3 comments about The Bishop of the Old South: The Ministry And Civil War Legacy of Leonidas Polk.

1. Robins' biography of Leonidas Polk, Episcopal bishop and Confederate general, reveals little about the inner life and personality of its subject. The reader is left wondering about his motives and about Polk's interaction with the most important people in his life: his wife, family and close friends. The book is a general overview of the life of this conflicted figure who has been portrayed both as a traitor to his role as a Christian leader and as some kind of latter-day Christian knight. Still, I was left wondering which he really was.



2. Dr. Glenn Robins captures the multiple nature of Leonidas Polk's life. He was a man of God, educator and lieutenant general and Corps commander in the Army of Tennessee. This book develops the theological aspect of Polk better than its predecessors by Joseph Parks and Polk's son, William Mecklenberg Polk. Drawing from a rich bibliography, Dr. Robins explains Polk's theology and his impact on the mid-nineteenth century Episcopal Church, clearly and precisely. Unfortunately, for the Civil War reader, Polk was at best a mediocre general,who performed poorly in command of a very important corps in the Army of Tennessee. I have been conducting research on General Polk for an article I hope to get published during the next year. Robins' book has been invaluable in helping to understand this very complex, remarkable man. The Episcopal Church has even had difficulty with the Episcopal school, The University of the South, celebrating the life of a man who owned so many slaves. For those interested in learning more about Polk, I recommend looking at the Leonidas Polk website at www.leonidaspolk.org. This biography is a great read. I highly recommend it.



3. In Luke chapter 18, we learn of a rich young man who turned away from following Christ. What would have happened had he followed Jesus? This book gives one possible answer. This is one of the two or three finest books I've ever read, not just Civil War Books. It is the story of Leonidas Polk, the son of a very wealthy North Carolina plantation owner, who was converted to Christianity while at West Point, and entered the Episcopal ministry. While continuing to run a successful plantation, he was a priest, then a missionary Bishop, then presiding Bishop of Louisiana. This book gives a wealth of Church history during the years 1830-1860, including much detail of Polk's founding of the University of the South. Accepting the offer of a commission tendered by his old friend Jefferson Davis, Polk became a Lieutenant General in the Army of Tennessee.
   
   While the book gives more space to the "Bishop" than to the "General", there is plenty of information about Polk's military campaigns. His problems as a General are not glossed over, including less than perfect coordination during the Kentucky campaign of 1862, and his difficulties with General Bragg are well reported. [Bragg could be difficult, and the Bishop was not the only General who held a dim view of him] General Polk was killed at Pine Mountain, GA on June 14, 1864; not long before his death, he baptised Generals Hood and Joe Johnston. This would be a fitting end to a book that is a superb combination of Church and Military history. But, of course, the story of a successful Minister never really ends; numerous Churches consecrated by Bishop Polk are still in service, and the world class University he founded continues to train young people for Christian service. The life and career of Leonidas Polk remains a problem for some. How could a Christian man and Priest own around 500 slaves? He was a man of his time and place, and saw no conflict. On the record, his slaves were as well treated as any in the South. Whether we are discussing Bishop Polk, Thomas Jefferson, or even FDR, it is dangerous to project our values onto a man from a different age. Perhaps not a book for the general reader, but get this one, and read it. You won't be sorry.

No comments about Quiet Moments in a War.

4 comments about Prince Eugen of Savoy.

1. This is an excellent biography of one of the great figures of European history in the 18th century. Eugen of Savoy led Austrian Imperial armies in the Balkans, Italy and Flanders. He won great victories over the Turks and Louis XIV's France. He was the Duke of Marlborough partner at Blenhiem, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. This study gives you a full picture of this important man both on the battlefield and in his private life. A great collector and builder, Eugen left a mark on Vienna still visible today and well told in this account. Eugen's statute still towers over Budapest today, a fitting reminder of the man who taught Frederick the Great the art of war.



2. Henderson has written a traditional historical biography of Eugen (Eugene) of Savoy. At the time of his writing, this was the only such biography in English. This still seems to be true.
   
   Henderson's book is much more readable than most traditional biographies, and it is even a page-turner at times. He provides good coverage of Eugen's character, and gives significant attention to his interests in architecture, art, and bibliophilia. As you might expect from a book written in the 1960s, Henderson dances around Eugen's apparent homosexuality but provides enough facts for your own evaluation.
   
   The book's major weakness is that it lacks any explanation of Eugen's military successes. Since Henderson is not a military professional, he shied away from any analysis, and the battles mostly rest on Eugen's "brilliance" and "courage." Since Eugen's rise was predicated on his military abilities, this is an unfortunate (and glaring) omission.
   
   Nonetheless, if you're interested in the period or the place (Austria-Hungary), this is a very useful biography of an important figure who is all too often forgotten today.



3. Thank god for N. Henderson. Finding a book, any book written about the Prince are extremely hard to come by. Additionally the book is excellent. Fluid, easy reading, well done period atmosphere outline, the "times" of Eugene right up to his passing, personal anecdotes that really give you the flavor of his personality, overall balance and depth of subject all make this a 5 star selection. Now, if I can just find something like this on Turenne , I'll be set. LOL.
   As a social aside, any person looking to emulate a man with integrity, loyalty, who is personally brave and honest, will be hard pressed to find one better than Eugene.



4. Prince Eugen of Savoy was of an Italian/French background (his mother Olympia was related to Cardinal Mazarin) and raised in and around the court of that great French expansionist, Louis XIV. His decision to flee France and join the court of the Habsburgs, France's most implacable opponents, is the stuff of legend, and his epic battles against Vendome and Villars won him the status of Louis XIV's Enemy Number One. Of course, in English history, Eugen plays second-banana to his great ally, the Duke of Marlborough, and while it is true that two of his greatest victories (Blenheim and Oudernarte) were won at the Duke's side, his other exploits are equally glorious. He won a series of crushing victories against the Ottoman empire, permanently altering the balance of power in the Balkans, and conducted a Northern Italian campaign that ranks equally with those of Hannibal and Napoleon. (Indeed, it was Eugene, and not Marlborough, who made Napoleon's "greatest hit" list of famous generals.) This 1960s classic is the only English language biography of Eugen available, and the reprint is most welcome. Henderson also does an admirable job of showing us Eugen in peacetime: as his wonderful Belvedere and Winter Palace attest, he was foremost among Europe's greatest art collectors, builders and bibliophiles.

3 comments about Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War.

1. ...hearing Murrow's "This is London." The first time was while visiting my grandparents. My grandfather took me into the kitchen and closed the door before turning on the radio because my grandmother didn't want to hear it. I was only 10 years old, and I'm sure I didn't understand the full significance of what I heard until much later. Nevertheless, it has stuck with me. It was one of the nights when Murrow was outside and we could hear the air raid siren in the background. (If I stop to think about it for a moment, I can still hear the siren's distinctive wail in my "mind's ear.") Seib's book is a superb addition to the shelves of books about the beginning of World War II because it deals with an aspect of how U.S. involvement came about that I do not recall reading elsewhere. The focus is on Murrow because he was so influential in forming Americans' opinions about the importance of sustaining England as it fought the Nazi menace alone, but the work of other journalists is also cited. (I have a small nit to pick here: the name of The New Yorker writer is Mollie Panter-Downes, not Painter-Downes.) Seib writes well, and his narrative moves quickly and to the point. There are no wasted words. Anyone with an interest in the early days of the war should read this book.



2. The difference between reporting the news and leading the country has never been clear, and Edward R. Murrow was a master at both.
   
   While reading this book on his broadcasting from London during the early days of the war, don't forget his broadcast that ended the career of Joseph McCarthy. Murrow understood that his reporting influenced American public opinion.
   
   There are those who rail against his sense of ethics in combining reporting the news with what you might call propaganda. Perahps he should be judged instead by the result. He helped prepare the US for a war that we could probably not avoid.
   
   This is the story of a strange time, and what one key player did.



3. BROADCASTS FROM THE BLITZ: HOW EDWARD R MURROW HELPED LEAD AMERICA INTO WAR is for any who would understand early broadcast journalism's effect on war and peace. Murrow's 'This is London' opening brought the blitz home to Americans who would've otherwise been distanced by war events: he told why Americans wouldn't be able to avoid involvement, and he prepared the country with his moment-by-moment broadcasts of events. His agenda was to bring America into the war - and more than any politician, he alone helped prepare the American public for such involvement. This far-reaching story will interest a wide audience, from students of broadcast journalism to those interested in military history and social issues alike. Highly recommended indeed.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

No comments about Calculated Risk.

1 comments about We Refused To Die: My time as a prisoner of war in Bataan and Japan, 1942-1945.

1. This book was beautiful! American history was recorded so well by the author it made you feel his hunger! I gave this book to my grandfather, who is a WWII vet, and I plan on having my children read it. Amazing!

5 comments about Guevara, Also Known as Che.

1. As other reviewers have said, this is the best of the Che biographies. Paco Taibo does the research and tells the story in a way that brings life to a myth as few other biographers in any era have been able to do. This is Ernesto Guevara as he lived and died, and you can understand how he became "El Che" the icon of the "Unredeemed America", and what drove him inexorably towards the bullet that ended his life in the dilapidated schoolhouse at La Higuera. For anyone who has seen "The Motorcycle Diaries", this book is necessary reading. I bought it five years ago and read pretty much the whole thing in a couple days. Since then, I will often grab this book and start reading at some random point, and not put it down for an hour or so. As mentioned by someone before, once you start turning the pages it is difficult to stop. The reason for this is twofold. First, the life portrayed here was an epic journey and second, Taibo is a not only a storyteller par excellence, but has a keen sense of the history of the times and is able to inject his own commentary to illuminate many of the seminal events during the course of Che's life. He is also relating to Che from a Latin American perspective, distinctly different from what North American readers may be used to. For instance, his Mexican roots are in evidence by his comparison of the legendary Mexican comedic actor Cantinflas to Che's own occasional sense of the absurdity of life. It is these touches that also help set this biography apart from the others on Che. We see another side of the legend.
   
   The biography starts with Che's family in Argentina, and their somewhat bohemian background. We learn how the young Ernesto suffered greatly from asthma, an affliction that would shape his stoic character all his life. We also learn that at an early age he followed the Spanish Civil War and the battles of the Second World War, and not only how the motorcycle trip with Alberto Granado helped form his outlook, but how he was forced to flee for his life from Guatemala as the elected government of Arbenz was violently toppled by Uncle Sam. This was the event that caused Che to pick up a rifle and give up on democracy as a means to effect change in Latin America, as well as made him willing to be incinerated in an atomic holocaust rather than surrender to a U.S. invasion of Cuba.
   
   The history of the Cuban Revolution and Che's work for Fidel's government is fascinating reading, but perhaps the most impressive parts of the book were the last few chapters detailing the ill-fated Congo and Bolivian expeditions. The Bolivian campaign reads like a funeral dirge, but even here we see the determination and self-effacing humor of the protaganist shining through til the end. The last chapter is an inspiring summation of a life lived in the most uncompromising manner, and is probably the best eulogy written for that life. One senses the author's personal attachment to the subject, which by this time has firmly become the reader's as well.
   
   The comment by another reviewer about the poor editing was true, as there are many typos and grammatical errors in the English edition I have. I am hoping this was or could be cleaned up in later printings so as not to detract from what is a classic text. Anyone interested in the life of Guevara will find this not only required reading, but a truly superlative biography by any standard.



2. This book is a recount or recollection of data based on events related to the life of Ernesto Guevara known as "El Che". In some sense, the book contains a lack of analysis and interpretation of the information, an aspect Jorge Castaneda (another Che's biographer) does better. In my opinion, the best chapters are the last ones where the author, using a more sensitive (and closer) approach towards his subject, narrates the events sorrounding his death at the jungles of Bolivia. I have to confess that I felt very moved.
   
   Guevara is actually the last in a long list of tragic figures of the Latin-American tradition: Atahualpa, Tupac Amaru, Sandino, Jose Marti...If you may find him anachronistic, just think about General Patton crossing the harsh European winter with the Third Army.
   
   This book should be read at a counterpoint with Castaneda's and Anderson's ones and a close observation of the chapters which serve as a kind of epilogue that converts the book in a kind of John Le Carre novel should be noticed. Because maybe the information that is not there becomes more important; the question that remains unanswered is who to blame for the terrible death Che suffered in Bolivia? He, himself as it have been said because he was a romantic? Fidel Castro alone as the easy legend turned into gossip says? or a whole chain of political intrigue related to the last years of the Cold War? So researchers, historians, writers and scholars are invited: the story of Che's life (and death) is not a closed chapter.
   
   A book I strongly recommend as a last advice and new beginning is Jorge Ricardo Masetti's "El furor y el delirio", Barcelona, Tusquets (an English version is available) by the son of Argentine journalist of the same name and a friend of Che.



3. I would recomend this book to anyone,however, I thought Anderson went into much greater detail regarding Che's travels throughout Latin america and especially, his discriptions of the once dominating United Fruit Company. I really enjoyed this authors discriptions of the autrocites commited by Batista and his sectet police, he was a brutal american, puppet dictator. How can any american actually belive that america has allways stook for freadom around the world.



4. I read this more because I am a fan of Taibo than because of Che, but I have read other biographies of Che and this is clearly the best I've seen - one of the best biographies I have read, in fact. He makes you feel as though you knew him yourself.

   This edition, at least, misses getting a five-star rating from me, however, due to the perfectly atrocious editing! There are literally hundreds of typos, misspellings, poorly phrased sentences, etc. It is very distracting.




5. In the US, Paco Taibo II is better known within the mystery readers' crowd for his accomplished police stories with a touch of irony and a shrewd writing style. For this reason with certain apprehension I started reading this biography. In fact it was the first complete and serious Che's bio I have ever read. Later I grabbed Jon Lee Anderson's one... Of all Che's bios Paco's is the most enchanting one. It may lack the huge documention of Anderson's book, but it compensates it with an amazing style. Paco cannot divorce his own admiration of Che from his subject, but, hey, that is exactly why this book becomes so much enjoyable. I still recall grabbing the book (700 hundred pages!) one morning and going that same night to bed with the book in my hands! I couldn't stop reading it! Che's story is reflected under the light of an amazing storyteller. The episodes of Che's story are exquisitely threaded together in a masterful way. His life becomes flesh and blood in Paco's hands. The icon, the symbol of rebellion and struggle for social justice turns a man, an incredible, passionate and admirable human being throughout the book. The end cannot be better: it is ghostly but hopeful with a lot of energy and sadness and beauty: a song to Latin American history of struggle.

No comments about Adventures of a Motorcycle Despatch Rider During the First World War.

1 comments about Beyond the Medal: A Journey from Their Hearts to Yours.

1. This book was truely inspirational. It made you laugh and cry. It amazed me how humble these living heroes are! I realize now how trivial some of my problems are. As a country we are blessed by there presence and should follow the lessons they teach. God Bless Them All!

1 comments about A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar.

1. General H.D.G. Crerar is one of Canada's greatest military heroes of the twentieth century, and sadly too often overlooked as a choice for military autobiography reading lists. "A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of H.D.G. Crerar" is the story of this underrated figure in twentieth century military history. The controversial general is examined in and out through this history, including his views on using the Canadian military as a symbol of the Canadian identity and its civic responsibility, and the role of the Canadian military on the world stage. Highly recommended for Canadian military historians, and community library military history shelves in general.