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Vincent Sheean
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Personal History Paperback – January 1, 1986

by Vincent Sheean (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
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Very slightest of wear to the cover, pages nice and clean, no writing or highlighting. Slightly spotting on all edges. A very nice copy. All our books are individually inspected, rated and described. Never EX-LIB unless specifically listed as such.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    403 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Lyle Stuart
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1986
  5. ISBN-10
    0806510048
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0806510040
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lyle Stuart (January 1, 1986)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 403 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0806510048
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0806510040
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

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Vincent Sheean

Vincent Sheean

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
11 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

AmeliaL
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating trip through the early 20th century by a kind and percipacious guide
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful window into the early twentieth century. I'm sure it seemed exciting but familiar to people of the 1930s, when he wrote it. But from 2016, it is fascinating and alien. The book starts during his years at the University of Chicago in the waning months of the Great War, takes him to New York as a broke young man after his mother dies where he becomes a reporter. He then travels to Europe, ends up in Morocco during the Riff War and manages to befriend and interview the leader of that rebellion. He spends time in China during the Chinese Civil War of the mid-1920s, travels to Palestine during the massacres of 1929, Persia for the installation of the new Shah, and then broke again, comes back to tour the United States and give lectures to the public, greeting America again as a somewhat estranged native son, and coming to a new understanding of his own people.

Sheean is a profoundly thoughtful and open-minded person, and it was a delight to encounter all of these different cultures from his perspective. He explores early communism from the Chinese, and then the Soviet perspective. Enters Palestine as a Zionist, and leaves not as one, for reasons he lays out clearly and after much consideration. He has a kind and open-hearted soul, and looking at the world through his eyes makes it fresh for his reader as well.

There are so many topics that have been declared utterly off-limits for modern debate - communism, socialism, capitalism, Zionism/the existence of Israel, antisemitism, foreign wars for capital gain, colonialism and the destruction of cultures inherent in that endeavor. He shines a light on all of these topics with a gentle, well-considered judgment, which leaves the reader in no doubt about his opinions, without making any claims to a final truth.
12 people found this helpful
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Molly
5.0 out of 5 stars Autobiographical and Political
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2015
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"How it is possible to understand the present without any remote notion of the past (especially of the recent past) is to me incomprehensible," said the author in his 1969 introduction to the book. This book, which was read by George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchhill, and millions of others is powerful and deeply moving. I don't know how I missed it all these years. It would be excellent required reading in high school or college.The author calls it partly autobiographical and partly political, which it is indeed. All through the book runs the thread of Jewish and Arab questions and how they clashed in Palestine after the Balfour Doctrine promised Palestine to the Zionists. It was first published in 1934 and covers the decade from 1918 to 1929. Mr. Sheean, the author, who was personally acquainted with many of the major historical figures during that time, tells about his college days and his first introduction to the Jewish Question. From there, as a journalist, he went to Morocco, China, Moscow, and Palestine. He free-lanced with various publications, often on very low pay and in dangerous situations. The book includes enough personal interest to make it fascinating and a fast read along with the important historical events. It is how I've always wanted to see history: through the eyes of an ordinary person, preferably an articulate journalist, in the midst of the action as a participant as well as a spectator. This continues to be a very important and pertinent book today, especially now.
9 people found this helpful
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notsonotorious
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2016
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what wonderful writing - thoroughly enjoyed every page
One person found this helpful
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J. Morgan
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but...
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013
Verified Purchase
The order was shipped promptly and arrived in good condition, but I thought I was getting the paperback copy of the book and not the hard back copy. The photo of the paperback copy might have been the problem.
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Stephen86336
5.0 out of 5 stars Personal History is a great book by the founder of genre of reporting
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2014
Personal History is a great book by the founder of genre of reporting. With all his flaws Sheean was a lover of truth and seeker of answers. He was extraordinary brave man reporting with little or no back-up in some of the most dangerous places in the world. A forgotten mentor to some of the best known figures in reporting. His reporting from Palestine was extraordinarily personal, a man caught in the midst of enveloping planned violence. Reporting aside, he stived to save lives and tell the truth only to be overwhelmed by what did he call it' ten thousand typewriters telling lies. Ran across this book decades ago on a bored day working in library. Picked up by accident. I am buying another copy.
4 people found this helpful
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Tyler Bridges
5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth a read
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2007
Vincent Sheean pioneered the foreign correspondent memoir with "Personal History." It is a forgotten book, but one that any foreign correspondent, would-be foreign correspondent or plain history buff ought to read. Sheean had a Zelig-like quality of finding himself in international hot spots throughout the 1920s. But it wasn't simply by chance. He repeatedly risked death to visit with rebel leaders and to better size up what they were doing. In doing this, he was following the fundamental craft of a journalist: pursuing the truth.

I thought I knew history pretty well, but I hadn't heard of several of the important events that Sheean covered. Nonetheless, he brought them alive with his harrowing tales of dodging bullets and bombs and his personal style of reporting. Sheean even foreshadows some enduring lessons, especially from the Arab-Jewish conflict that he covered in 1929 in Palestine.
13 people found this helpful
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