This is a great book to read if you want to know what it was like to work for The Pullman Co. The biggest problem with the book is that it is virtually one-sided. Mr. Perata doesn't seem to include the positive side of The Pullman Co., nor has he included the historical perspective of the times and attitudes of the general populace during the period he explores.

I had two close friends who worked for Pullman. One was a black former Pullman Porter. The other was a white Pullman employee who had worked his way up the system from the entry jobs to conductor and finallly a Pullman General Manager. Far from having the "plantation mentality" Mr. Perata speaks of, his concerns were that the level of service did not diminish AND that the employees were being treated fairly and with respect.

The black person worked for me in an executive compacity, so he need not have been less than candid. He told me stories of both his positive and negative experiences. Of course, there was the occassional ornery Conductor or supervisor, but almost all his comments about Pullman were positive. In fact he was insistant that the traditions of The Pullman Company be carried on and used on Amtrak.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book, but quickly became caught up in the stories and work experiences of these men. Many people don't know what train travel was like in the days before Amtrak and this will be an eye-opening book for them. For those of us who do recall Pullman travel, and the people (many of them friends) who worked the cars, this book will bring back meny memories. Readers should be aware that that this collection of oral histories is not a railfan's book or a wallow in nostalgia. These men tell what it was like not only to work for the Pullman Company, but also what life was like for them away from the trains. Parts of the book are funny, and others are heartbreaking, but most work is that way. The only thing that kept the book from receiving a "10" rating was that it could have used some car diagrams (floor plans) to give the novice an idea of the interior layout of the cars described in the text.

The interviews of the men that built such a style of travel are conducted and written in such brilliance that you can almost smell the starch in their white jackets! A brilliant method of capturing the true life emotions of an almost invisibale servant who afforded the rail traveler a luxury that this country will never again know. Mr. Perata has imortalized those fine men in print, a much needed documentation of a bygone mode of travel and the truth behind it. Those Pullman Blues should be on every bookshelf in America

This compilation of interviews with the monks of New Clairvaux, California is a fascinating contribution to that part of Catholic literature that might be called, risking impertinence, "contemplative chic." The books of Thomas Merton remain a great influence, and there exists a considerable interest in Cistercian spirituality and the cloistered life. These ten monks, as diverse in ethnicity, personality, age, background, temperament, patterns of speech, as any ten persons you can find, share their views, their experiences, their recollections as to what prompted them to undertake the monastic adventure ... We have here a fairly down-to-earth lot, prayerful but not "head in the clouds" types, each of them conveying the necessity of perseverance and charity in a life that is anything but escapism!

There are three introductory chapters, explaining a little about Cistercian/Trappist history and detailing the schedule and the activities of your average monk (if there is such a thing!); these introductory chapters can probably be skimmed by those readers who have delved extensively into Merton or Pennington or who have made retreats at Trappist monasteries themselves. Some of the books in the Bibliography proffered as Suggested Reading can be avoided (Finley's book "Merton's Place of Nowhere" being not terribly magnetizing) ... and there are times when we read the interviews that we find Mr Perata's attempts to reproduce the speech of the monks to be a bit labored, but there is humor to be found (an octogenarian Irish monk: "readin', workin', & just meditatin' ... you've gotta start usin' your mantra"). Some of the personalities & histories in the interviews will be more attractive than others, but if the reader is interested in the Trappist life, "The Orchards of Perseverance" will be a welcome addition to the personal library. Essential? Perhaps not, but the words of these monks impart considerable charm & a fair amount of wisdom.

David Perata practiced much perseverance in compiling these interviews with nine Trappist monks and one postulant of Our Lady of New Clairvaux Abbey in Vina, California. His approach in letting the monks speak freely in virtually stream of consciousness style allows for unfiltered frankness and a good deal of humor. Their testimonies to their vocation certainly dispel the myth that monastic life is perennially harmonious and blissful. In the end, sticking with it is what it is all about.
As Perata asserts, "God is going to look at that perseverance and the positive qualities of these men, and judge them within those parameters... All the rest is merely dirty laundry!"
I found the unedited proliferation of "gonnas" and "wannas"
tedious after a while. Also, it is unfortunate that the interviews do not include a single monk of that monastery who entered after 1980. The postulant interviewed in 1991 left
after becoming a novice. One gets the impression that the monks interviewed are the last of their breed. Perhaps this is what motivated the author to undertake this chronicle of lives lived in fidelity to a call. If so, he has done an admirable job
with both text and photographs.

So many questions I had about Trappist Monks were answered in this book. This is a must read book if you are at all interested mans relationship with God from men who spend there whole life working on this relationship. The author allows you to me them personally for he has a personal relationship with them from an early age. This is the book you wish someone would write and has. I highly recommend this book.