2 comments about Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary.

1. On April 4, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. came to Indiana to campaign for the Indiana Democratic presidential primary. En route, Kennedy learned that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot and had died. Despite the Indianapolis police department's warning that they could not guarantee his safety, Kennedy chose to address an outdoor rally amid the city's African American community. Kennedy delivered one of history's great speeches, breaking the news of King's death and stressing the need for compassion amid violence. Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary commemorates the fortieth anniversary of Kennedy's passionate speech, and examines the characters and events of the 1968 primary, in which Kennedy rose from underdog to victor. A fascinating close study of a great leader's power to console and inspire.



2. The Washington Post on March 25, 2008 reported that the Indiana May primary between Obama and Clinton may make the difference for the Democratic nomination. Forty years ago this was also the case. Every political reporter, blogger and junkie needs to read this book. Indiana politics are quirky, but there are similarities between 1968 and 2008, especially over the race issue. Obama is Bobby Kennedy. Hillary is trying to figure out if she is Gene McCarty or the machine candidate represented by Gov. Roger Branigin.

No comments about Yeltsin: A Life.

5 comments about In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington.

1. This book is by former President Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin. Robert Rubin, was previous to his role at Treasury, co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, a position he rose to through the ranks over about twenty years. His specialty was risk arbitrage, involving multimillion decision making on placing bets or investments on whether or not a merger or acquisition would ultimately go through (or close) or not.
   
   No matter what you think of President Clinton or his administration. Robert Rubin was a key decision maker in the economic sphere. He participated and directed policmaking in the Asian financial crisis and financial crisis in Latin America, etc.
   
   The book is about his views on decisionmaking and the process of policymaking and is excellent. He discusses his view about "optionality" and the complexity of decisionmaking under uncertainty.
   
   The book is excellent and I highly recommend it if you are interested in decisionmaking, policmaking, economic policy, Wall Street, and leadership.



2. The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New WorldOn Money and Markets: A Wall Street Memoir
   
   Robert Rubin's book, "In an Uncertain World," is excellent reading for individuals managing their own pensions and other financial assets. This book, Alan Greenspan's book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," and Henry Kaufman's book, "On Money and Markets," certainly rank among the best in the last few years regarding insight into how the global economies work and interact. This book also addresses insight into properly assessing global risk in general and assessing how to consider risk in marking to market for various fixed income securities.
   
   Rubin's experience and insight in finance at Goldman Sachs and as U. S. Secretary of the Treasury is difficult to match by most financial experts.
   
   All persons managing money would find their time well spent reading, marking, and frequently referring to this excellent and thought provoking book.



3. An excellent account of the behind the scenes finance world at the Clinton White house but the author who worked there. he reveals all the comings and goings of 'maing things work' from a fiduciary standpoint. Good book



4. Robert Rubin traces his climb up the ladder in Wall Street and Washington DC and explains his role in significant national crises. He describes how he makes tough decisions after pondering the probabilities in the face of bewildering uncertainties. On page 48 he remebers how his grandfather was wiped out by the Florida land bust in the 1920s. A memory like that you would think would be barrier against complacency creeping in. But maybe not, unless there is another expalanation for why Citigroup put so much money into subprimes, while he was there in a position of power, and thus make it possible for the government of Abu Dhabai to come to the rescue and gain influence in such an important American Bank (what about national security?). As a public service Robert Rubin should generated a second edition of this book to bring to light the Tough Choices involved in betting those massive amounts on subprimes.
   
   The author reveals that he leans in the direction of anti-anti-big-government (see page 160). He places more faith in government control than the power of the "invisible hand". Unlike Alan Greenspan's book "The Age of Turbulence" this book does not contain a satisfying broad vision of our capitalistic economic system.



5. Rubin is a very smart guy and a great thinker. This book describes his years at Goldman Sachs and the bulk of it is about his time with the Clinton Administration. He gives the reader a nice window into what happens in the White House and more specifically the Treasury. He is critical of himself and humble. Autobiographies can be self-promoting, but Rubin is fair.
   
   The middle of the book gets a bit tedious and repetitive. He describes various crises in different countries which I am sure were very important at the time but his point could have gotten across to the reader by just describing a subset of these crises. Nevertheless this is a very important book for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the Treasury better. It is interesting that Paul O'Neill, Rubin's successor, critized Rubin and the Clinton administration for being the "Chief of the Fire Department" (referring to how they bailed countries' currencies as opposed to letting the free market take care of things with little intervention). Today with crises in the housing sector and mortgages, we are seeing similar meddling by the government. It is hard to watch thousands of homeowners lose thier homes if the government can assist them somehow. Rubin predicted this behavior.

5 comments about The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932.

1. yeas the most popular book on sir winston but mistakes are in it and volume three will appear after a 20 years break .



2. The finest biography of Churchill (and one of the best biographies of anyone else) ever written. Manchester is unequaled in providing a balanced, thorough and readable product. Only down side is that he died before completing the third and final book on Churchill.



3. This is a very good analysis of Churchill, a thorough and colorfull portrait of a man I consider to be the greatest man of the 20th century. I have only two complaints, first I would have liked to have known more about his life with his wife and children. I also would have liked to have known what he thought of the Lusitania sinking. Not only does Manchester say nothing about Churchill's role in this business but the word Lusitania is not mentioned at all in nearly 2000 pages. Very strange. The letters of Churchill point out the chivalrousness and romantic nature that the public has not seen. All in all - very good and well worth a good read.



4. William Manchester is a tremendous writer. A man like Churchill deserved to have his biography writted by a writer as gifted as him.
   I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting, not only to learn much about the great man Churchill, but also to have their mind expanded and stretched by excellent literature like this. There are not many people writing like this today, sadly enough.
   This is not an easy read, in fact most people will do well to have a dictionary near by - but it is worth it. Drink deeply and you will learn so much more than you would have thought possible about the world from the late 19th century up through WWII.
   Drink it up! 6 stars.



5. This fully lives up to its reputation as perhaps the best biography ever written. Manchester does a peerless, masterful job filling in the background colors and giving a complete picture of Churchill from a young man into his early fifties. As Manchester emphasizes, this background was essentially the decline and fall of the British Empire and the aristocracy who ran it. Manchester's main point, that Churchill was a Victorian who also lived in the twentieth century, is brilliantly made. Churchill himself is presented in all his perplexing, influriating splendor: an impetuous, charming, ambitious genius who all too often jumped out of the plane without a parachute. If you wish to know why he was rejected by the British people at the polls just after his greatest triumph (and job done) this fascinating volume of his early triumphs and memorable failures is indispensible (answer: they needed his boistrous energy in war but they didn't trust him in peace

5 comments about Held at a Distance: A Rediscovery of Ethiopia.

1. Rebecca's book was so informative when reading through the lens of Ethiopian adoption. It is a window into the mind of a woman who is Ethiopian and American as she works through her thoughts and relationship with Ethiopia, its politics, people and land - something our family will be doing for the rest of our lives. All the history and culture was a bonus! I loved the book.



2. As one of the first books to be published by an Ethiopian American, HELD AT A DISTANCE is significant. Categorizing this book is nearly impossible--which is a strength and should make it widely appealing. It is a seamless mixture of memoir, travelogue, history, political science, and sociology...and also, just a nice piece of personal writing. It provides both a personal perspective on and a broader introduction to contemporary Ethiopia and the growing and vibrant Ethiopian community in the US. The style is accessible and absorbing, written with a focus on individuals, moments, and places, with a flow of information and analysis (with neither apparent biases nor neat resolutions)--and some tasty language. Grounded in her memoir/travelogue are insights on specifics of Ethiopian culture, history, and politics; yet it's easy for anyone who likes reflections on/stories about family, identity, immigration, and memory to relate to and appreciate. When you finish this book, you will want to learn more about Ethiopia and hear the stories of other Ethiopians in the diaspora. Based on my students' responses after reading HELD AT A DISTANCE, I can say that this book will inspire others.



3. I did learn a little about Ethiopia from this book, but I found it too personal to the author's story and too Amharic-centric. The author does not take a look at the historical & political things with any objectivity, nor does she explore why these things really happened to her family. She is very Amharic-centric, seeming not to fully realize that many other ethnicities make up Ethiopian society as well. This will be a fantastic book for her children to read about their parents life, but was boring for me.



4. HELD AT A DISTANCE: MY REDISCOVERY OF ETHIOPIA
   I empathized with Ms. Hailu's narrative because of the fact that I was also born in Ethiopia of Greek decent parents. I am of her father's generation and had the opportunity to have connected with several of the young men and women that in those days made the giant leap into the new world. We all shared the time's uncertainty and wondered what our fates would be when our Emperor would pass away. I remember another Hailu telling me "We do not know what awaits us, how could I imagine what your destiny wouyld be ? ". Several of my school budies fell victims of the Mangistu regime attrocities. The rest are probably in the diaspora.
   NGA



5. Ms. Haile's book was more than just an enjoyable and interesting read; it was an all-too-rare voyage into an unfamiliar culture from the viewpoint of someone who is rooted in both that culture and our own. Seeing this "mysterious" world through the eyes of a well-educated American who grew up in Ethiopia we can understand the differences in a way that someone who isn't a part of both worlds cannot. Reading the book was a fun experience and I found myself happy to devour it.

5 comments about Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie.

1. Journals offer private thoughts not intended for an audience; rather, they serve as a means of sorting out life's challenges and exposing one's inner demons. Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie leads the reader into Rachel's inner world as she negotiates the challenges of adolescence and early adulthood. Sadly, her life comes to an untimely end when she faced down a bulldozer that was about to destroy a Palestinian home in Gaza.
   
   Early in her life, Rachel's literary abilities shine through her poetry as she expresses her delight in nature and small creatures that cross her path. At eleven, on the death of her grandfather, she remarks her own selfishness as she sleeps while others are grieving. She says, "I have already grown bored of being sad and I am ready to go back to being normal." How wise she is to identify that universal feeling.
   
   Many of Rachel's musings reflect her attitude toward death. At fourteen, she says, "Death smells like homemade applesauce as it cooks on the stove." At eighteen, "If I die today,...you must burn the papers under my bed...to charred leaves of ash...You must silence my dead voice...so it will not embarrass my memory." Her journals definitely reflect her inner thoughts, conflicts, and behaviors that might be embarrassing, and I wonder whether she would have wanted them published.
   
   A trip to Russia became a turning point for Rachel. A girl who lived a sheltered, privileged life, she returned from her journey a woman with a mission, awakened by "the initial disappointment in discovering that my government really did lie to me about the Russians, and in the massive absence of justice in the world, and again...in discovering my participation in the subjugation of other people." This experience led her to become an activist during her college years and then took her to Israel to support the Palestinians as they suffered through repeated US-backed Israeli attacks on their families and homes.
   
   Because of the intensely personal nature of the writings, it was difficult at times to read the revelations in these pages--the self-deprecation, the self-destructive behaviors, the lists of self-improvement tasks--and I felt uncomfortable looking into the private thoughts of someone who didn't sound as if she would like me to read them. I also felt that the pace of the book was slow and the final outcome depressing. But it comes together at the end, when Rachel writes long emails to her family and friends outlining her political convictions and showing her journalistic potential. Her life abruptly ended just three weeks short of her twenty-fifth birthday.
   
   by Susan M. Andrus
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. Let me state upfront that (i) I had never heard of Rachel Corrie before in my life until I read this book, and (ii) I am generally speaking not on the same political wavelength as Rachel seemed to be. That does not mean that I close-minded. Indeed, when I read the inner-flap of the book, I was intruiged and picked this up.
   
   In "Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie" (324 pages), Rachel's family (primarily her parents) have compiled miscellaneous writings of Rachel: diary entries, letters, emails, etc. I must admit that at times I did not understand the flow of these writings from a chronological perspective, as they seem to be all over the map. Another thing that is not clear to me, and where in my mind the book falls short, is that these writing do not provide an insight or explanation why it is that this young woman came to the political and community conclusions which she reached. They just are there, and you have to accept them. Rachel writes about her student exchange trip to Russia that "I have never been so awake--painfully, poignantly awake--as I was in Russia" and in years later she refers to this trip as one of the most pivotal moments in her life. But that said, I don't understand why that is, as very little information is in fact revealed what Rachel did in Russia.
   
   There are a number of fictional short stories in the book (such as the "Mom, I don't want the car" one) that I had a hard time following or understanding. Several of them went on far too long. The last part of the book, when Rachel goes off to the Gaza Strip, are sad, that goes without saying. While I respect everyone's opinion, it neverthless strikes me frankly as misguided. I can only imagine the grief of her family, begging the question: what good did it do?



3. Maya Angelou said, "One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
   
   Very touching journal by a very courageous young girl
   
   The negative reactions to the book, I'm afraid, prove importance of the issue Rachel gave her life for. Many Americans remained "passively" approving of the occupation despite not just its blatant imperialist aggressiveness but its sheer irrationality and absurdity.
   
   The best way to see an issue objectively, with the efforts of finding a solution, is to put yourself in the position of both sides. This book will definitely help you see the Palestinian issue the way it is, and not the way the media wants you to see it.
   
   No individuals, no interest groups, no lobbies have influenced the writing of this book. A pure message straight from the heart of a first line observer.
   
   A MUST READ!



4. This book is poorly written and very one sided. It is musings from journals written by young girl, who was misguided by her family and a very liberal community. Rachel helped the wrong side. The book is full of liberal cliques such as this: "The United States, perhaps one of the most racist countries in the world loves to make-believe that all sorts of other people are full of blind hatred and racism-at least when it's politically expedient." (At least she used the word "perhaps".) If you like tidbits like this, this book is for you.
   
   The Israelis told Rachel Corrie that she was helping the terrorists, but she didn't believe them. Her ISM's "friends" just laughed in the faces of the Israelis military.This so called peaceful group resorts to name calling and throwing rocks. It is rumored that the Ism group organizes suicide bombings as well.
   
   Rachael should have taken her own advice by looking more objectively at the media see pages 170-173 for these suggestions. If she had followed her own advice she would not have died in Israel.
   
   Rachel died tragically at age 23. I'm sorry, but the book is still not worth reading.
   
   Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel's parents are using her tragic death to speak against Israel's right to exist.
   
   I have reported this book to Camera, an organization that monitors the media.



5. We have all read the final emails of Rachel Corrie, and mourned the death of one of the most compassionate and courageous young women ever to walk the face of this earth. We know about her concern for the oppressed peoples of this world, and her desire to stamp out hunger from the speech she made at the tender age of ten. However, this new book, 'Let Me Stand Alone', shows us the other side of Rachel - fun loving, vivacious, and a brilliant young writer and drawer. Her writing on her boyfriend's 'addiction to bee keeping' is remarkable, and the description of her big sister is very touching. Her love for her parents is beautifully expressed and her compassion for the less fortunate in the world is marvelous. She has more understanding about homelessness and our attitude to it than many adults in their 40s or 50s. It is astonishing that she wrote the piece about the homeless (page 15) at the tender age of 11.
   Rachel's attitude towards the mentally ill is equally admirable. So often the treatment of the mentally ill is condescending and extremely arrogant. Clearly, they are inferior beings. Rachel's humility and caring towards her clients when she worked for the local mental health services is one in a million.
   Her essays in creative writing are unique. Whoever else has ever thought of evoking childhood memories through the Tooth Fairy?
   The subjects on which Rachel writes seem to be limitless, and many are extremely witty: entertaining articles about mowing the lawn, where buses go at night, how to deal with teenagers, and 'conservation' work in national parks.
   Rachel's warmth and sensitivity shine out from every page, but above all, her irrepressible sense of humor.
   Rachel's family has been extremely generous to share the writings of their daughter with the general public, especially since so much of it includes personal details. Take hold of this book, and treasure it, as the opportunity to read such a book only comes once in a lifetime.

4 comments about In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate.

1. This book is very easy to read and extemely interesting. I felt very bad for Pat Gray because he is still accused of things that he was never found guilty of doing. He tried to change the FBI and the people working closest with him were never on his side. It's a sad story. I was very disappointed in Mark Felt, Bernstein and Woodward. Felt lied to Gray on many occasions, probably because he wanted the top job. Felt was convicted of crimes but Gray never was and Gray received apologies from the senators who accused him of crimes. Gray's son interviews Bernstein and Woodward about their ongoing accusations against his father. Woodward comes across very badly because he can't seem to explain the notes that he took while writing his book, even though they don't match the Watergate tapes. After reading this, I'm convinced that Felt was not "deep throat". No question that "deep throat" was a combination of a lot of different people who liked to leak information without giving their names. Great book!!!



2. Very good historical review that clears up several mysteries. L. Patrick Gray make a good case for clearing up misstatements about his involvement in Watergate and indicates why the one person identified as the Deep Throat source actually had to be more than one person. Resentment about an outsider being appointed as head of the FBI turns out to be the reason for most of the leaks. Gray defended the FBI based on good faith that his associates wee truthful.
   
   The packaging was a problem. The plastic tabs that were to be lifted to get the discs out were not well separated despite the grooves. I actually damaged one disc beyond use by my attempts to get to it.



3. I found the book fascinating. It was a real page-turner for me. Parts are absolutely gripping, especially when L. Patrick Gray is sitting in Nixon's office perplexed at what his boss is trying to tell him. Gray is an honest man and a straight-shooter and Nixon is trying to get him to be a conspirator without coming right out and saying it. Gray's mind just doesn't have a place for the idea that the President of the United States is a criminal.
   
   Although I was only a boy when the Watergate scandal broke, it was a
   formative chapter in my life. One of my early memories is watching my
   father (a Massachusetts McGovern supporter) listen to the 1972 returns
   in dismay. Later I watched the Watergate hearings on TV at school, transfixed by the historic importance of what was happening.
   
   I've since been keenly aware of the far-reaching damage Nixon did to our
   country. I was less cognizant of the damage he and his henchmen
   inflicted on the personal lives of so many. L. Patrick Gray's story brings this starkly to light.
   
   The extent to which the book also puts the press in a bad light is timely. I was one of those, reared on the Woodward and Bernstein myth of reporter as white knight. In the past 15 years I've come to see the press more for what it is, a self-serving business/political entity. I know there are people of good faith in both government and the press, but they don't seem to be the ones running show, bless 'em for keeping at it!
   
   This book starts to rewrite the fictional construct "Deep Throat" that Woodward and Bernstein created in order to sell a book and a movie, and cast themselves as heroes in the process. "All the President's Men" is a good story but it's far from the truth. "In Nixon's Web" is a first hand account backed up with FBI files, Senate Committee testimony, and the famous White House tapes.
   
   Patrick Gray, a highly respected naval submarine commander, accomplished lawyer and former assistant Attorney General, doesn't cast himself here as a hero, just someone trying to do the best he can for his country. He admits to being naive, especially in trusting people who have been given a high level of trust by the entire nation.
   
   Watergate left a lot of U.S. citizens disillusioned with their government. Patrick Gray was one of them. He has every right to be bitter, but this is not a bitter story. It's a tragedy told directly and without embellishment. The events themselves are enough for a terrific tale.



4. What a great book. L. Patrick Gray is a tragic figure. Stumbles into the FBI Directorship job, gets caught up in all the FBI backstabbing, and on top of it, gets his name thrown in with the criminals of Watergate. Even more tragic is that Mark Felt comes out a hero for being Deep Throat.
   
   Without giving anything away, Nixon's Web will give the interested Watergate reader a very different perspective. It's really easy and good reading. I like the style, it's to the point, very little fluff if any. It's a shame that Gray didn't come out with this sooner, but the announcement of Deep Throat compelled him to break his long silence.
   
   If you've been a Watergate reader, you absolutely cannot go without reading this book.

2 comments about Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor Los Angeles 1841 to 1878.

1. Benjamin Wilson lead an astonishing life, and was the perfect man to arrive in Mexican California. Though he is largely known today only through the eponomous "Mt. Wilson", he created much of what we now see in Southern California. This book is a spectacular vista into that world, and on one of the men who shaped it.
   
   Having to leave home as a teen, he became both a merchant and a mountain man, learning both commerce and the trapping skills of the Indians. Fleeing Santa Fe at age 30, he arrived in California with the first overland settlers in 1841. Intending to become a merchant in China, he failed (thrice) to make the boat from San Francisco, and instead bought a ranch near the San Gabriel mission - owning what we now call Riverside, California.
   
   His adventures do not merely parallel the development of California; largely, they MAKE the development of California. He spanned both the Mexican and American eras, in marriage, politics, agriculture, commerce, railroads, Indian affairs, and especially real estate.
   
   Though never taking Mexican citizenship, he married the daughter of a local don, became alcalde of the Riverside area, and finally joined the last Mexican government of Los Angeles. He was elected the first clerk of the new American Los Angeles, and its second mayor. As a state senator, he represented ALL of Southern California -- only a few thousand people.
   
   The state was unbelieveably tiny. Many of the few hundred that voted in his elections in Los Angeles were drunks and Indians, rounded up the night before and paid (liquor or coin) to vote (as many times as possible). The center of the state popultion was *north* of San Francisco, as men poured in to the state to mine gold, and the few ranchers of Southern California raised the cattle to feed them.
   
   On the land that B. J. Wilson owned, one million people now live. He created the first "gated community" in California -- when he fenced in the ranch that we now call Beverly Hills. He made much of what is now Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino, both establishing the his vineyard at the foot of Lake Avenue, and dividing and developing his property for both Huntington (San Marino, Huntington Library) and for the Hoosiers (Pasadena). His real estate hands were in San Pedro (with Banning, owning the landing, developing the railroad, providing the US Army barracks), the Ballona marshlands (Marina del Rey), and downtown LA (especially the 12 acre site on the central plaza where Union Station now is). The road he cut up "Wilson's Mountain" for timber has later led to hotels, a major astronomical observatory complex, and to the home of nearly all Los Angeles's TV broadcast antennae.
   
   His legacy is largely California itself, as his son failed into suicide, and the son-in-law to whom he turned over his vineyard lacked Wilson's imagination and vision. His one famous descedent was his grandson, Gen. George S. Patton, a man who shaped twentieth century events with the same gusto his grandfather had in the nineteenth.
   
   Wilson's true legacy was the bussling city he helped create, developing it from dusty backwater adobe to thriving market town, atwitter with telegraph lines and railroads.
   
   This book is not so much a single, chronological, narrative story as it is a collection of vignettes, anecdotes, and short stories about all the aspects of Wilson's life, with chapters on his mountain days, politics, the vineyard, Pasadena, San Pedro, the Mexican-American War, properties, railroads, etc. The material was extensively researched, from both first- and second-hand sources, and extensively footnoted. (Much of the research was done at the Huntington Library, just east of where Wilson's vineyard ranch-house stood.) This will be, for the twenty-first century, the definitive biography of a creator of nineteenth century California.



2. This is a beautifully crafted narrative which describes the struggles associated with California's coming of age through the lens of one of its first mayors. Don Benito lived a colorful life, and the author presents it in a series of vignettes and carefully researched anecdotes. By providing context to Don Benito's personal story, the author presents a concise history of California, from the first Spanish settlers and their missions up to references to modern L.A., and how it was shaped by the movers and shakers of the 19th century. Although it is hard to put down, you can pick it up again, easily, without fear of losing your place in the story, since the chapters are short and self-contained. The writing is clear and compact, and it is a fascinating historical document. This is the perfect book for anyone who loves a good story.

No comments about The China Diary of George H. W. Bush: The Making of a Global President.

4 comments about The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm: A Thousand Days in London, 1938-1940.

1. It is hard to go wrong with a book about the Kennedys, and this one is a gem. From the politically naive and inept father, the Ambassador, to chubby Teddy, age 6, writing charming notes to his father, to Jack bedding Marlene Dietrich as a young Harvard student, the stories are all fascinating. I especially enjoyed learning about Kathleen, who shared Jack's wit without his sizable brainpower, and Joe, Jr., a fearless guy who, brought up in the competitiveness Joe, Sr., glorified, but not as bright, witty or successful as a war hero as Jack, blew himself up in a suicide bomb run near the end of World War II. Joe, Jr., like his father suffered from political myopia and lack of vision, and stuck to extreme isolationism long after it was clearly untenable for a successful Democratic politician to do so.
   
   Not to mention seeing Rosemary, the tragic one, attend elegant high society dances in London with her sisters, without any serious problems, and function well as an arts and crafts teacher in England, totally lose it when she returned to the US, causing Joe, Sr., to agree to a lobotomy, which turned her into a vegetable. And mother Rose, who probably spent as much money on fancy French couture as Joe did on his mistresses.
   
   The book also contains lots of wonderful cameos, from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, to their daughter, the current Queen, to the Lindberghs,
   who, with their own rarified brand of politicial naivete, were about to move permanently to Nazi Germany when the war began (!), to Jack's wonderful gay best friend, Lem Billings, and the gay American Ambassador in Paris, Wlliam Bullitt, who lived openly with his partner.
   
   One persistent theme of the book is to criticize FDR's failure to explain his foreign policy to Joe Kennedy. This criticism is, I believe, misplaced. Joe Kennedy knew next to nothing about foreign policy when he asked for the job as the first American Irish Ambassador to the King, and less when he was forced to quit. FDR rightly did not trust Kennedy, and wanted Kennedy out of the country during the 1940 Presidential election. Joe, Sr., lacked the political sophistication to understand his role, or to adjust to FDR's policies and changing public opinion in the US, which moved towards supporting intervention before Pearl Harbor left people with no other option than to fight. FDR could not have clarified his foreign policy to Kennedy because FDR was hiding his own interventionist views from a public and a Congress (and a London Ambassador) who were stuck on neutrality and isolationism. Kennedy made the additional mistake of befriending Neville Chamberlain, a very small-minded and naive politician like himself, who made the near-fatal mistake of thinking Hitler would keep his promises. Kennedy and Chamberlain were two peas in a pod.
   
   In addition, Joe, Sr., a successful businessman, made the mistake of thinking economics controlled the bloodthirsty ideologues of the Nazi regime.
   
   Joe Sr's reward was to see his political career destroyed; he never held any political office after he left London.
   
   On the other hand, Jack, Bobby, Ted, all of them far better politicians and strategists than their father, never made the mistake of hanging on to extreme positions, or giving disastrously candid interviews to reporters, such as Louis Lyons, who actually and courageously reported the crazy things Joe said after his return to the US. The cosmopolitanism and friends the family developed in England just before the war, however, proved a great benefit, especially to Jack. Without the Kennedys' experiences in England, could Camelot have existed?
   
   The book is also full of witty stories and interesting analogies, such as the fact that FDR, like Obama, had trouble with the Irish Catholic working class voters of his day.
   
   FDR achieved his goal of keeping Joe, Sr. out of the 1940 presidential campaign; at Rose Kennedy's urging, aided by some blarney from FDR, Joe even gave a nationwide radio address before the election endorsing FDR. The important job in the government which FDR, in a staged meeting at the White House, promised Kennedy, of course never materialized.
   
   Joe's reward, as we all know, was an amazingly talented and fascinating family. Whatever his other faults, Joe seems to have been a genuinely good father, treating his children with respect, discussing issues at the dinner table and providing support when needed. When he was not around he wrote personalized letters to each of the children. Even the tragedies, such as Rosemary's problems, often had wonderful trajectories, such as the Special Olympics which Eunice and others developed following Rosemary's tragedy.



2. This is the way in which history should be written. Carefully researched and filled with facts(some never before revealed), the book moves at a fast pace keeping the reader intrigued and never bored. Will Swift captures the formidible Kennedy family at a turning point in history that many have forgotten - the prelude to World War II. He portrays the self-made, vastly wealthy, crafty, tenacious and powerful Joseph Kennedy - admired by some and distrusted by others - as a true patriot who worked steadfastly in an attempt to keep his beloved country out of war. It was a war he felt would lead to disaster.
   Living with Ambassador Kennedy during his 1000 days in London, the reader sees an Irish Catholic family capture the attention of the lavish and flamboyant society that flourished at the time and the respect of a Protestant nation. The opinions and attitudes of world leaders during that crucial time are well detailed. There is also time to observe the children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy's tight knit family (among them Jack, Bobby and Ted) mature and take on some of the talents of their accomplished parents - talents that would serve them well in their later careers. It is a book worth every minute of the read.



3. 
   Dr. Swift has constructed through prodigious research a fascinating composite of information which he presents as a highly engrossing narrative of the role of Joseph P. Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain on the eve of World War II.
   Swift's keen appraisal of Ambassador Kennedy's actions and motivations and the reprecussions thereof, along with a fresh look at the challenges and opposition confronting Kennedy from both sides of the Atlantic at the time, serves to cast the controversial father of a future U.S. president in a more appealing and admirable light than he is usually afforded.
   Throughout his intriguing report on Kennedy's endeavors in pre-war diplomacy, Swift skillfully limns artful profiles of the high level players in the saga, including Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, King George VI and Franklin Roosevelt, with their reactions and interactions during their continual assessments of the ambassador's merit vis-a-vis their own agendas. In sum, Dr. Swift's scholarly book, spiced with titilating material on the personal lives of Ambassador Kennedy and his wife and children as well as accounts of the foibles and vagaries of other participating political luminaries of the era constitutes a compelling read.



4. Between Pres. Bush's remarks in Israel about 'appeasement' and the news of Ted Kennedy's cancer diagnosis, Will Swift's new book is a timely read. The photographs are wonderful, and many have never before been in print. No matter how many books about the Kennedys that you have read, you will learn a few new witty anecdotes that Will Swift's research has uncovered. I really enjoyed this book.