5 comments about Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment With History.

1. I consider this book a very well written because in simple words the author goes straight to the point:giving the audience a deep sense of what honesty and integrity are for this great man who did not want to be Vice President, much less President of the United States of America. I do not know much about politics, but since I read this book I have more respect for most of the elected officials. But, for late President Gerald
   Ford this book has given me a great respect and admiration. We should have many more elected officials like him.



2. Cannon provides a fascinating account of how Gerald Ford went from planning in 1972 to retire from politics at the end of Nixon's term to becoming president of the United States. He covers Ford's childhood and life in the Navy and as a US representative in about 100 pages and spends most of the rest of the book discussing in amazing detail how he became vice-president and then president. The final chapter is a brief summary of Ford's presidential administration but nothing of life after politics.
   
   The book is well-written and well-researched and remarkably free of bias, given that Cannon was a senior advisor in the Ford administration. Ford's decent and humble character is one of the themes of the book, as well as the idea that these traits are what led him to become president. His naivete is also evident.
   
   As other reviewers have mentioned, the glaring weakness of the book is its brief coverage of Ford's administration, except for the issue of pardoning Nixon, which is covered in great detail.
   
   I recommend the book as a tool for understanding Ford the man, for its careful analyis of the Watergate mess, and for describing how such a decent man could prosper in the cutthroat world of American politics. However, if you want to understand the policies of the Ford administration, you should look elsewhere.



3. We as a country were extremely lucky and benefited greatly from the presidency of Gerald Ford. When he took over the presidency, this country was torn apart. Rather than appealing to the worst in American politics by pitting Americans against each other,(as has been done recently)he methodically and expertly began to bring us together.
   
   The Republican Party that I belonged to during those times and under President Ford's leadership was largely free of radical fundamentalism and extreme right-wing positions. There were no Rush Limbaughs or Michael Savages. There were no nationally known ministers claiming natural disasters were the wrath of God visited on an apostate nation. The Ford presidency and the Republican Party of that time actually had concern for social issues and was quite progressive.
   
   President Ford led by steady, common sense and a humble heart. I remember being so saddened by his loss to Jimmy Carter, knowing that we, as a nation, would lose such an able leader. After Carter's election, the Republican party decided to appeal to the fears, rather than the hopes and aspirations of America. Since that time there has never been an election where the American people were not thoroughly divided. Our political dialogue is absurdly partisan, and 'attack and spin' meisters are the order of the day on any news station. More than anything, I fondly wish we could return to civility and decency both in religion and politics.
   
   Get this book and read about a very able, and thoroughly decent man who was there to serve his country when he was most needed. The details are fascinating.



4. Over the last several years, I've read more than 35 presidential biographies. I've used Amazon reviewers as very reliable guides to help me pick the best available biography. Time and Chance is highly recommended with one gigantic reservation. Reeves' book is tightly written in an almost breezy style. More than half of the book is a retelling of Watergate, and it is the most balanced and readable version of Watergate I've read.
   
   Ford's difficult early childhood is covered as is his development into the all-American boy. His romance with a top model and his marriage to Betty are sympathetically explained. His service in World War II is well told, and we are given almost enough information about his years in the House of Representatives; however, I would have preferred more about Ford's responses to the many social issues that dominated the sixties.
   
   Ford comes off as the ultimate straight-arrow, average kind of guy. Completely decent, unimaginative, pretty boring, and not altogether courageous in terms of dealing with people.
   
   OK the failing. Except for Ford's decision to pardon Nixon which is described thoroughly, the rest of his presidency is given something like 25 pages. This is simply not enough. While Watergate and Ford's role in Nixon's resignation will be more remembered than Ford's actual presidency, I would have liked at least a more detailed synopsis of his challenges while he was president (in this respect Nagel`s excellent biography of John Quincy Adams has precisely the same problem). Up until now I've avoided the presidential books that only covered the presidential years, but for Gerald Ford probably a combination of Time and Chance and an overview of his presidency would be the best way to go.



5. Very well written. Great background of the key players involved in Watergate. Wished that it had discussed more about Ford's term as president and less about Nixon and the so called "coverup". It shows Ford as a very honest, hard working public servant.

5 comments about Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography.

1. Kudos to the publisher Knopf and all involved on the quality of this book. The reproduction of the 19th century photographs is first rate. The sepia toned image of the great man inside the front cover is exceptionally gorgeous - just breathtaking.

   John Updike said Knopf publishes the most physically beautiful books in America, and this book leads me to believe he's right.

   This is not a comprehesive, scholarly biography of Lincoln, nor does it pretend to be. But the text reads well, and the Lincoln photographs are beautiful, all-inclusive and presented in sound written context. The large size of the book works particularly nicely here. Well done!




2. Philip B. Kunhardt is to be highly commended for this outstanding photographic history of Abraham Lincoln. Not only are the photographs captivating, but the narrative of Lincolns life and the important events during his lifetime are interesting and enhance this book. Many interesting stories go along with the photographs of Lincoln from his 40's to his last days, however the most interesting part in my opinion is the month by month account of his presidency and the important events that occured. So much about the man has been written, but until this book was published not as many photos of President Lincoln were circulated or published. Just as important, are the events and stories which swirled around Lincoln. From his habits and humor to his history changing decisions are written in clarity and interesting form. His life and his loves are given with compassion, and his impossible losses of his sons and his mentally unballanced wife Mary Todd Lincoln is given unflinchingly. The last chapter of the book is about the assassination and the controversy surrounding Lincoln's remains, a very interesting and informative chapter to close with. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in U.S. History or 19th Century U.S. History.



3. The quality of this book is what first grabs you. The paper is thick, glossy and has weight, it reproduces 19th century photographs beautifully. The text is ancillary and never intrudes upon the primary focus here, which are the photographs of Lincoln, his family and the people who shaped his extraordinary life. The text illuminates and expands upon the photographs, giving dates and other pertinent information.

   If you're looking for a full-scale biography of Lincoln, look elsewhere, this is primarily a visual treat and one of the better photographic compilations on any President.




4. ...that deal with President Lincoln; includes some excellent photography and many good quotations. What an incredible fellow he was.



5. This is a fantastic and beautiful book--oversized, loaded with more photos than you've ever seen in a Lincoln book, and worthy of coffee-table display. But it's not just a picture book. Each page is jam-packed with text, including an account of a dream Lincoln had about his own assassination. You'll definitely want the hardback version. Even if you've got a hefty collection of Lincoln lore, you must add this book to your shelves!

No comments about F.D.R.: The First Hundred Days.

No comments about Historic Photos Of Harry S. Truman (Historic Photos.).

5 comments about Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics.

1. In "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics," Frederic Spotts takes the pop-culture theme of "Hitler-as-frustrated-artist" and turns it into a learned and compelling narrative that goes a long way towards illuminating the intellectual background of many recurring themes in Hitler's thinking and in the growth of Nazism as a movement in general. Given that most works on Hitler understandably focus on political and military history, the importance of Hitler's background as an artist is often forgotten. For instance, as Spotts points out, Hitler dedicated an entire chapter of "Mein Kampf" to excoriating modernist trends in the visual arts and music, tying them in with what he perceived as an international conspiracy of cosmopolitan Jewish leftists. Spotts expertly traces out the ramifications of these preoccupations for Hitler's years in power, not just narrating such well-known incidents as the exhibitions of "degenerate art" staged by Joseph Goebels, in which modernist pictures were held up to public ridicule, but also detailing the politico-aesthetic ideals that Hitler proposed in opposition to modernism - in particular, an ultra-nationalist, "Aryan" art, whose main themes were the glorification of Germany, Germanic culture, and the so-called Thousand Year Reich. Showing the importance of these ideas to phenomena as diverse as Albert Speer's architecture, Leni Riefenstahl's films, and the carefully choreographed Nuremburg rallies, as well as the work of specific Nazi artists, photographers, and sculptors, Spotts makes a forceful and intelligent case for seeing the rise of Nazi ideology through the lens of aesthetics. This is a useful, well-written, and compelling book that could be read with interest by scholars and laypeople alike.



2. This is perhaps the best and most relevant book about aesthetics, and their potential to influence people and history.



3. One of the hardest things as historians is to try and get into someone's head. The Book Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics do this but in away that other people have not tried. The book looks at Hitler from artist view point and sees Hitler from a different view which people has not looked at before. The person who decides to read this book will also learn how Aesthesis and be a powerful tool used by man. The book is now being sold at a very good price and I give it my personal seal of approval!



4. There is an incomplete list of sources for photographs and sketches based on page numbers in the Acknowledgements section of this book. The photographs and sketches are not individually numbered. I also think the references are unsatisfactory. For example, the author makes a number of assertions about a boyhood friend of Hitler in the Introduction but there is no background material to support these 'facts'. The book is interesting for its shift in focus (aesthetics) but there is an impression of sloppiness that affects credibility in my opinion.



5. If there is any justice in the world, Spotts' book will go a long way toward eradicating from popular consciousness the facile descriptions of Hitler as not much more than a cross between a risible, Chaplin-esque, comic book character and an insane, incarnate demon.
   
   Part of the first notion of Hitler includes the idea that he ought to be dismissed as a failed, lousy artist. As Spott points out, the truth is that Nazism, like all self-styled utopianisms, was something like a gigantic project in aesthetics using people rather than pigments or plastics, and control and murder rather than downstrokes and glazing - and Hitler was the artist behind that (very popular for some years in Germany) project; he therefore must be taken seriously as an artist in this sense (obviously a grotesque, genocidal one).
   
   As Spotts notes, even his hatred of Jews emerges from this context: the Jews are "ruining all art" by embracing atonalism, cubism, jazz, dadaism, etc., as well as ruining all life by embracing "Bolshevism". But in his mind, there doesn't seem to be much difference there: Picasso, Marx, Alban Berg - all the same. Since, in Hitler's view, art can't be separated from culture, and culture can't be separated from the state, and the state can't be separated from life itself, the eradication of the Jews becomes, in Hitler's mind, nothing less than a matter of national survival, or, strangely, to say the same thing, the artistically appropriate choice.
   
   Spotts does a good job of underscoring another aspect of all this by calling attention to the seeming homoeroticism in Hitler's taste, particularly as it expresses itself toward the human being: at bottom (pun intended), Hitler preferred, aesthetically, buff blond males with blue eyes, i.e., "Nordic" types. The Jews, in addition to being greedy, "Bolsheviks", destroyers of art/culture/life, etc., just...looked "wrong". And so in this sense, in Hitler's mind, ridding the proper-looking race of these improper-looking portions of it was as obviously a necessary decision as would be getting rid of a "wrong" piece of furniture cluttering up an otherwise beautiful living room. (Spotts even includes a contemporary German cartoon caricaturing the physical features of a "typical" Jew).
   
   But what I started out to say was this. Spotts surveys how Hitler very consciously used colour, shape, rhetoric, size, proportion, angle, material, sound, light, symbol, rhythm, story, pageantry, texture, surprise, music, fire, sculpture, formation, etc., to, quite literally, achieve a truly terrifying degree of control over the minds of his subjects, even as a conversion tool over those who had resisted him. (Spotts describes how awed even American visitors were by the Nuremberg rallies.)
   
   And page by page, one begins increasingly to get a sense of what it would have been like, to be a human being, subject to all the mental and emotional strengths and weaknesses we are, living in a country (our world, for all purposes) which only a year or two before had been totally chaotic and depressed...and then to be stirred, roused, when that world around us begins to change, prompted to feel different, pleasurable things, think different, exciting thoughts, and in the end, perform different - and ultimately - indescribably horrific actions. In every way, we are preyed upon by the mesmeric, sick genius of a man who was rejected by the art school in Vienna, and who sought his revenge for this affront by dominating human psychology through all those elements I mentioned above more totally than perhaps any other "artist" of the 20th century.
   
   I saw a BBC documentary a couple of weeks ago, in which several elderly Germans candidly recalled with fondness Hitler's early years. What they said they missed most were the euphoric feelings they had, going to the pageants and rallies, seeing the flags, hearing the speeches and the music, those feelings of belonging, meaning, "specialness". And for the first time, reading Spotts' book, in a really disturbing way, I could imagine what that might have been like, imagine that I might have been just as susceptible to the manipulator as millions of Germans had been. For the first time, how the whole thing could have happened seemed imaginable. Scary.
   
   Bravo to Spotts for his brilliant and disturbing book. I would love to see him now do a documentary on this, using real footage.
   
   Highly recommended.

1 comments about Putin: Russia's Choice.

1. It 's really a relief to read an objective analysis of what Mr. Putin's been up to. Thoughtful, thorough with no axe to grind, the author sheds a new and welcome light on current Russian politics. I have traveled the CIS many times and read many books about Russia's post-communist transition; usually finishing a book still a bit puzzled and remembering Churchill's remark that Russia was a 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.' But no more! - Now, Mr. Sakwa has turned the lights on for anyone who cares to bypass the tabloid press to find out what the true status is of Russia and the direction the Federation is heading. What truly astounded me was how competent and multi-tasked Mr. Putin has had to be to wrestle Russia's post communist political behemoth into a new, stable beginning for true domestic and international progress. A relief to read, actually.

2 comments about James K. Polk: A Clear and Unquestionable Destiny (Biographies in American Foreign Policy).

1. I am currently reading a bio of every President in order. I generally look for a fairly comprehensive one volume account but unfortunately for Polk there are none available (although the forthcoming 400+ page plus bio by Borneman will hopefully change this). I decided I would save my money to wait for Borneman's book and checked out Leonard's short bio (196 pages of text) from the Library.
   
   Thankfully, this is a great short bio of James K. Polk. His early life is covered in a suprising amount of detail for the short amount of text devoted to it, and his Presidency is covered quite thoroughly. This is accomplished by Leonard's great writing and superb organization and editing. This book was so satisfactory I am not sure I will even decide to read Borneman's forthcoming biography. Also, do not be swayed by Betty Burke's review, she is clearly reviewing the wrong book.



2. Fabrication By Alien., February 28, 2007
   Reviewer: Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
   
   This book was not written by a fan or supporter of this Tennessee president, but released by a Yankee group who hides behind "Oxford" so we might think Mississippi or England. Not so, William Dusinberre must be fuddies with the university professors who tore apart Nathan Bedford Forrest in the same way. Overlooked completely he status and the part these Tennesseans played in the history of this nation. It's best to consider character assassination with the conflicting thins these writers emphasize while leaving out the real story, the facts of the matter. James K. Polk had been Governor of Tehhessee and Speaker of the House of Representatives before becoming U. S. president. It was not a secret that he owned slaves to work on his cotton plantation in Mississippi. We didn't have such in Tennessee, but I have an old post card of the 11th President's bust which stands in the State Capitol in Nashville. We visited Polk's ancestral home in downtown Columbia, Tennessee. It was not out in the country, though a famous one is in that county owned by a female physician. She did not have slaves. Forrest's family were fine, upstanding natives of Chapel Hill, not so far east from Columbia. It infuriates me when I innocently find weird subverted stuff like thos on the public library shelves. I wish the reference librarians who ordered these fiction pretending to be non-fiction before putting them out for just anybody to read. Polk was duly elected and in the White House from 1845 to 1849, before the Civil War. He was not responsible for that war.
   
   This person from Cape Town used the false writings of professor Wayne Cutler when he came to this Republican town, and thought that what he was reading was truth. Polk was a Southern Democrat. What would he write about Huey B. Long, George Wallace, and other governors who stood tall for what the South stands for. The politics of slavery did not have any substance whatsoever in the war which divided this country. It was states' rights -- the Southern states, which Northerners would not understand. I learned more than I had planned that there is a conspiracy going on to deride Southern leaders and presidents. They were statesmen and war heroes and lived to be a part of the history of America. Modern history-writing is all wrong, when the author makes up "facts" as he is inclined, and not factually.

5 comments about George W. Bush: Portrait of a Leader.

1. It amazes me that even one person can like this president. He has done nothing but bury this country into the ground in which it will take years to recover from. This is what a customer wrote in the positive reviews on this book. I am trying really hard not to laugh and cry at the same time.
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------
   "I applaud the great leadership abilities of our President and I am sure many Americans will join me. Among the achievements that are behind him (and I am sure that there is time left during the presidency for many more):
   - Has made healthcare affordable for all Americans
   - Has created millions of jobs with joblessnes at record lows
   - Has won the war on terrorism
   - Has brokered lasting peace in the Middle East and Far East
   - Has made all countries in Middle East embrace democracy, with
   some of them already prosperous democracies in a short span
   - Has secured the trust of both the aisles of the Congress to
   legislate policies beneficial to all Americans into law
   - Has made cheap sources of energy available to Americans
   that we can all use into the foreseeable future
   - Has made American economy strong at least for the rest of this
   century
   - Has made budget and trade deficits a thing of the past
   - Has made America the leader of the free world after a period
   when we were thought as a pushover by terrorists
   - Has restored America to play its destined role as the leader of
   the free world
   I am sure there are many more that can be added to this list. Let us all wish our President continued success."
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------
   WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!? Are you kidding me? Every single one of these so called achievements are so obviously false. It makes me wonder if these supporters of his actually have any common sense at all. What is it that they see in this guy? Makes me sick to think that half of America voted for this guy(twice). Thankfully, we only have a few more months of this garbage to take.



2. I don't believe George Bush is a good leader. I think he'd be hard pressed to achieve mediocre. But having said that, reading this book touched me...Bush supporters, for whatever reason, try very hard to create a decent person out of the pieces of George Bush. The authors' use of soundbites, and quotes taken from speeches created by slick PR men. They spiced it with a bunch of staged photo ops and dished out a Potemkin Bush to pin their respect and hopes upon. This is truly touching in its naivete. Who can't sympathize with the authors and their desire to make the President a better man than he is. They want so much for him to be the kind of leader they hoped he would become, that they imagine hints of this in the most trivial and staged of incidents. And I wholeheartedly agree, in a way. I would much rather have a President of whom I could speak proudly, a man I respected for his intelligence and ability to see through the political pettiness and indeed take the course best for America. That's the president I want, that's the president they want. Neither of us have him...but the authors are trying to build one out of sticks and straws. For a long time, I prayed that George Bush would grow with the office. It never happened...but that's not something for those on the left to smirk and joke about. It's a shame for all Americans. And from this book, we can see how deeply those on the right have been wounded by the President's lack of integrity, leadership and ability, to the point where they will hallucinate a leader where none exists. It's sad, on all sides.



3. People who hate Bush will hate the book. People who like Bush will like the book. 'Nuff said.



4. This book was a wonderful read. I am just glad the left-wing cowardly traitors that are reviewing this book, that they certainly did not read or for most of them - did not have someone read it to them, are not leading this country. These liberal cowards would have invited our enemies to attack our country; as long as they did not kill any innocent unborn babies - that right belongs to the pro-choicers. Anyway, real Americans with faith will enjoy this book. Thank God for a President with convictions, morals and values. Oh yeah, I keep hearing about how stupid, unintelligent, or ignorant our President is. I wonder how many of these traitors are Yale and Harvard graduates. Thank you President Bush for not allowing these cowardly Americans to destroy our country.



5. Portrait of a leader? The name of the author of this nonsense should be enough to set off a very loud alarm. Karen Hughes is not by any stretch of the imagination an objective journalist. She was, in fact, instrumental in getting this moron elected in 2000. If I could have rated this book "negative five stars" I would have done so. Knowing what we now know, "Portrait of a Leader" will be remembered as a curiosity and nothing more. It does have value, though. Anything that tries to portray our half-witted president (the "First Fool" as I call him) as a capable, intelligent commander-in-chief, is going to be chock full of unintentional humor - and this book is no exception. Truth be told, it's an absolute scream. For a more realistic look into the career of this disgusting president, please read, SHRUB: The Short, Happy Political life of George W. Bush by Molly Ivins and Lou DuBois. It's alot funnier - but for all the right reasons.
   
   Tom Degan
   Goshen, NY

4 comments about The Eloquent Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Portrait in Her Own Words (With a One-Hour DVD Insert from A&E Biography).

1. It says very clearly in the ad that this book includes a one-hour DVD with it, but my order arrived without the DVD. After sending 3 emails
   to the vendor's customer servce, none of them are replied. But the vendor
   is still selling the same items at Amazon. I think that with their poor service quality, this vendor should be removed from the Amazon immediately.



2. I have great admiration for Jacqueline Kennedy... Anything about her that is not scandalous is good for me



3. This book paints a picture of a person, using very brief quotes and anecdotes categorized by topic. One can pick this book up and read something which reveals the inner character of Jackie O.



4. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was without a doubt one of America?s most admired first ladies and that is the major theme of this book. Although the book - a collection of quotes taken from a variety of sources, mostly interviews given by Mrs. Kennedy - spans her lifetime, a good portion is devoted to Jackie?s roles as the young wife of Senator John F. Kennedy and as the Nation?s First Lady.
   In order to fully appreciate some of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis?s comments about her roles as a woman/wife/mother and widow, it is important to bring up the historical context. The Kennedy Administration, ?Camelot,? took place amid turbulent times: widespread civil and racial unrest, the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and escalating involvement in the Vietnamese conflict. The women?s movement was then in its infancy and it is against this backdrop that the Kennedy?s acquired mythical, almost magical qualities.
   ?Jack and Jackie were America?s royal couple,? writes Bill Adler in his introduction to The Eloquent Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; A Portrait in Her Own Words. The quotes provide a window into her childhood, life with JFK and her role as First Lady, then widowhood, followed by her marriage to Aristotle Onassis, her work as book editor for both Viking Publishers and Doubleday, and final years. One section deals with the assassination, ?Jack was the love of my life. No one will ever know a big part of me died with him.?
   A common thread that runs throughout is her great love of, and reliance on, the family. Jackie?s life revolved around those she loved the most, her husband and her children, Caroline and John Jr. ?Raising children is the best thing I?ve ever done,? she declared.
   For those of us who lived through the sixties and are old enough to remember where we were when we heard that the President of the United States had been mortally wounded by an assassin?s bullet, this tiny giant of a book will help to fan the flames of remembrance by highlighting the ?beauty, grace and intelligence Jacqueline Kennedy brought to the White House,? the country, and the world.

3 comments about The General and Mrs. Washington.

1. As an American history buff, I wanted to learn more about the relationship between our first president and his wife. While Washington's faults are lightly covered (his conflicting views on slavery, his temper and exacting demands), the book is generally an ode to the Washingtons. Martha is mostly portrayed as a patient, gentle, selfless soul who supports Washington unfailingly who patiently endures tragedy upon tragedy. Washington is portrayed as an ever-vigilant hero selflessly sacrificing all for his men. As I read it, I felt the author wrote with a favorable bias of the Washingtons and a more balanced view might have been more accurate.
   
   The biggest drawback for me, however, was the poor editing. As an example of one of the many errors, one sentence reads, "Prior to the war, the couple received just over four hundred guests a year, but after his resignation from the army, that number increased to over four hundred a year." It mars an otherwise interesting book on our first president and his wife.



2. I think this is a very well developed history of a relationship and a nation. It is a great companion to George Washington: An Unexpected Life. I bought both together.



3. 
   Chadwick increases our admiration for George Washington, and gives us a glimpse into how exceptional Martha and his marriage to her were.
   
   Chadwick tells of their lives up to their meeting and what the marriage may have meant for each. For Martha it was a chance to enjoy family life with a man of her own generation. For George it seemed to be companionship, maybe a rebound and access to the upper reaches Virginia society.
   
   While I knew GW freed his slaves, I was unaware of his lifelong objection to slavery, and his attempts (however feeble) to do something about it. He did not really get a windfall fortune through his marriage as I thought, he got a challenge. It is not clear what he did to free Martha from her wastrel father-in-law's legal and debt burdens, but he did. I didn't know that Martha stayed with him in Valley Forge and Morristown when she could have luxuriated at Mount Vernon
   
   When the time came, GW's military, administrative and physical skills were exactly what the colonies needed. Once a new country was formed this first couple, started things right with honesty and dedication. The revolution could have turned sour, many of them do, and GW, with Martha at his side were a main component of starting out on the right foot.
   
   Chadwick assembles all this and more, with enlightening descriptions of life in colonial Virginia.