1 comments about Hitler: A Beginner's Guide (Headway Guides for Beginners).

1. This mini-biograpy gives a clear, detailed but lively survey of Hitler's rise and fall, showing how a man in many ways remarkable only for his mediocrity managed to exploit the fears and weaknesses of others to create perhaps the most evil regime that has ever existed.
   Plenty of quotations from contemporaries, including Hitler, his generals, his followers and his opponents,with chapters on life under Hitler and even Hitler the man, make this a useful introduction for the student or general reader.

No comments about George Washington: An Illustrated Biography.

1 comments about Presidents at War: From Truman to Bush, The Gathering of Military Powers To Our Commanders in Chief.

1. This book should really be titled 'Presidents at UNDECLARED War.' During the years since the founding of the republic, the United States has only been in five declared wars. During those same years the United States military forces have engaged in more than two hundred armed conflicts. It is not a new thing, Wikipedia says: 'The first United States military action overseas, executed by the U.S. Marines and Navy, was the storming of Derna, Tripoli in 1805 in an effort to bolster diplomatic efforts in securing both the freedom of American prisoners and an end to piracy on the part of the Barbary state. The opening line of the Marine's Hymn, From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, refers to this action.'
   
   This is a very interesting book in how it looks at the conflicts fought since World War II. It covers not the conflict itself so much the interaction between the President and Congress. It further raises interesting questions about how Congress acts in these cases. For instance in the vote regarding Iraq, Congress voted 77 to 23 in favor of the Iraq war.
   
   With the current dissatisfaction regarding Iraq, it will be very interesting to see what happens, especially if the Democrats gain control of Congress.

No comments about The Quotable John Adams.

No comments about Abraham Lincoln (What Was It Like?).

2 comments about Ronald Reagan and His Ranch: The Western White House, 1981-1989.

1. Hannaford's book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in knowing how the President lived (and worked) away from the White House. The pictures were also excellent.



2. Ronald Reagan And His Ranch: The Western White House 1981-1989 is a solidly written, vividly presented, behind-the-scenes insider look at the ranch owned by the Reagans during Ronald Reagan's tenure as President of the United States and which came to be nicknamed by the press as the "Western White House". From the security difficulties the ranch posed for the secret service, to humorous anecdotes, to visits by famous and powerful people, and enhanced with black-and-white as well as color photographs, Ronald Reagan And His Ranch is a unique contribution to school and community library American History, and a highly recommended study of the beloved personal retreat of one of America's most popular 20th Century presidents.

1 comments about Our Presidents: Their Lives And Stories.

1. I got this book because the author's book on the first ladies and their stories was so interesting. This one has a similar format with short historically accurate stories about Washington to Bush, each accompanied by a picture or two, most of which are in color. For a short review of the history of the United States, this is the ticket. Want to know about the XYZ affair, or Teapot Dome, the Fall guy, or President Wilson's wife running the government after his stroke? It's all here and more. And how about the interesting fact that three of the first five presidents died on the 4th of July (Adams, Jefferson, and Monroe.) Quite a coincidence, but interesting in view of the fact that recent medical research shows you are more likely to die on a day (like your birthday) that has real emotional significance for you. The sad fact is that our present president doesn't measure up in any manner, shape, or form to those who occupied the office before him. HL Mencken predicted that someday the American people would elect a moron president. That day appears to have arrived.

No comments about Millard Fillmore: Constructive Statesman, Defender Of The Constitution, President Of The United States.

1 comments about George Washington and the Making of a Nation (American Heritage Junior Library).

1. The book, George Washington and the Making of a Nation, is an excellent book for upper-elementary and middle-grade students. There is a great deal of information about the personal life and professional accomplishements of this great man. Washington's actions, especially in regard to the revolutionary war, are well covered and quite thorough.

   The book is lavishly illustrated with color and grayscale pictures that are strategically placed throughout the text in a way that is particularly helpful to the reader. Most students will find this book to be a fairly easy read that captivates them while they learn about the character of our first president.

4 comments about The Insider: Trapped in Saddam's Brutal Regime.

1. Ala Bashir presents a quite fascinating and thought provoking diary of critical events in the history of Iraq dating from the first world war until 2003 culminating in the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein. As surgeon, artist and scholar Bashir had access to many members of the ruling elite and presents insights in to their feuds, foibles, atrocities and corruption. Here are unique insights in to the personality of Saddam and his family with Saddam presented as a complex personality ruling through a tribal Tikriti clan, initially dominating the nation but ultimately losing control of his appointees. Bashir writes as a neutral observer whose main concern was for his patients, with clear regret for loss of life, however caused. As Plastic Surgeon his department treated 22,000 injured from the disastrous Iraq Iran War and later observed the deprivations of the civilian population from the sanctions and collapse of infrastructure after the First Gulf War.
   Many cruelties of Saddam's regime are exposed, and yet Saddam had some sense of right and wrong punishing by imprisonment his son Uday for killing Saddam's valet. But he later relented, realising his son was insane. Many more killings in Iraq were motivated by 'family honour', and Bashir has identified a brutal streak in the current Iraqi personality and expressed his fear that the country is a long way from democracy.
   This book is a must-read for all interested in the Iraq war and it is a tragedy of history that it was not available before 2003.



2. This could be the first book written, which describes in great informative detail, events in the modern history of Iraq. It is written from a unbiased witness who is simply displaying with an honest and unobjective view, the misuse of power and obvious consequences of hate and revenge. It will become the book which all turn to as an acurate recording of historic facts.



3. This is an interesting book. Doctor Ala Bashir was as much an insider as it possible to be without being treated as a criminal by Bush's invasion forces. He served as a personal physician to Saddam Hussein for about twenty years. He is also an artist whose work Hussein favored.
   
   This book is not a biography, and it is not a history in any proper sense. Rather, it is a series of anecdotes by an intelligent observer about life in Iraq under Hussein. Internal consistencies and other evidence suggest that this is an honest work, although we would like to read considerably more on some subjects.
   
   In the dark world of dictatorship, to be favored by the leader often means to run into bitter dislike from other members of the regime, and this was certainly Bashir's experience. We are reminded by his anecdotes that dictators often are not aware of all that goes on within various fiefdoms, or if they are aware, they often feel unable to change things - a great irony, yet one confirmed by the lives of many from Hitler to the American Pharaoh, Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago.
   
   Bashir confirms that a good deal of American propaganda gives an inaccurate picture of Hussein. Although Hussein could be ruthless and violent, he had a genuine concern with improving conditions of life for Iraqis, building many hospitals, schools, and cultural institutions. He actually advanced Iraqi women's rights significantly concerning important matters like a woman's right to initiate divorce.
   
   Surprisingly, Hussein could even be a good listener, so long as the subject was not one on which he had made up his mind. Hussein was not a Stalin, and he had no admiration for Hitler. He enjoyed books, particularly history and biography. Bashir is pretty sure from personal experiences that Hussein is not an anti-Semite, but he would not even listen to anyone concerning a change in policy towards Israel.
   
   Many of the problems in Hussein's regime were family problems. Hussein depended on clan and family strongly for loyalty, and he knew perfectly well that this often ended up with less competent people in senior positions. Bashir makes clear that Hussein's son, Uday, was mentally ill, and that on least one occasion Hussein was ready to punish him severely. Yet time usually softened Hussein's temper, and he expressed affection for a pretty-much worthless son.
   
   While we all know that American policy favored Iraq over Iran, contributing to the terrible brutality of their 8-year war, Bashir suggests the CIA was there at the beginning, assisting the coup that led to Hussein's eventual assumption of power.
   
   Those seeking to understand affairs in the Middle East will find this book refreshing, without propaganda or bombast. It is of limited scholarly use, but it is definitely worth reading, its main faults being a limited range of subjects and sketchy coverage.



4. Dr. Ala Bashir, an eminent artist-surgeon and the scion of a prominent Shiite family, enjoyed Saddam Hussein's confidence and esteem for twenty years, parting company from him only when Baghdad fell in April 2003. In his conversations with American journalist Jon Lee Anderson and elsewhere, Bashir made illuminating observations about little known aspects of Saddam Hussein's personality, describing him variously as gentle and considerate, sensitive and emotional and as the best listener he had ever known. (He is also on record as saying that Saddam is `clean on the inside'.)
   
   By contrast, this memoir is studiously detached, providing relatively few insights into Saddam Hussein's complex personality or Bashir's friendship with him. He prefers to hide behind a seamless narrative that draws on second hand information as well as personal experience. In that respect the book is a disappointment, a missed opportunity.
   
   While Bashir assumes the role of a neutral witness, his account is subtly slanted. The focus on the dictator's minor ailments against a background of war and sanctions is part of a broader narrative strategy with the aim of belittling Saddam, as is the unseemly preoccupation with the goings on in his extended family and the condescending treatment of his literary endeavours. (Saddam's first novel, `Zabiba and the king' is a thoughtful and moving work, which has been translated into a number of languages, including English.)
   
   While it is to be hoped that Bashir will eventually write a more personal memoir, which reflects on the various dimensions of his own relationship with Saddam, that seems unlikely. It is obviously easier and more lucrative to produce a book like this, which aims to satisfy the expectations of a mass market audience, while skirting difficult questions about Bashir's own role.