The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life

Book Description

Abortion has been a polarizing issues for three decades. But today, the politics are changing fast. Public support for abortion-on-demand is dropping, while euthanasia and cloning have also become part of controversial debates. Political journalist Ramesh Ponnuru explains how these issues represent the creeping advance of the party of death - it wants to narrow the circle of human beings with a right to life by excluding the unborn, the seriously disabled - and maybe even infants. Ponnuru details how the party of death took over the Democratic party, and how it has corrupted the law, politics, and even the teaching of history. He also explains how figures such as Mario Cuomo, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barbara Boxer have camouflaged the party of death's extremism - all with help from the media. But Ponnuru also has insight into a different political future, and closes by asking how America might look after Roe v. Wade is overturned. In an America that is turning away from abortion on demand, the Democrats may prove to be the last victims of the party of death.

Customer Reviews:

The Hidden Agenda.......2007-05-13

It was not many years ago that both major political parties tiptoed around abortion as a party platform, with both fearing to take a stand either way. However, beginning with the takeover of the Democratic Party by the Far Left, the full panoply of death on demand became the calling card of that party. In THE PARTY OF DEATH, Ramesh Ponnuru describes the current state of the Democrats as the ones who support the right of women to choose the death of their unborn child through abortion. As if abortion were not stringent enough, he details how a lack of concern for the fetus is but the stepping stone on the not so slippery slope that leads to areas allied with abortion: euthanasia and stem cell cloning.

Ponnuru traces the transformation of the Democratic Party as one that used to boast of such stalwarts as John Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and Scoop Jackson to Ponnuru's aptly named Party of Death. Beginning with the nomination of George McGovern for President in 1972, the increasing secularization of the Left removed it from viewing society as one based on ethics shaped by law to one as law untouched by ethics. Ponnuru notes that this switch to death on demand was a gradual one with many democrats not even aware of what their leaders were planning. He further adds that none of this could have happened in a political isolation. What was needed was the willing connivance of the Supreme Court to incrementally alter the Constitution via creative interpretation so that Roe vs. Wade would become the inevitable result.

Ponnuru savages those who advocate late term abortion as the nearest thing to state sanctioned killing on a massive scale. No one has ever come close to defining exactly what a person is or when the fetus is sufficiently close enough to qualify as a sentient being with full Constitutional rights, but he makes it pretty clear that the current leaders of the Democratic Party do not concern themselves with such troubling thoughts. It is no surprise that allied issues like euthanasia are seen by democrats as yet another example of the de-valuing of human life for political gain. Ponnuru suggests that abortion probably will be a part of human life--however ugly or unwanted--for the foreseeable future, but if there is truly a moral line that distinguishes human beings who have some moral qualms about sucking out the brains of a fetus in a late term abortion from those who see absolutely nothing wrong with that, then his appellation of democrats as the Party of Death will be a most deserved one.

Great legal, political, and philosophical analysis of a divisive issue.......2007-01-12

The early fifth century saw the beginning of what historian Edward Gibbon would call the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Why would this empire, the greatest the world had ever seen, at one time stretching 1,000 miles, begin to show cracks? It had survived over a millennium, and had been an empire for four centuries. What was the problem?

Emperor Constantine had sanctioned Christianity a century earlier. Followers of the civic pagan gods increasingly blamed the demise on the Christianization of Rome. After all, it could hardly be a coincidence that the barbarians were at the gates soon after Rome had given up asking for protection from the pagan gods, right?

St. Augustine, hearing these fears and rumblings, decided to respond with his extended work that would come to be called De Civitate Dei (City of God). Augustine said, no, Christianity is not responsible for the fall of Rome. The civic pagan rites were flawed in their own right. And, even if Christianity was responsible for the impending fall of Rome, it would not matter. For, it is not Rome that we are to see as our salvation, but rather the Heavenly Kingdom promised by God.

There are two "cities," Augustine says, the City of God and the City of Man. The City of God includes all of the angels in Heaven, the souls of the virtuous people who have died and gone to Heaven, the faithful members of the Church who are still alive on earth, and, possibly, virtuous living humans who are not members of the Church. The City of Man includes the fallen angels, the souls of the wicked who have died, as well as wicked men and women still alive on earth. The City of God is not to be strictly identified with the Church, since there are baptized members of the Church who are not virtuous, and there may be people who are not members of the Church but are nonetheless virtuous. The City of Man is not to be seen as Rome, or any other particular human community, since there are citizens of Rome who are virtuous and are part of the City of God. We need to see Rome, and any other human society, Augustine says, for what it is: a city that we are citizens of, that we should work to make virtuous, but ultimately only a temporary home on our way to our heavenly reward. Work to make society better, while at the same time remembering our human existence on earth is not the be all and end all.

The Late Pope John Paul II coined the phrases "culture of life" and "culture of death" to describe those in our society who respect and protect human life versus those who, for whatever reason, deem some humans as inconveniences who can be disposed of for some `greater good.' To cut through the euphemisms, what the Pope meant was those who support or condone abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty (when other means of protecting society are available) are contributing to a `culture of death' that treats human life as below things such as pleasure or subjective happiness. Recently, author Ramesh Ponnuru wrote the attention grabbing title, Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life. The title is polemic, and it doesn't help that he has a blurb praising the book by Ann Coulter on the cover, but his writing and arguments are careful and reasoned. His two main theses points are as follows:

(1) Roe V. Wade was a poorly handed down case, constitutionally and ethically. People do not really understand what it says. In effect, it leaves abortion legal for all nine months; since it leaves it to the whim of the doctor to determine whether the fetus has a claim to life in the final two trimesters (what do you think an abortion doctor would say?). Further, our Constitution is silent on the issue of abortion, and implies nothing in any way or form about a right to terminate a pregnancy, despite all the talk about "penumbras." Would it not be better, Ponnuru argues, to let the legislatures deal with such a divisive issue than have a Supreme Court rule down from on high, with the authority of a Constitution that says nothing about a right to abortion? The fact that the issue was taken out of the hands of the people, unlike in European countries where national consensuses have formed giving some leeway to pro-life and pro-choice forces, leads to the divisiveness in our nation over the issue.

(2) The Democratic Party has largely become the abortion party, alienating its traditional bases of the working class, unions, Catholics, African-Americans, and others, by putting support for legal abortion as the number one objective of the party, the one issue among all issues that no Democrat with aspirations for high office can stray from orthodoxy. It's important to remember, though, just as Rome cannot be seen strictly as the City of Man, the Democrats cannot be strictly the Party of Death, since there are a number of Republican pro-choicers, and there are Democratic pro-lifers. But, the Democrats, sadly, have largely embraced the abortion cause.

Is Ponnuru right in painting the Democrats as the `Party of Death'? Wilfred McClay, writing on the First Things blog on August 21, 2006, does not "find much merit in the idea that there is a `party of death' at work in American politics." He sees it as a wrong formulation, for "our biotechnological enthusiasts are nothing if not partisans of life, infinitely extensible." It is based on the idea that each of us should be able to have complete mastery over our lives, and "manufacture a world [we] can live in without let or hindrance." But, we are not in complete control. We live in communities, where we have responsibilities to one another. We are called to care for the helpless, to, as Mother Theresa said, give until it hurts. As McClay explains:

Life is unfreezable, and complete independence is a sterile fantasy, inconsistent with our human nature. That nature speaks to us continuously of the organic interdependency of things, of a world churned and roiled by the endless process of aging and decay, and the miraculous generation of new life out of them--the ebb and flow of what the ancients called "generation and corruption." The recognition of these things, and the acceptance of our place in them, is precisely why we care for the infirm and the weak and the hopeless among us, rather than feed them to the sharks, particularly when they are flesh of our flesh, and we of theirs.

Rome may not in the strictest sense have been the City of Man, but its refusal to see past the idolatry of a glory of Rome in itself, without regard to the City of God, helped precipitate its final fall in 476 AD. More than just the Democratic Party, our culture, though not to be identified strictly with the Culture of Death, must make a decision on whether it is to increasingly view human life as a commodity or good unto itself, if it is not to endure the same fate as Rome.

Shines some light on weak pro-choice logic.......2007-01-05

The abortion debate is subtler than many people realize. Others do realize it, yet they want the whole ugly thing to go away. Then you have those who realize it and try to explain. Ramesh Ponnuru falls in the third camp, and we should be thankful for that. For the most part, the book is both crisp and clear. Some of the important points Ponnuru makes:

1. The pro-life argument can be made in a completely secular manner. The pro-life argument will work without faith in the Trinity, Krishna, Zeus, or any god for that matter.
2. Abortion is legal in the United States through nine months of pregnancy due to the broad language of the abortion laws.
3. A support of infanticide is difficult to separate from the pro-choice argument. i.e. see Peter Singer and other pro-choice academics.
4. Pro-lifers are winning the abortion argument via an incremental approach toward abortion law.

Though most of his work is focused on the lengths Democrats go to cater to the pro-choice ideology, to his credit Ponnuru criticizes Republicans as well as Democrats. If some Republicans rely on flimsy pro-choice arguments, they should be called out on it just the same. I would have given the book 5 stars, but I think one weak point is the essay format. What I mean is, the book is more like a collection of essays. The chapters are short and easy to read, but sometimes that's a disadvantage. At times, I would like a little less rambling about examples and a little more explanation of arguments. Examples can help illustrate a point, but they can also get a bit cumbersome at times.

Minus this minor criticism, I very much recommend the book. The light Ponnuru shines on the mostly weak pro-choice logic is worth the price. Some good history lessons are also included.

For a very in-depth secular pro-life argument, check out Patrick Lee's Abortion and Unborn Human Life. Randy Alcorn's Pro-life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments is a good supplement. See Peter Singer's pro-choice arguments in Practical Ethics for some overview on the pro-choice argument (though Singer relies on some rather feeble consequentialist arguments).

Provocative and Blunt - Death is the Important Word.......2006-12-30

"The Party of Death" will unsettle those who lean towards or favor abortion, embryonic stem research, and/or euthanasia. Author Ramash Ponnuru, a senior editor at the National Review, writing with razor-edged moral acuity, skillfully debunks the excesses and hypocrisy of those promoting these as morally acceptable by scrupulously sticking to non-religious arguments.

Ponnuru begins his book by correcting several myths relating to the Supreme Court's Roe V. Wade decision - that it is a grand compromise between extremes, that the decision is more limited than it is, and that overturning Roe would criminalize all abortions. Ponnuru methodically demonstrates that these are not true.

Roe and its companion case, Doe v Bolton, make abortion on-demand a constitutional right up until moments before the birth. States may regulate abortion in the second and third trimester, says the court, but not if they run afoul of the mother's "health." This is not a compromise when the interpretation of a "mother's health" is understood. "Health," as Ponnuru shows, can mean anything under the elastic category of a woman's overall "well-being."

Ponnuru adds that the Supreme Court overreached and acted as a legislative body with the Roe decision. A point also eloquently made by former Senator John Danforth in his recent book, "Faith and Politics." Ponnuru notes that the public actually favors many restrictions on abortion and believes that the issue should be returned to the states where favored restrictions can be legislated.

"The Party of Death" moves from a detailed discussion of abortion to how the "culture of death" has been extrapolated and now threatens the elderly and disabled with weeding out the unfit, cloning, and euthanasia.

The hypocrisy of these positions was further amplified by Nathanael Blake, in his June 2006 column: "Why do so many ardently support such a morally and logically untenable position, even though it contradicts their own stated principles. Those distressed by the clubbing of baby seals don't mind the murder of the club-footed. Those who support extending legal protection to apes because their abilities resemble those of mentally disabled humans encourage the killing of mentally disabled humans in utero... People have been killing those who get in the way of the life they'd like for all of history. Even abortionists can be understood - those who will murder for money have long been among us."

The "Party of Death" is not the Democratic Party but rather those who continue to spawn a convenient cultural disregard for "human life." Unfortunately, for the Democratic Party, these people have made the Democratic Party their home and have made it synonymous with abortion and death.

Ponnuru's title is provocative. His book states bluntly what many people would rather couch in euphemism or, better yet, not say at all. Death is the important word. Ponnuru shows us how these choices, right or wrong, are a choice for death. And unfortunately, the debate, today, is over "what" is killed and who gets to decide.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the landscape which the "Culture Wars" are being fought and in the future of western society.

TO LET BE, OR NOT TO LET BE: THAT IS THE QUESTION.......2006-12-18

THE PARTY OF DEATH by Ramesh Ponnuru is quite possibly the most important book published thus far into "The Aughts" (the year 2000 through 2006). This book goes straight to the heart of its subject, abortion, with penetrating logic, powerful arguments, and probing theories. This is hardly a diatribe; rather it's reasoned fairly, but still a persuasive defense for Life, written from a purely secular position. This book deserves to be read and seriously contemplated by every single concerned adult, regardless of where they stand on this controversial and crucial issue. Are you pro-choice? See if your outlook can withstand Ponnuru's insight and contentions. If so, you will finish the book more informed about your opinion. And if not, you will find yourself driven into the Light of Truth by a nonreligious text.

Five questions:

1) Do you understand the great "misconception" about the Roe v. Wade ruling, and why it leaves the United States alone among its peers in offering no legal protection to the unborn at any stage of development?

2) Did you know that when defenders of the Nebraska ban on partial-birth abortion cited the fact that no medical schools taught it as evidence for the claim that it had little medical value, some major medical schools began teaching it in time to affect the litigation?

3) Are you aware that the much ballyhooed claim that the 1973 Roe decision was necessary to save the lives of women who were dying in large numbers due to illegal abortions is utter nonsense? The Centers for Disease Control reported that 39 women died from illegal abortions in 1972, while 24 women died that same year from the legal variety.

4) Would you like to know how an offhand remark about the music group, The Beach Boys, was instrumental in transforming NORMA McCORVEY (the REAL name of "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade fame) from an abortion clinic employee into a dedicated antiabortion protester and dogged proponent of a Roe v. Wade ruling reversal?

5) In 1984, Dr. Bernard Nathanson (himself an occasional abortionist at the time) asked his friend, Jay, another doctor, who was then performing 15 to 20 abortions daily, to tape his next operation with an ultrasound device. Dr. Jay did so, and what he saw during the playback in the editing studio later, left him so unnerved that he never performed another abortion. Does this tell you anything?

A November 2004 poll found that 55% of the public thought abortion should either be illegal altogether or illegal with only rape, incest, and for saving-the-life-of-the-mother exceptions. 31% thought it should be legal for any reason but only during the first trimester. Only 9% felt that abortion should be legal for any reason at any time. So, why has the federal government agreed to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a social issue that only 9% of the population concurs with? (And if you think I've misrepresented the ramifications of the Roe v. Wade decision, then you should certainly have answered "No" to question number one above!)

In THE PARTY OF DEATH, Ramesh Ponnuru also illustrates with fine diamond clarity the interrelatedness of abortion, embryo destruction, and euthanasia, and how the slippery slope of the first two will logically and inevitably lead to a snowball effect concerning the last, and subsequently, a severe degrading of society's regard for life in general. Ponnuru's writing style did not especially appeal to me, and I wish he had spent a little more time detailing the physiological reactions to CHEMICAL birth control forms, so readers would better understand why these are considered abortifacients by pro-Lifers such as myself. [For additional information on this point, see THE FACTS ABOUT ABORTION (AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE'S LIFE GUIDE SERIES).] Regardless, Ponnuru's mental acuity and scalpel-sharp theoretical comparisons makes THE PARTY OF DEATH a true "must-read" publication.

Many years ago, an 18-year-old girl calling herself "TOO YOUNG IN LAS VEGAS" wrote a letter to Dear Abby. She told how she had become pregnant as a result of being raped (a very rare occurrence, by the way). But TOO YOUNG gave birth to the baby anyway and then put the boy up for adoption. Three years later, she was still wearing around her neck, a locket containing a photograph of her son. I saved that article because I thought then (and still do) that this was the greatest example of following Saint Paul's exhortation, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) I will always love that woman, whoever she is, for her brave, bold, life-affirming and evil-conquering act! If only we all had the spiritual sight of TOO YOUNG and could equally see the glory behind the grime.

In THE PARTY OF DEATH, Ramesh Ponnuru effectively dismantles the myth that colonial America did not consider abortion to be a common law crime. And in The Declaration Of Independence, this country's establishing document, our Founders wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Now, what part of "Life" doesn't America understand?

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Alfie and the Birthday Surprise
good book about death (and alfie)
Another wonderful Alfie story
Wonderful Children's Author

Alfie and the Birthday Surprise
Shirley Hughes
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0688151876

Book Description

Birthday parties always make people happy, and Alfie's neighbor, Mr. MacNally, really does need cheering up. Alfie thinks a party might be just the thing, and there's an extra special surprise in store for Mr. MacNally! Will Alfie manage to keep it a secret?

Customer Reviews:

Alfie and the Birthday Surprise.......2005-09-06

Anything Shirley Hughes writes is worth reading! She writes about everyday situations with which my 3 year old and I can relate (and we laugh, cry or feel whatever other emotion she provokes) and always enjoy!. She both writes and illustrates her books - and do so beautifully!

good book about death (and alfie).......2003-10-30

I am fond of this book because it incorporates death as part of a continuum of events in a child's life, instead of placing it front and center in a "the-moral-of-the-story-is" type of typical children's story.

Alfie's neighbor loves his old cat, the cat dies, the neighbor is very sad, the neighbor stays sad, and Alfie and friends and family decide to plan a surprise birthday party for the neighbor. Then there are lots of details about the party, including the purchase of presents, the making of the cake, and even getting a new kitten for the neighbor. Then, ta-dum, everybody yells SURPRISE! And the neighbor is happier, and the kitten turns out to be pretty cool, and the party is fun, and even though everybody remembers the old cat fondly, the new cat becomes a part of their life.

I like this approach and so, apparently, do my kids. I've been trying to find good books for kids about death, and this has turned out to be a favorite. And the pictures are *adorable,* I just wanted to reach right in and pinch Alfie's red cheeks.

Another wonderful Alfie story.......2000-02-15

We (my 3-year old son and 2-year old daughter and I) loved Hughes' "All About Alfie," and her story "Dogger," and this book is a wonderful next step for us, especially my son. There's a bit more text per page, and more mature subject matter (the death of a neighbor's pet) which helps ensure it will grow with him. (I was worried that he'd lose the wonderful role model he has in Alfie!) The only negative is that since the stories so completely capture Alfie's point of view, Annie Rose is a little flat, and my daughter is not as engaged by her. Alfie stories are a great example of how to be caring toward your siblings. The illustrations showing a happy family without a spotless house (it looks comfy and lived in!) make me want to give Hughes a hug!

Wonderful Children's Author.......1998-12-31

Shirley Hughes is a wonderful author who uses beautiful illustrations and a quiet writing style in her children's books. My toddler loves her book, Chatting, as well as other Hughes titles. I highly recommend sharing Alfie with your children.

The Flaming Luau of Death: A Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery (Madeline Bean Mysteries)

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Very clever read
Aloha!
Not Up To Par
Hawaii, Food, and Murder
Too much Hawaii, not enough mystery

The Flaming Luau of Death: A Madeline Bean Culinary Mystery (Madeline Bean Mysteries)
Jerrilyn Farmer
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0060587318
Release Date: 2005-11-29

Book Description

When Holly Nichols sets her wedding date, trendy L.A. party–planner Madeline Bean decides to throw her top assistant the hippest and most lavish bridal shower on the planet. The guests embark on a "destination" party to a fabulous and exclusive spa/resort in Hawaii. The salt–rubs! The paraffin pedicures! The dead body in the mud bath! Ew.

It doesn't help matters when Holly confesses to Maddie that she can't really go through with the upcoming wedding after all. In her effort to smooth the matrimonial path for her dear friend, Madeline must track down the mystery man Holly may have married ten years earlier and never actually got around to divorcing. How hard can that be?

Well, with the elusive gentleman in question running from a gang of rare vegetable smugglers, the bridal shower guests imbibing in one "Bridesmaid Mojito" too many, the current fiancé developing an allergy to scandal, and a murderer on the loose, it looks like anything but clear sailing down the aisle for one of Mad Bean's best employees.

Customer Reviews:

Very clever read.......2007-01-19
Jerrilyn Farmer continues to develop the complexity and depth of Madeline Bean and her cohorts in this book. She demonstrates extensive knowledge of every aspect of her characters - over-the-top party planning, catering (great recipe!) and the intricacies of murder mystery. Well-developed plot with great twists and turns. I can't wait for the next book.
Aloha!.......2006-05-31
Sometimes a book just works, and this is one of them. I can't put my finger on a particular element that dazzled me, but it was simply well-crafted. The characters clearly served narrative purposes, but not annoyingly so. The subject of the mystery wasn't of great interest to me, but Farmer still made it work. And the ending, where all of the characters were gathered in one place and they all went off into the sunset with their own happy endings? Well, yes, that was a bit contrived, but it actually worked for me and gave me that satisfied feeling as I closed the book. My only question, and perhaps it will be answered more explicity as I read the others in the series, (this is my first Jerrilyn Farmer book, but I plan to read more) is when is Wes going to find a nice guy and pair off?
Not Up To Par.......2005-12-27
I really enjoy this series, but this installment wasn't as good as usual.

First off, there were way too many characters, which made things get confusing -- especially in the case of Holly's sisters. None of them added anything to the story, but the author seemed determined to not let them just fade into the background by giving them a line here or a word there. It would've been better to just not even have had them in the book. Then you add in all the Hawaiian characters and it was hard to keep track of so many people.

One of the things I enjoy most about this series is the entire cast -- Maddie, Wes and Holly. So it was disappointing to see Maddie go off on her own to solve this case that involved Holly without any assistance at all from her and Wes.

I also hate the "round up everyone mentioned in the book and stick 'em in the same place" kind of endings. Not only was everyone in the book at the final location, but suddenly you have all these characters back home who'd been mentioned showing up too. It was overkill. And it was an especially annoying way to end the book since we don't know how the current story ended. Does Holly get back together with Marvin? Does she stay in Hawaii or return to LA? I would've been more interested in finding that out and dealing with everyone else back in LA in the next installment.

Parts of the book read like a history lesson on Hawaii, but nevertheless, if you're a Maddie Bean fan, you'll enjoy spending a few hours with the gang.
Hawaii, Food, and Murder.......2005-10-10
Holly is getting married in two weeks. Madeline and Wes decide to take Holly, her sisters, and her best friend on a surprise bachelorette party to Hawaii. Wes and Madeline have never been able to be guests at one of their parties. Now they are!

Holly confides in Madeline that she received a threatening e-mail demanding the whereabouts of her husband. Apparently Holly married her prom date in high school. But the details are a bit hazy. She hasn't seem him for years and has no idea where he might be.

When they arrive in Hawaii, they expect to have fun before going back home to deal with this problem. Wrong. There's a man waiting in Holly's room when they arrive. He runs out. Later this man ends up dead.

Madeline sets out to figure out what is going on. How is this man connected to Holly? Where is her husband? Can she do this without anyone else getting hurt and finish before they have to leave the big island?

I always enjoy books in this series. Since this one was set in Hawaii, a place I've never visited, I found it to be even more interesting. The exotic place, the great food, and wonderful people really added to the mystery.

I wish I could book an event with Mad Bean! I highly recommend this book and the whole series. Give it a try, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Too much Hawaii, not enough mystery.......2005-06-14
I have enjoyed all of the books in this series, but "Flaming Luau" was a disappointment. It started out with a great premise - a trip to an exotic locale, a mystery husband - but then it just fizzled. The elements of the mystery did not tie together well, and there were just too many sidelines. The plot reminded me of a hyperactive child, bouncing from one thought to another but not making connections between them.

Perhaps the book was just too overloaded with characters and it was difficult to concentrate on what was happening to each one of them. And, in my opinion, there was just too much information about Hawaii. It was a distraction, rather than an addition.

It's still a fairly fun read, which is why I gave it three stars. However, my advice is to borrow it from a friend, the library, or wait for the paperback.

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SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party
Ivor Crewe , and Anthony King
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0198293135

Book Description
Launched on a wave of euphoria in 1981, the SDP aroused the hopes and enthusiasm of millions. Promising to break the mould of British politics, its leaders included four of the most respected figures in British public life - Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams. But the SDP failed. Despite winning with the Liberals a quarter of the vote in two general elections, by the autumn of 1987 it had disintegrated amidst acrimony and bitter in-fighting. Ivor Crewe and Anthony King draw on unprecedented access to the SDP's archive and extensive interviews with all the leading players to chronicle the party's short but turbulent history and analyse in detail the reasons for its early success and its ultimate demise. Reviews of the hardback: `It is British political science at its best, combining intimate knowledge of the players with a firm grasp of the numbers, all gracefully and thoughtfully presented.' Nelson W. Polsby, Choice `This study of the SDP is a classic of its kind, accurate, detailed, perceptive, mercilessly honest.' Shirley Williams, Times Higher Education Supplement `Professors Crewe and King have produced a masterpiece of contemporary history. They marshal complex arguments and masses of detail with the art that conceals art. Their narrative sweeps forward with captivating energy and style, and bristles with mordant phrases.' David Marquand, Observer `If there were a Booker Prize for social sciences, here would be the obvious nomination.' Kenneth O. Morgan, New Statesman `This brilliant history - definitively researched, graced with wit, insight and countless pungent anecdotes.' Gerald Kaufman, Sunday Telegraph `Our two professors ... write clearly, sometimes wittily and without academic jargon. They are masters of their material.' Douglas Hurd, Daily Telegraph

Average customer rating:

A little slow

Party's Over

Deserted Island and Murder

Trapped in the Web of a Golden Spider

Mystery Fan

Death of the Party (Death on Demand Mysteries)
Carolyn Hart
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0060004770
Release Date: 2006-02-28

Book Description

Britt Barlow is certain her media mogul brother-in-law Jeremiah Addison's fatal tumble a year ago was no accident -- especially since she herself discovered, and disposed of, the trip wire someone had strung across the stairs. Now she's bringing all who were in attendance that weekend back to Golden Silk -- Addison's luxurious secluded island estate -- and inviting two extra guests, Annie and Max Darling, to help uncover a killer.

Annie Darling wouldn't miss this party for the world! And there certainly is no lack of suspects among the guests, each of whom had a substantial motive for doing in the insufferable tycoon. But the party turns deadly when a houseman mysteriously vanishes, along with the boats which are the only escape off Addison's island -- leaving the Darlings stranded on a floating rock in the middle of nowhere, too close to a solution for comfort, and stalked by a crafty murderer.

Customer Reviews:

A little slow.......2007-08-28
I am not a mystery reader, but saw this one and decided to try it. I see that this author has written numerous books, so perhaps I just picked the wrong book. The premise of the book was not very original - let's get all the murder suspects in one place - and find out the murderer's identity and I found it hard to believe that most of these characters were in their 20's and 30's. They all spoke as if they were characters in an Audrey Hepburn movie. I don't know anyone in that age range who would tell someone else that they were "swell" or use the adjectives "glorious" and "lovely". There was not much character development, even with the husband and wife who were the main characters and they never seemed real to me. The book was too slow and I never finished reading it or cared enough to find out who killed Jeremiah.
Party's Over.......2007-07-14
My first by this author and the last. I can't believe she has written and sold so many. Very amateurish. The Darlings showed no wisdom at all. There were enough holes in the story for an elephant to pass through. Everyone ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. Probably the only surprise in the whole weekend was the stranding of all the participants by the handy man. I don't think Britt planned that one.

Everyone was left stranded on the dock by the author who then jumped to the bookstore a month later.

Better luck next time Darlings, but I won't be following your blundering.
Deserted Island and Murder.......2007-02-23
Max Darling is hired by Britt Barlow to help her find a murderer. Her brother-in-law was murdered one year ago, and she's invited everyone back to the island that was there the weekend he was killed. She knows he was killed because she took the wire off the stairs that was strung for him to trip over. Everyone thought it was an accident. Her sister was so sick when he died, she didn't want any scandal. Her sister has since died. Now she's ready to unmask the killer. She wants Max's help.

He finally agrees to help and brings Annie along. The island is secluded with no way off until Sunday night. There's no cell phone reception either.

When Harry, a hired hand on the island, goes missing, everyone believes he is the murderer. That is until another body turns up. Can Max and Annie find the killer without becoming the next victims?

I really enjoyed this book. I think it was the secluded island that cinched it for me. I already liked Max and Annie from previous books. The South Carolina location is wonderful. Having them stranded on an island for a weekend with a killer increased the intensity. I kept trying to figure out who it was.

The author did a great job of creating characters that were believable. She gave enough twists and turns to hide the killer to the end.

I highly recommend this book.

Trapped in the Web of a Golden Spider.......2006-10-01
Annie and Max are invited to a secluded island mansion, named after a spider that spins a sturdy web to catch its prey. Britt Barlow, the current owner has turned it into a bed-and-breakfast. But this outing is no lark, as Britt has invited everyone to a party with no escape. A year ago, Britt's brother-in-law, mogul Jeremiah Addison, a man who is a walking catalyst for sparking emotional pain in all around him, was murdered. Britt had discovered and then disposed of the evidence and Jeremiah's death was ruled an accident. But now it seems that blackmail raises its ugly head, and Britt is being fingered by an unknown enemy. In order to clear the air, Britt hires Max, who drags Annie along, to a murder reunion, inviting everyone back to the island who had been there, so that Max and Annie can find the real killer. The game turns dangerous when an employee runs off the island, taking the boats and radios with him, leaving everyone trapped in a deadly web with a daring murderer who no sooner strikes again, leaving one of the guests dead. Help comes from an unexpected source, and Annie barely escapes with her life because she came too close to the truth while looking for her jacket.
Mystery Fan.......2006-07-12
I have read all of Hart's Death on Demand books and enjoyed this one as much as the first. The twists are great and keeps you wondering if you are "on the right track" to solving this murder. Great read for summer fun!

Average customer rating:

one of the most entertaining history books you could hope to read:

Classic but Slanted Account

Mysogyny = History?

Essential Book on Democratic Politics

Essential Book on Democratic Politics

The Strange Death of Liberal England
George Dangerfield
Manufacturer: Stanford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0804729301

Book Description

At the beginning of the twentieth century England’s empire spanned the globe, its economy was strong, and its political system seemed immune to the ills that inflicted so many other countries. After a resounding electoral triumph in 1906, the Liberals formed the government of the most powerful nation on earth, yet within a few years the House of Lords lost its absolute veto over legislation, the Home Rule crisis brought Ireland to the brink of civil war and led to an army mutiny, the campaign for woman’s suffrage created widespread civil disorder and discredited the legal and penal systems, and an unprecedented wave of strikes swept the land.

This is a classic account, first published in 1935, of the dramatic upheaval and political change that overwhelmed England in the period 1910-1914. Few books of history retain their relevance and vitality after more than sixty years. The Strange Death of Liberal England is one of the most important books of the English past, a prime example that history can be abiding literature. As a portrait of England enmeshed in the turbulence of new movements, which often led to violence against the pieties of Liberal England—until it was overwhelmed by the greatest violence of all, World War I—this extraordinary book has continued to exert a powerful influence on the way historians have observed early twentieth-century England.

Customer Reviews:

one of the most entertaining history books you could hope to read:.......2006-06-22
This book is a fascinating nugget of editorial history. A tale of the many (many!) mistakes the British government made in the years leading up to the First World War, George Dangerfield apparently found himself unable to conceal his outrage when reflecting on the sheer idiocy of every political party, the bulk of the members of Parliment, the Prime Minister(s) government(s) as well as the general public at large.

This was a time of rapid change, when the great monarchies were finally dying and the pettiness and complexities of practising Democracy were beginning to polarize the masses with exetremism, fanaticism, and hysterical, ideology-based warnings from every side of the social, political and divine spectrum. The world was transformed into a speeding wheel of surging menace. It was little wonder to many that such a terrible war broke out (WWI, in this instance), only to be followed by the same mistakes being repeated over and over and over again (in the different light of new perspectives) throughout the coming generations.

Dangerfield can finally only laugh at the genuine human comedy of such folly while shuddering in the consequence of a world bickering senselessly over unresolvable issues.

A tremendous, timeless masterpiece.
Classic but Slanted Account.......2003-04-14
This book is the classic account of Edwardian Britain and is on the suggested reading list of the Institute for Edwardian Studies...It was written by a contemporary journalist and is a great read. However, it focuses a great deal on the political side and lacks objectivity. An excellent counter-weight to Dangerfield is David Powell, The Edwardian Crisis. This is a first-rate academic revision to what Dangerfield and past scholars have written about the Edwardian period, but it is not really for those new to the subject.
Mysogyny = History?.......2001-08-09
While the book makes highly entertaining reading, it is dangerous in its glibness. Dangerfieldýs account is often referred to as a fundamental source for the womenýs suffrage movement in Britain, but his manipulation and outright suppression of facts willfully twists the contributions of the Pankhursts, radical feminists whose thinking was far in advance of its time. One often has difficulty identifying which he hated most: the incompetence of the Liberal Party or the women fighting for political recognition.
Essential Book on Democratic Politics.......2001-06-06
Whoever you are and whatever you do you can find soemthing to take away from this book. Essential for an understanding of politics in a democracy, and better because it gives readers an example to learn from, rather than just theory. Also a great study in human relationships and the tragi-comedic nature of life. Probably one of the best and wittiest books on history/politics ever written.
Essential Book on Democratic Politics.......2001-06-06
Whoever you are and whatever you do you can find soemthing to take away from this book. Essential for an understanding of politics in a democracy, and better because it gives readers an example to learn from, rather than just theory. Also a great study in human relationships and the tragi-comedic nature of life. Probably one of the best and wittiest books on history/politics ever written.

Average customer rating:

What Happened to Political Liberalism: Democrat or Republican?

The "Era of Bad Feelings"

A fascinating examination of how American attitudes shifted sharply to the political right in recent times

The Strange Death of Liberal America
Ralph Brauer
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 027599063X

Book Description
Ralph Brauer defines Liberal America as a place where "government exists to keep the playing field level." The success of the American experiment depends on how well we maintain this equity and its four cornerstones: economic justice, educational equity, voting rights, and media fairness. Arguing that "the patient is in intensive care," Brauer identifies three reasons for the decline of the level playing field: 1) a Republican counterrevolution dedicated to rolling back the values of the New Deal, 2) an inability of both parties to answer questions raised by decades of Civil Rights revolutions, and 3) the transformation of suburban America from a place of opportunity created by government programs to a battleground. These three ideas form the basis for the book's three sections. Part One follows the development of the Counterrevolutionary Coalition, beginning with the Southern Strategy and ending with a chapter on America's politicized media. Part Two focuses on questions that have been raised by people of color and by women, and treats the Democratic Party's failure to answer those questions as illustrated by events like the Nader-LaDuke campaign and the 1964 Atlantic City convention. Part Three details the impact of suburban America on the cornerstones. The Strange Death of Liberal America is not only a political and intellectual history, but also a social and cultural chronicle, touching on music, television, movies, and sports. Brauer's book is underscored by a historical discussion that begins with the New Deal and works its way to the present, ending with Global Warming and the Iraq War.
Customer Reviews:

What Happened to Political Liberalism: Democrat or Republican?.......2007-01-04
I've wondered about the transformation of our political parties away from either decisive liberalism or true conservativism. And I have been puzzled about the federal government's inability to take swift and effective action as, for example, with the slow, ongoing bumbling events after hurricane Katrina. Ralph Brauer's lively and readable writing, with wonderful metaphors and historical references, provides what I think are unassailable explanations. Read this book and you will have a detailed understanding of how Southern politics, religious fundamentalism, media bias and other factors have hijacked and paralyzed our political parties and thereby threatens a good part of our nation's future. You will also learn what needs to happen for a brighter tomorrow.
The "Era of Bad Feelings" .......2006-09-15
"The Strange Death of Liberal America" provides a historical and insightful examination of events leading up to the Bush administration's rise to power. Dr. Brauer systematically evaluates our current culture through his "cornerstones" of justice, voting rights, education and the media as they relate to his concept of "the level playing field". His examples are well developed and thought-provoking. His term "the Era of Bad Feelings" describes the current consternation of our country and supplies us with a label for the sense of moving in the wrong direction that has been apparent to the average American. The book ends with a vision of purpose and hope for the future of the 230 year old democracy that has endured and survived.
A fascinating examination of how American attitudes shifted sharply to the political right in recent times.......2006-08-09
Award-winning writer Ralph Brauer presents "The Strange Death of Liberal America", a fascinating examination of how American attitudes shifted sharply to the political right in recent times. Part modern political history, part lamentation for the abandonment of the liberal ideal in which "government exists to keep the playing field level", part cautionary tale of the social ills promoted by policies that increasingly favor the rich, the powerful, and the corporations over struggling ordinary citizens, "The Strange Death of Liberal America" is fascinating and slightly unnerving in its grim survey of the past and dark predictions for the future. From suburban obsession with minutia rather than the broad picture, to subtle rollbacks in civil rights, to the drumbeat of fear that the so-called Counterrevolution plays to scare voters into falling in line with its social agenda, "The Strange Death of Liberal America" exposes all in no-nonsense, clear and charged language.

Average customer rating:

Great Book

Party Girl by Lynne Ewing

Party Girl

Party Girl

!Best Book Ever!

Party Girl (Knopf Books)
Lynne Ewing
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679892850
Release Date: 1998-08-11

Amazon.com
"We used to sit on the playground and plan our weddings, tracing long flowing white gowns in the sand with sticks. Then, in sixth grade--I can't remember the day it happened--a stone rolled in front of our futures. We dropped the sticks and our dreams and started planning our funerals instead." This sad, resigned voice, wise beyond her teen years, is that of Kata, a girl who has just lost her best friend, Ana, to gang violence. Ana and Kata, inseparable since fourth grade, are on their way home from winning another underground dance competition, when Ana reveals she is pregnant. Although Ana is worried about her mother's reaction, both girls know this is good news--now she can finally "face out" and escape the gang life in which the two have become hopelessly entangled. Moments later, Ana is killed in a drive-by shooting, and Kata must cope with the loss of her other half ("it took two of us to make one person"), as well as her helpless, alcoholic mother, her murderous hunger for revenge against Ana's killers, and her desire to leave gang life forever.
Lynne Ewing, author of Drive-By, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, spins a harrowing, captivating tale with Party Girl, which paints a clear picture of gang life with lovely, mesmerizing prose. Ewing's sense of drama is exquisite, and the realism is enhanced by her incorporation of Spanish, Quechua, and gang lingo into the dialogue. As readers live through Ana's struggles, they may be inspired to think more deeply about what lies beneath the tough exteriors of hardened gang members. For example, consider Ana's haunting recollection: "Sometimes when I was a little girl, I would play with my mother's hand, pretending her hand was a doll. She'd let me hold the hand, kiss the fingers, cuddle the arm while she drank her beers and smoked with her free hand and talked to dark men." While the ending may feel a bit too tidy for cynics, the final message of hope is a welcome relief after this grim, eye-opening walk on the wild side. (Ages 12-16) --Brangien Davis
Book Description
Pocho handed her a gun and for the first time in days, Kata felt calm. She hadn't known what to do, how to be, without Ana. An endless loop of memories spun around her brain--dancing wild at the go-go contest...running through the night-black streets...booming gunfire and screaming tires...the weight of her friend's lifeless body...Ana's blood, cold and tacky on her skin. But this gun put Kata in control. Someone would pay for Ana's death. Someone would pay.

Filled with atmosphere and action, this novel offers readers a window into the world of a gang member who knows she needs to get even, prays she won't get killed, but doesn't dare hope to ever get out.
Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2006-09-18
This is a great book. It gives you a look at how gang life really is, and how hard it is to escape the life. I really enjoyed reading it, but i didn't like the ending, you'll see why when or if you read it. Out of all these types of books i still recomind Go Ask Alice....
Party Girl by Lynne Ewing.......2006-03-13
Party Girl was a story about two very young girls named Kata and Ana. Kata and Ana came from two different families. Kata lived with her mother who was always drunk messing around with different men. Ana lived with an over protective family very
different from Kata's. Kata and Ana went to the same school and lived in the same violent dangerous "ghetto".
Kata and Ana went to the parties every night. These young girls were well known because they danced on stage to get everyone's attention. Dancing was the only thing that would get their minds out of the hood they lived in. The girls only learned to live this type of life and eventually had to learn to deal with nasty comments from other people such as "you got no future. No future on your face. None at all." They didn't pay any mind to those comments, they just enjoyed every night like it was their last. Unfortunately, Kata's happiness ends the day that Ana confesses that she is pregnant. This also is the night in which Kata loses Ana and learns to face life and the damages of her neighborhood without her best friend.
Personally, I can relate to kata because I live in a neighborhood filled with violence and drugs. In life I've also lost very close friends and families members. i can also relate to Ana not only because of the type of neighborhood i live in, but also because i have parents that protect me a lot like hers.
I really recommend this book. If you're a teenager who would like to know how hard it is to live in a dangerous area with no choice other then to either hope yo stay alive or just die, then this book is for you. I would also recommend this book to parents so they can get a better idea of what teenagers go through everyday and the choice they will have to make in life.

Party Girl.......2006-01-18
Being a mom of three children i read many books like this one. Although most of them are true stories and journals. I have to say that this is a good read, i read the whole book in one day, it was one that i didn't want to put down. This is a story about two girls that grow up together and are jumped into a gang and how it changes their lives.
Party Girl.......2005-11-05
Two Dancers Kata And Ana. Experience Obsticles like Gangs,dancing,and violents. But the one thing they like most of all is dancing thier called outragious chaos or the oc. one night thier on thier way to the dance off when Ana tells Kata she id having a baby with her boyfriend Pocho. Kata is in shock. They finnaly reach the dance off. every one is screaming OC,OC,OC,OC Over and Over again. They get up onstage to perform wind blowing thier hair in thier face they dacnce like knowone has seen before. thier dance is finnaly over and the judges say the winners name OC Outragious chaos has won the dance off. The crowd goes wild.They claim thier prize and leave.But then something goes wrong Ana gets shot and killed.Kata is devastated
then Kata and Ana's Ex Boyfriend Pocho helps find her killer but when they do they shoot.And hit someone else.So Kata gives up on all the Gangs and Violents one night when she sees Ana's ghost by her window holding her new her baby boy.
!Best Book Ever!.......2005-10-25
Party Girl was one of the best books that I have read. I read this book when I was a junior in high school. This book is a very exiting book it has a lot of action. The book is about two gangster girls who have really messed up lives. Kata and Ana are best friends and they are both in the same gang. Ana lives with her mom and her sisters. Her family is a very attached family who always has financial problems. Ana's Mom is really exited because Ana is going to turn fifteen and her mom wants to make her a little party. What Ana's family doesn't know is that she is in a gang. Ana Feels very lonely and wants to die because she doesn't feel loved no matter that her family is so attached with each other. She even bought a dress that she wants to get berried in, but her mom thinks that it's a dress for prom. Ana gets pregnant from a guy from the opposite gang. Kata lives with her mom. Her mom is a lady who has a drinking problem. Every day when Kata gets home from school her mom has a different guy. Sometimes the guys would even try and take advantage of her so she would go with go with her gangster friends and kick it.
To escape away from all there problems Ana and Kata would dance. They would both go to parties where they both battled with other girls. One day after a party when they were walking back home Ana got shot at from a drive by shooting. Kata promised to get revenge over Ana'a death. Ana's mom never found out about Ana's other side nor that she was pregnant. People should really think about reading this book because it is a very very good book.

Average customer rating:

The greatest history book ever (after Decline and Fall)

The Strange Death of Liberal England 1910-1914
George Dangerfield
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0399502270

Customer Reviews:

The greatest history book ever (after Decline and Fall) .......2004-09-10
I first read this book about 35 years ago as a student, when a relation of mine gave it to me. I was transfixed. How could any history come alive so much and be just so good ? I was studying history at Cambridge University at the time and in contrast to the dry as dust rubbish I was reading much of the time this book came across as an eye opener and showed me just how much fun history could be. Read it if you read no other history book ever again.

Average customer rating:

IF KIPLING HAD BEEN A WOMAN...

Essentially English poignant presentiments

please don't miss this - Mansfield is essential

Garden Party

The Garden Party and Other Stories

The Garden Party (Creative Short Stories)
Katherine Mansfield
Manufacturer: Creative Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Stories

Bliss & Other Stories (Wordsworth Collection) (Wordsworth Collection)

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Katherine Mansfield: A Darker View

ASIN: 0886823420

Amazon.com
Virginia Woolf once described Katherine Mansfield as "of the cat kind, alien, composed, always solitary & observant." All of these qualities are on display in Mansfield's writing, as well; hers are lonely tales of missed connections, inchoate longings, and complicated emotions within the context of a rigidly defined social setting. Born in New Zealand, Mansfield set many of her stories there, even though she emigrated to England in 1908 at age 19, never to return. Her characters are almost invariably middle-class, the daughters, sweethearts, wives, and widows of office clerks, military men, businessmen. In "At the Bay," for example, Mansfield focuses on the Burnell family as they take their summer vacation at the beach. Not content to follow just one character through the story, she drifts in and out of the consciousness of half a dozen, from the family cat to Stanley and Linda Burnell, their children, Linda's sister, Beryl and their in-laws, the Trouts. Dipping into Linda's thoughts, for example, we learn that she loves her husband--"not the Stanley whom everyone saw, not the everyday one; but a timid, sensitive, innocent Stanley who knelt down every night to say his prayers and who longed to be good." Unfortunately for Linda, "she saw her Stanley so seldom." Mansfield then swoops into the mind of Stanley's brother-in-law, Jonathan Trout, who is discontented with his life but knows he hasn't the will to change it, and then on to Beryl, whose longing for "someone who will find the Beryl they none of them know" leads her into a rash action.
In the title story, Mansfield concentrates on young Laura Sheridan on the afternoon of her family's garden party. The story follows the family through the preparations--flags to identify the different sandwiches, the delivery of cream puffs, the setting up of a marquee on the lawn. This perfect idyll is broken, however, by news of a fatal accident down the lane. A young workman has been killed, leaving a wife and five children. Into Laura's perfect Eden, death comes whispering and her reaction to it is both subtle and surprising. In fact, many of Mansfield's stories feature young women on the brink of adulthood--facing, for the first time, the realities of their constricted lives. Love is a trap; childbearing is another; death can be "simply marvellous." Mansfield died in 1923 of tuberculosis, leaving behind a body of work that is as bold, unconventional, and modern as she was. The Garden Party and Other Stories is a fitting epitaph. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
Introduction by Claire Tomalin
Download Description
The classic stories of Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) continues to surprise and delight readers even today. In deceptively simple language, Mansfield illuminates complicated relationships and profound, often troubling ideas, capturing the telling moments of her characters' lives in precise, luminous detail. .
Customer Reviews:

IF KIPLING HAD BEEN A WOMAN..........2006-02-20
If Virginia Woolf once described Katherine Mansfield as "of the cat kind, alien, composed, always solitary & observant," I would go even further and say that she is quite simply the best short story writer of the 20th Century, ...bar Kipling maybe... If she had lived longer she would surely have eclipsed him as a stylist and attention to detail decscribed in ways that defy explanation.

I was only guided to Mansfield, by my friend and fellow Cambridge-educated mountaineer who swore by her prose...

This compilation of stories varies from those she wrote in her pre-consumptive days in New Zealand to those analysing the corrosive influence of ideas that should have long been dead... colonialism, subtle racism, and the dominiance of the male sex. All written in such a way that ellicits pathos with no cry for help... the pathos lies in the condition, not the individual situation. It is this capability to allude to the universal indirectly from the particular that stands out.

Some of the stories range from ones with a classical shocking turn of ending... and others that just sort of trail off into the ether and we are left with some sort of satisfying feeling and a supposed deeper understanding of something ineffable...

I think about the wonderful later stories of Kipling such as "The Gardener" and I am struck by the emotional female empathy, the shock left unsaid (and sometimes unknown), and unrequited longing for a lost world and for a new one.

It is this ability to describe things that Mansfield really excels in, and the volume really makes one yearn that she had lived to produce more...
Essentially English poignant presentiments.......2005-06-12
Mansfield was in competition with Virigina Wolf during her short life - the one female writer who could compete with the proverbial literary giantess of the pre-war era (as Wolf herself admitted - she respected the former's talent). I think Mansfield ranks as true literary bloom of the first quarter of the 20th century as a generality, hobnobbing with Irish talent like Joyce and fitting into that stage that also held T. E. Lawrence and John Buchan - the male writers always dominating. Mansfield represents the rank outsider, not male, not "English" but breaking through into recognition while she lived.

Her writing is distinctly impressionist in flavour. Sentences broken and stories only half complete. But she writes beautifully, often echoing her impending death from TB. An outsider with her sexuality in how she experimented including a brief pretence of motherhood and her spirituality. She attended Gurdjieff's centre and was obviously fond of the pragmatism of certain Eastern traditions compared to the prevailing cult.

But she only reveals so much in her writing. So much remaining unsaid. Happy stories like "Bliss" and funny stories like "The school mistress". So many details from life at the time like ships, parties, schools, courtship, and the lives of ordinary people from the well bred elites to the downtrodden poor. Mansfield frequently displays a sympathy for the underdog and cries out about the transience of things and the lack of stability in pleasure - vaguely Buddhist even ... But her stories are yet so English with glimpses of her native New Zealand from which she was divorced. She write well about the dazzle of things like summer or flowers, children, sounds and people - everything highlighted. She is so good with colloquial speech and represents it well ... conversations that bring out sentiments of characters and in the reader.

You can't get enough of this genre. The only genre she knew. Little cartoons of short stories, almost always making a point, sometimes sharp but not overtly moralistic. Everything is so precise, a melody from the heart. This like any other collection of her work is worth attention, to read or as a gift.

The introduction is good and Mansfield will probably for ever remain not too well known but a gem to those who find her.
please don't miss this - Mansfield is essential.......2003-04-10
If you've never read her short stories (she never wrote anything else), please do, and then read her journal. There is really something incredible that's underneath the surface of her short stories. If you just looked at the surface you might think they were cutesy or affected (little girls figure largely), but you would be completely missing the point. It's hard to explain what's so moving about them. When she describes some lazy afternoon, she just gets it so right that all the vast range of human experience seems to be contained in this afternoon (whereas in any Great American Novel-esque tomes you read only a fraction of that experience is ever expressed). But at the same time, it was just this cute little vignette that had very satisfying descriptions of flowers and little girls playing. The journal will help you understand her sadness as it's expressed in her work. You know when you are very, very upset, and you see something so beautiful or even funny, you're likely to become on the verge of tears? That's how Mansfield sounds in her stories - the stories are that beautiful thing that she sees.
She is most often compared to Chekhov, and it's not difficult to see why. I truly believe that Mansfield innovated and practically invented the English (language) short story.
Garden Party.......2003-03-26
Mansfield's innovative diction captivates readers and draws one into her own world. A world in which individuals are not bound by the common restraints of society.
The Garden Party and Other Stories.......2001-12-14
I came across K.M. as she liked to be refered, 60 years after her death. Very late,but better late then never. And especially for K.M. In a german Pension indrigued me first,a review told me, she could have made a lot of money, to publish it again, during the WWI.she declined. She had lost her Brother at the somme, but could not bring herself to more war mongering.
Then I read The Garden Party, and new nearly instandly what kind of person she might have been.
She disliked being priviliged, down the Street, kids her age where starving. The Garden Party gave her an opportunity to disclose Society as what it was. The gap between the Have and Have not.And this in the early 20th century in New Zealand.
And the Garden Party is on of the few stories at the backdrop of New Zealand scenery.
Her Stories make still a highly interesting read, very modern issues with an unbelievable talent for drama, as well as a very dry Sense of humor, like in 'A german Pension'
One or two stories of her are always my companion.
Books:

The Shape Shifter (Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Novels)

The Sugar Solution: Weight Gain? Memory Lapses? Mood Swings? Fatigue? Your Symptoms Are Real - And Your Solution is Here

The Tao of Pooh

The Unquiet Grave : The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country

Tripwire

Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)

What's Love Got to Do With It?: A Critical Look at American Charity

Where is Baby's Mommy?

White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9)

Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?: What It Takes To Be An Authentic Leader

Books Index
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