5 comments about American Presidents: Martin Van Buren.

1. This is one of the books in "The American Presidents" series, focusing on Martin Van Buren. The overall series editor, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., speaks of what is at stake with the presidency, in his series introduction (Page xv): "But a system based on the tripartite separation of powers [executive, legislative, and judiciary] has an inherent tendency toward inertia and stalemate. One of the three branches must take the initiative if the system is to move. The executive branch alone is structurally capable of taking that initiative."
   
   In this book, we learn of the presidency of Martin Van Buren, sometimes called the Red Fox of Kinderhook, after his home town. He began in extremely modest circumstances to work his way up to the top position in American politics.
   
   In the process, he masterminded some major political inventions, such as the party caucus, the national presidential nominating convention, the patronage system, a publicity network, and the Democratic Party itself. Obviously, he did not do these things alone, but he was a key figure in the development of a new political structure and framework, far different from that of the early years of the republic. Indeed, as the book points out, he helped p[popularize the term "OK."
   
   The book describes his rise in politics and his clever political machinations. He hitched his wagon to the political star of Andrew Jackson, and that helped propel his rise. He was also a successful elected politicians, from his years in the New York state political scene. There, he helped form the "Albany Regency," one of the earliest stable political organizations.
   
   He was a Democrat, and also favored a more democratic process. Between 1826 and 1828, according to the author, Van Buren began the process of developing a modern political party. It is ironic that as he ascended the political ladder to attain the presidency, he ran into an economic disaster that doomed his presidency. The book discusses that, although there is not the detail one might wish. He did have some successes, but he ended up a one term president (although he tried another run later on--and failed). Then, the later years in his life are discussed.
   
   For a person who wants a quick literate introduction to Martin Van Buren (derided by some as "Van Van the Washed Up Man" after his defeat in the re-election campaign), this ought to do the trick. A good read. . . .
   



2. Widmer does a fine job of presenting a tidy picture of an obscure one-term president, his faults and strengths. By covering his Dutch-American ancestry and character, the reader gains a firm grasp of the individual - and understands what shapes his political wisdom, the motivations behind his party politicking, and the vitriol that his enemies bring to bear. I found the text informative, the style engaging and the theme purposeful.



3. Martin Van Buren, the 8th President, was the first President hailing from New York and the first President of non-English descent. This book briefly covers his life; early years, his rise to political fame, his Presidency and his retirement.
   
   Widmer, does a great job in just 200 pages of giving the reader a sense of who Martin Van Buren was. He also does a great job of making you realize why Martin Van Buren should be remembered and pointing out all the great things he accomplished in the name of democracy, without overselling him and making the reader believe he should go down in history as one of the most important Presidents.
   
   This book is a good read for the regular reader, one who does not normally read non-fiction or biographies. I did not find it too dense and it flowed nicely.



4. Van Buren had a lengthy and complex career, from his rise in New York politics in the early 19th Century to becoming the first ex-President to be seriously considered for a new term in 1844, until his unpopular opposition to annexing Texas led to the upset nomination and victory of James Polk. In a short book of under 200 pages, Widmer can't discuss all of this in detail. He makes a good decision to focus on Van Buren's work as a political organizer and in large part the founder of the Democratic Party, when he brought together the Northern and Southern factions which had supported Andrew Jackson in 1824 to back his successful return in 1828. He obviously covers, but doesn't really emphasize, Van Buren's single term as President, made a failure by an economic collapse that he had nothing to do with.
   
   It is as the founder of the Democratic Party and as Jackson's right hand that Van Buren made his most important contributions to history. Democrats generally prefer to assign this role to the more revered Jefferson, but the parties of his era were such loose and unorganized groupings that they were more factions than real political parties. True national parties, with national conventions and permanent structures date to the era of Jackson, and probably nobody had more to do with creating them than Van Buren.
   
   Also included here are other major events of Jackson's presidency, such as the "war of the Petticoats" and the nullification crisis. It was these controversies that led Jackson to break with John Calhoun, naming Van Buren as his Vice President and natural successor.
   
   Widmer has worked in the White House as a speechwriter for Clinton, and refers to that experience and the Clinton presidency several times. Some reviewers thought that a distraction from the proper subject of the book; I thought it added contemporary interest and showed a continuity of politics across very different eras.
   
   On the whole this book is interesting, readable and informative. It recounts a substantial amount of history in a concise package.



5. If you want a book about the highlights (and only the highlights) of Martin Van Buren's public service career then buy this book.
   
   This book had alot of gaps in it. It kept saying that he was an up and coming star and that he was a political mastermind, but it never once said why he was a star and what manuevers he made to make him a mastermind.
   
   I agree with the other reviewer about Bill Clinton. This was supposed to be a book about the 8th president not the 42nd. I found the constant refrences to Bill Clinton to be out of place. I guess that the author was drawing on his own experience with a president.
   
   The only reason that I bought this book is that it is a short and concise biography of Van Buren. I am trying to read a biography of each of the presidents and did not want to spend alot of time reading a 500-600+ page book on one of the lesser known presidents. I think that the book could have been longer (say about 300 to 350 pages)in order to further detail the career of Van Buren.

2 comments about Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove.

1. At times journalist Paul Alexander's book MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW: THE RISE AND FALL OF KARL ROVE reminds me of psychoanalyst Justin A. Frank's BUSH ON THE COUCH, a study of the emotional troubles that make George W. Bush what he is. As MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW recounts, Rove, the infamous political adviser of Bush, learned the man he thought was his biological father was a stepfather when the stepdad, announcing he was homosexual, dumped the family. Rove's mother then committed suicide.
   
   Karl Rove lost two fathers to rejection and a mother to suicide. The homosexual father went on to pose in body piercing magazines. MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW does not suggest what psychological effects all that had on Rove, who toiled in the direct mail business while repeatedly failing to make a name for himself as a political adviser. But with all the rejection he experienced in his family and career, it's as if Karl Rove attempted to deny reality, trying to make winners out of fellow losers such as George W. Bush, as no one with any credibility wanted him around. Rove often proved them right, falling on his face more than he would admit. According to this book:
   
   - the late political hatchet man Lee Atwater, whom Rove claimed to be his mentor, hated him.
   
   - Rove did not have the close relationship with George W. Bush he purports started when they met in the mid-1970s. They spent little time together until Bush hired Rove for his 1994 Texas gubernatorial campaign.
   
   - George Iran-Contra Bush fired Rove from this 1988 presidential campaign for spreading lies about a political opponent.
   
   - Rove was one of the gang that couldn't shoot straight at the Florida elementary school September 11, 2001, as George W. Bush, Andy Card and he froze up after learning the second plane hit the World Trade Center, confirming America was in crisis. No political adviser worth his salt allows a client - a U.S. president, no less - to look as stupid as Bush did those long six-plus minutes after Card whispered the news, yet Rove could not think on his feet.
   
   Karl Rove, the man they deem "Bush's Brain," is in reality Bush's lame brain.
   
   In 2000 George W. Bush seized the White House not on account of Rove's savvy but because of Ronald Reagan's and George Iran-Contra Bush's partisan Supreme Court appointments. Without the five "justices" who stopped the 2000 Florida recount that would have awarded the Sunshine State and the presidency to Al Gore, Karl Rove would have gone back to licking postage stamps for a living, one more failed campaign under his belt.
   
   Naming every egregious Rove/Bush move would be like detailing each home run Hank Aaron hit; there were just too many to elaborate on all. Some that MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW neglects include:
   
   - regarding Hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush knew the storm was to devastate New Orleans, as a meeting videotape proves. But after the warning Bush did nothing and, as MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW reminds us, the Bush White House's inept response was too little too late as flooding killed hundreds and stranded thousands.
   
   - Rove accidentally sent voter caging lists to the wrong e-mail address, inadvertently breaking the story for the journalist Greg Palast, whom the e-mail recipient contacted after getting Rove's unintended missive.
   
   - While MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW says the George W. Bush administration decided to attack Iraq after 9/11, it's well-documented they actually started planning the invasion in January 2001 while the White House staff was still washing egg and tomato from Bush's inaugural limousine.
   
   Karl Rove is not a comic book villain, one who commits crimes alone. While MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW names accomplices as it recounts the offenses Rove orchestrated, the corporate media deserve much blame for not pressing Rove and George W. Bush harder on their scandals. The best example of that does not even involve Bush. Working for a Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1986, a few days before a televised debate Rove calls a press conference to claim he found a listening device in the candidate's campaign headquarters, implying the Democratic opponent was eavesdropping. The reporters promptly laugh in Rove's face, dismissing the stunt for what it was but several nonetheless write about the accusation. The corporate media act as nothing more than "He said, she said" stenographers instead of doing their job by investigating the matter. Rove's candidate wins the election. Too often journalists, like Karl Rove, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
   
   It all reminds me of Michael Moore's 2003 Academy Awards speech, when he said, "We live in fictitious times." Read MACHIAVELLI'S SHADOW.



2. This book is an engaging, lightning fast read that most political junkies will love. The author clearly has no love for Karl Rove and cherry picks facts and quotes to fit his narrative which basically is, "Karl Rove is a bad guy who did unspeakable things."
   
   The book essentially summarizes Rove's political philosophy as "win at any cost" and "the end justifies the means," then it goes on to offer a survey of Rove's political tactics (the author would call them dirty tricks). The author cherry picks quotes from obscure government functionaries to support his theses which are-- at times-- a little preposterous.
   
   For example, in the chapter about Hurrican Katrina where he posits the theory that the Bush Administration deliberately avoided doing anything to help save lives and render aid in New Orleans so it could embarrass Louisiana's governor (pass the salt, please!) the author begins the chapter by presenting FEMA head Mike Brown as a buffoon, using a quote from an aide to the governer that stated that Brown was "bullsh*&er" and that he had no credibility. At the end of the same chapter, in order to prove his theory about the Administration the author quotes... Mike Brown! (Miraculously, Brown had gone from having no credibility to being a wiseman in just 20 pages or so!)
   
   On the whole it reads like a long New Yorker serial more than a book and, while I had hope for more scholarship than simply "The New York Times wrote...," the author is terrfic writer and the tale he tells will grab your attention--even if it is a little dubious at times.

4 comments about Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist (The Working Class in American History).

1. Here you will learn about Debbs the union activist and organizer, Debbs the socialist party organizer and Debbs the husband, brother, friend and lover. And you might get the impression that the advocacy and political activity of Debbs must be measured almost exclusively by the impact it had on the unions, the socialist party and his intimates. I had hoped to read more about Debbs' impact beyond these circles. How did the nation look on Debbs, especially during his presidential campaigns? What did the other major and minor party candidates make of him? These questions remain largely unanswered by the books end.

   At times, the book treats Debbs' presidential campaigns almost in passing. The campaigns are not treated as events interesting primarily because of the impact they had on the nation. If the US thought Debbs dangerous enough to incarcerate him during WW1, it is difficult to imagine why a history depicting Debbs' larger political and cultural influence would be difficult to produce.

   The book describes well how Debbs framed his leftism in an American voice: how he found within the discourse of individualism a foundation for socialism. But, of course, that direction was all but forgotten after the benighted enthusiasm for the Bolsheviks.




2. He was dubbed an undesirable citizen by so-called progressive Teddy Roosevelt. The best biography of Debs to date. It shows his working class background and radical roots in his family. You can see his evolution from democrat and trade unionist to socialist and industrial unionist. His frustration with mainstream politics leads to his trade union agitation. The failure of the AFL railroad brotherhoods to work together spurs him on to create an industrial union of all railroad workers called the American Railway Union. While in jailed in Illinois after the Pullman Strike of 1894 is crushed he becomes a socialist. He helps unites the various factions into the Socialist Party of America in 1901. That same year he merges the broken ARU with the Western Federation of Miners to form the American Labor Union, which adopts socialism. He helps form the Industrial Workers of the World in 1905 which seeks to organize all workers into One Big Union. He leaves the IWW when in rejects politics. During WWI while other socialists give in to nationalism he remains militantly anti-war. In 1917 he refuses to support America's enterance into the war and remains undecided on the Russian Revolution. While in prison for trying to subvert the war effort he recieves over a million votes for president. His party disintegrates in dispute between Hawks and Doves, and reformers and revolutionaries. A fascinating story.



3. The book was clearly not written by an author, but by a researcher. The book has lots of info, but sometimes tends to get off subject, and is sometimes a bit hard to follow. A good read none the less. A very interesting man and that translates into a good book.



4. PG 203 & 208 reference Governor Davis H. Waite. The author mis-spells Davis as David, a very common mistake for researchers and historians.

   Otherwise good information here on most Debs topics. Read more on Debs & Waite in my future book. Frank S. Waite

5 comments about Golden Bones: An Extraordinary Journey from Hell in Cambodia to a New Life in America.

1. A truly touching story of courage and survival. I couldn't put this book down. A must read to see how fortunate you really are. This is one of the best books I have ever read. A story that will have you shaking your head as you understand what the author and his beloved homeland experienced. This story will stay with you long after you finish the book.



2. Golden Bones: An Extraordinary Journey from Hell in Cambodia to a New Life in America
   A must to read for anyone interested in knowing the extent to which the Kmer Rouge destroyed Cambodia.



3. Want good writing? Want a rippin' good read? This book is good for both. The other reviews will tell you it's a heroic story of a young man who survived - in every sense of the word - the horrors of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields. That it is. But there's much more to this biography than that. This guy made it from being a member of a 'mobile slave unit' to being an ambassador of the United States to the United Nations. Not even Hollywood can invent a superhero with that kind of meteoric potential. No one would buy tickets to such a fairy tale. Ah, but they wouldn't have read Golden Bones! It's one thing to "fall into the mouth of a tiger" and have the presence of mind to play with his teeth - as Sichan Siv did more than once in his hell-on-earth struggle to survive bands of murderous teenagers armed with AK47s and infused with revolutionary zeal. It's one thing to weigh only 120 pounds, be covered with sores from rancid soup and wounds from pongee sticks and wake up one night to find a boa constrictor crawling across your chest. But it's another thing altogether to rise from a pile of ashes that deep and work your way so close to the very top of the American political hierarchy. We've heard of concentration camp survivors making new lives for themselves in America. But Sichan Siv's incredible story rivals the best of them. It left me with the irresistible thought that despite its many faults, tomorrow's world will be even better than today's.



4. I just finished reading this book -- it is extraordinary and well worth buying. In many respects this is the ultimate 'self help' guide. It is the kind of book you read when facing adversity in life, or give to a friend when they are looking down. Sichan Siv has faced the worst life has to offer and has made it to the top. Anyone who thinks they can't rebound or pick themselves up from tough times should read Siv's story.
   
   The other remarkable message is the opportunities that America gives to everyone, no matter what your background. Siv came to the U.S. as a refugee and soon found himself working in the White House. What other country on the planet offers opportunities like that? Another inspirational message to people of any background, color, education, etc. about what can be accomplished if you keep on trying.



5. Golden Bones is a true story which will inspire and captivate you from beginning to end.
   
   Ambassador Sichan Siv shares his journey from his younger days in Cambodia to the White House to the United Nations. His story reminds us that America is a great country and that with hope and hard work-- dreams do come true.
   
   This book intertwines history, Cambodian and American culture with a tale of courage and hope. A must read for all and a story we, as a land of immigrants, can appreciate. His story is the American Dream.

5 comments about Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy.

1. This has to be one of the funniest, yet saddest, books I have ever read. Many pages into the book I was certain this was a self-deprecating satire. Surely no one would admit to tying themselves to a tree in a lightning storm to overcome fears. Surely no one would honestly describe choosing his wife for eugenic reasons. Surely no one would not only screen Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," extolling the Third Reich in the White House but praise the way the Nazi's could move a crowd. As he goes on and on painting a vivid picture of someone not one but several sandwiches short of a picnic, the old adage popped into my head. "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Of course he is obviously no fool; he is much closer to a psychopath. That's what makes this so sad a story--that it was actually published for everyone to see. Just one more example of the insanity, the perversity and the criminality of the Nixon White House. Oh, by the way, I did not buy the book; I wouldn't do that. I got it from the library.



2. Timothy Leary was on a spiritual quest sequestered in a mansion. The G Man is the devil interrupting a spiritual quest in an attempt to find God. The G Man was going to protect American values by breaking into homes illegally. The G Man was going to protect democracy by violating the election(and other) laws of the democracy. GIVE ME A F#$*#@)$G BREAK! And Jimmy Carter let him out of prison. THE WORLD IS INSANE!



3. I started reading this book to `fill in the blanks' about one of this nations most pivotal events. In addition, one of the men behind them.
   
   When I finished reading this book, I was surprised find that I not only knew more about Mr. Liddy, but about: Water Gate, Tim Leary, President Ford, The Pentagon Papers, the FBI, gun fighting (When you're shooting, lean toward your target. That way if you die, you die shooting), the American prison system and of course, eating the hindquarters of a rat to rid your self of a fear of them.
   
   I also understand that many bookstores place this book in the `self-help' section. Manley because of Mr. Liddy over-coming many of the fears that ruled his life as a child.



4. This book should be required reading for anyone in a 20th-Century American History course. Not only does Gordon chronicle his own personal (and at times rather disturbing) history, but, he puts it in the context of the America in which he grew up, the America in which he came of age, the America in which he worked, and the America in which he became (in)famous. Somewhere along the line, he reminds each of us of the America in which we came to be. I'm 42, so, for the longest time, "Watergate" wasn't much more than a lot of old guys on TV having long, boring conversations. The latter chapters of "Will" flesh out the incident quite well.
   
   As a companion-piece, I also recommend "When I Was a Kid, This Was a Free Country", also by GGL.



5. Great book by a Loyal American , didn't rat out President Nixon, did his time , came out made a new life and a fortune , If I ever had a hero he's mine. With all this left wing scum undermining our country, thank God for guy's like G Gordon.

1 comments about The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy.

1. For those who are interested in familiarizing themselves with how the media treats events and, especially, campaign issues, this book is useful. It balances out popular myths created by the media, in particular, by major news commentators ranging from Russert to Blitzer, et al. Through substantial exemplification, it exposes, quite correctly, bias, favoritism, neglect and the absence of objective and realistic analysis. As a major explanation for this, Gravel identifies, partially correctly, the concept of news commentators "following the story line" that habitually and temporarily excites the masses and is used for marketing and selling techniques.
   
   To be sure, this is a major weakness in America's media, and Gravel and Eisenbach expose it with rigor and convincability. And it does pose a threat to security and democracy.
   
   Unfortunately, this book has a narrow and limited focus. Its purpose is not to place the function and performance of the media into a larger comparative historical context. Had it done so, it could have offered the reader a profound and highly important insight into how overemphasizing and adulating democracy actually contributes in a major way to the very problem this book exposes. Overpoliticizing the masses and overadulating democracy erodes ethics and engenders what should be called "demofascism," i.e. people oppressing people.
   
   Edward Bernays, the founding father of the modern public relations industry who wrote his famous book "Crystallizing Public Opinion" in the early '20s, though Jewish, had his book elevated to be the pride of Goebbels' library of propaganda books. Bernays was obviously shocked when he became of aware of this in the early '30s. His actions span more than 60 years, and he had presidents and major corporations as his customers. Advocating that all corps. need their pr depts., his advice contributed to the current nasty habit of having nearly all major bureaucracies devote a shocking percentage of their resources for selling themselves, for sugarcoating and whitewashing their actions and, generally, fooling the public. A fascist element is part of the media, of marketing, public relations and selling something. This has to be pointed out and would support the book's message.
   
   Beyond this, Ernst Hanfstaengl, a well-connected Harvard political science graduate, who seems to have observed closely U.S. political party conventions, became Hitler's campaign advisor and introduced the Nazis to U.S. election techniques and pep rally hoopla as well as U.S. cheer leading and associated musical support to whip up the masses into hysterical frenzy which surfaces in both Nazi and U.S. political rallies par excellence. Hanfstaengl, in his autobiography, admits having introduced Hitler to America's electioneering method and associated media techniques and the custom of cheerleading the masses. He composed at least 12 storm trooper songs based upon the hyped up beat of American music, according to his own testimony. If Gravel and Eisenbach desire to point out how the media threatens security and democracy, including this could have cemented their case.
   
   All of this and more is missing in Gravel's book and needs to be understood. Nevertheless, Gravel's book is very important insofar as it does raise the issue of America's neglect of a realistic domestic analysis of its socio-economic conditions, but it is only a necessary start.

1 comments about Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution.

1. It should merit 3 stars alone just to have Prof. Waldstreicher actually come out with a book that people can read! His other works have been dreadfully written (esp. his work in Journal of the Early republic), the worst prose in the business. However, not only is this book very nicely written, for which he deserves commendation, but its also interesting. What Waldstreicher does is demostrate how labor inthe 1st half of the 18th century in America was quite often "unfree": either due to slavery, indentured servitude or an apprenticeship. Waldstreicher's contribution here si to show how BF's life was marked by all three. He was an apprentice himself, kept Indentured servants and owned a slave or two. It is a great way to explore this issue of labor and freedom in the colonies, and to do so by using the life of a Founding Father.
   Given the subject and the prose, I have no reservations at all about rating this book 5 stars.

5 comments about Inside the Economist's Mind: Conversations with Eminent Economists.

1. This book can make you fall in love with economics all over again. A collection of interviews with sixteen eminent economists, it presents the attractive face of the field--one rediscovers an economics concerned with improving the human condition by putting to good use tools borrowed from disciplines as diverse as mathematics and psychology.
   
   The book is a labor of love for William Barnett, the editor of the journal Macroeconomic Dynamics in which these interviews originally appeared between 1997 and 2005. Though the interviews were aimed at professional macroeconomists, much of the book is of broader interest. That's because these eminent economists, interviewed by their peers, are often able to describe their complicated work in simple terms, with modesty and humor, and enriched with anecdotes from their lives.
   
   Link to full review: http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2008/072508.htm



2. "Inside the economist's mind" is not a title that will attract readers without some background in economics, nor should it. This collection of interviews is by economists and for economists: there is a fair amount of economic jargon used that will make the book hard to read for laypeople.
   
   Having said that, most of the interviews are entertaining. Getting an author's personal view on well-known ideas makes those ideas come alive, and it is interesting to read about the career paths and choices of famous people. The selection of people is impressive, although in my personal view (as a micro-economist) there is an overrepresentation of macro-economists, and within this category an exaggerated interest for the rational expectations `revolution' and monetary policy.
   For those with other interests, treasures are more limited. There is a great and provocative interview with Robert Aumann that ranges from the existence of God to the foundations of game theory. The interview with János Kornai is great because having started his career on the other side of the iron curtain, he has a different perspective on the discipline. This is welcome, because it turns out that top-economists are a rather incestuous bunch, mostly bred within the top 10 or so departments in the US. This generates a lot of uninteresting institutional insider talk, the summit of which is reached in the useless last chapter in where James Tobin and Bob Shiller argue about the existence or not of a `Yale school' in economic thought, as if anyone cares.
   
   Some reviews talk about the `astonishing revelations' or the 'fabulous storytellers' in this book. Don't get your hopes up, it's still economics, unless they refer to the fact that Cass once said "[...]" to his head of department. The reviewer who calls this "A Beautiful Mind scaled up 16 times" must have read a different book (or did not read ABM).
   I would recommend getting this book from the library and reading the chapters that you are really interested in. Although interesting and occasionally entertaining, there is not too much here that you want to keep for reference. Still, 4 stars for the Aumann interview.



3. The editors should be commended on their choice of interviewees! A better, but still "mainstream", selection of major economists of the last half century could hardly be put together. While the selection is hopelessly skewed towards macroeconomics, it seems fitting, given the M.D. connection.
   
   Several interviews (e.g. Modigliani, Sargent) could be very interesting to graduate economics beginners, who'd like to put the contemporary tools and theories they learn in a more historic perspective. They also show how the rumors about the demise of "traditional Keynesian" concerns are largely exaggerated. (Modigliani is not shy about his views concerning unemployment in contemporary EU-15.)
   
   I don't find the book to be accessible to non-professionals or even to scholars in related fields such as PolSci. Some of the interviews are highly technical, which is not helped by the fact that the interviewers are often former students or junior collaborators of the interviewee. -- This is, I think, a good thing, since this level of discussion will be most useful for (future) professionals who look for insight and perspective rather than Principles hand-holding.
   
   On the down side, many interviews read like the interviewee is simply sampling his publishing record. "I wrote X and then I wrote Y..." The more politically-minded reader will be disappointed by the policy content (or lack thereof) in several interviews.



4. This is a collection of interviews commissioned for a journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics. The idea is to gauge the position of the profession by asking the people who invented large swathes of the theory their motivations for doings what they did, when they did it, and how they did it. Readers find eccentric and irascible characters behind some of the major innovations in economic science. I loved this book, and read it cover to cover in a day.
   
   The book purports (pg. xi) to "contain[] unique insights into the thinking of some of the world's most important economists, whose work contributed to the evolution of modern economic thought", and indeed it does.
   
   Scientific biography is a passion of mine, ever since reading Richard Feynman's writings on his life and work. Looking at the path integral method as an undergraduate, you can see how he came up with it (if, in fairness, I didn't really understand it), how startlingly original he was in doing his physics, because that's how he lived his life---he followed different paths as he felt he needed to, and arrived at different destinations that others because of his personality.
   
   So it's great that William Barnett, the editor of Macroeconomic Dynamics, and the co-editor of this book, decided to ask these men these questions.
   
   In future editions of this book and the further volumes to come, I'd love to see a focus on the characters behind different approaches to economics and their reasons for taking contrarian positions to the mainstream---Foley, Nell, Solow and Velupillai (my thesis advisor, in full disclosure), as well as more traditional mainstays of the profession. A focus on economists regarded primariy as great teachers would be great as well, not just the theoretical giants.
   
   The book is a very rare thing---an economic page-turner, like The Worldly Philosopher, Adam's Fallacy, and Freakonomics. The personalities behind the science's blleding edge make for compelling reading.



5. Thomas Keene has an Amazon Listmania List called "Book Reviews: Must Reads." It links to each of the books in Amazon that he recommends as a "must read," and there currently are eighteen of them on his list. But oddly the Amazon system does not provide reverse links from the Amazon page for each of the recommended books back to his review.
   
   He is the very influential Host of the radio program, "Bloomberg on the Economy." This book is on his list of "must reads." Here is his review:
   
   "Rules are meant to be broken. Samuelson & Barnett goes on the list without a complete read. Sixteen stunning interviews; the candor shocking. But then, this is Samuelson. Taylor interviews Friedman; Blanchard interviews Fischer. You get the must-read picture."
   
   Keene's rule that he says he is breaking is never to put a book on his "must read list" before he has finished reading the book. When he finishes reading this book, as I have, I am sure that he will not change his mind.
   
   I have only one criticism of the book. The stellar endorsement quotations that appear on the back cover are set in a rather small font on a black background. It would seem that the publisher could have found a way to make those quotations more inviting to read. But of course this is not a criticism of what is in the book.

5 comments about President Kennedy: Profile of Power.

1. As the leading civilian authority on the U.S. Secret Service (and President Kennedy's interaction with the agency), I was much interested in this book by Richard Reeves. I am a big fan of Mr. Reeves---in addition to a great book on Richard Nixon, he is a great writer and speaker. You can't go wrong in purchasing this fine book. vince palamara



2. Jackie Kennedy is said to have given copies of this book to her children with the advice, "If you want to know your father, he is in this book." Reeves was said to be surprised at her endorsement and commented. "I wasn't terribly flattering to Jackie in the book."
   Well worth the read.



3. After reading this book, I feel that I come out understanding the Kennedy presidency in better terms. While Sorenson and Schlesinger wrote impeccable accounts on the admininstration, they are somewhat distorted, and make Kennedy out to be a hero. This well-written and higly researched account, I feel to be the definintive account of the administration. It shows the flaws of President Kennedy, and the true personality of the man in the White House, his battle with Addison's disease. Kennedy was a very inexperienced leader at the beginning of his presidency, and I don't feel that it really dawned on him until the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
   
   This detailed account covers his meetings with Premier Krushchev, how he dealt with South Vietnam, and the apparent sickness that came upon him after learning of the death of Ngo Din Diem. You also see that Kennedy was very much a womanizer, almost to the point of obsession it seems. This book deserves much attention, and for anybody who has never read about President Kennedy, an excellent start.



4. This book is a well-written chronological account of Kennedy's presidency. Minimized is the personal gossip and inuendo while highlighted is the decision-making style of JFK and his entourage as events unfold. You get a sense of what it's like being thrust into the vortex of events for which no president is totally prepared. The writer attempts to reveal President Kennedy as both more and less than the Camelot charisma would have you believe. Thoroughly enjoyable and informative must-read addition.



5. President Kennedy did not have the easiest presidency imaginable: big issues abroad including Cuba, Vietnam, Berlin, the nuclear arms race and test ban treaties with Russia and the highly contradictory issue of integration at home were all begging for his attention and often at the same time. This biography gives a good insight into the way decisions were taken and that there is a lot of on-the-job learning involved. It is in a sense shocking to read that the way a superpower is run is not that much different from the way an average manager runs his group of a few people.

   I found it slightly disappointing that this biography deals exclusively with the presidency of Kennedy, not his formative years as a student, a soldier and a senator. But all in all a revealing insight into the presidency of a man who, after his assassination, become a posthumous hero.

5 comments about Stalin: A Biography.

1. As I read about the WW II Russian front and Stalin's actions in other books during the past year, I decided that a good biography on Stalin would be a fascinating, interesting, read. After reading that the Washington Post rated Service's book one of the "Best Books of the Year for 2005" and that it was a "Winner in Biography" in the Independent Publishers Book Awards for 2005, I thought this would be the one. Instead, I was disappointed to read a book as uninteresting as the history books that I studied in high school and college; books that turned me against history for the next 30 years. It was well-researched and full of details but so are encyclopedias.
   
   I have read quite a few great biographies on people as diverse as Huey Long and Charles Darwin; but, to me, "Stalin, a Biography" was a waste of time.



2. Robert Service's Stalin biography provides a detailed glimpse into the life of one of history's great tyrants. In the course Service dispels a number of myths especially whether Stalin murdered his second wife. Another reviewer pointed out the assassination of Kirov and Stalin's destruction of Bukharin, Kamenev and Zinoviev deserves greater attention. I agree. These prominent opponents of Stalin are dispatched by Service with only a few sentences. Service additionally makes broad-brush statements about popular views, resistance or opposition to Stalin which he does not support with facts or anecdotes.
   Ultimately, where the book let me down is when the 1930's end and enters the World War 2 and post-world war 2 eras. It seems the author was bored by the subject or just wanted to the book quickly. Service additionally assigns the lion's share of responsibility for the Cold War to Truman and his desire for world-wide United States hegemony.
   These last chapters of the book I feel made Service's "Stalin-A biography" seem incomplete.



3. While I sense as a non-expert that this biography has freed us from some of the stereotypes about Stalin which clouded the views of him in the past, probably exactly because Stalin's hold on power was defined by his ability to operate in the shadows before he emerged on center stage, and even then managed to keep a lot of the world guessing about what exactly his role was. Deniability figured big time in his history. The book nevertheless falls short. The style is somewhat plodding, and there is an implicit assumption that we are experts on Soviet history, and geography, and no aids are on offer in that regard. So in being NOT an expert on Soviet history, I find myself after reading this book that I need to read a history of the Soviet Union and probably of Russia, in order to provide me with the context which this book sorely lacks.



4. Service has written a well-researched history of Stalin's life here. It is very thorough and complete and yet it is still quite readable. Unfortunately though, Stalin still remains the cipher that he always has been. No new insight into his lust for power emerges from the six hundred plus pages of text.
   
   Perhaps there is no answer; maybe Stalin was just the uber-sociopathic dictator he appears to be and that he survived and flourished in the dog-eat-dog milieu of revolutionary era Russia because he was very lucky and the best at what he did.
   
   Dictators in the modern era have all to some extent (consciously or not) modeled themselves after Stalin. Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein come to mind. It is said that Saddam had a room in his personal library composed of all the major biographies written about Stalin in Arabic translation, and that he read every one.
   
   I recommend this book though as an excellent work of scholarship and a most comprehensive survey of Joseph Stalin's life and times



5. Contrary to what some other reviewers have stated, I do not believe Service goes out of his way to humanize Stalin. However, Service glosses over huge and momentous events, such as the Great Terror. We have all heard of the monstrous acts committed by Stalin but none of the details are given, other than numbers and names. It seems inconceiveable that a 600 plus page book would be superficial and lacking specificity but it does. One gets the feeling Service felt previous biographers had already provided the dirty details and therefore left them out. He also does not tell Stalin's story in any chronological manner. He jumps around endlessly. I cannot recommend this book.