbands so it's not that big of a deal but along with Nisa's three husbands she has at least 17 affairs, or as they called them lovers. When her husband would go out to hunt for two or three nights another man would sneak to Nisa's hut and they would make love until her husband came back. Many times Nisa got caught, and many times she didn't.
Nisa sometimes had reasons for leaving her husbands, but one of them she just didn't like. The Kung have something that is called a tribe headman. This man decides whether it is ok to get a divorce or not. One of the times Nisa didn't even go to the tribe's headman she just went back to her mother's village. Another time Nisa's husband, who was the father of her children died. Nisa cried and cried, but eventually she got over it. Nisa's next husband was a different story. He beat Nisa all the time, sometimes her back even swelled up. Nisa went to the headman to tell him that she wanted a divorce, but he gave her husband another chance. The next time Nisa went with bruises and the headman told her that she could divorce her husband.
Nisa got pregnant many times, but actually only had 2 kids, one girl and one boy. The Kung people believe that women can have miscarriages in many different ways. For example, they Kung believe that, if the child is not wanted by the mother of father that god will take it away from them. Another way is if the mother is hit or injured while she is pregnant the baby may leave her. Nisa miscarried for many reasons. A lot of the time it was because it wasn't her husband who caused her to get pregnant, it was one of her lovers and it was hard for her to tell her husband, so she just kept lying. Another time Nisa's 3rd husband got very mad at her and hit her with a stick, which made it seem as if the baby wasn't wanted.
Like I said before, I thought that Nisa was a very easy read, but it was still very informative. I really enjoyed how each chapter had a little bit about the culture, and a little bit about Nisa and how she fits in with her culture. Because the book was like that, it made it easier to stay interested because it wasn't 20 pages all about the same thing. I thought it was kind of cool that Nisa was a rebel, because if Nisa just followed all her customs it wouldn't be a very interesting book to read. Nisa seemed like she was very intelligent. She knew how to work her way out of trouble, how to cover up things that she knew she did wrong, and most of all how to lie. I never said that she was necessarily intelligent in a good way. If I were to compare this book to The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, I would say that I enjoyed this book more. I think this is because The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down had whole chapters about the war and their trip to America but I was more interested in Lia herself. That's why I liked Nisa so much, the book was more about her then the culture.
I recommend Nisa to people who are interested in autobiographies, but ones that are also about other cultures. I think this book offers a wide range of topics and is a very good book to debate this book. If I were to rate this book I would rate it 4 stars, because it kept me interested yet it was a very easy read.
Dense, informitive, sad, and often moving.......2005-02-01
Majorie Shostak's account of her anthropology trip to Africa's Kalahari Desert examining the rituals, lifestyles and existence of the !Kung tribe is not to be read like an expanded version of a National Geographic article. It is written with academic rigor and precise examination of a !Kung woman Nisa. The majority of the book is told through Nisa's words which are translated into English with as much accuracy possible by Shostak. Shostak prefaces each chapter with a more general description of the events of Nisa's life which follow. The !Kung have such a different life style than Westerners, so naturally the story telling methods Nisa uses are a little unfamiliar. There is much more repetition of certain phrases and ideas that some of us might find excessive. If one can get past this they will soon see what an expert Nisa actually is. Also it is a tribute to Shostak that she didn't slice up the narrative to make it more accessible for Westerners.
The book in begun with an extensive introduction, about 40 pages. Although at first this might feel over detailed and cumbersome, it is a necessity to read it before jumping into Nisa's narrative because some of the actions taken might seem unfathomable without a better understanding of !Kung life. For instance, when Nisa describes stealing and hoarding food for herself as a child, we might feel she is extremely selfish. But after reading the introduction we understand that in !Kung life there is virtually no private property. Imagine being a young child and having nothing of "your own." I think we all would have stolen to some extent. Also during the time the book was written there was a struggle within the anthropology communities as to whether these "field work" expeditions we're even worth taking. There were many who thought that the "white man" was so engrained with his own cultural sense of morality that any attempt to interpret or understand someone different would be wasted time. So it is possible that in parts of the long introduction Shostak was justifying to her academic circle why it was important that she did go to see another kind of life.
After the introduction is over, we move into various important events in Nisa's life, described by Nisa and prefaced by Shostak. Although these interviews were not given chronologically they are presented in as workable a series events as possible. We are taken first through her childhood in which Nisa's mother has her second child and no longer allows her to breast feed because it is believed that once her younger brother is born, it is his milk. We are then taken, to various cases of childhood problems. The `Discovering sex' chapter is worth noting, children go away and as Nisa says "play sexually". Although the parent's sometimes mildly scorn this, they remember how important is was for them in developing as sexual beings, so they pretty much look away. I think that our incredibly sexually conservative and private culture could learn something from this. It shouldn't necessarily be discouraged for children to discover certain aspects of themselves, and have sexual feeling, (we should stop pretending as if they don't!)
We are then taken through trial marriages; theeseoften "fail", because the girl married is too young. The most important events in a !Kung woman's life are first menstruation, marriage, and childbirth.
Another chapter worth noting is most clearly illuminates why Shostak's expedition into the Kalahari was so vital to understanding !Kung life. The chapter entitled 'Change' accounts the arrival of the very different Christian cattle herders. The Hero brought, (among other things), permanent villages, alcohol, western religion, tobacco, etc. Although some people might consider some of these things "civilization", (and I would not count myself among this crowd), the sad truth is that !Kung culture is dieing. More and more are forsaking the old way of life for the much more stable continuous food source. And even if the corrupt regimes they live under exploit their way of life to promote tourism, they are being stifled the the exact same regimes. Nisa's generation is the last link to the nearly completely un- westernized !Kung life. Without Shostak's magnificent book we would have a much harder time understanding this beautiful nomadic way of life.
One of the amazing thing about this book, unlike many other cross cultural examinations, is that it doesn't concentrate on some of the "shocking" taboos that might have made it a bestseller, (just under Tom Clancy). It instead just tells the story of a woman. One does not finish it and say, "wow they're different they need Jesus." One feels a connection to Nisa, and we realize not that we are different but that we are more similar than we would know or like to know. This also shows us that they're clearly are universal human emotions. Nisa goes through, love, hate, guilt, grief, regret, resentment, fear, happiness, etc, just like every human being! To go through it is to be human. Even in a culture totally different than ours these emotions are still there. In an age where we feel like we must "spread democracy", like we're spreading humanity, it is all the more important to realize that the same humanity exists whether or not they are infested with corrupt corporate puppets. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels lie they want to know more about other societies, and ways of life, in a more in depth format.
We have two wonderful women to thank for this powerful book on !Kung life, or !Kung life as it should be.
enjoyable reading.......2002-03-03
This book is a very enjoyable reading but the reader should be warned not put too much trust in Nisaýs words. This is not hard science. Nisa might have had an agenda of her own. She might have been careful enough to tell Shostak only what she wanted to hear. Shostak, after all, have been paying her for those interviews, and if Nisa hadnýt fulfilled her expectations then she would have been fired. Donýt we all tell our bosses what they want to hear? The author admits she interviewed many other women but somehow she didnýt like what she heard and decided to drop them. Maybe Nisa was the only one who was smart enough to manipulate Shostak into continuing to employ her by twisting her stories to make them sound spicier.
It is quite unfortunate that the reader can only guess what were the exact questions asked by the author. My guess is that the story was heavily manipulated by those questions. The excessive sexual content of the stories may be nothing more than reaction to Shostakýs blunt questions about sex. In the Epilog of the book Shoskak admits that her reputation among the !Kung was that of a woman who only cares to talk about sex.
It is quite unfortunate that the book focuses too much on the sexual experiences of !Kung and doesnýt 
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