About: Good Morning, Mr. Mandela by Zelda la Grange is a memoir of Mr. Mandela’s private secretary. This is Ms. la Grange’s first book, which I understand caused some controversy as it is the first such memoir to come out after Mr. Mandela’s death. 384 pages Publisher: Viking Adult Language: English ISBN-10: 0525428283 My rating for Good Morning, Mr. Mandela – 5 Buy this book in paper or electronic format* Thoughts: Good Morning, Mr. Mandela by Zelda la Grange is a heartfelt memoir in which Ms. la Grange shares with the reader her intimate and personal knowledge of Mr. Mandela. The author confirms what we already know; Mr. Mandela was a great humanitarian, an excellent leader and simply, a wonderful human being. Ms. la Grange was very close to Mr. Mandela, in fact he called her his “adopted granddaughter” and was handpicked by Mr. Mandela as a young Afrikaan girl. At first Ms. la Grange was skeptical, being brought up to think blacks were inferior, however Mr. Mandela changed her mind as he changed the whole country. I really liked the way the book is laid out, not only chronologically but by relevant sections within each timeline. For example the…

Even though the novel is almost 300 years old (at the time of this post), it is still relevant and exciting. While the language does reflect the prejudices of the 18th Century, it is still a product of its time and well worth reading.

The novel touches on several subjects which are important even in today’s world. The division of Berlin, the relationships between the victorious Allied personal who are now trying to align themselves with the political wishes of their leaders as well as the German people and the effects of the Berlin blockade.

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen is a non-fiction book in which he details what is wrong with our history books.

Hitler, the megalomaniac, sees the world as if he is the only sane man left. Mad women pick up dog poop, the youth has not respect and the airwaves are filled with garbage. At some point he even justifies how Chaplin’s “cheap and shoddy” film, The Great Dictator, got less hits then him on U-Tube because it’s been on for 75 years.

Mr. Harding wrote a strong, thought provoking, fascinating book which, most important of all, is a family heirloom and an homage to a relative who has passed away. I found the book to be well researched, an easy read and a window into a time where the ideal of right and wrong was clearly defined.

The author presents each person as a human being, something that’s missing from today’s fast paced, 24/7 world, each person is his or hers own universe, not a bullet point or a statistic. The book celebrates those who survived, learned and some even flourished from their tragedy.

The center of the story is a group of kids from various classes who get arrested and interrogated. Most of the kids are children to upper class parents (generals, politicians, entertainers) and think they’ll be all right. However, Stalin sees this as an opportunity to test the loyalty of the parents to the state (meaning himself) and uses them to his benefit.

A non-fiction book about saving a culture. It was sad to read about all the abondandoned books nobody wanted, but a great pleasure to read about the trials of trying to save these books.

The Angel: Ashraf Marwan, the Mossad and the Surprise of the Yom Kippur War by Uri Bar Yosef is a non-fiction book in which Professor Bar Yosef outlines why he believes Marwan was the best spy who worked for Israel, ever. Mr. Bar Yosef is a professor in The Department for International Relations of The School for Political Science at Haifa University, specializing in national security, intelligence studies and the Arab-Israeli conflict.