5 comments about Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave.

1. Excellent historical review. Now have a much better understanding of Mary Todd Lincoln's personality as well as a greater appreciation for the difficulties of slavery that were experienced by Elizabeth Keckly. Both were intelligent women who struggled against the limitations of their culture and upbringing.



2. After reading this book I feel as if I know the two ladies, their lives and their times.



3. Going back and forth between biographical chapters of the two ladies for a good portion of the book left me tireless and bored. Almost rejoicing when the book finally picked up after what seemed to be an ad infinitum of the two woman's seemingly ordinary lives, nothing really there to surprise from previous knowledge of both a white and black's reality of that particular time period, I in all honestly could have done without the meticulously detailed first half of the book. On the contrary I did find that the many similarities between the two such as same birth year and rather close birthplace, both in the south to be rather ironic in conjunction with their very different social standing and contrasting, perhaps even a bit complimenting personality traits. This is possibly the only helpful information I was able to take from the first half of the book.
   
   Fleischner does appear to know plenty on each individual, but enough's enough, I picked up the book for an interesting read about such an odd friendship between the pair.
   Forcing myself to get through these lackluster chapters, the meeting and companionship of the two very different women at long last appeared! Before getting to this point of the book I would have been generous in giving the book two stars, however after their first encounter, the day before Abe Lincoln's Presidential inauguration in 1861 I actually found myself enjoying my time reading it.
   
   Keckly, a mulatto, grew up in a harsh life of slavery, eventually independently able to buy her way out and prosper in the seamstress business. Thus being the reason, lavish and somewhat peculiar Lincoln called upon the former slave for her distinguished dress-making skills. The last chapters did seem rushed, and I was left wanting more details on the actual societal aspects of the South in the nineteenth century. I enjoyed the mentioning of how times were back then, always being captivating to me. The prices, fashions, and entertainment of Civil War times really absorbed my interest, however short-lived those parts were. The association and reference of historical people and events i.e. W.E.B Du Bois, Cassius Clay, Bleeding Kansas allowed me to relate the reading to History class, always bringing unexpected excitement to a learning student.
   
   The brilliantly unlikely friendship between Mrs. Keckly and Mrs. Lincoln did get its justice in Jennifer Fleischner's double biography. If you have patience for dullness, and are willing to stick it out for what turns out to be a great story of two apparently opposite woman who grow together in a historic tale of true friendship, then don't hesitate to pick this book up. Three stars for getting two bios for the price of one, the book might have dragged on, but turning out rather compelling, and nicely done.



4. I was disappointed in the viewpoint of the author who seemed less interested in the relationship of the two women than in the social problems of a free Black woman who was the confidant of Mary Lincoln. I began reading the book in an attempt to understand both women and the circumstances in which their friendship occurred. The book, however, leans heavily toward Mrs. Keckley & portrays Mrs. Lincoln at her best as a spoiled White woman & at her worst as a lunatic. The final paragraph sums up the author's reasons for writing the book in a complaint that Mary is buried in the Lincoln vault with President Lincoln (where else would she have been put?)& Mrs. Keckley's unclaimed body lies in an unmarked grave..."like those of her mother, slave father and son". The book is not about Mary Lincoln or Mrs. Keckley; it is a social commentary.



5. The characters in this book and their stories are interesting at times, but the author takes far too much time imparting their stories. I am reading this book for a church cirle book review, and I am having trouble reading it. If I want a nap that day, all I need to do is pick up this book and read it a while!

4 comments about Gatewood and Geronimo.

1. If you don't feel capable of wading through the Western history in this book, I suggest you see the movie "Geronimo." It's an excellent, slightly-fictionalized story of the Apache war chief Geronimo played by Wes Studi and Lt. Charles Gatewood played by Jason Patric.

   Gatewood, the U.S. army's foremost expert on the Apaches, persuaded Geronimo to surrender in 1886. Both Geronimo and Gatewood were betrayed by the U.S. government. Geronimo was sent to Florida to prison; Gateway was sent to oblivion, remaining a lieutenant until the end of his military career.

   Geronimo is remarkable as a cunning, cruel guerilla leader fighting to keep his freedom from the encroaching Whites; Gatewood is remarkable for the integrity he brought to his job as an indian agent and soldier. It's comforting to see Gatewood's qualities are remembered in book and movie long after more conventionally successful men have been forgotten.

   This book maintains a high standard of accuracy and scholarship. It tells one of the best stories from the old West.




2. I have not counted the number of books and papers regarding Geronimo's surrender but they are many. Here are the facts, easy to read, accurate, and presented in a very enjoyable read. The author has done an excellent job presenting to the common man the story of bravery, death, and hardship of the early American soldier, and the betrayal of the American Indian. Many thanks to the author and publisher. Where are the awards for them?



3. KLIATT, November 2000 Reviewed by Raymond L. Puffer, Ph.D., Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, CA

   Most historical accounts of Geronimo and the lengthy struggle of his Apache warriors against white settlement have focused upon either the Chiricahua leader himself, or the two U.S. Army generals usually credited with forcing their bitter surrender. George Crook and Nelson Miles were indeed instrumental in planning and leading the campaigns that hounded the remnants of the Apache people into their inevitable subjugation. Neither, however, could convince the holdouts ot lay down their arms and put themselves at the white man's mercy. That role fell to a weary cavalry lieutenant, Charles B. Gatewood, who had won the Indians' grudging respect through hard fighting and his sympathy to their plight. In the course of a final meeting, which was as poignant as it was historical, Gatewood at length persuaded the exhausted "renegades" to lay down their arms to General

   Miles, and to accept his offer of farmland and aid. When Geronimo did so, the last native resistance to federal hegemony came to an end. Ultimately, though, Geronimo and Lieutenant Gatewood were betrayed by the federal government.

   Louis Kraft has written an important and historically significant study of the final phase of the Apache Wars. Unusual for such books, this one is as readable as popular history, and it will be enjoyed by those who have an interest in looking behind the scenes of history. The book is a fine reminder that earnest, hardworking and suffering people were responsible for the events in their textbooks.

   Publishers Weekly, April 17, 2000

   This recent addition to the parallel lives genre is a superbly told tale of the vicious Apache wars of the 1880s in Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. Drawing upon a variety of original sources, Kraft (Custer and the Cheyenne) reconstructs the complex story of the famous Chiricahua leader Geronimo, a medicine man who came forward as a tribal leader and headed resistance to the coerced settlement of his people on reservations where they were to become farmers instead of nomadic hunters. Lt. Charles B. Gatewood of the 6th U.S. Cavalry was posted to Arizona in 1878 and became a respected leader of Apache scouts, who tracked Apache guerrillas for the U.S. The frail lieutenant, sent to administer the Apache reservation, seemingly treated his charges fairly, earning the enmity of civilians and army brass, which led to a stalemated career and a lengthy court case brought by a man whom Gatewood arrested for defrauding Apaches. After meeting at various times and maintaining a mutual respect, Gatewood and Geronimo came together again in 1886, when the former was ordered to track the latter to Mexico and convince him to surrender, even as columns of American and Mexican troops searched for Geronimo's elusive group. The tension and frustrations of what was Gatewood's final mission are palpable, as he convinces Geronimo to allow the tribe's "relocation" to Florida. Gatewood, who gets much fuller treatment here than his counterpart, never got his due for brilliant service in tragically misguided cause, and Geronimo never again saw his homeland or many of his family, from whom he was separated.




4. "Gatewood and Geronimo" by Louis Kraft documents the heroic deeds of a man of unheralded greatness, of one Charles B. Gatewood. Many lesser men rose to the rank of general while Gatewood died holding the same rank he held when he played the key role in efecting the surrender of the formidable Apache warrior, Geronimo. The surrender of Geronimo effectively ended the American Indian Wars. Kraft's volume brings focus on the long neglected importance of Gatewood's role in American history, and on the long term effects that one ordinary man's moral integrity can have on human history, even though it was ignored, and even despised while Gatewood was alive.

5 comments about LeMay (Great Generals).

1. LeMay is probably best known for his "bomb them back to the stone age" suggestion on how to win the Vietnam War. He is also rumored to have been the inspiration for the crazed Air Force general Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." This book helps to set the record straight. LeMay was certainly one of the leading advocates of strategic bombing. He masterminded the fire bombing of Japanese cities in World War II, directed the Berlin Airlift, and essentially created the Strategic Air Command from the ground up during the Cold War. He was also one of the youngest men to ever reach the rank of Four Star General at the age of 44 (U.S. Grant was a little younger).
   
   While this book is a good introduction to LeMay's life and career, it is limited by the small format of the Great Generals series. This is not the fault of the author, but he is forced to condense certain portions of the narrative to fit the confines of the small page count. As a result, the account suffers and the reader is left wanting more. I would recommend Iron Eagle by Thomas Coffey (ISBN 0-517-55188-8) for a more complete and nuanced biography of LeMay. It can be found pretty cheaply through Amazon's marketplace of used book dealers. Happy reading!



2. Considering Curtis LeMay's long-term influence on air power (from before WW II into the early Vietnam era), it is astonishing that there has only been one prior biography: Thomas Coffey's Iron Eagle (1986). This entry in the Great Generals series therefore is the first biography since LeMay's death in 1990.
   
   The author clearly knows his subject. He has produced a concise, objective study of one of the most controversial military figures of the 20th century, and one of the most significant. Tillman examines LeMay's early life and career, then traces his evolution from the young commander whose decisions helped speed the end of the Pacific War into the "caveman in a bomber", excoriated by the Left even while he kept the Cold War "frosty" rather than "hot."
   
   Readers looking for the story behind the impassive face will have to wait for a more comprehensive treatment. The author's charter apparently was to describe LeMay's leadership philosophy and draw comparisons useful to current managers, as do the other installments in the series. In that regard, Tillman has accomplished his mission: a feat of which LeMay himself would have approved.



3. This book is a quick and dirty overview of the life and career of Curtis E. LeMay. The biography is rather thin and it hits only the highlights of the general's life. All the books in this series are on the short side and serve more as brief introductions to their subjects than authoritative accounts. There is only so much Tillman can do in the space that he has available and given the constraints he faces, he does a good job. Tillman is a sympathetic biographer and does an exceptional job of explaining LeMay's involvement in the Berlin Airlift. Previous biographers have given this topic little attention. This approach, though, leads Tillman astray when he reaches LeMay's tenure as Chief-of-Staff of the USAF during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. Like previous LeMay biographers, Tillman is as dismissive of the national strategies and foreign policies of these administrations as was LeMay. His explanation of these different ideas and approaches is simplistic at best. He is particularly rough on Secretary of Defense Robert S. MacNamara, making the former executive at the Ford Motor Company look at various times as either an incompetent or as a black-and-white villain.
   
   It is clear that Tillman likes his subject, and there is much to admire in Curtis E. LeMay as a professional, a leader, and as a man. Tillman, however, has a difficult time developing the general's complex personality. There was good deal more to him than his gruff exterior. Despite his "bomb `em back into the stone age" reputation, LeMay had a powerful understanding of the bleak realities of what war really was. He was fully aware he was sending off men to kill and be killed, and he was alert to the real damage that they would suffer one way or another. He rarely got romantic about the business of war, which made him all the more human and determined to get results. Despite the caliber of Tillman's biography, the best book on LeMay remains the general's own memoirs. If you can get to a library, it is a good read. Otherwise, this book is pretty good too.



4. If the Cold War could be wrapped up into one person it would be Curtis LeMay. The U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) was LeMay and LeMay was SAC. I knew the History Channel facts about Lemay, but I wanted to know more. Unfortunately this book left me wanting. At only 191 small pages, it was tough to really get into deep historical research or analysis for a figure as large and important as LeMay.
   
   I got the feeling the author was just cranking the book out. It did have the feel of a cliff notes or a term paper. There was noting really wrong with the book, but there was nothing that great about it either. LeMay comes across flat and the book lacks the tactile feel that makes great biographies.
   
   The author is very pro-airpower and never really dives into the great political/military dissent around LeMay and his views. I thought that maybe 15 years after the Cold War ended, enough time had past for someone to give LeMay a fresh look, but this book never got there. I will keep searching for a better LeMay bio.



5. Barrett Tillman's LeMay is a welcome addition to military aviation literature. Rooted in extensive research, gracefully written, and cogently argued, it places LeMay in a far richer and thoughtful context than the one-dimensional cigar-chomping, firestrom-triggering, finger-on-the-nuclear-trigger caricature of post-Dr. Strangelove, post-Vietnam sensibility. Tillman ranges widely across LeMay's life, relating it to key developments in military aviation, technology, world events, national strategy, and the political and social environment of the times. Nuanced, polished, and engrossing, it is must-read for anyone interested in the development of American air power and the role of this complex and fascinating man, one of the "Great Captains" of air warfare.

1 comments about Thomas Ewing Jr.: Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General (Shades of Blue and Gray).

1. Thomas Ewing Jr. Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General is a scholarly biography of former Whig senator and cabinet member destined to gain a commission in the Union Army, along with his brothers. He raised a regiment that encountered action in Arkansas and Missouri, and after William Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, he issued the General Order No. 11 that forcibly removed residents from sections of western Missouri. A confidant of Abraham Lincoln, Ewing dared to defend three of the assassination conspirators, and even lobbied a key vote to prevent the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Exhaustively researched, Thomas Ewing Jr. Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General presents an in-depth, crystal clear portrait of not only one Civil War general's life, but also the antebellum South in which he lived. Highly recommended for Civil War enthusiasts of all backgrounds.

No comments about Custer and the Little Bighorn.

5 comments about Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby.

1. James A. Ramage has written what must be THE definitive book on the life of John Singleton Mosby. I cannot imagine a more thoroughly written book on the topic. Ramage discusses his family history, his childhood and more.
   
   Of course, the largest amount is written about his service in the Civil War as a partisan ranger that terrorized the Union troops arrayed against Robert E. Lee. Ramage is definitely a fan of Mosby, but he refuses to get involved in the hype that Mosby and his contemporaries sometimes engaged in concerning how effective Mosby's men were. Ramage agrees that Mosby was cost-effective, meaning that his small groups of men - usually around 120 or so - would tie down thousands of Union soldiers, but disagrees with Mosby himself that he tied down tens of thousands.
   
   The real strength of this biography is that Ramage covers Mosby's post-Civil War career thoroughly, including his controversial forays into politics and his government posting in Hong Kong. Ramage even includes a chapter on how Mosby has been represented in film and television, including a movie in which Mosby played himself in 1910.
   
   This is not a book for the casual Civil War reader - there is too much specific detail and an assumption that the reader knows and understands the basics of the war. However, this book will continue to serve as the reference for all things Mosby.



2. Ramage is absolutely correct when he speaks about Mosby's effect on his adversaries. By the time the war was over, he was - after Jefferson Davis - the most hated Confederate in the North. Once, late in the war when a troop of Yankee cavalry bringing in prisoners (none of whom were Mosby's men) joked that they had 'caught Mosby', in just a few hours over 10,000 people gathered to see the vaunted guerrilla chief. Mosby's psychological tactics were such that often all he or one of his men had to do was approach a Union picket or vidette and say, "I am Mosby" and the man became paralyzed with fear. Yet, Mosby's treatment of those whom he captured was such that after the war, many of his best friends were former Union officers taken by him and his command.
   
   Unfortunately, however, author Ramage has a tendency to speculate regarding things he cannot prove. His theory of Mosby's 'bipolar' personality - he was kind, gentle and loving at home but fierce, overly aggressive and untrusting out in the world - does not necessarily equate with the testimony of many of Mosby's men who wrote about the man and the 43rd Battalion.
   
   Furthermore, Ramage's account of Mosby's relationship with Fitz Hugh Lee - the two men detested each other - contains a vignette in which Lee supposedly offers a terrible rebuke to then Lt. Mosby when he offered Lee a captured Union newspaper. Lee, according to Ramage said "The ruling passion strong in death" a quote from one of Pope's moral essays on Lord Cobham, a religious dissenter who was hanged and burned for his beliefs. Ramage recounted that as a classical scholor Mosby would understand this statement to mean that he would deserve his fate when the Yankees caught and hanged him as a spy during one of his 'scouts' for JEB Stuart. According to Ramage, Mosby had no suspicion of Fitz Lee's hatred of him until that point. Yet in all other accounts - including Mosby's - nothing much is made of the same incident. I would not mind Ramage's account or his conclusion if only he had given a more detailed account of how he came to know that Lee said what he said and meant it as Ramage posits. Furthermore, I would have liked to know how Ramage knew that Mosby had no idea of his superior officer's feelings for him at the time. However, Ramage simply makes the statement and let's it go at that.
   
   There are certainly many psychological indicators apparent in Mosby's life which can enlighten interested parties regarding his forceful and unique personality but I must confess that I found some of author Ramage's speculations to be lacking in credible verification on such subjective matters. If one is going to speak of 'feelings' and 'passions', it is wise to have at least some documentation to back up one's claims. Otherwise, the matter becomes nothing more than another speculation regarding the individual being studied.



3. This book is about as close to entertainment as history can get. This does not mean that it is fiction however. Ramage writes a sturdy bio of Mosby. And although Mosby is one of the most famous, or infamous if you are a Yankee, Civil War personalities around, there aren't many good reads on him. However, Ramage's bio is terrific from both a historian's and a reader's point of view. Ramage is obviously an admirer of Mosby's, but does not blindly believe all that comes with the "Mosby myth". Instead, Ramage uses both primary and secondary sources to try to find the real Mosby and see what his real exploits were. The descriptions of Mosby's forays are fast-paced and exciting. The chapters on Mosby's post-war career are extremely interesting as we see the hated Mosby become a Republican and friend of U.S. Grant. Mosby also became embroiled in disputes with "Lost Cause" people like Jubal Early due to Mosby's support of J.E.B. Stuart. Interesting all the way around.



4. This book is well written by someone who likes Mosby but this nonsense about "terror" from Union troops about Mosby sounds more like the terror that was felt by the Confederates towards Sheridan or Sherman or John Brown!
   Frankly I have always considered those who hit and run or come out at night and shoot stragglers or people from behing to be somewhat -- well - gutless. Sorry.



5. An excellent book for anyone interested in the Civil War. Ramage has written an exciting, fast-paced biography of one of the South's most mythologized and celebrated Civil War heroes. He draws the reader into the world of Mosby from his early fights with childhood bullies to his final fight for J.E.B. Stuart's memory and legacy. Certainly one of the Confederacy's more popular figures, Mosby ruled an area of Virginia causing Union officers and privates alike to fear capture if separated from the main body. Mosby's able and selfless leadership set an example to his men, and both Stuart and Lee saw that he was no ordinary partisan ranger. Even after the war, Mosby's fight continued as he supported the Republican Grant for president. Ramage aptly delves into the now out-of-favor hero's post-war life and one of the best chapters in the book is his description of Mosby's fight against corruption as U.S. consul in Hong Kong. Ramage has gone through many sources and succeeded in bringing Mosby the man to life. The author even met with Mosby's grandson and received valuable first-hand descriptions of him in his later life. This book is destined to be the definitive work on the "Gray Ghost".

5 comments about No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Excape, A Perilous Climb.

1. Felice Benuzzi wound up in a Second World War POW camp close to the foot of Mount Kenya, a mountain that is higher than the highest alp in Europe. Prison camps are boring; soon Benuzzi, who went on to become an ambassador in post-war Italy's diplomatic service, was dreaming of scaling the mountain he saw beyond the barbed wire of his confines.
   
   Eventually he did break out, and with the help of two fellow prisoners and rudimentary mountain climbing equipment they had made in the prison camp, he and a fellow prisoner ascended one of Mount Kenya's peaks, where they planted an Italian flag. A great story of adventure and humanity that loses a little of its lyricism in its translation into English. Great reading for all ages.



2. I enjoy escape stories & the first half of this book was a typical WW2 escape story. The story has humour throughout & their task - to climb Mount Kenya - was quite an undertaking. What I liked best was the author's personality / humour & seeing things from an Italian and African perspective. His descriptions of the types of people in the prison camp are awesome. Day to day camp life is well described also.
   
   I think it took great guts to attempt what they did but to me the scariest parts were sleeping in the jungle with little or no shelter & no weapons. Who know's what type of beasts they may come across? I felt the second half of the book which describes more of the climb itself was more boring. When I got into this part I was mostly looking forward to finishing the book & getting onto something else. It is unique & I don't think in all the escape books I have read anyone has ever had their main intention be to escape back into their camp. That took a little bit of the interest away for me.
   
   It is a good story & I think the author would be a very interesting person to meet but the book was just middle of the road as far as true adventure stories I have read.



3. I really enjoyed this book. It sounds almost whimsical that POWs would go to all this trouble and face considerable personal danger to escape, climb a mountain, and then go right back to the prison camp, but the way Benuzzi describes it, it makes a certain sense. The painstaking process of preparing for the trip - which included all the risks and difficulties of a "typical" prison break plus the demands of an Alpine climb - is told in a matter-of-fact, rather dry fashion. (On nominating the third man for the party: "He had never climbed a mountain in his life. The only reason why we decided to try him was because he was universally thought to be mad as a hatter, and mad people were what we needed.") Benuzzi's descriptions of the scenes on the way up the mountain are glorious, and of the return to camp are funny and quite touching. A very enjoyable pocket-adventure story that deserves to be better known.



4. This book is a welcome change from all the peak bagging, egoistical, mountain-conquering books out there. The author talks so poetically about the beauty of the mountain , that its hard to remain unaffected. Their mission is extremely pure and simple - to climb Mt. Kenya, although some people might say that it was an irresponsible thing to do in the middle of war .... The truth is that its a fantastic description of their whole adventure, with graphic descriptions of the jungle and how they made it with POW rations and home-made climbing gear. A true mountaineering classic !



5. I'm a big fan of WWII prisoner of war tales, both real (The Long Walk, Ghost Soldiers, et al) and fictional (King Rat, Bridge on the River Kwai, et al), so I was intrigued by this account by an Italian of how he and two companions escaped their POW camp, climbed Mt. Kenya, and then snuck back into camp several weeks later. Unfortunately, while their adventure was undoubtedly remarkable, it never really comes alive in Benuzzi's book. I suspect much of the problem for me is that I know nothing about mountaineering and don't particularly find it interesting. The other difficulty I had was with the flatness of the prose, whether this is due to a weak translation or to Benuzzi's writing in a foreign language I don't know, but in any event, I found it rather tepid. So while I think the whole idea of his adventure is wonderful and in rather brilliant dark humor, I didn't find the telling equally so.

5 comments about American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles.

1. AMERICAN SCOUNDREL is interesting in that it is flawed on so very many different levels.
   
   It fails as psychohistory -- Dan Sickles, a notorious womanizer, shoots down his wife's lover in front of the White House, and is judged NOT GUILTY. This simply begs for psychological introspection, but all we get is "standards were different then."
   
   It fails as the story of Dan Sickles. We never learn how he got the way he was, we never climb the money tree enough to see how he supporter his lavish lifestyle, or even the entire story of his life. We get long chapters on his wife's affair, her lover's murder, Dan's trial, and the second day at Gettysburg, but very little of anything else. The final 60 years of Dan's life are covered in less than 30 pages. The old saying goes, "There are no second acts in American lives," but this is ridiculous.
   
   And when there are horrible historical mistakes in what we already know, the rest of the historical research becomes very suspect. Stonewall Jackson did not die on the battlefield at Chancellorsville; Andrew Johnson was actually impeached.



2. If you are interested in the American Civil War, this is not the book for you. Keneally fails to understand the core audience for this book, Civil War aficionados, and is erroneous in his basic facts surrounding important events. The focus is the scandal surrounding Sickles and his young bride and not the historical events of the day.



3. You might not have heard of Daniel Sickles, but his accomplishments were impressive. A Union general in the Civil War who served at Gettysburg (a Medal of Honor winner who lost his leg there), an intimate of Abe and Mary Lincoln, a congressman, and an ambassador, Sickles was just the sort of hero you ought to know about. Except that he was a scoundrel, too. _In American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles_ (Nan A. Talese / Anchor Books), Thomas Keneally has given a full and amusing biography of this American, non-fiction Flashman. His many transgressions were public knowledge, and yet he dressed and spoke well so that he rose to heights of power without any precipitous fall except the natural one provided by old age and death. It is a story often hilarious and sometimes horrifying, and Keneally (who will always be known for _Schindler's List_) has depicted Sickles and the mood and manners of his age in an unforgettable portrait.
   
   Born in 1819, Sickles took to the law, and as a rascal, joined the other rascals of the Tammany political machine. He learned to cut financial corners, and would never be good at balancing the books, especially governmental ones. He eventually was appointed as a secretary to the American Legation in London, and took a favorite prostitute to his post instead of taking his wife; he even arranged for her to be introduced to Queen Victoria. When he was elected to Congress, he and his wife Teresa were a successful power couple, but he neglected her. Filling the void in Teresa's life came Philip Barton Key, who saw Teresa at parties, and in secret trysts in not-so-public places and at a house Key had rented for the purpose. Sickles eventually found Key on Lafayette Square and shot him. His trial was a sensation. The prosecution was poorly performed, and Sickles's hyper-competent lawyers led the jury to find him not guilty due to temporary insanity. It was the first time in American jurisprudence that such a plea resulted in acquittal. What rescued him from infamy was the Civil War. At Gettysburg Sickles made his greatest contribution. He precipitously led his men into battle, creating a controversy at the time that has continued to the present day; there are those who say his unilateral advance almost lost the battle, while others say it saved the Union. Early in the fight, however, his right leg was shattered by a cannonball. He coolly kept his cigar in his mouth (Keneally says it was "a moment of which the right sort of general could make a myth of his easy gallantry") and was carried to a field hospital where his leg was amputated.
   
   He stayed busy. He became an ambassador to Spain and began an affair with the deposed Queen Isabella II. Theresa had died of tuberculosis, and Sickles married a young lady from Isabella's court, but returned to America without her or the two children he had fathered. He had worked earnestly to develop Central Park in New York before he went to Washington, and he contrived to bring it animals for its zoo. He made his fortune on behalf of railroad stockholders by bringing down the notorious Jay Gould who had robbed them of millions. He did everything he could to ensure that his military reputation was brightly presented to posterity, and he got himself appointed as head of his state's Monuments Commission which had the task of erecting on the Gettysburg fields monuments to his own regiment and others from New York. No one should have been surprised when thousands of dollars for the commission went missing, and no one should have been surprised that there was a surge of donations from well-wishers that kept the elder Sickles from winding up in jail. When he died in 1914, he got a full hero's funeral and interment at Arlington National Cemetery. It was just as he would have wished, and this is a tale of a life lived just the way he wished, brash, impetuous, resolute, and irresponsible. There is no hero to match him.



4. Read this biography and decide which still-in-the-news contemporary politician Dan Sickles most reminds you of (hint: like Dan, now a New Yorker). The personal traits they share are amazing.
   
   Here is why you should be fascinated by a biography of Dan Sickles. He was a hard core practitioner of Tammany Hall politics and mastered that machine in the 1850's. He deserves at least some credit for forming New York's Central Park through is expert lobbying and deal making. He was a Congressman and a prime example of the type of northern Democrat who was willing to support the South on slavery for the sake of keeping them in the Democrat Party. He was a notorious woman-izer who traveled with a prostitute to England on a diplomatic mission and presented her to the Queen as his wife. He was a great friend and supporter of President Buchanan. He shot and killed the son of Francis Scott Key (yes, that Francis Scott Key), in front of the White House when he learned that Key's son had been carrying on a torrid affair with his wife. His legal team included Edwin Stanton (later Lincoln's able Sec. of War) and used the first ever argument of temporary insanity to win Sickles an acquittal in the slaying. With secession, Sickles became a relentless advocate for a hard war and supporter of Lincoln. He helped raise a brigade and became a general. At Gettysburg, Sickles defied orders and moved his entire corps out in front of the Union line giving history the Peach Orchard, the Wheatfield and an almost disastrous outcome on Day 2 of the battle. In that battle, Sickles had his leg shot off by a cannonball. He saved the leg, it was sent to the medical military museum in Washington (where you can still visit it today) and used to visit it regularly. He participated in séances with Mary Lincoln. After the war he was a military governor (apparently quite good and fair) of South Carolina and North Carolina. A sometime-diplomat, he married a Spanish woman after carrying on an affair with the deposed queen of Spain. He became great friends with Longstreet as they banded together to defend their miscues at Gettysburg. Head of the New York Monuments Commission, he helped spur the building of grand monuments at Gettysburg Battlefield and arguably helped convince the US Government that it ought to take over and preserve the battlefield as a park. Reelected to Congress for a single term several decades after the Civil War, he found times had changed politically. Still Tammany till the end, he was arrested in his nineties because the accounts of the New York Monuments Commission were some $27,000 short, money which he apparently pocketed.
   
   You can't make this stuff up. Its all true and should be the foundation for a great book (and a couple of great movies). Unfortunately, the killing of Barton Key and his acquittal on temporary insanity overwhelms the book. Or, more correctly, the plight of his wife Teresa overwhelms the book. Every chapter returns to his wife and Sickles' complete boorishness toward her before he found out she was cheating and complete unwillingness to let his still wife share his life at all after the murder. It is a great episode in Sickles life and it stained him for a brief time until the Civil War and Sickles incredibly strong and charming personality removed that stain from his life's adventures.
   
   But the reader is treated to repetitive and numbing descriptions of his suffering wife Teresa's domestic situation and habits throughout the book. She plainly receded in Sickles' life after the Civil War but doesn't recede in this book's telling of those chapters. Instead, she intrudes again and again to repeatedly make the author's point that she was cruelly ignored and wanted back into her husband's world. So much so that this book perhaps should have been titled "The Story of Dan and Teresa Sickles" (or maybe "The Story of Teresa and Dan Sickles"). The author's unwillingness to let go of her long after she has ceased to be a factor in Sickle's life really interferes with this book.
   
   There were also a few historical mistakes, like placing Senator Ira Harris in Lincoln's box at the assassination (it was his daughter, Clara, who was the fiancé of Major Rathbone) and having South Carolina secede in January of 1861 instead of December of 1860. These would probably only be picked up by Civil War buffs (arguably the audience which would read this because of Sickle's infamous Gettysburg excursion) but call into question the author's command of the facts.
   
   Dan Sickles is a very interesting subject for a biography. Disappointingly, the author blows what could have been a fascinating and rollicking bio with a long treatise basically dedicated to rehabilitating Sickles' wife Teresa, a woman who undoubtedly suffered because of the double standards of the time and who unfairly had her life severely constrained because of the actions and attitude of her husband Dan Sickles. But come on, we get the point. For example, I did not know Sickles had been military governor of South Carolina (with North Carolina later added to his administration) after the war. He appears to have been quite fair and just and to have protected the new freedmen from harassment. The book doesn't plumb this enough. We get some of the information but are treated to poor Teresa's lack of an invitation to join Dan Sickles in Charleston where she could reign as the General's wife over Carolinian society. The author really let his evident sympathy for Teresa overwhelm the all too fascinating portrait of a man rightly called "American Scoundrel."
   
   Interesting in parts, but broken-up with digressions on Teresa. A deserved three stars.



5. Dan Sickles, the notorious scoundrel of this book's title, appears to have gotten away with so many of his sins because he was colorful, resourceful, and charming. Unfortunately for the reader, the same cannot be said of Thomas Keneally's writing. Keneally tells us what a colorful character Sickles was, but never really shows us or makes us feel it. One is left with the thought that Sickles must have been a fascinating and complex man, and the hope that someone will someday write a decent biography of him that will truly capture those qualities.
   
   Despite the fact that Sickles is best known as a Civil War general, this is not a book for Civil War buffs. Keneally's writing on the war is superficial at best, and sometimes nakedly erroneous. (He states more than once that Gen. Stonewall Jackson was shot dead at the Battle of Chancellosville, when of course, even a casual student of the war knows that the general only received a wound in the battle and lingered on for some time, dying of pneumonia while recovering from his wound.)
   
   The intended audience of this book, which is reflected in the writing style as well as content, instead appears to be those who loved following the O.J. Simpson trial in the tabloids. The bulk of the book is devoted to Dan's amorous affairs, his young wife's affair, and his murder of his wife's lover and subsequent trail and acquittal. He writes extensively and floridly on these subjects, without managing much real illumination. I must admit that I was only able to make it through the endless trial material by resorting to skimming the text. However, if you are captivated by tabloids coverage of celebrity trials, this book may suit your tastes.
   
   There were germs of interesting facts in this book. Sickles led a fascinating life, from his notorious service in the diplomatic corps, his machinations as a Tammany politician, his work to help create New York City's Central Park, and his controversial service as a Union general. For its outline of the fascinating facts of Dan Sickles' life, I give this book two stars, but because of its sadly disappointing execution, I cannot give it any more, and cannot recommend it.
   
   Theo Logos

5 comments about Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter.

1. I am disappointed in this book. The premise is good, and the author lived through it. However, this is a very uneven book. Even the author admitted he skipped around alot. There are so many Polish and Jewish names thrown in, I was wondering who the heck was who. The film made much better sense. I could have even rated this book a two star, but since this is the story of a brave man, I gave it an average rating.
   
   Kazik is a Polish Jew from Warsaw who saw his family imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. As a way of getting even with the Germans, he joined both the Jewish and Polish resistance. He was essentially a courier, who went from place to place organizing things. His story is the overview of NBC's Uprising. I liked the movie. His book was not as good, even though the movie is based on his book. Essentially he throws a lot of memories together, and states this was the story of the resistance. I think this author is a brave man, but his writings leave a little bit to be desired.



2. A good book written by one of the few survivors of the uprising. The author tells a harrowing story about what seemed to be a hopeless situation for the Jewish fighters as the Nazis decimated the ghetto around them with bombing and fire. The Jewish resistance fighters held off the Germans longer than the Polish army did. The author freely admits that he is not a writer and the story gets a little rough in spots but overall a good book from an insider who was there and lived to tell his heroic story.



3. The author is sincere and spontaneous in telling his personal experience. The description of events, places and facts is also very well. But from the very beggining it is clear that the author is not a writer (or, at least, not a good one.)
   I am convinced that it is not only a plain true story what captivates the reader but, more than anything else, the way it is told. This book is a good example of that difference.
   Nevertheless, an applause for Simha Rotem, an extraordinary human being that not only fought hard to survive himself, but also to save the life of others.



4. Kazik was a 19-year-old Jewish lad who survived the Nazi terror and systematic mass killings of Jews, the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943 and the Warsaw uprising of 1944.
   He was also led many fighters out of the ghetto through the sewer, and he was responsible for the care of many Jews who were hiding in Polish homes. Kazik also managed to find shelters for his parents and his two sisters, and after the war he was one of the very few Jews whose parents were still alive. After the war, Kazik, his sister Raya and parents all immigrated to Israel. Kazik's other sister, Dina, was killed during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Kazik didn't at that time know that his sister was in the ghetto.
   
   I found the book interesting and heart gripping at the same time. It is amazing to read how Kazik manages to stay alive, and always seems to stay one step ahead of the Nazis and their helpers.
   
   Kazik writes how he found one thing difficult when he arrived in Israel: When he told people that he was one of the very few survivors, it seemed like some almost blamed him for having survived. Kazik tells how people kept on asking him about people who had died, but never about those who had survived. This made him reluctant to talk about his past.
   He writes about how one man told him that he (= Kazik) screamed every night in his sleep.
   If Kazik had made a volume II about his life after the war, I surely would have read the book. His history is fascinating, and I hope his life was mainly a happy one after he immigrated to Israel.
   I liked this book, and I found Kazik's story very interesting. Kazik tells us that he is not much of a talker, and that it was therefore difficult to dictate this book to the writer. Kazik may not be a talker or a skilled writer, but his story is one it is hard to forget.



5. Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter, written by one of the surviving members of the ZOB was a well-written account of not only life as a resistance fighter but also what life was like for the few that fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This is an easy read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about this period and what the Jews and all victims of the Nazis had to endure.

5 comments about Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth.

1. Ignore the one stars, this is a wonderfully weird and rambling book, part history part personal memoir and travelogue; part social commentary and part political commentary. The portraits of the astronauts are amazingly well painted and Smith allows them speak and explain themselves without too much editorial interference. If you're looking for backroom tales, technical details and the history's behind the multitude of unsung figures who worked within the American space programme then you'll find them here, to quote Mr Smith 'in spades.' If you are from a generation that feels an aching sorrow of being born at the end of what was quite obviously a mini renascence but were too young to appreciate it, then you'll find some comforting words in here. As I've said before, ignore the one stars, this is a unique and wonderfully weird monster of a book.



2. The NASA version of the Apollo moon landings is one thing (see the 5 DVD compilation: NASA The Story of America's Courageous Space Explorers!). 'Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth' is another. The cover says a lot. It shows Gene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin, John Young, Neil Armstrong, Charlie Duke, James Irwin, Alan Bean, and Jack Schmitt as heros worthy of being on collectible bubble gum cards. The author Andrew Smith was the perfect age when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon. He was a kid. The moonwalkers are his heros. I was born later and equivalent heros for me are Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Yoda. The amazing thing about Andrew Smith's story is that he's able to actually meet those space-men and to come face to face with the realities of their lives after having walked on the moon. How much was an astronaught's salary? If I were standing on the face of the moon looking up at Earth, what effect would that have on my sense of God? What does a landscape devoid of atmosphere really look like? How does it feel to be alone inside the vehicle in orbit around the moon waiting for your colleagues to return from the moon surface? Especially when you're on the back side of the moon and you have no radio contact with Earth and you're more alone than any other human being in the history of our existence? What do you do with yourself after you return to Earth, after you retire from NASA, after your fame begins to fade away? Maybe you go into liquor sales, start your own religion or maybe you take up a career as a painter obsessively painting scenes from your lunar memories. Andrew Smith is a down to Earth writer who infuses wit, humor, and astute observation into this amazing book that I couldn't put down. Moondust ranks high among my favorite true account books which would also include Al Santoli's 'Everything We Had' and Joannis van Loon's 'The Life & Times of Rembrandt van Rijn'.



3. This book was very disappointing for all the reasons already stated, factually inaccurate, rambling, author being self absorbed, etc. The title is misleading and should have been "Andrew Smith: My thoughts on the Apollo Program (With an a few astronaut interviews thrown in)".
   
   I give it two stars because some of the interviews were interesting.
   
   Thankfully I borrowed this book from the library and didn't pay for it. I suggest if you're really interested in reading this book that you do the same...



4. This book turned out to be more about the author than about the astronauts. It was disappointing. The book was also hard to finish. It was uninteresting in most parts. Not recommended if you are looking for insight on the astronauts.



5. This particular book does a great job of getting into the insights of the astronauts when they were front page news. Apollo was truly the pinnacle of NASA and Andrew Smith does a great job of creating the aura that still surrounds the 9 men still living, that walked on another world.
   
   I could've done without some of his personal musings, as he paints a picture that you would rather he keep to himself. I have my own personal perspectives and if you didn't grow up in U.K. or CA, you'll probably agree that Andrew should've kept some of his memories out of the pages.
   
   Even with the author's anecdotes, the book is 5 stars and worthy reading for any space history buff.