Beyond Innocence: An Autobiography in Letters: The Later Years

Book Description

The second volume of Jane Goodall's remarkable self-portrait in letters, Beyond Innocence details some of the eminent scientist's greatest triumphs and her deepest tragedies. It covers the years following the publication of her groundbreaking book In the Shadow of Man, which, along with her articles in National Geographic, made her famous. Goodall's candid letters recount major events in her life and research, including her astonishing discoveries about chimpanzee behavior, the birth and raising of her son, the breakup of her marriage to Hugo van Lawick, the kidnapping by guerrillas of a group of her students, her marriage to Derek Bryceson and his death, and her growing concern about the future of her beloved chimpanzees at Gombe and elsewhere in the world. Beyond Innocence tells how many of the dreams of Goodall's youth were shattered, but also how she changed from a rather private observer to a public crusader.

Customer Reviews:

A Stellar Life Told in Letters.......2004-12-27

Jane Goodall is one of my personal heroines. Any time I might think that one person cannot make a difference and that I should just continue to sit and do nothing, I can read about Goodall and her singular and single-minded vision of changing the world.

This volume of Goodall's autobiography consists of hundreds of her personal letters, adroitly gathered together and explained by the editor so that there is a cohesive whole. We follow her through years of expanding her work with chimpanzees at her original research facilities in Gombe (where, as a very young woman, she worked ALONE), to her expanding environmental empire, to her ceaseless lobbying, traveling, letter-writing, speech-making, and appeals to leaders throughout the world to help in her efforts to save her beloved chimps (our closest primate cousins), baboons, other wildlife, and especially the rain forests upon which these animals depend for life.

Her letters show the private Jane, full of the joy of motherhood (she raised her only son, Hugo Jr., or "Grublin," in the wild in a childhood that had to be spectacular beyond belief, but was like any other mother worried about teething, late talking, naughtiness and refusal to do his math!), battling bouts of malaria while writing endless (it seems) books, proposals, thank-yous, acknowledgements, and so forth.

We see her through the pain of divorce, a happy remarriage, and the horror of seeing her new husband die of inoperable cancer. We see her renewed efforts to save her beloved chimpanzees, and her first horrified visit to a lab, where she was reduced to kneeling in tears at the plight of captive apes treated like things rather than the sensitive creatures they are.

The book ends in the late 90s, with Jane's latest conservation efforts still going strong. I was so intent and so wound up in her story that I immediately went to the Jane Goodall Institute Website to see what I could do in some small way to further her cause. But you don't have to be a conservationist to admire this strong, brilliant, single-minded and fabulous woman. This is a book for everyone, and I recommend it highly and unequivocally.

Beyond Innocence: An Autobiography in Letters The Later Years

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A Fascinating Life
More great letters from Jane Goodall
AN INSIDE VIEW OF AN FASCINATING WOMAN!
Moving Painfully Beyond the Gombe Preserve

Beyond Innocence: An Autobiography in Letters The Later Years
Jane Goodall
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters: The Early Years
My Life with the Chimpanzees
Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey
Through a Window
In the Shadow of Man

ASIN: 0618125205

Book Description

This second volume of Jane Goodall's autobiography in letters covers the years of her greatest triumphs and her deepest tragedies. During this time she made many of her most important discoveries about chimpanzee behavior including the dark discovery that like us, they wage war and commit murder. She gave birth to a son, Grub, but her marriage to his father, Hugo van Lawick, came to an end. When some Stanford University students working with her were kidnapped by guerrillas, she was thrust into an international controversy. She fell in love with and married Derek Bryceson. After surviving a plane crash with him, she realized that her life had been entrusted to her for a reason. A visit to an American laboratory where chimps were injected with HIV made that reason clear, and she began to dedicate herself not just to understanding chimpanzees but to saving them. Derek's death in 1980 was a terrible blow, but afterward she threw herself even more relentlessly into the battle to save our closest relatives and to repair the health of the planet. AFRICA IN MY BLOOD told of a young woman finding her life's work in the place of her dreams. BEYOND INNOCENCE tells of the events that shattered many of those dreams and changed her from a rather private observer to a public crusader.

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Life.......2001-08-01

I didn't believe that a second volume of Jane Goodall's letters could be as good as the first (Africa in My Blood), but this one is even better. The first volume contains the better-known parts of her life: the young woman going out to Africa, her apprenticeship with Leakey and at Gombe, her courageous research and amazing discoveries about chimpanzee intelligence, tool use, and warfare. Less familiar but no less compelling is the story of her life-beyond-science, her new and powerful role as a citizen-activist for the preservation of endangered species and their fragile environments. In her efforts to educate the world about the plight of this species that shares so much genetic material with humans, Goodall has never flagged in her perseverance. Her efforts have taken her from the village schoolroom to the halls of congresses and government palaces all over the world, and her correspondence reflects the intensity of her political activity, her untiring attempts to make people see their planet anew and to assume responsibility for their environments, whether in Africa or in LA. At the same time that the second volume shows the world of her correspondence opening up to include a much wider audience, though, she still writes her chatty, witty, delightful letters to family and friends.

Jane Goodall is a much more complex person than either her books or the popular conceptions of her, generated by the media, would suggest. These letters show a woman who endured considerable suffering and stress, who maintained her faith and optimism in the face of crushing realities, and who has inspired multitudes to change their views of Africa, of science, of women, and of chimpanzees, but in these letters you feel that she's at kitchen table in your house scribbling away, or that you've received a wonderful letter in your real, not virtual, mailbox. Read this book! You'll be surprised by what you find.

More great letters from Jane Goodall.......2001-07-30

Many people may take up Beyond Innocence because they loved Africa in My Blood, because they think highly of Jane Goodall as a woman, scientist, and activist who commands an enormous presence in the world of animal and environmental studies. I came to the book, though, because of the writing, both the lucid, witty, warm letters themselves, with their brilliant details and insights, and also the superb editing and contextual work by Dale Peterson, who gives us the complete person, with her strengths and weaknesses, the myths and the truth. This is a literary achievement of the highest order, a poignant reminder of what we've lost in the era of electronic communication. Jane Goodall wrote constantly, and she wrote beautifully, and her letters reveal worlds and worlds--the worlds of her subjects, her subjectivity, and her readers. You will get a completely different Goodall here from the one you see in her books and in the biographies. This is an indispensable book, one that deserves to stand among the monuments of correspondence as a literary form.

AN INSIDE VIEW OF AN FASCINATING WOMAN!.......2001-07-10

Who has not heard of Jane Goodall and her life-long devotion, research and protection of chimpanzees? During the years Goodall has spent in Tanzania, she has lived a life many in today's society would have an extremely difficult time comprehending, let alone actually living.

In this book, the reader learns through Goodall's letters about the inner persona of Jane Goodall, her personal blessings and tragedies. While this book is not written with the distinct powerful exuberance of "Africa in My Blood," I do prefer this one simply because to me it revealed more about the woman who lurks beneath the surface. She reveals her deep sense of purpose and her relentless devotion to the chimps shines through. She is, indeed, a woman with a mission. She is also a woman who, like the chimps she has studied for so many years, has come to understand the meaning of love, loss, hope, fear, happiness, heartbreak and enormous setbacks. Goodall's letter writing is superb, with eloquent English undertones which add to the book's quality and style. She has a knack for expressing herself in a poignant and impressive manner. One other book by the same author, also deserving of a five-star rating and highly recommended is "Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey."

Moving Painfully Beyond the Gombe Preserve.......2001-06-04

This book continues the autobiography of Dr. Jane Goodall through her letters that began with Africa in My Blood. Dr. Goodall has been a prolific letter writer throughout her life, and this volume contains many interesting and revealing examples of her personal views. The book's strength is in taking you behind the scenes into events that are more briefly alluded to in her formal writing. The editor, Dale Peterson, has done an outstanding job of putting the letters in context and summarizing their material in useful ways. The editing is stronger than in Africa in My Blood. Despite the quality of the volume, I still prefer Africa in My Blood as a more moving and powerful expression of Dr. Goodall's life. In these letters, you will generally find her more reserved and distracted than in Africa in My Blood. I do recommend that you read this volume. You will add usefully to your knowledge of Dr. Goodall.

To get some sense of how many letters Dr. Goodall has written, this book contains selections from over 2000 which contain a total of between one and two million words! During one two day stretch in early February (7-8) 1973, Dr. Goodall wrote 63 letters!

The flavor of the book is pretty well captured by this quote about how the book "traces a falcon's rising gyre that turns beyond innocence through experience into wisdom, on to focused dedication."

The book is organized around themes, so that you can more clearly see the connections.

A delightful surprise came in the beginning with a description of how Dr. Goodall and her first husband discovered Egyptian vulures using rocks to break open ostrich eggs, one of the few examples of tool-using animals ever discovered. Dr. Goodall is also known for having uncovered the chimpanzee use of tools, as well. There is a nice photograph to show this in process. You will enjoy the many family photographs in the book, as well.

During this period of time, Dr. Goodall becomes a mother and raises her son, informally known as Grub for his eating habits. She also accompanies her first husband on many expeditions to the Serengeti. The book also details the evolution of Gombe into a permanent research site, including the awful setbacks when researchers died and when a major kidnapping occurred. The many research findings of those years from Gombe are included including the effect of the polio epidemic, and the discovery of cannibalism and war among the chimpanzees.

The book provides more glimpses of how she feel in love with and married her second husband, and her reactions to his untimely death due to cancer.

Dr. Goodall has become an animal rights advocate, and the beginnings of that awareness are developed here. She saw her first bio-medical laboratory with chimpanzees in it during 1987, and was appalled by what she saw. Since then, she has worked to change the way these labs are run to honor the high intelligence and social nature of the chimpanzees. Much remains to be done.

I encourage you to also read her other works. Having gotten to know the person, you should know her work as well. Chronologically, In the Shadow of Man is first. Learning with her is probably better than jumping ahead and reading the latest research first. Her way of describing the research makes you see the chimpanzees as individuals. To start at the end would be like reading a novel backwards.

Dr. Goodall's amazing life should be a source of strength to all. Where could your curiosity and passion take you that no one else has gone before? Do you have the courage to act on that curiosity and passion? Are you prepared for the inevitable pain? Be sure to take yourself seriously in this assessment. Dr. Goodall seems quite surprised by all that she accomplished. Your potential probably exceeds what you think you can do, as well.

Look in new places and in new ways!

Customer Reviews:

Cayman Dive Book.......2000-04-27

This is the absolutely best Cayman Island Dive Guide I have read and seen. It gives great details all of the best dive sites to visit. Has excellent detail on where to exactly go, water depths, plant and aquatic life in certain areas... An absolute must for the Cayman diving enthusiast.

Globetrotter Dive Guide: the Cayman Islands (Globetrotter Dive Guide)

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Cayman Diving Bible

Globetrotter Dive Guide: the Cayman Islands (Globetrotter Dive Guide)
Lawson Wood
Manufacturer: New Holland Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1843305569

Customer Reviews:

Cayman Diving Bible.......2004-03-22

This book forms the mainstay for anyone serious about diving (and snokeling) in the Caymans. It has info that every diver will want starting with the an overview of the Island, acting as a travel guide on land, and describing briefly over 200 dive sites. This book is great for divers who want logistical info for dive planning and to update their log books with specific dive site names. Maps marking locations and nice clear underwater pics make for an interesting study. It doesn't cove fish or coral I.D. to any great extent but it isn't trying to do it all either. Reef fish, coal, creatures are covered by Deloach in his books.

Dive Cayman!: A guide to reefs of the Cayman Islands

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Dive Cayman!: A guide to reefs of the Cayman Islands
Nancy Sefton
Manufacturer: Undersea Photo Supply
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Dive the Cayman Islands (Interlink Dive Guide)

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Dive the Cayman Islands (Interlink Dive Guide)
Lawson Wood
Manufacturer: Interlink
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Frommer's Portable Cayman Islands (Frommer's Portable)

ASIN: 1566567068

Top Dive Sites of the Caribbean (Dive Sites of the World)

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Top Dive Sites of the Caribbean (Dive Sites of the World)

Manufacturer: New Holland Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1853687901

Workbook/Laboratory manual Part 1 to accompany Debuts: An introduction to French
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Workbook/Laboratory manual Part 1 to accompany Debuts: An introduction to French
H. Jay Siskin , Ann Williams , and Tom Field
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Débuts (Student Edition) with Bind-In Passcode

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Workbook/Laboratory Manual Part 2 to accompany Debuts: An introduction to French

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Le Chemin de retour Director's Cut DVD to accompany Debuts: An introduction to French

ASIN: 0073219126

Selected Material from Workbook and Laboratory Manual Part 1 to accompany Debuts: An Introduction to French
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Selected Material from Workbook and Laboratory Manual Part 1 to accompany Debuts: An Introduction to French

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0072949295

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Publisher: Edition: first

Selected Material from Workbook and Laboratory Manual Part 1 to accompany Debuts: An Introduction to French

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Selected Material from Workbook and Laboratory Manual Part 1 to accompany Debuts: An Introduction to French
Virtue, Leahy Siskin Williams-Gascon
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OG9S9O

Book Description

For any woman who ever wondered how to wear vintage clothing with panache, at last there is Vintage Style, the book that takes the mystery out of buying, wearing, and caring for vintage clothes. This is not about Victorian whites, poodle skirts, or boogie-woogie-bugle-boy outfits with peplums, seamed stockings, and snoods. It's about vintage clothes as a mainstream choice, and this fully illustrated book shows just how easily the fashions of yesteryear can be incorporated into a modern wardrobe.

Vintage Style tells you--and shows you--exactly how to get into vintage. It features more than one hundred specially commissioned photographs of thirty-six women (and one man) from all walks of life modeling classic vintage pieces as part of three different outfits--casual, workday, and evening. It is on these pages that one can truly see the extraordinary versatility of vintage clothing and also appreciate how to achieve that "edge" that only one-of-a-kind fashion can create. The "classics" section, shopping tips, and care suggestions that are included are full of helpful information for creating and maintaining a uniquely personal look.

All in all, Vintage Style is nothing short of a money-saving source guide and an inspirational blueprint for understanding how to wear vintage clothes with style.

Customer Reviews:

Not what you'd expect.......2007-09-28

I was very disappointed in this book; I had hoped to find a nicely laid out book that presented lovely or interesting vintage pieces that regular people have worked into their wardrobes. I thought I'd see particularly fine examples of some classics and maybe some more unusual pieces. This is not the book for that. Some of the pieces are not even vintage (!!) but are rather meant to represent a 'classic' type of clothing. For example, one woman is shown wearing a no-sleeve turtleneck sweater which, we're told, is from the 90's but "could have come from the 50's." Whaaaa? And while the authors are obviously shooting for sending the message that vintage pieces can be timeless and that well-crafted clothing works in any time, I think that message is already well-known to vintage clothing lovers who would presumably be interested in this book. I wanted to see people doing interesting things with 50's swing coats or perhaps showing how they wear classic 30's or 40's style without it looking costume-y. If you're looking for this, don't buy this book!

Another thing I didn't like about the style is that the authors often sound snobbish, dropping names right and left without giving any background information on why these are famous names in the first place. Personally, I don't give a flip whether something is made by Pucci. If it looks good and is well-made, the label only adds to the expense.

Misses the Mark.......2004-04-05

As an introduction, I am not a "fashion expert", or knowledgeable about vintage fashion to any depth. That said, I believe I have a good sense of style, and wanted to learn more. Almost every page of this book left me wishing for more; as I turned the pages I went from excitement [at seeing something new] to boredom [at another impracticable idea] to interested [there are many historical gems in this book] to unbelieving [at another picture/idea that looked completely wrong to me] to contented [sometimes short sections of the book just came together because the author has a very nice writing style].

Most of the book is a list of 37 clothing styles (36 for women, one for men, with examples of business, casual and evening variations for each) and most of these did not live up to their potential. Each style usually takes 5 pages to explain, with lots of pictures. For a non-expert like me, there was not enough explanation on what made each style different and appealing. Most of the pictures, rather than explaining and amplifying the style, were "fashion shoots" showing the owners in their clothes, posing in various stylish ways - the emphasis was on the person, not the garment. I would have appreciated more controlled pictures of the clothing, and close-ups showing its advantages. Many times the author says It's about "The linings, the detailing, the tailoring. It's about workmanship. It's about the way it fits and the way it moves." However, there is not one picture or one paragraph explaining any of these things for any of the 37 clothing styles!

For some odd reason, the author is stuck on the decades also. As other reviewers noted, most of the book is 1950's and later. Many times you will read: "In what decade was it made? What difference does it make?...", yet attached to each picture is a decade. More frustrating, there is very little explanation why one picture is "50's" and the one next to it is "70's". Some of her ideas just seem crazy or outlandish, like wearing shorts & pajamas in a conservative work environment. (You won't stand out as long as you wear your Chinese pajamas under a sport coat and match the colors in the Pucci shorts with your blouse!)

I appreciated that real people are wearing these clothes, and not the latest supermodel. For me, the best part of the book was the end with little vignettes on classic styles, vintage finds, & shopping. Again, most of the shopping section should be extra for anyone who reads the paper, shops at the mall, and has an idea of what garage sales and flea markets are all about (but for beginners there are a few additional bits of information in there).

After reading 37 examples of how everything can be acceptable anywhere, as long as you are stylish, you should feel encouraged to go out, buy something different and try it on. To critique this book, there should be much better books out there, for both beginners and vintage experts; however, this is one of my first books so I just don't know which ones they are.

Best book on the topic i've seen.......2003-04-09

tiffany dubin really knows her stuff and doesn't get too lofty for the average person who just wants to see what all this hype about vintage is about. she shows fun ways to mix and match your existing wardrobe with cool finds. this book is a perfect guidebook, fun to look at and has some amazing rescources as well as a fun group of what must be friends showing the clothing off. A+

Blurry Photos and Fuzzy Guidance.......2002-05-10

This was an ambitious project, by all means: over two hundred four-color pages and a jacket blurb that proclaims the book "nothing short of a money-saving source guide and an inspirational blueprint for understanding how to wear vintage clothing with style". Alas, Vintage Style fails on both counts. While some of the photographs display lovely vintage pieces--a terrific off-white Dior ensemble from the 50's, for example--the majority of these vintage-ensembles-as-mainstream-choices would draw unwanted stares at best, and embarrassing comments, at worst.

As for being a source guide, money-saving or otherwise, the book merely lists (on the final few pages) a handful of vintage dealers in each of the general regional areas of the United States, with the majority being in the New York and New England areas (surprise, surprise). The disclaimer states "A complete list would be impossible to compile". Apparently so: if you're a resident of The South, we're informed, there are only two vintage sellers of which the authors are aware: one in Miami and one in Atlanta. Well, that's news to us Southern girls! Furthermore, no price points are mentioned (these would help steer the vintage shopper to boutiques whose merchandise she could afford) and no information on the stores' areas of specialization (i.e. designers and eras represented) is given either.

Although there are plenty of color photographs, the majority are strangely styled and badly out-of-focus. A puzzling eight-part treatise on hacking up a (seemingly) perfectly good black lace dress with a pair of scissors concludes with the wearer looking less Comme des Garcons than extremely silly. And there is a disappointing shortage of accessory shots: don't those New Yorkers like vintage jewelry and handbbags as much as the rest of the nation?

Yes, you'll see some designer outfits shown on non-models in Vintage Style. But for about $37 less, you can flip through the society pages of W magazine and have a similar experience.

very disappointing.......2002-01-04

This book is really aimed at vintage fashion neophytes. For any one with more than a passing knowledge of vintage fashion save your money. As an aesthitic experience the book is great, lots of pretty pictures. However, there is nothing really of interest in the book. As a test if you know who courreges is do not buy this book, there is nothing here you don't already know.

Vintage Style : Buying and Wearing Classic Vintage Clothes

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Vintage Style : Buying and Wearing Classic Vintage Clothes
Ann E.; Dubin, Tiffany Berman
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEQ35I

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