5 comments about The Forgotten Soldier.

1. This is a good read. Most people don't know this, but this book is required reading at the US War college at West Point.
   
   Yes, he may get some of his facts mixed up a little, but hey.... it's WAR! Many people have trouble remembering the small stuff through the haze of war.



2. I've quite a few excellent WWII histories but this one is one of the most visceral and savage accounts I've ever seen. Your feelings about the universality of the foot soldier will never be the same.



3. This book is very involved and a joy for WW2 history buffs. Unfortunately, after conducting a little side research, I discovered a great deal of skepticism leveled at Guy Sajer and his account of his "experiences" on the Eastern Front during WW2. His critics provide specific instances of discontinuity, fabrications, or deliberate gray-areas detailed in The Forgotten Solder, and one must take this into account when wieghing it's authenticity. I found these accusations downright troubling and didn't rate the book quite as high as a result. If you can overcome the skepiticism associated with it and consider the book a "partial" fabrication, you'll probably enjoy the storyline none the less.



4. I must say, I am very surprised by the number of positive reviews this book has received from Amazon readers. There are plenty of great WWII novels written from a foot soldier's perspective, but this is not one of them. The book reads practically as a day-by-day journal of everything Guy Sajer did during his three years of service. Consequently, the novel is full of trivial details and conversations that drag the book out to its 450+ pages, without contributing anything to the readers' experience of the war.
   
   One redeeming quality of the book is Sajer's account of the terrible conditions endured by German soldiers on the Eastern front. The reader is surely impressed by the shocking plight of thousands of soldiers left to freeze and starve while trying to repel Russian counteroffensives. But the misery of Sajer and his comrades becomes the total narrative of the book, practically unbroken across several hundred pages. The pulse of the story remains constant throughout; the book suffers from a lack of climactic moments.
   
   Sajer mostly fails to assimilate his experiences into a larger narrative of war. You won't find much in the way of growth or reflection. If you want a bare bones account of the Eastern front, this book might serve your purpose, but otherwise this story is rather tedious.



5. Ive read this book twice. Once in HighSchool and then when I got out of the military. I must say after facing hardships my time in the service I felt it much easier to really begin to understand the hardships Sajer faces in this epic journey on the Eastern Front.
   
   Sajer describes the hardships of the German Soilder on the Eastern Front like no other. He takes great strides to explain to the reader how horrible every single moment was. He does not pretend to be a hero he only states his story like a man. I suggest to anyone interested in World War Two to ensure they have a copy of this book on their book shelf and if you are looking into reading into the subject there is no better book to get you hooked. I only warn that after you read this you will find it hard to find another book like it. Ive read countless books on the subject written by the men who were there and only a few have matched Sajers ability to hook the reader.
   
   Sajer has a way of listing characters so well that you feel has if you know them. Most books like this seem to stray in this department but this one will not let you down. You will feel has if Hals is your best friend and you will look up to the battle scared vetran in Weiner.
   
   A must have book for anyone who respects the subject.

5 comments about Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century.

1. Make no mistake the late, lamented Hunter Thompson was always something of a muse for me going way back to the early 1970's when I first read his seminal work on outlaw bikers, The Hell's Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything that he has written. I have reviewed many of those efforts elsewhere in this space. As I noted recently in reviewing his 2004 work Hey, Rube, a screed on the misadventures of a gambling freak (himself), not all his efforts have been equally compelling. That was the case in my panning of Hey, Rube but here we are back on much more solid `gonzo' style from the old days. Maybe it is because this work is in the form of a memoir and thus intentionally places the good Doc's actions in the center of the writing that puts this effort in the mold of his better compilations like the Great Shark Hunt and Songs of the Doomed.
   
   Thompson uses his patented stream of consciousness trope to create amusing stories starting from the then present (early 2000's) and his then current doings and splices them together, in some segments randomly, to events as far back as his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Along the way we find him at age nine in trouble with the FBI, and none the worst for the confrontation. Later, it is down and dirty in Rio with the crazies. Throughout, we find him incessantly testing his beloved guns and various `hot' motorcycles at various and sundry appropriate and inappropriate times.
   
   Additionally, we have some compelling and insightful stories as this radical journalist tours the news breaking global spots, taking trips to places like Vietnam just before the fall, Cuba, Grenada just after the invasion and elsewhere wherever the journalistic action might be and a story, in the Thompson style, might develop. Needless to say there is plenty of ink about sex, drugs and rock and rock including his deeply affecting and traumatic tangle with the law in Aspen the early 1990's. That, my friends, was a close call.
   
   And throughout, as usual, there are pithy political comments about the various idiots-in-chiefs, their henchman and hangers-on that he spent his life hammering. Maybe not hammering your way, definitely not my way, but his way. His fateful run for Sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Power ticket in 1970 probably accurately set the tone as a lifelong description of his politics. For those who have read other works by Thompson some of the signature language may be old hat as he meanders along in this volume. For others it is a chance to learn the lingo. Damn, especially this election year, I miss him. Read on.



2. Mr Thompsons autobiography is somewhat lacking compared to his other works. It seems, that he in his later years didn't have that much new to say, and this volume shows it very clearly. It deals with the legend of HST, not the man Hunter Stockton Thompson, and only plays the same tune that we've been hearing since F&L in Las Vegas, only in a strongly diluded form.
   
   A great drawback is that he recycles a lot of stuff from his earlier work, which if you're a fan/reader of his you can't help but feel a bit cheated about. The book isn't that long as it is, but when half the material already has been printed before, and therefore probably, for fans at least, is on your shelf already, it gives the feeling of the good Mr Thompson not really making an effort writing this volume.
   
   It's not all bad though. There are highlights in the book. His description of his childhood is enjoyable and very biographical. The last chapter is also very enjoyable, although not that good as biographical material, it does for a good reading.
   
   It starts out legitimate enough, but quickly turns to his rambling and at times incoherent style of writing. Worth reading if you're a completist. I would recommend the compilations of his letters "The Proud Highway" and "F&L in America" as biography instead. They are much better.



3. This book (2003) and "Hey Rube" (2004) appear to be the last of HST's books. While "Hey Rube" contains lengthy discussions of gambling on professional football and basketball (including "March Madness"), this book is more far-ranging, containing everything from Thompson's reminiscences of his youth to his (highly negative) thoughts on George W. Bush. There's even a chapter from "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972," one of the finest political books ever written.
   
   The quality of the writing on the recent pieces is not quite up to that of his best from the past, but is still infinitely better than the mindless slop produced by other contemporary "writers." The man was an artist.
   
   As always, one of the disturbing things about Thompson is his ability to assess politics correctly in real time. Reading back, you think "Why didn't people take this man seriously at the time?"
   
   "Indeed," as Doc would say.



4. It's true, there are lots of parts of this book that can be found in other books, but this is still the best HST book I've read. It's sort of like a greatest hits. The new parts however, are the best part of this book.



5. By far simply one of his best collections. It seems the good doctor saw what was on the horizon and unforunately he was right. The world is a lesser place without him and we should all cherish every word. His insight was frightening an accurate. BUY THIS BOOK!

3 comments about Julius Caesar.

1. This book was written for someone who has never read and Roman History. Since I thought this was a new book, with new information, I was not happy to be reading a book that treats it's reader like a novice. Nothing new. there are better books, including Colleen McCullough's series.



2. Prior to reading this book, I knew very little about Caesar and next to nothing about the Roman Republic. This book certainly changed that. Personally, I'm a fan of history in its purest form: meticulously researched, free of romantic speculation, and presented as objectively as possible. However, even though this book is written more like an action novel than a textbook, I enjoyed it wholeheartedly. I couldn't put the book down and despite being a fairly slow reader, finished the book in 2 days. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to get started with Roman history and anyone else merely looking for a fast paced, action packed story of one of history's most incredible figures.



3. Philip Freeman's Julius Caesar is a fascinating and well-written book. Prior to reading Freeman's book, what I knew about Caesar I had learned from Shakespeare. While Shakespeare was a wonderful playwright, he was not a historian. Freeman's book provides a highly readable account of Caesar's fascinating life-- from master military leader and engineer (he designed, and he and his troops constructed, the first bridge across the deep, wide, and swiftly flowing Rhine in just a few days) to his years as chief priest of Rome when among other things he redesigned the calendar to the one we still basically use today. As I read the book, I was struck by the similarity of some of Caesar's campaigns to the present-day war in Iraq.
   
   As Freeman states in his introduction, his book doesn't come to "praise Caesar overmuch nor to bury him among the tyrants of history." Rather we are left to form our own opinion of this controversial man. I not only recommend this book to novice Caesar historians, such as myself, but also to more knowledgeable readers of ancient Rome who will undoubtedly learn something new about this remarkable man and his times.

5 comments about Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West.

1. Once upon a time in the West, a man named William Gilpin was blown westward along with an expedition of John Fremont that took him as far as Walla Walla, Wash. In 1846 he fought in the Mexican War. In 1861 he went to Washington, DC, after Abraham Lincoln was elected. Later he became the first territorial governor of Colorado. Once upon a time, Gilpin saw the land beyond the 100th meridian (which runs through the center of Nebraska and Kansas) through a mystical fervor. The semiarid lands were no desert, but a pastoral Canaan. Agriculture would be effortless. All that was needed was the plow break the soil so that rain would naturally follow.
   
   At the same time that Gilpin was convincing the country that the West was a Biblical Paradise, an exploration party headed by John Wesley Powell was camped a few miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was 1868. At this time Powell was not the pioneer that Gilpin was, and he was 34 compared to Gilpin's 55. Powell's interests were always varied. In 1860 his *mollusk* collection won awards at the Illinois State Agricultural Society fair. In 1861, he volunteered to join the army in the Civil War. Within six months he rose through the ranks to become a captain, an expert on *fortifications*. In April of 1862, Powell lost an arm due to a Minie ball at Shiloh. Powell continued through the war. In 1865, Powell began a professorship in *geology* at Wesleyan.
   
   Powell began his exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers on July 6,1869. On August 30, 1869, only six of nine men and two of four boats managed to go all the way through the Grand Canyon to come out near Yuma, Az. The rest of the Colorado had already been explored. In a few short months, John Wesley Powell had gathered enough data to challenge Gilpin's portrayal of the West. For the rest of his life, he would try to convince Congress of what he had learned about the proper way to treat the land beyond the 100th meridian.
   
   Powell's geological and *ethnological* work and his study of Native American *languages* continue today to form the basis for our understanding of these subjects for southern Utah and northern Arizona.



2. I re-read this book and Powell's own "Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons" over the Holidays and have decided that these 2 books are absolutely inseparable. You must read both and I'm glad to see that Amazon offers a special deal for the purchase of these 2 books together. In my opinion, you should read Powell's "Exploration..." first and then read Stegner's book. Stegner's book is very readable but I hesitate to call it an easy read. While you are reading this book, you have to stop now and then to absorb and reflect on the opinions, actions, and counteractions of that particular moment. Everything must be placed in some historical, political, and personal context (3 dimensions which necessitate contemplation by the reader). Stegner does a wonderful job in maintaining the general flow of the text and he supplies an extensive listing of notes for those who want more information and detail. In my opinion, this is a wonderful book about a brilliant man with incredible foresight. Now, it seems that we need a beacon like Powell warning the Easterners about their relentless development of land with no thought or planning on the impact to their water resources and water quality. Most folks in the Eastern U.S. take their water resources for granted. We need a modern day Powell to warn us about the consequences of increased impervious area before its too late.



3. Almost everything that could be done wrong in the development of the modern American West (and not just the Rockies westward, but the High Plains as well) was warned against by Maj. John Wesley Powell, but done anyway by the federal government and various states.
   
   The result? Water crises, fights over water rights, lying, chicanery and stealing in the name of water rights, corporate farms squeezing out small farmers, urban sprawl and smog in the middle of deserts, dust bowls and more, were either forseen or hinted at by Powell.
   
   The 100th meridian of latitude is the U.S.'s "dry line." Areas to the west, generally, before you get to the Pacific Coast, average less than 20 inches of rain a year. Hence the title, and the basis of Powell's warnings.
   
   And, AND, all of that came after this one-armed Civil War veteran led the first navigation of the entire whitewater section of the Colorado, actually starting on the Green River in Wyoming and running all the way down past the Grand Canyon. (Despite some claims otherwise, it seems pretty clear James White did NOT do this.)
   
   It was this trip, in the name of scientific research, that gave Powell his standing to eventually found the Bureau of Ethnography, do further Western research and make some top-notch recommendations for the development of the west.
   
   The reason I didn't five-star this is that I would like to have seen a little more depth to Powell's post-exploration career. Also, a little more personality profile of Powell's struggle with disappointment over the Newlands Act and other repudiation of his ideas would have been nice.
   
   True, Stegner may not be a professional historian, but it would have been nice to see him incorporate this.
   
   To get an idea of what I mean by the end of this critique, please read Donald Worster's "River Running West." Also, Worster provides a bit of corrective to Stegner's occasional near-hagiographical approach to Powell.



4. This is an excellent biography of John Wesley Powell--exlorer, geologist, scientist, writer, and politician.
   Anyone who reads this is sure to increase the amount they know about this historic figure, and about the West in general as the stories of each are inextricably tangled. The book excels at its account of John Wesley Powell's life AFTER his famous trips down the Colorado River, and does a great job of describing Powell's role in the battle against over-populating the West.
   If the book has faults though, they lie in that many of Stegner's sources have since been expounded upon or dismissed entirely, and so the facts in this book aren't entirely current. Also, Stegner dismisses too quickly the merits of the story of James White, a man who very possibly went down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon two years before Powell did.
   And, it's kind of ridiculous how Stegner criticizes Powell's second expedition's photos as if they were famous works and art: This photo "is marred by too much nondescipt low-water beach in the foreground," and that sort of thing.
   This is a great book for anyone interested in John Wesley Powell or the Colorado River. It's possibly Stegner's best nonfiction work, though "Mormon Country" is good as well.
   For another great account of John Wesley Powell, read "Down the Great Unknown" by Edward Dolnick.
   Or, for a half-decent book about Wallace Stegner's peculiarly white view of the American West, read, "'Why I Can't Read Wallace Stegner' and Other Essays" by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn. That one's kind of interesting.



5. I kept waiting for this book to get boring. It has all the potential to be boring. But it's not. It's an excellent introduction to the history of the West. I learned little tidbits about all sorts of varied subjects - Native American tribes, government, the history of the USGS. Stegner does get a little too wrapped up in the details at a couple points, especially when he gets into all the wrangling in Congress over Powell's various ventures, but in general it's an excellent book.

4 comments about Nathanael Greene: A Biography of the American Revolution.

1. In "Nathaneal Greene: A Biography of the American Revolution", Gerald Carbone provides the reader with an outstanding view of the American struggle for independence, at the same time providing tremendous insight into one of our country's most significant (and perhaps tragic) figures.
   The author's skillful use of the subject's own writings, as well as those of his contemporaries, provides the reader with an exceptional insight into both the characters and the tenor of the times. Exceptionally well researched and well written! An excellent read!



2. It is amazing that after hundreds of years of review and many factual accounts being written that an author can bring new life and perspective to the American Revolution....but Gerald Carbone has done it with this book.
   
   This review of the General Nathanael Greene's personal life and war time thoughts and actions are documented in letters to his family, friends, General Washington, and other major military players. These letters are woven into historical accounts of this war providing a play by play to the game of cat and mouse he played with British Generals in both the northern and southern fronts over many years. The race to victory over the second half of the book is especially exciting for a story which we already know the outcome.
   
   Over and above the insight into Greene's thoughts and never ending planning for the war, the book provides an interesting perspective of the communication, travel and logistics of operating a war in that time period. His personal thoughts of balancing the responsibility of leading an army in war time and family duties are also intriguing.
   
   Definitely worth reading for the whole family.



3. Gerald Carbone writes that Nathanael Greene's involvement throughout the entire war, results in the general's biography being quite similar to that of the American Revolution itself. This is a good summary for the book. In fact, Carbone even provides a refresher on the litany of acts imposed by Parliament that precipitated the war and discusses some of the battles in which Greene was never even involved.
   
   The writing is succinct and moves quickly through the events. Largely, based on Greene's Letters (but, unfortunately, not those of many others), Carbone describes Greene as a meticulous tactician and fervent patriot. The reader learns exactly how Greene was so successful in battle. After initial defeats in New York and Pennsylvania, perhaps due to over-optimism, Greene distinguished himself in New Jersey - at Springfield and in a victory of sorts at Monmouth. His ability to impose discipline and thoroughly understand local geography and use it to his advantage was extraordinary.
   
   The second part of the book deals with Greene's Southern command leading to the British surrender at Yorktown. This is quite a thrilling read about partisan warfare and daring tactics. For a further account of the less discussed, but highly important Southern Campaign, refer to Walter Edgar's Partisans and Redcoats.
   
   Through all the battles, however, the reader learns little about Greene's character. Why was this man, raised as a Quaker, so intent on leaving his new wife and family and successful business to fight against the British? Was it ambition and glory that propelled him to seek positions of authority? Or was it genuine support for the Patriot cause? And if so, what had turned him against the British?
   
   Furthermore, Greene commanded the first segregated regiment in Rhode Island and he was not an insignificant slaveholder himself; however, there is scant discussion of his views about slavery. We know that most of the other Founders were against it, many of whom were from a Southern society dependent on slavery, yet they vehemently renounced it (at least in writing) and declared it to be opposed to the egalitarian principles of the Revolution.
   
   The author pays homage to Greene's military successes, but Greene, despite his absence from politics, was an important leader and deserves further analysis. Fittingly, the author notes that Greene was buried in an unmarked tomb - after reading this book we still don't really know who he was.



4. After reading Mr. Carbone's Nathaniel Greene series in the Providence Journal, I contacted him and asked if he had plans for a book. I felt that it was extremely well written. It kept my interest so much that I was anxious for the next morning's paper to arrive. It was written in such a way that you feel that you are there. As a big history buff and with the success of HBO's John Adams, I think that this book should be made into a major movie. Congratulations, GED!
   I highly recommend this book for all that are interested in American history.

5 comments about Witness.

1. During a recent vacation, I was able to finish reading Whittaker Chambers' startling eight hundred page autobiography, "Witness". And I must say that I feel both well informed and somewhat disturbed by the experience. Perhaps I may be allowed to explain.
   
   Whittaker Chambers is the name finally employed by the very strange character, born as Jay Vivian Chambers. This man was raised by a rather odd set of parents, his father, a failed artist and bisexual, and his mother, a never launched actress. Now despite the failings of his parents at their chosen professions, they nevertheless had the audacity to look down upon their economic peers, among whom the Chambers boys grew up. And, though much of the personal information included in the early chapters of this book, relative to Chambers' formative years, is excruciatingly boring, it is also instructive.
   
   Chambers was a diffident, slovenly young man, though evidently somewhat gifted academically. As a consequence, he was able to gain admission to Columbia University. There, his academic career was singularly unsuccessful. First expelled for publishing a blasphemous play about Jesus Christ, he later returned, but was unable to complete his basic degree. With this, we see a very odd, but recurrent aspect of Chambers' unique personality. Though unable to complete even a bachelor's degree, due to lack of discipline, he had the audacity to style himself as an intellectual. He began then, as his parents had done before him, to sneer condescendingly at those more disciplined and accomplished than he was. And, finally, he found a rationale for his rejection of discipline and orthodoxy in the writings of Marx and Lenin. Chambers became then a "dedicated" Marxist.
   
   Our "hero" then went to work for a number of Marxist journals, and pursued a deviant lifestyle. Finally, he joined, quite willingly, the communist underground, and became an asset of Soviet intelligence. In this role, Chambers recruited numerous government officials, including the noteworhty Alger Hiss, and was associated with such men as Soviet agent and US Treasury Department official Harry Dexter White.
   
   The cowardly Chambers eventually "broke" with communism, ostensibly on the occassion of the Soviet Union's treaty with Nazi Germany. In any case, Chambers then turned on his former colleagues. This turncoat behavior of the traitor brought him finally before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and enabled him to establish a strange professional relationship with a hard charging young congressman on that committee, Richard Nixon of California.
   
   Having charged Hiss, and others, with that which he had been guilty of, being a communist, Chambers spent years as a cooperating government witness. Hence, we have the title of this book. In a stunning admission in this, his autobiography, Chambers allows that he perjured himself before a grand jury on the question of whether he had personal knowledge of espionage activity done in the United States on behalf of the Soviet Union. Hiss was later convicted of perjury on essentially the same set of facts. But Chambers was spared conviction, as a cooperating government witness.
   
   Given the above, it is stunning that the bisexual, cowardly, and deceitful Chambers has become a hero of the American "right". But perhaps this represents an essential aspect of the dialectical materialism of the "left/right" dichotomy of top level American politics. The despicable Chambers "broke" with communism. Hiss, equally despicable, never renounced this hideous ideology. American "conservatives" have since made a fetish of comparing Chambers to Hiss. To this reader, this comparison appears rather like trying to determine which is the taller of two midgets.
   
   Despite the above, the book is worth reading. It is overly long and terribly turgid. And the author is surely no hero. But the history contained within this account is well worth knowing.



2. This reads like a great spy novel, but (of course) it is true. After one has finished the last page there is a feeling of loss ... where are giants like Chambers these days?



3. I read this book when it was first published. I was fourteen or fifteen and in high school. It made a profound impact on me. Besides being beautifully written, its tale of a man who leaves what he calls the winning side (Communism) and joins the losing side (God) in the great conflict of the 20th Century influenced the course of my life.
   
   I am now 69 and still have memories of reading Chambers' autobiography. I became a lifelong anti-Communist even before I became a conservative. I come from a family of blue-collar Irish Democrats but even at a young age felt the call of the other party and when I registered to vote at age 21, I immediately registered as a Republican.
   
   Read this book and be astounded (as I was) about Chamber's life first as an overt Communist writing for the Daily Worker and then as an underground Communist working with cells in our nation's capital. We meet Alger Hiss and other important figures in the Roosevelt administration who led other lives as traitors and spies for the USSR. Doubtful as to those individuals? Then read the many books chronicling the findings in the Soviet archives after the fall of the Soviet Union (the Venona Project).
   
   My only regret is that Whittaker Chambers did not live to see the collapse of the USSR. He would have been pleased.



4. Witness is among the most haunting books that I have ever read. The reader who picks it up expecting only a combination spy story and courtroom drama is likely to be as profoundly surprised as was I.
   
   I had somewhat absent-mindedly placed Witness on my birthday gift list, in deference to the frequency with which it is cited as one of the indispensable political books of the 20th century. Upon receipt, I assigned it to the "to-read" stack, failing to note that it was a daunting 800 pages long. Shortly after I began it and realized its length, I feared it would prove too dense for me to enjoy. How wrong I was: when I at last closed the book a couple of weeks later, I knew that it would haunt me, possibly for all the years I have left.
   
   Many conservatives regard this book as a seminal founding charter, a characterization that not only underrates its literary quality, but which also erects a needless barrier before others who would appreciate it. This book is must-reading, regardless of political persuasion. I myself differ from Chambers in several fundamental ways: I am as predisposed to optimism as he was to pessimism; I relished elementary school as greatly as he was tormented by it; and I do not share his religious faith. But these and other differences do not inhibit a reader from appreciating this magnificent book.
   
   This book not only tells a riveting story, it does so with a poetic, melancholy beauty reminiscent of a great Russian novelist. Something about his writing reminded me of Nabokov (an inexact comparison, given that the style exhibits none of Nabokov's exuberant, puckish wordplay). But Chambers's fluid, graceful sentences, and his gift for reconstruction of sensory and emotional states, are comparable to those of the brilliant Russian emigre. Suffice it so say that this book does not read like a bestselling memoir, but rather as a great work of literature.
   
   The story of Witness is of a man originally alienated from his society, and of his struggle to find good and meaning in his world. Chambers's account of his early life is deeply saddening. One suspects that the entire family was genetically predisposed to depression, considering his brother's suicide, the narrator's own similar attempts, and his parents' many self-destructive actions.
   
   Attending school only accentuated young Vivian's (later Whittaker's) sense of isolation. One story he relates is hard to forget: on one of his first school days, he witnessed three boys urinating on a lollipop, and then tricking a later-arriving fourth boy into putting it into his mouth. (The incident itself is gloomy enough; equally so is the fact that Chambers later remembered it as emblematic of his school experience.) Young Chambers is traumatized by the pervasive cruelty around him. He struggles through the ordeal of school - the mockery of his name Vivian, the taunts of being a "sissy," and being compelled to fight.
   
   One is hardly surprised that such an alienated, secretly intelligent, unappreciated youth, convinced of the intractable injustice of the world, would be seduced by communism. In the central section of the book, Chambers details his gradual descent into that world, first as an open party communist, later as a practitioner in espionage. It is in this section that he meets Alger Hiss, and collaborates with him in betraying his country.
   
   This middle section of the book is probably the most arduous reading. At points, many of the figures and spy escapades seem to all run together. But stick with it, because the final 300 pages or so, detailing the Hiss case, are among the most gripping you will ever read.
   
   Chambers at some point realizes that the actions and amorality of communist agitation offend his still-living conscience. He finally responds to that conscience, and begins a further personal journey to where he locates the spiritual comfort he previously lacked: in truth, in family, in working the land, and in religious faith.
   
   Ultimately, Chambers's break with the party compels him to inform on Alger Hiss and others during a Congressional investigation of communist infiltration of the executive branch. Chambers chooses his title of "Witness" advisedly, meaning "witness" in quite the literal, religious sense - a moral compulsion to testify to what he knows, in spite of the danger to himself, in order to help save the world around him. Indeed, Chambers is convinced that he is defecting from the winning to the losing side when he makes his break, but feels he cannot rightly do otherwise.
   
   Popular memory of this period in American history has been, unfortunately, blurred by the excesses of Joe McCarthy. McCarthy's crude and reckless actions have made him a convenient whipping boy for subsequent Hollywood treatments of the Cold War. It is too little remembered that prior to the McCarthy debacle, it was revealed that in fact, there were many communists who had ensconced themselves in the highest levels of the American government, where they practiced a treasonous espionage. The Chambers-Hiss case, much more than the buffoonery of McCarthy, is the truly dramatic and relevant parable of the age.
   
   Much of the final chapters of Witness is told through transcripts of the Congressional hearings. Reading them, one can only wish for a skilled Hollywood treatment of these scenes. The events included every dramatic turn one could hope for - the steady unraveling of a senior State Department official as his lies are exposed on the witness stand, the relentless and skilled probing of Congressional investigators, dramatic personal confrontations, the discovery of critical evidence midway through the proceedings, and even the secreting of classified material in a hollowed-out pumpkin.
   
   What is sobering to realize is that the case would be likely to play out in much the same way today: the press reflexively sided with the urbane, politically-approved Hiss, while the slovenly, seemingly-shady Chambers was subjected to every calumny imaginable. But it turned out that it was the schlub who was actually the man of intelligence and integrity. Appearances are often deceiving.
   
   One thing that leaps out from these pages after the fact is just how pathetically incompetent a liar was Alger Hiss. You follow him weaving and revising and hedging, and not very convincingly. But so blinding were the ascendant political assumptions of the time that he was the one who was initially believed.
   
   One needn't share Chambers's views on politics, religion, or even of the mind of the typical communist subversive, to find his memoir to be a story of surpassing poetry and haunting resonance. Few people have had such an important story to tell in their memoirs, and almost none have told them so lyrically. Few are the books that are virtually impossible to forget. This is one.



5. Ask a group of graduate students, "who was Whittaker Chambers", and the answers range from blank stares to vague memories of someone associated with the witch hunt for communists in the US Government. One of a hundred might remember that the man he accused of being a communist agent was found guilty of perjury, Alger Hiss. As a high ranking official of the Roosevelt administration Hiss was very involved in the tragedy of postwar Europe, the forced return of peoples to the territories now controlled by the Soviet Union and in the formation of the United Nations.
   
   Only decades after the hysterical defenders of Hiss, Rosenberg and others have passed from the stage have serious academic researchers accepted the reality that yes, there was a large group of communists within the United States government and at the top level of the nation's nuclear program.
   
   Surprisingly to many Chambers' involvement in the historic conflict was not related to his position as a senior editor of Time Magazine but rather to a much earlier time when he was the editor of the letters to the editor of the Daily Worker, the magazine of the American Communist party.
   
   Chambers leaves us with an incredibly eloquent autobiography of his travel through these troubled times. The book is a worthwhile acquisition for its introduction alone which is in the form of a letter to his children. Chambers captures the void felt by so many dedicated young people as they leave their parents and complete their higher education. In Chambers' case it was during the turbulent years of the depression when everything relating to our form of government and economic foundation was brought into question.
   
   The author believed he had found his calling in the Communist Party of the USA along with so many other intellectuals. Contrary to the predictions of Marx and others the Party's recruits came largely from the most privileged campuses, not from the most struggling workers both here and in Europe. The struggle that ripped though the movement in the 1930's culminating with Stalin's liquidation of thousands of "unreliable" party members including Trotsky, shook Chambers' faith to the point of his departure from the party.
   
   Chambers's, aware of the many Communist Party faithful working in the Roosevelt administration, attempted a quiet approach to the government and only after 5+ years of its refusal to respond did he take the story public. That triggered famous Chambers / Hiss showdown in the Congressional hearings.
   
   Witness is important as a historical work and a treasure as a personal journal of a man of tremendous conflict, intellect, literary skills and courage. Highly recommended.

5 comments about Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, (Vintage).

1. I had read Robert Caro's book on Robert Moses, and I found Master of the Senate to be an equally well-written and insightful read about an even more complicated figure. Readers get a real sense of the dark character of Lyndon Johnson. The book also offers a revealing view of the inner workings of the U.S. Senate. His portraits of Richard Russell and Sam Rayburn are particularly poignant. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in 20th-century U.S. history, and for anyone who enjoys monumental biographies.



2. Anyone know? This is a masterful book series. The one on LBJ's presidency should be the best.



3. Despite what you think of LBJ, and I don't think much of him, Robert Caro's series on Johnson far surpasses any other books that have come before or after on Lyndon Johnson. In all three of Caro's volumes, he includes mini biographies of important people in Lyndon's life. In this volume, Senator Richard Russell, jr. of Georgia is given his due, and his importance as friend and adviser to LBJ. Also, the first 100 pages include a history of the US senate that could stand alone as a book unto itself. I can't wait for Caro's fourth volume, alas it probably won't be out for another five years.



4. Caro is a master writer. I found his book 'The Power Broker' about Robert Moses easily one of my top ten reads of all time, five star all the way. Johnson to me was not quite as interesting, but nevertheless this is a top notch book showing how Johnson came into the Senate and transformed it. No matter what one thinks of Johnson, if one is a student of American politics, this is a worthwhile book as it shows the influence of one man and what can be done. He was no saint, but he did manage to get things done. I am slowly working my way through it, it's been about 2 years, I keep picking it up and putting it down, but learn something every time.



5. I used to worry Robert Caro wouldn't live long enough to complete his epic biographical history on Lyndon Johnson. Now, 25 years after the first volume, I worry I won't live long enough to read it all.
   
   Published in 2002 and still as of now Caro's latest installment, "Master Of The Senate" weighs in at close to 1,100 pages. It details Johnson's time in the Senate, where he rose to become the Majority Leader. Caro spends 100 pages explaining how the Senate was designed and operated as something of a brake on populist excitability, a vessel for cooling passions. A sort of sluggishness evolved, Caro explains, until the guy with ambition from Texas arrived and changed everything by smashing tradition to bits.
   
   Caro's overriding distaste for Johnson, clear especially in "Means Of Ascent", remains in force here, but another strain emerges, too, of Johnson the difference maker, the guy who got things done. You almost might see him, flaws and all, as a kind of archetypal American in his cussed indomitability, brutish, charming, needfully effective.
   
   When LBJ's mother asks about Adlai Stevenson, the Democrat who twice ran for President in the 1950s, you can't help but chuckle at his reply: "He's a nice fellow, Mother, but he won't make it 'cause he's got too much lace on his drawers."
   
   Better than "Means To Ascent" but not the classic that "Path To Power" was, "Master Of The Senate" suffers from things that make Caro such a great writer, like his ability to draw up seemingly endless detail and find a coherent whole. He can't stop writing about a handful of topics. Each time he goes back to the well he draws up something different, but it's too often the same well.
   
   Caro believes Johnson was the difference maker in making civil rights happen, even though he championed a watered-down version, because he was the only man who could push civil rights through the Senate and its stubborn Southern wing. It's a debatable point, especially since the force of change was already there, Johnson or no.
   
   More problematic for me was the book's unrelenting focus in its second half on the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which ultimately accomplished little, and on Johnson's bid for the 1956 Democratic presidential nomination, which he didn't get and wouldn't have mattered if he had. So much time is spent here that Caro is left to sum up the three remaining years of Johnson's Senate career after the Civil Rights Act's passage in less than 30 pages.
   
   One great thing about "Master Of The Senate" is Caro's articulation of Johnson's ambition as both poison and antidote for the Senate, in how he worked his fellow senators, racist zealots like Richard Russell and liberal lions like Hubert Humphrey, to get what he wanted.
   
   Johnson may have been one of the toughest figures ever to take control of our tough nation. Tough enough, in fact, that I think he'd even like Caro's books about him, warts and all. If one man's life was ever a testament to the power of one's own will, it was Johnson's, and in Caro that will to power has an able chronicler.

5 comments about Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different.

1. The chapters on each of the founding fathers Woods wrote on included a lot of detailed character information in this book. The book provided background information on each person as well as information on their character. It was interesting to read about the contributions these men made that still affect America today such as the banking system, election policies, etc.



2. Read "Revolutionary Characters" in combination with "Founding Brothers" for an excellent duo, and compare and contrast the two in their approaches and content. This is not a history of the revolution or a detailed analysis of our form of government. Wood has done what he claimed - a look at the character of the subjects, how that influenced their work, and how they were a reflection of, or an exception to, their times.
   
   Wood's work combines expansive praise and cold analysis. Each of the founders (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, and Madison) is portrayed as a "great man", which of course each deserved, as well as a flawed individual or thinker. The praise and the more negative comments are done with a suitable tone, neither being excessive. For example, Wood describes how Washington was not an intellectual and how that affected his role and strategy, but not in a demeaning way, as Washington obviously contributed greatly in other ways.
   
   To me, the freshest perspective was on Madison, as Wood questions Madison's actual contribution to the Constitution, with an end result that bears little similarity to Madison's intent. Wood also tackles the apparent changes in Madison's thinking about the relationship of the government and the people. In fact, elite thought vs. public opinion is one of Wood's recurring themes.
   
   Hamilton comes across as the most modern of the founders, which is hardly original, so Wood points out some areas where Hamilton may be overrated in claims regarding his vision. Hamilton obviously outshined the others in his ability to turn vision into governmental reality.
   
   Jefferson gets the least positive treatment of the six. Wood recognizes TJ for his brilliance, yet Wood considers Jefferson overrated in American culture, as his vision of the American future was hopelessly impractical and outdated.
   
   Aaron Burr takes his lumps in a succinct assessment that will be familiar to readers of Chernow's Hamilton bio. Wood includes Burr as a counter-example to the positive character of the others, with Burr as a schemer void of known intellectual political thought or vision. No detachment for the good of society for Mr. Burr.
   
   The unexpected chapter on Thomas Paine was a surprising plus, explaining why Paine is not considered a true "founder". Paine was not the gentleman or the politician that his cohorts were, instead being an early modern intellectual and professional writer according to Wood. The chapter also served as a hint of the analytical final chapter, which emphasized the transition from the brilliant gentleman founders debating among themselves to the rise of the general public as part of the political process.
   
   As Wood said in his apt closing sentence, "In the end nothing illustrates better the transforming power of the American Revolution than the way its intellectual and political leaders, that remarkable group of men, contributed to their own demise."
   
   4.5 stars



3. First, this is more of an academic work than a popular one. If you are looking for a collection of engagingly told short bio's of some of the founders, this is not it. This is more of an academic work. It contains analysis and summary of scholarly opinion. For what it intends to be it is nicely done. Due to its nature, I found it less interesting in places, but it was beneficial to see what the current ideas are on these men.
   
   The book is largely a collection of previously published reviews or articles and it shows in places. For one, the choices of whom to include seems odd in places. Why include Thomas Paine and Aaron Burr but neglect Patrick Henry? Sure Paine was a key figure early on but in the end he was not much of a "Founder." Aaron Burr's chief qualities are negative ones as Wood points out. Henry, however, was perhaps the key early voice calling for independence- his resolutions reprinted throughout the colonies defined the issue and galvanized support. In addition to other examples that could be given of his oratory his role as governor of Virginia- the richest and most populous colony- during the war and his efforts in supplying Washington's troops were very significant. He is typically neglected due to his opposition to the Constitution, but this is actually another significant contribution to the shaping of the country since his criticisms helped to produce the Bill of Rights.
   
   In the end, if you want an engaging synopsis of the lives of the Founders, this is not it. If, however, you want one historian's analysis of their life and work this is a fine one. A good supplement on the issue of which Founders are most remembered and why is Daniel Dreisbach's essay "Founders Famous and Forgotten" in The Intercollegiate Review 42 (Fall 2007): 3-12. For just as scholarly but more positive assesment of Washington see Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition (ISI Books, 1999).



4. I read Dr. Wood's work as a graduate student in the 1970's and my daughter had him as a professor at Brown University several years ago. Consequently, I have an elevated sense of respect for the man. Dr. Wood has an extraordinary understanding for the Revolutionary Period. This book is for anyone who wants to peek into the heads of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Adams, Paine and Burr. I highly recommend this book.



5. Eminent revolutionary era scholar, Gordon Wood, brings clarity to the profound question of why the revolutionary period produced the greatest set of public leaders that this nation has ever seen, and why it will never happen again. The men profiled here were of the Enlightenment where learning, rationality, and social adeptness were ardently pursued, but only by those with sufficient leisure, in other words, by social elites. They were not the multi-generational profligate aristocracy of England, instead basing their social standing on the merit of self-development. But with elite status came the expectation, if not requirement, of serving the public with disinterest (not for personal gain) regardless of any personal impositions. They were the leading intellectuals of the day, but in the context of being social leaders not as adversarial social critics of the modern era. With the exception of Paine and Burr, all of these revolutionary characters, as elite members of society, sought to shape the direction that the fledgling nation would take in a manner consistent their extensive learning and judicious understanding of social forces.
   
   These revolutionary leaders were not "small d" democrats, but were "small r" republicans. They had the notion that society, at least those that mattered, did or could consist of so-called virtuous citizens, public-minded and interested in the social good. It was an optimistic, if not fanciful, view based more on interacting with their fellow elites than any actual dealings with the general public. By the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Madison, Adams, and Hamilton had become disillusioned with the self-interested machinations of the general public; only Jefferson and Paine continued to place faith in the wisdom of the common man. As the author points out, the decade of the 1790s was one of the most highly contentious in our history as the need for a powerful central government to constrain popular sentiments was counterpoised against the self-governing capabilities of virtuous citizens.
   
   All of the men are profiled in terms of their understanding of their social position and their need to project a refined and educated public image, and of their recognition of social forces that were eroding the privileged position of so-called gentlemen and elevating the influence of the often raucous, ill-informed common man. Washington's rectitude and concern with his public image is undoubtedly unmatched in our history. Franklin, though perhaps a manipulator of his public image, is regarded by the author as the most effective diplomat in our nation's history for his efforts in obtaining the help of the French. The chapters on Hamilton, Adams, and Madison are very insightful examinations of the subtle and complex, yet different, political thinking among the founders. The chapter on Jefferson is least satisfactory as he has become the whipping boy among modern historians (not the author particularly) for his lack of progressive thinking in the revolutionary period concerning race and gender issues. On the other hand, Jefferson's democratic utopianism is noted, which has endeared him to many through the ages. Paine, alone, was not among the social elite. His willingness to be forthright in his writings served him well in his advocacy for independence in Common Sense, his pamphlet of 1776, but less so when condemning Christianity in The Age of Reason. Such awkward sentiments among elites were generally confined to private correspondence. Burr, the only true aristocrat among the founders, was condemned by his fellow founders precisely because he refused to serve the public in a disinterested manner, seeking to benefit himself and friends.
   
   As the author shows, the revolutionary period and many of the men he profiled undermined the social world dominated by elite gentlemen. The constant extolling of the virtues of the common man was empowering. The proliferation of newspapers filled with popular sentiments overwhelmed the meager output of elite gentlemen. The Sedition Act of 1798 was a last gasp by social elites to curtail mass public opinion. Even Jefferson, became disheartened by the passing of control by cultured elites perhaps best exemplified by the election of Andrew Jackson.
   
   The author is most assuredly correct to assert that a disinterested, cultured, and knowledgeable elite will never again rise to the top of political circles in the US. In lieu of that, the American political system has gravitated to electing highly self- and class-interested, mostly business, elites, of no particular refinement or knowledge, to our most important political offices. The contrast with the founders profiled in this book could not be greater.

5 comments about Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter.

1. Superbly written, fascinating subject, close bond between author and subject...what more could you ask for in a biography? I'm a great fan of books on the French Revolution and its aftermath but had never run across any book on Marie-Therese before. Sheds wonderful light on the Bourbon family and other nobles; an interesting new perspective on France in 1789-1850. Describes MT's strength of character, courage, determination and intelligence without fawning, and presents a well-rounded portrait of a woman with a backbone of steel (see Napoleon's compliment) without falling into the error of retroactive anachronistic feminism - MT was very much a product of her times, religious and outwardly subservient to her male relatives while managing to outshine so many of them and determinedly pursue her own agenda and her family's goals. One of the best books I have ever read on any subject. Please write another soon!



2. I liked this book very much. As with the other comments not too many
   books were offered on the daughter of Marie Antionette. Marie-Therese
   Charlotte was a fighter and one heck of a survivor.
   
   And I thought I'd be the only one ordering this book, I'm glad I was wrong.



3. Marie Therese is the story of the only surviving child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI of France. Because of their tragic end on the guillotine, the royal couple is a favorite of biographers and historical novelists, and the first third of the book recounts the circumstances that led to their execution, the difference being that, in Marie Therese, we are looking at these events through the eyes of a young girl. The downward spiral that began with the storming of the Bastille and led to the Reign of Terror started when Marie Therese was only 11 years old. While at Versailles, "Madame Royal" was forced to hide from armed mobs screaming for her mother's blood and to step over the butchered bodies of servants.
   
   Three years later, the king, queen, Marie Therese, and her brother, the Dauphin, Louis-Charles, are incarcerated in the Temple Prison in Paris, and the horrors begin: the execution of her parents, the prolonged torture of her little brother who would die of neglect, and her own imprisonment. When she is finally released 3-1/2 years later, she is allowed to join her mother's brother, Emperor Franz II, in Austria. However, "The Orphan of the Tower" is now a young woman of steely resolve and one who recognizes the importance of her role as a representative of the Bourbon dynasty in exile.
   
   In the years following her release from prison, Marie Therese and her husband, the Duc D'Angouleme, live a peripatetic existence, finally ending up in England, where they watch the events unfolding in France. With Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, the Bourbon dynasty is again restored. For the next 15 years, France will be Marie Therese's home until, once again, the French want to be rid of their king, Charles X.
   
   Marie Therese is an exhaustive, highly detailed account of the life of Madame Royal, the French Revolution, and the complexities of European politics in the early 19th century. In addition to the great events in the lives of the royals, minutiae, such as travel itineraries, meals, the appearances of numerous pretenders to the throne, are recorded. At times, the inclusion of so many mundane details bogs down the book, but for anyone who ever wanted to know what happened to the only surviving child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, they will have to wonder no longer.



4. I checked this out of the library...that, in combination with caring for little ones 24/7, meant I didn't have much time to read. As such, I had planned to simply skim through this book during my few spare moments in order to get the gist of it; however, I quickly found myself becoming engrossed and spending far too many nights staying up late reading. The first 1/2 to 3/4 of the book was particularly fascinating. The last 1/4 was slightly less so. Still, it was quite a good book, in my opinion, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.



5. I loved this book. I have always wondered what happened to Marie Antoinette's daughter, and this really gives you a wonderfully detailed account of her life, and her feelings. Loved it.

No comments about William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner.