5 comments about William Clark and the Shaping of the West.

1. This is an interesting work on William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame. Touched on only briefly in most histories, Clark was quite an enigmatic person who figured prominently in early American and early Missouri frontier history. The subtitle, Shaping of the West, is quite appropriate as Clark, as Indian Agent for Missouri, negotiated numerous treaties with the Osage, Missouri, Fox, Sac, Winnebago and other contemporary Indian tribes.
   
   Landon Jones does not spend too much time on the epic, 1803-1806 transcontinental exploration, choosing instead to focus on the other aspects of Clark's life. Brother of General George Rogers Clark, William is intimately connected in the Trans Appalachian West's Indian wars with the Shawnee and various other Lake Country, Northwest Indian tribes which culminated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This start sets the tone for the rest of his life which was spent fighting, evaluating, negotiating and moving Indians as America's frontiers rapidly moved across the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
   
   For 50 years Clark and his family are directly involved in the early stages of America's Manifest Destiny, in the sweep of American history from colonial Virginia to the conquest of the West. No one played a larger part in that accomplishment than William Clark.



2. 
   What impresses immediately about this biography is the fact that it's a FULL biography and is not just concerned with the famed Lewis & Clark Expedition (only one of the ten chapters deals with it). Clark was born in 1770 (one of his older brothers was George Rogers Clark, the "hero of Vincennes" during the Revolutionary War), and took part in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 (it was on this campaign that he first met Meriwether Lewis). Resigning his commission from militia duty two years later, he retired to the family farm in Kentucky (near present-day Louisville). It was here that Lewis contacted Clark in 1803 proposing co-leadership roles in the expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Clark was the chief mapmaker on the journey, and also was preferred over Lewis as the one to negotiate with the Indians.
   
   After the successful completion of this extraordinary exploring venture, Clark was named the principal Indian agent at St. Louis. He established Ft. Osage on the Missouri River and began dealing with Native American concerns, building a reputation as a fair, friendly, and compassionate (for his day) agent. He was present at Prairie du Chien during the late 1820s to help conclude major treaties with various tribes. He died in St. Louis in 1838.
   
   Clark has been praised often as a brave and able explorer, and a successful Indian agent. He was human, though, and there were dark sides to Clark as well, which Jones is willing to point out. Once when he had "trouble" with one of his slaves, he paid a man 50 cents to whip him. Tens of thousands of Native Americans were forcibly removed from their lands while he was Indian agent, most notably the Cherokees, who were made to walk to Oklahoma from their lands in the southeastern US along what became know as the "Trail of Tears" because of the death and misery endured along it. Heroes, like everyone else, are not cut from a single cloth, and whether the reader thinks of Clark as a hero at all, Jones provides a balanced and fair account of Clark's life on which to decide.



3. I highly recommend this book. William Clark is presented as a highly capable and effective leader. He comes across as a strong and determined soldier, an amazing traveler and explorer, and a friendly man. But his prejudices (like nearly everyone of his generation) against African and Native Americans are described in striking detail.
   
   Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery is only briefly described, and other books have told the full account of this story. Instead Jones concentrates the first half of the book on Clark's developmental years including his military service in various Indian conflicts prior to the expedition and his other preparation just growing up in the wilderness (I grew up in Kentucky, and Jones does a great job talking about Harrodsburg, Locust Grove, and Louisville). A sidelight story of his brother George Rogers Clark's campaigns against the Indians and his later struggles with managing the Northwest and with alcohol and poverty is fascinating. The last half of the book is informative and profoundly disturbing. Holding various administrative positions in Missouri, Clark was often the most powerful man in the West. He was responsible for the US's management of Indian affairs, and Clark signed more than 35 treaties with these tribes. There is a sameness to the ethnic cleansing that Clark helped perpetrate.
   
   Jones kept me engaged throughout the book. Clark doesn't come off as a deep thinker or a complex man. Instead he is a creature of his times, and white Americans were extremely effective in our cruelty as we took control of the West . At times Clark rises above the rest - his treatment of Sacagawea and her son - but at times he is a cold hearted bastard - his relationship with his famous slave York.
   
   Clark lived a long and full life. One particularly enjoyable (and very well done feature of this book) is Jones' willingness to digress as he discusses the many people whose life Clark touches . The list is long and I appreciated these brief descriptions of de Tocqueville, Anthony Wayne, Thomas Hart Benton, Lafayette, William Henry Harrison, Black Hawn, Tecumseh, and many others.



4. Book came in timly manner as described. Would buy again.



5. Reads like a Time or People magazine story -- both politically correct and boring.

2 comments about Cole Younger: Last of the Great Outlaws.

1. Homer Croy was the first student of the first school of journalism in the world (University of Missouri). He was born close to Jesse James' farm. Cole Younger came from the most fought-over county in Missouri; fighting began before the Civil War and continues after its end. Cole first killed at 17, was wanted dead or alive at 18, rode with Quantrill at 19. He killed 17 men, was wounded 30 times, but died peacefully in bed with 14 bullets in him. In between he spent over 25 years in prison. If you wonder about strife in countries in countries (like Yugoslavia) just read about the Border War in America circa 1860. I enjoyed the style of writing. This is history written by a journalist. You'll not be bored, since it reads like the newspaper story it was. Most of the great Civil War outlaws were born within 30 miles of Kansas City. Henry Washington Younger was one of the richest and important men of Jackson County, and was elected 3 times to the Missouri legislature, and a mayor in 1859. Thomas Coleman Younger was the 7th son of 14 children. One of Cole's teachers was Stephen B Elkins, later US Senator from West Virginia; Cole saved his life.

   The Border War was conducted by gangs who were mostly interested in plunder first, flag second. Most families were peaceful, but could not avoid the troubled times. An incident at a dance forced Cole to become a hunted man. The holdup and murder of his father by Kansan Red Legs embittered Cole. Cole joined the Confederate Army, and was famed for his ruthlessness in battle, yet was kindly and considerate afterwards. Cole took part in the raid on Lawrence Kansas.

   After the war ended Cole and Frank James invented bank robbery in Liberty Missouri 1866. Since Cole was well known, he quickly left for Texas. They gambled away their loot in Dallas. But they had been recognized, and the Pinkertons put their names on a wanted poster: Cole and Jim Younger, Frank and Jesse James, Jim Cummings, Charlie Pitts. Chapter VIII explains how the James-Younger gang covered their tracks; but they were still pursued. Since their gang was well-known, they decided to strike out for Minnesota. Their attempt in Northfield left four of their group dead, others wounded, without a cent. (The unclaimed bodies were donated to medical science.) The quick-witted Cole created a political reason to rob this bank: General Benjamin F Butler was an owner! Cole would say what it took to escape hanging. By pleading guilty they escaped execution. Cole became a model prisoner to get a pardon.

   After his pardon, Cole was introduced to modern wonders: the telephone, the horseless carriage, the phonograph. For the first time in 25 years Cole saw a sunset. When Cole got an unconditional pardon, he returned to Missouri. After failing as a salesman, Cole joined the "Cole Younger-Frank James Wild West Show" until he retired. There is one interesting item: the Youngers were all Southerners, but their father was a Union sympathizer and did not believe in slavery! Was Cole a victim of circumstances (Chapter XVIII)? "In wartime men are rewarded for doing what will get them hanged in peacetime" said Niccolo Machiavelli.




2. Homer Croy is a first-rate storyteller in a very casual, homey sort of way. He writes this book about Cole Younger's life in such a way that you feel as though you're sitting around the fire with Homer while he tells the tale. It's very entertaining reading with many good touches of humor and wry comments throughout.

   As history...First of all, he doesn't footnote in the traditional way but does include notes about each chapter explaining his sources. It's an informal, rather than scholarly, style. His research was extensive and tended toward finding people who could give him first-hand accounts, or as near to first-hand as possible family stories, along with contemporary newspaper accounts. In this way he hunts down the sources of many of the myths, legends, and rumors surrounding Cole Younger's life and career. Is he right about every particular and conclusion? I don't know. I'd say to read this book hand-in-hand with one of the more recent high-quality works like Marley Brant's "Outlaw Youngers" to compare versions of events.

   Croy is very up-front with his opinions, something I appreciated. The author of such a book is the one who did the research, has a feel for the subject even in areas where hard data may be lacking, and I want to hear their opinion on disputed matters. Some history authors won't go out on that limb but Homer Croy has no such problem. He usually is clear on what is his opinion and what he has some evidence on, but he also recreates some scenes and conversations for which there could not possibly be any witnesses. So bear in mind there is an element of fictional novelization to the story.

   Don't miss the index--most entertaining index I've ever read.

5 comments about Flawed Giant: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960-1973.

1. Fine, scholarly biography of the Ph.D.-thesis type. Dallek relies mainly on documentary sources (which he reviewed copiously). The result is somewhat detached.
   
   You get little feel for the lengendary "Johnson treatment" that LBJ used to such great effect. There is, though, much quasi-psychological stuff. Johnson was poorly educated but intellectually brilliant. He was absolutely driven. He was Lincoln-like in his humor, his yarns, his frontier similes. But these gifts were often misdirected. He just had to be first, the best, at everything. He was frighteningly insecure, almost to the point of true paranoia. There are many stories of his abuse of subordinates.
   
   Dallek is a New Deal/Great Society liberal, and this viewpoint pervades. He is mostly enthusiastic about the Great Society and civil rights achievements, but scathing about Johnson's handling of Vietnam. The most revealing part is the recital of how Johnson felt forced to back into the war, and to try to do it almost surreptitiously. Reassuringly, Dallek presents Johnson as simply misguided and ill-advised. There is none of that Oliver Stone crap about being a tool of the military-industrial complex.
   
   Robert Caro's latest volume in his multi-volume opus, "The Master of The Senate", takes Johnson only up to 1960. Dallek's two volumes cover Johnson's whole life. Caro puts in ten years of research for every one that Dallek has put in, and Caro's doggedness is beyond herioc. Dallek is a solid, straightforward writer (unusual for an academic), but he has little of Caro's inspired literary style. Flesh, blood, and sinew pervade Caro's books. Dallek's sounds like a political science seminar.
   
   Read it by all means, if you are interested in Johnson. But wait for Caro's next volume is you want the definitive treatment.



2. I sped through last year reading all three mammoth books in Robert A. Caro's Pulitzer Prize-winning LBJ biography series, and found them an incredibly readable, detailed portrayal of a man who was half megalomaniac, half incredibly gifted politician, a complex American Shakespearean character whose presidency crumbled into self-induced tragedy. Caro hasn't written the final book in his series yet concentrating on LBJ's presidency, so I decided to check out a competing LBJ biography by Dallek focusing on those years. And it's solid history, with great insight into LBJ's character and the disastrous decisions he made in Vietnam that undermined all the powerful social changes he achieved in civil rights and Medicare. Yet "Flawed Giant" is also kind of a slog, which Caro's books weren't. I can't quite put my finger on it, but Dallek lacks the fluid prose, deft research into place and era, and storytelling talent that Caro brought to LBJ - I was able to read hundreds of pages about dry as toast subjects like congressional redistricting and vote tallies and found them compelling reading under Caro. Yet here, I ended up getting bored silly by Dallek's bland recitation of the ups and downs of Vietnam, which you think would be interesting stuff. Dallek is a bit more even-handed in his appreciation of LBJ than Caro, but it just all felt a little too much like work. Guess it goes to show that it's as much in the storyteller as it is in the story. I'll be eagerly awaiting Caro's take on this same era, whenever it comes out.



3. Robert Dallek completes his two volume biography of Lyndon B. Johnson with "Flawed Giant". Its a well written book that tells the story of a brilliant politician who is overwhelmed and outmatched by events he failed to anticipate.
   
   The book begins with Johnson in the unhappy position of serving as Vice President under John F. Kennedy. A most difficult place for a man of Johnson's ego and stature to find himself. Nevertheless, Johnson struggles and does the best he can with this job obtaining recognition in his efforts to further U.S. diplomacy abroad and advance the space program.
   
   On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy is assassinated and Johnson becomes President. No one could ever accuse Johnson of not seizing the moment and this he does masterfully. Within a year, he obtains passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a number of domestic initiatives aimed at reducing poverty and improving quality of life for Americans that become known as the "Great Society". Johnson's accomplishments as President all took place during the first two years of his presidency. Some of those accomplishments include the Head Start Program for disadvantaged children, a federal student loan program for college students, the Job Corps program for kids who dropped out of school, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which enfranchised millions of blacks, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Medicare.
   
   Johnson proves his skill as a politician by defeating opponent Barry Goldwater with almost 62% of the vote in the 1964 election. Unfortunately, these same skills waned as time went on. By the end of 1965, the positive accomplishments of the Johnson Presidency had come to an end. Johnson inherited the Vietnam War from his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. However, he made a series of mistakes after doing so. First, he concluded that America had to hold onto South Vietnam and prevent a "take over" by the North. He never grasped that the conflict was not an attack by the communist world upon the free world, but simply a regional civil war that had gone for decades. Second, he failed to grasp early on that the conflict was not winnable by conventional means, so he committed 500,000 American soldiers. Third, he failed to understand that the American people wouldn't stand idly by for years supporting such a war with no measurable progress being made. Fourth, he failed to consider steps such as simply withdrawing when it did become apparent that the war was unwinnable.
   
   As the Johnson Presidency unfolds, the accomplishments of the Great Society are overwhelmed by the Vietnam War. Johnson finally realizes his mistake at the end of his presidency. He announces he won't run again and initiates peace talks with North Vietnam.
   
   One must look at Johnson carefully and not jump to conclusions. He was a complicated man who did much good during his presidency. Sadly, though, he will most likely be remembered for the Vietnam War which cost America 58,000 lives.



4. Over the last several years I've read more than 30 presidential biographies, usually letting Amazon reader's guide me to the best choice. While I would place Dallek's LBJ Volume 1 in the top five presidential biographies, Volume two is not quite in the same class. Dallek continues to write well, and I think he presents a complex man and a very difficult time in a balanced way. But over half of this biography details the morass of Viet Nam, and it is truly depressing to read as Johnson and his advisers relentlessly lead the country over the cliff.
   
   During the first two years of LBJ's presidency he led the US Congress to pass some of the most significant legislation in our history - Medicare, greatly increased low income housing, legal aid, increased funding for education and student loans, the most important civil rights legislation of the 20th Century, and the Great Society legislation, a muddled effort to end poverty.
   
   Then, slowly and inexorably LBJ took the US deeper and deeper into Viet Nam. Dallek argues that whatever other geo-political factors were involved, LBJ's drive to be a great president and his fear of failing made the Viet Nam catastrophe inevitable. Johnson simply could not admit to being the first president to lose a war, he couldn't cope with the reality of the corruption of Viet Nam's leadership, and he couldn't stand to be honest in telling the American people just how poorly the war was going. Dallek presents a president who was increasingly paranoid of a nonexistent communist menace influencing the anti-war movement and of Bobby Kennedy leading JFK's ghost to steal LBJ's legacy.
   
   Today, there are numerous editorials comparing the war in Iraq to Vietnam (or denying any comparison). I've yet to see an article comparing President Bush to LBJ, and in most ways they are polar opposites. Still, this biography is very timely. There are unmistakable similarities between America's descent into the two wars, Iraq and South Viet Nam's lack of resources to provide leadership to their own people, our leaders' reluctance to level with the US, the isolation each president sought to avoid criticism, and a society that was so polarized by other issues that it is somehow ok to not take an objective look at the facts of the war.



5. Capt. Lance Sijan, USAF Medal of Honor winner, was tortured to death while a captive in a North Vietnam prison. Gerry Coyle, Army PFC, died in Tay Ninh . Bill Fahey, Marine PFC, died in Quang Tri . Leo Matylewicz, an Army Spec 4, had his body literally blown to pieces in Kontum. Dave Rozelle was killed in Quang Tri while a Marine Lance Corporal. Tom Malloy, Army Spec 4, died in Bien Hoa. Mike Turose's body was never recovered for a return home or even a burial when his F-4 was shot down over North Vietnam. Dick Christy was killed over Cambodia when his forward air control aircraft was shot down. Mike Bosiljevac's remains were not recovered until Vietnam opened up to allow forensic search teams years after the war was over - 20 years after he was shot down over North Vietnam. Mike Blassie's remains were placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. in 1998 DNA testing identified the remains as Mike. He had been shot down over An Loc.
   Why do I list these men killed in Vietnam as the introduction to this review of Robert Dallek's biography of Lyndon Johnson - "Flawed Giant"? Because Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States from Jack Kennedy's assassination until 1968 might as well have pulled the trigger or pressed the button that sent them to their deaths. Jane Fonda may have posed on the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft weapons but Lyndon Johnson placed those men in harm's way - for no reason other than his fantastic ego. Let me quote Dallek's afterword:
   "Vietnam was a larger mistake. It was the worst foreign policy disaster in the country's history. Aside from the sacrifice of the many brave men and women who lost their lives or suffered because of the conflict, there seems nothing heroic about the struggle. ... Vietnam was a morass. The battlefield clashes and constant discussions in Washington and Saigon about the war were a confusion leading nowhere. ... the planning for Vietnam led to unproductive commitments in what came to seem like an open-ended conflict.
   ...
   "The principal products of administration discussions about the fighting were false hopes, self-generated illusions, and paranoid fears of domestic opponents, who were not the Communist dupes Johnson believed them to be but men and women devoted to the national security and well-being as anyone in the government and military."
   "Johnson knew from the first that he might be pursuing a losing case in Vietnam."
   "Even less flattering to LBJ is the reality that he also pursued the war for selfish motives. To admit failure on so big an issue as Vietnam would have been too jarring to Johnson's self-image as a can-do leader."
   During the 1964 presidential campaign when Johnson ran against Goldwater, one of the Democrat slogans was "If you vote for Goldwater your sons will be in Vietnam." Well, my parents voted for Goldwater and I ended up in Vietnam.
   This book covers the years from 1961 to Johnson's death in 1973. Of course there is more than Vietnam. Johnspn's outstanding record on civil rights is well covered. But, for me, I cannot help but think about being in the Boy Scouts with Mike Turose and wondering what our futures would be after we got out of engineering school. Fortunately for me. I ended up with a future. Thanks to Lyndon Johnson, Mike didn't.

4 comments about C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings.

1. Having regarded "Sociological Imagination" one of the few most exciting books written in the field, this one greatly disappointed me.



2. No one has written with more verve and authority about the awesome and frightening capabilities of man than the late C. Wright Mills, a prominent and controversial sociologist who wrote such memorable tomes as "White Collar", an exploration of the emerging American Middle class in the early 1950s, and The Power Elite", a provocative examination of the nature of power, privilege, and status in the United States, and how each of these three critical elements of power and property in this country are irrevocably connected to each other. At last look, both books were still in print and are still used in both undergraduate and graduate sociology courses throughout the world. After fifty years, that in and of itself is powerful testimony to his enduring value as a scholar and an original thinker.

   Here Mills focuses memorably on the qualities and uses of the sociological perspective in modern life, how such a scientifically based way of looking at, interpreting, and interacting with the larger world invests its user with a better, more accurate, and quite instrumental picture of what is happening meaningfully around him. For Mills, the key to understanding the value in such a perspective is in appreciating that one can only understand the motives, behavior, and actions of others by locating them within a wider and more meaningful context that connects their personal biographies with the large social circumstances that surround, direct, and propel them at any given historical moment. For Mills, for example, trying to understand the reasoning behind the sometimes desperate actions of Jews in Nazi Germany without appreciating the horrifyingly unique existential circumstances they found themselves in is hopelessly anachronistic and limited.

   On the other hand, one invested with such an appreciation for how biography and history interact to create the meaningful social circumstances of any situation finds himself better able to understand the fact that when in a country of one hundred million employed, one man's singular lack of employment might be due to his persoanl deficiencies or lack of a work ethic, and be laid at his feet as a personal trouble, it is also true that when twenty million individuals out of that one hundred million figure suddenly find themselves so disposed and unemployed, that situation is due to something beyond the control of those many individuals and is best described in socioeconomic terms as a social problem to be laid at the feet of the government and industry to resolve. To Mills, it is critical to understand the inherant differences between personal troubles on the one hand, which an individual has the responsibity to resolve and overcome, and social ills, which are beyond both his ken or control. Indeed, according to Mills, increasingly in the 20th century one finds himself trapped by social circumstance into dilemmas he is absolutely unable to resolve without significant help from the wider social community.

   Thus, for both psychological as well as social reasons, a person using the sociological perspective, or invested with what he called the "sociological imagination", is more able to think and act critically in accordance with the evidence both outside his door and beyond himself. Fifty years later, such a recognition of "what's what" and "who's who" based on the ability to judge the information within the social environment is as valuable as ever. This is a wonderful book, written in a very accessible and entertaining style, meant both for an intellectual audience and for the scholastic community as well. While it may not be for "everyman", any person wanting to better understand and more fully appreciate how individual biography and social history meaningfully interact to create the realities we live in will enjoy and appreciate this legendary sociological critique and invitation to the pleasures of a sociological perspective by one of its most remarkable proponents some half century ago.




3. A customer review on this site states that the editors have changed the word "men" to "people" in the letters. As the publisher, we would like to place this statement in its proper context.

   The unmarked edits only occurred in the Tovarich letters, those that were written to an imaginary Russian correspondent. Mills "made it clear [to his agent] that he wanted the Tovarich writings to be edited before they were published . . . his marginal comments included these instructions: 'very good, use it,' 'can't use this,' 'cut somewhat.'" And so, unlike for the rest of the letters, the editors "did not mark deletions with ellipses and occasionally changed the location of paragraphs, shortened a heading, or relaced a heading with a phrase that Mills had written in the text. Although we usually left the original references to men, boys, women, and girls in these essays, we occasionally changed 'men' to 'people.'"

   In the rest of the letters, the only editorial changes were spelling corrections and occasional deletions (the latter are always marked with brackets).




4. I have been eagerly awating the publication of these glimpses into Mills' 'personal' life. The book is organized, for the most part, chronologically. Its contents are mostly letters written by this most influental radical intellectuall of the cold war period. The letters (and autobiographical writings disguised as letters) reveal Mills to be as intense, focused, and dedicated to his social analysis as I, a student of his work, have imagined him to be. The writings are beautifully composed; Mills was indeed both a scientist AND an artist. His musings are inspiring for any student, scholar, or critical minded person who wants an insight into Mills "private" reflections. This book could also serve as a wonderful guide to a study of Mills' life-work, as we are given insight into his concerns and struggles during his writing process. I do have a complaint...his daughters, who have no doubt taken painstaking efforts to compose this work, have been so bold as to alter the language of his personal writings... "we occasionally changed 'men' to 'people'" (p. xiv). I think we are wise enough to realize that Mills language is a reflection of the social and historical context in which he lived...Regardless, we are lucky to have this invaluable resource that provides endless reflections into the life and though of C. Wright Mills. END

1 comments about A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge.

1. Ok, so Silent Cal was not one of our greatest Presidents. He was a very honest President, who had a very shy personality. White wrote this biography in the thirties, and knew Calvin. Even though White knew Coolidge, criticism is still present in this biography. The most damning was Coolidge not taking action to prevent the build up of credit and speculation in the stock market. All indications are there that he should have limited money at some point, but Coolidge let the market make its own correction. This was one of the reasons why the market went down so fast.
   White does a good job of showing how someone like Coolidge (and Harding) rose to the top of the heap. Throughout this book, Coolidge is shown as an honest politician who lived off his salary. He even stayed in boarding houses when he was Governor and Vice President. He was very shy and limited his talking. He asked people to vote for him and they did. He only lost one election, so this shows people trusted him. He worked the political system for his constituents and his beliefs. Although conservative, he backed some very liberal ideas at the time including the vote for women and opposed anti immigration efforts against the Japanese. When he told people what he was going to do, people could trust he would do it. He even made fun of himself and his personality. His personal characteristics were very admirable.
   White's biography is a bit dry at times, but the subject comes across in very human terms. The book is divided into four sections, so one can read bits and pieces of that history which may interest the reader. The first one hundred pages was slow going, but it gets better after that. For those interested in a President who governed for six years, this is a good read.

2 comments about Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman.

1. Judah Benjamin's story has fascinated me since I was a child. Here was a man who lived by a masterful combination of brains and charm, who overcame great adversity, and, when The Cause was lost, picked himself up and moved on. Benjamin was a biographer's nightmare...he never kept correspondence, burned all his papers before evacuating Richmond [and did the same shortly before he died], and never wrote, or spoke, of the Civil War once it was over. He became the richest lawyer in Louisiana at a young age, lost everything in the war, and, starting over in England in his 50's, became the richest lawyyer there. Who was the first Jew in the U.S. Senate? Who was the first Jew nominated to the Supreme Court? Who was the first American Jew to hold a Cabinet position. Who was the first Jew [and man born outside England] to be a Queen's Counsel in England? Benjamin is the answer to ALL those trivia questions. [David Yulee had served in the Senate earlier, but he had long since converted to Presbyterian; Benjamin turned down President Fillmore's nomination because the Court didn't pay enough] Judah Benjamin held three different jobs in President Davis' Cabinet,[despite an earlier near duel with Davis in the Senate] and was, in many ways, Davis' right hand man, accessory brain, and designated "nice guy", soothing the feathers that Davis ruffled. The story of Benjamin's escape to England at the end of the war is, alone, worth the price of the book. Benjamin's marriage gets plenty of space; in many ways, it was the match made in Hell. Natalie was a piece of work, yet the Benjamins were, on some level, quite devoted to each other, and stayed more or less together for over 50 years.
   
   Judah Benjamin is a problem for some Jews, and northern liberals...here was a Jew, educated at Yale, who owned slaves, and was probably the most articulate defender of slavery. Then, he was one of the central figures in the Confederacy for four years. History does not always fit neatly; try making Thomas Jefferson fit anything. The number of Jews in the Confederacy was around 2000 [see Robert Rosen's "The Jewish Confederates"], and, as for slavery, not only did rich Jews own slaves, so did rich Indians, Mexicans, and free Blacks.
   
   Dr. Robert Meade published this great masterpiece in 1943. It is one of the very finest pieces of biography about anybody, anytime. There are three other Benjamin biographies that I know about, and own. Two of them are even worth reading. But, there is no real comparison. This is up there with Dr. Freeman's "R.E. Lee". High praise, I know, and not made lightly. {If you can find Meade's two volume study of Patrick Henry, get it. Good luck} LSU press deserves a big "THANK YOU" for making this great book available.
   
   ADDENDUM: There is now a fifth volume available...the 1933 "Judah P. Benjamin-Statesman of the Lost Cause" by Rollin Osterweis can be had from Amazon. See my review of it; this volume remains definitive.



2. Excellent perspective of history without the northern or PC agenda.

5 comments about Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960.

1. For the foreseeable future, I think it's safe to say Dallek's two volumes will be the definitive LBJ biography for the simple reason(s) that it's unclear if Caro will finish his works and it is doubtful that anyone will soon take on the onerous task of researching Johnson's extremely complicated life ... and find anything new. This volume tracks LBJ's life up to the 1960 election and everything is here ... and I mean everything, from Johnson's lineage, his childhood and education, his work as a New Deal caretaker and Texas politician, his dubious "military service", his meteoric climb through both the House and US Senate, including his "election" to the latter and finally his acceptance as JFK's vice-presidential running mate. The reader meets the big (and small) personalities in LBJ's life including FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Sam Rayburn, Richard Russell and Hubert Humphrey as well as the truly dedicated people who worked ungodly hours for him. Dallek also does an admirable job in tracking the development of LBJ's character and motives, (and ego) while parsing through, at times, the frenetic activity of his life. Where this biography differs from others, (especially Caro's), is in Dallek's self-restraint in judging LBJ's actions and behaviors, (and there is a lot to judge). Others have made this out to be an omission on the author's part, I would beg to differ and label it as evenhanded. Dallek presents the facts and lets the reader make the call while other authors, (again Caro), have stepped into the breech and passed judgement. (This doesn't mean I disagree with those judgements, in fact in most cases I do agree. It's hard not to.) I just appreciated Dallek allowing me to come to my own conclusions. If there is a fault with this book, (and the second volume), and this is a nit, it's that too much detail is provided and at times can become mind-numbing. In Dallek's subsequent bio of JFK, at least in my opinion, he does a better job of not overwhelming the reader with at times, repetitive details.



2. Over the last several years, I've read more than 30 presidential biographies, usually letting Amazon reader's guide me to the best choice. I assure you Robert Dallek's first volume of his LBJ biography is one of the top five or six biographies I've read thus far. This volume provides the details of LBJ's life until he became vice president. Lone Star Rising is well written. Most of all it is balanced presenting numerous sides of a very complex man. Also included are the anecdotes of LBJ's life that led me to laugh out loud or shake my head with disbelief.
   
   Lilly Tomlin once said, "I try to be as cynical as I can be, but sometimes I just can't keep up. " She could have been talking about Southern politics in general or LBJ in particular. Dallek shows LBJ's warts, but he also describes Johnson's genuine desire to help the poor and the South.
   
   LBJ rose from poverty through a combination of incredible drive, unbelievable moxie, a willingness to do anything to win, a refusal to admit defeat, and a sense that the world was his stage with all of the characters being actors for him to manipulate, bamboozle, and control. These traits helped LBJ reach the presidency, but they also led to a stubborn refusal to get out of Viet Nam (see volume 2).
   
   I truly wish every president could have a biographer as skilled as Dallek. Finally, I'd like to stress the 1200 or so pages of the two vlumes are worth the effort. While the second volume gets bogged down covering our bogged down war in Viet Nam, I would not have wanted to skip over a page of volume 1



3. Dallek's two volume work is probably a bit more even handed in dealing with LBJ than some of the biographies of recent years. While it is certainly not a collection of "way to go LBJ" chapters, it does go out of it's way to point out much of the good Johnson accomplished. The book appeared to be well researched and read easily. While I feel that it could have pointed out and examined Johnson's many, many flaws and their underlying source, there are indeed many other works which do so, so another good LBJ bash book was and is not probably needed at this time. I did enjoy this one and am glad I added it to my collection.



4. Dallek's biography has the virtue of being written by someone who clearly admires Johnson. As such, it is somewhat of a counterweight to Robert Caro and I suggest both be read for balance.

   Nevertheless, in presenting the "good Lyndon", Dallek downplays the worst of Johnson. There is nothing particularly wrong with this (Dallek certainly doesn't ignore the flaws, just tends to gloss over them a little), but it does lead to a fairly tepid book, one that is nowhere near as much fun to read as Caro's. Thus, if I could only read one (which of course many readers will do considering the length of both Caro's and Dallek's presentations), I would read Caro's. Caro's second and third volumes (covering the 40's and 50's, roughly the second half of the Dallek volume being discussed here) are possibly the best political biography ever written. It is against that "competition" that Dallek's book must be weighed and I found, in the balance, that Dallek's work is merely ordinary.




5. Dallek's two-volume examination of LBJ is a dramatic and nuanced examination of one the most complex figures in 20th century American history. Even almost three decades after his death, there are no shortage of people who see LBJ as the ultimate villan of American politics. Many people of this camp dislike Dallek's work, because he puts his subject in his context.

   While Dallek does not excuse the sort of election fraud in which LBJ engaged, he does explain that it was wide spread. Some find this an unacceptable defense, but one should note that the sorts of tricks he describes have been wide spread in the US for most of the 19th and early 20th century. To dismiss LBJ for engaging in such activities who require similar condemnation of every US president from Adams to FDR.

   Dallek in fact, is unflinching in discussing LBJ's negative side. His pension for strong arming opponents, his abuse of his staff, his womanizing and drinking, and his dirty tricks are all layed bare. At the same time, Dallek reviews how crucial LBJ was as part of the New Deal and his brave role as a champion of civil rights.

   The other major LBJ biography by Caro is far less balanced in its approach to this complex and ultimately tragic figure. For a truly great and complete biography of LBJ, I suggest that you read this one.

5 comments about One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment/Movie Tie in to the Movie "Glory".

1. A good fundamental book for understanding how Robert Gould Shaw came to command the Massachusetts 54th, but one that offers little about his relationship with the regiment or the issues that shaped its legends. Because this book (and point of view) formed the basis for the motion picture "Glory," many of its shortcomings were repeated in the movie and in subsequent public perceptions about the composition, behavior, and fate of the first all-volunteer African-American regiment formed in the American Civil War.
   
   I strongly endorse this as a starting point for Americans interested in the life of Robert Gould Shaw but recommend they continue to "Blue Eyed Child of Fortune," a collection of his personal correspondence. "One Gallant Rush" tends to portray Shaw as a sort of doomed saint rather than a complex character succumbing to the moral and political aspirations of his family, his own ambition, and the then-prevailing attitudes about the worth and importance of African American soldiers (and men).



2. This book was at least partially the basis for the movie Glory, which starred Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, Matthew Broderick, and Denzel Washington (who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). The movie is reasonably historically accurate, though there are parts where they took liberties with the truth. The book sets the record straight in a number of ways.

   The book, however, is largely a biography of Robert Gould Shaw. Shaw was born a child of privalege, and raised to be an abolitionist and a devout Christian. When the war started, he saw it as his duty to enlist, first serving in the ranks of a New York regiment, and later securing appointment as a Captain in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. When the Emancipation Proclamation was announced and the recruiting of Black soldiers began (this was part of the actual proclamation) the governor of Massachussetts decided to recruit his own regiment of Blacks, and appointed Shaw to be the colonel. The regiment served briefly in the siege of Charleston, South Carolina, before leading the charge on Fort Wagner, to the south of the city, in which Shaw was killed and the regiment decimated.

   This book, as I said, is mostly a biography of Shaw. Since he wasn't anyone particularly prominent, and since he only lived to be 25, there's not a lot to say, and the book is as a result rather short, about 150 pages. Shaw comes off as committed, intelligent, perhaps a bit naive, but brave and skilled. It's an interesting character study, and an interesting but brief account of this one action in the siege of Charleston. There isn't, however, much else to the book, so be warned, it's rather thin. If that's what interests you, however, it's worth the effort.




3. Having seen the movie Glory for the first time this past weekend, I couldn't help but wonder about the 54th and its Colonel Shaw. So, when I got my hands on this book I had very high expectations. I have to say that I was very happy with the quality of this book. It has just enough sentiment for Colonel Shaw and his family, yet it also portrays the 54th as the heroes I believe they were. I would recommend this to any history buff, or to anyone who finds that they had the same thirst as I after seeing Glory on television. Great book..



4. Matthew Broderick portrayed Robert Gould Shaw, in the movie "Glory," as shy, idealistic, tenacious. In real life he was all these things and more: more complex, more a product of his age and social class (what we today call "classism" was universal then), struggling to escape the iron grip of his abolitionist mother, wrestling with notions of race which we today would call "racism." Burchard's book is still the best for bringing him back to life: sharing army life with his friends, courting his future wife, organizing and forming the first black regiment to serve as a regiment of the line (the rest were mostly used for bushwhacking or manual labor). He surely knew before accepting the job that he would face unpopularity, uncertainty, and execution if captured. Twenty-five-year-old Robert showed awesome moral courage in taking it on, and one of the virtues of this book is that it makes Robert's record believable, first in his choice, and then in sticking with loneliness, exhaustion, discouragement, fear of death, and obstacle after obstacle, to prove that "Black Men can fight as well as White Men" and therefore can meet the coming demands of citizenship. Another virtue, for older students maybe, lies in its portrayal of the "classism" and "racism" which formed the unexamined background of most Americans in the 1860's, against which we can measure how far we've really evolved since then. All in all, an excellent book for young people in American History courses, to supplement the movie "Glory" which is often used to illustrate the Civil War and its human side.



5. Robert Gould Shaw was that shy, stubborn hero of the movie "Glory": a Boston aristocrat, reared among abolitionists, struggling to break free from the iron grip of his mother, a good soldier, a born leader. Peter Burchard's book is still the best for bringing the young Colonel to life before our eyes: reading military history in his tent, courting his future wife, fighting on great battlefields, and displaying awesome moral courage as well as physical courage. A complex and in some ways a heavy-burdened young man, he took on the uncertain, unpopular and dangerous job of organizing, training and leading the nation's first black regiment. He certainly knew before he took the job that in order to prove that "Black Men could fight as well as White Men" he would probably have to lose his life along with many of the men who would come to trust him. The story of how he battled every kind of prejudice and misunderstanding, as well as the common hazards of poor food, boredom, cold, homesickness, and the grief of leaving his wife of just three weeks, makes for a well-presented saga; 140 years later it's still worth pondering. It proves that one cheerful, rather ordinary young man--a dedicated man--can make a difference.

No comments about The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, 1848-1852 (Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston).

3 comments about A Muslim in Victorian America: The Life of Alexander Russell Webb.

1. This look at the life of Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb, one of the first American converts to Islam, is well researched and written in a language that captivates one and takes you on a journey with Mr. Webb on his many travels. People in the West still view Islam as a late entrant to the scene in the US but as muslims continue to integrate in the American social life, one will read and hear (and see hopefully) more and more stories of how muslims have always been a part of the fabric of America. Some estimates say that almost 30% of the slaves brought over to the US were muslims and we have Alex Kronemer coming up with a documentary on the life a African slave who was a Prince and how he fought for and won his freedom after 40 years of slavery here to go back to Africa (The Prince among slaves). Dr. Abd-Allah is educated from Columbia, Cornell and the Univ. of Chicago and taught at King Abdul Aziz university in Saudia for 18 years. He has been back in the USA since 2000 and is the head of a non-profit organization called the Nawawi foundation based in Chicago which is dedicated to provide relevant, meaningful Islamic teachings to America's growing first and second generation Muslims - teachings firmly rooted in authentic scholarship and taught in a way that is dynamic and applicable to the modern world (See website www.nawawi.org). Dr. Abd-Allah is and has always been a voice of moderation amongst muslims scholars and is dedicated to more interfaith dialogue amongst people of various faiths. He has always been a proponent of peace and he has many Audio CD's out in the market dealing with various issues affecting muslims and has made his feelings on extremism and violence quite clear. Mr. Rubin needs to check his sources (if any) before making comments on Dr. Abd-Allah.
   
   
   
   Read the book, you will like it. It is a book about a man of his times, who lived in a time of turmoil and great change in the USA, andshould interest any student of American and Islamic history.



2. Abd-Allah, chair of the Chicago-based Nawawi Foundation, an organization promoting education about Islam, explores the life of Alexander Russell Webb (1846-1916), a convert to Islam who started some of the earliest U.S. Muslim periodicals.
   
   Abd-Allah traces Webb's early life to look for his inspirations for his subsequent conversion. He grew up in upstate New York at the time of the Second Great Awakening, exposing him to an active theological discourse. The Civil War dominated his teenage years. Abd-Allah blames the religious establishment for "beat[ing] the drums" of war and suggests that the destruction wrought might have turned Webb against traditional religion. He also grew disillusioned with post-Civil War materialism and sought solace in other spiritual movements, opening the door to his eventual conversion to Islam. After years of activity in Missouri journalism and support for the Democratic Party, Webb received a presidential appointment to be consul in Manila.
   
   While the Catholic church dominated the Philippines, Webb learned about Islam through Indian merchants and the writing of Indian Muslim intellectuals. It was not long before he converted to Islam. In 1891, he entered into correspondence with prominent Indian scholars and, the next year, resigned his post to travel around India to study and raise money to support a proselytizing mission in the United States. In 1893, he returned to the United States and established a mission and publishing center funded first by Indian and later Ottoman patrons. In 1901, he became the honorary Ottoman consul in New York.
   
   Webb submerged himself in his new faith and wrote that, among Indian Muslims, he had found a society superior to Western civilization. Upon his return, he did not shy away from public lectures but found study circles and, especially, publishing a better investment of time. Eventually, though, neither Indian nor Ottoman patronage could keep Webb solvent. His missions collapsed under a mountain of debt.
   
   Webb's story may have resonance with Abd-Allah, who converted to Islam after reading the biography of Malcolm X. Abd-Allah subsequently drifted from the Nation of Islam to radical Saudi interpretations of religion; for more than fifteen years he taught at King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia. Like Webb, he is an American convert to Islam who seeks to propagate its spread.
   
   While Abd-Allah produces a well-researched work, making full advantage of Webb's myriad papers and publications (but not State Department or presidential archives mentioning Webb's mission), his sympathy may lead him to avoid critical questions. What does Webb's abandonment of his diplomatic post say about the compatibility of Islam and U.S. government service, especially after his acceptance of work for a foreign government? Is propagation of Islam dependent upon foreign subsidy? How does Webb compare to those today who drift from liberalism to "spiritualism" and, then, immerse themselves in Islam? For this, the reader will have to wait for another author to examine Webb. For those following Abd-Allah's path, though, the narrative will provide solace.
   
   Michael Rubin
   Middle East Quarterly
   Summer 2007



3. In 1887 Alexander Russell Webb was made the American counsul in the Phillipines, at the time a Spanish colony largely Roman Catholic, but with a Muslim minority. Mr. Webb apparently experenced the Muslim faith at this time and in 1888 he converted. Upon his return to the United States he became active in promoting the Muslim faith including the writing of articles and the creation of study circles in various cities.
   
   Webb could well be called the father of the Muslim movement in America and he lived a life that reflected the best of what the Muslim religion could be. After his death in 1916, he was largely forgotten and the center of Muslim religion in the US moved to Noble Drew Ali in Chicago whose early writings implied that he knew or at least had heard of Webb. After Drew Ali's death the Muslim faith in American split into many factions.
   
   This is the first ever biography of Webb.