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by M. Scott Peck
ISBN: 078688164X
Binding/Media: Paperback - 422 pages
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Sold with pride. No writing, no highlighting. Copy in very good condition with minimal reading wear.
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Customer Reviews
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Arrogant and narcissistic
Rating  (1)
Date: 2009-06-27
I am deeply disappointed in this book. To allow his wife and children to be humiliated by his 'sins' or addictions as he refers to them is unforgivable. I have read the 'Road Less Traveled' and assumed Dr. Peck was a person of integrity. I thought he was a Christian with a love of God and a moral person. I don't get the point of the 'Search for Stones'. It seems like a rationalization for his behavior. It's time he grew up and took some responsibility for his actions not blame everyone else.
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I want to travel now in search of such stones
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-04-04
This is a book I kept to myself and did not pass on, since I want to read it again in time. Satisfying, on a general enough plain of consciousness that I appreciated the insight much. The author and his wife have quite the trip and tell it honestly, even of the bad hotels they stayed in...
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Irritating and self indulgent
Rating (1)
Date: 2006-11-19
5 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read this book because I have an interest in prehistoric sites and wondered what a famous self help guru might have to say about them. I looked forward to a spiritual discussion of these ancient, enigmatic monuments. Unfortunately the book turned out to be more about Mr Peck and less about megaliths. If your idea of fun is reading a long list of complaints about food, hotels and the lack of refuse bins in train stations etc then this is the book for you. His views on Britain are a continual whine about how it is "not like home". When not complaining about breakfasts, the author indulges in long, self indulgent monologues about his family, beliefs, infidelities and smoking. Honest maybe but I ended up feeling very little sympathy for him. When we do get round to talking about prehistoric sites his "insights" are questionable to say the least. I can understand how someone can wax lyrical about a little known dolmen in a field, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However his dismissal of the dramatic and beautiful Pentre Ifan left me speechless. If you want to visit prehistoric sites in Britain please don't use this book as a guide or you will end up missing some truly beautiful places. Just to set the record straight the reason that there weren't any bins in the station is because at the time of his visit, terrorists were planting bombs in them. If the author had stopped complaining for a few minutes he may have found this out for himself.
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Waste of money
Rating (1)
Date: 2006-02-08
8 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
Appalling - I only kept reading because I just couldn't believe it was going to be so bad all the way through! Just a list of complaints about food, hotels, everything he encountered, from London and Cardiff to the Isle of Mull in Scotland. Basically, for him, nothing is as good as America so it would have been better if he'd just stayed home. Also, there are several mistakes, particularly in his use of Welsh. Why didn't he do some proper research? And who needs to know about his medical problems or all the affairs he used to have (because he got bored with his wife early in their marriage). This poor woman was still being dragged around with him to see the few stones he got around to mentioning, all those years later. I read up to the bit about how this ego-on-legs felt he was being used as an instrument of God and that was it - I couldn't stomach any more. (Try Julian Cope's "The Modern Antiquarian" instead if you are interested in standing stones with some legends thrown in. It's a wonderful book written by a truly sensitive and INTERESTED author.)
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Don't Trust This Title
Rating (1)
Date: 2005-09-09
11 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
As advertised on the cover of this book, anachronistic me-generation guru Peck and his wife Lily set off on a tour of Britain's legendary stone circles, right? Wrong. Peck and Lily do visit some circle sites but this book is about 1% stone circles and 99% Peck going on and on and on and on and on and on about himself, his life, his beliefs, his personal health, and why faithful Lily forgave him for all the pain his freewheeling, skirtchasing lifestyle as one of the "it" crowd of the '60's and '70's self-discovery movement caused her. This is not about Britain's heritage sites, or even about self-help, it's about Peck patting Peck on the back for being such a smart fella. A bad book without any redeeming qualities. A waste of money and time. Oh, and Dr. Peck, Scotland is not, as you claim, "larger than all the rest of the United Kingdom combined." Jeesh.
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by Stanley Leavy
ISBN: 0881632767
Binding/Media: Paperback - 128 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No publisher marks. Minimal shelf wear. Underlining present.
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by Timothy J. Myrick
ISBN: 0759672113
Binding/Media: Paperback - 420 pages
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No publisher marks, no shelf wear, no writing.
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by Robin McGraw
ISBN: 078521836X
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 240 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride. Gently read copy in like new condition.
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Customer Reviews
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A pleasant surprise
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-04-06
In many ways I found this book a pleasant surprise. Robin McGraw, wife of "America's Therapist" Dr. Phil McGraw, writes her life story in simple, direct, and at times downright moving prose. She does not present her choices in life as the only valid ones a woman can make, which is good because not all women choose to become wives and mothers. She does present making conscious choices about life as something every woman can and should do, making it clear that she believes many women do not do this or even realize it is possible. I found it a fast and enjoyable read, and even though Robin's life and mine are quite different I learned from what she had to say. Worth the time I spent on it, and worth passing on to someone else, too.
--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"
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Great Book
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-02-03
Some have said this is not a solid book. I think it might not be intellectually challenging, but it's thought provoquing. In order to enjoy this book may be you should approach it with the only expectation of reading about the life of a great woman, who has proven to be successful.
This is a book with lot of attitude. You have seen her on the Dr. Phil show, and sometimes you may wonder: "I'd like to talk to her and ask her some tips about life, love, mothering". I think this book offers that opportunity, it's like having a candid conversation with her. She opens her heart, she shares her choices, and challenges you to have a sheer determination, will, and faith in God.
By sharing her experiences, she stresses the importance to live true to your core values, to your dreams. If this book has been considered only as a biography, fine, reading biographies is very motivating and educational.
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Great book,
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-01-09
I loved this book. I have not read her new one, but really enjoyed this one.
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Very pleased
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-09-18
this book arrived very quickly. It was in great condition as stated. Over all I am very pleased & would purchase from this seller again in a heart beat. Thank you.
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Queen Robin's Privileged View of a Life That Revolves Around Her
Rating  (2)
Date: 2009-07-13
Robin McGraw is a very blessed woman and she lets you know it throughout this 2 and 1/2-star book, which is part autobiography, part marriage manual. It is written directly to the wives that watch her husband's TV show, and although she attempts to convince readers that she is just "one of them," it's very obvious that she views herself as Queen of her household, expecting Dr. Phil to cater to her every desire.
She has an odd way of revealing her childhood: she bluntly explains that her father was a drunk gambler and her mother was an enabler, yet Robin says nothing but positive things about these people, even when they are woken up in the middle of the night by men who won their furniture in another of her dad's drunken gambling streaks. She is putting a very positive spin on a very negative childhood, saying over and over that her parents "adored each other," yet she ignores the reality that her dad would fail to support the family and spend nights missing, while her mother refused to stand up to him or demand boundaries for the safety of the children.
Then Robin praises her mom for filing for divorce after the kids are all grown and gone! Why in the world did none of them confront the dad about his alcoholism long before then (including Dr. Phil, who was part of the family by that time)? It's beyond dysfunctional, but she spins everything positive.
That same spin enters her view of her own life and her marriage. She tries to show what a wonderful guy her husband is by saying that they agreed before they were married that he would do whatever she asked him to do--yet is that what a perfect marriage is all about? She claims she demanded there be no foul language from him--yet his show is filled with bad words every day and she is sitting in his audience. She lacks a lot of self-awareness and at times comes across as a hypocrite.
Worst is that she totally ignores some major issues dealing with their initial years together. As documented elsewhere, he had a first marriage that she pretty much ignores here, she doesn't mention his major business failings (where people claimed he took money from them), and he started dating her when she was extremely young, which she doesn't deal with as well (there are also very vague details about living arrangements in the three years they were dating). She is painting a picture here that is not an accurate reflection of their lives--it's more the fantasy version that she wants the public to see.
She also mentions a number of lies that she told him during their courtship, which were her way of manipulating him--but she excuses away as "a girl has to do what a girl has to do." It's disappointing that she doesn't take a moral stance or learn a moral lesson from her lies. Then when she tricks him into calling her two months after she broke up with him, they get engaged on their first night back together. It's not exactly a manual on the best way to snag a man.
Though it is put out by a Christian publisher there is very little spirituality in this book other than vague references to her being blessed by God. On one hand it's interesting that she says God brought the two of them together because Phil rarely mentions spirituality on his show, but on the other hand there is no way of knowing what their spirituality is beyond the "big Man in the sky" giving her everything she wants.
Still it is interesting to hear some of her stories and she does attempt to inspire women. It's a little too "female empowerment" and not enough about understanding how to be a better wife. The unintended result of reading the book is that by the end she has humanized her husband to make him seem much more dull and average than the twangy solution-spouting know-it-all we see on TV.
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by Zachery Tims
ISBN: 1591859808
Binding/Media: Paperback - 224 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Book in very good condition with VERY LIGHT reading wear. EX LIBRARY copy which did not spend much time in circulation before being released. Library markings present but no further markings or imperfections.
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Customer Reviews
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It's Never Too Late
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-10-22
I totally love this book because its so life changing. It will give you a boost in the butt if you are doubting your purpose and your ability to make it thru another day. Zachery Tims is an inspiration and a great role model.
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Moving on
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-03-13
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
It's never too late is a motivator for those with addictions. The novel is a true story that tells how anyone who is willing can recover from some of the most negative situations.
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lies
Rating (2)
Date: 2008-07-14
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I liked the scriptures that he connects to life situations but when It came to his personal life it was mostly lies. How I know because when he tells some of the stories from the pulpit or when being interviewed the story changes.
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It's Never Too Late....It's Also Never To Early
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-02-12
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I thought this book would be more motivational. I guess the style of writing didn't turn me on.
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A Must Have...
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-10-20
14 out of 14 customers found this reveiw helpful
I had no idea that one of my favorite pastors was writing his first book until I came across an ad in Charisma magazine. When I went online to find out the date of its release, I was counting down to get it. Family Chrstian bookstore had one copy left and it was mine. Once I started reading this book, it was very difficult to put it down.
Dr. Zachery Tims is the pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, Florida. I watch the ministry's broadcast via the Word Network and am always challenged and blessed by the messages that God gives him. In reading this book, Dr. Tims uses the same approach when challenging readers to tap into what call and purpose that God has on our lives. He is very transparent when he shares details of his past as a drug dealer and out of control young man who craved the attention and affection that he longed for from his father. He tells how one thing that his mom said to him when he was running the streets..."you're better than that"...made more sense as he got older. When he was incarcerated for attempted murder, those words stuck with him. His mother could not handle him at that time;yet, she still saw something special about her child.
He also gives a rather touching account of how he finally gave his life to the Lord after a co-worker took him under his wing and did not give up on him. This part of the book also challenged me in the area of mentoring those who are new in the things of God. Dr. Tims also shares about the humble beginnings of New Destiny to what it has become today. He comments that he is still looking for the Lord to do great things (paraphrase). It simply shows that he is not one to rest on anything that he has done. He points out, most humbly, that it was the Lord that did it. No bragging about what he has in this book.
This book is not only autobiographical, but also a teaching tool. There are "keys" with Bible verses to support what they pertain to. Dr. Tims makes it a point to let the reader know that no matter how old you are; no matter what mistakes you've made; or how many times you messed up in your walk as a Christian, it's never too late walk in your calling.
Now, I'm going to go back through it to highlight some important points and apply them to my life...
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by Anthony Swofford
ISBN: 141651340X
Binding/Media: Mass Market Paperback - 367 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride. Gently read copy in like new condition.
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Customer Reviews
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Simply OK
Rating (2)
Date: 2010-03-01
This book is simply OK. From what I can tell it chronicles fairly well what Swofford's experience was indeed like. However, it isn't engaging or in depth enough to really warrant close reading. I feel like I could have just read the Wikipedia entry for this book and been just as informed.
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Personal tour of the cold and hot hell of war
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-12-29
Anthony Swofford perfectly exemplifies the contradictions of the warrior. A man who is not eager to fight, but perfectly suited to warfare. An intelligent, sensitive man who reads Camus and Homer but is attracted to the atavistic brutality of the battlefield. A man aware that he is protecting rich, privileged foreigners but who endures torturous heat and loneliness to do it.
Swofford gives us an inside look at the mind and motivations of one Marine. He is no typical recruit, and seems to fall almost passively into the Corps, or "the Suck" as one of his friends calls it. Swofford's view of warfare and of the US military is hardly exalted. He and his fellow Marines spend way too much of his time drinking and screwing (or thinking about drinking and screwing) to be healthy. But these are the young men who are called on to protect us. Swofford's memories of his tour of duty in the first Gulf War are harrowing and terrible. His descriptions of battlefield dead are wrenching, even when the dead are the bad guys. But there's plenty of humor and irony. Battle scenes from antiwar movies like "Apocalypse Now" and "The Deerhunter" are used by the Marines as means of pumping themselves up for battle. Ideal warriors are relived of duty for minor omissions on their applications. Overheated soldiers are required to impress visiting media by playing football in the sand -- in full chemo gear.
Though Swoff's battlefield experiences are very light, his tour of the warrior's mind is top-notch. Fascinating and extremely well written.
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Great War Novel
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-12-03
Jarhead the movie is my favorite war film and I wanted to see if the book matched its fame. The book has more to say about Anthony Swofford's mental and physical journey during the war then the movie, but in the end I think they both tied one another.
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Three words: Bitter Lance Corporal
Rating (1)
Date: 2009-06-24
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Swofford managed a rare feat: writing a widely-read memoir of war without ever actually seeing combat. If you want to read the bitter and often fabricated ramblings of a young man who believes the Corps and the world owe him something, buy this book. If you want to read *good* fiction regarding the Marine Corps, try W.E.B. Griffin or (better yet) Owen West and his tale of the Marines in Somalia (Sharkman Six).
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A Book review
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-06-22
This book was one that i simply was not able to put down. It is so harsh and lets us see what a Marines life really is. But Anthony Swafford does this in a way that makes you never ever want to become a member of the Marine Corps, while still at the same time you would want to in a heartbeat to see what is was like. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about real people and events, NOT for children.
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by David Bret
ISBN: 0786718684
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 320 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No publisher marks, no shelf wear.
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Customer Reviews
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Ok, I gave you another chance...
Rating (1)
Date: 2010-01-25
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
OK, Mr Brent!
I gave you another chance much to the chagrin of most everyone I know that read this book. I thought the worst was over when I closed the cover of Tarnished Angel but this one has that one beat in tawdry lies from beginnng to end. No small feat I might add!
I wouldn't know where to begin picking the inaccuracies apart. If that weren't enough what is up with the Gay agenda? Is there anyone Crawford knew who was straight? Before you or anyone comes back with any homophobia thrown at me, I am Gay.
I'm sitting here with your Errol Flynn book debating whether to give you that third try or not...
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Joan Crawford-Hollywood Martyr by David Bret (biography)
Rating (1)
Date: 2009-09-08
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
I hate to say it, but this book is barely worth the paper it's printed on. If the author, David Bret is not gay, I would be shocked because he certainly has a gay agenda. According to Mr. Bret, virtally everyone in Hollywood during its "Golden Age" was, without question, gay. As I read, it just got to the point when I stopped taking it seriously and read just for fun. He constantly takes unproven suppositions and states them as facts. While I'm not homophobic in the least, I AM a stickler for truth and there doesn't seem to be much of that in this book. Perhaps Mr. Bret feels emboldened by the fact that none of his subjects are still living, thus making it impossible for them to defend themselves and/or sue for libel. Certainly, Joan Crawford's own bisexuality is well documented as is the case for several actors and designers mentioned in this book. However, the author takes great liberties with others which is a disservice to his readers especially since we expect the truth from a biography.
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Save your money
Rating (1)
Date: 2009-03-11
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
At some 263 pages of text, this would qualify as shallow, just by length, for a serious biography of a figure as complex and contradictory as Joan Crawford.
Unfortunately, this book is below shallow. It's just about the most worthless biography I've ever read.
Why? There are several reasons:
1. Mr. Bret has adopted the "Joan could do no wrong" attitude of Crawford's maniacal fans. If there is any critical attitude in this book, I haven't been able to see it. What is particularly schitzophrenic is, on the one hand, denying the existence of any veracity in Christina Crawford"s Mommie Dearest--and on the other hand detailing Crawford's usually exceptionally nasty and vulgar behavior off the screen, which supports anytime in Mommie Dearest.. When Crawford does something particularly foul, it's always justifiable; Bette Davis comes in for continuous condemnation.
2. There is very little substance. Suppopsedly, the book is pbased on unpublished documents and interviews. It feels like there is not a scrap of primary research here. Far too much space is devoted to (badly written) synopses of Crawford's films--most of which, at least to this reader, reenforce the notion that most of these films were pretty bad.
3. The book is riddled with errors. At various points (and these are only ones that spring to mind directly), Bette Davis is said to be at MGM (never--Warner's); that Billie Burke played the "Blue Fairy" in "The Wizard of Oz" (the Blue Fairy is a character in Pinocchio; Burke is Glinda, the Good Witch of the West); that Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls is based on Ms. Crawford (no--based on Ethel Merman)--and numerous other howlers that any moderately literate movie goer would notice.
4. The amount of scurrilous detail about sexual proclivities of the stars would make Kenneth Anger (Hollywood Babylon) blush.
The book opens with "She was one of four genuinely great movie actresses of the twentieth century--the others were Garbo, Hepburn, and Bette Davis." Surely a disputable attitude--and certainly (assuming that Katherin Hepburn is intended) Crawford would be last among them.
David Bret often speaks of Ms. Crawford legion of (unquestioning) gay fans. He is obviously one of them, with all the fanatical prejudice that such a statement applies--and unfortunately reenforcing any bigot's attitudes towards gay men.
In sum, shallow, shoddy, and poorly written. It fails to address the either the real complexities of Crawford's personality or the dichotomy of being a star and being an actress, which is the core of any serious evaluation of Crawford. It fails to put any critical framework around the films. And, on top of anything else, it's so turgidly written that it fails to be even good nasty fun.
Don't waste your time.
Don't waste your money.
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MOST AMAZON REVIEWERS HAVE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD
Rating (2)
Date: 2008-04-02
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
It would be nice to accept this book simply as a guilty pleasure and let its shortcomings slide, but honesty requires pointing out the latter. The first problem is the fact that, although the book was originally published in Great Britain and then published the following year in the United States, no attempt whatsoever has been made to Americanize spelling and punctuation, much less the British slang that one must at times figure out from context ("She put paid to any mother-daughter bond that might have developed between them by rounding on her with, `Listen, kid . . . '"). Are publishing houses now so cheap that they can't afford a competent copy editor?
The next problem is the hype one encounters on the inside flap of the jacket, which declares, "Bret divulges . . . how her loathed mother forced Crawford to work as a prostitute, appear in pornographic films, and sleep her way to the top." Maybe the copywriter for that blurb didn't read the book. The author makes clear that Joan hated her mother, and reports (more as rumor than fact) that Crawford may have appeared in a few "stag films" (other writers have discredited this legend, using such evidence as birthmarks in publicity photos) and intimates that she did indeed sleep around, but nowhere does he establish the cause as being her mother.
These charges, along with many others, are not backed up by authoritative sources--there are no footnotes anywhere in the book--and smack of being entertaining but most likely apocryphal gossip. Virtually every male star of the time, according to Bret, was gay or bisexual and, more often than not, enormously hung. I'd love to believe, for example, that Errol Flynn and Franchot Tone really did spent an intimate night together in memory of actor Ross Alexander, "the lover they had shared," after his suicide, but where on earth did Bret dig up that anecdote? He's not saying.
It doesn't help that on numerous occasions, Bret makes minor errors that could have been easily checked and corrected: for example, the Broadway play in which Fred Astaire appeared was titled "The Gay Divorce," not "The Gay Divorcee" (Hollywood changed the title for the film version since it was deemed inappropriate to characterize a divorce as a happy thing), and Billie Burke portrayed Glinda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz," not the Blue Fairy (a character from "Pinocchio"). If he can't be bothered to be precise about such minor matters--has he never even seen "The Wizard of Oz"?--how are we supposed to trust him for the many outlandish claims he makes about stars' private sexual conduct?
Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr shares some of these shortcomings with the equally delicious, similarly non-documented book Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine, but Considine does at least in some instances credit where he heard the rumors, and further attempts to be fair and balanced: for each vicious rumor about one of his subjects, he usually includes an opposing viewpoint from a different colleague. It is a much more readable and satisfying book overall.
One also has to question the value of the film synopses that make up a major portion of Bret's book--virtually every film Joan appeared in is related plot-point-by-plot-point. Why? If you are interested enough in Joan Crawford to be reading a biography of her, chances are you've already seen "Mildred Pierce"; and if by some freak occurrence some readers haven't, why in God's name spoil the surprise ending for them? A description of the overall theme of each film would be fine, but the he-said-then-she-said minutiae seem like so much filler. Perhaps Bret's publisher was paying him by the word.
I will give the author this: He obviously loves his subject, and it shows. I especially appreciated the way he attacks Christina Crawford and her loathsome book "Mommie Dearest" every time the opportunity arises. I'm sick of seeing that self-serving bitch on every documentary ever made about her mother (so she had to write thank-you notes at Christmas--boo hoo). It is totally obvious that once it became clear to Christina that she wasn't going to have a successful career as an actress, she decided to make a career out of smearing the name of her mother. It's time she finds some sort of productive job and gets on with her life, instead of being a professional victim.
So for a few giggles and at times unbelievably outrageous rumors and gossip, "Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr" can be fun, but for heaven's sake don't rely upon it as a reliable history of the woman who has justifiably been called The Ultimate Movie Star.
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Joan deserves better!
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-04-01
8 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is not a biography.It is an attempt at muckraking expose. It is written by an author who cites very few authentic sources, who writes incorrect information ( He says that Ricardo Cortez was Sam Spade in the 1941 version of THE MALTESE FALCON when everyone knows it was Bogart who played the role in that version. Another example of total inaccuracy is when he states in his discussion of Johnny Guitar that Ward Bond played nothing but cop and fighter roles. Has Mr. Bret ever seen a John Ford film?) Bret is totally preoccupied with the sex lives of Ms. Crawford and her acquaintances, even to go so far to discuss stuff that in no way can be proven. He spouts heresy and hearsay. This is an offensive tome and does not attempt to honor Ms. Crawford's illustrious career. It is a sham and I was ashamed to have spent money on it. If you have the slightest respect for Joan Crawford, please avoid.
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by Christine Downing
ISBN: 1882670337
Binding/Media: Perfect Paperback - 159 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Gently read copy in like new condition. No reading/ shelf wear.
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by Edvard Radzinsky (Translator: Marian Schwartz)
ISBN: 0385423713
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 480 pages
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No publisher marks, no shelf wear, no writing.
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Customer Reviews
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Mystery and more mystery
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-03-18
It was the end of the age of kings, and, as usual, the kings were the last to know. Radzinsky is a talented playwrite. I have enjoyed his plays in Moscow when I lived there. Indeed, Nicholas II was a character you could respect and feel sorry for at the same time. He was not a ruler at all. I have copies of many of his diary entrees and he was so far removed from the plight of his country, it is sad and terrible. The people suffered from it. Radzinsky presents all of this in his theatrical style. He doesn't answer all the questions, but then no one really can. The "facts" seems to change and imagination often takes over. But, still, it is a necessary book on that very sad affair. Surely I recommend this book.
Frederick R. Andresen, author of "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia."
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Too fine for words
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-12-16
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I began my review with the phrase too fine for words, but I suppose thats an oxy moron in reading. Indeed though it is a spectacular accomplishment, from the beginning, "We called it Atlantis" that lost Russia. Mr. Radzinsky Chekovs succesor pulls the reader immediatley from his own world into a lost long white night of sledges on runners and pastel palaces and a beautiful haughty girl married to a small sweet man who lived only to please her. The story darkens these two unfortunatley hold the lives of millions in their hands an empire falls and a magic fairytale Russia dissapears into legend. I'm not a good enough writer to be able to adequatley describe this book, I can say that it will haunt the reader forever.
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Our Bitter, Bitter Revolution
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-03-31
15 out of 15 customers found this reveiw helpful
A man is sitting at a book-covered table in the Central State Archive of the October (1917) Revolution in Moscow. The surviving diaries of the last imperial family of Russia are there, unclassified at last. Reading them, his thoughts carrying him back and forth in time, the man is moved when he finds pressed flowers in the journals of the tsar's daughters: "Souvenirs of a destroyed life".
Edvard Radzinsky is that haunted man, sitting at a table strewn with memories of a broken dynasty. "The Last Tsar" is the product of his research and his sadness. A playwright, Raszinsky is well-qualified to explore the human depths of the lives of Tsar Nicholas II, his family, and the others who were part of their doomed world.
The book gained a great deal of publicity when it was first released here for its sensational assertion that two of the family may have escaped execution on that terrible night in 1918. And this work of popular history merits the attention. This book is likely to become the definitive work on the last years of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
Rarely is a work of history so beautifully written, so thoroughly researched, and so permeated with emotion and insight. A great debt is owed to the translator for her lyrical and poetic voice while retaining a sense of historical authority.
Radzinsky's attitudes and feelings are juxtaposed with those of the two main characters of the story-- Tsar Nicholas and his queen, Alexandra. The inclusion of the author's feelings is unorthodox in a historical work however, in this case, it's a success and it offers a perspective that is both personal and realistic.
The tone of the book is conversational rather than scholarly. It is not difficult to imagine Radzinsky weeping as he sits at the table covered with diaries, though he does not say he did. Certainly, the depth and honesty of his feelings are so evident that we find it difficult to hold back tears ourselves as the tragedy of the Romanov family unfolds.
Radzinsky has a deep respect for the dead Tsar and his wife, but he clearly loves those children. They are the classic innocence, doomed by the destruction of their grand and insulated world.
In the early 90s, exhumation of what is assumed to be the family's grave revealed only nine skeletons. Although the accepted number of victims has always been put at eleven. Even more recently, two bodies were found nearby to the execution site and burial site that some experts believe to be the missing bodies.
The book and the forensic examination raise again the persistant belief that not only the Princess Anastasia, but also the Tsar Evitch Alexi, heir to the Russian throne may have survived the execution. However, these most recent exhumations near the main burial pit appear to show that neither Alexi nor Anastasia survived.
One of the participants in the execution later wrote that Alexi and his four sisters remained alive after the shooting had stopped.
"This had amazed the Commandant", he wrote, "since we had aimed straight for the heart. It was also surprising that the bullets from the revolvers bounced off for some reason and ricocheted, jumping around the room like hail."
That night, the children were wearing clothing into which the family diamonds had been sewn. Seeing that the bullets had not done its jobs, the killers decided to finish off the children with bayonets. A strong, although essentially circumstantial case, is presented that Alexi and Anastasia may, in fact, have survived.
This conclusion appears to have been recently overturned by the finding of the two bodies near the main burial site.
"The Last Tsar" was written as the Soviet Union, the author's homeland itself, was collapsing. The two Russian Revolutions, those of 1917 and 1989, are often intertwined in the book. In the lonely archives and libraries of a dying country, Radzinsky fell into a no-man's land of historical whirlwinds where huge and incomprehensible became understandable. He offers insights into the character of Russian history where, ". . . great and terrible events. . . are usually due to someone's stupidity or laziness," and to the apparently cyclical nature of history.
"Oh, our bitter, bitter revolution," he writes.
This is a book about processes. The tragedy of a family, the drama of a world turned upside down and the mechanics of research and writing are among the subjects.
Radzinsky's superb use of diaries and letters, his simple straightforward arguments and his penetrating thought-provoking style combined to make a very entertaining and convincing book.
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Magnificent biography!
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-08-22
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I absolutely loved this book. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. This was the first biography about Tsar Nicholas II that I had ever read. It gives excellent background information about the country, its history and the politics, so even if you're not at all familiar with Russian history/politics, you can still follow. Excellent purchase!!
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It's OK
Rating (3)
Date: 2007-01-09
0 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
The history is all there in detail. Very interesting, particuarly if you are into tzar history like I am. However, the book is really hard to read. It usually takes me no longer than a week to read a book, but this one actually took me almost 2 months.
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