2 comments about Iron & Silk (Transaction Large Print Books).

1. As a person that has studied East Asian cultural history academically for years, and a person who will be teaching China just four months from now, I found this book to be perfect. It was not written by a scholar, and I think in reality that is what makes it great. It is simply a man with a love for Asian culture, who came to be exposed to the reality of modern China. Still, even with all the hardships, his love remained. It is a testament to Americans that can see beyond the perceptions built by our own society, and also to the Chinese culture that was able to shine even under the political turmoil. Mark Salzman would not only write a wonderful book from his experience, but he also carried the beauty of wushu back to the United States, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. This book has incredible insight into Chinese culture, of course from an American perspective. There are too many good points about this book, and the movie that was produced as a result, to begin to list them here. I suggest you simply buy it and be prepared for a very enjoyable read, and maybe possibly a change in your perceptions.



2. This book, even though not written by a professional writer, tells the true life story of a martial artist and his search for a teacher. The story combines a description of China and its traditions , and the teachings of a true martial artist. It is focused on philosophy and changes the traditional view of martial arts as a violent art. It's a novel with a message.

5 comments about My First Five Husbands..And the Ones Who Got Away (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. rue mcclanahan writes her life story with a lot of style, verve and flair.
   
   she gets honest and reveals a great deal about her personal life without being vainglorious or salacious. and considering some of the men in her life, that is no easy feat.
   
   but once we get past the men, and boy does this woman's taste run the gamut, we get this great story of what it is like to dream and work hard to make one's dream come true. mcclanahan was not going to rest easily until she became a working actor in new york city and her ambitions far eclipsed her dreams as she charmed her way in to many hearts as dumb vivian on 'maude' and later and more famously as blanche devereaux on 'the golden girls'.
   
   she also, in true belle fashion, keeps the spotlight on herself and doesn't any thing about anyone that has touched her life in a less than sympathetic light. even her first husband gets some compassion. and whether or not desrves it is a matter of discussion.
   
   this is the perfect summer beach read. and it is also a lovely gift idea for someone that is a devoted fan of mcclanahan's work as an actress and animal rights activist.



2. This book was chock-full of information on a woman most of us think of as Blanch Devereux. I will now view her differently after reading this. She regales us with tales of ups and downs, triumphs and defeats. Rue is a very driven woman, who had to go through a lot to further her career. She had to leave her son in the care of her beloved parents quite often as she struggled to make a go of her career in the fickle world of show business. That must have been very hard on her. But, she persevered and has a close relationship with her son Mark, who turned out just fine! I'm glad to see that she has found the happiness that remained elusive to her in her early years. You deserve it Miss Rue! Thanks for the wonderful entertainment.



3. Ms. McClannahan has written a terrific book, and I couldn't help but think of her character from the Golden Girls many times while reading it. This is a very witty, fun, emotional rollcoasteresque novel which I finished in just a few days of receiving it as a gift. I found myself both laughing out loud one moment, and with tears in my eyes the next. My admiration for her has increased 10 fold, and I only wish there were more professional actors like her nowadays. 3 Cheers for Rue McClannahan!!!



4. I'm a huge GGs fan and loved this book. OK, Rue does get a few lines of GG dialogue wrong (almost unforgivable, but I guess she had many lines to learn!). In any case, the rest of the book makes up for it. It's hardly War & Peace, but a great bedtime read nonetheless.
   
   Thanks Rue!



5. My First Five Husbands..And the Ones Who Got Away
   By Run McClanahan.
   
   McClanahan wrote an warm, witty, insightful account of her life. Very meaningful for fans, animal lovers and aspiring actors!

No comments about The Confessions of Saint Augustine (EasyRead Large Edition).

5 comments about Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power.

1. With Jefferson on the cover and a provocative title like "Negro President" you'd think the book would be all about Jefferson.........but instead, it's mostly about Timothy Pickering's fight with pro-slavery forces during his time in Congress. Not an unimportant topic by a long shot, but I was expecting Wills to tease out the complexities of Jefferson's mind on the subject of slavery.



2. This book suffers from the common Wills characteristic of rambling. You'll learn about Tim Pickering, Aaron Burr, J.Q. Adams, but I thought the book was about Jefferson. Most of the book isn't about Jefferson at all, except the concluding paragraph of some chapters that try to address the central thesis. There's nothing new about Jefferson in this book. Someone could write a great book about Jefferson's blatant hypocrisy on slavery. Wills certainly didn't do it with this big disappointment.



3. I was required to read this book for a graduate history class and came away enlightened. In response to those who say the book is not about Jefferson, it is. Pickering and Adams are used as lenses through which Wills examines Jefferson (I have read other books like this). This style of writing may be over-the-head of novice readers not accustomed to reading material that is geared towards professional historians.
   
   This book is intended to make the reader reconsider what they think about Jefferson and what they have been taught about the early republic. Wills shows Jefferson as a mere man and not the giant that celebratory (and earlier) literature would have him be. This may be disconcerting to readers that have been taught that the founding fathers were the paragon of society and humanity.
   
   In response to reviewers claiming that Wills misses this or that, you are right, but miss the point. Wills did not intend to discuss every aspect of Jefferson's political career. He was interested in examining Jefferson's defense of slavery in-so-far as slavery gave Jefferson and other Southerners an advantage over Northern politicians.
   
   You might not like what Wills has to say, but it is hard to argue with his argument.



4. This book strikes me as a fairly typical Wills effort. Take a gander at his oeuvre. Is there any public intellectual on the American scene at the moment that casts a wider net? Wills has written about Augustine, Chesterton, Reagan, John Wayne, Jefferson before (see his Inventing America- his study of Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence), Madison, Nixon (Nixon Agonistes contains one of the best explanation of American presidential politics that I have ever read), the role of religion in American politics, conservatism, and the American distrust of government to name just a few topics.. He writes like a prodigy- quickly, sometimes a little sloppily but based on a deep reading of Western culture. I have never read one of his books without copying down a passage or two into my commonplace book (a habit I took up long ago on reading Will's Inventing America). I have also not read any of his recent books without feeling that it was unfinished. He writes quickly and it shows. Some of his work is a little sloppy and needs development. Some of his arguments are brilliant and some are forced.
   Consider this volume. Wills is trying to emphasize some of the ways the three-fifths clause of the original Constitution distorted the workings of antebellum politics.
   The three-fifths clause was not about voting. In spite of some of the reviewers below, slave owners did not get three extra votes for every five slaves. It was about representation. Slaves were included in the population data that determined the number of representatives a state received in the House of Representatives. But they only counted as three people for every five slaves. So if a state contained 100,000 slaves, it would add a total of 60,000 onto the figure used to determine the number of representatives. In 1800, over 91 % of the blacks in America, free or slave, were in the southern states (this figure is from The South as a Conscious Minority by Jesse Carpenter, p.14). Obviously, the three/fifths clause worked to boost Southern representation. It had enough effect, according to Wills and many others, to provide the South with the decisive votes needed to elect Jefferson president, to pass the notorious gag rules of the 1830s, and to force through many of the so-called "compromises" that spread slavery throughout the Old Southwest.
   I agree with Wills, William Freehling, Leonard L. Richards and the others who have been writing about this issue of late. But one weakness of Wills' presentation (as opposed to someone like Freehling in The Road to Disunion) is that Wills fails to bring out one very important point. Even with the three/fifths clause, the South was a minority in the House. The 1800 elections brought as large a proportion of Southerners to the House as they enjoyed in any time in our history. In 1800, the South had 65 Representatives to 77 for the Northern States or 46% of the total (Carpenter, p. 22). Even with the completely unfair boost of the three-fifths clause they still needed northern allies. There were always Northerners or Westerners who had to vote along with the South on ALL the issues that Wills mention. This is perhaps the saddest part of the story of all. The Southern Representatives acted with great unity throughout this period and either found collaborators or were able to bully other Representatives to go along with them. My point is simply that the Slave Power was not just a Southern phenomenon. It was an American phenomenon. Wills does get at this sometimes. I cannot find the quote now but at some point in the book he does mention how many national politicians were willing to compromise with the South in order to further their careers. Even one of the heroes of his tale, J. Q. Adams was guilty of this early in his career.
   If you really want to explore thoroughly the Slave Power in early American history then I suggest Freehling's book over this one.
   That does not mean that you shouldn't read Wills. He clarifies some of the confusion I have always felt about Jefferson as a politician. In many ways, Jefferson was a modern politician. He knew how to work others to his ends while staying behind the curtain (this may be the only way we can compare Dick Cheney to Thomas Jefferson). Jefferson was also so sure that he was right that to oppose him was treasonous. He was in many ways a not very likable man. None of which diminishes his greatness except for those who can admire only saints. Personally, I find that if you allow yourself to provisionally admire sinners that there are a lot more people to admire.
   Wills also shows us Burr in a very different light and makes it clear that in regards to Burr (e.g., Burr's behavior during the 1800 election), that history really has been written by the victors. And while the other reviewers express appreciation for Wills' bringing back Timothy Pickering into history's good graces, I appreciate the way that he tells us the story of J.Q. Adams' struggles against the Slave Power in the House during the 1830s. This is one of the best stories in American history and deserves to be told again and again.
   So, yes, read Wills by all means. He may not be a detail guy but he will give you many great insights and will point in the direction of others like Freehling who are great detail guys. Along the way, you get to spend some time with one of the most interesting thinkers currently writing on the American scene.



5. When one delves deeply into history, there is always a chance that what one finds does not measure up to - or even counters - one's initial perception of a subject. After reading "Negro President," my image of Thomas Jefferson has been tainted, perhaps irrevocably. I am not sure how I feel about this at the moment, although it seems to me that truth should be more important than perception. So, based on the credentials of the author, I am prepared to assume that truth has been recorded in these pages, and that Thomas Jefferson was not just the brilliant gentleman-philosopher that I had been brought up to believe. He was also a ruthless player of realpolitik, obsessed with maintaining his power to the extent of hypocrisy, if need be. Wills must have also felt a slight shudder when writing this book. He at least felt that he must explain himself in a prologue that becomes a disclaimer of intention: "I have admired Jefferson all my life, and still do - though some may question that statement after reading this book," he writes (Wills xii). He goes on to explain that this work's purpose is to contribute to the ongoing effort to discover the effects of slavery in early American history. Wills chose an interesting way to portray Jefferson in this work, one that is quite effective for his thesis. In displaying the imbalance in the Electoral College created by the Three-fifths Compromise, ("It gave the South a permanent head-start for all its political activities" [4].), Wills uses Federalist Timothy Pickering to do his dirty work for him, as if the job of indicting Jefferson is too distasteful for him. What we are left with, then, is a near-polemic against Jefferson, told from the point-of-view of his ideological enemy rather than by a historian with a grudge (or worse, by a historian strangled by blind devotion). This is brilliant on Wills' part, but it does leave the reader a little dazed. One expects to be treated to a healthy dose of Jefferson in the work. After all, the title and cover-art lead one to this expectation. But what one finds after reading the work is that the attempt to redeem the image of Pickering - who, according to Wills, "has been no favorite of American historians"(18) - is more memorable than the author's portrayal of Jefferson and the slave power. That being said, the work succeeds because it does both of these things well. The redemption of Pickering becomes a bonus, a perfect counter-symbol to Jefferson.
   
   This work does meander, and periodically, one is left wondering how the current episode relates to the obvious thesis recorded above. For example, Wills' treatment of Pickering, Aaron Burr, and J. Q. Adams is so deep and thorough that it is easy to forget who the book is suppose to be about. It's almost as if Wills is creating a memorial to the men who may have earned a "Jeffersonian" legacy in their own right if not squelched by Jefferson and/or the beanstalk to power that was the federal ratio. Whether or not this was the author's conscious intention, I think that it can at least be argued that this was the direction that Wills' approach led him. In either instance, the author's sagacity is to be praised.
   
   What I am left with, at this point, is a greater understanding of how the people and events of the first seventy or so years of United States history were filtered through the issue of slavery, more than any other issue. Wills nails this point home with precision. As mentioned before, my opinion of Jefferson is tainted, now; I feel anxious, however, to combat this by balancing the digestion of this work with a good old-fashioned Jefferson hagiography. Jefferson's legacy is too important to have such an imbalance in my own mind. I come back again to how Wills must have felt after writing this work, and I can truly relate. Wills' focus for this work was but a small portion of the man, a refreshingly deplorable chapter in the life of a real human being.
   
   If it is true that politics is power, nothing more, then it is also true that politics in the Old South was slave power, nothing more. I would love to ask Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Thomas Hobbes what they think about Thomas Jefferson.

5 comments about That Others May Live.

1. I respect what the PJs do.
   
   My father is a retired USAF SMSgt himself. During his service, he spent a couple of years with the 1722 Combat Control Squadron in McChord AFB, Washington. Coincidentally, I myself graduated from Niceville High School that was mentioned briefly near the end of the book.
   
   I just did not get what I was looking for out of this book. There was too much family talk and not enough talk about the action. I got the impression that Jack Brehm served during a time and in an area where not that much happened, considering the length of his service. It made for rather boring read, but since I just borrowed the book from the library, I'm not out any money, only time.
   
   Two other things bothered me about this book. I do not think one has to be a hard drinker to be a hard fighter and the gripes about military personnel not being paid enough are tiresome.



2. This book was far more of a story in my mind than a matter-of-fact documentary. If you are looking to really read about PJ's and what they do I would consider looking elsewhere. The author takes numerous artistic licenses' in writing this book leaving me feeling like I've just read a story but by no means an accurate account.
   Additionally, the editing of this book was quite poor. Numerous gramatically errors, which I am not accustomed to finding in a book, left me feeling like the factual content of the book must also be questioned.



3. This book tells the story of Jack Brehm, a career pararescue jumper or PJ. After graduating from high school in the mid-1970s, Brehm answered an ad in the paper for men interested in learning how to jump from airplanes. The ad had been placed by the local PJ recruiter on Long Island. After talking with the recruiter, and learning the kinds of tasks PJs undertake, Brehm decided he was interested in signing up. He proceeded to basic training and then to the pipeline, a series of training schools starting with "Superman School", designed not only to build skills and physical abilities, but also to weed out anyone not possessed of superhuman strength, endurance, and motivation to put their lives on the line for others. Brehm made it through the pipeline and became a full-fledged PJ in the early 1980s. At the same time that he started flying missions, he also became a father to twins, and this story is as much his family's story as it is his.
   
   Brehm describes for us the risks that PJs take on stormy seas or windy mountain tops. Over the course of his 20-year career, Brehm saved many lives but lost many of his friends in job-related accidents. He was also injured himself on several occasions. The one tour of duty that he wanted most of all to complete his career was a military rescue. The stories can be quite interesting; however, their melodrama is played out to the fullest extent. At times details are blown completely out of proportion, such as when Brehm is faced with the decision between following his PJ mentor to Alaska or applying to be the NCO in charge of his unit when his mentor leaves. This episode is presented as being extremely momentous. Certainly, it was an important time in Brehm's life, but not that remarkable compared with similar decisions that people with more sedentary jobs must make routinely. Other details are similarly exaggerated, and the level of melodrama makes the book read at times as if it were straight out of Reader's Digest. Nevertheless, Brehm's story is very engaging and informative about a branch of the services that many people have never heard of.



4. This is a good book, especially if you are a family member and want to know the PJ's perspective. As a mom of a pararescueman in training, I was enlightened by this point of view and the support system the families developed to sustain each other during emergencies. I enjoyed this book, read it from cover to cover as soon as it arrived. I have loaned it to several other family members who are also interested in knowing what our son may be called upon to do.



5. Apparently this book is a retitled version of _That Others May Live: The True Story of the PJs, Real Life Heroes of the Perfect Storm_. If so, the current title is more accurate: the book focuses on "a PJ," coincidentally the author, not PJ's in general. And it's NOT about the Perfect Storm, except in passing, though that incident was particularly relevant to the author. As to the PJ's (Air Force Pararescue Jumpers) being "real life heroes of the Perfect Storm," there's no indication they rescued anyone during that storm. In fact, the Coast Guard ship had to come out and rescue THEM. Yes, you can be a hero for an attempt, but let's not go overboard in naming our book after one failed rescue attempt.
   The book is interesting. Jack, of course, makes almost no mistakes, and his wife is a perfect angel. She understands when he says, "yes, I went to the strip bar, but that's where the debriefing session was held."
   The unexamined assumption that OF COURSE men who work hard have to relax by drinking all night, having bar fights, and visiting strip joints is overdone.
   The book does provide information about a little-understood group of airmen who put their lives on the line to rescue others in what can be very difficult situations, much like the Coast Guard rescue jumpers. Their main purpose is to rescue downed pilots and personnel in need of medical help, on land or sea, but they're also available to help civilians when civilian rescue agencies don't have the resources available.
   There is some understanding of the mentality of repeatedly putting your life on the line -- you might as well die doing something you love, while helping others.
   The book could have argued for better equipment for the PJ's -- although the author repeatedly recounts stories of how difficult it is for helicopters to refuel from tankers during rough weather, the author doesn't argue for a better, heavier, longer, wider (or whatever) fueling drogue design.
   The Perfect Storm part of the book takes 30 pages, IF you include the soap opera parts about the PJ wives calling each other for news. A pararescue helicopter and tanker were dispatched during the Perfect Storm to rescue a civilian sailor alone on his boat. The rescue was aborted due to heavy seas, and the rescue helicopter itself ditched on the way back to base, with the loss of one airman, because the helicopter was unable to refuel with the existing drogue design. The author, in charge at the base, grounded rescue attempts of this airman due to his orders and impossible conditions. Yet his men took their anger out at him, sometimes in petty ways. They stole his jacket, and snuck a bottle of booze into his luggage as he was about to fly into a Muslim country, which if discovered would have caused Jack serious consequences. There's so much talk of the "teamwork" ethos in the book -- where did it go when his men were angry at Jack, and caused him to have to leave command of the unit?

5 comments about The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction Series).

1. A fabulously well written story of their continuing adventures of living in Italy. Her observations of the idiocyncracies of the villages of Tuscany and Umbria are close to the mark and full of humor and "stranger in a strange land" frustration and successes.It is as lovely as her first book about Venice and meeting Fernando, and the recipes are the next thing I will want to try. Marlena gets better and better.



2. I read 1000 Days in Tuscany and found it lovely. This, I thought, was a bore. It felt as though she was just fulfilling the obligation of a trilogy and had to come up with something. Yes, her writing is gorgeous, but she writes of the mundane..no matter it is Umbria.



3. Marlena de Blasi's writing just gets better and better. I loved her first two books but found this latest one the best yet. Marlena's beautiful soul really shines through in her uncontrollable need to befriend, nurture and "feed" people in her new home. Francisco still tries to hold her back and keep her within the cultural norms of Italy, but they both seem to have mellowed. Ms. De Blasi portrays wonderful characters and manages to relate something quite profound in the simple tale of finding a new home in Oriveto.



4. So many authors do one "hit" book and then start rushing out second-rate sequels to capitalize on the success of the first one. Well, not Marlena D.B. I've enjoyed all three of her books VERY much. The whole saga of dealing with Italian real estate in "Palazzo" is absolutely incredible -- and I loved her portraits of Miranda, Tilde and Edgardo (was that the Count's name?). Anyway, if you liked her other books, you'll like this one, too! Hope she keeps on writing.



5. What a wonderful book. What a wonderful lady. I read this book the month before my trip to Umbria this Spring and I've recommended it to my entire family and to all of my friends. Everyone I know who has read it has fallen in love with Orvieto! Orvieto is a fabulous place..and Marlena De Blasi has described it in fabulous detail...her friends, the countryside, the food and the wines. Not to mention what it takes to find and renovate a flat! I didn't want this book to end...and I know that its a book I'll reread every few years! Enjoy!

2 comments about How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else (Thorndike Press Large Print Biography Series).

1. This is an inspirational book for everyone and offers something special to people who've made big mistakes. It is story of redemption and a life changing event for Mike, a former advertising executive. Interesting side stories dot the book. I learned something new about respecting the people you work with, and while I've always tried to be respectful of my customers Mike's experiences were an eye-opener for both of us.



2. How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else
   
   Loved this book. A wake up call to what passes for leadership in corporate America today. These aloof shyster's don't know the meaning of the word partner.... RESPECT YOUR PARTNERS.... ceo's and executive's are WAY overpaid.
   
   The stock market in 2008 should tell all.... GREED, GREED, GREED.....! It will work for awhile but not forever!
   
   Wake up America!!!

5 comments about A Pirate Looks At Fifty (Random House Large Print).

1. this book was interesting enough if you want to know more about fishing
   than Jimmy. Yes, I know he loves to fish, but I wanted a little more
   background.



2. I haven't reached 50, yet. I hope that this book is a primer for when I get there. I hope that 50 is that great!



3. My husband brought with him on vacation. He loves Buffett's books & this was no exception. Very entertaining.



4. This book was great, and I really needed it. Age never bothered me, but when I turned 50 it hit me like a ton of bricks. A friend gave me this book, and before I was 1/3 of the way through it, I realized 50 was OK. Buffet is a world class story teller, and whether he's writing fiction or non-fiction, his books are all must reads.



5. I thought that it would be best to read this book while I am still a few years short of fifty. Early into the book I began questioning how much a reader could actually enjoy his reflection without being a fan of his music. The writing style closely follows his musical persona, and I fear that without that link it would seem like little more than a lot rambling on. However, for those of you that have enjoyed his musical style through the years, you will find yourself smiling throughout this book.

2 comments about Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich (G K Hall Large Print Book Series).

1. Donald Spoto tends to write pleasant, sometimes very insightful biographies that tend to look at different aspects of the stars they focus on. "Blue Angel," however, is not up to par. While his biography of actress Marlene Dietrich is well-written, he seems too disconnected from his subject.

   Marlene Dietrich was a dominant sex symbol alongside the distant Greta Garbo. Her big break came with Josef von Sternberg, a German director who found the struggling actress and made her his muse, lover and inspiration. Dietrich kept spreading her wings in Hollywood, and in the 1940s she entertained Allied troops for her adopted country.

   Spoto does a pretty good job of covering Dietrich's many-faceted life. Hausfrau and actress, Berlin cabaret and Hollywood, he checks it all out and describes it with a fair amount of detail. And despite the varied nature of Dietrich's love life, he at least tries to keep his tone professional and detached. (Even when describing Dietrich placing a bouquet of violets in a rather, um, intimate place)

   What's Spoto's biggest problem? He seems to have no idea what made Dietrich tick. When describing the real Dietrich -- the woman behind the image -- he seems genuinely befuddled by her real personality, and spends too much time speculating on her motivations. However, he sheds a great deal of light on Dietrich's mystique, and how it was created by von Sternberg.

   Donald Spoto's "Blue Angel" sheds some light on the not-so-angelic Marlene Dietrich, but his lack of insight into Dietrich's mind makes it a somewhat frustrating read.




2. I found this book an enjoyable and informative read, though at times presented romantically and subjectively. The author does a fine job presenting Dietrich from many angles, truly fleshing her out (Spoto is irritatingly fond of the word "plump" to describe Dietrich's early adulthood)... Spoto seems to approach his subject with celestial reverence, as though trying to conceal his own crush behind a web of historical voyeurism (the discussion of debauched 1920s Berlin is particularly gratifying and grounding). Sometimes he speculates too much on possible motivations instead of simply offering the facts, but he also makes good use of others' reminiscences of Dietrich to back up some of his insightful conjectures. In short, a charming book, though not riveting.

5 comments about Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House (G K Hall Large Print American History Series).

1. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what it was like working in the Clinton White House.



2. Gary Aldrich has written an expose' of all things rotten in the White House. I knew the Clinton administration was strapped with scandals,but this book brings to light some activities that are worse than scandalous!
   
   The first problem that popped up was the avoidance of vetting the White House staff. Over time the motivation for non-compliance became more obvious. The eventual leak to the media by a law enforcement source concerning rampant drug use by people working at the White House spotlights one possible motive for non-compliance.
   
   The fraudulent double-pay for 25 members of the Clintons' transition staff was not only illegal but an omen for just how corrupt and disrespectful this administration was going to be. "..the Clinton administration was a corrupt disaster beyond redemption or repair."-page 154.
   
   Of interest was the lack of forethought when the Clintons had a new telephone service installed and later couldn't figure out how to properly bill the departments. They also had a knack for screwing up traditions like the Easter Egg Roll and 4th of July celebration.
   They had no concept of security clearance and the importance of it in dealing with the handling of classified documents.
   
   Like the first lady, a lot of staffers felt entitled to a presence in the White House. No protocol or respect for the House itself.
   
   The legendary story of Bill sneaking out to hook up with a girlfriend at a Marriott Hotel rings true from his past.
   
   The cronyism and abusive firings of the Travel Office was typical Hillary behavior.
   
   The co-presidency was likely illegal also. "I saw no evidence of a power struggle between the president and first lady. The power was all hers."-page 92.
   
   What was most shocking was the treatment of Gary Aldrich by Clinton surrogates like George Stephanopolis. Over time the author has been vindicated, but not before being attacked by the White House,and grilled extensively by the t.v. hacks.
   I applaud Gary Aldrich for braving the storm and writing a truthful book about the Clinton White House. With Hillary running for president this book is a must-read for anyone with an open mind about what to expect if the two-for-one presidency takes up residency on Pennsylvania Avenue again. And it ain't pretty!



3. I read this book several years ago and being that it is election season, I thought it would be a good idea to re-read and share with my husband! My only question now would be, "What does the FBI think about the possibility of having the Cliton's back in the White House?"



4. This book should be a must read at every high school in the country. What they did in our White House is a crime. It made my blood pressure hit the ceiling and confirmed my opinion of the Clinton administration.



5. This book by retired F.B.I. agent Gary Aldrich is a few years old now, but still very timely, and especially so in view of the extremely high likelihood that Hillary Rodham [a/k/a Hillary Clinton] is going to be the 2008 Democrat nominee for the US Presidency. Aldrich was a career F.B.I. agent nearing the end of his career when the Clintons came to Washington and moved into the White House, where he was assigned; and what he saw then was both shocking and disgusting to him [and to others]. This book is based upon, and recounts and reveals, shocking and frankly very disturbing things that Gary Aldrich actually saw and heard going on in the White House, and every American needs to know about these things. Neither the mainstream press nor the Democrat Party will ever truthfully report the things that are revealed in this brave book, and certainly the "Clintons" and their sophisticated propaganda machine will not truly report what this book reveals, but all American voters need to know about these things now and before Hillary is judged at the polls in November 2008. After this book appeared Aldrich was visciously and unfairly pursued by Hard-Left characters trying to disparage and discredit him, and trying to cover up the misdeeds of the Clintons, as some reading this review may recall; but Aldrich bravely kept the book in print and thus kept its truth available to Americans who may chose to read it. The Clintons and those who are their operatives and tools do not want you to know about the things discussed between the covers of this book. It goes a long way to reveal the sordid truth about how a group of sorry communists and bad actors took control of the White House and of the highest echelons of American government after the election of 1992; but this book might have gone further : Aldrich originally had even more revelations in his manuscript, but the publisher put the book through an editing process that left some of the most revealing material out of the final, published book. Fortunately, there is a book that dares to tell the whole story. That other book, a patriots' project and a modern day book of true revelation, is presented as "fact-based fiction", but is based in fact upon close and careful research by people around the nation; and it is entitled THE EMPRESS PROJECT. To all who read this review, it is strongly recommended that if you love America and are anxious to keep her strong, then you need to read this good book by Gary Aldrich; and as soon as you have done so, you also need even more to read THE EMPRESS PROJECT. The Empress Project