1 comments about American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams.

1. Applause for author Peter Richardson for his prodigous research and enlightening prose. Carey McWilliams, possibly more than any other person, influenced hot button social and governance issues in California and America during the mid-1900s. If one really wants to know what a multi-talented activist can achieve, "American Prophet" is a must read!

2 comments about Madam Prime Minister: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher (People in Focus).

1. Margaret Thatcher was a very unique individual that stood out for her qualities as a leader. She was often called the iron-willed leader, which brought her confidence in her terms of service as Britain's Prime Minister. She often tried to point out that she would try to make as much of an impact on society as did other previous Prime Ministers such as, Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and Edward Heath. According to newspaper men in Britain, she did just that. During her years of service, inflation rose as well as unemployement but this was not part of her doing. The country of Britain had already slipped into a sort of depression and this just dragged Thatcher down in with it. But she did everything in her power to help drag Britain's economy back onto the positive side. One of her favorite quotes, which really displays her will to work for Britain when she was Prime Minister is this, "Let me give you my vision: a man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to have property, to have the state as a servant and not as a master; these are the British inheritance".



2. Interesting book if you are 12 years old. It wasn't what I expected but it did contain some interesting information.

4 comments about Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman's Crusade (Politics and Society in Twentieth Century America).

1. Ms Schlafly's world-view would be laughable if it were not so intolerant.



2. Donald T. Critchlow has written a timely and much needed examination of the rise of conservatism in American political culture through the life of Phyllis Schlafly. For too long Schlafly's importance has been obfuscated by historians intent on discrediting her rather than noting her importance. Critchlow fills this gap. He brings to life Schlafly's political career beginning in the anticommunist fervor of the 1950s to her role in shaping Republican defense policy during the 1970s to the fight over the ERA. He also includes an important assessment of Schlafly's present political activities.
   
   Based on extensive archival research from various libraries and institutions, Critchlow's examination of Schlafly deserves the attention it has already received by the academic community and the press, including such publications as the New Yorker. This prestigious magazine included Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism as one of its fall book selections, which testifies to the book's important insights and balanced interpretation.



3. Finally, Phyllis Schlafly gets her scholarly due. While historians have focused on the periphery of politics -- dwelling into ever narrow corners and cracks of the American Left -- Phyllis Schlafly has had no honest assessment. Plenty of dishonest, superficial assessment based on hand-me-down "that terrible woman" stories, but little more. (...).
   
   Professor Critchlow is the dean of U.S. policy historians and he has taken a brave step tackling a figure so unpopular among academics. Then again, I am reminded of that member of the chattering classes who said, "I can't believe Nixon won , I don't know a single person who voted for him!" Critchlow batters that academic insularity to explain how and why Schlafly's message spawned "grassroots conservatism." Let's hope some who would rather not hear, do listen.
   
   The alternative offered by Critchlow's study is, to take a quote from one of her best-selling titles,
   
   "A Choice, Not an Echo" of the silly things constantly said
   about her and other movement conservatives.
   
   Wake up historians (left or right), you have nothing to lose but your ignorance!
   
   Jonathan Bean
   Southern Illinois University



4. Donald T. Critchlow, the ever-prolific profssor of policy studies has performed a daunting task. In this book, he wrote a critical but balanced biography of Phyllis Schlafly.
   
   Schlafly is the female new right activist who claims sole responsibility for defeating the Equal Rights Amendment in 1982. Previous biographies about her were blatantly partisan projects because their authors either attacked or fawned over their subject. The long-time far right activist engenders strong feelings among people familiar with her work; you either love or hate her.
   
   Phyllis Schlafly first appeared in national politics in 1964. That year, she wrote `A choice: Not an echo' which tried to explain why Goldwater was the `sensible' choice. Yet, because Johnson then-rode public sympathy over the Kennedy assassination, he won a landslide and she temporarily receded from public view. After fallout with the National Federation of Republican Women, she formed her own women's organization, the Eagle Forum.
   
   The Eagle Forum's veritable heyday came in the late 1970's/early 1980's when Schlafly came back onto the national stage. She became the New Right's favorite speaker against feminism/`Women's Lib'. Although Schlafly herself was a Harvard-trained lawyer and accomplished political activist, she instead emphasized that she was `just a housewife' who genuinely enjoyed mothering six kids. Schlafly consequently allowed the male conservatives to oppose ERA ratification efforts without themselves appearing sexist; `They' also supported women participating in politics.
   
   This woman speaking out against women's liberation also made for effective media coverage because it exposed political divisions among women themselves. The women who joined anti-ERA ratification efforts were older, more religious and had less formal education than their pro-ERA counterparts. Viewing homemaking as their identity, `pro family' women felt that the ERA ultimately called their own self-worth into question. Because they were so content with their homemaking role they did not want to concede that the same role was fact limiting for other women who wanted something else/more and freedom to pursue their freedoms. Having strictly defined social and legal limits thus gave ERA opponents the illusion of security even if the world did not always run as smoothly.
   
   Schlafly ironically has experienced her own sex discrimination. In spite of her best efforts, Ronald Reagan did not appoint her Secretary of Defense. She also has failed to get herself elected to public office. Despite MANY attempts made over the past 30 years---the `giant citizen base' which she always claims to speak on behalf of ultimately never transformed into electoral votes. These failures alternately prevent and save Schlafly from being held accountable by the `taxpayers'. She would not be able to function in an environment which demands a certain degree of party and/or ideological bipartisanship.
   
   Schlafly's positions for creationism, one-size-fits all reading instruction, and opposition to vaccines are noticeably downplayed by many other conservatives. Many other conservatives know that those areas do not deliver enough voters in order for them to win an election. Because most people continue to support the `liberal' position in these areas, Schlafly's influence ironically is restricted to certain `women's issues'. For somebody who considers herself an `honorary male' such political limits must be the ultimate irony.
   
   Critchlow notes that she continues to control the Eagle Forum, despite the token mentoring of younger conservative women who now join this organization through collegiate and youth chapters. The Eagle Forum remains an active force in American politics, but increasingly is being supplanted by `younger' organizations like the Independent Women's Forum who have a `fresh' appearance and concede the feminist movement has some merits such as the Independent Women's Forum. Because any organization needs regular officer elections/leadership changes in order to keep their group fresh and responsive to member needs and the charter, I am curious what will happen to the Eagle Forum when Schlafly dies?
   
   He also examines the contradictions between Schafly's public gay-bashing and herself having a gay son. In 1992 John Schlafly was outed as gay, verifying that GLBT people do come from all families. Schlafly is the first to insist that she did everything `right' and promoted heterosexuality, but still cannot explain away her son's sexuality. Presently, Schlafly does less public attacking of gays than the other new right organizations, but she still labels them a threat---essentially labeling her own son a threat. John's public support for mom's political activities actually might belie a more complicated private relationship as a result.
   
   This book's only real flaw is that in addition to a portrait of Schlafly, Critchlow then attempts to talk about the American right in general at some depth. He argues the conservative movement impacted American politics, even if not in the exact ways which the groups and/or public figures intended.
   
   Although it's necessary to know that Schlafly's ultimate start in politics came as a researcher for the infamous red-hunter Senator Joseph McCarthy (R Wisconsin), a discussion of the right in general does not work in this same book. Agreeing that some comparison of leadership similarities and differences among other new right women is needed at some point, I think that he veered off his thesis during a lot of this other material and forgot what this particular book was supposed to be about during those points. These portions of his book are still scholarly, but subsequently become a case of trying to do too much with too little pages. Critchlow would have been better served by writing a second general book on the American right and gender.

5 comments about One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story.

1. General Janis Karpinski, commander of the U.S. military prison in Iraq, provides her personal account of the corruption and failures in the chain of command that permitted prisoner abuse to occur. She discusses her inexperience in running a prison, lack of disciplined guards, and use of private firms.
   
   Though she spends a bit of the book on the army's preference for male soldiers in combat related arms, the book rings true. You can see how Karpinski and her people had too many responsibilities and too few people. The cover-up lasted for three months and then she contends that the blame was shifted to her. She feels she was the sacrificial lamb because of the fact that she was not regular army and an expendable woman. Yet the army did think she earned a star, so how expandable was she before this incident happened. The book is a fast read.



2. As far as an entertaining read, it was great! I loved the large font, color photos, and of course, the interesting anecdotes. What everyone is forgetting is that we are reviewing the BOOK, not her, or her message. Though personally, I find her to be extraordinary. If you are looking for a light, interesting read, pick this book up. If you started off hating her, you might be blindsighted by your emotions anyway so no amount of information is going to help you. Just don't bother reading it. If, however, you feel neutral about her role in the scandal, by all means, read it, listen to her message, pay attention that she mentions several times her faults in the scandal, and enjoy the fast paced read.



3. ONE WOMAN'S ARMY: THE COMMANDING GENERAL OF ABU GHRAIB TELLS HER STORY considers the events of 2004, offering General Karpinski's first-hand account of not only her command of troops in a combat zone, but her experience of being a commanding female leader in the modern army. From how the scandal destroyed her career to her rise in the ranks, ONE WOMAN'S ARMY is a recommended pick for any female who would understand - or enter - the military.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. First the book reads smoothly and quickly, providing a sense of the grit, determination, and personal integrity required to move up the chain of command as a woman in the army. Second, Janis reveals a peak behind the curtain of what is really going on on the ground in Iraq, and the decisions that were made which led us into our current intractable position in the Middle East. It's a sad commentary on our current administration that a woman who led with integrity was set up to take the fall for decisions that were made by General Sanchez and Donald Rumsfeld. Several of the men who made the decisions that led to the torture at Abu Ghraib were given medals for their service while she was stripped of her Commission. Janis Karpinski represents exactly the kind of person we want in our Army (I've actually met her in person and found her to be strong, intelligent, and concerned about the direction our country is heading). This book should be required reading for every citizen who cares about the future credibility of the United States on the world stage. The truth doesn't change and eventually we will come to understand how badly we have treated this brave woman who served her country with honor. More importantly we will understand how badly we have fumbled our responsibilites to the world in our mishandling of Iraq and the problems in the Middle east.



5. She gives a believable insight to the nonchalant attitude of the higher military leaders that continue to this day. Many of us have fell victim to leader's incompetence and quest for promotion and the details she gives are accurate.
   
   Her background is impressive and that alone should have been enough to get her through this deployment without incident. She knew what had to be done but could not get the male commanders to care about the situation. She broke testosterone barriers throughout her career but still took the hit when the male officers bailed after everything hit the fan.
   
   Her book explains her elaborate and extensive background without gloating. Any commander in her position would have a difficult time and she describes in detail the walls and curtains put before her while she maintained her unit the best she could.
   
   Beautiful insight to military leadership during an American occupation.

No comments about Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out.

5 comments about Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men.

1. This is a great book that could be out of print soon. Get a copy while you can, you won't be disappointed.



2. The story of the Sioux leader Crow Dog. It also talks about his family and previous generations, as well as children. He has a co-writer to get all this down. This isn't too bad, and a reasonably interesting account if you are interested in that sort of history and such books as Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.



3. THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK IS INCREDIBLE ENLIGHTNING GUIDANCE THROUGH THE RITES, CULTURE AND LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. THEN WE MOVE INTO RECENT HISTORY WITH THE CREATION OF AIM ITS STRUGGLE AND AMAZING VICTORIES; TO MOVE ON WITH PROSECUTION PERSECUTION TORTURE OF THE PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT AND DIE FOR THEIR CULTURE AND ARE STILL FIGHTING TODAY FOR THE RIGHT TO BE WHO THEY ARE. (RESPECT!)
   WHEN CROW DOG DESCRIBE HIS JAIL TIME IT IS SO REALISTIC AND SENSITIVE YOU FEEL YOU ARE THERE INSIDE HIM AND THE WALLS, BUT WHEN YOU SHARE HIS FINAL FEAR: YOU ARE BREATHLESS ABOUT TO CHOKE!
   ALL THIS HAD TO END UP IN A SUN DANCE.
   A WONDERFUL BOOK WHICH SHOULD BE INTO EVERY LIBRARY, BOOKSTORES AND MOST DEFINETELY ON YOUR BOOK SHELVES.
   1 HEART!
   C



4. Interesting contemporary information (i.e. 1950s on). Tells of Indian's on-going plight in poverty, alcoholism, disease and lack of employment and the feelings this engenders in them. Valuable history of past Holy Men (and women) and their values.
   Since I am very interested in Indian studies, both past and present, I enjoyed this book.



5. Crow Dog is one of the best Native American books I've ever read. It is culturally rich and speaks clearly on the injustices done to the Native Americans. It talks not only about the injustices of the past but also the future, like the siege of Wounded Knee. Also this is one of the richest stories which covers the legacy of the Crow Dogs.
   
   One of the reasons this book is so affluent is its personal feel. The author, Leonard Crow Dog, can't write and so he spoke the entire book to an interpreter. This gives the entire book a slow but fluent feel which shadows the way many Native Americans talk, and so the book feels, sometimes, like a story. It makes you feel you are there in every event, and you are connected with the book in an uncanny way.
   
   This book goes in-depth in the religious aspects of Native Americans. The Crow Dog family has always been in the root of Lakota medicine men, and they are responsible for the continued practice of, and the creation of some, Native American rituals. Leonard Crow Dog, the author, was the first to bring back the banded Ghost Dance since the death of his Great-Grand Father. It happened at one of the most important sites in Native American history, Wounded Knee. However, this wouldn't be the last time Leonard Crow Dog would become history at Wounded Knee.
   
   The siege of Wounded Knee, which lasted seventy-two days, is one of the most intense events of the book. In that short time a band of Native Americans, from a rainbow of tribes, raised an independent nation, defended that nation, and fell to an enemy whom had, or maybe more has, no sense of a kept word. The siege of Wounded Knee wasn't actually a siege because the land was a part of a treaty which said it'd be Native American land, but naturally the white man didn't keep their word. It's been more than a decade since the last battle at Wounded Knee and it has been erased from most people's memory.
   
   Crow Dog seems to be more than just a book about the legacy of the Crow Dog family. It seems to be a story about the prevailing struggle that Native American have every day to keep hold of their identity, and to keep hold of their sanity as they are encircled everyday by people how've stolen their home. The important part of the book is not the continued signing and break of agreements with Native Americans, but their spirit to stand resolved and stand with the divine father.

5 comments about Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries.

1. After reading this book, I enjoyed the funny tune that Amiry used to get to the point. But it is not even close to show the real suffering of people under occupation and harsh living condition with an enemy that is trying viciously to erase the Palestinian identity and spread rumors that it was a land without people. Another myth spread by jews.
   As a Palestinian American, just visiting Palestine was a pain. Not as bad as the pain Palestinian face every day of their life. I wasn't too sure if some of the comments here made any sense. I understand that these are from Israelis that think they have right to that land.
   They claim to suffer because every once awhile they are faced with a bombing, some calamity, or a lose of a loved one. But millions of Palestinians in the Diaspora are faced with the same issues in addition to a sever feeling of "waking up EVERY DAY having no land" to live in or say that this is their homeland. Please don't say that these Palestinians can live in other Arab countries. If this is the case, then similarly, jews can go and live back where they came from. And don't say, this was the promise land because jews originally came from Egypt then ran away to Palestine. Jews had existed in the Middle East, but majority of them converted to Christianity and Islam. Whoever was left was having a good life there, better than other Arabs inmost cases.
   Most of the jews in Palestine are from east Europe, not even from the Middle East. They started to migrate in the late 1800's when the Ottoman empire was getting week and the rich Russian jews in addition to Hitler's plan to get red of his jews. Jews used the British influence to get a better access to Palestinian land. Especially during the British mandate, the British, used an Islamic law, Waqf, which means "for the sake of God", to confiscate land and give it to the jews. During the Ottoman Empire and according to the Islamic law, land belongs to the Islamic state (Ottomans). When Ottomans lost in the WWI, Britain took over and took all the land, and helped the jews steal other private land.



2. As an Israeli living in the US, I was looking forward for an eye-opener on life in Ramallah.
   This may have been cute as emails, yet as a book it is one long tedious collection of cliches, full of self-pity, and quite hard to feel any real sorrow beacuase of the "Party-line" style.
   My Jewish family, too, had to flee their home in Arab hostile Morocco. We recently visited and it was quite nostalgic! We do have a life in our new-found countries.
   So 2 words:
   As a book, it stinks;
   Have a life already.



3. I read this book within a day, I just couldn't put it down, it was so beautifully written, and so easy to read.
   Suad Amiry has a remarkable ability to say in one sentence what other writers take three pages over. A single sentence can be so thought-provoking, you consider all the many implications that follow from just one statement.
   Despite the misery of her situation, Suad's defiance of her occupiers is hilarious - what a courageous and spunky woman! Her frankness and honesty of her own feelings, including her failings, are also very impressive.
   Well done to Suad Amiry, I eagerly look forward to her next book - I hope she will write one!



4. Arafat and my hot flashes - an Israeli response to Suad Amiry's Sharon and my Mother-in-Law.
   
   After reading Suad Amiry's novel Sharon and my mother in law I was extremely moved ... as an Israeli, living in Tel-Aviv at ta time when all around me people were "bursting at the Seams" or merely committing suicide at their leisure while taking other people's lives, limbs, children and women with them, I could identify myself with her agony at not being able to move freely...
   
   It was Saturday eve; I always felt weird on Saturday eve, uneasy. On a verge of a panic attack. Maybe it was to do with the gloom I experienced at home, as a child on Sat. eve (My mother was a BA -graduate of Auschwitz). It was exactly 2 years ago, me and my not-such-a-great-hero, husband, who was an extremely gifted and intelligent man but the biggest coward if there's ever was one, were having a row, after a long week ... I wanted to venture out. Out of doors...out of our building; living in Tel Aviv had become a Russian roulette ... the streets were very quiet and empty ... not a dog in sight, the stray cats had totally disappeared, everyone was waiting for the next one, and we didn't know where it would come from. I wanted to go to the movies.
   "Are you out of your mind?!!!" Gideon screamed. I couldn't sit at home anymore I had to go out. To a coffee place, "A coffee place?!!! Now?!!" Only yesterday one of the most popular coffee places in Tel Aviv blew up.
   "Ok then, the bar around the corner is always empty! Why would a suicide bomber come there, to kill us and the barman?". I thought that was reasonable enough.
   "I don't know why?" argued Gideon back "he might just get fed up half way to the Hilton, did you think about that?".
   I tried the movies, again.
   "Crowded places?!!! Hello? Anybody home?", pointing at my head.
   "but we never had a suicider at the cinema!!", I tried to reason.
   "Exactly!!!", exclaimed Gideon with a big smile, winning the argument.
   
   I felt a hot flash coming on. It was August and I just had to have some air. "I don't care!!!", I screamed, "I am going out!!! Now!"
   
   All of a sudden a siren was heard, and another one and another one, a string of sirens always meant a suicide bomber, and the ambulances were rushing to the scene. We looked at each other with terror and turned on the TV. There was a suicide bomber at Michael's Pub, a few minutes away from us. It was my son's favorite hang out; thank God he had been living in Holland for the last few years. He didn't even come home for a visit; I wouldn't let him, my only son...
   
   Gideon, quickly rushed to the phone to ring his three children (from his 2 ex wives) they were all in their twenties ... that was his usual routine, every time a bomber hit the town. Then he would take his clooney (Cloonex - a tranquilizer) I was always angry when he took it, being a practitioner of Chinese medicine, it was totally against my principals. But he couldn't care less. He was slowly becoming addicted to clooney.
   
   We stayed at home glued to the TV watching the horrible scenes of children, women, blood, screaming, etc etc. Gideon began his usual snores beside me, the clooney had knocked him out!
   
   The next day we heard on the news that Palestinians were under curfew ....
   
   There are always three sides to every divorce: the wife, the husband and the truth...
   
   We are having a terrible, endless bloody row: it's time to stop talking about the past. I would expect an educated person like Suad not to live in the past, but to accept our existence in Israel and to start talking from that point. We have no where else to go, and the experience of living as a Jew outside Israel has not been very successful ... I could attach a picture of my mother's green number tattooed on her arm, she is only 74, she was 12 when they took her to the camps, one of the last survivors in the world ... Tell me Suad, the truth: this is not about the occupied territories. Barak begged Arafat to take it back. This is about Jaffa...according to your book. Do you expect my mother to go back to Czechoslovakia? And look for her confiscated home? And what about me? I was born here, am I to take a dive in the sea?
   
   Yours sincerely,
   
   Yael Stern O'Dwyer



5. I enjoyed reading this book but was chilled at the author's inclusion of "1929" as a year of Palestinian "pride" without mention of the atrocities of the Hebron pogroms. "Text without context is pretext" as the PLO's old friend Jesse Jackson used to remind us. Tom Segev's One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (which alot of Amazon reviewers think has an anti-Zionist bias) would be a good corrective for the reader new to these issues.
   
   Amiry is not a fanatic or a fundamentalist and this is her P.O.V. and her life. Can she address the moral failures of the Palestinian leadership, beginning with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and ending in Hamas? Maybe, but this is not that book.

5 comments about American Dreamer: A Life of Henry A. Wallace.

1. Doesn't anyone here know how pathetically naive this man was? I mean, he wanted to pursue a policy of appeasement with mass-murderer Joseph Stalin - much as Neville Chamberlain had done not a decade earlier with Hitler. Thank God Roosevelt had the sense to remove him from the Vice Presidency; a very scary situation indeed was thus avoided.
   
   Don't waste your time - the man, however "idealistic" (meaning he didn't listen to anyone else), is a historical nonentity.



2. There are many lessons to be learned from the one-of-a-kind individual Henry A. Wallace. Because of his varied interests, people of all walks of life can find aspects of his life and personality they can relate to. This book provides insight into one of the driving forces behind modern agricultural, economic, political and social thought.



3. Henry A Wallace was surely one of the most fascinating men in American Politics in 20th Century--even tho he was, in a sense, only half-in politics. He was too naive and too much in sympathy with the poor of his own world and with the aspirations of other people to fit the American mainstream---FDR managed to achieve a lot of what Wallace dreamed of by being more politically astute.



4. This is a proverbial "long overdue" biography of Henry A. Wallace and his brilliant yet eccentric Scottish-American family. I did a Web search of Wallace a few years ago and was amazed at the scant result. This rectifies that.
   
   Beyond the coverage of his political innocence there is a good recounting of his actual science work. Few politicians actually "do" things beyond speechifying, getting reelected and becoming millionaires at the public trough. Henry, Henry C. and Henry A. Wallace were exceptions. Their philosophic designs for the farmer and state policy were important and Henry A.'s genetic work truly revolutionary.
   
   The world would be a different place without it.
   
   Not much popular press has been written about American agriculture, I guess because building cars, fighting Hitler, dropping atomic bombs and oral sex in the oval office are more exciting.
   
   This book is a good primer in America's great farming history of triumph. To simplify, the American farmer through hard work, good soil and some science grew too much product for his own good...prices essentially fell from 1890 into the 1930's. (World War I was a boom period, but wild fluctuations don't lend themselves to good planning. Under such conditions, planning was about as effective as mule husbandry.) Naturally this hurt most farmers and destroyed more then a few of them. Through government intervention theorized by the Wallace family's agricultural journal and then championed to be public law in Washington by Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. under Harding, then Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. under FDR, this anomaly was reformed.
   
   An obvious and wonderful irony is that Henry A. during this fight for state policy, was genetically engineering hybrid corns (and other crops) which hugely increased acre yield! In other words, American farmers were destroying themselves by being too successful and Wallace made them more successful...and viable.
   
   I was thrilled too with the description of Henry C.'s Washington sojourn in the 1920's. Historians breeze by that period, summarizing it as: womanizer, feckless Warren G. Harding; indolent, pickle puss Calvin Coolidge; and Depression maker, Let-Them-Eat-Cake Herbert C. Hoover. Obviously no administration sets its goal as venality, so it refreshing to see Harding to be portrayed as a sympathetic proponent of Henry C.'s policy goals and Coolidge to be an activist opponent of them. Hoover simply comes off as a lunk-headed player who was wrong and enamored with his personal successes.
   
   Historians have wrongly treated conservative governments as do-nothing when in fact doing nothing often takes as much effort as signing every bill regurgitated by Congress.
   
   And Roosevelt was duplicitous, Henry A. believed in mysticism and was a parlor red who would have ruined the country had FDR croaked a year earlier...but that I knew before I read this book.
   
   This is a good book about a classic American type.



5. I enjoyed this detailed account of the life of Henry Wallace. The book does read like a work by David McCullough, but is enhanced by a deep understanding of the culture of Washington. The book gives valuable insights into the practical political forces that shaped the New Deal and the beginning of the Cold War.

   The underlying premise of this book as that an idealistic dreamer can make a huge difference in the creating and shaping policy in the United States. The co-author of this work is a former Senator from Iowa named John C. Culver. He served one-term in the 1970's. Through Henry Wallace, the authors mount a formidable defense of the ideals of American liberalism.

5 comments about Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President.

1. So what if he could not deliver on all of his campaign promises? He did not have the majority in Congress to do so.
   
   He did start making changes which his successor felipe calderon must continue in order for Mexico to be succesfull in the modern world. Free trade, privatization of certain elements of the oil industry, increased government accountability, drug trade, etc.
   
   A lot of people hate him and hated President Zedillo, but without them both, Mexico ould still be stuck in its old political and presidentialist system that brought us nothing but economic crises after economic crises.
   
   A good read, very entertaining outlook at the personal life, back ground, upbringing, career in the private and public sector.



2. When learning a language such as Spanish, it is important to learn the culture of native speakers. Unfortunately, most books on culture are either vague (e.g. Mexicans are macho.) or trivial (such as focusing on a timeline of rulers without making the dates meaningful). Revolution of Hope adds context to Mexican history. When an event happens, the suffering or the improvement of lifestyle of the Foxes is chronicled. Likewise, aspects of culture are illustrated with real-life stories.
   
   I do not agree with all of Vicente Fox's politics, but this book is well-written and a great help in my quest to learn Spanish.



3. In order to read this book you should be objective not subjective. Have an open mind and try to listen to the man. I believe too many people have read(or lied and claimed to have read the book to push their own agenda)this book letting their own prejudices cloud their judgement of the book. It is a memoir of sorts, an autobigraphy if you will. It is not literature. Many authors who are first and foremeost not authors write with the help of a professional, for example, Lance Armstrong has enlisted the help of columnist Sally Jenkins in his books It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life and Every Second Counts. I mention this because some reviewers here have dismissed this book saying he did not write it. So what is this book about? It is one man's account of his rise to the Presidency in 2000 breaking the one-party rule of the PRI that had a stranglehold on the Mexican people for the previous seventy-one years. This in itself was a monumental accomplishment. But this book is much more than than just his personal rise to power. It is about his struggles, his parents and grandparents struggle to achieve a better life, an ongoing theme that seems to irritate many people when it comes to the immigration issue. BTW, his paternal grandfather emigrated in 1898 to Mexico from the United States (Ohio), seeking a better life because his business failed and his father was an American citizen! So you see, immigration goes north and south, with results that can often be amazing. Vicente Fox chronicles his youth and what it was like to live on the family ranch in San Cristobal in Guanajuato. He discusses his parents decision to send him to school in the U.S. and the effect that had on his youth. Like many Americans or Mexicans of Mexican descent,this traversing of the border can create conflicts on both sides of the border. As children we go where our parents tell us to go because they know best. In the end this was good for Vicente Fox as it allowed him to compare and take the desireable qualities of American life and later apply them to his leadership, first as the youngest CEO of Coca-Cola, on to Governor of Guanajuato and ultimately as President of Mexico. I found President Fox to be a man of integrity, commitment, strength, leadership and vision. People can agree to disagree, as Fox does with Bush but a bond is there between people who are seperated by a border. There is a mutual respect that these two leaders have for each other as the book indicates. His life is fascinating but his desire to create a better world is even more admirable. Politics aside you cannot be other than impressed with his commitment to the betterment of mankind. I was very impressed with his denuciation of the dictator, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and his good reltionship with President Bush. These two leaders were making progress with regards to immigration until 9/11. The summit meetings in San Cristobal prior to 9/11 were historic in many reagrds, not the least of which was the fact that this was President Bush's first foreign destination. If you do not let your personal views on immigration cloud your judgement I think you can find this autobiography quite compelling. His narration his part history lesson, part vision of the future. He incorporates the lessons of today, compares them with the past and creates a unique observation to the future. He cites examples from Europe on how through a common market the economies of the poorer European nations have leveled the playing field with the richer European nations. The Euro is stronger than the U.S. dollar. He believes that much can be done within our own hemisphere to create prosperity for all nations in the Americas. Canada,the United States and Mexico can be the torchbearers of this vison of economic unity and vitality. Vicente Fox's vison is honest, whether or not it will occurr in our lifetime is another question but naysayers should not write him off so quickly. He achieved the unthinkable, he defeated the PRI'S reign, so don't sell the man short, besides he's very tall, 6'5". Seriously though, Fox doesn't sugar coat his countries problems and presents Mexcio with all it's warts. He discusses the role of narcotrafficers and the devasting effect they have had on both sides of the border. Mexico's attempt to clamp down on these gangs and the cooperation between nations to prosecute. The key word here is cooperate, that is what neighbors must do. Hostility between neighbors, whether it is with regards to immigration or any other "hot" button issue will not solve anything, cooperation will. President Fox continues to fight the good fight with the Centro Fox and the expansion of Vamos Mexico Foundation by getting the help of the Carters, the Clintons and others to combat AIDS in Africa, preventing election fraud, raising funds for disaster relief and working for global democracy, peace and social justice. This is a good book about a good man. Recommended for those who envision a better tommorrow and like current events and autobiographies.



4. Ordered this on Dec. 2 and was told that it shipped Dec. 11. It is now Dec. 23 and I have not received book or any info. as to what is going on since Dec.11. Not happy with this service at this time.



5. I will strongly recomend this book for people that are interested in The Americas' integration of cultures.

5 comments about The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin.

1. This book is helpful in understanding China from a Chinese perspective. If Westerners will listen to its message with an open mind (vs. viewing the book in light of Western perceptions of China), it will improve understanding between East and West and could serve to reduce unnecessary tensions, which are frequently due to misunderstandings.



2. Senator Feinstein's remarks on the back of the book's cover, as to this being as close as it gets to "official biography," should be ironic warning to the reader (if the presence of a Kissinger quote didn't do it): Kuhn writes a scripted, canned biography that was allegedly fed to him by Chinese Communist Party apparatchiks.
   
   If anyone wonders how it is Kuhn paints such a rosy portrait of the man who was enthroned as China's unelected ruler by conservative Party elders during the Tiananmen Massacre, the story behind the book proves helpful. Jiang Zemin, ever a little self-absorbed, several years back commissioned a group of capable Chinese writers to produce the official word on him and his career. The group did their job, but apparently, a little too well. They dug up enormous amounts of riveting, scandalous material. Jiang, irate as much as nervous, dismissed the group, but not before several (and possibly more, it is believed) of the group made public some of its explosive findings; some of the writings can still be found posted in Chinese online. So disturbing were the findings (including serious evidence of treason) that Jiang reportedly feared he might not find another willing and obedient Chinese writer. Enter Robert Kuhn -- reportedly Jiang felt it would be safest to find an outsider, or foreigner, to write this time, and particularly one with some kind of financial tie (Kuhn has long been a consultant to China's government). They paired Kuhn up with a Chinese researcher and fed him a script that bears little resemblance to history.
   
   Thus the book, aside from its warm, flattering portrayal of Jiang, is marked by peculiar absences. We might ask: Where is Jiang's complicity in the Tiananmen Massacre? His role in the booming, government managed organ harvesting blackmarket trade? Or the executions (tied to the organ trade) of as many as 10,000 prisoners in a single year? What of China's becoming the world's leading jailer of journalists under Jiang Zemin? Or Jiang's inability to keep personal vendettas in check and thus launching a terribly brutal, if not expensive and irrational, persecution of the Falun Gong? Wasn't it during the Jiang Zemin era that China's environment suffered what is probably irrevocable devastation, with a staggering 15 of the world's 20 most polluted cities being in China by the time of Jiang's abdication? What of his disastrous mishandling of the 1998 floods? Or giving away of 1.3 million square kilometers of would-be Chinese land to Russia in December of 1999? So startlingly many are the silences in Kuhn's account.
   
   I was delighted to see recently a hard-hitting rebuttal to Kuhn's fairytalesque work. It is titled "Anything for Power: The Real Story of China's Jiang Zemin" and is available online in English translation at the website of The Epoch Times newspaper (http://english.epochtimes.com/211,100,,1.html). In incredible detail it unravels Kuhn's account and articulates the history it seemingly sought to silence. It draws on inside Party sources, and appears to incorporate the findings of the initial, disbanded biography group.
   
   Other biographies of Jiang (eg, those of Willy Lam and Bruce Gilley) similarly render Kuhn's account, though indirectly in this case, deeply suspect. That Kuhn does not take into account their work, although it was published before his piece, suggests a serious agenda; clearly his motive is not to build on the analysis, insights, and research of those who came before him as would normally be done.



3. 
   In China, the 1990s brought sizzling economic growth, cool political stability and a steady expansion of personal freedom for urban residents. Shanghai, Beijing and other cities became modern and cosmopolitan. Peace reigned on all borders. Was it brilliant leadership that won these triumphs for China? Or was it a combination of circumstances, only mildly affected by the man in charge at the time, Jiang Zemin?
   
   In a new biography of Jiang, Robert Lawrence Kuhn tries to credit the former Communist Party chief with a primary role in China's advances. Yet by telling Jiang's story in detail, Kuhn's book reveals Jiang to be an above-average Party official, most skilled in the art of pleasing his superiors, whose great feat was simply political survival. The title of the book is `The Man Who Changed China.' But Jiang did not change China in any significant way. He climbed into the driver's seat at a time when the steering wheel was held by others. Only after years as Communist Party chief did Jiang assume real power, and once he had it, he showed no special flair for leadership. He just kept driving on the road laid out for him by Deng Xiaoping.
   
   How Jiang rose - from his first job fixing machines at a Shanghai ice cream company through a series of middling administrative positions to become Mayor of Shanghai and then China's Communist Party chief - certainly is a good tale. Jiang was born into an educated family in Yangzhou, north of Shanghai. His uncle was a Communist revolutionary who died in battle, giving Jiang an important credential for future leadership. Trained as an engineer, Jiang was known as a big reader with a good memory and a talent for making friends. At Jiang's first job, in the ice cream company, he was on hand when a Party official named Wang Daohan came to visit on day in September, 1949. Jiang gave a presentation and a factory tour, and impressed Wang with his energy and optimism. Wang eventually decided to take Jiang under his wing, and over the next 40 years, he nurtured Jiang's rise by winning him jobs in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Changchun.
   
   Jiang was an intelligent but cautious administrator. He had no special charisma. As Kuhn reports, he was frequently underestimated. Meaning, he often came across as a lightweight. But over time he would prosper, primarily by diligent work and an ability to offend no one. He survived the Cultural Revolution and other political campaigns by keeping his head down.Kuhn's book is thorough. He recites a month-by-month summary of Jiang's years in power, often including details about the leader's taste for reciting poetry or the Gettysburg address, and singing songs. Jiang loved to perform, and to show off.
   
   For anyone who needs a compendium of Jiang's public appearances and political acts during those years, this is an excellent guide. Readers looking for real insight into Chinese politics will be disappointed. One strength of Kuhn's book is the access he gained, interviewing Jiang's sister and several of his close aides, including Wang Daohan. They offer intriguing personal anecdotes that inevitably show what a wise and thoughtful man Jiang has been. Kuhn's book is weakest where it counts most. At Jiang's critical moments - the Tiananmen protests and crackdown in 1989 that led to his ascension, the demise of political rivals Yang Shangkun and Chen Xitong - Kuhn offers little insight or fresh information.
   
   Most annoying is Kuhn's tendency to repeat Communist pablum as though it were anything beyond a Party line, such as Jiang's `core beliefs' in socialism and Party control, obviously a prerequisite to any government position. Kuhn, an advisor to the Chinese government as well as host of a PBS television series, sometimes writes like an American businessman freshly introduced to the vast potential of the China market: breathless, overly credulous, and looking for opportunity. Yet Kuhn's approach to Jiang's story - getting every detail - generally yields a basic accuracy to major trends and events. For instance, Kuhn describes the decision in 1992 to accelerate economic growth that led to China's broad flourishing over the following decade.
   
   It was a decision made by Deng Xiaoping, and at first resisted by Jiang and other leaders, who feared that it would lead to inflation and social unrest. True to his nature, Jiang saw that it was in his interest to follow, and then champion, Deng's views. But it was Deng who insisted on moving faster. He was the man who truly changed China. Not Jiang.



4. Well grounded on recent history and developments in China, this book provides a healthy balance to all the negative stereotypical repetition of the same old tired fairy tales about China out there. The author shows the world it's possible to be positive about China and be objective at the same time.



5. The author went to China compiled what gov't provided and interviewed his former teachers and friends to give readers a taste what the most powerful former leader of PRC was like. As a censored country the people he interviewed were cautious in providing politically correct ans during an interview. There is no question Jiang loved his fatherland and was loyal dearly to CCP. In the book there was no mentioning about his disastrous failure to stop corruption when there was time to do so. He is still remembered by the religious group as the instigator in curbing freedom of religion. He was not a good student at the unviersity. Many close friends and faculties were suprised he was appointed as mayor but alone as head of a state. I wonder what went through his mind when he declared his recent retirement as he could stay on forever as head of state like Mao or Deng. As China is slowly transfoming and open to outside this is a good source to understand politics, what it works and what is politically correct. Should the author take his time interviewing more people outside of China it could be a more accurate account of the past leader of China.