Book Talk

Life on the Inside

The military machinations of the past decade will be discussed for many years to come, and a fascinating new autobiography provides new information. General Hugh Shelton, who commanded green berets and airborne infantry in Vietnam, faced even bigger challenges as architect of the U.S. military response after 9/11. That often meant disagreements with high ranking cabinet officials and other members of the military. Without Hesitation: the Odyssey of an American Warrior, tells not only the military story but the personal journal of a career soldier.

Condoleeza Rice didn’t learn to swim till she was twenty-five. Growing up in Alabama, pools were closed to black citizens. Fortunately, little stopped this high achieving woman who learned the power of perseverance from her parents. In Extraordinary, Ordinary People: a Memoir of Family, she tells not only of her achievements but of the family and community who helped her find her place in the larger world.

Yes, the name Vonnegut is familiar to you but this is Mark, son of Kurt. In Just like Someone Without Mental Ilness Only More So, he tells his story; a tale that practically predicts instability. Raised in the home of a struggling author, which included four orphaned cousins and two siblings, they moved from poverty to almost unbearable notoriety. Hospitalized with bi-polar disorder, he was later accepted to Harvard medical School twenty-eight. He claims to have no trouble passing for normal but is glad he got to meet Beethoven, Freud and van Gogh!

Born in the 60s in Scotland, Susan Boyle suffered from slight brain damage received at birth and was diagnosed as hyperactive and a slow learner. But there was always music in her house and music meant happiness. Music was also her path to a fulfilling life and she charts her course in The Woman I was Born to Be: my Story.

Ike’s post-presidential years are seen through the eyes of his grandson David, in Going Home to Glory: a Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969. Here was a man willing to share and mentor, but by training and experience, one who demanded the highest standards of effort and behavior. A trip to Europe showed David the high esteem in which the leaders and citizens of Europe held him.

Want to know all the details of life as a Rolling Stone? Read Life by Keith Richards. Marianne Faithful in a white fur rug? Phil Spector played the bass in “Play with Fire”? And yes, he does describe fans of the Stones as feral, body-snatching girls. But there are serious moments of reflection as he credits the charged emotions of the times with the development of their music.

If you want to go even farther back in time try Why! Because We Still Like You: an Oral History of the Mickey Mouse Club, by Jennifer Armstrong. In 1955 more than ten million children watched the show and two million of them bought mouse ears. By 1958 the run was over. But who can forget Annette, Darlene or Tommy?

My best title of the month award goes to Alice Walker for Hard Times Require Furious Dancing.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian