This Boy's Life: A Memoir
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • well written memoir
  • Great Read
  • Addictive
  • a poignant look back
  • Wolff Is Crafty
This Boy's Life: A Memoir
Tobias Wolff
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802136680

Amazon.com

Fiction writer Tobias Wolff electrified critics with his scarifying 1989 memoir, which many deemed as notable for its artful structure and finely wrought prose as for the events it describes. The story is pretty grim: Teenaged Wolff moves with his divorced mother from Florida to Utah to Washington State to escape her violent boyfriend. When she remarries, Wolff finds himself in a bitter battle of wills with his abusive stepfather, a contest in which the two prove to be more evenly matched than might have been supposed. Deception, disguise, and illusion are the weapons the young man learns to employ as he grows up--not bad training for a writer-to-be. Somber though this tale of family strife is, it is also darkly funny and so artistically satisfying that most readers come away exhilarated rather than depressed.

Book Description

This unforgettable memoir, by one of our most gifted writers, introduces us to the young Toby Wolff, by turns tough and vulnerable, crafty and bumbling, and ultimately winning. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move, yet they develop an extraordinarily close, almost telepathic relationship. As Toby fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff does a masterful job of re-creating the frustrations and cruelties of adolescence. His various schemes - running away to Alaska, forging checks, and stealing cars - lead eventually to an act of outrageous self-invention that releases him into a new world of possibility.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars well written memoir.......2007-08-28

This is a well written and engaging memoir. It ends a bit abruptly, leaving me wondering how the author went on to become the distinguished writer he did. I enjoyed this book. The people and places described did become alive to me. While not a page turner, this was a book I enjoyed quite a bit.

4 out of 5 stars Great Read.......2007-08-15

Short (4-5 hours) account of author's troubled youth. Hard to put down, this book would easily appeal to a wide audience.

5 out of 5 stars Addictive.......2007-08-11

I can't put this book down. It is wonderfully written and very entertaining.
A must read for any teenagers looking for a nice exhilarating read.

5 out of 5 stars a poignant look back.......2007-01-09

I was impressed by this eloquent account of a young man who found his conscience under the most trying circumstances imaginable. Writing with painful honesty about the deceipt around him as well as self-deceipt, he reveals how he broke through with new-found empathy that temporarily paralyzed him (the others around him misunderstood the motives for his action) but ultimately, I believe led to his most genuine, heartfelt response. This reader ached for him because he could not access the support he needed at this crucial juncture of his moral development, yet I am full of admiration for the strength it gave him, and how it seemed eventually to prepare him for his experiences in Viet Nam. I am eagerly looking forward to reading the sequel to this book which reveals his experiences there.

4 out of 5 stars Wolff Is Crafty.......2006-11-29

The story is about Wolff's childhood. His mother nurtures him as best she can in between disenchantment with male suitors, employers and various geographies. As the good-hearted mom she gives Toby a pretty long leash to act out his child fantasies - at least the ones she could afford. Then she marries Dwight. And at this point in the story the main conflict begins as Tobias faces-off with his insecure, alcoholic step-father.

I read this book thinking: "My god, this Wolff kid is smart, funny, extremely crafty and got a wee bit of the devil in him." But than it's easy to forget you're reading a memoir written by an award-winning writer such as Wolff. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the adventures of Wolff as a teenager - always wondering how he would lie, cheat, steal his way out of his next jam. His innocence melted away with every turn of the page. But the innocence portrayed by Wolff lacked the quality of real naiveté to me. Overtime it felt more like a precursor, a set-up, for the devilish Wolff to emerge from. Or maybe Wolff just grew-up too fast in those 288 pages for my liking.

What can a person say about Tobias Wolff's writing? Lean? Clean? Outstanding? I venture to say that it's already been called out in one of the hundred reviews listed here. In all, a memoir delivered with a brilliant sense of place, time, and most of all the character of a young man finding his way.
Duke of Deception
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • I thought this book would be thought provoking
  • Brilliant memoir of father/son relationship by brother of Tobias Wolff
  • Forgive, But Don't Forget
  • an overall success!
  • Serving A Duke
Duke of Deception
Geoffrey Wolff
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679727523
Release Date: 1990-02-19

Book Description

Duke Wolff was a flawless specimen of the American clubman -- a product of Yale and the OSS, a one-time fighter pilot turned aviation engineer. Duke Wolff was a failure who flunked out of a series of undistinguished schools, was passed up for military service, and supported himself with desperately improvised scams, exploiting employers, wives, and, finally, his own son.

In The Duke of Deception, Geoffrey Wolff unravels the enigma of this Gatsbyesque figure, a bad man who somehow was also a very good father, an inveterate liar who falsified everything but love.

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars I thought this book would be thought provoking.......2007-08-29

It wasn't at all what I expected. I read the first one or two chapters and I thought to myself this book is pretty good--but the memoir fell apart after that.

5 out of 5 stars Brilliant memoir of father/son relationship by brother of Tobias Wolff.......2007-02-12

I don't know how I initially ran into this book, but my son was assigned This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff in prep school - twice. This is a memoir by Tobias' brother, Geoffrey Wolff, of life with their father - a Jew who went to extreme measures to pass as not Jewish. The real story though is not the fathers' life, but the author's incredible insight into a father/son relationship. I bought this copy to give to my son's prep school - I thought it made, at least in excerpt, critical reading if they were going to thoughtlessly keep assigning This Boy's Life. Brilliant writing. It would be a shame for this to be the lost "twin" as it's so rare to get two angles on a life, so well fitted for adolescent dialog in school.

5 out of 5 stars Forgive, But Don't Forget.......2005-12-07

For those who have read Tobias Wolff's memoir This Boy's Life, Geoffrey Wolff's The Duke of Deception fills in many gaps. Where This Boy's Life focuses on a rather short period of a couple years in Tobias Wolff's life, The Duke of Deception covers the life of their father, Arthur. The writing style is much more formal than Toby's book. When he describes his often rocky relationship with his mother, it sounds almost like a psychologist's file than a son talking about his mother. "My mother is not cold, and she is not stiff. She has been infailingly warm and loving with my boys, and with my wife. She laughs a lot, teases, likes to be teased. But neither of us, I think, trusted the other's love" (48). The formality adds greatly to the older and wiser narrator, creating a sense of distance. It takes some getting used to, but as the book progresses, it became clearer that this formality is a way of distancing Geoffrey from some of the more painful memories.
The further you get into the book, the further you want to read on. As Geoffrey gets older and older, he begins to understand his father's cons and note them more carefully. The reader is entrapped, anxious to see when Arthur will finally exploit everyone who cares about him, and even more anxious to see how Geoffrey could possibly forgive his father. Even as Geoffrey despises his father's cons, he finds himself falling into Arthur's ways. "As I liked him less and less I became more and more like him. I felt trapped" (197).
The story's a little slow at first, filled with family history, "My father Arthur was delivered by his father Arthur at home on Spring Street in Hartford, November 22, 1907" (13). This history becomes important as Geoffrey begins to untangle his father's life. Wolff keeps the reader's attention by injecting vivid scenes from his childhood into the narration of dry facts. Overall, this book was a fantastic story of a son coming to terms with his father's crimes and then having the ability to forgive him for it.

4 out of 5 stars an overall success!.......2005-12-05

I chose to read this book just after finishing This Boy's Life, a memoir written by the author's brother, Tobias Wolff. I hoped The Duke of Deception, by Geoffrey Wolff, would be just as interesting, creative, and captivating as Tobias' work. In some aspects, it failed to meet my expectations, but in most of the others, it was a pleasure to read.

The beginning of the book, for me, was the only part that was very hard to get into, hard to immerse myself in. I found the sudden, rapid descriptions of overlapping events and characters to be overwhelming and it was hard for me to become a part of the story. Before the reader reaches the end of the first page of the text, for example, s/he has already been introduced to over five characters. One passage even reads, "
She spent her summers in Narrangansett surrounded by the houses of her five children and by numberless cousins and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of these, my son Nicholas, not quite four, had just left for a ride with her...Nicholas' little brother Justin was with his mother at the beach. I was with my wife's brother-in-law on a friend's shaded terrace. Kay's house was old and shingled...
I was so lost even by that point that it was hard to finish the first chapter.

As the book progressed, however, I was surprised to eventually find myself sitting for hours and flying through the text. Once the scene was set and I was familiar (for the most part...) with all of the characters, the book became truly enjoyable. It was great that Wolff was able to tell his entire story in an interesting and not entirely chronological way; it was nice to have explanations of events he was describing as told by other events...even if the story grew a little out of order. In using this technique, the author retold his astounding child-to-adulthood in a way that was creative yet not impossible to follow.

Even with the rocky beginning, I was, in a short time, able to enjoy and appreciate this book. The author writes with a style and certain clarity that have yet to come across elsewhere. I would highly suggest reading This Boy's Life either before or after reading The Duke of Deception; the two make a great pair and individually tend to fill in whatever holes might appear in the other work. Overall, The Duke of Deception is definitely a recommended read.

4 out of 5 stars Serving A Duke.......2005-12-05

Geoffrey Wolff's memoir The Duke of Deception is a carefully written account of his lying, deceiving father and the effects his actions had on his son's life. Separated from his mother and younger brother at age 12, he moved from place to place, lie to lie with his dad for 25 years.

The narrator's voice in this piece is reminiscent, and very critical of his father. It is not writing that lets you get into character, live in the moment like that of Tobias Wolff in his memoir This Boy's Life. Rather, Geoffrey Wolff uses interviews with his mother and trips back to places he lived to help recount his own memory of what growing up with the Duke was like. At times this causes it to seem more like a story of the life of the Duke, rather than a story of the author's life. Wolff by looking back to when his father was young was able to identify that some of his problems began early, such as his ability to scam people into borrowing him money and then never paying them back. In a letter from the headmaster of one of the many boarding schools the Duke was kicked out of he ended with "The carelessness of Arthur in incurring debt is perhaps his worst fault." (p 37) This technique of starting at the beginning allows the reader to get a broad picture of what Geoffrey Wolff was dealing with.

By adding an older, wiser narrator voice the author is able to comment on all the happenings of his life, and recall what he thought about his father. "My father said nothing, and I understood that I had asked the wrong question. I searched this experience to unriddle what I had said wrong, but couldn't puzzle it out. It never occurred to me that my father lied." (p 94) It is this kind of narration that lets us see how easy it was not only for acquaintances and shop owners, but even the Duke's own son to fall into the web of lies the Duke had begun to live.
This Boy's Life - A Memoir
Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
  • "When we are green, we believe that our dreams are rights."
  • Another first!
This Boy's Life - A Memoir

Manufacturer: Stanford Alumni Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0916318397

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars "When we are green, we believe that our dreams are rights.".......2006-05-14

Leaving Sarasota, Florida, in a run-down Nash Rambler in 1955, Toby Wolff, then ten, and his mother are looking forward to a new life in Utah. Not long after arriving, however, the two make a sudden, night-time departure for newer pastures in Seattle--the mother's abusive relationship in Utah having become intolerable. Later Toby and his mother gravitate to Chinook, a remote village in the Cascades. His mother marries a tough man who cruelly punishes Toby (who has changed his name to Jack in honor of Jack London) for infractions, sells some of Toby's treasured belongings, and tries to impose military discipline on him.

Wolff's story of his grim life from age ten through high school is a breath-taking recreation, filled with the sorts of longings that motivate sensitive young boys everywhere, but also filled with an a self-awareness that is rare in such autobiographies. Jack (Toby) is a rebel--a sometime kleptomaniac, thief, cheater, liar, and schoolboy miscreant who loves his mother, hates his stepfather (and generally tries to avoid him), and hangs out with similarly alienated, hell-raising schoolmates, who often "escape" through alcohol.

When his brother (who remained with his father), encourages Jack to apply as a scholarship student to an eastern boarding school, thereby escaping his stepfather, he is intrigued with the idea, though he has had few academic interests until then. The story of how Wolff manages to attend a prep school is a classic. (The fictionalized story of his boarding school life appears in his recent novel, Old School.)

Throughout this self-examination, hilariously funny in many places and remarkably astute, Jack sees himself as the "Jack" he invents to suit circumstances, while simultaneously revealing himself as he really is, the hidden "Jack." Like many his age, he often takes the easy way out, and he recognizes this, too. As he grapples with perennial issues of growing up, needing to be accepted, learning what is "right," and changing his behavior to meet the differing expectations of peers and family, he comes to new understandings about himself and his place in the world. One of the best and most honest coming-of-age stories ever written, This Boy's Life is a modern classic. Mary Whipple

1 out of 5 stars Another first!.......2005-07-06

Oddly, I'm the first to review this book, although zillions have reviewed the later edition. So be it.

I've seen This Boy's Life in the Pattaya, Thailand library at least a dozen times. Today I was desperate enough to take it out and read as far as page 84. I liked the book well enough at first, but it's one of those like Angela's Ashes, in which the boy's life goes from bad to worse -- and then gets worser. Yuck! Bleah!

After several misadventures with his mother's boyfriends and his own lousy friends, the boy, Tobias, who wants to be known as Jack, goes along with the idea of living in a hideous town with a hideous potential stepfather, because it seems like a good idea. Whaaaaaat? He already despises the man.

I can't read any farther. Actually, I did skip ahead and found that things keep getting worse for the kid. Maybe I'll look at the last few pages just to see how miserable his life turns out to be.
Jesse James : The Life and Daring Adventures of This Bold Highwayman and Bank Robber and His No Less Celebrated Brother, Frank James : Together with the Thrilling Exploits of the Younger Boys
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Jesse James : The Life and Daring Adventures of This Bold Highwayman and Bank Robber and His No Less Celebrated Brother, Frank James : Together with the Thrilling Exploits of the Younger Boys
    Anonymous
    Manufacturer: Triton Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: B000M913CI
    This Boy's Life. A Memoir
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      This Boy's Life. A Memoir

      Manufacturer: Perennial Library
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback
      ASIN: B000I32K52
      This Boy's Life: A Memoir
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        This Boy's Life: A Memoir
        Tobias Wolff
        Manufacturer: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Turtleback

        AuthorsAuthors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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        Wolff, TobiasWolff, Tobias | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
        ASIN: 0606335420
        This Boy's Life: A Memoir
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          This Boy's Life: A Memoir
          Tobias Wolff
          Manufacturer: Perennial
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000NXXXNA
          This Boys Life: A Memoir
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            This Boys Life: A Memoir
            Tobias Wolff
            Manufacturer: ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover
            ASIN: B000R0ETLO
            This Boy's Life : A Memoir
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              This Boy's Life : A Memoir
              Tobias Wolff
              Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
              ProductGroup: Book
              Binding: Paperback
              ASIN: B000OF441W
              This Boy's Life, A Memoir
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                This Boy's Life, A Memoir
                Tobias WOLFF
                Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Hardcover
                ASIN: B000OPH0M2

                The North Carolina Railroad, 1849-1871, and the Modernization of North Carolina (Fred W Morrison Series in Southern Studies)
                Average customer rating: Not rated
                  The North Carolina Railroad, 1849-1871, and the Modernization of North Carolina (Fred W Morrison Series in Southern Studies)
                  Allen W. Trelease
                  Manufacturer: Univ of North Carolina Pr
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Hardcover

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                  North CarolinaNorth Carolina | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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                  ASIN: 0807819417

                  Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth
                  Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
                  • Explains what happend & why
                  • Some useful information
                  • Disappointing but useful
                  • Too partisan to prove useful
                  • Who knew?
                  Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth
                  Michael J. Graetz , and Ian Shapiro
                  Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Paperback

                  GeneralGeneral | Taxes | Accounting | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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                  ASIN: 0691127891

                  Book Description

                  This fast-paced book by Yale professors Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro unravels the following mystery: How is it that the estate tax, which has been on the books continuously since 1916 and is paid by only the wealthiest two percent of Americans, was repealed in 2001 with broad bipartisan support? The mystery is all the more striking because the repeal was not done in the dead of night, like a congressional pay raise. It came at the end of a multiyear populist campaign launched by a few individuals, and was heralded by its supporters as a signal achievement for Americans who are committed to the work ethic and the American Dream.

                  Graetz and Shapiro conducted wide-ranging interviews with the relevant players: members of congress, senators, staffers from the key committees and the Bush White House, civil servants, think tank and interest group representatives, and many others. The result is a unique portrait of American politics as viewed through the lens of the death tax repeal saga. Graetz and Shapiro brilliantly illuminate the repeal campaign's many fascinating and unexpected turns--particularly the odd end result whereby the repeal is slated to self-destruct a decade after its passage. They show that the stakes in this fight are exceedingly high; the very survival of the long standing American consensus on progressive taxation is being threatened.

                  Graetz and Shapiro's rich narrative reads more like a political drama than a conventional work of scholarship. Yet every page is suffused by their intimate knowledge of the history of the tax code, the transformation of American conservatism over the past three decades, and the wider political implications of battles over tax policy.

                  Customer Reviews:

                  5 out of 5 stars Explains what happend & why.......2007-09-09

                  As its subtitle indicates, the book is about the nitty-gritty details of how the near-repeal of the estate tax got enacted into law. The authors discuss tax policy only tangentially: their focus is on who did what and why. Some actors on both sides acted out of idealistic (or, if you prefer, ideological) motives, many out of self-interested motives. According to the book, the pro-repeal forces were shrewd and far-sighted, whereas the anti-repeal forces were slow and weak. For example, charities have a strong interest in preservation of the estate tax, but were not effective in opposition to repeal, because they did not want to offend their donors and boards of directors. Having finished the book, I now believe I understand what happened. I even understand why the estate tax dies in 2010 and then springs back to life in 2011, a situation that seems insane, but which is a perfectly logical consequence of arcane Senate procedural rules interacting with the fact that the pro-repeal forces had no hope of mustering 60 votes in the Senate.

                  4 out of 5 stars Some useful information.......2007-04-25

                  Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro successfully explain the history of the estate tax, the lobbying battles over it, and the shift from consensus to its repeal in their book Death by a Thousand Cuts. By investigating a range of opinions from Congressmen to farmers, the authors effectively portray how the pro-estate tax side underestimated the ability of organization, group affiliation, and passion to bring about the repeal of a tax that had been accepted without contest for generations. The authors criticize the efforts of large groups and Democratic congressman to organize against the repeal - by illuminating the fact that there was too little organization. While the book provides an accurate and thorough account of the lobbying process that helped lead to the repeal of the estate tax, it provides much unnecessary detail and is obvious in its bias against the repeal of the tax.

                  For readers who are uneducated in the history of opinions on taxes, Graetz and Shapiro thoroughly describe the evolution of progressive taxation. While not clearly defined in the book, progressive taxation can be explained as a tax that increases as a person's income increases. They describe the shift of opinion on the estate tax when the Republicans made estate tax reform part of their "Contract with America." (Graetz and Shapiro, 15) By using rhetorical frames and spins, pro-repeal groups were able to effectively present the estate tax not as a tax only affecting 2.4% of the wealthy, but as a "death" tax that could potentially "punish" family businesses and farmers by double-taxing their hard earned money. In other words, the authors show how the pro-repealists were successful in presenting the tax in a way that best supported their cause. The authors do a good job showing how much influence organized interest groups can have on government decisions. While the repeal of the estate tax might not necessarily have been a practical crusade, it was a passionate one that eventually won out against the greater good of society and economy, in the opinion of the authors. By putting direct pressure on members of the legislature, pro-repeal groups built a coalition including large numbers of business owners, gays, and the working class, thus encouraging politicians that it would be beneficial to represent and support their cause. With a few wealthy elites being represented by large groups of non-estate tax payers, effective lobbying became the force behind the tax repeal. While the estate tax may have actually benefited some people who worked for its repeal, a pluralistic system prevailed and ended up benefiting the few elites who represented only a fraction of the masses. For an ordinary reader or college student who is unaware of how effective lobbying can be in enhancing American democracy, the authors do a great job portraying the process.

                  The authors also do a good job providing simple facts on the tax, such as its ability to tax the deceased estate up to 55% and the subsequent $24 billion in government revenue. While they covered some of the services and people who benefit from the tax, they could have been more specific in displaying the direct economic benefits of keeping the estate tax around. If the authors favor the tax, which seems to be the bias throughout the book, why do they not put more effort into displaying its benefits? Despite this lack of information, the authors do a good job explaining the basic components of the tax for readers unknowledgeable on the subject.

                  When writing about such a widely debated topic, the authors would have benefited by being more cautious in displaying their bias towards keeping the tax around. It tends to distract from their entire argument. From the very beginning, they describe the pro-repeal group's goals as being ones of "conviction and anger" in place of "practicality" (Graetz and Shapiro, 23). While this might be true, blatantly stating their bias against the pro-repeal argument is a good way of losing the reader's trust. Instead of making readers cope with the bias, the author's argument would have been stronger if they would have merely shown the impracticality of the pro-repealists.

                  The authors also include much un-needed information in the book that tends to get repetitive and boring. Describing all characters by their eye color or ability to cook tends to lose its appeal by the sixteenth chapter when the authors describe Bob Johnson and the paintings covering his walls and his casual way of dressing in black pants and a black polo sweater. Is all this information necessary?

                  Overall, the book provides good background details on the estate tax and displays the ability of interest groups to change the American government. Graetz and Shapiro successfully provide readers with an educating, enjoyable read that was easy to follow and understand. While it could have been improved by eliminating the obvious bias and the un-needed details, it provides a good look at American government and the power of group affiliation in reaching a goal - whether practical or not.

                  3 out of 5 stars Disappointing but useful.......2006-08-15

                  This book was written by two distinguished experts on tax policy and reviews the development of the campaign to end estate taxes at the federal level. In many cases it is quite informative. But compared to Jeffrey Birnbaum's book on the development of tax policy in Congress (Showdown at Guccci Gulch) is it quite light in a couple of areas.

                  The book begins with three questions - fundamentally, how did the coalition that formed get together, how did the repeal coalition successfully resist amendments, and finally how did an item like this (seemingly without a high level of support and which cost a lot of revenue and only affects a small number of people) not cause more generalized opposition to the Bush tax bill?

                  The book is excellent in some of its history (especially the chapter about the use of science in public policy) but is weaker in telling the story of how the current provision was adopted in a consistent manner. The description of the initial phases of the development of the coalition is pretty detailed. The coalition brought together some seemingly disparate interests.

                  Where the book falls down is in two areas. First, there are some amazing omissions in this book. Bill Gates' father was indeed a leader of the opposition - but at no place in the book does the narrative explain that Gates' father was an attorney who helped to structure estates and thus had a direct interest in the continuation of the tax. At the same time the authors keep coming back to themes - for example, a minor figure in the fight (farm owner Chester Thigpen) is highlighted more heavily than a key Senator like Max Baucus. I would also have liked to have these policy wonks think creatively about the elements of the estate tax which opponents might go forward with - when the inevitable fights come in the future. The opponents of repeal were inept - but how do they go forward? The last time the estate tax was eliminated (surprisingly not mentioned in the book) was in the 1954 revision - the problems which brought the tax back should be instructive to opponents of repeal.

                  The second area is the authors' limited understanding of how coalitions are built. This book should be more about the politics of the process. The concluding chapter decries the mix of research, politics and moral issues in the current political environment. Indeed, as one who writes about tax issues often, better research involvement could help the process. But the realities of politics that mix moral/philosophical issues and coalitions and evidence are what we should be thinking about.

                  So if you are interested in tax policy, this is a good book. But if you want to understand how tax policy is made in the real world - there are better books.

                  2 out of 5 stars Too partisan to prove useful.......2006-05-27

                  As a tax attorney, I was excited to purchase this book and get a non-partisan, in-depth look at what was going on with respect to the estate tax. Michael Graetz has a stellar reputation as a law professor, so I was doubly excited.

                  I was very disappointed that the book's political bias appears on virtually every page. I think reasonable people can disagree on whether we should have an estate tax, but Graetz presents each and every proponent of repeal as a self-interested opportunist. I would have liked to have seen an unbiased account of what "really" goes on in Washington, but this book failed to satisfy.

                  If you're looking for a book that will confirm your love for the estate tax, and need a reason to pat yourself on the back, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a book that gives you an unbiased account of the world of politics, this book isn't for you. I found Showdown at Gucci Gulch much more interesting.

                  3 out of 5 stars Who knew?.......2006-03-22

                  My grandfather was born in the rural South in 1885. With little help from family and no help from his government, he put himself through college. He married, became a dairy farmer and sired seven children which he brought up and thoroughly educated (all seven went to college)during the Great Depression. Of those seven children, his four sons all became his working partners and one son lived and raised his own family on the family farm.
                  My grandfather worked HARD, all of his life, to buy and build up a large and prosperous farm. He had 21 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. One grandson was born with Down's Syndrome and will need costly, special care as he grows older. As an intelligent and well educated man, it is interesting to note that Grandfather started out his adult life as an ardent, LOYAL (his word) Democrat, serving in county politics as a Democrat. Toward the end of his life he switched to the Republican party where most of his progeny now reside.
                  When this fine, decent man died at the age of 99, his family was death taxed at the exact same rate as Bill Gates, the Kennedys, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffett, and every other billionaire roaming around today espousing the fine merits of the death tax.
                  This is the paradox surrounding those Liberals who defend the death tax: family farms ARE being shut down, cut up and sold to pay the death tax. In turn, those family farms are being bought up by developers who are then doing what the Liberal establishment deems so evil: destroying wetlands and natural habitats for wildlife, wreaking havoc with vast tracts of woodlands thus creating increased sprawl or, in John Denver's famous words "more scars upon the land".
                  All of this because of the supposedly egalitarian notion that the death tax is a well deserved tax for the super rich.
                  The only thing I have to say about the death tax is this: if we children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren had wanted to sell half of the family farm (which we did NOT wish to do), we would have preferred to have been able to do so and then actually KEEP the proceeds of the sale rather than turn those proceeds over to the federal government.
                  Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth.(Book Review) : An article from: National Tax Journal
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                    Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth.(Book Review) : An article from: National Tax Journal
                    Richard L. Kaplan
                    Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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                    Title: Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth.(Book Review)
                    Author: Richard L. Kaplan
                    Publication: National Tax Journal (Magazine/Journal)
                    Date: December 1, 2005
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                    Volume: 58 Issue: 4 Page: 831(5)

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                    Heiristocracy: how the GOP got away with cutting the estate tax.(book by Michael J. Graetz and Ian Shapiro )(Book Review) : An article from: Washington Monthly
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                      Heiristocracy: how the GOP got away with cutting the estate tax.(book by Michael J. Graetz and Ian Shapiro )(Book Review) : An article from: Washington Monthly
                      Daniel Franklin
                      Manufacturer: Washington Monthly Company
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                      Release Date: 2005-07-25

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                      Citation Details
                      Title: Heiristocracy: how the GOP got away with cutting the estate tax.(book by Michael J. Graetz and Ian Shapiro )(Book Review)
                      Author: Daniel Franklin
                      Publication: Washington Monthly (Magazine/Journal)
                      Date: May 1, 2005
                      Publisher: Washington Monthly Company
                      Volume: 37 Issue: 5 Page: 58(3)

                      Article Type: Book Review

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                      Caribbean Time Bomb: The United States' Complicity in the Corruption of Antigua
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                        Caribbean Time Bomb: The United States' Complicity in the Corruption of Antigua
                        Robert Coram
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                        Wild life at the Land's End: Observations of the habits and haunts of the fox, badger, otter, seal, hare, and of their pursuers in Cornwall
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                          John Coulson Tregarthen
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                            Birds of Cornwall (Tor Mark Paperbacks)
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                              Birds of Cornwall, Sea and Shore
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                                R D Penhallurick
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                                Birds of the Isles of Scilly (County Avifaunas)
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                                  Cornish Curiosities
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                                    Cornish Curiosities
                                    Sheila Bird
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                                      Sheila Bird
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                                        The Cornish seabird
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                                          T. O Darke
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