1 comments about A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia: The Autobiography of Semen Ivanovich Kanatchikov.

1. This short book is the autobiographical story of Mr. Kanatchikov prior to and during the Russian Revolution of 1917. The protagonist is a blue-collar worker living in the city of St. Petersburg. His experiences at his factory job and his poverty help to fuel his frustration with the system. He begins going to meetings of the Communist Party and other outlawed organizations. Soon his attendance increases to participation, organization, and propaganda. Meanwhile, he moves from job to job as each job he goes to fires him when they discover his activities. The book climaxes with violent protests against the czar, and finally revolution. The book gives a good sense of what it was like to be alive at that point. The author describes his feelings, his words, and his actions as he transforms from passive worker to active protester. The book gives a good inside view of how the Russian Revolution occurs, and should be read by those who seek to understand communism, its roots, and Russian history.

5 comments about Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President.

1. Given the complexity of both the man and the times he lived in I would have thought that a one volume biography of Lyndon Johnson was impossible. While certain sacrifices are made, for example the LBJ's relationships with his contemporaries are often glossed over, the book does its job and portrays the basics of who LBJ was. Dallek also does a good job at describing the master politician that LBJ was and how that helped him craft one of the most assertive and successful legislative agenda's in American history. Lastly, he explains how LBJ's obession with Vietnam ultimately lead to his downfall. A very interesting book and a strong must read for people interested in 20th century history.



2. I have not had a chance to read this book yet. Please check back with me later.



3. Lyndon B. Johnson will be remembered as President for his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and also for his unwillingness to become the first president to lose a war. A career in politics will invariably lead one to people you dislike and Lyndon had his share of those, notably Bobby Kennedy. Johnson was a very down to earth individual, some would say crude, in his manner of speech to others, but he was a tireless worker in the area of Civil Rights in which he was successful, and in regard to the Vietnam war which wore him down to the extent that he chose not to run for a second term in 1968. His reason for not more actively bombing North Vietnam and escalating the war in that regard was his fear of China and Russia entering the conflict. It so happened that it was he who was president when the war reached the stalemate stage, but chances are anyone else would have adopted the same policy as he did. However, his stubborness in not having his presidency tarnished with a defeat in the war ultimately wore him down with him leaving office with an escalated war beyond his control. Our history is littered with presidents whose names are barely remembered, but Lyndon Baines Johnson will always be remembered, mostly for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which brought the southern states in line with the rest of the nation regarding an integrated society and for a fruitless war fought over an erroneous domino theory in which one successive country after another will fall to communism if one of them does. The book is nearly 400 pages long, but it is a read well worth your time.



4. Robert Dallek has abriged his two volume set (nearly 1,500 pages) down to 400+ pages. Mr. Dallek is a solid writer and researcher. His biography will give you a sense of LBJ as a person and a politican, his accomplishments and his life & times. This will remain as the best single-volume biography available to the reader. So if reading just one book on LBJ is your goal, then this is your book.
   
   Having said that, I wish to encourage the reader to explore either Mr. Dallek's original set or the never-ending magnum opus of Robert Caro (three volunes and over 2,700 pages so far). For better or for worse, LBJ was second only to FDR for his domination and impact upon the American political scene in a 40 year career that stretched from the 1930's to the 1960's. LBJ had an outsized personality and ambitions that was his strength and, ultimately, his weakness. Although Mr. Dallek does a excellent job in condensing his prior work, no single volume can ever do justice to the life of LBJ.
   
   Personally, I prefer Robert Caro's massive, and sometimes, exhaustive work (his current three books only cover LBJ up to 1960, the same time period for Mr. Dallek's original first volume). Mr. Caro is a wonderful storyteller (somewhat akin to William Manchester) and you are swept away in his epic tale of LBJ. In deciding what to read, it really comes down to how much time and how much interest the reader has in the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson.



5. This is the best book out there on LBJ. Dallek covers his entire life from start to finish. Lyndon Johnson was a towering and caring man. This book really tells his story.

5 comments about Years of Renewal.

1. kissinger details how the white house was run after nixon resigned and ford came into power--the photographs are excellent and the text is inciteful----kissinger has been accused of some very bad decisions inhis time that caused many innocent lives--this book gives the reader for why he made those decisions



2. Henry Kissinger's book, "Years of Renewal," is a complete review of U.S. foreign policy initiatives while he was Secretary of State under President Gerald R. Ford. In it, he details how they built upon the foreign policy successes of the Nixon Administration and laid the foundation for the resurgence of the American spirit seen during the Reagan Administration. From a diplomatic standpoint, this may have been America's finest hour.

   With the possible exception of Lincoln, no U.S. president has inherited a nation as severely divided as Gerald R. Ford. Immediately after assuming office, he faced one international crisis after another with a hostile, "McGovernite Congress," and an emasculated intelligence gathering system that made effective response to even the most extreme provocations virtually impossible. Kissinger says throughout, Ford made decisions solely on what was best for the nation, not on what was politically expedient. His reward for such selfless service: defeat in the next election.

   Like Kissinger's other works, this book can be read either in individual chapters or be taken as a whole. In each segment he details, what they did, what their options were, the assumptions their actions were based upon, and if unsuccessful, what their fall back plan was to be. In spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, they were able to hold the Atlantic Alliance together, strengthen our ties to the Peoples Republic of China, and keep the Soviets out of both the Middle East and Africa.

   The Chinese war philosopher, Sun Tsu said, "In the moment of victory, button your chin strap." History has proven the Soviets should have listened. Given our national paralysis following Vietnam/Watergate, it seemed they could not be stopped. In the international chess game--that is diplomacy at the highest levels--they were stopped through the efforts of a few, dedicated statesmen who blocked them at every turn. The fall of the Soviet Union and Communism was the ultimate result.

   This book is a textbook on how to conduct foreign policy. Enlightening and informative, it has inspired me to read Kissinger's other works, "White House Years," and "Years of Upheaval." I highly recommend it to any serious student of the era.




3. I have admired Henry Kissinger for many years. I think he is one of those limited intellectual diplomacies who really have, not only limited to one's word, a long term vision. It's really enjoyable when you read his book and share his thoughts.



4. Dr. Kissinger, for all of his hubris and arrogance will truly go down in history as a great statesman. His intimate and sometimes self-deprecating writing style will keep the reader at the edge of their seat especially during the end of the Vietnam War and the crisis with Cyprus. All three volumes could very well serve as textbooks for anyone interested in the finer points of statecraft.



5. The book does not mention the effect that many of his decisions had on the "little" people , the common , insignificant people , the families destroyed in the blaze of war as a result of many of his decisions while playing geopolitical chess games with the Russians and the British and the Chinese. During his reign as secretary of state , antiamerican feeligs soared in Cyprus .A folk song was being played on the radio right after the 1974 war there. It talked about the great powers of the world who treat people's lives as a whim of the moment. It said that the singer wanted to set the "Embassy of Death" on fire.Can you imagine? The American embassy won the nickname Embassy of Death! .It should have been embassy of life . What Mr.Kissinger forgets to mention in his book is that he masterminded a coup d'etat in Cyprus , installed a dictator , and then invited the Turks to invade there and capture half the island because he did not like the elected democratic president.(He thought that being a non-aligned country was like inviting the communists to take control of a crucially strategic island ). The horror of that war was beyond imagination. Mr. Kissinger is still afraid to visit either Greece or Cyprus because the people with missing parents or children might lynch him.There were many demonstrations agaist his person , which surprised and brought him down to reality as to what happenned to real people with every decision he made. Even now as we speak ,25 years after the events , an American forensic team is unearthing and DNA identifying missing persons bodies .Cyprus had more missing persons than the USA had in the Vietnam war. Unfortunately the American people have absolutely no idea how many people died or lost their homes so that the multinational companies would have more oil , more control ,more raw materials, more wealth etc.They see what Hollywood shows them .

2 comments about . . . And His Lovely Wife: A Campaign Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man.

1. Connie Schultz has written a love story and a fun quick read! This couple had their priorities straight as they struggled--and triumphed--through the inevitable challenges of the American political campaign. I appreciated Ms. Schultz calling herself a feminist (without apologizing for keeping her name) and Sherrod Brown accepting the label of liberal--it was refreshing to peek into the lives of people true to their roots and their beliefs. And it makes me think about what Michelle Obama must be experiencing right about now...



2. Connie Schultz takes us inside her husband's 2006 senatorial campaign and shows us, in a warm,
   conversational style, just what it takes for the candidate--and the family--to win a statewide office. She is real,
   down-to-earth, funny and tells it like it is. Her passion for helping people matches her husband's, and she
   puts her heart and soul into the election. A book for all political junkies of any party!

No comments about The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years (Joseph V. Hughes, Jr., and Holly O. Hughes Series in the Presidency and Leadership Studies, No. 8).

5 comments about Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1. "I like Ike." A statement that defined the political world of the 1950s. The popular leader of Allied forces in the European Theater during World War II received high approval ratings from the public throughout his presidency. This brief book, a part of The American Presidents series, provides a brief and readable glimpse of Ike's life and his presidency. The author is Tom Wicker, who originally achieved considerable visibility as a columnist with The New York Times.
   
   If you're like me, you might rather read D'Este's "Eisenhower," which takes almost 700 pages to text to bring his biography to the end of World War II. However, most people will not be interested in such a massive work, and the 140 page volume by Wicker is apt to prove more attractive to people.
   
   As with other volumes in the series, this one begins with the family background and Dwight Eisenhower's early years. Some readers might be surprised to know that, when he went to West Point, he was a star football player (and see the incredible confrontation between Ike and his mates and Jim Thorpe and his in books such as 'Carlisle vs. Army"). Later, he began to work his way up the military hierarchy, by providing excellent staff support to leaders such as Generals Pershing, MacArthur and Marshall. When World War II broke out, he was not an especially visible figure. Soon, though, he rose to Allied command in North Africa and then in Europe. Other books describe this period in much more detail--and illustrate both his strengths and his weaknesses. After the War, he served in a number of capacities. In 1952, he began his quest for the presidency.
   
   The book does a nice job of showing how he won the nomination. Then, his major challenges: the War in Korea, Quemoy and Matsu, the U-2 shoot down, Dienbienphu and Vietnam, Senator McCarthy, economic slowdowns, physical ailments (heart attack and stroke), the space race, relations with the Soviet Union, and so on and so on. Once thought of as a rather amiable cipher as president, historians and political scientists more recently have reappraised his presidency. I am not sure that that reappraisal always manifests itself in Wicker's book.
   
   Then, the transition as of the election of 1960. The relationship between Eisenhower and Nixon is played out reasonably well in this book. Then, after the e3lection, Eisenhower's retirement from public service and his later years.
   
   As a brief biography, this works pretty well. For those wanting to get a sense of Dwight Eisenhower in a compact book, this is pretty good.



2. As I write, our country is in the midst of a highly contentious presidential campaign, including, today, the sharply-fought Pennsylvania primary. In light of the furor of the ongoing campaign, I have been trying to revisit the American presidents in the short series of biographies edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. I thought a consideration of our 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower would be especially appropriate for these tumultous events. I was alive during the Truman presidency but Eisenhower was the first president I can remember. I have always had the sense that he was, somehow, undervalued as a leader. Thus I was eager to read Tom Wicker's brief biography.
   
   Wicker admits at the outset that he was never a political supporter of Eisenhower. With that in mind, his admiration for Eisenhower as a person and for some of his accomplishments as President comes through in this book. I didn't find this book as harsh or unfair towards Eisenhower as did some of my fellow reviewers. Yet I agree that Eisenhower warrants a more detailed look than Wicker's and, indeed, deserves more.
   
   Eisenhower (1890 -- 1969) was born in Texas but grew up in Kansas. He served two terms as the 34th president (1953 -- 1961). Wicker's book, probably for reasons of space, quickly passes over Eisenhower's early life, including his extraordinary military career, to focus on the eight years of his presidency.
   
   The 1950s were a difficult time in which the United States and the U.S.S.R came perilously close to war on several occasions. Wicker offers Eisenhower qualified praise for his foreign policy and for his role as a "man of peace." Eisenhower ended the war in Korea and worked for disarmament even though, in Wicker's terms he "fumbled" on opportunity to secure a nuclear test-ban treaty late in his administration as a result of his decision to authorize a final U-2 flight over Russia. Wicker gives Eisenhower high praise for his handling of the Suez Crisis in 1956, which he describes as the President's finest hour, and for his calming influence after the U.S.S.R launched Sputnik in 1957, leading to panic among many Americans over our educational system and scientific and military readiness. Wicker faults Eisenhower for his engagin in covert warfare in Guatamala and Iran and he is vaguely critical of Eisenhower's role in precipitating what would become America's involvement in Vietnam.
   
   In domestic affairs, Wicker focuses almost entirely of Eisenhower's role in discrediting Senator Joseph McCarthy and in his actions regarding Civil Rights. Many writers besides Wicker are critical of Eisenhower for not being more agressive against McCarthy. But as Wicker shows, Eisenhower worked effectively to bring about McCarthy's demise, not the least of which work was in allowing him to self-destruct. Eisenhower's approach may well have been more effective and less divisive to the country than a more confrontational approach.
   
   Wicker also is highly critical of Eisenhower for his less than full support of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education and for his failure to exercise the moral suasion both he and his office possessed to implement civil rights. Many admirers of Eisenhower have come to the same conclusion. Yet, Eisenhower used force to protect the rights of African American students in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. And Eisenhower's two immediate successors in the presidency were themselves slow to commit to the civil rights movement. A recent book by David Nichols, "A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Civil Rights Revolution" (2007) reassess in part Eisenhower's contributions behind the scenes to the cause of civil rights.
   
   The 1950s are sometimes regarded as a time of somnolescence and conformity in the United States and sometimes as a subject of sentimentalized nostalgia. Eisenhower had proven his ability as a leader during WW II and he served the nation well, even Wicker admits, as President during a difficult era. According to one of his advisers quoted by Wicker, Eisenhower's greatest strength was "in getting people to compromise divergent views without anyone's surrender of principle." (p. 138) In view of the never-ending tumult our country has undergone since the 1960s, one can do worse than the balance, sanity, and quietly effective leadership that characterized the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
   
   Robin Friedman



3. Wicker shows the complexities of our 34th President. Eisenhower was a great wartime commander. He led men into battle and exercised diplomacy in his wartime alliance. He was a so-so president who did some memorable things. Ike started the intrastate highway system, warned against the military-industrial complex, toppled two legitimate governments (Iran, Guatemala) and came close to a nuclear test ban treaty. He was a man many Americans treated as a father figure. He won two terms as President. Many people would have voted him a third term if the law allowed it. He was against the Brown vs. Board of Education decision but used the military to back up the judiciary.
   
   Wicker spent a week with Eisenhower in 1962. Even though his admiration of President and General Eisenhower in there, his book is a fair accessment of this great American. Eisenhower may not have been a great President, but he was far better than most of our chief executives.



4. FIRST OF ALL, I TEACH HISTORY FOR A LIVING, SO I KNEW QUITE A BIT ABOUT THE SUBJECT MATTER BEFORE READING WICKER AND AMBROSE'S BOOKS. AFTER READING BOTH PIECES OF WORK, I CAN STILL DECLARE "I LIKE IKE." NO QUALITY, RELIABLE PIECE OF HISTORICAL WORK SHOULD HAVE A PERSONAL SLANT BY THE WRITER HIMSELF. IS THIS BOOK PERFECTLY WRITTEN? CERTAINLY NOT. IS IT WORTHY OF BEING READ; CERTAINLY. I HAVE TO ADMIT THOUGH, IT DOES HAVE A VERY NEGATIVE SLANT TOWARD IKE, ALMOST A PERSONALLY NEGATIVE SLANT.
   
   HOWEVER AFTER READING AMBROSE'S WORK ON IKE, YOU ALMOST FEEL AS IF IKE WAS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. AMBROSE WHITEWASHED IKE'S FLAWS COMPLETELY. I THINK AMBROSE WAS ENAMORED WITH IKE. HELL, WHO WOULDN'T BE? THE MAN LED THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF HEADCASES (PATTON, MONTY, CLARK, MACARTHUR, AND DE GAULLE) IN WWII (OUTSIDE OF THE AXIS POWERS) TO VICTORY! IKE WAS A TREMENDOUSLY FLAWED INDIVIDUAL, BUT WHO ON EARTH ISN'T? I AGREE WITH THE OLD SAYING, "A MAN IS NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD FOR ONE ACTION." OR SEVERAL ACTIONS WITH IKE!
   
   I BELIEVE THAT MAYBE READING BOTH OF THESE GIVES YOU A BETTER PERSPECTIVE ON IKE RATHER THAN JUST PICKING ONE OVER THE OTHER. ONE PRESENTS IKE AS THE ANTI-CHRIST, AND THE OTHER PRESENTS IKE AS CHRIST REBORN. I'LL LET YOU DECIDE WHICH IS WHICH. IT WON'T TAKE YOU LONG.
   
   FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK THAT THIS BOOK IS "TOO CRITICAL OF EISENHOWER", THE FACTS ARE WHAT THEY ARE! HE DID NOT INTEGRATE THE ARMED FORCES, TRUMAN DID. EISENHOWER DID HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH HIS BRITISH SECRETARY AND WAS TRYING TO LEAVE MAMIE, NO MATTER HOW AMBROSE TRIES TO DOWNPLAY IT. EISENHOWER WAS TREMENDOUSLY WEAK IN URGING CIVIL RIGHTS REFORM WHEN HE SPOKE TO SEVERAL KEY SOUTHERN SENATORS AND TOLD THEM THAT HE WAS ONLY SENDING IN FEDERAL TROOPS TO LITTLE ROCK BECAUSE HIS "OFFICE DEMANDED IT, BUT IT WAS GOING TO BE THE MILDEST OF CIVIL RIGHTS REFORM POSSIBLE." IF ANY PRESIDENT HAD THE PUBLIC SUPPORT TO BRING ABOUT RADICAL CIVIL RIGHTS REFORM, IT WAS IKE. HE WASTED THAT OPPORTUNITY COMPLETELY. IKE ALSO HUNG MARSHALL (A CLOSE PERSONAL "FRIEND" AND MENTOR) OUT TO DRY WHEN MCCARTHY BEGAN TO ACCUSE G.C. MARSHALL OF BEING A COMMIE IN THE EARLY 50'S. HE SOLD MARSHALL DOWN THE RIVER TO FURTHER HIS OWN POLITICAL CAREER. TRUMAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH IKE DID NOT GO SOUTH BECAUSE AS AMBROSE CLAIMED, "IKE WAS A REPUBLICAN", IT WENT SOUTH BECAUSE IKE WAS EXTREMELY RUDE TO TRUMAN'S WIFE, BESS, ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, AND BECAUSE TRUMAN BELIEVED IN LOYALTY TO YOUR FRIENDS (MARSHALL) NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT MIGHT HURT YOUR POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS. IF ONE REMEMBERS CORRECTLY, TRUMAN ACTUALLY APPOINTED A REPUBLICAN TO THE SUPREME COURT DURING HIS PRESIDENCY. SO THE "REPUBLICAN ARGUMENT" DOESN'T HOLD WATER AND IF AMBROSE HAD READ ANYTHING ON TRUMAN, HE WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT. IKE ONLY DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM MCCARTHY WHEN IKE FELT MCCARTHY MAY ACTUALLY SAY SOMETHING NEGATIVE ABOUT IKE PERSONALLY, SINCE HE WAS THE FORMER HEAD OF THE ARMY THAT MACCARTHY WAS ACCUSING OF BEING LED BY REDS. BOTH BOOKS ARE FLAWED, AS WAS IKE THE MAN.



5. There really could have been so much more said of this man, this General who led our troops during the Second World War, who entered politics in order to preserve the peace. In this short volume (the series is generally short and introductory in nature) the author, Tom Wicker, misses so many chances to engage his reader into discovering Dwight D. Eisenhower.
   
   Something I found especially difficult to ignore was the glaring omission of any mention (I believe there was but one fleating reference) of the Interstate Highway Act...something which arguably did more to change the face of American life and culture than any other measure of the time.
   
   Wicker does manage to capture a bit of character in discussing the 34th President of the United States. We are introduced to a man who served his country as both a military commander and as Commander-in Chief, who, following his first-hand experiences in war beleived that war should always be the option of last resort. Eisenhower's Farewell Address, warning his country against the dangers of an organized military complex, still is remarkable today.
   
   However, what Mr. Wicker does most successfully is present Eisenhower's failures. As president, Eisenhower was unwilling to spend political capital on divisive, politically-charged issues such as the growing tension of the Civil Rights struggle and the anti-communist witch hunts spurned by Senator Joseph McCarthy and HUAC (the House Un-American Activities Commitee). A more compelling figure might have stood up and directed his country through such difficult times; Eisenhower failed to act.
   
   Unfortunately, so does Wicker. The pages here feel as though the author slept through most of the writing. The book skims the surface of any real substantive discovery of what Wicker refers to as "the most popular president of modern times."

3 comments about Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy..

1. Al was my mentor in the 1970's and this is an honest and true representation of the man I knew. There will never be another like him.



2. Albert Shanker had always been one of my heroes . . . yet until
   I read TOUGH LIBERAL by Richard D. Kahlenberg, I had not known
   too much about him.
   
   That's no longer the case . . . in fact, this excellent biography even
   increased my appreciation of Shanker who once told an interviewer:
   * "If I didn't have to make a living, I would have done this as a volunteer."
   
   What he did was head the American Federation of Teachers for
   well over 20-25 years . . . by doing so, he helped change the
   perception of teachers by having them recognized as professionals:
   
   * A professional receives a liberal-arts education, then specialized
   training, and then must pass a rigorous exam before beginning
   to practice. She participates in an internship, is guided by mentors,
   and participates in reviewing the performance of colleagues. Once these
   professional responsibilities are met come the reciprocal set of rights:
   greater autonomy and higher compensation. In Shanker's vision,
   policies like a rigorous national test, peer review, and career
   ladders were not just defensive moves against critics
   of public-school teachers, they were prerequisites
   to the professionalization of teaching.
   
   TOUGH LIBERAL summarized Shanker's contributions to
   education in one of the finest concluding paragraphs that I've
   ever read:
   
   * In one lifespan, Albert Shanker helped to create the institution
   of collective bargaining for teachers, giving them greater dignity
   and voice in how they would be treated. He then used that power
   to engage in a series of critical education reforms that proved
   instrumental in improving and preserving the institution of public
   education. Both accomplishments served the larger goal he cherished
   above all others: strengthening American democracy. His failure
   to convince fellow liberals to extend their support of democracy more
   broadly--to racial policy, international affairs, and their views of the labor
   movement--leaves open the question: what might society look like
   if we tried?
   
   If you want to learn about Albert Shanker and the labor movement in
   this country, read this book . . . it will also make a great gift for any
   teacher.



3. In his film, Sleeper, Woody Allen immortalized Albert Shanker as the madman responsible for blowing up the world. That helped to get Shanker known outside of NY, but clearly it wasn't the real Shanker. In this highly readable and often exhilarating biography of Shanker, Richard Kahlenberg shows that while Shanker, the architect of the modern teacher union movement (and, it turns out, so much more) surely understood power and accumulated it, his only "madness" was to seek to empower the powerless and to hold this nation to the democratic ideals it espoused and he so cherished. Indeed, far from being "mad," Shanker was both intellectually and politically brilliant -- a rare combination -- an idealist with both a shrewd and compassionate understanding of human nature and a pragmatist who nonetheless stood firm on principles, a stance that sometimes incurred the enmity of allies as much as enemies. This was also a man who dealt with the high and mighty, but who in his writing and speaking could take the most complicated ideas and make them accessible to ordinary people without ever dumbing anything down. Had Kahlenberg just written a biography of this complex and far-ranging man, that probably would have been interesting enough. But Kahlenberg goes further and roots Shanker in the major political and cultural struggles over the soul of the Democratic party and the direction of this country. Regardless of one's view of those struggles and their outcomes, Kahlenberg's recounting of them cannot help but make you think of missed opportunities and "what ifs" to this day. Politics, race, education, the meaning and practice of democracy -- a heady and vitally critical brew. And Kahlenberg stirs and blends this pot well through Shanker, his meaty main ingredient.

1 comments about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America (Library of American Biography Series) (Library of American Biography).

1. In his introduction, Allan Winkler states that this was a book that he had wanted to write for his entire academic career, a desire rooted both in his longtime interest in the era and his respect for other volumes in the Library of American Biography series. He goes on to cite two volumes in particular - Edmund Morgan's The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (Library of American Biography) and John Morton Blum's Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality (Library of American Biography) - as ones that particularly impressed him.
   
   Sadly, this book suffers by comparison to those earlier works. Part of the problem lies in Winkler's effort to grapple with the particulars of Franklin Roosevelt's life, one that included the longest presidency in American history, during which he lead the nation through the twin crises of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Such a career is filled with detail, and often Winkler seems overwhelmed by it all. All too often, the text degenerates into a litany of developments, with little overarching or explanatory analysis. Winkler's writing contributes to this, as he serves up standard prose containing no hint of the passion for his subject that he describes in his introduction.
   
   As a result, Winkler's book doesn't measure up to the lofty standards of the series set by the volumes he cites as his inspiration. Though not a bad work, it fails to capture its legendary subject, losing him instead in the minutiae of his career. Readers seeking an introduction to Franklin Roosevelt and who desire such details will not be let astray, but anyone seeking a greater sense of the man and his achievements would do well to look elsewhere.

2 comments about Mandela: The Authorized Portrait.

1. I hate leaving a book less than 5 stars, I really do. The book has lots of information and important facts about Mandela, but the problem I have is "ease of readability." There were so many things I just couldn't understand due to the author's extremely large vocabulary and phrasing. I suppose maybe that's my fault on some level, but the phrasing was so difficult I only grasped a small percentage of the book. Yes, there are lots of photos. Yes, there are handwritten pages Mandela wrote from his cell (none of which I could legibly read), as well as tons of dates and credits to acknowledgements. Unfortunately, I've decided to leave this book on the shelf.



2. Nelson Mandela stands as a Beacon in South Africa, Africa, and the rest of the world as an example of what a political leader should be. Not only was he largely responsible for the 'one person one vote' changes in South Africa, but then after he was elected president he served one term and retired. This is very un-politician like. Especially in the third world politicians seem to stay in office until they die. Then again, there was FDR in this country.
   
   This is a splendid book. It is profusely illustrated, and not quite a biography so much as a tribute. There are dozens of comments, interviews, documents from the time, historical reports and so on that record his struggle.
   
   Mandela did marvelous things, great things. I wonder though what will be the story of South Africa after he and his legacy are gone. There are political movements afoot there who preach that the whites should all be kicked out, that their property should be confiscated, and that South Africa will be like the rest of Africa in poverty and misery.

5 comments about What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era.

1. She's witty, intelligent, well-read, has down-home common sense, loves the Gipper. What's not to like? She tells great stories of a unique historic moment. She does not brag, has no axe to grind. Many beautiful sentences. One of America's great writers and thinkers. Don't miss her editorial essays in the Wall St. Journal on Saturdays. (Would someone please collect all of them, every word, into a book? Ala David Sedaris? PS - Reading DS leaves me amused, but feeling slightly creepier than I was before. PN leaves you sure that the world can and will be a better place.)
   
   I listened to the Audible recording (from audible,com via [...]), which I believe is her reading her own book. It adds a lot to have her read it. But ... audible.com does not bother to identify the reader. It sounds like Audible recorded their version from a $19 cassette recorder, using a $[...] microphone. You have to turn it up all the way and it's still muffled. It's criminal.
   
   I finished the book in a day, every minute a pleasure. Thanks, so much, Peggy Noonan.



2. Peggy Noonan, the girl behind Reagans' words. She is a former broadcast news writer for Dan Rather. She then brought a new voice into the male dominated world of the White House speachwriter. She brings a smile to the reader with her wonderful analogies and her beautiful, caressing, witty, and poetic words. Her knack for remembering the details is uncanny. At times I find her hard to follow----there is a lot going on in that fast paced mind. And she often goes off into a "daydream". This book brings us into the discussions and interactions inside the White House. She begins with her childhood (a world of innocence), then moves to her break from liberalism to conservatism (world of imperialist thought); and this is what she says:
   
   "What had seemed in my youth the party of rich dullards became, almost in spite of itself, the party of the people----it is about me, and what led me to be the first of my family to become that dread thing, a Republican. It is about CBS, where I worked, about the media in general and their dance with politics, a woman in politics, and visitor for five years to its capital............ it is about that too. Most of all, I suppose, it's about Reagan, the man at the center of the big turn, and what his presidency meant, and what I saw at the revolution." And this to some it up: "I just start at the beginning and end at the end. There are times when I express myself in a manner that might fairly be called idiosyncratic. Sometimes I experimented with writing speeches in free verse, which may five you an idea of what you're occasionally in for."
   
   Noonan gives us examples of crucial speeches, the contributors, and the steps that go into putting them together. She expresses her aggravation of the editing process and the words that went into the recycle bin. She is uniquely intuitive and observant of her contemporaries
   
   Noonan, with her heartfelt telling, brings us into the company of this very special, humble, and unassuming man, Reagan. (I'm happy to know him a little better.) Reagan was truly a blessing. His sense of humor was refreshing. Noonan will tell us she saw a lonely man, and through all this, she says, she still didn't know him. The last conversation she had with him, he told her about a reoccurring dream he had about living in a big house----it was clear, "a house that was available at a price I could afford". She concludes with the final years in the Reagan administration and her stint with Bush. Yes, Reagan had something to do with the fall of Communism.
   
   Wish you well
   Scott



3. Peggy Noonan is almost Shakespearean in her command and use of the English language. Her words flow like a soft brook on quiet Sunday morning.
   
   My favorite part was where she was talking about the experience of going to work in Washington, DC. The three steps are:
   1. Awe of those in power.
   2. Thinking "Man, I'm as smart as these people."
   and finally
   3. My God, WE are in charge?
   
   Priceless!
   
   Well done and a great read.



4. Peggy Noonan is a gifted writer with a great sense of humor, and she is certainly an exceptional student of human nature. In this book, she takes a young English major's talents into the Reagan White House and gives us, the reader, a unique picture of what it was like for her to work there writing speeches for the man whom she considers to be the greatest president of her lifetime. At the same time, she paints vivid and often humorous portraits of many of those with whom she worked and interacted, as well as of those with whom she often clashed over the words she chose.
   
   The problem that Ms. Noonan, and other speech writers, faced was that although they were not high ranking government bureaucrats or administration "decision makers," the words they wrote were the words which would be spoken by the President of the United States and, as such, her words would be taken by the American people and by leaders around the world as representing the views and positions of the United States of America.
   
   The National Security Council (NSC) members, the Defense Department, the State Department, and others were, therefore, concerned that what was said actually represented their understandings of America's stances and positions on the various issues. They didn't want any room left for misinterpretation or misunderstanding, yet they were terrible writers. This, of course, led to many contentious arguments with and among the various reviewers before the comments of perhaps forty or fifty reviewers could somehow be reconciled or discarded and a speech could go forward to the president's desk for his final approval. Peggy Noonan tells this story in an often surprising and humorous, yet insightful, way making this an interesting and fun book to read.
   
   Two of the buzz words often used by managers these days to prod their employees are "delight" and "surprise" as in "delight and surprise your customers." When I began writing this appraisal, that phrase kept coming to mind. Clearly, Peggy Noonan has succeeded in surprising me and her book obviously delighted me.



5. What an amazingly wide-ranging memoir Peggy Noonan wrote! Read this book if you want to know--
   
   * what it was like growing up in the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies,
   * what it was like to work at a major news network (CBS) as it made the awkward, transition from radio to TV,
   * how the White House speechwriting process worked,
   * what went on inside the Reagan administration,
   * what it was like to be a woman in a field dominated by men,
   * what it was like to be a working-class, Fairleigh Dickinson-educated Jersey girl in a town populated by the old boys network and the Ivy League,
   * what Reagan was like in person,
   * how elements of the conservative movement fought and cooperated in the White House, and
   * much, much more.
   
   Having come to Reagan administration from CBS (where she worked for Dan Rather), Noonan spent only a few years at the White House in the mid-1980s -- long enough, though, to write some of Reagan's most memorable and moving speeches, including the Challenger and D-Day speeches -- but she saw, and participated in, so much. She describes her experiences with wit and humor and candor -- and, of course, the wonderful writing for which we've come to know her.
   
   Despite her own conservative politics and love for Reagan, this is not hagiography. Even as she stands clearly in awe of the president, he remains a mystery to her, a distant enigma. She is uncertain whether Reagan's aides are actually manipulating him, or whether it's Reagan who's really doing the manipulating of his aides who seem always to be at odds. And even as she stands clearly in awe of working in the White House, Noonan is quickly frustrated by the in-fighting among staff members, the bureaucratic fights among departments and agencies. This is particularly the case with the "staffing" of speeches, in which each department -- State, for example, and the National Security Council -- reviews a speech and basically tears it apart. Nor are Noonan's impressions of Nancy Reagan and Maureen Reagan particularly positive.
   
   In short, I think it's fair to say that the book is a classic of the genre.