No comments about A Commitment To Honor A Unique Portrait Of Abraham Lincoln In His Own Words.

1 comments about Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children.

1. Theodore Roosevelt not only wrote to his kids, but also drew great pictures. One of his best in here is a drawing of TR playing tennis. Before widespread telphones, and certainly prior to cell phones, people seemed to dash off notes to each other more frequently. One school of TR thought says Teddy simply loved writing to his kids in profusion. The revisionist school says, of course he did, since he was so frequently away.

   TR's letters to his son Quentin are especially touching, since later on Quentin took a German gunner's bullet through the head over France, driving TR into inconsolate murmerings lamenting the loss of his "Quentee-Quee." The development of these nicknames is chronicled in these letters.

   For whatever reason TR wrote them, they read very movingly. TR's own namesake, Ted Jr., tried to pull off the same thing with his kids, documented in another out-of-print book written by Ted Jr (before his early heart attack during WWII) called "All in the Family." Wherein little Ted's mistake is to too slavishly imitate big TR's way of organizing walks, going camping, and dashing off notes. So there is something inimitable here, which should also caution the modern reader from hankering too quickly to start writing letters-a-plenty. But the picture drawing might be OK. What kid wouldn't like a few more scribbled pictures from their dad?

   So at least look at the pictures here. Unlike Ronald Reagan's, these were done to and for TR's own kids. Not to dump on Ron, but to perhaps establish a reference point among competing versions of family dysfunction.

2 comments about A Higher Purpose: Profiles in Presidential Courage.

1. Nine historic decisions made by Presidents over two centuries of American history chart key episodes which show how these presidents demonstrated the ability to place their political careers on the line for the greater good of the nation they served. Chapters consider how these principles thwarted partisanship, special-interest influences and even public opinion, and make for an important survey key to any library strong in political science.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. If Ronald Reagan's firing of the air traffic controllers is included in the book, I might actually by it. If not, you couldn't give the book to me.

2 comments about The Last Empress: The She-Dragon of China.

1. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is visiting China in the near future and wants to learn more about the decline and fall of the last imperial dynasty. I recently visited, and I wish I would have read this book before seeing the Winter Palace and the Forbidden City.
   
   The author is not a historian. This is a good thing. My bookshelf is full of accurate and comprehensive history books, but I wouldn't recommend too many of them to anyone other than historians. Laidler writes in a style that allows the general reader to follow along and actually want to turn the pages to learn more.
   
   I would recommend the book to students of leadership as well as folks who want to learn more about Chinese history. It is a case study in power for the sake of survival and power itself. I wonder how Chinese history of the 1900s might have been different with a different power behind the throne. The ol' "do people make history or does history make people' debate ...
   
   I can't give it five stars. In spots, it reads more like historical fiction than fact. That is okay with me, but I would relegate those speculations to sidebars if this was a magazine rather than a book. Also, the author should use the more commonly accepted name of the main character - my Chinese friends were a bit mystified by my earnest description of the book until I used the commonly used name Cixi. Also, a few maps would help the general reader.
   
   All in all, a very satisfying read. If you are confused by recent Chinese history, then this will fill in a lot of gaps.



2. Keith Laidler's "The Last Empress" is not as bad as all that, even if his background as a writer of popular fiction does shine through here and there.
   Mr Laidler writes in a nice, fluid prose style, and there are numerous footnotes and many generally well-chosen quotes. But there are certainly drawbacks, too, although I think two stars is a little too harsh.
   
   "The Last Empress" is the story of Wang Xiaoqian, a young girl born in 1834 or 1835 in a village called Xipo. She joined the harem of the Xianfeng emperor at the age of 16 or 17, and bore him a son who became the Tongzhi emperor. During the boy's minority (he was only five when his father died), his mother reigned with a firm hand, and she continued to do so more or less until her death in 1908. You may have seen her portrayed with eerie charisma by actress Lisa Lu in a brief but memorable scene in Bernardo Bertolucci's classic "The Last Emperor".
   
   Now, this sounds like an exciting story, right? Well, it is, and Keith Laidler tells it well, but he does rely an awful lot on anecdotal "evidence", and, in some cases, pure speculation.
   And he constantly refers to the empress dowager as "Yehonala", as though this was her first name, when it was in fact the name of the clan into which she was adopted as a young girl. "Yeho-Nala", usually romanized as "Yehe-Nara", is not a given name, but rather like a surname (her actual name, post-adoption, was Yehe-Nara Yulan, that is "Yulan of the Yehe-Nara clan").
   That annoyed me a first, until I got used to it. Especially because everybody in the Western world who has ever heard of "the western empress dowager", as she was called, probably know her as Cixi, or, in Wade-Giles' more pronouncement-friendly romanization, Tzu Hsi. That is "motherly auspicious" or "august mother".
   
   But I'm losing my train of thought here. Again, as I said, the book is well-written and quite exciting, but unfortunately it is of doubtful historical value. Nobody really knows how the young Yulan became the emperor's favorite lover, but Keith Laidler makes up a fanciful story about her astounding abilities in bed, which is one of the low points of the book.
   And there are few surprising mistakes as well, such as Mr Laidler's claim that "she (Tzu Hsi) came as close as any woman in Chinese history to ascending the Dragon Throne".
   Honestly! If you're interested in Chinese history, you must read up on the fascinating story of the empress Wu Zhao (623 or 625 - 705), who took over the government when her husband, the Gaozong emperor, fell ill in late 660. She ruled "from behind the curtain" (quite literally, since regents traditionally sat behind a yellow curtain right behind the imperial throne and whispered their advise to the emperor) for 23 years until the death of the emperor. Then her son Zhongzong became emperor, but after a short reign his mother swapped him for her younger, and presumably more manageable, son Li Dan, the Ruizong emperor. And finally, in late 690, the old empress dowager deposed him as well, but not, like Tzu Hsi, in favour of a hapless child during whose minority she could continue to rule unopposed. Instead she took the title "Shensheng Huangdi", that is "holy spirit emperor", and ascended the Dragon Throne herself.
   
   Anyway. You should borrow Mr Laidler's book at your local library and give it a try. It's a pretty good read.
   Just don't consider it pure, unadulterated historical fact.

5 comments about Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets.

1. One of my college history professor's once told me that a secret in international affairs means that it is something you only tell one person at a time. The perfect example of "secrets between friends" is FDR and Winston Churchill. They kept secrets from everyone, their staff, the people the led, and even their own families. However, they had few secrets with each other. Thus David Stafford's book "Men of Secrets" is a fitting title for the special relationship between two of the greatest leaders of all time.
   
   Stafford traces a very good outline of the secret services during WWII and how both FDR and Churchill played an intricate role in creating and developing both nation's intelligence services. Colorful characters abound, see anything relating to "Wild" Bill Donovan, in FDR's burgeoning spyring and in Churchill's the dashing Ian Flemming (author the James Bond novels).
   
   What I found most interesting about the book is the relationship between FDR and Churchill. There are many conflicts of personality and political ideals of the two leaders. For example, FDR championed the freedom of British India; yet ordered Japanese-Americans into internment camps. Similarly, Churchill espoused civil liberties in England while attempting to crush rebellions in Ireland.
   
   In conclusion, Stafford provides a great overview and introduction into the world of espionage during WWII. He also gives extraordinary insight into the minds of FDR and Churchill. Arguably, FDR and Churchill had profound affect on the course of WWII and the secret they had an upper hand in the struggle.



2. Very informative, but not "a good read". I enjoyed "Franklin and Winston" much more.



3. I really enjoyed this book, not because I enjoy reading about FDR all that much, but because it gives so much new information about how he prosecuted the war -- and because it does the same for Churchill, one of my most favorite flawed heroes. The author makes many points about what each knew, but would not tell the other, how at times both men knew that the other knew, but withheld, information, etc., and how they played their parts (and one another) in the delicate diplomatic dance in light of these things.

   While admiring much about FDR's service to America and the world in WW2, I have a general antipathy to FDR's character and the way he did some things; but I do give him credit for having known how to move the American people by degrees, almost imperceptibly when that was necessary, into position to crush the Nazis, and this book reveals more about how he accomplished this. His foresight, diplomacy, and preparations surely shortened the war and saved untold lives. Having Churchill woven in as an equal on the world stage and in relation to FDR gave it a very savory counterpoise.




4. In the beginning of the war, Roosevelt sensed that Churchill even before he became Prime Minister would be important to the war effort. As time went on these men united by a fear of Hitler these men became friends as well as comrades in arms. This book explores there relationship though a rather unique perspective their intelligence departments. It explores how they got their intelligence and what they did with the knowledge that they gained from it. Despite their friendship the used it to advance the agenda of what they wanted for their own countries. At times their intelligence departments actually came into conflict as they both had different hopes and ambitions. As the war progressed these difference became more important.

   I found the book very easy to read. Full of information that although I am a WW2 fanatic I have never seen before. I can recommend this book if you want to learn about the relationship of between these two men.




5. An enjoyable account of the circumstances that brought the two men together, and the relationship that they forged.

   Often political friendships form out of necessity and mutual self interest. And that is obvious in this case.

   But the fact that the two most remarkable and influential men (in a positive sense) were to forge such an important relationship makes for great reading.

2 comments about Velvet on Iron: The Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt.

1. "Velvet On Iron" is a study of the diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt, organized by themes, rather than by events. The essays cover TR in the context of his times, consider the credibility of his foreign policy as well as the role of morality in its formulation, contrast his reality with his myth and evaluate the influence of his cosmopolitan background on his diplomacy.

   This book touches on specific incidents, such as the Algeciras and Portsmouth Conferences and the Alaskan boundary and Venezuelan crises, only in the context of what they reveal about the character trait of TR which is the subject of the particular essay.

   This relatively short book stimulates thought about TR's character and his management of foreign policy. I recommend it for the serious student of TR, but only after a study his life through other sources.




2. "Velvet On Iron" is a study of the diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt, organized by themes, rather than by events. The essays cover TR in the context of his times, consider the credibility of his foreign policy as well as the role of morality in its formulation, contrast his reality with his myth and evaluate the influence of his cosmopolitan background on his diplomacy.

   This book touches on specific incidents, such as the Algeciras and Portsmouth Conferences and the Alaskan boundary and Venezuelan crises, only in the context of what they reveal about the character trait of TR which is the subject of the particular essay.

   This relatively short book stimulates thought about TR's character and his management of foreign policy. I recommend it for the serious student of TR, but only after a study his life through other sources.

No comments about George Washington: Father of Our Country (A First biography).

No comments about KWAME NKRUMAH, A Biography.

No comments about Thomas Jefferson: Musician and Violinist.

No comments about The Death of George Washington: He Died As He Lived (George Washington Bookshelf).