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The condition of exile is an exaggeration of the process of change and loss that many people experience as they grow and mature, leaving behind the innocence of childhood. Eva Hoffman spent her early years in Cracow, among family friends who, like her parents, had escaped the Holocaust and were skeptical of the newly imposed Communist state. Hoffman's parents managed to immigrate to Canada in the 1950s, where Eva was old enough to feel like a stranger--bland food, a quieter life, and schoolmates who hardly knew where Poland was. Still, there were neighbors who knew something of Old World ways, and a piano teacher who was classically Middle European in his neurotic enthusiasm for music. Her true exile came in college in Texas, where she found herself among people who were frightened by and hostile to her foreignness. Later, at Harvard, Hoffman found herself initially alienated by her burgeoning intellectualism; her parents found it difficult to comprehend. Her sense of perpetual otherness was extended by encounters with childhood friends who had escaped Cracow to grow up in Israel, rather than Canada or the United States, and were preoccupied with soldiers, not scholars. Lost in Translation is a moving memoir that takes the specific experience of the exile and humanizes it to such a degree that it becomes relevant to the lives of a wider group of readers.
Customer Reviews:
comfortable in London, half way between New York and Cracow.........2007-03-25
I will not refer to the book itself as so many have reviewed it already. I just wish to make a brief comment, in addition to stating that it is a good book
The author, Eva Hoffmann, would never have written this particular book if, when leaving Poland, her mother had had the last word on where to immigrate to, North America or Israel. She had preferred Israel and the anxt, the feeling of being torn between two cultures would not have haunted her enough to write a book. I too have been transplanted. In my case at least three time but possibly five. As right through my cultural identity was always clear to me as Jewish, I could move from culture to culture without feeling that I had to be "translated" into them. Only few will understand what I am trying to say: had she been better grounded in her Jewish culture and identity, she would never have felt such conflict.
On the other hand, for those of us who have experienced her "angst" though in a lower dose, the book is a useful projection of something that could not be understood except as such a total and essential question; magnified for the sake of study.
If not London, but Jerusalem would have made Eva Hoffmann feel comfortable, she would be a less anxious (neurotic?) person but perhaps a lesser thinker. This is a book to keep even after reading it. It is almost a reference book.
Lost in Translation.......2007-01-04
A wonderful book on moving from one culture to another and one language to another--Polish to English. Anyone who has had this experience will immediately identify with the author. Eva Hoffman writes beautifully about every nuance of her family's move as a young teenager from Communist Poland to Canada. Cultures that are superficially similar turn out to be very different and the effect on family life is staggering.
Lost, But Found As Well.......2007-01-01
Hoffman's description of Poland in the Communist years following World War II is riveting, and so is her narrative of life in the U.S. following her arrival here at age 13. But what impresses me most about this book is its assured writing style, and the author's ability to skip back and forth from one decade and year to another without boring or losing the reader. Hoffman is an unusually gifted writer. I am using her text as a teaching tool for a would-be memoir/autobiographer. Thank heaven her parents survived the Holocaust and brought her to us.
Enlightening description of immigration and languages.......2006-12-16
I started reading this wonderful book 6 months before I left Brazil towards Israel. After finishing the first Part (Paradise) I just could not keep on reading, and I abandoned the book for a while. After I landed in Israel I re-took the book and was delighted again with the realness of it. A thought occurred to me that the reading was so descriptive of the immigration sentiment that I just could not understand it before immigrating myself.
The book helped me to understand and to organize the infinite sensations that come with the leaving/arriving to another country. How the language affects the way we think and act, how sadness and happiness are mingled into one strange feeling, how we cope and forget without noticing, and how we urge to succeed and prove that we can be part of the new country.
In addition, the book also brought to me new feelings and curiosities about my grandparents, whom also escaped from Poland and Russia in the late 40's. Hoffman describes so well how the old traditions and languages influenced the new live of those who left their country because of prejudice and persecution!
One passage that I am specially fond of: "No, I'm no patriot, nor was I ever allowed to be. And yet, the country of my childhood lives within me with a primacy that is a form of love. (...) All it has given me is the world, but that is enough. It has fed me language, perceptions, sounds, the human kind. It has given me the colors and the furrows of reality, my first loves. The absoluteness of those loves can never be recaptured: no geometry of the landscape, no haze in the air, will live in us as intensely as the landscapes that we saw as the first, and to which we gave ourselves wholly, without reservations." It reminds me of Wordsworth when he writes about Tintern Abbey.
A wonderful life-changing book.
a classic.......2006-06-19
I loved this book when it came out and I love it still many rereadings later. This portrait of the Wandering Jew as a young girl begins with Hoffman's childhood in Cracow, Poland just after the second world war; moves to Vancouver, British Columbia when she is thirteen; continues on to Texas and Massachusetts for her university years; and ends in New York, where she becomes a writer and an editor at the New York Times Book Review. It encompasses many themes: the defining power of language; the cost of changing cultures, the construction of personal identity, and the consequences, for many Jews, of the Nazi and Communist regimes. Hoffman was born in the summer of 1945. Like many Jews in post-war, Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe, the Hoffmans observed Passover and had home-baked challah, on shabbat but Eva was culturally Polish, reading Sienkiewicz's nationalistic novels, playing Chopin etudes, attending church with her friends, receiving gifts on St. Nicholas's Day. After emigration, she adapts to North American culture, first Canadian, then Texan, then New York. This is a memoir squarely in the Jewish immigrant tradition but one in which the immigrant is a graduate student at Harvard, and relates her situation not only to Mary Antin but to contexts laid out by Sartre and Nabokov, Jung and Freud. Lost in Translation contains stories and essays, phrases to ruminate on, ideas to consider. It is a demanding read that challenges its reader to consider her own autobiography, her own childhood, her own assumptions. Having compiled an international bibliography of Jewish women's non-fiction books with poet Irena Klepfisz (available on my website) , I can say this is one of my favorites.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent book
- Michael's Death
- Enlightening
- Please read Falcon's Cry and remember that he was not alone.
- A message for millions of Americans
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Falcon's Cry: A Desert Storm Memoir
Denise Donnelly
Manufacturer: Praeger Trade
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ASIN: 0275964620 |
Amazon.com
Michael Donnelly's diary entries offer a matter-of-fact account of his 44 combat missions during the Gulf War, but his descriptions of dealing with doctors after coming home are more frightening. Diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, Donnelly is convinced what he has is "Gulf War syndrome"--brought on by exposure to low levels of nerve and poison gases during the war. "I don't know what to believe, where to turn for help," he writes. "All the while my body continues to deteriorate, heedless of the possible causes of its slow degeneration." Although he had served in the military for 15 years, Donnelly had to hire a lawyer and appeal to the Air Force Medical Evaluation Board to force the air force to pay him full disability benefits. And though the government denied any responsibility for his illness, we learn that U.S. officials both in Washington and at the front were aware of Iraq's chemical-weapons capability--and continued with their plans regardless: "Troops came upon camels lying dead and decaying in the desert ... dogs and rodents and other small animals died, suddenly, inexplicably, shortly after those tens of thousands of 'false' chemical weapons alarms rang out. The alarms were so common, some commanders even ordered their troops to disable or disregard them." Falcon's Cry is a story of courage and betrayal, a war story in which the casualty doesn't occur until after the fighting stops. --Linda Killian
Book Description
When Major Michael Donnelly was instructing his U.S. Air Force student pilots, he used to tell them three things: "Timing is everything; it's nice to be lucky; and there is no justice." Highly decorated fighter pilot, proud young patriot, loyal friend with a mischievous sense of humor, loving husband and father of two, he could not have imagined the tragic meaning those words would assume just a few years after his tour of duty in Desert Storm. In 1996 Major Donnelly was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, at the unusually young age of 35; the onset of this illness marked the beginning of a kind of torture beyond the scope of even the most rigorous military survival training. Betrayed by his body, eventually paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, he experienced another betrayal perhaps even more difficult to comprehend--betrayal by his country. For despite the fact that over 110,000 Desert Storm veterans are sick, many dying of mysterious cancers and neurological diseases, including more than ten times the normal incidence of ALS--and despite all evidence pointing to U.S. troops having been dosed by low levels of Iraqi nerve agents and exposed to chemical weapons' fallout--the Pentagon adamantly denies any connection between their illnesses and their service in the Gulf War. Falcon's Cry: A Desert Storm Memoir, Michael Donnelly's unforgettable story, is his courageous attempt to unearth the truth and force an acknowledgment of that truth by the government he and his fellow veterans defended with their lives. Flying 44 fighter jet combat missions in a war fought on an all-or-nothing scale was thrilling for Michael Donnelly. When the war was won, he and his country rejoiced in the knowledge that, unlike in Vietnam, America had "gotten it right" in the Persian Gulf. Less than a decade later, the world is learning what veterans and their families have known since Desert Storm--we did not get it right at all. Saddam Hussein is still terrorizing a large portion of the globe. Moreover, we did not learn the lesson of Agent Orange which the Department of Defense denied for decades was the cause of early deaths and birth defects among Vietnam veterans and their families. Yet, thanks largely to the testimony of the author before the House of Representatives in 1997, a first step has been taken toward justice for the tens of thousands of Desert Storm veterans who are suffering virtually in isolation, many without any medical or disability benefits. Major Donnelly believes the truth about Gulf War Illnesses will be uncovered by studies funded in the recently passed Omnibus Appropriations bill, as well as through stories like his own, and he fervently hopes that America can, at last, "get it right."
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2005-08-30
I bought and read the book when it first came out, and I bought a second so I can loan it to others to read and not worry about my first book getting lost. Besides the Donnellys, some of the people and events in the book were apart of our life as well. Very well written!
Michael's Death.......2005-07-02
I just found out about Michael's death through the Gulflink website. My sympathy goes out to his family. His story, with the help of his sister Denise, will be with us all always. He could have chose to sit back and just kept his disease and facts to himself, but he chose to share it with all in the hopes it might make a difference to someone. What a legacy to leave. And thanks Michael, for helping my family live through our anger we had at my brother's death, and dealing with Gulf War illness. My prayers are with your family....
Kelly Seibert
Hillsborough, NC
Enlightening.......2004-06-23
I obtained a tape of this book from the library of the blind , on tape.
I was fascinated with the whole process of his student days as well as the way they worked in the present time illness.
My heart goes out to him and his family and ALL other Soldiers who became ill with no apparent cause after the war.
I would like to know what his present status is, and would like to help in any way that is possible.
In thinking that our present war situation probably is as tentative, to hold this VITAL information back from those who serve makes a mockery of the Ideals our Country was founded on.
I used to participate in Living History, and the good thing about that is that we seem to LEARN from the past.
War does NOT change minds or hearts.
I would hope and pray that this present generation does not have to pay the price of this brave Soldier, Officer, and Gentleman.
Please read Falcon's Cry and remember that he was not alone........2001-12-12
I first came across the book in the fall of '99. It was at a critical time in my air force career. Soon, the mandate to submit to the anthrax vaccine would require a decision that would obviously affect the rest of my life. Take a vaccine that has been proven to cause terrible reactions and has been whispered to be a root cause of Gulf War Illness or refuse and be subject to military justice and the end of my career.
In my squadron, the most asked question to management was "If we become ill following the vaccine, will the Air Force take care of us?" As I saw in this book, the answer to the question is NO.
As pilots, our most treasured asset is our health. Without it, we can no longer perform the mission that we love. The manner in which Michael and Denise describe the physical and mental anguish he endured was truly overwhelming. I could imagine myself in his position and the way I would react; how I would feel.
In my months of research, this book proved to be one of the many determining factors in my decsion. When I talked to former commanders who reminded me of their experiences with Agent Orange or when I spoke with members at my own base that had testified to Congress about their illnesses following the anthrax vaccine, in the back of my mind was Michael Donnelly.
I ultimately made my decision to resign in lieu of taking the vaccine which has led to the end of my aviation career. The only salvation I have is the knowledge that I will never need to worry about unexplained illness in the future.
My most heartfelt sympathy and gratitude go out to Michael and Denise's families. Michael's story is one that I will never forget. Thank you for helping me make my decision.
A message for millions of Americans.......2001-09-03
In this story there is a message for millions of Americans. In this story the reader will learn about the "wheels of justice."
Average customer rating:
- Great story integrating environmental issues
- Cry of the Falcon
- Enjoyable for Adults too
- Educational and entertaining...
- Cry of the Falcon
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Cry of the Falcon
m.d. hughes
Manufacturer: moppet-ink
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback
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ASIN: 0978854101
Release Date: 2006-09-22 |
Product Description
Cry of the Falcon is the story of a pair of feisty, nine-year-old twins, Zeph and Arete, and their five-year-old cousin, Oliver. The lively and independent duo is raised by their wildlife biologist father, Jake, and Aleutian mother, Kamleika, in a state forest far beyond the edge of a nearby town. Through challenging adventures, they are exposed to pressing environmental concerns including global warming, deforestation, pollution, and pesticides. Eventually, the twins are drawn to the town as they become compelled to try to save its troubled community from events that are endangering its people, as well as wildlife within the forest. Specifically, the plights of a Peregrine Falcon and a Gray Wolf are featured in the story and in its sequel, Return of the Wolf. As the twins struggle to help these creatures survive, the message of the novel is illuminated that all forms of life are deeply interconnected.
Customer Reviews:
Great story integrating environmental issues.......2007-03-18
This book is not only a great entertaining story for children but teaches them some of the important environmental issues we're facing today - namely global warming and the climate crisis. This action-adventure story is fast paced and has beautiful descriptions of the woods, nature, and animals. This is a book we will include in our summer reading suggestions for our students.
Assistant Superintendent of Schools
Cry of the Falcon.......2007-03-04
Step aside Harry and Hermione. This story is about fighting the forces of evil in the real world. The adventure appeals to pre-teen readers; while at the same time has a very topical message about serious environmental issues that affect their future. An illuminating and inspiring story, which would also make a wonderful movie.
Enjoyable for Adults too.......2007-02-28
For young people, a delightful and engaging story with thoughtful environmental messages.
For adults, an enjoyable "one sitting" read that inspires a desire to escape to the serene family cottage in the woods.
Educational and entertaining..........2007-02-28
This book is a great introduction for children to some of the important environmental issues we're facing today - namely global warming and the climate crisis. The fast-paced action-adventure keeps the book moving and is mingled with beautiful descriptions of the woods, nature, and animals. I loved the nature poetry at chapter headings and also learning about the history and cultural heritage of Alaska and the Aleutian islands. Many of environmental topics were explained in a way that children would be able to follow, whether or not they had been introduced yet to these topics.
Highly Recommended for children ages 6 - 11.
Cry of the Falcon.......2007-02-26
A twin boy and girl, and a younger cousin live in the wilderness outside town and become involved with a falcon project.
CRY OF THE FALCON is a well written book. Heavy environmental issues(pollution, endangered species...) are lightened for young readers, though it took awhile to reach the plot. There are almost too many ideas here. The kids are likeable, but at times not believable. The author knows about, and enjoys, nature, and the book reflects this background. Recommended
Nancy Warren Ferrell, Reviewer
Society of Childrens Book Writers/Illustrators
Average customer rating:
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The Cry of the Falcon: Hitler''s Boy Soldiers
Robert Strasser
Manufacturer: Writers Club Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 059509242X |
Book Description
At the age of six, Robbie Seidler, experiences the horrors of war when the Nazis invade Holland. At the age of nine, after his family is ordered into Germany, he is sent to a Hitler Youth camp in Austria to be trained as a ‘boy soldier’. After the end of the war, he and two companions, finally, escape the Nazi hell only to be swallowed up in the flood of refugees struggling to find their loved ones and return home.
Average customer rating:
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Falcon'S Cry (Harlequin Intrigue, No 144)
Karr
Manufacturer: harlequin
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0373221444 |
Book Description
This new edition of the number one book in American government continues to provide the most current and engaging introduction available for the course without chapters dedicated to policy. Written with the belief that knowledge of the development of American government is integral to fully understand our current political system, American Government: Continuity and Change offers a strong historical perspective that highlights the evolution of government and engages students with examples relevant to their lives.
Product Description
This updated 2006 custom edition combines a very sucessful American government textbook with material devoted to an examination of California's governmental system.
Amazon.com
Compact and yet filled with information, this portable encyclopedia of North American bird behavior is a complement to field guides. Learn more about the species you see in the field, and--when in doubt--use this handy reference as another tool for identification.
Book Description
This is the most complete and authoritative reference book about the birds of North America -- up to date and in field-guide format.
The Birder's Handbook is the first of its kind: a portable library of fascinating information not included in your identification guide. For each of the 646 species of birds that breed in North America, The Birder's Handbook will tell you at a glance:
* Where the bird nests, and which sex(es) build(s) the nest;
* How many eggs the bird lays, what they look like, which patent incubates and for how long, and how the young are cared for;
* Food preferences and foraging habits.
You will also find information about displays and mating, wintering, conservation status, and much more. In addition, The Birder's Handbook contains some 250 short essays covering all aspects of avian natural history.
Customer Reviews:
Odd duck, but good.......2004-07-30
Definately not for the casual reader...
This book is really two books. One is a book on details of specific birds, the other a collection of essays on a wide ranging set of subjects. Both are very interesting and usable, but the book is structured such that the bird details are always on the left page, the essay on the right. Sometimes the essays are a fit with the bird details, sometimes not. Sometimes the essay continues on for several pages...
Purchase of this books should really be combined with either the old three volume Audubon Master Guide, or older editions of Peterson (west and east), or a couple of other older field guides. You may have to hunt used books for a match. As indicated in the reviews below, the detail pages are loaded with cryptic little symbols that reference specific plates and pages in these other older guides.
There is quite a lot of detail here, it is not a thin book, so don't plan on carrying it in the field much past the interior of your car. The size raises another issue. Updating this thing is not going to be an easy task. I suspect this 1988 edition is going to be what you get for a looong time.
Birder's Handbook praise..........2003-06-23
Great reference book, though NOT portable. Because this book came out in 1988, it needs updating: bird name changes have occured and there is more information from research to add to the wealth of information it already contains. Birder's Handbook uses various editions of field guides as reference points, that is, it points to particular pages of those field guides for a bird illustration or photo as well as range maps. And because those field guides have been updated in the intervening years, the page numbers are not true.
I look forward to another edition of this book!
got to get used to the format.......2001-08-06
This is a good book but you have to get used to the format and organization. To be honest I generally use one of my other books for id and basic info then I go to this book for more details. The details are fantastic though. I'd be very sad if I didn't have this in my collection because I learn a lot each time I use it. The format/use of symbols is just a bit awkward. Shouldn't deter you though - its great to have on hand
An essential bird watcher's guide........2000-07-03
When I'm not on the trading floor, I spend my free time watching birds. I would say that it wasn't until I picked up this essential birder's guide that I became an experienced and knowledgeable birder. This book increased my ability to identify birds, thus making bird watching infinitely more enjoyable. Since purchasing the Birder's Handbook, my weekend hobby has blossomed into an intense love for birds. I highly reccommend this to anyone with any level of interest in birding.
Treasure Trove - and the map is appropriately cryptic.......1999-04-26
This book isn't as immediately appealing as some of its competition, and its organizational scheme, and heavy use of symbols, can put you off. Use it for a week, though. I agree with another review in being mildly frustrated with its excessive use of symbols, often when a tiny printed word would have done the same work. But it's indispensible, and I'd recommend it to everyone.
A number of unique choices set this one apart. At first I was somewhat irritated by the placing of broader essays on the right page next to the species descriptions on the left. Then, with long use, it became clear to me just how well that worked. It's the perfect browsing format - just right for when you go to learn more about the thing you just saw. Also, the essays are written above the individual species level, so you can start out reading about Cowbirds and end up understanding the issue of nest parasitism, and the human impact on birds that practice it, far more completely than you would if you'd read Kenn Kaufmann's individual species description. It works.
There are some formatting issues here that do puzzle me. I don't really see the virtue in ordering the birds to correspond with the order in the NGS guide. There are other guides, to begin with, and now that we're about to get a new NGS guide, even the page numbers are going to be wrong. In any case, I can't see how you'd easily flip from one book to the other unless you were reading them sequentially. Who does that?
But those are quibbles. This is a terrific book, quite useful as a complement to your field guide and very nice to just read through. It could use a face lift, but it's got a heart of gold.
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