books, art, music

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Abraham Lincoln, The Illustrated Edition: The Prairie Years and The War Years

This magnificently produced and illustrated edition of Carl Sandburg’s masterpiece is the compilation of Sandburg’s original six volumes, which sold more than one million copioes.

This illustrated edition, with an introduction by Alan Axelrod, gives readers a glimpse into Lincoln’s world as he journeys from country lawyer to the Presidency.

The photographs, many in color, depict several of Lincoln’s personal effects, including his personal copy of the Gettysburg address. Of course, among the most interesting images are those of Lincoln himself–most notably the two showing 1860 President-elect Lincoln, and the 1865 image taken one week after Lee’s surrender. We all know the presidency ages a man, but the change in Lincoln Continue reading »

In part one of this interview, Gerrie Hugo explained a lot about his life in South Africa, and the reasons for writing Africa Will Always Break Your Heart. In part 2 we talk about his life after South Africa, and the problems of bringing a book to fruition.

This is quite the international group, you are in Sweden, your publisher is in South Africa , your promotion is being handled out of Southern California, and I am interviewing you from Canada , even a few years ago this would have been an impossible situation! How important is the internet to you in your endeavours?

The impact of our global village still does not fail to astound me. I am a techno-peasant and have yet to grasp the full extent of what the worldwide web can do for one. I am however slowly getting to grips with it and would not have made one sale had it not been for this capability. Continue reading »

This is a book that I really don’t know where to start with. Although by his own admission the first draft was slammed together in only 6 weeks, it is exceedingly well written, either Gerrie Hugo is a master of the art, or else he employed a superb editor.

Africa Will Always Break Your Heart is not just a biography, it is a history lesson about South Africa during the rather grim age of apartheid and it’s hateful and vengeful effect on the indigenous population.

Gerrie Hugo mostly manages to create a very funny read in the first half of the book. I am sure that anyone mentioned has Gerrie crossed off their Christmas card list. His childhood was not particularly good, life was often difficult, an army father with double standards, and a mother whose infidelities were obvious to even the most casual observer created a less than ideal environment.

In his teenage years we discover there is no doubt about his sexual orientation, as a hormone ravaged young man he was a true terror to the fairer sex, and amusing the stories are. The second half of the book takes on a much darker shade. Continue reading »

In his new book, Africa Will Always Break Your Heart, author Gerrie Hugo shares his first-hand story of racism, corruption and hate during the period before the first ever South African democratic elections.

This book is about paying the ultimate price when speaking out against crimes against humanity committed in the name of Apartheid. And who better to tell the story than someone who was part of the system?

Hugo’s military career began during the Apartheid era. The Government’s propaganda led the white South African to believe that the “Red Peril” wanted to take control over the country. Hugo and many, many others believed that the Communists using the country’s black population as pawns, was the real enemy.

The author joined the army at the age of 17, one of the first to invade Angola.

Hugo tells of the violent hell he survived as a young soldier. For more than 16 years, he fought for Apartheid to save his beloved country from the Communistic onslaught.

In 1991 the negotiations leading up to a democratic South Africa was well under way. Hugo had by then advanced to Colonel. When realizing that the Generals were planning to sabotage the reform-process Hugo lost his blinkers. The real enemy was not some abstract “Red Peril”, but found within the very system he served; the military.

Knowing the consequences would be grave, he took his story to international media. His former brothers-in-arms retaliated swiftly and relentlessly. A price was put out on his head and Hugo was forced to live on the run for many years.

“In Africa, controversy can get you killed,” he says. Continue reading »

Thanks to bookpleasures.com and Kathyrn Atwood for allowing us to reprint this review

By Dawn Williams

Ted Lewis, a clarinetist and showman with a decades-long career, was one of the first Northern bandleaders to try to master jazz. He also secretly fathered an out-of-wedlock daughter. Dawn Williams, the daughter in question, has attempted to combine her own biography with that of her father in her slightly uneven but ultimately rewarding book, “Me and My Father’s Shadow.”

Conceived during a one-night stand and brought up by a single mother, Williams had a childhood fascination with Ted Lewis, and often put on her own shows where she would imitate Lewis’ famed “Me and My Shadow” routine. She wasn’t told the details of her paternity until she was an adult and it was then that she developed an urge to learn more about her father and write his biography.
Continue reading »

You are free to duplicate or distribute the following information to your blog, Web site, ezine, newsletter, or friends. We would appreciate a link back to BloggingAuthors.com.  If you would you like to review this book for your site, blog, or ezine, email nancy at bloggingauthors dot com

Me and My Father’s Shadow
by Dawn Williams

Both biography and autobiography, this book tells the story of Ted Lewis, The Jazz King who was the originator of The Big Bands.  Lewis was considered by many of his contemporaries as the highest paid bandleader, recording artist, entertainer, and movie/radio/television personality of the 20th century. This story is told by his daughter, whom he never knew.

Although this is a work of nonfiction, some portions are fictionalized since the alternative – not including them at all – would have detracted from the overall truth of the story: ! Some anecdotal narrations and dialog are reconstructions or speculations ! In the interest of privacy and anonymity, pseudonyms are used for persons whose names are not biographically significant. Names of Ted Lewis’s relatives and of public officials and celebrities are accurately recounted. Visit the author’s Website to learn more.