5 comments about Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House.

1. Grace & Power has to be one of my favorite non fiction pieces. I originally borrowed it from my local library, and once finished, decided I wanted a hardback copy for my own collection. Grace & Power walks its reader through almost every day in the Kennedy Whitehouse paying close attention to detail. One begins to feel like a fly on the wall of every ball, press conference and tete-a-tete. For anyone who has a fascination with the Kennedy family, or politics in general, this is a must read. Thank you Sally Bedell Smith!



2. Don't look for an in depth analysis of policies or events. Instead, look for in depth analysis of the parties and the social scene. The book does give slightly more insight on some of the key interpersonal relationships. It also carves a picture of Jackie as being much stronger than others. You get more of a sense of her grace, intelligence, and grit.



3. Although Sally Bedell Smith's "Grace and Power" cannot compete with Arthur Schlesinger's "A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House" nor with Theodore Sorenson's "The Kennedy Legacy," the author makes absolutely no pretensions of doing so. Far from a political history of the Kennedy years, Ms. Smith has drawn on private letters, personal papers and 142 interviews with those close to John F. and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy to illuminate the personal lives of the martyred president and his First Lady. Her take on the couple's complex relationship, including his compulsion to take numerous lovers and her manner of coping with this problem, are mainstays here.
   
   The book reads like an upscale Kitty Kelly bio. It is filled with sensational gossip, character sketches of glorious personalities, and fascinating anecdotes of the people and events that made the Kennedy years so exciting. Ms. Smith is an excellent raconteur who has done her research and written a nonfiction "tell all" that reads like a best-selling novel. But it is not what I would call a serious biography.
   
   Sally Bedell Smith has also written biographies of Princess Diana and Pamela Churchill Harriman and has been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair for about ten years.
   
   If you are a "Kennedy junkie" and want to read about the 20th century Camelot, this is a book you will love. If you are looking for excellent political history, go elsewhere. I did enjoy "Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House," and though I was an adolescent during the magical time JFK was in office, it brought back memories of the president and first lady I idolized. On the other hand, there are things I wish had never been made public. And it is all made public here!
   JANA



4. What a unique way to weave the story of the politics, history, friendships, relationships, marriage into one finely written work. It's as if you can pick any day from January 1961 to Nov 25, 1963 and there, as if opening a long forgotten datebook, is the gem containing an intimate picture of a special family party, a state dinner, a cruise on the Honey Fitz, Jackie's White House school--name it, if it's personal and human (yet without judgement) you'll find it in Sally Bedell Smith's cultural/social history of the Kennedy years. It's not all fine dining and socializing because important history and the toll it takes is playing out all the while--a deft tapesty!



5. Washington insider and biographer Sally Bedell Smith opens the doors to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during the Kennedy administration. This is a revealing look at the private passions, joys, griefs and lives of those people who were stars
   in the Kennedy court. We also get a good look at Jack Kennedy and
   his wife Jackie. Those readers expecting a tabloidish perusal will be disappointed. This is a serious book and deals with
   the major obstacles faced by Kennedy in his short term prior to
   the tragedy of Dallas. We learn:
   how Kennedy dealt with Khrushchev; the Bay of Pigs and Cuban
   Missle Crisis; the burgeoning furor over integration and the
   relationship Kennedy developed with his staff and Congress.
   We learn about the lives and opinions of such key Kennedy loyalists as Bob McNamara; LBJ; Dean Rusk. We are invited to
   the Kennedy compound where we become better acquainted with that
   fascinating family. US involvement in Vietnam following the overthrow of Diem is also discussed with intelligent commentary,
   Jack Kennedy was brilliant. He was also ill with many problems most notably his Addison's disease. Kennedy was a notorious womanizer who was amoral! The press of the day did not reveal his many affairs with everyone from Marilyn Monroe to White House secretaries. Jack Kennedy was not a nice man!
   Jackie was a jet setter who loved to spend money on clothes, travel and shopping sprees. She was also highly intelligent, engineered much needed White House renovation and was a plus on
   diplomatic jaunts abroad. In Paris she talked fluent French with De Gaulle and represented the US well in trips to such places as
   India.
   This is a fine book for those seeking more knowledge of the Kennedy White House. Along with the book by Richard Reeves it is a good introduction to John Kennedy and the 1000 days this modern day Prince Arthur and his Guineviere reigned over America.

4 comments about The Presidency of Richard Nixon (American Presidency Series).

1. Nixon had a dark side. His Checkers speech in 1952, in which he used a dog as a prop, should have alerted Americans to his character. His loss to Kennedy in 1960 left him with an inferiority complex. Nixon hated the Kennedys and would never have been president if JFK had not been assassinated. He was not all bad. He stood up to Khrushchev. He opened up China and ended the Vietnam War even if it took four years. He was loyal to a fault. He denied any knowledge of the burglary at Democratic Headquarters inside the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. It brought him down. Nixon and Watergate became synonymous. Nixon became the only president to resign as impeachment proceedings were underway. It is ironic that his signature is on the plaque left on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts. Nixon and Johnson were the worst presidents of the 20th century.



2. I read this book for a graduate class in American history. Few U.S. presidents have had as many books written about them and their administrations as Richard Milhous Nixon. Nixon's presidency was defined by the historian Stephen E. Ambrose as a Shakespearean tragedy. Nixon is credited by many historians with great success in foreign and domestic policy. These achievements by themselves would normally rank him near the top of the list of America's great presidents. However, his psychological deficiencies were responsible for dragging the country through its worst constitutional crisis in its history--Watergate. Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover up culminated in his being the only president to resign from office. This saved him from the humiliation of surely becoming the only president who would have been impeached and thrown out of office. It is against this historical backdrop, that Melvin Small wrote The Presidency of Richard Nixon. Small succeeded in writing an objectively fair history of America's thirty-seventh president. At the end of his book, Small astutely noted why a history of Nixon is so important. "The period from the end of World War II to the end of the cold war was in good measure an age of Nixon" (311).
   
   No historian writing about Nixon can avoid trying to understand and explain his psychological profile. One would think with all the biographies from historians and memoirs from close aides, the voluminous presidential papers, and thousands of hours of tape recordings, one could get a clear understanding of Nixon's psyche. Most historians and close friends and aides of Nixon still admit that they never fully understood him. Both Nixon historians Theodore H. White and Nixon speechwriter William Safire, wrote that they were still perplexed by Nixon's multi-faceted psyche. Small recognized this conundrum while writing his biography, and like most biographers, searched Nixon's early life and upbringing to try to understand his psychological character traits. Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. He was the second of five brothers. Two of his brothers died from respiratory diseases. Nixon remarked that these traumatic events in his life caused him to champion the government's involvement in health care. Nixon's family was lower middle class Quaker. During the Depression they struggled like millions of other families. Richard was an intelligent child who learned to read before entering grade school. He had a photographic memory that allowed him to excel in both his academic and political careers. He was famous for remembering the names of thousands of politicians from across the country and could memorize speeches; thus making it seem he was talking extemporaneously. Although he had the grades to attend a more prestigious college, due to financial considerations, Nixon settled on attending Whittier, a local college. He graduated second in his class in 1934, and received a partial scholarship to attend Duke University Law School. He was a very serious student in law school and never dated during his three years in attendance. "Many of his peers at Duke thought that Nixon was destined for the scholarly life, considering his powerful intellect and remote personality" (5). He was appalled by the segregated south and racism displayed by classmates. He graduated third in his class from law school in 1937 and traveled to New York to seek employment with prestigious law firms. Since it was the height of the Depression and because Nixon did not posses a law degree from an elite Northeastern law school, he found that doors would remain shut to him. Nixon was turned down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well. Feeling disappointed from his rejections, he went back to Whittier, California and joined a small law firm where he became a partner within two years. In 1938, Nixon met his future wife Pat, while both were performing in a community theater. For Nixon, it was love at first sight and they married in 1940. During World War II, he was an airfield operations officer in the Navy. More importantly, he proved to be a very accomplished poker player, which he claimed prepared him to become a skilled negotiator. After the war, he accepted an invitation from a group of Republican businessmen to run for Congress in his home district against the incumbent Democrat, Horace (Jerry) Voorhis. Nixon's campaign against Voorhis and his later campaign for the Senate seat against Helen Gahagan Douglass were bare-knuckled affairs which relied on character assassinations painting both opponents as Communist sympathizers.
   
   Nixon soon gained national notoriety as a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). During committee hearings, Nixon doggedly pursued Alger Hiss, a well-heeled former State Department employee in the Roosevelt administration who was accused of being an American Communist Party member and Soviet spy. Nixon's work on HUAC garnered him a reputation as a tough anti-Communist which brought him to great prominence in the Republican Party. At the 1952 convention the party leaders prevailed on Dwight Eisenhower to take Nixon as his vice presidential running mate. "Eisenhower was astonished to discover that his running mate was only thirty-nine, which soon made him the second youngest vice president in history" (14). The relationship between the two men was not warm. Nixon wanted to please Eisenhower. However, Eisenhower saw Nixon as a political lightweight and even asked him to consider not running as vice president for the second term, but instead take a cabinet position to gain "executive experience." Despite Eisenhower's treatment of Nixon, he became his party's standard-bearer for president in the 1960 election against John F. Kennedy (JFK). He lost the election in one of the closest races in history; JFK defeated Nixon in the popular vote by a 49.7 to 49.5 percent margin. Just two years later leaders of the Republican Party talked Nixon into running for governor of California, against the Democratic incumbent Edmund "Pat" Brown. Nixon was politically humiliated in another close election. In what he called his last press conference after his stinging defeat, Nixon lashed out at the press, who in days after ran stories predicting the end of Nixon's political career. However, Nixon used his years out of the limelight to build a lucrative law practice in New York City, and traveled around the country making hundreds of speeches, as well as campaigning on behalf of Republican congressional candidates. In addition, he studied and wrote articles on foreign policy issues. All this work in addition to the problems of the Vietnam War made him an attractive candidate and he once again became the Republican candidate for president in1968. The "new Nixon" burst forth on the political scene.
   
   Nixon won the election against the incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey, because the Vietnam War became unpopular with the American public, and Nixon promised to restore law and order to a riot torn country. Nixon soon busied himself with building his cabinet before his inauguration. President Johnson was very amicable to Nixon and invited him to the White House for several transition meetings. It would be the first time that Nixon ever saw the living quarters. When Nixon observed Johnson's taping machine in the Oval Office, he ordered a staffer to get it out. He would not use a taping machine until 1971. Small's chapter entitled A Private President's Public Relations, expertly points out Nixon's unusual character traits while he was president, which many historians and politicians have written about in countless books. Two of Nixon's closest aides, Bob Halderman and John Ehrlichman where known as the "Berlin Wall" because it was their duty to reduce strictly access to the president. Nixon was a shy man who hated to meet new people. "Nixon also preferred talking on the phone to seeing people in person" (215). He had an aversion to firing and hiring people, and he would get others to perform these odious functions for him. Nixon was much more at ease working alone in the Executive Office Building than in the Oval Office.
   
   The presidential duty that Nixon was most passionate about was foreign policy; a duty that was so important to him that he virtually became his own Secretary of State for several years, and he never trusted the State Department bureaucrats. What became Nixon's most important staff hiring would be that of Dr. Henry Kissinger as his National Security Advisor and later his Secretary of State. Little did Nixon realize that Kissinger would become "not only the president's chief planner, coordinator, and operator of U.S. foreign policy but also the most popular, respected and internationally famous of all the president's advisers" (50). Together both men would add a new word to the American vocabulary--détente. Small noted that Nixon embarked on a monumental foreign policy shift for America. The consummate Cold War warrior, Nixon was most proud of his two great foreign policy achievements, "the establishment of détente with the Soviet Union and the opening of relations with China" (97). Kissinger, in his book Diplomacy, is very flattering of Nixon's foreign policy acumen. "No American president possessed a greater knowledge of international affairs. None except Theodore Roosevelt had traveled as much abroad, or attempted with such genuine interest to understand the views of other leaders." In Small's chapter titled "Running for Ex-President," he related that in an attempt at rehabilitating his legacy Nixon wrote eight books dealing with foreign policy issues between 1980 and 1992, "almost all of which became best-sellers" (305). Nixon's 1985 book No More Vietnams had an ominously prophetic warning for America. "The most violent and dangerous forces in the Mideast are not Communist revolutionaries taking orders from Moscow but Moslem fundamentalist revolutionaries egged on by Khomeini." Although Nixon as well as most historians focused on his diplomatic successes, Small wrote glowingly about Nixon's domestic policy triumphs in his biography.
   
   Since Nixon spent most of his time dealing with foreign policy, he allowed cabinet heads and White House aides on domestic affairs to propose new legislation. Daniel Patrick Moynihan a former Harvard professor and Johnson aide, started to doubt "big government's approaches to social problems" (45). He accepted a position as advisor on domestic affairs and enjoyed a very friendly relationship with Nixon. Moynihan once quipped that Nixon's administration may have been one of the most progressive ever on domestic issues. Small believed that Moynihan's remark was a bit of a stretch, though for a Republican administration, it was not too far a stretch. Small noted that conservative Republicans "were horrified when Nixon proposed a guaranteed annual wage for poor people disguised as welfare reform and a variety of other social and environmental policies" (185). Nixon doubled the budgets for the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Arts. Nixon's administration created the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, and established the Environmental Protection Agency. In a special message delivered to Congress on the environment in February of 1970, Nixon proposed twenty-two pieces of legislation including, regulating automobile emissions, water pollution, pesticides, strip-mining, and ocean dumping. During his first term in office, Nixon approved a 51 percent increase in Social Security benefits and in 1972 signed into law an automatic cost-of-living increase to keep up with inflation. Just in Nixon's first term, "outlays for the elderly increased by 71 percent" (190). Thus, Small contended that by looking at Nixon's domestic policies, "one can understand why observers in the year 2000 might label him the last liberal president" (214).
   Despite all of Nixon's achievements in foreign and domestic policy, his legacy will forever be blackened by the stain of the break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building and his direct attempt to cover it up. Small and other historians in explaining the Watergate debacle have opined that Nixon desperately wanted to win re-election in 1972 in a landslide victory. By doing so, Nixon thought that he could remake the Republican Party, and "bring about the New American Revolution" (273). Politically, he wanted to remake the Republican Party by uniting conservative southern Democrats with the working class Americans of the Silent Majority, and traditional Republicans around social issues. In addition, Nixon announced in his second inaugural speech that the federal government needed to be smaller and less paternalistic in its scope with the American people. Unfortunately for Nixon, he and his aides were willing to bring the re-election victory about at any cost, including egregious violations of rights and laws. Small summed up the Watergate debacle in Lincolnesque terms when he wrote about the crimes and misdemeanors that had been committed. "Whereas some presidents participated in some of those illegal activities much of the time, and others did almost all of them on occasion, none of them committed all the illegal acts that constituted Watergate all the time" (273).
   
   In conclusion, Melvin Small did an excellent job using a plethora of primary and secondary sources, and presidential papers from the National Archives to write an engaging and balanced biography of Richard Nixon. In his book, he provided informative notes, one of the best bibliographical essays found in a history book, and a thorough index; all of which will aid readers who want to further research aspects of Nixon's presidency. Small decided to write a topical biography instead of a chronological biography. Since Small told Nixon's story in a little over 300 pages, his topical narrative device worked quite well. Small's biography of Nixon is an excellent introductory work for anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of Richard Nixon, his political career, and the history of the Cold War era.
   
   As a graduate student, I recommend this book for anyone interested in Nixon, American History, and Cold War History.



3. The only reason to give this a bad review would be due to its lack of getting down to the juicy Nixon facts. Other than that, it is a marvelous journey into the Nixon administration. For the most part, it is unbiased and I enjoyed it. If you want to get a look at the Nixon administration from a more or less politcal standpoint, then go for it. If you would like an Enquirer/novel type "tell all" book, then look again. 4/5



4. The author has written a refreshing account about Richard Nixon's years in office. He traces Nixon's rise as a politician, his failures, presidency, and ultimate demise. The reader gains insight about Nixon's successes with China, the Soviet Union, along with failures in Chile and the Third World. In contrast, the writer argues that Nixon made significant achievements in domestic affairs--welfare reform, environmental improvements, and conservation--that have not received adequate recognition. Next, we learn that Nixon reluctantly approved wage and price controls for political reasons. Nonetheless, the most interesting chapter about Watergate reveals the rampant corruption in Nixon's administration. Also, the author criticizes Nixon for his Vietnam strategy.

   This book does a good job of summarizing Nixon's accomplishments, failures, and foibles. The excessive quoting makes it sometimes tedious to read. In addition, it seems as though the book only scratches the surface on a much disparaged president.

No comments about Thinking How to Live.

5 comments about How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life.

1. This is a fun book. Robinson's snapshot of Reagan brings back a lot of the things that many of us, including Democrats, admired about Reagan. Reagan's personality which was charming and opptumistic was such a refreshing change from Carter, Ford, Nixon and Johnson. Here was a President who knew what he thought, and seemed completely genuine when he smiled at his detractors.
   
   Robinson says up front that this book is not a memoir, but an analysis of the many things he learned from Reagan. The book is a memoir however, and you can't help but notice who makes it in the book and who does not.
   
   Robininson's lists four of the "most important speaches of the Reagan presidency," Why four? Maybe because these are the four that he and his friends wrote! Amazing. Robinson manages to leave out Peggy Noonan's contribution to the Reagan speechwriting team entirely. In fact her name does not even appear in the book. Think the Challenger speach and the Normandy speach might have been worth mentioning in lessons learned from Reagan? Apparently Robinson didn't learn a thing from them. Given the fact that Robinson was fresh out of college when he went to work for Reagan, its more than a little strange that more experienced writers were left out of the book.
   
   This book is fun and very readable but if you don't know a thing about Reagan's speeches, don't start with this book.



2. Before Christmas of the year Peter Robinson's book on Reagan was published, I bought seven copies to give as gifts to my two sons, as well as to each male member of my extended family. The day before Christmas, while I was at our local bookstore hurriedly acquiring yet another copy for someone I had forgotten, a man beside me was ordering a dozen of Robinson's books to give for Christmas presents. Now, years later, I am back again, buying yet another book for a college-bound student.
   Oh, that all our children could have not only Reagan as a role model for living all of life, but also Peter Robinson, whose life, work, and character up to the present time has become even more outstanding over these last few years since he decided to use Reagan as a role model. What a positive impact people like these could have on our heavily sensate, self-absorbed culture.



3. Wonderfully written book with great insight into one of the greatest men of all time. Insightful look in to the inner workings of the presidency.



4. Inspirational words from the Reagan White House speechwriter who wrote the "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" speech, which was the ammo by which Ronald Reagan defeated Communism without a shot.
   In addition to being inspiring, this book paints a good picture of what it's like if your first real job out of college is putting words in the mouth of the leader of the free world.



5. Superior insight into the mind of Reagan and the lessons he is still teaching all of us.

5 comments about After Fidel, Updated Edition: Raul Castro and the Future of Cuba's Revolution.

1. The author is very astute and informed. This book will open your eyes to the total affect Castro had on the world. Includes a partial biogaphy explaining the personal side of Castro that many aren't aware of. Worth the read.



2. As a college professor, if not as a high ranking CIA, one expects an author to investigate what he writes and not be sloppy in his research. In the first page of his first chapter, the author attributes to José Martí a well known poem by Puerto Rican poet Lola Rodríguez de Tió. In English the first verses would be: Cuba and Puerto Rico are the two wings of a bird that receives flowers and bullets in the same heart.
   The problem with that first impression is that one can not help but ask, how credible this book really is.



3. I bought this book because its title caught my attention.What's gonna happen after Fidel? Mr Latell's account is very well researched and documented.His insight and instincts really gives the book a good "taste".I guess after many years watching a person you get an edge over a reporter or historian.His depiction and study of Raul Castro and his relation with Fidel is very accurate since i have heard basically the same opinions from people that used to live in Cuba.Good book and good work by the author.



4. After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader.(Book review): An article from: Military Review
   
   After reading the Spanish version, I decided to read the English version for comparison. There were many translations into Spanish that were not familiar to me.
   
   The author provides insides into the Castros' way of thinking of which probably very few are aware. The information provided makes it easier to
   discuss Castro with Cuban-American friends that hate his guts.
   
   The book concentrates on behavior and time-wise jumps around. To get a
   better understanding of events in an orderly time sequence, other readings are necessary.
   
   I recommend this book to anybody that is interesting in learning the inner feelings that make Fidel and Raul 'tick.' I never realized what an egomaniac 'gachupin' he was until reading this book.



5. This book is mostly about Fidel. There are only two chapters that hone in on Raul. Even Latell, who surely knows more than he could reveal in his own book, didn't reveal too much. He avoided the Bay of Pigs. He didn't say much about Cuba's interference in other Central and South American countries.
   
   Still, it's a good read for laymen wanting to know the basics about Castro and Cuba. Who will take over the island once Fidel dies? Even Latell could only speculate, mentioning a few top ministers from the brothers' group (Raulistas).
   
   Although I didn't gain much insight about Raul, I did learn interesting tidbits about Fidel: the entire clan were illigitimate. Fidel himself has his girlfriend (and their children) set aside. That both Fidel and Raul have a deep hidden side should be no surprise. After Fidel gave the reigns over to Raul in August 2006 there were rumors that Raul would be a ruthless dictator worse than his brother. That hasn't occurred.

5 comments about James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity.

1. This is one of the best biographies on the not only the life of James Monroe but on the development of the United States role in world affairs. The author clearly assesses not only the role that Monroe played but also the exogenous factors that led to the development of the country. By framing this through Monroe's life we can clearly see his development along with that of the country at clear and critical junctures. From the early days of the revolution to the diplomacy of Europe to his time as governor of Virginia Monroe clearly shaped the outcome of the United States. While not the philosopher that Jefferson or Madison was the legal theories and common sense diplomacy espoused by Monroe was necessary to set the path for growth that the country needed in the early eighteenth century.
   
   
   Overall it is a thoroughly enjoyable read that will answer the questions of those wondering how the identity of the nation was formed.



2. Lack of information? This is a good Biog. It does get a little wordy, especially concerning Monroe's foreign affairs work. Personally, I like to study the revolutionary mind, and read about the founding fathers' philosophy concerning politics and life. I just don't think there is as much information about Monroe as some of the others. He seems to have been a somewhat private person. Over all though this is pretty good work. Probably about as good as it gets for the amount of info available.



3. I read this book as part of my goal to read the established biography of every President. This was really an outstanding biography on what is clearly an underrated President.
   
   I would consider Monroe the Eisenhower of the 1800s. He did a lot and doesn't seem to get a lot of credit for it. I don't think credit was what Monroe was after.
   
   He played a key role in both the military and political history of the country and the author did a great job in depicting both. I especially liked the authors discussion of Monroe's role in reaching agreements with G.B., France, Spain, Russia, Portugal, etc.
   
   Obviously we all know about the Monroe Doctrine, but the author went into great detail in other key areas and detailed his relationships with other important men from his era.
   
   It may be longer than most would want to read, but if you want to read a really great book on a great President that is well constructed, flows well and is detailed enough to highlight the key and not so key aspects of a Presidency. This is the book on Monroe you should read.



4. I am presently reading a biography of every U.S. President in order. From browsing the reviews of Monroe biographies, Ammon became the obvious choice. I can gladly say that I was not disappointed. Ammon's biography of Monroe is comprehsive, well written, and superbly researched. Ammon's writing style is refreshingly easy to read and the information is very well organized. Monroe emerges as a very important President and, while not as brilliant intellectually as his two predecessors, certainly well suited to be chief executive and arguably the most important influence on American foreign policy until Theodore Roosevelt.
   
   My criticism of Mr. Ammon's volume is that, despite adeptly describing the political life of Monroe and its importance to American history, the biography never succeeds at leading the reader to understand Monroe on a personal level. Perhaps this task is not possible given the research available, but this is the first presidential biography that I have finished feeling that I did not have an adequate understanding of the personality traits behind the subject's actions.



5. This highly readable book focuses on the foreign policy elements of Monroe's career almost to the point that it is more of a book on diplomacy than a general biography. The portions that detail his partnership with his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, especially the genesis of the Monroe Doctrine, are where it is at it's best. Unfortunately it gives short shrift to his relationship and feelings to his own slaves, even while giving a very good account of his activities around the Missouri Compromise.

5 comments about For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years.

1. I wanted a book in which the central focus was the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton. I got a book in which the central focus was scandal. No question: Scandals were a crucial and indelible part of the Clinton administration, and a necessary element of any half-way honest account. I have no doubt that Smith gets the details right, and after reading this book I was properly furious with Bill. He lost a lot of his idealism, became far too poll driven, disgraced the presidency and the White House in particular and gave us eight years of George W. Bush. Heck, the way this book puts it he was almost single handedly responsible for 9/11. It just defies credibility that the book doesn't aknowledge in any detail that the Clintons accomplished a single thing in eight years, that there was anything going on other than the scandels and the failures. I don't know that Smith is necessarily a Republican, but I do know that she pads her meager anecdotes about the Clinton family with the lard of the Lewisnky and White Water scandels, and she comes across less as a historian than as a gossipy tabloid writer.



2. Was it all so seedy, all so sordid? That's how the Clinton years feel reading this book. Of course, most depictions of the inner workings of any White House administration make for a depressing read. But perhaps a little more effort could have been made to explain how they did not seem to mess things up so much in the Clinton years. The best part of this book, is how it shows the Clinton working together so intimately. People who think they should have gotten divorced don't really understand the complex dynamics of their relationship.



3. I watched Ms Smith on book tv talking about this book. She was giving her lecture in front of a biased group of think tank people. Hint #1
   She is totally biased. She is a very good assassin and deserves whatever they paid her to write this attack piece. When a right wing think tank with board members from the health care industry invite an author to give a speech about her book....then buyer beware...DONT BUYT THIS BOOK.



4. In the past few months, I have been reading a lot about the Clintons. I wanted to know more about Hillary. After reading Carl Bernstein's "A Woman in Charge", I had a favorable impression of her, even though his account was not slanted in either direction.
   
   This book focuses more on the Hillary and Bill Clinton's dynamic. After reading this book, it is clear that you cannot study one without the other. They are truly each other's "other half".
   
   After reading this book, it is clear that they did run a co-presidency during Bill Clinton's 2 terms in office; and it is understandable to see why she refers to this time as the needed experience for her own presidency plans.
   
   In fact, the impression I got from this book is that even without the Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater incidents, Bill Clinton would still not have been an effective president without Hillary at his side. She brought the discipline that he needed to put into practice his political dreams.
   
   He on the other hand provides the political vision and spontaneity in thought, that she lacks.
   
   The book is successful in showing that Hillary is certainly capable of being our next president, but it also makes you wonder if you really want her to be. I felt that the book was not as objective as it could have been. I have always liked Bill Clinton, but I finished this book disgusted with his sexual behavior, and with the distinct feeling that they are both so political ambitious and self-centered, they will step on anyone, say and do anything to get elected. This book did not present the facts in an objective way as Bernstein's did, but in a more negatively-slanted manner. She mentions The Drudge Report without illuminating us on its creator, she talks about Mellon Scaife without clarifying how much money he gave to feed the right-wing conspiracy that was definitely working against the Clintons; and she mentions David Brock as a source against the Clintons, without mentioning that he later wrote a book describing in detail all the lies and manipulations that were exercised in the conspiracy that Brock himself confirmed to exist.
   
   Perhaps one of the more interesting "side effects" of this book for me, is the light it sheds on Al Gore. I had already gotten a whiff of his brilliance in Bill Clinton's autobiography, but in this book he is also shown to be a highly honorable, decent man. It once again, saddened me to reflect on how different the world would be today if he had been president these last 8 years.
   
   I have often wondered why Al Gore has not endorsed either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. In view of what I read in this book, I don't think he would endorse Hillary; but he would probably feel he was betraying the Clintons if he endorsed Obama, and so will refrain from doing so. In the end if he does endorse Obama, it will be because he truly believes in his candidacy and not for payback to the Clintons, even though he would be quite justified in doing so.
   
   In conclusion, reading this book has changed the way in which I view the Clintons. Although it is true that they were the victims of a right-wing conspiracy, they made many personal and political mistakes, that gravely affected the presidency. In the book someone is quoted as saying that Bill Clinton was a great president but not his presidency, and I think this is not only very accurate, but could also describe Hillary Clinton's presidency, if there's ever one.



5. What a surprise For Love of Politics was. I bought it as an alternative to the recent works Her Way and the one penned by Carl Bernstein. I hoped that it would be more objective than those two publications and I was not disappointed. This is an excellent history and happens to be one of the few books in my life that I could not put down.
   
   As for the author, before purchasing my copy I knew nothing about her. Indeed, I had never heard of Mrs. Bedell Smith before. All her bio online tells us is that she is a biographer who works at Vanity Fair. The endorsements listed on the back cover come from mainstream media sources like the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and The Washington Post so, upon receiving it in the mail, I was a little worried that the analysis would be slanted. I am pleased to report that my fears were unwarranted as For Love of Politics gives off no odor of bias whatsoever. Indeed, these chapters are bathed in neutrality. Clinton supporters might not like this but if justice offends then one must examine oneself.
   
   As a conservative who has read five or six rightist accounts of the Clintons, I can quickly grasp from what side of the political spectrum commentary comes; although, here I had no idea. Even after devouring all 450 of these pages, I am as befuddled in regards to what Mrs. Bedell Smith thinks as I was when I first opened it. I can think of no higher compliment to bestow upon a historian than saying that they are above political manipulation which Mrs. Bedell Smith definitely seems to be. Her evaluation of these primary source materials (original sources) was compulsively fair which is also true of the narrative on aggregate.
   
   The real art here is that she allows the Clintons to tell their own story...but what a story! The tale remains timely as Hillary may well be our next president. For Love of Politics was entertaining but incredibly educational as well. Old time students of the Clintons will learn new things and neophytes will have a chance to get beyond the soundbytes that saturated the two terms of our 42nd President. In my humble opinion, this is a must read.

5 comments about The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty.

1. This is a Wicked and delicious (mostly true in my opinion) biography of the Bush "Dynasty". Kitty gets it right on the mark on many things. The Audio edition which I had the pleasure of reviewing was most especially captivating.



2. I read this book through 2 times. It is astounding how many people have lied and cheated to protect our present top man in government and the former family members. I remember seeing Kitty on CNN one time to promote her book and then the Bush people must have gotten through to all other venues of promotion. She was not on any more that I saw. The "people" saw to that!! In fact, she was fired from her job as a result of the book. But no one sued her for libel, because she is so thorough in researching her facts. Prior to this book, I never realized how much bad things happen in politics and coverups. This gal tells it as it is.



3. This should be required reading for Americans of voting age. Well researched and clearly written, the book relies on reliable sources that, for the most part, maintain Kelley's objectivity. Although a reasonably well informed individuaI, I now realize that I have been quite naive regarding political ruthlessness.



4. My expectations were low. I never read a Kitty Kelley book before, so it's clear that her critics had done their work on me. While some sour grapes relatives had their say, the book had far more meat than I expected. There was plenty of written record, and the all so telling sealed and missing records.
   
   Kelley's presentation about the Bush intra-Family, Bush-Yale, Bush-Reagan Bush-Republican Party, relationships etc. provided the glue for putting the missing pieces of the family story together. Now I know why Bush 41 had the succession of unrelated gov. positions before he ran with Reagan. Every family has black sheep and secrets, but within this family, the stories of these relatives and their excommunication from the family are extreme. There is a lot of food for thought on how family dynamics over 3 generations have spurred political ambition.
   
   New to me, was that upon election Bush 41 was worth only $2 million. I thought they were far richer than this. They may be now, Bush 43 made $15 million alone capitalizing on the family name/contacts to get taxpayers to fund his baseball team. Kelley says almost nothing on the family relations with the Saudis.
   
   Kelley tackled 3 generations and did a competent job. There is plenty of unexplored turf for the next biographers.



5. 
   Beneath tons of minutia and irrelevant details that often border on mere salacious family gossip, a clear picture of the Bush family, its code of honor, code of ethics and family dynamics, does eventually emerge. The Bush formula for success consisted mostly of parlaying meager individual talents, an ability to maneuver on the outer edges of morality, a penchant for winning at all costs, and punching the right social tickets, into a coveted entry into the most envied of inner social and economic circles.
   
   According to the author, sucking up to those higher up the social ladder, and giving expression to this sycophancy by exhibiting whenever necessary, a willingness to make deep moral turns in the road, (a theme also repeated in Russell S. Bowen's "Immaculate Deception") became the family's number one business practice and eventually its clearest ethical signature. Sycophancy and questionable business practices not only proved to be the most reliable hook for ascending the proverbial social ladder (well beyond a rung that their talents and family code of ethics alone would have otherwise entitled them to), but also served as a way of consolidating their power and position once they arrived. Kelly argues that this weak moral template continues to work for the Bush family even into the present generation.
   
   Once gaining a foothold somewhere nearer the top of the food chain and having done so literally by hook or crook, the Bushes then perfected the art of holding on to their illicitly gained status: Display all of the outward signs of moral rectitude, while just behind the scenes, engage in the most ruthless of bare-knuckled business and ethical practices. In short, at every turn, demonstrate that you are willing to use up all of the family's moral capital in order to sustain the family's social status.
   
   Tempered by the uncertainty of the depression, and the precariousness inherent in living above ones own intellectual and moral station, the Bushes understandably were always terrified of being discovered as the social and economic frauds they saw themselves as. This palpable inner fear helped shape their worldview, animated family dynamics and contributed to most of the family's deviant behavior, which from time-to-time included alcoholism and latter on some sporadic drug use.
   
   The author implies that the Bushes might still be suffering from a kind of "survivor's guilt" of knowing full well that talent-wise they have never quite measured up to others in their lofty inner circles. Thus most of their lives have been dedicated to self-justification -- proving to themselves that they are deserving of the many unearned and often unethical entitlements they have received.
   
   However, it must be said in passing that compared to the stories of others of this ilk, who like the Bushes, have also clawed and scratched their way to the top of the food chain (the Kennedy's would be another good case in point), there is nothing strikingly out of the ordinary about the Bush family.
   
   Plus, I can think of nothing negative to say about a family that can turn an utter un-redeeming family black sheep into the President of the USA. They must have been doing something right. Amen.
   
   A good read; another classic American story told well: five stars.

2 comments about For Love of Politics: Inside the Clinton White House.

1. . . . read this book first! My interest was piqued when I saw a book review by the author on TV. Her research was extensive and carefully documented. She spoke to both Hillary's supporters and retractors and quoted both personal interviews and published reports. The book was both a page turner and a head shaker. If you want to find the epitome of the "snake oil salesman" look no further than Hillary and Bill! Sleazy backroom deals and downright dishonesty are all part of their political game.



2. Sally Bedell Smith's For the Love of Politics makes for insightful and prescient reading for those seeking to understand Hillary Clinton's 2007-2008 presidential campaign and to anticipate the possibility of a Hillary Clinton-led White House.
   
   Bedell Smith ably chronicles the eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency, making a compelling case that Hillary Clinton played a strong and ongoing role in her husband's policymaking. While Hillary Clinton's involvement in West Wing events appears to have ranged from overt (during the first two years of Bill Clinton's presidency) to covert (particularly during the 1995-96 re-election bid), Hillary Clinton appears to have been a prominent influence in her husband's presidential decision-making process. Bedell Smith's account also suggests that Hillary Clinton, as First Lady, was frequently more tough-minded and partisan than her husband, who was more likely to take a conciliatory stance toward his opponents. At the same time, Bedell Smith's reporting indicates that the Clintons' relationship is centered on the political process and on policymaking and concludes that a Hillary Clinton presidency would be shaped by both Clintons, much as Bill Clinton's presidency was.
   
   Especially interesting in Bedell Smith's account are foreshadowings of some of the events of Senator Clinton's Senate career and 2007-2008 campaign:
   --Hillary Clinton's 2000 New York Senate campaign highlights Clinton's expertise on policy issues, a decision driven by polling results suggesting that the "personality negatives" perceived by voters can be overcome only by emphasizing her experience. The 2008 presidential campaign has been run on the same premise.
   --Bill Clinton's attempts as president to dislodge Saddam Hussein from power foreshadow Hillary Clinton's 2002 support for the invasion of Iraq, and her reluctance to embrace an antiwar stance.
   --A successful call for a gasoline tax during Bill Clinton's presidency foreshadows Hillary Clinton's embrace of this approach in the spring of 2008.
   --The Clintons' single-minded commitment to Hillary's 2000 race for the Senate to the detriment of Al Gore's presidential candidacy has a similar flavor to the Clintons' pursuit of the 2008 presidential nomination at the possible expense of Democratic Party unity and victory in November 2008.
   
   In sum, Bedell Smith describes a talented, flawed and hard-driving political couple whose personal and political ambitions are pursued at all costs. The sense of shared legacy looms large. Bedell Smith's narrative suggests shared disappointment at the lost opportunities of a Bill Clinton presidency undermined by a bitterly partisan political environment, GOP dominance in Congress, and the Lewinsky affair. The Clintons' mutual disappointment at the defeats suffered during Bill Clinton's White House years, the mutual desire for a second chance at the presidency, and the shared need to strengthen a fragile legacy appear to shape Hillary Clinton's tenacious 2008 run for the White House.
   
   All told, Bedell Smith has created a fair, balanced and compelling look at the Clintons. For the Love of Politics should be required reading for those seeking to understand the Clintons' marital and political partnership.

5 comments about The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln.

1. I'm the first to admit my two passionate interests are Abraham Lincoln and the paranormal so it shouldn't come as much of a shock that I found this book to be extremely interesting. I don't know that I buy the whole "Lincoln as psychic medium" slant but the book does shed a lot of light on a neglected aspect of Lincoln's personality, that is his interest in the paranormal, ghosts and the like. It discusses his interest in seances...in and out of the White House and makes the argument that Lincoln's interest was far deeper than has been admitted. Overall the evidence presented holds up.
   I did take exception to the author taking aim at Dr. Wayne Temple's research. I don't always agree with Dr. Temple but know him to be a fine researcher, the author here would disagree and uses Temple's book "From Skeptic to Prophet" against him repeatedly throughout.
   That aside, I really enjoyed this book and would argue that it's a fine addition to any Lincoln library, don't let the subject matter scare you away.



2. Dr. Martinez is to be applauded for the first time threading together all the anecdotal and documented yet neglected references to the Lincoln's attraction and participation in the budding Spiritualist religious movement. Mrs. Lincoln had sensitized herself to the possibility of afterdeath communication by the tragic loss of two young sons.
   
   This work draws connections to primary documents not incorporated into mainstream Lincoln studies. The only disconcerting note is the authors apparent belief in the 19th century alternative bible "Oahspe" channeled through the mediumship of John B. Newbrough. Oahspe is certainly a fringe document with few organized students devoted to its psuedo-old testament language and cosmic operating manual. Oahspe is a more quaint, Victorian "Urantia" type body of work. The one attempt at establishing an intentional community based on Oahspe's teachings was the failed Shalam colony in New Mexico. I understand that Newbrough's body is buried in the Las Cruces Masonic cemetary.
   
   Dr. Martinez's scattered quotes gleaned from Oahspe do not serve to strengthen the premise of her book. The Oahspe derived Lincoln quotes merely serve to embarass the reader for Dr. Martinez if she thinks this dated piece of spiritual literature supports any case for a stronger sympathy of spiritualism by the Lincoln's than may previously been accepted by mainstream historians. Nor are the Lincoln's dyed in the wool spiritualists, but rather inquisitive progressive minded 19th century Americans looking for more than exoteric answers to the questions surrounding life and death.
   
   In the author's biography in this book, it mentions a biography she has written on J.B. Newbrough, this is worth noting for a major study of his life is needed for students of 19th century alternative religious movements.



3. Impressive. The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln, while it is an apologia of Spiritualism past and present, is also a very intimate look at one of the most complex and iconic personalities short of Jesus of Nazareth. While the doubter will have much to criticize I suspect, if ones feelings with regard to the topic of Spiritualism itself can be set aside for the moment, a much clearer portrait of the man can be obtained by the exercise.
   
   The book is, however, very anecdotal and while it puts data into chapters with logical headings, the bulk of each is largely "loose association" and quotes from various sources, many of them having little to do with the Civil War president, and many having to do with the character of Spiritualism in the 19th Century. To the extent that this material places the man solidly within the venue of his own time, this is very helpful. Certainly anyone who has no clue as to the topic of Spiritualism and its history will find it illuminating and helpful to the understanding of the 19th century culture of which it was a part.
   
   Quantities of literature have been written about Lincoln (I Googled his name and came up with 8,510,000 entries), yet it still leaves the reader very confused about him. Perhaps more confused about him. Like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, much of the man's personality lay beneath the "water" line for most of his peers. Furthermore and for this very reason, every writer about the man had/has his own "Lincoln" version in mind.
   
   As Susan Martinez herself notes, more than Lincoln the man, one receives a distorted image filtered through the perspective of his biographers; through cultural lenses, personal biases, personal agendas, etc. Maybe it's unavoidable. Dr. Martinez quotes from a roughly contemporary source which stated that a mind of such genius as Lincoln's, viewed through the filter of lesser minds, always appears "unrecognizable (p. 133)." She also notes the addendum to this statement made by author Victor Searcher (1965) that this fact is the source of the "many different Lincolns (p. 133)." Certainly the man's contemporaries were every bit as confused about the Real Lincoln as modern day authors.
   
   I think that the ultimate cause of this is the fact that Lincoln, by dying as he did and at the time he did, assumed almost deified status for the average person of his time, not to mention for us. He left his work incomplete, he was not allowed to undergo the effects of time which often dims recollections of past deeds or buries them under later concerns and preoccupations. Instead he became an icon of martyrdom, righteousness, freedom, courage in the face of adversity to almost all of his contemporaries and even more so to those generations that followed.
   
   This larger than life iconic status was a very tempting thing to manipulate in the interests of individuals whose own agendas were not quite as altruistic. Furthermore, the attempt to cultivate and manipulate his persona for private interests began almost immediately as the power brokers of the time grappled with one another for control.
   
   Much of our confusion over the man is due to the fact that private family papers were destroyed by Lincoln's only surviving son Robert in an attempt to control what was written and believed about his esteemed father. Robert's efforts at what he obviously considered "damage control" even extended to having his mother committed for "insanity" some years later. Whether this was out of a misguided fear that his father's great reputation would be besmirched by his mother's behavior or that the value of his own reputation as a Lincoln might lose its value is anyone's guess.
   
   Some of our confusion over the person of Lincoln is based in Robert's activities and in the biases about women. Just the basis for the diagnosis of Mary Lincoln's "insanity" would put most modern women in an institution: spending too much money on clothing, having a political opinion, having an educated mind, expressing "excessive" grief (ie. over the loss of almost all of her children except the controlling Robert and of her husband who was assassinated in her presence while she was actually speaking with him; over the fact that while she had a northern husband and loyalty, her natal family was primarily located in the south; and over the fact that her outspokenness caused most people to dislike her because she was "unfeminine," leaving her lonely and isolated, etc.--for which see: Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography .)
   
   In fact, if one looks at the material on Abraham and Mary Lincoln, one comes up with a very dichotomized view of the two of them, an almost Biblical duality of "good" and "evil." Abraham is everything good, noble, and male, while Mary is everything uncontrolled, selfish and female. They are for their contemporaries, from whose descriptions we gain our only view of them, the antithesis of one another. Part of this was due to the fact that Mary, despite her loyalty and support of her husband's position, was still viewed as Southern, ie "bad," while Abraham was viewed as Northern, ie "good." It should be noted, however, that this latter assessment accrued to the man by virtue of his conveniently dying almost on the eve of the end of the war. During the war, he was often vilified by the same people who paid lip service to his greatness after his death. Life was not easy for the Lincolns during the White House years (for which see: The Lincolns in the White House: Four Years That Shattered a Family .
   
   Because of this duality of persona between the Lincoln pair, much of what was considered "unacceptable" for the icon Lincoln is offloaded onto Mary, "the bad influence." Unfortunately some of this goes on in modern biographies of Lincoln and it paints a distorted portrait of the man. In short it supports the icon, not the man. This is a sad state of affairs. It robs the man of his humanness and denies the incredible burden that he undertook and which, at its end, took his life. It is my firm conviction that even had the man not been assassinated, he would not have lived out his second term. I think he would have died of the effects of the stress under which he lived for over four years, those same effects already visible in the succession of photos of the man over the time of his administration.
   
   So what new does this author actually present to us with her Spiritualistic view of Lincoln? A very good one, I think. For one thing, she reflects on the cover-ups and the manipulation of the Lincoln persona--both that of Abraham and of Mary--by others. She sees and presents Abraham, warts and all, and Mary Lincoln, strong points and all, and she refuses to commit the modern error of removing the two from their own 19th Century milieu.
   
   This is an important point. No person is outside of the influences of his or her own time. If Abraham was a spiritualist at heart and if he chose not to declare it, he was not alone, as Dr. Martinez makes plain. It could be political, professional, and social suicide to make beliefs of this kind known, and she provides examples of it.
   
   But if he and his wife chose to seek comfort in beliefs in an afterlife and a continued interest by the deceased in their living family, why would that be particularly strange? Why when almost every person living at the time had also sustained great family losses in a war that seemed to be without end and who probably also looked to their personal philosophy or religious beliefs for comfort, is the Lincolns' search for a balm for their grief unacceptable and unbelievable?
   
   Why, taken within the reference point of his time and place, would Lincoln's personal beliefs be something to leave out of the picture? Whatever they may have been, and despite the fear that superstition might have made important decisions--given the complexity of any urgent time, tossing a coin might be the only other option!--he obviously had the wherewithal to get through the stressful time and to make good decisions, and that despite his detractors' protests. Anyone who can make considered decisions, by whatever means, in the maelstrom of chaotic and stressful times is a treasure.
   
   Probably better than any of the Lincoln portraits I've read before, this one really, really, really illuminates the staggering stress and emotional burden that this presidency represented to its occupant, and more than any other biography, it shows the incredible good fortune that having this particular man in this particular place at this particular time really was for the destiny of the country. I doubt there were any others who could have withstood the pressure or undertaken the mission so successfully as Lincoln did. If he chose spiritual resources available to him at the time to support his own emotional well being, good for him!



4. Lincoln saw his death in dreams, consulted oracles, and knew at age 22 that he'd become President of the U.S.: despite the evidence historians have dismissed his psychic involvements. But his rose to power coincided with a rise in interest in spiritualism, and this chronicle of his psychic side, which includes precognitive dreams, trance-like states, and even White House seances, is enhanced by the deathbed memoir of his favorite medium and charts his many clairvoyant incidents and psychic interests. New age libraries will consider it a 'must have' acquisition.



5. Historians have not been able to agree as to President Lincoln's religious beliefs. He has been characterized as everything from a God-fearing Christian to an atheistic humanist. It seems clear that Lincoln did not often attend church services and took issue with some of the dogma, doctrine, and methods of orthodox Christianity. And, yet, he emerges as one of our most spiritual presidents.
   
   Dr. Susan Martinez, the author of this book, points out that more than 6,000 books have been written about Lincoln and that it has been said that "there are no important new facts to disclose." She takes issue with that comment as the stories about Lincoln's association with several credible mediums, especially one Nettie Colburn Maynard, while not new, have been pretty much ignored, forgotten, denied, or swept under the rug.
   
   Many of Lincoln's biographers have taken note of claims that the 16th President received guidance from spirits who communicated through mediums. However, the claims are usually derided as beneath the dignity of such a great man. Not long before reading this book, I read a very lengthy magazine article dealing with Lincoln's religious and spiritual views. It mentioned that Spiritualists had made claims to having influenced Lincoln's thinking, but the author seems to have smirked at this claim and did not elaborate.
   
   Martinez digs deeply into the documented records of Lincoln's involvement with mediums and sets forth a preponderance of evidence suggesting that he was indeed guided by benevolent spirits communicating through credible mediums in his most crucial decisions and creative works, including the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address.
   
   Lincoln was seen by many who knew him as a somber man with a gloomy disposition. Martinez examines his "peculiar melancholy" and the events in his life that shaped it, including his mother's death at age nine, a strict and distant father, the death of a sister at age 10, and the death of his beloved Ann Rutledge when he was 26. She examines Lincoln's inner turmoil and his attempts to reconcile all of his hardships and the vindictive God of the Old Testament with his evolving ideas of justice, mercy, and goodness, concluding that these experiences molded Lincoln's psyche in a way that made him more sensitive to the unseen principle.
   
   Martinez recounts the paranormal events of 1848 giving rise to belief in spirit communication, pointing out that many celebrated names, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Cullen Bryant, Thomas Carlyle, James Fenimore Cooper, Emily Dickinson, Horace Greeley, Sir William Crookes, Edgar Allen Poe, Alfred Russel Wallace, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Queen Victoria, and W. B. Yeats, became investigators and proponents of the new "Spiritual Science." And yet, the evidence was suppressed by the religious fundamentalists, who saw the phenomena as a threat to established dogma and doctrine, as well as by scientific fundamentalists, who viewed it with "intellectual" arrogance.
   
   The president's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, began exploring "spiritualism," as it came to be called, by visiting mediums and sitting in circles after the death of their 11-year-old son, "Willie." The president took a passing interest in the phenomena and then joined in on a more regular basis. At one sitting, after Nettie Colburn went into a trance, it is said that the spirits speaking through her lectured the president about his duty to emancipate the slaves.
   
   A number of people who knew Lincoln or came in contact with him are quoted attesting to his association with "spiritualists" and the influence they had on him and his important decisions during the Civil War. Others who knew him denied such an association. Martinez dissects the testimony and leaves the reader with evidence strongly favoring spirit communication and influence. She says that Lincoln moved from being an agnostic to a believer. But a believer in what? "No earthly power, no organized religion, no man-made God," she concludes, "but faith - a new faith - in the outworkings of the Unseen world of intelligent design."