2 comments about Seeing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home & Museum with Julian Padowicz.

1. This six hour, five cassette audiobook presentation of Julian Padowicz's experiences and observational commentary showcases the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt museum and home. Julian describes their lives, the history that surrounded them, and the history they made. Listeners will learn about such contemporary notables as Sara Roosevelt, George VI and Elizabeth of Britain, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Howe, Lucy Mercer, Al Smith, Harry Hopkins, and many, many others. The times and circumstances of the innovative 32nd American president include the Great Depression, the new Deal, World War II, and the personal drama of disability and marital challenges. This highly recommended "theater of the mind" format is superbly recorded and provides listening that is as entertaining as it is informative.



2. As a middle school instructor of U.S.history I found Mr. Padowicz's taped presentation: Seeing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home & Museum to be a valuable teaching tool. His "tell it like it was" approach was refreshing and my students seemed to appreciate his honest and open approach to the many complex facets of the Roosevelt's lives and accomplishments.

   In or out of the classroom I highly recommend Mr. Padowicz's book on tape having found it to be both entertaining and informative.

No comments about Rapsutin : The Saint Who Sinned.

5 comments about Parting the Waters.

1. By most accounts, Branch's three volume history of the Civil Rights Movement is the authoritative account of Dr. King's life. But beyond the facts and history, this particular volume is an example of masterful storytelling. I read this book during my morning and evening commutes, stuffed between strangers on the train. Branch transported me to another time and place, at times on the brink of tears. Branch devoted decades of his life to crafting this story. His efforts leave us with an honest and beautifully told story - one of our nation's most inspiring and tragic.



2. I am about halfway through this book. Even though I have not finished yet I feel compelled to comment on it. I believe it is extremely important for African Americans of my generation to get a more complete understanding of the civil rights movement. So far this book has opening my eyes and changed the way I view our African American experience.
   
   What is best about this read is it flows like a history book. I give much credit to Mr. Branch for simply telling the story and not adding too much of his own commentary and opinion. That is one of my pet peeves with many of our `writers' today. They want to impose their opinions and biased interpretations. We do not need opinions. We need to educate ourselves with facts and draw our own conclusions. Okay, I will get off the soapbox.
   
   Anyway I highly recommend this book. It is a very long read, but if you seek a deeper understanding of the African American experience this is a great start. Many of the issues we face today can be interpreted more accurately by getting a more complete account of our past.



3. The best single book on the civil rights movement I have ever read. Parting the Waters is partly a wonderful, complicated biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, it is also a history of the early years of the entire civil rights movement. King, SCLC, and SNCC are described in great detail and their efforts are set against a background of federal reluctance to intervene in the South. Inspiring and detailed.



4. As you begin to read chapter one, this book will become a page-turner. The amazingly woven detail gives life to this story of over fifty years ago. Author Taylor Branch documents how M. L. King, Jr. walked into the storm of what was to become the Civil Rights Movement, and was then sucked into its vortex. As a "boomer" I was alive during parts of this, growing up in the Midwest. I remember some headlines and TV scenes, but reading the minutiae of what was behind those headlines was like unto discovering a mother's diary. I thoroughly enjoyed it.



5. This book is even better than the glowing reviews suggested. It's simply a masterpiece of intelligent writing. The author respects the reader's intelligence, and has an amazing ability to mix detail and the big picture. I love the way the author combines a highly readable style with both arresting action, minute detail, and yet keeps his balance. He is able to get you excited about the events in Albany, GA as though they are happening now, then backs off to show how the whole campaign kind of died. He has remarkable energy and writing talent, and a wonderful ability to shift gears, weave threads together.

No comments about Recollections from the BBC Archives (BBC Radio Collection).

2 comments about Bob Dole: Honor and Destiny.

1. I have listened to this audio book several times and would recommend it to anyone that is into politics or enjoys political biographies.



2. This compelling story of a great man will restore every Americans belief in our elected leaders. If you think you know Bob Dole, just wait until you hear this book!

1 comments about Monty His Part in My Victory and Rommel? Gunner Who?.

1. I first read Spike Milligan's memoirs of WWII as a teenager and they remain in my memory as some of the funniest accounts I've ever seen. Some of Spike's stories have left a permanent imprint on me, well into adulthood - to the extent that even to this day I wave my fist at low flying aircraft and yell "I hope you crash, you noisy bastard". I'm now searching around for these books again, since the teenage originals are on the other side of the world in my brother's custody. In vain, sigh. Out of print.

No comments about There'll Never Be Another (Comedy Club).

5 comments about Jefferson and the Rights of Man, Vol. 2.

1. Jefferson and the Rights of Man written by Dumas Malone is the second installment of a six part biography of Thomas Jefferson. As the first volume Jefferson: The Virginian was in the time frame of (1743 - 1784), this volume takes us from where the first volume ended in Jefferson's life, to the end of Washington's first term as President of the United States and his subsequent unanimous re-election, (1784 - 1792).

   Jefferson's European mission starts off this volume, concluding with his service as the United States's first Secretary of State under George Washington. But, in between we see Jefferson laying the seeds of his philosophy and the implication regarded as timeless and universal.

   George Washington's first term was a proving ground for Jefferson to get his views across to Washington, but Washington has Hamilton and there in lies the rub. As political parties were in their infancy, the time was ripe for a political view points to be exploited and Hamilton was up to task. So, naturally Jefferson had a different view point and was voicing his opinion to Washington.

   Jefferson in this period of time was primarily concerned with foreign affairs which kept him busy as Great Britain was being pulled into a European war. But the "war" between Jefferson and Hamilton was just begining. Jefferson was well aware of the implicit dangers in the political and economic situation, but Enlightenment was budding and thus, begining to give proof of his undying faith, that men and society can be saved by means of knowledge.

   This period in Jefferson's life is the richest with regards to private friendships and will lay the bricks to the foundation to the rest of his life. As Jefferson begins his battle with the Federalists, Hamilton is his primary opposition.




2. What can be said about this monument to Jefferson scholarship? I am sure that somewhere in universities around the United States there are "scholar squirrels who want to put down this invaluable resource in Jefferson studies. It is always the way that mice attempt to gnaw at lions. This is not a perfect work (and my remarks refer to all of the books in the series as a whole), there are somethings, namely Sally Hemmings references which are wrong and will not sit well with American 21st century mores. There is the issue of slavery which was handled much differently 50 years ago than it is now.
   Jefferson is not worthy of our interest because of Sally Hemmings and because he kept slaves. Jefferson is great because of the Declaration of Independence and his fight for the rights of man. While it may have been hypocritical to preach liberty and keep slaves, it is doubtful that slavery ever would have been abolished if Jefferson had never gained the prominence that he did. This book and the others that follow show why we should continue to honor the public man even though his private side may have been wanting.



3. Thomas Jefferson was no Satan. But, I will implore all the fanatics and sycophants who revere him as a 'man of justice and freedom' to wake-up from their slumber. Don't let the world laugh at your ignorance!
   Mr Jefferson was by every means a slave-holder. Thus, this idea of linking his name to the Rights of Man is a contradiction.
   If Dumas Malone must continue on this track, then he should mention the names of John Adams, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Abraham Lincoln, and we shall listen to him. Thomas Jefferson does not fit in this realm. He doesn't belong here! But, I am not really surprised. This book was published in 1951: at the peak of Color-Bar.



4. The book primarily focuses on Jeferson's political career, namely secretary of state, starting with the formation of the presidency (1788). The book sometimes focuses too much on the political front, and less on Jeferson's personal life and character.



5. This book is the second volume in Dumas Malone's six volume biography called "Jefferson and His Time". In the introduction Mr. Malone explains that, although he originally planned to cover Jefferson's life from the end of the Revolution and his appointment as Minister to France through the beginning of Jefferson's presidency as part of an originally projected 4 volume work, the depth of material required him to split this into two volumes.
   
   From the outset his decision to expand his work into an extra volume (as he would also later do with the period covering Jefferson's presidency) seemed as it might be an unwelcome one. Mr. Malone's straightforward prose, that I enjoyed and appreciated in the fist volume, was replaced with a more scholarly and cumbersome style. Especially during the first half of the book, covering Mr. Jefferson's time in France, Mr. Malone's excessive and often redundant analysis at times made me feel like a hamster in a wheel. Part of the issue seems to stem from Mr. Malone's decision to abandon the chronological flow of the first volume for topic themed chapters with considerable chronological overlap. While this does serve to organize related information, it also leads to much of the redundancy mentioned earlier.
   
   Luckily the second half of the volume, covering Mr. Jefferson's tenure as Secretary of State under George Washington's first term and the beginnings of his political rivalry with Alexander Hamilton, comes into much more distinct focus, and is very enjoyable.
   
   I do not doubt that this volume is as Mr. Malone intended, although for me it was not as enjoyable to read as the first, and regardless of the intent of the author or the strength of the material presented, is the most important factor in making my recommendation. More specifically, the first half of the book would receive 3 stars and the second half the full 5.

No comments about Reader's Digest Presents Drama in Real Life.

No comments about Monarch Life and Times of Elizabeth II.