No comments about The Lady: Aung San Suu Kyi: Nobel Laureate and Burma's Prisoner.

5 comments about Herding Cats: A Life in Politics.

1. I picked this book because of my interest (to say the least) in politics and political tactics. This truly reads as a 'how to' book with great insight to the thinking of one of the most successful Senate Majority Leaders. At times I could recognize the self-aggrandizement typical of politicians, but I still finished appreciating his work much more than expected. If you are interested in politics, especially conservative politics, you will find the book fascinating. I couldn't put it down!



2. 
   After several attempts by professional Cat Wranglers and Herders to describe
   their profession, Mr. Lott finally gives us a fantastic How To guide. Each Chapter brings attention to the difficult process of maintaining a proper herd of felines.
   
   Probably the slowest part of book is his philisophical take on Cat intellect and , surprise, Cat Pride. Not a scientist, Mr. Lott attempts to connect ancient cat worship to meow mix television commericals.
   
   It's a worthwhile read for any potential Cat herder.



3. Trent Lott's auto-biography comes at a curious point. He's not retired from politics, so why this book at this point? Lott was the Republican's majority leader untill he ran into a massive wall following insensitive remarks at Senator Thurmond's 100th birthday party. A good portion of the book is devoted to that.
   
   "Herding Cats" (312 pages) has some interesting moments, in particular in the early part of the book, where Lott retells the early part of his life. Lott was a student at Ole Miss in 1962 when the university broke segregation and the first black student enrolled. Lott offers some interesting insights on what the atmosphere on campus was like. I wish the book was more like that. Unfortunatly, too much of the book is devoted to a retelling of Lott's recollections of meetings on the Hill as a House Representative and later as a Senator. "I caucused with so-and-so, which lead to the adoption of such-and-such bill", I am paraphrasing, obviously.
   
   As to the infamous Thurmond incident, Lott keeps to his often-stated explanation that "I was just paying an old friend a compliment". Reading his book, I am convinced that Lott is a decent man, and not a racist or one who is pining back to the days of segregation. That said, "Hearding Cats" simply does not make for compelling reading, but for certain passages.



4. Read the book with the hope of getting insight into Washington politics. Instead I found mostly superficial reporting of various events, and rationalizations for being on both sides of many issues.
   
   Clearly Lott is upset about losing his leadership position, and with Frist's role in it. Lott felt betrayed and undermined by Frist - someone he had taken under his wing and befriended. Personally, I think Lott's remarks about retiring Senator Strom Thurmond might have been a bit careless, but were only intended to be kind to an old man at the end of his career. Lott is also less than satisfied with President Bush's lack of support - again, despite Lott having pursued votes that he claims were against his better judgement and intended simply to assist President Bush.
   
   So, I gues the "hidden," perhaps unintended insight of the book is that there is a lot of back-stabbing in Washington. I suspect the real motivation for it is to prepare the ground for Lott to reclaim his position when Frist leaves at the end of his current term.



5. A subtitle of this book might be : It's All About Me, Me, Me.
   
   Here we have yet still another autobiography pitched as an insider's guide to Congress when it is really mostly about the insider himself, and what a wonderful person he is. Lott provides his personal history in excruitiating detail inlcuding such cliff hangers as his first campaign to be student body president at Ole Miss ( which incidentally he implies he lost in part becuase he rejected the support of the local KKK chapter ).
   
   In enlightening us on the rest of his life he doesn't miss many opportunities to blast the "liberal media", Bill Clinton, and colleague, Jim Jeffords, who jumped from the Republican ship on Lott's watch. When you are reading his account of all the unfairness that lead to his being dumped from the Leader position by his Senate colleagues because of his statement about Thurmond, you might have some cheese at hand to go with all his whine.
   
   And, until I read this book ( well, actually skimmed the middle parts when the eye glaze over became too prominent ), I had no idea that most of what happened of importance in the US during his time as Leader in the Senate was actually because of him. I always thought Clinton was more responsible. Speaking of Clinton, Lott was just "disgusted" over the whole Lewinsky scandal, and defintely thought Clinton should have been impeached. Interestingly, he did not have a similar level of "disgust" over Bush's actions leading to the deaths of some many Americans and Iraqis.
   
   Reader beware. This is one of those books that supports the theory that one should never read autobiographies of egomaniacs.

5 comments about Evita: An Intimate Portrait of Eva Peron.

1. This is a fabulous book which follows the life of Eva Peron through photographs. Francisco M. Rocha tells his account of Eva's life in about seven pages, so there is not a lot of reading to be done. Instead you get hundreds of beautiful pictures ... if a picture is worth a thousand words, this book speaks volumes. There are lots of never before seen photo's from Eva's early life, many studio portraits from her acting days, as well as one of the few surviving official portraits of the Perons. To me the most touching photos are those from the days following her death. It was a fitting tribute to Evita, the thousands of Argentines standing in line for hours and sometimes days just to catch one last glimpse of her beautiful face. As well as the millions of flowers filling the streets of Buenos Aires. You can almost feel the grief that filled the air through those tragic days.
   

   There are also many photos of Eva's decline ... that proud, elegant creature shrunken down to a fragile waif and of her triumphant tour through Europe. The Peron's lavish life-stlye is also on display here ... the legendary Dior gowns, the millions of dollars worth of jewelry and the palatial Presidential Palace (destroyed in the revoltion of 1955) where Evita kept a storeroom for clothing, food and also offered as a shelter to the homeless.
   

   Evita's life was distinctly cut up into sections, her poor childhood, her acting days, the glorious days as First lady, and her death. The are all documented her beautifully in the lavish photos and detailed captions.
   

   Eva Peron is perhaps one of history's greatest mysteries. Many have called her a whore and a thief. Still there are countless others who attest to her sainthood. The truth is no one really knows what Evita was hiding behind those piercing eyes and no one ever will. What we do know is that in her short life, she accomplished amazing feats. For a poor illegitimate girl from the pampas to reinvent herself as an actress is extraordinary. For an actress no one took seriously to become the First Lady of Argentina and to win over the hearts of millions really is mind blowing. Evita was only 33 years old when she died, who knows what else she could have accomplished?




2. As a photographic biography of an individual who died about a decade before bographies were featured on mass television, this book is magnificent. The Argentinian publishers painstakingly compiled nearly 200 pages of many elusive photos of this controversial Argentinian icon - all in black and white, and of surprisingly impeccable quality. One of the auhtors is an academic who provides much of the narrative, and fills an important gap in the literature on Eva Peron. Their treatment shows a clear sympathetic bias which should be recognized by any unwitting reader who may be unaware of the deeply split views of Eva Peron which still previal in Argentina and of the political movement that she and her husband created.

   You may, like myself, have enjoyed the brilliant Lloyd and Weber musical about Evita's musical life one or more times. If so, you will find these photos will provide some complementary historical insight to the dramatic performance and parallels the performance - although they two are unrealted, as far as I know. Like the musical, this book captures photos from Eva's childhood in a remote provincial pueblo in the pampas through her meteoric rise to stardom in Buenos Aires and ultimately to Argentina's First Lady. Perhaps most remarkable are the photos of her final months where, despite her cancer-ridden state and growing frailty, she continues public appearances and political campaigns.

   If you are interested in this book, I would recommend you avoid the expense of a new copy by looking for one of the many high-quality second-hand copies available. I found my copy by accident ...for [money amount]!




3. Before Princess Diana, before Jackie O, even before Princess Grace, Eva "Evita" Peron made a name for herself in the international spotlight as a symbol of elegance, ambition and power. Although not always favourable to her character, the world press was intrigued by her obvious glamour. While the Peronist Argentine media labelled her with saintly nicknames such as "The Lady of Hope" and "Mother of the Poor", international correspondents used terms that were less meaningful and more shallow. She became known as "The Dashing Blonde" in the US while the french press labelled her as "La Belle Blonde D'Argentina".
   
   Argentina's first cover girl- Eva Peron's lovely face has graced more magazine covers around the globe than any other female Latin American political leader in history. She's also the only Latin American First Lady to have had the honour of gracing the coveted cover of TIME magazine- in June of 1947 and with her husband in 1951. This may not seem like a big deal NOW but at the time, it was a honour indeed and it should be noted that throughout the 30's & 40's not many woman made the cover of TIME magazine. In 1947 for instance, only a handful of women (6 - according to a source) made the cover that year - If I'm not mistaken Eva Peron was the third. Flipping through the thick pages of this book, it's not hard to see why so many were fascinated by this striking but controversial woman who wore expensive clothes, decorated herself with diamonds and wrapped her femininity in elaborate fur coats. But solely praising her for her looks is missing the point since it was her larger than life persona, her numerous works with Argentina's poor and her meteoric rise from obscurity to power that has kept her name and legacy alive.
   
   This visually informative book is one of the BEST books there is on Maria Eva Duarte de Peron. It offer's an in-depth look into her life using high quality glossy prints. Many of the images presented inside the book are striking photographs of Eva's handsome face with her golden blonde hair and it's metallic sheen either swept up into elaborate coils & curls or pulled back into it's trademark chignon or (in a couple of images) let loose to cascade over her shoulders. Her intoxicating beauty is evident and is the main showcase here but while most of these pictures show her at her most beautiful, others show us her lamentable decline as well. The once delectable body and face gave way to an extremely thin and frail woman with sad eyes and colourless skin. Her swift rise and rapid descent are all displayed infront of our curious eyes. For those of you who love Evita, it will definately arouse some type of emotion seeing her during her final struggles. For those of you who despise her, it might give you a sense of relief that this powerful & vulgar woman was finally silenced in death.
   
   Stikingly original and visually rousing, this book is highly recommended to anyone who is interested in learning more about the life and times of this remarkable but controversial figure (altough the book itself maybe a little TOO expensive for the casual curiosity seeker, in that case I recommend buying a good used copy). It's also one of the rare PRO EVITA books (in English) that offers such clear, good quality photos of the subject. It offers a brief intro and briography but the main attraction are the photographs. You will see Eva's life from the earliest childhood photos to the last Cancer Stricken photos. Her incredible matamorphesis, her incredible acheivements and her awesome gowns and jewels are all displayed within the pages of this interesting book. My only problem with it though is that despite the amazing amount of photographs, I was still left unsatisfied. The reason being is that there are HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of beautiful photo's from Eva's artistic career but the ones they chose to display are the ones we have already seen. The same goes with the photo's taken of her in Europe and of her candid moments. The book claims that many of the photographs have never been seen before but that is true only of her childhood photos, all of the other ones have been published before in several magazines and books. That said, it's still THE BEST photographic Book ever released in North America. The only other ones that come close are ALL visciously one-sided ANTI PERONIST accounts- Lloyd Weber's and Tim Rice's EVITA: THE LEGEND OF EVA PERON & W.A Harbinson's awful EVITA: A LEGEND FOR THE SEVENTIES- the latter remains the WORST biography ever written on the subject and was re-released as EVITA SAINT OR SINNER in 1996 however only the original 70's version contains an amazing collection of photos which is the only reason it's recomended.
   
   And for closing, I am quoting my Chilean Aunts mother (who lived in Argentina during the first Peronist Period): "I saw her from the distance and to this day I have never seen a woman more beautiful. She was and is a Goddess. Everything about her was larger than life. She looked my way and her dark eyes pierced my soul. I will never forget her look."
   
   This book offers a glimpse of the awesome power this remarkable woman had in life and still holds 50 years after her tragic demise.



4. EVITA: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF EVA PERON is the best photographic record available of Eva Peron, First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952. ("Evita," meaning "Little Eva," was her nickname.)

   Evita lived in a time before television was widely used, and since she was a politician she did not have many spreads in glossy magazines (once she became First Lady, her "cheesecake" portraits - taken while she was an actress - were supressed). Therefore, most of her pictures were used in newspapers, giving them a grainy feel. Often, the quality of pictures you find of Evita seem to be much poorer quality than what you would expect from something taken merely 50 years ago. EVITA: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF EVA PERON is an exception, perhaps the best exception I have ever found. Most of these pictures are clear and crisp, though they are all black-and-white.

   One thing this collection of pictures reveals is that Evita truly was not what would be considered a conventionally beautiful woman. She was certainly beautiful in her publicity photos and propaganda portraits (some of which are reproduced here). But in a day-to-day setting - such as the enclosed pictures that depict her having lunch, leaning against her dresser, yelling at a policeman for obstructing a youth's access to her - she was a somewhat awkward, even at times homely, woman. But she was a master of image. As Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro point out in EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON, she had an astonishing instinct, almost a sixth sense, for knowing how image affected people. This talent of hers is demonstrated when one constrasts the behind-the-scenes pictures of her as an awkward woman, with those gorgeous photos of Peronist propaganda. She wasn't a conventionally beautiful woman, but she knew how to make it seem as though she were.

   The portions of EVITA: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF EVA PERON that I found most interesting, and most haunting, were of Eva as a young girl in her hometown of Junin, and the pictures taken of her shortly before her death. There is one particularly chilling scene of Evita, reduced to a mere 77 pounds by the cancer that had invaded her body, standing on the balcony of the government house to greet the tens of thousands gathered below. She spoke, yelled, actually, about taking justice into her own hands, warning her political enemies of the day that she would "go forth with the poor of the country and leave no brick standing that is not standing for Peron!" The rise from poverty, the contrasts, the extremes ... it's all palpable in these pictures.

   This woman was a genius.




5. "Evita: An Intimate Portrait of Eva Peron," edited by Tomas de Elia and Juan Pablo Quieroz, brings together a wealth of black-and-white photographs of Eva Peron, the legendary first lady of Argentina. The editors note in their preface that with the 1955 overthrow of Eva's husband, President Juan Peron, much visual material related to this controversial woman was destroyed. Thus, this book has significant historical and sociological value.

   We see the full span of the woman's extraordinary life: Eva as a child, aspiring actress, wife, and triumphant first lady. There are "glamour shot" portraits, candid photos, magazine covers, stills from film productions, and more. We see Eva and her husband, as well as her interaction with adoring crowds.

   Eva is a consistently fascinating subject: whether fiery, starry-eyed, thoughtful, amused, determined, or serene, you can see why she continues to captivate so many imaginations.

   The text portions of the book are very positive towards Eva. If you have been intrigued by the Broadway musical and motion picture about her life, or by other media about her, I definitely recommend this book.

No comments about Memoirs of Duc de Saint-Simon, 1715-1723: Fatal Weakness.

5 comments about Winston Churchill's War Leadership.

1. There should be a law against very short monographs or pamphlets that disguise themselves as books (complete with a book price)! Unfortunately, this practice is becoming more common among (even great) historians eager to make a dollar.
   
   Martin Gilbert is a talented historian and the world's foremost expert on Winston Churchill and his official biographer. I enjoy reading anything on Winston Churchill and anything written by Martin Gilbert and have paid full price for most of his real books.
   
   This monograph, however, left me feeling robbed. Not only was there nothing new here (all of this has been covered in his previous works), but it was less readable than Martin's other works. Indeed, this is nothing more than the transcript of a talk Gilbert gave at the White House in February 2002, suggesting that he is perhaps more comfortable with the written word than the spoken one.
   
   I will continue to purchase Gilbert's historical works, but will shy away from ever purchasing another of his pamphlets!



2. If you are new to Winston Churchill, and looking for an executive summary of his unique style, this is a book for you. I had read a couple of bio's from the library. My parents had visited Chartwell and brought me a book about the house from there. So I already knew a bit about his war years.
   
   What tempted me to this book was the thought that it offered a perspective on Churchill that would be useful in our daily lives; from the summary, I was expecting almost a guide to setting up self-management systems that really work. The book started out well, but drifted a bit towards being yet another bio of Churchill and his peers in later pages.
   
   Don't be put off buying this book; by making my own 2-page summary of the "lines-between-the-lines", I got some of what I was after. However, I thought I would have just that bit more.



3. It's a small book but very informative. I'm not sure I would want to read it for fun. I'm using it for my thesis.



4. This book manages to outline the major principles of Churchill's greatness as a leader, and to give a fascinating account of the decision- making process during the Second World War. One of the major elements and this should be kept in mind by Western leaders today is that Churchill even in the darkest hours would not placate and negotiate with Evil. The word 'Defeat' was simply not part of his strategic vocabulary. His indomitable spirit influenced all those around him.
   This does not mean as Gilbert makes clear that Churchill did not have his doubts, his despairs, his periods of anger and frustration. But always he was able to overcome , and to keep the main goal, the defeat of the enemy before his eyes. His remarkable courage and his great ability to inspire others , combined with his thorough, responsible and comprehensive intellect helped make him the outstanding political leader of the twentieth century. Whether at the darkest hour of retreat at Dunkirk or in the moments of great relief and victory Churchill made himself the living embodiment of the spirit of the people, the salty and courageously defiant British people he led and loved.
   Gilbert is a master of condensation, of wise judgment in writing. He has done all those who care about the subject of Leadership a very real service with this small in size, but great in meaning, work.



5. This book succinctly and brilliantly encapsulates Churchill's qualities as a wartime leader and shows Martin Gilbert's writing at its best. Ranging across the influence of Churchill's' long experience on his war leadership, his daily pattern of work, his personal example and his relationships with those under his command, this is a fascinating survey, first given by Gilbert in the White House.

5 comments about How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy: (and Found Inner Peace).

1. Harry Stein, 1970s party guy, marries, has kids and finds himself in... the middle of the road. He thinks he's conservative because his social circle consists mainly of Manhattan Silly Lefties (the same species so ably skewered by Tom Wolfe in "Radical Chic" (reprinted in Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers in 1970) but to real conservatives he's still a secular, ambivalent-about-abortion moderate, albeit one with an axe to grind against feminism.
   
   The unspoken factor in the book is its social class context. Stein has clearly spent his life in the High Achievement Zone where opportunity and support can be taken for granted and individuals really can do pretty much whatever they set out to do. (He makes it obvious by dropping names of notables he knows personal stories about - the kinds of stories he'd only hear by traveling in the same circles they do.) In this context he rightly condemns those of his peers who do things like walk out on their underage kids "in search of deeper fulfillment" or "to find myself" or some other fancified way of saying "because parenthood turned out to be less fun and more work than I expected." But he has little to say to the rest of us, those who struggle to get by and have hard choices to make. That's okay. It's not that serious a book. But if you're not at his socioeconomic level, you're not the audience it was written for.



2. Harry Stein, 1970s Party Guy, weds and spawns and accidentally finds himself in...the middle of the road. He thinks he's right-wing because he's surrounded by Manhattan Silly Lefties (the same social set so ably skewered by Tom Wolfe in "Radical Chic" back in the day) among whom he is probably the rightmost individual in any room he's in. However, compared to the real right, he's still a secular, ambivalent-on-abortion moderate, albeit one with an ax to grind against feminism.
   
   The hidden issue here is social class. Stein seems to have lived his whole life in the High Achievement Zone, the level of society where ability and opportunity can be taken for granted, where everybody can do pretty much whatever they set out to do, certainly as far as their personal lives are concerned. He writes from and for that class, rightly taking aim at their failings, e.g., the self-indulgence of those of his peers who walk out on their underage kids out of boredom and then disguise it with fancy language ("need to find myself," "searching for greater fulfillment," etc.) But in the process, he ends up slighting the concerns of the rest of us, the people who get by, muddle through, struggle along and do what we have to do. Frankly, I don't think we're part of his target audience. I think this book was meant to circulate among, and shake up, the elite in a few expensive metropolitan areas. That the rest of us got to see it is just a fluke of the market economy.



3. There are thoughtful, rueful memoirs of sincere political change. This isn't one of them. Stein opens with a typically 70's, upper-class-journalist/boyo recitation of his personal (pre-conversion) sluttishness, including key club swinging, screwing prostitutes, and even, shamefully, exploiting them in the workplace. Funny. Then he puff against others speaking of their past errors, accusing them of a lack of dignity and recommending mature silence. How'd he do that? By hewing to a singular theme: he's different. Special. Not like us. Most of his ire, of course, is reserved for Bill Clinton and feminists. He chides the former for behaving exactly as he did (pre-conversion) and the latter for advocating for stuff like child care, which he opposes, arguing that since he's lucky enough to have a cool job, hip apartment and (rich former entertainment executive) wife who happily abandoned her career to raise their kids, we should all do the same. Larded, of course, with fond memories of his "radical" days, Stein comes across as a braggard, name dropper and opportunist who fails entirely to see the irony in scolding actresses for having children out of wedlock while simultaneously opposing abortion and forgetting to mention, let alone also disapprove of, the rich, producer pals of his who knocked them up in the first place. Nice work, if you can get it.



4. Stein is a very good writer and does himself proud in this book. He was a darling of the Left, until he matured into a responsible adult, and then became their enemy. Like many former leftist elitists, he goes through the trials and tribulations of having life handed to him on a silver platter, looks down on the rubes who are too stupid to understand what he is talking about from his snobbish point of view, but comes to realize that the great divide between the red and blue states is a function of living life instead of reading about it in the New York Times.
   
   While others have made similar transformations, such as Horowitz or Krystol, Stein goes further in exposing the idiocy of the Upper East Side liberals who rail against supposed violations of "free speech" except at the dinner tables they use to suppress it. His observations on the consequences of their liberalism which made NY the murder capital of the world until Giuliani somehow miraculously appeared from the sky as mayor even though they all voted for Dinkins as he presided over the carnage is particularly interesting.
   
   I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at many chapters of this book, but I guess both emotions were appropriate since I have suffered through many of the hypocrisies that makes up the vast majority of the elite liberals today. His observations about "sexgate" as he calls Clinton's great role modeling of corruption for the country's youth of wagging your finger and lying as he performed his magic act with Monica and the disappearing cigars is a good example, but there are many more, such as the disappearing act of "Murphy Brown's" baby when the ratings decided this little Hollywood stunt should be aborted once it was no longer of use in attacking those who viewed intact families as something of value. Of course Brown's role modeling for the millions of unwed women who have babies but have to raise them makes for great observation on Stein's part.
   
   This book was written in 2000, so it is a bit dated, but still relevant to the culture wars of today.



5. The dust-cover copy caries a list of self-help style questions to determine if you might enjoy this book. While they are meant to be light hearted and fanciful, one of them jumps out as a great point of departure in looking at this book. To wit: You sit all the way through "Dead Man Walking" and at the end still want the guy to be executed.
   I remember seeing the film when it first came out. At the end, I was sure Susan Sarandon's character had realized that the job of a nun is saving souls, not protesting political issues. It was no great shock to find over the following days that the rest of the planet viewed the film as a masterful argument against capital punishment. I am used to finding myself on the outskirts of fashionable sentiment and have no plans to move to the center. Works like Stein's reassure me that I am in good company. Intelligent, well informed people can disagree about political issues, spittle-flecked protestations of the left notwithstanding.
   It really is okay to be a social conservative. Advocating reasonable limits on abortion for instance does not mean you hate women; it means you think children are a blessing and that they deserve at least as much protection as we demand for the cockroaches used in filming popular movies (see p. 204.) People like Stein, people who started out as beaded and sandaled hippies and metamorphosed into conservatives are open to accusations of being "wishy-washy," of having sold-out. But Stein makes the excellent point that holding lofty principles while one has no experience and few real responsibilities in life is the truly indefensible position. The things that seemed like such a good idea when you were waving a sign on campus suddenly look different when it is time to pay for them and see how they affect your own children. Most people will become more conservative as they grow older and take on more responsibilities. The question is whether those people will have the courage to lead in the face of the idealistic mob, yammering for ever more government.

5 comments about Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter.

1. Joe Maguire, Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter (Morrow, 2006)
   
   I set out to read both Ann Coulter's Godless: The Church of Liberalism and Joe Maguire's Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter concurrently, expecting, not to put too fine a point on it, that I'd hate Godless and love Brainless. As it turns out, I was quite wrong; I hated both of them. It never occurred to me that Maguire would, in trying to attack Coulter, stoop to her level.
   
   And stoop he does, even though he doesn't seem to understand he's doing so. Right from the get-go, he tells us that "Brainless should not be considered an attack on Ann Coulter the person." (13)
   
   Okay, so Maguire won't resort to ad hominems, or so he gives us to believe. But even if you look past the book's subtitle (I think calling someone else's writing "lunacy" is pretty much the definition of an ad hominem attack), in the very next sentence, he writes, "Rather, it is a full frontal assault on her methods, her mischief, and her madness." (Emphasis mine.) Perhaps I'm not quite understanding the difference between attacking "the person" and referring to "her madness".
   
   In any case, reading the books side-by-side, it becomes obvious that Maguire is trying to play Coulter's game-- taking the fight to her court, as it were. He repeatedly praises Coulter's writing style (which is, in my view, competent at best), and then goes on to attack her substance while using that very same style-- the one that's littered with the ad hominems, snide insults, and unfunny jokes.
   
   Ann Coulter is not, despite what Joe Maguire believes, a good writer. And because he spends so much time aping Coulter's style, at least in this instance, neither is Joe Maguire. (zero)



2. I recently read Mr. Maguire's book Brainless in two days, and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to recommend it to other readers. The author makes an important point in his book: Coulter(geist) serves no other purpose than to distract people's attention from intelligent, meaningful conversation about issues affecting our country, our democracy. Sadly, some who reviewed this book missed that point, and remain fixated on partisan bickering. Even if you don't read this book, consider this: Look at what partisanship (on both "sides") has done to this country over the last several years and take warning from it!



3. Sadly, as I read the reviews of this book I realize that most of the reviewers that panned this book appear to have not even read it.It seems that their desire to uphold and defend the hate filled, closed minded, left hating ramblings of a woman whose factless rants are obviously unresearched and poorly expressed are more important than any open and honest political discourse. I suppose that at this point we can expect little more from the right than baseless accusations and character assasination of any one on the left that believes that being American means we are allowed, in fact we are expected, to speak up when we see our basic civil rights curtailed for our "own good". Apparently they think that freedom of speech only applies to those that attack and attempt ,through dishonesty, to smear any one who offers a voice of dissent. Next time, I suggest that those who feel the need to defend Ann and those of her ilk, continue to drink the "Kool Aid" that Rush, BillO, and a host of other "Conservative spin doctors" are willing to offer. Ann Coulter presented as a thoughtful truth seeker? Come on, they can't be buying the same crap they're trying to sell us, can they? The Bush administration has shown just how fiscally conservative they were, behold the economy... 'Nuff said... Neither conservative nor right....



4. The author of this book is a sad little person. Why spend so much time and energy lambasting someone you hate - or reading about them, for that matter? If he had any originality or talent, he would have come up with his own set of ideas and put them together in a well thought out book. Instead, he spends pages and pages taking apart Coulter's words using his own bias - therefore, making him guilty of doing exactly what he accuses Ann of doing. This is America and everyone is entitled to his/ her own opinion. So, I guess if more books like this come out, they'll just be tributes to Ann's range of influence.



5. Occaisionally I'll purchase a book just to get another opinion. Sometimes you can get a little more insight to help you understand a subject. Not this time. This book just rant's and raves against Coulter. It contributes nothing to the subject. It was a waste of money.

5 comments about Fidel Castro: A Biography.

1. If you are looking for a biography of Castro this is a decent one. There are better ones out there but taken alone this book will tell you the essential things about Castro. I would recommend Guerilla Prince or Fidel Castro by Quirk as a substitute for this book. It is well written but lacks the in depth analysis that the previous two mentioned provide. If you just want a quick introduction use this one but if you really want to know about Castro I would use one of the other two.



2. There's absolutely nothing here not already explored in more detail elsewhere. The reader is forewarned as early as p. 3, when the author calls Naty Revuelta "the most captivating woman in Cuba." How many women did the author interview during the 1950s in Cuba so he could make this statement? Silly at best and incredibly breathless as well.
   And while we're on the opening pages, there's nothing about Castro's well-known illegitimacy and tremendously awful childhood, including the many traumatic events that later defined Castro's megalomaniacal behaviors. Instead, the author takes Castro's word that he was raised into a rich family and that he had some sort of normal childhood when nothing could be further from the truth. He was in fact raised in various foster homes, including the shack of his maternal grandparents. He was not allowed in the "big house" because his father was married to someone else. He didn't even have the last name Castro until he was 17.
   The best part of the book is the cover photo, which shows, among other things, Castro's long and manicured nails.



3. I thought this book was quite good. I remember that when I bought it I read a review stating the the book was outstanding, but the reviewer didn't like the fact that the author kept travelling through time instead of providing a chronological approach to the biography. I actually liked this book better for this reason, partly. Volker Skierka does write the book chronologically, but also skips ahead in time and some times reminds you of instances in the past. Having read this book I'm now interested in reading another, lengthier biography of Castro. The book also does a good job of providing some interesting analysis of what's currently going on in Cuba and what might happen after the man expires. I thoroughly enjoyed it!



4. First of all, this is a great biography. Its incredibly balanced in many topics and pans all along the intense life of Fidel Castro.
   Im not giving 5 stars for two basic reasons:
   1. I think that it is fast forwarded on several fundamental moments of Castro`s history. For example, Sierra Maestra and its very complex development between the action in the mountains and the polithical operation that was done in the cities. That is a fundamental point in the triumph of the Revolution and Skierka gets short in detail and interpretation of the moment. Another example is the relationship between Castro and Che Guevara. The ideology of Guevara was much more influential for Castro than what Skierka merely suggests, Skierka runs away from the problem quoting a Che's biographer: Jorge Castañeda.
   2. This is very important for all the future readers of this work. This biography is classified by topics mostly and not chronologically. For me, this was annoying at some moments and I got more focused in others. For example, one of Castro's skills is the illusionism. He is an expert of saying yes and acting like no. In telling to everybody what they want to hear and do what he wants to do. He partially opened and closed Cuba's socialism so when you have this kind of charachters it can be annoying to be in 1995 and then return to 1989 and then fly to 2000 and return to 1959. On the other hand, there are some topics that get more interesting when you gather all the information, topics such as Castro and religion. It lights a part of Fidel that we could have never imagined, and for me it was one of the most enjoyable moments of the book.
   
   With these 2 handicaps it's still a great work. The economic side of the biography is well explained for all of us who dont have much knowledge on the subject, and we even learn about it withe guidance of Skierka.
   
   Fidel Castro's life is immensely interesting. No matter if you are a Fidelista or not, we are talking about a unique kind of politician. He is a survivor in the crushing steps of history. He survived a "Periodo Especial" which was his ultimate act of escapism.
   I really enjoyed to read this book. My understanding of the world development is now more clear and my perspective of Fidel Castro is now different than 500 pages before.



5. Fidel Castro: A Biography is a solid and thorough rendition of the life of Cuba's tenacious and controversial political leader. Tracing his early years, his influence on profound events of history, economic and social issues plaguing the nation of Cuba up to the modern era, and much more, Fidel Castro: A Biography is an exceptional, evenhanded portrait of an undeniably strong leader's strengths and weaknesses. An inset selection of black-and-white photographic plates complements the involving prose.

5 comments about James Madison: The Founding Father.

1. This is one case where I should have heeded the advice of this site's reviewers.
   
   I wanted to read a Madison biography, but I wasn't looking for a 500-page book, and since my father had this one at his house, I thought, "How bad could it be?" Well, it's pretty shaky.
   
   First of all, Rutland does not make this easy on the readers because he's all over the place. It's not neat and focused like a good biography generally is, perhaps because he tried to cram so much information into less than 300 pages. He just jumped around too much.
   
   For example, the first chapter is a disaster. Rutland barely mentions Madison's upbringing, and even when he does, it's buried amongst other information. You will not get hooked by the first chapter. The last chapter was supposed to be about Madison's post-presidency life, but Rutland continues to mention parts of the presidency. I also really wanted a more focused description of the events leading up to the War of 1812, and what I got were bits of hard-to-follow details here and there. This is just not smooth story telling.
   
   There was some valuable information, such as the detailed outline of the Republican platform during the early stages of the party. And the book was not painfully sympathetic to its subject, but rather a fair account of the great man's life. Perhaps another 100 pages and a more defined overall direction, with chapters addressing a few specific issues rather than bouncing all around, would have made this a decent book.
   
   For those looking to learn about Madison, I don't know what book you should read, but I would not recommend this one.



2. The War of 1812 was fought with Great Britain. The British captured Washington, D.C., and burned the White House. Madison fled. He is known as the father of the Constitution and wrote the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments. The first Amendment guarantees free speech.



3. I did not really care for this book. Rutland makes the premise that Madison was THE founding father implying that he was the most important. He finishes the book with a quote from JFK that Madison was the most under-rated president yet the book dedicates less than 40 pages to the presidency of James Madison. In those 40 pages, I did not gleam anything that Madison did exceptionally well - it all sounded pretty bad to me. I believe the point that Rutland was trying to make is that Madison was not Jefferson's crony and that it was Madison who actually shaped the early Republican party (early version of today's Democratic Party). This was a point well taken and I might accept that Madison was Jefferson's superior. At that same time, I remain unconvinced that he was THE founding father with such peers as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. Important yes but...
   
   The failed argument of Madison's superiority aside, I found the book to brief to be interesting. James Madison was a central figure in the formation of our country, the formation of party politics, and the early days of the republic and to try and tell the story of his entire life in a 250 page book is simply impossible. Many important stories that I have previously enjoyed in book volume detail were reduced to a sentence or two in Rutland's book.
   
   I think this book perfect for a high school student who needs a quick read for a research project but has no real interest in the life and career of James Madison. For a history nut like me, it is a bit too much like reading an encyclopedia.



4. Read the title: "James Madison: The Founding Father" focuses on Madison's role in the founding of our country. Here we learn little of Madison's youth and upbringing. Although Dolly plays a role in this book, it is a relatively minor part.
   
   This book explains Madison's role in the development and ratification of the Constitution, including his authorship of some of the Federalist Papers. The narration of Madison's leadership in the early Democratic-Republican Party can change the reader's view of history. Whereas we usually think of Thomas Jefferson as founder of the Democratic-Republican Party, Rutland makes a strong case that it was really Madison who united and organized the party from his seat in the House of Representatives. Much as Alexander Hamilton founded the party which elected John Adams, so it can be said that James Madison founded the party which chose Thomas Jefferson as its first standard bearer.
   
   Rutland progresses through Madison's term as Secretary of State and even puts a favorable spin on his two terms as president. This is no easy task, considering that the British burned the White House and Capitol on his watch.
   
   Rutland follows the wind down of Madison's career with his post-White House collaboration in the establishment of the University of Virginia.
   
   I appreciate books which enable me to see things differently. This book meets that test. I had always thought of Madison as, so to speak, Jefferson's underling and less talented successor. Through Robert Rutland's eyes we see him as one of the most influential and talented men of the early Republic. Madison comes across, as a practical political operative, the equal of Hamilton and, in result at least, perhaps his better. In the title, Rutland tells us that James Madison is The Founding Father. In the book he proves it.



5. not like Jefferson & Hamilton or celebrated like Washington & Franklin. My fellow reviewers seemed disappointed in this as a biography. But it was not Mr. Rutland's purpose to write a personal story of Mr. Madison's life although his later years were covered quite well. I am glad, however, I took the easy way out by listening to the audio version (unedited). It was as if I was in Mr. Rutland's class as he was giving a lecture. The years after The Revolutionary War, The Federalist Papers, The Constitution & The Bill of Rights, are the real meat of this book. Madison's behind the scenes leadership in Congress was consummate. If we do not appreciate how important he was 200 years later, it seems that he contemporaries did. To his sorrow he was, with Jefferson, responsible for creating the two party system we now operate under. That he wanted to heed Washington's advice against the party system is evident. But he found this advice quickly outdated. As a result Washington, & to a lesser extent Adams were the only unaffiliated presidents in our history. Happily, none of this two-party stuff is cluttering up our Consititution. As Secretary of State under Jefferson & President on his own he was unremarkable. Any one could have mucked things up as well as he did. Indeed his best years were his early years. What seemed to me remarkable was the love, respect & friendship that existed between Madison & Jefferson all of their adult lives. It was an alliance of two great men that never wavered & recreated the "republican" type government of ancient Greece. Mr Rutland was obviously impressed by this relationship & alludes to it several times. I appreciate biographies that teach me something about history I didn't know. How great is this book? Hard to say. But it fit the bill.

5 comments about My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account By the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy.

1. 
   
   Dr Lee told his story in this book. As a naturalized American citizen, he does his professional job, raised a family with a typical middle class profile. But he was the wrong man as in the Chinese saying "The city gate fire victimized the fish in the pond" in the struggle of two parties ugly politics. Reading this book creates the following questions.
   
   1. Where is due process for Dr. Lee?
   2. What is the role of free press in democracy?
   3. Why a free press is enthusiastic to make a guilty assumption on him?
   4. Why there is silence on the spy on Crown Jewel Rocket secret afterward?
   5. Why US Court Judge Parker ended the case with an unusual apology to Dr. Lee, an alleged felon in 9-month solitary confinement with 59 charges?
   6. Why there is a plea bargain for one small charge to cover up lost face?
   7. Why this case is important relating to US Constitution and the rule of law?
   
   Dr Lee warns readers "Do not talk to FBI without your lawyer." This book gives the reality lesson of politics, humanity and justice.
   All men are created equal - some are more equal than others?



2. This book is a self-serving woe-is-me diatribe against the US government because it dared to charge a non-white individual with the crime of espionage. Lee claims this happened to him by virtue of the fact that he is Chinese, and in spite of the fact that he is a naturalized American citizen. Hence, the title.
   
   First, I do not consider naturalized citizens to be American in the full sense of the word. It is simply amazing that people like Lee get hired to positions such as the one he held.
   
   Second, having served in the US Air Force with a top secret crypto clearance, I know from experience that people working in the intelligence community are very aware that they are not to share any sensitive data with anyone unless he/she has the appropriate clearance as well as "the need to know." Yet Lee downloaded all kinds of classified data onto his home computer, a huge no-no for anyone working with sensitive data. And why did he do so, pray tell? What was he going to do with the data he stole? Are we to assume he had no intentions of sharing this information with anyone? According to Lee, to think otherwise makes one a racist.
   
   Third, when the story first broke in the media, I knew it was only a matter of time until Lee or his attorneys would play the race card. If you go to Lee's website and check the names of those that have signed a petition in behalf of Mr. Lee, you will notice that the vast majority are Chinese. How many of these signatories put their names on the petition out of a knee-jerk tribalistic instinct rather than through a sincere effort to discern the truth?
   
   And now we have the case of Chi Mak, a Chinese-born engineer recently found guilty of handing over classified data on electronic propulsion systems for stealth submarines to the People's Republic of China. One wonders why Chi Mak did not play the race card as did Lee. One wonders how many signatories to a petition he could garner from fellow Chinese living in the United States. One wonders what he was doing in such a position to begin with. Maybe we'll find out when Chi writes his book.



3. The book is an interesting account of Lee's "persecution", but anyone who reads the book without understanding that the author is writing about HIMSELF - not exactly an impartial source for the facts - will come to the conclusion that he was a victim of an insane government.
   
   If you don't have time to read the book, here's a synopsis - The US government knew that classified material was getting from Los Alamos to China, and targeted me for investigation not because of my admittedly suspicious and illegal activity but because I'm Asian.



4. Mr. Lee is an amazing author and does an excellent job portraying the "all-righteous" government so many americans think that we have in this country. The truth is that corruption does exists, which is evident in all of the ways that the FBI, DOE, courts, and all of the other Federal organizations dealt with Mr. Lee. My hat is off to him for his courage, fortitude, and skill in creating a wonderful written work straight from his heart.



5. In December 1999, when the threat to national security posed by Elian Gonzales had yet to be discovered and neutralized by the Reno Justice Department, another plot, equally dastardly, was uncovered by the FBI. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwan-born American, was found to be working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory alongside America-born Americans on our nation's most sensitive nuclear secrets. With an alacrity that impressed even Reno's political opponents, the FBI clapped Lee into leg and arm shackles and an orange jumpsuit and put him into solitary confinement in a prison in Santa Fe. In so treating him *before* he had committed his crime, Reno was able to stop him from doing the sorts of things that Timothy McVeigh and Ramzi Yousef had done to get themselves the same sort of rough justice. Of course, Mr. Lee is not happy about these preventive measures, and it shows in his book, but the reader must keep in mind that he was born in Taiwan and doesn't understand our ways.
   
   It is distressing to all patriots that a judge ordered Mr. Lee's release before the Justice Dept was able to fully punish him for what they thought he might have done. Lee's lawyers cleverly played on the so-called "no evidence" loophole to get him sprung after a mere nine months in prison.
   
   Espionage and treason investigations are usually begun when there is evidence of a government employee in a sensitive post spending beyond his or her means: Clyde Conrad with his stash of gold coins; Ed Wilson with his vast Virginia real estate holdings; John Walker with his yacht. Lee's lawyers were able get him freed on the "no evidence" technicality before the FBI had time to find out what it was about Mr. Lee's lifestyle that made them understand that he was a spy. We know now that his stated hobbies of gardening and fly-fishing might well have been covers for illicit activities. Rare coins, might have been buried under the carrots. The whereabouts of an excellent trout pool in a New Mexico creek might have been only the first in a long line of secrets that Lee might have disclosed to the Chinese communists.
   
   Given that the FBI was not accorded sufficient time to uncover his crimes, the whole investigation appears to have rested on Mr. Lee's own admission of the fact that he was born in Taiwan, which has a clear link to China, which in turn is one of our nation's greatest enemies. It sends a chill down my spine to think of how many others might have used the "great scientist" guise to spy on us. Albert Einstein, to name only one, was allowed access to some of our most sensitive data on physics relating to atoms and neutrons and so forth, and no one seems to have noticed that he was born in *Germany*, one of our chief enemies in Europe during World War II. He managed to infiltrate the community of America-born scientists and might well have passed on a massive amount of vital intelligence to his erstwhile compatriots, the Nazis. In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that if he'd been properly incarcerated like Mr. Lee, the war in Europe might have ended many months sooner.