5 comments about Law Without Values: The Life, Work, and Legacy of Justice Holmes.

1. This book is meant as a polemic against Oliver Wendell Holmes, and in particular, how his skeptical worldview can seen in his decisions.

   Here's the thing: I, personally, like Holmes and actually quite admire his skeptical philosophy. So, much of what the author sees as Holmes's faults, I tend to see as his strenghts. The fact that he had no use for ideas of natural law and objective 'right answers;' the fact that he recognized (to my eyes) the reality that social life is an ongoing struggle of interest against interest; his view that rights are not naturally existing, self-evident things, but only have validity through positive law.

   There are two reasons I mention the chasm between what the author thought were strikes against Holmes, that I thought were points in Holmes' favor. First, this leads me to conclude that the this book 'preaches to the choir.' It will only convert the converted; if you dislike Holmes and the skeptical turn in law and society, you will like this book. If you admire Holmes and the skeptical turn he helped usher in, you will not be convinced here that you are wrong.

   The second reason I bring up the above chasm between mine and the author's take, is taht he really doesn't ARGUE so much as he might do something like simply say: "Holmes was a social darwinist who didn't see a grand purpose to life..." He simply assumes that the reader will addend the sentence with a tacit: "...and those traits are disgusting." There is even a chapter called "Would you have Wanted Holmes for a Friend?" which does exactly this: it points out the traits the author thinks are ugly about Holmes, and ASSUMES without further argument that the reader will concur. "Holmes was detached from having many friendships...[and wouldn't that be just like that sour old man. Hmmph!]" For my part, I wasn't convinced.

   The other criticism I have is that the last chapter - which allegedly shows that the skepticism Holmes has ushered in is still with us today - was about as close to a joke as an academic book can produce. The author goes on about teen pregnancy, the rising crime rates, and, yes, even the fact that Americans are runnning deficits. Apparently this all links back to Holmes. To say it bluntly, this chapter seemed so far afield and widely stretched that this nicely written academic book was capped off by a chapter straight out of Pat Robertson's 700 Club. Hmm...

   So there you have it: the book is good in that it is well-researched, clearly written and interesting as all get out. It is also one of the few books that really explores Holmes the philosopher as much as Holmes the Justice [see also The Essential Holmes, Posner, Richard (Ed.)] But if you are not a Holmes-hater before you go into this book, you will not be when you come out - and vice versa. For all the author's research and 'expose' of Holmes' personality, philosophy, and methods, he simply ASSUMES what he is supposed to prove: that Holmes is the villian the author says he is, and that these traits are the be-all end-all they are assumed to be.




2. The author might have explored Holmes's skepticism more, but he oddly leaves many questions open that he could have addressed. What values should drive the law? We are left wondering.



3. In his own day, Holmes was revered as the greatest, wisest judge in the English-speaking world. Today, however, Holmes' significance is downplayed in law schools across America, or he is trashed as he is in this book. The dramatic decline in Holmes' popularity and influence has resulted from his opinion in a single case, Buck v. Bell (1927), in which Holmes advocated sterilization of "imbeciles." Since the Holocaust, sterilization is understandably unpopular, especially among Jews, who dominate the faculties at America's top law schools and write many widely-used casebooks. Holmes, who wrote his opinion in Buck v. Bell long before the Holocaust, has been lumped into the Nazi camp (the Nazis tried to use Buck v. Bell at Nuernberg to defend their practices) by modern liberals, and many so-called "legal scholars" now dismiss Holmes' ideas without consideration and do not include his opinions in their casebooks. One of the central tenets of historiography is that it is improper to judge historical figures by the moral standards of today. Alschuler violates this principle again and again--excoriating a great mind because of the way its ideas were used by others. Compare this book to THE ESSENTIAL HOLMES, which is both scholarly and readable. It is also written by Judge Posner, an influential modern jurist respected by liberals and conservatives. Do your own reasoning, draw your own conclusions, and be fooled by no one.



4. This book is extremely well written, thoroughly researched and possessing the profound perspective of a wise and intelligent writer exercising his science and art with a passion that can be felt just beneath the surface of cool academic analysis. This book is not only of interest to legal historians and philosophers of law, but to any reader wishing to take hold of the main threads which run through the cultural landscape of the modern world.



5. Oliver Wendell Holmes is a towering figure in our history, even if, like me, you only learned his name in school and only know he was a supreme court justice, or else he wrote books, didn't he? Or was that his Dad? But it turns out that what Holmes the justice thought is of crucial importance to key legal issues of today. Holmes can be seen as a major pragmatist thinker, and pragmatism can be seen as a major source of our current culture wars. I came across Holmes via Allan Bloom and, oddly, Edmund Wilson. I heard about Holmes' Civil War experiences and how he believed that the law is quote unquote only what men are willing to die for, and I was hooked, and looked around for a book that would best examine Holmes life, thought, and impact, and finally decided on this book by Alschuler. The book is thematic rather than chronological. And I don't think Alschuler argues very well. He tends to write impressionistically, and IMHO he indulges in smear tactics. For example, "Would you want to have Holmes as a friend?" But surely whether Holmes would make a good friend is irrelevant to the character of his thought. But Alschuler also manages to convey some of the wonderful issues at play in this arena for a non-lawyer such as myself. For me the book was like a window into an alien universe that I've actually been living in unknowingly all along. So I forced my way throught it. It's not long, less than 190 pages plus notes.

1 comments about Hot Rod Pioneers: The Creators of the Fastest Sport on Wheels.

1. Wow, did this book take me back. If you consider yourself a hot rod guru, how can you not have this book on your shelf. Ed Almquist (to whom the industry owes a great debt of gratitude) gives a first-hand account of the men and events that shaped hot rod history. Big Daddy Don Garlits writes a great Intro. And I noticed it was published by the Society of Automotive Engineers -- who better to publish a hot rod book?

   It only took me about a week or two to get (even though it said something like four weeks). Hundreds of photos of the most memorable rods in American history. You should really see for yourself and let me know what you think.

No comments about Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion.

1 comments about Puritan Family Life: The Diary of Samuel Sewall.

1. Graham has crafted a warm and engaging portrait of family life among 18c. New England merchants and ministers. She reviews and challenges much past scholarship on childhood in early modern Europe and America. Popular readers may find the historiographical discussion tedious, but professional historians, local historians, and genealogists will appreciate Graham's painstaking research and common-sense assessment of Puritan parents' attitudes towards their children.

5 comments about Rebels in Blue: The Story of Keith and Malinda Blalock.

1. I live in the area where all the Blalock's called home (Keith Blalock) is buried about 4 miles from my home). After purchasing and reading the book, I tried to locate some of the sources listed in the bibliography that were supposedly housed at Appalachain State Library in Boone, NC. These sources DO NOT EXIST according to the head of the NC room at the library. As a historical book, its "facts" are fictional. As a fiction book, it does provide interesting reading.



2. Malinda Blalock , the young mountain woman who fought along side her husband in the Civil War in the North Carolina mountains deserves to be much more famous than she is. In 1862, dressed as a boy, Malinda Blalock enlisted in the Confederacy,when her husband Keith was conscripted. When Keith received a medical discharge, Malinda went back to the mountains with him, and the pair became Union bushwackers for the duration of the war. Malinda's tale of courage and determination is an inspiration, and a wonderful look at the other side of the South: the one in which women were not "belles" to be protected, but comrades who did a man's job a century before such a lifestyle became fashionable. Peter Stevens' book is a introduction to the story of Malinda, but many of his "facts" are wrong, and for examples of her daily living he cites examples of rural life from the autobiographical works of Emma Bell Miles, a writer who lived 50 years later in another state-- hardly an accurate portrayal. Ironically, the most accurate account to date of the life and times of Malinda Blalock is not a non-fiction book, but a novel. "Ghost Riders" by Sharyn McCrumb is wonderfully written, meticulously researched, with three pages of source materials. It tells the real story of Malinda in cinematic clarity, with the virtue of accuracy. Malinda Blalock is a woman well worth remembering, and at last she has a book to do her justice-- read "Ghost Riders"!



3. This is the nonfiction telling of a married couple from North Carolina who both served in both the Confederate and Union Armies during the Civil War. It would make a great novel, but the story is told here with a few too many footnotes and not enough about the intriguing Malinda. It makes me curious to know about other women who may have served in the Civil War disguised as men.



4. I am the grt. grt. grt. grt. niece of the "daring and notoriuous" Col. George W. Kirk. Over the years I have done a great deal of research on Kirk, and, as the author did, often came across mention of the Blalocks, and I, too, was fascinated by the couple. From what I knew of the Rebels in Blue, I was certain that if someone could do the research and connect all of the fragmented material the result would be a fantastic thriller, full of real-life colorful characters. It is a story of loyalty and rebelion, devotion and betrayal, love and hate,freinds and foes,survival and death, heroes and villains - the story of my family's heritage as well as our nation's. The end result of Steven's writing the book that I had longed for far exceeded my expectations, and I am certain that any who read Rebels in Blue will agree that this story is well worth reading.



5. I found this book strictly by accident at the library. Being a Civil War buff all my life and reading any biography I can get my hands on during that period, I was really thrilled when I came across this book.

   It is wonderful to read about Keith and Malinda Blalock and all they endured and suffered. A great accounting of their lives and those around them. Their exploits in the mountains of North Carolina was riviting. I couldn't put this book down.

   The only disappointment was the author did not get more into Keith and Malinda's lives and the lives of their children once they returned to their home after the war. It would have been interesting to read about their children that they had and their lives.

   The author did a wonderful job researching the Blalocks and all that they lived through.

   A must read for any history-loving person who loves biographies.

3 comments about The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880Ð1955.

1. This was an interesting book, but not entirely satisfactory. There is a wealth of material to be found here, but one gets the feeling that the historian did not explore numerous topics in great detail. Many of Robert R. McCormick's relatives are mentioned, but seldom are their lives discussed at length. I was left wanting to know much more than what was provided in the biography. I had the feeling that there was more material that could have been added to the text, but the author or publisher wanted to produce a book of a certain length and did not want to exceed a given number of pages. Still, the book whetted my appetite for further reading on the same topic.
   
   My paternal grandfather listened to the Colonel's broadcasts on WGN Radio each Sunday night and laughed out loud at the publisher's pronouncements according to what I was told by my own father. I have visited McCormick estate at Cantigny and live within walking distance of the North Shore Channel that McCormick built while serving as the President of the Metropolitan Sanitary District, but, even after reading this superb biography, the man's character seems elusive.
   
   The only fault that I found in the text is that Smith likes to move the narrative back and forth too often for my liking. A McCormick family member drops out of the proceedings without a solitary mention for several chapters and just as suddenly reappears and then the reader is informed about all of the significant events that took place in the intervening decade concerning this individual. This becomes tedious.
   
   Smith tells you what the Colonel said and did, but seldom suggests why he acted as he did. For example, McCormick was socially ostracized after his first marriage and forced to relocate from the North Shore to DuPage County, but I still cannot see what possessed him to conduct an affair with a relative's spouse (the couple married after the woman's divorce was granted).
   
   Colonel McCormick was an astute businessman and made wise long term investments in Canadian paper mills that benefitted his publication.
   As influential as McCormick was in terms of national politics, his antagonism towards local Republican party bosses and his friendly relations with Democratic city officials may have caused irreparable injury to the fortunes of the Republican party in Illinois.
   
   Chicago certainly could use a newspaper publisher of his caliber today. At least when McCormick headed "The Chicago Tribune" it stood for something. Today, it is a weak middle of the road journal with a declining number of subscribers. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Tribune printing plants handling regional editions of the paper would be closed.
   
   A digression:
   
   Richard Norton Smith is currently the curator for the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. He formerly headed the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Former US Senator Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois battled to place Smith in his current position when former Governor George H. Ryan (now serving a prison sentence related to official corruption) was attempting to fill the slot with a political hack.



2. This is a lengthy book full of interesting historical material. But, as for the man himself, I never got the feeling that I was getting more than a sketch of him. Could any author do better? McM had more than his share of quirks and he didn't suffer fools, or anyone else, gladly, so perhaps there is no way anyone will ever get too deep into the mind of the man. The main thing I took away from the book is that Robert R. McCormick was a good businessman and the oddest duck of his time. The book is not a difficult read but, after reading it, the man remains a cipher. After a detailed accounting the war with FDR, the author seemed to rush to get to the end of RRM's life. Far from being a sympathetic character, pathetic more easily comes to mind. RRM had lots of power and plenty of money but he lived in a very cold world of his own that it appears no one during his life, or readers of this book today, can enter.



3. In this book, Richard Norton Smith does a first-rate job of recounting McCormick's life, going far in seperating the man from the public image that we have of him today. Balanced and judicious, it also makes for excellent reading, as Smith presents McCormick's life in an engaging manner. If there is a flaw in the book, it is in Smith's failure to adequately explain how the view of McCormick as a hidebound reactionary came to overshadow many aspects of his life, such as his early career as a progressive in local politics, or his legal campaigns in support of the First Amendment. This is a must-read book for anybody interested in Chicago's past, the evolution of modern journalism, or the history of twentieth century America.

No comments about Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit's African American Community, 1918-1967 (African American Life Series).

5 comments about Howard Hughes: The Untold Story.

1. After finally watching the Aviator, I wanted to know more about Howard Hughes' life but wasn't sure which book to get since there were so many out there to choose from. The Untold Story turned out to be one of the most moving books I've read. I previously only knew him according to the reputation he had in his final years: bizarre recluse, deranged, weirdo, bilionnaire.
   
   Howard Hughes was an ace pilot. The 200 ton Spruce Goose was his personal triumph. This books brings to light his outlandish reality and his extraordinary and adventurous personal life: the many movies he produced, and his amazing influence on Hollywood censorship, purchasing the most Las Vegas resorts owned by one person, the McCarthy era, even Watergate and the fall of Nixon. It covers the many famous actresses he discovered, his womanizing and dating nearly every leading glamor queen. Jean Harlow, Ava Gardner, Giner Rogers, and Katharine Hepburn all dated this handsome playboy. It explains his passion of aviation, perilous record breaking flights as well as his three plane crashes, and his development of commercial flights (TWA). Howard Hughes was a genius inventor and head of a giant corporation which produced oil drill tools (which he inherited from his father). The book reveals his emotionally incestuous ties to his mother. his addictions, breakdowns and recoveries, disappearing acts such as when he locked himself in a studio room, didn't bathe for months, and watched the same movies 30 times in a row, eating only Hershey bars. His now-famous but then unknown obsessive-compulsive disorder produced full blown food fetishes such as counting chocolate chips in each germ-free cookie and eating his peas with a small rake. Who knows what might have happened, and how history might have changed, if doctors knew about Prozac in those days?
   
   The circumstances of his death remain mysterious and puzzling - to this day, no one is sure about how he died. Like his life, it was covered in a wall of secrecy. A compelling, sympathetic, and well-researched story (nearly 400,000 pages of court documents, 2,000 pages of FBI reports, and 600 interviews were used) about one of the most controversial, intriguing and extraordinary people.



2. After a while I got really tired of all of these starlets stories. I couldn't stop thinking " what a jerk" and how stupid all of these girls, and worse yet, their parents were.



3. I had read an earlier book on Hughes, Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes, and remembered it as a fascinating book. I purchased recently this newer book on Hughes, Howard Hughes: The Untold Story.
   
   It, too, was fascinating in its own National Inquirer kind of way! This particular book dealt more with Hughes' womanizing more than with his business empire. We are treated with endless stories of Hughes' conquest of Hollywood actress beginning in the early 20's up until his final pursuit of women in the late 1950s.
   
   The stories are truly fascinating to read and Brown's and Broeske's writing style certaining kept me engaged. One just has to wonder how one would have acted in Howard's place as he pursued women on a daily basis while in Hollywood. Simply amazing!
   
   The one drawback about this book that I was not anticipating was what made it so interesting: its dedication to his lothario lifestyle. In other words, by the time the story of Jean Peters (his last wife) rolls around, along with his last attempted affair with the starlet Yvonne Shubert, one starts to tire of reading exclusively about his sexual conquests.
   
   I found myself wondering how all of this tied in with his businesses. The authors did throw in just enough about his businesses for it all to make sense, but I don't think there was enough. In other words, this book dealt almost entirely with his sex life than anything else. There were enough tidbits about his paranoia, his germophobia, his Hollywood movie making, and his aviation exploits to keep the book moving.
   
   I recommend this book to read about the personable side of Howard and the book, Empire, to read about the business side of Howard. Both are excellent.



4. I watched Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" and was immediately interested in learning about the "real" Howard Hughes. This book more than satisfied my curiosity. I wasn't aware of the non-aviation contributions made by Hughes; satellites, seek and destroy missles. All very important to our national security. I had never heard of Hughes' connection to the Watergate scandal until I read this book.
   
   This publication was a page turner about a man that we'll most likely never learn the full truth about. A great read!



5. I first read this book to see what Howard Hughes was all about. I was not disappointed in the writing or information. It was well written and a page turner.
   
   I read bio books to learn more about the personal side of people - their lives & feelings/views on matters, how they handled personal situations more than just facts of their accomplishments. So therefore, this book was a great fit for me.
   
   A few reviews have said the book should have focused more on the specifics of how he handled his business affairs. This to me would be much more boring. There is just enough details of how and why he came up with his inventions, mechanics of flying, and drive to make profits without putting us to sleep.
   
   Enjoy a great read and learn about a fascinating person at the same time!

No comments about Letters from Honeyhill: A Woman's View of Homesteading 1914-1921.

5 comments about Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom.

1. Jack Fruchtman has done a fine job of giving us a total picture of Paine, warts and all. This is an intelligent, balanced and humane treatment of the life of a complex man who tends to be either demonized or deified by those who write about him. Highly recommended.



2. One of the most enjoyable biographies I've ever read. This book is meticulously researched and well written. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the ideas and the spirit of one of the most important figures of the American Revolution.



3. When asked to name the Founding Fathers of America, most people will name Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin. Those who have read a book or two on the early America may also say Adams, Hamilton, and Madison.

   I bet that very few people would name Thomas Paine. That is unfortunate and would be fixed quickly if this book were more widely read.

   "Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom" devotes little time to Paine's early years, focusing mainly on his life after arriving in America a few years before Independence.

   Before reading this fine biography, I had not given Thomas Paine much thought beyond being the author of "Common Sense". I now realize the many roles he played in both the American and French revolutions and in furthering the cause of freedom and liberty in an age of monarchy.

   Also check out:

   - "Tom Paine and Revolutionary America" by Eric Foner
   - "46 Pages: Tom Paine, Common Sense, and the Turning Point to Independence" by Scott Liell
   - "Tom Paine: A Political Life" by John Keane

   Highly Recommended!




4. In the hierarchy of founding fathers, Thomas Paine is not in the top echelon, but he is significant. His principal contribution was Common Sense, a pamphlet that spurred the independence movement in the early days of the Revolution.

   One of the themes that seemed to run through Paine's life was a commitment to ideology that often had negative effects. While he was a man who backed his words with actions, he did it at a cost: he had few lifelong relationships, he was often broke and he even spent a year in jail, with the threat of execution constantly hanging over him. In the conflict between idealism and practicality, Paine favored the former.

   Fruchtman's biography does a good job in describing this important historical figure. At times slow (I feel because there are points in Paine's life that aren't very interesting), it is overall a good, educational read. It makes me feel that if Paine had exercised a little bit more common sense in his own life, he might have been even a greater man.




5. The American Revolution's roots in the British which many people thought was 'betrayed' by parliament when it restored the monarchy, the roots of common British and American democratic ideals emerging from the dissenting religions and their notions of justice and equality (it's said that British socialism has more Methodism than Marx in it), the frustrations and ideals of British republicans who invested so much of their hope in the American colonies (not then 'United') shows that even in the l8th century (and presumably before and since) there is a community of men and women who, irrespective of nationality, place justice and liberty above all other human aspirations. What we learn from this book was that Tom Paine wasn't just a great British radical, a great founding father of the American Revolution, an active member of the revolutionary French Tribunal -- he was a critic of all unearned or abused authority wherever he saw it -- from George III to George Washington -- and that he foresaw a world in which every soul enjoyed the same rights and liberties. It was his internationalism, his understanding of the drawbacks as well as the virtues of populist democracy, that made him so relevant to modern readers. You can be sure that Tom Paine would have been at the Seattle demonstrations and would have no doubt been considerably more eloquent in his criticisms of international big business than anyone alive today! He speaks to us as clearly and as authoritatively as he spoke to his first readers -- who made his work best-sellers in America, Britain and France -- and this is the first book I have read which does its great subject the justice he deserves. He shouldn't just have a statue in Washington -- he should have one in London and Paris. It is his ideas of common liberty and justice which unite people around the world, perhaps even more now than in his own day. Read this book and you will understand how valuable democracy is and how hard it was to win, how hard it remains to keep it vital and uncorrupted. Everyone interested in modern politics should read this book.