Book Description
After a successful life in the drug game, twenty-one-year-old Kisa Kane plans to retire -- settle down, find a good man, and raise a family of her own. Done with the thug life, she has everything a ghetto girl would want: plenty of money, drop-dead-gorgeous looks, and two thriving legitimate businesses. Until she falls in love with Sincere Montega, a powerful drug dealer whose down-and-dirty money pulls Kisa back into the world she is trying so hard to leave behind. With lies, cheating, and conflict, Kai, their newborn, may be the only reason for this couple to stay together, but their lives are inevitably changed in the most unexpected way, the only way the streets of Harlem can.
Customer Reviews:
GETTO GIRL !.......2007-08-22
This book was okay i was a little tired of hearing about what they where wearing. The writer spent more time talking about there clothes then the plot of the book. Other then that it was a good read. I hope there will be a Part II because there was a question at the end that i would think need answered.
Not Another Ghetto Story.......2007-07-27
This book was okay, not one of my favorites. I got tired of reading about every article of clothing Kane bought, wore or wanted. All the designer name dropping took away from the story line and got on my last nerve. This book really could have been converted into a short story if we didn't have to read about every characters clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc.... Just Okay for me, tired of reading about the "Lifestyles Of The Ghetto Fabulous." And can somebody please tell me what was up with the author using the "N" word in every other sentence, was that necessary?
amazing.......2007-07-26
I LOVE THIS BOOK I THING I HAVE READ IT OVER 15 TIMES NOW I'AM READING HER LATEST GRINGING AND SO FAR LOVING IT TOO DANIELLE keep writing and you have a fan that will keep reading
straight fiyah.......2007-07-19
Oh my god this is defiantely one of my favorite books hands down Kisa Kane was that chick who stuck by her man no matter what. This book had me screaming out loud on some parts but this book was definately worth the money and one of my top 5. i can't wait for the sequel. Ms. Santiago keep doing ya thing cause u kilt it with this one.
Ok I get the point!.......2007-07-03
The book overall was good but I could do without the description of what clothes they had on all the time and how much they cost. What the author failed to do was verify the characters complete backgrounds. Yeah I know that Sincere's grandpa was Italian and a made man but what else was Sincere? Was he also black or what and who was black his grandma or his daddy? There's also not enough info about Kisa's father. Where was he when she went home to her momma? The book does not give enough information or explore the pasts of the characters.
Book Description
Goines takes the reader into the violent world of ghetto prostitution. Whoreson Jones, the novel's hero, is the son of a beautiful black prosititute and an unknown white john. By the age of sixteen, he is a fully- fledged pimp, cold blooded, ruthless. Written in gritty street talk, Whoreson's story affords a startling glimpse into the hell of the inner city, yet brisrles with bitter humor and defiant pride.
Customer Reviews:
Must get more Donald Goines.......2007-04-23
I've heard of him, but I never read any of his books. Until now, I decided to give him a try. My mother kept telling me I needed to read his novels and I kept putting it off. Well that's not going to happen anymore. Whoreson is the first Donald Goines book I've read, and I must say that I will definitly read all of his novels. These new comers that write about street life has nothing on him. I've read a lot of them and none have really impressed me the way Donald Goines has.
Mixed bag of emotions--first Goines novel I read.......2007-03-05
Whoreson is the first Goines novel I have read thus far. I have to say the book was a very mixed bag for me. The characters were well written but many of the events that unfold seem very unlikely for me. The most outrageous was the dinner scene where a future prositute named Fatima just jumps from behind the counter and becomes Whoreson's prositute. I have never seen anything like this before[perhaps Goines saw this in his short experiance as a pimp]. Somebody actually naming their son[even if h is the product of a white trick] whoreson seem unlikely as well. Who knows maybe I am wrong?
The saving grace of this book is Goines ability to paint a picture of life in a Detriot black bottom slum. The images were very gritty and hard hitting that makes you feel the gutter surroundings. His imagery alone saves his over-the-top storytelling.
As with the other reviewers, I agree that Iceberg Slim's Pimp is a much better read and definately more realistic. Whoreson is not a horrible book but just one I could not recommend. It really does not matter because most diehard Goines fans will cherish every single book Goines wrote. Maybe when I read more Goines novels I can say the same.
Dudes, calm down..........2007-02-20
This novel isn't all that and I can't recommend it. I agree with the others who said it's pretty far-fetched, starting with the main character's given name. Everyone's personalities were inconsistent and the range of each character's traits was illogical. The square love story involving the annoyingly prudish Janet was unrealistic and left a very bad taste in my mouth. I was disturbed that the book's writer went out of his way to punish every person that crossed his cherished main character, Whoreson (shudder), but never gave Whoreson any poetic justice or even remorse for his many heartless transgressions.
The storytelling surprisingly improves as it goes along: though it provides not an ounce of real insight about tricking other than the lingo and what anyone can naturally assume, it does display some average information about petty swindling and crime and punishment. The sex scenes are decent and there's never a truly dull moment in this novel. But none of that's enough for me to give it more than two stars due to the aforementioned problems, plus a few more huge flaws that I won't bother mentioning. Read Iceberg Slim's `Pimp' instead for a much, much better effort.
It was good not great........2006-08-25
I was really excited to recieve this book - I love to read books about the underworld but at the risk of being unpopular I must say that although I enjoyed it I was a little disappointed with 3 things.
Firstly - Some of the launguage was impossible for me to understand - I know that's not the authors fault but I would have liked him to explain it so I could learn something (and understand what was happening!)
Secondly - Some of the events were unbelieveable he makes hardened, tough characters turn naive for no reason - makes no sense, in my opinion.
Thirdly - Whoreson as a character is a contradiction unsure if that was intentional but all humans have the same basic thoughts and feelings and can be understood. Whoreson is vicious and unrepentant - not much internal struggle takes place within him regarding the violence he perpetrates and I accept that's what he is BUT then he goes on to say he can love and change hmmm - which is he? Loving and thoughtful or callous and vicious?
I think his character's behaviour could have been explained in more depth to make him more loveable and better understood even when he is bad so that when he decides to change the process is smoother and more believable.
Great book........2006-05-17
This book is a classic. Donald Goines is dead more than 30 years now, but he knew what he was talking about. Just read this and his biography, and now I gotta get more of his books.
Amazon.com
Nobody disputes the fact that inner-city schools are going to the dogs. Poor facilities, shell-shocked teachers, and hostile, apathetic students are frequent topics on the evening news, as are the supposed solutions for these problems: school vouchers, school uniforms, teacher testing, and the like. In Ghetto Schooling, author Jean Anyon exposes the futility of such social band-aids on the gaping wound that is ghetto education. Anyon starts with the premise that urban education's problems lie not within the schools themselves but rather in the "economic and political devastation" of the cities. It is the poverty, the racial isolation, and the lack of political clout that dooms inner-city schools to failure, Anyon posits, and she backs up her thesis with solid evidence: her own experiences as a school reformer in Newark, New Jersey.
Ghetto Schooling is filled with interviews, media reports and Anyon's eyewitness account of the sorry state of Newark schools and reformers' Sisyphean task of trying to make changes in the midst of urban decay and governmental indifference. Anyon concludes that it is racial, class, and ethnic discrimination at governmental levels that has led to the neglect of inner cities and, by association, their schools. The problems Anyon discusses and the solutions she proposes are not limited to the Newark city schools; they could be implemented in other urban school districts across the country. For anyone interested in the state of education in America's cities today, Ghetto Schooling is an important, if troubling, read.
Customer Reviews:
The direct effect of the city on schooling.......2005-05-24
Ghetto schooling touches on the failure of inner city schools but especially the failure of the school system in Newark, NJ. She takes a look at the expansive school system from the years 1860- 1997. Her book looks at the failure of school reform but better yet the failure of the city and how it has failed to educate it's minority students through mismangement of money to political partronage that promotes unskilled teachers and adminstrators. She traces the school system as a product of the development of the city. To Jean Anyon, the city has a direct effect on the progress of the school. As she states, "The contours and fortunes of schools in the twentieth centruy have also been intimately linked to the economic transformations of the city--and to federal and state policy as well as to local and national corporate decision making" (156). In stating what she feels is an obvious, Anyon describes the rise and fall of Newark and how fiscal prosperiety directly affected the quality of schooling. She states that through several discriminatory practices by federal and state governments such as redlining, housing segregation, financial disparity between districts and even efforts by corporations to restrict municipal spending and borrowing, education in Newark took a turn for the worst. She also says that the decline in quality of education is aligned with the increase of minorities into the city and the exodus of middle class residents to the suburbs. Anyon does a good job of presenting the historical factors that have influenced education in the city. She also shows how this has occured in other major cities. Another selling pointo f the argurment is that she presents a reform agenda that although expensive does to the root of the "underclass" urban education problem. While in no way belittling the residents of the inner cities she calls for action from these individuals and how their participation in the process strenthens the ties of the community to education. Anyon's book is only the beginning in a long line of cities that are afflicted by the same ailments as Newark, NJ.
Ghetto Schooling Review.......2002-11-18
Since as far back as formal education existed, Newark NJ school district has suffered from numerous problems. In the book Ghetto Schooling - A Political Economy of Urban Educational Reform, Jean Anyon deals with the topic of the Newark school district and what has been done and what should be done in the future. The book begins with her experience of being in the Newark School system (Marcy School) as a member of a group trying to restructure eight schools in this school district. Then she follows up with a chronological break down by era of what went on in the Newark district and around the country. The book begins in the present, goes to the past, and finishes up with how we are supposed to learn from our past.
In the present time, we see schools that are ill equipped, dirty, having unqualified staff, and chaos. These children come from poor homes (if they have a home), with chaotic lives, neglect, abuse, histories of poor helth and chronic health problems, emotional stress, anxiety and anger (Anyon, 1997). If the children are coming from home environments like this, it does not seem that it would take much to make them want to come to school. However, quite a few students that were interviewed did not want to be there. Why? They did not respect the teachers. They thought the teachers were only there for the money or could not find a job anywhere else. One student did not like the abuse inflicted upon the students by the teachers. This section of the book is the one that stands out above all else. The reason being, I cannot believe how these students are handled. What these teachers say and do is uncalled for. This stems from the fact that these teachers do not have the proper training to be a teacher. We are not going to stop this vicious cycle if we do not train these teachers. We learn how to parent from our parents, and how to teach from past teachers, unless otherwise trained. If I did not get anything else out of this book, I do know how not to teach.
I am sure the information presented in this book is all true. It is just hard for me to fathom that a school district was ran this way without little interference from the outside. I know if this were the education my children were getting, I would definitely have something to say about it. I would be at every board meeting, every PTO and PTA meeting, be up at the school during class time, and hold these people accountable as well as my child. I have never been to or worked in a school of this nature. I also hope I never will. If I did though, I would pray that I would be a better, more caring, understanding teacher than the ones presented.
I found this book to be a hard read. It included entirely too many statistics. If I had to come up with my favorite part of the book, it would be part 1. It was real and easier to read. My least favorite part was Chapter 7 - Class, Race, Taxes, and State Educational Reform: 1970-1997. It was cumbersome to say the least. It seemed to have more statistics than any other chapter. If I could change one thing about this book it would be to reduce the amount of numbers included and include more real life situations.
Revisiting Marcy School got my attention again. It almost felt like I was there. I am not sure it is a place I would want to be. I know I would not go at this time in my life. I am not equipped to teach these kids. I sub in a small school district in Illinois and experience none of this. I probably would do more harm to these children than good. On the other hand, it sounds like they just need someone to care for them and let them know they are cared for. It broke my heart to hear what the white teacher had to say. She said,
" These kids have major problems! Incest, drugs, the girls to from boyfriend to boyfriend. You look at them and say `what's the matter,' and they cannot tell you. I have a little boy [in first grade] who's wondering where his mother went. No one knows. No wonder things go in one ear and out the other [when you're trying to teach them]."
Another teacher said,
"We think, `they're only going to sweep floors' - why teach them science?"
And another added,
"When you realize who they [the students] are, you laugh, and you can't take it [teaching] seriously."(Anyon, 1997)
These statements made me want to help these boys and girls. Saying they were only going to sweep floors is such a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if that is what they are going to do, science may help them someday. If these teachers cannot take teaching seriously, who could? These students need more teaching and caring than the average student does.
Jean Anyon appears to have all the qualifications needed to write a book of this nature. As the books states she has her Ph.D., and is an Associate Professor at Rutgers University. She taught elementary grades in inner city schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant, NY; Philadelphia; and Washington D.C. She is Director of the Institute for Research in Urban Education on the Rutgers-Newark Campus. She has published widely on the relation of social class and race to issues of curriculum, equity, classroom practice, and school reform. This is her first book (Anyon, 1997).
If I were asked if I would recommend this book to someone else, I would definitely respond with a hearty NO! If you are interested in research for this subject, you might find some useful information, with some careful reading. This just was not a book I could not put down. Usually I want to read a book from cover to cover in one sitting. This book seemed to be never ending.
A look into inner city schools and reform.......2002-11-14
Anyon gives us a glimpse into the world of inner city schooling and everything that goes with it. This is an eye opening journey for educators that do not teach in the inner city schools. I do feel that she is way off and don't believe that some of her suggestions would actually work to improve the schools. She has not herself worked as an educator in the inner city schools. So how does she know that what she is reccommending will work?
She does make a good point and that new funding is needed in the schools. It is just a matter of where to get those funds. I do believe that educationing our young children is a responsiblity for all of America, therefore everyone should help in the funding process. I do not think that one soul contributor should be used.
Thoughts on Ghetto Schooling.......2002-11-12
Jean Anyon's book, Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Educational Reform paints a harrowing portrait of the struggles of those who have a role in inner-city schools. It is written in three parts that address the present situation, reflect upon the past, and look to the future, respectively. The book took several years to write due to the level of research involved for the historical content, but the personal account was based on four years of the author's participation in the reform effort in Newark, New Jersey, beginning in 1992. The reform efforts targeted eight schools in the central section of the city. (On a broader note, the historical text of the book points out that the decline of the schools really began in the 1930s.) The book begins by showing the present state of education within the reform district, but then postulates the reasons for this status by looking at the historical foundations of the problems. In the first chapter of part two, Anyon begins the historical breakdown by looking at early situation with educating the children of the many immigrants who came to Newark beginning in the 1860s. Despite early attempts at reform, the seeds had already been planted for the disenfranchisement seen today. The historical context of Anyon's research design shows decade by decade the continual decay of the Newark schools. Reform efforts were suggested, but never truly implemented. After the period of organized crime and municipal scandals had arrived, Anyon notes that:
"Because there was no rescue of the Newark educational system in 1968, it would continue to limp along, and further generations of Newark children-the grandchildren, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of the southern rural immigrants-would
join their parents in the ranks of the uneducated and the undereducated. Many would therefore be unable to participate in the economic and political institutions of U.S. society" (p. 127).
This generational cycle of poverty and hopelessness is at the heart of Anyon's determination that changes can only be effective if they consider the sociocultural status and economic plight of those involved. I found the accounts in the book to be a revelation to say the least. I think people like myself who are born and raised outside urban areas live in blissful ignorance as to the true state of education for the thousands trapped in a cycle of poverty and despair. I like that Anyon takes such an honest approach to her research, realizing that to be effective she must be disclose everything she witnessed. The only change I would like to see is the statistical information presented in some type of graph form so that it would be easier to read and interpret. Otherwise, I found the book to be an invaluable read as a future educator. In fact, it has made me think beyond the world of education and to ponder my place among the human race and the responsibility I must take for needs of my fellow man and the generations to come.
Review of Ghetto Schooling.......2002-11-11
Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Education Reform, is an interesting explanation of the case study done by the author, Jean Anyon. Anyon was a part of the attempted educational reform of the Newark, New Jersey schools in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Although most of her personal contact was with the faculty, staff, administration, parents, and children of the Marcy school, she gives the historical background for the Newark schools system starting in 1860. This history ventures all of the way to the present, which includes her personal experience in the reform process. Although the reform process in which she participated in failed, she did learn a great deal and shared a lot of insight about school reform. Her main point was that reform would not happen until the economic and political systems that surround the schools are transformed, neither would the schools be transformed. (Anyon 13) I found this book to be informative and insightful. Through this reading I have a better understanding of the inner city school setting, and how much help is needed there. Unfortunately, as Anyon point out, money is not the answer. The answer is reform on the larger scale. This book helped me to see this. Additionally, because of my current quest to become a teacher this booked helped me to prepare for some of the obstacles I may face. Although I will probably never teach at a school like those in the Newark district, it is very beneficial to my learning process to see the problem that plague the educational community. I am glad this book was part of my college curriculum.
Book Description
Barely eighteen, Kanika has everything to look forward to. She's fine, smart, and strong-qualities she inherited from a momma who made sure her little girl had every privilege-courtesy of Tony, one of Brooklyn's most powerful crime lords. Born to the life, Kanika knows the hustle from the inside out, but her future holds college and some quality time with Tony's second-in-command, Tyrell....Then Kanika's world explodes in a hail of bullets and blood when a hit takes down both the man who raised her and the mother she adores. Alone, shattered, and possibly a target herself, Kanika lets Tyrell convince her to attend college in Virginia and move in with her birth father. Down South has a whole other rhythm than Brooklyn, and the parent Kanika barely knows is a different kind of mobster than Tony was. Shon is angry and unpredictable....Determined as she is to make things work, Kanika is equally committed to finding out who killed Tony and her momma. She's not about to forget Tyrell. But nothing can prepare Kanika for what she's about to face: from temptation to danger to revelations that will call all her loyalties into question-and put her life on the line....
Customer Reviews:
Ghetto Princess.......2007-09-06
I really liked this book. I swear I could not put it down. I like how the author didn't let Kanika get caught up in the " glamor" of hood life. She had dreams and goals and didn't want to be solely dependent on a man. I didn't care for the way it ended, so I am looking forward to a sequel. You keep on doing ya thang Mia!!
Pretty Gud Book.......2007-02-24
Ghetto Princess is a good book about an 18 year old girl named Kanika who had everything she could ask for in her life. She was smart, beautiful, had a loving family, and even had her dream man. It all went bad when she lost two of her loved ones and is forced to move down south and live with her father and away from her father. She will do anything to find out what happened 2 her parents but will she be able to handle the truth? Can she adjust to her fathers ways of living and who will she show loyalty to in the end?
I thought the book was good, but not good enough 2 get a five. It was dull at some points and it almost led to me putting the book down. It made up with that by having and excellent ending, so that's why i gave it a 4. Mia did a great job at plotting the story and i enjoyed it.
EXCELLENT READ.......2007-01-10
This book was a total superise. Did not expect it to be soo good. I hope there is a part two and soon.
(RAW Rating: 4.5) - The Triumphs and Trials of Being Royalty.......2006-12-24
GHETTO PRINCESS BY Mia Edwards is a fast-paced tale about a girl named Kanika who goes from having it all to losing those she loves the most. Reminiscent of Winter Santiaga from Sister Souljah's Coldest Winter Ever, Kanika is strong, beautiful, educated, and has everything a girl could ask for. Growing up she is taught the ways of the streets by her mother Waleema and her mother's boyfriend Tony, a powerful crime lord. Following in her mother's footsteps she also falls in love with a crime boss, Tyrell, who is actually Tony's second in charge.
Everything seems to be in order for Kanika, as she graduates from high school and begins to enjoy her life with her new man. What she does not know is all this will come to an abrupt end when some of Tony's choices catches up with him and results in the death of both him and Waleema while Kanika is forced to watch. After their deaths, Kanika relies more on Tyrell, even following his advice to leave the city and attend college in Virginia while he finds the killer. In Virginia, Kanika is reconnected with her biological father, Shon and her step sister, Tiffany. Kanika learns Shon is a crime boss and a totally different type of hustler than Tony. She also learns Shon still loved her mother and is working to get his own revenge for Waleema's death. By the time Kanika's story comes to an end she has learned everything is not what it seems and the only person she can truly depend on and trust is herself.
Edwards has written a novel that moves quickly and is very plot driven without neglecting character development. I could feel for Kanika and wanted to see her succeed in spite of the tragedy that was taking over her life. Her writing style also allows the reader to imagine what they are reading. GHETTO PRINCESS is a tale of deceit, love, life, and choices. It's a story that will grab you from the beginning and in the end leave you waiting for a sequel that may or may not ever come.
Reviewed by Criss Coles
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Not so Ghetto...........2006-12-18
This book was just ok..the storyline did not come across that well..also the characters were not interesting from the fat jealous sister to the crazy daddy..I just could not get into this..I felt like I had read this before. Nice try.
Book Description
To Nini Karpel, growing up in Vienna during the 1920s was a romantic confection. Whether schussing down ski slopes or speaking of politics in coffee houses, she cherished the city of her birth. But in the 1930s an undercurrent of conflict and hate began to seize the former imperial capital. This struggle came to a head when Hitler took possession of neighboring Germany. Anti-Semitism, which Nini and her idealistic friends believed was impossible in the socially advanced world of Vienna, became widespread and virulent.
The Karpel's Jewish identity suddenly made them foreigners in their own homeland. Tormented, disenfranchised, and with a broken heart, Nini and her family sought refuge in a land seven thousand miles across the world.
Shanghai, China, one of the few countries accepting Jewish immigrants, became their new home and refuge. Stepping off the boat, the Karpel family found themselves in a land they could never have imagined. Shanghai presented an incongruent world of immense wealth and privilege for some and poverty for the masses, with opium dens and decadent clubs as well as rampant disease and a raging war between nations.
Ten Green Bottles is the story of Nini Karpel's struggles as she told it to her daughter Vivian so many years ago. This true story depicts the fierce perseverance of one family, victims of the forces of evil, who overcame suffering of biblical proportion to survive. It was a time when ordinary people became heroes.
Customer Reviews:
Not a must read........2007-03-10
The account of a Jewish familys' descent in Vienna through the Nazi hell to the foreign shores of Shanghai is interesting from an historical perspective. The writing is amateurish with the point of view jumping around and the verb tenses as well. It could have used a good editor.
Disappointing.......2006-08-05
The story of the blind hatred and inhumanity whipped up by the Nazis needs to be told - and told often. But it deserves a more nuanced telling than this single-dimensional presentation. This account is all bright colors (first quarter) and darkness (remainder), with little in between.
What is particularly striking is that the narrator makes no effort to relate to the suffering of Shanghai's indigenous Chinese population. Her flat and parenthetical references to the pervasive poverty, disease and oppression reveal little or no interest in the historical or social context that created such dreadful conditions, not to mention any empathy with the people so afflicted. Its detachment is disturbing. Could it be that one's humanity is so degraded by abuse that one cannot see beyond one's own suffering? Perhaps, but without any attempt at explanation it comes across as heartless indifference.
As a tribute by a daughter to a mother and a family who endured hideous persecution the book is a worthy effort. But in providing any real insights it falls sadly short.
Decadence and Poverty of Wartime Shanghai .......2006-05-10
I thoroughly enjoyed "Ten Green Bottles". Unlike other books on Shanghai of that period, I particularly relished the intimate glimpse of the extreme wealth and decadence that was ongoing alongside the abject poverty of the immigrants that fled Europe. Much is written here of how people of many nations with unimaginable wealth made Shanghai their "sumptuous playground" between the stench and filth of the city.
In particular, the author's description of the Bolero Club through the eyes of Nini, who worked as a hostess there, was so exciting and so descriptive and so alive that I was sure I was in the room with some of the most powerful men and glamorous women of the time. Her detailed description of the opium den next door, a "grand salon" established exclusively for the very rich, is breathtaking.
This book is a must read for anyone who wants to live the Shanghai of World War II from its lows to its highs.
A story that should not be forgotten.......2005-11-13
This story about the experiences of a Viennese Jewish family in Shanghai perfectly fulfills two raison d'etre of books - on the one hand it allows the reader to enter a time-warp machine and be transplanted to another time and another place and vicariously live through the emotional upheavals, the smells, sights, sounds and most importantly the feelings of fear, frustration, Angst and yes, fortunately also joy, of the main characters. Vivian Kaplan is a master of setting the scene and allowing the reader to slip into the protagonist's skin. I have lived and worked in Vienna and also in Northern China (albeit at a much later time) and Vivian's writing rings true. The chapters in the book are like 3-D images conjured up for the reader (and would make a very gripping screenplay). The other raison d'etre of books is to preserve and hand down important happenings and narrate them in a gripping and thought-provoking manner. The manner in which the Jews in Austria and elsewhere were treated by an Austrian madman who managed to come to power in Germany should never be forgotten. More importantly, we all need to be vigilant that such events happen less and less frequently in the history of humankind. Although familiar with the story of displaced Jews from German-speaking countries as I (like the author) am offspring, I was unable to put down the book. What Nini Karpel's mother had to experience in one short lifetime is more than most people should have to live through. The book also helped me understand the initial inertia of many Jews in Vienna to the anti-Semitic flare-up in the 1920s and 30s. "Oh, we've seen this many times, let's just lie low and wait for it to blow over". Writing in the present tense made the story more immediate. However, despite the fact that the book had its share of gruesome scenes, overall the manner in which Nini viewed the world seemed overly rosy-colored and syrupy sweet. The naive tone that permeates the book distracts from the serious situation in which these refugees find themselves. Even a five-year old would know better than to state 'we are awed by the changes in the baby within his first year. Every day he seems to learn some new word...' p.5. Should the book get reprinted, I suggest a German-speaking editor correct some of the German words. The great Ferris wheel in Vienna is no 'Reisenrad' p.77 and the 'Fuhrer' should be spelled 'Fuehrer'. But overall we are better off for having another story capture the senseless suffering human beings will inflict upon one another.
A Very Outstanding Book.......2005-08-05
Ten Green Bottles is one of the most powerful, emotional, fascinating and beautifully written books I have ever read. Where has this author been?
The story begins in the early 1920s in Vienna where a five year old Jewish girl, called Nini, begins to experience what it is to be the youngest of three sisters. It is written in Nini's voice and throughout the book you seem to live every moment of her life as if you were in her skin. You laugh, cry, feel and experience everything that happens to her as if it were happening to you, yet the book is non-fiction.
The story tells of her life in a growing family and the hardships of her mother in raising her children and carrying on their business after her father's death. As Nini grows into her teenage years, your senses are filled with the excitement of Vienna and the thrill of skiing in the mountains nearby. Then the Nazis come and everything changes.
As Jews are now considered vermin, they must flee the city or they will surely die. With the help of a gentile lawyer they are able to leave Vienna for Shanghai. On arriving in this no-man's land with almost no money, they find themselves in the middle of another war between China and Japan. Living in squalor and trying to survive, their life is made even more miserable. Japan, an ally of Germany, forces them and about 20,000 other Jews into a small ghetto with over 100,000 of the poorest Chinese. The story tells of their life and the life of the Jewish community as they try to make it through to the end of the war under the most deplorable conditions imaginable. They are eventually liberated by the Americans and stay until the Communist takeover in the late 1940s when they leave. The story ends with their exceptionally well written arrival in the white winter of Canada where they do not have to fear anymore.
I read a lot and to me this book was a literary masterpiece. I also learned about a very interesting part of the Holocaust that I had not known.
Customer Reviews:
A deeply penetrating psychological account.......2000-11-08
Dr. Clark has struck a sensitive nerve in the consciousness of a nation in his 1965 study of black neighborhoods. Revised in 1989 with an introduction by William Julius Wilson, and a foreword by Gunnar Myrdal, it is apparent that other scholars respect Clark's work as well. I was particularly impressed by the self-honesty of his methodology -- he calls it his "involved observer" method, which shows much more concern for the subjects of the study than traditional "disinterested observer" approaches, espoused by so-called "value-free" social scientists. Also recommended are other books by Clark, and most anything by Cornel West, Lewis R. Gordon, Allen Spear, and Alex Kotlowitz. A related book to "Dark Ghetto" is "Racism & Psychiatry," by Alexander Thomas and Samuel Sillen, with an introduction by K. Clark.
Book Description
"In the evening I had to prepare food and cook supper, which exhausted me totally. In politics there's absolutely nothing new. Again, out of impatience I feel myself beginning to fall into melancholy. There is really no way out of this for us." This is Dawid Sierakowiak's final diary entry. Soon after writing it, the young author died of tuberculosis, exhaustion, and starvation--the Holocaust syndrome known as "ghetto disease." After the liberation of the Lodz Ghetto, his notebooks were found stacked on a cookstove, ready to be burned for heat. Young Sierakowiak was one of more than 60,000 Jews who perished in that notorious urban slave camp, a man-made hell which was the longest surviving concentration of Jews in Nazi Europe. The diary comprises a remarkable legacy left to humanity by its teenage author. It is one of the most fastidiously detailed accounts ever rendered of modern life in human bondage. Off mountain climbing and studying in southern Poland during the summer of 1939, Dawid begins his diary with a heady enthusiasm to experience life, learn languages, and read great literature. He returns home under the quickly gathering clouds of war. Abruptly Lodz is occupied by the Nazis, and the Sierakowiak family is among the city's 200,000 Jews who are soon forced into a sealed ghetto, completely cut off from the outside world. With intimate, undefended prose, the diary's young author begins to describe the relentless horror of their predicament: his daily struggle to obtain food to survive; trying to make reason out of a world gone mad; coping with the plagues of death and deportation. Repeatedly he rallies himself against fear and pessimism, fighting the cold, disease, and exhaustion which finally consume him. Physical pain and emotional woe hold him constantly at the edge of endurance. Hunger tears Dawid's family apart, turning his father into a thief who steals bread from his wife and children. The wonder of the diary is that every bit of hardship yields wisdom from Dawid's remarkable intellect. Reading it, you become a prisoner with him in the ghetto, and with discomfiting intimacy you begin to experience the incredible process by which the vast majority of the Jews of Europe were annihilated in World War II. Significantly, the youth has no doubt about the consequence of deportation out of the ghetto: "Deportation into lard," he calls it. A committed communist and the unit leader of an underground organization, he crusades for more food for the ghetto's school children. But when invited to pledge his life to a suicide resistance squad, he writes that he cannot become a "professional revolutionary." He owes his strength and life to the care of his family.
Customer Reviews:
Deterioration.......2007-08-22
Teen-ager Dawid Sierakowiak, imprisoned with his family in the Lodz Ghetto, at first carries on a "normal" life, discussing politics with his friends and keeping up with his studies.
More and more restrictions on the population-- illness, lack of food, hygiene, fuel and money, eventually take their toll on everyone. Existence deteriorates to the point at which Dawid knows he will soon die, and he does so 4 months later.
Every aspect of this slow death to the ghetto residents who are not murdered was planned by the Germans.
There are many photographs, which enhance the narrative.
Should be considered for a Required Reading in High School.......2005-10-23
This book is the most powerful and memorable book on the Holocaust I have ever read. Kids in school read Anne Frank, I suppose because it is so popular. It was the first memoir found, not the most telling or interesting. This book is also a great psychology book as it so graphically shows the heirarchy of needs as the situation becomes more desperate. I wish that teachers of senior or junior honors classes would consider this over Brave New World where the main character gives up. Dawid, is a much more positive book of the human spirit in that he continues to deal with the ever worstening cards he is given and works hard to survive. This book hits on so many topics: history, psychology, the power of the human spirit, man's cruelty and literature as Dawid was an exceptional mind for his age.
A truly moving account of one's life in desperate conditions.......1999-08-28
Simply put, Dawid is an amazing young man. Unfortunately for this world, he probably had to suffer to make a long lasting impact. True greatness rarily comes to those of us who contribute daily to the ENHANCEMENT of life and young Dawid is proof of this. His sometimes yielding but never breaking spirit of joy and hopeful speculation makes him a true hero. While his tragic, and "all too early" death are sad, the important things left behind in his words are timeless. He reminds us all that no matter how (supposedly) bad things get in our (truly) rich lives, a thing such as maniacal tyranny and slavery can never be tolerated. The light at the end of Dawid's tunnel never came to him, but by his words and actions hopefully we will all see that inspiration and determination will also glow.
The most poignant memoir I have read on the Holocaust.......1999-07-31
This book deserves a Five Star "Plus." It is an absolute "must" read for those interested in the destruction of European Jewry. I have read very many memoirs on the Holocaust, some quite good, yet none moved me to tears as much as Dawid's diary. What I found remarkable was that a 15-year old (his age when he started writing his diary) should have so much depth and so much wisdom. His description of his extreme hunger and finally his feelings when his mother was deported are extremely poignant. His love for his mother and the extreme agony he experienced when they took her away defies description.
As Adelson writes in the Foreward, Dawid is "increasingly piqued by the hierarchy of privilege that prevails among Jews in the ghetto." The "privileged" do not lack food or adequate shelter while the "ordinary" Jews (which was the overwhelming majority)literally starve. Dawid, a devout Marxist, writes eloquently about these "privileged" Jews. All this privilege of the few and suffering of the majority further reinforces his Marxist principles.
Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak reflects horror of Lodz Ghetto.......1997-04-07
"A HOLOCAUST VOICE
Writings about the Holocaust take many forms--novels, stories, poems, plays, histories. But, as `The Diary of Anne Frank` showed, none has the effect of actual reports left behind by its victims. `The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak:
Five Notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto` is quite different from Anne Frank's memoirs because, unlike Anne, who was hidden away from the Nazis for years, Dawid lived openly in the sealed ghetto of this Polish city and was a witness to and victim of the deprivations, humiliations and cruelties inflicted on the Jewish populace. He was 15 years old when he began to keep his notes, and 19 when he died of illness and starvation in 1943. His diary, edited by Alan Adelson and translated by Kamil Turowski, is written with a sardonic humor and growing despair that can still horrify today. It is illustrated by shocking photos of life in the Lodz ghetto, most of them taken surreptitiously."
Book Description
High-rise public housing developments were signature features of the post–World War II city. A hopeful experiment in providing temporary, inexpensive housing for all Americans, the "projects" soon became synonymous with the black urban poor, with isolation and overcrowding, with drugs, gang violence, and neglect. As the wrecking ball brings down some of these concrete monoliths, Sudhir Venkatesh seeks to reexamine public housing from the inside out, and to salvage its troubled legacy. Based on nearly a decade of fieldwork in Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes, American Project is the first comprehensive story of daily life in an American public housing complex. Venkatesh draws on his relationships with tenants, gang members, police officers, and local organizations to offer an intimate portrait of an inner-city community that journalists and the public have only viewed from a distance. Challenging the conventional notion of public housing as a failure, this startling book re-creates tenants' thirty-year effort to build a safe and secure neighborhood: their political battles for services from an indifferent city bureaucracy, their daily confrontation with entrenched poverty, their painful decisions about whether to work with or against the street gangs whose drug dealing both sustained and imperiled their lives. American Project explores the fundamental question of what makes a community viable. In his chronicle of tenants' political and personal struggles to create a decent place to live, Venkatesh brings us to the heart of the matter.
Customer Reviews:
Too much perpetual-victim theme; misleading statistics; lies.......2004-07-25
Sudhir Venkatesh's 'American Project' has certain strengths. For one thing, it gives an informative overview of the general conditions within the Robert Taylor Homes and how they declined between the 1960s and 1990s. For example, there are extensive quotations of Taylor's tenants, which illustrate first-hand experiences of getting along day by day and coping with deteriorating physical and social conditions. The author is able to use his field work in Chicago to bring his readers inside the housing project to a certain extent. Secondly, the book's chapter divisions are convenient for dividing the Taylor Homes' history by decade.
However, 'American Project' also has numerous weakesses.
First, there are no photos or other visuals in the entire book, making it difficult to picture the vastness of the project and what an average apartment or lobby looked like.
Second, like many sociologists, the author paints the residents of the Taylor Homes as perpetual victims of a vicious, evil, forever racist world that is responsible for all their poor living conditions. For example, in describing why some gang members decided to remain in gangs instead of working in mainstream jobs, listed among the reasons are 'white privilege that denies blacks job-promotion and career opportunities.' The author does not consider affirmative action and other programs that are designed exactly for the purpose of giving blacks and other minorities job opportunities. He also seems ignorant of the fact that during the 1980s, the unemployment rate for black teenagers fell by 21%, the number of black families earning over $50,000 per year increased from 7% to 14%, and black employment in professional and managerial occupations increased 33% (Dept. of Labor Statistics). How can blacks possibly have been systematically denied career opportunities during the 1980s given these figures? Venkatesh also writes that 'youth in this community ... have been discarded by mainstream social institutions.' Yet in these same pages he describes residents who have managed to attain college degrees and even get decent jobs working in downtown Chicago. How, then, have they been 'discarded'?
Third, the author takes a big hammer and tries to smash Ronald Reagan to pieces. The author lost lots of credibility with me on page 149 when he compares Reagan to the character played by Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone's movie 'Wall Street.' He portrays Reagan as a money-grabbing, heartless man who wrings his hands and chortles 'Greed is good' as the poor suffer. Contrary to popular belief, this simply isn't true.
Not only this, but the author flat out lies by stating that 'Reagan ... [refused] to direct government money to the poor and needy' (p. 149) He cites statistics that imply that the Reagan administration said 'screw the poor.' However, Venkatesh's statistics are completely misleading. According to the Congressional Budget Office ('Federal Housing Assistance and its Distribution,' Chapter 3, www.cbo.gov), national housing project OUTLAYS, which are the amounts of money actually spent on federally subsidized housing, increased steadily all through the 1980s, from $8 billion in 1981 to $16 billion in 1987 (even hitting $28 billion in 1985). Reagan is a favorite target for many people in the 'it's-always-society's-fault' crowd, yet these people themselves rarely know what they're talking about.
In short, 'American Project' seems to be a decent overview of life in a major housing project, but the trite victimization and anti-Reagan ramblings, typical of the academic Left, wear very thin.
Misguided thesis.......2002-12-26
Venkatesh is pushing the thesis that the lives of the residents in the 'projects' have been too pessimistically portrayed by other authorities, and that for long periods of time they in fact managed to get along pretty well, through various informal and often criminal survival mechanisms they developed.
That is, as I say, his thesis. I am reminded of a story of a man who fell out the 40th story window of an office building. Mid way down, with his eyes firmly closed, he imagined himself flying.
"So far, so good," he said.
This author records comparable delusions, and the state of free-fall that of necessity must end. He thinks he is recording something better than that.
A sociologist explores life in a public housing high-rise.......2002-12-26
Venkatesh has done a superb job of describing the interrelationships between tenants, and the relationship between tenants and management, as well as chronicalling the changes in these relationships since Robert Taylor was constructed in the early 60's. Anyone who wants to move beyond the headlines, and find out more about the strengths and weaknesses of life in a public housing development should read this book.
That said, the author's background and training as a sociologist comes through loud and clear, and ultimately limits his book. While Venkatesh does a good job of detailing the social relationships among the players, he virtually ignores the larger political issues. Why was management so inept as to be virtually non-existent? Why did the drug/crime culture take hold, and how did the gangs transfor themselves into multi-state corporate enterprises? Most importantly, given that CHA is now in the process of demolishing virtually everyone of the buildings which form Robert taylor Homes, how do we avoid creating the same problems in the next generation of public housing.
Excellent bibliography, by the way. A very good place to dig for resources for anyone wanting to study the history of the Chicago Housing Authority since 1960.
likinstik.......2002-11-25
"American Project" started out with the best of intentions, but along the way ,the author became a little repetitive. He should've explored the lives of the tenants a bit more. I think that would've made their situation a bit more understandable for the unaware. But, I give the author credit for trying to explain the lives,situations and forces, which keep the people disconnected from the rest of Chicago.
Fighting for Control.......2001-06-12
American Project is the story of the Robert Taylor high-rise housing project built in Chicago in the 1960s for lower income blacks. Ultimately, it is a story about social control; that is, the attempt to control various criminal and delinquent acts in order to make Robert Taylor a livable community. Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh traces the struggle of the residents to do so, despite poor security provided by the Chicago Housing Authority and inadequate police protection. For the first ten years efforts by the residents to maintain some sense of order worked to varying degrees but after that it was all downhill.
Most problematic was the emergence of gangs like the Blacks Kings who became more than just an ordinary street gang -- they became an organized criminal group devoted to making big money through drug deals. A significant part of book is devoted to analyzing attempts to deal with the Black Kings. Some within the community wanted to cooperate with the group conceding that there was no way to stop them from selling drugs. Hence, the only viable policy was compromise. Appeals were to the Black King's leadership to increase public safety, and these efforts worked as long as Kigs benefited. For instance, it's easier to sell any product in an atmosphere of calm rather than chaos. However, when policies were not in the interests of the group they failed, as did Robert Taylor which was eventually torn down.
I find two major weaknesses in the book: First, since social control is the primary theme of the book one would expect more that just passing references to single-parent families in that numerous studies show that when single mothers raise boys by themselves criminal activity increases. Indeed, at Robert Taylor there appears to be a relationship between the rise of gangs and increasing numbers of single parents. It is unfortuante that the author pays more attention to sexual harrassment of women by the Black Kings than single-parenthood, as if harrassment were more important to the quality of life at Robert Taylor than the impacts of single-parenthood.
The second shortcoming of the book is the fact that little attention is paid to the effects of drug taking by the residents of Roberet Taylor who were buying $45,000 worth of drugs per week from the Kings. It seems obviuous that ingesting these amounts of crack and heroin had a detrimental impact on Robert Taylor but for some reason the author largerly avoids the issue. In short, American Project is an interesting study of an urban ghetto, it is unfortunately an incomplete one.
Book Description
Born in France to Algerian immigrant parents, Fadela Amara is a human rights activist who speaks with both a personal and collective voice. This book is a passionate account of her struggle to found the movement called "Ni putes ni soumises" (Neither whores nor doormats) aimed at shattering the law of silence about violence against women within the Muslim community. The questions Amara raises are part of a broader agenda that seeks to integrate French Muslims into contemporary French society. These issues also pose major political problems of national identity and the defense of a secular state.
As France increasingly confronts ethnic tensions and the emergence of Muslim fundamentalism, French cities face problems of unemployment, racial discrimination, and violence. Amara's eloquent call for social and gender equality underscores a host of interconnected issues, including France's colonial past and a degradation of the suburbs that has progressively marginalized immigrant communities. Focusing on the repressive code of clothing and gender behavior imposed on young women by a minority of Islamic fundamentalist men, Amara challenges supporters of those wearing the "veil," or Islamic headscarf, in French schools, analyzes the motives behind such actions, and offers her own opinions as to its meanings. Moving, candid, and extremely timely, Breaking the Silence created a sensation when it was published in France, where it went on to win a number of awards.
Book Description
Ernest G. Heppner was only a boy when the devastation of the November 1938 pogrom, euphemistically known as "Crystal Night," introduced a new level of Nazi horror that ended his family’s happy life. Heppner and his mother sailed to Shanghai, the only city in the world that did not require a visa.
The 18,000 Jews who fled to Shanghai were confined by Japanese forces to an area one mile square. Heppner describes the daily struggle to survive: overcrowding and disease, the underground world of criminals, hunger, heat, and humidity. Nevertheless, Heppner was self-reliant, energetic, and clever, and this first documented nonfiction account by a survivor is a tribute to human endurance.
Books:
- Lost Girls
- Magic Hour, The: The Convergence of Art and Las Vegas
- Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
- Microelectronics Packaging Handbook, Part I: Technology Drivers (Microelectronics Packaging Handbook)
- Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
- My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy's Guide to Pregnancy
- Negative Horizon: An Essay in Dromoscopy
- Nineteen Minutes: A Novel
- Nineteen Minutes: A Novel
- Nineteen Minutes: A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
- Daredevil Visionaries - Frank Miller, Vol. 2
- Two Days After the Wedding
- Warchild
- A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
- Concepts in Wine Chemistry
- Album of American History -6 Volume Set
- German Expressionist Prints: The Specks Collection at the Milwaukee Museum of Art
- Tonle Sap: The Heart of Cambodia's Natural Heritage
- Isabel Allende Vida Y Espiritus
General
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Grindin': A Novel
Forever a Hustler's Wife: A Novel (Nikki Turner Original)
Hold U Down (Triple Crown Publications Presents)
Whore (Triple Crown Publications Presents)
White Lines
