5 comments about RADIO PRIEST: Charles Coughlin, The Father of Hate Radio.

1. The book fails to deal with Father Charles Edward Coughlin time and time again on the air carefully distinguishing between religious Jews who he sincerly respected and sought to partner with against Soviet Communism and the radicalized post-Judaic secular Jews who he rightly pointed out were disproportionately the vanguard of Soviet Bolshevism, constituting more than 65% of the original Bolshevik Central Committtee. Coughlin also pointed out the Bolsheviks were primarily bankrolled by American investment banker Jacob Schiff, a point accepted by all.
   
   Coughlin questioned why those who cried for the post Hapsburg Czechs in 1938 were oddly silent on the murder of more than twenty million (20,400,000)Russian, Byelorussian and Ukrainian Christians by the Soviets or the murder of thousands of priests, hundreds of nuns and 19 bishops in Loyalist Spain 1936-1939. He wondered why the US did nothing against the Masonic persecution of the Catholic Church 1925-1929 in Mexico which murdered people like Saint Father Miguel Pro who died crying "Viva Christo Rey!" to a largely silent American press.
   
   Coughlin questioned the dupilicity of no one caring for action about Catholic deaths in Spain, Mexico and Belarus. He called the Nazis evil "plunderbunds" and "un-Christian". He called the Communists "Anti-Christian". To call Father Coughlin a Nazi is a blood libel.



2. Without wishing to simply restate the themes of some of the fine reviews already posted, one cannot help but be saddened by the fact that this otherwise good biography is so tainted by "contemporarism." As one who has actually listened extensively to Coughlin's broadcasts, I am appalled that Warren would make any meaningful comparison between Father Charles and Rush, Sean, and other conservative talk-radio stars. It simply does not work. Coughlin always based his tirades upon the almost reactionary clericism then dominate within the Catholic Church and a form of "Americanism" that has far more to do with the doctrine of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and 1930s (their hatred of Catholics aside)and the isolationism of the same period than with anything about modern conservatism. The differences are so apparent and profound and the author's efforts so transparent that the conclusion is unavoidable that Warren has chosen to use his study to promote a radical liberal agenda. This would seem to be either a function of scholarly corruption or of intellectual immaturity. Regrettably the editors and readers of this press did not intervene to keep the author on the straight and narrow of simply writing a good history. Actually, if comparisons must be made, Coughlin's spirit is far more evidenced in the strident tone and emotionalism of the active intolerance of the ACLU for religious expression/belief and the war by the NAACP upon the heritage and identity of an entire segment of the American people. Next time Donald, do it right!



3. The horrors of the Great Depression-the bank closings, the starvation, the joblessness, and the loss of faith in the government-drove millions to question fundamental assumptions about themselves and their country. Similar economic difficulties in Italy and Germany led to the rise of fascistic governments preaching nationalistic hatred. In the United States, however, figures arose touting the same solutions but ultimately failed to bring about a revolution. It was easy for men like Father Charles Coughlin to exploit the desperation welling up in every corner of the nation. Often this exploitation took the form of scapegoating minorities or "international bankers." As the Second World War began, the radio priest and many others on the far right began their long fade into obscurity, but their messages of hate lived on to inspire new generations of far right figures. Donald Warren's biography of Father Coughlin examines his rise and fall as well as the links between this controversial figure and present day radio talk shows.

   The author argues that conservative talk radio pundits owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Father Charles E. Coughlin. It was this priest, broadcasting out of his Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan during the 1920s and 1930s, who perfected the techniques used today to spread vitriol via the airwaves. Coughlin was the first to create "infotainment," the melding of news events with a bombastic delivery style aimed at capturing a large audience. He was wildly successful in this endeavor, attracting through his radio speeches and his magazine "Social Justice" an audience that numbered in the millions. The subject of Warren's book was the first public figure to obliterate the distinction between politics, religion, and mass media entertainment.

   Coughlin's life reads like a fantastic fable of the self-made man. Born in Canada to devoutly Catholic parents, his life was unremarkable until he decided to become a priest and entered the Basilian Order after college. This Catholic sect opposed banking, usury, and other supposed ills of an industrialized society. Coughlin's later positions on the economic woes caused by the Great Depression stemmed largely from the views he learned from the Basilians. In the meantime, he moved to the United States to become a diocesan priest in Michigan. Placed in charge of a small Catholic church in Royal Oak, the young priest eventually took to the airwaves as a way to raise funds for the construction of a new church building that would carry the name the Shrine of the Little Flower. The first broadcasts, intended for children, consisted of simple Christian teachings. Eventually, Coughlin's vocal abilities and an increasing willingness to criticize public figures led to a huge response from the public. From his first lecture attacking Norman Thomas, he soon moved on to excoriating President Herbert Hoover for the government's failure to alleviate the worst aspects of the depression. Money poured in from adoring listeners, and Charles Coughlin was on his way to fame and fortune.

   The priest originally endorsed Franklin Roosevelt as the panacea America needed to cure its misfortunes. After the New York politician captured the White House, Coughlin often went to Washington to advise the new president on economic matters. New Deal officials, however, were suspicious of the radio priest and his ideas. The eventual falling out with Roosevelt led to the formation of the Union party in 1936. Led by Coughlin, Gerald L.K. Smith, and Francis Townsend, this political attempt to unseat the president by running William Lemke of North Dakota as a presidential candidate failed miserably. The priest, embittered by his loss, began to move to the far right by advocating decidedly pro-Axis viewpoints. The entry of America into the Second World War caused further difficulties: the government banned the "Social Justice" newsletter from the mails as seditious materials, threatened to file charges against the priest, and put pressure on the Catholic Church to force his retirement from the airwaves. Barred from his former avenues of influence and power, Charles Coughlin drifted into obscurity. He died in 1979.

   Warren's attempt to tie Coughlin to modern day conservative radio talk shows is amazingly forced. It's true that there are some shared aspects here, but there are more differences. The book fails to take into account how much America has changed between the 1920s and 1930s and the 1990s. The Great Depression was an event unparalleled in the history of the country, a time when unemployment rising to unheard of levels led to the emergence of demagogues who promised simple solutions for the nation's ills. No similar comparison can be made for the 1990s; a time of unparalleled prosperity thanks to the Internet boom saw unemployment sink to record lows. The only thing remotely the same during these two disparate periods was a controversial democratic president in the White House.

   Moreover, the conservative talk show hosts of today never engage in the blatant blather Father Coughlin indulged in; it's simply unacceptable to the American public of today to blame minorities for controlling the banking system or being the guiding hand behind world communism. Warren seems to think there is a comparison, citing a talk radio listener's on-air comment in the 1990s about blacks. But that is a listener airing a viewpoint not shared by the host of the program, very different from Coughlin in the late 1930s. Donald Warren's "Radio Priest: Charles Coughlin, The Father of Hate Radio," is a capable book when it describes the biographical details of an influential figure in American social and political events of the 1920s and 1930s. Unfortunately, it neither proves its central thesis nor sheds new light on one of America's premier demagogues.




4. "Radio Priest" is meant to remind people the author fears have both forgotten Father Charles Coughlin and may be unwisely underestimating those eager to apply his brand of media manipulation in the age of the internet. From the depths of the depression until shortly after America's entry into WWII, Coughlin, a Detroit Priest had become a political force of nature. Using his radio show and "Social Justice" his newspaper, he spread his message across the nation - a message that grew progressively overt in anti-Semitism and Facist advocacy. With the severity of the depression destroying lives across the world, the time was ripe for many to question democracy - as they had across the world, the popularity of socialism and fascism flourished across America. Though many figures grew out of the clash of these movements, Coughlin stood out - mostly because his position as a priest but mostly because of the eloquence with which he gave his fans the message they wanted to hear. He even possessed his own trademark accent, with its distinctive rolling rrr's. Coughlin attacked banking interests and polticians - codewords for the jews and those they were thought to have bought. Confronted with growing reports of Germany's anti-Semitic repression, he claimed sympathy for the jews, but attributed Germany's conduct to a natural response to Jewish Bolshevism. Ostensibly adhering to a religion which had suffered religious intolerance, Coughlin adopted the same penchant for mass hysteria as those who had victimized other Catholics.

   Though war with fascism forced him into a sort of hiatus, Coughlin's decline had actually begun with the 1936 Presidential Elections. Unsatisfied with GOP front-runner Alf Landon, and seized by an outright hatred for FDR, Coughlin campaigned fiercely for the Social Justice candidate, William Lemke. Those left unfulfilled by FDR and unimpressed with Landon, flocked to Coughlin and his allies. Among them, Francis Townsend seemed more dignified, GLK Smith had more energy and Huey Long had more savvy, but Coughlin possessed something of the qualities of all three. Though Coughlin had the power, he displayed little interest in using it for even his idea of a greater good, and the social justice ticket ballot was dwarfed even by Landon's showing. By then, Long was dead by an assassin's bullet, and his political machine in Louisiana collapsed under the weight of its own corruption. Emboldened by his landslide, FDR embarked on a strategy to fast-track the New Deal with legislation designed to end run a hostile supreme court and thinly veiled threats to pack the high court if the first idea didn't work out. Coughlin, on the other hand, now embittered with politics, lost much of his dignified veneer. Both in his own tone and those of his followers, Coughlin became more closely identified with all that was bigoted in domestic fascism. By 1940, Coughlin had been sufficiently cut down to manageable size for his own church's hierarchy, and the Bishops silenced him. The threat of prosecution for sedition further kept him in line.

   Doanld Warren argues persuasively that Coughlin's defeats - both in 1936 and when war broke out against those he had championed - were far from certain. Coughlin and others had long fed anti-Semitic hysteria in their warnings against the war. When the severity of the war was realized, hysteria against the Jews could have exploded in Coughlin's favor. Warren even cites outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence in American cities. Further, despite the consent decree that immunized Coughlin in return for his silence, the radio priest remained active in using the mail system to search for a new generation of adherents among wartime servicemen. Warren highlights the depths of anti-Semitism in wartime America, but doesn't do the same for the horrific conditions of the depression - conditions that made us ripe for Coughlin and his followers. Also, he loses his focus after 1936, when Coughlin and company become more outright in their bigotry. Lastly, Warren frequently telegraphs his own sentiments against more modern day Coughlins like Pat Robertson and the Moral Majority. Whether today's right wing approximates that of 1936 America is a worthy subject, but one that Warren's asides seem to cursorily accept as true - an indisputable yardstick of conservative religious bigotry. Worse, it telegraphs the author's intention to write for a narrow readership - something Coughlin was doubtless famous for, though admittedly on a higher scale. These faults wouldn't matter if "Radio Priest" wasn't already a compelling book. Luckily, the book is not only compelling, but substantive enough to rise above what's wrong with it as well.




5. This is an excellent biography of one of the most appalling figures in recent American history. Father Coughlin was a hatemonger, an anti-Semite of tremendous proportions, and often a liar. That ANYONE could believe him to be worthy of praise, let alone "the sort of priest we need more of," is a sad, sad commentary on America.

   It is hard to believe that Father Coughlin was allowed to stay on the air and spew his poison for as long as he did. I wonder what he would have thought of the death camps? Or would he have found a way to deny the fruit of his hateful, unchristian ravings?

5 comments about Out of the Night: The Memoir of Richard Julius Herman Krebs alias Jan Valtin (NABAT).

1. This book captivated me. His story is amazing. Although I am not sympathetic to the revolutionary passion, it is too destructive, I was sympathetic to his quest. He realized that he was blind to the deadliness of communism. That he suffered first under the Nazi's, sent by a greedy apartchnik to his doom, he overcame that and then was arrested by his own side. He escapes the Nazi's and the Communists. His wife and child do not. His wife is sent back to the camps, what happens to her, no spoiler here. That ripped my heart wide open. As with I Chose Freedom, these two men left loved ones behind. How that must have torn them apart inside.



2. I think it is a good novel and it is worth reading today, especially for young people who have no experience of things past, and have never learnt about the manoeuvering of certain political options. Together with 1984 makes a powerful reminder of the shape of things to come if we do not take positive action.



3. When I finished reading this book a few years ago I was unanimous with myself that this was indeed the most amazing, exciting life story I had ever read! So fascinated was I with the man and his life that I searched far and wide for more info on him, only to be disappointed on reading the book 'Der Spion, der aus Deutschland Kam. Das geheime Leben des Seemans Richard Krebs' (The spy who came from Germany. The secret life of the sailor Richard Krebs) by Ernst von Waldenfels, unfortunately still only available in German. In this book, the author makes use of documents in Soviet and (East German) Gestapo archives only available since 1990 to show that Kreb's story is fictionalized. Jan Valtin is partially a fantasy character, one whose role in the Communist Party was far greater than the real Richard Krebs' actual role. Much of the book is true, including his early world wandering, jail time in San Quentin, etc. It's generally his importance in the hierarchy which is exaggerated, and other information which must have been purposely withheld as its publication would have put lives in jeopardy. On the other hand, the German book mentioned above threw in some more details of this man's still amazing life. After publication of his book he volunteered for the US Army and took part in the Pacific War, the island-hopping phase from the Philippines onwards. The book he wrote on his division's activities (Children of Yesterday - the 24th Infantry Division in War) is sought after by military memoir fans with no idea of his earlier career. Thus, he must be one of the few people of those times who was recruited in the names of Communism, Fascism AND Capitalism! All in all, highly recommended as an entertaining read, but keeping the above in mind. (The only completely factual books I've read which can compare in any way are Arthur Koestler's autobiographies, Arrow in the Blue and The Invisible Writing.)



4. A very exciting book. It shows how the idealism of youth, with all its energy and intensity, can be twisted by unscrupulous people. Over time Valtin comes to realize that idealism alone is not sufficient to triumph over the powerful organizations that will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. This book really shows the power of propaganda and the battle between the Communists and the Nazis to use their propaganda machines to take over Germany. It shows what happens when people without any morals come into power. It doesn't matter what system it is, immoral people can corrupt any system of government. A must read for anybody the least bit interested in politics. You'll love it if you're not a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist or Nazi.



5. This story is not nearly as black and white as some suggest. While it is undeniably true that Stalinism is the opposite of communism, this was a realization that came slowly to those revolutionists who worked for the Comintern (Communist International). I'm not sure that every reviewer even actually read this book. Mr. Valtin could never be characterized as a "murderer." In fact, Valtin spends 3 years in San Quentin for intentionally botching a murder he was ordered to carry out. Later, at great personal risk, Valtin refuses direct orders to organize the murder of Nazis. Valtin does not carry out every order he was given.
   
   
   Valtin comes to notice the stark chasm between Marxism and Stalinism. A major motif of the story is Valtin's slow and sure awakening that the Soviet Union's imperial interests do not equal the interests of the world's workers. From Valtin's first unchaperoned visit to the "Revolutionary Fatherland" he realizes that working for the Soviet Union is not really protecting the world revolution. Time and time again he experiences the aristocratic behavior of the Comintern's leadership, and the self-destructive witch hunts used for personal gain by rising revolutionists. All this time, he notes the discrepancies between theory and practice.
   
   
   But what is remarkable, and what makes this book a valuable lesson, is how Valtin pulls the wool over his own eyes time and time again. His initial motives and values were honest, inherited from his family and his class of historically rebellious German seamen, borne out of poverty and the capitalist crises between world wars. His denial of the unpleasant truth that Stalinism is a lie, along with his actions that often robotically toe the party line, illustrates an all too human behavior, especially in the 20th century when burying oneself in ones` work was a common way to avoid introspection and grief. It was also cognitive dissonance, an unwillingness to finally recognize and pronounce more than a decade of his life's work as more harmful to workers worldwide than helpful.
   
   
   Valtin's principles are expounded and acted on again and again, not always to his own satisfaction, like any other human. I ask myself how, if I was in the same situations, I could have safely quit the Comintern, a top secret organization whose strict policy was to kill rather than fire its own operatives who proved inadequate or rebellious. How would any of us break with Stalin, or the Crips or the mafia or the CIA, or any other murderous power that prefers its secrets to go to the grave? Not even Trotsky could escape Stalin's assassins. It is no simple task to leave the Comintern. Indeed, it is almost impossible. I wonder if I would have held up nearly as well as Valtin did in the Gestapo's torture chambers.
   
   
   While Valtin himself does not draw the conclusions many thoughtful communists would from his life, this book is still an invaluable document of a time when millions of earnest workers all over the world honestly thought Stalin and Soviet Russia were shining beacons of revolution. It took decades of obvious evidence otherwise to undo this grave error of the early 20th century's non-Russian Left. In retrospect, from our comfortable ivory towers we can damn Valtin for not predicting what, in hindsight, are obvious historical developments. But in the heat of constant class battle it is difficult to stop and navel-gaze, no matter how crucial it might be to do so.
   
   
   I agree with John Wrights essay "Out of the Fight," in that Valtin would have greatly benefited from more critical contemplation of the directions his life and party took. This book never pretends to be a manual for revolution. It is actually a very good case study in how not to run a revolution. Some tactics they use are fascinating and brilliant, others are undemocratic and self-destructively dishonest. This book is an honest and effective indictment of Stalinism's failures, just like Yue Daiyun's To The Storm: The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman is a brutally honest catalog of Maoism's shortcomings. Anyone interested in a humane government of, by, and for regular people should read both of these books and avoid these mistakes. It is a difficult and inherently unrealistic goal to change the world we live in. If we were realistic, we would change ourselves to adapt to the world rather than change the world. This is why only so-called "unrealistic" people ever make any social, political, artistic, or scientific progress. To live in a capitalist state while working towards a socialist state is a tight wire act that is vulnerable to countless cries of "traitor!" and "hypocrite!"
   
   
   OUT OF THE NIGHT is an extremely engaging page-turner, action-packed, honest and thoughtful in many ways. Like any story of a failed revolutionist, it can be falsely wielded as propaganda against Marxism itself, but it is actually a powerful fable against blind party allegiance. Very highly recommended.

5 comments about Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology.

1. Either I do not believe the book has a good selection of Cyberpunk stories collection, or there are not that many good Cyberpunk stories?? Being a classical Sci-fi fan reading all those Asimov and classical stuff, this sort of new blood stories doesn't live up to it. May be I haven't seen the real good Cyberpunk story yet. But certainly not this collection.



2. A battered copy lives in my nightstand at all times. Between novels, I always come back to this, flipping through the pages until a word catches my eye. Such a diversity of talent, mixed together quite well here.



3. Bruce Sterling's anthology Mirrorshades announced the existence of cyberpunk. A more modern type of street level, urban science fiction in a lot of cases. While the authors here have done better work elsewhere this is still a very interesting and influential collection, and certainly of use to people with an interest in that sort of science fiction.
   
   Cadigan, Gibson and Shirley are all here, for example.
   
   Mirrorshades : The Gernsback Continuum - William Gibson
   Mirrorshades : Snake-Eyes - Tom Maddox
   Mirrorshades : Rock On - Pat Cadigan
   Mirrorshades : Tales of Houdini - Rudy Rucker
   Mirrorshades : 400 Boys - Marc Laidlaw
   Mirrorshades : Solstice - James Patrick Kelly
   Mirrorshades : Petra - Greg Bear
   Mirrorshades : Till Human Voices Wake Us - Lewis Shiner
   Mirrorshades : Freezone - John Shirley
   Mirrorshades : Stone Lives - Paul Di Filippo
   Mirrorshades : Red Star Winter Orbits - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
   Mirrorshades : Mozart in Mirrorshades - Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner
   
   
   
   Not a fan of retro sf design.
   
   4 out of 5
   
   
   Serpent brain wartech is problematic.
   
   4 out of 5
   
   
   Direct mental music.
   
   3.5 out of 5
   
   
   Escape master movie.
   
   2 out of 5
   
   
   Team survival is tricky.
   
   4 out of 5
   
   
   Bioguru woman's Stonehenge drug binge unhinges into cryogenic desperation.
   
   4.5 out of 5
   
   
   Gargoyle boys and girls.
   
   3.5 out of 5
   
   
   Mermaid clone affair ends quite fishily.
   
   4 out of 5
   
   
   America losing, rock is dead, gay bar's an escape.
   
   3.5 out of 5
   
   
   Corporate anarchy watching brief blackout provides relative promotion.
   
   4.5 out of 5
   
   
   Cosmonaut crapout space station hitchhikers.
   
   4 out of 5
   
   
   Let them wear leather bikinis and crave recording deals.
   
   4 out of 5



4. This is simply a fantastic collection of the best stories of my favorite literary subgenre, the Cyberpunk Movement in the 1980s and early 1990s. While I may not like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, I am not ignorant when it comes to their importance in popularizing and shaping the genre. Also here are Rudy Rucker, the acting grandfather of the genre; and Pat Cadigan, the Queen of Cyberpunk (even though she had very little, if any, real competition).

   While there are a couple newer Cyberpunk collections, The Ultimate Cyberpunk coming to mind, the first is still the best. Not only are the stories fantastic, but the anthology didn't have to rely on a nostalgia effect, like those that are being published now.

   A good introduction to the genre, as well as an essential item for one's collection.




5. This book is a collection of cyberpunk stories assembled by Bruce Sterling. It is supposedly the definitive cyberpunk fiction collection. There are some really good stories in the book such as the Gernsback Continuum, Solstice, Freezone, Till Human Voices Wake Us, Stone Lives, and Mozart with Mirrorshades. These tales had advanced technological concepts and more importantly, good stories. The stories touched on gene engineering, time travel, cybernetics, and other popular cyberpunk themes. Some of the other stories were pretty interesting, but some just didn't seem to fit. For example, Tales of Houdini and Petra seemed out of place in this collection. Though they were both sci-fi tales, they didn't seem to be cyberpunk.

2 comments about Churchill (Life & Times) (Life&Times).

1. This book is a great account of Churchill's life; how 3 wars made him famous, his rise and fall in British politics, his private life and other subjects. Churchill had an interesting life. Haffner had an interesting way of telling and writing. Together it makes this book one that you should read.



2. This powerfully written and informative biography of Winston Churchill tells the story of a monumental British figure who was to influenced the world of the 20th Century. European journalist and Churchill biographer Sebastian Haffner was one of the foremost figures in European writing and influenced Churchill's policy towards Germany and the Nazis. In this major examination of Churchill's life and accomplishments, Haffner provides a passionate and involving probe of the man whose methods and motivations changed the political shape of European history.

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.

5 comments about Nixon: Ruin and Recovery, 1973-1990.

1. For a guy that didn't grow up during Watergate, I found the third volume in this series to be a real page turner. Ambrose does a good job of telling you what happened, why it happened, how the public saw it and all the ways Nixon tried to keep the public from seeing it all.
   
   Ruin and Recovery is a great subtitle for this volume because Nixon truly did recover. There were a few things he never lost... his ability to guage the American people and how they felt about candidates and the ability to breakdown foreign affairs. It was good to see that in the final years of his life he was called on as an expert on both.
   
   I'm going to say it..."I ADMIRE RICHARD NIXON." Obviously I don't admire his Presidency or his decision-making during Watergate... but... for the most part I feel he was an idealistic, patriotic person that took a bad path and ruined his place in history at least when it comes to his Presidency. He did many things that Americans should respect though and it's high time we did.
   
   I am glad he has made a recovery in the minds of many Americans and as I read this final volume I think I saw Ambrose almost making a case for Nixon being a kinder, gentler person who should be slightly more respected in American history.
   
   Everybody makes mistakes and true Nixon made a big one, but I think in this final volume Ambrose almost makes a personal peace with Nixon and in a way advises Americans who resented Nixon to do the same.
   
   Really an enjoyable series of books that I would recommend to anyone willing to spend 1900 words delving into what made Nixon both good and bad as a person and politican.



2. To fully understand Nixon, I highly recommend first reading volumes 1 and 2 of Ambrose's work. If, however, you are more interested in the Watergate affair, this volume certainly stands on its own.
   
   This is the final part of Ambrose's definitive three-volume biography of Nixon. The destructive tendencies wonderfully described by Ambrose in the first two volumes come to a head in Ruin & Recovery. Ambrose takes the reader through the unfolding of the mess that was Watergate.
   
   Even though we all know the ultimate outcome will be resignation, the author manages to maintain enough tension and suspense to keep the reader engrossed. In the wake of resignation, Ambrose follows Nixon's remarkable comeback as an elder statesman.
   
   If an affordable copy is not currently available, be patient. Because this book is out of print, it will be more expensive than you might expect, but you can find it for $20 to $30 if you look around.



3. This third volume of the Nixon series is dominated by the Watergate scandal, with Ambrose skilfully detailing how the great election victory in 1972 slowly unravelled, as the full weight of the media and Democrat-controlled Congress worked to expose the whole tawdry episode. During this era, there was also the bombing of Hanoi followed by the Vietnam ceasefire, and summits with the Soviet leadership, but Watergate overshadowed all. Ambrose makes it clear that Nixon reinvented the story over and over, and bears a large burden of blame for the predicament he found himself in. He also makes clear that this was the opportunity for Nixon's arch enemies in the media and Congress to go for blood. The descent into the nightmare of possible impeachment and eventual resignation reads like an inevitablity, that Nixon lasted till August 1974 said a lot about his tenacity and stubborness in the face of relentless adversity.

   The recovery of Nixon was never fully realized, although he was an authoritative elder statesman in later years, and Ambrose shows that Nixon had regained a fair amount of respect in his later years. Since his death the left has continued to disparage and villify his legacy, but as hard as it is to defend Nixon at times, he was still a statesman to be reckoned with, and his foreign policy record, especially with his China trip, is one of distinction. The eastern establishment despised Nixon, but he did not cater to them, it was the silent majority that was his constituency. One finishes this book wondering where America would have gone had the Watergate scandal not occurred.




4. Stephen Ambroses third Nixon Volume : "Ruin And
   Recovery" takes on into the heart and soul
   of democracy.
   Cynics accustomed to political scandal might
   be bemused by Watergate. What was all the
   hullabaloo really all about?

   Ambrose puts it something like this in the book:
   To the british, with their official Secrets Act, nothing
   that Nixon had done seemed that out of the ordinary,
   much less illegal. The Italians simply threw up their hands
   at the crazy Americans. To the French. Watergate
   confirmed their suspicions about the naive Americans.
   In west Germany, the frequent comparison of Nixon
   to Hitler by his enemies in America showed either
   how little the Americans understood Hitler,
   or how little they understood Nixon, or both.
   Nixons friends in China, could not understand
   why he just didn't shoot his critics.

   But in a democracy you must play by the law,
   and you must trust and have faith in the wisdom
   of the election process.
   Watergate was all about how these things were
   violated and how american democracy proved strong
   enough to recover.
   Ruin and Recovery reads like a detective story,
   absolutely undeniable brilliant stuff.
   
   

5. it was the best book ever my bum is on the swedish! my bum is on the book hehe

5 comments about Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left.

1. I read this book when it came out and, so help me, I loved it. It was a fun, fast read about a highly dysfunctional family on a topic (70s radicals) that has long fascinated me. Recently I saw the documentary The Weather Underground and read Jeremy Varon's Bringing the War Home, which lead me to reread Family Circle.
   
   I first heard about Kathy Boudin at the time of the Brinks Robbery. The outline of her story fascinated me: nice, middle-class white girl goes "underground" and fights for "black liberation." All the nice middle-class white girls in my middle school probably thought "black liberation" had something to do with wearing black clothing in the summertime. (The 80s were a little low on political consciousness) I couldn't find out much about Kathy Boudin at the time so when this book came out - by an author whose This Crazy Thing Called Love I'd enjoyed - I pre-ordered it and I wasn't disappointed.
   
   It would be easy to see Family Circle as an indictment of "the aristocracy of the Left". Maybe that's even what Braudy intended but it didn't come across that way to me. In fact, I don't buy the argument that their politics was part of the problem at all. Change the politics from left to right (make Leonard Boudin an arch-conservative and make Kathy an abortion clinic bomber, for instance) and the bare outlines of the story remain the same. Disengaged parents, two children who rebel in their ways in an effort to get their attention. Dad's a serial adulterer, Mom's a sometimes adulterer and more often times mental patient. Where Michael Boudin takes the more traditional route of embracing the exact opposite of what motivates his parents, Kathy tries to be lefter than thou.
   
   And there were times in the book when I could see her point: while Leonard is talking a good game and reveling in the notoriety his famous cases bring him (like representing Cuba), Kathy lives her commitment (she spends a summer harvesting sugar cane in Cuba). Braudy doesn't leave any doubt that Kathy was driven at least as much by her passionate desire to improve the lives of the less fortunate than by her desire to be taken seriously by her father. She also shows Kathy exchanging one futile cause for another - achieving world revolution isn't any easier than getting Leonard to stop hitting on her girlfriends long enough to pay attention to her.
   
   Kathy also exchanges one set of non-affirming authority figures (her parents) for another (the Weather Underground leadership, the BLA leadership) with the result that she embraces steadily more radical, more "heavy" positions out of proportion to the task at hand. Want to prove to Daddy and Sekou and the Weathermen that you're a revolutionary? Go bomb a dance at an army base. That'll show 'em. By the time of the Brinks Robbery Kathy has all but surrendered her free will to anyone who'll give her a sufficiently radical task to perform. There's something noxious about Kathy's contention that only after three people were killed did she make the connection between armed violence and death. This is a smart woman educated at some of the country's finest schools, if she didn't need a Weatherman to tell her how the wind blows she didn't need a map to figure that one out either.
   
   That, of course, is the heart of the tragedy in this story: smart people with many advantages professing to be acting to better the lives of others but can't seem to manage the most basic of personal relationships. Infatuated by the correctness of their beliefs, the Boudins neglect to fulfill the most fundamental aspects of respect and honesty in their relations with each other. That's a recipe for tragedy not matter what the politics of the situation.
   
   As I said, this is an easy, enjoyable read but don't be surprised if you find yourself feeling sad when you've finished it.



2. The 5-star and 4-star reviews of this book are excellent commentaries on this book. Braudy does a great job of dissecting the personalities of the members of the Boudin Family, their relatives, and friends including Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. I just finished reading the Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi and used this book to refresh my memory of the horror that Boudin, Ayers, Dohrn and company inflicted on this nation during their tirade of bombings and ultimately the murder of two Nyack Police Officers (one of the police officers was the first African-American on the Nyack force). Obama is an associate, friend and colleague of both Ayers and Dohrn. Reading Family Circle will make you wonder about how someone who is running for the President of the United States would even consider associating with Ayers and Dohrn. One of the most telling incidents is the book about Ayers deals with Chesa Boudin, the son of Kathy Boudin and fellow Weatherman David Gilbert. Chesa Boudin was two years old when Kathy and David were sentence to prison for their involvement in the Nyack robbery/murder. Kathy Boudin had to give custody of Chesa to Ayers and Dohrn. Chesa Boudin experienced great emotional trauma due to his mother's incarceration. His separation from his mother caused Chesa great difficulties, including mild epileptic seizures, fighting, and tempers tantrums. Of course, what would any expect from a young child who is separated from his mother? It seems, however, that Bernadine believed that Chesa would be better off not seeing his mother and would forget Chesa's scheduled visits with his mother. Bill Ayers said of the situation that the visits were "a pain in the a$$". This comes from Ayers and Dohrn who are now involved in children's education. Ayers created the Annenberg Challenge, and school reformation project and Obama sat on the board. One can only shudder at the thought of confessed bombers being involved with the "education of children"



3. This fascinating book will make uncomfortable reading for committed progressives, so I am not surprised by the many negative reviews. Progressives no doubt also loathe David Horowitz's book RADICAL SON, which was a thoughtful description of the underside of the idealistic 1960s and its aftermath. FAMILY CIRCLE covers similar material and provides much food for thought.
   
   What both books make clear is that it was not a coincidence that idealistic progressives with a particular group of personal qualities and beliefs morphed into violent domestic terrorists, despite their early idealism and desire to help make a better world.
   
   The key elements seem to be:
   
   (1) Legitimate, but blown out of proportion, social grievance
   
   The terrorists who formed the Weathermen Underground: Boudin, Dohrn and Ayers and their comrades were initially motivated by legitimate issues. Their original issue was the shameful treatment of black Americans by the white American majority, and subsequently their other major focus was their opposition to the Vietnam War.
   
   But what was the connection between the awareness of legitimate social issues and the decision to kill other human beings? The link is by no means obvious, and few individuals who shared similar outrage over the same injustices took the step of turning to violence.
   
   (2) Family values that justify treason or violent revolt
   
   One of the best predicters of an individual's political party affiliation is the political affiliation of their parents. This is a somewhat humiliating confirmation of Schopenhauer's contemptuous (but overly sweeping) dismissal of the idea of free will, and it turns out to be particularly important when the political behaviour involved is extreme. When an individual decides to set out to kill people and become an enemy to one's society and government, it apparently helps to have deep, subconscious confidence in the support of loved ones for those violent acts.
   
   Kathy Boudin's parents (like David Horowitz's parents) were Communists and her father Leonard was a famous radical lawyer who defended many Communists and traitors who have subsequently, since the opening of KGB files after the fall of the USSR, been proven to have been guilty--a fact that Leonard, who was hostile to his adopted USA, probably knew when he was defending them. Tragically, Leonard Boudin went from defending Fidel Castro in the late 1950s to unsuccessfully defending his daughter Kathy in the early 1980s from charges that arose out of her participation in the violent robbery of a Brinks truck and the murders of a Brinks guard and two policemen.
   
   So just as Microsoft founder Bill Gates' father was a prominent and wealthy Seattle lawyer, it seems that that treason and terrorism often reach full flower in the nurtured next generation.
   
   But what were the values that these families specifically inculcated in their children?
   
   (3) Heroic immortality and hedonism
   
   Boudin's father was a materialist and a Communist who was flagrantly sexually omnivorious--behaviour that was well known to his family.
   
   The great advantage of being a materialist with no belief in the after life like Boudin and her father is that one doesn't have any eternal punishment to endure for one's earthly actions. In fact, it is a very liberating philosophy.
   
   In fact, weirdly, this is creates a direct connection between the Weather Underground and today's Islamic terrorists--the mullahs and extremist Islamic theologians goading young men and women to their deaths are pushing the functional equivalent of materialism and atheism. Ironically, there is little functional difference between killing policemen in Nyack, New York because you think that after death there is nothing at all, and blowing yourself up in an Israeli shopping mall because you think you'll spend eternity having sex with virgins.
   
   The multi-partner sex that was practiced as part of their political indoctrination by the Weathermen Underground had the same function as the mullahs' loopy lure to suicide bombing.
   
   Both sets of political killers expected to be remembered for their heroic acts of violence, and to either experience extinguished consciousness after years of hedonistic sex, or to be about to embark on an eternity of hedonistic sex. A truly wierd confluence of the motivations of Western domestic terrorists and Islamic terrorists.
   
   Of course, if Islamic terrorists and materialist Western traitors and terrorists are attracted to sexual hedonism with no fear of any consequences, so are many if not most ordinary people who don't go on to kill innocent strangers. What is the final link?
   
   (4) Grandiosity and psychopathic narcissism
   
   Why was Kathy Boudin a convicted killer and pleasure-seeking Mick Jagger not a killer? (Boudin denies any active role in the murders, but other witnesses claim that she played the key role of persuading the police officers to put down their weapons just before the Black Panthers attacked with automatic weapons blazing).
   
   The answer is contained in a statement that Kathy Boudin made during her ultimately successful quest for parole after 20 years' imprisonment, which was not included in FAMILY CIRCLE but is still available on the Web. She wrote,
   
   "Sitting with young women dying of AIDS, creating a quilt for those in our community who are no longer with us, I face the deaths for which I am responsible. As I work with mothers on rebuilding their relationships with the children they left, I am overwhelmed by my own responsibility for leaving a group of children with no hope of ever seeing their own fathers again. Now I can ask: what if it were my father, my husband, or my son who had been killed or hurt? What would I feel? I understand the rage that the victims' families may feel towards me. "
   
   Terrorists have no regard for the feelings and sufferings of the human beings they are about to maim or kill, or for the grief of the loved ones of their victims. This is a key component of the psychological make-up of psychopaths--an inability to emphathise with other human beings, or an evil pleasure from inflicting pain. Most terrorists probably do not derive pleasure from inflicting pain--although their controllers and motivators may well be psychopaths in this sense--but they are so narcissistic that the are indifferent to the pain inflicted on others by their murderous actions.
   
   An ordinary human being may be narcissistic, but only a criminal or a terrorist is psychopathically narcissistic to the point that they are indifferent to the suffering of the people whom they kidnap, maim or kill. This is the realisation that Kathy Boudin has apparently come to through her years in prison.
   
   Bound up with this psychopathic narcissisim is grandiosity. This is a belief that one is so special, so gifted, such a distinguished and great person that one can affect the course of history by one's daring actions--even though those actions are condemned by one's government and society. It is interesting that Boudin pursued increasingly extreme measures precisely when it became objectively obvious that her interpretation of history was absolutely incorrect--or at least it was obvious that almost all support for her interpretation had vanished.
   
   Boudin had started out in the protest movements of the 1960s, and she lived underground during the 70s as the US made steady progress on civil rights and the Vietnam War ended. It became clear that whatever public support for the violent Left had evaporated, and Weathermen founders Dohrn and Ayers had even turned themselves in to the authorities and escaped punishment. But Boudin persevered through the early 80s, getting mixed up with Black Panthers who were little more than pimps and drug dealers, and it was a pure criminal act that Boudin was involved in when she abetted the violent robbery of the Brinks truck and the murders of the two policemen.
   
   Grandiosity was an element in the mental outlook of Boudin--she was so sure of her greatness, or at least the greatness of her cause, that she couldn't accept the plain evidence of reality all around her.
   
   Taken together, FAMILY CIRCLE and RADICAL SON reveal very interesting truths about the ultimately tragic vision of the most extreme wing of the idealistic Left, despite the originally good intentions and the many sacrifices of some its most committed practitioners.



4. I enjoyed this study of the colorful, unconventional Boudin family. I agree with other readers that there was too much space given to the father, Leonard Boudin, an intense, civil rights attorney, who specialized in representing the radical left. So it's not surprising that his daughter, Kathy Boudin, became a radical protestor of the Vietnam War and a loud, snarling member of the Weather Underground. While other members of this pathetic group finally threw in the towel and turned themselves into the law after careers as bombers, killers and trouble-makers, Kathy Boudin stuck it out. You read in horrified fascination how she became a key member of the killers who murdered two police officers in a foiled Brinks truck armed robbery. Even behind bars for 21 years, she played the role of wronged martyr. I remember during the sixties, when the Weather Underground was at its peak of fury. My college roommate dubbed them, The Marx Brothers of Terrorism. He hit the nail on the head. No one knew really what these rich, wealthy white kids were protesting. None had ever worked anywhere in their lives. Even when they supposedly went underground, their wealthy parents and friends supported them and gave them safe houses. Yet, you caught occasional glimpses of them on television as they shrieked and cursed and acted like lunatics. In their own pathetic little reality, they dramatized themselves as great revolutionaries who would foment a nation wide revolution to destroy America's values. No one knew what they wanted to replace them with.



5. I enjoyed reading this book very much, and recommend it to all readers. It was a fascinating look at Kathy Boudin and those radical student leftists known as the Weather Underground who declared war on America in protest to the Vietnam War.

   Kathy Boudin's treachery resulted in the killing of two policemen, for which she served 22 years in prison. That may not matter to the leftist readers who have given this finely written book low ratings. Ignore their hateful rantings, and judge for yourself how a bright young woman of privledge could make such a bad choice to pursue terrorist goals.

   Kathy left her baby with a sitter to drive a getaway van full of Black Panthers who robbed a Brink's armored truck, and actually expected to return on time to pick up her child! Instead, she was captured after the two policemen were killed, and her child was abandoned.

   The picture on p. 353 of one of the Weathermen stomping on an American flag gives the reader an indication that these radical leftists have no remorse for their past behavior.

   There is ample material on the internet concerning how leftists were able to get Kathy released on parole in 2003. Her victims left behind families that will never forget her treachery.

5 comments about Confessions of a spy: the real story of aldrich ames.

1. This gives the best account of Ames' CIA career, particularly prior to the time he began to work for the Soviet Union, and corrects errors in several earlier books such as Wise's.



2. This is the only text I have read that provides a compelling and nuanced explanation of why Ames betrayed his country. The short answer is that he needed the money because he was living beyond his means. As a result of his work recruiting and handling spies he no longer believed it was wrong for a person to betray their country. Earley's well-written book explains how he arrived at that point. It also provides the reader with a credible look at what it is like to work for the CIA, and what it is like to work as a spy.



3. I was reading "See No Evil" by Robert Baer and he briefly mentioned Aldrich Ames and decided to read a book on him. While looking for books, I was pleasantly surprised to find one written by Pete Earley. I had read "The Hot House" a couple of years ago and found Earley to be a very clear and detailed writer. I really could not wait to receive the book. My expectations were high and they were met and exceeded. The book details Ames' life from birth, it details his parents, his entry into the CIA, and ultimately his betrayal of the country. The thing I love about Earley is that he leaves no loose ends. You're never left saying, "but what ever happened to..." or "I wonder who that is...". He's a very clear writer who introduces every subject in the book. He explains the facts sharply and thoroughly, and the pacing is perfect. Earley not only gives you the details, but draws you in with a story line that adds suspense. Earley is similar to other great non-fiction writers such as Stephen Ambrose, Jon Krakauer, Simon Winchester, Mark Bowden, or Kurt Eichenwald in that he takes a real event and tells it gripping way.
   
   On the negatives, there was not an index in my book which made it difficult at times. Also, Earley was not able to get interviews with everyone involved, in particular Ames' first wife, but at the time I'm sure not everyone wanted to participate with the media.
   
   The most important aspect of the book is that Aldrich Ames cooperated with Earley with face to face interviews while awaiting trial and later through letters. But Earley did not take everything Ames told him at face value, he is not lazy or sloppy, he fact checked and questioned everything. He even fact checked with Russian KGB which demonstrates how dedicated he was to the subject. Is it definitive? Definitely not because it came out so quickly after Ames arrest (before revelations of Robert Hanssen) but it is an excellent book.



4. Step by step we are moving to the truth.
   The fiction is banal. Hence - one star for the book. The reality is amazing. Hence - 5 stars for the next book on the Ames-Colby case. The next book will be based on Dekov's memoirs.



5. Ames was unduly lucky to have not been "netted" much sooner. Mr. Earley gives us a very well written piece of work.Ames was certainly not Kim Philby or 007;but He did get away with His betrayal for some years,and that alone makes it worthy for any 20th Century Historian. The little tidbit of a quite 'hot potato'betrayal story on Henry Kissenger is worth the cost of the book alone.Earley is also fair to Ames'American employers at CIA who finally pinch "the mole".

2 comments about Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover.

1. This book is widely, and rightly, regarded as the best and most accurate biography of J. Edgar Hoover. Without an axe to grind, Mr. Powers presents the man, warts and all, in the most believable version of him among all the books existing on Hoover and the FBI. This is the gold standard.



2. this book was an indepth look at the life of J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI. It goes into great depth on his life and his services in the FBI. It is a source for information, however the writing is a bit slow at firslt. overall a great book though!

5 comments about Mitt Romney: The Man, His Values and His Vision.

1. I thought this book was well researched and interesting. However, I didn't feel compelled to support Romney afterwards. So, it suceeded in it's goal of providing basic information, but it did not inspire me.



2. This book is well written and is a quick read into Mitt Romney: Who he is, his family, his life, his business career and his views on how and where to take the USA as President.
   
   For any American with the right to vote and not much time on their hands to research candidates this is a must read.I also liked the fact it was written by a Mormon & an Evangelist and this gave a very 'realistic' view of how Mitt Romney would be like as US President.
   
   These days the press are hounding down on Mitt mainly beacuse of his religion. Do yourself a favour and buy this book and read about the 'real' facts. If you truly want the US economy to improve and for you and your family to have more opportunities & money in your pocket Mitt Romney is the man that can create a prosperous field for you to play in. Do your due diligence, switch the TV off and read this book, then decide for yourself!



3. It's too bad that the person most able to challenge the Dhimmicratic Party in the next election is being judged solely on his religion. Ability should count a little in a presidential candidate you would think. They tried to do the same thing to John Kennedy. They said he'd take his orders from the Pope. (Yes, they really said that!)
   
   Political or policy issues are so multifaceted that if a candidate discusses the complexities, the products of today's education (?) system think that he is flip-flopping. With this type of thinking, the person who gets elected will be the person who says least or who mouths only platitudes. Or someone too dumb to know the complexities. This may be how we got our present incumbent. And it will probably give us our next incumbent.
   
   Too bad, because America desperately needs a capable person of integrity. Romney may be that person. Forget religion. Think politics. Think survival. We need an intelligent person in the White House.



4. With a title like "Mitt Romney: The Man, His Values and His Vision", I expected that, like Mitt's values, I would be able to pick and choose them (or at least they would adapt to their audience).
   
   Instead this book is another lightweight "cheerleaders" book that may as well have been written by Mitt's enormous spin team.
   
   Want a serious look at Mitt - look elsewhere. Want to reinforce your beliefs that Mitt is the most amazing guy on the planet (well post 2002 after he changed all his views) then grab this book now!!!



5. Mitt Romney could well be our next president, and this book explains all the ins and outs of this fascinating man. The authors answer the tough questions about religion and flip-flopping and paint a realistic picture of the man who might be president. They aren't simply cheerleaders, nor are they rabid Republicans or cheerleaders. Not only did this book help me decide who to vote for, it was fast and fun to read.