Mark Dagostino

"You've been accused of molesting three little girls"

I stopped breathing. I stared at him. It was such an unbelievable thing for him to say. I didn't know what to do."

Accused: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and the Strength to Forgive by Tonya Craft.

Tanya Craft was a teacher and an excellent one. She had wonderful friends and family and was deeply cared about in her community.

Then one day the doorbell rang.

Tanya was accused of molesting several children including her own daughter. She was indicted and charged and had a trial. She was found NOT GUILTY of all 2 2 charges. This is her story.

Reading this story was unbelievable. I felt so much. Anger at the justice system, fury at the people who were behind these false accusations and admiration and awe for Tanya Craft.

I had heard about this case but really did not know all that much about it. I do know that false accusations happen, probably more then many realize. My parents have both worked in the fields of psychology and social work. They have seen this. My dad is still a working psychologist and both he and my mom know all about false memories and how children can be "coached". That doesn't mean child abuse does not happen. It does and tragically it happens to frequently. But it did not happen in this case. Luckily, her jury saw through all the lies and false stories and acquitted her on all charges.

It was an honor to read her story and get to know Tanya through her words. She is quite a lady.

Rather then give up after these charges were filed against her..and after they had taken her children away and she'd lost her job and so much more..she decided to fight. Tanya fought these charges with everything in her, proving her innocence with the help of a feisty legal team whom I came to love. They are good people.

This is a long book that I flew through. It is hard not to be outraged by what happened to her. Outraged and frightened. It is hard not to want revenge.

The parts that hit me hardest were actually what happened to Tanya AFTER she was acquitted. Forgiveness is a huge theme here and the way she responded to her accusers speaks to a woman of not only high character but with a spiritual element to her. Tanya did something that I am not so sure I could do under those circumstances. She forgave.

This book will make you angry. It may make you cry. It will fill you with compassion. But most of all, it will make you believe. Not in badness and evil, but in goodness. In Heroes. In great friends and family who love and fight for someone they love with deep intensity. It will make you believe in the power of forgiveness and the power of God..or if you do not believe in God, that is fine too as it will make even the non believers feel that humanity and common decency are present if we look for them.

It is a moving, heart rending, deeply emotional read and I am so glad that Tanya is free and that she and her family and friends are happy.

Tanya has become a lawyer and now fights for people in the way her lawyers fought for her. This was an amazing book and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend.… (lisätietoja)

When I was growing up Hulk Hogan was THE star in professional wrestling. Being younger I was hooked on the soap opera like storylines and larger than life characters in professional wrestling, and Hulk Hogan was the man!

In this autobiography Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan lays it all on the line in an honest, sometimes searing account of his life, including the more recent tragedies that have befallen him and his family.

The Hulkster talks about his life growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Tampa with his prospects in life mostly being laboring on the docks or a similar profession. He became enamored of the local pro wrestling scene and did everything he could, well almost, to become part of the action. He started in the lowly local circuits and through his personality and character driven storylines, he made the climb to the top of the wrestling world.

His retelling of the early days of his pro wrestling career, literally sleeping in his car, and later traveling non-stop from one locale to another, were quite an interesting insight into the early days of pro wrestling at the lower end of the totem pole. And he not only admits to steroid use but talks about how steroids were part of the entire package of being a pro wrestler. As Hogan aged and injuries from the constant pounding in the ring took their toll he began the slow descent into an occasional wrestler and main attraction.

More recent events in Hogan’s tabloid life are what most people today will be familiar with. In his hit reality TV show Hogan Knows Best, we don’t see the utter turmoil his marriage and life had become. He tells his side of the story in the ugly divorce from his wife Linda and his struggles to keep up the lavish lifestyle that his riches had bestowed upon him. And more tragic yet, his son Nick was driving when he had a car accident that put a family friend into a coma with head injuries that he will make him an invalid for life. Nick was allegedly both intoxicated and racing another car at the time. Eventually he was convicted of a felony in the matter and was jailed for about six months. Somehow the tabloid media got a hold of a recording of a phone conversation Hogan had with his son while in jail that sounds like he is being callous and uncaring about the injuries to the passenger. Hogan gives a believable explanation of the conversion as being taken completely out of context.

The final chapters talk about how Hogan sank into a deep, deep depression with all the turmoil in his life – a son in jail, an ugly divorce, a falling out with this daughter over the divorce, financial problems from his lavish lifestyle, and a lawsuit for an enormous sum of money filed by the family of the injured passenger, all took their toll. He finally turned around his life and is telling his side of the story in this hard to put down autobiography.

Hogan’s ghostwriter, Mark Dagostino does an outstanding job of organizing the material into a coherent, well written account of the life and travails of Hulk Hogan. The only real drawback to the book is the first half keeps using the phrase “you know,” just like I am sure Hogan does in real life. It certainly gave an authentic tone to the book, but it sure got extremely annoying after a while. Thankfully he knocked off this colloquialism about half way through the book. Otherwise the writing and organization of the book are superb.

Finally, the reader must ask, how honest or true is the book? I am sure Hogan believes it is honest and true. The tone and unveiling of the good and the bad in Hogan’s life makes what Hogan says ring true. I, frankly, believe what he has to say, although I am sure there are other sides to the story as well.
… (lisätietoja)