Biographies “The Mushroom Hunt - christianitytoday” plus 4 more

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• The Mushroom Hunt - christianitytoday
• Women to watch - Vancouver Sun
• State hopes to publish veterans' biographies - Charleston Daily Mail
• Book Reviews: Ayn Rand biographies - Dallas Morning News
• David Klingler - Bleacherreport.com

The Mushroom Hunt - christianitytoday Posted: 06 Nov 2009 10:53 PM PST Finding a good biography is like a mushroom hunt: on the surface, one mushroom looks pretty much like any other one. But beneath the surface, some are delicious and healthy, and some are inedible and even poisonous. Here are the main categories into which biographies fall: Fanciful or Indecipherable Hagiographies (the Greek adjective hagios means "holy") usually are accounts written for a "captive audience," an in-group whose identity is inextricably linked to the biographer's subject: John Wesley for Methodists, Francis of Assisi, Thérèse of Lisieux, or Mother Teresa for Roman Catholics, and so on. Hagiographies do not acknowledge evidence that contradicts their squeaky-clean image of the subject. The authors write as if their subjects lived above the quirks and quandaries of ordinary mortals, impervious to temptation, let alone sin. In short, hagiographies strike most readers as either fanciful or depressing. Critical biographies, meanwhile, almost always come from academic presses (publishers named after a university), though not all academic-press biographies belong in this category. The virtue of critical biographies is that they look carefully, often exhaustively, at every facet of their subject's life. Their downside is that most get bogged down with analytical hair-splitting and jargon decipherable only to guild members. These are more repositories of research than stories to savor. A Middle Ground Some biographies are written by scholars who write for a general audience. Such scholars know that most of their readers are looking not only for depth of detail but also for illumination and nourishment. They paint a well-rounded, critical portrait of their subject, but they add the sorts of narrative elements that make stories fun to read. Rather than spending page after page excruciatingly analyzing their subject's motives, they show the subject working through situations, being formed through trials and triumphs. Such authors allow well-chosen snatches of dialogue, quotations from the subject's letters and diaries, and observations from the subject's peers bring to light the subject's unique personality. Though such biographies are often heavily footnoted, they hold the reader's interest. One of the best in this genre is the late Roland H. Bainton's Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1950). A professor, Bainton also proved himself with this book a great biographer. Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette justly hails Here I Stand "a superb combination of accurate scholarship based upon a thorough knowledge of the sources and secondary works with insight [and a] vivid, readable literary style." George Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards also deserves a top billing, as does Alan Jacobs's of C. S. Lewis. This genre is also what I attempt in my Patron Saints for Postmoderns. The Sweet Spot Now we come to what for many is the sweet spot of biographies. These are books written not usually by professors but by professional biographers and journalists who dedicate 100 percent of each workday to crafting prose that is accessible to the average reader. Here, story is the operative word. All the narrative techniques of the novelist, and many of the research techniques of the scholar, make their way into books written by stars of the biographical galaxy. At or near the top of this pantheon are the writers Antonia Fraser on Oliver Cromwell and Mary Queen of Scots; Humphrey Carpenter on W. H. Auden and J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings; and the sparkling G. K. Chesterton on Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Women to watch - Vancouver Sun Posted: 07 Nov 2009 04:15 AM PST Bright, voluble Larissa Lai -- author of the novels When Fox Is a Thousand and Salt Fish Girl and a University of B.C. English professor -- will launch Automaton Biographies, her first solo poetry collection, at 7 p.m. today at Rhizome Cafe, 317 E. Broadway. And on Monday at 7 p.m., singer Anne Murray, who has sold 54 million records/CDs, will sign copies of her autobiography, All of Me, at Langley's Chapters store. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

State hopes to publish veterans' biographies - Charleston Daily Mail Posted: 01 Nov 2009 09:33 PM PST CHARLESTON, W.Va.--They live on through names engraved in granite, but a memorial dedicated to the West Virginia men and women who died in military service during major 20th Century wars reveals nothing of their personal stories. A self-taught artist, the cover girl of a nursing booklet and an All-American center in football are among those who sacrificed their lives. State archives and history officials hope to collect more of those kinds of details as they work to develop online biographies for all 11,427 soldiers whose names are carved in the West Virginia Veterans Memorial. The research began about five years ago, and as of last week the state had 47 biographies completed and three more nearly ready. Lately, efforts have been focused on re-carving names on the Veterans Memorial to correct errors and add missing names. That project recently was completed, so staff members of the state Division of Culture and History plan to put more time into the biography work and are seeking the public's help. "We just want families to know we are doing this and we welcome any information they might have," Veterans Memorial Assistant Constance Baston said. "It means a lot to them." Childhood friends and surviving veterans also may be good sources of information for the biographies, which recognize West Virginia soldiers who died either in combat or from accidents or disease during periods of recognized conflict in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. State archives officials inherited files of information about those veterans in 1998. Some files included names of family members, but others had very little information. Some veterans were unmarried. Others had no siblings. Many names were pulled from casualty lists. "It can be difficult to track," said Joe Geiger, the acting director of archives and history. Finding information on World War I veterans is a particular problem, archivist Debra Basham said. "Most of the widows are gone, a lot of the kids are gone," Basham said. "World War II is going to get there. "They all had hopes or dreams for their futures," Basham added. "You don't want to forget them." While there is enough information about many veterans to write short biographies now, archives officials want to go further in remembering who each person was. "We could do a biography on every one of them, but it's just words on a page," Geiger said. Archives officials are seeking photos of soldiers in uniform, family photos and school pictures. Other materials could include medals, articles and letters, as well as information about student activities or athletics. "Those biographies are very sensory," Baston said. Capt. James Fields Mayenschein of Malden and Pvt. James Junior George of Belington were among those who gave their lives during World War II. Because of information passed on by family members, those who read their names also can learn that George was involved with the Civilian Conservation Corps and that Mayenschein played football and rode a motorcycle. The U.S. War Department wrote that George was killed in action in 1945 near Schelden, Germany, and a fellow Barbour County soldier wrote that George was said to have been "a brave kid and a good soldier," his biography said. Because of a misunderstanding regarding another soldier named James George, family members initially thought he was coming home. But George's sister, Juanita Kyle of Belington, said she remembers her father returning from the coal mines after a co-worker received a letter from his son telling him about George's death. "It's important that people around us know that our brothers and sisters and husbands and fathers have given their life for their country," Kyle said. "It's important for the generations to come to know the sacrifice that has been put there for them." Mayenschein was married and had two children, including Patricia Duncan of Belle. Duncan was just a baby when her father died in 1945 at Iwo Jima. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for saving his company while in combat, and one of his men wrote about "how much we liked our Captain, how we admired his courage and leadership," his biography said. Duncan said she would like to see more veterans remembered. "We have a tendency to keep on running with our lives," Duncan said. "We've got to stop and remember - they are a whole lot of the reason we are free. And the ones who are fighting now are the reason we are free." Families, friends and veterans who have information can set up appointments with archives officials and bring their materials to the state Culture Center, where researchers can take photos or make copies and hand those original materials right back to them, Geiger said. Archives and history officials have developed a form to collect information about veterans that includes nicknames, family members' names, education, extracurricular activities, pre-war jobs, marriage and children, duty assignments, death and burial. Biographies already on display can be found at the division's Web site, www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/vets/vetbios.html. "They gave up the life they had at the time and the life they could have had," Baston said. "They had plans and they had a family. We just don't want them to be forgotten." Those with more information about veterans listed on the West Virginia Veterans Memorial can contact Constance Baston at constance.bas...@wvculture.org or 304-558-0230, ext. 139. Contact writer Michelle Saxton at michelle.sax...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4843.   This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Book Reviews: Ayn Rand biographies - Dallas Morning News Posted: 31 Oct 2009 09:58 PM PDT The Panic of 2008 was bad for the economy, good for advocates of big government and great for Ayn Rand, philosopher, novelist and high priestess of individualism, who died in 1982. Sales of Rand's novels soared last year as life began to imitate her art – specifically the fictionalized world of Atlas Shrugged. In Rand's final novel, published in 1957, a government desperate to fix a collapsing economy confiscates the wealth of the most productive members of society. The producers go on strike, in her fiction at least, refusing to work for the sake of anyone else. Two timely, well-researched biographies should complement the renewed interest in Rand. Jennifer Burns' Goddess of the Market focuses on Rand's ideas, while Anne C. Heller's Ayn Rand and the World She Made is a thorough recounting of her life and the forces that shaped her philosophy, known as objectivism. Almost too thorough. The first few chapters of Heller's book are filled with minute parallels between Rand's early years and her life and work. For example, Rand's first boyfriend resembled a character from a book she read at age 9. She then went on to fictionalize her real-life love in We the Living. This may be of interest to Rand scholars, but as for the rest of us, who cares? Nevertheless, either of these biographies will acquaint readers, both casual and obsessed, with fascinating details of Rand's life and ideas. books@dallasnews.com Goddess of the Market Ayn Rand and the American Right Jennifer Burns (Oxford University Press, $27.95) Ayn Rand and the World She Made Anne C. Heller (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $35) This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

David Klingler - Bleacherreport.com Posted: 07 Nov 2009 01:52 AM PST Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, or Big East? Big East This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

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