Ken CuthbertsonRezensionen

Commencing with a history of coal mining in the history of man and then moving on to coal mining in Canada, the author as well explains the importance of coal in the development of the industrial revolution. However, the main subject of this volume is the 1958 mining disaster that occurred on October 23 in Springhill, Nova Scotia.

Cuthbertson focused on four miners experiences on that evening to give the reader a blow by blow description of what it was like to experience the "bump" that destroyed No. 2 colliery and then face being trapped with no apparent way to get out. The trapped miners had no food or water, had to be conscious of the danger of methane gas, while facing the nauseating odour of decomposing bodies mixed with the equally repulsive scent of human waste.

The journalist background of the author shows in the very readable text but he does tend to repeat details over and over. An example is that every time singer Anne Murray's name is mentioned, Cuthbertson tells us she is a famous Canadian singer. In the same vien, he frequently explains Maurice Ruddick is known as the Singing Miner.

This was OK. I hadn’t heard of the Springhill disaster, so this book certainly told me about it. I especially liked learning about Maurice Ruddick. The style was kind of irritating for me, sort of rambly/folksy and including random general quotes from famous people as sort of segues into various topics.

Fairly well-organized look at the state of Canada in the last months of World War II, looking at the various problems faced by the country. The author does have a slightly annoying tendency to be patronizing regarding the society of Canada as of '45, but there are some interesting insights. The author is NOT a fan of long-serving PM William King; on the other hand, he seems to be a fan of Rocket Richard, the hockey player whose spectacular 1945 season is covered in the book's most entertaining chapter. Also an interesting chapter on a V-E Day riot that took place in Halifax.½

Originally published in 1998. I had no earthly idea who Emily Hahn was or why she even deserved a book written about her. I was sold on the title and the cover, which promised adventure. Then I realized it was a biography and I had already started reading it only to find out that Emily had written numerous books herself, fiction and nonfiction, 52 to be exact.

She has written a few memoirs I'm especially interested in reading: "Congo Solo: Misadventures Two Degrees North" (1933)...about her 2 years in Africa; "China to Me" (1944)...about her 8 years in China during the war; and "Times and Places" (1970)…which this author, Ken Cuthbertson, uses many quotes from. I'm sure reading her own memoirs would have been much more personal, capturing her real personality. But, this author did a great job in putting all the little snippets of her life together in one place. It almost reads like a novel. He used letters Emily had written back home to family, and he was even able to begin interviewing her in 1992, the last five years of her life, before her death in 1997, at age 92. But, Emily would not live to see this biography published. She died on February 18, 1997. This book was published the following year, in 1998.


Emily a.k.a "Mickey" Hahn (1905 - 1997) was an unconventional woman who, by today's standard, would be considered a feminist. But, she despised the term feminist because feminists belonged to clubs and they collected money for their causes. She “preferred to lead by example rather than by organized political involvement” (loc 7095).

She was just a free-spirit who grew up in a house with four sisters and one brother. They all attended college and were encouraged to defy the social norm by their mother, Hannah. She came of age in the 1920's just as a new breed of free-thinking women called "flappers" began flaunting their demands...smoking in public, drinking alcohol, wearing heavy lipstick and rouge, and displaying their sexuality. Emily fell into this women-of-power movement.

When she was told she could not major in Mining Geology because women aren't capable of learning such complicated material. She proved them wrong and became the first woman to graduate in mining engineering from the University of Wisconsin. They told her she would never get a job as Mining Geologist because she was a woman. She proved them wrong, but she ended up hating it. They put her behind a desk working 9-5, at a much lower pay than for men, and not out in the field where she wanted to be. So, she quit.

Her and a friend, financially supported by their parents, took off on an adventure in a brand-new Model-T Ford across America from Chicago to California and back. This sparked an unrest in Emily that would simmer for the rest of her life.

Her friend, who headed back to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she worked as a horseback trail guide, pleaded for her to come. Emily, not knowing what to do with her educated life, headed west and farted around with work as one of the Harvey Girls...much like today's Hooter girls, and also worked the trails as a guide. She floated, and moved to Taos, a smaller quieter town that was beginning to attract artists and writers. There she piddled and wasted some more time away writing small poems on cards until her mom showed up unexpectedly at her front door to bring her home.

She returned home and attended more college. Still lost. She decided to sail overseas with her male "friend" and roommate, and to write. She focused more and more on her writing, but was so insecure of her abilities in her life. She rubbed elbows with so many people, other writers and soon to be high-ranking political figures, who were doing great things with their lives, eventually becoming at least well-known, some very famous. She was feeling stagnant, tired and drained, even though The New Yorker, a popular magazine of the time, had published a few of her stories, and her first book, "Seductio Ad Absurdum (1930), was accepted for publication.

At age 25, she was essentially a struggling writer. Her housekeeper offered her some sleeping pills to help her sleep, which she took. Depression was hitting hard, and she decided to commit suicide. When that failed, and she woke at one of her sister's homes, is when a fog seemed to suddenly lift from her. And as the Great Depression was going on, she quit her job, climbed aboard another ship and headed overseas to London to focus on research and writing. But, as luck would have it, she met up with another male friend who was leaving for The Congo in Africa, her dream destination. She asked to visit him once he got there, and that was all she could think about from then on.

She did make it to The Congo, but was so disappointed in how her friend began treating the natives after a couple of years living there. He took on three wives and became quite abusive to them. When she returned to camp one day, she saw that he had chained one of his wives up to a tree and was told she would stay there for a whole week in the sun as punishment for giving her daughter a short haircut, instead of shaving it completely off. When he started barking at her and trying to rule over her about making her cut her hair off, she immediately packed her bags and left early the next morning. She ended up hiking 800 miles over Africa, boarded a ship back to the states, and never looked back. Her memoir, “Congo Solo” (1933), would provide more details on this adventure.

Later, Emily would take a trip to China with her sister, in which her sister returned home after just a couple of weeks, but she ended up staying for five years and living in Shanghai during the cusp of the oncoming war between China and Japan, as a concubine to a Chinese poet and writer and hooked on opium, once again, wasting her life away. She was smoking up to 12 pipes a day and experiencing severe stomach cramps. After seeing a doctor and coming clean off the drugs, and at yet another stand-still in her life, she was talked into more serious writing of the Soong sisters. And since war was headed to Shanghai, in 1939 and 1940, she evacuated to Chungking with the Soong sisters, and began writing their story for China as the Japanese were bombing the crap out of the city. "The Soong Sisters" was published in 1941 and was her first huge success.

With war now closing in at Chungking, she flew to Hong Kong, then considered British territory and a much safer zone, where she would fall in love and have an affair with a married man, an officer in the British Army, also a writer of 24 scholarly books, Charles Boxer. Emily became pregnant and had his child, Carola Boxer, out of wedlock, in 1941. Nearly all the women and children had been evacuated from Hong Kong. She stayed and was there in Hong Kong when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and began bombing Hong Kong. As anticipated, Charles told her, "It's come. War." The author gives a great personal, first-hand account of this war through Charles and Emily’s lives. Emily and Carola were trapped in Hong Kong and in the last place of refuge at War Memorial Hospital. Charles served his time as a POW.

After eight years in China, she was finally evacuated with her daughter in 1943 and returned to the states where she would work as an employee at The New Yorker over the next 40 years and continue to write books. Charles was released two years later and after making an honest woman of Emily and marrying her, they moved to his family home, “Conygar”, in London. Emily, still free spirited, would travel back and forth, a few months in the states working for The New Yorker, then a few months in London to see her two girls and Charles, and to concentrate on a new book. She typed and typed and typed until nearly the end. When she fell and broke her arm, and could no longer type, is when it all seemed to slowly end for her.

Emily, apparently, had a wonderful and unique style of writing. I’m anxious now to read further into her adventures in Africa and China, and her biography, which is supposedly a collection of her writings published over the years in The New Yorker Magazine.

Written in the style of Pierre Berton and Ted Barris, this a history of Canada following WW II and how events that occurred just before the war influenced what happened after the war. Events such as the riots in Halifax are covered but also more long rang events such as development of our social safety net, involvement in NATO and the UN, increased immigration, housing for returning veterans and its influence on the development of our cities Important influencers such as Agnes McPhail, first female MP, Tommy Douglas father of Medicare, Prime Minister Mackenzie King, and bank robbers such as the Boyd Gang.

Extremely readable with some photos.

Emily Hahn was an independent thinker with an unlimited, curious mind. This is a detailed, all-inclusive biography of a woman who ignored the conventional norms to seek-out a lifetime of exploration and adventure.
From traveling solo in Africa, to her years spent living in China, Emily Hahn is a role model for non-conformist women everywhere! Even the multitude of subjects she chose to write about were as varied as her brilliant & witty mind. It fascinates me, that just like Julia Morgan, she started out as the first woman in a male curriculum to earn a degree in engineering. Both had a strong connection to the Bohemian lifestyle of art, literature, and world view, and both lived their lives as a feminist without ever calling themselves one.
I look forward to reading her own words about life in No Hurry to Get Home.

Solid historical travelogue/biography, with plenty of scandal and adventure. I enjoyed reading about the expat experience in China, and seeing what was familiar and what was very different from my China years. Not every character is likeable, but that's real life, isn't it?

This book tells the story of the December, 1917 explosion in Halifax harbour. This collision between two ships, one loaded with explosives, remains Canada's worst disaster. The explosion destroyed much of the city and killed over 2,000 people, wounding many others.

Historian Ken Cuthbertson explains in detail what led to the collision. He paints a vivid picture of the people involved, including some of the ordinary citizens who were killed, or saw their families and homes destroyed by the blaze. He also describes the resulting inquiry, set in the context of the politics of the day and the ongoing war. I like the way the author highlighted specific individuals, making the book a page-turner as I wanted to know who survived. I also like the way he told us how many of the main actors lived and died after the explosion.

A thorough, well written description of this sad event in our history.

Emily "Mickey" Hahn is a woman that has lived life years ahead her times. Emily Hahn is a writer and a traveler, a daughter, a sister and a mother. Emily Hahn is a person that has not followed the rules, but created her own. Emily Hahn is above and beyond all, a woman.
Mickey was raised in a half Jewish family in St. Louis. Her parents were very progressive and as her mother, she has challenged a lot the gender roles, as they were in the 1930s and onwards. She drank alcohol when it was illegal in the US, she smoke cigars and she got a mining engineering degree, when no women were present in the Engineering department of the University of Wisconsin.
Emily Hahn had one thing on her mind, live life as she wanted. If anyone opposed to that, it was not her problem. Therefore, before she even decided to become a writer, she enrolled in all men College of Engineering and got a degree in mining engineering. Though a conventional office job was not her thing, she moved to new York, when Chicago did not fit her along with her sister Helen. She became a member of the literary society there and started her long writing career when one of her stories appeared in "The New Yorker" magazine. She traveled the world. Europe, Africa and Asia were her biggest longest trips. In Asia, first in Shanghai she made her presence known to the local community. She started an unconventional relationship with a Chinese scholar based on the Chinese way of doing things. When war hit Shanghai's door, Mickey moved out in order to write a biography of the most influential women in China at the time, the Soong sisters. Later on she settled in Hong Kong, where she met the life of her life and father of her two daughters, Charles Boxer.
In her writing accomplishments one may find more than fifty books, either fictional or not, and hundreds of articles, short stories and poems. Her unique way of writing can be found in all those books but not in this one. Yet again, it is one very well written book, making a considerable effort on describing the adventures of Emily Hahn in the US and the world.

The reviewed copy was a kind offer of NetGalley.

Review can also be found in Chill and read

Riveting. I consider myself literate yet I have never heard of Emily Hahn until I read this scintillating biography despite her having written some 52 books and written for the New Yorker as well. I undoubtedly read her in the New Yorker but didn't realize it. This is both a biography and a book of social history and it does each justice. Emily Hahn led a wild life on several continents. She was an adventurous and daring woman who seemed to live life to the full. The prose is brisk. You won't be disappointed.

Emily Hahn was a fascinating woman whose life is worthy of a television multi-episode series, though probably nobody would believe the drama - her life was simply amazing. Ken Cuthbertson, however, tends to be a tedious biographer. Here, for example, is the start of her life:
"Mickey Hahn's life began at 4858 Fountain Avenue, a quiet downtown residential street in the north-central St. Louis neighborhood known as Grande Prairie. A suburb sprouted there in the years just after the Civil War on the old common fields farmed by the first French settlers in the region. By 1876, when the Grand Prairie was annexed by the city, it was a bustling community of Irish and German immigrants. Bounded on the north by St. Louis Street, on the west by Kingshighway Boulevard, on the south by Delmar Street, and on the east by Grande Boulevard — all busy commercial thoroughfares — the neighborhood was no different from countless others that grew up in cities across the American Midwest in the late nineteenth century."
Do we really need all that?

It’s a dilemma for a biographer: do you tell every detail of a person’s life (for the scholar or the compulsive fan), or do you select what’s interesting (for the general reader)? Speaking as a general reader, here’s my advice to other noncompulsive readers: skim lightly or skip entirely over parts one and two about her early life, then dive into part three about the Belgian Congo and continue through part four about China and part five about Hong Kong. Skim lightly over the remainder about her life in Manhattan and England. Just my opinion, of course. A biography is only as interesting as the life it describes. Emily Hahn’s life in Africa and Asia was simply stunning. The rest, less so.

A remarkable biography that follows the eclectic life of writer Emily Hahn as she travels throughout the world. Highly recommended.

Emily Hahn was educated as a mining engineer in the 1920s but her real love was living life to the fullest and writing about it. She was an eclectic writer with over 50 books to her credit ranging in topics from angels to zoology. She lived in a variety of intriguing and sometimes dangerous places. Her uninhibited way of life and plain-spoken writing style assured that her travel memoirs on China, England, and Africa were eagerly read.

Emily was born as Amelia in St. Louis in 1905 where she had an “unfashionably happy” childhood. She changed her name to Emily as a young girl but was more commonly known as Mickey because of her resemblance to the popular cartoon character Mickey Dooley. She asserted her independent nature at an early age and gravitated to a Bohemian lifestyle that her readers relished as she traveled the world and reported back to her homeland through the pages of The New Yorker.

It was hard for me to identify with this cigar-smoking exhibitionist who so nonchalantly defied social conventions, but the account of her life was always fascinating. I was on the edge of my chair as I read about her eight years in China, some of them spent in Hong Kong under a sort of house arrest by the Japanese invaders. Who knows, I might even search out some of her writing to learn more about this remarkable woman.½

Born in 1905 in St. Louis, Emily Hahn was one of those extraordinary women whose lives spanned the 20th Century, and who lived absolutely fascinating lives. I am stunned that I had never heard of her. She did things and went places that women just did not do or go in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. She was a prolific writer (hundreds of New Yorker articles and 52 books, several of which I can't wait to get my hands on!) and a world traveler, and the title of the book comes from her response to the question "Why did you go there?" "Well, nobody said NOT to go." A very interesting book about a very interesting woman.