5 comments about A Remarkable Mother.

1. Very quick service. I got this book for my mom for Mother's Day and she loved it. I recommend it to anyone and use Amazon.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was lovingly written by a son who adored, respected, and loved his mother very much. Lillian was such a force in the White House, and it sounds like everyone from every country who ever met her just loved being with her. She's was a woman that we could all learn from....she didn't take from anyone...even the President. The book was inspiring to me...she went into the Peace Corps at 70....enough said....very good book!



3. This was a quick read, but well done. Mr. Carter's mother was definitely her own woman, but Mr. Carter treated her always with respect and love. A great tribute.



4. Loved the book. It was an easy afternoon read. My husband and I took turns reading it to one another while sitting on the dock sipping cold beer. It is one of those days you hold in your heart. Laughed, cried and hated to see the end. Miss Lillian was some kind of woman!



5. I purchased this book for my 86-year-old mother for Mother's Day.
   She said she enjoyed it very much and learned more about Mrs.
   Carter than she knew.

5 comments about The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy.

1. I bought this book for my husband, and he loves it. He is not the kind to sit and read for very long. This book is just right. Each story is two pages long. Very interesting!!



2. I bought this for my husband who loves books on historical trivia (Bathroom Readers, Almanacs, Malcolm Forbes' "They Went That-a-way"). We own all the books in this "Strories Never Told" series--three so far--and we are anxiously waiting for more!



3. I bought 5 of these books for freinds and family. This book is very entertaining and easy to read. If you enjoy short stories and are interested in presidential facts, then this book is for you. A must read!
   
   Carl Mark



4. If you are looking for light hearted historical reading then this is a must. Throughly engrossing little book that you won't be able to put it down once you start reading it. I plan to follow up by reading the author's other two books as well as some of the sources that he utilized in producing this book. Great stuff!



5. This is a neat little book; things we never learned in our history classes! Well presented.

3 comments about Golda.

1. When I got this book, I was hoping for a personal look at Golda, the person. Having read it, I feel I learned more about Israel's long complicated history than about Golda as a person. Maybe that is because the woman did not have much of a personal life and her story was tied to that of her country. She lived and breathed politics and the book's lengthy description of Israeli politics (with countless parties and coalitions) is confusing and doesn't tell us much about her.
   
   It is as though the author couldn't find enough information about Golda's private life (which Golda guarded) and so the book becomes a history lesson in Israeli and Mid-East politics. No maps included which would have helped the reader a great deal in understanding some of this stuff.
   
   The author should have gotten more material from Golda's children, who didn't think much of Golda as a mother (she was MIA when it came to parenting).
   
   Time to read: It took me a little more than a week (with a lot of free time)



2. I heard the author discuss this book on my local NPR station. GOlda had always fascinated me so I purchased the book. I have almost finished it. It is very readable. GOlda was a complex woman, fiercely devoted to Israel, much to the detriment of her family. She was probably Israel's number one fund raiser, which enabled the country to assimilated hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world. Israel was also able to purchase the military hardward needed to defend itself against its hostile neighbors. She was the first woman head of state in the western world. Although she was flawed she managed to hold Israel together in trying times. I loved this book.



3. Burkett, Elinor. "Golda". Harper, 2008.
   
   Remembering Golda Meir
   
   
   Amos Lassen
   
   I doubt there are many people that do not recognize the name of Golda Meir. Many say she was more of a man then many men, others remember as the Prime Minister of Israel, some blame her for the disastrous Yom Kippur War in 1973. One thing is that there are few who have neutral feelings about her. She was quite a person and I have my own memories of her as she was Prime Minister for many of the years that I lived in Israel. In fact, when I lived in Tel Aviv, she lived right around the corner and we shopped at the same mini-market. Yes, Golda did her own shopping.
   Pulitzer Prize finalist, Elinor Burkett takes a look at Golda in her new biography of the former world leader. Golda Meir was the first female head of state in the Western world and without question a woman who exerted a great deal of influence. She was a founder of the State of Israel, helped to develop the infrastructure of the tiny country. She defended Israel as if it were her own child and she was utterly and completely devoted to keeping Israel safe. She changed the face of the politics of the Middle East in ways that are still felt today. She had the stamina of a bulldozer and when her mind was made up she did what she felt was the right thing to do. She also baked cookies and cakes and steeped tea She was the first to make the world aware of international terrorism and she could hold her own against powerful men like Henry Kissinger and others. Even as she pleaded for peace, she led Israel through the bloodiest war in its existence. Golda had the ability to raise funds and even while she, herself, was battling cancer, was able to steer Israel's ship of state.
   Burkett looks at the life of Golda (and she was always Golda) and writes of her victories and her disappointments, of her wins and her losses. We read of Golda as an idealistic girl in Milwaukee as a product of an immigrant family and we read of a woman who is what legends are made of. Golda had almost no definition unless we define her by her own contradictions. She was hard as nails and as sweet as sugar. She was the personification of the Jewish mother to a nation of people and she was also their leader She was tough and she was kind but most of all she loved Israel even though the populace did not always love her.
   Burkett has done serious research here including interviewing members of Golda's family who had never agreed to be interviewed before and she provides us with a picture of the woman who changed the course of history. I do not agree with all she writes but I find the book to be as honest as it can be. It is stylishly written and I t makes its point. The problem is that the legend of Golda Meir has been tainted by the terrible losses of October, 1973.

5 comments about Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe.

1. Very good reading. It reiterates much of what I had learned in school many years ago, before society, as a whole, changed history books in order to become more "politically correct."



2. DiLorenzo offers nothing new: no new facts; no new argument. Rather he regurates poorly reasoned attacks on Lincoln that have been advanced by the Lost Causers for years and that have be soundly discredited by every serious scholar.



3. Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe
   
   Good readying if you like history and want to know when and where the downfall of our country began.



4. This is a historical polemic in that it attacks other historians and the official Lincon standards. There is no other way to present an alternative to accepted scholarship than to try to debunk it. I work in DC and pass the Lincoln Memorial frequently. It is a temple. It is the stone deification of a man, not unlike the Roman deification of Augustus. They did the same to Jefferson. It is a human tendency. No one will say it - but they are temples seeking public worship. Very odd, not just today, but when built. The US has no state religion. That is the first amendment - but we do. One is the Lincoln religion. Lincoln's actual feelings about slavery, racial equality and the nature of total war have been glossed over in favor of the temple. All historians know it. Some of the contents of this book are rather shocking. Extensive footnotes. Your kids will probably get in trouble if they take this to public schools where the temple is strong. I recommend the book as one of many about Lincoln, but mostly because it will cause you to rethink Lincoln, read more about Lincoln and come to a decision on your own - which may disagree with the author. You may end up accepting the temple theory, but Lincoln should be reconsidered rather than just worshipped. This is one of those think-for-yourself books that gives you some concepts to reconsider. Personally, I don't think it goes far enough as I have studied Lincoln for years and am amazed at the amount of material the general public does not know. Why the civil rightds movement associates with the Lincoln temple and not with Harper's Ferry is beyond me. Also read up on John Brown, Harper's Ferry and Lincoln's plans for life after the presidency. But I give this book five stars for its daring, brevity, footnotes and polemical style that makes for lively reading. As for the temple, I would rather see a copy of the magna carta, the constitution and a large, running mirror where people saw themselves and their personal responsibility. Lincoln's statute reminds me of the descriptions of Jupiter Optimus in his temple in anceint Rome. One day, people will claim miracles...



5. Overall, this book is exciting and fast paced. I received my masters in American History at Georgetown and I thought his account of Abe was spot on. This book repeats at time but Thomas Dilorenzo makes up for it in posterity and style. This book should be required at every school! I enjoyed it so much I read the rest of his books the same week. 5 Stars

5 comments about Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.

1. Yowzahs! If you want a DETAILED biography of Stalin's political life then pick this up. I fully recommend it to grad and doctoral students or anyone else writing a book.
   If you are a little curious and your last Russian history class was in high school, then you might want to look elsewhere.
   I was overwhelmed. When I got out of bed, wanting to draw my own character profiles and story arcs, I decided that this would NOT be a good bed time read.
   Thorough, scholarly and well-written this book made me feel stupid.



2. In the pantheon of the 20th century's most heinous individuals, Joseph Stalin would be prominently placed along with Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot. Stalin was a truly repulsive individual who brought death and misery to millions. To think that he should deserve some accolades for industrialising the Soviet Union is historical blindness of the greatest degree. He was simply a repugnant monster.
   
   Simon Sebag Montefiore has told the tale of Stalin as a riveting piece of history. You may ask if there is anything new about Stalin to be told. Well, the short answer is that much has been learned in recent years. Montefiore was given unparalleled access to Russian records and has a keen eye for detail. Indeed, it is remarkable that such records even exist. Yet it seems that the Soviets were, if nothing else, diligent keeps of files. Montefiore has unearthed a veritable treasure trove.
   
   Stalin was a man of immense paranoia. In his life, he trusted no one except, ironically, Adolph Hitler. Right up to the last moment, he was convinced that Hitler would keep his word and leave the Soviet Union in peace. When Hitler's word was broken, Stalin nearly collapsed. Yet, everyone else was a danger, real or perceived. The bloodletting that this unleashed in the 1930s has few parallels in history. But for all this carnage, Stalin was able to live a life cut short only by natural death. He created fear in his people and his immediate colleagues. He used this fear as a weapon. He was utterly remorseless.
   
   Simon Sebag Montefiori's book is a master piece. It is a superlative piece of historical writing and biography. Not with standing the repugnance of the subject, this book is great reading. I thoroughly recommend it to all interested in understanding one of the great figures of the twentieth century.



3. This is a great book if you want to understand the horrors and paranoia among the elites in totalitarian regimes. The book discusses how Stalin manipulated his court and why his associates went along with his schemes. There are some fascinating tidbits, but one of the most unnerving is the fact that Stalin was actually a very well-read and intelligent man who read Western history and Russian literature (books he banned incidentally), but still believed in the Communist system and perpetuated mass murder. He also skillfully involved his associates in crimes, so none of them could take the moral high ground and they all had some stains on their character which could be used against them when Stalin decided to get rid of them.
   
   I thought there was enough of an overview on Stalin for reasonably educated people to delve right into this book, but you may want to review a brief online biography (or even Wikipedia) before tackling this book.



4. Josef Stalin was an artist. While some artists work in clay, oils or water color, Stalin worked in mass murder. It was his medium and he was a virtuoso. And just as Picasso's style shifted from his pink to his blue period, Stalin's abattoir art developed through his Trotskyite period, his old guard Bolshevik period, his military officer period, his Jewish period, his doctor's period, his Mingrelian period and so on, across several decades of obscene, senseless blood-letting.
   
   Simon Sebag Monteriore tells the story of this deranged madman in a way few if any have before. The suicide of Stalin's wife, Nadya, in the Kremlin in 1932 is the pivot upon which the whole narrative turns. Monteriore notes that prior to that traumatic event Stalin was primus inter pares in the Soviet leadership hierarchy and not the omnipotent, dreaded dictator of his later years when the Politburo "studied [him] like zoologists to read his moods, win his favor and survive." In the early thirties old colleagues like Sergo Ordzhonikidze and Alexei Rykov were casual with Stalin, addressing him as "Koba" and were quite comfortable challenging his proposals within senior leadership circles. Within a couple years of Nadya's death these and other patriarchs were dead and so too was any thought of informality with Stalin or speaking freely on any topic no matter how trivial.
   
   The author provides a rare and stunning glimpse inside Stalin's personal and political circle over a quarter century of his rule. The picture that emerges is somewhat analogous to HBO's Sopranos family - only without the mafia code of honor. In Stalinist Russia nobody was off-limits: the elderly, women, children, pregnant wives, extended family, casual friends and neighbors, others completely and undeniably innocent. All were subject to heinous beatings, prolonged torture, hard labor and execution - often in that order. Proximity to the "Vozd" himself was no guarantee of safety; indeed, it was one of the more parlous positions in the Soviet Union. For instance, five of Stalin's eight in-laws from his marriages to Ekaterina Svanidze and Nadya Alliluyeva were liquidated during his rule. Meanwhile, the passionately Marxist-Leninist wives of long-standing and blindly devoted acolytes, such as Moltov, Poskrebyshev, and Kalinin, were arrested and in some cases shot. His secret police chiefs - Yagoda, Yezhov, Beria, Abakumov - each outdid their predecessor in zealotry to the cause of uprooting "enemies" and in the cruelty of their methods before being arrested and shot themselves on the falsified charges of being one the very "enemies" they were supposedly hunting (Beria, of course, being the exception, having survived Stalin's rule only to be shot by Khrushchev). The whole story is so twisted and nonsensical that it is difficult to fully comprehend.
   
   What was most surprising about Monteriore's narrative, in my opinion, was how human, talented, and common Stalin could be. Here you find Stalin locking himself in a Kremlin bathroom as his angry wife pounds furiously on the door in a fit of spousal rage; slapping his beloved daughter Svetlana for her romantic relationship with a middle-aged married poet during the Second World War; reprimanding his hard-drinking debauchee son, Vasily, for irresponsibility and sullying the family name; serving as a Simon Cowell-like judge in a bizarre version of "Soviet Idol" put on to create a new national anthem in 1943; unleashing a deadly inquiry into corruption and incompetence after being served under ripe bananas in 1951; and throwing tomatoes at dinner guests during a summer holiday on the Black Sea and forcing his inner circle to drink until they vomited at the table.
   
   Not only was Stalin often a doting parent, smothering his daughter and grandchildren with affectionate kisses and hugs, but he also possessed a first-rate intellect, at least according to the author, who writes "it would be no exaggeration to say that Stalin was the best-read ruler of Russia from Catherine the Great to Vladimir Putin, even including Lenin..." That's high praise given the unusually highbrow literary consumption of the Russian people.
   
   This is one of the most enjoyable and eye-opening (not to mention unsettling) books that I have read in quite some time. No matter what opinion you hold of Stalin (and hopefully it's not a positive one), this book will likely forever alter that perception.



5. There is nothing here about policies or ideology, but the unbelievable monstrosity of Stalin and his magnates is described as never before. A terrifying and gripping story.

2 comments about Zachary Taylor: The 12th President, 1849-1850 (The American Presidents).

1. Eisenhower handles Taylor's military career and his exploits in the Mexican War very neatly and offers selections from other Taylor biographers like Hamilton and Bauer to aid his case and offer the casual reader alternate windows into the life. A very neat summary of a very brief administration, Eisenhower's account never seems rushed or unduly cursory. The books in the American Presidents series vary wildly in quality. This particular volume is not a breath-taking small gem like Hans Trefousse on Hayes or a specialist treasure like Ira Rutkow's book on Garfield, but Eisenhower nevertheless provides a splendid small book on an unfortunately overlooked president.



2. Another home run in the superb American President's series. John Eisenhower paints a picture of Zachary Taylor that leaves us wishing he was among today's candidates for President. Had he lived, he may have been able to head off the Civil War, we will never know. In short, a great biography of a great man.

5 comments about Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, (Vintage).

1. I had read Robert Caro's book on Robert Moses, and I found Master of the Senate to be an equally well-written and insightful read about an even more complicated figure. Readers get a real sense of the dark character of Lyndon Johnson. The book also offers a revealing view of the inner workings of the U.S. Senate. His portraits of Richard Russell and Sam Rayburn are particularly poignant. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in 20th-century U.S. history, and for anyone who enjoys monumental biographies.



2. Anyone know? This is a masterful book series. The one on LBJ's presidency should be the best.



3. Despite what you think of LBJ, and I don't think much of him, Robert Caro's series on Johnson far surpasses any other books that have come before or after on Lyndon Johnson. In all three of Caro's volumes, he includes mini biographies of important people in Lyndon's life. In this volume, Senator Richard Russell, jr. of Georgia is given his due, and his importance as friend and adviser to LBJ. Also, the first 100 pages include a history of the US senate that could stand alone as a book unto itself. I can't wait for Caro's fourth volume, alas it probably won't be out for another five years.



4. Caro is a master writer. I found his book 'The Power Broker' about Robert Moses easily one of my top ten reads of all time, five star all the way. Johnson to me was not quite as interesting, but nevertheless this is a top notch book showing how Johnson came into the Senate and transformed it. No matter what one thinks of Johnson, if one is a student of American politics, this is a worthwhile book as it shows the influence of one man and what can be done. He was no saint, but he did manage to get things done. I am slowly working my way through it, it's been about 2 years, I keep picking it up and putting it down, but learn something every time.



5. I used to worry Robert Caro wouldn't live long enough to complete his epic biographical history on Lyndon Johnson. Now, 25 years after the first volume, I worry I won't live long enough to read it all.
   
   Published in 2002 and still as of now Caro's latest installment, "Master Of The Senate" weighs in at close to 1,100 pages. It details Johnson's time in the Senate, where he rose to become the Majority Leader. Caro spends 100 pages explaining how the Senate was designed and operated as something of a brake on populist excitability, a vessel for cooling passions. A sort of sluggishness evolved, Caro explains, until the guy with ambition from Texas arrived and changed everything by smashing tradition to bits.
   
   Caro's overriding distaste for Johnson, clear especially in "Means Of Ascent", remains in force here, but another strain emerges, too, of Johnson the difference maker, the guy who got things done. You almost might see him, flaws and all, as a kind of archetypal American in his cussed indomitability, brutish, charming, needfully effective.
   
   When LBJ's mother asks about Adlai Stevenson, the Democrat who twice ran for President in the 1950s, you can't help but chuckle at his reply: "He's a nice fellow, Mother, but he won't make it 'cause he's got too much lace on his drawers."
   
   Better than "Means To Ascent" but not the classic that "Path To Power" was, "Master Of The Senate" suffers from things that make Caro such a great writer, like his ability to draw up seemingly endless detail and find a coherent whole. He can't stop writing about a handful of topics. Each time he goes back to the well he draws up something different, but it's too often the same well.
   
   Caro believes Johnson was the difference maker in making civil rights happen, even though he championed a watered-down version, because he was the only man who could push civil rights through the Senate and its stubborn Southern wing. It's a debatable point, especially since the force of change was already there, Johnson or no.
   
   More problematic for me was the book's unrelenting focus in its second half on the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which ultimately accomplished little, and on Johnson's bid for the 1956 Democratic presidential nomination, which he didn't get and wouldn't have mattered if he had. So much time is spent here that Caro is left to sum up the three remaining years of Johnson's Senate career after the Civil Rights Act's passage in less than 30 pages.
   
   One great thing about "Master Of The Senate" is Caro's articulation of Johnson's ambition as both poison and antidote for the Senate, in how he worked his fellow senators, racist zealots like Richard Russell and liberal lions like Hubert Humphrey, to get what he wanted.
   
   Johnson may have been one of the toughest figures ever to take control of our tough nation. Tough enough, in fact, that I think he'd even like Caro's books about him, warts and all. If one man's life was ever a testament to the power of one's own will, it was Johnson's, and in Caro that will to power has an able chronicler.

5 comments about Ike: An American Hero.

1. Michael Korda's beefy biography of Dwight Eisenhower is a must read for anyone who thought of Ike as just the avuncular President of the quiet 1950's. Korda's portrait of Eisenhower paints Ike as an intelligent and thoughtful leader in both World War II as Supreme Allied Commander and in his many Post War roles. When Eisenhower took over the presidency in January 1953 the post war peace had all but unraveled with Korea raging, the French losing their grip in Vietnam, and the Middle East a boiling cauldron of activity. Ike's stalwart character appears to have been a great force in keeping this potential incendiary period in check.
   
   Korda paints Eisenhower as a simple but forthright and principled individual. I was particular impressed with the resolute character of Eisenhower and his strong sense of duty in whatever assignment or job he undertook during his career. As Korda says, "while Eisenhower was the last president born in the 19th century, he was a 20th century thinker." As supreme commander of European theatre during World War II and as President of the United States, Eisenhower never seemed to get raddled no matter how difficult or bleak the situation appeared. It is not hard to see how Eisenhower commanded such world respect during the War and the Post War period. One wonders what the situation would have been in Iraq if Eisenhower had been the chief executive today?



2. The first 1/3 of the book is spent on the first 45 years or so of Ike's life, which is remarkable for its dullness. He really did nothing of note or of interest until WW2. Then, most of the rest of the book is dedicated to war-years (which is already well-trodden ground). Relatively little space is dedicated to his two terms as President, which I find appalling. Four years at war get almost 500 pages but 8 years as leader of the most powerful country in the history of the world get maybe 50? A very imbalanced treatment, IMO, and very disappointing.
   
   On a lesser note: the habit of the author to drop (un-translated) French and German phrases is pretentious and annoying. The author also makes a few attempts to dabble in psycho-history, which I've never been able to take seriously. Aside from these minor points, the writing is o.k.
   
   I'm sure one wouldn't have to work very hard to find a better treatment of Eisenhower and his work.
   
   Not terrible but not recommended.



3. Once Korda reached 1945 in IKE, it feels like he filed all his research away and said, "Let's wrap this up!" Unfortunately, Ike still had 25 years left in him. Consequently, Korda's biography feels incomplete. Furthermore, for all the space Korda accords to Ike's WWII years, he pays scant attention to the Holocaust. What did Ike know about the Holocaust, about the Final Solution? What was his reaction to the liberation of the concentration camps (Korda mentions Ike's presence at just one, a sub-camp). In light of the preeminence of Holocaust studies in the past 15 years, Korda really could have shed new light with a discussion of Ike and the plight of the Jewish people. Similarly, the creation of Israel receives no mention in this book, even though Ike, as Supreme Commander of the AEF and, later, commander of NATO, would have seen, heard, and possibly opined on "The Palestine Question." In short, if well done, a 900-page offering from Korda would have been more edifying than a 700-page tome.



4. Excellent Presidential Biography that was both appropriately critical and complementary. This book is a must for anyone interested in both the military history as well as the Presidential biography.



5. I've always thought Ike was one of our two greatest generals, the other being Geo. Washington who kept our country together. If one can imagine the egos that Ike had to work with, i.e Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, Patton, Montgomery, and even MacCarthur, it would seem that this would be an almost impossible task in itself. But then to be asked to construct and conduct what was perhaps the greatest military endeavor of all time, and to get all of these "egos" to work in harmony, would see to be beyond comprehension. This is probably not a biography in the true sense of the word as Korda treats some things a little superficially, but does cover the war years in great detail. I have no doubt that as history continues Eisenhower will be considered one of the greatest military genius of them all. He not only had to perform militarily, but politically also. He did that. I would certainly recommend this book to any student of history, particulary of World War II.

5 comments about Thomas Jefferson: Author of America (Eminent Lives).

1. In his excellent book concerning Mother Teresa titled "The Missionary Position," Hitchens expertly compiled a wealth of shocking facts pertaining to that demagogue's less than admirable history that made for an exciting and informative read. Writing of one of America's finest founding icons, Hitchens has considerably less of note to convey, and there are no astounding revelations to be found in this rather slim volume.
   
   As usual, Hitchens' prose is quite fine, if unexceptional. His appreciation of Jefferson's character and accomplishments is equally capable, and nothing of his depiction of the man's tumultuous personal life or distinguished political career is particularly inaccurate or insulting. To the contrary, he places Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings into a far more accurate and complimentary context than is widely known, and he sees fit to explain the great man's faults and mistakes from a perspective that renders them forgivable.
   
   This otherwise adequate text is marred by Hitchens' almost obsessive concern with the topic of slavery, and how it affected Jefferson's life. To be certain, Jefferson's ownership of slaves was an act of hypocrisy in consideration of the man's ideological convictions and the institution was and is surely as unjust as any can be. But Hitchens writes of the subject constantly, exhaustively, even nauseatingly in so many chapters, that in some of these, one can barely find a paragraph wherein this topic isn't mulled over. Grim, tiresome moralizing can be found throughout nearly the entire book, and it makes an otherwise decent read quite burdensome from time to time. It should also be noted that Hitchens regards the subject of Jefferson's offspring with Hemings as absolute fact rather than the extreme probability that it actually is. I wouldn't quite suggest that Hitchens has become a full-blown sophist since he converted to the neocon faction, but he is hardly as closely acquainted with the truth as he used to be. Both this and his recent "God Is Not Great" are fine examples of how the man is more concerned with pushing ideological agendas than with acknowledging nuanced truths and possibilities.



2. This little fluff contains not a single note or attribution. Many statements are presented as fact, with no attribution. As no effort is given to a balanced account, either, one must conclude that this is a personal rant. I had hoped to read more about the mind of Thomas Jefferson, not just that of the 'author'.



3. This book I was slightly disappointed in. I am no English Major or book maven, but the style of the writing is so bland and can be very hard to follow. Although there are some VERY interesting facts and stories, it was just a hard read.



4. ...and this one is not among the top ten. That should be a helpful enough review for most readers. May I recommend my own listmania--Jefferson's Shadows--as a better starting point for learning about the Sage?



5. Wow! This book was a complete letdown. First of all...this book is only 188 pages long. And they're small pages! To think that you could even come close to encompassing even the public life of Jefferson in less than 200 pages is laughable. Secondly, instead of focusing on particular points in Jefferson's life, Hitchens attempts to cover many different topics, in no specific order and thus barely scratches the surface on any of them. To say the least, this book left me wanting more...a LOT more. I don't know if Hitchens just decided to slap together a quick book on TJ or if he was given an impossible deadline to meet by the publisher. But this book doesn't even cover one subject about Jefferson partially, let alone many subjects completely. The positive side to this book is that it is short, so the painful incompleteness only lasts a couple of hours. For those wanting a good book that encompasses more than a mere cursory look at Thomas Jefferson I would certainly recommend looking elsewhere. For those looking to burn a couple of hours who don't really care what they read...I would still recommend a different book...a good fiction or something of the like. This one gets a definite PASS!!

5 comments about The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill.

1. A good review and background of famous quotes of Churchill. It also showed him to be a good husband and sober man, despite the rumor otherwise.



2. I am a long-time admirer of Sir Winston Churchill. As a leader he had few (if any) equals, but I have always been impressed with his sharp wit and stinging retorts. One can learn much about the man from what is found in this little book, not only from the quotes attributed to him, but also from those zingers hurled his way by friend and foe alike.
   This book is an easy read. It can be picked up for a few moments' pleasure without distracting from the greatness that is Sir Winston Churchill.



3. You do have to think about many of his quips, most are very funny in a dry, perhaps a bit cynical manner. It is sometimes difficult to place his statements in the context of WW-II (I was born in 1944 and I do have a memory of that era because it was the biggest event in my parents lives - they talked about it all the time).
   
   After a session with Mr. Churchill, I often wish American politicians had a bit of his prespective (though I reall doubt they would ever get elected).



4. 
   The wise and witty words of Winston Churchill ring throughout the 20th Century.Any that knew him personally or had anything to do with him must have waited with anticipation of hearing what he would say anytime he opened his mouth.This held true for Kings,Presidents,Generals and yes even for his family,including his grandaughter.At times, his use of silence could be as cutting
   a reply as anything he could say.No doubt, he took as much enjoyment in his words as anyone he was aiming them at.It wasn't all one way either,he seemed to love a well delivered line,even if he was the object.
   He neither claimed to be nor in fact was an'educated man',he
   was similar to Mark Twain,in that he could cut to pieces,people of much greater formal education,if they tried to engage him in 'a battle of words'.
   In his book "My Early Life" he said."It's a good thing for an
   uneducated man to read books of quotations" and described how he read "Bartlett's Quotations".It is obvious that he often used and modified others quotations.
   His friend Lord Brinkenhead quipped,"Winston has devoted the best years of his life to preparing his impromptu speeches."
   "One of Churchill's most famous speeches is that of June
   1940:'We shall fight on the beaches,we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,we shall fight in the hills...' It is said that,as he paused in the great uproar that greeted these words,Churchill muttered to a colleague next to him,'And We'll fight them with the butt ends of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!"
   A great little book reminding us of the words of one of the great voices of the 20th Century.



5. I received this book as a birthday gift from my lovely wife. I loved this book so much I bought is twice more as a gift for a departing superior and for a friend of 10 years. Anyone who has a love of history (particularly this era) will love this book, anyone in possession of a sense of humor will appreciate this book as well.
   
   Recommended for a quick, witty read and as a gift for anyone you know with an 'off' sense of humor. We all know someone like that, are related or married to them, or publicly disavow any association with them. Regardless, buy them or yourself (ii case its you who is openly disowned) this book.