Janice’s Review Blog

Sarah Palin writes "Going Rogue: An American Life."

Sarah Palin’s dad coined the phrase, “Sarah’s not retreating; she’s reloading” after Palin announced on July 3, 2009 that she would step down as governor of Alaska. 

Palin’s new memoir “Going Rogue,” taken from a phrase in reference to Palin during the presidential campaign,  follows here life through growing up in Alaska, graduating from college, raising a family and entering politics.  The book details how Palin’s journey in politics evolves from her position as Wasilla city councilwoman to her acceptance to run with Senator John McCain as the vice presidential candidate. 

The book shows how family and faith enter into the decisions she makes as she manuevers through political trials and tribulations.  She outlines her approach to using common sense ways of attacking problems and following the voice of the people and her own conscience.  Read the rest of this entry »

"Navajo Weapon" documents the story of the Navajo code talkers.

Sally McClain writes a comprehensive book about the Navajo code talkers of World War II and includes photos and illustrations throughout the book.  “Navajo Weapon” tells not only of the training and exploits of the code talkers during the war but also discloses their life on the reservation before recruitment and after discharge from the Marine Corps. 

The code talkers share their feelings about serving in the Marines and helping their country during World War II.  They also tell how they live life on the reservation and how harsh discipline at the boarding schools where they were sent helped them become outstanding code talkers. Read the rest of this entry »

Martha Raddatz writes of the realities of war in 'The Long Road Home.'

The news casts show brave soldiers leaving their tearful families to travel to foreign lands to fight a war.  Broadcasts report the battles and the soldiers lost or the return of injured and dead.

In her book, “The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family,” Martha Raddatz writes of the horrors, realities and sacrifices that go with the lives of the soldiers and their families as they leave for war torn lands.    She documents the rescue of a platoon in Sadr City on April 4, 2004 only days after the soldiers arrive in Iraq to continue the transition process at Camp War Eagle.

As wounded Lieutenant Shane Aguero waits with his platoon for rescue, he remembers the last words his wife said to him before he left Fort Hood, Texas, “In every war, she said, “there is always a platoon that gets pinned down.  Don’t let it be your platoon.”

Throughout the book, Raddatz fills in the timeline of the dramatic rescue effort and what all of the soldiers go through.  She also describes the families of each of the soldiers, and how they cope with the absence of their spouses and family members.  Photos provide glimpses of Sadr City and the attack along with the soldiers involved in the fighting and their families.

As the battle progresses, Chaplain Ramon Pena prays for the wounded, administers last rites to the dead and worries about the mental state of the remaining soldiers.  Doctors perform life-saving techniques and administer to the dying and the wounded in make-shift quarters.  Commanding officers plan and do their utmost to save and keep safe their men as they promised their families before leaving Fort Hood.

Back at Fort Hood, television accounts of the fighting in Sadr City come to the attention of the families.  Those in charge mobilize to inform next of kin of deaths, and the Family Readiness Group comes to their aid after notification to all.  Because of the latest technology such as e-mail and cell phones, those in charge fight to keep the rumors and false details to a minimum.

Raddatz brings the reader into the soldiers’ fight and into their families’ lives.  Many tears flow as the realities of war become apparent with the loss of soldiers and the reality that their families will never see them again.  Each loss spawns a different reaction from family members.  One pregnant wife packs up her two small daughters and drives 14  hours to get to her parent’s house.  The loss of Cindy Sheehan’s son, Casey, drives her to demonstrate against the war.  Another mother thanks the military representatives for bringing the news of her son’s death. 

Raddatz also captures the fierce camaraderie of the soldiers as they rush to the aid of those in need.  Even with severe wounds, they fight on to help their buddies. 

Although the book becomes difficult to read because of its harsh reality and the number of tears that it generates, it should be a must read for everyone.  If these brave soldiers and their families can sacrifice for our freedom, we need to read this book to discover the realities of military service and the toll of war on soldiers and their families.

The comments listed with this video reflect what happened at Sadr City on April 4, 2004: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngShup-kWRU.

Sen. Jim DeMint writes 'Saving Freedom.'

“It is not the federal government’s responsibility to run our lives,” writes Sen. Jim DeMint in his new book “Saving Freedom.”  “It is our responsibility to run the federal government.”

As a business man, volunteer and family man, DeMint became aware of how government began to take more and more  of his money and his life.  In order to make government work better and to obtain freedom from the govenment, DeMint ran for Congress at the age of 47 in 1998. 

The book chronicles DeMint’s fight to retain freedom and to work for less government control of our country and our lives through his plans and others who think like him.  He explains how earmarks led to much of the current overspending and debt in government and sites specific examples of the harm they cause.

DeMint provides the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and three explicit sections in his book: Part I-The Rise and Fall of Freedom in America; Part II-Principles and Institutions of Freedom; and Part III-Action Plans.

Filled with quotations from political figures, people of note and the Bible, DeMint begins each chapter with a metaphor to illustrate his points.  Throughout the book, the reader sees how we began to lose our freedoms during the Great Depression with people becoming more and more dependent on the government for everything.

Unlike the language of politicians, the book explains socialism, the constitution and other important points in plain English, so everyone understands how we’ve arrived at the mess that we’re in today.  Part III also gives the readers a plan to get involved and to help save freedom with specific suggestions and resources.

This is an excellent book for anyone that wants to understand how the U.S. got to this point, and how we can all work together to gain our freedom and take back our country.

“We promote freedom when we take responsibility for ourselves and share in the responsibilities that come with being part of families and communities,” writes DeMint.  “We can do a lot as individuals to help our country.”

Anderson Cooper shares "Dispatches from the Edge."

In “Dispatches from the Edge,” Anderson Cooper shares not only the wild encounters in his professional life, but the emotional encounters in his personal life.  Knowing that he’s the son of Gloria Vanderbilt and the late Wyatt Cooper, one thinks that he might live a much different life.

At the age of 24, he writes, ”I was on my own with just a home video camera and a fake press pass.  I wanted to be a war correspondent but couldn’t get a job.”  He writes that by 25 everything changed because he had a job and he received a salary to travel to wars.

Over the years, Cooper reported not only on wars but on tragedies world-wide.  His graphic descriptions of the havoc and destruction  caused by the tsunami in Sri Lanka, the starving children in Niger, the war and danger in Sarajevo, the devastation of Katrina and the casualties of war in Iraq truly take the reader on his journeys into the unbelievable horrors of these events.  Cooper never minces words or sugar-coats descriptions of the bodies or the conditions that he sees.

“I used to think that some good would come of my stories, that someone might be moved to act because of what I’d report,” writes Cooper.   ”I’m not sure I believe that anymore.”

He came to Sarajevo for the first time in 1993 dressed in his Kevlar vest and helmet, but on return trips, he says that he leaves this protection behind in his vehicle when he goes to people’s houses for interviews.  He feels the need to accept life as unprotected as they do so that they trust him and tell their stories.

“Hurtling across the oceans, from one conflict to the next, one disaster to another,” Cooper writes, “I sometimes believe it’s motion that keeps me alive as well.  I hit the ground running: truck gassed up camera rolling-’locked and loaded, ready to rock,’ as a soldier in Iraq once said to me.”

Between these action scenes of disaster and mayhem, Cooper inserts passages of loosing his father unexpectedly when he was 10.  Later he also describes the horror of his older, 23-year-old brother Carter’s suicide at his mother’s apartment as she watched.

Cooper writes this book with great honesty, compassion and detail.  One learns about his life and about the lives of people who work as great foreign correspondents and everyday heroes.  I’ve read the book twice and never get tired of the stories that Cooper tells.  I’m not quite sure why he’s not gone over the edge with all of his trials and experiences, but I’m glad that he continues to go out and get the true stories to share with all of us.