Amazon.com
To call Janis Joplin the Judy Garland of the Woodstock set is in some sense a fair characterization. The brassy, carnal, extravagant, and ultimately pitiable queen of psychedelic rock is indeed a cultural icon. And while Joplin reveled in her own ballsy, boozy legend, its needy, inebriated, real-life equivalent was a shadow that darkened her short life and, in the decades since her 1970 drug-induced death, has come to eclipse the party-girl persona.
To her great credit, author Alice Echols reconciles the two faces of Joplin in this ambitious, thoroughly readable biography. She does so by tracing Joplin from her youth as a natural-born libertine in dreary Port Arthur, Texas, to her emergence as the sole female rock superstar of her era--a period when beneath-the-surface sexism hampered Joplin's progress even while women's liberation was being widely touted. The author does not shy away from sordid sex-and-drugs episodes, and there's plenty of raw material---the singer was promiscuous, bisexual, and, at various times, an alcoholic, a speed freak, and a junkie. Echols, however, elevates this biography above run-of-the-mill rock profiles by painting her subject against an elaborate and ever-changing cultural backdrop. Here is Joplin the aspiring folksinger, the white-picket-fence wannabe, the wayward daughter, the hit-and-miss recording artist, and, finally, the ill-starred spirit with nothing left to lose. --Steven Stolder
Book Description
Janis Joplin was the skyrocket chick of the sixties, the woman who broke into the boys' club of rock and out of the stifling good-girl femininity of postwar America. With her incredible wall-of-sound vocals, Joplin was the voice of a generation, and when she OD'd on heroin in October 1970, a generation's dreams crashed and burned with her. Alice Echols pushes past the legary Joplin-the red-hot mama of her own invention-as well as the familiar portrait of the screwed-up star victimized by the era she symbolized, to examine the roots of Joplin's muscianship and explore a generation's experiment with high-risk living and the terrible price it exacted.A deeply affecting biography of one of America's most brilliant and tormented stars, Scars of Sweet Paradise is also a vivid and incisive cultural history of an era that changed the world for us all.
Customer Reviews:
the best Janis biography.......2007-09-10
This is my fourth biography I've read of Janis' and by far the most well-written and informative. Instead of being filled with personal judgements and opinions it seems to document the happenings in Janis' life and the lives of those around her in a very easy to follow manner. Lots of history about other San Francisco bands and connections in the music world. Photos are great!!
An Overdose Janis.......2006-04-03
Oh Lord, won`t you buy me a Mercedes Benz, my friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends," Janis Joplin sang so outragedly, if it would be seriousness and not satire (knowing very well, that, occasionally, some wishes are not fulfilled). Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends," - that does not matter anyway and applies to God (if there is one) not as an argument: Proof of it is clear to find. Janis Joplin has slaved away and lived, intensive as a lunatic -- this has not changed the mind of God to let her get 100 years old. Perhaps it was not God, however, who set forcefully a final stroke to this style of protesting impudently (Oh Lord, won`t you buy me a colour TV, ...I wait for delivery, each day until three"), it seems, that Janis arrived at the dead end, because she once took pure, separate heroin (her main dealer was just on holiday). Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town, I'm counting on you Lord, please don't let me down, prove that you love me, and buy the next round..." There was not any next round, after she had taken this song ("Mercedes Benz") in the studio - a capella - the instruments should get mixed the next day. But in the night of October 4th 1970 Janis Joplin died. Eric Burdon commented: "Janis did not die of an overdose heroin. She died of an overdose Janis"
Times are a Changin'.......2005-01-03
I found this book to be quite interesting on the level of an historical and cultural analysis of Janis's life. Echols manages to write an objective biography on Joplin that does not get too sentimental or depressing, as have other biographies on Janis. This biograpy provides one with an education on the late 50s/ early 60s (on the level of history and lifestyle); however, it is not as personable as other biographies. Overall a very good book.
Brilliant biography and counterculture history.......2004-12-16
This brilliant book is both a biography of Janis Joplin and a cultural history of the 1960s. Scars Of Sweet Paradise is a very thorough and in-depth look at Joplin's life and times and at the same time an exploration of the quiet suburban life versus the lure of the counterculture. The bohemian underground, unlike some idyllic portrayals of it, had its share of cynicism and destructiveness.
Much of this book deals with this evolving underground as it relates to the music, gender relationships and the merger of art and commerce. It is the story of a generation's restless and reckless life on the edge, from which Janis and many others never returned. The author conducted over 150 interviews and spent 5 years on research to produce this comprehensive work on Joplin and her era.
The Janis that emerges is a complex, multi-faceted personality that inspires admiration and sadness. The story begins in Port Arthur where Joplin's early life is described, including her first exposures to rock and folk music. It follows her to college and her first taste of the bohemian life then on to her first visit to San Francisco and eventual return to Port Arthur.
She went back to SF and her career began to take off. It is fascinating to read about the colourful personalities that she mixed with in San Francisco: the friends, the lovers and the musicians. Echols is a skilful narrator, seamlessly blending Joplin's moves and her relationships with the rise of her career. There are plenty of quotes from contemporary musicians that really illuminate this mythologized period in history.
My only minor complaint is that the author does not seem to share in the excitement as Joplin finally makes it big with Big Brother an the Cheap Thrills album - this story is just given clinically as part of the larger narrative. The various bands, Big Brother, Kozmic Blues and Full Tilt Boogie, are discussed in detail, as well as the recording process of each of the major albums: Cheap Thrills, I Got Dem Old Kozmic Blues and Pearl. The personalities behind her success, like Abert Grossman and Linda Gravenites, are sympathetically portrayed.
Echols explores Joplin's influence on various performers and notes that the heavy metal crowd picked up on her style but that she didn't directly inspire any clones. Ultimately, Janis appears as a brave, wild and very vulnerable human being who was quite likable, if somewhat volatile. There are 35 black and white photographs and the book concludes with a discography, copious notes and an index. Almost scholarly in its depth, Scars Of Sweet Paradise is yet a gripping read that will please her fans and all who are interested in the 1960s counterculture and the evolution of rock music.
Excellent.......2003-11-14
Alice Echols skillfully weaves the cultural nuances of the complicated '60s with the life and times of the great Janis Joplin. Informative and painstakingly researched. This book is far superior to Myra Friedman's overrated "Buried Alive," which is a vast pile of stinky doo-doo rather than a definitive biography. Avoid "Buried Alive" and get this book instead.
Book Description
A revealing and intimate biography about Janis Joplin, the Queen of Classic Rock, written by her younger sister.
Janis Joplin blazed across the sixties music scene, electrifying audiences with her staggering voice and the way she seemed to pour her very soul into her music. By the time her life and artistry were cut tragically short by a heroin overdose, Joplin had become the stuff of rock–and–roll legend.
Through the eyes of her family and closest friends , we see Janis as a young girl, already rebelling against injustice, racism, and hypocrisy in society. We follow Janis as she discovers her amazing talents in the Beat hangouts of Venice and North Beach–singing in coffeehouses, shooting speed to enhance her creativity, challenging the norms of straight society. Janis truly came into her own in the fantastic, psychedelic, acid–soaked world of Haight–Asbury. At the height of her fame, Janis's life is a whirlwind of public adoration and hard living. Laura Joplin shows us not only the public Janice who could drink Jim Morrison under the table and bean him with a bottle of booze when he got fresh; she shows us the private Janis, struggling to perfect her art, searching for the balance between love and stardom, battling to overcome her alcohol addiction and heroin use in a world where substance abuse was nearly universal.
At the heart of Love, Janis is an astonishing series of letters by Janis herself that have never been previously published. In them she conveys as no one else could the wild ride from awkward small–town teenager to rock–and–roll queen. Love, Janis is the new life of Janis Joplin we have been waiting for–a celebration of the sixties' joyous experimentation and creativity, and a loving, compassionate examination of one of that era's greatest talents.
Customer Reviews:
Family Details.......2007-09-10
I really enjoyed this biography by Janis' sister. It was quite different than some of the other biographies out there in that it's written by someone with lots of details about Janis' early life and family. However it was funny to read about Janis from someone who seems so "straight". Her sister was obviously outside of the Janis-scene of the 60's, so it was an interesting perspective.
Compassionate Yet Ever So Truthful.......2007-09-09
This is a biography at its best. Laura Joplin spares no punches, yet her honesty is her best tool in painting a deeply moving portrait of a tragically wonderful artist. She captures the conflicting personas of Janis, her phenomenal drive and recklessness. The news clips and personal letters she shares are perfect selections and reveal her best and worst.
"I had the Kozmic blues real bad once...when you die, you'll be alone--everyone is. Once you've really accepted this, then it doesn't hurt so much. Get it while you can...'cause it may not be there tomorrow."
That was Janis Joplin. This is "the" book to read on her.
By the author of THE SWAN: Tales of the Sacramento Valley
Love this book.......2007-06-02
I appreciate the intimate details and personal history written in this book. While most books about Janis Joplin deal on the music and concert scene, this book is at the personal level of those who loved her best. If you are not a Janis fan, this book may have more detail than you want. But, for anyone who is a Janis fan, this book is a great read and I am glad her sister wrote it!
The best book on Janis - I've read them all .......2006-03-11
When this book was first published, I read a review on it. I don't remember where I read it or by whom it was written. The writer gave the impression that it was written by Janis' straight and nerdy sister who just wasn't part of, and didn't understand "the scene". The writer went on to say that there was some value in Janis' letters and that if you were a true Janis fan that you should probably read it, but recommended other books on Janis over this one. The implication was that Laura Joplin tried to present a Janis that was much straighter and more clean cut than she was in truth. So, having read this review, I didn't bother to read the book, especially since I'd read so many others.
Recently I went to see the Broadway Play Love, Janis and after hearing some portions of the letters read as part of the play, my interest in the book was sparked and I purchased it. Having done so, I think the writer of that review owes the world, and certainly Laura Joplin an apology. This book was beautifully written by someone who, as her sister, could give us insights that no one else ever could. I would like to include here a quote from the book, which certainly proves to me that Laura Joplin understood it all.
She was explaining the talents that each member of Big Brother and the Holding company brought to the group. "Janis brought her roots in blues. She knew the blues, and wanted her audience to know them through her. If the audience sought to have all its senses aroused at a concert, then Janis, as trance enhancer, brought total commitment to her music. Hers was not a music born merely of the vocal cords anyway, but an ensemble piece within her physical presence alone. She coaxed the music with urging arms and strutting steps. She delved deep within herself, so that piecs of her soul seemed to dance along the harmonies and ride the tidal waves of sound that defined her voice."
Laura Joplin does not shrink from her sister's drug and alcohol use, her bisexual love affairs, or anything else. She talks of Janis' insecurities and where they originated. She tells her story with deep honesty. The book includes the Joplin family tree. Not just a list of grandparents names but a small history of each forefather explaining what brought them together and brought her parents eventually to Port Arthur, Texas and also gives the reader a glimpse of the sturdy stock from which Janis came. It shows you a soft and sensitive, loving side of Janis' that we surely knew was there, but the truth of which could only really be provided by Laura's glimpse into personal family history. Of course Janis, growing up in the 50's and 60's would not have been a wild hippy child during her younger years. Hippies hadn't happened yet. The 50's and early 60's were very "straight" times. This book is where you learn how the Caterpillar turned into the Butterfly that she became. I think we are incredibly fortunate that Laura Joplin was willing to set the record straight and willing to share such personal tidbits from their home and family life. There must have been alot of soul searching and emotional moments that went into creating this book and we should be grateful to Laura for having done it. I deeply treasure this addition to my collection of books on Janis, just as I treasure the music that our Janis, queen of the blues, left as her legacy. I hope wherever she is that she is able to know how many people she touched; the ever growing number of fans she still has and how many of us truly always will Love Janis.
Wow, what an amazing book..........2006-01-06
I have to say that about 3 chapters into this book I didn't think I was going to make it through...and then it got really interesting. This is Janis' story told from the perspective of a family member, her sister. One of the most intriguing things about this book is the transformation of the author's point of view. This isn't something that's completely evident at the beginning, but it slowly unveils itself throughout Laura's writing process...and very eloquently as well. She did a magnificint job of pulling together the right resources in order to constantly remind the reader that Janis' life wasn't about her death at all. Rather, it was a series of high and low events that unfolded given the influences of the times, as well as the pressure and awe of stardom. The letters from Janis give the reader a more detailed look into her thoughts and feelings, as well as a very affective gauge in which to see where she was in terms of her addictions and feelings. In addition to this, being a child of the 80's, it was wonderful to read about all of the sociological change that was going on during that time. I learned a great deal about the beat and hippie generations, drug use and abuse at that time, and about what stardom represented during then as well. It left me wanting to hear more Janis, and to read more biographies that have been written in the same manner.
Book Description
Electrifying, highly acclaimed, and intensely personal, this new and updated version of Myra Friedman's classic biography of Janis Joplin teems with dramatic insights into Joplin's genius and into the chaotic times that catapulted her to fame as the legendary queen of rock. It is a stunning panorama of the turbulent decade when Joplin's was the rallying voice of a generation that lost itself in her music and found itself in her words.
From her small hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, from the intimate coffeehouses to the supercharged concert halls, from the glitter of worldwide fame to her tragic end in a Hollywood hotel, here is all the fire and anguish of an immortal, immensely talented, and troubled performer who devoured everything the rock scene had to offer in a fatal attempt to make peace with herself and her era. Yet, in an eloquent introduction recently written by the author, Joplin emerges from her "ugly duckling" childhood as a woman truly ahead of her time, an outrageous rebel, a defiant outcast and artist of incomparable authenticity who, almost in spite of herself, became to so many a symbol of triumph over adversity.
This edition also contains an afterword detailing the whereabouts of a large and colorful cast of characters who were part of Joplin's life, as well as "We Remember Janis," a new chapter of poignant and affectionate anecdotes told by friends.
Customer Reviews:
Too weird to live and too rare to die.......2007-09-10
Well I'm a BIG fan of Janis Joplin and have been for many years. I personally think that she was an amazing women and an important character in rock history. Now I bought Love,Janis and thought that it was pretty good(except for the boring first chapter).Well then I was going to buy Going Down with Janis but a friend told me about this book. Of course I was excited. So I started reading and about half way through I got board. I mean it was not what I expected. It barley talks about Janis and her time at Woodstock, Monterey Pop Festival, or Festival Express. I mean those were HUGE parts of her life. Also I didn't like how the author just lightly got into her life as far as relationships and her childhood.I was angry that the only thing the author found interesting enough to focus the book on mainly was the Drug Use. Now I know that Janis used drugs, but I think that alittle more should have been said about her amazing talent and her wonderful songs and how proud she was of herself that she was doing what she loved instead of "She started the needle again..." I started to get the feeling that the author disliked Janis and when she claimed that she "Loved" her it sounded like a flat out lie. So I'm not saying that the whole book sucked but I think that I'd rather read Going Down with Janis and Scars of Sweet Paradise then reread this. Besides there are not that many pictures in the book and I felt that they so called "Beautiful" text was rushed...But having said that I did appreciate the "Where are they Now?" and the "How we Remember Janis" portions...
Buried Alive.......2007-01-19
This gives detailed information of the decline of Janis throughout her career. I find it to be more immediate than some of the other biographies I have read of Janis Joplin which are also good but seem to describe Janis Joplin's life in more of a historical context. As this one was written soon after her death by someone who was very close to her, it seems more accurate and full of painful details; details by someone who must have felt like they wished they could have done more to save her.
Still the best biography of Janis Joplin.......2006-07-01
This book is the most honest and insightful of all the many books that have been written about Janis Joplin. Some reviewers here are incensed and angered by this book, seemingly because the book dares to reveal Joplin as the unbelieveably tortured, damaged person that she was. I suppose it offends them to hear the truth; Ms. Friedman KNEW Joplin and frequently bore witness to her insane, uncontrolled behavior and persona. Her grasp of what drove Joplin to self-destruct is startling, and she does not mince words when describing Joplin's immaturity, insecurity, despair, loneliness, addictions and outrageousness. She also speaks eloquently of Joplin's intelligence, her sensitivity, her energy and talent, her ambition, her traditional desires for a home and a family. As it turns out the "real" Janis Joplin was NOT what the world tended to see, the boozy, blowsy, whorish good-time mama. She was a real woman(with a surprisingly conservative side) who wanted love and acceptance very, very badly, so much so that she was willing to put on the "Pearl" act to get the attention she craved. This biography gives the reader as well-rounded a portrait of the singer as you are ever going to get. Make no mistake about it, this is the best of the Joplin biographies.
Disappointing.......2005-02-22
If you like your dead celebrities sliced, diced, and raked over the coals with their heads served up on a silver platter, then this is the book for you. Seems like the author, who only knew Janis Joplin for the better part of two years, (and didn't know her at all during the first part of her career in San Francisco), casts far too many one-sided judgments based on a personal ax to grind. Also, she displays no insight or appreciation of the San Francisco scene or rock music. An opinionated hatchet job, in my opinion.
Very real, very personal story of Janis' life.......2004-09-17
I believe very few people ever saw the "real" Janis Joplin, however Myra Friedman did, and she wrote an excellent biography. Janis may have come across as a real tough chick, but inside she was a frightened child, and Myra saw that. (I personally believe that Janis had Borderline Personality Disorder.) I read this book back in high school around 1975 and just re-read it. I had to get it from the library, since it is out of print. It may be hard to find, but it is worth the effort.
Customer Reviews:
Pearl...Janis Joplin story.......2007-02-07
Actually I bought this for my daughter-in-law for her birthday. I can tell you she did not put it down till she conpleted it. She even took it to work with her. She loved it very much! Now I am going to read it.
We'll Never Know What Janis Would Have Said Had She Lasted.......2004-08-27
I don't have a copy of the book handy, so I can't provide the page number.
But I distinctly recall a passage in which author Ellis Amburn asks a friend of Janis more than twenty years after the singer's death if "Janis was simply gay?"
Then Amburn provides said friend's reply. The friend said in effect that Janis did love men.
I agree with the friend. Janis herself convinces me that she's not a lesbian whenever I hear her on CD singing these tracks: "I Need A Man To Love" and "Move Over." (In the latter she sings, "You know that I need a man / Honey, I told you so.")
Mr. Amburn includes many details about the drug and alcohol abuse. He illustrates the boring, not - very - sensual addict developing a tolerance level for the stuff, increasing the dose, kicking for a month then starting over with a low dose.
Just because Mr. Amburn is accurate about addiction issues doesn't mean he has the right to slant the stuff about sexual preference. The truth is that Janis wasn't around long enough to speak for herself about what she really wanted. She was in the national spotlight (as opposed to San Francisco public parks) for the short time of 18 months.
Eighteen months isn't even enough time for Melissa Etheridge to become a lesbian icon. (What about all the rehearsals that any singer on the road needs ? Nobody wants to become the new Doodletown Pipers or another Milli Vanilli.)
Would Janis have chosen to admit publicly her lesbian experiences had she lived longer ? We'll never know. Please leave it that way. Please don't buy this obsessive book. Read the Janis biographies by her sister Laura and her PR person Myra Friedman. Myra doesn't dwell on the sexual preference issue. She can't because she talks too much about the substance abuse. Oh, well. ANY writer under contract to a publisher has freedom, but fans of Janis know that freedom's just another word for ...
Cartoonish portrait.......2003-11-14
This book has a tabloid quality to it. The "obsession" part of the title more accurately reflects the author's own obsession with sleazy assertions. It's unfortunate the way he twists the personal accounts of friends and associates to fit his agenda/theory about the life of Janis. This account is stereotypical, salacious and fails provide any new insight beyond the standard caricature of Janis as a boozy, promiscuous broad.
the life and times of Janis..........2001-12-17
'The Obsessions And Passions of Janis Joplin' is a very accurate description of the book - it doesn't deal much with the artist, it tells a lot more about her sex life and drug abuse. I myself prefer at least a bit more information on the music of the musician in question, but I must admit the book does a good job of showing us the confused, extremely talented, both loved and rejected personality that was Janis Joplin.
A Good Read.......2000-06-15
This well-written book is very descriptive! From Port Arthur, Texas, to San Francisco's Haight / Ashbury, scenes of tragedy & revelry are given a jolt of life. Author really sought out the witnesses who are still around (and not too wasted) to tell the tales. Great book for fans of San Francisco, rock music, and of course Janis.
Plenty of sleaze, drugs, and sex, but author nicely presents the tender-hearted girl that was Janis Joplin.
Average customer rating:
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El Amante De Janis Joplin (Coleccion Andanzas)
Elmer Mendoza
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Janis: Janis Joplin
David Dalton
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Product Description
Janis Joplin - A different kind of person and only a different kind of book could bring her back to life the way she really was. It tells a story as raw and honest as her voice, as gut-shaking as her songs, as vivid as her memory. It is by the beautiful woman who was her lover and fellow drug addict and there is nothing pretty about it, just the truth, sordid, ugly, yet strangely, stubbornly beautiful.
Book Description
Psychologist Dr. Gerald Faris and sociologist Dr. Ralph Faris explain their findings about two icons of 1960s music and how each suffered from a complicated condition psychiatrically defined as "borderline personality disorder.
Customer Reviews:
Living in the Dead Zone: Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison: Understanding Borderline Personality Disorders.......2007-01-27
Psychoanalyzing the dead? That's a good one.
I think I have to quote Britney Spears here. "Huh?"
All one needs to do is go to an AA meeting and you will find hundreds of people with your so called "borderline personality disorder." It's called alcoholism. Try growing up with them for parents. Talk about needed therapy.
Assumptions.......2006-11-18
The authors made an assumption about Jim before research was undertaken and I feel this coloured subsequent research. There's much more information available about Jim than was read by the authors who seem to have taken information that supports their point of view and ignored the rest. Jim's stage persona was a carefully orchestrated act based on a book called "Mass Hysteria and Crowd Control". He was playing a part. They were after all film graduates and film heavily influenced their stage presentations. Jim's poems were apocalyptic but that was his genre. The therapy sessions in the book are non-existent and are based on the authors' own preconceptions. Jim was extremely shy (said one Door and confirmed by another), there is some evidence he had a nervous breakdown, his home life was volatile and he drank. He couldn't keep up the act. He hated heroin and wouldn't take it deliberately. Where's the examination of the paramedics' reports to the Parisian police? Increasingly severe asthma attacks led to a prescription which he neglected to fill. A rock star's death by something as common as a heart attack caused by chronic asthma is not newsworthy. I'm disappointed in the lack of examination of all evidence before drawing a conclusion of BPD. The authors have analysed the myth, not the man.
Finally an explanation that makes sense!.......2004-12-15
Nowhere in the literature is there an analysis and narrative like this. Intense, compelling and riveting, the book explains why these two icons were so tragically self-destructive. In doing so,
they have illuminated and clarified for the public, the complex nature of the poorly understood borderline disorder. So many people can benefit from reading "Living in the Dead Zone". Bravo gentlemen!
Insightful analysis of two deepyl troubled people.......2004-10-05
I was unable to put this book down once I began reading the accounts offered by Faris and Faris. Their analysis of the borderline disorder was so disturbingly realistic in my own experience with my son that I thought they were writing to me. The therapy sessions they created with Janis and Jim were not only revealing but astonishing when you consider how good their music was.
This book is a most excellent read, filled with insights into the behavior of the borderline. And I truly did appreciate the sociological observations as well which contextualized the 1960s so well...and I do remember them as if it was yesterday.
Final Response to J.......2004-03-07
To J one more time, I promise:
My brother and I have had a good laugh at your latest response, not that your other responses weren't just as laughable. But your latest was the most sweeping and most revealing and therefore the most pathetic. This will, however, be our last effort to have a reasonable discussion with you. We see no reason to continue a conversation with someone who reveals his ignorance and arrogance in almost every sentence. You love Jim Morrison, you love his poetry, you dismiss entirely psychiatry and psychology, we are completely wrong about everything. You're the only one who apparently can KNOW anything. And you think we don't understand you?
In the cute way that people who really don't understand a discipline do, you accuse us of psychoanalyzing you. There's no doubt that you do not understand the fields of psychology or psychiatry, and psychoanalysis-they are all very different modes of investigation, not that you would trouble yourself with such distinctions since you already know everything you need to know from the misreadings of Szasz, and Laing. You might try reading pioneers in the field, who really do KNOW something from extensive empirically-based and theoretically well-grounded research. Read John Gunderson's work from Harvard, Otto Kernberg's from Cornell, James Grotstein from Stamford, to name a few. But of course they are all part of the psychobabble industry to you, aren't they. You ask us to stick to what we know best, rather than critique your hero's poetry? You don't appear to impose any restrictions on your statements about psychology and psychiatry. That must be because you think you already KNOW. Right? Wow. Must be comfortable to live in such a fatuous world.
Since you don't appear to know anything about serious empirical research in psychiatry, although I'm sure you think you're a quick study, in the absence of that knowledge you don't appear to be in any position to comment on what we can or cannot know. Borderline personality disorder is now one of the most carefully researched, empirically confirmed diagnoses available to us today. And the possibility for moving backward, historically, to look at what we do know about popular figures and legends, although messy and complicated is not IMPOSSIBLE (Should I drop the caps?) and can be very helpful in popularizing such a disorder to the public. Nor is it unethical to do so.
Among the reasons we believe so confidently that you are only superficially familiar with these fields rests fundamentally on your citation of Szasz, and Laing, for example, not to mention your wild-eyed claim that one cannot really KNOW anything (your emphasis) about the psychology of other people. Szasz and Laing, the most often misunderstood and at the same time most often cited by those pseudo critics, hostile in the extreme to psychiatry and psychology, would never have made such silly claims that we can never KNOW.
You wrote that "the entirely subjective nature of your science," as if there's no such thing as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and personality disorders, anxiety and panic disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, identity disorders, to cite a few. These diagnoses are neither subjective nor unscientific. Your dismissal of them as such reveals such ignorance that we choose not to bother you with more complete accounts of the works of brilliant clinical researchers, especially since you appear to have a comic book view of Szasz and Laing as dismissing those serious folks. And we believe any further conversation with you is both pointless and distasteful. P.S. I am not a therapist, my brother Gerald is, a fact you would have known if you had read our book-not to trouble you with a little thing. This was our last response but we are sure that the hero-worshipper within you will compel you once again to respond.
Product Description
A collection of 16 Joplin classics as performed live and on records from 1963-70: Me And Bobby McGee * Piece Of My Heart * Mercedes Benz * Tell Mama * Get It While You Can * many others. Includes b&w photographs.
Product Description
This amazing collection contains note-for-note transcriptions of 18 supercharged classics by this blues-influenced legend. Includes: Ball and Chain Cry Baby I Need a Man to Love Kozmic Blues Maybe Me and Bobby McGee Mercedes Benz One Good Man Piece of My Heart Summertime To Love Somebody What Good Can Drinkin' Do? more. Features photos and a foreword by Laura Joplin, Janis' sister. Ball And Chain Cry Baby Down On Me Farewell Song Get It While You Can I Need A Man To Love Kozmic Blues Little Girl Blue Maybe Me And Bobby McGee Mercedes Benz Move Over One Good Man Piece Of My Heart Summertime To Love Somebody Turtle Blues What Good Can Drinkin' Do?
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Books Index
Books Home
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Love, Janis
Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin
Piece of My Heart: A Portrait of Janis Joplin (Da Capo Paperback)
Nine Hundred Nights - Big Brother and the Holding Co. with Janis Joplin
Finding Fran
