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Silent Night The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub
World War I was fought largely in trenchs, such that opposing troops were close to each other and died slowly. Further, many German troops had been in Britain before the war and so British and German troops spoke English together and sometimes even knew each other. Fraternization in these situations was very possible. Despite the lack of goodwill between higher ups in the opposing armies, troops could and did fraternize of their own volition. Small impromptu truces sprung up. Many truces were already going on before Christmas of 1914, but across the front, truces sprung up for Christmas. The fighting resumed for different reasons in different places. Some regiments changed places shortly after Christmas such that the regiments facing each other were not the ones who knew each other. Sometimes higher officers visited the troops or threatened repercussions. And sometimes the truce had been fragile to begin with. Whatever the reasons, no such truce was held the following Christmas. The truces of December 1914 were all seperate truces, although some were influenced by nearby fraternization. Similarly, the tale of their truces is not cohesive, although the stories influence each other. With one chapter devoted to what ifs, Weintraub speculates on what could have happened had peace been made and the fighting stopped. His what ifs follow a course as though no war had been fought, but I contend that if war had been stopped because the armies would not fight, the change in thought due to the armies' refusal to fight would have changed history in and of itself. Happy reading.
Differences In Common Straight Talk on Mental Retardation, Down Syndrome, and Life by Marilyn Trainer
Bennet Trainer was born in the late 1960s, the youngest of four children. Ben's parents were told that he had Mongolism. They had "why us"ism. Ben grew up and his parents got over their ism. Ben learned to speak, read, and write. He's had friends and a girlfriend and jobs. Having a son with Down Syndrome presents many of the challanges involved in raising most kids. Parents of people with Down Syndrome have to be more involved in their kids' lives. They also have to deal with the prejudices that they and the public may have about people with Down's. This book is compiled of 44 essays and introductory paragraphs. The essays were written for different publications at different times. Most are about Ben and/or Down's Syndrome, but a few are about life in general. A large percentage of people with Down Syndrome have other problems as well- 15% have problems with their hearing, a larger percentage have problems with their sight, many have problems with their hearts. Ben has no comorbidities. Ben is affected by the comorbidities of Down Syndrome because his friends are people with Down Syndrome. Tragically, his girlfriend's heart problems lead to her death. Differences In Common is aimed primarily at parents and family members of people with Down Syndrome. Happy reading
When Jim Crow met John Bull Black American Soldiers In World War II Britain by Graham A. Smith
The first black soldiers posted in England during WWII arrived in 1942 amid much controversy. England's ruling class wanted as few blacks as possible. The US, motivated partly by the NAACP and partly by the fact that certain menial positions were mostly occupied by blacks, did not accede to Britain's request. During the war, more than 100.000 black GIs were sent to Great Britain. Despite official attempts to keep these GIs away from whites and in particular white women, fraternization occurred. Brittain had a fairly small black prewar population and most of the Brittish had never met someone who was not white. Therefore they did not have the hostility of the American white towards blacks. The propaganda intended to place hostility in whites towards blacks gave blacks an allure to some people. Hundreds or maybe thousands of babies were born to white Brittish mothers and black GIs. Largely pedantic, this book skips from topic to topic, time to time, and setting to setting. Although one of my motivations in reading this book was to find out what John Bull was, the phrase was not once mentioned. Statistics are frequently quoted, but their incongruities are not explained. Happy reading
When Snow Turns to Rain One Family's Struggle to Solve the Riddle of Autism by Craig B. Schulze
May 19, 1982 Jordan Schulze started life as a normal kid. He progressed precociously for over two years. His parents delighted in his obvious intelligence, his speech, his good naturedness. But after the age of two, Jordan regressed. He spoke less and less. He spent a lot of time engaged in self stimulatory persuits. He ceased to be easy going. Jordan receives the diagnosis of autism. His parents seek a cure or treatment. They pay 9000 dollars to be trained at the Option Institute, and take their training home. Despite intensive work, Jordan continues to regress. His parents give up; the Son Rise program is not working. Many drug therapies are tried, all to no avail. Jordan was sent to a Daily Life Therapy school in Japan, and later their school in Boston. There, Jordon becomes more docile. He uses a few words, but not many. This is the saddest autism story I have ever read. Jordan's story of regression is very dramatic, and I expected charges to be brought that a vaccine was the culprit, but none were. Jordan's parents may are not superparents, but they have little cause to be. Jordan's autism, which might be more accurately termed childhood onset PDD, justifies the term tragic. As far as usefulness goes, this book shows the failure of treatments often billed as benefitting all autists. Sad reading
Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism In America by Ellen Schrecker
Anti-Communism in America was started and fuled by multiple causes. It was dependant of actual communism: it began after communism had been a presence in America for over a decade, and Anti-Communism died after it had eliminated all communism in America's workplaces. Anti-Communism also ran on xenophobia and racism, as well as a little anti-semitism. The Communist Party supported equal rights for blacks, and communist unions supported desegregation. Communists were often immigrants, and could be demonized as agents of their counties. Marx was known to have been a Jew. Communist Russia's alliance with the US was strained from its inception, and the greater the US' animosity to Russia was, the greater its animosity to those it saw as Russian agents. Anti-communism was further fuled by greed and avarice. Businesses who saw themselves losing money because of unions were all too happy to persecute communist unions and corrupt and malign noncommunist unions. A dislike of Marxist communism may have spurred others. The atheism proposed by Marx was especially distasteful. J.Edgar Hoover began the FBI in order to eradicate what he saw as an imminant threat to America. He and his agents were willing to use methods that were legal and illegal, honest and dishonest. The FBI was careful to maintain a positive image while employing blackmail, collecting evidence it knew would not be admissable in court, and sending annonymous notices to employers. It also pushed for legislation matching its ideals. Schrecker holds that anticommunism destroyed the American left wing. On the contrary, the anticommunist paranoia of the forties and fifties is what made the sixties' backlash possible. This is a long and scholarly book. It does not go into detail on anything, instead briefly presenting a multitude of information important to a full picture. Characters are often mentioned casually after an absense of a hundred or more pages, which is where the index is useful. Notes accompany every paragraph and can be used to find a multitude of other sources; this book could be read as a reference and catalouge of an extensive collection of books on communism. Edifying reading.
Knotted Tongues: Stuttering in History and the Quest for a Cure by Benson Bobrick
Stuttering, sometimes reffered to as a stammer, has afflicted a portion of humans for at least thousands of years. For the documented part of that history, the cause(s?) have been speculated upon and cures suggested. Stutterers can be found in western history as kings, doctors, writers, priests. Some of those mentioned here include Cotton Mather, Charles Darwin, Moses Mendelsohn, Demosthenes, and Moses of the Bible. Cures ranged, as did their effects. Some stutterers brought their tongues under control, some found ways around them, some were killed through surgeries to correct their flaw, and some were cured. The author ranks among the last group, and attributes his own cure to Robert Webster's therapy. This therapy operates off of the observation that stutterers mishear themselves- when audio feedback is given them about what they are saying, the stutter is reduced. This account left me with an incomplete feeling. I wanted to know more about what stuttering is and what cures have been and used, and how successful they've been. The biographies were nice, but many seemed repetetive. I don't need to hear seven almost identical stories. The author's claims about the importance of speech in humans have not been backed by more recent studies. I would have liked a much greater overview on the cure that Bobrick found so effective. Notes are at the back, although they are not notated through the book. An index and bibliography are also provided. The cover has a delightful poem. Happy reading.
Biblio Files Month 14 Books Reviewed:16 Total Books Reviewed:313 Days Blogged/Days In Period:13/31 New Members:none Total Number of Members:2 active Number of Hits This Data Period:293 Toal Number of Hits:2552 Features Added: none My recommended book for this month: A Matter of Dignity by Andrew Potok Comments: none
In 8th grade, one bored teenager set a classmate's gym uniform on fire. Scared when the fire went out of control, he stuffed it in a locker. Scared that he'd be cought and expelled, not wanting to face a hostile world, he set himself on fire. He then spent a few months in a hospital, recovering, then some time in a special school, then an out-patient, and finally went back to hospital. During that time, he got to meet with celebrities and learn a little about himself and the world. But he didn't really learn enough; the character development throughout the book is weak. This is an autobiography, therefore nonfiction. I didn't realize that until I was more than half way through the book, because so many parts seem unrealistic. For example, Brent's parents never worry about money, despite the fact that his treatments must have cost half a million dollars at the very least. Also, that he was released without a good accounting of his suicide attempt wouldn't be legal here in Illinois, and the therapy is somewhat skimpy compared to what I've seen. And Brent himself has thoughts which are not terribly grounded in reality. The cover is a picture of a matchbox. Question: Should celebrities visit injured kids if the injury was at their own hands? Happy reading.
Overcoming Autism Finding the Answers, Strategies, and Hope that can Transform a Child's Life Lynn Kern Koegel, Claire Scovell LaZebnik
LaZebnik's son Andrew was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and a half. At the time, he was completely nonverbal. Using Koegel's ABA, Andrew is at the point where he is functioning as a normal sixth grader. When a child is diagnosed with autism, his parents are often distraught. If they are sad/mad together and move on quickly, this will be better for their marriage. To get a nonverbal autist(or any child, really) to speak, hold a desired object and prompt until a vocalization is made. Then give the child the object. After that, move towards specific vocalizations for specific objects or groups of objects. If the sounds aren't the English words but still have some definate meaning, the child will get the idea of words, and will gradually move towards the English ones. To overcome fears, Koegel believes in using desensitization. That is, bring the child closer and closer to the scary sound or object until the child doesn't mind being in the object's presence. How does a parent deal with self stimulation(stims)? It's ok to motivate a child using stims as a reward, as this will not increase them. Involve a kid as much as possible, and the stims will be reduced. And when the child is old enough to understand, explain that a stim is not appropriate in public. Each chapter on overcoming your child's autism first has a general explanation by Koegel, questions and answers by Koegel, and then a Mother's Perspective by LaZebnik. The mother's perspective part I give flying colors. Koegel, however, leaves too much out or brushes over what she doesn't want to talk about. For example, Koegel says that a child for whom early intervention is used has a 90% chance of learning language, meaning verbal language. She briefly mention PECS even. However, most of the book is about children who not only learn to talk but also fit Koegel's idea of cured- showing none of what she thinks of as signs of autism. Strangley, Asperger's is given only passing mention. Also, the questions are often not answered in their entirety. For example, one question says that the parent has been told that her child is autistic and retarded. Is that possible? Koegel answers by saying that autism looks like retardation but is not retardation. But she doesn't answer the question, which is, can autism and retardation co-exist? They can. Also, from reading this book, I get the impression that Koegel thinks that ABA is the only helpful therapy out there. But she ignores very common co-morbid disorders, despite mentioning some of thier symptoms as common in autism. Both authors press strongly for mainstreaming children. They state that that classmates will not be cruel, that that is a myth. And while parents and therapists might be able to make it a myth, it very defenitly exists. Despite brief mention of difficult finances in the first chapter, Koegel seems to assume that parents are at the very least able to throw themed birthday parties monthly. Autism does not hit only the rich, and many of the strategies are too expensive for the majority of Americans to afford. On the more positive side, this book gives some practical advice. It also tells you what behaviors generally lead to other behaviors, and tells you what strategies ABA uses. Also, the book is written such that you can pick to read the chapters about behaviors that concern you, and ignore the rest. Question: At what point is autism cured? Can autism be cured? Does eliminating symptoms mean a cure? Careful reading.
Moose's dad gets a job as electrician and guard at Alcatraz prison, and so Moose and his family move to Alcatraz in January 1935. Moose quickly finds that the kids at Alcatraz have to follow the rules of the warden, and that the warden's daughter, Piper, is determined to make the kids break them. Unfortunately, Piper is the only kid from the island who goes to the same school that Moose does. Moose's sister Natalie is rejected from a special school on account of being a screamer. Moose's mother makes Moose babysit Natalie everyday after school, losing him what popularity he might have had at school. The language of the book is entirely contemporary. The author's note explains the historical basis for the rest of the book, with notes and sources. Natalie is based on Choldenko's autistic sister. Happy reading.
No Time Like Show Time The 3rd Hermux Tantamoq Adventure by Michael Hoeye
Due to his fame as a detective, Hermux is recruited by the worried director and theater owner, Fluster Varmint. Varmint's authoratative style leads Hermux to spend more and more time in the theater, where Varmint has good reason to worry. More than a few people seem suspicious. Tucka Mertslin the mean, stupid, and silly villainess, is back, with more schemes in which she is, as always, in over her head. Happy reading.
It has been two years in Thursday's time sequence since her husband's death, but decades in others' time, since Goliath Corporation went back in time and killed Landon(the husband) when he was two. Thursday decides that time is running out for regaining her husband, so she leaves the world of books(literally) and rejoins the real world. She is startled to find that Goliath Corporation has become a religion, although it still seems familiar. The government is in the process of take over by a fugitive from an unknown book, and said fugitive has incited mass Dane hatred. To make things more complicated, Thursday takes her old job of policing the integrity of books back. If you are willing to suspend belief in our philosophy, mathematics, and science, this book can be lots of fun. The plot is not entirely logical(why does Thursday think that time is running out?), but the science fiction devices and humor are fun to read. Question: What would be the best (not yet invented) method for world take over? LOL reading.
American Nightmare The History of Jim Crow by Jerold M. Packard
When the American Civil War ended, white southerners were in a quandry. They most emphatically did not want any sort of equality with former slaves. As the slaves no longer had individual masters to order them not to mingle with whites, southerners saw two courses left to them to hold down the black population: force and the law. Immediately after the war, the south tried to pass a series of Black Codes, but these were struck down by a congress and court dominated by northerners and including some blacks. Force was used to keep blacks from the polls, and then the south again began to pass laws to seperate and oppress its lower class. These laws were called Jim Crow laws. Slowly but surely they gained power. In scope, they covered all aspects of public life, and in area they spread to the northern states. During wartime, the army took Jim Crow with it. In the 1950s and 60s, Jim Crow was done in by peaceful protests and northern sympathies, and there this book abruptly ends. Serious reading.
A Matter of Dignity Changing the World of the Disabled by Andrew Potok
On a quest to discover how the world is changing for the disabled by talking to those who are changing it, Potok begins by interviewing trainer who first convinced Potok to get a dog from the Seeing Eye. Then he interviews a cast of characters which includes those fighting for disability rights, prosthetists, a music therapist, and others. In the last segment of his journey, Potok interviews the family members of those mental disabilities. That chapter has little in common with the rest of the book; it is not about habilitation, and it is not about acceptance or the disabled themselves. The contrast makes it clear that the other stories do have a common thread running through them. They are about individuals who are committed to a goal which will help disabled people. Many are themselves disabled, but pity does not factor into any of their lives or missions. Potok seems strengthened by their views, and speaks as a disabled person himself. He has retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that has gradually destroyed his sight. In starting out abled and becoming disabled, Potok has the misfortune to think of himself as having missed something, as opposed to the congenitally blind, who are, to themselves, complete. Of great import to Potok and his interviewees is the manner in which disabled people are perceived. Potok notes the horror in which the disabled, especially those who loOk disabled, are thought of. He notes that services obtained by paraplegics whose looks were preserved when polio took their legs might not have been so well treated had their looks been ravished as well. Question: How much does a person's appearance matter? Is the answer different when the person is disabled? Thoughtful reading.
