5 comments about Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him.

1. Celine once said that the biggest defeat in life was to die without realizing how rotten people can be. In this sense, if none other, few of the victims of Stalin's reign of terror could have died in vain. Donald Rayfield's *Stalin and His Hangmen* offers exhaustive and well-documented proof--what a pack of rats we humans are!
   
   Rayfield doesn't analyze so much as record the appalling criminal and pathological behavior of Stalin and an entire ruling elite. By doing so, he hopes to explain how Stalin not only rose to power, kept power, but infected everyone around him with his murderous paranoia and ruthless quest for dominance. How did Stalin get these men to kill for him--to commit not just one Holocaust, but repeated holocausts over the decades of his absolute tyranny? And how did he convince, order, and inspire this gang of pseudo-psychopathic "party leaders" to kill so many as well as each other without turning on the one man from whom they all had the most to fear--Stalin himself?
   
   Rayfield suggests that it was part of Stalin's dark genius to be able to manipulate his minions in such a way that they were all in a constant state of mutual suspicion, each trying to get a leg up on the other, all trying to outdo each other in ruthless efficiency to please the boss and to avoid incurring his wrath. The whole warped dynamic doesn't sound a great deal different than the politicking that goes on in any ordinary workplace--without, naturally, the pogroms. No doubt Stalin's divide and conquer strategy goes a way towards explaining the crimes committed by these otherwise unremarkable men, but one suspects the matter is quite a bit more complicated and rooted in the paradoxes of human nature itself.
   
   What Rayfield illustrates most chillingly is the thin line that separates the normal man from the callous bureaucratic killer for whom millions of lives are, as Stalin once said, just a statistic. For it isn't the ever-present and ever-willing supply of sociopaths and contract killers available in any society who did the hands-on killing in the Gulags and prisons of Stalin's Russia that are so disturbing, but the "company men," the "family men," who went home to their wives and kids after a long day at the office casually ordering the ethnic cleansing of the Caucuses or the prophylactic execution of twenty thousand Poles.
   
   Yet while focusing more attention on Stalin's right (and left) hand men (like Beria, Yezhov, and Yagoda) than is usually the case in studies of Stalin and his crimes, Rayfield somehow fails to make these admittedly inhuman characters seem like real-life human beings. There's a lack of biographical depth and detail, of incident and anecdote that might flesh out these otherwise thinly-drawn figures and perhaps offer further clues and insights into their natures and into what turns not just politicians into killers, but poets, soldiers, wives, doctors, basically anyone, into an accomplice and snitch ready to betray their fellow man to save their own neck.
   
   In providing, admirably, the objective facts it seems to me that something was nevertheless missing that would bring this gang of cruds to life. Quite probably, there's just too much ground to cover here--the cast of characters is enormous, the crimes monstrous and abundant, and the time period over half a century. At five hundred densely-written pages, it's hard to see how Rayfield could have gone into much more depth in one volume. Still, in the end, *Stalin and His Hangmen* is a compelling and astounding read that has the power to shock even those who think they already know just how unspeakably cruel a people and a society can become when it's ruled by human beings at their worst.



2. Of all the historical villains of the 20th century I consider Josef Stalin as the greatest villain of all -- yes, even greater than Adolf Hitler. He is also one of the most fascinating characters of the 20th century. Stalin was a master bureaucrat who quietly and methodically finagled himself into a supposedly mundane unglamorous position within the Communist Party and turned it into his ticket to the top by defeating supposedly greater party leaders than himself -- first relegating them to lesser roles, then ushering them out of the party, and eventually eliminating them permanently.
   
   "Stalin and His Hangmen" is a brilliant compilation of his "achievements" and how he accomplished what he accomplished. It tells of how he manipulated the party and how his secret police brought grief to the country. What is perhaps most fascinating to me about his reign of terror is how he got away with it. The individuals he surrounded himself with knew what was happening, how it was happening, and that they too were apt to be victims of his terror. Yet they appeared powerless to save themselves until Stalin's own end in 1953. Small wonder that his immediate entourage were slow to call for medical assistance when they found him incapacitated by a stroke in March 1953.



3. This simply a very well written book.
   
   The author doesn't write in a dry and detached way. He allows his righteous hate for these killers to shine through.
   
   Too often, Hitler's equal has been given relative scant attention for the tens of millions of lives ruined and for the millions actually murdered.
   
   The left, AKA academia has had a difficult time coming to grips with what the Soviets were. It truly was an evil empire and Stalin ruled it at its zeneth.
   
   Also well covered all many of the people who helped Stalin achieve what he did. If there is anything to be enjoyed, it's the justice that most ended up being victims themselves, often tortured and killed by the very underlings they trained and it done so in locations they established.
   
   Again, this book is written with the outrage and hate towards these people that is long overdue. If Hitler and his camp deserve their own hell, and they do, the author of this book makes the case for Stalin and his Hangmen.



4. Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) was Ivan the Terrible with a copy of Karl Marx in his hand. In fact, Stalin (Russian for "steel") was much worse than Ivan. Under Stalin's dictatorship the Soviet Union underwent years of murders; shootings; forced removal of millions of ethnic and other groups; persecution of a wide array of groups:
   (Jews; physicians, professors, religious leaders, non-ethnic Russian citizens, artists; writers; actors; lawyers-you name it!)
   Stalin seized power by ruthlessly murdering his opponents. As he emerged with total power in 1927 "Koba" (to use a nickname) ruled the Soviet Union with cruelty, stupidity and crimes so immense it takes Rayfield 500 small printed pages to describe them in searing detail!!
   Lenin had established Soviet rule but it was Stalin with such loathsome cronies as Iagoda; Estov and the repulsive Lavria Beria who launched a reign of terror on the very people they governed! Millions were slaughtered by bullet, ax or starvation. In the Great Purge of 1937-1938 millions were relocated to distant lands; sent into slavery in the GULAG in the far east or murdered after a short kangaroo court proceeding.
   Justice was absent from the Soviet lexicon under the evil Stalin.
   Stalin trusted no person. He executed those who had worked hard to establish him in power. Most of the powerful men who were vassals of Stalin's whims died betrayed by him.
   On the eve of World War II Stalin purged the Red Army of gifted generals. When Nazi Germany launched its attack against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 the Soviets were woefully unprepared. Generals were murdered: Pows returning from German captivity were executed as spies. In all over 20 million Soviet citizens would die in the war. Many of these victims died at the hands of the evil sorcerer of the Kremlin.
   Donald Rayfield teaches Russian and Georgian at the University of London. His book on playwright Anton Chekhov was well received. In this book he shows us the Soviet hell on earth world of sudden death; betrayal; cruelty beyond belief; hatred; racial and ethnic hatred that boggles the mind of anyone with a claim to be a member of the human race!
   Stalin and his hangmen were thugs; bullies and merciless killers of all that is decent and good in the human soul. Rayfield suggests at the end of his book that he fears democracy in the new Russia under Putin is very fragile.The ghosts of Stalin may again materialize in the Russia of the 21st century.
   Anyone who lives in a Western democracy should thank God that they did not first see daylight in the Soviet Union in the black days of Stalin and his cruel cronies.
   Rayfield's book is well written. Though he is a scholar the book can be
   read by one who has little familiarity with the history of this sad chapter of human history (the chapter on the Katyn Forest of Polish officers is just one case among countless tales told in the book which will break your heart). Stalin killed women, children, the old and the poor, the wealthy and the smart. He was an indiscriminate murderer of all he feared in his paranoic isolatiion inside tall Kremlin walls. He also was adept at turning people against one another. Several cases are related where a husband would volunteer to murder his own wife if this was the ukase ultimatum from Stalin which would prove the man's loyalty!
   As one who has read several books on Stalin I would give this book five stars. Every page has something to shock the reader. We should know what Stalin did as we honor his millions of helpless victims.



5. Brilliantly researched and written this is a vital and substantial contribution to the sorry and depressing history of life in the former Soviet Union under the rule of the psychotic, evil Stalin and his miserable bunch of hyena type acolytes. After out scheming and removing the old Bolsheviks, Stalin was able to put himself up as the top hyena at the top of the pack and corrupt his close associates and eventually the Cheka to inflict his paranoiac ideas and schemes on the Communist Party and Soviet Union.
   
   The book commences with the long road to power for Stalin and deals with his early life, the experience of his religious education in the Tbilisi seminary and the ideas he probably gained from it and his Bolshevik revolutionary life. Chapters are then devoted to the history of each of the leaders of the Cheka with details of their pre-Cheka life and how they performed in the top job.
   
   Dzierzynski with the agreement of Lenin and his men formed the Cheka within 6 weeks of the October revolution and was immediately up to his armpits in blood; the period 1918-1921 saw the Cheka involved in widespread arrests, brutal interrogations and mass shootings of some real and many thousands of imagined enemies. Dzierzynski was similar to Stalin with a religious background that was savagely shattered at age 19 in a conversion to atheism and revolution and these two got on well together. In 1922 Dzierzynski swung a half million paramilitaries from Trotsky to support Stalin and was a crucial influence in Stalin's rise to power. He died in 1926 but directed his efforts to combat counter revolution, espionage etc outside of the party not inside, l got the impression he would have opposed many of Stalin's later crazy schemes as party unity was vital to him and he personally disliked fabricating evidence (of all things!) and was not willing to suppress party members.
   
   Dzierzynski was followed by the very able Menzhinsky who during the period 1928 to 1934 ably assisted Stalin to neutralize his opponents inside and outside the party and of course controlled the Cheka as it moved against the rural inhabitants and actioned the grain requisition of 1928 and the brutal forced farm collectivization which lead to the subsequent famine. Menzhinsky also worked with Stalin on the first show trials.
   
   This sorry trend of brutal suppression and misery continues and gets worst as the book continues. Besides the main hangmen this books also presents the history of the other Cheka operatives i.e. the strategists, crackdown and arresting officers, interrogators, executioners, guards etc.
   Many sadists, psychotics and cruel operatives performed the dirty work of Stalin and his hangmen.

5 comments about "An Honorable Profession": A Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy.

1. This Book is a must read for all who Loved Kennedy.What a great man and Father.Its great reading.



2. It's amazing how a young man (THAT'S WHAT HE WAS WHEN HE DIED) who came from the most wealthiest of surroundings can relate to people from all fronts and walks of life, who could walk to the strongest and hardest of ghettos across this land amongst people less fortunate than he and with sincerity and fearlessness & yet still have an immediate connection with people on the other side of the fence (UPPER MIDDLE CLASS, WEALTHY) Robert Francis Kennedy was perhaps the last white man/ politician who the trust, respect, and effection of the entire human population (with the exception of BIll CLINTON) that's why you can a feel the dispair and sense of loss that people felt when he was murdered. "AN HONRABLE PROFESSION" is more than just a tribute to a man who was coming into his own but it is a tribute to the best and grestest sides of the Human Spirit,.



3. "An Honorable Profession" : A Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy, is one of the best memorial book of rfk, there are a lot of picture and some newspapers article.
   the texts are good and interesting, it is never boring.
   I recommend it to all rfk admires



4. There are beautiful poems, touching stories, and inspirational words in this book. I learned a lot about the good and decent man and his course. I sensed the feelings and spirits of so many Americans at that troubled time. There has never been a book of tributes after reading which I have been filled with so many hopes, though so sad at the same time... Robert F. Kennedy died in the course of the honorable profession, but he did not die in vain. His course made the profession an HONORABLE one, and made people believe that we can do better, and that we can also make our profession honorable.



5. This beautifully written biography of the late Senator Robert Kennedy does an excellent job of focusing on not only the man's career, but the issues and questions he was confronted with, such as civil rights, poverty and the disenfranchised citizens.

   Robert Kennedy had a very impressive resume -- father of 11, an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a law degree from University of Virginia, attorney, Attorney General, Senator and lastly, presidential candidate for the 1968 election.

   This was a man who apparently set high standards for himself throughout his life. The seventh of 9 children, he fought to prove himself among his siblings. As a boy, he strove to develop his physical prowess. One can smile at the young Bobby, then 4 trying to teach himself to swim despite his older brothers' chagrin. The same small boy who kept jumping in deep water would, 35 years later climb a previously unscaled mountain. Robert Kennedy, by then a senator suffered from acrophobia his entire life, yet pushed himself to climb that mountain. In March of 1965 he would table his fear and, with veteran mountain climbers Jim Whittaker and Barry Prather (both of whom had scaled Mt. Everest in 1963) ascend Mt. Kennedy in Canada. He climbed that mountain out of love for his slain brother, the late President. This particular event is inspirational; this man faced his biggest fear and acted out of love.

   As a boy, Robert Kennedy grappled with a mild form of dyslexia. Although by all accounts he learned to read within normal limits and was certainly an intelligent man, he learned early to combine his intelligence with diligence and very hard work. In adult life he would seek solace in classic literature; by 1964 he was able to quote long passages by authors such as Camus and Aeschylus by heart. The title of this book is a nod to the Senator's love of classic literature; "An Honorable Profession" is from "The 39 Steps" by Lord Tweedsmuir.

   Diligence appeared to be the core Robert Kennedy; the man who drilled himself in academic pursuits was the man who would also set high standards for himself throughout his professional/political career. In reading this work one cannot help drawing the conclusion that Robert Kennedy was at core a good man and a sincere man and a man who would stop at nothing to accomplish all tasks he had set for himself. His daughter Kerry Kennedy Cuomo's input provides some enlightening insights into the characteristics of this complex, often driven man.

   In reading this work as with many on Robert Kennedy, one can readily draw the conclusion that this man genuinely cared about people; his work with and for civil rights certainly attests to his deep level of empathy. He appeared to move and blend with equal ease among all people. Robert Kennedy could easily be described as the man for everybody. He was certainly a strong voice and considered by many to be the advocate for all.

   In 1968 Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, California. His loss leaves the questions open today of what he would have accomplished had he lived to win the 1968 election.

2 comments about What Does Sarah Palin Believe?.

1. First I read the review of "What Does Barack Obama Believe?" full of nothing but a silly attempt to discredit Obama's birth certificate. I decided to see what else your wrote. I read the review of "What Does Sarah Palin Believe?" and got your number completely, Patrick. Wonder how you're feeling now-- post election day. LIke Sarah Palin, who blessed Barack Obama and his "beautiful family?" -- the man she described as "paling around with terrorists? Funny how everything shifted the moment Pennsylvania was called. Being from PA, I was never more proud.



2. I just started this book and can tell already that it portrays Sarah MUCH more accurately than mainstream media. In fact, since the announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running partner, the media has attempted to rip her to shreds. Would they have done this with Hillary Clinton, their media sweetheart? Certainly not, even though they have so much more to pick apart with her.
   This book will show you the real Sarah Palin, her love of her family and country, for sports and for Alaska. Her willingness to put herself last, and give up things for herself to give to the team, her family, her country. That is Sarah Palin and the book portrays her well. A must read for anyone voting in this next election.

5 comments about The Architect: Karl Rove and the Dream of Absolute Power.

1. I find myself enjoying non-fiction more and more as I grow older, but books like this make me stop and think, maybe I should stick to biographies, standard historical texts and of course fiction. That of course is what I wish this book was, fiction. I never knew much about Karl Rove, and never really thought about the man behind the man type of political animal. I'm aware they are more into the "game" than anything else, and that winning is all there is - just like ambitious coaches. Isn't that what Rove is, essentially, a coach. If so his personality and the way he goes about the business of creating an image, decimating opponents - with bald faced lies more often than not- is disturbing.
   
   This is a very well written book, easy to follow and organized so that following the progression and development of the story Moore is telling is comfortable. Obviously there was a lot of research done and it is well used, not over used. I checked a few of the texts referred to and could find nothing objectionable as "out of context", and the opinions of the author is controlled and not intrusive. As a reading experience it was pleasant enough even if the material was oh so disturbing.
   
   In the last four years I have probably read more political books than the previous thirty. Maybe because they are everywhere and being talked about constantly. Certainly they are no more interesting than say, "The Making of a President" from the 1960s. Most of the best sellers in this category are extremely divisive and in many cases, just by their titles, mean spirited (case in point the savage diatribes of Ann Coulter such as "How to talk to a Liberal, If You must".)and of little real value.
   
   That said, "The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power" is very, very disturbing. Here is a man who has decided that ulra-conservative thought must rule for the next century, and who does he pick as his standard bearer but George W. Bush, a man with little experience, proven ineptitude and incompetence inbusiness, a draft dodger who doesn't even take his commitment to the air nathional guard seriously and a former drunk. Few people now will deny that as President - an office he didn't even win by popular vote - George W. Bush has remained true to his character and blundered his way through his first term in such a horrible way that no one with an ounce of sense would have voted for him for a second term - which he likely did not win legitimately either - but with a man like Karl Rove there to lie about his opponents, distort the truth about them and deny the absolute irrefutable truth about his candidate's own back ground and lack of moral character he remains the president for four more disaterous years. Karl Rove is a mastermind when it comes to duplicity. He saw to it that true American heroes who served during the Vietnam conflict were degraded (John Kerry, John Murtha, John Mccain, etal) and then promotes Bush as a man who has high regard for the military. What monumantal hypocrisy. The sadest part is that with all the facts before the American electorate Bush still remains president. Perhaps the contempt Rove expresses for the average American voter is the hook he has so effectively used, proving not once, but twice that an inept, incompetent, lazy, anti-intellectual, pretend evangelical christan can be a winner if the man behind him has no ethical standards, or moral compass and is willing to lie, cheat and steal to achieve his nefarious results.
   
   Sadly, he is very, very good at it as this book shows. Sadly the voters buy it, and even more sadly we all loose in the end and worst of all the America of ideological moral standards and a reputation for care and concern for the down trodden is lost, and perhaps never to be regained.
   
   Karl Rove has created the absolute worst world leader in the history of our great democracy and he is actually proud of himself. At the risk of repeating myself, how sad for us all.



2. Even before the results of the recent midterm elections were in, "The Architect", a superbly written narrative about the life and actions of Karl Rove, would have been a big hit. Since last week, however, James Moore's and Wayne Slater's book must be viewed in a more substantive and profound light. After all, Rove was one of the big losers on November 7 and we can now read this book through a prism of recent events.
   
   "The Architect" hits the ground running. After terrific chapters about the connection with Rove and the Christian right, the book lands on what Rove does best. By promoting the wedge issue known as "gay marriage", Rove succeeded in disarming then actually arming Evangelical Christians to rise up against this issue. Rove rightly looks at this group as "absolutists" and ramping up support for anti-gay marriage amendments with the help of the religious right is made all the more curious when one finds out that he was raised in a non-religious home and had a gay stepfather to boot. It must take great disassociation yet immense focus to achieve what Rove did on just this issue alone. It is also a wonder as to what could have been achieved had Rove recast his forces for the common good and not for divisive ends.
   
   While "The Architect" is a very good book, it stumbles occasionally. Chapters regarding labor unions and trial lawyers have less of a direct Rove fingerprint. However, when Moore and Slater return to the sheer political power wielded by Rove, the book regains its clarity and interest. This is where the authors are at their collective best.
   
   If one has read "The Architect" before last week it would be good to give it another read. For now we see that the whiz kid-cum-guru can't win them all and this lack of recent political success signals the beginning of the tide away from Rove and Co. I highly recommend this book for its revelations and the authors' ability to see their subject from so many different angles.



3. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's Machiavellian methods behind George W. Bush's gubernatorial and presidential election victories have garnered a begrudging admiration from conservative politicos and pundits. Texas journalists James Moore and Wayne Slater know their subject quite well since they are also responsible for the incisive book upon which the 2004 film version of "Bush's Brain" was based. The fiery documentary detailed Rove's tactics in orchestrating the successful 2000 presidential campaign. Moore and Slater's new book goes much further in showing a man who has made himself even more indispensable as a virtual Iago figure to Bush's Othello.
   
   The co-authors assert that nothing is sacred to Rove, in particular, founding democratic principles and the U.S. Constitution, when it comes to attaining victory and that in fact, the amoral gamesmanship he feels is required is what motivates him. It's a scarifying portrait but one that comes across as far more textured than one would expect due to some surprising disclosures from the co-authors. They fill in details of Rove's background with his long-standing affiliation with several neo-con organizations, which in turn, shaped his drive toward dismantling unions, privatizing Social Security and diminishing those he saw as his political enemies, homosexuals and anti-war activists. However, the most publicized disclosure is the personal account of how Rove's beloved stepfather revealed himself to be gay and left his mother for another man. It is debatable whether this perceived act of betrayal was the lightning rod for Rove's aggregation of anti-gay sentiments.
   
   At the same time, his persistent efforts to smear opponents appear to have this common thread, and the co-authors effectively show us to what degree he was willing to use this tactic. It is not a new campaigning approach, but it's one that Rove has elevated to an art form in 2004. Targeting the Christian fundamentalist conservatives that constitute the largest cross-section of the Republican base, Rove used whatever means necessary to convey the conviction that Democratic opponents were dominated by a significant homosexual lobby. The most egregious maneuver was how he purportedly orchestrated a campaign of automatic telephone messages to be placed to thousands of numbers nationwide. The infamous message stated it was from the Kerry campaign and that if elected, gay rights would be a top priority. Moreover, beyond the presidential campaign, the Republican machine under Rove's direction managed to put anti-marriage equality referenda on eleven state ballots under the guise of groups like the Traditional Values Coalition, which were fronts for the religious right.
   
   While anti-gay paranoia was his linchpin, Rove was not limited in his arsenal of weapons, whether it was vote suppression in Ohio where Bush won by a slim margin or pressure placed on members of Congress to support controversial bills. Moore and Slater detail the smear campaign developed against Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame to cover up the truth about Bush's rationale for invading Iraq, as well as the connection to Jack Abramoff and the resulting corporate corruption scandals. While Rove's hypocrisy is fiercely documented and obviously reviled by his opponents, his supporters are ambivalent about his methods. Moore and Slater provide a comprehensive portrait of a man who based on his record, illustrates a total disregard for democracy. He has amassed a fearsome respect among the White House inner circle for the past six years, and one wonders from this fascinating book whether a possible dismantling of the Republican hegemony in the House will diminish his standing.



4. Perhaps people should not judge a book by the cover--but they do.
   
   "Bush's Brain": Great title.
   
   "State of Denial": Great title.
   
   "The Architect": Terrible title.
   
   Who is going to read this book? Only those who already have contempt for
   Karl Rove and George W. Bush and nobody else. No Republicans and no swing voters.



5. "The Architect" reports that Karl Rove's ambition is to build a right-wing dynasty that can dominate American politics for decades, and that ultimately he will be remembered for figuring out how to game the American political system.
   
   The politics of deception has become a conventional political tool for Rove-aided Republicans. His history is to use surrogate organizations and third-party operatives to attack opponents - without leaving either Rove's or his candidates fingerprints.
   
   Rove's special talent is achieving synergy - pleasing moneyed and/or voter-rich coalitions while undermining Democratic party strengths. For example, lanugage inserted into the Homeland Security Bill restricting TSA employees' ability to unionize pleases big business, while reducing Democrats' ability to derive strength from government unions; a "special bonus" was achieved through also offering a means to attack Democrats rising to unions' defense as "weak on defending America" --> defeat of at least one Democrat senator (Max Cleland). Similarly with vouchers and the "No Child Left Behind" act - this helps motivate the Christian Right, homeschoolers, and anti-government conservatives to the polls, boost Republicans' image as pro-education (even among African-Americans), while undercutting teacher union strength and their ability to support Democrats. Privatizing Social Security obviously would bring increased revenues for Wall Street (and more Republican donations from them), boost the Republican-leaning "investor class," and loosen Democrat strength among the elderly.
   
   Early on Rove realized that politically conservative Christian evangelicals were easy to organize - they were already organized into churches. Rove saw Ralph Reed (Christian Coalition leader) as an asset, and thus "parked" him at Enron as an energy lobbyist, awaiting Bush II's candidacy. From others Rove also recognized that traditional Catholics and Orthodox Jews were similarly inclined to be politically conservative. Emphasizing support for Israel served to further bring conservative Jews and Christians together into the Bush camp (the latter hoping to bring about biblical prophesies about "end-times"), and siphoned off funds from Democrats.
   
   However, analysis of the 2000 election convinced Rove that over three million of these groups had not voted. Thus, to invigorate the group he launched an emphasis on attacking homosexuals - despite the fact that his father was a homosexual, and most also believe the Republican Party Chairman is as well. (Rove had used this ploy earlier in Bush vs. Richards in the '94 Texas gubernatorial race, taking one of Richards' strengths - her inclusiveness - and turning it into a weakness. Similarly, he launched a whisper campaign against an Alabama judicial candidate well-known as a benefactor of troubled youth - spreading suspicions that he was a pedophile.)
   
   Attempting to sell Social Security privatization, Rove's "signature approach" also appeared vs. AARP, the leading opponent. Ads were taken out claiming that AARP supported same-sex marriages, based on the organization's objection to wording in the Ohio anti-gay marriage amendment (it feared the wording would also ban elderly heterosexuals living together).
   
   Meanwhile, the Bush II administration, instead of working out effective solutions to terrorism, Katrina, the economy, etc., focuses on weakening enforcement of regulations against businesses and the wealth, while increasing same vs. unions.
   
   Bottom Line: Rove and Bush II decsion-making is dominated by political manuevering, instead of what's best for the nation - this explains Bush II's reliance on cronies rather than experts. Worse, Rove has probably irrevocably changed American politics for the worse. In doing so, he has taken advantage of the overwhelming complexity and extent of government today that prevents citizens from adequately following and analyzing events. Rove's actions show that he lacks a decent moral compass; unfortunately, Bush's retention of Rove doesn't say much for him either.

2 comments about The Quotable Jefferson.

1. I have been reading about the founding fathers for some time and decided to get this book because Jefferson is an obsession of mine. The Quotes in this great book range from his thoughts on the governments of the U.S. and France, thoughts on family, contemporaries, food, books, morals and everything in between. The quotes are funny and inspiring. If you have an interest in Jefferson, then this book is for you.



2. Thomas Jefferson was a man of many facets. Among these were the power of words,
   chosen carefully from the English language. He loved and excelled in writing letters,
   and this book contains over 500 subjects that he chose to write about. Tho the book is small in size with over 500 pages, it gives one an insight into the enormity of this
   President's capacity.

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

1. What hooked me initially was the dust jacket, which proclaimed that this enterprising individual, a former beaver trapper from Tennessee, once owned or developed the communities of Pasadena, San Marino, Riverside, Beverly Hills, UCLA, Alhambra, Altadena (although I was surprised that lifelong Angelenos had never heard of him, not even the highly-regarded elementary school in Pasadena that bears his name). The vignettes make for fun, episodic reading. But what I learned was how certain neighborhoods or streets got their names, or how Los Angeles was organized as a political and economic entity -- not any deep insights into the man himself. How did someone with no connections or formal education amass such a fortune, and navigate the diplomatic shoals between Mexican and later US authorities, between Northern and Southern sympathizers during the Civil War so deftly? What distinguished Wilson from his other prescient peers? The chapter on Mountain Men was probably the most revealing, but even this was mostly speculative.
   
   Certainly, Nat Read breaks new ground and this book is indispensable for local history buffs, but I'm hoping somebody else with more of a literary or academic bent produces a biography more worthy of its subject.



2. Some books are written. Others, like this one, are dug out from archives and special collections and less obvious sources to form a unique biography of an early California renaissance man who might've done more for his inchoate state than anybody not residing in the governor's office. As Nat Read reminds us, Don Benito Wilson has his name on countless street signs and schools and other places all around Southern California because at one time he just about owned half of LA as it today, including Pasadena and downtown LA. Indeed, had it not been for his work to establish an American govt. as the County's first clerk (think about that), who knows how different the region's might've turned out. This bio is not for everybody. There are passages of sweet wordsmithing and high drama, as when DBW fought to near death with an Indian, taking a arrow in the shoulder (among many other rugged injuries) and sections so dense with parcel info. and geographical specs. it's almost footnotish. Which is not to say it's not interesting, and orginal because it is. Read, a local PR man with a helluva colorful history himself as ad-man, Navy officer and writer, should be congratulated for working in his offhours to produce such an extraordinary effort. You almost can feel him carving out Wilson's legacy just as Wilson carved out his vision of the Republic as landowner, frontier man and early gov't. servant. For the most part, this is a very readable story, not flamboyantly overdone nor dishonest, and because of the nature of the subject, took oodles of digging, cross-referencing and ordering to knock into story shape. Hold the book up the light and Read's obsession to get everything he could radiates back. As it should. If you're interested in Southern California history -- really interested that is, and not just dabbling in Kevin Starr, this should be on your shelf with lots of dog-eared pages. It's sitting on my own that way.
   
   (For the record, I'm a writer and freelance reporter myself, and I've crossed swords with Nat before in working on 710-freeway pieces. I'd never known during all those stories I was on the other side of the table from a fellow writer with some serious chops.)



3. A key player in Los Angeles History, very informative book with enough human interest to keep those of us who are more interested in people's stories than just dates and facts, interested.



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



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

5 comments about Ike: An American Hero.

1. I enjoyed the book when Korda didn't reference Kay Summersby. But wanted to rip out the pages where her name came up; especially when Korda talks about her being airbrushed from a picture. She isn't airbrushed as a result of some conspiracy, just a bad angle that hides her behind another man.



2. 'Ike: An American Hero' by Michael Korda
   
   I'm always excited to read something new focusing on the extraordinary life of Dwight D. Eisenhower, my ideal president and, certainly, favorite historical personality. 'Ike: An American Hero' by Michael Korda is an easy to read, fun and informative biography of Ike's military career but lacks in coverage of his presidency. I've read quite a bit about Ike and this book did contain some fine nuggets of which I'd not previously been aware. However, as aforementioned, I would have liked to see some more detail on Eisenhower's 2 terms in the White House; a presidency which is historically misunderstood though now rich with new information since the release of his presidential papers.
   
   As far as prose, Korda does not disappoint. The man can string sentences together (often extremely long sentences) like few other historians. The book was, in my opinion, very well researched and a joy to read. I would definitely recommend investing the money and time it takes to pick up and read this solid biography.
   
   - Johnny Concannon



3. 
   Starts off waxing lyrical about how Americans feel uncomfortable making men into heroes - idolizing them as anything special (ignoring monuments to Washington, Lincoln, etc.). Makes factual errors on issues not central to Korda's subject (Ike) and thus showing that he has done little peripheral research. For instance he places Cherbourg in Britanny, not in Normandy.
   
   His sense of geography is terrible. Of "Operation Torch" he writes about how widespread the invasions were, saying "spread across nearly 2,500 miles of coast from Safi, in French Morocco, the easternmost point; to Algiers, the westernmost point". The only problem with this is he's got east and west around the wrong way! Algiers is east of Morocco!
   
   Further he talks of how 30,000 Australian troops were captured with the fall of Tobruk (1942). This never happened. Australians successively defended Tobruk in 1941 against the Germans until the garrison was relieved. Rommel made a resurgent drive across North Africa and then took the port in 1942, capturing its garrison of South Africans. Perhaps he's confused with Australians who were captured at the fall of Singapore, half-way around the world... except he'd already mentioned that fact!



4. I have read both Merle Miller's bio and Stephen Ambrose's two volume book on Ike. The latter is very complete. Michael Korda's book on Ike focuses on his early life, his training, his genius at strategy, and mainly his life as a general. His presidential career is not as fully emphasized, and rightly so. I think Mr Korda wanted to show how Ike developed and matured; how he learned and how he progressed so rapidly from Lt Colonel to 4-star general...and why. It is so well-written that the book is almost like a fast paced thriller than a boring military treatise. Pick it up and you will learn a lot about Eisenhower that you did not know before...and about that intriguing Kay Summersby.
   
   Oh, then buy Merle Miller's "Truman" and Stephen Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" which I consider the two best each of them has written.



5. Easy to read and enlightening about Eisenhower.
   If we hadn't had Eisenhower in WW 2 we would have had to invent him.
   He was so much more than contemporary opinion of him during the 50's.
   A true great American hero.
   More evidence that Truman should have fired MacArthur so much sooner.
   MacArthur- the tin soldier.

4 comments about American Connections: The Founding Fathers. Networked..

1. Having greatly enjoyed Mr. Burkes books in the past, I was looking forward to one of his based on my soil. But proving that a name reappears (unrelated) later in history on some nameless board or committee sounds like an exercise best left to the student. The thought that the progeny of significant men in American history would have an effect later was a good idea, but not realized in this book.
   
   Disappointing, but I still look forward to his next novel.



2. I have read nearly all of James Burke's work, and his Connections started my fascination with History of all kinds; nowadays, that's all I read. I also became a research historian and have co-authored a book; for that, I offer my unending thanks to Mr. Burke. Unfortunately, this book is nothing more than a collection of parlor tricks, one that wears thin after 2 or 3 chapters. There's no history here nor story telling nor insights; only a compendium of extremely poorly documented linkages connecting the signers of the Declaration of Independence to a current person of the same name. Within each chapter is a set of linkages or connections that typically number above 20, not the six degrees of networking that Burke alludes to. With that many degrees of networking, I could even play this game. All this book does is showcase Burke's knowledge of fairly inconsequential people over the past 200+ years and does nothing to stimulate interest in the reader. This is one book I couldn't bear to read or finish. Mr. Burke should be ashamed to have written it; it simply is not up to his previous standards. There is nothing here...nothing at all; how unfortunate.



3. James Burke, well known for pursuing the stranger paths of history, has done just that once more. This time, he follows the signers of the Declaration of Independence, following paths leading away from each one to something within the last fifty years sharing that name. If what you want is a straight history book, try a different author. This is Burke's area of expertise, and he has done a wonderful job. Again.



4. I have read several of James Burke's earlier works, and I had hoped that his venture into my own field would illuminate a subject in ways that would not have occurred to conventional historians. Unfortunately, this book is nothing of the kind. On first glance, It is organized in a structure giving one chapter to each Signer of the Declaration of Independence (Mr. Burke seems not to have thought of the framers of the Constitution as belonging in his phrase "founding fathers.") However, each Signer lasts barely one paragraph with Mr. Burke connecting him to someone else, and then to someone else, and then to someone else, and then on and on he goes forming a daisy-chain of references, skittering across the surface of history like a spider sliding across a sheet of ice, until he gets to someone in modern times who shares the same name as that of the Signer [or, in the case of Benjamin Franklin, to a reference back to the original Signer]. The book is slipshod, superficial, and all too often fraught with ominous undocumented claims often introduced or accompanied by such phrases as "Some say" or "according to some." I am sorry that I bought this book; it makes the otherwise-useless book by Richard Brookhiser, WHAT WOULD THE FOUNDERS DO? OUR QUESTIONS, THEIR ANSWERS, read like a marvel of scholarly comprehension.

5 comments about Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President.

1. I have always respected Lincoln Chafee. The Republican party lost one of its very few honorable senators. This is an insider's view of what's been going on in the Republican party hierarchy, and it's not pleasant. I read the book in one sitting. It's a well-written and honest account. I would highly recommend it.



2. Lincoln Chafee is an honest man who presents a challenging view of the Bush regime. His story gives hope to a crippled nation, that a ferrier could rise to the station of US Senator, representing his constituency and nation with a commitment to integrity, sustaining the idea of America. When he decides to run for POTUS he has my vote.



3. Written by a true congressional maverick, I loved the inside information and enjoyed the local flavor as well.



4. This book is a must read because it describes how politics and government work or perhaps why it doesnt work. Mr. Chaffee's description of his experiences are told in such a direct and honest fashion. He interweaves his political experience as a local politician and that of a congressional candidate. He provides information regarding different foreign policy efforts of the current administration and why they failed, i.e., the palestinian and Israeli peace process. This is a refreshing look at our governmental system and the players in it. Mr. Chaffee's writing style made me feel as if he was telling the story directly to me.



5. As a transplanted Rhode Islander living in New York, I understood why Lincoln Chafee lost his Senate seat in November of 2006 to the lackluster and uninspired Sheldon Whitehouse. An independent, moderate voice from the Ocean State fell victim to the Bush Administration's myopic paranoid agenda. At its best moments, Against the Tide, paints a striking portrait of idealogues centralizing power and marginalizing dissenting voices and their opponents time after time refusing to stand up and speak out for what they knew was right.
   
   Chafee often repeats stories (he was a blacksmith on the plains of Canada, if you didn't already know) and the prose is stilted in places, but the book as a whole is a success. I hope it gives my former neighbors a pang of guilt that we are no longer represented in the Senate by Lincoln Chafee and his sense of duty and principle. His replacement is not cut from that cloth.

No comments about The Vatican Pimpernel: The Wartime Exploits of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty.