5 comments about Sara and Eleanor: The Story of Sara Delano Roosevelt and Her Daughter-in-Law, Eleanor Roosevelt.

1. If this book contains any accurate information, it is, sadly, smothered in an overpoweringly cheesy sauce of conjecture, misrepresentation and fabrication.
   
   This book has oppositional-defiant disorder; every positive (and painstakingly researched) piece of information we have about Eleanor Roosevelt (from a long list of books written by a stable of better researchers and writers than Ms. Pottker) is systematically twisted, distorted, inverted and stood on its head in order to make Eleanor Roosevelt look like the wicked witch of Val-Kill while/by making Sara Delano Roosevelt appear to be the Mother Theresa of mother-in-laws.
   
   (Okay. That was an exaggeration. But, not a gross exaggeration. There are many facts in the book which are verifiably true: Sara Delano Roosevelt was FDR's mother, Eleanor Roosevelt was a woman, the three of them shared meals on at least three separate occasions, Eleanor's children were, in fact, Sara's grandchildren...etc... But it seems to me that an awful lot of the book is, to put it charitably, less than trustworthy.)
   
   However, you might want to take a look at the book in a library or bookstore in order to see what the "notes" on sources section looks like. I have never seen a more stunning example of incompetence or contempt for one's readers than this haphazard list of sources.
   And that's all it is: a list. No way to figure out which quote or fact came from which source, just a list. If Columbia could revoke degrees, this list of sources would be a powerful reason for the university to consider de-doctorating Pottker, and returning her tuition as quickly and quietly as possible.
   
   I still can not believe St. Martin's published this fictional revision of history and dared to call it biography.
   
   One can't help wondering whether Ms. Pottker has a daughter-in-law of her own and a very, very dull axe. (the kind that gets lots of grinding)



2. I really wanted to like this book more, since I have several books about the Roosevelts (both the Hyde Park clan and the Oyster Bay contingent). I did enjoy the story of Sara's background and her interesting childhood, not to mention the history of the Delano family and the "color" of some of the events, like the royal visit. I also appreciated a text that did not demonize "Mama." Eleanor's half of the story, however, reveals nothing new--her sad childhood, her depression and insecurity because of it, her slow rise to independence--and suffers at the expense of the author's efforts to improve Sara Roosevelt's image. In addition to the historical errors mentioned in Sylvia Jukes Morris' featured "Washington Post" review, there is an extremely grievious one: Pottker talks about the events of March 1911, then follows with two paragraphs about the "next month," concerning an oceanic calamity: the sinking of the Titanic! Except the Titanic sank in April *1912*. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Does no one edit these books any longer?



3. I started to read this book with hardly any opinion about the two main characters. I soon started to realize the author's bias towards Sara and against Eleanore! She uses subjective snide remarks about Eleanore to promote Sara. In her book Sara can do nothing wrong while everything Eleanore does is questionable and fraught with ulterior motives.



4. As a long-time student of the lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, I am always eager to expand my knowledge of these two important Americans. Thus, when I stumbled across this book, I immediately ordered it. However, it didn't take me long to discover that this read more like a book report based on Geoffrey Ward's excellent biographies of FDR than an original work. I respect the author for her turning the viewpoint around and taking a sympathetic look at Sara Delano Roosevelt, but her historical perspective lacks rigor and does not agree with any of the other major historians who have offered razor-sharp looks at the lives of the Roosevelts. Indeed, this book reads like a piece of fluff and the author's uncompromising adoration of Sara Roosevelt leads to unsupported conclusions and apologetics in Sara's relationship with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Sara comes off in this book as simply too good to be true, a paragon of virtue, and an angel-made-flesh. There is little critical information related here, just a retelling of the same old story in a revisionist vein. This is not the book for serious students of history and anyone else seeking factual information on the subject.



5. Who among us wouldn't want to have been Sara Delano Roosevelt? Adored daughter and sibling, independently wealthy through her father's success in the Chinese opium trade, married to an older man whose forebears were as securely rooted in America as her own, she became the mother of one perfect child who grew up to be Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

   Self-doubt was not in the emotional vocabulary of either of FDR's parents, who raised him in the country splendor of their estate in Hyde Park, New York. Jan Pottker takes an intriguing look into the life of Sara Delano Roosevelt, and entwines it with her relationship with FDR's wife, his fifth cousin Eleanor Roosevelt. The book is a feast of anecdotes. Finding them and displaying them appears to be Pottker's greatest strength as a biographer. Everyone's heard the story of how the King and Queen of England came to Hyde Park in 1939 and enjoyed an informal hot-dog lunch. But who knew that 200,000 people lined the road from Poughkeepsie to Hyde Park to greet the royal couple? Or that when the formal dinner for the visiting royalty was delayed an hour, "the roast beef remained pink in the center"?

   Keeping life, well, rosy appears to have been the leitmotif of Sara's life, and the polar opposite of her daughter-in-law Eleanor's. Much has been written about Eleanor's deep insecurity, having been orphaned young and passed around among relatives, and Pottker covers no new territory here. However, it makes the reader squirm to see Eleanor's dutiful, doubtful personality wither somewhat in the face of Sara's utter self-confidence. Eleanor appears to have spent her thirty-six years of married life abjectly begging Sara's pardon, bickering with her, or silently, sullenly yielding to her mother-in-law's will, which was as formidable as her control over the extended family's pursestrings.

   In her effort to provide a rounded portrait of Sara, Pottker often provides contrasting anecdotes about her daughter-in-law that almost always cast Eleanor in a bad light. This is unfortunate, as neither woman needs to play the bad guy at this late date. Both Sara and Eleanor were remarkable women, but where the latter learned to find her greatest fulfillment outside the unnourishing bosom of her family, the former started life strengthened by the best that the Victorian era could provide a girl, and only later yielded graciously to satisfying the interest of the world in her role as the President's mother. The contrast between the two women is sufficient without Pottker's effort to cast Eleanor in a lesser light so as to illuminate Sara further.

   Yes, she did frequently tell her grandchildren, "You are my true children. Eleanor only bore you." But in light of their parents' increasingly separate lives and chaotic schedules, Sara and Hyde Park were the constant touchstones while her grandchildren were growing up.

   Had Sara not subsidized the family as she did, her son could not have run for president and guided the country through the Depression and World War II. We, as a nation, are richer for her generosity. However, the dependency that she encouraged in her son, which he never appears to have refused, seemed to have born bitter fruit in the unfulfilled potential in the subsequent generation: There were nineteen divorces among the five Roosevelt children, none of whom appears to have sustained a notably happy or successful adult life despite their financial and social advantages. Elliott and James in particular made something of a cottage industry of writing and being interviewed about their parents. They are quoted extensively--perhaps too extensively--throughout Pottker's book.

   Pottker interviewed Anna Roosevelt's two eldest children, the great-grandchildren whose memories provide a living link with the matriarch born in 1854. (Interestingly, Curtis Dall--once known to the nation as "Buzzie"--dropped his father's name to use Roosevelt as a surname.) She also provides the insights of Nina Roosevelt Gibson, Ph.D., the psychologist daughter of John, the youngest Roosevelt child, who is almost never quoted by Roosevelt biographers.

   This book is a welcome addition to our knowledge of the Roosevelts--and, as Sara would point out if she were here, of the Delanos as well, whose family background she privately considered to be superior.

   The largest, sturdiest oak at Hyde Park inexplicably toppled to the ground only minutes after Sara died there at the age of eighty-six. Though witnesses were startled, no one was surprised.

No comments about The Generals: Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the Road to the Battle of New Orleans.

No comments about Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie (American Music Masters).

5 comments about Porter Rockwell: A Biography.

1. I agree with critics of this book, i.e., willy-nilly insertions of the Rockwell character into scenarios that are all action-based and nothing of history--if, indeed, Rockwell was a participant. There is nothing of history here--just accounts, no basis, and certainly nothing theoretical. There is nothing from the author. "Porter Rockwell" is a study of omission. There is no mention of the Mountain Meadows massacre of 1857. Early in the book, as other reviewers have noted, Rockwell is magically plopped into actions the author assumed happened. I think Mr. Dewey must be a Mormon, the mention of which is not meant critically, but an admitted Mormon affiliation would surely have meant buyer hesitance. As 1857 was bypassed, I stopped reading the book. Lastly, the book jacket lauds Mr. Dewey's "years of historical research," all climaxed by a CLIO award--which is not in any way relevant to history. The book is interesting, but is a compilation, not history. It provided the basis of a film that, coincidentally, included the author's participation.



2. I can't put this book down! Dewey does an excellent job of placing the reader back in time as he develops the amazing story that is the coming about and triumph over the persecutions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because there is little written about Rockwell, Dewey does a traffic job of taking the reader through the church's history through church archives and journals describing how Rockwell was present at many important events loved by members of the church. I give it 4 stars and say it is a must read for those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for those who would like to know more.



3. This book is a poor, almost fictional attempt to chronicle the life of the infamous Orrin Porter Rockwell. While I'm sure Dewey's intentions were good, he did a bad job of presenting History.
   His subject was a difficult one, Rockwell having left no diary. In addition, there are a few undetailed accounts of him in the official History of the Church to which he belonged. Most of the rest is speculation. Despite this lack of evidence, Dewey assumes that he knows Porter's mind and emotions on all occasions. How could he know that something "turned Porter's stomach" or "hit close to home" if Rockwell never left a journal?
   Most of his biography is speculation. The bulk of the work is actually a brief overview of the history of the Mormon church, and Dewey just inserts Rockwell wherever he wants to. For example, he tells the story of a group of Mormons who, in 1838, went out to defend their Missouri homes. Dewey just assumes Porter was there, and says he was "probably riding at their head."
   Toward the end of Rockwell's life, firsthand accounts of him become few and far between. In order to deal with this, Dewey simply lumps together all accounts and legends of Rockwell with no consistency or continuity whatsoever. The stories jump around, and each paragraph is an entirely new subject. This is very difficult to read, and does little besides give a collection of myths.
   This book gets two stars because of Dewey's obvious sincerity. He is not a historian by trade, and it shows. His subject is a difficult one to write about, and Dewey managed to chronicle his life with some accuracy (despite all the speculation). If you want to read an interesting tale/legend about one of the most heroic Western lawmen, read this book. Just don't expect much in the way of historical accuracy.



4. Dewey does a defensive history of Rockwell, and does a good job of dispelling many of the myths. But like so many writers embracing LDS apologetics, he seems to be a frustrated lawyer, having an image of himself as Rockwell's latter-day defense council. He is too careful not to impugn the reputations of early church leaders, especially Joseph Smith.

   To understand just what faith-promoting history is, we should look at what Elder Boyd K Packer says about it:

   "That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weaknesses and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith.... In the Church we are not neutral. We are one-sided."

   So we can see that a "one-sided" history is not comprehensive by any means.

   Dewey is definitely from the faith-promoting school of history, and writes as if "the Brethern" are looking over his shoulder. Because of this he has omitted significant discomfiture found in other Rockwell biographies. This less "faith-promoting" information would have been included if Dewey had adhered to principles followed by professional historians. However, because he did not, we are deprived of aspects more rounded but unfortunately more embarrassing to the LDS Church.




5. There isn't much currently in print about good old Porter Rockwell, the "Avenging Angel." Like many frontier characters, the myth is a little more exciting than the publishable reality. OK, maybe he didn't execute innocent non-believers, but he was still on-site for many of the memorable events of early Utah-Mormon history. For a little more edgy interpretation, order the movie, "Avenging Angel."

5 comments about Martin Van Buren and the Romantic Age of American Politics.

1. I am currently reading a biography of every President in order. I realize with Martin Van Buren I am entering a long period of obscure Presidents, but very much looking forward to learning more about the chief executives between Jackson and Lincoln. Based on Amazon reviews, I decided that John Niven's biography was the best and most comprehensive choice.
   
   Thankfully, I have not been disappointed. John Niven has written a readable and extremely well researched biography of our eigth President. I was most impressed with the depth of detail Niven has included and the voluminous research it undoubtedly required. Niven has clearly succeeded in covering the public life of Martin Van Buren comprehensibly and succinctly from his early days in New York politics to his final years as an active participant in the political turmoil leading to the Civil War.
   
   The thoroughness this volume achieves regarding the political side of Van Buren's life comes at a price, however. At times this book is a dull read and seems to provide more detail, especially in the first third of the book dealing with New York machine politics, than most readers are likely to want or need. The book also does not delve very deeply into the personal side of Van Buren's life, although given that Van Buren's entire life revolved around politics (certainly far more than any previous President) this leaves fewer gaps than one might expect.
   
   In summation, this is an excellent biography of Van Buren, though Niven obviously intended it to be a scholarly treatment meant primarily for academic level study. This biography is easy to read and well organized, though not the type of book you that you will likely want to read twice.



2. I came away from this book with a new appreciation for Martin Van Buren--who was certainly much more than the Jackson coattail rider I thought previously. This is THE definitive biography of Martin Van Buren, but I agree with the other reviewers that some of the many and DETAILED accounts of the political machinations in New York at the time were a bit much. That's really the only complaint I had about the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and recommend it highly if you really want to know Van Buren.



3. Like others, I've set out to read at least one biography on each American President. This particular biography is extremely well researched. A myriad of detail about Martin Van Buren and his times is presented. It's not the book if you are looking for a brief summary of the highlights of Van Buren's career, but if you are looking for detail it's great. Occasionally I got a little lost, probably due to my relative ignorance of the political figures and movements of those times. You form a definite picture of the little magician with both flaws and strengths brought forward. The one significant historical event that I didn't read about was the interaction of Van Buren with the early Mormons, of which I have read some very interesting things elsewhere.



4. It is hard to tell how a man will do as President based on his experience. Some figures with virtually no political experience became good Presidents, such as Washington and Lincoln; others were failures such as Grant or Hoover. On the other hand, political experience is no guarantee of success: John Quincy Adams and James Buchanan had decent resumes going into office and had miserable presidencies. Martin Van Buren, one of the most politically talented of all Presidents, was not an utter failure, but he didn't shine in office either.

   In Niven's biography, we follow Van Buren from his impoverished roots through his rise in New York state government. Although not perfect, Van Buren had enough political astuteness and the right sort of temperment to help create and lead a party machine and elevate New York's prominence on a national level. Becoming a trusted advisor to Andrew Jackson and a member of his cabinet eventually led to his Vice Presidency and then the Presidency. With a major financial crash occurring right as he got into office, Van Buren was struggling right off the bat, and wound up serving only a single term; nonetheless, in an era of one-term presidents (from 1837 to 1861, no president was re-elected), Van Buren was hardly thrown into ignonimy after his defeat; instead, he remained a powerful member of the Democratic party for the next two decades.

   Niven's biography is generally favorable although he doesn't hide Van Buren's flaws. We learn of a man who was not a great ideologue but was one of the most masterful politicians of his era, holding his own with the often more prominent figures such as Jackson, Calhoun, Clay and Webster. He also wound up being a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement, even running on the Free-Soil ticket at one point.

   At times, however, this biography is a bit ponderous and often focuses so much on the political part of Van Buren's life that the personal part is pushed aside. Thus, although this may be the best Van Buren biography available (it may also be the only one), I cannot give it a full five stars. Nonetheless, this is overall a very good book and worth reading if you are interested in this period of history.




5. This is a very readable and interesting book that deals with the long and highly political life of Martin Van Buren. He comes off very well as a hard-working, fair and moral politician who practically establishes the democratic party as a well-oiled machine for both New York state and the United States. I have now read multiple books about the first eight presidents and he can hold his own with almost all of them so far. Highly recommended.

No comments about Weavers of the Southern Highlands.

No comments about Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction.

1 comments about Jonathan Edwards: The Great Awakener (Heroes of the Faith).

1. ~Jonathan, Edwards: The Great Awakener (Heroes of the Faith)~ an intriguing, albeit succinct, biographical sketch of the great Puritan evangelist Jonathan Edwards who inaugurated the Great Awakening with his sovereign grace preaching. The author captures his early childhood and his gradual cognizance and acceptance of the sovereignty of God, particularly in our redemption. It is fairly objective and features selections from his writings, though academic readers might prefer the larger tome on Edwards by George Marsden. The Heroes of Faith series features biographies of other Sovereign Grace preachers such as C.H. Spurgeon, George Whitefield and John Bunyan, though I haven't looked at them. It features an appendix with a copy of his most famous and powerful sermon,

No comments about David Crockett: His Life and Adventures (Large Print Edition).

5 comments about Robin Williams a Biography.

1. I have always thought that Robin Williams has always been one of the funniest people to ever walk the face of the planet. My dad told me a little about his childhood and I found it to be interesting. Reason why I purchased this book was that I was curious about his life and wanted to learn more. Some of the stories were fascinating. The downfall of this book was that there were not enough stories. I wish the authour would have focused more on the stories about him, then of the other celebs mentioned in the book. I was not interested in hearing about what every movie he did was about. Nor did I care to read about Pam Dawbers bio. If I would have, i would have bought her book. Overall the book, was fairly good. I would reccommend this book to anyone.



2. My personal opinion was that this book was written for people who wanted to know what it was like for Robin Williams in Hollywood. I feel the author does too many take offs on other actors and actresses he names in the book and also on movies and TV shows mentioned. I wished for a true insight into the life of Robin, what kind of person he is and what kind of childhood he experienced. In the preface or early it is stated that Robin's lawyer is not in support of this author writing this book and that lawsuits will follow if needed, so this leads me to believe there is not a lot of substantial facts for the basis. i am enjoying gleaning what I can.



3. This books tells the story of Robin Williams but jumps around the point, and discusses things in a very sentimental way. It is as if Dougan is afraid to say something straight out. It's a simple book going strictly chronologically through Robin's life. The book has good information and very interesting but it concentrates on Robin's career more than the man himself. Yet still, it is worth reading.



4. or "Robin Williams - who is he?" - these would be more correct titles for the book. Since the book tells us something about Robin Williams. And does not answer the question, on who he really is. Despite its rather promising beginning, with the clues to Williams' character being searched through his childhood and a general atmosphere of turbulent 60s, the book does not go far in developing its few ideas. It looks like the author is sinking in unnecessary details of TV and movie production process, which have little to do with Robin Williams as a person and an actor. I hope that one of my favorite actors will come up with his own autobiography, and the book's title "Robin Williams" will be trully justified.



5. If you want to read a two hundred fifty page tabloid, then look no further. Andy Dougan's choice of words, for the presintation of Robin's life, contains too many of his personal opinions and feelings. If I wanted to read about someone's feelings, then I would wait for Robin to write an autobiography. Since the book has such an informal tone the "facts" about Robin's life are easily questioned. This book will be recorded as the longest tabloid article in history.