5 comments about Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend.

1. The information is great, but it just did not grab my attention. I love the photos of the family and era.



2. Much has been written about this icon of American outlaw mythology. If you are into the facts in detail, and an even-handed view of this subject, then I would highly recommend this book. If you are looking for an exciting tale, full of action and mayhem, you might wish to look elsewhere. All in all, it's a fine read with a lot of facts, and would make an excellent text source for a univerity class. There is a lot of interesting material within, such as Frank James' life after his brother's death. It's well worth the price of admission into this world.



3. This is high-quality 19th century history that captures the tension with which the James brothers lived. It places the reader in Frank and Jesse's historical and geographical context. Above all, it is fair. Yeatman lets the reader decide. Frank emerged as particularly complex, because he was able to straddle the life of a respectable taxpayer and a dangerous outlaw.
   
   This work is particularly poignant, because of current U.S. debates about government spying, habeas corpus, posse comitatus and many other issues that matter as much today, as they did in the days leading up to the Civil War and Reconstruction.
   
   Yeatman's handling of the James brothers Civil War material is particularly deft.
   
   Yeatman's work is filled with numerous historical gems, such as Bess Truman's family's connection to the James brothers; Phil Sheridan's connection to the bombing of the James Sammeul home.



4. I have to agree with some of the reviews of Mr. Yeatman's book.
   This is extremely poorly written. If I had wanted to read a Civil War recantation, I'd go back and re-read the many in my library.
   While some of the historical references during that period may be necessary background for the James family, more often times than not, in this book, the author flies off on a tangent leaving the reader wondering "what happened?"
   Trying to muddle through this book is like wandering through a blizzard. There are moments when the snow clears, only to be shrouded again moments later.
   Where were the editors? A fascinating subject that has been sadly botched by this effort in my humble opinion.



5. That any reviewer can grant this book five stars, as some here have, boggles the mind. I have to seriously ask them what books they read that they consider this one worthy of such a high rating. Yes, the subject of the James boys is inherently fascinating and, yes, Ted Yeatman's research was extensive, which is worth one extra star, but as a writer he failed to present his material in an interesting fashion. First, he is too much in love with facts and uses them whether they are necessary or not. (I do not need to know, as just one example, the name of every insignificant Missouri militia outfit that ever marched in the same county as the James boys unless that name is relevant to them. Footnotes would have been a better location if Yeatman felt compelled to include this arcane data.) Another reason the narrative bogs down is that Yeatman failed to heed his word processor's grammar checker when it pointed out the thousands of passive sentences he wrote. Or perhaps he had that feature turned off. If so, he should flick it back on immediately. Lastly, a good writer spins out a narrative that flows like water. Yeatman's jumbled writing contains too many icebergs the reader must dodge or sink in the process.
   
   I am not yet finished reading it and am not certain that I can continue to the end much as I want to learn about the James boys. What a shame. Bad writing made this book a great waste of the author's extensive knowledge. I fail to understand why Cumberland House published this book without extensive editing or not publish it at all. Obviously, they thought the subject material would carry it.

5 comments about Mr. Jefferson's Women.

1. Thomas Jefferson is one of the most troubling characters among America's founding fathers. He penned the immortal ideals of freedom and equality in the Declaration of Independence. We, from our modern perspective, also like the fact that he was an intellectual and that he brought refreshing informality to the White House. In recent years, his reputation has been tarnished by re-examination of his disturbing political tendencies. (See for example, John Adams and Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power). This book provides additional insights into Jefferson's character by examining his relation to the women in his life, and the insights add more tarnish to Jefferson's reputation that go beyond the understandably archaic attitudes that might belong to a man of his time. As clearly documented here, "all men created equal" applied no more to women than to blacks in Jefferson's mind. Each woman discussed here provides additional perspective. As to the Sally Hemings controversy, Kukla carefully lays out enough circumstantial details to undermine the most strident doubter.
   
   A fine book, worthy of a wider audience.



2. I really enjoyed reading this book. The author wrote it in a way that both educates and compells you to read more. I found it hard to put down. My favorite parts were very personal, real-life events that made Mr. Jefferson even more real to me. My favorite is, during his presidency, an account of his chosen attire while welcoming a Rep. of the British King. He was wearing well worn slippers that he tossed around on his toes (priceless!). I also found the additional quotes and excerpts of letters from people such as Abigail Adams and others a welcome addition. Kudos to the author for such an insighful, wonderful, well thought out book about Jefferson and the various forms of relationships with women during his life.



3. Just when you thought you had read everything...Jon Kukla presents a very readable portrait of Jefferson's "relationships" with women--which leads to new insights about this great man--and, more interestingly, his attitudes towards women in general. The final chapters about his broader view of women as a threat to republican government place Jefferson in the context of his time. There is a remarkable discussion of Jefferson and Abigail Adams' letters. The book is eminently fair about Sally Hemings and gives a new meaning to the notion that "all men are created equal". Thank you, Jon Kukla, for beginning a lively conversation that is well worth your engagement.



4. Why does even the prospect that Jefferson was with Sally Hemings bother you so much ?



5. There is not a scintilla of evidence linking Thomas Jefferson with Sally Hemings and her brood.Nature magazine TIMIDLY "corrected" itself for its faux pas in 1999, however, the media has continued to ignore the fact that there is NO EVIDENCE.Kukla just capitalizes on the public's juvenille tendency to support these ficto-spectacles,P.T.Barnum was correct about "suckers."

4 comments about His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad.

1. My daughter needed this book for research of slavery. It was great for her and she learned alot!



2. I ordered this book after seeing an interesting reference to it in an article in Smithsonian Magazine. I am so very glad I did.It is an amazing book, a very rare combination of thought provoking historical narrative, and Indiana Jones-ish excitement. I only wish it had been ten times as long-I would have devoured it. If I hadn't read the preface, which gives the background, I would have thought it was fiction, and pretty darn nail biting fiction at that.
   I have given quite a bit of thought to this book, wondering what I would have done, given the same situation, and concluded that you can only hope you would be strong enough to rise to the circumstances, but fear is a powerful deterrent.I am giving my copy to the history department chair at my daughters' high school, and will ask them to consider making it a part of the curriculum.



3. I brought this book some time ago and just got around to reading it. Well, let me tell you that I can kick myself for not reading it sooner. You will get through this book so fast your head would spin because it is so interesting you will not want to put it down. John P. Parker, my hero.



4. John Parker's autobiography is an engrossing and often surprising account of the activities of the Underground Railroad. Parker was born and lived as a slave until buying his freedom and moving to Ripley, Ohio. There he joined forces with Rev. John Rankin in helping slaves cross the Ohio River and escape to Canada. His account is lucid, swift-moving, rambunctious, and highly literate. He describes the Ohio River Valley as "the Borderland," comparing it to the lawless, violent Scots/English border. The border, constantly raided by Abolitionists helping steal men, women, and children out of slavery and patrolled by slave-owning vigilantes intent on catching them, simmers in as treacherous a state of unrest and violence as any "Wild West" town at its worst. Parker never walks the streets of Ripley without a pistol, knife, and black jack in his belt. He never admits to working for the Underground Railroad, especially after passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, but pretty much everyone in the region knows that he does, putting his life in constant danger.

   Parker's account abounds in hair-breadth escapes, heart-rending failures, and startling heroics. He also reveals aspects of the Underground Railroad that one never suspects but which seem inevitable after he describes them, such as the competition that developed between John Rankin's Ripley, Ohio branch of the Railroad and Levi Coffin's Cincinnati group. Parker insists that Coffin was merely the better publicist, not the better rescuer of the two. It's also clear that for Parker rescuing slaves was not merely a fierce moral imperative but also an activity touched with excitement, zest--even, strange as this sounds, fun. There is an element of sport to his activities, despite their grim, life and death seriousness. Parker is obviously bold, intelligent, crafty--good at what he does--and he relishes the hard-won triumphs of courage and guile that allow him to free his fellow slaves.

   It's hard to say what place &qu! ot;His Promised Land" will take in American literature. It will not, I don't think, replace Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of an American Slave" as the country's premier account of the experience of slavery. It's not as powerful, relentless, or literarily self-conscious an account as Douglass's great work. But it may prove to be, for the Underground Railroad, what Sam Watkins's "Co. Aytch" is for the Civil War: perhaps the most engaging, colorful, and moving account by an 'ordinary extraordinary' man in one of this country's most agonizing and dramatic conflicts.

3 comments about Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave & Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Modern Library MM).

1. These two books are sometimes very hard going, but essential reading for Americans. We probably tend to think about slavery very much in the abstract, when we even think about it, but these narratives make it painfully palpable and very human. In a way complementary to Akhil Reed Amar's brilliant description of the way slavery thoroughly corrupted the American political system (in his America's Constitution), these books reveal in detail the thoroughgoing and extraordinary moral perversion slaveholding caused in individual lives - to some extent those of slaves, but much more those of slave owners, poor southern whites, and complicit northerners. Of course we also see the brutality, horrors and deprivations of slave life.
   
   Douglass' narrative is better known than Jacobs.' Among many other things, how he taught himself to write is a remarkable story of shrewdness and determination against all odds. Jacobs' was an appalling life of virtually constant sexual harassment from an early age, which was undoubtedly a normal situation for many female slaves. What she went through to escape it is hard to imagine, and her single-minded determination to see her children free is incredible. The picture she gives of the distortions slavery caused in slaveholding families - lecherous men unconstrained by law or convention, angry and vengeful wives, gossip and whispering among white and black children and adults, children sold by their fathers to get the family features and relations out of sight and mind, and the increasing corruption of individuals' characters this caused over time - again, hard going but essential reading. A peculiar institution, ordained by God, good for the slave and slaveholder alike. Indeed.



2. simply astounding! totally shatters those awful and ever-infectious civil war era romantic notions. be gone, "gone with the wind!" many thanks be to the spirits of mr. douglass and ms. jacobs for surviving their tremendous struggles to give us truth! recommend these books to others (especially the crowd that chooses to separate the "human stock" question from intellectual discussions of the civil war era).



3. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" (first published in 1845) and Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (1861) are probably the two most powerful examples of the slave narrative. This literary form represents the first-person accounts of individuals who have lived as slaves. The Modern Library has paired these two essential American texts in a single edition, with an introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah and commentaries by Jean Fagan Yellin and Margaret Fuller.

   Together, "Narrative" and "Incidents" offer a male and female perspective on the institution that has left lasting scars on America. These texts are well written, and rich in social and political insights. Both authors graphically illustrate, for example, how the Judeo-Christan Bible and the Christian church were used as tools to support the racist system of slavery. Douglass provides a powerful window into the importance of literacy as a tool by which he escaped a slave mentality. And Jacobs incisively deconstructs the twisted strands of race, gender, power, and sexuality that tied together slaveowning culture.

   "Narrative" and "Incidents" are compelling pieces of literature. Moreover, the authors' themes can be seen as foundational for many later works of United States literature: Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Toni Morrison's "Beloved," Octavia Butler's "Kindred," and many other texts. Even a popular film like "The Matrix" echoes the slave narratives in some aspects.

   Douglass and Jacobs are prime examples of writers who superbly combined literary craftsmanship with an intense political commitment. Their achievements make them crucial figures in the field of African-American studies. This combined edition of their outstanding books should be celebrated by teachers, students, reading groups, church study groups, and individual readers.

2 comments about All Things for Good: The Steadfast Fidelity of Stonewall Jackson (Leaders in Action Series).

1. First let me say that the "Leaders in Action" series is tremendous (check the rest of them out--Robert E. Lee, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, William Wilberforce and more). They are biographies which deal not only with facts, but also with the character and faith of historical figures. Every school age child should read these books and take these role models to heart.
   
   The great thing about this book is that it gives a solid summary of Stonewall Jackson's life and history as well as a thorough examination of his faith and values. If you can believe it, I was almost brought to tears by the account of his death. Especially for Civil War buffs--this is a must read.



2. This is an excellent look inside the life of Thomas Johnathan "Stonewall" Jackson.
   
   Reverend Wilkins does an excellent job of researching first-hand accounts of the important events that occurred during Jackson's life and how they refined him into the man that God made him.

5 comments about A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer.

1. I am interested in these sorts of events, I have a degree in political science so I am interested in government officials, and as a graduate student I read boring things all the time. This book is worse than any policy review or textbook I have ever had to read.
   
   To be honest I could not make it through the entire book because it was that inane. The first chapter is almost entirely who attended the funeral. Okay, fair enough, perhaps such a synopsis is necessary to introduce everyone who will show up in later events. And then the second chapter tells you how as a child, Mary was forced to attend her parents' poolside parties where baby peacock was served on plates set afloat in the pool. Who cares? Well, not me.
   
   The events behind the book are probably very interesting; this treatment of them, however, is not. Skip it, or get it at the library. (No, really, read something else.)



2. President Kennedy was not all we thought at the time. We reverd him, his family life and all that he did. This is an eye opening book and as such, necessary reading for the times we lived through with rose colored glasses.



3. I'm not a professional book reviewer and I realize I'm a year or two too late, but this story is unbelievable. First of all the title, "A Very Private Woman", is completely misleading. Mary Meyer was not a very private woman she was an exhibitionist of the first rate. Her attempts at being "different" appear to merely be efforts to be recognized. From her early beginnings in a completely disfunctional family, to her own disfunctional family she continued to show herself as one who demanded recognition and would do anything to get it. If anyone wonders what's gone wrong in this country read this book about Mary Meyer and her many associates who appeared to be adulterers, alcoholics, druggies, and anything else you can think of, while at the same time deciding what the course of the country should be. Really unbelievable!



4. The story of Mary Pinchot Meyer is a lot more interesting than this book. Occasionally, the author tries to recreate scenes and conversations on a pretty slim set of facts, supposing what may have motivated very private people she never met.
   
   Oh, and Dean Acheson was not *Under-Secretary* of State! Did this woman read anything about diplomacy, the Cold War, or Washington society between 1940 and 1965? How could she and her copy editor not know that Dean Acheson was our Secretary of State, and a major figure in post-war Washington?
   
   Washington was a very exciting place to be -- but you won't get the full description of those times in this book. too bad.



5. What a great book to escape into. This is a quick read, and a must for anyone who is fascinated with both the Kennedy's and the early 60s. Sure makes you think about what it must have been like to know JFK and be part of his private circle. I definately recommend this book!

5 comments about Franklin Delano Roosevelt (The American Presidents).

1. This abridged version is read by Richard Rohan & he even tries his hand at FDR inflections. This is a pretty good overview of FDR's life,but you wouldn't expect much depth with 3.5 hrs. running time on a CD. Roy Jenkins died shortly after or maybe a little before this was completed. Arthur Schlesinger jr. edited. But the tone gets more reveverential towards the end. Not really Jenkins style so maybe Mr. Schlesinger finished. But there is no doubt that FDR was the most influential president of the 20th century. His impact is still very much with us.



2. The New Deal, Social Security, World War II. FDR was the greatest president of the 20th century. He was a polio victim with braces on his legs. Perhaps America needed such a leader to get it through the Depression and the war with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. We have seen the video of FDR addressing Congress following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: "December 7, 1941, a day which will live in infamy!" Americans volunteered for military service in droves. They fought the Japs island by island. Army engineers built the Alaska Highway, stretching 1500 miles from Dawson Creek, Canada to Fairbanks. After Pearl Harbor, the fear was that Japan might take Alaska. Japan bombed the two western-most Aleutian Islands. Roosevelt was president the same years Adolph Hitler was in power in Germany, 1933-45. Roosevelt and his staunch ally, Winston Churchill, proved tougher than Hitler. Roosevelt was elected 4 times as there was no two-term limit. Roosevelt's archrival, Hitler, was born in 1889 in the Austrian town of Braunau. In his youth, Hitler wanted to be an artist. He lived and struggled in Vienna. It was there that he came to hate Jews and Communists. He believed in an Aryan master race. He fought against Britain in World War I. He joined the Nazi Party and went to prison after a failed coup. Hitler dictated Mein Kampf (My Struggles) to Rudolf Hess in prison. After his release, he reorganized the Nazi Party and surrounded himself with men like Himmler, Goebbels and Goering. Hitler became German chancellor in 1933. World War II began when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Germany occupied France, bombed London and attacked Russia. The United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Americans landed at Normandy Beach on the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and drove the Germans back. They met their Russian allies, who poured in from the east to crush the Nazis. Hitler and his companion, Eva Braun, committed suicide. It came to light that 6 million Jews had been exterminated in what is now called the Holocaust. America helped to rebuild Europe with the Marshall plan. Donald Rumsfeld's "Old Europe" became a suburb of the U.S. in light of the Soviet threat. The time has come the United States to put itself first. If the U.S is going to police the world, the world must pay for that protection. Police cannot work for free. Government is about war and money. Too often, it is a gang of thugs terrorizing its own people. Government should exist to serve. Its best form is democratic, not totalitarian, neither fascist nor Communist. Government needs to foster education, promote arts and sciences and care for the aged and disabled. It must encourage agriculture and facilitate transportation and communication.



3. avoid books where the author's personality and florid prose obscure the subject. besides, what precisely does jenkins have against short sentences and one-dollar words?



4. The late Roy Jenkins, in assessing Roosevelt, rates him in the top three of all American Presidents, along with Washington and Lincoln. Whether you like FDR or whether you are one of his critics, it is hard to dispute Jenkins' conclusion. Jenkins believes that had FDR not run for a third term, he would have been one of the better, near great Presidents, but that it took WWII to make him the icon he became. Jenkins fails to point out that FDR did not create any appreciable number of private sector jobs prior to WWII and that, in fact, unemployment was almost as high as it was eight years earlier, when he took office. The reason may be that Jenkins had been a Labour Party member of the House of Commons, accordingly, his world view was that of a government interventionist. However, I ultimately agree that nontheless, FDR was, at least, a better than average President during the depression years, due to the great optimism that he conveyed.
   
   I believe that Jenkins is correct, that FDR became one of the greatest Presidents due to the war. He led the United States in a great mobilization effort. Certainly, responding to events can make one great and FDR's optimistic leadership during the war made him great. This does not mean that he is beyond criticism, and Jenkins offers very little of that. Again, as a Labour party menmber, he would not have been as staunchly anticommunist as a Conservative, such as Churchill or later, Thatcher. Therefore, he spares FDR of any criticism for Yalta. His view is that since the USSR already occupied Poland, there was nothing to give away.
   
   I must contrast this book with another book in the American Presidents series, Tom Wicker's biography of Eisenhower. Wicker could find almost nothing Ike did as President that did not deserve criticism. Jenkins, on the other hand, finds little, in FDR, to criticise. An example is his absolving FDR from any real criticism for not taking in more Jewish refugees during the holocaust.
   
   This series of books constitues short biographies, thus it is not possible for the authors to be comprehensive. However, Jenkins covers a lot of ground. He gives a lot of coverage to FDR's career prior to his presidency. This is something Wicker failed to do, in his biography of Eisenhower, regarding Eisenhower's prepresidential career. Still, there was much Jenkins could not cover. For example, FDR went to great legnths to hide his disability. In a television documentary, it was revealed that he always would hang on to the arm of either a secret service agent or one of his sons and, by pretty much thrusting his hips forward, would give the illusion of walking. The legnths FDR went to are certainly fascinating but, I recognize that this book was too short to cover it in depth.
   
   Perhaps this biography was a little too adoring. The fact that there is much to criticise does not detract from the fact, that ultimately, FDR was indeed one of the truly great Presidents. Still, Jenkins covers a lot of material and I highly recommend this short biography.



5. This is a very good brief introduction to Roosevelt, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a brief understanding of Roosevelt. It is very easy to read and suitable for high school students. Being written by a man from Britain, it also shows how the world views FDR - as one of the most important leaders in world history.
   
   You will not acquire a thorough understanding of FDR by reading this book. For that I would suggest the huge "Champion of Freedom" by Conrad Black.
   
   In response to Mister Syzek, my understanding the post-war settlement is that Stalin broke violated the Yalta agreement, which was quite favorable to the west. FDR achieved most of what he wanted, including the stipulation that Eastern Europe was to have elections. But Stalin broke his promises and controlled Poland despite the agreements that FDR was able to extract from Stalan. FDR got the deal in writing. Stalin did not abide by it.
   
   Stalin was determined to control Poland no matter what, so Poland was firmly in his grip, despite what the actual terms of the agreement said. Staling went so far as to say that it was "a matter of life or death."
   
   Franklin Roosevelt was a geopolitical realist, and the reality is that the Soviet armies controlled Eastern Europe and Poland, and the USSR would be willing to fight - and win - to stay. The American people had no enthusiasm for yet another world war againt Russia. They wanted their soldiers home. Maybe you should ask the American people why they were not willing to suffer 5 million killed for Poland. You see, in America you must deal with these pesky things called voters and democracy.
   
   To complicate the matter, the Soviet Union took the brunt of the war (17 million dead), and Stalin was rigidly determined to secure a buffer between Mother Russia and Western Europe. Stalin would not have budged on his goal.
   
   So what Roosevelt obtained from Stalin was the best he could obtain - firm promises from Stalin to hold elections. It was Stalin who broke his promises. That made the Soviet Union look like the bad guy.
   
   Truman then waged the Cold War (without the millions of dead from a hot war) leading to an eventual liberation of Eastern Europe. It's no surprise that Reagan was a huge fan of Roosevelt, voted for him four times, and attended his third inauguration (a moving event for Reagan). Reagan then brought an end to the Cold War without firing a shot.
   
   You may be able to criticize Truman for not liberating Eastern Europe while American had a monopoly on the atomic bomb... or Eisenhower. After all, USSR staged a coup in Czechoslovakia and then staged a brutal crushing of the revolt in Hunguary in which tens of thousands were killed. Clearly this was in violation of the agreement that FDR was able to extract from Stalin. It was the USSR that broke the agreement. FDR did not sell out anyone.
   
   Then again, maybe the path Truman took was wise. Maybe waging a long-term cold against USSR was better than a violent real war. Maybe FDR realized that no European-based power has ever conquered Russia. Remember Napolean? Remember Hitler? Could even USA have defeated USSR in 1945? Maybe Roosevelt would have done things differently. We will never know because he died.
   
   As this book says, FDR was clearly moving to a get-tough posture against USSR. Indeed, FDR moved closer to one of his advisors who was anti-USSR. I suggest you read this book.
   
   At the same time, Roosevelt was an idealist in the Wilsonian tradition when realistic. He believed in the free determination of free people, but he was also realistic. For example, he essentially pushed for an end to world colonialism in his design for the post-war world. Churchill opposed this but he could do nothing about it. The British empire was too weak.
   
   By the way, Poland was not even a country at the start of World War One and was viewed by some in a similar way to the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Should American have gone to war over the Baltic States?
   
   This fine little book is a fine introduction to Roosevelt. It is the best brief book on Roosevelt. Read it if you want an easy introduction to FDR.
   
   If you want a more detailed study of Roosevelt's foreign policy then read Robert Dallek's Bancroft Prize-winning "Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy." My essay here pales in comparison. Or read Conrad Black's "Champion of Freedom."

3 comments about The Vanderbilt Women: Dynasty of Wealth, Glamour and Tragedy.

1. I HAD NO IDEA HOW INDUSTRIOUS THESE WOMEN WERE. I LIVE NEAR THE BILTMORE AND THIS INSPIRED ME TO FOLLOW UP ON THE HISTORY OF THIS FAMILY. THE MEN ARE INTERESTING BUT THE WOMEN FANTASTIC. THEY DID IT ALL AND WERE A GUTSY BUNCH. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN ANTICIPATING THE NEXT ROUND.



2. Though the men built the fortune, their women spent. They also took up social causes not always popular @ the time..... Their standing memoirals are the Mansions and gardens they created.



3. This is a must read for anyone interested in the Gilded Age. The Vanderbilts were a huge part of it, and the women of the family are as dynamic as the men, in spite of the Commodore's opinion of them. Included in the book are little known figures, such as the Commodore's much put-upon wife and daughters. I found this book hard to put down and highly recommend it, especially in the newly available paperback form.

5 comments about Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.

1. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
   
   What can you say? It's a thoroughly researched, skillfully wound tale of a man who has no statesman-like comparison in modern American history. I'm an 'Eisenhower Republican' - though, I fear we're a dying breed - however, remark at the leadership and undying dedication to country this magnificently flawed giant of a president consistently demonstrated throughout the course of his illustrious political career.
   
   It's exhaustively researched and fact packed, to be sure - but will nary leave you wanting to leave this bulky work on the nightstand before dozing off. Whether you agree or disagree with FDR's policies or tactics, this book is never tendentious and should appeal to readers across political spectrum and ideologies....the way a masterful biography should, in this humble history junkies mind.
   
   Fans of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt may want to pick up a separate bio for her life story, as Black certainly does not treat her with kid gloves. However, this book accurately hones in on the key subject - FDR - and Lord Black sticks to his prime subject matter with uncompromising rigdity, a keen focus and honesty.
   
   Bravo. I promise to read more of Mr. Black as a result of this admirable and impressive work.
   
   - Johnny Concannon



2. It took a month to receive my book; I was happy with it once it arrived, but the slowness was a problem.



3. We would be remiss to not credit Washington with defining the parameters of the powers of the Presidency, but for all intent and purposes, as far as impact is concerned, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the greatest President in the nation, including Lincoln. We must remember that history tends to overestimate martyrdom. As good as Lincoln was, he was never tested in a peace time setting.
   Conrad Black has written the definitive and best book on the great FDR, hands down. Far from being a fawning soft sell, "Champion Of Freedom" is very fair, and Black does not hesitate to discuss Roosevelt's shortcomings, as well as his triumphs. It is an incredibly thoughtful read, and the research is amazing.
   Roosevelt could, at times, be calculating, devious and even mean, especially toward political enemies. This was fair game, however, and in a world where deceit and hidden agendas permeate every action, Roosevelt simply was a mile ahead of everybody else and played the politics game better than anybody ever had before, or will again.
   His concern for the working man, the New Deal and landmark programs like the WMA put America to work when there was none to be had. Some lunk headed conservatives claim he stole the work from industry, but that is pure bull. We have Social Security, the Labor Relations Act, and a great park system because of Roosevelt's domestic programs. As far as a wartime president, his foresight and action was almost divinely inspired, and may well have been.
   While critics blame him for Pearl Harbor, Black points out that Roosevelt, who loved the Navy and was Assistant Secretary to the Navy in WWI, would never have deliberately put the men of Pearl Harbor in harm's way as it happened. Rather, he had expected the admirals to be fully prepared for possible attack, and was aghast (albeit privately) at the incompetence shown at Pearl Harbor, which should have been more than able to put up a very good fight against the Japanese attackers. True, he expected war, and knew that the sooner, the better once our armed forces were ready, and that was well underway.
   This is just one revelation of a very complex man who was regarded in Messianic proportions by the populace and by the world at large. Black is a master writer, and truly has created a masterpiece worthy of its subject. For serious history and Roosevelt fans, it's a must have.



4. We gave two copies of this book for Christmas this year. The recipients have had nothing but great things to say.



5. This one was a tough read - 1134 pages and a couple of laps around the world later I finished - but it was definitely worth the time. While not as readable as David McCullough, Conrad Black not only tells the amazing story of FDR, but also puts you right in the middle of this pivotal time in American History. Sometimes vindictive, often underestimated, FDR's ability to lead and leverage public opinion is unmatched by any modern day president. The complicated relationship between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill was navigated with great expertise. The personalities surrounding him - Eleanor, Teddy Roosevelt's side of the family, Stimson, Smith, MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, etc. are cause to hit the Barnes and Noble shop again soon for a few more biographies. If you like American history and biographies, this book comes with my recommendation.

5 comments about Woody Guthrie: A Life.

1. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie wasn't the most talented of musicians, but few people have had more influence on the landscape of American music. He was an incredibly prolific writer and the grandfather of the 1960s folk music revival, hero to the Dylan, Baez and the like.
   
   Woody was to music what Steinbeck was to literature, capturing the California story of the thousands of "Okies" who emigrated to California looking for employment when dust storms devastated their farms during the Depression. But unlike Steinbeck, Guthrie was one of the people he sang about, leaving his poor Texas panhandle home and hitch-hiking, riding the rails, and singing his way across the country. Along the way, he listened to stories and felt the disenchantment of the other wayward wanderers. He captured those stories and sentiments, then put them to music. Woody quickly found an audience in his fellow immigrants, first around campfires, then on the radio. His character was more authentic than the slick corn-pone caricatures Hollywood had created. The large new audience could relate to Woody. And more importantly, he was voicing frustrations they could relate to.
   Woody Guthrie's life was situated at the nexus of American music and American politics. He spent much of his life as a Communist (most people forget that, though not a threat to take office, the Communist Party had a sizable membership in America pre-WWII), and was one of the first people to use music to encourage political rebellion. He played the picket lines, helped organize rallies and played at Communist party meetings.
   
   While his songs sound happy and simple to us today, the lyrics are often packed with anger and irony, expressing frustration at an America not living up to its promises. There was talk, for a while, of making Guthrie's "This Land is My Land" the national anthem. But in truth, the original "This Land is My Land" is far from the patriotic ditty schoolchildren learn today. It was actually a response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," a song Woody found to be full of false hope. Along with the fourth verse, the final verse of Woody's version is typically exorcized:
   
   "One bright sunny morning, in the shadow of the steeple
   By the Relief Office, I saw my people -
   As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
   This land was made for you and me."
   
   Personally, Woody was a complex guy, full of good intentions, but falling short on many counts. For all his success as a musician, he was a terrible husband to several women and an absentee father, often leaving his families for months at a time on wandering cross-country trips. He drank too much, was unpredictable and often a pain in the side of some of his closest friends. Only later in his life, when he was diagnosed with Huntington's disease, the genetic nervous disorder that killed his mother, did it seem like there may have been an explanation beyond selfishness for Woody's unpredictable behavior.
   
   Joe Klein tells Woody's story with the kind of craft and poetry that such a story deserves. He paints a vivid portrait of Woody that jumps off the page with life, all quirky and charming and lovable and maddening and irresponsible and admirable and stupefying and brilliant. But WOODY GUTHRIE: A LIFE is more than the story of one man's life-it is the story of America in the last century, of its changing social climate, of its musical maturation, of its dreams and realities. All of these themes can be found in the songs of Woody Guthrie, and the only thing he ever sang about was what he saw in his lifetime.



2. ....and I'd recommend this book even to those not especially interested in Woody Guthrie. The writing is superb, and Klein's reporting skills are without peer. The book also stands as a fine social history of Depression Era America.



3. Klein has written a definitive bio of Woody Guthrie. He portrays Guthrie in his full humanity with flaws and all. As a result, this is a rich real portrait in which Guthrie is illuminated as a human that was able to achieve in-human feats during his life time. This book is a must for anyone interested in understanding this seminal figure of American history and culture.



4. Every Christmas, I buy multiple copies of this book and give it away to friends and family. Every spring/summer, I receive multiple messages of enthusiastic thanks and gratitude. No one who reads it comes away unaffected.
   
   Basically, I will just say this is the most riveting biography I've ever read, and I've read it many times (am rereading it now actually).
   
   There are two primary reasons why this book is so far above all other biographies:
   
   1.) Joe Klein's writing is fantastic. His research is thorough, but his ability to communicate to an audience complex historical, socio-political, medical, and psychological concepts is virtually without peer.
   
   2.) Woody Guthrie's life simply is one of the most fascinating lives I've ever read about. From his birth (even before his birth) straight through to his death, his life never gets boring. There is no plateau, where a great artist achieves his best work and then self destructs or mellows, etc etc.....every single period of Woody's life is equally fascinating. He was an incredible human being, a very complex artist and man-and he happened to straddle many periods of history. You will be constantly surprised. Sometimes you want to strangle him and then he turns around and does something so unbelievabely heroic, that you can hardly believe it actually happened. There is NO ONE like Woody Guthrie today....nor was there ever another in any other time period, the guy was truly a one and only.
   
   I couldn't recommend this book enough. It's so good that not until 2004 was another biography attempted on Woody, and I can't imagine it could be any better than this.



5. This biography is stunningly and painfully intimate. Joe Klein did a fantastic job. This is a great read.

   Guthrie is a tremendous American icon who not enough of us actually know about or perhaps have even heard of. He was a thousand contradictions. In his art and in his life, in his outrageous, childlike, precocious, brooding, energetic, and endlessly subversive behavior... he was just utterly himself, he embodied a particular American brand of freedom in life, outlook, and sense of possibility.

   Even if you haven't got time to read this book, make sure the kids around you know all the verses to "This Land Is Your Land". You may not agree with the politics but it's worth knowing what the man actually said, it makes you think.